Chiang Mai

I don't want to leave you hanging...so now picture me sound asleep for a good portion of what ended up being a 14 hour bus trip to Huay Xai, apparently missing all kinds of drama like a guy being hit with a large air conditioner panel, a girl being doused with water from the same air conditioner, a special stop to deal with the situation, me still sound asleep (no surprise to Roni I'm sure), a successful arrival and overnight stay in Huay Xai, a very short trip across the Mekong to Chiang Khong and a 6 hour bus journey to Chiang Mai where I rest peacefully awaiting the arrival of Vania and Nate tomorrow.  You won't hear from me until sometime after they leave on the 27th.  So till then.  Peace out...Jan

Loving Laos!

I was in Vientiane when you last heard from me.  I spent one more day seeing temples, roaming around town and sitting by the Mekong eating dinner listening to Rhinestone Cowboy and Islands in the Stream before catching the bus to Vang Vieng.  Vang Vieng...Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde.  Let me explain.  Dr. Jekyll...the nature/scenery around Vang Vieng is stunning.  Beautiful limestone mountains veiled in mist and the Nam Song River running right beside them.  Mr. Hyde...a 24 hour frat party where reruns of Friends is played on every restaurant/bar TV in town and hung-over lobotomized zombies stare at it just waiting for Rachael or Monica to give them a command.  It's truly bizarre.  I heard there was tubing down the river and was really interested until I saw everyone come back with all kinds of crazy shit written all over them in black marker and learned that all the way down the river were bars (I know it sounds good, but there's a catch) pumping really load techno music.  Needless to say I headed 7km out of town for a little authenticity.  I met Lily (hi buddy) and Rami, a couple from NYC who are traveling before moving to South Africa, and Gunter and Brigita, a retired German couple (they are very young at heart and much more active than me), on the bus to Vang Vieng.  Well, long story short, we all ended up at the Vang Vieng Eco Lodge.  We ate breakfast and dinner together and did our own thing during the day.  My own thing was to walk around the grounds and chill on my porch with a Beerlao taking in the stunning view.  Let's just say their "own thing" was much more active.  Our location on the river was the hub of village river activity.  It was a crossing point where a small wooden boat shuttled locals and their wares from one side to the other, people bathed, caught their dinner, weaved rattan, etc.  Much more interesting than the alternative in town.  Nature seems to be haunting me.  I went to my porch to chill after having breakfast with everyone, I stretched out in my chair, got all settled in and I see something hanging from the ceiling of my porch...a five foot long snake skin that some nice snake decided on shed at my house!  Why am I being haunted by animals?  Gunter thinks maybe they feel safe because I don't eat meat.  When he and Brigita came back from their day out I had him come over to take a look, he was thrilled.  He removed the skin from the ceiling, folded it up nicely, placed it in an empty sunglass case and intends to take it back to Germany.  I did end up staying in town one night because I had to go in to decide where I was going next, buy my onward ticket and use the internet.  I ran into a couple different people I knew (Khalid and Faith) and met a few new people so it wasn't so bad.  From Vang Vieng it was on to Luang Prabang; a beautiful UNESCO World Heritage City.  I took the seven hour bus trip during the day and ended up sitting next to Gunter where we sweated profusely in the back seat of the bus with the sun beating down on us (no air-con) as it wound up and down the twisting mountain road.  Some poor local man was throwing up the entire time.  I arrived in Luang Prabang that evening and had to look for a place to stay.  I went in the tuk tuk to a hotel with Gunter and Brigita but when we got there we learned that the Lonely Planet was horribly out of date and instead of $15 the rooms were now $30, out of my budget.  They stayed, I left.  I managed to get myself all turned around and headed through the night market to a different part of town than I intended but it worked out great.  I found a nice home at the Mekong Moon Inn for a whooping $9.41 per night including private bath and TV with HBO, excellent.  I got showered and went to the night market food stalls for dinner.  I was sitting there drinking a beer and having delicious fresh spring rolls when up walked Rami and Lily.  We hung there for awhile and then headed to Hive Bar for a quick beer and listened to bluegrass/country music by what turned out to be a guy from Arkansas and one from Colorado who had just met in Luang Prabang and did a couple gigs together (I know this because I had drinks with the one from Arkansas the next night).  I made plans with Rami and Lily to meet the next night for dinner and headed home to bed before the midnight curfew.  We still aren't sure how strictly they enforce it but since everything closes at 11:30 you don't have much choice but to head home anyway.  The curfew is outlined in a memo posted in all the hotels outlining a number of government rules which include no sex with anyone who isn't your spouse and no making pornographic movies in your room.  The next day I went to a boat load of temples including Wat Tham Phu Si which is 328 steps up Mount Phusi!  The temples here are beautiful; they are covered in murals, mosaics and reliefs.  That night I met Rami and Lily as planned and they had emailed Gunter and Brigita so they joined us for dinner at the night market.  An entire meal at the market including a huge beer will probably set you back about $3.  We hooked up with a couple people they met traveling and some of their friends and went out for one more Beerlao before racing home just in time to meet curfew.  The next morning I went to one more temple and then took a mini-van out to the Kwang Si waterfall...stunning, refreshing, excellent.  After unnecessarily climbing a rough rocky trail and stairs practically to the top of the multi-tiered waterfall I realized that you couldn't get to the top pools to swim unless you were willing (and able) to climb up the rapids so I dragged my ass back to the bottom and found an easily accessible pool and dove in.  That night it was back to the night market where I ran into some of the people from the previous night along with Pablo and Frank from Vang Vieng and hung with them for dinner.  The next day I was lazy and just chilled around town, of course meeting up with the same group for dinner that evening.  This morning I was up early to see the monks getting alms at 6:00 am.  Now I'm posting this blog entry and killing time before my 12 hour (which probably means 14) overnight bus journey to Huay Xai.  Huay Xai is the border town in Laos across the Mekong from Chiang Khong Thailand.  I'm slowly making my way to Chiang Mai to meet Vania and Nate on the 21st.  Now you can picture me winding down a dark Laos road (probably not getting much sleep) on a never ending bus journey to the border.  Peace out...Jan

