Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is a large city, but easy to walk through. Many markets (of course), many great restaurants and bars. A moat surrounds the old city, which really helps when trying to navagate the city. Several impressive temples are also scattered throughout, but after seeing all the temples in Laos, we're about temple'd out. Jess spent Monday in a Thai cooking class and I spent it on a 4-wheeler in the mountains. We were both happy with our respective choices. Jess ended up in a class with only 6 other people, and all of them were from either Seattle, Victoria, or Vancouver. What are the chances of that?!! She gained some great tips on Seattle and the areas around.

We were a little hesitant to sign up for another tour after the problems we encountered in Sapa, we decided to do a three-day jeep tour through northern Thailand. It provided a great way to see the northern mountains and hill tribes, along with the cities of Pai and Mae Hong Son. Some of the highlights were the elephant riding and the waterfall we visited. I of course enjoyed driving the jeep (really a 4x4 Suzuki) through the off-road mountain trails. We had a couple on their honeymoon from Israel riding with us. As soon as I found out he was a military helicopter pilot, I knew I would have to share the driving duties. Overall, it was a great trip and the jeep had a killer stereo with Ipod hookups which made the trip even more enjoyable.

The only problems of the tour involved our jeep. Although the stereo was great, the rest of the truck was lacking. On the first evening, when we were going through the mountains near Pai the brakes went out as we were headed down. Luckily there wasn't any traffic coming up and I was able to pump the brakes and get it stopped. After letting them cool off, they worked fine. The mechanic checked them out the next morning and said he made "some adjustments" but that everything was in good working order. Yet again on the next day while our Israeli friend was driving, approaching a police checkpoint, the brakes failed. He swerved into the (empty) on-coming lane and flew through the police checkpoint the wrong way. Luckily he was able to get it stopped just past the checkpoint. Although we were relieved, the police weren't too happy. The cop standing in the road thought we were trying to kill him. Our tour guide jumped out of his vehicle and was able to calm the police down fairly quickly. The mechanic worked on the jeep for a couple hours but didn't make any major improvements. Needless to say, we refused to get back in it. We drove the mechanic's truck and he drove our decreped machine on to Mae Hong Son. The next day, the tour company provided us another ride. The rest of the tour was great.


We returned to Chiang Mai in the evening of the third day, and caught a flight to Bangkok on the next morning...

Luang Prubang

Donovan Writes: Sorry it's been so long since the last post. We've been busy having fun and internet was difficult in Luang Prabang. We ended up tubing again on our last day in Vang Vieng. Luckily, this time there wasn't any rain. I think we made the right decision after talking to some folks who weren't very impressed with the caves they visited. We decided to take the mini-bus (really just a minivan) from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. It was about a 5.5 hour trip, winding through the mountains of Northern Laos. It was a gorgeous trip, and Jess took motion sickness pills so she could enjoy it too.

Luang Prabang is a quiet town on a peninsula between the Mekong and the Mae Kok rivers. Lots of great cafes, restaurants, and markets. Another popular night market on the main street kept Jess busy and kept me at the bar. There are also a number of day trips that are offered from the many travel shops. On our second day, we took a tuktuk to some nearby waterfalls - spectacular. The following day we did a kayaking/mountain biking trip. Our whitewater kayaking skills apparently aren't up to par. We capsized twice on the trip. The second time I wacked Jess on the head with the paddle. Luckily she was wearing a helmet. After a lunch at the guide's childhood home, we hopped on the mountain bikes and headed back to town. After about 15 km, Jess's neck was bothering her so she decided to stop and wait for the van. I continued another 13 km back to town. It turned out the van never came to pick up Jess, so she waited about an hour, and then decided to hop back on the bike and ride to town without the guide. She made it pretty close, but as she stopped the 5th person, hoping they spoke enough English to be sure she was still headed in the right direction, our guide made it back on a motorbike to pick her up (a lucky friend of the guide's got the job of riding the her mountain bike home). Slept well that night, although I think I was suffering a little from heat exhaustion.

