The Jungle Book: April 2010

Friday, April 30, 2010

April 27-30, Luang Prabang, LAOS

We took a bus to the border…which wasn’t so bad considering what was to come. We were pretty excited because instead of buying a package deal through some travel agency, we bought all our tickets and made our way to Laos on our own, saving about 600B. Once we got to the border we hopped on a boat across the (not so mighty right now) Mekong River. The ride from the border to Luang Prabang was not so great, to say the least. What we expected to be a 10 hour bus ride through the night, turned out to be 17.5 hrs through the mountains and jungles ofLaos. Aside from the terrain that made the trip longer than expected, the driver had to continuously stop the bus and water down the breaks that were overheating. The roads were also in pretty poor condition, turning from pavement to dirt/gravel the entire time. It was pretty miserable, and to top it off, the driver blasted his Laos pop music the entire trip.

Luang Prabang was definitely one of the best destinations at the end of a busride from hell. The town is beautiful, with brick side walks, quaint little villas along the river, and a huge hilltop wat in the center (that has a large footprint of Buddah). Because of the French influence, there is also some great food including roadside crepe stands and fresh baguette sandwiches.

The second day here we took a Tuk-Tuk out to the Kuang Si waterfalls, approximately 35km from Luang Prabang. We both agree that Kuang Si is one of the most beautiful places either of us has been to in the world. The water is a spectacular turquoise with about a 100 ft. main water fall and numerous natural pools that we swam in, each surrounded by countless bamboo trees. One pool had a rope swing that we went on a few times. It’s not easy to describe a place as amazing as this in words, so check out the photos. But hands down, this was one of the best places we’ve been to during our SE Asia travels.

Unfortunately, the night took a turn for the worst as both of us caught a horrible case of Buddha’s revenge.

The Mekong River

Monks throughout Luang Prabang

Our street in Luang Prabang

Delicious Baguette

Delicious Crepe

Kuang Si Waterfalls

Steph on the rope swing

Pete aka Tarzan

Dog going for a ride

April 20-26, Chiang Mai

Around Town: Chiang Mai is a really fun university town, with lots of young people and expats. We stayed in the old city (sectioned off by an ancient wall and moat) at a nice little hostel for about 100B each. Some highlights included a FANTASTIC Falafel at Jerusalem Falafel, delicious market food, an amazing night bazaar and fun times with people from all over the world.

We also went to the National Museum which was pretty boring, except for the dioramas (I think every asian country includes these in their museums). The Chiang Mai Univeristy Art Museum also had very cool photo exhibits, including one that portrayed Burmese migrant workers crossing the border to work in Thailand.

Trekking: We found a reasonably priced trek that we took with an awesome group of Brits, Koreans, and an Australian. The trek was a two day, one night adventure. On the first day we trekked four hours through the “jungle” to the Long Neck Tribe village where we stayed the night. Under usual circumstances this hike wouldn’t have been too bad, however, Thailand is in the midst of its worst drought in 50 years, plus it was 105 degrees every day. On top of all this, and the last thing you want to breathe during such a hike, some of the surrounding area was on fire. So, it was 105, no water in site, and you were inhaling smoke from smoldering bushes. The Long Neck village was an exciting place to be for a night. Women and girls wore long golden looking braces to extend there necks and there was no electricity in the village. At night we built a bonfire and played drinking games. Surprisingly for where we were, the dinner was really really good. The next day we went elephant riding, bamboo rafting, and (not so white) water rafting.

By Night: The Night Bazaar in Chiang Mai is huge, and is even bigger on Saturday and Sunday. You can buy anything from hand made handicrafts to fake Tiffany’s jewelry. There is also a nice bar scene in Chiang Mai, including great live reggae in “reggae alley” as well as some nice spots near the university. One night we met up with a friend we got to know in Southern Thailand and his local friends. We also hung out with the girls from England that we met on the trek.

Family Ties: Our last night we visited Pete’s cousin, Peter Tate and his wife, Goy who have an amazing house in Chiang Mai. They invited us to dinner with some friends at the best seafood restaurant in Chiang Mai. It was one of the best nights, with great company and stories.

Long Neck Tribe Village

Hiking through the burnt "jungle"

Long Neck tribe performing a traditional dance

Our quarters in the village

"7-11"

Symbiotic trees

Entering the cave

Our trekking group with "stevie"

Steph's makeshift hat

Falafel in Chiang Mai

Wat in Chiang Mai

Steph strolling through the night

bazaar in Chiang Mai

Monday, April 19, 2010

April 19 (Ayutthaya)

We woke up this morning in time to check out of our room by 11 and decided to rent bikes for the day. The bikes cost $1 for the day which is amazing. Ayutthaya is relatively small and fairly easy to ride around so we checked out some more temples. We first went to Wat Maha That (the royal temple and most sacred during the “glorious era)” the Phra Mongkhon Bophit (or the Royal Palace with one of the largest bronze Buddha temples in Thailand at 12.45 meters tall and constructed in 1448, and lastly through the Sri Nakakharin – the local park.

On the way back to where we were staying we stopped at a roadside restaurant for some delicious lunch. For the remainder of the day we relaxed at our hostel until our next 9 hour bus ride to Chiang Mai.

