lots of wats

our final stop was cambodia. we arrived at the tiny little siem reap airport and got a taxi to our hotel. the driver snickered as we gave him the name, later explaining that it was a 'gay' hotel. the golden banana, go figure. no matter, the place was gorgeous - filling several complexes, each with rooms surrounding salt water pools with waterfalls of various sizes. not only that, our room had a second story balcony with a private tub and padded lounge chairs. oh, and just about everything in the room was branded with a 'gb' (my intials, heh).. i pretty much took everything that wasn't nailed down.

that first night we roamed outside towards the night market. we didn't make it quite that far, though, because we were pretty hungry. we popped into a little resto with lots of locals and had some pretty bland soup and a couple cold beers. after that it was back to enjoy our fabulous hotel room.

on the bike ride

the next morning it was off to angkor. the temple complex is only about 5-6 kilometers away and apparently a pleasant ride so i was hoping to bike. mom figured she'd better pass and save her energy for temple exploring. so i rented a bike for $2 and had a nice (if sweaty) bike ride to the site.

view with requisite symmetrical palm tries

i met my mother there where we reluctantly decided to get a guide. we normally eschew such things but this particular complex, we had read, was so sprawling that we'd never know where to go, especially given that we only had a day. to his credit, the guide seemed to know what he was talking about. we walked over the bridge and through the entrance building, which already had some pretty fantastic sculptures. through that chamber was the main temple. the site (see below) is what everyone probably pictures when they hear the words angkor wat, though it's just the main temple among a site that is vast and made up of dozens and dozens of such structures.

epic walls

we made our way towards it and started out going counter clockwise along the exterior walls - well, interior exterior i suppose. there was an arcade that went along the outside of the inner courtyard. the walls were covered in intricate low reliefs of the great hindu epics. oh, by the way, this particular temple was originally hindu (a krishna temple) but was then later converted into a buddhist temple. many other temples on the grounds were the reverse. anyway the reliefs were impressive in both quality/attention to detail and just sheer quantity. in addition to the mahabharata and ramayana (not pictured: sita. interesting, no?) there were depictions of hell as well as the gods churning of the sea of milk (the fish were particularly good).

once we had explored the outer walls we went inside, where i climbed up to the central tower. many of the statues that would have been there are of course gone, but there were a few buddhas here and there. and a few nice wall carvings. the view from above was slightly underwhelming. the best vantage point is really from the ground.

believe it or not, by then it was already getting to be lunchtime. so our guide took us to a nearby restaurant. i had beef loklak, one of the few dishes i had read was a specialty of cambodia, along with a mango shake (fruit shakes - another supposed specialty. although these are all over southeast asia and universally delicious). both were fantastic, although pretty much anything would have tasted good after lots of biking and walking in the midday sun.

angelina jolie was here. so that makes it worth seeing, right?

from lunch we went to ta prohm, a former buddhist temple which was supposedly kept intact by the incoming hindus because prohm sounds like brahma? seems like a stretch to me. at any rate, it was pretty spectacular. it was apparently used for filming part of the tomb raider movie. when you're there it's easy to see why - the crumbling walls are covered in moss and tree limbs, climbing up walls and splayed over doorways. the setting made for good pictures and i enjoyed tramping around trying to find shafts of light or mossy corners. we declined, though, to wait in the line to take our picture in a particular doorway.

profile

the next stop for us was bayon temple, the most recently built. its signature is the giant four-faced pillars found throughout. like ta prohm, it was originally buddhist but was apparently not razed by the later hindus because the four heads resembled brahma (again, dubious). in any case walking right up to these massive faces - most of which seem like they're dreaming peacefully - is pretty surreal.

pictured: lots of dragonflies. probably.

from there we did some quick stops at a few other places - the elephant terrace, the 'leper king' statue - but we felt we had hit most of the highlights and were winding down. mom was pretty beat so she took the rickshaw back to the hotel to rest. luckily i still had my bike so i elected to hang around a little longer to catch the sunset. the best time to see angkor wat is really at sunrise, but i never did make it for that (i do regret this a bit). i figured sunset was the next best thing and that, perhaps i would catch that golden evening light on the temple facade. well i didn't. but i did manage to see the sunlight glittering on the lily pond. which was pretty nice in itself. side note: apparently dragonflies really like to sit on water lilies. often perfectly still (handy for us would-be photographers). i enjoyed that for a bit too long, and then biked home just as it was getting dark though. the sun going down didn't make the ride any less hot though.

oh i almost forgot. on the way back to the hotel i stopped just across the river at the night market (yes here too!) for postcards (guess what scene was on them. go ahead, guess). i parked my bike and was locking it up to one of those little fences around a sapling on the sidewalk. well as i was trying to get the key in the lock it fell out. no problem, how hard could it be to find a key in a little 2x2 foot space? as it turns out, very hard. within a few minutes i had attracted a small crowd and had about half a dozen people on their hands and knees digging through dried leaves and dirt to find this key. an elderly woman had her son fetch a flashlight for us. so nice! after about 10 minutes (no, really) someone found it on the opposite side of the tree from me. good grief. by the time i got back to the hotel i was sweaty, dirty and pretty thoroughly exhausted.

but if there were any place to feel rejuvenated, this hotel was it. that night my mom and i treated ourselves to room service dinner and wine while we watched the replay of the academy awards. i followed that up with a nice bubble bath in the private terrace. not bad, golden banana.

