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“Backpacking” according to Wikipedia:

Backpacking is a term that has historically been used to denote a form of low-cost, independent international travel. The factors that traditionally differentiate backpacking from other forms of tourism include the use of a backpack or other luggage that is easily carried for long distances or long periods of time; the utilization of public transport as a means of travel; a preference for inexpensive lodging such as youth hostels; a longer duration to the trip when compared with conventional vacations; and an interest in meeting the locals as well as seeing the sights. It is typically associated with young adults, who generally have fewer obligations and thus more time to travel.

“Backpacking” according to me:

The act of backpacking taught me a lot. Maybe even more than some of the people I met on my trip in SE Asia and maybe even more than some of the museums and sights I visited. Resilience, street smarts, patience, and a strong “go-with-the-flow” mentality are all of the utmost importance when traveling without a plan or guide or local in almost lawless countries. I learned that “structure” and “reason” were two ideas I needed to throw out the window, and that getting annoyed because a bus left three hours late is just not worth the fuss. When I first arrived in a very developed, Western country (Spain) after my trip, I felt a little bit sheltered. Things aren’t supposed to be this easy. A little green man notifying me to cross the street is just so simple compared to dodging hundreds of motorcycles coming from four different directions on a five-lane gravel road. And that’s what backpacking is to me: a lesson in the importance of resilience and contrast. Living in an “untraditional” way toughens you from the inside out and secures in you a sense of appreciation that will never waver.

Strut-packin' the streets of Bankok

Along with the difference in means of travel, a few details stuck out to me during my 6-week excursion that I haven’t included in earlier posts…

The term “flashpacking” is funny. There are classifications within every activity around the world, and flashpacking is a reference to backpackers who don’t always stay in community dorms, who buy souvenirs every once in a while, and who sometimes splurge on airplane tickets to make it cross-country. I admit, there were times when I was a bit “flashy”. When you’re traveling for a short period of time, squeezing everything in sometimes leaves no room for frugality. Abbie and I had fun with the term, and we also met quite a few “gappackers” as well (newly graduated travelers enjoying their gap year by backpacking). Most backpackers we ran into were Europeans, Canadians, and Australians. I met nearly no Americans, and in the current book I am reading, “Tales of a Female Nomad”, the author shares this observation. An American herself, Rita Golden bluntly explains that Americans simply don’t take time off like the rest of the world does. Usually we have a shorter time frame in which to travel in, more responsibilities, and we typically prefer the structured lifestyle in our more comfortable society.

However, to avoid a cross-cultural analysis of “why people travel”, I’m going to turn to some more humorous observations from Asia. First, I have to confess; I still have NO idea how to flush a public toilet in Thailand. Primarily I was too embarrassed to admit to Abbie that I didn’t know how, and then it got so long into the trip that asking at any point would signify that I hadn’t properly been flushing the toilet the whole time. There is a toilet, and next to it is a large basin filled with water, and in this basin is a bucket. At the end of the trip Abbie and I laughed because she had no idea what the heck was going on with that either. We figured out you have to put a bucket of water in the toilet to make it “flush”, but even then I felt I was doing something wrong. So there’s my confession.

“Sidewalks” in Asia serve a completely different purpose than they do in the West. Sidewalks are not for people walking. Sidewalks are for motorbikes, food vendors, rats, kitchens, and clipping your toenails. We preferred to walk on the street.

Sidewalk in Vietnam = Parking

What is polite in SE Asia? A book alone could take you through the “do’s” and “don’t’s” of the region, but one rule I particularly liked is the necessity of taking off your shoes before entering a hostel, store, restaurant, etc. It gives everything a more bohemian vibe and in an uncanny way I felt like I was more part of a community. While we spent pretty much all of our time in cities where tourism is thriving, I particularly liked stopping over at the extremely local market in Surathani, Thailand. Abbie and I were the only Westerners, and were treated with such respect in comparison to the more touristic locales. The children would come right up to us and bow, and people were constantly smiling and walking with us.

Random fact: The pre-game song at all UNC basketball games, “Jump Around”, is one of the most popular on the SE Asia backpacker trail, and I heard it more times than I had during my four years at Carolina.

Why do all tuk-tuk and taxi drivers have one extra long fingernail on their right pinky? I had noticed this odd little trait and commented to Abbie about it – her brother had told her it was because of the prevalent drug use in the region; the fingernail serves as a tool for users to facilitate this abuse.

