Beaches, Snorkeling, Museums and Tunnels...

(March 16 - March 20) The bus ride to Nha Trang was uneventful, thank the Lord. We arrived sometime in the morning and found a a place to stay. Ethan and Emily went out looking around the city, while I took a nap. A few minutes before my alarm went off they came busting in telling me to get up and get ready to go because they found a place to go snorkeling and we had to be ready in 10 minutes. So I got ready to go in a half asleep state and we walked over to the tour office where a van picked us up and took us to the dock. We got on the boat that we rushed to get to in time and there was no one on it. I was not happy. We asked them when we would be leaving and they said they didn't know because the other group was late. Even more unhappy. But then they offered for us to get on their other boat that was ready to go so we didn't have to wait. We hopped on and were cruising into the bay in no time.

The snorkeling was actually pretty good and the reef was one of the best/healthiest reefs I had ever seen. There were lots of strange fishes and also quite a few jellyfish. I was getting tiny little stings all over my arms and legs, but one girl on the boat got a full on sting and had to get out. It didn't leave a mark, but she said her whole forearm was stinging. Yikes! After a while, we couldn't take the stinging anymore so we got out and set up camp on the top of the boat. They took us to another site that I think we all stayed in the boat for and then they served lunch. It was arguably the best lunch I've ever had on a snorkeling trip. It was served family style too, so when everyone was gone we picked at all the serving plates that still had food on them. Yup. We did. (E- Why you ask? Because we're American! And overeating is what we do!) It was too delicious to let it go to waste! They took us to one more snorkeling spot that we ended up using as a place to jump off the top of the boat and then we headed back to the harbor. So our snorkeling trip pretty much turned into a little bit of snorkeling, some swimming and mostly eating and sunbathing. Oh well! We had fun!

Beard is filling out nicely

Took a little hike by myself to this hilltop

Soooo many motorbikes in Vietnam!

That night we ate dinner and the rest of the crew went to find a bar, while I stayed back to catch some Zzzz's. In the morning we headed to the beach to do some relaxing. Nha Trang's beach is really really nice and the only part we didn't like were the vendors who were extremely persistent. This one woman insisted that Emily, Alexis and Shannon wanted to look at her bracelets when none of them did. She got upset when they told her to leave and started insulting Shannon in English. It was a very strange experience for all involved and we're really glad all the street vendors weren't that feisty. The rest of the afternoon we spent swimming (and trying not get knocked down by the waves) and relaxing. Unfortunately, we had to head out that night for Ho Chi Minh city. We ate a quick dinner and headed back to the hotel to shower and make sure we had all our stuff. We boarded our very last overnight bus that night and, since it was the last bus, we took the 5 seats in the very back and watched Wedding Crashers before attempting to sleep.

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh pretty early and after some back-alley searching found a place to stay with 3 double beds in one room - slumber party! Ethan was so thrilled. Anyway, we showered and headed out for some food and then to the Vietnam War museum. The museum was interesting to say the least. It was pretty anti-American (which I guess makes sense) and very graphic. Aside from being a bit shocked by some of the things they decided to display to the public, I was glad to see some of the history of the war from the Vietnamese side. Most of the things that were displayed about the war, I had already learned about, but they were shown from a different perspective, which was very eye-opening. They also had an entire room dedicated to the affects of Agent Orange (a chemical spread by American troops to destroy vegetation) on civilians immediately after and into recent times. Again, very eye-opening.

After the museum we headed over to market for lunch and then the Reunification Palace. The Palace was the home and workplace for the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam war and was also the site of negotiations between the North and South after the war. Essentially, it's a fancy looking building with several large rooms decorated with outdated furniture and a basement dedicated to war operations. We found a movie room that was air conditioned and decided to learn a bit more about the place. But the lights were off and the seats were comfy and we all fell asleep in there for about 10 minutes. It's a good thing Ethan woke up because I was out cold. After we left the Palace, Alexis, Shannon and I headed back to the room for a nap, while Emily and Ethan looked at a cathedral nearby. We all ended up falling asleep for a few hours, after which, we headed to the night market for some dinner and souvenir shopping.

