you may know sir alex as the lead singer of the arctic moneys....the director of the film is a good friend of his and was also the director of flouresent adolescent music video and the producer/director of their live at the apollo dvd.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
I have a massive amount of stuff to post once i find some wifi somewhere....but i saw a movie called "Submarine" last night in this awesome art deco bar cafe movie theater in soho in london. it was an allright movie but the soundtrack stole the show for me. I will listen to anything by Alex Turner... The guy is just awesome.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Bangkok
koh san rd ^
Bangkok bangkok bangity bang bangkok
I had been given good advice from someone i met while eating lunch (!!) that I could take a public bus to kho San road , the backpackers number 1 starting and ending point of Southeast Asia. Barely stopping, the public bus picked me up to the left of the train station entrance, next to a kfc. For only 7b it was a great way to get there and soak in the sights along the way. Always interesting, bangkok’s china town was in full hustle and bustle mode with flowers seeming to be the main item being dealt with in the area we drove through, with hundreds of stalls selling any kinds you could imagine. While I had wanted to book a room in advance my luncheon friends had assured me I could find a place. They were right and within about an hr and a half of getting off the bus( I took my time exploring) I had found an incredibly cheap room. Bare minimum but a place to sleep. There was another solo traveler from Switzerland already there and it was cool to be back in a multibed dorm again, the best way to meet people. After dropping my bag off I went back out to explore, passing on the idea of consulting lonely planet for advice and just deciding to go do. Passing by a guy reading a lp at a bench a little later I chuckled and mentioned to him that I thought that was a fruitless endeavor. He agreed (but was doing it anyway) and when I started to walk away he got up and followed along with me. He was an interesting dude. Kind of strange but whatever, I wasn't doing anything except walking through a mad world with him so it was ok. He told me a crazy story of how he ended up here. A few months ago he had traveled to Chicago. He had previously been in America for 6 months ( a monthh longer than his
passport allowed) surfing in california and still had some personal items in Cali even though his gf there had broke up with him and he had gone back to holland. ( a beat up van he lived in, some surf boards, clothing, tpys, etc) anyway when he returned a few months later to chicago at immigration and customs, when asked why he was back in the states he said he was going to be traveling and maybe looking for a job. Now, that was his mistake. Taken to a holding cell he spent a few hours waiting before a dutch speaking customs agent entered and told him he would be returning to holland on the next available flight. He wouldn't be allowed back into America for at least a few years unless he got a work or study visa. Just like that his American vacation had started an ended. Arriving back home he wallowed for a few weeks before booking a 3 week trip to thailand. Where I met him on a street bench readig a lonely Planet.
While walking with him I saw 2 guys with loaded bags. Offering to show them a cheap place to stay they were happy to get some good advice. I walked them back to my hostel and they were happy to have their bags off after their journey from London to Bangkok. 120 b was about 800b less than what they were planning on spending but they were nonetheless agreeable and glad to have met someone. Leaving the Dutch boy( Martin) waiting on the main road, he had disappeared when we got back. Regrettable but there wasn't much we could do. Hopefully he found something or someone he was
looking for.
The two Brits, myself and the girl from Switzerland went out for some drinks and some conversation. Never having traveled before the Brits were full of questions. The switz girl and I obliged and tried to relate to them but were in a clearly different agenda and frame of mind. We still enjoyed each others company greatly but it was a unique dynamic to witness. After a tower between us we walked -- back to the guesthouse and told her we were going to explore and see where the night took us. I wasn’t really wanting to have a wild night because I still was not 100% but I was going to carpe diem with some cool dudes. I hung out with alot of girls on this trip but it's nice to drink a beer with a dude and have dude talk. we ended up going all around the area and tuk tukked to patpong for some essential Bangkok story making. The kinds of story that the firepit crew will eat up after a few cold beverages. The kind of storey that would disgust and amuse William, make matty d howl, and Mickey ask ??. Joe and Andy will laugh, Joe will shake his head, And Dan Tom and Eric will just say only paul... I did not buy myself anything or anyone but saw a part of town that fat old russian men flock to and pretty much epitomizes all the stereotypical ridiculous things you might hear about Bangkok. I should have found a more eloquent way to type out this little event but Its much more of an in person story to be retold. Essentially, I didn't do anything I wouldn't tell my mother... ( but ideally she won't read this far down and ask for too many details. ;) but saw some really wild and ridiculous stuff.
That night back at the guesthouse it turned out to the coldest night in Thailand in like 10 years for some strange reason. It was nice to bundle up with blankets and wear pants and longsleeves the next day. One of the British guys stayed out a little later than the other one doing things he probably would t want to share with his mum but that was all up to him. He was out until 7 or 8am and eventually slept most of the next day.
When i woke up that morning I was feeling better and went out for some fruit and a drink. While perusing I walked into a tailors shop and began talking with an Indian man nicknamed Papa Jim and his 2 sons, Raja and Andrew. I was in a Thai tailor shop and was falling hook line and sinker for everything they were telling me. Not that I was being had, but I had thought about maybe buying a suit and I could
only be awed at how easy it was and how good it felt. Draping fabrics after fabrics over me I felt like a king being waited on by the three of them. Endless colors and design choices it was tough to even find
a place to start. Eventually i decided on a silver and a black suit, along with a variety of shirts and ties. Before I left though I tried on a suit that somebody else had ordered and was picking up later that day. When I tried It on I got that feeling that only a guy can understand when he puts a nice suit on. It's magical really, how it feels like you just put on a jacket made of success and power. I immediately disregarded the silver and went with the brown. It was that awesome. One of the neat things about buying the suit (besides that try took a visa card) was that I went back to the tailor 4 or 5 more times over the next two days to get fitted. Each time was a new experience with a tea or a water or a pepsi or whatever to add to the moment. It's the little things that make it special and it was a great experience. Watch out world-I look fresh to death!
We got to know each other pretty well throughout the day and definitely had a good time getting lost. In Bangkok wherever you go you are solicited by tuk tuk drivers asking if you want to go to a certain place. They are all the same spiel and it's unbelievable how many times you'll hear the same things. 10 baht each, standing buddah special opening today, grand palace tour, 1 hour anywhere you want to go! It's all the same and it's all just a ploy to get you to buy some fake gemstones from a professional scam artist. We wandered around all day and I splurged on a ridiculous laser pointer that I had been eyeing at every market I stopped at.
