Halong Bay

Our tour to Halong Bay was bitter sweet. The weather sucked. Coldest weather here in 100 years. Did not make for the best kayaking. We paid enough that we had a private 3 storey wooden junk for just the 2 of us. That was sweet. We had a cook that made amazing food despite his attitude. Our guide was also not the best. When we first arrived at the bay we thought we had it made. Lounging on the upper deck of our boat that usually holds 14 people. However, I think the crew took this to mean vacation for them. They soon seemed to take over the main cabin. Watch Vietnamese TV very loud. Then the Vietnamese dance party started. Loud abnoxious music. I must be getting old. Oh well the food was great. We had a beautiful cruise and it was not that cold yet. That night after stopping at the "amazing cave", appropriately named. We had our first kayak. We were very surprised when our kayaking guide said he was not coming with us. He just pointed the way. We headed on the path he told us to take. We thought it was great when we got cheers from another boat that turned out to be our old GAP tour crew. They had been looking for us. They were only on the bay for 1 night. Great to see them 1 last time. We thought we were doing great at staying warm and not getting wet. Then the kayak turned bittersweet. When we entered the cave and little lagoon area we were told to kayak (which was beautiful) a speed boat came by with a boat load of tourists. We thought their wake was rude. Then to our surprise he turned around and put the engines on full and came right at us. The bastard was trying to tip us. Luckily I have done enough rapids in a canoe and kayak to handle it. However, he soaked us with freezing water. We were just happy not to swim. But no so cool. When we told our guide he laughed and said that was a rare occurrance. The sleeping was cold but luckily we could steal blankets from other rooms so it was OK. The next day we had more TV while the crew slept in our area. We finally drew the line when at10am the loud Vietnamese dance music came on again. I could not even talk to Addi across the table. She finally got up and told them enough. All of a sudden they realized that was it. No more music and only the occassional quiet TV. We then found out we had to pay for all drinks. Oh well. The second morning we went out for2 hours of freezing kayaking on rough water. Our guide wanted to stop at some caves but we had no shoes. He did not tell us. Again disappointing. My feet were white and numb from the cold water. He said we go too fast and wanted to tack on another hour. We were going fast to get it over with. We said no. Go to the boat. After lunch he said 2 more hours. We said no. He said yes and we firmly said no. Instead we got 2 bottles of wine and drank and played cards all day. At least it was peaceful since there was no more music. We then enjoyed our boat and tour. All of a sudden today the crew and guide were nice (they knew it was tip day). We had another 3 hour ride around the bay (on thejunk) a good lunch. We only tipped the crew $30 for 5 of them since we thought they sucked. The guide only got $25 which he seemed to wait for more. Too bad. Overall, it was great to see the bay. Too bad we did not feel it was worth the money due to the crew. Sonya:)

Hanoi, Vietnam

We are currently in Vietnam. Things here in Hanoi are quite quiet compared to usual due to Chinese New Year. I guess it is like Christmas day. We missed the big celebrations by a day but they have a long weekend until Monday. I think I am happy most things are closed since I can't imagine the chaos around here when things are in full swing. Crossing the street in the "quiet time" is hard enough. I think I will be in shock when we get back here next Tuesday. Last night after checking in to our hotel we walked the old quarter of Hanoi. Most everything was closed and it was challenging even to get a place to eat. However, we never seem to starve. We made it an early night and played Mehjong most of the night. Addi and I bought a great set in Vientiane (which I might have said in my last blog). Quite a game, I love it. Byron get ready!:) Today we got up and went to the Ho Chi Man Mosolium (not spelled right). It was quite facinating and the security was out of this world. No hands in your pockets, metal detectors, no talking and walking in the order they tell you. It was neat to see a body that has been embalmed for 34 years now. Then we saw his living grounds (which I only skimmed). Starting to get burnt out of tourist areas with too many lines. Addi and I hit the hills and took advantage of the cool walking weather and the "quite time" to tour the city on foot. We did a bit of shopping. Got amazing gortex coats for $46 each (since the North Face factory is in Vietnam). If they are fake they fool me and that is all the matters. Also bought some new bags for our second checked luggage pieces so we can get our shopping home. We found a good spot for lunch, then went to the water puppet theatre here. I guess Vietnam is famous for water puppets. The music was interesting and very traditional. I can't believe those were the women's voices and the instruments were facinating. The puppets were cool too, but the 45 minutes was definitely enough. Glad the acts were short and went fast. We had a group snack to chat a bit more then drank a bottle of wine with Bharti (one of our favorite people on the trip). Tomorrow it will be sad goodbyes to our travelling group. It was a good bunch. Our Halong Bay tour guide is picking us up at 8:30am tomorrow. But kayaking in the rain with a high of 10 degrees will not be quite what I pictured. Oh well tomorrow calls for good weather then the cold moves in. Hopefully we can suck up as much goodness as possible tomorrow. Sonya:)

