Los Angeles-Final thoughts

This will be the final post from our Journey to the East. We hope you all have enjoyed sharing our adventure.

While our Journey to the East did not fulfill our wildest fantasies, it was the culmination of a life long dream to see the sights; especially Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Traveling in SE Asia is easy for the independent traveler. Transport is convenient but not always comfortable. Lodging is cheap and easy to find. Food is generally tasty and healthy. However, at times the heat, noise, dirt, pollution and crush of humanity were overwhelming. There is much to see and it would take a lifetime and a lot of stamina to see it all. We can't say we enjoyed every minute of this trip but it was all interesting.

Thailand
Thailand deserves all the kudos it gets. We did not spend much time there but plan to go back. What we did see lived up to our expectations. The people were generally friendly and helpful, the food was great and there are many cultural and scenic wonders that should be on every travelers list.

Hong Kong
Hong Kong is a fascinating city with something for everyone. We saw a side of HK that many tourists don't see thanks to the guidance of Ian and Tiara who scoped out the city before we arrived and tailored a tour that fit our sensibilities. If you have a chance to go there it is a worthwhile stop.

Kuala Lumpur
We hadn't planned to go there but with convenient flight connections on Air Asia it made sense. I am glad we went there but would not make it a primary destination on its own. If we had not gone we would have missed the Elephant Sanctuary which was one of the highlights of our trip. The rest of the country bears further exploration and we hope to return there someday.

Angkor Wat-Cambodia
Angkor Wat should be on every traveler's life list. It is one of the wonders of the world. Cambodia is a rapidly developing country that should be visited sooner rather than later. I would have liked to spend more time in the north and may go back someday.

Vietnam
Vietnam is a country of awesome beauty. We saw some beautiful beaches, charming towns and some of the most dramatic scenery in the world. However, I can't recommend it as a destination unless you have a high tolerance for hassles, lying and generally unfriendly people. Perhaps this was just our experience but I have never been lied to so much in my life. It also seemed like everyone was trying to scam or rip us off.

Laos
Laos may be the jewel of Indochina. It is just now developing as a tourist destination. Outside of a few major tourist areas it is unspoiled and offers the intrepid traveller experiences that are hard to find. Our trip up the Nam Ou river is one of my fondest memories of our travels. Get there soon before its gone.

Korea
I wish we had the time and energy to see more of Korea. It is a dynamic nation with some beautiful scenery and some of the friendliest people you will ever meet.

Tomorrow we return to our home in Mt Shasta to begin planning our next journey. Top of the list is an African safari. We have done a little preliminary research and are looking at a 42 day overland camping safari that visits several game parks between Capetown, South Africa and Nairobi, Kenya. Stay tuned for a new blog where we will share our next adventure or better still, contact us for the details and join us on our Journey to Africa.

Eddie Bauer?????

So you are probably wondering what Eddie Bauer has to do with our Journey to the East. Well not a whole lot. We are just proud parents congratulating our son/stepson.

Chris James, son of Deb and Bill James is featured in the summer Eddie Bauer catalog. You can check him out at http://www.eddiebauer.com/home.jsp. He is the very handsome guy in the blue shirt on the home page. He is featured in other parts of the web page and catalog. While I, Richard, can take no credit for his looks, I am very proud of him for many reasons. Aside from being a great looking guy he is also one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. To top it off he is a great athlete and a good person. He is one of my favorite people on the planet, is one of my personal heroes and I am proud to call him my friend.

Deb is also very proud.

Way to go, Chris!

Seoul Searching

Insadong street scene

With mixed feelings of relief and that wdisappointment that we had not seen all we came to see, we left Bangkok bound for Los Angeles via Seoul, Korea where we had a six day layover.

Seoul was almost totally destroyed during the Korean War to rise from the ashes like a phoenix. It is a modern city which could easily pass for parts of Los Angeles. Deb thinks it looks like Hawthorne. It is full of very urbane young professionals all stylishly dressed and conspicuous consumption seems to be the new order. There is great public transit and despite the sprawl it is easy to get across the city rapidly. Seoul is one of the largest cities in population in the world with over 23 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area and encompasses the second largest urban area in the world.

Rush hour on the subway

Seoulites are the friendliest people we have encountered anywhere in the world. If I stopped to look at a map or looked confused about a subway stop someone would always offer to help.

The city is full of palaces and temples that were destroyed during the war but have since been restored to their original glory.

Deb at Chandeokgung Palace


Korea National Museum

Food was challenging in Korea. We were not fond of much of the local cuisine and found it difficult to stomach. The national dish is kim chee which is fermented cabbage in hot chili sauce. With apologies to our Korean friends we often walked down the street wondering if the odor was sewer gas or kim chee.

Korean meal with ?,?, fried fish, snails, ?,? and ,?

There are many tourist attractions to keep one occupied such as the aforementioned temples and palaces. We visited the Korean equivalent of Knott's Berry Farm which was called the Korean Folk Village which featured recreations of villages from the Joseon dynasty which last from the late 14th century to the turn of the 19th century. It was interesting as well as entertaining.

