Good Morning Vietnam

Hey all, we have been on the move for several days now, since the last post from Hanoi. The internet is good here, so we might be able to get some more photos up soon. As for us, we are happy, healthy, and in good spirits (meaning, not wanting to kill each other.) Truly, doing this trip with a family member changes the experience--its something that we'll always have together. But anyway, enough of the sap--

Vietnam. Oh, vietnam. This place is SO different compared to Laos. From the minute we touched down, this place has been different. The first thing I noticed on the bus from the airport--Power Lines. Lots of them. And manufacturing. Lots of factories. And building. People we have talked to havea described Laos as "war torn." I disagree--I observed Laos to be less developed than other places, but war torn isn't the way I would describe it. Vietnam, in comparison, is the place I expected to look "war torn." With what I knew of the country and the vietnam war, I expected to see a country slowly recovering its economy and culture. Having seen photos of the bigger cities in vietnam post-war, I knew that the major cities had been flattened by american bombers. Going to the cities now, there is no evidence of the catastrophic effects of the bombing--instead, you see progress. Hanoi was a city growing exponentially. In 30 years, a flattened countryside has been replaced with bridges, paved city streets, growing infrastructure, freeways (the best so far), overpasses, big companies, budding tourism. We have visited several museums since arriving here--and learned that vietnam is a country that has been fighting "invaders" for centuries. They think of themselves as 'tigers' in some ways--a sleeping 'tiger' economy that has finally been given the chance to show itself. They think of themselves as 'tigers' in war--repelling invasions (chinese, japanese, french, american, british, australian, mongol among others, as well as invasions internally, north vietnam into south and vice versa). With the resources here, it is incredible that this country is not a world power, although now it is one of the leading producers of rice and coffee, and its manufacturing is growing fantastically. Vietnam seems to be dealing with the issues of infrastructure better than Laos--city planning, organized garbage service, street sweeping.

With all the planning however, it is clear that vietnam, like Laos, is having a problem with culture and these new changes colliding. Motorbikes, while obnoxious and load, have also changed the family structure--allowing children to travel to the cities to work, get an education, meet potential partners who are quite far from the family home. Along the train tracks and freeways, you see men and women on motorbikes, but you also see them on bikes, carts with produce for town, and walking along herding cattle and water buffalo. You see families fishing in the culverts alongside the freeway, next to piles of garbage. You see people just sitting on the rails of the train tracks or walking alongside, as if it were a path. The "street sweepers" we ahve seen along the freeway are actually people sweeping, wearing a grass cone hat and using a handmade broom. Trucks and cars and motorbikes pass them at dizzying speeds, spewing debris, exhaust and rocks. I can't think of a more dangerous job, that is, until I see men on construction projects swinging around the tops of brick buildings without wearing a helmet or safety harness.

The country here is GREEN. So green. Every bit of space in the countryside is utilized. The neighborhoods appear to be planned from the air, in squares or circles, and rice or other crops are planted all the way around. Even the sides of the freeways are planted, and you see people working them by hand as you drive by, cutting rice, spraying pesticides. This place seems less restrained than Laos--while the cities often shut down early, there is no curfew requiring us to retire at a certain time (officers patrolled LuangPrabang to make sure you went home), and the young people seem freer here. In Laos, their expression was muted, reserved to some futive spray painting on the sides of buildings, saying thing in English like "Hip Hop." This silent, rebellious cry makes me wonder about the idyllic countrysides of Laos, and what the constrained development will mean for its youth. Speaking of youth, in these countries, Laos and Vietnam--there are NO old people. The average age in vietnam is 25. From what we have seen, most of the old people either died in the wars, or fled the country. It has been interesting to view the Vietnam war from the side of the vietnamese, and other people from around the world. Visiting the museums felt like propoganda regarding the war, we americans are cast as 'imperialists, puppeteers, controlling, murderous." Viewing the photos of the bombed cities, where dead vietnamese lay, sprawled in piles, many with their clothes blown from their bodies, children, women, other civilians, it is not hard to see how they could see Americans that way. It was also difficult to see pictures of dead american servicemen--although we visited the prison in Hanoi where they kept downed american pilots, and it was difficult to know what to think. The areas where they kept vietnamese for war crimes in this prison were horrific, but they show the american servicemen playing basketball, raising chickens, and decorating for Christmas. We saw pictures of John McCain there, laying wounded in a hospital bed there, he claims to have been tortured in this same prison. From our view, it is hard to reconcile these two versions of prison life. Maybe they are both true.

