Visit Malaysia 2007 (plus 1)

113 - May 23rd
Today's transportation path: sawngthaew to ferry dock, bus to different ferry dock, ferry to mainland, new different bus to "Train Station", and tuk-tuk to real train station. Why is train station in quotes. Well, at one stop a lady gets on the bus and announces that this is the stop for the train station. Okay, I know this is not the train station (having been to the train station a couple days earlier), but I figure the train station is just round the corner or something. The train station is not just around the corner. As we get off the bus she says she can call a taxi to pick us up in one hour. We politely inform her that the sign on the front of the bus and our bus ticket both state that we purchased tickets to the train station. She relies "Yes" and she will call a taxi to take us there in about a hour, would we like to eat at her restaurant? Well another couple of people (who's ferry had broken down earlier in the day and were now less patient) stormed off after having a few choice words. We merely stormed off. There were a few tuk-tuks ready and waiting to take us the final 15km (How convenient?), but we ignored them and marched on. Just to drive in the point a little more, we walked for about twenty minutes in the rain until we got far enough away for the tuk-tuks to have reasonable prices.

114 - May 24th
Well, turns out we would have had plenty of time for the walk because the midnight train was delayed until 2am. Nothing like a 2am departure to set the traveling mood. When we reached the Butterworth train station we had made up about an hour of time, but still running one hour late. So, virtually on-time for SE Asia. In Butterworth we boarded a bus to Kuala Lumpur. The bus ran only two hours late. We finally arrive in KL three hours after we told Jimmy (Eliza's friend from Hong Kong) we would be there. No problem as we entered the hotel lobby only minutes after Jimmy arrived. We promptly dropped our bags and headed out for dinner. Dinner was eaten at a street restaurant with a local cover band playing in the background. "Sweet Home Alabama" never sounded so...so...so like they had never been to Alabama.

115 - May 25th
After the late night street concert and some solid Malaysian food we all slept well, very well, so well that we did not even open our eyes until nearly 11 am (which we all know is practically unheard of for John). The biggest problem with the 11 am wake up, is that breakfast at our hotel, ended at 10:30. Lucky for John, he was able to sweet talk the guys in the restaurant into some fruit to tide him over as we all got ready. As the only real thing on our KL "to see" list was the Petronas Tower, we headed there first. Well let me tell you, you need to get there early for your free tickets as it is a very popular activity (this may have had something to do with it being both a weekend and a school holiday, neither of which we took into consideration). Ah dear, after asking lot of people we learned that as a special school holiday exception they were going to be open for a half day tomorrow, at least we now have a plan.

Outside view of the Petronas towers

Headed over to Chinatown next in search of some "discount" DVDs and other culture. Later that day it appeared the seafood wanted to battle John again but he decided to take it on with a very early bed time (read 5pm). At this point Jimmy and I decided the only appropriate thing to do was go and get foot massages and try to catch the rockin' street band again. Luckily, both were successful!

116 - May 26th

Today I got up early (while Eliza and Jimmy slept) to get in line for Petronas tickets. I arrived before the ticket booth opened and got into the ill-formed line like everyone else. Just as the ticket window opened a security guard ushered everyone to form a more define line. It was at this point the several locals appeared out of no where and mingled in strategic places (i.e. near the front) of the line. So line forming is better in Malaysia in that they know how it is supposed to be done, but don't always follow. 1-1/2 hours later, Jimmy and Eliza appeared and we were ready to tour the tower. First off was a 3D video about the Petronas Corporation and their oil and gas explorations and drilling operations. Next was a quick elevator ride to the observation area (the enclosed bridge connecting the two towers). You maybe more familiar with the movie "Entrapment", same place.

On the Petronas bridge between the towers

After the towers, we headed back to the hotel to pack up and grab a bus to Singapore. Our bus turned out to be Super VIP. Which means three seats to a row instead of four. And more leg room. I know, we travel in style. The only problem with the bus was that by the time we got out of Singapore Immigration the bus had left us. Which was really annoying. Not only did the bus leave the three of us (Jimmy is still in tow), but the driver also left three other tourists. So, out of a total of 27 possible people, at least 6 were left. I am no math expert, but if you are missing 20% of your fares, maybe some thing is wrong.
On the bright side this did lead to Jimmy revealing one of his Five Creeds of Life: Never trust a bus driver. This creed can be applied all over SE Asia. When we finally did make it into town via a local bus (the bus driver appeared trust worthy, but we still eyed him suspiciously), we ate a good dinner, bid Jimmy a good night and crashed hard.

117 - May 27th

Woke up bright and early (thank you to the natural alarm clock that was the construction site across the street) and took off on our self guided walking tour of s'pore. In the first 2 hours of the beautiful, sunny warm day we managed to see just about all the "sites" listed in the greater downtown area, including the MerLion (see photo). When we were going thru immigration the night before (likely at the exact time our driver was taking off without us) the official asked me how long we were staying, I replied one or two days and he told me we would be able to see all of Singapore in that time, I laughed. Turns out he wasn't making a joke!

Said Mer-Lion

Attempted self portrait with the MerLion, or John's head has sprouted a leak

Saw a post office symbol on our map and headed over to check out some shipping info; in the 5 minutes between the MerLion and the shopping center, the dark clouds in the distance closed in and the sky opened up. Getting accustomed to these showers.

Jewish Asia - Singapore

Ended the day by seeking out a bar with Happy Hour (quite a popular phenomenon in S'pore) and had farewell dinner with Jimmy, it's been fun to get to meet up throughout this trip!

118 - May 28th - Happy B-day Biscuit Pants
Today we departed Singapore for the jungles of Malaysia. The train left at 5:30 in the morning, so we were almost half asleep by the time we realized they don't stamp your passport when you enter Malaysia through Singapore. And to think I am on the "Do Not Fly" list back home. Ahh security at it's finest. The view from the train through the interior of Malaysia was very pretty. Don't ask Eliza about it because she slept the entire way. Only walking up occasionally to pull the curtain shut and shade her from the sun. In order to see out the window, I would wait until she fell asleep to pull to curtain open and get my view back. This routine continued until our arrival in Jerantut. After arriving, we ate a SPICY local lunch, purchased some sundries at the local shop, and booked our tickets to Taman Negara.

119 - May 29th
We began the day by taking a bus to the jetty. The driver was in no hurry and even stopped to do some grocery shopping while we waited. Once at the jetty we waited for our boat. After an hour or so our boat showed up at took us on a nice river cruise to the town of Kuala Tahan on the edge of the park. There we wandered about to find a place to stay. Which wasn't hard 'cause there are only six different places to choose from. We then crossed the river (the park is on one side of the river and the town on the other) and explored a small section of the park. It is as one would think a jungle might be. Boiling hot, 100% humidity, and filled with animal and insect noise. Quite a difference from the temperate rain forests of Washington that I am used to.

Taman Negara

Then we headed back to the hotel to shower (highly needed, as 100% humidity leaves you sweating like Kraft cheese left in the sun). As we headed out for dinner we ran into Jenn and Alex (who you might remember from such places as Laos). Quite a surprise to run into them. It is not everyday you step out of your hotel in the middle of the Mayasian jungle and hear your name yelled. And for those of you keeping score, I am chalking this under my list of people we have met. They had grouped up with another couple of people and so the six of us headed out for dinner on a floating restaurant.

120 - May 30th
Due to the infamous school holiday we keep encountering, the "Canopy walk" was only going to be open until noon today and was likely to have a long line, this was the advise given by our helpful and informative from our guest house. That said, the 6 of us headed out bright and early to make the 2km hike to the Canopy walk in time for it to open. So the canopy walk is a series of 6 suspended rope ladders about 147 meters up from the floor of the jungle. Really quite cool, but I do not have a major fear of height (or any really) so I am pretty sure I had a very different experience from some other members of the group.
"Stable" canopy walk

The biggest (actually quite little in physical size) problem with everything related to hiking today is that it rained very heavily the night before, and in addition to some muddy paths (not a real problem) is that rain brings out the leeches. Before getting to Taman Negara I read about leeches in the guide book and started to develop a completely irrational fear of them. Before taking off on the hike this morning we made sure to have two lighters (to burn them off), covered our bodies in citronella (to avoid them in the first place) and have iodine with us (in case any leeches got to us). This also meant we started taking breaks at every sunny, wide patch on the trail to make sure no one had gotten leeched. After shrieking when I found one above my sock attempting not to panic as John flick/ burned it off, it looked like we were going to be fine. Not so. First casualty was Alex, who got a bite and go without ever noticing. The problem is, though leech bites do not hurt (or even feel like anything) they use a major anti coagulant and leave you with a solid bleeder. Though it was a beautiful hike with some awesome views there was a lot of time devoted to panicking whenever a leech was seen on the path or worse yet, on someone. Somewhere around the last 2 or 3km of our loop, the whole group was essentially engaged in a mild trail running exercise to get out of there as quickly as possible. All in all, Jenn and Jerone were bite free, Lindsay and John got one each and Alex and I lead the pack with 3 or 4 apiece. I will be fine if I never meet another leech in my life.