Traditional dance at Korean Folk Village

Korean Folk Village resident

Our favorite site was the Inwangsan mountain. This is a mountain that is sacred to the Shamanists and Buddhists alike. It rises in the northwestern part of the city and is accessible by subway. Our initial impression was not too favorable as the approach is walking between high rise apartments that didn't feel all that holy. Once we reached the mountain proper we were amazed by huge eroded boulders, shrines and the overall ambience of the place.

There were numerous shamanistic rituals going on at various sites on the mountain. This involved incense, chanting, and offerings to the gods. It was a powerful place and was our best day in Seoul.

Shaminist ritual

Deb at the top of Inwangsan Mountain

Koh Kood

After a few more days in Luang Prabang we were tired of the heat and smoke so opted to spend our last week in Thailand on the island of Koh Kood. We caught a bus to Vang Vieng to sample the river tubing but the river was slow, polluted and lined with raucous bars playing music way too loud. We took a combination kayak/bus tour from there to the capital Vientiane. The kayaking was more a float but the river was clean and beautiful with large boulders lining the river.

Richard shoots a rapid sans kayak on the way to Vientiane

Vientiane was unmemorable but for an excellent dinner in a French restaurant. We hopped the border on a bus over the Friendship Bridge in to Northeastern Thailand and caught a night train and bus down to Trat where we boarded a speed boat for Koh Kood.


My dreams were cut short by the sound of thunder and rustling in the grass roof over my head. As I came awake I realized the rustling was the sound of giant rain drops pelting the roof. I looked across the azure waters of Bang Bao bay to see the rapidly advancing storm clouds.

Advancing storm clouds in paradise

I jumped out of the hammock and ran up the hill to grab our drying laundry before it got any wetter. It started to rain like it did in the time of Noah. I pulled a deck chair under the eaves of our bamboo bungalow and looked down across the grassy slope to the water of the bay that was now being churned up by raindrops the size of marbles. Water was soon streaming off the roof and I watched as the trees shimmered in their new coat of sparkling water. I settled back into the chair and let my mind roam over our last four days in paradise.

A walk up the rickety pier in Koh Kood

We landed on Koh Kood and soon found a beautiful little bungalow at bargain rates that offered a fan, private bath with cold shower, and a stunning view across the bay. "A" the proprietor also offered us the use of a sea kayak and snorkeling gear.

Richard relaxing on the deck of our bungalow

Our first two days were spent lazing around. We were "traveled out" and needed some time for R&R. It was and idyllic place with hammocks strung under palapa roofs by the shore.

View from the hammock

We managed to rouse ourselves for a swim when it got too hot and food when we got too hungry.

"A" is master of the grill

On our third day, we were rejuvenated enough to paddle a kayak to the next bay. It was a beautiful hot sunny day. The heat of the sun loosened our paddling muscles as the kayak skimmed through fhe glassy water of the bay. We rounded the point to spot a deserted strand where we beached the kayak under a palm tree. I dove in the water to cool off but the water was at least 90 degrees and not too refreshing. I floated for awhile in the womb like warmth and finally dragged myself onto the sand when a cooling breeze came up. Meanwhile, Deb had gone beach combing and soon came up the beach with some new "treasures" she had found. I noticed I was being chewed on by some small black flying insects so we jumped into the kayak for the paddle back.

We got back in time to catch "A" making a seafood lunch for some of the other guests and we were able to convince him to make enough for us. After a few beers and a nap in the heat of the afternoon we grabbed the snorkeling gear and swam along the rocks to the west of our bungalow. There was a surprising number and variety of fish as well as some nice patches of coral.

The next morning we paddled the kayak across the bay to another snorkeling spot that "A" had told us about. There were even more fish and better coral than the day before. We saw some fish I had never seen before including a cuttlefish which has to rank as one of the most bizarre creatures in the sea.

When we returned to the bungalow, "A" told us he wasn't cooking but invited us to go to dinner at a friends. After several cocktails on the deck he told us to wade back across the estuary and he would pick us up to take us to dinner. It was now dark and the tide was in so we took a kayak across the narrow channel of the estuary and walked up a jungle path to find A and his friend with two motos. It was a beautiful tropical night with just a crescent of a moon in the western sky as we raced through the jungle to dinner. A wanted to treat us to a traditional Thai hot pot dinner. The hot pot is a device that consists of a ceramic bowl of charcoal topped by a pot that is a grill in the center surrounded by a moat. Broth is placed in the moat and a cornucopia of vegetables are cooked in the moat. The grill is used for cooking a variety of marinated meat, chicken and seafood. The combination of soup and barbecue was one of our best meals in Thailand.

