bostonbangkokbeyond-blog

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Bus to Hanoi, Vietnam

As I mentioned, the bus ride from Vang Vieng, Laos to Hanoi, Vietnam was advertised as a 24 hour journey, which was long enough to begin with. Spoiler alert: it was 32 hours of hell. We began the journey with a 3 hour van ride from Vang Vieng to the capital, Vientiane. We had already decided against spending any time in the Laos capital because everyone says that there really isn’t much to see or do there. Laos’ gems are really their nature and landscapes. We said our goodbyes to Aidan and Harriet who were taking off in other directions and then settled in to wait around the bus office for a few hours. We found an Italian restaurant, succumbed to eating western food, and had some lunch. Not exactly surprising but certainly not the best Italian food I’ve had in my life. 

After something like two or three hours, our bus finally arrived. Again it was one of those sleeper buses, but this time three seats across, each separated by an aisle. I should also mention that with all of these sleeper buses we encountered, you were given a plastic bag at the door and made to take your shoes off and put them in the bag before getting in the bus. It did keep the bus much cleaner but it was always interesting hanging out with a bunch of strangers with no shoes on. Our new neighbors for the next day were a young couple from South Africa, who were teaching English in Vietnam and had hopped over to Laos for some kind of visa run. Behind us was a rowdy group of British kids and most of the rest of the bus were local people, some even with small children. 

The reason the journey was so long was because we took the most roundabout way possible to get to Hanoi. I don’t know the exact roads of course but I know we went Vang Vieng -> Vientiane -> Border -> Vinh City -> Hanoi so this map is my best guess. I suppose it seems out of the way but you would need to consider that eastern Laos (well most of Laos actually) is very very rural with lots of wilderness. 

Since we boarded the bus in the early afternoon, the trip from Vientiane to the border went into the night and we all fell asleep (despite the extremely obnoxious British kids). We stopped a few times for bathroom breaks and such during the night and I have to say this was probably the least glamorous part of the trip... Then we woke up at around 3 or 4 AM, completely stopped, parked. I was confused until we finally realized we were at the border to Vietnam, BUT the border did not open until about 7 or 8 AM. With the bus off and parked, there was no air conditioning to be had and especially due to the rain outside the bus was horribly hot and humid. I tried to sleep some more but it wasn’t so easy. The South African girl was complaining because the awful British kids had gone outside while we were stopped during the night (in the rain) and climbed on top of the bus, but when they came back, left their gross, wet blanket on her seat. Classy guys. 

Finally it came time to actually get through the border. We were all instructed to get off the bus and walk through the office. Some guy who appeared to be with us collected our passports and brought them to the office. I was only born in 1994 but I can only imagine the next hour or so was somwhat what it felt like on Ellis Island. It was stuffy and hot in the small office with hundreds of people waiting to have their passports processed, some strange man had our passports and nobody was telling us what was going on (at least not in a language we could understand). We had applied for visas to Vietnam ahead of time because we were planning to travel the border across land. This means we had mailed our passports to the embassy in DC with the fee ($85) and paperwork and they mailed them back with the visas inside. If you fly into Vietnam you can arrange a visa on arrival which I think is easier, but more expensive. This was also somewhat of a moment of truth that we had done everything correctly. We finally got our passports back and were made to walk through the border and meet the bus on the other side. We had our valuables but our bags were still in the bus and I didn’t love leaving them there. After more shouting and confusion, we were on the bus and in Vietnam. 

Fast Pho-od

The rest of the ride went pretty smoothly once we were into Vietnam. The scenery was beautiful, despite fearing for my life as the bus seemed to ride just on the edges of the cliffs. We stopped for lunch at another rest stop but it was our first real experience in Vietnam. After accidentally entering Laos with very little Laos currency, we were prepared with a couple bucks on hand in the Vietnamese currency already. With lots of pointing and some getting scolded we managed to order some food from the canteen style dining hall at the rest stop. It was some type of Pho noodle bowl and some green leafy veggies. There was also a fruit smoothie stand outside we ordered some drinks from and the sign for it had the most hilarious typos including Pinnippie and Coconot and it became a joke throughout the rest of the trip to tell each other “can you cocoNOT?”

The rest of the trip was rather unmemorable except for the babies who were waking around, trying to steal our candy, playing the song on their toys on repeat, and staring at us like they’d never seen a white person before. (They probably hadn’t.)

We arrived in Hanoi in the late afternoon. Nothing better than stumbling off the bus, exhausted from a 32 hour ride, into the bustling capital of Vietnam and trying to figure out where to go next.

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

I didn’t have any photos from Vang Vieng itself, but here are some crappy pictures from the van on the way there.

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Vang Vieng, Laos

For the Love of Sandwiches

With Bike Kid finally all sorted out, we took off on the short three-hour trip to Vang Vieng, a very popular backpacker paradise south of Luang Prabang. It turns out that Bike Kid was actually named Aidan and he was an 18-year-old American from Vermont traveling on his own after high school for a few months through Southeast Asia. I really have got to hand it to him, doing something like that at 18 and alone is seriously bold. Moving to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was a big thing for me when I was that age. Because he was young and so sweet, Lexy and I took to referring to him as Sweet Baby Angel as well. He also apparently wanted to go to school for film of some kind which he definitely proved while sticking the entire upper half of his body out the window of the van with a fancy looking camera as we weaved through the mountain roads. We were very jealous that he had thought to bring a sandwich with him on the bus and we added his love of sandwiches to his list of distinguishing features.

We were actually a little bit worried about this journey as we had read a current US travel advisory about there being occasional guerrilla attacks on random vehicles on the main road between Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. There hadn’t been any incidents in a while, but it was still a little worrying. Once we were on the way however, I was able to check my Google maps and see that we were not even driving on that road.

