Luang Prabang, Laos

So it seems that our blogs always start with some account of the journey here, but we think in this case it's especially important to point out that our 6 hour "VIP Minibus" ride was right out of a horror story. The road between Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang is essentially one long, nauseating, cliff-sided curve, and although Jessica was not (repeat: WAS NOT!!!!) one of them, two people in our van got sick... TWO times each. To top it all off, our driver was practically falling asleep the whole time, refused to turn on the AC, and blasted sad Lao pop balads the ENTIRE ride. So although both of us made it to Luang Prabang without throwing up, if we ever have to hear another "Lao Whitney Houston" song again, we will both probably puke right then and there. Ha. What a ride!

Despite the fact that getting here was awful, Luang Prabang is incredible! The city was built by the colonial French, and it still has that "french" feeling to it. The architecture is beautiful; lots of colonial buildings with blue shutters, and there seems to be an unlimited supply of amazing restuarants and "I want to buy everything in here" art shops/markets. Add to that the presence of 32 Wats filled with saffron-robbed monks and gold-leafed buildings, and you have the french-lao fusion city of Luang Prabang. (Ginny and Amy: This is the San Miguel of Laos!)

A typical street in Luang Prabang.

One of the river-side restaurants at sunset.

A Wat

The Mekong hasn't been this low in decades!

Monsoon rainfall finally broke the heat on our fourth evening here.

We spent our first day or so here just walking around and enjoying the city. Our hostel was right on the Mekong, so it was easy to find a river-side restaurant to enjoy a Beerlao or two. The next day, we decided to head to the Kouang Si waterfall; a ride to which we had been offered by every tuk-tuk driver in Luang Prabang, so we knew it had to be good. We were not disappointed: if there is a paradise on earth, this waterfall is it. The water is an impossible turquoise blue color, and the waterfall has endless tiers, each creating a perfect little swimming pool. What's more, we were lucky enough to find our way to a tier of the waterfall way up high that no one else had found--with the exception of a gaggle of 6-12 year old monks. We weren't sure at first what the ettiquite was when surrounded by a dozen pre-teen monks, but by the end of the day they were jumping off cliffs into the water with us! It was a perfect afternoon.

Is this Disneyland or Laos??

We climbed above both of these waterfalls to get to our "secret spot".

It was quite a climb, though.

The scene we stumbled upon when we finally reached the top.

Four brave monks sitting on the edge of the waterfall... It's about a 200 foot drop behind them.

The monks really liked us

Next stop, Hanoi, Vietnam!

Vang Vieng, Laos

After a relatively painless 19 hour bus ride we arrived in one piece in Vang Vieng on the 17th. We have heard stories about Vang Vieng, but it's really a town that one must see to believe. The lazy Nam Song river snakes past the town, as giant limestone cliffs jut unexpectedly out of the landscape, overlooking the valley floor below. In stark contrast to the natural beauty of this place are the townspeople that inhabit Vang Vieng. Seemingly everyone who has "dropped out" of western society has managed to make there way into the heart of Laos and remained, which makes for some interesting interactions with slightly burnt-out--albeit friendly and peace-loving--hippies.

 View from a riverside restaurant our first night.

Upon arriving, we scouted out a clean, safe looking guest house. We found a peaceful place beside the river, however after a 90 degree night with no air conditioning, we opted to move into a slightly more expensive ($6 vs $12/night) place that had more desirable amenities, ie. a running toilet and AC.

From our new guesthouse, we decided to hit up the inner-tube scene that defines the Vang Vieng experience. The general premise is that you rent a tube, take a taxi a few miles up-stream, and float back down to town, stopping at various riverside bars along the way. This made for a fun day, that included exploring an enormous cave that sits beside the river. We made it back to town around dinnertime, got some pizza, and retired to our room to watch a movie and get some rest.

Branded by the "tubing mafia"

The first 100 yards of river is packed with makeshift bars, as well as scary looking ropeswings.

Preston the spelunker.

Not a bad day at all.

The sunset over Vang Vieng

Our peaceful night was interrupted by one of the most violent storms either of us has witnessed. Around midnight the gusting winds knocked out the power, rendering us AC and fan-less. An intense lighting storm soon followed, with lightening striking at 5 second intervals for hours, all accompanied by monsoon rainfall.

