Greetings from Chiang Mai

Hey everybody. I had a long journey for the past few nights but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Vang Vieng, wow. Just wow. Alright, so after my last post when I just arrived in Vang Vieng I had some pizza at a restaurant while laying down on a comfy patted mat while watching "Entourage" on a big screen t.v. Like I told you before, this place wasn't where you go for cultural experiences. It was raining hard at night when I finished so I couldn't do my usual walking-around-the-city-at-night-thing. When I got back to my groddy guesthouse, I wasn't feeling so well, was wet and just wanted to go to bed. The guesthouse owner and about six other older Lao guys were sitting around the entrance. While taking off my flip-flops (no shoes allowed in most guesthouses) outside one of them was calling to me to have a beer with them. They were all smiling and waving me in. Before I could say anything a beer was already poured into a mug and a chair was pulled up for me. Not one to offend, I did have that beer with the group. I sat drinking the beer as they were all chatting to each other in their native language since only the man who asked me to have a beer could speak English. As far as I could tell, his English only extended as far as saying the phrases, "Have a beer with us" and "Where you from". After fifteen minutes of toasting with various members of the circle I headed upstairs for some much needed sleep.

In the morning I checked out of the guesthouse and walked over to one with a great view of the river and the mountains. After eating a quick breakfast I made my way to the tubing company. They had just gotten off break so the line took awhile. I quickly signed all the release forms without reading them, rented a airtight bag to sling around my back and loaded up into a truck to get dropped off up river. The Nom Song river was pleasantly warm as I slid into the tube. About 150 yards down from where we were dropped off was the first "stop". A man with a bambo pole held it out for me to grab on then he pulled me in. The stop had a bar ontop of the bank with benches all around. Dance music was blaring and the place was filled with drinking 20 and 30 somethings. I ordered a large "Beer Lao" and watched the festivities. The crowd were all reacting to people flying off the giant swing set up over the river. You'd basically climb up the steps that were nailed in a tree that hung over the river till you were on a platform that was about thirty feet in the air. The man working it would then hand you the swing which resembled a trapeze artist's swing. People would then fly over the river either just dropping in, attempting flips which rarely landed well or some would hook their legs in the swing for the full trapeze effect. Another man with a small inflatable tube connected to a rope would throw it out for the swingers to catch and be brought in before the river swept them away. It was a great time. After the large "Beer Lao" I had enough courage to do the swing myself. When I made my uneventful landing in the water and got on shore, I grabbed a tube and was off on the river about three hundred yards up to the next river bar.

This bar had a slightly larger swing but also had a long zipline, which I gleefully used after another large "Beer Lao". I found out quickly this is place was generally thought to be the best bar along the river and I'd agree. In addition to the zipline and swing, it also had an area for soccer and volleyball. It had the largest area for toilets. It had numerous platforms along the river for groups to drink and relax. It had laid back music. As good as it is now, it'll be ten times more popular in a few months. They're building a massive 40 foot waterslide that leads into the river with a lip at the end to get you flying . That'll definitely be a draw.

Anyway, a couple beers, bars and swings later I was back in town, about five hours after I started the one hour tube journey. That night I had another relaxing meal while watching t.v. When I got home I started thinking about buying a ticket for the for the morning bus again up to Luang Prabang. There are still so many places I have to see and time is quickly running out on this trip. My plan had been for just a day in Vang Vieng. That said, tubing was sure a lot of fun. Screw Luang Prabang, I thought. I'm tubing again tomorrow.

And that's just what I did. It was almost the exact same day yet I still had the exact same amazingly entertaining time. I loved it all. Probably could have spent a few more days there but the next day actually did rip myself away and was back to Luang Prabang. I don't think I mentioned this in the last post but the road between Luang Prabang and Vang Vien is the most scenic ride I've ever taken. You're high up in the green mountains the entire time overlooking a jaw-dropping view.

Back in Luang Prabang, I went to my old guesthouse and ended up in the same room. I knew I couldn't afford to stay another day in Luang Prabang so asked my guesthouse into getting to Chiang Mai, Thailand. A couple people have told me about the "slow boat" journey through the Mekong to the border and I was williing to sacrifice the extra day for the experience. My guesthouse supplied the tickets for the two day boat ride, a guesthouse for the night at the halfway point and then a bus ride from the Thai border to Chiang Mai.

When I arrived at the dock the next morning there was one other person waiting. His name was Christoph, a Swiss traveler taking a couple month break from work and school. He found out the travel agency that sold him his ticket doesn't actually work with the boat company so they basically sold him a piece of paper. He was upset but was able to laugh it off. Eventually about ten more people came, with one of them being another westerner who spoke English.

