Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Another Journey
Another continent this coming year. We are off to Guatemala at the end of January 2009. My heart is still in Laos, but it seems like we have some forces pulling us south. Of course I have always wanted to see the Mayan ruins, and the textiles of the highlands are exerting an undeniable siren call. Who knows what we will find? Monkeys and birds and other mysterious things. Old friends, new friends, and a journey away from the crazy year of 2008. And, of course, a journey with my best friend, Mr. Muz.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Retro Blogs
I'm going to post the emails we sent home from our 2007 trip. I don't know why. It just seemed like the best place to put them. Three of us traveled that year, Muzzy, Me and our good friend Kyp Bisagna. We tried to do a lot in one month...Thailand to Nepal, back to Bangkok and up to Chiang Rai, over to Chiang Kong and into Laos at Huay Xai, up the Namtha River to Luang Namtha, by private car to Luang Prabang, back to Bangkok and by plane to Koh Samui and then over to Koh Phangan, back to Samui and Bangkok and up to Chiang Mai for 2 days, then to Bangkok and home. We wanted to make the trip up the Namtha again (we did it in 2003) and we wanted to share it with Kyp. It was every bit as wonderful and while there had been changes, some of the experiences were very similar. I was happy to have an English translator, happy to see some prosperity in Namtha, and happy to see the eco-tourism sector growing and thriving. I was not happy about the proposed dams across the Namtha and Mekong, and I missed the huge, magnificent stands of timber bamboo that arched over the upper part of the Namtha. All of the southside of the river had been cleared for rubber trees. I was not happy to see the big new airport at Namtha, but I was happy to see the wonderful morning market in town was still the same...sort of...I want this country (Laos) to prosper. I only hope it can do so and still hold on to its soul. But isn't that what we all hope?
Thailand, Nepal, Laos 2007
Kathmandu
Date: Thursday, January 11, 2007 8:22 AM
We've made it as far as Kathmandu. Left Seattle late on a flight originating in New York, so of course we got into Taipei late, missed our connection and traveled the rest of the way to Bangkok on China Air. Landed at the new airport in Bangkok (we won't even try to spell the name!) billeted at the New Siam II for the night (no bombs allowed) and headed out the next morning for Kathmandu. We had plenty of time to see the new airport...what a wonder! It is truly a marvel of architectural engineering and soaring
space, gorgeous art, lovely gardens...
Departed Thailand on Thai Air...skirted the Bay of Bengal and came in over the Himalayas with a great view of Everest. We've been in Kathmandu since Tuesday afternoon and its been a non-stop shopping marathon. The city is much like we remembered and also very different. VERY organic, very few tourists and very cold. No snow, but a fire in our room would be nice, with or without a fireplace. The Hotel Mustang (reputedly owned by the King of Mustang) looks much nicer online. No, actually, it looks very charming from the outside and has a rooftop garden which is nice in the afternoon...sunny and warm...but the rooms and service leave a little to be
desired. But for $4 per night, what can you ask. We changed rooms and got one with a hot shower that WORKED and a small balcony. Took a trip to Bodhnath and made the circuit, however we had a small detour on the way for a traffic accident. The motorcycle that ran into us became the transport for the policeman (he rode on the back) as we all had to go to the police station to sort it out. We drove through the locked gates into a bunkered site with lots of people milling around, some with rifles. They spent a half hour going from our car to the motorcycle, looking over the headlamp we lost (it had been lost before and was held in with duct tape). It was declared the motorcycle's fault, he paid 200 rupees (less than $5) to our driver and we were on our way.
We are headed up the valley to Bhaktapur tomorrow, hopefully escaping the air pollution of Kathmandu. The people are wonderful and we are doing fine...well enough without our down jackets and more socks. For those who may be wondering, we made it to the Tibetan Refugee Center and bought rugs today. We'll check in in a day or two. Our love to all...sorry about the snow!
Love,
Muz and Shell
Subject: Bhaktapur and back
Date: Saturday, January 13, 2007 5:14 AM
Where on earth do I begin to describe what its like here? It’s so cold at night, and of course, there are NO heaters in Nepal. We play dodge car every evening and run to Pilgrims Bookstore, hoping to secure a place by the big fire pit in the restaurant. And you would have to see this to believe it. There is a big oil can cut in half, with welded legs, burning merrily and sending showers of sparks up to the tarp covering the patio. No one seems to mind. Tamel is a merchandisers dream, or nightmare, I'm not sure which. The tourism season has not begun so we are sparse here and the hustle is relentless, but it doesn't seem to bring the prices down. Kathmandu is so polluted, but our little hotel with its laid back staff is an oasis of calm in the storm.
