Travel to Live. Live to Travel

Chick on a stick...not actually very tasty.

While in the Philippines, my cousins and uncles have been trying endlessly to gross out Hugh with “exotic” Filipino food. I think this is a pretty common practice around the world, where rather than be embarassed about some local delicacies, most people consider Americans (and its usually Americans who are so grossed out by foreign delicacies) to just have boring diets. And honestly–with our health, who are we to be grossed out by what people eat? I’ve come to consider the giant bowls of fat they serve at restaurants back home to be pretty foul.

However, Hugh’s a pretty adventurous eater so he always ends up grossing people out in their attempts. In Japan we/he sampled such delicacies as: bees, sake with a dead snake coiled in it, raw horse meat, not to mention many of the more normal things like seaweeds and shellfish that some people would find repulsive. In Laos, we tried silkworms and water buffalo. I’ve had turtle-shell jelly in China and Taco Bell in America. It isn’t about trying to gross each other out, or be adventurous or anything. There are certain things we won’t do–I won’t eat anything killed before my eyes (like the snakes and their beating hearts in Vietnam) which are often done just to be grotesque for tourists and not because the majority of the population eats it. But we figure that if people in a culture eat this sort of food, then it’s certainly worth trying. At worst, just don’t eat it again. It PROBABLY won’t kill you. We rolled our eyes at tourists in Laos who would go on and on about how horrible it was that Laotians ate certain things (civet cats, random wildlife, birds), never realizing that certainly certain groups of people think the Western diet of beef is possibly horrible, or that Laotians are poor and hunting game in the forest isn’t about sport, but about survival.

Food is all very cultural anyways. I never grew up on fancy cheese (many Asians don’t) and as a result, I often find the cheeses that my European friends love smell and taste like vomit, or worse. I mean really, do you know WHY blue cheese has blue flecks in it? My point is–blood pudding or dog meat or whatever. Food is food.

Saddam Hussein pizza?!

In the Philippines there are delicacies such as dinaguan, a stew made of pigs’ blood, which isn’t really that strange to some cultures who eat blood puddings or marrow, but most infamous with non-Filipinos is balut, which is chicken embryo.

Somehow though, Hugh managed to finally put my family’s taunts to rest when he ate a day-old chick which are served whole on a stick and meant to be eaten as such–bones, innards, head, feet and all. My uncle who will eat balut seemed positively disgusted by the fact we ate it, though you could joke and call it overripe balut. My cousin Jean made him do it and he heroically did so, announcing “tastes yolky!” as he did so.

Bad photo, but you can see Hugh jumping, someone running for their life, a car being showered by sparks, and just how close we were to third degree burns ;p

After the wedding, we went with my cousins to Baguio, a mountain-top city which serves as a summer retreat for Manilans. I was told that it was very rural and provincial, but I guess after backpacking through rural Laos I had a completely different idea of what that would be. While it was certainly quite pretty in some parts, I was a bit disappointed to see how developed and urban it was. Most of the hills were covered with houses, developments, and/or shacks and a lot of the tourist areas had tribal people standing out in front of them trying to get tourists to dress up in traditional clothing for 30 cents. After seeing how tourism and hilltribes can successfully work hand-in-hand, it was a bit disappointing to see the more exploitative and sad side of it close up and more personal.

New Years was a mix of both kind of dull and fun, but the countdown was fun. We went outside and from the hill we were on we could see fireworks exploding all around us. Actually, all week we heard fireworks randomly exploding which was really pretty jarring since no one really likes hearing explosions in the middle of the night. The highlight of New Years was definitely seeing my life move in slow motion as fireworks exploded a couple of yards away from us. =P Good old Filipino safety standards

Ceremony in a lovely old church

We officially arrived in the Philippines on the 26th, worn-out and suffering from food poisoning (well, me at least.) However, after a few days of rest we were able to attend my cousin’s wedding. Although I’m ethnically Filipino, I was born and raised in the United States and had only attended one Filipino wedding prior to this one (and that one was sort of a blend of traditions since it was of a Filipina-American friend.)

The church ceremony was Catholic, but with so much pomp and circumstance that I’m surprised more people in America haven’t taken some of the traditions. First there were the dozen sponsors for the bridal party, then there were all the offerings. It wasn’t just wedding rings being brought up by a young boy, but also a bible. I had to fill in for a sick cousin, my role? I was to place a cord/giant rosary over the couple to symbolize them being joined together, but that was already after a veil was placed over them. Despite the ceremony, the church was surprisingly loud and chipper–some weddings I’ve attended have almost felt like funerals since they were so quiet, solemn, and often filled with crying people. Instead there were children running around, people gossiping to themselves, the doors and windows thrown wide open to keep the church from being stifling.

