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??

A day at the beach

This is where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. We camped under the stars on the beach after an evening of socializing and drinking form a "bucket" (A bucket is a children's beach bucket with a bottle of rum, coke and some sugary thing called M-150.)

We went snorkeling and kayaking and then went by a cave were people scale the walls and ceiling to gather birds eggs (they are a delicacy in China).

We talked to some Irish folks on a 1 year trip. They got us excited about possibly going to Ireland on our way back. On a sad note, they told me they got robbed the other night. Someone took their lucky charms.

Having a great time!

Tomorrow big plans: go to the beach and hang out.

A New Day!

We are celebrating Obama's win -- just watched his speech on CNN. There were a few tears of joy:-).

More of the Same, Same in Phi Phi

Today hasn’t been much different from the last few days. We woke up around 7 and took a hike to the Phi Phi Viewpoint, the highest point on the island (about 1,000 ft. up). After climbing a zillion stairs, we were met with a little piece of paradise – an INCREDIBLE view of the two bays. (Take a look at the photos we’ve posted – they were taken from the Viewpoint). There was also a beautiful garden that was full of amazing flowers.

After the hike, we stopped for breakfast and followed that up with an interesting conversation about water pumps and asbestos with the Italian owner of our newly built guesthouse (The Marine House). Then we headed for the beach for a couple of hours and KD snorkeled:). We were a tad bit hungry after the beach so we stopped and had pizza at a restaurant that suddenly turned into a nightclub at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. One minute, we were quietly enjoying an afternoon snack and looking out at the bay, the next moment techno music is being blasted as loud as possible by a DJ about two feet away. It turns out that the “Beach Party” had begun….we was handed a flyer advertising it as we walked back to hour hotel…

We’re looking forward to our camping excursion tomorrow on Maya Bay. I think we’ll be the oldest campers aboard judging by the flyers that advertise a free “bucket” of alcohol per person. This should be interesting.

It’s about 5pm here so voting should be starting in the U.S. in a few hours. We’ll be running to a cafe้ with a TV in the morning to find out the results. Go Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A day at the beach

As these professional quality pictures show, we spent the day at the beach on the sea side of Tonsai. It is gorgeous. Tomorrow, more of the same and on Wednesday, we head to Maya Bay to camp for the night (this is where the movie "The Beach" was filmed). Not since then has such a good looking guy graced its sands...:-). Getting there requires another boat.

Did we mention that in Thailand there are only compact flourescent lightbulbs?!!

Phi Phi Instead of Krabi

Yesterday we took a boat tour on a “Longboat” with some other tourist out into the Indian ocean. Typically, it was a pretty diverse group of people. After introductions, I found out there was a woman from the American mid-west, an actress, an adjunct university professor and an obviously very rich guy and his wife. However, the boat captain “Skhip-ur” and his helper “Ghil-ha-ghan” did not check the weather forecast. What was supposed to be a 3 hour tour turned into us being washed up on a deserted island…(this is Walter’s “funny” contribution)…

Seriously, we left Kata Beach yesterday around 10am and arrived in Phuket Town via a 30 minute open air bus ride. Once in Phuket we had no itinerary other than to find a boat to Krabi. But where, prךt ell, was the boat dock? We were dropped off in the middle of a random street market. A map would’ve come in handy at this point in our journey – why didn’t we bring a map? Not surprisingly, an eager taxi driver spotted us and rushed us off to the “harbor” where we learned that there weren’t any boats to Krabi from Phuket (should’ve brought a current Lonely Planet). The boat ticket guy suggests that we go to Phi Phi Island instead and then take a boat from Phi Phi to Krabi tomorrow. A new travel plan is born!

Following a two hour boat ride, we arrived in Phi Phi around 3:30pm (which, p.s., is pronounced “pee pee”…I chuckle). We found a hotel (Phi Phi Hotel) and went for a walk down the red brick road that is lined with shops and restaurants (no cars allowed here – hard to grasp right?). We had dinner poolside at a nearby resort. The red curry was delicious and dessert was super yummy (warm coconut milk with bananas).

We’ll explore more of this pretty place today by foot. Not sure how long we’ll stay – maybe a few more days because Walter loves it because it seems to have more cats living here than humans:). Meow... (which means "no thank you" in Thai)

On a side note: Walter just finished the book The Rise And Fall Of the Third Reich. Simultaneously we found out Tom Cruise will star in a movie abouit Von Stauffenburg (noy sure of spelling), the Colonel that was almost successful in assinating Hitler. "Risky Business" all over again?

Kristen is reading Eat, Pray, Love and now wants to go to an Ashram in India to find her "balance".