kayaks and caves in vang vieng

Yes, I know it's been a while since my last post! I have been really busy lately with daily activities, but the main problem was that I lost my laptop charger (processing photos / prepping a blog entry on a computer in an Internet cafe just isn't feasible). Luckily, I was able to buy a replacement charger a few days ago, so we're back in business! I've got a whole backlog of posts, so check back regularly - I should be posting a new entry every other day or so. Ok, now back to the actual entry:

So, after spending several days floating down the river, I decided I was ready for a bit more activity, and signed up for a trekking/caving/kayaking expedition. So, I got up bright and early (which in Vang Vieng means "before noon"), slathered on the sunscreen (something I would repeat about 6 times that day), and headed off on the day's adventure.

The first thing we did was take a 20 minute scenic hike (passing rice paddies with tree-covered mountains in the background - gorgeous), to the caving site. The first cave was the "Elephant Cave", which was just a big cavern with a large Buddha statue in it, along with a natural rock formation which gave the cave its name. Cool, but nothing amazing. However, the second cave, the "Water Cave" was quite the experience. As you may have already deduced, it was filled with water (you're so smart!). So, to explore it, we strapped on headlamps, hopped onto innertubes, and paddled deep into the cave. Pretty awesome! My only complaint is that while the most efficient way to paddle involves facing backwards, this does make it harder to see where you're going, and led to an unfortunate incident involving me and a stalactite. Ouch.

After the cave we had a delicious lunch consisting of fried rice and shish kebabs. Having built up our strength with the meal, we were now ready for kayaking! We spent the next 2 hours paddling down the river, trying not to roast in the midday sun (thus the bazillion applications of sunscreen I mentioned earlier). At one point I would actually specifically zigag along the river, trying to catch every possible patch of shade. Our long paddle was punctuated by several splash fights and a few capsizes (I almost flipped once, but didn't - whoo!). Good times.

And then, suddenly, the peaceful silence was interrupted by thumping music - we had come across the section of the river used by the tubers! Guess there's no escaping tubing in Vang Vieng. We stopped for a couple beers, some free french fries, and of course some rides on the rope swing.

Definitely a good day. And the whole thing was only 90,000 Kip, which is a little over $11. Have I mentioned that Southeast Asia is amazing!?! Alrighty, on to the pictures:

rice paddy on the way to the caves

rock formation inside "Elephant Cave" - for the life of me I can't figure out how it got that name. . .

wait, THAT'S the entrance to the cave? You really expect me to go in there?

chillin' inside the water cave

it's kayaking time!

kayaking down the river

look at me! I'm kayaking!

it's tubin' time!!

It's tubiin', it's tubin' time! (with apologies to Flight of the Conchords for mangling their song)

So, I spent the last week in Vang Vieng, Laos. Yes, a whole week. As a fellow traveler so eloquently put it, "Vang Vieng is a black hole" - it's a very chill, fun place, so it's easy to wake up and realize a whole week has gone by! It's easy to while away your time at the Friends or Family Guy bars (bars that constantly air those respective shows, and there are a great deal of awesome day trips (trekking, mountain biking, caving, rock climbing), but Vang Vieng's real claim to fame is tubing.

All you do is buy a small waterproof pouch to stash your camera and money in, then go to what the Lonely Planet refers to as "the tubing Cartel." There you hand them about $12 ($7 of which is a returnable deposit), and they give you a tube, and drive you to the start. Basically, there's a 4 kilometer stretch of river, dotted by bars. Whenever you get tired of your current bar, you just hop in your tube, and float on until you see the next one that looks good, and they'll throw you a line and drag you in. (I actually had one guy who managed to throw a small inner-tube perfectly around my neck - that would have earned him an obscenely large stuffed animal at a Carnival Midway - I was definitely impressed).

In order to try and get you to go to their specific bar, each bar has something special to offer - one offered free bananas, another free french fries. And a lot of them also have crazy rope swings, ziplines, and even water slides! So, basically the entire river is a combination bar/waterpark. Awesome. It's definitely a great way to while away an afternoon or two (or in my case, 4).

