The Beach

It probably hasn't been said often enough but Bangkok is such a refreshing city. Let me explain. We had some good luck in our last few days that led us to a chance encounter with some fellow travelers at the free hotel breakfast. Over cold coffee and an omelet we met fellow travelers from England -Frank and Sara who were 8 months into a world trip of their own going the opposite way. They were actually on the same flight to Bangkok the next day and we decided to split a cab to the airport which saved a bus ride and navigating the city. Our last memory of Vietnam was more than enough to welcome Bangkok. After paying for the cab service at the hotel we took an exciting ride to the airport. After pulling up to the terminal the cabbie was demanding more money, holding up some cash and saying "hotel mafia- you pay". He wasn't opening the trunk and Frank who was sitting in the passenger seat turned off the ignition and tried to take the keys and pop the trunk. The trunk finally opened and while I discussed the finer points of our paid receipt with the cab driver the rest of the crew safely removed our bags. With the taxi doors ajar we left the taxi driver to try and stiff someone else. It was a quick flight to Bangkok and as it was cheaper we decided to split another cab with our new travel companions. After two cab rides and a few hours in traffic we finally settled in the familiar area of Khoa San Rd. We spent that evening and the next mildly checking out the Bangkok night life and mostly people watching and discussing travel with Frank and Sara. We ran into two drunken Swiss (both nights), saw a bottle being thrown at someone on Khoa San Rd, and walked the famous Red Light district. During the day we were able to book a flight to Kathmandu for Monday the 29th giving us enough time to relax on a Thai beach. We had some tough choices with the ever popular Ko Samui and Ko Tao but with some fellow travel advice we headed to the seldom heard or visited Ko Payam (wasn't even in the guidebook) It didn't disappoint...with a short and decent overnight bus ride and a morning ferry we were on a small island with no cars and few tourists. No touts, no traffic, no worries. The only way to get around was to walk or scooter on concrete paths that criss-crossed the island. It was low season so prices are good, few people and most of the island looked deserted. Our bungalow was rustic and home to its share of cockroaches and insects but for 6$ a night and a 5 second walk to the beach there was no problem. Rain storms, good sunsets and good food filled the next few days. At one point while listening to a good tune and eating a banana pancake- I thought that it may not be possible to love a human baby as much as a good banana pancake and a Thai iced tea. We are now waiting for the night bus back to Bangkok and our flight tomorrow afternoon. We are excited for a new country- somewhere a lot different than here and like nowhere we have been before. We hope to find some volunteer opportunities there and do some trekking...

A Danang Crazy Country

My apologies in advance for a super long blog, but it takes a few words to describe a whole country and an interesting country at that. I will pick up where we left off in Vientiane, Laos. We needed to kill a day for the night bus and spent the day at Laos' only water park. The place was a little different and for the 4 or so hours we were nearly the only ones there, like we rented it for ourselves. There was a group of English speaking children taking swimming lessons for about an hour and another couple came just as we were leaving. There was about 15 or 20 staff and life guards so Melica and I felt quite safe. They had slides you could slide down with the aid of a mat and you plunged into murky green water. Later we saw a sign that said "we use ground water for all of our pools". There was also a slide that you race down chutes and they cleverly installed foam speed bumps to slow you down. Overall it was good place to relax in a somewhat dirty and typical Southeast Asian city.

We then boarded a mini-bus from our hotel to the bus station. Bus stations are notorious for illegal activity and this place looked sketchy. We got off the bus and were immediately surrounded by 6 or more touts or hassles asking where we were going. Three buses behind them said Danang - our destination. Thinking back the buses must bet paid for whoever gets on their bus irregardless of who you buy the ticket through. These guys were pushy and grabbing your arm and trying to take your bags all while you were trying to decide which bus to board and wondering if it is the correct one. We chose door #2, and i think we were relatively lucky. We were able to find a place near the rear of the bus with extra leg room and nest to a British couple and an Australian. From our bus we could see that our other two choices were filled to the max with people in the isles and 3 in a double seat. The bus ride itself was decent, quite bumpy and long, with over 22 hours of travel. The Vietnam passport control was a little weird in that we had to walk to three different stations and x-ray all of the contents of the bus. If I wouldn't have been paying attention my backpack would have been left on the conveyor belt as we drove off. We finally made it to Danang at around two in the afternoon and another traveler was getting off at the same place and i luckily asked him if he knew where he was going, as we had no idea where we were or where we wanted to go. To add to that we had no Dong (Dong is the name of the Vietnamese currency, and with such a good name we have decided it needs no snazzy nickname).

