Thanksgiving in the Thai Islands

Well, we have finally come to the much talked about tropical southern \islands of Thailand, and are on Ko Tao, in the Gulf of Thailand, just north of the more famous Ko Phagnan and Ko Samui. Ko tao is known most as a scuba diving spot, we learned that it has the second most certifications here in the whole world. Although its cheap by scuba standards, its a little out of our depleted budget, so we have happily settled for kayaking and snorkeling. And of course decent doses of nothing - reading, sitting on the beach and sleeping in. Needless to say, after two months of moving from town to town every 2 or 3 days, doing nothing is pretty nice. We are staying on a secluded beach which is semi-private, there are two small resorts and never more than 20 people on the sand at a time. Not by rule or anything, but thats how it works out. The closest town is a STEEP 25 minute walk over a big hill, and even in town there isnt a whole lot. A 7-11, some internet cafes and ATMs, and lots of dive resorts on a bay not half as nice as our little haven.
The international news has been crazy lately, but we wouldn't know about any of it, from the Mumbai attacks to the potential coup in Bangkok, if not for the news updates we get from Peter, a nice guy staying at our resort. When i say resort I should really qualify it: we are staying in a bungalow (a nice shack) with no A/C or hot water, on the side of a hill overlooking the bay. Location, location, location, but the little hut itself, although nicer than many we've stayed in, isn't luxury. Well, even though its been a while since ou last post, we don't have a ton to say . Tomorrow we leave for Rai Leh, a beach near Krabi, on the west coast of Thailand, closer to Malaysia. We will be there a few days and then continue to Kuala Lumpu, by way of Hat Yai, and then on to Singapore. Scary to think, but we have officially planned out the rest of our days. We will be back in the City in less than two weeks, so any of you that are needin a little vitamin D of J, hold out a little longer.

Gobble Gobble Gobble, Happy Thanksgiving to all,

Dave

Fist Fights and Private Hot Springs

After spending two nights in Chiang Mai and then another two in the hippy mountain town of Pai, we are now en route to Bangkok. We left Pai at 12:30 pm by mini-bus and are now enjoying a 3 hour layover here in Chiang Mai before embarking on 12 more hours of the VIP bus and wll be arriving in Bangkok tomorrow morning. Also.... just in case you hadn't noticed, Dave added PHOTOS not only to his last post but to all the old ones too, so you should definitely go back take and take a look at them.

We had a nice three days in Chiang Mai which is considered by Thais to be their cultural (and culinary!) gem. The old part of the city is surrounded by a moat and has all of these neat little sois (like an alley but nice) that you can use to get through the city while avoiding the traffic. The city is also home to over 300 wats (temples) that have a special architecture (called Lana)that is very ornate and specific to northern Thailand. We spen most of our time here just ambling around the city, eating and taking in some beautiful wats. We splurged and did a wonderful all day Thai cooking course. After getting a lecture on rice, we headed to the market with wicker baskets and got a lesson on all of the exotic fruits (so called because of their small size) and the bizare custard apple that looks something like an artichoke and tasted like a sweet mango. We then headed back to the kitchen where we were given aprons and kerchiefs and got to learn a total of six dishes. The Tom Yum soup with shrimp and Som Tam (papaya salad) where my two favorites, but it was all delicious and we can't wait to get home and cook some of it for you all!

After a couple of days in Chiang Mai, we were feeling totally watted out, so we decided to take an unscheduled detour to Pai, a hippy town in the mountains near the border of Burma. The drive their was gorgeous, although on a horribly curvy road. The town itself was very cool and laid back although we soon learned that had we been there a year ago it would have been a lot more tranquil as Jim the expat english bartender informed us that Pai had been featured in a popular Thai movie and ever since then bus loads of Thai toursists had begun invading the place on weekends. We also had the good fortune to show up on a Friday so the town was packed with most guesthouses filled up and prices bumped up because of the high demand. Despite the craziness, Pai still has pockets that emmanate the hippy town and as soon as you get of town there are great trails and waterfalls to explore. After arriving around noon in Pai and finding a funky very basic bungalow to call home, Dave and I headed off to Fluid, a beautiful lounge bar in the countryside complete with small work out center. We spent as much time as possible soaking up the sun before the clouds moved in and we got some light sprinkles. We had a great time walking around that evening and sampled oodles of incredible street food from delicious little pancakes to savory meat on a stick. While our attempt to go out and find a roudy night scene for some drinking initially failed (Jim the bartender and Matt from Chicago both very nice ended up being our only company) we were delighted to come back to our place to find a group of lively Thai guys who invited us to join them by their campfire. They turned out to be exactly our age and forced us to take too many shots of SangSom Rum from the bottle top. We could barely communicate with the guys (one of them did have an english phrasebook from which they pointed out "intended length of stay?") but we had a great time just hanging out and laughing and smiling with them. One of the guys had a guitar and amazingly (were not sure if this goes for all Thais or if they are a group of some sort) all them could sing REALLY well and so for the most part we just hung around and listened to them play and sing Thai songs. Their was only one song that had a chorus simple enough for us to join in on so that one got played alot and they also had some American hip-hop that they played for us from their cell phones.

For our one full day in Pai Dave and I decided to take another adventure aboard a motorbike. We took off and got a bit lost trying to find the first of two waterfalls on our itinarary. It was a really nice fall with lots of Thai kids swimming around and all was great and happy until suddenly everything went crazy. I just summoned up the courage to slide down one of the falls and was alone in one of the pools when suddenly these two guys tumbled into the water next to me. WhileI at first thought it was just fun and games I quickly realized it was anything but, as these guys meant business and were going for blood. As I struggled to get away (they were blocking the easy exit) they pummeled each other and soon another guy was in the water. I really think they wanted to kill this guy (NO idea why!) but they were strangling him, punching him in the head and then it all culminated when they smashed a glass seven-up bottle right on the guys temple. Lots of blood,meanwhile I was trying the scramble my way of the rocks and Dave who was above couldn't do a thing to help me. The bleeding guy then proceeded to try and escape by following me up the rocks which totally freaked me out. Fortunately his assailants decided to let him go and didn't follow up us the rocks but needless to say I was badly shaken. We decided to take off rather than hang around and took off for another waterfall which was very cool and in a cave and didn't hold any surprises. After a quick stop in town for a very late lunch we got a big beer and headed out to Pai Canyon where we watched to sunset. Then, thanks to Jim the bartender, we went in search of Spa Exotic which was the best advice we have received in Asia. Not only did it cost less then half the price of the regular hot springs most tourists are sent to but we had the place entirely to ourself and unlike the normal hot springs that are just twelve inches deep here we could swim! It was so so so nice and relaxing and was just what our tired traveling bodies needed! Ok must run!! Bus is here more later!!
Jess xoxoxo

Luang Namtha: Life & Nature

I know that was a cheezy title, but that is the official slogan of the town we spent the last few days in, Luang Namtha. Pretty far north and almost to China in Northern Laos, the biggest thing in Luang Namtha is the area around it, which is dense forest peppered with many ethnic groups. So obviously, as soon as we got there ( more on that in a bit), we looked into some trekking, which is the official name for hiking out here. We signed up for a two day trek, with an overnight stay in a small Akha tribal village, but Jess got quite sick, so we cancelled in favor of a staying home in our so so hotel. After a day of sleeping and not much else, she was feeling much better, so we went on a one day trek, which i will explain in a moment.