To get back to our guesthouse around diner time we decided to try and take this boat taxi thing. We didn't know where it went or anything about it but that just intrigued us more and it turned out fantastic in the end, almost right where we wanted to be. We met back up with –- at the hostel and all grabbed some dinner together. the British guys were off to star heading north the next afternoon , but I decided to stay an extra day and see another part of the city. Although koh son road was a pretty unique place I knew Bangkok is a major metropolitan city and I wanted to get out of the one corner I was in. I was given some advice to head to a part of town called the Sukhomvit road area. More upscale and commercial it had a pretty different flavor to it for sure. After bid adeiu to the Brits I headed to the Sukhomvit for one more night and day in Bangkok. Although the guesthouse prices were more than triple what I had been paying I tried not to let it bother me too much. I found a hostel called soi1 hostel and , although expensive, it had a tremendous vibe to it when you walked in the door. notes and directions all over the wall, pictures and advice, big communal area, made the decision for me.
It was about midday on the 18th when I arrived to soi 1 and after a little while I went out for a little exploring with two Canadian girls on holiday for two weeks from med school in Canada. (you keeping dr. count Travis) they were pretty cool girls. It's wild when you meet people traveling so differently from you yet still with so many similarities.
We wandered for awhile and had some noodle soup for dinner. Nothing special except that the soup had some chicken feet in it which was a new experience. The desert was the topper though. An egg, nutella, and banana pancake smothered with cream and chocolate this thing was a sight to behold.
I hadn't eaten one my entire trip but this one made up for anything I might have missed. We were originally going to get one to share but made the very good decision to each get one as we watched it being made. After dinner and desert we kept wandering and made it over to soi cowboy, a spot notorious for old men to relive the glory days persay. Err I dont know how to put it. It was a wild street of fluorescents and girls inviting you to have a drink with them. It was so overwhelming that I totally forgot to take out my camera and take a picture. Woah.
When I got back to the hostel I grabbed one of the few English books they had and gave it a go. Eat pray love. Although I only got through about 50 pages I don't think I was enjoying it very much. A good read, I didn't really like the main character as a person I don't think. Later that night I would end up trading the book for digital fortress, another Dan Brown thriller. Guys good man, I had to go for a third one!
Anyway there weren't to many people at the hostel but I started talking to hr owner, a guy named Dave. Dare I say infinitely interesting, Dave is a true personality. We talked about all kinds of big and small stuff and I eventually joined him for his late night dinner. He showed me all around on the walk to his favorite burger joint. Seeing how he lives there it was wild to see how many of the restaurant owners ad ladies of the night knew him. It was great hanging out with the guy for few hours and hes a personality I won't soon forget. Back at the hostel I talked with 2 of the girls that worked there and had a good chat before heading off to bed. Right before I went to bed though I started talking to the night desk worker about America and eventually sports. I got all riled up about NCAA basketball and probably went into 10x more details than he could possibly comprehend (cindarella, dickey v?!) as I was about to walk upstairs he turned on the tv above his head. Uh oh. it was about 2am in Bangkok so about 2 in America. It was first and second round action!!! Sure enough they got the international channel that was showing the games and mr. Gus Johnson himself was on the play by play. I was trapped within 10 seconds, and eventually stayed up for the entire thing to watching George Mason pull off the win. I love college bball man. March really mgt be the best month. Spring , pattys day, spring break, march madness, birthdays....
Anyway the next morning I packed my back and stored it I the closet. My plan was to head south to some island on the night train. I had hopped to find a friend to take the trip but to no avail. I went out for lunch but came back to grab a map. When I came back there was a German girl doing some stuff on her computer. I asked if she wanted to join me and we went off. She had arrived that am from chaing Mai and was just going to unwind and chill for a bit. Our lunch adventure took us a little farther than we expected but eventually we found a really nice street vendor who hooked us up with a massive plate of fried rice and veggies and tofu. We had to wait kind of a while to get our food but were having great conversation the entire time so it didn't matter at all. A Chinese man next to us kept doing his best to enter our conversation but his English wasn't that great. He was super super friendly though so we didn’t mind a bit. After he had finished eating and chatting with us he asked if he could write my name down in case he ever came to America. Of course I said, and gave him all my info. I took his down because he lives near guangzhou china, which is a big city that happens to be where two of my cousins were adopted from. Undoubtedly I think that our paths will eventually cross which is a wild thought that I love to think about. As he paid for his food and left he shook our hands, smiled and thanked us again for "meeting him" we later found out he had even paid for our lunches for us. So so cool, and just one of those minute details that make being a friendly, good hearted and open minded traveler so great. More than a few times I have alluded to how such a minute detail can influence a person’s life and this is another of those.
After lunch we continued walking and Jess and I stumbled onto a major Thai -red part democratic rally. Thousands of people all wearing red were listening to speeches and music and showing there support for the cause. It was a pretty wild site to behold and at one point we get to a coection of images that showed how violent and oppressive these rallies have gotten. It was a big time reality check to see the dates being only in the past few months of some major outbursts and scenes of violence. By now our quick lunch had been going on for 2 or 3 hours. I went back to pick up my suit from koh San rd. It fit like a charm and I can't wait for the first excuse to wear it. Taking the boat taxi back was another great experience. On the way I told Jess how cool it was to meet her and have "lunch" with her. I halfway jokingly said she should cone with me south to an island and the next thing I knew she was joining me in my dash to the train. Even though she had just been on a 9 hour bus ride and arrived in bkk that a.m. she was down to take a train 14 more hours south with me. Bad freakin ass. She eventually told me that she didnt really have a plan and that when something seems to be going right it's usually better to just roll with it. Still, I commend her on her random spirit because that's super rad. While she was packing her bag I talked to Dave the owner about the situation and he had no problem letting her leave and just letting her use the night she paid for in a week or two when she would return. So great.
in the middle of a rally you can stand in the middle the busiest road and take a picture. me and jess right after she told me she was going to team up for my next adventure.
and this dude is just something to look up to...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Vientienne, Laos, Nong Khai, Ayuthaya (a short little one)
My comments on Vientiane are short and sweet. i met an awesome friend named Kim on my bus to Vientiane (we orignally met at the Kings Speech in LP, Lao) We ended up sharing a hotel room and exploring for the second half of the day. she had a flight to Cambodia the next day and so we jam packed some stuff in. My stomach was still upset but i kind of worked through it as it was much easier having a friend to walk and talk with. we took some pictures at a famous statue near the water but the highlight was undoubtedly when i was able to play some ultimate frisbee on the banks of the Mekong as the sun was setting with some expats. i think i could have thrown up about 5 times in the 15 minutes i played but it didnt matter in the slightest bit. For dinner kim and i went to a roadside restaurant and i ordered way to much food. i think i ate about a third of what i ordered before i couldnt finish. I was going to buy a ton of souvenirs but needed to rest back at the hostel immediately after dinner so nothing came from Vientiane shopping wise. After kim got back to the hotel we hung out and talked for a bit and even watched some "Blue Bloods" on television before getting to sleep. Although i was kind of under the weather hanging out with Kim was an awesome experience and im super glad our seats were next to us on the bus and we were able to meet again. Shes awesome and im sure we'll meet again. Also, seeing how i left my battery charger in Chaing Rai before i left I had been asking everyone i saw that looked like a tourist if they had a charger i could use. I met these two girls from Denmark that did and they were awesome to talk to and charged it for me overnight and dropped it off at my hotel before leaving town the next morning. so sweet.
