The Plan B Adventure

Welcome to Cambodia everyone…..land of enchanting temples, beautiful sunshine, and one of the poorest populations outside of Africa. We flew into Siem Reap via the reputable Lao Airlines in comfort looking forward to spending a great week in Siem Reap and the surrounding areas relishing in the culture of Cambodia and the masterpieces of the Angkor Temples.

Right off the bat we have to give a strong recommendation to stay at the Villa Siem Reap. The owners, Fiona and Anthony, recently remodeled and designed a beautiful guesthouse, tucked away from the monsterous Disneyland-like hotels so you can experience Cambodian culture while accessing their extensive information on temples and other things to do. The staff is exceptionally friendly (Thank you to all!!) and every $.07 that Fiona and Anthony make goes to charitable causes in the Siem Reap area. Great job guys….we can’t wait to see you again.

So as we strolled out of the airport (way worth it to fly opposed to overland through southern Laos) Villa Siem Reap had arranged for us to be picked up in tuk-tuk by Mr. Chantha, our designated driver for the week. He was great and had drinks waiting for us upon arrival. We were both shocked as we drove into town by the sheer number of giant, luxury hotels that have gone up or are going up and the amount of construction on infrastructural issues like drainage and landscaping. As we came to find out over the next few days Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor are slowly becoming THE destination vacation in Southeast Asia if you aren’t looking for the beach. And rightly so……this city is teeming with fantastic people, enjoyable sights and activities, and more tourist-oriented accommodations than you can shake a stick at. We can both imagine the level of development that will have taken place when we visit next.

Once we got to the hotel and had a chance to decompress and relax we opted to see the sunset at a less-frequented temple location, Banteay Kdei. Fiona recommended this site to get our feet wet (some local kids took it literally) and enjoy our first experience without the busloads of Japanese and German tourists….and she was right. What a gorgeous jungle setting at sunset with the sun-soaked stone and orange-reddish sun poking its head through the giant silk and fig trees. Our first impressions: breathtaking, amazing construction, and everyone needs to witness these sites at some point in their lifetime.

A few logistical bits of information…you have many transportation options to see the temples. Our favorite, the moto-tuk-tuk, essentially a covered carriage securly fastened to the back of a moto. Very comfortable, safer than a moto itself, and $10 a day.You could also go with a private car for $20 and in our minds that’s the only other option. Your other options are walking and/or riding a bike. Imagine this, it’s 95 degrees without a cloud in site, you have just marched up 100 stairs to the top of a temple then down, your clothes are basically nicely sown towels due to their absortion of your sweat, and now you have to get on a bike and pedal to the next temple. We’ll save the exercise for home (right, Molly!!) and sit our asses on a padded seat with a cooler of cold drinks at our feet and have Mr Chantha wisk us away to the next location. As for the walkers….good luck…give yourself a month and bring an umbrella and three pairs of sandals.

Day Two began at about 1:30am that morning. Jeff was making a game of how many times he could adjourn to the restroom if you get the drift….couple that with some intense muscle aches and it looked like Round Two of the Plan B Adventure stomach virus had taken its toll on your favorite travellers. It also began to look like Becca would have to use the first day of our temple passes on her own 🙁 She was not happy about not being able to share her first impressions with Jeff but she promised not to go to Angkor Wat and do a lot of looking around at other stuff so when Jeff got better they could efficiently (what other way would she do anything) tackle the stuff she had seen and he hadn’t.

Becca’s first stop was the royal city of Angkor Thom (for everyone who’s interested or needs a reference here is a map of the Angkor Temples), which houses multiple temples and Buddhist monuments constructed at the peak of Angkor civilization. She first set eyes (before the multitudes of tour groups arrived) on Bayon, which contains some of the most famous Buddhist stone faces (we know you’ve seen them) in all of Angkor. 54 towers, in fact, are constructed within the walls of the Bayon with 4 stone faces to each tower. At the base of the towers were gorgeously constructed bas-reliefs of wars won and lost, as well as daily life of the Khmer people. After the centerpiece of Angkor Thom, Becca moved through many of the other grand sites within this walled city and couldn’t come close to imagining what this area must have been like in its heyday and the amount of sheer activity and talent it took to build something like this. From Angkor Thom she moved to some of the other older temples and discovered the different styles of temple-building and began to fashion her opinion on some of her favorites. Anything with Hindu influence and anything with an elephant!!! To end her day she beat the masses to the jungle-enclosed temple of Ta Prohm, constructed for the reigning king’s mother (of, course) and one of the only temples left by restoration efforts to the throws of the jungle. She immensely enjoyed its grand scale and natural state and rushed home to share with Jeff, prediciting Ta Prohm would be one of his favorites.

