The morning passed eventfully, reading and every so often looking up to admire the beauty around us. We passed not much, a small hill tribe market, kids bathing in the river, a fast boat or two (or rather, they passed us). We made one stop, at a small village, where the boatman's wife bought two huge, still alive catfish for their dinner, and we took one three passengers - a young couple and their 2 year old daughter. At first, they didn't come on, Fun telling them (I assume) that we had paid for a private trip. But after assuring him, many times, that we welcomed their company, they came aboard. We took a private boat only because it isn't tourist season, and we didn't know if there would be a regular boat going when we needed to go. The solitude has been nice, but so are the new faces.

We're now about 1-1/2 hours from Pak-O caves, and from there only another hour to our destination, Luang Prabang. Too soon. I'll miss this boat.

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So, Pak-O caves .. Um ... Lots of little Buddhas in two caves. Yeah. Glad we didn't take this as a day trip, although the walk to the upper cave was good exercise.

Luang Prabang so far seems like a nice town. We arrived, showered, put on some fresh(er) clothes, and headed for the night market, which takes over about 3 blocks of the main street each night. Tons of backpackers here - you could tell that a bus or boat just arrived, as the touts had divvied them up and were guiding them to various guest houses around town. We had dinner - fresh grilled chicken and noodles - from a stall in an alley, $2.50 fed both Els and I. Then we walked through the market; it's like a craft festival in any city in the US, but here you can get a silk scarf for $3.00, an embroidered bag for $2.00, or a dead cobra in a bottle for $1.00. We're here for 3 nights, and I expect that Ellery will still be begging me for one of those snakes until the moment our plane leaves.

written by  shoshtrvls on June 29, 2012 from Luang Prabang, Laos
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia (2012)
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Today we were up before dawn, literally, to watch the procession of the monks. In most other places, the monks make their daily rounds collecting alms in small groups, or even alone, but here, they do it in a long procession, monastery after monastery. So, at 5:30 a.m., we were standing on the street, watching young boys, twenty-something's, and old men, all draped in yellow and gold, walking down the main road in Luang Prabang, carrying their bowls, accepting rice from the residents, as well as the women who had come to sell rice to others to give to the monks.

From there, we walked through the local market, where everything from chicken to fish to rats are sold as food, and eventually back to our hotel to catch another hour or so of sleep before breakfast and a morning of sightseeing.

The sightseeing was just that - a royal palace (most of it closed for the day due to a visit by the Japanese crown prince), a Wat, a museum of ethnology, another Wat, and so on. We saw Wat Xieng Thong, and Wat Mai, and ... Well, I stopped getting the names after that. Although the temples here are quite different from those in Myanmar, they are almost exactly like those in Thailand and, to be honest, not that grand. One had beautiful mosaics, another decorated ceilings, but all in all, nothing to knock your socks off. But Fun, who was a monk for 8 years, was a good guide, and took time to explain a lot about Buddhism and what we were seeing. But by noon, we had run out of sights (opting out of the "factory tours"), and let Fun return home to celebrate his sons seventh birthday.

Ellery and I then spent the next hour or so in a coffee house that seemed to have more Americans floating in and out than your average NYC Starbucks. And I watched as the backpackers do what they do - greeting someone that they may have met just the day before on the bus from Vientaine, or maybe three weeks ago in Bangkok, as an old friend; listening to someone else explain where to get the cheapest meal as if that person had been in Luang Prabang for months, when in fact they arrived just a day earlier; and swapping stories of where to go and how to get there. Part of me wanted to join in the conversation, until I remembered that I was 50 years old and spending more money on one night in my hotel than they will spend for food and lodging in a month. I envied them, and I didn't. I envied the feeling of community among them, believing themselves to be just a tiny cadre of wanderers who will learn all there is to know about the world in three or six short months on the road. But I also know that they will all soon enough hunker down and become lawyers and accountants and things far less romantic that backpackers, and that eventually they, like me, will come to appreciate a comfortable, non-lice infested bed and a hot shower. And be disappointed if the hotel of choice isn't just perfect.

And, while we're talking hot, it's damn hot here. Hotter than anywhere else we've been, which is why Ellery and I spent the rest of the afternoon at the hotel pool (and yes, dear backpackers, having a hotel pool is better than taking a tuk-tuk to a tiny water hole outside of town which isn't nearly as clean or as pretty as you were told, but that you, too , will recommend to other backpackers you meet). At the pool, we were joined by an American from California, who couldn't help but tell us about the Thai wife he was planning to divorce, the house near Santa Barbara he was selling, and all other manner of personal trivia. The guy was, to put it simply, dying to talk to someone, even though he had come to Laos -- his "happy place" he said -- to sort things out in solitude. The other end of the backpacker spectrum, the middle aged adult who travels to escape the concerns and responsibilities that the backpackers haven't a clue about.

