HCMC, or Sai Gon as the locals call it!

We left Bangkok on the 18th at 7:30pm and arrived to Ho Chi Minh City just over an hour later...We flew wih Vietnam Airlines and even got a meal! Wish I had known that when I was shoveling Tom Yum soup in my face at the Bangkok airport an hour before departure. Oh well, it was probably some of the best airport food I've ever had and the last Thai food in Thailand for some time. 

You have to have a visa to enter Vietnam, and you can go about it 2 ways... getting it from an embassy, or, if you enter via Hanoi or HCMC, you can get a visa on arrival. It's not the same as when we went to Turkey, though... I got in contact with one of the hundreds of Vietnamese travel agencies you find online, a reputable one called "My Vietnam Visa". Apparently there are "fake" ones out there, but our process went very smoothly and I have no complaints!  You send them your passport info, arrival date, and a processing fee, and they send you , via email, a letter with a happy red stamp on the bottom. It's all in Vietnamese, but it worked! Once you get off the plane, with the visa approval letter, cold hard cash (dollars are preferred), your passport, and a 4x6 cm photo in hand, you march up to the "Visa on Arrival" window and hand it all over to the ray of sunshine dressed in green military getup behind the counter.

And thats when you realize, we're not in Thailand anymore. Goodbye land of smiles, hello Kim Jung Il from "Team America". I had read horror stories about the Visa on Arrival waiting times in HCMC, but lucky for us, we waited maybe 15/20 minutes max. The immigraton officer who processed the VOA forms was like a chihuahua, barking at people and talking down to them. One poor British guy had been waiting for 4, yes 4 hours because they had misplaced his passport and when he asked the first time about what was taking so long they shooed him away from the counter. When he went back and explained how long he had been there, they dug through some paperwork, found his passport and handed it to him. While he studied it over to make sure he had the right visa, the little angry green man yelled "You got your visa! What are you waiting for?" The poor guy walked past and all he could do was give a little chuckle.. ah the joys of travel.

Thankfully, since our airport welcome wagon, every other Vietnamese person we have met so far has been extremely nice, the weather has been warm and breezy, the pho has been steamy and delicious, and life has been good. We booked a room smack in the middle of the Backpacker area of District 1, where we could walk to all the sights nearby. It was also right across the street from a really nice park, which I always like to do because it gives a safe place to go for a run.. Only problem in Saigon is the pollution.. There are so many motorcycles, cars, and buses... lots of fumes and smog, so you have to go early in the morning or late at night. Only problem was that the locals start their days often at 5:30 AM and unless I am catching a early bus, train, plane, or somehow made my way to another ashram and have to go sit in satsang I am not getting up that early! I am sure Paul appreciates that too ;) 

I saw a guy running with a surgical mask on, but, I don't think that it's THAT bad.. Loads of locals here wear all kinds of masks, decorated with patterns, a sort of fashion statement to help their lungs while sitting in traffic around thousands of other motorbikes. Someone is making mega bucks out of the face mask industry in Asia, that I know for sure. As I sit writing this post in our beach town hotel room, where the air is fresh and clean, people still wear those masks! I guess after a few crazy bird flus, swine flu, SARS, and whatever else plagued the area along with the fumes, I'd wear a pretty face mask too.

Back to Sai Gon- 

We got in pretty late, and after being on the go in Thailand, we didn't do much the first night. We always say we will give ourselves a day to relax and not do much, but it rarely happens.. Our first full day we had planned to do just that and ended up walking all around district 1 in search if of a decent bookstore.. We got a pretty good tour of the center of town during our search, despite it not being fruitful. The one funny thing about Vietnam is that there are tons of copied versions of books...Lonely Planet guides, Fifty Shades of Grey, Tom Clancy, Pol Pot books, Breaking Dawn, Harry Potter, you want it, they have it in a counterfeit version. Ladies walk around with a stack of books about as tall as they are and show you their selection while you enjoy your meal outside... I hadn't planned on buying one of these books, but at the place we had dinner that night had a selection of used books and I picked up the Kite Runner, which I had been meaning to read.. It was clearly photocopied, but had every page, even though it had 3 different fonts used. I managed to read it in 24 hours, so it was a good purchase. Thanks, Vietnamese book copy people! It only cost me like two bucks! I have a feeling I will be a much better reader when we are done traveling-- meaning finding time to do something productive, like read a book, instead of watching whatever crap is on TV. I've read more books cover to cover in the past 4 months that I've read in like 2 years. That's sad! 

Our second full day in Saigon we made our way to the War Remnants Museum, which was all about the a Vietnam war.. I knew it would be tough to see and learn about horrible things that my high school history classes left out and college courses touched on briefly.. And it was. It was also hard to gauge what was propaganda and what was fact.. All I know is that the atrocities that took place at the hands of American soldiers was disgusting.. Villages burned, farmers executed, women and children killed, napalm bombs, and agent orange. Not a proud segment of US history... I felt sick walking around the museum and seeing all the photographs of the war.. It was hard to take in.

