I just got some good international mail - a cd of photos that Roli took during our day together in June. (click here to see that day)

my pictures were all of roli..


naturally, most of his photos wound up being of me...

wierd, since i'm usually the one behind the camera on these trips.

anyway, wanna see?

( Click here to see some of roli's photos )

Ok! It's our last day. We've got sixteen hours before our flight leaves Saigon. We're in the Mekong Delta. We are very much still on vacation.

In the morning I enjoyed a very light and simple breakfast of bread and brothy soup - free at our hotel.


after breakfast we walked down to the boat dock

and got on a little boat to go see the floating market


we float through a sunny Can Tho morning
and approach the floating market


before we get there, we're stopped by somone selling fruits, so we buy some to snack on

they are sweet and taste great


then we go 'into' the market. I think at this point it's safe to say that Ed and I have been to lots of different markets - but we've never before seen a floating one - so this is great.




at first we're confused as to how all this works - then they explain that the big sticks on the fronts of all the boats are the "signs" that show what the boat has for sale that day




setting up shop


the vendors just live out here in their boats until the stock is gone. the back of the boats is where the laundry is done and the cooking and the eating




it's a market, so of course there are women selling noodles. their noodle shops have simply adapted




larger boats full of tourists are also rolling by


I'm too busy being fascinated by peeking into all the little nooks and crannies of the boats and around seeing what all is going on


soon we buy a little watermelon to share on board


everyone else is buying their groceries and going about their business










a little later, we buy a pineapple to munch on



lady, you have got a lot of pineapples on that boat there.


this is a wonderful way to spend a sunny morning in the delta

floating around, nibbling on snacks, the breeze off the river and the smells of food and fruit coming from the boats, and on the shore we get glimpses into the life on the flooded and flooding banks of the mekong


we ride back to town, and hang out in can tho for a while

we get some coffee and call our hotel in saigon and rest a little before going to pack up the rooms and check out

back to the bus terminal. i think i'm collecting pictures of ed blinking and holding the laptop in front of busses and bus stations now.


it's a four hour ride back to saigon, and looking out the window i start to notice the little things that i'll miss seeing every day


Mien bought a different type of sticky rice thing to eat on the ride back


They were pretty good - there's only a little bite inside those big banana leaves


we get back to saigon and check out of the indochine - we are super late but Mien helps us at the desk and we don't get double charged or any problems.


next we take the bags and get a taxi back to the house of Van's parents. we leave the bags there and head out around that neighborhood, because believe it or not there is one VERY important thing we have not done yet.

BIA HOI!

C'mon, did you think we'd get out of Vietnam without getting in at least 2 liters of this stuff?
Mien and Van also didn't want us to be hungry and eating airplane food, so they ordered a huge spread - chicken, beef, noodles, veggies, and these things:

something else we had on our "things to try list" - Century Eggs.
we were not crazy about them. Ok, i didnt really like them. but we would both try them again and give it another shot.
May I recommend that you read this when you get a chance:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg

After dinner and bia hoi, we went back to Van's family house and shared a moon cake


We were hanging out when Van said that we would have to call the taxi and leave early, because the river was coming up. I was trying to make sense of that, since i didn't think we were anywhere near the banks of the river, when we all went and had a peek outside at the street

the river was coming up through the sewers. quickly. there was already about six inches in the street.

SO. Called a taxi and said goodbye to our friends. Taxi back through Saigon, at night. The motos speeding all around and the lights and the smells and the open store-fronts, full of eating and drinking and small night markets, the big Canon building with its signs all glowing neon letting you know that you're at the airport, and then check-in. A few last 333's at the airport bar. Sleep through the entire flight to Narita. In Narita, ramen and beers, shopping and checking out japanese gadgets, talking about when we'll be in tokyo again. the long flight home after that.

I never know what to say to wrap these things up. As always, we're very grateful to have our friends in southeast asia take us out and home and travelling with them. You can't beat the home-cooking or the nights out we have with them. I'm also very happy for and proud of my brother, and I think that was some of the most fun we ever had.

Whats Next?

Well, I think between now and the end of the year I will very slowly enter the Japan trip into this blog, like I keep promising to do.

And in 2010, this little travel-blog of ours should be getting a little more active, as we are planning our move to europe, next spring.

Stay tuned,
Mot Hai Ba, YO!

On October 8 Mien and Van came to get us around 5 or 6 am, and we went down to the bus station. We had planned a sort of last-minute-spontaneous trip to Can Tho, in the Mekong Delta area. Ed and I have never been to the delta area, and we heard they had some interesting cuisine down there, so we were all for it. Because our hotel in Saigon was cheap, we kept the reservation there to hold most of our luggage, and then repacked my smaller backpack with stuff we'd need for the overnight in Can Tho.