After much bread, crackers, and rice Jeff was ready to rumble (so was his stomach) for Day Three. The travelling duo decided to take it slow and ease Jeff’s stomach into the rigors of Angkorian exploration. Becca had mapped out a great tour starting with many of the outerlying temples she hadn’t seen and including some of the oldest, yet better preserved temples that had been constructed over 1000 years ago. We started with Preah Khan, which was built to honor the reigning king’s father and strictly Buddhist style architecture. It was gigantic and much in line with Ta Prohm and, even more similar, to the sunset temple seen on the first night of Banteay Kdei.

After a full day of temple exploration including many great photos, newly-learned history, and preferred architectural styles we were off to see the sunset at Tourist Heaven. But not before Becca met the “Andrew Lamb” of Angkor and was kindly persuaded into purchasing a few of his wonderful books (We will comment on this cottage industry on a future post) at the low, low price of two for $10. As a side note, the Angkor history book was worth its weight in gold and we anticipate the Vietnam book to be the same in the weeks to come.

Sunset at Phnom Bakheng (the first capital of Angkor) was hilarious and beautiful. Hundreds of tourists and tour buses unloading at the foot of one of the most rigorous climbs in all of Angkor. We are dedicating a special blog entry to the footwear employed by all-comers so stay tuned for that!!! Once we ascended the hill, the ascension to the temple followed and we were thoroughly drenched after the 15 minute climb…UGH it’s hot! (We know none of you are sympathezing in Seattle or Chicago) but it is really uncomfortable at times…..At the summit the views are striking. A gorgeous glowing Angkor Wat complex in the distance with the sun setting across the Baray (man-made lake) while you watch the dust shoot up and settle from the hustle and bustle of everyday Cambodian life. We had a blast watching the sun descend and commenting on other tourists. Fortunately, we beat the rush down the mountain by keenly predicting the sun would set behind a cloud and escaped into the night……As we headed home and assessed Jeff’s stomach situation we decided to get up at dawn to view the great Angkor Wat at sunrise…..

VIP….Very Important Person, right? Maybe if you are a Laotian karaoke star!!! This is just what we found on the ride from Phonsavan to the Lao capital of Vientiane. What was billed as our ten-hour luxury VIP ride through the Laotian countryside turned out to be a hilarious yet death-defying ride (OH!!! You didn’t think it could get worse, did you?) through, what we felt was, every mountain range in Laos. The bus was very nice. Comfy, reclining seats with plenty of leg room. Sorry, we didn’t take any pictures (couldn’t release my grip from the seat cushion) so just close your eyes and imagine. Obviously, once you graduate from negotiating a public bus through the Lao mountains they move you up to a bigger, faster bus, which you are expected to drive faster through the same mountains. Apparently, the factor for our driver’s success must be full volume karaoke videos blaring through the entire bus because he moved us from Phonsavan to Vientiene in 7 hours rather than the expected 10 hour journey. What a talent!!…moving in and out of car with a giant bus while wrapping back and forth around the high mountains of Laos.

From what we had heard from fellow travellers about Vientiane it was nothing to look forward to. Big city, bustling with cars and people, that just hasn’t quite made it into the 21st century yet. Well, we were pleasantly surprised. Especially since the minute we stepped off our ride into the center of town we literally ran into our British travel buddy, Andrew whom readers will remember from our bus ride in Northern Thailand and our Mekong slow boat float. Yes…..he was on THAT boat too!! but he’s a river fanatic and we think he put up with the rigors a bit better than the two spolied Americans. Well, Andrew introduced us to what he’d been doing in Vientiane since we didn’t have any definitive plans so we thought we’d combine his highlights with some other stuff we had seen.

These sights included a walk to the Patuxai (Laos’ version of the Arc de Triumph), a stop by Si Saket (our favorite Wat yet and site of some spectacular photos), a sun-sheltered visit to the Lao History Museum (great job Lao government), a quick jaunt through Talat Sao (the gigantic morning market), a short interlude at the national temple of Tat Luang, and then the highlight of our trip (courtesy of Lonely Planet and our Spanish dining partner, Baba), the Buddha Park. As you can see from the pictures these are great national treasures and should be must-do’s for any visitor to Vientiane. Since Jeff is eliminating his extremely verbose nature in this email we thought we’d take the time to highlight just one….our favorite….the Buddha Park.

