is SO expensive. (like, Canada expensive) But it has definitely been worth it!
Our adventures began in Indonesian Borneo in a city called Tarakan. We were mainly just there in transit (although, it didn't really seem like there was alot to see anyway). From there, we hopped on a boat with some crazy friendly Indonesians who were travelling in a massive group for a weekend holiday in Kota Kinabalu). They shared their food and water with us and some of the guys taught Andrew how to play a local card game! We arrived on the Malaysian side and caught a bus straight up to our first stop; Semporna.
Most people visit Semporna for the world-class diving on the islands just off its coast (particularly Sipadan)..and we were no different. (actually, we only wanted to snorkel -same same!) However, we arrived to discover that we were supposed to have booked snorkelling on Sipadan 2 weeks - 1 month in advance. Oops. The island is a national nature reserve and the government limits the number of people visiting the island to 120/day (and charges a heck of an entrance fee as well!) Luckily, there had been a cancellation and 2 spots opened up for 2 days after we got there. Unfortunately, because we're crazy, we didn't have 2 extra days to wait about Semporna so in the mean time we hopped on a bus (5 hrs) to Sepilok to see Orangutans, spent the night in Sandakan and hopped on another bus back to Semporna the following day. It was a lot of bus.
Sipadan was SO worth it. Since it's a protected area, the coral and fish are incredible! The water is crystal clear and the marine life is overwhelming. We swam alongside huge sea turtles and up to schools of hundreds of fish. (There were a few bazillion itsy bitsy jellyfish as well, to which I sacrificed my arms and legs). We also saw a shark or two. It was absolutely brilliant-if anyone has the chance to go, do it!
After snorkelling we jumped on a very squishy night bus to Kota Kinabalu (K.K.) It was a 9 hr ride with the bonus of a flat tire, but we arrived safely.
The original plan in K.K was to climb Mt. Kinabalu which looms an impressive 4000 metres above sea level. We only had 3 nights in K.K before flying into the jungle to go trekking. Since it takes two days/one night to climb I decided to spare my sanity (and likely Andrew's as well) and gave the mountain climbing a miss. Andrew went up -apparently it was absolutely spectacular up there. But he had to climb to the summit and all the way back down the day before we woke up at 4:30am to catch a flight into the jungle. I did enjoy a few lovely days of coffees on the seaside, meandering through local markets, and exploring different corners of the town. I'll have to come back one day to conquer Mt. K...maybe...
Ok, following K.K we flew to Gunung Mulu National Park (no leeches to report!). It's in the Southern province of Malaysian Borneo. (Sarawak) The only way to access the park is by airplane or a boat journey up river that takes a full day. For those of you who are familiar with the series Planet Earth, the park is featured in one of the episodes, primarily for the impressive caves found in the area. We, of course, visited several of the show caves. One of them, called Deer Cave, is the 2nd largest cave passage in the world (it was the first, until a larger one was discovered in Vietnam last year). In addition to being massively impressive, it is also home to about 3 million bats (and, I should add, a lot of bat poo). Craziness! Most days in the early evening (5-6ish) you can see an incredible Bat Exodus as thousands of the creatures fly out in spiralling wave formations to hunt for food....We saw them!!!!! It was SO cool! (Don't worry, I have about 500 pictures of the little black dots in the sky to show you when I get home :)
We visited about 6 different caves and they were all very different and impressive. The park offers adventure caving too but it must be booked in advance (no way around it this time :( There were also lots of creepy crawlies. I saw the largest beetle I've ever seen in my life. (I didn't even know there was such a thing) Seriously, this thing was HUGE. It had horns. It was in our dorm. Fun times.
There were also large flying things of sorts, huge centipedes/milipedes, geckos and lizards galore, giant snails, and nasty looking spiders. Everything is so big there that sometimes I felt like a character in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Slightly disturbing at times, we mostly had a series of wonderful adventures.
We're now back in K.K, getting ready to fly to the Philippines tomorrow! It should be good -I can't believe we have less than 3 weeks to go!