lake living

the next day (long after the sun had risen.. sigh) we were up and, after another great breakfast of croissants and juice, off to tonle sap lake - the largest in southeast asia, which literally doubles in size during monsoon season with melting snows from the mountains that trickle down the mekong. the drive was quite nice, passing modest, colorful little houses and green rice paddies. the lake was less exciting, a sort of muddy greenish brown. we took a boat ride (for some reason we had this to ourselves), which started off near the floating village - house and little shops. our boat driver said living here was 'not good'. we stopped at a small shop where we were encouraged to buy things to bring to the nearby school/orphanage. a noble idea, but the prices were extravagant - higher than they would have been in the US even, and certainly much higher than the cost of 'transportation' they required, i imagine. still we bought some things and dutifully delivered them at the school - which was a madhouse. not surprising - i've been in such orphanages before. it was a little odd. we met a few of the kids but they were mostly distracted by the distributing of goods brought by some japanese tourists. like i said, madhouse. it's too bad we couldn't have stayed longer and actually played a bit. but our boat driver continued on to.. the crocodile farm. yeah. a bunch of them were gathered into a watery pit where snakes and other snacks were routinely flung in. there were boxes for donations but as these crocodiles seem to be principally bred for either purses or to be eaten, i was not terribly inclined to offer anything.

a quick ride back to the dock and then a drive back to town. by the way, we decided of the four countries and their respective tuk tuks, cambodia's were the most comfortable. for what it's worth. we almost ran out of fuel at one point. but no matter, the driver pulled up to someone's house that had old plastic bottles of gasoline out front. handy.

going amok

once back in town we grabbed lunch at a small place down a small alley. we tried fish amok - the one other cambodian special we'd read about. it was a little on the bland side, but not bad. also tried some khmer dumplings, filled variously with vegetables, egg and chillis. a little on the raw/doughy side, for my taste. washed it all down with another fruit shake, (naturally) which we lingered over as i wrote the last of my postcards. walked around the shopping area nearby, stopping at a used bookstore that had crazy prices! even by US standards. $10 for a bunged up used paperback?? no thanks. had better luck at a nearby thrift store, where i found a nice (but short) flow-y dress that i'll have my trusty tailors make into a shirt. isn't asia great.

we went back to the lovely hotel to make the most of the salt water pool and relax before heading out again. into the night market, where i scored a new purse (india has proved really great at destroying my purses) and a couple cheap t-shirts. how can you say no to two t-shirts for $5? i ask you. after some light shopping we set out in search of a french place. i had heard that one could find cheap french places in cambodia. well all the ones we saw were stupid expensive. we even ventured down 'pub street' - marked by a neon sign as well as loud western music coming from every continental restaurant on all sides - where i had sworn to my mother i would not go. in the end we found a suitable belgian place (close enough) where we had mojitos (fine, not french) and fantastic steak au poivre with belgian fries. maybe it's just that i haven't had a steak in quite a while but i savored every bite. we capped off the meal with ice cream down the street. though, sadly, my caramel tasted like coffee. and with that it was back to our hotel and off the next day.

the travel wasn't quite as eventful as we'd hoped. our leg to bangkok was easy enough. but once in bangkok we had to leave security and re-check in. well every line was encountered was long and slow. including the check-in line where every other person had one or two large screen TVs. i guess jimmy wasn't kidding about bringing him back one. sorry, jimmy. our hopes of duty-free dried fruits and one last tom yum/iced coffee in the airport were dashed by insane immigration and security lines that seemed to not move. we rushed to check in to our flight, only to sit on the plane for another 20 minutes. the indians on our flight knew better, sauntering in after us, mocking us with all their duty-free goodies (well, okay, not really). at any rate, we made it back to bombay easily enough where we were welcomed back by joining the immigration queue with passengers on a flight from riyadh. there was lots of pushing and grumbling in hindi.

i'm home!

down by the bay

the next portion of our trip was one of the most highly anticipated - our excursion to halong bay. we set the trip up just a day before, with our super friendly hanoi hotel staff. the price difference between the mid-range and top-range boats wasn't much and we'd heard the food was substantially better, so we opted for a slightly nicer package. and so, the next morning we found ourselves in a van with a bunch of other tourists, who i assume were all, like us, trying to determine what in the world our guide was talking about. something about bridges? where he went to school? who can say.

on board

the trip (after he stopped talking) was pleasant and largely uneventful - except for a stop at a horrific shopping warehouse. you know, the kind where they have faux greek goddess statues and giant paintings with gold flecked backgrounds and everything's eight times what you'd actually pay for it. the kind of place they must go to decorate every single cruise ship. and we were left to peruse for forty-five minutes. i think i left with a postcard and a pack of gum. anyway - after a few more miles of rice paddies we arrived at the bay, where we boarded the tender (weird name) to our junk (even weirder name). our little boat was quite cute. we had a cozy little stateroom (isn't it weird that there's a 'stateroom' on a 'junk'? such a disparity) and, upstairs, a shared dining room/common area and, above that a deck with some lounge chairs.

it was about lunch time by then so we all sat down at the table and prepared to tuck in. this seems like a good time to introduce our boatmates, as it was when we actually met them as well. there was the russian couple.. the male part of which looked exactly like a butch-er ron weasley - his face was as red as his hair - who generally kept his arm firmly around his girlfriend (probably because she did seem rather out of his league. but really, on this boat there was not a lot of competition). then we had a fun chinese couple from singapore - he liked to make jokes then sometimes repeat them in case the whole table hadn't heard; she tempered him and told interesting anecdotes, following every phrase with 'yeah..'. then two portuguese men who we assumed were either together or a very odd father-son duo. and finally a german couple who looked like they walked out of a nursery rhyme - he was so slight he could have been walter mitty (glasses, mustache and all) if it weren't for the thick, almost stereotypical german accent. she, on the other hand, was a rather zoftig women with beady little eyes who, unfortunately didn't speak much english. it was a fun bunch.

green waters

oh right, lunch. it was delicious! the plates just kept coming and coming from the kitchen. pear papaya salad, shrimp cocktail, stuffed crabs (di-vine!), fried fish, spring rolls, french fries, bak choi, tofu, chicken. i'm pretty sure we cleaned every plate - all 37 of them. then we had a few hours to lazy about and enjoy the views of the bay which were, by the way, beautiful. 'ha long' evidently means dragon, which makes perfect sense when you see the cliffs (karsts, apparently) rising up out of the water like scales. it wasn't as clear as it might have been in the summer and the water was probably not as bright. but even in the misty weather it was dramatic.

