Day 61 Off to Burma!

This morning I am boarding my flight to Myanmar. I will be there until the 12th and promise to take loads of pictures and note of interesting stories. I don't think the internet will allow blogger, so stay tunned for a massive update.

Day 60 Burma is trying to break my spirit

Arriving anywhere at the wee hour of 6 a.m. has never been my favorite time of arrival. This trip to Bangkok was no exception. I took the train from Laos with a friend and if it wasn't for him I would have lost what little left of my sanity that I possessed at the time. I had some money stolen by what I am pretty sure was a fellow traveller. Having no cash I boarded the train to await the stop in Thailand to get some money. I get to Thailand and my card is frozen. Are you serious??? So on the kindness of Stuart I got to the backpackers district to call my bank and figure out this financial delimma. Not only do I need to take out massive amounts of cash to get to Burma tomorrow but I have to sleep, eat and pay back my friend. Grrrr.

After each of us spent some time in the internet cafe and Stuart found a guesthouse with rooms we were ready for a nap and then I have a task ahead of me. Finding prestine dollars to take with me tomorrow.

So traveling to Burma isn't as carefree and easy as most of the places I have traveled thus far. I had to obtain a visa, in person with a bunch of pictures and I think the Burmese government might know more about me than my mom now....Then I had to obtain enough cash for my entire visit. There are no banks in Burma and the only currency you can exchange is US dollars. But these aren't any US dollars, these dollars are preferred in 100s, never been folded, crumpled, or creased in anyway. Any of the above will make them completely useless.

In Bangkok it is seriously hard to find these gems. I went to eight banks, three travel agencies and took a cab ride to another area of town before one of the ladies in the little currency booths said something like....ah, Burma...you need 2006 series 100s. I have them for you. If it wasn't for the protective piece of plexi-glass I would have hugged her I was so happy.

So to wind things down I went back to the hotel and met up with my travel buddy Stuart to have a last night out in Thailand. It was fun but as I type this from the airport I am all sorts of tired and worn out as it has been a few days since I got some decent sleep.

Day 59 Chooo-choooo, Night train back to Bangkok

Today was a train day. Not much to say about it. I headed back with a guy I met on the train on the way to Chiang Mai a few weeks ago. It was painless enough and if for some reason he reads this.....the train is better than the bus. You were right.

Days 57-58 Dear Vientiane why are you so expensive and boring?

Seriously I wasn't impressed the first round when about a day here, but I thought it was raining, I was tired....it is bound to improve...yeah, no. The only thing I can say for it is that pretty much everyone I knew from Vang Vieng was here plus a few more so there were plenty of people to keep myself entertained with.

The reason I was staying in Vientiane was to collect my passport from the Myanmar Embassy. I was told to be there at 4pm on Tuesday. In hindsight I shouldn't have been such a cheap ass with something as important as my passport in limbo, but I am sooooooo over being ripped off by tuk-tuk drivers. The last time I went to the embassy it was a bit of a walk so I thought getting a bike would be a nice idea.

Now this may be Laos but I still suck at navigation. Really suck. I took off looking for the main road and figured I would catch it down a ways as there were loads of one-ways and annoyances that you don't deal with when you are walking. An hour and a half later...yes....that's right. I finally got to the embassy. Tired as I had been sick this week and biking around the city in the heat for that long wasn't my idea of fun. I got my passport back and am no officially allowed in Burma! Wooohooo!

Days 54-56 What's the point of taking the bus if it rains as much inside as outside?

Today I backtracked to Vang Vieng because I have at least five days until my passport will be back from the Myanmar Embassy and Vientiane is some serious kind of boring.

I got up bright and early on a rainy day to take the bus three or so hours north. I didn't however expect the luxurious bus that was our  ride for the journey. The seats were plush, the driver was slow and steady, there was adequate room for all luggage and none of it was used as a jumping play toy for a toddler, yep, definetely not my bag.....The bus ride was long, dirty, rusty, wet and squished. I met a girl from Kenya on the bus and we exchanged surprised glances back and forth at every new event.

We arrived in the midst of a serious downpour. Dropped our bags at the first hotel with a room and took a look around the then sleepy town of Vang Vieng.

Vang Vieng's claim to fame is tubing. It is the place that backpacker's picked a few years ago to float down in rubber tubes while sipping on some beverages. The town has grown to accomodate those people. There are lots of cheap hostels, tv lounges showing friends all day and some good bars. I was shortly reunited with Glenda and Stuart from Luang Prabang and things were beginning to look up. We had a great night and my shitty mood from the horrible ride up was quickly adjusted when I realized that there were way more good times to come in Vang Vieng than sitting in Vientiane staring at my computer for five days, so the journey, while uncomfortable, was worth it.

