Laos!

So I realize that it has been a while since I last posted and I'm waiting for the sun to come out before I go to the river again in Vang Vieng so I figure now would be a good time to tell you what's been going on over here.

Slow Boat
Last week I traveled from Chiang Rai in northern Thailand to Chiang Kong where I took the slow boat to Luang Prabang. I had heard that the slow boat was a great time and that it is a must do when traveling in Laos, and everyone was right. The boat was a big long boat that travels down the Mekong with probably about 50 people on board. The trip takes a full two days about 8 hours a day on the boat but the time really flies by. Most of the people on the boat were other travelers which was great. Everyone got to meet each other and just hang out. I met a great group of 8 other people and we've been traveling together ever since. Four Americans, two Swedes, a Brit and a Dutch. Not to mention all the other people that were on the boat that were around Luang Prabang and now Vang Vieng.

Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang was a great little city with some great food. I had my first real bagel lox cream cheese in about a month. It was delicious! There were some great little bakeries and restaurants there. The western food was good, I had a great pesto and tomato wood fired pizza and also some good curry and noodles. The highlight of Luang Prabang had to be the waterfall. The 9 of us hopped in a tuk tuk (southeast asian open cab type thing) and headed to the famed waterfall. Once there we were truly amazed at how beautiful nature can be. The waterfall consisted of many different swimming areas and blue pristine water. The best part had to be at the very top of the waterfall though. After trekking through a stream and climbing up a couple rocks the top had a natural infinity pool. You could sit and see the entire valley with all the mountains around while the water flows past you and down to the other pools. When I came on this trip and was excited to see natural beauty, I couldn't have imagined that it would actually be this nice. The next day we were off the Vang Vieng.

Vang Vieng
This place is actually a dreamland. For the most part you only see travelers here and they seem to all have been here for a while. Everyone stays a week or more and just parties as hard as they can. The main attraction here is the river. I was told you rent a tube and just float down the river and you'll stop at a few bars along the way. Well I didn't make it to the end of the river. After spending the first 5 hours at just the first three bars you realize that no one is going all the way down the river. It was like spring break Vang Vieng. For a conservative country like Laos it is an odd juxtaposition to have a bunch of inebriated westerners in bikinis and bathing suits partying on the river and then partying in town once the sun goes down. It is a really fun place but I'm not sure I could really stay here longer than the three days that I have. Tomorrow I head to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Haven't heard the best things about it but I'm sure I'll find some fun around. I'm only there for two days and then its a thirty hour bus ride to Hanoi, Vietnam.

The sun looks like its coming out so its time to hit the river. Talk to you from Vietnam!

Some Thoughts on Thailand

I'm currently sitting at my guesthouse in Chiang Rai in the far north of Thailand and I thought I would share a few things that I've observed in the over 2 weeks that I've been in Thailand.

1) Thais love 7-11. Who knew that there would actually be a 7-11 on every street corner. When I was in Pai there were three within 4 blocks. Pai is a small place, smaller than Gimli, Manitoba. could you imagine Gimli having 3 7-11s? When it got a Mac's it was a really big deal.

2) Thais love pick-up trucks. I imagine this is what Texas is like. Actually everyone in pick-up trucks. I'm not really sure why all these Thais need these beasts but they are all driving them. Its pretty weird actually.

3) Thais are some of the most welcoming people I have ever met. Everyone here wants you to have a good time it seems. From the people at the guesthouses and hostels to the people of the street. Everyone is smiling all the time and its great to reciprocate those feelings. We call ourselves 'friendly Manitoba', but we have nothing of the friendliness of Thais. The only negative experience I've had while here was a big ass German who claimed I stepped on his heels. He just needed to chill though.

4) If you put on baby powder you'll sweat less. You see Thai people putting baby powder on their kids all the time. It actually works.

One of the weird things about Thailand and I imagine the rest of Asia as well is that as a Western white person I stick out. You can always spot the tourists because they are the non-Asian people. In Canada you probably wouldn't know if someone was a tourist because everyone is from somewhere else.

