Backpacking

Last time we wrote, we were enjoying the lazy, hot, beaches of Koh Phangan. As Jen previously described so accurately, with every passing day, there were less and less people at the beach. Dogs were ruling the roost.

We spent the last few days enjoying the sun and warm weather and peaceful sounds of the surf. Very relaxing and we started getting our heads around heading home. It was difiicult to prepare ourselves to get used to the feeling of not having sunscreen splashed on your person all day long.

Unfortunately, we did overdo the sun on the second last day so our tans look great but the last day needed to be spent indoors or in the shade most of the day. I also was a few days into an ear infection that was tolerable by day but painful by the evening. I perservered nonetheless, and checked out of our hotel on May 26.

Our trip to Koh Samui and Bangkok remained uneventful - a few more boats, taxis and airplanes but not much more of note . The last day in Bangkok was quite enjoyable as we spent the day, getting packed, doing some last minute shopping and going to see the newly released "Indiana Jones" movie. It was our best Bangkok experience to date!

We arrived home with no issue at Customs but Air Canada made us miss our connection to Calgary so we ended up getting a flight direct to Saskatoon from Vancouver. We moved into our new Guest House, my mother-in-law's! It is by far the best bed so far! We stayed up for several hours having homemade sandwiches and started regaling our stories. She has been the best landlady of our trip. We will definitely stay for a few days!

Since our return late the night of May 28, we have been reflecting on our enjoyable journey and taking in the sights (of Saskatoon) to see, in what sometimes feels like a "new country". We have been able to get used to small habits, noises and customs from SE Asia that we now have come to expect them as normal. The quiet line-ups at stores, lack of bartering for goods, no honking, and crossing the crosswalks are only some of the "foreign" behaviors we are struggling to get used to.

It does feel weird to be back at home and not have a place to live and change routines, to include looking after your own vehicle, bicycle, etc. without having to worry about "renting, hiring or arranging public transport". Also, the lack of store fronts advertising, money exchange, tours and not having to try ordering food in a foreign language. This western landscape seems a bit unfamiliar, yet deep down we know...it's where we are from.

We are happy to be home and recognize how lucky we have been to have had such a wonderful honeymoon and life changing experience. We are eager to meet up with all our friends and family but are also realizing that reality and getting back to a "new" normal life are all part of the next exciting installment of our journey.

We have thoroughly enjoyed writing these blogs and hope that you have enjoyed reading them as well. It was quite a delight to us while away from home to check our blog and emails to hear that people at home were living thier lives with lots of other exciting developments of their own. This helped us to realize how important others are to us. Thanks to everyone who read our entries and we look forward to visiting in person soon.

Vang Vieng is a Laos town situated along the Nam Song River and is a destination of all young backpackers looking for a relaxing day tubing down the river drinking beer and swinging from these long ropes into the river. These "tubers" (get the joke from the title now?) take over the town every afternoon. There are a several businesses that are over-run by with young guys and girls dressed in skimpy bikinis and surfer shorts waiting in line for their tube and the 4 km ride to the starting point.

Ted and I have learned long ago that we aren't 21 any more. We like a few beers and even some good music but we are not touring around South East Asia seeking out the best party, Dude! So we were a little shell shocked when we left the quaint town of Luang Prabang to enter into Fort Lauderdale during Spring Break. The whole town has boomed with this this influx of young backpackers. The town is really in a gorgeous area but the some of the charm is lost on this "tubing scene!". Most people are more interested in how they look than meeting a local or enjoying good food.

Now you may think I'm a bit of an old fuddy-duddy but Ted and I did part take in the "Tubing experience" we stood in line, got to the river and while everyone else from our Tuk Tuk jumped in the water we waited while we applied sunscreen! After the first few "Tube up" bars it settled down a bit and we found a great guy that was very "free" with the Lao-Laos whiskey! We had a few good beers that loosened us up before going to a few more bars on the way back into town. The day was really awesome and Ted and I had a good time (Especially Ted, as I was still recovering from the worst car sickness ever the day before).

We topped off the day with a great Laos supper and more Sticky rice. Laos food has been one of the great secrets about Laos. The food is wonderful and so fresh. I am personally addicted to having Laap Pa - Fish spicy salad and sticky rice!

We left Vang Vieng after only a day so that we could "Kayak to Vientiane". So yesterday we broke up another windy Laos trip with some kayaking down the Nam Lik. It wasn't enough time in the boat for us (or my stomach) but it was fun none the less.

We are now safely in Vientiane for a few days before we leave for the Thai Islands of Ko Samui and Ko Phagan! We only have 2 weeks left of our trip (we arrive home the night of May 28th) and are of mixed feelings about going home...happy to see everyone but we aren't quite ready to give up this golden honeymoon! Thank goodness we don't go back to work until September!!