surprise! it's a cave

after an hour or two we arrived at our first stop: surprising cave. there are generally two cave options for day-trippers: this one and dragon cave. we had heard the former was better so we set out to see the surprise for ourselves. i guess the first surprise was that we had to go up a bunch of steps to get there. actually we're still not entirely sure what the real surprise was. perhaps that it was so big inside? (some might say.. cavernous..) at any rate it was well lit with greens and oranges and we dutifully wound our way around the path inside.

once back on the boat we had a few minutes before our next little excursion: kayaking! neither mom nor i had ever kayaked before. we seemed to get the hang of it pretty quickly. and what a beautiful setting! we made our way out away from the boats and paddled along the sides of the cliffs. the water was so clear and bright turquoise from down there. about 45 minutes later we were back on our boat, a little wetter and sorer but certainly better for it. we popped upstairs to the deck to chat for a few minutes before dinner and watch the sun go down.

one fish, two fish, shellfish, squiggly thing

the europeans were discussing the economy - the portuguese and german views were predictably different. then down for dinner - more of the same from lunch. different dishes, all delicious, that just kept coming out of the kitchen. we lingered over the empty plates discussing this and that and all retired to our little rooms stuffed and satisfied.

mobile market

the next morning it was up for a markedly less exciting breakfast and to enjoy the view. a quick stop to the local fish market was pretty much all that was on the agenda for the day. that itself was fairly interesting though. who knew you could eat so much of what's in the water? or that some of it was so weird looking.. and striped. nearby were a few houses with clothes hanging outside.. pretty normal-looking except surrounding them was just water and giant cliffs. there were a few floating markets too. some with candy bars and essentials, others with fruits in just about every color you could imagine.

from there it was just another hour or two on the boat, enjoying the last of the view. by noon we had reached the harbor and we had one last meal on the boat (one wonders why we couldn't have done this farther from the rather ugly shore) before heading out. we stopped yet again at a giant warehouse - a nearly identical but different warehouse with the exact same merchandise - in the middle of our drive and as we reached hanoi were dropped off at our respective hotels.

every meal a new dish

my mother and i had one more night and half day in hanoi. the night we spent, of course, eating. after thailand, vietnam had some of our favorite food of the trip. this time we went out in search of com ga, seasoned rice with shredded chicken and lemon. the place we found it, like many of the others i had found recommendations for, happened to be within walking distance of our hotel, which was very handy. this particular walk also provided us with a promenade along the night market (yes, one in every city it seems) - one of the less exciting ones though, mostly cosmetics and fake leather bags.

the next day we went to see the last places we had on our list before our flight. this meant several taxi rides and a little bit of rushing. mom had really wanted to see the vietnam museum of ethnology, which i was all for. the inside had a few displays which looked interesting, but we breezed through it in favor of the traditional houses out back. the size of this section was really quite impressive. there were all sorts of houses - one something like an iriquois longhouse, another with a roof as tall as the stilts on which it was built (which was, uh, pretty tall). each was well signed, with good information on the region it was from and the people who would live in them, along with - of course - who sponsored its construction (a lot from germany).

we wrapped up there a little early, missing out on the last few abodes. but we wanted to be sure to get back to hoa lo (aka the hanoi hilton) before it closed for lunch. the prison was initially used by the french to hold vietnamese prisoners. the vast majority of the space was devoted to that. and it did seem that the conditions there were pretty grim. i mean, there was a guillotine. but when you get to the two rooms devoted to the american soldiers it was all sunshine and christmas parties. the videos and text actually proclaimed that soldiers enjoyed the "best living conditions". no mention of the physical torture or mentally crippling isolation. sigh. but then, i suppose it is still a communist country. (did i mention they had blocked facebook? not quite the same, just another aspect) it had us both a little annoyed, but luckily this came at the end of our journey in vietnam so didn't sour our perceptions too much.

from there it was off to cambodia! our last country of the four

hectic hanoi

welcome to hanoi and the lake

another flight (apparently ground transportation in most place is slow/unreliable at best) and we found ourselves in yet another country. from hanoi we got our new currency, booked a taxi and were on our way toward the old city. it was evening, the sun was down and lights were just coming on throughout the city. my first impression was that most of the buildings were quite narrow and about 3-5 stories. our hotel was no exception. just a stone's throw from the lake in the old town, the location was ideal and the staff couldn't be friendlier. (also, only time i've ever seen complimentary items - besides water - in a minibar. oxymoron?)

we stepped out to get some dinner, anxious for vietnamese cuisine. we figured we'd save pho for lunch the following day and instead tried to find some other local specialties. that we did - just around the corner we found a place that had a few of the dishes we'd been hoping to try. bun cha and bun bo nam bo (beef/pork respectively with noodles), both were delicious and left us excited about upcoming days of vietnamese food.

yellow yellow

the next morning we set out to see the city, stopping first, luckily, at the water puppet theater to buy tickets. those things get snapped up fast! we had to opt for the 9.30 show and we barely even got tickets for that. we continued on, walking towards the center of the old town, passing all kinds of shops bursting with shoes, backpacks and stationery. looking up, we'd generally see a tangle of wires, sometimes with birdcages hanging from them. sidewalks that were covered with little food stalls (all with tiny plastic tables and chairs - think playskool size) and motorbikes! motorbikes are everywhere. they seem to be buzzing all over the city, and the drivers are particularly aggressive. it almost seems as though they're trying to run you down. we continued walking, along the busy streets past slightly crumbling yellow buildings (i swear, they were all yellow) with rusting iron terraces or peeling green shutters.

