Strange things in Korea

While on the train to Suwon today, where there is a fort and palace, I witnessed some strange going-ons. Normally on the subway in Asia you will see cripples coming through begging for money, or terrible musicians playing an accordion very badly. Today, I saw a man come through with a push cart and demonstrate a vegetable slicer which cut cut cucumber very thin. He was also selling something that looked like pantyhose. He gave a long spiel and then sold at least tewn of the things my car. I was surprised by his success! Next, I saw an obese man come through and hand everyone a sheet of paper in Korean, including me. Then he went to the front of the car, closed his eyes and muttered silently, before collecting the sheets of paper. I'm sure this was some sort of religious thing. Christianity is very popular in Korea. Of course, I had to see a talentless musician, which I did. He was an old man playing one note on a harmonica. It was painful to listen to. I also saw a woman dressed completely in orange. She was wearing all orange clothing, orange shoes, and orange hat and an orange hand bag. The train is filled with colourful characters, it seems.

Seoul

This morning I hung around the hostel for a while to do my laundry, which desperately needed to be done. Then, I went on the very efficient subway system to one of the city's five palaces. I stopped for a lunch of noodle soup on the way. I enjoyed the palace, as it was quite different from the Forbidden City. It seemed more primitive, with the grounds being dirt rather than stones. Most of the palace had been rebuilt, as the Japanese almost completely destroyed it during their occupation. It started rainig while I was in the palace, so I decided to return to the guesthouse. There I had a quick nap before heading out to dinner, where I had some diffculty ordering. No Korean restaurant has an English menu, apparently.

Seoul

I arrived in Seoul yesterday at around six and checked into my lovely hostel, where the owner was very helpful. I went to dinner, and with the help of the owner's Korean writing, ordered a delicious tofu stew with kimchi. Unfortunately, I did not sleep so well, as the air conditioner was too strong in our room. I was frigid.

Taipei - Day 2

I didn't sleep very well last night (I never sleep well in dorms), and felt tired for much of the day. I started out by going to the Confucian Temple, which to my disapointment has been closed for renovations. I went to the nearby Baoan temple next door, which was ok. The temple architecture here is different from that that I've seen on the mainland. It's a bit more garish. I next went for lunch and then went to the Longshan temple to make up for the missed Confucian temple. It turns out this temple was having some sort of special day. According to a security guard, I asked, every month there is one day that attracts tons of people to the temple who leave offerings. There was tons of food and other offerings in the temple. Unlike the mainland, it appears as though religion is alive and well in Taiwan. Also, no temple has admission charges here, which is nice. Nor should temples charge admission. Taipei has recently built a couple of distinctive buildings, one of which is the Taipei 101, which I visited yesterday. The other is called the Living Mall, and while it is just a boring old mall on the inside, the building is quite distinctive, containing a sphere that is witihin a standard building. I went to the Starbucks there, and it wasn't too expensive (compared to the one in Singapore). I fell asleep in the plush chair for about half an hour, and then returned to the hostel for a longer nap. I like the subway here. I compare it immediately to the one in Beijing, and the difference in the way passengers behave is striking. There is no pushing, people stand to the right on escalators, and people wait for people to get off the train before boarding. There is still hope for the mainland, thank goodness.

Taipei

I spent the last two days on flights or at the airport. I will say that the Singapore Airlines flight to Beijing was the best I have ever taken. I'm quite tired now, but have arrrived in Taiwan, which is very hot.

I went and got some breakfast this morning, but was confronted with a Chinese menu. I asked the lady to serve me something Taiwanese, and was pleasantly surprised to get a turnip cake. Then I walked over to the Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall, a grandiose structure that celebrates the life of a despot. I went to Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world, and paid too much to go up. The view was impresive though, and I did ride the world's fastest elevators. I had lunch at the food court. It was good, but prices are higher than in South-East Asia and China. I was nearly out of money, and wanted to change some but none of the changers would accept my USD because the serial number were 'bad'! I'm not sure why. I never had problems anywhere else changing mony, although in Laos, people would not accept 'old-style' bills. I had to get money from the ATM, which I really did not want to do, because I still have plenty of cash. I next went to the National Palace Museum, which contains the relics smuggled away from the Forbidden city in 1948. It was interesting, but very small. They need to expand the exhibition space to put more of the collection on exhibit.

