Luang Prabang

My hostel in Luang Prabang

1.07.10 - woke up early to find my shoes at the bottom of the hotel stairs missing (you take your shoes off before going inside just about everywhere) so I am now without my black reefs, that's now 4 things lost or left behind! But don't worry, I've made up for it in things I've bought :) early flight after late night = nap as soon as I arrived to my guesthouse. Shower is freezing cold but I guess that's what you get on a budget. Walked around and took in the sights of the pretty town. I can see why it was deemed world heritage status. Small town with mopeds, tuktuks, and bikes buzzing around. Every corner with cute cafes, massage places, food stands, and stands selling local goods. Open air day market and bustling huge night market everynight. Monks walking around everywhere and temples tucked away seemingly on everyblock. On a peninsula between the Mekkong River and Nam Khan River - main part of town really only about 0.1 miles by 0.4 miles so very walkable. had some fried veggie noodles on a quiet patio outside with palm trees and twinkly lights everywhere before calling it a night.


More Mekkong River



Wat Xieng Thong


Inside one of the temples at wat xieng thong


Ho Kham - Royal Museum


more night market action


in front of the big falls



jumping off the smaller falls into pools



swimming in pools of Kuang Si waterfall

1.08.10 - Lao coffee and nutella-banana crepe for breakfast ($2) - great start to the day! took a slow boat down the Mekkong River to a small village along the way, Ban Xang Hai also called "whiskey village" because they produce a lot of the lao rice whiskey (Lao-Lao) which is actually pretty good, then finally made our eay to the Pak Ou Caves which essentially are two big caves in limestone cliffs which were discovered a while ago to have been a place of worship to people in Lao in thr 1600s. Nothing incredibly impressive but (much like all of the other temples I've visited so far) filled and filled with buddha statues in all shapes and sizes. Then hour long boat ride back to town and then hopped on a tuk-tuk to take me to the Kuang Si waterfalls. There was a bear rescue center along the way (very random but the bears were cute) and then further into the forest were the lower portions of the waterfall - with smaller falls and areas you could swim in. The water was a very pretty light blue color and was fun jumping from higher spot down into the cool water below. Followed the multi-tiered cascading waterfalls into light blue pools below. Finally made it to the top and the main part of the waterfall was huge and really pretty. The trip was topped off with a 50 cent fried banana and $1 fresh pineapple smoothie. After another freezing cold shower I Visited the night market again and enjoyed a traditional Lao dinner with happy hour drinks and free wifi. Tried some of the other bars which were pretty cool and where I met more backpackers but I headed back in for an early night.


temple in Ban Xang Hai


Some of the Buddhas inside the caves



Pak Ou Caves



riding along the Mekkong River

1.09.10 - walked around town enjoyed huge breakfast and Lao coffee for 4$ with free wifi on my iPhone. Visited temples and sights of Luang Prabang - including the royal palace museum/ho kham (where king sisavangvong and the riyal family used to reside) and wat xieng thong. Walked around town one last time before heading to the airport in a tuk-tuk.

night market

Attempted to check in for my flight to Vietnam, only to find out I was misinformed about the whole Vietnam visa situation. I spoke with two different people and saw on a few sights that for all of the countries I am visiting in Asia (including Vietnam) I could get a visa in arrival (as I did for Laos and Thailad). Apparently this isn't the case for Vietnam so they tell me I have to go back into town to get one, and my flights leaving in 2.5 hours and the office could be closed anyways because it's Saturday. I explain the situation to them an after asking three times "are u sure I can't get one here?" the woman finally responds "ok" (not exactly sure why she was holding out on me but just happy this may work out, currently waiting right now to see if it works!)

