Me against the internet…

That’s how I feel today..but the rest of the week has been amazing. I am trying to upload pictures and its so s-l-o-w. I have been here for about 3 hours so far. What do I expect in a country that only has one ATM?? Yes..in the whole country One bank machine. At least I got to have a webcam 80’s party with Steph and Martin in real time while I wait. 80’s party’s have taken on a whole new meaning now – thanks to the internet we can have them with on the other side of the world! Only problem is now I have Foreigner stuck in my head.

So we have been in Laos for about a week now. I am wearing smelly white strings tied up ½ way to my elbows from one of the coolest experiences ever. We rented bikes in Luang Prabang (super cool French inspired small city that shuts down at 11:00pm sharp…) for a day and decided to bike around and see the city. We stopped to jump in the river and cool off after visiting a really cool temple. Which I don’t have the pictures from but should upload them - the paintings in this place were crazy. I will get them uploaded. Someday. Anyway these young monks were swimming in the river, they completely ignored us since they aren’t supposed to speak to or look at women. But as soon as we got out the guys we were with and the monks erupted in to the biggest seaweed war ever. We left the river all stinky from gross seaweed river city water we decide to head back to town for a shower and some grub. On the way back we heard loud karaoke music and took a detour to check it out. Lo and behold (what does that even mean??) we come across a birth party where this father was celebrating the birth of his new baby (I don’t know if by celebrating he meant trying to deafen it cause the music was SO loud my ears hurt) and they invited us to join. It was so cool, they had us up dancing with their friends and family and even brought us into the house to bless us and the baby. I guess this is a Buddhist tradition. So after lots of dancing, really spicy food and Beerlao we left a few hours later feeling like we had just stepped in and out of the twilight zone. We are supposed to wear the strings they tied on us during the blessing for a week cause they bring good luck. They are now yellow and starting to smell, but c’est la vie..

The following morning we got up ay 5:30am to witness the walking of the monks. They come out of the temple and walk down the street with baskets that people put food in. All the food they eat in a day is whatever is given to them during this daily ritual. We bought some rice and sat on the sidewalk waiting. It was a surreal experience - it was still almost dark out and there must have been 100 monks.

Last night we got back from a trek here in Laos. We left early in the morning and it was raining, good thing it stopped or I’m sure I would have looked like swamp thing by the time I got to the first village and scared the village people to death. Our guide was a guy name Huan (means house in Lao) he was a 25 year old student and a great guide. We trekked or about 3 hours and arrived at this small village in the mountains, this place was an eye opener. Really the first time I have noticed poverty in the villages. All the ones in Thailand were basic farming, live off the land villages and it seemed to work - the people seemed happy and healthy. Not so much here. The kids were all snotty and sick and very very dirty. Uncle Art would have a heart attack if he saw their teeth. And they didn’t seem to be really growing many crops and the livestock was scarce. And we sat there and ate our lunches. Nice big baguette sandwiches with ham and cheese while the kids stared on. I lost my appetite. No eating there for me.

After a few more hours of hard mountain hiking we arrived in the village where we would spend our first night. This was better, seemed they had it a little more figured out than the first place. Except the opium. All the men were smoking opium and walking around so stoned. It was creepy. But the kids were awesome, even though there seemed to be an over abundance of them, condoms? I doubt it. The guys we were with played a volleyball like sport with them while An and I took pictures. They love posing for the cameras and seeing themselves on the screen after. They scream and laugh, it’s so funny. We had cold hose showers in the outhouse and ate some good food, had a Beerlao and a mini ipod party (iPod speakers – our best friend!) and crashed at 9pm, so wiped out from the trek. The following day was basically the same except we had to walk along a river all day and we all took turns getting sock soakers. That night we were camping in tents on the beach. We arrived to the beach by kayak and jumped in the water. We were so hot and dirty (see my flickr for really embarrassing pics). We set up camp, ate, had a campfire with some of Huans friends and they serenaded us with Lao music and tried to feed us chicken heads and feet. Good times. Next morning we got up at 8:30 after a sleep that left much to be desired.. We began our 4 hour kayak down the Namkong river, which actually turned into about a 6 hour kayak cause the outbreak of seaweed / mud fights and the guys flipping there kayak over the rapids slowing us down. Plus we spent an hour hanging out at waterfalls..

