Bangkok

Hari, Mary, and I arrived in Bangkok on night bus coming in from Chiang Mai. We were dropped off right in the thick of things on Khao San Rd. Khan San Rd is where most backpackers spend their time buying loads of cheap crap from cool tee-shirts, fake Ray Bans, fake IDs, yummy pancakes, street stall Pad-Thai, and amazing fresh squeezed orange juice (Hari was a huge fan). To sum it up, if it can be copied to look like the real thing, you can find it on Khao San Rd.
Our first day was unfortunately spent at the Bangkok Hospital where I was having my ear looked at to see if 1. Everything with my ear was OK and healing (yes) and 2. If I could get certified for SCUBA diving in Koh Tao (no). The Bangkok Hospital was one of the best I have ever seen, the ear specialist I saw even put a video camera scope into my ear to show me exactly how my ear looked with a small hole in the ear drum and what a normal ear looks like. Top notch treatment despite the disappointing outcome regarding diving.

That evening we went out for a night in Bangkok - enjoyed some amazing pad-thai from our street lady who made the best pad-thai in all of Thailand, then we went to a few bars for drinks, buckets, and dancing. Hari and Mary, whose relationship was getting more and more serious, spent the evening dancing the night away.

So the next day we set out to see the city sites. We went to go see the City Palace and the trusting folks that we are, we believed an official looking guy standing near the Palace that told us that the Palace was closed for the afternoon and would be open later in the evening. He casually suggested that we take a boat cruise from one of the main canals to the Wat Arun. After a quick trip along the canals we realized we had been royally ripped off . Never take a canal cruise in Bangkok... Wat Arun is a Khmer Temple with a huge tower that is covered in porcelain. Beautiful porcelain flowers in all colors covered the temple, very unique looking. There we met some local students studying English and they requested an interview with us to practice and ask us some questions. These girls were so cute and shy with their English but did a great job. The interview was one of the three others I would do for students through out my next few days in Bangkok as we realized that there were loads of students doing these interviews around the city. After Wat Arun it was off to the Nine Wonders of Wat Pho. This Wat contains the famous reclining Buddha which lays more then 150ft long and is a beautiful gold with mother of pearl feet. Of all the Buddha's that I saw throughout Asia, this one is probably my favorite. To complete our day of Wat´s it was off to Wat Inthrawihan to see the standing Buddha.

The next day we went to finally see the Royal Palace. The place is huge and contains loads of wats inside. The most important Buddhist wat in all of Thailand is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha which is located in the Royal Palace. The Emerald Buddha is made of jade and is stunning. The wat was filled with monks chanting while they looked at the jade Buddha beauty. The Buddha was dressed in its rain costume (it has different costumes that change throughout the year). The Palace grounds were stunning and quite massive with all the different wat's to explore
That night Hari and Mary took off for Koh Tao to start their SCUBA diving classes, introductory and advanced. I stayed in the city an extra day to take in the sites before I met them on the island. I took a local bus out to Bangkok's China Town to enjoy the shops, food stalls, and some amazing shrimp seafood served to me on the street corner. It was a little like being in China again, with the strange smells, unidentifiable foods, dumplings, candies, and the Chinese language being spoken.

On my last day in Bangkok I broke out of the tourist circuit to just walk around the city and explore. I walked for a couple hours around the outskirts stopping along the way to play with some local children, get coffee in some small cafes, figure out where I was on the map, and just reflecting on the trip. I went to get a Thai massage in some small shop and they pretty much kicked the crap out of me, which is what you want in a massage. After that I was off to Koh Tao...

Mo

In memory of my little man, I am sorry I couldn't be there for you during your last months. I will miss you so much as you have been part of my life and our family for 15 long years... I will miss my cat calls to you 'meer mo' and you come running, your tire sniffing, your gopher killing, your favorite blanket obsession, how you were the fattest cat ever, your shade laying, how much you loved getting brushed, how you always thought the perfect place to lay down was on the paper or book I was reading, your immediate purring capabilities, your constant eating, even your cat meows (alright those did get annoying sometimes). You will always be my little man and will have a place in my heart. I love you and will miss you very much.