Singapore - Day 2

Yesterday I woke up early and had a mediocre breakfast offered by the hostel. I wanted to the nature reserve and climb the highest point in Singapore, but as I had no guidebook, I did not want to hope that I could find my way there. Instead I went to the botanical garden, which was enjoyable. They had a terrific orchid garden, where they name orchids after heads of state. The Margaret Thatcher orchid was not very nice. I had a second breakfast of Laksa at the garden's food court, which was delicious. I love Singaporean food! I next walked out of the garden, and walked through a residential neighborhood with huge houses until I arrived at Orchard St., a shopping area. I ate Indian food in one of the food courts for lunch, and was hassled by tailors whenever I walked past one. They all wanted to make me a suit. Next, I took the subway and went to the philatelic museum. I collected stamps one day, so thought the museum might be interesting. It was moderately interesting, but the admission fee was too high. I then went to the Singapore History museum around the corner, which dare I say, is possibly the best history museum I have ever visited. It is totally interactive, with nearly no reading. Everyone is given an audioguide which directs the visit. Overall, it was an extremely pleasurable experience. When I asked mother what to do in Singapore, she suggested going to the Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling. I decided to go and see if it was affordable. The hotel is lovely, but my jaw dropped when I saw that the drink cost $22 (about $16 Canadian). That was too much for my liking! I stopped for dinner, where I ate Indian and retired to my hostel for the evening. I walked past a Chinese temple which had closed for the day, and returned this morning to take a peek. It looked much like the temples in China, but had nice English explanations of all the statues.

Singapore has been a very positive experience, and I would definately return. However, I think it is a place best enjoyed by people with money. I think that when I have some more money, I would like to return so I could really enjoy all of Singapore's amenities.

Singapore

I arrived at the airport with no problems, and enjoyed a pleasant time in the the very nice Singapore airline lounge at the Bangkok airport. The flight was also very good, indeed it was the best flight I have ever taken. The lovely stewardesses addressed me by name, and constantly served me drinks, including excellent champagne. The food was also very good, with my dish apparently designed by Gordon Ramsay. Add this was in business class too - I wonder what first class is like! The Singapore airport is excellent, and It took me less than an hour to get out onto the train system. The train was veryh clean and very efficient. I got off on the train in the center and noticed everything was very clean and organized. I felt like I was in the West. I arrived at my hostel after a bit of a trek and then headed off to Chinatown to eat dinner. I found lots of food stalls and had some noodles for dinner. Chinatown is a delightful area. I went into a Hindu temple there, which was interesting. There are quite a few Indians in Singapore. Prices are much higher here than in Thailand.

Bangkok - Day 3

I walked this morning to Wat Pho, location of the largest reclining Buddha in the world. I took the back route to avoid touts. The temple was like most of the others. The Buddha was indeed very large. I then took the boat across the river, to another temple, Wat Arun, which looks terrific from a distance, but is less interesting up close. I didn't bother paying the entrance fee. I'm all templed out now, at least of Thai temples. I can never get enough of Chinese temples. I caught te boat down the river to where the skytrain connects. I hopped on to go to a mall. I had run out of thin to do in Bangkok (short of day trips), so decided to go see a movie. I had lunch at one o e foodcourts again, which was excellent. And then went to the most luxurious movie theater I have ever seen. Tickets were half the price of the ones back home. After the movie (Wanted, which was excellent), I returned back the guesthouse and spent the rest of the evening relaxing. I traded some books in for Duma Key (Stephen King), anf got a terrific deal. I don't think the guy realized how much the book really cost.

Bangkok - Day 2

I had breakfast at a street cafe near my hotel and noticed there was a Thia man sleeping on the street next to it. I was informed by a lady working there that he was a very bad man. The employees of the restaurant tried to get some tourists to pour water on him. They didn't bite. He was eventually woken up after he was kicked several times, and then twice tried to attack the lady who said he was bad. He was restrained both times and eventually left. I realized one of the cafe's female employees was a transsexual after she spoke with a deep male voice. I eventually got going and began to walk towards the Dusit palace, yet another royal abode. On my way, I was approached by a man who told me it would be closed until two (sure...) and that I should take a tuk-tuk tour around the city for ten baht. I declined. He did point me towards a wat with a very large Buddha statue, which was nice. I first went to the zoo, which was next to the palace complex. There were lots of schoolchildren there. Thai schoolgirls wear very provocative uniforms consisting of a miniskirts and tight, white blouses that turn see-through with sweat. There were a variety of animals in decent enclosures at the zoo. There, I had a disappointing lunch that was too expensive. Next door to the zoo is the Dusit palace, which I then went to. On the palace grounds are a variety of houses built for the royalty in the late 19th, early 20th century. Each one of those houses had some sort of exhibition involving the king. At each one I had to take off my shoes and put my bag in a locker. It became very tiresome. At the Vinanmek house, I had to all of this, and put pants on. I was also forced onto a guided tour. I have never gone to any tourist attractions that require so much preperation before going in. It is extremely irritating. The Vinanmek house was very nice though, being the largest building made of teak in the world.

