BKK v2.0

After 3 days of R&R in Ko Chang, I headed back to Bangkok to catch my flight to Manila. En route to Bangkok, I found myself in a bit of a pickle because I hadn't reserved a ticket for the bus ride. Bad move seeing as it was the Sunday following a public-holiday long weekend and the whole world was returning to Bangkok (but honestly people, I don't speak Thai, so how was I supposed to know?!?) . Fortunately, I befriended a Thai woman, Nina, who was returning home from a long weekend at the beach with her 3 kids. They had reserved 3 seats between the 4 of them, and she graciously gave me one so that I wouldn't get stranded overnight in the middle of nowhere. Thai people truly have hearts of gold.

I spent my one day in Bangkok retrieving my passport from the Philippine embassy, followed by some temple sightseeing and a wander through Chinatown with Alex, a friend who I had met on the way back from Ko Chang, and Maria, another traveler who I had met at the ever-so-clean Soi 1 backpacker's Guesthouse.

For the first time in months, I started to get cravings for western food. I've learned that western food is a wild card at most local restaurants in Asia: either it's decent or really horrible, and no matter what, it will be more expensive than the local fare, so you are generally better off just sticking to the rice and noodle program (which I quite like, so this is normally not a problem for me). Bangkok has a big ex-pat community, some of whom have opened their own eateries. For the first time in a while, I had a number of good options so I splurged on a good western meal (or three). What can I say, sometimes you just want some bacon.

-Julia


Nina and her munchkins, who saved me from a night in the middle of nowhere


Minor bus issues on the way to Bangkok (we had a run-in with another vehicle, so the driver had to make some roadside repairs)


In honor of the king's 60th year as king, everyone dons yellow on Monday (really, it's amazing to see the sea of yellow on the subway and sidewalks)


One of Bangkok's canals


Hmmmmm...could that be a giant dead snake floating in the canal?


Temples in Bangkok


Temple spires, reaching towards the heavens


Temple exterior


Buddha


Bangkok skyline


Bangkok buildings


Chinatown


Chinatown alley

Ko Chang

After some time in Bangkok, I was ready for a break. Several people along the way had recommended Ko Chang, and island off the east coast of Thailand, near the Cambodian border. I had a handful days up my sleeve, so I decided to check it out.

Honestly, I don't have a whole lot to say about Ko Chang. It wasn't my favorite destination to date, but was a pleasant diversion from Bangkok. The theme for my entire experience seemed to be ok, but not amazing. The beaches were good, but not fantastic, the restaurants were decent, but somewhat overpriced, the water was warm, but murky and filled with jellyfish. Plus, Ko Chang seems to be a couple's destination, and these "couple's spots" can be a little lame if you are travelling solo. I do have to say that my perspective is pretty skewed. I've spent the last 7 months traveling in some truly amazing places. Perhaps if I were on a 2-week vacation, and Ko Chang was my first stop in Asia, I would have been wowed. What can I say, I've been very spoiled by some magnificent places and am becoming a little picky these days.

The most memorable part of Ko Chang was meeting Roisin and Cathy, two young Irish travelers. Since I started traveling alone, I've had a difficult time connecting with other women. There are fewer female travelers than male travelers, and the women who I do meet are either traveling with a boyfriend/fiance/husband or traveling as a tight-knit pack of 2 to 4 girls (normally not so open to letting foreign newcomers into the fold). Back in the States, my girlfriends are an important part of my life, and through this travel experience, I've really gained a new appreciation for how important these relationship are to me. It was great to spend a few days paling around with two smart, articulate, fun, like-minded young women.

-Julia


Waiting for the ferry


....And the ferry arrives


Ko Chang from a distance


Fire dancer in Ko Chang


Roisin, chatting it up


White Sand Beach town


Ko Chang Beach


Beach side restaurant at night


Ko Chang's White Sand Beach

Bangkok...back to Thailand, baby

From Pakse, Laos, I crossed the border into Thailand. I could have gone directly to Bangkok on an overnight-bus, but I decided to stay one day in Ubon Ratchattani and then push on to Bangkok the following evening. Even though Ubon was pretty much the most uninteresting city I've seen to date, staying there for one night turned out to be a good plan. Coming directly from Laos, I would not have been ready for the chaos of Bangkok, and this gave me one day in a middle-ground to adjust, plus I found a cheap internet cafe, and I was able to hunker down for a few hours to dig myself out of the email-hole I'd managed to develop. Unfortunately, the internet cafe I selected in Ubon was one of these gaming center/internet combo places, and my USB flash drive (the one with all of my travel photos) contracted a virus that made it look like my pictures had been erased. Everything turned out ok, but not before I had a mini-meltdown at the internet cafe. I think I would rather lose my passport than lose all of my photos from traveling. Though it would be a huge inconvenience, my passport, at least, could be replaced.

