Nico and Jo’s Excellent Adventure

The images don’t lie. Ko Samui beaches are stunning. Clear, warm water and soft sandy beaches littered with shells I’ve only seen wrapped in plastic wrap at some tacky surf shop back home.

It’s been a week since I’ve written anything. Why? Simple.

The beach.

It’s hard to explain waking up daily with nothing to do but throw a bikini on and sit on the sand. And if you somehow got tired of that, then swimming in crystal clear waters for a while should cure your boredom.

Too athletic? Then how about lying down for about two hours under a coconut tree and getting massaged with tropical oils?

Now that I’ve succeeded in making my friends and family hate me, I’d to also say that there are other thoughts here other than ZZZZZZ.

There is, undeniably, poverty throughout the island. My masseuse makes about 4000 bhat on a slow month – about $100 US dollars. Things we’d normally pay for at three times the price at home cost a mere one or two dollars here.

As with all my observances, one theme runs clear: The scenery is stunning. The poverty is heartbreaking.

Well, we talked about it. Researched it. And now, we’ve actually done it.

Nico and I have eaten an eight course snake dinner. Ryan and Ayumi went with us. We had made friends with a woman who owned the bar/cafe around the corner from our hotel in Hanoi. Her brother offered to take us to a snake restaurant located a little outside Hanoi city proper. We planned a few days ahead and looked forward to trying out this delicacy. (Incidentally, the Vietnamese tout snake as an organic Viagra for men…one meal and BAM! ;)]

We got picked up at our hotel and headed to the ourskirts of the city. Though the guys were hyped up about eating snake, Ayumi and I started feeling a bit…worried. We calmed ourselves down by saying that we would eat the vegetarian options on the restaurant menu.

Only one problem. We arrived (and I AM SO NOT KIDDING) at the restaurant called “O Sin” snake restaurant. It was a small, family run place with a huge poster of a cobra on the front. Come to find out, EVERYTHING on the menu was snake. I started dreaming of an In and Out burger straight away.

The owner of the restaurant led us to the back where a huge cage full of writhing snakes were held. He fearlessly stepped into the cage and started showing us the different snakes he had for the menu. Even with his professional ease with these creatures, I couldn’t help wonder if I would witness a man getting attacked by a family of snakes that night.

We picked out the snakes [two of them…one of them a Cobra!!!] and they were caught and put in a burlap bag. We were let upstairs to the dining area where the owner of the restaurant placed a tray on the spotless tiled floor and proceeded to slit the snakes and drain their blood in a carafe of Vietnamese wine. After mixing up the concoction, he cut out the heart and stomach of the two snakes and put them in shot gladsses.

I didn’t know then why he put them in shot glasses, UNTIL HE POURED THE BLOOD WINE IN THEM. Ayumi and I looked at each other and sloooowly inched towards the restaurant terrace. Oh, and by the way, THE SNAKE HEARTS WERE STILL BEATING.

Nico and Ryan looked at each other and with the smell of testosterone in the room, took the shot the blood wine, with beating heart and stomach, in one gulp. At this point, I wondered if I would 1) ever kiss my snake heart-mouthed boyfriend again and 2) if he was secretly insane and love indeed makes one incredibly blind.

After the downing of the first (oh yes! there were at least 4 more shots of blood wine for Nico and Ryan!) shot of blood wine, the courses started coming. It’s all a blur (you know what they say about one’s mind blocking out traumatic events? Well, it’s true) but I believe the courses included:

– Snake soup
– Snake rib meat with fried bread
– Grilled snake meat [think flat round meatballs]
– FRIED SNAKE SKIN with chili sauce (which I may add wasn’t too bad except that you could see the snake skin design still on them…made me want a pair of really expensive shoes…Jimmy Choo anyone??)
– Snake spring rolls
– Snake sauteed with lemongrass, chili and mushrooms
– Fried rice cooked in snake fat
– Grilled snake meat wrapped in spinach

And now for the question you’re all dying to ask…WHAT DOES IT TASTE LIKE????

Snake meat, by itself (grilled or otherwise) tastes a bit like (for you sushi lovers out there) Anago — eel. For others, think fish teriyaki. A little flaky and really tender. If you mix it with other flavoring, it tastes like chicken but again, the texture is more tender.

All in all, it was an amazing (albeit expensive) meal but at least we can say we did it.