Bangkok - Day 1

I got off at one station before the main one to avoid touts who would undoubtedly harass me. I got a taxi to my guesthouse, and arrived with no problem. Unfortunately my room was not yet ready when I arrived, so I could not take a sorely needed shower. I decided to walk to the Royal Palace, which is relatively close, while I waited for my room to be ready. While walking there, I walked past the infamous Kaosan road, which looked like a backpacker ghetto from all the signs (not a single one in Thai). Once I got to the palace, a man speaking English approached me to say the palace was closed and would only open at noon. I had been warned about these people (generally out to scam you), and politely told him I would go anyway. The palace opened at 8:30 after a ceremony by the guards next to the entrance. Upon entering the grounds, I was confronted with one of Thailand's irritations: being forced to wear pants at tourist sights. I had to wear incredibly baggy pants in order to be let in. I first went and saw an exhibition of the royal family's jewels, which was interesting. I mostly enjoyed it because it was air-conditioned. I then went into the Jade Buddha temple, which was already swarming with tourists. It was impressive, but a bit garish. The jade buddha was tiny. The rest of the palace was a disapointment though, as you could not go into any of the other buildings. I went back to the hotel, and was delighted to find my room was ready. I took a wonderful shower, and then took a boat down the river to Chinatown. I wanted to see if anyone spoke Chinese there and eat in one of the stalls for lunch. Bangkok's Chinatown is a warren of small streets and alleys, teeming with street stalls. I tried speaking Chinese to some of the vendors, but they did not understand me. I finally ate some berbecued pork soup for lunch, which was very Chinese. The stall's owners did not seem to speak Chinese though. I walked around for much of the afternoon, heading towards the commercial area. I took a subway/skytrain ride and went to Jim Thompson's house, who was a silk seller, and had a beautiful traditional Thai house built for himself. It was lovely inside, and decorated with lovely antiques. I went to the giant mall next door (actually three malls connected to one another), where I ate dinner at a food court. The food court was recommended in my guidebook, and the Tom Yum soup I had was delicious. As I left the mall, I was confronted by a phalanx of screaming girls surrounding a stage. I stayed for a few minutes to find out that a Korean boyband was having a free performance there. It was very strange. The girls were screaming and pointing. What purpose does screaming serve other that hurting people's ears?

Vientiane - Bangkok

I spent a dull morning in Vientiane visiting two of the cities' three sights of interest (no joke, there really are only three things to see). The first in an unfinished arch based on the Ard de Trimphe in Paris, but with Asian touches. The description board inside gave me a chuckle by describing it as ugly - monstrosity would be more appropriate. From there, I walked to a famous temple, which after so many other temples, was only moderately interesting. This is despite is being the most important temple in Laos. I had lunch at an excellent Cafe, where I had a sandwish, and hung out there for a couple of hours, as I was only getting picked up at 3:30 to go across the border. To my dismay, I was picked up by a Sontheauw. Thankfully, I was not too uncomfortable for the forty-five minute ride to the Friendship Bridge. The crossing went off without a hitch, and everyone got their train tickets.

One of the guys in our car said second class was bad, especially in the top bunk, which is what I had booked. In China, the top bunk is the most desirable for privacy reasons, but in Thailand it is actually cheaper. First class tickets were very expensive. The train definately had a different layout ot Chinese ones, but I was pleasantly surprised with second class. There only two bunks per side, unlike hard sleeper with three, and they were actually quite soft. Everything was very clean, and people were quiet. There no loud, drunk Chinese people talking loudly. The only problem was that they did not turn out the lights for the whole trip. Every compartment had a curtain though, and I made sure to use my blindfold. I slept extremely well, and woke up very refreshed the following morning.