Sunday 5 December 2010
Thursday 2 December 2010
Argh
I just spent a good 30 minutes writing a lovely update for you lovely people on our Borneo adventures....and then Blogspot ate it. :( Actually, it just booted me out and didn't save anything. So after considering rewriting and then considering sleeping...I've decided on sleeping. It's okay though -it just means it'll be that much better when I actually write the post. We have a flight into the Malaysian jungle at 6am tomorrow. I hope there aren't leeches.
Wednesday 24 November 2010
I Went Surfing and Survived Lah!!!
After our not-so-sunny days on the islands of Southern Thailand, we had to divert our plans due to some pretty terrible flooding -the worst in 10 years. We ended up flying from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur and so begins our Malayzing experience (that was Andrew's contribution).
KL was a pretty cool city. We spent most of our time there in malls. Yep, regular, unexciting shopping malls. I don't really know why. Anyway, we did go up the Petronas towers (which happen to loom over a mall....this may have had something to do with it) which are something like the 3rd tallest buildings in the world. AND explore the city quite extensively on foot. This was interspersed of course with the eating of delicious food and the buying of pretty things. :)
After KL, we ventured about 150km south to the UNESCO World Heritage town of Melaka which was a pretty cool place to wander and hang out....After KL, came Singapore. They speak singlish there, just put lah at the end of sentences. It was great to visit Jon and get some well needed R&R. There weren't all that many things to see in Singapore ....but we did take part in the mandatory drinking of a Singapore Sling at Raffles hotel, and had a pretty decent night out.
After Singapore, May left us :( But she is now in China visiting the Terracotta Army which I guess is pretty cool.
Andrew and I (once again) detoured from our original plans for Indonesia because of the volcano eruption and recent earthquake. We made the sacrifice and flew directly to Bali, with our new plans including Bali, the Gili Islands and Lombok.
I went surfing in Bali! Ha, I only stood up 3.5 times in the entire lesson but I'm going to call it surfing anyway. It was really really fun! Also, we stayed in a very very sketchy place and there were bed bugs and it was not pleasant. Anyway, after surfing in Kuta we went to Toya Bungkah to climb a volcano. It almost killed me, but we woke up at 4 am and hiked up in time for sunrise which was absolutely stunning. It was probably worth it. Ha!
Following our volcano trek, we made our way to the Gilis (Gili Trawangan and Gili Air specifically). These are tiny, car-free islands between Bali and Lombok. We had a few good days of leisurely bike riding, lazy afternoons on the beach, and some pretty awesome snorkelling...with turtles!!!!
We are now in Lombok and you are caught up!!! Tomorrow we fly to Tarakan, before crossing the border into Malaysia.
We've been travelling for 83 days. 29 left to go. We're tired and smelly (well, not that smelly)....but we're having fun, damn it!
That's all for now.x
KL was a pretty cool city. We spent most of our time there in malls. Yep, regular, unexciting shopping malls. I don't really know why. Anyway, we did go up the Petronas towers (which happen to loom over a mall....this may have had something to do with it) which are something like the 3rd tallest buildings in the world. AND explore the city quite extensively on foot. This was interspersed of course with the eating of delicious food and the buying of pretty things. :)
After KL, we ventured about 150km south to the UNESCO World Heritage town of Melaka which was a pretty cool place to wander and hang out....After KL, came Singapore. They speak singlish there, just put lah at the end of sentences. It was great to visit Jon and get some well needed R&R. There weren't all that many things to see in Singapore ....but we did take part in the mandatory drinking of a Singapore Sling at Raffles hotel, and had a pretty decent night out.
After Singapore, May left us :( But she is now in China visiting the Terracotta Army which I guess is pretty cool.
Andrew and I (once again) detoured from our original plans for Indonesia because of the volcano eruption and recent earthquake. We made the sacrifice and flew directly to Bali, with our new plans including Bali, the Gili Islands and Lombok.
