Keeping It Short

This is getting expensive. The internet that is. Down here in southern Thailand it's about 3 Baht per minute (approx. 13 minutes online for 1$ US). Therefore I've been updating sparingly.

It finally stopped raining it Ko Tao and I was able to do some serious relaxing on the private beach by my bungalow. After a few days there I moved on down to Ao Phang-Nga where I took a boat through the National Park down there and saw some beautiful limestone rock formations. The main attraction of a tour here is the island that was used as a set piece in the James Bond movie "The Man With the Golden Gun." The island itself was quite beautiful, but it was also overcrowded with tourists all trying to take the same photo.

The boat dropped me off at Ko Yao Noi a small island with beautiful views and few tourists. The baeches might not have been as good as the ones on some of the major islands, but it was nice to be able to "get away" from crowds for a couple of days. While I was there I went to see a Thai boxing match. The participants ranged in age from 5 to 50, with the youngest boxers going first. It's amazing how serious a five year old can look. The crowds really go nuts at these events, and are almost as much of a spectacle as the matches themselves are.

The final three matches of the night were definitely the most exciting. These were the age 18 to 20 fighters, and two out of the last three matches ended in serious knockouts. The fighters look so small, but they are powerful, and damn fast.

After leaving Ko Yao Noi, I've come down to Krabi to go to Tansai Beach. I spent my first full day there taking a rock climbing course where I got to scale up the side of several limestone cliffs. This is apparently a world class climbing spot, and the courses are dirt cheap. A full day of climbing including instruction, gear rental, food, etc. was only $35 US. It was fun to do this, but it definitely wears you out quickly. I didn't take to it quite as well as I'd hoped, but I felt like I'd accomplished something by the end of the day. I may do another half day of climbing before I leave if my muscles can stop hurting so much.

I've also done some kayaking to nearby islands, reading, sitting around, and of course swimming in the ocean.

Well, this will very well be my last blog entry before heading home. It's Thursday today, and Saturday is when I begin forging my path north back to Bangkok. I'll try to write some kind of wrap up entry once I'm home. See you all soon.

Fast Forward

So I haven't been doing a good job of keeping up with this lately. I'm going to have to make this brief and skip a lot of things to catch up.

Communist Block
After leaving Luang Prabang, I went down to Vientienne. The bus ride was incredibly beautiful, and extremely dangerous. Misty mountaintops blurred past at high speeds around windey, bumpy roads. Not much infrastructure there.

Vientienne was largely uneventful. I only spent two days and one night there and felt I could have skipped it. I suppose it's interesting to see a "communist" area of SE Asia, but about the only evidence I saw of communism were the old hammer and sickle flags hanging everywhere and the drab "utilitarian" architecture.

Vientienne was followed by a trip across the border back into Thailand. I took a bus to Kong Kaen with Ruby and Rumi where they intended to meet up with a friend and I intended to decompress. They'd overbooked the bus on the way there, and I ended up having to sit in a one foot tall plastic chair at the rear of the bus while eating warm waffles out of a plastic bag. I could only have felt more foolish if I'd been wearing a propeller hat.

Wild, Wild-Life
After leaving Kong Kaen, the gang split up and I traveled with Rumi down to the Kao Yai natural park while Ruby went on to Bangkok to visit another friend. Rumi and I did a one and a half day trek/wildlife watching tour. It was really amazing. We got to see gibbon monkeys, elephants, machack(sp?) monkeys, and lots of rare birds. Our guide had a telescope that gave us great, close up views of the birds and monkeys. It was just the right size for me to hold my digital camera up to the lens so I could take pictures. I suppose there are some good things about not having brought an SLR.

On the second day of the trek we got to see wrinkle nosed bats inside a cave, hanging about four feet above us. Later we watched as they flew out of the cave at night, right above our heads. The sound was amazing, and I was so mad I didn't have Kamran's Mini-Disc recorder in my day bag. I got some great photos and shot a little video with my digital camera. Really, this was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

The next day we went hiking and camping in the national park. The trails were a little hard to follow, and it we made it out of the woods just before dark. We didn't see many animals directly, but we did hear a lot of things stalking around us in the woods. On one path we took there was evidence of an elephant having been by recently (we could tell by the dropping - they're hard to miss).

There was a very large deer at our campground that night, and a lot of local kids drinking and singing songs in Thai. (Don't these kids have school in the morning?)

1.21 Giga-Wats
The next day we got up early and took a train to Ayuthayya. Ruby had been there a few days before and recomended guesthouses and restaraunts to us. After a quick nap and lunch, we found that all of the sights to see in town were... closed.