As always, pictures do a better job describing things than I do: check 'em out!

grabbing a beer with some new friends at one of the bars

time for a change of scenery! Floating to a new bar

hangin' out (hah! pun!) on one of the many rope swings

one of the bars offered spray-painting. This resulted in my back having some weird purple streaks on it for about 4 days. Fantastic

even praying mantis' want to join the party!

artsy tubing shot

group shot (pun intended) at one of the bars

who's crazy enough to backflip off the rope swing? This guy!! (note that it looks a bit ugly in the photo, but I landed the backflip successfully)

mud volleyball? That's  great idea! At least until laundry time

just a little bit muddy after the volleyball match devolved into an all-out mud fight

tubing-eye-view of the sunset. Not that this was exactly a good thing, as it resulted in me having to navigate my way home in the dark. Luckily I still managed to see the exit point, and didn't end up in Cambodia

monks marching in Luang Prabang

one of the things that Luang Prabang is famous for (besides just generally being awesome) is the morning procession of monks. In the morning (starting at 5am - gah!) the monks head to their schools or temples, and locals (and tourists) line the street to give them offerings of sticky rice. It's quite a site to see the long line of orange-robed monks quietly proceeding a long the streets. But don't take my word for it - I've got pictures!!

locals handing out sticky rice to the passing monks - it's amazing how quickly they can do this, rolling a new ball of rice for each monk as they pass. The tourists I've talked to who tried this could only manage to hand out to every third monk or so.

nice view of the long line of monks

the monks file past one of Luang Prabang's many temples

more waterfall adventures

Whenever I mentioned to a fellow traveler that I'd just arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos, they'd always say "hey, I thought I told you to leave me alone - go away or I'll call the cops!" Haha, no, I'm just kidding. That only happened twice. What would really happen is they'd so "oh man, be sure to go to the Kuang Si waterfalls!!"

With this ringing endorsement (along with my general appreciation for visiting /jumping off of them), a visit to the waterfalls was a no-brainer. After a 50 minute tuk-tuk ride where I met several new travelers, including another guy named Adrian (quite rare), we arrived at the falls. The pictures will do a much better job describing the place than I will, but I will say this: it's certainly clear to me why everyone recommends this place. It was gorgeous! We checked out the rope swing, jumped off the falls, then hiked way up to the top of the falls where we hung out in this cool pool and looked down the falls. Definitely well worth the trip.

And now, picture time:

the middle section of the waterfalls (the waterfalls were spread out over a half kilometer or so)

cool mill along the falls

of course I had to jump off the waterfalls. I think it's a rule. Was tempted to dive off, but the falls were only about 8 feet deep, and while I was pretty sure I could pull off a shallow dive it wasn't worth the risk. . .

the pool at the top of the big waterfall - it took some scrambling to get here, but was well worth it!

the view of the waterfalls feeding into the pool mentioned above

an earlybird's view of Chiang Mai

note: I am catching up on blog posts, and this one is out of order - it took place in Thailand, before I took the slow boat into Laos

During my week in Chiang Mai, I went on several early morning runs (if I ran at any other time I would have melted in the heat). On these runs, I was able to see a different side of the the city - what it's like before the streets were choked with pedestrians, mopeds, tuk-tuks, and cars. Here are some photos I took during my runs, which document Chiang Mai's early-morning activity:

sweeping up the mess fro the previous night's market

looks like I'm not the only one crazy enough to run in this heat

the early morning sun hitting one of Chiang Mai's many temples

locals getting in some early morning prayers with the monks

early-morning Tai Chi

volunteering at Elephant Nature Park

note: I am catching up on blog posts, and this one is out of order - it took place in Thailand, before I took the slow boat into Laos

a few weeks ago (Sun May 30, to be exact), Dan and I were wandering through Chiang Mai in the late afternoon, doing a few errands before leaving the next day on a 2-day hill tribe trek. And so, the next morning we hopped onto the bus to elephant nature park for a week-long volunteering trip on an elephant sanctuary. Wait, what? I thought you were going on a 2-day trek!?! Oh, right, that. So, while we were wandering Chiang Mai, we saw the Elephant Nature park office building, and went in, looking for information about a potential post-trek visit to the park. After learning more about their volunteer program which was starting the next day, we were hooked - we quickly canceled the trek, warned family/friends that we'd be offline for the next week (no internet at the park!), and got set for a week of volunteering with the elephants.