After a late (and leech free) lunch we signed up for a night Safari, which is an open jeep and a really powerful flashlight tour through the palm tree plantation on the edge of the jungle where a lot of the small to mid size animals go to feed. It was a really cool way to see the ecosystem at work.

121 - May 31st
After yesterday's hike taking about 3 times a long as the book estimated, we were hesitant embark on anything more major. After some discussion with the helpful gents at our guest house Jenn, Alex, John and I opted to take a boat up one of the tributaries to some rapids, known by the locals for good swimming. The ride up was completely breath taking, pure jungle hanging out over the water.



The boat dropped us off with a gesture to the right and "about 10 minutes". Well, off we go. Turned out to be a easy and leech free walk to the first rapids. After a brief rest and look around we decided to walk up to the second set. About 10 meters into the walk I had a leech drop on my hand (see previous days tirade on leeches for my thoughts on this one) and I promptly opted to turn back and spend my time at the first look out.

122 - June 1st
Today we headed by bus to the Cameron Highlands. Jenn and Alex accompanied us as far as Jerantut, but then we said good bye to them. We then continued our bus journey all the way to the highlands. The Cameron Highlands are located in central peninsular Malaysia and are popular because they are a good 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit cooler then the rest of Malaysia. They are a draw to the Malasians and Singaporeans (besides escaping the heat) because they can grow tea and strawberries there. We were not so interested in the strawberries because we can grow them back home (ok, I can't grow them personally, but my mom can). Once there, the cool weather felt amazing. It hasn't been this cold since Xi'an, China. We wandered around the town a bit (once again, the major metropolis of Tahan Rata took all of fifteen minutes to circumnavigate). For din-unch we ate at an amazing Indian food place.

For the first time in my life the picture in the menu showed a smaller portion than the actual food served. So, we might have over ordered. Now I did my best, but I am ashamed to say there was food left over. And this is coming from a guy who can eat an entire pig worth of ribs. Man I was in heaven, too much food and cool weather.

123 - June 2nd
In and around the town on Tahan Rata are a couple of hikes. Some up to the top of the higher peaks and some to a couple of waterfalls. Since Eliza has a little trouble with the whole "elevation thing" (the highlands are at about 4000ft high), we opted for a hike leading to a waterfall. Well this particular hike was more of a walk as most of the way was poorly paved, the river was was more of a spillway, and the water fall could have been easily navigated by a rubber ducky. But is was still fun to get out in nature and not sweat buckets. We headed back into town via the main road and had dinner at another Indian restaurant. Between the two restaurants we have found a good new dish. I can't be held responsible for the correct spelling, but it was called something close to "Thosi". It is a big rice pancake with all kinds of vegetables or other food wrapped inside. Which you then dip into different sauces. Really good.

124 - June 3rd
Since the Cameron Highlands are known for the tea plantations, so we decided we should see what all the hype was about. We jumped on the local bus which runs up and down the main road (there is only one main road) between the small towns. After thirty minutes of riding along in what only can be described as a jalopy, we alighted and headed on a 4km walk along a small road thought the tea fields. (side note: nobody over here says "get off" or "disembark" they all say "alight". British I guess. Just odd because it distinctively does not mean "set on fire". Which could prove to be disastrous if confused.) The walk was nice because a) it was cool and b) it was through tea fields.
On the walk to the Boh Plantation

When we got to the Boh Tea Plantation (our destination), we settled down for a nice cup of tea. Being the tea aficionado that I am, I can tell you that the tea was a 2008 vintage full bodied black tea with a high concentration of antioxidants and vitamins and minerals. Okay, I read that off the label, but the tea tasted good to me.



On the walk out we realized that we had perfect timing. The one-lane road leading to and from the plantation was bumper to bumper with cars. Nobody wanted to give up the right of way so they were literally at a stand still. The cars that left the same time we did ended up catching us 3 kilometers (thirty minutes later) down the road. Quite a traffic jam. Indian food again.

125 - June 4th
Today we spent some time planning for the next part of our journey. Eliza had planned on heading to an island called Palau Pangkor. But after several phone calls and emails we realized all the accommodation's were booked. At this time I think I should mention that we are still in Malaysia during the two week school vacation. And there are lots of families traveling at this time. This makes finding hotels more difficult, but until now not impossible. So we altered our plans and decided to head to the island of Langkawai. After another couple of phone calls. Thank goodness for Skype because it figures out all the area codes for you. No messing with +011-060-whatever. Anyway, we picked a place based on a recommendation from Jenn and Alex. After much computer work we headed out on another walk to see a waterfall.



This one actually had more than one drop and the more than one drops were all more than a six foot drop (much better than the previous disappointing waterfall). More Indian food.

126 - June 5th
Transportation: bus Ipoh, different bus to Butterworth, ferry to Georgetown, and ferry to Lankawai. Except for the last ferry part. See when you get to Georgetown the ferries stop at 2pm not the 7pm we were told. Oh well, we'll stay the night. Georgetown was founded by the British East India Company and has been used as a trading port ever since. So it is home to a lot of history and varied cultures. The architecture, mostly not-maintained colonial, is also worth the visit.

from the ferry

127 - June 6th
Hah, finally caught the ferry to Langkawai. It took about 2 hours and was a blue, beautiful ride. After taking a taxi to our guest house it was swimsuits on and beach bound for this duo (oh and about a 1/2 bottle sunscreen application between the two of us). Spent some time in the ocean staring off at the horizon.

128 - June 7th
So the thing about beach time is that, while wonderful to experience, is not that exciting (one hopes). Today's big news is that we bought a sarong to make into a large beach blanket that could easily be moved around to stay in the shade. I know, try to contain your excitement.

View from the beach

One interesting thing to observe on the beach here was the local population enjoying the water. As a large population of Malaysia is Muslim, many of the beach goers were covered, as in ankles to wrists and up to the head, even while enjoying the ocean. Made me feel a little indecent for even having a two piece on under my t-shirt and capris!

129 - June 8th Happy Birthday Momma Meds!!
Today's big variation on the beach theme was the awesome sand turtle John and I built. Well, John really worked more on sand supply while I did most of the building, but a group effort nonetheless!

Sunset in Langkawai


130 - June 9th
Side note on the START of my day today: Woke up to the alarm and like many people, needed to use the restroom. Headed in and for some reason looked in the toilet before sitting down. Was greeted with the most unexpected site at 7am, a lizard who looked far larger than the pipe, in the bowl, staring up at me. I promptly screamed, slammed the lid shut, and then ran out to the porch to fetch John. He took a look in the bowl and nodded then asked me what I wanted him to do about it. Turns out I had no plans past showing him, so I opted to leave the lizard there and avoid the bathroom for the last 15 minutes of packing up. Oy!

We now begin our epic three day journey to Koh Chang, Thailand. This process took three days and several forms of transportation. Here is a list in brief: taxi to ferry, ferry to Kuala Kedah, taxi to Alor Setar, overnight train to Bangkok. Highlights include buying chicken and sticky rice from the vendor ladies that hop on-and-off the train, and the extra wide bed because it was a Malaysian train.

131 - June 10th
Continuing the transport trend: From the main Bangkok train station to the subway, subway to monorail, monorail to bus station and bus to Trat. And in Trat we rode a tuk-yuk to the guest house. After checking in we headed to a night market were local food could be found. We ate one dish which shall not be named (they didn't speak English and we ordered by pointing) and a pad thai. Which was followed up another pad thai. The street food in Thailand has been so good. And at a dollar a dish, so plentiful.

132 - June 11th
Tuk-tuk to ferry, ferry to Ko Chang Island, hitched a ride to the sawngthaew station at the next ferry terminal (who knew we bought the wrong ferry tickets), sawngthaew to Bang Bao. We (Eliza) had to bargain hard with the sawngthaew driver because he wanted to wait for more people (even though he had five tourists and three locals already) to make the trip more lucrative for him. Anyway, he eventually agreed on a price, but we don't think he liked us too much because he ended up dropping us off ten minutes from where we were headed. We hiked the last kilometer or so to the resort. One of my promises to Eliza (in order to trick her into taking the crazy trip with me) was that we would spend a week at a fancy resort. So on Lankawai we spend a couple hours looking at different resorts. We ended up at the fanciest place I have ever stayed at, for less than the cost of our hostel in Singapore, sweet sweet low season. The Nirvana Resort. Beach side bungalow, two pools, sauna, on a peninsula (ocean on both sides) to name a few of the amenities. All-in-all nicer than I deserve, but Eliza was right at home. We ate dinner at a restaurant on a pier and settled into the most comfortable bed of the entire trip.

Aahhh....


And now, a preview to our lovely, waterlogged week in Koh Chang!