This park, otherwise known as Xieng Khuang, is located about 25-35km outside of Vientiane proper located on a great piece of property along the Mekong River. It was constructed in 1958 by a Lao sculptor and is his attempt to fuse Buddhist and Hindu cultures. The park and sculptures are fantasticly unique and provide a quirky look at many of the statues, gods and dieties that we have been veiwing over the past month. Check out this traveller’s site whom did a bit lengthier explanation if you are interested in the details.

Many guidebooks say you could bike it for exercise but trust us this is a horrible option, which includes multiple face-fulls of dust and exhaust, the ever-present possibility of getting run of the road by any number of vehicles, and obviously the heat which was reaching into the mid-90’s (F) with no relief from the humidity. We saw two Japanese girls on their way back and they did not look happy. Sorry girls…but we had to chuckle. We opted for the public bus, which you can all guess would be an adventure in itself. And it was…..a Great One!!

The #14 bus could possibly have the friendliest drivers, both out and back, we have encountered on our trip. On the way out, which took about an hour, we drove with a jam-packed bus (Bec on one side, Jeff on the other with a family of four sandwiched in-between) which was piloted by the Dancing Driver. As we made our way through a local festival parade he musicly tooted our horn and donated some of the bus fare to the locals that were celebrating. We think it was for a local temple but our Lao is pretty bad and the people on the bus just smiled when we tried to ask what was happening. When we reached the temple our driver happily jumped up and kindly ushered out to the Buddha Park. 

We really enjoyed the park which was littered with every Buddhist and Hindu diety you can imagine constructed in the sculptor’s unique eccentric way. The solitude and lack of tourists was also extremely welcoming and gave us the opportunity for some great photos and a relaxing discussion about what the heck this guy must have been thinking (or smoking)! His version of the universe is especially a mind-blower as he fashions it to look like a giant ball with windows all over and a leaf-less tree rising to the heavens. As you walk into the belly of the beast you get to witness the life level first, then ascend to heaven or descend to hell. Quite interesting, especially since we each took a seperate way, Becca heading straight to the top, while can you guess which way Jeff decided to explore first!!

So as we said the driver on the way back was just as funny. Picking up groceries and drinks from locals on the way into town as well as stopping for ten minutes to rabble-rouse the local Happy Hour gang where we picked up the highlights to the journey. They were Alex, Sai, and Diana. All native Lao, Alex now lives in France, his wife in Laos, and their sister is Kansas City. Quite a hilarious bus ride for the next 30 minutes getting to know them all and hearing about their enjoyment of Johnny Walker since 3pm in the afternoon. It was great fun and we can’t wait for our next public bus!

Well, it’s off to Siem Reap and the Kingdom of Cambodia. We can’t wait to share our stories and pictures of the fabulous Angkor temples and Jeff’s upcoming bout with Stomach Virus II, the revenge of Laotian food!!

Wow….what a great time we had learning and experiencing Laos. Starting in the far North, venturing into the untravelled East, and finishing up in the unassuming capital of Vientiane. We will have to save the South and it’s island mystique for another “round-the-world” trip. It looks like an entirely different experience altogether.

Well, of course, by now you’ve had time to follow our Mekong slow boat trip that took us to Luang Prabang as well as the time to read and view our great experiences in the Lao provinical capital. After L.P. we booked a public (meaning: cheap $8) Lao bus from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan, which are only 273 kms apart yet the trip is a good 10 hours. Oh yea…..we were prepared for this one. We got to the station early, strategically sat across from each other (monopolizing a double seat each), and buckled in for the adventure. By this time we were beginning to understand every trip on Lao transportation of any kind was an all-inclusive adventure of people, personalities, smells, sounds and, inevitably, livestock. At least on this bus they put the rooster in a cage on the top of the bus!!!

In all seriousness, if we can recommend to fellow travellers a way to get to Phonsavan this is it. All you need is a sack lunch, quite a bit of bottled water and kneepads. The only slightly uncomfortable part of this trip is if you happen to be taller than the average Laotian, which is gotta be 5’5″ so we both qualify. Unless you want to spend the $50 for a 30 minute flight, pony up the $8 each and jump onto this bus for Mr Toad’s Wild Ride. After quite a few fun and, not so, comfortable (Thanks China!!) bus adventures this is tame and gorgeous.