Pai, Thailand

After our elephant excursion we decided to go about 3 hours north of Chang Mai to Pai, a small, laid-back hippie town in the mountains. We heard from fellow backpackers that the drive to Pai on motorbike is beautiful and we jumped at the opportunity to get on bikes again. During our time in SE Asia we have been motorbiking very frequently, not only is it extremely inexpensive (about $3-4/day) but it is a fast, easy, and fun way to get around and see both cities and countrysides.

Sarah, Hari, and I got on our 125cc Honda Dreams and got going, but not before a quick stop at 7-11 to pick up some supplies. A quick side-note about 7-11s in Thailand, they are everywhere, I have never seen so many 7-11s in my life. They are almost like Starbucks in the US, if you stand at one point on a street you can see at least two 7-11s on the same street. Anyway, I bring up our stop at the 7-11 because another hilarious incident occurred right outside - among the 3 of us Hari is the expert motorbike rider, he never passes up the opportunity to get on a bike and always has a huge smile plastered across his face when he is riding. Hari exited the 7-11, strapped on his helmet, put his freshly purchased water bottle in his backpack, started his engine, and pulled out onto the road. Well, not exactly onto the road. More like into a car. A parked car. He accelerated a little too quickly while looking at the oncoming cars to find a place to pull in and boom, right into a parked car. Sarah and I laughed so hard that we drew a crowd of several Thai ladies who just shook their heads at the inexperienced tourists trying to motorbike. Classic. No damage to the car or to Hari so thankfully it was just another hilarious incident to add to our list.

After we caught our breathe we actually got onto the road and began our journey. We stopped at a tiger sanctuary along the way that we had heard and read about. We got to play with 2 year old tigers, they were the cutest, sweetest things. Their fur was incredibly soft and thick, they were really like playing with German Shepherd sized cats. One liked Sarah so much that he cuddled up in her lap and licked her hands just like a regular house cat would do. Perhaps the reason they were so relaxed and tame is not only that they were born and raised at the sanctuary and have thus never been in the wild, but we think that they must have been sedated. I can't imagine that they were not and was disappointed that this is likely the case. I do not support them being drugged in captivity, but in retrospect I know that we could have protested and skipped out on seeing them. At least it did appear (hopefully) that they are treated extremely well, the people who worked there were very friendly and loving to the tigers.

Some fun facts about tigers that we learned: cubs are born blind and eventually develop vision 6x better than that of humans; in the wild tigers live for about 15 years, in captivity, 20 years; cubs eat only 2kg/day, matured tigers eat 6kg/day (I would have thought it would be significantly more, but keep in mind they are in captivity so they do not have as much space to run and work up an appetite the same way that wild tigers do). Despite my qualms with the sanctuary, it was still really cool to see them up close, they are incredible animals.

Back on the road we had an awesome drive to Pai. The tarmac was properly paved (unlike a lot of the roads in Cambodia and Lao) so we were able to drive at higher speeds. The roads were hilly and curvy and surrounded by gorgeous landscape. We stopped about every 20-30 minutes at lookout points to take photos and just have a look around, such a great drive. We made it to Pai and immediately loved the feel of this tiny town - it is extremely laid-back and quiet, the town itself is made up of only 2 major streets that are lined with small shops and restaurants. Lucky for us we were in town for the night market, so we strolled up and down the streets that were closed off to traffic and enjoyed many delicious treats - everything from kebabs to grilled corn on the cob to street pad thai. We had finally entered authentic pad thai territory, I was obsessed and would eat it nearly everyday for our month stay in Thailand.
We only spent one night in Pai but would recommend to anyone who is thinking of exploring northern Thailand to spend a few nights there, it is just really cute and quaint and the scenery along the way is gorgeous. We had great weather for our drive back to Changmai and got to take in the beautiful sites of the drive one more time. And no one drove into any parked cars again.