Destination: Beach time

Day 108 - May 18th

Early tuk-tuk to airport, airplane to Bangkok, bus to Hua Lamphong train station, overnight train to Surat Thani (phew). One item of note was that on the train there was this group of people blaring obnoxious music in our train car. However, this time it was annoying Americans with American music. No Thai (or Vietnamese, or Lao) Pop music, but good old American bands. Okay so I am not that "cool" and I didn't know half the bands or songs, but it was in English, and that was good enough for me.

109 - May 19th

Woke up at 4:20 to the announcement that we were in Sarat Thani, the jumping off point for our destination of Ko Samui. The only problem with this is that the first bus to the port didn't leave until 6:30. We lucked out around 5 when a bunch of buses pulled up and they decided to take a group over to the dock early. After some more sitting and waiting we finally boarded a boat and were on our way to Ko Samui! After one final mode of transport, sawngthaew, we were at Hat Lamai and more than ready for some beach time. I know this is going to sound crazy but...we met up with some friends of mine from college (and Seattle) and went to find some much deserved lunch. After more quality time on the beach, swimming in the gulf of Thailand and a much deserved nap (yeah, I know it doesn't sound like a busy day, but all those modes of transportation sure take it out of you!), we headed out at a big group to try some seafood.

110 - May 20th

I am going to let Eliza explain the majority of this section of our travels. Why you ask? Well most of my time was spent staring at the ceiling or the toilet bowl. "Revenge of the Seafood" I have titled it. Three days of island bliss spent eating Saltines and drinking Gatoraide.

Yeah, not likely John's single greatest beach vacations ever, though the morning started out nicely. After some quality beach time with Joanna, Timmy and Amy, it was time for the second haircut of the trip. Decided to keep form and get a some fancy toes while he went number 2, faded to the top. It was about this time, he decided that the remainder of the beach portion of the trip would be spent indoors, AC cranked, hoping for more Gatoraid.

111 - May 21st
Started the day with some beach/ pool time and read my first book of the day (friends were on a snorkeling trip). After checking on John a few times I went for reverse order of pool/ beach time, as well as book two. Sadly, seafood still revenging, so started in on book three...

112 - May 22nd
Got a chance to see my friends off early in the morning! Mid morning John decided to venture out to the pool with me, woo hoo, seafood less venging!! Ended the afternoon with a great foot massage and headed to the night market for the best Pad Thai of the trip (thus far). John braved dinner and was officially declared the winner of John vs Seafood, it was touch and go at times, but the stronger fighter prevailed.

Ko Samui in the morning

Temples temples everywhere, literally

Day 100 - May 10th
A week or so back, when we booked our flight from Pakse to Siem Reap the helpful lady at Lao Airlines reminded us to check in at least 2 hours before our flight. As John hates to be late for these sorts of things, we arrived at the Pakse airport with 2.5 hours to spare. This turned out to be a little less necessary than it might be at other airports. First, there are 10 parking stalls at this airport, one run way and 2 flights per day which is really one flight that travels Luang Prabang-Pakse-Siem Reap and then back again. Second, we were the only people taking this flight from Pakse.

The days arrivals/ departures.

The cards came out and the hours were passed. When the plane landed to drop the 4 people off we went through immigration (a 7 second process), and went out to board the plane. As we were 8 on the flight total we had to sit with even weight distribution over the wings, this is a new one for an international flight. A short, bumpy flight later (our Asian flight luck remains), we were in Cambodia and our taxi was there to take us to our guest house. In Cambodia they have a different take on the tuk-tuk. It is a scooter with a carriage hitched to the back, pretty nice way to go.In our eternal quest for Mexican food, we found a place with the name "Viva" and opted for a nosh there to start our adventure in Cambodia, we'll try Khmer food tomorrow.

Day 101 - May 11th
The Temples of Angkor are really freakin' cool. I am not a poet so I will not try to compose some sort of ballad or tribute to describe them. Just go there and see for yourself. Someday we'll get the pictures posted online and you can check them out.

Stop One

We decided the best way to see all the temples was to rent bikes and pedal around. It was a great way to go, but if I had to do it all over again I would have hired a tuk-tuk. We got a nice early start. Not as early as I wanted, but Eliza insisted on sleeping or something, I wasn't paying attention. There are two popularly traveled circuits around the temples: The Grand Circuit and the Lesser Circuit. Of course we stated with the Grand Circuit as I would accept nothing less.I am not going to get the exact names right, or the exact order, but here is the path we took:Prasat Kravan, Bat Chum?, Banteay Kdei, Sra Srang, Prasat Top, Ta Prohm, Pre Rup, East Mebon, Ta Som, Prasay Krol Ko?, Neak Pean, Banteay Prei, Prasat Prei, Prah KhanHighlights include the whole day, but here are some notes;Ta Prohm was really cool. The archaeologists/conservationists are leaving this site untouched, so the jungle is moving in. And when they say "untouched" they actually mean they leave the cool natural parts and build a boardwalk throughout most of temple. There are huge trees (and I mean huge) which are growing over the temple walls.

Said trees

Also, Ta Prohm was as featured in "Tomb Raider" if you have seen the movie.Neak Pean is on an island in the middle of a reservoir.Ta Som has a cool tree growing over a door way.And one, I can't remember which, has cool statues of Elephants all over it.

A temple gateway


Day 102 - May 12th

Neak Pean

With our behinds sore from the previous day of biking (40km in total), we headed off on day two of our Angkor Adventures. This time we headed straight for Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom was a walled city that housed many temples. Today there are about ten "sites" to visit. My favorite temple in all of Angkor was Bayon. Which sits at the center of Angkor Thom. It has 50 or so massive towers, each with a large carving of a face on each outside wall. So 200 or so faces. And the faces are big. Say 10ft tall. Some of the faces are said to be of Jayavarman VII (the ruler at the time of construction). No insecurity issues there.

Then we headed to the main attraction of Angor Wat. Just as we pulled our bikes up to the main entrance the rain started. And this was no light shower. We're talking Chicken Little "The sky is falling" rain storm. And being the proper Northwesterners that we are, we pulled out out rain coats and ventured in. Well the rain kept most of the crowds at bay. Which was nice, but it was difficult to take in the whole of the temple when you can only see thirty feet in front of you. After walking around for about an hour we headed on back to our hostel. Oh, and yes it was still raining and we were completely drenched by the time we got back.

Angkor Wat from the back

Day 103 - May 13th
So today's plan was to get a tuk-tuk and see a few temples that are much further from the Angkor center, and given the rain storm of the day prior, to revisit Angkor Wat. In the sunshine, it is truly stunning, and swarming with people. People who are in very bright outfits, of the same color, his and hers bright outfits. Bordering on strange. Turns out May 13th is the Kings birthday, and therefore a very lucky day to get married. All of these groups in bright outfits were wedding parties, doing pictures at Angkor Wat. Hauling around massive suitcases containing up to 13 outfits per person that they will wear throughout the day. Angkor was definitely worth the re-visit.

The cool kids at Angkor

Off to Banteay Srei, also known as the Women's temple since many scholars thinks the carvings are to intricate and detailed to have been done by men. It is a small site about 28km from the main area and completely worth the tuk-tuk ride out there.

Banteay Srei

To round out our tour of Angkor, we finished with "The Rolos Group" a set of structures from a different era and about 16km east of the main area. One major plus to this group is that, while they are very impressive, very few people venture out to see them. In fact we were the only people at Lolei and Prah Ko, and it was only 20 minutes into our visit at Ba Kong that another duo joined us. All in all, it was a chance to really take in the grandeur of these places and get a true sense of how they wanted their deities honored.

On the way home we were privy to another 'sky is falling' storm. It got so bad that out tuk tuk driver pulled over, pulled down the plastic make shift sides and crawled in to chat with us and wait out the storm. As with all extended conversations, it came up that we are from the USA. This time we were not asked if we knew an uncle/ aunt/ cousin in Mississippi, but instead what our knowledge of the green-card system was. Can you buy a green card? Is the lottery free? What percent chance does he have of actually getting one? Is it a better idea to move to California or New York? For all the bad press America gets, we are still seeing a strong interest in moving there. Huh.

Day 104 - May 14th
We took an early bus from Siem Riep to Phnom Penh in order to arrive at a decent time. The problem is not so much the distance (300km or 250km depending on who you ask), or the road condition (not too bad for SE Asia, and much better than even three years before), but the fact that the bus stops three times for lunch. In most modernized countries the trip would take maybe three hours. So, seven hours later we roll into Phnom Penh. As we left our first hotel choice (they did not have any rooms to our liking) a nice Norwegian gentlemen waved us to his new guest house. After checking in we went to the large central market to pick up some supplies.
Then to a new "market", which strangely resembled a "mall", but Eliza told me it was a market and therefore had cultural benefits. And if she says it, it must be true. There she picked up some much needed supplies (I carried the wallet). We ate dinner at a nice restaurant on the waterfront.

market number one

Day 105 - May 15th
Today was glitter day. What does that mean? It means I read about shinny things in Rough Guide/ Lonely planet and we are seeking them out. First stop on glitter day was the Royal Palace and silver pagoda. You are only allowed into certain building in a small part of the grounds as this is where the King still lives and works. Unfortunately they do not allow cameras in, but the throne was very gold ornate, and definitely shinny. The Silver Pagoda got its name from the entirely silver tiled floor. In any western nation, the things in the display cases in the pagoda would have some pretty major security, here there is a list taped over the opening of each display case so that people can tell 1) if that case has been opened and 2) if so, what is missing. Security at it's finest.
Headed over to the national museum next. A number of carvings and smaller statues (read less than 20ft tall) from Angkor have ended up here. It was pretty cool to take a look at these pieces up close and out of the elements. Ended the night with dinner on the river, watching the lightning storms somewhere in the distance.