The most exciting party of Luang Namtha was definately our arrival. There is only one way to get there from Luang Prabang, the infamous local bus. They claim it takes 9 hours, but those are lao hours. With either a 9am or a 530pm departure from Luang Namtha, we called ahead to a guest house in Luang Namtha and headed out on the night bus, knowing we would arrive some time around 2am. The drive wasa really something, winding through the moonlight on curving, bumpy roads, people sitting in the aisles on plastic stools, and this rude couple sitting across from us that refused to let the woman in front of them open the window, even though she clearly was about to vomit. The night got really foggy as we went farther along, really reminded me of the sunset, almost Tower Market -esque. The driver couldnt have seen 40 feet in front of him but that didnt stop him from barreling on up the hills. When we finally arrived it past 3am, foggy as all hell, and freezing. All we had to do was get our stuff off the top of the bus (I climbed up and searched with a flashlight, wake up the only tuk-tuk driver, cruise on into hopping Luang Namtha (thats sarcasm, by the way) and find our guesthouse. We decided quickly that anywhere that we could find was good enough, and the third fence we rattled led to a 50,000 kip night of "what's crawling inside the walls". I thought maybe a rodent, but Jess assured me it was a bug and I should just go to sleep. It was nearing sunruse so I didn't argue.

For your sake, we'll skip over the find a trek day and the recovery day that followed. :ets just say Jess didn't eat anything all day and I have had enough noodle soup to last me a while ( 5 meals in 2 days if you're keeping track at hame). I love me some noodle soup, but it was the other boring options that drove me to it really. So our trek was really good. We huffed and puffed over two peaks through pretty dense jungle and then stopped for a lunch we'll call the Jungle-Q. Our guides chopped down some bamboo to make skewers to roast meat they bought that morning at the market in Luang Namtha, then cut down banana leaves to create a picnic blanket of sorts. We squatted around it and ate with our hands - grilled beef (almost jerky they cooked it so long), sticky rice, and various lao favorites, all spicy, including Laap - a minced pork salad sorta thing - bamboo shoots, a sauce made out of crabs and chillis, greens, and more. It was way too much food, and the beef would have been better if they took it off the fire about 10 minutes before they did, but it was all in all pretty cool. Bananas and Jujubees (thats really a fruit and not just a nasty candy) made dessert, and then we trekked out to visit the Khmu village. The Khmu peope make up 45% of the Lao population, and we got to sit around in our guide's house, as he was from the village, and just cruise around. Kids smiled and waved, and Jess and I got a puppy to follow us the whole time, so it was pretty cool. We piled back into the tuk-tuk and went to see another village, this one of the Black Thai ethnicity. They are calle dthe black thai because they wear these black robes all the time, and they emigrated from China not too long ago. They have their own language, and the writtn form uses Chinese characters, not the sanskrit letters of Lao, Thai and Khmer (Cambodian). That village, along with Luang Namtha, really made us feel close to china, as characters were all over the place.

We decided we had definately had our fill of Lao food, and although the country is beautiful and the people are nice, we left this morning for Thailand. Well, we're back in the land of smiles, so what have we done? So far, we ate Pad Thai twice, took a nap, and had wienerschnitzel for dinner. Ok, taht last one stands out, but the guy running the place was german so what the hey. We are in the border town of Chiang Kong, and leave tomorrow morning for Chiang Mai, the second largets city in Thailand and often called the cultural capital. It will be wierd to be back in a big city but the food should be great, and then its off to Bangkok (breifly) on the way to THE BEACH!!!It sounds crazy, but only a few weeks remain in our journey, so its almost time to get the relaxation we deserve on the beautiful white sand of the thai islands. Glod to see the Niners won their first game since we left, clearly they are getting ready to roll into the playoffs with my return. Well, maybe not, but it looks like the Yorks are ready for the Shaun Hill era to begin. I know i am. All for now,
Dave

Houseboats in Asia to World Heritage Sites

After just one night in Vientiene, Dave and I set off in another VIP bus to the much talked about backpacker haven of Vang Vieng. The big attraction in Vang Vieng is tubing down the Nam Song which is graced with 10 or so riverside bars that offer cold beers and various water slides, swings and jarring ziplines. For us, it felt a lot like houseboats in Asia, which is the annual memorial day weekend UC Davis tradition that takes place on Lake Shasta, only we were on a river, there were no kegs and it was full of Aussies and Europeans instead of drunk American college students. The setting for all of this debauchery was truly awesome and despite the hordes of young farang and blaring techno music it almost felt unspoiled. The river is set in a valley among these incredible jagged karst cliff that just stretch on as far as you can see and the natural beauty is really untouched as they seem to go a good job of containing the tourism and maintaining the natural splendor. We spent three nights in Vang Vieng which really only gave us two days. The whole "local scene" was pretty amusing with literraly an entire intersection filled with restaurants with lounge tables where you could kick back and watch re-runs of "Friends" and plenty of ladies catering to the packpacker munchies selling delicious bacon sandwhiches and pancakes (actually crepes) filled with chocolate bananas and other goodies. We spent one day in the tubes and another day kayaking and visiting caves. The coolest cave was one that you actually went into in a tube and use a rope to tow yourself and back into th cave about 50 meters where we disembarked and then crawled/swam even deeper! On our kayak/trekking trip we had some not so amusing japanese tourists along with us. The women came wearing high heels!! and refused to paddle, don't know what they were thinking when they signed up but anyways! The day in the tube was fun too, although Dave and I really couldn't get that into it. We had some beers and each went off an assortment of slides and swings but thought the whole thing would have been more fun if we had been traveling with more friends.

Now we are in beautiful Luang Prabang, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site. It is a town that is filled with Wats (temples), monks wrapped in Saffron robes and lots of old french colonial buildings. Upon arrival we climbed up to the top of Wat Phousi to see an incredible sunset and views of the entire city. We spent the next day cruising around on bikes and visited a not so exciting market and saw many many temples. Today we accidentally slept all the way until 10 am (possible our latest yet!) and then hurried off to arrange a tuk-tuk ride to these incredible multi-tiered waterfalls with great swimming. We have been eating lots of tasty street food with highlights including pork on sticks, beef noodle soup and this vegetarian buffet where you get a heaping plate of noodles and salads for just 5,000 kip (about 50 cents!) We have also been perusing the incredible night market trying to decide what to buy (scarves, jewelery, pillows!) and tonight will be doing some actual purchasing. Now we are struggling to figure out where to go next but are thinking of heading off to the mountains to do some trekking and maybe even a village home stay. We will keep you posted though! We miss you all and love getting updates from everyone back home so please keep writing to us!
Jess