Out in Vientiane

you'd be excited if you were this good at bowling too :)

1.06.10 - Tired and sweaty I stopped into a Mexican type place on the Mekkong river, where there's strips of stores, vendors, restaurants, and open air on the dirt local food served to you on the ground or in plastic chairs. I had my first non-Thai meal in a while and tried my first Beerlao. I met a few other travelers who had all just met, a guy from Hungary, one from Ireland and another from England, and we shared a few pitchers of Beerlao with a nice breeze and sunshine. We decided to meet up for dinner so we ate on the ground - literally a mat on the ground with pillows, and had some awesome local food. We later made it to a bar overlooking the river with the bustle of the streets below and lights from Thailand and boats across the river. Even in Laos you can't hide from the buckets, so we naturally enjoyed some of those and played pool with some other travelers we met.

you know, bowling in laos





sharkbowl anyone?

Then we got a group to try and go to a club since the bar was closing aruond 1am and we tried for this "club" a local told us about. Not only was it completely empty other than a few other groups, they had a really funny live band playing really funny corny-wedding-esque music. We had some drinks then were walking around trying to find something else to do and a group of more random travelers who had just met, a guy from la, two guys from Holland and two girls from England, and we decided to join them in finding the next party. All of the places seemed closed so one of the girls said she read somewhere that there is a bowling alley open until 3 so we headed there. It as a really funny scene, and funny to be bowling in loas with 11 complete strangers, but it was a really fun time and they actually stayed open until we didn't want to play anymore. Ended then ight saying bye to my new friends, they almost convinced me to travel with them to another town in Laos, but I already have all my plans set so I decided against that. So here I go again on my own! :)




dinner on dirt - delish!

Welcome to Laos!

1.06.10 - The morning was pretty much devoted to seeing the sights in Vientiane, which is the capital of Laos, situated on the Mekkong river. A very small "big city" but a much more leisurely pace of life than in Thailand. A lot less people bothering you to buy stuff and even more happy smiling local people saying hi to you as you pass by.

There are several temples and monuments to see, and I spent about 4 hours walking around the whole town to visit these places. The main sites I saw were Pha That Luang (the national symbol of Laos - big golden thing in pics and on the flag), Wat Si Saket (the oldest standing temple in Vientiane), Patuxai (the "Victory Gate", their cement version of the arc de triumph) and Haw Pha Kaew, the former royal temple.


While I was walking around Pha That Luang a nice Laos man came up to me and started asking me where I was from, why was I traveling alone, etc etc and he started telling me all about the temples and what else I should do in Laos etc. He was super nice and he was offering to take pics of me in front of the temples and what not, and I was thinking to myself how nice this local man was until I remembered another traveler telling me that they were walking around some temple and a local did the same to him, then at the end demanded he pay him money for the "tour" he gave him. A bit annoyed, I started walking around more and talking less, hoping he would leave me alone... but then I felt bad when I was almost at the exit and he asked if I would go dancing at the night market with him that evening... he was super adorable and I felt bad but I was happy that I wasn't being ripped off by another local. As I wandered to the next temple I saw a bunch of monks leaving, and 2 younger boys stayed behind. I went up and started talking to them and one was super nice and the other was very stand off ish to me. They let me take their picture and they proceeded to ask me a million questions again, and as I went to shake their hand when they introduced themselves they said they couldn't shake my hand... I'm not sure why but I thought that was interesting.








self-timer at its best!

Leaving the Islands

ferry ride back to Phuket

01.04.10 - woke up nice and early to shower and pack up and check out. Did remaining shopping we each wanted to do and had a glorious breakfast with fresh fruit smmothies, great coffee and cap's, eggs toast, croissants, bakery cinnamon bread, banana-nutella pancakes and of course (not a complete meal without it) pad thai! Huge servings for about 7$ each. Leaving happy and full we took a long/fish tail boat ride to near by long beach. Scorching hot, super sunny with slight breeze, soft white sand with crystal clear blue-turquoise water - perfect last day all together. Checked out and took ferry ride back to Phuket. Enjoyed good conversation, sun bathing and our last few rounds of chang beers before we had to part ways. Ash Marisa and Jill went straight to the airport to start their journey home as I started my first leg of my solo trip. Took group bus to Crystal Inn hostel which was very nice for the price but definitely not as fun of a vibe as the back packers hostel we stayed at a few nights prior. Repacked my suit case, showered and headed out in search of a restaurant featured in lonely planet. Finally found my way there in the darkness through the bustling streets only to find it was closed/no longer in business. Disappointed and still hungry I decided to eat at the outdoor food court type place we ate at before. It was lively and filled with locals so I figured it was a good bet. Had a huge delicious dinner of pad thai and spring rolls for $3 and made my way back to the hostel. Watched some tv and fell asleep ready for my early morning the next day.