Men dressed in barong tagalog--a traditional formal dress shirt made of pineapple fiber

After the church ceremony, the reception was held at the Peninsula Hotel Manila where there was live music, professional dancers to keep the party moving, and a very international buffet with prime rib and other things like that. What was most amazing was the cost: a wedding in an centuries old church, a reception in a 5 star hotel, live band, custom made dress, 5 tier cake, and 500 guests cost approximately 1/10th of what it would cost in America. My family joked, “have the wedding here, just fly everyone over and you’ve still saved money!” What’s sad about that is that it’s completely true. :/

I love Bangkok. I know a lot of tourists dislike it, and I often heard people on the tourist trail exchanging stories and saying how much they disliked it–but I think if people would take the time to step out of Khao San (the backpacker ghetto) or Patpong (the girlie show ghetto) then they might find a really vibrant city full of entertainment options, extremely good value accomodation, high quality food from all over the world, and excellent shopping.

For Christmas Eve, I met up with a Thai friend of mine who I met in Japan. She took us down to a local street food market full of delicious food that of course, isn’t listed in any guidebooks. We sat on the street and they ordered a massive feast of food, that of course is actually authentically flavored since its made for Thais. I think pretty much every meal in a foreign country is vastly improved by having a local do the ordering.

As strange as some people may find it, we were excited to be in Bangkok and to be wandering the streets and shopping and just enjoying city life. Our next stop is the Philippines for a month, but seeing as we will be with family I think this may be the end of our “backpacking” trip. In fact, Hugh and I splurged on a suitcase and are far too excited to be filling it with stuff. Amazingly, after 5 months we bought very, very few things on the road so its kind of hard to break that habit. Not that I want to. A little less materialism never hurt anyone.

Anyways, the dinner was pretty untraditional as far as Christmas Eve goes, but I was still really happy to be in a big bright city with good food and good company.

Four Phrases that Describe It… Crowded. Touristy. Dirty. Bangkok-On-The-Beach.

The last place we stayed in Phuket was Patong Beach, pretty much the tourist epicenter of Phuket and dear lord does it show. While there’s lots more shops and restaurants to choose from, there’s very little charm. The beach was incredibly crowded and the water quality was pretty poor (compared to the beaches just a few kilometeres away).

The main tourist entertainment strip is along Bangla Rd., which is often compared to Patpong in Bangkok–girlie shows, bars, prostitutes. I suppose some people would find it to be a den of sin and disgusting (read reviews on tripadvisor and you’ll see plenty of people bothered by it), but I thought it was pretty tame and silly. Then again, I’ve never really been bothered by girlie shows or transvestites.

Without a doubt, if you like the party scene then Patong is a pretty good place to stay… but personally, if we ever go back, I’d stay at a nearby beach and just rent a car (screw tuk-tuks!) up to Patong.

One of the more fun/frustrating things about traveling in SE Asia is the need to haggle for things like transportation. There’s always rumors about the so-called “Tuk-Tuk Mafia” that supposedly do everything from price fixing to making sure tourists can’t rent motorcycles, but those have always been brushed off as rumors by locals. However, here in Phuket it has been confirmed to us by a local who offered to take us to our destination, as long as we promised to make the transaction seem as non-taxi-like as possible or else he’d face the wrath of this mafia. We paid by slipping money in the a cupholder, and we waved him off like he was a friend showing us around the island. In a country with so many unlicensed cabs, it was a bizarre experience.

Tuk-tuks are the predominant form of tourist transportation in Thailand. They vary in form depending on the country, but here they’re more or less golf-carts on steroids. You tell your driver your destination, he gives you a price, you offer a counter-price, and then settle wherever it makes you happy. You accept that you’ll probably never get the Thai-price, but you are satisfied with something 10%-50% higher (NOT 2x-5x higher).

Except of course here in Phuket. A 2 mile journey costs more than a New York City cab ride, and hey–at least in a cab you get to be fully enclosed and have a pretty decent chance of survival in the unfortunate case of an accident. I am simply baffled at the $25 charge for a 5-mile journey up the island. This would be crazy in America, but this is absolutely ridiculous in Thailand where you can take a bus 300 miles to Chiang Mai for the same price. BTW, I’m not advocating being a jerk and haggling over everything. But there’s a difference between being overcharged 10cents or even a dollar, than being overcharged $15.

