End of the Line

I am writing this as a final entry...for now. I'll be heading off to the lost continent of Africa where there is very little computers let alone an internet connection for them. Nah, I don't really know for sure but I hear there are few connections and the ones that are there are really expensive, as much as eight to ten dollars an hour! So needless to say I'm not paying that for dial up. Anyways I'll keep up the entries on my computer and upload them once I get back to a decent connection (probably back in the states). I know I'm already behind seeing how I've been in India for three weeks and haven't even finished my Laos posts.

The plan is to make a loop from Kenya to Uganda and then to Rwanda where I might get the chance to trek the endangered mountain gorilla. Then I'll head back east into Tanzania's Serengeti to try and witness the annual wildebeest migration before heading to the island trading post of Zanzibar. I plan on moving south through Malawi to hang out on the beaches of Lake Malawi before crossing in through the middle of Mozambique where I'll do some scuba diving and snorkeling with some rather large marine life. I'll then keep heading south into South Africa before trying to squeeze in a trip to Namibia and/or Victoria Falls. I know it's a lot but I think I might be able to pull it off. Wish me luck... better yet, send money. Until then we'll see how the story changes.

Happy New Year...again

After another small debacle with the minibus that we booked, we finally ended up in Luang Prabang. Pii Mai or the Lunar New Year is celebrated from April 13^th through the 17^th. It’s their version of Christmas where everything shuts down. Businesses close, families gather, food is eaten, and alcohol flows freely. What’s most commonly associated with the new year celebration are water fights. I’ve heard its because they are celebrating the new year and the coming of the rainy season so they douse people with water all over the streets. There is no discrimination as everyone is fair game, even the police. Don’t think that just because you have a nice expensive camera they will spare you. Loads of tourists and loads of locals celebrate it throughout SE Asia but they say Luang Prabang is the place to be if you’re in Laos. As with any holiday the prices for everything is increased but it was well worth it.

After meeting back up with Adam and Oracle the first night we prepared ourselves for the next day. I put my money and wallet in my dry bag and headed off. True to the stories we got wet pretty quickly. But its so much fun and they love for you to join in. We cut the tops off some plastic bottles and there are refill stations where water hoses fill up big buckets along the way. There are also truckloads of people driving around town that have their own buckets filled. What we weren’t informed of was the black residue they gather from cooking pans and smear over each other as well. There’s also flour being slapped on as well as dyed water being thrown everywhere. The colored water washes out if you rinse off in time but unfortunately I didn’t notice some green on my shirt and now its ruined. Oh well.

It’s a very fun and festive time as all the locals let loose and there is something going on everywhere. The kids are running around with their water guns but I think the adults are having more fun getting wet. Plus it’s a great way to escape the sweltering sun. There are also some beautiful parades through town where you can see some great costumes and traditional Laos dress.

Spring Break 2008

They say that April and May are the hottest months in SE Asia. I concur. Its been insanely hot hear in Vang Vieng. Some of the people who ran the guesthouse that the girls were staying in took us to a cave where you could swim through. This gave us the chance to cool off a little before the sun went down. But even at night its still crazy freaky hot. It turns out that if you ask anyone anything about Laos the first thing they think of is tubing down the Nam Song River. Its so well known you can google it or see it on youtube. Basically the town has turned in to a giant spring break, not what should come to mind when you talk about Laos. The population seems to consist of more backpackers than locals and many of them are laid back watching reruns of ‘Friends’ sipping their Beer Lao or ‘happy’ shakes. But if you think about it there are a lot of places in Thailand that have similar reputations. Ironically enough we met several people who had been there for weeks, even months. Either way it was a fun place to spend a little time in and have a little break from the typical SE Asian cities.

