Just a quick, photo-less note this evening (9:42pm local time) to let y'all know my whereabouts and the happenings of the last couple days here in Laos....
As promised, our crew rounded up some "motorbikes" as they call them in SE Asia yesterday (Monday) morning, and we set off on the 30 km journey from Sam Neua to Vieng Xai. Keep in mind, in SE Asia, not only is renting a bike cheap....it's easy. After handing over 60,000 Kip (between $7 and $8 US) and a passport number, you are handed the keys to the motorized two-wheeler. No license, no previous experience necessary. Dare I mention I have never driven a motorcycle/scooter before? No worries, Mother....I had a helmet and I didn't crash. In fact, I felt pretty comfortable on the thing (I think I hit 80km/hr on the way home?). It was a windy, hilly road to Vieng Xai, much like the terrain seen along the river in previous days' trips. All along the way, we passed through local villages, where again it felt like foreigners were not a common sight in these parts....older men and women staring at our white skin, kids running to the road with waves and hellos. A common obstacle on the road was a combination of water buffalo and cattle, lazily strolling down the middle of the road, barely bothered by a honk of our horn.
The city of Vieng Xai is home to more than 200 caves used for housing nearly 20,000 people during the "American War", as they call it here, rather than the Vietnam War. We were able to see 6 of the caves....the rest are not yet available to the public. I didn't realize how much Laos was impacted by the war. Apparently more bombs were dropped in this country by Americans over the course of 9 years than were dropped over all of Europe in WWII. I guess there's no better place than ground zero to get brushed up on your history.....quite an interesting place to visit to say the least!
Today....well....today was back to the bus. However, only 12 hours for this trip from Sam Nuea to Phongsavon. Our bus trip today was quite uneventful in comparison to that of Saturday/Sunday's. We did manage one little adventure--a blocked road. The rain has continued to fall in Laos, and several landslides/rockslides were seen along the winding course. We screeched to halt around 3pm today with full view of a crane on the road ahead. Dirt/rocks covered the road, and we waited for about 30 minutes while the road was cleared for our bus and several others that had gotten to the dead end prior to us. Other than that, just another day on the bus (today with seats, at least).
Tomorrow, we will rent motorbikes again and tour around the Plain of Jars, essentially fields full of large, mysterious rock "jars" presumably used as ancient burial sites centuries ago. However, no one really knows where the hell they came from. It also was the most bombed portion of Laos during the war, and there is apparently still UXO (unexploded ordinances) scattered across the countryside. Needless to say, we WON'T be wandering aimlessly off the beaten path in this part of the country. I like excitement, but not land mine-level excitement.....
Anywho, I'll be back to full-fledge tourist areas soon. We will be in Vang Viene (a backpacker's mecca) by Thursday night, so hopefully I can get some more pics up then or shortly thereafter.
Good evening!
P.S. So the Olympics are over already? I gotta get my hands around some news, for the love of him...
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Scenic river rides, cosy riverside bungalows, and a 16-hour bus ride from hell.....
Well, the fearsome foursome (more specifically Michael [Italy], Stefan [Germany], Sara [England], and I) have come to learn that wandering off the beaten path presents you with challenging, trying moments just as it presents you with amazing, seldom-seen-by-tourists terrain. We are on Day 6 of our Northern Laos detour, and after our travels last night/this morning, we are taking some much needed time for R & R. But before I fill you in, I'll try to catch you up on where we've been in the last week......
Monday and Tuesday, as I mentioned before, were spent on the road north, leading to Phongsali. I mentioned that our bus ride was quite the adventure, complete with "mudding it" 4x4 style, pushing another bus out of the mud, etc. See photos below:
Local people keeping out of the sun as our tire is fixed.
The little engine that "couldn't" --- keep your focus on the "low maintenance" road beneath.
Lunch Special! Rats on display during our lunch break en route to Phongsali. We opted for bagged chips and Sprite.
Well, that bus ride was a taste of what was to come in a few days. Stay tuned.
Wednesday was spent with the monk, getting the showing of his temple, his blessing, and a guided tour to the top of Phu Fa, the village mountain that oversees the surrounding land.
The four of us and Somphet, our 23 yr-old monk friend, at the top of Phu Fa
Not a bad panorama.... Just gotta keep telling myself to keep some SPF on my head.
Thursday, we set off on an hour-long bus ride to Hat Sa, a village comprised of 50 or so bamboo homes/huts, a feeble old man (60 or 70 yrs in age) smoking opium by himself in a village shop, and, most importantly, a port to start our journey down the Nam Ou river. Here we learned that, being we're not VIP guests in a tourist-overrun city, foreigners are generally going to be given the last spot on the boat, if any. We negotiated a ride and crammed into our slow boat. This time, the slow boat sat 2 wide and about 7 deep. Not exactly our idea of a safe, secure ride. We really questioned our decision once the boat engine died an hour into the trip. We men had the task of putting the nerves of our female colleague to rest...so like any good travelers, we whipped out the cards and played 30 minutes worth of "Shithead" (mature, I know) while we waited for our engine to bounce back.
