Goodbye to Laos - 7/20/10

Last day in Luang Prabang. Up early for a good breakfast and then back to the hut to pack for our trip to Chiang Mai which means we have to leave at 11:30 a.m. for the airport. This is no easy task since we've been there 5 days. We pay the tab, and have our luggage ready to be loaded in the van only to be told it's only 10:30. Go figure! So we walk the grounds taking pictures and resting on the lounge chairs until it's time to go.

Only takes 5 minutes to get to the airport, 5 minutes to go thru immigration and security, and then we wait for our plane which arrives about 2 hours later. Nice flight to Chiang Mai -- only an hour, and we get served a boxed lunch. Arrive on time and walk off the plane to a bus which takes us to the small airport. Quick trip thru immigrations, pick up luggage and off we go to. the Dusit D2.

We have a couple of hours before being picked up for dinner so we walk the streets to get a glimpse of the night markets which we want to visit later. Our driver arrives at 5:00 to pick us up for our trip to the Le Coq d'Or Restaurant with a stop at the owner's house first. As we get out of the car, the owner, his 2 daughters and 3 dogs welcome us and oh my you should see this place. A HUGE lawn, and a table set out in the middle with drinks and appetizers, and a couple of staff. Something I've only seen in the movies. After eating and talking the owner takes us to his restaurant where we enjoy a 5 star, 5 course meal, with a very fine red wine, and pina coladas. You could have rolled us home, but his driver sent us home in a vintage London Taxi. I must say we were quite impressed.

Back to the hotel at 10:00 pm, and there's no way I'm heading to the night market -- too stuffed to walk; however, Judy just has to go to the markets, and heads out for last minute shopping. Night!

Water, water everywhere nor' any drop to drink.

Breakfast was at 8 followed by a trip to the Mountainous villages. Our trip today began here at Bel Air Villa's in a silver truck driven by the owner. This time we didn't ride in the truck bed but in the comfort of air conditioning and luxury seating. Our trip would take us 30 Kilometers from town on winding roads, past water buffalo, stray dogs, goats, cows, and countless scooters, trucks, and people on foot. The village we were going to visit was in a remote spot. The villagers have no running water, no electricity, no shoes, and barely any clothing on. Once there, we were met by the children who were weary of us never having seen white people. They quickly hid behind each other taking refuge by those who would protect them. There was an abundance of chickens and chicks running amid the children and their huts. Corn stalks, coconuts in trees, and pink zinnas could be seen behind fences made of bamboo. The children warmed up to us after their pictures were taken and they saw themselves for the first time in our cameras. After looking at the photos they became giddy, laughing at their expressions and begging for us to take more pictures.

We were led into the mountains by two young men who would show us their only water source, a hole in the side of the mountain a mile away into the jungle. We began our trek on the red slippery red clay path into the vegetation that quickly became ragged and steep. It was hard walking as the heavy wet clay stuck to our weighted sandals. We managed to make our way on the six inch wide red, ant infested, path slipping and dripping. I took my shoes off as it got easier to walk barefoot as my sanles were caked in an inch of the red wet clay. We went on and up admiring the green plants, few flowers, but not the red ants that soon discovered we tasted good. Our climb into the mountains became excruciating as the humid air quickly took the breath out of us and soaked us from the inside out. We were showering in our own perspiration and the bugs loved it. We made our way to the top breathless: ourselves and the view.

Getting down from the mountain proved to be much harder then the climb upward. We had been rested and cool before our climb up but now we were hot, tired, and sweaty. As we began the steep descent we were all slipping and having a hard time not falling. There was nothing to hold onto and the footing was very slippery. We did make it back down to the village after slogging through the swamp like trail and taking a few breaks to rest along the way.

As we came upon the villages we could hear the laughter of the children growing stronger as we came closer. They were almost cheering with excitement. We were coming back and they wanted their pictures taken! The were cute and sincere and one boy said "Thank you very much"in the English he had learned in school.

We drove back from the village past: rocks and mud that had fallen from the nearby embankments, many villages, scooters, rice paddy's, water buffalo, cows, stray dogs, goats, women, men, and children. We discovered that nobody drives on their side of the road, you may pass on a solid line, and on a hill, just put the pedal to the metal. Also, If you are talking on your cell phone put your blinker on, beep whenever a car gets to close or if there is a dog in the road or a scooter you want to pass.