We spent all the next looking at temples and taking about 150 pictures. I wish I'd gone here before going to the Temples of Angkor, because it pales in comparison, however it was still very impressive. I can see why folks call this city the Rome of the east, because all of the ruins are literally right in the middle of the city (like the Collesium in Rome). Seriously, 7-11... department store... ancient temple! Many of the buildings closely match the 14th and 15th century Khmer style of architecture (similar to Angkor Wat), but are not as well intact. The city has been sacked many times in the past, and the damage is obvious.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...
So I need to take a moment to interrupt this blog with an important message. I will not, be going to Vietnam on this trip. There's still too much to see in Thailand, and I don't want to rush myself. After going to Ayuthayya I went back to Bangkok and switched my ticket so I would be flying out of Bangkok instead of Ho Chi Minh City. This was a tough decision, but I really didn't want to deal with arranging a visa, arranging transportation into the country, and all the other things that come along with changing locales as drastically as I would be doing. It's time to slow down a little. I have to go back to work soon (much too soon), and anyways - there's always next year, right?

When The Rain Comes...
I've now headed down to Koh Tao, a beautiful beach island where it's currently been raining heavily since my arrival. My clothes are all soaked, and it takes forever to dry anything out due to the humidity. My bungalow is right on a hillside overlooking the water. It's so close, and yet due to the rain, so far. Everyone around here says that the weather should clear up after the full moon tomorrow night, but the CNN Weather Forecast seems to imply differently. In fact the whole south of Thailand seems to be being pelted by rain right now. And like my Unlce says, "You can't go swimming in the rain - you might get wet!"

Laos Part 2: banana Boat, 800 Monks, and Magical Realism

My first day in Luang Prabang was spent doing a whirlwind tour of the sights. Luang Prabang is a slow and lovely historical city in the north of Laos. It's also home to over 800 Buddhist monks. You can't walk down the street in any direction for more than a minute without seeing one of these devotees.

First on our list for the day was the Royal Palace, which has been converted into a museum which shows off many Laos artifacts from the last two hundred years or so. It's strange to look at the old army uniforms displayed there because they're so, well... European looking. French to be precise. This shouldn't seem too out of place since Laos was occupied by the French for so long, but it's still striking to see old portraits of Eastern Kings wearing uniforms more suited to west than east.

We also visited Wat Xieng Thong which was yet another Wat. I'm pretty done with Wats at this point in my trip, and about the only really interesting thing there was a depiction of Buddhist hell on the wall inside the main building. I didn't know Buddhists even had any kind of "hell." I suppose it's something I'll have to find out more about.

After this I walked around the historical district, which is a large area right between the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers mostly made up of old French Colonial style buildings. It was very relaxing and I can certainly see why Unesco has earmarked this district for renovation. At sunset Ruby, Rumi and I met up with some Australian, Japanese and American travelers and climbed the 300+ steps to the top of Phu Si. Phu Si is a golden temple that sits atop a large hill in the center of town. The view is absolutely spectacular and we stayed at the top for quite a while.

On the way down we bumped into a young monk named Ling who was very eager to practice his English. He told us many stories about the troubles between Thailand and Laos, ghosts, Buddha, naga, and even his own death. It's easy to dismiss what someone says as quaint when they talk about the magical powers of their previous Kings, or an emerald statue, but such beliefs seem widespread and common in Laos, and really don't sound any stranger than 40 days and 40 nights of rain, or burning bushes when you think about it. We talked to Ling for a good ninety minutes of so until mother natures call became to strong and we tromped down the remaining 200 steps to the city below with dangerously full bladders.

The next day we rounded up a group to drive out to Kung Si Falls, a multi-tiered waterfall with limestone rock, and deep green pools to swim in. I really can't begin to describe how amazing it was to be there. I'll post some pictures up here when I get back because otherwise no one will believe me. You can actually swim a few yards and hang out underneath small waterfalls along the way. There was also a tree with a ladder you could dive off of the pool into. I would have jumped, but I'm not confident enough in my swimming skills to do so. Rumi and I climbed all the way to the top of the largest portion of the waterfall where you could peer off the top and look at all the majesty below. While we were up there we stumbled across a group of monks in a lower pool hanging out with their shirts off and smoking. What would Buddha do?

I finished the night off by eating a whole fish on a stick from the night market. It was easily one of the best pieces of fish I've ever had. Moist, juicy, and portable. What more could you ask for?

While, I'm out of time again and still four days behind on updates. I've got to catch a train. I'm back in Thailand and a national park awaits me.

Laos: banana Boat, 800 Monks, and Magical Realism

So, it's been a while since I've been able to post. The reason? Let's just say that internet in Laos is a might bit unpredictable. The shops all seem to close early, when they are open the connection doesn't work half the time, and even when the stars and moons align and you finally manage to get online, for some reason all the tabs at the Blogger website are suddenly in Japanese. Long story short: This will probably be a long post.

