a few pictures to whet the appetite...everything will eventually be posted - promise!

Heather and I indulged in being tourists...bought $3 Angkor tshirts. pretty sweet.


Angkor at sunrise...not to shabby, eh?


Sunset at West Railay


One of the caves that we kayak'ed through


In case y'all were wondering what a mangrove swamp looks like...

a date with a caveman...

Wednesday February 27th

Heather and I have decided we’re living the “SEAsian Kim experience”. Tuesday we checked out of our bungalow guesthouse on Railay and caught a longtail boat back to Krabi Town…leaving the laid-back, beach worshipping culture behind and arriving, a little after lunchtime, back into seaside city life.

We wasted no time in dropping our stuff and searching for “Caveman Mel” – a kayaking day-trip guide who’d been recommended by Kim, Allyson and Chris when we met up with them for dinner in Battambang, Cambodia. Kim had drawn us a little map of Ao Nang and highlighted the restaurant this supposed Caveman worked at…but had also said that everyone knew who he was in the area, so we should just ask around.

Easier said than done. After asking in about 3 tour offices and getting blank stares, we hit the jackpot. A young girl was more than helpful…when I mentioned the name Caveman Mel (took a few tries to get the prononciation correct…) she looked up a number, called, got another number, called that one and was finally rewarded with the number of, supposedly, our Caveman kayaking guide.

Luckily – like I said – we hit the jackpot. What we’d been told of Mel was this;
He was a local guide, who catered to smaller groups interested in educational kayak trips. he worked in a restaurant and was against shrimp farming (huge plus for Heather) and was an expert on Mangles (what would normally be referred to as mangrove swamps by people, like me, who aren’t science buffs). I spoke with Mel on the phone, and he seemed legit, so we booked his tour for today. At 8am this morning, we were picked up by Mel, and proceeded to pick up the other two kayakers to complete our group of 5 for the day.

We pulled up and were immediately inundated with other tourists who were also spending the day kayaking in the mangrove swamps…with larger outfitters. We were confident that we’d chosen a good guide, and were rewarded by the fact that he was attached to no overhead operation. Mel’s apparently been leading trips for over 15 years – he was one of the first to lead kayaking tours in the mangrove swamps and nearby caves (hence – caveman Mel) – and he aims to have smaller groups that can focus on learning about what they’re interested in.
This guy was perfect for us, and we pretty much had all his attention as the other two with us were French Canadians, one of whom had a bit more trouble understanding everything Mel was saying.

Mel – well, this guy’s a character, as so many we’ve met along the way have been. Looking at him, you’d think he was a stereotypical beach bum. He showed up in fisherman pants, a floral Hawaiian-esque button down shirt, had long hair tied back in a half-ponytail, and rocked his Oakley style sunglasses, even at 8am. Throughout the day he’d switch into “caveman” mode, lower his voice and thunder “Attention please, if you want to stay lucky, follow me...welcome to my cave...ha ha ha” and launch into the history of the cave we were heading into or some environmental factoid about the unique ecosystem we were touring. To top it all off, as we were heading back at the end of the kayaking portion of the day (we still had to go to a freshwater stream for swimming and tea, obviously), he started singing Take me home, to the place, I belong, West Virginia, Mountain Momma, take me home, Country Roads…

Heather and I were rolling. Tom, you missed a good show – and we figured you would have thoroughly appreciated the throwback to leader’s school closing ceremonies, courteously of Mel.

We spent about 5 hours total kayaking and exploring caves in the area, had an hour for a banging good lunch, and finished off the day with a swim in a freshwater stream, reminding us of Lake George in its warmer months, before getting hit with a random late afternoon rainstorm. Heather and I were on cloud nine, especially me as this was the first physical activity, other than reading on the beach, I’ve done since getting sick. And to top it off, we were kayaking in the mangles of Krabi, Thailand…as we’ve done in so many instances, heather and I just kept looking at each other and saying how amazing everything was.

So, thank you to Kim, Allyson and Chris for the recommendation (and the insistence on kayaking with Mel above all others).

And don’t think I didn’t ask Mel for his autograph on his brochure at the end of the day. Apparently, I’m not the first to ask. Regardless…if anyone’s ever in Southern Thailand and wants to kayak among mangroves – I’ve got a guy for you to call.

Southern Thailand

Friday February 15 – Tuesday February 26

Very rarely do I manage to get through a winter without getting hammered by the flu. This year, apparently, is no different (even though we’re in the tropics, mind you, boohiss).

On February 15th Heather and I took a 9hr bus from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand. I was sad to leave Cambodia, but excited to eventually get to Southern Thailand…and Heather and I were definitely anxious to get back to the land of King paraphernalia, thai iced teas and 7-11’s on every street corner. Unfortunately, I started running a fever as we left Siem Reap…and it still hadn’t let up by the time we flew to Phuket, in Southern Thailand on the 16th.

We were met at the airport by Jim Mielke, a friend from Silver Bay. After traveling for about 6 ½ weeks, it was great to see a familiar face, and even nicer - he’s a resident, so drove me directly to the international hospital to get checked out. While the final diagnosis was just a ‘really bad cold’, appropriate meds (read: strong antibiotics) were prescribed. 6 weeks in SEAsia and no health problems…apparently I’d been pushing my luck.

We stayed with Jim for 4 nights --- he’s in one of the few areas of Phuket that is still slightly deserted, happily situated far from the touristy, built-up beaches and Phuket town. He’s got an amazing view of a bay and nearby islands that have just recently begun to be bought up by developers. It made for an amazing place to recuperate (Jim, thank you so much), we just feel horrible that we managed to pass along the cold.

February 20th was the day we finally got to see a bit more of the infamous Southern Thailand travelers rave about. We took a scenic boat ride from Phuket to Krabi, another mainland beach tourist destination, and met up with Heather’s friend Tom who’s on his way back to the States from 6 months in Antarctica (talk about temperature change?). The trip itself was 2 hours of stunning ocean views…we couldn’t wait to get to the beach. The three of us caught a longtail boat to Railay where we stayed for a week – Heather and I further recuperating and Tom warming up.

There are a few specific populations of people on Railay…
Resort Beach-goers…while Railay itself it less built up than islands such as Ko Phi Phi or Ko Samui, it does have at least 4 or 5 resorts spread out along it’s 3 main beaches. Resorts mean that the restaurants cater to Western cuisine, there are minimarts around every corner and tourist offices are everywhere, offering limitless day trips and tour packages. If you can’t find one that fits your needs…they probably can. Or they’ll call a friend and set it up for you.
Backpackers…there are those of us that are traveling that are on a slightly tighter budget than one that would allow a resort stay, and there are a few budget places to be found. Ton Sai, a beach to the North, caters especially to backpackers --- specifically the climbers --- who are looking to live cheaply.
Climbers…Railay is known for its climbing, more so than its beaches, depending on who you talk to. There are actually more climbing operations than dive shops (an oddity for this part of the world) on Railay. Climbers can be lumped into the backpacker group, but also form their own community. Many whom I spoke to had been there for a few weeks…and weren’t necessarily planning on leaving anytime soon.
Locals/Rastafarians…for such a large crowd of tourists, there’s obviously quite the niche for restaurants, beachside shake stands, bars and tour agencies, all which are run by locals. Even the dive shop was mostly staffed by Thais – a contrast to what we would find in Ao Nang the following week. Rastafarians, many of whom spend their time off either listening to Bob Marley or hitting up their favorite climbing spots, are everywhere, and are the first to let you know where the party is that night, or what happy hour specials they’ll have later that day.

Obviously we had our share of entertainment for the week we stayed on East Railay (the beaches were as follows…West Railay = resort, Phra Nang = resort, Ton Sai = climber’s paradise, East Railay didn’t have a beach you could sit on, but was full of backpackers and smaller resorts). Heather and Tom went diving on our last full day there; I spent it on the beach, again. Not too much to share other than gorgeous photos…which will eventually be posted, once I’m in a place long enough to do so. Promise.

