Day 104; 10-20-05:
Today was the day to leave the farm. We got our things crammed together and burdened Boon�fs truck with our bags so he could take us to a nearby town with a bus station. We got on the first bus to Hat Yai. It was rumored to be a four hour ride but turned into an eight hour journey. We arrived in Hat Yai and quickly got a hotel while monsoons crushed us.
Day 103; 10-19-05:
I finally got to sleep in! Waking up to another bowl of yogurt and granola as per usual we headed off in the direction of the waterfall. Along the way we stopped at a rubber tree plantation. When we arrived they were squeezing the water from the rubber sheets to hang them out to dry. We sustained on the waterfall. The water in the swimming hole was freezing but it was fun. I was able to walk inside the waterfall while water pulverized me. Coming back we yet again played lots of ping pong before having a macaroni soup.
Day 102; 10-18-05:
I woke up to two bowls of yogurt and granola and then drove off to the beach. It was awesome! Nobody was there so we had a private beach. Half-way through swimming though, a troop of Thai marines walked through doing something. After swimming we played some takraw (the real spelling of the ball game, or so I think) and then had to head back to the farm to hopefully go to the near by waterfall. Unfortunately we could not get to the waterfall because Boon did not arrive with his four wheel drive. But some of his friends came over and we played ping-pong and badminton for a long time before it got dark and we brought the ping pong table inside where there was light. Tonight we had some great lasagna before heading off to bed.
Day 101; 10-17-05:
Today Bill went out to go to a meeting while we got together our stuff for the ride down to Bill's farm. When he came back with the van we loaded our things into it. Before we left Bangkok we stopped by a market. It was different from a regular market, because when you entered you were given tickets in exchange for your money. Since there was a variety of stands you could pick out your food and then give then however many tickets they requested. It was very cheap, and the food was good. It took all day to get to the farm and by the time we rolled in it was dusk. We met Bill's friend Boon who owns a coffee farm and lives near Bill�fs house. We had really superb guacamole and tuna fish sandwiches at dinner.
Day 98-100; 10-18/19/20-05:
During our days in Bangkok we would go shopping at MBK, Central World, and Central Chit Lom among various other errands. We also had a roof over heads thanks to the kind people at Bill Savage and Co. (Bill and Singh).
Day 97; 10-13-05:
Today we went to church early in the morning and then swam. But in the late afternoon we jumped aboard the night train to Bangkok.
Day 96; 10-12-05:
Today we hung-out at Mut Mee and I learned how to play backgammon. My final record against Benny (a kid who lives at Mut Mee) was 4-1. He said it was beginners luck but, everybody who knows me, knows it was just skillJ.
Day 95; 10-11-05:
Today we had to say goodbye to Alex and Veronica which was really sad. We hope to see them both later in our travels.
Since we had moved to another hotel we learned that they rent motorcycles. At lunch my dad took me out and I got to learn to ride a motorcycle! It was really awesome!!!!!! Yeah!
We got on the bus to Vientiane to hopefully get to Thailand today. Just after we left, my dad realized he had forgotten his passport in town so the bus dropped him off and we took off without him. About half-way through the journey I had just woken up from a nap when I heard screams and BAM! CRASH! We hit the side of the bridge, knocking down a bunch of pillars and we were tittering on the side of the bridge. We quickly shuffled out because it looked like the bus was going to tip and fall 75 meters into the ravine below the bridge. We stayed there for a half an hour before a tuk-tuk came by and took us to Vientiane. We met my dad at the bus station and got another tuk-tuk to the boarder, then crossed over to the Thai side over the Friendship Bridge. Getting our accommodations at a guest house called Mut Mee, we enjoyed great food at a great place.
(For a fictional account of this episode, see Peter's literary suspense story, "About a Blue Bird.")