Vientiane

Vientiane is quite dull, with very little to see. I walked around a little bit yesterday without any destination in mind before retiring to my room for the afternoon. It was too hot outside and my skin was still very sore from the sunburn I suffered the day before.

Vang Vieng - Vientiane

I went back to the organic farm restaurant for breakfast, this time ordering a mulberry pancake, which was quite tasty. After breakfast, I took all my luggage and went to the travel agent to wait for the pickup that would take me to the river for kayaking. I was dismayed to see that we would be using a songthiaew for the transportation. For some reason, every time I have gone in one for a long drive, I have gotten severe motion sickness. It was no different on this trip, and I felt quite ill by the time we arrived. We began kayaking on the river and went through a total of three rapids, which were quite fun, before stopping for lunch at some rocks on the side of the river. The two guides grilled kebabs for us, which took ages. I would have preferred a sandwich so we didn't have to wait for so long with nothing to do! While waiting for the food, we saw several other groups come down the river, including one that had most of their kayaks capsize on the rapids nearby. Apparently capsizing is a regular occurrence, and I am very glad that our group managed to avoid it. Following lunch we took off again on a rather placid stretch of the river. Ir was incredibly sunny at this point, and I felt my legs burning, but had not put any sun screen on. I've never been burned on my legs before, but the nature of the kayaks (with the legs sticking out front), ensured that they were fully exposed to the sun. I went swimming in the river for a bit as well. For the transfer to Vientiane, we were picked up by an overloaded Songthiaew. I had to share a seat in the front with a Lao woman. It was very uncomfortable. I also began to feel my legs burning at this point, and knew I had a horrible sunburn. after two hours of agony, we finally arrived in Vientiane, where I wandered around, looking for a hotel. The first one I went to was full, but the second had one single room left. I was very lucky to have gotten this room, because I saw lots of people wearing backpacks wandering around the city while finding a place to eat. I ate a Lao restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet. I ordered a noodle dish, and the waitress laughed at me when I was eating it wrong. Apparently, I was supposed to mix it up first before eating.

Phonsavan - Vang Vieng

I got up very early for a 7:20 but to Vang Vieng. The bus was a bit better than the previous two rattletraps I had taken but was still quite ancient. The road was quite bad though, with many twists and turns. There was a Lao family (parents and a child) sitting across from me and they were throwing up for the entire trip. The bus only took six hours, very fast for Lao standards.

Vang Vieng has a reputation as being awash with drugs and according to the Lonely Planet, is 'soulless'. Paul, who had just been there, reinforced this, by saying that all the restaurants served food laced with drugs, and that the tubing on the river was dominated by drunks. When I arrived in Vang Vieng, I immediately decided I did not like it. It feels like a backpacker ghetto. There are white people everywhere, and it does not feel Lao at all. One of the most bizarre things about the town is the ubiquity of so-called 'TV bars', where people high on drugs recline in long chairs watching episodes of Friends. Yes, some of the TV bars just show Friends over and over again.

I found a reasonable guest house, although it is not as good value as the one in Phonsavan, and then went to book my way out of town. Paul recommended me a good travel agent, which is visited. There, I decided to book a kayaking trip to Vientiane for tomorrow. I thought about doing the tubing, but decided against it, as I don't think it would be fun alone, and because I only had a couple of hours left in the afternoon. I decided to go to a cave instead, which was quite impressive, being located in one of the karst peaks surrounding the town. For dinner, I went to the Organic Farm restaurant which specializes in food containing mulberries and its derivatives. I had vegetable curry and mulberry leaf tea. Since I had nothing to do after eating, I decided to get a Lao massage, which cost about $4 for an hour. At that price there was nothing to lose. It was relatively relaxing. While having the massage, the power went out in the entire town, and the children hanging around the massage parlor all burst into tears.

The Plain of Jars

Truly a mystery, the Plain of Jars has puzzled people for years. No one knows who put them there or why. It is this mystery that makes the jars appealing to me, and I finally had the opportunity to visit them in this trip. There are three primary jar sites that are open to tourists. Apparently there are more sites but they have not yet been cleared of unexploded ordinance, and remain dangerous. The three sites I visited were only cleared in 2005. The first site, which is the largest, contains the biggest jars, but was also the most heavily damaged during the war - the area is littered with craters. There is a cave in the middle of the site which some have theorized could have been a crematorium to burn bodies, which were then put inside the jars. I was a bit disappointed with the site, mainly because the area it was in was not particularly nice, and devoid of vegetation, and also because so many of the jars had been damaged. The first site is also the easiest to get to, we turned onto a horrible dirt road to go to the two next sites. Th road was particularly bad due to the torrential rain that fell the night before.

