Chiang Mai, Thailand

We arrived in Chiang Mai, (northern Thailand) on Tuesday, January 30th. We flew on a Laos Airline "puddle jumper." It was a prop plane, loud and bumpy, but overall a good flight. We were told the flight was full for the month but somehow managed to get two tickets. Our first adventure was to head out to the famous "Chiang Mai Night Bazaar." It's a wild event. Vendors line both sides of the streets for blocks selling everything you can think of. Need a fake Gucci? How about a Rolex? Want a pair of coconut earrings or some silver jewelry? It's all here. We are going back tonight to get another look. We did find some pirated movies and software selling in all stores in a mall. Amazing. They have Vista. Yesterday we got our teeth cleaned by a great dentist...total cost for the two of us? $28.00 U.S. Take that HMO's! Who needs to have a job? So now we have great pearly whites and fresh breath. We have been debating (because of all the HAIR comments) about getting haircuts but everyone we talk to says "DON'T." So make all the hair comments you want, we are shaggy, we are flat, but we are in Thailand on our way to the beach! Take that. We assure you that one of our first stops will be to see our gal Sara at Rudy's in the Pearl. She will fix us up. We also want to let Tonya and Bryce know that we are interested in coming back to the Burlington, just need to check out the job situation first. Tonya if you get a chance drop us an email and let us know what availability looks like! (melissa.jones3@gmail.com and julie.ferguson@yahoo.com) And also, Tonya, do you need a salesperson? We are planning on staying in Chiang Mai until Sunday, when we catch the night train back to Bangkok. We will pick up our plane tickets home on Monday, spend one night in the crazy city and head south to Ko Pha-Ngan where we will rent a beachfront bungalow to spend our last three weeks. We still extend our invitation for anyone to come over and join us! You won't regret it.

Farewell Laos, Hello Thailand

We've been in Luang Prabang for 4 nights and in a couple hours we fly to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Laos has been one of our favorite countries, if not our absolute favorite. We've kept busy with several activities. Of course we continued to visit the night market finding some great stone jewelry and textiles. We also discovered a talented nine year old painter named Mr. Kon Lee. We visited him at his home, a local orphanage with 350 children. He showed us his artists studio and many of his paintings and sculptures. He signed a couple for us and we are bringing them home with us. We also visited the big waterfall about 30 kms from town. It was a bone jarring ride in a very old minivan. The falls are very beautiful limestone with many cascading levels and bright blue water. Along the way we went over several bridges that were suspect, creaking heavily and made of 2 by 4's. Our other activities included a slow boat trip down the Mekong River to a paper making village, a pottery making village (where Julie got to make a pot) and a non touristy farming village. We do have some great pictures but they have yet to repair the underground cable in Asia that was knocked out months ago. It takes hours to get a photo loaded from here, but we will keep trying. We did find an outstanding place to stay the Sayo guest house. http://sayoguesthouse.free.fr and have been quite comfortable for $15 a night! Can you even imagine this? Laos has at times been difficult for us. At one point we bought bread to feed the starving dogs and turned around only to find the starving children wanting the bread instead. What a lesson. It is truly a stunningly beautiful location full of friendly and seemingly happy people who try very hard to please. With only a few weeks left after Chiang Mai (the night market of all night markets) we have opted to return to the Thai islands instead of Cambodia. We are planning to fly from Bangkok to Suret Thani (on the south coast) and ferry to a small island near Ko Samui where we will end our trip getting great tans and relaxing by the sea.

Homeward Bound!

It's official. We are coming home on March 1st. We have booked a flight that leaves Bangkok March 1st at 6:00 AM and we arrive home March 1st at 7:00 AM. Great, huh? That's what the 15 hour time difference does for you. When we arrive we won't have much in the way of communication tools. So, if you happen to have a used computer or cell phone for sale please let us know. We do want you to know that we really miss our family and friends and we're looking forward to seeing you.