Fake Paradise

We arrived as the sun was beginning to set and we checked into the hostel that Axel had picked out before we’d gotten there. I’ll be honest, this was not my favorite hostel of the trip. It was very much a party hostel and there were many reports of theft and the like. The three of us plus Axel set off in search of “traditional” Lao food but soon discovered the city was nothing but a rouge and was filled with lots of western food (and Korean barbecues??) and white people. We found some form of Lao food but I don’t remember it being the best. Aidan had gone off to stay in another hostel and probably find some more sandwiches from street vendors so we didn’t see him until the next day.

We decided to check out what kind of night life the city had to offer and ended up at a small bar, again filled with only westerners. This lovely establishment offered “Whip-its” which is some kind of balloon huffing thing, which also might be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. The place itself was cool, colorful paintings and glowing walls but at the time the few people there were huddled around the small bar in the front. The bartenders at the place were raving about how Vang Vieng was the best place in the world and how they came there to travel and ended up staying for months or more, working in the bars and such to support themselves. I mean to each their own but I can’t even begin to imagine doing that. I had only spent a few hours in this place and I could already see that it was just a haven for white backpackers without any cultural immersion whatsoever. Don’t get me wrong, it was a pretty fun place but nowhere I’d want to spend more than the few days in.

Tubing Time

The next day we suited up for the main attraction of Vang Vieng… getting drunk and tubing down the local river. We met loads of people in the lobby of our hostel going as well, including a young British girl named Harriet. She was extremely sweet and we all hit it off well. She had scraps and cuts all up her legs and was complaining how she thinks they might be infected. I went and got my tube of Neosporin and gave it to her. I hadn’t used it yet and if I needed any Sam and Lexy had their own. She was so thankful, but I was just glad I was able to help.

We finally found everyone we’d been waiting for and walked over to the tubing office. There were huge piles of the tubes, which were legitimately just black tractor inner tubes, hastily painted half yellow. You have to pay a bit for the tube rental and then some for a deposit, which says you need to return the tube by a certain time (maybe 4 PM or so). You also have to sign a waiver which essentially says that they are not liable for anything that might happen to you on this tubing adventure. The activity is actually pretty well known for being very dangerous and there have been many incidents in the past. The locals (well, local sedentary foreigners) do their best to keep everyone safe as to not threaten the activity which really is the heart of the city. The reason it’s dangerous is mostly because people drink too much, don’t keep track of their friends and people can get lost. The current of the river is also a factor but during the dry season the river was very low and slow so that wasn’t an issue. Like everything else, you just have to not be stupid. Watch how much you drink and keep an eye on your friends. When you sign the waiver, they also match the number on the slip to a huge number written in sharpie on the back of your hand. Since everything else you have with you will get soaked, I guess that’s the only way to keep track. I should note the following photo isn’t mine, I was not taking my electronics anywhere near that river! I just wanted to show the tubes.

Anyways we hopped into a large tuktuk with as many people as we could cram inside and they tied up the tubes on the roof. The goal is that they drive you to the top so that you’re floating down back towards the city on the tube. We arrived at the river side and plopped into our tubes. The hardest part about it was staying together. The group did our best to hold onto hands and feet of the neighbors to keep everyone together (also pictured above).

You don’t actually do very much tubing but there are a few small bars dotted along the river where you stop off and drink for a while before continuing to float. I guess they regulate how many are open to prevent people from getting too smashed so there were only two open at the time. The first bar was actually just a large dock/porch of someone’s house where they were making and serving drinks from a fold out table on the deck. There was music and beer pong and it was overall a really fun time. The weirdest but funniest part about it was the group of little kids running around “working” and resetting the beer pong tables. We were with Aidan, who of course had his waterproof GoPro going. I’m still waiting to see the videos that came out of that day…

After a little while we decided to float on down to the next bar. Again we all had to clamor to stay together. My favorite part of this ride was the naked children swimming nearby that all grabbed onto Lexy’s tube. The next bar was more legit and staffed by obvious westerns. They also had some food offered at the bar including… sandwiches! At this point Sweet Baby Angel had had a bit too much to drink so I spent most of my time there keeping an eye on him and arguing with him that no, he could not walk back alone from where we were. He did, of course, want a sandwich. When he was finished the sandwich he wanted… another sandwich. He quite quickly downed two large chicken sandwiches, thus further proving his true love of sandwiches. There were some games happening at the bar, including something with throwing and catching water balloons. Somehow, probably due to her not drinking all that much, Lexy managed to win the entire game and won a bucket of a drink of her choice.

Finally, it was time to head out from this bar as well. There was a lot of discussion about whether we should let Sweet Baby Angel back into the river or if we should call a tuktuk to the spot we were at. He had been trying to get in the tube himself and luckily I was able to hold onto him long enough. We finally convinced the bar staff that we (Lexy, Sam, and I) were fine to take care of him. Somehow on the way back, he lost his own tube and had to sit in the tube with Lexy. Since we were already running out of time, we decided to hop out at a bridge with everyone else and take a tuktuk ride back to the starting point.

FOMO

That night Sam and I were so exhausted that we decided to just stay in and relax but Lexy and Axel went out to explore some more of the nightlife. I guess there’s this one bar there that gives out these huge tank tops, which we had been seeing all over Southeast Asia. I’m not entirely sure what you need to do to get that shirt and I’m not sure I want to know, but Lexy and Axel came out of that night with two new tank tops…(again, not my photo.)

Part of me felt some FOMO (fear of missing out) for not going, but sometimes you need to know when to take a break and give yourself some downtime while traveling. There’s always a lot of pressure to see and do as much as you can in the time that you have but you also need to give yourself some time to recuperate a bit.

The Adventure Continues...

The next morning, we boarded the van that would ultimately get us to Hanoi, Vietnam. We had to say our goodbyes to Axel, whom we’d become so close with in just a few days. I’ve said it before but one of the best and worst part of traveling is meeting amazing new people and then having to say goodbye to them so soon. I think the reason it’s easy to get close to people while traveling is because friendships build when you experience things together.

