Nam Ha Trekking

I just arrived last night back from some trekking just outside of Nam Tha. We trekked all near and through the Nam Ha NPA. It was really quite something! It seems everywhere you go in Laos is beautiful! I'm sorry I couldn't get any pics online today, i will try again as soon as i can. I hope everyone is well at home, thinking of you all and miss you!
ps. i never knew my family was such an expert on leeches!! i am impressed :)
i will try to upload some video, it just takes a long time... so i'll see what i can do sometime when i have a few hours or something...

luang nam tha

hey all - seems plans have changed. i won't be able to teach english in a village. but while spending almost a week in that small town i learned a lot about how things work here. i also was able to meet some really nice people and spend some days chatting with the locals and watching the dragon flies glitter in the sun.

so now it's onward. i wasn't sure what to do next, and a "bus" was headed out of town. they stopped when they saw my backpack and said, "headed to luang nam tha?" i said yeah sure, and literally just hopped on. luckily i had much less motion sickness this time! maybe because we were really outside on the back of a truck! but i met a nice Japanese fellow, Takish, and chatted all the way here. now that i'm in luang nam tha, it's a bit bigger of a town, so hopefully i can post some pictures. tomorrow i leave for a two day trek to some villages in the Nam Ha National Protected Area. i can't wait! the guide said, the trail will be slippery and there's lots of leeches. yuck! for now it's really raining quite hard, so i don't know what i'll do for the afternoon... but so it goes!

off to the village!

So I have spent a couple days around Muang Sing. I have been able to enjoy the lightening show from the balcony of my guest house at night, and often the moonrise, which right now it is almost full. this picture is hard to see, but it's the mon rise over the mountains.

the views around town are really quite stunning

I have particularly been enjoying the Jeow here, it's called a chili paste, although not particularly spicey. you eat it with a bunch of sticky rice, and i just love it!!! Yesterday I woke up and went to the market where i tried all sort of great fruit, two kinds that tasted like lychees, and one other called mangosteen i think? they are all so sweet and great! i was coerced into buying way too much fruit and fresh peanuts, and ended up sharing them with a couple of guys from maine! it's a small world... although they are some of the only other Americans i have seen.
this is one women in town who i bought some handicrafts from.

in the afternoon i took a bike ride to the Chinese border with an Israeli fellow named Gil. While my bike was a little shaky, it was named "the champion" and it brought me back, minus gears and real working brakes and all... but it was fun to take a ride through the country side. we also stopped at a little village, where lots of kids were out laughing and playing! it was quite scenic, and Gil speculated that perhaps the less you have the more happy you are? I guess that's a hard thing to know... here is one part of the village this is me at the chinese border...
so today i met with some men who work in the tourist office for the government. we put together a proposal for my two week visit to a couple of local villages to try to teach some English. i am headed back there to sign more paperwork. they said i am the first to do this, so there is lots of paperwork, i don't mind though, because they are very nice and are going to bring me by motorbike to the first village tomorrow! it is an akha village, where there are supposedly two tour guides who wish to learn more english. so wish me good luck! i will be thinking of you all and hoping that you are well and having fun!!! love you lots!

getting to muang sing, not for the weak at heart!

hello from muang sing! hi everyone, i have made it up to northwestern laos, what a trip it has been! let's see if i can catch you a bit up to date. it isn't easy to find internet connections around here, but surprisingly there is a place in town that they let you use their laptop for 1500 kip an hour. so far it's great!

my last day in vieng chan i was buddha day, which meant i woke up to the sounds of monks chanting from my bedroom. i don't know much about buddha day, but i know that monks are supposed to be at the wat for three months following this day, i don't know how closely this tradition is followed or not, it probably depends, just like in many other religions.

during the day i went to the COPE center which is the national rehabilitation center. there i was able to see a few quite good exhibits about the UXO issues in laos and real stories from people about how it has effected their lives. there was also quite a good australian documentary to watch there called bomb harvest. also you could watch the doc bombies, which i have seen but is also very good. i think it is a good place to visit.