I finally left Pai on the 27th and headed east towards Chiang Khong, a small border town right across the river from Laos. My plan was to meet up with two Canadian girls I met in Pai (Ruby and Rumi) so that we could all take the two day slow boat down the Mekong together. I'd been out pretty late (or pretty early depending on how you look at it) and so the ten hour ride from Pai to the border was especially brutal. I had lunch with a couple of guys from South Africa who couldn't seem to grasp that my name wasn't Jack. I dozed off a few times, but for the most part couldn't sleep.

When I finally reached the border around 6:30 I checked my e-mail to see if Ruby and Rumi had gotten into town yet. They had, but they'd gotten in so early that they'd decided to cross the border without me. Since the border crossing had just closed I decided to get a room and sack out early.

The next morning I woke up at the crack of dawn ready to deal with the stress of the border crossing. I got there an hour early so that I could be first in line. I still hadn't booked tickets on the slow boat, and was hoping to swindle my way onto one that day.

My fears about the border crossing were completely unfounded. As it turned out the whole process (including a ten minute boat ride across the river), took about twenty minutes.

Exchanging currency in Laos is a funny thing. One 1$ US is worth about 10,400 kip. I exchanged $100 US in travelers checks and was pleasantly surprised to find myself a millionaire. The stack of bills they handed me was so large that it made me look like I'd gained a few pounds overnight. The guy in line in front of me exchanged $500 US and was brought his currency in a grocery bag. Seriously.

I grabbed breakfast and wandered around town to see if I could find my Canadian friends anywhere on the street. When I couldn't find them I went ahead and bought a boat ticket and headed down to the dock.

Thankfully when I reached the dock I was able to locate Ruby and Rumi and we were able to work it out so we'd be on the same boat. The boat was supposed to leave at 10:30 and didn't leave until about noon. It was cramped. I couldn't stand up properly, and the only stops it made were at small villages where children mobbed the boats trying to sell us banana's, Pringles, and Beer Laos at overly inflated prices. I was beginning to wonder why I left Thailand.

The first night of the boat trip they dropped us off at a "dock" at a small town where I got a no frills room for around $2 US. My Canadian friends and I went out to dinner where I had a traditional(?) Laos dinner of pumpkin, buffalo, and vegetable stir-fry. It was quite good, and the owner of the restaurant sat at our table and spoke to us for quite a while. He apparently used to be a monk from ages ten to twenty-one, but left because he was in college and felt socially restricted by his duty. He'd recently gotten married and had opened his establishment only three weeks previous to our arrival. The restaurant didn't even have electricity yet. He answered many of our questions about Buddhism and monkhood until the restaurant got quite busy at which time his other duties called.

The next day on the boat was quite a bit better. They combined both of the boats from the previous day onto one larger boat. The seats were more comfortable, you could stand up on the boat, and they served food and drinks in the back. On the boat as well were the guys I'd met from South Africa (Hello Jack!) one of whom was celebrating his birthday. They made quite a party of it, and it was a much more upbeat atmosphere than the day before. Once again the scenery was amazing with mountains, rock formations, fisherman, children playing and lots of water buffalo.

We arrived around Luang Prabang around 6 pm with just enough time to find a guesthouse and grab some street food before going to sleep.

I'm out of time. I guess this will have to be a two parter. Look tomorrow for more.

Lone Ranger Seeks Tonto

So, as hard as it was to get to Pai, it's even harder to leave. Not because there aren't buses out of here, but because it's just so comfortable. After less than a week here you start to feel like a local. I know quite a few of the natives by name now, and have befriended a number of other travelers. Everywhere I go in town I seem to know someone. I met a guy named David who is traveling from Northern Ireland, and we spent part of the day yesterday helping a friend arrange the furniture at a restaurant she just bought.

I've moved bungalows for a third time since getting here and am now outside of the city limits (just across a bridge). I'm staying in a quaint little hut that looks over the river and the mountains for 150 baht (about 4$ US) a night. The owner is an British ex-pat named Milo who runs the place with his girlfriend. They just opened up five days ago and only have four rooms so it's very, cozy and casual. The food in the restaurant isn't bad either, and they have a bunch of movies you can watch whenever you feel like it.

Ian and Kathy headed home yesterday marking a milestone in my trip: I'm now officially on my own. I had a great time traveling with them, and it was sad to see them go. I wish they could have at least gone on to Lao with me as we've been hearing such great things about it from other people. I probably could have used the company on the two day slow boat I'll be taking to Luang Prabang, too.

I rented a scooter again today and have been exploring some of the outer areas of the surrounding countryside. Driving downtown is a little tricky, but once your outside the city it's a piece of cake.

Well, the next few days may be spotty in terms of updates as I'll be preparing to leave Pai, and then on the slow boat for two days. I'll try to update if I can.

