Three New Years in One Year

First things first: I really have a problem when public bathrooms charge for entrance. They make you pay a women who just sits at the entry way and hands you a ridiculously small bit of toilet paper. Then you enter and squat over a hole in the floor covered in a mixture of water and pee. I would be okay with the fee if I needed toilet paper from them or if the toilet was actually a nice toilet to sit on, but I just don't. I usually come prepared anyways with baby wipes or just opt for the simple drip dry. It is bad to say, but Zach and I try to find all ways to avoid paying and will sneak around buildings to find secret places to go to the bathroom. Good thing we are both very low maintance about this situation. 

I forgot to mention in my last blog about a wonderful and random afternoon that we had in Hoi An, Vietnam. We hit Vietnam right during their two week long holiday for Tet (New Years), so families and friends were all over celebrating it up. As we were walking along the streets of Hoi An trying to buy ourselves souveniers- which we probably didnt really need anyways-we were dragged into a families New Year celebration. They had opened up their restaurant and were pulling travelers in, welcoming them to their drunken karaoke family dance party. Although I would say that Vietnamese are no latinos and are not born with the gift of dance, they really do know how to have a good time. With loud karaoke blasting asian tunes, lots of beer,and  an endless supply of weird foods we stayed a good three hours with them.  Every time we would put down our beer to dance with them, another luke warm beer was handed to us. We danced in circles (kinda like the horah), did the typical train dance, and of course, gangam styled danced our afternoon away. Older asian men really seem to have a thing for Zach and he quickly made a friend who kept kissing him on the cheek and grabbing his thumb to press it against his thumb (that must be a thing and mean something there). We were so grateful for their hospitality (especially the free beers and food), it really started the Tet holiday off on a good foot. 

We have celebrated three New Years this year: the normal one at home, one with the Karen Hilltribe people in Thailand, and now the Vietnamese/Chinese Tet! Three new years in one year.

Tet, which also aligns with the Chinese New Year, is a really festive time in Vietnam. People have two weeks off and travel back home to celebrate with their families, eat good meals together, and light incense and burn paper things for their ancestors. People everywhere are cheersing beers for the old year and wishing you good luck in the new year to come. There is also a tradition of flowers, in which they line the streets with potted flowers of all kinds. We were in Ho Chi Minh for the actual New Years day and really got to see how it was done. There was a giant street blocked off to cars covered in all these flower displays. Lights everywhere, people dressed up walking around taking a million photos, and amazing fireworks! Zach and I, and a million billion other Vietnamese people flocked the streets to catch the fireworks at midnight. There were so many people pushing their way to the front I almost had a crowd panic attack and thought I would be killed by a million asian people falling on top of me (not the way I want to go). After latching onto a train of young vietnamese people running to the front, we found ourselves right at the waters edge to catch a really great 17 minute long firework show. Strangly, at the strike of midnight, no one yelled "Happy New Year"-instead all were pretty silent watching the fireworks, and then instantly when they were done the crowd left. People came, and then left. Probably because they needed to get to their moto bikes and drive in hella traffic back home.  

On the last day of the lunar year, Zach and I were really lucky to see it how the locals do it. We met up with my dad's colleauge's (Lan) family who live in Ho Chi Minh.  Having no real idea who these people were exactly, nor where they lived we were presently surprised by the day. We somehow made our way through the large city streets on moto and made it to their house. We were welcomed into their home to celebrate the first day of the Tet holiday with Lan's family. Lan's mother, father, and two brothers showed us how it was all done. We ate a delicious home cooked meal that Lan's mother had slaved away making all day, ate the typical new years cakes, saw the shrine they set up to pray to their ancestors, and got to hear the stories and lives of the family. The brother was really stoked to show Zach a couple of his asian style boxing and fighting moves, while Zach helped improve his computer by downloading legal things only. We listened to the father tell us stories of the Vietnam war, and laugh out how he thought my dad was really tall when he met him once in Berkeley. Really, I think he is just short. The two brothers then gave us a mini city moto bike tour and treated us to ice coffee. Great day with locals. One day when they come to the states, we will have to treat them to a good american meal and day in return. People are so nice in Vietnam and I am always really amazed at how much people love to show off their culture and country to tourists. 

