SE Asia Adventure

do try sleeping on a boat, don't try sleeping on a bus!

Yes, I'm still traveling.

Rah...I've lost this entry 2 times now, 3rd time better be a charm.

I've been in Vietnam along with my Dad for the past 10 days and it's been a great country so far. I arrivied in Hanoi (in the North) a day earlier than my Dad so I took the time to explore the city, try some street food, watch a strange form of a Vietnamese work out and attend a jazz concert in the oldest opera house in SE Asia. After being in the more Westernized cities of Bangkok and Luang Prabang, Hanoi was a step back towards what I experienced in Nepal. The city traffic is similar to that of Nepal where there seem to be no rules on direction for either side but here they at least have traffic lights. It's a good thing because with the increase in the volume of traffic as compared to Nepal, without lights driving here would be a death trap After getting the best seats in the house for about 1/3 the price and a pretty good jazz concert I met up with my Dad. It was refreshing to finally see a familiar face! We spent one more day in Hanoi visiting the major sites, one of which was "The Hanoi Hilton", the prison that was used during the Vietnamese war to house American pilots who had been shot down. One of the previous tenants of the Hanoi Hilton was John McCain who was locked up for 5 years. The American's were portrayed to have been treated nicer than the rest of the guests but the living quarters for everyone else were pretty grim. I'm not sure I would make it through 5 years of that!

The next day we were off to Halong Bay, one of the UNESCO heritage sites. This was the part of Vietnam I have been dying to see for quite some time and it did not disappoint. We took a 3 day 2 night sailing trip around the bay on a "junk" which is not junky at all! We cruised the turquoise water through hundreds of what are called Karsts (gorgeous rock formations that emerge out of no where, of all shapes and sizes) with 5 other people on a beautiful wooden ship with delicious, fresh seafood for every meal. The first day it rained but it added to the atmosphere of the scenery. We also did some kayaking and swimming around the bay, as well as visiting caves both by kayak and foot. After kayaking the second day our crew set up an unreal lunch for us on the beach...they even brought the wooden table and chairs to the beach and lined them with white linens...did I mention the food was delicious. Saweet! Our group attemped to catch our own squid both nights which proved to be unsuccessful but we did see water snakes and huge jellyfish while waiting for a catch. After getting back to land we decided to head south along the coast of Vietnam. Our next stop was Ninh Binh which we got to by way of a local bus, no goats this time though, boo

Ninh Binh is known for it's Karsts as well, only these ones are on land. We would only spend one day in Ninh Binh, so to make sure we caught all the sites we rented a motorbike. We took a relaxing boat ride on a river through bright green rice paddies and several Karsts before heading to a temple built directly into a KArst. I love the idea of using the natural surroundings to house a temple! This particular temple ascended through 3 different caves that served as worship sites, so cool! Once we got to the highest temple area I found a slightly used steep path that led around the back of the temple and up to the top of the Karst. Obviously I had to take it and after some deliberation my Dad joined me at the top. The view at the top opened up to three different valleys with people working the rice paddies below, a few houses and of course more karsts. Every time we sailed past a Karst in Halong bay I had the urge to climb one. Finally getting the chance to actually do it was fantastic!

We jumped back on the bike and found a rough back road that led us through small villages, walled streets and duck farms. eventually we got back into town and prepared to jump on a sleeper bus to Hoi An with a quick stop in Hue. Little did we know we would be the last to board the Sleeper bus, meaning we got the worst seats, the seats at the back. This wouldn't be so bad in a developed country, but in a developing country the highways are filled with potholes and bumps which are accentuated at the back of the bus. Not much sleep was gained with amount of tossing around we experienced at the back. In addition, the back of the bus has 5 Asian sized seats (tiny) without any spaces between them. Lucky for me I got the spot right between my Dad and another large guy...I was squished in there like a can of sardines without even a inch to move and stifling hot. With a lack of sleep we arrived in Hue where we had a couple hours to explore the old citadel. Upon getting back to the bus which was supposed to take us to Hoi An we found out that our Hotel never actually confirmed our seats. Ah, the joys of travel After running around like mad men trying to find a way to Hoi An, a motorbike ride and 2 local bus rides we finally arrived. Hoi An is well known for it's inexpensive but quality tailoring shops and if you're not careful you can end up spending a lot of money there. Hoi An is a quaint old town with a rustic feel to it and almost no buildings over 2 storeys. The central area lines the banks of a river and the ocean is 10 minutes away. Besides having things tailored, we rented a pedal bike and toured an old Japanese bridge, a handicraft business and an old house with a mixture of Japanese, French and Chinese architecture. We also went to My Son, another UNESCO world heritage site. Deep in the hills of the thick jungle, My Son is believed to have been home to 70 temples that were built in the 4th century. Unfortunately, the Vietnamese used My Son as a base during the Vietnamese war and due to American bombings there are now only 20 temples remaining. I found it very interesting to imagine what it would be like to fight a war in this area. The thick jungle would make for a slow challenging escape if you were ever caught but also the perfect hiding place to wait for enemies.