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

Luang Prabang Trek

I will start off by apologizing for being really really far behind on the updates...it is currently 23 Feb 2009 and we are in Melbourne staying with my sister's close friend from Villanova, Megan, and her husband, Matt. We just came from Thailand and Indonesia and fell into ultra lazy beach bum mode and just haven't been keeping up. So let's rewind to 26 Dec 2008:

The only truly productive thing we did on the 26th was booking a 3 day/2 night trek via White Elephant Adventures through an area in Northern Lao outside of Luang Prabang. So on the 27th Sarah, Hari, Corey, and I set off for some hard-core trekking. The trail was rarely traveled by tourists, in fact in the 3 day period we did not see any other Westerns. We had 3 incredible leaders, Su, Lao, and Leng - locals from villages near Luang Prabang. Not only did they speak excellent English, they were 3 of the most genuinely nice guys we had met in a long time. During our walks they were very talkative, asking questions about our schooling and how the places we grew up differed from their homes. It was really special to be able to have conversations with them and learn about our similarities and differences.

The trail was simply gorgeous, we were truly in the depths of the Lao jungle surrounded by green as far as the eye could see. On day 1 we had true jungle trekking, it poured several times leaving us soaking wet but having the greatest time. The trail was quite difficult while wet, there were steep inclines up rocky trail and deep mud. Despite the non-ideal conditions, the trek was beautiful and extremely enjoyable. And the clouds did break for some sunshine a few times. At one point in the adventure "we were walking along when all of a sudden a young guy (20 or less) came riding alongside of us on a bicycle and suddenly crashed into a ditch on the side of the road. I'm talking a complete and utter breakdown in coordination and a pretty ungraceful landing with a bike on top of you. In a split second, the boy who reeked of booze, nonchalantly got up and waved to us and said "Sa Bai Dee! (Hello!)" as though nothing had happened at all. Reeling in laughter, we proceeded onwards and noticed him almost fall one more time behind us" (Hari, http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chiapoe/1/1230449340/tpod.html). It was hilarious and kept us laughing on and off for the rest of the day.

After 5 hours of trekking we made it to the Hmong village where we would stay the night. It was extremely poor - no power and simple bamboo and straw huts. There were chickens, dogs, and cats running around freely. We saw children playing and saw men and women working. Their way of life was so simple, but they were happy and interested by us. Sarah spent over an hour talking with a group of little girls (I'd guess 5 or 6), communicating via hand signals and the few Lao phrases we learned along the way. We had an entourage of little kids around us, some shy and hiding behind their friends, and some outgoing and laughing with us. Hari made friends with a little boy who had "slingshot skills" - this kid had 90%+ accuracy at hitting water bottles that we put up on a wall from 20+ meters away. Our trek leaders cooked a great dinner via fire and we put on any dry clothes that we had to get to sleep early, as we had a long trek ahead of us the next day.

Thankfully the rain stopped overnight and after the morning mist cleared we were surrounded by blue skies. The trail was still muddy, but we were able to maneuver over the rocks with little difficulty. We went to a tiny village surrounded by rice fields at the foot of a steep rock trail leading to a cave. We hiked up 485 stairs (Hari challenged by ability to count and was quickly put to shame) to the cave and explored the beautiful rock formation. After that we hiked for the rest of the afternoon to another, larger village where we sleep. This one was far more developed than the village the previous evening, there was electricity, TVs in nearly every home, power tools (they were building new homes in the area), and running water. It was really interesting to see how much more wealthy and developed this village was, only a few hours walk away from the village we stayed at the night before. Nevertheless we had a lovely dinner with Su, Lao, and Leng and enjoyed our time exploring the village.

Our third and final day started off at fast pace, as the first stretch of trail that we hit is known for having a large leech population. Since the ground was wet from the rain a few days earlier coupled with the morning mist, we had to almost run through the trail to avoid our shoes being covered in tiny leeches - each one was about the length of a pin, not that big of a deal but still you don't want them on you. We made it through unscathed to a small waterfall where we'd stop to splash some water on our faces and take a break. The trail leading to the waterfall was quite muddy, in fact it was so muddy that in one step Corey stepped knee deep into a mud pit, temporarily losing a shoe. He did fish it out of the mud but they were dead and would be put into permanent retirement upon returning to Luang Prabang.