Capitalizing on Tourists (why not?)

Tuesday February 12 – Thursday February 14

Thanks to Kim we were fully prepared upon arrival in Siem Reap as to where we wanted to go. I will say this before I go on; when I was in Northern Uganda I became disillusioned with NGOs and local organizations that spouted a great line but backed it up with little action on behalf of the people, so much so that I questioned whether or not I wanted to involve myself in such work for the rest of my life. Oddly enough, I found it comforting once in Siem Reap – I’ve had conversations with people since visiting about whether or not there’s ‘too much’ development going on (not necessarily too much, because you can never have too much attention to issues of poverty and war, but usually questions of how is money being used, are the organizations efficient, etc.) and there are definitely still problems. But I definitely found it a great sign that so much was taking place on behalf of the disadvantaged. There can always be more, there can always be more efficient means and actions, but the base interest is there, and it is nice to see. A huge part of the attraction of Siem Reap is Angkor Wat and with 2+ million tourists per year on record now, so the question has to be raised whether or not the money and aid would be there if Angkor wasn’t, but regardless, it was good to see some great organizations start to take root.

CHRILDREN’S HOSPITAL
Monday, after checking into our ‘flashpacker’ guesthouse, we headed to the Angkor Children’s Hospital – it was opened in 2000 by a Japanese photographer who had been to Cambodia and wanted to do something to help the children he saw in such destitute conditions. What came of it was the Friends Without a Border organization that funds the Angkor Children’s Hospital.

Wednesday I was able to go back and get a tour from one of the PR assistants, and ended up buying a book of photographs and captions from children helped by the Children’s Hospital (what can I say…slight sucker…). The hospital itself is an amazing entity. It’s right now the road from a Swiss-funded hospital, much smaller, but sees a much more disadvantaged population because their services are free. Wait, sorry, they ask for families that can afford it for a 1000riel donations ($0.25).
Not only do they have slightly under-100 beds for children that need to stay overnight/longer, but they have a dental clinic, ER and surgerical wing. They also have a kitchen where families can cook for themselves and extra food for the patient (who are provided with 2 meals/day).

Additionally the hospital has realized that many of the issues they deal with stem from ignorance or not enough education in rural areas so they offer classes for parents on healthy cooking and taking care of newborns.

They’re doing amazing things and you can check out their website at: www.friendswithoutaborder.com

TEACHING ENGLISH
Tuesday night we went and checked out Wat Damnak – it’s one of the central temples in Siem Reap and we’d heard they always accepted English-speaking volunteers to help with their classes with monks.

We were told to come back Wednesday to ask for Savoun, the monk in charge. Wednesday we had a bit of a hard time tracking down this Savoun but, no worries, by the time we found him and got set up (around 5:15), the class we were helping with was just coming in – yes, 15 minutes late. This is additional education in a developing country, just showing up to class is seen as effort.

We told Savoun we’d be more than happy to help with the two older classes at night, 5-6 and 6-7, on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tren, the first teacher, had only 3 years of English instruction himself, and had us speak with the class the entire remainder of the time. The class had obviously just learned introduction questions because, in turn, they all asked us, “What is your name?” “What is your age?” “Where are you from?” “How do you find Cambodia?” “How big is your family?” etc.

The second class was far more of a surprise…Ravich, a monk, taught a more advanced set of students and had, himself, more English ability than Tren. He took a different approach when he found out we were volunteering – he literally turned the class over to us. He opened his book and pointed to the page he was going to teach that night, and sat down in the back of the class eating an ice cream that one of his students gave him.

So we went for it. We taught them about writing the date out, as well as with numbers, and the differences between the American way and the European way.

Night two went a bit differently – We sat in the front row with the students and told Tren and Ravich we wanted to see how they taught the students. We took over the last 15-20 minutes of both classes to help students with their pronunciation. The kids absolutely loved have foreigners in class, not only to practice their speech and get their ears used to ‘american english’…but also to chitchat about us and ask us if we were married. The first night we definitely provided more entertainment than education, but we did get some things through – I think.

Thursday morning we sat down with Savoun and Ravich to talk about Buddhism, biology (Ravich was very interested in picking Heather’s brain about certain problems he was having in his classes), and education. We spent a hour and a half hanging out with them, and I learned a lot about the education and political system in Cambodia as a result. We also were able to see the sewing school Wat Damnak runs for impoverished young adults --- they provide room/board/a sewing machine for a semester of classes for the students and they are continually supported after they leave Wat Damnak and return to their villages to try and make their own living.

Heather and I promised to try and send maps and materials…if you’re interested in sending materials, or volunteering if you’re in Siem Reap, the address is:
Wat Damnak 0211
Wat Damnak village
Salakomreuk Commune
Siem Reap, Angkor
Cambodia

and Savoun’s email is:
englishvolunteer@yahoo.com

LANDMINE MUSEUM

One of the greatest stories we heard while we were in Siem Reap was the story of Aki Ra and his landmine museum. We had been tipped off to this wonderful place by Beth and Jason Giersch last summer – and Tuesday morning, on our way to Banteay Srei, saw signs. Our faithful tuktuk driver, Mr. RaDa was only happy to oblige and drop us there on the way back.

Aki Ra himself has an incredible story. He was conscripted by the Khmer Rouge forces, and ended up planting landmines as part of his job. He was then enlisted by the Vietnamese when they were finally able to break through into Cambodia, and eventually fought for Cambodia itself (if I’m remembering all this correctly). Much of his work was to lay landmines throughout the countryside and after finally giving up being a soldier, he began the work that would consume the rest of his life: deactivating mines. Aki has now worked with UN forces and Cambodian government forces, as well as received international training, but says he prefers to go it alone. The photographer who took many of the pictures for his small, but impressive, museum said that in one day Aki could deactivate at least 50 mines.

His dream was to open a museum to show off all the different mines he’d collected over the years, and he did – but the government confiscated much of his stuff and opened their own museum in town. Apparently someone has been able to come in and help Aki, his family, and the additional landmine orphans he helps to provide for and put through school – or Aki and his wife have persisted and beat the system, because their museum is open again and sees a good number of tourists each day.

Again, it’s one of those situations where silence doesn’t need to be asked for – as your touring one of the three small exhibition rooms in the museum, not much talking is necessary. The photographs of the destruction of landmines to people and places is appalling, and for educational purposes and dramatic effect I suppose, they’ve labeled all the landmines in the museum with title, what their purpose is (how far their destruction is supposed to reach) and in which country they were made. It’s incredible that the US has continued to refuse to sign the Landmine Treaty that arose in the late 1990’s…

the website is: www.cambodialandminemuseum.com if you’re interested in more information SLASH heather and I have been sporting their shirts since we went there (we also indulged in the tourist faux-pas of buying, and wearing, Angkor Wat tshirts at Angkor, btw…)

Angkor WHAT?!

Tuesday February 12 – Thursday February 14

For the sake of all the things we did while in Siem Reap, I’m splitting this up into two sections – Angkor and Siem Reap City (read: NGOs/volunteering/my dream come true)

And please, for those that know Ben Provan (or Ben Provan himself if he’s actually reading this…), know that every time we heard anyone make a pun out of Angkor Wat, or we wanted to make them ourselves, we thought of Ben and his profound influence on our lives…

Tuesday we found ourselves up at 530am to meet our tuktuk driver at 6, so that we could try and catch the early light at Banteay Srei – an outlier temple within Angkor, more commonly known as the Red, or Pink, Temple. It took about an hour to get to, including stopping to buy our 3-day Angkor pass (picture included – legit!), so we watched the sun rise as we drove along and arrived at Banteay Srei before most other tourists.

