Hello Thailand- A Red Shirt Party

Well, me and Zoe are now in different countries which is way further apart than we have been since September. It is a little lonely but soon I will have to be silent anyways at a meditation retreat that starts on the 1st and then after that Zoe and I are meeting in Bangkok for Songkran (a huge water fight)! And then, I am home. I bought the ticket today so I now know that I will be back on the 15th, which means only 18 days left! Yikes.

I got into Bangkok yesterday morning after catching an assortment of buses, trains, tuk tuks and minivans for 26 hours. Trains in Thailand are deals though (6 dollars for 13 hours!) and if you sit in 3rd class everyone loves talking to you. I was chatted up all night and in the middle of the night with everything from "do you like the backstreet boys" to "how much do bananas cost in your country?" And, as we arrived cars and trucks full of red shirt protesters passed. Later that night I then walked through the main protesting area with 100,000 people. But, have no fear mom and dad, if you didn't know better you would think it was a carnival where red shirts were required for admission. I am of course very glad it is all being kept peaceful but it sure was funny to see tons of food stands and hear blasting pop music in a political protest.

Tomorrow I am off to Southern Thailand for a meditation retreat. I am a little concerned about not speaking for 10 days, waking up at 4am and only getting 2 meals a day... But, for 10 days I figure I can handle most things! There are also a lot of rules from "Intend not to sleep or sit on luxurious beds and seats" to "Intend not to take away any breath(abstain from killing). " At least I can handle the latter rule!

Is it Ashing?

Monks receiving morning alms

3/24-25: Jungle (?) Trekking, Kayaking and Time with Mr.Elephant-

We set out on a jungle trek and within the first few minutes it became clear that it would actually be more like an introduction to slashing and burning jungle. Revelation number one: the last two weeks we spent in Laos were not cloudy from grey skies but grey from everyone burning the jungle in prime jungle burning season, which happens to be March. We got to see quite a lot of cut down jungle getting ready to burn, jungle on fire, and piles of ashy land. And, a little bit of the real jungle that is left. Ash floated through the air, day and night and people in the villages would just casually watch the hillside next to their home burn away. It was hard to see how fast the forest is being taken down here but also who is going to be the one to deny people the right to farm land so they can feed themselves.

After receiving a coating of ash and breathing in oxygen with a side of smoke we made it to a small village where we spent the night. The kids had their own little world in this village. Also, if you are bigger than a baby you can take care of a baby there, so little 4 or 5 year olds would be happily totting around little 1 year olds on their backs. All the kids loved having their picture taken and would giggle away when you showed them the picture of themselves.

In the morning we were greeted again by the gang of children and they pulled out a english/lao picture book which created much entertainment for both parties. We then were off trotting down hill to the river, once again through decimated forest for some white water kayaking. It was pretty mild kayaking although there were technically 6 rapids I think. And as kayaking came to an end we still had three hours left to hang out with elephants. We learned a little bit of elephant lingo before getting plopped on an elephants neck (although I can't say our elephant was a very good listener). I kept pushing the 'don!' (spray water!) but he seemed to prefer just flopping over sideways and fully submerging himself when he felt like it.



Looking for gold along the river apparently



This beastly thing is what they call a pig...



This was the point when I stopped to take a picture while our guide was up ahead desperately yelling for us. Turned out we would have to start hustling to make it into the green which was being sparred (at least that day that is) before the fire made it down the hillside to us. We then passed all of the land that was slashed and about to be burned and made it into the green and uphill as ash from the fire floated up to us.
Hillside of jungle turned to ash for growing rice.
3/21-22: Canoeing in Nong Khiaw-

We rented a canoe in Nong Khiaw after being heavily cautioned about currents and questioned if we had ever paddled something that floated before. We set off and despite their skepticism about two small white girls going upstream in a canoe made of a few boards we made it to a lovely little deserted sand bar. We did end up having to share with a herd of water buffalo though, but they were good company.

Canoeing back down we happened to hit bathing/swimming/clothes washing time. Kids came down with tire tubes and the parents came in sarongs toting shower caddies (just like everyone has in college!)
animals eating garbage (typical) out of a garbage can (super duper rare)

The swing that made me face/arm plant into a tree.
Before hitting the tree
Hand made and hand dyed paper drying in the sun

Tubes and Jars

3/15: Tubing in Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng is pretty much making it big in Laos because of a 3 kilometer tubing route they have set up, so of course while in Vang Vieng for a week we gave it a try. First of all, there is a cartel going on with all the tube companies so they charge obscene prices. Second of all, it turns out the 'experience' is mostly about the congregation of bars boasting free alcohol. But, luckily the 20 bars have packed themselves tightly at the beginning so soon we were off bumping (dry season means not enough water for tubing at times...) along the river. The highlight for me was when 6 little kids spotted me coming down and instantly flocked to my tube. Soon it was me plus 6 little kids on top of me on one not very large tire tube. Half the time was spent seeing who could be on the top of the pile and then eventually a balance was miraculously achieved and I ferried them down the river a bit.

