Mae Sot, Umphang, Mae Sariang, Chiang Mai, Perhentian Island 9-13-12

   After renewing our visas in Mae Sot we decided to finish off our motor biking with a trip down to a town called Umphang via the "Death Highway". The highway originally got its name due to the guerrilla activity in the area that stalled the building of the highway in the 1980s. The name remains, however, because of its 1219 hairpin turns and steep inclines.
   We figured it would be a beautiful drive and our sore behinds would be rewarded with a visit to the largest waterfall in Thailand, which is located next to Umphang. Unfortunately, we had to endure six hours of pain in our backsides only to get to a town that was cute, but not worth it. We also didn't realize until we got to Umphang that the only way to see the waterfall was through an organized tour that cost around 100 dollars. Instead we hung around the town for a couple days and then made our way back along the 160 km of winding, steep roads towards Mae Sot.
   From Mae Sot we headed straight back to Chiang Mai, stopping in a quaint town on the Mae Nam Yuam River, called Mae Sariang.
   When we got back to Chiang Mai and went to return our motorbike we found out that the rental shop had been worried sick about the whereabouts of our motorbike. The man we rented from was very nice, but a little spacey and he let us take off without putting any money down. Luckily, they were very understanding and were glad that we were okay and the bike was in one piece.
   At this point Brian and I decided to make some changes to our itinerary. Originally, we had planned to head back into the southern partof Laos for a week to motorbike up the Bolaven Plateau, but decided we were motorbiked out and thought we should check out a new country. So we packed up, hopped on a train and headed straight south to Malaysia.
   It took us 3 days of traveling via train, bus and boat to reach our final destination, the Perhentian Islands, but it was totally worth the trip.
   The islands are located off the east coast of Malaysia in the South China Sea. We chose to stay at the smaller, more backpacker friendly island, called Kecil. Our first week we stayed on a small, secluded beach at a hostel called D'Lagoon. It was very relaxing, but unfortunately I came down with a fever for the first 3 days and got severely sunburned on my chest. Basically, I had to cower in the shade the entire 12 days while Brian basked his bronze body in the sun. To make things worse, after my fever came down, I developed a debilitating canker sore on my tongue, I kid you not, and could barely eat for the next 7 days on the island. However, it was still a very beautiful place and I got plenty of relaxation.
   There are no roads on the islands so you have to take a boat or hike to other beaches, which is pretty cool. Once you get away from the main beaches it is very easy to find a deserted beach completely to yourself.
   We got to do plenty of snorkeling as well, which was excellent. We saw cuddle fish, reef sharks, parrot fish (very colorful) , lion fish, etc. we were bummed that we didn't see any turtles, but it was mainly because we were too cheap to do a snorkel trip through our hostel where you are pretty much guaranteed to see them. We also heard that people spotted a whale shark off the coast of D'Lagoon (of course, after we had already left and switched to a different beach).
   One of the days we were snorkeling we came across a very aggressive fish that looked like it wanted to attack us. When we swatted at it, it became even more aggressive. I freaked out and quickly swam to shore. Brian kept telling me to relax because it was a very small, skinny fish with a flat head and probably couldn't do much damage to us, but you never know. Anyways, I guess after I swam away Brian watched the fish take off after me. He was sure it was going to bite me and we watching for my reaction. Luckily, I returned to shore unharmed. However, I noticed a couple of minutes later that Brian was swimming quickly to shore and freaking out a bit in the water. I guess the fish had given up on me and turned to him. We were a little perturbed, having never seen a small fish act so agressively and decided to go to the dive shop and look up the fish. After searching for a few minutes we discovered that our predator was a shark sucker and completely harmless. All it wanted to do was attach itself to us and suck our skin. I'm pretty sure they don't even have teeth. We were slightly embarrassed, but I had to laugh thinking of Brian struggling in the water with a harmless fish after yelling at me for "overreacting".
   Besides our experience with the aggressive sucker fish we had a very relaxing time on the islands for 12 days. Now we are back on the train headed to Bangkok where we will be meeting up with my Dad and my sister. I am very excited!

August 19, 2012 Pakbeng, Huay Xai, Chiang Kong, Phaya Meng Rai, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Pai, Mae Hong Son, Mae Chaem, Chiang Mai, Lampang

    Our bike ride to Pak Beng was a wet one. The rain was coming down hard and all we had for protection were some small raincoats to cover our torsos. Towards the end of the ride, Cat received a phone call (which is always an exciting event) so we huddled under an overhanging tree on the side of the highway while she took the call.