The van stopped at a few hostels to pick people up. At one hostel, we had to wait a little longer because someone wasn’t ready. There was this kid frantically looking through the huge shoe rack for his shoes. When we saw him we were like “Is that….? It’s Aidan!” He finally found his shoes and hopped on the van with us. He was only taking the bus as far as Vientiane, the capital of Laos. We took off again through the mountains, beginning our journey to the next country, Vietnam. It was hard to believe we were already moving on to a new country. The journey from Vang Vieng, Laos to Hanoi, Vietnam was advertised as about 24 hours. That sounded long enough to begin with, but we didn’t even know what we were in for…

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Luang Prabang, Laos

Monks in the Morning

The only benefit of arriving in Luang Prabang so early was that we got to see the early morning monk offerings. Like Thailand, Laos is a predominantly Buddhist country. Every morning at about 6 AM, hundred of Buddhist monks come through the streets and the townspeople are lined up on the sidewalks to give them food offerings. The monks come slowly meandering through the streets. Monks of all ages, little boys with bright new orange robes and their elders, robes worn to a dingy clay color. Each one carrying a golden kettle on a canvas strap.

Once in the city center, we just sat on a street corner waiting for the quiet night to become the morning. In Asia, that doesn’t take too long. Though it was early we found a handful of vendors already selling some food. Starving and exhausted we peaked around to see what there was to offer. Due to the huge amount of bees on all the food, I opted for just a coffee. Axel, the resident Kiwi, got some type of Bahn Mi like sandwich, which when he finished, he gave the last chunk of bread to a nearby stray dog.

Finally, we began to see the monks coming up the streets. With unfortunately nothing to offer, we stayed off to the sidelines just to watch the spectacle. Although the whole ordeal was quite beautiful, the modernization and frankly “touristification” of it all was a bit surprising. It seemed the traditional food offerings were balls of sticky rice and the like but among the bounty were also modern packaged snacks like chips and candy bars. It’s one thing to come to another country, another culture and witness it but some of the tourists were really getting right up in the monks/townspeople’s faces and taking lots of pictures. That bothered me a bit as I couldn’t even stomach taking my camera out of my backpack for fear of being disrespectful.

We watched in near silence and awe on the sidewalk until the last few monks trickled through the streets. We then began our journey of finding an affordable place to stay.

I followed you home “because I love you.”

We decided to stick with our new friends for a while so the three of us plus Axel and Will headed through town looking for a guesthouse. Axel, however, had a new friend of his own. The dog he’d fed the bread to followed us the entire way through the city. His new found love of Axel could not have just been about the food because the stray dogs in Southeast Asia are relatively well taken care of by the locals. You could tell too that this dog was wandering into enemy territory because he’d proceed cautiously as he was barked and growled at by other stray dogs. But apparently his love for Axel was worth it because he powered through until he was forced to wait outside our chosen guest house for him.

Waterfall?

After wandering around and checking out the main parts of the city (including a shoddily yet stable constructed bamboo bridge) we decided to finally give in to one of the thousand tuk tuk drives asking us if we wanted to go see the Kuang Si waterfalls. After the small trickling waterfall we saw in Pai we were skeptical but decided to take the chance. Axel of course had worked out some deal with a driver he’d seen earlier and we managed a fair price. The five of us plus a couple British guys loaded up into the back of the truck and headed off.

This waterfall was 1000x better than the one in Pai. It was huge and had level after level of pools for swimming. The best part of the waterfall was that the water was so cold. I think this might have been the only moment in the entire trip where I truly felt relief from the heat. We stayed for maybe two hours, swimming around, climbing the rocks, and jumping from some ledges into the crisp cool water. Axel even made another dog friend and I only slipped and fell on my ass in front of everyone once.

"Many many people”

That evening we picked a place we’d passed by earlier to get some drinks and hang out for a bit. The bar had a variety of buy 2 get 1 free deals and we all ended up splitting, sharing and tasting around the table. We sat outside under colored lights and hanging tree branches enjoying the slightly less oppressive evening temperatures. We chatted about life and relationships, like you do. We eventually got on the topic of getting your heart broken where Will stated, to our amusement, “I don’t get my heart broken, I do the breaking.”

Eventually we moved on from this bar as we wanted to find some kind of club or something. Things don’t stay open very late in Laos, or even most of Asia, so we were in search of our best late-night options. After listen to a tuk tuk driver who told us he’d bring us to a club with “many many people” we ended up at the strangest nightclub I’ve ever seen. He wasn’t wrong. There were a lot of people. A lot of people awkwardly standing still in silence among the screaming loud music and flashing lights from the DJ. It was a bit odd but being the drunk westerners we were, we danced and made fools of ourselves anyway. Albeit some strange looks I don’t think we offended anyone... and of course we found the handful of other westerners there and danced with them too.

I don’t remember if the club was closing (keep in mind this was at the very "late” hour of maybe 1 or 2 AM... ) or if we just wanted to leave, but we left. Of course we still weren’t done though. We went to apparently the only place in the city still open: a bowling alley. A bit overwhelmed and stressed out by how many people there were, I didn’t actually want to play. I think Axel and Sam may have played.. but in the end we made it back home in one piece.

The Scooter Squad

The next day we opted to rent scooters again to visit some nearby points of interest. Since we were now five and the scooters were more expensive than in Pai, we decided to share the price and take passengers. Sam went with Will and Lexy went with me. Axel kept to himself so he could do reckless things on his scooter. (; Now, I’ve driven a motorcycle for about three years, but I had never taken a passenger. Somehow Lexy trusted me with her life and hopped on the back of the 110 cc Honda Scoopy with no problem. Honestly, that’s kind of a testament to my friendship with Lexy. I wasn’t afraid to tell her I was a little nervous, but she wasn’t afraid to trust me anyway, knowing that I was fully capable.

