December 20th – The Final Leg - Bali, Indonesia

Now that we know we are going home in TEN DAYS, we can’t quite believe it.  Somehow the urgency to get home has become, well, less urgent.  And ahhhhh, the pressure is off.  Yes.  I can actually say there are certain pressures involved with travel; finding a place to stay, mapping out our route, finding food and keeping occupied to everyone’s particular desire, to name just a few.  We have booked about 3 days at Legian Beach with the objective to learn how to surf, followed by a week in Padaing Bai Beach to relax, enjoy and perhaps do a bit of navel gazing.  Except for finding local activities, we can put The Lonely Planet down.

Things I will miss about travelling;

banana lassies, Thai night markets, wearing a sarang and feeling like it’s haut couture, Bali surf, the Elephant Nature Park, Indian head waggle, riding a motor bike with my kid on the back, playing cards, Hindu God offerings on the sidewalk, street pet pals, Buddhist prayer greeting, so much time with my family.

Things I will not miss about travelling;

garbage and pollution, horking phlem, hard beds, traffic and horns, touts, carrying tp at all times, public displays of peeing, teaching math, being able to sit on the toilet and shower at the same time, sad and sick street pet pals, The Lonely Planet

Legian Beach was amazing.  I think we went expecting a terrible resort strip with high rise buildings and crowds.  Somehow Bali seems to get tourism right.  Instead we found a nice long beach with lots of room to find your own space and not a high-rise in sight.  Yes, it is quite dense with buildings and especially shops but it is not nearly the tacky tourist spot we thought it was going to be.  Why were we there?  Why to surf!  Apparently the beach from Kuda up to Seminyak is the best spot to learn how to surf.  We rented a great bungalow which had a pool and about a 10 minute walk to the beach.

We chose Double D Surf School which turned out to be a most excellent choice.  They set us up with 3 instructors for about 3 hours, including a break (much needed).  Now for those of you who think learning to surf is hard, it totally is.  The first part of the lesson is on the beach where you feel like a rock star nimbly jumping from your stomach up to your feet ready for anything.  Then you head to the real surf.  I was still wading in when I looked up to see Sadie sailing in on her feet catching her first ride on her very first attempt!  Whoo Hoo!  Anna and Ron were quick to follow suit.  I on the other hand took a while longer swallowing a bit more water, sand and pride.  Eventually though I did get up and even though the waves were pretty small, they felt HUGE and FAST.  It was great ‘cause the instructors held the board until the exact right moment and then pushed us to catch the waves.  I really missed them when they finally disappeared.  Paddling, timing and getting up is an amazing feat.  Surfing is yet another very humbling sport.  But I think Ron has caught the bug.  He spent hours out there for the next couple of days.  Sadie, Anna and I chose to sleep in, do a little shopping and enjoy the beach and surf in a less exhausting manner.

The next destination for a little R&R was Bloo Lagoon Resort in Padangbai on the east coast of Bali.  We were very fortunate to have made contact with a Calgary family, the     , who had spent a year travelling and volunteering in 2008.  They fell in love with Bali and bought a funky, open air, eco-friendly bungalow at Bloo Lagoon.  They generously offered their place to us so we could spend the last 5 nights of our trip in luxury.  It was great to lie in the shallows of the pool reading under the in water sun umbrellas and wandering into the village for meals.  Finishing the day with a before bed swim in the cooling fresh water was awesome.  It was hard to motivate ourselves to do much, but managed a few adventures.

We hired a car and driver to take us to Ubud for the day.  Ubud is a town in the interior of Bali that is the cultural and fine arts center of Bali.  It is now so popular that there are numerous stores, hotels, restaurants and service oriented businesses.  Some people hang out there for a month or more getting into all sorts of self realization modes, becoming art critics, finding their purpose in life or just enjoying the laid back atmosphere and all the good food and drink that goes with it.  It will become even more popular once the Julia Roberts film Eat Pray Love is released, as Ubud is a feature location in the film.  We just walked around, didn't buy any of the cool stuff because we thought it was fake or overpriced, ate some good food, had a couple mandatory beer/coke and checked out the monkey forest where the monkeys took liberty to jump on us and check our pockets for treats.  They really aren't so cute!




