Ting Tang Farang

Well, time has gotten away from me once again... The last 10 days seemed to last a month but still haven't made time to update the ol' blog. We have been traveling at a pretty quick pace and have seen a lot in the last 2 weeks. Pai was very relaxing, Songkran was insane, Chiang Rai was unique and now we are in Laos! 

(Here's me waiting for my squid to be grilled.) 

Pai was a cool little town that consisted of a walking street filled with cool shops and restaurants and not much else. It's definitely a tourist town, with many western luxuries but without touts or a battle for your dollars. We spent time relaxing on the river, at waterfalls, at the bar and in our air conditioned room (something we can only afford here in the north). We rented a scooter for the days we would be away from Chiang Mai. The drive along route 1095 was pretty intense, it is famous for it's 762 curves in the 98k stretch to Pai. It was nice to drive around town at our own pace on our self guided tour as well. 3 nights later and we headed south again for Songkran. We left town shortly after sunrise and were treated to some spectacular views on the ride back to Chiang Mai. 

The new year is April 13-16 here in SE Asia and the locals take the celebration very seriously. Most people do not work for the entire week and join together with family for one long Thanksgiving style celebration. Most homes have a dining room that opens onto the street; As we traveled we saw countless families enjoying huge meals, blasting Thai music, singing dancing and getting really drunk (an uncommon occurrence in these parts). It was interesting to see grandmothers clapping and dancing along with their children and grandchildren as they downed Chang beers and whiskey. New Year is also known as Songkran or the Water Festival. It started many years ago by parading the Buddha statue around town and washing him with water to cleanse the spirit. People started cleansing one another and now it has become the worlds largest water fight. Everyone equips themselves with squirt guns and buckets in preparation for battle in the streets. Everyone meets in the city center where lines of pick up trucks loaded with barrels of water douse everyone in sight. In turn the pedestrians shoot back as well as shooting each other. It's all fun and games until somebody dumps a bucket of ice water on your head. For obvious reasons I was unable to get any pictures of the event but was able to steal some from our friends Jason and Stephanie who had a waterproof camera. 

After 3 days of waterfights we hopped a bus the Chiang Rai. We thought the festivities were over but we didn't go anywhere in a 5 day stretch without getting wet. Chiang Rai was cool, we found a hawker center the first night, something we haven't seen since Malaysia. There were many locals there enjoying big meals and bottles of whiskey. The following day we rented a scooter to head to Chiang Rai's most distinguishing landmark, The White Temple. The grounds of the temple (wat) are huge. It has been under construction for 18 years yet much of it remains undecorated due to the extreme intricacy of the detail work. The entire project is being directed by one artist and there are galleries on the grounds dedicated to his other works. It's all very interesting and looks as if it will continue to expand for many years to come. We also visited the Black House to the north which is like the White Temple's gothic younger brother. Several temples, houses and other odd structures are painted black with some pretty macabre art displayed, mostly consisting of animal pelts, bones and horns.

The next day we were on the road again, this time on an 18 bus ride into Laos. We really didn't go far as the crow flies, but the route and condition of the road kept us at a slow pace. The bus whipped around many corners and bounced over potholes. I didn't manage to sleep much but enjoyed watching the sun rise over the mountains as I sipped a can of Nescafé coffee. 

We landed in Luang Prabang and found a place to stay. The old town is a protected area where the colonial French architecture is preserved next to ancient wats, quite a juxtaposition of cultures on the Mekong River. We spent a day soaking it all in before heading out on an early morning bike ride with our guide Gao. We biked for several hours on dusty roads climbing through mountain villages. After lunch we arrived at a Hmong village of about 500 people. We hung out, took a tour of the nearby villages and had a huge dinner at our home for the night, which was owned by Gao's uncle. I slept well in the cool mountain air and woke up with the rest of the village just after sunrise. We ate breakfast and set out on a hike through the mountains. Our destination was the Kuang Si Waterfall, a multi-tiered falls the empties into pools of aquamarine water. We spent time swimming and eating at the foot of the falls before riding back into town. 

That was yesterday, today we are on a bus south to Vang Vieng. Currently the bus is stopped on a mountain pass and has been for the last 30 minutes. Nobody really seems to be in charge here but it sounds like this bus is shot and we will be waiting for another to arrive in an hour or two. We will be in Laos for the next 6-7 days before returning to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand to meet with Nick Sudheimer and Christine Anderson. Should be a good time and I will be excited to get back to Thai food after eating the rather bland Laos fair for 2 weeks.

Roasted Peanuts and Big Noodles

Bangkok was... well, Bangkok. As Thailand's biggest city, it is quite unique. Vendors line nearly every street. Going to eat breakfast meant walking through a seafood market, a flower market, a clothes market and 2 produce markets. The entire city seems to exist on the sidewalk, most times you can only orient yourself by walking to the corner so you can look out into the street.

I spent a majority of my time there catching up on errands and walking through some of the longest stretches of marketplace I have ever seen. I also had a chance to get my hair cut... finally. The barber did a good job, the only thing we said to one another was "short", and later she had to ask me to scoot down in the chair because I was too tall, but well worth the $2. We had fun taking tuk-tuks, taxis and water ferries around town. We also had more great meals, especially after 7pm since the food carts multiply after the sun goes down. 

Thailand's recent unrest continues and demonstrations threw us off course several times as we obviously chose to stay away. The gathering place was surprisingly close to where we had stayed, but there really is no threat of violence. A bomb did go off and several people were killed while we were in Bangkok. However, it was in the far north of the city and was caused by an antique dealer cutting into a 500lb WWII bomb. There were protests scheduled for Saturday so we booked tickets on a train north to Chiang Mai on Friday evening. 

