TravelStream™ news feed for member lambs on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/lambs en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 16 Jan 2009 02:58:46 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1232085180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1232085180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1232085180/tpod.html Fri, 16 Jan 2009 02:58:46 -0500 Tale of the Gecko: Return to SE Asia

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Chiang Mai, Thailand

Two and half months after arriving in SE Asia, here I am in the final hours of my stay in this fascinating part of the world. Nancy and I fly from Chiang Mai to Bangkok this evening. We then take separate flights to Seoul, Korea, where we have a room in the transit hotel in the airport. After a few hours sleep, we board a flight together to Seattle. Home.Having been away from the U.S. for so long, I'll need a cultural hyperbaric chamber to acclimate, I'm sure.With a mixture of conflicting feelings about leaving and going home, I keep coming back to one thought from Peter Matthiessen's classic travel book, The Snow Leopard, the book I was reading when I arrived here. Matthiessen, trekking in the Himalayas in pursuit of a glimpse of the snow leopard, came to the realization late in his travels that he didn't actually need to see the elusive creature...he had experienced enough without finding the object of his trek."Here I am, safely returned over those peaks from a journey far more beautiful and strange than anything I had hoped for or imagined..."With a few goals of my journey unmet -- a visit to the rice terraces of Yunnan, China, for example -- I might say the same. It has indeed been a trip that turned out to be far more than I could have imagined.May all of your journeys be the same.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1231822440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1231822440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1231822440/tpod.html Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:53:16 -0500 Tale of the Gecko: Return to SE Asia

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Fang, Thailand

Far up in the Northwest corner of Thailand is the town of Fang, a place that has piqued my curiosity and the curiosity of Jim, who loves these out-of-the-way places. It's one of those places that quite a few Westerners pass through -- it's on the way to the popular trekking destination,Thaton -- but few stop in Fang.We know a few people from that area, so we wanted to see what it's like.Now, having seen it, I'd say it's an unremarkable town, but perfectly pleasant and prosperous. Most enjoyable was our evening at a restaurant/bar called Sabai Sabai, a family affair with three generations involved in the operation.To get to Fang, we took a local bus from the north bus station in Chiang Mai. The trip was made more interesting for me by having to get off for a toilet stop and having the bus leave without me. I simply caught the next bus. Another pit stop, another bus. Finally I reunited with Jim and Nancy at one of the two bus terminals in Fang.Returning the next day to Chiang Mai by minivan, I encountered no such necessities and simply enjoyed the views of the the craggy mountains between Fang and Chiang Dao and the colorful fabric banners fluttering in the wind along the way.Jim's sisters, Ann and Mary, arrived from the US the following day for a two-week holiday.Time draws short for our stay in SE Asia. Much remains that we would like to experience, but we need to keep in mind that anything we decide to do will be one more experience we wouldn't have had if we had stayed home.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1231311360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1231311360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1231311360/tpod.html Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:54:51 -0500 Tale of the Gecko: Return to SE Asia

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Chiang Mai, Thailand

Back in Chiang Mai...with a new 30-day visa on arrival at the Chiang Mai airport. I had thought I would be granted only a 15-day extension on the 30-day visa that I received when I flew from Hanoi to Chiang Mai. But there it is in my passport...a new 30-day visa stamp.So, I could stay in Thailand until Feb. 4. But home is beginning to beckon. Ten days to go. Plenty of time for more travel adventures. Nancy, who is on a tighter travel timeframe, is calling the shots now.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1231142460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1231142460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1231142460/tpod.html Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:54:09 -0500 Tale of the Gecko: Return to SE Asia

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Nong Kiaw, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

