Junk Boats and Motorbikes

Well the good ole wet Western Washington weather caught up with me. And it just so happened to do so when I would least want it to turn cloudy. A few days ago our group of Pacific Discoverers boarded a Vietnamese "junk" boat to cruise the magnificant Halong Bay for three days and two nights. Thankfully it never really rained. I did abrubtly jump off the lime green lounge chairs off the top deck where I fell asleep one night when a few sprinkles hit my face but it stopped 10 seconds later and I was again able to regain my state of contented slumber under the occassional stars.

However the bay was still beautiful! The water is still a unique turquoise green blue and the thousands of limestone islands still rise out of it depths with the same brilliance. In fact, I think the misty conditions added a mystical affect to the landscape. Now I know, here I said I would be spending two months trekking through SE Asia volunteering and learning about different cultures and now here I am relaxing on a boat with catered meals and lounge chairs aplenty...but everyone deserves a break right?! And the food was one of the best parts...they made all kinds of seafood like crab, snapper, prawns, everything was delicious! To work it all off we explored the islands via kayak and also jumped off the boat every day for some swimming. The amount of boats in the water was incredible! Touring Halong Bay by a junk boat seemed a common tourist experience but definitely one to experience. And no tourist location is complete without snacks! But on the water they are called "floating 7-11s." haha

Speaking of tourism, I have yet to mention the importance that Pacific Discovery places on keeping an ecotourism approach to travelling. Ecotourism is all about leaving the places we visit exactly as we left them. We accomplish this by keeping money within the local community we visit, by using eco-friendly products and picking up our waste, by using locally operated tour guides, and by not just observing but interacting with the people we meet and the places we go. And it is so much fun to interact! At the Museum of Ethnology today in Hanoi, I met a group of young Vietnamese students who were learning English. I think I spent 20 min in a Q and A session with all of them, it was more fun then the museum! Its awesome feelings like these that really makes this trip awesome.

On the Rooftop of SE Asia

When I came on this trip, I had no intention of climbing any mountains. I figured the village treks would be more my style. However, give me an opportunity to do something unexpected and I will go for it! So yesterday, me and three other friends: Caity, ME, and Jack, decided to choose the most difficult trek offered: Mt Fansipan! Which at 11,000 ft, is SE Asia's tallest peak. The fact that this trek's description mentioned several times that it was treacherously hard worried us a little bit but hey, its a mountain, uphill is to be expected. However we did not account for the multiple ups and downs, it felt like we were climbing a million mountains! It got to the point that I thought if I had to go dopwn and all the way back up and more one more time...I was going to declare the view as good enough and call it done. But the hope and promise of the feeling of exalted victory of extreme accom0plishment upon reaching the summit was more then enough to keep me going! It was fun for a while, scrambling up and over boulders of rock, stepping on roots as stairs, and using bamboo as handrails. Every so often we would come out on a ridge with fantastic views of the valley and depressing views of how far we had to go still. One of my favorite parts of the long climb was walking along a ridge where my eyes were torn fromlooking over the wind-blown polant prairie landscape and at the same time, keeping an eye on my feet to not trip over any rocks. We reached the "high camp" at 2008m around 2:30 where we dropped off our packs and headed up the last 1000m with our cameras. Those last few hills were killer! My feet felt like lead. But the summit, an hour and a half later, was totally worth it! And thanks again to ME if she reads this for bringing that big Snickers bar to the top for a celebration treat! I have never climbed a mountain like that before, and the feeling of being abover everthing, literally at the distant foothills of the Himalayas and Mt. Everest, is AWESOME! Yes it is quite a distance to Mt. Everest...but the guide told us that Mt. Fansipan was in the foothills! sounds cool... We could see all the way down to Sapa, our base town, and all the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately, the hazey smog that is inevitable this time of year hindered our view farther out, but still the view was amazing. In the end, the intense climbs, the cold and windy night at high camp, and the noodle and meat and vegetable soup for breakfast, was well worth this intense adventure.

Now I am glad to be back in the town of Sapa, which I might add, feelslike a fantasy oasis in itself. Those that have been to Europe compare it to Switzerland! I feel like I am sitting in a village on a hillside out of a storybook. Quaint Vietnamese houses with their wooden door and window frames surrounded by balconies make a beautiful contrast to the bright colors, green, turquoise, yellow, and a few gray, of the hotels. However descend down the cityscape, past the potted bamboo and skinny brick chimneys, and enter a scene comparable to China (according to my friend Jeremy). Women from every native tribe in the area constantly and relentlessly ask you to "please buy something from me" but the market is quite fun and the shops full of handicrafts and treasures.

Soon I will say goodbye to Sapa and board the night train once again for Hanoi. Then a van ride to Halong Bay where we set sail into the maze of islands that make up this natural wonder of the world!

here is a Sapa sunrise from my hotel room balcony...

Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts that go with me through this journey. I have felt them throughout my trip and I say thanks for them every day!

Loving Laos!

Laos is the epitome of wild beauty. Misty mountains rise more majestically then the mightiest sky scrapers. I want to call life here as quiet and simple but the hard working Laotians in the abundant rice paddies contradict the easy lifestyle of my first impression. Not to mention the tiring work of moving from place to place, village to village, via the main sources of transportation: foot or boat. And we utilized both while in Laos. Roads are limited here, the road we took from the border to Luang Nam Tha was actually built and paid for by the Chinese government for economic trading purposes. Parts of the road had yet to be completed and were still only dirt and gravel.

