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Published: April 2nd 2007
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new friends
i had to sit by a monk to get across the border of thailand to laso first off wanted to say happy birthday to g hughes and my dad....
i left bangkok after two days. i had heard that you only need a couple of days there like vegas, and it is very true. i almost got hustled by this tuk tuk driver. i woke up my last day in bangkok and decided to leave. i was standing on khao son road and this tuk tuk told me that he would take me to the train station to by a night train tix. so i believed him...with no stops ( these drivers get gas money to take you to suit shops..so you always have to ask for no stops. so we drove through the city and pulled up to a travel agency that was by the train station. crazy. so i had to talk to a guy inside and said thanks but no thanks. he was trying to rip me off...so i told te tuk tuk driver to take me to the train station. he pointed me in the direction and i walked...i was kind of pissed he didn't take me there. so then i bought the tix for way cheaper inside the train station and
slow boat
inside the boat...2 days for 6 hours each day walked back to the tuk tuk and the guy had taken off on me...i was pissed...so i flagged down another tuk tuk and he kept making stops...took me over an hour to get back in the 100 degree weather. i was going crazy in the back of this tuk tuk.
its all good. i chilled a lil bit back on khao son road and left that night. the night train was 12 hours. i got there in the morning. i met two irish people in melbourne...niall and vicky and they told me about julies guest house in chiang mai. that is where i went and it was a good change from the hotel i was styaing in ksr. it was so laid back with a range of different people there. the food was so good there and it was cheap. 130 b. so it was like 4 dollars a night. i walked the city to another market and saw some other things cool things along the way. i picked up a pair of karate shoes...perfect. and of course came back for a siesta. i met a couple of other people in the guesthouse. matt from indiana who is teaching
elephant
i took an elephant ride. i laughed the whole time english in japan. it was good to have a talk about ky basketball and how we always beat indiana. and steve from canada who was on a lil vacation.
i went on a one day trek from chiang mai. i had a fun group. two people from spain ( i practiced my spanish all day), two from germany, and 1 guy from italy. we went to a native village. it is funny to see all of these bamboo houses and in the middle see a huge satillete dish to pick up soccer games. then we rode elephants for an hour. i couldn't stop laughing the whole time. there skin was crazy feeling with long black hair on the top of their heads. then we went on a hike for an hour to a water fall and ate some pad thai there. then we rafting down a river in a regular raft and half way down we changed to a bamboo boat. pretty cool day.
that night i met two americans. the first time in awhile. it turned out one of them was from mclean, va and went to langley high school (that is where i live right now).
boat
went down a river in a bamboo boat and then i also met a girl that has been living in des moines, ia for the last 9 years and loves the drink (for those of you reading this from dsm). it is a small world to meet people like that over here in asia.
i then left chiang mai the next day and headed to laos. i decided to take the slow boat from the laos boarder to a city called luang probang. it is a two day ride. so we left chiang mai on a 6 hour bus ride to the boarder. stayed in chiang khong for the night. then we crossed the boarder the next day. i got my vist the night before for 40 us dollars. you have to pay 5 b to leave the country...then 10 b to pay for a boat to cross the boarder, then 20 b to enter laos because it was a sat. they have you on every angle.
the slow boat was great. just hung out and relaxed. it was two 6 hour days. saw a ton of things. i sat next to thisguy from cordoba, argentina...i actually asked cordoba and he said carlos paz. it is right by my friends george and martin's house....i practed my spanish there too. trying to get ready for spain.
so i met a great group of people that were on my trip though...evelyn (ire), jasmine (taiwan), mannY(germany), taka (japan,), native and natalie from isreal , and then howard from london.
i don't have any pictures to add to the website right now. computers are too slow. i will put them up later. i am debating on joining up with this group of people that are buying bikes and are going to bike 3 days to the next city...it will be like ragbrai in iowa???
hope everybody is doing good. feel free to email me.
peace
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Liz
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Laos
Glad to finally catch up with you. It is Holy Week. The sermon at our Methodist church discussed whether you were witht he crowd or concerned about the cross. I have never had a Palm Sunday service about that. They also showed snip-ips from The Passion movie. I have only seen it once and that's enough. I am amazed at how you can meet someone from Des Moines who has been to the drink. CRAZY! I can't pronounce any of the names of places you have visited. I am inerested in why you wanted to go to Laos. I'm glad you talk to travelers about good places before you actually get to your destination. that way the locals don't take advantage of you. Good to hear you are still able to practice speaking spanish. Billy has to boys for Easter. I will go to a friends house. Hey! I have a date with a local guys who is also divorced with one son. The neighbors set me up. I am looking forward to it.