When in Laos - The Do's and Dont's
DO eat as much suprisingly delicious local Laos food as possible.
DO stay in cheaper guesthouses ($6-10/nt) so you can afford daily massages ($6-10/hr)
DON'T expect the "VIP" bus to be VIP.
DON'T drink the Lao Lao snake whiskey (without expecting to get alcohold poisoning).
DO go 100% all-in for the Laos backpacker right of passage - tubing in Vang Vien.
DON'T touch your face after handling Laos kip (currency).
DO use hand sanitizer before eating with your hands.
DON'T expect the roosters to crow only in the morning.
DON'T swim in the mighty Mekong River.
DO try the Oreo, Coffee, Mixfruit shakes (but maybe not all in combination - eg. Coffeebanana)
DO choose the Laap Laos (google it)
DON'T try eating sticky rice with chopsticks.
DO swim in as many waterfalls as possible (even if the water is freezing).
DO make friends with your tuk tuk driver.
DON'T haggle over 1000kip (it'sonly 13cents!)
DON'T expect 'western' safety standards for ANYTHING (eg 3rd story balcony's with no railings is not uncommon)
DO eat street food (it's the cheapest and the best)
DO try the traditional Laos sauna
DON'T spend more than 10minutes in it.
DO wake up at dawn to observe the novice monks collecting alms from the locals.
DO sneak photo's of them under their umbrella's (respectfully of course).
DO try a "sindad" (Laos style BBQ)
DO have BeerLaos at sunset by the river.
DO carry toilet paper with you at all times.
DO stop to watch the miriad of butterflies, dragonflies and waterfalls.
DO slow down and observe the beauty of the simple life.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Time Out THAILAND!
Following the up's and down's of our journey through Vietnam we hit Thailand with a big fat open heart and were pleasantly met with equal love and enthusiasm by the Thai's aboard our flight from Hanoi and beyond. The Thai people are so warm and cheeky (much like the Balinese) and it was a refreshing change from our underwhelming experience in our final days in Hanoi.
After a marathon journey (think: 12hr overnight train - 2hr flight - 3hr layover - 2hr flight - 1hr bus ride) we finally arrived in Krabi. To recharge the system, naturally we hit up the night markets and had our first Pad Thai and spicy (insert extra Kah-Pow here!) curry. And so began the theme for the next 10days - The Day(s) of Eating starring Christi, John, Jenni and Simon. And what better a country to try on some of the best food anywhere. Among our faves was Green curry (we even befriended a chef and convinced him to let us into his kitchen to watch him cook it for us), Massaman curry, PaNANG (with extra spice!) - and the dessert that saved my life: Banana in Coconut Milk. Heaven in a bowl - double complete rainbow - you seriously haven't lived until you've tried this. (To be followed shortly thereafter by the end of the day of eating due to utter and double complete fullness.)
After hitting up Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi and Bankok, our highlites included - scootering galore, snorkelling at Koh Ha (black tip reef shark sighting!), getting invited to the local Sea Gypsy village celebration (where even our Thai host couldn't speak the local dialect!), full moon celebration, hammocking (and purchasing), double complete jungle hiking on Phi Phi followed by Relax Bay relaxing. Longtail boat rides, MBK, Koh San Road, whisky buckets, grilled fish that's burn your face off, "interactive" ping pong, a touch of constipation, full body rashes and a trip to the 5 star Bangkok hospital that has a valet (seriously - Canada can take a tip or ten from Thailand about hospitals). And in true Ko fashion, you can't leave the Koh's without a surprise engagement! Congratulations Jenni and Simon!
Which brings us to some interesting hoop jumping at Laos border immigration.. a touch of bed bugs (thanks Andy for the safety net!) and now we're in full on Laos PDR effect (PLEASE DON"T RUSH)... The patisseries in Laos are out of this world so the Days of Food theme may stay alive yet... don't expect us to come home skinny.. then again - we still have India ahead of us..
After a marathon journey (think: 12hr overnight train - 2hr flight - 3hr layover - 2hr flight - 1hr bus ride) we finally arrived in Krabi. To recharge the system, naturally we hit up the night markets and had our first Pad Thai and spicy (insert extra Kah-Pow here!) curry. And so began the theme for the next 10days - The Day(s) of Eating starring Christi, John, Jenni and Simon. And what better a country to try on some of the best food anywhere. Among our faves was Green curry (we even befriended a chef and convinced him to let us into his kitchen to watch him cook it for us), Massaman curry, PaNANG (with extra spice!) - and the dessert that saved my life: Banana in Coconut Milk. Heaven in a bowl - double complete rainbow - you seriously haven't lived until you've tried this. (To be followed shortly thereafter by the end of the day of eating due to utter and double complete fullness.)
