Slow Boat Trip Down the Mekong

I got to the city of Huay Xai, Laos right on the border of Thailand. We had to cross the Mekong here by boat. When I got into the country the first thing I did was exchange some money. The exchange rate is about 10,000 kip to the dollar. I exchanged about $70 worth. I had never held so much cash in my hand at once. I felt like a millionaire. My wallet would barely close there were so many bills in it. We proceeded to a little port in the town where a bunch of slow boats were waiting. A slow boat is a long wooden boat that is about 60 feet long and 8 feet wide and, of course, slow. The boats are usually packed from front to back with little benches that someone of my height has no chance of fitting in to. We were fortunate enough to wait until the first boat filled up. I say fortunate because they made another boat available for the rest of us waiting that only had about 8 rows of seats and the rest was just empty space where you could lay out and weren't so cramped. We also had our own bar on the boat selling food and drinks. The people who boarded this boat were all excited backpackers, like me, and made for a real good crowd to spend two days with. Since it was the rainy season in Southeast Asia, the views of the banks of the Mekong were interrupted by brief spells of torrential downpour. When it wasn't raining the landscape of rural Laos was revealed. Huge undulating mountains stretching down to the water were covered in alternating patches of dense jungle and crop fields. The fields had evidence of local tribes using slash and burn techniques to prepare for a new planting season. The hill tribes lived in little villages of anywhere from 5 to 20 huts made out of bamboo. Along the way I saw Lao people using elephants in the jungle to drag huge logs to boats, lizards strung on to poles for a meal later, monks boarding the boat going to the next village, Lao children playing in the murky waters, weird fish being pulled from the water with nets or bamboo poles, and the most shocking, a man dragging a boar by its hind leg to a village for what I presume would be a feast or sacrifice. Everything I saw on the journey reminded me that I was in an authentic hilltribe area deep in the hills of Laos. It was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had. We stopped that night in a little town of dirt streets and 6 hours of electricity a night, called Pakbeng. The guesthouse we stayed in had two 7-foot bombs right at the entrance with "US" painted on their sides. You probably have not heard of this, but Laos is famous for being the most bombed country in the world. The United States gets credit for giving Laos this distinction. During the Vietnam War, the US carpet-bombed Laos as North Vietnamese troops were using the "neutral" country as a gateway for supplies. The stat goes that if you dropped one plane load of bombs every eight minutes around the clock for 12 years, you would just then equal as much as we dropped on the country. There was nothing in the American news about the US bombing Laos for five years. Pretty amazing stat if you ask me. The remoteness of the town and lack of electricity ended up being a perfect setting for stargazing. You could see so many stars that you could barely make out the constellations. The next day we continued down the Mekong to a city called Luang Prabang. The whole trip took two days and was a great way to see the back country of Laos that can only be accessed through a slowboat down the Mekong.

