Getting friendly with the locals - Hanoi

Pretty much every time we went out it was an adventure - at one particular restaurant no one spoke english, and they seemed content with not making eyecontact so that they didn't have to serve us. After much confusion (i.e. them coming over and asking our order about 4 times, over the period of about an hour), the four of us eventually ended up with one plate of fried rice, two beers, shrimp paste, and a couple bowls of soup. oh, and a bottle of rice whiskey, which was strangely the only thing they understood.. anyways, we were SUPPOSED to have 4 main dishes (none of which included fried rice), 4 beers, soy sauce, 3 bowls of soup and a salad. after they brought the fried rice out and we had inhaled it we sat around for a while looking at each other going..."do you think they're going to bring more out??" we finally determined that we should just pay and get out of there, which the servers seemed more than happy to facilitate. it was an enjoyable experience apart from the somewhat rude american being a impatient despite the amusingness of the whole experience.

We ended up hiring two cyclos (bikes with a two person seat attached to the front) to cycle us around the old quarter of hanoi for half an hour. in our hungry and half drunken rice-whiskey induced state, we did lots of waving and cheering and eventually got the cyclo drivers to bring us to a fresh beer bar. Despite the fact that fresh beer places are EVERYWHERE, they had one in particular - so, onto the highway we went (these cyclos are slower than the pedestrians...and the guy biking us looked like he might keel over and die - he was 65 years old). cars zoomed past us, and eventually we made it to a vietnamese bar (that looked like a flourescent cafeteria!). we invited the cyclo drivers in and we had a brilliant time. we were the only foreigners and the whole bar ended up being our friends. the owner's son invited us to his house for the weekend and bought us round after round of beer, along with snacks ... the young cyclo driver got quite drunk, and by the end of the night Dorian, one of the guys i was with, ended up biking the cyclo home with the driver in the seat...it was fabulous. by the end the cyclo drivers were our best friends and refused money (which is so refreshing in vietnam). it was brilliant...i love meeting locals!

I can't wrap my brain around Hanoi

As soon as I got into Hanoi (capital of Vietnam), i instantly understood everything I had been told about Vietnam - the motorbikes, the scamming, the general craziness. Coming from lazy Laos to crazy Vietnam wasn't a total shock on the system, as I had heard lots of stories, but it was definitely shook me a bit. People actually did wear those conical hats and you actually did have to walk slowly and steadily across the road, whilst making eye contact with the 50 motorbikes speeding towards you (i only freaked out and ran back to my starting side a few times, mostly because it's hard to stare down a bus). I was a bit on edge, but clearly not enough since i got cheated many times (but always cheated with a big vietnamese smile, which for some reason makes it better...). ended up traveling with a few north americans for a week - we met on the cab ride to our hotel. There don't seem to be any budget hotels in vietnam, but for $8 you get hot water, cable tv, towels, and free toothbrushes...and even a mini fridge. not stuff i really needed, but there really didn't seem to be any other options!!!

I don't think I'll ever understand the way things work in Vietnam - we were often thwarted in our attempts to walk on some sidewalks (big scary communist guards using vigorous hand gestures to tell us to get off), and walking across the field in front of Ho Chi Min's mausoleum was DEFINITELY a no-no. in fact, there were many guards posted on this field just to make sure that you didn't go near the grass (though walking on the street seemed like somewhat of a death sentence as well). When we went to the mausoleum (to see Ho Chi Minh's dead, preserved body...weird, i know), my camera escaped x-ray detection somehow and didn't not get taken away from me. however, i should have just given them my camera cause i was twitchy throughout the walk through the mausoleum- especially when i saw that they were making random purse checks. i was picturing them finding my camera and bayonetting me - but, i lived to tell the tale. Walking through the mausoleum was uber-surreal. lots of tourists walking around a heavily guarded glass tomb to look at the guy who is either seen as a hero who helped vietnam gain its independence or the man who caused vietnam to fall into poverty. people were shushed if they whispered, hand gestures were made if anyone was caught with their hands in their pockets, and bodies were gently pushed if anyone decided to pause whilst looking at the body. The visit to the war museum after this experience was very normal, and i was surprised to see how objective the museum seemed (though i hear the one in ho chi minh city down north is not quite the same).