Deb, Richard and A

After dinner we zipped back through the jungle. Just as I was noticing flashes in the trees, A stopped the moto and told us that the flashes were fireflys. It was a magical moment in the jungle listening to the buzzing of night insects while watching the fireflys flick on and off. We finished our trip through the jungle and got back to our kayak. By this time after several cocktails and beer with dinner neither I nor Deb were any too sober. We had a slight mishap when landing the kayak. As Deb stepped out of the kayak she grabbed at a stacked stone pillar as the boat was pushed away from the shore. She did the splits between the shore and boat and a rock toppled off the pillar and bounced off her head. Fortunately she was not knocked out nor did she fall in the water as I quickly paddled the boat closer to shore. We managed to get ashore without further mishap although Deb had a tremendous lump on her head and a headache to match. We passed out watching a firefly that had followed us home blink on and off on the ceiling of our bungalow.


The next morning we reluctantly left the island by slow boat bound for Bangkok, Korea and home.

If you are going to Thailand and want to stay in a rustic tropical paradise contact us and we will tell you how to find "A" and his nature resort.

Los Angeles

Just a quick update to let all of our readers know we made it out of SE Asia before the problems in Thailand. We are currently recuperating from jet lag and a nasty cough for Richard. I hope to be posting a few more episodes soon about our adventures in Thailand and Korea so stay tuned.

Back to Luang Prabang

After spending the night in Xien Kok we find the only transport available to go down the river to Houei Xai is by long tail fast boat. These boats are notoriously dangerous and several people have been killed in crashes. To make matters worse, we are in the infamous Golden Triangle of opium production and people occasionally just disappear and there is still sporadic bandit activity this far up the river. Reluctantly, we decide to retrace our trip as far as Odomxai and pick up the river again at the town of Pak Beng.

The four hour ride from Odomxai to Pak Beng takes us through mountain scenery where there are still some remnants of once great forests. It is still beautiful despite many areas that look liked a war zone. Denuded mountainsides, some still smoldering from the slash and burn agriculture practices are interspersed with fallow rice fields and numerous small villages. It is a rainy day which provides relief from the piercing tropical sun and knocks down the dust and smoke to provide clear views of the dramatic landscape. The road traces the meanders of the Beng River down to its mouth which is the confluence with the Mekong and the town of Pak Beng. Pak means mouth of the Beng River. It is charming port town with several guest houses and restaurants. We find a beautiful room with views across the canyon of the Mekong. The town is empty of tourists and we have a lunch of very decent Indian food on a deck high above the river.


We explore the town’s one street and return to the river near sunset to see a boat come in and drop off about 20 passengers. It dawns on us that the town is just a stopover for north and south bound boats. This revelation is confirmed when the south bound boat arrives an hour later and disgorges 100 people get. The town is instantly full and as night falls we hear the sound of several generators fire up to provide electricity for the next four hours.

The next morning we find ourselves crammed on a boat with the other 100 southbound passengers. We anticipate the crunch and board early to snag a pair of cushy bus type seats while the other passengers only had the option of hard wooden benches.



The Mekong flows through an open canyon with forested slopes towering above. The low water of the Mekong has revealed a phantasmagoria of wildly eroded limestone; some that rise 30 to 40 feet out of the river. Some parts look like a mini Bryce Canyon. The high water marks 40 feet above water level suggests a raging mobile sea that during rainy season must be at least 400 yards wide and hundreds of thousands of cubic feet per second while at its current level it is little more than 100 yards wide and maybe only 50000 CFS. The river is muddy brown from the thousands of tons of suspended silt. It looks like one big oozing mud bath.




The morning mist slowly lifts to reveal a mostly clear blue sky with mutton clouds floating overhead. The often sandy banks rise above us at times hosting small herds of water buffalo. Long bamboo poles jut from the rocks beneath the river villages, providing secure mooring for the fishing canoes. As the day begins to warm, Deb suggests I go to the bar for a tall cold beer before the rest of the mob on the boat drinks it all. We sip our ice cold beer as we leave more and more of the Mekong behind us.



The day continues to warm and conversations become more animated fueled by beer and cocktails from the bar as the multinational passengers are forced to become friends because of the close quarters. Cigarette smoke drifts through the cabin diluted by the fresh breeze entering from the open sides of the boat.

The blue sky rapidly turns to gray as we enter a zone of heavy burning. Smoldering hillsides line the river. Ash drifts through the cabin flecking us with black and gray ash. Sunlight is filtered through the smoke casting an eerie yellow-orange light on the scenery and reflects off the wake fractured water. The smoke obscures the sun and gives us relief from the afternoon heat. At first the change causes a flurry of conversation but soon the boat falls silent as everyone succumbs to the common shared misery as the smoke burns the eyes and lungs. After about a half hour we push through the worst of the smoke as everyone looks back into the gray nothingness we have just passed.

We pass another of the many river villages. Deb thinks they look like resorts with thatched bungalows framed by palm trees gently swaying in the afternoon breeze. Yet we know the trees, smoke and distance hide the gritty reality of the villages. Children scamper in the shallows and wave as we pass.