It's been awhile since our last update. We arrived at the Thai-Laos border on April 25th and crossed the Mekong to Huay Xai, where we met the Gibbon Experience (see an entry dedicated to this adventure to come shortly to a computer near you!), after this heroing adventure we headed up to a lovely northern town called Luang Namtha. This country is flipping gorgeous - green and mountainous!! It makes trekking and biking more tricky though - especially since Ted and I are out of shape! We hung out there for a day and enjoyed cheap beer and great biking. We spent the next day on a long and arduous bus ride (we were really only ever travellling 20-30 km/h due to car sized potholes). The ride took 9 hours (partly because of a flat tire). However, at the end of the ride we were still an hour from our destination, Non Khiaw. So we hopped on a Sawngthaw (a pick up with seats in the back) for the last leg of the journey. We ended up in the little town late and tired. Ted and I were sick of travelling and really just wanted to get to Luang Prabang!! Although this little town is beautiful we decided to head south instead of stay - all of the Guest Houses have a lot of big bugs too!

We jumped on a long boat for the 6 hour beautiful journey down the Nam Ou river! It was a photographer's delight. Little villages, fisherman and gold prospectors lined parts of the trip! We enjoyed the sprays of water and the great views. This country is very sparsely populated and so it really feels quiet and peaceful, just what we've been looking for!

We arrived last night in Luang Prabang. It is beautiful old town that is filled with temples and it lines the Mekong and another little river. We did a big search to find the "right" guest house - this town is a little over-run with travellers! We plan to hang out as most people do when they get here!!! We may stay for awhile and do some short trips - we'll keep you updated! Today we started some shopping but the most exciting thing we have found is some new flip flops for me - I made a big hole in the bottom of mine!

We took a one day beginner Thai cooking class and we are definitely ready to go PRO! Even though we had helpers measuring, preparing and cleaning up all of our stuff we feel confident that we have the tools (we did buy one of their knives) to become famous too! Our chef was none other than Sampon...the Famous Thai Chef! We had a blast that day cooking Panang Curry, Northern curries, Fish with chilis and basil and of course sweet sticky rice! We got to eat everything we made and two days later Ted and I are still alive!!

One of the best parts of the Cooking class was that it was taught in Air conditioning. Now, I have never been a fan of air conditioning in Saskatoon but I have quickly grown to love, seek and crave it in South East Asia. It is tooooo hot here! There is no reprieve! We even started to plan the last leg of our trip based around weather forecasts! If you don't have air con or a beach it really limits what you feel like doing all day! Thankfully in Chiang Mai we found an awesome pool (i wish i had goggles) not too far away. We are enjoying hanging out in this lovely little city. Biking all over the place to have mango soothies and picnics. We even found a shop with real cheese - making our sandwiches awesome!

We are heading north in a few days to see Gibbon monkeys! Ted and I will get to live in a tree house and move around by zip cord! After that we are counting down the trip as we will make it home by the end of May.

We took an internet hiatus from emailing. It was not our choice but email and internet is very hard to come by, the further you are from a large city in Burma. We tried one day but only managed to get one email and it took one hour. (Even as we type this, email and most of other websites, yahoo, gmail, and msn, etc are "unavailable")

We just finished a week in the beautiful town of Pyin Oo Lwin in the hills outside of Mandalay. This was a very special stop for us as Ted's father, Don was born and raised here!

We wanted to share some of our most memorable stories from the little town...so here is our Top Ten most memorable stories and anecdotes (in no particular order!):

1. The Weather, Flowers and Strawberries - This is the reason that most locals come to spend their holidays in Pyin Oo Lwin (POL). It is at least 6 degrees cooler than the lowlands and the trees, flowers and forests are amazing! It also means that there are more hills and that was good for the cycling legs! The wild and wonderful strawberries are everywhere and are really good. I had a lot of trouble with transporting them as they were so delicate that every time I got them home they were juice! We had a great time visiting the Shan Market everyday to pick up all our favourite fruits (watermelon, papaya, oranges and apples are in season) and veggies (for our picnic!)

2. The People - It's a small town - what can I say? The people were always very curious about us but as soon as we smiled they did too! We especially enjoyed our "haunts" - the places in our "neighbourhood" that we frequented (ie., tea shop, beer stand and all of the shops and houses we walked by each day). We met many colourful characters including the gentleman who now owns the old Fisher house, the boys that always served us wonderful samosas and tea in the morning and a golfer named Joseph. He met us on our walk home one day and visited with us while he was heading to the golf course. We saw him several times after and he invited us to his house. One day we met him again and he took us to his house to visit his family! It was a delightful visit and his children and grandchildren loved our digital camera. We also met a friendly guy who saw that we were lost when we were heading to a hillside pagoda. He told us it was on his way and he rode with us - visiting the whole time! He was 66 years old and still rides a bike everyday!

3. Tea Shops, samosas and sweets - We found a little tea shop in the middle of town and that became one of our favourite haunts. They would always bring out a plate of samosas and that hooked us in! The young boys thought we were funny and were very good humoured. Many times we thought we were asking for regular Myanmar tea and instead we got tea with condensed milk. We tried so hard to learn how to say it properly but to no avail we always got tea with milk (not that we were complaining - it was awesome!). Burfi and indian sweet meats are tops here too!