Around 2pm, we arrived in Muang Khua, another small village you won't find on many maps. Just like many others we passed along the route, it was a sleepy, humble village comprised mainly of small bamboo huts, smiling local kids, and a market (a staple item of any SE Asian community it seems). We passed the day with some BeerLao, more cards, and a view of the river below.
View of Muang Khua from the boat
Hanging out on our bungalow balcony
Nong Khiaw at sunset
On Saturday, we managed to find a bus leaving around 2pm that would take us to our eastern destination of Sam Neua, where we will rent scooters and check out the caves on the Laos side of Laos/Vietnam border that were used during the war. We knew this bus was to take 10-12 hours--we just didn't expect it to take 16!
Packed on the bus.....
A sign of what was to come should've been apparent from the get-go: the four of us arrive at the bus, but it is already chalk full of locals who have been on the bus from Vientiane, the country's capital. Sara managed to get the last available seat--the rest of us sat in fetal position on top of rice bags and other cargo in the aisle. (This is another thing that has become apparent--public buses seem to become commercial transporters. It's standard to find bus floors jam-packed with 50+ pound bags of rice, cartons of canned tuna, and other consumable goods.)
About 2 1/2 hours in, after a few locals had jumped off at their destination, I managed to score a seat. By this time, I can only feel the parts of my body above my waist. Other items worth noting from the trip:
*Little or no baggage was stored on top the bus as is usual procedure. Rather, on this bus (capacity 20, mind you), all cargo seemed to go inside.....in the aisle, on our laps, etc. So when some schmuck brought on a couple cages, one with a live rabbit and the other with hundreds of live crab, guess where they went. Combine the stench provided by these creatures with the exhaust fumes coming aboard through open windows, it made for a tasty aroma.
*Excess weight and cargo made for some pretty shotty suspension. I happen to have the seat above the back wheel well. I think we bottomed out more often than we didn't.
*As darkness drew near, the driver must have had trouble staying awake, so we passengers had the pleasure of listening to horrible, horrible Lao music at a maximized volume. My iPod, at its highest level, couldn't cover the noise.
*We awoke around 12:30am to the bus stopped, lights off, in the country...the driver nowhere in sight. Apparently we went for a nap in the ditch or something. We continued the journey around 2:45am.
*After 16hrs in the bus, we arrived in Sam Neua at 6am. Restless, tired, and moneyless (no ATMs or banks along the way), we wandered to a guest house where we'll take it easy today. The city is big enough to support a bank, so we'll do everything but rob the place tomorrow, take as much cash out as possible, and head to the caves. On Tuesday, we'll start the journey back south and slowly venture back onto the tourist trail....
So, for now, that's it. Thanks for reading, and we'll see you next time!
Monday and Tuesday, as I mentioned before, were spent on the road north, leading to Phongsali. I mentioned that our bus ride was quite the adventure, complete with "mudding it" 4x4 style, pushing another bus out of the mud, etc. See photos below:
Local people keeping out of the sun as our tire is fixed.
The little engine that "couldn't" --- keep your focus on the "low maintenance" road beneath.
Lunch Special! Rats on display during our lunch break en route to Phongsali. We opted for bagged chips and Sprite.Well, that bus ride was a taste of what was to come in a few days. Stay tuned.
Wednesday was spent with the monk, getting the showing of his temple, his blessing, and a guided tour to the top of Phu Fa, the village mountain that oversees the surrounding land.
The four of us and Somphet, our 23 yr-old monk friend, at the top of Phu Fa
Not a bad panorama.... Just gotta keep telling myself to keep some SPF on my head.
Thursday, we set off on an hour-long bus ride to Hat Sa, a village comprised of 50 or so bamboo homes/huts, a feeble old man (60 or 70 yrs in age) smoking opium by himself in a village shop, and, most importantly, a port to start our journey down the Nam Ou river. Here we learned that, being we're not VIP guests in a tourist-overrun city, foreigners are generally going to be given the last spot on the boat, if any. We negotiated a ride and crammed into our slow boat. This time, the slow boat sat 2 wide and about 7 deep. Not exactly our idea of a safe, secure ride. We really questioned our decision once the boat engine died an hour into the trip. We men had the task of putting the nerves of our female colleague to rest...so like any good travelers, we whipped out the cards and played 30 minutes worth of "Shithead" (mature, I know) while we waited for our engine to bounce back.
Around 2pm, we arrived in Muang Khua, another small village you won't find on many maps. Just like many others we passed along the route, it was a sleepy, humble village comprised mainly of small bamboo huts, smiling local kids, and a market (a staple item of any SE Asian community it seems). We passed the day with some BeerLao, more cards, and a view of the river below.