After taking a night train south from Nong Khai I ended up in Ayutthaya. My night spent in Nong Khai was spent trying to feel better after getting some kind of stomach virus after leaving van vieng. Even in vientienne spending the day with Kim I was constantly not feeling right and making the trip to The bathroom far to often. Nong Khai was a nice place to recoup as it was on the banks of the river and had relatively few foreigners. The only thing I really did was try and get lost one night. Amazingly I got lost and found myself in the middle of a massive Thai festival. Tons of carnival games, multiple stages, sporting events and wildlife expos it was what you would expect from the Topsfield fair or the Big E in America. I saw some super cool stuff, the semi finals of a kick sack match, and ate some interesting foods. It was a cool site to behold and the beat part about it was I went about 3 hours without feeling ill which was great.
Leaving nong khai the night train dropped me off in Ayutthaya. About 2 hours north of Bangkok Ayutthaya is famous for its ancient relics and monuments surrounding the city. I arrived early and found a guesthouse above a bar for a relatively good price. Happy to drop my bag off after some 15 hours of travel I took a brief nap and by 2pm had rented a bike And was out exploring some ruins. I got good and lost and saw some cool stuff throughout the day. On my way back at night I got caught in the first rain I had seen in 4 weeks. Never pleasant on a bike I made it home eventually, soaked to the core and ready for some rest. It had been a long day and I was still getting better. The bar below me had some nice Thai music so I was lulled to sleep by Thai accents singing chili pepper and oasis songs along with the occasional drunken accompaniment from some expats. Not as bad as it sounds I quite enjoyed it actually!
Feeling significantly better ( about 75%) the next day, I again rode the bike around Exploring before catching a train to Bangkok around 2. Although the bartender told me what time the train departed he was off by half an hour and I ended up having to waiting about 2 hrs for the next one. Not up for rallying for an hour long adventure in the heat if the day with my pack in I was content with finishing my
book. The Wind up Bird Chronicles wasn't as good as I had hoped for but had kept me intrigued for alot of hours. As I sit here and edit this post I somewhat regret that statement because I was quite interested in it and have thought a lot about it since I finished it. I would say I recommend giving it a chance.
The ride to Bangkok was uneventful as I listened to my iPod ( wolfgang gartner essential mix for a few before zeppeliin 3 took me to sleep and brought me into the gates Of Bangkok. I awoke as the last person on the train had tapped me and woke me up. Immediately I was awake and alert and ready to take on the world.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone, then edited back at a computer
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Oh cruel world-nighttrain edition
Tuesday.march 15
Oh cruel world-nighttrain edition
I started this trip last night around 630 pm. A night train from NongKhAi to Ayutaya. 10 hours. The price was unbeatable but after 9 hours I need to vent to my electronics about some things. Pretty much one thing actually. Comfort isn't a priority on this 3rd class 200 baht ticket. That isn't expected required or desired. I can deal sitting in a hardbacked 3 person seat knee to knee with the people staring across from me. I have a sweet pillow
and a decent book. The humid,stagnant air....no problem. the fact that it rained for the first time on the walk to the train for the first time in 4 weeks. no problem. thw woman next to me enjoys my shoulder and lap as a pillow. what can i say its better than a rattling window or staight up i guess. What I absutely can't stand about the situation and i can feel my hostility when I type this is the hawkers trying to sell me food and drink every two minutes. Yapping in the most droning and incessant tone it creeps into your innermost being . I don't know what it is but it's awful. I'm hungry and thirsty but would eat the pillow my head rests on and suck the dew off my moistened shirt before I encouraged there selling of things. You know when you are on an airpane in an aisle seat and the beverage cart bumps your elbow or makes you move your feet. Once or twice that might happen but not on this train. Once or twice every 5 minutes is more like it. I have no idea where I'll be staying once i get off this train but I anxioulsy await that decision!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
van vieng.
the bus ride to van vieng
the bus ride to van vieng is a long and windy road that goes through the crux of the mountains of Laos. Every turn provides epic views of endless countryside and mountains. A beautiful gorgeous ride where it's nicer to stay awake than keep your eyes closed.
On my mini bus were 2 German guys, a cezch, an old German man, charlie from wales, an Argentinian girl, and myself. The min van had a USB audio player and although we couldn't read the screen and could only put soya on once allowed us to listen to some of the chezhs music from his laptop. Nirvana and some jazz were nice for the first 2 hours but the playlist repeated About 4 times and although I didn't mind, later on in the trip any mention of nirvana brought about groans and sighs of agony. At some point of the trip as well I realized tha I had forgotten my sandals at the hostel. I was barefoot and didn't realize it until one of our rest stops. More annoyed at myself than anything I planned to send a message to my friend Coleen when I got into town and ask her to bring them with her when she departed the nex day. I was not concerned, just annoyed i had to put on socks.
On the way we pulled over to the side of the road numerous times to use natures restroom but one time while i was sleeping I awoke to everyone out of the van around the sides. apparently a strange noise made them stop. Nothing seemed appearent until after a few minutes someone closed the sliding door and let out a wild aspiration of laughter...r amazement... or startlement. Staring back was a hole the size of a dinner plate in the tire. Completely unusable I wondered how long we had driven with it as such.
About an hour later with a semi deflated spare tire we continued our journey. The semi deflated tire made no difference to our driver and he kept right at it pedal to the floor.
In an attempt to make up time he drove ridiculously fast and used his strange sounding horn incessantly to warn people of his arrival. Winding around curves where peoples homes and villages were he just laid on the horn and kept on trucking. Nearly delegging a baby cow, more than one chicken was not so lucky.