Over the 273 km trip we think we counted 1025 lane changes, 2371 hair-pin turns, and countless occasions when we could have easily envisioned ourselves plunging off a 3000 foot ravine. Now if you are weathered for this type of travel (As we are!!) then this is a gorgeous ride. The Lao mountain ranges differ tremendously. Each consist of their own lush vegetation, unique hill-top and road-side villages, multiple well-placed primary schools, and the ever-present, risky local animal that thinks he’s faster than the bus. We swear they don’t kill their own chickens and cows for food in Laos they just wait for the buses (No, we didn’t hit any) to hit them. The local bus offers a great experience. The drivers stop often (albeit roadside) for potty breaks, locals jump off and on during the whole trip, plenty of space as your luggage is chained to the roof, and the seat cushions are surprisingly comfy…even if you DO have to sit on them for 10 hours.

Entering Phonsavan in the Xieng Khouang province is very interesting. This area borders Vietnam and contains multiple networks of tunnels used by Vietnamese and Lao alike in the war against the French and American imperialists. So as you descend from the mountains you encounter the sights of multiple pock-marked hills from the intense American military attack across an expansive, rolling landscape. The area is also more positively-known for it’s Plain of Jars (the reason we are here) discovery in the early 1900’s. These Jars are billed as being fairly mysterious yet as we come to find not so much when you put your mind to formulating (something the guidebook writers don’t do) an explanation. We couldn’t wait to see for ourselves and after settling into our $4 guesthouse in the sleepy, yet construction-filled town of Phonsavan we booked a tour and took a day to explore the mystery (??) of the Jars.

As we come to find from our fun guide, Vi Jang (not so much English but he’s gettin’ there) the Jars represent different, ancient burial sites. Unlike some of his colleagues (whom believe they were used to ferment rice whiskey) Vi Jang knows what he is talking about as we confirmed later on the Lao National History Museum in Vientiane. This area was a midpoint (albeit a remote point) on the southern trade route that linked the east coast of Southeast Asia with the East Indian trade routes. Due to this link many people accumulated in the area and took up residence. When they died the Jars were used either as a grave or crematorium. This theory was put together as archeologists found burial artefacts (gems, ironwork, etc) inside the jars along side fossilized bones. The more important people were buried on higher hills in larger Jars and the lesser lower lands. OK….so we hope that history interests some of you as much as us…there are also some pretty cool pictures if you are more visual.

After the Jars there isn’t much to see Phonsavan (bit of a one-trick pony) unless you want to see some of the U.S. landing strips for drug-running, numerous bomb craters, or other remnants of the war we love to hate. But we thought we’d save that history for Vietnam itself as we will be there in a few weeks time. We had a few great bowls of noodle soup and fried rice, checked out a local market, attempted the slowest internet access yet, then caught a VIP bus to Vientiane, a short 10 hours jaunt to the southwest.

Wow….what a city. We love Luang Prabang. Smiling locals, great colonial architecture, beautiful Mekong sunsets, an unexpectedly quiet atmosphere, and, of course, better than expected food.

We are finally getting the hang of it….constantly-changing travel, that is!!! As we arrived in L.P., per our last email we wandered up to the town from the slow boat drop-off and knew we’d love this place. We found our guesthouse in record time and, even, already had a reservation. Now we aren’t bragging, it’s just that we are proud of our learning curve!!
We knew that after a two-day boat ride some spoils were in order. First on the agenda was making up for a boring Valentine’s Day. That meant splurging on our most expensive dinner yet, $70!!! Yikes. We split a great bottle of French wine and Jeff had to treat himself (He’s not gettin’ any skinnier, folks!!!) to a seven-course set menu at Villa Santi. We had a great time making up for Valo Day with the restaurant all to ourselves, a balcony table overlooking the main street, and a local Lao acoustical music group to play for us. Although we were accompanied by 30 of our closest “Gecko” friends overhead, the night was enjoyable and we have to recommend Villa Santi (thanks Russ!!) for any future visits to Luang Prabang. The next two days were filled with bike-riding on Beach Cruisers, exploring the city and local temples, as well as a full pamper, spa day for Becca and a day at the beach with the locals for Jeff. The city itself has quite a rich history and some amazing sites, including The Royal Palace, local night market, and a mountain-top temple with amazing Mekong-sunset views.