A little corner of heaven. Nong Kiaw, Lao. Ever since I started researching my current Southeast Asia travels, I've had my eye on the Nam Ou River in Lao PDR. I'm not sure what intrigued me. Maybe it was the description in Lonely Planet. Maybe it was its proximity to Luang Prabang, making it a realistic overnight destination. Maybe it was an unexplored place on the map. I don't know why it became a place of my imagination, but I had a ticket for a minivan trip there. My plan was to go by minivan and return by slow boat downstream. The boat trip was by far the most enjoyable, although it did require some flexibility and patience. As arranged the previous day, a minivan arrived at the guest house. However, it was not the vehicle to take me to Nong Kiaw, only to the Luang Prabang minivan terminal. Good, because everyone else in that one was headed to Vang Vieng, the mandatory stop on the backpacker circuit. Four spine-shaken hours later, I emerged from the suspension-free and muffler-free minivan at the Nong Kiaw bus station, an uninspiring stop. Crossing the bridge to the Ban Sop Houn district on the far side of the river, I hoped to secure a bungalow for the night at the highly recommended Riverside Guest House. Almost immediately views of the soaring karst pinnacles front, side and back presented themselves. This clearly was the place I'd been searching for. Unfortunately, the Riverside was completely full for the night, so I started the search for an alternative. A rough dirt road led to Sunset Guest House, a gem. (150,000 kip a night, or about $18, but I ended up paying only 120,000, or about $12, because I had only coffee for breakfast.) I was shown to a bungalow with a wooden veranda with an inspiring view across the river to the village and the peaks behind. Not the cheapest place in town, but worth every kip (over 8,000 to the dollar). Actually, for creature comforts, it surpassed the room in Luang Prabang. After dropping my day pack in the room, I took a walk to soak in the views of the sunset-illuminated mountains and appreciate the dusty village main street undisturbed by foreign visitors. Little kids consistently greeted me with "Sabaidee." People tended open fires outside their houses. Folks bathed in the river and the water flowing down the mountain and alongside the road. Men repaired their wooden boats on the bank of the river. Women collected leafy water plants along the shore.As the sun dropped low over the mountains, I retired to my veranda with a glass of lao lao rice whiskey, a cigar purchased in Vietnam and a sunset experience I'll never forget. My only regret, as I lingered over my little luxuries, was that I couldn't stay longer. I had to be back in Luang Prabang the next evening for our flight back to Chiang Mai the following day. Advised that I should be at the boat landing early, I located the boat ticket office before 9 and was told that the boat would leave between 10 and 10:30. Actually, the departure time depended on when enough people showed up. The cost depended on how many decided to take the trip. If only one person wanted to go downriver by boat, that person would pay the full 1.5 million kip cost. If 10 or more wanted to go, the cost would be only 110,000 kip. Eventually 14 bought tickets. Almost as soon as the boat pushed off from the landing, the sun broke through the morning low clouds, and the rest of the day was bright. As the narrow vessel maneuvered through occasional rapids, around sharp rocks, under jungle-covered mountainsides, I settled into a spot at the back, above the engine, to revel in to panoramic views. People fished from wooden boats, kids paddled to school down the river, entire diaramas of village life unveiled themselves, large trees with sculptued trunks loomed out to the jungle and then disappeared. Just before our arrival in Luang Prabang, we arrived at the clear demarcation of the green of the Nam Ou waters joining the brown of the Mekong just above the Pak Ou caves. Sunset brought us into Luang Prabang six hours after leaving Nong Kiaw.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1230967920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1230967920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1230967920/tpod.html Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:53:37 -0500 Tale of the Gecko: Return to SE Asia

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Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

Laos casts its spell once again. The day after New Years, Nancy and I flew from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang, Lao People's Democratic Republic. Descending through the clouds into Luang Prabang offered jaw-dropping views of the ragged, green-carpeted mountains, whetting my appetite for exploration of places outside of the town. The immigration official in the airport was the cheeriest of any immigration official I've ever encountered anywhere. Welcome to one of the friendliest countries on the face of the earth. After checking into the same guest house I stayed at last year, we wandered down to the market and down the alley where Jim and I ate steaming bowls of noodles to take a seat at one of the tables and enjoy Khao Soy (another kind of noodle dish). The following day, we managed to track down a friend of a friend just before she left for a wedding in Vientiane. On a trip to the local Phousy market, I happened to stumble on demonstration site for Ock Pop Tok, the organization that supports village weavers and fabric production. Sample of the beautiful textiles were available for sale (as they are at the organization's shops in the center of town), but the outlying site offered demonstrations of textile production, from the live silk worms and spinning to looms producing yards of fabric to hand-painting on hemp cloth. Nancy, a textiles lover in good standing, was enthralled. Back in town, we ascended the 300-plus stairs to the top of Mount Phousy and its small, scenic wat (temple) for the panoramic views over Luang Prabang and the mountains beyond, under sparkling sunshine. Throughout the day, I was trying to decide whether I would leave Nancy to enjoy her shopping in Luang Prabang and venture up the Nam Ou River to a village called Nong Kiaw (key-oh). Just before a fine dinner at Tamnak Lao Restaurant, I finally decided to do it and booked a minivan to the village, with the intention of taking a slow boat down the Nam Ou to return to Luang Prabang. The die was cast.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1230781920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1230781920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1230781920/tpod.html Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:56:06 -0500 Tale of the Gecko: Return to SE Asia