After hitting up Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi and Bankok, our highlites included - scootering galore, snorkelling at Koh Ha (black tip reef shark sighting!), getting invited to the local Sea Gypsy village celebration (where even our Thai host couldn't speak the local dialect!), full moon celebration, hammocking (and purchasing), double complete jungle hiking on Phi Phi followed by Relax Bay relaxing. Longtail boat rides, MBK, Koh San Road, whisky buckets, grilled fish that's burn your face off, "interactive" ping pong, a touch of constipation, full body rashes and a trip to the 5 star Bangkok hospital that has a valet (seriously - Canada can take a tip or ten from Thailand about hospitals). And in true Ko fashion, you can't leave the Koh's without a surprise engagement! Congratulations Jenni and Simon!
Which brings us to some interesting hoop jumping at Laos border immigration.. a touch of bed bugs (thanks Andy for the safety net!) and now we're in full on Laos PDR effect (PLEASE DON"T RUSH)... The patisseries in Laos are out of this world so the Days of Food theme may stay alive yet... don't expect us to come home skinny.. then again - we still have India ahead of us..
Friday, October 15, 2010
Nam - the good the bad and the ugly
Apologies for the delay - turns out Blogger and Vietnam are not great friends. Here we are all the way up in Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh's almost equally evil twin sister. (Ho Chi Minh is like Hanoi on speed and without the snake spare ribs.) Given our obvious dislike for city living in Vietnam we've opted to keep our journey to more rural (aka picturesque) spots up the coast like. Here's the lowdown.
Mui Ne: Sleepy kite/wind surfing village about 5 hours north from Saigon (aka about 250 km - kamikaze slalom chicken driving doesn't always get you there faster even if you lean on the horn 85% of the way). Loved the open roads of the small fishing villages and got our motorcycling legs beneath us. Biking in the rain (read - rain in Vietnam is knee deep) and watersports were on the agenda. John took a windsurfing lesson and I stand up paddled the South China sea! Alas the sleepy nature of this town was too much of an extreme for the buzz of Saigon so we headed north in search of the perfect balance.
Next stop - Nha Trang: Tested out our scootering amidst the metropolis (moderately more hectic than open highway!) Checked out some temples from the 19th century and hiked up to the Giant Buddha overlooking the city (it's exactly what you would imagine - cool). The night we were set to leave a giant storm hit town and we would have been flooded in were it not for our superhero shuttle driver who pushed our broken down shuttle through the flood streets (recall - knee deep water). We had an interesting (bad) experience on the sleeping bus which resulted in us deciding to forfeit our tickets the rest of the way up the coast in favour of the much more comfortable AIRPLANE.
Sweet sweet Hoi An how we love thee: Picturesque town half way up the coast just inland from the beach this world heritage city has it all. We both had fun experiences getting clothes tailored (which turned good and not so good). They're not kidding when they say there's lots of tailors here - we're talkin' hundreds! Took a Vietnamese cooking class... cycled to the beach.. loved it loved it loved it loved it loved it!
Flight to Hanoi - thoughts on Hanoi - see above. Got out after 2 nights (the first of which was spent in a lovely little sewage smelling back alley dinge box) to the highlite of our trip so far: Halong Bay. We can't recommend this stunning place enough. If only we'd booked a longer tour. It was great to be on an organized tour for the 2 days with a full itinerary set for us "Ok so now you go kayaking for 45minutes and then you can swim." PERFECT! Some of the best kayaking we've ever done - talk about scenery! Oh - and swimming in water that's 29degree's doesn't hurt (Mom you'd LOVE it!) Our junk boat was totally luxified and we hearted it all the way.
Next stop: Sapa in the mountains of Northern Vietnam before we head to Thailand for some beach time with Jenni and Simon and a nice bowl of pad Thai...
Mui Ne: Sleepy kite/wind surfing village about 5 hours north from Saigon (aka about 250 km - kamikaze slalom chicken driving doesn't always get you there faster even if you lean on the horn 85% of the way). Loved the open roads of the small fishing villages and got our motorcycling legs beneath us. Biking in the rain (read - rain in Vietnam is knee deep) and watersports were on the agenda. John took a windsurfing lesson and I stand up paddled the South China sea! Alas the sleepy nature of this town was too much of an extreme for the buzz of Saigon so we headed north in search of the perfect balance.
Next stop - Nha Trang: Tested out our scootering amidst the metropolis (moderately more hectic than open highway!) Checked out some temples from the 19th century and hiked up to the Giant Buddha overlooking the city (it's exactly what you would imagine - cool). The night we were set to leave a giant storm hit town and we would have been flooded in were it not for our superhero shuttle driver who pushed our broken down shuttle through the flood streets (recall - knee deep water). We had an interesting (bad) experience on the sleeping bus which resulted in us deciding to forfeit our tickets the rest of the way up the coast in favour of the much more comfortable AIRPLANE.
