Laos: Three cities in three days

So, we left Chiang Mai with plans to be in Laos for the 23rd, 24th and 25th. A "bus" picked us up at Mojito Garden to take us across the border. It was a few hours late and was a truck with benches in the back. We didn't know if we'd be taking that ALL the way to Vientiane, Laos. We hoped not. We met Star Face (a weathered woman with loose braids and stars tattooed along the side of her face), a quirky man named Saul and an Australian couple. The truck drove us to a visa office where we filled out paperwork and ate breakfast (in the middle of the night - it was cooked for us on the second floor of the visa office. Weird.) We transitioned into a van where I somehow ended up in the most uncomfortable seat. All the way in the back, next to a tilting pile of everyone's luggage. I swear this ride to the capital was the longest in the history of life. And the windiest. Every time I started to fall asleep, luggage would fall on me. Haneefa thought this was hilarious. By the time we arrived to the border, I was sleepless, cranky and was ready to throw everyone's bags out the window. 

Laos was cold and we stood in lines to get visas, I barely had enough local currency to cover mine. We found a tuk tuk that took us to Intercity Boutique Hotel, where we posted up for the night. The lobby had Buddha statues everywhere. We sleepwalked up to our room and passed out until 6 p.m. I woke up in a panic, upset that we had slept our day away. We walked across the street and walked along the Mekong Delta River Market and grabbed dinner at a street restaurant. We saw Star Face walking around aimlessly and talked with her for a bit. She was originally from Canada, so Haneefa traded French with her. We strolled the streets a bit, ate an indian banana pancake and went back to the hotel. 

The next morning was Christmas eve and we were on a bus out of Vientiane at 3, so we woke early and made the most of our remaining hours. I went to Buddha Park (hundreds of Buddha sculptures and monuments) and Haneefa went to the COPE museum (land mines). Haneefa saw the Patuxie Monument (looks a lot like the Arc de Triumph) and ran into Saul and Star Face. 

We got on our bus to Vieng Vien at 3 p.m. and met a severely drunk South African guy who had lost his friend to a lady boy. He had a bottle of booze with him and offered us some. We declined. O

Once, we arrived in Vieng Vien (BEAUTIFUL - the city was surrounded by mountains), we checked into the Silver Naga Hotel and found our way to an Irish Pub and met Owen from Ireland and Stu from England and had dinner with them. We played pool and sang Christmas songs with the live band. The bar closed at midnight and made our way to Club 101, where we were offered opium, saw Indian pimps guarding ladyboy hookers and an old, balding white man pushing his tongue into a young, skinny Laos boy's mouth. The boy was not pushing the man away. Haneefa was offered a sketchy drink and we were invited to a Christmas Day jungle party the next day. I think it would have been the kind of party where I would have missed my flight to Vietnam had we gone. Owen walked us home, trying to convince us to go tubing the next day. I tried to leave Haneefa and him alone because Owen had a crush, but Haneefa was oblivious. 

When we woke, it was Christmas! Firs Christmas I've spent away from all family. Breakfast at Silver Naga (cinnamon rolls, ham and cheese croissants, fruit and tea) was spread out with Christmas carols playing in the background. The owner was American and had a son who married a girl from Laos. They had a Christmas tree in the lobby and her grandchildren were ripping presents open in front of everybody. It was cute. Made me miss my family. Haneefa gave me a Christmas card and the tree bracelet I had admired the night before at a shop near our hotel. 