I know many books and online guides exist to facilitate travel to SE Asia. However, booking hostels, tours, activities, buses, etc. is something you just have to learn along the way. Word-of-mouth is the ultimate source for finding the right places and things to do, and by the end of the trip I understood what hostel profiles on hostelworld and hostelbookers looked sketchy, and which ones looked awesome. A 100% rating means the hostel itself wrote all the reviews, and anything below 60% should be avoided. Customer ratings helped us so much throughout the 6 weeks, that I made sure to write my own recommendations on TripAdvisor and hostel websites to spread the travel wealth.

Occasionally seeing locals and hostel workers give a hot cup of coffee each morning to their Buddhist alters made me happy. To pure themselves of greed, Buddhists make food offerings to their personal alters every day. If I was Buddha, I would want a caffeine boost every morning, too.

Namo Amida Buddha

…A few groundless remarks about the randomness of backpacking seems like the perfect way to finalize my “Asia posts”. I hope you’ve enjoyed the wild journey along with me (perhaps it has made you want to quit your job and jet over there, too??)

Things that begin with "H"

….Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hoi An, and Ho Chi Minh City!

These four cities were designated for the final two weeks of our trip, and each was extremely different from the other. We started in the northern city of Hanoi, and after a flight from tranquil, hot Laos we dove right into the chilly, wild capital city. Abbie and I had spent hours planning our backpacking trip, asking friends for advice and tips, looking up what to pack, etc. and neither of us had any idea that we would actually be somewhere COLD! (gasp from the audience). The first night we were scammed into staying at the “top-rated” hostel in Hanoi, only to find out that the employees had undoubtedly written every high recommendation of the place.  No windows, no hot water, almost no lighting, no heat…we put on all the clothes we owned and tried to make the best of it…only to go hostel searching for a legitimate place the next morning in the same layered beach clothes. Mad at the cold and the gray skies and the first of many scams in Vietnam, we barely talked to each other the next day as we wove in and out of motorcycles, children, animals, hundreds of people selling things, piles of food, and other tourists. We finally found an excellent hostel, vowed to change our moods, and set out to “see the sights”.

We first trekked to Hoan Kiem lake, the most popular tourist attraction of Hanoi, as it brings a touch of serenity to the otherwise frenzied city-center. A beautiful red bridge, temple, and pagoda make their homes in the center of this lake, and as I was snapping pictures of them I swore I heard my name coming from one of the many motorcycles passing by. Abbie claimed she did too but how would I ever know a motor-biking Vietnamese guy living in Hanoi?

We made our way across the lake to the “Water Puppet Theater” mentioned in all guidebooks and bought tickets to what we had been told was “one of the most bizarre performances you will ever see”. The stage was a pond of water at eye-level, and little Vietnamese puppets (dancers, farmers, dragons, city-dwellers) danced on top of the water for around an hour, telling an unusual story accompanied by the music of a “moon lute” which looks like the mix between a harp and guitar. I felt like I was watching one of those you-tube videos where you can’t figure out whether it is funny or weird.

The Tortoise Pagoda, Hanoi

The Hoa Lo Prison was another stop on our tour. The former prison housed political prisoners under French colonialism and later American POW’s during the Vietnam War. The Americans sarcastically called it the “Hanoi Hilton” to hide the otherwise torturous atmosphere of the somber penitentiary (Hoa Lo literally means “Hell’s hole”). Famous politicians such as John McCain and James Stockdale were imprisoned here and the prison now serves as a museum to inform visitors about Vietnam under French rule and American invasion.

After we were all Hanoid-out, we took the mandatory when-in-Vietnam 2 night, 3 day boat trip to Halong Bay from the city. Halong Bay is a UNESCO world heritage sight that is simply stunning….during the summer. Don’t get me wrong, I found it fascinating; however, the heavy fog made it difficult to completely enjoy the bright green water surrounding 2000 islets made mostly of limestone. Aboard the “Christina Cruise” we floated among the islands and made our way to some of the amazing caves to tour. We also had the opportunity to kayak in the bay which was very surreal…I felt so small paddling towards the looming islets and it was an amazing way to experience the bay from a different perspective. One night was spent on Cat Ba Island, and our tour guide told us we would be going on a small “walk”. One of the longest, steepest hikes I have ever done is more like it! At the end our unprepared shoes and clothes were soaked with mud and we were mildly perturbed at our smiling tour guide who was fanning us with big branches every 20 minutes or so. At the end of our trip we were tired but paradoxically re-energized. Halong Bay was different than anything we had seen or done on our trip, and I enjoyed staying active via cave exploring, kayaking, and hiking.