    Pak Beng was a quaint border town. It's situated on the eastern shore of the Mekong River which acts as the border between much of Thailand and Laos. But since there isn't a border crossing at Pak Beng we had to spend the night and take a ten hour boat ride up the Mekong to the Laos border town of Huay Xai where we would be able to cross the following day.
    The boat ended up being far more comfortable than prior experiences. There was loads of room aboard and we sat in the kind of removable seats you find in old minivans and suburbans. Pure luxury. Even so, ten ours on a boat is a very long time.
    Huay Xai wasn't anything special but because of the border crossing hours, we had to stay the night and cross the next day.
    Crossing the river to Chiang Kong in Thailand was incredibly quick and painless. We were so excited to be in Thailand and all I could think of was laying my hands on the first plate of Phad Thai I found.
    After a short spell of tinkering with my ever fickle bike, we set off for the relatively short ride to Phaya Meng Rai (only about fifty km). We were immediately aware of the change from Laos roads to Thai roads. After the potholed and muddy roads of Laos, the roads in Thailand seemed immaculate. Not only that, but there were no hills so we could make excellent time (that day we averaged about 23 km/hr compared to Laos where we averaged about 8-12 km/hr).
    The day was a hot one and when we arrived in PMR, we realized we'd forgotten to applysunscreen. This just turned our bike shorts tans and farmer's tans into burns. That night we weren't able to make it into town for dinner because of an intense lightning storm so we ate some mediocre take out brought by the hostel owners.
    The next day on our way to Chiang Rai, we stopped for breakfast to enjoy our first true Thai meal. And so began Cat's love affair with noodle soup (called gooay deeo in Thai). When they first served it, I was thinking it looked awfully similar to the medicre Vietnamese pho and the slightly less mediocre Laos foe. I couldn't have been more wrong. The noodle soups in Thailand are so much more flavourful, with their myriad ingredients and complex broths. You also have a wide variety of toppings you can add at your table, like garlic, peppers and peanuts. Feeling appropriately rejuvenated, we easily covered the distance to Chiang Rai.
    During the ride we couldn't help commenting on how different Thailand felt compared to Laos. There's a lot more money in Thailand which is apparent everywhere you look. There's also a much larger importance placed on education. In Laos, we saw a couple of run down schools along our rides but they were always empty and abandoned. Consequently the towns and villages would be practically overrun with kids (Laos is a very young country). In stark contrast, we were astounded at how many Thai schools we passed in those first two days. The schools were very nicely kept with mowed soccer fields and taut volleyball nets. Each school was in session as well.
    After a month in cycling through rural Laos, Chiang Rai's 60,000 people felt like a metropolis. We got a nice room at a hostel in the backpacker section and headed out for a bite. There are a fair amount of westerners in Chiang Rai because it acts as a gateway to the northernmost provinces.
    After much debate, we decided to sell our bikes in Chiang Rai and continue on motorbike having biked about 400 miles across Laos and northern Thailand. Let me add here that we have not once looked back on that decision.
    We decided to wait until Chiang Mai to rent the bike because we knew we'd have to return it and we didn't want to be forced to commute the full length of Thailand back up to Chiang Rai when we finished. We spent a couple days in CR enjoying the delicious food, catching up on lost sleep and letting our bruised butts heal.
    Chiang Mai is a great city and definitely a must see in northern Thailand. It's fairly large with a population of about 120,000. Due in part to the large university and and pervading backpacker scene, the city has a very young feel and there are lots of different things to do for entertainment. It also has a great selection of restaurants exhibiting foods from Thailand and all over the world.
    We stayed in a section known as the Old City. It's a perfect square with sides of perhaps one km or so. In the past it was completely walled in and surrounded by a moat. Nowadays, almost all of the wall is gone except for the front gate and a couple sporadic ruins. The moat remains though, making the Old City feel like an island within the larger city.
    There's a large backpacker section in the eastern part of the Old City with many affordable hostels and a plethra of restaurants. After finding a lovely place to stay, our first order of business was to procure a motor bike.
   In SE Asia, the motorbike is supreme. It is absolutely ubiquitous and you come across them more than any other form of vehicular travel (except maybe bicycles). You can get bikes of different makes but by far the most common are Honda bikes. After talking with several different shops Cat and I decided to rent the Honda Dream, a 125 cc semiautomatic scooter "hybrid". Her name is the black mamba (formerly known as the black dream). We were ready to set off on the next stage of our trip.
