Stop #21 Beijing

The end of our trip! We are excited to be going back and are quite worn out, but we're also keen to see some of the really good sights here.

We had heard so many things about Beijing, both good and bad, so we really didn’t know what to expect. As it turned out, the city seemed surprisingly like the rest of China, although more developed. They had a nice subway system (we benefited from the infrastructure built for the olympics), and some lovely little neighbourhoods. Unfortunately, the amazing hostel that we tried to check in was all booked up (the first time all trip we had been turned away!), but we ended up a nice hostel in the embassy district. We did a lot of shopping while in Beijing, including the purchase of a whole suitcase to carry back all our loot and gifts.

We also had a fabulous meal of Peking duck. It was a lean version, with only half the fat, and it was by far our best meal in China. The chef first brought out the duck (cooked, but not carved) for us to 'approve'. We said it looked pretty good and gave him the nod. The duck was served with an assortment of sides: thin pancakes, plum sauce, green onions, fresh garlic, ginger, white surgar and some other things we couldn't identify. The skin was amazing. We had heard from Geneva to dip it in the white sugar--it melts in your mouth and is just delicious. After the duck, they brought out a plate of elaborately sliced fresh fruits, sitting atop dry ice (?!), and little glass cups of chilled persimmon pudding sitting in water along with floating red rose petals. We tried a berry which we hadn't had before.

And like most other places, the tea we had with the meal was really excellent. I got the impression that Chinese think of the tea like we think of wine, and I can tell you there is definitely a difference between good and bad teas. There are tea shops everywhere where you can do tea tastings, and we got some bags to bring back home. Most teas are served as loose leaves straight in a pot that you share with several people. I have become something of a tea fiend, so I really enjoyed trying out all the different types.

On our first full day in Beijing, we visited was Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The square is a large open concrete courtyard that is packed with tourist groups. It had a communist feel for sure, but it was a beautiful day (courtesy of the rain the night before) and it didn’t feel that imposing. We then went through the Gate of Heavenly Peace to the Forbidden City. This gate is where the famous portrait of Chairman Mao overlooks the square. After our obligatory photo shots, we went into the Forbidden City, which is an expansive palace for the former emperors and empresses. It is now all open to the public, and you can look into the buildings (if you can see past the crowds and finger/face prints on the plexiglass) to see the thrones and decorations. Throughout the city, there were neat sculptures of mythological creatures, like dragon/turtles and lions. The architecture was impressive if a bit monotonous. There was next to no green space. It is all paved and so doesn’t feel very welcoming or comfortable for a palace. I guess it also gets stifling hot in the summer as well, which is why the emporers spent the summers at the equally elaborate Summer Palace a few miles away. One thing we really enjoyed was the Clock Museum, where they house these crazily intricate clocks that the Chinese royalty had received as gifts from visiting dignitaries. Most were from France and England.

Chairman Mao's mausoleum is that large building behind me. We walked through to see his embalmed body, along with thousands of other reverent Chinese.

Chairman Mao's portrait at the Gate of Heavenly Peace.


A turtle dragon, I think.

Inside the Forbidden City

The Temple of Heaven

Kersti reconstructs the Temple of Heaven out of hot chili basil French Fries, yum!


The next day we visited the Summer Palace, where the Chinese royalty used to stay as a break from the heat. Kersti couldn't understand how they used this as a break from the heat of the Forbiddin City, since they used just the same amount of stone in the summer place. Hmm..

Anyway, there is a huge manmade lake in the middle, and it is much more green and relaxing than the Forbidden City. There were groups of Chinese men and women doing their morning exercises in the park grounds (to the jolly tunes of 'Jingle Bells', in fact), and we got some nice exercise walking around the lake. We also saw the famous Marble Boat, a huge boat made completely out of marble. Supposedly the Empress Dowager Cixi decided that she wanted to build up the Chinese Navy, so built a costly marble boat that was unsinkable, and of course also doesn’t float. I don’t think the Chinese Navy was especially feared during this time period.

The Chinese Royal Navy, look out!

We also went to see a Chinese Acrobat show. We didn't know what to expect, but we were wowed. I thought Kersti was just going to have a heart attack just watching them. Our favourite was the hamster wheel, where they ran around, and outside, two gigantic and suspended wheels that rotated 20 feet off the ground. Oh yeah, and of course they jope roped while doing this and even BLIND-FOLDED themselves. The contortionists were crazy too, although hard to watch at times. During another act, they fit 14 girls onto one bicycle. In america, there would have been intrusive signs warning patrons: "DO NOT try this at home".

Here I am practicing some tricks from the acrobatic show. Somehow the fellow tourists didn't seem very impressed.