Day two I woke up sick. Stupid cold. I had absolutely no energy and kept low key all day. It is no surprise that everyone else went tubing, but I was in no shape to do anything like that. I took an epic nap and just chilled.

Day three I felt a bit better and took off for the river. I think we hit almost all the bars. Each one seemed to have its own thing. One had a zip line swing. I partook. At another I played some mud volleyball, it was very slippery....And the final one had a slide. It was great fun and I can understand, just a tiny bit, why some people come here and stay for a year or so.....just a tiny bit.

I didn't really take any pictures, I was afraid of loosing/breaking my camera. I did take a few pictures of the cute little town as we took off for Vientiane.




My pregnant kitty friend… Looking like she was ready to pop I figured she could use an easy meal and I grabbed her a bit of milk before leaving Vang Vieng. 

Day 53 Third Times A Charm

Today is the day! Today is the day that I finally had a successful trip to the Myanmar Embassy. About damn time. The fault is shared equally, but having paid for a flight I needed to make this trip work.

I arrived in the early a.m. and set off quickly to get some answers and hopefully get a Visa and stay in Laos with some great rather than having to leave for Bangkok and get it there where the more express processing happens. The man at my guesthouse's English was less than awesome. I didn't quite find this out until I realized I was walking about an hour in the light rain to a part of town that wasn't on my map. Thank goodness for kind people. A guy from Germany who coaches the Laotian womens football team was driving down the street actually gave me a ride to the Embassy explaining to me that I didn't have much time and the process can take quite some time. Then arriving there I realized with the help of those around me that I was one picture passport pictures short. I was told to fill out the paperwork and run to the corner to the shop and get some pictures done quickly. Side note. By now I look a righteous mess. I wouldn't let me into any country. I had taken a dusty dusty dusty tuk tuk drive the previous day then boarded a night bus then come straight to the embassy in the rain. The entire back of my legs/dress are covered in mud and I am quite the sight to see I am sure.

On the directions of the embassy guy I took off to the right in search of the passport photographer. Yeah. He wasn't to the right. I walked for about 15 minutes before I saw another foreigner who looked as though this wasn't his first trip to the area. He told me I was way off track and offered me a ride on his bike. So at this point I am covered in mud and have hopped in a car and on a bike to get this taken care of. I came back to the embassy and so far so good. Hopefully I will be have my own visa to take with me to Thailand next Thursday. But boy do you have to earn it here.

Day 52 Stupid Caves......

My final day in Luang Prabang was an early one. I arose a little later than I wanted to see the monks receive their alms for the day. It was quite the sight as 100 or so monks lined up taking food and money from the townspeople for their days meals. Afterwards I meandered around a few of the temples again, taking pictures. This time however, I met a monk who spoke great english and a bit of Korean as we talked about my job and such. I spent ten or fifteen mintues chit chatting before heading off to sort out my day.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with two Dutch travelers I met on our quest to the waterfalls wandering the town in hopes of visiting the Pak Ou caves. Boy was it a process. The tuk tuks and boats in Laos seem to work together and won't deal with the same customers knowingly. So when we didn't like the price quoted by one boat captain we were unable to get competing offers as they would say talk to my friend......annoying. Finally we found enough people when I asked a few guys walking by if they wanted to join. An hour or so later we were not on a boat but in a tuk tuk on a dusty hour long drive to the caves!

The caves themselves were boring shit. There were supposed to be 1000 buddhas. We were baffled to put it politely. After paying a small laotian fortune we decided to get our money worth by hunting the treasures at the top of a hundred or so stairs. It was even more shit. It was a cave with nothing of interest or importance where men continually asked for donations and held off on letting us use the working flashlights until we did. Did they think we were really going to give them more money? One of the Danish guys left an offering of busted flip flops which were greeted with confused looks. We adequately saw the pathetic display with the little torch we had and our camera flashes in a stubborn attempt to keep our kip.










The type of boat that we took to the caves after a dusty and long tuk tuk ride.


The "amazing" caves.


The 10,000 buddha images...

Day 51 Falling Water and A Bit More Shopping

Luang Prabang take two! Today we were loads more productive than the previous day. We rolled out of bed at a reasonable time to make it out to the waterfalls. On the way to the tuk tuk we ran into Stuart, a friend from Chiang Mai and convinced him to join our little waterfall party. After some serious time bartering we were able to get seven people into our tuk tuk and up the hill. It was a great time wandering around the different pools and seeing a random grouping of bears out for viewing? Then we hiked up a hill to come back down again because there wasn't much to see up there that was less than a 3km walk.