Anyway that pretty much brings me to now. We are going to leave Luang Prabang tomorrow and go to Van Vieng, about a six hour bus ride to go tubing. Yep, that’s the big thing. Tubing. We were going to head straight to Vietnam but our visas don’t start till the 30^th so we decided to chill in Laos a little more. I prefer Laos to Thailand, the people are still glad to see you and not constantly trying to grab a buck out of your pocket. I am even learning the language, thanks to our Dutch buddy Dan who seems to know…every language?? Anyway that’s that. Check out the pics from the trek. Hopefully I can get to those temple ones but I have been in the internet café for 4 hours. Over and out. xoxo

No time!

Hey! So much has happened and I really haven’t had time to sit down and blog! So here it is. Actually it’s really annoying cause I just spent ½ hour writing one and the computer crashed just as I was about to his save. Arg.

We just got to Laos. We have been doing so much. Where do I start.. I guess with the last post is a good idea. We left Bangkok on an overnight train to Chiang Mai. It was a 12 hour ride, really comfy with beds. Then we got there and decided to leave right away cause the amount of dirty old men in that city is pretty disturbing. Every bar..old fat white guys and young Thai girls (lady boys??)…or both. Who knows. They really don’t try to hide it…no shame.

We left the next day on a 3 day trek in the jungle. The trek included about 5 hours of hiking each day which always seemed to be straight uphill or straight downhill. My poor legs. Thank god I had good hiking shoes - the people who didn’t were screwed, falling down all over! We went swimming in this great waterfall where all these little Thai boys (and there mothers) wanted to take photos of me. I don’t think they have ever seen such a tall woman. I felt like Barney the purple dinosaur at Canada’s Wonderland.. On the second day we rode elephants for an hour on which was very exciting at the time..not so much anymore.. (more about that later). The trek was really fun. We stayed in these small tribal villages in the mountain, our guide cooked great Thai food for us at night, even made dishes and cutlery out of bamboo. Mr. 30 Bhat was his name. he was funny. We had campfires and played games at night. Going to the bathroom was a terrifying experience - you seriously never know what will be waiting for you, especially if you have to go at 3am, thank god for headlamps. An and I made a pact that if either of us had to go in the middle of the night the other must get up and go with, cause I wouldn’t send my worst enemy out there alone. The next morning we went bamboo rafting, we were so tired from getting no sleep and hiking so much, we had to stand for 4 hours on the river. But it was still great. Being tired really feels different when your floating down a river in Thailand then it does at work. We even did the hokey poky.

So back to Chiang Mai after that to see if we could get into this elephant camp we heard about on the trek. This Thai lady started rescuing logging, tourism and street begging elephants from Burma / Thailand that were being abused or neglected and started this sanctuary. We decided to go up and volunteer for a couple of days. So we drove up there and learned all there is to know about the Asian elephant. We bathed with them, fed them, took them for walks in the morning but the best part for me was to just sit back and watch them. They are so emotional and intelligent. They form these families and protect their young like I couldn’t believe; they even adopt other elephants with no family around and take care of each other when sick. Anyway please, if you ever come to Asia or anywhere DO NOT RIDE ELEPHANTS!! I felt rotten about it the whole time…but I didn’t know what the training process was like and I knew next to nothing about elephants in general.. I won’t go into the stories of these animals cause they are really sad. Just don’t ride elephants.

