Stay another day...

Written on Monday, Nov. 23rd:


Well this town has lived up to it's reputation: everywhere you look, 'stay another day' is written as the town's motto-of-sorts. They pride themselves on the fact that the town has something for everyone and that you will, undoubtably, stay longer than you originally planned. Touché Luang Prabang... You got me. Between the weather, my indecisive mind, meeting heaps of good people and this little town being so homey, I have overstayed my original plans and 'stayed another day'... And thank heavens I have.

I now sit on the banks of the Mekong sipping a lao coffee wearing shorts and a tank under blue skies and a hot sun. Though my time here thus far has been wonderful, it has also been cold... And with a limited supply of warm clothes, cold has felt more like freezing. Nights have been more miserable than freezing. I have been wearing my one pair of yoga pants and two long sleeved shirts night and day. My sarongs quickly became scarves and my socks were unpacked for about the second time this trip. But now.. Oh it's just gorgeous and everyone is just as psyched as the next that it is sunny and warm again (almost Seattle-like). I am just hoping that it continues to stay warm as I head up north tomorrow for a few day stay in Nong Kiwah and Muang Ngoi.

Despite the chilly climate, I have fallen in love with this place. I love the night market and it's array of food- from veggie buffets to unlaid chicken eggs and bbqed toads to whole pig heads. I love the children here who are never shy and always scream 'sabadeeeeeee' as you walk by. I love the monks everywhere- running errands and talking on cell phones and playing games just like everyone else. I love the two bare-bottomed boys playing in the river as their dad sets up fishing nets right now; and the crew of six who are building a bridge and taking their lunch break at the moment; and the old man in his blue boat that hasn't moved for at least a half hour... It is all so gorgeous. Everything about this town radiates beauty to me.

A few days ago, chatted with a Canadian woman over breakfast and followed her as she was going to go explore a local village across the river. One of the guys she had met has lived in Laos on and off for the last six years and willingly took the roll of 'tour guide' for the group of 5 girls we had just rounded up. All together we had 2 Americans, 1 Canadian, 1 Belgium, 1 Dutch and 2 Brits. Took a tuk tuk boat across the Mekong to this tiny little village. It is amazing how this small little community has stayed so traditional and underdeveloped even though it is just across the water from LP. Walking up the dirt roads and past homes and little food stands, you (the 'falang' aka-'gringo') eventually attract a rather large group of children. Some just wanted to greet us, others posed for pictures and still others were trying to sell us flowers for the temple- all of them, however, were beautiful kids. We paid the minimal fee to go and see the first temple and was accompanied by 5 little girls who asked us (the entire way up) if we would buy their flowers. They reminded us to take off our shoes and ended up showing how to make an offering and even did their little traditional Laos dance for us while singing along. Beautiful.

Continued on the path through the village and came up to another little temple. This one had a group of young boys playing le petunk with a pile of money and their flip flops. We watched for a bit and said our hellos to a few monks walking around the grounds and then headed up to the caves that were a part of the temple. Three of the boys told us they would give us a tour and followed us up the steps. The cave opening is enclosed by a decrotive metal gate that the boys quickly unlocked for us. The second you walk in, you are hit by a wall of musty, hot air. The smell is not pleasant but is not too overwhelming either. We turn on our torches, breathe through our mouths and head in. There are places of worship and platforms for meditation built into the walls here and there, as are pieces of statues and melted candle wax. There were stairs that took you into numerous other rooms and passages, but I didn't get to see it all before the air became too thin for me and I headed back towards the gate- not being able to breathe is not the best feeling in the world.

Enjoyed the view for a bit longer and then headed back across the river. Our British guide, Nathan, asked our driver to drop us off at a celebration we could hear from the other side. He translated from the driver that the celebration was for the birth and christening of a new baby- the huge party was just set up in the middle of the street and came complete with lots of booze and food and even a karaoke set up. Nathan informed us that many times, if you simply walk by a celebration like this, you are often welcomed in. Well, it took about 30 seconds before Marlene, Lilly and Sassy were all on the dance floor. We got offer after offer to join in the fun but it was obvious that many of these people were well beyond wastey faced. One guy came up to Laura and I and asked us to come join them, then asked for a kiss, then stumbled away when we politely declined. We got to watch a very precious and very old (and probably very drunk) grandmother get up and sing karaoke and I saw one gentleman spill a huge amount of beer on a baby (possibly the one the party was for) as he was trying to top off his beer... And this was all before 2:30pm! It was wonderful to watch and so amazing to see how quickly they invited strangers in to join- just think of a celebration back home... Would that ever happen at a wedding or big party in the states?

Anyways, nice lunch by the river with the crew, seperate ways for a bit, veggie buffet later with the same group and an early night back at the backpackers.

Yesterday was a great day filled with new people, waterfall exploring and just the littlest bit of sunshine. Decided to give up waiting for a sunny day and went to go see the waterfall that's about an hour away. A group of 6 of us from the backpackers took a tuk tuk (freezing!) up the winding roads- filled with water buffalo and dogs and children just hanging out in the street- and were told we had about two hours till our tuk tuk driver would leave. Grabed some food at the bottom and headed up. First stop on the way in: a bear rescue. Due to my illiteracy in Laos writing, I'm still not sure why these bears are endangered but it sounded like they were once killed for medicinal purposes (??). These bears (whatever breed they were) were pretty small, black, had white chests and a large mane/fro that extended out from their faces. They were cute but still not sure why they were there. After a short jaunt up a bit further, you get to the first waterfall and swimming area- as you continue up, the waterfalls become larger, more blue/gray in color and more stunning. Again, I am unable to read any explanation of why this natural phenomonon is here, but limestone rocks have created these little pools that drop off into one another. The water looks nearly opaque in color and is a shade of blue/gray/tourqouise that I have only ever seen in new Zealand at lake ticapoo. It is worth the trip just to see the color of this water. Followed the river up to the largest fall and headed up the trail to the top. Steep but quick hike and a short distance wading in the water and you are on top of the waterfall looking down at the pools below and the mountains all around you. It really is astounding. Made it back down in time to meet up with everyone at the rope swing. Swing once into the icy icy water and dry off to change as quickly as possible. Sit by the fire for a bit and talk to a guy carving wood figures as the other kids run up to the large waterfall. Back in the tuk tuk with wet hair for the ride back down, warm up, chill out, night market with everyone for some food again and two movies in the communal movie room.

This morning was somewhat hectic as I was trying to decide whether to head up north or wait another day. Well, I waited and now I'm basking in sunshine... Happy with my decision and ready to get further in the mountains tomorrow. No ATMs, no electricity except from 6-10pm, and no Internet. Sounds nice.

A very unorthodox t-givings in Laos

I think it's pretty ironic that, as everyone back home is in a post-thanksgiving-food-coma, my bungalow, in a small Lao river village, sits right in front of a pen full of turkeys (haven't seen a single turkey on this trip before today!). Homesickness definitely hit hard yesterday and today but I guess that is to be expected over the holidays... Though there is a serious lack of home made mac n cheese (and mashed potatoes and stuffing and gravy and geenbean casserole with those crispy onions on top...) in my belly right now, I cannot deny the fact that I am in a beautiful place doing exactly what I set out to do. It is not home and it is away from the people I love the most, but I think we did an alright job of giving thanks all the way on the other side of the world.

Got picked up from my place in Luang Prabang a few days ago and, within three minutes, met a crew of kids that would become my travel buddies for the next few days. The majority of the van was filled with Isrealis who had all met up along the way and, behind me, sat a couple from San Diego. Between talks about California and teaching and comparing travel stories, there was rarely a silent moment within the four hour drive.

Arrived in Nong Kiwah with no plan and a now very large group. Split up a bit and found ourselves some guesthouses- me playing 'third wheel'/Dupree with Chris and Sarah and the Isrealis on the opposite side of the bridge. The beauty of this place...is just... Wow. And we heard that Maung Ngoi is even better- Is that possible? This little village sits on either side of the Nam Ou river and is connected by a rather impressive bridge. There is a bus station and a boat ticket booth and the only paved road is one that runs through here and continues on east. Everything else is dirt/clay roads, homes, fruit stands, a couple restaraunts and a few guesthouses. Ours is right along the river and has a killer porch (with a hammock) that is built soley for the purpose of enjoying the view. There are spectacular mountains everywhere you look- which are absolutely drenched in lush vegetation- and the river- wide and lazily running- is obviously the lifeline of this town. Lunch on another deck and then back to ours for some guitar playing/singing, Arabic coffee, mint tea and Oreos (something that will quickly become routine in the following days) that the Isrealis have no problem sharing with us. A little walk with the crew, which takes you further up river and continues to blow your mind, and then back to try and catch the sunset from the bridge. A long and drawn out dinner (with 8 people it's to be expected- especially when they make just one dish at a time) and a carrot cake sesh for Ohad's birthday and then an early night for the American folks as the Isrealis joined in on a local party.