quintessential lunch

we made it to the opera house - also yellow - and stopped along the way at a park with a grimy fountain where no fewer than six brides were having their wedding portraits taken. we wondered at this and grimaced as we saw the white dresses dragging onto the street. we continued on, walking in search of pho. we walked farther than expected, since my mom was hoping for a place that didn't have tiny tables. we eventually found one, luckily just before the lunch hour started wrapping up. quite literally - the tables and chairs were stacked and put away just after we left. the pho, of course, was delicious but we missed the chilli sauce we usually get with it the states.

from there we hopped a taxi to the ho chi minh mausoleum. man. i'm not sure i've ever seen such an ugly monument. it's not even worth including a picture of - google it if you must. we just missed its opening hours, though i'm not sure i really want to see the man's remains anyway. from there we.. well, we got lost for a while. but eventually we found our way to the one-pillar pagoda. it was rather small - sort of like a treehouse - but impressive in that it was built in the mid-11th century. today it looks rather unremarkable, a stocky pillar coming out of a smallish koi pond surrounded by tourists. from there we went towards the temple of literature. but not before being verbally assaulted by a disgruntled and very vulgar rickshaw driver. lovely. that, combined with the long walk around 3/4 of the temple of literature's giant walls left us rather cranky. i'm not sure what i had expected, but this wasn't quite it. it was very.. chinese. to be expected, since they built it. everything was very red and gold. by the time we had made it through we were ready for a rest. another taxi back to the hotel and it was naptime. (or in my case, watch bad tv movies until dinnertime.)

around 7 we ventured out again, this time in search of a fish. we walked down a few streets and made it to the place. hard to miss, since it had no fewer than three neon signs boasting its name: cha ca la vong (also the name of the fish). this particular one has apparently appeared on lists of foods to eat before you die. i suppose because it's only available in a particular region of vietnam. despite its fame the place was rather quiet downstairs and the owner and other employees all seemed to pounce on us. we literally had ingredients being delivered to our table before we had finished making our drink orders (side note: passion fruit smoothie, delicious). the preparation of the fish contributes the experience - various herbs and oils are thrown into a pan and then the fish is cooked right at your table. it was tough to get a decent picture with all the steam pouring up. the fish itself was pretty good. could i have happily died without eating it? probably. but still a worthwhile experience.

fire and water

from there we walked to the water puppet theater. once inside we realized why the shows fill up so quickly. the place is tiny! and cramped. i can't imagine how anyone taller would have managed - and i'm only 5'5". the show itself was quite good. a nice mix of traditional music (the musicians and singers were on stage to the left of the water) and skits that revealed a bit about aspects of life in rural vietnam - fishing, water buffalo, rice paddies. we never did quite figure out the logistics of the puppeteering.. sometimes the puppets stayed close to the curtain at back, but other times they came out quite far into the water... still not sure where the puppeteers were. they ended, naturally, with a dragon and fire to make it a big finish.

it was a long day in hanoi.. one that seemed all the more hectic because of motorbikes constantly whipping by, giant intersections with difficult traffic patterns, and sidewalks filled with all sorts of obstacles - some stationary, others less so.

lovely little laos

from chiang mai our next destination was laos, the one that started it all, so to speak. that is to say, when i began planning this trip i had envisioned an exploration of laos itself. that somehow turned into a whirlwind trip to four countries in two weeks. hmm. point being, i was particularly excited to see what laos had to offer.

we arrived in luang prabang, what we have since been told is the nicest (presumably nicest tourist-frequented) town in laos. driving along the tiny road to our hotel we had quaint dark-roofed architecture to our left and the mekong down below on our right. when we stopped at our hotel the sun was just going down so we stopped to admire the light reflecting on the water in the adirondack chairs (in sand - 'the only beach in luang prabang!') across the street as we enjoyed the croissants we brought from c.m. a wonderful introduction to the city, i must say.

sundown at the market

we checked into our hotel - like all the others there, entirely paneled dark wood, one of the things that makes luang prabang somewhat reminiscent of a swiss chalet town - and headed out into the dusky evening. we walked up to the main street, running parallel to ours and the river. here the night market was just getting started. i must say, i really like this night market tradition they've got going here. we walked through the rows, tarps lit with big bulbs above blankets laden with all sorts of crafts - most covered with elephants. slippers, coin purses, t-shirts, keychains. you name it. if it had a surface of more than two inches, there was probably an elephant on it. but hey, who doesn't love elephants? and laos is named for them, after all. (literally: land of a million elephants. sadly, not so anymore.) we browsed as we wound our way through the tented street and, a few jewelry purchases later, finally made our way to the end. and dinner! the food was distinctly less flavorful than in laos, but the beer lao was cold and sitting down felt good. our crêpe afterwards was similarly underwhelming. but, hey, when's the last time i had a crêpe?

the next day we started out fairly early after a nice night's sleep and a vaguely traditional lao breakfast at the hotel. we walked down along the river to set up a boat trip for later. some haggling took place but my mom reminded me that the lao (according to the almighty guidebook) are typically gentle people who like to save face, and aggressive bargaining is not the way to go. (i should say the guidebook seems to be right about this one.) i let go of my indian side and agreed on a boat for probably a little more than i thought we should have. but, hey, i'm not footing the bill, anyway, right?

roofs like rolling waves

that settled, we continued on, checking out temples and cool architecture (the french center was very quaint) as we went along. here, again, there were no shortage of temples. but as compared to thailand there seemed to be less emphasis on the gold and more subtle decoration, which i appreciated. the temple in the center of town, though, was entirely red and gold inside. others had lovely paintings - some with very nice details. and of course to make the picture complete there were the orange-clad monks who seemed to be all over town. we followed our wandering with a lunch along the river - half french-inspired (baguette sandwich) and half lao (red curry with buffalo meat, much more flavorful this time!) before our scheduled boat ride.

said view.