I went surfing in Bali! Ha, I only stood up 3.5 times in the entire lesson but I'm going to call it surfing anyway. It was really really fun! Also, we stayed in a very very sketchy place and there were bed bugs and it was not pleasant. Anyway, after surfing in Kuta we went to Toya Bungkah to climb a volcano. It almost killed me, but we woke up at 4 am and hiked up in time for sunrise which was absolutely stunning. It was probably worth it. Ha!
Following our volcano trek, we made our way to the Gilis (Gili Trawangan and Gili Air specifically). These are tiny, car-free islands between Bali and Lombok. We had a few good days of leisurely bike riding, lazy afternoons on the beach, and some pretty awesome snorkelling...with turtles!!!!
We are now in Lombok and you are caught up!!! Tomorrow we fly to Tarakan, before crossing the border into Malaysia.
We've been travelling for 83 days. 29 left to go. We're tired and smelly (well, not that smelly)....but we're having fun, damn it!
That's all for now.x
Monday 1 November 2010
La Cambodge...and forward on to Thailand
A few days ago marked our halfway point! Wooohooo. I can't believe we're already there; although, at the same time I feel like I've been travelling for ages...
Anyway, in Cambodia we spent 4 or 5 days in Phnom Penh and then moved up to Siem Reap (Angkor Wat) and onto Battambang before crossing into Thailand. I mentioned the poverty in Cambodia in my last post--I think it was a lot more blatant there than the other places we've been. I suppose I shouldn't be shocked since the whole society was basically decimated through the overspill of the Vietnam war + the onslaught of the Khmer rouge regime. The place is full of contrast: immensely rich history of the Angkor (the temples were AMAZING), the nauseating story of the civil war, incredibly friendly and happy people, extreme poverty -it was actually overwhelming (if you can't tell by the mood of my last check in). We visited the killing fields and S-21 prison where over 20,000 people were brutally tortured and massacred under the Khmer Rouge. Contrary to the more reserved style of memorial we are used too, these places were fairly nauseating with pieces of human bone and clothing still marking the sites of mass graves and uncensored photographs of the regimes' victims. The Khmer Rouge targeted anyone who appeared/was rummored to educated in any way -and it only took place in the 70s.
On a more enjoyable note, we also visited the national museum and royal palace in Phnom Penh and a Silk farm later in Siem Reap. Angkor Wat was basically hours of exploring ruins and temples (think Tomb Raider) and they have DELICIOUS street food everywhere we went in Cambodia.
On our way out, back into Thailand, there was quite a bit of flooding . This led to a few long bus journeys, a stretch of 20 odd people crammed into one minibus (with luggage) and ultimately a random car with 6 people for the 2 hour drive to the border.
After revisiting Bangkok, we headed south to the islands on the Eastern Gulf. Its pretty stormy (so not as good as it sounds)...BUT we did have an awesome day of snorkelling on Koh Tao. I got a sun burn. I look like a lobster.
Moving on, we are now stranded on Koh Phangan. Yep, no boats. The waves are too big and all the ferries have been cancelled. I guess there are worse things than being stranded on a tropical island off the coast of Thailand -even if its raining :) I think it is safe to add this to the list of things that would never happen back in Canada.
Anyway, in Cambodia we spent 4 or 5 days in Phnom Penh and then moved up to Siem Reap (Angkor Wat) and onto Battambang before crossing into Thailand. I mentioned the poverty in Cambodia in my last post--I think it was a lot more blatant there than the other places we've been. I suppose I shouldn't be shocked since the whole society was basically decimated through the overspill of the Vietnam war + the onslaught of the Khmer rouge regime. The place is full of contrast: immensely rich history of the Angkor (the temples were AMAZING), the nauseating story of the civil war, incredibly friendly and happy people, extreme poverty -it was actually overwhelming (if you can't tell by the mood of my last check in). We visited the killing fields and S-21 prison where over 20,000 people were brutally tortured and massacred under the Khmer Rouge. Contrary to the more reserved style of memorial we are used too, these places were fairly nauseating with pieces of human bone and clothing still marking the sites of mass graves and uncensored photographs of the regimes' victims. The Khmer Rouge targeted anyone who appeared/was rummored to educated in any way -and it only took place in the 70s.