A strong late afternoon rain forced us into the room for a bit, until we headed out for the evening. Another fine $3.00 meal in the small alley off of the night market (where now I was directing the newly-arrived to the best 10,000 kip buffet) and then a performance of the Royal Ballet of Laos. At least, that's how they were billed, but this was clearly not the A, or even the B, team. I've seen step classes at Bally's fitness who were more in sync. As with the puppet show, the audience was small and all foreign, and so we were all there just for a bit of cultural education. And what I learned is this: traditional Laotian dance is slow. really, really slow. So there is art to it, moving your body so slowly (think tai chi with music), but it did not leave me wanting more.

The night ended with Els and I walking back to the hotel, talking about communism, the supreme court, and Israel. And to describe how we hit on all those topics, and more, would be impossible.

written by  shoshtrvls on June 30, 2012 from Luang Prabang, Laos
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia (2012)
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All last night it poured. The monsoon has finally come in earnest, and soon the Mekong and its tributaries will rise 10 - 20 feet. Throughout our journeys, we've seen the high water marks on rocks and vegetation and footpaths, but it was inconceivable to me that the water could regularly reach that high. No more, now I understand.

Still, luck remains with us. Today was our day with the elephants, and I feared that we'd have to cancel, or that it would be so wet as to make the trip miserable and pointless. But the rain slowed enough that we took a chance, and what a good chance it was. The elephant camp is high in the mountains, and as the car climbed the muddy dirt roads, past pineapple and teak plantations, we rose above the clouds so that by the time we arrived, the sun was shining.

Our day at the camp had several parts to it. First, Ellery and I learned how to ride on the elephant's neck, and how to command it with out feet and a few Lao words. Then it was off on a one hour trail ride; unsure of my balance on the lumbering but beautiful animal, I opted, for the most part, for the comfy cushioned seat, while Ellery stayed on the neck. When we reached the river, riding the elephants down the middle of it, I hopped down onto the neck for a bit, and loved every minute of it.

With the trail ride over, we took a short boat ride to some nearby waterfalls, but as the rains had just begun, they were pretty dry and not really worth the trip. We then had our usual lunch - rice and chicken curry, followed by pineapple for desert, before it was time for the best part of the day. Ellery and I each mounted our own elephant and took them back into the river for their bath. Once in the middle of the river, the elephants laid down, and with hard bristle brushes, we scrubbed their heads, ears, and back. Ellery's elephant was so delighted she trumpeted with joy, while mine used her trunk to shower me with water. I really didn't expect to have so much fun with these elephants - I expected something much cheesier, and I'm glad it wasn't.

After the bathing, I showered and swam in a beautiful little swimming pool overlooking the river, while Ellery read - something she's been doing constantly throughout the trip.

Returning to town, where it had clearly been raining most of the day but for the moment was dry, we stopped at one last temple, covered in brightly painted murals and friezes, and then walked back to our hotel. Changing into our bathing suits, it was less than 15 minutes out by the pool before the rain started again, heavier than before. So now we are ensconced in our room, listening to the rain, wondering what we will do for dinner, and whether tomorrow's trip to a larger, evidently more beautiful (and wet) waterfall will actually take place. But so far, the weather gods have been good to us, and I'm hoping our luck hasn't yet run out.

written by  shoshtrvls on July 1, 2012 from Luang Prabang, Laos
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia (2012)
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But first, catching up on last night, the rain did break for a bit, so Ellery and I hurried to Joma (our Starbucks-like hang out) for a light dinner and one last shopping trip to the night market.

This morning we lazed around the hotel until about 10, when Fhun picked us up for our last day here,taking us to Kuang Si Waterfalls. It was a out 40 minutes out of town, and I fully expected it to be like yesterday's waterfalls, but since we had run out of temples to see, it was really the only alternative. It was the opposite way out of town from yesterday, but the scenery was pretty much the same - people working in the rice patties, water buffalo along the side of the road, and small villages along the way.

Arriving at the waterfalls, we first walked through a small bear rescue center. Ok,bears. Next.

Well, next was really the most delightful series of waterfalls and swimming areas I've seen in ... well, ever, culminating in a large waterfall at the top. We spent several hours here, just hanging out, swimming, and hiking a bit. Little by little, the backpackers joined us, until e pools were like one big international party. I really enjoyed this day, and it was exactly what I needed as I was just beginning to yearn for home.

