Koh Tao

I've been living island life for 5 or 6 days. There are some beautiful views, and likely some great pictures here but I haven't taken any. I took a break from the camera and spent the last 4 days getting my dive certification. Great place to do it, I was basically in the Nemo reef this morning on one of the dives. Eberly is here diving too, it's been great. I actually got on the back of a scooter with him driving today...if you know John, then you realize either there has been a great amount of trust built up between us over time, or I have suffered a severe lapse of judgement in letting him operate anything, let alone something as large as a motor bike on poor roads, when my health is at risk. Up to you to decide. (to my mother...nothing to see here perfectly safe...just diving and riding motor bikes).

Tomorrow I pick up Carrie in Koh Samui and we start her 2 week stay in Thailand and Bali. Looking forward to it. Will post a photo when I get one....it's screen saver worth here.

Angkor Temples Day 2

I took a Tuk Tuk instead of biking today...and it was significantly cooler...or less hot.  You sweat just standing still.  If you happen to be somewhere where there is shade, and you catch a breeze...you stop whatever you're doing and enjoy it for as long as it lasts.  I went to a bunch of temples today.  I think my favorite so far in Bayon, picture of the big head is from there.

While it's amazing there is as much left of these temples after 1000 years still a significant amount has been looted.  Apparently the 90s were particularly bad.  The second picture is from Angkor Wat...I think there's a lesson here somewhere, if anyone finds one let me know.  You start as a carving for the holiest temple in the land, in what some consider the most amazing man made building ever built...and from the looks of the wear, ya' just end up getting groped for a millennium or so...probably better than getting your face chiseled off.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Arrived in Siem Reap yesterday.  Siem Reap is the jump off town for the Angkor temples.  The temples at Angkor are a number of temples built by the Khmer empire which ran from about 800 until just after 1400.  The empire consisted of pretty much the Thai, Cambodia, Vietnam peninsula.  The rulers were "god-kings"or devarajas...who liked to build elaborate temples for their gods (mostly Hindu) surrounded by walled cities.  A lot of the stuff they built out of stone is still around.  Angkor is a specific area where the temples are and also the name of the biggest and universally recognized as the most amazing "Angkor Wat"...it is also the name of the Cambodian national beer.  I biked about 7 kilometers to Angkor Wat and then another 7 to Ta Prohm (by the way are you all annoyed by my transition to the metric system?) which is a temple where they decided to let vegitation grow around it, like when the West first found these in 1908.  There's some connection to the movie/video game/whatever "Tomb Raider" it was pretty amazing.  More temple exploring for the next 2 days and then I go to Ko Samui, Thailand.

Last day in Laos

Today (May 12)  I'm in Vientiane, Laos- the capital.  There is definately a residual French influence here.  Last night Eberly and I had some  great bbq at an open air market, whole fish (snapper I think), chicken and port ribs.  It was delicious.  Had a Beer Lao at a cool rooftop bar on the Mekong that made me feel like I should be filing a news story on an old school typewriter or doing something Hewingwayesque.  Vang Viene was a quick trip but fun.  We tubed down the river for 3 hours.  There are all these bamboo bars set up along the way and each one has a zip line swing into the river, usually about 3 or 4 stories high.  You tube by and some guy from the bars throws a bottle attached to a rope and if you want to be pulled in you just grab it.  We're here in low season, but that place has to be crazy in high season.  I was hit by a mild case of travellers sickness that I quickly shook so I stuck to tubing and some ziplining.  Today is mellow, catching up on some email, making travel plans, and generally chilling out.  I'm looking forward to my flight to Cambodia tomorrow.  I'm going to Siem Riep to visit Ankor Wat and the surrounding temples for 4 days- after that I go to Ko Samui, Thailand and Ko Tao...back to island life. 

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Chang Mai, Thailand

After Bangkok we spent 3 nights in Chang Mai which is in northern Thailand.  There are great discount airfares in Asia so we took the easy way and took the hour flight.  We were happy to find our guesthouse had a nice pool, which was a luxury in the heat and given the minimalist places we've been staying.  The highlight was a day spent taking a cooking class (Baan Tahi Cooking School).  It started with a trip to the market where everything was explained to us...and I had a delicious dragon fruit and pineapple iced drink.  In the class we ground our own curry paste in with a pestle and made about 6 delicious dishes.  The best part was that everything seemed like it'll be easy to recreate at home as long as you have a really hot wok and access to Thai style veggies--I'll be haunting the Asian markets in SF when I get back...We seem to be eating our way through Thailand and loving it.  Apparently they posted some pics on their website of www.baanthaicookery.com for the date of May 3rd.  I haven't looked but apparently we're up there.  Also thought "Mr. Beer Car rental" was kinda funny, so included a pic.

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On the Slow Boat to Laos

From Chang Mai we took a bus to the Thai/Laos boarder, stayed overnight in Huay Xai- ferried across the Mekong and boarded a two day slow boat to Luang Probang.  Pic attached is of the artwork in our Huay Xai guest house...I was speechless.  The two day boat trip was indeed slow but we got a great view of river life.  Fishing nets set by bamboo poles, waterbuffalo cooling off, kids playing, spotted a working elephant (short skirt, lots of make-up, hanging out on the corner), a temple built into a cave, and a number of interesting longboats.  We overnighted on the way to Luang Probang in Pak Beng, a tiny little river town.  Laos is another extremely poor county  something like 130 on a list of 161...but after Nepal this place is looking pretty good.  There seems to be electricity, quality roads, some display of commerce...this is maybe more telling of Nepal's struggles then anything else.  Still people live simply and without a safety net here and unexploded US ordinance from the Vietnam conflict continues to be a problem. There is a government imposed midnight curfew here...we're in a communist country after all.

  Nepal note:  Apparently there was some action in Kathmandu soon after we left with the Maoist making an ususcecful play on the military...I haven't read anything yet.

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rodents and lizards, meat or pets...but not for pets

Luang Probang May 7th.  Day 1 Fresh food markets are a great place to figure out the local culture, if not some of the stranger delecacies.  Apparently something that looks like a big hamster (later found out it's called a "Paka" or "Bamboo Rat" is on the menu along with a lizard type dragon looking guy about 18 inches long.  All the veggies and fruits are incredibly fresh and colorful.  The French occupied Laos for a period, which to the traveller means you can get some good coffee instead of just Nescafe and a croisant with some chocholate in it...both a welcome change. Day 2 in Luang Probang was spent taking an elephant ride and then a 17kilometer kayak ride on a feeder river for the Mekong.  Hanging out with the elephants was pretty cool...and the kayak trip was long and tiring but for 4 hours I got to watch the pace of river life and people that are growing and catching what they eat.  I could have been on that river 100 years ago and I don't think anything would have been significantly different, no motors on the boats, no electrical power for most of it, just farming, fishing with nets, traps, and diving.  Local boats were wooden longboats propelled with a bamboo pole. At the end of the kayak trip we were playfully attacked by about 50 kids who were cooling off in the river (daily more than 100 degrees now)...ended up giving some a ride on the kayak for a bit.

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