Underground at the Reunification Palace (post-nap)

The next day we booked a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels. The Cu Chi tunnels were used by the Viet Cong during the war. They are part of a large network of tunnels that run under the city that were used for communication, supplies, hospitals, food and weapon storage and living quarters. The tour wasn't the greatest thing we've ever been on, but it was informative and our guide was really funny. We saw some of the traps they used to ensnare American troops and got to sample some of the tapioca (pre-processed) they ate on a daily basis. We also got to walk through a section of the tunnel that was about 200m long. There were exits every 20m and I promptly took the first one - it was terrifying. The tunnel was about 3.5 feet tall by 2.5 feet wide and about 9ft underground. I do not know how people lived in them. I would not have lasted very long as a Viet Cong soldier. (E- Our tour guide discussed how the Vietnamese view American tourists. He said they have no problem with us because they know it was our government that was responsible and the citizens were actually fighting to pull out of Vietnam. Plus, American tourists give him a job so he really likes us. That was good to hear, mainly the first part.)

Tasty & Cheap Samiches

After the tour, we were dropped off by the market where we got some souvenirs and I bought some pants. That night we ate Mexican food and celebrated Shannon's 23rd birthday! A great time was had by all, particularly Shannon and myself. Unfortunately, we had to catch a bus at 7am so we didn't get much time to sleep off the night. Oh well! So long Vietnam! Cambodia here we come!

Losing Track of Time in Hoi An

(March 10 - March 15) Well the bus ride wasn't nearly as bad as the 24 hour one! There was a bathroom on board and we only made one strange stop. We all slept a little bit and when we got to Hue (where we had a 4 hour layover until the bus departed for Hoi An) we were able to walk around a little and see some of the town. We wanted to check out the old fort, but it cost a lot more than we were expecting so we tossed that out the window and opted for a game of pool at a bar near where the bus would be picking us up. (E- We ran into our Aussie friend, Jake, that was on the death bus ride from hell with us and he joined in on the pool)

Sleeping on the sleeper bus

Go Wings!

When the bus got there we asked if it was our bus to Hoi An and the guy loading luggage said yes. So, we threw our luggage underneath and got in line to board. After a minute though a different guy came up saying that the 5 of us were on a different bus... Unfortunately, the guy who told us it was the right bus had just finished piling more bags on top of ours and closed the luggage compartment. We were very irritated and asked if they would help us move the other bags, but they wouldn't... So after a minute or two of confusion I went over and unloaded all the bags on top of ours and our own bags and we followed the other guy to the correct bus. Luckily, they waited for us and we were able to all sit next to each other. Crisis averted!! We learned our lesson with that fiasco and never again trusted the luggage handlers for information.

Sharing a seat and planning the next adventure

Anyway, the ride to Hoi An was short and uneventful. We got in sometime in the afternoon, found a place to stay and got some dinner. The next morning as we were getting ready a girl popped her head into our room to let us know that they had had some money stolen from their room the night before. So we had a team meeting and decided not to risk it. Emily and I packed up, while Alexis and Ethan went to find a different hotel. They found one just down the street that we had looked at the day before, but decided against because it was a little more than we wanted to pay. We all agreed the extra cost was worth knowing our things/money would be safe. With that crisis over we rented some bicycles and headed for the beach nearby. We spent the afternoon there and ate some traditional Vietnamese food on the beach for a late lunch. That night we went to a late dinner at one of the many restaurants by the river that cater to European/American tastes and spent some time at one of the bars across the river. 

Cue typical beach picture

"You're handsome like Fidel Castro." -Dude

The next morning we rented three motorbikes so we could drive out to a set of ancient ruins called My Son Sanctuary. It was Emily's first time driving a motorbike, but she did great even with the crazy Vietnamese drivers and streets. The drive took about 45 minutes and it took us through some really pretty countryside. The My Son ruins were definitely nothing like the ruins we've seen in Thailand (meaning they were not nearly as interesting to look at), so it didn't take long for us to meander through them. The ruins were mostly covered in grass so we really didn't know what we were looking at and there were several that really just looked like piles of old bricks. (E- or piles of new bricks as there was definitely some over the top reconstruction going on.) The area was really pretty though. That night was pretty much like the night before. 