After the waterfalls it was back into town for a shower and a little rest before heading to the airport for our flight to Vietienne. Arrival was fine, and once checked into the hotel, we strolled outside, finding out way to a nice little food stall for dinner and a walk through the night market along the Mekong. Here, the night market is quite different than in Luang Prabang - mostly tee shirts and consumer goods, but patronized mostly by young Laotians. (Really, you'd never guess this was a Communist country). Lots of kids every where (this country is full of kids), music playing, even a little pushcart bar. I don't know what this. It's looks like in the daytime, but at night, it is far from the crowded decaying urban center I expected.

written by  shoshtrvls on July 2, 2012 from Vientiane, Laos
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia (2012)
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We left the hotel at 8:30, and by 11:30, were done. In that time we visited the Grand Stupa, which apparently contains some Buddha relics inside. As our guide explained, pointing to a balcony on the stupa, "That's where the Royal Family used to sit on festival days. Now the [Communist] party leaders sit there. So, not so different before 1975 and after.". (Later I learned that his father had been imprisoned for 15 years after the revolution, and his uncle, who had worked for the CIA, had fled the country and moved to Washington, DC). We also visited a huge concrete arch patterned after the Arc de Triumph built to celebrate the country's independence from France - insert quizzical expression here. Then there was the temple that used to house the emerald buddha until it was stolen by Thailand, and finally a really nice temple that had, among other things, hundreds of broken Buddhas. Laos has been invaded and conquered and sacked so many times (Vientiane was burned to the round in 1828 and abandoned for 60 years, so everything you see is relatively new) that every time they dig a foundation for a new building or expand a road, they discover more old Buddhas. This should be called the land of the broken Buddhas.

Anyway, after the city tour, we retired to Joma, our not-exactly-Starbucks chain (there's a third one in Hanoi) for lunch and wifi until it was time to get to the airport. And, continuing with out monsoon luck, it only started pouring after we got to Joma and not during our temple tour.

Flight to Singapore proceeded without a hitch. As with all flights around here, although it was short, we were fed well; as Ellery noted, the Lao Airlines food is better than a lot of what you can get on the ground.

Singapore was a shock back into first world life. Incredibly interesting skyscrapers and modern architecture awaited us, much of which we can see from our kindly upgraded room. Dinner at an outdoor food court/shopping mall across the street, and now it's time to sleep.

written by  shoshtrvls on July 3, 2012 from Singapore, Singapore
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia (2012)
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We did three things primarily today. First, we went to the Singapore Art Museum, and took the 11:00 am English tour with a fabulous docent. The work here is terrific, all special installations, and quite reminiscent of MassMOCA - site specific work in an unusual setting (here, a former catholic school). There were a few pieces that really blew me away. And we walked away with an inflatable Walter, a huge white bunny who apparently pops up in unusual places around Singapore.

Next was a long walk to, and up and down Orchard Street. All shopping malls, all with the same high-end stores selling the same merchandise. The point was definitely lost on me. (Still, I came away with a new point-and-shoot camera that I like a lot).

Finally, we went to the best zoo ever. Or at least the most brilliant concept - a zoo open only at night, so you can see nocturnal animals doing something other than sleeping. There are just enough lights to highlight each enclosure, and every animal we saw was up and about, from the big cats to the hyenas to the small otters and bats. There are both walking trails and a tram ride, both of which provided excellent, up close animal viewing. On my worldwide zoo scale, I give it an a+.

Tomorrow is the last day of our trip, and I'm truly sad to see it end. From start to finish, we've seen a lot of fabulous stuff.

written by  shoshtrvls on July 4, 2012 from Singapore, Singapore
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia (2012)
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Today we walked around Singapore, all of it, or so it seemed. First to Arab Street where the carpet-looking experience was seriously wanting, then to Little India, which was similarly uninteresting, and then all the way down to Marina Bay, along the boat quay, to the bizarre-looking Sands Hotel, a spaceship swimming pool on top of three clothespins (the only way to describe it), and the even more bizarre looking Garden By The Bay, with it's huge robot-like trees. Then Ellery went to the Harry Potter exhibit at the Science Museum, and I had a foot massage - really, it was a lot of walking. We returned by crossing the Helix Bridge to the Esplanade, and back to our little area of the world. Then it was dinner at a deli (really, but not really) in the Raffles Hotel, and finally - finally - to the airport.

written by  shoshtrvls on July 5, 2012 from Singapore, Singapore
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia (2012)
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