And yeah, like all Asian food….we were all hungry about 3 hours later. 😉

For the brave: Some pictures here —
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaN2bVi2cM2P1

It’s an IC thing, you wouldn’t understand. 🙂

IC:

Just a note to say that I miss you guys soooooooo much! I’m hoping to see all you guys when we get back! [Nicole, I need a pedi BAD man…and I can’t find a friggin pumice stone anywhere! EEEK]

I dunno how much stuff I have to do when I get back but fo’ sho’ we’ll do something. I know you guys are rafting that weekend so maybe on the 22 or 23rd? I get back the 20th but need to do a bunch of stuff on the 21st or 22nd. Can we pick a day so I can see you guys?

Anyway, I miss you guys. Am representin’ well here in Southeast Asia…lots of lao lao [Laotian moonshine], Vietnamese whiskey and vodka [whoo hoo Lucer!] and will be hitting the clubs tonight with Nico, Ryan and Ayumi. [Wish us luck!]

Huggies,
~Jo

PS: Nico says hi and he misses you guys!

Today we took a one day trip to Halong Bay. The bay is a freshwater bay with many, many underwater and over water caves. We had lunch on a ‘junk’ (large, wooden boat) and sailed around the bay. We stopped at a fishing villiage halfway.

Before visions of huts on a riverbank come to your heads, the fishing villiage was ON the water. As in floating. There was even a school and a pub! We stopped at a fish ‘store’ where we could PICK OUT WHAT WE WANTED FOR LUNCH! Like all sorts of catfish, shrimp, clams and crabs. There were all in the water, coralled and separated with various cages and nets. The owner would then catch what you wanted and hand it to the cook on our boat. I was facinated by these HUUUUUGE black and white fish — longer than my arm and really really fiesty! They practically jumped out of the water with their red mouths gaping! (I guess they saw too many of their friends become lunch, eh? ;)] Nico and I ended up eating vegetarian that day.

We are leaving Hanoi for Danang on Thursday. Danang is located on the central coast of Vietnam. From Danag we are taking a bus to Hoi An, a beach town not far from Danang. Hoi An is rumored to be amazing and beautiful with a charm all its own. I’m looking forward to some sea kayaking and snorkeling.

But in our remaining days in Hanoi, we plan to see a couple more sites as well as enjoying the beer. Plus, as I mentioned before, tomorrow we are going to a snake farm/restaurant. There, Nico and Ryan are going to pick out their dinner…from various snakes they have at the farm. Our guide is the son of the owner of a bar we have been frequenting. I’m sure to take lots and lots of pictures. 🙂

We’re still amazed at all the new things we are seeing and are becoming more and more brazen with trying new things. (For example, who knew I’d love lotus root salad so much!) We’re also loving cold winter melon tea, which tastes like cold liquid caramel…yummmm.

And yes, it’s REALLY REALLY hot here. Nico’s getting really tan and I’m…well, I’m the color of about five minutes to midnight. At least I’ll still be tan for New Year’s Eve!!!

We love and miss you. We’re trying to get postcards out as much as possible to those who we have addresses for. If we don’t have yours, please send and we’ll send you a postcard from our next destination.

Hugs,
Nico and Jo

Hanoi is: Crazy, Crowded, Loud, Busy and Amazing!

We left early in the morning from Laos and took a 50 minute flight to Vietnam. Vietnam’s infrastructure and architecture is amazing!!

On the cab ride from the airport, we (Ryan, Ayumi, Nico and I) kept marvelling at the houses we saw. A combination of French and Vietnamese architecture…gorgeous verandas, red tile roofs, dark mahogany colored shutters, doors and rooftop gardens. It’s amazing!

Upon arrival in the Old Quarters, we were overrun by people carrying hotel fliers, trying to get us to stay at their hotel. We originally chose one, but they pushed hard on getting us to buy tours from them. (Most hotels in Hanoi have travel agencies attached to them so they make their bread-and-butter on the tours and not the hotel rates) When we refused to buy from the original hotel, they were suddenly ‘booked’ for the night. We gladly left.

Tired and hot from carrying around our packs, Nico and Ryan decided to drop Ayumi and I off at a cafe with all the bags and look for a hotel on their own. On one hand, it was easier for them to manuveur the streets. On the other hand, Ayumi and I spent the time they were gone worried if they’d ever find us again. When Nico, Ryan AND a guide rode up ON A SCOOTER (yes, ALL THREE), we didn’t know if we should laugh or rejoice. Nico and Ryan found an awesome hotel, brand new with aircon, satellite TV and marble flooring…for $17 a night!