It was amazing to get to the temple before other tourists – we were literally exploring the pink sandstone, elaborately craved arched doorways and walkways with 6 other people. It was also a great first temple to see, it’s extremely well-known, and Heather and I both picked up on the vibe around the temples we would come to love…general awe and respect reigned among all tourists and guides. Most, not all, people we ran into were extremely conscientious of those around them, and tried to not ruin the experience for others (including not stepping in people’s pictures, which, at around midday is sometimes unavoidable).

Our tuktuk driver, Mr. Ra Da, then suggested we see a few of the smaller temples on the way to Ta Prohm – Heather’s most anticipated temple. We stopped at Pre Rup, which we had to climb veeeeery steep stairs at to get to the top – but were rewarded with a great 360degree view of the ruin complex. We then saw Banteay Kdei, but were told by Mr. Rada that we should first see Sras Srang, across the road. It was the remains of the base of a temple, or stupa, that was built on the edge of a lake. We had seen a lot of people up early, watching the sunrise over the water, and had wondered if it was anything special to Angkor – apparently, a pretty important site.

Here was where we started seeing massive numbers of tourists and being approached by tireless children, trying to sell us everything from books, to tshirts to bracelets. It’s sad that the only English they learn at an early age is, “Mister, please, one dollar, 10 bracelets” or “please, miss, buy book, family need food”. I’m sure Heather and I were easy targets because the look of pure pain on our faces as we walked by these malnourished and desperate kids probably screamed of sympathy, but we have been told my many people that once you buy one thing, or give something away, be ready to be swarmed.

And then, finally, we headed to Ta Prohm. If you’ve seen photographs of Angkor, you’ve either probably seen Angkor Wat, Bayon (the huge 4-sided face statues) or Ta Prohm (gigantic trees that have grown up, around, through and with the ruins.

When Angkor Wat was built, over a few centuries, there was very little vegetation around – the rulers of the era cut it all away and, I guess, preferred looking at their grand palaces and temples without anything in their way. Looking at Ta Prohm now, which has been allowed to ‘run wild’ with growth, I can’t imagine not having the natural habitat it does. Heather was in 7th heaven, having now found a combination of her two loves – nature and religion – and walked around in wonder, getting her picture taken within all the gigantic tree root systems on the grounds.

For me, the most interesting part of Ta Prohm was the large majority of rubble piles from the ruins. Huge stone blocks, obviously once part of walls, doorways and reliefs, were everywhere around the compound. Other temples have been ‘reconstructed’ at this point and are as similar as they can guess to the original structures – but it doesn’t seem like they’re in any hurry to reconstruct Ta Prohm. I liked the ruins having rubble around, it gave it a greater sense of age and ability to withstand time (because much of it was still intact).

From there we headed to Angkor Thom – an ancient city just north of Angkor Wat. The best known monument within Angkor Thom is Bayon, in which there are 216 huge faces of Avalokiteshvara carved onto 4-sided columns. While you stand along the outside walls of the complex, you’re a bit overwhelmed with everything to see…once you step inside, it’s a whole different story. I’m sure it gets a little creepier as the sun goes down and you have dozens of sets of eyes on you everywhere you go.

Interestingly enough, we’d run into a camera crew earlier at Banteay Kdei (I think that’s where we found them) with little monks and nuns in bright orange and white outfits running around. Turns out, the youngsters weren’t true monks and nuns, and the camera crew was either shooting commercials, photographs or both – because we ran into them again at Bayon in the afternoon. They had an entire entourage, full of flashy guys with safari vests (filled with film equipment, of course) and young adult interns who were running around trying to clear areas so that shots wouldn’t be ruined by the wayward tourist. The kids of the shoots themselves were absolutely adorable, but looked like they has as little idea as to what was going on as the tourists did (none).

After Bayon we explored a bit more of Angkor Thom’s monuments, but headed back around 3:30. The one thing everyone does say about Angkor is that it’s better to space it out – and not to overdo it. The days get very hot and the temples definitely lose their awe in the heat of the day after about 5 others so…we figured we’d be back the following two days to go back to the ones we really wanted to see.

Wednesday we woke up even earlier – crazy, I know…slash I think Heather wanted to hit me when I woke her at 5:15am – so we could get to Angkor Wat for sunrise. We were using bikes that our guesthouse had and thought maybe there wouldn’t be that many people waking up that early…little did we know that apparently seeing the sun rise at Angkor is a rite of passage for tourists. There were literally hundreds of people there for the event. We were walking on the bridge leading to Angkor and all of a sudden weren’t allowed to continue any farther because of photography reasons? Eventually we realized the same camera crew from the day before was photographing at Angkor for the sunrise and wanted the bridge cut off for the actual rising of the sun – turned out for some amazing pictures for us as well!

Angkor itself was incredible. We’d spoken to an Irish woman the previous day who had said she was a bit disappointed with Angkor, but Heather and I were anything but disappointed. It is an absolutely spectacular and inspired monument, breathtaking and awe-capturing to say the least. There are two bridges you walk across, the first is set across the moat that encircles the entire ruin complex, the second runs from the first entry corridor to Angkor itself. There are three levels to the central temple, originally built to honor Vishnu and serve as Suryavarman II’s funerary temple, and surrounding the temple are numerous squares and intricately interlinked galleries.

Words, literally, cannot do it justice. It literally is a man-made wonder, and to think that it’s one part of such a larger being, spanning centuries, is daunting.

After an incredible sunrise, we decided to bike the long way around to Ta Prohm…it ended up being a good 10-15km? probably more towards the 10km end. Regardless – the bikes we were riding were a bit dilapidated – heather’s pedals didn’t work that well, and I looked like one of the local kids who usually ride bikes WAY too big for them, I could barely reach the pedals when sitting. So by the time we got to Ta Prohm for another go-round, we were aching. And we still had to ride 6km back to siem reap. Oops.

Thursday we took the morning off of Angkor and instead spent much of the day at Wat Damnak and enjoying a bit of Aircon at a local café (read the next post for more info…).
However, at 4pm we’d planned on biking back to Angkor for sunset. We decided to treat ourselves (hey – it was Valentine’s day) and got a tuktuk to take us to Bayon first (the monuments with gigantic heads on all four sides) and then to Angkor.

We realized as we were watching across the bridge, and masses were walking towards us, that the sunset might not be visible from the inside of Angkor Wat. We needn’t be worried, apparently, because we caught the end of the sunset over the entryway to Angkor, along with several hundred other tourists. Talk about Valentine’s Day Date…Heather and I figure this one miiiight be hard to top (thank you, however, to EVERYONE that helped peter with his valentine’s day card --- it was amazing and I loved getting all your messages!).

We also figured having seen the sun rise at, and ending our 3-day pass with the sunset at Angkor Wat, was a pretty good way to end our stay in Cambodia.

Flashpackin' in style

Monday February 11th

Ahhhh, Siem Reap. The city itself is situated around Siem Reap River – a little waterway that’s stagnant and muddy-colored – but has a bit of charm nonetheless. To me, at least...heather didn’t share my appreciation as wholeheartedly. I seem to be a sucker for little arched bridges though, connecting two sides of towns (I was a bit obsessed with Amsterdam when my mom and I visited in 2006).

Kim had told of us of a guesthouse run by the survivor of the Khmer Rouge, from which a portion of the room prices go to pay for school uniforms for impoverished kids. We were sold. We arrived at the guesthouse, Marina Villa, after a bit of a hassle finding the place (we didn’t have the name, we didn’t think, ended up that we did but were looking for another one…slight debacle that ended up working out fine).