The morning brings a few puffs of fog that quickly burns off into blue skies. We all get up and grab some breakfast before catching our boat to Maung Ngoi. The boat ride, if you didn't already guess, was absolutely gorgeous. More lush, green mountains, more water buffaloes along the shores, less boat traffic and, finally, an even smaller and more beautiful village. Maung Ngoi is only accessible by boat, has no Internet, pharmacy, ATMs or paved roads and the town's generator only runs from 6-10pm. Now accustomed to the backpacker scene, however, there are plenty of guesthouses and good places to eat. We book at a cheap place with a good deck and plenty of hammocks and settle into our new home. Lunch ends up taking a ridiculous amount of time and after another coffee/tea/Oreo/guitar session, we miss our oppurtunity to do the hike we were planning on doing. Oh well...we can do it tomorrow. The rest of the evening was spent within a hundred yard radius of our deck- just straight chillin.

Another beautiful day and we are psyched. Ate some amazing breakfast (found a place that makes their own peanut butter!) of sticky rice and peanut butter wrapped around bananas and cut like sushi, and headed off to get on with our day. Asia time, it is the third Thursday of November and Chris, Sarah and I spend a good majority of the day talking about thanksgiving family traditions and cooking. We all agree that we are missing home today a lot more than your typical Thursday but we are glad to be together to empathize with one another. We also spent a large part of the day having to explain and defend thanksgiving to the Isrealis who kept on asking us 'why would you celebrate the killing of the Indians by the pilgrims?' and 'are there any thanksgiving songs?' (these isrealis were constantly singing). Regardless, I was glad to have my American comrades next to me and was happy that we got some good food- though not traditional t-givings food in the least. We had briefly discussed trying to get a chicken and some mashed potatoes and even some red wine, but we decided to just embrace the fact that we were far from home and ate some local cuisene- tomyum soup with sticky rice for me.

Other than the thanksgiving stuff, our day was spent on the beaches of the river and then doing the hike into the mountains a bit to check out a cave and a local village. Nice little walk on a well-trodden road to the cave which is pretty cool inside. Chris was the only one brave enough to strip down to his scivvies and swim down deeper into the cave. Sarah and I waited for his arrival which happened sooner rather than later after he spotted a huge insect/robot-looking creature on the wall and turned back. Crossed the river via a bridge made out of woven baskets filled to the brim with rocks and then followed along till the village. Being a tourist, you never know how to feel about going into these little villages- the last thing you want to do is go in and snap some photos like it is a zoo or something. We decided to head back without strolling through the local tribe and turned around. Ran into the isrealis along the way and decided to sit awhile so they could go explore the cave and all headed back together after another round of tea and coffee and Oreos. Another chill night of cards and guitar playing and chill people on the deck. Another nights sleep in a hard bed with Shaha next to me- the isreali girl who looks uncanningly like Kelly Gray.

Jumped on our boat back to Nong Kiwah and I said my farewells as everyone else got on the bus back to Luang Prabang. I wanted to stay another night here and desperately needed some time to myself- time to decompress and time to enjoy this beauty in silence- without talking and/or singing constantly. My days, I recently noticed, have been colliding into one another. I was trying to explain my plans to Shaha and tell her where I had been and couldn't remember any times or dates of anything. My days all run into eachother and the best way I can recalculate when I was at some destination is by remembering how many nights I have paid for a bed. I needed some time to pause and get my bearings- not by aimlessly wondering around a new city but by stopping and taking a few minutes to reflect and let my mind catch up to where my body is.

So here I am. Alone in a beautiful little Lao village- torn between my yearning for home cooking and football watching and time with my family and wonderful boyfriend, but also being completely happy and excited that I am here. I wish I could have both- I would give up the mac and cheese and football and the beautiful scenery of this place just to be with the people I love... It always comes down to the same conclusion: the people in my life are my heart and soul. They will be the reason I come home- if it wasn't for them, I think I would forever be a gypsy/nomad/wanderer.

All my love to everyone back home... I am so thankful to have such an amazing group of friends and family and boyfriend to come home to in Feb-ish! Enjoy the home cooking and fam time. Go longhorns and buffaloes!

Sa-ba-dee: intro to Laos

Just as I was starting to understand a few tones in Thai and thinking in baht, I put myself through another long and dirty 3 day transport and now find myself in Luang Prabang, Laos.

I always learn two phrases when going to a new country, so it is now sa-ba-dee instead of su-wa-ti-ca (hello) and kawp-jai instead of korp-kun-ca (thank you). (Though I think learning how to say 'toilet' and 'no meat' would be good to learn as well). It is now 8,550 Kip instead of 30 baht to the dollar (though Laos uses the US dollar, baht AND Kip... Sometimes all three in one transaction) and we are back to walking and driving on the right side of the road. The town here is a sheer mix of east and west (literally temples next to colonial looking houses with shutters) because the French occupied Laos from the 18th century till 1953. I have seen more monks here walking around in saffron robes than anywhere else, but also more western cafes and decor. There are baquettes being sold at almost every store (bread, in general, has been near impossible to find on my trip so far) right along with noodles and river weed. This town contradicts itself at almost every corner, but it is absolutely gorgeous for that.

The trip here, though, was long... Long is actually an understatement. It was a three day treck that consisted of taxis, buses, ferries and slow boats. A lot of sitting, a lot of waiting, and a lot of bum-falling-asleep-ness. To sum it up: a mototaxi from soppong, bus (that showed up two hours late) to Pai and then Chiangmai, seperate bus (this one with air con and tinted windows!!) to Chiang Rai, night in Chiang Rai, bus to Chiang Kong, walk over/get picked up by a Brit couple to the border, officially depart Thailand, ferry across the Mekong to Laos, apply for visa (and sure hope you get one cuz they just departed your ass from Thailand), taxi to another pier, jump on the slow boat, slow boat for 6 hours (yea right), spend the night in Pak Beng, get on the slow boat the next day and finally arrive in Luang Prabang that evening. Whew, I get anxious just thinking about that all again.

I don't want to go through all the dirty details but, man o man, the slow boat was a treat- one of those events where you just have to keep thinking to yourself: 'well, at least it will be a good story'. The boat, to start out with, is about an hour late from the Laos/Thailand border. Instead of two boats today, there is only going to be one... Fine. It is overcrowded by the time we get on but we are sat in the middle of the aisle in plastic chairs. Okay, whatever. We finally take off, get a good breeze going, eat some food for the first time that day, and talk to our British couple friends that picked us up. The view is great and we are in good company so we will be just fine. About an hour or two into our cruise, though, the engine slows down... The boat does a three sixty so we are now parallel to an island and the engine shuts off completely. Our drivers tie up and say nothing to the 100+ people around them about what is going on. Most everyone on board is a seasoned traveler though and most of us have been warned of the slow boats and their 'slowness', so we wait. At least an hour goes by of waiting and sweating and wondering what the hell is going on. Finally, another slow boat pulls up to us and people grab their stuff as quickly as possible and jump ship. This new boat, however, is only about 3/4 the size as the last- people are standing and sitting on the railings and on bags and even on the roof. We were huddled in the back corner on the floor- not the best place but certainly not the worst either.

Our new boat pulls away as everyone gets situated and we are off again. The rest of the ride went smooth- great sunset, beautiful views and plenty of conversations with the people you are practically sitting on top of. Arrive to Pak Beng with a big flashlight (held by an employee on the roof) showing the way similar to Rudolph and Santa's sleigh. Grab our bags and John, the Brit couple, and I agree on a room offered by the first person who says a good price. Walk up the hill, settle in, eat our dinner, have our shot of free Lao whiskey and head for bed before the electricity in the whole town shuts off at ten.

Up early in the morning, eat some oatmeal, buy a sandwhich for lunch and head to the boat early to make sure we get good seats. There are two boats today so much more room and we have the cushioned seats with lots of leg room so we are psyched. The boat pulls out only 3 mins late and we are just elatied. But then the breeze hits. The morning fog that we thought would burn off never did. It was cold and windy and drizzly and we are dressed for hot and muggy weather. I have shorts and a long t and a rain jacket and two sarongs and John finds us a blanket and we bear the elements for a solid 8 hours.

Chilled to the bone, we finally make it. Hop around for a bit trying to find a good guesthouse and settle on one that's just a short walk into town and grab rooms. Check out the night market with Alex, Lizzy and John and grab a plate at the vegeterian buffet (loads of good veggies and noodles and rice for about 65 cents), and head to meet some people from the boat at a bar called Hive. This bar is what I would describe as 'swanky' and has drinks that are 10-15x the price of our dinner. I do not feel like I am Laos, rather, it feels more like Miami or London. The girls from the boat were ordering 5 drinks at a time to beat happy hour while I sat with my one small cocktail that was loaded with the local lao whiskey. Called it a night pretty quickly after seeing I could not afford to be on the same level as these girls.

The next day is completely a touristy one. John and I wandered around checking out temples and museums and snapping pictures of the views. My goal of the day: get oriented with the town, gain my barings, understand the kip a bit more before buying too much, and seek out some good places to eat; and I think we covered all of those objectives fairly well. A good portion of Luang Prabang is actually shaped as a pinnensula from the curvature of the Mekong and is pretty difficult to get lost in as the streets just buttonhook around one another. With the mix of east and west contrast against the huge, muddy river, this place is just beautiful.

