Thursday, March 31, 2005

Leonardo not found

We spent the morning getting a few necessary things done. We were dreading the chore we have come to hate most, next to going to the post office: changing our airline tickets. But after a short phone call to Cathay Pacific in Bangkok, our flights were changed, just like that (mobile phone calls only, as the island still does not have phone lines). Whether or not we are actually on the flight we changed it to remains to be seen, but for now we're happy to have that over with.

Our errands run, we got some sandwiches made up to take away and hired a boat for the afternoon to cruise over to Koh Phi Phi Lei, not far from Koh Phi Phi Don where we're staying. Unlike Phi Phi Don, Phi Phi Lei is uninhabited. It is made up of limestone cliffs, caves and a few small coves. We passed Viking Cave, which reaches back into the cliffs. Locals harvest the birds' nests here (and all around the island) for bird's nest soup. Also in Viking Cave are prehistoric paintings. We stopped in a few places around the island for some awesome snorkelling. The water is incredibly beautiful, the coral is healthy, and there are so many fish! Like at Bamboo Island, we saw so many different types of fish, and even a Moray eel. Our boat captain dropped us off at Maya Beach for an hour or so while he and his two 'crew members' (really just his mates) went out to deeper water to fish. Maya Beach is a cove on Phi Phi Lei, with clean, soft, white sand, palm trees and warm clear water. It's where parts of the film 'The Beach' were shot, and the water really does look as beautiful as in the movie. We ate our lunch, walked around a bit and spent the rest of the time swimming.

On the way back to Phi Phi Don, we stopped at a few places for the guys to try to catch some squid. Nige had a go and caught one, but like my King Mackerel yesterday, it got away. We returned to the main island just before the rain started. We had a quick shower while the rain passed over, got a few beers and peanuts at the store and sat on the beach to enjoy the sunset. Our last dinner on the island was of course at Hippies. Afterwards we relaxed in some hammocks on the beach while we waited for the Thai Lantern Ceremony to begin. We're not sure why it was happening, maybe 100 days since the tsunami??? Anyway, everyone gathered on the beach and began to light their lanterns up. They are made with a large plastic bag with a wire frame on the bottom to hold it open. Secured to the wire is a wad of tightly rolled paper or something of the sort. I pushed out of my mind the thoughts of the unenvironmentally friendliness of it all, especially considering they definitely do not need more trash on this island. It was a funny 30 minutes as we watched everyone try to light their 'wicks' then gather enough hot air in the bag to lift it off into the night, all while hiding the flame from the wind. It turns out that it was a bit too windy, so no more than 3 or 4 actually launched into the sky. The few that did were beautiful, and we can only imagine what it would look like if they could have all floated away. We somehow found our way back to get another massage and briefly watched a fire show before heading to our bungalow.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Big Wednesday

So we tried not to get our hopes up this morning about fishing. We had our usual breakfast from the woman at the sandwich/pancake stall (tuna baguette, coffee shake) and headed to meet our boat captain. It wasn't until we actually boarded his longtail boat that we let ourselves believe that today was the day to catch some big-arse fish.

We motored out to sea for about an hour, dropped anchor, then proceeded to catch our live bait. We used a hand line with 25 hooks on it. All we had to do was drop the line in the water, let it sink towards the bottom, then pull it back up. We caught anywhere from 2-8 fish at one time, from about 4 inches to 12 inches long. The boat has a built-in box full of fresh sea water (a live well) where the bait is able to swim around, waiting for certain death.

Our live bait caught, we put a live fish on a very large hook, threw it in the water and let the bait take the hook out to sea. And then we waited. And waited. While we waited, we proceeded to catch more bait, enjoy the gorgeous scenery (clear blue waters, islands in the distance), and just enjoy being on the water. The first sound of the reel being dragged out was very exciting. Our captain jumped up, grabbed the rod and handed it to Nigel. He then spent about 5 minutes pulling in his first catch: a 4 foot long King Mackerel. It was kind of awkward reeling it in, standing on an unstable longtail boat. It didn't fight too much until it got near the boat, when it tried several times to dive deep. When he was just near the surface, the captain gaffed it and they brought it on board. It wasn't long after this that Nige caught his second fish, another King Mackerel. This one was smaller at about 3 feet long, but fought a bit more. The only other big fish that day was the one Kel caught, but unfortunately, it was 'the one that got away.' We did have a few snappers on the hand line to add to our collection of 'bait.'

We trolled the lines on the cruise back to shore, but had no luck. We arrived just before 5:00, and just ahead of the rain. We picked the smaller of the two mackerel to take for ourselves, and the captain took the rest for his family and friends. We dropped off our catch at Hippies restaurant (drawing many comments like 'Hey, nice fish' and 'thai-thai-thai, King Mackerel, thai-thai-thai, good dinner tonight!' as Nige walked through town carrying it) and had a shower before heading back to Hippies for our feast. They cooked it up two ways: lightly breaded then pan-fried and grilled. And it was absolutely delicious. We ate so much we nearly exploded. I took the leftovers to give to my kitten friend, T2, a little black cat that comes to our bungalow several times a day and follows us around. After dinner, we walked around the island. Well, waddled is more like it since we were so stuffed. I think Nigel said at least 50 times that it was the best fish he has ever eaten. After we felt a bit better, Nige got a foot massage while Kel got a pedicure in a nice air-conditioned place, then we wandered back to our bungalow for bed.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Warning: Early-Warning System Failed to Activate

All geared up and ready for a lucky day of fishing, we got to the place where we were to meet the boat captain, only to find out that the fishing trip was a no-go for today...that's when we found out the REAL reason a Thai guy was banging on our door last night.

Around midnight, we woke up because the electricity went off, ie the fan went off in our room and we started to be slow roasted. I looked out the window and sure enough, all electricity on the island appeared to be out. Oh well, not surprising considering the state of the island. As we were trying to get back to sleep, a guy came knocking on our door. I got up in my PJs to see what he was on about. I opened the door and could see 3 men standing there in the moonlight. One of them mumbled some things in Thai, and waved his hand around and said 'tsunami.' I thought he was some drunk guy going on about the damage to his hotel and just happened to pick our bungalow to share his misery with. There was no understanding on either part. So the guy said 'Yeah' and I closed the door and we went back to sleep. Well, when we arrived at the place where we booked the fishing trip, we found out that there had been an 8.7 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia, and everyone on Phi Phi island was being evacuated to the tops of the mountains in case of another tsunami. Everyone, that is, except us. A few hours after everyone hurried up the mountain, the tsunami warning was called off and everyone returned to their beds, while we were asleep the entire time. So our boat captain had no sleep last night, and therefore could not take us out fishing. THANK GOD THERE WAS NO TSUNAMI!!! It is frightening to think what COULD have happened. But after brooding over our stupidity all day, I finally came to the conclusion that the chances of another tsunami hitting Ko Phi Phi just 3 months after the last one are about a million to one, and that those who ran to the mountains were scared with images of the last tsunami just too fresh in their minds...at least thinking all of this makes us feel a bit better. And we've had plenty of drunks knocking on our doors before, but no one has ever knocked on our door to warn us about a tsunami; therefore, we jumped at the most familiar, logical conclusion, right??? And we found out later throughout the day that we were not the only ones who did not flee to the mountain. Ignorance is never lonely.

