Chad Things

As i mentioned earlier, Laos is my favorite country in SE Asia. Lemme say it again - I love Laos. It has the least population (8 million), the most chill people, tons of mountains and nature, cheap everything (shirts/goods, food, beer, lodging, busses), and some of the tastiest food as well. I’m here in Luang Prabang and almost every meal here is awesome, the town is great to look at (temples, flowers, colonial architecture), and things are just so inexpensive. More on that in my LPB blog.

So let me briefly recap my Lao adventures. I’ve already covered Vientiane and a bit of Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng, altho full of backpackers, was a great little town. We stayed at Maylyn guesthouse, in a beautiful little wooden bungalow surrounded by trees and a creek, 15 min walk from town. In town they had tastee food and plenty of internet, including a spot that would load up your Ipod with movies ($2 each). And really just one really tasteee place - the Organic Farm Cafe - ate there 4 times, having salads, soups, curry, sticky rice, bacon and eggs (yes, bacon, tastier than most spots in America). The cafe is in town, but 3km north is the Organic Farm where they get their goods. The farm also helps out the villages, providing a community center, english school, and a school bus. Hurray. We also explored many caves and swimming holes - my favorite was the Poukham cave lagoon. Awww yeah. And one day we got our drink on and tube on - Could be the most fun day i’ve had all trip. It involved tubing less than half the time, mostly jumping off swings into the river, drinking beer lao, and meeting other travelers. I even played volleyball at one of the many drinking spots along the river.

After Vang Viang we continued north to Luang Prabang, or LPB. We spent about 4 days here, including my 100th day of my trip. On my 100th day we went to Kuang Si Waterfalls, ate traditional Lao food at Tamarind, and got our drink on at Lao Garden and HIVE bar. Shayna also decided she was going to fly back to Bangkok from LPB, freeing up more time for us to spend in Lao. We also saw a great perfomance at the Lao Theatre, got plenty of massages and some internet time.

Next we began our real adventure - Bus to Luang NamTha. 2 beautiful nights at The Boat Landing, and a 3 Day Trek thru Nam Ha National Park. We went with Green Discovery for the Trek, and glad we did - the guides was great. Xay (?), the lead guide, was Lao but spoke english well, he would stop and tell us facts about the plants and stories about the hill tribes. Luckily we got rained out while we hiked. No, i’m not being sarcastic. If it weren’t for the rain, i’d die from the heat. And its not so bad to hike in the rain if you have a poncho. Makes the sweat seem unimportant. We also had a great team of 8 tourists on the trek, making the bug-filled accommodation more of an adventure and less of an annoyance.  The bugs included spiders, ants, and all sorts of flying things. But the worst was the leeches. Oh, how i hate leeches - not as much as cockroaches - now i can grab a leech with my fingers and roll him up and flick him away. But in the beginning of the trek everyone was getting leeches on them .. on the legs, arms, back .. and … yes, even the private parts. Guess who won that prize. Yep, I get the gold star. Luckily the leech already let go by the time i noticed my blood covered underwear. Ewww!!!!! At the time i freaked out, but once i dealt with it .. the worst was over. I wasnt that afraid of them anymore. But the coolest thing on the trek was how fast our guides whipped out a bamboo and banana leaf structure so we could have lunch out of the rain. In like 10 mins they cut down bamboo to make the frame, and a bunch of 3-6 foot banana leaves for the roof. Plus one leaf to throw on the ground as our lunch table. Then out comes the sticky rice, chicken, and vegies. Mmm-mmm. Suffice to say, It was an exhausting and invigorating journey and i’d recommend it to anyone. Once we got back in to town Beer Lao never tasted so good. The whole gang went for Indian Food later, but it sucked. Good thing we had our beer Lao.

