China: perhaps the second time's a charm?

oh China.  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  I tried. I really did (ok, maybe I didnt).  China was a whirlwind week of the spectacular and the... not so spectacular. 

First off, the ferry from Osaka to Shang-hai.  If you ever have the opportunity to do this, DO IT.  it was great! But get a private room, its worth it.  We shared ours with a father/son pair from nowhere else but New York!  Small world!!  These guys, along with an eccentric, free-spirited French Canadian woman who is just to die for, made the boat ride go by in a flash!  Tons of great conversations, travel stories, life stories, and more were shared. Inspiring.

Shang-hai: Amazing!  I think I have a tendency to love the French-influenced Asian cities the best.  maybe its the food? the architecture? not sure.  But Shang-hai was great. We missed the 2010 World Expo by days, which was fine because we reaped all the benefits (cleaned up city! crazy blue gumby icon guy!  lots of really neat buildings to stare at!) without all the crowds.  We loved the futuristic bridge we had to cross to get from the hostel to the main subway.  I loved all the architecture! You would see an old-world colonial building right next to a space-age glass skyscraper.  it was fantastic.  Shang-hai mostly consisted of 2 days of walking and gawking, getting lost in an underground mall for ages, trying to see Alice in Wonderland in 3-D (at last!) but failing due to... AVATAR!! (ARRGHHH!!), the Shang-hai museum, and bakeries.

On to Beijing.  Which I really wont say much about, except...  the Great Wall of China was awesome.  Totally not what I expected, but in a good way.  zip-lining off the wall was an unforgettable experience.  and we found a great Vietnamese coffee shop near our (under construction!) hostel with one of the best cups of coffee I have ever had in my life (right up there with the kopi luwak).  And the Forbidden City was pretty cool.  And there were lots of funny warning signs/symbols.  There, that was pretty positive, wasnt it?

Last Stop: Hong Kong.

Japan, as briefly as possible

In three words: WE LOVE JAPAN!

Japan was amazing.  Originally, we had only budgeted 2 weeks in Japan. HA! We ended up staying for about a month.  It was just incredible.  And too much to post about right now, so some highlights are:

Sakura Matsuri.  <3  The cherry trees were in full bloom and EVERYWHERE! And at night, they light them up in pretty colors, which makes them even more beautiful.  Ueno Park was gorgeous, and I loved every second of it.

Cuteness.  Japan <3s cute. We <3 cute.  It was great.  We discovered meow-pires (a little kitty vampire), visited the Ghibli Museum (even more amazing than it sounds), laughed at every commercial - every product had a cute cartoon icon - toothpaste, denture cream, ramen noodles, you name it.  Even the police stations each had a little cartoon icon!  Harajuku girls are amazing, and we determined we will wear frilly dresses and dress outrageously whenever we want when we get home.

Disney.  To make myself feel better about not getting into grad school, we went to Disney.  Both Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea (described as "Disney for Adults", but not in a naughty way, more of in a roller-coaster kinda way).  Favorites include: crazy popcorn flavors, crazy pizza flavors (seriously, NO plain cheese???), food in general, its a small world in Japanese, ok, well, every ride in Japanese, and Bunny hop-hop-hopping at the Easter parade.
My favorite story: "Its gonna be just like Splash Mountain, I know it!!"
-So we get on the Indiana Jones ride at Disney Sea after going on some kind of roller coaster ride.  Everything is in Japanese, so there are no ride descriptions or anything.  But there are lots of warning signs about people with bad backs or pregnancies.  And there's a place where you get your photo taken during the ride.  I become convinced that this is a Splash Mountain kinda ride (which I HATE) and start getting really nervous. I want to get out of line, but dont want to be embarrassed and have Megan hate me forever/tease me mercilessly.  So I suck it up and get on.  Its a pretty standard Disney ride, a few fast jerks and spins and turns and such, and I'm sweating like crazy the whole time because I just KNOW the big drop is coming.  And sure enough, we start climbing and we're going down this dark tunnel, and its the scene where the big rock is rolling after Indiana Jones and the cart your in is heading right for the rock.  I know that we are going to go under the rock in a straight dive down, so I scrunch really low in my seat and close my eyes and hold my breath and put my arm around the back of the seat to hold on better.  And a lightbulb flashes and we do a little "woosh" turn thing and its over.  No drop. Though I dont let me guard down until we are pulling into the station and the the guardrail comes up.  Best part - having to walk by the pictures at the end, and see tons of people laughing at my terrified, scrunched-up expression.  Shame-faced.

Sushi. I discovered a love for sushi in Tokyo.  Conveyor-belt sushi is amazing, especially when you have a super-awesome friend to explain everything to you (ohhhhh the plates are color-coded so you know how much each dish costs!).  Thanks Akane!

Temples.  serene.  magical.  Japan is magic.  A war was started: who would have more pictures - Steffany and the cherry blossoms, or Megan and the red gates.  close-ups of flowers was thrown into the mix. temples + cherry blossoms = mind blowing.  Helping school children with their homework, and having them help us with the many temple traditions, including a love shrine walk. 

Space issues that reminded us of home (or not).  capsule hotels.  car garage ferris wheels.  24 manga cafes where you can watch dvds, read comic books, surf the web, or sleep. with free food and drinks!!! and soft serve!!

Soft serve ice cream.  it gets its own category.  Megan was in heaven.

Geisha dance. Bamboo forest. monkey sanctuary. Scary Ferris wheel. Aquarium. bath houses. 

love. love. love.

