And... that's a wrap, folks!

Oh Southeast Asia.. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

I’m on top of the world, in my heart and in my mind. Please do not ever let me come down!!

That’s a wrap, folks! With the days left in my final destination; Bangkok, dwindling down to nil, it is now time to wrap up the party, and think about my next set of adventures, and my next move in life. 

In the daunting task of a summary blog, where do I even begin?! For the past 5 months (and I cannot even believe that it really has been 5 full months (time really flies-life really flies!!) I have been traveling throughout Southeast Asia with some friends of mine. This has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life so far! There aren’t proper words to encapsulate the whole trip in one sentence, one paragraph, or even an entire novel.  

Humans can be complex. Human thoughts can be complex, and every moment which we experience; and there are many in a day, is packed with an incredible amount of thoughts and emotions, especially in such a saturated place such as Asia. These experiences sometimes leave us changed. I have had many experiences like this in the past five months. I hope not to forget each and every one, allowing for the changes to become permanent, enhancing me along the path toward my full potential in life. That is why this experience has been so valuable for me. I have never been one to shy away from risk; and this is not an exception. I chose to give up all the so called “stable” things in life, on which people rely, so that I might live, and live fully in this experience. 

I look forward to sitting and sharing stories with many people. Those of you who I visit with, should be prepared to be overwhelmed. Where would I even begin to pick and choose what to share with you and when, when I’ve had a non-stop jaw-dropping experience filled with adventure from the word go! I mean, how much time do you have?! I know there will be a few must-tell stories, which I never tire of repeating; many of which are posted as blogs already, but the majority of my experience will never be able to be put into words amazing enough to describe what I have been seeing and doing. 

The easiest thing I can do is to say, you must, I repeat MUST do something like this for yourself and for your life to really understand what it is like, and even then, in every moment there is change, and no two people will have the same experience.  You would have had to be there, for so many of these stories to resonate with you the way they do with me. However, I will try to give you the best recap that I can.

Although at one point in our trip we were  a group of 4, or 3, I was lucky enough to have had Ryan with me from beginning to end. He will continue to be one of the best friends I have in my life. He is ready at the drop of a hat for the biggest of adventures, and he is always there to be a supportive friend with whatever you need, whenever you need it. Thank you baggins, this has been SUCH an amazing thing to share with such a good friend!

I don’t really know how to best summarize a trip that lasted for 5 months. Many people called it a “holiday”, however, I think it was much different than that. It was an adventure, and a life experience more than anything. I met so many other people younger than me, doing this very same thing. I love that I ended my trip by living day-to-day life in Bangkok for two months, making new friends, and becoming very routine in my daily life. I lived in Thailand for two months, how fun is that?! Let me tell you; SO FUN! There are so many things I love about Thailand, and Bangkok especially. Super cheap and delicious street food, crazy night life (where anything; and I DO mean anything, goes), abundant activity all day long, ease of getting around, great activities, great shopping, friendly people… I could go on and on. 

I think the blogs do a good job of conveying specific, pointed events during my trip, but the day to day amazing things I have seen sometimes fall through the cracks, unless you’re good at looking through all the photos I like to take. I have sort of let that fall by the wayside recently, but that is because what I am seeing is not novel to me anymore, and you’ve seen most of it all already. I haven’t gone anywhere incredible lately, *at least not anyplace you can take photos at ^_^! There are SO many places that are just really amazing, that I can’t shoot photos of… Like the stalls at the largest outdoor market in Thailand; Chatuchak Market, which is on every weekend, and which has booths that only sell squirrels and chipmunks; complete with little outfits, knit hats, and leashes. Or the rabbit store which sells little bunnies, complete with tutus. There are such cool things throughout this city, which I am dying to share, but most of the greatest places forbid photography.

So with the last week of my time here approaching, the thing I have been doings thinking back on some of my favorite moments during this trip, which basically is the whole entire thing!

I am not looking forward to leaving this amazing country, and the important people to me who live here. I am, however, looking forward to reuniting with my family, and sharing all the goodies I picked up for them along the way (of which there are many-but hey, it’s 5 months, and these are things straight from other countries!). I am also really looking forward to the next leg of my journey, which takes me through the U.S. this time, to see new places, and places I hold dear, but most importantly, to see people that I love very much. The U.S. trip will hold at bay the sadness I am sure to experience of returning to “real life”, even if only temporarily. 

So, here are some of my favorite little things about the 7 countries I visited during the last five months…

Thailand (round 1): My first time using my passport!- Tuk Tuk drivers and their antics, Buddhas everywhere, the mini temples and smell of incense all around, street food, Lub-d hostel, morning puke man out our window at Lub-d, diving at Koh Tao, swimming with a shark at Koh Tao, face-bridge (yeah, it’s an inside thing, sorry), midnight train stops at wacky places, crazy frog ladies in Chiang Mai (madam please!), trekking insanity, Cobra show, elephant rides, hill-tribe kids, new friends, amazingly nice people, cheap medical care!