Ron thought he would rally the Gosney motorcycle team (moped team) for one last 2 wheeled exploration experience, but he fell short in the sales pitch.  Instead the female Gosney's enjoyed another day at the pool while Ron headed off on his own with no real map, but a sense of where he wanted to go.  8 hours later he did return having put on 160km over a combination of paved and dirt roads, and some sketchy tracks.  Apparently, it was fantastic as he climbed through rice terraces and forest into the interior mountains, snorkelled out to a sunken WWII wreck on the north coast, got lost and came across where they make salt, and travelled a remote road that took him through little villages and spectacular scenery.  We enjoyed the pool and the company of the nice Dutch family that was also staying at Blue Lagoon.  We shared what felt like our private pool with them!

And then that was that, we left the luxury of Bloo Lagoon behind and headed for the homeward leg with mixed feelings.  Excited to be going home, but reluctant to enter back into the "rat race".  At least that was Ron and I, the kids did not have any hesitation as it was time to see friends, eat normal food and sleep in one's own bed.  A quick night in Bangkok and then on we went.  Many movies later and we arrived in Vancouver on the morning of December 20th.  The adventure was over, but hopefully it has given us all something that we can take with us for the rest of our lives!

December 8 – Hanoi & Halong Bay, Vietnam

Home, sweet home.  Sometimes it’s not until you are amongst the things you take for granted that you realize just how much you have missed them.  A couch for example, or a long harvest table surrounded with friends and a large pot of coffee - or bottle of wine.  Perhaps a fridge to open and dig around in and the family pet to scratch behind the ears.  We arrived in Hanoi feeling very travel weary and landed on the doorstep of our friend Robin Benitz who threw the doors open and welcomed us with open arms.  Her whole family (minus Hendra who was away expanding his horizons at a 4 mo. course in New York) including Alison, Julia and Tiko (the yellow lab) were around providing us with the best sense of home and family we’d had since July.

Robin & Hendra live just outside of downtown and old Hanoi in an area called Ho Tay (or was it Tay Ho?) popular with the expat community.  We were a short taxi ride to downtown and right in the midst of a lovely leafy green neighbourhood good for walks and bicycle rides.  I joined Robin for her yoga class and local grocery shopping by bicycle giving me a quick peek into their life living in Hanoi.  The yoga class hurt for days and I felt like my limbs were wooden planks, but it was great to go.  We had originally planned to stay with Robin for 2 days then travel to Halong Bay for 3 days and back to Robin’s for a final 2 days.  But Robin was so welcoming and encouraged us to enjoy “home”.  We considered our options for about a second and decided to hang out there with only a 1 night trip to Halong Bay. 

Halong Bay     

   

Halong Bay is famous for its 1,000 plus islands, sheer limestone cliffs jutting out of the ocean and phenomenal scenery.  Given good weather, it is some of the most spectacular scenery around.  The best way to see it is from one the traditional Vietnamese “Junks” either on a one day or multi-day cruise debarking from Halong Bay City.  Choosing which boat and tour guide is a bun fight though as there are literally hundreds of tour operators and booking agents all clambering for your business.  From what we heard, you definitely get what you pay for and the cheapest cruises can sometimes come with rats, grime and bad food.  Our niece Charlotte has just been and recommended their agent and boat; The Wild Kangaroo (there are many agents using the name Kangaroo in Hanoi) and Asia Cruise Lines.  The goal is to find a small boat with 16 people or less and pay enough to avoid the rats and grime.  You can pay hundreds of dollars per day on some boats.  We paid about $50 per day.  Our boat was pretty good, Anna thought it was the Sheraton of the sea.  It was relatively clean, although Janet did battle a little mouse in the wee hours of the morning.

The drive to Halong Bay City is not very scenic or interesting and Halong Bay City itself is well, pretty ugly.  Seems they have in the past 5 years decided “if you build it, they will come.”  The City is packed with high rise hotels that look like they were built in a flash.  Most people who arrive in Halong Bay though head right out on boats and don’t want to stay in the City so most of these hotels and restaurants are empty.  We understand there is a busy time in the summer when Vietnamese tourists flock to the City for beach time.