The problem is multi-fold and obviously the local government has a lot to answer for, but since I can do pretty much nothing about that, I’ll blame the people I have a smidgen of a chance of influencing. That would be us, the tourists and travelers. Now, I understand how it is–you walk out of your resort, a tuk-tuk driver tells you it costs $10 to go up the beach. You figure that’s not so bad, and besides–you don’t like haggling and you don’t really want to bother. But here’s the rub: everyone I’ve met in Thailand complains about scams and crazy prices–but it didn’t get this way because Thai people are thieving jerks, it got this way because someone just throws money around and doesn’t care if he’s getting scammed (or he does but just whines about it later.) So don’t be the cause of it! If someone’s quoting you a price more than London or New York, you laugh and walk away. 9 out of 10 the driver will chase you and discount his price. You don’t even have to walk away, just standing there often brings you a discount or the very tricky, “What price do YOU want?” This is Thailand, there isn’t even a meter!

You never to tell a tuk-tuk (or anything without a meter) that you are going to an expensive hotel, even if you are. Tell them you’re going to a nearby cheap hostel and your price suddenly drops. Once we got pretty mad at a shared-truck driver for charging us 5x the local price to our destination, he got pretty embarassed and then admitted to us he only did it because we told him we were going somewhere expensive, therefore, would pay it. On many other occasions, after asking the driver for his price, he went, “uhhh….” and looked us up and down before pulling a number out of the air. We’ve caught people changing their prices mid-haggle because they deemed us dumber/smarter than they originally thought.

Furthermore, we were told by a local that this group of drivers has not only fixed prices to an insane level, but they’ve also set up these signs to make themselves look official. The prices, for what it’s worth, is not based on distance–it’s based on a mix of where you want to go, where you are leaving from, and how much competition there is. We found that the most expensive place to get a tuk-tuk was, surprise surprise, around the resort hotels. One driver had the nerve to ask for about $45 for a 20 minute trip–more than the cost of the airport which was 60 minutes away.  But this is where I blame tourists…where on earth did that number come from? There must have been someone out there who thought that price was reasonable. =P

But hell, if some sucker/lazy holidaymaker is willing to pay 10x the local price for something, why not?  But let’s remember, just because you don’t want to deal with haggling on your once-a-year vacation doesn’t mean life ends here once you’ve left. You accept a stupidly inflated price and all that does is make it worse and worse for everyone other tourist, and yourself when you come back. This has come to a head in Vientiane (Laos) and here in Phuket where the prices are more expensive than anywhere else in Thailand. When you try and tell a driver that his price is 10x the Bangkok price, they say, “But this is Phuket!” Dude, it’s still Thailand.

I’d personally like to know how much money they need to pay the mafia or whatever, because the way the prices are–if they just took 2 or 3 fares then they’d be making more money than I did in Japan. And no matter what the drivers say, it’s STILL Thailand.

Every tourist has to do certain things in Thailand, and I think one of those is to experience their world-famous kathooey (ladyboys, basically transvestites/transsexuals–the Thai’s don’t seem to differentiate, they’re just all kathooey) in some way or another. For some fairly obvious reasons, we decided that the best way to experience it would be to visit a cabaret. So we decided to go to the Simon Cabaret in Patong, which seemed to be the most well-marketed and flashiest one of them all.

I’ve been to one in Pattaya before with my mother (very funny story for many different reasons), but this one was much more grand. It had incredible costumes and set design. One of the sets was a jungle complete with waterfall, another was a giant sphinx with King Tut’s head. The “girls” themselves varied in believability, but for the most part it was pretty good. They sang and danced to songs in multiple languages, but for some reason the vast majority of the songs were Chinese. There was only one song in Thai and it was more of a comedy routine with a very heavyset kathooey and a lanky kathooey who were both pretty obviously men doing embarassing things to the men in the audience.

At one point, Hugh and I both noticed a girl who was just so… Japanese. We couldn’t put our finger on it at first, but there was something about her actions that made her seem just like the idol/models on Japanese variety shows. She was very pretty and had this doe-eyed look on her face. Even the way she clapped her hands freaked us out. We could have brought her to Japan and everyone would have just assumed she was some sort of magazine model.

After the show I realized what it was, it wasn’t her looks necessarily since other girls were just as pretty and “Japanese-looking” (it’s a pretty trendy way of dressing/styling oneself here), but it was the excessive expression of “femininity.” Kathooey (the good ones) are believable not just because of their looks, but because they have mastered the “act” of being a woman. On Japanese TV you see an endless parade of models doing “acts” of what is considered feminine in Japan: a mix of being helpless, childlike, demure, and often dumb (or at least extremely naive), but always beautiful. They don’t just say things that convey these ideas, but it’s in the smallest detail of how you sit, how you clap your hands, etc. After three years living in Japan, I found myself picking up some of these Japanese femininity cues.