We moved out to Bhaktapur yesterday, just for one night. Our cab driver was so charming and while he deftly dodged the traffic, his car dying at every stop, he talked about politics, his government, religion and his new baby, showing us photos on his cell phone and reaching over to the glove box (to our horror) to haul out a photo of his wife. Bhaktapur was such a refreshing change after Kathmandu. Quiet, clean and so utterly charming you feel you have stepped back in time. We stayed at the Sunny Guest House,
right next door to the Sunny restaurant where we ate every morning on our last visit. While it is new, its decor is not. It sits right on the square next to the Nyatapola (the tallest Hindu temple in the valley) and at the hub of this medieval city's heart. Our room had a long carved wooden window with a window seat. We sat looking out and down over everything. It was magical. That is until we realized that Bhaktapur has a market in the morning and one at night and there are horrendously evil dogs that howl all night long. Perhaps this would not have bothered me so much had I not come down with some sort of crud that left me shivering and sweating by turns. Still, when it was quiet, it was wonderful...cold, but wonderful. Bhaktapur is magical in every way, full of brick streets, Jaypu women in their red and black saris walking to the well with brass pots on their hips, babies tucked into shawls, old men with impossibly huge loads of everything imaginable on their backs, potters square with drying pots spread as far as the eye can
see, wooden windows tucked into impossibly old brick buildings and amazing statuary at every turn. I am especially fond of the hidden shrines that seem like simple decorative slabs in the streets. You look down to see some god's special place adorned with crushed marigolds, oil and red tikka powder. When the sun comes out in the afternoon, it is so nice. Everyone sits in the sun or turns their backsides to the sun's rays, warming up from
the bitter cold. The morning market is shrouded in fog and the sounds of the vendors calling their wares wafts across the square, plastic tarps full of bright red underwear and gloves, untidy heaps of neon colored plastic shoes, traditional topis (men’s hats) and vests laid out with great dignity. And everyone is bustling and buying. Ladies stop on their way back from puja at the temple, holding their tray of offerings in one hand and peering over the goods for sale. There is the laughter of children running and the
Complaining of small herds of goats wandering across the square and much visiting and gossiping...all the parts of daily life that need no explanation nor require a common language. Sick as I was and as much as I wanted to shoot those evil dogs, Bhaktapur is still my favorite. Muzzy took some wonderful photos.
We leave for Thailand tomorrow and then for Chiang Rai the day after that. I have to say it will be a relief to have a break from shopping. I never realized how tiring it can be. It’s a lot of decisions that make me very nervous. And we are hand carrying it all...what on earth am I thinking?
I hope you are all well, that the cold weather has not been too much of a burden. Thank you all for taking care of my life while I am out here adventuring...Mr. Muzzy is thrilled with his new camera and is doing it justice. He reads about it every night as we shiver in our beds, and then tries out new tricks the next day. It feels like we have been gone much
longer than 1 week...I miss you all!
Love
Shelley and Muzzy
Subject: Nepal Dispatch and Departure
Date: Saturday, January 13, 2007 10:30 PM
Survivor Nepal..
We're well. After a morning Tibetan breakfast...Getting ready to depart Nepal on the next leg of our own "Amazing Race". Thai Air will lift us away at 14:00. It's a clear day... might get to see Everest again. 3 + hours to Bangkok over Mandalay and Rangoon. We spent the last two days/night in upper Kathmandu Valley (Bhaktapur)... very medieval
and wonderful. We're looking forward to shaking off the Nepalese chill and warming up in Thailand at least overnight. We're aware many of you have experienced greater cold than we have and we hope all of you are well. We're reminded central heating is a luxury. Beyond Bangkok, the plan has us heading north to Chiang Rai for a couple of nights before further north to Chiang Kong and crossing the Mekong River.
Love to you.. and we'll look forward to our next turn at cyber travel chat and the discovery of your messages from home.
muz n shell
Subject: Chiang Rai
Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 8:33 PM
We hear it’s really cold...so sorry...5 degrees and more snow! Yikes! We're at 86 degrees, no humidity in Chiang Rai. We are heading up and over to Chiang Khong tomorrow to cross the Mekong into Laos and begin our river journey up the Namtha to Luang Namtha, We will be out of touch a few days, but then...what the hell. You are all probably tired of hearing from us anyway. We have been walking and eating and sleeping and NOT SHOPPING!.... well not as much anyway. I think Kathmandu cured us of that for a while. Its just nice to be able to sleep and read and do nothing. Kyp and I (Shelley) stopped for foot massages yesterday and after about 45 minutes working on our feet and legs, they put us face down on beds and massaged our backs, shoulders and heads...all for $7! Such a deal !
We love you all and want you to take care.
Shelley and Muzzy
Subject: Luang Prabang
Date: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 2:41 AM
Well, we finally made it to Luang Prabang, Paris on the Mekong. It’s been an incredible few days of adventure and discovery. Crossed the Mekong at Chiang Khong to HuayXai, Laos. Met our guide, Xai (Sigh) and our boat crew (driver, navigator, wife and young son plus the teenaged daughter of the navigator...he sits in the bow with a sturdy oar and long bamboo pole to push off of rocks) and secured ourselves in our 3 foot by 45 foot canoe. Within the first half hour we were stranded on a submerged sandbar. Trousers rolled, we got out in the middle of the Mekong and helped push the boat free, hopped back in and promptly got stopped at the mouth of the Namtha with no power to the engine (a small 4 cylinder Toyota motor). The boatman disappeared up the bank and
came back with a new battery from we know not where...that wasn't the problem. He rebuilt the solenoid and starter with ancient tools...not the problem. Then he fixed the battery cable and we were on our way, about an hour late...and that is an issue on the Namtha.
We pulled into the boatman's village by flashlight after dark...the Namtha is rife with rapids and rocks and very low this time of year and an hour delay made a difference. Xai stood at he bow of the boat and held his flashlight over the water ahead. We made it. We scampered up the bank into the hillside village where we were given tiny little chairs (which Muzzy and Kyp promptly broke), warm Beer Lao, Lao Lao whiskey, and dinner, plus we were visited by all the young weavers. This time Shelley was ready for them!
Dinner consisted of the ubiquitous sticky rice, plus a bowl of greens and the piece de resistance, pork, buffalo and some chicken…we think. The headman came to the hut and smoked a cigar with Muzzy and we requested our beds. Not too bad, on the floor with neon colored Chinese quilts, actually quite toasty, mosquito nets for all (to keep out the centipedes!). In the morning we were invited to walk around the village. We bought more amazing textiles, Muzzy's camera was smokin', and about 8:30 we got in an even
smaller boat for the final leg of the journey.
