Tracy's Journey

Coming Home

tweber — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:21:00 GMT

After eight months of wonderful experiences, I have decided to come home a little bit earlier. The little inkling (voice) that kept telling me to do this trip is now telling me it’s time to go home. I tried not to listen to it but decided that I should. I have been so lucky to have had this opportunity to see so many amazing places, take part in many different cultures, and meet truly wonderful amazing people from all over the world. It’s hard to put into words what this trip has meant to me. I want to thank all of you for following me and sending me your support through your thoughts and prayers.

Malaysia

tweber — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:16:00 GMT

First, I visited Langkawi, which is a large island on the western side of Malaysia. It was the easiest location to cross the border from where I was in Thailand. It was a nice beach but did not have the aqua blue waters. I stayed here for just a few days relaxing and taking it easy. Next, I went to Cameron Highlands. Cameron Highlands is noted for its tea plantations, strawberry & vegetable farms, and flower farms; also the Mossy Rainforest. As we drove in, all the mountains & hills along the road were terraced and had steps leading up to nowhere. Later, I found out this was to prevent landslides and the steps was for the water runoff. The tea plantation that I visited was over 600 acres and they have 170 workers that work there. It was very interesting to learn about the tea trees and the process of picking and producing. The tea trees are over 80 years old and were from the original stock. The weather is virtually the same all year long (cold at night & could get up to the 80’s during the day); except for a dry and wet season. The Mossy Rainforest was incredible. I had a really interesting guide that explained about some of the plants and their medicinal uses. You’ll see in my pictures a flower that has two names (Insect eating flower and the pitcher flower). The insects are attracted by the sweet smelling flower that catches the rain. The insects go in to drink but then can’t get out. Also it looks like a pitcher. I had such a nice time that I ended up staying about 4 days and went on a couple of hikes in the rainforest. I always forget how being in the forest just revitalizes me. It felt great and it was beautiful. One evening I went out to dinner with a young Dutch couple that I met on a tour and we tried the traditional Malay steamboat dinner. It is sort of like fondue. We had two different types of soup that is boiling and then you get plates of meats, fish, noodles & veggies and then you cook everything in the boiling soup as you eat. We had a really nice time.

They say the Perhentian Islands are paradise and I would have to agree. I think the water was even more blue and aqua than it was in Thailand. I had the chance to go snorkeling and it was the best snorkeling that I have ever done. Even out in the deeper waters, it was so clear you could see amazing coral; all different shapes & colors. I swam with so many different kinds of fish. Every time I thought I had seen all the fish in an area, I’d see another kind. I also swam with black tip sharks, little barracudas, sea turtles, and stingrays. I finally was able to get use to swimming with all the little colored fish that you were just always surrounded by but I always got a little nervous when I saw the sharks & barracudas.

After the beach, I made my way to Taman Negara National Park deep in the jungle. Here, I went on a night safari and saw a few night animals and then I went on a couple of hikes. I usually was the only one on the path and it was so quiet and peaceful. You could hear all the different kinds of birds. It was so quiet you could hear the leaves falling; which sometimes startled me because I thought it was an animal. You know the question: Does a tree make a sound when it falls if there is no one there to hear it? I was thinking about this as I was walking amongst all the nature and decided yes, the sound would exist because there are so many animals, birds, insects, and living organisms that would hear it.

Now, after islands, rainforests, & jungles time to head back to the city. Kuala Lumpur is the capitol of Malaysia and full of high rises and shopping malls. I stayed in Chinatown and it was crazy especially after about 4:00 in the afternoon. They set up so many stalls all along the street that you can only walk one by one down the narrow isle they have left in the street. The first couple of days it was difficult even to find my hotel because they block all the buildings. They have some food stalls but the majority are t-shirts, shoes, purses & bags. Just stall after stall of things made in China. One day I went to a supposedly free flight bird park. It was really cool to see so many different kinds of birds up close. It was kind of neat that a lot of the park was enclosed by a screen like net that was way over the top of the trees and walk amongst the birds; but unfortunately there were still a lot of birds in cages where they didn’t have much room.