We saved the best for last, and hiked 10km along the Great Wall. Again, my brother David had recommended we avoid the touristed Wall parts and hike from Jinshanling to Simatai along the wall, and man was he right. The hike really was amazing. It wasn’t very crowded at all, and while I knew the Wall itself would be cool, I had no idea that the surrounding scenery would be so spectacular. The entire time we were winding through these hills, with just one amazing photo spot after another. Parts of the Wall in this area had been rebuilt, while others were in their original condition, giving a nice mix. It was a challenging hike though, as it is very hilly the whole way through.

Defending the wall from invading Mongols (with my walking stick).

Some short sections were mostly rubble, so we had to hike around.

Kersti peering out of one of the many watchtowers.

Kersti celebrating the end of the 6,000 steps we had done on this trip.

The view back along the wall.

When we finished the Wall hike, we still had to get down to the boat to take us back. We were pretty tired, so when we found out that there was a zipline down that trimmed 30 minutes off, we jumped on it. Plus, it was one mode of transportation we had yet to try on this trip. This was Kersti making small talk before the jump, avoiding any discussion of their safety record. It was cutting off 30 minutes of walking--and downhill at that!

What the picture doesn't show was the water was a brilliant green--it was quite a treat to fly above it.

There she goes!

And goes...

And this was basically how our trip ended, now back to America!

Stop #20 Xian

To view all 98 pictures from Xian, see: http://picasaweb.google.com/kersti.miller/200905Xian?authkey=Gv1sRgCL2t0KX6jLLr0AE&feat=directlink

We spent a busy five days in Xian, visiting several sites that are located outside of the city. The city centre is surrounded by a rebuilt city wall, and we initially stayed at a hostel right next to the gate/entrance at the southern end of the wall. It was quite noisy, so later in the stay we upgraded to a nicer place as we needed a break.

Our first day we partnered up with another backpacking couple and went to see the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. These aren’t as well known as the Terracotta Warriors, but in many ways are more enjoyable. They have several excavated pits full of miniature terracotta works, including chariots, soldiers and livestock. The emperor’s tomb is surrounded by these pits full of what he expected to need in the afterlife, and he must have been a big eater because they had hundreds of sheep, goats, pigs, dogs, horses, chickens, etc. Inside the main building that is constructed over the pits, you walk on fibreglass directly over the pits!

The next day we went to the Shaanxi History Museum. We showed up at 2:00, only to see a line stretching around the block. We found out that they give out free tickets at 2pm each day... thus we waited and then toured with hundreds of others! The artwork was incredible, especially considering that much of it was from thousands of years ago. It really brought home how far advanced ancient Chinese civilisations were. My favourite piece was an upside down teapot which doesn't spill the water when put right side up (despite the hole in the bottom). We bought a cheap replica, so prepare yourselves to be wowed at our next party.

Our third day we took a group tour out to the area's most famous site--the Terracotta Warriors. They are housed in a huge covered hanger, and the warriors are extremely lifelike. Every face is unique, and there are infantry, archers, cavalry, etc. all ready to defend the emporer. He wanted to make sure he had a big army for the afterlife, but shortly after his burial the tomb was ransacked by a rival general and some of the warriors were party destroyed. The archeaologists have found that soon after they expose a new warrior to light, that the numerous paints that colour the soldiers wears away. So until they find a way to preserve the paint colour, they are resisting any further excavation. So only a small fraction of the total site has been unearthed.

It is very impressive in scale, but also disturbing that so much effort was originally put into it. We have heard bits and pieces from other sources about the treatment of the artisans who worked on it (many of them joined the emporer), but there was very little info at the museum. We did learn that 700,000 men worked on the tomb.

Surveying my clay army

The terracotta warriors up close (at the Shaanxi History Museum)


The two most ferocious terracotta warriors we came across...

The next day I (Bill) went to hike Hua Shan, a famous Taoist mountain outside of the city, while Kersti had a nice relaxing day at our new hotel. My brother David had highly recommended the hike, and it was quite the harrowing experience with some amazing scenery. The mountains are narrow ridges, many of which have trails along the narrow ledges. There were a lot of people hiking it, but it was a big enough area that it was still easy to get away.

The Chinese hikers all hung ribbons and padlocks along the hike.

There was one especially hairy part, where you hook into a rope and basically climb along the cliff face. Taking pictures from such a spot was a challenge, but a couple below may give the idea. I’m not really scared of heights, but I was bleeping scared doing this part…

Taking a picture doing this part was a challenge.

The last day we took a bike ride atop the city wall. It was our first time on a tandem bicycle. We think the next time will be easier since on this bicycle, the seats were much too short. Apparently they are not willing to provide bicycles sized for people of our stature. It made it a bit tiring, having our knees bent the entire time!

