The Long, Cold, Rainy, Muddy Ride

We couldn't stomach another overnight bus through narrow mountain passes, so we hired our driver and guide from the previous day to drive us the 6 hours east (with stops) to Luang Prabang.

Our first stop was at a silk farm that ended up being closed because the local village lost 7 cows due to the cold. Our second stop was to see an abandoned tank. It was kind of neat, but mostly muddy so we hopped back in the car pretty quickly.

Third stop was at the Tham Pha and Tham Sangjia Buddha Caves. We trekked through rain to the mouth of the pleasantly warm and dry cave which holds a 5m tall, 1200 year old Buddha. Deeper into the caverns we found stalactites used as monk gongs (they sound just like it!) and randomly placed antique Buddha statues left from the days when local villagers used the space as their temple. The cave was also used as a hospital during the Indochina War and housed more than 800 patients. We saw an old gurney and some old medicine viles. Small rocks started falling at the entrance as we left thanks to rain, so we really felt like Indiana Jones as we raced out.

Back in the car, we searched for a lunch spot, but couldn't find any open restaurants (the locals don't work in this weather, so no one eats out!). We agreed to head on our way and just stop when we saw something open. We drove through curvy mountain roads...swerving around fallen rock, trees and mud at times...for an hour and a half before finding a place. We warmed up with hot Pho gai (rice noodle and chicken soup) and hopped back into the car.

For five hours we drove past remote hill tribe villages; fog hanging low,people huddled in their huts, wood smoke seeping through the grass roofs. We were not in a place that sees any tourism so, when we stopped at a village for a leg stretch, we were a spectacle. The door slowly opened at each hut we walked by with 3-5 children peeking out at us. Twice, a dozen+ children and adults poured out of their huts to catch a look at us. Addi, of course, was the highlight, and was in heaven with so many kids around. She desperately wanted to communicate with them, but with no common language, games, etc it was a struggle. She just kept saying "Sabadai!" ("hello!") Over and over. Judging by the giggles and chatter, that seemed to work!

We got back in the car after an hour or so, and before long found ourselves stuck in a mud jam for three hours. We watched car after car get stuck in the deep red mud while a bulldozer tried unsuccessfully to fix the road and tow them out.

We reached our hotel 12 hours after our departure (6 hours late!), got a second room for our driver and guide friends (we couldn't let them try to drive home that night! They are in the last photo, with Jim) and fell asleep in the freezing unheated room.

No one said adventuring is always easy...but it is always an adventure!

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The Plain of Jars! and Other Not-So-Plain Stuff!

We got off the bus in Phonsavan and were thrown into the Laos equivalent to a New England March day. Raining and bitter cold (46F and dropping) we were entirely unprepared in our shorts and t shirts. To make matters worse, there are no taxis here...only open-air tuk-tuks. Believe me, tuk-tuks are the opposite of fun on a bitter cold rainy day. Fortunately, the driver crammed 7 people and their luggage to the ceiling of the tiny truck, so the huddle kept us warm.
We dropped our bags at the hotel, ate a hot breakfast, hired a guide and mustered up the will to head out and back into the weather.

Our first stop was Site 1 of the Plain of Jars (there are 58 sites, but only 3 have been cleared of unexploded bombs and only #1 was accessible in todays weather.) It was as amazing as I'd hoped. More than 330 huge stone jars strewn all over the hills. The biggest one (photo with Jim and Addi) is 6 tons and stands 2.5 meters high!! Although I still deem the giants-making-wine theory to be the most credible, our guide also mentioned that some archaeologist believe the jars to have served as family burial containers. We visited the near by cave that may have served as the crematorium. No one knows for sure, and no one knows how or when the jars got there. The mystery is intriguing.

From there we went to a Hmong Tribal Village and wandered around. Our guide was Hmong and knew a bunch of residents so we were invited into one of the kitchen huts to warm up by the fire. This family had 5 children and Addi was giggling with the younger ones within minutes. We learned that each family has several freestanding wood or bamboo huts- a kitchen, a bedroom or two, a storage unit, etc. They are dirt floor and on a day like today- cold. We watched the metalsmith turn leftover bomb shrapnel into knives and watched some women use ex-bomb parts to grind beans. We saw bomb shells turned into fences, hut stilts, jewelry and various other things. This was not the "Bomb Village" Lonely Planet writes about, but I gathered that any village around here could fit the description.

After a hot noodle soup lunch, we went to the Tham Piu cave (second to last photo). As the Laos Museum tells it, the US intentionally fired 3 missiles into the cave knowingly killing the 342 civilian farmers living there while seeking refuge from the bombing. I don't know this part of history and know there must be more to it from the US perspective, but I am compelled to research as soon as I have real internet again. Regardless, our guide was visibly moved when recounting the story and the museum paints a morbid picture of US Military. I left the site with my mind spinning a little bit.

