V for Victory - Villanova advances to the Final Four

I am in New Zealand now and I just finished watching the very intense Villanova/Pitt game. What an amazing victory and now we are off to the Final Four!!! Amazing. Thank you boys!
Villanova players celebrate with the trophy after defeating Pittsburgh, 78-76 during a men's NCAA tournament regional championship college basketball game in Boston, Saturday, March 28, 2009. Villanova advances to the Final Four.

"V for Villanova, V for Victory

B for Blue, W for White

For the Blue and White we will fight, fight, fight..."

An Elephant is Faithful, 100%

In Chang Mai, Mary and I decided to do a two day elephant trip. We spent two days with a group of elephants just playing with them, feeding them, training them, and bathing them. It was amazing tosee our elephants and run up to them and give them a hug or just climb up on their backs without hesitation. That was how comfortable we were with them. Spending two full days with them was so special. Elephants are such amazing creatures.

Some fun facts:
- Elephants eat 200kg/day and drink 200kg of water/day
- They are born at 90kg
- Elephants on average live to be 80 yrs old
- Starting at 18 their trunks can hold 6L of water at a time

We spent most of our time with two elephants: Cham Pu (Mary's) and Lucky (mine). We learned how to climb on the elephants with them picking us up on their trunks or with their back legs. They could all do tricks and we learned the commands to direct them on where to walk and what to do. Our favorite part was bathing them in the river. We went into the river on their backs with their mahoot. (A mahoot is someone who stays and trains an elephant from birth and often an elephant will have the same mahoot their entire life.) We would hold onto their ears and they would swing into the water. They would twist from side to side in the water and we had to hold on tight to their huge floppy ears to not get knocked off into the water. Many times we would get totally submerged as the elephant went under. The elephant would suck up water with their trunks and spray us. Even the baby came out to get washed. Bathing them was like a roller coaster ride and it was such a blast!!

I don't know exactly how to describe the elephants treatment at the camp. They did have chains on their legs so they couldn't run away and a set area that they were confined to live in. In Thailand there are no more 'working elephants' (elephants that work to tear down the jungles and trees) so most elephants are used for tourists purposes. Our elephants were also taught tricks for the benefit of tourists. They would bow their heads down when we said hello to them or spinning a hoola hoop on their trunks. But overall they seemed fine, well cared for, and they were clearly well loved by their mahoots and all the staff there.

We spent the night at a 'local' village camp nearby which consisted of other tourists groups that were on 2 or 3 day treks so there was no local aspect to it. We were bunked with some crazy Irish guys that had quite a bit to drink and began speaking in Gaelic as the night went on. Overall, we had a great time with the elephants and they have officially become my favorite animal of all time (outside domestic dogs and cats).

Vientiane, Lao

After our Christmas and New Year's celebrations we made our way to Vientiane via kayak. From Vang Vieng, our crew - Brad, Esther, Neil, Hari, Sarah, and I - hopped into our boats and headed 2 hours south on the Mekong River. Kayaking is not only a lot more exciting than sitting on a bus, but we thought it was only appropriate to get in one more Mekong journey. We had spent a considerable amount of time on the Mekong River during our time in Vietnam and Cambodia and wanted one last trip.

The scenery was beautiful and we stopped along the way to jump off some cliffs and go swimming. We successfully made it through one Class 4 rapid (the water level was quite low for that time of year so it was not as intense/dangerous as it would be when the water level is high) and the daring boys all showed off their adventurous sides by jumping into the water and going through the rapid sans kayaks. Thankfully they all made it through safely, and yes, they were wearing helmets.

Vientiane, the capital city of Lao, is a charming, quiet city with a lot of French influence. There are tons of French bakeries, coffee shops, and restaurants. Several times I even forgot that I was in Lao and felt a bit like I was in Europe, as French is spoken rather frequently. Vientiane is situated on the Mekong River with Thailand on the opposite side.

We spent most of our time in Vientiane relaxing and just taking in the sights. We had to say goodbye to Neil, who headed home to the UK, and to Brad and Esther, who were going back home to Sydney. On our last night together we feasted on delicious French food (at Lao prices) and drank wine on the rooftop of our guesthouse. During our little gathering one of the funniest events of the trip occurred - we were chatting when all of sudden we hear a loud 'POP' and see pieces of plastic flying everywhere. Then I turn and see Neil lying on the ground, the small plastic chair that was made for small Lao people, not muscular Englishmen, exploded from underneath him. And I mean exploded, pieces of the legs of the chair were all over the rooftop. Neil sat on the ground like a trooper while we all laughed hysterically for several minutes, it is an image I will never forget.