We also had a fabulous Chinese lunch in Xian, although the experience was a little unusual. We went to a place recommended by the Lonely Plant, and when we arrived the place was quite crowded. However, they immediately lead us upstairs into a private room. At first I was worried we would be handed a different (pricier) menu, but it appeared to be standard. The odd thing was, the private room also came with a very diligent waitress. She stood attentively while we ordered and ate, never leaving our side. She waited 1 nanosecond before refilling our cups of chamomile flower tea. Her presence made us feel uncomfortable at first. But once we started trying to talk to her with the help of our phrasebook, things improved slightly! The waitress was really friendly, and she even asked to read through our Mandarin phrasebook. I think she got a little confused though, because right as we were leaving, she asked “How may I help you?”, even though we were clearly on our way out. We couldn't for the life of us determine a possible reason why we would need her help. So, Bill just replied “Thank you” and she seemed to think that made sense.

Anyway, we ate delicious barbequed pork buns.... of the self assembly variety. So you grab the very tender pork, and layer it in one of those white buns with plum sauce, scallions and cilantro. Delicious. We also had fried taro rolls covered in sesame seeds and a fried scallion pancake. It was a ridiculous amount of food. Chinese pork buns rule!

Our friendly server and Pork Buns!!

Some Chinese drinkers invited us to join in their revelery. They were very generous and kept insisting on buying us beer. We played a dice game with them and Bill was once again complimented on being 'so handsome'. I can't take him anywhere in China without the girls wanting to express their adoration for him!

China. There are 2 of these plants next to each other -- this was the view from the Qin tomb.

Stop #19 Hong Kong

See all 87 of our Hong Kong photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/kersti.miller/200905HongKong?authkey=Gv1sRgCO7V8ZfOh5fu9QE&feat=directlink

Sweet escape! We were really looking forward to Hong Kong, not only to get a break from some of the challenges of backpacking in Asia, but also because we had a gracious hostess, Geneva, Kersti’s old friend (and soccer & softball teammate) from high school. She was the best hostess ever! Her apartment was right in the middle of the city, just down the way from SoHo, the expat bar and restaurant scene.


Hong Kong has a really interesting expat community; everywhere we went it seemed Geneva knew someone and they all had exciting lives there. The city itself is very pretty, built around a harbour and with Victoria peak behind.


To get to the top of Victoria Peak, you first take the longest set of open air escalators in the world. It is a hilly city, so they come in handy, plus the rumour is they recently had a cameo in the Dark Knight. We then took the Peak Tram up to Victoria peak, which rans at a steep ~45 degree angle. The view from Victoria Peak back down over the city and harbour is really worthwhile, and there is a nice short loop at the top to walk around.


We also went to the Hong Kong Museum of History, and learned all about the Opium Wars and the handover of Honk Kong to the Chinese. It was interesting seeing the different perspectives of the handover, but so far everyone seems content. Afterwards, we went to the harbour front to see the skyline. At night they have a light and music show where they light up the skyscrapers to the music, it is a really pretty view if extremely corny.


Finally, our favourite part of our visit was when Geneva took us to the horse races with some of her friends. The horse track is right in the city, and is a very popular spot. We managed to break even, my best showing ever at a horse race!


Thanks Geneva for being such a fabulous hostess, and good luck with your return to the States!

At the horse races with our fab hostess Geneva.

Kersti after some exhausting window shopping. The convention center is behind her with the curved roof.

Going up to Victoria Peak on the Peak Tram, you can see why trams and escalators are needed!

The view from Victoria Peak

Late at night looking back over the harbour during the light show.

Stop #18 Guilin

To see all 45 of our Guilin shots, visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/kersti.miller/200905Guilin?authkey=Gv1sRgCP363qrJ84fE9wE&feat=directlink

After our adventures in Yangshuo we relaxed for a day in Guilin before our flight to Honk Kong. Guilin is a bit more industrial and much larger than Yangshuo, but it was still a nice relaxing stop with the worthwhile Seven Star Park.

We had a lovely time relaxing in the parks of Guilin.

It turned out that it was locked in place.


Kersti fortuitously discovered a panda exhibit in the middle of the park. Unfortunately, the exhibit wasn't complete, so they had the pandas temporarily (I hope) housed in bare cells. There were several pandas, and they seemed relatively content chewing down on their bamboo, but other animals at the nearby zoo were not so lucky. I recommend steering clear of Chinese zoos, it is depressing seeing the animals caged up like that.


We ended our night by having some delicious Sichuan food, including this chicken dish which was delic but ridic spicy. All that red is hot peppers...

Stop #17 Yangshou

From Lijiang we flew to Guilin, and then took a bus one hour south to Yangshou. The bus ride was made mildly more or less tolerable (depending on our tastes) by the video that was playing. From what we gathered, it was a Chinese version of Police Academy. It was soooo baaaad! The portrayal of women in the movie was horrific. Anyway, enough of that. We arrived in Yangshou at night so with the help of some Aussies, we found the main hotel drag and picked a nice hotel. At first I was not convinced that we should pay double to get a western toilet and was tempted to pay for our first squatter... but oh, if I were in a movie, the director would have paused for some foreshadowing... Our first night in Yangshou I got TERRIBLY ill and didn't leave the hotel room the following day. (Thank god for the western style toilet! ;)) Poor billy had to shuttle up and down the 4 flights of stairs constantly to get water, replace the DVDs, get himself food, get me some food (eventually)... he was a very good nurse!