On a more enjoyable note, we also visited the national museum and royal palace in Phnom Penh and a Silk farm later in Siem Reap. Angkor Wat was basically hours of exploring ruins and temples (think Tomb Raider) and they have DELICIOUS street food everywhere we went in Cambodia.
On our way out, back into Thailand, there was quite a bit of flooding . This led to a few long bus journeys, a stretch of 20 odd people crammed into one minibus (with luggage) and ultimately a random car with 6 people for the 2 hour drive to the border.
After revisiting Bangkok, we headed south to the islands on the Eastern Gulf. Its pretty stormy (so not as good as it sounds)...BUT we did have an awesome day of snorkelling on Koh Tao. I got a sun burn. I look like a lobster.
Moving on, we are now stranded on Koh Phangan. Yep, no boats. The waves are too big and all the ferries have been cancelled. I guess there are worse things than being stranded on a tropical island off the coast of Thailand -even if its raining :) I think it is safe to add this to the list of things that would never happen back in Canada.
Monday 18 October 2010
Tuk tuks, temples, and noodle soup....
In a nutshell, tuk tuks, temples and noodle soup represent strong themes experienced throughout my adventures in S.E. Asia. Its interesting because when I really think critically about the places we've been and the people we've encountered....the moments that have impacted me the most seem to barely skim the surface of the complex societies we've been introduced too. I guess that's the difference between passing through somewhere and really settling in for a closer look. I can't help but think that we haven't really dug into the substance of daily life here ....probably 'cause we haven't! 8 countries in 4 months -yyyeeessh!
The GDPs/capita of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam range from $800 to $1000/year, but in reality there are great inequities of distribution -this means that probably the majority of people in these countries live on far less than that, while an elite minority live on far more. For the most part, I've found that people don't let it show. Yes, -if you looked objectively- many homes are quite humble (to put it mildly), children are walking around in rags-by-western-standards and often shoeless, and families of four or five are crammed on to one moto weaving through the crazy traffic. BUT, people also wear smiles and warmly greet us (almost) everywhere we go. People are SO friendly, warm and happy that its easy to stop seeing these things. I wonder how difficult life really is for some of these people once they stop playing host and have to face the realities of their world. Or if its not? Maybe my western eyes are making assumptions that shouldn't be made.
Cambodia is the poorest of the countries we've been too. Unlike Vietnam and Laos, there are many beggars everywhere we go (more predominant, however, in the most touristy places). Our guidebook warns not to give money to children -they don't get to keep it anyway. This leaves you with a heartbreaking dilemna of what to do instead. Little girls walk around carrying their baby brothers/sisters limp in their arms and beg for money. You assume that there's some adult behind the scenes orchestrating this incredibly effective pull at your heart (and hopefully wallet) strings. For a minute, you hate. You hate the person who has sent this child out into the street without shoes, carrying a baby just because they are far more likely to recieve handouts. You hate the child who begs you to buy enfant formula, always holding an empty bottle and baby, because you're pretty sure that he/she is just going to sell it back to the store once you leave. And you hate yourself for being so cynical that even when a child begs you for $1, you stop yourself from handing it over.
It takes a lot of will power to do some important remembering. To remember that we're all human, and that most mothers or fathers would not subject their children to such lives, if not out of complete desperation. To remember that here, there are no social services -no pensions, no welfare, no EI. If that little old lady who can't quite walk properly is sitting on the ground begging for money, chances are she really needs it. Remembering that the kids probably can't afford to go to school and even if they are lucky enough to get an education, high unemployment rates make it difficult, if not impossible, to find a worthwhile job on the other end.
Remembering these things and thinking about them means facing the reality -not blocking it out. It means struggling to grasp the horrendously unjust world we live in without feeling shame for who I am or where I come from. To really do the people of S.E. Asia justice, I think we have to look past the tuk tuks, temples and (delicious) noodle soup...and attempt to see the how such warm and friendly people really live on a daily basis. I think that's probably harder to do than it seems.