Our next trek was not as fun or adventurous, but was interesting nonetheless. We took a 4 hour bus from Luang NamTha up to Muang Sing, a small town near the chinese border. From there we took a 2 day trek thru a government run operation that was cheaper than green discovery. This one was not as strenuous, but we spent alot ore time in the hill tribe villages (which is what i wanted). Our guides were nice but not nearly as informative as the Green Discovery guides. But the number of kids that were friendly to us in the Akha Puli and Hmong villages was astounding. You can tell that plenty of tourists had paved the way before us, but the kids were still excited to interact with us (aka see themselves on a digital camera). I got some of my best shots on this trek. We spent the night in an Akha Puli village called Pawaikao, nestled at the top of a small mountain. We got to drink their lao lao (rice whiskey) and all got massages after dinner. Besides shayna and me, there were 2 others - a girl from Israel and a girl from Denmark, both just recently traveled through China.

After the Muang Sing and the 2 day trek we headed back down to LPB, spending the night in Oudom Say on the way down. Once we got to LPB, we had 2 nights together before shayna left for cali (you know that part), then i spent the next 3 days chillin in LPB. Eating, biking, and uploading pics. One day i biked 60km to the waterfall and back. I pushed myself to edge on that one, eating a ton later that night at dinner. And the day i was supposed to leave, Sarah Bates shows up! So i had to stay one more extra day so we could catch up. We ate some tastee food and checked out LPB from on high.

I left LPB on a slow boat to the Thai Border. It’s a 2 day trip, stopping at Pakbeng the first night and the Lao town of Huoay Xai on the second night, which is right across the river from Chiang Khong, Thailand. The boat ride was a great way to leave Laos - sitting and chilling and looking at beautifull mountains, villages, and river action (fishing, monks swimming, beaches, etc). I admit, the second day i was tired of looking and read 200 pages of my book, finishing it.

Now i’m in Chiang Mai. I woke up in Laos yesterday, made it here last night, and just finished writing this entry. Chiang Mai is cool, too, but its a big city (1.6 million), and i definitely feel different. Its like all of Laos was chill mountains and small towns and now i’m back in the big city. I like cities and all, but i definitely love Laos the best.

Watch out for people trying to overthrow the Laos government.  Or watch out for the Laos government - as people can disappear.

Oh, and i updated my Itinerary again.

LPB, aka Luang Prabang, Laos, is my favorite city in SE Asia. I started to write all these wonderful things, but my last day there my rental bike was stolen by the thief (they warned by about being stolen by the thief). So that sucked. But besides that, and that it could get really hot, I loved it. I loved the green trees and grass, the red flowers, the colonial architecture and traditional Laos Temples (a Wat), the magnificent views from on top of the big hill in the middle of downtown, and less than an hour away was the beautiful and fun Kuang Si Waterfalls. Plus the town had plenty of good shopping, internet, inexpensive massages (oh yeah), and .. delicious food.

I loved the food. You could go street style and eat entire meals for under a $1. Or goto a Lao restaurant and pay $1-$3 for dishes. Or you could splurge and have a meal great by western standards from $5 to $50. For example, at this french place i got chicken with mushrooms (I’m talking a nice, big, juicy chicken breast with sauteed mushroom sauce), buttered carrots with garlic (gotta have garlic in everything), pasta with garlic, salad, and bread for $5. And it was all good. Are you could totally splurge at one of the few really nice places like Apsara or L’Elephant and get a $20 or $40 bottle of wine to go with your $10-$20 meal. But my favorite (and shayna’s, too), was the LPB Restaraunt overlooking the Mekong river. Almost everything we ordered was really good, (i would order again), and cheap - even the beer lao was cheaper than most (8,000 kip - or $0.80 USD for 24oz). Some of my favorites include Laap (or Larp/Larb), LPB Sausage made from buffalo, Jeow + sticky rice, and the Laos Salad. Unlike the rest of asia, Laos made tastee salads with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, sometimes chicken or hard-boiled egg, and a zesty/creamy dressing. And the LPB Restaurant sat right on the banks of the Mekhong - beautiful view as you watch the sunset.