Day 93; 10-9-05:
Today was what I called a day of relaxation, a.k.a. we watched Friends all day. We learned that Vang Vieng was just one of the towns where all you did was sit around and drink beer all day, so we made the best out of it. In total we got through two seasons. While we were watching Friends, Alex and Dad went in search of monk robes. Alex finally got some at the market. That night he showed off his monk robes while asking for food.
Day 92; 10-8-05:
We took a bus from Luang Prabang to an organic farm close to the town of Vang Vieng. When we got there we decided to get dinner from the café. I had a mulberry shake and mulberry pancakes, they were so good! Itâs really quite hard to explain how good they were. After settling in we planned to go into town tomorrow since it was getting late.
Day 91; 10-7-05:
We woke up late and headed over to the water fall outside Luang Prabang with Alex and Veronica. When we got there they had a bunch of bears and tiger that they were restoring to health because they had been shot by poachers. We got the big water fall and there was a high rock that we could jump off of into the water. That night when we returned we hung out at the night market.
Day 90; 10-6-05:
I mostly had to stay indoors to do work so when we finally went out I got sick and barfed. Well, I actually wasn't sick, but I felt like the food I was eating didn't settle well so it just came out.
Day 89; 10-5-05:
Today we took a boat to Luang Prabang from Nong Khiaw, during the ride we stopped at a cave. Inside there were a ton of Buddhist artifacts. We made our way to Luang Prabang and arrived in the middle of the day. By the time we settled in to our guest house, we decided to head over the famous night market to do a little looking around.
Day 85-87; 10-1/2/3-05:
During the days that followed, we went on a 3 day trek, covering 15 hours of ground. During that time we had lots of adventures:
First day, we started out hiking in the rice fields which was a lot of fun because it was kind of like hiking on a balance beam through the rice fields. My grandma slipped a lot. When we got into the forest, we started going up and down a lot and it turned really slippery in the mud. We all slipped at least once. At lunch, our food got dumped on a banana leaf and we all just kind of dug in. We finally came upon the village and we learned that our cabin was right by the kartor court. Hopefully we would get to play soon. The first thing we did was bath in the river with the locals. Although it was really cold, it was a lot of fun swimming in the river. As soon as I came back, I changed quickly and went down to play kartor with our guides, Tho and Tha. While we were waiting for our dinner, hundreds of grasshoppers kept coming in through the open window. Our friend, Veronica, got really scared and that was fun because we got to put the grasshoppers on her. When dinner came, it was served kind of like the banana leaf but on plastic. It was really goodâspicy pumpkin soup and morning glory. The next day it was a lot of up and we walked through some mountain rice fields to our next village. Although we thought that was tough, it was nothing like what we had to do the next day. It was straight up for an hour but then it leveled out and finally went down hill. At the bottom of the downhill, we stopped at a creek and I pulled off two leeches that were sucking on me. From then on, it was mainly level.Cultural reflections on Laos:
Whenever we would visit a Lao personâs home, we would always take our shoes off. Even during our treks in Luang Nam Tha or even in hotels, we would take off our shoes. My mom liked that especially because of the cleanliness of the homes. Also in Buddhist temples we would always remove shoes, although that is a given throughout Southeast Asia. During our meals while trekking in Luang NamTha, we would always sit down on cushions and eat from community bamboo platters, except in the village where they just poured all the food onto a plastic sheet! While hiking on the trail, our guides would put the food on banana leaves. Although we used all these ways, we learned it customary to eat from a mat on the floor (or in our case a plastic sheet) during communal meals. We would often be served tea and fruits in our hotel each day which we discovered is considered polite when entertaining guests. Also refusing the drinks and fruits is considered widely impolite. When we went to visit our guide, Ta, at his home, we brought something for the baby and some food for the family. It is not usual to bring gifts when visiting friends, but first-time visitors sometimes bring a small gift.