And we were quickly ushered into a new lifestyle – Flashpackin’…termed by Lonely planet and backpackers all over the world, the population of travelers that do the backpacking routes but are willing to spend an extra few dollars for nicer guesthouse (mostly for the sake of air-con or hot showers). Usually, though, the higher end guesthouses will also offer a variety of services, and the women running Marina Villa set us up with an English-speaking tuktuk driver for the following day for Angkor, let us know there were bikes, free of charge, we could use whenever we wanted, and they could call places for us or offer ideas for other things to do/sites to see. While other guesthouses we’ve stayed in have offered the same services and we just haven’t taken them up on their offers, this establishment enlisted the help/employment of family friends and reputable people within the community (at least they claimed, and we were inclined to believe them). And while we weren’t able to sit down with the family for an extended period, apparently there’s a deaf girl in the family who can lip-read 5 languages, the owner is a Khmer Rouge survivor, and there’s a young boy of 5 who speaks English incredibly well. All of this information is thanks to Kim, by the way.

So we settled into our new flashpackin’ lifestyle, a bit away from the tourist strip of bars, restaurants, markets and guesthouses, and then went to explore Siem Reap…

By bus, by (bamboo) train, by boat

February 9-11

I am absolutely taken with the country of Cambodia. I was in Phnom Penh, but more because of what we did while we were there and seeing the life and vibrancy of the people amidst the tragic history of the country. However, I can now say that the people we’ve interacted with on a one-on-one basis and getting to see a bit more of the countryside has only upheld my first impressions.

We ended up staying in Phnom Penh one extra day as Heather recouperated from a pretty bad bout of food poisoning. Oddly enough, we had the exact same dinner at a set-menu Bangladeshi/Indian/Halal restaurant except she got meat, I got veg…ridiculously unfortunate. Hopefully Bangladesh will, um, treat me a little kinder in the future. She slept the day away in our run down ‘floating island’ guesthouse while I spent the day walking around Phnom Penh and catching up on reading.

Even though Heather wasn’t 100% better she was a trooper and we woke up at the crack of dawn on February 10th to catch a bus to Battambang, the 2nd largest city in Cambodia after Phnom Penh, but with an entirely different feel. The bus ride itself wasn’t that bad, except for a bit of confusion when we arrived in Battambang as to whether or not we were actually there, and were immediately approached by a young man named Vat. He set us up with motorbike drivers to take us to a hotel in town to check out, we settled in, and then he was kind enough to offer us ‘a deal’ for an afternoon tour.

Worked out great, because then we were right back on track with getting 4 nights in Siem Reap.

So we hoped on his motorbike, all three of us (this is totally normal --- we’ve seen entire families of 5 or 6 on one motorbike throughout all of SEAsia..not necessarily the safest, but we put our trust in Vat. And it was cheaper, obviously).

Our first stop was Phnom Sampeau – We had a bit of a hike once we got there to reach the first temple on “Selling Boat” Mountain, but luckily, more than enough time for Vat to fill us in as to why the mountain was named “Selling Boat”. The older temple stands today in memory of those held inside and killed during the Khmer Rouge era. We weren’t to step inside the temple because the smell of human bodies still lingers.

Next to the temple was a path leading to a small cave complex – another place that was used to torture and execute prisoners. There is an opening at the top of the cave that people would be dropped from, apparently. As at the Killing Fields of Choung Ek, there is a memorial that holds bones and skulls of the found bodies. It is much smaller, but holds the same level of respect.

At this point, Vat began telling us about memories he has of being a small child and hiding from Khmer Rouge soldiers in the woods. As far as we could figure, he was born towards the end of the genocide period, but still would have been scarred growing up in the years to immediately follow. He didn’t say much, but what he did say was powerful with emotion. No surprise – but much of society is still dealing with post-traumatic stress disorders and similar symptoms as a result.

At the top of Selling Boat Mountain there is a temple as well as one huge gold stupa, and two stupas that are still being constructed (apparently they’ve been works in progress for years). ALSO, interestingly enough, the first thing Vat pointed out to us was a massive old German gun used by the Vietnamese during the war. It stands today as a reminder of the fighting, as is a great selling point for tourists.

It was at Phnom Sampeau that we also learned a little something about Battambang – a nice little tidbit (and yes, I’ve prepared myself fully for the inevitable making fun that is to follow this comment…). APPARENTLY Angelina Jolie adopted Maddox, her first child, Cambodian, from Battambang. Crazy. Her organization, the Maddox-Jolie-Pitt Foundation is located within the city. We found this out because Vat wants to apply for a position with them…he’d already unfortunately missed the due date to apply, but I’m sure more positions will open over time.

We then continued onto Wat Banan, termed a “personal pocket-sized Angkor Wat”, which happened to be located at the top of 359 stairs. On the way back down, I counted. They weren’t lying. It was a gorgeous ruin site and we got an amazing view of the surrounding countryside.
Which, for me, is why I love touring around on motorbikes – you get to see the little villages and outposts where people actually live their lives, not necessarily based on tourism or development.

On the way back we hoped on the ever-popular Bamboo Train…literally platforms (with small bars keeping you inside), that are powered by a motor, driven by a local, on the train tracks from the outskirts of the city into Battambang. Cambodia has a bit of a rail system, and we’d looked into taking it from Phnom Penh to Battambang (the bus was far cheaper, and far quicker, when all was said and done so we opted not to). Apparently though, most tourists only get to see a small bit of the rail system – by Bamboo Train.

Vat timed it perfectly and we were onboard just as the sun was setting. High Five to him (he’s a tourism/economics university student. Apparently doing well in classes).

We returned to our guesthouse to find a note from Kim – our friend from Luang Prabang (first met her while mountain biking) and Moung Ngoi. She was staying in the same guesthouse and gave us the name of the restaurant she was having dinner at with another couple, Allyson and Chris.

Things happen for a reason, I’m a firm believer, and we spent the night having great conversation and getting great advice not only for Siem Reap (Kim is probably the reason I loved the city so much in the end), but for Southern Thailand too.

Monday we, again, woke up at the crack of dawn to get on a boat bound for Siem Reap. It was a bit more expensive way to travel (versus bus), but Vat had insisted that you’ll get to see ‘real Cambodia’ by taking the boat, and that the road from Battambang to Siem Reap was dusty and full of holes. Weird that we opted for a 3-8 hour boat ride along ‘arguably one of the most scenic water routes in Cambodia’.

And it truly was a great way to see the country – a different style of life than we’d seen thus far. From reading about Cambodia’s history, watching movies and visiting tourist destinations in Phnom Penh and Battambang, I’d gotten the feeling that most of the population of the country were farmers. A large percentage, however, make a living by fishing and along the waterways that drain into the Tonle Sap Lake. We began the trip on one boat, a bit cramped, and passed many riverside farms where people had probably been at work for hours already (we left at 7am, ps). As we meandered further and further down the river, nearing the lake, we passed massive fishing net contraptions, individual fisherman and floating villages. At one point we pulled up to a dock and switched boats for the remainder of our ride, to a larger boat with a huge deck on top for laying out. Heather and I spent a good few hours, getting rather sunburnt in the end, napping and reading (and taking just a few pictures…), finally heading below deck as we approached the lake.

Arriving at the Phnom Krom dock was an experience in itself…when they say dock, apparently they mean lines of boats attached to each other --- and when you disembark yours, you end up climbing on/through others. When we finally reached land, there was a tuktuk driver with our name on a sign, but the scam is that they agree to ferry you the ~15km into town, as long as you hire them to be your driver to Angkor. This didn’t sit well with me or Heather, so in the end we paid the guy and told him we’d find our own tuktuk driver whenever we decided to go to Angkor…we held back from a lecture on the weight of a smile or kind word, or two, when speaking to tourists. The driver was overtly rude and upset we weren’t going to hire him. C’est la vie.

So within 36 hours we’d taken a bus, (bamboo) train and boat. Not too shabby, Cambodia, not too shabby.

