Well, we made it back to NYC after 48 hours of travel. We had some photo casualties, but many seem to have come out fine. The elepant trekking was amazing. It was a place deep in the jungle that protects elephants formally used for labor. We got to get into water with them and wash them (really amazing...elephants don't smell, go figure). Then Matt and I jumped (literally) on the back of the largest elephant they had and walked back to the main area at the reserve. We were SO high up! Amazing! Then they hooked the elephants up with a proper seat and we were off on our trek. We've got tons of great photos.
I also forgot to tell a great story from Lao. When we went tubing down the river in Vang Viang we were turning a corner and Matt was ahead of me and yelled to paddle myself to the left because of an obstruction in the river. So as I rounded the corner...I saw a heard of water buffalo! Our first time seeing water buffalo and we were in the river with them! They are absolutely the funniest animals. When the sit in the water they leave just their noses out so that they an breath...so it wasn't until some of them started to stand up that we saw just how large they were! And they are enormous! Bigger than a large cow! What a hoot that was!
We'll post a link to the pics as soon as we're able. Unfortunately, the photos from Bangkok were the casualties--all of our pics of the markets etc. Matt's beside himself. We checked the memory card in our baggage and it got erased by the x-ray machines...don't make the same mistake!
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Back in Tokyo
Just a quick note. We`re on our way back. Haven`t written because we finally got some nice weather and went elephant trekking--Matt and I bareback on a enormous elephant! I got to sit behind the ears! It was so much fun. Our last day was all sun, and we werent expecting it so we got a little toasty...but we just sat in the water all day.
Tokyo is cold and we`ve already been traveling for 1 1/2 days--just 14 hours to go! Urrggg. Can:t wait for all that snow in NYC.
Will post pics when we get home, couldnt figure out how to do it while away.
Until then...
Tokyo is cold and we`ve already been traveling for 1 1/2 days--just 14 hours to go! Urrggg. Can:t wait for all that snow in NYC.
Will post pics when we get home, couldnt figure out how to do it while away.
Until then...
Monday, January 17, 2005
We sure know how to have a good time...
Well, you'll never be able to say that we don't know how to liven things up...Matt and I both managed to get food poisoning yesterday and today is a total waste as we try and recover (Richard, perhaps this accounts for the last post). What a honeymoon!! Owing to the lessons I learned from my mother, I pulled a "Lisa Burlingham" and immediately found the nicest hotel room available, there is nothing worse than being sick in a "rustic" hotel. So, mom and dad, you'll be happy to know that Matt and I have relocated to a comfortable bungalow on the beach complete with a standard bathroom, air conditioning, and the ever-important TV with BBC World Service on 24-7.
The sun did manage to show it's face a little this morning, but has again retreated behind the clouds. Forecast says Tuesday and Wednesday will be nice--and so hopefully will our spirits. For the moment, we're sticking to what we can buy at the local 7-11 (yes, they are even here)--Gatorade and Lays potato chips. I hate to admit that we came to Thailand and ate these things, but sometimes necessity dictates want.
A word on Koh Chang. It's an interesting spot. Originally visited by backpackers, the place is trying to upgrade its image making it virtually impossible to find an inexpensive place to stay. The main beach that we're staying on stretches for about a mile. The beach itself is lined with palm trees and restaurants that when the tide retreats in the evening (there's only one tide here) set up tables and chairs on the sand for the nights fun. A couple of the restaurants have "fire-shows". A couple of locals wrap clothes around sticks and ropes, dip them in kerosene, light them up and put on a show. It's a little too resort-y for me here, but the beach is lovely and it is relaxing.
The island itself is covered almost completely by rainforest. Our idea was to explore them today, but, being sick, it's not going to happen. Much of the forest is protected, but the popularity of the island is growing rapidly and with growth go the trees. Koh Chang seems to be a virtual construction site. From the people we've met, it seems the place has grown enormously in the last 3 years and with the tsunami wiping out the most popular beaches, many have chosen to relocate here.
