Sa-bai-dee Laos. Sa-wat-dee Thailand

The morning started at 5 am. Chris saw the monks yesterday-I wanted to see them, too. I'm glad I woke up to see them because if I hadn't I would've regretted it, but the sight was exactly as Chris described. The only difference was that they were all carrying umbrellas this morning. 

I was surprised by the age of the monks-many of them appeared to be pre-pubescent. The older monks were teenagers. I saw a few "adults" in the mix. They wore the large basins over their right hips where they collected alms. 

We climbed back in bed until 7:30 and had a slow start to the day. We'd seen what we wanted to yesterday and it was raining. Perfect recipe for catching up on the blog and being bums in our room. 

We fly to Phuket, Thailand this afternoon so we had to pack our bags for a flight. We check Chris' bag with all the liquids (sunscreen) and I take the "must have" items-which means shoes, toiletries & medicines, an outfit and underwear. 

We checked out of hour hostel-our host was incredible. She does it all. In the midst of taking our breakfast order, she was checking in new guests and coordinating a tour for another. She was certainly the kindest host we've had. Always smiling & snuggling her 9 month old son. Chris tried to catch her name-she even wrote it down, but we still couldn't get it. She was just one of the many hard working individuals we saw in the tourism industry across SE Asia. 

I wanted to walk across a foot bridge to the other side of the peninsula. The guidebook said it would be closed in rainy season-but it looked fine to me when we saw it last night. Yeah-definitely closed. Chris said he wouldn't have crossed it given the water level and speed of the water. It didn't look that rickety. 

I said I wanted to see as many temples as possible today-Chris disagreed. You couldn't go two blocks without there being another temple-there were so many in Luang Prabang!! I no longer look twice when I see a monk nor think it strange when he is "acting normal." But we did find the one right next to our hostel, Wat Pa Phai. That makes sense as to why the monks pass down our street every morning. 

Just around the corner (two blocks) was Wat Saen. This Wat had boats for racing in the annual boat race festival. I wanted to see the boats. 

Chris' reaction once we saw them-why couldn't we have taken that up the Mekong? 

Although it was raining, I wasn't ready to be done with Luang Prabang. Although we'd seen everything we wanted to see, I couldn't help but feel guilty for coming to this city for such a short period of time. We can see most everything in a city in a day & a half. We even managed an excursion in our short time in this city-but I needed to be out in the city, getting its vibe for as long as I could. 

Chris obliged & we walked to where the Mekong & Nam Khan river meet (which makes the peninsula).  Look at all that fog!!

We exchanged a bit too much USD to Lao kip & had some extra to spend. My pedicure had grown and Chris indulged me in a pedicure. And by pedicure I mean polish change. I'd sold the idea of a polish change by telling Chris they had free coffee. No one offered him any. 

I'm pretty a sure I got what I paid for with this $3 "pedicure". My toe nails were rubbed with lime slices-that's a first. The girl was painting my second foot when her friend came and held the bottle for her. It was weird. 

They were on my last toe when her friend told me they didn't have enough polish and I needed to pick a new color. Thankfully the one thing we had this morning-time. Her friend painted one foot & she then finished & painted the other. The finished product is a bit of a disaster. At least now I have paint on all 10 toes, so it's an improvement over what I had-and she left my callouses alone!!

We headed back to the market street to enjoy one last dish of Lao larb. This was a meal I've been thinking about ever since Chris first had it (and I then had to order my own). It's ground pork with onion, garlic, and cilantro. The key is the spice. It was so flavorful. I'm going to have to look up this recepie when we get home. 

We took a tuktuk to the airport while it rained outside. Laos had yet another form of tuktuk and this one did not prevent rain from coming in the front. Thankfully it was a short 25 minute drive. 

The big to do at the Lao Airport were my fingernail scissors. I've flown in the US with them and have never had any problem. I flew out of Cambodia into Bangkok-same airline and they were fine-but today they posed a security threat. I wish airports would post warning about "no sharp objects" before luggage check. I think we'd have a lot more happy fliers if we could inquire about objects before having them confiscated at security. I was not my best self as I told them that I flew with them 5 days ago without a problem. Two officers then had a discussion in a foreign language-one shrugged, the other one told me they were dangerous. I wanted to tell them they are the best damn nail scissors I've ever had!! I'm still can very easily get worked up about it. I now know airport security is subjective. 