 

Better late than never: our journey onwards

Dear Malaysia,
Its not you, its me. (or, well, us).

That's how the letter we composed to Malaysia started. I cant remember the rest.  To be fair, it was like over a year ago now and I think we were pretty delirious at the time. 

So, now to pick up where this blog so inelegantly left off (sorry about that, most of our little internet time in Japan/China/Hong Kong was spent catching up on earlier posts, and we just, kinda... fizzled).

We were heading from Bangkok to Japan.  Just had to make a quick connection in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia (or "KL" as the cool kids call it).  However, upon a more in-depth scrutiny of our boarding passes, I realize I have managed to miss the whole AM/PM thing, and we have about 14 hours to spend in the airport. overnight.  woops.  we slept on benches until we were so frozen we caved and got an airport room.  real bed. real shower. luxury!  got up, explored a bit, changed some money, had a pathetic breakfast as we tried not to take out money at an atm (only to have to change it over in Japan).  The indoor rainforest in the KL airport is pretty awesome, but our pictures dont do it justice (mostly because we are exhausted and look like train wrecks).

Megan's favorite story: "Where does Steffany go when she reads?!"
On the plane, I immediately start reading.  Apparently, this is what happens next, as Megan tells it, though I have absolutely NO recollection of this:
- Megan is itchy from our close encounters of the creepy kind in Laos, and is covering herself in Tiger Balm (LOVE Tiger Balm!!)  A lady sitting near her notices, makes a sad face, and asks "itchy?" while making a scratching motion.  Megan nods.  She then offers Megans drugs.  I'm not sure what they were supposed to be - pain relievers, antihistamines? (antihistamines, yeah that sounds about right).  Megan protests and claims she's quite fine, but this little old lady insists, and starts digging through her purse to find her pills.  And then gets up and looks in her bag in the overhead bin.  And goes through so much work to find them, Megan no longer has the heart to say no to her. So she accepts them, takes one, and saves the other for later.  Her thought process: "Well, if this isnt what she says it is, at least Steffany is right beside me looking out for me". Ha!  She could have died.

Next up, Japan: cherry blossoms and so much more!

Laos - Adventures in Bakeries, Biking, and Bed Bugs 3/21/10 - 4/3/10

The boys were back in the United States and it was just me and Steff again. First order of business - sleep. We had to keep a fast pace since the boys were only in Thailand for the week , so we took a day in Bangkok to recover. Especially poor Steff who had caught a cold and lost her voice.

We took a sleeper train to Nong Khai, Thailand with a connecting shuttle across the Friendship Bridge into Vientiane, Laos. We saw that Laos tends to have a slightly different way of doing things as soon as we arrived. We didn't check into the country by standing in an orderly line, receiving our visa, then being stamped in. No no, their system is to gather up a train load of people, huddle them in a large group, have everyone hand over their passports at the same time, then leave them their confused as they shut the check-in window.

"She's coming back....right?"

One by one they would call out our names to come pick up our passports, then slam the window shut again. Everyone had that slight look of relief when they had their passports back from the mystery office.

Once we got our visas we split a van ride into town with a group of middle-aged Europeans. They were all super nice, and told us tales of some of their previous adventures. It's always so inspiring to meet life long travelers, and see that we don't have to stop seeing the world when we're no longer twenty-somethings.

We tried to get into a couple of guest houses that the Lonely Planet recommended, but were all full. We searched for cheap accommodations until we were officially too hot and tired to care anymore. We checked into the first place we found that was in our price range. We realized after checking in that the sheets had tiny little spots on them. Most likely blood stains. Most likely bed bugs. I will let you know right now that this was the only guest house in Vientiane that we were worried about getting bed bugs, and was the only guest house that we did not have bed bugs.

Vientiane is actually a really interesting city. Due to previous French colonization, it has lovely old French styled buildings and theaters. We liked this. Vientiane also has a plethora of spectacular French inspired bakeries on every corner. We loved this. Our favorite bakery being Joma Cafe, for four reasons:

1. It had very..very.. tasty baked goods.
2. It was close to the guest house.
3. It had free WiFi.
4. We kept reading it as "Jo Mama!" when we walked by, and that's just funny.

We became very close friends with Joma.


Vientiane is not only unique for its French architecture, but also the crowd of travelers it attracts. On most of our trip, we have mostly encountered other travelers in their 20's. However, while walking around we started noticing a slightly more mature crowd. No one seemed to be under the age of 45. We also noticed that this countries capital city felt more like a sleepy town than a center of activity. Food was the main attractions. Plenty of quiet upscale hotels. Bars close at 11:00. In fact, the only place open in town past 11:00 PM was... the bowling ally. Then we realized - we were in a middle aged paradise. It suddenly all made sense!

Our main destination while in Vientiane was the Buddha Park. This is a bizarre sculpture garden built by an artist that mainly combines Buddhism and Hinduism, but the park displayed images from those religions and everything in between. I think we even saw the three wise men making a cameo appearance. The cement sculptures were huge and fantastic and crazy and and and... I don't even know what! One building could be entered through a door way shaped like a mouth. Once inside you could walk around in a circle, down ladders to a dungeon, up ladders to a few other floors, and finally out to the roof. From the room we had a fantastic aerial view of the chaos below. Giant laying Buddhas, a merry-go-round like head and arms giving small creatures a ride, human sized animals, a very serious hamster, and a great warrior...battling with a enormous grasshopper. On the way out with met a young monk and helped him with his English pronunciation, as he read from his work book. It was really funny to hear him picking up a mix of our Midwestern/Southern American accents. We had the best time taking the most ridiculous pictures we could. You can look forward to Laying Buddha Megan and Steffany vs. Alligator.