The river has gentled as we have come downstream. It is now broad and flat with the surface broken by swirls, whirlpools and eddies that hint of rocks and sand bars on the river bed. I stick my head out past the railing to see the bow wave fan out into a wake that stretches from shoreline to shoreline. A fisherman in a small boat tosses his net and as he paddles up on it he gives us a curious look.

As the river broadens even more, we start to see the kharsts along the Nam Ou River that we left several days ago. As we pass the mouth of the Nam Ou we know our voyage is almost over. As the sun sets in the western sky we arrived in Luang Prabang to complete our river to river trip.

Muang Sing to Xieng Kok via Muong Long

A dusty bumpy road jars the 20 people jammed into a bus designed for 12 as we grind our way up and down hills on the way to our connection town of Muong Long. The bus suspension is just a memory and I watch with mild alarm as the driver wrestles the bus around pot holes and sharp mountain curves with a quarter turn of play in the steering. The bus plows through rutted roads ankle deep in dust raising a cloud that trails behind as we try to outrun it. The dust is so fine it filters into the bus and at times the cloud is nearly as thick in as out. My white shirt turns progressively deeper shades of beige as I attempt to protect my lungs with my bandana. We wind through once forest clad mountains now cloaked in shrubs and intermingled banana trees. We pass numerous hill tribe villages where I spy some still-traditional dress. Villages are a combination of stilt house of either spit bamboo or teakwood. There is the occasional two story with teak over concrete. The villages are obviously dirt poor but no one seems to be going hungry.


Good farmland provides rice and vegetables and there lots of ducks, chickens, geese and pigs to provide protein. Fish from the river supplements the bounty of the land. Women carry impossible loads in baskets supported by a single strap on their foreheads that goes around the basket on their backs. In the villages hordes of children clad in a variety of dirty and torn clothes wave at the bus as it passes. The women in traditional clothes hurriedly cover their bare breasts at the sound of the bus.

We stop as the shift linkage on the bus falls apart. We have a welcome break from the bouncing and slamming that the road and bus have been dishing out. We have just enough time to stretch our legs and find a bush while the assistant driver repairs the linkage. The diesel of the bus roars to life calling us back to the bush for the last torturous descent to Mouang Long.



Mouang Long
The bus station in Mouang Long is the center of a bustling market that is more appealing than the one in Mouang Sing. While I investigate the next bus to Xieng Kok, Deb wanders the market looking for food. It is difficult to figure out when the bus will leave because no one speaks English. I stand in frustration when the bus engine roars into life with Deb nowhere in sight. I frantically motion at the driver who ignores me. It turns out he is only repositioning the bus so passengers can mount. I signal that I am going to get Deb and he seems to understand. I find her way down in the market and we rush back to find the driver now sitting in the bus station apparently in no hurry to go anywhere. I make eating motions to the driver and he points me to the market. So we chance going to a soup stand that Deb has spotted that is close by enough to keep an eye on the bus.

A young monk pedals for his morning alms rounds

The soup stand is little more than a shack with a charcoal fire, a big vat of boiling broth and an array of noodles meat and vegetables displayed on the table. We motion to the proprietress who is very cheery and starts pointing to the various food items asking what we would like. We select a variety and watch her first rinse our bowls with boiling water then put boiling broth into the bowls. She adds our chosen items which are cooked as we watch in the still bubbling broth . By now we are starving and the soup is delicious. We top it off with an ice cold Lao beer. As we are slurping the last of the soup I see the bus driver head for the bus. It appears that he was kind enough to wait for us to finish eating. I pay the equivalent of $2 and we rush to the bus for what will be the last leg of our journey back to the Mekong.

The road starts out nicely paved and this is a much better bus; less crowded and with actual suspension to absorb the bumps and pot holes that slowly replace the smooth pavement a few kilometers back. After what seems to be a very short hour we arrive in Xieng Kok. The bus drops us at a crossroads but I am unsure what the road crosses because we are at the end of the road in Northwest Laos. The only way out is back down the road we came or down the Mekong river which is our plan. We find a shabby little bungalow to spend the night. After a refreshing cold shower to wash of the road grime, a cold beer and a short nap, I am sitting on our porch watching the mighty Mekong flow past my doorstep. I look across the river to Burma as the afternoon sun tries to burn through the smoke filled sky.


Richard at the end of a long day on the bus

Muang Sing Morning Market

From Odomxai we continued our trek across northern Lao through the town of Luanga Namtha to arrive in Muang Sing in the late afternoon to catch the morning market the next day.

A large metal roofed open air structure houses low tables where sellers display their wares. Young girls shuffle through in flip flops. Hill tribes hustle around in the predawn light. Odors of cilantro mingle with the steady thump of the butcher’s cleaver as he hacks at a piece of meat on the chopping block . Small children scurry to help set up. The tempo increases as the morning light filters into the covered market. There is a constant unintelligible jabber as customers haggle with merchants as they shout out instructions to the children fetch water, tea or breakfast. At this hour there are more sellers than buyers but a steady stream of tuk tuks motos, bicycles and pedestrians slowly changes the ratio.