Luang Prabang, Laos

We've been in Luang Prabang, Laos for two nights and we are really enjoying it here. The walkable city re-opened to tourism in 1989 after the fall of the USSR and Soviet bloc governments. In 1995 Luang Prabang was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage list and that has raised the city's international profile. The city is small and encircled by mountains and set at the confluence of the Nam Khan and Mekong River. The architecture is French provincial and there is Wat(temple) after Wat after Wat. To get here took 6 hours of windy roads with villages around every bend. It seemed like everyone was working as we passed through the villages, even the little children. All of them had dogs, chickens, and a resident pig. It was tough to see the living conditions, houses built right on the side of the road. Upon arrival we checked into a cute guesthouse a block from the Mekong and headed right down to the river for what we do best, Happy Hour. As we sat there we watched the boats go by, locals gardening on the banks, and the glimmer of fading sun on the river. We love being vagabonds. Yesterday we woke to cloudy skies and it actually RAINED on us. Of course, their first rain in 6 months. It didn't stop our walking tour of the city and we enjoyed seeing the sights and visiting lots of wats. Luang Prabang has an incredible night market and textiles are the thing to buy here and that's been our evening entertainment. You just want to buy from the local women because they are so genuine and sweet and really want your business. Each tells you that it's your lucky day and last night when we bought a quantity of beautiful handmade mulberry paper lanterns and the young woman smiled as big as can be, waved the money and said today was her lucky day. That moment made our day. We've discovered great food here and they even have good wine because of the French influence. This morning our alarm rang at 6:00 AM. Why? To witness the monks collecting their food from the locals and tourists. It's an amazing sight seeing the parade of monks getting offerings for their daily meals. It was worth the early morning to see the ritual. Laos is teaching us a lot and we hope you are enjoying seeing this country along with us.

And More...

More Pictures

Pictures of Laos

A Day Worth Remembering - Van Vieng, Laos

Today was a day that just cannot be put into words. A good day. We woke up this morning and went to the Organic Farm Cafe to have some Mulberry pancakes. They have many Mulberry trees here so that the silkworm that makes silk stays busy. The pancakes were delicious. We then headed across the footbridge and began to follow the signs to Tham Phou Kham cave. We had been told that this cave was something to see, what we didn't count on was the great things we would encounter on the walk to and from the cave. We walked about six kilometers (one way) through a small Laos village known as Ban Na Thong. Along the way we handed out some stickers we had brought from home to the village children. As you can see from the pictures they were very excited. Some of the children did not have clothes, some were dirty, but all of them were happy and excited to see us. The houses along the way consist mostly of bamboo structures with no windows, no doors, and no rooms or walls. There certainly is no kitchen or bathroom. We were touched by these kids, they just reach out and tug at your heart, and it's a hard tug. We also saw some more great butterflies, some unique birds, pigs, cows, chickens, goats, dogs, cats, fish, turkeys and other animals. The cows are starving, and there rib cage is very, very visible. Along the walk we were uncertain if we were going the right way - (we were on a dirt road with no signage) and a Laos man rode up on his bicycle and offered to be our "guide". We agreed and Wan took charge and led us to the cave. When we arrived we crossed another footbridge over a stunning lagoon with crystal clear blue water. Wan took us up a very steep hill (rock climbing) and into an absolutely unbelievable cave. If you have time to Google Tham Phou Kham cave see what you can find factually, because this description won't do it justice. It is huge. Like 7 stadiums huge. Big cavern after cavern, each one more spectacular then the next. We took pictures but keep in mind we couldn't see our hand in front of our face, it was pitch black. The pictures still turned out good and our little Cannon cameras from Costco continue to do a great job. Wan showed us the longest and biggest stalagmites we have seen (we really haven't seen that many) - I would guess 10 to 20 feet high. Inside the cave a bit was a sleeping Buddha . We spent about 45 minutes inside then climbed down the very STEEP hill again. At the bottom Wan convinced us to take a plunge in the lagoon from the rope swing. What a blast! We then began our trek home (six more kilometers) stopping in Ban Na Thong to buy some silk from the village women who were weaving it along the dirt road. They told us it took them four days to make one table runner. They are beautiful, we can't wait to show you. We continued our walk, said no to the footbridge and waded across the Nham river back to our bungalow. All in all about a four to five hour trip and one of the best days we have had on our trip. We are going to try and locate some crayons and coloring books to give to the children in the next village we visit because you just cannot believe how excited they get. We leave this beautiful city tomorrow and head by mini bus north to Luang Prabang. They say it is a very scenic drive and even though it is long and curvy we are looking forward to it. We will spend about 4 days in Luang Prabang before heading back into Thailand and over to Chiang Mai. We are going to stay with Esther for three night in Chiang Mai. We don't know Esther but met here though a great web site, http://www.couchsurfing.com/. From Chiang Mai, back to Bangkok by overnight train, and then we are going to make a decision whether to stay in Thailand or head to Cambodia. What do you think? From there, we plan to head home around the first week of March. Hard to believe isn't it? Asia has been one of the greatest learning experiences of our lives and we can't wait to sink our teeth into more. If any of you travel we strongly strongly suggest coming to Laos. Your money will go very far, and you will never be the same again.