Aside from the day celebrated Tet with this family, Ho Chi Minh kinda sucks. We showed up and in an hour or so already had made our decision that we did not like it. WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE! and the food was not nearly as good, in fact we ordered a plate of noodles and after Zach pulled out a large asian hair from his mouth, we realized it was the grossed greasiest noodles ever and gave it to a poor street kid instead.  That was our first food fail all trip. There are also just way too many motos on the street and lots of pollution that it perpetuated this right nasal headache I had for way too long. We prayed for our life every time we crossed the street because there is zero acknowledge for pedestrians right of way. You pretty much just cross your fingers, dont hesitate, and just go for it. We got really good at it eventually and would put up our hand and march through the streets weaving in and out of motos. really quite exilirating and ultimatly just makes you so grateful for the organization of the road work at home. Thank buddha for the invention and use of traffic lights at home. 

Even though Ho Chi Minh in a raging city of 30 million people hussling all over on motos, there are some really nice comforts that a city offers. For instance, we went twice in one day to this chain coffee place called Highland Coffee and just sat, read, and played backgammon over cold ice coffee and oreo milkshakes. I also was in heaven when I found this bakery that served legitimate looking like breads and cakes and muffins-really miss that stuff, so i treated myself to the best chocolate muffin ever. We also hit up the movie theater and saw the badly rated action film Die Hard while eating delicious butter popcorn and pastries. Apparently the San Francisco icecream shop,Buds, has even made it to Ho Chi Minh. 

Best Pho Ever: upon request from a great friend Sara Steinberger (who deserves loads of credit), we walked a good ways into China town and found the best Pho restaurant ever! Pho Le! Backed with locals, the bowl of pho had the most amazing broth and beef. Really beat all the hundreds of bowls of soup we have eaten in Vietnam. 

From Ho Chi Minh we took a one day tour to the Mekong Delta. I was expecting that the delta would be a beautiful experience of rice paddies and floating markets and quiet locals. However, it was far from that. The floating markets were shut down becuase of the New Year and we were just shuddled around like cattle to all the tourist islands on the Mekong River. Despite my disapointment, it was still a great time. We got to hold a giant snake, see an allegator pit, watch a fire eating performer, sample local coconut candies (Zach and I really hit up those samples hard), and hear some local musicians playing their traditional folk instruments. The highlight was the bee farm that we went to where we got to sample this honey, tea, pollen, and lime drink. Really delicious and something I want to recreate for sure at home. 

Walking down the streets we have been asked if we want to buy marijuana sooo many times. They all say the word "marijuana" slightly wrong, and we can only imagine how sketchy it is. Not sure if it is Zach's crazy head of dreads that gets them askin' or if it this happens to all tourists. 

Going backwards in time and farther north in Vietnam, we stopped in the town of Dalat. Although originally not on our radar of places to hit up, we could not resist the talk of a mountain honey moon town with a hostel that had a hot tub and sauna. And of course, we loved it. It was ultimatly just really nice to see hills and mountains again. And the "Dream Hostel" we stayed in was exactly what it was called-a dream escape with free access to a hot tub and sauna. I have not met anyone who loves saunas more than Zach, so of course we really maximized our time there. And it was all well deserved after the days full of moto biking around the country side. Instead of paying for a stupid Easy Rider tour where someone drives you around to all the spots on a moto, we rented our own moto and made our own adventure. Much better, especially since Zach is a really good moto driver (I definetly need more practice on quieter roads). Motoing around we got to wide around the mountain roads into the countryside full of fruit fields and greenhouses. We spent our first day hiking up to the top of a big mountain in the area, and although I was feeling pretty sick that day it was good to move the legs and remind myself how much I love to hike. The next day we moto around to see the "elephant waterfall", which was really gross trash water flowing over this big cliff and then to see the pagoda, which was definetly one of the best pagodas i have seen. I love a good pagoda with good buddhas. 

