hippies smell

Pai is a tiny mountain town 762 curves away from Chiang Mai. That's what all the t-shirts said, anyway.

The drive there is absolutely beautiful. We went by public, 4-hour, non-air-con bus from Chiang Mai. It was actually chilly at 7 am as the morning breeze whipped in the window of the seat in front of me. We froze, until Mariela so wisely crammed the backpack into the opening to block the wind.

By minibus, the ride takes 3 hours. It's air-conditioned, and it's quicker, but I preferred the public bus. There were much better views of the mountains and valleys from the big, open windows. And the ride is only shorter because the driver whips around the mountain curves that much faster.

Pai is full, chock full, of hippies. It was the most relaxed place I've ever been. They've got hammocks, great coffee, and some of the most delicious baked goods I've ever had -- certainly the best I've had in five months.

There are two Muslim-owned bakeries in town. I could have eaten at them for every meal. Mariela and I split a massive piece of cake our last day there. It wasn't just any cake, though. It was banana chocolate cream cheese cake. There was a layer of rich, dense banana cake, cream cheese filling, more banana cake, and about half an inch on homemade fudge frosting. Heavenly!

We also had cinnamon pumpkin pie topped with walnuts, apple pie, pineapple pie, and "real" meals scattered in here and there.

from Laos to Chiang Mai

I left you all hanging at Laos, but I wanted to mention the last week of my vacation.

Mariela and I spent 16 hours over two days traveling up the Mekong River by slow boat to get back to Thailand from Laos. The first day, we had the "luxury boat," which earned its title because of the padded car seats nailed to 2x4s that made up the passenger rows.

It was fine for eight hours. The breeze came in off the water and we were comfortable enough to read and journal and even nap. We spent the night at a super-dodgy guesthouse in Pak Beng. At no other point on this trip was I afraid to fall asleep at night, but we did, in fact, live to see another day.

The next morning we had a scrumptious breakfast -- an egg, ham, and cheese bagel and muesli with yogurt and fresh fruit -- before heading down to meet the boat.

It was exactly the same as yesterday's vessel except for one unfortunate detail. We were on the edge of our seats, literally, because the wide, comfy car chairs had been replaced by rickety, narrow, wooden benches with loose floral cushions so flat there might as well have been no cushion at all. Observe our chagrin.




It was a long eight hours. We spent that night at a non-sketchy guesthouse in Houay Xai. This one was on a three-tiered pricing system. See the photo for details. We must have chosen "cheaper price," because ours didn't come with toilet paper. It was OK, though. We nicked some from the room across the hall.

The next day, we crossed the river into Thailand and spent the day riding various buses on our way to Chiang Mai.

We stopped in Chiang Rai to see the White Temple, or Wat Rong Khun. We also perused a small gallery of the artist's other work. Most of it was very Buddhist, but there were a few unique paintings that caught our eye. One pictured George Bush clinging to a rocket blasting into space and waving. Odd. Another interesting piece had a title that was something like, "The Dominance of the Male Organ Over the World." I almost bought a postcard of that painting, but I couldn't decide who I'd mail it to. You don't want to send the wrong message...

back to the grind

Nummon approached me before class to tell me that we wouldn't be dividing the students into three small groups today. Instead, I'd be teaching all three class periods (with 40 students in each class, mind you) myself, so the our new student-teacher, Pear, might gain wisdom and insight from my teaching style.

Specifically, she wanted Pear to observe and take notes on my "teaching techniques and classroom management." I almost laughed when she said it.

I've been teaching -- "teaching" -- for four and a half months. I never earned a teaching credential. I didn't do a TEFL certification program. I've never even substituted in an American school.

I had a six-hour ESL training day at Baylor from a lady who teaches English to Mexican immigrants at her church. That's it. No test, no license, nothing. And a teacher-in-training is supposed to learn classroom management from me?!

Then, Nummon showed me the worksheet I was meant to cover in class. The front page had two long paragraphs about the King of Thailand -- when and where he was born, where he went to school, the 53-letter names of his parents, grandparents, sister, and brother, his coronation date, etc., etc.

It had words and phrases like "Massachusetts" and "coronation ceremony" -- words that fourth graders learning a second language don't really need to know.

She told me she wanted me to teach them about why Thai people love the King, because I'm obviously the most qualified person to do that. She gave me some tips, like, "The king is the center of our heart."

The last page of the worksheet introduced the past simple tense with "to be."

To illustrate the difference between am/is/are and was/were, I filled two buckets with plastic produce and labeled one "Today" and the other "Yesterday."