We took the scooters to a cave we had heard about. The ride there was honestly as much of an adventure as the cave itself. The roads were very rough, certainly not actually suitably for the little scooters, but we powered through and made it unscathed. Serious kudos to Lexy for trusting me. The views on the way were absolutely stunning, rocky mountains and beautiful greenery. Once we got to the little town where you could access the cave, we locked up the scooters, bought a ticket from some lady standing there, and then walked through the town to the waterfront.

You needed to take a little boat across a river to get to the mouth of the cave.The five of us piled into a long skinny and of course rickety boat and made our way across the river. Honestly the caves themselves weren’t all that spectacular. You could rent a little headlamp since it was pitch dark inside and they were filled with relics and statues. A bit eerie and interesting but the views from there as well as the journey to the cave were certainly the highlights.

After getting back across the river, we ate at a little restaurant by the waterfront. We were of course the only people there being in the low season and the woman was so nice she even ran out to get us ice from somewhere else in town. We all essentially ended up with variations of the same plate of food but it was so delicious and colorful.

Scenic Sunsets

Eventually we made it back into town, tired, hot and absolutely covered in dirt kicked up from the roads. The ride home also included a very narrow bridge and a lot of busy traffic so it was a bit nerve wracking but again we managed. Since we still had the scooters, we opted to head straight to the local mountain temple to watch the sunset. We parked the bikes, got some delicious coconut ice cream from a street vendor, and headed up the huge winding staircase up the mountain.

At the top there were a series of small buildings/temples and lots of your typical statues and figures. There was even a “Buddha's footprint” in the rock housed by a special little hut. The sunset viewing area was of course filled with tourists but it didn’t make the views any less spectacular. Axel started talking to some boys, maybe high school aged, and it turns out they go up there in order to engage with tourists and practice their English. They were also involved in an organization called Big Brother Mouse, which helps people in Laos gain literary skills.

The Best Veggie Burgers in the World

On the second evening we wandered through a busy market and actually ran into the kids from the bus who had taken the slow boat. This one red head kid had seen Lexy’s sunburn from afar and commented to his friends about it before realizing he actually knew us. Lexy was a bit notorious throughout for getting awful sunburns in a variety of tank-top-strap patterns on her back.

We got dinner at a restaurant/bar called Utopia. It was a really hip laid back place we had actually also eaten lunch at the day before too. Most of the furniture was actually cushions on the ground and low, box-like tables. It was there in this restaurant, in Luang Prabang, Laos, that I ate the best veggie burger I’ve ever had in my entire life. And as almost ten years a vegetarian, I’ve eaten a lot of veggie burgers in my life.

The boat kids also showed up at the restaurant/bar too but we were dismayed when the whole thing closed down at a measly 10 PM. The next logical step for everyone was that stupid bowling alley again but at least Lexy and I opted out and decided to head home for the night. We walked from the bar back to the guest house and only got a little bit lost. We walked into another hostel to ask for some directions but we found nobody except a cat sitting at the front desk... the cat was not very helpful.

Trouble in Paradise

The next day we were heading from Luang Prabang to our next destination, Vang Vieng. I’m not sure what the Laotians have about the double names. First, Axel realized that his key did not work to the bike parked out front of the guest house. The rented scooters are often Honda Scoopy’s and have only a limited number of designs on them. Turns out someone else with the exact same patterned scooter managed to get Axel’s started and take off with it using a different key possibly without even realizing. Apparently this isn’t all that uncommon in Southeast Asia...

The second issue was when Lexy opened her backpack at the rental place she discovered her wallet was missing. To make matters worse she was on a very tight budget and had just taken about $125 out of the ATM. We searched and searched and asked around but to no avail. We left our information with the guest house just in case and they were actually extremely friendly and helpful. She was at least able to call the banks and cancel the cards before it could get worse. We were also lucky that Lexy and I were already linked up on Bank of America and she was easily able to transfer money into my account. I would just take more out and we even got to split the ATM fees. I will also applaud Lexy for her attitude during all this. I would have been in tears and freaking out the whole time. She was very calm and collected and just took the necessary steps to look for it and then report the cards missing.

Bike Kid aka Sandwich Kid aka Sweet Baby Angel

Lastly, we finally made it to the bus. Axel got his scooter back and returned it to the shop and we all managed to catch our minivan to Vang Vieng. The bus was a bit late to take off because there was another kid also trying to get on, but still had a bicycle with him. We started calling him Bike Kid as we watched his saga unfold through the van windows. Bike Kid disappeared for a few minutes and came back sans bike. After talking to the van driver for a while he finally got on board. Turns out he had lost his ticket just moments before the van showed up and needed to run back to the office and get another copy. All in all, we made it on our way.

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Luang Prabang, Laos Part 1

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Luang Prabang, Laos Part 2

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Laos-t in Translation

Just kidding, we somehow didn’t actually get lost, but the journey from Thailand into Laos was the longest and craziest yet. Keep in mind there are two main ways to get to Luang Prabang, Laos: overnight and by land the entire way or by land to the border and a two day slow boat down the Mekong River. We opted for the overnight bus to save on precious time. 

We arrived at the transportation company in Pai at 6:45 AM as we were instructed, where we found the first of many vehicles we took that day(s): a metal basket attached to the side of a motorcycle. We shrugged and loaded the three of us and our packs into the basket and took off a little ways down the road. There we met a few other travelers boarding the minivan and quickly discovered they were recently graduated UMass Amherst students as well! I know it’s just a saying but it’s so true: what a small world. We proceeded to drive around Pai picking up a several other passengers until each seat in the van was full, including a few campers from the infamous Pai Circus Hostel/School. 

We took off on the journey, again unsure of exactly what stops this van would take. Eventually discovering we were now on our way back to Chaing Mai, we were slightly concerned but decided to stick it out. Once in Chiang Mai, the instructions consisted of a guy opening the van door and saying: “boat?” We switched vans, STILL not 100% positive we were on the right track but found more travelers in the other van who confirmed our suspicion that we were at least headed towards Laos.