Sweet sweet Hoi An how we love thee: Picturesque town half way up the coast just inland from the beach this world heritage city has it all. We both had fun experiences getting clothes tailored (which turned good and not so good). They're not kidding when they say there's lots of tailors here - we're talkin' hundreds! Took a Vietnamese cooking class... cycled to the beach.. loved it loved it loved it loved it loved it!
Flight to Hanoi - thoughts on Hanoi - see above. Got out after 2 nights (the first of which was spent in a lovely little sewage smelling back alley dinge box) to the highlite of our trip so far: Halong Bay. We can't recommend this stunning place enough. If only we'd booked a longer tour. It was great to be on an organized tour for the 2 days with a full itinerary set for us "Ok so now you go kayaking for 45minutes and then you can swim." PERFECT! Some of the best kayaking we've ever done - talk about scenery! Oh - and swimming in water that's 29degree's doesn't hurt (Mom you'd LOVE it!) Our junk boat was totally luxified and we hearted it all the way.
Next stop: Sapa in the mountains of Northern Vietnam before we head to Thailand for some beach time with Jenni and Simon and a nice bowl of pad Thai...
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Ho Chi Minh - Ho Lee Shit
Well nothing like a little Saigon to wake us up from our Balinese slumber... like a smack in the face this city that never sleeps certainly lives up to it's name! With thousands upon thousands of scooters zig-zagging and swerving up, down and across the city streets, amputeed and disfigured beggars that are a harsh reminder of the war riding in specialized cyclos and sitting on street corners, and a visible abundance of Vietnamese military still present around town there is A LOT to take in!
We're staying in a cute hotel in District 1 where all the buildings (and everything else for that matter) seems to be squished in and built up high. Lucky for us we are on the 8th floor and get to hike up the 8 flights of stairs to our room everday (which in 30C+ degree weather is more than enough to break a sweat)! After waiting out the torrential rain over a beer at an expat patio, we spent the day trying to get our bearings in this crazy town. Dug into our first pho (vietnamese noodle soup) at the Ben Than market amid the bottles of cobra and scorpion infused rice wine! Christi christened her first public squat toilet experience while John guarded the SLR with his life as he took photo's of everything!
The War Remenants Museum was a must-see but left us feeling rather drained. Eye opening for certain though there is only so many photos of the casusualties one can stomach. A trip to check out the Cu Chi tunnels today topped off our historic Ho Chi Minh experience (where Christi had a mild claustrophobic attack down in the tunnel and had to break out one of the escape hatches and John got a serious leg workout from squatting through the midget-sized tunnel network).
Needing to escape the chaos we are heading north tomomorrow for the sleepy surf town of Mui Ne (pronounced Moi Nay) to check out life in Vietnam outside of Saigon (oh and plus it's the windsurfing capital of Vietnam!)
We're staying in a cute hotel in District 1 where all the buildings (and everything else for that matter) seems to be squished in and built up high. Lucky for us we are on the 8th floor and get to hike up the 8 flights of stairs to our room everday (which in 30C+ degree weather is more than enough to break a sweat)! After waiting out the torrential rain over a beer at an expat patio, we spent the day trying to get our bearings in this crazy town. Dug into our first pho (vietnamese noodle soup) at the Ben Than market amid the bottles of cobra and scorpion infused rice wine! Christi christened her first public squat toilet experience while John guarded the SLR with his life as he took photo's of everything!
The War Remenants Museum was a must-see but left us feeling rather drained. Eye opening for certain though there is only so many photos of the casusualties one can stomach. A trip to check out the Cu Chi tunnels today topped off our historic Ho Chi Minh experience (where Christi had a mild claustrophobic attack down in the tunnel and had to break out one of the escape hatches and John got a serious leg workout from squatting through the midget-sized tunnel network).
Needing to escape the chaos we are heading north tomomorrow for the sleepy surf town of Mui Ne (pronounced Moi Nay) to check out life in Vietnam outside of Saigon (oh and plus it's the windsurfing capital of Vietnam!)
Monday, September 27, 2010
Hello massage?
Well my first 2 days in Indonesia were a cockail of "yes massage", "hello taxi", "morning price", "rainy price", "honeymoon price" and other endless one liners from all the hockers in Kuta. John was brilliant at helping me get my bartering legs underneath me on day one and teaching me some basic Indonesian (tarimakasee = thank you; bagoos = good; sama sama = you're welcome). The hockers are inescapable and rediculous even on the beachfront. The poor guy wandering up and down the sand hoping to sell a blowdart and bow n arrow set was the last straw (tell him he's dreamin'!!!) and we hopped a shuttle to the sleepier town of Ubud about an hours drive in-land on the road rule free Indo highway.