We only stayed in Vientiane for two days before heading to the famous Vang Vieng. We heard it was a party town, but we had no idea we were going from a 60-year-old's paradise to a college freshman's paradise. This tiny town is filled with dirt cheap guest houses (ours was about $4 a night), bars, and restaurants. Most restaurants have tables where you lay back on pillows to watch TV playing endless loops of either The Simpsons, Family Guy, or Friends.. Cultural? Sophisticated? No. Enjoyable? Yes.

I don't want to paint a picture that this is just a wild party town. Vang Vieng also has a ton of out door activities. It's also one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Gigantic green limestone cliffs jutting out into the sky surround the whole area. Farms line the roads, river, and tiny streams. The locals are some of the most quiet laid back people you will ever meet. Cats wonder in and out of the restaurants and shops. You're more likely to see a traffic jam of cows than cars. A lot of people say there's nothing to do in Vang Vieng but drink, which is compete nonsense. You're in a rich green paradise, go experience it.

Once Steff recovered from her cold a bit, we did what the town is famous for - tubing. On the way to the river we made friends with Alex and Dewi. Ex-businessmen, current world travelers, super nice guys. The goal of tubing is to make it all the way down the three mile stretch of river. I say "goal" because the first half is lined with river side bars calling out to you to come have a drink as you float past. This proves to be very distracting. The bar's charismatic hosts (Laos boys, that I would guess are no older than 10) throw out a rope and reel you in. Most of the bars offer free shots of Laos whiskey (bad idea), sell the famous buckets of alcohol (worse idea), then have some form of entertainment such as a swing, zip line, or water slide into the river (horrible idea). It makes me so happy that Laos has low enough safety standards to allow these kinds of activities to happen, because it was a lovely afternoon! While Steff was more a fan of the zip lines, I fell in love with the swings. For either, you needed to climb high up on a rickety ladder to a platform anchored in a tree, grab a hold of the handle, and either free fall down and woosh back and forth on the swing, or glide into the water on the zip line. If this isn't enough, body spray painting and mud wrestling/volleyball/tug-of-war are also popular activities on the river.

Is there anything better than watching the whitest white group of drunk, heart/star-nipple-painted, guys not understand when to let go of the zip line, and then be flung into the river like rag dolls?

No...No there isn't.

We played a game of volleyball with a group of drunk Norweigan boys.. One of whom was throwing up beside the court before we started playing. Normally, neither of us are big volleyball fans - but the alcohol really slows the game down, and takes away everyone's crazy competitive streak. If only I had known before, I could have spiked the gatorade and made my high school gym class much more enjoyable.

Once we got a bit passed the bars, we saw what tubing was more intended to be like. It was so peaceful and quiet. We were completely surrounded little meadows and the mountains towered above us. It felt like the color green was giving us a hug.

Do you even need to ask if two physically fit young backpackers were able to make it down an itty bitty little river by 6:00 PM? Please don't... because we didn't... We wimped out and took a tuk-tuk back. In our defense... It's the dry season so the current is pretty much nonexistent. We paddled with our flip flops down the river for over a mile. When we had both already exited the "this is fun" zone and were just cold, wet, tired, and realized we still had a long way to go... it was time to raise the white flag.

When we got back to town, we bumped into Alex, Dewi, and a British couple we met after getting separated from them in the river. I award Alex and Dewi gold stars for making it all the way down the river with out cheating. We all made plans to meet up later that night to hang out, rather than continue to stand soaking wet and freezing in the middle of the street.

Hot shower and a dress? It must be Christmas. I went down to meet up with the tubing gang while Steff decided to stay in, and have some quality Skype time with her boyfriend. I received my free bucket at The Bucket Bar (yes, that's really the name) and found my new friends - buckets in hand as well. The nice British couple had to leave early, so I spent most of the night with Alex and Dewi. We all shared our travel stories, love for running and biking, great things to do in New York and London (gay bingo with a drag queen announcer - awesome), and tales of marketing. After losing my voice from yelling over the music, I decided to take the hint and hit the dance floor.. I ended up meeting a guy from London and his friend who lives in New York and is from Pittsburgh! I would have never expected to be in the middle of Laos discussing the Steelers. It's a small world and all that good stuff.

Another great activity in Vang Vieng is kayaking. We signed up for a tour which started higher up on the river than tubing, and makes stops to see a few caves in the area. On the tuk-tuk ride there:

Me: "So do you know how to kayak?"
Steff: ::cheerfully:: "Of course, I grew up in Florida! I even have my kayaking girl scout badge."
Me: "..."
Steff: "Do you know how to kayak?"
Me: "Um... well.. I went once.. in high school... and kept crashing into the mangrove trees... I should have probably mentioned this before..."

(Shout out to Codie)

Steffany gave me a crash course on kayaking before we got in the river, with a slightly nervous look on her face.

As we are getting in the kayaks our guide asked us if we know how to swim. Right before walking up a hillside he asked if we had a problem with leeches. A bit late to be asking these types of questions, don't you think?

With Steff's excellent directions I wasn't the total kayak failure I thought I was! We made an excellent team, with out a harsh word between us. Steff had warned me that kayaking is known to spark fights and end relationships. We did a spectacular job the whole afternoon. Ok, so we crashed once... But one time isn't so bad, right?