The falls were very relaxing and serene. The water was an unreal shade of blue, but a bit on the chilly side. All and all a score. That night we did night market round two. I was a little better today only taking home an awesome painting of a tree and a monkey. A monkey you ask? Yes, for some reason I am unsure of we all bought these monkeys. They are cute and cudely and yes, another thing to shove into my ever growing backpack.


Waterfall bears


Pandas around the world.






This guy was an awesome friend, he stopped to supervise the fixing of this tuk-tuk for what felt like years....

Day 50 Why is it getting dark....we just left the hotel?

Welcome to Luang Prabang. We welcomed ourselves by sleeping till noon! It was fantastic. After a scrumptious lunch we (Glenda the Brazilian, Lorance and Francis from New Zealand) headed out to see all the sights and be super de duper productive, hmmmmm....not so much. We went for a walk, changed some money, used the interweb and then it was dinner time. Wow How time flies by. It was a great relaxing day. I got my credit card unfrozen. Don't get me started on why you have to call in to say you are on holiday just to have the bastards freeze the card for you using it in said countries you are traveling in??!!! Anywho, I sorted it all out and am now the proud owner of a ticket to Burma! I will be getting of the beaten trail and spending Jan. 29th to Feb. 12th in Myanmar if I can get a visa. Then my friend from Korea is coming to Thailand for a week and hopefully we are going to hit the beaches in the south for my birthday! So thats my little trip plan update!

At night we ventured to the night market. Now the key to shopping in Asia is volume. You always get more for less. So, on this particular outing we bought some t-shirts. Or better yet, we stocked up on t-shirts. Why is it so interesting to me to have tshirts in strange languages. One of my major dissapointments in Korea was the obsession to use English on all t-shirts and such. I also picked up a few knick knacks for folks at home.




Cool shot of the sunset...too bad it didn't really look like this....the sky's on fire!


I guess this is more like it....


I couldn't think of an actual purpose for one of these or I would have bought twelve...they were so pretty!

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Struggling artist al a Laos

Day 49 Slow Boating Take 2

Again because there is little to less than no organization of the boat trip once you have paid and boarded the boat we were unsure what time we had to arrive in the morning. I was told eight then nine then nine thirty. I decided to show up at a quarter to nine and call it good. I got there and the entire thing was full. Sweet! I wondered where I would end up in the equation. I lucked out as some would say and had a seat saved for me by a fellow traveler who I had some dinner with the night before. I would say it was a toss up whether it a good seat or not. Don't get me wrong. It was all nice and cushy, definetley one of the better ones but its company left something to be desired and so I spent the better part of the day hanging out with Harry Potter and some old favorites on the ipod. BTW awkward travel story of the week. The guy to be named "Minnesota" for the remainder of my time in Luang Prabang would not take the hint. He continued to ask to grab dinner later, followed us a few times around town and at one time just sat down with the group of travelers I was with and ordered dinner. At that point I had grouped up with a couple funny New Zealand guys and a girl from Brazil.....they had him pinned as a serial killer or rapist. I think it was more along the lines of lack of social skills....but we successfully dodged him or at least ignored him for the rest of the trip and all was good.

Aside from my crazy neighbor I really enjoyed the ride. It was nine hours I think and we saw lots of villagers, fellow boaters, elephants and a great sunset. Upon arriving in Luang Prabang I hooked up with those mentioned above and we had a blast getting aquainted with wee town of Luang Prabang during the next couple of days.


The scenery was nice. Hard to photograph from our "just fast enough for a blurry picture" boat but it was nice all the same


Oh, just another adorable elephant.




"Buy me lady"

Day 48 On The Slow Boat to China...errrr. Luang Prabang.

Slow going. I was up at the bright hour of 6am to get the bus to the boat launching in my quest to ride the Mekong to Luang Prabang, Laos. For the first time in history of the world transportation in Asia was early and as a result I am less one alarm clock. I had a perfectly planned to be ready at the stated pickup time of 45 after.....so some details were left unattended. I am sad to have lost my friend who has kept me alert and on time for this journey. Now to find one that glows in the dark and maybe has a snooze button?