After that we left Chiang Mai, headed to Laos where we are now. What a trip that was. One day on a bus and two days on a boat sitting on a 2 X 4. Honestly, my ass still hurts. I stood and read my book for 2 hours today cause it was better than sitting on the benches. The town we stayed at last night was cool, right on the edge of the Mekong river, this place had no electricity after 10:00pm and was completely run on generators. We went down to the beach and had a campfire, then went to bed in the weirdest place ever. There was a mouse on the floor all night eating a bun I had left there and my bed was on a slant so me in my sleeping bag kept slipping slowly off the bed all night, I guess whats what you get for a dollar! There was a toilet down the hall, but I would rather pee in the jungle than use it. Scary stuff. Just so you all know there is no toilet paper in Asia, instead there is a hose beside the toilet to clean your ass with then what? Put pants and undies on your soaking wet butt?? I haven’t quite figured it out yet. I just store toilet paper everywhere since you never know when curry belly might hit. Another issue I am having is doorways. I currently have 3 goose eggs on my head cause I keep walking into doorways. Other tall travelers I have met have the same problem. All the doorways are smaller than me. I am like Alice in wonderland. Haha. Oh ya, on the way to Laos ion the bus we drove past an accident and I saw 2 dead bodies! That was a first for me. Pretty traumatizing. Oh..speaking of traumatizing, we also saw someone bbq’ing the fattest sickest rats ever in Bangkok, I don’t know who eats them but someone does. So gross.

p.s i tried to add a picture but the internet is too slow! check out my pics on the side!

xo

made it!

Were in Bangkok! After a terrible tearful goodbye, 4 gravols (life savers), 30 hours hours and lots of really BAD food.. we made it. I like Bangkok, its really chill and HOT. ALOT of backpackers, millions of hippies. The food/beer is delicious and cheap the people are really pushy....always trying to sell you jusk. kinda like mexico. Actually it kinda reminds me of Mexico only weirder.. and the food is alot better. The first night we made it till 9pm, which is 9am in Toronto. We had Thai food, a beer, then a 3 dollar 45 min thai massage. Man, it was nice, I was in heaven. I kept 1/2 falling asleep and I kept thinking that the people walking on the floor was turbulence and I was still on the plane?!





Yesterday we spent the day driving in a tuk tuk (no doors, or windows!) through the worst pollution EVER to see the rest of the city since we had to wait here till Thursday to get our Vietnamese visas. We saw alot of dirty old men in the park, which was sad, they are with these poor young Thai girls (or boys?!)...the sex trade here is really bad and everyone just turns a blind eye because it brings in alot of money, sex tourism its called. Brutal.

Then we found these weird big lizards. We think they were Kimodo dragons but they probably aren't. I saw my first Monks (see flickr pics)! I got a blister walking around from my flip flops and put lip gloss on it. it works like a charm. no more pain. We saw a man with 4 nipples selling bags to backpackers on Koh San road. We ate curry, had a couple beers and a facial then went to bed (yes, we have started a nightly spa treatment ritual, at these prices who wouldn't!) Everything here is cheap beyond belief, its hard to spend money here! So tonight we are off to Chang Mai on an overnight train for some trekking and riding elephants in the jungle. I am so excited! I miss you all so much, i wish you could see this place! its like mars. haha. xoxo :)

"on a freight train with no brakes..."

In 24 hours we will be soaring through the skies of New York State. Gulp. I am just sitting here, not really sure if whats going on is real. My going away party was awesome (thanks everyone!) and its been great to have a week off to spend some time with my sisters and parents (Mr. and Mrs. Costanza), get packed and sleep in.

We were a bit freaked out last week when 9 bombs went off in Thailand on new years eve. So...we had to alter our plans with a little less Thailand, thats fine though, i am most excited about Vietnam anyways. So thats it. Lets see how I deal with the 24 hour flight.. me...who has ADD and OCD. I go bananas after 2 hours in a car, should be interesting to say the least. OH..and nevermind saying goodbye to Martin and Steph tomorrow at the airport. That will be a whole separate soap opera on its own :(

SO i will have one last 80's party tonight than 9am, drive to Buffalo. wish me luck!