Photos: Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur

tweber — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:09:00 GMT

Photos: Malaysia - Taman Negara

tweber — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:02:00 GMT

Photos: Malaysia - Perhentian Islands

tweber — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:59:00 GMT

Photos: Malaysia - Cameron Highlands

tweber — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:28:00 GMT

Photos: Malaysia - Langkawi

tweber — Tue, 31 May 2011 07:50:00 GMT

Thailand

tweber — Sun, 22 May 2011 20:17:00 GMT

Ok, so it’s getting much harder for me to keep up to date on these blogs. I have been traveling every two to three days and when I’m not traveling I am sightseeing or just plum utterly worn out that I can’t think straight. Actually, I am getting use to traveling by bus & boat for 10 to 12 hours a day. During the actual day or night, it really doesn’t seem that bad. It usually hits me the next day.

I keep forgetting to tell everyone the good news. I received a message from one of the social workers at CHSFS in Ethiopia where I volunteered that the little two-year old boy (Merituh) who I helped with walking has been matched with a family. I am so happy!

So, I first went to Chiang Mai, which is in North Thailand. As soon as we crossed the Laos/Thailand border, you could immediately notice that Thailand is a more modernized country than Laos. Double highways everywhere with billboards, green exit signs, 7 Eleven gas stations with rest stop, Mc Donald’s, Starbucks. I felt like we drove back into the US. Chiang Mai is known for it’s trekking & elephant tours. Since, I am already a trained elephant mahout from Laos I decided to go white water rafting. We drove for about 2 hours further north thru some beautiful mountain scenery and then arrived at the gushing river. Most of the rapids were class 4 & 5, which means you just get down in the middle of the boat and hold on for dear life! The guide tries & steers the boat as much as possible or just lets the current take us even if it means slamming into a big rock and then our boat fills with water. But we quickly move on and the raft self bales itself and we get a chance to get back up on the side and paddle. When we were on the calm part of the river, it was so peaceful listening to the birds and hearing the currents of the water flow. I kept seeing a really beautiful blue bird that kept flying from one side of the river to the other. The guide said it was a kingfisher. It was an indigo blue color. Also, as we were going down the river we would see people riding elephants along the side or crossing the river. It really made you feel like you were in the jungle!

On to Bangkok, which has something for everyone. It is a huge city and one would never run out of things to do. There are so many different areas to explore. I stayed in the busy backpacker area on the famous Khao San Rd. The street was full of street vendors that sat up there spot right along both sides of the street, mainly only open to people on foot except for the occasional motorbike to whiz past you that you weren’t expecting. It was pretty easy to get around using the water taxis along the river and the skytrain (which was spotless). The BART system in San Fran could use a tip in cleanliness from them. One day, I decided that I had enough sun & heat and decided to check out one of their malls. It was something else! It was 5 stories high and huge. I felt like I was back in the US except for being surrounded by Asian people and being the minority. There is a lot of money in Bangkok. Another day I explored several temples. One was Wat Arun, which you will see in my pictures. There were four terraces each higher than the other depicting Buddha at the four most important stages of his life: birth, meditation, preaching his first sermon, and entering nirvana. Another temple I visited was Wat Pho, which houses the largest reclining Buddha. The statue is over 7 feet tall, which portrays the Buddha entering nirvana. The Buddha has a beaming smile that is over 4 feet long and the bottoms of the feet are black with mother pearl drawings. Then on to the Grand Palace where there was one ornate beautiful building after another. The royal temple houses one of the most important icons, the Emerald Buddha. Next, I visited the floating market, which was about two hours away. We arrived in an area where we took a long tail motorized boat through some canals where there were houses and small shops set up along the canal. When we got to the floating market area, we switched to a smaller rowboat where we rowed amongst all the market boats. The area was full of people rowing their boats selling fruits, vegetables, stir-frys, soups, and many more things. Oh, I even remember seeing a boat, which looked, like a convenient store selling toilet paper and etc. There were also many boats that were non-moving selling all kinds of souvenirs. I even saw one that was selling Gucci purses. It was all quite crazy and people were just constantly asking you to buy. – And you just couldn’t walk away – the boat man was in charge and decided how long he would stay in front of a vendor trying to get you to buy something. Quite the experience!!