This guy was actually working near Danang and spotted us some Dong for the bus (If you were wondering how much Dong you can get for a buck, wonder no more...16,500!!). The guy also showed us a good hotel near the center, a very luck break.

Our first impression of Vietnam was "Danang where's the exit" throughout our stay in Vietnam we began to really enjoy it and yet at times really be frustrated with it...more on this later.

Danang wasn't super tourist friendly and probably not the best first stop but we just randomly picked it for its central location. We spent 1 1/2 days in Danang taking a long walk on China Beach and visiting the Marble Mountains. Danang was actually the first landing site for the Americans in the Vietnam war and American GI supposedly spent some of the free time on the beach. The beach was really quiet and stretched for miles along the South China Sea. Here we saw these fishermen getting in these small bowls that were made out of baskets and coated with rubber. They amazingly worked them through the surf and out to the open ocean for a day of fishing. One did capsize and had to start over but they all finally made it. Throughout our day in Danang the conversation included things like "Danang its hot today", "this is a Danang nice beach" and even at the ATM, I believe Melica said "Danang that's a lot of Dong".

On Friday we headed to Hoi An, about 30 km south of Danang. We took the local bus and didn't get ripped off this time as it help to keep the exact change. We got of the bus and with no other public transportation than scooters we headed off on foot. About a half an hour later we ended up walking by a nice hotel. On Friday night we walked around the old town and market with many craftsmen and women in the typical conical hats. The town had a nice feel with a water front and little shops. On Saturday we took a half day trip to the unimpressive ruins at My Son. Some had been bombed and others were just ruins. The place was like a park and the tour included lunch and little boat ride so it was a rather nice day. Mr. Hung was our guide and gave us good information on the ruins, some of his family history (his father fought for the viet Cong and his uncle was killed in the war), and he told us about the Autumn festival that was happening that night to celebrate the full moon. There is a strong Chinese influence in Vietnam and it was very evident in this festival as people decorated the town with bright colored lanterns, lit floating candles and sent them down the canals, and kid drummers and costumed lions were performing throughout the city. It was good timing that we were able to see the festival and it turned out to be a good night. The next afternoon, after some biking around Hoi An and checking out their beaches we took took a 3 hour bus ride north to the city of Hue. We were supposed to be picked up at the bus station by our hotel but they never showed, we endured 30 minutes of touts trying to get us to their hotel. We finally ended up walking and the Hotel said they were sorry and had sent someone...sure. We had started getting a little lazy as the trip progressed, just going with the flow and the main stream tour buses, hotels and the tours themselves. I think the reason may be that Vietnam was a little more chaotic than expected.

The next morning we took the DMZ tour or former Demilitarized Zone of the Vietnam War. Not really knowing what to expect and my war history is not great I was hoping for more. The tour was a bit one sided to the Vietnamese side and so were the monuments and the Khe Sahn museum. I guess in a way it is understandable that the propaganda would be patriotic for the Vietnamese, however I just wish it was a little more factual. At one stop there were two guys trying to sell rusty dog tags and medals (not sure if they were real), I was not enjoying that. We also made a stop at the Vihn Moc tunnels, supposedly used by the civilians as transport, bomb shelters and living. We spent about 15-20 minutes underground and if you were claustrophobic this was not a place for you. They were quite small and one big American emerged from the tunnels with two big brown stains on his shoulders from where they were rubbing. The tunnels went down about 60 feet on three levels. I guess the longest someone stayed in the tunnels was 5 days. Overall it was good to see these places and hope to read more about them later. There were only a few Americans on the tour and it was just a sad and solemn day knowing that so many had lost their lives in the area where we were standing...and for little or no respect.

Hue itself had a few monuments to see around the city so we spent the next full day walking around the former palace and citadel and took the night bus to Hanoi. The night bus the same as we had become used to. Not that we are sleeping more but dealing with them better. With earplugs and an airline pillow in hand we endured the next 12 hours. (almost all Southeast Asia buses have TVs that blare terrible music, TV shows or movies and even with earplugs it is loud).

We were supposed to be dropped off at the center but like we have come to expect the operators can do what they want and you have to deal with it. Vietnam more than any other country, the people can be quite annoying (hanoiing) to the point of being pushy. My advice as I get more used to it is get a sense of humor. As I was getting off the bus in Hanoi 6 or 7 guys were grabbing at us and shoving their business cards in our faces. One guy even pinched me and I pinched him right back- In retrospect I should have given him one of the old fashioned big brother tittie twisters but I had to get my bag. On every street corner either a scooter driver or cyclo driver (bicycle taxi) shouts "Hey! Hey you! Moto!" and waves his hand at you like we are best friends that haven't seen each other in a while. I've begun to get an excited look on my face and wave gleefully back, I've also started saying "No thanks, I've seen how you drive" or "I'd rather run through traffic with scissors" Some others are more difficult to respond to and you always think of the good things to say later.

Q- "You buy me nuts?"

A-"Why would I buy you nuts?"

Q "Me pick up you?"

A- "You just try it"

Q- "What you looking for?"

A- This one had me thinking...The meaning of life? Adventure? Potato Casserole?

Q- "What do you want?"

A- I heard one British guy next to me say "I want the noise to stop!" He too must have had an overdose of Hanoi.

The best thing you can do is look blankly by them and ignore them and this can even be fun because they yell louder and sometimes follow you.

It was at this point in our trip when I knew we would have to make a decision. We had been contemplating going overland through China to Nepal, Fly to Nepal, or bag the whole thing and head to Australia. We had purchased a Chinese guidebook in Bangkok and have been toting it around checking where we wanted to go, asked fellow travelers and done some Internet research to see if it was possible. We knew the visa and permits to get into china and Tibet would be a hassle but well worth it if it can be done. After checking into our hotel in Hanoi we hopped in a cab and went straight to the Chinese Embassy. It was 8 a.m. and a large group was already gathered at the gate- we read the posted information and spoke with a helpful lady in line. She said it was her third day at the embassy and hoped that she had everything. She explained that they don't allow sandals, tank tops and are only open from 8:30 to 11:30 and even if you are there at 8 am you are not guaranteed to see anyone or submit your application. The gate opened at exactly 8:30 and a shoving match ensued for the small entrance and people were vieing for position. Melica and I just stood back and watched in morbid curiosity as tempers flared and the pushing your did to get you into position placed you into a line where you stood next to the guy you were pushing against for hours.

We got our visa applications and found out that we would need entry and exit tickets and a hotel bookings in China and it would also take 4 business days. One guy told us that we could get around the rules by booking the plane tickets and hotels and cancelling them later. We took our stuff and headed to a coffee shop to think things over. It may have been at this point where we hit a temporary traveler's wall. A night bus, the Chinese embassy, Hanoi streets and a stomach ache couldn't have helped. In the end we decided we were Asia'd out and it wasn't worth risking days to get the visa and touring China only to be turned away from traveling through Tibet. I know we could have done it but it just seemed like an extreme hassle that we weren't wanting to tackle.

I guess I can also explain my feeling at this point in time by relating it to something I learned in Economics. The law of the 5th Banana (Law of Diminishing marginal utility) The first few bananas are great, 3rd OK, 4th edible, and the 5th is almost too much. I will call this the law of the 5th Country. All of the asian temples and pagodas had turned into a web of bricks and gold paint and we were left asking what next? Over a Burger and Pasta that evening we decided to bag the great hopes of a land journey through China and fly back to Bangkok (the hub of asia) and move on to Nepal or Australia at a slower pace.

I know our earlier blog may have made Bangkok look crazy, however, Bangkok in our minds is a little puppy compared to the chaos of Hanoi.

Speaking of puppies, it is sad but true that the Vietnamese cuisine does include canines. At first we were skeptical of some of the restaurants without an English menu but we have learned the name for dog meat. We have also become more aware of the lack of stray dogs here. We read in our books and I'm sure you were wondering...dark colored dogs taste better than light colored dogs and men eat more dog that women and dog is usually only eaten after the 15th of the month. For us it really hasn't been an issue except bringing new reality to the phrases we use often like "let's stop and get a scoobie snack" or "If you can't finish that we could get a doggie bag".

Overall the food has been good, soups, noodles, rice and quite a bit of fish. Nothing to blog home about though.

After booking our flight we also booked a 3 day 2 night trip to Ha long Bay for the next day. We thought it would be good to get out of the city and re-energize and re-group before our next leg. The trip was described somewhat like the blue cruise in turkey with a night on the boat (which in Vietnam is adequately called a Junk), some trekking and kayaking. We had heard from other travelers that the trips were hit and miss and you could get on some bad ones. We prepared ourselves by getting a good cheap deal well under our budget and keeping our expectations very low. We could have organized the trip ourselves but it was nice to have everything planned out and we got to meet some other travelers. A small bus picked us up at the hotel, jammed to the isle with tourists. I was afforded the privilege or curse of sitting in the front passenger seat for the 3 hour drive. You could charge a lot

for that kind of thrill ride and scenery. I have discussed before that the Asians and Turks are crazy drivers but this was nuts. Our driver like all Vietnam drivers are in a hurry and seem to have no fear. At one point we were the inside vehicle, 3 wide on a two lane road on a blind corner. Most of the other vehicles are scooters so the horn is used to move them to the side. The horn is the most essential part of any Vietnamese vehicle and some have even modified theirs to honk ten times with one push. One time a lady pulled out in front of USA and we had to slam on the brakes, once we passed her the driver proceeded to veer her direction and almost wreck her in the ditch as pay back. I saw more crazy stuff in 3 hours than almost the whole trip combined and thoroughly regret not having a video camera as words do not do it justice. I will list a few: Scooter vs. Dump truck accident, industrial section of Hanoi, power plants, industrial waste, rows of "garment" factories, people breaking rocks with sledge hammers and loading dump trucks with baskets, crazy things being carried on scooters- 4'x6' mirror, bathtub, windows, re-bar, ducks, 10 baby pigs in a basket cage, 2 large pigs upside down and hog tied, a family of 5 commuting. On the return trip I saw two more accidents one very serious and just happened...not good. It is not rare to see people even texting and scooting, I may have also seen a woman on the back of a scooter breast feeding although I cannot confirm it.

Our trip started with us switching boats a couple of times and cruising through the limestone karsts and amazing scenery. We landed at the island of Cat Ba and transfered to the hotel for dinner. It was a nice place overlooking the bay. The next morning we got an early start with a jungle trekking/sweating trip. Most of the hikers complained the whole way and were ill prepared wearing flip flops and carrying large bags. Melica I found the hike to be nothing compared to our previous hikes in Thailand and Mt. Olympus. In some weird way with our expectations so low throught the 3 day trip we found joy in other peoples discomfort as they were so negative and complained about everything from the hike to the not sticking to the itinerary. The hike was good and ended at a good overlook of the bay and national park. That afternoon we boarded the boat and checked out some caves and we were supposed to stop for swimming but didn't end up stopping until after dark. A few of us jumped in, the water was warm if not a little unnerving as we had seen quite a few jelly fish earlier in the day. The evening turned out to be what made the trip, after dinner we hung out on the deck and watched the sunset, listened to music and swapped stories with other backpackers.

The next morning was another early one, we went kayaking around the bay in a heavy rain. We headed back to port for lunch and another exciting ride back to Hanoi.