Using paddles to push ourselves down the river was much preferable to flip flops. It was very quiet and relaxing with the only sound being the splash of our paddles. We made three stops on our kayak tour: a small trek up to a cave in the hills, the organic farm, and another cave just off of the river.

You should have seen Steff's nervous face reappear when our guide said we would be taking a short trek to the first cave. It turned out to be just fine though. We went at a nice easy pace, it wasn't a long walk, our guide made sure we were ok, we stopped to take several breaks, and he pointed things out along the way.

Steff: "It was like he reached into my mind for everything I hated about the Chiang Mai trek... and fixed it!"

I don't know what it is, but being inside of a cave is just really cool.

We took a break for a fantastic bamboo grilled skewer lunch on the riverside while watching the bright pink and green butterflies.

Steff: "I'm going to go frolic among the butterflies. I'll be right back."

The organic farm was really neat. We fed the goats, explored the farms, had tea, and sampled what Laos is known for - mulberries! For all you Farmville kids, we even saw a durian tree.

The last cave was the only down side about the afternoon. Yes, the walk was scenic and lovely. Yes, the cave was really cool and interesting. The problem? Swarms of mosquitoes... Mosquitoes that only attacked me and Steff. I'm not joking or exaggerating. The other tow girls we were with and our guide did not get one bite, and Steff and I were covered! We first encountered them right outside the cave. This turned into a scene from a sitcom. Steff and I were flailing around swatting at bugs, scratching, twitching, and frantically looking for the tiny attackers. This is all happening while our guide... is calmly talking about the history of the cave, pointing out an interesting leaf, etc. Not one bite on him. Not seeming noticing the act of physical comedy Steff and I are performing before him. I really wanted to hear the fun facts about the cave but my thought was only:

"Shut up! For the love of god, shut up and let us in the cave!!!"

We went inside - ahh, relief!

We were attacked again near the kayaks while the guide talked to the other two girls.!


"Sorry we can't take it any more, we'll meet you on the river!"

Steff and I ran to the kayaks, and into the river, while I dumped river water on the huge welts to ease the itching.

We ended the day on a high note. Spinning the kayaks in circles for fun, and taking pictures on the riverside. We took a group picture with one of the other river guides.

Guide: "Now let's take one American style!"
Me and Steff: "American style?"

This meant posed with our arm around the next person. I had no idea this was an "American" thing! He explained that in Laos you would really only put your arm around a very close friend, as strong displays of affection are discouraged.

Possibly my favorite activity in Laos is biking. I paid the 10,000 Kip ($1) rental fee, and went to explore the area a few times. On our last day Steff joined me, and we set out to find one of the other caves in town. We stopped when we saw a sign for the cave pointing to the right.

"But that can't be correct. It's pointing into that farm."

Then we saw other bike tire tracks going in...

This lead us on the most bumpy ride of our lives on a dirt path, through a farm, dodging cows, zig zagging around crops, uphills, downhills, over bamboo bridges, rocks, sand, dirt, gravel, river..... Made it!

It was so worth it! This cave was way better than the ones we saw on the kayaking tour. We got to climb over huge rocks and crawl through tiny passage ways into different sections of the cave. Large glittering stalactites clung to the ceiling. Freakiest thing: one stalactite in the back of the cave looked exactly like Jesus, or random bearded man. Not a little bit - a lot a bit. Not just from faraway, but even more when you get up close. Scary.

The best part about this cave was the small lagoon inside. We got into the tubes they had down there and floated around in what felt like the center of the earth. Center of the earth shadow puppets = good times.

The rest of the bike ride was fantastic. I would recommend going to Laos, if for no other reason, to go biking in the late afternoon/evening to see the warm light casting a million little shadows on the mountains and country side. It's the kind of beautiful you stop and try so hard to burn into your memory forever.

After a week of outdoor adventures, terribly bad-for-you but terribly good street food, huge amounts of night time coma TV watching, and a few new friends made - it was time to pack up our belongings that had exploded all over the room, and head out.

We needed to go to Bangkok to catch our flight to Japan via: tuk-tuk, bus, another bus, shuttle car, tuk-tuk, and train.

Between the "bus" and "another bus", we had a stop over for the night in Vientiane. This proved to be one of the worst nights ever. We found out some things were stolen out of Steff's bag (curse you king VIP bus!), and remember that I mentioned how we tried to get into the highly recommended guesthouses? Our top choice was, Mixok, described as"clean and tidy." Yeah... We thought we had a victory when we were able to get a room there. Until we climbed up the staircase of death and turned into a bed bug snack that night. Actually bed bug "all you can eat buffet" would be more accurate. I didn't sleep well, and Steff barely slept at all. At one point she said I must have been having a nightmare, kicked my feet like a puppy, whimpered, then turned over. That's a bad night.

Our floor had two bathrooms. We had our choice of broken cracked mirror, no mirror. Unidentifiable-stained toilet or (unfortunately) identifiable-stained toilet. Both came with one giant step to get inside, that you are guaranteed to forget about as you plummet into the hallway and death stairs. The icing on he cake being a sign that read:

"Do not throw the soap. Or make the dirty in sink"

...What?

We have stayed at some pretty grungy bug infested places - you kind of need to be ready for that on a back packing trip. We had no problem with that. However, this was our only big encounter with bed bugs (the only other time was at another hostel in Vientiane, but I only got a few bites). Big encounter meaning our hands and feet were completely covered in bites, with scattered clusters on he rest of our body. Tragic? No. But quite annoying. Um, at least I'm used to being covered in mosquito bites to prepare me for this? Bright side?

