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Published: January 31st 2011
Song River
Pom holding on for dear lifeThe night train from Don Mueang station in Bangkok to Nong Khai was very comfortable as we had our own beds. The journey took about 12 hours. When Pom and I arrived in Nong Khai, we grabbed a tuk tuk and headed toward the border. The tuk tuk stopped at a travel agency that tried to sell me an overpriced Lao visa, but I told them no, I'll get it in Laos. I knew better. We crossed from Thailand to Laos via the friendship bridge over the Mekong river. The bridge was financed by the Aussies. When we got to the Laos side, we grabbed a local bus to bring us into Vientiane.
When we got into town, we grabbed a tuk tuk to take us to the bus station to catch a bus to Vang Vieng. On the way, we noticed a van parked on the side of the road that had a sign saying it was heading to Luang Prabang. We stopped to see if the driver could bring us to Vang Vieng since it was on the way. He said no problem. So we took off an hour later in the van with three monks. About
2.5 hrs later we arrived in Vang Vieng, which is a small town along the Song river. Across the river were very steep cliffs that made for some good photos. We checked into a small hotel for two nights close to the river.
The next morning rented tubes and grabbed a tuk tuk up the river for some tubing. Tubing in Vang Vieng has been the buzz going around amongst many travelers that I spoke with in Thailand. We figured we would check it out. It was a little cold that day, plus we started in the morning, so we pretty much had the river to ourselves. Apparently there are normally hundreds of foreigners tubing down the river. Going down, there are many bars that will throw out a rope with a half empty plastic water bottle at the end to pull you into their bar for drinks. We stopped at two such bars for a quick beerlao. They also had a lot of water swings going down the river. I skipped this as the river was shallow and I figured I'd just hurt myself if I tried. Further down we made one more stop on a lowly boat
with a guy that had some cold beerlao. He used a bamboo pole to pull us in. It was a relaxing day with very nice scenery. Both days I was in Vang Vieng, I noticed a lot of foreigners on crutches with various wrapped up injuries. I think they had a little too much fun on the river. It is shallow and you do have to be careful.
The next day we grabbed a minibus to Luang Prabang. It took us about seven hours. We ended up staying there for three nights. It is a nice little town with the Mehong river wrapped around part of it. The first day we took a tuk tuk over to Kuang Si waterfall. There were about 5 waterholes to go swimming in and a decent sized waterfall at the top of the waterholes. The water was light blue and very cold. The waterholes were pretty cool and I could have spent more time there. We went back into town and watched the sunset from Wat Tham Phi Si which sits on top of a large hill with a great view of the town from all sides. After that we checked out the
night market that is set up nightly just at the base of the hill. The next day we rented a motorbike and headed about an hour north to Tham Ting, which was a cliff with Buddhist temples in two different caves called the Pac Ou caves. They had many statues in each one. You needed a flashlight for the upper cave. It was right along the Mekong river. We arrived on the opposite side and had to rent a small boat to take us across and back for 10,000 kip (about $1.25US).
The next morning we took a VIP bus back to Vientiane, which ended up taking 11.5 hrs. It was the last long bus ride of my trip! We checked into a guesthouse in the city center that night. The next morning, I decided to go look for the grave of my brother in law Mesai's father. He had passed away in Vientiane before Mesai was even born. Two days after he was born, his mother took him and his three older sisters and fled Laos through the Mekong River that the friendship bridge crossed to a refugee camp in which he thinks was in Nong Khai, Thailand,
the town I had taken the night train to. They spent 4 years there before they moved to the US. I only had a photograph of the tombstone on my laptop to go off of, plus I knew he was buried in the Chinese Cemetery. We hired a tuk tuk to take us there. I showed the driver the pic on my lap top and said Chinese Cemetery. He nodded and off we went. We got to a cemetery that had a sign that said catholic cemetery. That was not it. We then went to two different locations, but they were Vietnamese cemetery's. We finally found the Chinese one, but then realized it was incorrect as well. A worker at the Chinese one explained to my driver where to go. Finally, after stopping back at our guesthouse to check out, we were on our way. This one was way out in the countryside. It didn't even look like a proper cemetery. It had many graves surrounded ¾ of the way by small homes, the other quarter by a rice field. After looking at the picture one last time, I looked around and made an assumption of which direction the grave
was. We finally found it! It was covered up with vegetation, so my tuk tuk driver and I started clearing it off. Then he took out a machete and really cleaned it up. It was good to see something personable on this trip. Next we had some lunch, hit a couple of monuments, then headed back across the friendship bridge to Nong Khai and headed back on another night train back to Bangkok.