    We spent a couple of days in Chiang MAi, trying different restaurants, sleeping in and of course visiting the local night market. This was our favorite market up to this point. We filled up on all sorts of local foods and sweets. Since everything is sold in such small quantities it's possible to try many different foods. We each had our first (and so far only) experience eating fried crickets. We decided they weren't that bad, tasting like most anything that's fried and crunchy.
    After a couple wobbly days biking around Chiang Mai, I improbed drastically and we decided to head out on a 600 km loop of the area surrounding Chiang Mai.
    Our first day took us about 70 km west to the "hippie" town of Pai (pronounced bye). The drive was gorgeous and very mountainous. I couldn't have imagined trying to bring an automatic bike on those roads. There were several roads that were probably close to a 15% grade and we had the bike in first gear screaming up the hill.
    Pai was a fun and laid back town. There was a very definitive backpacker and expat vibe but we also came across many dreadlocked locals who were just as into the lifestyle. A Thai Jack Sparrow we saw at the market comes to mind. It was in Pai that we received our first Thai massage and became addicted. We've had about one a day since. The massage costs ony $5 for an hour and is very good. The little Thai ladies are a lot stronger than they look.
    On our way back to Chiang Mai, we stopped for a night in the border town of Mae Hong Son and then on to Mae Chaem where we stayed at a dirt-cheap resort with a top quality swimming pool. The roads on these days got increasingly mountainous and winding and our butts got more and more tender.
    We returned to Chiang Mai for one night to get the bike checked on before heading south towards Lampang. While in town, we decided to get another massage and read in the Lonely Planet book about a center that employed only blind masseuses. We though that their lost sight would have finely tuned their sense of touch so that the massage would be unparalleled. We were quite wrong. It turned out the massueses were not very into their work and definitely had no real training. The man working on me was continuously belching and picking his nose (2 knuckles deep I might add) before wiping it on the bed as if I couldn't see him. When he started his practice, he literally just leaned heavily on me and randomly changed positions along my body. It was all rather ridiculous and I glanced over at Cat to see her masseuse talking on his cell phone with one hand while poking her with his other. Oh well it was definitely worth a good laugh afterwards.
    For the trip to Lampang, we had to drive on a major highway which wasn't pleasant because of the concrete scenery and the innumerable trucks whizzing past us. Luckily there is an especially wide shoulder designed for bikers such as ourselves.
    Along the way we decided to stop at the Lampang Elephant Conservation camp. We were a little put off at first when the entire museum turned out to be in Thai. The tour got much bettter though when we got to meet the elephants. The trainers were taking them all down to the pond for bathing and they stopped to let us interact with them. We took turns posing with a smaller one and playing with her trunk.
    Afterwards, the trainers and elephants put on a show exhibiting the elephants' impressive intelligence. They are incredibly trainable and could do all sorts of tricks most impressive of which was to paint convincing portraits of themselves (I am not kidding)! Afterwards Cat tried to calmly pose while feeding one of the elephants but it kept ripping the food out of her hand before we could get a picture. It was good fun.
    In Lampang we visited another colorful night market and got pampered at the massage parlor again (I'm getting way too used to this!).
    The next day we headed farther south to the city of Sukhotai. Outside of the town is the national park containing an expansive area of ruined wats from the ancient Sukhotai Kingdom. Lasting for around 200 years, Sukhotai was once the capital of all Siam (present day Thailand). We spent the whole day motoring around the site from wat to wat under the brutal Thai sun. Some of the wats were truly impressive, expecially the Khmer style ruins.
    Our next stop was Mae Sot where we are now. It's right on the border of Burma. Since we arrived in Thailand by land, we only receoved a fifteen day visa so we're going to exit into Burma tomorrow and reenter to get another visa. Mae Sot has a huge population of Burmese people and the blend of culture is very apparent when walking through the main market place. For dinner we ate at a local Burmese restaurant where the owner admitted to fleeing Burma in 1988 and participating in revolutionary groups for the next 23 years. He explained how tense the situation remains.
    After we cross back into Thailand, we plan on biking a little farther south to the rural Karen village of Um Phang. It's supposed to be beautiful with many waterfalls including the biggest in all of Thailand. Stay tuned...

August 6, 2012 phonsavan, phou khoun, kiou kacham, luang prabang, nong kiaw, muang ngoi, pakmong, oudomsay, muong beng, muong houn

    After our quick detour at the Plain of Jars, we headed back to Route 13 (the main road from Vientiane through Luang Prabang) via bus. We were dropped off in the middle of the night at the small junction town of Phou Khoun in the pouring cold rain. We had no idea where to stay and while I stood shivering in a small shack, Brian ran around the town looking for a guest house. We finally found a decent one and settled in for the night. Unfortunately we were stuck eating foe (pronounced fuh) for dinner which had been our meal for breakfast and lunch. Many times restaurants only serve foe, rice noodle soup with some mystery meat and your occasional ant. Brian and I have learned to love it (when we are starving while biking) and hate it so much!
