Full Moon Madness
Hi Y'all! Hope everyone is doing well over there! I must apologize once again for the lack of posts I've made in the last little while - I've been rather busy suntanning, playing frisbee, soccer on the beach, indulging in buckets... really though, nothing new and exciting has happened in a while. That is, of course, until the infamous Full Moon party. What a night. We started drinking at around 10 pm and didn't stop until after sunrise. My internal organs have filed a neglect and abuse charge on my mouth and brain, and I can't blame them... my liver and kidneys were especially angry ;) But I managed to come out relatively unscathed, and didn't even fall asleep until about midnight of the next day. The only thing I lost was a large amount of braincells. I lost Kailyn halfway through the night, and she ended up waking up next to a random Frenchman on the beach, having lost her sandals for the second consecutive night (she was forced to buy another pair the day of full moon). Maybe she should just give up and try shoes? :D Anyway, on to some pictures. All over the beach just after sunset, fire dancers light up the night in Haad Rin- it's really quite cool, especially when you've had some bucket.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43920/P1011388.JPG Here's a picture of the moon, the night of the full moon party. A little hazy but nice nonetheless.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43920/P1011400.JPG A before picture that we took before indulging in buckets
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43920/P1011410.JPG And here's a picture of the entire beach, which stretches about 800 meters
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43920/P1011439.JPG Looks great eh? Well I had a great time, and I think everyone else did as well - we all got separated during the night, but managed to find our respective ways home, despite massive inebriation. The scene the next morning was far less glorious, however, as the remnants of the night piled up on the beach - everything from bottles, buckets, people, and raw sewage (seriously) were scattered all over the place. Observe.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43921/P1011441.JPG http://www.geocities.com/spiker43921/P1011445.JPG And the beach isn't the only thing that looked haggard after the party...
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43921/P1011449.JPG But, in the midst of all the craziness, I managed to get some pictures of the most amazing sunrise I think I've ever seen. Lucky me :)
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43921/P1011446.JPG I've now moved on to a nice quiet beach called Haad Yao, on the north end of Ko Pha-Ngan, while kailyn has gone to Ko Tao to take a diving course. I will be staying abroad longer than her, so I just didn't have the money to spend, but I'm sure she will have an awesome time! As for me, I've got nothing in my near future but beaches, movies, and green curry. Much love from Thailand, and keep those emails and comments coming, they're always a pleasure to read!
Nuclear Sunburn of Death
Hi all! Glad to hear from those of you who've written me recently! To those who haven't... Well... I still like you. Just not as much. We're still here on Ko Pha-Ngan, and it's been awesome so far!... Well, mostly awesome. Our first beach day produced the worst sunburn I've ever had. Now before you all give me the old "You shoulda put sunscreen on and worn a brimmed hat and kept your shirt on and maybe put on some jeans and a parka or you'll get skin cancer" bit, let me assure you I was not
trying to burn my back. That having been said, I couldn't have done better if I
was trying. I was careful not to expose myself to too much sun, being my first day without a shirt on in months. I only got about 2 hours of sunshine on myself, and of that only about 20 minutes of it was in the water - you burn more easily in the water cause the sun reflects. See how smart I am?... Well the one thing I didn't take into account is that my anti-malarial medication, doxycycline, makes your skin very sensitive to sunlight. I had not yet understood exactly how sensitive until 2 hours of sunlight annihilated my back. Observe.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43919/P1011374.JPG Don't look so smart in that picture, do I. The redder spots are where the skin has already started blistering. Nice eh? Oh and check out this tan line on the back of my legs