Day 106 - May 16th
We started the day with a trip to the local tourist market to get some of the gifts you people expect from us when we return. After loading up with "My best friend went to Cambodia and all I got was this stupid T-shirt" shirts, we met up with Lynn and Hannah. Another set of people Eliza knows. A-ha, fooled you, this is the one and only time we are meeting people I know. Okay, so they are friends of my uncle and I have never met them before, but I am so tallying this under my section of the score board. They are both very nice people and we had a great lunch with them. As a pick-me-up, we went to the Tol Sleng Genocide Museum which is housed in the old S-21 site. This is the former high school buildings where many of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge took place. Not a very nice place at all, but worth a visit.

Day 107 - May 17th
Today I ventured out to the "Killing Fields" which is about as happy of a place as the name sounds. From History Class I knew that the Khmer Rouge were not nice people. And from Life Class I can tell you they were REALLY-NOT-NICE people.

We then spent the rest of the day researching/planning the next part of our trip.

More pictures to follow when we get a chance!

Laos, friendliest nation on Earth

Day 85 - April 25th

Because Phosavan is a small town and we are in low season there was only one option for traveling there: Local Bus. And as it turns out the local bus was better than the VIP bus. Okay the physical bus wasn't better, the bus was a piece that's for sure. However, the ride was smoother because we were going slower and the open windows provided more ventilation and cooling. And, somewhat surprisingly, our bags made it too. Which was good because they were strapped to the top of the bus with rope.

Said bus

After settling into our hotel room I wandered around town. It took me ten minutes. Like I said, this town is small. After getting some shady offers from a couple of tour companies (for example one guy stated a price, then his "brother" chimes in with a higher price claiming the first guy doesn't speak English that well. Not sure what Lao for "yeah right buddy" is, but we didn't book with them.) I booked a tour with a local company to take us to the Plain of Jars. The convincing tactic of offering me a "special discount" worked like a charm. Also, I was at the last place in town. As they were taking my money and filling in my information they made me promise several time not to tell anyone how much I paid because the "discount" was for us only. Turns out several other people paid the same amount, but it did make me feel special.

Day 86 - April 26th

Sometime in the 5th or 6th grade I read a magazine with an article about the Plain of Jars. It is a site in Northeastern Laos where there are acres and acres of stone jars, each carved from a single stone of all different sizes. Since there is no carbon matter, they aren't really sure when they date from, or exactly what purpose they served. All in all, this means I was totally pumped for today's tour! Loaded in the the van and we were off. Due to heavy artillery during and after the Vietnam war (the US systematically bombed the area, one drop every 9 minutes for ten years, which seriously adds up) only 3 areas have been sufficiently de-mined to be open to the public. The first site was very cool, rolling hills with jars all over the places. It turns out our guide when to University to study archeology and then spent 2 years working on the Plain of Jars sites. He now works part time as a guide and part time with an archeology group in the area. Continuing in the Laos spirit, it was a laid-back, informative tour, actually the best one we have been on yet. The combination of information, followed by our guide plopping down in the shade until we were done taking pictures, made the whole tour feel, well, un-tour like. The roads to the 2nd and 3rd site deteriorated the further out we went to the point that the ride felt a lot like the massage chairs one finds at Brookstone, only bouncier.

One of the large-sized jars


Day 87 - April 27th

Hopped in a tuk-tuk with two people from our guest house this morning and headed back to the "new" bus station. Purchased a "Special" ticket to Vang Vieng (turned out to be a cross between local and VIP, with the bags still strapped to the top but an AC option on board). Over the next 6 hours we befriended the entire group of falang (foreigners) who had been on the bus from Luang Prabang to Phosavan and upon arrival in set off en mass to find a place to stay. After looking a a few places we stumbled upon a new guest house with huge rooms for a very reasonable price (under $10 per room, US rates are going to be painful when we get home).
After settling in and having a Beer Lao to calm the bus nerves, settled in for dinner. As we are eating, our friend Kyle wanders by, after a few shouts he realized it was us and joined up. Also learned some new rules for the British game "S@#t Head" tonight, John pretty much never lost, can't say the same for myself.

Day 88 - April 28th

Around 5am, I woke up to one of the most massive rain storms we've experienced yet! The result of the storm was the group decision to post pone floating until tomorrow. After a morning of playing cards, all the clouds completely cleared and left us with blue skies and sunshine! Through all the card playing, we learned that our friends Jenn and Alex also played a game called Beer Pong when they were in college, this conversation lead to the idea that we should bring it to Laos.

Market in Vang Vieng

After lunch, a smaller group headed up to the local market in search of tiger balm and a ping pong ball. With much success at the market it was time to introduce our game. Once we got started Ben and Lu totally got the hang of it and the local guy from the store next door turned out to be a complete ringer! Maybe this is where the idea that Americans have weird habits stems...

Day 89 - April 29th

Today the weather was clear enough to head out floating, or tubing as they call it here. I'll let Eliza describe most of the day, but I wanted to pitch in for the description of the ride there. The Tuk-tuk loaded up about eight of us and our tubes and headed off down the road. About half way we hear the ping-ping-ping sound of metal on concrete as something fell off the tuk-tuk. A couple people made the comment "I hope that part wasn't important". It was. As the driver went to take a left, the right wheel fell off. Which would be bad if you have four wheels, but on this tuk-tuk there were only three wheels. So the tuk-tuk tipped sharply to the right and came to a rest leaning badly. Fortunately we were not going that fast, so nobody was hurt. However the best part had to be the drivers comment, and this reaffirms the Lao attitude towards life. "No problem. We're here."

After clambering out of the tuk tuk and grabbing our tubes we headed down the road to the river. Looked to be moving pretty quickly but we hopped in and were off. About 100 yards down river a Lao gentleman with a long bamboo pole was waving wildly at us and pulled us to shore, turns out to be the first of many shore side bars along the way. After getting our whole group out and then back in again, we decided to be more selective in our stops. A bit further down, eagle eye Lu spotted a volley ball court and it was time to pull over again. As the first 6 people to arrive, we set up a rousing game of 3 on 3 with no real idea what the rules of volley ball were. Over the next hour as more and more people joined the game it became clear that our make shift rules were quite off base, ah well, it was lots of fun. Back in the tubes to head downriver in search of some lunch. Over the next 4 hours we floated more, marveled at the rock formations on either side of the river and got up the nerve to try these swings into the river. Essentially many bars have built platforms on the river banks where you can swing out over the river and then drop, surprisingly not as scary as it sounds (and I am sure twice as safe as my description implies). At the end of the float we realized we were on the cusp of the 6pm return deadline, this resulted in some mad paddling on the part of our group and a nice jog though town to return things in time. All in all, great Laos fun!

Day 90 - April 30th

In order to reach the Tham Phu Kham cave we rented mountain bikes and headed out of town with a photocopy of a hand drawn sketch as our guide. Accompanying us were our new friends from England. The bikes weren't necessarily up to the road conditions much less a mountain, but we managed anyway.

At one water break on the ride out, we were catching our breathe when we hear Lao singing wafting over the hills. As we sat there listening to this baritone voice, a small boy of ten or twelve came riding around the corner on a bike two sizes to big belting out the unknown melody. He is effortlessly navigating the rocky/pot hole filled road with one hand on the handlebars and the other gesturing in full opera form. As he approaches us he stops and loudly sings/exclaims "Sabadee" (hello in Lao). Then picks up right where he left off and continues on his way.

So as I am riding my bike along the "road" when I hear a familiar and disheartening "phhffffff" from my back tire. A crap a flat, how the hell am I going to fix this? What I need is a tire repair shop. Let me set the scene. We have been riding four 45 minutes along a dirt road through farm after farm. The only signs of life we have seen are fellow bikers (mostly Lao school children), cows, and chickens. There have been four houses and no villages. So as I survey the damage I look around for any source of help. And I am not kidding, about 30 feet down the road is a house with a sign that reads "Tire Repair". So I push my bike to the house where an elderly lady sits weaving and a boy sits resting. I point out my tire and he hops up and starts to fix it. His tools were a little more crude than I am used to. Not sure a chisel is a part of the normal bike mechanic's toolbox, but it works. Thirty minutes and 5000 Kip ($0.75) later I have a fixed tire. At seventy five cents a pop, I thought about offering him a job following me around to fix all my flat tires.