It’s impossible to describe the wonder of the Lao jungle. Giant bamboo, karst mountain rising starkly to either side of the boat, small villages full of daily river life, water buffalo lounging and birds darting back and forth. It was magnificent...and then we came across some particularly rough rapids and lost the propeller...twice. The boatman stripped to his undies, dove in the river and by god he found the damn thing! He banged it back on with a rock and we were off. The river was VERY VERY low and we were the last boat to
make it in to Luang Namtha...whew!
Two days in Namtha, trekking through villages, visiting the morning market full of northern delicacies…deep fried bat, river kelp dried with sesame seeds as a snack food. We found some lovely textiles at a woman's co-op, all natural dyes, and great earrings and handwoven indigo dyed cotton from the Lienten village just outside the town. We recovered and enjoyed the Boat Landing Guest House....very nice folks...lovely setting, great traditional food and hot solar powered showers.
Left for Luang Prabang yesterday...seems like a lifetime ago...amazing ride over the ridges through Hmong villages perched impossibly on the narrow ridgetops...and into Luang Prabang which is like another world...its so beautiful here...those of us who were here last year will be happy to know the silk lady remembered us all and sends her regards. She invited us to lunch tomorrow to help celebrate her store’s years in business...I'm not sure how many years it was, but you can see that I probably spent way too much money with her already. Sarah...you will be happy to know I am using my Lao, and everyone is much impressed with me. Gang Lai to Mama!
So...Internet was down this morning. We leave for Thailand on Friday...Shelley is ill from spending so much money and making so many decisions.
We really do miss you all but would love to have you sitting on the banks of the Mekong with the warm breezes blowing around with us...Luang Prabang is getting quite ritzy, but it is soooooooooooooooo lovely, you only wish it well. The night market is much better this year...but maybe its me (Shelley).
Love to you all!
Shelley and Muzzy
Subject: Luang Prabang goodbye
Date: Thursday, January 25, 2007 4:56 AM
EEK! ACKK! ZOUNDS! We depart Laos tomorrow on Lao Air who will lift us out on a wing and a prayer, off to Bangkok. As soon as we arrive we'll book a train south to Surat Thani and then out to the island of Koh Phangan in the Gulf of Siam. Shelley left most of our money at the silk shop Sarah found for us last year....they have added an antique textile shop now...oh my god! The night market took whatever else we had, and we found the BEST mojitos in Laos...it was beer Lao and peanuts tonight. Visited many temples, found hidden mermaids and flying angels. This morning Muz and Kyp summitted Phosi
mountain at sunrise and paid respects at the temple there. There is a big temple "to do" tomorrow morning and for warm up there are drums and cymbals at 4 am...since we are staying across the street from the Wat, it’s pretty dramatic!
We’ll write again from the island...
Our love to all
Shell & Muz
Subject: Winding down
Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 7:13 PM
It's that alienating point of the trip where we hope everything isgoing ok back there ... not much we could do about it if it wasn't. We're actually ready to come home. Overall... we're doing fine in the throes of thisadventure. We do get emails that have kept us abreast of the winter weather many of you have been challenged with. Here...on this island....Been pretty stormy.. big big surf etc...monsoon-like rain off and on... Quite a boat ride over here from the next island. It's calmed down now and the sea has turned placid and turquoise. We're in a squid etc fishing village. Muz found a motorbike of sorts and has been exploring. It's jungley...coconut trees..banana trees...birds, monkeys. The weather goes from warm to hot. I know I know... poor us. We leave on Friday for Samui Island then Bangkok Air lifts us out back to Bangkok. Then we go up to Chiang Mai in the north for a couple of days. an overnight train ride through the jungle back to Bangkok, then back home through China. Its been an amazing journey, really full and fun and wonderful. Muz has been burning up the new camera and has some spectacular shots. Shelley has been shopping to exhaustion and Kyp has been a good sport about all of our peculiarities. We miss home and miss you all and look forward to pasta, salads and a cushy bed....NO SAND FLEAS! We look like refugees from a smallpox epidemic!
See you soon!
Love, Muz n Shell
Thailand, Nepal, Laos 2007
Kathmandu
Date: Thursday, January 11, 2007 8:22 AM
We've made it as far as Kathmandu. Left Seattle late on a flight originating in New York, so of course we got into Taipei late, missed our connection and traveled the rest of the way to Bangkok on China Air. Landed at the new airport in Bangkok (we won't even try to spell the name!) billeted at the New Siam II for the night (no bombs allowed) and headed out the next morning for Kathmandu. We had plenty of time to see the new airport...what a wonder! It is truly a marvel of architectural engineering and soaring
space, gorgeous art, lovely gardens...
Departed Thailand on Thai Air...skirted the Bay of Bengal and came in over the Himalayas with a great view of Everest. We've been in Kathmandu since Tuesday afternoon and its been a non-stop shopping marathon. The city is much like we remembered and also very different. VERY organic, very few tourists and very cold. No snow, but a fire in our room would be nice, with or without a fireplace. The Hotel Mustang (reputedly owned by the King of Mustang) looks much nicer online. No, actually, it looks very charming from the outside and has a rooftop garden which is nice in the afternoon...sunny and warm...but the rooms and service leave a little to be
desired. But for $4 per night, what can you ask. We changed rooms and got one with a hot shower that WORKED and a small balcony. Took a trip to Bodhnath and made the circuit, however we had a small detour on the way for a traffic accident. The motorcycle that ran into us became the transport for the policeman (he rode on the back) as we all had to go to the police station to sort it out. We drove through the locked gates into a bunkered site with lots of people milling around, some with rifles. They spent a half hour going from our car to the motorcycle, looking over the headlamp we lost (it had been lost before and was held in with duct tape). It was declared the motorcycle's fault, he paid 200 rupees (less than $5) to our driver and we were on our way.