When I first got here I thought everyone was out to get me. Everyone wanted to rip me off. While there might be an element of truth to that in Bangkok the rest of the country, or the northern parts that I've seen, have been anything but that. People so inviting, great food, lots to do. So far this trip has been really fun, and I can't wait for my next chapter.

So tomorrow I venture to the town of Chiang Kong on the Loas border and then to Loas on a slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. I've only heard really great things about this voyage so hopefully it all works out. I've also heard that the boat isn't running right now...

Thats all for now, talk to you from Laos!

Pai in the Sky and Cooking Class

Well hello again! I'm no back in Chang Mai after a few awesome days in the paradise that is Pai. Before I get to that, just a few words on the cooking class I took on Friday. It was great! We first went to the food market and learnt about the different types of Thai veggies and were able to walk around for a while. I love the food markets, they are a great way to see how people actually shop and what they actually eat. The class itself was fun, Thai food is so easy to make. Pretty much everything takes about a minute to cook in a hot wok. I thought there would be more foodies in the class but it seemed like it was just people looking for something to do which I thought was a bit odd. I learnt that curry shouldn't be made in a food pro but rather with a morter and pestle. I doubted the use of this kitchen instrument when I worked at the kitchenware store but now can see its utilty and am looking to get one, either here or at home. All in all it was a fun and informative day.

Pai!
So imagine the Winnipeg Folk Festival all year round in one town. Thats pretty much how I would sum up Pai. In the lonely planet they describe it as 'a beach town without the beach'. It was easily one of the most chilled out places I've ever been. Life seems to really slow down there. I met a great American couple on the ride up there and we ended up spending a couple days together. Brent and I rented motorbikes and explored the countryside on 2 wheels. It was super fun, I need a scooter. I saw a great swedish guitar player play at a great little bar called park@pai. If you're ever there you should for sure check this place out. I didn't really do that much there after Brent and Ally left, just chilled by the pool and read for while. Tomorrow I'm off to the far north in Chang Rai. I'm running out of time here so I'll post more in a couple days. Over and out!

Songkran

So I made it to Chang Mai and immediately found my friends that I had made in Sukkothai. After getting lost a few times walking back to the hostel, I went to sleep to get ready for what I heard was a 'water fight'. What ensued the next day was something that I will always remember. So Tuesday the 13th was the first official day of the Songkran festival, which is the Thai new year. When we walked out to the main street we saw lots of people, but then we saw more people and more people and then we realized that we had walked into something truely special. Thousands of people lined the street and everyone, and I mean everyone, was having a giant water fight. Everyone with either a water gun or a bucket of water and just getting everyone else completely soaking wet. The street was packed with cars but mostly pick up trucks with big barrels of water in them so that the people in the flatbed could have a supply of water to get the people on the street wet with. We found a great little open air pub to have a couple drinks and an endless supply of cold water. Everyone needed a home base in order to refill their water guns. The bar had a great mix of westerners and Thais and it was just awesome to be able to share in this festival with lots of Thai people. They seemed to love the fact that we were celebrating with them and of course we appriciated and reciprocated that love. Needless to say it was quite a tiring day but really one of the best things I have ever experianced.

Yesterday was the first day of our trek. It seems that trekking in Chang Mai is a traveler right of passage. Everyone I've talked to here had either gone or is going on one. Mine was 2 days 1 night. It started with a bamboo raft ride down a river. We thought it was going to be just that, but Songkran was still going on. As we're traveling down the river we see that there are thousands of people there splashing water from the river on each other. It was another sight to see. Families rented out little huts that are right on the water and everyone was drinking and eating and enjoying. Young, old it didn't matter. The river was just filled with people. After lunch we went on a hike that was pretty much just straight incline for about 2 hours. It was hard. I need to hit the gym a little harder when I get back I think. After swimming in a nice waterfall to cool off midway up the mountain we continued onto the little village that we were staying in for the night. After dinner there was some cards and songs and an all around great time.

Today was more hiking, but much more my style (going down the mountain). Then elephant rides. I sort of felt like I was back at the zoo when they used to have elephant rides but it was fun none the less. Turns out Thais really love water and fighting with it because Songkran is still going on. I have to admit I'm sort of done with being wet all the time. As I was walking over to this internet cafe a roving truck of water gunners soaked me again. It'll be nice to walk down the street and not have to worry about getting wet.

