Playing catch up...again

Clearly it has been more than a while since our last blog so this is going to be just a very quick update about the past month or so. After leaving Indonesia we flew into BKK. I was extremely happy to be back in Thailand even though I'm not the biggest fan of BKK. We were planning on staying there just for a day or two but ended up being there for just under a week. We meet up with some of my friends (both Thai and American) and did a bit of site seeing but nothing worth mentioning. One night we were at a bar listening to some live music (a Thai guy playing guitar and a foreigner on the harmonica) and when they finished we approached the foreign guy and asked him if he would be willing to meet us the following day for a harmonica lesson (Will brought a harmonica with the intention of learning to play but left the "learn to play" book at home so we have made little progress). He was more than happy to accept so the next day we took a taxi outside of the city to his house which was an adventure in itself but I'm not going to go into that. The guys name was Charlie (or Charlie McScallywag as he called himself) and he was originally from AUS but has been living in Thailand for the past 20 years teaching art. This man was one of the most intense hippies I have ever met and after 22 years in VT that is saying something. Our lesson was not a lesson at all but rather a free love harmonica jam session. Charlie McScallywag did not believe that music could be taught...it simply had to be felt. After playing around with the harmonicas for a bit we entered into deep talks about love and life (Will and I did very little talking and a whole lot of listening and nodding). We did get a free dinner out of this visit though and his Thai wife was quite a good cook so it made the experience almost worth while.

After BKK we headed to the floating markets which are just a few hours north of BKK. We spent the night there and saw the markets early in the morning. We hired a little boat to take us through the hundreds of boats and canoes stuffed with items for sale. We purchased our breakfast from some old lady selling noodles and ate them as we floated through the rest of the market.

Next we were off to Kachanaburi which was a few hours to the west if I can remember properly. We were there for 2 nights and while there we visited many different sites including a Burmese War museum as well as the Bridge over the River Kwai. A brief but very informative stay.

Ayutthaya was our next stop and again it was a site seeing city. Ayutthaya has a large historical park with many stunning temples so we rented bikes and checked as many of those out as we could in the one afternoon we had. Biking during midday in this part of the world is a bit exhausting so after 4 hours we were beat. Will and I separated that afternoon because he wanted to check out Sukhotthai, which is the ancient capital, while I headed straight to Chiang Mai (I had been to Sukhotthai 2 times previously and didn't feel like doing it a third time). Will got off at the wrong bus stop about 2 hours short of his intended destination. He was so lost without me but it ended working out fine because he got off at a cool city so he got to check that out.

We spent the remainder of our visa (about another 2 weeks) in Chiang Mai. We didn't really do a ton but we had a blast. This is the city I stayed in during my semester abroad last year so I had many friends who I was happy to see again. We did a bit of site seeing but not too much because the days are so hot that we can't motivate ourselves to go out and do things. Sitting in a shaded bar is much more appealing than going around in the head sweating our butts off. One of our big activities was camping at Doi Inthanon National Park. Doi Inthanon is the highest mountain in Thailand and it is a major holiday destination for Thais who like camping. We went with some of my friends and we were a group of 10 total. The camping isn't really roughing it but it was a great time regardless. Despite being in CM for just over 2 weeks there isn't a lot to report because we were just relaxing and hanging out with friends.

Our next move was into Laos where we are currently. We took a bus to the north of Thailand and crossed into Laos and then took a two day slow boat ride down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang (I had done this trip last year as well with Ned). Day 1 on the boat is about 7 hours before stopping in some riverside village that exists only because this boat stops there daily with a bunch of foreigners. The generaters shut off at 10 PM so there isn't much to do there but sleep. Will and I payed a dollar for our "room" which was not a room by any means. We spend the night outside on the balcony of some peoples home on a mattress they had set up to make some extra cash. Needless to say we didn't sleep a ton that night but that was okay because we had to be up early to get back on the boat anyways. The 2nd day was about 8 hours and we arrived in Luang Prabang just before 5 PM. We spent the night but left early the next morning to head back up north to a place called Muang Noi Neu (or something like that) which was amazing. It is totally in the middle of nowhere and we had to take a bus then another boat to get there. It is this tiny village built into the jungle covered mountains and is an amazing place for trekking. We spent two nights there (our bungalow cost us 80 cents each and was located looking out over the river) and did a one day trek through rice fields to a waterfall. It was a totally last minute and random decision to go there but it ended up being a trip highlight to this point. Today we arrived back in Luang Prabang but we are off to Vieng Vien tomorrow.

So that was a very, very brief catch up but now we are at least up to speed. Hopefully we will be a bit better about staying on top of this blog in the future.

-RBC