View of Muang Khua from the boatOn Friday, we set off on another 5-hour slow boat ride to Nong Khiaw. This time, rather than taking the local boat, we chartered our own slow boat (along with another American and three Spaniards) for 1,100,000 kip, breaking down to about $16 US per person. Not bad for a private boat ride!
The view along the route opened up, and the hills to our left and right slowly became more massive in size and elaborate in shape. We managed to find ourselves a couple homey little bungalows along the river upon arrival and spent the majority of the afternoon savoring the view of the river below and mountains across the way. One other item worth noting: the sun seems a bit more intense here, so we have spent many-a-hours chugging down what must be a speciality of SE Asia....fruit shakes. I'd say we take two or three of the things down each day. Delicious.
Hanging out on our bungalow balcony
Nong Khiaw at sunset
On Saturday, we managed to find a bus leaving around 2pm that would take us to our eastern destination of Sam Neua, where we will rent scooters and check out the caves on the Laos side of Laos/Vietnam border that were used during the war. We knew this bus was to take 10-12 hours--we just didn't expect it to take 16!
Packed on the bus.....A sign of what was to come should've been apparent from the get-go: the four of us arrive at the bus, but it is already chalk full of locals who have been on the bus from Vientiane, the country's capital. Sara managed to get the last available seat--the rest of us sat in fetal position on top of rice bags and other cargo in the aisle. (This is another thing that has become apparent--public buses seem to become commercial transporters. It's standard to find bus floors jam-packed with 50+ pound bags of rice, cartons of canned tuna, and other consumable goods.)
About 2 1/2 hours in, after a few locals had jumped off at their destination, I managed to score a seat. By this time, I can only feel the parts of my body above my waist. Other items worth noting from the trip:
*Little or no baggage was stored on top the bus as is usual procedure. Rather, on this bus (capacity 20, mind you), all cargo seemed to go inside.....in the aisle, on our laps, etc. So when some schmuck brought on a couple cages, one with a live rabbit and the other with hundreds of live crab, guess where they went. Combine the stench provided by these creatures with the exhaust fumes coming aboard through open windows, it made for a tasty aroma.
*Excess weight and cargo made for some pretty shotty suspension. I happen to have the seat above the back wheel well. I think we bottomed out more often than we didn't.
*As darkness drew near, the driver must have had trouble staying awake, so we passengers had the pleasure of listening to horrible, horrible Lao music at a maximized volume. My iPod, at its highest level, couldn't cover the noise.
*We awoke around 12:30am to the bus stopped, lights off, in the country...the driver nowhere in sight. Apparently we went for a nap in the ditch or something. We continued the journey around 2:45am.
*After 16hrs in the bus, we arrived in Sam Neua at 6am. Restless, tired, and moneyless (no ATMs or banks along the way), we wandered to a guest house where we'll take it easy today. The city is big enough to support a bank, so we'll do everything but rob the place tomorrow, take as much cash out as possible, and head to the caves. On Tuesday, we'll start the journey back south and slowly venture back onto the tourist trail....
So, for now, that's it. Thanks for reading, and we'll see you next time!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
From a remote corner of the world...
Hey all,
I will keep this relatively brief, being I'm on a very slow connection (this message may take half an hour to post) but very thankful to have a connection at all. I'm with three others (Italian and German guys, English girl) in Phongsali, Laos. It's about as northern Laos as you can get, miles and miles off the path often traveled by tourists. It's definitely not a path I would have chosen if I was traveling solo, but it's an incredible journey to take in the company of others. In a nutshell, here's the happenings since my last post:
*Traveled two days worth of bus trips to Phongsali, where we arrived last night
*The 12-hr bus trip yesterday was over 230 kilometers, 2/3 of which were on low-maintenance, muddy roads through the mountains of Northern Laos
*The trip was a bumpy, slippy-slidy ride through unbelievably scenic territory. We met only one other bus on the route, which my German colleague and myself helped to push out of the muddy slop when it became stuck.
*We blew a tire, which the bus driver and other Lao people replaced with bamboo-leveraged wrenches.
*A local 23-yr old monk from Phongsali (one of three monks in this village) accompanied us to the top of the town's mountain, where we had an incredible view of the village and valley below. He later gave us a tour of his monastery and blessed us on our travels, speaking fairly decent English all the while.
And that take us to the present... Tomorrow we will depart on a 8-hr boat ride to the south and stay an evening in yet another Northern Lao village. I still will hold true to my conclusion earlier: Lao children are the most beautiful children on the planet. And they all still greet us with either a wave, a blowing kiss, or a warm "Sabaai-dee". I don't think Phongsali gets many Westerners here, so it's fun to receive the hospitality provided!