Thailand in general, and Koh Chang in particular, have a serious trash problem. It just seems that there isn't the infrastructure to deal with it, particularly on a small island where the population doubles during the high season. Trash is everywhere, including on the beach, but the do have people hired to go around an clean it up. As with Lao, the people here are poor and the contrast between resort and local housing is astounding--shanty houses waterproofed with trash bags next to large, all inclusive resorts. It's hard to tell whether tourism is making things worse or better...
The other thing that is everywhere is prostitution. I knew that Thailand was a hub of trafficking, but everywhere western man can be seen with young Thai women. While I'm sure many of these relations are innocuous, it remains that many more are prostitution. It astounds Matt and me how open western men are about there actions--particularly when you can see the Thai people seething in anger that their daughters are being kidnapped to be sex-slaves.
I'll end on that note. Matt and I are off to recover some more...
The sun did manage to show it's face a little this morning, but has again retreated behind the clouds. Forecast says Tuesday and Wednesday will be nice--and so hopefully will our spirits. For the moment, we're sticking to what we can buy at the local 7-11 (yes, they are even here)--Gatorade and Lays potato chips. I hate to admit that we came to Thailand and ate these things, but sometimes necessity dictates want.
A word on Koh Chang. It's an interesting spot. Originally visited by backpackers, the place is trying to upgrade its image making it virtually impossible to find an inexpensive place to stay. The main beach that we're staying on stretches for about a mile. The beach itself is lined with palm trees and restaurants that when the tide retreats in the evening (there's only one tide here) set up tables and chairs on the sand for the nights fun. A couple of the restaurants have "fire-shows". A couple of locals wrap clothes around sticks and ropes, dip them in kerosene, light them up and put on a show. It's a little too resort-y for me here, but the beach is lovely and it is relaxing.
The island itself is covered almost completely by rainforest. Our idea was to explore them today, but, being sick, it's not going to happen. Much of the forest is protected, but the popularity of the island is growing rapidly and with growth go the trees. Koh Chang seems to be a virtual construction site. From the people we've met, it seems the place has grown enormously in the last 3 years and with the tsunami wiping out the most popular beaches, many have chosen to relocate here.
Thailand in general, and Koh Chang in particular, have a serious trash problem. It just seems that there isn't the infrastructure to deal with it, particularly on a small island where the population doubles during the high season. Trash is everywhere, including on the beach, but the do have people hired to go around an clean it up. As with Lao, the people here are poor and the contrast between resort and local housing is astounding--shanty houses waterproofed with trash bags next to large, all inclusive resorts. It's hard to tell whether tourism is making things worse or better...
The other thing that is everywhere is prostitution. I knew that Thailand was a hub of trafficking, but everywhere western man can be seen with young Thai women. While I'm sure many of these relations are innocuous, it remains that many more are prostitution. It astounds Matt and me how open western men are about there actions--particularly when you can see the Thai people seething in anger that their daughters are being kidnapped to be sex-slaves.
I'll end on that note. Matt and I are off to recover some more...
Sunday, January 16, 2005
New template
You can tell I'm bored when I'm changing the template. We're back from exploring the island some, at the sun still hasn't come out. It's at least forcing me to get some of my work done that's due when I get back...
Weather's not supposed to clear totally until Tuesday...last 2 days we're here! Of course!! Oh well, at least it's warm still and you can still swim because the ocean water is nearly warmer than the air temp.
TTFN
Weather's not supposed to clear totally until Tuesday...last 2 days we're here! Of course!! Oh well, at least it's warm still and you can still swim because the ocean water is nearly warmer than the air temp.
TTFN
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Cloudy day
So we made it south to an island near the border of Cambodia called Koh Chang but just our luck there is a cyclone on the other side of Thailand and it's giving us rough shores and cloudy weather. All the same, we're happy to be by the beach. We're staying in a bungalow perched above the ocean on some rocks. Matt calls it "rustic"--but it's cheap and clean.