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43919/P1011375.JPG That's right kids, I actually burnt the backside of my KNEES. Heinous. At any rate, I've now stopped taking my malarial medication, since I've yet to actually be bitten by more than 10 mosquitoes on the entire trip, and I won't enter any more malaria zones before my flight to Australia. Despite my sunburn, I've still been having a great time over here. We've been reunited with the Swedes! They're crazy, they're fun, they have Swedish accents - what more do you want? We all went out and hit up the nightclubs on the beach 2 nights ago, and we managed to polish off a fair few Buckets between us. For those of you who have not had a formal introduction to a "Bucket", here's what you should do: Go down to your nearest Toys R Us and buy a child's sand bucket, capable of holding about 1.5 liters. Now, head over to your local Safeway store and purchase one can of Coca Cola, and one small red bull. Lastly, infiltrate your local liquor store and buy a mickey of the cheapest whiskey you can possibly find, at 40% alcohol. Mix all ingredients in your hopefully-neon-colored-bucket, and presto, you have a "Bucket"! What's that you say? It tastes like cough syrup? Well, true enough... But once you're halfway done it just doesn't matter :) Oh one last thing I forgot to mention - you probably paid about 20 bucks CAD for your "Bucket", right? Well they sell them to you at Had Rin beach for 140 baht - that's 5 and a half dollars - and they're making a profit... But remember, the "Bucket" is not a safe and wholesome thing. Stumbling home that night I managed to cut the bottom of my foot; not too bad, but I've been limping around for two days now. Don't say I didn't warn you. I'm sorry I haven't been posting very often now that I'm on the beach, it's just that all we've been doing is laying around, eating, watching movies, and suntanning (ha... ha...), but here are some pictures of the beach we're on. I could only get a couple because there are topless women everywhere, and I wanted to keep my website PG-13.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43919/P1011377.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43919/P1011376.JPG It's a tough life, isn't it - dodging half-naked women to get pictures of the gorgeous beach I've been lounging around on all day. Keep writing guys; it's the only thing keeping me going ;) Spiker
Ko Pha-Ngan
Hi all! I hope you are still enjoying the site, especially now that I fixed those buggy Angkor Wat pictures. They should all be working now :) We are now on Ko Pha-Ngan, an small island in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand. There are about 12-15 thousand locals living on this island, which has beautiful beaches, white sand, crystal blue water, and more than enough beer to get everyone sloshed at the same time. Oddly enough, this is exactly what will happen on the 24th of February - That's when the next Full Moon Party is held. In addition to the 12-15 thousand locals, you can add about 10 thousand tourists from across the globe. Now pack em all onto one beach, add alcohol, random dance music, and lots of stupidity, and you've got the biggest single beach party in the world - a Full Moon Party. They're held on Hat Rin (Hat is Thai for beach), which is where we're staying now. We had to get here early, because if we didn't, someone else might have drunk all the beer... Oh, and we wouldn't have been able to find a place to sleep. We're staying at an out-of-the-way place called Top Hill Resort (No, not Hill Top Resort, Top Hill Resort.... Don't ask). It's simply fantastic. The word "paradise" springs to mind every time I look out the front door of our bungalow. Here are some pictures for you! First, we've got a terribly cute picture of me after 5 hours on dirt roads in Cambodia. We found a sign that pretty much represented the state of my personal hygiene at that moment.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker4391/P1010002.JPG Here is a simply spectacular picture of Juliet and the two of us. We met Juliet in Laos, and ran into her randomly in Bangkok. She's from London, with quite the sense of humor, and was headed in the same direction as we were, oddly enough. We took the overnight train down to Surat Thani together, which is where you catch the boat to Ko Pha-Ngan.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker4391/P1010005.JPG And last but not least, we have a couple pictures of Ko Pha-Ngan; both of the beach nearby and of the stunning view from our small bungalow.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker4391/P1010007.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/spiker4391/P1010008.JPG Well, now that you're all at least slightly green with envy, I'm afraid I have to go - there's much beer to be consumed, much sun to take in, and many beaches to explore. Spiker. P.S. - A few people have commented on my facial hair. Just so you know, I'm growing my beard (If you can call it that?) until at least my birthday, April 9th. I'm also growing my hair out at least until the end of my trip, sometime in mid June I believe. I may be a hairy haggard hippy when I return home, but at least I'll have a tan!
Angkor What?