Taking it easy the next day was a necessity, but it was difficult to stay cool, as they turn the power off for the entire city from 7:30 in the morning to about 2:00 in the afternoon on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (apparently they're making repairs to the power lines). No A/C, no fan, no breeze, and no fruit shakes made for a hot morning/afternoon. Overall, if it wasn't so hot, I think we would have loved Luang Prubang even more. On Saturday afternoon, we hopped on a plane bound for Chiang Mai, Thailand. Since I was sick over our anniversary and my birthday, we decided to splurge and stay at a 4-star hotel in Chiang Mai. Guesthouses are great, but after a month in developing countries, it was great to have a full shower and a pool.

Off to Pai and Mae Hong Son for some elephant rides, bamboo rafting, white water rafting, four-wheeling and sightseeing. Should be busy and eventful...stay tuned.

Tubing

Jess writes: Think of tubing the Guadalupe or the Comal...get the picture in your head...climbing into a bus with tubes and other fellow tubers most already with a beer in hand. Now add in beautiful mountain views as the river is nestled up against the rocks, next add bamboo treehouse bars with tarzan swings and zip lines into the water. Every several mintues you try and get roped (literally) into another bar along the way, only to meet other like-minded happy travelers.

We got caught in a rainstorm for part of the trip...afterwards the sky was blue on one side and black on the other, it was quite a sight. We accidentally missed the turn off where we were supposed to return our tubes. Somehow it got a little later than we expected. We learned that it gets dark here around 6/6:30 p.m. Luckily Donovan recognized the guesthouse where we were staying - and we unloaded at their doorstep. Truthfully, I think he knew where he was the whole time, but was just messing with me.

Off to explore some caves or maybe tube again (if they let us)...

Vientiane to Vang Vieng

Jess writes- Vientiane, Laos

Vientiane may only be worth the quick mention below, as the city itself is far from exciting. Although, it did offer more American/Western comforts (i.e. restaurants with aircon and actually toilet bowls instead of holes in the ground). We got there, drove to several guesthouses - all of which are full as they are preparing for today's rocket festival. I think its to culminate the beginning of the rainy season. They strap homemade rockets to large bamboo sticks and then shoot them off. We have yet to see it, as it should be tonight. Some cities celebrate more than others, but according to the Vientiane Times, they have quite a party. Overall Vientiane is exactly what the other travelers we met told us. It's a boring city with amazing food. We thought - perfect - a great place for Donovan to finish recovering. All we did was take a motorcycle tour of the various not so exciting monuments, eat, drink and sleep. Very relaxing.

On the second day in Vientiane, we loaded a bus for an estimated 3 1/2 hour ride to Vagn Vieng. The bus couldn't have been more hot - Donovan thinks it should be driven off a cliff - preferably without us in it. Half way we had to stop and change a blown tire, not to mention driving through two thunderstorms. After 6 long hours, we approached Vang Vieng at sunset. The large fog covered mountains with the sunset backdrop were beautiful. We checked into our guesthouse around 7:30, ate at their restaurant overlooking the river, and crashed. (side note - I had mashed potatoes with miniture lamb meatballs and a peanut sauce on top - top 5 best meals of the trip so far).

Apparently Vang Vieng is the chill out capital of Laos. The funny part is that many of the bars strategically place the tables around a TV that constantly plays re-runs of all the Friends or Family Guy episodes. Very random.

As an aside, we tend to be older than many of our backpacker friends. Most of which are traveling just out of college. Our accomodation comfort levels seem to also be a little different than theirs. A dirty $5 - 8 a night bed just doesn't cut it. We're staying a little further from town, paying a little more, but can enjoy the peace and quiet of our camp-like guesthouse with cold AC. Definitely an inviting atmosphere (when sleeping off a hangover :)! Not that I've needed it yet, but I'll let you know tomorrow.

This morning we ate at their restaurant while watching elephants be bathed across the river. This afternoon we take the revered 4-hour tubing trip down the river. Luckily, we are Guadalupe floating veterans. We'll let you know how it compares...