The haul here from Lao was long. We left on Thursday at 1:30pm and again discovered that it's futile to make travel plans because nothing runs according to schedule. The bus picked us up at 1:30pm but we didn't actually leave the town for another hour and half. So when we got to Vientiane it was nearly dark and we were the last people (literally) over the bridge back to Thailand. Then we missed our flight back to Bangkok and stayed over night at a B and B next to the Mekong River. The folks who ran the inn were wonderful and woke at 5am to drive us to the airport--nearly an hour away, we had no idea. Then we flew to Bangkok, took a quick taxi to the bus station and got on a 6 hour bus ride south, to a tuk-tuk, to a boat, to a tuk-tuk and ended our night having dinner with our feet in the sand at the beach, a very nice way to end the day!
Some thoughts on Lao: Matt and I have talked a lot about it. It's an interesting place. The people are extremely poor financially and it's definitely 3rd world, but it's a lovely country that is fantastically beautiful. Around where we were in Vang Viang were the lowland people that in the last 20 years have been horribly persecuted and only recently repatriated from Thai refugee camps. They're still discriminated against (their children aren't allowed in the schools) and poor. The typical homes are built on stilts that perch them high above the ground and the walls are made out of a sort of thatched bamboo. The towns seem mostly to line the main roads and river--where the water is used as both a place to bathe as well as a place to water crops etc. Under many of the homes are enormous looms that the women work on to weave the most fantastic silk scares (of which I bought quite a few). Matt also noticed that there are very few old people--not doubt the result of years of war and hard living in general. The Lao people were unbelievably welcoming and kind, desite obvious communication problems. We were only sorry that we didn't get to spend more time there.
Well, that's it for now. We were supposed to go on a snorkling trip today, but have delayed it for tomorrow in the hopes that the weather will clear up. So we're off to a fishing village in the south of the island...
The haul here from Lao was long. We left on Thursday at 1:30pm and again discovered that it's futile to make travel plans because nothing runs according to schedule. The bus picked us up at 1:30pm but we didn't actually leave the town for another hour and half. So when we got to Vientiane it was nearly dark and we were the last people (literally) over the bridge back to Thailand. Then we missed our flight back to Bangkok and stayed over night at a B and B next to the Mekong River. The folks who ran the inn were wonderful and woke at 5am to drive us to the airport--nearly an hour away, we had no idea. Then we flew to Bangkok, took a quick taxi to the bus station and got on a 6 hour bus ride south, to a tuk-tuk, to a boat, to a tuk-tuk and ended our night having dinner with our feet in the sand at the beach, a very nice way to end the day!
Some thoughts on Lao: Matt and I have talked a lot about it. It's an interesting place. The people are extremely poor financially and it's definitely 3rd world, but it's a lovely country that is fantastically beautiful. Around where we were in Vang Viang were the lowland people that in the last 20 years have been horribly persecuted and only recently repatriated from Thai refugee camps. They're still discriminated against (their children aren't allowed in the schools) and poor. The typical homes are built on stilts that perch them high above the ground and the walls are made out of a sort of thatched bamboo. The towns seem mostly to line the main roads and river--where the water is used as both a place to bathe as well as a place to water crops etc. Under many of the homes are enormous looms that the women work on to weave the most fantastic silk scares (of which I bought quite a few). Matt also noticed that there are very few old people--not doubt the result of years of war and hard living in general. The Lao people were unbelievably welcoming and kind, desite obvious communication problems. We were only sorry that we didn't get to spend more time there.
Well, that's it for now. We were supposed to go on a snorkling trip today, but have delayed it for tomorrow in the hopes that the weather will clear up. So we're off to a fishing village in the south of the island...
In Koh Chang
We made it south after a long journey...on the beach and will write more later. Ran into people we met in Bangkok, going snorkeling tomorrow. Lots to write, but when the sun goes down!