During one of his excursions (for dinner I think), he was approached by a group of girls who asked him if we would accompany them on a bamboo boat tour down the Li River the following day, in exchange for some English practice. Billy left it up in the air with them (as my health was uncertain), but when they called the following morning just as they said they would, we decided to join them. (Note - billy thought they were 13-14 years old. But, as it happened, they were all 19+ and in university.)

The next day turned out to be a ton of fun, as Kersti was feeling good enough to join the students on the cruise down the river on the bamboo rafts. The rafts were powered by what looked like a lawn mower engine with a spinning blade out back, and zoomed over some very shallow water. The scenery was truly spectacular, with limestone karsts lining the banks. The students were really fun, they spoke limited english but were keen to try. Afterwards, they bought us a nice lunch (we ended up chipping in) at a Chinese restaurant. So Kersti's first meal back after being sick happened to be a huge Chinese banquet, but the food was all really good (not too surprising seeing how we had Chinese students to order for us).

The stunning limestone karsts surrounding Yangshuo, the whole area is all like this!

Two of our student friends with who we went on the bamboo rafts.

Our delicious chinese lunch after the rafting trip, including rice cooked in pumpkins!

Hiking amongst the karsts.

At a tourist site, we dressed up as Chinese royalty in costumes they would rent, it was hilarious. Tons of Chinese tourists got a total kick out of seeing us dressed up as well, and they even wanted to take pictures with us! It was totally corny, and totally worth doing!

Stop #16 Tiger Leaping Gorge

To see all 113 (I know, a lot!) of pictures from trek, check out:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kersti.miller/200905TigerLeapingGorge?authkey=Gv1sRgCPfh3ISE95Ho6wE&feat=directlink


From Lijiang we took a 2 hour bus ride through the country-side to the base of the Tiger Leaping Gorge. It's named after a legend that says a hunter was chasing a tiger and to get away, he lept across the river. It's quite a distance, so who knows ;)

The first day was a rigorous 5 hour climb, but the second was much more leisurely, and the third day even more so. We stayed in luxurious mountain hostels, so it was quite a nice trek all in all! It was amazing to be up in the mountains again, with the crisp, clean fresh air. Though I think this shocked our bodies which were used to the warmth and humidty of SE Asia as we were struck with horrifically chapped lips and dry skin!

All these captions have been provided by Billy, who so kindly sacrificed espn.com time to enter them and to add all the captions on picasa ;)

A yellow striped lizard along the trail.

I have no idea why that donkey keeps following me, or why the man wearing it is carrying my pack, or why I'm carrying Kersti's uber light pack, or why Kersti has no pack! (note from kersti... yes, we paid a mear $16 AUD for that luxury, worth every penny!! We didn't even barter we were so happy for the service. But in truth, the donkey was usually 1cm from our legs and not that nice, safe looking distance! At times I thought he was going to accidentally nudge us off the cliff with his nose.)

Kersti, mountain explorer extradroinare!

Pack back on, manhood restored.

We made it up the 28 bends!

The view back along the gorge.

Our room at the Tea Horse Guest House, my favourite place we have stayed all trip!

The sunrise from our room, as you can imagine we were in no rush to leave.

Tibet Butter tea, where they melt probably a whole stick of butter (or heap a bunch of lard) in the tea. It was disgusting, but perhaps Leslie (Kersti's mom) would've loved it, as she is known to eat butter straight! We were also intrigued by the hostel's use of Christmas cups!

For some reason Kersti didn't want to stay there very long...

The alien flower of the passionfruit tree.

Getting wet at the waterfall that crossed the trail.

These goats didn't stop for anyone!

Heading downhill...!

Happily finished with all of the tough hiking.

The view of our second night's lodging, which of course coudn't rival with the night's before!

Relaxing with fellow hikers after the hike, somehow the night was a bit blurry...

Down at the bottom of hte gorge, at tiger leaping stone where the tiger supposedly jumped across the river while escaping a hunter.

This is right before I re-enacted the famous leap..

On second thought, maybe I'll just stay on this side.

The ladder straight up on the way back, but fortunately it was sturdily built out of coat hangers and dental floss...


Cannonball!

The mail is here!

(Note from kersti... We encountered this on the road out of the gorge. We were in a van with the craziest of drivers who thought that it was best to drive on the wrong side of the road, which coincided with the CLIFF EDGE. I was so nervous I nearly fainted. The road (sometimes paved) was perched on the edge of a massive cliff. I often wished to just get out of the car and walk...