A relatively sleepless night last night has made for a lazy day today. We have been checking out the town, which only has one main road. We also booked the next leg of our trip, a 6 hour bus ride to Luang Prabang in Northern Laos, which starts tomorrow morning.

All in all, Vang Vieng has been fun, albeit hot and muggy, and we have our fingers crossed that the electricity will come back on before bed tonight!

Chiang Mai, Thailand

We made it to Thailand! It was an extrememly long trip to get here, with the first leg of the trip at 14 hours, and the second at 5, but we did make it in relatively one (extremely jetlagged) piece. We spent the first day asleep (apart from our two hour "reverse nap" where we went out to get food), and the following day we forced ourselves outside to explore Chiang Mai. Although it's incredibly hot here (anywhere from 95-105 degrees), the city is beautiful, and we found a lot to see and do in just one day. I think our "Wat count" (buddhist temples/monasteries) is already in the double digits, and we had some great Thai food. We also went to the "Night Bazaar," where anything that can be sold is sold. (Even more good stuff than in Ayacucho!!)

Looking up at a Wat

Preston going Buddha

All the trees in this monastary had a wise Buddhist saying attached to them.

The Night Bazaar

On Friday we were picked up at 9:00 am to start our trek through the jungle south of Chiang Mai. Although we did notice the second we landed in Chiang Mai that there was a thick layer of smog covering the whole city, it wasn't until we were out in the jungle that we realized it was not smog, but a dense layer of smoke from the burning of rice paddies, a practice used all over Northern Thailand to prepare fields for this year's crop. So, although in other times of the year the jungle would be a lush, green, orchid-filled paradise, our experience was something more akin to a smoldering Eastern Washington. Haha. Still, the trek was really fun if not beautiful; we did get to visit the Hmong and Karen Hill Tribes, swim in TWO waterfalls, sleep in bamboo huts, eat great food, ride elephants, and float on a bamboo raft down a river lined with Songkran-celebrating Thais. The last part, the bamboo rafting, was by far the most fun we've had since we've been here. Songkran, the Thai New Year, is, as Preston put it, "the single coolest party in the entire world." Ha. It really is; you've never seen so many genuinely happy people in one place at one time. We were floating down a river with dozens of other Thai people who were doing what can only be described as "booze cruising", simultaneously splashing anyone and everyone who passed by, and wishing us a "Happy Thailand!!".

(Side note: Songkran is called the "water festival" in english, as it started with a Buddhist tradition of sprinkling scented water on people as a way of cleansing their spirit for the new year... it's turned into a FULL-FLEDGED, COUNTRY-WIDE water fight, with Chiang Mai as the epicenter.)

The waterfall!!

(A godsend on an extremely hot day.)

Sunset

Welcome to our humble abode!

The honey that we had on our toast for breakfast comes from hives in this tree; they climb that shanty-looking bamboo ladder (attached to the left side of the tree) to get to the branches 100+ feet in the air. Scaaary!

We did a little elephant ride on our trek! Although this was fun, we felt pretty bad for the elephants... They got lots of banana from us!

The beginning of our rafting trip... Still dry, but not for long.

All up and down the river Thais celebrating Songkran hung out in/around these little huts. The restaurants on the hill above would use a pulley system to give them food and beer!

This is Songkran in a nutshell.

Our next day in Chiang Mai was another "dunking" into Songkran. Our current guesthouse (M.D. House) is a block away from the canal that surrounds the whole old city, and it is entirely lined with Songkran partiers. We left our guesthouse at about 12:00 pm, and by 12:02 pm we were drenched. We decided that this is one case where "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" is unavoidably true, so we bought a couple of buckets, and started tossing water. We only lasted for a couple hours in the madness, but the party literally went on all day; we went out for dinner at 6 pm, and it was still going strong. WELCOME TO SONGKRAN 2010!!!!

12:00 pm... DRY.

12:02 pm... SOAKING WET.

Everyone in Chiang Mai it seems comes out of the woodwork for this festival.

Another pretty sunset.