Near my cabin in Vang Vieng

Our cabins at Vang Vieng Eco Lodge

Up to the top pool at Kwang Si

My swimming hole at Kwang Si

Buddha mural in a Luang Prabang Temple

Temple relief in Luang Prabang

Monks receiving alms on a misty Luang Prabang morning

Xieng Khuan

I went to this crazy sculpture park yesterday about 25km outside of Vientiane called Xieng Khuan (spirit city).  This yogi-priest-shaman guy built a bunch of giant Buddhist and Hindu sculptures in an attempt to unite the two faiths.  Take a look.  Peace out...Jan

Paradise, Monetary Ejection from Paradise, Up the Coast & Laos

First things first...CONGRATULATIONS Babe I and Babe II (Vania & Nate).  I hope it was a most excellent day!  I can't wait for "our" honeymoon in Chiang Mai! 

I guess it's about time I told you where I've been.  When I lasted posted I had landed in PAR-A-DISE!  It was excellent!  Beyond excellent.  The water was extraordinary, the food was Thai (enough said), the weather was perfect, my bungalow was amazing and I made some great friends.  I was in heaven, I'm not sure I can make this point strongly enough.  When I was on Langkawi I had taken Malaysian Ringet out of the ATM thinking I was going to stay there for awhile, we all know that didn't happen.  Just before I boarded the speed boat to Koh Lipe I exchanged all my Ringet for Baht (Thai money).  So, I'm on Koh Lipe, wallowing in the glory of this spectacular island when it dawns on me that I only have a certain amount of Thai Baht, I don't want to use the few emergency dollars I brought and there are no ATMs on the island...my days are numbered.  I did some high finance (don't worry Synda, not as complex as the Peso) and figured I had about five nights of money including a ticket out of paradise before I was kicked off the island, Survivor style.  My new BFFs, originally posted as "the Germans", Daniel, Eva and Riccardo were on the island three nights.  They were great fun!  We would hang at sunrise beach all day and in the evenings meet at this delicious restaurant for dinner before heading over to sunset beach to lay in the sand on mats with pillows, candlelight, cocktails and great music.  One day on the beach they pulled out a score card, dice and a cup and were ready to teach me how to play this German game called Kniffel.  Well folks Kniffel is Yahtzee!  I don't know why, but let me tell you it's just more fun screaming KNIFFEL!  It's probably a good thing that I couldn't get more money because I would have probably stayed forever!  I bought a ticket for the five and a half hour ferry to Koh Lanta in hopes that it would have even half the paradise factor of Koh Lipe, sorry no.  It was an ok place, the locals were really nice and I met another traveler Sofia who I had dinner with one night but the beach didn't even remotely compare.  I'll give credit where it's due, it had beautiful sunsets.  I checked into a little bungalow just a couple minutes walk off the beach.  The first night I totally crashed, slept through the whole night like a baby, but in the morning noticed a long piece of toilet paper on the ground in my indoor/outdoor bathroom (key part of the story, indoor/outdoor).  I thought I must have accidentally dropped it so I put it in the trash and didn't give it a second thought.  I went to reception and booked for two more nights thinking I would just chill a couple days before heading to what I feared was a very commercial Krabi.  Well, I went to bed the second night and around 3:00 am I heard scratching and digging...animal sounds!  They were coming from my bathroom!  I suddenly realized that I didn't "accidentally" drop the toilet paper, this animal must have pulled it out of my bathroom trash can.  I couldn't sleep!  I pushed my suitcase and the bedroom trash can up against the bathroom door to cover the two inch gap between me and the creature and told myself I was going to have to hold it till morning.  I banged on the wall and door to try and scare it away but it kept coming back.  I had the added pleasure while I was awake of hearing some crazy French guy moaning and screaming.  Finally at 6:00 am when the sun started to come up it seemed to finally go away (nocturnal I suppose) and I went to sleep.  When I woke up I found that it had taken my empty water bottle out of the trash and moved my small bar of soap off the four foot high sink to a hole in the ground it had dug over in the "garden portion" of my indoor/outdoor bathroom.  I talked to "A" (yes that's his name, he works at the hotel) during breakfast and told him there was an animal in my bathroom room at night and asked him if he knew what it was.  He said a name but I had no idea what he was talking about.  I asked if it was more like a rat or more like a lizard...he said more like a lizard but it isn't dangerous.  I had conjured up all kinds of crazy images in my head of what this lizard thing might look like, yikes.  I also asked him about the screaming.  