Halong Bay

Donovan Writes: After arriving back in Hanoi in the morning, we boarded a small bus for the 3.5 hour ride to Halong Bay for a two-day boat trip. There are literally hundreds of Oriental "Junk" boats providing tours throughout Halong Bay. We boarded one of the nicer ones along with about 14 other travelers. The scenery was amazing. We visited caves and fishing villages, and just traveled throughout the bay. We had a very nice room on the boat with large windows, which was fortunate because I spent nearly the entire trip in bed, still with a fever and feeling very weak. The seafood they served on the boat was fantastic, and luckily, even the flu couldn't kill my appetite.

We returned to Hanoi the following evening, and I headed to the doctor to be sure I didn't have anything worse. That night my fever broke for the first time since Sa Pa. Finally starting to feel better.

We decided not to stay very long in Hanoi. It is an interesting city and we did spend some time walking around, but the streets are crazy, noisy, and dirty. Great food, but not a good place to relax. On the evening of the 15th, we boarded a plane for Vientiane, Laos.

Sa Pa

Jess writes: We flew into Hanoi and an hour later had a tour booked to Sa Pa. It's a beautiful city, situated among the green mountains of Northern Vietnam. The weather here is much cooler and the people are very nice, but definitely different than the bustling Hanoi. There are 5 tribes denoted by the various bright colors they wear. Their clothes are all made of the hemp they grow. They soften the hemp, color it and weave it. The process for making an entire piece can take one entire year to make! It's pretty amazing and very detailed. (And of course, they try to sell all sorts of items to you- most are not authentic, but they are very pretty). The division between men and women is very apparent here. The men work very hard all day in the mountains and the women tend to the children, the crops near the home and the sewing. They are about to start the planting season here so you can see many of the pictures are of the water buffalo pulling a makeshift plow to prepare the soil for planting. Additionally, some of the tribes have created water systems for shucking the outer shell from the rice. They then separate the shells from the rice using a fan. The shell is very light so it blows onto the ground while the rice stays in your hand. They have also rigged hydro electric power systems to create electricity for their homes. Most family's use the electricity to power their TV and maybe a light. Very clever water systems are also set up in order to channel the water from the mountains. Some families in the photos have systems set up in order to send water to each level of their rice crop. From afar the various levels are absolutely beautiful. The green level contains a large portion of rice which they then take and systematically separate into rows on the other levels (the ones that are currently being plowed by the water buffalo). Some families - the ones who have been around for 5 generations have level after level up and down the mountain carved out of mud and rock.

Random, but there are many puppies here - we opened our door this morning to go down to breakfast and a puppy ran into the room. I'm loving it! Donovan on the other hand, is worried that I might take one home with me.

The children here are also interesting. It's not uncommon to see a six your old with a 5 month old baby strapped to her back. They are everywhere along the road, tending to the water buffalo, the cows, the crop, hearding goats and sometimes just playing. They learn at a very young age as many mothers can only afford to take one week off (many times only 3 days) after giving birth. They follow their parents around the field for most of their childhood. By the age of 7 or 8, they are off on their own tending the land and then can be at home cooking their own meals. A striking contrast to American life!

On the second day, I spent four hours with a guide my age, we traveled around two different villages on motorbike. The landscape is just BEAUTIFUL! We had a lunch (and lots of homemade rice wine) with one of the families along the way. A very special experience. Unfortunately, I had to leave Donovan at the hotel. He came down with a fever, and was feeling pretty sick. In the evening, we took the overnight train back to Hanoi. As a side note, Sa Pa is only about 35 km from the China boarder. Although we didn't feel the earthquake in China, other travelers in the town said that they could.

Pink Threads & A Dong Silk

Jess writes: Hue is a small city, bustling with tourists. Every 5 steps there is someone asking you moto, moto. They all want you to pay them to take you around to the city's sights. They also want to charge you for EVERYTHING. This we found out the hard way. Hue is home to the Perfume River, several famous pagodas and tombs, as well as a beautiful Citadel. The two motorbike drivers we found were father and son and after 20 minutes of confused supposed bargaining, it was going to be $7 each for a 5 hour tour of the city. The Vietnamese definitely know how to confuse and take advantage of any weakness and we got on the bikes feeling a little ripped off. They were supposed to take us to the Citadel and one other pagoda that was out of the way compared to the rest of the sites. On top of that, without saying a word, they took us to another pagoda, a tomb, a hilltop lookout with a famous bunker and the sleeping buddha. Each time we told them, this is great, but this not what we asked for. At the end of the day, they dropped us at our hotel and asked for more money - of course. We gave them the agreed amount and walked away from two very angry Vietnamese men. The rest of Hue was somewhat similar, so we learned never to agree to anything, because everything costs something. If you even ask someone on the street where to eat, they try and bring you to their family or friend's restaurant. By the end of our stay, we were quite tired of the constant - no thank you, no thank you. No please go away. We did end up seeing one of the angry moto drivers the next day. He was in a great mood, hoping to convince us to take another trip with him. Too bad we had to leave.