We explored Hanoi, and then booked a tour of Halong Bay, on the east coast of Northern Vietnam. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, just beautiful. I believe the pictures will speak more than words, but google "Halong Bay" and in seconds you can see what I mean. We rode a "junk" and swam in the salty bay. Wesa had the unfortunate experience of being stung by a large box jelly fish, but after a few excrutiatingly painful, burning hours, she is now pain free, although somewhat leery of jumping into the ocean. No one peed on her to reduce the pain, but the crew did have some remedies to help her through the evening. Lime, apparently, can work to help reduce the reaction. Who knew!

We will post pictures soon. Hope this finds you well.

Ha Noi

Wonton Noodle Soup = A++ good.

This place is crazy. The traffic is chaos, pure and simple. Motor bikes rule the road, sidewalks, center of stores, and I wouldn't be surprised if people also sleep with them. Seriously. We can't walk down the sidewalks for all the impromptu vendors set up next to the motor bike parking. We can barely walk in the road because of the motor bikes. No one uses turn signals, they just honk...constantly. I've never been in anything like this in my life. I even took a video.



We went to a market today that was, for me, comparable to putting a kid in a candy store. Huge bags of spices everywhere. Anything you could imagine.


Dried mushrooms


I believe this is cinnamon. It's huge. Larger than a cell phone.


Need a hat?


Not sure what this is.

Market photos

Temple in Chiang Mai

Cooked meat.


Prepackaged soup mix?


A sidestreet through the market, Chiang Mai.


Durien. Apparently it smells so bad that many hotels ban them from the premises.

Uploading photos is a slow process. We have free Internet at our current guest house, but it's only one computer that is shared.

Heading to Vietnam

We have secured a new passport, Vietnam Visa, and Laos entry/exit stamp for Emilia. Our flight to Ha Noi leaves at 2pm local Laos time. An hour after that, we'll be at our next destination. The government offices and embassies have all been really great. Everyone has been helpful, we only had to pay one "bribe", and we happily sat in air conditioned offices for a few hours over the last 3 days to get everything we needed. We were told by an ex-pat that we were lucky it didn't happen in Thailand, and perhaps he was right. Regardless, it was nowhere as painful a process as we feared. As Em stated earlier, always carry a copy of your documents and exchange a set with a fellow traveler if you have one. It helped us so much to get through this process as painless as possible.

Vientiane has grown on me a bit. When we first arrived, it was late at night. We were overcharged for a room, everything smelled bad, and I was sick. Since then, I've gotten better, we moved to a cheaper room, and the rain has refreshed the city.

Vientiane unfortunately did not have the high speed Internet that I had been craving. I only have one more photo to post for now. This is the view from the bathroom in Treehouse 5 at the Gibbon Experience. I don't think anything will ever top it in my book.

Censorship

I just tried to access the Seattle PI's website and to my surprise (since it worked last night), I found this instead:

Sorry, the web site you are accessing has been closed by Royal Thai Police due to inappropriateness such as pornography, gambling or contain any information which is deemed to violate national security.

I'm not even in Thailand, but Laos. Go figure.

The cost of Laos...

Here's a breakdown of a really nice day in Vietiane for 2 people:

50,000 kip Room with 2 beds, shared bathroom.
28,000 kip latte and cappuccino (complete excess purchase)
30,000 kip breakfast and fruit shakes
34,000 kip 4 Beer Laos and 1 noodle plate for lunch
115,000 kip Japanese dinner
8,000 kip 2 large waters

We normally spend around 50,000 kip for dinner between the two of us, so we went way overboard last night. All in all though, the entire day cost us $31, so about $15.50 each. When we are more conservative with our money, we can keep it to around $8-$10 a day each. It's roughly 8,500 kip to 1 USD right now.

First crappy video from Gibbon Experience

First run on the Gibbon ziplines...I had no idea how to hold the camera and still brake before crashing into a tree.



Will post more when the Internet cooperates.

Little things that remind me of home

We found a fancy coffee shop today. I had my first latte in 2 weeks, Em had a cappuccino. We read newspapers that were a few days old, caught up on some news, and overall, we could have been in any city in the world. It was enough to help some of the homesickness I've had the last few days.

