Last day in Nam

They say you only do two days in Nam, the day you go in and the day you come out. My last day in Nam was the type of day that you just never want to have. The day started with banging on our door, loud banging, also a lot of loud Vietnamese coupled with the realization that you have over slept. It was 5:57AM we were supposed to be outside our guest house by 5:30AM ready and waiting for our pickup. We exited the building in under 2 minutes but it took a toll on our nerves. Each of us cursing our respective alarms while rubbing the morning out of our eyes. Mine was set for 4:45PM not AM and his time was set correctly but the alarm went unactivated so neither rang. We looked up and through the pre-dawn morning darkness, it was still possible to see the look on the faces. Our two motorbikes drivers were pissed. Getting on the back of mine we took off down the street. I felt down, no wallet in my front pocket. Its always in my front pocket, did i leave it in the room? Do i have it somewhere? got to stop, oh man he is going to be so pissed", i thought while i tapped on his shoulder. he came to a abrupt stop, jumping off yelling wallet over my shoulder running while i searched my bag as i went, "Found it! wow", i thought. Back on the back, flooring it now, the guy that i was trusting with my life to, looked at his watch and shook his head, gassing it. Riding on the back while a Vietnamese is driving is like a roller coaster. Death seems imminent at times, often multiple times before the ride is over. Yet you always seem to make the critical, vital turn just at the last moment and arrive safely, rattled but also thinking, awesome. We made it to the mini van that would take us deep into the Mekong delta, two hours away, in one piece. The goal was to reach Vihn Long and use it as a jumping off point from which we would explore the Delta. We got to Vihn Long, went to see about a home stay and we passed. it was far to sterile. We had a different idea about what we were looking for in home stay. We also wanted to visit the floating village an hour away deep in the delta but the cost was far to prohibitive. I was tired and a little frustrated, the plans we had for the next two days were busted pretty good. We had talked about the possibility of going to one more location, Ha Tien, close to the Cambodia border right after our home stay. so we decided to just head there, right after i had a ice coffee, Vietnam has some amazing ice coffee. Lonely planet told us that we were able to go direct with a bus from where we were. We hoofed it to the bus station only to find out that you would have to go all the way back to Saigon first. that was three hours. We asked around and found two motos (motorcycle taxi) who took us to another station that was suppose to be able to go to Ha Tien, nope. We were told that there was yet another bus stop, we found two more Motos and raced off. We sped into the bus stop, our driver assured us that the bus that was pulling out was to Ha Tien, he ran stopped the bus, conferred with the bus driver and he waved us on, we lurched foreword smiling, we had made it. "600,000" we heard as we pulled on to the "highway" that was a ridicules fee. but we looked at the alternative, staring at the dude with the serious face using his fingers to make the money sign we payed it thinking, "at least this thing called Nam will be over at the end of this bus". Vietnam was rough, bargaining, haggling, often with anger, with the possibly of shouting, is a daily occurrence. It wears on you. So we decided to take our seats. the bus was a sleeper but there were two people per one seat. We of course felt double screwed we jammed our bodies into a seat normally for one and tried to forget the day. Lucky us, it wasn't over at all. The bus, when it finally came to a stop was two and half hours in the wrong direction of Ha Tien. We had just been lied to, yet again. We stood on the verge of defeat, completely encircled but touts trying to sell us a ride somewhere and getting pusher by the second. We snapped out of it, mostly by burning some of the anger we had in ample supply to make energy. We negotiated the price to the last bus station, praying that we would get to the boarder in time to cross. Off we went, flying through traffic, saying our prayers and counting our blessing. The third bus was ok, we were charged extra because, well we never really understood, we tried to argue maybe for our bags or the "size" of us. A tactic they like to you sometimes. Surely they couldn't mean the bags, the lady next to us had a rooster in her handbag who clearly had no idea what time it was. For him, it was always dawn somewhere. We paid the meager over charge but it was enough to see red again. Tired from our shotgun wake up and the exhausting days events, we were quite the whole ride. When we finally arrived in Ha Tien we had won a small victory. Not knowing when the border crossing closed we hustled into town to find out and we were stopped. Stopped at a time we did not want to be stopped by someone who wanted our money. His first words were "Cambodia? You go?" We stopped, "hell yes", he was smiling. We jumped back on two bikes and sped to the border, we had 15 minutes.