Sadly we did not have the clear weather required to make the scenery as beautiful as it can be.  But it was much better on day 2.  I think we were somewhat jaded by the pull back towards Robin’s home and the fact we were so travel weary.  The whole trip felt just too contrived and crowded.  We felt a bit like sheep being herded from one thing to the next amongst so many tourists and boats.  There were literally trains of junk boats heading along the same route in the bay.  There were a couple of off boat adventures; an old cave called “Surprise Cave” which was pretty amazing (once you looked past the other 100 people in the cave) and kayaking from a floating fishing village.  The local floating villagers used to live in the caves but have since been moved onto the floating villages in order to preserve the caves and offer them as a tourist attraction.  They do still fish but many of the women earn their living paddling from boat to boat in their “basket” boats selling Oreos, chips and beer…whatever the tourists may want.  It was really interesting to see how the villagers have set up on these floating docks, there were even pet dogs jumping around from pod to pod.  The bay itself is really quite dirty.  Given we did not venture away from the train of boats, none of us felt the urge to swim (I am pretty sure they don’t have the pump and dump rules like Canada in Vietnam) so our on board activities were mainly gazing at the scenery, playing cards and eating.  We were very happy to have only one night and 24 hours aboard.  Our fellow passengers were diverse; a group of Cambodian University Professors and about 7 other backpackers.  If we had stayed for a second night, we would have got off on Cat Ba Island for a hike/bike then been taken to Monkey Island for a night with a BBQ, bonfire and sleep in a beach hut.  Had we stayed, this probably would have been the better part of the trip.  Oh well, next time!  We were still glad to get back to Hanoi.

The other major excitement in Hanoi was catching up with Charlotte Gibson.  Charlotte is our niece who is traveling Asia with her boyfriend Cullen.  We finally caught up with them in Hanoi.  Charlotte had been about 3 days ahead of us for about two weeks in Vietnam and giving us all sorts of travel tips along the way.  It was so great to see her.  We spent the afternoon visiting the Prison Museum (a prison built and originally used by the French then later used by the Viet Kong for American prisoners of war), eating, sipping beer and lots of talking.  I have to admit out loud, Ron was right…we didn’t take a photo right when we thought of it and then we forgot so now we don’t have any record of our visit with Charlotte.  It’s not the first time I’ve had to live with an “I told you so”!

And then we met up with Tony Frost, Ron’s long time friend from elementary school.  Tony was on business in Hong Kong and able to take a few extra days to explore Hanoi and Sappa.  As luck would have it, we overlapped with Tony for 2 days.  Tony travels in a much different style than the Gosneys…Sadie & Anna were thrilled to chill in his gorgeous hotel room while Tony, Ron & I walked Old Hanoi and eventually found Le Pub for a beer.  Julia Benitz had recommended a lunch spot called Puku (hard to find but totally worth it) and so we followed her cue for dinner too at Highway 4 famous for its catfish spring rolls.  Yum.  We really liked walking around Old Hanoi, it has a much less frantic feel than Ho Chi Minh and the architecture is much more interesting.  Ron stayed downtown for a one on one visit with Tony and a brief attempt at a big night out…they did have a great chance to catch up but were home before midnight and the most crazy part of the night I think were the 2 big rats that cruised by in the pub where they were drinking beer.  Oh and they were also offered girls about one second after they shut the door on our cab sending us back to Robin’s.  Wild.

Tony joined us again the next day at Robin’s house (thank you again Robin for extending your hospitality even beyond our family) where we visited more and borrowed the bikes to explore the neighbourhood and lake board walk.  Our last night we were treated to an unbelievable feast prepared by Robin’s part time cook.  He spent the whole afternoon preparing an amazing menu of homemade pita bread, succulent beef sauté and bean salad.  We certainly appreciated the kind effort to give us a taste of home, eh?