The nicest tuk-tuk we ever saw

Birds chirp in the trees outside seemingly excited by all the activity within. The harsh guttural sound of a German tourist seems out of place in the low murmur of the Laotian dialects. Old crones in native dress cry “Sabadee” in greeting to entice the few tourists to examine their wares. They are friendly, persistent and insistent. Deb haggles with a woman dressed in the native garb of a hill tribe over some brass bracelets. Another woman in native dress continues to try to convince me to buy a coin on a stick which I am supposed to put in my hair for luck.

Hill tribe women in native dress swirl around Deborah

The smoke of the morning cook fires stings the eyes as the squeal of a pig destined for the dinner table rings out. Large bowls of white pasty liquid tempt passersby. Another native woman jabbers unintelligibly at me. Look! Look! Deb is now surround by a crowd of eager sellers frantic to make that first lucky sale of the day.

Tables are now covered with the bounty of the region. Squash, tomatos, cucumbers, cilantro, mustard and other greens. A cluster of women in the center sell handicrafts, brass bracelets, colorful bags and skirts in intricate designs of subdued reds, greens, yellow and ochre on black backgrounds. Food stalls line the perimeter of the market to nourish hungry shoppers and merchants. A small baby cries for attention. A woman selling vegetable seeds does a brisk business. A spice seller slowly and carefully measures out chili from a large pile.

The market is in full swing now but we are hungry and need to be on a bus soon to the next town.Self portrait "Breakfast in the back of the bus"

Up the Nam Ou

We were tired of buses and being on the "tourist trail" so we broke out and took a trip up the Nam Ou river which is a tributary of the Mekong. We were determined to make a loop of northern Laos with a combination of boats and buses. It turned out to be the best of our trip to SE Asia as we were able to visit several small villages not often seen by other tourists.

We clamber down the banks of the Mekong to find our “river bus” which is a brightly painted canoe on steroids with wood canopy top. We walk a narrow plank up from the sandy beach and settle in to the rough wooden chairs. The boat eventually leaves the dock, reving its engines to fight its way into the current and begin our journey up the Mekong. The smoky morning haze from slash and burn stings our eyes and throat. The river is a glassy brown pool shifting with currents that swirl and whirl around the boat as we pass.

The "river bus"

There is a palpable sense of excitement as our boat makes the transition from the muddy brown of the Mekong to the azure blue of the Nam Ou as we pass the confluence. Soon the boat noses gently into the soft sand of the left bank for a short toilet break. The opposite bank is a sheer limestone kharst soaring at least 1500 feet into the smoke filled morning sky. Soon we continue up the river through a dramatic landscape of giant walls.



After several hours, with backsides aching from too much contact with the rough wooden chairs, we arrive at Nong Kiaw, our destination for the night. Rough brown shacks capped with rusty corrugated tin and thatch pepper the hillside above. A bridge high above the river serves more shacks on the opposite shore.


A long stairway ascends the slope of the river to the village. We climb up to a village of dirt roads, dogs in the streets and plenty of flies for all. The road leads us to the bridge that spans the river. We spy what looks like guest houses that we hope will provide shelter for the night. The first guest house is a series of small thatched bungalows that have seen better days. Some of our companions book a room but it is a little funky for our taste. Farther down the road we find another guest house with a perfect little bungalow with porch perched high above the river which provides a fine view of the village opposite and the towering kharst behind. Despite the smoky air we are enchanted by the view and the peace and quiet of a small village far removed from the city. We go onto the large deck of the in house restaurant and have an ice cold Lao beer as we watch the sun disappear into the smoky haze of the mountains to the west. After a tasty bowl of noodle soup we return to our room and crawl beneath the mosquito net over our bed and call it an early night.The next morning we amble further towards the east of the village. A fresh cut dirt road entices us upward for a high view over the village and surrounding mountains. It is a stunning combination of soaring limestone peaks jungle covered wherever it has not been burned or logged by the land and timber hungry Laos. We like this place but decide to continue up river on the late morning boat.

The smoky air continues as we shove off.


The scenery is very dramatic as the river winds between tall kharsts and cliffs a thousand feet or more above us. After a short time on the river we arrive at the village of Nong Ngoi. This is more charming than the last. Accessible only by river it has remained mostly unspoiled. With no motos buzzing it is a welcome escape from civilization.

Derelict sighting in Nong Ngoi

We snag a beautiful bungalow right at the top of the bank. A hammock on the porch beckons and I succumb to lie and watch the beautiful river flow by. Small boats drift to and away from the beach bringing their catch or freight or passengers.