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
In Vang Viang, Lao
Hey everyone sorry it's been so long. Well, we took the train from bangkok to Nong khai and realized that we had to change our plans. we'd been warned not to make travel plans in laos--and it was true. the train took 1 hour longer than expected and then we got driven around by tuk-tuks in vientiane for a while and finally made it to the correct bus station only to find out that the bus we needed left the following morning at 4am. With not enough days in our vacation we changed plans and headed to vang viang, where we are now. it's fabulous here, but of course with our luck, our camera stopped working when we stepped of the bus!! here are some online pics to give you an idea...
http://www.travelmarker.nl/bestemmingen/azie/laos/bezienswaardigheden/vang_vieng.htm
the bus ride was hair raising to say the least! i thought matt was going to kill me! the breaks seem to have been completely warn down and made an awful sounds as we careened around sharp corners at 80 mps! always an adventure! we were stuffed in with about 10 other people (laos) with a million boxes of lao tobbacco and lao pop music playing on a rigged up stereo! i, kate, of course thought the whole thing was fab. matt just read his book and seathed!
The view once we got here was worth all the trouble. it is amazing here! we spend yesterday exploring caves in the karst cliffs and floating down the river in tubes. the laos line the banks of the river selling "beerlao". the have long sticks that you can grab onto to pull you into shore.
the town itself it totally wierd--a cross between somehting out of the wild west and a bad backpacker scene. the restaurants all have "happy" menus that you can order off of, specifying how happy you'd like the food...i'm sure you understand.
we were going to stay another night, but i think we've decided to see if we can start to head south to the beaches...we've learned everything takes longer than expected.
we'll be in touch! the truck we're taking back is open air with seats in the back!
http://www.travelmarker.nl/bestemmingen/azie/laos/bezienswaardigheden/vang_vieng.htm
the bus ride was hair raising to say the least! i thought matt was going to kill me! the breaks seem to have been completely warn down and made an awful sounds as we careened around sharp corners at 80 mps! always an adventure! we were stuffed in with about 10 other people (laos) with a million boxes of lao tobbacco and lao pop music playing on a rigged up stereo! i, kate, of course thought the whole thing was fab. matt just read his book and seathed!
The view once we got here was worth all the trouble. it is amazing here! we spend yesterday exploring caves in the karst cliffs and floating down the river in tubes. the laos line the banks of the river selling "beerlao". the have long sticks that you can grab onto to pull you into shore.
the town itself it totally wierd--a cross between somehting out of the wild west and a bad backpacker scene. the restaurants all have "happy" menus that you can order off of, specifying how happy you'd like the food...i'm sure you understand.
we were going to stay another night, but i think we've decided to see if we can start to head south to the beaches...we've learned everything takes longer than expected.
we'll be in touch! the truck we're taking back is open air with seats in the back!
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Matt on Bangkok...
ok this was our first night in bankok. Not a bad evening met some really great people who gave great traveling advise (one of the great things about staying in a backpacker hostil). Today we book our over night train and our visa for our trip into lao.
we will be staying, as of now 4 days at sala hinboun eco-lodge. Our trek will be an over night train to the border, a bus through the mountains and either a shuttle, if there is one, or a two hour boat ride up the meakong river. This area is very remote and not heavily traveled but is said to have the most diverse flaura and fuana in all of south east asia. In Lao one day will be taking a 7k kayak trek into some very large caves. getting very excited about this one, I am quite over bankok. It is a wonderful city and the people couldnt be nicer. The problem about bankok is that it is a vey polluted city and stinks to high heaven. I do not have the words to explain how bad the smog is, it is truely amazing. Thank god for our little oasis the shanti lodge. Kate and I spent a good part of the day at a weekend market that was so massive we lost our way more than once. It reminded me of one of those puzzles that you do when you use a pencil to try and find your way to the center of the maze. There were something like 15,000 vendors selling everything under the sun. For those of you who have to slug through the rain and snow back home, it was something like 90 today and not a cloud in the sky (well there might have been but couldnt see any through the smog. Ok as you might be able to tell from the babble I am super tired just wanted to let people know what was going on. oh yeah eating tons of thai food. they sell anything and everything from little carts on the street and the food is absolutly amazing and cheap, something like .50 for a plate of pad thai absolut heaven.