Halong Bay

Hoi An. Oh how I love you. We spent 1/6 of our entire trip here, testifying that we had a slight obsession with the quaint “textile town”. We only planned to stay a couple of days but were so exhausted from being on the move all the time that we stayed for 7 nights. Our days were filled with finding fabrics and styles to bring to our chatty tailors, eating delicious one-of-a-kind-Hoi-An food, lounging and journaling in cafes, and biking to the beach with the rest of the moped community. I ended up having 2 pairs of shoes, a maxi dress, and high-waisted trousers made. Picking a tailor shop in Hoi An is no easy task, as they all seem pretty similar: row after row of various fabrics, dozens of eager women showing you style books and patterns that “just arrived”, other tourists with overwhelmed looks on their faces…

Although I don’t consider the clothes and shoes I had made “quality craftsmanship” (the turnaround is less than 24 hours) the process of picking your own fabric, colors, patterns, styles, and sizing is great fun.

My dress fitting!

Long bike rides through the rice paddies surrounding Hoi An’s city center were one of the highlights of my stay as well. I felt like Julia Roberts in “Eat Pray Love” as she’s trekking through Bail in the beginning of the movie. I sometimes found myself a little too relaxed on the narrow roads I was sharing with hundreds of other mopeds, buses, taxis, and people…but I couldn’t have felt more mentally at ease.

Ho Chi Minh was to be our last new city of the trip, and Abbie and I were not expecting much considering everyone we had talked to did not have anything nice to say about it! We had even overheard an old British lady exclaiming to her friends on the streets of Hanoi, “Wow, this is nowhere NEAR as bad as Ho Chi Minh” (talking about the traffic/craziness/ability to move). We found it exciting, big, and eventful and ended up having a great time. A lot of recent history is packed into the city and its surroundings; we spent the first afternoon completely enthralled by the information at the War Remnants Museum, which basically explains the Vietnam War according to the Vietnamese. When it opened in 1975, it was named “The House for Displaying War Crimes of American Imperialism and the Puppet Government of South Vietnam”. As US-Vietnamese relations have improved, so has the decency of Vietnam’s museum names. As an American, I could not help being skeptical as I noticed that the museum is undoubtedly a propaganda museum for the Communist regime, but I found it so interesting to see a different side of the story I learned in High School.

Similarly, I found myself cringing the following day as we hiked through the Cu Chi Tunnels located around an hour from Ho Chi Minh. The Cu Chi Tunnels were used by the Vietcong to plant daunting boobie traps for and hide from American soldiers. We watched a documentary prior to seeing the tunnels, and a sweet girl’s voice commentated the entire time on the “invasion of the devilish Americans” and how Vietnamese soldiers received “the prestigious American-killer honor award” based on how many US soldiers he or she captured or killed. It prompted a strange reaction in me – I almost wanted to laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all, but felt that disrespectful. Then I would turn angry, then realize I should be more understanding, and then I would just finish confused. At the end I learned to take it all in objectively, and to leave my emotions back in the hostel.

The War Remnants Museum

During our last couple of days in Vietnam, Abbie and I realized we hadn’t completed two Asia staples: Karaoke-ing and getting manicures. It’s what Asia does! We spent around three hours the last night in our own private karaoke room singing at the top of our lungs to various favorites. In those parts, karaoke isn’t a drunken once-in-a-while thing you do in front of a ton of strangers at a random bar. Large groups (or 2 people…) get together and head to one of the thousand karaoke bars scattered around to rent large, personal rooms where you can drink and sing with your friends at an hourly rate. Genius! Also, the US should really follow Vietnam’s take on manicures…$2 for a perfect set of painted nails, yes please!

And so marks (basically) the end of our trip. We spent the final two days in Bangkok shopping our hearts out (we bought an extra suitcase and had shopper’s adrenaline for 24 hours at the amazing street stalls of cheap, cute, girly clothes). We also managed to get our last-minute Thai food fix and reminisce about the entire trip on the rooftop bar of Thailand’s tallest building, which was the perfect Asian send-off. 

Intriguing Vietnam

There are so many things about Vietnam that are amazing. There are so many things that are scary. There are so many things that are beautiful. So many things that are funny, twisted, and intriguing all at the same time. Vietnam is a dynamic country, and there were days when I would feel happy, frustrated, cold, hot, homesick, and in love – all within one hour. I guess you could say I have a love-hate relationship with the country. Here’s why!