We decide to rent a small canoe and paddle up the river. After paddling for about a mile we are confronted with a small rapid but we are able to pass it by walking the boat up the river by the bank. We paddle on for a few more miles far away from the village and now we can hear the sounds of the jungle. It is alive with the buzzing, chirping, screeching and chattering of millions of insects. We pull up to the shore but are nervous about venturing too far because of the possibility of unexploded ordinance and mines left over from the Vietnam war. Reluctantly, we turn the boat down stream as the sun is barely over the kharsts opposite and an ethereal light bathes the river and town. The current helps us get back to town. The small rapid we passed on the way up fills the boat with water and I spend the next few minuts bailing. We arrive back in Nong Ngoi tired and happy.






After a brief rest we take a walk over to the local wat. Hawking, spitting, and smoking monks mar the otherwise tranquil setting of the wat with its ornate steep roof piercing the sky. The wat and grounds are a little shabby but occupy an incredibly beautiful setting high above the river. We retrace our steps over a bridge that spans a stagnant pond. I disturb ducks at their waddle as we turn off on a path that leads out into the countryside. After a few hundred yards we pass through another village. People our open air bathing, cooking and washing. Dishes. Pigs, goats and kids run around each other seemingly unaware of their differences. Lazy dogs lie in the road not even bothering to lift their heads at the strangers in the village. We continue on but now it is getting dark so we cross over to another path that will lead us back to town. We pass a large soccer field full of children of all ages kicking around a bald, flat soccer ball. When we pass we are cheered by their innocent play. We resolve to buy them a new ball if one is to be found in the town.

When we enter the town we search fruitlessly for a soccer ball but none is to be had so we head back to the river to find dinner. On a deck high above the Nam Ou we down fried rice, noodles and ice cold Lao beer which as one might suspect is getting to be a regular habit. As we finish dinner, it is now dark and there being nothing to do in this town and very little light to do it we head for bed. As we are walking back to our bungalow by the banks of the river a brisk wind springs up. We are grateful for this because our hot room has no fan and after 10PM no electricity to run one. The wind really kicks up and doors and shutters swing and slam and the sound of corrugated tin slamming off the roof catches our attention. We fall asleep to the sound of the wind which carries away the noise from the many small generators in the village. At times during the night we are awakened by gusts but our thatched bungalow holds firm and we sleep.

The next day dawns much clearer as the wind has blown away a lot of the smoke. We catch the 9AM boat to Muang Khua, the next village up the river.

Up a rapid which is contrary to our normal pattern

The scenery is not as nice and we endure an hour and half stop while the captain disappears into the village above another large sandy beach on the river. We goof with some of the village kids teaching them tic tac toe and building sand castles. The captain finally returns with a big grin on his face so we assume he has been drinking Lao Lao whiskey and beer. These suspicions are confirmed as he drives the boat erratically and stops 3 times in the next hour to water bushes on the shore. I am not too alarmed because the boat is going slowly and we could walk to shore in the event of a mishap. We arrive safe and sound in Muang Khua which is a grotty little town that makes us wish we had spent more time in Nong Ngoi. We had planned to spend the night but were put off by the town. We started walking to the bus station which for some unknown reason was 2 miles away. After a few minutes we flag down a tuk tuk and are whisked to the bus station. We get a ticket to Odomxai and arrive there in the dark and stumble around to find a guesthouse. Next we find a restaurant and gobble some, you guessed it, fried rice and cold beer and call it a night.

Elephant sighting on the Nam Ou

VISIT WITH UNCLE HO

Ho Chi Minh is affectionately referred to by the Vietnamese as Uncle Ho and revered as the father of modern day Vietnam. While the country did not remain true to his communist ideology, it remains an independent country today thanks to his work in throwing off the yoke of French colonialism and defeating the USA in war. Sorry I can't provide any pictures as we are still in Laos with extremely slow internet.

After a few days of exploring the city and trying to set up a tour of Ha Long Bay we decided to pay a visit to what is arguably one of the most bizarre attractions found anywhere in the world; the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh. Many people go to revere this great man. Others go with a macabre curiosity. Still others go because it is a “must see” in Hanoi. I went with a combination of all of the above. I wanted to know more about this enigmatic man who was a curious combination of warrior, savior, poet and leader.

Visiting Uncle Ho was a study in paranoia and reverence which are two words I don’t usually associate with each other. The security surrounding his corpse is usually reserved for sitting, not to mention living, heads of state. To visit Ho there is a long queue that is nearly half a mile in length. After about half an hour of inching forward you finally arrive at the large granite and marble mausoleum where Uncle Ho lies in state for eternity (except for the few months each year when he is removed for maintenance). When visitors approach the entrance they are admonished to show respect by not talking, chewing gum or even putting hands in their pockets. Even an inadvertent cough draws a glare from the armed guards that line the queue. After walking up the marble stair case and winding through a series of turns one catches the first glimpse. Uncle Ho is preserved under glass in his trademark semi military garb. His wispy white beard accentuates the waxy look of his embalmed body. The effect is accentuated by the dim lighting and somber attitude of the visitors. It is quiet as a tomb. (Sorry just could not resist the analogy) Rumor has it that he has been preserved with the same secret embalming techniques as the Russians used for Lenin. After a few seconds of shuffling by the sarcophagus our visit with Uncle Ho is over and we find our way back to daylight.

