After hemming and hawing for a couple of months, Doug has finally answered the nar's call and is headed home to Denver for ski season.
Before he left we decide to load up on souvenirs. I love a night market oh so much and Chaing Mai has one of the best we've seen in Asia so far. We decide to take advantage of Doug's heading home to purchase a new suitcase and fill it full of fabulous goods. We started at the night market the day before he leaft and packed in a good 4 hours of shopping at the special Sunday street market (who knew there could be so many other fabulous things to buy?) before scurrying home to get Doug packed up and out of there.
I headed out with Doug to pack him in a Tuk-Tuk and shed a tear or two upon his departure. As I waved good-bye, I was forced to settle my depression in the only reasonable manner and immediately went back to the market and bought a pair of flip-flops. Shopping really is fun!
It's been a great two and a half months traveling with Doug and I've certainly learned a lot from him. I'm sad to see him go, but also excited to try traveling on my own.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Pai Pai Love
762 curves north of Chaing Mai is Pai (pronounced similar to bye). Doug had heard some good things about, so we headed up there on our motorbikes. The road is windy and was challenging for my second day motorbiking - but very rewarding as well. We got to Pai quite refreshed and were ready to check out the town.
It was not long before I was quite taken with Pai and planning ways I could come back. After we found a room and settled in - we went walking about town. The downtown is not very big and at night becomes a huge market. Pai is known for it's artist community and there were dozens of adorable t-shirts and chotchkies to buy.
The best part was all of the food vendors. The streets were lined with vendors selling all sorts of delicious (and some not so delicious) looking food. The standard price for anything was 10 baht (about 30 cents). Doug and I happily walked around sampling from different vendors (Doug was quite taken with the skewer guy and tried one each of pork, beef, and chicken). We tried a purple pancake that I believe was made out of rice, some quail eggs, more sticky rice, fried chicken, pancake with something that looked like hot dog but the guy claimed was chicken - amongst other things.
I'm going to be honest - I love a nice spread. And this type of market was ideal. You get to going around trying everything that looks awesome (I even went in for a little mystery meat) without really having to commit to anything.
We didn't do too much else there as we had to turn around and head back to Chiang Mai the next day - but if you find yourself here with time to head up to Pai, I would highly recommend it!
It was not long before I was quite taken with Pai and planning ways I could come back. After we found a room and settled in - we went walking about town. The downtown is not very big and at night becomes a huge market. Pai is known for it's artist community and there were dozens of adorable t-shirts and chotchkies to buy.
The best part was all of the food vendors. The streets were lined with vendors selling all sorts of delicious (and some not so delicious) looking food. The standard price for anything was 10 baht (about 30 cents). Doug and I happily walked around sampling from different vendors (Doug was quite taken with the skewer guy and tried one each of pork, beef, and chicken). We tried a purple pancake that I believe was made out of rice, some quail eggs, more sticky rice, fried chicken, pancake with something that looked like hot dog but the guy claimed was chicken - amongst other things.
I'm going to be honest - I love a nice spread. And this type of market was ideal. You get to going around trying everything that looks awesome (I even went in for a little mystery meat) without really having to commit to anything.
We didn't do too much else there as we had to turn around and head back to Chiang Mai the next day - but if you find yourself here with time to head up to Pai, I would highly recommend it!
Friday, December 12, 2008
One More Year Hung On The Line
There is a song from the Paul Simon best hits cassette that my mom and I used to listen to that came to mind yesterday.
Yesterday it was my birthday
I hung one more year on the line
I should be depressed, my life's a mess
But I'm having a good time . . .
It's official - I'm 29 with no job and no home - but oh my god I'm so happy!
I had the greatest birthday yesterday in Chaing Mai. After several weeks of not shifting my weight around on the back seat of Doug's motorbike - I finally rented a bike of my own.
After a brief lesson in an empty parking lot the day before, I hopped on the motorbike and was off. Both Doug and I were a bit nervous - but I did awesome. We went to a national park that was about 75 km outside of Chiang Mai. There was a fair amount of traffic on our way out - which I am thrilled to announce I managed to perfection.
After such a splendid performance on the automatic Vespa-like bike, I decided to rent a manual motorbike today. We road up to Pai which is 135 km outside of Chiang Mai where we are spending the night. The ride up to Pai was a blast - we went around a lot of hairpins.
The hours spent on the motorbike allow me a lot of time for contemplating and I've been spending the last two days thinking how grateful I am for my freedom on many levels. I feel so grateful to be able to have this time to explore around Asia. I'm also so thankful to all of you who have been keeping up with the blog and posting and/or sending me emails. It's such a moment of excitement to get an email from someone from home and hear from you. I miss all of you so much and I'm so thankful to how supportive you've all been.
