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Published: October 25th 2006
Hello All!
3 more weeks . . . 3 more countries! I am currently in Cambodia and due to the fact that I have developed a form of Agyrophobia (fear of crossing streets, or in my case, international borders) I will not be leaving! It seems to be the case that all my travels go smoothly within any particular country, but every time I cross a border it's a miserable experience. You may recall from my first entry the 24 hour bus where I almost forgot my backpack and encountered a landslide. Well, I'm sorry to report that the next two border crossings were even bigger disasters. From Laos into Northern Thailand I opted to take a speed boat down the Mekong River to the border where I was then transported by bus the remainder of the way. Ok, sounds good. Little did I know, or any of the other foreigners on the trip, that a "speed boat" by Lao definition is more or less a canoe with a motor attached to the back. The 7 hour journey may not have been as unpleasant (but possibly as you had to sit two by two with your knees in your chest wearing a helmet) had the boat had a roof and if it wasn't down pouring. It was a long, very wet trip, but fortunately within a few days myself and my luggage (which was soaked) dried out. I honestly was just thankful that the boat didn't tip over - a legitimate fear we all had the entire time in the water. I kept thinking that maybe the extra $40 for a flight would have been money well spent 😉
My next border crossing was from the north of Thailand into Cambodia - a trip I was told would take about 20 hours in total . . . it actually took 34! After switching from various tuk-tuks (there are many variations of these, but it's more or less what I'd like to consider a chariot attached to a motorbike) and buses before even reaching the Cambodian border my fellow travelers and I (all of whom had begun their trip 16 hours after me from Bangkok) patiently waited in the heat (for 3 hours) for what the bus attendants assured us would be an air-conditioned "nice" bus. Again, Cambodian's have different meanings for words, and obviously their definition of "nice" is a falling apart mini-bus with broken seats . . . if you were lucky to get one. I was originally put on a foldout seat in the aisle that I only stayed of for about an hour before some other passengers insisted on helping me clear room in the back of the bus on the seat with the luggage - I have to admit that even with luggage falling on me it was more comfortable than the lopsided backless alternative. It was comforting to discover that our meanings for "air-conditioned" are the same, however it is important to distinguish when talking about air-conditioning if that means working or broken air-conditioning as our bus had it, but I would put money on the fact that it hadn't worked since the 70’s. We opened the windows thinking that was better than suffocating only to realize that meant near suffocation from the dust coming in. We opted for the lesser of two evils and settled for clogged lungs. If the bus had just been falling apart yet was able to cruise down a nice flat paved highway it would have been one thing, but this baby rocked all 8 hours of our ride along a dirt road covered in either huge potholes or water. We hit the various water covered portions after dark where local men and young boys helped navigate us through it - I think we did pretty well considering we only stalled in the water a few times and only had to stop for repairs once! Thankfully(?!) border crossing only happen about once a week or less . . . and tomorrow, when I return to Thailand, I am doing so by plane! Keep your fingers crossed 😉
Besides crossing borders things have been going excellent! I spent a little over a week in Laos and it was lovely! Arrived in Vientiane (the capital) where I unfortunately spent the majority of my time in an internet shop setting up the first blog, pix, etc. My last night there (after having basically moved in for 3 days) I was told by the shop's employees that I was their best customer as they insisted on feeding me beer - pretty sure they thought I was homesick and felt bad for me! I did get out to a nightclub on a Saturday night and was rather impressed as it was very nice and could have been a club in any other big city of the world. I had a travel mate, Tim from Northern Ireland, who I met on the (landslide) bus trip from Vietnam and who I moved onto Vang Viang with after Vientiane. Vang Viang is a breathtaking little town on a river, next to which we stayed in a cute bungalow. My first night out I was wandering by myself back to the guesthouse and two young Lao boys (I'd guess 12 or so) rode by on their bikes and as they passed me one of them reached out and grabbed my chest! He had impressively good aim. I was so startled I let out a gasp, which to me surprisingly sounded like it'd come from the mouth of an old lady! My consequent reactions as they rode away giggling were first shock, then anger, thinking "those little punks!!", and finally amusement as I thought about how funny it actually was. Tim and I fell in with a group of 4 other individual travelers who we spent a day with tubing on the river. It was so fun - my kind of "activity" - floating on the river until hitting a bar (there was one about every quarter mile) where you could be pulled into shore by a long stick with one of the bar staff at the other end. There you could eat, drink, hangout with other travelers, and play on the provided zip-lines and swings . . . until of course, you were too drunk to safely be jumping into the water. Although I won't elaborate for my parent's sakes, I did try some "happy pizza" that I'd heard about from other travelers, but hadn't seen until Vang Viang . . . a "happy pizza" place is a restaurant that serves pizza with pot, mushrooms (the "happy" kind) or opium on it. I thought, a little pot on my pizza, that sounds nice . . . er, or not! All I'll say is that there should most definitely be a warning on the menu that reads: "One piece happy pizza = feeling good, two pieces happy pizza = no longer feeling so good, the whole happy pizza = hell". Unknowingly I ate all but two pieces of my personal sized happy pizza and was knocked on my ass for a full day! Don't worry, I've sworn off "happy" anything for the remainder of my trip . . .