It made me realize how absolutely important certain actions and gestures are to seeming masculine or feminine and makes me wonder how much of what we consider beautiful is based on these things as well. We saw plenty of kathooey on the streets who were physically pretty, but somehow didn’t cut it as beautiful. It’s interesting how the extra gestures can increase a woman’s beauty.

There’s no pictures in this entry because I wasn’t willing to pay a $6 tip per girl for a photo. =P And trust me, the minute you try and take a photo that’s when 10 of them jump in with you. I saw a poor guy shell out about $60 just because he wanted a keepsake, when he tried to protest they got pretty aggressive. Not super lady-like, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do…

As we sat watching the sunset, a woman asked if we wanted to buy a balloon for good luck...

I had seen these balloons up north before and jumped at the chance. Besides, we could all use some good luck.

As the balloon floated by, tourists stopped drinking and playing soccer to watch it rise into the clouds...

A little kid even started clapping...

We watched it float into a tiny black dot in the sky...

Best 100baht I've ever spent =)

We first saw these balloons last year during our visit in Chiang Mai. If you’re interested, this blog had photos with literally thousands of hot air balloons being sent off during a festival. The photos are night photos–the balloon is fun during the sunset, but it’s absolutely magical at night.

Four Phrases To Describe It…. Scandanavian. Pretty. Overpriced. Quiet

Karon Beach. Busy yet pretty quiet

Our first destination on Phuket is Karon beach, located midway down the island on the west-coast. While it’s not as built-up as other places in Phuket, it certainly doesn’t feel desolate. Instead, I think it lacks a lot of charm. See, when you go to a place like Patong, when you know it’s going to be all nightclubs and bars and tourist crap, well you expect it to lack charm. However, it usually makes up for that in excitement, nightlife, and pleothera of activities. Waikiki is still nice despite being a commercial hellhole, and so is Cancun. Karon, unfortunately, touristy without much to do (besides girlie bars). However, the beach is very pretty with squeaky golden sand and clear water. During low tide, the water gets too shallow to really swim, but it’s nice to just sit in and enjoy the sunset. Despite the fact the beach is quite crowded, it’s full of middle-aged Europeans who are generally quieter than your typical spring break/gap year crowd so it can be pretty relaxing. There’s also not that many touts on the beach and they generally leave you alone if you want to be left alone, though we find it pretty comical that none of the food stalls have prices on the menus. Judging from overhearing what they charge you, the bigger a dumb tourist you seem (or the richer), the more they try and charge you. Lesson learned: look like a poor backpacker.

One of three Asians seen on Karon beach today =P

Something that was a bit weird was seeing all the topless middle-aged (obese) women. Now, I have nothing against topless sunbathing–I’m no prudish American, and I’ve done it before and thought it was liberating (nevermind the fact I lived in Japan where naked bathing with your friends (female) is matter-of-course.) However, countless literature, travel guides, pleas from everywhere urge people to respect Thailand’s culture and NOT do it here. Yet seeing people flagerantly ignore is kind of sad. We are very, “in Rome, do as the Romans do.” But I guess there’s always people who will do whatever the hell they want no matter where they go.

One last thing–this place is absolutely devoid of Thai tourists, hell, it’s devoid of any non-Caucasian European tourists. This isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing, but I have always loved and sought out diversity. Also, I personally think it a bit odd to be in a foreign country, yet the only locals are people you see are the ones serving you pineapple or trying to sell you sunglasses. Yes, I know most tourist beaches around the world work this way–lucky for me, I know a few beaches where locals and foreigners mix pretty evenly. =P This is not one of them, but it’s still beautiful and a nice place worth visiting.

And we’ve basically done nothing. In Chiang Rai, we stayed in a really nice little guest house where we gorged ourselves on their delicious “Mini-American Breakfasts.” We visited a few museums, we stopped by the King’s birthday party, but we mostly just sat around and played computer games and read books. Laos (or at least the slow-boat) turned out to be much more tiring than we expected.

We then moved on to Chiang Mai where we are staying at a guest house which I can best describe as “serves the purpose.” We pondered going to Myanmar/Burma, but with the ethical and moral concerns (look it up on wikipedia if you don’t know about the tourism boycott) we decided that if we were going to go, then we needed more time to research to ensure that as little of our money is going to the ruling junta as possible. So instead, we’ve decided to fly down to Thailand’s renowned islands. I’ve never been, so I’m pretty excited. We have tickets to Phuket, but we may island hop elsewhere. We also figured, if we are gunna lie around all day, we might as well do it on a beach. Am I right, or am I right?