Day 83; 9-29-05:
We are going to take a truck to Luang Namtha. In the beginning this sounded like the best idea but it ended up to be not so good in some parts. It was bumpy. After a couple hours of bumps we started going up hill, oh, and I didn't mention this, it was slippery too. About half-way up the mountain going around a corner we lost traction, fish tailed and slid towards the edge. We were about to fall into the valley below when we luckily hit a mound of mud that stopped us. In the end we did this for about another 9 hours before arriving in Luang Namtha and finding a guest house.
Day 82; 9-28-05:
Today, nothing exciting happened. Don't be looking forward to detail for this day, just the basics. We took a bus to Chiang Khong at the Thai border, where we took a tuk-tuk and a boat to get into Laos.
Day 81; 9-27-05:
After taking a tuk-tuk to the bus station we boarded a bus to go to Myanmar (Burma). We entered Myanmar by foot and walked to a Chinese restaurant that supposedly had good noodles, they were right. During our meal a guy asked us if we would like to go on a tour of surrounding areas. Originally, we had wanted to visit a town that we thought was nearby but we soon found out it was three hours away. Since that did not work out we said yes. It was sorta fun. First we visited a big golden stupe that had a great view and that was cool. But then we went to a village, it turned out there were two tribes living there, but only three people for each tribe. It felt like it was just set-up, so it wasn't very enjoying. Leaving there we bustled over to another tribe living more in the city then outside in villages. When we arrived they tried to sell us a lot of their handicrafts, we got a couple because they were so cheap. In the end, and I quote from my dad, "The trip ended up just being to get 30 more days in Thailand". Which we didn't even need since we were going to Lao the next day.
Day 80; 9-26-05:
Getting up, we quickly scurried over to the bus station to go to Chiang Mai. On arrivel we were approached by a guy marketing Ben's Guest House. It turned out to be a really layed back, in the outskirts of town type of place. After settling down, Paul and I got out the laundry line for a net to play takro. After some time two workers joined us. Soon it was getting late so we ate a pre-dinner meal. When we were done the workers had gone so we played kids vs. parents, the games are divied up one a piece.
Reflections in Thailand:
In Chiang Mai when we were visiting different temples with Pong Tep, we visited a special Burmese Buddhist temple. After we were through visiting it, we stopped by a market just outside the temple. There they had rattan woven balls, about the size of a large softball, for sale. We learned that they are used in a game called Takro, a traditional sport in Thailand. Fortunately there was a nearby official court (one of the few official courts we have encountered) and Pong Tep showed us how to play. Basically there is a net and court, both half the size of a volleyball net and court. Each team includes three players. Two stand in the corners of the net and one is in the small circle in the back of their half. One of the players at the corners tosses the ball to the player in the middle (server) and he kicks it over the net to the other team. You can use whatever body part you want except your hands to get if over the net in a maximum of three touches. We had a lot of fun playing with Pong Tep so we got a ball to use on our trip. If you would like to try it but don�ft have a ball, try to find something that would work. Other sports famous in Thailand include: soccer, table tennis, badminton, volleyball and basketball.
Day 79; 9-25-05:
Today we woke up and went down to breakfast to meet Pong Tep for a tour of wats around Chiang Mai. We rode in the back of the truck to a Burmese temple. Inside the temple the walls were painted with different depictions of tasks back when the temple was built. The pillars were supposedly made of solid wood but I was unconvinced. So I peeled off the paint and discovered it was plaster! Going outside to a market inside the temple walls we spotted a ball that we learned to to use in a game called takro (in Thailand). There was a court nearby so we played the game to try it out and ended up staying for an hour playing. We ended up getting the ball. That night we went to the sunday market and found a lot of interesting collectibles. I found a model tuk-tuk made out of beer cans from Chang Beer. Afterwards we visited a pizzeria for dinner.
Day 78; 9-24-05:
I slept in really late today. So I had to hurry to get my buffet breakfast in the lobby. Paul had an outline scheduled that we would follow today to see some wats and go to some other sights. We saw some handicraft stores and then caught a tuk-tuk to see another silk and cotton store farther away. The tuk-tuk took us to another wat where my brother and mom had a nice talk with a monk while I chatted with the tuk-tuk driver while enjoying an ice cream. He then took us to another wat with a big sitting Buddha and a standing Buddha in the back. Then he took us back to our hotel where we met up with dad and went to a buffet house for an early dinner.
