It certainly doesn't feel like Thanksgiving here in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia--it was 90 degrees today, and for our big meal we shared a chicken sandwich. But it's nice thinking about everyone at home getting together today!
We arrived in Phnom Penh about 4 days ago and had quite a few things planned... unfortunately however, I got quite sick, so we've been laying low for awhile. The morning that we left Siem Reap I woke up feeling very achy and stiff with a bit of a headache. During the 6 hour bus ride I was miserable--I could hardly move my neck and became very dizzy and lethargic. We got to town and I had no appetite but made myself eat a bit and head to the room for the night. That evening was probably the sickest I've ever been! I could tell I had a high fever, Jason confirmed that, but we didn't have a thermometer so I'm not sure how high. I had really bad chills, and after I had fallen asleep I was woken up (as was Jason) by my body shaking really hard. I felt like I was freezing, even though Jason said I was burning up. I couldn't control the shaking and Jason went downstairs to look up what could be going on. We were both worried it could be malaria, so he found an American clinic that had a 24 hour phone line he called. They said to come by in the morning for some blood tests. That evening I got physically ill a few times and had a lot of trouble walking up the stairs to our 4th floor hotel room(bad time to be so high). The next morning we went to the clinic and at that time my temperature was 102.5, which we could tell was quite a bit lower than it had been the night before. They did some blood work and are pretty sure it was dengue fever, which is a mosquito born illness that is pretty nasty. Fortunately I'm already feeling better! Still not great by any means, but we found a nice hotel (with an elevator!) that is up away from the noise of the streets and very nice (aside from the spider incident; see below). It was a miserable couple of days but the worst is definitely over.
Today we went to the Tuol Sleng museum, which was an infamous S-21 prison operated under the Khmer Rouge. It was originally a high school, but after the Khmer Rouge took over it was turned into a brutal prison. It's estimated that up to 20,000 people were imprisoned here, and only 12 of them survived- it's like the Auschwitz of Cambodia. I had read so much about the place, but actually seeing it was quite haunting. You could almost feel the horrible things that happened there. The Khmer Rouge tortured thousands of innocent Cambodians there, and those that survived the torture were sent to the Killing Fields for execution. The prison still had intact cells and torture areas, and they've done a good job of creating picture and information displays. The pictures consist of mug shots of the prisoners, bodies after torture, and piles of actual human skulls found in the killing fields. There were also skulls on display that had bullet holes and evidence of trauma (hammers, axes, etc). Some of the pictures were of children as young as 5, both men and women, elderly people, and monks. Jason took some pictures which may be posted tonight.
On a lighter note.....last night we got back to our hotel room and on the wall was the BIGGEST spider I have ever seen outside of a cage. It was probably about 5-6 inches, and we could see his huge fangs. I offered to go get the guys working downstairs to kill it, but Jason stepped up and took care of things! There was no way I would sleep in there with that thing. He used a big sandal and missed on his first swing, but got it the second time. We posted a couple of pictures of it but they don't even begin to illustrate its size. On a seperate topic, we've noticed that on some of the movie channels there are English movies that are also subtitled in English, but the subtitles are clearly written by someone who is not a native English speaker. Some of the things that end up being written are hilarious and are not even close to what the people said... yesterday I laughed harder than I have in years. The guy said "This chick I'm seeing makes these unbelievable pineapple pancakes." The subtitle said "This chicken makes these unbelievable pineapple pancakes." It may not be as funny reading it but it was priceless.
For now we have to stay here until at least Tuesday to get our Burmese Visa, and I imagine by then I'll be doing a lot better! After that we're heading towards the Cambodian coast which should be pretty nice. I know there are other things to share but I'm still so out of it that I will try to post a more interesting update in a few days! Thanks for all of the well-wishes from everyone, and enjoy your yummy dinners!