After a jarring hour, we arrived at the second site, which was quite pretty. In this site, the jars are on two nearby hilltops. The first hilltop, in particular was pretty, with there being lots of trees. One of the trees had grown from beneath a jar and the remnants of the jar were entwined in its roots. On the way to the third site, we stopped at the stripped hulk of an old Russian tank used during the war. It was not particularly impressive, as only the shell remained.

After another bone-rattling journey down the dirt road, we arrived at the entrance to Site 3. Right at the entrance was a restaurant, where we had our lunch of noodle soup. After lunch we walked through some picturesque rice fields to the jars. This site was also quite interesting, due to the concentration of jars, which were placed very close together. I made sure to get tons of photos at this site.

For dinner, I went with Paul, the guy I was sharing the room with, to the Indian restaurant in town. The meal we had was surprisingly good and cheap. It was much better than the Indian meal in Beijing, at a fraction of the price. After dinner, we fell asleep watching a boring movie on HBO.

Luang Prabang - Phonsavan

I woke up a bit to early and not entirely rested at 5:30 this morning. I always wake up too early when I have to be somewhere early. I had a pleasant breakfast on the terrace of my hotel and was then picked up by a tuk-tuk to take me to the bus station at 7:40. While I had not met anyone in Laos who wanted to go to Phonsavan, the bus was more than half foreigner. The bus was another rattletrap, and while I was hopeful that the music system was broken after two hours of no music, it was eventually turned on. The Lonely Planet said the trip would take ten hours, but arrived in eight! I was pleasantly surprised. At the bus station, I agreed to share accommodation with an Australian I met on the bus. A legion of touts met us at the bus station and took us into town for free. We are staying at a place called the 'Nice Gueshouse' and it is nice enough. After checking in we were pulled over by a guy who wanted to book us on a tour of the Plain of Jars. We paid him $20 for a tour tomorrow, but then we walked outside we were offered the same tour for $12! I feel bad for being ripped off, but will take precautions to be more careful in the future. We stopped at the office of the group responsible for disposing of the live bombs still in the area from the Vietnam War. It was very interesting, but it was depressing to read about all the people who were killed or maimed from the ordinance that remains. For dinner we ate at a Chinese restaurant, where I was able to order in Chinese. It almost felt like I was back in China. The internet here is painfully slow.

Luang Prabang - Day 3

I had to get up bright and early this morning to be picked up at 7:30 to go on a boat cruise up to the Pak Ou caves. I had an enjoyable breakfast at the hotel, and a tuk-tuk picked me up at 7:40. The tuk-tuk went around town to pick up two more couples before finishing at the riverside. I could've just walked. My boat had around fifteen people on it, including a couple from the horrible bus ride. Those of us who partook in that experience share a particular bond and thus I ended up talkintg to them while on the boat. They were from England and doing an around-the-world. They had been to Vancouver late last year.

The cruise made up for the boat trip that was missed by taking the bus. The scenery up the Mekong is lovely, but after a while is quite similar. There are no stunning karst formations here. Perhaps the most interesting thing I noticed about the river was the near total lack of visible human activity. There were almost no boats using the river, apart from those containing tourists, and few signs of human habitation along the river front. Most of the river bank was dense jungle, and I only saw a few signs of logging going on. About an hour up the river, we stopped at a village known as 'whisky village' for the potent liquor made by the locals. Many of hte bottles contained a scorpion or cobra. The village had a quite interesting antique sort-of shop, where they actually had some genuine antiques, with the most interesting being books made from bamboo. I didn't buy anything. Fifteen minutes later we were back on the boat for another hour before finally arriving at the caves. Carved in a sheer cliff rising from the bank of the Mekong, the cliffs contain thousands of Buddha statues. The first cave was right near the river, but the second involved an arduous (due to the heat) trip up a lot of stairs. The second cave was much bigger than the first was too dark to see anything. I had to use the flash on my camera to see what was inside (more buddhas). Many children were attempting to sell bananas to all the tourists walking by. Back on the boat, I used the smallest bathroom I've ever seen in my life (still clean though!), before cruising back to Luang Prabang.