Back in the city we winded down after a tiring 3 days. While walking down the main street we bumped into Brad and Esther, our Aussie pals who we had spent time with in Cambodia. We had been planning on meeting up with them for New Year's but had not figured out a final plan yet, but they knew where we were and came to meet us. We were so happy to see them and immediately started planning out how we would ring in 2009. We thought it would be appropriate to head to the party scene so Sarah, Hari, Brad, Esther, Neil, Corey, Tara, Sevan, Jani, Annukah, and I hopped onto a bus to Vang Vieng...

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree in Lao

We arrived in Luang Prabang at 6am in the morning (night bus) and got to see the monks walking along the street getting food from the town that supports them. The street was lined with monks wearing their saffron robes as they collected food like rice and other delicacies in small bowls that they would eat during the day. It is quite phenomenal, amongst the myriad western tourists walking around during the day, you will see seas of saffron robes as young monks make their way from the school to the Internet cafes to the monastery to wherever else.

Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which ensures reasonable tourist development and preservation. The city was the capital of an old kingdom by the same name and was also a seat of the independent Kingdom of Lao from 1954-1975. Situated between two rivers with the mighty Me Kong river on the west, it is a beautiful old town and more importantly a springboard town for all of the amazing trekking and adventures in the northern Lao mountains.

On our night bus we met a couple, Joe and Kim, who were studying in Singapore and spent the day with them seeing the local waterfalls in the area. We hit Sai Waterfall which, via tuk-tuk, was about an hour outside the city. We walked through the forest areas and came to the beautiful waterfall. We hiked up to the top of the falls for a beautiful look down the mountain to the water pool below. While at the falls we met Corey, an American that was also traveling the same direction as we were. We decided to join forces and Corey traveled with our group for the next week.

Later that night for dinner we discovered the amazing sandwich stalls which we consumed almost every day for the remainder of our time in Lao. These were huge sandwiches with fresh cut up chicken, laughing cow cheese, loads of veggies, for about $2. Heaven. We grabbed a Beer Lao and checked out the market. Luang Probang has an amazing night market. The main street is lined with families selling cute bags with flower decorations sewn on them, lots of jewelry and woven bracelets, Beer Lao tee-shirts, and beautiful embroidered bedspreads with the same flower pattern... Now, let me take a moment to tell you about this Beer. Beer Lao, the national beer, is a lager that is easily one of the finest brews in the entire world. I'm not just saying it was good because I was in Lao. It is seriously a world class lager that needs to be exported in massive quantities and sold the world over. We have found it difficult to find this beer in Thailand and they are neighboring countries!

We kept our eyes peeled all day for Hari (an Indian guy with a beard probably wearing a blue soccer jersey, shouldn't be too hard). Since Luang Prabang is a tiny old town with a massive tourist vibe you constantly run into people. While walking through the night market Mary spotted Hari and suddenly took off running and jumped into the arms of Hari giving him a huge hug. The threesome was back together again, now in Lao.

Before long, a motley crew had been assembled together that night including: Mary/Sarah, some friends Hari had met along the way -Neil (UK) and Sevan/Tara (Canada) - our friends from DonDet, Yanni/Annuka (Finland), and Cory (USA). All would make it to Vang Vieng. Mary and I decided that we wanted to have a Christmas Eve party, as we were all away from home for the holidays and we both love Christmas - you should see the number of Christmas songs on our iPods. We were to have the party the following evening, complete with Santa hats that we had been hauling around since Vietnam.

On Christmas Eve, we started the evening off with some drinks at our room, some Xmas music, Santa hats, Christmas cookies (aka Oreo cookies) and some more drinks. Eventually, the party took us across town to a couple of outdoor bars where they had bonfires and Xmas trees, Santa's sleighs, tinsel and faux snow. Did I mention we was in a tourist town in the middle of Lao. Despite the sadness at seeing poor non-Christian Laotians wearing Santa clothing as they worked the restaurants and bars, it was nice to be in a festive atmosphere amongst good people and loved ones.

In this evening, we learned of a fascinating sociological phenomenon from Neil. Singles night at the grocery store. Where Neil is from, in Redding, England, Thursday night around 10pm is single's night at the local Safeway equivalent. He was telling us how this affects what you buy (you don't want girls seeing you stuff yourself full of junk food), causes you to become a more innovative cook (you sometimes end up buying some random ingredients for reasons similar to the first and have to concoct some recipes when you get back home and realize the error of your ways), and can result in some dates. In Neil's case, the icebreaker was those damn vegetable bags that are impossible to open. It led to two dates with a Czech girl. Bloody brilliant.