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Note from Jason: FINALLY, all pictures are up and we are 100% up to date for the first time in weeks. And FYI, I simply couldn't capture the feel of the museum we visited today (see above)in color, so that's why it's all in black and white.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Things that Happen
In the last blog post we were in Chaing Mai, Thailand, and since then we took an overnight bus 12 hours south to Bangkok, stayed a day there, and then jumped on a train to head to Cambodia. As usual, the transportation and border crossings were an adventure (take that how you will). The bus to Bangkok was straightforward... it was a crummy and very uncomfortable (due partially to the people in front of us who leaned their seats back into our laps) but nothing too unusual. We arrived in Bangkok at about 7am, and took a taxi to the local train station. We had heard that trains to Cambodia were dramatically cheaper than buses, so we went to go check it out- and we’re very glad we did. The train to the Cambodian border was about $1.75, and took about 5.5 hours. On the other hand, the bus took 4 hours (supposedly) and cost about $17- the choice was obvious. The train left the next morning at 5:55 so we had a day to kill in Bangkok, which we spent recovering from the overnight bus and miling about the area. While we were hunting for a place to stay, Michelle ran into an interesting situation. She walked into an old guesthouse and asked about rooms and asked to see one, and the man working it said ‘OK’ and told her to leave her bag there and he’d take her up to see it. She said it was OK, she didn’t mind carrying the bag upstairs (leaving all your worldly possessions in an unknown lobby is not a good idea) and he blew up on her... started yelling that if she didn’t leave her bag she couldn’t see the room. Not sure what he was trying to accomplish out of that, I assume he would know that if he yelled we would leave (we did). Odd, and an unusual introduction to Bangkok.
Anyway, the train the next day was great. The views were great, it more comfortable than the bus, and we met a couple of people from San Francisco and Brazil that we talked with. Upon arrival we got a taxi to the border, and the driver dropped us off at a little stand where lots of people were filling out visa forms and all the normal stuff. The shuttled us in and gave us the forms which we filled out. He quoted us the visa price in baht, which we paid, but as soon as we did we did the calculation in our head and it came out to over double the price of what a Visa normally is. I asked why, and the guy gave me a reason that didn’t make much sense. I tried to clarify and his answers and responses got even more incoherent, so I asked for the money back and said we’d just try walking up to the border on our own, because I didn’t he was running a legit operation. He refused because he said they were already processing the visa (an outright lie). The people we were traveling with had not paid yet, so we told them not to, which pissed off the border guy who had previously been very nice. We got our Visa, as promised, but it was $45 instead of $20. From what I could tell, this official looking stand was filling out the forms, calling the official border (1/4 down the road) and having them do the visa, and charging us $25 extra for the convenience. I’m sure the official border guards were getting a kickback as well. So we got screwed, but all the people we traveled with got through for the normal $20, and they bought us dinner that night to make up for the lost cash. Nice folks! It is frustrating though, because we are aware of the scams and are very careful, but you walk into them anyway. They really do a good job of screwing people.
After making it past the first border checkpoint, we were approached by people offering us taxi rides to Siem Reap after we crossed the border. This is pretty common. The going rate in the guidebook was $50 US for a taxi (split between all 5 of us), which fluctuates, so we were happy when we got a guy to come down to $35 US for the same thing. He agreed to meet us on the other side of the border and take us the rest of the way. We all crossed over, and then while walking to the Cambodian border (it’s about 1/4 mile between the Thai border and the Cambodian border) we see the same guy who was supposed to drive us to Siem Reap on the side of the road, handcuffed, and getting manhandled by some cops/border patrol. Not sure what happened as we didn’t stick around, but I’m assuming he tried to cross illegally and got caught or something. Anyway, we found it quite hilarious.
After this incident we elected to go take a bus instead of a taxi. It was fun and went smoothly since we all just sat in the back and talked the whole time (felt like high school). We stopped about halfway through the drive, and when backing out of the restaurant our driver ran into a power cable that was hanging down pretty low, knocking it down and causing quite a mess. Just another hilarious daily incident that happens on the road.