Goin North and Obama Opinions

Well, after what i will redundantly refer to as an historic election, which it was in so many ways, people in Asia have had one response: Great! From fellow travelers to locals (the ones we could talk to), everyone seems very happy. On election day, which was really the 5th here with the time difference, we left Pakse for a two day motorcycle ride through the Bolaven Plateau, where we spent the night in the village of Tadlo. Tadlo's most exciting offerings are waterfalls, as there are three within a few miles of the town, but no one there seemed to know one way or the other about the election. So we paid a ton for slow internet and were overwhelmed with happiness and american pride when we saw the NYTimes headline: OBAMA. The few other people at Tim's guesthouse in Tadlo were happy for Jess and I, but we failed to celebrate Obamarama with the traditional Lao moonshine, lao-lao, which accompanies all special occasions here. Probably for the better, since we had to ride about 100 km the next day on out motorcycle. People that we have run into more than once along the trail here had big smiles for us when we saw them, especially thos ethat were also watching the early returns come in with us in Pakse before we left for Tadlo. What was interesting was an article in the Bangkok Post, and english-language daily paper, which highlighted McCain's respectful and gracious remarks in conceding the election. To paraphrase, he said that he was ready to start working with Barack to get things back on track, and this writer felt that this was a great example of what Thai legislators need to do to heal long standing divisions, which have led to protests and some violence in Bangkok (at the same time we were there, actually). That was cool on a lot of levels I thought, and hopefully a sign of good bipartisan efforts to solve problems instead of bickering and mudslinging.
But enough abuot that, I'm sure all of you have heard just a little bit about the election. Back to our travels, since we are the important people on this blog. Like I said at th estart, we went from Pakse to the Bolaven plateau by motorcycle. Now, anyone that knows me would be surporsed to know that I had driven a motorcycle, much less for 2 straight days. The truth is, we had a moto-based daytrip on our last day in Pakse, so it was three days. And I had to shift gears, as there is nary an automatic motorcycle in Pakse. We went to Champasak to see some Angkor-esque ruins, called Wat Phu. They have not been maintained or refurbished as heavily as the Temples of Angkor, but what Wat Phu does have is serenity. There were no more than 20 people at the ruins when we were, and we were almost alone for parts of our exploration. The basic layout is like this: two large pools separated by a causeway (just like Davis!!), which was lined with hundreds of 4-foot tall Linga statues, hindu phallic symbols. After the pools, there are two former palaces, now pretty crumbled, and then steps up the side of a mountain leading to a temple complex. the steps have trees carefully planted along each side and the views over the Mekong river valley are truly stunning. Also, the temples contain a natural spring, which we saw a tour guide use to fill up a water bottle (but we weren't thinking about drinking from), a loarge rock carved like an Elephant, and another with a crocodile shape chiseled out about 5 inches deep. Pretty cool all in all, and even after 3 days of similar temples at Siem Reap still pretty fresh in our minds. We got some great photos with our remaining camera, and will put some up soon. So that was Wat Phu in Champasak.
Next was Tadlo and the waterfalls and road of the Bolaven Plateau, which rises out of the Mekong Valley. The biking was fun for a while, but any more than about 45 minutes at a time got to be pretty tough on our tender backsides. The roads were almost all paved, with minor exceptions totalling about 25 km and spread evenly ove rthe two days. Teh landscapes were beautiful, lush green in all directions, lots of coffee and tea plantations, but also small scale fruit farming and undisturbed jungles. The most common traffic we passed were kids riding bikes to school in the villages and a random smattering of livestock, mostly cows and pigs but goats too, and dogs, which run pretty loose and sometimes take naps in the road. We stopped at Tad Paxuam waterfall on the way up, and also visited a small village and saw these tree houses where people stay, right by the falls and set in the jungle. Would have been cool, but we had a schedule to keep. Our only mishap was a rear flat tire, which led to me pushing the bike up a hill to the next town and a new tube popped in for only 6 dollars (50,000 kip). Within a half hour we were back on the road. Our first day in tadlo was uneventful except for the big Obama news, as rain and muddy water kept us from swimming.
We slept in a bit and made up for lost time the next day. Following VERY lose directions, we rode out to a nearby village where 4 boys about 10 years old coralled us and led us up to som egreat pools right below a tall waterfall, maybe 100 feet or so. Worried about leaving the bike unattended, we still had a great time in the deep cool water, and paid the kids 18,000 kip (around 2 bucks) when we made it safely back to the cycle. We then drove up to the top of the same falls, which afforded wonderful views of the villages and land below, and some scenic (but shallow) wading/swimming holes. We were in a bit of a hurry, as you never know when it might rain and we had to cross a decent chunk of unpaved clay road before breathing easily. We made it across with no problems, and had a good time waving at all the school kids and other people we passed, who seemily happily surprised to see two Farang riding by them. We ha d aminor scare when our gas guage read empty and the only town on the map for 35 km was completely out of gas, but we got some bootleg petrol on the roadside and made it safely to the Shell station in Paksong, which is not exactly a booming metropolis. Tehn we were fighting the daylight as we stopped to see two more falls, both down very slippery roads which tested my copious riding experience (Jess walked so i wouldn't fall over for a few puddly stretches), and got some more good views of quickly moving water. Where was Nick Abrams when we needed him? Probably throwing himself over a waterfall in nepal i guess. We made it back to Pakse just after dark and had enough time for a hurried dinner before our overnight bus to Vientiane, the capitol of Laos. Vientaine is pretty but not real exciting, and with the not so lovely sleep on the bus, we've had a bit of a lazy day, although we did walk a bit. I got a good Lao massage, basically the sme as a Thai massage but in Laos instead, and Jess pampered herself with a mani-pedi and some other girly stuff. She did somehow skip the "Princess Treatment", which lasted several hours and cost 550,000 kip (which is really like 60 bucks, but sounds way better in kip). I was proud of her restraint, and so we had some good chinese dumplings andcame to check out the good ole internets, which gets you completely up to speed. Tomorrow we will head further north, to Vang Vieng and then either to Luang Prabang or possibly back down to Vientiane to see a Buddhist festival. Its all up in the air right now, but thats how the Farang Express rolls. Keep the responses coming, and thanks, Colin, for the idea. Hope you like dthe way it turned out.

Dave

Hello from Lazy Lao

So sorry for the lapse in communication, but we just now made it back to at least quasi-civilization. In both of the last two places we stayed we only had generator provided electricity between the hours of 6 and 9 pm so there definitely was not any reliable internet to be found. We arrived in Lao three days ago now and are now in Pakse, a rather backwater town in the very southern part of the country. Are forray into the Ratanakiri province of Cambodia was a bit of a mixed bag with some incredible highs and some rather serious lows. What we thought was going to be 12++ hours on a bus to get to Ban Lung, which is just south of the Lao border in the middle of nowhere jungle-land, turned out to be a mere 10 hours on a road that was paved for I would say 6 or 7 of those hours. We crammed into a mini-bus with 13 other very freindly Cambodians, most of whom turned out to be tourists themselves as we quickly realized that the local transport was atop trucks laden with other goods. The Ratanakiri province was breathtaking. So much green and rolling mountains covered with yellow wildflowers and relaxed "communes" of wooden houses on stilts. Upon our descent from the mini-bus we were ill-fatedly greeted by Nan a local "guide" who kindly helped us secure two moto drivers to take us on a very treacherous ride to the eco-lodge we had picked out in the lonely planet. The guys had no idea how to find the place and we to the lodge just as it was becoming pitch dark but not without a moto crash that left Dave with a rather beat up and bruised foot! Our eco-lodge turned out to be a little slice of heaven with a wonderful owner. It was a bit like camping (picture mather in the jungle) but it was far away from the rather gloomy town of Ban Lung and set amid awesome countryside and the local people. Our next day was really a perfect day. After sleeping in and causing a minor crisis (dave sort of tore the sink off the wall!!!) while doing some sink laundry (that never did fully dry in the humid weather) we went on a mini-trek on a trail that led us straight from our lodge into the hillside. We only briefly got lost and with some minor bickering soon found ourselves at the incredible Yaek Lom crater lake. Truly heaven on earth after walking through the Cambodian jungle. The water was so clear and there were tons of local kids diving precariously off trees into the water around us. I even had the chance to impress the local old guys there for an afternoon dip by swimming from one dock across the lake to the dock where they had taken up residency. There was a lot of laughing and muttering about the "barang" and I got a couple of thumbs up.