Yesterday it was my birthday
I hung one more year on the line
I should be depressed, my life's a mess
But I'm having a good time . . .
It's official - I'm 29 with no job and no home - but oh my god I'm so happy!
I had the greatest birthday yesterday in Chaing Mai. After several weeks of not shifting my weight around on the back seat of Doug's motorbike - I finally rented a bike of my own.
After a brief lesson in an empty parking lot the day before, I hopped on the motorbike and was off. Both Doug and I were a bit nervous - but I did awesome. We went to a national park that was about 75 km outside of Chiang Mai. There was a fair amount of traffic on our way out - which I am thrilled to announce I managed to perfection.
After such a splendid performance on the automatic Vespa-like bike, I decided to rent a manual motorbike today. We road up to Pai which is 135 km outside of Chiang Mai where we are spending the night. The ride up to Pai was a blast - we went around a lot of hairpins.
The hours spent on the motorbike allow me a lot of time for contemplating and I've been spending the last two days thinking how grateful I am for my freedom on many levels. I feel so grateful to be able to have this time to explore around Asia. I'm also so thankful to all of you who have been keeping up with the blog and posting and/or sending me emails. It's such a moment of excitement to get an email from someone from home and hear from you. I miss all of you so much and I'm so thankful to how supportive you've all been.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Spa Hoping
The next day Doug's knee still hurt so we decided to have another slow day. I had fallen in love with one of the knifes at cooking class that allows you to cut the fruits to be wavy and I wanted to see if we could find a place to buy them. We went on a long walk to the big market which was full of all kinds of junk but not my knifes.
One of the things that we've found constantly surprising in Asia is that it seems that style of selling is such that everyone near each other sells exactly the same thing. It is very odd as you'd think how many people need to sell plastic kitchenware - but it seems that there is enough of a market to sustain 20 people selling exactly the same plastic kitchenware all next to each other.
After about an hour of fruitless searching we gave up and headed home.
It was still early in the afternoon so I suggested perhaps a trip to the spa. Happily Doug agreed and we went and got facials. They were amazing and afterwards we kept touching our faces to feel how soft they were. With such a great experience at the spa - why stop there? I had been eyeing the 1 hour foot massages and Doug was game so we went to another spa on the street and got foot massages. It was my third spa experience in as many days - so I sat back, relaxed and made the most of it.
The fourth day we had nothing on the agenda other than getting tickets out of there - so I casually mentioned perhaps another hit at the spa? Doug was in! This time he got a one hour Laos massage while I got a much needed mani/pedi.
After so much relaxing, it was on to another Laos airlines flight and back to Thailand.
One of the things that we've found constantly surprising in Asia is that it seems that style of selling is such that everyone near each other sells exactly the same thing. It is very odd as you'd think how many people need to sell plastic kitchenware - but it seems that there is enough of a market to sustain 20 people selling exactly the same plastic kitchenware all next to each other.
After about an hour of fruitless searching we gave up and headed home.
It was still early in the afternoon so I suggested perhaps a trip to the spa. Happily Doug agreed and we went and got facials. They were amazing and afterwards we kept touching our faces to feel how soft they were. With such a great experience at the spa - why stop there? I had been eyeing the 1 hour foot massages and Doug was game so we went to another spa on the street and got foot massages. It was my third spa experience in as many days - so I sat back, relaxed and made the most of it.
The fourth day we had nothing on the agenda other than getting tickets out of there - so I casually mentioned perhaps another hit at the spa? Doug was in! This time he got a one hour Laos massage while I got a much needed mani/pedi.
After so much relaxing, it was on to another Laos airlines flight and back to Thailand.
Cooking Class is a Debacle
After 20 miles of biking to the waterfall on our first day, I had no interest in biking again the second day. Doug headed out to the other side of the Mekong on his bike to see what he could explore and I headed to the Spa!
Massages in Asia are FABULOUS as they are usually in the range of $6 to $10 for an hour. I headed down to the places that were right on the river and got a $5 one hour Laos massage. It was amazing.
With the rest of my afternoon/evening I walked up the very many steps to the Stupa that is at the top of the hill for the sunset view. I will tell you that this is really not worth it. You and one gazillion people hang out at the top of the stupa waiting for the sun to set. It does not take much time before the sun is behind a huge hill - so you get a few rays of orange/violet before your sunset has ended. Then you and the same one gazillion people slowly make your way back down the hill.
At the bottom I headed through the night market to go back to our hotel and ran into Doug!