The days in Dalat all ended with going to the same Pho restaurant, then a stroll around to make us hungry again, and then back to the same block for hot peanut soy milk and pastries. I really think there would be a great market in the bay area for an outside cafe that serves really good homemade hot soy milk and pastries. Hipsters and young professionals looking for a "healthy" option would really eat it up. Low benches and tables, good baked goods, and some hot milk. 

One night in Dalat Zach had this momentary headache and almost vomiting feeling come upon him. Who knows why, but it was nothing a little moto bike ride and some rollerskating couldnt cure. We hopped on the bike to get him some fresh air and on some random side street found a mini rollerskating rink. For less than  a dollar an hour we rented really janky rollerblade (i dont even want to think about how old and sweaty they were) and rollerbladed and skated around in circles with a bunch of highschool locals. There was even music, colored lights, and a mini ramp to go up. Granted I was wearing skates that were 3 sizes too small for me and one of them didnt lace up to provide any ankle support, it was a great time. Zach didnt have to vomit anymore and he even began working on his skating backwards technique. Good solid fun. 

After a good relaxing pre-valentines day honey moon escape, we heading to Nha Trang beach town. Nha Trang is known for its booze cruises, resorts, and parties. when we showed up at 5am in the morning we saw direct evidence of that with this really fat traveler who we have seen before just passed out in front of the hostel underneath a sorry looking aquarium. Too drunk to make it another couple of feet to his room. Upon not getting ourselves into this sad pathetic situation, Zach and I opted for exactly the opposite of what the average budget backpacker does there. Instead, we found this amazing spa mud bath resort place for only $7/day. We spent the whole day treating ourselves to mud baths, mineral tubs, fake waterfalls massages our backs, and giant hot and cold pools. Such a treat. My skin felt like literally a babies bottom after that experience for a good couple of days. Then at night we found this fancy restaurant loaded with russians (apparently there are direct flights from Moscow to Nha Trang), where there was home brewed beer!!!!! After drinking shitty 5% light beer this whole trip it was such a treat to sip on a dark home brew. We also treated ourselves to hot pot there. Giant bowl of soup boiling over a mini burner on your table. Point for us. 

We bought this hacky sac like thing that locals here play with in the parks. It is all over asia and has feathers on it so it floats in the air and looks easier to kick than a hacky sac. Cant wait to hit that up later. 

So that is pretty much it with Vietnam. Three border crossings down and off to Cambodia to see Angor Wat, some of the most amazing ruins in the world ranked up there with Machu Pichu and Petra. 

We got to Siem Reap, the town right next to Angor Wat, at around 9pm-apparently way too late to easily find a hostel. Since it was still Chinese New Year every chinese person and their mother was there and it took us almost 2 hours to find a place to stay. I definetly hit a low moment that night. After searching for awhile, with a headache still, and no food in my belly i got pretty cranky. So the overpriced late night plate of nachos was well worth it. Once passed that moment and all settled in, we had a great three full days visiting the ruins. The temples and pyramids of the Khmer civilization are all spread out so we hired a tuk tuk driver to get us around-and well needed too becuase it was sooooo hot during the day that the shade and wind the tuk tuk provided was really important. We almost died during the middle of the day when we did not have anymore water and their was limited shade. Thank god for cold cokes. 