    The next morning we started our two day journey by bike to Luang Prabang. The day started out misty and it was drizzling, but after ten km of downhill we escaped the mountain haze. The downhill is always incredible, but it is usually followed by Uphill and those are the moments when I regret buying the bikes. However, at the end of the day we definitely feel proud of ourselves!
    We had a short day of only 25 km from Phgou Khoun to a small village called Kioukacham. Halfway through, I was ready to give up when two old ladys came up to us and gave us two cucumbers with big smiles on their faces. This definitely brightened my day seeing people who had so little being so generous to complete strangers.
    When we finally made it to our guest house our bikes were coverfed in mud (there are a lot of areas of the road that have been destroyed by landslides).
    The next day we had 80 km until we reached the city of Luang Prabang and the majorit was uphill.
    Luckly we made a stop at a waterfall on the way which was amazing. The water was torquoise blue and there were many tiers of waterfalls and pools where you could swim! We didn't know this before and had left our bathing suits with our bikes at the boat launch (you have to take a boat to get there). We were so hot that we jumped in in our biking clothes. We even got to see elephants forced to swim with the tourists riding them.
    Eventually we made it to the beautiful quiet "city" (only 70,000 people live there) of Luang Prabang. Here we relaxed for a few days while Brian learned how to fix the gears on our bikes (which were an absolute pain in the ass) through the most versatile teacher ever... youtube. Surprisingly he did a great job on my bike, but his is still quite finicky.
    The backpackers section of Luang Prabang has a very Euopean feel to it. It's on the Mekong River and has multiple temples to visit. Our favorite thing was to get up at dawn and watch the procession  of saffron clad monks collect alms (sticky rice) from pious locals. It would have been ever morespecial if there weren't so many tourists snapping photos during it. We felt a little bad adding to the crowd, but it seems the monks have become accustomed to the paparazzi.
    After much debate we decided to take another detour from our cycling and head to the small river villages of Nong Kiaw and Muong Ngoi. At first we were planning on taking a seven hour boat ride up the Nam Ou River to get to the first town of Nong Kiaw, but the n we realized that a bus would be half the price and half the time.
    Nong Kiaw was beautiful. It is situated on the Nam Ou River and we thought it was what Vang Vieng would have been like before the partiers took it over. From Nong Kiaw we took a two hour boat ride to Muong Ngoi. The only way to access this roadless village is by boat so we expected it to not be very touristy. Unfortunately, every other tourist thought the same and the small village was full of westerners.
    However, we ended up having a great time and met a really cool couple from French Canada! The only downside to our visit was our decisionto hike to a nearby waterfall. Everyone had warned us about the mud and the leeches, but we were strong willed. We ended up hiking in ankle deep mud for 45 minutes and reaching a small pool of water with a very underwhelming stream of water coming off some rocks. I decided to take a dip since we hiked all the way and destroyed our shoes. When removing our sneakers we realized that leeches were a lot smaller than we thought and had made their way onto our feet. At this point we decided to turn around.
    We were very disappointed that we had paid for a boat to drive us up river for the hike and angry that our guesthouse had advertised it. Although the owner did advise us to take a guide. When we returned he looked quite shocked that we were back so quickly and asked if we had made it to the waterfall. We told him yes and explained our experience. He then said, "So you didn't make it to the limestone cliff with the 20 meter waterfall and the large body of water?" At this we looked at each other and were even more disappointed. We definitely should have takedn a guide. We probably had made it almost the whole way to the falls and turned around right before we got to it!
    The next day we headed back to Nong Kiaw on the boat and started the next leg of our journey towards Oudomsay. Another junction town near the border of China where there is a lot of Chinese influence.
    It took us two days to cycle the 110 km. I had read mixed reviews on the town, but we heard that the best restaurant in all of Laos resided there. The town ended up being our least favorite place in all of Laos. People were very rude and unfriendly (very different from everywhere else in Laos). The hotel we stayed at made us pay when we checked in and we then discovered hundreds of little fleas covering the bed spread. When I told the guy at the front desk he just shrugged refused to change the sheets. Lets just say I had a moment and threw a little temper tantrum. Brian was slightly embarassed by my actions to say the least. But somehow it worked as the terrified Laos man brought in a new sheet. The restaurant we were told was amazing was mediocre and all in all it was a bad experience.
    At the present moment we are on our way to Pak Beng where we will take a day boat to the border of Northern Tailand.
    It will take us three days in total and we are currently on our second leg after biking 100 km from Oudomsay. I was very happy to leave the town and even just outside of the city limits, the people were so much more friendly.
    Everywhere we go children in the small villages always yell falang falang (which means white person) and start running when they see us coming on our bikes. They always are smiling and waving and they love it when we slap them five while biking by. It is very cute and always puts a smile on our faces, even when we're exhausted from biking.
    Our first stop was in a small village with only one guesthouse called Muong Beng. We were famished when we arrived and began hunting for food (not literally). We finally found the only place in town serving foe, of course, with the added protein of ants and flys. I tried to eat as much as I could, but mainly just pushed everything around in my bowl and dropped things into Brian's when he wasn't looking.
    Lucky for us this restaurant was also a Karaoke bar. Karaoke is HUGE in SE Asia. The owner was very friendly and forcibly coerced us to partake by shoving the mic in Brian's hand (his first karaoke experience) and randomly putting on an english song, which happened to be, John Denver's Country Road, Take Me Home. This would have been somewhat normal if it weren't for the video that went along with the song, which was a bunch of white female strippers in American flag shirts. I kept wondering what they must think of our culture. The women in the bar looked horrified and I couldn't help but laugh hysterically.
    Anyways we ended up staying at the bar into the night. The owner who spoke no English treated us to many a  beerlaos and we continued to sing every English song they had on  the machine. It was one of our favorite nights thus far.

July 26, 2012 Into Laos (Vientiane, Vang Vieng, Plain of Jars)

    Our last experience with the Vietnamese was getting severely overcharged for our bus ride over the border into Laos. We thought we had agreed on a price before we boarded the bus, but found out that they wanted an extra 210 bucks. This was very typical of the Vietnamese (especially on the buses) and we had read a few horror stories about tourists getting dropped off in the middle of nowhere when they refused to pay the extra charge.
   After arguing with the entire bus for about 20 minutes, (no one spoke English on the bus) we finally convinced then that we didn't have any money, which was kind of true (we had been lucky there was an ATM at the border to pay for our visas). Then after driving a few miles after crossing into Laos they stopped the bus and told us we were at our destination. Brian was positive that it was not since no one else was getting off the bus and thought they we deserting us because we refused to pay the extra money. However, once we got off we found that we were actually in the right place, a little border town called Lak Sao.
   We immediately felt a totally different attitude in Laos. The people were much more laid back. It is crazy that two countries can be so close together and yet have such different demeanors.
   We found that many times the Vietnamese were pushy and loud and many times tried to rip you off (keep in mind the majority of places we visited were on the tourist route and these were our experiences with the people in these places). This definitely got old after awhile. We always had to ask "how Much?" before doing anything and sometimes they would pretend not to speak English in order to rip you off. We finally learned how to say "how much" in Vietnamese ("baw neo"), but couldn't say much else because the language is totally based on tones and it is almost impossible to pronounce anything correctly.
   Another note on Vietnam... I would suggest not to take an "Open Tour Bus" as a means of transportation in Vietnam. When we first arrived it seemed like a great idea because we heard it is the cheapest and best way to travel around, but this is not exactly true. You can definitely take a hard seat train for cheaper, although it may be more uncomfortable. The sleeper trains would be the best way if you're looking for comfort. The sleeper buses are just plain bad. They pack way too many people in them and, as a Westerner, you barely fit in the seat. Also everyone on the buses are predominantly Western and it makes you feel like you aren't even traveling in Vietnam. They all went to the same placed and you saw the same tourists everywhere! It felt very contrived.
   I think if we could do it again we would do it by motorbike and go to the less touristy parts of Vietnam where it feels a little more real. All in all Vietnam was a beautiful country, but we could have picked a more original way to tour through it.
   Anyways, after arriving in Lak Sao, Laos we found a local bus to bring us to Vientiane where we would being our bike journey.
   Side note: Because we are restricted by time, we have to throw our bikes on top of buses and sawngthaews (basically a pickup truck with seats and a cover over the bed) a few times in order to see everything we want to see.
   Vientiane was a beautiful city. It is the capital of Laos, but it is very quiet and laid back for a city (the population is only around 200,000). There is a lot of French influence throughout Laos, especially in Vientiane. Signs were in French, Laos and English and the city is well known for its baguettes and pastries (they were very good!).
   We decided to test out our new bikes by doing a cycle tour of the city. We saw tons of wats (Buddhist temples) which are scattered throughout the city, along with a visit to the Patuxai, a monument in the center of Vientiane that is modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in France. The city is on the Mekong and you can actually see Thailand right across the river.
   After a couple days sightseeings in Vientiane we started the first leg of our biking adventure. We weren't exactly in shape for the endeavor and it turned out to be pretty exhausting, but somehow we ended up doing around 100 KM (70 miles) and finished in a small villages called Thinkeo. The views during the ride were incredible. We went through many small farming villages (mainly rice farms) and up through mountains (I was trying to enjoy the scenery through the burning in my legs). Everywhere we went people were always smiling and saying "sabai di!" (hellos in Lao).
   Everything seemed to be going well with our bikes until Brian's gears started to act up and he was not able to switch into low gears on the hills.
   The next day we decided to bike only a short distance and take a sawngthaew to our next destination in Van Vieng (wehre we hoped someone could fix Brian's bike).
   Vang Vieng was a very interesting place. Originally known for its cave and outdoor activities, it has recently become a tourist hub for partying. The second we arrived we were very aware of this fact. Most tourists rent tubes for the day and drive up the river to the drop off point where they proceed to float down the river and get wasted and then do it again all day. The town is also perfectly set up for your hangover the next day with every restaurant either playing "Family Guy" or "Friends" on full blast. people can actually lay down while watching and eating.
    At first, Brian and I thought tubing sounded appealing, but it ended up raining both days we were there and everyone seemed to be off the river and watching TV in the restaurants instead. We decided biking to a nearby cave was a better option. We ended up bike a few kilometers and then hiking a small distance into a dark cave with a statue of Buddha laying in the middle surrounded by incense and different alms. It was very peaceful. Afterwards we even got to swim in a turquoise blue lagoon at the foot of the cave with rope swings and all. All in all a pretty good day!
   Vang Vieng was beautiful, but the party scene definitely ruined it. It almost felt like tourists were going there to escape from the real Laos.
   The day we were supposed to start out ride up to Luang Prabang it was downpouring (we didn't take into account the fact that it was monsoon season when we bought our bikes) and we decided to change plans and take a bus to Phonsavan where we would see the mysterious Plain of Jars.
    It ended up ebig a 6 hour drive for only 15 minutes of looking a the jars, but they are definitely cool. It is literally a field full of large ancient jars that look like giant granite boulders from afar. The crazy thing is, is that no one knows what purpose they had or who built them. This was also the site where a lot of fighting between the US and Vietnam took place. Laos is actually the most bombed country in history, the majority of the bombing happening during the Vietnam War. They say that over 2,000,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Laos during the course of nine years.
    Today, there are countless UXOs (unexploded ordinances) scattered throughout the country that still kill or dismember people every year. Event the hostel we stayed at in Phonsavan used many UXOs as decoration, such as key chains, pots for plants and the pit for the fire. We read in our guide book that some hotels have UXOs on display that haven't been diffused, so we kept our distance.

July 25, 2012 Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, Halong Bay, Vinh

    Hoi An was a quaint little coastal town in central Vietnam. Previously colonized by the French, the colonial architecture and style is still very apparent. The first thing we did on arrival was to head to the tailor to get some clothes made. Cat got fitted for two dresses, one of which is to be her bridesmaids dress for Sara and Pat's wedding. I decided to get a couple of suits and was helped out by the minuscule, but fiery Bich (that was her name). Over the next few days we had to return for several more fittings and we also decided to get some nice leather shoes made at the cobbler next door.
    Hoi An had a great selection of food as well, our favorite which was Cau Lau (pronounced Gow Lao), a local specialty. It is a noodle dish with special wide noodles said to be made specifically with water from the local well.
    The Full Moon Festival coincided with our visit to Hoi An and it was a fun experience. No electric lighting or cars were allowed on the main street along side the river so the area was aglow from candles and paper lanterns. We sat by the river and watched the myriad of floating lanterns drift downstream.
    After a couple of days, we headed north along the coast for a short distance to the city of Hue. We spent the first day seeing some of the local sites, including the massive walled citadel built sometime in the 1800's. Many parts of the walled palace had been destroyed by the Vietnam War and is still being rebuilt. The outer wall encompassed some 10 KM and there were two walled areas within. It was quite impressive.
    We then set out on a day long journey to visit the newly discovered Phong Nha Paradise Cave. It's thought to be the largest dry cave in the world and visitors can explore the first 1 KM. Despite the long journey (8 hour round trip), the cave was incredible. There were stalactites and stalagmites of all types and sizes. The cave itself was massive.