Day 77; 9-23-05:
Waking up in the morning, I found that we had to hurry to meet the driver that was going to pick up us soon. When they arrived, we met the driver and the guide that were going to take us to Chiang Mai. First, we stopped at the elephant conservation center and got tickets to the show. We took a safari shuttle down to the main area and walked over to the showroom. In the beginning of the show, the elephants were introduced and they all bowed and one of the elephants raised the flag of the center. Afterwards, they were doing lumber duties like lifting, carrying and rolling logs. Then they showed an elephant turn on a water spicket and shut it off. At last the elephant artists came out. One painting was an "abstract" painting with lots of colors but the other one did a self-portrait that turned out to be pretty good! We thought that was pretty cool. We figured that in India we would ride an elephant but we didn't want to take a chance so we decided to get two elephants and take a ride. It was an amazing experience. Along the way we went through ponds and the jungle. Our elephant was really hungry and at one point took down a whole bamboo tree to eat and carried and chewed it all throughout our journey. I thought it was really cool to feel the tusks because it felt like the white ball in pool. Going on, we visited the souvenir shops and the elephant dung paper making factories. After seeing the factory, I realized that you could make paper out of almost anything! My brother got a key chain made out of dung paper! We were starting to get hungry so we headed to a restaurant just out of Chiang Mai. Entering Chiang Mai we went to the temple on the hill where we had to climb 306 stairs to get to it! I thought it was one of the coolest temples because it had one of Buddha's bones in it. By now, it had probably turned to dust but you never know being such a spiritual figure, it might have somehow stayed in tact, like a miracle! Finally we got to our destination of our hotel, Doi View, and met Ton's uncle for dinner.
Day 76; 9-21/22-05:
These days were our work/look around town days. We walked to the internet cafe and did some catching up on travelogs. We stopped by the market to get some fruits and did some laundry. Later in the day while on a walk, my mom made some friends, Tik, Bo and Nan. They gave us rides on there motorcycles to a market and temple.
Day 75; 9-20-05
We got up early today to go on the bus to Sukathai (one of the old capitols of Thailand, the other being Ayutthaya) to see the wats (temples). We were going to stay there but we decided to go on to Chiang Mai. Halfway through the drive we learned that Chiang Mai was flooded, so we spent the night at a town outside of Chiang Mai, called Lampang.
Day 74; 9-19-05:
Today Ton's parents came to pick us up in their van. We visited two of their schools before heading on to his dad's coopertive farm to see the dairy farms. Looking at the cattle, we realized that they do not have a very good life. Around there was a lot of open fields, I did not get why they have to be caged up. After we went to another farm-like place but there was more vegetation, and an open place where they would roam. We went to a good Pad-Tai restaurant for lunch, but after we had to say goodbye to Ton's parents. Driving around, we visited a couple more Wats. One had like 500 monkeys all around it. The monkeys would jump on you if you bent down. At another one, Paul and I played frisbee inside the ruins. The next place we visited had a perfect rock climbing Cheddi (stone pillar that molds into a point at the top) about 100 feet tall. Unfortunately, I falled to notice the no climbing sign. None of the guards saw me climb, but climbing the big one in the middle, standing at about 150 feet, I was noticed and told to get down. When I got down and started to walk around, I noticed two guards following me for the rest of my stay. I decided to make a game out of it and made it my goal to lose the 20-some gaurds at the complex. It was rather fun. A world heritage sight happened to be our next destination, but as we were leaving the lights turned on. Since the park was closed, I had to scale the wall around it to get a picture. After this adventure, we went to our hotel that Ton's uncle had reserved for us. It was really nice, with everything from big baths to pool and exercise room to bowling alley and snooker. We had a good time.