Cambodia is an interesting place so far. Siem Reap is a pretty small (200k people-ish) city that is very poor, but also happens to have Angkor Wat, one of the biggest and best temples in the world. Because of this you have massive 4-star hotels lining a road in one area, and then ½ mile into the city you have extreme poverty. There are nightclubs and fancy restaurants in the middle of the downtown area that charge a lot of money for a western meal, and then right across the street (literally) there are local food stalls that serve great local dishes for $1. Consequently, and sadly, this has created a typical situation of haves and have-nots accompanied by the inevitable- begging. The begging has undoubtedly been the worst here of anywhere we’ve seen so far. It’s constant and unavoidable, some people trying to sell books, others little handicrafts, many just asking for money. Lots of people have signs written in excellent English (I’m curious who writes them) that says their name, their situation (poor, orphan, amputee, etc) and that they don’t want to beg for money but they have to. Even within the Ankgor Wat temple grounds we were under constant assault of little kids as young as 5 trying to sell us stuff and telling us how bad they need the money. However, as hard as it often was (especially for the sweet hearted Michelle) we never bought anything. These were kids that as young as 8 or 9 were already dropping out of school to try and make a living hawking stuff to foreigners, and we simple don’t want to support that. We’re sure most of what they were told to say (and most kids said the exact same lines, word for word) was taught to them by the parents, which is where most the money will go, so the last thing we want is to pay someone for taking their kids out of school. Michelle and I talked a lot about it, and we both strongly feel that the government should make it illegal to have kids working (or even adults in some cases) within the park, which is a highly regulated area. They should have designated food vendors and products to sell, and they should be sold only by employees of the park. Jobs should be given out to kids who have finished high school, encoring them to stay in school... these are pretty simple ideas that would probably make a huge difference in the long run.
To exasperate the entire situation, many of the people we’ve seen begging and selling stuff have been disabled. Landmines seem to be the leading cause, and consequently young kids are the biggest victims. Single, double, and even triple amputees are commonplace. I did a bit of research after noticing this, and in Cambodia there is apparently 1 amputee for every 259 people- a ridiculously high number. Not that long ago the Khmer Rouge tore this country apart, and landmines had been placed all over the country by many groups- fortunately, the U.S.A. not being one of them (unlike Laos, where they are mainly ours). Many of the people that approach us and ask for money are in a wheelchair, on crutches, and in at least once case so far have had people pushing them in carts because they have no hands or feet at all. It’s absolutely tragic.
On a lighter note, the currency system in Cambodia is very odd. The official currency is the Riel, which is valued at about 4000-1 against the US Dollar right now. However, about 75% of stuff is quoted in USD, and ATM’s give out USD as well. Even more oddly, there are no US Coins, only bills. If something is 75 cents and you pay with a $1 bill, you will get change in Riel- 1000 of them. It’s a tough system, because breaking a $10 bill can be nearly impossible at some places but you can’t carry around stacks of 1’s all the time just because of the size. It’s a weird, hybrid system that makes price negotiation a hilarious endeavor. No one generally drops their prices below $1, they just start trying to add more stuff.
Yesterday we visited Angkor Wat, as I mentioned earlier, and it was awesome. It was a far superior visit than any other I’ve had to old ruins, dominating over even well known sites like the Mayan town of Copan in Central America. However, it was so cool that there isn’t really a ton for me to say about it, and I’ll let my pictures do the talking. I’ve got well over a hundred pics, and the internet here is slow, but I’ll work on it when I can. In the mean time, the rest of the pictures from Thailand should be online now.
That’s all for now, but I leave you with this-
Quote of the day:
Me (brushing teeth in bathroom): What movie is coming on now?
Michelle (watching TV): Umm... “15 and Above”. I have never heard of that, have you?
Me: Uhhh.... that’s probably the rating.
Michelle: hahaha. Yeah.
(It was Silence of the Lambs)
Anyway, the train the next day was great. The views were great, it more comfortable than the bus, and we met a couple of people from San Francisco and Brazil that we talked with. Upon arrival we got a taxi to the border, and the driver dropped us off at a little stand where lots of people were filling out visa forms and all the normal stuff. The shuttled us in and gave us the forms which we filled out. He quoted us the visa price in baht, which we paid, but as soon as we did we did the calculation in our head and it came out to over double the price of what a Visa normally is. I asked why, and the guy gave me a reason that didn’t make much sense. I tried to clarify and his answers and responses got even more incoherent, so I asked for the money back and said we’d just try walking up to the border on our own, because I didn’t he was running a legit operation. He refused because he said they were already processing the visa (an outright lie). The people we were traveling with had not paid yet, so we told them not to, which pissed off the border guy who had previously been very nice. We got our Visa, as promised, but it was $45 instead of $20. From what I could tell, this official looking stand was filling out the forms, calling the official border (1/4 down the road) and having them do the visa, and charging us $25 extra for the convenience. I’m sure the official border guards were getting a kickback as well. So we got screwed, but all the people we traveled with got through for the normal $20, and they bought us dinner that night to make up for the lost cash. Nice folks! It is frustrating though, because we are aware of the scams and are very careful, but you walk into them anyway. They really do a good job of screwing people.