We had quite the crew in this van, all travelers from places like New Zealand, Switzerland, England, Australia, and Norway. Most of these kids were taking the slow boat once we got to the border but there were two guys, Guillaume (whom we only managed to call Will) from Switzerland and Axel from New Zealand, who were also taking the bus all the way through. We had one pit stop for lunch, including the biggest smoothies I’d ever seen, probably about a half gallon a piece. We also had a quick pit stop in Chiang Rai on our way through northern Thailand. I don’t think we even realized that was going to happen but I’m glad we got to stop in and see the main attraction, Wat Rong Khun aka the White Temple.

We finally had made it to the border crossing at Chiang Khong, where we were escorted into an office, given explicit instructions what to do at the border, including the 20 Baht for the exit “stamping fee,” 32 USD and a (terrible) passport photo we’d need for the Laos visa on arrival, and a sticker on our shirts so the company members on the other side knew how to find us! I kind of felt like a little kid but it was a bit of a relief to have that kind of guidance. I’m always willing to pay a bit more for the transportation if it includes that kind of help when it comes to borders in places like this. Come to think of it, this was probably one of the most expensive transportation costs we incurred on the trip at 2200 Baht or about 60 USD.

We said farewell to the boat kids and got back in the van to head to the border. We first had to walk through the Thai border, checking out with the 20 Baht fee and a stamp in the books. Then we boarded yet another bus from the Thai border to the Laos border, through what was apparently some kind of no man’s land. We then walked through the Laos border, filling out a form and handing over the required documents. Within about a half an hour all members of our (now five person) party were through the border. For Axel from NZ it was only 30 USD and Will from Switzerland had a free 15 days. It’s always interesting learning what kind of agreements countries have with each other for passport allowances.

Sleep On It

One more short bus ride from the border to the actual bus station and we were almost on our way to Luang Prabang. At the bus station there was nothing but a dingy little shop and a small restaurant. Only a handful of us had thought to exchange some money for the Laos currency so we were stuck with lots of calculating and bill splitting. We rushed eating some questionable noodles and such and headed to our bus. Up until this point we’d only experienced mini-vans and regular coach buses, even for the overnight trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. We boarded our bus, clutching illegible tickets and hoping for the best, and stepped into what appeared to be a hospital ward on wheels. Each side of the bus was lined with an upper and lower level of two maroon leather “seats” side by side. We found our seat numbers, thankful to at least be together because if not it would be time to snuggle up with a stranger. The intention was that the seat could stay in the upright position if needed but they were all broken, remaining only a sticky leather hospital bed. The two seats had literally no partition between them which meant Lexy and I were rolling into each other constantly through the night as the bus wove through more windy mountain roads. We were all on the lower level and the level above us was so low that we couldn’t even sit up straight in our seats and we had about three inches of the bottom of the window. 

We submitted to our temporary ward and tried to get some sleep. Being in the far back corner sitting over the engine of the bus Lexy and I roasted like two hot dogs in a steamer. All I could see out the front windshield of the bus was the world whizzing by left and right as the bus took repeated sharp turns over and over. I later awoke in the middle of the night because we’d been stopped for some time. I drearily asked what was going on and Axel said we hit another truck. I honestly didn’t believe him at first but turns out we swiped the mirror of a passing truck with ours. Apparently nothing out of the ordinary in these parts so we dealt with it and moved on...

Finally after something like 10 hours in this hot sticky tumultuous dungeon, we arrived in Luang Prabang. At a bus stop in the middle of nowhere. In the pitch dark. At four in the morning. Now, normally I am a very confident woman and don’t ever feel like I can’t do something without the help of a man. But I’ll be damned if I wasn’t thankful that we had Axel and Will with us at this moment. With no one else around but pushy tuk-tuk drivers, I was glad to have the presence of two relatively big guys, if nothing else but to ward off potentially creepers.

Between us five and a few other backpackers that had been on our bus, we haggled a price and shared a tuk-tuk ride into the city center.

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Chiang Rai, Thailand

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Easy as Pai

First off, the journey to Pai was a windy one. We were warned by several people to hold our stomachs for the three hour drive through scenic, yet steep, Thailand mountainsides. Below is an excerpt of the Google maps between Chiang Mai and Pai so you can see just how windy it was. 

The driver was holding one of these “smelly sticks” as I like to call them, which are sort of aromatherapy to keep you from feeling nauseous. None of the three of us really had a problem and everyone in our van at least managed to hold their lunches. No journey would be complete without a stop at a strange rest area, this time filled with strange snacks like pizza flavored banana chips and tiny, scraggly (BUT OH SO CUTE) stray kittens.

Pai Treehouse Resort

We were recommended, again by our friend of a friend, Immy, to look into a hotel in Pai where you could stay in a tree house. We again obliged and booked a room for the first of two nights in Pai. The room was 24 USD split between the three of us, 8 USD each. The room itself was a small sort of, well, tree house, perched in a fig tree up a set of two ladders. It had only one double sized bed, which took up most of the roof but we made it work for the experience. The bathroom was out on a shared porch with another similarly sized room. Bathroom is a strong word. It was more like a closet equipped with both a toilet and a shower head. Should you have needed to use both at the same time, you easily could have. The grounds surrounding our lofty abode were filled with other interesting buildings, sitting areas, a snack bar and even a nest-like swing.