We are headed up the valley to Bhaktapur tomorrow, hopefully escaping the air pollution of Kathmandu. The people are wonderful and we are doing fine...well enough without our down jackets and more socks. For those who may be wondering, we made it to the Tibetan Refugee Center and bought rugs today. We'll check in in a day or two. Our love to all...sorry about the snow!
Love,
Muz and Shell
Subject: Bhaktapur and back
Date: Saturday, January 13, 2007 5:14 AM
Where on earth do I begin to describe what its like here? It’s so cold at night, and of course, there are NO heaters in Nepal. We play dodge car every evening and run to Pilgrims Bookstore, hoping to secure a place by the big fire pit in the restaurant. And you would have to see this to believe it. There is a big oil can cut in half, with welded legs, burning merrily and sending showers of sparks up to the tarp covering the patio. No one seems to mind. Tamel is a merchandisers dream, or nightmare, I'm not sure which. The tourism season has not begun so we are sparse here and the hustle is relentless, but it doesn't seem to bring the prices down. Kathmandu is so polluted, but our little hotel with its laid back staff is an oasis of calm in the storm.
We moved out to Bhaktapur yesterday, just for one night. Our cab driver was so charming and while he deftly dodged the traffic, his car dying at every stop, he talked about politics, his government, religion and his new baby, showing us photos on his cell phone and reaching over to the glove box (to our horror) to haul out a photo of his wife. Bhaktapur was such a refreshing change after Kathmandu. Quiet, clean and so utterly charming you feel you have stepped back in time. We stayed at the Sunny Guest House,
right next door to the Sunny restaurant where we ate every morning on our last visit. While it is new, its decor is not. It sits right on the square next to the Nyatapola (the tallest Hindu temple in the valley) and at the hub of this medieval city's heart. Our room had a long carved wooden window with a window seat. We sat looking out and down over everything. It was magical. That is until we realized that Bhaktapur has a market in the morning and one at night and there are horrendously evil dogs that howl all night long. Perhaps this would not have bothered me so much had I not come down with some sort of crud that left me shivering and sweating by turns. Still, when it was quiet, it was wonderful...cold, but wonderful. Bhaktapur is magical in every way, full of brick streets, Jaypu women in their red and black saris walking to the well with brass pots on their hips, babies tucked into shawls, old men with impossibly huge loads of everything imaginable on their backs, potters square with drying pots spread as far as the eye can
see, wooden windows tucked into impossibly old brick buildings and amazing statuary at every turn. I am especially fond of the hidden shrines that seem like simple decorative slabs in the streets. You look down to see some god's special place adorned with crushed marigolds, oil and red tikka powder. When the sun comes out in the afternoon, it is so nice. Everyone sits in the sun or turns their backsides to the sun's rays, warming up from
the bitter cold. The morning market is shrouded in fog and the sounds of the vendors calling their wares wafts across the square, plastic tarps full of bright red underwear and gloves, untidy heaps of neon colored plastic shoes, traditional topis (men’s hats) and vests laid out with great dignity. And everyone is bustling and buying. Ladies stop on their way back from puja at the temple, holding their tray of offerings in one hand and peering over the goods for sale. There is the laughter of children running and the
Complaining of small herds of goats wandering across the square and much visiting and gossiping...all the parts of daily life that need no explanation nor require a common language. Sick as I was and as much as I wanted to shoot those evil dogs, Bhaktapur is still my favorite. Muzzy took some wonderful photos.
We leave for Thailand tomorrow and then for Chiang Rai the day after that. I have to say it will be a relief to have a break from shopping. I never realized how tiring it can be. It’s a lot of decisions that make me very nervous. And we are hand carrying it all...what on earth am I thinking?
I hope you are all well, that the cold weather has not been too much of a burden. Thank you all for taking care of my life while I am out here adventuring...Mr. Muzzy is thrilled with his new camera and is doing it justice. He reads about it every night as we shiver in our beds, and then tries out new tricks the next day. It feels like we have been gone much
longer than 1 week...I miss you all!
Love
Shelley and Muzzy
Subject: Nepal Dispatch and Departure
Date: Saturday, January 13, 2007 10:30 PM
Survivor Nepal..
We're well. After a morning Tibetan breakfast...Getting ready to depart Nepal on the next leg of our own "Amazing Race". Thai Air will lift us away at 14:00. It's a clear day... might get to see Everest again. 3 + hours to Bangkok over Mandalay and Rangoon. We spent the last two days/night in upper Kathmandu Valley (Bhaktapur)... very medieval
and wonderful. We're looking forward to shaking off the Nepalese chill and warming up in Thailand at least overnight. We're aware many of you have experienced greater cold than we have and we hope all of you are well. We're reminded central heating is a luxury. Beyond Bangkok, the plan has us heading north to Chiang Rai for a couple of nights before further north to Chiang Kong and crossing the Mekong River.