From Vang Viang I moved (solo) onto Louang Phabang in the north of Laos. I was lucky enough to arrive there the weekend of their annual Festival of Lights, which was magical. All of Laos has old French colonial type buildings and the country is gorgeous - it's very charming. The festival consisted of lights strung everywhere, decorated paper boats with candles and floating bouquets of flowers with candles that were sent down the river . . . oh and lots of kids with firecrackers (some of which came a little too close to me for my eardrums' liking). It was a fun experience, but it was the first time I felt a little lonely as a celebration isn't as enjoyable when you don't have anyone to share the excitement with 😞 Louang Phabang is full of elaborate temples and orange robed monks - I was in awe of them as I wandered the streets. Initially I was a bit timid to even make eye contact as I didn't want to do anything disrespectful, but I quickly found as I visited the temples that they were very friendly and more or less like other young boys . . . who enjoy a girl's attention. I also learned that many of them are not in the monasteries to become life-long monks, but instead to receive the educational benefits of studying as a monk while doing their family an honor. The morning I left (before the speed boat trip!) I joined the locals on the streets to give alms to the hundreds of monks that passed by collecting the gifts of food. It was awesome and the most touching part of it was witnessing the monks giving some of the food they'd received back to beggars. There was one little boy (maybe 3 years old) who wore ragged dirty clothes and seemed to be there by himself holding a plastic bag in hopes of some food. I think he was given the most out of them all 😊
During my speed boat trip to Thailand I was squished in a seat next to a German guy (who's parents are originally from Laos) named Adam. We ended up spending our time together in our first destination of Chiang Mai. I've enjoyed each country for it's own reasons, but so far, I think the country I'd return to for sure is Thailand . . . well at least the northern part as I have yet see the south. Thailand is relatively wealthy compared to its neighboring SE Asian countries to the east. It's very westernized and the people understand Western humor and enjoy using it, which I loved. Adam and I rented a motorbike (for a dollar a piece for 24 hours) and cruised around the city. It was fun and although Adam tried to convince me that I should take a whirl at driving my instinctual reply was "NO WAY!" . . . I don't know, the fact that I've never driven a motorbike (especially in traffic that drives on the left side of them road) and that I don't have the most envied driving record all led me to what I believe was a wise choice 😉 We spent two nights hitting up local bars (or the cheaper option, the local 7-11's) and roaming the night markets (great food and shopping). It is true (and from what I've heard even more so in the south) that you can get away with just about anything in Thailand - there's a lot of craziness going on and I'm sure I'm oblivious to half of it! During our roaming we ended up in the gay bar district, which I didn't realized until Adam convinced me that the waitress, "Paris Hilton", who appeared to be a very pretty woman was indeed not. There are an exorbitant amount of lady-boys (which is how everyone over here refers to them - if that is derogatory I apologize to the lady-boys) in Thailand . . . I'm still trying to figure out exactly why. I'll let you know if I find the answer. There we almost landed ourselves in a strip club . . . we understood after we quickly walked in and out why the tuk-tuk drivers had laughed when we said we were going to the "Foxy Lady" (which we thought was just a regular club) . . . "Foxy Lady" maybe should have given it away, huh?! 😉 In Chiang Mai I also had my first foot massage and then the next night a Thai massage (no "extras" I hadn't bargained for, which was a relief) - they were amazing and under $3 for a half hour! The food in Thailand is SO good and my last night in Chiang Mai Adam and I took a Thai cooking class. It was his idea and I'm glad we did it because it was really, really fun. Considering I'm no cook I don't know if I'll ever be able to recreate what I learned, but I'll definitely try since it was delicious 😊
I ventured off on my own again even further north to the town of Pai (thanks for the tip Anne!) - it really should be called the "land of Pai" as it is like no place I've ever been! I LOVED PAI! I did not want to leave - the friends I made (who live there) told me it's a vortex and I think they are right. Pai is a new-age town in the mountains that in the last 20 years has been drawing expats from all around the globe. Not until Pai had I seen so many Western women married to Thai men with sweet little mixed children, or Thai hippies with dreads, or Westerns who'd ditched their comfortable lifestyles to scrape by in such a haven. I was fortunate enough to fall in with some English kids who live in Pai and had the opportunity to meet their friends and experience the town from a local's perspective . . . all thanks to a power outage my first night that had me stranded with them drinking gin and tonics 😊 We spent our nights listening to live acoustic music in a cool little bar, going to a chill art festival with music, dancing and fire-dancers, and nursing our hangovers holed up in a dark, air-conditioned room watching movies (which is a real treat there). It was mostly just 4 days of hanging out and it was great - I was in heaven. I met the coolest people there and hope to eventually get back to them for a longer visit 😊 The morning I was scheduled to leave (for the 34 hour bus trip to Cambodia) I went and got a massage (which I should have gotten AFTER the 34 hour bus trip!) from an old (probably 80+) toothless man who I'd been told was a master of Thai massage that had studied the art at a young age in Burma. They also claim that once he passes a rare form of massage will likely pass with him - telling from my hour and a half massage (again, like $4) I'm a believer, wow!!