The thing I couldn't get over, was the fact that the producer of agent orange was Monsanto, the same stupid company that is ruining American crops by creating super seeds and making everything genetically modified! How can that happen? It is insane! I don't know how that company still exists after the damage it has caused the Vietnamese people. For years they had no crops or vegetation due to agent orange, and there are people still to this day who suffer from deformities and health problems from the chemical warfare. It got in the food and water system, mothers and fathers who were exposed had children who then had crazy deformities.. It is so sad to see first hand. Most people have no idea that generations later, people here are still toiling from the war, but they are, and they are receiving no kind of aid from anyone.. And they need help.. Especially the kids who were born long after the war and had exposure through their parents who were around it when they were younger.

I could go on and on about what I saw in the museum, but one really needs to see it in person to understand.. Most of the artifacts were photographs taken by journalists from all over the world, images I had never seen before or thought to look into. The museum was 3 floors of these items and a whole room was dedicated to agent orange and it's effects.. Definitely not a feel good place, but it was interesting to learn about the war from a different perspective. 

The museum was kind of mentally draining, but totally worth it, and I'm glad we went.

Our last full day in Saigon we booked a half day tour to go visit the Cu Chi tunnels. Cu Chi is about 30KM outside of Saigon, and is famous for the underground tunnel system built by the Viet Cong or the "guerrillas" back during the war.. My only visual of the Vietnam war up until our time here was from movies, mainly "Forrest Gump" or "Born on the Fourth of July", two very different representations of the war. At Cu Chi, we got a new spin on the war, thanks to the propaganda movie we saw telling all about the tunnels. It was a movie from 1964, and told the history of Cu Chi, the "tranquil village where city dwellers came for picnics.." It also spoke of the "American enemy" and the brave warriors who received the "American killer hero award". It was hard to hear American killer over and over again, I have to say.. I can't say I don't blame them for making a propaganda video, especially after what I learned in the museum. Cu chi was devastated by the chemical warfare and became uninhabitable, and there were already tunnels built from previous wars in Vietnam, so they just expanded the tunnels from 200km to 250km and made a village under the ground. Some of the people in the village fled, but those who stayed fought with the Viet Cong against the US, as they were determined to keep their land.

Some of the tactics used were very barbaric, such as boobie traps...we saw some pretty gruesome representations of what they used... 

Yikes!

After learning about the guerrilla warfare tactics, and bypassing the offer to shoot a machine gun (yes you could do that there, for a price!), we finally made our way to the tunnels. We entered through one place, and you could go 10,20, 30, 40 meters, or as far as you could make it.. As you made your way farther and farther into the tunnel, the smaller it.. Our guide compared it to an ice cream cone.. Starts big and ends small.. Paul and I made it 30 meters.. After that we would have been on hands and knees and I wasn't up for crawling in the dark...

Apparently before the area was bombed, there were 3 levels of tunnels, which included rooms for weapons, areas to eat and sleep, places to crawl and pop out at the surface...

A level where they kept the "enemy", and a level of tunnels that went almost all the way to the Cambodian border... It was a very intricate system that zigzagged, so it was hard to pinpoint exactly where the Viet Cong were hiding.. Very interesting. Our tour guide was pretty amazing, a Vietnamese guy who had given himself the nickname of "John Wayne" so westerners could remember it.. He was hilarious, yet informative.

After the bus ride back to Saigon, we took it easy and began to get our stuff together in preparation for our 12 hour bus ride we had at 7 the next morning. We made one last walk through the busy backpacker road, which I would had enjoyed way more if I hadn't come down with a little cold.. It seems all the travel and moving about in Thailand wore on me more than I thought it had..luckily we get to go back to Saigon at the tail end of our trip because we fly out from there to Taiwan! It's a really fun place with a great energy, and I am looking forward to spending more time there. Now we have gotten all the "war stuff" we felt we should learn about out of the way, we can enjoy everything else this beautiful place has to offer! And why not begin beach side in Nha Trang?

The #1 attraction on TripAdvisor

As noted in the previous post, we made our merry way back to Bangkok to meet up with our Meagan and Andrew, our Canadian friends from Pai, aand our good old Ashram pal, Raul for one last hurrah before we left for Vietnam. Meagan and Andrew had told us about some pretty fun and unique things that were on TripAdvisor that we had no idea about, one being this place called Escape Hunt.

Located in the basement of a huge office building, is a multi-room entertainment place based upon solving mysteries. Escape Hunt has different scenarios for solving the mystery, such as a European themed room or an Asian themed room. They even have a mystery called "Bangkok Bomb" that takes place within the nearby gargantuan shopping mall, Terminal 21.. That mall has 6 different floors, each floor themed around a different international city. We took a walk around it, and it was insane. I couldn't imagine trying to gather clues and crack the code and deactivate the "bomb" in that place!

We met at Escape Hunt and walked into what looked like Sherlock Holmes' study. We were greeted by  the very nice Thai hosts that run the show, and they explained the rules... We were locked in a room, the "crime scene", and had to use the items in the room to figure out the killer. Some of the items were clues, and others were not.. We had to work together to find out what the killer's name was, in 1 hour or less. We had a gamemaster, who would come in a check on us, and if we needed help we could ask her for a hint...But for every time we asked a hint, it would tack on a minute to our final time. We dug through desks, found keys, unlocked drawers and safes, used flashlights to see invisible ink, cracked codes, and in 54 minutes, we had the killer's name! Mystery solved! It was so much fun!

Andrew was the "Cheif Detective", so he got to bang the gong at the end. Woohoo!