When we crossed we hugged and cheered and shared a beer. We leaned against a minivan, smiling, something we hadn't done all day. 
Cambodia, has been great for the past three days i have been in Sihanoukville Cambodia, ran into some people from the circuit in Laos. Staying in a bungalow with a fan, toilet paper, but no hot water, Toilet seat but scoop flush. you win some you lose some. i spend my days just sitting in the shade, with a fresh cold one or empty warm one, counting the minutes before i swim again and before sunset. hope this reaches you all well and happy. 22 days left till i fly to India, i am not sure i am ready to leave this part of the world. I am dreading carrying the encyclopedia that is the Indian Lonely planet.  

 In Thailand they could fake all kinds of documents, i now have a degree from Oxford actually. In Cambodia i just came out of a book store that only sells photocopies of originals. In Laos everyone sells "Reeel rayban, cheap". In Vietnam, i stumbled on this. I was on the back of a bike but i assume its fake too :( is nothing sacred? 

 The Border crossing, its smoothed paved all the way through Vietnam till it hits Cambodia and then right to dirt and potholes. taking the picture from this side made me unbelievably happy. 

Where i have been for the last 4 days, i leave tomorrow for .   Silhanoukville Cambodia

We had three good days of beach with fairly no one around but Tet started today so many Vietnam and Cambodian residents are taking the week off, i would spend it on the beach too, i don't blame em. But to escape the crowds we are heading inland in the search of adventure and cheap Khmer curry.

Photo Catch Up, Hanoi, Hue and Hoi An

The Chinese influence was once strong here and most things that are old were made by ethnic Chinese

Uncle Ho! We went to see his resting place it was an amazing place. this is not from the site, no cameras where allowed. Also no pointing, smiling, laughing, stopping, no short sleeves, no shirts and no bags.It was an amazing room, i will remember it always. he was lying in a glass coffin, with three lights shinning on him from above, one on his face the other two on each of his hands. He looked very peaceful. Behind him where two huge red marble walls one with the Soviet Union Hammer and Sickle in gold and the other wall was adorned with the Vietnam Star, also in gold. I was really taken aback by it, truly. He leaves for two months out of the year and goes to Russia to get his makeup done and to stretch his legs. They love Ho Chi Minh, but his last dieing wish was to be cremated and yet, well, there he was, they just couldn't let go.

the outside of the complex that holds the dear leader

we ate lunch after that. Street food is what i eat 98% of the time and they have these little chairs that most people seem to sit on perfectly. Mine crumbled under my American weight. They were to busy laughing to be angry about the chair.

The Oreo King, I think i mentioned that Ludwig thinks about food 80 percent of the day and 60 percent of that time he uses to scout out the Oreo prices. in this pic we are dining on the only food we have in the thousand year old literature temple in Hanoi. It was the home of Vietnam's first university and a very tasty lunch

they studied this guy, Confucius.

Dragons can be found everywhere you look and there are some amazing ones, Hue, Vietnam

you can find them on old stuff

or on the roofs, Hoi An, A really neat small city where dragons and donuts flow like wine

 We had a favorite donut kart woman or whatever you call her, we loved her and she loved us, we got them for half the cost, i credit the beards, the Vietnamese don't really grow a good beard, they are good at growing really long mole hair though, i will give'em that.

More Dragons, i really dig em

think about having this in your court yard?!??!!!! someday, someday

Doing my best dragon, i think i'm quite good

We made our rounds of all the old stuff in the city of Hoi An, the sad part was most of it had been converted into at least a part time souvenir shop, New Topic, i just looked down and i can see a foot poking through the wall under me and i am not sure whats its attached too, i am fighting the urged to tickle it, actually it looks quite dirty, its time to leave, oh, oh, its moving, well at least i know its alive, you never know in Vietnam

One more quick one, this foot is getting to me, Ludwig and i needed a place to eat some street food we had gotten at a market, it was raining and there was a 20 person lunch party going on and we found ourselves, after and hour and a half, eight beers deep, screaming "Yooooo" and also, ready for a nap. this is from Hue in the old town. I got my first dose of Ho Chi Minh's revenge that afternoon, spent all evening keeping Charmin in business. i am a little more conscious about where i get my pork chops from now on, i wont just get them from any toothless lady on the street, she has to have shoes from now on.