After making it past the first border checkpoint, we were approached by people offering us taxi rides to Siem Reap after we crossed the border. This is pretty common. The going rate in the guidebook was $50 US for a taxi (split between all 5 of us), which fluctuates, so we were happy when we got a guy to come down to $35 US for the same thing. He agreed to meet us on the other side of the border and take us the rest of the way. We all crossed over, and then while walking to the Cambodian border (it’s about 1/4 mile between the Thai border and the Cambodian border) we see the same guy who was supposed to drive us to Siem Reap on the side of the road, handcuffed, and getting manhandled by some cops/border patrol. Not sure what happened as we didn’t stick around, but I’m assuming he tried to cross illegally and got caught or something. Anyway, we found it quite hilarious.
After this incident we elected to go take a bus instead of a taxi. It was fun and went smoothly since we all just sat in the back and talked the whole time (felt like high school). We stopped about halfway through the drive, and when backing out of the restaurant our driver ran into a power cable that was hanging down pretty low, knocking it down and causing quite a mess. Just another hilarious daily incident that happens on the road.
Cambodia is an interesting place so far. Siem Reap is a pretty small (200k people-ish) city that is very poor, but also happens to have Angkor Wat, one of the biggest and best temples in the world. Because of this you have massive 4-star hotels lining a road in one area, and then ½ mile into the city you have extreme poverty. There are nightclubs and fancy restaurants in the middle of the downtown area that charge a lot of money for a western meal, and then right across the street (literally) there are local food stalls that serve great local dishes for $1. Consequently, and sadly, this has created a typical situation of haves and have-nots accompanied by the inevitable- begging. The begging has undoubtedly been the worst here of anywhere we’ve seen so far. It’s constant and unavoidable, some people trying to sell books, others little handicrafts, many just asking for money. Lots of people have signs written in excellent English (I’m curious who writes them) that says their name, their situation (poor, orphan, amputee, etc) and that they don’t want to beg for money but they have to. Even within the Ankgor Wat temple grounds we were under constant assault of little kids as young as 5 trying to sell us stuff and telling us how bad they need the money. However, as hard as it often was (especially for the sweet hearted Michelle) we never bought anything. These were kids that as young as 8 or 9 were already dropping out of school to try and make a living hawking stuff to foreigners, and we simple don’t want to support that. We’re sure most of what they were told to say (and most kids said the exact same lines, word for word) was taught to them by the parents, which is where most the money will go, so the last thing we want is to pay someone for taking their kids out of school. Michelle and I talked a lot about it, and we both strongly feel that the government should make it illegal to have kids working (or even adults in some cases) within the park, which is a highly regulated area. They should have designated food vendors and products to sell, and they should be sold only by employees of the park. Jobs should be given out to kids who have finished high school, encoring them to stay in school... these are pretty simple ideas that would probably make a huge difference in the long run.
To exasperate the entire situation, many of the people we’ve seen begging and selling stuff have been disabled. Landmines seem to be the leading cause, and consequently young kids are the biggest victims. Single, double, and even triple amputees are commonplace. I did a bit of research after noticing this, and in Cambodia there is apparently 1 amputee for every 259 people- a ridiculously high number. Not that long ago the Khmer Rouge tore this country apart, and landmines had been placed all over the country by many groups- fortunately, the U.S.A. not being one of them (unlike Laos, where they are mainly ours). Many of the people that approach us and ask for money are in a wheelchair, on crutches, and in at least once case so far have had people pushing them in carts because they have no hands or feet at all. It’s absolutely tragic.
On a lighter note, the currency system in Cambodia is very odd. The official currency is the Riel, which is valued at about 4000-1 against the US Dollar right now. However, about 75% of stuff is quoted in USD, and ATM’s give out USD as well. Even more oddly, there are no US Coins, only bills. If something is 75 cents and you pay with a $1 bill, you will get change in Riel- 1000 of them. It’s a tough system, because breaking a $10 bill can be nearly impossible at some places but you can’t carry around stacks of 1’s all the time just because of the size. It’s a weird, hybrid system that makes price negotiation a hilarious endeavor. No one generally drops their prices below $1, they just start trying to add more stuff.