We stumbled across a new UXO museum that was just opened last year and learned some pretty heartbreaking facts about the US and the damage our weapons are still inflicting today. Being an American, I felt terrible for not knowing the history behind the US's bombings here and being ignorant to what we did in the past and also for how much it is still affecting countries like these today. Lao is actually named the 'worlds most heavily bombed nation'. During the indo-china war period, more than 2 million tons of bombs (over 260 million actual bombs) were dropped here- 30% of those never detonating when they were first dropped. Thus meaning that there are still (an estimated) 70+ million bombs that are just hanging out in Laos that still have the potential to explode. Sad to say that the majority of those dropped had Americas name on them and, to matters even worse, America still uses these same weapons today that are banished from so many other countries. Needless to say, I felt like an asshole writing down 'USA' next to my name in the guestbook.

The rest of the day was spent exploring and eating out with Alex and Lizzy, a quick wander around town and then home. John left early yesterday and the Brits went to go see the waterfall (which I opted out of after seeing it was cold and overcast again). Checked into my new backpackers place just around the corner and, as I was checking in, ran into Joel, one of the kiwi kids I met in Pai. We walked around for a bit, found a nice place for a fruity drink and went our seperate ways. Temple exploring for Joel, reading and journaling for me. I was much needing some alone time again and luckily got a few hours to myself around this little quaint town.

Dinner with Joel, 3 Dutch kids and a French guy. Veg buffet followed by a large BeerLao at a Belgium bar and a long game of le pletunk (essentially bacci ball) which the kiwi and I were pretty terrible at. Bed before the rain started.

A bit warmer today but still overcast... Deciding where to head next but for now, boat across the Mekong to a village and cave on the other side. Hoping for some sunny weather soon!

One month of these traveling shinanigans

Written on the 15th or 16th... Dont remember as all my days get jumbled together!

Well, it's official... I have been traveling for a month. One down, three to go.

Cliche I know, but it really is crazy how fast the time has gone by. There is so much I have already seen- and yet so little too!! I'm starting to get panic-y deciding how to plan out my time between now and Christmas (when I have some very dear and quite crazy friends making a trip out to Thailand) and Jan (when I start at CCPP) . I know I don't have to rush anything yet but I also don't want to waste too much time in one spot either- though 'wasted time' here is really not a reality I believe. I almost wish I had someone else around to make these decisions for me but I got myself into this grand adventure, so dammit, I will be the one to make these decisions all by my self. And when your choices are: hiking in the hills and riding motobikes in northern Thailand OR heading to Laos for some waterfall swimming and tubing, you really can't complain too much, ya know?

Despite the huge stresses in my life of planning out where to go next, I have been enjoying my life in the mountains very much. I got a few solid moments of alone time in Pai which was muchly needed for my sanity. And also got some great meeting-awesome-people time as well. There was the french dude that was huge and burly and had the name Blaize (belongs on American gladitators) and the large group of loud but oh so sweet Isrealis that I ran into every 8th minute of the day. I talked for a long time with the women who worked at the bungalows I was staying at- Ann who was this friendly little ball of sunshine, told me about a bad car accident her and her sister were in just a couple weeks ago (her sister is still bedridden with 6 broken ribs and a fractured pelvis so send some lovin thoughts their way) and Wi, who was one of the owners and was just as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. There was a whole slu of Thai vacationers staying at my place too that I met and bonded with while they played poker and drank dirty liqour. (Good practice to perfect the art of 'pigeon english' as our friend Nick called it). I got one last lunch with Anna, the kiwi, before she took off, and even ran into the girls I met on the train who I ended up spending the majority of my last night with (and a huge group of kids with them- 3 Dutch, 2 French, 1 south American, 3 English and one Aussie). All in all, I loved my time in Pai- such a beautiful and lively little town- and I am grateful for all the wonderful people I met while I was there.

I was starting to get a bit restless though so started doing some research of places I could go- somewhere in the general vacinity that would get me just a bit more secluded. I had found out the day before that I could steal wifi from my bungalow's hammock so jumped in and spent a couple hours surfing the web during the heat of the day. Found this place called Cave Lodge through travelfish and sent off an email to them as I went to go check what the bus schedule for Soppong looked like. Bus was at one the next day and yes, there was plenty of room so just show up anytime. Great.

Caught the bus at 1:50 the next day (always running late here) and made it to Soppong an hour or so later. Got off the bus and watched it pull away as I tried to find a mototaxi. When I asked where i could get one, I was promptly told that there was no such thing here. Awesome. After a couple minutes of anxiously looking around though, I stumble across a whole gang of them just hanging out- hand one of the guys my huge bag, and jump on the back.

Let me just pause for a second and describe where we are: from Pai, you go even further into the mountains, reach a huge summit, follow the ridge for a bit and then desend down into more beautiful, green, jungley forests. At the highest points, there are some crazy looking evergreen trees (makes me so happy to see) and as you start driving down, it returns to loads of banana trees and lushy vines and shrubs. Everything is green. Now, as I sit behind my motobike taxi driver, we are heading further into this lush jungle and through small little villages where the temperature is about 20 degrees cooler and the air literally smells like flowers. There is no English written on any signs or posters here, no 7-11's, and no one trying to put on a show. It is real life, plain and simple.

Get to the cave lodge which is tucked away a bit and try to find someone around to show me the rooms. I opt for the dorm as I have yet to stay in one yet and because it is the cheapest way to sleep here. Put down my stuff, talk to the other two kids who will be sharing the dorm with me and go to sign in. As we are filling out our names and nationality, I overhear a couple in the front room talking about going out on a little hike in a few minutes. I quickly invite myself as does the other two Brits who were signing in. So only 15 minutes or so after I arrive, I am now heading out with a Scottish couple and two Brit friends. The hike is out to the mouth of a large cave where swifts and bats switch places during twilight. Get to know my new friends on the walk down and arrive at the cave just in time to see the show begin. This little switcharoo that these bats and swallows do is really pretty phenominal. We never were sure if we saw bats or not but there had to be hundreds of thousands of these little birds swooping and diving and circling, first outside the cave and then in. We watched this little natural phenomonon go on for about 30 minutes before we decided to head back. It didn't really look like they would be letting up anytime soon and the smell was getting a bit overwhelming, so we decides to head back before it got too dark. Nice little way to start off my trip though.

Got back and had some dinner with everyone. Fortunately I had packed some food and had some leftovers from breakfast as the food at cave lodge proved to be quite overpriced (something you can get away with when you are out in the middle of nowhere). So the 5 of us and another French guy, John, all got to talk about our travels over dinner. The Brits and Scotts were both taking off the next day but John said he was doing a hike in the morning and then starting to head towards Laos- awesome, sounds similar to my plan. We check out the hand drawn map of our surrounding areas and decide on a few places we would like to see. Say goodnight to the crew and we all head to bed- 4 of us in the same room.

Morning comes and is, in every way, a relaxing event. Make some of the oatmeal I bought the other day and chat with the crew before they all leave. John goes on a little kayak trip and I take a look around the property- complete with a swimming pool and herbal sauna and paths leading up and down the river. Chill out for a bit reading in the hammock until John comes back. As we are talking about routes to go hiking, I saw something out of the corner of my eye in the bathroom. Go have a look to see a little snake slithering around our bathroom floor. John comes over with his sticky rice bamboo and chases this little black and yellow and orange snake out through our shower drain. (John found out later that this type of snake is actually very poisionous and was not so much the lighthearted event that we made it out to be.)

We started out on our hike with a few recommendations and pointers from a couple who attempted the hike before, and our little hand drawn 'treasure map' that our lodge gives their guests. 20 minutes to the first cave and 40 to the second is what we are told, right at the house for Christmas cave. Sounds simple enough.

Walk down the roads, turn when necessary, snap a few pictures of the amazing scenery and just enjoy this view. But we are suddenly going up huge grades in the road and it doesn't really seem right. No one said anything about steep hills, but we still haven't seen any paths so maybe just around the next corner? No, how about we just walk top of this hill and see... Oh there are just more hills... Maybe let's just try the next one. I am dying here. The first couple steels were fine but, the lack of shade while walking in the road is just getting unbareable. I think we have passed it bit I have already confided in John that I always get lost so my suggustions are quickly ignored.

We finally find a path about an hour into the hike and even find a house. Actually it's a village and the trail to the right leads us only to the road again. We come across a few hillstribe people who live here in the village and ask them, through sign language, if it's okay for us to pass (they don't speak Thai). The little old lady carrying various things with a basket supported by her forehead waves us through and really doesn't seem to give a damn about us. We go through the bamboo gate and follow along the path that leads through their tiny village and fields of (what appear to be) wheat and corn. We continue to follow this for a bit before I throw in the towel and tell John I want to head back. It is absolutely gorgeous where we were but I felt bad being on tribal ground without much knowledge of which tribe and if we were really allowed, and if we are where I think we were on the map (which was a correct asumption), then we were only 3km from the Burma border (which made me nervous after recieving numerous emails from my mom about hikers who are imprisioned in Pakistan(?) after crossing borders unknowingly... See, I do listen mom). We bow our heads to the hillstribe people as we leave and descend the huge steeps we had just hauled up. Go figure, we find both trails way down the path on our way back- think we went almost 2k out of our way. Shower after carefully inspecting that our shower was snake free, eat some dinner, finish another book, and now I'm here. Legs exhausted but feeling good and full and ready for some sleep. John and I priced out a few options for heading to Laos and are taking the long/cheaper way, so heading out tomorrow morning. Bus from Soppong to Pai, bus to Chiangmai, bus to chiangrei, stay the night there, bus to chiang kong, ferry across to Laos, visa pickup and slow boat to luang prabang (two day trip with a stop at a town along the way). It's gonna be a long one. Ready to travel again but also know I will be sick and tired of sitting on buses and boats by the time I arrive!