For lunch, I wanted Lao food, so I went to a Lao restaurant and ordered 'Luang Prabang Stew' which was delicious and unique. It was a stew of meat, and strange vegetables, including spicy wood and a weird green vegetable I've never seen before. I also booked my bus to Phonsavan tomorrow, although I am concerned that it is supposedly ten hours but only about 150 KM away. The roads must be truly horrendous!

Luang Prabang - Day 2

Today I woke up and enjoyed a lovely breakfast on the terrace of my hotel. I got an omelette, a baguette and a plate of fruit. It was even a bit too much and I could barely finish it. My cooking course started at 8:30, and I walked there by taking a scenic route along the river. When I arrived, I was informed that I was the only one who had signed up for the course today. I would be getting a private lesson. I first chose which two recipes to make, which were fried noodles and green papaya salad, and then I was taken to the market by young Lao man, whose name I have forgotten. He was very nice and wanted to practice his English with me. The market he took me too was way out of the tourist quarter, and had lots of delightful things on display. My guide pointed out lots of food particular to the region, and when I saw something that looked strange, he offered insight. I saw very strange block of red stuff, which told me was water buffalo blood, used in soup. The two most horrible things I saw are in the photo on the top left. The first is adead baby water buffalo, and next to it the bag is water buffalo bile, used in salads and soups. On our back to the cooking school, my guide asked me a few questions, such as how much my tuition was in Beijing. Eventually I found out he only makes one million kip a year, just over $100. When I told him the average earnings in Canada wre $38,000, he was very surprised. He couldn't even afford a place to live in on his own, and apparently lived in a temple with a monk.

Back at the school, a girl came and introduced herself as having an extremely long name, which she said I could shorten to 'Tun'. She was to be my teacher today. She went through a plate of produce with me and talked about all the items. One of the stranger ones was 'spicy wood', which is wood that is spicy. I even chewed on a piece, and it is definately spicy! She tehn had me chop some garlic, lemon grass, and ginger, which was more difficult than it should have been due to the dull cleaver knife I was using. While I was only able to choose two recipes, I also ended up making the 'fried weed', sticky rice, and a sticky rice desert with coconut milk. All of the veggies were chopped, so I did none of the hard work. Cooking the noodles was straightforward, and the papaya salad was easy too. They use mortars and pestles here for cooking still, and that's what I used to pound my papaya salad. I was also given some sticky rice wine to try, which was very tasty and pink. When I finished my dishes, I was able to eat them all, but it was way too much, and I could not finish everything. Before I left, I was given a cookbook, and a pouch of spices. Overall it was a lovely experience, although it ended too soon.

In the afternoon, I relaxed. Immediately after lunch, I returned to my hotel and watched a lousy action movie, 'Demolition Man'. After that finished, I went to a cafe and read for a couple of hours, before having a soup for dinner at a cheap place on the riverside. I retired to my hotel for te evening, watched a movie I had never heard of from the 90s called 'Jennifer 8'.

