Luang Prabang

Our first day here we really just wanted to chill out with no public Transport so we rented bikes and drove around with no real purpose. It was great! We first climbed down the river bank, crossed a very sketchy bamboo bridge and then back up the river bank. It was a hot day for a bike ride but we got out of the city and into more rural towns whic was nice. We had a pretty good group of us. Myself and the 2 guys I'm wih, 2 Canadians from Guelph who we met at the Laos immigration. I really like them we spent a lot of time with them. An American girl who is still with us and a German guy who we also think is on our bus tonight to Vang Vieng. We've also picked up 2 friends of Matt hat he knows from Canada. They'll be with us for the rest of Laos and then they head back home. I also booked a 2 day trek which I've been doing for the last 2 days. Yesterday we hiked for about 6 hours. I didn't think it would that intense but it was straight up for more than 1/2. It felt good to do activity again... All that walking in the jungle reminded me of all the walking in the bush we do for fire. We stopped at 3 villages. All under 400, one had only 25! 2 of them were of the Hmong tribe and the other I'm not sure, I couldn't really understand. We stayed over in the last village at a homestay. They cooked us meals and we stayed in their house which was really neat. Everything was very basic, had a delicious noodle soup dinner and in the morning they made us eggs. The accommodation was bamboo huts with a hard sleeping bad and some pretty gross blankets. But they kept me warm, the nights get pretty chilly because we're in the north of Laos, and we were at a higher elevation. This morning we did an hour hike down to an elephant village. I wasn't sold on whether I wanted to ride an elephant because I know that some are treated very poorly but this place saves elephants who were working in logging. The way it was explained was that having an elephant is very expensive- they eat up to 1000 lbs of food a day!!! So in order to have an elephant it needs to bring in some sort of income- like logging. But as logging becomes more uncommon ( more laws making it more regulated) the elephants won't have homes. So this sanctuary rescues them and creates revenue with tourism. People can ride them, feed and bathe them. And it's a lot better (easier) work for them. Having them explain this made me feel better about riding them. It really was great! I got to sit on his neck and we walked through the water and the jungle for about 45 minutes. The mahout (elephant guide) told me the elephants name but it was in laos so I can't spell it, or pronounce it! But I know he was 32 years old. After that we kayaked 3 hours back to town. There were a few little rapids which was fun. A really great trip- tiring though! And I was really impressed with the company- Tiger Trails. They give a % of our fees to the villages we visit as well as to the elephants. Eco tourism seems to be a big thing in Laos which I love. When I left our plan was to head to Vang Vieng on Saturday morning but when I got back to our hostel the guys had booked us buses and hostels so I'm on the night bus there now! The bus is pretty cool- it's my first experience on a 1st class bus. We've been doing 2nd class. This bus has individual pod beds for each person- much more comfortable than sitting. This bus is only 6 hours though... Although 6 hours on Asian transport is usually closer to 8. I'm having an amazing time! It's been quite a whirlwind since I got here. The second half of my trip will be much more relaxing. We have 5 days in Koh Phangnan where 3 other friends from fire are meeting us. I am planning a dive certification course for 4 days in Koh Tao and then hopefully do some surfing and yoga somewhere (maybe Indonesia?) and then to Cambodia for the last week! Plans are slowly materializing but will most likely change many times! <3

The slow boat

We managed to get to the slow boat with no problems. From chiang mai we were planning to take a bus to chiang khong where the Laos immigration is but we missed it so we had to go to chiang rai, spend the night there and get a 6am bus to chiang khong in the morning. Chiang khong ended up being a pleasant surprise! We found a huge night food market with live music. We got a hot pot that was boiled in a clay pot with charcoal and then a big basket with vegetables and some prawns- then we made our own little soup! The boys tried maggots - I did not. They said it tasted like feet and had the consistency of sand. The morning bus to chiang khong was funny- it was a legit Asian bus not a tourist one. There were 2 other people from France- one of them who hit his head really hard getting onto the bus- great way to start his day I'm sure. I've been hitting my head a lot too- everything is 2 feet shorter here because thai/Laos people are so short. We got to chiang khong, got our Laos visa on arrival and got to the slow pat which we were told let at 1030am. Noon rolled around and we finally were on our way. The boat was pretty hilarious. We had seat numbers but of course no one follows them so we had the last row- right beside the engine. I wore earplugs the whole time and conversation was out of the question. The first day was about 7 hours. We stopped for the night in Pakbeng which was a little town really only for these boats. It was a little dodgy- before we even got off the boat we had 2 guys asking if we wanted a guest room... Or some opium! Haha. Opium is pretty big around here because there used to be a piece of land in the golden triangle called "no mans land" where the river connects Laos, Thailand and the old Burma. Since no one owned it opium trading was legal. Its not anymore but still floats around. A little history fact I learned on my tour! The second day was 8 hours, we got into Luang Prabang around 8pm. We were much smarter the 2nd day and we got seats at the front. We met some great guys from Holland, and american and a handful of others. We were turned away from about 10 guesthouses that were full before we found one. We went to the night market and had a huge dinner- I got a whole fish that I ate with chopsticks. It was so delicious!! I htink that's my favourite thing to eat so far. <3