I actually liked Bangkok and could have stayed a little longer but I only have a 15-day visa (which you get when you cross by land rather than the 30-day visa you get when you fly in) and I still want to do some of the Islands. I know a lot of people say Bangkok is really busy and is a lot to take in but it was nothing like Vietnam! Here traffic actually drives in the lanes that are provided and obey the traffic signs. I think a big difference is that there are a lot more cars than motorbikes, which was the opposite in Vietnam. I was talking with another traveler and she mentioned that Bangkok is organized chaos compared to Vietnam just being totally uncontrolled chaos. Next, I went to Ko Samui, which is one of the eastern Islands located in the Gulf of Thailand. The water was amazing. So many different colors, clear next to the beach, where you could look down in see your feet to a beautiful aqua blue that you can still see through to a deep blue further out. And I believe it was the warmest water I have ever been in. (Which really isn’t that refreshing because it is sooo hot outside – sometimes I would feel a current of cool water). So had a few days of R&R on the beach getting sunburned before I moved on to Krabi, which is on the western side of Thailand (Andaman Sea). Here I took a 4 Island tour which was just amazing. We were able to visit 4 different beautiful beaches and snorkel a little bit. The snorkeling really wasn’t that great but we did get to swim with a big school of green & yellow fishes. There was one spot where there was a sandbar that connected three different islands. Next, I’ll be on my way to Malaysia.

Photos: Thailand - Krabi

tweber — Fri, 20 May 2011 20:40:00 GMT

Photos: Thailand - Ko Samui

tweber — Fri, 20 May 2011 20:29:00 GMT

Photos: Thailand - Bangkok

tweber — Fri, 20 May 2011 19:59:00 GMT

Photos: Thailand - Chiang Mai

tweber — Fri, 20 May 2011 19:51:00 GMT

Laos

tweber — Thu, 5 May 2011 21:14:00 GMT

So I ended up staying about a week in Luang Prabang taking it easy and slowly doing a few activities. I visited a few of the temples and ate at the night market one night. I had two excursions that I went on. First, visiting the Elephant Village to learn how to be a mahout (elephant caretaker & driver). The Elephant Village is a sanctuary for elephants that are no longer being used in the logging industry. Elephants are on the extinct list and as logging becomes illegal in certain countries they don’t know what to do with the elephants that are no longer needed. They have been domesticated so chances are they will not survive in the wild, so hence tourist elephant camps are popping up to give the elephants a home and a way to earn their keep by working a few hours a day giving rides. Of course, some camps take better care of their elephants than others. I had the chance to spend a day and a half with the elephants. First, we had the opportunity to ride the elephant in the chair for about an hour thru the jungle and river. Then we learned the commands for the elephant, (go right, go left, stop, forward, backwards, lift leg for mounting) and had the chance to ride on the elephant’s neck. This was a bit scary at first but once you learn how to keep your balance you feel like a pro. About 2:00, the elephant’s day is finished and we were able to ride them out to the jungle where they stay for the night. In the afternoon, we got to relax and swim in a nice pool. As I was waiting for dinner, I was watching all the activity along the river. There was a boy about 10 years old that was fishing with a net and his little 3-year-old sister was falling him around, just playing, splashing, and swimming in the river. I don’t think he ever caught anything. Oh yeah, this river where they swim, bathe, and wash their clothes is also a place where the elephants piss & poo. Uuck! I tried not to think about it the next morning when I was in that same river giving the elephant it’s bath. I spent the night there in a lodge and early the next morning walked out to pick up my elephant and rode him back to the river for its morning bath. By the end, I was riding my elephant on the neck all by myself. I’m a quick learner! J

My other excursion was to Kuangsi waterfalls. It was very beautiful. When you look at the pictures, you will see many different pools. These are the pools that were created from the falls as I walked up to the top. There were about 4 levels altogether. The water was pretty cold but not as cold as the one I swam in at Yosemite a few years ago.