My Son Sanctuary

Making sure they don't get lost...

The next day we rented the bikes again, but went to a place called Marble Mountain instead that was about 20 minutes away. The name of the place pretty much gives away what it's attraction is. It's a "mountain" from which marble is used to make teeny tiny figurines to humongous statues. The walk to the top wasn't super fun, but the view of the beach and ocean below when you get there is pretty great. There is also a temple on the way to the top that we stopped at and tried to get a picture in front of, but the lady "guarding" the entrance was not happy with our inappropriate attire. She got saucy with us and shooed us away. It was pretty comical even though she was a little scary and only had like two teeth. Anyway, after the mountain we tried to go into that town to get food, but the restaurants were mostly seafood restaurants, so after several failed attempts we decided to head back to Hoi An for dinner. 

Marble Mountain view

On our last day in Hoi An we walked around the market getting some souvenirs, saw the famed Japanese Covered Bridge (E- The bridge was less than impressive, see below, and you had to pay to walk across it.) and then hopped on the overnight bus to our next Vietnamese destination - Nha Trang. 

Japanese Covered Bridge

(E- It's too bad we waited three weeks to share/write this blog because it doesn't do Hoi An justice. It was one of the highlights of Vietnam. The city in general has a really nice vibe to it. It's tough to explain. We all just really enjoyed our time there.)

If only we were as cute as the Vietnamese couple on the wall...

Goooood Morning, Vietnam!

(March 7 - March 10) After our bus ride from hell we were super excited to have a place to sleep and to reunite with our pals Shannon and Alexis. In the morning Ethan found their hotel, so we packed up and moved to that place. We felt much better about paying for a place that wasn't part of the bus scam. After we showered and scrubbed all the bus grime off of us, we set out to see the sights of Hanoi. We were highly unprepared for the crazy busy city that greeted us. The streets are narrow and there are more people on motorbikes there than there are in Thailand. There is also a serious lack of street lights and stop signs and where they existed they were not adhered to. It was insane and I'm very surprised that we didn't see any accidents.

Anyway, that day we went to a temple on an island in a lake in the middle of town, but it cost money to get in so we took a picture outside and left. We also visited the Maison Centrale Prison where John McCain was held as a POW during the Vietnam War. It was highly anti-American/French, but it was still really neat. The next day we tried to see more of Hanoi's sights, but it was Friday and many of the sights are closed. We didn't know this ahead of time though, so we set out only to be disappointed and frustrated. We saw the building that Ho Chi Minh's body is housed in (aka Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum) and we saw the outside of a museum that has a really big flag pole outside of it, but we weren't even allowed to go up to the flag pole. After those two failed attempts we decided to give up and find some lunch. We did make it out to another lake in town that was pretty neat, but didn't stay long due to hunger and lack of cheap places to eat. Later that night we went to the night market for dinner and a little shopping. We had some of Vietnam's famous Pho. I didn't really like it, but everyone else did. We left the night market with some bracelets and I bought a phone cover in the shape of one of my favorite Disney characters, Stitch. :]

Pho-king great!

Beamer, Benz, or Rolls?