Chiang Mai

I've been in Chiang Mai for almost 3 days now. Our 10 hour bus trip was long, but uneventful. We arrived here at 130am and got a tuk tuk (scooter cab) to the hostel. I wasn't sure of we were going to make it. The three of us and our bags was a tiiiiggghhhttt squeeze! The first day we explored the city. We all love it here. A lot smaller than Bangkok, but still a good energy. There's a fun night bazaar where you can find anything in the world. New Nike shoes, purses, clothes, food, backpacks, toys... We also booked tours- Dan went catfish fishing, Matt went to the highest point in Thailand and I went to the Golden Triangle (where Laos, Thailand and Myanmar meet at the Mekong river) and then we visited the Karen long neck tribe which is near the Myanmar border. They're refugees from the old Burma. It was crazy to see their neck rings. I got to feel them and they are HEAVY! The rings don't actually make their necks longer it pushes their shoulders down which makes more sense. If they take off their rings their neck will go back to size in 5 years! Today we're going to relax around here and then take the night bus to Chiang Khong which is where the slow boat to Laos starts (the Laos border). The boat stops for the night in Pakbeng and ends in Luang Prabang. I'm looking forward to Laos, a lot of my friends who have been to Southeast Asia says it was their high light! <3

The hangover 2

Yesterday we did a lot of walking!! We took the sky train and ferry down the river again and then walked to khao san road which is a popular place for tourists. It was also where some scenes from The Hangover 2 movie were filmed. they like telling people that. The walk there was my favourite part, all the streets are covered in people selling things. It's the nice kind of selling though, people aren't bombarding you to buy they're just happy for you to look. I bought a really cool pair of handmade sandals. We had lunch at an amazing food stall by the river. It cost $1 for a huge plate of pad Thai. I am loving the food here. At night we went to the Sky Bar which was another scene from the Hangover 2 movie. It was amAzing. It's the highest building in Bangkok, 64 floors and you can see everything. Bangkok is an expansive city, it looks like it never ends. We were up there for sunset, although it was smoggy so it wasn't that great. I thought it looked the best once the sun was down. We found another little food stall for dinner. I had rice vegetables and prawns. I don't even know how far we walked but I was early to bed last night. Today were headed to Chiang Mai, hopefully on a bus. We have to go to the bus station and book our tickets. Its 10 hours which I imagine in thai world is more like 12 or 13. Its air conditioned and the seats recline a bit. I'm hoping to get some decent sleep. Originally we were going to take the train but it's full- something that I didn't think even happened! Will hopefully have Internet when we get to chiang mai (will hopefully get to chiang mai) so will update when I'm there. <3

Good Morning :)