The next day went down and rented some tubes to try out the river. It’s just like tubing down the Green River in North Cacalac except for the swings. These swings are insane. There are makeshift bars alongside the riverbank where you can stop and have drinks and also swing. Depending on when you let go you can have a little as a five foot drop or as much as a 25 foot drop. The video is of Adam doing a zipline but the photo is of me (kinda hard to tell) trying to become a trapeze artist. They’re really fun but pretty intimidating as well because the river depth varies so much, but I guess they plan where they place the swing lines well enough to ensure you don’t hit boulders in the water. They have OSHA in Laos right? Well we only made it about halfway down the river before it was too dark to see so we had to jump out early to get a tuk tuk to take us the rest of the way. Oh well, we still have tomorrow. Turns out that Jessica’s friend, Mathias, was arriving the next day and it was his birthday so we suited up and went again. Once again we didn’t make it back in time even though we skipped a lot of the bars. We had to get a motorized boat to take us to the end.

The next day we decided to have a little change of pace and doing some rock climbing. Mary and Jo were pretty unresponsive the next morning so we left them and headed for the rocks. There were some pretty good climbs except when the rocks got slippery from the rain. Luckily the climbing area was beside the river so we got to do one more swing on our way out. By this time it was almost the new year so we decided to try and take the overnighter to Luang Prabang. Well we were in a rush so it turned out that only Adam and our new friend Oracle (by the way most of these names aren’t real, they’re just nicknames we gave each other along the way) were to go that night. The rest of us were going to wait until the next day and take a minibus with our rock climbing guide. Bad idea. The guide was a moron stoner from Canadia and he didn’t book the bus, what’s worse was that he didn’t have the decency to tell us. So by the time we figured out he wasn’t going it was too late to catch any other bus and we didn’t want to take the overnighter and end up there at two in the morning. The craziness continued as we had already checked out of our guesthouses but had to try and find another guesthouse for that night since idiot didn’t come through. Because of the new years there were hoards of Thais who had come over and filled all the accommodations in town. We finally came across a single room and the owner said there were two double beds. It turns out his double beds were single beds and he was charging insane prices because he knew rooms in town were limited. Long story short Mary, Jo, Mathias, and I had to somehow all squeeze in one tiny room so we all went out for a night cap to help us sleep. Turns out it was one of the best nights of sleep I had had in a while.

Road Trip from Hell

Being that I am now a frugal backpacker I decided to forgo the chance to fly from Hanoi to Laos and take the much cheaper yet more time consuming 24 hour chicken bus. The bus was to leave from Hanoi at 7 pm and reach Vientienne the next day. Well after doing almost no research on this I went ahead and booked because it was only $22. When we got to the bus we were shocked to say the least. It was an old beat up coach packed full of supplies on top, underneath, and in the back of the bus. I've included a pic I took before we even left Hanoi. There were 3 others who had booked the same bus as I and we each grabbed up seats hoping that no one else would get on and we could stretch out a little. Well our hopes were lost as it seemed we kept picking up more people and more supplies throughout the night. Finally at 1 in the morning we reached a stop where we picked up more people and filled every seat as well as there were several people sitting on plastic seats in the aisle.

It was very hard to sleep so I stayed awake talking to Jessica, another American, who got on on the last stop. Apparently they had a really nice sleeper bus before being transferred onto our chicken bus. Around 5 in the morning the bus came to a halt and it turned out we were at the border but had to wait for it to open. Even after it opened we went through a crazy process of getting our exit stamps and having to 'pay' for an exit stamp. I think its very lucrative to be a border guard. Hours later we finally make it into Laos and are on our way again only to stop ten minutes down the road for one of the most lax customs checkpoints I've ever seen. We got back on briefly before stopping ten minutes later for what they said was lunch. None of us were hungry so we didn't really eat but it turns out we probably should have. Two hours after we stopped we all were waiting on the bus wondering what was going on while the driver and his friends were outside playing bocce ball. We assumed we were waiting to pick up more supplies or people but that wasn't the case. All of a sudden they decided they had enough bocce and started the bus back up. Well that turned out to be the last stop (other than a quick stop to jump into the fields for a wee) before we ended up in Vientienne around 6pm. The trip was definitely a memorable one that I would like to forgot but most likely will scar me for the rest of my life. The only upside was that I met some really cool people who I ended up traveling with through Laos.