Anyway, bummed out about not going fishing but happy to be alive with all of the others on the island, we spent the morning and into the afternoon helping out by shovelling rubble (we volunteered with a group called 'Hi Phi Phi'). There is so much to be done on the island, that it's hard to know where to start. But they desperately need to get their drainage ditches in and finish their sewer lines before the rainy season starts. So, we helped to move a pile of rubble about a metre back off of the main road (all of the roads on the islands are really paths--there are no cars and only just a few motorbikes)so that a fence could be put up to block it off and we could uncover the old drainage ditch for repairs. The 'pile' of rubble was about 10 metres long and stretched about 30 metres back down to the water. It was very sad looking at all of the stuff, especially the clothes. And it was really hard work too, especially considering it was about 38C out. But it was so satisfying to help out with something that actually makes a difference in this world.

We quit when it just got too hot to bear (along with almost everyone else) and spent a bit cooling off in the ocean. We then wandered around the island looking for somewhere else to donate our labour to, but surprisingly everyone seemed to have enough help. This made us feel really good, knowing that with everyone pitching in just a little bit, things are getting accomplished. There is no lack of labour, just a lack of supplies. We returned to our bungalow for a much-needed nap, had a dip in the pool and ocean (neither of which were cool & refreshing, but felt good anyway), and then some drinks on the beach. After dinner at Hippies (we ate every meal at either Hippies or from a sandwich/pancake stall near our hotel), and then treated ourselves to a massage. It did not take long to fall asleep once we were in bed.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Post-Tsunami Phi Phi

After a late decision last night we arranged to go to Ko Phi Phi Don this morning. We checked out of our luxurious hotel and left to catch the direct ferry to Phi Phi Island. Initially we thought that it would take about 1.5 hours to get there. But the 'direct' ferry stopped at Bamboo Island for 1 hour for some snorkelling. This turned out to be a lucky break for us. We rented some snorkels and jumped into the clear water. The boat anchored near a coral reef just off the island (no coral was harmed as it anchored in the sand). We saw at least 50 types of fish within a small area near the boat. The water was so clear and the colours were amazing. If you looked up any tropical fish on the internet we probably saw it.

We arrived at Phi Phi Don around 1pm and I was a bit shocked to see a huge area of the island pretty much flattened from the Tsunami. Kel knew it would be like this. The worst hit area is near the dock and was a strip of land about 300 metres wide connecting two bays. Everything in this area was wiped out. There was just some coconut trees and rubble remaining. As we walked along the main street (path) looking for a place to stay we saw that the damage extended to the entire island. There are buildings in various conditions. Some are rubble, most are being repaired and others have been fully restored. After inspecting a few different places we decided on Phi Phi Andaman Legacy Bungalows. It is just off the beach and has an unheated pool. Unheated pool being about 28C. It is surrounded by sand and bits of rubble where a garden and grassed area used to be. We had our own bungalow with porch with sea, pool and mountain views and private bathroom. Prior to the Tsunami this place would have cost about 8-10 times more than we paid (400 baht, which is about $13 AU).

After checking in we took a walk around the main area of the island and saw how bad the damage was. This is also after 3 months of cleaning up so we can only imagine what it was like just after. We walked along the beach and looked at what was still being washed up. There is a lot of hotel debris like shampoo bottles and shower caps, clothes, shoes, cds, books, bags, fishing nets, kayaks, plungers, playstation controls, walkmans, hairbrushes etc. Basically anything you could think of. It was sad to think if the owners of these items might have died or are still missing. Despite all of this it is one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

After roasting on our walk we went for a swim in the ocean and the pool, had a few drinks on the beach and went to search for a game fishing trip. It took us a while to find someone still offering fishing as most of the bigger places were closed or had lost their boats. We arranged for a trip in a longtail boat (wooden Thai fishing boat) for tomorrow. We ate some dinner at Hippies (one of only a few bars/restaurants open) and went to bed.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

No bunny but lots of fish

HAPPY EASTER!

We purposely did not close the curtains last night so we could wake up and immediately see mountains, ocean, palm trees and islands. What a gorgeous way to start the day! We enjoyed a full buffet breakfast at our hotel restaurant right on the beach before setting out for a day of kayaking. We boarded a traditional Thai long-tail boat which took us out to sea about 500 metres to a larger ship. We sat on the bow of the boat with our feet dangling over the clear, warm, postcard blue ocean water for the cruise out to Hong Island. We boarded our kayak and paddled around the entire island. It is a limestone island, the cliffs jutting right out of the sea up to the sky. We saw lots of bird nests (which are harvested for Bird's Nest Soup), a few lizards on the rocks, and lots of 'tiger' fish. That's what they call them here anyway. We paddled into a huge bay, rimmed with mangrove trees and bright turquiose water.

Our group (us two and about 6 Thai tourists) stopped at a white sand beach for a delicious Thai lunch. We then had nearly 2 hours to snorkel and swim in the warm, clear water. There was not a lot of variety to the fish we saw, but there were tons of them. Mainly 2 kinds, the 'tiger' fish and another kind. We fed them pineapple, and they swarmed around us. We kayaked back out to the boat and cruised to Paradise Island for some more swimming and relaxing. Nige had a go at trying to catch some fish from the boat with the boat crew.

After returning to the mainland, we had some beer and peanuts by the pool, showered, and had a traditional Easter Curry for dinner. A fantastic day, even if we were missing chocolate eggs.

Saturday, March 26, 2005

In the nick of time...

Nige woke up this morning as the train stopped and thought, "Hey, I wonder if the train goes past the airport..." He looked out of the window and in fact the train had stopped at the Bangkok airport. Since this is where we were ultimately headed, we quickly grabbed our stuff, threw it off of the train and jumped out in our bare feet, just in time. And we didn't leave anything behind either. We saved ourselves 2 hours, about 300 baht, and a lot of hassles getting from the bus station in Bangkok out to the airport.

We put on our shoes and went into the airport. Bangkok was hot and steamy as we know it, even at 6:30 in the morning. We tried to check into our Bangkok Airways flight, but realised we were in the international terminal when the screen said 'Frankfurt.' Thankful for the air-conditioned walkways and free luggage trollies, we walked ourselves down to the domestic terminal, checked into our flight to Krabi on the Andamand coast, and made full use of Bangkok Airways's free coffee, juice, snacks and internet while waiting to board our 9:20 am flight. It was a painless wait.

The flight south to Krabi was quick and comfortable. As the plane was landing, we flew over thousands of coconut and rubber trees and gorgeous limestone formations jutting out of the sea and land. At the airport, we spent way too long trying to find a hotel. After finally settling on one, we took a taxi to Ao Nang beach and checked into the Beach Terrace hotel. Our room was on the top floor, on the corner, with 180 degree views of the ocean and mountains. It was breathtaking. We quickly dumped our things, changed into our bathers, and went for a dip in the coolish, clear ocean. Needing a bit of shade, we moved from the ocean and walked about 30 metres to our hotel swimming pool, where we enjoyed a coolish chlorinated dip. We relaxed a bit on the lounge chairs under some umbrellas and left just as the late afternoon rain started falling.

We had a quick shower and walked around Ao Nang in the rain, but not before stopping at 7-11 for a few cold beers. Ao Nang is a small town on the Andaman coast, just north of Krabi. It's a nice beach tourist town, with cute shops and restaurants lining the oceanfront. We had a cheap yet excellent dinner of pad thai from a street vendor, then wandered around the shops a bit more before heading to our beautiful hotel room for a good night's sleep.