Day 73; 9-18-05:
We met Faang at the BTS station to go to Ton's parent's house. Before leaving we stopped by a local Dunkin' Donuts. We started into the van to Lopburi, Ton's hometown. We arrived at Ton's home and were greeted by his parents. His mom owns three schools, right now we were by one of them. His dad owns a dairy cooperative. His grandfather has been a member of the Thai parliment for over 30 years, as is Ton's uncle but for a shorter amount of time. We sat down to eat some lunch with the big family. After lunch we had some ice cream from the local dairy, Umm... Milk! After lunch we visited the dairy where they make the ice cream and other milk products but all the tours were over for the day. Since they were closed we drove to the biggest national park in Thailand, Khaoyai (pronounced cow-yai) .There we saw some elephants outside the park, and three hornbills inside. We also walked to a waterfall and saw a couple of big deer. Afterwards we went to a hotel outside of Lopburi.
Day 72; 9-17-05:
Today we visited Wat Po, featuring the Reclining Buddha. After we saw the Wat we went to meet Ton's girlfriend, Faang. Since we still needed some clothes we went shopping in a complex market. We got split up twice, once for 10 minutes. In the market my mom got a dress, we also found a DVD store with movies for a dollar. I saw Episode III in the mix up, but even though I hadn't seen it yet my parents refused to get it. After we said goodbye to Faang, we went to meet my mom's school-mate from Kwajalein. We had dinner with Bill but then had to say goodbye and go back to our hotel in Banglamphu.
Day 71; 9-16-05:
After waking up we walked to the Grand Palace. Since you had to wear long pants inside we had to loan a pair while were there. Inside the Grand Palace we saw the Emerald Buddha. That was really cool. After looking at it we read that they change the Buddha's clothes during each of the three seasons (raining season, cold season and summer season). I thought that was interesting. When we finished our lunch after seeing the Grand Palace we met someone from the university who was a teacher. He told us to go on a tour with a Tuk-tuk driver before we visited Wat Arun.
We went in two Tuk-tuks to see the sitting Buddha near us. Then we went to the Thai Center, a bunch of crowded factory outlets sporting Thai handicrafts and merchandise. After seeing all the shops we visited the standing Buddha. It was enormous! After we finished our tour we got dropped off at the dock and took a boat to Wat Arun that was across the river. Unfortunately we were not able to see the Wat in the dark when it got lit up. After the Wat we took a Tuk-tuk to Khao San road to eat.
Day 70; 9-15-05:
We went to our vegetarian restaurant for breakfast and then headed on the sky train to the Indian embassy to get our visas. We all really enjoyed the BTS sky train, a cheap, fast way to get about town. After we got our visas, we journeyed on the BTS to Siam square where we got lunch. At lunch I tried my first Thai dish, steamed rice and chicken with basil and chili. I would go on to have that at least twice every day in Thailand. After lunch we went to the MBK shopping center recommended by our exchange student, Ton. It ended up that my mom just got a bathing suit. Since we were all so tired we got a Tuk-tuk (three wheeled motorcycle/taxi) to Khao San road and ate there.
Day 69; 9-14-05:
I woke up and we had our breakfast that we had got at the store the night before, french toast and yogurt. Since we had some school work to do we worked for a couple hours before going to the pool. Before swimming we went to the exercise room. We were coached by a friendly guy who helped us with the machines. After our swim in the pool on the 25th floor overlooking all of Bangkok, we packed up and got a taxi to get to a hotel recommended by Lonely Planet. After not being able to find it, he dropped us off at a luggage store to get us out of the monsoon. My parents went out and looked for more hotels. While we were waiting, we met some friendly people who ended up giving us some treats and an umbrella to keep. Soon our parents found a hotel so we brought our stuff over there. Paul and I had to sleep on the floor but we were ok with it. Then we found a good vegetarian restaurant for dinner that was nearby. After dinner we visited the infamous Khao San Road, a road with lots of shops, lights, restaurants and people.