Made it to Vang Vieng, Laos

It was a long, windy, bumpy bus ride to Van Vieng but we made it. A 3.5 hour ride turned into 5 hours. The laid back Laos say that's just a normal part of existence here. The town is about the only stopping point on the way to Luang Prabang, Laos and we've decided to stay a couple of days. This place is incredibly beautiful. We lugged our backpacks around to three different places and settled in on the river in a cute little bungalow for $18 per night, more than the $5 options but worth it for the spectacular setting. We'll post pictures later today. Right now we're heading out for a 6K hike to some caves. We need to work off the huge mulberry pancakes we just ate! They also have mulberry shakes, and fried mulberry leaves! We've tried them all.

More pictures of Vientiane, Laos

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We set two birds free for good luck since we will be needing to get jobs very soon....

Pictures of Vientiane, Laos

We REALLY enjoyed our time in Vientiane. Take a look.

Drinks on the Mekong River

Bruce and Jodi took us to a bar called Sunset Bar to watch the sunset. Stunning. Then we went out to a traditional Laos dinner with some of their friends, a group of Australians. They are from Queensland and have lived in Laos for 5 years teaching at the International School. We met a couple other teachers, including Pat, the only other Servas host in all of Laos along with her friends who were visiting from Australia. A very enjoyable evening. Bruce and Jodi, feel free to comment about the details of our dishes, all were very delicious!

50 Dollars

This is the equivalent of 50 US dollars. Pretty amazing!

We Love Laos!

We are currently in Vientiane, Laos. Today we are going to take the bus up to Vang Vieng and spend a couple of days and then bus to Luang Prabang. We really enjoyed our stay with our Servas hosts Jodi and Bruce. They showed us a side of Laos that we would not have seen! Vientiane is a very international city. It is the capitol of Laos. The dining options include French, Chinese, Thai, Laos, Italian, etc... The city is set on a bend in the Mekong River and has many things to see. We spent our day at the morning market, Wat Si Saket, Phat That Luang and the Patuxai. The morning market called Talat Sao, is a sprawling collection of stalls offering jewelry, clothes, music, food, etc...Wat Si Saket is a beautiful temple and has been our favorite so far. There are over 2300 Buddas on display. Phat That Luang is the most important national monument in Laos. It's full name means World Precious Sacred Stupa. The monument looks like a giant gold missle cluster. The Patuxai is a replica of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It has four archways and was funded when the US gave a grant to the Laos to build a runway at the airport. Instead they build the Patuxai, and thus it is called by some "the vertical runway." There is a great French influence in Laos because the French ruled here during the late 19th century until about 1953. Some things you may find interesting - 1. Once you cross the Mekong River from Thailand into Laos the driving shifts from the left side of the road to the right side. This is fun. Drivers often find themselves getting into a car and the steering wheel is on the other side, the rear view mirror is on the other side. Going over the Friendship Bridge from country to country you will see a crossing of the lanes where you make the "switch." 2. The main currency in Laos? The US dollar. Funny isn't it? The Laos Kip is basically worthless. No other country will even exchange it. When we went to the ATM to get some cash, US $50 in Laos Kip gave us 50 bills. Our money belts were packed. The bills are such tiny amounts of cash it takes a zillion of them to equal any amount. Here's an example , Julie goes to get her pastry, (French town, she's in heaven) and she has to take $40,000 Laos Kip to pay for it. 3. Things here are really really cheap. A hotel room $3-10 US. A meal $1-4 US. 4. We now understand what it means to travel to a place that remains untouristed so to speak. It's a different culture. People are not out to get you, or rip you off. It's laid back and on its own schedule. What a refreshing difference. 5. Our favorite Asia signs so far - "Drink - Don't Drive" and at the airport "Show us your weapons." Think about those two for just a moment. That's all we have time for, the bus is going to be pulling up and we have to go pay for the internet which will be about 2 million kip, so that takes some time. We are working on pictures for you, technology is just a bit behind here. Put in your orders for software now if you want any, we are going software shopping in Bangkok soon.