Northern Exposure

So we've headed north now. It took some time but we finally made it up to Chang Mai. Chang Mai is an interesting place. It's a city, but nothing like Bangkok. Much more laid back. It's full of old temples, bookstores, monks, and bars run by British and Australian ex-patriots.

Our first night in Chang Mai we checked into the Janya guests. It was not a good experience. The beds were hard, the toilets didn't work, and the food in the restaurant downstairs was not so good. We only stayed in the Janya for one night, but one might was one too many. We did however meet a friendly young British guy named Sam. He'd been trying to make it up to Pai (our next destination) for several days, but was having trouble leaving Chang Mai. Not trouble in the "I can't book a bus," sense of the word, but in the "I love this place I can't leave," sense.

We ourselves only stayed two nights in Chang Mai before moving on. We used our one full day there to explore some temples, browse some bookstores and check out the infamous Night Market.

The Night Market could not have been a bigger disappointment. You see, our first night in Chang Mai we thought we found the Night Market, but it turned out we went to the wrong location. What we had found was a market that actually catered to locals. No bartering, no Beer Chang t-shirts, and very few tourists. When we finally found the real Night Market the next night it was just a long strip of stalls selling the exact same tourist garbage we'd found in Bangkok. Even though we had gone to the wrong market the first night, it really was the better one.

On the 19th we took a bus up to Pai. Pai is a smallish town up in the mountains with cool weather, natural hot springs, lots and lots of hippies. The bus ride to Pai was windy and steep, but nothing next to the white knuckle experience we'd been led to believe it was. People, I believe, have a tendency to exaggerate.

After checking into a guesthouse with bungalows right on the river, we wandered the town to look for some nightlife. We ended up bumping into a Canadian couple from Toronto who had been riding on the same bus as us (Dino and Vincent - yes those really are their names) and chatted with them for a while. They've recently married after being together for 22 years (22!), and couldn't be more charming. And to think people believe allowing gay couples to wed will destroy the institute of marriage. We parted ways only to bump into them again later that night at what we've come to believe is one of the hidden jems of Pai - the Mobile Bar.

The mobile bar is a vendor cart that serves beer, wine, and cocktails on the side of the road. That's right Seattle - as hard as it is to get a liquor license in our home town, these people can sell it right on the side of the street. The two girls who run the place are animated and personable. They have a drink called "Forget Your Home," that they claim will help you do just that. We met a number of characters that night, both local and foreign and had a great time.

The next day we rented scooters and rode around the town. We went to a waterfall, a natural hot springs, and then watched the sunset at a canyon. Later that night we ran into our friend Sam from Chang Mai (he finally made it!) and met up with some other travelers at a place called the Bamboo Hut.

The next day (today) was chock full of activities. We started off the morning with an elephant ride. Kathy did a lot of research and happened to find a place where the animals are treated extremely well. They have a rotation of animals that they use and let them live freely part of the time in the jungle. I got to ride in front on the elephants neck which was much less stable than the further back seats. After an hour in the nearby hills we got to ride through the river. Then the elephants sprayed us all down with water. I got pretty soaked, but that wasn't the end of it. As a bit of a prank the elephant wranglers told the elephant sit down in the river and we all fell off. Thankfully the water was shallow, so it was a good laugh.

After this we took a two hour pickup ride up to a huge limestone cavern nearby. Much of the cavern is foot deep in water so they have bamboo rafts that you ride through to certain areas and guides who carry gas lanterns and show you through the caves. We saw the largest spider I've ever seen in my life (ones at zoo's included), and heard a lot of bats. We thought for sure it would be cold in the caves but it turned out it was actually warmer than it was outside. I worked up a nice sweat and an appetite, and had a nice curry dinner after the ride home.

The Best Laid Plans

So, I should be in Chang Mai right now, but as any traveler can tell you, sometimes things are a little beyond your control. We left Ko Chang at 8 am to catch a 9 am ferry, and then a 11 am bus to Bangkok. We had tickets booked to fly to Chang Mai at 9:00 pm. Considering the bus trip was supposed to last four or five hours we should have had plenty of time right? Wrong.

First off the bus left late, and made several unplanned stops, before finally breaking down on the side of the highway in the sweltering heat. It took well over an hour before someone showed up to repair the bus, and when they finally did it took another twenty minutes or so to get going. Long story short, we pulled into Bankok at 8:30 pm with not nearly enough time to make it to the airport.

Since we got in so late, most of the decent guesthouses were already booked. I ended up spending 250 baht (about $6) to stay at the "Maco Polo Hostel." The room was so suspect that I slept with the lights on.

Ian and I stayed out until 3am trying to wrangle the three of us new tickets to Chang Mai. Can you believe there was a travel agent open at 2am? We eventually got tickets for later the next afternoon. So next time you hear from me I should be in a cooler, relaxing, more moderate climate. I hope. But like I said, sometimes things are a little beyond our control.