When we arrived in van vieng we were dropped off a the spicy Laos hostel. As usual it was fully booked so we continued on to find another place. In an extremely lucky and suprisngly easy turn of events we were able to find beds for all 7 of us for only 15k Kip each. When we had started walking down the road I had almost broken off from the group but had decided to stick with it for a little bit. Our guesthouse had an amazing view and was operated by Thai immigrants from chaing Mai. The youg guy and his aunt were very friendly and helpful and everything worked out well.
To relax we all sat at a bar overlookingthe beautiful limestone rock in front of us and enjoyed a cold beer Lao as the sun set over the mountain. After traveling and finding a hostel there's not often a better feeling than a cold beer and traveling tales with new friends in a new place. We talked about what we wanted to do while in vv and made some extremely rough plans. We watched the sun set from the restaurant /bar before grabbing dinner down the road in the center of the city.
not a bad view from the restaurant^
Charlie had been to vv last week so he was our resident tour guide and it seemed like whatever he said the group followed. I broke off alone for dinner so I could email my friend and find cheaper grub ( wifi, fried rice, and a pineapplemango shake for 20k Kip) I met up with them as they were finishing and we made plans to check out the town and a few bars later that night after a little downtime. That night we had spent the night by an awesome bonfire surrounded by bamboo huts with hammocks in them. I think when I get home i want to build a bambook like hut of somekind somewhere and put a hammock in it. seriously. im gonna do it.
The next day we spent adventuring around VV. Not wanting to go tubing quite yet, the older German man, myself, and the Argentinian got super lost in the woods and fjorded a river to find our way back. i kid you now. we held our bags over our heads and fjorded a river. fjorded is an awesome word. anyway it was a great adventure and it ended at a bar with some delicious fried rice. while at the bar we met a bartender from the night before who was messing around with his ipod. I offered to play him a little something and i think i saw his head grow 2 sizes as he heard my damian marley jamrock dubstep mix. he went wild for it and told me if i came to his bar that night and played some of my music he would hook me up. hmm. tough decision dude. ill have to check my schedule.
vickey the argentinian^
After our adventure we went to unwind at the hostel and took a little nap. I spent some time making a playlist of about 9 tracks i thought the bar would like and headed over for dinner and drinks and to play my mix. It was a chilled out reggae-esque bar but i knew they had a killer soundsystem so i wanted to give them some womp but i knew i would have ease into it When I got to the place i was discouraged to find out that the guy i had talked to wasnt coming in that night because he had gone too hard the night before and just went to sleep. I was a little bummed but when the waiter saw a little distress he asked me why I cared. I told him about the track i wanted to play him and he grabbed it out of my hands and took it to the dj. For the next 45 minutes or so I felt like king of the flipping universe. Im not kidding. I was on cloud nine. no cloud ten. I could see everyone in the bar swaying to the music and i could tell everyone was into it. I thought the high point was when 2 seperate people went over to take a picture of the ipod to see the name of the song but the real high point came when Bassnectar's - Maximum reverbed through the speakers. I was nervous about the tempo of the song but i led into it well. They were proper speakers and when the bassline hit it was heavy and hard but not in your face and everyone was super into it. The argentinian girl turned to me, just smiled, and told me that I owned everyone right then...everyone loved it. I sipped my pineapple mango smoothie and just soaked everyone in. life is good man. life is damn good.
That night we went to another bar on "smile island" that had a bigger fire but also a way more crowded atmospher that wasnt quite as nice. the next day we would take on tubing.
Ok in the first part of this post I didnt really describe life in van vieng very well. its a crazy crazy place. too crazy actually. i dont even feel i can do it justice on here and i dont think i want to try. while fun for a day or two its a dangerous place to get stuck in and i met many people who came for a few days and a few weeks or even in some cases months were still ignoring reality and just going wild the entire time. Tubing is the center of this craziness. I was not going to stay in VV and not try tubing once but i was still none the less prepared for the madness that it entailed. dont judge me for this and I dont know how I feel about my cousins and family reading it but none the less it was an experience and something to learn from. (ok i enjoyed it too)
Essentially , you rent a tube, taxi to the top of the river, and float down the river getting drunk at bars along the waterway. thats the simple explanation. each bar has a unique "catch" to get you to stop at it and guys and girls throw ropes at you to try and pull you into the bar. the drinks are obscenely cheap and stronger than you can ever imagine. at the first bar we went to we ordered four buckets. by buckets i mean those sand toy colored buckets you use when your a kid at the beach. in our four drinks they used an entire liter of whiskey and one half a liter of another bottle before adding in some redbull and some coke. i kid you not. four drinks. about 2 american dollars each. with enough alcohol to leave you face down after your first stop. In addition to that each bar that you stop at gives you free shots when you get out of your tube and while you are choosing a drink. lao whiskey flows stronger than water here.
So as if getting hammered and going off the richter wasn't enough each bar has a rope swing or zip line or high dive platform that you can jump of or into. Im not talking a small little ledge or something minimal here, but rather ladders 20 meters in the air that you have to swing off and jump into a small area from. slides that creak and crack as you slide down them, touching the rock bottom as you land butt first. crazy dangerous. I didnt bring a camera with me for obvious reasons (of the 5 things i brought with me, bandana, money, small towel, sunglasses, only the quick dry towel made it back home)
Everybar blasted music and everyone was just having a great time. I never did spring break cancun but if its half as crazy as a tuesday on the Van Vieng then I guess I understand. so much fun, but unquestionable danger. supposedly something like 3 or 4 people die PER MONTH on the swings and/or other abuse they do to their body. that seems absurdly high but I heard it from multiple people so i dont know what to think. I had a blast but one day was more than enough.
I will let some pictures and youtube videos do it justice becuase my words can not.
i only have 5 minutes left online. this might not be the best video but its got some great background music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7RvYCRJmAQ&feature=related
After tubing, I took a bus to the capitol of Laos, Vientienne. I will post about my time there later on tonight if i get a chance.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
the bus ride to van vieng is a long and windy road that goes through the crux of the mountains of Laos. Every turn provides epic views of endless countryside and mountains. A beautiful gorgeous ride where it's nicer to stay awake than keep your eyes closed.
On my mini bus were 2 German guys, a cezch, an old German man, charlie from wales, an Argentinian girl, and myself. The min van had a USB audio player and although we couldn't read the screen and could only put soya on once allowed us to listen to some of the chezhs music from his laptop. Nirvana and some jazz were nice for the first 2 hours but the playlist repeated About 4 times and although I didn't mind, later on in the trip any mention of nirvana brought about groans and sighs of agony. At some point of the trip as well I realized tha I had forgotten my sandals at the hostel. I was barefoot and didn't realize it until one of our rest stops. More annoyed at myself than anything I planned to send a message to my friend Coleen when I got into town and ask her to bring them with her when she departed the nex day. I was not concerned, just annoyed i had to put on socks.