Okay so, you all remember I've mentioned this name a few times - Angkor Wat. Well by now you may be wondering - what the heck is Angkor Wat? Some of you may even be getting tired of reading the words. Well if I'm going to bombard you with information, I might as well first tell you how to pronounce Angkor Wat, so that you don't all sound like George W Bush when he tries to pronounce the names of other countries. The "Ang" is pronounced as the "oung" in "young", and the "kor" is pronounced as "caw". "Wat" is pronounced just like "water" without the "er", and means Buddhist Temple. Okay, everyone say it with me now... Angkor Wat. Very good. Now, on to some specifics. Angkor Wat is just one of about 30 temples within a 300 square kilometer space near Siem Reap, Cambodia. Before I tell you about those, how about some impressive statistics: Angkor Wat itself is the largest religious building in the entire world, larger than any church, mosque, or televangelist on this planet. It measures approximately 1.3 by 1.5 kilometers, while at it's highest point standing approximately 80 meters tall. This thing is freaking huge. A moat surrounds it's entire outer wall at the Western exit (oddly this temple faces West, most Hindu or Buddhist temples face East). There is an 800 meter naga (snake) bridge leading from there up to the grand front door of the temple. Inside the temple there are several kilometers worth of reliefs (sandstone carvings inlaid into the walls) on the lower walls, depicting various events in Hindu mythology. I could tell you more but pictures will do even better. Now on to the rest of the temples of Angkor. Built between the 9th and 12th centuries, by more than 10 different rulers (most Hindu, some Buddhist), the temples of Angkor represent the peak of Angkor civilization and architecture. The Angkor realm encompassed present day Cambodia, and most of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand during it's heyday. The temple we visited in Thailand, named Phnom Rung, was indeed of Angkor origin. Basically, the temples of Angkor rival the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China as wonders of the world, even though many North-Americans have never heard of them. Just north of Angkor Wat is Angkor Thom, an enormous walled city where most of the people would have lived. The wall is about 4km X 4km, making the city 16 square kilometers. Within Angkor Thom are various temples, and just outside it is a huge reservoir of water that they used to irrigate their crops. Any guesses on how big it is? The reservoir is 8 km by 2 km, and about 8 meters deep (give or take a few feet). Remember people, they didn't have bobcats and starbucks back then; they just had shovels, rice, and a lot of time. Also, if any of you have seen the movie Tomb Raider, parts of it are filmed in Ta Prohm, another of the Angkor temples here. This was my favorite temple - after spending most of their money restoring other temples, the company that owns Angkor decided to leave Ta Prohm completely to nature. The jungle has utterly penetrated this massive Prasat (Hindu Temple), and there are trees growing through doorways and around brick, slowly dismantling it. Understandably, there are many many tourists in Angkor Wat - they come from all over the globe, but mostly France and China. France has actually put a lot of money towards rebuilding and maintaining Angkor, and it's a French company that owns it now - they're making huge profit from ticket sales. Alright, enough blab, time for some pictures! I'm gonna break this down into days - the first day we only caught the sunset (it's free with a 3 day pass for the following 3 days), and we've taken better sunset pictures elsewhere, so I decided not to include any. I might add that our first day was slightly shocking, as we were not prepared to be sharing the sunset with the 600 other tourists who happened upon the same temple (Phnom Bakeng). At any rate, on to day two, Wednesday the 9th. We rented a tuk-tuk (you should know what this is by now :D) and went all over the place. Our driver was a very nice 19 year old who spoke excellent English. He made us call him Chin, though his real name was Seiha, we found out later.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43915/P1010094.JPG We made it as far as Banteay Srei, a temple 40 km from Angkor Wat, which is dedicated to women.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43914/P1010029.JPG Intricate stone carvings saturated this small temple, it was quite beautiful - but again, the droves of people made it difficult to enjoy it for more than just carvings and stone. Gosh, it sure is tough having to share wonders of the world with other tourists... :D Next we made it to Pre Rup, one of the middle age Angkor temples. It was simple yet impressive, and there was almost no one there.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43914/P1010022.JPG Next, a large man-made lake named Sras Srang
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43914/P1010062.JPG And finally Ta Prohm, which turned out to be my favorite temple of all. Take a look for yourselves.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43914/P1010072.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43915/P1010087.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43915/P1010082.JPG Now, after a 10 hour day, home for a rest and some delightful Cambodia cuisine. If any of you ever get the chance to try "Amok", don't pass it up. A wonderful coconut based dish, it's comparable to curry, but sweeter and even more savory. We haven't stopped eating it since we arrived in Cambodia. On to Thursday. We rented bicycles for this day, and I ended up biking about 40 kilometers, while kailyn was feeling under the weather with a cold, and "only"got in about 32. We saw some more amazing stuff, starting with The Bayon, the main temple in Angkor Thom. This is one of my favorite pictures, of an old woman praying at one of many Buddhist shrines inside this large temple.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43915/P1010105.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43916/P1010107.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43916/P1010109.JPG