He told me it's some French guy who's been there awhile who gets drunk and does that sometimes.  That night before I went to dinner with Sofia I used the plunger to fill the hole that the monster had dug, put some small rocks all around it and topped it off with the plunger.  I returned from dinner and there was a new hole!  I called Vania to wish her a happy wedding day (midnight for me) and then hit the sack, praying that Godzilla had visited me early that night and had moved onto someone else's bathroom...no such luck.  That night was even worse.  This time in addition to the usual sounds there was another something on the roof of my bungalow clawing and scratching!  I pounded on the walls hoping to send it away, which worked for awhile, but then it was back.  I went crazy, slamming the front door, banging on the walls and bathroom door and screaming.  I guess I was just crazy enough because that time it left for good and I didn't hear anymore activity in the bathroom either.  Maybe that's why the Frenchman screams, no?  So with little sleep for two nights I got up in the morning and headed to the ferry for the two hour ride up the coast to Ao Nang (Krabi).  The view from the ferry was gorgeous; beautiful limestone karsts jutting up out of the sea, stunning.  When I arrived I checked into a little basic bungalow that I had "A" book for me before I left Koh Lanta and called my new BFFs "the Germans" to let them know I was in town.  They were going elephant trekking that morning so we made a date to meet at the Starbucks (yes, that's how commercial it is) that afternoon.  It was great to see them.  We headed up to their hotel, a little outside of town in the jungle and spent the day at the pool.  The next morning I moved to another hotel closer to town with air-conditioning, wow, luxury!  After that we were off to Poda Island for the day.  It actually had really pretty water but was loaded with boats filled with people from snorkeling tours.  The good news is that by 1:00 the crowds and small jellyfish had dissipated and it was really nice.  When we got back to Ao Nang we all wanted a coffee and snack before heading back to the pool.  There's a hotel when you come up off the beach that Eva and Riccardo like to sneak into and take a quick dip to wash off the salt.  The three of us were going to sneak in while Daniel went to exchange money.  We were walking along the edge of the pool when all of a sudden Eva slips and falls and is clutching her hand.  We scoop up Eva, pile into the hotel van and head to the clinic where with a mix of German (Daniel and Eva) and English (Me, the Dr. and Daniel) we were able to assess the situation and get her diagnosis...it's broken.  I've never seen such a good sport (maybe Lime in Mexico with his toe).  The Dr. put a brace on it and said she could either go to Phuket or Bangkok to the private hospital or just keep it in the brace till she gets home in five days, that's what she did.  When we left the clinic she still wanted to get coffee, came to dinner that night and did everything else as if nothing had happened and all with a big smile on her face, amazing.  The next day we took a boat over to Railay Beach for the day but the water was warm/murky and there were too many people so we stayed for a few hours and then went back to the pool for the afternoon.  After four nights I had to GTS (get to steppin) because my Thai visa expired on March 6th (you only get two weeks when you enter overland without a pre-approved visa).  I booked an overnight bus ticket for March 4th from Krabi to Bangkok.  I arrived March 5th on the Khao San Road at 6:00 am (people were still drinking) and I checked into a hotel for the day so I could dump my luggage, shower and swim in the pool before I got on another overnight bus that evening heading to Nong Khai and across the border to Vientiane Laos.  That's where I am now... I love it here!  It's really small and quiet, it's Asian/colonial, it has tons of temples and I love my hotel (shout out to Hotel Khamvongsa)!  Yesterday I just relaxed and walked around the city getting the lay of the land.  I was a little tired after two overnight buses (shockingly not that comfortable).  Today I've been to Vat Sisaket, Vat Ho Phra Keo, That Dam and had a delicious baguette stuffed with fired egg and veggies from one of the street vendors (thanks to the French for the delicious pastries and baguettes).  I must say the coffee here is delicious and the Beerlao is cold and really cheap.  It works perfectly, one to get me up in the morning and a few to put me to sleep at night, excellent!  I'm headed to Stupa That Luang in a little while for sunset.  I'm here for a few days before heading to Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang.  So picture me in Laos zenned out at temples and zoned out on Beerlao.  Till next time.  Peace out...Jan

Riccardo on Koh Lipe

View from Poda Island

The gang out to dinner in Ao Nang

One of the many Buddha statues in Vientiane