Photo Catch Up, Carol, dont look, trust me

 

Before the big meal, they look so happy :(

 Don't spill a drop because we really really want to drink it

there they are, the two fresh hearts, i can still taste it

looks pretty good right? 

two snakes make a lot of food

the only thing we didn't eat was the head, those end up here

the five of us still alive after the strangest meal i have ever had, well, next to my moms attempt at making beer macaroni and cheese that was more weird

The Hell Bus, Hanoi, Snake Village and Halong bay

Foxtrot this is Baker One, do you read!? The forward LP is reporting  heavy chatter across the border. Contact with Charlie imminent. Request backup on the double. Foxtrot, Foxtrot, do you read? This is Baker One over.

i have always wanted to say that. The first half of the ride to Vietnam was hell on wheels. Ludwig and i took seats in back, the way, way, way back, as those were the seats that seemed to be reserved for white people, well actually, seemed, isn't the right word, they were. We arrived before the boarder opened at 4 am. Sleep had not been possible for more than a few minutes at a time the first 9 hours. When our bus exploded with life at seven am with Lao people yelling, we scrambled out onto the street. there was a heavy fog and visibility was to a minimum. We really had know idea what to do, the only instructions were, "passport!!!" and a lot of pointing into the mist. This was a scary moment for me, the only time i had been more frightened on this entire trip was when i was almost savagely attacked by a pack of six dogs led by one with only one eye in Thailand, true story. That time i had jumped to safety on a railing. I looked around for a railing to jump to now but there was none darn it. Ludwig and I and the five other white people slowly crept through the fog and rain towards what we hoped would be a smooth and hospitable border crossing. We were to be very disappointed. There were about 200 people, all Asian, moving about the doors to immigration. We figured it out, and in 45 minutes we had a stamp on our passport. we had just exited Laos, into that odd space between boarders where you were in the preverbial no mans land. No longer allowed to be in Laos, but not allowed to be in Vietnam yet either. We were hoarded into a corner of the building by a man that i was not sure if i should be listening to and found comfort in the fact that there were eight other confused foreigners there. There was also a door. I asked if anyone knew what we were doing? "nope, we were pushed here," came the reply. I decided to take the lead and exit the building, i peaked out. Ludwig behind me, both of us looked up the hill, to the mist and presumably, we hoped, Vietnam. "well lets do this", Ludwig nodded in confirmation. We made our way leaving the others behind as they seem to prefer to wait on more instructions i was sure where never to come. It was a long walk, with only about 20 feet of visibility ahead. we joked about Communism, whispering as we were sure that they were waiting and watching, judging and determining our potential threat level. We decided to stop talking about it, which was probably a good thing as we turned down the hill the fog lifted and we saw a bunker (ok it was really a hut) and   Soldiers dressed in olive drab and red uniforms yelling and whistling all the while waving their batons. "That side"!!! someone yelled, we had know idea there were sides or what one we were supposed to be on and cursed our bus driver as we hurried to the correct spot, the right side of the road. The boarder was alive with the movement of guards and officials, buses, cars, metal detectors and xray machines, the only thing missing from the scene we decided was a mass of attack dogs that hadn't been fed in a week and had only eat the blood of foreigners and were begging for more. After an hour or so in the rain we were finally back on our bus. I couldn't believe that i was actually happy to get back on the Hell Bus, but i was. We arrived in Hanoi a mere five hours late, in the dark about 10 clicks from the city. Instantly the taxi Mafia moved in, but we had no money and were in need of an ATM, the two clicks walk to the closest ATM was a fog, i don't even remember walking it, i was so tired and the bus and its staff had drained me of almost all my life. But all was well after a short 30 minute cab ride into the old quarter, we found a five dollar dorm room, perfect. Resting my bag on my bed i had a hard time believing that the ordeal was over, the 26 hour bur ride that satan had created himself was indeed over. We were starving, the only stop of that day was at a road side Vietnamese rest stop and we had used the little money i had left to buy two dry rolls. but i can tell you a roll has never tasted so good. We left, found food and Beer Hoi, the cheapest beer in the world. 25 cents a glass and we settled down on the sidewalk and unwound for a good two hours. Sleep came easy that night. The next day, we got up at a good hour. Had Breakfast, for free at our hostle, a baguette with one scrambled egg inside. Ludwig, being 19, has a never ending stomach and seems to always bring a conversation back to food, or stop mid sentance to proclaim that he needed something to eat, or simply tell me how much he wanted, insert favorite food of the moment, or simply say "can you smell that? Food, coming from the south west, rice, maybe some beef, no, nope, its pork" He is older than he looks and far more mature then his age and i look less old then i am and far less mature than my age so we have made a good team thus far. We made it to a ancient pagoda, met an American girl and the three of us went to the Museum of the Revolution. A eye opening array of Veitnam's battles for independence. The French had tried to tame the dragon but they had inadvertently caused the rise of Ho Chi Minh to power in the face of their colonial oppression and ended with "the American" war as it is known here, where our boys were sent to a land that we had no places being in. i wish all war would end. Make love not war. Thats it. And even though i was angry when i saw a US uniform on display, a uniform from a POW that was shot down in the north. I realized when i got to the guitine that the french had put to horiffic use that this country hadn't been truly free for almost a hundred years and wondered what we would do if that were the case at home and how hard we would fight to end occupation of our land by a foreign power. My heart goes out to everyone that has ever lost a friend or familiy member in the Vietnam war. Nothing can change what happened but i hope we will learn, i fear the worst. We as humans have not learn peace and i fear we never will.

