Live as if this is all there is!

Orient II

angelabuffjohn — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 13:50:00 GMT

We are off to Asia again! We leave in less than two days! Three weeks this time as opposed to the 9 weeks the last time, but we are going to make the most of it. We will be hitting Japan, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Singapore, and the Philippines!

More to come!! Woohoo!

Photos: Brussels

angelabuffjohn — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 05:06:00 GMT

The Lands of my Peoples!

angelabuffjohn — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 04:57:00 GMT

Less than a year, and we got to go abroad again!

I onced asked my dad about his ethnicity, and he said he was a European mutt. When I dug deeper, he explained that we were part Belgian, French and English. Just by chance those were the three countries on our list for our next trip. I have already been to Ireland, so that takes care of the Ma Buff side of things. So we were off to the land of my peoples! : )

Photos: Panama

angelabuffjohn — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 04:07:00 GMT

Finally heading abroad again after 2 very long years!

angelabuffjohn — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:09:00 GMT

Asia was amazing, we dream of it every day and wish we were back there! Amazing usually is expensive, while overall our trip wasn't that costly, we were gone for over 2 months and it set us back a little bit. Finally, we were able to save for and justify another trip. If we hadn't I might just get even more crazy!

During the last two years we have traveled to New York to visit Erika and Robin who we met in Vietnam, popped down to Jacksonville Beach, FL for a friend's wedding, and went back to San Diego several times to visit our friends and "family" back there. We have done a bit of traveling but nothing international. Now we are off to an area of the world neither one of us have been to, and really know relatively very little about. So in 19 days, Kyle and I will head off to Panama for 10 days! Not quite the length of our last trip, but this will do the trick. Stay tuned...

Epilogue- Back to reality

angelabuffjohn — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:14:00 GMT

So Kyle and I have been back in the US for a little over a month. It was a hard adjustment. We both readapted in a different way. Kyle had a hard time right at first. He was irritated by American’s and the way they seemed so ungrateful for what they have. I think to Kyle they seemed like typical “dirty Americans”. But I think part of that had to do with actually being able to understand what everyone around us were saying. Perhaps the Vietnamese women at the market were discussing the fruit and textile and turning their noses up at it if it wasn’t good enough, but we couldn’t understand that. But then at the airport in Chicago we could clearly understand the teenage girls with fake blonde hair whining to her overweight mother. I guess this was just too much for Kyle all of a sudden!

I, on the other hand, was very happy to be home. I was happy that I could actually read the signs at restaurants and stores, and that I could understand what was going on around me. I was extremely happy to see my cats and sleep in my own bed. And I was excited to find a new job! Which I finally did after about two weeks of looking and interviewing, which was way longer than I had expected. I was a little worried about our money situation, but finally I got offered a job which pays more than I was making before. Then to top it all off I like it way more than my last job! I had about 2 weeks to wait before I started my job, and I was so bored! I was trying not to spend money so Kyle and I didn’t really do much. So we went from doing crazy, new things everyday to not leaving our familiar house for two straight days! I thought I was going to go crazy! Finally, Stephanie came to visit us and right after that I started my new job. And now finally I think I am going through what Kyle went through when we first got back. I find myself daydreaming about Asia and all of our adventures. I sometimes find myself being bothered by the fact that I know where I will be sleeping every night or I know what I will be eating. I am like this with many things though. I usually hate it while it is happening and then I always look back on it with fond memories. The whole hindsight is 20/20 thing!

I just seem to have this restless feeling. Now I know there is so much going on all around the world and I had been a part of that. And now I am “stuck” here in Minnesota seeing the same familiar things everyday. Well I am not completely unhappy, I really like my new job and it is nice to be back to enjoy the fall weather, and MN has a lot to offer. Traveling to those countries forced Kyle and I to use all of our senses and abilities, and now being back here is so easy. It doesn’t require much to get through the day. I think I really miss the feeling of accomplishment when we would successfully make it through another obstacle or even make it through a particular day.

August 6th Heading Home!!

angelabuffjohn — Wed, 6 Aug 2008 05:17:00 GMT

Ok, here's a run down on the last day of our trip! Breakfast, then quick beach time. Shower, pack up. Haggle with the taxi driver on the price to the pier. Settle on 200 Baht, still too much. So we take the taxi truck to the pier, take the ferry from the pier to Ban Phe. Then we take the bus from Ban Phe for 4 hours to Bangkok. Once in Bangkok at around 7:40pm, we catch a taxi to the airport. We are too early to check in for our 11:55pm flight so we wait. Finally check in, make it through passport control, and then wander the airport for a while. Then we eat sushi at an overpriced airport restaurant. It was odd to be eating Japanese food while hearing the Thai language.

Finally went through security and boarded the plane for Tokyo, about a 6-hour flight. Once on the plane I realize that for the next leg of our journey we were booked in Business Class. We find it too good to be true and try not to get our hopes up. Once in Tokyo we remember how much we love Japan and Japanese culture. We buy a few things from the shops that we had missed since the very beginning of our trip when we started in Japan. Kyle bought his mochi and I bought some pickled vegetables, yum! We board the plane and cannot believe our luck! After 9 weeks of travel, many horrible 9-hour bus rides, and so much dirt and chaos, we were mysteriously bumped to business class. It could not have come at a better time. Down comforters and pillow, slippers, a menu for our meals, all the expensive booze we can drink, movies, and terrific service by cute Japanese flight attendants! It was more than wonderful! The 12-hour flight went by super fast. Both Kyle and I thought we could have stayed on the plane for another 6 hours!! Finally, we were back in the U.S. We both had a little reverse culture shock. It was strange to understand what everyone around us was saying.

After arriving in Chicago, we got our bags through customs, and then rechecked. Then we boarded one final plane before we made it home. We arrived in MN around 11am on August 7th. My mom picked us up from the airport and took us home. Fortunately, she had bought us some groceries; we were both very hungry from traveling so long. When we finally walked into our house, we realized we had been traveling for over 36 hours. The clothes I was wearing I had put on in Thailand, and (ick) the last time I had showered I was in Ko Samet washing the beach sand off me! It was so good to be home and to hug the cats! We stayed awake as long as we could to help adjust to the time zone. The jet lag turned out not to be too bad! I can't believe we are home. Back to reality, time to get a job and settle in. It will be interesting to see how the trip has changed us!

August 5th Last Full Day!

angelabuffjohn — Tue, 5 Aug 2008 05:16:00 GMT

This day looked much like the other days on the island. Beach time! Apparently, I get really fun on the last day of our trips. I must finally relax enough to have a good time. Kyle and I enjoyed a decent amount of Rum and Coke while we lounged on the beach. We played in the water and ate a ton of food.

After we left the beach and showered and it was just starting to get dark we made our way to this massage place we had seen earlier. We both got an hour-long Thai massage. It was the best one of the whole trip! We were right next to the ocean and could hear the waves crashing on the shore. The two women that gave us the massages were very good. Kyle told her about his bad shoulder, and then she noticed the bad knots and bad condition of his back and she paid extra attention to those areas. We had wished we had gotten a massage there every day we were on the island.

We really worked up an appetite after the day on the beach and the wonderful massage. Again, we ate over looking the ocean. I had garlic pork with rice and Kyle had some curry (of course!) We had three lovely dining companions, three rather skinny cats which we shared our meat with. It made me miss my kitties even more. Then it was off to bed, we wanted to get up early the next morning and enjoy the beach for a few hours before we have to head to the airport.

August 4th

angelabuffjohn — Mon, 4 Aug 2008 05:16:00 GMT

Today we decided to do something other than just lay around on the beach! We decided to lie around on a boat! There was a boat trip that offered snorkeling, lunch, fishing and a fish farm all for 400 Baht, a pretty good deal. We had to return the moto so we booked our trip from one of the many tour desks near Silver Sands. After booking the trip we had a little over an hour to have breakfast. We both had the Mexican breakfast at Silver Sands, which came with an omelet with ham, cheese, and salsa, and French fries. It was good, nothing special. We went back to the tour desk to catch the taxi to the pier.

Once at the pier we boarded the boat. The passengers sat on the top deck of the boat in little lounge chairs. For a while we just tooled around and stopped at a few beaches to pick up more passengers.

It was so nice to be out on the water. The weather was perfect! After a while we stopped somewhere for some swimming and snorkeling. I was very excited to snorkel. I had never done it before and I had been looking forward to trying it throughout the whole trip. So Kyle grabbed us some gear and we jumped in. I always get that panicky feeling in my chest when I first jump into deep water, even with a life jacket on. So once I felt comfortable we made our way farther away from the boat to where other people were snorkeling. Before we got out there I freaked out because I saw something large and round below us. I immediately brought my feet up. Kyle used his snorkel gear to look to see what it was. He made me look before telling me what it was. It was just coral. The water wasn't that clear and I was not that interested in looking at the coral. Besides feeling as if I was going to suffocate because the mask covers your nose, I also didn't like not knowing what was beneath me. So I went back to the boat while Kyle stayed and snorkeled a bit more. When I got back to the boat there were two girls that we all scraped up and bleeding, right away I thought it was from the coral, and I was really thankful I had gone back to the boat when I did. Later when Kyle got back on the boat he said he thought their scratches were from the barnacles on the boat, either way I was happy I didn't get scratched.

They moved the boat to another location and we had lunch. They made it right on the boat! We had fried rice and kabobs. For a lunch made by the boat workers it was really good. We then moved to another location to swim some more. This area had a floating platform that I swam out to while Kyle did some more snorkeling. After an hour we left to do a little fishing.

The fishing equipment consisted of a plastic water bottle with fishing line wound around it with a weight and a hook. The boat anchored and everyone grabbed a bottle and dropped a line over the side. The boat was really bouncing around. At this point I made my way down to the bottom level to sit towards the center of the boat since I was really feeling sick. Many people we throwing up over the sides. It was all I could do not to puke. Finally, the men on the boat told us to pull up our lines and we set off again. I had taken a generic Dramamine so I feel right asleep. When I woke up we were pulling up to a fish farm.