Sabaidee Laos. 

I told Chris I'd be OK once I got my Golden Arches. Seriously-foreign McDonalds is like McDonalds of the 1980s. Crispy, hot fries-not a single one soggy or cold. Perfection-McDonalds of my childhood. I only ever eat McDonalds when traveling-and tonight they soothed my scissor-less soul. I had three cups of American  ketchup. 

We splurged and got ice cream cones, too!

There is a great bank in the airport that doesn't have a limit on withdrawal and only has a $5.68 foreign transaction fee-Bangkok bank. I figured this out when we flew through to Chiang Mai. That meant we needed to determine our need for Thai Baht for the rest of our trip. There we are, Chris and I, sitting at McDonalds in the Bangkok airport and reviewing our trip budget & expenses via excel spreadsheets on our iPhones. Can you tell we met in business school? 

This McDonalds had free refills and after we drunk ourselves sick on Coca-Cola, we headed to the gate to fly to Phuket, Thailand. Phuket is the largest island on the Andamean side-and 100% touristy-but it's affordable and we don't yet know what we're doing, so it's our starting point. 

Our flight landed at 9:55 & after we collected baggage, there was no one at customs so out into the warm, think air of Thailand. We bought group bus tickets to 

Patong, our specific beach on Phuket. 

It was a long, fearful bus ride. Thailand drives on the left, which is still a bit scary. After being in countries where the max speeds were 40 mph and this guy was going 80+. After 10 minutes we stopped at a tourist agency to "determine where you are staying" which was also code for "buy a tour package from us." I took the opportunity to figure out the seat belt because, in an accident, I was first to go through the windshield. Our driver then seemed to get lost, was one street from our hostel & drive someplace else. We later realize that a passenger earlier in the day had lost a cell phone & wanted to check the van-so all 16 passengers inside had to wait-and it was nearing midnight.

Although it was late, you wouldn't know it from the streets of Phuket. Everything was lit up & full of people-I image this is what Vegas looks like. We took no pictures-we were tired. 

Our guest house has a king sized bed & is across the street from a major shopping center. It's also right next door to a 7 Eleven-the bright light up sign is outside our balcony. I'm so thankful I brought an eye mask for sleeping. 

This guest house a pretty great way to ensure you don't leave your air con on while you're out. 

We're back in Thailand for the next 8 days. Our goal is simply to enjoy some time on the beach-which may or may not be possible in this rainy season. 

I'll leave you with this picture of Chris. He's packing up the ponchos. He does such a great job of helping me stay dry & has never once got upset with me for my aversion to being wet. It's rained every day for the past 2 weeks & he selflessly takes care of the ponchos. 

 

Luang Prabang and Kuang Si Waterfalls

Luang Prabang is the cultural heart of Laos, as well as the ancient capital of the Lane Xieng empire, or the romantically titled 'Land of a Million Elephants.' Besides being a royal city, it is also a holy one. As such, there is a high concentration of monks here for training and maintaining the many wats, temples, and stupas. Those monks rely on the material support of the populace. One such example is the "giving of alms" at sunrise. Our hostel host told us they typically pass from 5:30-6. So I set my alarm and got up early. 

When I first got up, no one else was awake (even Mer didn't want to join me). Included on the not awake list was our host who had moved her bed to the reception area under a mosquito net. The heavy, wooden accordion doors were shut and locked. By the light of my cellphone, I unlocked slide locks quietly and managed to sneak out without waking her up. The monks were already en route. 

It was raining slightly, so they were equipped with umbrellas while remaining barefoot. They carried their pots in front while the faithful awaited down the street to hand out the 'alms' of sticky rice.

This was all done silently. The only noise were the birds chirping and tourists clomping around to take pictures (I, too, was barefoot, but not out of reverence, but because I forgot my sandals at that early hour.) By 6 am, it was all done and everyone returned home. 

I went back to our own room and awaited Mer to wake up. Breakfast at our place was very good (our host bounced around like lightning getting several guests breakfast while checking in more.)