Yesterday we decided that two full days of Songkran madness was really enough, so we went up to the famed Wat Doi Suthep. There were more than a few stairs to climb to get to the entrance, but it was well worth it.

The entrance to Doi Suthep

This statue tells the story of why this Wat exists; in order to find an auspicious site, they let an elephant wander through the hills until it stopped (and died) at the site where the temple now stands.

Because it's 100 degrees out/Songkran, I was wearing running shorts and a tanktop on arrival at the Wat, so I had to don a skirt and shawl in order to be let in.

Colorful New Year's decorations

Doi Suthep is WAY up in the hills north of Chiang Mai, so not only did we get our first glimpse of blue sky in days, we were able to acurately document the "smoke situation" hanging over the city. Uuuuugly.

Tonight (the 16th), we will be heading to Laos. Although it's supposed to be smoky and dry up there as well, we figure we'll just stick to the Mekong River, and all will be fine. Afterall, we've heard there's a pretty awesome "tubing scene" in Vang Vieng...

Goodbye, Ayacucho!

It’s hard to believe that TWO months have already passed. It’s been quite a ride. Although I never actually did get to work in a health clinic, I don’t feel at all like my time in Peru was a waste. I danced in Carnaval, worked in a prison, drove all over Ayacucho in the back of a truck, learned to give shots, saw two babies being born, took part in Semana Santa, met amazing people (Peruvian and otherwise), and generally fell in love with Peru. I will be going back. There are just too many things that I didn’t get to see this time around (Machu Picchu included). Peru is a beautiful country; one of few, I think, where the culture of thousands of years ago survives to the present day; it’s a little like going back in time. So it’s safe to say that next on my travel list is…South America!

Also, if they’re reading this—and even if they’re not—I want to say a huge THANK YOU (!) to Rudy and Marisol for everything they did for me and the other volunteers; we couldn’t have asked for two better people at CCS!!

So I left Ayacucho in a bit of a fluster, seeing as the taxi that was supposed to take me to the bus station at 8:30 pm never arrived, it was pouring rain, and the only taxi that would stop for me was a MOTOTAXI. Ha. Me and my over-50-pound suitcase barely fit in the back of it, but I got in anyway, and a bit of traffic and stress later, I made it to the bus station five minutes before my bus left. Oh, the joys of traveling in a third world country.

When I arrived in Lima, I stashed my luggage and boarded a plane to Cusco. An hour later I was in this ancient Incan city, and I immediately knew it was well worth the money and travel time. The city is amazing. I spent the whole first day just walking around the city, visiting plazas, museums, and churches. A huge portion of the buildings (especially the neighborhood of San Blas) is a mix of Incan and Spanish Colonial architecture; the Colonial buildings are literally built on top of the Incan ruins.

Plaza de las Armas. That's THE cathedral on the right.

Cool architecture!

Santo Domingo church, built on Incan foundations.

The courtyard inside Santo Domingo

A street in San Blas. Prime example of Colonial buildings built on top of Incan ruins.

The famous 12-angle rock. How did they DO THIS?

I met a bunch of really cool people at my hostel (Hostel Pariwana, highly recommend it to anyone around my age), and we did a tour of the Sacred Valley the next day. Since some of the roads are still washed out from the floods in December, we had to take a round-about way to get there, which resulted in less daylight hours to see everything in, which in turn resulted in a bit of a rushed tour. But we were prepared for this, and had a great time anyways. We visited the Pisac ruins, as well as those at Ollantaytambo, and stopped in a little "weaving town", Chincheros on our way back. Like the Llama Trek, the scenery was breathtaking as well. 

The view atop the Pisac Ruins.

More Pisac.

Friends from my hostel

Ollantaytambo ruins

Across the valley. Those are Incan food storage buildings built into that hill.

These six (HUGE) stones mark the summer equinox.

View from the bus at sunset.

Dyed yarn and the natural substances that dyed them

So now, after another grueling travel day (which included not just one, but two five hour layovers), I’m in Los Angeles with my parents and Preston, getting ready for the second and definitely more adventurous leg of my (now our) trip. Hopefully from here on out, both Preston and I will be writing these Blogs, which from now will be coming from SOUTHEAST ASIA!!!