Well, that night we sat in our hostel, knowing that we wanted to do something but unsure what, Ludwig and i looked up and in little bold print on a peice of paper there was a offer for the "ultimate snake experiance". As we read on we quickly realized if we wanted to make it affordable we needed at least 5 people. I sent him to check on the American girl we had spent the day with as i went on a recruiting mission within our Hostle, i entered our six bed room and two people were unpacking, i introduced myself and i bearly got the word snake out of my mouth before we had two more people signed on. The five of us, two Americans, one German, one Englishman and one French girl along with our guide were packed into taxi on the way out of Hanoi. Traffic here is best described at a nightmare. White knuckled and gripping the dash board we made the 7km drive as smoothly as possible which i have come to learn means using the horn as much as the strearing wheel and paying no attention to the fact that you were in the wrong lane driving head on into traffic. the weird thing is it works, it just does. No stop signs, no stop lights just a horn and no rules. it still amazes me. Never the less we arrived unharmed and entered a restaurant in snake village. a place that at one time specialized in capturing snakes from the jungle and cooking them so that ladies can grow bigger breasts and guys would be more, well, i think you might get the point. We entered and our guide went to talk with the manager, we watched as two snakes were taken from there cages and unceremoniously beheaded. We have the expression in the states "like a chicken with its head cut off" but i think more fitting might be "like a snake without a body" or "like a snake with his head cut off", it was hard to watch but that's what we were paying for and it would be a disservice to turn away. the blood and gall were drained and the hearts removed for later use and we all looked at each other with a somewhat worrisome look. we sat down and thus began our eight course snake meal. The blood vodka shots came first, "yoooooo!!!!" (the Vietnamese version of cheers) was shouted and down the hatch. one more round "yoooooo!!!!" the two hearts where delivered to us, nice and fresh, sushi hearts, sort of. We had talked about who would eat them, there were three of us willing and we made a round of rock paper scissors to determine who would in fact have the honor. Ludwig won first and Daffny and i decided to split the second. She had a hard time biting it in two but was able and so, i was handed the half and after a pause for a picture, down the hatch. It was gross, i am not going to lie about that. The gall infused vodka was next and it almost didn't stay down, but i managed. the dishes started to roll in and we feasted and drank, laughed and truly enjoyed the meal. we had snake and lemon grass, snake soup, snake skin fried, snake bone, crushed with special sesame paper, boiled snake and friend snake bone and two different types of snake spring rolls. We left with a lot of good pics and as soon as i am smart enough to bring my jump drive to the internet cafe i will make sure to share them. it was at that time the single most expensive thing i had eaten but still much less than your average meal out in the states and i think it was completely worth it. We went back to the hostel and got a few jugs of Beer Hoi and drank, played cards and laughed with our guide who was ignoring the continual calls from his wife to come home. He was having as much fun as we were. It was the first time and only time i will probably have snake but i recogmend it to anyone, i did it for the stories.