Vientianne Still.....

We are still killing time in Vientianne. Definitely not one of my favorite cities. It has great restaurants but nothing else much to do. We have a late afternoon flight to Hanoi so we are stuck here again for most of the day. We are starting to get ancy and bored and are ready to move on. We went out drinking last night at a fancy Italian restaurant so we could get some good wine. We managed to polish off 2 bottles. That helped the time pass. So that was a ton of fun. I also bought a Majong (can't spell it) set. So a couple of women on the tour are going to teach us how to play this morning. Should be a good way to kill a few more hours. Hanoi should be a good time but crazy. It was Chinese new year there the last couple of days, so I guess most things are closed. Not sure if I will get a chance to get on the internet there if most things are closed. I am sure the last day we are there after Halong Bay we will be able to write some more. Tomorrow the moseliums and the water puppet show. Then off to kayak Halong Bay for 3 days. Take care and lots of love, Sonya:)

Vientianne

We are currently in the Laos capital city of Vientianne. It is not a very exciting place but it gives us a good excuse to rest and relax for a day or so before the craziness of Vietnam. We fly into Hanoi tomorrow. Only a week left. Boy, how time flies. We loved the rest of Vang Vieng (not sure if that is spelled right but too bad). It is a crazy hippie backpacker haven. We ate dinner at the best place called Jack Johnson's. It had low tables on elevated bamboo platforms with lounging mats and small backs to lean on. So you could literally lie down while you ate and drank. We ordered buckets of drinks. We got pails vodka and lemon (real squeezed lemonade), they were fabulous. We could have easily spent a few more days there. Cheap and fabulous. Too funny that most bars and restaurants play reruns of the show Friends all day everyday. I was told that but it is still funny to see. Yesterday we kayaked the Song river. It was a lovely kayak. However, I got injured doing something stupid. The guide stopped at this 35 foot high swing over the water. Everyone else went for a swing and it looked great. So I decided since I love heights this would be great. However, I am not sure what happened. When I jumped off the platform the swing slipped right out of my hand. I don't even know what happened. I hit the water on my side so hard it knocked the wind out of me. I came up gasping. When I finally got my breath it was fine. However, I am still getting stiffer all the time. I have a bruise down my entire left side of my body (which is rare since I usually don't bruise). I think I also bruised a few ribs and now have a stiff neck. Oh well serves me right. I just hope I will feel better in a couple of days for kayaking in Halong Bay. I guess it is better then regretting missing out if I never tried it. Dan (the best active release therapist in the world) I hope you know you are going to have to fix me up when I return. The rest of the kayak was beautiful. Huge towering limestone cliffs on both sides of the river. We even got to see 2 huge water buffalos having sex beside us on the river. Like an episode of animal planet up close and personal. The locals were howeling too. After a great curry for lunch we drove for 4 hours to Vientianne and had a great group dinner last night. This morning we went to Wat Sisaket here. The oldest temple here. They are just starting to fix it up so it was in bad repair. Now we will have some lunch and relax. Take care everyone. Love, Sonya:)