Pai cont'd

It's early morning here in Pai and I'm in a gorgeous coffee shop overlooking the valley (thanks for the suggestion Jaime), watching the fog clear and just enjoying some alone time. Alone time, which I have quickly discovered, is actually hard to have when you are travelling. I am not complaining as I have met some amazing people thus far, but it is rather ironic that I feel the need to seek out some time to myself when I was supposed to be on this trip by myself.

Since the Tahoe boys took off, I decided it was time to embrace the 'solo' part of my trip and set out yesterday to do nothing but hang out by myself, read and figure out my plans for the next month and a half. Failed that. Went to start off my day with another great breakfast from The House- i feel bad not exploring more places but it is just so good. I think I am also realizing that, while traveling, I need to have some sort of routine, even if it's just eating at the same breakfast place everyday. While at breakfast I ran into the isreali girl I met on the bus over here. Her and a girl from holland were going to get motobikes and tour around... Did I want to join? I first declined but then rethought out my day a bit. I had been wanting to rent a motobike to take out and explore by myself but knew it probably wasn't a great idea to start out by myself since I had only played passenger thus far. Thought I could join the girls for the first waterfall they were going to go see and then go find the coffee shop Jaime has told me about-then I can get on with my chill, quite day. We decide to meet back at the same place in 2 hours to start our little adventure.

I went back and changed out of my dress, walked around for a bit and then went to rent my bike. It's a painless process that includes a driving lesson for first time drivers- sweet. Get taken out to this little road and told by my chubby Thai teacher to drive, turn around and come back. Easy enough. The driving part is easy but my teacher gave me no instructions for making a u-turn which almost had me in the bushes. I finally make it happen (by no means gracefully) and when I get back to Fattie, he tells me 'again'. I think he just wants to finish his cigarette but do as I'm told and attempt to do my u-turn again with less flailing. I guess I passed though because Chubs Mcgee tells me to move over and gets back into the drivers seat, smelling like an ashtray. Get back to the rental place where I am given the girliest pastel pink bike ever (this thing makes my cruiser bike look manly). I ask for a less girly bike but they don't understand and I just suck up my pride and jump on my little 'barbie's dream bike'.

Meet the girls at The House and also run into a Canadian guy we met the day before at the hot springs. I tell him our plans and he decides to join. So the four of us take off with the Isreali girl leading our little gang. We stop for gas at a very bizzare gas station (similar to a vending machine) and head off. We quickly realize that our Isreali friend is reading the map completely wrong so we put John, the Canadian, in front to lead the way. We finally make it to the waterfall after passing a few elephants being ridden on the side of the road and a few stops by our impatient Isreali friend who was convinced we were lost. The waterfall was a short hike up but John wanted to grab some food before we headed up so we sat at the base of the trailhead as he got some grub. As we waited, another huge group of Isrealis pulled up and sat down next to us. Our Isreali friend (if you can't tell already, I can't remember her name- I apologize) starts talking to them and we are quickly all introduced to them. It is funny to see this big group of kids together and notice the cultural differnces. First off, they are all overly friendly, talkative and loud. They all start taking out their food and trying to share it with us. I politely decline only to have oreos and banana bread put right in front of my face while they scream 'oh come on, eat! Eat!!'. So I eat.

We walked up to the waterfall now all together and cross the water to get over to the good swimming area. This waterfall is tucked away in a slender canyon of sorts but has an awesome pool at the base- the whole scene of it all is just beautiful. By this time, though, it's close to 5 and my urge to swim before getting back on the bike has been lost with the amount of daylight we have left. Snap some pictures of the other kids swimming who are also taking 800 pictures of everyone (they are really good about getting up in your face and saying 'smile' after they have just snapped a picture of you), and just chill for a bit. The two girls take off to catch the hot spring before it closes and I tell the crew I'm going to head to this coffee shop. As I attempt to do this though, I have somehow invited the whole lot of kids to join me. We all get back on the scooters, get to Coffee In Love and take up a large part of the deck with our new crew of friends. It is, undoubtably, good company- just a bit different than what my original plans for the day had been. We watch the sun set from the beautiful spot we are at and then head our seperate ways back towards town.

Drop the bike off at the bungalow, grab a longsleeved shirt as it is quite cold here at night and head out for some street food. Another thing I love about this town is the fact that the main drags are littered with vendors and street carts with all my favorite foods for a mere 10-20 baht (about 30-60 cents). Grab a pumpkin spring roll, veggie noodle soup and a chocolate crepe... So good!! While I was sitting at the little vendor eating my noodle soup (a place I picked purposefully because it had no westerners there), I had this English gentleman sit down next to me and order soup as well. We started chatting and then his French friend joined us. Other people we had all met along the way were walking by and stopping in here and there as well to talk. I'm telling you- it really is a challenge to be alone over here!! The two guys invite me to meet them later for a drink. I'm taking some antibiotics right now so tell them no drinks for me but that I will come meet them again to go out for a little. (At this point I have made sure to mention the word 'boyfriend' more than a few times and feel like they are after nothing more than company so please don't worry mom...). Walk around to kill some time, run into other people we have met along the way and go back to meet up with the guys. The older English man doesn't show but the French guy and another Brit he had met in southern Thailand come over and we head off to the bar next to us. I order a soda and sit down at this nice little casual outdoor bar. I last for about an hour before I have had enough socializing for one day. Shoot off some emails at my little wifi corner and head to bed.

Woke up this morning to take the bike out before I have to return it today. Jumped on my wet motobike and slightly froze driving through the fog to Coffee In Love but it is so nice to be here before every tourist bus starts dropping people off here. Was planning on journaling but have no pen and everytime I have tried to ask for one, the employees think I'm motioning for the check and try to explain to me that I have already paid. So, it is iPod touching and reading for me. Meeting Bianca, the girl from holland, for breakfast at ten to discuss staying at a monestary- think she is going to do a 26 day stay whereas I'm looking for about maybe 2-7 at the most- and then hopefully completing my quite, me-time day.

My other mission for the next couple days: trying to figure out a general timeline for my trip before starting at CCPP. A good friend of mine from camp messaged me and told me he will be out in Asia travelling for a few months and informed me that the whole slew of Brits, welshmen and crazy Americans are making a trip out for Xmas which i am now invited to join in on- which makes me so happy and excited. Hanging out with this group of boys is kind of like being drunk and on laughing gas constantly- I always leave them with a hangover and my stomach and face hurting from laughing so much. Anyways, if I'm to meet up with them, I essentially have a month and a half to split between the rest of Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. I don't think I need to rush off anywhere but I need to remember to balance out my schedule so I can see everything I want to see. If any of you world travellers have some advice about how I should split it up, please give me some suggestions.

As it is getting later in the morning, this place is starting to fill up pretty quickly. I had a feeling a couple people were taking pictures of me but thought: 'that's a pretty self centered thought... I'm sure they are just taking pictures of the scenery and it just looks like I'm in the frame'. But I just had four women who came up behind me and, one by one, had their picture taken with their arms wrapped around my shoulders???

I think it's about time to go.

Life of Pai

Tuesday, Nov 10th:

Waking up this morning in my little bungalow to a thick layer of fog, a river in front of me, garlic fields behind me and mountains all around. I got into Pai midday yesterday and instantly felt at home. Today will be when we rent motobikes and go explore the outter layers of this town, but from what I can tell thus far, Pai is your quinessential little mountain town. No snow or ski resort of course, but a small town, big river, huge mountains and a good ol homey feel. Though there is a large amount of westerners here, it seems to be more of the backpack crowd and the town has appeared to stay true at it's core- it hasn't sold out to the tourism... At least yet.