Yesterday, our last full day in Hanoi turned out to be very good. After risking our lives at every intersection and once again being amazed at the kamikaze drivers we walked to the prison where American fighter pilots including John McCain were held during the war. It was nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton. They had a decent museum and some good photos. We also made it to Lennin park which was great for people watching. The park had a lime green pond (smelly and dirty yet people were swimming in it..yum) with swan paddle boats cruising by, old men doing strange excercises throughout the park (back arches over a park bench- toe walking backwards), We also saw about 5 weddings or wedding photo shoots as well as many badmitton games.

Today we fly out to Bangkok and have some time to reflect on the country of Vietnam. After a few periods of not liking it at all-- I think we are leaving with a feeling that the place is just very unique and like all places have gems and not so desirable areas but overall a very colorful and beautiful country. I remember seeing a sign in our first few days in vietnam and now it makes more sense than ever. I first thought it was like many asian signs that lose some meaning in translations such as "clean food good testes" but this one through translation couldn't have been more right on. It said..."Have an interesting stay in Vietnam!" And that we did...

Don't Panic it's Organic

After Luang Prabang we decided to head to Vang Vieng. We were skeptical of the tour agencies and tried to do the next leg ourselves - as the locals do. We were up quite early on Tuesday morning and on a full bus by 6:30. We were the only falang or foreigners on board. I can't say if we are going to have any worse bus rides than that one, but I hope so. It was terrible. The Laos people either have extremely weak stomachs or all drank a lot the night before. No less than 10 people were throwing up into plastic bags all around us. The road was windy, muddy and pretty narrow. The guy behind us was chain-smoking the whole way (no smoking signs all over) and the windows didn't open. We held it together and about 7 hours later we couldn't have been happier to be in Vang Vieng. Looking back we should have taken the tourist bus that left later and cost $2 more but we didn't know at the time.

We grabbed some much needed lunch and took a tuk-tuk to an organic farm we read about in the guidebook- it was about 3km outside of the town. We heard that it organized volunteering and teaching and it was nice that it was outside of the city. Vang Vieng was much like we had heard...many bars, tourist shops and restaurants with TVs on. Most of the restaurants had "Friends" episodes playing all the time and the ones that weren't were showing "Family guy". People were just sacked out watching TV in a place with great scenery outside. There was a big party scene here so the farm was a nice quiet escape. On Tuesday night we went with some other volunteers to a couple English classes, introduced ourselves and helped out a bit. The next morning we showed up for farm volunteering but could not find anyone to point us in the right direction. We weren't worried about it so we rented some bikes. We heard there were some good caves and lagoons outside of town and we spent the day biking a huge loop. We met a British guy on a dirt bike who had a map and told us he was doing the loop...we didn't realize how far it was but there was no turning back. We rode bikes much like the "Charming Turbos" from Thailand this time they were called "24 City". We rode them through creeks, carried them through knee deep water, shin deep mud, across narrow bridges, and at one point we reached a swift moving creek/river that we had to pay a guy to take us across on a bamboo raft. The Laos people make a buck wherever they can and charge you to go across bridges, into caves, and swimming holes. I don't think they owned them - simply whoever showed up first gets to take the money. Regardless, the scenery was great- limestone pillars, rice fields, small villages and farms, a huge cave with a Buddha inside. We finally made it back to English class, tired and muddy. Basically our week was filled with bike riding and sight seeing during the day and English class for an hour each night. All of the longer English classes were already being taught by other long-term volunteers. I made some friends from the evening class and they told us about places to explore during the day and by the end of the week they had invited me to go fishing and inter tubing on the weekend. Saturday morning we volunteering fixing stuff around the youth center. It rained a lot the night before so the river was running really high and muddy so we weren't able to go fishing but tubing was still on the agenda. So at around 11, i went tubing with the kids and Melica went to town and emailed. I was a bit skeptical (read scared) The river was high and muddy with a lot of trees hanging over into the river, but I just went with it. We walked quite a ways through rice fields and under barb-wired fences and finally got to some water. We tubed for a way and got dumped in a few rapids and stopped for a snack. These kids (14-16) were very resourceful...on the way they went in the bushes and came out with sugar cane to snack on and at our snack stop they climbed a tree and got some Asian eggplant things, leaves, and had a small plastic bag of spicy fish that they ate together - too spicy for me but I was having a great time. We got back on the tubes and headed down the river to a bar. One of the main attractions in Vang Vieng is tubing and they have bars all along the river with rope swings and zip lines to entice you to stop and drink. As you float by they throw a rope to you reel you in. We stopped at one and did a really cool rope swing. We then broke for lunch and met up later with Melica. They took us to a sketchy narrow bridge that the locals used to cross the river to the farm fields. These guys had become our tour guides (and hopefully their English improved) and Melica and I took them out to dinner and ice cream. They were poor country kids and didn't know what to order, they wanted me to choose for them - in the end 3 beef steaks and a pizza was ordered. They showed us to a local Lao ice cream place with only one flavor -coconut and it came in bricks and it was good. We rode back to the farm in the dark with the aid of our headlamp while being chased by a barking dog who the Laos kid said "it was Chinese and crazy".

English classes were only Tuesday through Friday and for one hour a night, even though were were really liking it and thinking that were were making a difference there really wasn't enough to keep us there longer. So we said our goodbyes. Throughout the week we also helped out a bit on the farm. We were probably more in the way than a huge help but it was fun to see how the organic farm worked and what they did. We milked some goats, made some cheese, trimmed some mulberry bushes, and fed the animals. It was a good week and really enjoyed the laid back and rewarding time.

On Sunday we tried to get an early start and got to the bus station by about 8:30. (As a side note our Tuk-tuk driver was wearing a Terrell Owens jersey on the opening Sunday of the NFL season, probably by accident, but what a great coincidence) From our last travel experience we were quite weary of what we would step into. The cheapest and the only mode of transportation that was leaving in the next three hours to Vientiane was a pick-up with two bench seats in the back. It wasn't actually that bad, fresh air and decent views and only 4 hours this time.

Vientiane, the capital of Laos has around 200,000 people. Someone described it as the slowest moving capital city in the world. It is pretty low key here with many coffee shops, the Mekong river flowing by, some old french buildings, and relatively little traffic. There really isn't that much to do here so today we got our Vietnam Visas, went to the US Embassy to get more passport pages and went to a few monuments on bike. Tomorrow we are taking an overnight bus to Da Nang, Vietnam. We also stumbled upon the biggest/only water park in Laos and will probably spend some time there tomorrow.

Northern Thailand and the Mekong

We arrived in the northern capital of Thailand-Chang Mai around the 25th of August. It is here where we stayed in the worst guest house and the best. Our first night was a shady damp place, loud and a possible fight may have broken out in the middle of the night. We found a great hotel for only 10 dollars a night that we were able to call home for 4 nights while we explored the city and surrounding area. Most of the tourism here is geared to hill tribe trekking, we had done our jungle sweating adventure and didn't feel like staring at villagers and taking pictures of them living their lives. We spent a couple days walking the city and markets. We wanted to get out of the city so we foolishly rented another scooter. The rental guy said our destination was quite a ways away and that his tour could take us in an air conditioned van...where is the adventure in that? We rented a 125 cc scooter this time and headed for the Doi Inthanon National park. The traffic was worse than our last scooter experience as this is a town of 1.6 million. Defensive driving at its best. After about an hour on a busier road we made it to the National park and it was a nice paved road that wound up the hills with stops at several waterfalls. We finally made it to the top of the mountain, the highest point in Thailand. It became quite cloudy so the view was obstructed but it was a nice trip up the mountain. Our gas gauge was a little sticky, as it was over half full at the bottom of the hill and into the red when we stopped at the top. Luckily it was down hill and we coasted for quite a while. We stopped at a roadside fruit stand and were told that there was fuel only a kilometer away...it was pumped from a barrel in a dirt hut and probably twice the going rate but lucky. The ride back was more of the same, in most of the countries we have visited they play the game of "bigger car" where the larger vehicle has the right of way.

We took a cooking class. It was an all day event of going to the market, cooking 5 different dishes, and eating a lot. The teacher was plump and cheerful and we also met some nice Canadians that we met for drinks later. All around a good day.

We were running out of things to do that did not involve temples, guided tours, and pushy tuk-tuk drivers. We ended up at the zoo and to our surprise it turned out to be a great time. It had been forever since either of us had visited a zoo and this was a good one. It was only a few dollars to get in and there couldn't have been more than 20 people in the zoo the whole day. The security was super lax, the only place we saw workers was protecting the panda exhibit. Our map was a poorly photo copied piece of paper that had been photocopied too many times, we couldn't tell if we were heading to the restroom or the monkey exhibit. At one point we found a couple throwing some jungle bears slices of bread and they were fighting for them...did I mention this was a great place? Most of the animals were from southeast Asia and they actually had good information in front of the animals. Some of the highlights were the pandas, sugar bears, and a Tiger couple.

On our way north from Chang Mai we stopped at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center. This is a place where they care for, rehab and retire elephants. There was an elephant show where the elephants painted, moved logs, and lifted their trainers (it was a mahout).

Melica took a bumpy ride on one of the big buggers. We saw some babies, and waited for a bus in the rain to Chang Rai.

Also in those last few days that ran together I decided I needed a massage after all the hiking we had done. I had had a Thai massage once before, and my memory isn't that good so I decided to get another. Frankly it is quite an unusual and awkward experience that everyone should try while in SE Asia. Here is how it goes...you are given baggy pants and shirt to put on and are instructed to lay on a mat on the floor. The small lady who speaks little English proceeds to take your limbs and appendages and bend them in different directions. At first I thought I may have been on a hidden camera show but is was for real. It could also be explained as being under amnesia (relaxed and fearful to fight back) while still being able to feel everything. The strong little hands, knuckles, feet (yes feet) are roughly massaging your body...when the masseuse is done with say a foot, she slaps it and shakes it and moves on to the next. Of the moves I remember, was the one where she dug her heel into my quadriceps while pulling on my foot, another one was where somehow my back was pulled across her knees while she pulled on my arms from the back. A few times she stopped to see if I was OK, which was nice but then kept going. It finally ended, I handed the small unassuming lady the equivalent of $4.50 and slowly backed away while she just grinned. I had just lost a one sided fight, I actually felt pretty good, but maybe because i knew it was over...as a side note I had a very sore knee the next few days??

Our next stop was Chang Rai, a northern Thai city with some good markets and more chances to visit the hill tribes. We moved on to the border town of Chang Khong, a small town with its only real assets the Mekong river and a jumping off point to Laos or a first stop in Thailand. We had our last Thai meals and strolled the town.

We were one of the first in line for Thai passport departures and after about an hour we had been stamped through, a large group had gathered and we all crossed the Muddy Mekong to Laos. The Laos visa was issued on arrival and not too big of a problem. The only issue was trying to pay the correct amount. Our new currency is now the Laos Kip, or Kibble as we call it. One dollar is roughly 8500 kibbles. Just this morning I took out 3/4 of a million kibbles from the ATM. We then caught the "slow boat" to Luang Prabang. This was a two day journey that stopped at some villages and over night at one town. The seats were wooden benches and most all the passengers were backpackers. After we found a good book and a life jacket for a seat cushion we were set. The scenery was great with amazing green hills and mountains for the whole trip. The sad part was that high water/flooding had happened about a month ago and you could see some of the damage. You could also see how high the water had been by the brown marks on the hill side and how high the plastic bags and garbage were stuck in the trees. The river is quite polluted with garbage and dead animals floating in it (pigs), villagers still swim and wash in it... for two days it was like we were cruising down the river of chocolate milk. We are now in Luang Prabang, Laos. A nice place on the Mekong river. From our few days in Laos it is not much different than Thailand. Probably a little less crowded, more laid back, and a strong french influence. A nice change to have baguettes and pastries for breakfast. So far we have taken a boat ride up a tributary of the Mekong to a clear waterfall with a bunch of cascading pools. The boat ride was actually quite scary through rapids with an underpowered motor in a little wooded boat. That was our last boat ride for a while. Today we spent the morning at a center where school kids can practice their English conversation skills. The kids were pretty funny and we had a good time. We will be heading south tomorrow to Vang Vieng. All is well.