The GDPs/capita of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam range from $800 to $1000/year, but in reality there are great inequities of distribution -this means that probably the majority of people in these countries live on far less than that, while an elite minority live on far more. For the most part, I've found that people don't let it show. Yes, -if you looked objectively- many homes are quite humble (to put it mildly), children are walking around in rags-by-western-standards and often shoeless, and families of four or five are crammed on to one moto weaving through the crazy traffic. BUT, people also wear smiles and warmly greet us (almost) everywhere we go. People are SO friendly, warm and happy that its easy to stop seeing these things. I wonder how difficult life really is for some of these people once they stop playing host and have to face the realities of their world. Or if its not? Maybe my western eyes are making assumptions that shouldn't be made.
Cambodia is the poorest of the countries we've been too. Unlike Vietnam and Laos, there are many beggars everywhere we go (more predominant, however, in the most touristy places). Our guidebook warns not to give money to children -they don't get to keep it anyway. This leaves you with a heartbreaking dilemna of what to do instead. Little girls walk around carrying their baby brothers/sisters limp in their arms and beg for money. You assume that there's some adult behind the scenes orchestrating this incredibly effective pull at your heart (and hopefully wallet) strings. For a minute, you hate. You hate the person who has sent this child out into the street without shoes, carrying a baby just because they are far more likely to recieve handouts. You hate the child who begs you to buy enfant formula, always holding an empty bottle and baby, because you're pretty sure that he/she is just going to sell it back to the store once you leave. And you hate yourself for being so cynical that even when a child begs you for $1, you stop yourself from handing it over.
It takes a lot of will power to do some important remembering. To remember that we're all human, and that most mothers or fathers would not subject their children to such lives, if not out of complete desperation. To remember that here, there are no social services -no pensions, no welfare, no EI. If that little old lady who can't quite walk properly is sitting on the ground begging for money, chances are she really needs it. Remembering that the kids probably can't afford to go to school and even if they are lucky enough to get an education, high unemployment rates make it difficult, if not impossible, to find a worthwhile job on the other end.
Remembering these things and thinking about them means facing the reality -not blocking it out. It means struggling to grasp the horrendously unjust world we live in without feeling shame for who I am or where I come from. To really do the people of S.E. Asia justice, I think we have to look past the tuk tuks, temples and (delicious) noodle soup...and attempt to see the how such warm and friendly people really live on a daily basis. I think that's probably harder to do than it seems.
Saturday 9 October 2010
The 'Nam
Right....so after the arduous trek in Luang Nam Tha, I got pretty sick. We journeyed east across Laos into Northern Vietnam. Now, if you look at a map, that doesn't seem too bad. I looks like it should be maybe 10 hrs. Actual time it took = 3 days. Yep, sick, tired and crammed into a small local minibus on the very bumpy, curvy, inconsistent roads of rural Laos. Driving here is absolutely nuts. People go in every direction all at the same time and I seriously don't know how we haven't witnessed a fatal accident yet. Going around the sharp curves of the mountainous highway through Laos, the driver would merely honk (a.k.a I'm coming, make way) and continue on. There were a couple of close calls. On our bus across the Laos-Viet border, our driver was definitely falling asleep. *Cringe* Alas, there is not much you can do. My favourite moment of our 3 bus ride was again with Mr. Sleepy. We stopped for no apparent reason and the driver's helper said "Road block, peepee time" Now, pee breaks on these journeys are few and far between and you never really know if there is going to be a toilet, a hole in the ground, or just a bush. But we had just stopped for lunch so we knew something was not right. Upon exiting the bus, we see the road ahead is blocked by huge piles of dirt and two diggers proceeding to add to the piles. Awesome. It ended up being not so bad....we only waited about an hour for the road to be cleared.
ANYWAY...Vietnam...Our first stop was Dien Bien Phu which actually wasn't very nice at all. It was where the French were defeated by the Vietnamese in 1954 so I was a bit surprised at how little there was to see. I didn't really care -still sick, I retreated to our guesthouse and slept for about 20 hrs.