We packed up, took pictures together outside along the riverbank and boarded an 8-hour "VIP" bus to Luang Prabang (our last stop in Laos). Another bus ride from hell - we swerved through mountains, curving, rolling, bumping, sliding out of our seats. I felt sick more than once. Merry Christmas to us :)

We finally arrived in Luang Prabang around 6 p.m. and got scammed by tuk tuk drivers. Charged us an outrageous price (we obliged as there were no other rides in sight and it was getting dark) and dropped us at the wrong part of town. No one knew where our hotel was. We finally found a driver who knew the name of our hotel and took us there. We were SO tired upon arrival and so happy with how cozy and clean our room looked that we showered and contemplated the night market for about three seconds and put on pj's, ordered room service and watched movies instead. Fell asleep dreaming of sugar plums and reindeer. :)

December 26 was spent in town, browsing the markets and walking the city streets. I bought a Buddha painting and a bracelet for Haneefa and we bumped into Saul and all had lunch together.We took a tuk tuk back to Sada (our hotel), packed and boarded the hotel shuttle to the airport. It was time to say goodbye to Laos. We had a few hours to kill once arriving at the small airport and met Carolyn (originally from San Diego) who now lives and works in Doha, Qatar. I ended up sitting next to her on our flight. She helped us get through the visa process by loaning us US dollars. I lost Haneefa for a while - she had gone with Carolyn to find an ATM to pay her back while I was still waiting for my visa to process. Remember, I had no phone, didn't know the name of our hotel and almost started to panic when I saw her through the glass doors beyond luggage collection. Whew. 

Golden Cyclo was the name of our hotel and our taxi driver had a hard time finding it as it was new. We checked in, unpacked, Skyped home and went to bed. Ahh. It felt so good to be in a place we didn't have to leave the next day. 

If I were a hippie in Thailand ...

...Chiang Mai would be my home. Can you close your eyes and envision the vibe of this city? Bustling enough, but not so much that the peace that oozes from the cracks in the sidewalk and the river through the city center is overtaken. So chill. The feeling here is much different from the UAE (I will post about this after I finish with trip entries).

Our hostel was called Mojito Garden 2 (Is there a Mojito Garden 1? Probably not.). We found it online and it was the first hostel I've ever stayed in. The grounds were charming. Whimsical, I would say. The small bungalows that dotted the open-garden grounds were painted bright greens, blues, pinks and yellows. The aroma of fresh flowers and pad thai hit us when we crossed the entrance gate.

The staff at this small establishment went above and beyond. Especially a young guy who went by the name of Bam. Is that right, Haneefa? Boom? Something like that. Bada-Bing? My mind forgets, but he provided us with directions to walk, once we unloaded our luggage in our small room. We spent the afternoon walking about Chiang Mai, where we stumbled down an alley that opened up to beautiful grounds with a handful of temples. Luckily, I had also brought my Nikon with me and spent a good amount of time happily snapping away.

We found a place to have lunch - we were both starving and the place was filled with locals (always a good sign). I had no idea what most of the menu was (my Thai is minimal), so I closed my eyes and pointed at something. I didn't love what came to the table (like a oatmealy soup with noodles), but I did not hate my purple butterfly tea, which tasted like a snow cone!

Emerging from lunch, we saw a monstrous gold Buddha head protruding from behind a building and walked to what felt like a Buddhist monastery. This sign was posted outside of the monastery, along with one, ironically, that said, "Be caught red-handed."





Once back at Mojito, we took a nap, booked a two-day adventure excursion (more to come on this in the next post), and our bus trip into our second country: Laos. The evening held a tuk-tuk ride to the night market where we shopped, ate while watching traditional Thai dancers and break-dancers a few feet from each other.

We dipped our feet into a fish tank for ... a skin treatment? Is that would you would call those fish spa places? Where the tiny minnows nibble at your dead skin. Felt like someone was snapping rubber bands up and down my legs and feet. Or like my legs had fallen asleep and were tingling. Had a hard time keeping my feet submerged at first. But my feet were baby smooth when our 20 minutes were up.


The next morning, Dec. 20, we were picked up at Mojito at 9:30 by the company of the adventure package we signed up for. We were in for some elephant riding, hiking, an overnight stay with a hill tribe, and whitewater and bamboo rafting. This would be the last time my lip would be its normal size for the rest of the trip.