When the sink finally dislodged itself from bathroom wall (we hard told the manager who claimed that he had resolved the problem while we were at the lake) and came crashing down the next morning while I was still in bed, we should have realized we were in for a bad day. After managing to turn off the water source and switching to a room that wasn't flooded, we made the TERRIBLE mistake of letting Nan take us on what ended up being an $80 tour for private car and boat (an estra $20 not originally discussed) to the Voen Sai district where people had told us you could see interesting tribes living along side of a river. After our moto-rides from hell to the hotel, we had decided that it would be better and safer to spring for a jeep ($30 more) rather than spend a harrowing two hour ride on motos. In short the road was unbelievably bad, as the wet season had not been kind to it, and we spent more time on the miserable road then we did actually visiting the villages. Our guide Nan, while knowing nothing about the local people we saw, had an inifinite number of stories to tell us about his female escapades and jacking off (which he called the american airplane). Our favotite moment perhaps was when he told us that after he dated a girl for two months he would ask her "you boom-boom me?" and if she said no well then that was the end of that. The villages (Chinese, Lao and Chunchiet) probably woul have been really interesting had we the guide to tell us more about them but without the instruction they really just looked like all of the villages scattered around a lodge and we were bemoaning the fact that we were not just spending another day at the lake. The most interesting part of the tour was a little cemetary with graves adorned with wooden sculptures of the deceased. The cherry on top of the fabulous day was realizing that we had left Dave's camera in the jeep. We called both the guide and driver the next morning but they ofcourse declined having ever seen it. It was a very sad and distressing end to our time in Cambodia but we are moving on and still having a great time. Fortunately, we did have picturest through halfway down Vietnam backed up and the few that are on the blog so all is not lost and we have my camera to document the rest of the trip for y'all.

We made our way through the unofficial border crossing into Laos having only to pay $4 in bribes ($1 for each of us to both sets of border officials). We were then chauffeured by another mini-bus to a water ferry to take us into Si Phan Don, or the four thousand islands of Laos which are formed by a widening of the mekong river. We spent two nights in Don Det, a very laid back and peaceful island that provided some much needed respite from our trouble in Cambodia. We spent our two days there biking around on it and the neighboring island Don Khon connected by an old railway bridge that was a relic from when the french had attempted to connect China to the ports of Saigon. The rodes were VERY bumpy and Dave's bike chain must have fallen off about 15 times but we had a great time biking through rice paddies and tryig to avoid water buffaloes and even got to see a dramatic waterfall. Now we are in Pakse where there isn't muh to do except catch up on e-mail and eat good food (we had incredible Korean BBQ for dinner last nigh where got some much needed help from a couple of Laos guys).

Having finally realized that we always seem to have a much better time when sightseeing solo we have decided to try and forgo all future tours and just discover things on our own whenever possible while saving a bundle of money at the same time. Today we again tested our fate by renting a moto to ride to Champasak, which was about a 45 km ride plus rickety ferry across the Mekong. After a brief lesson on how to use the manual moto, we were set lose and I must say Dave did an excellent job navigating the Lao countryside as we never even took one wrong turn. The day was really fabulous, as we got to see so much and felt so much more in control of our selves and not once did we feel like we were getting cheated! In addition to beautiful green landscapes and rice paddies we got to visit Wat Phu, which are Angkor era ruins set in an incredible hillside. While not to the scale of Angkor, the ruins held an incredible magic in that there was almost no once else around. We climbed up these incredibly steep steps into the hillside that were lined with Jacaranda trees to the sacred temples set within the cliffs. Because our moto excursion went so well today we are going to continue are adventure by heading off into the Bolaven Plateau tomorrow for a couple of nights in a town called Tad Lo where there are supposed to be interesting tribes and great waterfalls for swimming. Ok...that ended up being a really long one, but it had been a while since we had written. Go Obama and happy belated Halloween and happy birthday Amanda Morgan!