We sat in the bus ticket place and watched strange chinese drama shows until the van came


the van took us from the ticketing location in saigon to the bus terminal further out. then we got on a nice big coach bus and headed to the delta


we had an early lunch/breakfast? at your typical run-of-the-mill bus stop restaurant

good noodles and 'russian roulette' iced coffee

and mien bought us some sweet sticky rice treats - they're thick rice flavored with banana and coconut and wrapped in a thin layer of plastic and then wrapped again in banana leaves.


seen from the bus - these things are big, meaty oranges - they are super good - we had one with bobby in thailand


ogod the ferries

i really, really hate being on a bus on a ferry on the mekong in the rain. that's pretty up there on the list of things i do not like at all.

once in town, we went down to where Mien used to work and waited for a friend of his to join us.

hangin' out at the tile store


once all together, the five of us went to this restaurant in town

it's a very nice place - you sit in your own private little hut, with a big table, a full crate of Saigon Red at your disposal and a big ice bucket. The other little huts were all full of lunching businessmen, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes and eating huge meals.

let's check out the menu, shall we?

yes kids, this is what you have been waiting for.

Here was the first course

but really, you have to watch the video to get the full effect


we are taught how to eat them


so then ed gives it a go


on his second try he gets it. This video cracks me up because he totally makes an andrew zimmern face after eating the worm (funny for me because we both hate zimmern so, so much.)


my turn


alright, that's enough of that. let's move on.
Hot Vit Lon


More palm worms, this time dead and deep fried

(these were really gross)

A river fish hot pot with lots of fresh veggies and flowers. You could really tell by the taste that this fish had come right out of the mekong.


Now, at this point, I stop eating. I get suddenly very, very sick, and spend about 45 minutes in the bathroom re-experiencing my palm worm appetizer. Luckily, Van had brought a ton of pills and things with her, as she also has a lot of stomach problems with eating, and she had some packets of medicine that I was able to take 2 of and that calmed down the puking enough for me to get back to the table and sip water and see what else the boys were eating.
I should also mention that I'm seriously peeved that I wasn't able to eat anything else, because it all looked and smelled really good.

One venomous and one non-venomous snake, cooked up and served whole


Mekong Delta Rat


Let's get a closer look at that


So, we sat at this place for 3 or 4 hours, laughing and hanging out. I had some water and started to feel better, so after lunch we went out to see about getting a boat to a nearby island

ed and the boat lady
We got a nice little one to take us out, and we cruised around the river

that smaller boat ^ is a taxi - they're all over and they just shuttle people from one side to the other






we arrive at the island


it's like a strange, deserted theme park. because of the rain, there's no one here and all the attractions are closed.


it's kinda creepy and strange but we have fun


right about here, i start feeling my palm worm again, and it's not good. a handful of immodiums and another packet of Van's medicine, and somehow they get me back to the hotel without incident. we decide to take a break - and i spend an awful 2 hours in the hotel room.
by the time dinner rolls around, i'm not sure if i can make it out - ed is feeling great and ready to go. we talk about it, and decide that since our hotel room is so old and creepy:

it'd be better to be sick on the street with friends in vietnam, then be sick alone in a creepy old overlook hotel type place. i steal a roll of toilet paper from the hotel to stuff in my purse, suck in my stomach cramps, and off we go.


dinner was a great (so they tell me) grilled goat meat feast.
we also had brought the leftover rat from lunch, and grilled that up too

mien's friend was awesome and ordered a baguette so i could eat at least a little something

the boys share a bottle of "medicine" - it's un-named alcohol (probably rice wine/whiskey) mixed with goat scrotum and blood, kept in an old vodka hanoi bottle. we also brought our bottle of lao-lao moonshine we bought in Luang Prabang


after dinner we go to the river and catch a little boat that will take us to the big karaoke bar cruiser

more cruising around the mekong

hanging out on the top deck in the night air, listening to crazy karaoke and drinking beer, we finish the bottle of laolao and have a good time. we're joined by another one of Mien's friends and her husband, so we're a happy group.


after the boat ride, we go to a local discotheque where there's loud music and games






i feel better, or at least what i call "immodium-better", and we have some beer inside the dance hall and watch the english tourists bop around under the crazy strobe lights and laser show

a fun way to spend our last night in asia

i'm so bummed this photo didn't turn out, but oh well


when we left around midnight, it was raining a little and everyone was (somehow) hungry - so we went to one of the last noodle stands that was still open on the street - squatted into our tiny plastic tables and chairs, and enjoyed big bowls of noodle soup.


we made plans to meet up in the morning for some sight-seeing, and everyone headed off to sleep.

October 7 was spent doing ...not much.

we woke up and ate pancakes by the river

they were stuffed with fresh bananas and honey.

then we packed out of Oui's Guesthouse, tuk-tuked to the airport, sat in the airport, and then flew to Hanoi. Then we sat in Hanoi for a while. Then we flew to Saigon. Then we took a taxi to the hotel.