We are directed next to the presidential palace in which Ho refused to live because he was a man of the people and felt that it was too ostentatious. At first he lived in the gardener’s residence and in the last few years of his life lived in a small two room teak house on the grounds. There was also a reconstruction of the stilt house where he lived during the war with the US. He conducted the war from a ground level open air war room beneath the stilted house. His sophisticated equipment consisted of a simple wooden table surrounded by ten chairs for the politburo and three telephones on a side table. With a few advisers, a few simple tools, and what I believe to be an intellect unmatched by many of his generation, he defeated the “mightiest “ nation on earth. He did this with a firm belief in his people and his ideology while retaining his humility.

The final part of our visit was to the museum dedicated to Ho Chi Minh. This museum is one of the more interesting museums I have seen anywhere. It intertwines three components; the life of Uncle Ho, the life and times of Vietnam, and an overview of contemporary world history. The museum has countless letters, documents, photos and exhibits of Ho that show his path from a humble birth to communist organizer, patriot in exile and finally the savior of his country. There are abstract sections of the museum that portray contemporary leaders, entertainers and other persons of noteto set the scene for Ho's life . Finally, there are representations of Vietnamese villages, the war with America, and day to day life in Vietnam to complete the picture of the life and times of Uncle Ho.

The visit with Uncle Ho renewed my perception that he was not the evil man as portrayed by America during the Vietnam war. He was a great man who took his country from a feudal state to the country it became in the 20th century. The exhibits showed he was a very intelligent man with unquestionable leadership qualities. Examples of his poetry revealed him to be a sensitive and contempletive man as well. He truly cared about his people and nation. His selfless dedication to his country is unmatched in modern history. One has to respect his accomplishments even though you might disagree with his political philosophy. He was unquestionably one of the great leaders of the 20th century.

Laos

Sorry for the long silence but we have just completed a swing through the Northwest part of Laos where internet has been almost non existent. We had intended a three day side trip which turned into eight days. Stay tuned for the promised visit with Uncle Ho and an account of our travels in Laos.

Hoi An to Hanoi

I have been trying to find time to post on the blog but we have been caught in a whirlwind of traveling, now feeling the time crunch of less than a month to go in our tour of SE Asia. We are "done" with Vietnam and are now in Laos in the beautiful peaceful town of Luang Prabang. Internet is slow here so I will post some pictures when we have faster connection. Meanwhile hope you enjoy the voyage from Hoi An to Hanoi and points in between.

In the last post we visited heaven and hell which was a side trip from the lovely town of Hoi An. Hoi An felt like a French village with an Asian twist. The architecture of the old town is straight out of colonial France typified by stuccoed houses with large terraces and balconies accessed by shuttered French doors. The town is on an estuary so the action centers around the waterfront. The town is totally dependent on the tourism industry and they mostly got it "right" here. It is clean, well organized and well maintained. Quaint shops, restaurants and cafes line the streets. It almost feels like Disneyland because it is almost too perfect. Ian said it felt like a cartoon backdrop that never changes because as one walks down the street one passes a series of souvenir shops, tailors, restaurants and barsthat are interchangeable. Deb and I found it a welcome relief from the nondescript and often dirty other Vietnamese towns.

There were fewer motos here and they were banned from the old town on alternate days which was pleasant indeed. It was calm enough that we felt secure enough to rent bicycles and ride around the town and surroundings. We had several pleasant days riding out to a nearby beach. The trip to the beach was a scenic ride through rice paddies to arrive at a beautiful beach that was thinly populated but had a few beach side restaurants that for the price of a beer, would allow you sit on their lounges under a palapa umbrella for the day. The water was clean and warm with almost enough surf to body surf but not so powerful as to be frightening. While in Hoi An we also fell prey to the urge to buy some tailor made clothing which is a whole other story.

We finally tore ourselves away from Hoi An as we were now feeling the clock ticking realizing we had little more than a month left to see the rest of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. We caught an agonizingly slow bus to the town of Hue which was described in the guidebook as “sweet gentle Hue”---it was anything but. Hue is where the consciousness of the people seemed to shift from the more laid back attitude of the south (which was by no means laid back by western standards) to the hustle bustle of the north with emphasis on all meanings of the word hustle. Aside from the fact that Hue was a very fast paced city, it started to feel like everyone was trying to hustle or scam us. Shopkeepers would shortchange us. Hotels would quote rates in dollars and when we paid in Vietnamese dong would give horrible exchange rates. Hue was way too busy with way too many motos in addition to being was hot and very humid. In defense of Hue, there were a few sights of historical significance including a palace from the 19th century that was slowly being restored from damage caused by the good old USA during the war. There were also several ornate temples and tombs of kings.

Still feeling the time crunch, we opted to fly on to Hanoi for our last week in Vietnam. We thought Hanoi would be a good base for a few day trips Nihn Binh, some outlying pagodas and the very beautiful Ha Long Bay.