Escape Hunt was definitely unlike anything I'd ever done before, and I am glad we got to do it with some cool people on our last night in Bangkok. Afterwards, we headed to grab some food at a hole in the wall place where the food was delish but some things were lost in translation... I ordered a curry dish and ended up getting a tripe salad (yes, they have that here.) What is funny is you order by number and the waitress seemed to not be able to tell the different between a 6 and a 4... Luckily after some going back and forth, it was all cleared up and I got my curry. That tripe salad did not look appetizing at all!

We then all headed off to this cool rooftop place that had live music and we watched the nightlife from above..Bangkok has lots of really nice places where you can sit and relax with friends, I really enjoyed that about the city. We were there until after the trains stopped running, so we shared a cab with our buddy Raul and made the sleepy ride back to our hotel to call it a night.

Thailand is an amazing place..So far I think I can say Asia is unlike anywhere else. We have read a recent article from the US news about a proposal to invest in trade with Asia that is not being backed.. Not that I have any say in the matter, but, you'd be an idiot NOT to invest in Asia. They have so much going here, especially Thailand. I imagine places like Malaysia, Japan, and Taiwan are similar to Thailand.. They loooove the western market and I think it is THE place to invest. It is so cool over here, it's hard to explain.. It seems so forward and alive. And, in Thailand at least, everyone is smiling (even the protestors). SEAsia so far has given us a buzz...and Thailand was a great way to begin our tour. I am sad to say goodbye, for now, to the land of smiles. I have a feeling we willl be back here again, though. We didn't even make it south, yet! We have 6 weeks ahead of us in the region, so we may make our way back through! I am trying to keep our plans open and evolving.

Next: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam! I think Saigon sounds prettier, though. 

Hua Hin/Bangkok

From the 4 hour bus in Pai we caught an overnight bus from Chiang Mai back to Bangkok, which was an experience. We boarded the bus to some awesomely loud Thai metal rock, which played for about an hour. Then, we made our way down the highway in the top heavy double decker sleeper bus. We had purchased some valerian from Boots (yes they have that also!) and hoped for the best on the 10 hours ahead of us. Luckily for me, I had earplugs and an eye mask I kept from our Turkish airlines flight, so I managed to get some shut eye. I wish I could say the same for Paul... He was up at every random stop we made and was awoken by the attendant an hour before our arrival by having a carton of milk shoved in his face. No, he doesn't want milk at 4 something in the morning. The thai metal also was our lovely alarm in the morning...and really bright lights. Good morning!

We arrived to Bangkok at 6 something to a huge bus terminal, called Mo Chit. From the second we disembarked, we were bombarded by taxi drivers asking where we needed to go.. We just needed to find the metro, but once we explained this to the drivers they could no longer understand English, which we found frustrating. One guy even tried to rip us off by saying he would take us to the metro station (about 1.5 km from where we were) for 450 baht! That's almost as much as we paid for a hotel room. Needless to say we laughed at him and kept walking... Sometimes being western in a foreign land can be annoying.

We finally found the station after a kind motorcycle taxi driver pointed us in the right direction (no way 2 of us and all our bags could fit on the motor taxi) and boarded the train, sweaty and exhausted from the journey and walking all over trying to find it with all our gear. We made our way to th Bangkok airport, where we would board another bus to Hua Hin.

Hua Hin, from what I had read, was once a royal vacation spot for the king and his family. It looked beautiful in the pictures, and is only 3 hours from Bangkok, so with out time crunch it seemed like a nice place to have some beach time.. If we had more time, we wouldn have venture far south to the islands, but we didn't have that luxury this time... Maybe we can make our way down there before we leave Southeast Asia.

Anyways, we had yet another bus ride ahead of us, which was supposed to take 4 hours and ended up taking 6... So that made for a fun filled 26 hours of buses and transit. I was surprised at how well I handled it, usually I get grouchy and want to jump out of my skin after sitting for any longer than 3 hours. Travel has taught me a lot!

We arrived to Hua Hin, dropped our bags at the hotel, and set off to explore.. It was not brilliant, or what I had seen in pictures. It was also was expensive compared to Bangkok, where we were eating for a couple of bucks off the street. But, we were there, and endured the long journey, so vowed to make the best of it.

Our first night, we had dinner at a random English pub, naturally. It seemed everyone in Hua Hin was over the age of 60 and either Scandinavian, Russian, or British. The nightlife was basically nonexistent, which was okay since we were exhausted. We decided on an early night and do more sightseeing in the morning.

We walked all around the town, and on the beach.. The beach was crazy, you could hardly walk on most parts because it was covered with umbrellas and sun beds.. It also seemed to be perpetually high tide, so the beach was pretty much nonexistent. It was kind of a bummer, because all we wanted to do was have some time to chill by the beach, but that really didn't happen. There's always other places to do that, though! I'm sure we will get our beach time at some point.

We visited the night market that evening, which was packed. There were tons of places to eat outside, and the seafood looked amazing. I think I saw the biggest prawns I've ever a seen while walking through the night market.. There were also all kinds of clothes and other goods for sale, but it was so busy you could hardly move or look to see what was for sale. Definitely an experience!