01.05.10 - early flight to Bangkok, 7 hour lay over with not much time to do anything productive (other than updating text of my blog using my iphone and getting one last delish serving of pad thai), fly to Vientiane, Laos get in around 11pm to hostel and got some shut eye.




Long Beach

Koh Phi Phi

long tail boat ride to Long Beach



Maya Bay


01.03.10 - Jill and Reese hiked up to a beautiful outlook at the top of the island, showing the isthmus of the island where the two white sandy coastlines came face to face with each other (suppose I'll be stealing those pics from them, thanks guys!) Then we had an interesting and very long brunch (which consisted of us ordering the English breakfast our hostel offered, only to be completely disgusted by it, so we went with our tried and true pad thai) before wandering through the town making our way to the long/fish tail boats to get to Maya bay, which is the small and perfect beach where "the beach" with Leonardo dicaprio was filmed. Even the crowds of people and mass of parked boats couldn't take away from the picture perfect beach.




We enjoyed the sunshine amongst the surrounding mountains/cliffs overlooking the white sandy beach and crystal clear blue water for the afternoon before heading back. After a quick shower we headed to the bars and restaurants on the beach and enjoyed the cool breeze off the ocean as we watched the sun set and enjoyed our casual dinner and tropical drinks on the beach. Later we had a drink on a fun roof top bar, where we all sat on a bamboo platform with pillows, called either bamboo or Banana bar I'm not sure - but had drinks in a bit of a louder atmosphere before heading back.



Maya Bay - "The Beach"

to Phuket and Koh Phi Phi

ferry ride to Koh Phi Phi


01.01.10 - first day of the new year! We woke up early to have brunch with the group and check out to catch our noon flight to Phuket. Leaving our glorious resort was sad but we were ready to experience other beaches and part of Thailand. We had a 40 minute flight to Phuket, but true to Thai form, we were still served drink and food (albeit frightening) on the flight. The best part was not only still having remnants of the night before paint still on our bodies but seeing all of the other hung over, previously painted on full moon partiers at ther airport as well.

Due to our exhaustion and lack of plans we decided to stay in Phuket town for the night to regroup so we could be ready for Koh Phi Phi island the next day. We found a cute backpacker hostel with a fun vibe and showered and headed out for some food. The town was creepily quiet since everything was closed for new years day, but we meandered around and enjoyed the interesting sights, stores, smells and people Phuket town had to offer. After being visually bullied out of a local noodle place (only white people wandering around the entire day) we opted for a British run cafe with all sorts of food and tv playing BBC news to feast.

The rest of the day was spent napping on the comfy couch in the living room in from of a large tv with friends rerun playing (mostly me) and/or planning, researching, calling, reading lonely planet and looking at stuff online for our next few days accommodation in Koh Phi Phi (thank you Marisa and Jill).

01.02.09 - woke up early, had delish breakfast made by the nice women at our hostel (for about $2.50) and made our way to elephant trekking. The place we went to featured elephant treks and other sorts of adventure tours and monkey and bird shows, but we were just excited to see the elephants. They were super cute and it was fun riding on them for the half hour we planned on but it was definitely sad to see them stuck in the little jungle trekking yard area.. And of course the guilt sunk in because tourists like us are the exact reason the wild animals are exploited to begin with... So we made ourselves feel only minimally better by feeding them fresh pineapple they were selling, which looked tastier to us than the palm leaves they were snacking on. The baby elephant there even repayed us for our tasty snack with big sloppy kisses on our cheeks which was super cute.

During our ride back we got a tour of the west part of Phuket island, which features the beach resort areas of the island so it was nice to see the rest of the area but we were anxious to get to our 1pm ferry to get to koh phi phi.