We were sad to be leaving Lao, so far it is my favorite country. It is so rich in culture and is just stunningly beautiful, from the 4000 Islands in the south to the mountainous jungles in the north. We encountered so many friendly people who were just as interested in learning about us as we were in learning about them. I will never forget the conversations that we had with some of the locals, Lao will always hold a special place in my heart. While we were sad to be going, we were also extremely excited to be heading to Thailand. It had been built up by so many people that I was anxious to see it for myself...first stop, Changmai.

Bringing in the 2009

"Vang Vieng is a town located in between Luang Prabang and Vientiane in Laos. It was formerly a quaint riverside village that is set amongst picturesque limestone cliffs and filled with caves, waterfalls and lagoons to the hearts content. It is currently still a beautiful natural site, but also home to the world famous tubing activities and has become a must-visit party destination for backpackers throughout Southeast Asia. As you walk down the streets in Vang Vieng, you will hear the cacophony of canned laughter as restaurants are blaring Simpsons, Family Guy and Friends 24 hours a day. The riverfront is littered with bars and open-air clubs, so if you're looking for a place to party with a very backpacker/outdoor vibe, this is the place to be."

We still had quite a big crew with us to bring in the new year: Hari, Mary, Esther, Brad, Cory, and Neal. Our first night there was Brad's birthday which we celebrated on the strip of three main bars (and a bunch of other bars neighboring) is comprised of Bucket Bar, Jaidee's Bar and Smile Bar (playing the world's worst music). We had a great night filled with buckets and everyone was very excited for the coming days ahead. All-in-all, Brad's birthday was celebrated in a proper and drunken style.

"We got up the next morning to partake in the tubing that VV is famous for. We picked up some dry bags and inner tubes and were off on a tuk-tuk up the river for a day of tubing. Tubing is quite literally what it sounds like - you float down the river (and very small rapids, especially since it was low water season) in a truck tire inner tube. What makes it glorious other than the beautiful scenery and cold mountain water, is the entire first kilometer from where you get dropped off on the river is filled with bars blaring all sorts of music, offering up booze, food and buckets, and providing water apparatuses. On a particularly beautiful day, our huge group, Mary, Hari, Neil, Cory, Brad, Esther and I, had a blast. These water apparatuses consist of everything from trapeze style swings that drop you 30ft into the water to a mega waterslide that is more of a long ski jump than a waterpark waterslide. The afternoon was spent just floating from bar to bar, where they throw out lines to reel you in off the river."

The whole crew rented motor bikes on Dec 31 to do some exploring of the surrounding caves and lagoons. Everyone brought different riding experience with Neil and I having the least. Immediately, Neal and I both got lost from the group but we didn't realize it for a good 20 minutes driving. We eventually found the group at the blue lagoon and cave. "The cave, a steep climb up some rocks, was simply amazing. It was a massive chamber that had many tunnels leading on to other chambers. Lacking any natural light, guardrails or floodlights, we clambered around climbing up and down the limestone and eventually descended (with headlamps) deep down a slippery hill into a tunnel. What a thrill! Sweaty and tired from our caving, we returned down to the lagoon where they had ropes to swing on and tree branches to leap from. The lagoon was a turquoise blue similar to the one seen near Luang Prabang and was storybook perfect." After the lagoon we grabbed something to eat before we got ready for New Year's Eve and went back to the guesthouse separately. We returned to the guesthouse to find that Cory had absolutely eaten it on his bike as he was covered in bruises from his back to his butt.

Everyone (Brad/Esther, Yanni/Annuka, Sevan/Tara, Cory, Mary, Hari, Neil, me) ran into each other that night at the Smile Bar and, despite a horrific music selection that saw the Chicken Dance and Who Let the Dogs Out played right around the stroke of midnight, had a great time. We danced the night away. Although it was hard to be away from home, it was special to be with a great group of people for the holidays and to bring in the 2009.

The rest of our time in Vang Vien was spent motorbiking, tubing, relaxing and healing up. Somehow I have become quite accident prone during this trip and had a spill on the bike (not to worry, just a scrape on my leg which has given me a 'Lao Tattoo' scar.) The worst thing that happened was when I landed in the water after going off one of the zip line jumps. You will hear more on the injury as the blog progresses, but in short, I busted a hole in my eardrum and have been to a slew of hospitals/doctors since the incident- I guess that is why I bought health insurance. The hole in my eardrum is still slowly healing, but it prevented me from being able to scuba dive. Scuba diving was something that I was really looking forward to on the trip and I was not able to get certified for diving in Thailand, Indonesia, or Australia. Huge bummer, but I am dealing with it and know I will get certified one day soon. Enough about all that. Vang Vien was a blast, but we eventually had to leave down south making our way to Thailand...

Many of the events described in this entry- town, tubing, blue lagoon- were taken directly from Hari's blog entry. http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chiapoe/1/1231136760/tpod.html