we made our way onto the long narrow boat (one row of seats on each side) and made our way down the mekong. i like being so low to the water - it's lovely to be able to reach down and splash if you get the urge. we knew this boat ride would likely be better for the ride itself than the destination - the underwhelming pak ou cave. so we enjoyed the scenery - small green hills, fishermen in pointed sampan hats, and eventually mountains rising up out of the water. after a quick stop at 'whisky village' (very much like the 'hill tribe village' visit, but with local whisky also) we arrived at the cave. the gangplank that led to shore seemed to be made of giant old plastic gasoline containers that tessellated perfectly, which i thought was very clever. the cave itself was little more than a few small chambers filled with thousands of buddha statuettes of varying sizes. we explored it sufficiently in about 10 minutes, the biggest selling point being the silhouetted view of the mountains across the river (see left). the ride back was more of the same, a low lazy float along the river. once we got back it was another meal along the river - fish from the mekong this time - and watching the sun set.

glowing green fields

the next day we did more of the same in a lot of ways.. different yet semi-traditional breakfast at the hotel (brown noodles with fried eggs?), meandering around different parts of the city, including the morning market - full of things like black chickens' feet, giant hacked-up fish, and small birds in bamboo cages (more on that later). we made our way up to the temple atop phou si hill - all 328 steps. we stopped along the way at a charming little wat (temple) with some beautiful paintings inside. then trudged on. we wound our way up the criss-crossing steps and made it to the top with little trouble. we saw more caged birds for sale up there - presumably to be let free atop the hill. sort of poetic, i suppose. the view from there was pretty nice - for once we could see both the khan and the mekong (you didn't even know there were two rivers, did you?). after the trek down, we had another pretty delicious curry lunch and then headed toward kwang-si, the famed waterfall. the ride itself was quite lovely (albeit slightly bumpy in our songtheaw with the not-quite-wide-enough benches), passing stepped green fields and rice paddies.

really does it no justice at all

about thirty minutes later we arrived at the waterfall. well, actually we arrived at the little area of food stands and shops just before the waterfall trail. the walk was quite short, punctuated only by a stop through the free the bears reserve. the bears looked pretty comfy, lounging in hammocks and whatnot. a quick look and then onward to the waterfall. it was, in a word, unbelievable! the water was a perfect bluish green - i'm not sure any picture will do it justice. once i had scampered all around on the rocks, in the water, on the bridge, behind the trees taking pictures i figured i should get in. the water wasn't quite warm, but it wasn't too cold either. once you got used to it you could just completely enjoy the sensation of swimming under a waterfall - although this proved difficult since the water is essentially trying to push you away with a constant barrage of gallons and gallons of water. on one of the upper plateaus there was a rope from which you could swing and jump into the water. i worked up my nerve and finally went up on the tree to do it. what i did was less of a swing and jump, really more of a fall and flop. still, i did it. it probably wouldn't have been so bad if there hadn't been dozens of people standing around watching. don't they have better things to do? like, you know, swim under waterfalls? well that's what i did anyway. stick with what you know, right?

boats at sundown

i grudgingly removed myself from the beautiful water, dried off as best i could without a towel, and made my way back onto the trail. another sunny, sleepy ride and we were back in luang prabang just in time to watch the sun go down over the many boats in the river. the river seems to really define the city well - monks and people from various islands cross it every day and long boats take people up and down the mighty mekong. after taking that in, all that was left was another dinner and a stroll through the night market (i bought a fun paper lantern/lamp! and possibly some more jewelry..) before hitting the hay.

river of orange

we were up early the next morning - even before the sun - to catch the daily monks' alms walk. we were confused as to where exactly this event took place but we ambled somewhere in the semi-darkness until we reached the spot where most tourists seemed to be gathered. a few people were milling around, some had chairs. there was even a makeshift coffee stand. we waited in for some sort of order to arise and eventually we saw the monks approach, easily visible in their distinctive bright orange robes. the walk was simple but still an interesting sight - all the monks shuffling forward, accepting their small offering of rice from each person assembled, dropping it into their pots. one elderly couple looked particularly sweet as they doled out the portion to each successive brother. and then just as the light was almost total, the walk ended and the monks scattered into the town, each to their respective temple, i suppose.

just elephants walking through a river

we headed back to the hotel for a quick breakfast before our next excursion: the elephant village. (side note: not that this is always a good measure, but on tripadvisor it's the #1 thing to do in laos. not this city. all of laos.) it ended up being one of our favorite parts of the trip. i suppose we booked it initially because we hadn't felt satisfied with our last elephant ride. besides, you can't come to the land of a million elephants without at least seeing one, right? another bumpy ride and we found ourselves in elephant country. it was a lovely camp, and just from the way it's set up you can tell they have the elephant's interest at heart. our half-day adventure started with an elephant ride, naturally. we were on a little saddle, as before, but this one was bamboo instead of metal. our mahout led him to the water, down a narrow slope that this giant creature somehow navigated. we waded through the river and came to a small embankment. there the mahout gestured, asking if i wanted to switch and ride on his shoulder. let me think about that.. um, YES! i was so excited; it was exactly what i had been hoping for. it took a little while to get used to; if you don't sway your body with his you could easily topple off. but i got the hang of it. it even seemed like he was wrapping his big floppy ears around my legs to keep them in place. i patted his hairy head in return. i assumed before we reached the end of the rocks the mahout and i would switch back. but the elephant had other plans. he kept on trucking - through the water, up a small hill and up to some delicious sugar cane. i'm happy to say i managed to stay on top throughout and had a fantastic time doing so.

after that we had a chance to feed the elephants - we bought a bunch of bananas and had a grand time feeding him whole ones that he would curl up into his trunk and devour. then we fed ourselves - a lunch provided by the village. then it was a pleasant boat ride to a place that i'm sure is very beautiful when there is a waterfall but in the dry season, less so. and then back to luang prabang where we wandered to the other side of the river and got some chocolate croissants for the road.