The idea was that I'd pull out a carrot from the "Today" bucket and the class would say, "Today there is a carrot." Then I'd pull tomatoes from the "Yesterday" bucket and they'd say, "Yesterday there were some tomatoes."

Pear took loads of notes on goodness-knows-what during the first class, and then assisted me in the second class as I turned the bucket practice into a game between Team Cabbage and Team Asparagus.

odds and ends from october

A fruit vendor in Hanoi, Vietnam.



Ziplining through the jungle in Chiang Mai, Thailand.



A beautiful waterfall near Luang Prabang, Laos.



Rawring.



Kayaking in Halong Bay, Vietnam.

with love from laos

My short visit to Laos is drawing to a close. I've enjoyed it immensely and would recommend a trip to Luang Prabang to anyone.

I've had wonderful food here - mostly Western food. It's actually the first Western food I've eaten in Asia, apart from two meals at Mexican food places in Bangkok.

You really can't beat walking through the night market at dusk eating a baguette smeared with Nutella and peanut butter and filled with sliced bananas.

Or zooming around the twisting mountain roads in the back of a tuk-tuk, whizzing past plants with leaves twice the size of your head.

Or sitting in a tea shop, reclining on the floor while watching a movie and drinking vanilla hazelnut black tea.

Or sucking down a creamy mango smoothie and eating Lao soup on a riverside, lantern-lit terrace, looking out into the pitch black night sky.

Or taking a flying leap from a tree and plunging into an ice-cold pool of milky turquoise water... after a hot, sweaty, 20-minute hike up to the top of a waterfall in the jungle.

You just can't beat it.

The only thing that would make it better is if Michael were here to enjoy it with me.

budget tours ain't all that bad

Mariela and I booked a budget tour of Halong Bay from the travel agency in our hotel in Hanoi. I'd read all kinds of warnings online saying these tours were hit or miss, but we decided to try our luck.

Overall, it was a good deal. The boat was nice, the cabin was cozy, the beds were comfy, and the food was decent.

The negatives? The water cut off at night, and I had to hunt down a boat guy to get it turned back on for a shower. Our tour guide was also awful - not friendly or helpful in the slightest - and he told us we couldn't get off the boat to swim because the police would give him a fine.

We knew this was a lie, because other people we talked with said they got to swim. The travel agent at the hotel said it was included in our itinerary (and Mariela is trying to negotiate with him at this moment to knock a few bucks off our hotel room). We tried to tell this to the guide, but he'd have none of it.

We met some cool British people our age, though, and played cards with them last night. We taught them Continental, and they taught us Shit Head.

I'll post some photos of the bay when I'm back in Thailand, but Google it to get an idea. The water is a beautiful jade green color and the bay is dotted with hundreds of tall, rocky islands that jut up out of the water.

We got to kayak around a little bit this morning, which was really fun. It was quiet and peaceful.

All the scenery wasn't beautiful, however, as Mariela pointed out a butt while we were kayaking. Yes, a butt. We were approaching a fishing boat when Mariela spotted a women who had just squatted over the side of her boat to use the toilet in the water! What a way to start the morning.

After kayaking we had the worst breakfast ever. The bread tasted like cardboard and the jelly was artificial beyond description.

We enjoyed soaking up the scenery and some sun as we headed back toward Halong City, and lunch in the tour company's restaurant was pretty good.

For $30, I can't complain.

Hanoi: Day Two

We saw the outside of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum today. It wasn't open to the public; I think Uncle Ho is in Russia for preservation right now. But the uber-trippy Ho Chi Minh Museum nearby was up and running.

The third floor was a bewildering assortment of modern art exhibits meant to represent Ho Chi Minh's life and achievements and the progress of Vietnam. Words can't describe it. I'll try to post pictures when I'm back in Bangkok.

We saw the One Pillar Pagoda -- unimpressive, but we had to take pictures since it's the only pagoda we've seen so far.

We had lunch and saw the water puppet show in the afternoon. It was weird, but fun. This particular form of puppetry originated in northern Hanoi, and it's a big tourist attraction.

In the afternoon, we shopped and shopped. I love looking at the handicrafts here, but it makes me sad that I can't buy everything I see.

We had a wonderfully delicious meal of chicken pho (a rice noodle soup) and fried rice by the street.

When we returned to the hotel, Mariela and I started talking to the guy at the front desk about the bus to Halong City, where we wanted to catch a boat to go around the bay and visit Cat Ba Island. He ended up talking us into a 2-day, $30 tour. I've read very mixed reviews about these budget Halong Bay tours, so it might be a total debacle. We'll know tomorrow!