Our last day in Hua Hin we decided to venture down to Chopsticks Hill, which is about 7.5. Km south of the city. We had planned on getting a taxi, but ended up walking the whole way down the beach since we had nothing else to do! It was pretty hot, but we love a walk and we both got some vitamin d.. Thai people think you are nuts if you walk because of the heat, and everyone offers you a taxi. We have gotten so good at saying "no, thank you." At this point I may just make a tshirt that has "no thanks" in multiple languages and just point to it whenever anyone tries to sell us anything.. It's almost an immediate reaction now haha!

We made it to Chopsticks Hill, and saw all these crazy monkeys all over the place... They were so many of them! We walked up the steep steps to the top and got some good views of the coast.

 

I even managed to capture this monkey mid bite and caught him pulling a Paul face!

See the similarities? I can't believe this is the only  photographic evidence of this face on my photo stream but you people know what I'm talking about.

Ah, there's a throwback from London.

We spent a little while at the nearby beach, and then made our way back to Hua Hin.. Walking, naturally. A total of like 10 miles we walked that day.. I guess we made up for the 26 hours of buses and stuff..

In a nutshell, Hua Hin was a bit of a letdown.. If we were loaded and staying in an all inclusive, or needed some medical or dental work done, we were in the right place. But for a beach getaway, not the place to stay for a few days. I know at some point during this trip we will have our fun island/beach chill out time.. I've heard some great things about the Vietnam beaches and some cool places in Cambodia. We made the most of our stay, had enough room to do some yoga and I was able to get some new running shoes and get a couple runs in, so not all was lost! 

We made our way back to Bangkok for our last night in Thailand and luckily the bus only took the 4 hours as advertised! We made our way to our hotel for the night and then met up with our friends Raul, Meagan, and Andrew for a reunion.. And that will be all in my next post about Bangkok and saying goodbye to new friends and the beautiful country of Thailand! Until next time!

MC

Pictures of Pai

Random strawberry place that sold all things strawberry.. We bought some jam and it is sooo good.

Pai Canyon

WW2 memorial bridge - obviously the Thais were not involved, but, they helped the Japanese by giving a route to protect Burma..

The hot, gut wrenching mini bus

 Asian style pose! Peace dude!

Pai!

About 3 hours north of Chiang Mai, close to the Myanmar border, is Pai... A little hippy town with lots of personality. We took a minibus up the road, through the mountains, and around 756 curves... Dramamine is a must, if you get car sick, for the ride to Pai. We shared the very back of the bus with Meagan and Andrew, our new friends from Canada with whom we ended up spending most of our nights in Pai. The drivers of these minibuses fly around the curves, so needless to say I was happy to get out when we arrived.

Pai is located in a valley and is surrounded by beautiful mountainous landscapes.. We stayed in a cute little bungalow that was away from the main town, and was so quiet.. I slept so well everynight, as we were lulled to sleep by the little brook that flowed beside our place. The front porch was a nice place to relax and just big enough for my yoga mat! I miss our little bungalow..

We paid under $20 a night, and this was on the mid-range for these cute huts.. All around Pai, there are tons of little guest houses and bungalows to rent, ranging from a dorm, to a straw hut with one electrical socket to places with insulation and A/C.. A hut for all budgets! I loved seeing all the locally owned places dotted around the town. There was one called "Pai Circus" where you could stay and learn circus tricks... We looked for it (both times were in the dark..)but could never find it! I'm doubting it's existence at this point. How cool would it be to learn how to twirl fire or something crazy, though?

We had dinner at a place called "Na's Kitchen" and unbeknownst to us at the time, were in a tripadvisor chart topper.. It was probably the best thai red curry I've ever had. We lucked out because an older guy was getting up from his table so we were able to sit down.. Otherwise we would have been waiting for over an hour!  We chatted with John, the older gentleman, and he have us some wisdom about travel and life. He recommended the brown rice too, saying  it was the best brown rice he'd ever had.. What a smart guy! 

We then met our new friends for some after dinner fun.. While at the restaurant we were give a flyer for a place called "Bebop" that had live music every night.. We are suckers for live music, so bebop was where we headed. We walked in to an empty place with this awesome thai cover band playing.

The crowd shuffled in around 11, and that was when things started to get interesting.. Paul was followed into the bathroom a couple times by thai gentleman who fancied him, and kept sitting by him despite me sitting right beside him.. (he felt violated.. Poor Paul) Then a group of asian tourists came in and started getting sloppy after one drink.. Then a female version of Chang (from the hangover part 2) came in and started dancing some sweet moves.. Finally, Sarah, a ladyboy, got up on stage and tried to steal the show with her rendition of "I Will Survive".. She failed. Poor Sarah. Needless to say, this night gave us some funny things to talk about with our new friends over the next few days. Eesh.

The next day, we decided to rent a bike to visit the outside of the town. Pai town is literally a 3 stop light town, and it's tiny. But, there is a ring road that encircles the town with various sightseeing places to visit. Everyone in Pai rents a scooter or a bike during their stay! And for 50 baht per person (around 3.50$ for both of us) for a bike for 24 hours, why not?

We rode around the town, and sweated out the cares of the night before.. We soon learned that bike travel in thailand is tough, and the bikes aren't always the best suited for the hills.. My legs were tired after our journey sightseeing the town and surrounding temples. We biked to the Temple on the hill! where there was a huge white Buddha statue sitting in the lotus position. We parked our bikes, hiked up the hill and the hundreds of steps, then made our way up the trail to the giant Buddha. It was beautiful and a great lookout point to see the surrounding valley and hills.

