One Foot Off the Merry-Go-Round

Our Love of Pai

christa_spencer — Tue, 7 Feb 2012 19:58:00 GMT

This post has been a difficult one for me to write. I want to convey our experiences and how we feel about this special place so greatly, but am struggling to find the words. Pai meant a lot to us… it felt like home. As we have been away from everything familiar for quite some time now, finding a spot that felt so familiar felt good. It’s like when you meet someone for the first time, but feel as though you have known them for years. That was our Pai.

Since I’m having trouble writing this post, I’ll start with something I could write about all day… food. The food in Pai was quite frankly the best we have had in all of Thailand. The curries, the noodles, the breads from bakeries- just perfection! When we asked for our dishes to be “Thai Spicy”, the chefs would give a new meaning to the term… They take your requests seriously in Pai and I liked that, because I take my food seriously. But also, they were quick to recommend how best to have your dish… if you asked for “Thai Spicy”, they’d say, “Much better, less spice… you taste all flavors.” Right again.

The people were lovely and super laid back. The owners of the guesthouse where we stayed (Darling View Guesthouse) called everyone “Darling”, leading all of us to do the same… so, everyone in Pai was “Darling”. The feel of the town reminded me of a mix of Portland, OR. and Fayetteville, AR. because of the great live music scene, laid back feel, quirky coolness of the town and the beauty of rolling hills and mountains that surrounded us.

The drive from Chiang Mai to Pai was something in itself… 762 curves on the road you have to take. And I’m not talking nice rounded curves, these were sharp and jagged. Our bus driver was slowing down for nothing… well, unless there was a hill… then he would actually stop accelerating completely and turn his lights off (we were driving at night). He’d come to an almost complete stop then push on the gas and sometimes turn his lights back on. Whatever, it’s Thailand.

The plan was to call the owners at Darling View from the bus station upon arrival and they would come pick us up. The way “time” and “schedules” work in this country is in an extremely laid back manner. For example, say you’re scheduled to leave at 2:00 p.m., you’ll end up leaving between 2:45 and 3:30 p.m. If it is supposed to be a 10 to 12 hour train ride, it’ll be more along the lines of 19 to 20. We’re fine with it though, because their inconsistency is actually very consistent.

The bus finally came to a stop, it was pitch black outside as we all stumbled out of the bus, somewhat sick from the ride. Seconds after collecting our bags, we heard this sweet voice calling out, “Christa! Christa Spencer?” I couldn’t see anything, and thought maybe the bus driver had been circulating something besides fresh air through the vents (we heard a rumor once about tourists being drugged through the vents on buses.) But we both heard it again, “Christa! Christa- Darling?” As we walked toward the voice, we saw Ann (a.k.a. Darling owner)—a short, teeny, long haired, laid back Thai, who had two 24 packages of toilet paper strapped to her motorbike, along with some sacks of vegetables and other groceries. Travis and I walked closer, happily confused as to how she drove up at the exact time of our arrival, without us even having to call and wait around for awhile. Did I mention that “The Darlings” (Ann and Peter- lovers and owners) didn’t even know what time we were getting in? All we could tell them via e-mail was that it would be in the evening sometime. So we asked Ann, “How did you know we’d be here? This is just perfect timing!” Ann just sort of squealed out a cute giggle and said, “Oh Darlings! This is Pai!”

I think our first five minutes in Pai sums up what the rest of our time there was like… unexpected, effortless and lovely.

Enjoy the pics!! <3

Photos: Pai: Is Falling In Love

christa_spencer — Fri, 3 Feb 2012 18:16:00 GMT

Photos: Pai: Visit to the Top and Around

christa_spencer — Fri, 3 Feb 2012 17:46:00 GMT

Photos: Pai: Campfire and Karaoke

christa_spencer — Fri, 3 Feb 2012 17:21:00 GMT

Photos: Pai: Mountain Trek

christa_spencer — Fri, 3 Feb 2012 15:42:00 GMT

Photos: Pai: First Sights and Hot Springs

christa_spencer — Fri, 3 Feb 2012 15:11:00 GMT

Chiang Mai: Round One

christa_spencer — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:49:00 GMT

We finally made it to Chiang Mai, the largest city in northern Thailand. It was our original first stop destination when we began our trip in October, however the floods forced us south, to lovely Koh Tao. We’re currently on our second round of Chiang Mai… as we spent about a week and a half here, then went to Pai (which I will get to in a later blog), and now we are back for more.

Chiang Mai is a beautiful city that has a small feel to it, with big cultural history wherever you look. When it was founded (in 1296), the city was surrounded by a moat and defensive brick wall which is still standing (broken down, but standing). There are over 300 wats (Buddhist temples) in the city, many of which we have stumbled upon while simply searching for some yummy Koh Soi or a coffee.