Bangkok is intense. It's a huge city with pretty much anything and everything you could possibly imagine. The traffic is insane, the streets are packed with taxis and tuk tuks, and the sidewalks are crammed with food stalls and vendors of every product imaginable. The sounds, smells, heat and humidity hit your sense like a ton of bricks. I landed amidst this pandemonium early in the morning, fresh off an awake-all-night-bus from the sleepy town of Ubon. I had a surprisingly uneventful tuk tuk ride from the bus stop to the Skytrain station, hopped on the Skytrain to the Sukumvit area, checked myself into the super-clean Soi 1 Guesthouse, and set out to explore the city.

I had some errands to run (the occasional organizational day is necessary when you are traveling for an extended period: a visit to an embassy to apply for a visa, a quick stop at the pharmacy, questing for yet another pair of size 11 flip flops to replace the ones I destroyed the previous week...you get the idea), so I didn't have much time for sightseeing, but walked around most of central Bangkok with a few excursions here and there. I was planning to use Bangkok as my travel hub over the next few weeks, so I wasn't too stressed out about seeing all of the sights on this particular visit.

One evening, I went to the infamous Khao San road. This is where most of the backpackers stay and is famous through out SE Asia as the original "backpacker ghetto". I made a conscious decision not to stay there because the area is not well linked to the rest of the city via public transportation, and I was in errand-running/organizational mode. Plus, Khao San has its own distinct vibe, and sometimes I just need a break from backpacker-land.

All in all, my time in Bangkok was a fun experience. The food is fantastic, and the city is full of life. A visit to Bangkok is the travel equivalent of adding a shot of espresso to your life.

-Julia


Bangkok


A lizard chilling out in Lumpini park, Bangkok


Khao San road at night


Evening food stalls in Bangkok...fantastic curry!


Bangkok

Pakse and Champasak

From Tat Lo, I headed with Phil back towards Pakse. Upon arrival in Pakse, we spent two days eating Indian food (we found a fantastic place with cheap Indian food and English menus) and enjoying the forgotten wonders of modern technology, such as air conditioning, tv and internet.

While in the area, we took a day trip down to Wat Phu Champasak, a pre-Angkor era Khmer temple complex, just south of Pakse. Getting there involved several different modes of transportation and some serious haggling with the tuk-tuk drivers, but it was definitely worth the effort. The ruins were some of the most atmospheric that I've seen so far and had none of the crowds that you see at Angkor Wat.

Pakse was where Phil and I had to part ways. From Pakse, my plan was to head into Thailand and he was headed North towards China (from China he's traveling the silk road West to Europe). We had been traveling together for 3 weeks, the longest I'd traveled with anyone since Billy left SE Asia. We'd become good friends, and it was sad to say goodbye. Thus is life when you travel alone; you meet some fantastic people along the way, but you almost always have to say goodbye...at least until the next time.

I've been so fortunate to have met such amazing people on this trip. Truly, it has been the people who have made this a special experience for me.

-Julia


Pakse


French-colonial buildings in Pakse


Pakse from the back of a tuk tuk


The Mekong on a beautiful sunny day


Ferry to Wat Phu Champasak


Entrance to Champasak


Temple ruins


Terrace steps to the main temple complex


Overlooking the Mekong river valley from the main temple terrace

Bolaven Plateau and the Chili-standoff

After a few days of total relaxation, Hendrik, Phil and I continued north to Pakse and then on into the Bolaven Plateau region. The area is, you guessed it, a plateau, known for it's cool coffee-growing climate, great hiking and impressive waterfalls.

Our first stop was the town to Paksong. We had wanted to do several days of trekking, but a tropical storm that had hit Vietnam was wreaking havoc on the Bolaven Plateau, dumping tons of rain, so the trails were too muddy to navigate (and there were zillions of leeches, yikes!). Instead of long hikes into the woods, we ended up taking some short walks around the town, visited a few of the waterfalls and enjoyed the novelty of being cold (I was starting to forget what cold and rainy is like, now I remember). Phil and I explored the local market, where we learned the Lao phrase for "tall foreigner", which is "farang nung". Pretty much everyone has been calling me that, so I'm glad that I finally understand what it means.

In Paksong, we met Uma and Etienne, a Thai-Canadian couple who were also traveling in Southern Laos. It was great hanging out with them and their language skills meant that we could have some meaningful conversations with the locals and were saved from a chicken soup-only diet. Spending time with travelers who can speak the local language was a stark reminder about how different my experience has been here in Asia as compared to my time in Central America. While I have met some great travelers, I definitely miss being able to easily communicate with people other than fellow backpackers, or locals involved with the tourism industry.

Paksong was also the location of my first official defeat, since leaving home, in the spicy-food-standoff*. I love spicy food, and usually when I order a spicy dish here in SE Asia, the server will raise his/her eyebrows at me with a look that says "oh really white girl, we'll just see about that". I don't know if they tone down the spice for me or not, but usually I can handle whatever level of spiciness I'm given. My demise was not at the hands of some chili-loving SE Asian cook, but was my own brilliant doing. I took a big spoonful of the handmade chili paste that was provided at every table (like ketchup would be provided at a restaurant in the US), dropped it in my soup, stirred it up, took a nice big bite, and then sat there as my taste-buds were seared into oblivion by some insanely hot Laotian chili pepper. Lesson learned: when in a new place, respect the potency of the local spices before dousing your food.

From Paksong, Hendrik left us and headed towards Vientiane while Phil, Uma, Etienne and I went to the town of Tat Lo for one day. Tat Lo was much warmer and drier than Paksong, so Phil and I took advantage of the conditions and went hiking. This area of Laos sees far fewer tourists than the North, so the people are generally quite warm and welcoming (in general Lao people are very kind, but the people from small villages truly have hearts of gold. We had a fantastic time hiking through the countryside and surrounding villages, interacting with locals and playing with the little kids.

-Julia

*I am excluding from this statement the time in Malaysia, while travelling with Billy, when I mistook a whole green pepper for a stir-fried green bean and popped the entire thing in my mouth (with disastrous results, of course). That was more like a sneak attack than a fair fight between me and the chili-pepper.


Muddy road to Paksong


Paksong


Little girl in Paksong, contemplating how to use chopsticks


Hendrik gets a haircut (he was very trusting to let me near him with a hair-trimming device)


Rain, rain, rain


the 120m Tad Fane waterfall, Paksong


Phil, Etienne, Hendrik and Uma, walking home from the waterfalls


Etienne, Uma, Hendrik, Julia and Phil at dinner in Paksong


The market


Hendrik and the jars of home-made Lao Lao (Lao whiskey soaked with herbs)


Figuring out how to get to Tat Lo


Answer: in the the back of a pick-up


Sunset on the Bolaven Plateau


Goats in Tat Lo


Village kids leading us to a waterfall


Waterfall outside of Tat Lo


Phil, hanging out with some local kids


Some of the local peppers, the same kind which almost killed me

4000 Islands

If you are in need of somewhere quiet, peaceful and tranquil that also has good food and friendly locals, head directly for the 4000 islands region of Southern Laos. This is where the Mekong river splits up and flows around thousands of islands (hence the name). It's the perfect setting for several days of R&R.

I was still traveling with my kiwi travel buddy, Phil, who I met in Vietnam. The two of us landed in Don Kong and met up with Hendrik, a friend I had also previously met in Vietnam. The 3 of us took boat tour of the surrounding islands, relaxed, and soaked up the chilled out atmosphere that is Laos. Hendrik and I decided to get ambitions and rented bikes to ride around part of the island. Through some erroneous navigation, we ended up riding around the entire island (a 50km loop). It took all morning to complete the trip, but the views were fantastic, so it was definitely worth the extra effort.

Returning to Laos also meant enjoying my favorite Lao dishes once again. A ma officially addicted to Laap (minced pork or chicken with onions, chilies, lime and mint. Add a little sticky rice to the equation, and I'm in heaven.

-Julia


A storm rolls towards the Mekong


Schoolkids in front of a French colonial building, Don Det island


Train Engine left by the French, Don Det island


Hendrik and Phil strolling around Don Det island (my cheap Vietnamese sandals bit the dust as I was taking this shot, yet another pair of sandals falls victim to my fierce toe gripping)


4000 islands


The most patient and understanding cat, ever


Phil enjoys some street meat


Hendrik digs into some sticky rice on the bus