Laos Summary- Cross the border into Laos. Hop on a two day slow boat down the Mekong River. Make friends join up with a group of about 17 awesome travelers. The next two weeks consist of drinking, hammocks, buckets, innertubes, ropeswings, lao whiskey, caves, a homestay in a village, kayaking, and playing guitar in 4000 islands. ..with a lot of uncomfortable bus rides in between.
I love Laos
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Pai
After I made it to Chang Mai, I rented a motorbike and road for the whole day over the mountains and into the town of Pai; one of my favorite places in Thailand. Its a little sleepy hippy town in north eastern Thailand. and its famous for being so layed back, that travelers usually get stuck there for much longer than they had originally planned- There, instead of staying in the tourist area, me and the German girl I met up with stayed with some one from couchsurfing.com. A worldwide community website where people allow you to stay at their house for free. Here, I stayed with girl who lived in her bamboo hut on a plot of land in a Burmese refugee village at the end of a dirt road. I got the chance to talk and drink with a few refugees and one who had actually been shot in combat against the Burmese army. Just meeting these people made the visit to this town amazing. Days were spent at the waterfalls, pubs, and just hanging around painting in the bamboo hut listening to blues records powered off the solar panel setup. It was the second time I had stayed in Pai, and the experience was completely different, and completely amazing. Here I remembered why I was traveling.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Return to Asia
Ok, Im back on the move! It had already been a year since I finished the round the world trip, And it was time to go back out! After spending countless hours for months behind a computer working on Roland Emmerich's new movie 2012, I hopped on a plane and landed in Bangkok on september 1st. My second time in southeast Asia- this time I wasn't looking for an adventure, I was looking for relaxation and fun.
I spent the first two days in bangkok. I didnt really do anything too terribly exciting. I basically just explored places that were off the tourist track that looked interesting. dark alleyways; community parks. It was a weird feeling to return to a place that last year, was new, exciting,and culturally mysterious. This time I felt less like a tourist and less in wonder of everything around me. The humidity was exhausting.
On the third day, I hired a taxi to the station to catch my train. I had planned to be there a half hour before, but the Bangkok traffic was so bad that I arrived to the train station 5 minutes too late. As I stood there with my backpak figuring out my next move, a guy said "you miss your train? Come with me, and we catch it at the next station!" I said ok and we ran out of the station. Then I watched the guy climb onto the moterbike ( I originally assumed was to be a taxi) and taken up in the excitement of the situation, hopped behind this 4 foot tall Thai with my 50 bag and my 6'4 body.
Before I knew It I was zooming through the bangkok streets inbetween the gridlock traffic at full speed. As the bike narrowly missed each vehicle, I let out a little wimper that sounded much like a puppy being smothered, and as I started praying to the god I dont believe in, a loud crash of lightning struck across the sky, and torrential rain started falling...assuring me that this was the day I was going to die. Inches away from trucks and buses, ignoring the red lights and we zoomed past. t hen the driver decided to take a shortcut and drove into a pedestrian singletrack pathway that crissed and crossed over the train track. ..20 minutes later I eventually I made it to the next train station. I missed the train by five minutes for the second time.
I payed for a secon train ticket and headed to chang Mai and on to Pai for the second time -
I spent the first two days in bangkok. I didnt really do anything too terribly exciting. I basically just explored places that were off the tourist track that looked interesting. dark alleyways; community parks. It was a weird feeling to return to a place that last year, was new, exciting,and culturally mysterious. This time I felt less like a tourist and less in wonder of everything around me. The humidity was exhausting.
On the third day, I hired a taxi to the station to catch my train. I had planned to be there a half hour before, but the Bangkok traffic was so bad that I arrived to the train station 5 minutes too late. As I stood there with my backpak figuring out my next move, a guy said "you miss your train? Come with me, and we catch it at the next station!" I said ok and we ran out of the station. Then I watched the guy climb onto the moterbike ( I originally assumed was to be a taxi) and taken up in the excitement of the situation, hopped behind this 4 foot tall Thai with my 50 bag and my 6'4 body.
Before I knew It I was zooming through the bangkok streets inbetween the gridlock traffic at full speed. As the bike narrowly missed each vehicle, I let out a little wimper that sounded much like a puppy being smothered, and as I started praying to the god I dont believe in, a loud crash of lightning struck across the sky, and torrential rain started falling...assuring me that this was the day I was going to die. Inches away from trucks and buses, ignoring the red lights and we zoomed past. t hen the driver decided to take a shortcut and drove into a pedestrian singletrack pathway that crissed and crossed over the train track. ..20 minutes later I eventually I made it to the next train station. I missed the train by five minutes for the second time.
I payed for a secon train ticket and headed to chang Mai and on to Pai for the second time -
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