Our first adventure in Laos was a two day trek along a spectacular ridge and down into a valley, climbing hills, jumping rocks through streams, and crossing "dancing" (they were a bit unstable) bamboo bridges, until we reached a Ankh village. This trek included a remarkably fabulous picnic lunch served on banana tree leaves, of sticky rice, fried vegetable, and fried fish. Whole fish I might add, scales head and all! But it was delicious! So were the homemade potato chips that had the perfect amount of natural sweetness to a hint of salt. I LOVE Lao picnics! In fact, the food in Southeast Asia is jut plain amazing in general!

Walking through the Ankh village was a fascinating experience. The children hilariously followed us around posing for pictures and laughing at themselves when we showed them our cameras. After our dinner, some of the children came back and gave us massages! Well...I might need a massage to recover from that massage. They cracked, or at least attempted to crack, every finger and toe! But it was one of the more entertaining massages ever! We laughed and traded Ankh words for English ones, counting loudly to ten in both languages and naming parts of the body as they gave us a vigorous rub. It was an awesome trek! And really fun to interact with the village!





February 9th, three days ago, we said good bye to the quaint Boat Landing Guesthouse in Luang Nam Tha, Laos, with its amazingly soft warm beds and solar-heated showers, to embark on a river adventure. Let's just say it started off on an interesting note before we even set foot on the small wooden boats. The past few mornings I think our group of 15 hungry, French-toast-loving explorers ate not only all the bread in the guesthouse but all the bread in the entire village! You definitely know you are in a poor country when a town runs out of bread. So with a breakfast of eggs and pancakes and a large order of fried rice wrapped in banana tree leaves for a sack lunch instead of sandwiches, we packed our stuff waterproof tight and loaded up.





Floating down the Nam Tha River was an exciting and sometimes perilous experience. Especially considering there was barely enough water in some places due to it being the dry season. Several times our expert boat crew had to turn off the motor and guide the boat with bamboo poles and paddles through the rocks. They could not have been more skilled! I think they know the Nam Tha better then I know how to get around my home town. Still, it was inevitable that we would hit a few rocks. Upon which the wooden boards would make a "bang!" and a scraping noise that left you frantically praying that the boat would neither A:get caught and tip or B:bust a hole and capsize. Never came close to doing either thank goodness! Ultimately, we made it safely (but sunburnt) to our home for the night in a small village called Ban Khone Kham, where the river is their only access to the outside world. Quite a trip! It is evident how important the river is to the village communities we passed along the way. Every bend in the river brought more waving children who splashed and played along the banks, or women wrapped in sarongs bathing in the shallows, or men with their fishing nets, and everywhere, bamboo huts with thatched roofs against a backdrop of jungle-covered mountains. Laos has such an untamed yet serene feeling, its gorgeous!

What is Thailand?

Thailand is: the land of smiles as everyone from children playing ball at the Burmese refuge camp to the military with machine guns smiles and waves as you fly past shoved in the back of a pick up truck (song tau), an early morning gibbon monkey wake up call, a refreshingly fresh banana fruit shake, a squat toilet with no TP or flushing capability besides the bucket of water in the corner, a charming street market vendor with a "special price just for you!", a combination of smells: fried noodles, fish, sunscreen, bugspray, and excitement, a crazy tuk-tuk ride weaving in and out of Bangkok traffic, a stomach-flopping zipline and descent 60m high in a limestone cave, an attempt to cross 4 lanes of taxis, song taus, and motorbikes in the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar, an eye-opening excursion into Burma, a waterfall shower, and a feeling of freedom that comes with purposefully wandering down jungle trails and city streets. Travel is an adventure, often unpredictable but that is all part of the excitement. It is important to go with an open mind, seek opportunity with no expectations, and as you really connect with the world around you, who knows what you'll do and the stories you will create!

A guide on how to get dirty in Thailand

Two words. GO CAVING!

The last two days our group ventured from the comforts of our Mandala House hotel in Chiang Mai into the bed of another pickup truck to be transported into the forested hills. Our destination was Crazy Horse, a pristine rock climbing location. Our first day was spent getting introductory courses into climbing and rappelling. This included a dizzy rappel down 200 meters into a cave and climbing the limestone rocks. Our guides were amazing! Some were headed to some Thailand championship cilmbing competetion the next week. Our main guide was cool too, he was spending a year in Thailand after graduating from Princeton University, guiding groups such as us. It almost felt like being at camp! Except everyone spoke Thai and instead of roasting marshmallows we roasted balls of sticky rice soaked in coconut milk.

The second day, we split into two groups, adopted new names, packed up a spare change of clothes which filled me a feeling of dread...when someone tells you that you will be able to hose off later you get a bad feeling...and set off! So the Smoov Dog Chillz as we called ourselves elected to go caving first and packed a few bottles in a dry bag, put on knee pads and helmets, turned on our head lamps, took one last picture, and crawled into the darkness. Although we didn't crawl for long, it turned more into a snake slither. This is not the place to be clausterphobic! There were openings I didn't even think I could fit through yet somehow managed to speeze through inch by inch. However we were lucky (or unfortunate depending on whether you find mud fun) that we were not there a few months earlier when the caves were still wet from the rainy season. Then instead of mostly dried mud you have to almost swim your way through parts of the cave. Needless to say we got dirty. However I stayed the cleanest, I think from spending so much time at the barn I have learned to repel mud. I was clean enough that people started throwing mud at me in retaliation.


Thankfully we all made it out of the cave successfully! Were not eaten by cave spiders, swallowed by bottomless mud puddles, or mauled by bats, although we did get some bats flying in our faces at the most inopportune moments. Then we got to end the day on a fun note! Zip lining across the top of a cave and free fall rappelling down the side into the rocks below. One of the most exhilerating moments of my life!

Off to the northern Thailand border tomorrow and then Laos! Miss everyone!