Enjoyed the sunshine and socializing the top floor of the offered as well as the tasty ice cold changs we have become so fond of.

Made it to our hostel which was all the way through the windy streets of the busy beach town, it was set high within the hills of the island. Had cute little bungalows, small green watered pool, small cafe/restaurant and tattoo parlor (naturally next thing on the list, right?). Our rooms were cute little log cabins in the trees, reminded us of Swiss family Robinson. Town pretty much consisted of windy streets from one edge of the water to the other filled with bars, cafes, restaurants, beach shops, dive shops, hostels, tour companies, Internet cafes, massage places ($6 for one hour massage), small shack sized jewelery and souvineer shops and open market style food places (which most smelled horrible - nothing appetizing about raw meat sitting out in 90+ degree weather).

No time to shower ( well and we were adapting more to the no worries/lazy/ island-backpacker-traveling way of life ) so we headed out to shop and eat before meeting up with some Welsh travelers we met on the ferry. Had a fun night out in Phi Phi, and even without the influence of thr buckets we still managed to have a big night til late in the night.




elephant trekking in Phuket

Full Moon Party New Years Eve

oh buckets!



before the flair




3 hours later, still getting our flair ready :)

12.31.09 - today we woke up late after being up late for the wedding festivities and had a casual brunch (still fitting in as many courses as possible!) and Marisa Jill and I had a casual day by the pool/on the beach as everyone else went on a 4 hour hike to see a waterfall.

We packed up our stuff up and for ready for our full moon new years eve party. There is an island near koh samui (island we were staying at) called koh phagan which is famous for crazy all night full moon parties everytime there's a full moon. Usually this about-monthly event attracts over 30,000 people for a one of a kind party scene. Since the full moon fell on nye, some said they were expecting 50,000+ for this party. Not really sure what to expect, we got on our minibus shuttle and headed to the port to take a boat to the other island. There were hordes of people and music blaring at the port and there were crowds and crowds of people wading in the water hoping to elbow and push their way to the front of the pack to get onto the next speed boat. This was by no means a particularly enjoyable experience but an interesting one for sure.




Finally aboard our ferry to the other island, I started talking to the stranger next to me who happened to be a Michigan alum and current harvard business school student, small world huh? There was a group of them traveling together during hbs's winter break. The guy I was talking to actually knew one of my friends from high school, Duke Campbell for you Port Huron people, because their cottages were next to each other or something like that. After our boat docked we started making our way to the party entrance. There were vendors everywhere selling buckets of booze (about 10$ for pint of smirnoff red bull and sprite, sharkbowl-esque, apparently the thing to do in Thailand in general), tshirts, neon body paint, beads, wristbands, and tons of other flair that apparently goes with the full moon party theme. Everyone around us was getting half naked to paint their bodies in neon greens blues yellows and pinks and adorning themselves with beads and bands as they boozed and danced to the blaring music, getting hyped to enter the beach where the party was. So naturally we all jumped right on that band wagon and did the same. After at least an hour of this (we got super into it and had a great time doing) we finally were ready to jump in the flow of masses of people going from the docks through the town to the beach where the full moon party was.





We finally made it to the beach and it was nothing like anything I've ever seen before. Masses and masses of happy, ecstatic, drunken, body-painted, flaired out twenty-somethings from all over the world, on one beach all to celebrate the same occasion. There were rows and rows of tiki type bars selling buckets to the masses plus bars lining the beach as well. There were random stages where groups of people were dancing like a club as well as various dj booths and other platforms to help turn the beach into a party scene. The full moon blazing in the sky over the ocean and island was awesome too. There were also fire dancers and incredible (def USA illegal type) fireworks and tall lit up signs and general nye flair everywhere. We danced and partied the night (/morning)away with our flair, buckets, new friends and old. It's truly a new years party experience I will never forget and one that will be very tough to top. Ferry and minibus ride noneventful unless you count passing out and falling asleep but we were all happy to finally return to our plush comfy beds that morning.