Friday, March 25, 2005

Bus, Border, Tuk Tuk, Train

After packing our bags and checking out we ventured into the tropical rain. We wanted to exchange some books so we walked to a place we had heard exchanged books. By the time we reached it we were soaked and Kel was muddy up to her ankles. The shop did not exchange books, so we walked back to our hotel.

We had some time to spare so we used the internet and picked up a few things before our bus trip to cross the Thai border. The crossing was the smoothest yet, especially for a land crossing. From the border check in Thailand we had to get a tuk tuk to the train station and were approached by a guy with a pick-up offering a free ride to the tuk tuk (tuk tuks are not allowed to park near the border station). Trusting our Lonely Planet instead of the other tourists getting into the truck we walked 30 metres to a tuk tuk that had just arrived and paid 30 baht to get to the train station. Had we known the train station was only 500 metres away we would have walked especially considering we had 3.5 hours to kill until the train left. We wondered what the other tourists paid when they were probably taken to the pick-up driver's friends' tuk tuks across town. We didn't see them for 20 minutes after we arrived.

We sat and did nothing until our train departed. Well we did what we usually do when we wait, we drank some beer.

The Thai trains are certainly not up to the standard of the chinese trains but they are cleaner and spit and smoke free. The beds are approximately 6 feet long as I had my feet flat on one end and my head was touching the other end. Kel didn't seem to have this problem.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Buddh-o-lantern

After another quiet sleep in we ran a few errands in the morning to book train tickets and flights to southern Thailand. We bought some sandwiches from the Scandinavian bakery and caught a tuk tuk to Buddha park (Xieng Kuan).

Buddha Park is a rather bizarre place with lots of statues. Most of them are Buddhas but there are some other significant Buddhist and Hindu figures. The statues are scattered around a grassy area and appear to be quite old. This is due to poor construction as most are just reinforced cement that is crumbling. It was built in 1958 by a weirdo monk. The shining star of Buddha Park is a giant concrete pumpkin with a dead tree on top. We entered the pumpkin at ground level and worked our way up to the top for a view over the park. To get down you go through the center of the pumpkin through heaven, earth and hell. We had flashbacks of our trip through hell on the Yangze river. The pumpkin looked like it should have been in a Tim Burton movie.

After surviving hell once again we sat with a local guy who wanted to practice his English. He has been studying for 2 years and spoke quite well. He wanted to refine his pronunciation and phonetics. He was a monk briefly for 3 weeks but he found it too difficult to adhere to the rules. To get to school he has to travel on a public bus and it is too crowded for him not to be touched by other people.

We took our tuk tuk back to town and passed the Beer Lao brewery and wondered if they did tours, but alas we did not stop. We had dinner at our local pub, which was average as they didn't char the meat as we asked.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

That damn black stupa

We had a fantastic day today, and it also just happened to be our 4 year wedding anniversary.

We had a good sleep in, helped by the fact that the only window in our hotel room is bricked over, so it's pitch dark, even in the afternoon. We then hired some bicycles and found a cute place on the river for a late breakfast. Muesli, yogurt and a caramel frappuccino, a nice treat! We rode through Vientiane and could not help but be reminded of Phnom Penh, as there are many similarities. We rode to 'That Dam', also known as the 'Black Stupa.' Built in the 2nd century, legend has it that a 7-headed dragon lives inside, and it came out to protect the city from invasion by the Siamese (Thais) in the Siam-Lao war in 1828.

Next we rode on to Patuxai, a monument dedicated to those who fought in the war for independence from France. Ironically enough, it looks a lot like Paris's Arc de Triomphe. But the details are very Lao. And we've never been to Paris, so we can't compare them. This is also sometimes known as the 'vertical runway' as it was built using cement supplied by the US to build a new airport.

We rode back to our hotel for a shower, then went for a few drinks at a cool place down the road. We sat out on the balcony, watching the sun set and the rain clouds close in. A few drinks later, we moved to an Italian place for dinner right on the Fountain Circle, called Le'Opera. We enjoyed a delicious fresh pasta meal before heading back to the same bar for a nightcap. We sat out on a balcony again and 'enjoyed' some live music. It is strange to hear Lao people sing popular western songs without an accent at all.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

On to Vientiane

Our late breakfast this morning was again muesli, yogurt and a mulberry shake at the Organic Cafe in Vang Vieng, then we caught up on emails and caught the bus south to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. It was a very hot day, and we piled into the minibus, packed full of travellers. We were just getting comfortable when the bus started back up, rounded the corner, and stopped at a hotel, where we were told to get out and board the big Greyhound bus. Why they bothered to pile us into the minibus to drive 30 feet will remain a mystery to us. We were much more comfortable on the big bus though, despite a bunch of other people whining that the airconditioning didn't work. We waited while a man fixed the aircon, all the windows were shut, then the bus was off. About 5 minutes down the road, the aircon conked out (no surprise to us), and everyone re-opened their windows. It was actually cooler with the wind flowing through the bus than with the airconditioning on.

It took about 3 hours to reach Vientiane, a beautiful winding road through more countryside and villages. We found a hotel, the Phone Paseuth, checked into our room, and went straight down to a river-front bar for some ice cold Beer Lao. Vientiane is a small capital city...in fact, it's rather tiny at less than 150,000 people. It's on the banks of the Mekong River (this river seems to be following us everywhere), across from which is Thailand. The 'pub' we chose was just a bunch of plastic tables set out in the dirt, but the beer was cheap and frosty, and there were more locals there than whities, something we always enjoy. Sitting there we were approached by a young guy doing a survey on the BeerLao label and image. Which was weird as we were just discussing a few days ago how the logo needs updating. A few beers later, we walked along the river and found a Tex-Mex place for a late dinner. It was more like Indian meets Chinese meets Mexican, but delicious all the same. We strolled back to our hotel near the Fountain Circle and headed for bed.

Monday, March 21, 2005

Double Sculls

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

We got up this morning, had an organic mulberry shake and muesli for breakfast, then headed off for a day of kayaking. It was an extremely slow start, as we waited around the restaurant where we booked it for nearly 45 minutes before we took off. We were dropped off about 25 minutes upstream. We walked through a Hmong minority village on the way to the river. The kids are only 14kms from Vang Vieng, but they have to stop school after the 4th grade since they don't have transportation to the secondary school in town. It is very sad, and seems like such a simple thing to fix.

We put our kayak in the river and were off. Nige and I had a double kayak, and found out quickly that we make a pretty good rowing team. We spent most of the morning paddling ahead and then waiting for everyone else to catch up. We went through some small rapids but most of the river is very calm. We still enjoyed it, and of course we were treated to another full day of the gorgeous mountain scenery. We stopped at a small beach to visit some caves (there are tons of caves around Vang Vieng, as all of the mountains are limestone). After walking to the entrance, we had to wait for some flashlights as no one (including the guides) had them. While waiting, Nige and I decided we'd seen enough caves and didn't think it would be too fun in our flip flops, so we went back to the river to swim, relax and paddle around in the kayak while we waited. We had a delicious lunch of grilled kebabs and fried rice, then set out again. We paddled for about 2 hours, and near the end we caught up with where we had started tubing the day before. The next stop was another cave, but Nigel and I stayed at our favourite place along the river with the giant swing while waiting for the group to go through the cave. Nige perfected his star jump off of the swing and Kel worked on NOT doing a 360 degree spin after jumping off. We had a couple of beers and then set off paddling back to town.