Both Kyle and I enjoyed the fish farm. We got to feed some of the sharks and turtles and other fish. It was a little scary since the "tanks" were just large nets hanging down from two 2x4's attached to floating barrels. The visitors walk along the 2x4's. So if you loose your footing or trip you could fall in with the fish and sharks. This was the last stop on our boat tour. We got back to the pier and took a taxi truck back to our hotel. With just enough time to have a couple of cocktails on our little porch and then make our way to watch the sunset on the other side of the island. It was very beautiful. Kyle took many photos! On our way back from the sunset, I found a restaurant to have dinner while Kyle ran back to the room to grab something. I picked the Apache restaurant and we ate out on the pier. I ordered before Kyle got back and he guessed what I had ordered. He didn't get it right, but I ordered a steamed fish with chilies and garlic, sautéed vegetables and a noodle dish with chicken and vegetables. It was all very good, and the fish came on this little hot plate thing with a little burner under it. So yummy! After dinner we just went back to our room and went to sleep. It had been a busier day than we were used to. Only 1 more full day and then we have to head home. Kyle's sad about it but I am excited.

August 3rd

angelabuffjohn — Sun, 3 Aug 2008 05:15:00 GMT

We are fed up with this Tub Tim resort. The service is crap and the food is not all that good, plus we are getting ripped off by staying in this fan-only room. So we rented a moto and went in search of a new place to stay. We only had two hours to explore the island and look at rooms to find a better one.

We started out going south; we had heard that it is more secluded down south. We went down at least four really bumpy, really terrible roads and looked around the different resorts. I didn’t get a good vibe from some of them, and then others were way out of our budget. Then we happened upon The Viking Resort. It looked very nice, and new. It also seemed to be large and there looked to be some people milling about. So we enquired about the price and asked to see a room. The guy at the front desk, who seemed to be very high, brought us to a bungalow with an amazing ocean view. As we walked up Kyle turned and gave me an excited look. This room turned out to be very nice other than the cement floors. But the bed actually had a blanket! This room also had a TV with cable, and a mini fridge. Not to mention AC and hot water, and it was clean! I think the best part was that it was cheaper than our first room at Tub Tim. So Kyle and I rushed back to our room to pack up our stuff. I started to pack while Kyle took the moto into town to get more cash to pay for our remaining days. Once he got back we checked out, stole the large white beach towel, and figured out how to carry all of our stuff in as few of trips as possible.

We left two bags at the hotel and I strapped on one of the large Porters to my back. Kyle put a small backpack in the basket on the front of the moto, and I had another cloth type shopping bag over my right arm and propped on my leg, this bag contained the stolen towel, Kyle’s big tennis shoes, and a few other things. I thought I was going to be bumped right off the back once we started to go. I had so much weight on me that it was awkward and Kyle had to be extra careful when he was steering. We made it back to Viking, and I made my way down the big hill with all the bags either strapped to me or in my arms. Kyle went back for the rest while I started to unpack. He made it back rather quickly, and I guess without me freaking our on the back of the bike he can go much faster.

By this time it was after 12 noon and we had not had any food. We were starving. It turns out that our resort is very small, less than four rooms, and the reason we had the room with the best view is because we were the only people staying there. Since it was the low season the hotel didn’t have its kitchen up and running. And the reason I thought it was so big at first was because two other resorts border both sides of ours, but it really didn’t matter. We were still really happy with it. We went next door for some lunch.

I ordered a noodle dish. I had no idea what it was but I thought I should try it. It turned out to be a soup, kind of like chicken noodle and egg drop soup combined. It was very good. Kyle had Pad Thai with prawns. His was good as well. Then we hit the beach. We made our way north just a tad and camped out on the beach there. While Kyle dozed on the beach I went to find a restaurant that served French fries. It had been a couple of hours since I had eaten and of course I was getting hungry again! I found this restaurant just steps away from where we were sitting that had fries, and the cute girl that worked there let me take the fries and beer back to our spot on the beach. We really just laid around some more, and played in the water. Later we went back to our hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. We walked up and down our little section of beach trying to figure out where we wanted to eat. The place I had gotten the fries also had pizza and both Kyle and I were craving it. So off we went. The cute girl remembered me, she said “Oh you are the girl with the French fries!” I totally felt like a fattie! Hehe.

The restaurant was out of some of the ingredients that we wanted but it didn’t matter. Kyle and I played Farkel while we waited for our food. There was a large group of maybe 20 something Thai people that were also eating there. We had seen them earlier playing on the beach and playing guitar and singing. They were having so much fun, and had practically a whole bar setup with them. They ordered a ton of food. All of which looked really good. We ended up ordering some fried rice to go along with our pizza. The food was really good, and after dinner we picked up an ice cream treat from a little mini-mart and went back to the room to get some sleep.

August 2nd

angelabuffjohn — Sat, 2 Aug 2008 05:14:00 GMT

This morning Kyle was able to sneak and get a voucher for breakfast since we figured it wasn’t included with our cheapie room. As time went on we realized nothing was included in our cheapie room. Not only did it not have hot water and AC which we knew about ahead of time, but it also didn’t come with towels, and if you used one roll of toilet paper you had to buy your own! So in the end it would have been a better deal to stick with the AC room, but of course we were trying to save money. We had our own towels so that wasn’t a problem and I refused to buy TP from our hotel but we had brought that as well.

So we had a mediocre breakfast but at least we were on the beach with our feet in the sand. We also paid a little extra for a fruit shake and it was super good.

After that we hit the beach again. Another day of lying around. It started to rain a little this day but it didn’t really last that long which was good. We had lunch at Jep’s, which has bungalows you can stay in and a restaurant. The restaurant has every type of food imaginable, Indian, Mexican, Italian, Thai, and Western. We had some Mexican. It was ok, everything is just a little different than back home, but that is the fun of trying everything.

After our long, hard day of doing nothing we showered and took a little nap. Then we went to dinner at Silver Sands. While we ate they were showing a movie, The Sex and the City movie, so we watched that while we ate. I had already seen it but Kyle hadn’t and I heard him laugh out loud a few times! When the movie was over we noticed there was a fire show going on on the beach. Three men had flaming sticks and balls on chains and were swinging them around and dancing with them to the music. It was very impressive. All in all a very uneventful day but we enjoyed it!

August 1st Koh Samet

angelabuffjohn — Fri, 1 Aug 2008 05:12:00 GMT

We had breakfast this morning. The usual fried eggs with toast and veggies. For some reason or other the food seems better and healthier out here. Even when it seems ill prepared. I am guessing that most of the food is fairly fresh and not genetically engineered like the crap in the states. They of course don’t prepare the food as unhealthily as they do in the states either.

We then proceeded to switch rooms. Last night we barely used the a/c and decided that we could save ourselves a lot of money by staying on the fan room. It is 1500 baht ($45) for the a/c room and 800 baht ($24) for the fan room. So I went to the front desk and asked them the differences between the a/c room and the fan room. They said that the only difference was that one room had a fan and the other had a/c.

So we switched and I swapped keys. I then thought it wise to pay for a room through the weekend since it gets really busy during the weekends and if we went day by day we might end up not finding a room. We moved to the room and it was as explained. Same design, construction, and layout as the a/c room. But of course with further inspection it was revealed that there were some discrepancies that would reveal this room as being unsatisfactory.

To start with I went down to let them know that our room didn’t have any towels in it. They told us that we had to pay 100 baht per towel. I decided that they could kiss my ass instead of charging for a towel, so I just went back to our old room and grabbed our old towels. They had actually given us two extra towels in the course of our short stay in the a/c room so they wouldn’t even notice them missing. I also grabbed a large white triple size towel that I can only assume to be a beach towel. It is quite nice.

So now that we are situated in our new room we decided to venture out and get some sun. It was very nice out again today of course; I mean how could we expect less. It is beautiful, sunny, and with a nice breeze during the day and at night it likes to rain. That is quite a nice schedule, I love the sun during the day and I enjoy hearing the rain around me as I sleep. I believe someone is trying to make this a nice experience for us. Not to insinuate anything of course.

We had lunch at the Silver Sands. The food was good, but it of course wasn’t anything fantastic.

Saw topless girl

Angy got mad at me for being on the internet too long

Lounged all day

July 31st, Ko Samet, Thailand

angelabuffjohn — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:11:00 GMT

Angy and I were woken up at around 4:45 am, give or take 15 minutes. We got up and went about our morning routine of brushing our teeth and Angy washing her face. The train man then came around and turned everyone’s beds back into seats for the remainder of the trip. The train eventually arrived in Bangkok station around 6 am and we disembarked into the station.

Of course as soon as we got out of the exit gate we were attacked by the taxi guys. “Where you wanna go?” The first guys were trying to charge like 300 baht ($9) to go to the bus station that we need to go to. Then they were telling us that they would take us all the way to the ferry terminal in Ban Phe for 1000 Baht. Great deal except that we could take a meterd taxi to the bus station for less than 100 Baht and then a bus to Ban Phe for 200 Baht. Everybody is always trying to work some sort of scam.

So we took a metered taxi to the bus station for 110 Baht and then had to wait to take the 8 am bus to Ban Phe since we arrived too late to catch the 7 am bus. So we waited around a little bit, Angy went to the 7-11 and bought some snacks and water. We then hopped onto the bus at 7:50 and got ourselves cozy for the 3 hour bus ride to Ban Phe.

Not too much to talk about for the bus ride. It seemed to go by fairly quick, so before we knew there we were, only an hour away from the island of Ko Samet. We got off the bus and Angy had to go to the bathroom, so while she waited I talked to this girl that was traveling with her boyfriend on the same bus with us.

I asked her if they were also going to Ko Samet, and they were. So I asked if we could tag along for a little bit because we didn’t know where to catch the ferry. Angy came out and we made our way to the pier. We bought our tickets for the ferry and walked to the end of the pier to wait for our boat.

The ferries don’t actually work on any time frame. They just wait until there is at least 20 people before they load up the boat to leave. We boarded the boat and started towards the island. It was already looking like a beautiful day. I was very excited to doing a whole lot of nothing and relaxing on the beach for 6 days. No moving around, no worrying about where to go next or how to get there. Just some good R&R.

Once we arrived at the pier on Ko Samet the heckling began once again. “You want taxi? Where you wanna go?” I can’t wait until I don’t have to hear that again for awhile. The taxi (A pickup truck with bench seats) was going to charge us 100 baht a person to get to our bungalow. We said that was too high. Then the couple we met on the bus said that it is only 20 baht a person. So we negotiated accordingly.