one other thing about buddha day is because it is a "holiday" lots of people were out that night drinking... kind of paradoxical when you think about it. that night i went out to a "beer shop" with a couple of friends, a fun place right on the mekong that they said you don't want to tell lonely planet about. we all had some great lao food! morning glory, sticky rice, papaya salad, they all laughed as my lips were burning and nose running, it was so spicey! but i had to try it all, and in the end really dig the food here. the hard thing about drinking beer lao here though, is that you don't drink a bottle of beer by yourself... you all share these large bottles, and before you ever finish a glass, it is always refilled. there is lots of cheers! and eating, drinking, and laughing. before i knew it we ended up at a night club, where there was more passing around a cup of beer, and people wait for you to drink yours and pass it on! so needless to say i felt i should drink what was offered!! we all danced away to from what i could tell was some thai dance music (memories coming back from the bangkok train station!) as well as some american music i had just been introduced to, like little wayne! so funny! really the night only ended at midnight! but i had had plenty, and enjoyed the three person ride home on a little motorbike!

let me tell you. that night back at the guest house i was certainly glad i had a private bathroom, because that is when the first episode of throwing up began.

the next morning my friend dani and i had tickets to fly to northern laos, a town called luang nam tha. i had to wake up early and pack my stuff. we took a tuk tuk to the airport, both of us with bad headaches, at least we could, what do they say, commiserate?

after checking through a very laid back airport, we were on time and ready for our flight at 9am. then in no way that i could understand, they said over loud speakers, maybe the flight would start at 9:30. i guess it was raining fairly hard up north. so we wouldn't then take off until aybe 10:30. i think it was around 11:30 when i realized, we are actually waiting for the plane to leave from nam tha, to get here so we could leave. dani and i finally splurged on some coffee and some kind of butter, tomato, lettuce sandwich in the airport cafe, and met an australian fellow, michael.

just before we finally got the call to board, dani and michael discuss how this route is maybe too dangerous to fly and the airline really shouldn't be doing it, and also discussing another flight last year with americans on it that died. needless to say i had second thoughts! but it was finally time to board just before 1pm, and i just wanted to get out of the airport! things seemed okay for a bit, but for those of you who know me well, know i get pretty bad motion sickness, as "we make turbulence" began, the jumpy plane ride, and not feeling 100% from night before... this is when the second episode of throwing up began.

i have never been so happy to get off the plane! we arrived at luang nam tha, outside the airport was beautiful mountains. we even stopped in town to get some crackers. a friend of dani was to drive us to muan sing (maybe an hour or two northwest by road). dani says to me, well i usually feel sick on the drive, but i think maybe you are worse than me and should sit in the front.

i don't know if our truck was especially bouncy this day, but let me tell you, i felt like i was riding with my stomach in my mouth! every breath i took, i had to concentrate on not puking. i breath in and count to 4, breath out count to 4. if i hadn't been so ill, i would have noticed how strikingly beautiful the drive was, everyone says... i did notice the cows, boar, chickens, some kind of water buffalo maybe? dogs, and and cats on the side of the road though... because that's where i was throwing up. episodes, 3 and 4. i don't think there was any morning glory left...

9 km by car never seemed so far, but i finally made it that last bit without stopped into muang sing. dani and pet dropped me off at a little bungalow of a guesthouse and i laid down, and didn't get up for about 16 hours!

well that was a day i'll never forget! but actually now that i spent a day and some wandering around muang sing, this place is amazing! there are beautiful green rice paddies far across the valley, only concluded by big green mountains shrouded in clouds! it is really incredible! the town is fairly small, but being so close to china (10km), myanmar, and thailand, it is i guess traditionally a big trading town. so there is a big market, and lots of people from tribes around here walk into town and try to sell you things and buy what they need at the market.


this is really quite something i wish you all could see! there is even a special section at the market just for lao lao !!

yesterday i went with the australian fellow by motorbike out to a stuppa just outside of town. it was really in a peaceful setting, with the most amazing ficus tree there i have ever seen! this monk david, (his english name) was quite something! he spoke something like 11 different languages that we could tell, and studied and lived in thailand, myanmar, india, but was born here in muang sing. he told us that buddha's adam's apple was here at this stuppa. it was entertaining to sit and listen to him, even if i could only follow parts of his stories. he had a lot in his mind to say!
the stupathis amazing ficus tree at the stupa

i have been informed i only have 5 minutes left, so i must go, i'm sorry the pictures didn't upload yet (the connection is not wicked fast). i will try again tomorrow. the next day i leave for i guess a quite remote village, another adventure! so i hope you are all well, and love you lots!