We decided to start our day at the royal of holies (or holy of royals?) The Royal Palace Museum used to be the home of the King, the Patriarch of Lao Buddhism, and adjacent to it in the same complex was Wat Pha Bang, home to the Pha Bang Buddha that legitimized the Lao King and is the namesake of the city (Prabang). First, we had to pay, remove our shoes, and stash our things. (Sorry, no photos) There were many Buddha statues from former surrounding wats. There was also a bit of history of the Lao royal lineage leading up to the last King Sisavangvatthana who abdicated in 1975 to the Comminist Pathet Lao upon their takeover. The house was presented primarily as the last king left it. Bedrooms, dining room, and royal reception halls all had tools, crowns,  clothing, and furniture from the Lao royal dynasty. There was a lot of gold: helmets, scabbards, candle holders, shoes, crowns, and, of course, Buddhas.  Included were gifts from various nations, including President Nixon. 

We wound our way slowly. There was even a Lao Buddhist story in told several paintings with descriptions that we read as we went. There were a collection of cars that the kings used that were gifts from the USA. 

Finally, we went to the Wat Pha Bang. It was beautiful. 

We had to take off our shoes to get into the front area, but we couldn't go in nor take pictures of the Buddha itself. So Mer took her feelings out on the Naga on the staircase. 

It was still raining as we made our way to our next Wat Xieng Thong. I wanted to see it for its three-tiered sweeping low roof. 

We were so happy to see the walls of one of the temples was just like the interior walls of the throne room in the Royal Palace (where we couldn't take pictures.) The walls were red, but then decorated with Japanese glass to depict Buddhist tales and Lao fables. 

Mer happened to catch me out the window. 

There was another exterior wall featuring the Buddist 'Tree of Life' that we saw featured all around Luang Prabang memorabilia sold in tourist markets. 

Mer even found her newly favorite elephant. Only this one was sparkly. 

We then stopped at a nearby soup stall for lunch. I found out it was a pork soup (both pork meat and pork rinds). 

After lunch, we headed back to our hostel and changed into our swimming suits to get ready for the trip to the Kuang Si Waterfalls we had previously booked through our hostel. The minivan parked outside on time and we crawled in the last available back seats. It was a bad move. The exhaust came in our back windows, and the winding switchbacks and erratic maneuvering of the driver in a van that, felt like, held only a 100cc engine. I was fine, but I knew Mer was going to be infinitely car sick. Sure enough, as she held her face, she only asked, "How much longer?" Upon arriving, she stormed through everyone to exit the van first for fresh air and solid ground and stave off nausea. 

She gathered herself like a champ and then smiled in photos of the picturesque waterfalls. 

We then hiked around a bit only to realize our Chaco sandals wouldn't hold up well on the mud-covered, slippery rocks. I urged us toward a spot in the water. It was cold!

And then I wanted to play in the falls. 

I think It was enough to finally get Mer to want to get her toes wet too. 

And, after a bit of bravery, (and an unfortunate slip) she got in a bit deeper too. 

The Kuang Si waterfalls were just wholly enjoyable. 

We then returned to our van, this time getting seats in the very front. The ride back was much easier. It dropped us off in the market. We perused the items, but went back to shower (and cement a place for our next stop) before heading out for dinner. 

Once again, we aimed for a place in the guidebook, only to find another restaurant in Laos without clientele or anyone really working there. 

So, we continued on and found a Lao barbecue. They removed a circle from the middle of the table and replaced it with a bowl of flaming coals. 

Then came the inverted metal strainer. Our beef and chicken went on top for grilling. Then water and vegetables went around the moat for boiling. 

It was a bit of work, but delicious work. 

The Coke and Beer Lao helped too. 

After dinner we made our way back around the peninsula and through the night market. It was shutting down for the night, but Mer had been scouting some tops. She found her seller and tried on some tops. One had great color and design while another fit well and would go with many other bottoms. We negotiated a deal for both. 

We navigated back to our place and then settled in for the night. Tomorrow Mer wants to see the monks in their processional and our intended activities depend on the rain. It's our last half-day in Laos and Luang Prabang. 

The Ride of Our Lives

Another 7-11 breakfast, the breakfast of champions. I enjoy them as a tourist because the prices are posted & I can shop at my leisure. 

We took a tuktuk the 11km South of Chaing Khong to the 4th friendship bridge to cross into Laos. Today is also the 4th of July!!

We got stamped out of Thailand & needed to pay to take another bus to cross into Laos. We changed some USD into Lao kip and loaded up on another bus. We rode 10 minutes to the Lao boarder. 