Anyways, I am getting distracted. The journey from Chang Kon, Thailand to Luang Prabang, Laos takes two days. Yes, that is two days on a boat. It is both awesome and horrible...but more to the awesome side I thought. The first day we got a late start and did about six or seven hours of reading, photographing, drinking and snacking. This landed us in a town populated by other slow boaters for the night. Now, the shit part is that we were dumped off on the side of a hill of sand. No lights, dark dark dark in the night and can I say the word chaos is a complete understatement! Fudge! Thankfully the drunkards at the front of the boat got their stuff together enough to help pile bags on the shore and after a good 20 minutes almost all the bags are gone and I still bagless....I found my bag attached to a small Laotian man. He wanted to carry it up the hill for me for a small fee. Normally I would oblidge but I had few precious kip to buy dinner and lunch for the next day and couldn't spare a one. After prying it loose I had to hunt for accomodations and find some food. I discovered upon more questioning that this is what happens everyday. I would go bloody crazy if I had to deal with the crazy tourists everyday. I can't believe that no one has come up with a better idea or bought a flippin flashlight.


The boat. Day one. Everyone still look excited, and a bit squished.


The K-9 traveler. This little Euro dog is seeing the world with his owner and boy is he good at making friends. I think it plopped right no my legs for about half an hour or so....cutie!


Slow boats

Day 47 Motorbiking To The White Temple

Today I did one of my favourite things. I rented a motorbike! Yes I might be becoming a bit of an addict. I wanted to see a temple 13km away from town and this seemed to be the easiest and most entertaining way of making that happen.

I took off rather late and headed straight out of town. The temple I was seeking was the "white temple" According to my friend Heather it is like nothing you see anywhere else and pretty amazing. I was a little stunned to see that much white! It was glittering and gorgeous. I still prefer a more traditional approach but only because I like color. Imagine it was a bunch of colors with the cut glass and such. Wheeeweee!

I stared in awe for a little bit and then took off back to town to hopefully hit a few temples and sort out the slow boat ticket for the following day.








Me being the idiot that I am saw this and thought ohhhh, they added a gold temple. I started taking pictures and then realized that people were looking at me funny because it's the toilet....


The family dog Bruno will be dissapointed when I show him this picture and let him know they were out of his size....sighhhhh


Anything is possible in Thailand.....Cock fighting next to a temple, very buddhist!

Day 46 Changing in a Mai for a Rai

Reluctantly I left my home of the last four days Chiang Mai. It was a pleasant town, well I guess a city but it felt too cozy to me to be named a city. I was off to Chiang Rai to see a few sights and catch the slow boat to Laos. A short and easy 3 hours later I was in Chiang Rai at one of the best guest houses I have stayed at on my journey. Not because the people were particularly amazing, the crowd wasn't much to my liking but because I got a decent private room for a third of what I paid in Chiang Mai and the people who worked at the hostel were kind, honest and sweet as pie. I wished I could have stayed longer but it couldn't be so.

Day 45 OUCH!

Today I was going to head to Chiang Rai, a town a little to the north to see the sights and head out to Laos but I had this aching feeling that I should visit the dentist. So, I booked an appointment and lounged around town until I had to take off.

Now you might be thinking, dentist? Thailand? Are you crazy? Maybe I am. But I haven't avisited the dentist since pre-Korea and had this strong feeling I had a cavity or two. Also, Thailand is a bit of a destination for medical and dental work, so I wasn't too afraid of the quality of care and all the patients at this particular dentist were foreigners....so I am not the only one.

I had a few cavities it turns out. I was a bit shocked, but better to deal with them here. The dentist spoke great English and it was clean, sterile and cheap! The kicker was no novicaine. According to the dentist North Americans overuse this gem and it is uneccessary. So, I popped in my ipod and hoped that that La Roux could keep my mind off what was going on in my mouth. Only a few twinges later I was as good as new! I feel loads better now and pledge, as everyone does post dental pain, to floss daily and brush as much as possible!

Before the dentist I putzed around the hotel and used the internet. I had a little friend come and join me!

Day 44 Doi Setup and other temples

The German girls and Stuart wanted to do this massive day tour and I was less than enthusiastic. It came with a mighty price tag and a list of things that I had come across on my travels already. So I opted to keep my motorbike for the day and venture to a large temple about 10 km from the city center. I was a bit worried at first because the man at the guest house told me the road was quite windy and the first thing that popped into my head was the windy road up to Mt. Baker but I thought I would head out there and if it turned out to be too hard I would simply turn around. I kept my speed down and found it to be just fine. The temple was worth it! The spectacular stupa was under repair but there were loads of other things to snap pictures of. I had a grand day and found myself a slurpee!


Welcome to the temple!




Ding Ding Dong


Monk blessing people


Money Tree






mom?




Dragon




SLURPEEEEEEE

Then I putzed around town. Now I wish I new the name of each temple I visited but there weren't always English signs at them and some of them I literally zoomed in and out....


rawrrrrrr




Who said money didn't grow on trees?










Monks hard at work studying