Abrazos

Jess

"Fast" boat to Phnom Penh, or, Cambodia Revisited

Well, continuing our streak of picking the best days to do outdoor activities, we woke up on the day of our Mekong Delta boat trip to pouring rain. It lasted the whole busride out to the Delta, but once we got on a boat it calmed down a bit, and it was all pretty cool. At what muct be one of its widest points, the Mekong was huge, brown, and full of life. People live right on the river, and we went to a floating market where you could haggle for bananas, bread, or even old boats. It was all really cool, even in the damp weather, and we even managed to make some friends (I know, pretty cool huh?). Just as Asia had told us, all but one of the Americans we have met have been from San Francisco, and on our delta tour we met one more, Daniel. He had a pretty swollen ankle, but still hobbled along through our walks on the islands and confusing transportation changeovers, and we shared an exotic looking lunch - a whole fried "elephant ear" fish. It came out on a stand, so it was vertical (pictures pending), and we cut off chunks and rolled them up with greens and cucumbers into spring rolls. I was lucky enough to have a "Sars" soda (picture pending), and we thoroughly enjoyed our Mekong specialty. Rainy weather cancelled our trip to the Coconut Candy factory, which we later heard was a bit of a yawn, and so we left by bus/ferry/bus to reach our overnite destination, Chau Doc. Petty much a border town, we saw little of it, but had a great nite on a floating hotel, right on the Mekong. The other people from our tour all went there too, so we just relaxed and chatted until an economic development and globalization debate broke out between a canadian and a german from london. It wasn't looking like it would end, so Jess and I turned in for the night.
The next day we got on the "fast boat" we had been told so much about by the tour company, and found out that it wasnt exactly lightning on the water. We stopped to see a fish farm, which wasn't incredibly exciting, and then a Cham village. The Cham are an ethnic minotrity that live mainly in the MEkong Delta, and are mainly muslim. As such, we went to a mosque and a madrasah, and it definately seemed wierd to hear arabic in vietnam. Their village was interesting also, built hanging out over the river along a small island. We got back on the boat and headed for the Cambodian border, and after some interesting (unfair) money exchanges right on the boat, paid our guide for our visas, which he set up while we waited at a border station. Cambodia seemed to be hotter even 100 feet away from Vietnam, but out language skills are marginally better here, so I was able to get a grin out of the customs agent when i greeted him (Sua sdei) and thanked him (au khon tran) in Khmer. There were a ton of puppies running around, so Jess was happye even in the heat, and we were soon on a new, slightly faster, Cambodian boat for the rest of the trip to Phnom Penh. The scenery was spectacular along the river - lush green fields and dense jungles broken by riverbank villages every so often. The best part though, was the people on the banks. Every time we passed children, they lit up with ear to ear smiles and waved like their arms would fall off, so happy just to see people go by. It really made everyone forget about the difficulties in the travel to that point, and made for a great hour and a half on the boat.
We landed, took a short bus ride, and were dropped smack dab in the middle of zany, dusty Phnom Penh. Motor scooters and tuk-tuks honking constantly, the traffic is as stifling as the noon heat, and really takes some patience. Aside from that, Phnom Penh has its charms, beautiful wats along the river and friendly people, but is truly a city of stark contrasts. We spent a rainy morning visiting the Choeng Ek "killing fields" - site of mass graves and executions perpetrated by Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge from 1976-79, and then S-21, a former highschool turned detention/torture/interrogation center. Words cannot describe the utter horror the Khmer Rouge created, killing anyone they feared may have opposed or hindered their agrarian revolution, even displaced peasants forced into the capitol city were executed en masse for being city dwelling elite. Anyone with eyeglasses, advanced education, or a foreign upbringing was deemed a danger to the state, and in the 4 year span of Khmer Rouge control 1/4 of the population of Cambodia had been killed by an army made up mainly of branwashed adolescents. Searching for a "why" while walking through the sites of such atrocities is truly staggering, and Jess and I barely spoke that morning. Sorry for the downer, but the truth must be told, especially to Americans, as I personally never heard anything about this in any school.
Needing a change, Jess and I headed south for the beach town of Sihanoukville. A fun if strange town, it seemed more like San Diego than asia, with bar/grills right on the sand and almost all tourists. The beach was beutiful though, so we spent a day doing what we set out to do - absolutely nothing. We lounged, we swam, we ate fresh grilled barracuda, and we stayed no more than 50 feet from the waves. After a two day mini vacation from the real asia, we came back to Phnom Penh today and went out for a big late lunch. We went to Friends, a restaurant run by an NGO that offers job training to street children and former juvenile delinquints, and everything was great. Sadly, after enjoying our leisurely meal, we were just barely too late to go tour the Royal Palace, but still snuck some nice shots of the wats and pagodas from outside the walls. We settled for a stroll along the river, complete with an elephant sighting and a drink at the Foreign Correspondents' Club, a relic of a bygone era still busy with travelling journalists and plain olde' travellers like ourselves. Now exhausted, we are looking forward to a quiet evening before hitting the road tomorrow for the Rattanakiri province, near the Lao border. We are getting on a bus at 7am, and the lady at the travel agency didnt even offer a guess as to when we'd arrive. After seeing cambodian roads at their finest, we are not expecting a smooth ride. But hey, the reward is in the journey right? Well, something like that. INternet could be sparse or non existant until we hit Pakse, in southern Laos, but i know you will survive without us for a few days. Read the paper, there must be news with the election, world series and Don Nelson's contract extension all happening at once. Well, that was quite a post, hope you liked it, and (I've never been able to say this before), we'll contact you from Laos.

Dave

Ho Chi Madness

Well... night three on the bus, while not as hellish as night one, tunred out to be no fun at all. If you are ever traveling through Vietnam DO NOT book with camel travel as we found the other companies to be FAR superior. Also, refuse to sleep in the back of the bus as we can assure you that you won't actually sleep. For our last night on the bus which took us from Nha Trang to Saigon we got stuck in the back and it was unbelievable bumpy! I finally manged to fall asleep after three and was awoken at dawn, so it was two nights in a row with just a couple hours of uncomfortable sleep. Needless to say, I slept VERY well last night! Despite having been told by many that Saigon was just to chaotic, we have found it to be a really enjoyable (but defititely hectic city). Like in Hanoi, the traffic is CRAZY and the same principle of walking slowly through the sea of motos applies and by now we are pretty adept. Although I often fear that someone is going to run over my toes, no one has hit us and we still haven't seen a collision. After finding a descent cheap hotel and taking a much needed hour or so nap, Dave and I set off on a walking tour of the city. We started at the fine art museum, which had an impressive collection of contemporary and ancient art, and then went to the Ben Tranh market. Amongst the knock off bags and other useless knick nacks we found AMAZING and oh so cheap food. After walking past the reunification palace we took a sobering tour of the War Remnants Museum. It was an incredibly intense and very graphic experience as an American citizen and I literrally had to fight back tears at times. The main display was on the war crimes perpretated by the US during the war and even included preserved fetuses shockingly mutated by the dioxin in agent orange. There was also a requiem for the war featuring photos of correspondents who had lost their lives many showcasing the last photo they took. Feeling shaken and exausted from two nights of travel we decided to call it a day although we did get to try the viet version of Mc D's (called Lotteria) on the walk back!

Today we went on a big tour of the Cu Chi tunnels that were used by the Viet Cong during the here so called American War. It was a baffling experience and really made you realize just how ridiculous it was of our governement to believe that we could have defeated these people in their own country when they had already perfected their art of guerrilla warfare to get rid of the french just years before. The most horrifying part were the multitude of traps hidden in the jungle floor to spear unsuspecting soldiers. With encouragement, Dave managed to overcome his fear of small spaces and even crwaled through one of the tunnells with me which was fun. We got back to Ho Chi Minh City around 3, starving and headed straight back to the Ben Tranh market for some tasty Bun Ga (vermicelli w/ chicken). We had a terrifc evening which really made us big fans of this city. After a long walk in the colonial down town quarter we found a great local spot for dinner where they pulled out stools and a table for us to sit outside and enjoy two of the only three things they served. It was simple chicken and beef on rice, but OH SO GOOD and only costed us $4 with drinks. They smiled and thanked us as we left and we headed back to the market to bargain for t-shirts (2 for $3). We were then delighted to stumble upon group exercise in the park! There was a big group of people all doing coordinated dancing to american oldies like summertime blues! They were twisting up a storm and totally excited to have us Americans in their midst which they thought was hilarious. Dave even broke down to do some twisting and hopefully we can post the video I got some time soon! Now we are back at our guesthouse but are about the head out for a drink. Tomorrow we go into the delta and will be taking a boat directly from there to Phnom Penh on Saturday. Not sure when we will be able to write but please don't let that stop you from writing us! Besos!
Jess

Goin South

Since we last wrote you, we have moved from Hue to Hoi An, and from Hoi An to our current locale, Nha Trang. This is our first official beach town, so what did we do? Thats right, risked our lives by letting me (Dave) learn how to drive a Moto on the fly in Vietnamese traffic. To quote the Dude, "Ofcourse we made it home, you're talkin to me at home." But that doesnt mean we didnt stare death between his beedy eyes - at one unmarked intersection an oncoming scooter decided to drive right at us. Luckily I am afast learner, and we were able to enjoy a much deserved relaxing day on the sand. Getting here was interesting, and really took the better part of a day and a half. We boarded our second "VIP" sleeper bus with the horror of the Hanoi-Hue overnite trip fresh in our mind, but the only slip up was the torrential downpour we ran through to board the plush sleeper. Our seats reclined and went up to acomfortable sitting position, and there was considerably less frantic honking. I was lucky enough to sleep most of the night, although Jess hadsome trouble with it. Either way, we have positive feelings going into our second straight night sleeping on a bus. Siagon awaits tomorrow, but we are getting ahead of ourselves. Back to Hoi An...