Yesterday we visited Angkor Wat, as I mentioned earlier, and it was awesome. It was a far superior visit than any other I’ve had to old ruins, dominating over even well known sites like the Mayan town of Copan in Central America. However, it was so cool that there isn’t really a ton for me to say about it, and I’ll let my pictures do the talking. I’ve got well over a hundred pics, and the internet here is slow, but I’ll work on it when I can. In the mean time, the rest of the pictures from Thailand should be online now.
That’s all for now, but I leave you with this-
Quote of the day:
Me (brushing teeth in bathroom): What movie is coming on now?
Michelle (watching TV): Umm... “15 and Above”. I have never heard of that, have you?
Me: Uhhh.... that’s probably the rating.
Michelle: hahaha. Yeah.
(It was Silence of the Lambs)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Up to date!
Since arriving in Thailand we've had a nice, relaxing time. We've been to multiple open-air markets, spent many hours at our hotel pool, walked a ton of the town, took an all day cooking class, and even watched the Broncos get stomped by the Steelers on Monday Night Football (Tuesday Morning Football for us). We'll be sad to leave, but we'll probably be heading to Bangkok within the next few days in order to get an advance visa for Myanmar, and then heading to Cambodia for a few weeks.
The reason for the post, however, is that I wanted to tell everyone that the blog should be up to date for the first time in weeks. Every picture we have taken has been uploaded- there are quite a few more from Laos and now a lot in Thailand. As you may notice, the blog format has been updated as well, with a rough itinerary and a map of our travels that I'll try to keep updated as we move.
Thanks for reading!
The reason for the post, however, is that I wanted to tell everyone that the blog should be up to date for the first time in weeks. Every picture we have taken has been uploaded- there are quite a few more from Laos and now a lot in Thailand. As you may notice, the blog format has been updated as well, with a rough itinerary and a map of our travels that I'll try to keep updated as we move.
Thanks for reading!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sabaidee!! (hello in Lao)
We had such a fabulous last week in Laos! Since our last update we spent a couple of lazy days in a town called Nong Khiaw, and then quite a bit of time in Luang Nam Tha. We knew that in Luang Nam Tha we wanted to do some trekking and had it recommended by many people. On the bus there from Nong Khiaw we met 3 girls that were planning to do the same thing, and decided to try and book a trek together in order to make it cheaper. We had such a great time with the girls--2 were from Sweden and 1 was from England. We stayed in the same hotel and spent quite a bit of time together. The next day we were looking for treks and met a couple from the US that was also trying to book a tour. We ended up finding an awesome tour that consisted of a day of trekking, spending the night in a small ethnic village, and kayaking the next day. We spent the next day riding bikes around Luang Nam Tha and surrounding villages--there are countless ethnic villages surrounding the city and it's interesting how easy it is to distinguish between them. We spent time getting to know the girls we had met and the couple from the U.S. Everyone got along so well and we really enjoyed spending time with everyone!
The next morning we started our hike, which was about 10 km through the forest. It was quite steep but really enjoyable. We didn't see any animals because everyone was chattering the whole way, and it flew by! The last part of the hike was along the river which was nice, and we passed through a few villages. The villages are pretty amazing--the palm houses are well constructed, there is a lot of order to how things are done and where things are, and everyone seems to have a role in making it work. The village we stayed in was no different. We were entertained by the pigs, goats, cows, chickens, children, dogs, and cats running loose everywhere, and all of the animals seemed to have babies! We laughed by how entertained we were, considering you can find all of those things running around Missouri! About 30% of the money we paid for the trek goes straight to the village we stayed in, and they helped prepare dinner and our sleeping area. All of the meals we ate on the trip were incredible, and eaten off of banana leaves. We had sticky rice, spiced beef, pumpkin soup, tomatos, and of course Lao Lao (the infamously potent Lao whiskey). The village chief and 2 other men ate with us and kept passing the Lao Lao. Our guide was able to translate so we could all talk with each other, and we learned a lot about the chief and the inner-workings of the village. After dinner we all sat around a fire and drank warm beer, which wasn't too bad because it was quite chilly out. The next day we got to go kayaking all day! Jason and I have kayaked together quite a few times, but apparently are not very good partners. There were 4 kayaks with 2 people in each, and we definitely got stuck on rocks the most. We ran into an overhanging tree once and I fell in the water, and later sailed right into a rock and tipped over! The 3 bags we had fell out and I tried to grab them in the current while Jason righted the kayak. The current was so strong I couldn't pull the bags I'd grabbed and it was hard to get back in the kayak--one of our paddles and a bag floated downstream but our guide grabbed them. We had a great time with it though and were laughing the whole day. That night we had to say goodbye to everyone, as we were all going separate ways the next day. We both agree that Laos was such a nice surprise and left us relaxed and satisfied when we left. The landscapes were beautiful, the people were friendly, and the beer was cheap and good.