The ruins are really quite fantastic and it was amazing getting to explore and climb all over them. Us and a million other chinese people in giant tour groups saw the sunset on top of one of the ruins, and then woke up early to see Angor Wat during sunrise. Trying to ignore the constant flashes and photos that Chinese people take, we got to see Angor being lit up by the morning sun and explore inside when there weren't as many people. Chinese tourists are everywhere, travel in really big groups, are pretty annoying because they crowd around doorways and in front of your pretty sunset view with their computers and ipads and cameras snapping WAY TOO many photos. Besides the crowds, Angor was a magical place covered in jungle and cool trees growing out of the ruins. Amazing to think that ancient civilizations had the intelligence to build such well constructed buildings and with such beautiful detailed carvings on the walls. Nothing really like that in modern architecture. 

The night of Valentines Day we treated ourselves to Cambodian BBQ (on the secret local menu the tourists normally dont see),  a fish massage, full body massage (from blind people), and a foot massage. Life is good. The fish massages are the most hilarious amazing things ever. I freaked out for the first 15 minutes or so becuase having all these little fish eat dead skin off your feet is the most ticklish thing ever. Once I calmed down, it really is quite nice and your feet feel so soft afterwards. The first fish massage we got was great, but unfortunetly the one on V-day was in a gross poopy tank with a dead fish floating around. Also, the massage from the blind person was not my favorite...it was nice supporting this cause, but I was not a fan every time he had to feel around and tap me to find the parts on my body he was going to massage next. 

I gave in and bought a pair of elephant pants. Oops. Almost everyone has the same pair of pajama like pants with elephant print on them. I kept telling myself that I didnt want to be like all the other travelers, but I finally gave in and bought some and am so happy with my purchase. Wonder if I will ever have the balls to leave the house with them at home. At least I am not like this one other traveler we met who bought 10 pairs all for herself!!! 

After a way too long bus ride from Cambodia to Thailand that should have been 8 hours, but instead took 12 hours and a 3 hour line at the border in the blazing hot sun, we are back where we started our journey-Bangkok. An overnight bus tonight will take us down south to the beaches, islands, free water soloing, snorkeling, scuba diving, tanning, massages, and ultimate relaxation. 

Thanks for reading and staying tuned to my adventures! Till next time...

Oh My Buddha

Oh My Buddha, where to even begin? I am on week three of my adventures in Southeast Asia and have not found one second to sit down and write a good blog. From Thailand, to Laos, and now in Vietnam Zach and I have been none stop go. From the sound of every moto bikes horm,  to endless plates of white rice, to fake gucci, rolex, and northface gear we have seen so much. When there has been time to sit and breathe we are either on long ass bus rides dozing off and becoming delirious, or we are lounging on a beach drinking a mango, banana, and ginger smoothie (my new favorite combination). Since we have done so much already, I will try to stick to the highlights of the journey and not bore the reader. 

I will begin in the present. We are currently in Nha Trang, Vietnam. I am sick with a sore throat and super amounts of mucus (second god damn cold since traveling), but it has not interfered with enjoying this place. Although not my favorite of places because of the overwhelming number of resorts and tourist restaurants, this place has easy access to the beach front and to an amazing mud spa place. Yesterday we treated ourselves to the cheapest day at the spa you could find in this whole world. For $7 we spent the day lounging in an oasis in mud baths, mineral baths, waterfalls, hot tubs, and cold tubs. Mangos and sugar covered cocunut shavings topped the whole experience off and left our skin feeling baby smooth. I wish I could do that everyday. My traveler induced black heads and dry skin are looking exceptionally well right now. 

Just woke up at 6am this morning to catch the Forty Niners in the Superbowl. Us and a handful of ex-pats were sad hearted from the close loss. Guess we can't win them all. Besides, I am kinda glad they lost so I dont have FOMA (fear of missing out) from all the parties and excitment at home.  