**EDIT by Em--it was probably one of the best cappuccinos i have ever had, and it was "fancy" and expensive here, but it still cost under less than $2 US. Course, our room costs between $5-6 US, so it was expensive in comparison, but not that much on the whole.

Photos

Em actually took this photo with my camera. The man was looking at the menu for the restaurant we were at.


7-up for an upset stomach.


Outside a restaurant in Luang Prabang.


Statue.


I'm not sure what these are.


BABY GOAT!


Riding bicycles in Luang Prabang.


Statue at a Wat.


Off the boat in Luang Prabang...


The first day on the slow boat, our bags were placed in the back of the boat. The owner would stop every other village and load cargo (rice, pigs, chickens) and passengers, filling the aisle completely. The second day, we were able to store our packs down the middle of the boat (as seen above), making it easier to get off the boat.


This is Luke from Wales. We went through fat camp Gibbon Experience with him, then traveled on the slow boat together. We may run into him again.


The scenery we saw during our 2-day slow boat ride to Luang Prabang was beautiful and amazing. The second day, we had blue skies.

More photos later...I left the memory card with the Gibbon Experience back at the hostel.

Laos Impressions

Hello, from Vientiane. We are hiding out in an internet cafe, for some relief from the humidity outside. It is hotter and more humid here than any place we have been on this trip so far!

I suppose you might say that I have a different take on Laos than my sister, for having been other places around the world. Yes, getting around here is more difficult that it is at home, or in Europe. We took a bus ride yesterday that lasted 4 hours more than it should have. The actual ride was the equivalent of a carnival ride--holding on with both hands, hoping that the machine doesn't fall apart before the ride is over. The driver at the wheel was employing the "honk and hope" routine--coming up to yet another switchback, he'd honk a lot before entering the blind corner, and hope that anyone else coming could get out of our way in time. We had ponied up a few extra dollars for the VIP bus, which meant that the bus had a bathroom. Well, there was a toilet, but it was inside of a room the size of a shoebox, and when you went inside with the door shut, there was not enough room to stand, let alone pee. With the bus pitching and rocking and bumping, trying to pee while the bus was in motion was the equivalent of trying to pee in a drink shaker (while shaking it). Needless to say, after one experience in the shoebox, we both held it. The road from Luang Prabang to Vientiane is supposed to be one of the best in Laos--but i am sure that I spent most of the ride hanging onto the seat after hitting yet another bump very very hard and fast.

Laos has only recently opened up to tourism--it is obvious that this country is growing. There is construction everywhere, in every town there is something being built. Also, I have not seen many beggars or people who appear to be starving, which I have seen in other places. The children here appear to be happy, and playful, not like other children i have seen who have been in serious need or nutrients or medical care in other places. There are few obese people though, for the most part, the people here work very hard, and it shows in their physiques. Only the most well off people in the village can afford to have much of a beer belly. The question remains--is this how it is here, or are we just seeing what they want us to see?

Yet, it is also obvious that this country is growing faster than the country can accommodate the changes. The Lao people have a love affair with plastic--they wrap everything in it. The downside of that is that there is no where to put discarded plastic, and other trash. One solution is to burn all the trash at night--coming into Vientiane, there were numerous small fires along the roads, and as hot as it is, it certainly wasn't for warmth. Another solution is to just simply throw it next to the house, and create a personal landfill--throwing dirt and other debris over the top. Another option we often see is discarding garbage into the river---the mighty Mekong river, at its rainy season height, is a swirling giant with a calm surface, but occasionally pockets boil to the top, and spit out piles of garbage and other debris collected along the banks. The trees line the riverbank covered with plastic, as the last time the river rose to their heights, the branches acted as strainers for the plastic, and it waves at us merrily as we go by, like Christmas decorations.

The bus ride, while long, also allowed us to see a lot of the countryside--tall limestone peaks covered in green vegetation, spotted with small homesteads of slash and burn agriculture. It is amazing, that people can even get to these heights, clear some land, burn it for the nutrients, and then farm it. The downside--all this clearing of land leads to greater erosion of the land--some of called the flooding of this year in these areas the worst in 40 years. I am no biologist, but it is clear that the flooding in these areas will only get worse, without some organization and conservation efforts. But truly, the Lao landscape is quite dramatic, and beautiful.