While in South East Asia, many people want to visit ethnic minority hill-tribe villages. This is understandable as I think many travelers want a taste of the exotic and the hint of adventure that visiting remote villages can have. On the other hand, if you aren’t careful about how you choose your tour you could end up like the thousands of people who end up jaded by the experience, both tourists and villagers alike.

One of the most important things is to choose a tour group that is reputable and ethical. Any sort of contact with tourists changes a village, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Tribes are allowed to develop and change, just like our societies do. This also means some people may have romantic notions of people living in huts and wearing traditional outfits all the time, the reality is, like the many other groups of people, jeans and t-shirts are more comfortable, and easier to acquire.

There’s good development and bad development. Some tour groups basically just dump a busload of tourists into a village. The village gets no money from these tours, so they basically have to beg or sell junk to the tourists who come. You know you’re on a tour like this if you come in on a bus and then have a thousand people try and sell you trinkets. There are a few companies, especially in Laos, where the actual tribes either run the village visits or get money or community development assistance. These are probably the most “authentic” experiences you can have, though no experience is really going to be authentic on a tour group. That’s just how it is, but not everything can be “authentic” anyways. What does that word even mean?

Tourism dollars can be a great help to tribes, but can also be exploitative. Take for example, the case of the Long-Necked Karen women in northern Thailand. Historically speaking, these tribes did not exist in Thailand. They’re actually refugees from Burma who basically live in a village built solely for tourism purposes. They are not considered Thai citizens and have few real options to leave. If they don’t wear the neck rings, they don’t get money. Their village is basically a human zoo for people who’re curious about them. There’s nothing wrong with this curiousity, but people should know the situation. If you really want to see them, go to Myanmar. More details about this group can be read about it here and all over the internet.

Before you trek or board a tour bus, try and make an effort to learn a bit about the culture you want to visit. There’s excellent museums in Chiang Rai, Thailand and in Luang Prabang, Laos. At least that way, authentic or not, you did more than just snap a photo at someone.

To put it simply, Laos was amazing. While it doesn’t have the bustle of many neighboring countries, it also doesn’t have the hustle.

Here’s a smattering of our memories of Laos now that I finally have the internet to upload the backlog of photos:

Crossing rickety bridges is fun. Lying in a hut and watching other people do it is more fun.

Spending 6 hours in a hut relaxing

Delicious food stalls with friendly vendors everywhere you go

Roads in Laos mean a 15 mile journey can take 2 hours...

Many people are able to do back-breaking labor while joking with each other and smiling at passersby

Local buses. Just as slow as a VIP bus, but more fun. "Natural AC" is awesome too!

Beautiful scenery and little villages everywhere you go

Main worry of the day: fruit falling on your head

Buying from friendly people who don't do hard-selling (this photo was not staged--the vendor actually smiled!)

The many creative uses for the thousands of spent missiles and the like

Luang Prabang, the second largest city in Laos, would be a blip on most other countries' maps

Young boys who would normally be out making mayhem are instead living monastic lives.

You meet children with very few toys or playthings--but they don't seem to care that much. Wheelbarrow with your dad beats mostly battery-operated junk anyways.

The town supermarket

If you want to see more, there’s probably several hundred photos you can look at here: http://www.flickr.com/himene/

The shrimp burns! AHH!

As soon as we crossed the Thai border it was so strange, it was…so obviously Thailand. All of a sudden, the roads were nicer, everyone owned a new car (actually, the fact we even saw cars was unusual), there were powerlines in the sky, advertisements, billboards, internet on every corner. It’s so odd that crossing a river can seem like entering another world.

The travel group we created all headed to the bus station: we all had different destinations in mind, half were off to Chiang Mai and the other to Chiang Rai. Yet at the last minute, all 6 of us ended up going to Chiang Rai. But not before a couple of people (Hugh included) raced out to the 7-11 to buy giant Coca-Cola slurpees. Mock us if you must, tell us we’re not hardcore travelers–we don’t care, it was delicious. =P

The sky smiles down on us. People all over where pointing and laughing at the unusual sight on Dec 1

As luck would have it, the guesthouse we had previously chosen had enough room for the 4 of us who remained in Chiang Rai (me, Hugh, Midori, and Jaja.) Later we had dinner at the Chiang Rai nightmarket–we all each bought a dish to share and in the end it added up to about $2 each. And we ate very well. It just seemed like we were being rewarded for our travels that we did without whining or getting mad at each other. Even the sky seemed to be laughing with us.

Our plans now are in flux as we didn’t really intend on having to be in Thailand for so long, but more and more a small trip to Myanmar is sounding very intriguing….