i'm not sure i've ever said this before, but i think we did luang prabang about perfectly. though it's a small town we spread our visit over several days so we could take our time, breaking up days of temple-visiting with little jaunts out of the area. altogether a completely lovely visit. no complaints at all!

tourist traipse

as i said, we took the night train to chiang mai. in general i love train travel and night trains are always exciting for some reason. our compartment was quite nice and we had the 4 berths to ourselves for several hours (until more tourists arrived around 10pm - i've never seen so many foreigners on a train!). the ride overall was good - we have a rather expensive meal brought to us along with 'wine' (actually a wine cooler), and it was a tad jerky, sort of a side-to-side rocking. but i slept soundly as i always do (i like to think the train rocks you to sleep, even if it does inhibit reading at times) and woke up in the thai countryside. lush green scenery and trees on either side.

chiang mai itself wasn't quite what i expected. on the drive into the old town i realized the shops were filled with t-shirts (the tired 'same same but different' and a variety of local beer logos) and restaurants offered cuisines of various countries (personal favorite: loco elvis' tex mex). it was clear this town was going to be a bit more touristy than expected.

green leafies at the market

we checked into our pleasant room inside the old city (surrounded by what was once a moat but is now really a series of water-filled medians dividing the road) and went out in search of a traditional lunch. something of a challenge, as it turns out. on the way we passed italian, middle eastern, and 'continental' cuisines but no thai. finally once we reached the market (and had passed approximately 8 dozen massage parlors) we found a small stall just opposite that served up tasty, authentic dishes cooked to order in the giant wok? (pan?) out front. everything is fresh, naturally since all the fruits and vegetables come from the market that's literally steps away. the market itself is full of crazy-looking giant fruits, fish in little baskets and of course all manners of green vegetables.

dark wood with flowers, nice touch

next up: what else? temples. we began the trek as laid out by the guest house owner on our map. this walk took us outside the city 'walls' (that moat thing) and back in. the temples all vary but usually have some-lots of gold ornament and the typical pointy roofs. the one at right was more in the lao-style, which i suppose means dark wood and less gold. understated is refreshing at this point. finally about 4 temples and lots of walking later we found ourselves back in the middle of town. off one of the main streets i spotted a vintage clothing store where i scored some cute wedges (no small feat finding shoes that fit in asia! pun intended!) and a polka-dot dress. pleased with my find and tired from all our walking, we made our way back towards the guesthouse for a quick rest.

why mess with a good thing

and after our rest, a massage! we stopped at one of the many parlors we saw. the prices are all about the same, so might as well stop at a place that looks pleasant, right? that logic seemed to work out pretty well for us. the place we chose had bamboo walls, dim lighting, soft new age music - the works. the massages themselves were pretty good too. i was certainly relaxed. from there it was just a short walk back down the street to our lunch spot. can't be good food with fresh ingredients right?

the next day was the day we chose to do a day trip/tour of sorts. my mom and i aren't 'tour people' as such, but in this case it seemed to be the best way to do a variety of things in the area we wanted to do. the guesthouse proprietor advised us to choose the cheapest package as they all end up being more or less the same anyway. we took his advice and in the midst of breakfast (they had to box it up) we were whisked away into the back of the songthaew (song means two, which i assume refers to the benches that line either side of the back area). we stopped at several more guesthouses picking up new people along the way. we ended up with a fun group - a young australian girl, a very blond, very tall belgian flight attendant, an outdoorsy american couple, a french couple and a gaggle of czechs who didn't speak much english (side note: how do you get by traveling in asia without knowing english..?). it was a bumpy ride but our young, energetic guide remained peppy throughout (at least she seemed peppy; we rarely knew what she was saying), despite having to sit on the floor.

just look at all those butterflies

the first destination was an orchid/butterfly farm, which sounded neat enough. well, something must have been a little off, because the number of butterflies i saw was exactly zero. unless, of course, you count the dozens of dead ones in the gift shop. including earrings made out of those beautifully iridescent wings (cool or creepy, i can't decide). at any rate there were orchids, which i suppose is still pretty nice.

the downhill portion

a bumpy ride later, we arrived somewhere out of the city amidst greenery and hills. glad to be out of the songthaew we walked quickly over to the where the elephants were kept, where we were instructed to read the information about their place (and why it's not inhumane to ride them, keep them chained up, etc. etc. which i'm sure is true, i'm not trying to be flip, though i'm sure every such place has the same information). we climbed up the platform as the elephants sidled up and then shimmied on to the metal baskets above. it was something akin to what you would get inside to ride a roller coaster at a small carnival. perhaps for that reason, the ride itself was somewhat underwhelming. the elephant was led around a prescribed, circuitous path, taking us through a small stream and past a view of an elephant that seemed to be sipping from the stream in an idyllic setting (upon closer inspection, we realized he was chained there. oof.) i couldn't put my finger on it, but it just wasn't as exciting as i had anticipated. once we came to the end (our elephant was easily distracted by sugar cane/grass/anything) we dismounted and sat down to a lunch of rice and vegetable curry.

supposed 'long neck' tribe member

my mom and i were then informed that we had to make a choice between staying with the elephants to learn.. well, something, it wasn't clear what, or going to visit the nearby 'hill tribe' for an extra 300 baht. (remember how i said all the tours are essentially the same? evidently everyone on our tour paid a different price; this one we hadn't paid for yet.) we opted for the hill tribe, which was a rather short drive, considering one would expect them to be, well, in the 'hills'. this should have been the first clue that something was awry. when we reached there we saw a lovely (man-made?) waterfall and situated around it, dozens of stilted wooden structures. these were essentially shops, staffed by 'authentic hill tribe members' in traditional garb. of course the fact that they represented a number of different tribes in such a small area indicated that they were brought to that area for this specific purpose. who knows where they were actually from. it seemed like a big sham, and everyone was pretty universally disappointed. as it turns out, though, our belgian friend who stayed with the elephants didn't fare much better. she was made to put on a denim shirt and then wait for her elephant ride as the mahout smoked a cigarett and, apparently, forgot about her.