Basically, it took a day to get out of Luang Prabang, Laos and back to Saigon, Vietnam.

but it's good to be back in the city. And after everything we've seen and done, we don't mind the day-in-transit.
we checked in, checked some internets, talked to Mien about our plans, and then went down for 2 beers at Hein and Bobs.

Mien was coming to get us really early, so we went right to bed.

And that was October 7.

On October 6 we woke up early and headed down to the river to catch our 8am boat


The river was full of washed-up lanterns from the night before, that never quite made it out of town


Boat rides on the mekong are fun


When I retire, I'm going to live in that big blue houseboat on the mekong and float around southeast asia all year


Apart from the occasional passing boat, it's very quiet and peaceful


After a little while, we pull up to the "lao-lao whiskey village"


guess what they make here?


mmm, moonshine. er, whiskey. whatever.


pick your poison


they're also drying a ton of chilis here next to the distilling shack


we bought a small bottle of lao-lao 'whiskey' for about a dollar - with no scorpions or snakes or anything in it. before you buy, they let you take a bunch of shots of all the different flavors and strengths to see what you like. there's something nice about doing a lot of shots of lao moonshine on the banks of the mekong river at 8:30 in the morning. we bought just a plain bottle of "the strong stuff". we did find on closer inspection that it had a tiny green dead spider in it. oh well.

back to the boat!




after another while, we arrive at our destination


the pak ou caves




big caves on the river full of buddah images


not a thrill-a-minute sight seeing, but a nice relaxing way to spend a sleepy morning after festival






as always, it's just not vacation if we are not climbing a huge flight of stone steps going somewhere unknown

these lead to the upper cave

which is super dark inside!


ok, back in the boat. i took a little video of the ride but i used the wrong speed on the camera... sometimes the wheels on my G9 (camera) slip and it makes me mad. i am going to try and save up for the G11 (ELEVEN! I didn't even get a chance to see a 10.) asap.



it is super hard to stay awake on this boat. we both keep dropping off and nodding


we get back to luang prabang

those trees on the river are really huge

on shore, we went to one of these restaurants and ate by the river again



curry wasn't bad.

although we were distracted from our meal by the little friend who came jumping on our table to join us

AAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhh!
ok, he crawled away after a little while. eee. like i said, eating next to the river gets you a little more exposed to these critters. but the food is way better and way cheaper. pretty fair trade-off.
the bathroom of the restaurant also had some interesting things in it....

why do they keep this stuff in the toilet?


after eating, we went back to the streets. the town was almost completely deserted - we're guessing everyone is burned out from the late party


the dogs are still running around though

ed liked this guy a lot


not a lot going on, and that's fine with us



after a little more street-wandering, we went back to the hotel to rest and pack up and check some internets and hang out on the balcony. we never relax on vacation - so this is new and fun for us.
then, it's dinner time

we went back to the same restaurant as the night before and had the laap again (amazing!) and i tried a new soup. this restaurant has mastered broth, this is the good stuff you dream about when going out for southeast asian soup.

because we're eating on the river, we have extra guests.
this giant guy

and then sneaking past our table just as we're finishing, is THIS:
(it's really dark)

ok, yea, we're by the river, but we're way up a steep, forested bank, so we are not expecting to see this fellow.
trying to video crabs and avoid cockroaches:


after dinner i didn't take so many photos, we were just relaxing and bumming around. we went to the night market and bought some things and gifts, and then went to have a few beerlaos in town. and on the way back to the hotel, we stop for a couple more big sweet crepes


sleepy good day.

on the night of October 5, as we walked towards the temple in Luang Prabang, the dark streets began to fill with people, motos, smoke, and fireworks


we made our way to the temple stairs that lead right down into the wide mekong river

we were still a little early, so there wasn't much of a crowd
we walked back up the second set of stairs, into the temple itself

the monks had lit up their large lotus shaped boat and it was the brightest thing in the area

we explored the grounds of the temple





this is one of our favorites that we've been to. it's really beautiful and very lived-in. unlike the big flashy ones in thailand, or some of the more tourist-oriented ones you'll visit in other places, this one really feels used and loved and alive

all around is smoke and the noise of fireworks. cops were chasing some small boys around for lighting fireworks off behind the temple...
we know who was really lighting the fireworks though...

hahahaha


back on the street more boats are lit, and there are dozens of impromptu booths set up selling floating lanterns made of flowers

when you see how many there are, you think that there can't be enough people in this town to release so many into the river. however, as we sat down nearby to have a beer and some spring rolls snack, we watched hundreds already floating down the dark river

it can't really be photographed, at least not by me - the soft glow and smokiness of everything, contrasting with the harsh and loud explosions going on all around, it's beautiful


all over town, tiny candles are lit and stuck on every surface


after our beers we walk back to the temple stairs again

by now a good crowd is starting to gather

everyone is taking their lanterns down the stairs to the river

boys with long bottle rockets are everywhere. and little dynamite sticks. and roman candles. and huge ones, like fourth of july. fireworks are everywhere, they're huge, and they're cheap. and firing them into large crowds seems completely normal, and everyone is laughing

huge paper lanterns are released into the sky


i'm amused at the hundreds of cell phone lights waving around amidst all the candles and flames, adding to the scene



the crowd grows to a complete mob, and it's time


one by one, the large boats from the wats are brought down to be placed into the river. this takes a long time, and lots of men and boys to do the carrying. there's lots of music and yelling and cheers and fireworks. it's an excellent party.