A few things we have to mention….One, how cute the monks are. In Lao, especially Luang Prabang, the number of monks is astounding and they all seem to travel together while sharing an umbrella-shade for the group. It’s quite funny. Two….we have noticed in Laos is the prevalence of primary schools. We have had a blast sitting by as the kids played “one-foot tag”, walked home hand-in-hand, or just hung around the schoolyard after class. After talking with a few locals the primary kids go to state-sponsored school while if you want to continue onto secondary that’s when the parents have to start paying. We were quite shocked that the nationalist Lao government supports no foreign language classes and English classes cost upwards of $20-40 a month per child. Can you imagine paying that when you only make $50-100 per month? And we thought our college tuition was a drag? UGHH!!! Luckily (as we ran into later), there are many of the middle and upper class kids learning English and, hopefully, this will eventually trickle down to the kids that can’t afford such education. We anticipate our own adventure and education will inspire us in the future to contribute something as small as language-learning materials for this country that strives to pull itself out of the “Least Developed Country” category by 2020.

Ok..back to our adventures. We decided on our last day in L.P. to venture away from the city to the waterfalls of Kuang Si. Great Choice!!! After a bumpy 45 minute mini-bus (Jeff got shotgun the whole way!!!!) we arrived at the falls and knew we were in for a good time. It is a bit touristy but well worth it!!! The hike to the falls is fairly short but, of course, Jeff needed a little extra calorie burn (to work off the seven courses) and put in another 30 minutes to the tippy-top. So peaceful and quiet watching the falls drop hundreds of feet below to where Becca was relaxing. After a sweaty hike, Jeff had to hop in and cool off under the falls although the Princess thought getting completely wet was too much so she just took a wade!! Well, it was still a great time and the journey in the minibus and seeing the outerlying areas of Luang Prabang was quite an experience in itself.

Our last night in Luang Prabang sealed the deal on a great experience. As we were securing our ticket to head to Phonsavan, the next day, we ran into Jeanette and Allyson (our friends from Chiang Dao)!!! They were just arriving from Northern Laos and we spent all night trading funny stories and enjoying a fabulously, unique Laotian BBQ dinner. Eat your heart out Russ!!! This was one for the ages.

Well…..off to Phonsavan, a small city on the Lao-Vietnamese border to take in a little sightseeing and small-town culture. We regret the blogs are getting shorter but the internet access is getting more expensive and a lot slower…HAHA!!

Alright….so we arrived after quite a first day’s journey in he midpoint city of Pakbeng, Laos. This is the city where we had arranged our lodging with the guy sitting at the desk and we were happy as others with us hadn’t done so. What an entrance!! This town is sustained completely from being the midpoint city on this tourist route. We arrived a good 300 feet below the city and put on our packs and trekked with the others straight up a sand-covered hill. Pakbeng consists of one road, much like Chiang Khong yet the road is 1/8th the size. After getting bombarded by touts (albeit in SE Asia they are very nice) and offers for opium and marijuana we made it to our guesthouse. Ahh….our previously-booked, Lonely Planet-recommended, simple, yet romantic Valentine’s Day getaway……(record scratching) err….wait! Expectations again misguided. The owners were extremely nice and insisted this was “the nicest room in town” (for $5), we appreciate landlords with a sense of humor. Hey….well at least they threw in a few amenties (bug net, and loofah)!!

What can we say at this point the laughing took over and we headed out for some Indian food….we know Indian food in Lao?? Well, it was fabulous. If you ever get the chance to stop over in Pakbeng for the night (let the laughing begin) please take our recommendation and visit Hilur (from Madras) at the best Indian restaurant in town, Salam. Becca headed to bed early (she’s the smart one) and Jeff sat around with Hilur and Andrew, an English travelling companion and closed down the evening with quite a few Beer Lao. UH-OH…..
Woke up in the mornin’ completely rested and extremely ready to experience the 2nd half of our adventure…..or at least Becca did. Jeff proceeded to incur his first Beer Lao hangover which caused him to incur his first head-injury after WHACKING his head on the 5 foot, cement doorframe. UGHHHH!!! Not the way you wanna be feeling when you get on a boat. Well at least today we were going to try the benches instead of the back. It was actually a welcomed change. The scenery was better, the smoking lesser, and we actually got our own seats opposed to being in the back when the locals brought on the dead animals they were going to cook for lunch. The ride felt just as long but good conversations, quite a bit of reading, and all-around better scenery made for what felt like a shorter trip. If only we had those seat cushions.

The entrance into the Luang Prabang area was fantastic. Temples built into riverside caves, breathtaking limestone mountain ranges, and finally, LAND! Yippee! We couldn’t be happier to have arrived in the old, provincial Lao capital at sunset.