Laos

Hello. Well, we made it to Laos after an interesting journey. We took an overnight train from Bangkok to the Nong Khai on the northern border of Thailand. Our train left at 8:45 PM and at about 9:30 they came around to make up your "bunk" and that was that. We woke up and they delivered Melisssa a Pepsi(coke not available on the train but abundant everywhere else in Thailand) and Julie an "instant" coffee and two hours later we arrived in Nong Kai. We took our first tuk tuk ride to a recommended guest house, http://www.mutmee.com/ right on the Mekong river. Lots of mosquito's but it was quite pleasant except for the toilet situation. We've run into them a few times in Thailand but we think it's now going to be the norm rather than the exception. We are a bit off the main travel circuit now. The toilet is either a hole in the ground or a somewhat western toilet, but there's no flushing. You have a basin or bucket of water next to it with a plastic bowl and you throw water in it to flush. No worries, we are adapting "okay." Not great but "okay." Annie, there was a Yoga retreat going on while we were at Mut Mee, you would love it there! In Nong Khai we found a shop that sells silk items made from the local village, absolutely beautiful stuff and we couldn't resist and bought a few things for our import party upon our return. We are now in Vietianne, Laos about 22 km across the border, to get here we had to cross the Friendship Bridge which is the only bridge over the Mekong in northern Thailand. It was built in 1993. It's about 3:30 local time and we are meeting our Servas hosts at 5:00. There were only 2 Servas hosts in all of Laos and we are lucky enough to be able to stay with Bruce and Jodi for 2 nights. Believe us, we have LOTS of questions for them. We've never been to a country like this. There's not even a railway system. And the road to get here was bumpy at best. We'll share more about the country of Laos later. Bye for now!

Heading to Laos! Thanks Kuraya and Bill!

It's Saturday, and we are packing in anticipation for a trip across Thailand to Laos. We are taking a bus back to Bangkok, 4 hours - catching an overnight train to the border of Laos, and then walking over the Friendship bridge into Vientiane, Laos. We have had a great stay with Kay and Bill in Hua Hin and are going to stay with Servas hosts Jodi and Bruce in Laos.

We have had a great time with Kay and Bill at the World Headquarters for Sweet Basil Thai Cusine!!! For those of you near Eugene, head on in to Sweet Basil, located on Pearl Street. Tell Tuk that Kuraya sent you! It is a beautiful restaurant and believe us, the food is fabulous! We had a great two hour Thai massage, went to the markets, ate at the beach, saw the town, swam in the pool, saw some really cool birds and ate lots of home cooked meals! Also, found a great beer, Archa. They have been great hosts and we cannot thank them enough.

Arrival in Hua Hin!

We arrived in Hua Hin and are at the beautiful home of Kay and Bill. They have built a stunning family retreat on about 5 acres just a few miles out of town. The appropriate word for the house is most likely "villa." It's really beautiful. We will take some photos for you. Our long travel day yesterday was not without incident. We took the taxi to the ferry to the minibus. Turns out the mini bus was a very old Toyota mini van with about 732K kilometers on it in very poor shape. (how many miles is that?)We were packed in it like sardines. Our "direct" route to Bangkok went 2 hours out of the way, making it impossible for us to catch the train to Hua Hin. To top it off, while flying down the road at about 60 mph, the back door of the van came open and the luggage went out right into oncoming traffic. No one ran over it, and our luggage survived OK but it was unbelievable. One man had a laptop computer "with his whole life in it" and it went splat but also survived! By the time we got to Bangkok it was 10 hours later and we said "what the hey" and took a taxi the 3 hours down to Hua Hin. We made it in 2.5 hours, the reason? While loading the luggage in the trunk, we noticed a nice tank of special gas that gave us extra speed. Nitro. The cab ride total? $40 US. Gotta love Thailand. Just wanted to let you know we made if safely and we will update you soon. Sorry about the weather out there in Portland!

** vs *****

That means two star accommodations vs five star accommodations. When you are vagabonds for several months you travel two star or something similar. At least we do or we would be back to work by now. On a couple of occasions these past few weeks we have moseyed a few doors down to the five star that shares our beach, just for the day. Same beach and view but my oh my are their chairs comfortable! They also have a fresh water pool that's absolutely stunning, with a statue in it none the less. And, in the afternoon they bring around cold cloths dipped in something that smells divine to wipe your faces and offer short free massages. We've got the routine down and today we even indulged on a couple drinks that cost almost as much as we spend in food for an entire day. Since we only have one more full day here before heading to Hua Hin we thought "what the heck." Today we toasted that it was a vacation from vagabonding. Cheers.