4. Restaurants and bills - This was by far one of the most bewildering things that we have encountered in Burma. Most restaurants (food centres, tea shops etc) do not have prices on their english menus. Most of the time locals don't use a menu so I guess the menus are for foreigners. The funny part is that we decided awhile ago to not ask the price of an item because many times were were pleasantly surprised at how little it cost. However, the interesting part is that the price of the bill seems to vary significantly! We ate at a great little Indian restaurant and when we asked for the bill, we watched the whole family (staff) confer for many minutes trying to figure out how much to charge us! Sometimes were were pleasantly surprised and sometimes we were stunned! One time the bill came back reading: "lunch = 3600" - that is it - no breakdown or anything. Can't really barter with that can you? We finally agreed that if the restaurant had a door and a menu that had many pages, we should ask the prices!

5. 43 Beers - We took a share taxi to Pyin Oo Lwin on Ted's Birthday (March 29th) and we shared it with a couple from Ireland. When we got to town we met up with them in the market and we decided to go for an afternoon beer. We found a Beer Station that had draft Myanmar Beer (only 0.50$) and we started to visit and drink. We hadn't drunk with the Irish yet and found them to be good and eager drinkers! The boys at the Beer station were a bit stunned by the request for "four more" all of the time. Finally we realized that we should eat something as we had been sitting, drinking beer and eating lehpet (a snack) for 6 hours! When the tab came it said that we had 43 beers! We couldn't argue with them (none of us could count at that point) so we thanked them! We stumbled through town looking for food and singing happy birthday to Ted.

6. The Gaaris - How could any list of memorable things about Pyin Oo Lwin without mentioning the horse drawn carriages that are all over town. This was an awesome way to get off your feet for awhile and watch the world go by!

7. The Kandawgi Gardens - Another must see in this town. The gardens are famous and are just out of town. We had heard that the entrance fee was $2 (as quoted in the Lonely Planet) but we have learned that inflation and other things have drastically changed prices since that book was published. Instead it was $5 per foreigner plus $1 for your camera! That pretty much blew our budget - so it was a good thing we brought our own picnic lunch into the park! Don't get me wrong, we loved the park and especially loved the swans, takins and all of the incredible flora! We took a small break at a bench along a path in the swamp garden and a family walked by. The man stopped and asked us if he "could snap our picture"! We laughed, wondering what he and his family thought of us sitting in a swamp! Welcome Canadian swamp people!

8. Our Hotel - We splurged and stayed at the wonderful Royal Parkview Hotel. We had great service and we were glad to get our daily delivery of fruit and complimentary water! It took us several days to realize that all we have to do is ask and they will help! For instance, one morning we were having our "American Breakfast" - white toast and eggs and wishing that we could have something more regional. All of a sudden the table next to us received Mohinga! We were stunned. We asked the front desk if there was the possibility to have that and she said yes, and produced a long menu of local Burmese and Indian favourites. She told us that we just have to order the night before! The same thing happened shortly after when we were getting ready to watch the movie "Poseiden" (It gets very dark - and sometimes no power and most places close early in Burma so we watch movies before bed) and the channel goes blank (this frequently happens - channels change a lot!) so we call reception and they say "of course, we'll get it back for you!" - Burma is truly fascinating and mind-boggling!

9. Tofu! - Yes, tofu made the list! You might wonder why - it's a funny story! Ted's dad, Don has heard about the wonderful Shan Tofu of Pyin Oo Lwin. He wanted us to find it and learn how to make it. He gave us instructions to visit a local restaurant to learn the secrets of the Tofu business so that we could return to Canada and turn it into a million dollar empire! It's a good idea but that restaurant doesn't serve or make tofu! We did manage to find a Tofu Maker (through our hotel). He spent an hour with us showing us how to make dried strips of Shan Tofu (made of yellow beans or lentils). It was fascinating and a lot of fun....we didn't try as we were scared to wreck some of this delicate tofu!

10. Cycling - No Top ten is complete without our favourite mode of transportation! Pyin Oo Lwin is very spread out so the best way to see it is on bike. We rented "staff" bikes at our hotel almost every day. The bikes were always of varying degrees of "working". We biked down to the Pwe Kauk Falls one day and Ted had to use his "Flintstone" breaks to make it down safely. At the end of the very steep doiwnhill, he used a Runaway Lane into someone's yard a few feet before running into the Ticket Desk barricade at the entrance of the falls! One another occasion, Ted rode a bike where he continually bumped his knees on the handle bars!

So there we go! The Top Ten! We loved our trip to Pyin Oo Lwin and continually are learning more about the country, bartering and ourselves! Sorry to all of you who we would love to email but we are having a lot of problems with our Yahoo! Tomorrow we are off to Inle Lake! - should be a blast!