The shopping was great, too. I spent almost $200 on stuff, and about $100 to ship it home. Thats not including some shirts and other stuff i sent home with shayna. It does include a bunch of elephant slippers, clothes, and souvenir pipes, among other things. Everything was soo cheap, i couldn’t believe it. Some are gonna be presents, so i don’t want to divulge to much info. Needless to say, good place to buy gifts for friends and family.

The locals were nice, but it did feel like a tourist town. Most of the time when a local wanted to talk he wanted to take you somewhere in a tuk-tuk or boat. But a couple times i met people who just wanted to practice their english and perhaps show me their village. Sadly i never had the time .. they always caught me when i had stuff planned. However, Lao art was pretty common.  LPB had many arts/crafts stores, street vendors, and even an art exhibit - The Quiet In The Land. We also checked out a very well done cultural show - a type of dance/play with amazing costumes.

You really must see my LPB pictures to feel the LPB.

After 4 countries and 10 weeks of traveling with the lovely Shayna Cohen, today she got on a plane to head back to California. I’m still here in the beautiful town of Luang Prabang (more on my Laos adventures later). It’ll be another 2 months or so before i make it back to Cali.

This was our second big trip together - first was last fall when we did our month long road trip in my faithful Jetta. This time we spent even more time together - 10 weeks - and it was great. We saw tons of budhist temples, had cocktails in a roofless bar on top of a 60-story hotel, wandered through amazing religious ruins, took cooking classes together, learned to weave on a loom, hiked mountains together, saw amazing caves and other natural wonders, hung out with local kids on the beach in Cambodia, spent the night in hill village tribes, met tons of expats and tourists (some super super cool, some not), had many tasteee local beers, received many massages, endured the extreme heat, and rode planes, trains, buses, boats, motorcycles, and bicycles in all parts of SE Asia.

But most importantly, these last few weeks Shayna has made me really happy. And thats a really good thing. I will miss you these next 2 months, miss shay-coh.

I made it to Laos - Vietnam is Finished. I’ve been here only 5 days, but its already significantly different than the rest of SE Asia. The biggest thing is that there is way less people - almost nobody asking to buy something, rent a motobike, or .. “money?”. The other main reason i love this country is the mountains and clean air. Its kinda like Sapa .. but .. better.

Right now i’m Vang Vieng, a small backpacker town 4 hours north of Vientiane, the capital of Laos. We arrived in Vientiane on Saturday, spent a few days there, some in the rain, some with sun, all good fun. We checked out the Beer Lao Brewery - had the shortest brewery tour ever - only got to see the bottling section, about 5 mins. We also did a traditional Laos Weaving class - We got to dye some silk in Indigo, then spent the rest of the day weaving a pattern using a Loom. Looms are cool. Plus i just like to say the word … LOOM. Good name for a band. Anyway, I now have alot more respect for all hand weaved items. However, my favorite thing in Laos was the herbal sauna and massage. The herbal sauna is like a regular sauna with steam filling in a small room, but mixed with all kinds of herbs. I bet you never would have figured that out. Anyway, it left me feeling very invigorated. Alive. Then the massage made me relaxed. Alive and relaxed. Great combo.

Vietnam ended on a pretty good note - after Sapa we went to Hanoi and the famous Halong Bay. We only spent one night in Hanoi, checked out a water puppet show and had some tasty food. We took the 4 hour bus ride to Halong Bay and spent a night on one of the famous junk boats. It was gorgeous - the rock formations in the bay are quite unique, and there are hundreds of them. Sadly it is foggy 10 months out of the year, so you can’t see them all very clearly. We did get to go on one, inside a cool cave, kayak, swim, and do a little karaoke on the boat. Then we headed back to Hanoi, and the next day took a flight to Vientiane.

We just left Vientiane yesterday, so we plan on being here in Vang Vieng a few more days - need to do some tubing down the river and a bit more exploring. There is no rush, i’m enjoying the relaxed Laos vibe, friendly locals, beatiful countryside .. as well as the free wireless, the 50 cent mango shakes, $1 meals and beers. Then we head north to Luang Prabang, a day bus ride from here, then we’ll get into some more remote action in northern Laos. Then back to Thailand.