The next day we fled from Mixok and left for Nong Khai. We saw the other Buddha Park that was larger, and quite possibly more surreal, than the first one we saw in Laos. Great day. Bad night. A combination of mind destroying itching, heat, and a squeaky fan kept us up most of the night on the sleeper train. No sooner did we fall asleep we were awakened by a way to chipper train employee, and shoved off the train into Bangkok.

I almost feel bad for the mean, evil, murderous profanity laced thoughts I had toward the protesters who blocked the streets making it impossible for our cab driver to take us all the way to Rambuttri Road.. We walked past the Democracy Monument the Red Shirt Protesters had taken over and covered in red fabric. This would would have been a great photo opportunity, if I had had the energy to get out my camera - Google it. We realized we were going the wrong way. Walked past the protest and armed riot police reading the paper and drinking coffee again... Finally, we arrived at our former Bangkok home - the My House guest house.

We set up camp in their restaurant downstairs. Sorted out our bug infested laundry - in the restaurant. We covered our blistered, seeping, bug bites in tiger balm... in the restaurant. Then stayed there until our laundry was done, and we could go to the airport.

Me: "Should we be doing all this in here?"

Steff: ::points to the one other person there: a guy passed out, from the night before, on a pile of pillows:: "I don't think we're bothering anyone."

Me: "Touché"

We. were. complete. train wrecks.


We've heard all of the bed bug horror stories, about how hard hey are to get rid of, and how they can stay in your belongings for a long time. I'm very happy to say we were lucky, and after just washing our clothes we managed to get rid of them - it could have been much worse.

After getting tiger balm, doing laundry, and resting at My House, we felt a bit better. We said a final goodbye to Thailand. Because of he protests, we were stopped several times on he way to the airport so the Thai riot control, police, and army could say their goodbyes too! How sweet of them.

Next adventure: Japan!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

The Day Apart - Chiang Mai to Bangkok From the Ground and Sky

Megan's day with Bryan:

After separating from Eric and Steff, Bryan and I took turns taking over the bathroom attempting to wash two days of trekking off of ourselves and our clothes. After a long shower I had made a full recovery, but I don't think my socks will ever be the same.

Our big decision was if we wanted to fly to Bangkok the next morning to save time, or take the bus to save money. After scanning our guidebooks, we realized we had seen pretty much everything we wanted to see in Chiang Mai and Bangkok, so there was really nothing to save time for. After the trek, a day of hanging out and watching laptop movies sounded wonderful.

We enjoyed one last dinner by the moat in Chiang Mai. Thai food, fruit shakes, wonderful. We made one big mistake though - no bug spray. By the end of dinner Bryan had five mosquito bites. I had seventeen. When you get seventeen mosquito bites in 30 minutes, it's time to call it a night. We went back to the guest house and tried to watch The Meaning of Life, but both of us kept falling asleep. If you fall asleep before the opening credits are over, it's time to just say goodnight.

The next morning the alarm rang at 6:00 AM. We had the best of intentions to catch the 7:00 AM bus... but... One can only move so fast at 6:00 AM. We wanted to catch the 8:00 AM bus, really! But we had to get a tasty pancake breakfast, right? Actually, I just had pancakes. We both ordered them but after they brought mine out, they told Bryan that the stove was "done" and he needed to order something else. How is that even possible? The stove had just enough life in it for one pancake and that was it's official end?

We were running late to catch the 9:00 AM bus, but were on a mission to make this one. Success! Good thing too - the next bus didn't leave for hours. Meaning Bryan would have missed his flight to the United States on account of pancakes.

The bus was spectacular. It was nicer than our guest house! We propped our feet up and laid back in the comfy seats with our pillow and blankets. As soon as we departed we were served juice and pastries by the bus crew. It seemed like they came around every 10 minutes serving us something to eat or drink! We also discovered this bus was more geared towards locals, unlike the other buses we've traveled on. No being surrounded by other confused white tourists, no announcements in English, no movies in English. We ended up watching, and really enjoying, the first movie (a crazy Thai romantic comedy) that came on. It wasn't too hard to follow the plot except for a few moments of:

"Who is she?"
"Why is she mad?"
"Ohhh I think that's... No, I have no idea"

Suddenly, the bus stopped. A long announcement came on, and then it turned around!

Me and Bryan: "Oh no! There must be something wrong with the bus and we're either stranded out here or were going all the way back to Chiang Mai!"

Me: "I'll go scout it out!"

I timidly followed others off the bus.. Then peeked around the door at the bus employee with my usual "confused and frighted tourist" face on. He laughed at me and made an eating motion. We had stopped for lunch. Not certain doom. Lunch.

I followed everyone into the building to check it out, then went back to get Bryan.

Me: ::In one breath:: "Ok... The bus is fine, we're stopping for lunch. I think if we follow these people in and show the food people our bus pass we get lunch of I don't know what. I think it's different options of ,what I think is, some kind of meat in orangish sauce or greenish sauce."

I made Bryan order first.

We ate lunch. We still have no idea what it was. Some kind of spicy... something.

The second half of the bus ride was equally nice. We decided against watching the random Thai game show? Sketch comedy? Soap opera? That was playing, to try again at watching The Meaning of Life. So great! I don't think I'd seen it since high school and it's my favorite of the Python movies. We were the doofy kids in the back of the bus cracking up laughing. Next, we watched Little Shop of Horrors, more laughing. Then we got way too into iPod games. Less laughing - more yelling at cartoon sheep.