When we reached the cave it turned out to be at the top of a "path" that was more of a scramble/climb than a path. Inside the cave was a reclining Buddha statue. At the base of the climb is a lagoon great for swimming and cooling off from the heat of the ride and the day.

Eliza headed out dancing that night with two of the girls we met. I didn't ask her what she did and she didn't offer any details.

Day 91 - May 1st

Most of today was spent in the back of a pickup truck or sawngthaew headed back to Vientiane. These pickups are converted to passenger vehicles by adding to benches to the back and throwing a roof over it all. A good way to travel (except see my previous description of the road conditions, Day 82), but I got really nauseous on the ride. I did get to see a local family buy and consume bbqed bat on a stick (that didn't help the overall nausea).

On the sawngthaew

When we finally reached Vientiane, we check into our hotel and headed to dinner with Kyle (who accompanied us on the sawngthaew).

Day 92 - May 2nd

Laos Airlines has disappointed us once already this trip with their "we have that route, but it is not flying now" answer to all our inquiries. Okay, so they don't actually say it that way. It is conveyed in more of a "no" fashion. Which confuses us because we don't know if they mean no tickets are available, no because of the weather, no because the pilot got lost, or no because we are in the low travel season and the route is not flying due to lack of customers (the actual reason we think). But anyway, there is no flight to Pakse from Vientiane. This leaves one option: the dreaded overnight bus. So we signed up. This time for seats and not beds, because we figured why pay extra and not sleep.

Day 93 - May 3rd

After the overnight-not-sleeper-but-still-not-sleeping-on bus we arrived in Pakse. Most people travel that day to the Four Thousand Island (our next stop), but we are familiar with each other, so we decided to take a "calm" day (as Eliza calls it. I call it "keep Eliza calm-day". POtato, PotAto.). And Pakse is the perfect place to take a clam day. And I thought Phosovan was small with nothing to do. Highlights of the day include...okay no highlights to speak of, but we did book a bus to the Four Thousand Islands.

Day 94 - May 4th

Our bus picked us up right on time and drove us two blocks to a bigger bus. Highly efficient. This bus then took us to Nakasang. There we hoped a ferry to Don Khone. On Don Khone, there is absolutely nothing to do. There is no power (generator run for 4 hrs per day), and no plumbing (unless you count the pipe from your bathroom to the river). There are hammocks, playing cards, and three restaurants. Oh and about one billion bugs and thousands of fat geckos and frogs. So we sat around and played cards, took naps, ate food, and avoided the bugs.

View from our deck

Day 95 - May 5th

Happy birthday bro'

As today's adventure (just to break up the card playing routine) we went to see the endangered Irrawaddy dolphins. In order to see them we were driven almost to the Cambodian border, where we got in to a set of small boats. Them we were transported to a couple of rocks in the middle of the Mekong river. Not an island, but a couple of rocks about 15 feet in diameter where ten of us sat for an hour. We did get to see the dolphins as they traveled past us. I have pictures of ripples that used to be dolphin tails to prove it. Very cool. And as the piece de resistance, as were we headed back to the dock in the boats, three or four dolphins fully breached right in front of us. Very cooler.

Day 96 - May 6th

We originally thought we would head back to Pakse and then take a day trip to Champasake. On the bus to Pakse we started talking with a couple from Portland who were headed to Champasake. After a quick geography lesson from them, we decided it was going to be best to bail early and visit Wat Phu today. The ferry from the drop off point across the Mekong to Champasake was two boats lashed together, on an oooooold bus filled with tiles, rice and other random sundries. The bus dropped us between THE open hotel and restaurant. Checked in and went to find food with our new northwest friends. Towards the end of lunch the sky opened up and we decided to play some cards until things dried up a bit (noticing a trend in our time wasting?). As it never quite dried up we ended up at the same table in the same restaurant from lunch right on thru to dinner, that was a first.

Day 97 - May 7th

The ruin of Wat Phu is a Angkor style temple built on several levels extending from the river plain up a mountain. The result is a spectacular temple. You begin by walking along a dry reservoir, then through a pair of large buildings on opposite sides of a main path. Then you walk up a series of stair cases to reach the second level. Following that are more stairs and a third and final level. On this level are the ruins of the main temple. The temple is backed up to a shear rock cliff probably 100 feet tall from which a spring naturally bubbles. When you finally turn around to see where you have been you realize the view extends as far as the eye can see along the Mekong river valley. The natural scenery on the temple grounds makes it a beautiful place of worship.

Main temple building

Obviously my description is highly simplified, and I don't feel I can give it an adequate description, but this was one of the highlights of Lao for me.

After our visit we all decided we should head back across the river and try to catch a ride back to Pakse on the same bus we jumped off the day prior. Today's ferry was much smaller than the day before and though still was two boats lashed together, these were more of the canoe variety with some planks forming the passenger platform.

Ferry ride (& me avoiding a sunburn on my head)

On the other side we started asking around for some transport to Pakse, pretty much all the locals only wanted to offer us a very expensive ride to the main highway (about 4km from the town at a price more than double the cost of a 80km ride). In principle our groups of now 6 decided we would just walk back to the main road. About 1 km into it our packs felt incredibly heavy and we were all beat, as luck has it, this was when a giant pick up truck slowed down and motioned for us to hop in the back. The "hop" was about 6 feet off the ground but with one an other's help we were on our way with the drivers 4 kids, bouncing towards the main road. I got the distinct feeling that we were an unusual site by all the giggling "sabadees" we received along the way. At the main junction a mini-bus heading to Paske immediately pulled over, we worked out a deal and we were on our jolly way.

Day 98 - May 8th
As happens every so often when traveling, the travelers completely run out of clean clothes. These are laundry days and almost always result in said travelers wearing some pretty strange outfits as the entire rest of their packs are being washed, today was one of those days. At least we will enter Cambodia in style!

Day 99 - May 9th
This is what we have referred to thus far as an "administrative day". It means we spent most of the time figuring out:
1) How we will get back to the US at the end of our trip (via Jordan on Royal Jordanian Airlines)
2) If we can fund the rest of our trip (yes)
3) Where we will stay in our next location (thanks for the rec Kyle)
4) If we can cram everything purchased so far into our bags (mostly)
and other fun things of that sort.

Side note: We are writing this from an Internet Cafe in Malaysia where they are playing on TV an Asia version on American Idol. The "artists" are performing a variety of hits including: "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John, the theme from "Phantom of the Opera", and several Chinese songs. The Malay cafe workers are periodically singing along.

Ok, some pictures up, John's still to come!

Life on Laos Time

Due to confusion over the exact timing of these events a new feature has been added to the blog, you will now notice both a travel day number as well as a Roman Calendar date.

Quick readership demographic poll. If you are reading the blog please send an email with the subject "yes", if you are not reading the blog please use the subject line "no" when sending your reply to lizainasia@gmail.com . All votes are confidential. Your personal information will not be distributed to any third parties, unless they offer to finance an extra month of travels, then all bets are off.

Day 79 - April 19th
Got up nice and early this morning to catch a flight from Ha Noi, Vietnam to Vientaine, Laos. The guest house had prearranged a taxi for us and the guy was there right on time (unusual in our experience thus far). About 10 minutes into the ride it became very clear that our driver was at the tail end of a very very long night, or not ready to be awake and starting the day. Either way, he would start to sort of nod off and drift before shaking himself awake again. At the point John and I both noticed this, we began a loud conversation and I quickly developed a strange cough, one that would act up every time we noticed him starting to drift. At the airport we realized everyone was in the process of getting a start on their day. Though our flight was in 1.5 hours, the ticket counters were not quite up and running, and one rat who partied to late was seen scurrying across the ticket area in a last ditch attempt to make it's curfew.
Upon arrival in Laos we realized our passport sized photos were nicely packed away in our checked bags. Lucky for us, the Laos visa process is one of the most laid back we've encountered. Since we forgot photos they just took a copy of our passports, got the visas in order and we were on our way.
Found a nice cheap guest house, decided to try roughing it with a fan room, deposited our stuff and went for a wander around the Capital city.
By the time we were ready for bed the city had cooled to a balmy 92 F, not boding well for the fan room. Opened the windows, turned the fan on high and attempted to catch some sleep. Sometime in the late night/early morning John got up and shut the window claiming mosquitoes. In the morning I realized he was right, very very right. We got to about 70 bites on me before deciding it was not a fun counting game at all. See day 80 for repercussions of night 79.


