Luang Prabang, Laos

So we're in Laos now! Luang Prabang is really picturesque, old colonial town, the pace of life seems so slow, we rented bikes yesterday and biked around, i crossed a stream with a pretty strong current, following a local boy's moves, we talked to some novices (on the way to becoming monks although most will drop out eventually) saw a temple, and went to a local bar at night. once it closed we ended up at some restaurant with this Lao guy Song and 2 norwegian girls. Song was so cool though, it was really great to get the inside details on life in Laos from the perspective of someone we could relate to. The next day we took a really bumpy tuk tuk ride to Chiang Xi waterfalls, they were amazing, got some great ropeswing pictures.

We had planned to leave Luang Prabang for Vang Vienne this morning but ian got really sick last night so we took him to the hospital, was quite interesting seeing the medical system here. the one doctor that spoke english assured us they throw out their needles after only 1 use, so that was uh.. good to know. Pictures

Pai again

The night we got back from our trek (Jan. 28, last night) we decided to check out Bebop, a well known local bar with live music. so off we went and we're almost there when who do we run into but Urs and Rene! such a small world! so we headed to Bebop, did some dancing, some chatting, some drinking, it was a great place, we were there until closing (2am) and then walked with a bunch of other people to Bamboo, another bar/restaurant that was still open. i spent most of the night talking to alex, a 17 year old lesbian from Los Angeles. random. she was actually teaching english in Thailand along with 2 other girls we were hanging out with, they all said they hated the teaching though lol so we ended up at Bamboo until it closed at 4am we were the last to leave at like 4:30! after talking to some Israeli guy Tamil about a novel he's going to write. Theres so many Israeli tourists here! all done their army and travelling the world. so you may think our night ended there but oh no! we almost got lost, broke up a fight between 2 dogs, and then Chris and i must have been talking quite loudly once we were back at our bungalow and after about 15 minutes we hear a quiet female voice from next door in an australian accent "excuse me, but we can hear absolutely everything you guys are saying. could you please keep it quiet" haha oops. it was like 5am. so we shut up. Pictures

Trek out of Pai

January 26th we did a 3 day 2 night trek out of Pai to see some caves, waterfalls and hilltribes. it was so super cool! It was us 4, plus Dave a 51 year old American who's been travelling the past 7 years, and then our 36 year old Thai Guide Gon who spoke very good english, and Too, a 40 year old Karen Hilltribe guy who was like Gon's helper. his english was kinda rough but he was hilarious! such a little kid stuck in a 40 year old's body, except that he actually was super tiny.

The first night we camped in the forest after picking up 3 more Hilltribe guys to help set up camp at the village we stopped at for lunch. The villages were pretty touristy however still authentic so it was still really interesting seeing them. Kinda funny too how they had solar panelling for lights, cell phones, rudimentary running water, but then used an inside fire to cook, and lived in bamboo houses with dogs, cows, cats, chickens and pigs all living together all over the village. we came across some Chan people on the first day along a forest path that were illegally coming into Thailand from Burma, that was pretty crazy once Gon explained what was happening. anyway the first night was amazing how they made so much out of bamboo! they made us a tent, bowls, pots, spoons, cups, even shot glasses using only a machete and the bamboo trees around. they used banana leaves too for the roof and floor of the tent. then all the guides got wasted off of homebrew whiskey and we had a merry old time teaching them english and learning various hilltribe languages. Too caught some frogs in the stream and we barbequed them on the fire. hehe they were good. The rest of the trek was really interesting as well, and Gon was a super cool guy, young and easy to relate to. a bit sketchy though. he told us how he and his friends cheat people at gambling to make some extra cash! hahaa pictures soon. Chris took some amazing pics with his fully manual super flashy digicam. Pictures

Pai

From Chiang Mai we took an airconditioned mini bus to the small town of Pai in the morning. Pai is soo nice, such a laid back atmosphere. We're staying in these bamboo bungalows on the side of a small river, its paradise! Pictures (Pai and trekking)

Chiang Mai

ok i'm forgetting dates already, time seems so irelevant, but i'm trying to catch up on these posts so i'll start using dates soon. Anyway Chiang Mai was great, very touristy, 1.6 million pop city, very apparent sex tourism, tons of temples and a great nightmarket.