The two places I could really see myself living were Hoi An (in middle of Vietnam) and Chaing Mai (Northern Thailand). For starters, Hoi An was the most charming, quiet, beautiful city to explore. It is like a city trying to be a beach town, or a beach town trying to be a city. The vibrant life of the city street markets, fruit stands, and touristy (but good quality) tailor shops was mixed with the proximity of the laid back feeling, less motos on the street, and smell of salt water in the air. Zach and I stayed right in the heart of it all by the canal that was lit up with beautiful lights at night. We got janky bikes everyday and spent three days weaving in and out of the streets, running early morning on the beach, eating way too good foods (and lots of it), and relaxing on the beach. The food there really deserves a special couple of sentences, cuase it was hands down, the best we have had. Vietnam is the cuisine country of southeast asia, and Hoi An is the best city to eat it in. We went from one street food vendor to the next trying anytthing that looked delicious. Street food is easy to find because all you have to do is look for ridiculously small plastic chairs and tables pouring out onto the side walk. I don't know how the Vietnamese do it, but hella old people all sit on super low and uncomfortable chairs. Makes sense though I guess: cheap and easy to transport, quite efficient. I love it. In Hoi An my favorite food items were the abundance of fresh soy milk. The soy milk was definetly different than at home, with peanut butter flavors, or some other unidentified flavor. Zach especially was obsessed with this dessert in a cup-he claims it is the best thing he has ever ever ever eaten. i believe him, as his amazing matabolism allowed him to have three in one day. It is called Sweet Soup. My description will not do it justice, but it is a mixture of sweet beans, corn, jelly shit, balls of rice and yellow bean curd, and cocunut milk. We found this one lady serving it on a cart the first day, and then if it was meant to be, the other two days as we were searching the streets for her, she came wheeling her cart towards us like angels meeting angels. Beautiful. Anyways, after countless bowls of pho noodles, dry noodles and fresh vege dishes, egg rolls, pork buns with guail eggs in them, donuts made of sticky rice and bean curd, soy milk, sweet soup, and the most delicious fat bananas we had to say good-bye to Hoi An. 

Hoi An was even that much more amazing because it took us sooooo fucking long to get there. Made it totally worth it. Coming from Northern Thailand on Cat Ba Island we took a bus, then a boat ride to shore, another bus to lunch, then a bus to Honoi city, moto ride to bus station (as our first bus broke down) then a 15 hour bus ride to Hue, then local bus to Danang, then another bus to Hoi An, and then a moto ride to our hotel. Holy shit we were delirious and cranky. Good thing Zach and I always travel with lots of snacks and fully charged ipods with Radio Lab Podcasts on them.

 Oh, the motos rides must be written about. There are around 90 million people in Vietnam and everyone has a moto. Cars would not work in this country at all. There are just way too many people. Almost every piece of land is cultivated with rice. Only the mountains have some natural wild land on them. Anyways, the roads are horrifying. When we were in the city of Hanoi, I prayed for my life every time I crossed the road. Hanoi is one of the largest cities of Vietnam is just always hussling and bussling with people, vendors, and markets. No one knows how to stop or use their brakes for pedestrians, there is absolutely no order to any of it. You have to time your crossing perfectly, no hesitations, just go. We were somehow forced into a situation where we had to be transported by moto bike to the bus station. We threw our large backpacks on, a helmet that did not fit me at all (my head is even smaller than theirs), and were zoomed in and out of traffic. Like in a video game, it was such a rush. Moment where I just pictured my mom saying something like, "KATE! Never go on a moto!!" Well, I am still alive, thank buddha. 

I drove my own moto bike for the first time too! We rented a moto bike for only $3.50/day on Cat Ba Island in Ha Long Bay. Northern Vietnam is colder, so we spent the day buddled up with gloves and jackets on exploring the island looking for a nice place to eat mango and drink shitty Vietnamese beer. Zach is much better at driving motos than I am as he has done it on a shitty bike in Nicaragua. I am good on easy straight aways, but clearly need more practice turning the bike  around in a U-turn. Almost knocked us over in front of screaming Vietnamese children. Woops. I enjoyed Zach driving me around, while I sat on the back gripping his hips and letting my short hair fly in the wind like in a movie scene or something. 