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Chiang Rai, Thailand

How fortunate I am for friendships in Thailand. My travel experiences are so much richer. A prime example is the invitation to Nancy and me to attend the wedding of Blake and Sai in Sai's Lahu village in northwest Thailand and our two-night stay in the village.First, I need to report that Nancy arrived on Dec. 27, after some unusual travel mix-ups. (She missed her flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai.) Because she has more limited time here than I have had, she now gets the final decision on where we go and what we do. That's an adjustment for me, after traveling solo up to this point.So Nancy has been dropped into the deep end of the travel pool. With only two days of adjustment to being on the other side of the world, she was among a number of other wedding guests (mostly farang...foreigners) in a small convoy of vehicles on the three-hour journey up to Phadang. Nancy rode in the relative comfort of the cab of a pick-up truck, and I made the trip in the back.Blake, a Canadian, and Sai, a Lahu woman, operate The Lost Hut bar in Chiang Mai. They had a wedding in Toronto this fall, but they wanted to complete the cross-cultural ties by having a wedding in Thailand. They are two wonderfully outgoing people. We all wish them continuing happiness.Phadang, a small Lahu village between Mae Suai and Fang (for those of you who have a detailed map of Thailand), is very close to Ban Saen Jalearn, the Akha village Jim and I visited earlier. In fact, Fon and her brother Kai attended the wedding celebration in Phadang.Here's a link to a web site about the Lahu:http://www.hilltribe.org/lahu/On our arrival, we set up the tent, sleeping pads and king-size comforter I bought at a sporting goods store in Chiang Mai. Some of the 20 or so guests slept in Blake and Sai's bamboo house, and others slept in tents outside. Copious amounts of alcohol and a delicious Lahu dinner aided our sleep.The wedding ceremony the next day was a familiar Christian ceremony. (Phadang is mostly Christian.) Blake and Sai were in traditional Lahu attire. Following the ceremony, villagers and wedding guests enjoyed the food prepared by the villagers, including a variety of meats, from water buffalo to chicken. Canine may also have been on the menu.Late in the afternoon, as we farang were enjoying more food and drink, we were invited (challenged?) to a soccer game against the village girls team. I haven't played in years and I've never played after several whiskeys, but I was pressed into service due to the shortage of available farang. So, there I was on the hard-packed, dusty football pitch (also the village main square), half in the bag, 60 years old, out of shape, playing without my glasses, in street shoes and facing a team of much younger players. Consider also that our goalie was a guy from Scotland, wearing a kilt in the traditional way. We lost on penalty kicks (I scored on my attempt) when the score was tied 1-1 at the end of much-shortened regular time. Winded but uninjured, I was happy to have had the unusual travel experience.The game may have served as an ice-breaker with the normally shy villagers. In the evening, around a huge bonfire, after we had released a couple dozen kom loi (the lighted lanterns that make Loi Krathong so beautiful), a small group of village men arrived and began playing their traditional gourd flutes while dancing around the fire. Then a large group of girls, many who we played soccer against in the afternoon, arrived in full traditional attire and makeup to dance in intricate steps around the blaze, accompanied by the flutes and their own drum, cymbals and gong.The effect was magical. Entranced and enjoying the festive mood, a few farang joined in the dance, including Nancy, jet lag or no jet lag.Eventually we drifted off to our tents as the celebration slowly dwindled into the dark.Next morning, we remaining wedding guests packed up for the ride back to Chiang Mai. Nancy and I left the tent, pads and comforter behind as a donation to the village.More celebration -- this time New Years Eve -- in Chiang Mai that evening. Fireworks, kom loi, rock music at Guitarman, and an early night for older revelers.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1230262200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1230262200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1230262200/tpod.html Thu, 25 Dec 2008 22:41:04 -0500 Tale of the Gecko: Return to SE Asia

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Chiang Mai, Thailand

For the first time in 39 years, I'm spending Christmas without Nancy.For the first time in my life, I'm spending Christmas without family of any kind.But with the subtropical surroundings and warm temperatures, it's not really much like Christmases past anyway, more like an illusion of the holiday.The day started very quietly and ended loudly -- a rock and roll Christmas party at Guitarman club with friends.Before going off to the club, we had a barbeque at the guesthouse, with fabulous marinated pork and chicken, along with rice, laap (meat salad), greens, grilled squid, fruit and other delicacies.All in all, not a bad way to spend Christmas.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1230178320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1230178320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1230178320/tpod.html Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:32:57 -0500 Tale of the Gecko: Return to SE Asia