Sights around Viang Chan

I've just spent the last day or so wandering around viang chan. here are some sights from around the sandalwood city

a colorful tuk tuk


this is that dam. there are two legends associated with it. one is that it was coated in gold, that was then carried off by siamese in 1828. the second says that it is the home of a dormant seven headed dragon that came to life in 1828 to protect local citizens in the siamese-lao war.


this is the lao national culture hall, built by the chinese in the late 1990s... i think it's pretty wild looking.


i also went to the lao national museum. we weren't allowed to take cameras inside. it was a small but interesting museum that had everything from dinosaur bones to the traditional dress for some of the tribes in lao


this is what is called patuxai, the victory gate, or also it is called the vertical runway (it was built with cement that was supposed to be used to build an airport). it looks a lot like the arc de triomphe, but it has 4 archways. the picture to the right is looking up from underneath

you can climb to the top, and from there the area does look rather european....


right now i am staying at a great guest house! it is the goldilocks guesthouse (not too expensive, but clean enough) right across from the wat mixai. this morning i woke up to monks chanting, i could hear them from my bedroom... not a bad way to wake up!
now i am thinking of heading to a restaurant for lunch where they have amazing coconut ginger chicken soup! it has been a laid back couple of days, although i have done a lot of walking around. i've also met a few random people, and it is always neat to hear their stories. hope you are all doing well at home, i am thinking of you!

Lao Tubing!

thanks everyone for the notes on the blog! it's so nice to know that you're reading it and nice to see what you think! i actually wish can and all the cousins could have been with me yesterday, it was something like i never imagined doing! i got to experience why most backpackers go to vang vieng. everyone said you had to go tubing, so i had to see what it was like. it was crazy tubing down the nam song river! you take a tuk tuk filled with people and tubes up the river from town. then you all jump in the river and float! this is fun in itself, set in the gorgeous mountain scenes surrounding you, it is really just unreal! the river is moving actually really fast, so fast that i really didn't believe they let people do this! but we all jumped in and floated down the river... it was all in all about a 7 hour affair, because really, you don't just raft. not long after you jump in the river, you get to a hut structure of a bar, and people throw out these long bamboo sticks to reel you in. then you get to share drinks at this bar with everyone tubing down the river. there are about 8 bars on the river! so really, it's just like bar hoping down the river! the most fun thing besides tubing and meeting all these fun-loving people is at every bar you can climb high up into this structure, and swing way out into the river and jump in! it's like a very fancy tree swing! at one bar there was even a zip line, which was pretty sweet, but i liked the swings best! you could even go two or or three people a time, that's how big they were. there was also things like volleyball etc. at the bars, each was a little different. this was something that was definitely catered to tourists, but an amazing experience anyway, and a really really fun way to spend the day! even when it poured out, twice! i thought i would be scared to jump in the river, and sometimes i was, especially when you miss the tube they throw out to reel you back into the bar! but all in all it was so much fun. seriuosly, i know you all would have loved it and i wish you could have been there! i'm glad i had the experience of it. i can't wait to show you how high we jumped in from! a friend took some pictures, so when i get them i'll post them.

for now here are some random pics from last couple days...

i am back in Vien Chan now, and making plans to head way up north!

talk with you soon!

Vang Vieng in the morning

Vang Vieng

this morning laura and i took the bus to vang vieng. it was a beautiful (albeit sometimes a little crazy) bus ride! it's nice to be out of the city and somewhere you can walk down the streets. it's very touristy here, but still also very charming. the big thing everyone does is goes tubing down the river, so we made plans to go with a bunch of people tomorrow morning. everyone here is so nice!

i guess 10 years ago this place was nothing like this... it makes me think about ludlow, and how much tourism can change a place. sometimes it is hard to be a tourist, when i enjoy so much being a local. but it is still very beautiful here, huge steep limestone bluffs. right into the river... i hope i can get some pics uploaded for you all soon!

Wat Si Muang and Buddha Park

hey everyone! i wanted to post a couple pics from yesterday, we checked out a temple (they call them a wat here) called Si Muang yesterday, and then another that i don't know the name... they were pretty spectacular!

here is something for the yard mom.... talk about edward scissor hands! :)

on the way back we saw these guys, playing this game that seems to be pretty popular around here. i don't know what it's called, but it must be the lao equivalent of soccer volleyball!

today we traded up to a sweet guest house. it cost twice as much as the one last night (9$ each) but our room has two beds, clean sheets, air conditioning, toilet paper, and even is clean!

this afternoon we took the local bus to a place called buddha park. it was an incredible small little park with a ton of amazing buddhist and hindu sculptures all in once place! it was so amazing, i feel like the pics speak for themselves... i heard a guide say that the statue below is "sun eat moon" meaning an eclipse... pretty sweet!

where we got our 10$ hour long traditional lao massages!