we will be staying, as of now 4 days at sala hinboun eco-lodge. Our trek will be an over night train to the border, a bus through the mountains and either a shuttle, if there is one, or a two hour boat ride up the meakong river. This area is very remote and not heavily traveled but is said to have the most diverse flaura and fuana in all of south east asia. In Lao one day will be taking a 7k kayak trek into some very large caves. getting very excited about this one, I am quite over bankok. It is a wonderful city and the people couldnt be nicer. The problem about bankok is that it is a vey polluted city and stinks to high heaven. I do not have the words to explain how bad the smog is, it is truely amazing. Thank god for our little oasis the shanti lodge. Kate and I spent a good part of the day at a weekend market that was so massive we lost our way more than once. It reminded me of one of those puzzles that you do when you use a pencil to try and find your way to the center of the maze. There were something like 15,000 vendors selling everything under the sun. For those of you who have to slug through the rain and snow back home, it was something like 90 today and not a cloud in the sky (well there might have been but couldnt see any through the smog. Ok as you might be able to tell from the babble I am super tired just wanted to let people know what was going on. oh yeah eating tons of thai food. they sell anything and everything from little carts on the street and the food is absolutly amazing and cheap, something like .50 for a plate of pad thai absolut heaven.
Leaving Bangkok
we're off to lao tonight so just thought i'd get a word in before we leave...it's unclear what the internet situation is going to be there. we're head to the south to a national park and eco-lodge where we'll take kayaks to explore caves, go trekking in the jungle etc. we spend yesterday touring around bangkok. we visited the 'reclining budha' which was absolutely beautiful, but the huge tourist groups were overwhelming to we split and headed further into the city to the house of an american ex-pat named jim johnson who recreated a traditional thai home. the place is now a museum with a lovely restaurant overlooking a japanese style fish pond. it was a nice break from all the madness of bangkok.
we've been traveling the city by boat. a massive river runs through bangkok and we soon discovered upon arriving that taking a car/tuk-tuk (basically a motorcycle with an extension) was maddening with all the traffic and fumes. the boats run the length of the river making stops at all the necessary points. from our hostel we walk through an immense market full of vendors selling thai food of all sorts and veggies. matt and i ate dinner at a restaurant right next to the boat called 'in love'. we sat on the roof over looking the boats and bridges--lovely.
well, that's it for now. we're in lao for 4/5 days--traveling by train for 12 hours overnight. thankfully we have a sleeper car!
we've been traveling the city by boat. a massive river runs through bangkok and we soon discovered upon arriving that taking a car/tuk-tuk (basically a motorcycle with an extension) was maddening with all the traffic and fumes. the boats run the length of the river making stops at all the necessary points. from our hostel we walk through an immense market full of vendors selling thai food of all sorts and veggies. matt and i ate dinner at a restaurant right next to the boat called 'in love'. we sat on the roof over looking the boats and bridges--lovely.
well, that's it for now. we're in lao for 4/5 days--traveling by train for 12 hours overnight. thankfully we have a sleeper car!
Saturday, January 08, 2005
In Bangkok
Kate here. Well, we made it to Bangkok. We're staying at the Shanti Lodge--a nice hostel that's out of the fray with a lovely restaurant surrounded by trees and food vendors. Bangkok is nuts--a huge city with lots going on. Food vendors are everywhere selling the most incredible things (Pad Thai, Green Papaya salad, fish, chicken, bugs--that's right, fried bugs for your flavorful enjoyment). This morning we went to an enormous market (15,000 vendors). Prices are so great for us that I couldn't help but buy the most fabulous cotton shirts and skirts. There was everything there: clothing, jewlers, animals, food, flowers.
The weather is extremely hot, but we're loving it. We have to stick around Bangkok until Monday (it's Saturday here) because we're applying for visas to go to Lao. We'll get it in 24 hours then take an overnight bus to the border and try and make our way to an eco-lodge that's in the middle of a national park there in the southern part of the country. Then off to the beach (bay side, don't worry). That's the plan at the moment...but we'll keep you all informed.
Cheers!