As you now have read we’ve arrived in the beautiful Lao city of Luang Prabang. From our brief time here it is a fabulous city with tons of cultural heritage and a well-rounded feel of the Lao slow life. Internet access is a bit dodgy so we will try to keep you informed and upload some pics soon. We thought we’d share some of the experiences we had on our trip overland from Chiang Mai, Thailand to Luang Prabang, Laos. We are terming it the “Blind Faith Tour ’06“!!! (something tells us it won’t be the last)

After many a day in the friendly confines of CM Blue House (thanks Jimmy…very nice place) we dragged our weary, recovering bodies onto a minibus for a five-hour “Air-Con” ride to the Thai-Lao border town of Chiang Khong. This is definitely the way to go for this trip. Public bus is a bit sketchy (as we witnessed) since many back roads are used and not all the roads connect leading to many bus changes. Not saying it can’t be done it’s just for a few extra Baht the nine-person mini-bus was a welcomed option. We are beginning to trust and use travel agents more since their options are usually oft-used by other travellers (strength in numbers) and not much more expensive than piecing everything together yourself. This might not be the case in all areas of the world but is true to fact in Southeast Asia.

Our trip thru the travel agent included mini-bus to Chiang Khong, Visa service for Laos, overnight guesthouse in C.K.(dinner and breakfast included), a slowboat service (including box lunch) down the Mekong. All for $35 each. Sounds great doesn’t it??? It was nice (We can’t complain) but as we came to find the definitions of nice sounding amenties and relaxing travel mean different things to the Lao people. We are learning our opinion of fun and comfortable travel are changing…potentially for the better since we still have 7 months left!! Chiang Khong is a tiny, tiny place. It has one major street and a few competing restaurants, both playing the same cable movies on the same TVs, right next to each other (Can you say Competitive Advantage Class?) The view of the Mekong is great!! Chiang Khong has built a riverwalk below the guesthouses and restaurants which is a nice touch. We had fun strolling it in the moonlight while viewing Laos right across the way and Jeff caught a great glimpse of the two cities awakening as he watched the sunrise.

The border crossing process was a bit of a blur and provides the framework for the appropriately named Blind Faith Tour!! Ushered onto a long-tail boat at 8AM, told our passports were waiting across the river, handed our passports and pointed to Customs for a stamp and a grunt from the officer. Hurried up the hill to a guy at a desk in the middle of the street. He arranged our “lodging” for the night at the midpoint city of Pakbeng. Nothing like a little trust!!! Motioned up the hill to a pickup awaiting our arrival that drove us (the opposite way we thought we were to go) to an obscure boat launch toward the north of town. Asked for our passports again and then pushed into a waiting area. It’s quite nice to feel like cattle. We were told our boat left at 10AM then they said 11AM then we were handed our passports and told to board again at 10AM. Hilarious!!!

Ok, now for The Boat….picture walking a thin bamboo plank onto what looks to the uninitiated as a refugee boat. As you walk through wondering where to put down your pack you see the “benches” and I use that term loosely….I realize it’s tough to use the term benches loosely but wait!! After a bit of terse consultation between spouses we decide the “benches” aren’t the best option so we head for the back thinking it might be like that cool “back-back” seat in all the old station wagons. Well maybe not!! Tarps laid across stenchy, loose floorboards….here’s where you will reside for the next 8-10 hours, spooning with 40 other passengers and their stinky feet, cigarettes, and the occassional Lao local complete with produce, Beer Lao, and livestock. (Remember, expect for the cigarette smoke this is a better option than the benches) WELCOME TO THE SLOW BOAT!!! Remind me to hire a Lonely Planet writer to pen creative ads regarding anything grostesque that needs to be spun in a positive light, cause this guy did a great job on this one.

Maybe it’s because we have been down three rivers already but the scenery was just OK. The ride was fun and adventureous though….we saw some elephants, water buffalo, met some great travellers and witnessed some great local life, but we just need to adjust our expectations before the journey and stop relying on the spoken gospel according to Lonely Planet. We were prepared with food, water, etc….but anything for 8 hours unless things are constantly new gets a little stale. Now don’t get us wrong, opposed to traversing the windy Lao roads in a bus, or paying ridiculous amounts to fly we would do this again but change things a bit. #1 on Becca’s list, Butt Donut for sitting (A towel just doesn’t work). #1 on Jeff’s list oxygen mask to avoid engine exhaust and, really, all-around, discourteous European smokers.