Bangkok to Chiang Mai

On my way up to Laos, I got to spend some more time in Bangkok before heading to Chang Mai in the North of Thailand. This experience was quite different from my last trip to the capitol as I had learned a good amount of Thai and had gotten accustomed to the country by then. The Thais yelling "tuk-tuk" (which is their onomatopeic term for a Thai taxi), offerings of pad thai from street vendors, people dressed in all sorts of wacky styles, and of course the hustle and bustle, all seemed to be second nature to me. I felt that I blended in, I felt that I knew what was going on, I felt I had spent my "time" in Thailand and was a Thailand vet by then. I was with my friend Andy, from Bristol, England, and we both knew the ropes. We were now looking at the tourists from the other side; we were the locals. It was nice to be able to get where we wanted and not be overcharged (too much at least) for purchases. We headed to the MBK center in our free time. This is a huge shopping complex 8 stories high. There is everything here from contact lenses to cell phones to packaged dried fish. On the top floor there is even a huge cinema and bowling alley. Of course we had to stop by and see Spiderman 3, quite corny if you ask us. We did, however, experience something that I had only read about in the travel books. Right before the movie started, the national anthem was played and everyone was expected to stand. This is not like our anthem that they play at a Braves game with some 13 year old girl forgetting the words. This is a tribute to the revered King of Thailand. Pictures are shown of the King visiting the people of Thailand while the anthem is being played behind it. I realized that not many people would go to movies back home if they did this for Bush. Then again, Bush hasn't ruled the country for over 60 years, thank God. That night, Andy and I headed to the train station to board our 10 o'clock bound for Chang Mai. We were fortunate enough to get sleepers but the jerking of the train throughout the night proved too much for my REM. I was up early the next morning to sit by the window and soak up all of the rural life of Thailand that I could. Travelling by train always prove to be an amazing experience for me. You are able to see the small towns and villages that are off the main roads and experience a bit of the country life. This particular ride showed me rice fields covered in water, people fishing the streams using big nets suspended between sticks, huge drop offs high in the Northern mountains, water buffalo grazing the open fields, Thais in huge circular hats harvesting their crops, old houses constructed out of bamboo and wood, and people playing games of wicket ball (this game is basically volleyball with a wicker ball and the inability to use your hands). As we rolled in to Chang Mai, I was commenting on how nice it was to get away from commercialism for awhile. Of course, I spoke too soon as a McDonald's popped up on the horizon. The city of Chiang Mai is a gorgeous old town that is popularly known as the gateway to China from Southeast Asia. It is surrounded by moats and a broken down wall that used to provide protection from the invading empires around Asia in the 12th century. The city is known for shopping and food. The food is different here with things being a bit more sweet. The biggest difference between the food of the North and the South of Thailand is the sticky rice. Here they serve sticky rice that is meant to be bundled into a ball and dipped into sauces with the hand. The markets around the city are open almost all day. They have a huge night market called "Chiang Mai Night Bazaar" that offered everything you can imagine. These markets were quite different from the MBK in that they sold more authentic merchandise like real silk, spices, handicrafts, and other traditional Thai works. Since it is now the rainy season in Southeast Asia, market hopping would always be interrupted by a short rain storm. One of the most amazing things we saw was the insect museum. Yeah, call me a dork but can you say that you have seen all of Thailand's 436 species of mosquitoes? The guy who owns it, Mr. Manpoi, is the world's leading expert on mosquitoes. He has dedicated his life to them and their knowledge. He actually made me feel alot better about getting malaria (considering I have about a 1 in 2,000,000 chance of getting it). That feeling, however, was lost when he saw what I did, or almost did, in his museum. I was intently reading a poster on elephantitis when I noticed I was getting mosquito bites at a rate of about 3 bites/minute. Now being a westerner with a tolerance for bite rates at about 0 bites/minute, I was getting a bit perturbed. Not to upset Mr. Manpoi by killing his roaming "pets", I took out some repellent and started to protect myself. As I was spraying it, a big guy landed right on my arm. I could not just pass up this wonderful opportunity to kill my enemy. I reared back my hand in preparation to annihilate him from this world. I started to move my hand in the downward motion when something caught my eye, the Mosquito Man. Here I was on his grounds, with insect repellent in one hand and a open fist in the other, ready to kill his little comrads that were "just completing their life cycle" from my forearm. The dissapointed look on his face shot me down to a new level. Had I not learned anything about the mosquito? How could I just kill these things out of cold blood and hatred for the mosquito bite itch? Who in their right mind would do such an act as this? I guess me. I think he got over it later though as he asked me to sign his guestbook. Thank God because there is no telling what is in the Thai law about killing mosquitoes. Our time in Chiang Mai came to an end as we were ready to go to Laos. We were able to find a travel agency up to the border city of Chiang Khong, Thailand a.k.a. Huay Xai, Laos. My time in Thailand would be halted for a trip into the extremely laid back and pristine country of Laos.