This was also the time we finally broke the news to the girls, we were going to head home one week early on December 20^th!  The idea came to life earlier in Vietnam when we heard the weather in Bali is stifling hot and humid this time of year.  Then we started watching the Whistler snow report (dumping) and the final push was trying to book our accommodation over Christmas in Bali.  After the 18^th, accommodation on the Gili Islands (our planned destination) is either booked up far in advance or incredibly expensive.  Our place in Whistler is ours to use this winter and empty…we decided to head home, get our jet lag over with and enjoy the last week of our trip skiing.  We kept it quiet until we confirmed we could change our flights then because the girls wanted to surprise their friends.  Needless to say, Sadie & Anna were thrilled.  I think our idea of spending Christmas away and minimal was much more attractive to us adults!

So we left Vietnam on the 8^th feeling well rested and revived thanks to the Benitz/Hendra household.  We do feel however, we did not put the effort into Vietnam that we put into the other countries we have visited.  The words “you get what you give” keep ringing in our ears.  We were tired and could have put a lot more effort towards our experience perhaps leaving us with a more significant impression of Vietnam.  But the good times are still there, we will never forget the amazing things we saw and experienced.

December 2 – Hoi An, Vietnam

Vietnam seems to offer a pretty amazing bus system called “Open Tours” for budget style travelers. We have been lurking between budget and mid range our whole trip but given a chance to save money and travel in comfort, we are the first to sign up. We had heard about the sleeper buses which, just as it sounds, provides overnight travel in comfortable air conditioned busses loaded with separate births for each person to stretch out in. Climbing aboard the initial impression was very futuristic. We met our newly adopted child, Paul Stagg from Australia, in Dalat and she joined us for our sleeper bus trip up to Hoi An. She is a mere 27 yrs young and incredibly patient to hang with us much older folk and much younger folk. As a group of five, we were given the back upper shelf of berths where we could enjoy the full effect of our crazy driver and every pot hole he hit by smashing up towards the ceiling. Janet ended up with the berth sans foot box so with every brake, she felt like she was going to catapult down the aisle and out the front window. Fortunately we had had another bus ride and a couple of days to get to know Paula a bit before we were crammed side by side in the sleeper bus. It was actually a pretty uneventful trip, just lots of fuel for fodder as we got settled. Unfortunately the passengers were at the mercy of the bus driver’s pit stops for the toilet. There is a toilet on board BUT there are strict instructions not to use it. The pit stops were some of the worst we’d seen in 5 months, but the “yuck” factor was somewhat numbed by being so sleepy. Secretly I was glad we were not allowed to use the toilet on the bus!

We arrived in Hoi An at the back of a hotel called Grasslands at 6:30am. The staff was instantly on us to book our stay with the hotel. Ever skeptical, we wanted to look around to make sure it was the right place for us. We had heard such amazing things about Hoi An, we wanted to make sure we were in the right spot, good price and well located. They wore us down (remember it was 6:30am) so we committed to one night mostly so we did not have to lug our packs around while we looked elsewhere. Well they lied like rugs. A 10 minute walk to old Hoi An was actually about 20 minutes down a dusty road. The beauty of Hoi An is the old town and being right in the middle of all the action, don’t compromise this if you ever get there. We found an amazing breakfast, booked another hotel and skulked back to back-peddle out of our one night. They were definitely not happy. It took some major body language (and 100,000 Dong) for us to get our passports back.

I can’t recommend the hotel we ended up at (The Serene III) because it looks like they may have charged us double for our stay…but that’s another story, one that is as of yet unsolved and in the hands of VISA. We loved Hoi An. For every bit of character lacking in Dalat, Hoi An was packed with it. The French influence has resulted in beautiful fusion colonial architecture which has been incredibly preserved. And the food is to die for. The old town is absolutely packed with good restaurants and food/drink; Cargo (don’t leave without the chocolate truffle cake), Café 19 (we ate there twice), Café 29 (cooking classes?), the market tables, pints of “fresh” beer for 4,000 Dong or about 25 cents and much more.