Day 68; 9-13-05:
We arrived at the airport and started to look for hotels immediately. Since we looked and couldn't find any for cheap, we used my grandma's Marriot reward points. We got a taxi to take us to the hotel. When we arrived we were greeted by the man we talked to on the phone. There were some technical difficulties, so my parents worked it out while Paul and I enjoyed some green oranges that were quite tasty. All was finally worked out so we went up to our room. It turned out that the room was really nice with all basic appliances. We went to go eat at a nearby restaurant, Ad-maker. After dinner we stopped by the grocery store to get breakfast and pizza ingredients for lunch.
Day 66; 9-11-05:
When we arrived in the southern island of Kyushu in Japan where my friend Kazu lives, I was shocked to see how the people deal with the typhoons. Since the typhoon season is in August and September, the Japanese have a good idea when they will hit. With modern technology, they can track typhoons and try to predict when and where the typhoons will hit. In the case of this typhoon that hit the day before we arrived in Japan, they evacuated people quickly before they were in danger, but, when the people came back to their homes, all the area that got hit or anywhere around it will probably go without water for two months. People that cannot afford bottled water or need washing water go the local park to get water from fountains provided by the government. Can you imagine not taking a shower for two months?! Actually our friend Kazu goes to his grandparentâs house every third day to take a shower. That is what most people didâgo to friends�Ehouses in neighboring towns to take showers. It seems hard to do this so often but some people have to do this every year. I guess it's just something you have to deal with. Since there is so much damage, everyone drags their debris to the side of the road and waits for the garbage guys to pick it up. When we would drive by on a road, there would be piles of debris at the end of all the driveways, and this trash was like whole appliances, refrigerators, microwave ovens, televisions, sleeping mats, etc. We were really impressed with how efficient the garbage guys were at collecting this enormous amount of trash. They had a lot of work but they seemed to always get it picked up so it wouldnât be sitting there for days.
Day 65; 9-10-05:
Today we got up and had to make our way to Osaka to go to Hayato's house. We arrived there just past eleven.
Day 64; 9-9-05:
Today we got up early but this morning we made our own breakfast and waited for Hayato and his dad to pick us up to go to Nara. When they came we got on string of trains but finally made it to Nara. When we got to one of the temples there was a herd of the famous deer of Nara, and we got to feed and pet them. It was fun to feel how fuzzy their antlers were. We walked farther and arrived at a restaurant so we stopped to eat lunch. After lunch we went to the big Budda. It was colossal! By the statue there was a pillar that had a hole at the bottom of it. They said it was the size of the Budda's nose, and we got to climb through it. On our way out, I got my fortune from the monks. Here it is: Despite a number of obstacles, you will be successful overall.
Afterwards we went to a park and played frisbee in the field. Since Nara was close to Osaka where Hayato's family lives, they went back and we made it back by ourselves to Kyoto. When we got back, we made chicken and noodles for dinner.
Day 63; 9-8-05:
Today we got up at four in the morning to eat breakfast. We found a restaurant on one of the main streets. After eating we took a walk to look around. We found a nice market ten blocks away. By the time we got back to our hostel it was nine. Hayato and family arrived at ten to pick us up to go on our tour. We took a bus to some temples. In a park-like setting was the famous Golden temple standing in the middle of a lake. After seeing the temples we went to an underground mall to eat. When we finished our ramen we took another bus across town to another temple site. There we saw 1000 guards around the Buddha in the middle. That was pretty awesome. Hayato and his parents left us at Green Peace. After a little nap we went shopping at the market. We prepared spaghetti and texas toast and then went to bed.
Day 61-62; 9-6 to 9-7-05: (Japan time, crossed International Date Line)
We arrived at Kansai International Airport in Japan at six in the evening. We met our friends Hayato and his parents at the airport. We took a subway to Kyoto were we were staying at a hostel called Green Peace. We finally got there and immediatly hit the bed.