Next on the itinerary was Sapa. It was a really cute (albeit slightly overtouristed) town to the North West of Hanoi. There are many hilltribe /minority villages around the area and May, Andrew and Tom (our Brit friend) did a trek to see a few. I stayed in the hotel room. :( Another GREAT thing about sapa was that it was the first time in about 10 days that there were proper restaurants with DELICIOUS FRENCH...and vietnamese cuisine. :)
After Sapa, we took an overnight train down to Hanoi. Enter crazy traffic. Basically, to cross the road you just have to walk at a slow and steady pace and hope that the hundreds of motorbikes go around you. Its mad. To turn left, cars turn into and block oncoming traffic and then just proceed to plow through the sea of motorbikes until they are more-or-less going with the flow. (*see comment above about surprising lack of fatal accidents -at least that we've witnessed)
I took Hanoi as an opportunity to finally let myself recover -I went to an international clinic which was actually very nice (a nice that you had to pay for) and an American doctor prescribed some antibiotics...wooppeee. After about 4 days stuck in a stuffy hotel room, I treated myself to a not-so-backpacker-priced cruise in Halong Bay...it was AMAZING! After which, I trained down to Hoi An to meet up with the others. Vientam is suffering from some pretty major floods right now. As a result, my overnight train ride (which was supposed to be 14 hrs) took 26. It wasn't so bad. At least I wasn't stuck on a bus.
Hoi An is a really charming town full of tailor shops waiting to take all your money. Its pretty impressive actually. You walk into a shop and point to a picture in a magazine and the next day they've reproduced a pretty exact replica tailor-made to fit you. I spent a lot of money in Hoi An. We also rented motorbikes (I know we're crazy) and went for a ride through the outskirts of the city to China Beach (where American troops landed during the war) and a place called Marble Mountain -you guessed it- marble shops EVERYWHERE....but actually a pretty cool Pagoda and some very cool caves to be explored coupled with exquisite views of Danang and Hoi An.
Now we're in Ho Chi Minh/Saigon in the South of Vietnam. People here are sooooo friendly (even compared to N. Viet) and we're having a pretty good time just exploring the city.....
ANYWAY...Vietnam...Our first stop was Dien Bien Phu which actually wasn't very nice at all. It was where the French were defeated by the Vietnamese in 1954 so I was a bit surprised at how little there was to see. I didn't really care -still sick, I retreated to our guesthouse and slept for about 20 hrs.
Next on the itinerary was Sapa. It was a really cute (albeit slightly overtouristed) town to the North West of Hanoi. There are many hilltribe /minority villages around the area and May, Andrew and Tom (our Brit friend) did a trek to see a few. I stayed in the hotel room. :( Another GREAT thing about sapa was that it was the first time in about 10 days that there were proper restaurants with DELICIOUS FRENCH...and vietnamese cuisine. :)
After Sapa, we took an overnight train down to Hanoi. Enter crazy traffic. Basically, to cross the road you just have to walk at a slow and steady pace and hope that the hundreds of motorbikes go around you. Its mad. To turn left, cars turn into and block oncoming traffic and then just proceed to plow through the sea of motorbikes until they are more-or-less going with the flow. (*see comment above about surprising lack of fatal accidents -at least that we've witnessed)
I took Hanoi as an opportunity to finally let myself recover -I went to an international clinic which was actually very nice (a nice that you had to pay for) and an American doctor prescribed some antibiotics...wooppeee. After about 4 days stuck in a stuffy hotel room, I treated myself to a not-so-backpacker-priced cruise in Halong Bay...it was AMAZING! After which, I trained down to Hoi An to meet up with the others. Vientam is suffering from some pretty major floods right now. As a result, my overnight train ride (which was supposed to be 14 hrs) took 26. It wasn't so bad. At least I wasn't stuck on a bus.