Ok, enough moaning. The experience was enriching, conversations scintillating, and as Jeff rationalized on Day One “Any day on this floor seeing the Mekong and travelling thru Laos is better than any day defending client’s investment performance”………..

Stay Tuned for Day Two tomorrow.

Please take some time to read the recent comment by our favorite K-1 Class in Sammamish, Washington. They have provided a list of remedies for our travelling ills that rivals a Letterman Top Ten list. Thanks to Mrs Jaross and the kids for their great input.

Additionally, a technical note…..due to a recent update of software on the Bootsnall website I am trying to correct the issue of having to approve everyone’s comments before they are posted to the public site. I don’t know why it is happening. So if you are posting please be patient and I’ll make sure to get things approved immediately until the issue is corrected.

Here we are in lovely Luang Prabang. Just arrived tonight after 2 days and 16 hours on a smoker-infested boat. A little worse for wear as Jeff picked up Becca’s stomach issues but we are here and looking forward to enjoying Lao.

We will post some pics and stories in the next day or two….so stay tuned. See ya soon!!!

Just a quick update on the Travelling Zanatta’s. We are still in Chiang Mai after a few days of bed-rest for Becca. She has been having some stomach issues and running a bit of a fever. Through a bit of TLC from Jeff and a lot of resting she is up (crossing our fingers)and about again. Seems to have been an issue with something viral so Becca is going to watch her intake of all type of substances.

We are scheduled to head of to the Lao-Thai border on Monday afternoon and should be “incommunicato” until Wednesday as we float down the lovely Mekong river to Luang Prabang. We are so enthusiatic about the excitement our blog is generating at home so please keep up the great posts.

For all of you worried about our lacking of shopping, we have slightly remedied the problem. Jeff bought a great t-shirt with a local artist’s elephant print. Then today, after Jeff’s second cooking class and more rest for Becca we walked to the local Warorot Market and Thai boutique shops. We found a great multitude of shops and bought some fantasticly, colorful Thai silk pillow cases. For all of those that requested us to purchase them some Thai fabrics we are sorry because there is too much to choose from. Each of you will have to save up and buy your own ticket to Thailand and come with us the next time we visit. What a great place and great bargains!!!

That’s all for now…..see ya in a few days. 

Back in Chiang Mai after a brief jaunt to the sleepy oasis of Chiang Dao, located just on the outskirts of the Golden Triangle in Northern Thailand. Since the title of this posting is a bit confusing why don’t we dispense with the uncomfortable parts first and quickly then move on to our recent fulfilling adventures.

Night One: We arrive home from a great local BBQ with our new friends, Andy and Vanessa, to find that an ant colony has taken up residence in our bungalow walls. After much spraying and cleaning the problem was taken care of, yet we are sure you can all imagine the itchy, sleepless night that followed as our Larium-induced dreams led us to believe there were ants everywhere. The next morning, our host, O, graciously moved us rooms to the back of the property.

Night Two: After a jaunt to town where we narrowly avoided being caught in Chiang Dao Storm 2006, we arrived home to our new bungalow to find that a local gecko decided to make himself at home in our bamboo-weaved walls. The problem was fairly minor until you realize how much noise a ceature that small can make when he can’t get out of the walls and scratches at the bamboo alllllll night lllllllong…..ugh!!

Night Three: We needed a good night sleep and decided to stay in the same bungalow since it seemed “Gordon” (the gecko….Get It??) had made his way elsewhere. After returning from a great dinner Becca and Gordon were briefly introduced in the bathroom. Well, you can all imagine the reaction that ensued, Jeff attempted to corral him but just doesn’t have the quickness he use to (in his 20’s)!! It goes without saying Jeff was relagated to night-watchman duty and we both had another sleepless night.

Needless to say, we have come to the recent conclusion that we would like to think we are comfortable in “rustic” settings but it just might not be our cup of tea. We will chock this one up to character building, seems to be a lot of that going on!
Ok…..now to the good stuff!!! The Nest 2 we stayed at in Chiang Dao was great. Hidden away at the bottom of Mt Chiang Dao (the 2nd highest mt in Thailand) our bungalow provided us with a great little getaway without a tourist bus in sight. Chiang Dao is about two hours north of Chiang Mai and has just recently been bitten by the tourism bug. We decided to leave Chiang Mai by local bus and experience the wonderful world of Thailand (not Chinese) bus travel. What a difference!! The trip was relaxing, quiet, and extremely ($1.50 for both) cheap. This is definitely the way to travel in Thailand when you know where you are going and the route is simple. The first day at Chiang Dao was pretty laid back. There isn’t an enormous amount to do in the city but the surrounding treks and sights offered some interesting experiences over the following few days. We ventured up to the local monastery and wat which is perched in the mountain. This has to be one of our favorites yet as we were two of six people exploring the wat and the views from the top provided some great vistas of the greenery below. As we wandered back to our place we bumped into Andy and Vanessa (check out their blog @ adwrighty.blogspot.com). Andy is from England and Vanessa from Australia. They are at the end of their four month journey and had lots of info and stories to share. (Thanks guys!!) We had a good time sharing dinner at a local BBQ with them and then heading back (by flashlight) to Nest 2 where the afore-mentioned issues have been discussed ad nauseum.