One morning I woke up early to greet the monks out on the street during their morning procession for alms. About 5:30 am, it is a custom for the monks to walk around town to gather their food for the day from the lay Buddhists. Since the monks have taken a vow of poverty, the lay Buddhists provide food for them each morning. Each monk carries a pot and the locals will throw a little bit of rice in each pot or give him some fruit.

On to Vang Vieng, it was about an 8-hour bus ride thru very beautiful countryside and mountains. The road was nothing but twists and turns; up and down the mountain the whole way. Luckily, our bus driver was driving slowly. We had a very big double decker bus that took the whole road when he went around the curves. I really didn’t get nervous until we saw one bus that literally just laid down on one side along the mountain. Luckily, there was just a small gulley between the road and the mountain where it just laid down. But then we actually had to wait an hour stopped on the road for another big truck to be pulled off the side of the mountain where he ended up instead of the road after going around a curve. Vang Vieng is popular for its tubing down the river and it’s a big party place for young adults. It almost seems like the town only exists for this reason. All the restaurants in town cater to the young Western population of partying with lots of loud music and selling cheap buckets of alcohol. Also some of the bars have TV showing reruns of Friends and The Simpsons. Then along the river right on the water they have bar after bar with huge trapeze type swings that you use to swing out and jump in the river. To me it’s quite a dangerous mixture, all these people partying, getting extremely drunk, and jumping in the river. There are reports of several deaths and accidents each year. And keep in mind, there are no emergency facilities anywhere close. I am little embarrassed how the young Western adult is portrayed here. However, I took a very nice tour of trekking, caving, and kayaking. We hiked out to Elephant cave, which is a water cave. We sat in intertubes and floated thru the cave holding on to a rope. We also had headlamps as our only light. It was pretty cool! Quite a different experience from walking thru a cave. After lunch, we were able to kayak down the river for about two hours. We actually even had a few rapids! I was excited this was only my second time kayaking (first being in Halong Bay). The scenery was breathtaking!

Just a couple hours to Vientiane (capital of Laos) and visit more temples. The main attraction here is about a 45-minute local bus ride out of town to Buddha Park. It is a collection of massive sculptures of Buddha and different Hindu deities.

Photos: Laos - Vientiane

tweber — Wed, 4 May 2011 18:07:00 GMT

Photos: Laos - Vang Vieng

tweber — Wed, 4 May 2011 17:46:00 GMT

Photos: Laos - Luang Prabang

tweber — Wed, 4 May 2011 17:07:00 GMT

Photos: Vietnam - Sapa

tweber — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 21:01:00 GMT

Hanoi

tweber — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 11:50:00 GMT

I arrived in Hanoi, North Vietnam by taking a 12-hour sleeper train from Hue; thinking that would be better than the bus. Well - maybe I did have a little bit more room but it was an old musty train that made alot of noise and was much bumpier than the bus. I tried to think that I was being rocked to sleep but it was more like being shaken to sleep. I shared my cabin with three Vietnamese men and tried not to think about how many people have laid on my sheets & blankets. I really wonder how often they wash the bed linens! People are getting on & off all the time, so as soon as one person gets out of the bed it is filled with another person. Uugh! The joys of traveling. But really, actually I have been really lucky and haven't had any unbearable moments! I hope to keep it going that way.

Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and another very busy city with a nice lake (Hoan Kiem) in the centre of the city. You have to be very careful here with the taxi & cyclo drivers because there are a lot of them taking advantage of the tourists. I was well prepared from reading about it online and in the guidebooks but I talked to several travelers that got scammed. I mainly used it as a home base to do tours to Halong Bay and Sapa. Hanoi is also famous for the Water Puppet Theatre. Water puppetry originated here in the Red River Delta area when the floods came. The puppets dance on the water and tell stories about rural life and historic events. Instead of the puppets being manipulated at the top with strings, these are controlled underneath the water with long poles that you can’t see. It was really pretty cool!

Halong Bay was breathtaking. It is a body of emerald green water with 1,969 limestone islands all different sizes and shapes. Some of the islands have magnificent caves. The one we were able to go thorough was called Surprise Cave. The locals are not allowed to live on the islands because it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site so they live on floating fishing villages around them. It is quite a different lifestyle! Some of them even had dogs on their little floating house, which really is a small shack floating on bamboo.