The slow boat was itself pretty amazing. Its long, really long and pretty narrow. The boat had only a wooden roof and the spartan furnishings of mostly plain wooden benches with a few benches that looked like truck seats. The ride was more scenic than I'd have thought though. For nine hours we passed mountains with bits mist lightly skimming their tops. Every now and then we'd pass a village with farmers the working fields on the mountains or fisherman paddling out to get their catch. After the nine hours we arrived in a sleepy village called Pakbeng. I'm sure their main industry was catering to the travellers going through to the border as every building was either a guesthouse or a restaurant. I found the guesthouse I had a reservation for and showed them my ticket. They indeed had my reservation and then told me it would only be 45,000 kip, about five dollars. Essentially the deal I got at Luang Prabang only included a reservation, not a room, which I didn't understand since every guesthouse had rooms. After dropping my things off I had dinner at a restuarant overlooking the Mekong with nearly the last of my remaining kip.

I was in my room reading at 9 but the generator kicked off at 10. It was fine though since I was fighting to stay awake anyway. What wasn't fine though was when the bar across the street began blaring Dr. Dre's "The Chronic 2001" album shortly after. Actually, I did have to admit its a good album but I did want to sleep. By eleven I was asleep and ready for tha next episode.

The next day we (us three western travellers from the ride the day before) were in a new boat. The scenary was still unbelievably beautiful but I was ready to move on since 18 hours of anything gets tiring after awhile. Also, I wasn't feeling so well and was getting increasingly worried about it. I tried reading on the boat and half the time a cute little Lao boy who was part of the family running it would grab my book to show me all the pages. When we arrived in the Laos port city of Huay Xai, it was just after six. I looked at my ticket for the bus to Chiang Mai and it said to meet some guy who would take me to the bus station for the night bus. One problem though, the border closed at six and there was no guy waiting to meet me. Christoph, Megan (Ausie who was the other traveler) and myself shared a taxi into town which Christoph paid for, being the only one with money. After finding an ATM we got rooms in town, mine being the only one without a restroom and met for dinner at a riverside restaurant. We all called it a night early then.

In the morning I saw Christoph after my breakfast so we walked together to the Laos border, went through the checkout then paid a dollar for a boat ride to the Thai side. When there we we set up our Thai entry visas and got bus tickets, which left in two long hours. When the seven hour bus ride was over, we were both desperate to just get to a place in Chiang Mai. We shared a taxi truck with some other travellers we met to the "Old Town" area in Chiang Mai, the section of town surrounded by a moat where there are numerous guesthouses for travellers. The choice I was hoping for, a place suggested by Lonely Planet (AKA "The Book" among some travellers) was full so we just started walking looking for the first place that would be acceptable. We found a place called "Smile Inn" and got rooms, three full days after leaving Luang Prabang.

That night I walked to the night market, an attraction Chiang Mai is known for. Its easily the best market I've seen so far on my trip, and I've seen quite a few. I walked around the market for about an hour then got something to eat. I went to an Italian restuarant and ordered nachos. Yes, I'm in Thailand and I ordered nachos for dinner. I spent three stinking days traveling on wooden benches or bus seats and I wanted nachos so dang it, I was going to eat some freak'n nachos (for the record, they were awesome). While going home I stopped in for a drink at a place right across from my guesthouse. An Ausie in his forties was calling to people on the street to stop in, have a drink and share some stories. Not one to be rude, I went in. I ended up having one beer with him and an English man in his fifties and shared travel stories with them before going to bed. As usual, my six weeks traveling is the shortest trip from practically all the conversations I've had.

Chiang Mai has a million things to do. People all throughout my trip have told me to spend at least a week or two to be able to get just a fraction of what it offers. Some of the many things to do are you can see a wats all over the city, go on elephant treks, mountain bike down the mountains, spend a day or two in the treehouses connected by ziplines, rock climb, take ATV treks, go white-water rafting, see the village where the women wear rings to extend their neck, repel down Thailand's largest waterfall and so on and so on and so on. I have one full day here before I'm heading to Kanchanaburi, the site of the famed "Bridge on the River Kwi" though I'm actually going for the Erawan waterfalls. So how did I spend my one day here with so much to do? I was planning on going on an elephant trek but ended up actually spending the first part of the afternoon in my room, running to the bathroom for four hours straight. Eventually I felt good enough to take a taxi to Phrathat Doi Suthep, a huge wat on a mountain that overlooks the city.

Now I'm getting ready to spend my last night here likely at one of the many muay thai arenas within walking distance. Tomorrow I'm flying to Bangkok in the morning then busing...ugh...to Kanchanaburi.

Need. More. Time. To. Travel.

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