After an early morning flight which dropped us into the morning madness of Hanoi's rush hour, we made our way to the Old Quarter of Hanoi jammed knee to elbow with a dozen other tourists and their luggage in a mini van designed for half as many. We walked about ¾ of a mile to our hotel through the narrow streets of the Old Quarter teeming with motos, cyclo cabs, and coolies carrying everything imaginable from passengers, to pigs to refrigerators. When the sidewalks weren’t covered with parked motos, they were blocked by street cafes with patrons sitting on kid sized plastic stools sucking in the fumes of the motos along with their morning pho. Pedestrians had to sharethe street with sidewalk to sidewalk motor traffic. After fifteen minutes of dodging motos and cyclo cabs we arrived at our hotel slightly dampened by the cool morning drizzle. After freshening up and dropping our bags, we hit the street again to further sample the chaos of Hanoi. The incessant buzz and beeping of the motos was enough to drive any sane person crazy. Thank god we aren’t sane.

Despite the chaos, we liked Hanoi. There is an energy and vitality there that was not present in most of the other cities we visited in Vietnam. Perhaps it is the energy of a city that is a 1000 years old. Perhaps it is the legacy of Uncle Ho who brought freedom from the yoke of over 100 years of French domination and brought them to new heights after defeating the good old USA in the war. Perhaps it is the influx of all manner of people from all corners of Vietnam to take advantage of the economic opportunities as a result of the implementation of the free market economy 15 years ago.

Stay tuned for an account of our visit with Uncle Ho.

BETWEEN HEAVENAND HELL part 2

Gate with Kwan Yin

As you may remember, our heroes were apparently in the depths of hell nearly in the clutches of the Devil. As it turned out we weren’t really in hell. It only seemed that way.

We found our way back out of the cave unscathed. When we got back into the daylight we took the time to read the brochure handed to us at the entrance. We had entered into the Am Phu or Hell Cave. This is part of a religious site for a curious combination of Buddhism, Hinduism and Animism practiced by many people throughout SE Asia. This cave is part of a huge complex of limestone caverns depicting heaven and hell as well as other caverns and pagodas dedicated to the panoply of deities worshiped in this religion. We had unwittingly stumbled into the cave of hell. Relieved by this information, we decided to put off the beach time and explore this complex further.

We were directed to another entry about 100 yards away where we purchased yet another ticket and ascended stairs that lead up to the tiered pagoda that sucked us into this place. We first came upon a small temple that sheltered an exquisite statue of Kwan Yin rendered in brilliant white marble. Her pavilion was bracketed by a stairway with terracotta tile in brilliant colors depicting dragons and other creatures which apparently were her guardians.

Kwan Yin's "guardians"

After briefly admiring Kwan Yin we continued along the path to find another cavern. This one contained a small structure with 3 large openings. It was encrusted with mold, mildew and algae. Tendrils of vines hung down from the ceiling. Everything was dripping wet---including us. The building contained a statue of Buddha about ten feet high.


Wandering around the back of the structure we entered another sizeable room in the cavern. We were greeted by another Buddha about thirty feet in height. It was difficult to tell if he had been carved out of the solid rock or if he had been placed there. In either case it was a monumental sculpture.



We continued on into another chamber to find a huge seated Buddha tucked into a niche. We retraced our steps to find our way out of this cavern.

Next we came upon the tall, tiered pagoda that had initially caught our eye from the road. Up close it was even more impressive. The garden around it featured a sizable garden with Japanese style suiseki which is a naturally occurring rock cut and set to look like a mountainscape in miniature. Inside there was an altar dedicated to Buddha. A wizened crone seated next to the altar smiled at me and seemed to be directing me around behind the altar with cryptic gestures. Puzzled, I went to the side of the altar to find a narrow staircase ascending the interior of the pagoda. I went back outside to grab Deb and we climbed the stairs which were lined with several plaques depicting the life of Buddha. We reached the first floor which corresponded to the first tier of the pagoda. We found an altar with numerous icons about 2 feet high. On the next level we found a large golden altar to Brahma.

We continued our climb to the top finding different altars on each level. At the top we could look out to be treated to a fine view of the coastline, karsts, and town below.




In the next two hours we explored several more caverns and visited numerous pagodas.
We left the mystery and horror of Hell Cave behind as we found our way to “heaven”.The contrast between "hell" and the rest of the complex was profound. Our climb to the top of the pagoda left me feeling somehow serene in contrast to the discomfort I felt in "hell". Marble Mountain is truly one of the special places on the planet.

Random man in monkey face

Random goddess sighting

When we finally finished our tour of this incredible site, we didn’t have much time left for the beach. On the way back we stopped again for a cocktail at Cau Dai to brace us for the last sprint to home through the afternoon Hoi An rush hour. As the sun sank slowly in the west we returned safely to our hotel after another unexpected adventure in SE Asia.

Pagoda roof detail

Cavern "skylights" created by American bombs. Makes me proud to be an Amerikan.