On the way we pulled over to the side of the road numerous times to use natures restroom but one time while i was sleeping I awoke to everyone out of the van around the sides. apparently a strange noise made them stop. Nothing seemed appearent until after a few minutes someone closed the sliding door and let out a wild aspiration of laughter...r amazement... or startlement. Staring back was a hole the size of a dinner plate in the tire. Completely unusable I wondered how long we had driven with it as such.
About an hour later with a semi deflated spare tire we continued our journey. The semi deflated tire made no difference to our driver and he kept right at it pedal to the floor.
In an attempt to make up time he drove ridiculously fast and used his strange sounding horn incessantly to warn people of his arrival. Winding around curves where peoples homes and villages were he just laid on the horn and kept on trucking. Nearly delegging a baby cow, more than one chicken was not so lucky.
When we arrived in van vieng we were dropped off a the spicy Laos hostel. As usual it was fully booked so we continued on to find another place. In an extremely lucky and suprisngly easy turn of events we were able to find beds for all 7 of us for only 15k Kip each. When we had started walking down the road I had almost broken off from the group but had decided to stick with it for a little bit. Our guesthouse had an amazing view and was operated by Thai immigrants from chaing Mai. The youg guy and his aunt were very friendly and helpful and everything worked out well.
To relax we all sat at a bar overlookingthe beautiful limestone rock in front of us and enjoyed a cold beer Lao as the sun set over the mountain. After traveling and finding a hostel there's not often a better feeling than a cold beer and traveling tales with new friends in a new place. We talked about what we wanted to do while in vv and made some extremely rough plans. We watched the sun set from the restaurant /bar before grabbing dinner down the road in the center of the city.
not a bad view from the restaurant^
Charlie had been to vv last week so he was our resident tour guide and it seemed like whatever he said the group followed. I broke off alone for dinner so I could email my friend and find cheaper grub ( wifi, fried rice, and a pineapplemango shake for 20k Kip) I met up with them as they were finishing and we made plans to check out the town and a few bars later that night after a little downtime. That night we had spent the night by an awesome bonfire surrounded by bamboo huts with hammocks in them. I think when I get home i want to build a bambook like hut of somekind somewhere and put a hammock in it. seriously. im gonna do it.
The next day we spent adventuring around VV. Not wanting to go tubing quite yet, the older German man, myself, and the Argentinian got super lost in the woods and fjorded a river to find our way back. i kid you now. we held our bags over our heads and fjorded a river. fjorded is an awesome word. anyway it was a great adventure and it ended at a bar with some delicious fried rice. while at the bar we met a bartender from the night before who was messing around with his ipod. I offered to play him a little something and i think i saw his head grow 2 sizes as he heard my damian marley jamrock dubstep mix. he went wild for it and told me if i came to his bar that night and played some of my music he would hook me up. hmm. tough decision dude. ill have to check my schedule.
vickey the argentinian^
After our adventure we went to unwind at the hostel and took a little nap. I spent some time making a playlist of about 9 tracks i thought the bar would like and headed over for dinner and drinks and to play my mix. It was a chilled out reggae-esque bar but i knew they had a killer soundsystem so i wanted to give them some womp but i knew i would have ease into it When I got to the place i was discouraged to find out that the guy i had talked to wasnt coming in that night because he had gone too hard the night before and just went to sleep. I was a little bummed but when the waiter saw a little distress he asked me why I cared. I told him about the track i wanted to play him and he grabbed it out of my hands and took it to the dj. For the next 45 minutes or so I felt like king of the flipping universe. Im not kidding. I was on cloud nine. no cloud ten. I could see everyone in the bar swaying to the music and i could tell everyone was into it. I thought the high point was when 2 seperate people went over to take a picture of the ipod to see the name of the song but the real high point came when Bassnectar's - Maximum reverbed through the speakers. I was nervous about the tempo of the song but i led into it well. They were proper speakers and when the bassline hit it was heavy and hard but not in your face and everyone was super into it. The argentinian girl turned to me, just smiled, and told me that I owned everyone right then...everyone loved it. I sipped my pineapple mango smoothie and just soaked everyone in. life is good man. life is damn good.
That night we went to another bar on "smile island" that had a bigger fire but also a way more crowded atmospher that wasnt quite as nice. the next day we would take on tubing.
Ok in the first part of this post I didnt really describe life in van vieng very well. its a crazy crazy place. too crazy actually. i dont even feel i can do it justice on here and i dont think i want to try. while fun for a day or two its a dangerous place to get stuck in and i met many people who came for a few days and a few weeks or even in some cases months were still ignoring reality and just going wild the entire time. Tubing is the center of this craziness. I was not going to stay in VV and not try tubing once but i was still none the less prepared for the madness that it entailed. dont judge me for this and I dont know how I feel about my cousins and family reading it but none the less it was an experience and something to learn from. (ok i enjoyed it too)
Essentially , you rent a tube, taxi to the top of the river, and float down the river getting drunk at bars along the waterway. thats the simple explanation. each bar has a unique "catch" to get you to stop at it and guys and girls throw ropes at you to try and pull you into the bar. the drinks are obscenely cheap and stronger than you can ever imagine. at the first bar we went to we ordered four buckets. by buckets i mean those sand toy colored buckets you use when your a kid at the beach. in our four drinks they used an entire liter of whiskey and one half a liter of another bottle before adding in some redbull and some coke. i kid you not. four drinks. about 2 american dollars each. with enough alcohol to leave you face down after your first stop. In addition to that each bar that you stop at gives you free shots when you get out of your tube and while you are choosing a drink. lao whiskey flows stronger than water here.
So as if getting hammered and going off the richter wasn't enough each bar has a rope swing or zip line or high dive platform that you can jump of or into. Im not talking a small little ledge or something minimal here, but rather ladders 20 meters in the air that you have to swing off and jump into a small area from. slides that creak and crack as you slide down them, touching the rock bottom as you land butt first. crazy dangerous. I didnt bring a camera with me for obvious reasons (of the 5 things i brought with me, bandana, money, small towel, sunglasses, only the quick dry towel made it back home)
Everybar blasted music and everyone was just having a great time. I never did spring break cancun but if its half as crazy as a tuesday on the Van Vieng then I guess I understand. so much fun, but unquestionable danger. supposedly something like 3 or 4 people die PER MONTH on the swings and/or other abuse they do to their body. that seems absurdly high but I heard it from multiple people so i dont know what to think. I had a blast but one day was more than enough.