We were told he bus ride would take between 10-12 hours. We assumed his meant 20-52 hours. Imagine our shock and amazement when we arrived in Bangkok at 7:00 PM after 10 hours! I've never arrived anywhere on time in Thailand.

Bryan: "How is this possible, we're on Thai time!"

It looks like we had more time in Bangkok after all. We headed back to Rambutri Road, so I could check into a new hostel called "My House." this lead to a bad Abbott and Costello like routine when we met up with Eric and Steff.

"What's the new hotel?"
"My house"
"Yes what's the name?"
"My house"
"What's the name of your house?"

You get the idea...

Bryan and I enjoyed one last great Thai dinner and walk around the area to take in the fun people watching and nice night. We reunited with Eric and Steff at the futuristic Bangkok airport.. Seriously, the airport is a sight to see. It even had up and down hill travelators (they call "people movers" travelators!)

Many hugs all around, and the boys were on their way back to the US. Goodbye Eric and Bryan! Thank you for your lovely company, bringing us supplies from home, toting all of our stuff back home, and most of all... Thank you for the cereal.

Steffany's Day with Eric: 
eric and i were ready for a little indulgence after two dirty, bug-filled days.  we booked ourselves a 5-star hotel (at a discount price! <3 thailand) and took a tuk-tuk across town.  we must have looked ridiculous as we wandered into this HUGE reception hall, complete with marble pillars and dangling chandeliers, in our dirty trekking clothes and muddy hiking shoes.  the guy checking in next to us was regaling the concierge with stories about the multiple businesses he owned.  we were so out of place. 


when we got upstairs, our jaws dropped.  our room was huge, and gorgeous, and clean.  giant bed, plush couch, flatscreen tv, and the biggest bathroom i have seen.  a separate shower room (with the option of using the showerhead on the ceiling thats like rainfall), huge jacuzzi tub, and a separate room for the toilet.  luxury.  in keeping with our theme of indulgence, we cleaned up (there was conditioner!! conditioner!), ordered room service -with dessert- and drew up a bubble bath.  i ate pizza and a gorgeous confection of cassir lime and candied ginger cheesecake and drank cocktails in the bubblebath.  indulgence overload.  it was heaven. 

again, keeping with our theme (im a stickler for keeping with themes!) we headed out fresh and all dressed up and got massages.  eric opted for a 2 hour head and shoulder massage while i had a pedicure and foot massage.  glorious, simply glorious.  then we had a second dinner at a beautiful restaurant with a tree growing right in the middle of it. no lie. exhausted by our overindulgence, we quickly fell asleep nestled in giant down comforters and more feather pillows than i could count.

the next day we packed up, i gleefully created a giant pile of items that i wanted eric to take home with him (thank you!!) and my pack was ridiculously lighter.  then it was off to the airport for a breezy 1 hour flight to bangkok. 

once in bangkok (that airport is crazy, the travelators have HILLS!!) we dropped off our bags at the left luggage counter and headed into the city.  we started at khao san road, wandered around a bit, and finally decided that it was way too hot to be wandering around aimlessly.  so we headed over to the little backstreet where we found the vegetarian restaurants, and tried a new one.  unfortunately, the heat, exhaustion, dehydration -whatever- was catching up to me, and i felt like i had been run over by a truck.  i couldnt stomach the idea of walking around in the heat again, so we headed across town to siam center, and decided to wander around the aquarium.  it was lovely, cool, and had amazing displays.  we loved the underwater tunnel with all the rays and sharks floating by.  i took a million pictures, but most of them did not turn out (one advantage of the old camera - it had a museum setting! grrr...) but it was still an amazing afternoon. but soon, even the slow meanderings through rainforests and oceans was wearing me out, and we headed back to the crazy food court for dinner.  i wasnt feeling too hungry, but we stopped by the pizza in a cone (conizza!) and e had to try it.  it was ridiculously crazy, like pizza soup in a cone.  he couldnt figure out how to eat it without spilling it everywhere - careful bites with a fork still made a mess.  we observed another couple who came in after us - the cute little couple daintily nibbled at it just like an ice cream cone.  i guess we just need more practice? 

last stop was back to the airport to meet up with bryan and megan.  we arrived early since i just wanted to sit and rest some, but it may have not been the best idea, as the airport was freezing and i was shivering the whole time. after a slightly (ok, ill admit it) tearful goodbye, the boys were in the air and i was carted off to our ...budget... hotel.  sigh.  it only took one night, and i was spoiled rotten.  oh well, time to get back into the backpacker mentality!

Chiang Mai Part II - The Trek

Time for the four New York kids to take off our sissy city gloves, get down with our nature adventure selves, and go Trekking! After moseying around cities for the past few days I was ready to frolic about in the forest.

We packed into the little safari transport van with seven other people:
Sweet natured doofy British guy, cheerful Canadian couple, Brazilian scientist girls, and hippie plant American couple.

We had to check in at a Thailand police security point before we left. The police officer, very pleasantly, said to us:

"You will be offered drugs up North... Do it up there, have your fun, don't bring it back down here."


After driving away we all said:

"Did that police officer just tell us to do drugs?"

 Yes, yes he did.

We stopped at a really cool large food market on the way. As always, it was so fun looking at all the weird food. We had no idea what many of the food items were, others we knew... but wished we didn't.