More about Ha Long Bay: Ha Long Bay is a beautiful bay with exactly 1,169 (only thing I remember from the tour) giant karsts jetting out of the water. We signed up for a three night tour where we spent one night on a boat cruise and then two nights on Cat Ba Island. The landscape is beautiful and was great to explore on kayak, moto bike, and foot as we walked through the National Park and climbed up the scariest piece of metal tower that looked a million years old... but the service was absolute shit. It was definetly not your standard nice luxury cruise ship at all, but a dirty boat wth the most meager amounts of shitty food for dinner and huge overcharges for bringing your own beer on board. Throughout the whole tour experience we witnessed a piece of green plastic in someone's soup (mistaken for a piece of lettuce), another traveler breaking an already broken chair, and two fights between the tour guides and travellers. one because these bro dudes from Canada showed up late for departure one morning and were not allowed to get their small breakfest that contained literally just one piece of bread. and two because some nice girl by accident broke the shitty key to her room on the boat and was going to be charged  $25 for it...that key probably costs literally 50 cents. nothing costs $25 in vietnam. There is nothing worse than feeling like you are being ripped off as a traveller.  Besides the poor service, all the people we have met in Thailand, Loas, and Vietnam have  been some of the nicest people ever. They are very warm and friendly, and generally really want to help out the lost traveler.

I got a foot massage and pedicure for $5 in total. Amazing deal. As I this family run business was painting my nails and serving us pistacios I noticed that I might be getting fungus on one of my toe nails. NOO!! I am super nervous for when i remove the nail polish. At least for now, my toes look really nice and clean. 

Zach and I by accident ate chicken fetus in Ha Long Bay. I wanted a hard boiled egg in my chicken soup so pointed to one. It looked like litearlly the largest egg ever, so I was really intrigued. It was large for a reason...it had a baby chicken inside it. I saw the head and all. Once we got past the fact that we were eating baby chicken in our chicken soup with a chicken wing in it, it was actualyl kinda good tasting. It tasted like chicken meat with egg around it. 

Many Vietnamese men spend their nights sitting on low plastic chairs drinking ridiculously cheap (25 cent) beers and smoking tobacco from long wooden pipes. They inhale super deep and feel their lungs with it. Their teeth are all generally rotting away. I am sure many die of lung disease, if not from a moto bike accident. Apparently 30 people die of moto accidents a day in Vietman. Sad, but at least it keeps their population at somewhat of a more steady increase. 

The beer in Southeast Asia has been pretty bad. Ranging from 4.5% to no more than 6.4% the beer is light and generalyl just tastes like piss. We have discovered two beers that are somewhat tolerable to drink. One being Beer Loas and the other Biere Larue. Both of which come and go depending on where you are. It is hard being a beer snob travelling here. What I would give to have a dark imperial IPA. That and a chunk of cheddar cheese are the only thing I crave. At least I brought 6 different beautiful chocolate bars from home that Zach and I munch on in times of need. 

Going back to the beginning of our trip, we arrived in Bangkok in the afternoon and just followed our smell of dirty backpacker to the street of Koa San. Koa San is a mecca for backpackers and is completely over run with way too much touristy shit. After roaming the streets for a little with an Israeli we met on the plane, we just so happened to choose a hotel that was right in front of the loudest playing music ever. Each night we fell asleep to 106.1fm 40 top hits and of course, none other than Gangnam Style. We have heard that at least once a day here. Besides the bad sleep and large amounts of caucasians, our first impression of Thailand was great. We spent our first day getting adjusted to the time zone and getting our feet wet by wondering in and out of the streets, seeing temples, and eating amazing bowls of pad thai for $1. There are temples everywhere in Thailand to go into. If you have a shawl to cover up anyone is allowed in. Zach and I really enjoyed becoming Buddhist and meditating on the floors of the temples. They are always great places to go to get away from the crazy busy street life and enter in to an air conditioned quiet place. I really like the casual but also very intentional practice of Buddhists. Lots of monks raom the streets as well. 