At one point during the drive, I had my eyes rivetted on the road when all of a sudden we heard a huge BOOM and I saw a cloud of smoke eject horizontally out of the mountainside in front of us. The driver thankfully immediately slowed to a stop and we quietly waited for a landslide to crush us with 1 billion tonnes of rock and bury us half alive. As you might guess, the landslide never came and after a minute the driver cautiously drove on. Only in China are they dynamiting the ridiculously steep hillsides while people are just walking and driving along the road!)

Stop #15 Lijiang China

To see all 65 of our Lijiang pics, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/kersti.miller/200904LijiangChina?authkey=Gv1sRgCNe9qOLe6vyC3AE&feat=directlink

We flew from Kunming to Lijiang and were quickly delighted by the old city. It's a maze of 2-storey wood and stone buildings that line laneways and canals.

Billy took this nice aerial shot to show the density of the old city!


Exploring the city with the critical map in hand.

This water wheel was connected to grinders that pounded flour or rice or something.

At night the city lit up and was sooo beautiful! Red lanterns everywhere.

We went to Black Dragon Pool park, which was what I think is a typical park... very much manicured, but still very pleasant. In the background, there is SNOW on Jade Snow Mountain. Haven't seen snow in a while!

I bought a giant sun hat to compensate for my lost sunnies ;) We had a day of shopping... we bought fleeces and food supplies for our hike to Tiger Leaping Gorge (next entry). The supermarket was ridiculous... there are salespeople walking around the store eager to help you with whatever (but to us they just seemed to follow us around), there is no fresh food, and everything is in 5 times as much packaging material as I deem to be necessary. It took us quite a while to figure out what to buy, but we ended up reasonably successful. I think everything turned out to be at least edible.

One of the hundreds of Chinglish signs around town.... this was one of our favourites! "Civilized behaviour of tourists is another bright scenery rational shopping." -- Okay, got it!

Exploring the markets... I was off to buy some fresh fruit. We also bought freshly made potato chips (straight from the fryer), but they weren't very good. Big fat bummer.

We ate at Prague's Cafe 3 times because we have been finding chinese restaurants to be extremely hit or miss... actually, mostly miss. It's a bit disappointing really. One night we had a great dinner at a MEXICAN restaurant!?!

Our hostel was really, really good... we met all sorts of nice people who gave advice on the trek to Tiger Leaping Gorge, and the staff was uber helpful. All of a sudden it was so easy to get things done, which was quite a relief! I (kersti) also got to do lots of reading and relaxing.

Stop #14 Kunming China

All 18 of our Kunming pics are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/kersti.miller/200904KunmingChina?authkey=Gv1sRgCLuJh6Xm15ik7gE&feat=directlink

We flew from Vientiane to Kunming China and quickly realised China is not like SE Asia. Our days of easy travelling were over！On the bright side, the temperature dropped 10 C.

We arrived at the airport and were harrassed by 10 different touts in the terminal. Bit ridiculous really. Then we walked outside and tried to get a taxi to the hotel. We were turned away from 5 different taxi drivers!! Unbelievable... we couldn't figure out why they wouldn't take us when we were pointing to chinese characters in our Lonely Planet. Anyway.. we walked out of the airport and caught a city bus. We had to pay 5 times the fare since they don't provide change！

Billy miraculously figured out where we were and we started walking from the bus stop towards the hotel.

En route to our hotel near the university of kunming.

We toured a bit around the city while we waited for the international hospital clinic to open. We went to a tea shop and tried 4-5 different types of tea, which was quite fun. Tea is $$! We couldn't believe it! But tea is like wine to the Chinese, and they are willing to pay for it. We had a bit of sticker shock and just walked away with a bag of black tea. No $100 bag of green tea for us!

This is one of the 3 hospital buildings we had to explore to get Billy's tests done. It was quite the experience, one which I hope is never to be repeated! All I can say is, ICK! They don't even have soap in the bathrooms at the HOSPITAL!

Escaping the city for a bit, Billy walked around the university campus which was covered in parks, flowers and trees.

In Kunming we had a hard time finding suitable restaurants... either they were gross or they didn't have english menus. But we did follow Lonely Planet's advice and visit Salvadore's Coffee House. This turned out to be a godsend... not only did we meet english speakers who could give us lots of advice, but we had wonderful, recognisable food. I think we ate here 3 out of 6 meals. Billy even ordered the bacon burger twice ;)

All in all, Kunming was not that nice of a city, but we had a good time in the area of our hotel. Our hotel had the most useless staff we've ever encountered... "Can we use the phone?" - No ... "Can you make change for 100? ($20 AUD)" - No... "Can you call a taxi?" - No. ARRRRRRGH.

We also had an interesting time purchasing plane tickets to Lijiang. The internet sites that sell tickets don't accept international credit cards without all sorts of extra info which requires a printer, scanner and fax machine. Too bad we NEVER had access to any of those things, and we were in a business center for goodness sake. Technology is just not up to snuff. So anyway, we called the airplane ticket office (who incidentally callled my mother in california--oops--guess they really do pay attention to contact tel numbers) and they told us they would come to our hotel and we could pay cash. Luckily, though we were nervous about it, it wasn't a scam and it turned out to be easy-peasy. We've since bought 3 other plane tickets in a similar fashion.

