Hello again,
We left Nam in typical style...going from one location to another before finally catching the 'LUXURY' bus that we had paid so dearly for. Anyway...a scooter ride (2 people a 2 huge bags on each...childs play by their standards) to the place where the van picked us up to take us to the bus to take us to the path to walk to the bus. After an hour wait in the middle of NO where...our only assurance we were in the right place was that there were other tourists waiting there too...a few pees in the parking lot, and loading the 6 whites and the 40 vietnamese onto our 'LUXURY' bus...a hunk of crap with a luxury horn...we left town. On the outskirts of town, we stoped to collect about 2 tons of bagged rice that they conveniently put all through the alley...the only solice for my huge lanky legs was being able to stick them into the alley...but, what was I going to do? So...24 hours of BAD bus riding, boiling hot, Julia and I jabbing each other with our elbows while jostling for sleeping room. A classic! We arrived at the border about 2-3 hours EARLY, and had the unknown option of renting a filthy mat to sleep on before the border guards leisurely came to work to let us out of their country. After paying off the border guards...just a few bucks...none-the-less, crooked money, we made our way into Laos. Immediately, you could feel the difference...the tension starting to unwind as the temperature rose.
We made it to Vien Tiane, the Laos capital, with only about 15 pee/food stops along the way. We treated ourselves to a 13$ room, which means HIGH quality, complete with TV, AC, hot water, nice beds, etc. and headed out to find things to do. That night, as we arrived late in the afternoon, we basically walked the streets marvelling at the peace and quiet. The Laosians don't badger, don't beep, rarely beg, and smile a LOT! It was so refreshing and strangely quiet! We looked into the bus rides to Luang Prabang...where we REALLY wanted to go to originally (strangely, there are no busses from Nam direct to LP)...but I think we wisely decided that another 12 hour bus ride, plus the hassle of getting to CHang Mai from there...which could take as much as 2 days...just to see the place for 1-2 days itself, wasn't worth it. We therefore stayed for the next 1.5 days in Vien Tiane (sp?), and literally 'unwound' ourselves from the tension we built-up in Vietnam! The first night...we found a wonderful little restaurant that served some fantastic Laap...cold meat salad PACKED with flavour, and visited the night food stalls. We ordered a chilli free papaya salad which still turned out to be inedible (too f-ing hot!), walked the rivers edge looking at the tourists...but retiring early to a cold shower, AC, and some tele before bed. The next day, we managed to find our way through the always interesting day markets, scoffing down fruit, noodles, kenom chan (thai rice flour desert), and plenty of water. We took the local bus to a Budda Park...complete with perhaps 50-100 large statues, including a 40 meter reclined budda, and a huge statue of the artists version of the bowls of hell and purgatory. Strange...but neat. That afternoon we rented some bikes and made our way to a VERY crowded pool (weekend), had a mediocre soak and tried to do a few lengths, with our scuba masks on to protect from the harsh chlorine, for excersize, and biked back to escape the HEAT in our cool room. Another meal at the night stalls, nothing special...but at the same time, delicious! Beer Lao is my second favorite in these parts...after the Thai Chang beer (got the T-shirt!). Our last half dayin Laos, we went to climb their version of the Arc de Triomph...a tall arc in the middle of a HUGE and comparatively unused main highway through Vien Tiane. Not much else that day before boarding our bus at 2pm, destined to arrive in Chang Mai, Thailand at 8am. We had to wait for our 'VIP' bus for a few hours after arriving in Thailand...just seems the way things work...but were pleasantly surprised to actually have a VIP, comfy bus! We watched and played with a pet spider monkey (very cute...but sad to see it mostly caged), had some food, impressed the locals with our coordination on our bolivian hacky sac (which we hadn't used once until then), and finally loaded onto our bus. Julia and I were also lucky to be able to exchange a seat with a VERY nice thai man so that we could sit and sleep together while elbowing each other all night long again. Good times...great sleeps...NOT! Needless to say, there was a wee hickup when our busses' AC unit broke...and we all streamed out of the bus along with our pools of sweat to wait for a replacement bus to arrive. FOrtunately, it was equally comfy, and we arrived in Chang Mai without a further hitch!
We settled on a nice hotel with a NICE pool...but shabby rooms. One of the luxuries we were pampered with in Nam was the quality of hotel rooms. Not the case in Thailand. If you want to go cheap, you get cheap! This one wasn't so bad...but the pool MORE than made up for it! We swam at least 3-4 times a day over the next 2 days...and needed it in 35+ degree heat. We set out to organize our next few days in Chang Mai...but started with a visit to the day market here. The SE Asian cultures seemed to be food obsessed...and understandably so once you've tasted some of the INCREDIBLE cuisine they create. There are equally gross options, like deep fried meal worms, all sorts of creatures BBQ'd on a stick (snake head whole fish, eggs, toads, fat, organs, etc.etc.), thousand year old egg (semi-rotten duck or chicken fetus still in the egg), etc., but we found so delicious options with pork chops, cashews, salads, coconut goodies, etc. I think the food is a better quality in the north here...and so we dined with some delight. Julia re-discovered here Mango and sticky rice too...and has had it daily since arriving.
Must continue later...cooking class and hill-tribe trek...good stuff!