Some of the Vietnamese are the most abrupt I have ever encountered in my life. Every day, people would come up to us, get in our faces, and yell, “ACCUSE ME, YOU BUY SOMETHING TODAY, LADYYYY, WHAT YOU WANT”. (Yes, I do “accuse you”…of getting WAY to close to me) Other times, such as in hotels, I would have to lean in to the receptionist because she was so soft-spoken and explained everything well below a whisper. I don’t know which speaking-style I prefer. One can tell the utter dominance of male over female as well. In every store or restaurant I would find one male owner yelling harshly at all of the female workers, sometimes sending a shiver down my spine at the sheer tone of his voice.

Tourism has increased exponentially in the country within the last 10 years, and locals are simply trying to capitalize on this income in the best way they know how. Therefore they believe that ripping off tourists every chance they get, lying to tourists to get an extra 5 cents, and having an expensive “tourist menu” v. dirt-cheap “local menu” in every restaurant is all in a day’s work.

Now, I may be painting a disagreeable picture of Vietnam, but I think the people of a country play a large part in what is seen on the final canvas. The sights, the food, the countryside, and the way-of-life within Vietnam are all so different and enchanting that they outweigh the poor treatment of visitors.

The food, for example, I have always heard is some of the best in the world. Anthony Bourdain himself said Vietnam is the first country he would move to based on the cuisine. Let’s start with the coffee (The Vietnamese kind is called “White Coffee”). I love it, but I couldn’t drink it every day because of its intensity and sweetness. Your coffee cup comes out with an inch of sweetened condensed milk in it and its own little filter on top of it. Taking around 5 minutes to fully filter, the coffee is then fresh and ready-to-go. I loved having my own personal filter every time I ordered a coffee, and the condensed milk made it seem more like candy than a caffeine drink. Another method is to blend the coffee and sweet milk, then shake it in a cocktail shaker with ice – delicious! I am definitely bringing that concoction back home…

Famous Vietnamese dishes include: Pho, Banh Mi, Vietnamese wontons, White Rose, Vietnamese spring rolls, Cao Lau, Ban Xeo, and mango salad….to name a few!

Pho: The standard “Vietnamese” food, it is basically chicken noodle soup – with spices and veggies that you add in on your own. You can find it at any street food stall, where it is much better than in any restaurant. There is a famous restaurant in Ho Chi Minh named “Pho 2000” where Bill Clinton tried his first Pho. Everyone talks about it.

Banh Mi: Quite possibly the best sandwich I have ever had! It includes tons of meats and vegetables and spices – I actually don’t understand how all the ingredients fit into the fresh French baguette. We went to the exact Banh Mi stand that Anthony Bourdain did on his show “No Reservations” in Hoi An and pretended we had a traveling cooking show of our own.

Vietnamese Wontons: These are small appetizers that look like flat tortillas and are topped with fresh cubed vegetables and cilantro-like spices (not your typical closed, fried wonton)

White Rose: Vietnam’s version of shrimp dumplings, these little gems are made with translucent dough and wrapped to look like roses…and are always topped with delicious fried garlic!

Vietnamese spring rolls: I had always heard this country had the best spring rolls in the world, and did not agree until I took a cooking class after one week of being in Vietnam. We made fresh rolls with bright orange shrimp, lettuce, and herbs…I think “fresh” is the consistent word of this post….?

Cao Lau: My favorite Vietnamese food. Only found in Hoi An, these noodles are mixed with soup, roast pork, dough fritters, fresh herbs, and veggies. I can slurp down a whole bowl in 2 minutes (and am a novice with chopsticks!)

Ban Xeo: aka HUGE fried pancakes filled with bean sprouts, onion, pork, and shrimp. They are bigger than my head, folded in half. You can eat them as they are or cut them in slivers and wrap them in rice paper to make a crunchy spring roll (best dipped in spicy, sweet, and sour sauce!)

Mango salad: pretty self-explanatory, but another amazing dish we learned to make at the cooking class. It consists of an entire mango cut into shreds and mixed with tons of herbs and peanuts – also very popular in Thailand.

People and Provisions – they often make dominant contributions to travel, right?

My next blog post is dedicated to the four cities we visiting during our 2 weeks in Vietnam, to give you more of a “play-by-play” of what we did and what we saw!