The city layout was crazy - no streets are parallel or perpendicular to each other, so i was in a state of perpetual lostness. the only way i could figure my way around was because of the peculiar system of shops - all goods seem to be clustered. for example, the hat shops would all be on the same street, and the flower stores would be on the same road. personally, my favourite area was the coat rack lane...i guess people have lots of hats coats that need hanging!

later in the day we were wandering around one of the lakes and happened to notice a slightly burnt american note in the water...turns out, it was a $100, so we all went about looking for a stick to aid us in Operation: Get The $100 note and Live Like Kings for the Next Week. Of course, a few near-falls into the water later, and after a nice crowd had gathered around us, we finally saved the bill and found out it was a fake - which generated a good round of laughter from us and all those around us.

That night we decided to hit the town and do some fresh beer drinking - fresh beer is sold on every corner, and is about a dollar for 1 or 2 litres (depending on whether the store decides they should charge the foreigners more or not). Most things aren't in english, so if you don't ask the price beforehand, mostly likely expect to be screwed (more on being scammed later...). anyways, we found a place to drink (sitting on little tiny kindergarten chairs, on the street, as per usual), and many fresh beers later (they are quite low on alcohol content), my bladder was about to explode. Upon asking where the toilet was, the owner laughed at me and pointed at the small tree across the road...in front of many stores. upon vigorous shaking of my head, he pointed me towards the back of the store into the alley. finally i was directed to a little room under the stairs, but upon closing of the doors and inspection of the room, there were dishes all over the floor...they had led me to the cleaning room, and wanted me to go in there. anyways, after lots of asking questions, i determined that yes, this was indeed the place they wanted me to pee...so, do as the vietnamese do, i guess, i did my thing, and then spent the next 10 minutes spraying down the floor, and my feet. Jami, the chick i was with at the time, was wandering around yelling "Kim...where's the toilet?? where are you??", to which i responded, "jami, i'm cleaning my feet...one second". so, that was my gross toilet story. sorry to those of you who didn't want to know :) later we eventually found a trough to go in, which was also a challenge since it was made for guys and was up against the wall...and touching the walls were DEFINITELY out of the question. i had one of the guys posted outside the trough to make sure no one came in, and thankfully they were there to catch me when i nearly fell INTO the trough...good times.

Food on a stick - and more

Luang Prabang, Laos, was a huge happy surprise. I thought that after Vang Vieng, I would never be as happy again - i couldn't have been more wrong. Luang Prabang, a quiet, very french influenced city, was as brilliant as Vang Vieng. Again there were baguettes on every corner (complimented by Le Vache qui rit cheese and mystery pate), and the people were laid back. On every street there were Wats (temples) and monks wandering around town. when i say relaxed, i mean to the extreme - i had to wake up a shop owner at one point so that i could buy something, and at one point i walked into a store, grabbed a bottle of water, and realized that no one was there to give money too. after a bit of inquiry (leaving the store and yelling, "excuse me, does anyone know who owns this store??"), i ended up just leaving money on the table and walking out with the water. Also, the night market was the most fabulous market I've ever been to - everything was gorgeous, hand made, and CHEAP. also, often i find that i'm very turned off buying things cause people push you to buy things - the opposite was true. In one instance, i picked up a purse and thought to myself "i'll buy this for $5, max" (my mind is in bargain mode). upon asking for a price, the lady said, "$1", and i said, "that's brilliant, so cheap!", which she quickly followed up with, "o.k., 80 cents!", and i actually had to throw money at her so that she would stop decreasing the price, amongst my protests. i ended up buying way too much stuff, but i don't regret it for a second...!!!

Possibly the best discovery of my whole trip was of the night market food street - Amazingly cheap, abundant, and delicious food, some of which came on a stick (fish on a stick - at first, a seemingly bad idea, but after one taste, you just can't get enough). I spent many hours with friends cruising this street and picking up random foods.

On one of the days I headed up to the waterfall with a couple groups of friends (both of whom i had met in Vang Vieng)...i wasn't expecting much, but when we arrived there were bears and a tiger in a conservation area - i love surprises, especially when they involve animals. behind these animals was a beautiful, tiered waterfall (tons of levels that all looked different and you could swim in each one). At the top where the big falls were no one was swimming, but one of the guys I was with said, "doesn't look taht bad - let's jump in". so, clearly, the adrenaline junkie me in said, "YEAH", and the scaredy-cat in me went, "but you first!", and in we went...no real danger of falling all the way down the falls (i think), and a group of korean tourists laughed and pointed and got some good pictures of the crazy western tourists playing in the falls. after a day of exploring the waterfall (you could go right up to the top and walk across and into the marshy area) and eating more food on a stick (chicken this time), we grabbed a tuk tuk to bring us home. the driver kept nervously looking out the side window, which was in turn making us nervous, but it turns out it was just a flat tire. i assume that this happens often to these contraptions, especially since they're driving up and down unpaved roads constantly...he seemed to be an expert at changing the tire (with the expection of the one time the raised tuk tuk nearly fell down onto his arm...), and the tiny crisis was fixed. I was so content on chicken on a stick and waterfall swimming that i wasn't concerned in the least, especially since there was a food stand in view from where we broke down.