Plant guy: "Do you want to see why Thailand is the shit?"
Me and Steff: "Sure"
Plant guy: "Quail eggs and oyster mushrooms! This would be [some large amount of money] back in the states, but here it's [some small amount of money] !!!"
Me and Steff: "Ahh.. neat."

I guess Thailand has something for everyone. I was more impressed by the stunning beaches, but I'm glad plant guy found his happy place.

We all compared what we saw and bought back in the van. Although we had gathered a very unique collection of food, I think the bag of steamed crickets Bryan bought took the cake. He also had the option of grasshoppers or some other kind of slug grub thing - but crickets looked the best out of the bunch. Most of us agreed to try one, even me. Call me a picky eater (because I am) but I'll try anything once. Steff politely declined claiming it went against her vegetarian principles. I think it went against her "not eating really gross things" principles. It was best not to look at the perfectly intact cricket before popping it in your mouth. Despite a slight "bug" after taste and feeling a leg slide down my throat, it really wasn't bad at all. Little salty, slightly crispy.

The next stop was an elephant ride through a bamboo forest. None of us were super duper excited about the elephant ride. We didn't really care if we rode one or not, it just happened to be part of the tour. Plus we didn't know about how they were treated blah blah blah. However, we were there, the elephants seemed ok, so we went. Sadly, the landscape was scorched due to the dry season, and elephants are not the most comfortable to ride on after about 15 minutes. But hey, now we can say we rode elephants through a bamboo forest in Thailand. Cool.

To reach the hill tribe we would be staying at, we had to go on foot for about a 30 minute trek. Along the way, plant guy pointed out and explained to us AND the guide what every plant was. If it was edible he was sure to taste it and describe the flavor.

"Hmm this is good. You should all try this."

We, of course, ate the random wild plants, in the middle of no where, that this total stranger told us to eat, because he seemed to know what he was talking about. It was like he was hosting his own little nature show and we were his audience.

We arrived in the small hill tribe and the eleven of us got settled into our one room bamboo shelter. Each side of the room were lined with sleeping mats with pillows and blankets. Hill tribe trekker slumber party - nifty!

The rest of the villiages buildings were also small, simply made, bamboo houses that had about two rooms. We all explored a bit, watched the cute farm animals, played with some of the children, and watch as they prepared our green curry and vegetable dinner in a huge wok.

The rest of the evening was lovely. We all sat on the floor, and enjoyed a great dinner by candle light while a thunderstorm poured down outside. The women in the village dressed in traditional costumes and sang a few songs for us. While they were singing one of the little boys came over and laid back on Bryan's legs. I guess we were part of the family? After taking quite an interest, Bryan showed him how to use his camera. The boy really got he hang of it too! Color me impressed. Steff gave our camera the boy's friend to take pictures too. Every time this boy would take a picture, he would laugh with glee when the image showed up on the screen, and then give us a thumbs up. We had maaaaaany pictures of peoples feet and half of their heads.

After the performance, we discovered we were lucky enough to have three singer/guitar players in the group. Cheerful Canadian guy, blond haired Brazilian scientist girl, and Eric all took turns playing the guitar and singing some crowd pleasers. The Hey Jude sing along led by cheerful Canadian guy was probably my favorite, Brazilian scientist girl had a wonderful voice and performed a lovely version of Stand By Me, and Eric was our rock star playing some great more recent tunes and hilarious indie songs.

Another form of entertainment was simply listening to our host, who was quite a character. He had a kind of laid back, surfer, hippie dude, tone to how he talked. His catch phrase was "all the time" which he, at first, used in context to something, but then would say it when ever he wanted. Of course, We all stared saying "all the tiiiime" too - which didn't help. His other catch phrase "oh my Buddha!" was also a gem.

The next morning we were split up between the two day trek group (us and the Brazilian scientist girls) and the three day trek group. We were woken up first for breakfast - yay toast, boo scrambled eggs with onions.

After breakfast was our big two hour, up and down the hill sides trek! Our new guide was not quite what I would describe as bubbly and chatty. We learned he had been up all night, so amusing a group of tourists was not high on his list of priorities. We also discovered that this trek was more a means of transportation across the hills, than a leisurely stroll through the woods, as we went at a rather quick pace.

The first 20 minutes were pretty much entirely up hill. Then it was a lot of steep ups and downs. We were once again reminded that going down hill is quite challenging too. We stopped to take a swim by a waterfall which really helped cool us off, and prepare our legs for the second half of he trek.

The second half was mainly flat (easier!), but we had to keep zig zagging across a small stream by jumping on tiny rocks (harder...). After defeating this challenge we collapsed at the end point for lunch. Trekking makes a plate of noodles taste like the greatest meal... ever.

Now that I have described the basic outline of the trek, I would like to point out that I did not expand on anything with our opinions. This was probably the only time on the trip that Steff and I have had veeery different opinions on our experience, so I couldn't type in my usual "we thought this and that."

My opinion: I loved it!. I was happy to see that the scenery was more green and less scorthced. It was fun that the land changed very dramatically throughout the hike: steep up and down hills, flat, water, bamboo forests, great views high and low on the mountain, farm land, fields, green forest enclosures, and so on. The views and the scenery were so amazing. I felt like an adventurer crossing the shallow streams by hopping from one stone to the other. It was wonderful to be out hiking and getting a work out, with out getting overly tired since we had he nice waterfall cool down. The weather was perfect: Cool and sunny after the rain storm. We even saw some cows!

