Thursday, February 19, 2009

Southeast Asia Pics

For Pics like these below from my trip in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand: Click here.
Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Railay beach, Thailand

Longtail boats, Thailand

Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand


For pics like these below from Vientiane and Vang Vieng, Laos: Click here.
Monument to Buddha's Breastbone--I'm looking for it inside there..couldn't see anything.

Buddhist Temple, Vientiane, Laos

Big Buddha Park, Vientiane, Laos



For pics like these from Phonsavan (Plain of Jars) and Luang Prabang, Laos: Click Here.
Plain of Jars, Laos

Kuang Si Waterfall, Luang Prabang, Laos

Wasting Time

I was tagged by 3 ppl with this on facebook--but I don't do facebook notes--so here's my response:

Whoa--these turned out to be oddly appropo! It kinda creeped me out!

Directions:
1. Put your iPod, iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. You must write that song name down no matter how silly it sounds.
4. Pick ten or more random friends who like music as much as you do and tag them.

1) IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
"Lions" by Lost & Found (weird)

2) HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
"You've got to hide your love away" by The Beatles (I'll talk to a therapist bout that one!)

3) WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A MAN/WOMAN?
"Two Hands of a Prayer" by Ben Harper (WOW--nice one iTunes!!)

4) HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
"I don't know what it is" by Rufus Wainwright

5) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE PURPOSE?
"Lucy in the sky with Diamonds" by the Beatles (Again...this game is freaky!)

6) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
"Electrolite" by R.E.M.

7) WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
"Poor House" by Traveling Wilburys (hahahaha)

8) WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
"Idiot Wind" by Bob Dylan (Oh No! At least it's one of their favorite musicians of all time...so I can't be that much of an idiot!)

9) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
"Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses

10) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
"'e' strano!'...'Ah, Fors'e Lui'" from the opera La Traviata (apparently my best friend is a prositute dying of TB)

11) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"No One Like You" by David Crowder Band (perfect--since the 'person' I like is God!)

12) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
"In the Real World" by Roy Orbison (niiice...but kinda sad!)

13) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WHEN YOU GROW UP?
"Bring the Funk" by Ben Harper (Oh Heavens Yes!)

14) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"Only a Northern Song" by The Beatles

15) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTERESTS?
"Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5 (eeekk...title sounds good....lyrics make me seem a leeetle bit trashy!)

16) WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
"Jokerman" by Bob Dylan (FOR REAL!!! Annnnddd...I'm getting to be afraid of iTunes' eery knowledge of me!)

17) WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
"Fortune Teller" by Robert Plant and Allison Krauss (The Truth finally comes out...)

18) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
"All the Heavens" by Third Day

19) SONG THEY WILL PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
"Empty Sky" by Bruce Springsteen (Whoa--this is a song ABOUT death! Apparently I died in 9/11 though.)

20) WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
"Wasting Time" by Jack Johnson (OH MY GOODNESS---can we say honest!!!!)

Monday, February 16, 2009

Back

And so we are back. Back to an ashy gray Wuhan, pouring down rain and drizzle and now ice onto us. No sun since our return. Goodbye summer, hello again winter. With a sigh and a shrug of the shoulders.

After a month of the near constant presence of Katera and Megan at my side or in the room, the silence is now defining. After a month of repacking my lowly backpack almost every other morning, I feel like a queen sleeping in my bed and finding my clothes waiting for me in the closet and on the shelf. A place for everything. These are glorious luxuries.
  • We spent approximately 100 hours on a bus.
  • Slept in 12 different hostels and on 4 night buses and one night train (numbers vary for Katera and Megan).
  • Received 12 entry/exit stamps in our passport (4 for Maylasia, 2 for Singapore, 2 for Thailand, 2 for Laos, 2 for China) and one visa sticker (Laos).
  • Did laundry once.
  • Attacked by bedbugs once.
  • Saw 3 movies in a theater.
  • Lost ZERO passports.
  • Traveled to the southernmost point on the SE Asian peninsula.
To recap the close of our journey in Laos:

We loved Vang Vieng, with it’s river tubing and bamboo bridges crossing the river and Friends’ bars (on the main road, nearly 1 in 3 restaurants is equipped with a tv that shows episodes of Friends from open to close. Walking down the street, you are greeted by the sounds of Ross, Rachel, Joey and the whole gang and refrains of “I’ll be there for you..” It was so strange! But I’ll admit, after a day on the river, we didn’t mind one bit enjoying the ol show while munching on a pineapple pancake!).