We went back to our hotel for a hot shower and to wash our bathers and clothes. We were surprised at how filthy they were from the river water. But now if we get sick in a few days, we'll know what it is from. We had dinner at an open restaurant while watching episodes of 'Friends' on one of their 3 TVs. This seems to be a popular way to attact customers in Vang Vieng, as there are at least 5 restaurants that show 'Friends' during opening hours. Because our arms were tired from kayaking, we had an hour long foot and leg massage before heading to bed.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Inter-tubing

We had another windy, 5 hour journey today, southwest to Vang Vieng. It was another beautiful drive through mountains, small villages along the roadside, and huge limestone mountains jutting out of the valleys. It was reminiscent of places in China, as well as Halong Bay in Vietnam (without the ocean). Laos is such a beautiful country. The people are warm and friendly, and the children are incredibly happy.

We got to Vang Vieng, had some lunch and signed up to go innertubing down the river. We drove about 4km upstream. Our tuk tuk dropped us off on the banks of the river near a small village. We threw our innertubes (large tractor tyre size) into the cool, refreshing water and some local kids pushed us off. We jetted off like two sea turtles, or even slower. The water is quite low this time of year, so it's not flowing at its fastest. We floated along, enjoying the stunning beauty of the mountains and stopped at many of the numerous bamboo rafts lining the banks selling Beer Lao. This is really the purpose of the tubing--floating along the river and drinking beer. It was so relaxing, and the water was clear and refreshing. At several of the beer stops they have built bamboo platforms you can climb up and jump off. Some have a flying fox to whizz you to the middle of the river, where you let go with a splash. But our favourite was a place the young guys had built a giant swing. You stand on the swing and they pull you back, high above the banks, then let you go flying over the water. You let go and jump off into the water. They also had good music playing and very cold beer, so we stayed a while. When it was time to move on, Nige tried to convince them to build a giant mudslide, where you sit in your tube and slide down into the water.

As we neared the end of our cruise, it was getting darker, and the river was getting slower. Quite tipsy by this stage, it was a long kick and paddle to the end, but fun nonetheless. We walked back through town carrying our tubes, dropped them off, had a warm shower and then a delicious Lao meal. Of course all of the paddling made us exhausted, so we had to get a massage afterwards. It was a great way to end a fun day.

Saturday, March 19, 2005

BFJ

We spent today touring around the Plain of Jars. They are actually several hilltops around Phonsavan with large, stone jars scattered about. There are a few theories as to why/how these jars were constructed, but no one knows for sure. Since there has not been any organic matter found among the jars to date them, archaeologists can only guess as to how old they are, around 2000 years. There are 15 sites of jars, and we visited 3 of them. Overall, there are hundreds of them, and could be even more as they are still uncovering some.

Theory 1: The jars were used to ferment rice wine to celebrate the war victory of the 6th century Lao-Thai army over the evil Chao Angka.
Theory 2: The jars were used to put the dead in, where the flesh decomposed, then the bones were removed and buried in a second location.
Theory 3: The jars were used to ferment rice wine for the entire village to celebrate the completion of the army's training, ready for their next battle.

Of course there are many more, but there is no proof to legitimise any of them. Some people believe the jars were made from a mixture of buffalo skin, sandstone, limestone and a local plant. Others believe they were carved from a single boulder. No two jars are the same. Some are bigger than us (the largest is about 2.5 metres high), most are at least as large as a wine barrel. Most have round openings, but some have square or rectangular openings & shapes. Many of them have been destroyed by weather, bullets, and bombs. This area was perhaps the most heavily bombed area during the entire Vietnam war. Evidence of this is still extremely vivid, as we had to follow a very narrow trail where UXO have been cleared. A team of people, called the MAG (Mine Advisory Group) work 5 days a week to clear mines in this area. Only 3 weeks ago, they found a large cluster bomb among the jars at site 3 that could not be removed, so they had to explode it. It was quite scary thinking about it, and knowing there are hundreds more. They even find more UXO in previously cleared areas, overlooked due to the high concentration of them.

It was great to walk around the countryside to see such ancient artefacts (we think we enjoy seeing the really old stuff the best). It adds to the mystery of the jars that it is still unclear what they were for or who built them or how old they are. We enjoyed imagining the people who built them and thinking of them partying, drunk on their vast amounts of rice wine. Kel's theory is that they were used simply to collect & store rain water. Nige likes the rice wine theory.

After returning to the hotel, we had a few beers and watched a video on the CIA operative in the area during the Vietnam War. They built a secret town in the mountains just south of Phonsavan (now called the Special Zone) where US Air Force pilots lived as civilians to go on scouting and bombing runs over the Ho Chi Minh trail, the Plain of Jars area (Vietcong soldiers would hide in the jars), and other areas. It was against the Geneva Convention to have any military personnel in Laos (Laos was a neutral zone during the war), so all of this was secret. The bombers were called The Ravens. Today there are still pockets of Hmong minority guerillas (who fought with the US) fighting against the Laos Communist government, and some areas are considered rebel territory.

We had dinner at the hotel again and had an early night to bed.

Friday, March 18, 2005

Winding our way to Phonsavan

At 8:30am we caught our mini-van to Phonsavan. We said goodbye to our deer friend and the cheeky monkey and bought some sandwiches for the trip. It was a windy(curvacious) 7 hours through the mountains to Phonsavan. The drive was actually very beautiful and we passed only very small villages perched on the mountainside and forest/jungle. When we reached the halfway point there was some thunder and lightning and it rained for the rest of the trip. Phonsavan is a small town in the north of Laos about 150kms from the Vietnam border. We checked into our hotel, tried to find the lake and couldn't so we decided to have a beer instead. We had some dinner at the hotel and went to bed. The hotel has an interesting interior design theme going on. Due to the bombing of Laos by various countries there is a lot of UXO (unexploded ordnance) and the hotel has made use of this. There are huge bombs, guns, mortar shells, cluster bombs, mines, and various sizes of bullets decorationg the walls and dining room.

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Looking for Guinness in Luang Prabang

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

I think we're nearly caught up on sleep now, after our third day in a row of sleeping in. We had a late breakfast/early lunch, spent most of the day here on the computer and are now headed out to find some sort of Irish meal and/or beer to celebrate St. Paddy's day before treating ourselves to our first Lao massage.

Erin Go Braugh.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Tat Kuang Si

We slept in again this morning and woke up to a cool, fresh morning in Luang Prabang. It has rained (or poured rather) every night since we were in Pakbeng, and it really makes a difference with the weather. We had a late breakfast of banana pancakes & crepes and Lao coffee before heading out to Tat Kuang Si, a beautiful waterfall with many tiers, set in a lush jungle. It is only about 30kms from town, but it took nearly an hour because the road is unpaved and windy. While walking along the path to the falls, we stopped in to see Phut, an Indochinese tiger who lives in the park. She was confiscated as a cub from poachers, along with her two brothers. The brothers died, but she survived and now lives happily caged in a huge jungle enclosure. Her name means 'Diamond' in Lao. Feeling brave from our experiences with tigers at the temple in Kanchanaburi, we put our hand through the inside cage to pat her while she lay sleeping on the floor (she was leaning against the bars). She gave a small grumble when Kel pat her, but it could have been a happy purr. She is softer than our last tiger pals, probably because she is clean and not full of sand. And she is beautiful.