The second night into our trip we met another american couple  who are traveling for 2 years together. We were planning on going to see the "Ping Pong Show", but are morals took ahold of us. There are men on the streets adverstising ping pong pussy poppers in the Red Lights District. Apparently it is an interesting and I am sure, eye opening experience (to say the least). However, the potential of getting ripped off and supporting the sex trade was something we were mot willing to do. Instead, we signed up to go to the floating market. Much better and more cultured experience. The floating market was amazing too. We got to boat around in and out of shops and food vendors all selling things on the water. Really beautiful. Ate some amazing cocunut sweet cupcake like things. 

Got our first of many massages in Bangkok too. The massages are all over and dirt cheap. So far we are treating ourselves to a massage at least once a week. Once we get to the beaches in Thailand we will have to increase that number though. So spoiled. It took me a second to get used to Thai massage style. Having soft small asian hands is not the deep tissue massage I usually like, but they realyl do an amazing job of using their whole bodies to stretch you out. They do this amazing move where they swing your upper body around and crack your back really good. I am picking up some good techniques. 

After Bangkok we traveled north to Chaing Mai. Chaing Mai is known for its mountain treks, so obviously we had to hit this up. Zach and I used our good Jewish bargaining skills and shopped around to so many different travel agencies to find the best one. There are sooooo many different travel agencies in all the places we have been it is sometimes hard to know exactly which one is better than the next. When I was about to give up and opt for the overly touristy two night trek into the mountains, we saw a sign that read "Whiskey Travels". When in doubt, always follow signs toward alcohol. We did, and landed the best deal ever on a three night trek into a nontouristy area. We super super super lucked out. I have to say, I am really good at bargaining. One of my talents. Even bargained pork buns once. 

This trek was full of it all. Led by a Thai dude who we called Crazy Jimmy we were taken into the mountains near the Burma and Thai border. Crazy Jimmy was just the perfect name for him as he never stopped making noises, singing english songs, and drinking whiskey. The other people on the trip were this couple from Switzerland, Desiree and Yon. They were are age, super nice, fun to be with, and seemed to have the same agenda as us. It was like a 4 day double date with Jimmy as our guide. Such a lucky ratio. The trek started out by taking us to this random small trail of the side of the road. Down the trail were two beautiful elephants waiting for us in the trees. Zach and I hopped on top of one, and Desiree and Yon on the other. It was amazing!!!! I got to get an elephant when I get back home. I could not stop laughing as the large mammal below me took us on a single track trail down to the river. We got to sit on its head, feed them bananas,  wash them in the river, and climb all over them. This one baby elephant even gave us big slimy kisses on the cheek. After the elephants the hike started off by sipping a little of Jimmy's Moonshine whiskey. We were occupanied by a doctor from the Karen Hilltribe and stopped almost every ten minutes to learn about the different plants and their medicinal uses. We ate cinammon bark, drank water out of the trunk of a tree, and made bowls and chopsticks from the large jungle leaves to eat our friend rice in. The Karen member carried a gun with him in hopes of shooting a bird...instead wte just fired the gun at a target on a tree. First time shooting a gun! My ears almost fell off it was so loud. 

The two nights on the trek we slept in the huts of the Karen Hilltribe. The first night was spent in a more secluded spot. Although not spanish speaking we called the owners of the place Mama Maria and Papa Harry. An old couple, beautiful, bent over from the years of working the farms treated us to an amazing dinner. We went on a night hike with the other family members and explored tarantula homes, and night creatures. Additionally, we planted our rat traps for the morning in hopes of catching fresh wild rat for breakfest. AHHH!! They had these amazing bamboo made traps that strangle the rat who tries to eat the corn placed inside. These genious contraptions brought home three wild rats for the mornign. After BBQing them on the open fire we ate toasted white bread, eggs, and RAT for breakfest. Watching the kids in the village munch down on the entire rat, we tentatively took small bites out of the leg. Surpriselying kinda good. Zach ate the entire rat ball too! 

With rat filling our bellies we marched through the jungle to get to the Karen village for our second night of stay. The Karen people are a tribe that came over from Burma during the war times there. The population of them is actually increasing, which is rare to see with tribes these days. The village we stayed at had about 70 homes, all built close together. Among the beautiful people livign in this comminuty, there most be even more pigs, cows, chickens, adn dogs then them. We were so lucky to be there on the Karen peoples New Year. Becuase of this we were invited into their homes, fed pounds and pounds white rice, bowls of soup, and noodles, cookies, rice whiskey, and tabacco and tamarin fruit rolled in banana leaf (these people did not stop smoking).  On this special day of the year all the families get together and sing, eat, and drink whiskey. They kept feeding us and serving us more and more whiskey  (both at nigth adn then the next day for breakfest). The whiskey was very weak (probably only 5%), but with enough of it and with the spirits of the Karen people blessing us, we enjoyed our time quite nicely. We were invited to join them in their pray ceremony and sat down on the floor of mama maria and papa harry's porch. Once the majority of the group cleared out, we stayed sitting around candle light exchanging songs and playing guitar. Zach was the only one who kinda knew guitar in our group of four, so he busted out his greenday tune and plucked the cords. Desiree and I sang some good disney songs and other tid bits from songs we knew to the Karen people. thank god Desiree had a good voice cuase my signing ability and Zach's attempt at guitar would not have held a crowd. Being waved good-bye by all the people in the hilltribe we left our little community behind. What a great and rich experience these people gave us. The last day on the trek was spent on a bamboo raft and hiking to a desolate waterfall. So much packed into this trek, i could not have asked for anything better. 

And then to Loas we went. After a long bus journey, we arrived in the capitol, Vientien. The main purpose of going there was to get our Visas for Vietnam at the embassy. A ten minute process from a super rude guy working in the embassy and $70 later we got our Visas. To spend our time in Loas before we hopped on another bus to Vietnam, Zach and I rented bikes, ran along the Mekong River in the morning, and spontaneously joined in an excercise class in park with at least a hundred other people and a ridiculous guy doing excercise moves on a stage and screaming into a microphone.  Peaced out as soon as this women came up to us and asked us to pay for the class. feeling good and like we had excercised a little we decided we deserved to eat lots of realyl delicious fried donuts made of sticky rice, bean curd, and coconut. Always treating ourselves. 

The border crossing into Loas from Vietnam was a complete and absolute shit show. Hands down the worst border crossing ever. First our bus broke down and after waiting way too long in the middle of the night we were put on another way better sleeper bus. cramped in the back with a bunch of bro dudes, we arrived to the border into Vietnam. It took 3.5 hours to cross! It was just us and a thousand Vietnamese people. We had to walk a good quarter of a mile to Vietnam through a muddy construction site, where we then had to wait another hour to unload our bags and then put them right back on. Chickens, roosters, bad smells, horrible bathroom, no sleep. Zach' s backpack even got peed on in the process. Some dumbass put his dog in a crate under the bus where all the bags were stored and of course, in the 20 hours or so on the bus ride the dog peed. Pee rolled around the bottom of bus and got on his bag. Animal urine is surprisely potent and takes forever to get off. Thank Buddha Zach did not get his entire bag covered like this other guy we were traveling with did. 

So, with all of that and more, Southeast Asia is amazing. Our tummies are always happy and our minds always blown. Traveling with Zach has been wonderful too.  Besides the fact that he blows his nose all the time and does not give me as many Thai massages as I want, things are grand between us. Of course there are the little moments of tired, sick, and crankiness we are great travel buddies. We seem to always be on the same page with when to go out, sleep some more, drink beer, eat food, and go on adventures. It is definetly a different experience than traveling on my own as I am used to. But the perks of being able to share moments with someone close, laugh at the ridiculous things we encounter, and ultimately feel comfortable all the time are so amazing. 

Well, off to more adventures...