The streets too, show that the country is outgrowing its britches--in places the roads just fall off mountainsides. Sidewalks are pristine for a few feet, covered in a fake marble material, and then next block is torn apart, covered in organic waste and matter, smelling like urine and dead animals. Vientiane, the Capital City, is better than others and worse--there are some gorgeous streets, some have called one street the "Champ Elysees" of the East. And the next street over is a series of dilapidated houses and boarded up storefronts.

The people have also been a mixed bag--we meet people in the cities who often deal with tourists, and they treat us in an arrogant manner, like we should be grateful that they would allow us to spend our money there. In other places, people are happy to help. I suppose that is the same at home, all kinds of people--but the people i have enjoyed the most are the ones who live outside the cities. The small town and village people wave and call out greetings as we pass, and the children always wave and shout out whatever English they know, and chase the bikes or cars. "Hello! What is your name! Good Morning!" They often seem astonished that we would be out there in the middle of nowhere....they think it is hot too, what are these crazy tourists doing, hiking in the middle of the day! Again, i think our experience dealing with the Laos in tourism has effected somewhat how I feel about the people--i think outside of the tourist industry, the people are different, but it can be difficult to meet them.

I hear often, other tourists making the claim that Laos will be a different place in 20 years, and that we are fortunate to be visiting now. I think Laos will change quickly, but I predict that it will not take 20 years to be unrecognizable--i give it 5 years or less.

As Laos compares to other travels--it is safer than south america. I have not yet worried once about my safety, even on the wild bus ride. I do not worry about theft as I did in Europe. While there is a glut of tourists, so far, I have not seen the drugs that often accompany them. The Andes are hard to beat, when it comes to picturesque views, and history of these cities is more unknown to us than what we have already learned about Europe in school--but there is other history here, the Wars. We have not had a chance to visit many sites, or museums, mainly because in the small towns, there aren't any. I read in the LP that 80% of US MIAs are believed to have been lost in Laos. I am hoping as we head to Vietnam, to get some more education, but I imagine it will be difficult, with the coast tempting us away from the demilitarized zone. (when we get there!!!!)

I hope this finds you well.

Random Cultural Bits

Sahbyedee (hello in Laos). We had an 11 hour VIP bus trip today which absolutely fried my brain. We ran out of books to read a few days ago and have yet to replace them, so the trip was quite unproductive. We finally made it to the capitol Vientiane, found an overpriced room ($15USD for the two of us, more than we've paid yet the entire trip), and grabbed a bite to eat. We have tomorrow to bum around, then we're heading to the US Embassy on Monday for the passport.

So tidbits I thought of on the bus ride. Fruit shakes are awesome. We've had a few, though not many. Definitely a treat on a hot day.

We've acclimated to the time change. Most days, we wake up between 5-6am with the roosters crowing, then head to bed around 9pm (unless we're on the Internet). We have yet to use an alarm clock. Morning is the best time of day. It's quiet. Most tourists are sleeping in. We usually get up, go for a walk around 7am, then grab a light breakfast. Laos loves baguettes. I usually have a jam and butter baguette for breakfast with a cup of tea.

There is definitely a lingering French influence in the region, not only with the cuisine but with the architecture as well. Photos to follow in a few days.

Riding bicycles is so far my favorite thing to do. We've rented bicycles in Huay Xia and Luang Prabang, riding around the city for a few hours. It's a great way to see the different neighborhoods, rural and urban, while staying relatively cool. Definitely need more sunblock though, I burned my shoulder-blades to a crisp 2 days ago.

Curfew is at 11:30pm and the place shuts down fairly quickly. The other night, I went out drinking with some fellow travelers and we ran into armed guards on our way back to the guest house. It was a bit frightening, but they let us go after a quick explanation from the tuk tuk driver.

That's about all I have at the moment. I'm going to work on transferring photos in the next few days, so look for a post about Gibbon and other exciting (or not so exciting) adventures soon.

Luang Prabang while Wesa is on the phone

Wesa is talking to Carl....i am sitting here in the cafe trying not to listen to her conversation, watching the local people interact. We saw a scene straight out of a soap opera at dinner, with the manager having an all out screaming brawl with one of the other people working there. In a place where one "loses face" when voices are raised, it was incredibly uncomfortable to watch. I also heard Wesa talking about the "schlump" on the phone just now....the bathrooms are set up so that you could sit on the toilet and shower at the same time. Hence, the "shower/dump." I have not yet taken a "schlump" but I did sit on the toilet once while washing the soap out of my hair--bad water pressure and I was really tired. So I could see how it might save you some time if you had to spent a lot of time on the can.