Pictures to come later...but for the next 5 or 6 days, I'll be lucky to find an Internet connection. Phongsali, for example, only has power/electricity between 6pm and 8pm in the evening!!
All is well on our end--I hope everyone is well back home. From the path less traveled in Northern Laos, I'm checking out!
I will keep this relatively brief, being I'm on a very slow connection (this message may take half an hour to post) but very thankful to have a connection at all. I'm with three others (Italian and German guys, English girl) in Phongsali, Laos. It's about as northern Laos as you can get, miles and miles off the path often traveled by tourists. It's definitely not a path I would have chosen if I was traveling solo, but it's an incredible journey to take in the company of others. In a nutshell, here's the happenings since my last post:
*Traveled two days worth of bus trips to Phongsali, where we arrived last night
*The 12-hr bus trip yesterday was over 230 kilometers, 2/3 of which were on low-maintenance, muddy roads through the mountains of Northern Laos
*The trip was a bumpy, slippy-slidy ride through unbelievably scenic territory. We met only one other bus on the route, which my German colleague and myself helped to push out of the muddy slop when it became stuck.
*We blew a tire, which the bus driver and other Lao people replaced with bamboo-leveraged wrenches.
*A local 23-yr old monk from Phongsali (one of three monks in this village) accompanied us to the top of the town's mountain, where we had an incredible view of the village and valley below. He later gave us a tour of his monastery and blessed us on our travels, speaking fairly decent English all the while.
And that take us to the present... Tomorrow we will depart on a 8-hr boat ride to the south and stay an evening in yet another Northern Lao village. I still will hold true to my conclusion earlier: Lao children are the most beautiful children on the planet. And they all still greet us with either a wave, a blowing kiss, or a warm "Sabaai-dee". I don't think Phongsali gets many Westerners here, so it's fun to receive the hospitality provided!
Pictures to come later...but for the next 5 or 6 days, I'll be lucky to find an Internet connection. Phongsali, for example, only has power/electricity between 6pm and 8pm in the evening!!
All is well on our end--I hope everyone is well back home. From the path less traveled in Northern Laos, I'm checking out!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Sabaai-dee from Laos
I have some serious catching up to do here, and I'll do my best to maintain my patience as long as feasibly possible. The "A" key is sticking on my keyboard, and you don't realize how annoying it is to type until you experience the "A" key sticking for yourself. Take it from me. Okay, here we go...bare with me, I may get long-winded...
Tuesday night/Wednesday morning-- We took the night mini-bus to the Thai/Lao border. I've never had a problem with motion sickness in a vehicle, but I came pretty near to losing it on this trip. The term "winding" doesn't do these roads justice. Then, try riding them at dark, in a packed mini-bus, with a driver on a mission. Yowza. Nonetheless, we approached the border around 4am when suddenly the bus came to an abrupt stop. With the masses of rain Northern Thailand and Laos has had, many roads had flooded. This one was no exception. Our driver spoke no English, but it was apparent he was ready to give it a run. Luckily he didn't and chose to take the 1 1/2 hour detour instead.
Flooded road near Thai/Lao border
Mekong River outside its banks on Thai side of border
We arrived at the border just shy of 6am on Wed morning. There were two options of getting to our destination of Luang Probang--slow boat (refugee style, taking two days) or speed boat (6hrs crunched essentially into fetal position on an motorized aluminum slab charging down the river at 100 km/hr+). We chose option 1. Some of our passengers chose option 2. As I noted before, there is so much debris in the water with all of the flooding, causing serious concern for these speed boats and the uncertainty of what happens when this speeding ship hits a large tree. A few of our Irish friends found this out the hard way. Upon arriving to Luang Probang around 6pm on Wednesday, we ran into them on the streets and asked them how their trip was. We soon learned they had crashed after hitting a tree, their boat was flipped, and they were trapped underneath not only the boat but also several layers of trees and debris. Each admits they were lucky to make it out alive, despite losing everything. We also learned a Korean couple was killed the day before, and 3 Lao natives two days prior. Note to future travelers in SE Asia during rainy season: take the slow boat!
Packed on the boat! (Early on the route. Dozens more jumped on as we moved along the river.)
Scenery along the Mekong River, en route to Luang Probang, Laos.
Lao girl on boat, helping her mother sell food/beverages.
Thursday morning, Michael (Italian fella) and myself were up and on the main street in Luang Probang by 5:30am to watch a ceremonial event that occurs daily. The monks come out at sunrise to collect food for the day. Locals offer up rice, fruit, and other foods to them as they pass by briefly before heading back to the monastery for their daily classes and/or worship. Pretty interesting sight to see to start off the day....
Monks collecting food for the day
View looking down on Mekong River and Luang Probang from a hill temple.