The next day Doug woke up and his right knee was hurting so he opted not to go back out mountain biking. I had gotten a recommendation for an all day cooking class from someone we had sat next to a couple of nights ago and I was anxious to check it out.
Doug had been admit that he did not want to do an all day cooking class and we had thought that we could do a half day - so we went to check it out. We found out the day class was full but we could do the evening class option. While the owner was walking us through the class, a couple came up to cancel their reservation for the day - and we now had the option of doing an all day class. Given that we had nothing else to do that day, Doug reluctantly agreed to do cooking class from 10 am until 5pm.
Cooking class was a debacle. The format is setup such that after a tour of the market you come back and the head chef demonstrates three dishes, of which you choose two to make. Then you get to eat it for lunch. Then you repeat the same process and end up with three dishes for dinner.
You prepare the dishes at your station with your partner. Generally Doug and I are great at working together but at cooking we were a disaster. I forgot to add vinegar to the salad dressing (which was recoverable once we figured out what went wrong). We both wanted to control the wok - I would add ingredients not measured to Doug's exacting standards - Doug forgot to add the water to allow the vegetables to steam and in another dish he forgot to add the chillies. In a final hurrah we jointly managed to burn the chili paste and coconut milk. For two intelligent, literate people - we were an absolute mess.
What made it all that much more interesting was that every other station was doing great. Even the girl next to us who was working alone was doing things better and faster than the two of us could do them. After an initially tense first few dishes, it just became hilarious. There was nothing we could get right (although Doug did a fabulous job of plating the Luang Prabang salad complete with cherry tomato cut to look like a flower).
At the end of the day our dishes were moderately edible - but certainly not enjoyable. We did our best to try to eat some of it and then happily parted ways with our fellow chefs. It was a great way to spend a day - but we were both happy to have someone else make us a real dinner.
Massages in Asia are FABULOUS as they are usually in the range of $6 to $10 for an hour. I headed down to the places that were right on the river and got a $5 one hour Laos massage. It was amazing.
With the rest of my afternoon/evening I walked up the very many steps to the Stupa that is at the top of the hill for the sunset view. I will tell you that this is really not worth it. You and one gazillion people hang out at the top of the stupa waiting for the sun to set. It does not take much time before the sun is behind a huge hill - so you get a few rays of orange/violet before your sunset has ended. Then you and the same one gazillion people slowly make your way back down the hill.
At the bottom I headed through the night market to go back to our hotel and ran into Doug!
The next day Doug woke up and his right knee was hurting so he opted not to go back out mountain biking. I had gotten a recommendation for an all day cooking class from someone we had sat next to a couple of nights ago and I was anxious to check it out.
Doug had been admit that he did not want to do an all day cooking class and we had thought that we could do a half day - so we went to check it out. We found out the day class was full but we could do the evening class option. While the owner was walking us through the class, a couple came up to cancel their reservation for the day - and we now had the option of doing an all day class. Given that we had nothing else to do that day, Doug reluctantly agreed to do cooking class from 10 am until 5pm.
Cooking class was a debacle. The format is setup such that after a tour of the market you come back and the head chef demonstrates three dishes, of which you choose two to make. Then you get to eat it for lunch. Then you repeat the same process and end up with three dishes for dinner.
You prepare the dishes at your station with your partner. Generally Doug and I are great at working together but at cooking we were a disaster. I forgot to add vinegar to the salad dressing (which was recoverable once we figured out what went wrong). We both wanted to control the wok - I would add ingredients not measured to Doug's exacting standards - Doug forgot to add the water to allow the vegetables to steam and in another dish he forgot to add the chillies. In a final hurrah we jointly managed to burn the chili paste and coconut milk. For two intelligent, literate people - we were an absolute mess.
What made it all that much more interesting was that every other station was doing great. Even the girl next to us who was working alone was doing things better and faster than the two of us could do them. After an initially tense first few dishes, it just became hilarious. There was nothing we could get right (although Doug did a fabulous job of plating the Luang Prabang salad complete with cherry tomato cut to look like a flower).
At the end of the day our dishes were moderately edible - but certainly not enjoyable. We did our best to try to eat some of it and then happily parted ways with our fellow chefs. It was a great way to spend a day - but we were both happy to have someone else make us a real dinner.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
I Love Luang Prabang
It is hard to get off a 7 hour bus ride and love anything - but from a first look at Luang Prabang I knew I'd want to stay here for a while.
Luang Prabang is towards the north of Laos and it's a cute little town between two rivers. Our initial stroll through town revealed several reasonably priced restaurants along the water and a fabulous night market.
"Have you ridden your bike for 20 miles?" Doug asked me that evening as we discussed plans for the next day.
"No," I explained " but I've ridden it more than 10 miles a couple of times."