Our ride, which was a open-backed truck with benches, stopped by three other hostels to pick up a female cancer researcher from Ireland, a male sports journalist from the Netherlands and a chef and his girlfriend from Denmark. Again, I was pleasantly surprised to be the only American in the group. We drove 90 minutes to northern Chiang Mai, stopping to make copies of our passports, visit a butterfly/orchid farm and a local market to buy 'supplies' for our night with the Lahu Hill Tribe. Did our driver say supplies?? Uh oh. What were we getting into? We bought bottled water, a flashlight, long wool socks and MITTENS, as per our driver's suggestions.

We made our first stop for elephant riding as we continued north. As we climbed the ladder to the platform to board our elephant, we saw a couple from France fall from their seat as they tried to situate themselves. "Uh, can someone tighten the seat on this elephant, please?" This was my second time riding on an elephant in two months - whose life am I living? After we rode we had lunch provided for us, tofu, rice and veggies, and continued to the base of the mountain we would be hiking to reach our evening destination.

We trekked upward for more than three hours with our guide, Mike. OMG. It was so hot! We finally reached the top, astounding views and the Lahu Hill Tribe's village around 4 p.m. We were led to a bamboo hut that was balanced on poles 10 feet off the ground. The bamboo hut had a open deck area, a roofed room with the front facing the open deck, a small room to the left and a larger room off to the right closed off by a door. This was our sleeping quarters. The 'beds' were thin mattresses laid on the wood floor, draped in colourful mosquito netting. I was excited for the adventure I knew this evening would be. If you asked me the next morning, my sore back, frozen feet and sleep-deprived eyes would have spoke with a different emotion.

That night dinner was provided for us on a large rug in the roofed room facing the deck by candle light. A plethora of village children visited our home and serenaded us with songs. We slipped into blankets and huddled around a camp fire on our deck under a covering of stars so brilliant. I laid back next to the fire, leaving my thoughts to wander from star to star.

The next morning seemed to take forever to arrive. I'm not sure Haneefa or I slept much. Not for lack of trying. We woke at 8:30 to a breakfast of egg scrambles with veggies, toast and jam, pineapple and tea. We prepared ourselves for the trek down the other side of the mountain with our new non-English speaking guide. Going down was much easier and quicker, but I could feel some strain on my left knee as the terrain was vertical and rocky at best.

I stopped several times along the way to admire the beauty of the jungle I was hiking through and think of my grandfather's memorial service that was happening on the other side of the world.

Our group saw two waterfalls and finally made it to the river where we'd be rafting. We were all instructed to leave our backpacks, passports, cameras, phones (oh that's right, I didn't have one!), shoes and sunglasses in the bed of a random truck and make our way down to the bank. I hoped this wouldn't be the last time I saw my camera and my passport.

I mentioned a fat lip earlier. This is where that happens. We were helmeted and instructed on how to paddle and shout commands by a guide before getting into the raft. He seemed to know what we was doing, my heart started pumping with anticipation. The water started out calm. We practiced following our guide's commands. We paddled. We basked under the sun. We laughed. We passed a rough patch of water successfully. I felt like a pro.

Then, we entered a fast-flowing, extra choppy section of the river. Our guide lost control of our raft and although we tried to right our path, paddles flew (a metal one jammed into my lip, making me instinctively check to see if I had lost a tooth), and our boat rammed against a boulder tipping sideways and filling rapidly with water. I was on the side of the raft that was bouyed against the rock, Haneefa was on the side opposite me that was sinking underwater. She looked slightly panicked, which rose my alarm. I reached out to her to pull her toward me, trying to not think about what would happen if our guide couldn't remedy this situation. Scariest moment of my life as of late. We were able to finally right our raft and maneuver out of the chop. I tasted blood and remembered the paddle smashing into my mouth. I felt my teeth again, sure that one of them would be loose. Thankfully none were, but my lip was quickly inflating to the size of the raft I was sitting in.

Next, was bamboo rafting. This looked much calmer and we stood as we paddled down the river to our lunch spot. Trying to eat noodles, tofu, veggies and drink a Coke Light became increasingly difficult as my lip continued to swell. We boarded the van back into Chiang Mai, returning to Mojito at 5 p.m. where we slept until 9. I called my parents to hear about my grandfather's memorial, showered in the communal shower and tried to get to the Saturday night market, only to find it shutting it down by the time we arrived. We got some tom yum soup and spring rolls and took a tuk-tuk back to the Garden where I iced my lip until I fell asleep. Which was immediately.

We woke at noon on Dec. 22, walked to get a Thai tea with milk on ice and had a breakfast of eggs, toast and potatoes in the Mojito Garden restaurant. We booked the next three nights of hotels in Laos (each one in a different city) and our flight from the last city in Laos into Han Noi, Vietnam. We read and relaxed under a bamboo canopy in the garden until our overnight bus to Laos picked us up at 6.

This bus ride. Good grief. See next post.

Go Go Samui

This is ridiculous. It has been two months now since my trip to Asia and I haven't finished writing about it (saying that I barely started writing about it would be more accurate). Before I came here, I read blogs of people who had gone before me and their first handful of entries were detailed and consistent. And then they weren't. They just stopped. Details of life here after the initial glitter wore off was what I wanted to know most of all and they weren't recording it. Now I have become those people. Please allow me to remedy this. 

May I invite you back to Asia?

 
December 17 was our first full day on the beautiful island of Ko Samui. After our looooong day of travel the day before, Haneefa and I woke late. I remember wondering where I was when I opened my eyes to dark wooden bed posts raising to the ceiling and a white canopy covering that dropped down to the hardwood floors. I turned my head to the right and saw a balcony that overlooked a pool with floral trees bordering the French doors. I smiled. 'Oh yeah. I'm on vacation."

We dressed for the beach and leisurely made our way down the wide spiral staircase to breakfast. The weather was a little cloudy, but we were determined to get in a good day at the beach across the street from Buddy. Crossing the street, we walked past the hotel's beach side pool, their massage beds and a restaurant called Chom Lay where we would later have lunch. Spending a few hours here, we read, took pictures (These pictures are courtesy of Miss. Haneefa), played Christmas music and laughed. 

It started spitting rain, and we took refuge in Chom Lay and after, Coffee World, to plan our next leg of the trip: Chiang Mai. 

As can be traditional when vacationing in Asia, we booked travel from city to city, country to country, hotels and adventures as we traveled; often just a few days before and sometimes the day before. This manner of traveling was new to me, but I fell in love with the spontaneous aspect of coming and going as you please.

After we secured a flight to Chiang Mai and a hostel, we went back to Buddy and took a nap before the Full Moon Party that evening. 

Fast forward to the next day. I felt like I was an extra in the movie, "The Hangover." I didn't get out of bed until the sun went down. I was phone-less, my body ached like I participated in a triathlon and I had neon paint encrusted in my hair and on the remnants of a tribal design covering my thigh. 

Back to the night before. The Full Moon Party was epic. I don't use that word a lot, but I believe it's appropriate here. We took a speed boat to the neighboring island of Ko Phangan and arrived to a place that I can only describe as a wonderland of sorts. After living in a Muslim country for a few months, something in me snapped and broke free. We met our friend from NY at his hotel and the three of us explored every inch of the beach party; streets lined with vendors selling sand buckets of liquor concoctions, black light body painting stalls, blasting music and writhing bodies filling the beach, fire dancers - I had the time of my life. I paid for it the next morning, starting with an extra choppy and chilly speedboat ride back to Samui at 7 in the morning, but I had a night I wouldn't soon forget. 

December 18, as I mentioned previously, was a complete wash. I was initially devastated about my now-lost I-phone. "But what will I do?" I asked Haneefa from my pathetic fetal position in bed. "You will get a new one when we get home." Haneefa is very practical. "Hmmmph," was the only reply I could manage, as I knew she was right and although I was frustrated, there was nothing that could be done. 

I had the phone in my shorts pocket and didn't recall if it had fallen out or if someone in the crowds slipped it out for me. I remember that day feeling like I had lost a finger. I had been taking photos with my phone, using it to communicate with family and friends in the UAE and USA. But, as the day turned into afternoon, Haneefa and I trekked back to our beach for a bit until the rain came, had dinner at a local street restaurant called Balance and I made peace with my loss. It WAS just a phone after all. A thing that could be replaced as Haneefa initially remarked. She was such a good sharer with hers for the remainder of our trip (more than two weeks!). 

We woke early on December 19, had breakfast and climbed into a van that would take us to Ko Samui airport (an outdoor layout and the most beautiful and serene airport I have ever seen), where we boarded a flight to Chiang Mai and I waved a final goodbye from the plane window to my phone that I was sure was now buried under sand and surf somewhere on Ko Phangan or in a local's pocket. C'est le Vie.

One day (morning) in Bangkok

   Part of the charm and sometimes frustration of the trip was our short stints in certain cities. Bangkok was one of these cities. It became a stopover city for us on the front and back end of our trip. I wish we would have had more time to explore this city. Despite many people's negative opinions of this "dirty city" littered with sex, I found it be a vibrant place, full of energy and life. (No, I did not see a ping pong show. But I saw my fair share of the places where they were taking place. But that comes later.)

   December 16 found us rising early, with the goal to cram the Grand Palace, Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn) and the Reclining Buddha in before we taxied to Surithana Airport to board a flight to Ko Samui. Luggage packed and left with the bellhop for our 1 p.m. return and Starbucks in hand, we got busy. First stop, Grand Palace: a complex of buildings where the Kings of Siam resided. The king lived here until 1925 and now the palace is used for official events in addition to being a huge tourist draw. The crowds were a little unreal. And it was hot. And we had to be covered wrist to ankle out of respect (am I in the UAE?). Haneefa made me double over in laughter when she got tangled up in a Chinese tourist group's life-size banner (why are we bringing banners?) they were holding up for group photo. Smile! The palace was really beautiful. Everything was brightly coloured and glittery. Temples and statues and shrines galore. 

   We took a tuk tuk (little motorized golf carts that are all over Asia) to the east bank of the Chao Phraya River and a short ferry ride across to Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn), a seventeenth-century Buddhist temple (wat) in Bangkok Yai. The temple is named after a Hindu god, meaning radiations of the rising sun. The gardens surrounding the temple were so green and filled with Buddha statues (I was warned before I left that by the time I got home, I would never want to see another Buddha statue in my life. There were quite a lot, but I liked them. Thinking of ordering one for my balcony ;)).

 Haneefa and I wound our way to the bottom of the temple and looked up. The steps were incredibly steep and I started laughing and pushed Haneefa in front of me. She will say that she was annoyed at me laughing at her attempts to navigate these skinny, steep steps, saying, "You have to come next, Kaitlin," and giving me a dirty look. I couldn't help but laugh anyway because I knew she was right. 

When we finished and crossed back over to the east bank, we had a lunch of mango sticky rice and shrimp pad thai under emerald umbrellas. 

Our final stop was across the street. Wat Pho is the largest and the oldest  Wat in Bangkok, known for having the most Buddha images and the 46 meter tall and 15 meter high gold plated reclining Buddha, designed to show the passing of Buddha into nirvana. The feet and eyes are made of mother-of-pearls and the feet show the 108 characteristics of the Buddha. 

   Impressively, we finished on time, and headed back to Amari to leave Bangkok. From Surithana Airport, we boarded a bus that took us to Surat Thani (where we met a friend from New York who would join us at the Full Moon party and later meet up with us in Cambodia) and then a long, hot and dirty ferry to the shore of Ko Samui where it was now the middle of the night. A van hurdled us to our second hotel, The Buddy Oriental, and after grabbing some food in an Irish pub (go figure?), we passed out. 

Land of Thai

   
Almost a month ago, my Canadian friend Haneefa and I began a three-week sojourn into the cities, jungles, streets and beaches of southeast Asia. Our itinerary was ambitious (four countries), our desire to quench our palates with local food and drink strong and our souls ready to be awakened. I am positive that when I'm (lucky enough to reach) 70 +, this trip, the memories made and people we met will still bring a smile to my face. 

   We began with Thailand. Haneefa had been here before. She was the resident expert. I went with the flow. Except when I asked her if we could visit this place and that island, and oh! what about this area? 
"Kaitlin, we only have three weeks. The time is going to go quicker than you think," she chastised. 
She was right. We spent the majority of our 21 days in this country, making stops in Bangkok, Ko Samui (and briefly Ko Pahnang) and Chiang Mai. 

   People who knew of our travels asked us where we would be staying, what cities we'd be visiting and what attractions we'd planned to see. We really didn't know. We had an idea; Haneefa had some cities she wanted to visit and I had some attractions I wanted to hit. We knew the general route of our journey, but we only booked the flight to Bangkok on Dec.14 and our hotel there and in Ko Samui. The rest, as they say, was in the stars. To be determined as we went.

   Now, I have never traveled this length of time, to this many countries and in such a laid back fashion before. People who know me well, know this is not ordinarily how I handle important things. But, capturing the full spirit of a long-term abroad goal of mine to become more relaxed and easy-going about life in general, I stopped thinking so much, packed my bag (a rolling suitcase, which would be switched to a big backpack if I could have a re-do) and got on the plane. 

   We flew out of Dubai International Airport at 21:20 to (The Kingdom of) Bahrain at 21:35 (with a slight time change), where we had a bit of a layover in a freezing airport terminal. I bought a bottle of water so I could have some Bahrain currency: dinar. One Bahraini Dinar is equal to $2.66 US. From Bahrain, we flew straight into the pulse of Thailand, arriving at 11:40 the following morning. 

   Upon arrival, we waited in passport control, customs, baggage, money exchange, phone SIM card and taxi queues (I love this fancy word for lines - people say it in the UAE and everywhere I've traveled so far). We were driven to our first hotel, the Amari Watergate Hotel. A five-star hotel - steps from Central World Plaza and Pratunam Market, just a few miles from Siam Square - we wanted to start our trip off with a bang! Little did we know, it wouldn't be until the end of our trip until we saw another five-star hotel. 

   We showered the plane grease off and walked through smashed-with-people sidewalk markets until we found an Indian restaurant to duck into. How strange it was to be able to order an alcoholic drink in a restaurant not attached to a hotel! We took advantage and clinked glasses to our safe arrival and to our trip's inception. We continued to walk around after a delicious meal of chicken tikka and hummus-type spreads, hoping to get to the famous Ko San road. We ended up on a street corner where people were lighting incensed candles, dropping flowered necklaces on Buddhist statues, removing their shoes and kneeling in prayer. We people-watched here instead and although I felt like I was invading their privacy, I was fascinated by the sheer urgency they all felt to share their faith publicly on the sidewalk. I took a moment myself when I felt a strong, sweet-scented breeze hustle by to close my eyes and say thank you for all I had. We got lost, or should I say we toured the area a bit longer than we anticipated, trying to find our way back to Amari, but made it before dark.

   I had a message from both my mom and dad when I got back to the hotel room, telling me my grandfather had passed away and to call them immediately. He had been sick for a while, and this news was not a shock, but it was, if you know that sort of way. I felt so far from home, talking to my mom. I wanted to jump through the phone and hug her. 

   When I hung up, my eyes were sparkly with tears and I didn't know what move to make next. The reality of the news had broken my travel bubble. I was in shock. Thank God for Haneefa. She came over and lifted me up into a big bear hug and said she was sorry for my loss. Then she told me to get dressed because we were going out to have a drink (or three) in his honor at a rooftop bar called Octave. So we did. 

This was how our journey began.