The next day Ludwig and I decided to go to Halong Bay, look it up, its one of the most magical places i have ever been and probably you might be able to claim in the world. We took the 4 hour bus there, jumped off and on to an old style Chinese junk that took us into the south china sea. We went caving, kayaking and took about a million pictures some of which i do have posted below. We spent the night on the boat a float in the eerie calm surrounded by the most amazing limestone formations and when after dinner i went above deck there was the most mesmerizing full moon illuminating the small cove in which we floated. i watched for a while alone till i couldn't resist getting the 4 Germans and the one American that i had been playing Tarantula Tango with (a German game where cards are used as frequently as animal noises. if anyone is looking for a new game to play with friends and family, i suggest it, its pretty darn fun. I was told that i had the best cow, i really am quite proud of it actually.) to join me and bask in the glow and breathlessness beauty or our surrounding. the next day wasn't as great, so i will save all of it said for one amazing moment when a hawk flew down and plucked a fish from the ocean. what a sight and great way to top the trip off.

 inside one of the caves and old Chinese tablet of some sort, it probably just says "slippery when wet"

from the Kayak, when i go back some day i think i will make a full day of just kayaking around the 300 islands that make up the bay. Legend has it that they were created by a dragon, it fell to earth and crashed in Halong bay

everywhere you looked there was a good picture to take

nuff said

When Ludwig and i failed to show up in our kayak after the allotted time (we meant to be late) our captain was looking for "the two beards". Z German and I

my ever present sunset pic. i will return someday. more pics of the snake meal and random weirdness from all over Vietnam. I went from Hanoi to Halong bay back to Hanoi the to Hue and have just spent the last three days in Hoi An, we leave for HCMC tonight, 22 hours on a bus...