Yesterday (Fri) a group of us rented bikes and set off for the hills. Before doing so, however, I should mention that I did something yesterday morning that I've been promising many of you for a long time. See before and after pictures below!
At 11:15 am....
At 11:45am...
Surprised? It feels good, I have to say. (Jason Harle, you're my idol.) Needless to say, I have a new place on my body to load up the sunblock!
Anyways, we rode about 17km through up and down terrain to reach the Tad Sae waterfall yesterday. It was one of the hottest days of the trip thus far, so a swim in the waterfall pools was much needed after becoming soaked on the trip out. The waterfalls were beautiful, but they came in a distance second place to some of the kids we met in some of the villages on the ride out. It's as if we were a parade coming through---kids came running to us, waving, yelling "Sabaai-dee" (Hello)---some of the most beautiful kids we had ever seen. At a roadside market, we had a quick English and Lao language session. We would point to items in the market (water, milk, etc)....they would identify the item in the Laos languagea, and we would repeat in English. It made for the best day of the trip thus far. It's clear the people here, especially outside the tourist arena, are the friendliest I've met on my trip.
Local boy who paddled us across the river to the waterfall...
Swimming in the pool beneath the falls.
Village kids swimming. Seeing outsiders seemed to be the highlight of their day.
They love their peace sign...
Skinny dipping at a young age...
Tuesday night/Wednesday morning-- We took the night mini-bus to the Thai/Lao border. I've never had a problem with motion sickness in a vehicle, but I came pretty near to losing it on this trip. The term "winding" doesn't do these roads justice. Then, try riding them at dark, in a packed mini-bus, with a driver on a mission. Yowza. Nonetheless, we approached the border around 4am when suddenly the bus came to an abrupt stop. With the masses of rain Northern Thailand and Laos has had, many roads had flooded. This one was no exception. Our driver spoke no English, but it was apparent he was ready to give it a run. Luckily he didn't and chose to take the 1 1/2 hour detour instead.
Flooded road near Thai/Lao border
Mekong River outside its banks on Thai side of border
We arrived at the border just shy of 6am on Wed morning. There were two options of getting to our destination of Luang Probang--slow boat (refugee style, taking two days) or speed boat (6hrs crunched essentially into fetal position on an motorized aluminum slab charging down the river at 100 km/hr+). We chose option 1. Some of our passengers chose option 2. As I noted before, there is so much debris in the water with all of the flooding, causing serious concern for these speed boats and the uncertainty of what happens when this speeding ship hits a large tree. A few of our Irish friends found this out the hard way. Upon arriving to Luang Probang around 6pm on Wednesday, we ran into them on the streets and asked them how their trip was. We soon learned they had crashed after hitting a tree, their boat was flipped, and they were trapped underneath not only the boat but also several layers of trees and debris. Each admits they were lucky to make it out alive, despite losing everything. We also learned a Korean couple was killed the day before, and 3 Lao natives two days prior. Note to future travelers in SE Asia during rainy season: take the slow boat!
Packed on the boat! (Early on the route. Dozens more jumped on as we moved along the river.)
Scenery along the Mekong River, en route to Luang Probang, Laos.
Lao girl on boat, helping her mother sell food/beverages.Thursday morning, Michael (Italian fella) and myself were up and on the main street in Luang Probang by 5:30am to watch a ceremonial event that occurs daily. The monks come out at sunrise to collect food for the day. Locals offer up rice, fruit, and other foods to them as they pass by briefly before heading back to the monastery for their daily classes and/or worship. Pretty interesting sight to see to start off the day....
Monks collecting food for the day
View looking down on Mekong River and Luang Probang from a hill temple.Yesterday (Fri) a group of us rented bikes and set off for the hills. Before doing so, however, I should mention that I did something yesterday morning that I've been promising many of you for a long time. See before and after pictures below!
At 11:15 am....
At 11:45am...
Surprised? It feels good, I have to say. (Jason Harle, you're my idol.) Needless to say, I have a new place on my body to load up the sunblock!
Anyways, we rode about 17km through up and down terrain to reach the Tad Sae waterfall yesterday. It was one of the hottest days of the trip thus far, so a swim in the waterfall pools was much needed after becoming soaked on the trip out. The waterfalls were beautiful, but they came in a distance second place to some of the kids we met in some of the villages on the ride out. It's as if we were a parade coming through---kids came running to us, waving, yelling "Sabaai-dee" (Hello)---some of the most beautiful kids we had ever seen. At a roadside market, we had a quick English and Lao language session. We would point to items in the market (water, milk, etc)....they would identify the item in the Laos languagea, and we would repeat in English. It made for the best day of the trip thus far. It's clear the people here, especially outside the tourist arena, are the friendliest I've met on my trip.
Local boy who paddled us across the river to the waterfall...
Swimming in the pool beneath the falls.