The night scene was pretty chill in Luang Prabang (my liver was happy to learn about this), especially since there's a curfew (hotelowners close their doors at 11:30pm). I made a deal with the owner of my hostel - if I arrived home at 1am, i would buy him one beer, at 2am, 2 beers, and so forth. i thought it was a pretty fair deal and he seemed content with it too. Each night consisted of chilling at an outdoor bar, chatting with our ever growing group of friends.

the only negative thing i can say about my experience in luang prabang was my morning wake up call - i was really enjoying my hostel, except for one thing...every morning around 5am one of the managers of my hostel would wake up, and start hawking (like, trying to bring phlegm up from his lungs...though it sounded to me like he was trying to bring up a kidney). this would continue for about 1 hour (some asians seem to like spitting a lot, and clearing their throats - especially when you're eating or sleeping). after the second day i gave up trying to sleep and instead would wake up early to head up to the temples, see the sun rise, and watch the villagers give alms. Around 6am, monks would come out of their temples with large baskets and walk around town- the villagers would be sitting on the roadside and put food (mostly sticky rice) into their baskets as they walked by. it was incredibly cool to see and fun to participate in - and it beat having to lie around and listen to someone pull up a lung.

i also managed to do a cooking class...it was amusing, not super informative since all the dishes were cooked at once and i only caught snippets of each preparation, but the meal at the end was completely worth it (HUGE HUGE HUGE meal). We also got to go to the local market and we saw all kinda of weird shiznit - most weird of all were the bats. i can't imagine bats to be super tasty, but i guess someone does. The picture of the purple fruit are mangosteens - by far my favourite fruit here in asia (but closely followed by pomellos, mangos, and rambutans).

My adventures in Laos ended..i was sad to move on, but eager to check out the vietnam scene. a quick check of the calendar confirmed that i had stayed WAY longer than expected, but it was worth every single fish on a stick.

"Today I have one goal - to make it down the river" - Vang Vieng, Laos

hey everyone, currently in vietnam - more on that later (trying to preserve chronological order...)

so, i last left you with my perfect day in vang vieng...i meant to leave shortly after, but 1 perfect day turned into 5 perfect days.. the morning after my first perfect day i intended to rent a motorbike (a must in s.e. asia..). however, i woke up around 10am still somewhat drunk so i quickly vetoed that idea and rented a pushbike instead (you know how brilliant my riding skills are...). so, over the unpaved rocky road i went, avoiding pigs and generally trying to remember how to work a bike. an hour later i had picked up some japanese friends (not much english passed between us, but i got the impression they wanted me to guide them to the caves, so i pretended to be competent), and arrived at a huge cave (the name escapes me at the moment). after climbing straight up for an hour, i delved into the pitch black cave. let me remind you that in southeast asia, anything goes - so, despite huge bottomless holes and no light and no real markers, you're allowed to go in as far as you want. so, using my headlamp (courtesy of laura), i charged in with terry, a Kiwi guy also in the mood for some adventure. i was lucky to have him with me, cause my lamp was in serious need of some battery juice (i.e. it was running out of light, and quickly). anyways, we avoided crevices and stalagtites and who knows what together, and basically walked until we came to a point where we couldn't walk anymore (BIG BOTTOMLESS HOLE = death). After we finally found our way out there was a beautiful lagoon waiting for us, where i first met cat, a wonderful irish chick who sometimes gets caught up in her own world, and sharn and jim, a great "posh" british couple who have traveled almost everywhere in the world and have amazing stories. i ended up meeting up with this crew (which of course kept growing and growing), lots throughout laos. A few swings into the lagoon later (yay rope swings), we had bonded quite nicely and all biked back together to town.