Hoi An - Clothes making central. Donovan's version of the second level of purgatory. Except we have sweetened the deal by renting him a motorbike to drive from place to place. Hoi An is a small, but very pretty city. Again, people trying to sell you something everywhere. You can pick any style of any clothing or shoe or bag or whatever else you can think of....then pick the material...then you bargain. We're getting better at the bargaining part. It's more tiring than I thought it could be. New wardrobe - empty wallet. However, at least it's fun trying to calculate the money in dong ($1=approx 16,000 dong). Around every corner there is another store - A Dong, A Dong Silk, Le Dong Silk. And yes, the donger jokes are endless. Brandon - you'd be proud!

The last day in Hue, we met a great couple from Buenos Aires, Argentina. We're staying at the same hotel in Hoi An. Took a long motor bike trip to see some Champa ruins (My Son). The ride was more eventful that the ruins. After Angkor Wat nothing really compares.

The Birthday Rat

Jessica writes: The hotel where we stayed in Hue is great! Super clean and the staff couldn't be more helpful. They saw that I had sunburn on my back when I was checking my email and went out to the pharmacy and got cream for me. Not the typical American hotel experience. The first three questions you get from any and most Vietnamese people is Where are you from? How old are you? Are you married? (side note - I left my wedding ring at home so we've had some strange looks. One guy wanted to know if Donovan was my boss!) Needless to say, they asked how old I was and I told them I was turning 30 that day. They wished me a Happy and Lucky Birthday as we left for dinner. When we returned later that night, Kim, the woman at the front desk took us aside and explained that she was extremely sorry, but that while we were gone, they cleaned our room and found a rat. She was completely apologetic and said that if we felt uncomfortable that she would change our room. Kim wasn't the easiest to understand because her English isn't the greatest, so I had to get Donovan to help me translate exactly what she said. I couldn't figure out whether the rat was dead or alive and for some reason in my slighly drunkin haze, I thought this was going to make a difference. When we got to the room there were roses, a birthday cake and a card waiting for me. I was very touched that they went out of their way. However, I still thought there was a rat. As I began to pack to switch rooms, I kept telling Donovan that I felt bad that we were switching rooms after they did this nice thing for us. He proceeded to check all our food and was amazed that the rats didn't get into any of it, as it was sitting out. 20 mintues into packing, we received a phone call asking if we found the rat. It was all a big joke - as you probably guessed. But if you know me, you know I'm SO gullible. I kept reminding Donovan that he fell for it too! We just didn't expect the nice, sweet Vietnamese to be able to play such a practable joke. They are so serious most of the time. HAHA.

Also, thank you all for your birthday wishes. It was a great day. We went on a river boat tour and then out drinking with a great couple we met from Argentina.

Photo Link

Here's a link to all the photos so far...we've just added Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville ("Snooky")

http://picasaweb.google.com/jessLcrowley

Cheers,
Jess

Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh, Vietnam

Donovan Writes: We've seen quite a bit since the last post. We ended up staying four nights in Sihanoukville. It was a great beach town, easy to relax but lots to do. There were about five different beaches, each with their own character. our favorite beach, Otres, was about a 15 minute drive (due to the rough road), but we nearly had the entire beach to ourselves. We returned the second day, hoping to rent a Hobie and sail to the nearby islands but there wasn't enough wind. We spent part of the day on the beach and the rest exploring the town. We ran into a woman, Ushma from Mexico City who we had met several days earlier in Siem Reap. Ended up eating dinner with her. She is just hanging out in Cambodia for several months, waiting until she can re-enter Thailand. I went to bed, while Jess headed to the Chiva Shack with Ushma for some happy drinks and good company.