Just a selection of photos taken off a speeding boat (in most cases), sorry about the blur =P As always, more photos at http://www.flickr.com/himene/ just navigate by sets since I’ve been uploading a huge backlog of Laos photos and the photostream isn’t in chronological order (or any order).

Woman watching from a boat (probably doubles as her home)

There are two ways to go: slowboat or "speedboat" aka canoe with a motor -- note the crash helmet.

A village along the Mekong

Dawn on the Mekong. Very eerie and beautiful. Lots of mist and birds chirping.

A local shop selling and making laolao aka rice whiskey

Last night’s accomodation can be best described, at best as “basic” at worst as “dismal.” As we unloaded off the boat, we were bombarded with touts who wanted to bring us to their insanely overpriced guest-houses. The one Hugh and I finally settled on is probably the most basic one we have ever stayed at, thus giving us a new thresh-hold of pain we can withstand: the bed was rock-hard, though it did kindly have a mosquito net rigged up above it. The toilet, though western-style, had to be flushed by pouring water down it. The hot shower was down the hall.

None of this would have really been bad except for the fact the rooms were basically jerry-rigged out of pieces of corrugated steel. We could hear conversations happening clearly in rooms all around us and the room was freezing. The power went out at 9pm, but that didn’t matter as Hugh and I were already shivering ourselves to sleep while fully dressed. On the positive side: Mama Souk who ran the place was a very industrious, energetic, hilarious woman. (ie: we were trying in vain to get her to pronounce Hugh’s name, which is notoriously difficult for Asians to pronounce. She kept saying “Cue, cue!” so finally I said, “No, Hugh–you know, like the actor? Hugh Grant?” and she gave me this huge cheeky grin and knowingly said, “yeah yeah, Cue Gran!” Okay, Cue it is.) How she managed to not only sell us the rooms but also lunch in the morning is a testament to this woman’s business skill.

Boys bathing before dinner in a village by the Mekong

The next morning, the boat journey continued on a decidedly crappier boat. Instead of the nice leather seats we had yesterday, we were treated to poorly constructed wooden benches. It really wouldn’t have been so bad except for the fact we had to listen to a couple travelers whining on the boat for hours on end. One guy, we’ll call “Eric” was pissed off that a bottle of beer cost 20,000 kip on the boat instead of 10,000. He refused to pay the bill, but also refused to stop whining about it for 4 hours straight. Christ man, just buy the damn beer. I really don’t understand the attitude of people who travel solely for the cheap beer.

I should add that 10,000 kip is about $1.25, so he was angry about having to pay $2.50 for a giant bottle. The whining finally stopped, but naturally, we had to pass a small wooden boat laden with Beerlao bottles so the bitching started all over again. At one point he also commented, “Man, this boat is too touristy.” But he must have been ignoring the dozen or so locals and their cargo. He also whined when we stopped to drop off those locals. Also, new roads being built mean anyone who can take a road will take a road–the locals lived in village with no road access. Without tourism, the once bustling river traffic would disappear. It’s give and take.

New friends eating a well-deserved feast

We finally arrived in Huay Xai, however, it was too late to cross into Thailand. The 5 of us (now 6–we picked up a Chinese girl named Jaja) were a bit disheartened, until we were approached by a woman offering us rooms in her guesthouse. The price was 200baht (about $6)–the same as last night, but we were offered warm rooms, GLASS in the windows, hot showers in the rooms, and amazingly, television. It was amusing watching how fast our spirits were raised by little things such as glass and sealed rooms. After settling in, we set out and had a bit of a Thai/Lao feast and really great conversation. See, bad mornings don’t always turn into bad days. =)

Not our boat, but looked just like it

Although we would have loved to stay in Laos for longer, we decided it was time for us to leave. Without a doubt we’ll return (especially to visit southern Laos), but for now the Luang Prabang tourist prices, fairly depressing food options, and desire for modern conveniences meant that Hugh and I have decided to leave.

Since I couldn’t do a Yantze river cruise, or go to Halong Bay in Vietnam, we decided to take the slow boat up the Mekong to the Thai border. It proved to be easy enough–we just showed up at the boat terminal (er, that’s a pretty big word for what it actually was) and were shown to an aquamarine, wooden boat. We were warned the boat would have wooden seats and would be really crowded, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. We had lots of room and the seats were leather recliners.

Kindly taken by a fellow traveler. Note the cold-weather clothing.

While floating along, we struck up conversations with several people on the boat. Midori, a Brazilian-born Japanese girl (now living in Japan) and traveling alone; Marie, a French girl who had been to Laos before and was doing volunteer work; and Kris, a Canadian nurse, who on her travels had climbed Everest base camp amongst other things. The conversation helped the time fly as all three were very interesting, talkative people who actually had things to say beyond the typical backpacker conversations about cheap beer. During lulls in conversation, we watched river life.