Steffs opinion: she hated it! Steff wanted more of a calm paced nature walk, where the guide actually talked, made sure the group was all together, pointed things out along the way, and helped make it a positive experience. Unfortunately, our guide didn't do any of those things. Our group kept getting split up, we had very few breaks, and there was really no time to stop and enjoy the scenery while making sure we weren't tripping over anything on the ground in order to keep up with he quick pace.

As for the boys, I didn't get their official thoughts, but I would say Bryan's opinion was good and Eric's was not so good.

So, I suppose you could take this 50/50 opinion split as this: depending on what you like this has the potential to be fun, but it had some issues to work out.

Our adventure was concluded with a nice, easy, relaxing activity: bamboo rafting. Simply made rectangle rafts made of bamboo. Long bamboo pole to steer down the river. No need to paddle, just use the pole to push off of the stream's floor or bank in the direction you want to go. Then wade down the river until you need another push. Steff, Eric, and Bryan were on a raft in front of me and the Brazilian scientist girls. Steff turned around and called over to me:

"I feel like Poaontas!"

Just Around the River Bend was stuck in my head for the rest of the afternoon. I should note she laughed at me when I said I felt like Ariel from The Little Mermaid while scuba diving. Ha! Looks like I'm not the only Disney nerd on the trip.

Once the Brazilian scientist girls and I got into a good rhythm, we had a bamboo raft dance party and bamboo pole weight lifting competition. I think we confused the guide.

That concluded the great northern adventure. Upon our return to Chiang Mai, we decided to spit up for the day so Eric and Steff could have some cute-couple-snuggley-"no I love YOU more"- time. It was actually strange splitting up after spending almost two months straight with Steff.

::confused uneasy voice:: "I guess I'll see you... tomorrow?

"Yeah...I guess I'll see you then."

"I think I'm having separation anxiety."


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Chiang Mai Part I - The City

We arrived in Chiang Mai and checked into the "Nice Place" guest house. We read in our guide books that Chiang Mai's guest houses offer such low prices because they make most of their money booking trekking tours up north, rather than on the rooms. This was proved quite true when we were knee deep in brochures, pamphlets, and pictures before we could set our packs down. After gathering a head spinning amount of tour options from our wired front desk manager, we decided to discuss it over lunch before he ended up selling us a time share in the middle of the jungle.

Luckily for our dear Eric and Steffany, Chiang Mai has a wide variety of vegetarian restaurants. We all had really great tofu burgers with a side of (my favorite Asian spelling of french fries yet) "ships" (I believe they were going for "chips"). Try to place an order for a side of "ships" and not smile - can't be done.

While going over our thoughts on if and what trek we wanted to do, an expat at the next table suggested we rent a car and see the sights ourselves. He also pointed at my and　Steff's shirt:

Man: "That's great!"
Me & Steff: "What?"
Man: "You're both wearing green."
Me & Steff: ::dazed confused looks::
Man: "Um.. It's st.patricks day..."
Me & Steff: "Ooooh! Neat! Happy st. Patricks Day!"

We haven't had any concept of what day it was for over a month, so we had no idea it was St. Patrick's Day. We didn't tell the man we end up wearing matching green tank tops all the time because we only have 3 shirts.

The next few hours were　spent bumbling around town in the heat, looking at maps, going in and out of travel agencies and car rental places, weighing pros and cons, gathering more information, before going back to the guest house... and booking the first tour we looked at that morning.

That night we made it out to see Thai boxing! Steff and I have been trying to go see it for weeks, an we finally go in the cultural northern part of the country. ::shakes head::

Once you get past the whole "these are two human beings inflicting needless pain on each other for my entertainment" thing - Thai boxing is awesome!

The ring was in the center of the room, surrounded by cheering fans, confused　tourists, and themed bars. There was even a "lady boy" bar. Every so often the lovely drag queens would come out to perform the YMCA. This provided a nice contrast to the bloody battles.

The fights would begin with the two opponentｓ entering the ring wearing a stiff headband that looked like a halo, saying a prayer, and doing a little warm up to a rhythmic tune. Their trainers would take the halo headbands off, hang it in their corner of the ring, and the fight would begin. What's neat about Thai boxing　is it's done to a rhythmic beat. Their version of a "boxer shuffle" is really more of a dance. A dance followed by a lot of kicking, kneeing, and punching.

These are not big guys either. The heaviest weight class we say was 130 lbs. The smallest was 105 lbs. 105 lbs!? They weigh less than I do! We were later informed this was still "heavy" and the boxers in Bangkok were 90 lbs.　Don't be fooled though, theｙ are hard core. It wad impossible to tell who would win. One person could be ahead the whole fight and be taken down with a single blow! I turned around for one second, and the fight was over!

Me: "What happened??"
Steff: "That guy just kicked him in the FACE and he went down!"
Me: "Whoa.."

Yeah. Crazy.

We all made our highly educated guesses on who would win (I like his shorts - winner!). Eric and I ended up picking all the same boxers against Bryan and Steff. We didn't stay for the last fight, but I'm sure we won.

In case any of you are wondering: yes, we've seen Thai prostitutes every where. What's really odd is a lot of times they're with men for the day. Look around and you'll see an old white man with a scantily clad young Thai girl...playing checkers, going for a walk, having lunch, etc. On the way back to the guest house we walked past a few bars that, like most others, had Thai prostitutes outside. Is it bad that Steff and I found it really funny to watch Bryan get whistled at, called to, grabbed, and nipple pinched? Probably.. but we laughed anyway.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod