Bangkok- Third Time's A Charm

The four of us: Eric, Adam and Alex, and I piled onto yet another airplane bound for Bangkok. Upon arrival we said farewell to our travel companions as Eric and I headed into the city for a third time. Sadly our cab driver didn't understand my request for Elvis. The hostel (Udee's) I booked was amazing. It was brand new, cost ten dollars a night, was spotless, had large bunk beds and a great staff. This was probably our nicest accomodation (besides the Mariott Adam treated us to), thusfar.

We spent the day getting aquainted with the sprawling city. It felt like a spring day outside so walking around the city was great. We planned for our Saturday night in Bangkok to be spent bar hopping, but all was changed when we found Thang Le Street. Eric found a bar that served Hoeegarden and Chimay so we sipped on our two favorite (yet very expensive) exports and continued our way down the street. The next find caused all former party plans to be shattered... Tom's grocery store. I don't know who this Tom fellow is but he made my day. We hadn't seen any form of a grocery store since Greece so we both became really excited. We stocked up on the good stuff, doritos, cheezits, Oreos (double-stuffed of course) and gum then happily got a cab home to our delightful hostel with our Saturday night complete.

The following day we toured the city, visiting wats and other important sites before stumbling upon best thing since doritos... A movie theater with New Moon playing in English. After lots of convincing and bribing Eric and I settled into the most amazing movie theater seats I've seen. As we were watching the previews somethig strange happened. The entire movie theater stood up. We were beyong confused and then realized there was a commercial praising the king being played. By far the weirdest event we'd seen. Giggling, we joined in the strange event hoping no one had noticed our extreme confusion and lack of respect.

Reclining Buddah at Wat Pho.

Donation buckets at Wat Pho.

Tuesday Eric and I decided to test out our navigation skills and began our journey to the floating market (a few hour trip usually scheduled through a travel agency). We arrived at the market and hopped into our long tail boat eager to explore the market. The driver cruised around the tiny water ways occasionally stopping to let us shop and buy fresh fruit. After the market we set off on adventure #2, Kanchanaburi town. This was a bit more tricky. The town is located east of Bangkok near Burma. After lots of hand signals and trying to interpret Thai we found our way to an open air public bus, regular bus and finally the bus stop to Kanchanaburi. The town was quaint and is nestled in the mountains near waterfalls and other national parks. We explored the bridge over the River Kwai, the start of the infamous World War II Death Railway to Burma (Myanmar), and then dined at the best pizza place we've found in two months.

Hide and seek at the floating market.

Hey fruity!

Checking out the bridge.

A view from the terrace at our hotel.

Wednesday morning was spend lazily reading by the river on our hotel's porch and strolling around town. For the afternoon we headed to the Tiger Temple. This is a tiger reserve and temple that houses dozens of tigers, leopards, peacocks, and deer.
The real treat is being able to get up close and personal with these enormous cats.

Thats a big kitty.

When they said we would see the feeding of a baby tiger...we were not expecting this 400LB cat.

After our rendezvous with the tigers we got on another bus back to Bangkok. The last day and a half in Bangkok was spent primarily at Siem Square ( Phipps mall on steroids ) where we took part in another "praying to the king" experience while watching 2012(my punishment for making Eric see New Moon). We also went bowling there to pass our time before heading to the airport.

From Bangkok we are heading to Beijing for Thansgiving and then meeting my friend Jason in Tokyo on December 1. We are excited for a change of pace, culture and weather (for a few weeks) before returning to our endless summer in the Philippines, Bali, and Australia.

Laos

(Side note: I realize this post is very late. It was nearly impossible to do anything blog related in china since everything cool on the internet is blocked. Our apologies)

On November 17 Eric, Adam, Alex and I caught a rather pricey flight to Luang Probang, Laos. It seemed our best option considering our amount of travel time left in southeast Asia. Upon arrival into Laos we were greeted with news of our $35 visa that needed to be purchased. Not cool.

The only affordable accomodation we could find (Laos is not as cheap as it's neighbors) was a three person room at the Rama hotel. we arrived to our hotel and put on our puppy dog faces to try and convince the staff to let all share a room. Our pleading worked so we piled into our room containing three queen sized beds all pushed together, forming one massive mattress. It was great for a photoshoot and slumber party.

That is one huge bed.

Our second day in Laos was spent mostly in our private van. Our driver took us to see the spectacular water falls southwest of the city. After our waterfall visit, the trip got much more interesting. We headed to Vang Vieng, a city located about six hours south of Luang Prabang. The entire ride consisted of switch-backs through the mountains. This could have been enjoyed a little more if our driver was not pretending to be in a racecar accelerating around every turn. Despite his driving skills the scenery was beautiful. Each turn brought us to a new town of children playing, people working and pigs darting across the road. The ride became even more interesting once it got dark and foggy. Luckily we safely made it to Vang Vieng (only a few hours later than planned) and checked into the only vacant hotel we could find.

Who knows?

Too bad it was too cold for a swim.

1, 2, 5... say cheese.

A nice pic of the main waterfall.

The Laotian kids were adorable.

Hey Hey big fella.

We found this city to be quite simple. It consists of three main streets, a few bars and restaurants and a bus station. Most menus offered the same food, which consisted of pretty much anything imaginable (this makes choosing a meal quite difficult). Well we obviously didn't travel hours upon hours for the city or the food. We traveled hours to this city for the tubing.

Once a small town, only used for a stop-over point, Vang Vieng has become famous for it's tubing an activity that dominates the town and it's visitors. Thursday morning we rented our tubes and set off for the river. Quickly we found that there is not much tubing involved in tubing except to get from bar to bar. The people of Laos have turned the river into one big party by building bars all down the river banks. It's the dare devil's dream. Each bar is equipped with their own crazy slide, swing, or zip line to launch you into the river. Oh and by the way, locals call this time in November "leg-breaking season." This is becasue the water is so low, and many drunken twenty somethings try each and every zipline, some into very shallow water. Alex and Eric had to try it. We took part in the crazyness for a few hours before heading down river in our tubes. We quickly found out why we were the only tubers...it was freezing! Upon returning to the city, feeling like an iceburg, we relaxed at dinner while watching friends reruns (Laotions favorite past time). We finished up the night with some dancing to some old school tunes that had apparently taken 10 yrs to make their way to Laos.

Get that bucket. The start of our day on the Vang Vieng.

Eric and Alex getting ready to zip-line.

Centipede wine anyone?

The things you will do for a bucket.

His prize for completing the challenge.

Classic!

Our time was short in Laos but definitly enjoyed. We finished Laos with a trip to the border town Vientiane before crossing back into Thailand.

We spent our last night with Adam and Alex in Udon Thani, a small town with an airport, and not much else.

Alex manning his post.

The typical bed side painting.

Vietnam, from Saigon to Hanoi in 8 days

Crossing into Vietnam from Cambodia was easier then we thought. The charter bus was air conditioned, had free water, a toilet, and an abundance of Asian men on their cellphones (great for sleeping). We thought we were in great shape when we scratched the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City on hour 6. That was foolish thinking because we spent another hour and a half in traffic dodging motorbikes. The amount of two seaters in this city is astonishing. Two, sometimes three or four people to a bike, no more than a few inches from the next, owned the streets of the city. After the long trek and a steamy bowl of Pho, we made our way to the Marriott Riverside Renaissance Hotel (Adam kindly cashed in some Marriott points for the rooms). 5 star hotel, free internet, free drinks, free food, and a roof top view of the city, thank you Adam. We settled in, then charged head first into the HCMC nightlife. The dancing started early on at the acclaimed Apocalypse Now bar, then ended much later at a Karaoke Bar, which turned out to be a really crappy casino. I would say it was a darn good start to our Vietnam segment.

At the Riverside Renaissance on the Club Level.

1 Dollar = 17, 780 Dong. We felt cooler than we were.

A group toast at Apocalypse Now.

Alex and I riding this lounge/elevator to the "Karaoke Bar."

After a slow start to the day, we finally decided to venture out of town to the Cu Chi Tunnels. About 60Km out of town, the tunnel system began. The tunnels were a very important part to Vietnam's strategy during the war. Miles and Miles of these tunnels criss-crossed this area much like an ant farm. Bunkers, halfway houses, hospitals, and dining halls were all connected by these 2.5 foot tall passage ways. The tunnels we went into were expanded for the sake of the tours so that big westerns could fit in. Beth still got claustrophobic and exited as quickly as possible. The Vietnamese sneaky war tactics leveraged the use of many different types of booby traps, which made me slightly nauseous to imagine. However, this part of Vietnam is must.

In an entrance to the Chu Chi Tunnels. I barely fit even after they widened the opening.

Picture of the group in a US Tank. A Vietnamese landmine could take one of these out in a single explosion. Can you find me?

Adam and I inside one of the larger tunnels

100 percent humidity + crawling around underground for a half hour = the need for a rinse.

Shooting an M-30 at the shooting range. Right in the middle of the tour, they ask you if you want to shoot automatic guns. Um... yes please.

Beth, alert and ready.

That evening we caught a short flight on Jet Star to Danang, Vietnam's "most popular city." Well, we thought this city looked a lot better in the rear view mirror of our taxi. We headed south for a small town called Hoi An. Hoi An seemed like a bad idea once we quickly discovered there was no vacancy at any of our chosen accommodations and every street corner looked like El Paso. We chatted with a few backpackers who assured us it was a day and night type city, literally. The next morning we awoke to a completely different place. Tailoring shops as far as the eye could see, quaint cafes and bakeries, and some of the best art boutiques in South East Asia. What did we do? Went to a cafe for lunch, got fitted for suits, and bought paintings. Hoi An was a favorite of all of ours.

Just a little treat on the riverbank of Hoi An.

Thi and I fitting my suit for the 3rd time. There was a staff of around 20 women helping us at all times. We spent around 6- 8 hours getting our new threads tailored.

After a couple days of suit fittings and haggling over a few thousand Dong for art work, we took a minibus a short way up the Ho Chi Minh Highway to Hue, a city that was almost entirely demolished during the Vietnam War, when conquered by the Vietcong. Although Hue was not our favorite place, we still managed to have a darn good time. Lonely Planet's "Eating" section certainly gets kudos in this town. We ate two steak meals at an excellent French bistro in the heart of town. Also we rented motor bikes and explored the city from inside the citadel (much like Jason Borne in Marrakesh) to the outer parts, where we visited tombs of Vietnamese Emperors. We hopped on an over night train bound for Hanoi, a city I had been looking forward to for months.

A snapshot at of the the Tombs outside of Hue.

On the Overnight train from Hue to Hanoi. The Air conditioning turned off every time the train stopped at a stain. There were at least ten stops. Not cool.

We rolled into Hanoi on Saturday October 14th around 6 am and headed to a free wifi cafe to regroup and plan our next four days. We decided to hold off on the city and head straight to the Halong Bay. Our tour was 2 days and 1 night on a boat with 14 other people. Our activities included exploring the caves, kayaking, swimming and cruising around the bay. We took a van 3 hours to the bay then embarked on a vessel that looked nothing like the advertisement, duped! The rooms were adequate so we did not complain. This is my favorite part, Kayaking.

After seeing the caves, we all paired off for Kayaking, Beth with me, Adam with Alex. I knew something interesting was going to happen when I saw Alex charging towards our Kayak just as soon as I settled into the stern. Some how Beth and I dodged them and decided to stay far away from those two, especially since our tour guide said "be careful, very easy to sunk." After about twenty minutes or so, I spotted Alex and Adam horsing around in the Kayak in the middle of the bay, where giant boats constantly pass through with little regard for smaller boats. Suddenly I became interested in this fun. Basically, giant boats frequently passed through a channel in the bay, some towing much smaller boats, barely larger than a row boat. Alex and Adam (mainly Alex) were trying to catch up with the smaller boat and "hitch a ride" through the channel (like Marty McFly skate boarding behind pick ups in Back to the Future). After several failed attempts from the boys, I decided that Beth and I would give it a try, go figure. We stalked the next boat coming through the channel, Alex and Adam one side, Beth and I on the other. We all started paddling in the direction of the fast approaching boat. As it split in between our kayaks, I knew that were positioned for success. The boat quickly passed by, then came the smaller one in tow. Beth grabbed hold and we were off. As soon as she reached down to grab here camera, we detached, and were now left in the dust. This is the BEST part! Alex and Adam grabbed hold of the other side of the boat shortly after we let go. I was cheering, everyone in the bay was watching, Beth was attempting to video, then we realized something was wrong. The bow of their kayak was caught in the wake of the tiny boat and they began to nose dive. Within 60 seconds, 75 percent of the kayak was submerged and the boys were forced to jump ship. The Kayak continued to take on water and inevitably sank. Beth and I were crying laughing, Alex was holding for dear life to the rope that was attached to the bow, and Adam was trying to climb on board with us. Soon the entire bay was fully involved and hovering around every dock to get a glimpse of the knuckleheads that capsized. After hours of arguing with the shop owners about damage charges, they settled on a price and we were on our way. This is one of the funniest things I have seen in my lifetime.

Inside the Caverns in Halong Bay

This was about 30 minutes before Alex and Adam sunk their kayak. Priceless.

A view of the Halong Bay. You can see the opening in the rocks on the right. This is the channel of sunken kayaks.

Beth relaxing on the boat

Our last and final stop in Veitnam was Hanoi. Here is the recap from Alex:

"So we made it to Hanoi and can safely say this has been our favorite city experience. As the capital of the French Indochina Empire it is steeped in history and influences from the whole region. Unlike most other big cities here, which separate tourists from local life, one is immersed with the locales at every turn.We have successfully ticked every cultural box Hanoi has to offer. We saw a traditional Vietnamese puppet show. We ate in the streets with the locales, cooking our food on skillets. Then we went to a shady nightclub and quickly ingratiated ourselves with the Hanoi mafia, who had us toasting with Blue Label till closing. Last, but by no means
least, we drank the blood of a snake. We crossed the river, were directed down a dark and dingy ally to find a small shop where we each killed and cut out the heart of a snake before drinking it"

-Alex Goldsmith

Cooking beef on a skillet on a street in the old quarter. The chairs must have been made for toddlers.

A Vietnam vet/snake charmer. This snake was going to be our dinner.

Not sure why I thought I would get to know him first.

Moments before ingesting the snake heart, snake bile, and snake blood.

Here is a video of us driving rickshaw/bikes in Hue. As the video demonstrates, they were not equipped with brakes.

One Night in Bangkok and a few in Cambodia

We arrived in Bangkok on November 6th. We met the crew, Adam, Alex, Tara and Perry at the airport and began our journey to our hotel. This was probably the most memorable cab ride yet. Of course there were no cabs big enough for all 6 of us so I was placed on Eric's lap in the front seat while everyone else was crammed in the back with the luggage. Bangkok traffic on Friday night, we soon found out, was like Atlanta rush hour times 10. Our cab driver found it quite amusing to play Elvis on full blast while showing us multiple magic tricks while sitting in stand still traffic. He found his magic tricks and jokes very humorous and laughed hysterically every few minutes which was great entertainment for us. Finally 2 hours later we arrive at Sam's Lodge hotel.

Perry burried in the taxi with our luggage

We had previously decided to make our one night in Bangkok a very memorable one. We all set out to dinner at a hotel down the street followed by an amazing view from the bar Vertigo in the city. We were unaware that there was a dress code until they presented us all with these "stylish" slippers that had to be worn instead of our flip flops. Tara and I of course found this very exciting.

Tara and I showing off our stylish white slippers

Enjoying the view of Bangkok from one of the tallest bars in the city

Admiring the view

The night sadly ended well before sunrise because nothing stays open past 2 am in this normally bustling city. This was probably a good thing considering we had a van picking us up at 6 am to drive us to Cambodia. Sadly it was time to tell Tara goodbye because she was flying back to Aspen for work.

After piling in our van that was 45 minutes late due to "an accident" we all stretched out and took long naps. The border was about 4 hours away and we used our private ride for some much needed shut eye. Upon arriving at the border we found that the scary 4 hour wait for visas was a complete lie (or we just missed the crowd) because we got our visas and stamps and were out the door in under an hour. From there we needed another van for the next 4 hour journey. We piled in the not so comfortable van and head for Seam Reap. Our tour guide (creepy eyes) took a strong liking for Eric and stroked his leg hair every so often and told him that he would take him out that night for some drinks. Creepy eyes continued to appear throughout our stay in Seam Reap which always made for an awkward conversation and a quick exit.

The only documentation of any of us being awake on this van ride

Crossing through the Cambodian border

Old creepy eyes himself

We found a great little hotel called Hotel Popular that was in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Seam Reap. We hopped into our tuk tuks and headed for the sunset at Angkor Wat. Us and about another 2,000 people caught a great sunset overlooking the magnificant structure. After our sunset photoshoot we went back to eat dinner at our hotel. We all discovered the best dish they had to offer which was the luc lak (a Cambodian dish made of rice, beef, french fries, and gravy). After dinner our night became a lot more interesting.

Climbing on the statues at sunset

Making friends with the locals

A few guys at the hotel decided that they were taking us out for the night. They piled us into their tuk tuks and drove us towards the side of town most tourists wouldn't know to venture to. The restaurant set up a table for us plus about 15 locals. The restaurant/bar had live singing (Cambodian karoke) and lots of beer. We soon found out that the Cambodians like to toast about every five minutes while chanting "chul moy". This was supposed to be your promt to finish your beer. A few hours later we made our way back to the hotel to prepare for our 5 am drive to Angkor Wat.

A night out in Seam Reap.

We found it very entertaining to go to the bathroom because the local women would sneak up behind the boys and try to give them back massages while they were using the bathroom.

On November 8th we woke up early and headed to Angkor Wat. It is definatly a must see of Cambodia. The structure is enormous with lots of detail. We wondered around the site for a few hours and then headed back for one more meal of luc lac and then continued on our journey to Phnom Penh. This ride was not so pleasant considering our air conditioning decided not to work until 3 hours into the trip.

Sunrise!

Angkor Wat sunrise in the rain

We had heard many negative things about Phnom Penh so we were plesantly suprised when we arrived to our hotel on the river. There were restaurants and shops lining the entire river. We found a nice Italian restaurant for dinner that night and strolled down the streets admiring the river and the different carts selling various types of insects.

The next morning we awoke early and went to S21, a school converted into Cambodia's most important prison in 1975. More than 14,000 people were tortured here before being killed at the Killing Fields south of Phnom Penh; only 8 prisoners made it out alive. After viewing the museum we went to the Killing Fields to view where the bodies were disposed of after being confined to S21. After learning the depressing past of Cambodia we made our way back to our hotel to catch our bus to Vietnam.

The skulls displayed at the Killing Fields

Our tuk tuk driver for the day

Typical landscape of Cambodia

We all wished that we could have spent more time visiting Cambodia. The people are amazingly nice despite their horrific past and it's hard to find a local that isn't smiling. This is definatly a place that I would love to return to one day.