I took a minibus from Chiangmai for the vomit-inducing, curvey three hour drive up here. Arrived right around noon with my breakfast still in my stomach and searched out a place to stay. Met an Isreali girl on our bus who had been here before and was going back to where she had stayed before, so I tagged along. Her place was beautiful but full, so we started pricing others. We ran into a girl who told us to follow the road to the last bridge and tell the owners that Anna sent us. Did that and ended up with our own little bugalows here on the river for a good price. Nothing glamorous... Glorified camping really. But I have my own bathroom, a fan, a mosquito net and a comfortable bed. Basic, cheap and a beautiful view- I'm happy. The Isreali girl and I headed out for some lunch and ended up meeting a guy from New Zealand who joined us as well. Went into town, grabbed some delicious food, got to know one another and then headed our seperate ways. I just wanted to walk around for a bit (I gain my bearings on a town via aimless wandering) and was on the lookout for a good place with wifi- which is harder to find around here it turns out. Stopped at a quiet little place with a view upstairs that overlooked the streets below and mountains above. Ordered a coconut shake, wrote my emails to send later, met another American woman and then headed out to my little magical wifi corner to send my interweb messages. The boys had rented mortorcycles and were driving up from Chiangmai (a feat that I felt I did not have the skills to complete) and so called them to figure out their whereabouts. Because they were still on their way, I went back to the bungalow and chatted with Joel and Anna- two kiwis both from Christchurch, NZ who had just met a few minutes earlier- in the hammocks at our place. We decided to go get some grub and, as I was grabbing some stuff out of my place heard Andy Laughlin calling my name. The boys had found me after their long, butt-kicking drive up here and were pysched to join us for some dinner... Perfect. Sat down at a place by the river that was pretty fantastic, grabbed some road beers from a market (totally legal and cheapest way to drink) and walked around checking out the Pai night scene.

The roads here are littered with pedistrians at night as little vendors and tiny bars open up shop along the side of the road. It was similar to the Sunday night market in Chiangmai, but a hundred and eighteen times smaller. We made the big loop around the main square and all ordered a greasy, hot, amazing chocolate pancake from one of the street vendors. Mobbed those as we walked and stopped in for a few drinks at a bar on the corner that had outdoor seating, live music and had apparently ripped off the name of the bar and signage from Buffalo Exchange back in the states.

Called it a night rather quickly after and headed back home for a wonderful night of sleep. We are all meeting for breakfast in a bit, then a tour around the greater Pai area via motobikes. All good things to be had!

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Going to bed right now after our amazing day out... very ready for another good night's sleep and a chill day tomorrow. Just said my goodbyes to the tahoe boys which was a bit sad but I think they had a rather awesome last (non-traveling) day.

We all met up for a wonderful breakfast at The House which serves a variety of 'breakfast of champions' for a decent price. Joel went to rent his little moped as Andy and Greg went to grab their bikes. We all dilly-dallied for a good while but eventually got cordinated and headed off. It was Joel riding solo inbetween Greg and Anna who took the front and Andy and I who brought up the rear. Got out of central Pai rather quickly (easy to do in a small town) and were in the mountains in a few minutes. It is gorgeous up here. The towering mountains that stand on both sides of the valley are absolutely dripping with greenery and banana trees and the aroma of flowers. There are little farms and villages scattered here and there on these winding roads and the sheer beauty is just jaw dropping. We got up to a little waterfall first that was really easy to access and proved to be a good swimming hole for both tourists and locals (the tahoe boys took a dip as some local kids were employing the waterfall as a waterslide). We got back onto the bikes after about an hour of down time at the waterfall and made a quick stop at the Chinese village. It was a cute place but not much to do other than shop in these little markets. We probably lasted about 4 minutes before coming to an unanimous decision to hop back on the hogs. Continued to drive downward and then over to the Pai Canyon. This little hiking area, again, is beautiful. It has a viewpoint that overlooks vallies on both sides of where you are standing, has a few paths that follow a very slender ridge and reminds me of Boulder, Mendocino, Moab, Bali and New Zealand all put together... But also unlike anything I have ever seen before (I have to remind myself that I don't always have to compare these places to others I have seen- rather, I'm working on just taking them in as they are).

After a short walk back down to the bikes, we decide to go get some food. Stop at a coffee shop right along one of the rivers and have a nice lunch out on the porch. Walk down the bridge that was, in some way, associated with WWII and continue onward.

Next stop: hot springs. Mind you, it is ridiculously hot outside if you are in the sun and not rolling along on your motobike- so adding to the heat by going to a hot spring just sounded silly. But it is one of the things Pai is known for, so we go ahead and pay a park entrance fee and have a look. It was actually quite nice and very relaxing (as hot springs usually are). It was a good mix of locals and westerners too. The locals were not swimming but rather had all brought eggs that they hardboiled in the really hot pool. The tourists were all the ones that were actually in the hot water on this rather ridiculously hot day.

Jumped on the bikes and headed back into town towards home. Stopped on the side of the road to see and take pictures of an elephant that was just hanging out along the way and finally made it back home. We all showered and cleaned up, had some dinner and then went out on the town for a bit with the boys. Went to go watch this amazing Thai girl sing at the Pai Post and then I headed home. Said goodbye to the boys, sent some love to tahoe with them and wished them luck when they told me about their plan to pick up some German girls.

Not sure what the plan is now for the next few days... Or months. I think I want to stick around Pai for at least a few more days and just soak in the beauty. I am actually looking forward to some time by myself- traveling alone is really a hard feat to accomplish- and really do like it here. I have a cheap and basic place right on the river, I have a pet snail that comes out after every shower (my bathroom doesn't have a roof!) and am considering looking into doing a week long retreat at one of the Buddhist temples. We will see...

More Chiangmai

Sunday, Nov 8th:

One of my favorite days thus far... Woke up and met the boys at my new little diner for a scrumptious breakfast of sticky rice and mango, a Tahoe House style coffee and fresh orange tangerine juice. Went back over to their place as we figured out plans for the day and got in touch with their friend Liz. Set up a meeting spot at Dunkin Dounuts and figured we could all meet up and have Liz and her boyfriend show us around. Liz, Greg's friend from home, has been over here teaching english for the past 4 years and now has a house with her Thai boyfriend, Poat, just outside of Chiangmai. We head there first and get a tour of the place and sit down for some great passionfruit juice. Their house is perfect- modestly sized, hidden a bit behind trees and other shrubery and has a huge deck that is covered with bonsai plants that Poat maintains. We take off from there up into the mountains and go to a little waterfall along the way. Climb up a short ways and watch the local boys nearly kill themselves as they jump from the cliffs and trees into a swimming hole that's about 5 feet deep. Eat some tangerines and papya that Liz had brought and watch Andy and Greg swim around for a few minutes.

We all headed back down the path and pick up some food from the little vendors at the base of the park. I get a spicy papya salad while Andy and Greg get a mix of pork wrapped and cooked in banana leaves, meatballs on a stick, chicken legs and fried silk worms. We pack up all the food and head towards the national park that is just a bit further up the road.

We flail for awhile as we try to explain that Liz is not a tourist and lives here and pays taxes (as locals only have to pay 20B instead of 100), and finally get into the park. This little national park is just gorgeous and is very well organized and put together. There is camping and bungalows and bathrooms with well maintained coy ponds out front and an amazing selection of recycling to be had (a rarity around here). We set up our picnic at the base of the waterfall and dig into our little smorgasbord of unusual food. Everything is delicious and even the fried silk worms are not that bad. We hiked around the trail that snaked around the waterfall and ended up turning back as it started getting dark. The hike was nothing too intense but it was good to get out and tramp around again. There haven't been too many times I have sweat here that haven't been weather-induced. We all hopped onto our bikes and headed back towards town. We all headed back to our respective 'homes' and got cleaned up. Met back up later with the boys and we headed to the Sunday Night Market.

So this little town/city has the main central square which is litterally a perfect square that used to be completely enclosed by a large brick wall and even a mote. Today, the mote still remains but the majority of the wall is down. The main gates and the corners of these walls, however, are still in place and serve as a reminder of the security they once provided. Ok, enough history... So the Sunday Night Market takes place at the west gates of Chiangmai and closes down a number of streets next to it. I mean, this market is HUGE. It really did seem neverending. I feel we only saw about half of what there was and we were shopping around for probably 4 hours or so. The boys did their Christmas shopping as I looked at everything with the attitude of 'yea, I could get it but do I really want to carry it with me for the next 3.5 months??'. I walked away with a little hills-tribe-made pouch for my iPod touch and a plate of padthai while the boys were buying bowls made of mango wood and wooden frogs that actually sound like frogs and decorations and necklaces to send home. I had to call it a night as my legs were just shot from being on them all day... Said my goodbyes to my shopaholic friends and now bed. Pai tomorrow!

Phuket to Chiangmai

It's was a long and painful two and a half days getting up here but it all seems worth it now after two good nights sleep in a nice guesthouse and a day of exploring Chiangmai. Getting here though was no picnic...

Andy and I took the bus all the way into Phuket town on wed night which was a good 4 hour ride from Khao Sok but not too bad with good company. Even though Andy had to be at the airport early morning the next day, he wanted to stay somewhere close to the bus station so I would have no problems getting to wherever I was going (still unknown at this point). We unloaded from the bus and looked for the closest hotel which was, convienently, located right across the street. Andy had offered to pay for a nicer place for our last night, but this place we came across and booked at was more than I was expecting. It was no Ritz Carlton or anything, but after bungalow living for the last three weeks, I felt like a poor little orphan child in a big, royal castle. We were upgraded to business class (not really sure what that entailed), but it came complete with a huge comfty bed, a flatscreen tv and a nice view of Phuket... which looks way better from the 15th floor. I can't deny that staying in a place like this does feel good and does make you a bit nostalgic for the finer things in life (a couch and sportscenter and air conditioning), and also makes you realize how much you have been living like a bum (out of a backpack with only 4-5 changes of clothing and proper showers only every couple of days), but so it goes.