ah, well. onwards! this time a longer drive to take our 'jungle hike'. mom opted out of this one, which was for the best since, as she suspected, the trail was full of steep slopes and rock scrambles. the scenery was nice - quite green and well, jungley. we spotted a few giant spiders and crazy looking centipedes along the way. eventually we reached the waterfall below where we were meant to swim. the water was freezing though so i opted to sit out and take photos for the others. it was not terrible picturesque but it did fit all the requirements of a waterfall as it had water flowing vertically over some rocks. a short hike back uphill and we were back at our vehicle.

best view of the ride was before we began

at this point we were all pretty exhausted - i think more from the bumpy, cramped drives than the actual walking (of which we hadn't done that much) but we still had the last leg of our day to go. this section was to be either white water rafting or a bamboo raft ride. i had hoped for the former but the group chose the latter. although, in hindsight, it was likely better that way since we were all so pooped. we began our rafting trip with mild anticipation; it quickly waned from there. the views from the boat were.. fine. a house here, a patch of trees there. by 10 minutes in, we were rafted out. but the ride.. it just went on and on and on. we were all going slightly stir-crazy, wondering if each successive port would be our final stop. no? maybe this one..? what's that? oh.. sigh.

finally the boat ride came to an end and we were loaded back into the songthaew for the long drive back. at some point i was comparing the ride to driving in india. there's just something about driving in india that's unlike anywhere else. oh boy, four days out of india and i'm getting nostalgic. eesh. by the time we had re-entered the old town and dropped off several of the passengers, including ourselves, it was far past dark. we were, as i said, pretty tired. but we had one more destination:

business at the night market

the saturday market. we had heard it was not as big as the sunday market, but no matter. we were not to be disappointed. it was enormous! it stretched way, way down one main street. in fact we never actually came to the end of it. at some point we figured we'd done all we could and about-faced. the market itself was great though. i came expecting handicrafts and scarves but instead found more trendy, local-made crafts that seemed more typical of richmond than southeast asia. (i counted no less than 11 stalls with bicycles on t-shirts) no complaints here though! the market, of course, also included a wide array of foodstuffs, ranging from snow cones to noodles to spiders (no, we didn't sample the latter). and it was packed! especially considering this happens once, well twice including sundays, a week. it must just be where everybody goes. we even saw our exhausted tour guide out eating with her friends after spending the better part of her day on a bumpy truck floor.

overall a chaotic ending to a crazy full day. and a fitting end to a very full trip to chiang mai

my thai-land

once again we found ourselves at the bombay airport (i think that makes 4 times in 5 days or something obscene) and - after being mistakenly dropped at the domestic terminal - were on our way to bangkok. in less than five hours we were in bangkok. i have to admit, it was a little weird to be out of india. the language of course i knew nothing of (but i will say the alphabet looked something like malayalam or tamil). at first it was a little stressful leaving the airport with no idea how the transportation works, how much something should cost, etc. etc. but once i realized i was just a tourist and there was no expectation (from myself, more than anything) to know any of these things i relaxed and just braced myself to get somewhat ripped off. something that's always hard for me to accept.

we got in a thai version of an auto rickshaw (each country seems to have its own) - he took us a bit farther then realized he either didn't know where we were going or for some reason no longer wanted to take us there. he dropped us off and fortunately we were able to find a nice taxi driver who even went by the meter.

we arrived at our hotel which was perfectly situated in the old part of town along the river and, as it turned out, had an unbeatable view of wat arun, the temple across the water. the hotel - sorry, residence - has only a few rooms and ours was just lovely. a living area and bathroom with a loft bedroom area above. the shape of the space and the look of the stairs (and, i suppose, the presence of water) made it seem somehow boat-like and fun. we briefly enjoyed our surroundings and then rushed out to find some food. it was now past 2pm and the cookies we'd had on our 6 am flight were a distant memory.

fortunately on the corner of our little street was an unassuming outdoor eatery of plastic tables and chairs (this seems to be a wide trend among southeast asia). we sat down and had two bowls of delicious noodles/rice with pork and a few sodas. i made note of the accoutrements on the table - we had a set of various spices, vinegar and chilis - sort of like the typical indian lemon, onion and pickle combo. we devoured everything in front of us and paid our bill (about $3) and were on our way fully satisfied.

from there it was a short walk to one of the ports. along the way we saw all manners of dried seafood, fruits, nuts. at one point i took a picture of a basket of shrimp and was immediately accosted by the shopkeeper and unwittingly dragged into a 10-minute conversation in which he showed me every photo he had of the members of his family and all the countries he'd visited (which was quite impressive). he was nice, but it was still very odd, and ended with him giving us an envelope and enlisting us to send him something from america. lesson learned.

nightly boat traffic on the river at wat arun

we reached the dock and decided to take a trip on the water taxi as an intro to the city. we quickly hopped on a boat - they seemed to be arriving every few minutes - and wobbly found a seat on the long, low narrow boat. we saw a few temples.. then fewer, as we headed into the more hotel/corporate end of the city.. then an interesting expansion bridge.. then the sun began to set and we figured we should turn around. we got off at one stop, easy enough, then waited for another going the opposite direction, and suddenly realized that we hadn't really seen any. it only ended up being about a 10-minute wait, though, and we arrived back at our stop just as it was getting dark and the temples were being lit up. we hurried back to our hotel where we enjoyed both the spectacular view of the opposite temple lit up and our complimentary welcome drinks. it happened to be valentine's day, as well, so on our way down we passed several couples dressed fancily (when was the last time i saw so many miniskirts and heels??) for a dinner at the hotel's classy restaurant.