We then took a load off and rested up for our big double date with Meagan and Andrew.. We had planned to meet them for dinner at this Texas themed steakhouse where the thai waiters are dressed as gauchos.. They all got thier steak dinner fix, but I don't recommend the Thai food there..My choochee curry was pretty much an appetizer and was not enough to fill me up.. Thankfully Pai also has banging street food so I was able to fill my belly on yummy things like roasted corn and blueberry almond gelato! In Pai you can literally run the gammot on street food! we saw burritos, stuffed baked potatoes, rotee (like a giant crepe filled with a variety of toppings)' burgers, and all the traditional thai food you could imagine. We opted to walk the streets for our dinner the last night in Pai, and I even tried super spicy grilled squid on a stick. Yes, I am broadening my food world indeed.

Our final day in Pai we had planned to rent a scooter and go beyond the few sights we saw the day prior. We had done a 7km cycle tour the day before on bikes, and thought the quickest way to do the full 17km loop would be on a scooter. By the time I had my beautiful run though the town (where I got the thumbs up from a monk doing his offering walk) and had our breakfast, all of the scooter shops were out of bikes! So back to the bicycle rental man we went.. 

The bikes are not made for steep ascents, and my bike was definitely too small.. It felt like a 4 hour spin class from hell. My heels hit the ground whenever we were making the climb up the hills! I noted that the map we were given said "motorbike route", and I saw why after the 20th hill we had to climb alongside cars, minibuses, and scooters. We were able to still see all the sights we had wanted to see, such as the memorial bridge, Pai canyon and a random strawberry place, but I had not mentally prepared myself for how tough it would be..my little legs were tired after running in the morning and then biking all that way! 

We ended our day at "Liquid"' a place for visitors to go and enjoy some relaxing time by a pool. The pool was freezing! Pai does get down into the 50s at night, but during the day it was around 90. After riding the bike all day I didn't mind that it was so cold.. It felt nice on my legs. We hung out with Andrew and Meagan there and just had some time to chill out before our street food feast that night.

We had a great time in Pai! it is really a special place. I'm worried in the next few years it will be more like Chiang mai as more and more tourists come and visit. I loved the grassroots feel of it, all the locally owned restaurants, shops, and guest houses. There was uproar from the locals when the 7-11s arrived, and now there are 4 around the town. Who knew 7-11 was a big thing in Thailand? By now we should hold stock in the place; we go there every day for bottled water and snacks. The staple of the backpacker in Thailand is a ham and cheese toastie, which they panini press for you in store. I have not tried it but Paul says it's delish.

Pai is cheap, quiet, and calm.. It is a great refuge from the big city, and has a lot of the comforts of home. I wish we had spent a couple more nights there and explored further the surrounding area. It seems to be a place people go back to again and again... We met a couple of French guys who had been there 5 times. I can see why, it's just a feel good place. Not busy, not crazy, and the locals are super friendly. I definitely recommend anyone who visits a Thailand to make the curvy road trip up to Pai, stay in a hut, and enjoy life.. It's hard not to in a place so beautifu. Just make sure you bring along some motion sickness tablets... The ride to and from can be pretty stomach churning.

Chiang Mai

We hopped off the plane in Chiang Mai at 9:30 pm, and headed to our hostel for the next 2 nights, the "MD House".. We scored a pretty big room with an ensuite bathroom, which was nice. Big enough for me to do some yoga in, so I was happy! We noticed after being there after half an hour that it was way more touristy than Bangkok... There were ads for treks, monkey and elephant tours, ziplines through the rainforest, etc. everywhere. And it seemed there were more western people than natives, at least in the old city.

Chiang mai old city is surrounded by walls and a moat, and appeared to be the epicenter for all things tourism. There were a couple Mexican restaurants near our hostel and a place called "Fat Elvis Hamburgers".. Lots of places geared to the visitors, for sure! It is a pretty cool city despite all the t-shirts, massage parlors, and hawkers selling stuff.. There are loads of little alleyways and side streets lined with cafes, restaurants, bookshops, and other cool little stores to explore. We only had 2 nights in Chiang Mai before heading off to our next destination, so we didn't get to see all of the city.

Our first night we were greeted by a very intoxicated British lad who summoned us to join he and his 7 closest friends for a beer at the hostel.. Being polite, we obliged and soon learned that earlier I the day he had completed a "Neck Nomination" and was feeling the effects of a pint glass of vodka and a large beer... He was toasted. We also met a few other travelers who gave us tips on where to go and what to see in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia... Including the trek through Sapa, a place on the Chinese border, which I have since booked up for us to do! Hostels are cool by that you can meet fellow travelers from all over and save tons of money, but bad if you have a bunch of "Bro's" staying there that make an embarrassment of Americans everywhere... Nuff said about that. So. Embarrassing. Yuck.

There was a big flower festival going on during our stay, so we went and checked it out. There were huge floats full of Buddhist and Hindu gods made out of flowers... We didn't get to see the parade, but the floats themselves were worth seeing.. Very pretty.

This guy wouldn't move out of the picture. His friends were trying to take an action jumping shot of him like 20 times and failed each time. So now he's in my picture.