I will let some pictures and youtube videos do it justice becuase my words can not.
i only have 5 minutes left online. this might not be the best video but its got some great background music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7RvYCRJmAQ&feature=related
After tubing, I took a bus to the capitol of Laos, Vientienne. I will post about my time there later on tonight if i get a chance.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Luang Prabang
March 9th.
It's a little after 9am and I am in ny first mini van transport. I am leaving luang prabang and will be heading south to vang Vien. From all the accounts I have heard, I have quite a windy,twisty,turny death defieing ride ahead of me. For better or worse I have a front row seat for it all so it should be intrestig enough. Luang Prabang is a great spot and one I would highly recomended to anyone traveling in the area. 3 nights was a good amount of time to stay here but with that amount of time I think I will be hustling around for awhile. Thanks in part to all of the people I have met and talked to I think that I am going to try and somehow make it to Cambodia and see Angor Wat. I have heard only good and wonderful things about it and if I can find someone to make the journey with I think I will. But that is the future and that can change in an instant so I will just try and let you know some of the cool things I have done since i arrived via the slow boat down the Mekong. (edit: no angor wat for this guy...not this trip)
One of the benefits of takingthe slow boat is that because you are with about a hundred people for 2 days, over the course of the next few days or even possible weeks you still see some them around. meeting Arjun in the boat we
we spent the night at a cheap guesthouse in pakbeng and he decided to come to the hostel I wanted to stay at in lp, the spicyLaos hostel. At 30,000 Kip it wasn't a bad place to stay and my crude map bought me right to it's doorstep after exiting the boat. The hostel was a big place with lots of dormitory beds and people from around the world using it as a jumpoff. Places like spicy Lao are great places to meet people because nearly everyone there is a likeminded traveler. One of my goals for my time in Luang prapang was to ride a bike to some sort of destination so the first night i made some flyers and hung them around the hostel asking if anyone anted to ride to the wAterfall, a solid 32k each way to a destination unmissable. I was hopeful to find someone.
The first night I chehcked out the night market and the surronding area on my own but by the end of the night had met up with Arjun, who had left earlier for dinner, a well as Lindsey, my chaing rai friend. (Rafting guide from Jackson,wi)
Dinner was excepional, as I was ableo start wandering while enjoying a 5000kip mango and pineapple shake before coming to the mecca of food at the market, where I was able to fill up an entire plate of anything I wanted for only 10,000kip. That's about a dollar and twent cents. I had a relatively quiet night and got to sleep pretty early. Arjun was going to look at temples the next day but I wanted to explore and find a good bike to rent for my future ride so i wasnt in a rush to get up before 8am to look at temples.
I wandered all around the city starting around 9am and finally chose a teal giant mtn bike with disc brakes for the journey. A smaller bike than I would have liked frame it was nonetheless a gorgeous bike and well worth the price. While exploring I took a pitstop at a wat (temple) on top of a hill. A Brit and his gf from the boat were there and we talked for a while taking a break from the midday sun. They were leaving the next day for the islands. After they left there was an older retired British couple , myself, and a German girl named Ramona on top the hill and the 4 of us stayed up there for quite some time hanging out. When the couple left Ramona and I stated talking. She was on a gap year traveling and already had lots of great stories. She was encouraging bexause she had ridden to the waterfall the day earlier with a few guys who were biking through Laos, that she met at her hostel. I think my next trip I want to bike somewhere far. You can mark me down for that if you want, I just need to find a team and a destination.
We also spent some time with a local Laos man who was learning English and wanted to practice his skills with us and write down some new words and information about us. Super good for him. All he wanted to do was get better at communicating and he was giving it a great shot. When he asked What types of food we eat for breakfast I gave him rundown of the ideal KP big ass breakfast. It was a great way to enjoy the scenary above the town and beat the heat and enjoy each others company.
For lunch I stopped at a small shop that our Laos friend recomended. As I was getting a drink midway through lunch I saw brad, a guy from our boat. I would see brad multiple times more throuhiut my 3 days in luang prabang and I always enjoyed seeing him and having lunch with him was nice. He is a tough character to describe but I will do my best. He is from "Cali Cali" and is a 6'3 about 250-275lb guy. He"ll talk to anyone and has stories about any topic you might think of. A contractor a home he came to Thailand and Laos because "he didn't have an work and he hasn't been on an awesome travel vacation in a while". I don't think I have any pictures with him or off him, but I have a strange sense that I will see him or meet him again some day. Someday, I'm sure of it. He's just one of those travel characters you will somehow come in contact with again in a ridiculous situation.
Seeing how I planned on riding to the waterfall the next morning I again decided to have a relatively quiet night. I had seen an advertisement at a coffee shop that was going to screen The Kings Speech. I decided that would be a great thing to do. At the screening I hung out wih James, a Los Angelas music and arts photoog and blogger who I also met up numerous times. Althouh I only know his first name and that his blog has something to do with tumblr and Scotty pippen I am certain that I will meet him again whenever I make it out to California to visit my buddy mike.
between lunch and the movie i went to a tea tasting and watched the sunset on top of a hill.
Before the movie started I was talking with a girl named Kim who was doing a work internship in singapore and who was traveling now that it had ended. After the film, which was great, Kim and I and another dude from the film went to check out a bar cled utopia. I had heard many good things about it that all sounded too good to be true but in fact were totallly true. Set on a riverside there were multiple seating and lounging areas. Hammocks, pillows and mats, tables, grassy areas were only some of the options and in the very middle was a fully functional volleyball court surronded by huge nets to keep the ball inside. although walkig to get to the bar is like following a maze seemingly throughout peoples backyards it was totally worth it and super awesome. The three of us ended staying until he bar closed at 11:30 and had a great time talking about tons of stuff. Teaching in Korea, taking a tefl course and comparable studys, partying in van vieng, living in singapore, traving for extended amounts of time, we all had intresting things to share with each other and it was a great time. Kim and ___ were older than me but had done some pretty cool stuff so talking to them was a great treat.
When I got back to the hostel that night no one had yet to reply to my note but Arjun told me that he wanted to try and do it and also that he had met another guy, richard, that wanted to ride with us. In a matter of seconds I went from riding alone to having 2 teamates. we agreed to get an early start the next morning as the 2 of them needed bikes and we wanted to get to the falls as early as possible to stay out of the sun.