We wanted to go see the large waterfall that was 35 km away (about 20 miles). Due to the high level of motorbike accidents involving tourists coupled with a very poor health care system, Luang Prabang had outlawed tourists renting motorbikes. So to get to the waterfall we had two options - rent bicycles or take a tuk tuk.
Convinced that I could at least make it out to the waterfall and find a way home if necessary, we set out on our bike ride. And it was kind of a debacle. After about 10 km into our ride I needed a break. We had been going straight up hill for ages and it looked like the rest of the ride could be this way. Doug was concerned and so was I. I was already exhausted and we were not even half way there.
We took a moment to rest and I got back on my bike. After another 2 km up, the gods heard my prayers and we had a miraculous several kilometer decent or just flat.
I won't go through the rest of the ride - but there was a lot more up and by the time we got to the waterfall I thought I was going to die. Right at the entrance a tuk tuk driver saw me and said "Tuk tuk back?"
"Yes!" I gratefully replied with all my energy left.
The waterfall was gorgeous. Doug didn't stay too long as he wanted to make sure he got back before dark. I took longer to walk around both sides of it and to see the black bears. It was definitely worth it to go - but I also learned that 20 miles is really far to bike.
Luang Prabang is towards the north of Laos and it's a cute little town between two rivers. Our initial stroll through town revealed several reasonably priced restaurants along the water and a fabulous night market.
"Have you ridden your bike for 20 miles?" Doug asked me that evening as we discussed plans for the next day.
"No," I explained " but I've ridden it more than 10 miles a couple of times."
We wanted to go see the large waterfall that was 35 km away (about 20 miles). Due to the high level of motorbike accidents involving tourists coupled with a very poor health care system, Luang Prabang had outlawed tourists renting motorbikes. So to get to the waterfall we had two options - rent bicycles or take a tuk tuk.
Convinced that I could at least make it out to the waterfall and find a way home if necessary, we set out on our bike ride. And it was kind of a debacle. After about 10 km into our ride I needed a break. We had been going straight up hill for ages and it looked like the rest of the ride could be this way. Doug was concerned and so was I. I was already exhausted and we were not even half way there.
We took a moment to rest and I got back on my bike. After another 2 km up, the gods heard my prayers and we had a miraculous several kilometer decent or just flat.
I won't go through the rest of the ride - but there was a lot more up and by the time we got to the waterfall I thought I was going to die. Right at the entrance a tuk tuk driver saw me and said "Tuk tuk back?"
"Yes!" I gratefully replied with all my energy left.
The waterfall was gorgeous. Doug didn't stay too long as he wanted to make sure he got back before dark. I took longer to walk around both sides of it and to see the black bears. It was definitely worth it to go - but I also learned that 20 miles is really far to bike.
A Nice Stroll
Faced with a second day of doing very little in Vang Vieng, I decided to go for a walk about town. Doug had indicated that there were some caves he had seen not too far away and I thought I'd go check them out. When I mentioned to Doug I was going for a walk, he decided to come too.
We decided to walk across the bridge to the other side of the river to see what was around there. We saw a sign that indicated you could walk up one of the hills and get an excellent view of the town - so we followed the flags through the rice fields to the hill.
There was a cave on the hill, and the way up was a bit rocky - but there had been a wooden ladder that made it much easier. We got to the cave and were taken on a tour through it. It was actually pretty interesting and much larger than we every expected.
After our cave tour we took the route up to the top of the hill. It turned out that it was all rocky and required quite a bit of maneuvering to make it up to the top. Normally this would have been not a problem - but I was wearing a skirt and flip flops which made it especially challenging.
We made it to the top which had some spectacular views. If you find yourself in Vang Vieng I would highly recommend going up - just wear shorts and some better shoes.
The way down was a bit scary and steep - but I managed with only a few scraps and bruises.
We decided to walk across the bridge to the other side of the river to see what was around there. We saw a sign that indicated you could walk up one of the hills and get an excellent view of the town - so we followed the flags through the rice fields to the hill.
There was a cave on the hill, and the way up was a bit rocky - but there had been a wooden ladder that made it much easier. We got to the cave and were taken on a tour through it. It was actually pretty interesting and much larger than we every expected.
After our cave tour we took the route up to the top of the hill. It turned out that it was all rocky and required quite a bit of maneuvering to make it up to the top. Normally this would have been not a problem - but I was wearing a skirt and flip flops which made it especially challenging.
We made it to the top which had some spectacular views. If you find yourself in Vang Vieng I would highly recommend going up - just wear shorts and some better shoes.
The way down was a bit scary and steep - but I managed with only a few scraps and bruises.
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