Village kids swimming. Seeing outsiders seemed to be the highlight of their day.
They love their peace sign...
Skinny dipping at a young age...
Exhausted after the final uphill on the way back home...
Hope you enjoyed the show, thanks for reading, and we'll see you next time!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Made it to Laos!
Quick note here, details to follow....but I made it to Luang Probang, Laos, last night around 6pm. I'll get a post up later tonight or tomorrow morning with more details on the adventure getting here. I'm safe and unscathed, but unfortunately I can't say the same for a few fellow backpackers that were injured. They opted to take the one-day speedboat down the Mekong River, which crashed after striking some floating tree/debris as a result of 50-60 year record river levels here. Luckily my group of 5 decided on the more conservative two-day slow boat and got in last night....slow and steady wins the race after all.
More to come, including pictures of course. Stay tuned!
More to come, including pictures of course. Stay tuned!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Still Jungling!
Sorry for the brief hiatus, all! Unfortunately the hill tribes that housed us over the past two days didn't have wireless internet or Direct TV....
Just an update since the weekend:
Made it to Pai (pronounced "bye") on Saturday evening after 3 1/2 hours of back and forth hill driving on a small mini-bus. I was in the back with the bags and belongings of the 11 other passengers, along with my fellow Italian and an American traveling mates....
The three of us, along with a combo of English and Germans, set out on a two-day jungle trek with a Thai guide....staying the night with one of the local hill tribes. The rain didn't stop over the two days, so it made for some interesting mud hiking.
Day one was mostly uphill climbing....day two was mainly river crossing and mud sliding. I managed to spend the majority of day two on my tail end. We managed to come back on day two with 3 less travelers, losing two Germans and an Englishman to some sickness. I have a feeling the food we were provided wasn't cooked to Mom's standards.....
The six of us managed a pretty good adventure on day two's hike. Several battle wounds via pesky leeches.....bleeding legs.....chopping vines to blaze our trail.....venomous snake spotting (I'll pat myself on the back for spotting it)......bird homocide.....etc. I'll explain the latter. We spotted this beautiful, colorful bird across the river. After seeing it try to fly away and fail, falling into the river, our sherpa retrieved it from the water and brought it to us, showing a gunshot wound on its back. Knowing the thing was suffering, our guide thought we should take the thing out of its misery.....she didn't have the guts to perform the procedure, however. So with my farm upbringing, I took the knife and performed the Kavorkian-style procedure myself. I think I scared a few of the other hikers with my swift action, but nonetheless, I punched the bird's ticket to birdy heaven for him....
Quite the two-day hike and adventure. I'm happy we made the decision to go forward with it. Italian guy and I are leaving tonight on a night bus for the Laos border. Should get there at 6am and then we'll head on a slow boat down to Luang Probang, Laos. We did some celebrating last night as it was his birthday at midnight, so he's a bit in the dumps today. We'll see how the long trip treats the poor guy...
Enjoy the photos.
Ck
Mam, our tour guide; Jim, Los Angeles; Michael, Italy; Me, God's Country
Winding roads
Our Thai sherpa, carrying all of the food that will soon sicken a good portion of our crew!
Village in the hills we called home on Sun night. 11 of us in a single bamboo bungaloo. Rice whiskey = better sleep
One of the many river crossings
Say hello to my little friend.
View from the top, worth the hike!
Spelunking!
My personal bamboo hut in Pai. 80 baht for one night, incredible. Less than 3 US.
Just an update since the weekend:
Made it to Pai (pronounced "bye") on Saturday evening after 3 1/2 hours of back and forth hill driving on a small mini-bus. I was in the back with the bags and belongings of the 11 other passengers, along with my fellow Italian and an American traveling mates....
The three of us, along with a combo of English and Germans, set out on a two-day jungle trek with a Thai guide....staying the night with one of the local hill tribes. The rain didn't stop over the two days, so it made for some interesting mud hiking.
Day one was mostly uphill climbing....day two was mainly river crossing and mud sliding. I managed to spend the majority of day two on my tail end. We managed to come back on day two with 3 less travelers, losing two Germans and an Englishman to some sickness. I have a feeling the food we were provided wasn't cooked to Mom's standards.....
The six of us managed a pretty good adventure on day two's hike. Several battle wounds via pesky leeches.....bleeding legs.....chopping vines to blaze our trail.....venomous snake spotting (I'll pat myself on the back for spotting it)......bird homocide.....etc. I'll explain the latter. We spotted this beautiful, colorful bird across the river. After seeing it try to fly away and fail, falling into the river, our sherpa retrieved it from the water and brought it to us, showing a gunshot wound on its back. Knowing the thing was suffering, our guide thought we should take the thing out of its misery.....she didn't have the guts to perform the procedure, however. So with my farm upbringing, I took the knife and performed the Kavorkian-style procedure myself. I think I scared a few of the other hikers with my swift action, but nonetheless, I punched the bird's ticket to birdy heaven for him....