We decide to go eat some American food since we are already on the 'what I miss from home' kick so we decide to just hit up the hotel restaraunt after having no luck finding a place nearby. We order a pizza and fries and even get a glass of red wine (which is nearly impossible to find over here), use our 20 minutes of wifi (that they only allow you to use when you spend over a certain amount of baht), and just enjoy the decor and finishing touches in the restaraunt. It is kind of bizzare how a place can try to emuilate a certain feel or vibe and get kinda close but be so off at the same time. For example, this place was trying to be a very chic and modern American resturaunt. Their menu consisted of burgers and fries and pizza with ice cream and shakes for dessert. But their pizza had topping combinations like: boiled squid, chicken, pork, and lemongrass with pepper or a hot dog with melted American cheese and cucumbers and lettuce. Then the decor was just silly. They come out and very nicely put down your placemat and silverware in front of you after you have ordered but the placemats are plastic with bright flowers all over them- something you would put down beneath a toddler when they are eating cheerios and kool-aid. They had put out little champaign glasses on every table with a rose in it for ambience, but below the floating rose was rainbow colored fish tank rocks... It's just funny. Do you think it's the same situation in America?? I wonder what any of these Thai people would think if they walked into one of our Thai restaraunts in the states? I don't know but it sure is interesting to observe it on this side of the world.

Called it an early night as Andy had to get up at 6 for his flight and we were both pretty knackered out from the last week. Woke up early and got Andy packed up and sent off. It absolutely sucked saying goodbye...this will be the longest we will have gone witout seeing eachother but, between his work and it being ski season and me just traveling and exploring, we know that Feb will be here in no time. Still... It sucks!

Now a bit sad and still confused on where I'm going, I have about 4 hours till check out time... meaning I need to figure my life out; and soon. The guys at the hotel prove to be no help so end up throwing a big chunck of change their way so I have wifi in the room to start doing research. The storm in the gulf doesn't look like it's stopping anytime soon so I decide to head north where there's nicer weather and even a few tahoe friends hanging around. Start looking up prices and times for both the train and buses (flights were just too much the day of) and decide to try my luck with the train. Eat my delicious buffet breakfast, take a HOT shower, watch the Yankees win the world series, and check out as close to noon as possible. Then continue to sit in the air conditioned lobby for 2 hours (where they are now playing Christmas music??) and get my moneys worth of wifi. Hop on a bus to Surat Thani train station and catch the 6:22 sleeper train which was running late (something I will shortly become accustomed to). The train is supposed to arrive at 5:20am and I ordered a sleeper so I really have no idea what to expect as we finally start moving. There is a girl sitting across from me who looks anwhere between the ages of 14-22 who is consistantly on her phone for the first hour but who later starts chatting with me in broken English. She ends up being 23 as well and was on her way to Bangkok to take her mother to the hospital. The steward(ess?) came down the aisle awhile later and started asking me what I want to eat. First off, everyone who works in our cabin here is a Thai ladyboy, so this petite guy who comes over to ask me about dinner has very plucked eyebrows and the most perfect skin and talks in a higher pitched voice. He brings over a list of items written in English and asks what I want. I first ask him 'do I pay?', 'is it included?' and he just laughs and smiles and says 'no pay'. Okay, sweet, I suddenly feel better about paying the large sum of baht for that train ticket. Tell him just soup and he says 'rice too' and says 'I bring you breakfast too' so tell him thank you and he introduces himself as Cham. So only an hour into this, I now have two Thai friends and I'm feeling pretty good. Go use the bathroom and as I'm coming back, Cham is holding a huge bucket of these ginormous beers as I pass him in the aisle. I point at the bucket and laugh and ask him if he's going to drink all those himself and, as he's trying to understand what I just said, the ladyboy behind him (the big one with longer hair and lots of eyeshadow) reaches into the bucket, pops the cap off and slams the huge beer down on the table in front of me before I can even blink. F! I know that this gigantic beer isn't free but what do I do now? Ask the burly ladyboy to take it back? I figure it will help me sleep and go back to my seat with my brand new beer. My Thai friend next to me and her mom laugh as they probably think I'm a raging alcoholic and I try to explain with hand gestures that it will make me fall asleep quicker.

I have probably had a total of 8 beers since leaving the states and I'm pretty sure that this monster is about 3 beers worth so I'm pretty much blitzed by the time I finish dinner (which I did indeed have to pay for- thanks Cham) and am ready for bed and this day to be done. So i call over the bed making guy to magically turn my seat into a bed. They have this guy on the train and his one and only job is to do just that. It's pretty cool actually how they do it as they give you a matress and a pillow and clean sheets and a curtain and all you do is stand there as this guy puts it all together for you in less than a minute. Brilliant! The bed is actually pretty comfortable and spacious and with the help of a sleep mask and that beer, I'm out for a good bit. Granted, it is nothing like the kingsize bed we had the night before but it served it's purpose beyond my expectations. It is funny though to see the cultural differences that start to appear when you do something like 'go to bed' with a hundred other people. People were still playing their radios for all to hear in the middle of the night and still had their cell phones ringing as loud as possible and I'm pretty sure every single person on that train hocked up a huge loogie at least once. I was pretty grateful for the beer at that point.

Wake up around 6 and we are still moving (we were supposed to arrive around 5:20) and take it as a bad sign that everyone else is still asleep. Slowly people start waking up and the bed-changing-seat guy is at it again. We are all seated in our upright positions as our train pulls in at 7:55. Almost 3 hours late, not bad. Good news is that I no longer have a long wait time at the station as my other train departs at 8:30. Bad news is the fact that the next train is running late too. Seems to be a pattern here... Finally get on when our train pulls in around 9ish and start moving at an oh-so-slow speed about an hour late. Met two girls, a Brit and an Aussie, in the ticket line so they were right behind me which gave me two people who could empathize with my pain (they were on the last train as well and had both been suckered into paying for those stupid beers too!). Slept for a bit here and there but was up for the majority of the trip. Finished my book, killed my battery on my old iPod and was saving the last of the battery on the new one and couldn't write because it was too bumpy, so it was a bit excruciating towards the end there. Especially when our train broke down for a solid 30-45 minutes, but we finally made it to chiangmai at about 11pm (our arrival was supposed to be 8:30). The girls and I get a taxi to a guesthouse we have heard about and are heartbroken when we walk in and are just simply told 'no rooms' by a guy who looks stoned and is watching tv. Great. Go next door and find out the same thing there. One of the women there tells us she will give us a ride to her friends place who definitely has room if we would like. K, sounds good. She proceeds to pull out a beer from the fridge and cracks it open as we are following her to her car. Sweet. It's midnight though by this time and she seems coherent enough and, honestly, we are just past caring so jump into her Honda civic and just make sure to buckle our seatbelts. When we get to the place it is actually perfect. I have to pay double since there is no triple bed rooms and I have the single room, but it's still cheaper than anything we paid for down south...and nicer. I go to bed after sending out my emails and the girls go out to get some food.

Woke up yesterday and turned in my laundry to be done and went on a hunt to go find some good breakfast. Got myself a bit oriented with the town by aimlessly wandering but it all paid off when I found the best breakfast place I have come across yet. It's like a old diner or waffle house kind of set up where you walk in, grab your own seat, and the server eventually comes over, completely uninterested in you, and asks you what you want. Their options for breakfast include eggs and toast with fruit juice and coffee or musli with fresh fruit and yogurt or banana pancakes or sticky rice with mango. It all sounds delicious. I opt for the egg combo that is cheaper than I've paid anywhere else and they bring out fresh carrot juice and an Americano style coffee (the coffee here has been crap so far!) and then my eggs (perfectly cooked) and toast (best toast ever with homemade marmalade jelly!) and I'm just happy as can be. Walk around for a few hours exploring temples and markets and find a couple bookstores that trade books. Come back to the guesthouse and chill for a bit. Go exchange my two books I have already read for two new/old books and grab some spicy curry thing at the little local market place I found, bought a bunch of bananas, stopped into an Irish pub for a few minutes when I realized Wellington's rugby team was playing and then continued to wander. There are temples (wats) here everywhere. To say on every street corner may actually be a lie because there are way more than just every street corner! You can walk around these gorgeous temples as long as you are covered (no tanks or shorts) and take off your shoes. I brought a sarong to wrap around my legs and got to see some breathtaking places. One of the most grand wats I went into had about 20 monks doing some prayer ceremony which was just beautiful to watch. Came back home after getting a pineapple shake and met up with the girls again and we all talked about plans for the night. They had met some kids at another guesthouse that they wanted to meet up with and I had just talked to Andy and Greg from tahoe about meeting up so we decided to get ready and head out onto the town. The girls came with me to the boys place and we all decided to meet up later at this rooftop bar after they picked up their new friends. Caught up with Andy and Greg for a bit- so good to have some familiar faces around here!- and then we headed out.