Laos had the best noodle dishes I have ever had in my life. Besides Pho, which I am a fan of (it's native to Vietnam), I also ate similar dishes such as kow piak, kow soi, and kow poon. I have wanted to go to Laos for a long time. Besides the obvious reason of my brother in law being from there, I had heard about Laos for years from my college room mate Lum who is also from there. I ate a lot of Lao food in college and have always been a big fan. It was really cool to finally make it there and see it first hand. The scenery is beautiful, and the people are extremely nice and respectful. I will return.
I spent two nights in Bangkok getting ready for the next leg of my trip. Pom helped me find a travel agency to issue me an 'exchange order' which I needed to get a Japan Rail Pass as you are unable to get them in Japan. I purchased a 1 week pass for about 330 USD. I flew United Airlines on a buddy pass (thanks Lisa!) to Narita, which is about an hour train ride NE of Tokyo. I was excited to be back in Tokyo. My brother and I traveled there way back when I was 16 to visit my Aunt Georgiana, Uncle Dave and cousin Kristen who were living there at the the time. That trip is what first opened my eyes to the rest of the world and changed me forever. As Japan was my first international trip I had ever been on, I figured it would be the perfect place to make one final stop on my way back to the US.
When I first arrived in Japan I had the same level of excitement that I had experienced before. I turned in my 'exchange order' and was issued a 1 week JR pass and
River dividing Laos and Thailand
This is the river Mesai's mom took her 4 kids through to escape Laos and go to Thailand was off. I went to Ikebukuro with my rail pass and checked into a hotel recommended to me by my friend Mika. It was a dorm bed for about 40USD/night. I checked in for 3 nights. Right after I got settled I met Mika for dinner. I had met her 5 years earlier in Bangkok at my friend Steve's wedding. The next day was a complete waste as I got some kind of food poisoning and could barely get out of bed. Time to bust out the Cipro one last time. That night I sucked it up and met up with my friend Akira around midnight after he got off work. I first met Akria on this trip in Swaziland and again randomly in Malawi. We drank some sake and somehow I started to feel a lot better. The next day I got up and first headed to Tokyo Tower.
I went to Tokyo Tower because I wanted to go to one landmark in Tokyo that I had remembered well from when I was a little kid. I went up and check out the city views, then jumped back on the train and headed over to Shimbashi which was
Tuk Tuk driver, me, Pom
Eating some Pho after a long day where the fish market was. By the time I got there, I realized I was too late for it, so I pushed on to Akihabara, which is the electronic district. I think I spent about 4-5 hours wandering around looking at all the electronics, video game shops, comic book stores, cafe's where girls dress up as maids, etc. I was also looking for people dressed up in their cosplay costumes, but found out later it was in a different spot. When I was done there, I went over to Asakusabashi to initially wander around the Asaku district, which is old Tokyo, but ended up walking towards the sky tree to get in a couple of pictures. The sky tree is a new building that should be completed in December and will be the highest building in Japan. After that, I shot over to Shibuya as it was getting dark and wanted to see that area at night. It is very well lit and looks really cool. There are so many lights on the buildings that as you walk around it almost feels like it is daytime. I spent a while wandering around the area, then shot up to Shinjuku and
Tokyo Tower
Looking straight down did more of the same. Its a really cool area, especially at night. I also had a lot of memories of that neighborhood from when I was 16. I played some Pachinko and lost 1000 yen in a matter of minutes. I'm not as good as my brother who won about 100 USD playing it when he was 15.