Laos: the slow boat (not really fun, but an incredible adventure!),Luang Prabang, snake whiskey, morning monk procession, 10,000 kip (about a dollar and a half) buffet dinners, all the adorable children, highway 13 and the gorgeous mountain view, “dying” on the “happy shake", my heartbreak for the homeless kids in Ventiane, the Lao sticker for my car (hard to find, but I got it!), the tubing that wasn’t.

Cambodia: Angkor Wat Temple (duh), Siem Reap, Honour Village Orphanage (I really wanted to love a few of those kids as my own), the friendly people, using USD (random!), Hariharalaya retreat (where I did yoga for the first time), country road. *honestly there were a lot of dark places we went to in Cambodia, too. I loved going, but it was really hard to see. I think of these places often, and I am grateful for the intense experiences there, too. This was by far the hottest country we visited. I have never sweat so much in my entire life. It was very cleansing, though.

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur twin towers (Patronas tower), the Batu caves, the crazy monkeys who steal juice from children (and tried to take my soda too), the central market pickled fruit buffet, our antics to the train station/on the train to Singapore.

* we were only there 3 days

Singapore: Universal studios, seeing the modern art museum - and the amazing Van Gogh exhibit, the beautiful city, just being in Singapore (I mean..), watching them prepare for their birthday celebration, the Merlion.

*we were only there for 3 days

Indonesia (Bali): the cute Balinese music playing everywhere, the sweet children on our street who did lion dancing for us - and an additional Balinese dance by the cutest little boy-who I wanted to keep, seeing them prepare a cremation ceremony in a village, Padang Padang beach, the tour around part of the island, the terraced rice paddies, the nice people, the good souvenirs , the gorgeous sunsets, the incredible wallet finding experience (this is one of my best stories too). This little island - part of a huge country, but drastically unlike the rest of it - had the most gorgeous weather of all countries we went to, similar to home, but even cooler!

Vietnam: spending time with Tuyet’s family (especially her adorable nephew Andy)-getting an authentic experience, the beach in Hoi An, the temple tour in Hue, Hue itself, the hot springs, using money called “Dong”, the sights and sounds of Ho Chi Minh City, the food!, the insane traffic, Hanoi, the snake farm-snake blood/bile shots!, Ha Long Bay!! Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, the water puppet theater, my crazy adventure getting my Thai visa squared away. Second hottest country we went to.

Thailand (round two): Phuket, my amazing-best-birthday-week-ever!!, the new monkey in my life (although temporarily) (x_x), Koh Phi Phi day trip (heaven on the eyes), the apartment I rented (thanks for finding this place, Ryan!), super cheap-tasty street food, the BTS system, my little doggy friend at the apartment, my new obsession-green mango with sweet and spicy fish sauce,  Tokyu department store-who carries Farang sizes! Shabu-shi hot pot buffet-wow, my new Sak Yank amazingly special tattoo, having a routine,the incredible culinary options all over the city, and a longer-term place to live!

This is a glimpse in to the last 5 months. It is hard to summarize an experience like this. I am sure that I will have a serious bite from the travel bug after this, and will need to continue to explore the world. I only hope that life will open the right doors for me in order for me to experience the world, and all it has to offer. I can tell you one thing for sure, I will be back to Thailand again someday… Guaranteed. 

Thank you for reading about my experiences here in Southeast Asia, and looking at, and commenting on all of my photos! Mahalo Nui Loa for all the prayers and happy thoughts our way that kept us all safe during these last five months!

I will be home soon…

Aloha!

Good Morning, Vietnam

It's been a while since I last checked in on the blog, as was the case last time. There is good reason for the lapses, I am always on the go, never resting, never stopping. I love traveling.

The sunset as we made our descent upon Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam..

I am now in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. When I last posted, I was in Cambodia, in Siem Reap, which was lovely to say the least. We stayed in Siem Reap for a week, which is a "long time" for us nowadays.  I had many beautiful experiences there in Siem Reap, and the city in general was just a great place.

We left Siem Reap for Battambang, Cambodia. I was not impressed with Battambang, save a few experiences. It was chaos in your face from the moment we stepped of the bus.
From Battambang we traveled to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Wow is really all I can say while describing this place. It isn't in a good way, either. I didn't like Phnom Penh, not really one bit... And for me, this is saying a lot, as I find myself really falling in love with each place we visit. There was an oppressive, depressed vibe in the air. Considering the history, this is completely understandable, however, it is still pervasive, making for a miserable atmosphere. It is HOT, dirty, busy, crowded, and generally not fun. We did the circuit of depressing genocide homages, which was important to me to see on this trip, despite the heaviness of it all, I was willing to accept that as part of the deal to go there.
Happily leaving Phnom Penh, we decided to take a trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malasia, and visit the southern part of Southeast Asia, including Singapore, and then on to Bali, Indonesia! These places were on all of our lists, however, they took a back seat to the "mainland" of Asia, as we weren't sure we would even make it as far as all of this.
I liked KL (Kuala Lumpur) for its ease of transportation, and its amazing sights. We went to the Petronas, "twin towers" here, as well as the Batu caves. Both were amazing. 