Vientine and I hate flies

I decided to take a bus to the capital of Laos, Vientine, on the 3rd, a fairly easy process, I think it was maybe 4 or 5 hours by bus. When i got there i met back up with two friends for dinner and a beer. It was nice, as was the views from the roof top where you could look out over the Mekong, over to Thailand and the busy night market. I spent the next two days on my own as they went south to the 4000 islands. I woke early, visited a few temples and a place called Buddha Park a odd and unique place filled with Buddhist staues (not just of Buddha himself) of every size and shape. Some of them were 4-5 stories tall, others told mythical stories of old. There was a dome that was constructed with three levels inside, one for hell, one for earth and the third for heaven, it was really neat to say the least. Getting there was a little bit of a fiasco, the bus was a local bus and because it was pulling out the station as i arrived, i jumped aboard without much information about where the park was, how far and what stop it was that i needed to take. the bus was also packed to the gills with people and their never ending boxes and bags. I stood, crammed tight with the people in front of me and in back, trying to duck to see out the windows so i would not miss my stop, this proved harder than i was hoping. I had no idea what it looked like so that maybe was my first mistake. I, as i have done many many times during this trip asked my neighbors, two older ladies, "Buddha park" they clearly didn't speak any English and waved me off as a crazy tourist, fair enough. So i asked someone else and a guy over heard and motioned with his hands in a forward motion which i took to mean "coming up" or "right ahead" i waited and when he stood to get off he motioned for me to follow him, i was happy to be leaving the bus so i hopped off, he spoke almost no English and i walked next to him awkwardly till i noticed i was heading for a big sign that said "immigration and customs" alarm bells were ringing, i thought there was no way it was out of the country and i said pointing "Buddha park?" he shock his head in confirmation and then displayed his passport, "passport" he said as he got in line, and i said, "no, no, Buddha park", the way he said passport somehow sounded a lot like Buddha and as i backed away shaking my head he stood and watched with a dumbfounded look on his face. My bus, the one i had just gotten off, was pulling away again and i bowed and took off at a dead sprint, i caught it, jumped on out of breath and had the remaining 8 people laughing. I sat this time as most people had gotten off and i heard some chatter from behind and the only word i knew was "Falang" not a derogatory term but one that is used to talk about white people, but i don't really care for it, as it clues me into the fact that they were obviously talking about me. I turned and said, "hey!" with a smile "i know Falang, what are you saying about me" a gasp, a smile and more chatter that seemed to confirm that they knew that i knew that they were talking about me. Caught em in the act! that wasn't the first time and i am sure not that last. i turned back around, not offended but happy with myself haha. I had brought along some Mangostien, my new favorite fruit, it cracks open and has what looks to be 5-6 cloves of mushy garlic gloves in it. But in truth its the sweetest tangy citrus flavor and fun to eat. I had brought them along because i came to the realization that my stomach was not going to get smaller on its own and it had to be better for me than a greasy lunch. As i pulled them out i turned and offered one to each, with wide smiles they excepted and i turned to concentrate on the road less i miss my stop as no one seemed to be able to help this confused Falang. Two stops later, the door opened and the two ladies touched my back, i turned and i was the recipient of two hugs, it was a really pleasant moment, they said a number of words, who knows what and got of the bus turned and waved till we pulled off. Its neat, to change someone perception, certainly when you can make a nice gesture as a guest in another country, but the truth is if i had opened my bag and there had only been two mangostiens left, they would have had to kill me and pry them from my dead hands to get them. as it was i had gotten a kilo at a good price and happy to share. I found the park and will let the pictures speak for themselves. I got back to the capital without having to loose anymore of my precious fruit, thankfully, and booked my ticket for Hanoi, Vietnam. I waited sitting on my bag reading my book waiting for the tour bus to pic me up and i was being harassed by flies. I hate flies, hate them with a passion. Recently, they seem to love me or love my odor. I swatted one quick as i could with my book and it was a direct hit. i was hoping that this one death would result in the other flies realizing that i was too dangerous a target to mess with but my sandals were too much for them to resist and they were back at it. i put my book down and waited, trying not to think about them. Breath jake, they're just flys i told myself. When they got too much it a fit of rage, i yanked my hat off and reigned a heavy bow. Instantly i heard the sound of metal bouncing on the pavement and when i looked up my favorite Dead pin was flying into the street. It landed, spikes up, i jumped up as a garbage truck honked, i recoiled in horror as it drove straight for my pin, "miss it miss it miss it" i thought, i closed my eyes and when i opened them my pin was gone, i looked at the tire and saw it rotating in the middle of the tire as it bounded down the street at a fast clip, clink, clink, clink, click as it hit the pavement on every rotation. "damn it!!!!!" i screamed with passion as my pin was taken out of sight with the clinks getting more distant with the seconds. i sighed, and looked back at my bag as a horrified young girl stood in shock me with her hands cupped over her mouth. I said, "did you see that!" She nodded with her hands still coving her mouth and her eyes slightly bulging.  The only thing that made me feel slightly better is that i brought an extra pin haha. I was picked up without issue and thus began a 25 hour bus ride that was the closest thing to torture i have encountered and i am surprised there isn't Geneva codes against it. I did meet a german, Ludwig, i can now say i know a Ludwig, which i never thought possible. And together we rode out the trip to the border. The moral of this story is, simply, take more showers and due more laundry.

Buddha park, Vietine, Laos

More park

That's a dead woman in his arms, i presume she is dead anyway, its maybe 4 stories tall

park in it

Last sunset of my last night in Laos

Miss you all so much. Also a special shout out to Lauren Musick, today is her birthday! wish i could be there to help her celebrate, i dont know where she is but if you are with her and reading this, give her a big hug for me will ya?

Vang Vieng

It is with a heart full of bitter sweetness that i write this entry. Today after six days in Vang Vieng i am truly on my own again. I had been here, with my two friends David and Villium, but today they left for southern Laos. I had been good, great even, traveling on my own and felt like i had mastered the creation of the mental walls needed for long term solo travel. But, I will miss those two greatly, they kept me busy and laughing. Safe travels guys, with all luck i will be visiting you both when i get to Europe in the spring. OK enough of that sad talk, you don't read this to hear me blather on but i felt it pertinent to be honest with what i am dealing with at the moment.

Alright where did i leave off? Xmas eve was a blast and even though the town of Luang Prabang has a curfew at the ripe hour of 10 pm the men in blue let the bars stay open to twelve, it was a Christmas miracle. Christmas Day we said goodbye to two Norwegians that we had shared a very bumpy and vomit filled bus ride with three or four days earlier and ran into earlier that day and our friend Georgio. Villium and I got some rest did some xmas decorating. We also visited some temples including one Chumsy Hill (this hill is in desperate need of a new name, i was thinking something majestic like "Dragon Teeth Pagoda Point" i looked for a suggestion box but i learned that commies don't take suggestions, they make them). On this hill you can get a 360 degree look at the surroundings while sitting on a stupas's stairs. We climbed the (what felt like) five million stairs in hopes of some great sunset view but it appeared that we were not the only one's who had the same idea. As we jostled for a spot, jockeying for position i ran out of batteries in my camera... damn! So Villium, with the much better camera and a seemingly infinite power source (he won't reveal his source), did all the picture taking, which i have yet to obtain. We were lucky to run into some people who we had run into a few towns back who had in turn run into David, our dread-locked friend wasn't hard to miss and with the smell of patchouli in the air we smelled him out and spent xmas locked out of our respective hostels at 1 in the morning. It was a great day, for sure, we did our best far away from loved ones to capture the spirit of the day. The next morning we woke up early at 5:30am got dressed and headed down the stairs to see the Monk procession. Every morning some 400 Buddhist monks walk down the street and except alms. Everyone of them carries a bowl and they get rice and other food stuffs from the devoted. As we reached the front door of our guesthouse we found it locked by padlock! Locked in a red prison! we had done the impossible. We had woken up got our cloths on, found our cameras all without opening our eyes and now we were unable to leave! This must have been our punishment for knocking on the door for 15 minutes the night before begging to be let it. Back to sleep we went. When we did rise finally i went to the Vietnam Embassy to get a visa and i am not sure what the others two did with themselves. The night passed uneventfully as we planned our final day. We made sure to have the owner unlock the door for us early and made it to the Monk procession. It was amazing to see. Endless streams of orange colored Buddhists came out of no where to accept there allotted food for the day. We teamed up with a french family and a couple from Belgium, all of which we had seen in the 3 preceding towns. Its neat to see the same faces, sometimes, (i ran into a guy i waited for the bus with in the pouring rain, for 4 hours, in the Philippines back in November, just yesterday) i am, for the most part traveling the typical backpack route through Laos, so it makes some sense but sometimes its uncanny where people turn up. We went to the most amazing waterfall/ Asiatic bear rehabilitation and rescue park. Funny combo for sure. The waterfall was simply put, picturesque. The water was so incredibly blue that we all had to make sure the Lao government hadn't painted the pools with a blue floor by personally touching the bottom, no one seemed to take the others word for it. We skated out of town the next day having acquired my visa and using up everything Luang Prabang had to offer we were off to Vang Vieng. This little town is growing faster then it probably should be. Its really a backpacker town. From top to bottom this place caters to tourist but not the old wrinkly ones, not many are older than 35 here. The one thing that still baffles me about Vang Vieng is that almost every single bar here plays a constant loop of either "Friends" or "Family Guy". I have been here for 6 days and it just, wont, stop, season after season, one after the other ALL DAY. It blows my mind even now. A friends bar doesn't play "family Guy" and vise verse just one or the other. I know people here that have spent days, days mind you, recovering from their nights in a "Friends" bar. There is only one bar that i have seen with a different show playing (cartoon network) and it has always been empty.Vang Vieng is odd in the extreme but has a lot of things to offer. It has an infamous river and a thriving industry to go along with it. Tubing the river is the main draw of this this non stop party hub. You get a tube from the affectionately named "tube mafia" and get dropped off up river to spend as much time as you want making the float down back to town. If you were to just stay in your tube, you could make it back in two hours. No one does however as there are a dozen plus bamboo bars on either side of the river, fighting over your Kip with "Free shots! Free Food! Free Buckets" (a lot of bars serve booze in small buckets, giving you four straws to share, or make it four times as efficient to drink by yourself, i have seen the latter more often). Each of these bars is employing a few wranglers who throw a line to your tube from the banks, grab it and you are pulled to the safety of a bar that will sell you anything, yes anything, they will also let you judge, for yourself, your particular level of altered state by encouraging you to cling to ziplines, slide on slides, use swings, somersault off high jumps and and see how far you can get launched into the river with that inflatable bag thing that no one seems to know the name of. As with most things in Laos, i am not sure how much oversight the government takes in the way of public safety. I can see this scene playing out in the states, take away all the booze and paraphernalia and add an army of life guards and paramedics whistling over every slight infraction of the rules. There are NO rules here, seemingly so anyway. Bars are more like those found in Amsterdam then those of back home where you can only buy two beers at a time and the other person who you are buying if for has to come show his ID before the smug bar girl will let you get your mitts on the second one. here its "how many can you carry? that many? ok, well take a free beer bong before you go to get your strength up" Accidents do happen here, that is for certain. People can be seen limping, spray painted head to toe (another river past time), all over town. I was witness to one accident myself on the bag jump, if you have seen jackass you know what i am talking about but if you haven't, one person jumps on to a large and under inflated floating raft, he positions himself in just a way that when two, the larger the two the longer the flight time, jump from a tree top platform, launching the solo tuber into the stratosphere in all sorts of odd twisted body contusions. A jumper was knocked in the eye with an elbow splitting it open. I expected the bar to be prepared but was only given some toilet paper and some LaoLao (Lao whiskey) to disinfect it. It didn't keep him down and i saw him later that night at the bar, dancing unaffected by his new "Vang Vieng tatoo" as they are accidents involving stitched are called. The day went by fast, it was new years eve, and i had tried my hand at everything they would let me climb, jump, get thrown from and/ or coast on. I did not bring a camera but others did and there are some pretty amazing pics to come, i can assure you. I made it back in one piece and we all, the 6 of us who had floated together went back to get some rest before the countdown. I woke and tried to get the blue and green stars off my nipples that my "friends" had made me get but my hair wasn't letting go so easily. I still have blue paint on one, 3 days later. The town has guest house's overlooking massive limestone mountains and i was lucky enough to get a room with a view of the sunset for the first two night, i have since down graded to the basement wahh wahh. My room looks out over the river and "party island" where bars simply don't close, ever. "Bucket bar, Smile bar, reggae bar etc." i have been a one/ every night client of them all. Hammocks are a staple as well as no shoes and tables under thatched roofs without chairs, just pads and pillows, lounge fitted in the extreme. Of course the reason i have stayed here so long is because i am encouraged to display my hairy feet everywhere i go :). I have also spent my days going to caves ( huge huge huge caves), lagoons and i spent several hours on top a mountain with the most amazing views and a near vertical accent. We rented mountain bikes and ate curry. Dined on cheap fruit shakes and marveled at the sunset then the stars and then the sunrise. But i have overstayed here, like most places, i find myself indecisive about where to head to next and the departure of nearly everyone in town that i know, most recently my two good friends this morning has pushed the issue. I will be making my way to Vietnam's largest northern city, Hanoi, how and how long it will take me i have not figured out yet. A bus from here takes about 26 hours straight, that's without delays. The minivan that brought me here broke down and with a little pushing and a lot of praying i finally got here two hours later than intended and that was only a proposed six hour journey. I was affraid the other passengers where going to blame it on the bamboo pole i had made the driver attach to the roof but they didn't say a word. Anything can happen when the roads look like they would be better suited for offroading rather then transport. I might make one more stop in Laos, in Phonsavan possibly, where hundreds of large clay jars have been found in fields, there origin and purpose has never been discovered. Well that ought to fill you on me, whats going on with you? Send me an email sometime let me know what you did for xmas and new years, there are bound to be some good stories out there.

Grilled Chicken Feet on a stick! Hmong new year celebration Luang Prabang Laos

Monk alms procession Luang Prabang

Giant tree, Luang Prabang

i half expected to see a unicorn, Luang Prabang

Catching a giant "Falang" with our xmas tree Luang Prabang

Sunset on the Mekong, Luang Prabang

The view from my balcony, before the down grade, Vang Vieng Laos

Climbing to get a better view, I was late coming down and traded the use of my ipod to a local on a motorbike for a ride back to town. Nothing like riding on the back of a moped with a guy in military fatigues using your ipod while flooring it through the jungle. Vang Vieng 

In the biggest of caves the sun shines directly on a reclining Buddha, what a sight

for scale, i took this pic while inside the cave, you can see people just barely to the left of the shrine. This was the entrance cavern and the only one with any day light the other pockets where just as big and eerily dark, silent and amazing

Sunset in Veng Vieng, it was a good 6 days. I wont be writing on my blog till i reach Hanoi. Wish me luck will ya? Love and miss you all. I am still in one piece. Jake