Pai Canyon

Our second canyon of the trip, the Pai Canyon, was not equipped with water but instead, lofty, rocky drops, lots and lots of red dust, and a stunning view. We hitched a ride from our hotel in yet another benched cab/pickup truck and headed out to the canyon a bit before sunset. We wandered around, carefully climbing through parts of the rocks and finding ourselves absolutely coated in dust. Sam was wearing better shoes and a braver soul than I and managed to climb down and then up the other side of a decent viewpoint. I think with real shoes, Lexy would have done it too and I probably still wouldn’t have had I been wearing wings. We sat among other travelers and snapped pictures of the gorgeous glowing orange sunset. Through jokes about a leaf the size of Lexy’s head we ended up talking to a kid named Badir who camenfrom Mauritius, a small island nation off the coast of Madagascar. He had an interesting story to tell about getting vacation time by strong-arming his employer since he’s just about the only qualified software engineer in the country for his job and he couldn’t be replaced. 

When It Rains It Pours

After being the last ones picked up by our taxi from the lonely, dark canyon, we decided to head into Pai’s town center and check out the scene there. As we were wandering through the markets, we ran into Badir again and exchanged Facebook contacts. We chatted and walked through the crowded market, filled with clothing, souvenirs, bugs on sticks and the like. A few minutes later, a single burst of wind knocked half the market over and within seconds it was a torrential downpour. We managed to find a taxi back but poor Badir had to brave it on his little scooter back to his place. When we got back we had to book it through the pitch dark and rain through the large campus of our hotel to find our damned tree. We climbed up, soaking wet but laughing. We then each took our nightly showers but this time you had to walk through the pouring rain to get to the shower and then back again. Alas, there is something very soothing about falling asleep in a tree house to the sound of southeast Asian rain. 

Lod Caves

We ended up staying in Pai an extra night (in a normal hostel) because the bus to Laos for the following day was already booked full. We didn’t mind because it afforded us the chance to spend the whole day on a scootering adventure to the Lod Caves, about 50 km from Pai. The first full day in Pai we rented the scooters and puttered around town visiting waterfalls and temples at will. Renting a scooter for a day in Pai cost us about 3 USD a piece, much cheaper than hitching a ride everywhere. Lexy and Sam were a bit nervous about riding the scooters at first but after ten minutes they were confident and having the time of their lives. For the second full day we decided to check out the Lod Caves. Without so much as a map, we followed some vague directions and rode about 3 hours or so through windy mountain roads. I was surprised to discover the roads in Thailand were amazingly well kept (I suppose easier to do without heinous amounts of snow and ice), well marked, and easy to ride. I led my little pack of ducklings and the two of them took the ride like champs. The curves were narrow and the roads were often steep. I’m a fairly experienced rider and I found it a bit challenging so I give them some serious kudos. We stopped only once at a viewpoint where we met 

We finally arrived at the cave complex and parked our scooters among many others like them. We paid our entry tickets and a little extra for a mysterious bag of fish food. Why did we need fish food? We’d soon find out. The woman handed us our tickets and said “okay and here is your guide.” Out from around the ticket booth comes the cutest little old lady in slip on shoes, a rice farmer hat, and a lantern in hand. This is what I love about places that are “eco-tourism.” The natural wonder that we were about to see was not bought out by some cash cranking firm but rather managed by and employed with local people who understand the importance of maintaining the caves’ most natural state. I didn’t have any good pictures of the cave so I had to steal one from Lexy’s Instagram...

We shuffled along with our grandma guide and she led us through the pitch dark caves with nothing but the light of her lantern. It was eerie but beautiful inside the caves. The walls were in part lined by bats and wet with groundwater from the surrounding earth. We followed the guide up narrow stairs covered in guano, through narrow passages, and past rock forms shaped like animals and UFOs (as she pointed out with her very limited English.) At the end of the tour we were led to a body of water inside the cave where we climbed aboard a small raft; a long boat made of bamboo and held afloat by an array of empty water bottles underneath. By the light of the lantern, another man pushed us along with his staff across the water. We finally figured out what the bags of food we’d been clutching were for. We tossed some into the shallow water and out from the darkness these huge fish came crashing to the surface for the food. They were so intense they were splashing us inside the boat! We finally made it to the end of the tour and made our way back through the mountains. The way home was only about 2 and a half hours because everyone felt a little more confident to speed up a bit. 

Boom Bar and Don’t Cry

The night of Sam’s birthday we decided to check out the famous night life in Pai. At first, since it was a week night there wasn’t to much going on. We passed a place with a few people who told us to come hang out because they had free food and cheap drinks. Upon investigation the food was mostly not vegetarian so we went elsewhere for dinner, promising to come back. After dinner at yet another hippy restaurant where we sat on floor cushions in a wooden booth, we went back to the first place, known as the “Boom Bar”. We started out the night chatting with a kid from Finland and soon made more friends, entertaining a few British kids with our awful fake British accents. There was a great DJ and we danced like idiots until the bar closed, so the whole gang of people from that bar walked across the bridge into the next township with a later curfew and the party continued until the early hours of the morning.

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Pai, Thailand, Part 1

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Pai, Thailand, Part 2

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Chiang Mai

Disclaimer: Since I’m now writing blog posts a few weeks later and based on notes, I’m not going to worry too much about chronology.

Chiang Mai is a city in northern Thailand, the second largest city in Thailand and a hip university town with a youthful vibe. We arrived early in the morning and nervously navigated the trip from the bus station to the city center. We would come to often arrive in cities early and at questionable bus stations, but each time we became more confident and comfortable with the chaos. 

Our hostel was essentially empty except for the cheerful owner who hooked us up with his favorite tuk tuk driver and a few Japanese travelers whom he played cards with every day. 

Tiger Kingdom

One of the main attractions in Chiang Mai was going out to a tiger sanctuary about a half hour away. Lexy had done extensive research on different locations, making sure we only supported an institution that was a safe healthy environment for tigers to live. Considering the state of endangerment of tigers, captivity is necessary for their survival but there are still places where tourism is prioritized over animal welfare. We bumped along in the back of our red cab and arrived at Tiger Kingdom. Lexy, being the environmental scientist she is, was beyond excited. Her face was frozen with an expression of pure joy for the entire duration of the experience. It wasn’t the cheapest thing we did, but I thought it was certainly worth it. We started out with “small” tigers and eventually moved on to “large” tigers. Each enclosure had about six or so tigers, most of which lounging asleep in the sun, certainly not at their most threatening. Despite that, I was still terrified of the tigers. They literally could not care any less about us petting their backs, but I couldn’t help imagining the headlines: AMERICAN TOURIST DEVOURED BY TIGER. 