And finally - Cambodia

Thursday February 7th and Friday February 8th
Phnom Penh
It is absolutely amazing, when looking at a map of SEAsia, that over 2 weeks in Laos we traveled a good amount of distance, but slowly, and in an hour-and-15 minute flight we covered all the land, and water, between Vientiane, Laos and Phnom Penh, Cambodia, a completely different country!

And we certainly arrived in style at our guesthouse for our stay, on the back of two motorbikes. Having been ushered through an exceptionally easy visa/customs declaration process in the Phnom Penh airport we exited the arrivals lobby and crossed the threshold into the chaos that is a major city’s airport parking lot. Immediately we were flanked by drivers of tuktuks, proper taxis and motorbikes – after a bit of back-and-forth with the motorbike guy, we figured out it would be $3/person, we could in fact fit our packs, ourselves and the driver on one bike, and we would have helmets.

So we hopped on. At the last second I asked the guy about helmets again…and he proceeded to take the helmet off my driver, and place it on my head. Talk about guilt in the case of an accident...

Our guesthouse. Well, it’s called the Floating Island and it’s in a very comfy, backpacker-friendly neighborhood adjacent to the most prominent of the city’s slums, apparently. There are countless number of restaurants, cafes, cinemas, etc. within a 400-meter radius of us, which is fabulous. We had chosen it because it’s on a ‘lake’ (read: body of water almost completely covered with plantlife at the moment which locals weave in and out of on boats searching for different pieces of garbage and potentially? fishing), and has a restaurant terrace overlooking it. We didn’t necessarily count on the gambling ring of locals at the entrance to our guesthouse (and I’ve counted limitless others in the neighborhood since) but, c’est la vie, eh?
Oh, and our room. We’re traveling cheap – remember that – we have linoleum lined walls, and bamboo thatched roof, we’re off a long, single hallway that proceeds over the water, and our floor is covered with fake tile wallpaper stuff. There’s definitely a hole in one of the floorboards in the corner, so we try to not tread there, and our adjacent bathroom’s sink comes out of the wall. This is, by far, one of the worst accommodations we’ve stayed in thus far – which just goes to show you how nice we’ve had it up until now, because it really isn’t all that bad…just a tad bit sketchy. I kinda like that it has a bit of character to it.

We arrived early afternoon, so we had a few hours to walk around --- we saw Wat Phnom, a small temple at the top of a hill in the center of the city.
We were psyched because it was actually open! and so we were able to see the inside of our first temple in ages…hopefully the ping starts accruing again. The 6th, also, was Chinese New Year, so there were crazy amounts of people at the Wat giving offerings and starting the new year off right. It was really great to see how everyday Buddhists practice their religion (in comparison to mostly monks we’ve seen thus far). most entertaining, however, was the band of monkeys that live in the trees surrounding this hill who wreak havoc on all those beneath…we saw a few with stolen waterbottles, pieces of fruit, and digging through bags.

We hit up the National Museum, full of both Buddhist and Hindu sculptures and relics. There was a lack of labels and explanations for many of the pieces, so I tried using my fledgling French to pick up on what the French tour guides were saying around me but, no dice. Didn’t help too much. Heather, however, was a fabulous help with the things that she knew, and we saw some pretty cool stuff. After the Khmer Rouge era, many of the sacred pieces from Angkor Wat and other important areas to Cambodia were ransacked and stolen, probably to be sold on the artifact blackmarket. I think in 2000, or around then, Cambodia printed a “100 relics lost” pamphlet with pictures and explanations of just 100 of thousands of lost pieces, and were able to get back at least 8 of them as a result.

Earlier upon our arrival, when our motorbike drivers took us down the wrong alley (things happen for a reason, eh?), I’d noticed a restaurant that was advertising itself also as a cinema, and apparently they were playing the Killing Fields that night. Later we learned they play the movie every night…but regardless, we went for dinner and stayed for the movie. I had really wanted to see it before I left and didn’t get around to it, so I’m super happy we were able to see it before actually going to the Killing Fields on Friday. It’s a great movie if you haven’t seen it – and it was especially fabulous that this restaurant plays it every night for tourists. Says a lot about how the local people are healing from the painful memories of the Khmer Rouge genocide.

And then Friday, oh Friday. Heather’s big thing is Buddhism – so she’s been loving the temple tour we’ve taken up (as have i). But most everybody knows I’m about the more recent history of countries, especially looking into massive human rights abuses, so being able to visit Cambodia and see firsthand the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek and the Tuol Sleng Museum, was amazingly touching and moving.

We started at the Tuol Sleng Museum, more commonly referred to as S-21, which is a school that was turned into the largest and most deadly Khmer Rouge prison. Of the estimated 14,000 prisoners to have been brought there, 7 survived. Almost every victim ended up at the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek after being forced to sign false accusations and ‘biographies’ written up by the prison guards after multiple interrogation sessions. There was a moving documentary on two of the prisoners whose stories are known – a husband and wife separated because of the war; the husband a Khmer Rouge officer, the wife sent to work in a rural village. The documentary was based off of letters they wrote to each other under false pseudonyms, and interwoven was the history of the Khmer Rouge, S-21 and the genocide. Interestingly enough, many of the prisoners were people from the Khmer Rouge army that officials no longer trusted. My impressions were that as time dragged on, the upper echelon of the Khmer Rouge became more desperate and trusted fewer and fewer people, eventually killing large numbers of ‘their own’ as a result.

The museum now displays all the photographs of prisoners that were taken upon their arrival at S-21, a haunting exhibit of the victims of mass, indiscriminate genocide. The worst to see where the children, some were only toddlers when they go there – and to know that they too underwent torture and were eventually brutally murdered – to put it mildly, it was an emotional day.

We then proceeded to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, which are 15km outside of the city. At the ticket booth there were rules posted, and it asked everything that enters to take off their shoes and hats and walk up to the standing shrine for the victims of the Killing Fields, and respectfully take a moment of silence. The monument itself is chilling – it’s rectangular box inside a larger buidling, level upon level full of skulls and bones that were excavated from the Killing Fields. Some had signs near that that would state the gender and approximate age of the skulls, others, you would just guess how they were killed based on bulletholes, fractures or crushed areas. At the base there was a huge pile of worn clothes, also found during excavation, that have since been deordorized and left as a reminder of the once-human aspect of what we were about to see.

Ironically, where the Killing Fields are used to be a tree grove, and once again, plants, trees and lush grass flourish. However, amidst the park-like atmosphere there are gigantic crater-sized holes in the ground. Some have shelters built over them, and information written about how many people were found in this mass grave. One, next to a tree, documented that all the remains found were from women and children – and it’s believed that the tree that now shadows the grave, was used to beat the victims against.

It was an absolutely moving experience to be there, and personally, I appreciated (so much so) the fact that these ‘tourist attractions’ were not only being used to correctly educate the tourist masses, but were built in such a way that they’re part of the healing process Cambodia is still going through. In S-21 there was a photography exhibit of 10 skulls, each photographed and then written about, in detail, the way the person was killed. There was note from the artist that originally the specific skulls chosen were to be displayed as part of the exhibit but because Cambodian culture believes that without proper burial spirits are not at rest, and that bones and skulls house these spirits, objections were raised about putting them on display, especially in closed boxes which would not allow spirits to enter and leave at their will. Therefore, the decision was made not to display the skulls.

That in itself is a testament to cultural values that lie at the center of the healing process for Cambodia. Both Heather and I have remarked on the great feeling we’ve gotten from walking around Phnom Penh (again, everyone thinks we’re nuts for walking…the crazy white people) – but it just feels so alive, which is exactly the opposite of what you would expect. Yes, it’s been decades since the actual genocide, but it’s impressive how well this city, at least, has handled it’s history – thus far, to us.

To finish off our emotional day, we were dropped off at the Royal Palace. We were able to see ancient Buddhist relics, the throne for past kings, documentation of coronations and the illustrious, and well-known, silver pagoda (the name may fool you…all the silver tiles on the floor are covered up to protect them…for a while we didn’t know if we were in the right place).