Got to the rooftop bar which was an interesting spot... You have to go up about 5 flights of stairs and graffitied walls and rasta color paintings and take off your shoes before the last flight where you end up on top of the roof. There is black lighting and only little tables that you sit on the floor next to (closely resembling the Chill Out Bar Andy Olaf) and weed leaves painted in various places. What's maybe a little more bizarre is being surrounded by all this rasta-chill paraphanalia while the DJ pumps out some hard core techno beats. Sweet dude. We have a beer and decide to get out of there after about an hour as we have had enough and still haven't seen or heard from the girls.

We hadn't eaten any dinner so plop down at a street vendor place where we get the best Thai food for less than a dollar. Sit at our table and watch the Thai prostitutes and old dudes just swarm around us. Next stop is a rock bar the boys went to last night which comes complete with a live Asian rock band playing Hendrix and other cliche rock songs but were actually decently good. Sat and watched the crowd, an interesting bunch at this place, as Andy and I started making up stories about everyone ('that guy over there, he came over here for some kind of research job and then he met that girl, the drunk Thai girl with a hash house shirt on, and fell in love. The younger guy and younger girl are his kids visiting and the Thai stepmom is trying to make sure the kids like her...'). This is our entertainment. We left and went back to the rooftop for a couple minutes to see if the girls had showed up but no luck so we just headed our seperate ways to bed.

Now I'm gonna go back to my little diner and have another stellar breakfast and get in contact with the tahoe boys and figure out what the next step is...

Travels with Olaf

Written on Wed, Nov. 4th:

Currently on a bus back towards Phuket for Andy and I's last night before he flies out tomorrow. Where I go next, however, is still being figured out at this point. With weather being on the fritz in the southern gulf, I may have to wait out the storm on this side of the pinnensula and then hit up the islands after OR head further up north and miss it all together. Having a week long go at this traveling thing, Andy is convinced I'm crazy for traveling and, at times like these, I'm not sure I totally disagree. This gypsy life is a bit hectic and crazy at times but you take the bad with the good I suppose. And I think Andy would have to agree that there was more good than bad in these past 7 days.

We made it to Ko Phi Phi with no trouble at all- the boat ride, we discovered, was a lot more enjoyable on top of the boat deck where you have a view and a constant breeze to balance out the fumes. Arrive in the beautiful bay of ton sai and wait for our bags to be unburried- word of advice: don't be the first on the ship, you will be the last to disembark! Though we didnt have a place booked, we had done some research on Phi Phi and knew we wanted to get off the main bay and onto a secluded beach so asked the guy (who so graciously found us the second we stepped off the boat) that we wanted a bungalow for cheap on Runtee beach. Within 5 minutes we booked and paid for two nights at Runtee Bungalows. Done and done.

Took a longtail boat over to the beach with the family that owns the hotel and are fed some snakeskin-strawberry fruits and purple fried potatoes by the crazy wife/mom during the drive and finally arrive at our 'little bungalow on the beach'. Granted, our cute little bungalow only had power from the hours of 5pm till 3am, had no hot water and was one of those lovely western toilets that has to be flushed by pouring water down it, but still... We made it. This beach has three resorts (if you call bungalows resorts), three places to eat, one oversized swing, two hammocks and about seven people on it our first night. We take a swim, eat some more great food, down two more Changs and just enjoy some time off the road.

The next day was spent eating, snorkling, reading, napping, getting to know our neighbors and refusing 'thai massage?' from the crazy wife (who tries to intice you into a massage by squeezing your arm in a fashion similar to the Indian rug burn you used to give your friends when you were 5). The snorkeling here was pretty neat (though our equipment was a bit ill-fitted) and we saw some crazy looking fish and sea cucumbers and those black spikey sea erchins that look like they belong in a Mario bros video game. (Dad, saw heaps of those duck or rabbit fish- cant remember which one- that you have in the tank- they were huge!)

It was great to have some time just relaxing, but Andy and I were getting a bit restless after a day and a half of this beach bum living- something that really is so foreign to our lifestyles and white skin- so tried to figure out our next move. First option: stay put, enjoy being away from everyone and everything and just sit on our little beach with only 10 hours/day of electricity OR second option: take the ferry over to Krabi and circle around in time to catch andy's flight out of phuket on Thursday. We opt for the latter. We spend our last night eating dinner at restaraunt number 2 and then having a drink at number 1 with our new Brit friends, Nick and Caroline.

Wake up early the next morning and load up onto the longtail with eleven other people and their luggage and headed for ton sai. Just to give you a better understanding of the longtail boats: their shape resembles something between a wodden canoe and a viking ship, their bow is decorated with different color clothes and their engine is essentially a car motor with a 10 foot drive shaft dragging in the water. The ideal load on one of these boats, I would imagine, would probably be around 3-6 people, one solid driver and a full tank of gas. Well, since they charge less for a ride with more people, we jump onto the 8am boat ride over with the rest of the Runtee beach population and hope they are right when they say there's enough room. In total, we have eleven passangers, two retarded drivers and, as we soon found out, no gas. Awesome. The boat dies about halfway around to the bay and we are all just dumbfounded. Meanwhile, twiddle dee helps twiddle dum syiphone out gas from the corner of the gas can with his mouth. They finally get us up and running and we sputter along to the gas boat where we fill up before being dropped off. Oh the island way of life just seems to lack a bit of common sense at times...The day before we had seen a guy carrying a big gas tank in one hand and a lit cigerette in the other!

We make it to the bay, walk around in circles for awhile searching for wifi to send off emails to the 'rents that we are alive and well and catch our boat over to Krabi. Met a fellow from NY on his way to Koh Pha-ngan for the full moon party, enjoyed the brief but beautiful ride and get onto a bus headed for Pang-nga once we reach Krabi.

When we get to Pang-nga, we are greeted by a nice looking woman asking us if we know where we are staying. Well, no, we don't and this woman looks sweet enough so we follow her over to her little travel shop and we talk options. There's not a ton of options in this small town, so we ended up bargining for a package deal that includes staying in a Muslim fishing village, a boat tour around the bay/sound/river the next day and all meals included. We get picked up by a taxi/truck thing, driven over to the water and just told to wait there. So, we wait... We aren't sure for whom or what but what other options do we have? Start chatting with this little old lady who runs a refreshment stand there by the river and she starts teaching us the Thai words for monkey (ling) and dog (ma) and horse (also ma) and elephant (chang) and tells us about the 'big wave' and how she lives a little ways away but comes here everyday to work. She is probably the friendliest person I have met in Thailand thus far. A boat pulls up and tells us to get in so we do and, after a quick jaunt down this amazing river/ocean inlet, we come to the Muslim fishing village that is literally a village built up on stilts situated next to this huge piece of limestone jutting out of the water. Pretty amazing. We get let off at the first house and told that this is it. The boat drives away and we walk up the dock to look for the next person who will tell us what to do. Find a fairly young, pretty woman inside with a pink headscarf on who looks at us like we are disturbing her night and she shows us our room and tells us dinner is at 6. Okey dokey.

Our room is simply a single room with a matress on the floor. Bathrooms are down the hall but they flush and we have one window and a fan and electricity all night long so we're happy. The homestay is a bit funky as it has open sides, about 25 tables and a full shops-worth of pearls and sarongs with our room just sitting there in the middle of it all. But we are the only people here other than the family which was great- I loved that they really took no interest in us either- it really starts getting to me when everyone seems to be kissing butt to make a buck- these people were nice enough but didn't go out of their way- it felt more natural. We take a proper shower (the first in four days), clean up, look around at the stunning views, talk to the dad and son about harvesting pearls, see the biggest fish ever that the family somewhat keeps as a pet and go upstairs for dinner.

Oh and the dinner... Oh my lord this was the most gorgeous spread of food I have seen in a long time. For just Andy and I, there was a huge steaming pot of spicy seafood soup, chicken curry, stir-fried veggies and a slu of rice served in the most regal looking silver pot. The only thing that could have made this dinner any better would have been a bottle of wine, but we were staying in a Muslim fishing village so we figured we were SOL on that. We ate as much as we could humanly finish (bearly made a dent) and finished off with a dessert of fresh pinapple. Bliss. We decided to just sit out on the dock and watch the full moon and let our full and happy bellies rest. As thousands of kids were drunk and drugged and dancing on the beaches of Koh Pha-ngan for the full moon party, we were sober as could possibly be, sitting on the dock of a Muslim fishing village- it was perfect.

Next morning we woke up, ate our breakfast and jumped on another longtail. We were dropped off at the same marina area and told to wait. Again, we wait with no clue what for until a taxi truck comes and picks us up and drives us to another dock about a quarter mile away. We are told to go to the water, so find our way through shacks and roosters and find the water, two other western couples and our guide, Mr Kean (though we are pretty certain that this is not the real Mr Kean). We load into the longtail and start our journey through mangroves, lush mountainy limestone rocks coming out of the water and head further out to sea. We are later told 'no shoes, just cameras' as our guide motions to get out of the boat and hands us a bag of headlamps. We jump out onto this small little beach and find a ladder going up and into a cave. It was actually quite spectacular inside and even had an outlet on the other end that looked into this brilliant pool of water surrounded by limestone cliffs. Head back to the boat, stop for lunch on a little beach and get to know the other two couples that we were traveling with. Get back into the boat and tour around some more, stopping at James Bond island (where some Russian girls in skimpy bikinis were taking model shot pictures with eachother and one fat boyfriend), back to the village so we could grab our bags and some nice pearl earrings and then headed back to the travel agency/bus station.

Booked a bungalow in khao sok national park with our girl at the agency and get on a bus to tuaka pa where we are told we can catch a bus to khao sok. Easy enough. Jump on for a quick 2 hour ride and arrive at Tuaka Pa to find out the last bus for Khao Sok left at 4:30. Well crap. We have a place booked for the night so we reluctantly pay a taxi 500 baht for a ride up to our 300 baht room. Well, it turns out that the bungalow was perfect and we were so happy to be in this beautiful, lush jungle so we couldn't complain too much- especially with hot water, a fan, a western toilet AND wifi. We had some amazing spicy curry and had a drink next door at the 'chill out room' (which lacked a crowd but did not lack a plethora of colorful lights and reggae music and posters of Bob Marley and one that just said 'drugs' on it) and called it a night after a swing in our porch hammock.

We decided to do a hike around the park the next day before we had to catch the boat to Phuket, so found our way over, paid the park entrance and decided to just follow a trail that apparently had waterfalls named, of course, waterfall #1, waterfall #2 and so on. Got to the trail head just as it started raining so hid beneath a little roof covering a map of the park and headed in as the rain started to lighten up. Right away we came upon some crazy looking lizards (kinda looked like Tweek Robby!) and heard a monkey somewhere but never saw it. We were on the lookout for elephants as Andy had just told me about elephants killing people and destroying towns, but didn't come across any. While walking, however, Andy pointed to a leech in a puddle. I had read something about leeches here so had already nixed the idea of swimming at some designated swimming holes, but when he pointed that out, we figured we should check our feet as we had walked through a few puddles. Well, sure enough, we both had them on our socks and shoes. Andy stepped up and pulled them off of me as I paniced like a 6 year old girl yelling 'get it off meeee!' before he stopped to pick them off his own legs- chilvary is not dead! We decided to avoid the puddles but were mortified to see that they would just appear on your legs out of nowhere... There was no strategy to avoiding these little wankers! After walking for another half an hour or so with the worst case of the heebie jeebies ever, we decided to turn back... It was just too much- these blood sucking worms were unavoidable and would show up out of nowhere. We essentially jogged back, too scared to keep our feet still for too long, and got back to the trailhead as it started down pouring again. 3-4 hour hike: fail. So we dried off and ate some good food and waited for our bus.

The last bus, as we learned yesterday, was at 4:30 so we decided to head over for the 3:30 bus just in case. Get dropped off at the bus station by our bungalow people and it is just absolute downpour. We purposefully get there a half hour early just to be safe and start to get worried when it's almost 4 and we still haven't seen a bus. There is an older couple from Holland that were there before us and we were all anxiously waiting to see if the public transport would pull through. Talking about our travel plans, the couple informed us about the monsoons in the southern gulf (which is where I was planning on heading tomorrow). Meanwhile, there is a local trying to convince us that we should just take his taxi all the way to Phuket (easily 1000 baht) and is just laughing at us being stuck at the bus stop in the pouring rain. It quickly reaches 4:30 and we still haven't seen a bus and Andy and I start giving eachother worried looks... But, around 4:45 our trusty bus comes hauling around the corner and we flag him down, run into the rain and jump on board.

So here we are: sitting on a bus on our way back to phuket- not our favorite place- not sure where we are staying, now not sure where I should head after Andy leaves, and already getting sad about saying goodbye tomorrow. Maybe I am crazy for doing all this, but I'm ready for it I think. For better or worse. I got some things figured out while andy has been around and am looking forward to settling down for more than just two nights at a time somewhere... Just have to figure out where.

The not so glamourous side of traveling

Written last Friday, Oct. 30th en route to Koh Phi Phi:

Well Thailand has been a trip thus far... We have been going from one mode of transportation to another since thursday and are so close to getting to 'the little bungalow on the beach' we can taste it. Actually, all we can taste right now are fumes from the boat we are on as we wait to embark on our 2 hour ride over to Ko Phi Phi from Phuket... But we are getting warmer!

I got into Bangkok just fine- just minor annoyances after a night of no sleep, but no big complications along the way. Took the complimentary ride over to our hotel and waited for Andy to arrive. Couldn't sleep, was unable to find anything on TV (Asian TV is just straight bizarre!), so did some yoga in our air conditioned room and connected to the frustratingly slow wifi and tried to relax. The guy at the front desk asked me if I would like to go on the ride over to pick up Andy, so woke up after a short nap and jumped into the van around 11:15pm. As I was waiting for him, got told by the hotel employee: 'your friend, he's already at the hotel'. Alright. So ask the gentleman if he will take me back and he tells me yes, when I pay him 150 baht for the ride. He explains that since Andy is not going to be taking the van, I now have to pay. At this point, it's midnight, I don't have my wallet, I am so tired and frustrated from this day that I am now in tears at the airport while Andy is waiting for me at the hotel. He explains that if I wait till he gets a customer, I won't have to pay. Fine, how long till you get customer? I don't know, maybe 45 minutes?? Yep, and I'm just full out in tears and at my wits end by this point. I tell him I will pay when we get back and that I just desperately want to get to the hotel. He sees how upset I am and tells me to wait for 5 minutes and shows back up in 10 with a customer so I don't have to pay.

Finally get back to Andy waiting in the lobby and the deskboy (the one who assured me that I wouldnt have to pay to go pick Andy up) tells me I owe 300 baht now- 150 each way. I am livid at this point but end up coughing up 150. Before bed, Andy and I discuss our adventerous travel days (poor Andy had quite the trip from Guangzhou to Bangkok on Egypt air- an airline you should all avoid at all cost!) and agree that despite the troubles, it's worth the fact that we are finally here and together. We discuss plans for the next day and Andy infoms me that he bought us two plane tickets to Phuket to save us an entire day on the bus or train which is what we were originally planning. Amazing, this boy!

Sleep in, eat our compilmentary breakfast of eggs, hard toast, ham, a mini hot dog, fake jam and tang and hang out until noon- check out time. Ride to the airport, go to the one and only food court in the domestic terminal, and eat our meal of a whopper and French fries and a red curry dish. Wait for our flight, and finally board. Wait on the runway for about 45 mins for reasons not explained to us and were finally on our way. Get to Phuket and have no plan of where to go. We had heard some stuff about Patong and south of there in Karon and Kata so decide to just head south. Get harrassed by a few taxies and settle for a shuttle for 150 baht each. Here was a first for me though: The shuttle pulled into a travel agency about 5 minutes into the ride and told us all to get out as travel agents lead us in and start asking us questions about where we are going? do we have rooms? How much we looking to spend? We make up a story about staying with friends and get the hell outta there after refusing a few more offers for tours and hotels. Get back on 30 mins later and finally reach Patong about 45 mins after that. Quickly decide we want nothing to do with Patong and ask them to drop us further south towards Karon and/or Kata. Takes about 3 people, 20 mins, and a few phone calls back to the travel agency to get this translated but we are pretty sure they know what we are trying to accomplish.

We get dropped off a half an hour later in Karon no where close to the guesthouse we asked him to drop us at and have to give him another hundred baht for the extra distance. Now what? Walk around for a bit, try to find a couple places listed in our Lonely Planet- which isn't working- so start pricing the first places we come up to. Finally settle on a place above a bar called Calypso that has air con and a decent room with a kareoke set up downstairs. Bargin for 400 baht and 2 free beers, sit down in our room, cheers eachother and decompress. This is love- being able to make it through a frustratingly long and roundabout day of travel and sit there, talk about what we hated about, cheers eachother,


and laugh it off.

Finish our beers, go out to check out the scene and get some grub. Walk over to the night market which is just by the beach and stroll along to just people watch. God, there is amazing people watching here! The market has two aisles- one that is all little restaraunts and street vendors selling great looking food; the other that is split between Ed Harvey and fake Gucci bags being sold for dirt cheap, and carnival games. Awesome. Found a place where we wanted to eat and sat down at an empty table between a few old (real old!) expats taking their young (real young!) Thai girls out to dinner- this should be interesting. Eat some delicious panang curry and shared a big, sweaty Chang beer and walk back towards our guesthouse. Picked up some strange looking fruit from the fruit lady and went to a bar to further our 'people making bad decisions' people-watching and for another Chang. Get back to our classy homestay and take some sleeping pills (as there was a pretty funny looking Asian guy with a gray mullet singing John Denver in the bar below us) and pass out.

Woke up this morning, seeked out some wifi, got a nice breakfast, checked out the beach for a bit and then packed up our stuff. Checked out- where they tried to tell us that we owed them for the beers last night (umm, no)- and catch the bus- basically the back of a truck with benches on either side- to Phuket town. Get off when they yell 'bus done!' and, convienently, where taxi drivers are lined up for us. Talk down one guy for a ride to the marina, get there and pay for two open round trips to Ko Phi Phi and wait for our boat. Now we are here: Choking on fumes and so beyond ready for a secluded beach, a bugalow and some time doing absolutely nothing... So close!