The next morning they were able to rent 2 really nice trek mountain bikes after we found a good place to get them from. I was also lucky because Richard rented the biggest bike they had for me and I let him use the teal GIant I had rented. A great tradeoff as he got a lighter bike with disc brakes and I got a bike that fit me properly. At 8.40 we were off for our journey. The first 10k were flat and on relatively busy streets but the next 5 or so were on a steep uphill that had Arjun off his saddle and walking his bike up the hill. I could tell Richard had biked alot before but arjun was definetly timid and a little unsure of himself on the bike. I did my best to help him but I did't want to sound like I was babying him. Although he had told me he was going on a biking trek at the end of he summer in the himilayas I also came to find out this was the longest ride he had ever been on by almost 50 km!!!
-(With that being said it was most impressive on his part!! The next day, back at the hostel, he pulled me aside and thanked me for inviting him to go, thanking me for the advice, and telling me he would never forget his first long bike ride. Words can't describe how could it felt to hear him say that and it too will be something I never forget.)-
The waterfall was absolutely bteathtaking and the pictures I have still don't do it justice, although they make a valiant effort.
Crystal clear water with a tinge of aquamarine ( is that why they call it that??) made the water the perfect cool off spot to jump into after a nice ride. We spent a few hours there, swimming, hiking, jumping off rocks, and swinging on an awesome rope swing. While we were there we also got to see me friends Coleen ( San louis abispso, met at chat house in cr) and Billie, a German girl. We hung out with them after they saw us riding in for the last few kilometers. The water was great and made leavig to bike back dfficult but we did anyway. The ride back was extremely nice and much easier than the way there. At one point we stopped for a breather and a few young boys and girls wandered over to us as we sat on the grass on the side of fhe road. Withing a few minutes there were more than ten children around us, wearing our hats, eating some snacks, and just being children meeting these foreigners. It was a real moment, not dilluted by tourism or money or anything except genuine curiousity and amusement. We stayed with them for much longer than we planned to stop and as we left they followed us for another 500 meters or more, trailing us, riding next to us and high fiving us as we left. Only one of the girls knew English enough to ask us our names, where we were from, and how old we were. All the three of us knew was hello(sabadee) so we were most impressed.
A cold shower was a welcome reprieve upon return to the hostel. I made plans for dinner and drinks with coleen, billie, and Jenelle, as Arjun and Richard took aa night bus to vientienne and vang vien respectively. On the way to dinner I again ran into rafting Lindsey one more time as she was heading north the next morning. for dinner we rocked the buffet again. After dinne we went to this babcallex the hive. Although we missed there nightly fashion show we unknowingly walked into their weekly breakdancing night. About 20 guys ranging from about 12-25 absolutely destroyed the dancefloor with crazy flips and spins and balances. Some of the best breakdancig I have ever seen hands down, they made the guys in the NYC subways look like newbies. seriously they were that good. The girls had never been to utopia so after telling hem it was somethig they needed to see before hey left we went over for a nightcap. We met up with a guy named Charlie on the way and convinced him to join us. ( FYI I'm typing this about a week after his happened and chalie is sitting on the bus traveling with me still...) we met up with James (la blogger) and his friend and taught the foreigners how to play Kings. After we finished a game we played some volleyball before heading back to the hostel. Some of the girls played some ping pong but Colleen,Billy and i went to sit In the hammocks. I don't think I lasted more than 5 minutes in the hammock before I fell asleep, waking up about 3 or 4 hours later a little bit chilly and headed back to my room I planned on going on a bus to vang Vien the next morning.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
It's a little after 9am and I am in ny first mini van transport. I am leaving luang prabang and will be heading south to vang Vien. From all the accounts I have heard, I have quite a windy,twisty,turny death defieing ride ahead of me. For better or worse I have a front row seat for it all so it should be intrestig enough. Luang Prabang is a great spot and one I would highly recomended to anyone traveling in the area. 3 nights was a good amount of time to stay here but with that amount of time I think I will be hustling around for awhile. Thanks in part to all of the people I have met and talked to I think that I am going to try and somehow make it to Cambodia and see Angor Wat. I have heard only good and wonderful things about it and if I can find someone to make the journey with I think I will. But that is the future and that can change in an instant so I will just try and let you know some of the cool things I have done since i arrived via the slow boat down the Mekong. (edit: no angor wat for this guy...not this trip)
One of the benefits of takingthe slow boat is that because you are with about a hundred people for 2 days, over the course of the next few days or even possible weeks you still see some them around. meeting Arjun in the boat we
we spent the night at a cheap guesthouse in pakbeng and he decided to come to the hostel I wanted to stay at in lp, the spicyLaos hostel. At 30,000 Kip it wasn't a bad place to stay and my crude map bought me right to it's doorstep after exiting the boat. The hostel was a big place with lots of dormitory beds and people from around the world using it as a jumpoff. Places like spicy Lao are great places to meet people because nearly everyone there is a likeminded traveler. One of my goals for my time in Luang prapang was to ride a bike to some sort of destination so the first night i made some flyers and hung them around the hostel asking if anyone anted to ride to the wAterfall, a solid 32k each way to a destination unmissable. I was hopeful to find someone.
The first night I chehcked out the night market and the surronding area on my own but by the end of the night had met up with Arjun, who had left earlier for dinner, a well as Lindsey, my chaing rai friend. (Rafting guide from Jackson,wi)
Dinner was excepional, as I was ableo start wandering while enjoying a 5000kip mango and pineapple shake before coming to the mecca of food at the market, where I was able to fill up an entire plate of anything I wanted for only 10,000kip. That's about a dollar and twent cents. I had a relatively quiet night and got to sleep pretty early. Arjun was going to look at temples the next day but I wanted to explore and find a good bike to rent for my future ride so i wasnt in a rush to get up before 8am to look at temples.
I wandered all around the city starting around 9am and finally chose a teal giant mtn bike with disc brakes for the journey. A smaller bike than I would have liked frame it was nonetheless a gorgeous bike and well worth the price. While exploring I took a pitstop at a wat (temple) on top of a hill. A Brit and his gf from the boat were there and we talked for a while taking a break from the midday sun. They were leaving the next day for the islands. After they left there was an older retired British couple , myself, and a German girl named Ramona on top the hill and the 4 of us stayed up there for quite some time hanging out. When the couple left Ramona and I stated talking. She was on a gap year traveling and already had lots of great stories. She was encouraging bexause she had ridden to the waterfall the day earlier with a few guys who were biking through Laos, that she met at her hostel. I think my next trip I want to bike somewhere far. You can mark me down for that if you want, I just need to find a team and a destination.