the festival has totally exceeded our expectations, it's great

fireworks dragons lanterns flames smoke river




it takes a while to get these giant things launched into the river, so there's often little backlogs

watch this:



we are only mildly concerned at our crazy close proximity to giant flaming constructions of kerosene, wood, and crepe paper



the large boats are lit by filling old energy-drink bottles with kerosene and wicks


the whole time, hundreds and hundreds of flower lanterns are floating slowly down the mekong






the last float to come down is the giant lotus from the temple




after the big one floats away

the crowd thins a little, but dozens of people are still walking down the stairs to put their lanterns in the river

on the streets fireworks are lit off everywhere

we have a couple more beerlaos to watch the lanterns float down the river, and the fireworks, until it gets to about curfew time. the streets empty as everyone goes home, but as we walk back, lots of little local "bars" have popped up for the local kids - all of whom are drunk and happy and yelling karaoke loudly into the streets. it's a long walk back to the hotel, and we have to dodge a few fireworks, but everyone was laughing and it was great time.

I don't suppose you can go to Laos without seeing what we saw on October 5. The difference is in how you go about seeing it. Everyone starts out the same way: wake up at 5am, head to the main drag in Luang Prabang. Wait.
Then, decide what you are going to do next. 1) stand on the far side of the street quietly and take the occasional photo, and enjoy. 2) do this:

Anyway. There's already a lot of internet chatter about the behavior of tourists at the morning alms-collecting in Luang Prabang, and I'm not going to add any more of my two cents about it here. I'm just saying: hey, be respectful. It's not 'feeding time at the laos zoo', or a cute photo-op for westerners.

Moving on. We got up at 5, and headed down to the street to watch

hangin' out on the opposite side of the street

girls sell flowers to tourists who've come in to take part in the passing of rice

the walk begins

it was actually really beautiful to watch, even if we felt oddly out of place.

after the walk we headed back to the hotel, passing all the dogs in town making their morning rounds as well


had a little breakfast at the hotel (Oui's Guesthouse)

there's a monastery across the river from the hotel, and monks were walking around and working


after breakfast we walked back into town to buy our airline tickets to get out of laos, and use the free internet at the ticket sales place


then out into the streets to explore the nooks and crannies of luang prabang


all around town, people are working on making their big paper and wood boats for the festival



we find the riverside restaurants, and stop for lunch

the only problem with eating by the river is that you are way more exposed to the elements than you are back in town. for example, ants kept falling out of the huge trees around us, and into my soup

watching the ferries


it's not so hot here, so we spend a good deal of time wandering around all the little side streets and alleys




boats everywhere




for an afternoon snack, we go back to the river for beerlao and spring rolls


checking out the stuff drying in the sun

peels and veggies and big rice things

lots of rice things


back to the hotel for a quick rest in the afternoon

the shower is all-in-one, meaning there is no shower stall, just a shower head over the toilet

a monastery right by the hotel dries robes in the sun

it's a pretty town, we start to really like it here.

if you stay away from the overpriced cafes on the main street, you can pretty much avoid the tourists all day and night

the afternoon wears down, and after booking some tickets for a boat ride tomorrow, we head back to the river for dinner



we found the best little restaurant

that soup was *the best*. so spicy, and such a great flavor, and full of wonderful delicious fresh vegetables

i ordered the laap, which was also very spicy, but also extremely delicious.
after dinner we sit by the river and drink beerlao and watch the sun go down over the misty mekong




now, the sun goes down
we get very excited, because all over town, things are beginning to very, very slowly
pick up

i had really tried to time the vacation so that we could be here in this city on this night

as it gets dark, all over the small town, people come out and start to light the dozens and dozens of boats that have been going up all day



... I'll tell you what happened that night next time! Stay tuned :)

October 4 was another early morning - we packed out of the hotel and caught a tuk tuk to the bus station. At the station we bought a big bottle of water and a big, crusty fresh baked baguette, and got on the bus

sleepy ed and bread
the bus rolled out and slowly headed north on the tiny highway to luang prabang

one bridge we had to go over was so small that it was one way, and only one truck or bus could go over at a time.