Quite the two-day hike and adventure. I'm happy we made the decision to go forward with it. Italian guy and I are leaving tonight on a night bus for the Laos border. Should get there at 6am and then we'll head on a slow boat down to Luang Probang, Laos. We did some celebrating last night as it was his birthday at midnight, so he's a bit in the dumps today. We'll see how the long trip treats the poor guy...
Enjoy the photos.
Ck
Mam, our tour guide; Jim, Los Angeles; Michael, Italy; Me, God's Country
Winding roads
Our Thai sherpa, carrying all of the food that will soon sicken a good portion of our crew!
Village in the hills we called home on Sun night. 11 of us in a single bamboo bungaloo. Rice whiskey = better sleep
One of the many river crossings
Say hello to my little friend.
View from the top, worth the hike!
Spelunking!
My personal bamboo hut in Pai. 80 baht for one night, incredible. Less than 3 US.
My squatting skills are getting quite impressive.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Zipping through the jungle...
Hey all...just back from a pretty cool little adventure about an hour outside of Chiang Mai called Flight of the Gibbon. It involves getting all geared up and navigating your way through the jungle from tree to tree via cables and zip lines. See link (http://www.treetopasia.com/). It was a cool/wet day, kind of a nice change of pace from the heat I've been getting used to....
I had Thai massage #2 of the trip last evening....so relaxed that I started to doze off during the hour-long session. 150 baht/hour. Where in the states can we get an hour message for $5?
Heading off to a little place called Pai, Thailand, tomorrow I reckon (I'm starting to use this term after hearing it daily from English travelers along the way). Hard to believe I've been over here nearly two weeks already!
Happy Hobo Days to anyone who may be in Britt this weekend.... Thanks for the comments!
I had Thai massage #2 of the trip last evening....so relaxed that I started to doze off during the hour-long session. 150 baht/hour. Where in the states can we get an hour message for $5?
Heading off to a little place called Pai, Thailand, tomorrow I reckon (I'm starting to use this term after hearing it daily from English travelers along the way). Hard to believe I've been over here nearly two weeks already!
Happy Hobo Days to anyone who may be in Britt this weekend.... Thanks for the comments!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Experiencing Chiang Mai
So after a brutal train ride on Monday morning, I made it to Chiang Mai around 1pm. In short:
1) Nearly missed the train because I woke up at 4:25am for my 4:20am train. Sprinted to the train station to see the train lights coming...thank God nothing runs on time here.
2) No air-conditioning and windows open, so the mosquitoes were quite satisfied to call my car home.
3) Made an emergency stop to let a guy off who was bleeding profusely from his face and neck. Fight maybe? Bathroom accident??
4) Stopped for nearly an hour at another station to wait for another train engine.
Needless to say, I was pumped to see Chiang Mai.
Went on a whitewater rafting trip yesterday with a couple German guys I met in Bangkok, and two others. Belgians. Needless to say I made sure these bastards weren't going to stick me with the bill!!
Took a Thai cooking course today with 6 others. Made some great food and ate all day. Mom, I hope I made you proud.
Chiang Mai has been good, and I imagine I'll stay here a couple more nights. I'm paying 70 baht for my housing (just over $2 for a shared dorm room and shower facilities).....so I am fine with the place! Plus, I kind of like how everyone here is calling me "Meeeeesta" (Asian for "Mister")and uses a simple "Hey Meeeesta" to call you. So for now, Chiang Mai is home. Plus, probably a good thing I'm here rather than Bangkok....I hear our President is there tonight, so it's best I'm hours away....
Enjoy a couple more photos...
Outdoor aerobics. Thailand has a thing for outdoor aerobics. It's quite hilarious.
Outdoor aerobics #2.
My quads are getting stronger with the adapted "squat style" that I've acquired from the Thai culture.
Thai stir fry. I nearly died.
Our cooking instructor's name. She was quite the character. Notable quote of the day:
"Oh, this ginseng. We use in curry. Men sometimes use to help with Boom Boom. Yeah, but too much and no more Boom Boom!" (Apparently she was referencing sex.)
That's all the time we have for today. Hope everyone's well back home.
1) Nearly missed the train because I woke up at 4:25am for my 4:20am train. Sprinted to the train station to see the train lights coming...thank God nothing runs on time here.
2) No air-conditioning and windows open, so the mosquitoes were quite satisfied to call my car home.
3) Made an emergency stop to let a guy off who was bleeding profusely from his face and neck. Fight maybe? Bathroom accident??
4) Stopped for nearly an hour at another station to wait for another train engine.
Needless to say, I was pumped to see Chiang Mai.