street food/night life

we walked the other direction this time, in search of a cheaper option. on the way i was excited/dismayed to learn that there was a french movie playing outdoors nearby - very cool, but unfortunately we were too hungry/late to catch it. we walked on and soon came upon the beginnings of a street market (produce and sweets mostly) where we saw another corner restaurant. same plastic chairs, same table garnishes, slightly different but delicious food. this time noodles with pork balls (which can also be seen roasting on every street corner). we got and paid for our food mainly through pointing and gesturing, then enjoyed it as we watched a few cars zip by along the street.

the next day we set out early since we had so little time in the city. hoping to do the royal palace first, we headed in that direction. on the sidewalk we were intercepted by a man who told us we weren't properly dressed for the palace (half-true) and that it wouldn't be open for foreigners until the afternoon (not true). instead he recommended we visit several other temples in the rickshaw that just, hey, happened to be nearby. in retrospect, we quickly realized this was a scam. still, the ride was dirt cheap and we were only taken to a few jewelry/silk emporiums - at one of which we bought something, the others we extricated ourselves as quickly as possible. apparently the drivers get a cut when they bring us there. pretty sneaky. at any rate we saw a few temples, tried a tempting chicken-on-a-stick (full of fat, bleah) and had a wonderfully spicy lunch (fiery shrimp paired with a thai iced tea with milk) before being dropped off back at the royal palace.

all that gold must be heavy

entering the grounds feels very much like entering disneyworld. there's a big crowd, cheesy music piped in and a recording that repeats a welcome message and the opening hours for visitors. once inside we found out i had to cover my shins (seems like vital information for a guide book, no?) so we had to wait in line to borrow a wrap-around fabric. it was actually quite pretty but also very hot in the rather stifling heat. the grounds of the palace are, of course, massive. we wandered around the vast set of temples - all covered in ceramic mosaics or gold. actually there's just a lot of gold here, period. and here i thought india was super-decorated. every inch is covered with something - either a guardian figure, some sort of stylized flames, or just tiny tiles. after exhausting our bodies and cameras we left in search of a respite. we got some water and street food (crab wrapped in dough and dipped in some sort of mango butter, i think) and walked through an informal street market that had wares ranging from food to old coins to plenty of tiny buddha figurines.

baskets and bouquets - thousands of roses

in need of a rest, we headed back to the hotel to relax before dinner. by the time we headed back out it was dark (it does get dark early) and we set out in search of the night market. after a short, overpriced rickshaw ride we realized it was just a bit past where we'd walked for dinner the night before. live and learn. we wandered through the market - first flowers. thousands and thousands of flowers of all kinds. but mainly marigolds (yellower than the indian counterparts), roses, carnations, and orchids (so cheap you almost just want to buy one for the novelty!) an amazing site. i stopped for an iced coffee (so delicious - like south indian filter coffee but with condensed milk) and we walked on through the food sections with produce, sweets, all sorts of fruit, meat, just about anything. we crossed a big intersection and entered the other part of the night market, that is, mostly retail. all kinds of clothes, shoes, cosmetics and accessories. there were some pretty good tees and sneakers - definitely a step above fashion street (sorry, bombay). i had my eye on some sneakers but in the end only walked away with some nail polish. oh and a tiny blueberry waffle which was delightful. we ended up hungry and wandering to the nearest restaurant we could find - over a little bridge right on the river (which i recognized later in a scene of the hangover 2, on tv the next day). they had tom yum soup - exactly what we'd been searching for. it's a delicious tomato-based soup with shrimp, lemongrass, lime leaves, basil, and other subtle citrusy spices and herbs. perfectly accompanied with a cold singha beer. one of our favorite meals of the trip.

gaudi, before gaudi

the next day it was up early to head to the temple across the street. you gotta break up these temple visits; there are so many and it's easy to get 'templed out'. we were there a little after 8 and found a pretty peaceful temple, with just a group of schoolchildren in formation reciting some kind of pledge. we wandered around, watching as people fed the one or two puppies and went about their morning routines. it was more of the same decoration - lots of ceramic of all kinds and a few golden spires. the interior, here, though, was the main attraction. in one of the temples resided the sleeping buddha, a reclining buddha that's over 45 feet tall (god only knows how long) and takes up almost the entire space. the buddha himself is covered in gold - all but the bottoms of his feet, which are mesmerizing swirls of mother-of-pearl. pretty amazing.

we decided we had time so we'd head across the river to wat arun, that temple we'd been gazing at from our hotel every night. a quick ferry ride and we were right there. it turned out this temple was worth a closer look. it was, like others, entirely covered in ceramic and gold, but the ceramic of this temple came mostly from broken cups and saucers of all different designs. very gaudi-esque. you were able to climb up the (incredibly steep) steps up part of the stupa which i did, clinging to the flimsy metal handrail.

then back across the river and out of the sun for a somewhat unremarkable lunch (our first) before checking out of the hotel and heading to the train station to leave our things. this ended up being almost hassle-free, and a nice service to have. from there we went to the jim thompson house (after some minor difficulty finding a cab), which is the residence of a WWII soldier/architect who moved to thailand after the war. i was skeptical as everything was very overpriced and chi-chi (the store prices were ludicrous). but actually the house itself was quite innovative. he incorporated indigenous design elements with clever ideas of his own. he even incorporated antique asian pieces (like doors) in interesting ways - as room dividers or tables.

from there we took the metro to a shopping area in the newer part of town - somewhere we hadn't really explored yet. the metro itself was quite nice - user-friendly and clean, with TVs everywhere. but it was rather expensive. and with all the line-switching (there are two separate lines with separate payment systems for some reason) it ended up being probably more than taxis would have cost us. seems counter-productive to me.

another quick stop for a market (again mostly retail - cute but very small clothes and shoes) and another ill-advised chicken-on-a-stick (same result) and then back to the train station. there we hoped to enjoy a massage as we waited. there was only one staff member on the job so mom got a foot massage while i explored what little the train station convenience store had to offer (ice cream flavored oreo? crab flavored chips?)

then pretty soon it was time to board. next stop: chiang mai