It was definitely a bit of a shock to our system to go from such an emotionally charged area to one of the most elaborate, expansive and wealthy tourist attractions in Phnom Penh, but it takes all kinds. Check out The Killing Fields if you get a chance – for serious.

Vientiane - City of...well, we're not so sure...

On Monday, February 4th Heather and I started our day off right – meaning, we went straight for our last cup of iced Lao Coffee from our local Luang Prabang coffee guy. Yes, we were there long enough to find a coffee guy. His name is Lenou and we were very fond of his stand of freshly squeezed orange juice and Lao made as-you-like-it coffee (p.s. Lenou says hi Flynn and Sarah!). We had asked him the previous night what time he opened, as we were leaving at 7am, and he said 6:30! Mind you, he’s normally in the market until 9pm, so the guy works very long days. However, he loves inviting his patrons to sit on a bench next to his stand and striking up conversation as he brews each coffee, and hopefully we told enough people about him to increase his business. He even gave us special to-go cups Monday morning, large bamboo ones, that are usually reserved for hot coffee because he knew we were going straight to the bus station.

Our bus from Luang Prabang to Vientiane was supposed to be 8 hours. Here’s a quick 101 on Laotian buses:
There is always a public bus (normally the cheapest option). This bus will, undoubtedly, pick up limitless numbers of extra people while going through villages and smaller towns that don’t have bus centers. These people, especially, have it hard because they usually are transporting bags and sacks of goods from one place to another, and because of the system, will end up without a seat, sitting on aforementioned bags of rice or peanuts, in the aisles.

Now, there are also VIP buses that are a bit more expensive (a little more than $1USD difference, usually), that are nicer buses, sometimes with air-conditioning, that are rumored to cut your trip by a few hours because they won’t be stopping to pick people up.

(and, fyi, ALL buses feature the hottest lao music, as well as some karaoke dvds if you’re so lucky…, so no need to worry if your ipod or mp3 breaks)

We ended up on a VIP bus to Vientiane. However, the trip ended up taking us 9 ½ hours with a few stops to pick up other passengers, a bathroom break, a lunch break, and a large stopover in Vang Vieng (a tourist hotspot) where about 75% of the white people on our bus got off.
So is life, eh?

We arrived at the Vientiane bus terminal and were ushered into a tuktuk that took us to ‘center city’…unfortunately, being as we were arriving around 7:30 pm, rooms were scarce and we were forced to take one that was a bit more expensive than we were hoping, which means it was $8/person rather than $4…to keep things in perspective (we were, however, able to move to a more affordable accommodation the next morning).

Like I said in the title of this post, though, Vientiane didn’t really ever measure up, or redeem our first night impressions.
Tuesday, February 5th we walked the city – literally – walked everywhere. We’re getting rather good at shooting tuktuk drivers looks and quips so they’re fully aware we will not be needing their services.

We first wandered to Patuxai, or, as Lonely Planet explains, “Vientiane’s haughty Arc de Triomphe replica”. As someone who has gazed at the wonder that is the Arc in Paris, it’s a stretch to say that this is a replica…it’s not very appealing to the eye. It’s mostly a concrete-gray color and while it has some nice fountains on either side, it’s just not very impressive of a monument in the center of the city. Granted, it apparently was never fully finished as the builders intended it to be, so maybe more plans for grandeur were in the works – AND we were able to climb up it and get a great view of the city. Ruining the historical value (or maybe ensuring that this does have some tourist draw) were several shops/stands selling silver, tshirts, various SEAsian country flag patches and miniature Buddha statues on each level.

We spent the rest of the day (in a heat we claimed to have missed, god only knows why, just a week earlier) walking the city…well, we meant to head to the national museum and somehow made a gigantic circle around it – signs seemed to only be posted on a few major roads and intersections in Vientiane. We did make it to the ‘beach’, aka, the Mekong during dry season --- there’s a large, sprawling area of roadside restaurants overlooking the river, but since ¾ of it is dry at the moment, right now they overlook a beach.

At this point, we really hadn’t gotten a feel for Vientiane – we couldn’t tell what the city was all about. So we figured we’d try bowling, which apparently is rather popular among locals and tourists alike. And while Heather and I succeeded in embarrassing ourselves compared to the locals in the lane next to us, we also had a fabulous evening (finished off with dinner at a nearby restaurant that was also hosting a british singer-songwriter for the evening, Billy Paige), of good ‘ole fashioned bowling. Yeeeet, not really what I would consider a traditional Laotian pastime. Weird, eh?

Wednesday held another day of motorbiking adventures, this time started off with the rental woman doubting Heather’s standard motorbike abilities, which, in the words of Flynn jebb – are “bangin’ good”. And I rode on the bike of the bike almost 30 km to Xieng Khuan, the Buddha Park, over bumpy roads, so I think I would know best. We spent the morning and part of the afternoon finding and exploring the Buddha park. It is literally a park full of Buddhist and Hindu sculptures, designed and built in 1958 by Luang Pu (Venerable Grandfather) Bunleua Sulilat, described as a “yogi-priest-shaman who merged Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, mythology and iconography”.

Interesting, to say the least. Walking through the park, looking at the different sculptures – my favorite was a gigantic reclining Buddha that flanked one side of the park – it was amazing to realize how much religion is a part of the daily lives of most Lao citizens, and they certainly don’t shy away from it. Wats were around every corner in Vientiane and while every single one was closed, much to our dismay, they must stand as a daily reminder for all Buddhists about their faith. Running on Wednesday morning I passed an area where people were buying incense to offer at shrines all over the city – and it obviously made for a pretty good smell compared to the fish in tanks awaiting their end at nearby restaurants.

After returning the motorbike, we headed to the National Museum which shed a bit more light on why we weren’t able to pinpoint Vientiane’s character. The museum was separated into 16 rooms/exhibits, many of which were dedicated to the Indochina War years and the following “US imperialist and their puppets” period of rule and rebellion. While I personally thought the language was a bit over-the-top bordering on brainwashing, it makes complete sense in the context of Laos’ history. Vientiane also has, since the mid-19th century at least, been under the control of various imperialist powers or governments supported by the west. It was until recently that Vientiane was actually run by the popularly voted upon government, and even then, the city lacks much of the influences of the local indigenous village cultures that we came to love so much in the North of Laos. We also found it difficult to find an authentic Laotian-only-cuisine restaurant. Most had menus of ‘fusion cuisine’…choose anything from Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Lao, Western or French. It’s definitely a testament to the tumultuous history of Laos, as well as the individual history of Vientiane as the capital city, that we still, after having left Laos, can’t seem to explain Vientiane’s character as anything traditionally or uniquely Lao. We’re glad we went, for sure, and happy we were able to see as much as we did in 2 days.

We’re also, however, very happy we’re in Cambodia now. Laos was bittersweet, as we were unable to see as much of the North as we would have liked, and unable to visit the south because of time constraints. Which just means we’ll have to travel back there at some point in the future. Any takers?

Update: Laos

It’s been a while since the last post, partially because I’ve been a bit lazy in sitting down and writing everything that we’ve done in the past week, partially because for a good 5 days Heather and I were in Northeastern Laos where internet was intermittent at best. And knowing that I tend to be a bit verbose and detailed, rather than update day by day, I figured we’d cover the highlights of the past week-week and a half. ***i said i would TRY to keep it short...er...but wasn't very successful...each section has a different heading/date, so you can scroll if you don't have much time.