The next day we left Hanoi on a tour headed to Halong Bay, which has been called one of the most beautiful places in Vietnam and is a World Heritage Site. We're not usually package tourists, but trying to get there on our own seemed a bit too complicated for us, so we bit the bullet and paid for a tour. We took a bus out to Halong City and then a little boat took us out to the boat we'd be touring the bay on and staying the night on. The boat reminded me of the riverboats on the Mississippi. We got two rooms that were all wood on the inside and a lot nicer than we expected. The shower even had hot water (didn't last very long, but it was there!)! The tour took us to a cave and to a tiny island with a pagoda on top. The cave was pretty cool and huge, but it had been way overdone with lights and footpaths. (E- The cave was called Surprising Cave for how big it is once you're inside, but the only thing we were surprised about was how dirty the water was everywhere in Halong Bay. I mean, trash everywhere. It was really quite sad that such a natural beauty has been allowed to waste away. And it's supposed to be protected by the United Nations...) The island was beautiful, but Emily and I decided not to take the 400 stair climb to the pagoda. The pictures from up there were beautiful, although Ethan says they don't do it justice. After the island we headed back to the big boat for dinner. The food was really good, which surprised us and they gave us a lot of it, which was even more surprising. They had karaoke and dancing after dinner, but we were on the boat with like 5 Asians, two older Russian couples, and two American girls who were our age. It didn't exactly make for the best karaoke audience so we opted out and I don't usually say no to karaoke! Instead we hung out on the roof deck and chatted with the girls we had met. They had just finished teaching English in Korea and made it very clear that they really liked it and made way more money than we did. In the morning, we did a quick cruise of the bay after breakfast then headed back to Halong City where we had lunch before departing the boat. Overall, we were pleased with the tour and might not be so apprehensive about package tours in the future :] (E- Still very apprehensive. I'd much rather rent a motorbike and do it myself, but you can't do that on the water...)

Surprising Cave

View of Halong Bay from Ti Top Island

Go Wings!

It was a 3 hour bus ride back to Hanoi where we waited an hour or so for the overnight bus that would take us to Hue and then on to Hoi An. We crossed our fingers that this ride would go smoother than the last one! 

Still just doesn't do it justice!

Death Bus Ride from Hell

Ethan here. This is a timeline of the worst transportation I have ever been involved with. Some of the times are approximate and might have occurred out of the order they are listed here. I was a bit delirious from the trip and waited a week to write this. I'm going to try my best to explain the trapped feeling we had on this death bus ride from hell.

5:30 pm - Arrive mini bus station outskirts of Luang Prabang by small tuk-tuk. It struggled to fit and handle the three of us and our luggage.

Crammed in the tuk-tuk.

5:45 pm - Waiting in line to check in while Skye and Emily watch our bags.

6:00 pm - Scheduled departure time. Instead, we just start boarding. This is also when we realize that some people have sleeping compartments with two people to the compartment and not actual separate seats. Other people aren't as lucky as they get put under these seats pretty much on the floor with no window, sleeping side by side. Hope you're not claustrophobic. We are the lucky ones with seats. However, Emily has a 50 year old Irishmen to snuggle with for what we think will be 24 hours. It's okay though because at least they'll get their own blankets, right? Oh wait, nope, they have to share that too. Sorry bout ya. Again, we're the lucky ones with real seats and windows.

6:30 pm - Bus departs from Luang Prabang only 30 minutes late. Oh well, 24 more hours to go to Hanoi, Vietnam.

10:00 pm - Stop for our first meal and toilet break. Pretty sure it's at their friends' place with below average food and inflated prices. It's also FREEZING outside. Skye and Em play it safe with fried rice. I eat a few bites of Skyes. Bathroom was interesting.

10:45 pm - Depart the food scam trap.

3:00 am - We all sleep fairly decent or at least I think we all did. I was lights out with some help. However, the next day some girls on the bus tell us we stopped in a village for about an hour at 3 am while they unloaded all of our stuff, put some "other stuff" on and then loaded our stuff back on. Excuse me? You were awake for this? And didn't think it was necessary to inform us that they unloaded our stuff? Hmm. Hope everyone's bag is there when we get to Hanoi.

8:00 am - I wake up suddenly and realize our bus is stopped. Fall back asleep.

8:30 am - Wake up again and bus hasn't moved. Some people are talking about the border so I figure our bus is stopped in a line for the border.

9:00 am - Still no movement so I get out of the bus to investigate. A semi truck or a laurie as our European mates refer to it as is broken going around a tight curve and is blocking the entire road. Traffic is stopped in both directions.

10:00 am - No progress is made and everyone is just standing around looking at it. We've also discovered were only 3 kms short of the border. Since no progress is made, everyone starts talking about possibly walking to the border and finding another bus. Nobody acts on it though. A bunch of military official looking dudes show up and stand there looking at the situation with no action.