 We headed to Singapore via train for a couple of days after we left KL. Singapore really IS nice, and it is also expensive! We treated ourselves, and went to Universal Studios, to be big kids for the day. That was a lot of fun. Singapore has some amazing architecture, and it is also exceedingly simple to maneuver through the city and its outer areas here thanks to the rail system. We went to the Art Museum to see the Salvador Dali exhibit. I enjoyed the architecture of the place as much as seeing the art. There was a "life size" exhibit of Van Gogh showing here too. In this, they had slides of his work which were projected onto the walls, and which moved in time to some lovely classical music. I was mesmerized by this exhibit. They even did a ballet performance to the show on the day we were there. Art is all fine and well, and usually not something that I am awed by, but this was the exception. So happy I decided to go this day. Afterward we headed to the mall next to the art museum with several floors of upscale shopping, a food court at the lower floor, and in the midst of it all, an ice skating rink!! Imagine that! I love the see what things other countries come up with.

this is the Merlion; the symbol of Singapore

We decided to visit Bali since we were so close, and likely wouldn't get this close again during our travels this time around. Bali has weather similar to Hawaii, except it is cooler; at least during this part of the year. Beautiful blue skies, with delightful trade winds, make for the most comfortable climate we have experienced since embarking on this journey. Bali's beaches in the major tourist towns were nothing special if you ask me, but then again, I am a spoiled girl who grew up in Hawaii, so how can that ever compare?! Sorry, Bali. The atmosphere here was interesting at first, but as the days progressed, it became more and more relaxed, and pretty inviting. We did some tourist sights, and traveled to a few different spots across this vast island, and I still think it was only alright. The thing I liked most about Bali (other than its amazing sunsets), and this is also going to sound terrible, was the shopping! Bali has the cutest souvenirs we have seen so far, and some beautiful artwork and craftsmanship; making you want to buy everything. Relative to other travelers, even ones who are on the road longer than I am, my backpack is quite big. The pack is heavy, 23 kilos and counting, however, it is about 1/3 full of my belongings, and the other 2/3 is now souvenirs for others. I LOVE to buy gifts for other people. And being on the road for 5 months, you pick up a few things. We even have to be selective with what we purchase, knowing we will then tote it around for however many months we have left of this trip. 

So that leads me up to here, Ho Chi Minh City. With my first successful purchase (other than ATM withdrawals) with my newly issued debit card, I also re-gained my sense of freedom and independence! Those who know me well know how important this is to me, so this was a huge victory after some setbacks with my card. I hope that whoever stole the money from my account receives the same feelings and inconveniences it brought to my life. But, I digress, we were now on our way to Vietnam. After 2+ months on the road, traveling, and moving around can sometimes get tiresome, and exhausting. Moving places every few days, considering a week in one spot "long", and constantly changing languages, customs, exchange rates, etc., can take its toll on your body. I caught a cold recently. Ryan and I caught it at the same time. It happens.
I came to Vietnam, traveling  with Tuyet, who has some family visiting here in Ho Chi Minh City currently. They have rented an apartment, and have graciously accepted me into their home, and given me a place to stay alongside their family. That is very kind. The location is superb! We are in district one, which is one of the most popular with tourists, and is sort of the "main" area of HCMC. There are a lot of sights and things within walking distance to the apartment, and more are just a short taxi trip away. One of the places we started with was the War Remnants Museum. This place was really biased against Americans, but that's okay. It was another museum of human ugliness, and the horrific things we do to one another. 

 After the museum, we went to a park we just happened upon, which was so peaceful and beautiful. Yes, HCMC is congested, busy, noisy and active, however, there is a lot of beauty here as well. The architecture is kind of amazing, thanks to the French influence, and there is a lot of good food!! If you have ever seen the show "Anthony Bourdane, no reservations", there is a place he visited in HCMC, that is now popular with the "farangs" (a word used to describe foreigners). The "Lunch Lady", is an adorable Vietnamese woman who has set up near the river, and who makes only one specific thing per day, making it her specialty. People who have watched the show make her a destination while in HCMC, and I am no exception... I went to see her yesterday after the museum, only to be told she was done for the day. She starts at 11 am, and by 3, is sold out. So, I decided today, I would go first thing.

The noodle soup was pretty good, but I think the hype is what has made her the popular destination