Still in Vietnam, and just got back from 10 beautiful days in Sapa. Mmmmm… Sapa. It’s a small town in the mountains north of Hanoi, and a must for anybody who goes to Vietnam - unless you hate mountains, fresh air, relaxed atmosphere, and colorful locals. We spent our days hiking around the hills and mountains, visiting waterfalls, renting moto-bikes and seeing the countryside, as well as sitting around inside reading on a few cloudy and rainy days. Yes, the weather was not perfect - but close. The people were great, too, except for the the “you buy from me?” we got from many local villagers who hang out on the street, in front of hotels and bars, trying to sell jewelry, arts, and crafts. Also, the food was not terrible, but definitely not great anywhere in sapa. But it has the cleanest air in vietnam, and definitely the best scenery. You really have to check out my flickr pictures tagged with Sapa to get a feel for it.

We didn’t plan on 10 days - we just happen to get up there before a big holiday weekend. April 30 is Liberation Day in Vietnam, where they were liberated from the Americans in 1975 (end of Vietnam war). The whole country gets 5 or 6 days off (maybe Thursday, and Friday-Tuesday), and everybody heads to the beach or to the mountains. When i asked vietnamese about the holidays, most didn’t really know what the holiday was for. I guess many americans don’t know labor day from memorial day - they are all just holidays.

The overnight train ride back to Hanoi was booked till after all those crazy kids left (i say crazy cuz all the male vietnamese were drunk the entire weekend) which made us do a 3 day 2 night homestay tour. And we’re both really glad we did - it was one of the most interesting parts of my entire trip. First night was in Ta Van, about 13km from Sapa down river, and the next night was another 15km or so down in a village called Ban Ho. They were 3 types of village people we saw, the H’mong, the Red Zao, and the Zai (not sure spelling). Most were H’mong, and i ended up buying a H’mong vest and pants. Our guide was On-Shee, a 17 year old H’mong girl who spoke quite good english (no education, just talking to tourists). Our homestay dinners were also the best food i’ve had in vietnam - 10-15 people sitting around 6-8 different dishes, all you can eat. Awww yeah. And the houses and beds were not that bad. Our view from our room at the Cat Cat Hotel was the best view in all of sapa, though. Definitely stay at that hotel if you’re going to make it to Sapa (thanks to Croan for tha tip).

Before Sapa we spent our time going up the coast of Vietnam. That was also quite nice. We were only in Saigon (HCMC, Ho Chi Minh City) for a couple days, then we spent 4 days in Mui Ne, a really nice beach town. We didn’t do much there, its a one road town with some nice resorts - just ate well, sat on the beach, swam a little bit, and relaxed. One hotel had a nice pool right by the water with the fastest wifi i’ve had in Asia. I love uploading pics, and i totally caught up there. Sihanoukville in Cambodia was the first time i got to chill, but not till Mui Ne did i felt like i caught up on my need to chill. Ya feel me?

After Mui Ne we spent 3 days in Hoi An, an old colonial city in central Vietnam. Yes, we skipped the beach town of Nha Trang - not interested in another semi-big city or snorkeling. Hoi An is known for good food, cheap, custom clothes, and colonial architecture. The city was a major trading stop between China and India/Europe for centuries. But the river is shallow, and about a hundred years ago the boats became too big to navigate the shallow river. As a result, Danang (just 100k north) became the trading city, and Hoi An froze in time. Shayna and i both bought some clothes here - i got a wool coat and she got a nice dress, shirt, and coat. All custom made for like $10 to $30. After Hoi An we worked our way to Hanoi, stopping for less than a day in Hue, which was quite nice. Saw the old citadel, an old pagoda, and got a better feel for some old school Vietnamese culture. We were only in Hanoi for a day before taking the night train to sapa. Ahhhh… Sa Pa … (every syl la bull is its own word here).