Hoi An is a really charming town full of tailor shops waiting to take all your money. Its pretty impressive actually. You walk into a shop and point to a picture in a magazine and the next day they've reproduced a pretty exact replica tailor-made to fit you. I spent a lot of money in Hoi An. We also rented motorbikes (I know we're crazy) and went for a ride through the outskirts of the city to China Beach (where American troops landed during the war) and a place called Marble Mountain -you guessed it- marble shops EVERYWHERE....but actually a pretty cool Pagoda and some very cool caves to be explored coupled with exquisite views of Danang and Hoi An.
Now we're in Ho Chi Minh/Saigon in the South of Vietnam. People here are sooooo friendly (even compared to N. Viet) and we're having a pretty good time just exploring the city.....
Sunday 19 September 2010
Lao Lao
It feels like its been AGES since I left Vancouver....and for that matter, updated you all on my adventures. But actually, I think I'm doing pretty good if I get an update in every couple of weeks.
Chiang Mai was awesome. It's a really laid back city (a tad overtouristed perhaps). In general the people were SO friendly. Among the highlights was a day spent playing with elephants! We went to an elephant farm and learned how ride and bathe the elephants and then we went swimming with them!!!!!! Craziness I tell you! Apres Chiang Mai we made our way up to Chiang Khong. This is a small town on the Laos-Vietnam border. There wasn't really much there but we did luck out arriving on market day. We wandered a bit and were trying various street foods (as one does in S.E. Asia) and ended up talking to two local ladies with a baby. So cute! At one point, May asked if she could take a picture of us -Mom literally threw her baby into my arms. Catch! Haha. ANYWAY, the ladies ended up buying us a sample of some traditional Thai street food. It was delicious. No idea what it was. (So go many of our culinary experiences)
From Chiang Khong we took a slow boat up the Mekong river to Luang Prabang (Laos). It took two days, but we all think it was better than being cramped on a bus for 18 hrs. We stopped overnight in a little village called Pak Beng, which I'm pretty sure depends completely on tourists taking the slow boat.
Moving on...We arrived in Luang Prabang last Monday. Its an AMAZING little city -a UNESCO world heritage site, dotted with temples and full of monks.
We met some fellow travellers and ended up touring the sites with them. (Two Brits and a Vancouverite!)
We're now in Luang Nam Tha which is in the North West of Laos (closeish to the Chinese border) and we just returned from a two day trek through the Laotian jungle. Maybe a little crazy...but good fun all in all. We stayed in a village at the top of a mountain and our trek was only the 4th time the people there had seen foreigners. Needless to say, I think we were there just as much for them to see us as for us to see them....
Chiang Mai was awesome. It's a really laid back city (a tad overtouristed perhaps). In general the people were SO friendly. Among the highlights was a day spent playing with elephants! We went to an elephant farm and learned how ride and bathe the elephants and then we went swimming with them!!!!!! Craziness I tell you! Apres Chiang Mai we made our way up to Chiang Khong. This is a small town on the Laos-Vietnam border. There wasn't really much there but we did luck out arriving on market day. We wandered a bit and were trying various street foods (as one does in S.E. Asia) and ended up talking to two local ladies with a baby. So cute! At one point, May asked if she could take a picture of us -Mom literally threw her baby into my arms. Catch! Haha. ANYWAY, the ladies ended up buying us a sample of some traditional Thai street food. It was delicious. No idea what it was. (So go many of our culinary experiences)
From Chiang Khong we took a slow boat up the Mekong river to Luang Prabang (Laos). It took two days, but we all think it was better than being cramped on a bus for 18 hrs. We stopped overnight in a little village called Pak Beng, which I'm pretty sure depends completely on tourists taking the slow boat.
Moving on...We arrived in Luang Prabang last Monday. Its an AMAZING little city -a UNESCO world heritage site, dotted with temples and full of monks.
We met some fellow travellers and ended up touring the sites with them. (Two Brits and a Vancouverite!)
We're now in Luang Nam Tha which is in the North West of Laos (closeish to the Chinese border) and we just returned from a two day trek through the Laotian jungle. Maybe a little crazy...but good fun all in all. We stayed in a village at the top of a mountain and our trek was only the 4th time the people there had seen foreigners. Needless to say, I think we were there just as much for them to see us as for us to see them....