Laos, Short and Sweet

Anxious to get to Vietnam, Abbie and I reserved 6 days for the lesser-known country of Laos. Laos is sandwiched between Thailand and Vietnam, and is one of the five communist countries in the world with a substantial amount of French influence as it was once a colony. As first-timers in the region, we wanted to make sure we saw the most of Thailand and Vietnam, as we had heard amazing things mostly about these two countries. Therefore, we opted to hit only two cities in Laos: Vang Vien and Vientiane, both located in the north of the country.

Vang Vien is one of the most unique towns I have ever been. Not because of its crazy locals, or unparalleled cuisine, or endless amounts of activities to do. No, Vang Vien solely exists to supply drunken, dreamy, I-don’t-want-to-face-the-real-world backpackers an oasis. The infamous “tubing town” is insanely fun, but many are only able to handle it for a couple of days max. The typical day includes:

1. Waking up circa 11am so as not to miss the free “breakfast” of your local guesthouse… aka an entire loaf of French bread and Crisco-like butter

2. Putting on your bathing suit and stuffing Laos currency, or “kip”, and cameras into your purchased waterproof purse

3. Walking to the rent-a-tube station to rent your inner tube and to catch a ride with other tubers to the river

4. Piling on the back of a truck with your tube and heaps of other backpackers to bumpily make your way the 2km to the “starting point” of the tubing expedition

5. Taking a shot at the first of 15 bars along the river

6. Getting on your inner tube

7. Floating a few feet to the next bar

8. Drinking a beer

9. Floating a few feet to the next bar

10. Sharing a bucket of mojito with many new-found friends

11. Floating a few feet to the next bar

….I think you get the idea. The various bars are loads of fun, each with a different theme and pumping music. Tubing In Laos is a great way to meet people and certainly a backpacker “must-do” of the region. The end of the day is also pretty standard: after making it the end point of the river, everyone heads to one of the many TV bars of the small town. Every bar/restaurant is a sit-on-the-floor hangout place, with multiple TV’s playing either Friends or Family Guy! Whoever came up with the concept is a genius, and TV-deprived travelers spend hours lounging, ordering BeerLaos and stir-fry.

Abbie and I concurred that one day of tubing was enough, so the following day we asked around what other things there were to do in the city. Someone suggested the “blue lagoon” so we asked a tuk-tuk to take us to this mysterious hang-out. While the ride was the most uncomfortable, pot-hole-ridden journey we had, the scenery was stunning and took our minds off our rapidly-bruising fannies. Huge, marble mountains lined fields of rice paddies that stretched all the way to the dusty roads where we were trotting. The blue lagoon was just as stunning. Bright blue water filled a small pond, and people took turns on a rope swing all afternoon while we relaxed “lagoon-side”.

A relaxing day in Laos..

The next day we made the seemingly short journey to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Only about 100km away, the journey took 5 hours because of the horrible quality of the roads. I have never seen such a dysfunctional road system; pavement is simply unheard of! Finally in Vientiane, we checked out the night market and river walk, and ended up at a nice, quaint restaurant to test some Laotian food. A unique mix of French and Thai, food in Laos is unique; however, the cuisine is not yet very established and it is therefore difficult for it to truly make a culinary statement.

Our time in Vientiane was very relaxed, as it is a quiet city and all bars/restaurants are required to close at 11pm. We enjoyed exploring the town on foot, gathering Laotian souvenirs, and taking a little day trip to the Buddha Park. The Buddha Park is somewhat like the concrete world of Buddhism – giant, concrete replicas of the Buddhist religion have been donated to this park, including a huge pumpkin-like structure that is supposed to represent hell, earth, and heaven within. We got an eerie feeling when inside, as the bottom section is full of disturbing statues representing tortured souls in hell. Add to that, a little boy started subtly following us with a slingshot in one hand and a dead lizard in the other…after that instance we were done with the Buddha park and rushed to the safety of our tuk-tuk! Oh, the everyday life in SE Asia…

Buddha posing!

We had booked a flight from Vientiane to Hanoi, Vietnam, as we had heard horror stories of the 24-hour bus ride between the 2 cities. Eager to get to our last country of the trip, we boarded the plane excited and oblivious to the fact that continuous sweating would be replaced with continuous shivers in the chilly, northern region of Vietnam…

And the Asiademy Award for best city (so far) is…

Chiang Mai!

I couldn’t resist. In spirit of the recent Oscars, I wanted to emphasize my favorite city that I have visited so far in SE Asia (although right now I am in Hoi An, Vietnam, and it is catching up fast).