Tomorrow we do the famous Halong Bay, then Saturday we’re flying to Laos (Vientiene). We’ll prolly spend 2 weeks in Laos, then a week in Thailand before Shayna heads back to the good ol’ USA. Then i’ll prolly kick it in Thailand another week or two before India.

Cambodians speak better English than Vietnamese and maybe thai, based on my limited experience.  However, their written english is definitely much more entertaining - here’s some examples from water bottles

PURE DRINKING WATER - Water excels as fit for human consumption is Reverse Osmosis Pure Drinking Water Ultraviolet and Ozone System.

MOHACHAI Pure Drinking Water
Is Purified and Disinfected by R.O., Ozone, and UV process qualified for the drinking water in high quality.

Pure water, testing through DEIONNIZED highly isolating substance and germ, keeps in high quality.

I made it to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. So far we’re just in Saigon, ahem, i mean Ho Chi Minh City (locals still call it Saigon), which is the biggest city in Vietnam (greater metro area about 9 million peeps). Parts of the city are as clean and modern as any american city, but not all parts - its still apparent you’re in SE Asia. It is much nicer than Cambodia, but suprisingly not always more expensive. You can get a nice big bowl of delicious Pho (beef noodle soup) for like 40 cents. And already we found a place that has draft beers for 25 cents .. way cheaper than Cambodia. Moped taxis are also slightly cheaper, but i’m sure i was paying a tourist surcharge for things in Cambodia. Rooms are more ($10 for a nice AC room), and many restaurants charge american prices. I’m not really on a budget, but Shayna is, so finding a good deal is always welcome.

Our first night we hooked up with Shayna’s friend Kelly, from the states - she’s been living here over a year. She took us around to some eating, drinking and Karaoke spots. We met lots of locals and expats - their are alot of westerners here and they talk about how fast the city is growing and changing. The next day we slept in but the made it to the Royal palace (aka Reunification Palace). It was completed in 1966 but hasn’t been used or modified since 1975, when the war ended and the VC (north vietnam army) took over. It was interesting to be transported back in time to the 70s - the architecture of the place as well as seeing old radio equipment and helicopters and tanks. It was also interesting to learn how the Freedom Army Liberated Saigon from 1975. No civil war here, just the good Vietnamese versus the bad Americans and their Vietnamese sympathizers. After that i had some real tasty beef BBQ - i cooked the marinated beef right at the table. Besides the beef, the place had frog, crocodile, rats, crickets, snakes, and worms. Umm.. yeah.

Tomorrow we’re doing a tour of Mekong River, then the next day we’re leaving Saigon for the Vietnamese beach town of Mui Ne. Then we slowly work our way North (Hoi An, My Son) to Hanoi, Sapa, and Halong Bay, then to Laos after Vietnam.

Cambodia was great.  We spent 15 days there, visited 4 cities, saw Anciet Ruins, villagers in the coutryside, the beach, and the busting city of Phenom Penh.  It is cheaper than Thailand, but not everywhere, and if you’re not careful you can pay american prices for things.  The people were really friendly, smiling while waving hello, especially the kids. There were kids everywhere - 40% of the population is under 15.  There was also plenty of expats and a few modern conveniences to remind you of home (yes, i enjoyed the big AC mall by the bus station in PP). There were some sad aspects - people missing limbs (from old land mines) and some general disfigurement, and they did hassle you for money alot, so it was not perfect, but not so much in your face that i had to leave.   I really only got annoyed when i was trying to relax on the beach and they kept coming up.  But at places like Angkor Wat, I was glad to have ones selling a cold drink (it was really hot the whole time in cambodia, april is like their hottest month).  There were lots of organizations trying to help cambodians - orphanages to businesses employing homeless are people who need help in one way or another.  It was good to be able to funnel money through something like that which you could trust, as opposed to a kid on the street, who get exploited by many adults.