There were also tons of street food stalls, and since we are loving the street food here, we explored and tried some different treats.. My favorite being the papaya salad.. Yum!

 Paul's favorite, meat in tube form.

Mango and sticky rice with coconut sauce!

We spent the day walking around and trying out local fare.. It was super hot during the day, but cool at night which was a nice change. The afternoon heat was pretty killer though, so I had to take a nap (mostly because I love naps). Our last meal in Chiang Mai was at the local Irish pub, where Paul had his fix of home-ish food with a Steak and Guinness pie and chips.. I guess when you are eating foreign foods all the time, coming across a place like chiang mai can be good to have a bland meal..haha! I love Thai food, it will be hard to eat it back in the US because I've had the real deal.. Like most other foods we have eaten, the ingredients make such a difference.. Eveything here is so fresh and simple yet soooo delicious.

We walked around after dinner, but it was mayhem because of the flower festival. We walked through the infamous red light district where we saw our fare share of ladyboys calling at people, and attempted the night bazaar but there were so many people you couldn't even move.. We decided to try our luck at a night market in another place, because it was just too mad! We had an early night, and had to pack for our departure for Pai the next day, which I was fine with.. An early night allowed me get up in the morning and "run the moat" before heading off.

I see why the taxi driver laughed when we said we were heading to Chiang Mai.... Because everyone there was from out of town! I think had we spent more time there, we would have gotten a better feel for the place. A few people we met loved the city, but had spent over a week there. Had we rented a bike or a scooter and made our way around town, I'm sure we would have had a great time.. But, Pai was next on the list and was one place we heard raving reviews about! The next post will be all about our Pai adventure.... And it was action packed! :)

Bangkok

We arrived to Bangkok, after being treated royally in first class (thanks to the free upgrade from Air India!)at 5:30 am on February 5th. From the moment we stepped off the plane, we realized that Thailand is a very different place to our previous home of one month, India. We were greeted and assisted at every turn, by smiling Thais who were happy to see us and welcome us to their country. The airport was clean, the metro was clean, the streets were clean, and there was no beeping or honking in the busy Bangkok streets. Paradise!

We found our airbnb accomodation and had a power nap, as I was plagued by a stomach bug and Paul opted for the movie selection during our overnight flight. After some quick shut eye, we made a metro-sky rail-river boat trek to Khao San Road, the main touristic street in Bangkok where most of the backpackers hang out. We met our Croatian friends Tomo and Jenny for lunch, as they were spending their last day in Thailand the same day we arrived! It is so funny how many people we have reconnected with while traveling. Tomo and Jenny told us all about their farmstay, where they worked and built huts out of bamboo while learning about Buddhism, which sounded pretty awesome. There is a website called workaway.info where you can hook up with various hosts around the world and volunteer to help in exchange for a place to stay or food, etc. I will definitely look into this for our future, possibly in South America.

Tomo and Jenny also told us about some cool places to visit during our 2 week stay in Thailand, and gave us some tips about what to do and see. They had 5 weeks to spend here, so they made their way up north and down to the islands for some beach time. I'm now wishing we had more than 2 weeks here, as I already love Thailand so much!

In Bangkok, there was a "state of emergency" declared by the government due to protests that had taken over parts of the city. Now I am no expert on the Thai language or politics,but from what I could see it was more like an "Occupy Wall Street" style operation that actually packed some muscle.. There were entire roads closed down and lined with stands selling street food, jewelry, clothes, sunglasses, etc. There were 2 huge stages at different major intersections that pumped out cover bands and political speeches while protestors cheered and waved their flags. We even saw a "Guns n Roses" band play a pretty good rendition of "Sweet Child of Mine" when we stumbled upon the protest. It was more like a street festival than anything, and it was peaceful yet full of energy.

The last picture is Lumpini Park, a huge place smack in the middle of the city with a nice running route (score! So nice to run in a safe, non polluted place!) and other workout related equipment. This  is where tons of protestors called home.. There were entire mini villages of tents all around the park. There were also mobile toilets and showers, as well as free medical care, free food, and water for the protestors. It was pretty incredible to see the support and solidarity of the Thai people.. I am sure there are people who want to cast their vote because it's their right, but you have to respect these people for standing up for reform.. Apparently, from what I've been told by a few locals, the reason they are protesting voting is because the government is very corrupt (suprise suprise) and before they hold a vote to elect leaders into power, they want the constitution to be reformed and the corruption dealt with.. More power to 'em for demanding change.. It will be interesting to see what happens into fe uture for Thailand. All I know is they LOVE LOVE LOVE the king.

We had a good time exploring the city, using the super efficient and nice transit systems, and browsing the gigantic shopping malls. We took a "tourist boat" that cost 40 baht per person (just over $1) down the river to the royal palace and other temples, and it was very different from the 15 baht per person boat we took on the way back.. This boat was the one locals use, and it was mad. They speed up and down the river, stopping at each pier, and people pack like sardines inside the boat. You have to basically jump on and jump off because the captain does not play around.. He drives from stop to stop with quickness and accuracy, and tries to get as many passengers as possible. It was very similar to our bus ride in India.. Personal space goes out the window when you use public transport in Asia. Please don't try to catch the metro with a huge backpack at 8 in the morning... You will wait, as we did, until 9:15 on the platform, while thousands of people enter and exit the trains and you wait because there is absolutely no space for you and your stupid backpack. Grab a coffee instead and wait until the rush has died down... We hated being "those backpackers" but when you're exhausted and need to get to your accomodation it's a necessary evil.