Day 80 - April 20th
So after last night's no AC room I set off early the next morning with a mission: Find an AC room (and don't come back until you have, or you're no use to me). I tracked down a couple of nice hotels and finally settled on one (with AC). I then returned to Eliza with the news. Normally it takes her a good hour and a half to pack her bag. Today, three minutes flat. So, after depositing Eliza in the ACed room, I headed off to the National Museum. For some reason Eliza decided to stay behind and rest. The National Museum of Laos is not that impressive for a "National Museum". It did provide me with information I didn't know. However, most of the diagrams and maps look like they were illustrated by a fifth grade class. If this is actually the case, then there are some good artists in Laos. If this is not the case, the I am gong to apply for a job as the Official Museum Artist of Laos, load up Paint on my computer, and blow their minds. On the way back from the National Museum I stopped of at a small monument named That Dam. Which is in the middle of a traffic circle and holds back no water. Who's on First?


Day 81 - April 21th
After a full day of recuperation and news that the heat wave we were in was not planning to end anytime soon, we walked down the road and rented bicycles to see the sites of Vientiane further afield. John picked the tallest bike in the bunch but sometimes that only helps a little bit. Riding behind him, it appeared he was auditioning for a clown role in the Laos circus, the straightest his legs could get was about a 75 degree angle. Despite a later claim he wanted to inflict harm to the bicycle, we were able to visit the Laos Arch de Tromph, Pha That Luang and have lunch. Post lunch we made a stop at the US Embassy to get pages added to my passport. One of those moment we were very glad to already be US citizens, at the embassy there was a huge outdoor area for non citizens and a small, AC'd indoor area for those holding US Passports, made the 30 minute wait much better. That and making up stories in my head about the gentleman who was trying to get a new passport as his had lapsed. This gentleman took the time to share with John that a) he has not been in the US for 10 years b) they are making him bring his baby to the embassy in order to get her a passport c) the real reason they ask so many questions is they want you to mess up so they can call you a liar (pretty sure 'they' refers to the US government). Time to go pack for our journey north.

Pha That Luang


Day 82 - April 22th
Today we hopped aboard a bus to Luang Prabang. The description of the road is going to require some audience participation. First, get in your car and find a stretch of road were you can maintain a solid 35-60 mph. Roll down the window (and does any one actually have a roll down window anymore?) and stick your hand out like your making a right turn signal. (Basic traffic law review for right turn signal: Arm is stuck out window with upper arm horizontal to the ground. The elbow is bent at 90 degrees to the upper arm and vertical to the ground.) Now rotate your arm, at the shoulder, until your forearm is perpendicular to the ground. Hold your hand out flat and begin to "wave" your arm with the wind. You should be undulating up and down depending on where your fingers point relative to the wind. If you don't know what I am talking about, ask a five year old. Now rotate your hand about the wrist until your hand is sideways to the road. Your arm should now be waving back and forth with the wind. Combine the up and down with the back and forth. Now you have a good idea of the topography of the region we drove through. Let me get to the road condition. The road condition was not actually that bad for SE Asia. Laos is a poor nation and so several countries (US, Japan, France, Australia to name a few) have donated the funds to build public works. The particular road we were on was donated by the US so I don't feel bad complaining that we didn't pony up for handy, but not technically necessary, items like guard rails. By the time we completed the 11 hour ride into Luang Prabang several people had lost their lunches.

We found a nice guest house and and as we were checking in the owner told us it was going to rain. True enough as we unpacked the sky started to dump. No problem, we are from Seattle. We donned our rain gear started to head out to dinner. Turns out it was a short lived rain storm and we were entirely overdressed for the evening. I did get the best $1.50 hamburger ever.


Day 83 - April 23th
Today began the two day tour of all the Wat's in Luang Prabang. Okay not all, but it sure felt like it. Luang Prabang is a former political capital of Laos, and the current spiritual capital. There are dozens of temples and Wats (a Wat is a Buddhist temple or monastery that actively houses monks. As opposed to other temples that have been abandoned or turned into other things, like museums (I think)). We began the day at the former king's residence (which is now a museum), walked up Phu Si (a giant hill and temple complex), and passed by and through countless other Wats. For dinner we hit up the local street market for some grilled sticky rice (Eliza's new favorite food, after anything with sugar of course) and a grilled chicken sandwich (which was also really good). We ate as we toured the market and walked home. Just was we finished our dinner and stepped into our hotel room, the sky bust into a really cool rain/thunder/lightning storm and drenched everything.

So cool!


Day 84 - April 24th
On our second day of Wat touring we crossed the Mekong River and toured the less developed side of Laos. There were a couple of really cool old/decaying, but still active, Wats on this side of the river.

The local population is much poorer and hardly gets any tourism. The highlight of the day was our young guide. We toured a cave that houses old Buddha statues and other discarded religious items. Our guide for the cave was probably eight years old, and made all the doors in Asia appear huge. We'll get pictures up sometime.
Our awesome cave guide
Back on the LP side, we ate dinner at a local restaurant right on the water, and headed to the Night Market for some souvenirs. We have been to a couple of souvenir markets and have begun to work out a system. Eliza walks in front and points articles of clothing, scarfs, and other trinkets that "we should" like to purchase for various people back home. I walk behind and hold the wallet. She asks my opinion of all potential purchases: Does this color look good on so-and-so, what size is blabity-blah, and so forth. I walk behind with the wallet. She sharpens her bargaining skills, converses with the vendors, and arrives on a mutually agreeable price. Here is where I shine: I remove the money from the wallet and hand it to the vendor, collect the purchase and place it in my backpack. Eliza moves to the next stall to continue her purchasing conquests. I walk behind and carry the wallet AND purchased goods. All in all the system works until I run out of money, and then we go home. I have learned to remove any money needed for a taxi (or tuk-tuk) home before the shopping begins, or their won't be any left.

As stated before, we will get pictures up as soon as we can and plan to be less than a month behind at some point.

Final wanderings in Vietnam

Day 66 - Well, we located our hotel. It was pretty much in the middle of a wet market (where produce, meat, etc is sold), the front steps doubling as stalls for two different ladies. It is hard to be graceful with a pack on, going up stairs, hoping with all your might not to trip into a whole bunch of cold cuts. Went on a wander to book a trip to the Mountain town of Sapa. Searching for a tour or tour company in Hanoi is a whole different ball game than anywhere else. See if someone has a good company going or is successful with their venture, the guy across the street with decide he wants to do it to. Not unusual right? Well, here is where it differs greatly from home. The guy entering the market will begin the process of exactly replicating the name, sign, sandwich board, etc of the successful company. The end result is that Sinh cafe is a great tour company but, you are hard pressed to find the real one when there are more than 20 Sinh Cafes in a 4 block area. We opted for a harder to forge tour company, in the fact that the Kangaroo Cafe has only two places copying it around town.

Day 67 - Took the day to wander around Hanoi and take in the Old Quarter. In the evening we stopped for a drink and realized the TV in the bar was playing the MTV show "My Super Sweet 16" and all the Vietnamese were glued to it (with that show as their guide, no wonder there is a common misunderstanding that all Americans are rich). Wandered over to our tour departure point and were put in a cab with a great couple from Queensland. Once on the train we lucked out to be sharing a cabin with another duo from Australia. They were married 7 weeks ago and promptly took off on a wander around SE Asia. When we all settled down for sleep it was pretty apparent that the "AC" on the train was struggling and, more than anything, I was glad the whole train didn't shake apart on the ride out there.

Day 68 - We arrived in Loi Cai, about 50km outside Sapa and were immediately swarmed by offers for a ride to Sapa. The offers started very high close to the train station but, once you passed the official bus stand the prices became very reasonable in the parking lot. The beauty of a tour is this was already arranged so we hoped into our NOT FULL van and headed off (the only time thus far in SE Asia that we had taken any mode of transport not packed to the gills). On the drive to Sapa the sun rose over the mountains and the mist, truly an amazing welcome. That afternoon we met up in the lobby of our hotel and were greeted by our local guides. Our guide Ker was 16 and recently married, she was also 4'9".
Our guide and her friend!
We went to visit a Hmong tribe village who grow rice and make clothing out of a indigo dyed cloth as well as silver jewelry. After a nice swim a ways up river and a 4k walk uphill, we were about ready to find a bite to eat. This is of course when the power goes out, everywhere. At least we got to see an immense amount of stars that night.

Day 69 - Took off around nine this morning for an 11km hike (who exactly designed this time table? Heat of the day!?). Got a chance to wander through rice paddies, hike a dry riverbed (not dry in the wet season when other tour are held) and see a number of other tribal villages in the area. I also had a chance to really talk with Ker today. She was very surprised to learn that I am 27, John is 28, and that being unmarried at that age does not doom us to wither away for the rest of our days. She explained that in her tribe if you have not found someone by age 22 or 23 you will be single forever and have to get support from your siblings when you are old. Somehow this conversation lead to her retelling the recent events of Tet (the Vietnamese New Year). A boy (not her boyfriend) from a wealthy family in another village wrote a letter asking for her hand in marriage. When she refused him three times, he and his family came to her village on the 1st day of the new year in an attempt to kidnap her and marry her (yes that is still how it works there). Luckily her family thought she should marry to be happy, so they hid her for the next two days. At this point they had gotten word to her boyfriend's family who arrived so the two of them could marry and she would be safe from the kidnappers. Pretty exciting new year!