I stayed one night on a houseboat and another night on Cat Ba Island. The first day was very misty but magical and mysterious. The next day woke up to a beautiful day of sunshine. We cruised for about an hour through many spectacular small islands and then went biking on Cat Ba Island and later took a small boat to Monkey Island. This is a small island with a nice beach and a good hike up to a viewpoint. And yes, there are monkeys! I wonder how they ended up on a island surrounded by water?? And be careful, when swimming they might run off with your stuff. I had met an Australian family and we were swimming and all of a sudden Hunter, their 10 year old son, said “Tracy, there’s a monkey trying to get your bag!” So we all ran up to shore and chased it away. Luckily, I had locked it. Because that is what the monkey was trying to do – was open my bag. Whew!!

Next, I went back to Hanoi and rested for a day then took the night train to Lao Cai, where you then drive for an hour to get to Sapa. Yes, I did do the train again but this time I was on a tour package and they use a nicer tourist train. And it was nicer with clean bedding but I still wasn’t able to sleep much. We arrived at 6:00 in the morning, boarded a mini-bus for an hour ride up the mountain, had breakfast and started hiking by 9:30 am. We hiked about 6 to 7 miles the first day and another 3 to 4 the next day. It was so beautiful hiking amongst all the terraced rice fields and bamboo forests. We went thru many minority villages, one being the Black Hmong and stayed overnight in a home stay in one of the villages. It was a stilt house with a large loft with mattresses on the floor and a mosquito net. The Hmong women (some very young) would hike all day with us talking, laughing, and helping us along the trail; which tended to be quite muddy in areas. They actually spoke English very well, better than a lot of the Vietnamese people in the city. They could even crack jokes; which is hard to do in a second language. I had a shadow for both days showing me where to step and holding my hand on steep parts. It was funny how when we stopped at resting points and started out again, she would always end up right by my side. Then at the end of the day, they want you to buy their goods (handmade bags, bracelets, headbands, shirts). They would say, “I walk with you, help you. You buy from me now, then I go home for dinner.” The Black Hmong migrated from China over 300 years ago. Most of the women marry between the ages of 12 and 15. If they are married, they wear large silver hoop earrings. The tradition is when a man finds a girl he likes and wants as his wife; he kidnaps her. He keeps her in his house for three days and after the three days the girl will decide to stay or if she is unhappy will go out into the forest and find the poisonous flower to eat and take her life. The government has now made this illegal that after the three days she is allowed to go back to her home if she is unhappy. However, within the last month a girl was found who ate the poisonous flower but luckily she was found in time and did not die. It was a really nice two days but towards the end of both days my knees were giving out. My knees don't like going downhill. I am a little disappointed because I am wanting to do more trekking in Laos & Thailand, but now I don't know if I should.

After my second day of hiking, I took the night train back to Hanoi and one day to relax and then off to Laos. I decided to fly because the route the bus takes is very long and then I would have to back track, so I am go to fly straight to Luang Prabang.

Wow! I forgot how luxurious it was to fly. It was an hour flight compared to a 20-hour bus ride. It was well worth the extra expense. Luang Prabang is very nice. It's a small, quiet country town with lots of Buddhist temples and monasteries to visit. Whew! I am really worn out. I am going to take it easy for a few days and try to get rested up. I even found a little coffee shop that served bagel sandwiches. I thought it was appropriate to have a ham, cheese, tomato, lettuce, and the best cream cheese since it was Easter and a large ice tea. It was soo good! Tonight I had dinner along the Mekong River at sunset and had a very delicious Lao dish that was a Mekong fish & vegetables in coconut milk. Tomorrow I will visit alot of the wats (temples) and ride around town a little more on a bicycle. Oh yeah, I know longer have to fear for my life while crossing the street or even walking on the sidewalk!

Photos: Vietnam - Halong Bay

tweber — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 20:26:00 GMT

Photos: Vietnam - Hoi An & Hue

tweber — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:35:00 GMT