Xmas day itself was a little bit of a quiet one (translation: hangover day). After taking care of some errands and booking our trek, Cory, Hari, Mary and I headed off to the Pak Ou Caves, about 2 hours up the Me Kong from Luang Prabang. Somewhat disappointing, the boat trip is down the beautiful stretch of the Me Kong and the caves that have many Buddhist relics.

That night we finally had our first random friend sighting (we had been waiting for the day that we ran into someone we knew from home, it's a small world style). Out at a bar I ran into my friend from high school, Christina Penfield. It was so great to see her and we got to spend some time catching up on. All in all we had a quiet evening and dinner as we all prepared for our trek the next morning.

I couldn't have completed this entry in the time I did without help, so to give credit where credit is due- Thanks Hari!

(http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chiapoe/1/1230449340/tpod.html)

Don Det, Laos - Sticky Hammocks

We said our goodbyes to Cambodia and hopped a quick flight from Siem Reap to Pakse, Laos. From there we took a short 2 hour bus ride plus a 10 minute boat ride to Don Det, one of the 4,000 Islands. Laos is landlocked so the concept of 4,000 Islands was a bit strange, but these small islands are actually located in southern Laos on the Mekong River near the Cambodian border. They are known for being quiet, peaceful backpacker havens so we decided to take a few days to relax Laos-style.

Don Det is exactly what we were hoping for - a tiny, quaint island that can be covered on foot in a matter of minutes. The island is in fact so quaint and peaceful that there is only electricity between 6am and 10pm which may turn off some travelers, but we were totally up for it. The riverbank is lined with small bungalos for US $2/night. Yes, you read correctly, US $2/night. We got off the boat and quickly found Paradise Bungalos, our home for the next several days.

Our bungalo was simple but right on the river with amazing views. We immediately met our awesome neighbors, Jani and Annukka (from Finland), who we would spend most of our time on the island hanging out with and who we would also meet in northern Laos for several days later in the trip. They told us that they had fallen victim to Don Det's "sticky hammocks" and warned us that we would likely end up staying longer than we expected...they were right. These "sticky hammocks" are no myth - each bungalo has 2 hammocks right on the front porch and once you lay in one, you are pretty much stuck there for the rest of the day. It is a little too easy to be a lazy bum on Don Det and we loved every minute of it.

Our days were mostly spent hanging out with Jani and Annukka on the infamous sticky hammocks while enjoying Beerlao, which is arguably one of the greatest beers I have ever tasted. Why the L.B.C. (Laos Brewing Company) does not export Beerlao to the US is a mystery to me, they would make an absolute killing. We were not lazy the whole time, we did take some time to explore Don Det - we walked around and rented bicycles one afternoon to check out some beautiful waterfalls. We were on Don Det the week before Christmas so we decided to have a little Christmas party on our porch with Jani, Annukka, and several other friends who we had met on the island. We drank Beerlao, wore our santa hats, played Christmas music on the iPod speakers, and lit 40 red and white candles on our porch (since there was no electricity). It was a great way to get in the Christmas spirit.

We also spent a lot of time with the resident "dad and mom" of Paradise Bungalos, Lance and Donna. They are an older couple from the US who vacation on Don Det for 3 months every year and therefore know everyone and everything about it. They told us the best places to eat - Paradise's lentil pumpkin curry with sticky rice is easily one of the best things I've eaten on the entire trip, I had it everyday...sometimes for breakfast. It was just really great to chat with Lance and Donna about our travels and how the island has changed in the past few years and how it is still advancing. Don Det is expected to have power 24 hours/day in the next several months which some may view as a positive change, but Lance and Donna expressed their concern that it will take away from some of Don Det's charm, attracting more party-hungry backpackers and taking away from the simplicity of the Lao people who reside on the island. We understand their argument and hope that despite the technological advances Don Det remains as quaint as it is today...

Five days later we had to pry ourselves off our sticky hammocks to head north to Luang Prabang, but we had a wonderful time on Don Det. It is definitely on my list of places to return to in the future.