LUANG PRABANG – The City and Mountain Biking
Thursday January 24th, Friday January 25th

We spent all of Thursday wandering the city of Luang Prabang. There’s an enormous amount of wats within the city itself, as well as on the outskirts. WE checked out the more prominent temples, many of which had housing attached for monks and monks in training. It’s crazy that within a month of being in SEAsia we’ve gotten very used to seeing males between the ages of probably about 7 through 70 walking around in bright orange robes. Buddhist practices in this area of the world, and if I’m not mistaken almost all areas Buddhism is practiced, requires that women never touch monks, and try and stay out of their way. As conscientious travelers, and with girls who have studied Buddhism quite a bit, we’re aware of this and try to abide by said rules…even though they’re slightly sexist…and by slightly, I mean very.

We also hit up the National Museum, which was very nicely laid out with relics and antiques from the royal family who ran to the North when taken over in the 60’s or 70’s. However, most amusing to us was the last room which housed all the gifts that were sent to the crown prince and his family and the country of Laos on behalf of other benevolent nations…Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, China, India, etc. had sent over elaborate china sets, glassware, gorgeous wall hangings, and other gorgeous items. The UNITED STATES, however, had to be different (slash…we import a lot of those items anyways and those that are made in country don’t all follow one cultural style, I guess). There was a gold plated pen from one of our esteemed ex-presidents, a piece of the moon mounted with the Laotian flag and, our favorite, a toy model of one of the lunar landcrafts for the moon. No one can ever call the US non-inventive, that’s for sure.

On Friday, Heather Sarah and I had signed up for a mountain biking trek with a fair-trek company based in Luang Prabang called Tiger Tours. We met at 9am at their headquarters, unsure of whether or not there’d be anyone else coming with us for the medium-intensity trip (40km over the course of 6 hours, with a boat ride to a waterfall for lunch in between). To our surprise there were two other people who’d signed up – and they were both American! Mike, a southern Vermont chef, was an experienced cyclist, of the mountain biking variety, and had no trouble throughout the day. Kim, a West Coaster (most recently from Seattle) is traveling around the area for an undetermined amount of time and we immediately recognized a kindred spirit in her. She, like Heather and I, was a bit less experienced with mountain biking and I think the three of us kept a comfortable pace a bit behind Sarah and Mike for most of the day.

And by mountain biking, I obviously mean dirt biking. Within 2km of town, we hit dirt roads. These roads definitely had hills that could be interpreted as little mountains, but mostly were difficult because they had about 3-5 inches of dust/dirt/gravel covering them. I felt like a complete spaz going downhills, losing control of my back tire many a time, but luckily not ever wiping out (came close though). A bit before we stopped for lunch my back tire went flat…I wouldn’t necessarily recommend biking on a flat tire…it was a bit difficult. Luckily our second guide was with us for this very reason – he switched bikes with me and went off to fix the tire. My only regret is that he wasn’t able to meet up with us again for the rest of the day (although he seemed a bit happy to be able to leave…it was his first time on these trails as well).

We, obviously, had to cross a small river before the last few kilometers before lunch. This consisted of the 5 of us standing on one bank of the river (which was rather shallow and about 15-20 meters across) while our guide, Yord, sent some small children to fetch a boat from the other side. The first trip saw all 7 bikes piled onto a teeny tiny boat across the river…the second trip saw the 5 of us trekkers and our first guide, along with the boatman, across. It was a bit shaky and unstable, but interesting nonetheless. And I’m sure we looked hilarious to the locals that were washing clothes and playing nearby…5 americans with ridiculous colored helmets, still on of course, crouched down in a little little boat to cross a river about 20 meters.

Lunch was taken at a local waterfall attached to an elephant camp, which was a gorgeous backdrop for some great conversation. Our guide was rather surprised we decided not to go swimming, even though it wasn’t very warm out when the sun went behind the clouds. Apparently, during the hotter months, he can’t get tourists out of the water when it comes time to hop back on the bikes. That might be, however, because of the pain we were in when we did get back on the bikes. None of us had done such intense riding in a while…and our bottoms were rather sore. And we still had about 20 km to get back to Luang Prabang city. Luckily, the last 15 km were on pavement…however Yord had warned us of two big hills. The first was large, long and slightly steep…the second was CRAZY. The best part about it though was rounding out the top of the hill and seeing the very long downhill ahead of us into the city. It was an amazing ride, and we were thrilled to get to see such beautiful scenery by bikes – especially because it’s illegal at the moment to rent motorbikes AND bicycles as foreigners in Luang Prabang. There are two rumors as to why this is (it’s a new development, in the last few months or so)…there have been a large number of accidents involving foreigners and rented bikes OR there’s a tuktuk mafia which has enough clout/reputation in the community to be able to shut down all foreigner-renting operations so as to claim all the public transportation to areas outside the city center. There’s probably a bit of truth to both, we’ve heard people’s opinions go either way, but regardless – don’t think of renting a bike in Luang Prabang. The police round up foreigners every now and again and take the bikes and names of where they’ve gotten them from. Us falangs (foreigners or ‘white people’) aren’t in any sort of trouble, just used to figure out who’s renting illegally.

PLAIN OF JARS – PHONSAVAN
Sunday January 27

First, before I get into the specifics about the Plain of Jars (stunning, really), I feel a need to share a bit of the place we stayed while we were in Phonsavan.

One of the differences between Thailand and Laos is that there aren’t public telephones on the street, therefore, we’ve been showing up in towns/cities and then searching for a guesthouse with available rooms. We haven’t yet run into a problem with this method, probably especially because Laos doesn’t have quite the number of tourists that Thailand does yet.

Regardless, in heading to Phonsavan Flynn noticed that one of the guesthouses in Lonely Planet had a website. So Friday night I emailed KongKeo Guesthouse, inquiring about rooms. Saturday we’d gotten a response;
Dear Kate Meehan:
We have two rooms available. I will hold them for you. My men will meet you at bus station.
Mr. Kong

The best part was that we rolled into the Phonsavan bus station and there were two people there from KongKeo Guesthouse – one of them held a sign that said “Meehan, Pax 03”. Obviously, Mr. Kong knows how to impress travelers. There was an old jeep that about 8 of us slung our bags onto and climbed in to ride in style to Mr. Kong’s guesthouse…which happens to be at the end of an old airstrip on the outskirts of town.

Mr. Kong is an amazing character, and I hope he’ll be featured prominently in Flynn’s memoirs one day. He seems to know everyone in town, and has a hand in most deals done…a bit similar to the godfather, maybe? He had a buffet dinner for us ready within an hour of our arrival, played his guests a song on the traditional Lao flute before switching to Hotel California on his electric-blue guitar, had a fire going all night in a makeshift fire pit (read: old bomb shells attached together), and eventually retired to the indoor part of the bar where locals were watching/betting on a boxing match. Luckily, Mr. Kong was betting for the blue guy and he won, because he’d promised us free beers and a turkey/mashed potato dinner if we got 12 people for our tour the next day. Oh Mr. Kong…we got exactly 12. And were excited about getting turkey.

Our tour to the Plain of Jars was a full day – however we didn’t see the Jar Site until the end of our trip. We started off at a bomb crater site. It was literally a field in front of a small village that had gigantic pond-sized craters splattered across it. It was rather humbling, especially as an American, standing with a group of 12 listening to our tour guide explain the “secret war” that was waged throughout Northeastern Laos by the U.S. To hammer home the effect of seeing the destruction caused in this area, we then continued to a Hmong Village that uses bomb shells today for a variety of purposes – fence posts, house supports, fire pits, etc. There is one family, who apparently returned earlier than other villagers, who has an entire fence of bomb shells. Our guide, Okun, said that they’re planning on selling them for scrap metal one day.

I’d run into a lot of information/education about landmines while in Uganda, but the number of unexploded ordinances (dropped bombs that were not triggered upon their fall) and landmines throughout the world is shocking. Hundreds of thousands of people per year are hurt, killed or rendered disabled as a result of these UXOs exploding, years after they were dropped from planes. It was difficult to hear about, but Okun was very positive about the work that’s being done by NGOs in Laos to clear areas and decrease these instances.