The following day we took a snorkeling trip to the nearby islands. There wasn't a huge aray of fish, but the corral was very impressive. We then spent several hours on Bamboo Island. It was a small island, but there were a couple restaraunts/bars and several small huts for rent on the beach. No electricity on the island. For lunch, we had some fantastic fresh fish that the crew grilled over an open pit in the sand. Later, we took a twenty minute hike to the other side of the island. On the other side, we found one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. There were several huts, but only about 5 people there. I don't know if the pictures will do it justice.

Sihanoukville is really a great town with fantastic beaches; somewhere I would love to visit again. I especially enjoyed traveling through town on Friday night. It appeared that the main strip through town was the place to hang out for teenagers. They would cruise slowly down the street on their motorbikes, sometimes three or four abreast. Looked like they were all having a great time, although watching a girl send a text message as she was riding down the street with a friend on the back of the bike seemed a little dangerous.

This town, like Siem Reap, is feeling the impact of tourism. Many foreign companies are building large hotels and resorts. They are also buying up large tracts of land and one of the main beaches has already become private. Hopefully this trend won't continue. One of the restaurant owners on the beach where we were staying said that there were zoning laws that prevented hotels from being constructed on the beachfront. Not sure if those laws apply to the other beaches.

After four nights in Sihanoukville, we headed to Phnom Penh via bus (we couldn't find a boat to take us to Vietnam). We arrived in the early afternoon with enough time to visit the genocide museum and the killing fields. Neither of us really wanted to see the evidence of those events, but we new it was something we needed to do. I had heard bits and pieces of what had happened in Cambodia in the late 70's, but didn't really have an understanding for the scope of what occurred. Over 1.7 million men, women and children were killed from 1975 to 1979 from the Pol Pot regime. Essentially, the people from Phnom Penh were tricked into leaving the city to the country side. There, all educated people and any others deemed to be a threat, were tortured and executed, While others were sent to grow rice in the fields. I could continue because there are many more interesting details to the events, but google could probably provide you with better (and more accurate) information. The genocide museum was a school that had been converted to a prison and interogation center from 1975 to 1979. In 1978, there were upwards of 5,800 prisoners there, most of whom were executed. The prison was very well preserved. After the museum, we visited the killing fields. Although the fields were spread about the country, the particular one we visited was one of the larger ones. They still haven't uncovered all the bodies, but they have already thousands. Pieces of victims clothes and bones were still visable around the grounds. Most visitors walked around in silence. A memorial at the entrance contained hundreds of sculls. The most disturbing thing about this visit and the events that occured is how recently it happened. This was occuring less than 30 years ago. Afterwards, I was glad we went but we needed something a little more upbeat. We hung out with some Aussies and Norweigans at the guesthouse bar for the rest of the evening.

Phenom Phen to Ho Chi Minh to Hue:

We got up early and caught the first bus to Ho Chi Minh city. Jess has caught the traveler's bug, so we weren't sure how far we would be able to travel. Luckily the bus was empty and we were able to spread out. After we crossed the boarder into Vietnam, a couple of friendly Malaysians joined us. They brought beers, so I drank and we chatted for the rest of the trip into the city.

We decided we would try to make it to Hue so we wouldn't have any time to spend in Ho Chi Minh. Within one hour in Ho Chi Minh, we were able to find an ATM, buy a new memory card for the camera, eat a great meal (another beer for me), talk with a radio operator from the south Vietnamese army, and buy two plane tickets that would take us to Hue two hours later. We found all of this within half a block. We were both impressed by the friendliness of everyone there. After that hour experience, we regreted not spending more time in the city.

By 6:30 in the evening, we were checked into a great (and cheap) hotel in Hue. Jessica was a great sport throughout the trip. After I had a tasty six-course meal and Jess unsuccessfully tried to keep her meal down, we both had a great nights sleep. On to a few days exploring Hue...

(We added more photos to the Siem Reap & Temples folder. Hopefully we'll add more photos this evening.)