Luang Prabang

After the tuk-tuk dropped us off, I seperated from my fellow travellers because I wanted some higher class accomodation. There was a reason I chose to sleep at the bus station, after all. I headed towards the river, and went into the first nice place I saw, the Luang Prabang River Lodge. They wanted $30 a night, but I negotiated them down to $25, including breakfast. The room si delightful, with a nice bathroom, air-con and cable tv! After showering and changing, I went looking around town. Firstly, I bought something to eat for breakfast. Right next to my lodge is a food stand selling baguette sandwiches. It appears as though there is still some French influence alive in Laos. I walked through an interesting begetable market, before heading to the main drag and looking around. The town is quite pleasant and small, and feels totally isolated. There are no tall buildings, and no modern-looking ones either. I stopped for a while to have a manfo fruit shake, a ubiquitous and cheap drink in the region. I went to two large temples, which were mildly interesting, but not much different from the ones in Chiang Mai. I also signed up for a cooking course tomorrow, as Lao cooking has some appeal. For lunch, I got water buffalo sausage, which was absolutely delicious. I can't wait for the cooking course! After lunch, I went to The Royal Palace, which was very small! It is barely larger than a mansion in Vancouver, and was only built around the turn of the 20th century. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant building and had some interesting items that formerly belonged to the royal family. Luang Prabang has a hill with a temple on top that bisects the center of the twon. I climbed up for the view, and was intrigued by the tacky 'Buddha footprint' at the top. Buddha obvisouly had enormous feet. After descending the mountain, I went to the river to hire a ferry across to see the temples on the other bank. There is no bridge crossing the Mekong in Luang Prabang, thus the settlement on the opposite bank is nearly comepletly distinct from the town. When I got off the boat, I saw tons of barefoot children running about. I walked until I arrived to the first temple, which had no one selling tickets. It was not too interesting. The second temple had a legion of people near the ticket selling booth, and I was followed by two little girls up the steps into the temple. One of them spoke passable English. They ended up convincing me to give me money after a used their flowers as offerings, and further extorted me when the girl complained that her shows were broken (they were). I finally ended up at the last temple, where I saw two American girls who informed me that there was also a cave. A man at the temple gave me a flashlight, and a teenage monk followed me into the cave, where he guided me. He also spoke passable English. I ended up getting bunched behind a group of four other tourists, who were having trouble in the cave. It was a bit difficult to see, but not too difficult to get through. I tipped the monk afterwards, and took my boat back across the river. I had a snack with the other toursits from the cave, and then retreated to my room to shower after sweating for the whole day. I went for dinner at a cafe where the 'fried weed' on the menu appealed to me. It turns out it is similar to seaweed, but from the Mekong, deepfried and coated in sesame seeds. I also ordered fish which was steamed in a banana leaf, and absolutely delicious. By this point the night bazaar had set itself up, and I walked through it on the way back to my room. I bought way too much, and will now have to carry stuff in a bag alongside my bagpack unless I ship stuff home. Shopping in Laos is not as exasperating as in China, as it is very easy to bargain. Many times the vendors will accept my price on the first go, even if 50% off! There is no song and dance to go through like in China.

Laos - To Luang Prabang

I woke up at around six and had a cold shower. I slept quite well considering my room just had a fan and no air conditioning, however, it is more comfortable with air con. For breakfast, I was served, toast, eggs and tea, and while not much, was filling enough. My appetite has declined in the heat. After breakfast, everyone was ferried to the river where we were put in boats to be taken across to Laos. At Laos, I had to pay $42 for a visa, and changed $60 into Lao Kip. I was left with so many bills I could not fit them in my wallet. After everyone had received their visa, the tour operator gave us the choice of staying on the slow boat, as we had booked, or taking a bus instead. This was because the weather was appaling, and it had been pouring rain all night. The boat would not be too comfortable in that weather. Most of the group (17 out 0f 20) chose to take the bus, and I was swept along with the tide, although I later regretted it. WE were told (and our guidebook said) that the bus would take ten hours, which means we would arrive earlier than those who took the slowboat. We were taken to the public bus station where we had to wait two hours for the bus to leave at 1PM. The bus itself was ancient. It looked like a bus from a third world country. While waiting, I ate the lunch provided by the guest house (a baguette), and finally left just before one. The highway started out quite well, being brand new and built by the Chinese. However, once we got to a junction, with the good highway leading to the Chinese border, we turned onto a pot-holed road. At this time I also notice that the route we were taking was not direct, but was rather a semi-circle, as no direct road linked Luang Prabang to Houay Xai (the border town). Needless to say, the bus quickly became tiresome, especially after hearing the same music orver and over again. I (and the other passengers) were thrilled when the music system broke down. Sadly, a few hours later, the drvier's assistant managed to fix it. The trip took fourteen hours, and we got into Luang Prabag at 3 AM. About half the passengers went into town at this ungodly hour to find accomadation. I and serveral others decided to stay at the bus station until it was light out so we could save on a night's accomadation, and be able to see where we were going. I slept for about an hour at the bus station, and was sore afterwards. Finally, just after six our group took two tuk-tuks into town.

Thailand - Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong

I spent the morning doing very little, as I needed to wait for a minibus to pick me up at noon for the trip to the Lao border. I went to be bookstore to trade a book in, and had lunch at the guest house. The green chicken curry was superb. My bus was forty-five minutes late, but since I was the last to be picked up, I got to sit up front, which was nice. The drive was quite nice, as we went through verdant countryside filled with pleasant villages. Thai sttlements aren't hideous like those in China, and feature nice wood homes. We stopped twice. First at a rest stop where I bought some overpriced nuts, and second at a market where I bought some pineapple slices. Finally at about six we arrived at the guest house that is a part of the package. The room is a bit mediocre, and has no bathroom or air-con, but it should suffice for the night. At least the place has a nice view over the Mekong. The dinner provided was a surprisingly good buffet, with particularly good chicken curry.

