Luang Prabang, Laos

Before leaving on our trip Tyler's parents sent us an article about Luang Prabang, Laos. The woman writing about her experience says there are some places you visit and love so much that you want to go back again and again. However, there are other places you find so intoxicating you never want to go back for fear of not returning to the same wonderful place you have in your memory. Truer words cannot have been said about Luang Prabang.

Laos has only opened its doors to tourism within the past 15 years so it remains a fairly unexplored area and probably one of the few places of its kind in the world. Unfortunately, I have no doubt that this is changing rapidly each year. Laos was once a French colony so the town of Luang Prabang resembles a quintessential village in France, but in a tropical environment where the Mekong River winds its way through the town. Luang Prabang is full of bakeries, book shops, cafes where they brew local Lao coffee, as well as restaurants with traditional Lao cuisine. This is not what you would expect coming to a communist state that is one of the poorest countries in the world, but you will be blown away. After Nepal (because it is hard to top the Himalyas) this has been our favorite place. We are entering the last month of our trip and leave tomorrow for Vietnam where the adventures will continue!

Chiang Mai

We had an awesome time in Bangkok where we did everything from visiting famous temples, wondering around the Bangkok Cultural and Arts Center, taking in the extremely luxurious shopping mall of Siam Paragon, exploring the chaotic market of China Town, and enjoying a drink and magnificent view at the Red Sky Bar. We even had a Thai massage and felt like we had been to the chiropractor; to quote Tyler "she did a lot of things, to a lot of things, that have never been done before." We have since left Bangkok and have headed north to the charming town of Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai is known for its trekking opportunities in the nearby hillside villages as well as many other tours including visiting elephant and tiger sanctuaries. Most of these options are expensive and many of the animals are mistreated so we have opted to explore the city in other ways. We took an all day cooking class with the best instructor ever, MB. MB is this tiny Thai woman full of spunk and energy and had us laughing all day. Before class we visited a local market and were given a tour around the organic farm where the class was located. We learned to cook loads of dishes and they were all surprisingly easy. So far Chiang Mai is our favorite place in Thailand and wish we had even more time to explore the north. Tomorrow we leave to Laos for about a week and cannot wait to explore the town of Luang Prabang!

A taste of Bangkok

Tyler and I are now officially PADI certified and can scuba dive wherever we want to! We are really excited because there are supposed to be some good diving opportunities in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Bali. While getting certified we did four dives and saw loads of fish and barracudas and had an awesome time! Scuba diving is one of the most amazing things we have ever done and surprisingly easy to do, if you have never tried I strongly encourage you to give it a shot. The sensation of floating through the water and feeling as though you are living in an entirely new world is incredible.

One thing that is not incredible is getting food poisoning. I have never been more sick in my entire life and I cannot believe that after traveling extensively through India and Nepal we both get sick on a remote island that is extremely touristy. As Tyler says, "I guess it's all part of the experience, right?" He may be right, but I am not eating a chicken caesar salad for a vey long time.

We are now in Bangkok, after our extremely luxurious air conditioned bus ride experience, and are so far in love with the city. Currently we are staying in the backpacker grotto on Khao San road and have yet to really get to the hustle and bustle of he city. However, first impressions are a lot less chaotic than expected, surprisingly chilled-out, clean, traveler-friendly, and filled with happy people. So far we have only had one person try and rip is off. Unfortunately for him we have received our Master's in avoiding scams from traveling in India so he was very unsuccessful. Also today we have indulged in the gastronomical delights of Thailand and enjoyed our first fried scorpions, yumm! Tastes like crunchy chicken. Looking forward to the rest of the time in Bangkok!

Another Day in Paradise

There are two kinds of people in this world, Ko Phi Phi and Tonsai. Ko Phi Phi could easily sweep all the awards for best "beach bods." Getting away from this crazy superficial party scene of hipsters was very relieving. If you can handle a slightly dumpy beach, mosquitoes, sticky jungle humidity with a non air-conditioned room then the hippie, rock climbing vibe of Tonsai will be your new found paradise. Everything from the reggae bars with plenty of slack lines and wooden swings to an amazingly cheap meal at "Mama's Chicken" makes this place an ultimate backpacker hang out. Tyler and I met many great people here and really enjoyed our day of "deep water soloing." Deep water soloing is where a boat takes you out to a stunning limestone karst and you free climb above the turquoise waters. Basically you can climb any route, as easy or difficult as you like, and when you finish your climb you simply jump into the ocean below. It was such a great way to spend the day and I would highly recommend for anyone to give it a try.

We have since left Tonsai and are in Ko Toa getting our scuba diving certification at "Simple Life Divers." We are the only two in the class and love our eccentric British instructor, Luke. Basically just another day in paradise for the happy travelers. 

Buy one bucket get one free + flaming limbo = a bad decision

Upon arriving in Ko Phi Phi we were a bit disappointed. We got off at the pier and there was techno music blaring from all the speakers, a million tourists crowding the streets, and when we arrived at our hotel and asked where we could go swimming at the beach, the lady responded "No swimming, only wading." No swimming! We are at a beach for Christ's sake! However, after walking to the beach and seeing the turquoise clear waters with the stunning limestone mountains in the distance we were happy to be here!

The first night we realized that we are on the party beach. At night the entire coast line transforms into a neon spectacle with American music booming and fire shows at every bar. A little out-there for our relaxed idea of a beach vacation, but what the hell? So everywhere on the island they advertise "buy one bucket (a mixture of soda and booze), get one free!" We follow suit and get ourselves a bucket each and sit down to watch the fire show, and boy what a fire show it was! It was such a great show we could 't believe we weren't even paying for it! It was so great they even allow tourists to participate at the end. I decide I am pretty good at doing the limbo so I hop on stage and go under a flaming stick with the greatest of ease! That is until I made it under, tripped, and fell flat on my face. Awesome. But all I had we're a few scrapes and bruises, it could have been MUCH worse.

We are enjoying the beautiful water and have been kayaking and snorkeling where we saw some amazing fish! We are looking forward to doing some more activities and exploring other islands.

Chitwan National Park

We just arrived back in Khatmandu after a hellish 6 hour bus ride. Our seats were in the very back of the bus and whenever we would go over a bump we would go flying into the air, one time I really thought Tyler had smashed his head on the ceiling. Also the seat in front of Tyler was broken so the back of the chair was crushing his legs the entire time. We would stop every so often so the bus drivers could perform "minor maintenance" on the bus. One time our driver shimmied under the bus and after a few minutes of scrambling about walked over to the local shop, purchased some electrical tape, scurried back under and then decided we were good to go! Oh yeah, and it was 106 degrees. Needless to say we are getting really excited to head to the beaches in Thailand!

We spent four days in Chitwan National Park and had a really great time. We saw seven wild rhinoceros and they were absolutely amazing animals! We were able to get 20 feet away while riding elephants and it was incredible to get so close. We also saw several crocodiles on a canoe ride that were up to 7ft long! The safari guides who worked for our hotel were the nicest people and we had a great time having some beers with them last night. Now we are chilling out for a couple days and preparing for the next leg of our trip. Goodbye Nepal!