To recap the journey, we spent 5 days in Siem Reap, getting 3-day pass to Angkor Wat.  I recommend the 3-day pass, but if you’re not a big fan of ruins, the 1-day pass would suffice.  We then do a boat to Battambang (boat was way more scenic than bus), spent a couple nights there, taking a khmer cooking class and a ride in the countryside, before heading south to the beach.  We spent 4 nights at Sihanoukville (the beach), mostly chilling and eating, then 4 nights in Phnom Penh, where we saw the killing fields and learned more about the horrible Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge.  Even though he lost control of the country in 1979, there was still fighting till 1993.  So it’s only been a little over a decade since cambodians have felt … free.  But the attitude is still live for the present.

My favorite things include the friendliness of the people - they’re always around, either trying to sell you something (usually bad), but good if you need something; obviously the magic of Angkor Wat, the good, cheap food; easy, cheap transportation; our clean beach room and nice sand; our beautiful lakeside place in Phnom Penh, and the monkeys of Wat Phnom.

If you’re going to SE Asia, definitely goto Cambodia.

Three .. is the magic number .. yes it is, its the magic number.

Greetings from Cambodia - Shayna and I are in Phnom Penh, the capital, and its great. We’ve spent about 2 weeks in Cambodia, first seeing Angkor Wat, then by boat to Battambang, a city most tourists don’t hit, then by bus down to the beaches of Sihanoukville. Our cooking class in Battambang was great, as was the countryside - seeing how most of Cambodians live. But the beach was my favorite - we stayed at a very nice guesthouse 50 meters from the beach, everything we needed was right there - white soft sand, clear ocean waters, cold beverages, Asian and western food, and lots of kids - both annoying by when selling but fun when they played with us. Shayna wrote more on her blog.

So what about 3 dollars? Well, lemme tell ya. Cambodia is cheap. Cheaper than Thailand and prolly anywhere else in the world. Here’s what you can get for 3 bucks:

• Bus from the beach (Sihanoukville) to Phenom Penh (4 hours, actually $3.50)
• Hotel room in one of the many lakeside guesthouses in Phnom Penh ($2-$4 a night)
• Good Asian meal ($2) and a cold beer ($1) anywhere in Cambodia
• Tuk-Tuk (taxi) to anywhere in any city ($1-$3)
• 1-hour massage in Phnom Penh.
• Most any book from street vendors
• 2 CDs (albums) downloaded to your iPod from Boom Boom Room
• 2 T-shirts from the Russian market (one Tiger beer, one Angkor beer)
• many more …

So ya see, not a bad spot to live. Sadly, we leave in 2 days to goto Vietnam. But i hear they have great Pho!

I made it to Cambodia. My 5th Country on my RTW tour, after Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, and Thailand. So far we’ve only checked out western Cambodia, Siam Reap, and Angkor Wat - the largest religous structure in the world. Angkor Wat is actually one of many temples in the region, but also the name of the park housing all the temples. One of the others, Ta Prohm, was used in the filming of Tomb Raider. I definitely like Angkor Wat the best, its columns, hundreds of door frames, carvings, and sheer size - big enough to get lost in. But Ta Prohm was more interesting due to the jungle immediately surrounding it - trees are literally gorwing out and on the walls. At moments the tourists become overwhelming, you can barely walk, and at other moments you might not see any. Shayna was here in 2003 and would see only 30 people in all of Angkor Wat, whereas now you’re lukcy if you see less than 300 at any given time of day.

The town of Siam Reap is quite nice and more modern than expected - 10 years ago it was nothing more than huts and dirt roads, and now has dozens of high-end hotels, plenty more of the cheaper guest houses, western and cambodian bars and restaraunts, 24-hr ATMs, internet, at least 2 free wi-fi cafes (i’m at one called Figo right now), and markets where you can buy everything from mopends to rice, fish, shirts, and jewelry.

After Siam Reap we plan to head to Battambang and then the capital, Phnom Penh. Perhaps a detour to some Cambodian beaches, then its to the land of Vietnam for a month, then Laos, then back to Thailand.

BTW, I updated my Round the World Itinerary to arrive back in the USA at the end of July, instead of end of June.