Thailand - Trekking

After a small but nice breakfast of fruit at the guesthouse, I took a little walk to look at a couple of wats. The first one I arrived at was interesting, and had a large stupa. You have to take off your shoes to enter. One of the buildings was over 500 years old and had some lovely murals on the walls. I got picked up at 9:30. There were three other people from my guesthouse going on the trek, and we stopped to pick up more people in the city, including four Dutch, three Israelis and two Brits. We were in a rather uncomfortable vehicle consisting of two flat benches on the back of a truck with a roof. We drove for a while through the Thai countryside, and stopped at a market to get snacks. By this time I was hungry, and so I got a snack of some deep-fried things in a banana leaf. They were quite good. I used the bathroom at the market and was amazed at how clean it was - a great contrast to China's disgusting toilets. Tons of tourists passed through the market at around the same time as us.

Eventually we arrived at our destination, a small village in a valley. Our first activity was taking an oxcart around for a short trip. I was unfortunately put in the front and had to watch the bovines defecate and piss inches away from my body. It was a rather unpleasant experience. Next, we had lunch after walking through some rice fields to a hut. We were served Pad Thai and fruit, a very pleasant meal. After our meal we were taken on an elephant ride which was very interesting. The elephant took us through a stream and ate tons of foliage along the way. The 'driver' of the elephant used a cane-like stick to prod the elephant into moving. After dismounting the elephant, it was time to hike! We walked through the village and turned onto a path that started out paved and but gradually became more trail like. The heat was oppressive and in no time , my shirt was wet with sweat. The jungle was very interesting, with nice foliage, but I was disappointed not to see any wildlife. At one point a lizard landed on my neck, but that was it. The hike was grueling, as it was uphill and the air was sweltering. Finally we arrived at a bat cave and went inside. The air was nice there as it was cooler and there no mosquitoes. I saw one bat hanging from the top of the cave. The bat cave was at the top of the mountain, and the hiking afterwards began going through cultivated land, until we arrived at the village at around five in the afternoon. This village was inhabited by the Hmong people, who are originally from China, and look Chinese. Our accommodation was a large hut in which everyone in our trekking group would sleep together. Surprisingly, the toilets were clean and there were even showers (albeit cold ones). The guide informed us that there was nearby waterfall with a swimming hole . Since dinner would not be served for at least a couple of hours, we decided to go down for a swim. We went down a muddy path, and were disappointed to see that the 'swimming' hole was not adequate for swimming. The pool had been artificially created by a small dam and did not have adequate drainage. The pool was filled with dirt and sediment and was disgusting. We returned to the camp and saw that the second group of trekkers had arrived. Since I couldn't clean myself in at the waterfall, I had a cold shower back at the hut. Among them were two Slovenians. I had never met a Slovenian before, and they seemed pleasant enough. After sitting for a while, dinner was finally served, a green curry and stir-fried vegetables. For desert was fresh fruit. After dinner, sleep came quickly, as I was exhausted from the hike.

The next day I woke up early and read my book for an hour before breakfast. For breakfast we had eggs, toast and fruit. They also provided tea and coffee. We left at around nine, and took the same path to the waterfall before continuing through the jungle. A couple of hours later we arrived at another waterfall, which had a natural pool and was quite pleasant. After chilling for a while, we continued on until we reached a dirt road which we followed until arriving at another hut that was playing loud karaoke music. There, we had a lunch of fried rice, and waited until our transportation picked us up. We were then taken to do our whitewater rafting down a slow moving river. It was quite fun really, although we got very wet as other boats splashed water at us. The river was quite slow so we got stuck a few times as well. Upon arriving at the end of the rafting, we sat in a hut for a while and I purchased a mediocre ice cream. We were then taken to another hill tribe village, where I bought some cheap gifts from an old lady and took her picture. About an hour later I was dropped off at my guest house and wandered around trying to find a restaurant. I stumbled across a nearly empty but extremely delicious place where I ordered green papaya salad and pad seew. It was absolutely delicious and cost less than two dollars! Since Chiang Mai is renowned for its night market, I decided to check it out after eating. It was raining, but the rain was a pleasant respite from the oppressive heat. The market had a lot of fake stuff, like those in China. I bought a new wallet to replace my own, which was falling apart. I also bought some other small gifts. I returned to my guest house, read a bit, and then went to bed.