Sabaidee - Hello from Vien Chan!

So I left VT on Monday, and today is Friday... and I am finally in Vien Chan! i am here! it is incredible, and i am so happy!! what a trip it has been so far... here's a short but hopefully sweet synop and some pics too!

The Train Station

once i checked out of the high class hotel, i took a cab to Hua Lompong (i know i'm not gonna spell any of these places names right). if i had to make a movie about this cab ride, i would have called it 'hydroplaning to james taylor'. once i arrived at the train station i got my ticket and checked a bag so i could check out around this place called Bangkok.

for the most part, from the highway bangkok looked like i imagine new jersey really... sprawl sprawl and just when you think more sprawl a BIG billboard. but once you get to the little streets though. it's different. so it's the same but different... it pretty much smelled like exhaust and sewage, and i couldn't believe how much traffic! after wondering around for a while as a target for random acts of violence (Elling!) i did find a nice temple with what was called the gold buddha in it... it was very beautiful, although parts of it were undergoing some kind of re-construction.



i also saw lots of stray dogs, it made me sad. i saw one particularly injured badly and wanted to throw up.

anyway, back to the train station, where i watched a ridiculous version of thai MTV and slept on the floor, until my train was ready to board. i got on train 69 to Nong Khai.

this was the sweetest train ride i have ever been on! it was nice to get on the train with a big open window and watch the city lights slowly disappear on my own darjeeling limited (or something like that)

after a few on the train, one of the stewardesses asked if i wanted dinner and beer. i said of course! she said me too? i said sure! so we pulled the curtain so her bosses wouldn't see her, and she joined me for a couple rounds of Thai beer to round out the night. actually i'd say these were more like a couple of liters of beer! (liter of cola, do we sell liter of cola? :)) but i was happy for the company even if we couldn't understand a word each other said. she also kept slipping me some nice sweet fresh fruit, which i don't know what it was... i think mao mao she called it?

i woke up this morning to the beautiful thai countryside...

we made it to Nong Khai around 8:30am... crossing the border was a debacle but luckily i enjoyed the tuk tuk rides and long lines with some nice English and German friends.
Crossed the Mighty Mekong into Laos!!!

also met up with a school librarian from San Fran, Laura. we decided to share a room tonight to save some kip! we each paid 4$ for a less than spotless room at a guest house and just enjoyed my first real meal in a long time!

now we're gonna take a tour of Vien Chan. i can hardly believe i am here! it seems so surreal after thinking about it for so long... i am totally overwhelmed, but in a really good way! there's lots more traffic than i guessed... the guide book described it as a 'sleepy little town'. my guess is that the Lonely Planet researchers have never been to Ludlow, VT.

i wish you all could be here with me! i hope you like the pics.
love and peace.

Sawasdee from Bangkok!

Well thanks to Marko I made it to Boston (in style) where we met up with Phits and Vi... Everyone made sure I had all the last minute stuff I could possibly think of... and after raiding the 711 at 11pm for a quad band phone we crashed late and Vi brought me to Logan early the next day.

From then it is a blur... :) but I think I went through security in Boston, NYC, Hong Kong, and finally customs here in Bangkok! What a trip... but after over 24 hours of planes and airports I was psyched because the hotel I booked here is Swank! Also I posted some pics of the Hong Kong airport because it was sweet...

Today I'm going to check out of swanky swankville, and hopefully find the train station and head to Nong Khai, where I can cross the Friendship Bridge at the Lao border and make my way to Vien chan.

Wish me luck! :) love you all and miss you at home

4th of July Picnic!

Before I head on my trip I have been practicing with my camera and uploading stuff to this bloggerific website. So on our annual 4th of July picnic I took some video of the days activities... these were kickstarted with timed garbage plate eating, courtesy of the LCS (ludlow country store), eater: Marko Gauthier... the celebration continued with much more eating, singing and rock band, bocci, endless volleyball matches (with the introduction of the "amazing" rule), and a specal performance (not shown here) by Jay Blodgett... We were glad to see all those who could make it, and missed the few of you sprinkled in other parts of the world. Don't worry Tommy, we still made it into the pond!

The night ended with the sounds of fireworks... (more easily heard than seen) :)

Hiking to White Rocks

Candace and I hiked to White Rocks, near Wallingford, VT. Near the top there is an intersection with lots of sweet cairns! Check it out.