Chiang Mai is the second-largest city in Thailand after Bangkok, and is located about 600km north of the capital. Abbie and I took an overnight bus to get there, which was so much better than expected (however, I thought there was a snake-like bug in my chair for one second and then realized they had turned on the odd seat massagers – that was weird). After a perfect night’s sleep, we got off the bus ready to explore the city! Our first day was packed – tigers and exploring and cooking, oh my!

Before my trip, I wrote a list of must-do’s (so unnatural of me, right?) and seeing tigers at the Chiang Mai Tiger Park was number one. They have always been my favorite animals, and having the opportunity to get up-close-and-personal with them was one I was not going to pass up. The Tiger Park is extremely touristy, but unlike a zoo, visitors get to choose which size cat they would like to interact with, and how many. Trained from an early age, the tigers are calm and sleep most of the day, and there has never been an instance of biting or mauling (we checked). They cleverly make the baby tigers the most expensive to hang out with, and we opted to see the babies, the “mid-sized” (5 months old) and the big mommas. The babies were the most playful, and we had fun watching them rough-house and bounce around. The picture opportunities were perfect, and definitely one of my favorite parts of the whole experience – posing with the big cats, lying with them, high-fiving with them. It was just so amazing, and like the elephant expedition, I found myself smiling from ear-to-ear and excited the whole day.

Best high-five award

The next activity on the list was a cooking class! Abbie and I hadn’t even considered doing one until an elderly couple told us about the one they did in Chiang Mai and completely convinced us. My love for Thai food has multiplied exponentially since I arrived here, and I knew very little about the cuisine before, so this was the perfect way to understand the ingredients and unique cooking techniques. In a group of 8, we all sat cross-legged on the floor at a long, short table while our instructor began the course. She then led us to the local market, where she taught us about the different spices, vegetable extractions, meats, noodles, and curry pastes that are used in Thai cooking. Many of the ingredients are impossible to find in other countries, such as “elephant mushrooms” – long, slimy, brown mushrooms that resemble elephant ears, used in many stir-fry dishes. I won’t go into much more detail, as I am concocting a scrumptious post on food of the region and want to go into much more depth about the components and methods of the cuisine here. (so more to come!)

We were brought back to the house and kitchen, and spent around 3 hours cooking four different dishes! It was so much fun and I was definitely in my element. I chose to cook fried cashew nut with chicken, spring rolls, hot and sour prawn soup, and Chiang Mai noodle with chicken, which is the typical dish from the city, and my absolute favorite Thai food! Abbie and I have concurred that this was by far the best meal we have had so far, and we couldn’t believe that we were actually the ones to make it! I have always found that bike tours are an amazing way to experience a new city and culture, and now I am convinced that taking a cooking class is another unique, perfect way to learn so much more about a new destination.

Different curry pastes at the local market

Because the first day was so action-packed, we reserved the next couple of days for sightseeing and exploring the city of Chiang Mai. The Old Town is enclosed in 4 square, stone walls, giving it oddly somewhat of a European feel. That feeling is immediately expunged when you walk into Old Town among the endless ornate Buddhist temples within. We spent a whole afternoon walking inside and around the various temples, and each one brings you such peace and leaves you in awe of the distinctive religious culture of the region. Another attraction is the immense night market lining the walls of the city. Packed to the brim of tourists buying souvenirs, locals slurping on noodles at food stalls, and street performers, the night market is much more than shopping. We spent a few hours just taking everything in, walking with a street beer and trying local snacks such as dumplings, sweet corn, and spring rolls. The nightlife in Chiang Mai is a blast as well, as many young Westerners teach English there and backpackers make it a “must-stop city”. We met loads of people from all over the world and had a great time at the local bars!

The final day was reserved for the Doi Suthep Temple, a sacred sight for many Thai people, located in the hills surrounding Chiang Mai. The local tour agent convinced us of the trip in pitching “You haven’t been to Chiang Mai if you haven’t been to Doi Suthep”… gets me EVERY time. A van took us up the winding mountain to the “Temple on the Hill” and once inside, the atmosphere was immediately calmer, more serene, more peaceful. Wearing a shawl and long skirt, I purchased flowers and incense and walked three times around the temple for good luck and prosperity. After, I lit the incense and placed it below Buddha, bowed, then placed the flowers in the offertory, and bowed. This process had been explained to us by our tour guide, and it all felt very enchanting and soothing. Abbie and I wished for safe travels, especially that we would be traveling that night for 12 hours via mini-bus across the Thai-Laotian border

Another triumphant, meaningful day behind us, and we set off for our third country of the trip: Laos!