PS mom and dad--we haven't gotten the mobile hooked up yet and we haven't decided if or how we're going to do it. We have to see if it will work in Lao, but we'll stay in touch.
The weather is extremely hot, but we're loving it. We have to stick around Bangkok until Monday (it's Saturday here) because we're applying for visas to go to Lao. We'll get it in 24 hours then take an overnight bus to the border and try and make our way to an eco-lodge that's in the middle of a national park there in the southern part of the country. Then off to the beach (bay side, don't worry). That's the plan at the moment...but we'll keep you all informed.
Cheers!
PS mom and dad--we haven't gotten the mobile hooked up yet and we haven't decided if or how we're going to do it. We have to see if it will work in Lao, but we'll stay in touch.
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Matt and Kate's Travel Blog
Just a quick note...we`re at the airport in Tokyo and it:s amazing. There`s free internet at a Yahoo sponsored area with about 50 laptops on tables overlooking the runway. Watching a KLM flight land right now. And it:s all next to the massage parlor and shower and day rooms that you can rent by the hours to rest and clean up between flights! We could just move in!
So we:re off to Bangkok where our friend there said it is 80 degrees and lovely! Can:t wait (saw that there are `ice pellets` in NYC...sorry guys!)
So we:re off to Bangkok where our friend there said it is 80 degrees and lovely! Can:t wait (saw that there are `ice pellets` in NYC...sorry guys!)
Matt and Kate's Travel Blog
I should say, so you dont all get the wrong impression--we did see more of Japan then the toilets, but it has been a topic of conversation. More later...
In Tokyo
Hello all--Kate here, I get to write first. Well after a hellish trip on the longest flight know to man we made it to Japan. Matt took too many anti-anxiety pills and I didn't get enough sleep so we were quite a combo getting off the plane. We figured out how to get to our friend`s home, had some grub and passed out in their traditional Japanese room (fit with tatami mats and all). Highlights so far: heated toilet seats (Matt will say more), heated floors, and lots of sushi and Raman. It`s been cold and rainy all day, but we toughed it out and saw two different temples (one Buddhist one Shinto). The Meiji (spelling?) temple was quite a sight, we saw the foremost sumo wrestler pray--a huge event that we just happened upon. Now, to Matt`s post, much more entertaining I`m sure.
Ok to say I took too many anti-anxiety pills is an understatement. I was up the entire night dreaming in japanamation, I have no idea if that was from exhaustion or drugs either way I pray to god it doesnt happen agian. I also read that long distance traveling does funny things to your "innards" I can assure you that this is certainly true. That is not the whole problam when you travel to Japan, while you are here the toilets in many restaurants are nothing more than a piece of ceramic thrown in a hole in the ground. I am told to just "balance", balance my ass you travel for 14 hours on nothing but booze tranqualizer and airplane food and lets see you "balance". Ok i would rather not write any more as I have no figgin idea as to what time it is or supposed to be, its something like 10pm here so I guess like 8am in ny. Ok so off to south east asia and some body surfing. Hope all is well with everyone. When I have time I will send photos of the various toilets they have here. The other one I tried had a heated seat. that was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to comfortable, I couldnt concentrate. enjoy the snow.
Ok to say I took too many anti-anxiety pills is an understatement. I was up the entire night dreaming in japanamation, I have no idea if that was from exhaustion or drugs either way I pray to god it doesnt happen agian. I also read that long distance traveling does funny things to your "innards" I can assure you that this is certainly true. That is not the whole problam when you travel to Japan, while you are here the toilets in many restaurants are nothing more than a piece of ceramic thrown in a hole in the ground. I am told to just "balance", balance my ass you travel for 14 hours on nothing but booze tranqualizer and airplane food and lets see you "balance". Ok i would rather not write any more as I have no figgin idea as to what time it is or supposed to be, its something like 10pm here so I guess like 8am in ny. Ok so off to south east asia and some body surfing. Hope all is well with everyone. When I have time I will send photos of the various toilets they have here. The other one I tried had a heated seat. that was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to comfortable, I couldnt concentrate. enjoy the snow.
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