“You’re our guest. We take care of you.”

That was one of the first things we heard when we crossed the Mekong River into Laos. After we were sent on our way by the people from the hostel we stayed in in Thailand the night before, we were met with friendly and smiling faces in Laos just across the river. One guy in particular seemed to be the one in charge of our big group of foreigners that just got off the boat.  He was super friendly, told us to “chillax” because we were on vacation, and even apologized on behalf of Laos people for the scams that they pull on tourists. Little did we know, he was just setting us up for his master plan of taking our money in the end.

After giving us a quick run through of what the slow boat will be like and some advice about what to do when we arrive at our destination for the night, he also informed us that outside the border cities of Laos and Thailand, the Thai baht is not widely accepted. After he had gained our trust, he offered to help us by taking our passports and the money we wanted to exchange to the bank and promised to return it back to us before we set off.  Now that I think back, it seemed so naïve of us to trust this guy from a travel agency whom we’ve only known for less than an hour. But hindsight’s 20/20. So I guess you have guessed what happened. We got our passports back alright, but were shortchanged about $30. When you look at it in dollars, it’s not a lot. But it’s the fact that the guy told us the exchange rate, said there’s 1% commission for him, but in reality gave himself basically a 10% commission.  Again, it’s not the money that we lost that bothered us, and things could have turned out a lot worse, but it definitely left a very bad taste in our mouths. It’s unfortunate because that was the first thing we experienced when we got into Laos, and it’s made us very suspicious, apprehensive and bitter of this country when we haven’t even really experienced any of it. But we’ll consider it a lesson learnt. And if any of you ever come here or this region, try not to deal with agents or agencies as much as you can, especially when it comes to parting with you money and passport. And be wary of the extra nice ones.

Before coming here, all that I read about Laos was how friendly and laid-back the people are here. We were told to bring our smiles as that’s all we would be greeted with. Well, smiles we did get, but it’s sad that I now suspect what other intentions lurk behind those smiles because of this one incident. I hope this suspicion wears off soon though, and that my initial thoughts are proved wrong.

Pakbeng, the village that we’re staying at tonight is right by the river where our boat is docked for the night. The 2007 edition of the guide book we have said that there isn’t any electricity here. But I guess things have changed since then and all the restaurants and guesthouses that dot the main street flash and flicker at you as you walk by. You can definitely see and feel a major change in poverty level here compared  to anywhere we’ve been in Thailand. This was immediately evident when, as soon as we stopped off the boat, there were bunches of kids running up to us asking us if they could have our Pringles chips which we were carrying in plastic bags. My first instinct was to say no for some reason, maybe because I was still feeling uber protective of our things (even after our 6 hour boat ride).  But when we ventured into the village later, we saw the same group of kids and gave them the Pringles, hoping that they would at least share with each other.

Tomorrow, we’re setting off on our boat again to continue our 6 hour journey to Luang Prabang. I’ve read a lot of really great things about this place as being one of the nicest cities you’ll see in South East Asia. So, I’m still trying to keep optimistic, but Kevin’s patience is being tested a little more every day. 

Can I get a wat wat?

Greetings from Chiang Mai! We have made it to the northern capital of Thailand, and it's been a nice break from the constant beating of the sun. To many, Chiang Mai is considered the gateway to the "real" Thailand. However, I think some people go away disappointed when they see how busy and polluted Chiang Mai is today. I guess the conveniences that tourists look for, like wifi and a/c, come at a price.

We didn't have much expectations before coming here. And so far, it's worked out fairly well. It's a pretty relaxed city where it's hard to go a few steps without seeing a wat, aka temple. Things are way cheaper here than the south, which is good for our budget since we are slightly over budget at this point. There are also tons of tourist agencies around which offer all kinds of day or multi-day trips to the outskirts of the city. There's everything from mountain trekking, to rafting, to cooking classes.

Kevin and I opted for a three-day trekking tour with the whole shebang! It included mountain trekking, visiting hill tribe villages, elephant riding, white water rafting, bamboo rafting, and staying at a hill tribe village for a night. In the end though, we came back a day early and were kind of disappointed with the tour. I mean, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't that great either. The tour felt quite rushed, since we were given a time limit for every place we went, and the tribe visit wasn't very authentic since it was more like a souvenir stop then a chance for us to see them living their daily lives. But seeing the elephants was very neat we were able to experience a lot of different things in a short amount time. It also lowered our bar of acceptable accommodation, since you can't get much simpler than sleeping in a bamboo hut with 10 other people, with bedding that hasn't been washed since God knows how long. Not sure if that's a plus though.