What do Elephants and Neon Paint have in Common?

...they both somehow contributed to an amazingly sunny and eventful trip to the Thai islands!

Before our trip, Abbie and I had allocated about 10 days to explore some of the hugely popular paradises in the south of the country. The greatest stress about it? Picking the right ones! We knew we would be on the island of Ko Pha Ngan on February 7^th for the Full Moon Party (I will explain THAT in detail in a bit) so we planned to check out one other island before as well. We finally decided on Ko Chang, because it was “easily” accessible from Cambodia. Oh yea, and it has tons of elephants – sold!

While travel guides and locals claim that Siem Reap to Ko Chang is an uncomplicated, relatively short journey, we found it quite the opposite. After a tuk-tuk, taxi, on-foot border crossing, tour bus, and local bus with old men selling raw meat on strings, we still had not reached our destination and at that point it was too late to get a ferry to Ko Chang anyways. We found a random hostel in the little coastal town, downed some Thai noodles, and fell asleep in our cocoon sleeping bags (set aside for the more gross hostels) anxious to arrive the next day.

All was glorious the next morning with a couple beers and a beautiful ferry ride to the island. We found our hostel effortlessly (unheard of) as it was basically in the ocean on one of the main beaches of Ko Chang, White Sands beach. While the location was stunning and you could not ask for a better view, the room was a bed. Yes, a bed. Nothing else. Not that we needed much else because we were beachside 16 hours a day, and I guess you could say I got great sand exfoliation on my entire body during the night...

No one lied when they told us that any island you choose in Thailand is simply stunning. The clear water, yellow sand, and jungle-green mountains carrying the backdrop all merge to provide scenic, picture-perfect views no matter where you look.

While the main activity was therefore sun-soaking on the beach, we happened to fit in a few other things as well. Ko Chang is a relatively small island, but on the southern point is a small fishing village called Bang Boa, which is a beautiful dock full of shops and great seafood restaurants. We enjoyed some scallops and shrimp, Thai style, while looking out over the bright blue water, next to fishermen pulling in exactly what we were eating! We also heard that elephant trekking was popular on the island, and instead of riding elephants in the north of Thailand, we opted to do it on the beautiful island as it was much less touristy. Once at the elephant sanctuary, Abbie and I hopped on one elephant for a little ride through the jungle. We were having enough fun, but didn’t realize we would actually get to swim with them during the final part of our tour! Off came the seats and saddles where we were carefully placed before, and we rode bareback into a watering hole with the other elephants! We didn’t know that they were into dunking either until we were fully submerged underwater and had to figure out a way to climb back up the massive mammals. Never in a million years did I imagine myself actually side-by-side to elephants in a lake in southern Thailand. The experience added a little swing in my step and I could not stop smiling the rest of the day.

Bang Bao Fishing Village

The positive elephant energy was greatly needed as we approached the next leg of our journey. We booked an overnight train from Bangkok to Koh Pha Ngan so that we could make it to the Full Moon Party and also have a few more days on the beach. On our way to Bangkok from Ko Chang to catch the train, I received an email stating that the train was full…no worries, we will just catch the next one or get another class bunk, right? WRONG. Once at the train station, we were informed that there were no more trains or buses for the next 7 nights! The travel fiasco ensued and we spent the next three hours in a hole-in-the-wall travel agency, booking flights and ferries and asking the agent all kinds of questions. I think we annoyed her enough because she ended up selling us quadruple-the-price one-way slow ferry tickets that she told us were round-trip fast ferry tickets. Being ripped off is as common as noodles in this region, and I knew it would happen multiple times, but it doesn’t minimize my frustration in the least! Tired, sunburnt, and defeated, Abbie and I accepted our loss and hit the streets of Bangkok for some yummy street food and beer before our flight the next morning.

Once we finally reached Ko Pha Ngan we were ecstatic to find that our bungalow was a perfectly simple wooden shack overlooking the beach. The owner was a sweet, motherly Thai woman who cooked the best Thai food we have had on our trip. The only downside were the hand-sized spiders we encountered in our bathroom…

Ko Pha Ngan is the ultimate backpacker destination for one sole reason: the Full Moon Party. (And the beaches are awesome too!) One of the biggest parties in the world, FMP draws around 25,000 people every month during the full moon. We stayed on the island for 4 nights, and met so many young people in our hostel and on the beaches – it was a blast! The night of the Full Moon, we bought neon paint and went to town drawing temporary tattoos on each other with people from our hostel. The party itself was a jumble of fire shows, clubs, bars, black lights, dancing, and buckets – all on the beach! Everyone purchases a bucket and chooses their alcohol and mixers for the night, dancing to different beats that the various clubs along the ocean provide. Check that off the “bucket” list – ha!