Thailand’s Grand Canyon

Immy, the friend of a friend we had had dinner with in Bangkok, had suggested visiting the Chiang Mai Canyon, also known as the Grand Canyon of Thailand. She showed us a video of her leaping from the edge into the water and we knew we had to check it out. We started out by swimming in the section you can just wade into, at first refreshed by the water, but it quickly felt something like a dip into a bathtub full of pond water. We took a walk around the perimeter, watching crazy people leaping from the edge and we said no way, I would never. But after watching for a few minutes I started to think, why not? We were on this adventure to experience things, so why not experience free fall from the side of an unregulated cliff into mucky green water in Thailand? 

For those reading that don’t know Lexy’s “cliff story”: In the summer of 2015, Lexy slipped and fell from a cliff face at Livermore Falls in Campton, NH. Needless to say, it took some convincing from me and Sam as well as a group of friendly strangers to get her to make the jump. She had to conquer her fear, we kept saying if she didn’t do it then the cliff wins. We vowed to do it together and I was absolutely petrified but I managed to hide my fear behind my encouragement to Lexy. We counted down and took the leap. We came back up to the surface, screaming and laughing, in disbelief that we really just did that. Since it had sprinkled rain a few minutes early, the rock face to climb out was a bit slippery and we didn’t want to risk it. We opted to swim back across the canyon, with some help from floating ropes and bamboo docks. We certainly got our exercise in for the day.

Thai Ahka Cooking Class

Chaing Mai is also quite a popular place for Thai cooking classes. We found a place called Thai Ahka Kitchen with a good price that had room for that evening. Overall, the cooking class was amazing. Delicious food, super clean and well organized facility, and amazing instructors. The “Ahka” portion of the name is for the “bonus” dishes we made that came from the mountain tribe Ahka people’s cuisine. Besides the delicious fresh dishes we made, the instructors really made the class something special. Our main instructor was a young Thai girl, not much older than us, who spoke flawless English and had a lot to say about the experience of young women in Thai culture. Besides another American/Israeli girl around our age, the three of us were the only ones in the class. We chatted away as we cooked and I learned a lot about everyone’s experiences. At the end of the class we took all of our prepared dishes and sat together with our instructors at the table inside and enjoyed what we created together. 

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Chiang Mai, Thailand

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Nightmare on Mo Chit - The Journey to Chiang Mai

Just when we started getting a little bit comfortable with the chaotic environment of Bangkok, it was time to move on to our next destination: Chiang Mai. This was our first move and we were understandably nervous. The receptionist at our first hostel, a fabulous young man wearing short shorts and glitter on his eyelids, helped us arrange our bus tickets. He booked them through a website affiliated with the hostel and then we had to go to 7/11 to pay for them... apparently there are a lot of things that happen at 7/11, like paying bills. We opted for a fairly comfortable overnight coach bus (this was before we knew of the wonder of sleeper buses) and the tickets cost about $14. 

Our receptionist wrote down the name of the BTS (elevated train line) station we needed to get to in Thai, so that we could show it to our taxi driver. We planned to arrive at the bus station with several hours of buffer time for the time to get to the station. We slowly made our way through typical Friday night traffic in Bangkok, nodding off in the back seat of the taxi. We made it to the BTS station and the ride to the Mo Chit station was a breeze. Once we got to Mo Chit, the stop close to the bus station, we were instructed to find another taxi there, because it was a difficult area to navigate on foot. When we came down from the platform we saw huge lines of people waiting for these small minivans. It was odd and we had no idea what it was for so we continued to look for a taxi, but each time we asked to be taken to the bus station the driver would refuse. We weren’t sure why, perhaps because the traffic near the station was too bad to be worth it to them.

I thought we could just start walking in the direction of the station anyway and look for a taxi on the way. We ended up (as expected) a bit lost, as well as hungry, though wary of the food stalls at the street market we were passing through. At the beginning of the trip we were a bit overly concerned about street food but certainly warmed up to it as we went along. At this point stress was running a bit high in the group, since we couldn’t find the bus station, but it was a little unnecessary because we had so much time before our bus. Things will always go wrong to some extent while traveling and it’s important to keep a cool head and deal with things objectively. We finally found an overpriced taxi who would take us and we were tired so we obliged and piled in with our pack mule bags.

Finally at the bus station we found some food. Cold 7/11 dinners and red bean stuffed waffles would have to suffice. We waited about an hour until it was time to board our bus. If you think this is where the craziness ends, you’re wrong.

We get on our bus, printed receipt in hand to be told this was not in fact an actual ticket and we needed to exchange it for a ticket at a window inside the station. Sam and I rushed inside, slammed the paper down on the desk, and frantically explained what we needed. We solved the problem remarkably fast and at this point our stress dissolved into laughter at how ludicrous everything was. We finally boarded the bus, where we were given snack boxes with croissants and a juice box. I slept quite well considering I would wake up every so often to see the bus hurtling through the darkness in the pouring rain, but then I’d always fall back asleep. The bus ride was about 11 hours long and we arrived at the Chiang Mai bus station the next morning.  

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Observations #1

I prefer not to bore you with a play by play of every day I spent abroad and hope to add some thoughts that are a bit more meaningful as well. 