We rented bicycles one day to ride around the city and must have looked like a couple of drunks. The bikes’ rims had warped therefore causing us to wobble uncontrollably. We got the hang of it, Travis much quicker than me, as he kept having to remind me every time he heard my yelps through busy traffic, “Keep your arms loose! Don’t straighten your arms!” We cycled past old temples and newer neighborhoods. Feeling the warm sun on our backs after a month in the wet and cold of Vietnam gave us instant energy. We rode around for hours… smelling foods being boiled or barbecued and the sweetness of flowers as we passed by gardens. One smell noticeably missing from our noses? The stinking, clogging fumes of petrol/pollution. Chiang Mai is a city, but you can take deep breaths here and feel like you’re sucking in pure oxygen, as opposed to gagging on the alternative.

Speaking of smells… we got to experience some of the best during our daylong cooking class at Baan Thai Cookery School. We started the day by trekking to a nearby market. There, our instructors talked to us about the local fruits, vegetables, tofus, curries and noodles we would be cooking with. We bought our ingredients and headed back to the kitchen. We got to choose five from a long list of items to cook that day… everything from pad thai to koh soi to fried bananas and mangos with sticky rice. Oh, and the best part (worst part if you’re a bad chef), was we got to eat everything we made. So needless to say, by the end of the day, we were so full that we could barely walk a few blocks back to our guesthouse. It was great! We also got our own Thai cookbooks, so now we can bring a little bit of Thailand back home with us to share with all of you!

We’re heading to the Saturday night market tonight, where we’ll be surrounded by food stalls and local musicians, clothes and crafts. A really fun place to spend a few hours. Then we’ll no doubt head to another favorite spot… The Cycle Bar. At first glance, it looks like a boat on wheels, but then as you approach, you see the seats are set up quite high and are actual bicycle seats. The drinks are strong, so it can be a bit treacherous as your balance starts to leave you after a few gin and tonics. But we love living dangerously, so Cycle Bar it is! ;)

Photos: Cookin' Thai Style

christa_spencer — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:34:00 GMT

Photos: Train Ride to Chiang Mai and more!

christa_spencer — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:54:00 GMT

Photos: Hanoi: Celebrating 27 Years of Travis H. Spencer :)

christa_spencer — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:56:00 GMT

Photos: Hanoi: Ringin in the New Year!

christa_spencer — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:44:00 GMT

Photos: Hanoi: Christmas

christa_spencer — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:30:00 GMT

Photos: Hanoi: Halong Bay

christa_spencer — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:24:00 GMT

Photos: Train Ride from Saigon to Hanoi

christa_spencer — Thu, 5 Jan 2012 16:55:00 GMT

Vietnam (Hanoi)

christa_spencer — Tue, 3 Jan 2012 20:40:00 GMT

It’s the city that never stops… horns (I have not counted a second to go by without hearing them), scooters (only seen two wrecks!), eating (everyone is always eating), cooking (naturally if everyone is always eating… everyone must also be cooking) and selling (street vendors selling everything from fruit to lighters to ear muffs). It’s a city that we love and where we have spent Christmas, New Years and Travis’ 27^th birthday. And we love it here. We love Vietnam.

It took a 36 hour train ride from Saigon to get us here… which really was a lovely ride. Just staring out the window watching so much of Vietnam pass us by was enthralling. The Quiet American by Graham Green and my journal helped me to pass the time once it got dark, and Travis laid back as he read The French Lieutenant’s Woman and listened to NPR podcasts (a smart man- as there’s nothing like a few episodes of ‘Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me!’ to keep you thoroughly entertained). Our diet during the ride consisted of mandarin oranges, cheesy Ritz crackers and water… we also had a couple beers. Beer is always a necessity, no matter where you are or what you’re doing (except maybe driving… probably not then).

Our diet has changed significantly since the train ride (with exception for the beer, of course)—we’ve chowed down on Pho Bo (rice noodle soup with beef), Pho Ga (rice noodle soup with chicken), Bun Cha (look it up), Banh Cam (sweet sesame rolls filled with bean curd), green rice with mashed potatoes and sweetened - melt in your mouth pork with crispy fried onions to top it off! Ahhh I could go on and on. The flavors used in so many of these dishes/snacks are perfection for the pallet… with wonderful combinations of salty, sweet, sour, bitter and of course… SPICEY!! A drink that makes our day, just about every day, is ca phe su a da—just iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk. Their coffee here is sooo amazing!! It’s got a chocolaty taste to it that cuts out any bitterness… delightful.