Jessica and I had read that Vientienne had a bowling alley and we all decided to treat ourselves after such a horrific ride. Bowling was a lot of fun and since everything closes early in Laos anyways we called it an early night exhausted from the crazy ride. Adam, a Swede who I met on the Hanoi bus, and I wanted to try to make it to Luang Prabang for the lunar new year because it was the place to be. Jessica and two other Brits (Jo and Mary) were going to Vang Vieng the next day, about halfway between Vientienne and Luang Prabang, and asked if we wanted to go so they booked us on the bus as well. Turns out that the nice comfy bus we were supposed to have wasn't so nice and comfy. We were duped again! Once again we were relieved just to get off the bus but we were finally in Vang Vieng, one of the crazies little towns I've ever been to.

Trekking in Sapa

After my experience with the Halong Bay tour I decided to do Sapa on my own so I went to the train station and booked an overnighter to Sapa. I've been told Sapa is constantly 'shrouded in mist' so I knew not to expect great views when I was there. When I arrived to town I was greeted with nice cool weather. Considering it was almost April I welcomed the opportunity to wear pants and long sleeved shirts. Sapa is a small town in the mountains that recently has become a big hit on the tourist trail. Its known for all the ethnic minorities consisting of Hmong, Dzao, Tay, and Xa Pho tribes that live close by and the absolutely stunning views you can see if you get a clear day. My first day I just spent lazing around the town getting all my bearings straightened out. But the best part of the day was when I sat down at a street stall to grab a snack before heading back to the hotel and a bunch of locals came stopped in. We all ordered some food on the grill and then they got an aquafina bottle from the vendor with what looked like dirty water and a root in it. Well long story short, they insisted I drink with them and we ended up finishing the bottle off. Even though we didn't understand hardly a word of each other we all had a good time and some good laughs (probably at my expense).

The next day I hired a driver to take me around to some of the local villages where I got to see how the locals lived. When I arrived at a local cave I was bombarded with kids asking if I wanted a guide through the cave. Even though I only hired one I got four. They obviously were experienced spelunkers because they hopped and zipped right through while I trudged along slowly. When I got out a woman allowed me into her home where I saw their true lifestyle and got to have my first (and not soon to be last) taste of rice wine. The day was good but after checking back in with some of the travel offices there was no one signed up to try and climb Fansipan (the highest peak in Indochina). So instead I booked a homestay trek for the next day.

We started off walking out of town for about a kilometer before we turned off and headed towards the villages. Just before we made it to the first village it seems as if the skies just opened up. We came to a ledge that overlooked the village in the valley and you could see for miles. It was perfect. Walking through the villages was very fun and rewarding just to see the way they live. I felt like these villages seemed a lot more authentic then the ones I saw in Thailand. When we finally arrived at the village where we were to spend the night we were given some free time to explore before dinner. This was loads of fun because I didn't have to follow anyone around and had the freedom to do what I wanted. After my discovery tour we had dinner at the house and then it began to rain. The rain didn't matter since there was no electricity and we couldn't see anything if we wanted to. The night turned out to be one of the funnest nights in a while though. The family we stayed with cooked a feast that was probably the best meal I've had in Vietnam. We then sat around and talked with the family and the guide while the host broke out his rice wine which we didn't refuse. About five our six bottles later we were all having a great time and they night became blurry.

The next day we got up early and trekked back towards Sapa. I had booked overnight train heading back to Hanoi for that night but wished I hadn't. Sapa had really grown on me and its definitely one of my top destinations in SE Asia. So as I waited for the minibus to take me back to the train station I unloaded all my snacks and little trinkets on the little kids. They're really cute and these two girls gave me some bracelets even though all I gave them were some useless Singapore coins I had left over which they would never be able to use. I definitely would like to come back sometime but for now I gotta get over to Laos.

How long in Halong

Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and the starting place for most activities in the north. Northern Vietnam might as well be a different country. The lifestyle is more fast paced and in your face. It seems that you're more likely to be ripped off or scammed up here. But I just stayed for one day before booking my trip to Halong Bay. Halong Bay is known for its picturesque limestone karsts that jut out from the sea. They say that you can't do it for much cheaper than the tour prices so I booked a 3 day trip out to the bay where we would stay on Cat Ba Island one night and the next night on a junk boat.