It's my second morning in Bangkok, my other friend Dan arrived last night. Yesterday Matt and our new friend Rob from England explored the city. We took the Skytrain to Central Pier where we caught a boat down the river. Boat seems to be a very common mode of transportation. The river was SO busy, it was like rush hour. We were on the public transport boat, the biggest on the river which I was glad for. All the smaller boats seemed to be yielding to us which was probably in their best interest. The river was VERY polluted, I don't think anyone should be swimming in there. I can't imagine there are any fish in there either, and if there are I don't think anyone would be able to eat them. I'm pretty sure we saw a dead cow floating along the river (Matt checked it out with his binoculars haha). I have never traveled with someone who had binoculars before but I guess they come in handy for situations like that... if you really have to know if the floating thing in the river is a dead animal, or just a piece of wood. We started out at Wat Po, the highlight there was the Reclining Buddha. It was a huge (HUGE!) gold Buddha laying on it's side in a room. Also on the grounds were other temples and little statues of Buddha. After that we walked through a market to get to The Grand Palace. I often feel that once you've seen one palace/ temple, you've seen them all. They're very beautiful, detailed, ornate, sparkly, golden... but without knowing some history about the temple it could be anywhere. The Grand Palace was created in 1792- I like imagining how it was built back then, how long it must have taken. I also like to imagine what the palace was like when it was still in use. There are paintings all over the walls of these buildings that portray what it could have been like. A lot of Buddhists still come to these temples and statues of Buddhas to pray. We saw a lot of monks there saying prayers and bowing. You're not allowed to face your feet towards the Buddha so you have to sit on your knees, otherwise a Thai security guard comes over and blows his whistle at you... luckily that didn't happen to us. My general feeling of Thailand so far is a good one. Everyone I've interacted with so far seems genuinely interested in helping you. Unlike India where I felt like everyone just wanted to get money out of you. I haven't been bombarded with people trying to sell you things or take you in their cabs. We'll see if that holds up for the rest of my trip- it'd be awesome if it did because people in your face all the time gets exhausting. I think today is our last day in Bangkok, tomorrow we'll head out- either to Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) or Vientiane (Laos). We're going to explore some more today and make our plans for tomorrow. I don't want to jinx anything but I'm feeling good- I haven't been sick yet and I haven't been super jet lagged. <3

BANGKOK!

I've arrived in Bangkok! It's so nice and warm here. I traveled the whole way in flip flops getting weird looks from people in Detroit, but it's worth it now haha. My flights were pretty standard. Detroit to Tokyo was 13 hours- epic journey. I can never get comfortable enough in airplanes to sleep well. I dosed off a bit on each flight but never felt well rested. I've never minded airplane food, I always thought it was edible but not amazing. Delta airplane food though, it's bad. I ordered a special vegetarian meal before I left, which I did get but it was so weird. My dinner was some unidentified mush.. it was brown and salty, and it came with something green, maybe spinach. Instead of a brownie for desert like everyone else, I got honeydew melon... and no butter for my bun. And then breakfast I got couscous and mandarin oranges- the weirdest combination. It was so bland but I was hungry so I ate it. Lunch was a little more typical, rice and some stirfry veggies. I got some delish Udon noodles with tofu in Tokyo to make up for it though. I got through customs and got my bag without any trouble and I found the bag carousel where my friend's flight was and met him without any trouble too! It was cool to see someone I know halfway across the world. Our other friend gets here tonight. AND one of our other friends from fire, Caitlin, sent me a message last night- she's coming to Thailand at the end of the month!!! Amazing, she's going to come to the Full Moon Party with us in Koh Phangnan, and maybe continue on with us after. I'm just waiting for Matt to get up and then we'll go get some breakfast, and explore Bangkok. Maybe the Royal Palace, Kohsoan road, and the skytower? We met people last night who had just been to the Skytower, it's in the Hangover 2 movie and apparently the views are amazing. They suggested we go at night, so we'll see how we're feeling tonight. The hostel we're at right now is called WE Bangkok, it's great. Clean, friendly, free wifi, lots of people. We're here again tonight, and then from there not sure. So excited to be in Thailand! :D <3

I'm off again!

I leave Sunday morning for a 2 month trip to Southeast Asia. I am very excited!!! I keep telling people it feels a lot different than my trip to India because I was so nervous about traveling by myself that I never really got excited.. just anxious. I've got 2 travelling buddies this time, friends I met while fighting fire in Red Lake- Matt and Dan. Dan will be there for a month, Matt for a month and a half, so I'll have the last 2 weeks of my trip by myself. I figure by then I will feel settled in the culture and will enjoy some time to myself. We have loose plans; what we know for sure is that we're flying into Bangkok, going to Laos, Northern Thailand, then heading down to the Southern Thailand islands (koh Phangan and Ko Samui) for the full moon party. After that I think we're going to Malaysia, then maybe Cambodia or Indonesia. We're going to play it by ear, if we find somewhere we love we'll stay there a bit, if not we'll keep moving.

I've really been enjoying this snow, I got out to Holiday Valley last week. It's ALMOST enough to keep me here for a winter, but it's 35 degrees in Bangkok... and that sounds amazing. I'll be keeping my blog updated with my whereabouts and my adventures. Of course internet is sporadic so I'll do my best!