Island Life on Koh Tao, Thailand

Well I know it has been a while since I have posted and let everyone know what's been going on. I feel though, that after being here for this long I can give a much better synopsis of the way life is on Koh Tao. I have also found it somewhat hard to convince myself to sit in front of a computer in a tropical paradise typing on a computer. The name Koh Tao means "turtle island" in Thai. There are two explanations for this, one being the shape of the island and the other being the number of turtles that used to lay eggs on its beaches. The island has alot to offer for the average vacationer to Thailand and for those of you who don't know, I haven't ONLY been hanging out on the beach or in the jungle surrounded by exotic fruit trees and tropical birds. I have been exploring the underwater jungle here too. I have finished my divemaster certification here and have a bit more than 100 dives logged. The divemaster level is the first level of professional diving where you basically handle logistics of a diveshop and also guide divers around a dive site. I took my time with it and felt the crunch of it more as I got ready to depart from Thailand. It was amazing how many people I met and all the different places people were from. My fellow divemasters-in-training and also the people getting there first level of certification all became instant friends and people to hang out with, not to mention I now have places all over Europe to stay. The dive sites here are real close to the main land, thus making diving here substantially cheaper than other places. The turtles, whale sharks (largest fish in the world), schools in the milllions, lack of currents, visibility to 120 feet, and lifestyle help to pull people here as well. There are several dive sites all around the island, which is only 12 mi^2, that offer ideal places to relax weightlessly in the water while watching fish curiously approach you. We do night dives frequently as well. During a night dive you go out at sunset and descend watching the colors streak across the sky. A flashlight helps you to see the true color of the coral that is lost with depth. Many new creatures come out at night as well including, stingrays, shrimp, crabs, and preying fish, my favorite being the barracuda. It is always a barrel of monkeys when you see a barracuda because they use your light to hunt. If you shine it on a smaller fish, the barracuda sees it and will sometimes chomp a fish in half, right before your eyes. The best way to finish the dive is ascending to a sky littered with stars. Being on a tiny island in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand does not put much light in the sky, making stars come out of everywhere. It is quite an amazing experience. I spend my time out of the water relaxing on the beach. We sometimes get together games of football, frisbee, and even the occasional mini golf that is on the island. I only saw rain once in the two and a half months I was there, that is until about a week or two ago. The rainy season is just starting up and it rained for 14 out of 15 days near the end of my time. Thank God I got a couple of sunny days in the end though. It was also nice to have it cool down a bit. The days were getting hotter and hotter. I never wore a shirt as doing so would just make it sweaty and dirty, not to mention I was always working on my tan. Nights there are something else. There are two main beaches on the island, Mae Haad and Sairee. Mae Haad, where I lived in a series of little bungalows, is more the local scene and also where my dive shop was. Sairee is the touristy area, but also home to the night life. The bars are right on the beach. Little padded mats and small tables are laid on the sand facing the ocean. Palm trees jetting out at unbelievable angles are a beautiful foreground to the thousands of stars in the sky. Tiki torches are set up in a ring where firedancers compete and try not to burn themselves. Frequently, people will set off fireworks over the water to everyones surprise. Wish candles are also used on the beach. These are wooden framed, cloth boxes where a candle is lit under it. It fills up with heat and rises above the crowds, drifting off to join the stars. If you have seen the movie The Beach with Leonardo Dicaprio, you might know what I'm talking about. All in all it is a very relaxed atmosphere, as you might be able to imagine. There are hundreds of stray dogs on the island. While I have seen my fair share of stray dogs before, these are different. You barely see any skinny, malnourished, or injured dogs. There is a good veterinarian on the island, but I think that it is mainly due to the farangs (thai for foreigners) feeding them and treating them well. Most people kind of "adopt" a dog when they come to the island for awhile. The dogs here are all happy as well. They don't bite, chase, or growl. They hang out on the beach at night and in the town during the day. It is quite strange, but these dogs are the pickiest dogs ever. I have tried to feed them on several occasions with food that any dog in America would chow down without hesitation, but they don't. The only thing they spend there time on is meat. I have, however, gotten ONE dog to eat a piece of bread, who knows how. I have picked up on a good bit of Thai. I can say almost any number from 1-10,000 and alot of phrases useful for bargaining and ordering food ("Can you lower the price a little?", "I would like...", "How are you?"). The Thai language has five different tones in it that make it extremely hard to learn. One word can have five different meanings depending on how you say it. I expected to pick up more, but when everyone speaks English, it is hard to rely on Thai. I of course can not leave out something on the Thai food. I think I have tried every single Thai dish in Southern Thailand. The tastes are out of this world and leave you wanting more and more. I only ate Western food about 10 times. My favorites so far have been massaman curry, red thai curry, tom yum, sweet chili basil, pananeng curry, pad thai, fried yellow noodles, and pretty much anything. I generally have to ask for it "pet pet" (meaning spicy, spicy) because they tend to dull the dishes down for the farangs. I have built up quite a spicy threshold to say the least. These dishes are almost always served with rice and eaten with a spoon, not a fork. This is a reminder that if you go to a Thai restaurant, eat with the spoon and use the fork as we use the knife, shoveling food on to your spoon. People mainly get around by walking, but quite a few people have motorbikes. They are more like scooters actually. It is quite a dangerous activity though because the roads are so bad. Sand and potholes plague the road, waiting for farangs on vacation to shoot past. Anytime you see someone with a bandage or wound, you know exactly what happened. I can't lie though, I was in a little one. While all I got was a scratch on my foot, getting into the water everyday did not allow it to heal quickly. Going down to 30 meters with 4 atms of pressure on me proved disastrous for waterproof bandages so it took quite a while to heal. I learned my lesson though and barely rode on them after. I could keep going on and on for ages about the wonderful island of Koh Tao, but what would we talk about when I get home? Thus, this will have to do for now. In case you are wondering where I am now, I am currently headed to Laos for a couple of weeks with a guy I did my divemaster with. He is a very energetic guy from Bristol, England who I get along great with. I had to change my flight out of Bangkok so my itinerary I put up is not accurate right now. I will be leaving out of Bangkok on the 28th of May and will hopefully have some more updates for you by then. Till that time...