Island paradise

After a very choppy two-hour boat ride off the coast of Vietnam, I arrived on Phu Quoc island, a.k.a. paradise. It's different from the Thai islands, but from first appearances it looks beautiful. We were transported in a mini-van from the pier... the world's longest pier, it seemed, although it had to be because the water was so shallow there's no way the boats could get any closer to shore. Also, the waters on either side were crawling with jellyfish. Yikes! I inquired at my resort whether the jellyfish are also on this side of the island and they said no. Phew! The owners were very happy when they learned I was American, which was nice. Once again, I'd say the majority of tourists here are European. Anyway, everywhere in Vietnam they take your passport at the reception and keep it until you leave. Apparently they have to take them down to the local police station every night so the authorities know who is where. Interesting.

A group of us - 2 Brits, 4 French, and myself - were transported from one side of the island to the other and the driver was kind enough to stop at the various resorts to find out who had rooms. After the third full one, we all started to get a little nervous. Technically it's still high season, plus Tet is coming up, so the Vietnamese also vacation here. Fortunately we found a place at a pretty reasonable price, reasonable for an island that is. My room is bright and airy, with a fan and a cold shower, and is just steps from the beach. For this location, I can deal with the lack of AC and hot water. Plus, there seems to be a very nice sea breeze here.

First order of business: find food. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was about 4 in the afternoon, so I set out for the restaurant we passed that said "free wifi". Turns out it's kind of an English pub, owned by an English guy and his Vietnamese wife. The Australian Open final between Federer and Murray is on, so the place is packed. Afer a few days of Vietnamese-only restaurants, I'm glad to be somewhere again where there's more variety. Here you can get both Western and Asian dishes. Currently I'm treating myself to some apple pie à la mode.

Again, I have to say that I think the people I've met have been wrong about Vietnamese people. I walked around Ha Tien this morning and found people to be generally very smiley. This may change as I head north, I suppose, but the French guy on the boat said they were really nice there, too. But then again, he's French, and the French don't exactly have a warm and welcoming reputation either. I wonder if maybe the problem is the language barrier. In contrast to a place like Thailand, for example, it seems that a lot fewer people speak English here, and sometimes as a tourist this can be frustrating. But after all, we are in their country, so technically we should be making the effort to speak their language. As I've said, Vietnamese seems impossibly difficult to me, and I'm a language person, so I can imagine it's frustrating for others as well. When all else fails, sign language and a big smile go a long way.




A lot of kids here tend to flash the peace sign for pictures. Hippies. ;)

Bookends of chaos

I started this trip in a chaotic land, and it appears that I'll be ending it in another chaotic land. I took what should have been a 3-hour "bus" ride from Chau Doc to Ha Tien today. It was easily the craziest travel experience I've had on this trip, and one that I hope is not indicative of what travel in all of Vietnam will be like. First, I took a motorbike from my hotel to the bus station, transporting me, my big pack, my small pack, and the big handbag I'm now toting around full of scarves. This was at 11:15 as the bus supposedly left at 12:00. Turns out it didn't leave 'til 12:30, but I think that's just because I was the only person on it and the guy didn't feel like going. In any case, the designated time rolls around and the "bus" won't start. I say bus in quotations because it was more like a mini-van... a very old mini-van. Well, we tool around the parking lot for 5 minutes or so and a big group of guys tries pushing it to get it going, but to no avail. It was all very amusing and disconcerting at the same time. So then another employee lifts up the platform of one of the steps up into the bus and pulls out a piece of rope. What they were planning to do with this, I have no idea, and more importantly I didn't want to know. I decided to call it and just get off this bus because even if they got the thing going, I don't think it would have made it and frankly, I just wasn't in the mood to die today.

Fortunately there was another bus heading that way an hour later, so I got on that one. I showed the guy my ticket for the previous bus, but still had to pay. I think it was a different bus company, but still I essentially paid $6 for a 10-minute motorcycle ride from the hotel to the bus station. The bus itself only cost around $3. Anyway, I paid it, and then the guy motioned to my bags, which I had put on the seat next to me, telling me I needed to pay for them, too. I had heard that folks here have a reputation for trying to rip off foreigners. Knowing this, I stood my ground and flat-out refused this ridiculous demand. He backed down, but tried a couple more times during the trip to get me to pay, even enlisting the help of a couple other passengers. I decided just to ignore him after that. I could have put the bags on the floor, but the point is, the bus was half empty.

One woman I met the day I left Cambodia told me, "Vietnam is a beautiful country. Just ignore the people." I may well end up doing this, but I refuse to believe that all of them are "out to get you". One lady on the bus showed me the way to the WC at our rest stop, and another man bought a few plums from a vendor who came onboard and then offered me one. This was cool because I had seen these fruits throughout Asia, but never bought one, mostly because I wasn't sure what it was or how to eat it. So that was nice. Take the good with the bad, I guess, as with everything.

There is a bit of a hard stare thing going on here, I'll admit, but my approach is just to smile. As opposed to India, where people will often just keep staring no matter what you do with your face, I find that people here will usually smile back if I smile at them. And I have to say, the kids really make this place. They are completely adorable and always smile and say hello. They kind of sing it, actually, which makes sense because Vietnamese is a tonal language. A nightmarish tonal language, I might add, having six tones altogether. I'll be happy if I can master simply hello and thank you here.

Tomorrow I head out to Phu Quoc island. If it's as beautiful as I've heard, I think I'll be staying there for several days. Away from the madness.


Boats along the coast at Ha Tien as the sun goes down.

They weren't kidding about the traffic

There were three of us traveling around together in Vientiane. One had been to Vietnam, two hadn't. You could tell the difference because the one who had been here was the one who didn't wait for a break in traffic. Instead, she just stepped out and made her way through the traffic. I'm quickly beginning to see why. The traffic here is insane, maybe even more insane than India, and that's saying a lot. I haven't seen many cars since arriving, just a sea of motorbikes, bicycles, and rickshaws. The funny thing is, this is nothing compared to the big cities like Saigon and Hanoi, apparently. I guess I'm in for a treat. There are a few places, traffic lights, where you can "safely" cross, although at these intersections I've found that even when I get to a spot I think is safe, folks are turning left into the left-hand lane (they drive on the same side of the road as the U.S. here). So it's pretty hilarious. You really have to be on your toes. This morning I almost got taken out by a a pedal rickshaw, a pedal rickshaw! I guess if you want to feel alive, come cross the road in Vietnam.