i didn't really have a good seat for taking photos. we took the vip bus, which was nice because there is a cargo spot for the bags (as opposed to just having them strapped on the top of the bus), and it's air conditioned, and you get water. that's not to say there wasn't a basket full of ducks on the bus, or a cardboard box full of roosters, or that we didnt stop at a wierd driveway and pick up a large shipment of huge mechanical gears and parts...
there were two toilet stops and one lunch stop on the ride (8 or 9 hours long). one stop was here

where the toilet costs 1000 kip, and there's snacks to buy

ed and our vip bus

back on the road, the bus enters the mountains. we go very slowly around the switchbacks and up and down through the tiny, tiny villages and really feel like we are right in the very middle of nowhere


this is how you roll through laos, yo.


lunch at your typical lunch-stop place. what was nice was that our lunch was also included in the cost of our tickets.

what was not nice was me accidentally spilling a whole jug of chili powder all over ed. whooooops.


crappy bus window photos


this was the second toilet stop. there was nothing here, just a clearing and some weeds. but the view was excellent.


once in Luang Prabang, we dropped the bags at the guesthouse and ran down the main drag to get something to eat. walking into town from our hotel, we passed a ton of super flashy looking restaurants and wine bars...? so dodging those, we just stopped in the first restaurant we saw that looked ok

later, we would discover eating on the river. for now though, this was pretty good.
with full bellies, we went to see the night market



the festival is going on, and gearing up, and we're excited because this is the town that we wanted to be in while it was going on

a dozen or so other western girls stopped in front of these umbrellas and took this exact same picture.


leaving the market, we walked back through town to find a beer lao

the whole time we are thinking, holy hoi an, there are a TON of western tourists here. like hoi an, the town seems to have been redesigned for them, with pizza places and wine tastings. maybe it's a unesco thing? we are mildly discouraged. but, we are totally willing to give it a few more beer laos and see what happens when the sun comes up.
we found a nice bar - that was serving up 'lao lao'. lao-lao is the local home-made whiskey (it's moonshine.)

it's a little rough, even when classed-up in the fancy glass

this town shuts down early (there's a curfew here, that basically says everyone indoors at midnight), and on our way back to the hotel we found one late-night street vendor catching the last-call drinkers

a woman sitting on the side of the road serving up unbelievably good crepes

our hotel was at the very end of the peninsula, away from the main drag

it gets dark here
the view from our balcony


so, to bed. the midnight curfew is probably a good thing, because in this town you get up very early in the morning...

On October 3 we woke up to a pretty quiet Vientiane morning

walking down the streets to the river, we went in search of more Things on Sticks

find the smoke, and you've found breakfast. we got a few chicken bits and parts, and nibbled on them as we wandered around (we later discovered one of our favorites was grilled chicken butts)

all sorts of market stuff set up by the river. let's get a closer look at that big bucket of meat...

mmm.
then we walked around to the market area, but didnt see much we liked or found interesting

so we hopped in a tuk tuk and headed to the bus station to get our tickets for the next day

tuk-tuk-ing has become pretty normal for us i guess, but we still like it a lot
back in town again, with our bus tickets, we stop to visit one of the many wats around. but first!

grilled bananas! so tasty. gotta get 'em hot.
then, ok, into the temple









(it's starting to get very, very hot out)

tourists!

does anyone know why all these people are picking the flowers?

back on the street we run into a bunch of kids who approach us and ask if we'll help them with their english homework. of course! they have to interview forigners and then get proof by taking a photo with them


after wandering around the big festival area some more, we start to give in to the heat. it's hot. so very hot. so we pull into the first bar we see and get a beer in the shade

beer lao dark ain't bad

after resting there a bit, we get another tuk tuk and head off to That Luang

being the national symbol, and most important religious monument in Laos, it draws a bit of tourism.











at this point we're drinking water bottles two at a time, to keep hydrated and to try to stay cool. we killed a lot of water bottles this day.
we spent some time here wandering around and looking at everything. walking back through the big bus parking lot to our tuk tuk, we almost died in the heat. time for some food


fried noodles and sausage and beer

at this point, we decided we really needed to wait for the sun to go down and for the town to cool off. it was already late afternoon, so no big deal. we went up to the big balcony of the hotel bar to sit in front of fans and drink cold beer.

the night vendors began to set up

all the smoke from the giant grills came wafting up into the bar balcony, and we sat and smelled the chickens and drank a few beers.

aaaaaand that was pretty much it for that day. we took a quick trip to the room to freshen up, and found that we were both totally exhausted and really pretty sick and not feeling good at all and so we collapsed in dizzy states of heat exhaustion and slept the whole rest of the evening. hah.

anyway. here's a video of the street vendors. the next day was better!