Food!
The food on the trek was all homemade Thai food which was really great. Breakfast here seems to consist of eggs and toast, which I love. The scrambled eggs this morning were great, served with onions. All that was missing was a little lox! Tomorrow I signed up for a Thai cooking class which I'm really looking forward too.

I have to admit that this place is pretty crazy the mixture of westerners and Thais and the stunning natural beauty of the surroundings are really having an impression on me. After getting over the initial "what am I doing on my own in Thailand" I think that I've settled in and am really getting the hang of traveling. There are always more people to meet and things to go see so there really isn't ever a dull moment. I'm off for some dinner with some trekkers. Talk to you soon!

So This is Thailand

Well I made it. I'm currently sitting in my hostel in Sukkothai and after a few days in Bangkok, I'm very happy I'm here. Bangkok was a totally crazy place. Coupled with the fact that being alone might be harder that I originally thought Bangkok didn't leave the best taste in my mouth. After a pretty crazy day alone on Thursday I booked a day trip to the Thai town of Kanchanaburi. There I saw a floating river market, the bridge on the river Kwai, and chilled with some tigers. The best part of the day was by far making some new friends. There weren't too many other native English speakers in our little tour but thank god for Fiona. We seemed to become fast friends which made the day truly great.

After some dinner and some beers on the totally insane Khao San Road I was off to bed to get up early for my venture north. The day started off just like the rest, pretty overwhelming but I found myself more at peace with this whole trip and being pretty much alone. The train ride up to Aruttiya was maybe the best part of the day. I was in the standing car which means that I just stood up for the whole 2 hour trip. The train was packed and people just kept getting on. This seemed like the most real Thailand that I've encountered so far. I was standing next to a family of Thai people that must have been on a trip somewhere. They had rice, water coolers and a gaggle of kids. It was somewhat comforting to know that even though there might be huge cultural differences between us everyone still is looking for the same thing, to spend time with friends and family.

I was in Aruttiya for only the morning and afternoon and then off to Sukkothai. I was the only white person on the bus but I made it here late last night. The staff was nice enough to make me dinner and give me some Thai Brandy which was great. Today I met some Canadians girls from BC and Alberta and we rented bikes and toured around the temples here. So far its been a great day and I'm getting much more used to being alone an meeting people. Tomorrow I head up to Chang Mai for the Songkran water festival. Everyone I talk to seems to be heading there too so I think it should be a pretty good time.

FOOD!
So here are my thoughts on the food of Thailand. I didn't eat that much street food in Bangkok, it sort of freaked me out a bit and I felt that I could probably get a better Thai meal and one of the many restaurants. I had some pad thai that was mediocre but I had some great yellow curry at my hostel. I've eaten lots of rice and last night the hostel staff made me a great pork and rice dish. I was told that Thais take the pork off of one plate with a fork and eat it with rice with a spoon. I was also told that Thais don't drink alcohol and eat at the same time. I told them that we eat and drink together all the time. I'm hoping to eat some noodle dish tonight but its pretty hard to eat when its so hot out all the time. Hopefully I'll get some good eats tonight.

Thats all for now!

Let The Trip Begin

So this is my first among (hopefully) many blog posts about my travels in Asia.

I'm not totally sure what the nature of this blog will be. I've been thinking about writing about food because I love food and I feel this trip will be a culinary adventure. I also don't really want to just write my day to day, that's not very interesting. I imagine it will end up being a little bit of both and I will try to make it as interesting as possible.

Currently I'm sitting at JFK waiting for my flight to Tokyo-Narita. The mediocre and overpriced omlette I had was nothing to write home about.

So far the most interesting part of my day was the flight from Toronto to NY. It was a 50 seater plane but there were only 8 passengers. It felt like I was on my own private jet. What I don't understand is how Delta could operate a plane with so few people?

After an hour and a half in Tokyo its off to Bangkok. So I'll post again when I get there!