After our first experience on a sleeper bus, both my Dad and I hoped we would never have to take one again. We found out that this was the only option to get to our next destination, Nha Trang, unless we wanted to spend a day traveling. With the limited amount of time my Dad had, sleeper it was. Besides a near head on collision and the driver's music playing through the night, this bus was much better. My Dad flew out yesterday after we rented pedal bikes and explored a bit of Nha Trang where I am currently hanging out. I am a block away from the 6 mile beach on the ocean. I am planning on staying here for a few days to do some scuba diving and island hoping before heading down to Mui Ne, a smaller beach town with kite boarding and surfing. Hopefully the weather will hold out as the next ten days were previously predicted to have thunderstorms and possibly a typhoon which would ruin my plans for the next little while. So far the weather is good...let's hope it stays that way!

Enough talking to you guys, time to get to the beach!

Love Kels

Hey All,

I'm not as good at keeping this up anymore, now that i'm not learning as much about the culture of the areas i've been in, I'm not as inspired to write.

In the past couple of days I took a train to Northern Thailand where I did a two day trek complete with riding elephants, sleeping in a bamboo hut, and floating down a river on a bamboo raft. My tour group consisted of 2 people from France and 3 other Canadians It was refreshing to meet some Canadians as we have a similar sense of humor. Riding the elephants was pretty good but too short. While we were trekking up to the bamboo hut where we would spend the night we saw a wild elephant which was much more interesting. Our guide made sure that we kept a quick pace as a wild elephant is very dangerous. The bamboo hut that we stayed in was so cool! I think I could live in one of those. Our guides entertained us with guitar and magic tricks before bed in the relaxed candle lit environment. The next day was a steep descent followed by the most ridiculous white water rafting i've ever done and bamboo rafting. The white water rafting was more like bumper boats with the rocks. The water was so low that our guide had to get out and pull us off rocks half the time, so silly. We ended riding on a bomboo raft which was much more practical but our group did manage to crack the raft when we got caught on a sharp rock, whoops

I was then onto my 3 day trip to Laos. One day on a bus followed by two days on a long narrow wooden boat up the Mekong river. To be honest I was quite happy to get out of Thailand. The locals are in it for money and they do everything they can to rip off the "rich" (yeah right) westerners. I had been scammed several times in Chiang Mai and I was very tired of it. We woke up at 7:00 am to board the slow boat to Laos the first day. After being hoarded around for several hours by the Laos people we finally got moving at 11 am. What a joke!

During all the fiascos of organizing visas for 130 people and getting them sorted to fit on the slow boat the group of people I was with were the last to get our passports back meaning we were the last to board the boat. About 10 of 40 people got on the boat before realizing that there was definitely not enough room. The 10 who had just boarded were already standing and we had to fit 30 more on the boat. There was no way! Nor was there any way we would be standing for the next 9 hours. The group of 40 people grabbed our luggage and sat outside the boat protesting until they brought us another boat. It was quite comedic! I wish I had a video of it but my camera went missing the day before, boo. A big cheer was let out when we got our way and another boat was brought around for us. We ended up being the lucky ones with only a few people and tons of room while the other boat was cramped with people. I guess it pays to be patient The Mekong river is currently used by the Lao people for transportation of both themselves and supplies. The first day was an interesting journey as we traveled up the river deep in the thick jungle watching as Lao people lived their day to day life in these remote villages. Netting tied to bamboo rods which hung over the river were stationed to catch fish about every 50 feet. People washed donning their cone shaped hats and children played nude along the sandy banks of the river. The second day was not as glorious as everyone got shoved onto one boat. The scenery wasn't as spectacular when I was hot and sticky with no room to move. finnaly arriving in Luang Prabang after 3 days of travel was relieving.