Love to you.. and we'll look forward to our next turn at cyber travel chat and the discovery of your messages from home.
muz n shell
Subject: Chiang Rai
Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 8:33 PM
We hear it’s really cold...so sorry...5 degrees and more snow! Yikes! We're at 86 degrees, no humidity in Chiang Rai. We are heading up and over to Chiang Khong tomorrow to cross the Mekong into Laos and begin our river journey up the Namtha to Luang Namtha, We will be out of touch a few days, but then...what the hell. You are all probably tired of hearing from us anyway. We have been walking and eating and sleeping and NOT SHOPPING!.... well not as much anyway. I think Kathmandu cured us of that for a while. Its just nice to be able to sleep and read and do nothing. Kyp and I (Shelley) stopped for foot massages yesterday and after about 45 minutes working on our feet and legs, they put us face down on beds and massaged our backs, shoulders and heads...all for $7! Such a deal !
We love you all and want you to take care.
Shelley and Muzzy
Subject: Luang Prabang
Date: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 2:41 AM
Well, we finally made it to Luang Prabang, Paris on the Mekong. It’s been an incredible few days of adventure and discovery. Crossed the Mekong at Chiang Khong to HuayXai, Laos. Met our guide, Xai (Sigh) and our boat crew (driver, navigator, wife and young son plus the teenaged daughter of the navigator...he sits in the bow with a sturdy oar and long bamboo pole to push off of rocks) and secured ourselves in our 3 foot by 45 foot canoe. Within the first half hour we were stranded on a submerged sandbar. Trousers rolled, we got out in the middle of the Mekong and helped push the boat free, hopped back in and promptly got stopped at the mouth of the Namtha with no power to the engine (a small 4 cylinder Toyota motor). The boatman disappeared up the bank and
came back with a new battery from we know not where...that wasn't the problem. He rebuilt the solenoid and starter with ancient tools...not the problem. Then he fixed the battery cable and we were on our way, about an hour late...and that is an issue on the Namtha.
We pulled into the boatman's village by flashlight after dark...the Namtha is rife with rapids and rocks and very low this time of year and an hour delay made a difference. Xai stood at he bow of the boat and held his flashlight over the water ahead. We made it. We scampered up the bank into the hillside village where we were given tiny little chairs (which Muzzy and Kyp promptly broke), warm Beer Lao, Lao Lao whiskey, and dinner, plus we were visited by all the young weavers. This time Shelley was ready for them!
Dinner consisted of the ubiquitous sticky rice, plus a bowl of greens and the piece de resistance, pork, buffalo and some chicken…we think. The headman came to the hut and smoked a cigar with Muzzy and we requested our beds. Not too bad, on the floor with neon colored Chinese quilts, actually quite toasty, mosquito nets for all (to keep out the centipedes!). In the morning we were invited to walk around the village. We bought more amazing textiles, Muzzy's camera was smokin', and about 8:30 we got in an even
smaller boat for the final leg of the journey.
It’s impossible to describe the wonder of the Lao jungle. Giant bamboo, karst mountain rising starkly to either side of the boat, small villages full of daily river life, water buffalo lounging and birds darting back and forth. It was magnificent...and then we came across some particularly rough rapids and lost the propeller...twice. The boatman stripped to his undies, dove in the river and by god he found the damn thing! He banged it back on with a rock and we were off. The river was VERY VERY low and we were the last boat to
make it in to Luang Namtha...whew!
Two days in Namtha, trekking through villages, visiting the morning market full of northern delicacies…deep fried bat, river kelp dried with sesame seeds as a snack food. We found some lovely textiles at a woman's co-op, all natural dyes, and great earrings and handwoven indigo dyed cotton from the Lienten village just outside the town. We recovered and enjoyed the Boat Landing Guest House....very nice folks...lovely setting, great traditional food and hot solar powered showers.
Left for Luang Prabang yesterday...seems like a lifetime ago...amazing ride over the ridges through Hmong villages perched impossibly on the narrow ridgetops...and into Luang Prabang which is like another world...its so beautiful here...those of us who were here last year will be happy to know the silk lady remembered us all and sends her regards. She invited us to lunch tomorrow to help celebrate her store’s years in business...I'm not sure how many years it was, but you can see that I probably spent way too much money with her already. Sarah...you will be happy to know I am using my Lao, and everyone is much impressed with me. Gang Lai to Mama!
So...Internet was down this morning. We leave for Thailand on Friday...Shelley is ill from spending so much money and making so many decisions.
We really do miss you all but would love to have you sitting on the banks of the Mekong with the warm breezes blowing around with us...Luang Prabang is getting quite ritzy, but it is soooooooooooooooo lovely, you only wish it well. The night market is much better this year...but maybe its me (Shelley).
Love to you all!
Shelley and Muzzy
Subject: Luang Prabang goodbye
Date: Thursday, January 25, 2007 4:56 AM
EEK! ACKK! ZOUNDS! We depart Laos tomorrow on Lao Air who will lift us out on a wing and a prayer, off to Bangkok. As soon as we arrive we'll book a train south to Surat Thani and then out to the island of Koh Phangan in the Gulf of Siam. Shelley left most of our money at the silk shop Sarah found for us last year....they have added an antique textile shop now...oh my god! The night market took whatever else we had, and we found the BEST mojitos in Laos...it was beer Lao and peanuts tonight. Visited many temples, found hidden mermaids and flying angels. This morning Muz and Kyp summitted Phosi
mountain at sunrise and paid respects at the temple there. There is a big temple "to do" tomorrow morning and for warm up there are drums and cymbals at 4 am...since we are staying across the street from the Wat, it’s pretty dramatic!
We’ll write again from the island...