We have one pen. Chris got our luggage while I started to fill out immigration paperwork. Thankfully there was an Australian tour group next to us with a guide so I knew what papers I needed to fill out. We had a visa form & an arrival form. $35 each & a passport photo. We waited about 25 minutes & we had Lao visas. 

While waiting for our passports to be returned to us, a woman approached me inquiring about a tour. I told her we wanted a fast boat. She was happy-stating the boat needed 2 more people before it could leave & we would be the last two to fill it up. She said 450,000 kip ($55) each!! I said 400,000 ($50). She said she'd have to call. Chris was apprehensive. I just wanted to get on a boat & start our journey to Luang Prabang. If we didn't go with this lady, we'd have to take a tuktuk to the city, find a boat company, take a tuktuk to the boat and then leave. I was willing to pay for convenience. 

When Chris learned we didn't pay until we arrived at the boat he was more agreeable-and we got the fast boat for 420,000 kip-$52. I did have to exchange more money to pay for the journey. The lady assured me they had helmets at the boat. And we were off!!

The traditional hallmark of backpacking this area is to take a slow boat down the Mekong into Luang Prabang. This is a 2 day journey that stops in a village along the way to spend the night. Chris has done slow boats in Brazil & he didn't think we needed to do it. Also, based on our flight out-we didn't have time to take a slow boat. Thus the fast boat. 

Let me start with the guide book descriptions. Chris' book does not recommend it & there have been reported deaths. My guide book shares that information, but also mentions that "the vast majority of journeys are incident free." Trip Advisor reviews were negative. The guide books describes the fast boat journey as skimming across water at 60Km/hr, cramped. Life jackets & helmets provided-helmets more for noise.

We were dropped off well, on the side of the road & walked down a long set of steps with our packs to the boat. Our saving grace: another couple from our bus yesterday. Not sure why, but a familiar face made me feel better about this boat. We hadn't talked-but I felt better with other tourists onboard-maybe we weren't so crazy after all. 

The guide book gave a pretty accurate description. This is Chris, in our seat-I sat in that little space next to him. There were 7 of us & the driver. 

These are the excited faces of innocence. Although we'd read about the boat ride-we in no way knew what ere are in for. This is the pre-photo.

The boat took off-The wind whipping through our hair. I couldn't help but laugh. Where were our helmets? Where were our life jackets? Were we really going to sit up with our knees at our chests in a 2' x 3' rectangle with only a small cushion to sit on for the next 6 hours?

After the initial start with a bit of water splashing up onto us. We settled into a regular speed where the water parted into a wake that landed away from us. By regular speed I mean 30-45 mph. The wind whipped into our faces and I wondered if our sunglasses would get ripped off our faces if we turned either right or left. We zig-zagged a lot at first to avoid the rocks that jutted out of the water. 

We've all been on a speedboat & know what it's like to go full throttle. Generally the ability to go full speed ahead is limited by either the confines of space or other boats. We had neither, thus it was that adrenaline-laced, full speed ahead, sucking in wind for the entire boat ride. Mer equated it to being in a CPAP machine, whatever that is. I liked her description of being on a motorcycle without a helmet-I'm not sure our descriptions will ever capture how CRAZY of a ride this was. 

There was also a fair bit of debris: leaves, branches, whole logs, bottles, plastic bags, styrofoam, and more. Some of it we avoided, others we went right over. And we felt every piece as our wooden boat skimmed over rocks & branches. Mer said it was like a rock under a tent. 

At one point, I thought about reaction time and what would happen if we hit rocks. I then leaned over to Mer and said, "If you see we are going to hit these rocks, you have to jump out away from the boat. If you lean over to tell me we both won't make it out." Those were the things I thought about. Mer said she was praying & preparing to meet Jesus. 

Sometimes, the water was really smooth and easy. Then suddenly, we'd hit rapids or odd currents coming off the rocks and they'd shake us in the boat pounding our backs against the wooden backboard. If we passed another boat, that wake too would send us bouncing in our seats. We both have battle wounds-a sort spot about 3/4 down our backs where we leaned against the wooden planks. Eventually we learned to lean forward-but there were a couple of teeth rattling, unexpected bumps that caused yelps from the boat. 