In comparison to Thailand, I loved Luang Prabang (Laos)! It was a small quiet town with French architechture and an upscale feel to it. The town psitioned on the side of the Mekong river had several orange robed monks and interesting temples. I only spent one full day there but I would love to go back. The day I spent in Luang Prabang some people who I had met on the boat and I went to the infamous Laos waterfalls. There was a large series of turquoise blue pools and waterfalls running through the jungle. One of the pooled areas served as an incredible swimming hole complete with a rope swing. As soon as we got there I didn't hesitate to strip down and jump off the top of the waterfall. It was amzing! We only spent 2 hours there but I wish I spent the day. Yesterday I took a flight out of Luang Prabang and I am now in Hanoi to meet my dad for a week. Arriving in Hanoi was a little like going back to Nepal.

Hope all is well back home! I miss you guys!

Love Kels

FYI- my trekking blog is below my last one if you wanted to check it out.

While in Bangkok for 3 days I found out why this place will soon be added to the developed countries list. The first day I took a tuk-tuk around to some of the free temples, but in between stops my driver made sure to take me to tailors, jewlery shops and travel agencies that all charge way too much for their services. To the unsuspecting traveler and most older travellers ( the ones who arn't on a tight budget) will be sucked in immediately only later to find out that they paid way too much. The Thai's all work together to suck money out of tourists and they do a pretty good job of it. When entering one of the temples I met a man who was going to do his daily worship and he showed me how to pray Buddhist style.

The next day I took a tour to the old floating market, the tiger temple and the old death railway. The floating market was neat to see and imagine what it would be like back in the day, but this was also geared for the tourist. Most of the shops on the side are souvenior shops and there are more tourists floating in the water than locals...I was quite dissapointed. I was happy when we boarded a skiny motorized boat that took us through some of the local living areas. The houses were made of wood most equipped with hammocks and the river to swim and wash in right outside their backdoor. If I were living in Thailand I would love to live that way! When the woman beside me said "this area is poor" I knew she hadn't seen poverty yet. Of course the next stop was an unplanned cobra fighting show, just another one of their tricks to scam the tourists. I chose not to pay the extra money for what I heard was a pretty crap show. We were then off to see tigers and then back to Bangkok. My last few hours in Bankok were spent walking around and exploring. I went to Wat Arun, which is my absolute favorite of all the temples, stupas and other religious buildings that I have been to. The intricate pottery and glass work used to decorate the temple was incredible. There were imaculate, elegant decorations being set up around the temple with live music being played. When I finally found someone who spke english (amazingly, there are less Thai's who speak english than Nepali's) I found out that they were setting up for the cremation of a monk who died last year. He must've been pretty famous because the royal family and hundreds of other people were expected to attend. I would've loved to see the ceremony but iwas catching a train that night north to Chaing Mai. After three days and nights of non-stop sweating in this intense heat I was excited for the air-condidtioned sleep on the train. And it was super comfy!

Better go explore this city before I leave for my elephant ride/trekking experience tomorrow. Have a good one!

Love always,

Kels

I just arrived in Bangkok...an extremely civil and modern world compared to Nepal. This is strange! Unbenounced to me I arrived on new years and was immediately greeted with a shot of water to my face I took a much too calm taxi ride to the tourist district and was ripped off again, freakin driver. I walked into the scene of thousands of people in the streets with waterguns, buckets of water and talcom power paste that they wipe on your face as you go by. Sounds familiar, but done in a kinder way than in Nepal. The music is blaring in the streets, the people are soaked and the bars are hoping. Yep, i've definitely left the third world.

I'm working on a long blog for my trek, hopefully have it up here in a few days.

Love Kels

...with a yearning to go higher!

(wow, now that I finished writting this I realize it's way too long and boring, if you chose to read it, i apologize for the length)

How can one sum up 16 fantastic days in only a couple of paragraphs? The unbelievable sights, sounds and feeling of peace experienced while trekking the Himilayas is an adventure that must be lived. One cannot begin to convey the beauty observed through words and the pictures don't come close to doing justice but I will do my best to share my views.