We rented bicycles and checked out the beach which is only a 4 km ride away. We dodged the forced bike parking and routed around the village to find our own entrance on to a deserted section of the beach where we found some guys to play Frisbee with and good surf to bob around in. Ron and I bought tickets for the old town tour which was a bit of a snore but the highlight was a peek inside the Diep Dong Nguyen House, still home for the sixth generation of a local family who give you a tour of their home themselves. Most incredible though was the record of the annual flood levels on the wall in the old home, with September ’09 being the most recent record holder at more than 9 feet. Apparently those living and doing business within the flood

area from the river in the old town have to take everything upstairs during the annual flood season and are usually marooned up there for 3-5 days when the river is at full height.

Of course the main attraction in Hoi An is the tailors! We heard the buzz about the tailors for weeks before arriving. There are apparently more than 200 tailors in this tiny old town. Tailors will make a copy of anything you want using a photo, sample or sketch as their guide. We, like most others, got caught up in the frenzy. So if Ron needs to don a suit over the next 10 years or so, he won’t have to call Rich Pestes and borrow one. The girls got silk P.J.’s made and Janet even participated too by getting a wool coat sewn up. Trips to the tailor took some time each day between measuring and numerous fittings. Hoi An is filled with normally scruffy travelers who are suddenly all spruced up in their new wardrobes. There are also many, many shops making shoes to order. As with most things, you definitely get what you pay for. We were given the heads up our niece Charlotte to use Yali’s for tailoring. Our friend Paula happened to have the same recommendation from someone else. They are not the cheapest but the quality is good. Ron of course had to test the theory and suss out a few shirts made at a cheaper location…but they are not nearly as good.

Having a new friend and a nice balcony off our spacious hotel room gave us all the encouragement we needed to buy a bottle of gin and have cocktails. We invited Paula and her friend over for gin and tonics feeling like we were doing something actually “normal” from our previous life. Ron even put out peanuts in little bowls and the girls brought over Oreos. Being from Australia, Paula had never tried them and was curious.


We are still enjoying our $1 pedicures Sadie, Anna & I got in the local market. We also had a wonderful evening out on the river for the Full Moon Festival drifting amongst the candle lit lanterns and steered by one of the most classic Vietnamese characters we had seen.

Our biggest cultural endeavor was a trip out to see My Son, ancient ruins from the Cham Dynasty. Never the ones to willingly join a tour bus if we don’t have to…we rented motorbikes but this time we also rented a guide to accompany us. The driving was fine, but the directions would have taken a lot of energy…it was nice to just follow. Turns out the “guide” was really just guiding us to the site and knew next to nothing about the ruins. We relied on our Lonely Planet guide to educate us (always a bit sketchy) and occasionally eavesdropped on other tour groups. It is a ruins site, in ruins. The ruins are the remnants of the religious and intellectual centre for the Kingdom of Champa. Sadly the Viet Kong used the area as a base during the American War and it was heavily bombed. The bomb craters are all still there. It is amazing there is anything left at all, especially once you learn the Champa did not use mortar while building with bricks. My Son is billed as Vietnam’s Angkor Wat, but I would beg to differ. It was interesting…but did not really grab our attention for long. Avoid the crowds and go early, the best time is apparently sunrise however we didn’t make it there that early. The best part for us was the setting and the drive there and back! Our guide took a detour on the way home, down a bank and weaved his way through a small neighbourhood and rice patties. Whoo Hoo!


Overnight trains were all booked and we weren’t up for the 18 hours bus journey from Hoi An to Hanoi. Fortunately air travel is often cheap in Vietnam, so we took advantage of a $35 pp. seat sale from Jet Star.

November 27 - Ho Chi Minh City & Dalat

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Good morning Vietnam! Our senses became instantly alert as we introduced ourselves to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon. A sprawling city for about 10 million, it is pulsing and seemingly has more motorbikes than anywhere else in the world. We stood and watched traffic lights for an unimaginable length of time. All the motor bikes make their way to the front of the line at a red light, creating an absolute sea of helmets and bikes as far as the eye can see and spilling up on to the sidewalks. The evenings were even more alive; the lights illuminating a brilliant dazzle and the streets even more crowded with motorbikes, pedestrians and vehicles. Venturing across the street demanded a slow but steady pace through the traffic with unwavering confidence the drivers will not run you over. A pause or last minute change of direction is the kiss of death.