Elephant nature park is this amazing sanctuary for elephants, many of whom have been abused, injured, or orphaned. One elephant (Jokia) was blinded by her handlers for insubordination, another (Malai Tong) badly damaged her foot by stepping on a landmine, and another (Hope) was found as a baby wedged between two trees after his mother passed away. All have thrived at the Elephant Nature Park, and Malai Tong is now pregnant, expecting a baby in a few months! Oh, and it's not jut a sanctuary for elephants: the park has 60+ dogs, a bunch of cats, some pigs, water buffalo, and even a pony! Definitely a very cool place to hang out.

We had an absolute blast volunteering. In fact, Dan changed his flight so he could stay longer at the park. Our days were filled with activities: there were a variety of chores to be done around the sanctuary (preparing food, cleaning up after the elephants, chopping bamboo, etc), and we also got to spend tons of time with the elephants: we would feed them, help them bathe (basically stand in the river and throw pails of water onto them), and even give the baby elephants a lemon-grass infused mud bath (to help ward of mosquitoes etc).

We also had a variety of special activities, and chances to learn more about the elephants, the sanctuary, and Thai culture. Some of the many highlights include:

• trying to sing the elephant song ("chang! chang! chang!") and perform the accompanying hand gesture while doubling over with laughter


• a very nice welcome ceremony put on by locals in the town. However, while attempting to kneel respectfully, I cut off all circulation to my legs, and took a good minute to be able to walk afterwards


• dodging kicks from the baby elephant Fah Mai while attempting to finish up her mud bath


• turning corn-shucking into an impromptu hook-shot contest


• having an impromptu search-and-rescue session for my camera which was dropped into the river by an unnamed person while we were tubing (you know who you are, Lauren :-P). Luckily we recovered the camera, and since it's waterproof, no harm was done, and we had a heck of a story afterwards!


• hiking up with a family of elephants to "elephant haven" where they spent the night wandering free, and where we slept in a cool cabin structure


• and much, much more!

Needless to say, it was an incredible experience, and I'm definitely hoping to return to the park some day for another week of volunteering.

When all was said and done, I'd taken over 900 photos! After a lot of culling, I was able to whittle that number down to 231. If you'd like to see all of those pictures, check out my picasa album. Here are a few favorites:

Dan and I feed one of Elephant Nature Park's 30+ elephants. Each one eats a huge amount every day, so we're kept busy preparing food / feeding all the elephants.

elephant bath time! This is great, as it's an excuse to beat the heat and take a dip in the river. You just have to be careful to not get stepped on by an elephant as it's exiting the river!

in addition to the elephants, there are 60+ dogs here (a well as cats, water buffalo, and a pony). Clearly the dogs know that they rule the roost and act accordingly. It was great having all the dog around, except when they decided to get into a fight at 5am outside your bedroom door . . .

a volunteer's life at the sanctuary isn't 10% glamorous - we've still got to pay our dues and spend time shoveling elephant poo.

an elephant chomps happily away on dinner (banana or cucumber)

elephant youngsters are just like kids - full of energy and causing trouble! Here one of the babies distracts the Mahouts (elephant handlers) with water while the other goes for the hose!

we pent one morning visiting a local school, where I was quickly mobbed by kids who wanted piggyback rides, rides on my shoulders, and even one kid who seemed content to grab my leg and try to gnaw on it. Good times.

the volunteers give the baby girl elephant (Fah Mai) a lemongrass-infused mud bath (to help protect her from the sun and flies) while her mother looks on . . .