The next day I got up and jumped on the bullet train and headed down to Nagoya. The bullet train was super fast, very smooth, and reminded me of the chunnel train that connects London to Paris and Brussels. It only took 2 hours to get to Nagoya, where I checked into the Marriott Associa which was connected to the Nogoya train station which made it simple for me to find. There I met up with my buddy Steve. Steve is my old college buddy who I met up with in Thailand the first two times I went as he is from there. He lives in Seattle, works for Boeing, and happened to be in Nagoya for two weeks for work. We met up in 'the lounge' in the hotel which had free food and liquor. I think I was
on my second drink by the time he caught up with me. We went out with some of his coworkers that night and went to dinner, karaoke, and a night club. The next day we took a one hour bullet train down to Kyoto and then went on another 1 hr train to Nara for a few hours. At Nara we wandered around a world heritage site that had a few temples and was famous for its wild sacred deer. We hit a couple of temples including Kasuga Taisha and Todaiji. After that we went back to Kyoto for the night.
The next morning we wandered around the Nishiki food market for some lunch, then walked to Kiyomizudera Temple. It started to snow a little bit on the way back. I was not dressed for the weather. To and from the temple, we stopped in this little area that had a horse made out of rock with little white papers all over it. People would take a white piece of paper that they had written on, taped it on the horse, and then crawl through the bottom of it and back, and then bow to it. We forgot to
ask why they would do that or what it stood for, but it was funny to watch people try to get through the small opening underneath the horse. We then went back to the train station and headed back up to Marriott Associa Nagoya. That night we went out for some sushi after spending a lot of time looking for an ATM that would take my card. I have never had any troubles finding ATM's that work anywhere that I have ever been on this trip or anywhere else in my life, except for Japan. They don't like US cards for some reason, except for at the post office. After sushi it was back to 'the lounge' for a night cap.
The next morning I had breakfast in 'the lounge' with Steve and then took off to Narita to catch my standby flight on United Airlines to Los Angeles (thanks AGAIN Lisa!) I remember the last time I made the final trip to Narita to catch my flight back. My Uncle Dave dropped my brother and I off to catch a bus to the airport. On that bus, I remember promising myself that I would return to Tokyo. I
finally made good on that promise, it only took me almost 18 years.
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Thank you to everyone who has followed my blogs and given me support and encouragement along the way. It has been an unforgettable 10 months. I hope you have learned something and now see the world a little differently. The best part of this trip has been all of the new and old friends/family that I have met along the way. (You were missed in Asia the past three months Jeff. We need to get some peeps together and do this again - World Cup 2014 Brazil!) I'm returning to the US a much happier, healthier, lighter (about 40 lbs lighter), and better person.
Statistics/observations/opinions:
Days spent abroad: 295
Countries visited: 19
Countries visited for the first time: 17
Countries visited in Africa: 14
Countries visited that drive on the right side of the road : 5 (Rwanda, Ethiopia, Egypt, Bahrain, Laos)
International flights taken : 9
Visas Purchased: 14 (?)
Longest bus ride: 34 hrs Lilongwe (Malawi) to Dar es Salam (Tanzania)
Land border crossings: 17
Number of times to get food poisoning: 8
Number of world cup matches attended:
Nara
Sacred Deer 6
Longest time spent in one country: 2 months (South Africa)
Best scenery: Nepal/Ethiopia/ Transkei (South Africa)
Biggest party: South Africa
Best food: Thailand/Laos/Japan
Clearest water: Red Sea (Sinai Peninsula, Egypt)
Best beaches: Zanzibar/Thailand
Most touristy: Egypt/Thailand
Best kept secret: Ethiopia
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Julie
non-member comment
Welcome home!
Welcome home, Justin! I am glad to see you made it in one "peace"...yes, that is a pun on words!