We passed many ethnic minority villages where we saw women in colorful head-wraps doing work along the riverbanks, we passed villages so remote that the only access they have is by boat, we saw people bathing in the freezing Mekong before dinner (they bathe dressed in a sarong). We stopped several times to drop off people and their cargo–one woman was bringing empty rice sacks to fill, another man was carrying around nothing but a boat rudder (did he have to go all the way to Luang Prabang for that?), while two women had crates of energy drinks, clothing, and other random stuff–presumably for their shop. When travelers whine about having to pay $2 in Laos for something, I don’t think they realize that it’s because often it had to be imported into Laos from Thailand, and then carried by young girls on boats to a village.

Oh, right, did we mention that it’s cold? In Luang Prabang it was hitting 40 degrees (around 10 C), and that didn’t really make a boat ride enjoyable what with the wind and Mekong spray wetting your face and ears. If we finish this trip without pneumonia, I’ll be shocked (and very pleased to be wrong.)

Anyways, we arrived in Pakbeng just before dark. Pakbeng is a remote little village that would be fairly unremarkable, and probably a cute little town, if it wasn’t flooded with tourists every night. Unfortunately, this has meant that entrepreneurs have turned everything they can into guesthouses (more on that tomorrow.) We checked into one place and we and the 3 girls we met all decided to have dinner together. It was tasty and the conversation was good, so despite Pakbeng being a dreary little town it wasn’t a bad night.

Lao women giving their offerings to young Buddhist monks and novices

From the age of 12, boys can become novices and live in a wat (monastery). While a full-fledged monk has 200 or so precepts (rules) they have to abide by, novices only have 8. Nonetheless, it’s a strict lifestyle–no games, no running around and jumping (specifically, no jumping), very few possessions, and possibly the most difficult to me–no food after 12 noon. Every morning, the monks wake up at 4am for chanting (and in process, wake up the entire neighborhood) and then do an alms round where they take their bowls and walk the streets accepting food and other offerings from people. In Luang Prabang, the procession is quite beautiful with hundreds of monks filling the streets (though watching dumb tourists get in their way and shove cameras in the monks’ faces is pretty meh).

A procession of monks and people (tourists) giving offerings, a woman selling overpriced rice to tourists watches on

It’s fun seeing these young boys trying to behave, but we’ve caught more than a few being “naughty.” We saw one boy with a cellphone, when he saw us looking at him, he guiltily put it away. Another time, while climbing a hill, we saw two boys hiding behind a statue speaking in hushed voices, I can only guess that the illicit conversation was about video games or girls. Hugh noted, “I look at them and I see my baseball team, you know shaved heads and everything…” (referring the baseball club boys in Japan.) While many young novices surely want to become monks, many are orphans, or want to go to school, or are sent there by their parents and don’t want to be there. Infractions like having a fruit shake in a nightmarket can be punished by beatings or being expelled from the wat. During our time in Laos, we’ve met many young men who were once novices, but decided to be normal men when they turned 20 (which is when a novice must decide.) I look at these young boys and then think back to the ones I was just teaching in Japan and I see this huge gap in personality and dedication, but then I see these monks watching kids play games enviously or peeping at girls through a fence and I’m reminded that in the end, boys will be boys.

Lemongrass, galangal, spicy wood, and many other things make up the base flavors of Lao food

Hey foodies! This post and photos are for you! In Luang Prabang, we decided to check out the cooking class by Tamarind (a restaurant) which was highly regarded (and turned out to be good).

The class started out with a market tour led by our Lao teacher, Jack. He pointed out various herbs, meats, and sauces used by Laotians (insert whinging by an annoying old Australian couple here about the cleanliness of the market and how awful it is to eat certain meats, waaaah). After that, we were taken to the riverside kitchen to cook.

Something I noticed before is that in Lao, most cooking is down over hot coals. Most people don’t have electricity at home and therefore, no stoves or ovens (remember, electricity only really came to Lao 15 years ago). Cooking is primarily done by grilling, stewing, or steaming. This is also one of the poorest, most isolated countries on earth so, traditionally, food is also very simple. The ingredient list might be quite long, but it’s all stuff that can be picked in your garden (or foraged from the forest/riverbank.)

Steaming sticky rice over coals, the Lao way of cooking

Another important point in Lao cuisine is the fact they use sticky rice to eat. They pull rice out of the steamer, then ball it up into their hands and dip it into different food. Therefore, Lao food tends not to be as soupy/creamy/oily as Thai food. Lao food tastes more “herby,” and what we discovered was that it was flavor overload for basically everyone.

