"If you can do it, you can do it in Asia"

After Chiang Mai Tim and I took the very windy road up to a smaller town in Northern Thailand called Pai. We found a gorgeous riverside bungalow with a hammock and a bamboo swing and spend lots of time reading and relaxing and making friends with the hippie travelers in Pai. One of the days we borrowed an innertube from our guesthouse and went on a walk up the river and went tubing. It was pretty relaxing except for a group of young Thai boys that chased us part way down the river pointing at us (we were in Western swimsuits and I think they had never seen a girl so uncovered). Tim also mastered riding a scooter while we were there, which was not easy especially because in Thailand everyone drives on the opposite side. The last day in Pai I was feeling the effects of some street food so Tim went fishing at a local pond on the scooter and caught 15 catfish... pretty good! He met some locals and picked up on some of their tricks... using dog food as bait.

From Pai we traveled straight to the border and the next morning crossed into Laos. Once in Laos we bargained our way onto a 2 day slow boat from the border to Luang Prabang. The ride was beautiful, there were lots of locals around fishing and we saw a lot of water buffalo. We stopped in Pak Beng for the night and the next day we made it to Luang Prabang. We teamed up with a couple of Aussies, Jen and Dave from Sydney, and found a nice guesthouse and a good deal on Beer Laos (3 for 21,000 kip or $2.50). The four of us spent a lot of time wandering around the city full of temples and checking out the night market full of handicrafts. Almost every night we ate Lao Bbq, which was amazing (a soup that you cook yourself at the table). For me though, the two highlights of the city were visiting the waterfall and seeing the safron circuit. Tim and I actually went to the waterfall twice, once with Jen and Dave and once after they left because we loved it so much. The water was extra blue from all the minerals and very refreshing. There was a very fun rope swing and cliff to jump off of (Tim and Dave even made it into a tourism comercial for Luang Prabang). After enjoying the waterfall we woke up extra early to see the 500 monks in the city walk around and collect their food for the day. It was an incredible sight!

Tim and I went further north to a small town only accessible by boat called Muang Noi. The town had no electricity but lots of small town appeal. Muang Noi is surrounded by misty limestone mountains and jungle. We spent lots of time relaxing, swimming in the river, and getting to know locals. Tim and I also visited the village market and got to see how the locals trade/buy their goods.

Yesterday we left relaxing Muang Noi and had a 12 hour travel day to get to Vang Vieng. We found a nice quiet bungalow away from the party town of Vang Vieng and have been enjoying the rainy day today. Hopefully we will go tubing while we're here but we'll keep you posted!

On another note, our memory card for the camera got a virus so we may not be posting pictures for a bit until we can buy a new one. Hopefully we can recover the images and post them soon.

Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai

Once we arrived in Ayutthaya Tim and I checked into our new guest house.  It was a small quiet place with no hot water or air-con, which was an interesting change of standards, but the price was just right and the hospitality was excellent.  That night we wandered the small strip and found a nice place for dinner to celebrate our four year anniversary!!! (Feb 2nd).  After some mediocre American food and a few large Chang's (local beer) we headed home and got some good rest as the jet-lag was still lingering.  The next day we rented bikes and pedaled around the ruins of the ancient city. We met up with a few other travelers that we ended up sticking with for a while; Elisabeth and Manuel from Bavaria (Germany). Later that night, our group explored the local night market where ate Thai food by the river. The next morning we left for Lop Buri, a nearby town infested with monkeys. After a day of being crawled on by very aggressive little rapscallions we took the overnight bus to Chiang Mai.

We made it to Chiang Mai at 6am and sleepily wandered the town to find a guesthouse. We ended up with a great place with hot water for 200 baht or 6 dollars a night. That day the four of us took advantage of the annual flower festival that was occurring in the town center. We watched the parade for nearly 4 hours and the flower covered floats just kept coming! The following day we took a tuk-tuk (open air taxi) just outside of the city to a beautiful temple on a nearby mountain top. Later that day we checked out the Chiang Mai zoo. The definite highlights were the black leopard (and other big cats), hand feeding giraffes, and petting a baby elephant. Later that night we walked around a huge Sunday night market and got Thai oil massages for 200 baht/hour each. Yesterday the four of us toured northern Thailand. We saw a gorgeous white temple, some small hot springs, and the black-gold triangle, the opium and heroin capital of Asia (also the joining place of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand). Unfortunately on the ride home to Chiang Mai our German companions decided to stay north in Chiang Rai, so we parted ways with high hopes of later visiting them in their homeland for some world class beer and sausage!  After a long ride home an episode of Dexter on the ipod we got home and passed out!  Today we have done nothing noteworthy, and have lazily milled around town just enjoying the beautiful weather and the land of 1000 smiles.

Exploring Bangkok

Tim and I lucked out with our Guesthouse because it is right by Fort Phra Sumen and the large river that runs through Bangkok. At this fort/park we got to see many boats, thai people doing aerobics, people fishing, and we encountered some pretty cool reptiles (Tim's favorite part). We saw a turtle, some geckos, and a huge Nile Monitor Lizard. The lizard looked like a mini crocodile and we caught it right when it was feasting on a large fish.

Yesterday we took advantage of the river and hopped on a ferry boat to the center of town. On our way we met a nice couple, one from Germany and the other from Quebec, (Jensen & Marianne) that we shared the day with. After a long ferry ride, we got on the metro and "got lost". We stumbled upon a huge shopping mall, a temple, the US Embassy, and the Lumphini Park (where we saw more Nile Monitor Lizards). Once the day was over we decided to hang out with our new friends a little longer over some Thai food and Chang beer. Unfortunately they had to take off for an island in the South but we hope to meet them again in our 5 months of traveling.

Today Tim and I are leaving Bangkok for a smaller town, Ayuthaya. We will let you know how that adventure goes and post more pictures soon.

K&T

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