The next day we woke up lazily, knowing the Seahawks were fighting for the Championship, and walked down to explore the famous Chiang Dao caves. These caves were quite an experience. The Burmese had discovered these caves in the 1300’s and decorated them with Buddhist relics. Many years later Thai Buddhists re-discovered them and then more…almost 20 kms of cave networks. (Yes….we explored them ALL!!) All these caves are located under the giant Mt Chiang Dao and our guide, Wasan, has been giving tours for 30 years. We had a blast ducking in crevices, seeing the bats, and spelunking for almost 2 hours. The pictures don’t do the heat, lack of oxygen, and amount of flowing water contained within these caves…quite amazing!! After a great time and much education, we decided to give in and go check the Seahawks score. As soon as the half-loaded page showed “Steeling the Show” we knew the results weren’t favorable for Seattle fans. Oh well! There’s always next year!! Dinner that night was great as were all the dinners. The cooks at Chiang Dao Nest 1 and 2 are great. We were quite impressed with the level of cuisine provided.

Our third day was our busiest and definitely one of the most fulfilling. We had scheduled a full day to ride elephants, float down the Ping River, and trek through a few of the local hill-tribe villages. Our trip was scheduled through the Nest 2 ($50) and was a great deal, in our opinion. We started out with 5 other travellers in the back of a pickup and drove into the mountains to begin our adventure. Our first activity was meeting, feeding, and riding three local elephants. We hopped on Dao and were off into the mountain wilderness. Our elephant, Dao, is 45 years old and has quite an aggressive appetite for bamboo and bananas. After about 40 minutes, Dao delivered us to the first local village of the Lisu people. It’s quite interesting to see the similarities between these ethnic tribes and the others we met in China. Our first impression is that they have quite a few physical and cultural similarities but the tribes in Thailand have a bit more tourist saavy than the Chinese tribes. We trekked for about an hour through the mango fields and rubber trees to the Ahka village. This is the smallest minority group in Thailand totaling about 25,000 people. Our guide, Tory, took the time to help us understand the different religions (Christian vs Buddhist), the crop production, and money-making ways (rice, arts/crafts, opium) of each tribe. We have realized the importance of a knowledgeable, partially English-speaking guide and will definitely have to employ them in the future. It just really adds to the experience and understanding of what you are seeing. After Jeff was taken down (by the cute kids) for his first knick-knack purchase of the trip we were off to explore the Ping River by bamboo boat. We don’t have any pics as they made us leave our cameras in the truck, in case we encountered any issues. But what we can help you visualize is that this is the low-water season in Thailand. The river we were floating on is at least 8-10 feet below its normal level in the wet season. The ample mango plantations flanking the river were bountiful as were the number of locals sifting through the river floor for stones, sands, and rocks. It was very relaxing and extremely peaceful. Quite a trip altogether.

Well, we are back in Chiang Mai now. The nights of sleeplessness have caught up with us a bit (a little under the weather) but we had a vitamin-packed breakfast and lots of water. We have to recommend the next time anyone visits Chiang Mai to eat at the Nice Kitchen. It has to be one of the best breakfasts we’ve had. Half a plate of fresh fruit, French Toast with honey, fresh wheat roll (rivals Great Harvest), fresh Orange and Carrot/Ginger Juice, and hill-tribe coffee…..yummmm all for 170 baht ($4.5 dollars)!!!! Chiang Mai has been a welcome destination for us in Thailand. We can’t imagine anyone visiting Thailand without a trip here.

Tomorrow we are preparing to venture into the Land of a Million Elephants, Lao. We will be taking a minibus to the border and then crossing into Lao on a ferry where we will make our way to a slow boat and a 2-day float down the river to Luang Prabang. As we’ve come to expect nothing is exactly how we envision it so stay tuned for our reality in the days to come.