Our first night there we partied hard, went bar hopping and met tons of cool people. Such as Urs and Rene from Switzerland who we ended up hanging out with for the rest of the night. They were plumbers taking some time off work to travel for a few months and they'll be in Australia around March! We randomly ran into them the next day too and had dinner together. So anyway we started off at The Brasserie, a bar with live music, but it was kinda dead so then we headed to The Cottage where we talked French to Marie and Rachel, some Belgium chicks, then the 4 of us and Urs and Rene met 2 french guys Nicholas and Antoine a an outdoor burger bar who shuttled us on their motorbike to another bar where we spent the rest of the night chatting up random tourists and playing janga. We also met an older guy Brendan from Vancouver at the burger bar, he was chill.

next day we spent like 7 hours shopping! it was ridiculous, the Chiang Mai Sunday market out on the streets, it was pretty cool, i got some nice cheap clothes.

And then on our last night in Chiang Mai a terrible thing happened.. My digital camera must have fell out of my new pants while on a tuk-tuk (taxi) on the way to Bubble, a nightclub. I realized this maybe 10 minutes after we entered the club and so for most of the rest of the night i was on a hunt for my camera which brought me all over town on the back of a policeman's motor bike, and talked to at least 8 different thai people on the street, most of which didn't speak very well if at all. Funniest part of the night must have been when a cross dressing prostitute was acting as an interpreter for me and the cop cuz he didn't speak english, and some tourists walked by, and it couldn't have looked pretty, me standing with a prostitute and a cop lol ah well, i eventually got back to Bubble and met up with Joey Chris and Ian, and had a decent night, however i've never gone from quite buzzed to stonecold sober that fast. Pictures

Langkawi to Chiang Mai

The journey from Langkawi to Chiang Mai Thailand was a long and interesting one. Started off on an exciting note because we had planned to take the morning ferry from Langkawi to Satun Thailand in order to get there in time to catch a bus. However little did we know it was the Muslim new year so the ferry schedule was switched around and we had to catch the ferry an hour earlier! so Chris's guesthouse owner Zachary rushed us to the ferry terminal in his car (such a nice guy) and we caught the ferry. We then took a bus to Hat Yai where we got a night-train to Bangkok where we flew Nok Air to Chiang Mai. got there in the evening, found the sweetest guesthouse (Chiang Mai Guest House) who's owner everyone called Mama and she was awesome. Pics
HERE

Langkawi, Malaysia

bah! i just wrote a whole thing and then the internet screwed up and erased it. to summarize, Langkawi was beautiful, a quiet serene paradise island made even more so by the 70% cancellation of tourists post tsunami even though the island was barely affected (northwest malaysia) anyway we checked in to the Kirin guesthouse, run by an ex-Iranian pilot Ibrahim and his Japanese wife. they were so nice. we met up with chris, chilled at the beach, rented a car, saw some magnificent views, saw a fire we still not quite sure was about, and on the last night laughed at Ibrahim and Bob from England, another guest, as they both got so hammered and were hilarious. we have video. anyway pics are
HERE

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

From Singapore we took a bus across the border to Johor Barhu where we caught a cheaper bus the rest of the way up to KL. KL was big and dirty, but good times were had there. Stayed at the purdu hostel which was the dirtiest hole in the wall with leaking toilets and wet floors, but it worked hehe met a cool mexican guy named chris at the hostel who happens to be on exchange to Melbourne, Australia! what were the chances! anyway went to the Batu caves with him one day, checked out the night market in China town, Went to observation deck of the Patronas towers, went for dinner with Ian's friend Georgia's godfather Cristian who happened to be in town, and got a foot massage. i was also a bit sick with a headache and sniffly nose during KL but recovered quickly after a day or 2. Pics HERE

Singapore

After a 20 hour plane ride from San Fran (which btw was awesome, soo many movies and free drinks) we finally arrived in Singapore. Singapore was awesome, nice city, gave us time to get ove jetlag and recuperate. coolest thing we did there was go to a giant outdoor beer garden downtown sponsored by tiger beer where we watched the Manchester United vs Liverpool match. Pics are HERE

ooh, a blog~!

never thought i'd ever get one of these. but it'll provide for easier organization of pictures.
so my Going Away party pictures January 8th chez Boaz are here