We stayed at the Blue River #2. Not especially Vietnamese sounding but it a locally run boutique hotel (meaning a step up from backpacker but not a large cold hotel). There is a #1 which we had originally aimed to book, but ended up in #2 because it has a family room. The #2 is about a 10 minute walk into the famed Pham Ngu Lao Area where the bulk of the backpacker hotels and funky restaurants are. The walk is an absolutely fair trade off for some peace and quiet both late at night and first thing in the morning. We found different routes to make our 10 minute walk shorter and shorter as we liked to eat at the plethora of eateries in Pham Ngu. Janet went down for the count with a head cold so she hit the pillow and left most of the exploring up to the rest.

With only a day, we had to be ruthless choosing what to do. We signed up for a trip out to see the Cu Chi Tunnels, the unofficial symbol of the incredible tenacious Vietnamese spirit. Cu Chi is a district just outside of Ho Chi Minh which became a centre for Viet Cong control of this large rural area during the American War. Cu Chi suffered such intense bombing and destruction and in turn, the Viet Cong developed their spirit and an amazing system of defense using simple methods and an intricate tunnel system below ground (more than 250km and several stories deep). Tunnel construction began during the French war in the 40’s and eventually became so strong (the red earth was perfect for construction) the Viet Cong were able to facilitate steadfast offence, defense and communication (provided routes from village to village) for more than 30 years. By the time they were fighting the Americans, bombs devastated the area above ground but he tunnels for the most part remained intact.

The soldiers lived below ground during the day and came above ground only at night. As tourists we were able to experience the tunnels by climbing below ground and following a 150m portion of a tunnel one story down. Wow. The entrances and the tunnels themselves are TINY. Fortunately they provide a couple of exit routes for those feeling uncomfortable down there. Ron & Anna made it to the end, coming above ground with wide eyes, a full sweat and burning thighs. Strangely enough they also have on site a rifle range where eager tourists can pay extra and try shooting. Unfortunately it is right beside the rest area so we took a break while flinching to unbearably loud gun shots.

Our tour guide was a bit of a crazy man. He sang to us on the bus, provided some forced shopping opportunities en route and called the Viet Kong “American War killer heroes” but he was also a fountain of knowledge. Ron stopped at the Saigon War Museum downtown on the way home but the girls skipped it with Janet choosing instead to sit in hotel air con (Janet was still feeling pretty poor) to read, do math and sleep. Of course the museum depicts the story mostly through incredibly graphic photography. Definitely a necessary part of any trip to Vietnam, but it is probably better the girls didn’t have to see it and try to sort out what they saw. Being in Vietnam and visiting the tunnels though did allow us to talk about the Vietnam War with Sadie & Anna, kind of a 3D history lesson. Check, another point for the plus side of why we went on this trip.

Dalat, Vietnam

Having barely two weeks in Vietnam meant we also had to be ruthless choosing our route destinations. We veered away from the coast and headed up into the hills to check out Dalat. Now I’m still not sure if our impression of Dalat was the first sign of us becoming travel weary…but we definitely had trouble falling in love with, or even in “like” with Dalat. The small city lacks character for sure, perhaps best summed up by a quick visit to the mini Eifel Tower in the centre of town. Even the local market lacked any special feeling or draw. My niece Charlotte was there before us and went “canyoning” which made her visit very worthwhile. We’ve also heard taking an “Easy Rider” tour on motorbikes is incredible. But for us, neither option was in the cards this time. Ron & I did rent a motorbike for an afternoon and did a mini speed tour of all the sights but nothing (except driving on a motorbike) seemed to really get us very excited.

The one tourist attraction we did take in was The Crazy House, a house or rather a “creation” by a local architect who has been channeling her artistic energy in to the design and building process since 1990. Her message is clear, everyone should return back to nature. It is kind of like The Hobbit House gone wild. Every room is named after a different creature (one room had a huge kangaroo with glowing red lights for eyes…creepy) and all rooms are connected by winding little staircases, outside bridges and little tunnels. You can get lost in it for hours, which we did. As luck would have it, Mrs. Dang Viet Nga (the architect) herself was there filming an interview while we were there. We stopped to listen to her while she pointed at the various family portraits and explained the history. She comes from a very political family, her father was Ho Chi Minh’s successor. She must be close to 80 by now but looks rather (ahem) well preserved perhaps from a few surgeries and her train of thought is rather eccentric. But nothing short of extremely eccentric could have ever created this house. We heard you can also stay overnight at the Crazy House but we declined the temptation, Janet was worried we’d get the kangaroo room!

The icing on the cake was being unable to find any decent meals, except for one. Our one good meal was a local Vietnamese eatery (no fuss, plastic chairs and great food) recommended by our hotel…our hotel was actually the best part of our stay. We stayed at a place called The Pink House, hosted by a guy named Rot (yes really) and Nam. We had our little list of places to check out once we got off the bus and ended up going with the guy waiting outside the bus trying to steer us towards his hotel. Going with these guys is kind of the last thing you want to do in general but he wore us down. And it turned out this time to be worthwhile. A bunch of guys went out on an easy rider day with Rot and had an amazing time checking out the area and the small village where Rot was born. I would recommend to anyone going to Dalat to stay at The Pink House and take a day on motorbikes with Rot and his brother.

We left wondering if perhaps we didn’t put the energy in required to discover the charms of Dalat but hey, you just can’t love every place you go.

November 22 – Chiang Rai, Thailand

Chiang Rai is about 3 hours by local bus from the Thai/Lao border at Chiang Kong and about 5 hours north of Chiang Mai. We decided to rest here for 2 nights until we flew back to Bangkok and then to Vietnam. We had not been as fastidious finding places to stay in advance so we began our tour of Chiang Rai by trudging around with our packs on trying to orient ourselves and find a place to stay. It’s a bit more sprawling than we had hoped with no real nucleus for guest houses. When in doubt, ask another white person, which we did and were led to PS Guest House.

PS was a clean and conveniently located place with a nice woman named Au (pronounced Aw) who owned and operated it. The best part was she provided free bicycles to get around and cheap motor bikes to rent. In hindsight we are not quite sure if perhaps PS was the centre of an underground “companion” service for foreign male travelers. Au is married to a British guy who seemed to have lots of foreign “friends” around who go out all afternoon and into the wee hours of the morning. Au has lots of girl friends she hangs out with playing dominoes and eating food until they meet the guys later. We can’t put our finger on it, but we couldn’t help but draw a few conclusions. There was nothing that felt outwardly inappropriate for us to be in the middle of and maybe, just maybe, Janet’s wild imagination was hard at work again! I have to say though, the prostitution in Thailand (female and male) seems to be abundant. I am curious why. Has it always been that way?

On to other topics. We rented motor bikes again to help us deal with our new crisis of trying to line up our Vietnam entry visas. We definitely let this detail fall through the cracks. By the time we got our act together we were paying through the nose for fast visas, money transfers and even flight changes. We briefly thought about getting on our flight sans visas and getting it by email upon arrival. Fortunately, we decided to be a little less “James Bond”, more safe and change our flights. Turns out you need to show your visa or visa letter of approval when checking in at the airport. Phew.

Chiang Rai is a good visit for about 2 days. We rode the motorbikes for about 30 km to The White Temple. Designed by a famous local artist, this temple has been under construction for 12 years and is expected to take about 90 years to complete…it is an intricate combination of traditional and contemporary with a whole lot of “goth” mixed in (skulls, hands coming out of the water and chipped mirrors everywhere). One of the more intriguing parts was the wax monk in the main part of the temple. We stood there for a very long time trying to decide if he was real or not and finally had to ask. There was also an interesting art gallery displaying the artists paintings and sculptures. Our journey back was following Ron’s nose through uncharted territory, taken to avoid going on the major highway we took to get out there. Fortunately his nose has proven itself over and over so the rest of us don’t bother worrying.