We had lunch at a waterfall, and to return to our minivan we actually walked up the falls, crisscrossing the smaller pools multiple times. And at the top we were rewarded with heading to the Plain of Jars, site 1. There are 3 sites open to tourists at present, with site 3 being the largest. However, 2 and 3 are further away, so we were heading to site 1. As Mr. Kong had said, however, whichever site you see first will always be the best for you. It’s absolutely mindblowing to see.

No one knows how the jars got to be where they are. It literally is exactly what it sounds like - a plain full of stone jars. There are many myths as to how they appeared there, and Okun filled us in on the popular one to tell tourists…apparently the local people think that each jar belonged to one person - for their own Lao Lao reserve (Laotian whiskey…one of two alcoholic beverages found easily throughout Laos. The other is BeerLao, the official beer of the country). There’s also a cave at Site 1 with three holes at the top…which local lore attributes to three jars which must have been put there for LaoLao.

At the moment, archaelogists are studying the Plain of Jars, so many of them contain numbers on the inside. It’s absolutely stunning to see hundreds lined up on a random hillside in the Northeast of Laos, a gorgeous backdrop of mountains and clouds behind them.

And when we returned to KongKeo, there awaited us a turkey on a spit, Mr. Kong with local folktales to share and some of the best mashed potatoes we’ve ever tasted (random, I know, that it was in Laos, but these were – in the words of Flynn – “Bangin’ Good”).

Totally worth the trip, even if it did mean a 8 hour bus ride there, and a 15 hour bus ride the next day for heather and I to the next stop along the way.

VIENG XAI – PATHET LAO CAVES
Tuesday January 29

We were staying in a town called Xam Neua, and had seen a total of 4 westerners by the time we started out Tuesday morning to get to Vieng Xai. We’ve recently realized that the route we’re taking (or at least planned to take..more on that later) is not heavily trafficked by travelers. This results in many fewer people that speak English, and fewer fellow travelers to bounce ideas off of/travel with. From my perspective, however, it was a bit charming --- it’s nice to see people that aren’t bending over backward to dedicate their livelihoods to tourism. It might also just be that the demand isn’t there yet.

Regardless, we’d come to Xam Neua to see caves, but they’re actually not in the town of Xam Neua, but about 30 km further east in Vieng Xai. We had to get a tuktuk to the local, southern, bus station (not to be confused with the outside-the-province, northern, bus station) and then catch a larger tuktuk, called a sangthaew, to Vieng Xai. We arrived and headed to check in with the local tourism office and sign up for the 1pm tour.

There were 5 of us – Heather, myself, another woman from California, a Frenchwoman and an Aussie. All of us except the Aussie had to head back to Xam Neua for the night after our tour and were promised by the tour office that while it was advertised in their guidebook that the last sangthaew left at 3pm, it was actually 4.

So we had 3 hours to explore the caves with our guide, Sankhit. He’s a father of two who’s been giving tours for a couple months now, also an English student most of the year (but at the moment they’re on holiday), so his English skills were quite good. Which was great for us, because there was a lot of information about the caves.

As stated from our information brochure, because there’s no way I will better paraphrase this;
“Vieng Xai, Revolutionary Stronghold
In the 1960s the United States believed that Laos was a crucial area to stop communist expansion, and Laos was dragged into the war between the US and Vietnamese communists. In 1964, the US began intensive bombing of the Lao communist movement – Pathet Lao – base area in Xieng Khouang.”

The Pathet Lao Government moved into Vieng Xai and used a vast network of caves as their shelter/headquarters during the war. The first cave we went to had the largest opening, and there had been a stage/auditorium constructed within it. A constant reminder, however, of the reason for the headquarters of the Pathet Lao being in caves was the area which Sankhit pointed out housed an artillery post at the entrance. It was manned at all hours, pointed to the skies in case of an attack. Outside of all 5 caves we saw on our tour (there are 7 open for tourists), there were massive bomb craters.

Again, it was humbling as an American to listen to a Laotian recount a history that was so very much determined by US foreign policy. I must also disclose that I had just finished A Fortune Teller Told Me (a book about an Italian journalist traveling by any means except air for a year in SEAsia…and he recounts the ugly histories of many of the countries he visits…and especially highlights the opium trade that the US backed secretly for years) and the next day read First They Killed My Father (an account of the Cambodian genocide under Pol Pot through the eyes of a 5 year old, again another conflict where US foreign policy dominated many decisions)...so I’m very pro-US foreign policy of the 60s and 70s right now…

The real adventure for the 4 of us returning to Xam Neua began when we finally realized that the tour office had either (a) lied or (b) made a mistake in telling us we could catch a bus at 4…because there was not one coming. The Frenchwoman with us was highly confident if we walked to the main road we could hitchhike back, especially as she’s “been very lucky with hitchhiking in her life.” She refused at first to pay $5USD per person to privately charter a sangthaew back…after about 30 minutes of no luck with hitchhiking, Heather and I met another tour guide for the caves who helped us get a ride back…for $4USD each. Luckily, both other women with us were willing to pay and thank goodness we figured out a ride when we did because within 10 minutes of getting on the road it started pouring again.

RELENTLESS RAIN – Nong Khiaw/Muang Ngoi /Luang Prabang
Wednesday January 30, Thursday January 31, Friday February 1

Heather and I had a 15 hour bus ride to enjoy the mountains of Northern Laos, and it didn’t start raining until about, eh, 8 or 9 hours into the trip. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop. We arrived in Nong Khiaw at 11:30 pm and had to wake up a poor girl to get a room at a guesthouse. We left to catch a boat to Muang Ngoi on Thursday at 11, crossing our fingers that the rain would let up by Friday. The hour boat trip was cold, but on the way we met Dana, a fellow traveler heading to Muang Ngoi, who graduated from Whitman a year before Heather – small world! We also ran into Kim, who’d gone mountain biking with Heather, Sarah and I in Luang Prabang once we we’d arrived in Muang Ngoi, and it was definitely nice to have familiar faces around.

We were ridiculously wet upon arriving and dumping our packs in our bungalow, and the rain continued all afternoon, and throughout the night. Heather and I made the decision to head back to Nong Khiaw, and then to Luang Prabang, and skip Northeastern Laos (as much as it pained us) because we had no idea when the rain was going to stop. We’d heard rumors as to why it was raining in the dry season, for such a constant, long period…
- potentially as a result of the cold front/storm that rocked southern china with feet upon feet of snow?
- potentially it was a ‘mango rain’ and the mango flowers wouldn't blossom without it
- just bad luck on our parts…we haven't seen as many temples in Laos, so we might need to up our 'ping' (merit...accumlates over a lifetime towards karma) soon?

Leaving from Muang Ngoi was an experience unto itself as every westerner to have arrived in the previous 3 days were taking the only boat back…which turned into 3 boats heading to Nong Khiaw at the same time (with about 20-30 people on each, with packs). There was a mass movement to get on buses to Luang Prabang once back at the Nong Khiaw dock as well, but we were lucky enough to find ourselves among a group willing to pay a bit extra for a private minivan.

We have obviously made it back to Luang Prabang, where it continued to rain all Friday and Friday night. Luckily Saturday was just a bit overcast, and yesterday (Sunday) was actually sunny and hot. We’re hoping that as we head towards Cambodia, a bit earlier than planned, we’ll also leave the rain behind…5 days straight rendered our packs damp and clothes smelling of mildew. It’s probably a good thing Heather and I both packed raincoats, although they can only keep you dry to a certain point.

We spent yesterday afternoon at the most visited local attraction, the Kam Sit waterfalls, at which we were able to climb up and around the waterfalls, stopping at the top to look down the numerous tiers falling into turquoise swimming pools below. Absolutely gorgeous, and it was good to see local Laotians there, partaking in swimming and taking photographs.