This is a view of The Bayon from outside. If you zoom in you can see many of the 4-faced towers (there are 64, one for each Angkor Province when this temple was built, and each face faces one of the 4 points on the compass)
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43916/P1010112.JPG Here's Elephant Terrace, just outside of The Bayon
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43916/P1010117.JPG Lastly we went to Preah Kahn, but there was nothing extra special about the pictures we got there. It's laid out exactly like Ta Prohm but it's not nearly as cool! And so, in true Spiker style, we acted like complete idiots and took funny pictures. Observe - Shiva-Kailyn and Headless Chris Holding Sword
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43917/P1010128.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43917/P1010132.JPG Lastly, we saw some monkeys sitting on the side of the road, so, in my infinite wisdom, I decided to feed them bananas (our lunch). It was fun, as you can see here
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43917/P1010123.JPG That was, of course, until the much larger monkeys came running from the forest and attacked me, in search of not one, but all of my bananas. Scared crapless, I threw the bananas in the air, and they were caught by one of the two attacking monkeys. The other, quite angry not to have any bananas or have killed any tourists, ran after me for a short while. Good thing I had my runners on I guess... Especially since I never got my rabies shots? Hey, at least the locals got a kick out of it! On to day three (after another installment of Amok). We got up at 5:30 this morning, Friday, to catch the sunset at Angkor Wat, which we saved for the last day. Our efforts were certainly not fruitless - check this out.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43917/P1010153.JPG
We stayed at Angkor Wat for the rest of the day, and tried to stay off the beaten track and get some "us-and-the-temple" time. As you can see, it was rather crowded
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43918/P1010180.JPG We listened to some music and browsed the Bas Reliefs (Bas is French for lower, silly), which were simply stunning. Here is my favorite - the churning of the seas of eternity (I think). It's said that the demons (on the left side) and the Gods (On the right) quarreled over this sea, churning it up, until the essence of eternity (I think) came forth. The Gods then grabbed it before the Demons, and there you have it. It's basically depicted as a big tug-of-war in this relief, with a huge Naga (Snake) as the rope, an Vishnu in the middle.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43918/P1010161.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43918/P1010178.JPG I'm not completely certain of this, perhaps my Step-Dad, who happens to have his PHD in Eastern Religion, can help us out with an informative post? Hint, Hint? And this last picture, to give you some idea of scale - This stairway I climbed was almost a ladder. This is from the second tier of the temple to the third, which is the top.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43918/P1010163.JPG The Angkor believed that only Gods were priviledged enough to live under stone, which is why there are no houses or farms left, they were all made of mud, grass and palm leaves, and is also why the stairwells are so difficult to climb. Now, even after seeing all these pictures of temples, monkeys, sunrises, and whatever else, you have a decent idea of what Angkor looks like. However, the real magic behind Angkor has nothing to do with it's majesty or it's architecture. At least it didn't for me. My favorite spot was a tiny outer wall in Ta Prohm where I could sit and listen to music - undisturbed, unabated - and simply exist in one of the wonders of mankind. Well this post took me absolutely forever to write, mostly because of all the pictures, so you'd better enjoy them :) If you have any questions about the temples, or anything else, just ask - I sure won't know the answer, but someone else might... However, whatever your question is about, I've probably got a picture of it. In 3 days we managed to use up about 120 pics... Our next post will likely be from Ko Pha-Ngan, an island paradise on the east side of Thailand's coast. There we get to be part of a Full Moon party, which happens every time there's... a full moon. Want to get an idea of one of these infamous parties? Think 12 thousand people on a beach partying until 11 am. See you there? Spiker
The Less-Then-Amazing Race