Back at the villa we decided to go into "town" to a local noodle shop where I think I ate the best noodles I've ever had. Jamie and I walked back to our villa afterwards to rest and recline and yes, to sleep. We need our naps more now then ever! Tonight we are again venturing out to the night market at 6, back at 8 and then packing. Tomorrow we go back to Thailand, to Chaing Mai.

Oh, What A Day!

We woke up this morning to a pounding rain on the deck and the strum of our resident gecko. It was almost seven and we needed to get ready for our trip to elephant camp at 8:30. After a breakfast of eggs, assorted fruit (very assorted), and juice we donned our plastic ponchos and headed for the Tiger Trails van. It was raining harder as the remnants of the most current Cyclone headed towards the west. As we traveled out of Luang Prabang we passed many residents, some magnificent, some squalor. It's amazing how a house kept together with bamboo and rusted metal sheets can be beside a gated terracotta house. Mostly, housing is bamboo and metal sheeting, or whatever has been found by the river. As we headed up the mountain towards the camp the roads turned red and muddy and quickly became very slippery. Two thirds of the way up vans were off the side of the road. It was as a winter storm had hit New England, icing the roads. We continued slowly in the middle of the hill watching the vehicles in front of us slipping and sliding knowing that if we wanted to get to camp we would be walking and walking we did. As we departed the safety and security of the van the driver handed us each a bottled water, as if that would make a difference. It was pouring harder then ever, our ponchos were wet, rain was streaming down our faces, and he gave us water! It was if we were stranded in the middle of nowhere, which we were, and the bottled water was our savior (or though the driver thought). I certainly didn't need any more water. Where was this guy yesterday when it was 110 degrees and I was sweating like my dog drools?

We trekked up the steep hill with countless others continuing onto Elephant camp. We had seen water buffalo a few minutes ago but right know thee were no where to be seen. I wasn't sure if they attacked. As we began to descend the hill, toward elephant camp, a black truck came over the hill, stopped and asked if we would like a ride. We had been walking about 10 minutes by now, weighted down by all that water and jumped at the chance. This was the first time in many, many years I have ridden in the back of a pick up truck. We quickly jumped in (not really:), squatted down, and hung on to the bed of the truck for dear life as the truck sped off for Elephant Camp.

Riding the elephant was serene. It was a slow snail-like pace on a the biggest land animal in the world. We rode down an embankment into the river water past fisherman and unmentionables floating in the river. Once out of the river we slowly made our way back to the camp passing huts, chickens, and other assorted strays. Afterwards we ate a lunch of fried rice and chicken before hunkering down in an open air hut with a thatched hay roof along the river. It was beautiful.

We left elephant camp, professional elephant riders, and headed back to the Air Bel Villas where we changed into dry clothes and slept for the next few hours as riding a sixty-year-old, blind elephant in the rain is very exhausting.

Dinner, fish stew, pork, morning glories, and other foods I couldn't identify, was in town followed by a quick walk to the night market where I bought my new favorite mangosteen, fruit, eating it like popcorn while watching Angels and Demons on tv.

Tomorrow: up at five to watch the Alms and then off to the countryside to go to school.

Buddha Caves and the Mekong River 7/17/10

Had thunder and lightening storm in the middle of the night. So close it shook the hut! Yikes! But back to sleep and up early for breakfast and then into town for a boat ride up the Mekong River where it would take us to the Buddha caves. We got into our very small, long boat with 4 others and away we went. What a gorgeous view! We saw fisherman, families taking baths, and water buffalo. Stopped for oil part way up the river and then on to a 20 minute stop further up the river where there were beautiful silks, temples and a high incline to climb. Talk about walking the plank -- that's exactly what we did!!

Back to the boat and on our way to the caves. Admired some more views and the got to our destination. As we climb more steep stairs, again, we saw hundreds of old buddhas and incense. Then it was more steep stairs to more buddhas. After 30 minutes we headed back to town with great breeze blowing.

Off the boat (and more steep stairs to climb)-- time to exchange Bat to Kip and find some lunch -- which was good -- and then we hiked back to the hotel. This time we walked in the middle of the bridge!

And no, Judy, you can't keep the puppy!

Heated here in Laos 7/16/2010

We had an uneventful morning. We packed, ate a little fruit, watermelon, pineapple, and papaya, and sofit cake, and checked out of the hotel at 8 this morning, Thai time.
We arrived at the airport in plenty of time for our flight to Laos. We checked our baggage, skimmed through passport control, and the security check point. Our flight to Laos was on time. We boarded a bus that took us to our jet and once again into the steamy Bangkok air. Once in the air we were given our choice of beverage and received a meal of jasmine rice, chicken, mushroom salad, some sort of delicious cake, and tea. We are now approximately 19,000 feet above the ground with an hour to go to our destination: Luang Prabang.

We landed onto a short archaic air strip, which seemed to be in the middle of the jungle, striding to the airport, small building, to be first in line at the visa counter. On the way in we stopped for a quick swine flu test as we walked into the building. We went on to the visa counter where our passports were not be checked as their computer was down. We waited for a half hour, sweat slipping down our legs amid the chaos of trying to get the computers running. We did get through only to be stopped by immigration who would stamp our returned passports. We were then met by the owner of the Air Bel Villas himself, luggage thrown into the van, and water graciously given to us by this man. A few minutes later we were on the way and shortly were at our destination: paradise. It truly is beautiful here: the river, the huts, the people, very friendly. It is just the heat that we are having trouble getting used to.

Late this afternoon we trekked into town walking on the old bridge, hardly daring to peer down towards the reddish, muddy waters of the river. We walked awhile before finding Tiger Trails where we would sign up for elephant camp. After that we were off to the Mekong for something cold to drink while watching the sunset. During this time the sweat started pouring out of the pores we didn't know we had. The sun was beating down on us fighting the day coming to an end and we were losing 5 pounds. Afterwards we were off to the night market where families were selling anything you could imagine. We passed through to a sandwich shop where we would eat anything but lettuce. So much for a BLT. Afterwards we found a rusty, dirty, dingy tuk tuk that would drive us back to the bridge, to walk back across, in the dark. We are now back in our hut with air conditioning cooling us.

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Some more pictures for you!

Time to Catch Up!

Arrived in Bangkok at 10:30 pm Sunday night, and made it to the hotel at 1:30 a.m. Monday morning. After sitting and unpacking a few things we headed for bed. Up at 5:00 a.m. as we were being picked up at 7 by a bus for our full day tour of Bangkok. Met 2 friendly guys who where just getting in from a night in the red light district. That's another story. It was in the 90's and humid -- visited the King's summer palace first where we rented golf cart to view the 45 acres. Was very beautiful. After an hour and half, we made our way to the ruins of a very old temple, then it was on to 2 more. We rode the country side and it showed us just how poor a country Thailand is. Saw many rice fields, too. After the temple tours, we got into a big boat, had a great lunch and went down the river seeing many, many sites of old and new Thailand. After the 2 and 1/2 hour ride we finally ended up back in Bangkok where we had about a half hour to get ready for a trip to my father's for dinner. And what an adventure that was!! Rode the length of subway to his neighborhood and then took a TukTuk ride to his place....holy moly!! It was quite a ride, but we made it in one piece. Had a nice dinner of home cooked Thai food, and good company. Back to the hotel around 11:00. But then headed to the bar for a drink and snacks.

Tuesday

Finally, a day we could sleep in until 8. You should see the breakfast buffet at the Dusit Thani --- have never seen anything like it. Headed to Hua Hun shortly thereafter. Traffic here is crazy!! Scooters, buses, trucks, cars and you name it all trying for a space on the highway. It's a no wonder there aren't more accidents!! Arrived at the Dusit Thani in Hua Hin about 2 hours later. What a gorgeous hotel!!! Something out of a magazine. The pool is huge and at least 85 degrees. The beaches are long, but the water temp was at least in the 100's and no one swims in them. Saw a lot of jellyfish, too. Swam and lounged at the pool for a couple of hours, then up to the room for some wine. Does it get any better than this?

Wednesday

Up at 5:45 to walk the beach, collect seashells and watch the sunrise. Then a fanstastic breakfast and out to see the city. Saw the Kings residence and beaches of Cha'am and lunch at a side of the road restaurant (not sure if that's what you'd call it). All these food places have no doors, and very few windows. Kind of a strange feeling. Tried to see the wooden palaces but seems as though most places are closed on Wednesdays -- who knows why. Back to the hotel where we visited the horses (they play polo on the grounds of the hotel), and then visited the spa. Todays temps in the low 90's, overcast and didn't seem quite so muggy. Went swimming again, lounged around then went to the Club Lounge for appetizers. Ended tonight with a trip to the bar...pineapple daquiri and thai appetizers. Sooooooo good. Till tomorrow!!