We spent a few hours at the waterfalls, first hiking up to the top and stopping at a few tiers along the way. We managed to lose the trail coming down and became real jungle trekkers, swinging from vines and Kel falling down the slippery hills. We had a dip in the bottom 2 pools, the water cool, clear and refreshing. The water is turquoise, probably from the limestone rocks. On the way back to our truck, we stopped off to see a family of Asiatic Black Bears that live in the park as well. We're not really sure how they got to be here, but they're well taken care of and are reproducing as well. There is a cub only 5 months old along with 2 teenagers, a few smaller ones and 2 big ones. We got to pat them through their cage bars. Their paws are so large and warm. They were having fun playing in their stream and one climbed to the top of a huge tree in their enclosure. We stopped in for one more peek at Phut before heading back into town.

We did some laundry, had a hot shower and headed out for some dinner. We then met Barry and Tim for a few Beer Laos before the bar kicked us out at their 11:00 pm closure. We said goodbye to them a second time, but we may hopefully meet up again in a few months when we're all in Lima, Peru.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

The Mekong Menagerie

We slept in this morning, and woke up to a peacefully quiet guesthouse. Jilaya guesthouse has a pet monkey and a pet deer. The monkey is tied to a leash, and can be quite rambunctious if he sees that you have something he wants. But he's very cute and entertaining, sucks his tumb to get attention, and snuggles up under his blankie at night. The deer is so sweet. She has a small bell tied around her neck, so we call her "Tink." She is friendly, loves to lick our hands, and is incredibly soft. She sleeps in the garden right outside the door to our room. They also have fish in the ponds around the garden, lizards, and we found the tiniest frog we've ever seen hopping along the path.

We managed to drag ourselves out of the hotel room, hired some bicylces, and spent the day riding around Luang Prabang. It is a beautiful, small town (less than 20,000) in a valley surrounded by mountains and the Mekong and Phu Si rivers. There are many wats and cafes and reminds us of Hoi An, Vietnam. We hiked up to the top of Phu Si mountain in the centre of town to eat the rest of our lunch, enjoying the wonderful view of the entire town and surrounding mountains. There are a few wats on top of the hill as well. Completely knackered from all of this activity, we headed back to the guesthouse for a nap before going out to explore the night markets. While looking for a place to eat dinner, we had the pleasant surprise of running into Tim and Barry, the Irish guys we spent some time with in Cambodia. Full from a tiring day, we headed to bed early.

Monday, March 14, 2005

3 days to Luang Prabang

Day 1: 12 March 2005

It was slow checking out of our guesthouse this morning as Kel had been violently ill all night. We hung out at the guesthouse waiting for our 12:00 bus to Chiang Khong on the Laos border. It was a long 5.5 hour minivan ride for Kel, but not too bad for Nigel (the valium he took probably helped out as well). Our driver was a bit loco, passing on the curve and over hills, and dodging potholes at 80+ kph.

We arrived at our hotel in Chiang Khong and had some dinner. We were given vouchers as meals were included in the bus price, so Nige was quite happy to eat 2 meals, while Kel managed to get some plain rice down. We walked down the one street in Chiang Khong, which is a small, cute border town, and had an hour long foot/leg massage before going to bed.

Day 2: 13 March 2005

This morning we drove to the border checkpoint in Chiang Khong, got stamped out of Thailand, crossed the river, and got stamped into Laos. We were quite surprised at how easy this land-border crossing was, as they have not run too smoothly in the past. We did have to pay 15 baht each to the Laos immigration guys because it was Sunday. Because Sundays have so much significance in a Buddhist country.

We boarded our small boat and tried to get comfortable on the tiny wooden benches for the 6 hours to our next stop: Pakbeng, Laos. While waiting for the boat to leave, we watched the Beer Lao boys hard at work. There was a truck FULL of crates of empty beer bottles, which they unloaded onto a boat (which already was 3/4 full, a sure sign they had been working since the wee hours of the morning). It was amazing to watch them grip 2 crates in each hand and walk quickly along a plank of wood onto the boat, balancing perfectly and never falling into the river. Once the truck was empty, they proceeded to unload a boat FULL of crates of full beer bottles onto the truck. It was like watching an army of beer ants. We tried to smuggle ourselves onto the boat of full beer, but weren't sure it was going to Luang Prabang.

The boat ride was slow but passed through some stunning scenery along the Mekong River. We weren't too uncomfortable as we had the front bench and could spread out a bit onto the platform with our bags stacked on it. The boat docked in Pakbeng around 6:00 pm, we checked into our hotel for the night and sat down for a cold beer. We shared a late Indian dinner, which turned out to be a big mistake as it was Nigel's turn to be sick all night.

Day 3: 14 March 2005

It was another slow morning since Nigel was still quite ill, but we managed to get ourselves and our gear down to the boat around 8:00a.m. It was a bigger boat for day two, but still tiny wooden benches. To make a long story short, it was a miserable day for Nigel, the boat was packed full, and he was so achy and weak that it took all of his energy just to sit. He finally managed to find some space in the engine room where he fell into a carbon monoxide induced sleep, and managed not to fall out of the open window/door into the river. I went back to check on him at one stage, and was happy he'd finally fallen asleep, but shocked that he could sleep smelling oil and with the engine deafening him. One of the crewmen curled up next to him for a short nap at one stage, practically with his head on Nigel's shoulder. But the scenery was still spectacular, beautiful forested mountains and slate rock formations jutting out of the river. We could have been in Oregon or even back on the Yangze at times. We got to Luang Prabang around 4:30, found a clean, quiet hotel room (with cable TV), had a quick dinner (plain rice for Nige) and collapsed into a 12 hour coma.

Friday, March 11, 2005

3-day trek

Day 1: 09 March 2005

We took off this morning around 9:00 in a sawngthaew, the pick-up trucks with 2 benches in the back that we love so much. There were eight of us on this trek, Nige and I plus two Kiwi guys, 3 English girls, and a girl from Japan, plus our guide Pumpkin (his Thai name translates to this in English). After a 3 hour drive, we arrived at an elephant camp for another elephant trek. Having just gotten rid of the bruises from our last elephant ride, we were hesitant to climb onto the beast, but it was for less than an hour and wasn't too bad. Our elephant had his tusks in tact and made use of them along the way to strip bark off of trees for a bit of a nibble. He would choose his tree, push one tusk against the bark to pry some loose, then strip it off with his trunk. Sitting on top, we could feel how powerful he is. He also delighted in spraying himself (and, therefore, us) with snotty water and dirt to cool himself off. But he was cute and a good elephant.

We arrived at a Karen minority village (really a village shopping mall, as each hut was selling the same stuff), where we stayed briefly before driving another 2+ hours. We drove up into the mountains (through pine forests that could have been in California) to start a 2.5 hour hike through the forest. At the start of the hike, we literally walked right through a forest fire that villagers had set in their slash and burn tactics during the dry season. Because they do this every year, there is not too much fuel to burn, so the fires stay small and creep along the forest floor, usually missing the trees. This hike was through forest much greener and more dense than our last trek. We arrived at our destination around sunset, a minority village of Lisu people near the Myanmar border. We dropped our gear in our hut and went down to the river for a bath. Some of the local kids joined us, and had a lot of fun making suds with my bath soap to wash their hair and turn their bodies white. Some of them were little brats, demanding candy and kicking and hitting with sticks. We had dinner outside, interrupted by all of the village women surrounding the table and placing their crafts for sale in front of us. Nige knew he wasn't going to buy anything, so he picked up one of the little boys, put him on his lap, and chatted to him, all the while ignoring the women trying to sell stuff. We didn't like the way they pressed us to buy something by surrounding us at the table, and we knew they were not genuine articles made by this tribe (they buy them at a market). But, I did buy a small belt thing, which was only cheap, even though I didn't want it. Then all of the village kids gathered around to sing us songs. They varied from Thai songs we didn't understand, to 'Happy Birthday,' 'Jingle Bells,' and 'Kum-Ba-Yah.' This was very fun and entertaining until our guide Pumpkin had them all line up to receive candy, pens, paper, balloons, and other things we were expected to have brought for them. Nige and I did buy pens for them, but were disgusted by the way things were handled, and by the way the kids expected it. We gave a few pens out, but kept the rest as we would have preferred to actually sit down with the kids and draw and write with them. We stayed up late drinking beers with the Kiwi boys, then realised tomorrow will be a long day and went to bed.