First off if you expect to learn anything about the Nepali culture while trekking your mistaken. The trek is very Westernized which was disappointing but when you sign up for one of the most popular treks in the world obviously it will be catered to meet the demands of the Western world. The lodges we stayed in along the way were much nicer than expected and the menus contained a vast array of Western dishes. I thought it would be dhalbaat all the way! I did however eat dhalbaat once a day by choice as it was delicious on the trek and all you can eat...how could you go wrong? The 16 days spent on the trek ranged from an environment of sub-tropical to alpine to a dry arid landscape and back to tropical. No matter where we were on the trek, once the sun crested the mountains the temperature shot up and most days were spent hiking in shorts and a t-shirt. At night we would eb in bed by 8:30 at the latest and therefore wakeup around 5:30...early enough to catch several outstanding sunrises. All told, the trek was not nearly as difficult as I had expected going into it, but still gorgeous. We were trekking in the second highest peak season but lucky for us there wern't nearly as many people trekking as normal thanks to the economy...saweet!

As for the trekking:

It started in the madness of a local buspark where we found our express bus (all i can say is it's a good thing the brakes worked well) to Besisahar where we were anxious to get out of anything that resembled a concrete jungle. We only walked about 2 hrs but it was far enough for the noise of the traffic to subside and the sound of nature to take over. The next day we got into the full swing of trekking. The anticipation of what was around every corner heightened as we traveled deeper into the jungle valley. Day 3 was one of the most incredible days of my life all factors considered. I woke up on a warm sunny day to the view of a large waterfall and the first clear view of a mountain peak. Traditionally used as a trade route between China/Tibet and Nepal down to India, donkeys and mules are still used to ferry supplies up the Eastern side of the trek where a road has not yet been completed. I saw more donkey's on this day alone than I have in my lifetime and they always have the right of way. While trekking the sides of cliff faces we meandered our way through several small rustic villages with narrow slate walkways separating the shacks made of readily available stones and mud. We had the number one rated dhalbaat of the trek in a town called Chamje. After lunch we found ourselves running over a suspension bridge to avoid being trampled by the donkeys coming in the other direction. Unfortunatley we were quickly halted by army men (in the ironic setting of being surrounded by cannabis plants, ha) on the otherside to allow sufficient time for blasting a road. Sadly, the circuit will have a road to take you the entire way within 2 years time. There are positive and negative ways to look at the decision to build a road, but to the avid outdoors person it's a bummer. While waiting for about 2 hours, I watched while Nepali men worked 200 feet above the river bed on the steep and natural slopes of the mountain. They reminded me of mountain goats working away up there, one slip of the foot and they would be toast! suddenly I heard and felt the loud blast and turned to see the cloud of dust hanging in the air. we imediately strapped our packs on to beat the rush of the trekker pile up and got going. The delay had allowed enough time for some dark couds to roll in producing a magnificent atmosphere for the next half of the day. The foggy skies and magnitude of the monsterous jungle mountains contrasted by the grey light and turquiose blue water running below gave the valley a lord of the rings esque. The dramatic atmosphere made it a day I will never forget, it was unreal! The sky opened up as we reached the top oif this valley where we made our way through a gateway taking us into what felt like a different world. The day was completed in Tal with the best shower of the trek using a only a bucket of hot water.

The environment was now becoming more alpine like and the locals more Tibetan looking as we were getting closer to China. From Tal we went to Timang where we were 4 of 6 trekkers in a sleepy rustic village surrounded by moss covered boulders and 360 degree views of mountain peaks. After sitting down to dinner we found out that, Rosie, the other girl on the trip with us had about 7000 rupees stolen. Lucky for me, my money was hidden throughout my bag and they only managed to take some chocolate...i don't know which is worse jokes.

The next day was a short day from Timang to Chame, the major tourist center. We got to Chame at 9:30am after walking through what felt like the Canadian Rockies. The rest f the day was spent talking with other trekkers, reading by the river under the peak of annapurna 2, washing clothes and playing cards by the fire. After a night spent shivering because it was too cold to get out of my sleeping bag and get more clothes, I learned that we could get thick blankets from the lodges we stayed at.

Following Chame, we went to Pisang where we got an undisturbed, full frontal view of Annapurna 2 Incredible! After getting to Pisang we decided to explore the old upper village where we had a linked view of Annapurna 2, the next peak over and the glacier between...it was stunning! The area around Pisang was very dry, arid and brown...apparently a lot like Tibet. The stacked houses made of stone all blended into the surrounding environment. While walking back down through the old village we came across a large town gathering. It was Tibetan New years and to celebrate they were having an archery competition in the middle of town. It was like a medieval festival with the cheering that went on by the locals lining the sides of the area. This would be the night that the lodge owners husband came home on a druken rampage slamming doors and yelling. In my sleepy state this was one of the scarier moments of my life as we had no clue what was going on and I was fully expecting him to come storming into our room, yikes.