I was also taken to the busiest, noisiest, most alive place to eat last night. I have no idea what the place was called, the only thing I know is that it was huge, with an enormous outdoor seating area, as well as another enormous indoor area, packed tight with several huge parties of people celebrating birthdays of various ages. This was a family style eatery, and it was very popular with the locals. It is SO nice to be with people who speak the local language honestly. It is a relief. Shame I chose not to bring my camera. This place was a feast for the ears and eyes as well as a delicious eatery. One of the wonderful parts of staying with someones family is that they take you to places such as this, which you may not otherwise ever even know to go to, or attempt to go to on your own. I loved it here, for all the craziness that it was. I was the ONLY "farang" in the entire place. Part of what also amuses me during my travels are the looks I get from the locals. They aren't all used to seeing nearly 6 ft tall robust white ladies, especially in areas such as rural Cambodia, and they will make sure you know it. It's so amusing! I try to learn at least "hello" and "thank you" in the language of every country I go to. This tiny thing will get you pretty far into the hearts of some of the locals. I got lazy in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, because pretty much everyone speaks English there. 
So, now you are all up to speed on what I have been doing. I am sitting in a lovely cafe, drinking coffee, using the internet, surrounded by students with overwhelming amounts of work to do, whilst listening to lovely classical music, and watching the business outside pass me by.
On a disappointing note, Vietnam seems to have blocked Facebook from the websites people are allowed to use here. Darn it all. So, unless it miraculously works one day, I will not be able to load photos until I depart for my next destination, near the end of the month. Should you need to contact me, e-mail me instead.
Take care until next time!
xoxo

 

Honour Village, Cambodia

Nothing has the ability to change your life the way that a child can. While I do not have children of my own, I love children, with my entire heart, and I have a deep sense of obligation to be an aid to children, wherever possible. Children have the capacity to teach us more than we could understand on our own, and the ability to show us the deepest corners of our hearts, and the compassion within them; above anything else.

Today we visited an orphanage here in Siem Reap. This place was called Honour village. It was set up by a woman from the UK, who opened her heart, her wallet and her life to Cambodian children. Her story began as a donor of funds to orphanages who were exploiting children for personal gain, unbeknownst to her and other donors. They were taking her money, and she never heard another word about the children, or her donations. She appealed to the government of Cambodia, and to my surprise, they made reparations to her, in the form of a land donation, on the condition that she would use it to do something good. And she sure has made good on her end of the bargain! The orphanage has been open for just over 8 months. This particular orphanage houses 36 children currently, with the ability to house 40, but not more than that. This place is unique in a couple of ways. The children here at Honour Village, are not up for adoption. Instead, trust funds have been set up, by numerous donors, in order for the children to attend college later in life. Also, they do not need to leave here by a particular time in their life, really. They may stay until they need to. 

The ages of the children range from 4 months, to 15 years old. There backgrounds are varied, but the main thing they share in common is a need to be there. These are some of the luckiest children in Siem Reap. There is a lot of love here at the orphanage, you can just feel it. They have various volunteers from all over the world who come here and donate their time to educate not only the children living here, but the children who populate the surrounding village area and also the adults as well. They offer education of everyone on a daily basis. The people who come here to help donate their time and love to these children, and more help is always needed. The children here are so loving, affectionate, and genuinely happy. They all possess the incredible ability to overcome the various backgrounds which have led them here to their new, extended family. We decided to go and pay the orphans a visit, and bring them some toys; the smallest of gestures, but something to let them know that we love them, and that they were in our hearts.

 

When we got there all the kids were having nap time, except for a few who were up, and were waving when we arrived. After nap time, they all got a nice treat when one of the new teachers brought out some lollipops. After they were mostly through with their treat, the toys that we brought (including: a volleyball, soccer balls, skipping ropes, pens, paper, pencils, puzzles, legos, and hula hoops among other things) came out and were played with for hours and hours. I gave my camera away to a sweet girl who then went on to take over 350 photographs, some of which were pretty amazing. I hope she will become a photographer someday. Ryan had a great idea, that people should create some way to donate and send photography equipment, and equipment to print photos for the kids. It is an amazing self-expression tool, and actually many of the kids are quite good at it/very artistic. I enjoy handing my camera over to a child and seeing what happens. Here is some of what she got.

Here she is skipping rope

one of her artistic shots

There she is, the budding photographer. She was very sweet too.

 There were so many smiles, so much laughter, and so much curiosity within all of the kids, and all of the adults. There were two babies, both of whom I fell in love with instantly and tended to most of the time I was there.

This little sweetheart was one of a pair of siblings whos mother actually works at the orphanage. They are the two fortunate enough to have a mother, and one kind enough to share he love with others.

 The playing, laughing, sharing and fun went on for hours, and it was a blast to get to know these kids and to be able to let them know that adults out there who don't know them, love them, and want to see them be happy and successful.

One of the funniest stories was of two of the kids, pictured below... and how they had recently gotten in to the craft room, tore the place apart (I saw the aftermath) and got in to the paint, and followed by painting themselves blue. They were reportedly blue like smurfs. I wish I could have seen this in person. 

smurf rascal one

 

 After hours of playing with the kids, it was eventually time to leave. We said our thank yous and our goodbyes, and we were on our way. Visiting was a small thing to do, and I wish that I could be more helpful. 

A couple of days ago, Tuyet and I went to the Angkor Children's Hospital and donated blood. This hospital in particular was set up by a Japanese photographer who witnessed the death of a little girl, simply because she could not afford to get healthcare. The Hospital treats the children here in Siem Reap free of charge. The man who checked us in said that during the wet season especially (which is now) Dengue Fever is prevalent, and the blood is needed to treat children that have been affected by this disease. One of the babies at the orphanage recently contracted Dengue Fever and Tuberculosis, so it hit home a little more to hear that and hold the baby for a while. Donating blood was the least that we could do, and I hope it helps.. Please do this if you can, wherever you live..