Hi again everyone! Greetings from Cambodia on this fine day. Right now, Kailyn and I are in Siem Reap; the city closest to Angkor Wat. Now I'm not sure how many of you have even heard of Angkor Wat, being halfway around the world and all, and I will further inform you of it later - for now, let's just take a moment to be thankful that we even made it here :) Basically, in the last 4 days, we traveled from Nong Khai (Thailand, just across the border from Vientiane, Laos) to Siem Reap, and managed to fit a day trip to Phnom Rung along the way. Mkay, so - on Saturday, at 8 am, we left Nong Khai, took one bus to Udon Thani, another to Khorat, and a third bus, which was ABSOLUTELY PACKED, to Nong Rung, where we spent the night. Total distance - approximately 400 km. Total time of travel - approximately 12 hours. And let me tell you, it was no slice of heaven. Firstly, in the eastern region of Thailand, there are virtually no tourists, and therefore no need for English signs. This made things rather difficult, though not impossible. It usually helps to just repeat the name of the place you're going over and over until they recognize it through your thick accent. I've never had so many people stare at me in my life... At first it's awkward, but if you just look back at them and give them a big smile, it usually reminds them that you're people, just like they are! Most of the Thais in this area rarely see white people; for some of the children it is, indeed, their first time. There was a small boy, sitting in the seat in front of me, who would periodically turn completely around, standing on his seat, and lean over his headrest to stare at me from less than a foot away. Getting so much attention is at once flattering and embarrassing; the trick is to just smile and nod, and let their curiosity pass. Next, imagine a normal city bus that has fallen behind in maintenance and is rather dilapidated. Now, put 60 seats on this bus. Now, cram 120 people into this same bus, and throw about 15 on the roof. And now throw on 2 random white tourists somewhere in the middle of that sweaty, hot, smelly Thai mess. Welcome to our bus trip from Khorat to Nong Rung. But wait, we're not done yet! Half way through the bus trip, there is an enormous explosion-like sound, as if the bus had been hit by a rocket launcher, followed by what sounds like a machinegun. The floor is shaking violently, everyone is looking around trying to figure out what to do. World War Three? Well not quite. This is what happens when a tire explodes while you're doing 120 on a crappy rural highway with 120 people on a bus. The bang was, of course, the tire exploding, and the machine gun sounds afterward were in fact the strips of rubber still hanging on to the axle, slapping the inside of the wheel well over and over... Not fun. We stopped momentarily, only to have the driver step out of the bus, glance at the back tire and hop right back in to continue driving. Unbelievable. The tire was still slapping the crap out of the wheel well, and the floor was getting quite hot due to the friction. We finally stopped at some gas station, got the tire replaced, and continued to Nong Rung. Here's what the red hot tire looked like after they finally got it off the axle
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43911/P1010070.JPG
So, now in Nong Rung, we stayed one night at a nice little guest house, and the next day we ventured off to Phnom Rung, which is the best restored of Thailand's Khmer Monuments. We were told motorbikes were the best way to get there, but we felt that, having never driven motorbikes before, the narrow 120km/h highway to the temple would be a bit of an issue. And so, we got a truck driver for the day. For 400 Baht (roughly 13 dollars CAD), we both got a ride there and back, and the driver waited at the temple until we were done. The temple itself was stunning. Built on an extinct volcanic cone, in the middle of nowhere, Phnom Rung was indeed worth the hours of traveling we'd endured. Made of intricately carved sandstone and roughly cut porous volcanic rock, with a huge promenade, this originally Hindu temple is now simply a tourist attraction, having been mostly restored in the last 20 years. Being such a difficult place to find, and rather off the tourist beaten track, we found ourselves nearly alone inside the temple. We got many pictures of the rock carvings, of the scenery, of the statues and Hindu reliefs that saturated the inside of the temple, but the true beauty of this 1000 year old temple was the peace and serenity it seemed to instill in us as we walked through it's grounds. It was a feeling difficult to describe, and incomparable to anything I've experienced. It was one of the many moments I've already experienced in Thailand that I know I'll remember for the rest of my life. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what I'm talking about
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43911/P1010071.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43911/P1010076.JPG http://www.geocities.com/spiker43911/P1010078.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43912/P1010086.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43912/P1010088.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43912/P1010092.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43912/P1010096.JPG
Here's one last one of Kailyn and my semi-permanent mark on Phnom Rung
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43913/P1010102.JPG Amazingly, this temple points directly East. No, seriously... EXACTLY east. I even broke out the compass to make sure. Pretty amazing, don't ask me how they managed it :) Later that day, after our return from Phnom Rung, I discovered that the building right next to our guest house was a music school. Well, you know me - I won't pass up ay chance to play some drums. So I chatted up the members of a band, which I couldn't extricate the name of, and they let me play with them for a bit!