Crossing the border to Thailand was a breeze. The entire process of checking out of Laos, taking a ferry across the Mekong, and getting into Thailand took about 15 mins. Compared to our 2 hour ordeal getting into Laos, this was a treat. We arrived in Chang Khong on the border, and sporadically decided to take a late night bus to Chiang Mai that would leave at 6:30. We had a few hours to kill in Chang Khong, and while we were there an awesome night market started to line the streets. Food stalls were everywhere with countless types of Thai food, baked goods, drinks, fried chicken, sausages, and lots of other yummy treats. We started regretting our decision to leave that night, especially since we were exhausted from the trek. Fortunately we got the ticket moved to the next morning! So we spent a few hours at the market eating the best fried chicken we've ever had (who knew it was in Thailand!) and sampling lots of different food. Yesterday we took the bus to Chiang Mai, and it was easily the best bus ride we've had on the trip. The road was paved, our driver was sane, and it wasn't through mountains. Chiang Mai so far is wonderful, and we plan to spend quite a few days here. We've pretty much decided to devote our Chiang Mai budget to food! Which I'm of course happy with. We're taking a cooking course, which includes a morning session learning 7 dishes and an evening class with the same thing. We also get a tour of the market, cookbook, and most importantly we get to eat everything!! There are many open markets here which all have very cheap and good food--last night was a Sunday market that was just incredible! We got to have some excellent sushi, more fried chicken, quail eggs, noodles, "ancient ice cream" (Jason's new obsession), and kebabs. Tonight we are going to the Night Bazaar, which promises more cheap and yummy food, and supposedly has a Burger King close by as well! And there are a few Mexican restaurants in town, and a Starbucks....I could go on forever about the food! Needless to say we're loving Thailand so far.
We have some other exciting news--we booked our plane tickets to Myanmar! (Burma). And what's more exciting is Nancy, the girl from England that we went trekking with, is coming too! She had been planning to go but it fell through, and it happened to work out she could go when we are. So we split up for now, but are planning to meet in Bangkok on December 22 to fly out, where we'll be until January 15th. Obviously this means we'll be spending Christmas, New Years, and both of our birthdays in Myanmar which we didn't plan, but it just worked out. We're not envisioning any crazy New Years parties, but it should be an interesting place to be for all of that.
We'll be in Chiang Mai for a few days, then take the bus to Bangkok. We won't spend much time there though because we'll be there for awhile next month waiting for our Myanmar visa. I can't believe we're already on our third country, it's flying by! Hope everyone reading this is doing well, we miss you all :)
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Addition by Jason:
We made a rough itinerary for the rest of our trip which I figured I'd post, since a lot of people have asked about it. It should now be in the sidebar. Also, I put together a nifty little map that should help give everyone a visual of where it is we have been... I will update it as we move along. I'm still working on posting pictures (from Laos), and it probably be a few days before they are all up.
The next morning we started our hike, which was about 10 km through the forest. It was quite steep but really enjoyable. We didn't see any animals because everyone was chattering the whole way, and it flew by! The last part of the hike was along the river which was nice, and we passed through a few villages. The villages are pretty amazing--the palm houses are well constructed, there is a lot of order to how things are done and where things are, and everyone seems to have a role in making it work. The village we stayed in was no different. We were entertained by the pigs, goats, cows, chickens, children, dogs, and cats running loose everywhere, and all of the animals seemed to have babies! We laughed by how entertained we were, considering you can find all of those things running around Missouri! About 30% of the money we paid for the trek goes straight to the village we stayed in, and they helped prepare dinner and our sleeping area. All of the meals we ate on the trip were incredible, and eaten off of banana leaves. We had sticky rice, spiced beef, pumpkin soup, tomatos, and of course Lao Lao (the infamously potent Lao whiskey). The village chief and 2 other men ate with us and kept passing the Lao Lao. Our guide was able to translate so we could all talk with each other, and we learned a lot about the chief and the inner-workings of the village. After dinner we all sat around a fire and drank warm beer, which wasn't too bad because it was quite chilly out. The next day we got to go kayaking all day! Jason and I have kayaked together quite a few times, but apparently are not very good partners. There were 4 kayaks with 2 people in each, and we definitely got stuck on rocks the most. We ran into an overhanging tree once and I fell in the water, and later sailed right into a rock and tipped over! The 3 bags we had fell out and I tried to grab them in the current while Jason righted the kayak. The current was so strong I couldn't pull the bags I'd grabbed and it was hard to get back in the kayak--one of our paddles and a bag floated downstream but our guide grabbed them. We had a great time with it though and were laughing the whole day. That night we had to say goodbye to everyone, as we were all going separate ways the next day. We both agree that Laos was such a nice surprise and left us relaxed and satisfied when we left. The landscapes were beautiful, the people were friendly, and the beer was cheap and good.