The next day i woke up, fully intending to leave vang vieng (here's where the story gets repetitive..i "intended" on leaving every morning for the next few days)); however, as i headed for breakfast I saw my new friends waiting to go tubing...with a little convincing (and i was pretty easily convinced), i threw on my bikini and off i went down the river, ready to tube, hit up the bamboo bars and soak up more sun and beautiful scenery. also, i told myself that i would make it all the way down the river this time and leave the big bars before sundown...hah. no dice. i made it as far as the bank across from the bar this time (about 12 minutes down the river from the start, making that an approximate 10% completion of the river). Met tons of cool people again, and promised to meet them at the bar later.

After a quick shower and a banana pancake (the backpackers premium fastfood), I headed out in search for a tuk tuk because I was volunteering at the local english school that night. As it goes in Laos, I couldn't find any tuk tuks that were actually manned by people. so, i rushed over to one of my laos friends and asked her to help me out. sure enough, she says, "i'll close down my store, hop on my motorbike and i'll drive you!" so, free ride to the organic farm where i was volunteering - taught english that night to a group of younger kids, and then to others about my age. it was pretty sweet; everyone was there on their own time and were quite willing to learn, and were super nice. We spent a good chunk of our time trying to explain the usage of "as for", which in the end we just kinda said...you know what? no one actually uses the idiom "as for" anyways, just don't worry about it. The classes were pretty casual, with volunteers coming in everyday to teach the students out of texts they have. it was great, and i wish i had time to go back more!
later that night i headed back to lak, the girl who drove me to the farm, and bought her a beer. we sat in front of her massage store and drank, and when she was doing business i played with her energetic, adorable daughter and chatted with her sister and mom. they kept bringing me tons of food, which was probably necessary due to the large nature of the beers. Eventually the shop closed, and we were tipsy enough to jump around the massage beds for a while, dancing to Lak's favourite song (the one by atomic kitten...); you could clearly see into the massage rooms from the street, so everyone probably thought we were crazy. Then, eventually her dad told us to go to the bar, so Lak brought me to a Laos bar, where i nicely fit in (thank you dark skin and dim lights) - I saw two white guys walk in at one point, look around, and then awkwardly backed out of the bar. After dancing to some old pop, i decided to call it a night. However, on return to my room i saw that the bonfires were raging across on the island, so i braved the rickety bridge and ended up chilling at the fire until 7am with new and old faces. I met a group of 4 ridiculous irish guys...think of any group of 4 best guys friends that you know and then times their guy-like-ridiculousness (or stupidity, whatever you want to call it) by 400. this is what these guys were like, and it was fabulous - for some reason i fit in really well with them, so, compounded by the late bedtime, I ended up waking up, not ready to take the bus out yet, and went tubing with them...again :D needless to say, i didn't make it down the river again (maybe 18 minutes this time...i swear i went with all intentions to get down this time)). anyways, the party lasted all day, hitting up the bar in town, followed by more bonfire (and another late night - the sun rise was gorgeous). eventually i bought myself a bus ticket so one morning i was forced to leave. said my goodbyes, and headed off... as is the backpacker life.

Not to make you jealous, but....