We also made an investment into a Mandarin phrasebook... infinitely useful. Though it's not to be used as a 'teach yourself chinese pronunciation' guide! Billy has been doing that and we later learned he was only 20% right! DOH! Mandarin is a tough language to learn.

Stop #13 Vang Vieng, Laos

To view all 45 our pictures of Vang Vieng, check out: http://picasaweb.google.com/kersti.miller/200904VangViengLaos?authkey=Gv1sRgCKrHmor59NyQlQE&feat=directlink

Sunset from the deck of our hotel

A 4-week old monkey! (I know, a bit risky - so if I die of some mysterious disease, perhaps tell the doctors about this encounter.) But who could resist holding a baby monkey?! It did smell bad, though.

We went caving and inside were amazing stalactites. Being Laos, and not a state park in the US, they let you do whatever you/they like. One example was this... our guide showed us how to hit the stalactites in the photo with a stone to make noises like an organ. It was really cool.

We also went into this cave... via intertube! Quite amazing to be deep in the cave on a river.

Billy demonstrating how it was done... you just pulled yourself through the cave by the rope. Once we were deep into the cave our guide had us turn out our (1950-era) headlamps and to let go of the rope. We just drifted unknowingly for a few minutes... and then when we turned on our lights again, we were all surprised to find out where we were in relation to the others. You couldn't really tell you were moving at all. (I of course head a death-like grip on poorBilly's wrist, so I was quite confident he was still next to me.)

En route to the caves we wandered through fields and tiny villages。

What else did we do in Vang Vieng... TUBED DOWN THE RIVER, of course. An extremely popular event with the 18-22 crowd, we also found it to be a good time. You rent a tube, jump in the water and drift between the various bars along the river. When you feel so inclined, you visit a bar and try out whatever rope swing or water slide they have on offer. Most of them we didn't try for safety reasons (yes, they were extremely sketchy and we were shocked we didn't see people go splat on the rocks).

Once away from the main bar area we encountered some cooler places... One had stone picnic tables in the river, so your legs got wet but the food was dry on the table top. There the owner gave Billy a shot of whiskey from a bottle with tons of things in the bottom. We asked what it was and he said, 'Very good for the manhood!!!', while pointing to Billy's waist. Billy (being a proper amateur) took a large sip only to realise that it was horrific stuff. I took the smallest of sips and my mouth and throat were on fire for minutes. ICK. So after that Billy ordered a 'Jim Beam on ice.' The owner said, "with coke?" No... just with ice. So the guy came back with a highball glass with ice in it, with bourbon filled to the top. The cost was $1.20 US. We couldn't understand how he would expect any living person to be able to drink that much alcohol and still successfully navigate down the river!

We had some other food mishaps in Vang Vieng... I ordered a Mixed Fruit Salad (and I even pointed to the Lao translation on the page under 'salads', not smoothies) and was given a smoothie containing a mixture of fruits. At the same restaurant I ordered Ice Milk Tea and got another damned Lipton Lemon tea (iiiiiiirgh). Anyway, vang vieng will never be known for their food. It is not good.

In other adventures... we went to the hospital because Billy was violently ill. Perhaps the drink that was 'good for manhood'? Nah, it was something worse. Anyway, the doctor, after a thorough examination which included the most ridiculous check up on his vitals, recommended rehydration salts and diahrea stopper pills. Exactly what we've been told NOT to take when you have a real infection! (not the rehydration stuff, but the stoppers). So we quickly left without taking him up on his prescription meds! It was only $8 US for the visit, but I felt robbed！！

Stop #12 Luang Prabang, Laos

All 54 of our Luang Prabang pics are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/kersti.miller/200904LuangPrabangLaos?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ3J88-ZuIvMLA&feat=directlink


Our first stop in Laos was the lovely town of Luang Prabang... a UNESCO World Heritage site. We were enamoured by the 2-story french colonial style architecture, the quiet streets, the pleasant river, the nice people and the delicious food.



The main street is lined with cafes/restaurants, internet cafes, small shops selling silks, massage places and travel agencies. This town definitely relies on tourism, which appears to be its most critical economic activity.





We walked down to the river just after sunset.

Okay--we had some delicious food, but we also had some non-palatable food. This green chilli dip was so hot that I could barely handle it. It's my own fault for ordering it (!) so I ate it until I could handle no more. It was served with fresh veggies, which didn't help take away the heat!

We tried the Lao Lao Whisky! With a little water, we thought it was quite good. That huge glass was about $0.90 US (and I opted for the more expensive one).