The town of Sapa looking back at it

Day 70 - Spent the day wandering around down town Sapa (both streets) and simply taking in the view. Sapa is set pretty high in the hills so from nearly every point you get a great look across or down the valley. Headed back to Lo Cai to return on another overnight train. We lucked out and were in the same car as Kylie and Rick, the couple we met on the way over. Everyone was exhausted from three days of walking in the sun and pretty much slept the whole way.

Day 71 - The only problem with the overnight train back is the 4:20am arrival in Ha Noi. Almost nothing is open at this time, though people are starting to move about. After dawdling to gather our bags we opted to walk from the train station to the center of town. After encountering one closed shop after another we put all hope in KFC channeling its US roots and be open 24 hours for at least a cup of coffee, no dice.
On the steps of a very closed KFC
We did finally locate a shop around 6 am. Given the mental level we were all functioning at, it took about 2 hours to dine. Rest of the day was pretty much spent recovering from a 4:00 am wake up.

Day 72 - Today we gathered our gear and hoofed it to the Kangaroo Cafe thinking that a tuk tuk or other transportation would be available to take us most of the way. The only time in Ha Noi when we would have ridden one, and there were none available. Along our walk we noticed that the street around the central lake was blocked off by the police. After inquiring, we learned that there was a bicycle race going on. After depositing our bags, I went and watched the racers as they looped the lake. Some time later, Eliza motioned me back to the cafe to see why our tour hadn't left. Apparently the tour bus could not reach us because of the bike race. Ha Noi traffic 1, us 0. So were took a smaller taxi/bus to the bigger bus. On the big bus we were delayed even further by (as our tour guide explained) "a corrara parade". Which is actually a cholera informational parade. Cholera being the hardest word to pronounce when your native language doesn't have the hard "ch" sound or the letter "L". Ha Noi traffic 2, us 0. Just when you think all is well, yep, a funeral procession. Ha Noi traffic 3, us 0.
Said bicycle race
So we finally reached our boat, only a little late, and enjoyed a nice lunch. As our first stop, the boat took us to a large cave system. Spelunking not being either of our thing, we toddled along behind the group and attempted to take pictures of funny shaped rocks. Harder than it sounds because a cave is dark and pictures work better with light. After getting back on the boat we had dinner with a trio of Londoners, played some new card games, and went to sleep.

Looking out at all the boats from a cave

Day 73 - Today we woke up to a huge rain/lightning/thunder storm. Like so many of the rain storms here the sky simply opens up for a couple of hours and drenches everything. Luckily for us we did not have to venture out in the deluge. We simply got to sit back and enjoy the storm as our boat puttered along. After some transportation transfers (big boat to car, car to ferry, ferry to small boat), the rain had mostly stopped, or passed us by, when we reached our destination. Which was a small cave accessed by hiking through a fish sauce farm. How do you farm fish sauce you're wondering? Well, it starts with fish in a pond, and then is smells really bad. The cave was cool, with a Buddha shrine and some rock formations that were supposed to look like dragons and other animals. I didn't really see them. Then we headed back out on our boat to Cat Ba Island. We checked into our hotel and began relaxing when the power went out.
And as we were deciding what to do next, the power came back on. So we decided to take a walk. On our walk we found an internet cafe, which we used until the power went out again. After explaining that the minimum usage fee should not be applied because the internet doesn't work so well with out power, we headed back to the hotel. We walked own the one street town to find dinner (this time equipped with a head lamp, or as the British and Australians like to call it, a head torch), and settled on a place with four others from our tour group. The most exciting part about dinner (besides the company) was the escaping crab. Your know those fresh seafood tanks in restaurants were they store crabs and lobsters so patrons can select them. One crab escaped from the tank. We were eating dinner when I noticed a crab attempting to reach the top of the tank by pinching his (or her) claw around the water bubble maker and flipping himself body over claw towards the top of the tank. He must have tried ten times before finally managing to hook to the top rim of the tank. From there he simply lifted the rest of his body over the ege and hoisted himself to freedom. What I am pretty sure he didn't calculate was the distance from the tank to the ground, because he hit the concrete with a loud shell cracking crunch. I didn't actually see him hit the ground, but I am sure he wasn't 100 percent after the fall. But he did manage give the restaurant owner and his wife a half hour lesson on how to play hide-and-go-seek. Which was especially comical given they were armed with a broom and a bucket, but there weapon of choice was high pitched squeals and flailing. Oh, and I think the power only went out one more time during dinner.

Day 74 - Woke up to a glorious, sunshiny day. The boat ride back to Ha Long city was great, we had a chance to see the island formations in all types of weather over the course of the trip.
The ride back
Had a nice dinner with Sonal, Beena and Meera (the great London Trio). At dinner Sonal and I attempted to order vegetable soup with noodles (the noodles not being part of the dish). Over the course of the next hour first the vegetable soup came out, the desire for noodles was again conveyed, then the noodles came out but were of the wheat variety, and finally rice noodles appeared. This is a lesson for any SE Asian traveler: attempts to alter a dish are rarely successful on the fist try.
After dinner we headed over to Fanny's Ice cream, which we now know is a hilarious name. A few days back, while playing cards with these three on the boat, John and I were laughing at the neon fanny packs worn by a couple on another boat. The three were laughing too but for a different reason. Meera spoke up and said "we find it so funny that Americans call them fanny packs. You know what a fanny is in Britain?" "uh, no?" "It means...Lady Bits. We just call them bum bags". And, as the mature, world traveling grownups we are, John and I crack up every time we hear the term fanny packs.


Day 75 - Today we both recovered from our recent trip out of town. Walked around Ha Noi some and found the best Pho place on earth. It is located north of St. Joseph's Cathedral and is cleverly name "Pho something" (except the something might actually be a word besides something, my memory is a little hazy. Oh man, it is too hot here). Anyway big orange sign. You can't miss it. Also, I purchased two bungee cords and taped them together to form a jump rope. As we had decide calisthenics might be needed after two months of Chinese and Vietnamese food. (heavy on the oil please).

Day 76 - We woke up early to pay our respect to Uncle Ho (as apparently Uncle Ho is the local term of endearment for Ho Chi Minh). Visiting Uncle Ho is like a scaled down version of visiting Mao. Not as many people and not as much security, but with the same level of respect; lines are formed and silence is observed. And after seeing Ho Chi Minh and Mao, Mao looked more like a waxed replica and Ho Chi Minh looked like a dead guy. We then wandered back to meet up with Kyle Beattie (a friend from both mine and Eliza's from home). While we were waiting in the church parking lot, we were offered the opportunity to buy three cyclo rides, food from two pastry ladies and one pineapple lady, and any number of fake/copied books. After meeting up with Kyle we learned his trick for dealing with all the offers: Cylo driver: "Cylco, city tour cheap, you ride with me" Kyle: "Shoes, $5, you walk with me". Book seller: "You buy book from me" Kyle: "Already read it", book seller: "This one" Kyle: "Already read it", book seller: "This one" Kyle: "Already read it" and so on. And my personal favorite is his plan for the pedestrian armed with an air horn to compete with the scooters and cars. Although, this one may backfire in the long run, as the local might actually think it is a good idea. With Kyle, we decided on a local street restaurant for dinner where we were the only foreigners.
If you look between their arms, you can see the height of the "chairs" we were sitting at (and all the empty plates from dinner)!
Eliza, in her shy and bashful manner, managed to get the guy one table over to order our whole meal. Except the beer, which we managed on our own. It was a very good selection of fish, tofu (Eliza and Kyle tell me it was good, my bite tasted like soy sauce mush), peanuts, and calamari. After sampling the local food, and local portion sizes, we headed for back-up dinner at a westernized (Vietnamese food with western portion sizes) restaurant. We then wandered the town, had a couple drinks, and headed back to our respective hotels.

Day 77 & 78 - The last two days in Ha Noi can best be described as "administrative". Covered our room with laundry, confirmed our flight with Vietnam Airlines (long process when you get there at lunch, though they stay open, most of the staff takes lunch too), some packing for Laos and other fun things like that. In the midst of our errands we did get a chance to take in the opera house and the pagoda bridge for some final Vietnam History. Ended our stay in Vietnam with some almost Seattle-esque Mexican food.

And as our trend continues:
More pictures to follow and we are again only one country behind!
Cambodia bound tomorrow where we will begin filling in the adventure that we had in Laos!

On to the "H" cities of Viet Nam

Day 60 - Continued:

Let me begin by saying if you ever find yourself in Vietnam do not take An Phu buses. The short haul from HCMC to Mui Ne was okay. We boarded the bus last and were placed in two chez lounge style seats. This, however, did set us up for a future fall. Because the overnight ride from Mui Ne to Hoi An can only be described as hellish. Our mistake was to seek out the same travel company, but how were we to know? The bus picked us up at our hotel (on-time by Vietnamese standards - 15 minutes late), drives literally 2 minutes, and stops for lunch. After resuming the journey, we (Eliza) strikes up a conversation with the disgruntled looking group around us. Apparently they had been told it would only take four hours to travel from HCMC to Na Trang, and were now disappointed to learn, after sitting for four hours, they were only half way. The ride from Mui Ne to Na Trang was smooth enough and even had a rest stop.