Also, on a random side note, apparently Cambodia isn't the only place where women wear matching pajama tops and bottoms out in public at all hours of the day. It might even be more prevalent here than in Cambodia. What's up with that? I mean they're nice, but they're pajamas. ?!

Final destination

I’m now in Chau Doc, Vietnam. I left Phnom Penh at 7 this morning, took a mini-van and then a boat, and seven hours later, here we are! I hesitated to come to Vietnam so soon; I would say that 9 out of 10 travelers have told me that people here are not friendly at all. So floating into the country I expected to see nothing but hard-faced stares. I’m happy to report that so far this has not been the case. Maybe the Vietnamese generally are not as quick to smile as the Cambodians, but there were lots of people smiling and waving at us from the shore. Folks were friendly when we got off the boat and a woman even stopped to ask me where I was going when I was trying to find my hotel. I’ve also heard that people are less friendly in the north, so maybe I’ll encounter some of these “mean people,” but so far so good. No two people experience anything the same way, so it’s important to not take others’ opinions to heart until you form your own. There are so many things that can affect your perception - maybe you’re sick, tired, or in a bad mood when you arrive somewhere. All of these things can cloud your judgment. There’s also a lot to be said for past travel experiences. I bet a lot of these people have never been to India. I kind of feel like if I can travel in India, I can travel anywhere.

Another thing I heard about Vietnam is that the coffee is really good here. This could be dangerous for a former addict like myself. I’ve been having coffee occasionally on this trip, maybe once a week. I decided to try an “icy white coffee” at the visa checkpoint when we got into Vietnam, basically iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk, like Thai iced tea. First of all, add sweetened condensed milk to anything and you’ve got yourself a pretty good treat. Well, all I can say is: better than Starbucks. I’m not shaking or anything, but that is some strong stuff. Another thing I’m pretty psyched to find here is the coconut candy that my traveling companion in Vientiane, Laos had with her. I was reading about where this candy is made and have added that to my list of places to see. I don’t think anything can compare to Thailand in terms of culinary delights, but I’m willing to find out if Vietnam can give it a run for its money.

Depressing

I don't have a lot to say today. What can you say when you learn about the indiscrimate slaughter of 2 million people? I took some interesting photos today, but there was also a lot of just reading and trying to process in my mind signs like, "Mass grave of 166 bodies without heads" and "Babies smashed?" It's amazing to think that all of this happened during my lifetime, when I was a toddler. So anyone my age or older in this country lived through this and lost loved ones. Ugh.


One of the cells in which prisoners were kept.


The handle on one of the window shutters at S-21, the former high school turned into a detention center for prisoners of Pol Pot's despotic regime.


Beauty in a place of horrors. Palm trees grow at the site of the killing fields.

Phnom Penh is nuts!

That is my first impression of this city. The bus ride here was the nicest bus ride I’ve taken this whole trip - AC that worked the whole way, a TV onboard showing Cambodian TV shows and a Stallone movie dubbed in Khmer, and a free bottle of water at the start of the trip. The rest stop was also pretty nice. There was no vegetarian food, so I had a plate of rice with soy sauce. I’m not veg right now, but tend to eat veg when I travel. It’s usually a safe bet, especially at rest stops. Dessert was a freshly cut mini pineapple. Yum.

Pulling into the city it felt more like India than ever, mostly because there was so much trash along the side of the roads. I took a tuk-tuk to one guesthouse and then another because I got a sketchy vibe from the first one, despite the fact that it’s the Lonely Planet’s top pick. I can’t remember if I mentioned this already, but the Lonely Planet seems to be the most widely used guidebook over here, and probably everywhere. It’s a good place to start, but there’s also the “Lonely Planet effect,” which means once a guesthouse gets listed in it their prices just about double. Sometimes it pays to look around on your own. In any case, I found one that’s also in the book, and I was glad I made the wise decision to take a tuk-tuk rather than walk around trying to find it because this city is huge. It seems really spread out. So for the first time this trip, tuk-tuk drivers are my friends. I’ve booked a half-day trip with one tomorrow. He’ll pick me up at my guesthouse in the morning and take me to the Tuol Sleung Museum, Cambodia’s version of the Holocaust Museum. I’ll catch the documentary they show every morning and after the museum, we'll head just outside of the city to the infamous Killing Fields. I’m not sure if I ever saw that movie, actually, but I’m looking forward to learning more about this horrible period in Cambodia’s history. It promises to be an informative and highly depressing day. However, I think it’s worth doing.

I’ll probably call it good on Phnom Penh after tomorrow. I’m not sure if I’ll try to explore another part of Cambodia, like a village or something, or head straight to Ho Chi Minh City. I’ve heard great things about Phu Quoc island, off the western coast of Vietnam, so I’m hoping to get one more beach injection before returning to the frigid Maine winter.


Wicker baskets.

The joys of getting lost

This morning after I dropped off my laundry and had breakfast, I decided to wander in the opposite direction of the center of town. It looked like it might be a little more local, and happily it was. I walked down paved roads, dirt roads, past farms, schools, mansions, and shacks. I had no idea where I was going. Well, I had a general sense, but basically I got lost. It was fun, though. Lots of folks, young and old, would smile as they passed by, either on foot, bicycle or motorcycle. The further I walked the more the greeting became just “hello” instead of “hello lady”. I actually got past my camera shyness and took some pictures of people, mostly kids, who were more than happy to have their picture taken. The kids are so cute here and so smiley. I’ve managed to suppress my tendency to reach out and pat them on the head and instead just go for a little handshake now. Touching the head is a big cultural no-no here as the head is the most sacred part of the body. Conversely, the feet are the least sacred and so it's best to avoid putting your feet up on tables and chairs or gesturing towards anyone or anything with the feet.