It's interesting adjusting to the pace of 'travel-mode' and I often still find myself feeling like I "should" be doing something. So far we have filled our 'shoulds' with foot massages (1hr = $7), a balinese cooking class, monkey forest walking, a yoga class in an outdoor pagoda overlooking the rice fields (rough I know), a cock fight at the local temple (there are real knives tied to their legs and the blood is definitely real), dips in the pool our villa looks over and lots and lots of Nasi Goreng (fried rice) - about $2/meal.
The Balinese are a beautiful, extremely clean and polite people. They are devout Hindu's on the island and rise everyday with the roosters to place offerings of flowers, cookies, incense (sometimes cigarettes and Mentos) in beautiful little woven baskets for the gods outside every residence and business. They're a wonderfully pedantic people when it comes to the little things like sweeping, flowers and offerings, napkin folding and food presentation (even at the cheapest warungs - food stalls) and though they have rabid dogs and throw their garbage on the curb there is much we can learn from them.
Stay tuned - next stop Bingin on the Bhuket Peninsula for some sun, sand and surf...
It's interesting adjusting to the pace of 'travel-mode' and I often still find myself feeling like I "should" be doing something. So far we have filled our 'shoulds' with foot massages (1hr = $7), a balinese cooking class, monkey forest walking, a yoga class in an outdoor pagoda overlooking the rice fields (rough I know), a cock fight at the local temple (there are real knives tied to their legs and the blood is definitely real), dips in the pool our villa looks over and lots and lots of Nasi Goreng (fried rice) - about $2/meal.
The Balinese are a beautiful, extremely clean and polite people. They are devout Hindu's on the island and rise everyday with the roosters to place offerings of flowers, cookies, incense (sometimes cigarettes and Mentos) in beautiful little woven baskets for the gods outside every residence and business. They're a wonderfully pedantic people when it comes to the little things like sweeping, flowers and offerings, napkin folding and food presentation (even at the cheapest warungs - food stalls) and though they have rabid dogs and throw their garbage on the curb there is much we can learn from them.
Stay tuned - next stop Bingin on the Bhuket Peninsula for some sun, sand and surf...
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Our Itinerary...
It's all kicked off to a (fairly) smooth start. John's soaking up the sun and the surf in Indonesia right now with 'les boyz' and I've just finished 8 days of bliss in Byron Bay with my ladies. We've had a few (minor) hiccups as we get our travel legs underneath us ready to take on the globe.. notably the fact that we didn't plan our cholera vaccine quite perfectly and I will have to transport John's 2nd dose to Bali (and somehow keep it refrigerated for the 14hr journey!).. and secondly - it turns out there are some dodgy Vietnam visa websites but alas also a great lesson in preparation!
I fly out on Thursday morning bright and early so thought I'd post our itinerary so everyone who's interested can keep up to speed with our jet setting. And so it goes:
23rd September: Sydney - Singapore
23rd September: Singapore - Dempasar Indonesia - Christi to meet John
1st October : Dempasar Indonesia - Singapore
1st October: Singapore - Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam
Overland through Vietnam to Laos.
(yet to purchase flight from Ventienne Laos to Delhi India - will send details through from Asia)
8th December: Delhi - Frankfurt
16th December: Frankfurt - Toronto
16th December: Toronto - Ottawa (Christi)
Here's a nice engagement photo of us courtesy of our uber talented friend/photo genius Dave. (You can check out his website at www.davidmauricesmith.com to see more of his magic.) The funny thing is this was actually taken pre-engagement. Both Dave and John knew he was proposing that week but I was in the dark.
I fly out on Thursday morning bright and early so thought I'd post our itinerary so everyone who's interested can keep up to speed with our jet setting. And so it goes:
23rd September: Sydney - Singapore
23rd September: Singapore - Dempasar Indonesia - Christi to meet John
1st October : Dempasar Indonesia - Singapore
1st October: Singapore - Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam
Overland through Vietnam to Laos.
(yet to purchase flight from Ventienne Laos to Delhi India - will send details through from Asia)
8th December: Delhi - Frankfurt
16th December: Frankfurt - Toronto
16th December: Toronto - Ottawa (Christi)
Here's a nice engagement photo of us courtesy of our uber talented friend/photo genius Dave. (You can check out his website at www.davidmauricesmith.com to see more of his magic.) The funny thing is this was actually taken pre-engagement. Both Dave and John knew he was proposing that week but I was in the dark.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
What a ride...
After five years in Manly on sunny Sydney's Northern Beaches, John & Christi are embarking on an awesome adventure around the globe en route to their new home-to-be on glorious Vancouver Island. Where in the world are John & Christi today?!
Back in the day.. where it all began... (2004) And today... (drinks still in hand! 2010)
Back in the day.. where it all began... (2004) And today... (drinks still in hand! 2010)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)