A quaint, relaxed riverside town near the beach, we really enjoyed Hoi An. Their main point of interest, aside from a backwater charm, is the plethora of tailors in the town ready to make you customclothes. On that note,JessandI will be fitted on our return: I came away with two suits,two dress shirts and two short sleeved "vacation" shirts, and Jess got 2 dresses, a shirt, a pair of shorts, and chic trench coat. We also got roped into a pair of shoes each,which (due to their weight) drove up the shipping costs. (Dad - check for the FEDEX, should be on its way, don't open, gifts also inside!!) We had good food and even took advantage of brief lulls from the SERIOUS rain to bike out to the beach, which was great and near empty. Food was better on the street than in restaurants, but really fresh and tasty on the whole, especially the seafood, which Jess gulped down without a second thought. One meal stands out above the rest, at a small spot on an alley that was half street stall half restaurant. If you find yourself in Hoi An, do check out the Ban Le Well. A friendly grandma broughtusgreat food before we had the chance to order, abd proceeded to show us just how to roll up our various treats in thin rice paper, even dipping them in peanut-chili sauce before trusting us to eat. She let us try after she made us each two and, satisfied with our skills, watched smiling from the next table. To say this food was good would not even begin to describe it, I wanted to hug thiscute old lady and take her with us the rest of our trip. The whole thing cameout to less than 100,000 dong (like 6 bucks), and she broughtus frsh pineapple for dessert. Thismeal has reinforceda notion we have come to accept - Vietnamesepeopleeat onthestreet more thaninrestaurants,and that is where the best food is usually found. On that note, Jess and I have pledged to attempt to eat every one of our meals in Saigon at roadside. Now we must get ready to go, but of course you,our faithful readers, deserve a treat: in honor of Mike Nolan's firing, here are some new photos!

Beating Snake Hearts and Minor Meltdowns

Greetings from Hue! So sorry for the lapse in posts, but our hotel in Hanoi did not have working internet and then we spent a rather hellacius night on the "luxury" sleeper bus that took us a whopping 15 hours to get from Hanoi to Hue, the old imperial city of Vietnam.

The sun decided to show itself for our last day on Halong Bay. We were happy to have the good weather, but it made us all a little sad because it showed us just how amazing our tour could have been. That said, we still had an incredible time on Halong Bay. It is a true wonder and one that everyone should try to see in their lifetime. Instead of putting ourselves through another not-so-tasty ordeal at our hotel in Cat Ba we decided to go for our last dinner in Halong Bay and then met up for a round of drinks with the people on our tour. We really had a great time getting to know them as they came from all over the globe from Spain to Mongolia and we had a lot to complain about from our pompous tour guide to our frightening encounter with the monkeys!!

After a bumpy drive back to Hanoi, Dave and I said goodbye to my parents and saw them off in a taxi to take them to the airport where they would be flying to Luang Prabang in Laos for their own romantic adventure to celebrate their 25th anniversary. On our own, Dave and I headed out in an attempt to find ban my (vietnamese sandwhiches) and a hotel where it had been recommended that we go for massage. After having spent an hour walking around the congested city, we had found neither ban my or the desired hotel. Tired, hungry and frustrated by the difficulties of being in a city where we could not speak the language I had my first real meltdown of the trip! Dave quickly found a solution and tempered my emotions with a cold coke and some tasty fried rice. Dave has been a real saint in dealing with me on our travels. When things get rough (as they so often do here with people trying to make a dollar at every turn) I tend to vent my frustrations on him and he has been very calm in helping me keep my perspective. Although travel has been hard, it makes the good moments where everything works out just that much more sublime. After refueling and drying my tears, we headed back out into the city with a new plan of action. We caught a showing of the water puppets at the municipal theater. It was hoaky but fun and gave us a taste of Vietnamese arts. My favorite were the mating peacocks!

Our last day in Hanoi was a great success without any major roadblocks. Although briefly thwarted by a closed cafe, we were able to reroute and jumped in a cyclo that took us to the cafe where Catherine Denueve took her morning coffee while filming Indochine. I had been lusting after a pan au chocolat and cafe au lait, so it was a perfect way to start the morning. We then headed off to the Museum of Ethnology, which is a really exceptional museum that houses all sorts of displays about the many many ethnic groups that are spread across Vietnam. Next, Dave took me on a adventure to Le Mat, the town outside of Hanoi where they raise snakes to send to the fancy restaurants in Hanoi. Dave ate more or less an entire snake which they prepared in 7 or so different manners. After seeing eerie displays of all kinds of creatures preserved in bottles we were seated in a ornate dining room before they brought out the snakes for our choosing. Dave got to choose between a standard snake or a very fiesty king cobra, but because of the hefty price for the cobra we went for the standard. We got to watch as they slit the snake's throat and drained its blood into a glass of rice wine and then disemboweled the thing mixing the gallbladder into another glass. The cherry on top was when they removed the still beating heart (hopefully video to come) which Dave slurped down in the glass of blood and rice wine!! I was disgusted but he seemed to manage ok. I did try some of the dishes they prepared like snake spring roll and can report that snake tastes kind of like chewey chicken. We finished out day off in Hanoi with some serious luxury as I got a facial and Dave had a "holistic" massage to help us relax for the long bus ride ahead.

And oh man what a bus ride.... it was certainly not what we were expecting based on the deceiving pictures we had seen. We showed up in a minibus with a handful of other expecting tourists only to find that they had oversold the bus. They started kicking vietnamese people out of their seats/beds to find room on the floor and Dave and I were the last ones to get on as the others were left behind. The quarters were quite cramped (Dave really did NOT fit) with three rows of beds each stacked two high. There were people sleeping along the aisles and they played terrible music all night long that was accompanied by frequent blaring honking from our driver. We took one pit stop the entire time so we just stopped drinking water and I have no idea how much sleep I got but it wasn't much. We have already paid our entire way to Saigon on these buses but apparently we have dealt with the worst leg!!

We arrived in Hue a little after nine this morning and had to beat off the local trying to get us to stay in their lodges. We found a place we really like and their internet is the best we have found so far. We spent the day zipping around on the back of two motos with great guides who showed us the city. I was a bit nervous at first, but it was a lot of fun and we did have helmets and got to see a lot in just a little bit of time. We went and saw the forbidden city contained in the citadel and also visited some pagodas and an incredible emperor's tomb. Lot's of rain here (its flood season) but we are managing to stay somewhat dry and having fun. Tomorrow morning its back on the bus and we continue South to Hoi An.

Jess

The (other) Bay

Ha Long that is. If you aren't familiar with it, the name means "Descending Dragon" and it is filled with large limestone cliffs that rise seemingly out of nowhere. The water is a beautiful deep green, and there is definitely no place like it on earth. Well no place i know anyway. It is just stunning, and we have plied its gentle waters on a wooden ship powered by a motor but built to resemble the traditional fishing boats of the area, called Junks. Our boat yesterday was a piece of junk for sure, but I'll get to that later.