We also spent some time with a local Laos man who was learning English and wanted to practice his skills with us and write down some new words and information about us. Super good for him. All he wanted to do was get better at communicating and he was giving it a great shot. When he asked What types of food we eat for breakfast I gave him rundown of the ideal KP big ass breakfast. It was a great way to enjoy the scenary above the town and beat the heat and enjoy each others company.
For lunch I stopped at a small shop that our Laos friend recomended. As I was getting a drink midway through lunch I saw brad, a guy from our boat. I would see brad multiple times more throuhiut my 3 days in luang prabang and I always enjoyed seeing him and having lunch with him was nice. He is a tough character to describe but I will do my best. He is from "Cali Cali" and is a 6'3 about 250-275lb guy. He"ll talk to anyone and has stories about any topic you might think of. A contractor a home he came to Thailand and Laos because "he didn't have an work and he hasn't been on an awesome travel vacation in a while". I don't think I have any pictures with him or off him, but I have a strange sense that I will see him or meet him again some day. Someday, I'm sure of it. He's just one of those travel characters you will somehow come in contact with again in a ridiculous situation.
Seeing how I planned on riding to the waterfall the next morning I again decided to have a relatively quiet night. I had seen an advertisement at a coffee shop that was going to screen The Kings Speech. I decided that would be a great thing to do. At the screening I hung out wih James, a Los Angelas music and arts photoog and blogger who I also met up numerous times. Althouh I only know his first name and that his blog has something to do with tumblr and Scotty pippen I am certain that I will meet him again whenever I make it out to California to visit my buddy mike.
between lunch and the movie i went to a tea tasting and watched the sunset on top of a hill.
Before the movie started I was talking with a girl named Kim who was doing a work internship in singapore and who was traveling now that it had ended. After the film, which was great, Kim and I and another dude from the film went to check out a bar cled utopia. I had heard many good things about it that all sounded too good to be true but in fact were totallly true. Set on a riverside there were multiple seating and lounging areas. Hammocks, pillows and mats, tables, grassy areas were only some of the options and in the very middle was a fully functional volleyball court surronded by huge nets to keep the ball inside. although walkig to get to the bar is like following a maze seemingly throughout peoples backyards it was totally worth it and super awesome. The three of us ended staying until he bar closed at 11:30 and had a great time talking about tons of stuff. Teaching in Korea, taking a tefl course and comparable studys, partying in van vieng, living in singapore, traving for extended amounts of time, we all had intresting things to share with each other and it was a great time. Kim and ___ were older than me but had done some pretty cool stuff so talking to them was a great treat.
When I got back to the hostel that night no one had yet to reply to my note but Arjun told me that he wanted to try and do it and also that he had met another guy, richard, that wanted to ride with us. In a matter of seconds I went from riding alone to having 2 teamates. we agreed to get an early start the next morning as the 2 of them needed bikes and we wanted to get to the falls as early as possible to stay out of the sun.
The next morning they were able to rent 2 really nice trek mountain bikes after we found a good place to get them from. I was also lucky because Richard rented the biggest bike they had for me and I let him use the teal GIant I had rented. A great tradeoff as he got a lighter bike with disc brakes and I got a bike that fit me properly. At 8.40 we were off for our journey. The first 10k were flat and on relatively busy streets but the next 5 or so were on a steep uphill that had Arjun off his saddle and walking his bike up the hill. I could tell Richard had biked alot before but arjun was definetly timid and a little unsure of himself on the bike. I did my best to help him but I did't want to sound like I was babying him. Although he had told me he was going on a biking trek at the end of he summer in the himilayas I also came to find out this was the longest ride he had ever been on by almost 50 km!!!
-(With that being said it was most impressive on his part!! The next day, back at the hostel, he pulled me aside and thanked me for inviting him to go, thanking me for the advice, and telling me he would never forget his first long bike ride. Words can't describe how could it felt to hear him say that and it too will be something I never forget.)-
The waterfall was absolutely bteathtaking and the pictures I have still don't do it justice, although they make a valiant effort.
Crystal clear water with a tinge of aquamarine ( is that why they call it that??) made the water the perfect cool off spot to jump into after a nice ride. We spent a few hours there, swimming, hiking, jumping off rocks, and swinging on an awesome rope swing. While we were there we also got to see me friends Coleen ( San louis abispso, met at chat house in cr) and Billie, a German girl. We hung out with them after they saw us riding in for the last few kilometers. The water was great and made leavig to bike back dfficult but we did anyway. The ride back was extremely nice and much easier than the way there. At one point we stopped for a breather and a few young boys and girls wandered over to us as we sat on the grass on the side of fhe road. Withing a few minutes there were more than ten children around us, wearing our hats, eating some snacks, and just being children meeting these foreigners. It was a real moment, not dilluted by tourism or money or anything except genuine curiousity and amusement. We stayed with them for much longer than we planned to stop and as we left they followed us for another 500 meters or more, trailing us, riding next to us and high fiving us as we left. Only one of the girls knew English enough to ask us our names, where we were from, and how old we were. All the three of us knew was hello(sabadee) so we were most impressed.
A cold shower was a welcome reprieve upon return to the hostel. I made plans for dinner and drinks with coleen, billie, and Jenelle, as Arjun and Richard took aa night bus to vientienne and vang vien respectively. On the way to dinner I again ran into rafting Lindsey one more time as she was heading north the next morning. for dinner we rocked the buffet again. After dinne we went to this babcallex the hive. Although we missed there nightly fashion show we unknowingly walked into their weekly breakdancing night. About 20 guys ranging from about 12-25 absolutely destroyed the dancefloor with crazy flips and spins and balances. Some of the best breakdancig I have ever seen hands down, they made the guys in the NYC subways look like newbies. seriously they were that good. The girls had never been to utopia so after telling hem it was somethig they needed to see before hey left we went over for a nightcap. We met up with a guy named Charlie on the way and convinced him to join us. ( FYI I'm typing this about a week after his happened and chalie is sitting on the bus traveling with me still...) we met up with James (la blogger) and his friend and taught the foreigners how to play Kings. After we finished a game we played some volleyball before heading back to the hostel. Some of the girls played some ping pong but Colleen,Billy and i went to sit In the hammocks. I don't think I lasted more than 5 minutes in the hammock before I fell asleep, waking up about 3 or 4 hours later a little bit chilly and headed back to my room I planned on going on a bus to vang Vien the next morning.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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