Christmas here was great, different, but great. A lot of Christmas lights were put up all around the city and loads of businesses had “50% Off Christmas Sales” which certainly reminded us of home. To help us get into the holiday spirit- we went to the Hanoi Opera House for a Christmas Concert put on by the Vietnam National Symphony and Orchestra. They performed famous pieces by Vivaldi, Mozart, Corelli, Handel and Gruber. And had a few special guests… one of which-- a famous and very young guitarist named Sakaba Keisuke. It was so cool hearing an amazing guitarist play with an orchestra! Never heard anything quite like it. At the end of the concert, The Children Palace Chorus joined the orchestra on stage and sang Silent Night, Hallelujah, and a couple other Christmas classics. So again, needless to say, it was pretty great! And our tickets only set us back $14.00 for the both of us! Well worth it. We were in the nose bleed section of course, but it was almost better that way.

Another highlight of this stop was our two day, one night trip to Halong Bay which literally means: “descending dragon bay”. The legend of the name has been handed down in the area for awhile and is a really cool story. It says that in the founding days, the Viet people were attacked by invaders. To assist in defending their country, the gods sent down a family of dragons. As they descended from the sky, the dragons began spitting out jewels which quickly changed into jade stone islands, linking together into firm citadels that checked the enemy's advance and smashed their vessels into pieces. After the invaders were driven out, the family of dragons did not return to Heaven, but stayed on earth, right where the battle occurred.

It’s a stunner… with giant limestone formations rising straight out of the sea and friendly locals living in floating villages all around. We went kayaking through the pale green waters, checked out a three chambered cave, fished for squid (no dice, but fun) and slept on board a beautiful wooden Vietnamese junker boat.

The only bummer about it all was we missed “friending” Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg in person! He had made a visit to the bay just a couple days earlier…. Sometimes life just isn’t fair. (HA!)

We are leaving Hanoi… and Vietnam in a couple of days for Thailand, for our final month in Asia. Vietnam has made such an impact on us that we are a bit blue to be leaving. However, it’s comforting to know that this wonderful country will still be here waiting for us when we come back someday, and what a joyful reunion that will be!

Photos: Saigon: Travs' New Do

christa_spencer — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:25:00 GMT

Photos: Saigon

christa_spencer — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 22:27:00 GMT

Vietnam (Saigon)

christa_spencer — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:47:00 GMT

To get from Kep, Cambodia over the border to Vietnam… it took one 45 minute ride in a small car, packed with five tourists and one driver, four of us were sandwiched in the backseat along with our backpacks (needless to say, it was a tight trip and we got to know each other very well). We were dropped at the border and made it across by foot in about 20 minutes. We then hopped into a minibus where we sat and waited, with the driver mind you, for about an hour (Why the long wait you ask? No idea.) Once we eventually got moving, we drove about 30 minutes where we were dropped at yet another bus… which we rode for again, about 30 minutes and finally, we reached our large bus… riding it for five to six hours, all the way to Saigon. It was quite a day! And we were very happy and slightly relieved when we got to our final destination—and were not met by another bus.

To quote Hunter S. Thompson “We arrived with a feeling of ignorance and a loose “what the hell” kind of confidence that comes on a person when the wind picks up and they begin to move in a hard straight line towards an unknown horizon.”

Saigon is a great city and treated us very well. The people there were very fun and inviting. Many of the local students studying at the university there loved to sit down for a chat, to practice their English and also to teach us a few things of their culture (including the cheers they use when drinking… “Mot! Hai! Ba! Zoooo!” Pronounced…. “Mow, Hi, Bye, Yoooo!”) After some of the experiences in Cambodia, Vietnam made us feel very welcome and relaxed (we hold an inward grudge toward the pushers and shovers, tourist and salesmen alike).

One of the best choices we made while in Saigon was taking a two day, one night tour of The Mekong Delta. The tour consisted of many sights… a few highlights; our homestay (which I’ll get to), the famous floating market, drinking banana wine, eating local fruit—including pineapple which is in season, consuming elephant fish and visiting a village where hyacinth honey is harvested and produced (and getting to sample plenty of it)!

Our homestay was amazing. We had the choice to stay at a nice hotel, but wanted a different experience. Out of a group of about 20, only me, Travis and a German man named George chose the homestay option. Boy did we ever make the right choice!! We were all driven out to the countryside (via motorbike)… about 45 minutes away from the group at the hotel. After crossing a rickety bamboo tightrope that served as a bridge connecting to the home, we were welcomed with open arms. It was our tour guide’s parents’ house, his cousin who also lives there was our interpreter during our stay and everyone from grandparents to cousins, ranging in age from four to 94, live in this home that sits on a rice and fruit farm. We were treated to a homemade feast consisting of shrimp fritters, rice, fish and sour soup with pineapple, stir-fried tofu and beef, string beans and tofu, giant rice chips with peppercorns, fresh chilies (that make steam come out of your ears, but don’t make your stomach upset one bit!) and plenty of rice wine made by neighbors. We were also given a lesson in making Vietnamese pancakes, which consisted of egg and rice flour, made like a crepe in a wok, then filled with bean sprouts, shrimp and pork. We each made our own over a wood fired clay stove and they all turned out delicious! The evening was so much fun… and even with the language barrier—we could still manage to communicate just through laughter, hand gestures and the multiple cheers over rice wine of “Mot! Hai! Ba! Zoooo!” We woke up the next morning after a wonderful nights’ sleep to a breakfast of tea, bananas and an egg baguette sandwich. We also took a tour of their fruit farm and rice fields… where farmers out in the paddies were already knee deep in work (literally). After our goodbyes and treacherous walk back over the infamous tightrope bamboo bridge, we rode back and met up with the rest of the group who stayed at the hotel. Needless to say… they were a little cranky to hear that we had already had our breakfast—and had a free feast the night before, all the rice wine we could handle and time with an amazing family. Hehehe (evil grin)