Urgent - Important Message For You!

Things we have learned about Thailand

While visiting Thailand we have learned some very interesting things. We thought we would share some with you. First, there is a very gentle breed of dog in Thailand that we have never seen before. The Thai Ridgeback dog. We have seen Ridgebacks, but not the Thai version. These dogs are sweeter than sweet, strong, and know how to relax and live the island life. We see them during the day, laying on the beaches. They dig themselves a cool bed in the sand and then they are out. Nothing wakes them up. Here's a web site with more info on them, you can adopt them, and save one, as there are several strays. http://www.trdonline.com/index1.php Second, many many people are coming to Thailand for medical and dental work. It is much, much cheaper than Europe or the US. We see many ads for plastic surgery, dental work etc... In fact we have met Americans from Alaska that came over. The estimate in the US for six crowns for her teeth was about $13,000. She had the work done for about $3,000. In addition the two of them had complete physicals with EKG, blood sugar testing, bloodwork, osteoporosis testing, abi testing etc... for about $350 each person (for all). Amazing isn't it? From all reports we have heard, the care is great, the clinics modern and clean. Come on over to visit us and get a face lift! http://ezinearticles.com/?Dental-Care-for-the-Medical-Tourist&id=370531 Third, Thailand has a famous population, known around the world as "Ladyboys." This term describes a man who chooses to live as a woman. It is estimated that the Thailand population of Ladyboys is about 200,000. No one really knows why there are so many in Thailand. Guesses are that it is because Thailand is a Buddist country and tolerance prevails. Another guess is that these men dated great women in the past and wished to be reincarnated as women in their next life! Fourth, most individual homes and resorts have what's called a "spirit house." This is a small house where the Thai people place goods for the evil or mean spirits that are out there, in hopes of keeping them happy. There are many rules about where the spirit house goes, and what to offer the spirits. We see drinking water, and flowers quite a bit... here's a picture of one. http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/thaispirithou.htm for more info. Karoke. What can we say? The Thais love their Karoke. They love American music. We walk done the street and here Tracy Chapman, Madonna, Rod Stewart and Abba. Only one problem, they don't sound so good. Dancing Queen seems to be a favorite song. It's nice to hear, and almost, but not quite, we are tempted to sing. Sixth, we are attaching a picture of a bowl hooked on a tree. What is it you ask? Well it might just be your next condom. These are rubber trees and the rubber drips into the bowl, fills it, and then it is collected. We asked for what product and they said, condoms. Now we get it, that's why they call it a rubber! (just kidding, we got it before)

Last, it's butterfly time on Koh Chang. We have seen the most beautiful butterflies. We snuck up on one today, and after chasing it a bit (the Thai people enjoyed this part!) we snapped a great photo. If you know the name of this one, please let us know. It's an education you just can't get at home. You really should catch the next flight, you can be here in 20 hours!

Island Life

We are still here on Koh Chang island and it's still great. The weather was warm when we arrived but has turned even warmer which means more dips in the Gulf of Thailand. The last couple of days we've hung out, read our books, seen beautiful sunset after beautiful sunset, and even explored the island on a scooter. Yes, Melissa drove and we wore crash hats as they call them here. You can't really get lost because there is pretty much only one road. But, they do drive on the "wrong" side of the road and they have an interesting version of gas stations. Today we had lunch at Bang Bao, a fishing village with small restaurants and shops built on a pier. For lunch we had soft shelled crab and huge prawns with the heads still attached. Julie had to dismember and peel for Melissa. We have the scooter until tomorrow morning and plan a short trip to the one and only pastry shop called Crust. Due to no pastries we've eaten some delicious banana pancakes. Hang loose everyone.

Lunch with an Elephant!

The Klong Son Elephant Camp or Ban Kwan Chang (supported by the Asian Elephant Foundation) was our site for lunch today. It's located on the north end of the island of Koh Chang, Thailand. After bathing and riding the elephants, they were hungry, as you can imagine. We were able to feed them bananas and they sure loved them. The elephants ranged in age from 10 to 58 and were very well cared for. We have to say this is one of the top adventures of the trip thus far. For those of you wondering what an elephant feels like - the skin is very thick and more than leathery. The elephants have very prickly hairs that can poke you pretty good. The trunk is totally amazing, bending and winding in weird ways and very fast. The feet are huge, and we mean huge, but not as big as the rear end. Baby has back.