Hanoi: Day One

We had a great first day in Hanoi. I love this country. Granted, it's probably only because I'm here as a tourist for a limited time. Whatever. The food has been delicious, the shopping good, and the people friendly.

HCMC was a more chill place than Hanoi, I think, but the traffic was definitely more hectic there than here.

We spent our day wandering around the Old Quarter. We got an excellent (free!) city guide at the airport today, which included maps, a list of which streets sell which products (as in, shoe street, bag street, handicrafts, jewelry, lacquerware, fake Adidas... the list goes on and on), and a guide to street food, including pictures! I wish we had one for Bangkok.

We had an overpriced, mediocre lunch, followed by a stroll around the city. We walked around Hoan Kiem lake, took photos, poked around a Catholic cathedral, and went to an ice cream place listed in our magic book.

The place was packed with locals (and their motorbikes), and the most popular flavor of ice cream bar seemed to be "green." We decided to go with it.

It had a wonderful, creamy texture and the flavor was a combination of something like coconut, sunscreen scent, shea butter, and corn. Sounds awful, but it was strangely delicious. We're going back tomorrow for seconds.

Street restaurants here feature low, low tables and tiny, kid-sized stools to sit on. It's not the most comfortable way to eat, but we had some delicious fried rice and baked shrimp for about $1.60 each. Did I mention that I love the food in southeast Asia?

cu chi tunnels

We took a half-day tour of the Cu Chi tunnels today.

We got to crawl through a section of the tunnels. They've been widened since the war, so that tourists can fit, but they were still cramped and claustrophobic. Parts of them had no light at all, so you had to feel your way in the dark, crouched over and scraping your back and shoulders against the tunnel walls.

We also saw some of the booby traps used by the National Liberation Front against the American army. Creepy, creepy stuff.

I had a nice chat with two older Australian men on the way to the tunnels. We got on the issue of guns and gun control, because they have different weapons you can pay to shoot after you see the tunnels.

One guy asked if I planned to shoot. I said I wasn't that interested, since I shoot guns at home. I ended up telling him about my 5-year-old cousin Krista's pink 22 rifle, and Krista's dad's AK-47. The look on his face was priceless.

Not that I'm a gun fanatic at all, but it was just funny to see the cultural difference. I take it for granted that we'll go out to the farm and shoot guns after Thanksgiving or Christmas lunch. I'm from rural East Texas - what can I say?

We spent the second half of our day wandering around HCMC's Chinatown. Not impressive. Also, a pagoda-fail and market-fail. We did manage to take a bus back to our street, which was much cheaper than a taxi. So... 10% success rate, maybe?

Ho Chi Minh City

I'd read before coming here that the city is crazy, hectic, and has awful traffic. After walking around for a day, I have to say I disagree completely.

My view is colored, of course, because I've lived in Bangkok for the last four months. HCMC certainly has more motorbikes than BKK (probably at least 3 times as many), and it's true that traffic lights are infrequent occurences (and pedestrian crossing lights even less so), but Alyssa, Mariela, and I agree: HCMC is a chill place.

French colonial influence has given it a European feel. The streets are luxuriously wide, the sidewalks are smooth and clean, there aren't street vendors everywhere you turn, and there are lots and lots of parks.

It's not nearly as polluted as BKK, which means breathing is pleasant and the temperature by the street isn't suffocating.

The food here is SO good, so fresh, and so cheap. Dinner tonight (vegetable curry, cashew chicken, rice, and mango smoothies) cost us about $2.50 each.

Another nice thing - nearly all restaurants in Vietnam give you little moist towlettes to clean your hands with before you eat.

More to come!

After the 7-hour van ride Sunday afternoon/evening and a night of rest in our hotel, we were ready for some beach time. It was a 3-hour boat ride out to the island.

The boat was pretty nice - kind of like airplane seats, with four seats on either side of an aisle. They gave us bottled water and a small package of cookies to snack on.

As soon as we pulled into the dock, it started raining. We were only mildly inconvenienced, however, as Mariela's fiancee's dad sent us a Southeast Asia survival kit, complete with emergency ponchos!

We got a cheap van ride to a hotel listed in Alyssa's Lonely Planet guide and got situated in a musty, less-than-spotless little bungalow.

We ordered lunch from the kitchen. All they had was shrimp, and it was the freshest tasting shrimp we'd ever had. Delish.