Went on a whitewater rafting trip yesterday with a couple German guys I met in Bangkok, and two others. Belgians. Needless to say I made sure these bastards weren't going to stick me with the bill!!
Took a Thai cooking course today with 6 others. Made some great food and ate all day. Mom, I hope I made you proud.
Chiang Mai has been good, and I imagine I'll stay here a couple more nights. I'm paying 70 baht for my housing (just over $2 for a shared dorm room and shower facilities).....so I am fine with the place! Plus, I kind of like how everyone here is calling me "Meeeeesta" (Asian for "Mister")and uses a simple "Hey Meeeesta" to call you. So for now, Chiang Mai is home. Plus, probably a good thing I'm here rather than Bangkok....I hear our President is there tonight, so it's best I'm hours away....
Enjoy a couple more photos...
Outdoor aerobics. Thailand has a thing for outdoor aerobics. It's quite hilarious.
Outdoor aerobics #2.
My quads are getting stronger with the adapted "squat style" that I've acquired from the Thai culture.
Thai stir fry. I nearly died.
Our cooking instructor's name. She was quite the character. Notable quote of the day:
"Oh, this ginseng. We use in curry. Men sometimes use to help with Boom Boom. Yeah, but too much and no more Boom Boom!" (Apparently she was referencing sex.)
That's all the time we have for today. Hope everyone's well back home.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Monkey Mania
Finally got to a computer where I can rip some of the photos off my card and get them backed up...thought I'd throw a few on here of my monkey mates from Fri/Sat.
Today (Sun) I took a day trip from Phitsanulok to Sukhothai to see the ancient ruins of the old Siam capital. I usually am kind of numb to ruins as they tend to become redundant to me, but I was very impressed by some of the 600-700 year old Buddhist temples that remained. I was not impressed, however, by the bus that took me there. Needless to say (see photo), the buses aren't really made to accomodate the taller Western folk. I'd hate to see big bro step into one of these things....
Taking a 4am train to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand....should arrive there by Noon tomorrow....pending, of course, I don't get eaten by any of the stray dogs roaming the streets of Phitsanulok. It's funny how their mannerisms mirror homeless people in the US.
Ciao!
Hanging out in Lubpori.
The little shit that stole my water bottle....
Their world, I'm just living in it....
Can't be home for sweet corn season, so I had to find some!
Greyhounds will look like Cadillacs when I get home...
Today (Sun) I took a day trip from Phitsanulok to Sukhothai to see the ancient ruins of the old Siam capital. I usually am kind of numb to ruins as they tend to become redundant to me, but I was very impressed by some of the 600-700 year old Buddhist temples that remained. I was not impressed, however, by the bus that took me there. Needless to say (see photo), the buses aren't really made to accomodate the taller Western folk. I'd hate to see big bro step into one of these things....
Taking a 4am train to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand....should arrive there by Noon tomorrow....pending, of course, I don't get eaten by any of the stray dogs roaming the streets of Phitsanulok. It's funny how their mannerisms mirror homeless people in the US.
Ciao!
Hanging out in Lubpori.
The little shit that stole my water bottle....
Their world, I'm just living in it....
Can't be home for sweet corn season, so I had to find some!
Greyhounds will look like Cadillacs when I get home...
Friday, August 1, 2008
The little thieves....
Got a few minutes before my train takes me north to Sukhothai, Thailand....
Here's what I know about this little place called Lubpori: the monkeys are quite aggressive. They were not joking when they claimed the monkey gangs have taken over the city. One of the little shits took my water bottle out of my back pocket yesterday afternoon. The joke was on him, though, when he couldn't get the thing open!
Also, I will soon change the phrase "going Dutch" to the newly coined "going Belgian". Drinking at our guest house with four Dutch guys/gals last night and two Belgians....but the Belgians had to leave around 11pm to catch a night train. When it came time to grab the bill for my beers at night's end, I learned I was going to be responsible for the Belgians as well. The Dutch said I could no longer use the old phrase after that! Fortunately the total tab for mine (+2 others) was only 600 baht (or 18 US Dollars) for a nights worth of drinks. Thank God it's cheap here!
Here's what I know about this little place called Lubpori: the monkeys are quite aggressive. They were not joking when they claimed the monkey gangs have taken over the city. One of the little shits took my water bottle out of my back pocket yesterday afternoon. The joke was on him, though, when he couldn't get the thing open!
Also, I will soon change the phrase "going Dutch" to the newly coined "going Belgian". Drinking at our guest house with four Dutch guys/gals last night and two Belgians....but the Belgians had to leave around 11pm to catch a night train. When it came time to grab the bill for my beers at night's end, I learned I was going to be responsible for the Belgians as well. The Dutch said I could no longer use the old phrase after that! Fortunately the total tab for mine (+2 others) was only 600 baht (or 18 US Dollars) for a nights worth of drinks. Thank God it's cheap here!
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