Trying some more food -- this was at Tamarind restaurant (quite nice!) . We had delicious strange drinks... Billy had a bael fruit drink w/ cinnamon and I had some type of dried plum fruit w/ coconut milk. Lao people eat sticky rice and then dip it into smaller, communal dishes. So you grab some sticy rice and kind of squeeze it together, and then grab some other food (in this case, sausage, dried buffalo, noodles wrapped in lettuce, pickled bamboo, and some green veggies.) We also had some barbecued pork -- the skewers were bamboo and quite ornamental. Anyway, I'm a big fan of sticky rice! It was fun to eat and I just wanted more. I imagine children love it.

This is when we tried the dried river weed with chillies, garlic and sesame seeds dried in it. Then they fry it for a few seconds to make it crispy. They serve it with chilli paste and PURPLE sticky rice (seasonal only, my friends). This was DELICIOUS. I wanted to cart back barrels of the river weed, but I quickly realised it would break into one million pieces. So sad. I did get a small package that will probably endure the trip, but it won't last me 10 seconds. I loved that stuff.

And you know the red tea that Thai's drink? It's called 'Thai Ice Milk Tea' at some western restaurants? Well they serve it in Laos too - with lime or milk, but it's so hard to find. No one seems to know where it can be purchased either.

Some pictures to show the architecture and sites!

This was the royal residence, built in the 30s but abandoned in 1975 when the family went into exile (and were never heard from again). But we had bad luck and it was closed for the day.

I'm modelling my new thai pants... they are very interesting and have to be fully removed if I want to go to the toilet. The first time I wore them was at the water festival in Chiang Mai. As I got drenched during the water fights, I looked down and saw black dye running down my legs and discoloring my toes. Nice! That's what you get for $5.

This French patisserie was gooood and Billy really liked the idea of eating at a desk.

Cruising the colourful markets... we picked up two small items for ourselves, but for some reason neither of us have felt a strong urge to shop. I want to help people by giving them money, but I don't want what they are selling! I already have too many things as it is. I'm usually most intrigued by the food stalls ;)

So yes, we mainly relaxed in Luang Prabang and ate food. That was pretty much it. Billy did hike up a 100m mountain while I checked email... Anyway, sometimes you just need to re-charge.

Pai - Mountain Trek

Jungle Trekking... this was one of those adventures that I signed up for, knowing full well that it would not be fun, but that 'in the end I'll be glad I did it'. Now that the pain and discomfort is a distant memory, yes, I am glad I did it. But I assure you in no uncertain terms, I was not a happy camper during the 2-day trek.

We left Pai in a truck... I had the creme de la creme passenger seat, and Billy was in the bare bed of the truck with 4 israeli military guys (who were all very nice and interesting). The drive was quite long (2.5 hours) and I thought of Billy every bump of the way ;( The only consolation was at least he could enjoy a breeze!

We started our hike at 11am (nice hot time!) and went up and down a few mountains. The terrain was extremely steep and slippery. We were wearing our keen's (those outdoorsy closed toe sandals that are quite popular) and we should have been in hiking boots! No matter... all I had to do was dump out the sharp objects from the footbed every so often.

The guide made us all bamboo walking sticks (modelled below). Without those, I think I would have fallen off of one of the myriad steep cliffs. They were mazing.

One person at a time, please.

Enjoying some cool water on his feet at lunch time. We had fried rice in plastic baggies and tangerines ;) Best part was we didn't have to carry them!

There's Billy in the waterfall.

Much of the landscape was recently burned, or still burning!

We stayed the night in a village with a hill tribe family - the children escourted us down to the river so we could quasi wash the dirt off of ourselves!

They invented a game where the used our bamboo walking sticks to move themselves between squares.

The front yard of the house we stayed in.

Preparing breakfast

This is where we ate and slept!

The village is behind Billy

Tart!

A TARANTULA'S HOUSE

This is a banana tree... and the conical shape at the bottom is the BANANA FLOWER. We had banana flower salad in Pai that was delicious.

Emerging from the jungle we trekked across dried rice paddies... the rainy season will come in a month and that's when the farmers will start planting again. It was in this village where we stopped our trek and got back in the truck for the drive back to Pai.

What an adventure!

Stop #11 Pai (NW Thailand)

From Chiang Mai we took a minibus up into the mountains to the small, quiet town of Pai.

The drive wasn't that great. Billy and I shared the 1.5 seats next to the driver, who refused to turn on the air con (which of course we paid extra for), and the road was very, very windy. We were in one of those vans where the engine is underneath the front seat (very popular style here)... and so at one point, the window was down and I wanted to show billy how much heat was coming up from under the seat. As I was grabbing his arm and guiding it to the heat geyser, an entire bucket of water landed on my face and body. Yes, the Songkran festival continued. So I sat for the next 2.5 hours in my drenched clothes. The water was so dirty that as my shirt dried, a huge dirt stain became visible! Anyway, at least I had a moment's respite from the heat.

Once we arrived in Pai and checked into our lovely little bungalow, we were put at much ease.