it's tubin' time! Dan and I recreate a picture of as at Tubestock during our Sophomore year in college which made it into the yearbook

elephants like cucumbers. Lots of 'em. And before they can get them we have to scrub them to remove dirt and any lingering pesticides. I realized that rather than lean over the side of the tub, it would be easier to just sit in the tub! This led to some trouble when Rosco, another volunteer, tried to dump in a many cucumbers as possible, raising the water up past the seat of the chair - luckily I was on the lookout for this and was able to hop up before getting a wet rear end

the elephant family enjoys a mud bath

during our trip to elephant haven, one of the elephants enjoys a snack along the trail. Maybe that's one of the reasons I like elephants - we're both constantly snacking!

group photo of all the volunteers after the last day of poop-shoveling. (not pictured: Dan, who had to leave a day early)

adventures on the slow boat to Laos

Although I had an absolute blast in Thailand, after 4 weeks it was time to move on. And I don't just mean that figuratively - my Thai visa was about to expire, so legally speaking, I had to get out of the country asap! So, I decided to go North, and took the slow boat to Laos. And no, "he's taking the slow boat to Laos" is not a euphemism like "a few fries short of a happy meal" or "not playing with a full deck" - it really is just that, a boat which slowly but surely progresses down a river into Laos (arriving at Luang Probang).

The first day of travel was a 6 hour bus drive to the border, where we stopped in a town whose only draw for tourists was its proximity to the Laos border. I spent the night in a dilapidated guesthouse with a mattress which was closer to a block of wood than a mattress (but on the bright side, at least I had a nice view across the river to Laos). The next morning the real journey began. Crossing the border itself was surprisingly easy - it took no more than 15 minutes. One interesting thing I discovered is that in Laos they use 3 currencies: the US Dollar, the Thai Baht, and their own currency, the Kip. Sometime it's better to pay in a specific currency to get the best deal. For example, everyone in our group except me paid 1,400 Baht for the Laos Visa (about $45), but I asked if I could pay in dollars, and paid only $35. Good thing I paid attention in math class!

Once we crossed the border the group helping us with our tour proceeded to make us wait about 400 meters from the pier for over an hour (which actually ran past the time the boat was supposed to leave), for no clear reason. As far as I could tell, their main goal was to try to convince as many of us as possible to "upgrade" our ticket and pay extra to take a bus instead. Our theory is that the bus was actually very cheap, and they would just pocket the money that the people who "upgraded" had spent on the boat. They actually went as far as to tell us that the town we would be staying in would be very expensive, and had no electricity! Luckily, I was un-swayed by this propaganda, and stuck with the boat, which I'm very glad I did. The boat ride itself was actually quite enjoyable. The scenery on the river was gorgeous, and it was very relaxing to just hang out on the boat, talk to fellow travelers, reading, watch the final season of Lost on my iPod (awesome!), and even enjoy beerlao (they had a mini-store on board).

Ater the first day of travel we stopped for the evening in Bengbang, a tiny town which revolved around the slow boat. Contrary to the misinformation we'd been fed, they did indeed have electricity, and the rooms were actually the cheapest I'd seen - I paid 50 Baht ($1.66!) to share a room with a guy I'd met on the boat. I spent the evening with several other travelers at our guesthouse's restaurant, enjoying Laos food, Laos beer, and being entertained by Marco Polo, the very amusing, whiskey-fireball-breathing proprietor of the guesthouse.

The next day got off to a strange start when, after 30 minutes on the water we pulled back into the town we'd started from without any sort of explanation. But after that our journey continued as expected, and we spent another relaxing day on the water, discussing how glad we were we hadn't switched over to the bus. And that evening the boat arrived in Luang Probang, where I'll be starting my adventures in Laos.

Pictures below, enjoy!

me with my coolest souvenir yet - my $1 teddy-bear seat cushion

the view from the boat

the slow boat

playing cards on the boat with some fellow travelers

the view from our guesthouse in Pakbeng (the halfway point of the trip)

more views from the boat