Everybody standing around doing nothing to solve the problem.

10:15 am - Locals start showing up from nowhere and creating a bridge out of trees tied together with vines and bamboo so minivans can cross over the drainage ditches on the sides of the road. They test it by jumping up and down on it. Probably a good comparison. It withstood a 150 pound SE Asian so a minivan full of people should be able to make it.

The bridge for the minivans. It held Emily... barely.

10:45 am - A minivan actually starts to attempt it, but alas, there's finally a decent plan thought of. Tow the truck out with one of the other 10+ semis there. So they attach it with one chain. I'm convinced the chain is going to snap so I make Emily move behind another semi in case it does. Meanwhile, Skye's still sleeping as she did through most of this process.

11:00 am - Cheers all around as the chain holds up and the truck is moved to the side of the road further up the hill. 3 hours of no progress. We heard in Hanoi that this isn't uncommon to have happen at this exact spot.

11:30 am - Finally get to the border. Yes, 3 km and about 30 minutes. That's how bad the mountain and roads are. The border crossing is supposed to be closed for lunch, but they must have stayed open because they knew what happened. We lucked out with that. We depart Laos and walk across no mans land to the Vietnam side. We hand a dude our passports with our $70 Vietnam visas already inside. Sit around for about 30 minutes before they call our names. I was really expecting to be scammed into paying more, but everyone got through with no problems.

Departed Laos and Vietnam on the other side of the bridge.

12:30 pm - The whole border thing took around an hour, which isn't too bad. Everyone boards the bus and we depart.

Fellow captives of the death bus ride from hell at the border crossing.

2:00 pm - **We stop and the drivers get off for a smoke break. Some people have to pee so they try and get off the bus. They're yelled at by the drivers and aren't allowed off.**

4:00 pm - So remember the food trap that we were forced to eat at? 10 pm the night before? Well who needs breakfast or lunch? We don't stop until 4 pm for lunch. Cool! We have 45 minutes here so I immediately start walking around this middle of nowhere village looking for somewhere to exchange money. Find a bank and they say no exchange. Another woman on the bus (from Chicago) goes to give it a try so I go in again. This time it works? Okay? Get back to the bus stop, which is another friend/family members place with inflated prices and poor food. An older guy had bought Em and Skye a plate of food while I was gone. Thanks bud. We get some snacks, a coke and red bulls because who knows when we'll stop again.

4:45 pm - Depart food scam stop. Thanks for stopping at a place that's a solid 1-2 kms from the nearest bank when it's our first stop in a new country. Got my exercise in at least.

5:00 pm - We're informed that 9 pm is our likely arrival time. Ha. Ha.

6:00 pm - *Drop package off to random person at the side of the road. 24 hour point. Everything is becoming a blur. I don't even know who I am or what I'm doing on this bus...*

8:00 pm - **Another smoke stop for the drivers. Again, we're not allowed off even though people try.**

10:00 pm - Another food scam stop. This is the worst food yet with the highest prices. We get some random mix of food that tastes like grass.

10:45 pm - Depart and were informed we only have 30 minutes left. Then why'd we stop!!!!!!? Oh, because 30 minutes is a gigantic lie.

11:30 pm - Pull down a side road. Then another. We think we're in Hanoi and going to the bus station. Then pull down another dark and deserted road. Stop. Lights off. No bus station. Dafuq? A truck pulls up with its lights off. Drivers get off and start unloading our bags. Uhh? They then get blocks of wood buried within the bus and start throwing them into the truck. Pretty sure it is packed with "other stuff" if you're picking up what I'm putting down.

12:00 am - Leave the back alley.

1:00 am - Bus stops for a toilet break. Sorry ladies, this toilet break is at the side of the road.

We're forcing a smile, but feeling like the lady behind us.

