Backpacking

Laos. What did we expect? What could we expect? It is a small country, rural, and one of the least developed in the world. It has a low life-expectancy, three or four ATMs in the entire country, and more unsealed roads than you can shake a stick at. It has no border with the ocean, and the geography of the north is plagued with steep mountain cliffs and dense jungle, making urban development- and farming- quite difficult. We were braced for a difficult, frustrating, but ultimately awesome travel adventure. We came away from this small country filled with happiness and peace, colorful memories of gracious locals, and a lifetime of experiences to treasure. It truly is one of the most incredible places we have ever been.

We arrived in Laos at the very beginning of October, overland from Chiang Mai, Thailand. We travelled by local bus with Gabi, our Brazilian pal, Gosha, a Polish girl also staying at Julie's in CM, and Aussie Paul, an Australian guy we met up with on the bus. The journey to the Thai-Lao border on the Thai side was rather uneventful. Upon arrival, we walked through immigration, and boarded small, wooden boats to make the journey across the Mekong to Laos.

Crossing through Lao customs was a piece of cake (although Gosha had to pull out a map of Europe to show the officials that Poland, in fact, did exist.) The border town of Huay Xai was dusty, quiet and uneventful. We made home for the night in a small guesthouse at a whopping $3 per night for a double room.

There are many posters in Laos warning visitors against the cultural taboos they may violate during their visit. We wished more than anything that we could have gotten a copy of one of these gems. Here are some of the pictures outlining the "don'ts" of Laos:

do not touch anyone's head in Laos

do not smoke weed out of large bamboo stalks in Laos

do not make out in front of locals in Laos

Armed with all the cultural knowledge we needed and Gosha, Gabi, and Paul, we bought some BeerLao and set out for a night on the town. BeerLao, as it turns out, is pretty much the greatest national beer we've ever had. We plan to create an official fan club when we get back to the USA.

mmmmm...

The Club

enjoying some classic Lao grassy looking snacks. The perfect accompaniment to a BeerLao... or a dinner of bark?

The guesthouse we stayed at had very little bathroom doorways. We called them hobbit bathrooms:

watch your head!

The next day we made the decision along with Gabi to travel to Luang Nam Tha, a small town in far northern Laos close to the Nam Ha protected area. Laos is working with the government of New Zealand to put in place mechanisms for sustainable ecotourism, and has made great efforts to limit the impact of tourism on their natural areas. We decided this would be the perfect place to do a hill trek, so the next morning we set out for the bus station.

We were told that the bus to Luang Nam Tha left at 9:30 AM in the morning. Unfortunately, in Laos, the bus only leaves when there are enough people to fill it. If there aren't enough people, no problem! One bus just travels to ALL the cities. This meant a very long ride for Gosha, who was heading on to Luang Prabang, 16 hours from Huay Xai after dropping us off in Luang Nam Tha.

We played cards in the rain and watched the bus hit a telephone pole at the bus station until about 3:00 PM. Finally, there were enough of us for the rickety bus, and we departed.

the broken telephone pole is in the background

after seven hours of suspense, we're leaving!!

Lao water bottle. It's so true.

The journey to Luang Nam Tha took only four hours. Apparently before they sealed the road, the journey took 12 hours. Thank God for asphalt. The scenery was pretty incredible- soaring mountain peaks, and completely uninhabited tracks of wildlife and forest. The Lao locals on our bus were very friendly. The bus will pretty much stop for anyone, and pile on as many people as possible. Some friends told accounts of bus rides where chickens were running up and down the aisle, and they held people's babies on their laps.

Our first Laos bus adventure was a crash-course in features of Lao cultural travel. There are no public toilets in Laos, you simply tap the bus driver's shoulder and he'll pull off the road. Everyone runs out of the bus and assumes squatting positions in the surrounding fields. You have to take care not to wander too far, though, because being the most heavily bombed country in the history of warfare, there is still a lot of unexploded ordinance (land mines) about.

When we arrived in Luang Nam Tha it was already past dark. We made our way to our guesthouse (a squeaky-clean haven at only $5 per night) and set about booking a trek for the next two days. We wanted to take a trek and do a homestay in one of the ethnic minority tribal villages in the hills of the Nam Ha PA. Once the tour was booked we were off to bed and then on to the next great adventure.

That morning we were greeted with a steady, grey rain, and picked up by pick-up truck to travel with our guide and porters to the trailhead. Enter Laura, the fourth member of our little expedition. Laura is from Ireland, and absolutely hilarious.