I just had the perfect day. Seriously, most days are pretty awesome, but this one was pretty sweet...The day started off with a supremely chocolate croissant (as all perfect days do), followed by a walk around the "town" of Vang Viene, which is pretty touristy on the main road, but as you get further to the outskirts you see more authentic stalls and houses and people! Then, as the day got swelteringly hot, a bunch of friends and I rented tubes (huge tractor inner tubes) and went floating down the river...The view was fantastic (see pic 1, you can kinda see the outline off all the tubers floating down the river in the distance), and even though it was a super touristy thing, it was beautiful and peaceful and an adventure, and you got to meet so many people as you floated down (which takes about 2 hours if you don't do stops...). dotted along the banks of the river are makeshift bamboo bars selling drinks and they pull you in with a long stick as you pass by...super sweet. even better, one of the bars had a volleyball court (i got my fix :D) and all of the bars have these kinda insane rope swings (i didn't get a pic of myself doing it, but there's a pic on here of one of the swings and two guys jumping at the same time; the huge bamboo structure you jump off is on the left side of the pic)...of course i had to try my hand at that and the extreme-sport-lover in me was satiated. needless to say, i spent too much time visiting these rickety bars and somehow the sun started setting and i was still over 1 hour away from the end. this is bad, unless you like floating down rapids in the pitch dark, which would be fine if there weren't pointy rocks and sticks poking up everywhere and random shallow parts in which the rocks stab you in the bum (i know, i know, not everyone's idea of a relaxing ride down the river, but you know me and my love for danger!). anyways, after floating down the river for a while and meeting lots of people to laze down the river with for a while and chat (there's something about sitting in a huge rubber inflatable tube that makes people really friendly) i eventually got dragged to shore by some random laos kids who promised us a tuk tuk (3 wheeled open air taxi) home. a few other people i had met also came to shore and we ended up sitting around for a bit chatting with these kids and playing with them...good times. we eventuall caught a tuk tuk home and i made it back to my guesthouse, where i caught the most amazing sunset falling down through the mountains (see pic 4 on left)...the view is sensational from my beautiful room (only $3!!, laos is fabulously cheap and quality!) , and the limestone peaks are gorgeous.
even though it had already been a great day, it only got better. i joined one of the groups i had met on the river and we ate a local stand (you can see it in the background of last pic) instead of one of the crappy tourists restaurants where they serve pizza and play friends or simpsons NON STOP. the people were so friendly and the food was AMAZING...i took pictures of it all cause i have no idea what the names of any of the dishes were (though i do know at some point i ate a fish on the stick...i hope i don't regret that later!). anyways, after gorging ourselves, the price came to 12000 kip, which is like, $1.30. THEN, one of the guys we were with whipped out an ACCORDIAN and started playing it, and one of the other guys grabbed my arm and we danced on the street!! we were grabbing locals, and people from the restaurant across the road were running across to join the party (see last pic)...it was so amazing, and tons of laos people riding by on bikes stopped, jaws on the ground, gaping. i'm sure they've never seen anything like it.
after the hoedown we decided to get laos massage (clearly needed after such a stressful day)...the place was full at the time so we went to the local bakery and ate amazing chocolate cake. after this i was fully ready for a massage, and it was unbelievably good...kinda similar to thai massage, but a million times less involved and intense, so you come out feeling super sleepy. so, of course, to round out a perfect day, we went in search of a bonfire. We found a group of Laos people (prob in their 30s) drunk off boxed wine and we joined them for a while, and they fed us more random stuff. the locals here are really great and friendly and the ones i have met don't seem to be jaded with tourists at all. Then, we found a fabulous bonfire that wasn't busy and we all laid around, watching the stars and chatting and drinking beer Laos until 5am.

life is good....

Chitwan - elephant riding

In between the 'city' life of Pokhara and Kathmandu i was lucky enough to stay at chitwan jungle lodge, an amazing lodge in the middle of Chitwan, a safari type park thingy. i had to wonder what i had got myself into when i got off the bus and onto the roof of a jeep (not the most comfortable place to be sitting, but a fun experience), where we drove through rivers, forests, rocky trails, etc., just to get to the lodge.

Days consisted of floating down the river in a log canoe, watching amazingly huge birds fly over head...the ride ended a little early cause there was a wild bull elephant rampaging around (we didn't see him unfortunately), who keeps knocking up the female elephants at the lodge (there were two babies at the time of my stay...). elephant riding was really the highlight though, and we got to do it pretty much all day (3-4 hours at a time a couple times a day)...mostly we were searching for rhinos (which apparently only leave the park like, once every few months...we didn't see them.), but we saw a jungle cat (pretty smallish), loads of different deer, birds, crazy insects, huge spiders, wicked scenery, and no other tourists!! it was really difficult to take pictures on an elephant (some elephants are really really uncomfortable...others are amazingly smooth walkers), but sometimes when the elephant stopped to tug on some trees i was able to get some pictures off. it was pretty amazing and the handlers were generally pretty good (though sometimes, IMO, they hit them too hard, especially when it was really unecessary...we've got 4 hours in the jungle, there's no rush to make the elephant go anywhere!). however, i've heard of some places in asia where they used a metal hooked bar to hit them and they get huge open gashes, so these guys get a little bit of credit.

it think it was a ritzier type lodge cause there were older tourists and families, but a couple canadian guys and an australian women and i became eating and elephant buddies (separate affairs, of course), and it was pretty funny cause despite being in their 30s/40s, they partied like they were 18. unfortunately at this point i found out i had giardia, which at first sucked cause i was in the middle of nowhere, but then found out that one of the canadian guys had a medical cabinet in his bag!! so i got some blue pills, and some yellow ones, and life was better :) note to anyone traveling to asia: don't buy pills at home...they cost about 100 times more than it would cost here, and you don't need prescriptions for anything. just up to the counter, name all the things you want and Voila, your own medicine cabinet, almost free of charge.

oh, and note to anyone who wants to buy me a really cool gift: i would like a baby elephant. they are the cutest things EVER, and love to use their trunk to cause all kinds of trouble (grab your shoes, go through your pockets, feel your face, etc). they are too cute for words.

okay, hopefully this tides you over for now...next posts i will talk about my adventures in the air (paragliding) ending in disaster, and perhaps start talking about the trek!

marriage proposals - kathmandu and Pokhara

"Namaste!" (Namaste!), "Where are you from?" (Canada), "How old are you?" (23), "Do you have a boyfriend?" (yes), "Do you want a Nepalese boyfriend?" (no thank you), "okay, let's just be friends" (...)

this was the progression that i encountered many many times...at first it was nice, lots of friendly locals coming to walk with me through the streets of nepal...after a while though it got a bit tiring!!! I spent my last 3 days in nepal in KTM, i was really lucky getting back cause i was supposed to take the bus from chitwan (see next post), but i met a couple canadian guys who offered to give me a lift back to KTM. there ended up being a strike that day (as there seems to be often...and when a strike happens people barricade roads and cars don't go ANYWHERE for HOURS), so if i had taken the bus i wouldn't have gotten into KTM until late at night (when the strikers go away..) as it was, we took some random "roads" (i still have my doubts as to whether or not they were supposed to be driven on), and we got in around 1pm. my guide, lali (see next post), brought me around the town to see some temples; monkey temple...just as the name suggests, monkeys are everywhere. and they go through your bags, and sit a foot away from you, free of all cares..at one point i turned as i was going down the stairs of the temple and i guess there was a monkey fight cause hundreds of monkeys were flying down the stairs and i thought they were coming to get me...scary stuff; also went to boudhanat (the white temple with lots of prayer flags in picture), and a hindu area where they do their "funerals" and burn their dead bodies (then throw the ashes into the water). it was pretty interesting to sit and watch the rituals performed by families...though it kinda felt weird cause it was so public. oh, and bonus: kim looks thai so she didn't get charged at any of the temples (tourists have to pay an entry fee).

that night went out and had "tonga". i wish i had brought my camera cause this drink was COOL...it came in a huge wooden beer mug and was just little balls of millet, to which you add hot water and drink it through a metal straw (pinched at the end so that you don't suck up millet) after it soaks up millety goodness...it was super cheap, and it's the drink that just keeps giving. you just keep filling up your mug with hot water. that night my guide and his friend brought my to a bar, where there was live singing (girls versus guys, in Nepalese). i can't say i'm a fan of nepalese music (the girl singing is kinda reminiscent of caterwauling, in my opinion), but the instrumental background is nice, and the dancing is very uninhibited (lots of arms flailing and spinning around), which is pretty good stuff. unfortunately, a drunk, older Nepalese guy put his arms around my shoulders at one point (he was short, so it was kinda awkward), and Lali (my guide) freaked out and threw him off me...almost starting a fight in the bar (thank god for his really happy friend who seemed to calm things down). so, that was the end of my nepalese bar experience, and i promptly went home.

the next day i did lots of shopping; you have to bargain hard in nepal, which is my least favourite thing EVER...i feel as though you never really feel happy when you come out cause either you pay too much cause you don't want to bargaining, or you feel like you're cheating the local people out of money cause really all you're bargaining for is a few dollars...and some locals definitely need the money. luckily i had lali with me, so i basically pointed at something i wanted and he would bargain for me...i'm pretty sure i saved tons of money :D

so, flew out of nepal into bangkok (previous post)...had lots of rupees at the end of the trip so i bought lots of chocolate for andy and I at the airport (9 chocolate bars...mmm...but no Reese's PB cups :( ). Also, enjoyed momos and Dal Bhat (the only two truly nepalese foods, as far as i could tell) on my last night (momos = dumpling goodness and dal bhat = unlimited rice, curries, pickles, yoghurt; all eaten by hand, which takes a little getting used to, but i think i mastered the art!) with british/australian Kate and Tim (who i will call UK in future posts to make things easier for me) and andy, all friends from the trek.

