I just made it to Phuket today... what a haul! On the overnight bus I met this cook chick, from, you guessed it... Australia. She was on her way to Phuket to go to this Muay Thai boxing training camp. Can you guess what I'm doing now? Training for Muay Thai boxing!!! I'm really excited! It's going to be hard core exercise for a few days!! Not sure how long. I also want to shoot down to Koh Lipe because I heard its way casual and way off the tourist track. I also want to rock climb in Ton Sai. All this before my flight to the Land of Oz on the 5th of March!
I'll get some boxing pics up ASAP!!!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Regrouping in Bangkok
Not too much going on. I'm back in Bangkok just trying to get caught up on random things. I'll be heading out in a day or two for the south of Thailand. I've been corresponding with old travel buddies. A lot of us seem to have migrated back to Thailand for some island action. Ran into a couple here in Bangkok. Anyways, back to the boring task of trying to settle some real world stuff. I'll post again once I get down south.
In the meantime, enjoy the videos below!
In the meantime, enjoy the videos below!
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Vang Vieng on Repeat
What can I say? I'm an adventure junkie. It was back to days of cycling, caving and rock climbing. I even got some pointers in lead climbing. That means I'm on the rock and the rope that's holding me is actually clipped in below me for most of the climb. If I were to fall, I would fall double the length that I've climbed since the last clip in. That can be a bit dangerous... No worries, though. I was practicing on a really easy climb.I spent my time with Joee, a couple of different Irish guys, a dutch guy and some, gasp, American girls! The American girls and I agreed, that the number of Americans on the travel circuit are few and far between. Americans just don't seem to be as big of travelers. The population of Ireland is just over 4 million - comparable to one large American city. Yet, the Irish are everywhere! I've met at least two dozen on my travels so far. Conversely, I've met a whopping 5 Americans. That's pitiful when you consider that America's population is 75 TIMES THAT OF IRELAND. Yeah, there's more than 300 million of us. And I've met 5 on the road. Wow.
Enough of the rant. Vang Vieng still reigns as my paradise in SE Asia. Joee, the Irish-American-Dutch crew and I finally all decided to move on though. The boys, Steve, Kevin and Frank joined Joee and I on the kayaking trip down to Vientiane, Laos. The girls caught a bus and met us there. The kayaking trip was a bit chilly... but an absolute blast!I battled my first true white-water rapids with Joee in a two-man kayak. Joee and I lost the battle and tipped. I got pulled under the water for a long time. It raised some eyebrows. My guides and peeps from another group on the water all commented on how long I was under. I'm not sure how long it was exactly. I just remember being dragged through swirling water. At first, I tried fighting to get to the surface. But, I couldn't find the surface. For whatever reason I wasn't too alarmed though. Something in my head just told me to wait until I was swept to calmer water. I remember being submerged and just thinking sarcastically, "Anytime I could get a breath of air... you know, that would be great!" Eventually, I did surface... and I lived to tell you about it! No really, sparing the drama... not once was I panicked. Not once did I feel like it was a life-threatening situation. I wasn't scared for my life like I was when riding in those crazy, killer buses in Vietnam.
Our guides barbecued some delicious kebabs for us to eat for lunch. We also stopped for some cliff jumping. Eight meters high. Yeah, that's high. One of the guides went first. Then the dutch guy, Frank. The rest of us were all just staring. I knew if I waited too long I would chicken out. So, I jumped. I'm not gonna lie. I panicked a little during that one. Swinging from bamboo towers didn't prep me for this fall.
You jump and fall... and then you realize you're still falling. As you're gaining momentum you think, "Crap. I'm falling really fast. This could be bad. This could hurt." It does hurt. But not too bad as long as you land feet first. I landed a bit on my bum and felt the repercussions of that for while. I wasn't hurting as badly as Kevin, though. He's one of the Irish guys and he fell on a more sensitive part than I did... if you get my drift. Ouch!The rest of the kayaking was laid-back and easy. We just traveled with the current, gazing at big boulders strewn along the banks. Our guides told us that during the wet season these massive boulders are fully submerged. Try as I might, I couldn't really imagine the river that swollen. That would mean the water level would be at least 8 feet higher than it was already. At least!
Kayaking definitely beats travel by bus...
Here are some videos of our kayaking adventure. Joee had a waterproof camera with her that could take video, so we enlisted someone from the other group to grab footage of us. The first video is just a brief video of me kayaking and our surroundings. Joee and I are the second kayak to make a go at the rapids on the second video. If you notice, when the rapids take us out, I don't surface on video... it was sometime after. I'm the second person to jump in the third video.The next three videos are climbing videos from Kevin...
**All the pics and vid from this post are from Joee and/or Kevin.**
Monday, February 11, 2008
Moto Pro
Ever since I arrived in Bangkok I’ve been wanting to try piloting a motobike/motorcycle. SE Asia is perfect for a first crack at it. Cheap and no need for a special license (or any license for that matter). Finally, today was the day. Joee offered to coach me through my first moto-driving session. Turns out, I didn’t need much coaching. It took me about 5 minutes to get the semi-manual ride under control. We spent the day just cruising around Vang Vieng and the surrounding area with a French girl and a Spanish guy, stopping to take in the scenery, explore a cave, take a dip in the river and feast on a mulberry shake at the local organic farm. So yes, I am now a moto pro! ; )
Can’t Get Enough of the Tubes n’ Swings
Again, tubing in Vang Vieng’s claim to fame… and there’s a reason for it. It’s a blast and it never gets old. Joee was new to Vang Vieng so I thought there was nothing better than to christen her with the true Vang Vieng experience on her first full day. Another day of tubing, flying off zipcords and swings from massive heights, meeting new travelers, sand volleyball and… drumroll please… sand soccer! All the futbollers were impressed by my soccer skills. There was even an audience huddled by a campfire watching… one of the girls we were traveling with informed me afterwards that the goin
g consensus was I was the best of the bunch… better than all the guys! Ha! I definitely held my own though… so fun! That evening it was a laid-back dinner with various travelers. Some I knew from before, some Joee knew from before, some we had just met tubing. There’s an instant camaraderie among travelers that isn’t to be matched. If everyone had the same laid-back, easy-going and open attitude that true backpackers have… then, I promise you, this world would never see any war. The only negative is meeting so many quality people… and then having to say goodbye so quickly when each traveler finally goes on their merry, separate way. The only consolation to those quick goodbyes is knowing that you’ll always be received with a warm welcoming from a new family of travelers at each new destination. Well, that and facebook. Facebook lets you keep in touch with EVERYONE.Joee has video of me doing my thang on the swangs... I need to get them off her camera. I'll upload ASAP.
**Pics and vid are from Joee**
Local Lao Fishing
First evening back in Vang Vieng was back to bliss. I caught up with Joee and she had managed to snag some tents on the little island in the river in Vang Vieng. Sweet! Nothing sounded better than camping in this beautiful, laid-back city. Unfortunately, I had already reserved a guesthouse so I would have to wait on the camping until the next night. But, Joee’s surprises didn’t stop at camping. She had also managed to arrange a little fishing session with a local. How fun! Mr. Pan taught us how two people take a local Lao fishing net and drag it across the bottom of the riverbed to collect shrimp, small fish and other edible bugs. The net is strung between two bamboo poles… and drag. There were four of us learning Mr. Pan’s local Lao technique. After, we caught about a kilo and half of assorted water critters, Mr. Pan’s wife fried them up and served them to us with slices of cabbage, ginger and chives. Talk about fresh! I’m not going to lie though. I only ate one shrimp and one small fish from the whole water critter medley. Sorry, but I’m not a big fan of bottom-feeders. It was such a fun experience though!**Pic from Joee**
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Aussie Assurances
I definitely made the right move in buying that ticket to the Land of Oz. I just met a Canadian girl who has been traveling for nearly 3 years straight now. Wow! She lived and worked in Australia for a year and also lived in worked in New Zealand. Her stories and tales of adventure have me determined to follow suit.
But first, how we met… the day after booking my flight to Australia I found myself on a bus heading further north in Laos to Luang Prabang. I had been wishy washy about whether I was going to go up and check LP out after my supposed “Luang Prabang bus” arrived further south in Vientiane. I had heard LP was expensive and I wasn’t too keen on that. But, I had also heard it’s a beautiful city (the most beautiful in Laos) and that there was a nice waterfall to go visit. Anyway, ultimately I bought another spur of the moment ticket. This time, just to Luang Prabang.
The 5-hour bus ride north boasted breathtakingly dramatic landscapes. The looming limestone crags of Vang Vieng somehow morphed into swollen giants. Now, it was limestone mountains. They reached well beyond the clouds and up into the heavens. I would look out my window and all I could utter was “Wow!” time and time again. I was amazed that I could still even be amazed. Not to brag, but I’ve been shotgunning from one stunning landscape to the next. It just goes to show, the creations not of man in this world never get old, never cease to amaze. The bus ride was a rather spiritual experience for me. It just seemed God was with me…
On arrival to Luang Prabang it didn’t take long to confirm the rumors about how expensive the city is. It seems to be a popular stop for wealthy British, Americans and other Europeans. Thus, the prices for everything have been driven up. But, you can still find local cheap fares. The fruit shakes are actually cheaper here… as little as 3,000 kip or about .30 cents. There’s also this streetside fill-your-plate-with-loads-of-vegetable-dishes-buffet. It costs just .50 and just .10 cents extra per skewer of meat or spring roll to go with it. Imagine that right next to a ritzy café that charges $1.50 for just one cup of coffee. Bullocks! (Ha… the English guys from Vang Vieng have rubbed off on me a bit.) Internet is also significantly cheaper here. Probably because all the wealthy holiday-makers have ridiculously high-end phones with computers and internet on them and don’t have any use of the inet cafes.
There are tons of wats and temples here. I’ve seen so many already though… that they weren’t a priority. My first evening wasn’t much more than inet and .50 cent buffet. I was resting up for the next day… waterfall Laura style!
So, most people get a tuk-tuk or even a minibus to putter them out to the photogenic waterfall 32 km from town. I paid double to rent a mountain bike and cycle out to the falls. (Yeah, in Vang Vieng a bike is $3. Here it’s $10. Again, Bullocks!) Even though Richard decided at the last minute to come to LP as well and we ended up sharing a room again here, I was all on my own for my 64 round-trip cycling adventure through a mountainous valley. It was great! The ride was mostly uphill on the way out to the waterfall, but it was mostly a gradual uphill. There were several significantly daunting bits though. I was beat by the time I got to the falls. Not exhausted enough not to appreciate the tigers and bears I got to see at the animal rescue sanctuary just outside the falls. The animals are rescued from poachers.
The falls are beautiful… water cascading down in tiers into small, milky turquoise-blue lagoons that make perfect swimming holes. They’re a bit chilly though! Fresh mountain water! There was a rope swing, which was fun enough. But, it couldn’t even begin to compare to the bamboo tower swings on the tubing adventure in Vang Vieng.
Anyway, while at the falls I ran into a guy from the bus ride to Luang Prabang. There was a young woman, Joee, with him. In just minutes I learned that she has been traveling for over two years… non-stop. Can you guess what I thought of that? I was completely intrigued. What’s more, Joee had just come from living and working in both Australia and New Zealand. She’s done all sorts of odd jobs to make money on the way including fruit picking, working on a pearl boat (yes, as in living 100 nautical miles off the Aussie coast 2 weeks on and 1 week off harvesting pearls from the ocean) and working as a yacht crew member on a trip from the Land of Oz to Indonesia. Ummmm… wow!! So, I have a new mission. I want to work on a pearl boat and I want to work on a yacht. (Actually, I’ve always wanted to work on a yacht… the pearl boat thing is new though).
Wish me luck guys!
Btw, I’m back in Vang Vieng. Missed it too much… and need to start heading south to the islands in Thailand to be closer to where I fly out from Phuket next month.
But first, how we met… the day after booking my flight to Australia I found myself on a bus heading further north in Laos to Luang Prabang. I had been wishy washy about whether I was going to go up and check LP out after my supposed “Luang Prabang bus” arrived further south in Vientiane. I had heard LP was expensive and I wasn’t too keen on that. But, I had also heard it’s a beautiful city (the most beautiful in Laos) and that there was a nice waterfall to go visit. Anyway, ultimately I bought another spur of the moment ticket. This time, just to Luang Prabang.
The 5-hour bus ride north boasted breathtakingly dramatic landscapes. The looming limestone crags of Vang Vieng somehow morphed into swollen giants. Now, it was limestone mountains. They reached well beyond the clouds and up into the heavens. I would look out my window and all I could utter was “Wow!” time and time again. I was amazed that I could still even be amazed. Not to brag, but I’ve been shotgunning from one stunning landscape to the next. It just goes to show, the creations not of man in this world never get old, never cease to amaze. The bus ride was a rather spiritual experience for me. It just seemed God was with me…
On arrival to Luang Prabang it didn’t take long to confirm the rumors about how expensive the city is. It seems to be a popular stop for wealthy British, Americans and other Europeans. Thus, the prices for everything have been driven up. But, you can still find local cheap fares. The fruit shakes are actually cheaper here… as little as 3,000 kip or about .30 cents. There’s also this streetside fill-your-plate-with-loads-of-vegetable-dishes-buffet. It costs just .50 and just .10 cents extra per skewer of meat or spring roll to go with it. Imagine that right next to a ritzy café that charges $1.50 for just one cup of coffee. Bullocks! (Ha… the English guys from Vang Vieng have rubbed off on me a bit.) Internet is also significantly cheaper here. Probably because all the wealthy holiday-makers have ridiculously high-end phones with computers and internet on them and don’t have any use of the inet cafes.
There are tons of wats and temples here. I’ve seen so many already though… that they weren’t a priority. My first evening wasn’t much more than inet and .50 cent buffet. I was resting up for the next day… waterfall Laura style!
So, most people get a tuk-tuk or even a minibus to putter them out to the photogenic waterfall 32 km from town. I paid double to rent a mountain bike and cycle out to the falls. (Yeah, in Vang Vieng a bike is $3. Here it’s $10. Again, Bullocks!) Even though Richard decided at the last minute to come to LP as well and we ended up sharing a room again here, I was all on my own for my 64 round-trip cycling adventure through a mountainous valley. It was great! The ride was mostly uphill on the way out to the waterfall, but it was mostly a gradual uphill. There were several significantly daunting bits though. I was beat by the time I got to the falls. Not exhausted enough not to appreciate the tigers and bears I got to see at the animal rescue sanctuary just outside the falls. The animals are rescued from poachers.
The falls are beautiful… water cascading down in tiers into small, milky turquoise-blue lagoons that make perfect swimming holes. They’re a bit chilly though! Fresh mountain water! There was a rope swing, which was fun enough. But, it couldn’t even begin to compare to the bamboo tower swings on the tubing adventure in Vang Vieng.
Anyway, while at the falls I ran into a guy from the bus ride to Luang Prabang. There was a young woman, Joee, with him. In just minutes I learned that she has been traveling for over two years… non-stop. Can you guess what I thought of that? I was completely intrigued. What’s more, Joee had just come from living and working in both Australia and New Zealand. She’s done all sorts of odd jobs to make money on the way including fruit picking, working on a pearl boat (yes, as in living 100 nautical miles off the Aussie coast 2 weeks on and 1 week off harvesting pearls from the ocean) and working as a yacht crew member on a trip from the Land of Oz to Indonesia. Ummmm… wow!! So, I have a new mission. I want to work on a pearl boat and I want to work on a yacht. (Actually, I’ve always wanted to work on a yacht… the pearl boat thing is new though).
Wish me luck guys!
Btw, I’m back in Vang Vieng. Missed it too much… and need to start heading south to the islands in Thailand to be closer to where I fly out from Phuket next month.
Paradise on Earth
Vang Vieng is everything I’ve ever dreamed of... There’s no question it’s a small town that’s thriving from the influx of backpackers that migrate here and seem to find it hard to leave and that means it’s not such a local experience. But, it’s paradise nonetheless and there are plenty of locals that have adapted to catering to this backpacker haven. It’s actually a bit ridiculous. The bus arrives in this huge, open gravel lot that used to be an old airstrip. Across the lot is the small town of Vang Vieng, over-shadowed by it’s breathtaking backdrop of the same limestone crags jutting high into the sky that I found outside Dong Hoi in Vietnam. As you stroll into town, you smell banana pancakes frying on mobile, open-air grills and you hear… the sound of laugh tracks from television sets. What? Lined-up all along the one main drag of he town are all these open-air cafes filled with wooden chairs and benches that are covered in cushions. People are lounging, sipping their fruit shakes (some spiked with marijuana, mushrooms or even opium), cocktails or beer, munching on lao lao minced meat, noodle soup or pizza (again some spiked with marijuana, mushrooms or even opium) and watching re-runs of Friends or Family Guy… all… day… long.
Now, don’t think for one second that marijuana, mushrooms, opium or watching Friends re-runs constitutes paradise for me. Not even close. I don’t understand all these people who sit on their bums all day, getting blitzed by whatever drug… when there is so much to do! I arrived in the evening, so my first night Richard, one of the Irish lads, and I just sought out a cheap place to stay. Another room split for $2 a night per person. Nice! The down-side: ever-sunny Laos seemed to have caught a bit of the same storm that was chilling northern Vietnam. More gray skies with drizzly rain. At least, it was a warmer rain in Laos though. And the limestone crags really look stunning when they’re shrouded in mist.
The next day my version of getting blitzed for days on end began…
Day 1: Although it was drizzly and rainy and a touch chilly to be out on water all day… Richard and I, and a group of other travelers we had met, decided to go tubing down the river. Vang Vieng is infamous for it’s tubing experience and we were ready to get it started, despite the drizzly weather (I seemed to have forgotten about being sick from spending my days outside in chilly, drizzly weather, getting soaked to the bone). For $5 you get a tube and a tuk-tuk ride 4 km up the river. From there, you toss your tube in the river, jump on top and begin the slow and lazy trek downstream. You float… maybe 200 feet… before you reach the first bar. Cheap beer, free shots… okay, that’s all fine and dandy. But, it wasn’t the beer and shots that set me off. I got excited as soon as I saw someone come flying in the air overhead and then suddenly flip and drop into the water. There was a zipcord!! Mwahahahaha. I was so excited! By my third go, I was clinging to the zipcord backwards. Oh man, it was a rush. Little did I know that was nothing. The first zipcord started from maybe a 12-foot high bamboo tower. The next bar had a swing… that started from a 15-ft tower. The bar after that had a GIANT swing. It’s tower platform reached somewhere around 20-ft. Some people were pansies and would swing back and forth on the big one several times, letting it slow down, before they dropped into the water. But, the best rush was riding out just the first drop from the platform, letting go of the bar at the first peak, floating in mid-air just long enough for you to realize you’re really flipping high and you’re about to free-fall and plunge into the river below. Mwahahahahaha. I couldn’t get enough. The only thing I was sour about was my own fear of trying to flip off. I tried to flip off from the smaller swing, but messed up and landed flat on the side of my ribcage. That knocked the wind out of me hard-core and stunned me a bit. Not to mention the massive red blotch zigzagged with purple and blue bruising that quickly formed on the side of my thigh from that poor landing. Ugghhh. That fall didn’t scare me off the swings, but it did scare me away from trying to flip again. I wanted to flip soooo bad, though. I was just too big of a pansy. The bar with the big swing also had a sand volleyball court. Sweet! Five others (2 english girls, 2 english guys and 2 aussie guys) I randomly met while floating on the tubes and flipping off the swings joined me for some sandy v-ball in the soggy, puddly sand court. Yeah, the v-ball game lasted about 10 mins before it turned into first a sand fight, then an all-out wrestling match. The next thing we knew, our group of six had turned into a group of 40. I’m not exaggerating. There were 40 of us random tubers all clobbering each other with sand and taking each out rugby-style. It was absolutely crazy! The locals had never seen anything like it. They all got out their mobile phones and starting taking pictures and video. We asked if any other groups had gotten this wild. They assured us that we were the first. Total blast. It was hours, near dusk, before our smaller group left that bar and got back on the river. We didn’t make it much further before it got too dark and the locals called us out of the river. We had to tuk-tuk it back to town, having only made it just about halfway.
Day 2: More drizzly, soggy rain. More mud. Heh! The English guys, the Aussie guys and I decided to rent some mountain bikes and explore the caves near town. A loop around Vang Vieng takes you along the stunning limestone crags and leads you to at least a half dozen caves. The muddy dirt roads/trails definitely made for some interesting mountain-biking. It was a great work-out peddling uphill in mud. Lots of skidding and back-spinning, which meant lots of spraying each other with mud. Mwahahahaha. The caves couldn’t quite compare to those I saw in Dong Hoi, Vietnam. But, I enjoyed them just as much, though in a different way. I worked harder to get to these caves, pedaling through the mud, and I had friends to goof off with and share the fun with. The first cave we had to get on our bellies and crawl commando-style to get through most of it. Another cave had a dark, milky turquoise/cyan blue lagoon outside of it and was impressively huge. We managed to get lost in that one for a while. But, hey, we were wandering around naturally formed Guadi-esque art and lunar landscapes. We eventually found our way out again. In all, we managed to tackle three caves and get covered in head to toe in ruddy-red/brown mud. I think the swamp-thing look suits me though… ; )
Day 3: A day of rock climbing and chilling out while hanging from the spiky limestone crags taking in the breathtaking scenery below. Not much to be said here other than a great day of getting back to clinging to the sides of rocks. Not many places in the world that are better to find yourself climbing I imagine. The day was bright and sunny with blue skies and puffy white clouds floating over the crags. The guided climbs were easy, but I hadn’t climbed in a while so I didn’t mind. Just made me look like I was a pro…hehe. By evening, my body was really starting to feel the effects of slamming into water, cycling, crawling and climbing… and I was loving that! I love the achy feel from loads of exercise (way different than the achy feel of being ill)!! I also love the way all this exercise is leaving me more and more toned! Finally starting to feel like my old self again… pre-office slave!! Lets me eat more junk without worrying about it too… like pancakes filled with bananas, egg, chocolate, milo chocolate powder, coconut powder and sweet milk! MMmmmm!!
Day 4: More friends met on travels just arriving in Vang Vieng, so back on the river for more tubing action. Massimo (the Italian I traveled with for a bit in southern Vietnam) had arrived. Some more of the Irish lads had arrived. Of course, we had to inaugurate each of them with the official tubing trip. This time it was sunny and warm. Better day for being soaked. More zipcords and more swings. I ate less and drank more than my one beer from last time and that got a bit iffy. When you start feeling the buzz, you lose your grip. It’s not fun when your hands slip off the bar too soon on a swing. Trust me and plenty of others, when you slip from the swing on its first downward run before it starts to arch back up, it rocks you hard. The momentum means you hit the water faster and it feels more like a wall than water. Knocks the wind out of you hard core. I did that once and that was enough of the booze for me. I wasn’t about to quit swinging! In fact, I was brave enough to have a go at the big, huge swing backwards. That was an awesome rush! More sand v-ball. No massive wrestling matches in the sand pit this time, which made me believe that the last one was a first. There were 5 times as many people out on the river tubing this time. Four-hundred as compared to 80.
Day 5: Today… a day of rest. I didn’t handle the resting thing too well. My energy levels were reaching new highs with each passing day of adventure… and I experienced adrenaline withdrawals today. I wanted to bounce off walls, but I couldn’t. My brain did the bouncing around instead. I had to do something about those withdrawals, so I randomly bought a cheap-ish plane ticket to Australia. The random purchase definitely got my blood pumping again. ; ) The Kiwis I was traveling with earlier and who I saw again in Hanoi (and one of which I bump into frequently here in Vang Vieng) have convinced me that there’s no better time to travel in New Zealand than in March and that I should be there this March. They have some trips they’re planning in NZ in March and told me I’m more than welcome to tag along. I began pondering the idea of heading down under back when I met the Kiwis in Mui Ne. Shortly after I began considering it, I got an email from a college friend who saw I was traveling in SE Asia. She just started living in Sydney and asked when I was skipping down for a visit, since, I was so close and all. Well, that’s all it took to tip the bucket for me. I was sold. I’ll zip to Australia and then New Zealand. That probably means it will be well into April before I even head back to Europe to pick up stuff I left there. That is, if I don’t run out of money. Funds are starting to go dry-ish. Trekking in Nepal and on Mt. Everest is now on hold. The start of the Himalaya trekking season is March, but it’s better to trek in September or November.
I have to admit my problem. I am overwhelmingly addicted to travel. The more I continue my vagabond life on the road, the less I can imagine ever stopping. And why should I? I should milk this opportunity for as long as I can. And that’s what I’m going to do. If anyone has any ideas on how to make extra cash here and there, please let me know.
My flight for Australia departs from Puhket in southern Thailand on March 5th. That’s perfect because I didn’t get a chance to check out any of the islands of southern Thailand before. This also means I can slow down my blitz-like travel habits. That is, if I can stand to slow down. I’m spinning like a top and I don’t want to stop! No, but I need to. I need to sort out some bills (eck) that refuse to leave me alone from the real world. I also need to find some new outlets for selling my photos and travel stories so I can make more moola and keep traveling!! I want to get ALL my photos online. There are thousands and thousands. I want to redesign my blog.
So, the plan is to jog up to Luang Prabang for two or three days and check it out. Then, I’ll head back down, working my way south in Laos. I’ll be passing back through here, Vang Vieng to take a kayaking trip from here back to the capital, Vientiane. From Vientiane, I’ll slow boat it or something down to the 4,000 islands on the Mekong. Supposed to be beautiful down there. After that, I’ll jog over to southern Thailand for a couple weeks and chill out on one of the many islands. Before I met up with Ben, he was at a rock climbing hang out on the islands. I’m planning to go there and work on my skills on the rock more while I just hang out and sort things out with bills and work. Ben gave me some ideas of good places to stay, so I’m sure I’ll find a nice place to camp out before I head to the Land of Oz!
I randomly just met an American guy who I talked to for no more than an hour, but who gave me the name, number and email of a photog living in Puhket today too. That was after I booked my flight out of Puhket to the land of Oz. I took that as a great sign! Maybe some work will come out of this contact that seemed to materialize out of nowhere! Keep your fingers crossed!!! (Fam, I know what you’re thinking. The photog has a website displaying his work. It’s legit.)
I’m not really sure where things are going. All I’m sure of is I’m living out my dreams and I want to keep doing that for as long as I can. So, I’m going to do everything in my power to make that happen. Of course, I will be counting on a lot of help from the big guy upstairs too. Hey, we’ll see what happens! I’m so giddy with excitement!!
I really miss the lot of you though. Thinking about taking a holiday? Anyone and everyone is welcome to come join me in my travels! Even if it’s just for a couple weeks!
Now, don’t think for one second that marijuana, mushrooms, opium or watching Friends re-runs constitutes paradise for me. Not even close. I don’t understand all these people who sit on their bums all day, getting blitzed by whatever drug… when there is so much to do! I arrived in the evening, so my first night Richard, one of the Irish lads, and I just sought out a cheap place to stay. Another room split for $2 a night per person. Nice! The down-side: ever-sunny Laos seemed to have caught a bit of the same storm that was chilling northern Vietnam. More gray skies with drizzly rain. At least, it was a warmer rain in Laos though. And the limestone crags really look stunning when they’re shrouded in mist.
The next day my version of getting blitzed for days on end began…
Day 1: Although it was drizzly and rainy and a touch chilly to be out on water all day… Richard and I, and a group of other travelers we had met, decided to go tubing down the river. Vang Vieng is infamous for it’s tubing experience and we were ready to get it started, despite the drizzly weather (I seemed to have forgotten about being sick from spending my days outside in chilly, drizzly weather, getting soaked to the bone). For $5 you get a tube and a tuk-tuk ride 4 km up the river. From there, you toss your tube in the river, jump on top and begin the slow and lazy trek downstream. You float… maybe 200 feet… before you reach the first bar. Cheap beer, free shots… okay, that’s all fine and dandy. But, it wasn’t the beer and shots that set me off. I got excited as soon as I saw someone come flying in the air overhead and then suddenly flip and drop into the water. There was a zipcord!! Mwahahahaha. I was so excited! By my third go, I was clinging to the zipcord backwards. Oh man, it was a rush. Little did I know that was nothing. The first zipcord started from maybe a 12-foot high bamboo tower. The next bar had a swing… that started from a 15-ft tower. The bar after that had a GIANT swing. It’s tower platform reached somewhere around 20-ft. Some people were pansies and would swing back and forth on the big one several times, letting it slow down, before they dropped into the water. But, the best rush was riding out just the first drop from the platform, letting go of the bar at the first peak, floating in mid-air just long enough for you to realize you’re really flipping high and you’re about to free-fall and plunge into the river below. Mwahahahahaha. I couldn’t get enough. The only thing I was sour about was my own fear of trying to flip off. I tried to flip off from the smaller swing, but messed up and landed flat on the side of my ribcage. That knocked the wind out of me hard-core and stunned me a bit. Not to mention the massive red blotch zigzagged with purple and blue bruising that quickly formed on the side of my thigh from that poor landing. Ugghhh. That fall didn’t scare me off the swings, but it did scare me away from trying to flip again. I wanted to flip soooo bad, though. I was just too big of a pansy. The bar with the big swing also had a sand volleyball court. Sweet! Five others (2 english girls, 2 english guys and 2 aussie guys) I randomly met while floating on the tubes and flipping off the swings joined me for some sandy v-ball in the soggy, puddly sand court. Yeah, the v-ball game lasted about 10 mins before it turned into first a sand fight, then an all-out wrestling match. The next thing we knew, our group of six had turned into a group of 40. I’m not exaggerating. There were 40 of us random tubers all clobbering each other with sand and taking each out rugby-style. It was absolutely crazy! The locals had never seen anything like it. They all got out their mobile phones and starting taking pictures and video. We asked if any other groups had gotten this wild. They assured us that we were the first. Total blast. It was hours, near dusk, before our smaller group left that bar and got back on the river. We didn’t make it much further before it got too dark and the locals called us out of the river. We had to tuk-tuk it back to town, having only made it just about halfway.
Day 2: More drizzly, soggy rain. More mud. Heh! The English guys, the Aussie guys and I decided to rent some mountain bikes and explore the caves near town. A loop around Vang Vieng takes you along the stunning limestone crags and leads you to at least a half dozen caves. The muddy dirt roads/trails definitely made for some interesting mountain-biking. It was a great work-out peddling uphill in mud. Lots of skidding and back-spinning, which meant lots of spraying each other with mud. Mwahahahaha. The caves couldn’t quite compare to those I saw in Dong Hoi, Vietnam. But, I enjoyed them just as much, though in a different way. I worked harder to get to these caves, pedaling through the mud, and I had friends to goof off with and share the fun with. The first cave we had to get on our bellies and crawl commando-style to get through most of it. Another cave had a dark, milky turquoise/cyan blue lagoon outside of it and was impressively huge. We managed to get lost in that one for a while. But, hey, we were wandering around naturally formed Guadi-esque art and lunar landscapes. We eventually found our way out again. In all, we managed to tackle three caves and get covered in head to toe in ruddy-red/brown mud. I think the swamp-thing look suits me though… ; )
Day 3: A day of rock climbing and chilling out while hanging from the spiky limestone crags taking in the breathtaking scenery below. Not much to be said here other than a great day of getting back to clinging to the sides of rocks. Not many places in the world that are better to find yourself climbing I imagine. The day was bright and sunny with blue skies and puffy white clouds floating over the crags. The guided climbs were easy, but I hadn’t climbed in a while so I didn’t mind. Just made me look like I was a pro…hehe. By evening, my body was really starting to feel the effects of slamming into water, cycling, crawling and climbing… and I was loving that! I love the achy feel from loads of exercise (way different than the achy feel of being ill)!! I also love the way all this exercise is leaving me more and more toned! Finally starting to feel like my old self again… pre-office slave!! Lets me eat more junk without worrying about it too… like pancakes filled with bananas, egg, chocolate, milo chocolate powder, coconut powder and sweet milk! MMmmmm!!
Day 4: More friends met on travels just arriving in Vang Vieng, so back on the river for more tubing action. Massimo (the Italian I traveled with for a bit in southern Vietnam) had arrived. Some more of the Irish lads had arrived. Of course, we had to inaugurate each of them with the official tubing trip. This time it was sunny and warm. Better day for being soaked. More zipcords and more swings. I ate less and drank more than my one beer from last time and that got a bit iffy. When you start feeling the buzz, you lose your grip. It’s not fun when your hands slip off the bar too soon on a swing. Trust me and plenty of others, when you slip from the swing on its first downward run before it starts to arch back up, it rocks you hard. The momentum means you hit the water faster and it feels more like a wall than water. Knocks the wind out of you hard core. I did that once and that was enough of the booze for me. I wasn’t about to quit swinging! In fact, I was brave enough to have a go at the big, huge swing backwards. That was an awesome rush! More sand v-ball. No massive wrestling matches in the sand pit this time, which made me believe that the last one was a first. There were 5 times as many people out on the river tubing this time. Four-hundred as compared to 80.
Day 5: Today… a day of rest. I didn’t handle the resting thing too well. My energy levels were reaching new highs with each passing day of adventure… and I experienced adrenaline withdrawals today. I wanted to bounce off walls, but I couldn’t. My brain did the bouncing around instead. I had to do something about those withdrawals, so I randomly bought a cheap-ish plane ticket to Australia. The random purchase definitely got my blood pumping again. ; ) The Kiwis I was traveling with earlier and who I saw again in Hanoi (and one of which I bump into frequently here in Vang Vieng) have convinced me that there’s no better time to travel in New Zealand than in March and that I should be there this March. They have some trips they’re planning in NZ in March and told me I’m more than welcome to tag along. I began pondering the idea of heading down under back when I met the Kiwis in Mui Ne. Shortly after I began considering it, I got an email from a college friend who saw I was traveling in SE Asia. She just started living in Sydney and asked when I was skipping down for a visit, since, I was so close and all. Well, that’s all it took to tip the bucket for me. I was sold. I’ll zip to Australia and then New Zealand. That probably means it will be well into April before I even head back to Europe to pick up stuff I left there. That is, if I don’t run out of money. Funds are starting to go dry-ish. Trekking in Nepal and on Mt. Everest is now on hold. The start of the Himalaya trekking season is March, but it’s better to trek in September or November.
I have to admit my problem. I am overwhelmingly addicted to travel. The more I continue my vagabond life on the road, the less I can imagine ever stopping. And why should I? I should milk this opportunity for as long as I can. And that’s what I’m going to do. If anyone has any ideas on how to make extra cash here and there, please let me know.
My flight for Australia departs from Puhket in southern Thailand on March 5th. That’s perfect because I didn’t get a chance to check out any of the islands of southern Thailand before. This also means I can slow down my blitz-like travel habits. That is, if I can stand to slow down. I’m spinning like a top and I don’t want to stop! No, but I need to. I need to sort out some bills (eck) that refuse to leave me alone from the real world. I also need to find some new outlets for selling my photos and travel stories so I can make more moola and keep traveling!! I want to get ALL my photos online. There are thousands and thousands. I want to redesign my blog.
So, the plan is to jog up to Luang Prabang for two or three days and check it out. Then, I’ll head back down, working my way south in Laos. I’ll be passing back through here, Vang Vieng to take a kayaking trip from here back to the capital, Vientiane. From Vientiane, I’ll slow boat it or something down to the 4,000 islands on the Mekong. Supposed to be beautiful down there. After that, I’ll jog over to southern Thailand for a couple weeks and chill out on one of the many islands. Before I met up with Ben, he was at a rock climbing hang out on the islands. I’m planning to go there and work on my skills on the rock more while I just hang out and sort things out with bills and work. Ben gave me some ideas of good places to stay, so I’m sure I’ll find a nice place to camp out before I head to the Land of Oz!
I randomly just met an American guy who I talked to for no more than an hour, but who gave me the name, number and email of a photog living in Puhket today too. That was after I booked my flight out of Puhket to the land of Oz. I took that as a great sign! Maybe some work will come out of this contact that seemed to materialize out of nowhere! Keep your fingers crossed!!! (Fam, I know what you’re thinking. The photog has a website displaying his work. It’s legit.)
I’m not really sure where things are going. All I’m sure of is I’m living out my dreams and I want to keep doing that for as long as I can. So, I’m going to do everything in my power to make that happen. Of course, I will be counting on a lot of help from the big guy upstairs too. Hey, we’ll see what happens! I’m so giddy with excitement!!
I really miss the lot of you though. Thinking about taking a holiday? Anyone and everyone is welcome to come join me in my travels! Even if it’s just for a couple weeks!
Laid-back Laos
Talk about all your problems melting away. There is no room for stress, or bad moods in Laos. The country is laid-back. The people are genuinely friendly and they don’t hound you for a thing. Laos is just… chill. Vientiane is the capital city and rush hour seems to amount to no more than 15 cars being on the road at once. The capital has adapted to catering Western tourists well and there are many Western joints serving the food and amenities any Westerner might look for. Somehow that all seamlessly mixes in with the simple, local culture of developing world markets and inexpensive lifestyle. I took two days to fully relax and de-stress in the sleepy capital. There wasn’t much to do inside the city. I heard that you can rent a motobike and discover some nice landscapes and waterfalls outside the city. I decided to save that for when I worked my way back down though. First, I would head north to Vang Vieng and then Luang Prabang. It was the same idea the Irish lads I met on the bus had. I shared a room with one of them in Vientiane, which meant I paid $2 a night for lodging. We decided to head to Vang Vieng the same time and split a room there too.
Hauling Out
As I headed north, I seemed to catch up to the rainy, gray weather that I thought had disappeared. My symptoms also seemed to re-emerge in the 12-hour bus journey. When I finally reached Hanoi, I discovered it was also frightfully colder. A tropical storm from the south carried a nippy chill with it as it moved over northern Vietnam. I had wanted to stay in Hanoi and schedule tours to visit the renowned Halong Bay and the lesser traveled, but still mapped out landscapes of Ninh Binh near by. Halong Bay has the same stunning limestone crags jutting up into the heavens as those outside Dong Hoi, except these jutted from the sea instead of from rice paddies dotting a winding river. I think Ninh Binh is pretty similar to what I saw outside Dong Hoi, but without the massive cave system. Soooo… I opted out. Both were similar to what I had already seen, but were MUCH more touristy.
I didn’t have the proper clothing for the nippy weather. I had spent nearly a month in Vietnam. I had experienced unforgettable magic a number of times. So, I decided to book a bus to warmer temps in neighboring Laos. The bus was departing the evening of the same day that I had arrived. I would spend no more than ten hours in Hanoi.
What I hadn’t realized is that even though there is a border crossing parallel to Hanoi, it’s not used because it’s difficult for the buses to cross the mountainous terrain. Instead, the buses go back down to near where I had just come from in order to cross the border. I had bused up to Hanoi for no reason! Well, I got to see the Kiwis that I was traveling with in Mui Ne. One of them was starting his trek back to New Zealand by plane the next day too, so it was good to give him a proper farewell.
Just for good measure, I had to be misled one last time by the Vietnamese. I was charged for a two-month visa for Laos. Granted, that’s what I got, but I only wanted a one-month visa and paid $20 extra for the extra month. I don’t know anyone else who has a two-month visa. I hadn’t heard that you could get a two-month visa very easily either. I was leery that it was fake. But, I made it to Laos okay, so I guess it’s authentic. Also, I was sold a bus ticket to Luang Prabang, Laos for $10 more than the ticket to Vientiane, Laos. But, my ticket was only valid as far as Vientiane. It didn’t matter though. I had heard of worse horror stories with bus trips from Vietnam to Laos, where you were charged more at the border and your ticket didn’t even get you to Vientiane. I made it to Vientiane no problems. I was in Laos. I was happy.
I didn’t have the proper clothing for the nippy weather. I had spent nearly a month in Vietnam. I had experienced unforgettable magic a number of times. So, I decided to book a bus to warmer temps in neighboring Laos. The bus was departing the evening of the same day that I had arrived. I would spend no more than ten hours in Hanoi.
What I hadn’t realized is that even though there is a border crossing parallel to Hanoi, it’s not used because it’s difficult for the buses to cross the mountainous terrain. Instead, the buses go back down to near where I had just come from in order to cross the border. I had bused up to Hanoi for no reason! Well, I got to see the Kiwis that I was traveling with in Mui Ne. One of them was starting his trek back to New Zealand by plane the next day too, so it was good to give him a proper farewell.
Just for good measure, I had to be misled one last time by the Vietnamese. I was charged for a two-month visa for Laos. Granted, that’s what I got, but I only wanted a one-month visa and paid $20 extra for the extra month. I don’t know anyone else who has a two-month visa. I hadn’t heard that you could get a two-month visa very easily either. I was leery that it was fake. But, I made it to Laos okay, so I guess it’s authentic. Also, I was sold a bus ticket to Luang Prabang, Laos for $10 more than the ticket to Vientiane, Laos. But, my ticket was only valid as far as Vientiane. It didn’t matter though. I had heard of worse horror stories with bus trips from Vietnam to Laos, where you were charged more at the border and your ticket didn’t even get you to Vientiane. I made it to Vientiane no problems. I was in Laos. I was happy.
Disney World for Real
Dong Hoi is not on the backpacker/tourist trail. The Lonely Planet guidebook said as much and that’s what attracted me to the place. That and the fact that the city was just an hour motorbike away from what the guidebook calls Vietnam’s most spectacular cave system. I hopped on a sleeper bus and it all worked out well enough actually. The sleeper bus meant I had my own tiny little bed thing and wouldn’t be bothered by anyone else and, because I was ill and achy, the tiny sleeper bed wasn’t any less comfortable than a regular bed. I drifted in and out of feverish sleep for the next 6 or 7 hours to Dong Hoi. Then, the bus (full of locals) dropped me and only me off on the side of the road in Dong Hoi at about 11 at night. I was a bit disoriented from being ill and from the dark, so I took a room at the very hotel where the bus dropped me off. That meant I paid what I felt was an exorbant price… $12 for a room for one night! That’s double, even triple what I’ve been paying for the past two months! Oh well.
That night I somehow managed to convey to the receptionist that barely spoke English that I would like to hire a motobike guide to take me to the cave the next morning and that I would then like to get a bus for Hanoi. Everything worked out and at 7:30 the next morning I was back on a motobike in the drizzly, rainy weather. That was smart and I had plenty of time to think as much as I balanced my not-as-achy body on the back of the bike for the hour-ride.
When I got to the my destination it was more splurging. Because it was me, myself and I, I had to pay for an entire boat that is usually shared by up to ten people. But this meant I got the whole boat and guide to myself, so it was worth the ten bucks. When I took off in the boat it was still drizzly and rainy, but that added a beautifully mysterious element to my surroundings. Huge limestone crags were jutting out of bright, neon green rice paddies that seemed to glow in the gray weather. The tops of the crags were shrouded in mist. I was being lazily paddled through what seemed to be a landscape painting that was slowly coming alive around me. I completely forgot about being ill.
New turns brought new surprises and gorgeous views in my personal moving painting. Eventually, we were approaching a huge opening in one of the monstrous limestone crags. The gaping hole opened up to a huge, resonating cavern filled with massive stalactites and stalagmites. It all seemed so unreal. It seemed just like some magical fantasy place created by Disney World. Floating through the magic on a boat, I couldn’t help but to think of Disney’s infamous “It’s a Small World” ride. Except this time, instead of throngs of tourists, it was just me. Instead of corny music, I heard only the soft plish of my guides’ paddles rhythmically dipping into the water and echoing off the cavern walls. Instead of fantasy, it was reality.
My boat drifted through one massive cavern after the next. Each cavern seemed like great, majestic halls for great, majestic kings that must not be of this world. The creative patterns and soda straw tapestries that took hundreds of thousands of years, millions of years even, to create were certainly not of my world. I was in wonderland and it was real. My guides’ beached the boat in a couple places and I was able to get out and just wander around on my own, taking in the stunning and impressive natural art of water and sediment slowly carving new sculptures and weaving new patterns into rock. That’s when I realized… I really was in a moving painting. The cave I was standing in has not just existed for millions of years, but has been alive and growing and reshaping for millions of years. And the unfinished masterpiece was still slowly being formed right before my eyes. Each drip drop of water from the cavern ceiling arching high above was like another stroke of the paintbrush. And there I was, it the midst of it all, enjoying it alone, as if it was a work of art God was creating for my eyes only. How do I even begin to express my joy and gratitude at such a gift?
The entrance fee I paid bought me admission to a second, stunningly massive cave. Though, this cave you explore by foot after a long hike up the side of the huge limestone crag, which continually offered impressive views of the river and valley of rice paddies below. I had a guide for this cave and he told me some of the impressive facts about the cave’s formation. But, honestly, his words just flitted into my head and then vanished into cave’s dark shadows. I was too mesmerized by the cave’s beauty to worry about facts and figures. Sometimes, as a journalist, I think that you can miss the true treasures of a place or an experience, because you’re too worried about logging all the facts, figures and details so you can spit them back out later. Well, this time I wasn’t a journalist. I was a bewildered observer taking in the surrounding, unworldly beauty in shock.
By the time I had my fill of wonder and amazement inside my magical caves, the drizzly and misty gray weather outside had melted away into a blue heaven. The sun was slowly warming the looming crags and green rice paddies. I noticed my fever, aches and chills seemed to have melted away also.
I spent the rest of the day in Dong Hoi just chilling out at a local cafés, trying to catch up on my blogging. Occasionally, I was an amusing attraction for some of the locals: a lone, white, Western women in strictly Vietnamese territory.
Finally, my night bus came and I was en route to Hanoi. But, that was not before being pestered by a local who kept trying to make me his own personal muse. I didn’t comply as well as he might have liked. Why can’t the Vietnamese let me wallow in my own magical bubble? Why do they have to always come trampling in and pop it? A sigh…
That night I somehow managed to convey to the receptionist that barely spoke English that I would like to hire a motobike guide to take me to the cave the next morning and that I would then like to get a bus for Hanoi. Everything worked out and at 7:30 the next morning I was back on a motobike in the drizzly, rainy weather. That was smart and I had plenty of time to think as much as I balanced my not-as-achy body on the back of the bike for the hour-ride.
When I got to the my destination it was more splurging. Because it was me, myself and I, I had to pay for an entire boat that is usually shared by up to ten people. But this meant I got the whole boat and guide to myself, so it was worth the ten bucks. When I took off in the boat it was still drizzly and rainy, but that added a beautifully mysterious element to my surroundings. Huge limestone crags were jutting out of bright, neon green rice paddies that seemed to glow in the gray weather. The tops of the crags were shrouded in mist. I was being lazily paddled through what seemed to be a landscape painting that was slowly coming alive around me. I completely forgot about being ill.
New turns brought new surprises and gorgeous views in my personal moving painting. Eventually, we were approaching a huge opening in one of the monstrous limestone crags. The gaping hole opened up to a huge, resonating cavern filled with massive stalactites and stalagmites. It all seemed so unreal. It seemed just like some magical fantasy place created by Disney World. Floating through the magic on a boat, I couldn’t help but to think of Disney’s infamous “It’s a Small World” ride. Except this time, instead of throngs of tourists, it was just me. Instead of corny music, I heard only the soft plish of my guides’ paddles rhythmically dipping into the water and echoing off the cavern walls. Instead of fantasy, it was reality.
My boat drifted through one massive cavern after the next. Each cavern seemed like great, majestic halls for great, majestic kings that must not be of this world. The creative patterns and soda straw tapestries that took hundreds of thousands of years, millions of years even, to create were certainly not of my world. I was in wonderland and it was real. My guides’ beached the boat in a couple places and I was able to get out and just wander around on my own, taking in the stunning and impressive natural art of water and sediment slowly carving new sculptures and weaving new patterns into rock. That’s when I realized… I really was in a moving painting. The cave I was standing in has not just existed for millions of years, but has been alive and growing and reshaping for millions of years. And the unfinished masterpiece was still slowly being formed right before my eyes. Each drip drop of water from the cavern ceiling arching high above was like another stroke of the paintbrush. And there I was, it the midst of it all, enjoying it alone, as if it was a work of art God was creating for my eyes only. How do I even begin to express my joy and gratitude at such a gift?
The entrance fee I paid bought me admission to a second, stunningly massive cave. Though, this cave you explore by foot after a long hike up the side of the huge limestone crag, which continually offered impressive views of the river and valley of rice paddies below. I had a guide for this cave and he told me some of the impressive facts about the cave’s formation. But, honestly, his words just flitted into my head and then vanished into cave’s dark shadows. I was too mesmerized by the cave’s beauty to worry about facts and figures. Sometimes, as a journalist, I think that you can miss the true treasures of a place or an experience, because you’re too worried about logging all the facts, figures and details so you can spit them back out later. Well, this time I wasn’t a journalist. I was a bewildered observer taking in the surrounding, unworldly beauty in shock.
By the time I had my fill of wonder and amazement inside my magical caves, the drizzly and misty gray weather outside had melted away into a blue heaven. The sun was slowly warming the looming crags and green rice paddies. I noticed my fever, aches and chills seemed to have melted away also.
I spent the rest of the day in Dong Hoi just chilling out at a local cafés, trying to catch up on my blogging. Occasionally, I was an amusing attraction for some of the locals: a lone, white, Western women in strictly Vietnamese territory.
Finally, my night bus came and I was en route to Hanoi. But, that was not before being pestered by a local who kept trying to make me his own personal muse. I didn’t comply as well as he might have liked. Why can’t the Vietnamese let me wallow in my own magical bubble? Why do they have to always come trampling in and pop it? A sigh…
Drugged in Hoi An
In Hoi An, Pieter had to immediately head back south. He had been traveling south and had already been to Hoi An, but didn’t want to pass up the 5-day motobike trek and went with us back north for the trip (he did it the boring way by bus along the coast on the way down). He eventually needs to catch back up with his old travel buddies. Markus and I spent one day together in Hoi An before he had to jump on a plane and head back to Germany for work. Okay, Hoi An is a tourist trap for tailored clothes. The freaking city is canvassed with tailor shops like the mountains were canvassed in plantations and crops. Lonely Planet is right. You can pass up the first couple dozen, but you eventually get suckered in. One day and Markus and I got suckered in. That’s partially because it was still drizzly and rainy and there was not much else to do. Markus was flying out the next day… but oh! They can get it all done in a day! Tailors working overnight. It worked out well for Markus though. He had a business meeting in Bangkok on his way out to Germany and had no business attire. Now he had some new suits for a cheap price and hopefully good quality. Mine ended up working out somewhat too, but in a less preferable way. I’m a sucker for tailored coats. Why? Because every non-sporty coat I’ve purchased has meant I have to scrunch my shoulders to fit and deal with silly, too-short sleeves (I opt for the scrunched shoulders instead of the too big waist that adds unnecessary and nonexistant pounds). So, tailored coat… great! I got two and a Japanese silk robe with pajama pants. And yet, I wouldn’t give that “poor” kid a dollar. These coats and silk pjs cost more than a dollar. I’m not telling how much. I could feel the frenzy starting within me… I wanted to shop, shop, shop! I wanted these tailors to make me the clothes out of the supermodel, fashion runway catalog… and they could! Oh I bought all right… I bought my bus ticket out of there! Silk pjs???!! I was leaving the next day just after I picked up what I already bought. Oooooh, but I kept oogling the tailor shops wanting to buy more. I didn’t see one, NOT ONE, westerner who didn’t have a bag of tailored clothes. If I had known. You can’t resist. If I had known how bad it was, I would have never come. Sure the town is nice, European looking, but you don’t notice… BECAUSE YOU’RE OOGLING THE GOODS THAT TAUNT YOU EVERY WHICH WAY YOU LOOK. I’m not exaggerating here. There are rows upon rows of these shops. Thousands of them. Buying my bus ticket out of there was one of the best decisions of my life. I wanted to travel. Not blow all my cash on stupid material crap!! I mean, just after I was ranting and raving about who is poor right??!!! It turns out I fared pretty well. I went in expecting to buy nothing and came out with three things. Two Australian girls went in wanting to buy two things and bought 36, yes 36 articles of clothing… a piece!! I don’t know how they’re going to get it all home. Bahhh! Yet, another ploy to cheat Westerners of their money!!! So how did mine workout then? Well, on the bus trip from Hoi An to Hue’ I left my original coat that I had brought with me on the bus. If you leave anything on a bus in Vietnam, kiss it goodbye. You’ll never see it again. I’m a little sad I lost that coat. It was a good coat even if it did scrunch my shoulders. No, it’s not my nice long coat mom. I knew better than to take anything too nice to SE Asia. It’s a coat I got actually back in high school. No wonder it scrunches my shoulders. But, I still liked it. Anyway, losing that coat really helped justify my tailored coat purchase. It’s rainy, cold and wet where I’m in Vietnam right now. A coat is necessary. Fortunately, I just whipped out a tailored coat and I was good to go. No, losing the old one was not a subconscious way to justify my coat purchase!
So I failed to mention that I was now traveling with a Spanish guy, whom Markus, Pieter and I had all met en route to Dalat, then again in Dalat. Unfortunately, I got sick just when we started traveling together. When we arrived in Hue in the evening I was feeling funny and feeling fussy. I woke up the next day with a throbbing headache, horrible bodyaches and a strong fever. I’m not sure how high the fevers ever got. I spent the whole first full day in Hue’ in bed, either at the hospital or in the guesthouse. The hospital ruled out Malaria and Typhoid Fever. The Spanish guy, Victor, was taking good care of me, helping me with whatever I needed. He helped me get to and from the hospital. He was very thoughtful and I was grateful. A local was also extremely helpful. He wasn’t a typical moto taxi driver, but he and friend took Victor and I to the hospital for very reasonable prices and even stuck around for two hours helping me translate my symptoms to the doctors and translating what the doctors diagnosed to me. I was so grateful for his help and kindness while I was feeling so miserable. If there was any time to discover that some Vietnamese people are caring, generous people this was it. The local didn’t want any money for sticking around so long and helping, but I forced a 100,000 dong note in his hand as thanks. That was enough to pay for my lodging for the night, but it was also about the equivalent of $6 USD. A lot, but really, very little.
So yeah, the doctors said it was probably flu but if it didn’t pass in two days to come back. The doctors were students, btw because it was a Saturday. The prescribed me paracetol and multivitamins. The whole visit plus prescription cost about $25. The paracetol helped bring my temp down and thus my headache subsided. The body aches never really went away. As soon as the paracetol wore off though, my fever was back with the headache. Day one, I stayed in bed. Not too much of a loss as it was still drizzly and rainy. But, day 2, I got sick of wasting time and we explored the Purple Forbidden City - the reason we came to Hue’ – even though I wasn’t close to 100 percent yet. The Purple Forbidden City is crap. Not worth the stop in Hue’, nor is it worth the admission fee. I heard that biking around the city is nice. I didn’t feel up for that though.
The next day I still wasn’t feeling well, but I couldn’t spend another day lying around. Partially because I’m so used to being on the move that I can barely handle lying around doing nothing and partially because Victor seemed to think that his care for me while I was sick earned him the right for a little romance. Nothing major. I didn’t feel exactly threatened or anything. But, still battling headaches, fever and all of the above, I certainly didn’t have the energy to fend him off and I certainly didn’t appreciate a man who could try to come on to someone who was feverish. So, I decided to just cut and run… to a city with no other Westerners.
What was I thinking? Feeling ill and going somewhere where barely any locals spoke English? Well, I wasn’t thinking. I was feverish.
So I failed to mention that I was now traveling with a Spanish guy, whom Markus, Pieter and I had all met en route to Dalat, then again in Dalat. Unfortunately, I got sick just when we started traveling together. When we arrived in Hue in the evening I was feeling funny and feeling fussy. I woke up the next day with a throbbing headache, horrible bodyaches and a strong fever. I’m not sure how high the fevers ever got. I spent the whole first full day in Hue’ in bed, either at the hospital or in the guesthouse. The hospital ruled out Malaria and Typhoid Fever. The Spanish guy, Victor, was taking good care of me, helping me with whatever I needed. He helped me get to and from the hospital. He was very thoughtful and I was grateful. A local was also extremely helpful. He wasn’t a typical moto taxi driver, but he and friend took Victor and I to the hospital for very reasonable prices and even stuck around for two hours helping me translate my symptoms to the doctors and translating what the doctors diagnosed to me. I was so grateful for his help and kindness while I was feeling so miserable. If there was any time to discover that some Vietnamese people are caring, generous people this was it. The local didn’t want any money for sticking around so long and helping, but I forced a 100,000 dong note in his hand as thanks. That was enough to pay for my lodging for the night, but it was also about the equivalent of $6 USD. A lot, but really, very little.
So yeah, the doctors said it was probably flu but if it didn’t pass in two days to come back. The doctors were students, btw because it was a Saturday. The prescribed me paracetol and multivitamins. The whole visit plus prescription cost about $25. The paracetol helped bring my temp down and thus my headache subsided. The body aches never really went away. As soon as the paracetol wore off though, my fever was back with the headache. Day one, I stayed in bed. Not too much of a loss as it was still drizzly and rainy. But, day 2, I got sick of wasting time and we explored the Purple Forbidden City - the reason we came to Hue’ – even though I wasn’t close to 100 percent yet. The Purple Forbidden City is crap. Not worth the stop in Hue’, nor is it worth the admission fee. I heard that biking around the city is nice. I didn’t feel up for that though.
The next day I still wasn’t feeling well, but I couldn’t spend another day lying around. Partially because I’m so used to being on the move that I can barely handle lying around doing nothing and partially because Victor seemed to think that his care for me while I was sick earned him the right for a little romance. Nothing major. I didn’t feel exactly threatened or anything. But, still battling headaches, fever and all of the above, I certainly didn’t have the energy to fend him off and I certainly didn’t appreciate a man who could try to come on to someone who was feverish. So, I decided to just cut and run… to a city with no other Westerners.
What was I thinking? Feeling ill and going somewhere where barely any locals spoke English? Well, I wasn’t thinking. I was feverish.
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