We're off to Laos tomorrow. It's gonna take a long 3 days to get there via slow boat. I think the entire boat trip will take 15 hours, with a break in between. Yes, sloooooooow boat indeed. That's alright though, just means more time to blog!

Under the sea

I always find myself writing these blogs when we’re leaving or getting to places. I guess that’s really the only time where there’s enough time to write. So appropriately, we are now leaving Koh Tao. Turned out, this place that was really a last minute decision where we would learn to scuba dive, became the place where we’ve stayed the longest so far on our trip. Five days, six nights, and nine dives later, we are now officially advanced scuba divers! Advanced meaning we can dive up to 30 metres anywhere in the world.

Although I know you’re all dying to hear about all the different types of sea life we saw, I won’t get into that so much. But it does make you think that people like us are doing all this travelling so they can see more of the world on land, when underwater, we barely know anything about it. It’s just amazing how much there is under there, and how little we know of it. The dives that did stand out were the night dive, where for a few minutes, we turned off our flashlights and swam in the dark. And with every stroke, we were able to see the phosphorescence glowing like fireflies in the water.  Our deep water dive where we dove to 30 metres was also memorable in that it was the worst condition for diving. After barely surviving the boat ride to the dive site, we descended into thrashing waves, then got tossed and turned around under water like a washing machine, and was spat back out with near collision of the ladder at the back of the boat inches from crushing our skulls. And our final dive, where we were sent into the abyss and needed to take all that we have learned and put it to use without the guiding flippers of our instructor. We came out alive, and came away with some pictures we took underwater, which hopefully at least a few turned out well.

Now we are on our long journey to Chiang Mai. It’s a three part process that will take about 2 days. We’re on the boat now to bring us to the mainland, where we will board an overnight bus to Bangkok. We’ll stay in Bangkok for the day, and then at night, we’ll take the sleeper train to Chiang Mai. So we are kissing the beaches goodbye, and hello hills and temples. It’ll be a nice change. But we always seem to want what we don’t have.

Slight detour

Just an update since the last blog. When I said that “we’re on our way to the town of Surat Thani now,” I didn’t know that that would include our bus conveniently “breaking down” at a gas station, and after waiting half an hour that the remaining passengers would pile into the back of a pickup truck. Let me explain.

After about 30 minutes in a dark and non-air-conditioned bus, a black pickup truck pulled up beside us beside us blaring the AT40. Next thing we knew, there was a kid on the bus telling us to “get off, get off!” Before we realized, we were herded onto the back of the truck, and off we went with 7 people piled in. After about 15 minutes with my hair whipping my face, we were told to get out as it was “Koh Toa.” Well, it definitely didn’t look like we were at the island. It didn’t look like the pier either, and we definitely weren’t near any visible bodies of water. We stopped at what looked like a travel agency. We were led into an “office” area where we bought or tickets for the overnight boat. Even though we had to pay just 50 Baht ($1.60) more than we would have paid at the pier, stories of scams aimed at foreign tourists were running rampant in my head. We were the only foreigners there, along with two other German girls who were on the bus and also had no clue what was going on either. After about another 30 minutes of sitting around with no explanation, we once again boarded our destined vehicle of the night and arrived 5 minutes later at the pier. Good thing our boat wasn’t leaving for another two hours, but it makes me wonder…were we just part of some scam or is it just the Thai way? Whatever it was, we’re safe, we’ve gotten our tickets and we’re just waiting to board our boat. Hopefully, that’s the end of the detours for tonight. 

Put Put in Phuket

The last couple of days we spent in Phuket, Thailand’s biggest island. We had briefly stopped for one night previously on our way to Phi Phi, but since it was so quick, we hardly had time to pop into a 7-11 to buy some water, let alone explore the city. This time around we were able to soak up more of the local culture and more importantly, savour the local food.

We had read that the best and most dangerous way to get around town was to rent a motorbike. Naturally, that’s exactly what we did. For $8 a day, we experienced Phuket while swerving through traffic with our knees almost touching the cars beside us, all the while trying to navigate around town with Thai road signs and trying to remember to stay on the left side of the road. We soon found out that when it comes to traffic laws in Phuket, there really aren’t any. So even though we tried not to hit anything or anyone, we definitely broke all the driving laws that we knew of as Canadians. You should see the locals though. We passed by this one bike where there was a lady (sans helmet) sitting sideways with both legs swung over the side behind the driver, holding on to nothing except what looked like a bag. When we passed them again, it became clear that it wasn’t a bag she was holding on to, it was her baby. Her baby was also sitting sideways between her and the driver! With that said though, it was a great way to get a taste of the city, and see locals live and interact in their own habitat.