So after herding up 20 or 30 people the next morning we jumped on the minibus for our 3 hour journey to the bay. When we finally arrived things started going downhill. First off, the weather in northern Vietnam was bleak the entire time I was there. I think in the week and a half I was there I saw the sun for a total of 3 hours. Other than that its always overcast, dreary, or raining. Despite the weather I still wanted to see Halong Bay but when we arrived at the pier we waited for what seemed like hours. Apparently the way it works is that there are hundreds of travel agencies in Hanoi that book the same tour so after they take their cut they send you to an operator who tries to fill up boats according to the number of people in your party and length of stay you're on. Well two hours later we finally had a full boat and were on our way. With the weather being so bad we weren't able to see further than maybe 25 meters but we still weren't deterred. That day we made it to a fascinating limestone cave but it was lit up with lights and stairs and such which made it too touristy for me. We were then given the chance to board a small boat that took us through a couple caves that lead to what were essentially craters filled with water in the middle of these limestone karsts. That night we were dropped off on Cat Ba and it was loads of fun because they were having a festival to commemorate when Ho Chi Minh came to the island. It reminded me of the state fair but it was fun to see all the locals get so excited over such a cheezy festival.

The next day we hiked up to the top of Cat Ba where the mist allowed us to see absolutely nothing but you can imagine how cool it could of been. Thats a picture of me on the summit. We then waited around near the hotel before we were taken back to the pier where we waited again and finally boarded our boat for the night. We spent the night on the boat and it was very nice but since we were short on time the second day we had to wake up very early the next day to get our kayaking in before heading back to Hanoi. Honestly, the trip wasn't very good and I feel Halong Bay is overrated. It could be very nice but the way they shuffle people around like cattle is annoying and the way they keep the bay environmentally isn't very good at all. All throughout the bay you can see where they dump garbage overboard and the oil from the engines sit on top of the calm water. Some people were given the opportunity to swim in the bay but I wouldn't just because it seemed way too polluted. Despite all that it was pretty fun because the people on the boat were lots of fun. We had a great night on Cat Ba and the night on the boat was fun playing cards and hanging out. My recommendation would be to go to Khao Sok NP in Thailand where its very similar to Halong except a million times cleaner and way less touristy.

Marching on Northward

My next stop after Dalat was to the resort beaches of Nha Trang. I had heard that the place was just basically a row of resorts along the beach and that suited me fine. My plan was to use it as a pit stop before heading further north. I got there late the first day and set off to find a dive outfitter to schedule a trip for the next day. For less than $55 I was able to get 3 dives which is crazy cheap. That night for dinner I came across a street vendor selling grilled seafood on the sidewalk. I got a fresh lobster for $6 but little did I know that I could have gotten it for half. Oh well, you win some you lose some. The next day the diving was pretty decent. There wasn't much marine life but the coral was very nice. The funnest part of the dive was swimming through an underwater cave about 15 or so meters. Inside there were tons of fish taking shelter and they parted just enough for you to swim through. The next day I had enough time before the next bus to grab a quick visit to the hot springs outside of town. I've been told that it makes your skin nice and smooth. Not sure about the truth in that but the bath was fun. It felt like swimming in chocolate milk except maybe a little grittier. Now I know what a Cheerio feels like.

After my mud bath I jumped on the overnight train to Hoi An. Hoi An is an old fashioned city with a few uninteresting sights. I found that the main draw card here were the loads of tailors that live here. Walking down any street you can't walk a block without passing at least four shops. They can make exact copies of designer clothes that normally would cost thousands and you can get it for less than a hundred bucks. Since I'm now a jobless bum and I don't have the need to wear a suit, I just got a pair of pants made. After trying on the end product I can tell you firsthand they're very very good at what they do. The quality of the sewing and of the material is excellent. I was surprised at how well they fit. Unfortunately, my attempt to stuff one of the ladies in my bag and ship her back home failed so I decided to head up to Hanoi the next day.