Day 2: 10 March 2005

We started the day with a 4 hour trek through the forest. It was difficult to get our legs working at first, but really enjoyed it once we got moving. We walked along a river that was quite tropical and jungle-y. Apparently I almost stepped on a snake, but I didn't see it (one of the Kiwi guys behind me brought it to my attention). We had lunch at a hut on the river, then set out on our 3 bamboo rafts for a 3 hour cruise down the river. Each raft had a local guy in front to steer (although they didn't do too much work most of the time). Nige and I had fun as we got to do the paddling this time. But it was harder to look for wildlife as we were focusing on the river and keeping clear of obstacles in the water. It was hard work using a long bamboo pole to push us along, but a lot of fun. In the las hour, Nige told our local guy to have a rest, and our raft was steered and moved along by Nigel, myself and the Japanese girl the rest of the way. We were disappointed not to see any pythons though.

We got to our home for the night, a minority village of Lahu people. We had a cold bucket shower and sat down to relax with some cold beer. Nigel spent a while playing a kind of marbles game with a local boy. They threw coins trying to get them into a small circle scratched into the dirt. Then Nigel made a little cup out of the bottom of a plastic water bottle, and the boy enjoyed playing this game with him as well. We ate dinner outiside, and then the local women came and set up their little stalls in the dark. This time we were allowed to browse among all of the sellers, but we were still made to feel like we had to buy something, especially when they said "You buy something. Baby, no food." This being said by old grandmothers and small young girls alike. When they were gone, we relaxed around a huge blazing campfire before heading to bed.

Day 3: 11 March 2005

This morning we took off from the village and went to a cave nearby. We walked through the cave for an hour and a half, despite the fact that we had about 3 working flashlights among us and could barely see anything. The highlight was seeing all the tiny bats inside, and we did see some cool cave spiders the size of Kel's hand. Thankfully two of the English girls did not come with us, as they had been whinging the entire day yesterday ("How much further?" "Are we almost there yet?" I'm so tired, I can't go any further" "It was so cold last night!") and we'd had enough of them. After the cave we got back into the truck for a long drive back to Chiang Mai. The first hour was through some gorgeous mountains covered in jungle with huge cliff faces rising up. We returned around 4:30, headed out for some dinner, and then Kel started to feel quite sick so we went to bed.

Although not as good as our first trek, we still had a great time on this trek, and it was a different experience being in a group. It was nice that the jungle was much greener than our first trek.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Ticketing Terrors

Not much happened today. We spent the entire morning and most of the afternoon trying to change some airline tickets. It was a bit of a nightmare which we don't want to relive, so we'll just skip to the end of the day. Our travel agent back home at Flight Centre, Andrew, totally saved the day and changed our flights for us, so we were able to relax and get ready for another 3-day trek tomorrow. We ate lots of leftovers for dinner and spent the evening hanging out with the other people going on the trek with us.

Monday, March 07, 2005

Burned Bananas

We had a small breakfast this morning. We were saving our appetites for all of the delicious food we would be eating in our day-long Thai cooking class.

Our group of 7 left the hotel around 9:30 am with our teacher, Oil (that's her English name, fittingly enough). Baskets in hand, we headed to the daily market to buy our fresh produce for the day's recipes, and learn about Thai vegetables, fruit, and ingredients. We went back to the school, which is just a huge open room on the top floor of a home owned by the guesthouse people. We were given a stone mortar and pestle and a small chopping board each, then took a seat on a mat on the floor to start chopping away. Our first task: make Thai green curry paste from scratch. We chopped and chopped, then we pounded and pounded until we were left with what actually did look like Thai green curry paste. We proceeded to our individual gas stoves where we made ourselves Thai green curry with coconut milk and sticky rice. Our mouths watering, we couldn't eat it yet, as we had to complete our second task: make Thai sweet and sour chicken with vegetables. This was quite an easy, quick dish. Once finished, we all sat down at the table to gorge ourselves on our first two dishes of the day. And they were delicious!

We had a short 'lunch' break after this, where most people sprawled out on the floor and moaned about how full they were. Nige and I went for a walk, went to two 7-elevens to find a phone card, and made a call home before returning to our kitchen. Over the course of the afternoon, we made Pad Thai, spring rolls (difficult to roll up, but ours managed to stay together when we put them in the oil to fry), tom yum soup and an awesome dessert of caramelized bananas with coconut sauce and coconut ice cream. And we didn't burn our bananas either.

The food was so incredibly delicious, and we had a fantastic time chopping and cooking and learning new recipes. The best part was that we didn't have to clean up at all. We had enough food left over to feed a small army, and it fed us for the next two days. The Libra guesthouse let us store the food in their refrigerators, then the kitchen staff heated it up when we were ready for it. We didn't do much that evening, as our bodily energy was being used up to digest all of that food.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Lazy day in Chiang Mai

We didn't do much today. We had a good sleep in, spent some time on the computer, and had lunch at a place owned by a Kiwi couple, so we watched a bit of rugby while eating tuna sandwiches. We were told we couldn't miss Chiang Mai's Sunday markets, so we headed there to wander around later in the evening. One huge, very long street is blocked off every Sunday from about 4:00 pm until late, and vendors set up their stalls on the ground one after another. The entire street is packed with people selling lots of different things, and there are even side streets filled with the same. The vendors even set up in the area outside a wat along the street. It was nice to walk around, but we didn't find anything we were interested in buying...except of course a beautiful, huge wooden vase nearly as tall as Kel. But of course it was too expensive by the time we calculated how much it would cost to ship it home! We tried to have some dinner from the street stalls, but did not want to risk eating food that had been sitting out for a while, as we are going to a cooking class tomorrow, and don't want to feel ill! So we ended up having some 'Mexican' food and had an early night.

Saturday, March 05, 2005

Chiang Mai

We got up this morning, packed up our gear and got some breakfast before walking to the bus station. We only had to wait about 4 minutes for a mini-bus to Tak, 1.5 hours east of Mae Sot. It was another windy road, so I had my head out the window most of the time. We got to the Tak station just in time to have a quick toilet break and then board a bus northbound for Chiang Mai. We settled into our seats for the trip, and got to Chiang Mai about 6 hours later.

Chiang Mai is quite a modern city really, but there is a ban on high-rise construction, making it an appealing city. And it's small with less than 300,000 people. We had some trouble finding a place to stay, but eventually settled on the Libra Guesthouse, despite the construction going on next door. This turned out to be a good choice, as it's a very friendly place, and the staff are happy to do anything to help us out.