From Pisang we went to Brakha on my least favorite day of the trek. The day was spent entirely on a fairly flat dirt road through a dry arid environment that looked exactly like the scenery from a wil west film, it's only cool for so long. Brakha however, was my favorite village of the ones that we stayed in. It had an authentic monastry at the top of the old village beneath the sandstone needle like mountains (I have no idea how to distinguish between the different mountains on this trip, according to most people they're all mountains). I made sure to wake up early enough to walk back up and catch the sunrise on our acclimatisation day. There wasn't too much walking on our acclimatisation day so we went to a lecture on altitude sickness...we learned all about the serious conditions of HAPE and HACE and one other that we hadn't heard of called HAFE. In the days prior to the lecture Anthony was passing gas more than I thought was humanly possible ( we almost left him to hangout with the donkeys) so we were all trying to figure out what was wrong with him...when we went to the lecture we learned about the high altitude condition called HAFE, High Altitude Flatulence I can't remember the E but you get the point, ha.

The next few days were spent above 4000m where I could slightly feel the effects of the altitude in the weight of my legs and shallow breathing. At night sleep was not easily obtained but when you do sleep, dreams are frequent and vivid and you often wake up gasping for air.

Once we made it to base camp we were placed with the rest of the porters in cave like rooms. The morning of the pass we woke up at 3 am and set out by 4 am in order to get to the pass before the wind picked up and the clouds rolled in. I felt pretty harcore having to use my headlamp to see for the first hour of trekking. The stars were burning brightly in the night sky and we watched the entire sunrise while heading up to high camp. We were super lucky witht he weather we got over the entire trek and especially that day. It was sunny, hot and calm allowing us to stay on the pass for about 45 minutes and watch the celebrations when people made it to the top. awesome! With the first glimpse of the brightly colored prayer flags at the top and the energy of the hooting and hollering by other people came a rush of excitement. The ascent to the pass was not nearly as diffficult as I had expected butthe descent was long and steep and took a toll on the knees. We were now in the Mustang valley and the scenery was completely different from anything we had seen before. An hour after we stopped for the day a mixture of hail and rain fell from the sky. Looks like we made it just in time! A day later and the pass may have been closed.

Unfortunately this side of the valley had a road all the way around with several jeeps chartering people to the end. Being with a group that liked to take the path less travelled we always searched for a way to blaze our own trail. 2 days were spent off road on what looked like a wide rocky, dried up lake bed only flat... and taking this route put us in a bit of a bind at one point when the river running through the middle of the area somehow ended up surrounding us, leaving us stranded. With the porters laughing at us from the road above Ant tried to walk directly through the river finding it was too deep, while Felix, Rosie and I searched for a different way to cross. Eventually we found a row of rocks that could serve as stepping stones...I made it about 3/4 of the way before one of the rocks wobbled and I ended up running through the river with the last few steps in quicksand like mud. It was the highlight of my day!

After the excitement of making our way across the river we stayed in Martha, the apple capital of Nepal. The Aussie and older Fench group that were sharing our lodge were having a night of celebrations. All I can say is the French know how to have a good time! I wanted to join in but my lack of french language skills was a burden. Shoot, what kind of Canadian dosn't know French? That's right, the kind who rebelled against it during junior high

By this time my feet were aching and starting to get blisters but there were only 2 days left. The last days were spent back in the jungle with flowers in full bloom and the wildlife more alive than ever. We walked through the deepest valley in the world and across 2 of the sketchiest bridges of the trip to Tatopani (meaning Hot water) where we enjoyed some well deserved hot springs...maybe dirty but they felt dang good! The last day walking was meant to be spent entirely on the road but we found the old trail that you could tell hadn't seen any trekkers in at least a couple of years...it brought us high up in the hills through non-westernized villages where we got a better taste of rural nepal. The stiffling hot day was celebrated by jumping in the river with the locals and nice cold beer to top it off

The last leg was a bus trip from Beni to Pokhara where I tested out riding on the roof of a bus. It was the last thing I had to do to get a full Nepali experience and if the bus were to go over a cliff it was much easier to escape from the roof! It was an exhilerating experience with a few shaky moments thanks to our daredevil driver...Overall a Great Trek!