October 2 was a travel day. We all sort of slept in a little, then went to a brunch of very very spicy soup

then back to the house to pack up and relax

said goodbye to the puppies

and headed back to the little chiang rai airport. we sat there for awhile with bobby and the pastor, eating pineapple and jackfruit, drinking good chinese tea

bobby then had to go pack, as he was also flying out that day (back to LA). our flight to bangkok was good, and we had a little layover in the airport to eat some more and get some beer

from bangkok we then flew into vientiane. because the festival was going on (why we're here), our cab couldn't take us very far so we had to walk a ways through the crowd to our hotel

we checked into the Lao Orchid, which was nice if very impersonal, and checked out the great view from our balcony

the dark mekong river, and the smoke of grilling food and the sounds of a good party below
we head into the streets in search of the local beer, the only beer

i believe you can get other beer in laos, but you don't. you drink beer lao, and you drink lots of it. it's cheap, it's delicious, and it's everywhere. it's got to be owned by the government or something. they might even use it to water the crops. we've sampled many asian beers, and really, this is one of the best.
after beer, hungry again, we stop for a snack

things on sticks! yes!

we take our chicken feet, wings, and other unknown bits and parts back to the hotel bar

shamelessly gnawing chicken feet in the nice hotel bar

so, after 2 airplane rides and with a belly full of beer lao and chicken parts, we headed to bed to get ready for our first full day in Laos.

On Thursday, Oct, 1, we got up at 3am and packed up and headed out and caught a flight from Bangkok to Chiang Rai. We were met at the airport by my younger brother, Bobby Bo! and his Pastor that he stays with here. Me and Ed and Bobby dumped the backpacks at Bobby's house and headed out to breakfast

tasty noodles to start the day.
Then back to the house, to meet the puppies

and then a quick walk to the school where Bobby teaches english

the kids are all super excited to see bobby, and sad that he's going back to the states for a few weeks, and generally giggly and cute and shy. but you can tell they really like bobby a lot

one girl kept telling bobby that he needs to buy her new socks in america

after meeting the kids and a couple teachers, we went back to the house for moto-riding lessons for ed

serious stuff.

once ed had that down, we headed off into chiang rai to see the town

and stop at a cafe to use the internet

we stopped at another one of bobby's schools and met some teachers, hung out a little, and then went out to find lunch at one of bobby's favorite places

then, back out on the road through chiang rai traffic

to see the white temple outside of town

the white temple is modern, and very, very cool. interesting. beautiful. inspiring.





it's not quite done yet, this is definitely something i'd like to come back and see in a few years when it's complete.




even the toilets are classy


after that, we headed back onto the road



to rest and hang out a little with bobby before dinner at the pastor's house
the pastor lives in the dormitory of the school

the dorm is for all the hilltribe kids, their parents send them to live at the school for the term, and then during break they go back to their tribes

ed pulls in

dinner was really good, it was nice of the pastor to have us over

tom kha and rice and chicken and veggies, all very tasty
after dinner we headed to the chiang rai night market

which was clean, quiet, and so strange after all the markets we've been in. it was more like a giant, well-organized sidewalk sale. there was even 'cultural dancing'

in the past couple months bobby has gotten really good at speaking thai, and it's fun to listen to him

eventually we made our way over to the food stalls, which again, were oddly clean and organized.

and with bobby's friend sila, we sat down to some papaya salad and sticky rice

super spicy!
after all that, and our 3 am wake-up call, it was really time to head home. we had left the motos at the dorm and taken a car to the market, so after dropping ed off at the house, i was able to ride one of the motos back from the dorm to the house by myself, in the dark through the rice paddies, and it was great. back at the house, we hung out and chatted for a while, and then to bed.

On Wednesday the 30, we woke up in Bangkok, after a few hours sleep, and headed out to see the Touristy Bits. We stopped for noodles at a little stand right outside Wat Po.

while we ate, a guy pretending to work at the noodle stand told us all about how Wat Po was closed, but he knew a driver who could take us around for cheap to see some other stuff until the wat opened again, and maybe do a little shopping...? All of which we listened to and nodded our heads, and "oh really? wow"'d, ... and then finished our soup and walked into the obviously open Wat Po and ignored him. So, that was the beginning of People Lying To Us In Thailand. Very frustrating, just for the simple fact that some people seem to do it to foreigners for absolutely no reason at all. So, having come from vietnam and cambodia where people are so friendly and the rip-offs are usually only in the marketplace or in tuk tuks (and everyone has a good laugh about them).. coming here kinda put a bad taste in our mouth. Anyway. We saw the sights and did our best to ignore the jerks.












after leaving Wat Po, we ran the gauntlet of liars and walked to the grand palace

things you should know when walking to the grand palace: 1) it is open 2) you can borrow clean clothing there -for free- if you are wearing something that doesn't cover your legs or arms 3) it doesnt close for 'lunch'.





this is where they keep the emerald buddha, which is pretty important and has an interesting history

lots of murals here




then, lunchtime!

then, after a bit of wandering around the market nearby, we headed back to chinatown

where we were able to walk around without being bothered and check out all the smells and foods and market alleys for a while

if we come back to bangkok, this is where we'll be spending our time, i think

then we went back to T&K seafood for dinner, because last night was so good

snails and noodles and also some deep fried giant prawns

the kitchen at T&K's (yep, that's it:)

three or four ladies on the street cranking out enough fresh seafood to feed dozens and dozens of people.
after dinner it was back on the bts to the nana stop

where we went back to y-not to say hello and grab a beer and get better directions to Soi Cowboy (the red light district)
which we then went out and found

so we sat and had a few beers and checked it out. it's way smaller than i thought it would be, only 2 small blocks.

lots and lots of interesting people watching here though, let me tell you.

so, after a few beers, we took the bts back to On Nut and went to bed, because we had to get up at 3:00 am to catch a flight to Chiang Rai... Ug.