    That night we took another horrible sleeper bus north to the capital city, Hanoi. Hanoi was a very enjoyable city and we were surprised by the relative order and cleanliness. The local food options were boundless and we tried many new foods and developed a couple favorites. Along with eel rolls, snail soup and grilled dog, we tried Xoi Yen, yellow sticky rice covered with savory toppings, and Bun Bo Nam Bo, a
bowl of noodles with beef, fried onions and a delicious, almost sweet, broth (this was Cat's favorite). We also had some of our favorite our favorite coffee in Vietnam in Hanoi, including coffee with beaten egg whites and our favorite, coffee with yogurt.
    Another amazing experience was the Bia Hoi culture. All over the city there are small Bia Hoi shops with dozens of laughably small plastic chairs and tables outside, selling Bia Hoi. Bia Hoi is a locally brewed beer that is served by the glass instead of the bottle. It is cold and refreshingly delicious and costs next to nothing (about $0.25 per glass). During our time in Hanoi we spent many enjoyable hours squeezed into a tiny chair sipping cold brew and watching the local life.
   There are endless things to do in Hanoi from Temples to museums, so we did our best. We visited the Museum of Fine Art, the National History Museum, the "Hanoi Hilton" prison, the Temple of Literature (Vietnam's first national university built in 1070 that is now a temple dedicated to Confucius), and, of course, Uncle Ho at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Of these we really enjoyed the prison and seeing the living conditions of the inmates. The prison was originally built by the French and they used it for years to detain "enemies of Imperialism". When they left the Viet Cong used it to imprison their enemies, including captured US pilots. They even put John McCains flight suit on display and pictures of him while he was held there.
   Our visit to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was interesting. It is free to go inside, but under very strict conditions. They literally march you in a single file line inside while armed and uniformed guards keep a close eye out to make sure you aren't wearing a hat or putting your hands in your pockets (one of the many rules). Inside, completely and utterly against his wishes, they have put revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh on display for the public. You might picture a skeleton or something, but no, the Vietnamese have embalmed their former leader so that when you look into the glass case and see him peacefully lying there he could be sleeping. Supposedly he is shipped to Russia for a couple months every year for "repairs and Maintanence".
   Our next venture was to Cat Ba Island in the picturesque Lan Ha Bay, directly adjacent to the famous Ha Long Bay. After two buses, a boat and a third bus, we finally arrived in Cat Ba town, which turned out to be the Vietnamese version of the strip at Hampton Beach (NH). We had been hoping for a quite laid back town...
   The following day we decided to go check out the bay. Instead of the uber touristy tour boats we thought that renting a kayak would be fun and more relaxing. It turned out to be a big mistake. We spent the first couple of hours trying to make our way out of the maze-like harbor and into the bay. Once we finally got out into the bay, we found that the waves were larger than we anticipated. Already exhausted, we decided to make for the first deserted beach we saw which ended up being covered in trash and debris (including a used syringe). Totally burnt out (literally and figuratively) and very frustrated, we headed straight back to the harbor.
   The next day we opted to pay more and check out the bay the easy way. So we boarded an overcrowded tour boat and set out for our second day on the Bay (one day is probably enough). The scenery was incredible, with thousands of small islands of limestone (karsts) jutting out from the sea everywhere you looked.
    While on the cruise, we met a traveling duo from Aus and the UK who were touring Vietnam on motorbikes. Their trip sounded amazing and we became inspired to do something similar. We decided to ship home our bags and get a pair of hybrid mountain bikes. It took us several says in Hanoi to get everything we would need for the journey, but after a bit of stress and a lot of interrogation we finally settled on what seemed like sturdy bikes. Cat ended up getting an Asam (we think it's made in Taiwan, but not sure) and I got a Giant bike built for me by a local bikeshop (which ended up not being the most reliable place).
   We then headed to the Canvas and leather street of Hanoi (every street in Hanoi is dedicated to selling one thing. You will find entire streets with shoes and every store next to each other have the same exact things. We don't understand how they make money). On this street we found the perfect bags (panniers) for the back of our bikes. After a few adjustments and strapping a plank of wood on the back of the bike to hole the bag we were ready to go.
   Our next stop was to head back south before crossing the border into Laos. We stopped in a small town called Vinh where we felt much more welcome and less exploited than in other parts of Vietnam. People seemed genuinely friendly and you could tell that few tourists passed through.