On the menu were several dishes. Orlahm, is a traditional stew in Luang Prabang made with buffalo meat and basically every herb you can think of in huge quantities. It also contained something they call spicy wood, which is…wood. It was pretty weird eating wood, the outside is super bitter and spicy while the inside tastes like peppery chicken. It also makes your mouth feel like you’ve been injected with novacaine. I don’t feel any guilt in saying I’d never eat it again.

Hugh models a wonderfully marinated tilapia

We also made a delicious steamed Tilapia in banana leaves. Once again, the marinade was made up of every herb in existence. But it was really, really nice. A few little alterations and I could definitely add this to my dinner repetoire (the authentic way is a little too flavor country for me.)

Next was the technically difficult to make, stuffed lemongrass. How do you stuff lemongrass, you ask? Well. It was hard. But the results were delicious. Ingredients were minced chicken, lemongrass, every herb in existence (okay, okay–Lao basil, coriander, kaffir lime…oh geez, I don’t know.)

We also made our own spicy Lao dip and laap (a meat salad–I made mine with water buffalo meat). Hugh indulged in the fried worms/catepillars that were offered as a snack. I declined. Nonetheless, I knocked back a shot of lao-lao (aka moonshine) mixed with honey and orange. It still didn’t provide me the courage to eat the grubs though.

All in all, a very good use of the day. You know how they say the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach? I always thought that saying had real meaning beyond men being really hungry. =P I believe food is a great way to understand someone, and a culture. Thailand knew this when they sent chefs all over the world to open up Thai restaurants: get people to love your food, and they will love your country (or at least they’ll be up for a visit.)

Grilling stuffed lemongrass while orlahm bubbles on the "stove"

Voila! Stuffed lemongrass and steamed tilapia

We went trekking yesterday through Luang Prabang province, here is a bunch of photos…and text.

Hugh feeding our elephant some sugar cane

For the first part of our trek, we went to an elephant park that uses tourism dollars to try and save elephants from a hard life of logging (which I saw in Cambodia) or being poached. Letting humans ride on your back for an hour and then feed you treats is a much nicer job than dragging/shoving logs around. After our ride, we got to feed our elephant various treats. Ours really seemed to like sugar cane…

Our guide, Bunsai, and Hugh on our way to Houfy village

After the riding, we began our trek to a Khmu village in the hills. It was a relatively easy trek, but considering the heat and having to walk up and down a mountain it was still a bit rough. Our guide, Bunsai, pointed out the new rubber trees that Lao villages are growing to try and make more money, as well as various wild vegetables and grains. It was a really relaxing walk with only birds and buzzing insect sounds to listen to. Along the way, we saw villagers picking wood and forest goods and the sort…

A typical Lao meal: veggies, a main, and sticky rice

When we arrived at the village, we were taken to a special building they use for tourists. Houfy village is extremely poor, but they have lots of rice so they’re not hungry. Eco-tourism helps the village raise funds, and they’re careful not to bring too many tourists in. It was a little weird and felt a bit voyeuristic, but no one was putting on a show for us, and for the large part people completely ignored us (except for the children, but that’s children.)

Villagers building a new hut

While walking around the village, Hugh noted that many of the people (especially women) seemed far more interested in me than they were in him (a white guy). We wondered if it was because they looked at me and saw someone who looked like themselves, but was clearly living a vastly different life. I’m sure a lot of it was just general curiousity. What nationality or ethnicity was I? Why was I with a white guy anyways? Why am I wearing a tacky tourist t-shirt and exposing my arms to the sun?

Children doing hard labor

One of the most interesting things on our trek was seeing the children. We saw plenty of children laughing and playing, and many adorable children who seemed to take so much pleasure in just waving to us and shouting “sabaidee!!” We also saw children hard at work. On our way out of the village, we passed three small children under the age of 10 carrying bundles of wood. They had roped tied around the bundles and then wrapped around their foreheads, so the load was mostly bore on their heads. Our guide joked that the Khmu people had stong heads, but the Lao people had strong backs. He wondered if their necks get shorter from carrying things like that. I wondered if I could have carried the load right then and there (probably not.)

Elephants walking through Tad Sae waterfall

After the village, we trekked to Tad Sae waterfall, passing some smaller villages and elephant tracks along the way. When we reached Tad Sae, it was like entering some magical video game wonderland. The waterfall poured into aqua blue lagoons which poured into more. It was like infinity pool flowing into more infinity pools. The water was freezing, but clear and refreshing. It was definitely an excellent way to treat ourselves after walking for hours.

Best. Waterfall. Evar.