We spent the rest of the morning vegetating in our air conditioned rooms watching MTV.

Later that day, Nico and I walked along the streets in the Old Quarter. Hanoi is NOT a pedestrian city. There are more scooters and cars here than I have ever seen in my life! And they all feel the need to honk their horns every 3 seconds. Coming from sleeping little Vientienne, it’s both exciting…and draining. But, there’s plenty to see (we are going today to see several monuments including pagodas, temples, museums and the huge lake in the middle of Hanoi), plenty to eat (anything from French food, to pho – vietnamese soup – t0 noodles cooked any which way) and of course, plenty to drink. (draft beers are about 60 cents!!…served in a chilled glass beer stein!)

Ryan and Nico have decided to try snake meat. Ayumi and I aren’t convinced. 🙂 We’ll see.

Tonight we are going to a reknowned water puppetry show. Hanoi is known for it so we’re really excited. There is also an amazing jazz club we discovered as we bar hopped last night. We’ll post pictures soon!

We have also decided to cut off our visit to Cambodia. We’re a bit travel weary from going one place to another and will be heading back to Thailand the last week of August from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). We’ll spend the last weeks just in the southern part of Thailand in Phuket, Krabi, Ko Lanta and going to the Full Moon Party in Ko Pagn Ngan. 🙂

Miss you all,
Nico and Jo

Just a quick entry to let everyone know we’ve arrived safe and sound in Hanoi, Vietnam. It’s an amazing contrast to the quaint and QUIET little town of Vientienne.

Will write more later about the upcoming week’s adventures…

I couldn’t contain my relief as the bus got into Vientienne. Nico and I were tired, hungry and ready for a meal and a nice long rest at our hotel.

But, as all backpackers know…things don’t always turn out the way you plan…

Minutes after we had unloaded our packs, we found a tuk tuk that drove travellers to the center of town where the majority of the guesthouses are located. The driver loaded our packs and we stepped in. Nico went to retrieve our travel book from his pack and within minutes, had fallen. Not just backwards, but also caught his leg between the iron grates of the back step of the tuk tuk. After realizing that Nico could have a broken leg, I yelled for the driver to help me pick Nico up and get is leg out of the grate. Nico, upson looking at his injuries, went into mini shock but managed to get up on the tuk tuk and elevate his leg.

Ryan and Ayumi were getting on the same tuk tuk. Ryan immediately started examining Nico’s leg as I made sure Nico could open his eyes and talk to us about the pain he was feeling. I talked to the tuk tuk driver to try and get him to take us to the hospital but he just said “Yes, city center.”

Frustrated and on the verge of tears, I went back to Nico and gave him water to cool him off so he could open his eyes and talk. Ryan was carefully touching places of Nico’s shinbone to ask him if he felt pain at different points. From the position Nico had fallen, he could have snapped his shinbone in two. Ayumi looked up Vientienne’s hospoitals and located the ones that took trauma and accidents.

It was one of the ladyboys who came up to me and asked if I wanted to go to the hospital and then translated to the driver. By then,Nic was started in to recover from the mini shock and started saying he didn’t think his leg was broken. I told him that that was up to the doctors and the Xray to decide. He just groaned and closed his eyes again.

Another American backpacker on the tuk tuk with us looked at Nico’s leg and said that she thought that though it didn’t look broken, we should get an Xray. We re-met her and it turns out she is a nurse.

We got to the hospital and unloaded our packs. Nico (fully out of mini shock and back to his stubborn self) actually tried to carry his own pack. I told him to go ahead into the emergency room and I would take care of the packs. He grumbled but finally agreed. (But not without first stopping and asking the orderly at the door to help me with our packs)

My thoughts at the emergency room:

– Eddy and Valerie are gonna KILL me.

– My mom will say “I TOLD you guys to just go to the Carribbean and stay at a resort instead of traipsing around some Third World country!”

Twenty minutes and 60,000 kip ($6) later, Nico had been examined and Xrayed. No broken bones, no hairline fractures…just some deep cuts, bad bruising…and a story to tell. (And maybe a bruised ego to boot)

PS: In Nico’s version, he will have been jumping from the tuk tuk to the bus platform to save:

Choose one:
– A small boy/girl
– A kitten/puppy
– An elderly man/woman.

Well, it wouln’t be an adventure if travel from one destination to another was simply called “travel.”

