Fab.u.LAOS!

We started our time in Laos doing what we do best (besides scuba dive, that is). Driving the Thakek Loop on motorbikes for three days. One stop along the way was a cool spring pool which was full of locals. We were invited to drink BeerLao and eat grilled fish, sticky rice and tamarind fruit. They were very hospitable and even offered to drive us to the next town to stay overnight so we would stick around longer and drink more with them. We respectfully declined the offer,drank responsibly and left after the feast and a freezing cold jump off a rock into the 'cool' spring.

The night we finished the loop, we were on a bus north to the capital city of Vientiane. We did our usual city wandering after a short nap and breakfast. We found the COPE (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise) where we learned how they work to help the locals, especially those affected by UXO (unexploded ordinances) by providing prosthetics, along with mental and physical therapy. We also sat in their small theater and watched documentaries about the history of American impact in Laos, which basically involved us dropping a ridiculously large number of bombs (on the neutral country) during the war against Vietnam.

Vang Vieng is an infamous tourist destination for floating down the river in a tube and stopping along the way for drinks and a free shot at each bar. We watched people return from these outings completely wasted, and I wasn't necessarily looking forward to a peaceful tubing down the river being crowded with drunk, loud backpackers splashing me. Luckily for us, we bypassed the bars, including most of the people and had a relaxing ride on the river with one beer to enjoy the beautiful scenery. We had earned it, too, after our 20 kilometer kayak trip that same morning. We needed a break on the river, especially since we had one complete kayak tip over. A corner, tree and small rapids were involved. It was also the first time Kristina and I had kayaked on anything except flat water.

The next day, we took a bus to Phosonvan, to check out The Plain of Jars sites. These are, apparently, ancient burial jars.

From there, we went to a city called Luang Prabang. We did our usual city wandering, checked out the night market and took a day trip to swim at a waterfall.

Our final stop in Laos was Luang Namtha, where we organized a trek into the deep jungle of the NamH Protected Area (NPA). We rented mountain bikes to explore the town and surrounding area on the first day. We crossed paths with three other travelers who were biking and ended up booking a trek with a bigger group of all of us together (for a cheaper price, too). Our two day, three night trek involved a lot of climbing up and down steep hills. We spent the night in a nicely built wooden, traditional house at the edge of a local village. Our guides cooked us a traditional meal with the help of some of the local villagers. The company we booked with tried to include the locals in being involved in and benefiting from tourists as much as they could. The day after we returned from the hike, we rented a motorbike and drove to the neighboring town for fun. There wasn't much of anything to see there, but the drive was beautiful and green. We drove past a lot of rubber plantations and, surprisingly, a bunch of banana plantations. From meeting a few people here, Kristina and I were inspired to cross the border back into northern Thailand and then fly to Taiwan, where we would spend my final two weeks in Asia.

Notice my leech protection in the picture? Long pants and long socks overlapping equals no leeches for this girl! We took a few days in Chiang Mai, in Thailand, until our flight left. We did a zip line adventure just for fun. I didn't find it scary, but it was an exciting adrenaline rush.

Cambodia Angkor W(h)at!?

Many of you were wondering where I slept as I traveled. I finally remembered to take some pictures of my dorm room in Cambodia. For less than $5 per night, I slept in one of the bunk beds, in a room with eight total beds. I also had a wooden storage locker for my stuff, and breakfast was included (the egg baguette). And while I relaxed at this hostel, I also found some friends who played chess with me, and there was a small pond/fountain that worked as a fish spa. It's the thing to do here, sometimes along with a massage. The fish nibbled away the dead skin on my feet. It tickled, but I thought it was cool.

Weeks 1-2: Siem Reap. The temples at Angkor, including, but not limited to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the Tomb Raider temple (where Angelina Jolie filmed a scene for the movie). I rode a bicycle about 7 km (one way) to the temples on four separate occasions. I joined a Colombian woman I met at my guesthouse for my fifth day excursion. She hired a tuk-tuk for the sunrise at Angkor Wat followed by twelve exhausting hours of following around an English speaking guide to some of the main temples (many of which I had already explored on my own). He had some fun stories, history and insights that he shared, but I much preferred not being led around on a tour. I spent much time, especially during the scorching hot afternoons with a fan blowing air on me in front of a computer as I attempted to figure out 'what I want to be when I grow up.' Not exactly that, but I was trying to decide what to do when I get home...my next step, if you will. Nothing earth shattering has been decided, and I definitely didn't get the next five years planned out or anything. Honestly, I'm still deciding if I want to stay stateside or go abroad again...And of course all of the details that those imply. Sigh. It will all work out :)

