Another lesson learned…. the hard way!!
You know.. we should have known better than to book a bus ticket from Khao San road, an area notorious for tourist scams!!! On our bus ride down to Koh Lanta… WE GOT ROBBED!!! You guys will never believe this scam… it’s good, really good. While on the night bus, some assholes from the bus company stole all of our cash ( and we mean ALL of our u.s. dollars) from our bag. What bag? Our bag that was locked and put underneath the bus. We had no idea until we unpacked a few hour later. We beat ourselves up with could have, should have, would have but these thai criminals are smart!! Anyways we did a good job at trying to get over it, until we sat on the beach and read in our Vietnam guidebook ” make sure you bring a stack of U.S. $$ cash”. Anyways…another lesson learned the hard way!!
Besides the bus ride being awful, Koh Lanta was just as awesome as we remembered it. We ended up staying at a different place than last time but still on Mai Phai bay. We were a little worried about going back and being disappointed… but we were not. For christmas our hotel through a beach party. We celebrated with green curry and fire dancing. It definatly did not feel like any other christmas. We think the guys at our hotel had a close relationship with maryjane because the big fire sign said “merry christmas 2006″, we reminded them it was only 2005.
When we got back up to Bangkok, Todd went to the police station to file a police report. Apparently, the thai police are somewhat amused by farang (foriegners) being robbed. Todd ended up crumpling up the piece of paper and throwing it on the floor, strongly declaring ” well, i’ll just have to go break their legs myself.” Lisa didn’t think this was a good idea because she didn’t have any dollars to bribe him out of jail!! After that we checked our email and discovered that our friend Todd B. was in Bangkok for business. We ended up meeting him for dinner and drinks on our last night in bangkok. It was soooooo nice to hang out with someone we know (hint, hint, guilt, guilt). In the morning we woke up at 5 am and went to the airport. By 8 am we were back in Bangkok at Todd’s 5 star hotel. We changed our ticket until after new years so that we could stay and celebrate (and also to lounge around in a nice hotel.. what a vacation!!). We went for the weekend with todd and 2 of his thai friends to an area outside of bangkok called kanchanaburi. It was Beautiful!! On New Years we stayed in a floating guest house. It was SUCH a pleasure to be with friends!!!
Today we woke up at 5 am again, but this time we actually flew to Hanoi. We spent the day walking around the old quarter doing what we do best… eating and shopping. We are so glad that we never felt like shopping in thailand beacause there is TONS of crap here!! We were in thailand so long, its hard to get used to being in a new country. We don’t know how to say anything yet… and the money is so confusing, we are multi millionaires here (15800 dong to 1 dollar). We are planning to do some trekking way up north next to the chinese border. We hope it will not be too cold.
These pictures are from the temples around Bangkok.
Christmas celebration….
Kanchanaburi
Happy New Year!
Tags: Travel
Lisa and Todd-Blogmasters
Happy New Year! Have fun in Hanoi, it’s my fave city in SE Asia. Is Ho off getting re-embalmed in Russia? Twice I’ve been to see him and twice he’s been in Russia. And save some shopping for Hoi An!
Happy New Year!!! Ben’s first tooth came in!!! He can’t wait to see you in march!!!
Happy New Year’s guys! I like the shaka sign in the picture with Todd B.–represent! That’s great that you all managed to meet up, I could imagine how comforting a familiar face from your ‘past’ life would be at this point! How much longer are you guys planning to travel? I thought until summer, but Ivan’s comment threw me off–March? (although I guess he could be coming to you)
Even though I’m all the way out here on Maui, it got me excited cause March is only 8 weeks away!
Me love you long time! xox, Beth
Todd and Lisa,
Poor you – plus you feel like true idiotic tourists when you do something so blatantly dumb. I hope you didn’t lose toooo toooo much. At least you get to feel rich in Vietnam!
Lisa, your French should come in handy in Vietnam – I bet you’ll be glad you now some of at least one of the languages there. We’ll eat in a Vietnamese restaurant in your honor!
We miss you all so much.
Love,
Momma J.
Sorry beth… Ivan,Mary, Ben and Momma J are the only one’s who are actually coming to visit us. Come on guys, if a 4 month old can make it, what are your excuses??
Todd and Lisa,
You seem to be enjoying an incredible journey. I am happy to have internet now after being without for approximately six months. You have been missed as you have been away. I have recently enjoyed reading your postings and looking at your beautiful pictures. I hear you will be settling back in Hawaii upon returning to the U.S.? Christmas was great! Mom, dad, Nikki and I went to Helen’s to provide her step-granddaughter with Christmas gifts. We returned for the Johnson family Christmas. Guess what Todd, we didn’t open presents until about 11:00. You would have been able to sleep in this year. Anyway, after opening too many gifts, Karyn and I returned to our home. We returned for dinner where I was unable to eat due to feeling sick. I was sick until Wednesday. New Year’s Eve was spent eating Sushi and watching movies. Karyn is turning into quite the cook. We went to bed around 11:00. We look forward to seeing and catching up with you this year. Safe traveling.
We love you!
Joel and Karyn
L/T- let us know when you’ll be where and I will most definitely try to make it out!! This white girl needs some SUN!
When are you in NZ.. Indo.. ??? Some relatives of ours live/run a hotel in Bali so I can try to be in touch with them if you’ll be there (but it’s been 20 yrs since we’ve really been in touch so I’ll have a lot of explaining to do.) The wonderful world of google tells me they are still there and also on Jakarta somewhere…
March/April are busy work travel months for me but post those travel plans and we’ll see what happens… do you have definite dates you’ll be back in the US? Should we all just plan to meet in Hana in a few months for Engagement Party, Part II? xoxo