Us
Sweet Jasmine Boat!
Floating Fishing Village 25 miles from shore!
"Surprise" Cave
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Luang Prabang, Laos, July 25th - 28th
Luang Prabang is a city of ~30K people, at the joining of the Mekong and Khan rivers- the least developed and commercial place we've visited thus far. The natural landmarks around the city were by far the highlights. Our favorite spot was the Kuang Si waterfall, a series of terraced pools with pale blue water and a large falls area where we hiked to the top.
We reconnected with Mack and Meredith and spent a full day on the river with them visiting weaving, paper making and whiskey villages and seeing the Pak Ou Buddha caves, an upper and
lower cave formation housing 4,000 Buddha images rescued from the 67 of 68 temples burned down around Luang Prabang by the Chinese in the late 19th century.
During the first part of our stay, we didn't get a good feel for Laotian food, but the turning point was our dinner at Tamarind (great recommendation Beeland!). Curries and coconut milk based sauces aren't as prevalent as in Thai cooking. Each meal is served with some variety of sticky rice (to be eaten with your fingers) and many fresh herbs / aromatics are used but generally with a milder spice level. Few highlights were minced chicken baked in lemongrass, long bean salads and fish steamed in banana leaves with dill/basil.
We reconnected with Mack and Meredith and spent a full day on the river with them visiting weaving, paper making and whiskey villages and seeing the Pak Ou Buddha caves, an upper and
lower cave formation housing 4,000 Buddha images rescued from the 67 of 68 temples burned down around Luang Prabang by the Chinese in the late 19th century.
During the first part of our stay, we didn't get a good feel for Laotian food, but the turning point was our dinner at Tamarind (great recommendation Beeland!). Curries and coconut milk based sauces aren't as prevalent as in Thai cooking. Each meal is served with some variety of sticky rice (to be eaten with your fingers) and many fresh herbs / aromatics are used but generally with a milder spice level. Few highlights were minced chicken baked in lemongrass, long bean salads and fish steamed in banana leaves with dill/basil.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Slow Boat to Laos, July 23rd - 25th
We're playing a bit of catchup posting-wise as we're now in Vietnam. From Chiang Mai we spent three days traveling into Laos. The first day was simple- we drove to the Thai border town of Chiang Khong, a village of ~9K people and important as it's a marketplace for many of
the surrounding hilltribes of Northern Thailand.
On our second day of travel, we crossed the river border by ferrg into Huay Xai, Laos. The process to get through customs and onto the boats took about 4 hours and was extremely chaotic, and we finally settled into our seats on the slow boat to leave at noon. We traveled with ~80 others, mostly British, Dutch and Australian, for 7 hours down the Mekong river, stopping overnight in the Lao town, Pak Beng. We stayed in one of the few places with electricity that ran through the night- no AC but a very effective fan and a gorgeous spot for dinner and breakfast. Out last day involved another 8 hours of boat travel with a brief stop to pick-up massive bags of rice and bamboo bags filled with ~20 live chicken + ducks each (fortunately loaded to the roof of the boat). Our time spent on the river was completely worthwhile. Amazing to see the hundreds of miles of nearly untouched land. Perhaps not the most efficient way to travel, but since we had the time, very happy to have
done so.
the surrounding hilltribes of Northern Thailand.
