two weeks of southeast asian action

Day number two of my back-to-work week in Japan. I was really wondering what it would feel like to get back to things here after spending some time on the road in Thailand and Laos...and I'm happy to say it's nice to be on a fixed schedule again. But I'll get into more about that later. First, here are some pictures to give an idea of what I saw and some things that I experienced in a pretty wild (and very different) part of the world.

Thailand


Doi Suthep Temple in Chiang Mai. This was the day after I flew from Osaka (Japan) to Hong Kong then Bangkok and finally Chiang Mai. I met up with Caitlin, who had already been in Thailand for a few days with her sister Ann who is currently residing and working in Chiang Mai. Doi Suthep is located on the top of a sizable mountain that overlooks the city so Caitlin and I flagged down a tuk-tuk (basically an open-air taxi...you sit on benches in the bed of a truck) and went to the temple to meet Jon and his friend Tom, both of whom are teaching in Korea. Jon and I planned on meeting in Southeast Asia beforehand and he made his way to Chaing Mai the day that I flew in. The woman in this picture was posing for another photographer but I used the opportunity to snap a decent shot of my own.


Posing with Jon in front of one of the ubiquitous visual tributes to Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej (aka Rama IX). When I stepped out of Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, the first few things that I noticed during my taxi ride were the largest commercial billboards that I've ever seen (by far) and images of the King thrown up everywhere possible. There were also a great amount of Thai flags and 'Long Live The King' banners on buildings adjacent to the highway. I even saw a church with the King's face at the top of the steeple. Hmmm...doesn't that break one of the Ten Commandments? Quite a site, for sure.


There he is, King Rama IX at Doi Suthep. You get used to seeing his face pretty quickly...


Jon and Caitlin before our hike to a waterfall at a nearby national park. This first day of activity in Thailand really gave me a positive impression of the country, which was one that I hadn't researched to a great extent before arriving. We loaded up on fresh fruit and some nuts and headed into the woods. It was nice to shop at outdoor markets instead of grocery stores as I do in Japan. And the fruit might have been the the best tasting (and without a doubt the cheapest) that I can remember eating. I think the temperature was somewhere in the high 80s this day (December 27th).


Catching an interaction at the temple plaza.


A Thai woman pausing at the temple steps. As with Japan, there seemed to be a lot of local tourists at this site as well as foreigners.


Jon, posing at the waterfall.


Ann and fellow VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) volunteer Pam having lunch at an organic vegetarian restaurant called 'Pun Pun', located at and operated by a Buddhist temple in Chaing Mai. Yep, I'll admit that I've reached a new level of bragging rights in the world of trendy eating. Later on we went back to the temple and took part in 'Monk Chat'- a chance to speak with monks attending Chaing Mai University. Basically, you can ask the monks anything you want about their lives and they will talk about it with you. Caitlin and I agreed that this might be the highlight of the entire trip. I didn't take any pictures of the orange-robed monks but they were all throughout both Thailand and Laos. The two monks that we shared conversations with were around 18 years old.


Chaing Mai. Motorbikes, traffic, storefronts, sunshine...a common scene.


Even when boarding a plane to leave the country, you can't escape the people's pride of their king.


Caitlin at at the Bamboo Riverside Inn in border town of Chiang Khong. Stayed here for one night because the border to Laos wasn't open when we arrived until the next morning. The guy that owned this place was classic...I really wish I had a picture to remember him by. Old Thai hippie who quizzed my on my CSNY knowledge by playing a CD with instrumental jazzy versions of the songs off of 'Deja Vu' and quickly asking "What song is this!! Do you know??!" I came up with every song title within a few seconds and won his favor. It was 100 baht (about $3) a night to stay here and we slept in bamboo shelters that did nothing to protect against small animals and large insects from making their way inside.

Laos


Crossing the Thai-Laotian border. A Thai Village on the Mekong.


Kip, the currency used in Laos. We saw a guy with a garbage bag full of it at the border.


Laos is one of the few remaining communist states but the government has been allowing private enterprise since '86. Images of the sickle and hammer are still proudly displayed beside the Laotian flag.


Houyxai("Hoi-sigh"), Laos("La-oh"). This was the morning that we left for 'The Gibbon Experience'- a three day hiking, zip-lining, and treehouse sleeping trek through the Laotian forest. Me, Caitlin, Ann, and four other people gathered in this truck with our gear and took a two hour ride away from town an then hiked for 3 1/2 hours to sleep in treehouse made from wood and bamboo. We stayed for two nights and slept in two different treehouses. This may be one of the most memorable (and dangerous) things that I've done in Asia so far.


Crossing a river and making our way into the woods.


Juni, one of the guides responsible for keeping us alive. Can't say that the guides really looked after our safety too well but they were awesome people.


Peng, our other guide on the trip.


I wish I had better pictures of us zip-lining but it was difficult to capture. We hiked around all day with harnesses and we'd all come upon a gourge and attach our carabeeners to the metal rope and then coast (sometimes 200m or more) over the tops of the trees. After the first day our guides stopped checking if we put on the harrnesses correctly and also stopped checking if we were locked on properly to the zip line. Again, it was best not to think about these things until after we were out of the woods.


Dinner by candlelight in the treehouse.


Camila and Juni during our first night in the treehouse.


Morning in the second treehouse. Packing up for another day of hiking.


It was best not to think about how close our bed was to the edge...and the fact that the railing wasn't too sturdy. I was the lucky one who slept closest to the drop-off. However, I did get an amazing view of the stars at night. Probably the brightest that I've ever seen the sky when the sun is down.


My view from the treehouse.


Coming back from our three day adventure in the woods. I don't think that the Laos experience would be complete without a long, dangerous ride in the back of a truck.


Sunset on the Mekong. We stayed at a place in Houyxai called the 'Friendship Guesthouse' that boasted a spacious roof for sipping on a Beerlao and watching the sun set. Not a bad way to start off the evening.


Luang Prabang. Caitlin and I took a short flight here from the Houyxai airport and had a little over a day to hang out in the city. This area was really interesting because you can see colonial French buildings from around the dawn of the 20th century. These buildings have now been transformed into things like coffee shops, bakeries, and art stores and there was no shortage of foreigner interest in seeing the 'new' Luang Prabang. Since Laos only opened it's borders for tourists sometime in the 1990s, the tourism infrastructure isn't as solid as it could be but it was nice to be there before it potentially becomes a widely-known destination for adventurous travelers.


The night market in Luang Prabang. Did a lot of looking around here.


A young girl making a scarf at our guesthouse.


A tuk-tuk (taxi)...notice the colonial buildings in the background.


Bamboo bridge, Luang Prabang.


Motorbikes can been seen wherever you go in this part of the world.


Making our way back to Houyxai.

So that's a nice, short summary of the trip. I feel like I could write so much about the different aspects of Thai and Laotian culture but I think that these pictures and brief captions are a good way to get the gist of my perceptions while in Southeast Asia. Being in Japan again feels good...it feels like home right now. This weekend I'm going to do nothing but catch up on sleep, laundry, letter writing, and reading. And maybe thinking about where my next trip will be.