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43913/P1010108.JPG Even later that night, I found myself playing a pickup game of soccer (once again) with some random French guys, in a local park.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43913/P1010110.JPG So, after our day at Phnom Rung, we decided to head all the way into Cambodia the following day, Monday. We figure it's better to do all our traveling one day, and relax a bit the next, since even a 5 hour bus ride seems to tire us out pretty good. And so we departed Nong Rung, on a not-quite-so-packed bus to Aranya Prathet, where we crossed (very slowly, I might add) into Cambodia. The Cambodian border town on the other side of Aranya Prathet is called Poipet. It was pretty much a dirty crap-hole. This may seem like a quick judgment, but let me explain: Gambling is illegal in neighboring Thailand, a country that is far wealthier than Cambodia, a nation that can't even maintain it's own roads. Poipet, being the closest non-Thai city to Bangkok, has therefore become a sort of mini Las Vegas, with towering resorts and a stupefying number of casinos, catering to rich tourists from Bangkok and the like. Poipet itself, however, is one of the poorest cities in one of the poorest countries in Asia. The juxtaposition of these 2 themes was overbearing - seeing limbless children begging and groveling for food, in the shadow of a multimillion dollar casino, is not a sight I will soon forget. Needless to say we felt the need to exit Poipet at all speed, which was another difficulty altogether. There are three ways to get to Siem Reap from Poipet. #1 - Tourist Bus. This costs about 250 Baht per person which may not seem like a lot but is almost half of my daily budget. The other problem is that buses are notoriously slow, bumpy and packed. Mind you, anything going to Siem Reap is bound to be bumpy - this is literally one of the worst roads in all of Asia. The main problem however, with tourist buses, is that they occasionally get stopped by Cambodian bandits and even Police who are looking for money, and you end up paying an arm and a leg simply because you are white. #2 - Rent a taxi. This is probably the best option if you have 4 or 5 people, since you can split the cost of the taxi and fill it up with people that you can trust - that way you won't end up picking up any seedy characters on the way out of town. However, paying 350 per person is not within my budget, nor Kailyn's, and so we opted for option #3 - hang on for dear life in the back of a pickup truck. This costs 200 baht each, but we got the guy down to 300 for both of us, and so we were off. Or were we... First, the truck was packed utterly full of rice, fruit, pop, beer, and other bulk goods going to either Sisophan (the town between Poipet and Siem Reap) or Siem Reap itself. Now on top of the goods goes the human cargo, including Kailyn and I. NOW we were off, clinging tightly to anything we could grab, including ropes, bags of rice, and random Asians. About one hour and we were in Sisophan, where we unloaded nearly all our cargo (Human and consumer alike). Finally, some leg room! But wait... Far too good to be true, I know. We pulled into what seemed to be a bus station of some kind, where we were corralled into another pickup truck, where we were packed impossibly tightly. Even though you THINK you know what I'm talking about, you don't, unless you've experienced it for yourself. Imagine this - Begin with one small pickup truck, roughly the size of a Ford Tacoma. Next, pack about 300 pounds of rice, 150 pounds of lentils (I think?), and 250 pounds of an unknown boxed item. Now throw on all the luggage of the passengers (Probably about 100 pounds, most of it being Kailyn and mine). Also add one spare tire, for good measure. Now, pack in... And I'm absolutely serious here... 21 people, on the back of a small pickup truck, with everything else I've mentioned. And another 5 people and the driver in the cab, just for good measure. For three and a half hours, we drove on the worst road ever, with 21 people on the back of a pickup truck. Of course, the road was dirt, and I have never been so dirty in my entire life. This picture says it all.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker43913/P1010115.JPG It took so long to load/unload the trucks at the start of our trip, that it was nightfall long before we arrived in Siem Reap. This was a bit worrisome, but proved quite nice - never have I seen the stars so bright as on that crappy road from Sisophan to Siem Reap. Amazingly, there was an element of tranquility to our journey, and there was something comforting in the fact that 19 other people were also holding themselves onto the back of our same pickup truck, at that same moment. I know it's hard to believe, but I'm glad we chose the truck, and not simply because of money. The locals were somewhat impressed that tourists would embark on a journey such as this one, and we were treated, as has been the case throughout our time here in Asia, with the same courtesy that these kind people extend to each other. While it would be easy to complain and whine about the transportation here, or about having to buy water, cold showers, etc... It's even easier to forget that these people have to live their entire lives in a country where, every day, there are thousands of tiny trucks filled with thousands of cramped people, who are perfectly happy with what little they have, and can still find the time to be so kind and gentle to people who don't even speak their language. Truly amazing, and it makes me feel incredibly lucky to live where I do, and enjoy the boundless opportunities that come with life in North America. I heard many times growing up how lucky I was to be in Canada, and that there were poor people starving in other countries around the world; But it is only now that I truly appreciate what I have back home. Spiker