We also had the pleasure of meeting up with a fellow ashram-er, Raúl during out stay in Bangkok. We walked up and down Silom road, sampling all kinds of street food. In Thailand, it is very clean to eat off the street, and the food is incredible, and super super cheap. You can grab one of the best pad thai dishes you have ever tasted for under a dollar.. Take that dollar menu. Paul tried all kinds of strange meat Popsicles, sausages, and other meaty delicacies while I opted for some bomb grilled corn and fresh summer rolls. You could eat yourself silly in Bangkok, there are so many cheap and good options right on the street. 

Many people we have met have mixed feelings toward Bangkok, but we absolutely loved the city... Most people use it as a stopover point to head to the islands, up north, or to other SEAsiaN countries..There is so much to do and see, and we barely saw the main downtown area. I just read an article in Backpacker SEAsia that you can surf in Bangkok, inside a gigantic shopping mall, and was told there is a restaurant where the wait staff are robots. Nuts! Of course, you can spend your days at touristy Kao San Road or visit the dubious side streets lined with ladyboy, ping pong, and other weird shows, if that's what you want to see.. But we stayed away from those places and found that Bangkok had tons to offer, it's very walkable, and has some of the nicest locals we have met.. Everyone is smiling! 

After 3 nights in Bangkok, we took a taxi to the airport and told the driver we were heading to Chiang Mai, another large city in the north of Thailand.. He burst out laughing when we told him where we were headed, and that, my friends, is the next post to come.

We love Thailand!

Final Thoughts on India

We have now been in Thailand for 3 full days, and now that I've been out of the madness that is India, I thought I would write a final post on the place. A month flew by there, and being in a different place now, I feel I can fully reflect on our experience..

India is truly a special place, and to fully understand what I mean, you really have to go there and receive the full sensory overload...The people we met, both locals and expats, were amazing. I don't think I can say that we encountered anyone who tried to scam us, except for the usual "tourist price" that visitors usually pay due to ignorance. The service we received at restaurants was great, the accomodations (after learning to not trust the pictures online...) were comfortable and super cheap, and getting around was easy.. The only thing I couldn't get over was the smells and the trash strewn or burning all over the place! It definitely takes some getting used to.

If you ever decide to go to India, head to Goa first and then get acclimated to what India is all about. Goa does have a facade because of heavy tourism there, and it is one of the richest states, but it is a good place to ease into life in India.. It is cheap, the food is great, and the people are friendly. We really loved south Goa, where it is not as crowded as the north. There is still lots of places geared toward tourists, but, it's not like the shack after shack after shack like near Anjuna beach up north. If a party is what you are looking for though, the north is the place to go. Not our cup of tea, anymore though.

For accomodations in India, always consult Trip Advisor before booking.. Often the pictures do not fully represent what you are getting. Hotels are usually the best option, as you can get a really good deal on 2/3 star rooms...If it's not too much more, opting for a "deluxe" rather than "economy" will probably give you a lot more for your money. We got an "economy" for our first hotel and it was a smelly windowless basement room infested with mosquitoes and smelled like sewage. Yuck. Contrastly, we only spent $250 for 7 nights in Goa, and it was a brand new hotel with breakfast included! By the looks of most of the hostels, I don't think I would risk it in the bigger cities. But, the beach huts and backpacker-y places in Goa looked pretty decent and would probably be a cool place to meet other travelers and chill.. And as always, finding a good AirBnB host is a great option too, and we had the pleasure of staying with cool people!

Taking a train ride in India is another must do when traveling in India.. We opted for 2-tier AC, which means 4 beds in a cabin. We were the only people in the cabin, so I don't know how usual that is, but it was great! We could have gone cheaper, and gone for 3AC (6 beds) or Sleeper class, but since it was an 18 hour train ride and overnight, 2AC was still relatively cheap ($40 per person) and very comfortable. With my eye mask and ear plugs, I slept all night and into 9 am! Then the guy coming around yelling "coffee coffee coffee chaaaaiiii" and "biryani biryani biryani" made himself known and I was up. It was also great to see the Indian countryside as we made our way from Kerala to Goa..I felt like we were in the Jungle Book.. It was so green and beautiful!

Our Ashram experience was not only inexpensive but rejuvenating as well. The Sivananda ashram in Neyaar Dam set my mind back right.. After leaving and returning to the "real world" I missed the quiet and "me time" I was able to have there.. And at 12/day per person for food, accomodation, and 4 hours of yoga, it was really a money saver. We even got to go see things we would have not otherwise, like a backwater boat trip and a trek through the jungle to an amazing waterfall. The prices the ashram charged were way less than what we had seen elsewhere, so it was peace of mind in the financial area too! I will never forget the friends we made there, and we even met up with one of our friends who is traveling here, in Bangkok! Definitely a memorable experience.. I think everyone should take some time for themselves and check into a place like an ashram.. Even if you don't like yoga or meditation, it's a great way to step our of your comfort zone, challenge yourself, and recharge.. I can't say I've ever felt anything like it. Plus, I can do a headstand now, so I can say only positive things!