Our love to all
Shell & Muz
Subject: Winding down
Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 7:13 PM
It's that alienating point of the trip where we hope everything isgoing ok back there ... not much we could do about it if it wasn't. We're actually ready to come home. Overall... we're doing fine in the throes of thisadventure. We do get emails that have kept us abreast of the winter weather many of you have been challenged with. Here...on this island....Been pretty stormy.. big big surf etc...monsoon-like rain off and on... Quite a boat ride over here from the next island. It's calmed down now and the sea has turned placid and turquoise. We're in a squid etc fishing village. Muz found a motorbike of sorts and has been exploring. It's jungley...coconut trees..banana trees...birds, monkeys. The weather goes from warm to hot. I know I know... poor us. We leave on Friday for Samui Island then Bangkok Air lifts us out back to Bangkok. Then we go up to Chiang Mai in the north for a couple of days. an overnight train ride through the jungle back to Bangkok, then back home through China. Its been an amazing journey, really full and fun and wonderful. Muz has been burning up the new camera and has some spectacular shots. Shelley has been shopping to exhaustion and Kyp has been a good sport about all of our peculiarities. We miss home and miss you all and look forward to pasta, salads and a cushy bed....NO SAND FLEAS! We look like refugees from a smallpox epidemic!
See you soon!
Love, Muz n Shell
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Home
Sigh....home. The bed was like heaven, the shower a miracle, the weather mid-January bright low traveling sun on a cold crisp day. And I am glad to be home, but already my mind is slipping back to the sly, mysterious last two weeks. I know some things now. Two weeks is not enough. It takes at least a week for your body to adjust to the rhythms of Southeast Asia, for you not to feel like a complete alien. By that time, its almost time to come home. After the romance wears off, I find I am still inamoured of Thailand and Laos. What is that?
Don't worry, Somchai. Even if I don't go back right away, I have thousands of stories. I could re-post some of my old travel writings...Nepal, Burma, Thailand and Laos....believe me, I have stories and the pictures to prove it.
Don't worry, Somchai. Even if I don't go back right away, I have thousands of stories. I could re-post some of my old travel writings...Nepal, Burma, Thailand and Laos....believe me, I have stories and the pictures to prove it.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Bangkok Redoux
We left Luang Prabang at 8:00am, cold and foggy. The young man at the Sayo forgot to order our van so we were running a little behind and tried to negotiate with the other boys but they were on Lao time so we settled for a tuk tuk, Lao style and were dropped outside the entrance to the airport because the driver didn't have permission to go all the way in. As I shivered in the cold, Sarah roundly berated the young man in Lao about the price he charged us and the advantage he took of us. We just kept thinking about what Du, Sarah's Thai co-worker, said about merit and how the blessing is on the giver. Kristen kept saying that perhaps he would buy his wife a new sinh(skirt) and pay his children's school tuition with the money.
I miss the moderate temperature of the mountains here in Bangkok. We spent our first night in BKK at the restaurant overlooking the new Rama V bridge. The name means something like "cool breezes and view of the bridge". Its good to say what you mean. Muzzy and I discovered it last year when we were here. It is a very nice restaurant for middle class young Thais and a place where Thai people take their falang friends. The food is fantastic, unfortunately I was still a little behind the girls in my appetite recovery, but Sarah ordered for us and I managed to get down some of the yummy twiced fried fish stuff that she has a real name for, OH MY GOD it is so good! After a shower, I gratefully collapsed in the New Siam and geared myself for the final push of shopping at Chatuchak on Sunday.
Du met us at Ricky's Sunday morning and after waiting for the cooks to arrive so we could have something besides coffee(it was, after all, Sunday morning!), we headed out to the market. There was actually less humidity and it seemed cooler to me than the week before. Of course, all of that is only an illusion when you step into the warren of asiles in the great shopping mecca of Chatuchak. I had a mission and two Thai speakers. It was a much better experience. I made my purchases, had an iced tea at the little bar in the midst of the market, ate lunch at the somtam and gai yang stand, shopped more and headed back to the hotel for another shower and repacking in prep for the journey home. I suppose it is a chore to come and do this, but it is also an adventure, no matter how brief. We played cards in the lobby of the New Siam and headed out to our little alley restaurant, Jok Pochana, where we had clams in basil, chilis and garlic, squid in red curry, pak boon, mixed veggies and rice. And while theThai food at home is good, none of it is as good as sitting in the squalor of BKK on the side of a klong while cars and motorbikes drive right through your restaurant, katoey's get hair makeovers in the mani-pedi salon across the lane, traffic roars by at the end of the alley on a busy Bangkok night, and you try to figure out how the seating works for the little food stalls. I am ready to come home. I miss my soft bed and powerful shower, but I think it will only be a short time until I miss Southeast Asia again. Maybe the mosquitos have innoculated me with an addictive venom that makes me want to come again and again.
I miss the moderate temperature of the mountains here in Bangkok. We spent our first night in BKK at the restaurant overlooking the new Rama V bridge. The name means something like "cool breezes and view of the bridge". Its good to say what you mean. Muzzy and I discovered it last year when we were here. It is a very nice restaurant for middle class young Thais and a place where Thai people take their falang friends. The food is fantastic, unfortunately I was still a little behind the girls in my appetite recovery, but Sarah ordered for us and I managed to get down some of the yummy twiced fried fish stuff that she has a real name for, OH MY GOD it is so good! After a shower, I gratefully collapsed in the New Siam and geared myself for the final push of shopping at Chatuchak on Sunday.