We attempted to visit a hot spring but were deterred by the deep mud on the road (I can not say we were heartbroken for skipping it) so we moved on to visit the Than Dam village. These folks lived similarly to the Hmong but specialize in weaving...clothes, beds, baskets...you name it, they weave it. It was fun to watch but we could not wander around due to the puddles (lakes?) and slippery red mud.

We returned to the hotel frozen and soaked. We did not let the weather stop us (we are on a tight schedule!) and I am so glad we didn't. We probably would have gotten more out of today's activities on a warmer or drier day, but we got as much as we'd hoped for on this rainy blustery one!

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The Overnight Bus

(Surprise! my 3G is working again)

We boarded the bus and my initial assessment was that it was not as nice as the Cambodian or Vietnamese buses, but would be just fine for the 10 hour overnight ride we were facing. Just as I finished that thought, they filled the center isle of the already packed bus with low plastic stools and filled the row with people! Any nook or cranny not big enough for a human was jammed with luggage. We were trapped like rats. Man, oh man what I would have done to take a photo...but I couldn't get out!

After everyone took their seat, some guy passed out bottled waters (how nice!) and plastic puke bags (did I mention that this route was too curvy for a double decker?). As my discomfort with the situation increased, I also noticed that there were no bathrooms on the bus. 10 hours with a toddler, and no bathroom. I also noticed that the temperature was dropping. We were on an overactive A/C, freeze-your-ass-off bus. And it started to rain. What had I gotten us into?

Chalking it up to part of the adventure, Addi snuggled down into her seat and promptly fell asleep. I desperately hoped to fall asleep before we got to the mountains, and Jim chatted away with the cute Belgian Hippie in the seat next to him. The guy on a small stool in the isle next to me fell asleep with his elbow in my rib and the girl on the stool in front of him used my legs as a backrest. I wanted to be annoyed with this invasion of personal space, but how could I?

After a few hours, someone from the back of the bus shouted something in Laotian. The bus pulled over and everyone piled out...and started peeing! This was the bathroom break. A bus full of people peeing on the side of the road. No place to hide, no coverage, no modesty. It was absolutely crazy- and happened 4 more times before we reached our destination!

This was a bus ride I will not soon forget...although I did manage to fall asleep before the curvy mountain roads and got a decent rest!

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Aimless Vientiane Wandering..and the next few days

Today it rained until mid-afternoon. This is only the second rain day since we left on Christmas, so I can't complain. It is also not surprising as we approach the tail end of the Dry Season here in SE Asia.

When the sun broke through, we made the most of the afternoon by wandering aimlessly through the town. The total population of Laos is only about 6 million, so even the capital city is small. No high-rises. No chain restaurants. No need for a plan or direction. We covered the historical sites yesterday and the rest of town by foot before days end today.

Addi stopped at a shrine and a Buddha because she wanted to 'pray' and told me that the Buddha makes her heart feel full of love and happiness. Do we have a budding Buddhist on our hands? At a minimum, it is clear we need to bring spirituality more prominently into our lives when we get home. Who knew a three year old could be so deep!

On a less deep side, ever since the Wat Arun photo (with Addi and the Addi sized statue), Addi also wants to be photographed mimicking the poses of everything we walk by. Too funny.

On an even less deep side, SE Asia has famously rat-nested communications lines. I finally remembered to take a picture.

Tonight we are taking an overnight bus to Phonsavan; ten hours into the Lao mountains to the northeast of Vientiane. We will not have internet access, so you will have to wait a few days, on the edge of your seat, to hear about it. We will see the Plain of Jars (thousands of giant, ancient stone jars scattered over hundreds of kilometers...believed to be used by Giants to make rice wine), some waterfalls and Na Kam Peng ("Bomb Village"- one of many such villages built primarily by old war scraps from the then-secret US bombings of Laos.)

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Vientiane- Laos

We arrived in Vientiane at 11:00am after a quick flight out of Bangkok. We dropped our bags at the hotel, put on our explorer hats, and hit the town.

We are quickly finding the Lao capital city to be nice and small...and quiet...and navigable. For whatever reason, there isn't the same level of motorcycle or car traffic as many of the cities we have visited. Most of the locals we have met speak some english, are full of smiles and are very friendly. Fruit smoothies and french food are popular here- as are silks, carvings and weaving.

After wandering aimlessly for a while, we hired a tuk-tuk for a few hours and hit some of the major attractions. We saw the Pha That Luang (first photo), known as the most important national symbol of Laos; representing both Buddhism and sovereignty. The structure is racked with symbolism- everything from the size, color, shapes, measurements, design, number of this or that, etc hold spiritual meaning. Addi made a prayer "that she loves everything about this place, including the giant Buddha" and we were on our way.