As we neared Na Trang, we scoured our guide books for a place to eat. Assuming, since it was 6pm, this would be our dinner stop. We found a Mexican place and our hearts skipped a beat. However, we drove right past the Mexican restaurant, and when we did stop we were told it would only be for 15 minutes to pick up more passengers. Fourty-five minutes later we departed and a new passenger told us she was informed dinner would be at 9pm. 9pm came and went, no dinner. So we asked our non-English speaking driver. He pointed to midnight on Eliza's watch and held up three finger. Dinner at midnight, why not? After bouncing and jolting our way for the next three hour on a seat/bed concoction we both arrived at "dinner" in a royal mood. After not being informed how long we would stay for dinner by the non-English speaking driver, Eliza inquired what would I like for dinner and received a couple of non-committal grunts as a response. After a trip to the snack counter she returned with Oreos and Ritz. Both highly appreciated.

To describe the next six hours as bone-jarringly rough would be an understatement. I didn't sleep a wink, and let me list a few reasons why sleep on a sleeper bus is rare:
- The chez lounge style beds are a good concept, but fall far short of expectations.
- The entirety of Vietnam drives with their brights on.
- The roads are either washboard dirt, gravel, or pot hole filled asphalt. Or all three.
- At random intervals the road drops to one lane (for both directions to use) and passing on the left (or right) becomes an even more death defying task then usual
- And finally. The horn is used when overtaking, when alerting another car you are approaching from behind, when alerting another car you are approaching from the front (high-beams apparently not being enough), when going around a corner, when passing your favorite tree, when your karaoke DVD singer hits a high note, and when alerting other drivers to the presence of the pot hole you just drove though.

Through the good grace of several local deities (most of whom were located in statue form on the bus dashboard) we made it to Hoi An. After politely telling the motorbike drivers we didn't need a ride, and informing the local hotel representatives that we already had a reservation, we set off to find a hotel.

Day 61 - Hoi An is famous for being one of the better kept towns in terms of the french colonial architecture and for tailor made clothing. Anything you could ever want, have ever seen someone wearing, or exists in a fashion magazine can and is copied here. Started the very sleepy morning with an extended breakfast and search for a mannequin in shorts I liked as it turns out traveling in SE Asia in the hot season without shorts simply doesn't work. Located a cute pair in front of one shop and then spent the next 35 minutes picking fabric, getting measured and deciding how modest the shorts should be. A mere six dollars later and my shorts will be ready at 3pm....woo hoo.

The ever-present cyclos

After a much needed nap (read previous post on "sleeper" bus), I talked John into some tailored clothing, his only caveat being either 3 pieces or pin stripes. Ended out the day by taking in some of the well kept building and a nice dinner on the river.

The Covered Bridge

Day 62 - Decided that the best way to see the My Son ruins was going first thing in the morning (guess who made that decision). So 4:45 am rolls around and we are up and at 'em, waiting on the stoop of our hotel, with the rolling gate closed and one of the front desk staff sleeping in the entrance behind us. As with all timetables thus far, our 5 am bus pulls up a mere 25 minutes late and we are off. Turns out that with no traffic it is only a 30 minute drive and the site doesn't actually open for another half hour. The ruins were quite serene, especially with only 10 people wandering the entire area.

Many are in the process of being repaired as they were used by the Vietcong as a base and heavily bombed until international pressure persuaded the US to not target this site. As we headed back into town around 10 am we passed loads of huge buses taking the crowds out to the site, glad John pushed for the early tour.
John as a part of My Son

As the main draw in Hoi An is the historic building and the clothing shops, the rest of the day was pretty similar to the afternoon prior, with the added bonus of finding a major market. All in all, quite nice city.
Market chicks

Day 63 - Woke up to a city wide power outage, seems to be quite a frequent occurrence as all the major hotels had generators going. Our bus to Hue arrived a mere 45 minutes late and our driver spent the entire journey attempting to make up this lost time. Lucky for him a new 6km tunnel through a mountain was recently finishing (shaving 21km off the ride), un-lucky for him there were some road closures due to flooding and we had to take a detour. Made it to Hue in one piece and were greeted with weather cool enough for a light sweater.

Day 64 - The city of Hue is more like a large town, pretty mellow. Headed out this morning to visit the Citadel, where the largest Vietnamese flag flies. As with the My Son ruins, this area was heavily bombed during the war and much of the Citadel is undergoing some major reconstruction. On our way in we did get a chance to see a post-card in action. Three girls in traditional dress rode bikes all in a row down the same stretch of road a number of times as the photographer snapped away. Then, after the makeup woman did touch-ups they repeated. At least our best guess is a post card in the making.

Day 65 - Hit with a bout of bravery, we decided to rent bicycles today and peddle out to a pagoda. Pretty soon we were on our jolly way, each with a basket equipped bike, mine with a bell to boot!
Our very cool rides

Approaching the first intersection and seeing only 14 seconds left for the green I decided to pedal faster. As a red doesn't really mean stop to most drivers here, the rapid pedaling westerner on a bike was definitely the cause of some swerving and breaking by those around me. We decided that the next intersection the key was going to be taking it nice and slow, just the like other Vietnamese on bikes were doing. Once we got that down, it was a pretty nice ride out to the pagoda. Each site has a scooter/bike attendant who will guard your bike while you see the monument of choice.

Feeling very brave after pulling this off, we decided to ride over to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Not such a popular site. After sitting on the front steps for 20 minutes we were ready to give up, but lucked out when a gentleman came around and asked us if we'd like to look inside the church. Rounded out the day with a trip to Vietnam Airlines to purchase tickets into Vientaine, Laos (as we learned a while back, though they have a website with tickets "for sale", all actual purchases originate from an office and can only be bought by a person).

During our travels we saw several Hahn Cafe sleeper buses at various points. They all looked new, clean, and much better than whatever we were on. So in Hoi An we booked our next two bus journeys with them. The ride from Hoi An to Hue was a mere four hours, and was traveled with out incident. However, the bus was not a Hahn Cafe bus as we were used to seeing them. We thought this might be due to the fact we were on a day trip bus not a sleeper bus. It was only after the bus scheduled to go from Hue to Hanoi showed up did we realize we might have booked with a fake "Hahn Cafe".

Our bus from Hue to Hanoi arrived right on time (at 6pm of the quoted 5:30 to 6pm range). We hoisted ourselves on to the bus and into our sleeper bunks. These bunks are a great idea for someone of average Vietnamese stature, and probably serves 90% of the population beautifully. However, neither Eliza or I fit into the 90% window. In which case the beds serve as somewhat of a torture device. The bunks are too short to lie down flat and too reclined to sit properly. Let me draw you a small diagram to better illustrate my point:



Supporting proof of above diagram

So it is in this position that you are expected to sit, sleep, or just remain for the duration of the trip.

To begin the journey the video system on the bus was playing a karaoke DVD of Vietnamese songs as an alternative to the radio or CD. The music was a mix of pop and lounge styles with heavy leaning on the lounge versions. But let's just leave it at: the music was horrible. And I consider myself and expert because the speaker was seven inches from my right ear.

The trip itself wasn't so bad. They played a Thai kung-fu movie dubbed into Vietnamese. Let me, at this time, tell you about the Vietnamese dubbing technique. In America the original audio language is removed and and alternative is inserted. In Vietnam they simply talk louder over the the original language. The effect is quite comical when you can't understand either. As an added benefit to the humor of watching the movie, we pulled into a rest stop right at the climax. I am not sure how the movie ended, but I think the good guy won and got the girl. I slept better on this bus then any other, but I wouldn't call it a good nights sleep. Please see my earlier reasons sleep on a sleeper bus is not a regular occurrence.

At about 6am the following morning the bus pulled in Hanoi. The local bus company guy got on and gave his speech about how great his company's hotel was should we be needing accommodations. This speech was a little different because our bus was not stopped at the bus station (as it should have been) or in front of his hotel (like they normally due). But we should not worry because a complementary taxi would take us into downtown Hanoi. In total eight people needed the "complementary" taxi service into town. When the taxi finally did show up there was only room for six people. Guess who were the lucky two. Our nice local bus/hotel company guy now informed us that the taxi would be back in one hour to pick us up. After a couple of questions on our part, it was clear that now unhelpful local bus/hotel guy was not going to get us to where his bus company told us we would be dropped off.

The story does indeed continue from here, but the cost of the next paragraph is an American beer, payable at time of telling.

Quintessential central Vietnam

**Note: This post was written while in Vientaine, Laos getting ready to take an overnight bus South to the city of Pakse. Wonder what this says about our learning curve?**