Bienvenue au Laos

    The atmosphere in Luang Prabang was relaxed, laid back, and very 'chill,' which was a nice feeling to have after our 3 day adventure down the Mekong River. Laos was the first new country I had been to since I originally arrived in Indonesia, which was almost 3 months ago! That meant adjusting to a new countries people, customs, cultures, etc. all over again. Having come from Thailand, Northern Thailand to be exact, where I had really grown to love the graciousness and kindness of the people there, arriving in Laos took some getting used to. Firstly, they drive on the right side of the road! I haven't been around that since leaving Canada at the beginning of March. It took biking on the wrong side of the road and looking both ways in the opposite order, a few times, before getting the hang of it. Maybe that experience will help my adjustment when I arrive back in North America so I'm not such a hazard on the road. Apart from the driving thing, Jenny and I both found the people in Laos not as friendly or welcoming as what we had experienced in Thailand. In general, they were not as open to helping us when we were lost or had questions, and the heckling was very persistent. That being said, as has been the way in all places I've visited, there were some wonderful people as well. Including, an old friend from high school who now lives in Laos with her Laos boyfriend! It was great seeing the two of them and spending a few days catching up. They were full of tips and ideas of where Jenny and I should visit, what places we should see and where we should eat.

Kuang Si Falls

Pak Ou Caves

    We spent a nice long five days in Luang Prabang renting bikes, touring ourselves around the beautiful French-inspired city, stopping in at French bakeries for lunch, visiting temples, strolling through the night market, taking
walks along the Mekong River, treating ourselves to a massage, jumping through natural pools and waterfalls at Kuang Si Falls and being awestruck at the sight of the Pak Ou Caves and the hundreds of Buddha statues that live inside. The architecture in LP was fascinating to see. Old colonial buildings lined the streets and had either been turned into spas, restaurants, galleries, guesthouses or unfortunately left to be haunted.

    Jenny and I woke up extra early on our last day in Luang Prabang for the daily ritual of tak bat - alms giving ceremony. Every morning, before sunrise, monks walk single file through the town and collect alms from locals and Buddhists, who position themselves along the roads, ready to hand out rice, crackers, cookies, or anything they choose to give. We had read and heard about this ritual and talked to Jenny L (friend from high school) and her boyfriend about it, in order to receive more information on what the ceremony actually means, and how to properly take part in it. Feeling slightly tentative about going, as I had read a number of reviews about how tourists have tainted the morning ritual, Jen and I set off, ready with our rice and found a spot on the sidewalk. Jenny L had described her reasoning behind taking part in the ritual, without actually practicing the religion, in a way that I liked. You are there to give and present the monks with good karma, and they in return bestow good karma back onto you. With this in mind, I found taking part in the ceremony very peaceful and soothing, though the reviews about tourists were correct. It was as though the monks were on display for some sort of show. Vans and taxis rolled onto the streets emptying out loads of people, all ready with their cameras, and most of which were not dressed appropriately to be there. Some were standing back and being more respectful, where as others were getting right up in the faces of the monks, getting in the way of the procession and frankly being quite oblivious to what was actually going on. Seeing this left me with mixed feelings after the ceremony. Feeling as though even by taking part, and going to the ceremony with a purpose, and understanding the ritual, was it really the right thing to do.

St. Joseph Cathedral

Hanoi Prison

    A very late flight on our last day in Luang Prabang had Jenny and I arriving in the capital of Vietnam - Hanoi. Wow! Was it ever a crazy city and a shock to the system. Even more so than Bangkok, in my opinion. We were welcomed into the city with the sound of honking that I would almost put on the same level as Sri Lanka and a lack of road rules that I haven't seen since Sri Lanka either. Where we were staying was a friendly and new hotel in the heart of the Old City and thankfully built with sound-proof windows and walls. We had one full day to explore Hanoi before heading off to Halong Bay, so we set off bright and early, with a purpose. Covering a lot of ground, we managed to visit a Chinese Temple on the water, the St. Joseph Cathedral, the Opera House, the Hanoi Prison Museum, a number of shops, and the water puppet show at night. Hanoi felt very Parisian - with roundabouts, streets and buildings all reflecting what one might see in France. I was captivated by the architecture once again, although trying to look up at the buildings rising 6 stories into the sky, was a mistake as you'd likely get hit by a car or a motor bike in return for being curious. Every now and then I would stop (in a safe place) to look up at the narrow yet tall buildings, all stuck together with beautiful, smooth, cream-colored exteriors with rounded bay windows, and Juliette balconies or colorful, textured exteriors with plants and clothes overflowing balconies.

    Being in Vietnam only 24 hours, quickly proved it would be the first country where being a vegetarian was going to be hard and complicated. Every item on a menu included meat and when posing the question, 'May I have that with no pork?' they would respond, 'Okay, chicken instead.' Jenny and I have both managed though and are far from starving ourselves! From Hanoi, we were scooped up and taken to Halong Bay where we had prearranged a night out in the bay, sleeping on a boat. After a slight mix up on my part, booking the wrong day for the boat, all was sorted and we were boarding the Golden Lotus and setting sail for the 2000 islands that makeup Halong Bay. Our 24 hours on the boat was packed with visits to beaches, exploring amazing caves, making spring rolls on board, squid fishing at night and kayaking after breakfast, all the while being surrounded by limestone islands growing from the water and beautiful views that went for miles. Our sleep in our little cabin by the engine room was far from restful, but luckily we had our 4 hour bus ride back to Hanoi to catch up on some sleep before jumping on another night flight hop down to Danang, Vietnam.

Danang with a view

    Our visit to Danang was a last minute decision as we hadn't heard much exciting reviews of the city, but were we ever glad we made the 2-day stop. Danang is really only known for it's white-sand beaches but judging by the look of development throughout the city, my guess is it's going to be quite the resort haven in the next 10-20 years. Perfectly paved roads, beautifully landscaped boulevards, palm tree-lined boardwalks - all very Miami - just lacking the buildings and resorts to support it. While lying on the beach, soaking up the rays, and seeing a sign for Parasailing, Jenny decided she wanted to try parasailing for the first time! (I offered to sit in the boat as I had done it before, and well, heights aren't really my thing). Through some very broken English conversations with a woman on the beach, we were all of a sudden being ushered towards a man on a seadoo who had come out of nowhere and was waiting in the water just beyond the break. As it was all happening so fast, we still had all of our stuff with us - clothes, towels, 2 cameras and 2 cell phones. Ideal water accessories if you ask me! Not wanting to leave it behind, and instead deciding to trust the stranger on the seadoo to keep our things dry, Jenny and I piled onto the back of the seadoo and moments later were crashing through the waves.....getting soaked. The seadoo ride turned out to be completely pointless as it was only to take us about 500m up the beach to where the parasail was waiting. We jumped off and back onto land, checked all of our stuff was still fine and dry (yes) and then split up. I was being taken back on the seadoo, out to the boat that was anchored some meters out in the sea, and Jenny was being strapped into her harness to prepare for her 'from land' start. We left our bag on the beach with the company and all I took with me was my (waterproof) camera, and Jenny's phone, wrapped up tightly in a towel. Crashing through the waves once again, I managed to arrive at the boat in one piece, dry, sighing a breath of relief that all the stress was over. The man on the seadoo then grabbed the line from the boat and motored back to shore to hook Jenny up. Oh, did I mention, none of the people we were working with spoke English, so everything was being communicated through with hand gestures.

    Sitting on the boat with the driver, bobbing up and down in the choppy water, letting myself relax again, looking out into the distance at the shore to see Jenny getting ready, I all of a sudden turned to face the front of the boat to see a sizable wave forming in front of us, ready to crash right over the boat. Yelling 'LOOK' at the driver who was focused on what was happening on shore, came out of my speechless mouth too late, as the 6-foot wave crash right on top of us. His reaction? Laughter. Mine? Pure horror as I, plus Jenny's towel-wrapped phone were now soaked...and I lost my sunglasses off my head. One big wave, usually means another, which in this case was true and we were unable to get out of the situation before another wave crashed over top of us, filling the boat with more water, terrifying me further and this time completely breaking the glass of the windshield on the boat. Still, the driver didn't seem to mind and we were suddenly going full speed ahead as I looked back to see Jenny motoring her little legs on the sand before making lift off into the sky and slowly rising tens of feet up into the air. I unwrapped the towel parcel to find the phone was still dry and snapped away as she enjoyed the view from the air.