This is our first bit of real nature of the trip!

I made Billy pose in front of our bungalow so I could capture a glimpse of the beautiful gardenia's outside.

Pai turned out to have some delicious food -- we ate Banana Flower Salad, Stewed mini Crabs in Coconut Milk, spring rolls, pizza, curries and lots of pad thai. All quite nice. Many of the restaurants were closed down, but we still ate well. We had a delectable banana roti (indian style crepe) from a street stand. MMMMmm!

Yeah, all we did was really relax and recenter ourselves in Pai ;)

Stop #10 Chiang Mai - Songkran Water Festival!

We celebrated the Songkran Water Festival in Chiang Mai -- it is the celebration of the new year and has turned into a multi-day, citywide water fight. You can't escape getting water either dumped or sprayed on you. So, rather than trying to fight it off, we joined them.

I (Kersti) had a pink elephant water gun backpack and Billy had a big water gun. We also had a bucket. We stood on the street by a bar with a bunch of other people. There were 2 big trash cans that were being continually refilled by a hose. And you could periodically purchase ice from a man across the road to bring down the temperature of the hose water. This was all well and good when it was hot - but in the early evening the wind picked up and it became quite cold! When you're covered in soaking wet clothes, you can't regulate your body temp as easily. Anyway, it was great fun.

We really enjoyed Chiang Mai. There were tons of temples to visit, lots of street stalls selling good food, heaps of markets to walk around at night and very nice people. It was also nice that our hotel was equipped with properly working air-con!

We took another cooking class (Baan Thai Cooking School) and we have to say that it was not a very good class. It was not nearly as good as the one on Ko Chang. There were too many people trying to cook too many different dishes. The instruction was poor and the recipe book they gave us has probably only 40% of the actual instructions. They also used a lot of ingredients that are going to be hard to find, and they weren't big on supplying substitutes. Here's what we learned to cook:

Billy: pad thai, red curry, deep fried coconut covered bananas, tom kha gai (chicken/coconut) soup
Kersti: green papaya spicy salad, chiang mai noodles (curry dish), sticky rice w/mango, tom yum spicy soup

At the cooking class we met a couple from Sweden whom we liked very much. We ended up going to a bar after the class to do some more water fighting and then joined them for a stroll around the night markets later that evening. Hopefully we shall see them again somewhere!

The food was really good in Chiang Mai - they even had a chocolate shop that we went to. I had the most delicious chocolate milk and a lovely molten lava cake. The waitress was a thai girl who had spent a year in Indiana. Her english was top notch and we enjoyed talking to her and learning about the festival.

We also had a few massages... we both had thai massages (after going to the chocolate shop) and then billy had another the next day while I opted for a foot reflexology massage. It was interesting to compare that foot massage to the one I had in Ko Chang because the areas that hurt the most were quite different (in ko chang they had been my head/sinus zones since we had just been scuba diving, and in chiang mai they were different -- though I don't know which zones they were since the poster was in thai and they couldn't translate!)

Anyway, thai massage is great for both of us because it's a lot of stretching and relieving muscle stress. It's perfect for billy who is notoriously tight. I think his bones are too big for his muscles. Anyway, he loves the cheap massages!

Here are all the pictures (they're combined with Bangkok):
http://picasaweb.google.com/kersti.miller/ThailandBangkokChiangMaiPai?authkey=Gv1sRgCPnFga_E857liAE&feat=directlink

Dive Trip - Professional Pics

We've finally added some cool underwater shots from the Dive Trip -- see this posting:

http://kandbdownunder.blogspot.com/2009/03/similan-islands-dive-trip-more-pictures.html

Stop #9 Bangkok

After a rough day of sickness in Phnom Penh for Billy (he's got the amoebas), we left for Bangkok by plane, only to realise I was sick 30 minutes before we were supposed to leave for the airport! At first we tried to delay our flight by calling the airline, but then I decided to take the meds and risk it. We left for the airport one full hour later than we intended. It was a very stressful drive and I was mad at our driver for not hussling a bit more -- I mean tuk tuks were going just as fast as our camry! Anyway, we made it to the check in counter 47 minutes before our international flight and they allowed us in! Phew!

In Bangkok I recovered from my illness and Billy did some exploring. We both went out and about on the second day - did some shopping and site seeing around the Royal Palace. We also experienced a monsoon rain -- the streets were almost immediately flooded and cars were just driving through 6 inches of water!

Here's Billy at the Royal Palace.

Here are the pictures from Bangkok (and Chiang Mai): http://picasaweb.google.com/kersti.miller/ThailandBangkokChiangMaiPai?authkey=Gv1sRgCPnFga_E857liAE&feat=directlink

On the whole, we were glad that we didn't stay long in Bangkok. It's a big city and we have enjoyed the smaller cities and villages much more. But it was still a big step up from Cambodia, so we weren't complaining.