Moving on from there, we took the less frequented path to Phonsavan and the mysterious and ancient Plain of Jars. This was possibly the most bumpy and curvy road in the history of the world. I’m really not exaggerating. You must cross a range of mountains and they’ve built the road winding back and forth along the upper shoulders of the mountains—6 to 7 hours of constant, unrelenting switchbacks and jolts. Seriously—I’ve spent my time in the back roads of mountain Virginia and in jeeps along cliffs in Tennessee—and I’ve never experienced anything like this. I was grateful for a strong stomach—but on the ride out I had to avail myself of Dramamine to survive it. That said—the sights were incredible and stunning as we passed tiny villages and beautiful vistas.

Once in Phonsavan, we joined a tour to the Plain of Jars. This is exactly what it sounds like! There are fields throughout this area of Laos filled with 2000-3000 year old stone jars. Researchers have hypothesized that these jars were used to keep cremated remains—but there is no definitive explanation for them. The local tradition says they were used to make lao lao, rice whiskey. It’s really neat to see the jars.

Unfortunately, the Plain of Jars area was also the hardest hit by US bombs during the Secret War in the 1960s and 70’s. For years the US dropped 2 million tons of bombs on Laos in an effort to combat Vietcong forces from the neighboring country of Vietnam. Many of these bombs never exploded, leaving Laos filled with UXO’s—highly volatile unexploded bombs. Now in 2009, only a tiny percentage of the land has been cleared of these US bombs, and over the years countless local people have been killed or injured by coming across them. Restaurants and hostels in Phonsavan use old bomb casings as decorations (the ones that now longer contain explosives of course). At the rate that these UXO’s are being cleared, a dangerous and slow process, it will take 100 years before Laos is free of them.

So although there are dozens of sites in Laos featuring the ancient jars—there are only three sites that are actually safe to visit—only these three that have been cleared of UXO’s. Everywhere that you go, there are markers indicating where it is safe to walk and the boundaries of the land that has been cleared. Wandering past these markers means risking your life.

Our guide told us how his parents evacuated his village when the bombings began. When they returned, their fields were filled with skulls of soldiers (Vietnamese and Laos). For so many years after, while villagers were preparing their fields for rice, walking in the hills or forests, there were accounts of people “having an accident,” --coming across a UXO (the words of our guide). And then, as poverty settled in on the nation, more were driven to look for the bombs to drain the explosives or gather the scrap metal to sell for a profit, often “having an accident” in the process.

In our tour group, we were joined by other backpackers--a woman from France, from Chile, from Slovenia, two from Germany and one from Japan. I’ll confess that at points when we were asked where we were from--it took me a second to answer. Wishing we could somehow make penance with the people of this country.

******

After Phonsavan, we hit the winding road again for Luang Prabang, our final stop in Laos. This bohemian village is filled with delicious cafes, roadside stalls and a bustling Hmong night market (the Hmong are a minority that originated in China and over thousands of years eventually moved into the highlands of Laos. Many fought for the US during the Secret War and were forced to move as refugees to the US after the takeover—there are now large Hmong populations in the US). We enjoyed the sun and some final chances to eat the Indian food that we’d become addicted to over the course of our trip.

Megan and I spent an afternoon out of town at the Kuang Si Waterfall—hiking/climbing hand over foot again up one side of the waterfall and jumping into the swimming hole on the second tier of the falls—feeling the rushing water overwhelm you with its power and the throb of the water falling down right next to you—it was exhilarating! The water in the pools along the tiers and at the base was so vividly blue that you would think it had been artificially colored! It was literally turquoise! I just kept blinking and saying again and again to myself “I am swimming in a waterfall in Laos.” I still can’t believe it!

And our final bout of good luck came on our bus ride into China. We went from travel agent to travel agent in Luang Prabang trying to get details on how to get back into China. Our options were taking a bus 10 hours back to Vientiane, spending the night, and then taking a flight into Kunming—or trying our luck on the bus…which we were told would be anywhere from 26 to 33 hours. 26 to 33 hours. Quite a window for change there, we thought. Explanation? Uhhh….sometimes the bus takes longer than other times. Greeeaaaattt.

So travel weary, we climbed on the bus and hoped for the best. It wasn’t looking good when we discovered there was no toilet aboard and then when we found our bus taking breaks from the road at an interval of every 1.5 to 2 hours! Ack—the lack of efficiency was about to break our American minds down to insanity! But to our surprise, we arrived in Kunming after only 23 hours. It was a travel miracle!!!

From Kunming, we made a beeline to the nearest airport and booked the soonest flight to Wuhan. The price wasn’t much different than the cost of a train…and in this final leg of the journey, we were not interested in adding 25+ hours of rail to our homeward path.

And so we are returned to our China homes. Safe and sound and hopefully a little wiser and a lot tanner.