Our next journey was from the south to the north...to a city called Chiang Mai. My favorite of the trip so far, so will update you on our adventures there oh-so-soon!

Cambodian Chaos

Good Morning from another Thai island! We are currently in Koh Pha Ngan, an island much more southern that Koh Chang, and are loving the laid-back, beach lifestyle we’ve had for a few days now!

It has been about a week since we ventured from Cambodia to the Thai islands, and were able to stay in Siem Reap, Cambodia for four nights to really soak up a lot of local flare. Siem Reap is the gateway into the Angkor region of the country, and probably the most touristic city in Cambodia. Around 10 miles from the famous Angkor Wat, the city is now thriving with markets, international and local restaurants, an endless supply of hostels and hotels, and more tuk-tuks and motorbikes than I have ever seen. Cambodia has an extremely devastating history, mainly starting in the 1970’s when the revolutionary Khmer Rouge came into power. The leader, Pol Pot, wanted a completely self-sufficient society that was pure, with no followers of the former government in power, or alive. He ordered the killing of around 1.7 million people in 4 years – men, women, and children, and forced many more into harsh labor camps. I had known little about the country’s somber past before deciding to come on the trip, and the book “First They Killed my Father” really helped me understand first-hand what life was like during the Khmer Rouge years. While the main “killing fields” and war memorials are in the city of Phnom Phen, which we didn’t make it to, we were able to see one memorial outside of Siem Reap. However, one can easily notice the effect of the genocide in that hardly any elderly Cambodians roam the city streets.

Receiving a blessing & bracelet in Angkor Wat

On a lighter note, Cambodia has really flourished, especially as a tourist destination, during the past few years. Angkor Wat is a vast temple complex, and now the largest religious building in the world! Covering many kilometers, Angkor Wat was built in the 12^th century and only suffered mild damage from the Khmer Rouge. You can either purchase a one, three, or seven-day pass to see all of the temples, which is testimony to just how big the complex is. Abbie and I opted for the one-day pass, and even then found our tuk-tuk driver traveling up to 80 kilometers between temples! The most famous temple is Angkor Wat, which some have named one of the seven wonders of the world, and really is the true symbol of Cambodia. Abbie and I explored around 12 temples that day, inside and out, and the freedom to walk wherever you want left us excited taking pictures, walking through secret pathways, and climbing ancient ruins. We even re-enacted Lara Croft Tomb Raider, as one of the tombs (a massive temple with trees growing out of many of the entrances) was the sight of the filming of the bad-ass Angelina Jolie movie.

Second temple of Angkor Wat

Exploring the actual town of Siem Reap was another amazing cultural experience. Crossing the street was almost a death sentence – you have to take 2 steps, wait for a passing motorbike carrying an entire family and their dog (or their pig), take another 3 steps, wait for a passing tuk-tuk carrying some blond Scandinavian tourists, and then sprint to the other side. We tried some Cambodian food and beers, which is much like Thai food but not nearly as spicy. We also got a little “fish pedicure” – you stick your feet in a huge aquarium of carp ready to bite off all of your dead skin. Gross, and scary, and slimy, but AWESOME! You get a beer too and just hang out while the fishies eat your scum away. The markets and night markets boast hundreds of scarves, souvenirs, hats, paintings, etc. and every store-owner is yelling at you “lady, you want a shirt”, “lady, how are youuuuu” and barter for every little thing. We would haggle with a store owner for up to 10 minutes; they are ruthless but ultimately surrender once you get the price you want.

The final full day in Cambodia we traveled outside the city to a small floating village reachable by boat. The entire town is on stilts, and boats driven by children carry everything from pigs to bags of fish to crops to families. We also went inside the village (the land part!) to explore. The children were adorable and one of my favorite moments was buying a bunch of Oreos and handing them out to the wound up, covetous kids, who hung on me for a good 10 minutes after the cookies were gone. I continued to hand out all my chewing gum, which made them even more thrilled. It was so nice to discover a little more outside the big city of Siem Reap; I felt I had truly gotten a sense of the Cambodian civilization. Even more tradition was packed into that day when Abbie and I went to check out a little Aspara dancing. The customary dance was created by the Ballet of Cambodia, and the moves narrate ancient Cambodian myths.