VangVien Laos

We are currently in VangVien Laos. We had an amazing day of driving today. Since I have been car sick on the crazy roads I got to sit in the super cramped small seat near the front. Even though my ass was killing me and my knees were up in my arm pits, it turns out I got the good seat. Everyone else had no view or air and were feeling sick too. I was OK and had a great view. Spectacular mountains (or hills not sure if they are big enough to qualify as mountains but they are big). We wound through the mountains and had breathtaking views of valleys and valleys of untouched jungle. It was truly prestine and untouched, like nothing I've ever seen before. Last night turned out to be quite a great night. Addi took me to a fancy restaurant on the main strip of Luang Prabang. We drank a bottle of wine and had great burmese curry. Not hot like Thai and more like a peppercorn stew. It was fantastic. We ended up meeting the owner of the XL elephant sanctuary near Luang Prabang. It was interesting to hear how he is helping elephants and taking on old ones. After the bottle of wine we were feeling good and decided to head up town for more drinks. We ended up at the wine bar in town for more fabulous drinks. The wine bar had excellent red wine in amazing huge glasses. We met the Lao owner of the bar and chatted with him about owning a business in Laos and how much Luang Prabang is changing (and how fast too). He mentioned that many local Lao people can not afford it there anymore which in turn means many of the monks are not getting enough alms (food) to eat. Tourism is such a bitter pill for these people. This has been my first trip where I have been so conscious of how much tourism impacts these areas. Just seeing the difference between Thailand and Myanmar and Laos is amazing. In Thailand everything is for tourists. I have read how many religious and significant cultural ceremonies have lost their touch due to them being done for tourists every night instead of on the dates they were intended for. I have made a policy this trip to always ask the locals for pictures before taking them. It is not fair for these people to be freak shows for our photo albums. This also opens the door for conversation and they usually do not mind. It really bothered me the other night on Phusey hill when a monk I had met earlier in the day (OT) was sitting on the hill enjoying a peaceful moment with 2 younger monks and tons of people were just taking photos of them without asking. Crowding them, it just did not feel right. I went over and he remembered me for my tattoos (which is also why we talked earlier). We introduced ourselves by name (since we didn't before). I asked if we could take a picuture and he said no problem and thanked us. Then he told Addi to come over by him and get some pics of the younger monks in the woods. They turned out spectacular. The bright saffron robes with the green trees. Nice treat those other tourists did not get. It was great. It really became apparent again the next morning. We went to watch the monks get their alms. Just watching the other tourists made us sick. They were in all the locals faces and when the monks came out they were jumping in front of them with their cameras and chasing them down the road. We decided not to be those people and sat and watched the moment. I only took one photo when they were down the road and infront (the line was great to see). I asked our tour guide (who was a monk for 6 years in Luang Prabang) how the monks feel. He says they do not mind at all he just wishes people would not jump infront of them. I guess the rule is not to interfere and no flashe. But that certainly was not the demonstration we saw. I guess I can see Laos' hesitations to opening its boarders to tourists. They are trying to keep their religion sacred and place rules and restrictions. It is very difficult when the people here are so poor and will do anything for a dollar (and who can blame them). Money corrupts so fast. Anyway gotta run. We are kayaking the song river in the morning and then off to Vientianne tomorrow night for a couple days. Take care, Sonya:)