Pictures will come soon.

Friday, February 6, 2009

From Laos...

I have lost all concept of time, date and money spent...so I think I've effectively assimilated into the SE Asian culture! Since my last update, we traveled from Railay to Koh Phi Phi and then Bangkok and into Vientiane, Laos and are now in Vang Vieng, Laos.

I spent so many days on the beach that I lost count. Days blended together in a sublime mix of white sands, warm sun, pad thai and fresh fruit. One afternoon we hiked for about an hour through the back cliffs of the Railay peninsula--lush green jungles and looming cliffs and incredible views. We scrambled over rock formations near the water with near vertical climbing-- holding onto roots and rocks while trying to keep flipflops on our feet! Another afternoon I spent away from my travel companions sampling the world-famous rock climbing of the area. Climbers come from all over to experience the rock climbing of Krabi...so it was a joy to take on 4 of the beginner/intermediate cliffs along one of the beaches. I haven't done much rock climbing since a few stints in college, but it all came back pretty quickly and I had alot of fun. I was amazed at how HIGH I went!!

After Railey, we moved on to Koh Phi Phi (PP Island) for a few days. Another paradise island, this one is where they filmed the Leo Decaprio movie The Beach. It is also well-known as one of the islands most decimated by the tsunami. Now, the island is largely rebuilt/restored and is literally swarming with vendors and tourists/backpackers. After the laid-back peace of Railay, we were surprised by the commercialism of PP and mildly put off by the "spring break" vibe.

Silly moment: The night before the Superbowl was to take place, many of the sports bars on the island were claiming that they would open in the early morning to show the Superbowl LIVE. So...like the good Americans that we are, we dutifully woke up at 4:45 AM to go for the 5 a.m. start. I got worried as soon as we wandered bleary-eyed out onto the street. The sun wasn't yet up and the streets were deserted, except for a few bar hoppers who were ending their night and a few who seemed to be making the Walk of Shame back to their own bungalows. Coming to the sports bar, the place was silent. I was SURE that it was all a huge prank...the brits and aussies who ran the bars decided to see if they could trick the Americans into an early morning to shame us for not loving their precious "football".

We finally found someone at one of the bars who told us it'd be another hour till they got things going/running. We went back to bed, and exhausted, I slept till about 11--missing the whole thing. It was dissapointing, I really miss American Football in China and was hoping to enjoy an early morning Superbowl experience. Megan managed to wake up in time to go back and see the end of it and recounted the fun to us over lunch!

Bangkok, Thailand-- We were hoping to avoid Bangkok this year, but had to pass through in order to move into Laos, so we spent about a day and a half there in a stopover. It was actually a great stop! Last year in Bangkok I spent all of my time in the international hospital with my friend Jeremy, who was then recovering from an elephant attack. The city seemed dirty and ugly and overwhelming to me then. This year, we slept in a great area and found our way over to the Grand Palace--which must be one of the Wonders of the World it's so glitteringly stunningly beautiful. We had our share of street-side shopping, exploring and temple-visiting as well. We ended our time there with a movie--Yes Man w/Jim Carrey--which might have been only so-so, but we LOVED it--so that shows how much we miss entertainment!

Finally, it was a night bus through northern Thailand into Laos. I'll write more later--but staring out of a bus window as Southeast Asia passes by outside will always be one of my favorite life memories.

Vientiane, Laos--This is the capital city of Laos, and yet paved roads resemble backcountry Virginia more than anything else. Dusty and rural feeling, you really get away from the tourism appartatus of Thailand and embrace the backpacker feel that I've been missing. It's incredible here--and already Laos is my favorite leg of this journey. We spent about 24 hours in Vientiane and visited about 3 buddhist temples, one city monument, a park and the Mekong River. I'll write much more about Laos later when I can reflect--but it is such a joy to be here.

This morning we took a winding 4 hour bus ride north to Vang Vieng, a sleepy tiny little river village that is a jumping off point for outdoor treking. We have a cozy bungalow near the river with hammocks right outside, bike paths nearby and views of the karst cliffs rising up among more rice paddys. Tomorrow we're hoping to go tubing down the river and maybe will explore on bikes or climb through caves after that. It is strange to be away from the dry heat of Thailand--today was the first cloudy day that we've seen since leaving China!

Then it's onward north as we begin to think about getting back to Wuhan. Being around all these backpackers with their multi-month/year journeys reminds us of how conditioned Americans are to only taking week-long vacations. I was beginning to get really travel-weary--but since we've crossed into Laos, the wonder of the country has given me a second wind...I'm just hoping it will be enough to stay energetic till we get home! From Laos...Love to you all!