Now, we made frequent stops at first, which oddly helped acclimate us. First, after only 15 minutes, it was to get a full cylinder of fuel (maybe propane).  The next stop was only 30 minutes later to pick up a package. Then, another 30 minutes downriver, it was a stop for a snack (where a boatful of monks stopped too.)

All this early stopping allowed us to adjust ourselves into better positions. Mer and I could switch off who sat criss-cross. My back also began to hurt from hitting against the backboard at bumps in the river, so I found if I sat at an angle, the pressure was better. 

As the time wore on, we relaxed a bit and stopped taking photos of ourselves in a dangerous situation, but of the beautiful scenery around us-think Jurassic park. People were working to gather fish in longboats. Cattle were bathing and drinking at the river's edge, hillsides were dotted with huts where communities lived. The lush, forested mountains rose to meet the misty, overcast sky. Once the fear of dying wore off, the amazing surroundings emerged. While the hum of the motor and the whooshing wind drowned out all sounds, the eyes had a feast. 

Our longest stretch in the boat yet came to an end in Pak Beng, the halfway point. This is where the slow boat from the border overnights. We reached it in 2.5 hours, for lunch. Obviously, the town wasn't very active midday, saving their energy for the evening boat arrivals. Mer and I got off and climbed a ton of stairs to the road above the harbor. We tried two restaurants, fully set up with tables and chairs, but no one working there. Finally, we found a woman with a snack stall selling some baked croissant fold-overs. We got one chocolate and one banana. 

We ate them plus some protein snacks in time for all 7 passengers and the driver to return to the boat … with an 8th passenger. Already, there were 2 local girls, an Uruguayan couple, a French guy, and Mer and I. They jostled one of the smaller girls to the front with the French guy to fit the new, local woman in back. 

I also wondered at this point about my earplugs. I grabbed them from the top of my big bag and then plucked them in. As the boat took off again, it was great to have the engine and wind muted. Now that the fear had waned, I could now cut the sound and truly enjoy the scenery. 

There were notably less stops on the second half of the journey. After our lunch stop, we zoomed for nearly an hour and a half straight. Also happening on this part was the rain. If we had been walking in the city, it would have been a light rain we barely took note of. But because we were rocketing down a river, each drop stung as it landed. Mer asked for the poncho for protection and warmth. It was a bit of a fool's errand trying to put on flapping plastic at 60 km/h, but we somehow managed it without it flying in the faces of the couple seated behind us. 

Only as we were within striking distance of Luang Prabang did we stop again, to let out our 8th passenger out at a pretty remote beach. We reshuffled seats so the French guy could have his small seat back. 

We stopped one more time just before our final destination to trade in our fuel tank again. 

Finally, after almost exactly 6 hours after our departure, we pulled into the Luang Prabang port. 

Except, of course, that we were far outside the city. Fortuitously, there was a squadron of tuk tuk drivers just waiting (it's almost like they knew!)

We attempted our bargaining power of 5 to get a good deal for us and a healthy chunk to a driver, but to no avail. They wouldn't budge on their 20,000 kip per head price. Alas, we just wanted to get into town. 

We noticed that our faces were both red and greasy.  We weren't sure if the red was sunburn or windburn. Certainly, the greasiness was due to a constant air pressure blowing on it. 

Mer and I were dropped off first at Kinnaly Place House. There we met our very energetic host. She got us coffee and tea with watermelon and bananas while she pulled out s map of the city and circled highlights and closing times. Then we got our room. 

We quickly showered and had 30 minutes before our sites in Mount Phousi closed. 

This mount is the tallest in Luang Prabang and, besides its many temples and stupas along the way, it provided excellent views of the whole city. We hustled our way up, developing a new layer of sweat along the way. We raced past a large Buddha statue and a Buddha footprint to make it before it closed (6 pm) and before nightfall. The sights lived up to the billing. 

We tried to cool down in the mountain breezes before our more relaxed descent. We went down a different way so I could find a wat that featured Airavata, a three-headed elephant from Hindu mythology. 

 After descending from this wat, we found ourselves in the night market, specifically the food part. We quickly found one serving Lao food. 

It was at this stall we found the delicious Lao Larb with chicken. It was so good, we ordered a second one. 

We then meandered through the night market en route to our hostel. I wanted to get to bed to be able to rise early to see the monks. I was told they start at 5:30. That's early for vacation.