Week 3: Kristina's friend, Andrea, came to hang out for two weeks. We started in Phnom Penh with a visit to S-22, a school turned prison during Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime. We also went to the Killimg Fields, which is exactly what it sounds like. There was an audio tour with survivor stories and crying on my part. It still hurts my heart to think about what the Cambodian people were put through in the relatively recent past. We went north to Koh Kong, where we organized a trek into the Cardamom Mountains. We met two lawyers currently working in Phnom Penh with the UN to prosecute some of the cases of The Khmer Rouge. That was interesting to hear what they do and how that kind of process works. Next, we were off to Anduong Thuek, where there is Community Based Eco Tourism (CBET) program at up with the local village of Chi Phat. We joined a group of three French people on a 70 km (about 40 miles), 3-days/2-nights mountain biking adventure. We realized that kind of distance on a bike could possibly feel like 'butt murder', as Andrea referred to it. We also carried a good sized backpack with our clothes, water and sleeping hammock. The most challenging part of the ride for me was during the second day, after I had finally gotten more confidence in riding the narrow, sometimes step or rocky trails. This was when the trail became intermittently blocked with trees, so much that our one guide was in front with his machete cutting open a small trail. Many of these required us to crawl, waddle and pull ourselves and the bike through. It was demoralizing after five instances of this, when all I wanted to do was sit on my bike and ride, no matter how much my butt hurt. We survived, and I felt so awesomely accomplished afterward that I want to bike (everywhere) when I'm back home. Next, we moved on to Kampot and stayed next to a river outside of the town to relax and recover. We did a half day cave tour, abseiling and rock climbing. We drove a motorbike around for the second half of the day, found a secret lake but then lost it again. Found a lot of black pepper plantations. This region of Cambodia apparently produces some of the best black pepper and is known worldwide. We ended the day eating delicious, fresh seafood covered in the region's famous black pepper sauce.

Week 4: As my visa was about to expire, we did a quick jump over the border to Koh Kut Island in Thailand. We had some beach time, free use of kayaks and did two (less than impressive) dives. We parted ways with Andrea who was heading to the Bangkok airport, and we got on a bus to Laos!

Three loves reunite!

I was fortunate to take another trip to Indonesia. While it is clearly my favorite Southeast Asian country (love number one), I was also reunited with diving (love number two) and my family came to visit in Bali (love number three...my family, not Bali). Those are clearly not written in order of importance, rather in order chronologically.

Love #1 Returning to Indonesia. The people. The food. The weather. Everything that I love, remember. Still just as fantastic.

Love #2 Diving in Raja Ampat, Indonesia (way far east, near Papua, which is the furthest eastern island of Indonesia) has been at the top of my list of diving that needed to happen since I started these travels in June. I decided to live (eat, sleep and dive) on a boat for seven days so that I could experience some of the best dive sites in the Raja Ampat area. Pictures will give you a better idea of how absolutely amazing and mindblowing it was. It has been, hands down, the best diving I have done so far! Seven days of living on the boat, meeting more great people (the diving community is so much fun) and doing seventeen dives! Life doesn't get much better than that.

The Jaya. Our boat with Komodo Diving.

I was bored while waiting for the
next dive so I climbed the mast.

We even took a little hike for sunset at a nearby lookout point.

Our awesome dive group! Germany and USA represent.

I am so glad we had an underwater camera with our group.

Almost every dive was like swimming in an aquarium!

I wouldn't usually link a blog post in my own blog post, but a dive guide on our trip, who works for Wicked Diving, also writes a blog for them. So, if you're interested in more of the specifics of our week of diving, check it out. I think he did a great job.

http://wickeddiving.com/2015/03/concerning-the-big-picture-and-fishy-fish-fatigue-trip-report-for-raja-ampat-liveaboard-trip-13/ 

After the liveaboard trip, we relaxed at a homestay at a nearby island, still in Raja Ampat. We thought we would need time to unwind from the massive amount of dives we had done and just from living on a boat. It turns out, we just wanted to keep diving. Luckily, our homestay also had a small diveshop where we did five more dives. When I wasn't diving, I was sitting in my hammock reading or laying on the sand in the sun. 

Do you think we were done diving yet? Ha! We headed to southern Sulawesi for more diving. It's the off season (apparently there are a ton of sharks in the peak season), but we still had fun diving and met some more interesting characters (mainly boat builders and spear fishermen). We did five more dives here.

The view from the restaurant where we ate fresh fish barbecue.

Notice the beautiful water colors?
Or were you distracted...by the tree, right?
This is for my sister and her "love" of spiders. 

Love #3 My Family!!

I met the fam in Bali. My dad, sister, brother-in-law and two cousins made the long journey to check out what was so great about Asia and Indonesia. I can't say that any of them enjoyed the plane rides and long flight times, but they all survived (some better than others), and maybe I convinced them that it's a pretty great place to be (but I don't know, you'll just have to ask them for yourself). 