Today I write you direct from Cat Ba island in Ha Long bay and earlier a lady from Finland got bit by a monkey. No joke. It was pretty nuts, and it all happened really fast. So we went to this Monkey Island in the bay and climbed up some really pointy craggy rocks and we didn't see any monkeys until all of a sudden there were like 5 of em outta no where. The finnish lady was standing next to a big rock and two were on top of it and they sorta edged closer to her and she got all freaked out and then she screamed and one jumped and bit her. It was a very bizarre moment, and we had to throw rocks at the monkeys to scare them off. She was really shaken up and the cut was pretty deep and swollen around it, especially coming from such a small monkey. Just before that we took a nice happy group photo with all the people from our tour (TBA- to be attached), so you can see the before. I don't think it would be real sensitive of me to take a photo of her arm tho, so sadly no after shots. That was today's excitement, and we did some biking on a different island a little kayaking before the monkey fiasco. The biking was cool, but the bikes were too small and definitely from before the war, but what war? WWII??? Brakes and gears barely worked (if at all) but we didn't let it dampen our spirits. The Countryside was stunning, dense lush jungle on both sides of a fertile valley filled with rice fields and a quaint little village.
Our guide, who is an utter moron and has been lying to us, actually caved and agreed to set up kayaking and biking ( both of which were specified in the travel brochures) after a brief mutiny yesterday. We went from a dingy, poorly painted boat with only one chair opn the top to a much nicer one today, with padded benches and a lot more charm. The kayaks were fun, especially because of the incredible environment of the bay (photos to come). Our tour has not been what we expected, or paid for, but there have been highlights for sure, and theres no denying the scenery here. We are now just ready to head off to a small quiet beach, where yesterday we introduced a new concept to the locals: the frisbee. We'll see how they do today, they were quick learners in their first few tries, and were really excited to learn we would be back tomorrow. They didnt know a whole lot of English, and our Vietnamese is clearly a different dialect, but we agreed on "afternoon." Its now afternoon, so the bee and the beach are calling our names. More soon,

Dave

Pictures!!!

We added pictures to ALL of our old posts and it took a REALLY long time so I hope you all go back and take a look at them!
Enjoy,
Jess

Hanoi Part I

We made it out of Siem Reap and Cambodia just before they were able to completely deplete our travel funds. The temples of Angkor Wat were awe inspiring, but the surrounding town was very touristy and prices were at least triple of what we were paying everywhere else. On our last day in Siem Reap we got to visit a floating village on Tonle Sap, an enormous Lake that looks more like an ocean and provides 80 percent of the protein in the Khmer diet through the harvesting of a diverse array of fish. The people there live and depend entirely on the river. The village was complete with floating schools and boats laden with fruits and vegetables (often paddled by six year olds) that went around to the houses to sell their wares. We also went to visit a craft school that trains Cambodian people in masonry, wood carving and silk production. All of the work was beutiful but expensive so we only purchased a couple of mementos. The most intersting part of the tour was the silk farm, the amount of work and detail that went into each piece made me feel less guilty about buying my scarf and we got to see the whole process from the silk worm/cocoon to the loom.

We made it to the airport in time to switch to an earlier flight then we had booked and were shocked and amazed when they boarded the flight way before schedule and then left an entire 40 minutes early. Thank god we were there on time because I am not sure they would have waited. There was also some minor chaos and confusion when we arrived in Hanoi. We called our hotel with whom we had arranged a pick-up to let them know that we had landed early but ofcourse they had no record of our booking. Somehow (we still don't know how) there was someone with a sign and our name to get us (more than two hours before we were going to arrive) who took us to the hotel which only had one room. They were very helpful though and walked us through the old quarter of Hanoi (which is totally NUTS) and found us a decent if not over priced place to stay with two rooms available. Although we are now backed to paved roads the driving here at least rivals if not surpasses what we saw in Cambodia. There are millions of motos and the vast majority of intersections lack any sort of stop sign or light signal so it is a complete free for all with serious games of chicken and people vying for positions behind the bigger cars to protect them from cross-cutting traffic. Walking across streets is REALLY something you just have to go for it and walk slowly through the sea of motos and let them go around you or you would neverbe able to cross. Somehow it all seems to work out as we haven't seen any collisions. The old quarter where we are staying is very exciting with lots and lots of delicious street food. The thing to do at night is definitely to hang out at the "beer corner" and enjoy a very local 25 cent beer(3,000 vietnamese dong!!!) Its fun here you get to be a millionaire, I took out 2 million dong at the airport, about 120 dollars.

We had a good first meal last night once we got our rooms settled and today we have been taking full advantage of the street food. We have had bahn my (viet sandwhiches) ban chu (vermicelli with pork that were AMAZING) and also, thanks to Asia who was here in May, the worlds best squab served cornerside at little plastic tables with stools for squating. Sights today included the palace grounds where you can see both the museum and mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh. The museum was wild as it was very abstract and full of symbolism often lost on us. Sadly, we were unable to go into the mausoleum as Ho Chi Minh's body is currently in Moscow for its annual cleaning. We did however get to the palace and his stilt residence which was interesting because it showed that even as president of the country he stayed true to his humble roots choosing to live a more austere life. Tomorrow we go Halong Bay where we will sleep on a Junk (boat) and see these Karst formations that rise out of the ocean. We may not be able to write till we are back in Hanoi so dave requests that you try to get by without us.

Jess

Cambodia

Well, first off let me apologize for the delay between posts. Hopefully any of you that were on the ledge didnt take the plunge, we'll try to keep your routine the way you like it from here out. But facts are facts: Cambodian internet aint extactly light speed. Neither are the roads, fr that matter. It was a HUGE difference crossing the border from Thailand, like from paved, slightly orderly roads with minimal honking to dirt roads with gaping potholes, no lanes whatsoever, constant honking, and huge trucks piled high with sacks of who knows what, and then 10 people riding on top of the sacks. To put it lightly, its crazy. Also, general nagging from tuk-tuk drivers has quadrupled, and now little kids ask you to buy postcards, books, little dangly things and just abuot anything every five feet. The guilt they lay on you is pretty serious, and they all speak better english than any thai cabbies we met. They will ask your name,m tell you theirs and say they will remember you. Its tough, but so am I . Once across the border, we were wisked into a sketchy waiting area and herded into a "cab"(read: late 80s camry with a broken windshield), and charged 80 bucks for a 3 hour drive over the aforementioned bumpy roads. We made it from Poipet, the hell hole at the border, to Siem Reap, the soon to be sprawling metropolis that is the closest thing to the ancient jungle temples of Angkor Wat. They were in Tomb Raider II and Mortal Kombat, to give you a mental picture (if you like the finer things in life) were built between 900 and 1300 AD, and rise up out of the dense cambodian jungle. Pretty impressive all in all, especially with our trusty guide, Mr. Sokley. He may not be entirely finished with his tour guide training, but what he lacks in fine tuning he makes up for with impeccable comedic timing. Not really, but hes really cool and has single handedly convinced me and Jesss that we should come back to Cambodia once we leave Vietnam.
Well, Amanda, the food isn't incredible but it has its moments, and we havent even eaten frogs, bugs or dogs. They cook stuff inside coconuts and banana leaves, and they dont like things as spicy as the Thais do, but we really feel that it is the food of the land. This morning, for example, we had some tasty noodle soup for breakfast, right on the side of this jungle road, and we added (as is customary) literally leaves found in the jungle. No diarrhea, and really good. Plus, we were the only farang, or Ba-rang here in Cambodia, at the roadside shack/restaurant. We have seen buddhist temples, hindu temples, and Hundu/Buddhist temples, and learned a ton of stories onsabout Vishnu, Shiva, Gala, Indira, and the rest of em. Even got to see more depictions f the Vayarama, the Hindu epic of the king Rama and his bride Sita, who was kidnaped by the evil demon so and so, only to get her back with the help fo the white monkey and all his monkey soldiers. Pretty wild stuff, and all carved into the side of sandstaone and bricks temples built around 1000 years ago, with the help of 40,000 elephants and the unlucky Champa (who lost a war to the Khmer, or Cambodian) slaves.