It was a short truck ride to our bungalow. It took less than 10 minutes to get there. What a nice sound to hear the waves crashing on the shore. (I just thought that I would mention that I am typing this while sitting on a bamboo reclining lounge on the beach about 10 yards from the ocean. It soo beautiful and peaceful! It will be tough to leave to go home.) We checked in and got the key to our bungalow, equipped with a/c and hot water.

It was a nice room, not very big but everything we needed. We unpacked what was necessary and Angy took a shower while I went to rent a moto and go to the ATM for more money. Nobody has credit card machines around here and the nearest ATM is by the pier. But apparently there was a misunderstanding and Angy didn’t want me to rent a moto and get cash, so by the time I got back she was already showered up and ready to go and was wondering where the hell I was. As soon I got in the room I was barraged with a million questions.

We headed down to have some food. Angy was still pissed at me so we didn’t really say much. I had already apologized and we both decided that there was a miscommunication somewhere. I usually just have to wait for Angy to get out of crazy mode so we can actually talk about what happened.

We had some food, which usually helps Angy. Angy had chicken with basil and chilis with rice and I had a curry that was so spicy I thought I was going to die (not really, but it was pretty damn hot.) We then went to the beach and into the water. Before this Angy was upset about the room, the service, and just about everything else. She didn’t want to be here and she just wanted to go home.

It took a while but she eventually calmed down. I think she was still upset about things beause she would whine about little things every once in a while. The beach was nice and water was better, it was like bath water. The grade of the beach is so gradual that I can walk out a good 50 yards and still have my head above water.

It was very nice and relaxing. After that we decided to take advantage of the moto and headed off to a beach on the other side of the island to watch the sunset. We ended up at a nice resort and enjoyed ourselves battered and fried shrimp and a cocktail while we watched the sunset. A perfect end to the day. And we also fed our shrimp tails to a little cat that was wondering around.

Also some where at the tail end of the night when we were back in our room almost ready for bed. Angy was hungry and so was I. So I went down and ordered a cheeseburger and fries and I brought it up to eat in bed. The end

July 30th, Chiang Mai to Koh Samet

angelabuffjohn — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:56:00 GMT

Breakfast was again very good. Mim helped me order mushrooms with my eggs rather than the potatoes I was having. Then we parted ways with Mim, saying we would meet up in Koh Samet in a few days. Kyle and I had a few things to get done before we checked out to go the train station. Our train left at 2:50pm and arrived the next day in Bangkok around 5:30am!

We checked out of our hotel, stored our bags, and went on the internet briefly before heading out for a little bit. I have been amazed at how many places have internet. No matter where we have been, the internet is only a few blocks away. I guess there is no excuse for how behind we are on the blog. The only reason I can find is that Kyle had discovered his love for reading and has his nose in a book constantly. It is impossible to pull him away from his books to write in the blog, and I don’t want to monopolize the blog. Plus it seems like our readers like Kyle’s entries better, oh well.

We stocked up on some supplies for the train ride and had a little Mexican lunch at a serves-it-all restaurant. Then we rushed back to the hotel to take a minivan to the train station. When we saw the train and the area we were to sleep I was very concerned. The train car seemed very old and dirty. We sat in two seats facing each other and we were told by Mim and the internet that they would come around later and change our seats into beds. This worried me as well, seeing as our seats were not very comfortable. And it was miserably hot! Even with the large window wide open and a fan blowing on us I was sweating buckets. But we were off and I would just have to deal with it for the next 15 hours!

(Kyle) The rest of the train ride was fairly boring. Both Angy and I had both a lot, listened to the ipod, and typed in the computer. Other than that we ordered a dinner for on the train. When our meal arrived it was as expected. Just a grade better that the average airplane meal. Although the food we had on our international flight was really good. I was actually quite impressed.

This day ends up with our two seats being converted into our bunk beds. The top wasn’t so bad, a little more luxurious than on the sub. I don’t think the bottom was as comfortable as the top bunk, but Angy didn’t want to have to get up and maneuver up and down the bunk throughout the night since she always has to go to bathroom.

We both went into our respective bunks and prepared ourselves for a long and frequently interrupted nap.

July 29th, Chiang Mai, Thailand

angelabuffjohn — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:55:00 GMT

Today we needed to figure out which beach or island we wanted to go to and make travel arrangements for getting there. Kyle’s dad had tried to help us out with the use of his timeshare but nothing was available at such short notice near any of the beaches. WE took Mim’s advice once again and decided to go to Koh Samet which was only a four hour bus ride from Bangkok. So be booked the overnight train to Bangkok, since we booked it only the day before we got stuck in the 2^nd class sleeper without AC! I was dreading it, but it saved us money. We made plans with Mim and her boyfriend Will to meet up for dinner later and then go to the market.

Kyle and I bummed around for a few hours, had a little late lunch and stressed about money. While we were having lunch Kyle caught the attention of our waiter. When Kyle went to use the restroom the waiter told him he was a very handsome man. Then at the end of the meal Kyle paid our bill and asked where he could get his hair cut, he told him he was very hot. Then when I was in the bathroom he came over to the table and told Kyle that tomorrow morning he could take him to his house and cut his hair for free. I think Kyle was both a little flattered and a little freaked out. Needless to say Kyle found a place to get his hair cut later that afternoon rather than have the waiter cut his hair at his house! So yet again in another country Kyle got his hair cut. This one was better than the one in Vietnam, but nothing special. After the haircut we went back to the hotel to kill time before having to meet up with Mim and Will.

After meeting up with Mim and Will she took us in her rental car to a restaurant called Riverside. She ordered, which we love! She ordered a ton of food and we were not able to finish it! I have to describe Mim, she is so cute and tiny. Her hair is down to her butt, and she wears kinda hippy-type clothes with awesome silver jewelry. When we were out with her she was approached by a girl who owned a clothing shop and thought she was a designer, she has an amazing style. She and her parents own a restaurant in Chaing Khong which is small town on the Laos border. It is where we had amazing salsa. Her dad seems like a hippy too. He has long hair as well that is down to his waist and streaked with gray. He also is a musician and plays the guitar.

So anyway for dinner we had steamed fish, beef curry, deep fried shrimp, vegetables in oyster sauce, a veggie and sausage platter that came with a green chili pepper dipping paste, and other stuff I can’t remember but it was all very good. After dinner Mim took us to the night bazaar and helped us purchase a few more presents. She brought us to her favorite jewelry shop that sells handmade silver jewelry. She bargained for us! After the market she wanted to check out this jazz place where a guy she knew might have been playing. She said he is very young and very good on the sax. So when we got there he was there and he was going to play later. Not only was her friend there but I think every other musician in Chaing Mai was there too. It was great to see so many talented people just jamming together. It was so crouded and I think musicians out numbered the audience at least 2 to 1. It made me think that Chaing Mai should have more venues like that one so that it would give all of these people more places to perform. The North Gate Jazz Coop was not only filled with musicians but it was also filled with little kitties. I don’t know why the cats liked it there since it was so loud for their little kitty ears but there was at least 6 cats that lived there. After a couple of cocktails it was closing time. Mim brought us back to the hotel and we decided to meet the next morning for breakfast. She also pointed out to us that the hotel offered a free ride to the train station, so Kyle and I scheduled a ride for the next day. Then it was off to bed!

July 28th, Chiang Mai, Thailand

angelabuffjohn — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:53:00 GMT

We got up and enjoyed the breakfast at our hotel that Mim had suggested. We both had poached eggs with bacon, ham and sausage. Of course the sausage is like a hot dog but it is still good, it at least tastes like a sausage. Kyle went down to upload stuff to the blog but realized that our thumb drive had stopped working so then he went off in search of a new thumb drive while I wrote more stories. He ended up taking a tuk-tuk to the other side of the city to get a thumb drive. It was actually a pretty good deal. $14 for 4 GB thumb drive.

(Kyle) Finally we headed out to explore the city of Chiang Mai. First order of business was to get ourselves some new books for the beaches. We have already blazed through 5 books in the past 2 weeks. We found the street where all the bookstores are located. It seems that most of the books are already read through once (used). But that is ok. At least they are a little cheaper than normal. We bought 3 books in two different bookstores. We also ran into Lache and Sarah and decided to meet them on purpose later that night for a Thai Boxing show followed by a free cabaret show.

Now it was time for a little more food and a drink. We started walking the streets looking for a restaurant that had a menu that peaked our interest. We ended up at a pub with a pool table and enjoyed ourselves a nice little lunch. We each had a cocktail and enjoyed the presence of the two resident dogs. One of the dogs was a very large golden retriever, who while we were there got a nice little bath by the women who worked there.

(Angy) After lunch we went on a hunt for a place to have some photos printed out. We had taken pictures in the village in Laos and we promised the villagers that we would send them to Green Discovery so they could bring them the pictures the next time they went to their village. Finally after walking for a very long time, and it was very hot we found a place that would do it and it would only cost us 120 Baht. We didn’t really have much in mind for this day so we just walked around. This at first seemed like a good idea, but then we were really hot and starting to get dehydrated. We walked for over a half an hour and I was getting really crabby. So crabby in fact that Kyle accidentally kicked a rock at me while he was walking and I went off on him to be more careful! I was not being rational; I think the heat was getting to me! We found a place that looked like we could get some water and something else to drink, but the only water they had was warm. So we left to find somewhere else. Finally we found a place to have water and ice cream, and then it was time to find our way back and pick up our pictures. So again we walked and walked and walked! The pictures turned out nicely, and then we went back to the hotel to freshen up before our Thai boxing event that night.

Kyle feel asleep on the bed while I read for a little bit. Then we had to rush to have some dinner before we met up with Sarah and Lache. We ate at this Italian restaurant that the Japanese man on our minibus to Chaing Mai had recommended. It was fabulous! I just wish we could have taken our time but we ate and left within 45 minutes, the staff was very concerned as to why we were out so fast, but we explained the best we could that we had to meet someone and that the food was very good. Kyle ran our leftovers to the fridge in our room while I waited for S & L at the rendezvous point, which was in a square with a huge stage that had a massive picture of the Prince and a happy birthday message to him, well it was more like a thing saying to honor him and give him good luck on the 28^th for his birthday.