3/17: Plain of Jars

Yesterday we made an excursion to the mysterious Plain of Jars. It is simply a large area where huge jars of unknown origin are scattered throughout fields. These are not little glass jam or jelly jars though, they are stone jars weighing 600 kilograms to one ton. Also, to this day no one has been able to figure out why exactly they might be here. Some of the speculations I couldn't help laughing at while looking at a jar 5 times my size and imagining it being used for wine fermentation of extra rice storage.

A flying squirrel pelt. Although we have seen similar dead rodents for sale in the market for eating. Yesterday we spotted what looked like a run over possum.

We made sure to adventure here without a guide so we could be bad people and climb on weird ancient artifacts.

Some boys playing along a road up to Northern Laos
3/9: Buddha park in Vientiene.

3/11: Biking to caves in Vang Vieng.

We biked along Route 13 which is pretty much the most heavily used national highway in Laos. But, don't imagine I-5 or 90. This road, despite it being the national highway was perfect for some casual biking allowing you to swerve as much as you desired without getting hit. Every so often a motorbike or car would pass, but not much more. Houses are also built along the whole road and on the way home I came upon 5 little boys all hastily making their own little mounds of sand and dust for no apparent reason. But, just as we passed the game began. In unison they all kicked and jumped in the piles with great joy creating a small dust storm among them and leaving each little boy a nice puff ball of white dust.
An underground river about 1 km back in the cave. There was also a lake that Zoe took a dip in while I wandered through the river. I was alone for a bit and all was well until a bat decided to screech and fly right past my headlamp scaring me quite a bit and praying for Zoe to return. And, luckily she did about a minute later.
The extreme headlamps we got to explore with. They call them torches here though.
Exploring a little tunnel full of stalactites.
3/25: Climbing in Vang Vieng. The multi-pitch I did went somewhere 550 feet up the orange streak on this wall.
Hanging from the top of the 4th pitch. Apparently all the multi-pitch climbing here is ledge-less, so when you get to the top of one climb you just dangle and belay while dangling. So for about 4 hours yesterday I was dangling somewhere between 0 and 550 feet off an amazing limestone cliff. At the top I ate 4 bananas and then victoriously tossed each peel off the cliff and watched it twirl down the 550 feet I just climbed up. Coming down was 4 lovely rappels excluding the one that had an anchor made off of a red ant infested tree.
Hanging at the top of the second pitch!

Sabai Dee Laos!

4000 islands, and of course, the Mekong.
Fishing/swimming hole. Luckily they use nets that rest at the bottom instead of hooks and lines. Or, the younger boys come in with make shift wooden spear guns and somehow manage to catch fish with them.
Crossing into Laos. Once again, if you wanted to skip customs you could very easily just stroll through the bushes a few feet to either side without anyone noticing you. But, it is more modern than some borders we have seen... Take notice to the paved road!

Goodbye Cambodia, Hello Laos:

The last few days spent in Cambodia can be summed up as sick sick sick. I spent about 2 days curled up on a bed sleeping with most sick symptoms you can think of. But luckily after giving in and popping a few pills I went from dead to living. We then spent one entire day busing.

The last bus of the day was a small disaster. The story we got was that it broke down a few times before it picked us up 2 hours late and then when we got on it stopped for a tire replacement. The bus was also packed so I ended up crammed (but still with a legit seat miraculously) in the back with a few guys. I then pulled out my Ipod and spent the rest of the four hour ride jamming with one headphone and passing around the other with the two guys on either side of me. First it started with "Ain't Nobody" which got the guy next to me bobbing instantly to the beat. Next though was T-Pain, Akon, T.I., and all the other repetitive rap you can imagine which was definitely the biggest hit. A few of the songs have also been remade in Khmer so for some they got to sing along in Khmer, and me in English. The ones they didn't know were picked up quickly thanks to hip hop being incredibly repetitive. For most they were singing to the chorus by the middle.

Then, after all the busing Zoe ended up similarly sick and sleeping one day which pretty much ends our time in Cambodia.

We just got to Laos though and are all better! We just spent 2 days on an amazing island doing not much more than reading, eating Indian food, swimming, and biking. We left today and I am in hunt of books and we are in desperate need of a Laos guide book which is proving to be surprisingly difficult to find.