After dropping our gear in our room, we had some dinner and then walked to the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar. This market goes on every night from about 4:00 pm to midnight, and is absolutely huge. There are several different roofed areas, street stalls, permanent shops, and sellers wandering around on foot with their goods. It was nice to walk around after a long day sitting on buses, and Chiang Mai seems to have a more relaxed atmosphere than Bangkok. We didn't buy anything, but there was plenty we would have like to buy if we had the money.

Surrounding the markets are tons of sleazy bars and pubs, mostly with gross older western guys trying to pick up on the hoochie Thai girls working there. But we did happen upon a Thai kickboxing ring set up outside, and sat for a while watching guys beat the crap out of each other (really, Thai kickboxing is much more civilised than regular boxing). When we got bored of that, we walked back to our hotel and went to bed.

Friday, March 04, 2005

4 Days in the Jungle

Day 1: 01 March 2005
We got up this morning, stored our big packs with Mr. Om at the Number 4 Guesthouse in Mae Sot, and were picked up in a truck by our driver around 8:00 am. We had prepared ourselves for the 4 hour drive south to Um Phang, as we had been warned it is an extremely windy mountain road...1,297 turns to be exact. We were not looking forward to it, and did not have much hope when we saw a truck pulled over on the side of the road with a local on the roadside spewing in the bushes. Nigel claims that the scenery was nice, but I just saw one long yellow line painted on a black surface. We passed quite a few trucks loaded with Thai military men in fatigues with very large guns in hand...Um Pang district, Tak province is on the Myanmar-Thai border, and relations are not too great at the moment (Burmese people are trying to free themselves from a military dictatorship). At one bend in the road, we surprised a large snake, who was sunning itself in the middle of the road. It sat up rigidly and looked at us before slithering off into the bushes. It was reddish brown, very long, and looked very poisonous (our driver said it is). After about an hour, the forests were burned out here and there, with some areas still in flames. Unfortunately, this was to be our 'jungle' scenery for the next 4 days. The local hill tribes burn the land to chase animals out for hunting, and to prevent a major devastating forest fire in the future. Important for them, but it doesn't make for very good trekking.

The road turned out to be not so bad (we've certainly been on worse) and we arrived in Um Pang around 11:00 am. We picked up our two guides, Chai and Kit, and had some lunch at a local restaurant in town. We then piled our gear into the truck and drove down to the river. Our raft was there waiting for us: 10 bamboo logs about 6 metres long strapped together, with a small bamboo platform in the middle to store our gear. We got comfy on the little platform, our feet in the water on the raft in front of us, our bags tightly wrapped up in plastic bags. Chai and Kit took their places at either end of the raft, and pushed off with their bamboo oars. We had a beautiful, peaceful cruise down the river for about 4 hours. We passed through some thick jungle, under overhanging cliffs about a metre above the water surface, steep cliff walls rising from the water, and some great waterfalls streaming down, nearly on top of us. There were hundreds of dragonflies and butterflies flying about, in every colour imaginable, and a few different types of bird species, including a gorgeous little kingfisher like the one we saw in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. We also saw a monitor lizard swimming across the river, then hop out onto a log and scamper up the hill. There were a few 'rapids' we had to tackle, but nothing the bamboo raft couldn't handle. About 2 hours into the trip we stopped at some natural hot springs, where locals have made a small pool to soak in. The water was warm and bubbly, and had some bizarre reaction with the sunblock on our skin, as our legs and arms turned white. Very odd. Then another 2 hours on the raft to camp. It was so relaxing sitting there on the raft, dangling our feet in the cool water (they were quite wrinkly by the end of the day), watching the scenery go by.

We pulled into shore somewhere along the river to our camp for the night. We disembarked and crawled up the hill to a flat area under an overhanging cliff wall. Chai and Kit disappeared and returned with a heap of supplies: tents, pots, dishes, a gas stove, lanterns, tarps, and more. The Number 4 Guesthouse has built a little storage room in a cave nearby so that not all of the supplies need to be carried on the raft and on the hikes. It was amazing how quickly the two guys got everything set up, and before we knew it, they were chopping veggies, boiling water, and cooking rice for dinner (they wouldn't let us help, we were forced to sit back and watch). We put our tent up, tried to wash up as best we could, and got some long sleeves and pants on before the mossies came out. We enjoyed watching the guys cook up a great dinner, all 3 courses! We had spicy soup broth with turnips, pork with loofah (yes loofah, not the one you wash with but the fruit of the tree, kind of like a squash), and red curried pork with green beans. All of this followed by fresh pineapple for dessert. It was so delicious, and there was so much food! Nigel had bought some moonshine rice wine from the guy at the hot springs, so we all took turns having shots from the jury-rigged shot glass made from the top of a plastic water bottle. Okay, let's be honest here. Kel had about 2 shots (plenty to feel tipsy on!), and the guys had the rest. It was a great evening under the stars, in the middle of nowhere on the river. We did hear some animals during the night, but did not see any, nor did we find out what they were (did we really want to??).

Day 2: 02 March 2005
Breakfast was at 7:00 this morning. We crawled out of our tent and tried to knead out the kinks in our bodies from sleeping on the hard ground all night before wandering over to the fire. Chai and Kit had breakfast all cooked up for us: roasted potatoes with a spicy tomato sauce, and of course, coffee. Again, absolutely delicious. We packed up our gear, stored away the supplies in the cave, and boarded our raft again. It was a cool, clear morning on the river, and rafted downstream for about 2 hours. We docked around 10:00 and changed our flip flops for our hiking boots. Kit came up to us with the skin of a very large King Cobra...it was cool to see, but we were glad we did not see the snake it belongs to! We loaded all of our gear onto our backs, and set out for a 4-hour hike through the jungle. This was not the most spectacular hike, as the majority of the forest was burned out, black ash covering the jungle floor (bamboo leaves turn black when burned), and no leaves on the trees to provide shade. It is probably gorgeous most of the year though. The cicadas in the trees were so loud at places that it was hard to hear each other. Because of the state of the jungle, we didn't see any wildlife except for some beetles, spiders, a few birds, a few squirrels and another poisonous snake. This time we were not in the comfort of a vehicle, but luckily it slithered away from us before it got too scary. This area is home to some exciting animals, including tigers, wild elephants, gibbons, monkeys, bears, barking deer, giant squirrels, giant flying squirrels, and monitor lizards.

We arrived at our destination around 2:00, the Thee Lor Su Wildlife Park. There are tons of campsites, bathrooms, and showers, as well as covered picnic areas, as this place sees a lot of visitors during parts of the year. Over the New Year holiday, there are up to 3,000 people all packed in! But we were only there with one other small group. Chai and Kit whipped up a fantastic lunch and we were able to cool down and relax a bit. We changed into our bathers and walked through some 'real' forest to the Thee Lor Su waterfall, Thailand's largest. The walk was lush, green, and beautiful. We saw a grove of the world's largest bamboo species as well as thousands of spiders. These things are crazy 8-legged things, with tiny bodies the size of a small bee and really long legs, about 4 inches. And they are everywhere (but harmless). Our first sight of the Thee Lor Su waterfalls was breathtaking. A series of falls cascade down from a height of 200-300 metres over red limestone rocks and between a variety of lush green trees. Because it is the dry season, we were able to enjoy many different falls instead of just a few huge ones. And Nigel and I had the entire place to ourselves! We climbed down to the edge of the bottom pool and quickly jumped in. The water was pretty cold, but very refreshing...besides, both our bodies and our clothes were in desperate need of a wash by this time! We swam around (not under the falls, as they're too strong) and lounged on the rocks for a while, enjoying the view and the sound of the water falling. Then we strapped on our boots and climbed up to explore some of the other falls and pools. This would be impossible most of the year, due to the amount of water falling. Each fall is different, and each is truly spectacular. It is one of the most beautiful places we've been yet.