Other highlights include Khmer traditional massage, more like Khmer Rouge massage if you ask me (google it), and watched these guys make cane sugar. Pretty educational two days, with one more to come with good ole Mr. Sokley. Tomorrow we go to see a floating village and a silk farm, and then fly to Hanoiin the aftrenoon. Hopefully their internet is better, as I need to submit my last two law school apps on line, and I couldnt do it from here. Also, sorry again about the lack of pictures, when i tried to upload them on this computer it (like a lot of thinisg here) didnt work. Hopefully we didnt give you too dark a picture of this beautiful if undeveloped country. The people are beautiful and always smiling, even when you dont buy their random shit outside whatever temple you stop at, and the land itself it jaw dropping. The level of poverty here is staggering, Ive truly never seen anything like it, with most of the rural towns and villages withouth electricity, but no one seems to be complaining. Much the opposite in fact. Buti digress. The land, like i started t say, is beautiful. Lush green jungles and rice fields as far af the eye can see, plowed by water buffalo driven by kindergarten age children, barely clothed and truly happy. Its something that words will not do justice, so hopefully soon Ill get to give you a picture to go along with the descriptions. they are wortha athousand words, you know. So, goodbye from Cambodia for now, and keep the comments comings. Its easier than emailing us and it really makes the blogging part more fun. I lit some inscence in hopes that the damn dodgers keep losing, so that should work out. In the mean time, keep on keepin on, and we'll give you more when we get more.

Dave and Jess ( looking over my shoulder as i type even though its MY turn to blog)

Ohhh... a RAIN forest!

So we survived day two in the jungle and they don't call it a rain forest for nothing. We had some serious adventures today that included sheets and sheets of rain and a LOT of leeches. The day was spent trekking and riding through the forest in the back of a pick-up. We say a bunch of wildlife including two kinds of deer, gibbons, macaques, horn bills and three big monitor lizards. One of the coolest things was watching a giant black and yellow orb spider catch and then entwine a butterfly. The macaques we saw were also very bold and came right up to the back of our truck and there were even mommies with their babies clinging to their tummies. We got to see the waterfall from the movie the beach but unfortunately Leo wasn't around. And let me tell you, did it ever rain!! We ended up completely soaked as we timed our hike to a waterfall just right to catch one of many serious downpours. The not so fun part of the day were the leeches although they really were not that big of a deal. We were laughing in the morning when they gave us these leech socks that went up to our knees but boy were we happy we had them after we got back from our first hike and had leeches crawling all over our shoes and inching their way up our pants. They were quite persistent and we had fun flicking them off into the air. My dad, aunt and I all ended up getting bit but it did not really hurt. My dad didn't even realize it had happened until I pointed out that he had a big blood stain on his shirt. Apparently they just latch on until they are full and then fall off leaving a small hickey and a decent amount of blood. The day ended well though with a gorgeous sunset as we finished a rather strenuous trek. We had another delicious (and VERY spicy) dinner with tasty river shrimp and now we go to bed and prepare for our big travel day tomorrow across the Cambodian border. We are saying goodbye to Thailand for now but will be back at the end of our trip!
Jess

Na Na Na Na Na Na BAT CAVE!!

Hello again, and thanks to the few of you that have left comments. Yesterday we did quite a bit. First, we hopped a boat down the Chao Phraya to Yaowarat, the Chinatown of Bangkok. You might have guessed, but chinatown here is a lot like the one in the city. Full of people, cars, shops selling all kinds of useless knickknacks, and generally lots of uninhibited capitalism. Everything and anything was for sale, and we came away as a group with strange fruit, tasty thai treats, squid on a stick (which was BOSS), and even some fine gold jewelry. The streets were som packed with people and cars that you could hardly walk at times, and we went down a few streets that we so thin they had coverings hanging between the buildings. Pretty far out to say the least. Lunch was some tasty dim sum, with har gow, siu mai, and a ton of other things, and then the day started to get exciting. We hopped in two separate cabs to go to the world's largest teak mansion, and really felt the language barrier. For the third time in 2 days, the cabbie had no idea where we wanted to go, even after we showed him on the map and he agreed, so we went to the royal palace, which he figured we should definitely check out. Problem was that we had gone there the day before, amd it was nowhere near the teak mansion. We and the driver had a chuckle about it, but he was clearly not happy. He kept driving, muttering to himself and laughing every now and then, and 20 minutes and twice the fare later, we showed up right before that last tour of the day started. THEN we had to borrow clothes from the folks at the front desk, as we wouldn't want to offend the king, whose grandfather lived in the mansion more than 60 years ago, put bags, cameras and the works in conveniently located 20 baht (about 75 cents) lockers, and move on to the guard, who told me i needed to check my phone, which doesnt work (no SIM card) into the locker we already paid for. but we had to pay again to open up the locker. They have to make money some way, but id much rathe just pay 40 baht the first time. i guess they are following the Gavin Newsom plan of finding anything possible to charge you for to raise funds ($50 parking tickets??). But enough complaining, the mansion was pretty cool, and we definitely learned a thing or two. For example, they had ice brought in from Singapore when the King lived there, and the king had different colored china for each day of the week. Today is pink, and Monday was Yellow, which is the color of the king, since he was born on monday.

We left the tour just in time to check out the famous monsoon rains, and they are for real. We stood around and got wet while figuring out what to do, and finally made our way back to the hotel and then to get a thai massage. The place looked questionable from the outside, but it was great once they started bending me in ways i didnt think i should bend. It flet great, and we went out for some finger lickin good dinner.

That was monday, and this morning (tuesday) we left Bangkok bright and early to hit some 6oo year old ruins on the way to our current locale, THE JUNGLE. Thats right, the Jungle. At the spot of the ruins, Ayutthaya, which was the Thai capitol before Bangkok (about 1300-1750), we rode elephants and climbed up a chedi, (thai pagoda). Got some great pics, which we promise are on the way, and hopped back in the van for the jungle. We are now just outside Khao Yai National Park, and went for a lil' outing to a big marble cave where buddhist monks meditate, and then saw millions of bats all flying our of a different cave. When I say millions, I mean millions, and it was really cool. We didnt go into the bat cave, but watched them all fly out in a long, continuous stream (again, pics to come). The land out here is beautiful, and we havent been accosted for a cab or tuk-tuk ride yet. we're happy to know that Bangkok isnt the same as all of Thailand, and we are finally able to relax a bit. Tomorrow we'll be hiking through the jungle all day, and then leaving for Cambodia and Angkor Wat the next day. Its officially bed time now, so you'll just have to wait for our next post. By the way, how do you keep a moron in suspense???

Dave (Jess is boycotting my bad jokes)