Train travel is pretty great. The train was full, mostly with travelers but some locals as well. We chatted with some other backpackers and it felt like one big traveling slumber party. Erin and I played cards and ate dinner before the steward flipped our seats and bunk down to make us each a bed. I took the wider lower birth and Erin climbed up top into the smaller bunk. Shortly after waking up, coffee was available and I enjoyed a few cups as I watched the sun rise over the mountains. 

A few hours later we had arrived in Chiang Mai. It was notably cooler and we were actually quite comfortably lugging our packs into town. We passed many unique cafés, restaurants and guesthouses as we found a place to stay. Chiang Mai is much slower and a bit more affluent than Bangkok, so it has a bigger arts culture (based on what we have heard and seen, both cities are too big to see). We walked around exploring before our good Colorado friend Ella Sweeney showed up with her parents Doug & Joslyn. Ella has been teaching in Vietnam, her and her parents had come to Chiang Mai for a week of vacation. It was great having dinner, drinks and catching up. 

The next 2 days Erin and I walked through town and took a cooking course. For the cooking class we were taken to a market, shown how to shop, then to a farm. We toured the garden and made our way to cooking stations in a larger wooden barn. Our teacher M.B. was pretty hilarious and would not stop laughing, dancing, rapping and making jokes. After cooking, eating, cooking, then eating, cooking more and eating more, we went and picked coconuts. I got pretty dirty and M.B. offered to rinse me off with a hose. I quickly realized it was just a trick to soak me with water. She and I got into a full on water fight before others joined in, dumping cups and pitchers on each other. It turned into quite a battle between farm staff and students. By the time we left everyone was soaked and exhausted.

Yesterday we drove a moped 170km to the tiny town of Pai where we will stay before returning to Chiang Mai for Songkran, the worlds largest waterfight, this weekend. We are planning to stay in the north for another 3-4 weeks, which is great due to the fact that it's cooler and more laid back than the south. There is lots to do and see, should have no problem staying busy! I finally had my first cheeseburger and sure miss home, looking forward to some Fire on the Mountain or Snarf's when we are back, some craft beer would greatly appreciated right now too. But it'll have to wait as we are still expecting to travel for a few months.

Snake or Stick?

Erin and I just finished watching the newest Coen brothers movie, "Inside Llewyn Davis" on my ipad. We've been sitting in a Bangkok bus station for the last couple hours waiting for an appropriate time to go looking for a place to stay. After 10 hours our bus arrived here from Kaoh Sok National Park at 5:30am. Before that, we spent 10 nights on the Railey Penninsula in southern Thailand, and that is where this post begins.

After spending 2 nights on the island of Koh PhiPhi (arguably the most party centric small island in the south) we were hoping for some solitude at Tonsai Bay on mainland Thailand. We were quite pleased when only one other passenger transferred from our hundred passenger boat to a smaller long tail boat to be taken ashore. 

Tonsai is home to some of the oldest climbing routes in SE Asia and we were fortunate enough to find space at a bungalow owned by Basecamp Climbing Shop. The bungalows were fairly primitive, no fan due to the fact that we only had electricity 5 hours each evening. All of Tonsai is off the grid and is run completely by generators. There are no automobiles on the Railey peninsula and the only way to acces the beach is by boat, hour hike, or waiting for low-tide and walking on the rocky beach from Railey. We went on a guided rock climbing tour for half a day and had a excellent time climbing with our Thai guide and 2 Dutch girls. We also took a kayak out for a day trip, played lots of cribbage and watched a base jumper's parachute open just over our heads as we sat for a drink at the beachside bar. 

After 6 nights of hanging out, we moved to Railey Beach and reunited with, Jesse, Jessi, Olive and Eleanor who were joined by our good Denver friends Micah and Jamie Lichte. We spent the next few days catching up with them, relaxing on the beach, swimming at their pool, rock climbing, dining, Icing one another, and playing some long awaited euchre. We enjoyed our stay at  Railey beach but I was excited to be on the move again. Next stop, Kaoh Sok National Park. 

Once again, we boarded a packed van for our 3 hour drive. An hour outside the park, we stopped at another popular beach resort town. Everyone except Erin and I got out of the van and we were happy to know we had gotten off the beaten track once more. We spent a few days in town (known simply as the "Tourist Village") exploring the park and rehashing our trip itinerary for the 33rd time. After our 3rd night in town, we were picked up in the morning for a long drive, then boat ride on a huge lake to a set of floating bungalows. We were accompanied by our guide Kit as well as 2 other couples of our age. It's low season for all travel in SE Asia which means our tour was tailored for 30+ but was only attended by the 6 of us. We spent the next 2 days taking boat rides, spotting monkeys, swimming, kayaking, hiking through a 700m cave, and eating the most filling Thai meals while the sun set over the lake. 

That ended yesterday, and shortly after making it "home" we were on a bus through the night. Now we are expecting to spend the next 5 nights or so exploring Bangkok, catching up on errands and shopping that we have been needing to do for the last couple weeks; Buying toiletries and maybe shipping some of our unused items home. I am doing really well, after our day of itinerary tuning I think we have a good grasp on what we will be capable of in the coming months. It's amazing what kind of impact a concise plan can have on moral, no longer caught up pondering future plans, or current expenses, but excited for the many more positive possibilities.