We (reluctantly) went back to camp as the sun set, took a 'shower' (cold water dumped on us from a plastic bowl while trying to dodge our spider friends), and relaxed before having yet another delicious meal cooked up freshly by Chai and Kit. This time it was mushroom and cucumber soup and red coconut curry with pork. All of this washed down with a few cold beers (bought from the people in the park) and followed by hot tea. This was not just normal tea. We drank it out of our very own bamboo cups with little bamboo stirrers, made just about an hour ago by Chai. He and Kit are like McGuyver, Commando and Indiana Jones all rolled into one. They can do anything. We had some more moonshine but all headed to bed around 9:00, tired from a full day.

Day 3: 03 March 2005
We had a 'late' breakfast this morning at about 8:00, which was a traditional Thai breakfast of rice soup with mushrooms. And coffee out of our cool bamboo cups. We packed up camp again (the guesthouse has a few large lockers in the park where a lot of their supplies are kept) and I had to fight of a bunch of huge biting red ants that had found their way onto her clothes drying on a makeshift bamboo clothesline. Of course Nigel helped me, the Prince Charming that he is. We set off for a hike to our next destination, a village of some minority hill tribe people called Karen (pronounced Car-ren). Again, the hike wasn't too spectacular, but there were a few more green sections than the day before. And I was a bit uncomfortable as I had slipped while hiking at the falls yesterday (before I got my boots on) and got a nice chunk removed from underneath the toenail on my right big toe (same foot I sliced open at the beach in Cambodia).

About 2 hours later we arrived at the village. It is small, less than 150 people. But it has been around for 130 years! They live in bamboo raised huts with attap roofs. Pigs, chickens and dogs roam around, as well as children. They are farmers, growing mostly rice. Their only income is from selling chilies they grow, and from tourism. The Karen people here do not often leave the village, as they only get schooling until around age 12, at which time they work full time. Even if they saved enough money to move to a large town or city, they would have a hard time finding a job with such little education. And they do not speak English at all. The older people (about 40 years old and up) do not even understand Thai. They are quite shy, and we were disappointed we could not interact with them, despite eating our meals in one family's home and sleeping in one of their huts. We dropped our gear in our room for the night (an open bamboo raised platform covered with an attap roof) and got some cold drinks at the Seven Eleven. Really just a few old guys selling some stuff from their front porches. There are 2 rival Seven Elevens in town, right next door to each other, but we're pretty sure it's the same family.

After lunch (delicious fried rice) we hiked with Kit, Chai and a villager about 30 minutes down to Khotha waterfall. This is another beautiful series of falls, really in the middle of nowhere. The Thai guys went off to fish (using a piece of line tied to the end of a bamboo pole, freshly chopped down), leaving Nigel and I to swim and do our laundry. 'Laundry' involved rubbing some soap into our clothes (while still wearing them) and then jumping into the pool of water at the base of the largest fall. The water was warmer than the falls yesterday, but still cool. Kel swam around a bit, but Nige got freaked out by the deep, dark water and stuck to the shore. Nige then had a go at fishing, and caught the only fish of the day. While I sat on the rocks watching, I saw a very long snake swimming in the water and slither onto the rocks about 3 feet in front of me. I froze and yelled "Nigel, snake!"
"What?" he said, turning around towards me.
"There's a snake, right there."
"Where?"
"RIGHT THERE!"
But it turned around, went back into the water, and disappeared under a rock. It was the same type of snake we saw in the road on the first day--very long and very poisonous. I'm actually glad Nigel didn't see it, as it could have been quite devastating to his health. Needless to say, we decided to move away from that area, quickly! We went further downstream to explore a little, dodging huge piles of elephant poo along the way. We then returned to the village in time to watch Kit and Chai cook up our dinner. Well, Chai cooked and Kit played a flute. After dinner (delicious yet again), we learned that the elephants they use for tourists (we rode on one the final day) are semi-wild. They live in the jungle and when it's time for a tour group to use them, the owners go into the jungle to get them. That is why we saw lots of elephant poo in random places near the waterfall. All of the elephants have wooden bells around their necks, each one making a slightly different sound so that each owner can tell his/her elephants apart from their neighbours' elephants. We drifted off to sleep under a clear sky full of stars, our final night out in the jungle.

Day 4: 04 March 2005
Our alarm went off about 6;30 this morning--a big fat pig snorting and squealing, chickens clucking, roosters crowing, dogs barking, and the family's oldest son grinding rice in a huge mortar and pestle type tool. Truly rural life! We had cereal for breakfast (the first cereal we had since leaving Australia) and waited a while for our elephant to come in from the jungle. We actually heard him before we saw him. By the sounds of it, he didn't seem too happy to go to work today. Elephants are REALLY loud, and quite scary when you hear them echoing through the jungle! But he was happy when we saw him. We loaded our gear into the basket on his back, climbed on up (he lowered himself down to the ground as much as he could, then we had to step on his front leg to get up, which I still feel guilty about) and we were off like a herd of turtles. Now, we love elephants, but if anyone has ever ridden an elephant before, you'll know that it is not the most comfortable, smooth ride. Actually, it's really quite uncomfortable. We had 3 hours of rocking back and forth, side to side on our ellie's back. Nigel had to have a quick trip to the 'happy room' as they call the toilet here in Thailand, and as he approached the elephant to get back on, he made a very loud grumbling, rumbling sound, which vibrated through his whole body (I was still on top in the basket). Nige jumped back a bit startled, but the elephant let him back on in the end. The jungle was a bit greener here, and we went through 2 rivers, but didn't see any wildlife. Three hours later, we got off of the elephant, bruised in the lower back and actually motion sick! I can't believe we got sick riding an elephant, but didn't get sick on the twisty windy road on the first day here! This was the end of our jungle trek, and we waited by the cool river for our driver to pick us up. We drove back to Um Phang, had a great lunch, said goodbye to Kit and Chai and waited for our ride back to Mae Sot. Much to our surprise, a sawngthaew pulled up (the pick-up trucks with two benches in the back), our transport for the 4 hours back to Mae Sot. We did not know this was our transportation, but couldn't really do anything about it as it was our only option. So, we got in with 4 locals for the long, windy road. After about 3 hours (backs now bruised in a second place, higher up than our bruises from the elephant ride), we stopped to pick up some more locals on the side of the road. Sawngthaew are like taxis here, you just wave them down. For the next hour or two, we were crammed into the back of this truck with about 15 other Thai and Burmese men. And we thought it was uncomfortable the first 3 hours!!! We were quite happy when most of them got off, about an hour outside Mae Sot. We arrived back at Number 4 Guesthouse about 5.5 hours after leaving Um Phang. We were happy to get out of the truck, and headed STRAIGHT to the shower (our first in 4 days). We then had a HUGE dinner: cheeseburgers, fries, and a brownie with vanilla ice cream for dessert. We felt we deserved a bit of 'comfort food' after such a long day on shocking transportation. But overall we had a fantastic trip, and would do it all over again if we could (maybe we'd walk along with the elephants the second time around!). Needless to say, it did not take very long to fall asleep that night!