Tuesday 7 September 2010
THAILAND!
The adventure begins.....
A side note: currently sitting in a hostel common area in Chiang Mai eating a delicious deepfried banana-y chocolatey thing that cost $1 -just thought you should know.
And back to the important stuff:
I arrived in Bangkok on Saturday night (Sept 4) at around 11:00pm. Unfortunately, my bag did not. I don't know why -actually I'm a little surprised this hasn't happened to me more often considering some of the convoluted flight paths I've chosen. ANYWAY, my beloved backpack was left in Vancouver. Not so useful. As a result, I had to spend close to an hour attempting to find someone to report to and then navigating some interesting language barriers to recieve some meager assurance that my bag would find me at my hotel. And it did!!!!!
...2 days later.
Luckily, Andrew is still my friend. 2 days with no fresh clothes, and honestly, I'd probably questioning the value of being my friend too.
Right, Bangkok. We were actually only there for a day (we're going back on our way to Singapore). Long story short, we saw a giant buddha made of SOLID GOLD = 5.5 tonnes. It was pretty impressive. 60 million $ of impressive.
After the buddha, we braved a night train to Chiang Mai. It was actually very comfortable with the exception of the bathroom/shower. Think 2-in-1 combo consisting of a hole in the floor, bars on the wall to hang on to, and a spray handle for water. On a moving train, this can be challenging.
We've now been in Chiang Mai for 2 days. Its a lot more laid back than Bangkok -pretty amazing from what we've seen so far. Day 1 was mostly wandering. Many markets with many pretty things - and NO, I have not bought any pretty things yet. (don't worry it will happen, its inevitable.) Andrew bought a pretty suit. Haha, ok maybe pretty isn't the right word.
Today, we went to an all-day Thai cooking class. We cooked 7 DELICIOUS courses and ate them all. It was a lot of food. Too much even. But good fun nonetheless.
We will be in Chiang Mai for another 4 nights. May comes tomorrow!!!! We will either be setting up a separate communal blog, or communally blogging on this one :) Stay tuned.
A side note: currently sitting in a hostel common area in Chiang Mai eating a delicious deepfried banana-y chocolatey thing that cost $1 -just thought you should know.
And back to the important stuff:
I arrived in Bangkok on Saturday night (Sept 4) at around 11:00pm. Unfortunately, my bag did not. I don't know why -actually I'm a little surprised this hasn't happened to me more often considering some of the convoluted flight paths I've chosen. ANYWAY, my beloved backpack was left in Vancouver. Not so useful. As a result, I had to spend close to an hour attempting to find someone to report to and then navigating some interesting language barriers to recieve some meager assurance that my bag would find me at my hotel. And it did!!!!!
...2 days later.
Luckily, Andrew is still my friend. 2 days with no fresh clothes, and honestly, I'd probably questioning the value of being my friend too.
Right, Bangkok. We were actually only there for a day (we're going back on our way to Singapore). Long story short, we saw a giant buddha made of SOLID GOLD = 5.5 tonnes. It was pretty impressive. 60 million $ of impressive.
After the buddha, we braved a night train to Chiang Mai. It was actually very comfortable with the exception of the bathroom/shower. Think 2-in-1 combo consisting of a hole in the floor, bars on the wall to hang on to, and a spray handle for water. On a moving train, this can be challenging.
We've now been in Chiang Mai for 2 days. Its a lot more laid back than Bangkok -pretty amazing from what we've seen so far. Day 1 was mostly wandering. Many markets with many pretty things - and NO, I have not bought any pretty things yet. (don't worry it will happen, its inevitable.) Andrew bought a pretty suit. Haha, ok maybe pretty isn't the right word.
Today, we went to an all-day Thai cooking class. We cooked 7 DELICIOUS courses and ate them all. It was a lot of food. Too much even. But good fun nonetheless.
We will be in Chiang Mai for another 4 nights. May comes tomorrow!!!! We will either be setting up a separate communal blog, or communally blogging on this one :) Stay tuned.
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