Without becoming preachy, it is my hope that I may continue to help support various organizations similar to this one, and in doing so, I may help and inspire others to 1) do the same, and 2) realize how amazing they have it in life, and to decide not to take their lives for granted (and not sweat the small stuff or complain so much). Instead, perhaps they will feel inspired to give a piece of their heart/and/or some of their time to someone who needs it more. After all, at the base of everything, love is what everyone needs.

Until next time!

xoxo

Hello, it's me again! It has been some time since my last post. I suppose as I become more and more used to being here, and used to the experiences I have, I imagine you will all become bored of reading about them, or bored of looking at the photos. So, I am sitting down and forcing myself to blog today. Since the last blog, we eventually left Chiang Mai, and headed up to Chiang Khong, to the Thai / Laos border.

Looking over the Mekong at Laos, we boarded a boat from Chiang Khong

We made it over to Huay Xai, the border town of Laos, and settled in. It was in our plans to take the trip from this border town down the Mekong river, on a two day journey aboard the "slow boat". I had been advised to do this trip by another person who had, as well as by books, and fellow travelers. The other option was to take a bus, as the locals do. 

Here I go down the river on the slow boat

The journey on the boat was well, slow. The boat was PACKED, so full they had to turn some of the locals away, including one man who boarded with some chickens in a box. Sorry man! The boat takes a leisurely pace down the Mekong, and stops at villages here and there to either let locals on, or off the boat. Some of the villages are only accessible by the river, and it is obvious that the Mekong plays a large part in their lives. They rely on it for food. The first day's journey took about 6 hours, before stopping in Pak Beng for the night. When we got in to Pak Beng, it didn't take long before it started to pour rain. It rained all through the night, and most of the following day, which made the second day boat journey a little rougher than the first, considering it would be 9 hours this time.

This little lady liked to play hide and seek with us, especially Ryan. He ended up giving her a fan that he had, which made her smile so big!

After our second day on the Mekong, we arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos. This was such a quaint and cute town in northern Laos. Known for French architecture, including cobblestone streets and French influenced cuisine, it is a really fun and romantic old city. 

We got a really nice guesthouse on our second day here and did things like ride bicycles through the town, visit the Pak Ou caves, and enjoy the night market which was there each night. It also rained harder than I remember ever seeing for at least 2 or 3 days solid. We spend a lot of time experiencing blackouts, which were caused by landslides, and in our case a fallen tree.

We spent a total of 5 days here in Luang Prabang. We frequented a few places, actually beginning to make some friends, which made it a little harder to leave there. We had a couple of weeks to play with, allowing only a specific amount of time to spend in each place, until we were to leave for Cambodia to meet up with Ken and Tuyet. So, we reluctantly had to leave Luang Prabang, and we headed for Vangvieng, where we were looking forward to tubing down the river, weather permitting.

On the journey from Luang Prabang, to Vangvieng, we took a bus on Highway 13, which took us through lush green mountains, with views of valleys full of mist and rain that went on for days. Scattered throughout the mountains were modest villages full of happy half naked children, who wore no shoes, and many young children who were put to work doing chores such as carrying water from the provided watering center to their houses. The reality that these kids face daily is nothing that most children in my home country have to face. You don't see most children here in Laos or Cambodia living carefree lives, with nothing to worry about. Instead, you see them working, and working hard, all day, or pitching in to gather, collect, or transfer goods to and from villages. Most of them are dirty, have no clothes, no shoes, and sometimes, don't even have any parents. It is something that can make you really sad, or something you have to come to terms with in order to deal with it.
The kids here are adorable. 

We made it to Vangvieng, but the rain just would not let up. Instead it started to rain harder, and continued on through the night. We had hoped that we would arrive, stay the night, and then go tubing in the morning. This was not in the cards. Tubing consists of renting a large inner tube and setting off down the river upstream so you drift for a long time. The main attraction here is the bars, and the free booze. This wasn't what I was looking forward to, since I'm not really a drinker. I was looking more forward to having a fun time on the river. In the rainy season, however, this is a bit tricky. Because of the rain, the river was more swollen than ever, and thus, quicker, and not really safe at all.
We decided that our safety was much more important than going down a river, and the multiple people I saw with various injuries like; sprained ankles, taped up feet, people with crutches and mysterious tape on their legs and feet, indicated that this was the right decision to make. 
Vangvieng was not without incident for us, however. Vangvieng is known as somewhat of a party town, and here, you can find many items on the menu, guaranteed to make you "happy". As you can imagine, this indicates something other than just a natural state of mind. What "happy" menu items entail is, well, drugs. Well, we ordered a "happy" shake, thinking it would just contain weed (we actually asked ahead of time)... but, I think it had more to it than met the eye. I noticed that I felt high right away. My friend on the other hand, didn't notice it for a while, but when it hit, it hit like a bitch. My friend kept telling me he was dying. Now, I have been high before, and I know what to expect, only, we weren't one hundred percent sure just what it was that was in this shake, so, we were experiencing multiple symptoms. I had no hallucinations, I just felt like I was on weed, however, I couldn't really sleep, and I felt like a bus ran me over the following day.. That's not weed. It actually took us about 3 days to get over this whole thing and feel back to normal again.
We stayed in Vangvieng for 2 days and left the 3rd day in the morning, heading for Vientiane, the Capital city of Laos.

We arrived in Vientiane, and we stayed here for 3 nights. I thought that Vientiane was alright, but the most notable thing about this city was the orphans. It was really hard to see them, dirty, shoeless, and begging, day in and day out. There was a small pack of them who stuck together in the main part of the city, and there were about 5 of them. They all looked younger than 8. I figured that they must be taken care of by some adults here and there, but I am not really sure. One encounter that we had which stayed with me, that made me almost lose it, was when we were inside an eating establishment, similar to KFC. A few of the kids came inside the place. They are obviously not really welcome here, as someone was instantly up near them shooing them away. The kids walked up to the counter, and actually pulled out a wad of cash, which I assume they worked all the tourists and locals for to get. They pointed at something on the menu on the counter, and instead of serving the kids, they got kicked out. While they were getting kicked out, the main kid started to scream angrily at them as they were nearing the door, and once outside, they threw things at the door that they had near or on them, to show their anger. This enraged me and I actually asked the people working there, just why they couldn't buy food, when they had the money. I never got an answer. They didn't even understand what I was asking them, really. This is the main difference between countries outside of what I am used to, the U.S. At home, money talks; if you have money, you can buy something, no matter how dirty, smelly or gross you are. Here, little homeless kids, with money, cannot even eat, because they are looked at as a nuisance. Seeing this was really hard for me. It is through no fault of these kids own that they have to beg and follow people around daily for something to eat. All I wanted to do was help them. With a heavy heart, I called it a night.


We left Laos the following morning, and boarded a plane, headed for Seim Reap, Cambodia. 

If you haven't already seen my Wat-Fest 2011 album on Facebook, go check it out. I will be posting again sometime soon!


Until next time!
xoxo

Oh my Buddha! (Chiang Mai / Jungle Trekking Adventure)

Holy Shit! Was this REALLY my life for the past 3 days? This is what I am thinking as I sit here. Totally surreal. Entirely.
We arrived in Chiang Mai on Sunday morning, at least I think that's when it was. (something about not having a watch, not knowing what day it is, or what time it is, and not actually needing to know for that matter, is pretty incredible-until you actually have to be someplace at a specific time). We took a night train from Bangkok, where we had been for one night to regroup, rest, and do laundry. Our night train was set up a little different this time, and we had a couple of neighbors with whom we briefly made small talk with before our journey began.

Chumpon Train Station, waiting for our train

Our car, with nice big windows from which I was able to smile and wave at the children passing on the highway in cars

 We arrived in Chiang Mai, and checked in and had a look around. We ate breakfast, and visited the Sunday market, and also had a dip in the neighboring hotel pool, which is owned by our hotel, so we can visit it anytime. Our room here, with two twin beds, and a fan, costs 200 Baht per night, which is equivalent to less than 7 dollars U.S., shared between two people is around 3.50 each night for a nice, warm, clean and DRY place to stay.. Which is golden, especially after the journey I have just been on! But, more on that later. Now, for your viewing pleasure, Chiang Mai.

This Wat is right near our hotel, and we pass by it every day. It is lovely.

We began our trekking Monday morning, which began with a car coming to pick us up at our hotel. It was more like a glorified pick-up truck, which was equipped with bench seating in the bed of the truck, covered, with some windows. This is the standard method of transportation for trekking adventures. We met up with 5 other people, so now we were 7 and began the epic journey of our lives. We stopped first at the usual spots for anything relating to a day trip in Thailand - Snake farm, Orchid Farm, and also a pretty interesting place called the "long neck village". In case you are a fan of National Geographic, you have seen these women before. They start at a young age and wear brass rings around their necks, thus increasing the lengths of their necks. I am not really certain why it is that they do this, but it is amazing to see in person. Some of them also have big stretched earlobes, which I liked. They are originally from Burma, which borders Thailand, or they have come from near the Thailand/Burma border. The "village" they took us to was more of a tourist attraction than anything else; especially evident when I saw the satellite dish they had in the banana patch.

They have faker rings for the tourists to wear and act cute. It's really fun, but silly.

After we left the long necks, we headed for our actual destination, with our guide already by our side. We stopped at a small home for lunch with another group of trekkers, but then separated, and we were on our way. The trek up the mountain was HARD! I am not going to lie, it was really hard on me, and I didn't really enjoy it. As usual with hiking, I like to take my time, and go slowly. This meant that out of the 7 people in our group, I was the last one of the pack, far behind all others, but with the guide by my side the entire time, as he was also a little slow on foot. He reassured me, and allowed me to take my time and enjoy the actual hike, instead of just over exerting myself, which I appreciated. The "hike" (parenthesis because it was mostly on a semi-paved roughed up road nearly all the way up), was long, hot, and STEEP! I had to stop frequently to catch my breath, and our entire team was SOAKED with sweat from head to toe by the time we arrived at the hillside village. 

Yep, I was really really exhausted. I will say how amazing it was though that we were at the top of the mountain

Entrance to their village

We arrived at the hilltribe village, and were greeted with stares, but also, two little naked kids that were playing in their version of a kiddie pool. The little girls were waving and blowing kisses at us as we entered. We walked up to our residence for the next night, and started to get settled in.
Our guide, Wii-- I have no idea how the hell to spell his name, but that is my attempt; brought us into the main house in the village. He seemed like the main guy in the village with whom everyone was associated, and upon whom everyone relies. This information is important for later on in the story, so keep hold of that one.
Wii had 4 or 5 children around him. He said that they are all orphaned kids of the village, whos parents for various reasons, were dead. At least, this is what he told us. One of the kids running around was his son from the wife that had just passed away. He spoke a few words of English , and a few phrases in Thai. We sat around, talked, walked a little around the village, and started to settle in for dinner. The kids all came in to join us, and Ryan and I brought out our cameras, which the kids were really interested in, so we let them take pictures of us, and they had a super blast of a time!

They all posed this way as soon as a camera was on them, so cute. They then, looked at the photos they took and laughed and laughed. Wii says that they never stop, and they played under the house all afternoon, and even into the evening.

 

 

 

After we played, and ate dinner, and played funny games with Wii with sticks, which were really more like riddles, we prepared to settle in for the night, and begin another long trek, this time down the mountain, to the waterfall and beyond!

Our FUN group left to right: Alessio, Robin, Wii behind Ryan, Dave, J.P. and Steffi

 I made sure to stop from time to time going down the trail and take photos so I could remember it all

After a couple of hours hiking down the trail, we ended up at an amazing waterfall, where we could swim and play and then eat lunch!

Our private lunch shack, which you had to cross the river to get to. We ate and played a game or two, and then headed on down the trail

After our delicious noodle soup lunch, we played some games with sticks and laughed and talked and then headed down stream toward the Elephant camp. This is where things started to get interesting. I will admit that I am a somewhat clumsy person. I do tend to get injured, not seriously, more often than I would like. In this particular instance, it was my ankle, yet again. I have sprained my ankles many times, and usually, it isn't serious, and I can quickly bounce back from them. Not today.
As I headed down the trail, I think I lost my concentration on what I was doing for a split second, and that was all it took. I sprained my ankle on a totally flat part of the trail, in the front of the line, and I fell down like a jerk. I could hear the thing pop, like the normal sound of a joint that is being stretched or cracked, but it wasn't so bad. I had to continue down the trail, and I was grateful that this didn't happen before, otherwise, I would really be fucked.
I also saw a small snake cross the trail in front of me, which was pretty cool, considering that this is not something that ever happens in Hawaii.
Now this is where things get REALLY interesting/scary as hell!

The last moment of happiness before the shit storm

 Attention Dad: please do not have a heart attack while reading this part, I am alive, and I am fine.


After we exited the main trail through the mountainous jungle, it took us onto a paved road. In our group we had two guides. Wii, and one other of the villagers. The two trekking groups merged in to one, and there were 7 of us, plus two guides. Since I am usually slow, I am always at the back. Ryan was with me, because he was being really nice and staying with my injured self, and Wii, our original guide was with us as well. The others were now ahead of us, with the second guide. We couldn't see them down the road. We passed one concession shack, and started to approach a small shack on the side of the road. The man inside the shack came out and started to exchange words in Thai with Wii, our guide. The next thing I know there is a struggle, and Wii is pulling out his machete at the man and they started to struggle some more. The man, dressed in what resembled a military uniform of sorts, pulled Wii's bag off of him, and I immediately thought we were being robbed/kidnapped, something awful. Wii and the man struggled, but then Wii started to yell for us to help him. Ryan actually stepped in and tried to pull Wii from the clutches of the man in black, but was not successful. The next thing I saw was handcuffs being placed on Wii. The look on Ryan's face was enough to send fear deep in to my heart. I was standing pretty far back, thinking to myself what the FUCK is happening, and what the FUCK am I going to do; I am in a foreign country, in the middle of the jungle, I don't speak Thai, I have a sprained ankle, and no machete. The next thing I know a truck comes barreling down the road, kind of out of nowhere and I flag it down for some help, not knowing who the fuck is inside. At that point I figured it was better than not having any help, so fuck it, let's get more bodies around. Three other men jump out of the truck and go over to Wii, with handcuffs, and struggle with him too. They started to kick him, and they had him in their grasp. I was TRIPPING BALLS! I was telling Ryan the whole time that we need to get the fuck out of there. The men actually asked us if we were okay, and they told us they were police but not in uniform, and that we should just leave. It seemed really strange to us later that there was a truck that just showed up at that exact moment. Perhaps they had radios, and were communicating. I didn't know what the fuck to think. I told Ryan let's go, and so we began to run. Ryan actually was really nice about it. He said, "I'm sorry, I know your ankle is hurting you, but maybe we should pick up the pace". I, on the other hand, would have been like "bitch, you need to move your ass"!!!!! So, we ran, and made sure we weren't being followed, and I thought I was going to have to hide in the bushes, facing possible cobras, just to survive. This was SCARY. We ran and ran, until we could see our other group, who by that time had reached the elephant camp. We told the other guides what happen, and our group members, and then thought about what to do next. The other guides didn't really seem too worried about it at all. That was disconcerting also. I wanted to go back to Chiang Mai, so much. I was injured, scared, confused, and I now felt completely unsafe. After a while, we actually did try to get the man at the camp (who we all came to loathe, because he was a drunken fool) to get someone to take us back, at least me and Ryan. He explained that there wasn't anyone to take us, and it would cost us a bunch of money to go back. In the end, we decided to just stick it out. It was really scary not knowing what had just happened, or why, and now wondering who was going to be coming to the camp to pay us a visit. We were all pretty nervous by now.

We ended up making the best of it with the group, and the many young men in it offered their protection to Steffi and me, which was really nice. I felt a lot better after some food, and some drinking! We stayed up playing fun drinking games, and being silly, and getting to know each other a lot better. The craziness that Ryan and I experienced could only be conveyed in words to the others, but it bonded us all closer together as we tried to pick apart the whole situation. In the end, I think that the whole crazy experience was due to Opium. Wii talked a lot about Opium, and I think that he sells it. I don't personally care whether or not he does illegal activity, after all, he has an entire village to support. The village shares all of the money that they get from doing this trekking adventure, and they are all one family. I guess though, that Opium is a huge deal to the Thai government, and it's not tolerated; well, obviously. We found out later that Wii has had this happen before, but he doesn't learn. Again, I don't care what he does on his own, and I never felt unsafe with him, or in danger by him, not once. It was just really unfortunate that he was involved in something that has now removed him from his day job, and his village, and all of the children who rely on him; not to mention he was really a nice and really funny guy.


After a nights sleep next to the raging river, there was a lot of anticipation of what the day would bring next. I had to think about whether or not I would participate in the next adventures, because of my sprain. I chose to just handle, and do all the activities; after all, I had paid for them, and these were things you may only do once in your life..


The first adventure of the day, Elephant ride!!

They brought the elephants in, one by one, until there were 6! It was pretty surreal to be eating breakfast one minute, and see the elephants walking in the next.

Steffi and me. We were screaming and laughing. It was pretty intense at first.. you think "oh my god, I am riding on an elephant"!

The first bit of the ride was up a scary, muddy, steep trail. It was a roller coaster on four legs!

During the ride, the elephant "driver" was sitting atop the elephant's head, guiding it, and talking to it, and prodding it along with the stick. We purchased a bunch of bananas, and we used them in a similar way to using tokens to go on a ride, sort of. When the elephant trainer got off the elephant, the elephant would reach its truck up over the back of its head, basically asking you for a banana. It was as though the elephant was saying "no money, no honey", and it wouldn't walk until you fed it!

They like food

At one point in our ride, our elephant trainer and all the other trainers got really excited about something, and our trainer jumped off the elephant and ran up into the trees on the hill, with his sling shot out. AAALLL the guides, hilltribe men, and trainers have sling shots. This particular day, they were after some small bird. So, there Steffi and me were, on a fucking elephant for the first time, withOUT a trainer. By this point we had also run out of bananas. Our elephant started to reach up for some snacks, and we had nothing! The elephant let out a big breath that smelled of bananas, and seemed displeased. It then started to walk away on its own!! Needless to say this scared the hell out of us, and we started to yell to our trainer to come back down, but all he would do was look, and laugh. Eventually the asshole came back out of the bushes, with no kill, and we were on our way. The trainer offered Steffi to get up on the elephant head to ride, SO COOL! We got back to camp, rested for a bit, packed our things up, and then it was time for river rafting! By this time, it was a running joke that all of the guides that I get partnered with, get arrested, or run off, so no one wanted to be in the boat with me. (Just jokingly). It was so funny. I decided to just handle again, and go river rafting, and boy am I glad I did!!

While this isn't my team, I will have more photos up on Facebook later. Someone in my group had a waterproof camera, and it was so fun to take photos of our raft adventure.

After white water rafting, which lasted for a good long time, we did a bamboo raft the rest of the way down the river to our last stop of the trekk for lunch, and some awesome photos that they took of us as we went down the river. They put them in really cool photo frames, which said "Chiang Mai" on them, with some elephants and sold them to us for 5 dollars.
After the day was done , we boarded a really nice bus and headed back to Chiang Mai. We all agreed to meet up for dinner later, and then headed back to our guest houses.
We got together again for dinner, and some really good laughing (drinking, games, etc., of course) and had one last super fun filled night with these amazing people.
This adventure was by far one of the best I have ever been on so far in my life. A million emotions, memories, experiences, and laughs. Amazing.
Until my next post - may be some time, as I need to rest up before another adventure; take care!
xoxo