We stayed in Canggu for three days. We went to the beach a couple of days. We went on a water sport adventure, including a jet ski, banana boat ride and a tube ride. We drank a lot of Bintang, the local beer, while sitting next to the pool. We went out one night to the crazy strip of bars and clubs.
 

Dad at the dance club. It was hilarious!

We took a big van for some rice field site seeing, coffee tasting and stopping at the Sacred Monkey Forest along our way to Ubud, where we spent three days. We got massages (while the boys drank beer) and went shopping. I took my cousin to try an introductory course for scuba diving. I think he's hooked, and I'm happy to be that "bad" influence (I don't know if he realizes, yet, that diving can become an expensive habit, and will most likely involve trips around the world to desirable divesites. Darn). More beer was consumed pool side, except this time our villa had a private pool. This led to more jumping in,splashing around and ridiculous water fights. We even had a night of playing euchre. From here, we took an early morning excursion up Mt Batur to see the sunrise from the top.

Rice field green. Gorgeous!

Mt Batur is 1,717 meters high.
So proud of everyone for making the climb!

View from the top of Mt Batur, right before sunrise.

 

Then, their short vacation was finished, and we all flew back to Jakarta together.  Unfortunately, I don't have any group photos, so I'll put one on here later from one of my family members. I am so glad they came to visit and I could share with them a little bit of my Indonesia experience. I hope they had as much fun as I did! Thanks for coming. Love you guys!

Viet...VROOM...nam!

January to February 2015

Me and my chariot! Gotta love those trucks who honk loudly
and don't like to share the road.

We spent our entire 30+ day visa (apparently they just gave us from 20 Jan. until 20 Feb) driving our motorbikes from the south of Vietnam all the way to the north. We even made it to the Chinese border, but then we turned around. The driving in Vietnam is a whole other can of worms than any of the countries I've driven in throughout Southeast Asia. I felt like I had to relearn how to drive, because the "rules" are definitely not the same as Indonesia or Thailand. The best advice I got, from an American expat living in Ho Chi Minh City, the day I bought my bike: "Think of the craziest, stupidest, most unexpected thing that the other driver(s) can do. And then just expect them to do it." That was exactly what happened so many times while driving, especially with the sheer amount of motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City. Defensive driving was the name of the game. Some days it was quite exhausting. Even when we left the cities, it was the same advice taken to heart when driving on the highways with the buses and trucks. I just got out of their way. They're bigger. They will win. I will lose. We quickly learned how to use the atlas along with google maps and city maps to create our best route, which we made sure avoided Hwy 1 (the main road from south to north, full of road construction and the big trucks and buses). We chose the parallel roads, which usually allowed us to drive more slowly through rice paddy roads, local villages and have a chance to take in the beautiful scenery.

All that being said, we had no problems with our bikes, mechanically, and we had no accidents with any of the aforementioned other motorbikes, trucks or buses. Thank Goodness! After one day of driving, here are a few things we learned. Mainly, wear pants, a mask and gloves for dirt and sun protection. Layers became necessary as we drove further north into colder temperatures, as well. Buy a bungee cord to strap the backpack onto the seat and always have two ponchos ready, one to put around my backpack and one to wear. Also, avoid the main highway in order to avoid the big trucks. 

In the following, I'll give you an idea of our trip, from the south all the way to the north of Vietnam. I would say, "Buckle up" but I think the more appropriate is "Put your helmet on!"

Stop 1: The south. Ho Chi Minh City (you may know it better as Saigon). Crazy full of motorbikes! We did some site seeing to The Reunification Palace: the former government of South Vietnam was housed here. The War Remnants Museum: full of displays of war pictures, propaganda, Agent Orange effects from what is referred to in this country as the "American War". Opera House: acrobatic show about typical Vietnamese life on the countryside, and performers used only bamboo materials as props. Convenience Store: bought two semi-automatic motorbikes from a local man outside of the convenience store.

Crawling through part
of the Cu Chi Tunnels

Cao Dai Temple

Stop 2: First day of driving. Cu Chi tunnels: built and used by Vietnamese soldiers to hide in and attack American soldiers. Tay Ninh: Cao Dai Temple, which has an interesting mix of Taoism, Buddhism and Confuscianism, with Christianity and Islam also thrown in there.

Stop 3: Da Lat. Cooler temperatures here due to higher altitude. French colonists used it as an escape from the Saigon city heat, back in the day. We used it as a couple of days for relaxing and cooler weather (little did we realize how much colder we would get as we drove further north in the country).