I took off on my little jaunt around 10:30 or so. A couple hours later with no water left and the hot sun beating down in a cloudless sky, I started to wonder if maybe I had wandered too far. Luckily an older man, probably in his 50s, passed by me on a motorbike on a dirt side road. I was heading in the general direction of town and he asked if I needed a ride. In some cases this might be a bad idea, and I’m sure there’s crime in Cambodia, but it seems to me that 99.9% of the population here wouldn’t hurt a fly. So I hopped on his bike and 10 minutes later I was back in town. I gave him $1.50 and thanked him wholeheartedly for the lift.

I decided to go get myself a fruit shake somewhere and as I was heading toward the restaurant area, I heard my name being called out from inside an internet café. I turned around to discover that Helena from Sweden (also a Hansen!), whom I had met in Vientiane, Laos, had recognized me. So she joined me for a shake and we caught up on recent travel stories. It’s a small, small world indeed. Tomorrow I head to Phnom Penh, the capital. Who knows who I’ll run into there!


This little boy’s parents called out to me from the other side of the road. I said hello back, then decided to take the window of opportunity to ask if I could take a picture. He's even more adorable in person.


This little girl crossed the dirt road to say hello to me as I was taking a picture of some ducks. She was on her way to school.


Back in town I went into a fair trade handicrafts shop where this man was at the pottery wheel.

Pleasantly surprised

It’s just after noon here and already I’ve been up for almost 8 hours. Jesica, Andrea, and I woke up before dawn this morning to take a tuk-tuk to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise there. It was lovely. Despite being templed out, Angkor Wat is definitely worth seeing. It’s enormous and essentially you’re walking around centuries old ruins. We spent about 5 hours there altogether, seeing the main temple and a couple others nearby. I bought a one-day pass and I think that’ll be sufficient for me. Those guys are going back for day three tomorrow. I’m sure the other temples are amazing, too, but I guess I’m more of a drive-by tourist. I’m OK with just scratching the surface of most things, unless it’s something I’m really passionate about. If it were a temple dedicated to the history of food, for example, it might be a different story.

The weather here continues to be hot and humid. What I wouldn’t give for a pool! A few of us were speculating about the possibility of paying one of the higher end hotels in town to let us take a dip. Hmm… Last night I walked around the night market here. It has a different feel than other night markets around Asia. The food section is sparse, unfortunately, although I did manage to get a nice fruit shake. I also got the Siem Reap version of a crèpe, with banana, egg (sort of a custard in a can), and Milo, which is the Nestle Asia version of Ovaltine. It was delicious, if not nutritious.

I have to say, I kind of had low expectations for Cambodia. I decided to come here and to Vietnam because they’re so close, but neither one of them has ever held any special appeal to me. Cambodia has been a really pleasant surprise, however. For one, there’s an incredible amount of social entrepreneurship here, businesses operating with a purpose - employing HIV-positive women, the disabled, or using their profits to fund literacy projects. There’s also an incredible amount of recycling going on - the bags and wallets made out of rice bags, and last night I saw a number of products, from jewelry to photo frames, made from recycled paper and newspapers. So cool. I’m totally inspired and am pretty sure I want to do something like this next. Although I had no idea what I was looking for when I started this trip, it’s possible that I may have just found it.

Welcome to India... I mean Cambodia

I arrived in Siem Reap last night around 8 p.m. Travel days, especially long ones like yesterday, are my least favorite part of the backpacking experience. Of course you meet some great people, but by the time you get to the new place you’re tired, hungry, disoriented, and all you want to do is find a room, a shower, and some food. I traveled with some cool folks yesterday, Andrea from Canada and Jesica from Argentina. Jesica had also recently traveled in India and we both agreed that there’s a bit of an Indian feel to this place. Maybe it was the experience of filling up the bus with gas, which consisted of two boys running up to the bus along the side of the road with three buckets of fuel and a funnel. Or the fact that the poverty here is so apparent; this is definitely not Thailand. Twice already when I’ve been working on my laptop I’ve had people ask me how much it cost. This seems to be the equivalent of the question that Americans ask when they meet people, which is, “What do you do for a living?” Sort of a means of assessing how successful you are and how much money you make.

The other strange thing about Cambodia is that the price for everything is listed in U.S. dollars and this seems to be the preferred currency. You can also pay for things in Thai baht and Cambodian riel, although apparently you can’t take out riel from an ATM. You’re given the choice of dollars or baht and if you want riel, you can only get them at a place of exchange. So in a way, it’s easy to keep track of exactly how much you’re spending, but at the same time it’s a bit odd to be using your home currency in a place so far away.

My traveling companions hit the ground running today and headed to Angkor Wat already. As usual, though, I decided to kick around town. I’d like to get a sense of where I am and besides, I’m not exactly in a hurry, so I don’t need to rush to squeeze things in. Apparently you can get up to a three-day pass for the temple site because it’s so huge. I’ll have to talk with them tonight and see what they think. It’s on the expensive side, for Asia, to get in, about $20 a day. I was already overcharged at the border for my visa, so already I'm a little annoyed with the way things are run here. You can get your visa on arrival, but the folks who bus you over offer the convenience of getting it for you as you wait and eat lunch at a rest stop, however you have to pay them about 50% more. A little for the bus operators, a little for the border guards. Ah well.

I’m staying at a place called the Garden Village. They only had dorm rooms last night, which consisted of a mattress with a mosquito net outdoors, community bathroom, for $1. Jesica and Andrea stayed there, but I decided that while I’m adventurous, I’m not that adventurous. So I got a room down the road, but moved back there today. $6 a night, with a fan and private bathroom. Sweet.

I spent a couple hours walking around what seems to be the center of town. Siem Reap is pretty cool. It's definitely touristy, but not to the point where it feels completely inauthentic. You can't take five steps, though, without hearing, "Hello lady, where you go? You go see temple? You need tuk-tuk?" I do appreciate the fact that they've mastered the difference between sir and madam here, but if I find a t-shirt that says "No, I don't need a tuk-tuk" on the front of it, I'm buying it. I'm just getting really good at saying no again, like India. The other thing that's prevalent here is kids trying to sell you things, like postcards and such. Their shtick seems to be, "Hello lady, where you from?" And then when you tell them America, they start naming off facts about your country. "America. Capital Washington, D.C. President Barack Obama. Population 300 million." And so on. One little girl asked me how long I'd been in Cambodia and when I told her one day she was pretty sure I needed to buy postcards from her. I told her sorry, but I wasn't buying anything, and what I think she said to me, in broken English, was something along the lines of "Sorry doesn't buy food." So... this aspect of Cambodia might be a little hard to get used to. You feel bad, but then aren't you just perpetuating the problem by simply throwing money at it?

There seem to be a lot of organizations here aimed at helping people help themselves, particularly the disabled. There's a pretty significant population of disabled people here because of the landmine problem. In fact I remember I did a big research proposal on it when I was a student at UNH. It's a sad situation, but it's good that there's help. One of the things these organizations do is train people to make things, which they then sell to tourists, and use the profits to fund the organization. One of the coolest products I've seen so far is bags and wallets made out of recycled rice bags, a brilliant reuse for this material in my opinion.


Baby bath, Cambodian style.


This man appeared to be teaching these young fellows something. He was kind enough to let me take a picture, but then of course asked for money. $10 I think he said. Ambitious. I gave him 1,000 riel, which is about 25 cents.

Hot, hot, hot!

Today in Bangkok is like a day in Maine at the height of summer - so hot and humid that moments after you step outside you’re sweating. I literally only went out today for my meals and to do a few errands, like buy a few supplies at the drugstore and pick up my passport and bus ticket. I leave tomorrow morning for a 12-hour bus ride to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I don’t have a guidebook for that country so I’ll be relying on the kindness of my fellow travelers and the internet, both of which have been pretty sufficient for most of this trip. I did, however, sell my copy of Lonely Planet Thailand and buy a Lonely Planet Vietnam as I expect to be in that country for about a month, unless of course I just love Cambodia and want to spend more than a few days there. I’m going to see Angkor Wat just because it’s the place to see in Cambodia. I have to be honest, though, just the fact that there’s a wat in the title I’m not all that excited about it. I’m not sure how many temples I’ve seen in the past three and half months, but I think it falls somewhere between 100 and enough!

I enjoyed my favorite street foods today for the last time - fresh fruit, pad Thai, Thai iced tea, and of course the one dish that I don’t even need to name. I just need to master the art of making sticky rice and I’ll be able to satisfy this craving back in the States, albeit at a much higher price. If I’m not careful my mango addiction just might break the bank when I return. Of course I shouldn’t say “the last time” because the thief, I mean fortune teller, from yesterday told me I would be back in Bangkok in 2012. He also told me I would be going to Japan soon, which I just don’t see happening. I ran into him today and said hello. He asked me how I was feeling today and I told him I was feeling scammed, which he simply deflected and told me to do the meditation he had told me about. Whatever!! I’ve decided to forever swear off any sort of astrology and psychic stuff and instead just live for the now. See? Something positive came out of that whole experience - I learned my lesson!


Sunset on the river.

Did somebody say scam?

Well, it happened... I fell victim to my first tourist scam. I'm not devastated by it, though, more amused than anything. I went to the post office this morning intending to mail home the things I had bought in Laos. Well, it turns out it costs even more to send them from here than it did from there. I could send it by sea, which would be somewhat reasonable, but I would like for it to be there when I arrive, which wouldn't happen. So it looks like I'll be lugging around a bunch of silk scarves for another month or so. Oh well.

Anyway, on my way back to my hotel as I was walking along Khao San Road (a.k.a. tourist central), I got sucked into conversation by a Sikh "fortune teller" who shook my hand and started saying all kinds of things that completely resonated with me. In fact, some of the things he said were almost the same as the things the Vedic astrologer in Varanasi told me, and he had spent almost two hours with me looking at my chart. Yes, I know, I KNOW, I should have just said "thanks, but no thanks," but I didn't. I went and sat down with the guy. I'm not sure how long I was there, but by the end of it he had me convinced to pay him way too much money for Thailand if he could tell me x,y, and z about my life. Not surprisingly he did. In fact, the way he did it is something my mind is still spinning about. Memory is a funny thing. He had me write some things down on a piece of paper, with my own pen, which he then folded into a tiny wad and put in my hand. This piece of paper stayed crumpled up in my hand until the very end. Well, when I finally opened it, information corresponding to what I had written was now on the piece of paper in pencil, written by him. Hmm. There was also another wad of paper in my hand that he had put in there at another point. Now, since I can't remember exactly the sequence of events, it's possible that the first piece of paper was not the one with the new information on it and that he had written this down as we talked. This had to have been what happened... although I'm almost positive I never said or wrote my mother's name at any point and this was written down. But there were a couple other things that happened as well which I can't quite explain. One was him writing down a number somewhere that I later chose at random, and they matched. The second was he had me write down three fruits, circle two, and then the one remaining was one that matched what he had written on the back of a piece of paper which I had in my hands the whole time. ???

Now, I know this sounds like a bunch of parlor tricks which anyone could master, and maybe they are, but nevertheless he also said some things that were true about me and my life. But maybe there are certain things that are universal and could apply to anyone. Anyway, I do believe that there are some people out there with a gift for seeing things that are beyond this world. I'm just not sure if this guy is one of them. So part if me is annoyed with myself for wasting money that I could have used on the rest of my trip, but at the same time I'm also thoroughly entertained by the whole thing. It gives me something to think about for a while. Mostly, how did he do it? I also think it's just so a propos that the guy is Indian, adding yet another layer to my relationship with that country. Ultimately, it's just another testament to the fact that I'm totally floating out there in space at the moment, hoping for answers in any form. I'm certainly not alone in this, however, because when I went back to pay him, there were other people getting their fortunes told as well. Yes, I went back, which just adds a whole other layer of patheticness to the whole thing. We agreed on a price and I didn't have quite enough baht to cover it. Now, I know what you're thinking. I could have just called it good with what I paid him, but as I was walking back to my hotel I started thinking, "What if this guy is for real? He has my name and my mother's name on a piece of paper somewhere... he could put a curse on us!" I am laughing out loud as I write this because it just sounds so ridiculous. In fact, I just reread this whole entry and confirmed for myself that yes, I was totally scammed. The funny thing is, when I went back I asked him a couple questions and he gave me some very spiritual answers, smiled and shook my hand, and we shared a look of, "You and I both know what just happened here." Hey, at least he was a nice guy... a nice guy who's going to enjoy a very good meal later on because of me. :)

I don't have any pictures of me with "sucker" written on my forehead, so instead I'll just post an image of the sky from the boat last night.

Made in China

Today I took the Chao Phraya riverboat to get from near my hotel to Chinatown., about a 10-minute ride. I can't believe I didn't use this mode of transportation here before - it rocks. Plus it serves as natural air conditioning. It was another beautiful day here in Bangkok. It actually sprinkled briefly, but otherwise it was generally hot and sunny.

It's been a while since I've been to a Chinatown anywhere, and this one is unlike any of the others I've visited. It was incredible, I don't think there's anything you couldn't find here. From sunglasses to hair accessories to packaging materials, the list goes on and on. It seems to be the supply hub for all businesses in Bangkok. I also stumbled upon the largest collection of gun shops I've ever seen in one concentrated area. Weird. I have no idea what the gun laws in Thailand are, but there must be quite a few people who own them to keep all of these places in business.

Not far from this part of town there's also a huge Indian market, row after row of shops selling fabrics, incense, and Hindu art. I've been feeling really nostalgic for India lately, which I would have never imagined possible at the heights of my frustration with the place. I have this knack for appreciating people and places way after the fact, however, so I guess this isn't too surprising. Plus, they keep playing this awesome ad for tourism to India on the BBC, which I get in my hotel room, and the images are stunning, many of places I didn't get to but would like to. I'd like to take another trip at some point and include a jaunt up to Nepal as well. In keeping with my love-hate relationship with India, though, a funny thing happened as I was waiting for the boat back to my hotel. A group of 3 Sikh men (many of the Indians here seem to be Sikh) were also waiting, and reminiscent of my experiences as a tourist in India, one of them decided to take out his camera and take a picture of me and a couple other Western women who were waiting at the pier. Grrr. This brought it all back, the feeling of being stared at and photographed like an animal at the zoo. I finally realized why I'm not that comfortable taking pictures of other people, although these ironically are the photos I usually find the most interesting... it's because I hate having my picture taken!! Especially when it's by complete strangers!

Nevertheless, I'm having massaman curry for dinner. India definitely keeps it interesting and I think that's what I like about it. Here's a link to the ad so you can see for yourself. If this doesn't make you want to go there, I don't know what would. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUFg-ujVqMI

Soup spoons drying outside.

I was especially excited when I saw these empty glasses of chai. I definitely miss sharing a chai with friends.

I like this picture for some reason. Maybe it's the guy's expression, or just the fact that he's riding a motorcycle with all that stuff piled onto his back. I don't know.

Eeeek!

That's the sound of me actually making a decision. Holy cow. Well, I booked a ticket back to the States. On February 23rd I'm scheduled to fly out of Hanoi to Boston. That gives me five more weeks to explore Cambodia and Vietnam. I think this should be enough time. I only get 30 days in Vietnam anyway due to visa restrictions. In fact, my passport is now out of my hands and being processed by the Vietnamese embassy here. It's strange to be in a foreign country without your passport on you.

So... slowly, slowly the decision is beginning to set in. I've started the process of getting some part-time work for when I return. Oh boy, work, schedule... eek indeed. It will be great to see my family and friends again; hopefully they will help ease the transition. I just ran into an Aussie friend I made in Laos, here in Bangkok, who is returning home at the end of the month. Needless to say, we're both feeling the same way.

I haven't really taken many pictures since I've been back in BKK, partially because it's my second visit, but also because it's hard to take pictures when you're double-fisting mango sticky rice. Hahahaha. Just kidding. Anyway, here's a picture from my first visit, which seems appropriate at the moment.

Back in Bangkok

I arrived in Bangkok around 6:30 this morning and shared a cab with a Belgian guy into town. I'm staying near where I was, but a bit further away from the madness (but not too far from the great street food!). I was curious to see if I would like Bangkok less the second time around because it's such a big, busy city. But I don't, I love it! It's like New York, only Asian. Oh yeah, and much cheaper. I've heard fellow travelers complaining about it, or saying that's it's just a place to pass through, not really to stay, but I couldn't disagree more. I'm not exactly sure how long I will stay here this time around, but while I'm here I'll try to figure out a plan for the next month or so. I keep checking airfares from various places. I should probably book soon as they seem to be inching upwards.


My hotel is right near the water. One thing I want to do, which I didn't do last time, is take a water taxi from place to place.

Buddha Park

I've been hanging with three other solo female travelers for the past couple days and we all agree that there's just something about Laos that slooooows you down. The pace of life here is so slow, people are so relaxed, that you can't help but chill out yourself. So none of us has done much of anything here, until today when we all grabbed a tuk-tuk together out to Buddha Park, about 25 kilometers from the center of town. It was the weirdest place, just statue after statue of different Buddhas and Hindu gods. There was one giant structure you could enter, through a big mouth, and climb up to the top for a view of the whole place. It felt a little like Raiders of the Lost Ark inside. And at the other end of the park some guy had climbed up into the temple and was playing the flute, which for whatever odd reason just seemed to fit. It was definitely one of the strangest tourist attractions I've ever seen.




Remnants of an offering on one of the statues.

Travel observations

I've booked a train ticket to Bangkok (12 hours, overnight) from here for Sunday, so I'll spend another couple days kicking around Vientiane with Margarita, my roommate. She leaves on the same day to fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I anticipate spending a little more time in Bangkok, and perhaps exploring a bit outside of the city, before continuing on to Siem Reap myself. I decided against arranging for my Vietnam visa here in Vientiane because it's Friday and it takes 3 working days (or 3 days working as it's often written here) to process. You can pay to expedite it, but what's the point? I'll just take care of it in Bangkok, where there's a lot more to do (and of course where the food is better!).

Not a lot to report, really, so I'll just post a recent pic from Luang Prabang and share some observations from my travels.

1 - White on vacation is just a bad idea. I've seen people rockin' the white linen pants and thought, "Ooh... how long 'til those are ruined?" It's hard enough to keep my white tops white, even when you "wash" them. Today I picked up my laundry from one lady and I question whether any soap was used at all. My white EMS shirt was a lovely shade of brown with a few white spots remaining. Hopefully I can handwash it and restore it a bit to its original state.

2 - Thai fisherman pants - cool concept, not so cool on. I haven't bought any for myself and although they're comfortable, and frankly probably made so you can eat to your heart's content in Thailand and not realize you're gaining weight, they're just generally not flattering. In Luang Prabang I saw a French guy wearing hot pink ones and this just drove the point home for me.

3 - Same, same, but different. How can I explain this phrase? They sell t-shirts with this slogan everywhere here. If you've ever spent any time in Asia, it just starts to make sense. Kind of like in every country there are tuk-tuk drivers standing around calling out to you, "tuk-tuk?" as if by simply saying this will make you realize that you do, in fact, need a tuk-tuk to wherever it is you're going. Tuk-tuk drivers are often best avoided, by the way, as they tend to way overcharge.

4 - Smoking. I could go on and on about this, but I'll just say that apparently Asia and Europe never got the memo that cigarettes are bad for you. And unlike in the US, you can still smoke all over the place here, sometimes even indoors. I don't know how many times I've had a perfectly lovely moment - a sunset, a boat ride - ruined by the second-hand smoke of somebody nearby. Ugh.


One afternoon as I was strolling around Luang Prabang, I came across a whole slew of these screens where papadum-style crackers were drying in the sun. Women were peeling them off and packaging them for sale at the market, I believe, and although I looked for them, I never found them to try. I heard they were tasty, though.

Vientiane

Oh no, am I getting so uncreative toward the end of my trip that I can only title my blog entries with the name of the city I'm in? I've hit another limbo moment... after the incredibly charming Luang Prabang, the rest of Laos just seems a bit blah. Actually the nature, in particular the mountains, are amazing, but as I am without appropriate footwear (I know that one hiking shoe is still out there somewhere on the side of the road in Kashmir!) I'm a bit limited as to what extent I can get out in it. Yesterday I settled for a lovely bike ride. It reminded me a bit of Taos, New Mexico in that everywhere you looked there was an amazing view of mountains.

I arrived in the capital of Laos today and am rooming with another solo female traveler from Austria. Our neighbor is also a solo female traveler from Australia. I'm not sure how many days I'll be here, probably at least a few days in order to arrange a visa to Vietnam. After a bit of research on airfares, I think I've decided to continue in Southeast Asia, down through Thailand into Cambodia and then up into Vietnam. As I start to think about my triumphant return to the states, all the usual questions are returning - what to do about money, health insurance, yadda yadda yadda. Maybe I can just hide out in SE Asia forever. ;)


I pulled over to take this picture on my bike ride. Holy gorgeous!


Humorous typos are everywhere here. In fact, there's a whole website dedicated to them, http://www.engrish.com/. I may submit this one. I have no idea what else they were possibly going for here... needless to say, I didn't order it to find out!

Vang Vieng

I'm now in Vang Vieng, about halfway between Luang Prabang and Vientiane, the capital of Laos. There's not a lot to do here, unless you want to go tubing (i.e. get wasted and float down the river) or watch reruns of Friends all day. No joke. Nearly every guesthouse/restaurant has TV screens playing episodes of Friends, all day every day. It's weird, but entertaining at the same time.

I'm using my time here to plot my next move. I'll leave for Vientiane tomorrow, but I'm not sure how much time I'll spend there. From there I expect to cross back into Thailand. When you fly in they give you 30 days, but when you enter overland they only give you 15 days. So... I'm very up in the air as to what to do or where to go next. I'm sort of craving another week at the beach, so perhaps another island destination.


The mountains surrounding Vang Vieng.

A little boy at one of our rest stops along the way to Vang Vieng. As if on cue he fell off his ball as I was taking pictures of him. :)

Ahhhhh…

Nope, I didn’t get a massage, I just got rid of my backpack. Today was a travel day, which means you’re going to get some serious exercise whether you want to or not. I bought some things in Laos to add to my collection and was planning to send them home. However, as I discovered, it costs way more to ship from here than from India. That seems to be the general theme of this trip: India is super cheap. So I decided to compress them as much as possible and stuff them into my backpack. It worked, but now my bag is chock-full and weighs three kilos more. I may end up giving in at some point.

I definitely have the sense that I’m nearing the end of my trip. It’s a self-imposed pressure, I suppose, but I’m being way more budget-conscious these days. I’m trying to prepare myself for the shock of spending as much on groceries as I can get by on for a week over here. Yikes.

Yesterday I met a guy from Alabama who had spent the past six years in Ladakh, northern India working for an NGO. He also happens to be into photography and is hoping to try to make a living doing that now. His stuff puts my photography skills to shame. Check it out: http://www.photoshelter.com/c/nomadruss. Definitely National Geographic material if I’ve ever seen it. Anyway, he was fun to talk to, and we ended up going to an Indian restaurant. He remarked that even in pristine Luang Prabang, this place definitely had an Indian feel to it. It was rundown, almost a little dirty, but the food was delicious. And the strangest thing is that I actually found myself feeling nostalgic for India. Yes, there are definitely things that I absolutely hate about India, but at the same time there’s something special about the place. I never ever thought I would consider it a cooler place to travel, but it kind of is. Southeast Asia is easy, which is nice, but in some ways it’s too easy. India really makes you work for it. It’s amazing what time and distance can do for your perspective.

Yesterday I went to Kuang Si waterfall, the one my friends had biked to. It was lovely.. Here are some pics from the day.


The waterfall.


Outdoor bath.


Village woman sewing.

Nothing is sacred

For the first time in a long time, I woke up while it was still dark out this morning to go observe the offering of alms. Every morning here in Luang Prubang, as in many cities and villages across Southeast Asia, the monks come out en masse. They form a long line and proceed to advance through the streets where locals, and now tourists, line up to give them food. From a hygiene perspective, it's kind of a nightmare as everyone uses their hands. But then, that is still my over-sanitized American mind at work.

It's a cool ritual, one that a friend of mine participated in, as a monk, when he lived in Thailand. It was quite a sight to see - hundreds of monks, young and old, shuffling down the street in silence. It was beautiful. At the same time there was something not beautiful about it as well, and that was the fact that the tourists just about outnumbered the monks. I had seen signs around town showing pictures of obnoxious behavior - camera-happy tourists standing too close to this procession to get that "perfect shot". The posters serve as a plea to "please respect this tradition" by not doing this. Sadly, some folks had missed these signs. I never got closer than the other side of the street. In a way it was a missed opportunity as I don't have a good enough zoom lens to get the kind of shots I could picture in my mind. But at the same time, there's something to be said for sitting back and observing with your own camera, your eyes, sometimes. At one point, overwhelmed by the spectacle of it all, I decided to turn the lens on the tourists. It was almost as interesting as taking pictures of the monks themselves.

Don't get me wrong, by my mere presence alongside everyone else I was anything but above the fray. I wonder how the monks feel about it. I wonder if any other tourists felt the way I did. I wonder why I was born with such a keen sense of observation. It's a blessing and a curse.




Nearly empty baskets of rice wait to be picked up after the procession.


Unfortunately this shot is a little dark because I didn't want to use my flash. I just think this is the epitome of cluelessness and poor form. She even had a point-and-shoot, most of which have ridiculous zoom capabilities.

I Heart Laos

They sell t-shirts here with that slogan and it's true, I do. I'm not sure I've ever been to a more chill place. Today I walked around some more and ended up crossing a rickety bamboo bridge which led me to a village where they weave the many silk scarves you can find in the market and make paper out of mulberry, bamboo, even elephant dung. It was a beautiful walk. The weather here is perfect at this time of year - cool at night and hot during the day.

Cristiano from Brazil left this morning and the rest of the gang heads out tomorrow, but I'll be staying on for at least a couple more days. Tonight we hit the night market and Jasper bought some things to try to sell back in Belgium, inspired by my plan. He has so much energy and was a blast to shop with. We were able to pool our buying power as well, which is always good.

Everything pretty much closes here at 11:30, even the bars. So it's maybe a little too sleepy, but I guess it keeps people out of trouble, namely the tourists. Currently I'm outside at a table of a closed restaurant, next to the restaurant where I got tea this morning. This morning's restaurant had free wifi so I am now stealing their signal. And listening to really, really awful karaoke from some bar near the river. Why is it that the tone-deaf are the most enthusiastic crooners? Ay yay yay.


Monk robes hanging out to dry.


Silk worms, right, and the fruits of their labor, left.


Silk thread waiting to be spun into a fabulous scarf.

Sleepy town

The guesthouse I’m staying in overlooks a tributary of the Mekong River, which actually has a pretty swift current. The sound of the water is so peaceful and is punctuated occasionally by the sound of roosters crowing. Those things seem to go all day and night.

My traveling companions rented bikes today to check out the waterfall outside of town, but I decided to stroll through the streets and get acquainted with the new city. There’s nothing I love more than happening onto some random alleyway; you never know what you’ll find at the end of it. There are plenty of alleyways in Luang Prubang - lots of great images to be captured. The traffic here is pretty light, which is a nice change from most of the cities I’ve been in so far, and I’m having to get back into the habit of looking left when I cross the road, instead of right, as they drive on the same side as we do in the U.S.

I anticipate my time here being pretty relaxing. The nice thing about having an open schedule is you don’t have to run around trying to see this temple or that statue; you can take your time. And honestly even if you don’t see those things, that’s okay too. The point of this trip is to take time to reflect and enjoy the moment. And if that means sitting in a café or wandering aimlessly for hours, then so be it.

I noticed a disturbing trend at the night market tonight. Almost all of the vendors are women, but many of them look very, very young. Granted, no one in Asia looks their age, but there are definitely kids working. My first thought is, Isn't it a school night? But the literacy rate in Laos is pretty low, so it's likely that these kids don't go to school. So do you buy something from one of these girls, thereby supporting this trend? Hmm...


One of the many golden Buddhas at one of the many temples. The temples here seem a little bit cooler somehow, maybe because they feel a little more weathered.


My walk led me to this one shop where the owner’s dog had just given birth to these puppies 9 days ago. Adorable.

Luang Prubang

We just arrrived in Luang Prubang around 5 p.m. today and already I'm in love. There is the most chill vibe in the air here. People are friendly, all the shops look lovely (with uniform wooden signs I might add), and they sell nutella-banane crèpes on the street. What more do you need? Actually, what more would you expect from a city that is a world heritage site? I see myself staying here for several days. I was lucky enough to meet a great group of people on the slow boat - two women from Argentina, one man from Brazil, and another man from Belgium. Two of them are a couple, so I shared a room in Pakbeng, Laos last night with Maria and Cristiano. We're also sharing a room here, which is great. Traveling alone is cool, but companionship is also cool, not to mention the added benefit of splitting the cost of a room.

The boat ride was lovely... and slow. The shores of the Mekong are lined with mountains and forests and tiny fishing villages along the way. There were mostly farang on the boat, but a few locals would hop on and off at various points. Almost every time we pulled into shore a crowd would gather. I had heard that Laos is even more beautiful than Thailand, both in terms of the country and the people, and so far this seems to be true. Tonight we walked the night market, where we also ate, and it seems that good food is just as plentiful here as it was in Thailand. The handicrafts, although repeated in some fashion from one stall to another, seem to be of higher quality as well. And the great thing is that the vendors are really quick to drop their prices. All you have to do is stand up and they're knocking 5-10,000 kip off. (One dollar is about 8,400 kip, so this visit will be a test of my math skills.) This is great because unlike some people, I don't really enjoy bargaining.

So, more to come. Right now it's off to shower and meet some lovely English ladies that I also met on the boat. This trip just keeps getting better. :)


Morning on the Mekong.


Women and children greet our boat.

Lazy indeed

One of the best things about being on vacation is the ability to wake up whenever you feel like it. I'm really not a fan of schedules, although I see the benefit to them. Nevertheless, I love not having one. These days I tend to wake up at a decent hour, but since there's really nothing that I have to do, I usually take my time getting going. Today, for instance, I didn't have breakfast until noon, and so I'll probably end up only having two meals. This is probably not a bad thing given the food marathon I've been on since arriving in Thailand.

I'm at an interesting point in my journey. Two countries down, probably two more to go. I'm hoping to avoid as much of the winter weather as possible, so perhaps another couple months on the road. But I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family again, and to hanging out in Portland, which by any standard is a really cool city. I didn't really have a goal for the trip, just to explore really. I guess part of me was hoping I'd figure out what it is I want to do with my life, but that hasn't exactly happened. I know that I'm very lucky to be able to make this trip. I've heard people say they wish they could do something like this and my response to that is, "Why not?" If you really want to do something in life, I think you just have to do it. Granted, there are many external factors that affect us all, but I think the greatest obstacle is often ourself. I know this is true for me. I know that what I'm doing seems like it's so freeing, and in some ways it is, but in other ways so much freedom can be scary. There have been times during this trip when I've felt absolutely paralyzed by indecision, on the smaller scale of "Where do I go next?," but also on the larger scale of "What am I doing with my life?" The first question is so much easier to answer! In some ways I envy people who have been able to choose a career path and stick to it. But then, to each his own, as they say. There's no use trying to force a square peg into a round hole. That's me, I guess, the square peg. But as my friend says, "If everything were easy and we were all the same, then life would be bloody boring!" Cheers to that!

Tomorrow I hop on the slowboat to Laos, spending one night in a village before arriving in Luang Prubang. I'll try to have it all figured out by the time I arrive there. ;)


Lollipops for sale at the market in Chiang Rai. Fortunately I didn't want one, so I didn't have to decide. ;)

Ch-Chiang-Chiang

I'm now on my third Chiang... Chiang Khong, a two-hour bus ride northeast of Chiang Rai, right on the Laos border on the Mekong River. I had considered visiting Chiang Saen, but decided that might be a litle too remote. I learned my lesson on that with my first island. There's that delicate balance between a place that is overrun with farang (foreigners) and one that is desolate. As it is, Chiang Khong seems like a pretty sleepy border town. Most people only stay here one night on their way into or out of Laos. I think I might stay two nights, though, as this guesthouse is super chill and has a beautiful view of the river. There are actually more hill tribe people in this area than Thais, so I may try to visit a village nearby.

Technically I have until January 10th to stay in Thailand, but I'm feeling ready to move on to the next destination. I'll be passing through Thailand at least once more as I plan to fly out of Bangkok, where fares tend to be cheaper. I feel like I'm hitting a lazy stretch of my journey as I get away from the cities and into the countryside. No complaints here.


View of the Mekong from the guesthouse.

Markets, massage and temples

I arrived in Chiang Rai this afternoon after a 3-hour bus ride from Chiang Mai. I found a guesthouse that is just slightly more expensive than the one in Chiang Mai, but much richer in amenities. I feel like I've hit the jackpot; there's a Western-style toilet and a HOT shower! I haven't had a hot shower since Bangkok, so I'm pretty excited. Woohoo!

I spent a few hours wandering around Chiang Rai. It seems like a pretty small city and I think I'm going to max out at two days here. There's a night bazaar, on a much smaller scale than Chiang Mai, and not far from this main market I found another one... which led me to conclude that Thailand is just one giant market. It's astonishing, really, the amount of commerce that goes on here. There are actually some different things up here, which is refreshing, and there's a lot fewer counterfeit goods. The other thing I've noticed is people seem a little friendlier here, and speak a lot less English. Signs are mostly in Thai, which is cool, but also challenging for non-Thai-speakers like myself.

I had an absolutely atrocious day of eating, which started with a crappy "trekkers breakfast" near my guesthouse in Chiang Mai, complete with runny eggs. From there it just went downhill, as travel days don't really lend themselves to three square meals. I grazed throughout most of the day - a pre-packaged croissant (tasty, but I'm sure packed with preservatives), coconut yogurt, Thai iced tea, a Belgian waffle, grilled corn-on-the-cob, and seaweed potato chips. Lay's is really good at tailoring their flavors to the local market. In Quebec, of course, they have ketchup chips, in India it's masala, and here in Thailand it's seaweed. Anyway, it was a pathetic day in terms of food. I decided to do something healthy for myself, in that case, so I went for a one-hour Thai massage. Heavenly. I've decided I'm going to get one every day for the rest of my time in Thailand, about one week. There's no excuse not to. And whenever I return to a more "normal life," my goal is to include a weekly or bi-weekly massage in my schedule. They're just so good for the body and soul.


Aagh! This was a first. I've seen the insects for sale, but only in their cooked form. At this market there were bins next to each final product... full of live, crawling creatures. As if I needed any more reason not to try this!


These I intend to try. Mini eggs. So cute.


Here are some of those funky drinks I've talked about. The middle one's definitely pomegranate, but the others, I'm not quite sure.


And here's a more normal tourist picture. ;) The clock tower at night.