On Tuesday the 29, we woke up and had a lazy day in Phnom Penh. Breakfast at the hotel, followed by a trip to the Russian Market

where we got some coffee and wandered around and bought some small things. the market is quiet and nobody really bothers you and the merchandise is actually pretty good. we like this one a lot.

then we wandered around the park a little to find some snacks

we bought some pineapple from one guy and some grilled bananas from another

then we sat around and people watched for a while, before going back to the room to pack up

so we could head to the airport, and catch a flight to Bangkok

bangkok is nice because when you get out, there's a real taxi stand, where you get a ticket from a girl at the desk and you don't have to deal with fighting through taxi hagglers.
our hotel was in a quiet part of bangkok, right by the last BTS stop, On Nut

it's a nice hotel




it was already dark when we got in, but we headed out anyway. being right at the end of the BTS is pretty nice, we took it a few stops in to see the town. it's really culture shock after a few days in cambodia

looking for something to eat though, we decided to catch a taxi to chinatown

after a little walking around, we settled into the T&K Seafood restaurant right on the main drag. it was so good!

really fresh and tender squids, and some noodles, and some good beers
then ed grabbed some bugs from a passing vendor

cheap and tasty grasshoppers, just like salty chips

there aren't a lot of bars here, so we headed back onto the bts and went to the nana stop - just because that's where we noticed the most tourists getting off the bts. sure enough, there's tons of bars and hookers and bars there. after lots of walking around and little rain, we found a good place called the 'y-not' bar, which is actually run by an expat from denmark named heine - while his girls hung out with all the single customers, heine hung out and drank and talked and laughed with us long after the bar closed until about 5:00 am. heine's wife got us into a taxi and sent us on our way back to the hotel, to catch a few hours sleep before hitting the streets again.

On Monday the 28, we were up early and got a good breakfast at the hotel


then our tuk tuk driver came to get us and we headed out for some sight seeing.
we went first to the prison museum
it used to be a high school, which the khmer rouge altered to fit their purposes



for a small fee you can get a tour guide, which i really recommend. ours explained what everything was and who the photos were of and what happened in this place, and also how her family and life were affected by what happened here.

going to these places is sort of like going to hiroshima. it's not the most fun you're going to have on vacation. in fact it's pretty awful at times. but it's history, and it's important, and it gives you a lot to think about



the khmer rouge were organized, and kept photographic records of prisoners both 'before' and 'after'.


From there, it's a short ride out of town to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek.



the remains of about 9000 people were exhumed in the 80's, and many of the graves are still untouched. every time it rains, more and more bits of bone and clothing are revealed in the dirt walkways







There is no real count on how many people died in cambodia during this time, but the average seems to be around 1.6 million, between 1975 and 1979.

So. Then it was time to head back into town, to see what else is going on.


Wat Phnom!

right

a monk releases a bird for good luck

ed bought me one too

the base of the hill is a big clock

and there are elephants

and MONKEYS!




The Central market in Phnom Penh is surprisingly quiet, airy, cool, and clean

not at all what we expected

i like it!

we ate lunch here

giant shrimps, some beef, a little tea, all very good stuff



We also saw the National Museum

which is pretty and quiet

no photos allowed inside, but it's interesting and full of buddha images and information about the old khmer empire

Then it was to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda

which is where we found all the tourists. but it's still pretty




After all that, we decided to head back to the hotel to rest a bit before going out later for dinner. Dinner we got right around the corner from the hotel at a cute place that served good food

after dinner it was a bit of wandering around the park area with some grilled bananas, hanging out by the river with some beers, and a few more beers back at the hotel bar.

the next day we'd be on the road again, heading to thailand

On Sunday the 27 we got up early and headed across the street to Pho24 for a quick breakfast


then we went to the backpacker district to catch our bus to Phnom Penh

This was our 3rd trip on the Mekong Express, and I have to say I really like their service.