12.45 meter tall Buddha at

Phra Mongkhon Bophit

Wat Maha That

Buddha's face surrounded by roots.

You had to kneel around it to stay lower than

Buddha's head.

April 18 (Ayutthaya)

Sadly we were back on land on the 18^th after an awesome time on the boat to the Similan Islands. The dive shop gave us a ride back to Phuket where we were hoping to catch a bus from there to Chiang Mai (which consists of two 10-12 hour bus rides). The bus station in Phuket was crazy and packed since many people were trying to go back home via bus after the Songkran holiday. After asking around at all the sales windows, every bus for that day was sold out and they would not sell us a ticket for the next day; we would have to come back at 5am the next morning. A nice couple (white man, Thai woman) approached us and asked where we were trying to go. Since she spoke Thai, she asked around too to see if there was anything left for that day, but to no avail. They told us they had been waiting since 11am to catch a bus (it was now 7pm) and that we were pretty much shit out of luck and would have to wait one or two days for the next bus. Fortunately, our luck changed and an extremely nice Thai cop/security guard asked us where we were trying to go. He told us to wait a few minutes and he would go ask bus drivers if they had any room. After a few minutes he waved us around to a bus that was heading to the outskirts of Bangkok where all people going to Chiang Mai transfer buses. We hopped onto a full bus and were led by the driver where we were to sit: one person in a seat upstairs and the other through this tiny door at the back of the bus where the staff sleep at night. Steph gladly took this space and I the seat. After a few minutes, I was instructed to leave the seat and head to the back door where Steph was. Thus, we were both kept as stowaways for this 10 hour bus ride. They told us not to open the curtains or turn on the light so the police couldn’t see that we were there. There wasn’t enough space to stand-up (when I was sitting my head hit the ceiling) but it was the width of the bus which allowed us to lie down and sleep for 8 hours – ideal for the overnight ride.

The next morning when we woke up, we spontaneously decided to take a local bus to Ayutthaya (one hour north of Bangkok) to break up the long bus rides and to visit the old capital of Thailand (1351-1767). Ayutthaya is full of history and spectacular ruins (for more click here). Upon finding a place to stay in Ayutthaya, we also signed up for the boat tour of the city and some of the countless Buddhist temples (known as Wat's) and monuments. The tour was awesome and included stops at Wat Chaiwatthanaram constructed in 1630, Wat Phanan Choeng which houses the 19m bronze statue of Buddah (the largest in Thailand), and Wat Phutthai Sawan that has the reclining Buddha signifying Buddha's moment of enlightenment .

After the tour ended at night we walked over to the night market to have dinner and watch the local Thai dance show (which we didn’t understand any of).

Reclining Buddha at Wat Phutthai Sawan

Wat Phutthai Sawan

Wat Chaiwatthanaran

Steph at Wat Phanan Choeng

19 meter tall buddha at Wat Phanan Choeng

Homes along the river

Steph and I in the Tuk- Tuk (aka Taxi)

Pete eating dinner at the night market.

Big chicken on a stick.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

April 13-17 (Similan Islands)

We arrived at the boat at around 10pm (we were supposed to be there at 6pm), and everyone was tired, so we all turned in early. But diving began bright and early the next morning. We did 4 dives per day, except the final day (14 Total), including 2 night dives and one really nice sunset dive.

Highlights: Since it will be too much to go through each and every dive, I will go through only the major details, although the entire trip, and each dive, was fantastic. Pete and I both completed our “Deep Dive” Adventure Course for the dives in order to dive to 30m. Some of the main species we saw that are typically rare to see were: hundreds of lion fish, moray eels completely out from the holes they live in, ghost pipe fish, schools of chevron barracudas, mating cuttle fish, schools of squid, and thousands of mini, stinging jelly fish.

It was also my first night dives, which were pretty sweet. I wasn’t scared or anything, but the experience was very “sonderbar”. I can only describe it with that german word. It was eerie, yet calming, and made me think of life before birth or after death. Weird.

Pete and I saw our first leopard sharks. We saw one white tip reef, but that was nothing compared to these 4 leopards. They were huge 1.5-2m and we could get pretty close.

Richelieu Rock is rated as one of the top ten dive sites in the world. We did 3 dives here and they were amazing!

AND FINALLY: MANTA SHOW! Our last dive off an island called Koh Bon, three manta rays came along and hung out with us. They swam around, right up to us, and were in an extremely playful mood. It was amazing to be in the presence of such huge, graceful creatures. And they were huge; 3-4 meter wingspan.

Our group was a really fun bunch of people, all ages, and backgrounds. One of the highlights of the trip, excluding all the diving, was a game called Cannage. Pete and I still can’t figure out how, through all our college years, we never played this game. 1. find a group of like-minded, in-the-mood-to-get-crazy group of people and get in a circle. 2. find a beer can. 3. smack the can against your head three times as hard as you can and pass it on to the next maniac. 4. continue going around until can busts a hole 5. once the can is spewing beer everywhere you must drink out of the hole and continue the smacking. 6. once can is completely dented and beer is no longer shooting out in all directions, whoever is left with it must open and chug the rest.

Glorious.