On our second day of travel, we crossed the river border by ferrg into Huay Xai, Laos. The process to get through customs and onto the boats took about 4 hours and was extremely chaotic, and we finally settled into our seats on the slow boat to leave at noon. We traveled with ~80 others, mostly British, Dutch and Australian, for 7 hours down the Mekong river, stopping overnight in the Lao town, Pak Beng. We stayed in one of the few places with electricity that ran through the night- no AC but a very effective fan and a gorgeous spot for dinner and breakfast. Out last day involved another 8 hours of boat travel with a brief stop to pick-up massive bags of rice and bamboo bags filled with ~20 live chicken + ducks each (fortunately loaded to the roof of the boat). Our time spent on the river was completely worthwhile. Amazing to see the hundreds of miles of nearly untouched land. Perhaps not the most efficient way to travel, but since we had the time, very happy to have
done so.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai has been a welcome escape to the countryside. We arrived on Sunday morning on an overnight train from Bangkok and easily settled into our hotel near the night bazaar in Chiang Mai. We met up with one of Erin's good college friends Mack Knight and his travel partner Meredith. Having a few travel buddies has been great! Our favorite times have been outside of the city area -- yesterday exploring the Mae Sa Valley on motor bike. Orchid farm, elephant riding, terraced rice fields and gorgeous look-out points to mountains shrouded in mist. Such a spectacular afternoon! Today we cooked a 5 course Thai meal on an organic farm and met many fun young travelers. Chiang Mai has gone by too fast, and tomorrow we are off to our next country, Laos. We'll be taking a slow boat up the Mekong River, so we'll let you know how it went when we get to Luang Prabang.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Tha Tien Market
Here's a short clip of the Tha Tien vegetable market in Bangkok...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBk3KxyMVSQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBk3KxyMVSQ
Bangkok Pics
Dried Shrimp at Tha Tien Market
Monks at Wat Arun, Temple of the Dawn
Crispy Fish with Lemon Sauce
William at the Grand Palace Bangkok
Bangkok 101
Bangkok has been a learning experience.... We were literally babes in the wood when we arrived in this city of over 7 million people, but we have quickly learned the ropes. The smog is almost unbearable, but the sights and smells are fantastic... a true sensory explosion. The food has gotten better and better every day; just this afternoon we ate Hoi Thod ( a mussel pancake with egg and sprouts) and Pad See Ew ( Flat Noodles stir fried with pork and kale ) in a shack with a dirt floor and questionable flatware. Total cost with 2 waters = 70 baht, which is about 2 dollars! It was one of the best meals we have had yet! Over 2 million people live along the Chao Phraya River, which runs through the heart of the city and we have been taking all sorts of different watercraft up and down the channel exploring the city. Along with the skyrail system it's very easy to get around. Tomorrow we'll go to the weekend market and then get on an overnight train to Chiang Mai... the city has been nice, but we're both ready to head north!
NYC
Monday, July 6, 2009
T minus 1 Week
We're a week out from taking off on our ~12 week trip -- handling last minute details including what to pack in one bag each to get us through beach weather + 12K ft elevation in the Himalayas.. and also figuring out how best to stay in touch, which we ultimately decided would be through this site.
Our itinerary, roughly:
July 10th (Erin) & 11th (William): Head to NYC for a long weekend pre-trip
July 13th: 24 hour travel to Bangkok via Delhi
July 15th - July 23rd: THAILAND (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Golden Triangle)
July 23rd - July 28th: LAOS (Huay Xai, Pak Beng, Luang Prabang)
July 28th - August 7th: VIETNAM (Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon)
August 7th - 9th: CAMBODIA (Siem Reap/Angkor Wat Temples)
August 9th - 16th: THAILAND (Beaches - Phuket, Koh Lanta, etc.)
August 16th: Overnight in Kathmandu
August 17th - 21st: BHUTAN (Paro, Punakha, Thimphu)
August 21st - 29th: NEPAL (Kathmandu, Pokhara, Jomsom)
August 29th - September 5th: TIBET (Overland trip: Nyalam, Lhatse, Shigatse, Gyantse, Lhasa)
September 5th - September 28th: INDIA (Darjeeling, Varanasi, Sarnath, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Jaipur, Agra, Delhi)
September 28th: Direct flight back to NYC from Delhi, Arrive in JAX mid-day on the 29th
More to come..
Our itinerary, roughly:
July 10th (Erin) & 11th (William): Head to NYC for a long weekend pre-trip
July 13th: 24 hour travel to Bangkok via Delhi
July 15th - July 23rd: THAILAND (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Golden Triangle)
July 23rd - July 28th: LAOS (Huay Xai, Pak Beng, Luang Prabang)
July 28th - August 7th: VIETNAM (Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon)
August 7th - 9th: CAMBODIA (Siem Reap/Angkor Wat Temples)
August 9th - 16th: THAILAND (Beaches - Phuket, Koh Lanta, etc.)
August 16th: Overnight in Kathmandu
August 17th - 21st: BHUTAN (Paro, Punakha, Thimphu)
August 21st - 29th: NEPAL (Kathmandu, Pokhara, Jomsom)
August 29th - September 5th: TIBET (Overland trip: Nyalam, Lhatse, Shigatse, Gyantse, Lhasa)
September 5th - September 28th: INDIA (Darjeeling, Varanasi, Sarnath, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Jaipur, Agra, Delhi)
September 28th: Direct flight back to NYC from Delhi, Arrive in JAX mid-day on the 29th
More to come..
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