The food in India was really good, but I did get tired of eating curry based dishes for every meal. We opted to keep our Brunch/Dinner scheme going that we started at the ashram, and it made the rich, filling food more bearable... It was also a money saver because you are only buying 2 meals a day! Fish and meat dishes varied, fish being more expensive at around 500 rupees for a whole fish and sides, but you could still get a good meal for under 100 rupees, especially if it's a veggie meal. It's even cheaper in places not based on tourism.. In Trivandrum, most of our meals combined came to 300 rupees with drinks included. Putting that into perspective, $100 is close to 6,000 rupees..The beer in India ranges between 60-150 rupees dependingo brand and size, and other drinks can be more than a meal! It's usually cheaper, as it is everywhere, to visit a convenience store and pick your poison than get it at a restaurant... For me, I enjoyed the feeling from the ashram too much to overindulge in that stuff!

India definitely made it's mark on me, and because it's such a big place, I definitely think I need to visit again to see more of its people, culture, and scenery. We only visited Mumbai, Trivandrum/Kerala, and Goa.. We barely scratched the surface during our month long stay! I would love to go up north to Rishikesh, or to Jaipur, or to Pondicherry... There's so much to see and do, you would have to stay a few months to see even just the major sights. Of course, if we had booked with a tour company or the like we could have been whisked around from place to place in air conditioned buses, but I don't think we would have seen the "real" India had we done that.. I loved walking through the cities, running in the  parks and on the beach, jetting around in rickshaws, having my personal space invaded on the city buses, cycling through the madness, and really living India. There are so many things I love about the place, and so many things that are hard to look past.. The poverty, the class and sex inequality, the lack of waste control... It is hard to take in.. But once you take India for what it is, good and bad, it truly is a wonderful place with so much culture, tradition, and history. The cheerful "hellos" from the smiling locals we met time and time again will forever echo in my mind, and that is how I will remember India.

Goa

The past week has been so relaxing.. We arrived to Margao Station in Goa last Tuesday, and have enjoyed the slower pace of life and tropical beaches since. Our first two nights in Goa were spent in Palolem, a quiet little beach town with its fair share of tourists and beach shacks. Our reunion with Steph and Pete was a nice way to kick off our beach lounging week. Palolem and nearby Patnem offer long white sandy beaches and cute little beachside huts to escape the busy city life. According to the guidebooks, Palolem is where the tourists go to booze and relax, but we were happy to see lots of families and a variety of people rather than the closer-than-sardine packed beach I had envisioned... We didn't see that kind of beach until we headed up to North Goa, and luckily we were only there for half an hour!

After we departed Palolem, we got a taxi to Dona Paula, which is close to Goa's capital, Panjim. Here we had another reunion, with my Uncle Ian and Aunt Celia.. They were staying in a resort with all the amenities.. sun beds, pools, restaurants, a gym, a spa.. the works. They have been coming to Goa for years now and have stayed at the same place each time, so they know the area very well. We escaped  our usual airbnb and hostels, and opted for a nearby hotel that we got a killer deal on thanks to booking.com. The daily 15 minute walk to the fancy resort was totally worth it, as we got to hang out with my awesome family in another country!

So, needless to say, our last week has been spent reading books beachside, yoga on the beach, having tea in the room, using the nice resort amenities (yay! a gym!), and hanging with the fam. It was nice to have a "holiday" after our ashram stay.. It actually took me a couple of days to readjust to regular life.. You get so used to being regimented and having a full, active day, so when I had down time I just felt really tired. The beach was very hot too, and the Indian sun can definitely take it out of you.

We did venture out a few times from the resort... Paul and I had our first Indian bus ride experience. We headed into Panjim to see some of the historic sights and walk around.. The first time we used the bus we were able to get a seat, and it was pretty fun bouncing around and the driver hauled through the villages and over bumps at great speed. Our other bus experience to North Goa was not as comfortable, as we spent a whole 30 minute journey standing and I had to battle against an older gentleman who no matter how far I inched away from him, he kept rubbing his backside on me. I think he thought it was funny... He was one of the smallest people on the bus and somehow took up the most space.. If there's one thing I've learned about India, it's check your personal space at the door....a "bubble" doesn't exist here, especially in busy buses.

We have also been eating lots of yummy Goan food, like vindaloo (which I learned tastes very different from the imposter they sell back home), tandoori mushrooms/fish, spicy curries, and I've enjoyed having garlic and onion again, which was forbidden at the ashram! Today I had my last Indian breakfast, which keeps you full until about dinner time. Who knew curry for breakfast would be such a good idea after all? No more chana, or puri, or other flavorful vegetable concoction for breakfast in my forseeable future.. I wonder what breakfast entails in Thailand? All I know is I am about riced out and we are about to be in rice central for about 2 months! 

In other news, I am no longer ashamed to be a yoga teacher who can't get into a headstand. It took me a while to get the courage to try again without the fear of smashing my back again (which is still tender, ugh!) but the grass at the resort was a perfect place to try again. Yesterday I managed, to slowly and carefully, ease into a perfect headstand, with no help except from the watchful eye of Paul. (I did have him stand close in case I did start falling.. :) ) I was so happy! Now as long as I have a safe space with a cushy surface, I can stand on my head as much as I please.. Woohoo!