Du met us at Ricky's Sunday morning and after waiting for the cooks to arrive so we could have something besides coffee(it was, after all, Sunday morning!), we headed out to the market. There was actually less humidity and it seemed cooler to me than the week before. Of course, all of that is only an illusion when you step into the warren of asiles in the great shopping mecca of Chatuchak. I had a mission and two Thai speakers. It was a much better experience. I made my purchases, had an iced tea at the little bar in the midst of the market, ate lunch at the somtam and gai yang stand, shopped more and headed back to the hotel for another shower and repacking in prep for the journey home. I suppose it is a chore to come and do this, but it is also an adventure, no matter how brief. We played cards in the lobby of the New Siam and headed out to our little alley restaurant, Jok Pochana, where we had clams in basil, chilis and garlic, squid in red curry, pak boon, mixed veggies and rice. And while theThai food at home is good, none of it is as good as sitting in the squalor of BKK on the side of a klong while cars and motorbikes drive right through your restaurant, katoey's get hair makeovers in the mani-pedi salon across the lane, traffic roars by at the end of the alley on a busy Bangkok night, and you try to figure out how the seating works for the little food stalls. I am ready to come home. I miss my soft bed and powerful shower, but I think it will only be a short time until I miss Southeast Asia again. Maybe the mosquitos have innoculated me with an addictive venom that makes me want to come again and again.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Fried Fish and Bats
Its all about the food. Baguettes smeared with Laughing Cow cheese, grilled chicken, tiny tomatoes, long slices of cucumber and carrot, chilis, topped with Dipping for Chicken. Searching for real "Cafe Lao" and trying to explain that we want the kind with real sweetened condensed milk in the bottom. Why is this so difficult? It never was this difficult before. Is it just that there are so many falang now that we just get what they think we should have? It is preverse logic. The night food market is down a grimy alley lined with long tables, precarious benches that kill your knees, and portable barbeques with smoke from slabs of organ meats, chicken and fish. We point to a crispy fish that the woman puts back on the grill to heat up and eat it with a side of khao niaw, fresh spring rolls, and a bottle of Beer Lao. Yesterday it was pho at a table across the way from our guesthouse. A big bowl of fresh noodles on top of chopped veggies, cilantro and mint, peanuts and hot broth. We eat with chopsticks and spoons looking across the table at a bowl of congealed blood squares, an option to add that we decline. I finally found a fruit shake without added sugar and salt. Now I know to ask them to leave these out.
This morning we walked through the local morning vegetable market. Fresh long beans, water cress, mustard greens, unfamiliar herbs and suddenly it turns sinister; bowls of small crawling crickets, individual servings of worms on their own banana leaf, ready for packaging, and then there is a cat stretched out that looks vaguely like a regular housecatbut is really a small ocelot. It is an expensive item that draws interest but no buyers. Rounding the corner there are shallow pans of slithering live eel, gasping fish neatly laid in rows on a table next to one huge grouper-like behemoth, a cluster of live bats are struggling to get away, and the cooked bodies of small birds and rats finish out the bizzare foods section. We hurry by, on our way to coffee, clutching our can of condensed milk and trying not to linger except to buy 2 limes and a bunch of the tiny bananas that taste like heaven.
Its been one of those Traveller Tummy days.
This morning we walked through the local morning vegetable market. Fresh long beans, water cress, mustard greens, unfamiliar herbs and suddenly it turns sinister; bowls of small crawling crickets, individual servings of worms on their own banana leaf, ready for packaging, and then there is a cat stretched out that looks vaguely like a regular housecatbut is really a small ocelot. It is an expensive item that draws interest but no buyers. Rounding the corner there are shallow pans of slithering live eel, gasping fish neatly laid in rows on a table next to one huge grouper-like behemoth, a cluster of live bats are struggling to get away, and the cooked bodies of small birds and rats finish out the bizzare foods section. We hurry by, on our way to coffee, clutching our can of condensed milk and trying not to linger except to buy 2 limes and a bunch of the tiny bananas that taste like heaven.
Its been one of those Traveller Tummy days.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Luang Prabang
Foggy, chilly, damp, inadequately clothed. Luang Prabang has both changed and not. The Night Market has another incarnation that runs right in front of our guesthouse. It meanders all around the old Royal Palace now and last night we discovered the food market down a dank alley. Yummmm! We moved from the cramped, noisy Sayo Riverside to the old Sayo and the lavishly roomy upstairs corner "family room". I am deposited up the scary staircase to the loft bed. That way I can snore to my heart's content and listen to the slightly ominous whistle of the electric water heater housed up here with me. The bathroom is big enough to swing a cat in, as my grandmother would say, that is, if you are inclined to swinging cats. This is a luxurious thing in Laos....large bathrooms, not swinging cats.
Luang Prabang retains all of its charm, though you must pay more for it now. The beers are ridiculously cheap, perhaps to offset the sting of the price of a room. Building and rebuilding is everywhere. Prosperity abounds, as do French, German and Thai tourists. The silk is still beautiful, the food even better, if you work to find traditional Lao food. The views of the Mekong are still stunning at sunset and mysterious at sunrise. I am grateful to be here. I am happy in this place.