We arrived at the Luang Prabang bus station an hour early for our 8 am departure. We initially had some confusion as the bus officials were telling us we belonged, not on the nice, aircon bus, but the ‘other’ VIP bus — the one with chickens in cages and boxes of fruit strapped onto the roof. But after some stern looks and insisting on our part, we waited to load our packs onto the aircon bus.

After fifteen minutes or so, we noticed that bags and other luggage were b eing loaded from the other side of the bus. Nico went to investigate and returned to let me know that a bunch of Japanese tourist had just arrived and that we should load our pakcs into the luggage compartment to make sure they would be on the bus with us.

Only after we had loaded our packs and went to the other side of the bus to line up to board, did I realize that the large group wasn’t Japanese tourists…but a large and VERY boisterous group of Thai ladyboys.

Now, I’ve **ALWAYS** thought Nico was good looking…but you never really appreciate your boyfriend’s good looks until a busload of (albiet pretty attractive) ladyboys ogle him. In a land of mostly Asian faces, my Nico was a hot commodity.

Side Note: If any of you have met my dear friend Derek, you understand the extent of the flamboyancy.

Side Note to Nicole: BFM (bad for morale): Some of these ladyboys had really great legs. Argh.

Anyway, fast forward NINE long hours…

The nine hours consisted of intense nausea for me as our bus driver drove the bus like a Ferrari on the Autobahn. He hugged the curves so tightly, I thought we’d flip over in the middle of the mid-Laotian hills.

The trip also consisted of countless DVD/Karaoke CD’s of Lionel Ritchie (Bad), Michael Bolton (even worse) and Celine Dion (the WORST ever…no offense anyone who still is hanging on to her Titanic fame!) At one point, Nico decided to sing along..into my ear…until I threatened to throw up on him.

Just as we thought it couldn’t get worse…it did. The DVD/CD menagerie of Ritchie, Bolton and Dion was changed to…sappy Thai/Lao versions of said artist.

It was a loooong trip.

We did, however, befriend a couple on the bus. Nico took out our Malaria pills and the guy notices the Walgreen’s Pharmacy tag on them. Turns our that they are from San Francisco too…and actually live in the lower Haight area too! Ryan and Ayumi have been traveling since June. She is French/Japanese and speaks fluent English, French, Spanish and Italian. He is American but lived a couple of years in Japan. I didn’t know it on the bus, but Ryan and Ayumi would calm me down and help the first few minutes in Vientienne…(See ‘Nico? A leg breaker?)

Just wanted to expand on the “Kept Woman” phenomenon we’ve been encountering. Since setting foot here in Laos, we’ve received less stares and “knowing” glances from locals and tourists alike. We were wondering if it was due to Laotians being used to the ‘local girl-foreign boy’ coupling. Uh, NO.

We have found out that they KNOW I’m not from here.

Why? Because if I was, Nico would be either put in jail or fined.

Laos has a LAW prohibitting a local Lao girl to have ANY relations with foreign men. Period.

Rainy morning in Laos, with the wetness coming from Vietnam. The rain comes and goes so hopefully, by this afternoon, the rain will give way to a cooler (but drier) day.

We’re planning on going to Vietnam by the end of the week. We’ll pass through Vientienne, in southern Laos and then onto the Lao/Vietnam border. Crossing the border should be fairly easy as we’ve already obtained a Vietnamese visa while we were in Bangkok. From the border, we’ll head to Hanoi, then more north to Sapa (a small villiage in northernmost Vietnam) then take the train down the Vietnam coastline, stopping in Namn Tran (where the famous China Beach is…should be fun for snorkeling and lots of sea kayaking!!) as well as Vinh and other beach towns before getting to HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City…aka Saigon).

We’re having a blast and meeting tons of people from everywhere. Ironically, we’ve met a lot of French travellers (who laugh when I say in French that my French is bad…which is good, no? :))

Last night, we attended a Lao Baci ceremony in which a shaman presided and a group of the female elders in the villiage. We had “lao lao” which is a kind of alcohol made by the villiagers (aka moonshine LOL) and I think it could have been airplane fuel! It was sooo strong! Nico, Mr “Stomach made of Steel,” drank two or three shots. (I had a sip) But he was OUT by midnight. 🙂

Going to see the Ou Pak caves today, a cave where hundreds of Buddha shrines have been set. We’re going to try and get to the waterfalls as well, weather permitting.

We miss you all!