Our other activity in Chiang Rai was the night market. Seems most towns we have come across turn their downtown core into extensive night markets most nights. Shopping, food and drinks were abundant. We tried deep friend crickets (yes really) but bypassed the deep fried cockroaches and fried grubs. The report is that the crickets were pretty much air and crunch with a hint of tasty marinade BUT it was still pretty hard for us to wrap our minds around the fact we were eating bugs. Yech! We also tried deep fried ice cream which was really good – I mean it’s a combination of deep fried batter with still frozen (still not sure how the physics work on that one) ice cream in the middle, what’s the mystery? We found great real food at the market and the other night we went to a restaurant called Cabbage and Condoms. The kids were “grossed out” right from the start by the name, the art images of condom propaganda everywhere and the mannequin covered from head to toe with coloured condoms didn’t help either. The restaurant raises money for aids and safe sex awareness in Chiang Rai. A great cause…and an even greater teaching moment?

We were sad to say good-bye to Thailand. She was very kind to us and I think we would all love to come back one day. In the meantime, Janet has spouted off profusely about cooking Thai at home so we’ll see about that.

November 19 – Mekong Slow Boat Trip, Laos

Cruising in a slow boat along the Mekong River was one of Ron’s very first things on his wish list for our travel itinerary way back in the early planning stages. So it was with great expectations we climbed aboard in Luang Prabang heading for Huay Xai with an overnight stop in Pak Beng. Of course Ron being research guy had figured out the skinny on how to make sure we got on the best boat with the best seats possible. Every boat is different, some with comfortable seats and some with small wooden benches. Every boat is a traditional style river boat made of wood. Each day is 9 hours long on the boat so you can imagine the importance of making sure we were going to be comfortable. Ron chatted up the guys at the dock and found someone willing to reserve our seats and Ron made sure he was down there one hour early to secure the seats.

Nine hours on a slow boat on the river. Lots of time to read, listen to the iPods, do some math and gaze at the scenery going by. We were all a bit underwhelmed at the scenery. I think we were expecting to see more life along the river but there was only the occasional village and not much in between. It was very pretty…but 9 hours is 9 hours. The river is constantly changing levels, making the captain’s job difficult as he dodged around the exposed and unexposed rocks. A safe route one week is not necessarily a safe route the next. Which is why we chose not to take the fast boat. Option number two for the Mekong is to take a fast boat for about 6 six hours for the same distance we covered in 18 hours. Tempting, except for the rumors of high accident and fatality rates. A fast boat sped past our slow boat at one point. It was an oversized sea flea, low to the water with a loud engine on the back crammed with about 8 tourists leaning forward into the wind (and away from the screaming engine) wearing huge fluorescent orange bubble helmets. Five minutes like that would be too long let alone 6 hours…if you made it. We are glad we did the slow boat trip and would recommend it to others. There are just a few realities that come with it which are good to know about.

Overnight was in Pak Beng which is also accessible by car (meaning you can jump ship if you can’t handle the pace) and about ½ way between Prabang and Huay Xai. The town is nothing special and it is a bit of a race up the hill running into the various guest houses to find a bed. Boats converge here from both directions so the beds fill up quickly. The boat that drops you at Pak Beng, turns around and returns to where it came from. This means you have to get on a new boat for the 2nd half of the journey, and go through the process of securing seats all over again. Sadie and I took this early shift to get seats and it was a good thing as our boat only had about 16 comfortable seats, the rest were small wooden benches. But people always find a way to get comfortable sprawling all over on the floor and across the benches.

We arrived in Huay Xai at about 5:30 hoping to get across the river and into Thailand by the time the border office closed at 6pm. It was a total scramble to get all the forms filled (every country seems to require more than one departure and arrival card…health form…customs cards etc.) The girls are really good now at filling out their own and we have all finally memorized our passport numbers. We didn’t have a place to stay in Chiang Kong so we ended up trudging up and down the road in the dark trying to find a place. Turns out Chiang Kong didn’t quite have the charm we thought it had (and the Lonely Planet is badly out of date for this town) but we eventually found a good bed, dinner and internet. Breakfast was stellar at the Bamboo Café with the first whole grain bread, home-made jam and the best coffee we’d had in a long time.