bar hopping Bangkok style

The last two days were spent in Bangkok...flew in from Nepal with my friend Andy (met on the trek), since he was only going to be in bangkok for 13 hours we hit up khao san road (backpacker ghetto...not excatly the best introduction to bangkok, but the only thing open at night). it was pretty painful to be back in such a place, especially since nepal was so peaceful, but at least i got my touristy food fix (thai pancake = nutella and bananas on friend crepes; pineapple on a stick; iced coffee; lemon shake...mmm). i stayed in a "dorm room" that night, which consisted of three mattresses on the ground pushed together to form one big bed. there wasn't even a place to put my bag (it ended up sleeping on my feet), but it was late so i assumed that no one else was going to move in that night..thankfully i was right, or i would've woken up on top of some random person...i love meeting people, but i feel as though that's just no the best way to go about it.
the next morning i happened to ask some guys if they knew of a good place to stay and they said "Big John's Guesthouse"...so, i promptly hopped into a taxi, and off i went, to Big John's. It was a fabulous place - the dorm rooms were cheap..and air conditioned!! a luxury i hadn't had in a long time...and there were towels, and REAL BEDS. the mattresses were hard, but the pillows were heavenly...most places have rock pillows, which means that you wake up with a really sore ear (weird, i know; it took me a couple weeks to figure out why my ear always hurt in the morning). anyways, this place was amazing - i instantly met everyone in my dorm, and then everyone else in the place and we ended up spending the night out. i was out with 8 guys and another girl (who had never been to a bar before!!), so of course one bar turned into two bars turned into three bars...which ended up in a 7am return to the guesthouse followed by a morning beer. at bars here you can buy BOTTLES of liquor for super cheap (red label whiskey for 10 dollars)...isn't that just ridiculous? anyways, it was a good night had by all...the highlight was when we all stood around observing one of the guys in our group hitting on what we think may have been a thai lady boy (aka really hot girl who in reality is a guy) for a while. anyways, this is why laid back laos is a god-send...and i can start up my antibiotics again, cause i got giardia last week (see next post)...

Time to play catch up...

Alrighty, i've finally sat myself down in front of a semi decent computer and am going to resume the blog...i've got tons to write about, but i think i'll start the most recent and work backwards...

okay...current situation: just got into laos this morning...due to my lack of planning (flying by the seat of my pants has been the name of the game since i got back from nepal, and it's working out fabulously...97 percent of the time)....i ended up at the lao/thailand border at 4am, alone, sitting in the dark, with some random guard dog barking at me, trying to fall asleep on some random stone bench. i blame the bus system...the local VIP buses (think: A/C, fully reclining seats, a stewardess that brings you food, toilet, no foreigners-hence absolutely no english, but a lot of friendly locals who notice you're not back on the bus yet after the dinner break (which is at 11:30pm...) and make sure the bus doesn't leave without you...oops)..are super efficient (read:really really fast), so if they say you'll arrive at 6, you end up arriving two hours earlier. anyways, i got into the capital, vientiane and am enjoying the slow pace of life. not much to do here except wander aound the market, see more wats (temples), and try and learn the basics of a new language...again :D i'm trying, but it seems to me that everyone who's said 'hi' to me has said it in a different way. oh, and of course, as everywhere, i look like a local, so everyone speaks to me in laos :D
this sleepy city is a nice change, especially since i was just in bangkok and hit up a few of the bars and need a break...see next post.

let my poor calves rest.

hello everybody!!!!

first and foremost...HAPPY NEW YEAR, MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY.

*phew* now that that's out of the way...

i'm very sorry for my absence...it has been due to a 21 day trek through the mountains of nepal, which definitely was not conducive to doing anything involving electricity (i.e. emailing, blogging, or taking hot showers on a regular basis).

secondly, thank you SOOO much to those who emailed me while i was away, even though i was rudely not respoding. i have been sitting here reading through the cards and emails and am counting myself lucky to have all of you be such amazing friends and people and i love you :)

last of all, i will slowly begin blogging again and responding to emails, which may take a bit of time since 1) internet works at about the pace of ...something really slow 2) it's hard to find a decent keyboard 3) i'm traveling...i have better things to do (just kidding...kinda :) ), but mostly 4) i haven't sat in front of a computer for weeks and the thought of fighting with this particular computer for the next 19 hours (the time it would take to adequately respond to emails and post blogs) might actually kill me. oh, and i'm tired. so so tired.

so, as a bit of a teaser, i will tell you i'll talk about donkeys, cold showers, cool people, muscles beyond soreness, dal bhat, maoists, apple fritters, donkey poo, snickers bars, the new james bond movie, and more.


so happy to be back in contact with people i love :)

that is all for now.