The buses are big, clean, they give you water and snacks, the rest stop lunches are good, and the assistants that go with you speak pretty good english.

so we rolled out of vietnam

and into cambodia


the border crossing is pretty easy once you get the hang of it, but for the first time across it's really confusing. there's no real signs or clear organization.
when going with a bus service like the mekong express, the bus assistant takes your passport for you on the vietnam side to get stamped and processed. meanwhile you take your bags and put them through the xray machine. then you wait on the other side of the passport control until your name is called, then go through without having to talk to the guy. show your stamp to a sleepy guy at a desk by the door, and you're through the vietnam border. then, you get back on the bus for about 2 minutes and they roll over to the cambodia border.

now, in the good old days, you wouldn't even have to stop here. the bus would just keep rolling on to a lunch place and the bus assistant would show up about half an hour later with your processed passport. now, because of h1n1, you have to go through yourself. if you use evisa like we do, show it to someone in uniform and they take you to the separate evisa desk. then you go through passport control after that. then, we had to go through the 'health screening', which was an old guy with a baby ear thermometer. the ear thermometer was not cleaned or changed for each person, just sort of stabbed in our ears as we went through. back on the bus, there was a lot of cringing as everyone was wiping their hand sanitizer into their ears.
once through the border, we got to stop for lunch

we weren't really that hungry, so we just had a beer and looked at the dead bird at our table

(after noticing me take a picture, some very giggling embarrassed waiters came and took it away)
anyway. the bus ride is about 6 hours, not bad at all. at one point they put on a zach galifinakis movie, so that made me pretty happy


once in Phnom Penh, we hopped into a tuk tuk

and got to the Pavilion Hotel

i like it here

i like the private pool too

the grounds of the hotel are completely thick with plants and ferns, it's very quiet and secluded

so, checked in and ready for food, we hopped back into the tuk tuk and headed to a local place

i had my first beer lao - we wanted to compare the taste between exported and local

food was pretty good too

then we headed over to the night market

where we bummed around a little and i got a cool angkor beer shirt (i do like my angkor beer)
and then it was time for some angkor beer, so we headed to the main drag by the river, where all the tourists and backpackers and bars are, to sit in the big comfy chairs they have there and drink a few
then it was back in the tuk tuk (tuk tuk rides in phnom penh are probably my favorite anywhere)


back to the hotel

a few more beer and internetting at the bar

and a little swimming before crashing for the night

SO.
Now that we're back on a solid fast internet connection, let me go back to where we left off.
Which was somewhere near the beginning, with heading to dinner at Thiets...


we had just left Mien's wedding, and ran to the market for flowers and rambutans to bring to dinner


driving through saigon suburbs


when we got to Thiet's, the first part of dinner was ready
and the second part was cooking in the back


everybody loves banh xeo


not going to tell you whats in here.

lets just say it involves rice wine and 'medicine'.


hanging with Thiet's family was a lot of fun


we would have stayed later, but we had an early morning bus to catch to cambodia.

hello from Can Tho!
we sort of spontaneously hopped a bus out here to the mekong delta with Mien and his wife and are spending the night.
Can Tho is also the winner of "The Place That Made Me The Most Sick" award. Just read the title of this post for a clue. I'll tell you later. I don't wanna think about it right now.
we're going out to dinner soon, i think i'll be having the Plain Rice, thankyou ;)
If I don't get any pictures uploaded tonight, please check back this weekend - then I will be going through and updating everything and giving you the whole illustrated story of this trip. It's been surreal and amazing, so stay tuned.

we're back in saigon!
mien is on his way to take us to some Bia Hoi (!)
then we have a 4am wake up call (ug)
because we are going on a little impromptu road trip tomorrow
never a dull moment
for right now though it's nice to be back in the city, we've traded giant cockroaches under the bed for bats in our bathtub.
i know i know, pictures soon ;) first i need a beer or five.

Hey!
We're still in Luang Prabang. Internet is not the best, as you can tell. Soon we go to catch a flight to Hanoi then back to Saigon, where we'll be for a few more days.
Luang Prabang is very quiet, especially now that the festival is over. So, we've been relaxing and eating a lot and not doing much else. Took a sleepy boat ride. Saw some scary creatures. Ed got hit by a passing moto and has a bruise on his arm now. Nothing too exciting.
I know the internet in our hotel in Saigon works, so photos start again later tonight!

hello from luang prabang! we just bought plane tickets from a travel booker here downtown, and they were nice enough to let us use the internet for free. I'm not entirely sure if our guesthouse here has internet, so i'm dropping a little post to say hello from the Land of Tourists With Cameras.
We got up at 5am this morning to go watch the monks, and our view was pretty much blocked the whole time by fat tourists with expensive cameras getting up in the monk's faces as they passed through town. Jerks. Anyway it's nice here, very similar to Hoi An in a lot of ways.
Right now we are going to go find the market and maybe climb the big hill/mountain in town. I drank the coffee this morning (stupidstupidstupid - coffee water is *warmed*, not *boiled*) so I'm off to a bit of a rocky start. But, the immodiums are kicking in and the day is not so hot, so it should be OK. You wouldn't believe how hot vientiane was.
I'd post some pics but the mouse on this computer is all messed up. I'll see what I can do from the hotel tonight. You can see some of the pictures i uploaded in vientiane here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissastanley727