A Yank in Vietnam

They let me through the border!

After a miserable 27 hour bus trip, we finally made it to Hanoi.  At first, we were put in the back of the bus, which we thought was okay until we realized that those seats had less leg room.  The "beds" reclined to about 130degrees, but you couldn't extend your legs and because the seats in the back of the bus were elevated, you couldn't sit upright without hitting your head on the roof.  Needless to say, it wasn't the most comfortable journey, but the company certainly helped!

After showering and eating, we went to bed as it was now after 11pm.  The following morning we set off to explore the city.  We checked out Hoan Kiem Lake, then went to explore a few museums.  The Vietnam Military History museum had a lot of cool information about different provinces fighting, their war versus France and of course, against America.  We then went to the Ho Chi Minh museum (Ho Chi Minh is their most famous president), which was strange.  There was a very weird assortment of things that seemed to make no sense!  By this point we were exhausted and hot, so got some food and relaxed for the afternoon before finding a karaoke bar in the evening!

The next morning, Joel and I were off to Cat Ba Island in Halong Bay.  Cruise tours of the bay are very expensive plus the island was meant to be spectacular, so we opted with that option and it paid off!  We met several others at the hostel (mostly Americans, 1 of which studies at UMD and 2 of which studied abroad in Dunedin, NZ) and ended up getting a group of 10 of us to rent motor bikes together the next morning.  Cat Ba is beautiful with limestone and karst mountains covered in thick jungle and even just driving around was great fun, despite the rain.  Hospital Cave is a weird place as it is a hospital built into a cave, used in case the Americans attacked the island.  There is also a national park here and we hiked up Ngu Lam Peak for spectacular views across the mountains and to the sea.  At night we got a fresh fish dinner where we could watch them catch and kill the fish before bringing it into the kitchen--so good!  We all had a really great time and enjoyed the riding and scenery!

Finally, we did a day trip through Halong and Lan Ha bays.  It was unbelievable!  There are nearly 2,000 islands here, but most are simply karst cliffs and they stretch on forever.  This bay rivals Milford Sound for beauty!  On the trip we also spent an hour kayaking where we went through caves and under rock tunnels exploring different coves and whatever else we could find.  Later in the afternoon, after a delicious fish lunch, we got to go rock climbing up a 50 foot rock and jumped off, which again was really fun!  We were meant to stop at Monkey Island, an island full of monkeys, but a storm and moved in and the water was really rough, so we had to go back in a bit early.  Anyway, it was an incredible day and the scenery was breath taking!

From here, I am going to take a night bus tonight to Sa Pa and spend 2 nights living and eating with a tribe family in their village and they will show me around the mountain area!

Another Day, Another Stamp

Well, it's back to the road tonight after 10 days in Laos!  Laos, with a french influence, was in some ways quite different to Thailand, but in other ways similar.

Mountains in Vang Vieng

First off, it rains here every day.  And I don't mean rain as in a little shower, but it pours like I've never seen before.  Luckily it usually doesn't last long and is on and off throughout the day, but I was aware that it's monsoon season and it hasn't stopped me from doing anything I wanted!

After my miserable bus trip from Thailand to Laos, in which I didn't sleep, I finally made it to Vientiane, Laos's capital.  For a capital city, it is surprisingly small with very little to do.  The first day, I just rested then went for a walk down by the Mekong River, which separates Laos from Thailand and relaxed by the pool before going to the night market.  In Pai I met an Irish guy, Joel, who told me he was coming to join me in Vientiane, so when he got in the next day, we went to Buddha Park.  It was interesting as it looks really old, but in fact was built only 60 years ago.  Essentially it is just giant stone Buddha statues that each symbolize something different, but there are heaps of them!

Buddha Park, Vientiane

The next day we made the trip to Vang Vieng where we were meeting up with 2 more people from Pai.  Vang Vieng is a very unique place.  It's a bit like Vegas for travelers.  The town itself is only a few blocks and oddly every restaurant had almost identical menus.  Anyway, the main attraction in town is tubing, but there are 5 bars along the river.  Basically it is a pub crawl, but rather than walking you float between bars and there are people with water bottles on ropes who will toss one out and pull you in.  It was great fun to be honest.  Outside of town there are unbelievable mountains, which in some ways were a bit like NZ.  We went the second day to a place called Blue Lagoon, which was less than impressive, but refreshing for a swim.  Next to the lagoon was a cave that was far more interesting!  After 3 nights there, it was on the the last stop in Laos--Luang Prabang.

Part of Kuang Si Falls

Luang Prabang is recognized as a World Heritage town and is quite pretty.  There are two rivers flowing on either side of the town, but are both brown due to rainy season now.  Beyond the rivers are lush jungle and mountains.  The first day we walked around for a bit and just explored the town itself.  At 5:30am we decided to watch the Alm Giving Ceremony, which is a Buddhist ritual where every morning monks walk down the street and collect food that is given to them by Buddhists.  While it wasn't particularly exhilirating, it was a very unique cultural thing to see.  The second day we decided to visit the Kuang Si Falls.  Most people take a tuk-tuk to the falls as it is 33 miles round-trip through the hills.  Joel and I decided to bike, however.  It was hard work and we had quite sore legs, but it was totally worth it!  On bicycle you got to ride slowly through the villages and take in the scenery all around you.  Plus, the falls felt amazing to swim in and were the most stunning waterfalls I'd ever seen!  Yesterday, I got my first Asian massage and it was well needed!

Main falls in Kuang Si!

Laos is definitely a bit slower paced than Thailand, less inhabited, equally (if not more) beautiful and the people were a bit more friendly. In Vientiane, two locals just came up to me and started small talk, which no one in Thailand did.  While passing the little villages on bike people would often say "Sabaidee" or hello and little kids were often waving or giving you a thumbs up as you pedaled by.  As far as things to do, Laos may not have had a ton, but it is unarguably a gorgeous country!

Next up is the country I'm most looking forward to--Vietnam!  However, to get there is the trip I'm least looking forward to--24 hours on a bus...  Luckily, there are 6 of us going together so at least we will be miserable in good company!

Going Up!

Sliding down Mor Paeng falls

As you know, after leaving Bangkok, I headed north to Chiang Mai for a jungle trek!  Chiang Mai is a much smaller city than Bangkok and the city centre is encompassed by a canal, which is pretty nice and the outskirts of town are all jungle and mountains--my kind of thing!

The jungle trek was incredible.  Despite the brutal heat, we walked 3-4 hours/day and stopped at waterfalls/rivers along the way to swim and visited tribal villages that live in the jungle.  On the first day, we stopped by the school and played soccer with the elementary students for nearly 2 hours!  I absolutely loved that.  Then, we spend the night with a family in hut in the village.  It was just our group of 9 trekkers and while the accommodation was far from 5-star, it was authentic.  Beds were nothing more than a very thin mattress on the floor with a mosquito net and pillow.  Dinner was cooked over a wood stove, just as the tribes really do, but they still managed the make a delicious curry!  The place we stayed had a passion fruit farm too, which was so delicious.  On the second day, we had lunch at a beautiful hut overlooking a rice terrace and then we camped right next to the river, which was a great place to wash and cool off! Both of our guides were from the village and they were extremely friendly, as were all the village people we came across.  They live very simple lives and work hard, but seemed very happy.  It's incredible they do so much farming in the heat with hand tools! Unfortunately for them, this is the monsoon season now, but they're in a drought, meaning their rice which feeds their families is not growing.  However, we had great (but hot) weather during the trek, however the next day in Chiang Mai poured down.

View from Pai

On the 3rd day of the trek, we got to ride an elephant for an hour and bamboo raft for a bit.  Riding the elephant was okay, but I did feel a bit bad that the elephants are likely not treated well.  Bamboo rafting was great fun, though, and the rafts were extremely impressive how sturdy they were made strictly of tire as straps and bamboo rods!  All in all, the jungle trek was amazing and really started the change my perception of Asia/Thailand!

Motor bikes!

After Chiang Mai, I headed north again to an awesome little town called Pai.  This is a small, hippy-ish town up in the mountains.  The first day we just walked around the 4 blocks of town, but they have several markets including a "walking street" which is just a street lined with stalls selling souvenirs and food, so you can just walk down the street (hence, the name) and browse/shop. Pai is surrounded by beautiful landscapes though, so the next day we rented motorbikes and cruised around.  It was unbelievably fun and gorgeous!

We checked out 2 waterfalls, one of which you could slide down (Mor Paeng) and one you could cliff jump from (Pom Bok).  Pom Bok falls were buried in a canyon, which was stunning. There is also "Pai Canyon" which is far from the Grand Canyon, but still really pretty and we went to an overlook.  Even just driving around though through the rice fields with the steep, but jungle-covered mountains was great fun.  For $5, this was one of the best things I'd done in my travels!

Hanging with an elephant!

Now, I'm on another night bus tonight and leaving Thailand, heading across the border to Vientiane, Laos!  Indonesia was great fun on a tropical island with great friends, but Northern Thailand has really changed my opinion.  I've met some extremely nice people and gotten to see how beautiful this country is, but as always, time to move on to the next adventure!

On To Thailand

Lots of my friends had told me that they really didn't like Bangkok, so I went in expecting it to be awful.  I think that helped!  Luckily, from the beginning, I met 3 other people going to the same area in the city as my hotel, so I was able to split the taxi with them, saving me nearly $12!  That may not sound like much, but when you're living on $30/day, it is!  

Giant Buddha in Bangkok

After getting in, I walked around the city for nearly 4 hours, just sightseeing and getting a feel for it. It also felt good to be moving after a morning of travel!  There are an incredible number of temples and some stranger on the street came and gave me advice of what I should do in the city!  I stopped at a food stall and got roast duck and noodle soup.  The lady didn't speak hardly any english and handed me only chopsticks, but must've realized I was clueless because she handed me a spoon and fork a minute later!  As I kept walking around, I ended up on Khao San Road, which is the famous "backpacker" street of Bangkok.  It is crazy to say the least.  You can buy anything there from women to fake IDs to roasted bugs (we'll get back to that) and the obvious souvenirs.  Surprisingly, I didn't get lost until this point, when I was trying to leave KSR and go back to my hotel.  Luckily, a tuk-tuk (open aired scooter-ish taxi) brought me home for free because I told him that I may do a temple tour with him the following day.  Luckily, he wasn't at the hotel the following morning.  I did get a really delicious "american breakfast" consisting of an omelette, sausage, bacon, toast, and unlimited fresh fruit!  

TukTuk

The following morning, I switched from my hotel to a hostel.  Then I decided to do a temple tour for the afternoon.  Tuk-tuks can scam you as they don't use a meter like taxis, so they will tell you a price, then you bargain, then eventually, hopefully you get a good deal, although you never really know.  Regardless, I decided to give it a go.  The first one told me 500baht ($15) for the day, which was outrageous, so I didn't even bother with him.  Now here's the other trick with tuk-tuk drivers.  They get petrol vouchers from taking customers into shops, notably tourist booking agents and suit shops.  Eventually, I got a driver to offer to take me to 4 temples and wait for me at each, regardless of how long I took, completely for free if I agreed to go to 1 tourist place and 2 suit shops.  At the end of the day, I did book a few things at the tourist info center and wasted 10 minutes in suit shops (obviously not buying anything) in exchange for a nearly 4.5 hour personal taxi to take me to temples around Bangkok!  That night, I met up with the friends from the airport again on KSR, where I ate a scorpion skewer!  It actually was tasty and meaty, but very salty.  I never have been picky...

Floating market

The following morning I had to be up at 7am for a tour of the Damnoensaduak Floating Market.  That is really neat as people sell all sorts of things out of long boats, from souvenirs to fruit to cooked meals.  I had roast pork noodle soup cooked and sold from, essentially, a canoe!  That afternoon, I went to the malls in Bangkok.  There is one part of the city where there are 5 massive malls all essentially on the same block.  And I mean 5-7 stories and long with everything you could want.  I got a camera to replace the one that broke in Indonesia but was amazed at the size and quality of the malls.  They rivaled any mall I'd seen in America!  I was also proud that I was able to catch a bus since the signs are all in Thai and the drivers either couldn't or didn't want to speak English, but with the help of my hostel front desk and a few English speakers on the bus, I made it!

Ayutthaya temple

The next morning, I went to Ayutthaya for the day, which used to be Thailand's capital city.  It is now more of a collection of broken temples destroyed during wars with neighbouring countries and from a flood and a fire that hit the city.  However, the temples were huge (some recognized as UNESCO world heritage sites) and extremely intricately designed, especially as they dated from the 14th-16th century!  That means these massive buildings were built before America was even discovered!  Plus, to make the trip even better, lunch was included and we had it at a typical Thai little stall and it was one of the best curries I'd ever eaten.  After the tour, I had to kill 5 hours before catching the night train.  I walked around near the train station and found people much friendlier here than in Bangkok.  2 guesthouse owners saw that I had my big bag and assumed that I was waiting for a train, so they offered to let me wait in their guesthouse with a fan and WiFi!  The night train is an experience.  The downside is that you can't see as you drive through the country, but the benefit is that you don't pay for accommodation or waste a day travelling.  Many routes are ridiculously long, but this one was only 12 hours (I will likely take a 24+ hour bus at one point) and my bed was alright.  It wasn't the best sleep I ever had as they left half the lights on, so it wasn't dark and the bus slants as it turns, so you'd roll from side to side a bit, but I slept a decent bit!  Unfortunately, there were no fireworks along the way--oddly Thailand doesn't seem to celebrate American Independence.  Anyway, now here I am in Chiang Mai.  Today I took a nap and sat by the pool for most of the day, then walked around the city for about 2 hours and then went back out to the night market.  Tomorrow I begin a 3 day jungle trek!

Scorpions!

Remnants of a Buddha Statue

Thailand is incredibly cheap!  Accommodation costs 6 or 7 dollars for a hostel and about 18 for a decent hotel and a meal costs about $1-$2 from street stalls or $4-$6 at restaurants.  Traditional food here is Pad Thai (fried noodles), curries, noodle soup, and fried rice.  All of it that I've had so far has been delicious, as well as cheap fruit (I had the best watermelon smoothie for 75 cents!). The 12 hour train with a bed was $23.  It is also incredibly hot here, though.  Not just hot, but very humid.  You can't walk out the door without working up a sweat!  This morning, it was 93 degrees at 7:30am!  Unfortunately I haven't met as many solo travelers to hang out with here as I did in Indonesia, but otherwise Thailand seems like a pretty good country!