The good thing that came out of my agonizing bus journey from Pai to Siem Reap, Cambodia was that I met 2 more great people to travel with who had endured the trip with me from Bangkok onward. David, a lively Englishman in his 50's who sadly lost his wife 3 months ago to cancer, and Svetlana (Lana), who is Russian/German, but currently lives in Australia with her boyfriend. They both left this morning on their separate ways, but we were happy to have each other while trying to survive Cambodia. I'm exaggerating when I say "survive", but Cambodia definitely has some rough spots. While at our guesthouse in Siem Reap we experienced 2 messy fights, both of which ended with the police coming with big guns. Fortunately we arrived about 10 minutes after the first one had taken place, and I was lucky enough to be in the town center while David and Lana returned to our guesthouse only to have to escape from the middle of a half hour long brutal fight with machetes on the ends of sticks and people being beaten unconscious with roof tiles. Craziness. Both the fights involved people who were really drunk - the first a huge Hungarian max-fighter (a type of fighting almost until the death?) visiting from Thailand who started swinging at the end of an evening of drinking with other guests at the hotel, knocking out staff, guests, and women alike! From what we could gather the second fight was between the family that runs the guesthouse, maybe some neighbors (but possibly they were relatives?) and the hotel staff. There was one guy who was really out of his mind and by the end everyone seemed to be involved . . . during this fight the (now sober) Hungarian from the other fight ended up pulling the owner of the hotel off the drunk boy whose head he was bashing in with a roof tile because he'd hit a woman (maybe the owner's wife or daughter - it wasn't clear) with a tile. We were scheduled to leave the next morning, and needless to say, we were all more than happy to be moving on!! While in Siem Reap we spent two days visiting Angkor Wat, which is said to rival the other "wonders of the world" in grandeur. It was constructed between the 8th and 15th centuries and then deserted for centuries due to war.* It was not until the last century that it was discovered again after having been overgrown and hidden by the jungle. It was quite remarkable and absolutely beautiful.
I'm currently in Phnom Penh (the capital city) where we spent yesterday visiting the Killing Fields and the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (with a much needed shopping break in between!) from the time of the Khmer Rouge Communist Regime. It was only in the 90's that Cambodia's many years of civil war ended and it was during the 70's that a mass-genocide totaling around 300 million occurred. I had no idea!! It was horrible to visit the places that so many people had been tortured and killed, but I was honored to be there and pay my respects. It is totally unbelievable the things that were done to these people - I wouldn't be surprised if the fighting that occurred among them at the guesthouse was in some way correlated to the feelings they still harbor from the not-so-distant inhumane reality they survived. It is really poor here and although it's apparent that the country as a whole is starting to prosper it is also evident that there are still a lot of people struggling. Overall the people are very nice and I am happy that I visited, but admittedly I am ready to move on - the strife here is inescapable and heavy on the heart.
So tomorrow I am off on my own again back to Thailand. I plan on spending a few days in Bangkok and then I will either go to the islands in the south, to Malaysia or straight to Indonesia. I am having an amazing time and couldn't be happier. It's fascinating how many people are traveling on their own and even more fascinating that the majority of them are women! If you want to see pix here's the link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=anr6pk9.3jiyanyt&x=1&y=-2i4uit
Hope this finds you well and not freezing back home 😊 Wishing you were all here with me!
Love, Nikki
ps - I sadly realized why I like coffee with condensed milk so much . . . it contains like 10 grams of fat per tablespoon 😞
*don't quote me on any of the facts I'm spewing - they are roughly right 😉
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ALISON!!
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Chef Nikki
Nik- you look soooo adorable in that pic, and I would for sure try your thai specialties!!! Glad to hear you are enjoying yourself and still in one piece :) I LOVE your stories, keep ém comin, you crazy kid!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!