The Extreme Sports of Laos
Well hello everyone. Glad you could make it back here for another installment. Today's topic - Vang Vieng. A beautiful town full of pot smoking hippies, in the heart of the Laos countryside. It's an awesome town, and we ended up spending 3 nights there. There's a bit of everything in Vang Vieng; you can tube down the river, watch episode after episode of friends in one of the many dinner-and-a-movie-loungeabout places, or even enjoy a "Happy pizza" (You can bet the "special mushrooms" on these pizzas will make you somewhat more than happy) - all in all, Vang Vieng is pretty much the most laid back place I've ever seen. And so, we went tubing on Tuesday. Ever been on a tube on a river/lake and wanted a nice cold beer? Well on this river all you have to do is utter two magic, fantastical words - "Beer Lao". After hearing these words, you will see numerous long bamboo shoots extending towards you from the shores, as a few Lao entrepreneurs attempt to pull you into their riverside floating bars. And of course, they smile widely and also say "Beer Lao, Beer Lao!". We even met two Canadian fellows while tubing, Reed (who's actually from Calgary!) and Callahan. Awesome guys, and we traveled together for the next few days.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker4398/P1010014.JPGSo, does it get any better than this? Well... The next day, we went caving, in a place called Poukham Cave, about 6 clicks from town. The ride there was very interesting indeed, since we had to cross a few shallow rivers and dodge cattle, as usual. For the special the special task of taking people to the caves, the local people have invented an amphibious tuk-tuk like tractor thing, which manages to run poorly both on land and in the water.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker4398/P1010045.JPG T'was a bumpy ride, but well worth it. Take a look for yourselves.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker4398/P1010020.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/spiker4398/P1010024.JPG The cave even continued for another 400 meters or so, beyond the first cavern. Luckily we brought our flashlights, and so we explored the immense cave, eventually discovering that it's shaped like a sour key, with a big loop on the end. How convenient :)
So it definitely doesn't get any better than this, right? K well... The NEXT day, for about 14 dollars US a piece (including food, water, and everything else), we went kayaking from Vang Vieng to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and our gateway back into Thailand. We got to do some class 3 rapids (or so we were told). Decide for yourselves I suppose.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker4399/P1010046.JPG We also got to jump off 10 meter cliffs into the river. It was so much fun... Here's a picture of me in the air.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker4399/P1010052.JPG We also got a few videos of us jumping, although the video of Kailyn, Reed and Callahan is too big to upload... But you can still watch me take the big plunge. I think this is a QuickTime movie, but I'm not sure - good luck with this, tell me if it works or not!
http://us.share.geocities.com/spiker43910/P1010048.MOV After the kayaking we took a rather sketchy pickup truck into Vientiane. My seat was... Well, I was hanging on to the back of the truck :) It was actually not bad back there, being able to see the landscape of stunningly green rice fields, with the wind in my hair (and sometimes bugs in my eyes), but the only thing holding me and Cal up was a bolted set of metal bars.
http://www.geocities.com/spiker4399/P1010062.JPG Good thing I'm fearless (Stupid :D) That night, in Vientiane, us Canadians (now 4 strong) went out to do some midnight bowling (heavy drinking included, hangover sold separately). Kailyn annihilated me both games, but she's freakishly strong so I don't feel bad. Seriously, have you seen her arms? It was awesome fun, and marks the first time I've been inebriated in Asia!
http://www.geocities.com/spiker4399/P1010065.JPG Mom, I SWEAR I'm not an alcoholic. Well, that's all I've got for you guys this time, it's been an amazing few days over here. We are now in Thailand, in Nong Khai, just across the border from Vientiane. Saying goodbye to Laos was a bit sad, but there are so many amazing things left to see, we don't have even one day to waste. Thanks for the tremendous support we've been getting from back home - every time I get on I've got more and more emails to read. Keep reading the site and remember - even though this trip has already been unimaginably great - the best is yet to come :) Spiker