2:00 am - Bus stops and picks up a dude that says, "Welcome to Hanoi." He informs us how shady taxis are at this time of night and we should use his minibus to get from the bus station to the Old Quarter. We all decide we should stay together and it's only $1.50 a head so we listen to him. Hop off the bus, get assaulted by taxi drivers and all cram on the minibus. Of course he takes us to his hotel and nowhere else where we can stay for $5 per person for the night. Most people leave, but we stay behind after I haggle him down to $12 for the three of us.

Next morning: We change hotels to finally leave this 32 hour scam behind us.

Hanoi City Hostel, where we meet our friends Alexis and Shannon, is a welcome relief.

* Throughout the entire journey, the bus would stop at random places with a person waiting there and drop a package of "other stuff" off to them.

**The random smoke break stops where we weren't allowed off the bus happened a number of times throughout the death bus ride from hell.

Bye Bye Thawangpha - Hello Laos!

Leaving Thailand.

The last week of school was exam week, so we didn't have any teaching or really anything to do except pack up our stuff. Wednesday night the English department held a going away dinner for us at their favorite restaurant near town. It was nice to see them one last time and they gave us a couple gifts. We each gave a little thank you speech that was highly embarrassing, but it was a good time and it was a really nice thing for them to do. Thursday morning we addressed the students who were there at the morning assembly to say thank you and goodbye. Also embarrassing, but we were glad we got the chance to say goodbye to at least some of them. The rest of the morning was spent packing and throwing away all the crap we had collected from the last few months. It was a lot more than I thought it would be. We're kind of pack rats! :] Anyway, Thursday afternoon we said goodbye to our apartment for the last time and headed back to Nan city.

Pak Beng, Laos

While in Nan for the evening, Ethan and I got more passport photos that we would need for our tourist visas in a few countries and Emily treated herself to a traditional Thai massage. We got dinner then went to bed pretty early because the bus headed for the Laos border left around 5:30am. At 4:30 in the morning we quietly left the guesthouse and walked to the bus station. We bought our tickets and of course I ended up squished in the front seat with a dude who was hacking up his lungs and not covering his mouth. I wanted to die. Anyway, eventually a bunch of people got off so I moved in the back with Ethan. I don't know what time it was when we got to the border, but once you get there they just drop you off on the side of the road and you have to walk over the border. First, you go to the Thai immigration stand and they take your departure card and stamp you out of the country. Then you are in no man's land until you reach the Laos immigration building. Once there you fill out a visa application, they check your passport to make sure you're not a crazy person, then they put a big visa sticker in your passport, you pay them some money and you're done! 

Minivan seats on the slowboat to Luang Prabang.

We still needed to get to another town though and we had missed the early bus that takes us where we needed to go. (E- missed it by 15 minutes. One of us walks slow...) So we hopped in a truck to the "bus station" where we found out there was another bus going to the place we needed to go, but it wasn't leaving until 12. So we put our stuff on the bus (hoping to save our seats) and waited and waited. Once it got closer to 12 Ethan and I went off to find a toilet, but when we got back everyone was on the bus. I guess they decided that the bus was leaving (E- 30 minutes early), while we were gone. So we got on and poor Emily was looking highly distraught. She had tried to save our seats, but a local woman was not having it. Apparently, the woman literally sat down on top of our things instead of just moving them aside. Emily ended up having to yank our stuff out from under her and was not able to secure seats for both of us. So I ended up having to sit on the fold down chair in the aisle that I was much too big for and it was a miserable two hours. To top off the adventure they dropped us off past the town we were headed for and had no idea where we were. Luckily, Ethan managed to find out that we were about a 30 minute walk from where we wanted to go. Unfortunately, it was about 102 degrees in the middle of the afternoon. We didn't really even walk that far, but it was torture. We ended up getting a ride (thank god!) after a while and they dropped us off near a bunch of guesthouses. We found a place to stay and hung out for the rest of the night.

In the morning, we got our stuff around and headed out to the dock to catch the slow boat down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang. We were nervous about how comfy the boat would be because we had heard several different accounts and the boat ride is 8 hours long. The seats ended up being essentially seats taken from a van and rigged to fit on this boat. So they were comfy enough, but the boat was also very, very full so there wasn't any room to spread out. The journey was long, but the scenery was really pretty. We were definitely excited to get off the boat when we got to Luang Prabang. It was another super hot afternoon and even though the place we ended up staying wasn't the cleanest - I think it might have been the dirtiest place we've ever stayed actually- we were excited to get out of the heat and shower. That night we walked around the night market and ate sandwiches, which Laos is known for. Laos was colonized by France and there is still a strong French influence so everywhere you go they have baguettes and baguette sandwiches. There are a bunch of different ways to order them and they're delicious. Oddly enough they are cheaper than plated food at the restaurants, so we ended up eating them for several meals. It was strange for us because in Thailand sandwiches are expensive and teeny tiny. We definitely had our fill of Laos sandwiches.

After getting soaked at the Pak Ou caves.

Sunday we hired a tuk tuk with some other random people to take us to a famous cave in the area. The cave wasn't super cool, but it is right on the river and it was a really pretty area. While we were there it started down pouring, so we got completely soaked. It didn't really bother us, but it did make for a pretty chilly ride back. Monday our first order of business was to apply for our tourist visas at the Vietnamese Embassy. It was super easy, but ended up costing each of us $70! Eeeeek! Anyway, after that Emily really wanted to ride an elephant so we headed out to find an elephant camp. They're quite popular so it wasn't hard and we found one that would bargain with us. They took us out to the camp and all three of us rode on one elephant around this little village. I wasn't sure that the elephant appreciated carrying around 500+ lbs on its back, but we did choose the cheapest tour sooooo....
After the ride through the village they got two more elephants so we each had our own ride and they took us down to the river for "elephant bathing." It was actually more like "elephant play time" because as soon as we got in the water, which had a healthy amount of giant elephant poops in it, the elephants tossed us off of their backs and into the poop infested water. Emily and Ethan had a great time, but I really did not enjoy it. That night we met up with our friends Josie and ate dinner with them.

Oliphant

Kuang Si waterfall.

Tuesday morning we checked out of our hotel, dropped our things at their hotel (E- Thanks, Josie and Allison!) and went with them to our last Laos attraction, the Kuang Si waterfalls. The falls were a bit farther away and you had to pay to get in, but it was worth it. They had a bear conservation camp there that I was unaware of and the falls themselves were amazing. We spent some time watching the bears and checking out the waterfalls. (E- Allison and I were the only ones brave enough to jump in the slightly chill and amazingly bluish/turquoise water) Our last day was well spent and when we got back we headed straight to the bus station for what would be the strangest, and maybe even the worst, bus ride we have ever had to endure.... To be continued!

View of Luang Prabang and the Mekong River from atop Phu Si

Late February Blog Post

Outside the Temple of Dawn

For the last two weeks we have been excitedly preparing for our adventure through SE Asia. The weekend of the 16 & 17 we spent in Pua with our friends to say goodbye. We spent Saturday afternoon at our favorite waterfall and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning making plans to see each other when we're back in the States. The rest of the week we spent deciding what we would bring with us on our trip and what we would leave behind in storage in Bangkok. Neither of us did much teaching that week because the teachers were preparing the students for their final exams. It was nice to be able to take our time cleaning out our room and to be able think about the things we would leave in Bangkok. Ethan also had plenty of time to research some of the places we will be traveling to. :]

Friday afternoon we left Thawangpha and headed to Bangkok. It was yet another highly uncomfortable 10 hour bus ride. The person across the aisle was coughing obnoxiously for the first 5 hours and then the person behind him snored for the 2nd 5 hrs. Fortunately, we were both able to fall asleep for a few hours. We arrived at Bankok's northern bus terminal around 5am and took the public bus into downtown. We told the bus attendant where we needed to go, but she didn't communicate to us that we needed to take a different bus to get dropped off exactly where we needed to. So we got to a stop that wasn't really near where we wanted to go and she told us to get off and kept saying 1-3. So we figured that she meant we needed to get on another bus, but were confused as to why she didn't tell us this in the first place. Anyway, Ethan looked up how far our accommodation was from where we were and it didn't seem too far away so we decided to just walk. Our walk took us through Lumphini Park, which is Bankok's Central Park. We had been there before when we were in Bangkok for orientation, but never this early in the morning. There were tons of people out exercising and it was highly entertaining to watch all the people doing aerobics and jogging in huge groups. One group of older men announced their presence with the constant honk of a bicycle horn -  it was highly unnecessary. 

Tuk-tukin in Bangkok.

We finally made it to the place we were staying around 7:30, but the room wouldn't be available until 8. So I fell asleep on the couch on the porch while Ethan got breakfast from 7/11. Once the room was ready we went up and slept for a while, then got ready to take on Thailand's 'City of Angels' once more. We are big fans of public transportation especially in big cities since taxi rides can be costly. So we braved another one of Bangkok's transport options, the subway. It was actually really nice and clean and easy to use - who knew?! We visited Bangkok's largest market - the Chatuchuck weekend market - to check out the souvenir scene. We didn't buy much, but we'll be stopping there before we head back to the USA for some things to remind us of our time in Thailand.

Bangkok train station.

After the market we went back to our place for a shower - much needed since Bangkok is hot hot hot and the humidity is 110% - and then headed out to one of Bangkok's several famous sky bar's. A sky bar is quite simply a bar on the roof of a very tall building. Like I said there are several of them, but we chose the one closest to us. We were nervous about how much the drinks would be and if we would even be allowed up there. In the end, the drinks were expensive (E- my small beer was $9 and Skye's tropical drink was around $13 so not too bad by American standards considering we were 61 floors above Bangkok. And then the service charge and VAT was added, which was a bit of a surprise. It was called Moon Bar at Banyan Tree Bangkok.) , but we chatted with a French couple and enjoyed a really awesome view of the city, which was well worth it. We got dinner at a much more reasonably priced establishment and called it a night.

Ruins in Lop Buri

The next day we took our giant duffel bag to a storage facility near where we were staying. It ending up costing us a little less than $30 to store the bag for 8 weeks. Quite the deal if you ask me! Anyway, after that we headed out to some of the sights we didn't get the chance to see back in October including a huge golden temple, the democracy monument, a really neat art gallery, and the famous Khao San road. Khao San is the backpacker hub of Bangkok and the street is filled with shops and venders selling all sorts of crap - you can even buy fake college diplomas there! It's also full of bars and places to eat sub-par western food. After our visit to Khao San we headed over to two other temples, but you had to pay to get into both of them so we opted out - I know it's lame, but we've seen plenty of giant Buddhas... trust me! After our little tour we headed back and went to bed early so we could prepare to collect little miss Emily from her taxi at 8am! :]

Monkeying around.

Popping wheelies.

Chasing waterfalls.

I slept horribly that night, so 7:30am came a bit too quickly for my liking. Luckily, Emily's flight was on time and the cab found our hotel without any problems. Once we had gotten our stuff out of the room we took Emily on a very very short tour of Bangkok. She saw one of the mega-malls, Khao San road, the Grand Palace from the seat of a tuk-tuk and the train station. From there we took a train to Lopburi which is a few hours north of Bangkok. Lopburi has a very large monkey population as well as some ruins so we wanted to check it out. It didn't take us very long to tour the ruins there, but we bought our train tickets for 10:30pm thinking that it would be better to get into Den Chai (the nearest town to Nan on the train line) at 7am rather than 3am (which is what would have happened if we took an earlier train). So we saw the ruins and the monkeys - they were totally nuts by the way - and had dinner in a matter of 2 hours and had to sit in the blazing heat for 6 hours to wait for our train (it was an hour late too!). It was not the best trip planning we've ever done, but we lived through it. Once back in Nan city, Ethan drove Emily around the town on the motorbike, while I took the truck back with her bag. It was a very long trip back to the North, but it was successful and that's really all that mattered. Now the only things left to do were packing and saying farewell to our Thai colleagues!

View atop Banyan Tree Bangkok at Moon Bar.