*I should also note the photos in this post are not mine and I’m just using them to illustrate some of my points.*

Backpacker Paradise

We began our trip in Bangkok, like many travelers do, and stayed in the area surrounding the famous Khao San Road. It’s a sort of mecca for backpackers from around the world and party central. Think of it kind of like a cheap foreign version of the Vegas Strip.The thing is, in the alleys and on neighboring streets, there are working class people, selling whatever it is from their carts to feed and clothe their families. All the while the white kids next door are getting smashed and making a ruckus until all hours, telling themselves that’s the Thai way. I wonder if Khao San came into being as a “slice” of real Thai life, poor families living in modest housing, getting up close and personal with the real thing, but now has evolved into an attraction now so large that it defeats its own purpose. I could also be wrong, I have no way of knowing how Thai people in the neighborhood are affected by the presence of backpackers and to be honest I am not well enough versed in understanding class, culture, or socioeconomic conditions to make any kind of appraisal either. All I know is that I felt weird vacationing in such a place.

Politics and Portraits 

Much like socioeconomic conditions, I also unfortunately do not know enough about politics either. All I know is politics are generally a very sensitive subject, not only in Thailand but in most SEA countries. One thing I know for sure is that presence of portraits, statues, and the like are just about everywhere. We even saw shops (like the one pictured below) selling hundreds of different versions of paintings and photos of Thai royalty. This reverence of images of leaders was also common in Vietnam, though it was almost exclusively Ho Chi Minh (second photo) himself, who was considered the father of communist revolution.

Life as a Foreigner

For the first time in my life, I was truly a foreigner, a minority, an outsider. Despite my travels around Europe, this was the first occasion where I was ever in a place that solely by looking at me, someone could tell that I did not fit the standard. Generally this posed no problems, albeit occasionally being targeted scams. We managed to mostly stay well informed and vigilant against any kind of sham. Our differences tended to only elicit curiosity and funny comments, namely Lexy’s dimples were pointed out on multiple occasions, I was referred to as “big girl with a big ass” and often had to resort to what one saleswoman referred to as MAXIMUM SIZE. Honestly though, I found none of this offensive and rather amusing particularly because Asian women are generally much smaller than Americans and clothing can be a bit of a gamble.

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

The 46 Hour Bangkok Birthday

We decided to start our day at the Grand Palace, Bangkok’s star attraction. As we walked in the direction of the palace, we heard some mystical chanting coming from across the street and went to check it out. Upon investigation, we found a temple (big surprise) filled with buddhist monks in orange robes chanting in unison. Behind them, the Bhikkhuni, ordained female monastic and across the way, the devout people of Bangkok, apparently celebrating some kind of holiday. I felt a bit out of place, only observing such a ceremony with no understanding at all, but removed my shoes anyway as is customary to take a peek inside.

Longboat Ride

As we headed back out, we stopped to chat with a man standing by the door, who advised us to take a longboat around the canal to then end up at the Grand Palace instead. We were glad to be flexible enough to just say why not! Using his own Thai bargaining skills he got us a tuk tuk for just 30 Baht (less than 1 USD) to bring us to the port where we would only pay “Thai people prices”. We pulled up to the port, managed to pay for the ride in the USD we had on hand, climbed aboard and began our float down the canal. We observed sinking houses on stilts, side by side with what seemed like expensive villas, and villagers going about their daily lives. It felt very odd to be snapping pictures of houses with people living in less than ideal conditions with my expensive camera. I’m still struggling to find my place as an outsider in this world. I’m eager to portray my desire to learn and experience but I’m always worried about looking “too touristy” or insulting people who live here.

We disembarked at the port where tons of people were lined up to pay what I imagine were not “Thai people prices” for their own boat rides. We easily passed through souvenir shops but we were swayed by young coconut ice cream right in the coconut halves. We finally made it to the Grand Palace, when I realized I left my fancy microorganism filtering water bottle on the longboat. With only a few hours left for the palace to be open, we elected to go back afterwards… big mistake.

Grand Palace

I swallowed my guilt for stupidly leaving it behind and tried to enjoy the palace. The Grand Palace is actually a large complex of ornate buildings, glittering in emerald and gold. This was also the first time I was comfortable whipping out the I’M A HUGE TOURIST camera, so there are plenty of pictures to show.. Eventually we got tired of drowning in sweat and being jabbed by umbrella wielding Japanese tourists and headed back to the port to attempt a water bottle rescue mission. We had no luck with the latter but the officer at the dock went well out of his way to try and help us, but he said it had been too long and he couldn’t find that particular boat. There’s that Thai hospitality again! On the way home we stopped for lunch at a small restaurant down the street from our hostel, where the waiter spoke no English but only smiles and hilarious laughter.

Underdressed

That evening we went downtown to meet up with Sam’s friend Ike, an international student she knew at UMass through the boxing club. We took a taxi to the Skytrain station and began the journey into Bangkok’s city center. At each stop closer to our meeting point, we gradually began to realize that we were becoming surrounded by smartly dressed Thai people and how drastically we stood out in our baggy elephant pants and t-shirts. By the time we got to the shopping mall where we were meeting Ike, we were doubled over in laughter realizing how silly we must look. We wandered through the mall browsing designer label stores, even stopping to contemplate some macaroons in an elegant tea shop, all the while looking like a couple of homeless hippies.

We met Ike but had some time to kill until his friend could join us. We explored more of this enormous eight-story mall, finding ourselves on a dewy garden balcony overlooking the city below. It was a bizarre little area filled with cool colored lights, waterfalls, a ropes course for kids to play while parents shop, and a whole lot of three foot multicolored meerkat figurines. Yes, you read that right. Ike’s friend, Immy, gave us some great tips for our next destination, Chiang Mai, since she’s living there at the moment! I found out she and I may even both be in Hamburg, Germany in September. What a small world!

Finally, we ended our night by sipping mojitos and people watching near Khaosan Road. A lovely end to a lovely birthday. We made it back to our hostel beds and despite having 11 hours left of my birthday in Massachusetts, I was exhausted and passed right out.

[bostonbangkokbeyond-blog]

Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand