Home Sweet Home

It's nice to be back home after a fabulous two months on the road!

French Pastries

While Walter and his wonderful cousin Guido skied in the Alps, I drank cafe au laittes at ski lodges, rode in cable cars, and went into the town of Megeve where I found a bakery and indulged in eclairs and cakes:-).

Photos from our Visit to Geneva!

Back home

We made it back to DC by 10 PM!. Good to be home.

Geneva

Went skiing today near mont Blanc (Mount Whitey). Off ot US tomorrow. Having a great time!

In Paris

We are in Paris. Nothing noteworthy to take pictures of though.

Paris is a small, sleepy town devoid of ay soul. The only form of entertainment is to drink moonshine and bet on chicken fights.

More to follow.

In Belgium and Leaving for Paris Tomorrow

It took us 40 hours to get to Belgium from SE Asia but we made it! We arrived on Tuesday and have been having a wonderful time the past few days with visits to Antwerp, Neil and Brussels. And of course Leuven. Belgium is a beautiful place!

Tomorrow we leave for Paris on the high-speed train which will only take 1.5 hours:-).

Some Photos from Vientiane

Yesterday before going to the airport, we did some sightseeing around Vientiane: the gold stupa, the arch, the presidential palace, etc. All the usual things that tourists should see. The first photos is of our guesthouse (the "tall" white building on the left).

Not So Fast...

...said the immigration officers in Kunming, China. We are not allowed to fly through China without a visa, even though the Chineses website, the Airline and a travel agent told us we could. So we are trying to fly to Vienna via Seoul, Korea an international city that connects to Konming.

It is a very modern airport here. We are using the immigration office computers to update our blog. Very unofficial, but very generous.

China looks very modern, clean and well airconditioned from our perspective here inside the interantional air terminal. What population problem. It also looked great from 20,000 feet.

All hail Chairman Mao.

Belgium, Here We Come!

In a few minutes, we will check out of our guesthouse here in Vientiane and take a tuk-tuk to the aiport for our flight to Brussels (via two stops in China). I can't believe it's our last day in Asia. This morning we woke up early, had a delicious breakfast at the Scandinavian Bakery, walked to see the Presidential Palace, the Lao Arch de Triump (it was built with U.S. funds given to Laos in the 1960s to build an airport (expats refer to it as the "vertical runway"), and the gold stupa that it located in the northeastern section of the city. I'll post some photos later!

Leaving Luang Nam Tha (LNT) Today

We fly to the capital of Laos, Vientiane, today at 4pm on Lao Airlines. It was either a 50-minute flight or a two day bus. After the experience of the minivan going through the mountains in record time the other day, we opted for the flight. We'll be in Vientiane for 3 nights and then we head to Europe via China since when we booked the tickets, the Bangkok Airport was still closed. I was looking forward to returning to Bangkok because it's a super cool airport and I saw a Starbucks as we were running through the terminal about a month ago to catch a flight. I really want a gingerbread latte. Speaking of lattes, we found a lady here in LNT who makes wonderful lattes from a wood hut along the side of a dusty rode and we're on our way there now for breakfast.

Our days in LNT have been nice for the most part, other than it being unexpectantly FREEZING in the morning and at night. We're staying in a nice guesthouse that costs $8.50 a night (a photo is posted) and has a good restaurant...but no heat and no insulated walls. We rented a moped the other day and explored the mountains where we had the chance to see some villages and got to wave to the kids who ran to the run to shout "Sabadee!!" (hello in Laos). We saw children as young as about 4 or 5 walking out of the woods with piles of firewood on their backs. Yesterday, we rented bikes and road out a little bit past the airport and then down a bumpy dirt road to a restaurant that Walter found the last time he was here. We had a delicious meal of sticky rice and chili paste, fried noodles with vegetables, ginger soup, steamed vegetables and lime juice.

I just walked past a local clinic and it looks like they're having some sort of free vaccination day because everyone is driving up on their mopeds with their babies. Very exciting (not the driving with babies on mopeds part - the public health/vaccine program part)!

New Favorite Meal

I just ate the most delicious fried rice with cashews and pineapple at a restaurant in Luang Nam Tha. This morning we took a minivan through the mountains from Huay Xai. The drive took three hours along the new highway that was not built when Walter was here two years ago. Back then he took an old bus that broke down five times and took more than twice as long. Thank goodness for real roads.

We're hoping to get a flight to Belgium on December 7th (looking for tickets now). Our plan is to stay in Luagn Nam Tha for a few days and then head for a city with an international airport.

In Huay Xai, Northern Laos

We just arrived in Huay Xai after our 2-day trip up the Mekong River. We left Luang Prabang at 7am on Saturday and got here at 4:30pm today. Last night we stopped at an amazing lodge made up of wonderful bungalows looking out onto the river. The only thing our bungalow didn’t have hot water and it was cold….good thing we brought our fleece jackets. Almost everyone on our boat was originally planning on flying home through Bangkok following the boat trip. Walter and I have decided to stay in Laos until we have a better understanding of the political situation in Thailand. According to the news we just watched (our TV doesn’t have sound on the CNN channel), the Bangkok airports are still closed with 100,000 tourists stranded. Even if the airport reopens, getting on a flight out is slim. this week but have no ideatrying to get to the airport in Thailand. Many of their flights had already been cancelled. So we will look at flying out of Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam. Right now, we are far away from an international airport, but since we don’t have to be in Europe until about 10 December, it looks doable. Will keep you posted.

For our family’s information, we’re staying at the BAP Guest House in Huay Xai on Saykhong.

The photos we’re posting are from our boat tripJ.

Mekong River Trip

Tomorrow (Saturday) morning we leave for our Mekong River trip aboard the "Luang Say" boat. We splurged on these tickets – the Luang Say is a "luxury boat" that will take us to a town called Houeisay on the Laos/Thai border (www.asian_oasis.com). The trip is two days in length. We stop for the night tomorrow in a village called Pakbeng and stay at the Luang Say Lodge and then arrive in Houeisay around 5pm on Sunday. We’ll stay overnight in Houeisay and decide on Monday whether or not to continue on to Chiang Mai in Thailand (it all depends on the political situation in Thailand at that point). We’ll stay in Laos and figure out a way to fly to Europe from here if the Bangkok Airport doesn't reopen. More on that later.

We won’t have Internet access on the boat so there won’t be any blogging from us for a few days. Walter says there’s access in Houeisay.

Lazy day in Luang Prabang (LP)

We spent our 8th day hanging around coffeshops, tapping into free wireless.

The political stalemate has shut down air traffic through a major south east asian hub: Thai international Airport in Bangkok. Looks like we won't make it to Tanzania mostly because we could not get yellow fever vaccination, but additionally because our flight was through Bangkok.

So we are in a waiting game. If Thailand's airports open we'll go through there to get to Europe. But if the stalemate continues we may go south to Pakse, Laos or east to Hanoi and fly from there

So there are worse places to get stuck than LP. We might take a day trip in a Tuk Tuk to the waterfalls south of here tomorrow. (A tuk tuk is a big motorized rickshaw).

We've posted a few photos from a hike we took the day before yesterday through a small village across the Mekong from LP. There's also a photo of Walter enjoying the super fancy cafe that is located by the guesthouse we were staying in up until today (we moved to another part of town this morning for some different scenery and a nicer room that is cheaper -- only $15/night compared to the $25 we've been paying). And we have a TV now so we can watch CNN.

Temples and Discos

After hours at the coffee shop yesterday, we walked around Luang Prabang for a couple of hours and saw a few temples and sat by the river. (We saw a huge snake swimming in the Mekong which I will keep in mind as I get on and off boats in the future). We had dinner last night with a Canadian guy and his Lao wife who run a trekking company in town. It's always interesting to learn about a place from locals. We know have a very different perspective of this city. After an amazing dinner of red curry and sticky rice (for me), we went to two local discos. That was quite the "scene" and we were definitely too old to be there. But fun was had by all. Walter got his dance on for all to enjoy.

I'm also posting a photo or two from a trip I took the other day. I took an hour and a half Lao "slow boat" ride up the Mekong River to the Buddha Cave which is apparently the place where retired Buddhas go to rest. On the way back to Luang Prabang, we stopped at a local village where lots of local crafts were being sold (and homemade rice whiskey). It was an interesting day trip.

Tonight I'm planning on going to see the Lao ballet perform at the National Museum (the traditional costumes are beautiful). Tomorrow, I'll hopefully be able to get one of the Unesco tours of the city b/c my guide book doesn't provide me with enough information about the temples, buildings, etc.

Now, Walter and I are going to check out someone's garden/bar. He wants a "western" perspective.

Hanging out at a cafe in Luang Prabang, Laos

We tried to take a walk around the town, but stopped at the first coffee shop and never left. Then we discovered they had free internet....

Video while riding in Tuk Tuk in Phnom Penh

From downtown to the airport

In Laos and Happy Birthday Brian!!

I love Luang Prabang. So much that I would marry it if I could (that’s for you SB). Well, maybe not marry it, but definitely date it.

We left Phnom Penh early yesterday morning and flew through Siem Reap to get to Luang Prabang by early afternoon and wow, it is beautiful! This small city is nestled between the Nam Khan and Mekong Rivers and is a Unesco World Heritage city that is full off cafes and lovely guesthouses. Lonely Planet calls Luang Prabang the most “photogenic” city in Southeast Asia. The French architecture is stunning and the buildings are well preserved and maintained. And it’s so clean! Our guesthouse abuts a working temple facing the Mekong. I feel like we’ve been transported to a calm oasis after the chaos of Phnom Penh. The only things that make offensive noises here are roosters and water pumps and thanks to both of those things, Walter and I got very little sleep last night. The guesthouse’s water pump was literally located right outside our window, as was the rooster. Luckily, someone checked out of another room this morning and we have resettled into it. No more water pump noise -- we’ll have to see about that rooster tomorrow morning. Maybe he will have moved on. He started getting rowdy way before sunrise!

Last night we stopped in to see a gentleman who owns a trekking company here that Walter met when he was traveling about two years ago. He thanked Walter for introducing him to compact fluorescent lightbulbs (are you laughing?). He said that after Walter gave him some lightbulbs (yes, Walter brought CFLs with him to Asia two years ago), he replaced all the lightbulbs in his home and his businesses and this has saved him 50% on his electricity bills. This is why we love Walter... And p.s., apparently more people need to be using CFLs since I read that the government is planning on building 11 hydroelectric dams in the near future to meet the demand for electricity.

We plan on staying in LP for about 5 days and doing a lot of relaxing and eating of French pastries while we’re here. I’ve already had a baguette with butter and jam for breakfast and Lao coffee (which Walter said wasn’t like the Lao coffee he had when he was here before – he said it wasn’t the “chocolate deliciousness” that he remembers). I think spicy Lao soup with sticky rice for lunch will hit the spot. And of course, more coffee. Besides my obvious focus on food, we’ll probably engage in some other activities while in LP – maybe go on a trek, rent some bikes and ride out to the temples a few miles away. We shall see. The temperature is much, much cooler than it was in Thailand and Cambodia so outdoor activities will be more pleasant here.

We had an entertaining chat with a Lao girl this morning (she was about 9) while taking a walk down by the Nam Khan River. She was adorable and a total extrovert and she told us that we would have two children – both boys. Hmm. And she said their names will be cookie and mango.

We’re 12 hours ahead of the U.S. so it is officially my nephew Brian’s 15th birthday. Happy Birthday Bri – We LOVE you! I remember the day you were born and how totally cute you were and how happy I was to be your aunt (which, btw, I still am happy aboutJ).

A Day in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

We spent the day walking around PP. It started at a Parisian type café with a very expensive breakfast ($11!). Then we went to several airlines to book our flight to Luang Prabang, Laos. We will leave on the 20th and stay there about a week. We plan to be in Tanzania from ~3 to the ~10th of December and then be in Leuven, Belgium on the 11th.

We visited the Tuol Sleng genocide memorial in the afternoon. Quite depressing. Of the 20,000 that went through only 7 lived. The Khmer Rouge had about 50 such sites and killed off about 2 million of their own between 1976 and 1978. It only stopped after the Vietnamese invaded (a move the U.S. opposed at the time). Pol Pot was one of all the revolutionaries that gave a bad name to Marxism.

We had dinner last night with friends of Kris’ who live here and work for NGOs. They live well with a driver, security guard, cook, and a nanny all in an expansive house surrounded by two layers of barbed wire on top of an 8 foot wall. We learned that about half of the GDP here comes from foreign aid and that the average salary in the garment industry is about $1.75 per day.

Today we check into a new guest house, then walk around PP and possibly go to the Foreign Correspondents Club for happy hour.

I have been practicing my Khmer. Aw Koon means thank you. It is difficult to learn much because there are about 26 vowels. A slight change can dramatically change the meaning. To say “ I don’t understand” you could say kh’nyohm muhnyuht te. However, because of my ignorance of inflection, when I said it, it was heard as “My hovercraft is full of eels”.

The traffic here is typical of a frontier town. Stop signs are non-existent. We did see one stop light, but it was having a limited audience. A red light has little meaning. When we cross, we walk deliberately at a fixed pace so the drivers can anticipate our motion. Mopeds are everywhere and there’s never a break in traffic so this city is a pedestrian’s nightmare.

On the way to the boat from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh on Monday, our bus hit a boy on a bicycle. We are convinced that if we tourists did not yell for the bus driver to stop and make sure the boy was okay, the driver would have just kept going. The official advice to foreigners who hit someone or who get in an accident is to just keep driving to avoid getting beat up by a mob. So yes, we are having a stereotypical honeymoon experience!

As an indication of the decline of the economy here, moped sales are down 70%

Bike Ride in Siem Reap

We went on a super ambitious 1 mile bike ride to the new national Museum. Nobody was there, so we once again felt like super stars. Apparently Angkor Wat was built initially to revere Brahman religion (from India). Later it morphed into more of a Bhuddist temple complex.

Anyway, lots and lots of statues.

We spent the rest of the day hanging around the hostel, because we are lazy.

Off to Phnom Penh tomorrow by speed boat (35 mph). It start in Tonle Sap (a very large lake) and then into the Mekong. Never get off the go damn boat (a line from 'Chef' in Apocalypse Now).

The Temples

We visited about five spectacular temples at Angkor Wat yesterday in the lovely hot and humid weather. The temples are about a 20 minute ride from our hostel and we took a tuk-tuk (a Cambodian taxi) that cost $15 to hire for the entire day (the admission fee to Angkor Wat is $20 each for the day). We began our temple journey at 9am and saw Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Phrom (the temple in the jungle) and a few others. By 3pm, we were ready to head back to the pool at the hostel to cool off. Our driver could not understand that we didn't want to continue visiting temples and stay for sunset (sunset was 3 hours away!). We convinced him that we were fine not seeing the sunset and that maybe we'd see it tomorrow. "But how?" he asked knowing that we had only purchased one-day passes. "How will you see the sunset tomorrow when you only have one day passes?". Walter and I were with a British woman who is also staying at the hostel and he wasn't as worried about her missing the sunset because she had purchased a 3-day pass. He was very sweet and we assured him we did not feel like we were missing out on anything.

Immediately upon returning to the hostel, we jumped in the pool and cooled off. At this time of the year, it's hot but nothing close to March or April when temperatures reach 110 degrees. For our driver, this heat was nothing (he was wearing a long sleeve shirt!). At around 7pm, we headed out to the Old Market part of town that is across the Siem Reap River from our hostel and had a delicious dinner at a fancy Khmer restaurant (the bill came to $22 with drinks, appetizers and entrees -- Wow!). That is considered very expensive here -- most of the travelers that we're run into here at the hostel have allotted themselves a daily budget of $10-$15 for food and lodging.

Today, we're planning to bike around Siem Reap and explore a bit more. I want to find a bakery that we walked by on our first day here...I need cake:-). No dessert for going on three weeks is very hard for me!!!

We leave tomorrow morning at 6am to catch a boat to Phnom Penh (about a six hour ride).

In Siem Reap

We made it to Siem Reap after a full day of crazy travels. More tomorrow after we've had time to settle and adjust to our new surroundings.

Kristen needs a new book to read -- she finished reading Empire Falls on the plane here. Must find a good book exchange soon...

Moving on to Cambodia

We leave today for Siem Reap, Cambodia. First though, we have to get a long boat to take us to the mainland where the airport is. Once in Cambodia, we'll be staying at the Siem Reap Hostel that comes highly recommended by someone we met here the other day.

In Railey

We arrived in Railey yesterday afternoon. Lots of rain here. We plan on staying two more nights (at the Diamond Private Resort) and then heading to Cambodia. The hotel we stayed at the first night made for a sleepless night thanks to zillions of mosquitoes:-(.

Leaving for Railey Today

After nine days on Phi Phi Island, we're moving on. We leave today (Monday) on the 3:30pm boat to Hat Railay. We plan to stay on the east side of the island b/c it's cheaper but apparently just as pretty as the west side. I wonder if we'll find a coffee shop there with wireless Internet? Hope so.

Cloudy and Rainy But Still Nice

Still in Phi Phi...we keep extending our stay for "just two more days". Alas, it's time to move on to something new. Walter is studying Lonely Planet as we speak. Another beach or head to the mainland??