Luang Prabang retains all of its charm, though you must pay more for it now. The beers are ridiculously cheap, perhaps to offset the sting of the price of a room. Building and rebuilding is everywhere. Prosperity abounds, as do French, German and Thai tourists. The silk is still beautiful, the food even better, if you work to find traditional Lao food. The views of the Mekong are still stunning at sunset and mysterious at sunrise. I am grateful to be here. I am happy in this place.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Chatuchak Weekend Market
The city is clothed in black for the mandatory 30 day mourning period for the King's sister. Chatuchak is as busy as ever. It is hot, humid and hard to believe that I left 32 degree weather to find myself drenched after the first 5 minutes outside the AC room at the New See-am II. 93 degrees, 100% humidity. Anything you want at the weekend market. After 2 hours I have to stop and refuel and after 3 hours I am suffering the first effects of dehydration. We stop for lunch right as I begin to realize I can';t make one more decision. Lunch is delicious...somtam, khao niew, gai yang, cold cold water, cries of the kanom krock vendor in my ear, high sing song pleas for one more sale, someone in a cartoon character suit strutting up and down the uncovered asile that separates the sections of the steamy tin roofed market. How hot he must be, it is impossible to comprehend. The market swings into full blown mid-day action...colors, textures, throngs of people so thick you have to walk sideways clutching your bags, the sweat pouring off your skin, trying to remember to drink more water. I suddenly realize I have reached my limit as my stomach cramps and my head begins to explode. Sarah and Du deposit me in the back of an air con taxi with multiple admonitions to the driver to use the meter, to get me back to the hotel safely.
My second shower of the day. I lay like a loaf of sodden bread in my phasin, waiting for the AC and fan to do their work. I drink more water. I read. Then its back downstairs into the heat. Its an illusion, lying there and thinking that this time you won't be so hot when you step outside the room. A bit more conversation, a fruit shake, dress for dinner, and out again. After dinner the others take a stroll down Saturday night on Kao San. I opt for the banana roti and a walk back to the hotel, my room, and one more shower.
Tomorrow is Laos and I hope it will be cooler, at least at night.
My second shower of the day. I lay like a loaf of sodden bread in my phasin, waiting for the AC and fan to do their work. I drink more water. I read. Then its back downstairs into the heat. Its an illusion, lying there and thinking that this time you won't be so hot when you step outside the room. A bit more conversation, a fruit shake, dress for dinner, and out again. After dinner the others take a stroll down Saturday night on Kao San. I opt for the banana roti and a walk back to the hotel, my room, and one more shower.
Tomorrow is Laos and I hope it will be cooler, at least at night.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Bangkok
Early Friday morning Bangkok. Wat Po and the Reclining Buddha. I can't believe I've been here so many times and never done the tourist things, but getting OUT of Bangkok has always been our first priority. Fighting jetlag all the way, we hopped a river taxi and made our way down the choppy churning Chao Praya. The wat itself is just a few metres away from the pier. What a magnificent temple! Huge spires of mosaic shoot up to the moon and giant Chinese warrior guardians abound. The Reclining Buddha rests magnificently in a building covered with paintings of the lives of the Buddha. The constant clink clink clink of coin offerings being dropped into bowls accompanies us as we circumambulate his peaceful figure. His massive feet are completely inlaid with mother of pearl and the symbols sacred to the dharma.
We found the massage center in its in temporary quarters and sat under an obliging tree to wait our turn. Traditional Thai massage is taught at Wat Po. Sarah and I went in together, me to much laughing as they give me a pair of loose pants to wear and I indicated that they may not be so loose on me. I mime to my masseuse, a small compact little man, that I am having trouble with my thumb and have some tenderness in my ankle. I think he thought I needed MORE work on those sore areas so he doggedly ground his way into my thumb until I had tears in my eyes. He then gestured for me to move it around and by god that thumb felt better than it had in weeks...but I think the secret of Thai massage is the relief you feel when they end the torture! On the whole I felt much better when we were done. It was a miracle! No backache, no ankle distress and a moveable thumb!
It was nap time.
Traveling with Sarah is a treat. She is fearless about finding little holes in the wall to eat and we had a delicious meal in an alley off a klong...green lipped clams, tom ka and pak boon! Today we are off to see the Emerald Buddha and some shopping at the Thieves Market, sometimes called the Amulet Market. Elephants and Buddhas abound!
I miss my Muzzy. Bangkok is hot, humid, conjested, and dirty. We leave for Luang Prabang Sunday mornimg. Chautuchak is tomorrow. Sawadee ka!
We found the massage center in its in temporary quarters and sat under an obliging tree to wait our turn. Traditional Thai massage is taught at Wat Po. Sarah and I went in together, me to much laughing as they give me a pair of loose pants to wear and I indicated that they may not be so loose on me. I mime to my masseuse, a small compact little man, that I am having trouble with my thumb and have some tenderness in my ankle. I think he thought I needed MORE work on those sore areas so he doggedly ground his way into my thumb until I had tears in my eyes. He then gestured for me to move it around and by god that thumb felt better than it had in weeks...but I think the secret of Thai massage is the relief you feel when they end the torture! On the whole I felt much better when we were done. It was a miracle! No backache, no ankle distress and a moveable thumb!
It was nap time.
Traveling with Sarah is a treat. She is fearless about finding little holes in the wall to eat and we had a delicious meal in an alley off a klong...green lipped clams, tom ka and pak boon! Today we are off to see the Emerald Buddha and some shopping at the Thieves Market, sometimes called the Amulet Market. Elephants and Buddhas abound!
I miss my Muzzy. Bangkok is hot, humid, conjested, and dirty. We leave for Luang Prabang Sunday mornimg. Chautuchak is tomorrow. Sawadee ka!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Another Journey
This is a new thing, this "blog". Since Muz and I send copious emails home every time we travel, we thought this might be easier to read and post. etc., so I'm going to give it a try. Up until this year, I have never traveled without Mr. Muzzy. I'm going to miss him. This is a shopping trip, short, a dry run to see just how this works. I'll be in Bangkok for 3 days, in Luang Prabang, Laos, for 5, and back to Bangkok to finish up shopping and head for home. I leave January 8th, return January 22nd. Sarah is meeting me in Bangkok and will be my trusty shopping partner. I am excited to see what we find!
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