We saw (and climbed to the top of) Patuxai, which is described as Vientiane's Arch de Triumph. I've never been to France, so I don't know, but it was pretty neat. There is a funny (but official) sign placed prominently on the structure which reads "from a closer distance, it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete". You read into that what you want, but I don't think Laotians are huge fans of this thing!

We visited the Haw Pha Kaeo (fourth- seventh pictures) which was built in the 1500s as a private house of worship for the king and housed the Emerald Buddha before the Siamese (Thailand) stole it and brought it to their Royal Palace (where it sits today!). The Haw Pha Kaeo is now a museum of religious art and holds some of the coolest Buddha sculptures I've seen.
It was a fun and full day wbich we wrapped up with a delicious al fresco dinner.

As a side note, my Android Pro has stopped registering data and 3G/global data is no longer working. Verizon's best answer is to exchange the device when I return to the US (argh!!). Unfortunately, this means I will only be able to publish posts when wifi is available or from Jim's laptop. I know, we are all heartbroken.

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Drifting on the River Kwai

Kanchanaburi is about three hours outside of Bangkok and in addition to being gorgeous limestone mountains and countryside, is home to several historical spots, including the Death Railway and Bridge Over River Kwai. Built by Allied Soldier POWs in Japanese run camps, the 415km of track were set to connect Bangkok to Burma and more than 100,000 lives were lost due to hard labor, torture and starvation. It was bombed and destroyed less than two years after completion. The purpose of our trip was to visit with each other and to relax on the River Kwai, so we didn't visit the WWII historical sites...but I did want to mention them.

After a long drive out of the city and a stop for some yummy iced coffees, we took a longboat about 15 minutes up the River Kwai through bamboo jungle and stopped at our home for the next few days...a beautiful floating hotel. This little slice of heaven is literally a bunch of bamboo huts tied together by rope, floating on pontoons. It was rustic (no electricity...and no cell/3G-hence a few days of radio silence!) but lush with hanging plants, hammocks, bamboo...and oh, so tranquil. We spent the days with our life jackets on...jumping off the deck farthest upstream, floating with the current past the floatilla of 25+ raft huts to the deck farthest downstream, and doing it all again. We took breaks to eat some delicious Thai dishes, to feed the local Asian elephants, to feed the jumping fish and to explore the small Mon village. There were butterflies everywhere, and Addi told us that fairies were riding on them- so we also spent a good amount of time fairy spotting.

It was nice to relax and visit with each other.

We leave for Laos tomorrow morning and I have been having some connectivity issues with my phone. Verizon says they will try to fix it within 24 hours, but only time will tell. So, until next time!

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King Kong Mekong Catfish! by JMS

King Kong Mekong Catfish! by JMS
It started with a beer run, ice, and cash. The 30 min cab ride
took Greg and me to Bangkok's ( BKK) Bungsamran Fisherman's Paradise.

 http://www.bungsamran.com/en/

The buy-in was about 2,000 Baht ea. ($US 60 ). That includes a Great guide ( Khun ("Mr.") Lo ), a few LBS of Bread Bait w/ special Prawn Seasoning, rods, Fighting Belts ( that we, as real men, didn't use ) and a BIG net.

Bungsamran offered a mini-mart, BEER, pool tables, wifi, a coffee bar, a massage area, a great Tackle shop, Good Restaurant, etc. Basically, heaven on Earth.

Cutting to the chase, Khun Lo mixed the Bread and Prawn seasoning into a deadly Matzoh ball
the size of a softball ( see pic ). He cast it out a good 60 + yards., and set the rods to wait.



Three minutes later, a fish is taking line. Greg takes honors and after a 7 minute fight, pulls in a "medium size" Mekong Catfish! Prob. 40" and 17kg ( 35 lbs ).  See pic. Jimbo, Witty as always, changes the name of the fish from Mekong Catfish to King Kong Catfish. The guides and fellow fishermen erupt in laughter and cheers. Jimbo is Given a memorial plaque and dubbed, King of the King Kong Catfish!



Minutes later Jimbo had a fish on. This "baby" only took 5 mins to land. It was only 24" and probably 15kg (30lbs). The fishing accelerated after that. The fish got bigger and bigger. ( see pics ) We got wearier and wearier, ( where are those fighting belts? )



To Khun Lo's dismay, we took a break for lunch and some pool games. He'd have had us fishing non-stop for 5 to 12 hours, but Greg couldn't take the pace.

We caught a few more lunkers and decided to call it a day. We caught the Taxi home and ordered a feast of Lebanese food and the anesthetic of Vodka and Clubs ( We needed the Calories.)



It was a great day of fishing and camaraderie. The next time you are in BKK, don't miss Bungsamran Fisherman's Paradise!