The four of us were very early for the boxing show, and none of us knew what to expect. We were one of the first to arrive but we got a ring side seat! As I sat down I pointed out to Kyle and the others the red splotches on the seat cushion where I was to sit, I swear it was blood! But I guess it could have been a red colored drink that someone spilt. So we had some drinks, which were overpriced, and talked while we waited for it to start. We pondered if the audience would be all Westerners. It turned out to be just that! I went to the restroom right before it started and saw some of the boxers all greased up and getting ready. It started with the lightweight and went up from there, and there was said to be some lady boxers too. The four of us bet on the different matches between each other, but only like 10 B per match. They were each 5 rounds. I didn’t know how I would react to seeing this in person since I had never seen a fight like this in real life. Kyle took a bazillion pictures and tons of video. I cringed for most of the first fight, but like with most things I became desensitized as the matches went on. Some were worse than others, more brutal. I had to remind myself that they are doing this of their own freewill. One match had to end before 5 rounds because one guy got a kick in the ribs that looked like it broke some ribs. The lady boxers were ok, not that interesting. Kyle thought they should have been wearing bikinis instead of shorts and tank tops and t-shirts, nice. As almost a halftime show they had 13 year old boys fight, which was hard to watch. Then four men entered the ring and were blindfolded and then they all fought in this huge Muay Thai orgy. The referee even got into it, and kicked some of the guys when he would get hit by them, it was a gag but fun to watch.

Kyle seemed to be enthralled with the boxing. We joked about my friend Adrianne’s boyfriend, Jef was at the match he would leave and be all revved up and want to try the moves on Adrianne! I’m sure she would just love that, hehe. We took lots of pictures. The last to fights were the most exciting. One between a guy from Sweden and a Thai guy, and then the last fight which was called the major fight. The major fight was very intense. You could tell that they were both very good and the moves were some much more fierce! After the major fight we thought it was over but then this talk white guy got in the ring in boxing shorts. The word in the crowd was that he was just “a bloke from England that was piss drunk and wanted to try”

Ok so I should explain the little I know about Muay Thai, this little bit of knowledge was gleaned from the LP and a show on cable called Fight Quest, Muay Thai. While watching this show back home I was drinking wine, and decided to show Kyle my Muay Thai kick while wearing a long nightgown. Well my feet slipped on our hardwood floors and I landed right on my ass. I think I shook the whole house. Very painful. So before the fight the boxers perform a “dance” called ram muay “this ceremony usually lasts about five minutes and expresses obeisance to the fighter’s guru (khruu) as well as to the guardian spirit of Thai boxing” LP page 56. This was my favorite part. This is done to music. Music is also played during the fight. It sounds kind of like the music a snake charmer plays. Then they fight, no body part is off limits but you can’t use your head to strike but you can strike the head.

Ok so the piss drunk white guy was in the ring and kind of dancing like the professional do but he looked very wobbely and like he was just going to get creamed. He was a lot talked than the Thai boxer, so his reach was much longer. He lasted throught the first round but looked absolutely exhausted at the end of the round. Then in the second round he got the Thai fighter up against the ropes and just laid into him with many punchs to the head. The Thai went down, and the white guy actually won. He was surprised that he won and didn’t want to leave the ring. He was soaking up his victory. Most people had left by now but we stayed for the caberet show. The labyboys came out all glammed up looking like something you would see at the drag show brunch in San Diego! These “women” liked to show off their nimples and boob jobs. They were absolutely beautiful even though they came into this world as boys. After about four songs that they lip-synced to they walked around from pictures and to collect tips. One went completely topless with just a thong on. Later we talked to Mim about the ladyboys and she told us that they are revered in Thailand. They have a better chance of getting hired than a “regular” man or woman because Thai people seem to think they can understand both men and women. It is a special beautiful thing here which boggles our minds since anything that is different or out of the ordinary in the US is frowned on my a lot of our society.

It was already after midnight so we checked our email, ate our leftovers and went to bed.

July 27th, Luang Nam Tha, Laos to Chiang Mai, Thailand

angelabuffjohn — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:49:00 GMT

More travel…..So here we go. We will keep this one simple. Got up, had breakfast. Caught a Tuk-Tuk to the bus station. Took the bus to the Laos border. Took a long tail boat across the river to Thailand. Paid our way in. Angy falls on her ass in some street sludge that not only stained her pants but also her underwear…YUCHH! Ate lunch, met a local girl named Mim who helped us book a hotel in Chiang Mai (She also makes a mean salsa that even rivals some we’ve had in Mexico). Took a minibus from Chiang Khong to Chiang Mai. Arrived in Chiang Mai around midnight just in time for a good nights rest.

P.S. That is 16 hours on buses, minivans, boats, tuk-tuk's, and on foot. Needless to say, it was a long day and a well deserved hot shower and nice clean bed.

July 26, Luang Nam Tha, Laos, Kayaking Adventure

angelabuffjohn — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:53:00 GMT

So if you read yesterday’s story you might remember how when Angy had to go to the bathroom the second time I “made” her go to the bathroom alone. Well it was about four in the morning and it was already getting light outside. Also she was just walking down the stairs from the house and was peeing about 5 feet from the bottom of the steps. Just remember that for later.

So I think that we finally got up around 7am and walked out to see what was going on. Yoi was already almost done cooking our breakfast so it was good timing for us to wake up. We walked into the kitchen shack to see what was going on.

The first thing that I noticed was that there were pieces of beef hanging above the fire that Yoi had skewered and left there overnight. That kind of grossed us out because we knew that he was going to serve that to us for lunch. All I could think of was that as the heat and smoke from the fire started to dwindle last night the bugs came and had a taste of there own. So who knew what kind of interesting things that dried beef could be harboring.

We had a good breakfast and all I can remember was that there was rice. But I do remember that it was good. He also told me that the father/grandfather wanted us to take a family picture for him. Of course I was more than happy to oblige. The difference of what something like that means to me and what it means to him is so different. I can only imagine.

Even though the people that live in this village have access to a road that can lead into the town center, they s still don’t really have electricity. They make most of there tools, baskets and other household and farming instruments by hand and mostly what nature has provided to them. Such is the same with the houses that they live and work in. They even make there own knives and sickles. Angy and I witnessed a primitive type of bellows used to heat up and melt metal so that they can temper and mold it into what they want.

Yes, so as I was saying, I took an individual picture of the father. He had put on his best pants and best collared shirt (a local beer shirt) and I took a few photos of him in front of a fruit tree that I think that he was proud of. I then try to ask if he wanted me to take photos of anyone else. He then motioned to who I believed to be his wife. They started talking to each other then she grabbed a couple kids, removed her scarf and stood in front of the same tree as her husband.

They were all very happy with the pictures, and the kids of course were enthralled with seeing themselves on the camera screen after I took the pictures of them. It is fun to see them enjoying themselves so much. At the same time I feel kind of bad. It’s like I shouldn’t be there. What must we look like with nice clothes, bags, and gadgets? I feel like an intruder.

After the photo session we got all of our clothes and gear packed into the dry bags and started our walk down to the riverside. According to the itinerary that we had seen of our trip before we left today is supposed to include 5 hours of kayaking. But of course the river is really fast, so I think that Yoi will delay us a few times so that we don’t make it to the end too soon.

It was another day of fun kayaking, the rapids that we saw were not as big as the one’s that we encountered yesterday, I think there more overall today. I definitely enjoy kayaking and I am pretty sure that Angy likes it even more than I do. Sometimes I have to tell her to stop paddling because we will pass our guide. She’s just a paddling machine.

Before we reached our pickup point we stopped along the river to have the lunch he prepared for us before we left the village. We have been a little worried about this. It has been all prepared, wrapped up in bananas leaves and then kept in a plastic grocery bag. The two things that worries us is that the water from the river might have gotten inside the bag, and also it’s a clear bag and it’s a little moist inside so the sun is baking down on it. Almost sounds like a petri dish culture to me.

So I dining location was kind of fun. We pulled alongside the river were it had been flooded over a few days before, so all the reeds and tall grass were flat against the ground for the perfect picnic spot. We carried over our water and Yoi carried over the food. He then walked back to the boat and then off into the woods. We just assumed that he going to the bathroom, but after like 10 minutes we were getting a little curious. He finally came back, and with him he had three or four big banana leaves that we were going to use as our plates/tablecloth.

The food was pretty good. There was plenty of rice, the dried beef, and assorted greens with the usual chili paste. Both Angy got the guts up to eat the suspicious beef. It was actually quite good. I must say that it is some of the better beef jerky that I have had. He hasn’t served us a bad meal yet, they have all exceeded our expectations. Especially after seeing what he has had to work with.

After we just sat around for a while and soaked in the beautiful scenery since we had some time to burn. Yoi told us that we were only five to ten minutes away from where the trip ends. We were a little disappointed about that. I then decided to ask if he could video tape us kayaking the last bit. He seemed to be ok with it. I showed him how to use the camera and also told him that it was ok if it got wet since it is waterproof.

He actually did a decent job seeing as most of the time he couldn’t paddle. All he could do was stick one end of the paddle in the water to steer his boat left or right. But when he went through the rapids he had to put it down. It was a good time to be had for all of us. We unfortunately made it to the end of our trip and carried the gear and kayaks up to our taxi. Not really a taxi, just a pickup truck with bench seats with a cover in the bed of the truck,

It was a long, bumpy, rainy and cold ride back. Once we arrived at the headquarters where we left our bags, Yoi looked across the street and mentioned that the photo developing place was closed. In case we didn’t mention it, we are going to develop some of the picture that we had taken of the family. So we just got the address of the headquarters and Yoi’s email address and told him we would send them to him from Thailand.

Now we are off to the Boat Landing Guesthouse, the nicest accommodation in all of Luang Nam Tha. Quite a statement, huh? It costs a whopping $35 a night to stay at this fancy place. If you can remember back this far it is the place that Bill Tuffin is an owner of (We met him in Siem Reap, Cambodia). We arrived and got our room. It is pretty nice considering most of the places that we have been staying in.

W had a nice long, clean, and hot shower. We were covered in layers, of dirt, grime, sun block, bug repellent, more dirt, sun block, grime, and more bug repellent. Then we thought that it would be nice to have a glass of red wine on the porch of our cabin that overlooks the river after our action packed two days.

Angy finished getting ready at the room and I got the bottle of wine, they only had one kind and it was a Laos wine. I got back to the room and Angy poured a little into the glass and said that it wasn’t right. So I smelled it and tried some and I must agree that this is not how wine is supposed to taste or smell.

I brought it back and had to interrupt the workers meal so that I could speak with the manager. She came out and smelled and tasted the wine, she of course said to me that is how it is supposed to taste. I told her that it was not right. She just reiterated and said that was how it is. So I thought I would give it another shot. Of course when Angy found out that it was the same bottle she got all crazy and grabbed the bottle and went to back up to the restaurant.

She came back and lo and behold, more Laos red wine. Apparently the lady opened up another bottle for Angy and it of course was the same. We are pretty sure it has to do with the storage conditions. I don’t think red wine is supposed to be stored out in 80-90+ degree weather. Call me crazy. We gave up and drank the icky wine.

We then headed off to have dinner. It was very good, it was another traditional Laos meal. But this time there was WAY too much food. I don’t think that we finished half of it. The only consolation of this was that we saw one of the waiters go back and eat some of it. Otherwise it would have been a huge waste.

That’s all, just a little nap until tomorrow’s crazy day.

July 25th, Luang Nam Tha, Laos, Kayaking Adventure

angelabuffjohn — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:11:00 GMT

We woke up early to get ready for our trip. We separated our gear and put the stuff we would be bringing into the dry bags Kyle had bought for the trip. I would have to go without my pillow for another night, no room, and kind of ridiculous on a kayaking trip to think I might bring my pillow. We dropped off our bags at Green Discovery to be stored while we were gone and then went back to the restaurant where we had dinner to have some breakfast. Again the man and the wife both had to leave at one time or another to get supplies for our breakfast. First he left on the moto to get bread, then she left later on the moto to get eggs, and he walked next door to buy margarine too! It was so odd. The only thing Kyle could think of was that maybe they had been closed for a while with the baby and they had just reopened and didn’t have all the supplies. I think they just didn’t have the funds to keep the kitchen stocked and let food go to waste if the customers didn’t come. Kyle called it an extreme example of ‘lean management”.

We went back to the Green Discovery office and met our guide. We got into a pickup and went to the market to get the food for our trip, Noi, but spelt Yoi, told us we could walk around for 15 minutes while he shopped. Kyle and I thought it was odd that he was wearing dress slacks and a collared short-sleeved shirt, but later after leaving the market we had to stop at his house so he could get his gear and change. I guess when he went into the office that day he didn’t know if he would be going on a tour or not. I was so happy that we had picked kayaking because we heard that the treks were very muddy at this time, and you couldn’t walk fast enough to keep the leaches off you! They had also tried to get us to join this different kayaking tour that went through bigger rapids but we didn’t think that was a good idea. Luckily we didn’t pick that because the man who went on that trip had to end it after just 6 hours, the water was so rough that even the guide and his assistant flipped over!

We stopped at a guesthouse restaurant to pick up our lunch and get the kayaks. The Boat Landing is a guesthouse that Bill Tuffin started in conjunction with Green Discovery. We met Bill at the Golden Banana (our haven) in Siem Reap. While we stopped there Kyle and I checked out the rooms to see if we wanted to stay there when we got back from our trip. We booked it! They seemed nice, no ac but clean and pretty, like little bungalows on the river.

When we got to the river Yoi (pronounced Noy) gave us some instructions, I had more confidence in him than in our guides in Vang Vieng. He loaded all of our supplies in the front of his kayak; these kayaks were again different than the other two we had used. This was inflatable and Kyle was to sit up on the very back tip of with his ass in the water, hehe. His big ‘ol American ass! I just sat in the front and acted as the engine, Yoi said. I love paddling but I didn’t get to do that much paddling since the river was moving so fast, Kyle was the one in charge of steering. We stopped at a village where the women shaved their eyebrows off and still wore traditional dress. The government had moved them to this location within the last 50 years, where they used to live is in the protected area of the forest. The Lao people are notorious for slashing and burning the lush jungle in order to grow crops. This is very bad for the soil and the environment so the government had to step in. Yoi made it sound like this village was not a very good one, they had had lots of trouble with opium, growing, smoking and selling. And when the government cracked down on that they village became very poor. They didn’t have very many other crops that they were able to grow enough of to sell. This village had a plethora of naked little boys running around. One was even using this large, heavy hoe to chop into the dirt looking for worms. Yoi was very nervous watching him, he kept saying “oh no, oh…oh…oh no!” Then this other little boy that was fully clothed came running over too us and whipped out his penis and was grabbing it and like showing it to us, he was even making some crude yelling sound while he did it. Very strange. We only stayed here for about 10-15 minutes and one of the older women gave us these little pouches. We asked how much, but Yoi said that they were gifts for us for visiting their village. He then slipped her some kip. This was ok because a percentage of the fee we paid to do this trip is supposed to go back to the villages. Of all we witnessed and learned about Green Discovery we were very pleased at how they ran their business, very ethical, with the people being most important not money. They also had monthly meeting with all the chiefs of the villages where they do the home stays just to make sure they are still happy.

As we left the village and got back in the kayaks Yoi told us that we were about to come to some very large rapids. Oh no! He told us to follow him and approach them the way he does. When we got into the waves I was bouncing around like crazy, slamming down into the waves. I was able to stay in the boat! Kyle was submerged up to his chest every time we hit the rapids, so I was three feet in the air unable to reach the water with my paddle and Kyle was in the back practically all the way in the water! But we made it! I think Yoi was impressed, but Kyle is really strong and smart so he was able to steer and paddle, and I would paddle like mad when I had the chance! We went down the river for another hour and then stopped at a village to have lunch.

I was a little worried about the lunch, especially when he pulled out two whole, cooked fish that had been wrapped in banana leaves and in a plastic bag in the kayak all day. Not very safe! When we got to the village we walked to a house and sat at a little basket type round table that was low to the ground. We each had sticky rice wrapped in a banana leaf. Then we had some zucchini type squash that was for all of us to share, then the fish, and some chili type paste to dip our rice and other food in. The way to eat the sticky rice is to pick up some of the rice with your hand and ball it up and then bite some of it off or pop the whole thing in your mouth. Kyle loved this way of eating. We had chopsticks for the fish and veggie. Before every meal Yoi did this thing where he would take a little rice ball and tap it over each item of food and he would say a blessing, then he usually threw the rice ball off somewhere. Even though I was worried about the safeness of the food it was really yummy. And there were these two little cats that were meowing like crazy to have some of our fish. The woman of the house kept trying to put them away in this other room but somehow they found their way up to the roof and got out of the room and then jumped down to where we were sitting. When we were done eating we gave them some fish and then they wanted nothing to do with us, once they were full.

We waited out two rain showers after lunch and then went back to the river. Yoi was never in much of a hurry since the river was going so fast we would make it to the village we were going to sleep at early no matter what. We went down the river for another two hours or so and then arrived at the village. The head of the house was not back from the rice fields yet, but Yoi showed us to a room where we could change into some dry clothes, then we just sat there staring around with nothing to do. Finally Yoi said we could join him in this little hut on stills that was next to the house we were going to sleep in. This little hut acted as the family’s kitchen. Kyle and I helped he prepare our dinner. When there was nothing more for us to help with we went ourside and took some pictures of the kids and the village. We ate dinner in the kitchen hut by candlelight since this village didn’t have electricity. Yoi had made a cabbage soup, beef laap, the woman of the house made sticky rice for us. Again it was all very good. We felt bad monopolizing the kitchen while the family waited outside so they could have their dinner. Yoi had made extra to share with the family. After dinner we asked him where we could go to the bathroom, he had already told us that this village didn’t have a toilet! In the daylight we can go into the wood a little ways to go to the bathroom, but at night we have to go together and we have to just go in the road. I implied #2 and he said that I do that in the road too, and that the dogs will come by and eat it later, oh great! And lets no mention that they sell their dogs and people eat them! And the dogs are eating shit!

After dinner we just sat for a little bit, and then washed our faces and brushed our teeth using a bottle of drinking water that Yoi had brought, standing next to the little trail by the house. Then we went to bed. There really wasn’t much to do since there was no electricity, and no one other than Yoi spoke English. We slept in the main house on the second level under a misquito net, luckily I had brough my duvee and pillow case because the bedding was very dirty. I had to get up twice in the night to go to the bathroom. Kyle came with me the first time but I just went by the house instead of by the road. The second time I had to go he made me go by myself since I would be close to the house and it was getting light out. It wasn’t so bad, and overall we slept pretty well.

July 24th, Luang Prabang to Luang Nam Tha, Laos

angelabuffjohn — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:05:00 GMT

The tuk-tuk got to our guesthouse at exactly 9am. Before we left, while I was getting ready Kyle went down the street to a little stand that sold baguette sandwiches with chicken, cucumbers, tomatoes and chili sauce. At least we would have a little something for breakfast. When we got to the bus station Kyle was desperate to find a new book to read. He has been neglecting the blog but has been tearing through books like a mad man! They sold just about anything you could think of at this bus station except books, especially books in English. Out tuk-tuk had picked up another couple on the way to the bus station, Locke and Sarah are from Australia and seem to be a little younger than Kyle and I. Locke had an Economist magazine he let Kyle read, so at least he would have something for the 9 hour bus ride. I think he read every word in that magazine before he finally handed it back once we arrived in Luang Nam Tha. The bus ride was pretty uneventful, I had to squat and pee by the side of the road several times, and we stopped for lunch and I had bowl of noodles that was really yummy. Kyle wasn’t very hungry but he had a few bites of my soup. Oh I forgot to mention, on top of the bus along with our bags was a large potted plant and a moto! They covered all this with a tarp. It is amazing to see the things they can pack onto these buses. The road was pretty bumpy and curvy but our driver seemed to know what he was doing and took it easy on the bumps and curves. The one downside to the bus ride was the blaring music they had playing throughout the entire bus. There was a bass canon strapped in the luggage rack right above our heads. Locke and Sarah had found the off switch for the speaker nearest them and shut it off when the driver’s helper wasn’t looking. We had been on another bus in Laos that had a monitor that they played music videos on, and I think it is Thai not even Laos performers. The videos weren’t so bad because the music wasn’t that loud but this was super loud. Kyle and I had trouble hearing each other talk even though we were sitting right next to each other.

We finally made it to Luang Nam Tha and went through the procedures of getting our bags and then loading them and ourselves onto a tuk-tuk to go into the town center to find a hotel. This always seems like a rip off since they charge per person, and can fit about 7-10 people in the back of this converted pick-up truck. We made a little stink about it, but this older French man that was on the tuk-tuk with us made a good point that maybe this driver waited there most of the day for the bus and really wasn’t making that much. I guess that makes sense but later we found out that this French man was trying to make it up to the far northern part of Laos to this village where they grow and smoke very pure opium. He had never tried opium before (although he looked as if he had done every drug under the sun) and thought that this would be a good way to try it! Wow!

So we picked a hotel, we didn’t really search that hard. We picked the one right across the street from where we were dropped off. It was only $6 a night, our cheapest yet, but it had a fan and hot water and was clean, really what more could be ask for?! Kyle washed our underwear in the sink while I pouted. I was a little drained from the bus ride and really needed some food. Plus I was very nervous about our kayaking trip.

We ate at the restaurant next to our hotel. I picked it because they had candles on the table; I guess I am a sucker for ambiance! When the waiter came to take our order he had this little sleeping baby in his arms. So we ordered in whispers, Kyle had the green curry which was the special and I had the chicken fried rice. Kyle got a beer and I ordered a glass of red wine, I couldn’t believe they had red wine in a tiny po-dunk town like this. The owners of this restaurant were husband and wife, she was Lao and he was from the UK. He had been there for 4 years. They were a very interesting couple, but they seemed to be a good team. After I ordered my wine we watched him walk out of the restaurant and down the street still with the sleeping baby in his arms. He had to go to the little shop next door to buy the wine! I made sure to order two glasses since he made the special trip, but two other girls had also ordered wine (which I hadn’t realized) and the bottles were not full sized so he had to go over to the store again to get another bottle! Dinner was good. The owner had a movie playing on the counter that separated the patio part of the restaurant and the inside part, the movie was My Own Private Idaho with River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves, the movie looked very interesting with shots of nudity and such, which was odd to have playing in a restaurant but we made sure to add it to our Netflix cue the next time we were on the internet so we can see the entire movie.

Well that was probably too much detail about our dinner but it was rather interesting. Oh one more bit, the girls at another table ordered desert but he was out of some ingredients so when I ordered desert I just told him it was his choice, and we ended up with a pancake with sliced bananas and chocolate sauce, yum! Oh and when we were just about to leave the restaurant Locke and Sarah showed up to eat, this would become a reoccurring theme over the next 5 days, we kept running into them everywhere!

We slept well, that night even without ac. It was off to our kayaking adventure the next morning.

July 23rd, Luang Prabang, Laos

angelabuffjohn — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:02:00 GMT

We were in search of a new hotel this morning. We are nearing the end of our trip and we realized we are a little lower on funds than we thought. Oh this was totally scary! When I went to shower there was a massive spider up in the corner. I let out a little squeal, and made Kyle stand and watch the spider while I showered in case it decided to more near me. Later one of the housekeepers came up to our room with a long feather duster and killed the spider. Kyle left to find something cheaper while I finished getting ready and packed up our stuff. I checked out and waited for him in the lobby.

The new hotel was clear across town, and it was raining, and I was hungry! This place was only $12 USD compared to $20. It was just as clean and had air-con. After we got settled into the new place we had some lunch. We had decided today to get caught up on our blogs (it didn’t work!) So we had a small Laos lunch and Thomas showed up. He joined us, and since he is a computer science major he offered to take a look at the laptop to see if he could get it working a little better. The Wi-Fi stopped working two days before the trip, and most programs and ports only work in safe mode. He was able to do a few things and now we can use the computer in regular mode, but still no Wi-Fi. We wasted time at the restaurant, and then went to an internet place to upload some more stories and photos. Kyle and I also needed to decide when we were moving on and where exactly we were going. We decided to take a 9 hour bus ride (local bus, no ac, and there could be farm animals and large bags of rice in the aisle) to Luang Nam Tha. We booked a kayaking trip with Green Discovery. Both Kyle and I were a little nervous since the river was very high and they said there was level 3 rapids and we had only kayaked twice before this.

We parted ways with Thomas he was going to a traditional Laos dance and music performance and we didn’t want to spend the money on it since we were running low. We ended up walking up over two hundred stairs that were hidden beneath trees and thick with mosquitoes. A temple sat at the top of this hill. We mainly went up to see the view. When we finally got to the top you could purchase these little bamboo cages that had two little birds in them, and then you would set them free. We didn’t do this; we just took a few photos and walked around. Kyle was feeling pretty down about our money situation, so he wasn’t much fun.

When we got to the bottom we had to walk back to our hotel to get the name so the tuk-tuk would know where to pick us up in the morning to take us to the bus station. This was included in our ticket price. Then we walked all the way back to town to buy the bus ticket and find some dinner. We sat out on the patio incase Thomas was looking for us but he never turned up. Kyle had a pizza and was still a little on edge over the whole money thing. We are never both worried at the same time; it is usually just me, or just him. I guess that works out well so we both aren’t just depressed together!

Dinner was ok; Kyle had trouble getting them to actually bring him a drink. He had a pizza and I had a Laos stir-fry with a papaya salad. After dinner we spent the next two hours bargaining and haggling at the market. We ended up with tons of bags and stuff; we were wondering how we would pack it all up. But we got a lot of really fun things that will be great in our house, plus a few presents for people back home! Then it was off to bed. We have a long day on the bus ahead of us!

July 22nd, Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang

angelabuffjohn — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:57:00 GMT

We packed up our bags and had a quick breakfast, same as yesterday. I only ate a little of my baguette and saved the rest for the bus ride. A pick-up truck picked us up at 9am to take us to the bus station, the bus left at 10am. We checked out and left. When we stopped at another guest house the driver tried to tell Kyle and I that we didn’t pay, but I showed him the receipt and the bus ticket that said paid on it. So we got to the bus station, and the girl from the hotel showed up on a moto. Apparently we hadn’t paid for the room only the food, minibar, and bus ticket. We didn’t have enough cash to pay her, and she couldn’t just charge it to the credit card. We suggested she take Kyle to the ATM to get more cash to pay her, or to take him back to the hotel to use the credit card. I waited at the bus; he only had 5 or so minutes to get back to the bus. I sat on the bus, I was very anxious. I was preparing what I would have to say if they tried to leave before Kyle got back.

It was 10:15am and Kyle still wasn’t back, but the bus hadn’t tried to leave either. Kyle and the girl went to the ATM which wasn’t working, neither was the one in the bank. So she took him all the way back to the hotel to use his credit card. Then the guy in the pickup took him back. Thankfully he arrived before the bus tried to leave.

Off we went through the mountains to Luang Prabang. The bus ride was uneventful. The seats were somewhat comfortable. Kyle had an ok amount of leg room. After a couple of hours we had some bread and cheese. Every so often we would stop and I would pee in the bushes on the side of the road. The pills we bought worked well, I wasn’t nauseous at all. After about 4 hours we stopped for a lunch break. There were little stands selling sandwiched. It sounded good but the chicken as sitting out with flies all over, and it didn’t seem very clean. So Kyle and I didn’t get a sandwich. We did buy a little fried bread, one was sweet and one had green onions. It was good, but I knew I would be very hungry by the time we got to Luang Prabang.

Oh side note- in Vang Vieng we saw this guy at one of the Friend’s bars that looked just like our friend Bryan who is house/cat sitting for us. He was shorted and had darker hair, but it was like he could have been his brother. Kyle agreed and we decided we needed to take a picture of him if we could. He was on our bus with us. We talked to him for a bit at one of the stops and found out he was from Austria.

When we arrived in Luang Prabang he got into a tuk-tuk and I sent Kyle over to try and snap a picture, but it was too awkward and weird so we didn’t get one. But I had a feeling we would run into him again.

We took a tuk-tuk to the hotel we had picked from the LP, but it was fully booked. But there was a man there from a neighboring guesthouse that was on the lookout for people like us. So he took us over to his guesthouse. It was an ok place, but no internet, and no breakfast and it was $20. This was more than we paid in the capital (Vientiane) and there breakfast was included. We unpacked a little and then went off in search of food as usual!

We found an Indian restaurant and Kyle got his curry fix. So far we have had Indian food in all the countries we have been to except Japan and Thailand, but we will have Indian food in Thailand when we go back! The food was good, but the service was unfriendly. And then as we sat at our table near the street, the Bryan-look-a-like walked by. He recognized us and asked to join us. No problem! We then found out that before his travels in SE Asia he had been studying in New Delhi, India. He had an interesting opinion on the food at the restaurant since he just came from India.

After dinner we perused the amazing and huge night market. I was not planning on buying anything the first night. I wanted to just look at everything and then buy stuff the next night. Kyle and I really haven’t bought too much yet, so we are in need of some souvenirs. The market had tons of jewelry, trinkets, beautiful fabrics, handbags, and so much more. The sales people did not hassle one bit, which was so nice and refreshing. Most of them would just say "Saba Dee" in greeting and that was it. So relaxing!

We made our way to the food area, and Thomas got us to try some chili peppers from one of the street stalls. Both Kyle and Thomas tried a green one first. They both agreed that the inch long little pepper was really not that hot, so I thought I would give it a try! Bad idea. I have been getting better at eating spicy things but the moment I bit into this pepper I thought I was going to die! It was searing my tongue. I t was so hot and bitter I had to just spit it out right onto the street; something I would never normally do! It was so awful! It made my mouth tingly and then it felt like it was puffing up! They guys went on to try the red and orange peppers, Kyle said the orange one was the hottest. He even had trouble with that one! We quickly made our way to somewhere that served beer. We needed something to cool our mouths. We found this cute little place by the river complete with tons of mosquitoes. The waiter brought over a mosquito coil for us. As we sat there having beer and whiskey I felt something wet on my foot. At first I thought it was just the sweat from my beer glass dripping onto my foot, but when I looked down I saw something black on the top of my foot. I freaked! I screamed and kicked my foot which sent my shoe flying. This very large Laos woman came over to make sure we were ok. I don’t know what was scarier, the slug on my foot or her thick mustache. Quite a character.

Off we went in search of another place to sit and chat. There seemed to be not much going on in this town that late at night, well it was only about 10 pm or so. We shared a bottle of wine at a very pretty little place that had stopped serving food. Then we desperately needed to find somewhere that was still serving. We all had had an early dinner. We found the last place in town that seemed to be open. I had pad Thai, and Kyle had some sort of rice dish, and Thomas had some skewer of meat and rice. They also both got some sort of Laos whiskey that had herbs in it to help your kidneys. I tried some and it tasted horrible. But of course Kyle drank his anyway.

By this time Thomas is thoroughly "pissed" as some Australians would say. We started to head back to our guesthouse, but he wanted to stay up. There really wasn’t anything to do. At one point he was yelling in the street, Kyle was pretty lively as well. I was just worried that we would get in trouble. The whole town seemed to be shut down and sound asleep. Kyle and I were having trouble finding our hotel, and Thomas decided to find his way back to his guesthouse. We said goodnight, and that we would probably run into him the next day, the town is very small. Kyle and I walked for maybe another 10 minutes and finally found our place. A huge cockroach was waiting for us in our bathroom, yuck! But it was a shower and off to bed. Kyle successfully killed the roach for me! Aw, my hero!

July 21st Vang Vieng, Laos

angelabuffjohn — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:33:00 GMT

^{Kyle woke up this morning and went straight to the other hotel to get the bag with the computer. When he got back he had the bag and the computer and a big smile on his face, we high fived! He had to pay about $22 USD for the extra trip back with the computer but it was worth it. We told each other that we would never do anything so dumb again.
Breakfast at the hotel was included, I don’t know if Kyle mentioned the name of this hotel but it is The Elephant Crossing. And just like everywhere in Laos you have to take off your shoes before you go in. It is really nice to be barefoot and walk around places. I like all the beautiful wood and tile floors that they always seem to be sweeping. On one of our many bus rides in Laos I was doing some "deep" reflecting. I was thinking about the big news story about Britney Spears going into a public restroom at a gas station barefoot! And the American public thought it was so disgusting, well I was thinking that if they had published this story in Laos no one would think it was such a big deal. They would have wondered why anyone even cared since they walk into almost all public places without shoes on. Anyway just a random thought. America seems so sanitary and almost sterile compared to all the places Kyle and I have been recently. At first when we were traveling it really bothered me how dirty everything seemed but the longer we have been traveling the more boring and mundane everything in America seems. Yes, usually you know when you are at a restaurant in America that the bathroom will have stalls with doors and locks, and toilet paper, and soap and even a way to dry your hands. But really where is the fun in that?! I use the toilet a lot, or WC as it is called here, and so I have seen many, many Asian toilets and it is always an adventure and a surprise. But I am sure I will appreciate the clean bathrooms when I get back home, and all the normalcy of everything.
Ok, back to breakfast…we had an omelet with tomatoes and shallots. The menu said they could add ham and cheese for extra, so I tried to order ham and cheese but they were out of ham and bacon. It is always very frustrating when I can’t get what I want especially when it is on the menu! URGH, but the omelet turned out to be very good, and probably would have been too salty if I had added the meat. After breakfast we got ready for the day. Van Vieng is known for its tubing, partying and drugs. Well we just wanted to do the first one. We walked to the tour company but the tubing was closed and had been closed for the last couple of days since the river was so high and fast. So having seen a village flooded and hearing that tubing was canceled and seeing the river rushing by Kyle and I thought it would be a good idea to go kayaking down the river! We loved it so much in Halong Bay; we figured it would be fun to do it again. Yeah, we’re real smart! Anyway the trip was supposed to be a half day kayaking trip but turned out to be only a couple of hours. We took a tuk-tuk truck, which is like a pickup truck with a canopy on the back and a bench on each side of the truck to sit on. We were going down the river with two men from Japan. They had never kayaked before. I was concerned, we had only done in on a bay and we were told there would be rapids! When we got to the river the guides gave us some simple paddling instructions, and told us what to do if we tip over! OMG! I am not a good swimmer and I was worried about hitting rocks or trees. This sounded very dangerous. The kayak was different from the ones we used in Halong, but they seemed better. We set off, and the Japanese men were having all sorts of trouble steering their boat. Kyle and I were doing pretty well; we barely had to paddles since the water was going so fast. As we went down the river we realized why tubing was canceled. All of the little bars and bungalow guesthouses that the tubers stop at had been washed into the river. Most of these places had big swings that you could swing out into the water on, but those were toppled over as well. The river would have to go down, and then the shore would have to dry up a little before they could repair all the damage the high water had done. The scenery was amazing. Kyle and I always look at each other and say how it is unbelievable where we are. This was one of those times. We had gone through a couple of small rapids and we had done fine with it, but then we came to a rather large set of rapids! We went in, and then all of a sudden we had tipped! They told us to keep our feet up so we wouldn’t hit them on anything, we also had to hold our paddle and hold the rope on the side of the kayak. I was able to do all three of these things, and very quickly the guide was over to us to help us flip the kayak back over.
When I was younger I went camping with my mom and her boyfriend, I was maybe 6 years old or so and didn’t know how to swim. We my mom’s boyfriend wanted to go canoeing. So we were out in the middle of the lake and he thought it would be funny to rock the boat! Well we flipped and we lost our camera, and my mom had to have me hang onto her neck and hold one end of the canoe and swim to a shallow part of the lake so they could flip the canoe back over. Well my mom was really pissed and when we got back to the campground we went straight home! I was pretty scared the whole time too. I do remember thinking my mom was really brace and strong to be able to swim all that way with me on her back and pulling the canoe. I am sure her anger spurred her on. But anyway I have always been a little uneasy in canoes since then. Kyle was well aware of this and has always been very careful with me when it comes to small boats. He never goofs around and tries to rock the boat, although I am sure he would love to! So back to kayaking…
Kyle was very worried about me! He was looking over at me all worried and telling me to keep my feet up and there was a lot of panic in his voice. I was fine, which surprised me! I was able to hold the rope, my paddle and keep my feet up! So the guide flipped the kayak back over, and Kyle quickly hopped back in. Later the guide said he got back in so smooth and so fast he was like a professional! I had a little trouble getting in. I got my paddle up in the kayak and then I got my top half in and swung my legs up! I was a little shaky afterwards but I hadn’t even gone under water, and I have done everything right. Kyle was still very surprised how well I handled it. The rest of the rapids were no problem since we knew now to keep our kayak straight, duh! So we had a great time even though it was short. The Japanese guys never got the hang of steering and always ended up in the trees or running into the shore!
When we got back to our hotel, which actually the kayaking trip ended less than a block away from our hotel, we met this couple from Britain that had been traveling since February. They started in Russia, and did the Tran-Siberian railway; they went to Mongolia and China, Malaysia, Vietnam, and a ton of other places I have forgotten. But it was very interesting to hear about their travels, especially how they wanted to be in Russia in the winter! They were saving money for retirement but decided they would rather travel and experience things while they were younger and could do more. I love meeting people like that, they are such an inspiration! We had a couple of beers with them and talked some more sitting by the river. So lovely!
Then we went up to the room to shower and find some dinner! I was starving; we had only shared a small pizza at a Friend’s bar before kayaking. We finally found a place that looked nice, didn’t play Friends, and served both Western and Lao food. I had a burger and Kyle had an extra hot curry with rice. It took forever for our food to come, but while we waited a little cat came by to visit us, of course making me miss our cats all the more! The waiter was so nice, he kept coming over to apologize for the long wait for the food. I was starving, but it was a nice atmosphere. The food was so yummy! They actually served a ranch type sauce with the burger and fries (actually it reminded me of the white sauce at El Toro, which I normally don’t like but in this situation it was really good. It is hard to find anything that is creamy or cheesy, so a welcomed surprise.)
After dinner we stocked up on provisions for the 9 hour bus ride that we were taking the next morning! Crackers, cheese, cookies, and some water will hopefully tide us over. We also picked up some generic Dramamine from a little shop that sold pharmaceuticals. Scary! We were told that the room is pretty smooth but very curvy and twisty up the mountain, and a lot of people puke out of the windows! I was not looking forward to this!
Back at the hotel we read for a little bit, and neglected the blog! Then went to sleep.}