We made a visit to the popular tourist destination… the Vietnam War Remnants Museum. Until 1993, it was known as the Museum of American War Crimes which seems a bit more fitting because the exhibits are very much one sided. However, the museum does show, very graphically, the horrors of war—so I think it is worth a visit no matter your opinion of the Vietnam War itself. I would imagine for a veteran of this war, it would be a very painful and difficult place to experience. Outside on the museum grounds are restored pieces of U.S. military fighter planes, tanks, large bombs and helicopters which are all pretty amazing to see in person.

We were in Saigon for roughly one week—maybe a bit more—I turned 27, Travis got a Mohawk, I got my nose pierced and we paid .50 cents per beer just about every night. Pretty incredible place with some wonderful memories to take away with us.

Photos: Kep's Crab Market and more!

christa_spencer — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:43:00 GMT

CAMBODIA: Part Three: Kep = Crab

christa_spencer — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 03:34:00 GMT

Kep is the city we were most looking forward to visiting in Cambodia. Its history captivated us. We’d heard it described as “The Hamptons” before the Khmer Rouge came through. The rich, famous, royalty, etc., all came to Kep and being there you could see why it was a destination point for so many. As we travelled around the small town (no atm’s or banks- however that’ll change in 2012! Apparently.), we could see what use to be grand beautiful homes… now empty buildings, blackened and partially hidden by the overgrown bushes and trees. But even then, it was easy to imagine what they must have looked like before being abandoned by force. Another part of Kep’s past and present that intrigued us is the French influence— in the cooking and architecture. When we told other travelers of our plans to go to Kep, they said, “Uhhh… Kep? You should go to Kampot- you need to go to Kampot. Much more to do there, it’s more developed…” blah blah blah. That was all part of why we picked Kep…. What more could you want for a few days than the beach, sun, beer and crab? Of course, we did make a couple of trips up to Kampot, as Kep has no banks and we were in need. Kampot was okay… but the drives back to Kep were always preferred, and so was Kep. That’s actually putting it nicely when it comes to Kampot, but we won’t get into those stories in this post… as it is dedicated to the lovely Kep. (If you want to know about Kampot — to put it quickly, just two bad experiences—100% due to the banks there and my “bad signature”! GR! Long story.)

Then there’s the crab market. Oh the crab… the delicious, fresh, succulent, cheap as you can buy, crab. And boy did we get our fill. One of the best parts about the crab in Kep was the green Kampot peppers that always seemed to accompany it. Kep/Kampot is renowned for producing one of the world's finest peppers (the green Kampots) and they were in peak season during our visit.

Our trip to the crab market was possibly the highlight of our time in Kep. We walked straight over to the market, set alongside the beach, and all the wives of crab fishermen approach you—pointing to their baskets filled with live crabs… wanting you, of course, to buy from them. We made our choice and picked out five delicious looking crabs—a couple on the small (what I would consider “normal”) size, then three rather large ones. Our grand total? $7.00!! Our lovely cook then threw the crabs into a boiling pot of water and slid the lid over to let them simmer for about 10 minutes. While we waited for our crabs to finish cooking, we bought a jar full of fresh Kampot peppers, soaking in their own juices (Hallelujah!!). We were mad for these peppers…. So amazingly good, you could eat them on their own. Of course, we preferred them with a bit of thick juicy crab meat, but they can stand on their own just fine in my book. When the crabs were done cooking, they were tossed in a plastic sack and handed over to their drooling beneficiaries. We grabbed two cans of ice cold beer, found a table, and dug in. CAN I GET AN AMEN?!? The angels were singing… the sun was beaming straight down on us and our feast… and as Travis and I looked into each others’ eyes, there was a complete understanding that if there is a heaven, this was it… we had died and gone there. Funny how a bird pooing on your table (nowhere near the crab mind you) can bring you back to reality pretty quick and make you realize that you haven’t died and gone to heaven… you’re just eating one of the best meals of your life.

Pics to come!!!