We watched the Disney channel, played cards, and napped. Every single time the rain stopped, I said, "OK, let's go out to explore!" And every single time, the rain would start again within one minute.

Late in the afternoon it finally settled down to a light drizzle. Determined to see some sand, we donned our ponchos, hosed our legs down with bug spray, and headed in the general direction of the ocean.

After navigating a slippery mud path, a tangle of overgrown weeds, empty resort pools, and a vine-covered bridge, we made it to the beach.

It wasn't quite the white sugar-sand stretch we'd been expecting. The sand was brown and a little coarse. The beach was empty. The wind was howling and the waves looked rough. We walked along, picking up seashells and receiving bemused looks from Vietnamese who were probably wondering what the heck these tourists were doing on Phu Quoc in the low season.

Now we know why it's the low season. It rained all night and all the next morning.

On the bright side, the women who ran the bungalows were great cooks, and our first experience with Vietnamese food was a good one.

On Tuesday morning we decided to cut our losses and leave a day early.

We caught a 1:00 boat, where we met our new friend Thiet (pronounced "Chee").

More on that later.

Day 1 of our vacation: Ho Chi Minh City to Rach Gia

Alyssa, Mariela, and I decided we wanted to begin our three week holiday from teaching with a trip to Vietnam.

I spent weeks researching and had a whirlwind itinerary planned, starting from Ho Chi Minh City in the south and working our way up through the scenic coast by train.

Hurricane Ketsana ruined all that last week, resulting in much freaking out on our parts.

We settled on just flying into HCMC and then flying directly to Hanoi. We were disappointed about missing all the lovely parts of central Vietnam, but maybe some other time.

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday morning around 9:30am. We exchanged some baht for Vietnamese dong and made a game plan.

Task #1: Buy a plane ticket to Hanoi for the 9th.
Task #2: Secure a place to stay on the evening of the 8th.
Task #3: Get to Rach Gia and buy boat tickets to leave for beautiful Phu Quoc Island Monday morning.

It was a pretty overwhelming task list, really, in a new, unfamiliar city and unable to speak even one word of the language. But my friends and I are go-getters, so we went and got some plane tickets.

The next stop was the taxi stand, where we got in, chose a hostel from my list at random, and set off.

It's a cute place, and we're looking forward to staying there. We left, had some lunch at a nearby restaurant, and then started walking toward the Ben Thanh market where we could catch a city bus to the bus station where we could catch a private van to Rach Gia. Simple, right?

As we were walked in the direction of the market, we passed about a bajillion little travel agencies advertising bus tickets to Rach Gia. Fearful of missing the last bus there, we decided to pop in and inquire about bus times. They told us the next bus left at 2:00, and the last at 5:00. It was 1:15. Not wanting to get into another unfamiliar town at midnight, we decided to buy our tickets there for the 2:00 departure.

Enter the Roachmobile, our lovely mode of transport for a bone-rattling 7-hour drive at breakneck speeds over, around, and through the zillion potholes that make up the road from HCMC to the coast.

By the time we arrived at Rach Gia, it was dark. We got off the van without a clue where to go, and were promptly swarmed by motorbike drivers. We didn't want to be separated, and we asked one of the van passengers if he knew of a taxi service. He didn't.

There was one vehicle that wasn't a motorbike, but didn't look any more promising. A rickshaw-esque contraption pulled by a bicycle, it looked as though it were built for two small passengers, maybe. We didn't have much choice, so the three of us (and our backpacks) crammed in and perched precariously on the wooden plank seats.

We found a hotel, crashed, and got up early for our boat's 8am departure.

To be continued...

the best laid plans...

On Wednesday, our trip plans fell apart. On Thursday, we pieced them back together. Today, they crumbled again.

Dear Typhoons Ketsana and Parma,

Is now really the time for all your nonsense?

We had planned to fly in to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on Sunday and spend one week working our way up the coast by rail, visiting lovely scenic beach towns, and ending in Hanoi where we'd catch a flight into Luang Prabang, Laos.

Ketsana put central Vietnam underwater and the South-North trains are out of commission at the moment.

The modified plan as of this afternoon is to fly into HCMC, spend a few days there, and buy a cheap flight to Hanoi in time to catch our flight to Laos.

However, the tropical storm left over after Typhoon Parma has hit the Philippines could potentially ground flights in Vietnam.

We're praying this doesn't happen, and you should too!

My stress levels in the last two days have probably shaved six months off my lifespan. I'm a worrier - what can I say?