July 20th Vientiane to Vang Vieng, Laos

angelabuffjohn — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:30:00 GMT

Woke up in the morning and had breakfast. Angy and both ordered the French breakfast which was the wrong choice. A baguette, butter, jelly, and a few pieces of pineapple. I guess it was free but still I could have had more. We hopped into our mini-bus which was to bring us to Vang Vieng. Fortunately for this mini-bus ride there were only 11 people in the bus this time compared to 18. They were also all fellow travelers like us. So there was a bit of camaraderie. There were many of the same sites around the roads that we had seen in some of the other countries. You know, like naked kids running around, cow, chickens, ducks, dogs, oxen, and pigs who just seem to wander around wherever they want. One thing that was new however was the road that we had to cross was covered under three feet of water. Before we went through the driver actually tied a rope from our mini-bus to a larger bus to help to pull us through. There were also local villagers ferrying passengers back and forth across the flooded portion of the road. Luckily the road underneath the water was still fully intact so our travel across was pretty easy. The rest of bus had no snags. The road was even pretty smooth Except that I really had to take a leak. Once we arrived in Vang Vieng the bus pulled into one of the local guesthouses. But we usually try to make a habit of not staying at the hotels our modes of transport try to drop us off at. We decide to stay at one of the nicer places in the little town. We didn’t have much of a choice. It was either bounce from guesthouse to guesthouse trying to find a comfortable and clean room or just go to a place we knew would have what we wanted. The choices were also to stay in a $4-$5 dollar a night room or a $20 a night room. We chose the latter. We checked the little map in our lonely planet guidebook and found our way to the hotel. It was very nice and it was right on the river. So while we were checking in I looked around at our bags on the floor and nearly shit myself (The back pack had the laptop with all our pictures in it). I realized that I had left the backpack on the mini-bus. While we were in the bus I had the backpack sitting in front of my feet. Angy had suggested that I set in this little rack above our heads. So when we got out of the bus I went straight to the bathroom while Angy waited to get the bags off the top of the bus. Then we left to find our hotel, leaving the bag in the mini-bus! I of course went to start running back to the hotel that we were initially dropped off at. I stopped 10 feet out to go back and open up my bag to put on my shoes instead running in my flip flops. So I ran back to the hotel and the guy at the front counter said that the bus had already picked up a group of people and was headed back to Vientiane. He tried calling the driver a few times and wasn’t able to get a hold of him. He said that there was no signal right now and he would try back later. He told me to go back to my hotel and he would call us when he got a hold of the driver. We obviously couldn’t wait that long so once I got back to the hotel we asked the girl at the front desk to call back to the other hotel to find out what had happened. She said that he got a hold of the driver and he would check for the bag as soon as he arrived in Vientiane. I actually think he said that after the guests got off the bus and if there were any bags left they would bring what was left back to us. Yeah right. I actually trusted the driver more than all the random backpackers in the van. So I made sure that the driver actually got the bag for us before anybody else tried to claim it as their own. Luckily we were successful and they said it would be there by 8 in the morning. (Angy) Kyle is totally downplaying this! He was so upset; he just sat there starring out! We were in this beautiful hotel on the river with an incredible view and he just sat there like a lump. I was worried too, but I felt confident we would get it back. I kept telling Kyle that we had good karma and we had been so lucky so far on the trip. I just had a feeling it would be ok, and I was also worried because all of our toiletries were in that bag as well, all of which are quite replaceable but what a pain to find all that in Laos! Kyle just said he didn’t believe in karma, and sat their glumly. So we had a beer. Then we went down to the restaurant that sat over the river and had another beer. We were waiting to call back to see if they had gotten a hold of the driver. We still hadn’t eaten any lunch or anything and it was after 4pm. Somehow we started talking about San Diego and how much we missed it. And what we would need to do to move back. Then we started to talk about all of our friends back in San Diego, and I brought up Jenn. We were talking about what it would be like pregnant. We did a few impressions of her and Kyle was laughing! Thank goodness he was in a little bit of a lighter mood. (I include this part of the story because I think Jenn would like to know that in our lowest moment of the trip she made us feel better! Thanks Jenn for being such a wonderful friend! We miss you!) Once we found out they had gotten a hold of the driver and that it would be brought back to us the next morning we went to check out the town. I seriously needed some food! WE went back to the original hotel that we had been dropped off at to make sure it was going to be ok. Then we found a small restaurant down the street. It was an open restaurant with elevated platforms with tables on it and cushions all around. The platforms were elevated about2 ½ to 3 feet off the ground with a small table on top. It was very comfy and casual. I ordered the ginger chicken and Kyle had the fish laap (laap is like ground fish, or it can be beef, chicken or pork, that is seasoned and placed on to of fresh greens, Kyle’s came on top of mint, but we had it another time and it was not served on greens). The food was great, and we had our first taste of Laos sticky rice, very sticky and it comes in a small basket with a lid. After lunch we didn’t really know what to do, it was pouring outside and it was almost 6pm or so. We went to the internet and then checked out the infamous “Friends” bars. This is an amazing thing that all the guidebooks talk about. Vang Vieng has all of these large restaurants with the elevated tables, they serve all sorts of drinks, western food and pizza and Laos food. And the main feature is that they all have several TV’s playing Friends all day long! And backpackers just sit there drinking and eating and watching Friends all day! So we had to see was all the hype was about. We went in for a quick drink. But we realized it is not that much fun to sit with a bunch of Westerners in the middle of Laos watching reruns of Friends that didn’t seem quite as funny as I remember the show to be! Our only consolation was that it was raining and there is really not that much to do in this town. We went back to our hotel to rest for a bit. I wasn’t feeling very good. I think the malarone (anti-malaria medication) has been making me feel nauseous. Then we were hungry again so we decided to just eat at our hotel, especially since we ran out of Kip and could charge the meal to the room. I just had some tomato soup and garlic bread, and Kyle had a curry. The tomato soup was good, it was like pureed tomatoes. But I still didn’t feel great so I went up to the room to read. Kyle was going to finish eating and then find a cash machine.

(Kyle) I left the hotel and went o find the cash machine. We had not previously located the cash machine so I wasn't exactly sure where to find it. While walking around looking for the cash machine I realized that I passed somewhere along the road and decided to just walk around a little bit to see what was around there.

There were many restaurants and a few bars that seemed pretty lively this evening. Alot of the bars were serving these buckets. They are pretty much just sand box sized buckets filled with cheap Lao whiskey, red bull, pepsi, ice, and about a dozen straws. Didn't look that great but I am sure it would get you drunk.

I made my way back down the street and found the ATM, I withdrew some Lao Kip and decided to see what was in the other direction. There were not so many bars down this direction. Many little snack carts, some restaurants, and a few guesthouses. Other than that there wasn't anything else to see.

On the way back from walking there was a group of guys (Irish) walking towards me and one of them asked me if there was anything down the direction that I had just came from. I told them no, that there wasn't anything to see. They thanked me and asked what I was doing. I told them that I was just walking back to my hotel room.

They asked me if wanted to go have a drink with them and I said, no thanks. They then started heckling me and pretty much just grabbed me and said that I was going to have a drink with them. So of course I reluctantly agreed (maybe not too reluctantly though).

We ended up going to one of those bars that had all those buckets of booze. I just ordered a beer and we went and sat at a table. These are not your typical tables. They are the kind that are elevated a couple feet off the ground and the table is a foot off the seating surface.

It was some pretty good people watching. Everyone was drunk and having a good time. All the people in the bar were travelers and backpackers so there were people from all over the world sitting around me. Then a song came on that is apparently an Irish favorite, because as soon as it came on all the Irish people in the bar stood up and starting singing along and swapping drinks. It was quite interesting and amusing.

Shortly thereafter I decided to make my way out of there. Isaid goodbye to everyone that I had been introduced to and walked back to the hotel. When I got back Angy was awake and reading, she felt a little better. She was also a little worried as to why it took so long to go to the ATM and back. I told her my little story, cleaned up and went to bed. Good night!

July 19th, Hanoi, Vietnam to Vientiane, Laos

angelabuffjohn — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:28:00 GMT

Goodbye Hanoi! Kyle and I are leaving Vietnam today for Laos. This is the one country that we didn’t get our visa ahead of time, since I am such a planner and preparer this makes me a little nervous. We got up and had our standard breakfast. Then we had to get our stuff together for the flight. Kyle went downstairs to talk to the tour operator about getting some of our money back since we didn’t end up getting the superior cabin on the train to Sapa. He was downstairs for a really long time, like over an hour. When he left I was almost ready to go, and he had just asked me to blowdry our shoes.

Our shoes had gotten incredibly muddy on our hilltribe trek and Kyle had washed them the day before but they still weren’t dry, and his shoes smelt horrible!! And usually Kyle’s feet and shoes never stink. So the shoes weren’t dry so I stood in the bathroom with the little blowdryer blowing hot stink at me trying to get them dry before we had to go. Kyle still hadn’t come back up and it was time to check out, so I finished packing and then went down to find him.

He was still talking with the woman who booked our tour. She was writing down our itinerary and going on and on. I saw no need to re-explain all this to us. I just thought they should give us our $40 back. So I was already frustrated with having to wait in the room for over an hour, so once I got down there I asked what was taking so long. Then I jumped the gun and got a little snippy. Later when we were walking to get some lunch Kyle told me that I embarrassed myself, and I didn’t know what I was talking about. Basically we did get what we paid for. But I still didn’t know why it took over an hour for Kyle to come to that conclusion.

We walked down the street and found a restaurant that took credit cards since we didn’t want to withdraw anymore Dong since we were leaving in an hour. The lunch was good. I ordered a Bloody Mary, which surprised Kyle. By the time we finally got our drinks we were half way done with our meal. But instead of using a bloody mary mix they actually pureed fresh tomatoes for the mix. It was so light and refreshing, I am going to have to experiment with this type of bloody mary when I get home.

We rushed back to our hotel where we caught a taxi to the airport. We were very early for our flight, and the airport was utterly dead. We tried to buy some candy at the duty-free shop but although we were in Vietnam they only took USD! I was very surprised at this, but we ended up just using our credit card. Finally we boarded a shuttle bus out to the airplane. The plane was very small, we were flying Laos Airlines on a twin prop plane. But the flight was only a little over an hour, so I wasn’t too worried. We actually were served a boxed lunch with a sandwich, apple slices, and a small cake. The flight was uneventful except for boarding the plane. Our carry-ons were too big to fit in the overhead compartment so Kyle was trying to find a place for them. While this was happening I was standing across the aisle waiting. An older Asian woman, came up and gave me a death look, and motioned quite aggressively for me to move out of her seats. It was incredibly rude. But I just moved out of her way and had Kyle hurry. Later when I told him about it he said I should have said something to the woman, but I just got scared and moved out of the way. She could have waited a moment before freaking out on me.

(Kyle) The plane ride was without incident. There was a lot of beautiful scenery to look at though. The mountains and rivers are amazing. We landing and departed the plane on set of stairs that they wheeled up to the doors.

We hired a taxi to get into the Vientiane town center and found a decent little guesthouse. Nothing much to brag about but it was clean, no windows. We decided to head out to Green Discoveries (an adventure travel agency) before we showered up for the night. Of course once we arrived there the placed closed hours earlier than normal. It was kind of odd though. We could kind of see inside and they were eating food and there were girls inside dressed in the traditional dress and hair.

Well anyways, we wenr back to the room showered and went out to dinner. The restaurant we ended up at was on the riverfront and they had live music. The live music was two Lao guys playing the acoustic guitar and singing classic American songs. It was actually pretty good music.

We had chips and salsa, some kind of burrito, a couple beers and then went back to our room for some needed rest. We knew that we were going to have a long day on the bus tomorrow and we would need some rest.