And don’t even get me started on the food. If you’re not too picky about your food, you’ll find yourself in hawker central here. It seemed like on every other street, you’d be wafting in the smells of piping hot deep fried chicken, noodles in soup or stir-fried, and Thai desserts to satisfy any sweet tooth. For example, our dinner consisted of “three courses.” For appys, we had freshly made papaya salad and fried chicken drumsticks. For our main course, we had sweet corn on the cob and a bowl of soup noodles with fish balls. Then finally for dessert, we had Thailand’s version of a pancake, which was a pan fried crepe filled with sliced bananas and a generous drizzling of condensed milk on top. The damage? $7…for the both of us.

 We’re on our way to the town of Surat Thani now. It’ll be a quick stopover until we board our overnight boat to Koh Toa (Turtle Island). The island is world renowned for its diving and that’s where Kevin and I will get our Open Water certification. Even though November is probably the worst month to go diving because it’s monsoon season, diving conditions there are still supposed to be a lot better than most places in the world during their best season. It was really a spontaneous decision actually. Originally, we were going to head to Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. But I guess we weren’t quite done with the sand and sea as we had originally thought.

We all end up in Phi Phi

I can't believe it's already our last night on Koh Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee). It`s a little island in the south of Thailand. Since we`ve been here we`ve embraced the sand and sun in full force. There isn`t a moment that goes by where we aren`t sticky, sweaty, shiny, or all of the above.

Ever since the movie The Beach with DiCaprio has come out, paradise-seekers have come in droves to find their little share of utopia. The beaches here are quite nice with its white sand, turquoise waters, and huge karsts jutting out from the ocean. However, the ever constant beach resort feel takes a little away from the experience of `getting away from it all.` After awhile, it`s like being in a long line at Canada`s Wonderland. You start seeing the same people over and over again.

Funnily enough, the people you meet in these far away places may be someone who you least expect. We bumped into an old high school friend tonight while walking back from the beach. We haven`t seen or kept in touch with him since high school, yet there he was, a couple of metres away on a small island off of Thailand. Random.

But with the people, comes their stories. And as the title reads, no matter where we started, we all end up in Phi Phi. No matter if you`re a banker trying to get away from the 9 to 5, someone escaping from a bad breakup, or someone who came here for a vacation and never left, everyone`s story is unique. And I guess that`s one of the most interesting things about travelling - the people you meet. As for us, Phi Phi was a destination as well as a stop in transit.

In food heaven

We are in Hong Kong! And even though we just arrived this morning, it feels like we've been here for a long time already. Don't get me wrong, we're not having a miserable time here. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

We spent our day wandering the busy streets of HK, looking for food, bargaining for random stuff, and watching old men battle it out on concrete ping pong tables. Everywhere we turn, there seems to be some sort of money transferring back and forth - people buying, people selling, and people looking for the best deal. And don't even get me started on all the smells that punch you in the face with every corner you turn. Some were pleasant (ie. fresh egg waffles) and some not so much (ie. stinky tofu).


But, the winner today, hands down was our seafood dinner. You see, it wasn't just any seafood dinner. It was one where we got to pick out our not-so-lucky crustaceans, which was fresh, of course, and have it brought to a restaurant so they can cook it right there, in any way you fancy.We wanted to try a little bit of everything so we spluged on a small lobster, a couple of scallops, a scampi (which is like this gigantic shrimp), a crab, and clams! After having the first bite, I thought to myself, If this is what heaven is like, kill me now. Two hours later, $100 shorter, and 5 lbs. heavier (give or take a little), we were giddy with food but food coma kicked in with a vengeance prominently afterwards. It was a good night. My only regret was that I hadn't worn pants with an elastic waistband.

Nine.

A cat has nine lives. We have nine planets (well, technically only eight now). Nine rhymes with fine. AND it's also the number of years Kevin and I have been together. I know what you think. Whoa...nine years? That's a long time. Yes, it's a long time, especially since marriages these days seem to last only 72 days *ahem Kim Kardashian*...but who's counting? So to celebrate our special day, we decided to do the thing we do best - eat. We finally got to try out this restaurant that we've been meaning to try. The service was fast but not friendly. The atmosphere was, well, there was none, unless you like the busy lunch crowd scene. But the food was delicious and the price was right! In other words, it was perfect for us. After victoriously battling food coma in the parking lot, we decided to have some ice cream! What's an anniversary lunch without dessert? It was the perfect afternoon.

As I sit here writing this, on the night before we leave for our trip, I'm reminded of all the thousands of kilometres we've had to travel in order to see each other when we were living in different cities. There were long bus rides, train rides, car rides, and plane rides between cities, provinces, and countries. But now we get to experience the world together with just the packs on our backs. I can't wait!

Happy Anniversary.