Crossing the border to Thailand was a breeze. The entire process of checking out of Laos, taking a ferry across the Mekong, and getting into Thailand took about 15 mins. Compared to our 2 hour ordeal getting into Laos, this was a treat. We arrived in Chang Khong on the border, and sporadically decided to take a late night bus to Chiang Mai that would leave at 6:30. We had a few hours to kill in Chang Khong, and while we were there an awesome night market started to line the streets. Food stalls were everywhere with countless types of Thai food, baked goods, drinks, fried chicken, sausages, and lots of other yummy treats. We started regretting our decision to leave that night, especially since we were exhausted from the trek. Fortunately we got the ticket moved to the next morning! So we spent a few hours at the market eating the best fried chicken we've ever had (who knew it was in Thailand!) and sampling lots of different food. Yesterday we took the bus to Chiang Mai, and it was easily the best bus ride we've had on the trip. The road was paved, our driver was sane, and it wasn't through mountains. Chiang Mai so far is wonderful, and we plan to spend quite a few days here. We've pretty much decided to devote our Chiang Mai budget to food! Which I'm of course happy with. We're taking a cooking course, which includes a morning session learning 7 dishes and an evening class with the same thing. We also get a tour of the market, cookbook, and most importantly we get to eat everything!! There are many open markets here which all have very cheap and good food--last night was a Sunday market that was just incredible! We got to have some excellent sushi, more fried chicken, quail eggs, noodles, "ancient ice cream" (Jason's new obsession), and kebabs. Tonight we are going to the Night Bazaar, which promises more cheap and yummy food, and supposedly has a Burger King close by as well! And there are a few Mexican restaurants in town, and a Starbucks....I could go on forever about the food! Needless to say we're loving Thailand so far.
We have some other exciting news--we booked our plane tickets to Myanmar! (Burma). And what's more exciting is Nancy, the girl from England that we went trekking with, is coming too! She had been planning to go but it fell through, and it happened to work out she could go when we are. So we split up for now, but are planning to meet in Bangkok on December 22 to fly out, where we'll be until January 15th. Obviously this means we'll be spending Christmas, New Years, and both of our birthdays in Myanmar which we didn't plan, but it just worked out. We're not envisioning any crazy New Years parties, but it should be an interesting place to be for all of that.
We'll be in Chiang Mai for a few days, then take the bus to Bangkok. We won't spend much time there though because we'll be there for awhile next month waiting for our Myanmar visa. I can't believe we're already on our third country, it's flying by! Hope everyone reading this is doing well, we miss you all :)
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Addition by Jason:
We made a rough itinerary for the rest of our trip which I figured I'd post, since a lot of people have asked about it. It should now be in the sidebar. Also, I put together a nifty little map that should help give everyone a visual of where it is we have been... I will update it as we move along. I'm still working on posting pictures (from Laos), and it probably be a few days before they are all up.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Quick Update
We're in Thailand! We've got a ton to write about now that we have good internet access again, but neither of us really feels like doing it at the moment, and we've got a bus ride to Chiang Mai in about an hour. However, we wanted to put up a note letting everyone know that we've left Laos (sadly) and are now in Thailand (yay) where we'll be for a couple of weeks. I've got a lot of pictures from Laos to put up, but I'll probably only get up about half of them today. The rest (the good ones, especially if you like cute Lao kids), along with a big blog update (from Michelle) should be up tomorrow.
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