Laos Catch-up

We are currently in Luang Prabang Laos. It is an amazing city/town. The entire downtown is a UNESCO world heritage site. We have been here for 3 days already and I could easily spend a ton more. I know it has been a while since I've written an update but there has been no power in Luang Prabang for a few days now. Only sparadically in the evenings and then the internet cafes are packed. So today is the first day it made sense to send an update. Although the internet here is really really slow. Like Burma again. Anyway, it has been a crazy couple of days. We headed out of Thailand by boat from Chaing Khung. It was a crazy and terrible weather day. What an adventure. It was torrential downpouring with rain all day. So we had all our gear and had to take an open uncovered wood boat across to the Laos and then do customs. We had to lug all our gear and it was rather cold. We then took our stuff by tuk tuk to the peir and caught our private slow boat. After that is was OK just cold and windy on the boat. The slow boat was amazing. We got a private guide and boat just for our group. Comfy seats and they put the sides down to keep the rain out. The boat had good seats and a table for everyone. They even had coffee mix (which is a 3 in 1 instant coffee that beats the regular coffee here). Although Laos has better coffee than Thailand or Burma. We spent our first night in Laos in Pakbeng. An amazing small town with only one strip of stuff. I got a rain poncho so I knew the rain would clear the next day. It was crazy getting off the boat in Pakbeng and climbing the rock cliffs with our stuff in the rain. It was good though. The town had amazing charm and great Indian food. Fabulous!!! The next day the weather was much better and we enjoyed the cruise down the Mekong river. Too beautiful. Large limestone formations jutting out of the river. Rice and peanut fields along the water and hills and hills of jungle. Amazing Laos. Very unpopulated and wild. We arrived in Luang Prabang around 4pm. We did a great group meal and loved the food again. Laos definitely caters to veggies more then Thailand. Yesterday we toured Luang Prabang all day. We started with a tour of the palace museum then had a free day. Barti, Addi and I went to some of their famous temples and did a ton of shopping. Not as cheap as Burma but cheaper then Thailand and I love the stuff. We climbed Phousy hill in the middle of town for sunset. Amazing views of the rolling hills and rivers. The fields and town panormic. Great stuff. We always crack up since our Thai tour guide keeps calling it pussy hill. Too much. On the way down we found another amazing temple with a buddha foot print and other great buddhas and caught some monks doing their nightly chanting. Then the night market. Today we started early to watch the monks in town at 6am collect their alms. All the locals line the streets on bamboo mats and give the monks in their saffron robes their alms (sticky rice and fruit and other food). Then we had an amazing coffee and made it back to our guest house for breakfast. We headed up to a Moung village at the top of the hills and did a 4 hour jungle trek down to a spectacular waterfall. One of the best days yet. The jungle was beautiful but wet and slick due to the rain. The waterfall was a greenish colour (like a glacier lake almost due to minerals). There were so many levels to the waterfall with dense jungle around it (breathtaking and spectacular). We are currently heading out for a fancy dinner. Addi is buying and taking me out on the town. Take care and I will see everyone way too soon. Love, Sonya:)

Chaing Kong - Almost in Laos

Well we are in Chaing Kong tonight. Right on the Mekong river. Just over the river is Laos. Tomorrow morning we board a small boat over the Mekong and go through Laos immigration. Then go to the pier to get a better boat to go down the river to Pakbeng. I guess we will arrive in Pakbeng at 4pm. Then onto Luang Prabang the next day. Two days on the Mekong river should be fun. We will be on a wooden boat with a squat toilet and nothing else. We will get a packed lunch box of the usual fried rice and veggies. We are currently shopping for snacks. I will see if I can find one last diet coke here. There was no diet soda in Myanmar and there will be none in Laos. So water it is for a bit (which will be good for me). I need to get rehydrated again anyway. The long car rides I try not to drink water since they really only stop at designated areas. We left Bangkok a couple days ago on the overnight train to Chaing Mai. It was much nicer then the train in Myanmar, no mice or cobwebs even. They had servers that brought coffee and dinner orders. The bed were great. An upper bunk and lower bunk. The rocking of the train was annoying but besides that very comfortable. My only problem was they woke us up for coffee at 6am which would have been fine if we had arrived at the designated 7am but the train was slow and we did not get in until 10am. So a bit more sleep would have been good. We decided to do a Thai cooking course in Chaing Mai for the day. Similar to the one I did before with Joanne. It was great. We make Tom Yum soup, Pad Thai, Green Curry, Stirfried rosemarry and bannas in coconut milk for dessert. Lots of good eating and finally some spicy food (they always tone down the food here for white people). At the end of the course the instructor took us to the local market to teach us about the foods and what they look like. At night we went to Wat Suthet (the large temple on the hill overlooking Chaing Mai). I have been there before but it was amazing to see the monks perform their nightly chants. We got blessed with holy water by another monk and enjoyed the experience. It is still one of my favorite spots. Last night we did not sleep too well since someone at the hotel woke us up at midnight banging on the wrong door. Then some drunk morons next store started screaming and playing caps against the wall at 2:30am. I was a real pleasure this morning and when they put meat in my lunch and I had to send it back again. However, I cheered up when I saw the temple (I think it was called Wat Rang Khun). It is an all white temple an artist in Chaing Rai is currently building. I have seen pics in the past and really wanted to see the place. There are amazing skeleton hands reaching out of hell with crazy faces and really elaborate details on the temple. We actually saw the artist and went through his art gallery too. Of coarse I bought a print to support the temple. The cloudy backdrop of today was perfect for pics of this temple. I will try to post one later. So I was happy after lunch. We arrived in Chaing Kong around 4pm. We are having group dinner and a briefing before we head to Laos tomorrow. Take care... Sonya:)