Saturday 6/30/12 - From Nepal to South East Asia

    We spent ten days in the laid back town of Pokhara in central Nepal. Positioned on the south east shore of the large Phewa lake, Pokhara is a big destination town for foreigners and Nepalese tourists alike. The big things to do there are para glide over the lake and rent a boat and explore the lake. While we had neither the interest nor the budget for the former, we decided to rent a small paddle boat and spent the day relaxing on a pebbly beach on the far side of the lake.
    After several less than impressive experiences at local restaurants, we decided our favorite place to eat was the Moon Dance Cafe. We ate several meals there until we were forced to leave due to a couple overly aggressive cockroaches.
    While in Pokhara, Cat decided to embellish on her current tattoo and had the Nepalese protection mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum" inked in a circle around the eye. The new tattoo turned out very well and she is excited about it.
    After finishing the book Born to Run (which is excellent, READ IT!!!), I was convinced that Cat and I could go on a day long run to see some of the local sites. After about five km though, she informed me that it was slightly overzealous; I relented.
    After much relaxation (and a little boredom), we finally took the bus back to Kathmandu and flew to Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam.
    HCMC was a very pleasant surprise. We had heard that it would be overwhelming with so many people and scooters as well as overaggressive vendors. To our surprise, we found it to be very clean with the vendors being not too difficult. After India, it was a piece of cake. We started experimenting with the local cuisine but it wasn't very long before I had my first debilitating food illness of the trip.
    After a full night and day of recuperation, we headed on a tour to the Cao Dai temple followed by the Cu Chi tunnels. The temple is the biggest temple of the Cao Dai religion in all of south east Asia. The religion is very unique in that it blends the beliefs and deities from several major religions including Buddhism, Confucionism, Taoism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. The temple was very colorful and ornately decorated. We viewed a local prayer ceremony where some fifty parishioners, garbed all in white, kneeled in similar fashion to Islamic prayer.
    Next we headed to the historic Cu Chi tunnels. For those of you from my generation, these were a series of complex underground tunnels used by Vietnamese fighters and other villagers to escape from US bombing raids. Located about two hours north east of HCMC, the tunnels extend underground for some fifty km and are complete with rooms, booby traps, and three levels of tunnels. The most impressive part of the tour was seeing the many different types of booby traps inflicted on US forces.
    There were many different types, varying in complexity, but they all were very painful and very well designed. The majority included some swiveling contraption that was weight triggered and consequently would stab long steel poisonous barbs through specific parts of your body. The barbs were poisoned with cobra venom or when that was unattainable, the Viet Cong would use human fecal matter.
    There are sample tunnels left from the war that have been slightly widened for western tourists but even so it is a tight and uncomfortable fit.
    Next we stopped in the Mekong Delta, south east of HCMC, for a couple of days. We visited the towns of My Tho, Ben Tre and Can Tho. In Can Tho we got on a tour boat and floated amongst the largest floating market in the delta. There are copious amounts of boats selling and buying all sorts of produce; it's pretty impressive.
    We then booked an overnight sleeper bus ten hours north to the beach city of Nha Trang. There were fully reclining tiny little beds on the bus that would be perfectly comfortable for a a Hobbit but posed slight problems for Cat and I.
    In Nha Trang, I spent three days getting my Open Water Dive Certification while Cat snorkeled, sun bathed and picked up some of the local sites including a dilapidated aquarium set in a pirate ship and some impressive Champa ruins. Tonight we are taking another sleppless sleeper bus to Hoi An, where we will spend several days getting fitted for clothes, enjoying the local culinary experience, and taking in the supposedly beautiful and historic scenery. Cheers!

June 4, 2012 Flight from Lukla

    We flew out of the mountain town of Lukla today into Kathmandu. Many trekkers decide to start their treks here if they are on a time constraint or don't feel like doing the long 6 day hike from Jiri.
     Originally, Brian and I decided to hike in and out from Jiri because we heard that the airport in Lukla is one of the most dangerous airports in the world, but after the long and grueling hike from Jiri we decided to take a risk and fly.
    I was a little terrified when I spotted the runway. It is a small landing strip that literally drops off a cliff. I imagine landing would be frightening, considering the plane only has about 200 yards to land and brake before hitting a cement wall. Taking off was equally exciting because you have the same distance before you drop off a cliff face. 
    Before we arrived in Lukla we found out that people had been stranded for a week and a half waiting for the weather to clear and for flights to come in. Luckily, the weather cleared a couple days before we got there and we were able to take off on time.
    The day before our flight a Dutch couple informed us that a plane from Lukla had crashed a week before killing all 20 people on the flight. Supposedly a fog came in covering the tips of the peaks and the plane clipped one of them. 
   All in all the flight was okay, a little nauseating, but we are alive and that is what's most important.