I ran into Jeremy Healey yesterday on the streets here. He was a class behind me in law school, here on his post-bar trip. What are the odds, seriously! We had a beer together, and watched the restaurant real life soap opera together.

Getting on a direct bus to the capital tomorrow, so I can get my passport situation worked out.

Cheers!

Slow Boating into Luang Prabang

Hey all, sorry we haven't been able to post recently. We spent three days in the jungle, doing an adventure Wesa has affectionally called her "Fat Camp" experience. We were definitely challenged physically, over three days we hiked well over 30 miles in the jungle, up and down very difficult, muddy, leech infested terrain. It was hot, (sweltering) raining and the leeches, while they appeared to be small, were amazingly fast, and made for the insides of my shoe faster than I could try and pick them off. The reward of the hike was that we spent two nights staying in tree houses high off the ground (when I spit off the side, i was able to count well over 7 seconds before it disappeared under the canopy). To get around the tree houses, meters and meters of zip lines at our disposal. Truely, it was an amazing experience, and we'll talk more about it when we can post some pictures and video.

We returned to Huayxai and then hopped the "slow boat to Luang Prabang." Accompanied by another american from Denver, a Canadian and a bloke from Wales, we are here to try and recover from two days of sedentary boat travel down the Mekong. We would be planning on doing some kayaking or other adventuring, but....the jungle ate my passport and my ATM card. Before you freak out, things are completely under control. I have copies, and we are headed for the capital city of Vientiane to sort things out. We have enough money, and with the support of the friends we have made, things are going really well, even though I am missing a really important piece of ID for this trip. I just wanted to put that out there, in case anyone ever travels--KEEP COPIES OF ALL YOUR IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS AND CARDS. In this way, I have still been able to travel, with the copies. I also wanted to let my parents know that my passport is missing, in case it gets turned in to the embassy and someone calls home to tell them that I am also missing.

In sum--I am fine. Wesa is fine. My passport was eaten by a very hungry jungle. Don't ask me how. It pisses me off just to think about it.

So anyway, sans passport, but still having a good time. Hungry now, will probably have more time in Vientiane to post photos while I go through the embassy process, etc.

Wishing you well wherever you are.

Dinner in Laos

We had Laos BBQ last night. Originally, we walked by the place because I wasn't sure we should stop there. There were no customers and a little of my fear of the unknown has come back. Finally, we decided to head back and chck it out. Lucky for us that we did. It turns out that this place is where the locals eat, and for good reason.



Each table has a large hole in the center. After ordering the beef special, they brought out a bucket full of charcoal and set it in the middle of the table. We had a metal lid with holes, a bucket of broth, a platter of thin-sliced beef, a basket of vegetables (cabbage, green onion, something that looked like river reeds, and glass noodles), a sweet sauce, garlic, and green chilies. We coated the top of the metal lid with beef fat, then cooked the meat slices on it. The bottom of the lid was for broth, which cooks the vegables. It was the best meal we've had yet on our trip...I want to go back tonight for more.



Currently 75 °F / 24 °C
95% humidity.

Hello Laos!

Hey all. I think it is safe to say that we are both finally settling in, and finding more of a rhythm here. We are finding it much easier to get around, communicate, and navigate. Well, ok, its not easy to do all those things, but we are handling it much better than before. We are both sitting in a internet cafe in Huayxai, in the Bokeo province of Laos. (try to find that on a map!) The currency here is the Kip--currently the Kip is about 8.5 Kip to the dollar. Our breakfast total cost us 32,000 Kip. Sounds like a lot, until you calculate that it cost us less than two dollars each to each breakfast (i had rice and vegetables, Wes had sukiyaki).

Huayxai is very small, only a few roads in town, the main mode of transportation is either motocycle or truck/landrover. Getting the feeling that the roads are a little trying at times. Huayxai is SO different from Chiang Mai. Small. Fewer tourists, although there are some.....but unbelieveably QUIET. There aren't thousands of tuk-tuks or motorbikes buzzing and honking and zipping. The people here are much more relaxed too.

Yesterday was our last day in Chiang Mai, so to go out with a bang, we went and did the most touristy thing we could think of--taking a songtao up to the major wat up on top of this medium sized mountain, with all the other tourists who visit Chiang Mai. We rode with two "blokes" from Nottingham. I didn't know where in England that was...but he said, "you know, Robin Hood and all that." I bet they get a lot of bad jokes about the Merry Men and the like. Doi Suthep was this Buddhist temple up on top of the mountain, with amazing views of all of the city. It was the pretty standard wat--gold, monks, lots of bells. People bought flowers to lay at the altars, which were promptly removed by the workers and returned to the flower stands to be re-sold to the next person looking to lay flowers.

We then walked around town and wandered into a weaver's market. Wesa bought a few things, but not before it began to rain. For the first time, I think we understood what it mean to be here during the "monsoon season." All of a sudden, the sky opened up. The busy streets cleared in seconds. Tourists, walking around without umbrellas or ponchos, were treed to the small overhangs of the businesses. The market was covered with umbrellas, but as soon as it began to rain, the sellers scrambled frantically to cover their wares, throw up more tarps between the umbrellas, and poke at the burgeoning water pockets with bamboo poles....all the while continuing to try and bargain with us over some goods! The rain was absolutely amazing. The streets, gutters, even the ground at the market was flooded with rainwater in minutes, up and over the ankles, at times. The local people also rushed to put out containers to catch the fresh water running off the tarps, quickly filling to capacity well before any others could be located. We had bought ponchos, and donned them to run around in the ankle deep water.

We also saw elephants in town....not running through town like wild beasts in the movies--a guy was walking one down the street, trying to get tourists to buy the elephant some food, and to pay to take a picture with it. Sort of like the guys in Hawaii with the parrots. I had never been so close to one before (it was a juvenile, but still much taller than me, and surprisingly hairy), but we did not pay to play with it.

But, anyway, the Thailand to Laos journey in summary--We took an overnight minibus to the border, crashed at a standard guesthouse for about a dollar and 50 cents, and then caught a boat across the Mekong River this morning. (it was long and skinny, reminding me of the peki-peki that O'Neil and I rode in while in the Amazon Basin. Speaking of the Amazon--so much of this area reminds me of that trip--the humidity, the clouds, the brown rivers, the tropical foliage, and sun that bakes when it comes through the clouds.

I think we will rest today, explore some, get ready for tomorrow's adventure.

Cheers.

Photos

Novice monks at a Wat.


Young monks at the river.


There are dogs everywhere here, but they are not really pets. I am tempted to pet most of them but so far, have avoided doing so. They wander the streets and while most wag their tails, we've been growled at by a few. Better to look and move on.




Part of the permanent market. There is the night market which sets up every evening until 11pm, then the permanent market under an existing structure.


The real market scene, where locals buy produce.


Street signs in Chiang Mai are only posted about 1 in 5 corners...so sometimes we get a bit lost.


Spirit Houses are posted at every home and shop. Some are quite elaborate.


Motor bikes are EVERYWHERE here. I believe they outnumber the cars. We've seen up to 4 people crammed on one tiny bike, children, school children, girls riding side saddle...most without helmets. Driving here is very relaxed, the painted lane lines are more of a suggestion, and traffic lights create a momentary lull just long enough for pedestrians to scamper across the street.

FYI: some posts have been edited to add more photos, so check the older posts. We likely won't have much Internet for the next week as we travel through Laos, explore the Gibbon Experience, and head toward Vientiane. We'll likely be able to post an update before heading to Vietnam, hopefully with photos.

Thai Cooking School

This was the highlight of the day. Em and I woke at 5:45am local time after crashing out before 8pm the night before. Jet lag likely suspect. We walked for about 90 minutes checking out a new part of Chiang Mai, watched students commuting to school, monks in their routine, and street vendors selling "breakfast" to the local folk. Breakfast in Thailand consists of grilled meat on sticks (fish, chicken, etc), pho, and many types of curries. It smelled delicious but I couldn't pick anything. Perhaps it was the language barrier, though it seems almost everyone here speaks a few English phrases. It was likely being unsure of the quality of the food. Perhaps tomorrow I shall be more adventurous.

Mid-morning, we were picked up songthaew and transported to the market where we experienced a crash-course in picking ingredients. After wandering around for a short while and seeing cockroaches, dead mice, and other actual edible "delights", we moved on to the Thai Cooking School for a 5 hour instruction on Thai cooking. The hosts were fantastic, the ingredients fresh, and we each prepared our own plates with our own chopping block, cleaver, and wok. I think I cooked up over 30 Thai chilies today...maybe not the best idea but so far, my stomach is happy.

Stuffed, we were dropped off at the hostel and after a brief rest, we wandered out for a massage. I had no idea how one could get a foot massage for an hour, but it can be done. The ladies were amused at how ticklish I was and we attempted to learn how to say "How are you?" and "Thank you" in Thai. So far, I can say "Hello" and "three". Em is a bit ahead of me in the language department.

Once massaged, we went back to the hostel for a nap, then met with two cooking school students for a beer at the Muay Thai arena. This venue has probably 20 small bars, each crammed into one space. Each bar blasts music so loud that the ensuing cacophony of noise was almost overwhelming. After one beer, we decided that it wasn't our thing. The Night Market was shutting down, so we're currently en route to the hostel to pass out.

Chiang Mai is definitely geared toward the tourist industry, but little by little, we've found some of the local life. In my opinion, this city was a good introduction to Thailand, but only in the sense that it's easy to get around, relatively easy to communicate with the locals, and easy to find what we need. I am glad, however, that we will be heading out to Laos tomorrow evening. Two days is just about right. Any longer and we would start shelling out funds for trekking.

Photos

On the plane from Tai Pei to Chiang Mai.




No Women Allowed.




No, we didn't eat these.


As much as she'll mock me for taking these, I had to. I just had to.

Getting to Chiang Mai

Sawadeekah from Chiang Mai, Thailand. This is Em typing and Wesa drinking Singha beer at my side. (actually, we are both drinking Singha)

We arrived in Chiang Mai today after spending over 16 hours in the air, and another 10 or more sitting in airports. The actual trip out here was unremarkable, except for the fact that we spent 5 hours in the Taipei, Taiwan airport without food or water, because we did not want to change money or get a lot of money in that currency out of the ATM. Another traveler was feeling slightly more ballsy, and filled up her water bottle at the fountain. I was having visions of fluorescent green waterfalls as the aftermath of drinking the local water, which totally explains why I got a thai iced tea this afternoon with ice in it. We were also treated to a performance by dozens of teenaged students from China, who sang along with their instructor and performed some half-hearted attempts at a half upper body hula. Not for the first time, did we shrug and wonder what the heck was going on. OOH--another highlight...leaving Taipei, all the ground people who rolled the plane out onto the runway sat out there and waved to the plane while it got geared up to taxi down the runway. And tried to mostly smile while they did it. Nice touch, China Air!


But anyway, we arrived here. First impressions of Thailand---GREEN. SO green. You think the NW is green, this place is ONLY green. Flying into Chiang Mai, the only other colors you'd see were the blue and red roofs. We also sighted rice paddies for the first time. We breezed through customs, got some thai "baht" and immediately spent too much on a taxi to our hostel. Immediately after arriving, our landlady immediately started trying to sign us up on tours, successfully, I might add. I believe we are going "ooking" tomorrow. "ooking" is "cooking." But otherwise her English is pretty awesome. Oh, did I mention the HUGE bouquet of lillies that were waiting here for me when I got to the hostel? Apparently boyfriend found out where we are staying, and set it up. So very cool, Professor, very cool. Trying to score points when I am not even around--impressive.

More impressions of Chiang Mai---I have to say at this point, Wesa and I probably have different ones. I see a city that is full of contrasts and contradictions. Absolute squalor nestled next to gold and marble. Garbage piled up against prestigious schools and temples. Streets and buildings full of national treasures and history, but the only people you really see flocking to learn about the Thai culture are the tourists, who occupy each street corner and bar like locusts. There are farangs (foreign English looking people--we count) every step. We spent most of today trying to ditch them, trying to find the 'real' part of this city. I think I might have worn through some flip flops today, looking. I was feeling something like disappointment until sister and I finally stumbled upon the markets--the markets where actual local people go to get food that they cook for themselves. We walked by heaping platters of fruits I can't figure out how to eat, fish so fresh that it was flopping around in nets on the ground, oven roasted roaches and slippery eels, endless amounts of spices and fried things. THIS was the Thailand I had imagined. Not another person like me queuing up to take another picture of the child monks dressed in bright orange. I also felt better after I fought an old lady over 10 baht this afternoon for a poncho (it is raining a lot here right now, stay tuned for posts about how the rain sucks). 10 baht is about 30 cents or so, just to put that in perspective. I hadn't done any bargaining since I was in south america, so it was nice to hone my skills on a frail, wrinkled harridan such as herself. (by the way, I lost) We also got invited to come watch a parade held in honor of the "Nun who came down from the mountain." I am not sure who the Nun is, or what mountain, but its always nice to be invited.

And of course, the other side of the coin was that Wesa was that tourist queuing up to take photos of the monks. Every time I turned around, she had her camera to her face. I am not sure if she even looked at anything she took pictures of today. What I have found remarkable is that she has not balked once at venturing into this foreign place. While I was slightly grumpy at what I was seeing, I can only imagine what was going through her head. (sister, you'll have to supplement this for me, i am not much of a mind reader) I remember my first time, stepping off the plane in Lima, Peru, and I don't think I blinked for 3 weeks. I think this girl was born to be a traveler, but just needed the right push to get started.

Impressions--the people. Very smiley. After I told that taxi driver I wasn't going to pay him very much, he still called our hostel to locate it for us on his personal cell phone, and took us right to its doorstep.

A difficulty (one of very few)--LANGUAGE. Not asking for things. I am talking looking at the language. Road signs. Shop signs. Prices. All written in an alphabet that is reminiscent of me learning to write my name for the first time. Some of the letters look like small animals. Trying to decipher what street I am on is like combine Atari's Frogger with the game where you trying to hurriedly spot the differences between the two pictures, and you have most of my afternoon (frantically comparing the hieroglyphs on the map to the signs). Most of the time I just have to smile and hope that I am actually buying what I am trying to buy. (just my luck to walk out with 50 pounds of dragon fruit when I really want an orange fanta)

We will be in Chiang Mai for one more full day. Tomorrow we are going to learn how to cook Thai-style, and then if the weather isn't hurricane force rain and wind, we'll hike up the mountain to the wat up on the hill. After that we arrange transportation for the Thai-Lao border at Chiang Khong, for our reserved spots at the Gibbons Experience.

We aren't killing each other yet, seriously.

Seattle--Together, FINALLY

Ha! Made it! I just pulled into Wesa's apartment to begin final preparations (meaning eat). I still have not quite finished packing....I need to pick up a few more things at the store, and find some place in my bag where they will fit. Big thanks to O'Neil for the Gracies's breakfast in Portland, and the Jacksons for hanging out with me during some intriguing interpretive dance in the park here in Seattle. Not going to lie, landing in Chiang Mai still feels like a long way from here right at this moment, even though we board a plane tonight. (well, it is, literally, a long way, but still).

Anyway, the point of this post--I'm in Seattle, Wesa is in Seattle, we are both packed, passports in hand, rooms booked for when we arrive, and the slightly rumbly feeling in my stomach tells me that I will be getting on a plane very soon.


Next post--from the other side of the ocean.

Testing, Testing, Is this thing on?

Howdy. I have no idea who might see this blog. I also have no idea how often we'll be able to post to it, considering I don't really know how often we'll run into the internets, or how often we'll really feel like stopping to do some posting. I also have no idea where we are going to go yet, outside of the first few days in Chiang Mai. Essentially, just go to the map, start in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and draw a circle. So far, that's all i have done!!

But anyway...

I'm mostly packed (I think Wesa is totally packed), and mostly on my way to Seattle to catch the plane. I left Springfield today, plan to spend a day in Corvallis, then head for Seattle on Sunday, with a breakfast stop in Portland. I wish I was as organized as my sister, who had lists made and completed well before I even started to wash clothes. Nevertheless, I have a big bag full of stuff that I will probably A) Lose B) Never use, wear or even see until I get home C) Dump at a random hostel once I get there. For some reason, packing a lot of clothes is comforting, until I walk out of the airport with it after arriving.

But anyway...

Leave us lots of comments if you drop by! Hopefully we'll get into enough trouble to keep a few of you entertained. (NOT YOU MOM!!!)

Cheers!