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Chiang Mai, Thailand

Once again, my Chiang Mai experiences have fallen into a familiar pattern. The travel vortex is still active.Nothing big to report, so I'll simply recount a few minor events that take on larger proportions by comparison.Last Sunday, Jim and I accompanied Blake, Sai and Blake's mom and dad to a Lahu village just outside Chiang Mai that serves as the dwelling place for people from Sai's village and region who have jobs in the big city. The village Christmas festival was going on, and we farang (non-Thais) were invited to participate in the volleyball tournament. The other four teams were girls and young women, who obviously play volleyball often. After providing the comic relief in our first two games, we somehow managed to win our last two and took third place. It was a great deal of fun.Sunday night we forged our way through an unusually crowded Sunday Walking Street market to the Garden Cafe to hear our friend Mick's band, Deja Voodoo. Sorry, no photos...we were sitting a little too far away for my camera's flash to illuminate the image. You can hear the band online at www.farangradio.com, Chiang Mai. They're a good, tight little combo that covers the classics.Yesterday we went to the tribal museum just north of the city to learn more about the various hilltribes. It's a great little museum, with explanations in Thai and English. I especially appreciated the displays the put each tribe in relation to the origins of the others (Lisu, Lahu and Akha are Sino-Tibetan, for example). I also liked the displays and explanations of clothing and textiles, including the natural materials used in making dyes. No photos allowed, so sorry again.Other than that, it's just making travel arrangements, running errands, eating, and drinking.Same same.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1229833380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1229833380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1229833380/tpod.html Sat, 20 Dec 2008 23:37:33 -0500 Tale of the Gecko: Return to SE Asia

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Chiang Mai, Thailand

After all of my fretting over the Thailand visa situation, here I am again in Chiang Mai, enjoying the company of friends, great Thai food and the comforts of staying in one place for more than a couple of nights.At the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, I was issued a new 30-day visa on arrival, with a potential 15-day extension that will allow me to go to Lao and return.Life here goes on in its laid-back, comfortable pace. Not much to report.At Lost Hut, my favorite watering hole, there's a new resident, a cute and friendly little tabby cat that adopted the place a couple of nights ago. I dubbed it "Lost," and that seems to have stuck.Lost Hut is the tiny bar of Blake and Sai, whose hill tribe wedding Nancy and I are invited to attend next week. They were married in Canada, Blake's home, earlier. Now, to balance the cultural equation, they're having a traditional wedding in Sai's Lahu village up north.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1229500440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1229500440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lambs/5/1229500440/tpod.html Sat, 20 Dec 2008 23:22:57 -0500 Tale of the Gecko: Return to SE Asia

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Hanoi, Vietnam

Vietnam has two capitals, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Only one -- Hanoi -- is the political capital. HCMC is the capital of commerce, an economically booming city focused on money. Hanoi is more laid back, friendly and ageless. Traces of French colonial architecture are everywhere in Hanoi, especially in the Old Quarter, where I stayed two nights. Narrow streets lined with ancient trees seem to slow the pace of life.Given a choice between the two capitals, I'd take Hanoi.Christmas decorations and music are everywhere. Even more than HCMC, Hanoi seems to savor the holiday. You can even outfit yourself or your child in a red felt Santa Claus suit.For lunch, I stopped into a little hole-in-the-wall place on a narrow back street that had only local customers (always the sign of a good place), some sitting on tiny plastic stools at the low table where the food was being prepared and some sitting at a couple of tables inside. The bowl of noodles was excellent. As I finished my lunch and looked around the inside of the shop, I noticed that I was sitting beside the family's bed and across from their clothes closet.For dinner, I had a bowl of rice vermicelli noodles (bun) in a restaurant. I looked on as a just-turned one-year-old girl standing on her grandmother's lap giggled and cooed and babbled over photos  on a computer monitor of her recent birthday party. Meanwhile, seasonal songs of peace and joy played continuously on the restaurant sound system.I could have stayed much longer in Hanoi, but I had my flights to Bangkok and Chiang Mai early the next morning. I also had word from the Thailand embassy in Hanoi that by flying into Bangkok, I would get a 30-day visa on arrival, with a 15-day extension, no questions asked. Had I entered Thailand by land, I would have been given only a 15-day visa.Good-bye, Vietnam. I hope we meet again.
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