Stop 4: Doc Let. Along the coast. We stayed at a "beach resort" to break up our longer drive. We also stopped at a cool place called Ganh Da Dia. I would like you to notice two things in this picture. First of all, you may wonder what I am sitting in. That's actually the "boat" the local fishermen use to get to his fishing boat. Second, what is that crazy rock formation behind me? I actually had to check the interwebs for a scientific explanation. Here's what I found, thanks to www.vietnam-beauty.com.

Ganh Da Dia

"Millions of years ago, during volcano eruption, mineral flows melting will be frozen when they encounter water and then the solid breaks into columns or obliques. That created the beautiful landscape of Ghenh Da Dia for the present time. Time over time, the landscape is rearranged as an artistic work by the hand of nature. Ghenh Da Dia is about 1km large, half in the sea and half above sea level."

Stop 5: Hoi An. Old city, full of history. Delicious foods. Vietnamese cooking class. Outside of the city, Son My ruins and Marble Mountain. Bought a tailor-made jacket and pair of shorts.

We traveled over the Hai Van Pass. There is a tunnel through
the mountain, but motorbikes are not allowed through it. 

Stop 6: Da Nang. Another stop to break up the drive.

Stop 7: Dong Ha. DMZ (the demilitarized zone) tour. Tam, a local owner of a cafe and hotel, set up the tour. Our guide was a South Vietnamese war veteran who fought alongside the Americans. I learned so much about the differences between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and our guide was very willing and open to share his story and answer our questions. Here's a plug for Tam, which I don't usually do, but he's the reason why Dong Ha is one of my favorite places in the country! He gave us a great deal at his newly acquired hotel and then even invited us out to join in a snake dinner. He actually works for a NGO, and he is just a genuinely caring person who wants to share the history of Dong Ha and Vietnam.

A rebuilt version of the bridge to separate
North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

That's snake in my chopsticks.
It wasn't bad, but I won't start eating meat again for it.

Stop 8: Phong Nga-Ke Bang National Park. Home of the world's largest cave, Son Doong, as well as one of the world's longest cave systems, which is found in Phong Nga Cave. We explored Phong Nga cave, only about 1 km deep, as the system further inside is closed to visitors. We also went into Paradise Cave. We drove our bikes on the 60 km loop around the park, with its beautiful Karst outcrops. We met a lot of other people who were driving bikes, many from North to South (opposite of our travel plans). For the sake of convenience, and really to save time in our thirty day visa, we sold our bikes here and took an overnight bus further north to Hanoi. 

My camera clearly cannot capture neither the size nor
majesty of this cave. It is unbelievable!

View of the area from outside of a cave entrance.
Beautiful even on a rainy day.

Stop 9: The north. Hanoi. A little sight seeing. Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum: Ho Chi Minh is, simply put, the Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader and key figure in founding the People's Army of Vietnam and Viet Cong. He is typically shown deep respect and is considered the liberator of the Vietnamese people from colonialism, as his vision was to unite North Vietnam and South Vietnam to form a united, communist Vietnam. The "Hanoi Hilton". American prisoners of war were kept here and there are displays of how well they were treated, hence the nickname of the prison. We also met up with a former colleague from Jakarta who happened to come through the city the same day as us. We all met and chatted over a beer, and then we had dinner with his family that evening.

Ho Chi Minh on a propaganda poster.
They refer to him affectionately as "Uncle Ho".

Get it?!
Saigon "2" Hanoi! We made it (and in one piece). 

Stop 10: further north! Ha Giang. Thanks to a traveler we met in Dong Ha, we had the idea and plan for the northern loop on our motorbikes. Oops, you say, we already sold them. That is true, so we rented bikes from a hotel. They were so much nicer than what we had owned, it was amazing to drive them! From this hotel, we also had to pay for a permit to enter the area further north, since it is a protected area and National Geo Park. Over the course of five days, we drove from Ha Giang to Nin Minh to Gong Ha to Meo Vac and back to Ha Giang. This loop included stops at markets, absolutely amazing views of the karst limestone outcroppings, local villagers along the road at every turn, a drive down a path that lead us to the northern most point in the country. There is a tower and flagpole here that can be climbed, so that we could "look into" China to the north. Hands down, the driving of this loop showed me the best scenery in the entire country, in my humble opinion (but I can't compare it to Sapa or Halong Bay, as I chose to drive this loop in lieu of traveling to those more touristy destinations). 

Guess what? That's China behind me.

Ha Giang Loop

Winding, mountain roads is an understatement.

Convinced of the beauty, yet?

Stop 11: back to Hanoi. Vietnamese New Year and my birthday. The hostel where we stayed threw me a birthday party and even bought me a cake. They were so sweet! The owner had also been very helpful in helping us plan our motorbike loop in the north, as he used to organize tours in that area. At midnight, there was a fireworks display to celebrate the New Year (and my birthday, of course). 

Vroom! Vroom!