    We are now in Hoi An which is about 25 minutes south of Danang, and absolutely loving it. The city is filled with history, old buildings, museums, assembly halls, cluttered canals, Tailors, restaurants, hotels, and lanterns galore. After 5 days here, settling in and being able to unpack a bit, we will be off to Ho Chi Minh City!

XOXO Nicky
       

Chiang Mai Loving

Rocket Festival

    After spending a week living in Chiang Mai at Nick's, feeling a bit like a local - eating lots of local street food, going for daily walks to and from the Old City, spending hours motorbike shopping/browsing, doing laundry, cleaning the house and visiting small town Annual Rocket Festivals - it was time for Jenny to arrive! The idea of Jenny joining me arose the night of my going away party and lucky for me, grew from there over the months I've been gone, into her arriving in my arms! Chiang Mai was a wonderful place for us to start our adventure together as I was already very familiar with the city and have grown to love it very much. It helped for Jen to have a smooth transition into where we were, the culture, the people, etc. Her own personal tour guide (according to her, of course)!

    We hit the ground running with a pre-arranged day-long tour on Jen's first full day. We were picked up bright and early by the same lovely driver and tour guide that had snatched Jen from the airport the previous day. They dropped us at Spice Bike Tours where we met our very energetic, and friendly bike tour guide, Ji. The 3-hour bike ride was such a wonderful way to see the city, and a way I hadn't experienced even after spending a total of 3 1/2 weeks in the city. Some of the stops we made were to places I had seen before, but having Ji there was a great way to learn more about the temples and sights. Though, about an hour in she had nicknamed me Nickipedia after I couldn't help finishing her sentences. Guess I knew more than I even realized.

    Ji led us out to the outskirts of the city, where we were all of a sudden surrounded by a village of ruins. It was incredible and something I had never seen before! There were a number of sights within Wiang Kum Kam that had been dug up and all that remained were the foundations of old temples. Some more destroyed than others, some bigger than others.

    The rest of our day was filled with lunch and a trip up to Doi Suthep (again, for me) as well as a temple located in the forest. Both Jenny and I were exhausted by the time we were dropped back off at our humble abode. Later in the week we tried our hand at some Thai cooking, Jenny took a day to practice her elephant mahout skills, we discovered a pool just outside the Old City for some cool down and in the blink of an eye it was Sunday and time to begin our trek to Laos!

    The van pulled in roughly 45 minutes late, already filled with our 8 co-passengers and we set off for the highway with Chiang Khong being our final destination for Day 1 of 3. Quite shortly after leaving the city and heading for the mountains, the heavens opened up, the rain started showering down and strangly enough, our driver became more aggressive on the slippery, winding roads - tailgating cars and passing on blind corners. He thought he was the next Sebastian Vettel I suppose. Don't worry, our piece of mind was soon reassured when he quickly slammed the brakes but then sped off and we all looked out the window to see a car in the oncoming lane, swirving out of control.

The White Temple

    A few nauseous, yet scenic hours into our ride, we pulled over into a little coffee shop on the road for lunch and a quick brake. 30 minutes later, we were on the road again, this time the rain coming down harder, but thankfully on roads that were slightly straighter. Driving in and out of towns that if you blinked you would have missed them, I noticed us drive under a highway sign that read 'Welcome to Chiang Rai,' and 20 minutes later we were pulling up in front of the famous White Temple, which I had been dying to see ever since arriving in Northern Thailand in May. Though it was almost as dark as night, with rain still lightly coming down, the temple was as beautiful as I had imagined. If anything, the white and silver gave a striking contrast with the background setting.

    The drive to Chiang Khong was perfectly picturesque. We passed through fields of rice paddies, and tiny villages, all the while being surrounded by overbearing mountains and hills covered in lush greenery.

    The van arrived at a hotel that I recognized from (horror story) reviews, but certainly did not recognize from the pictures of the trip we had booked. It was the Pink Prison - prison turned hotel - that saw everyone pile out of the van, except Jenny and me, according to our driver. PHEW! We felt for everyone who was staying there and ended up quite a bit happier when the van showed us down the road to our hotel. The only spot in Chiang Khong with a pool! Mind you, guest or no guest, you were expected to pay. The rooms were basic - fan, bug nets, no private loo - and located in a log cabin. Lots of bugs, so we sprayed ourselves and our room down with a toxic amount of deet.

    After a restless sleep on our cement beds and boulder pillows, we were up for breakfast and out the door to another van, which took us to the Thai Departure Hall. Luckily, our hotel had taken care of the Laos Visas for us so we didn't have to worry, unlike some. Bye bye Thailand and on to a coach bus to take us over the river and into Laos Immigration. Through there and into the back of a make shift pick-up truck turned 10-seater safari truck, with our bags on the roof! This time, we were driven to a stop to purchase any last minute snacks, make reservations, etc (none of what we needed) and 45 minutes later we were back in that truck....that had sent one gentleman's bag flying from the roof earlier. At this point it had started raining and we still had a 15 minute drive (in the opposite direction to our boat's direction) to get to the 'pier.' A line of 10 slow boats greeted us and we were all shuffled into one (all 60 of us), given a bag for our shoes, dropped our bags through a hole in the floor and Jenny and I found ourselves in the last row. By this point, both of our patience were being tested as we had set off at 7:30AM and it was now 11:30, but soon the boat was pulling out into the river, the breeze was blowing and we were sailing by all of the places we had been at earlier in the morning. The boat wasn't too bad. Comfortable seats that were likely originally seen in cars, a little bar at the back for purchase of snacks and drinks, a bathroom you would only set foot in if you were desperate, and at the way back, behind all this, what looked like the Captain's Quarters...aka the Captain's 24/7 house. He even had his washing hanging out the back!

Slow boats galore! 

    The cruise down the river was beautiful and unlike what I was expecting. More green hills and and mountains bursting out of the ground, tiny villages every few kilometres, random solo shacks in the middle of absolutely nowhere, water buffalo grazing by the shore, white sand beaches, and the most corn fields (on the slanted hills) that you ever did see! 6 hours and a few stops (to drop off locals) later, we arrived in the small town of Pak Beng. It was quickly evident that this town thrived off of the daily stops made by slow boats making there way to and from Chiang Khong and Luang Prabang. Restaurants' hours were designed around the arrival and departure of the boats (6AM opening for breakfast), a rep from all the hotels in the town were at the dock waiting to hassle people, and you could order things like take away boxed lunches for your next boat ride.

    Jen and I settled into our lovely private hut-styled hotel with a beautiful view of the river, and set out for dinner. With no Kip in hand, we wanted our first stop to be the one ATM, located at the edge of town. As we were taking the steps up to the ATM the power went out,  town-wide. Thankfully without either of our cards in the machine. The power came back on shortly after, and right back off again,  so we decided on dinner first. By the end of the night the power had gone off 6 times, we had induldged in a tastey Indian dinner, money eventually showed itself from the machine for one of our cards, and we were comfortably nestled into our bed, exhausted from the day's travels.

Mekong River Family

    6AM on day 3 came quick enough, but allowed us enough time to enjoy a well balanced breakfast, get our boxed lunch for the boat, pack up our stuff and score some much better seats on the boat. We were joined by Merry and Morris who were the beautiful Australian couple we had met in our first van from Chiang Mai. Sitting with them helped the this time, 9-hour boat ride pass by as we chatted away and sailed by more mountains, wildlife, and dirty river water.

    On arrival in 'Luang Prabang,' we fell victim to a scam I had read about online, where the boat will pull in to a stop approximately 20km ahead and claim it is Luang Prabang and that everyone needs to deboard. There were some passengers on board who had read the same stories as me or had actually taken the boat before and knew we were being tricked. We attempted to protest the claim and stay on the boat, with our bags, but eventually (after about 20 minutes) gave in to trekking up the hill to find a well oiled operation of tuk tuks and ticket givers, waiting to take our money and drive us into the city. A frustrating and dishonest way to be welcomed in to this beautiful city but once we arrived at our hotel, our previous troubles melted away. Home for the next 5 days will be a brand new, friendly, centrally located, clean and air-conditioned guesthouse. Jenny and I are looking forward to exploring what this city has to offer before we make our way to Vietnam! 

XOXO Nicky

Happy Canada Day!

HAPPY CANADA DAY

    Might as well start this with the obvious...Happy 147th Birthday Canada! Doing my best to represent the country right, as I wonder the streets of Bangkok, and take self-timer pictures with my Canada badge along side the Chao Praya River. Thinking of everyone back home and wishing I could find a roman candle or two to light off here. Attempted to visit the Canadian Embassy today to catch a glimpse of the flag or some reminder of the wonderful country I come from, but it turns out our embassy is not nearly as exciting as the US or German Embassy here, and is in fact just a floor in an office building. That is something I'm finding though - the further into my travel I get, the more excited I find myself when I see a Canada flag, or badge on someone's bag, or symbol on a t-shirt. I think we Canadians are pretty great!

    Moving on....after a fairly emotional 'see you soon' with the amazing friends and family I had the pleasure of spending the last 7 weeks with in Bali (most importantly, Inka), I was off in the direction of the next chapter to my adventure, and packed like a sardine into an Air Asia plane, headed for Bangkok. One perk to being a sardine with a window seat, was looking out to see us flying level with the volcano I had climbed! Poking through the clouds, it was hard to miss. I made it safe and sound to my little hostel yesterday afternoon and spent the evening planning my stops and route for today's exploration...first stop being the Vietnam Embassy. It was definitely quite the change to go from my little village of Penestanan, back into the throngs of a large city, but everything started to feel more normal this morning. 

    As Jocelyn and I got very good at when we toured through Singapore, Malaysia and Chiang Mai, I set off this morning on foot, at the crack of dawn to get the process of this Vietnamese Visa rolling. Iced coffee in hand, I found the embassy with no trouble, no line (as I was the first one there), and was in and out within 20 minutes. Plus, with the news that I could have the visa processed within two days at lesser of an added cost than what it will be to stay in a hostel in Bangkok any longer. Seeing as I was out so early, not much was open yet, so I wondered around the (smelly) city until 10AM, when I could take a peak into the monstrous MBK (shopping mall). MBK is 7 stories high and spans across the equivalent of, maybe, 5 city blocks by 5 city blocks. It was HUGE. And filled with the cheap version of anything you could possibly want. One entire floor is dedicated entirely to electronics. Cool to see, happy to get out, realizing as I stepped out onto the sidewalk that I had missed some sort of monsoon and not even known it!

    On recommendation from my grandmother, my next stop was the Jim Thompson Museum. The story of Jim Thompson - what he did, the house he built, (and his unknown disappearance) - is fascinating and from the stories I had heard from my Buzzy, this spot was a must-see! I stumbled across the back of the museum as I was walking along the river, found my way to the front and walked into the most gorgeous entrance and courtyard this city probably has. Immediately it felt like I had been transported somewhere into the countryside and was now standing in the middle of beautiful gardens. I arrived just in time to join an English tour that had only just begun, and was shown around the different rooms of the house, had various art and artifacts explained, and learned more about the man behind it all. No cameras were allowed inside, so what you see here is what I got after the tour and was free to roam around the grounds.   

   

     The rest of my day was spent walking up and down streets (highways), coming across countless malls (including a neo-classical building turned luxury 'mall' that felt like I was walking into the main lobby of the Titanic), and discovering 138-year-old hotels with the most beautifully picturesque tea room you have ever seen (plus so much more).

Mandarin Oriental Tea Room

    Fingers crossed for a Vietnam Visa pick-up tomorrow night, and I'm off to Chiang Mai to wait for Jenny!

XOXO Nicky