The trek we chose was challenging. It covered 35 km in two days and involved about 7-9 hours of walking per day. The leeches that were constantly trying to wriggle into our socks, pants, shirts and everything else were an added bonus to the rain and general discomfort of the beginning hours. We actually found leeches on our faces, and in our underwear, which was alarming (not to mention confounding... how did they get in there??)... new thresholds, new thresholds. The scenery that unfolded was simply breath-taking, though, and our guides kept the spirit light.

We stopped for meal breaks in the jungle or in simply wooden huts. The food we ate was all from the jungle, and absolutely delicious. A staple in all Lao cuisine is sticky rice, which you lump together and use as a spoon to dip sauces and meats. You have to watch out for killer-fiery chillies, though, which are typically buried like landmines in otherwise mild dishes.

The path was extremely deserted and remote. During the entire trek we only saw one or two other people in the woods. What a wonderful solace!

our trekking group: Megan, Gabi, Laura, Catt and our guide

That night we arrived at an Akha village, where we slept. The Akha are a tribe that live in northern Laos. The women can be identified most easily by the black caps they wear, which are very plain at birth and are decorated with elaborate silver coins and other ornamental pieces as they become older and pass different life milestones. The Akha villages can be identified by their "spirit gates" which sit high on the hill, usually overlooking the village. It is believed that through the gate exists the spirit world, and the other side of the gate is the human realm. The village they live in itself was unreal- limited to no electricity, 7 hours' walk from the closest road, mud-floored huts. We built a fire for cooking, light, and heat in our hut, and washed in the river (there is no running water; they boil river water for drinking). Washing in the mud with leeches added an interesting, new dimension to our experience, to say the least. We sat down to a delicious jungle meal (by candlelight) and Lao-Lao, firey Lao whiskey. We also had a chance to meet with villagers in their homes, and hang out with some girls from the village, who offered us dried bean seeds as presents. I had brought crayons as a present for the children, and they in turn presented us with a large squash (vegetable). Another interesting point you may notice in the pictures are the reddish gums and teeth of many of the villagers. They chew bettle-nut, which turns their saliva and teeth a dark red colors. Anyway, here are some pictures from our visit to the village, and our trek in the Nam Ha Protected Area:

Megan and Laura getting some light from a headlamp

dinner is served

Akha girls from the village

the Akha village from a distane

Akha grandmother and granddaughter. You can see the difference between their hats

A typical Akha villager's home

The tiny houses on stilts are Akha "love shacks." Each hut with a son has one. It's for the boy to use for... well, love shacking. They're really about the size of a coffin, only. Pretty cozy

This village's spirit gate

A waterfall we passed on our trek

Megan and Gabi during the trek

Megan with the waterfall

hut where we ate lunch. Normally this structure is used for storing rice

Lunch for the locals... crabs from the river!

Jungle lunch served on a giant leaf

Home-made chopsticks for lunch... our guide literally whittled these from bamboo right before the meal...

Our lunch hut for Day 2

a view from the trail...

Our trusty and knowledgeable guide...

The home stretch... crossing rice fields after 15 hours of walking

The next day after the trek we bid farewell to Gabi, and Laura joined us for a motorcycle ride in the countryside surrounding Luang Nam Tha. This was our first time riding a motorbike, and we loved it! You feel like you're flying. Apart from a little spill in the mud at the end of the day, all went well.

Pictures:

More to come on Laos!

When were we going to get around to writing an entry on beloved Elephant Nature Park, the animal highlight of our trip to Thailand? Many fellow travelers and friends, too, have been subjected to Megan's teary-eyed testimonial on the gentle giants that live up in a the hills 40 minutes outside of Chiang Mai. The story of Elephant Nature Park is as inspiring as the histories of these great animals are chilling. The following is some background quoted from the ENP website, www.elephantnaturepark.org:

Elephant Nature Park is a unique project set in Northern Thailand. Established in the 1990's our aim has always been to provide a sanctuary and rescue centre for elephants. The park is set in Chiang Mai province, some 60km from the city, and has provided a sanctuary for over 30 distressed elephants from all over Thailand. Set in a natural valley, bordered by a river, and surrounded by forested mountains the area offers a timeless glimpse of rural life.

The founder, Lek, a small, energetic woman filled with almost tangibly-radiant energy, was recognized for her humane work with the elephants as Time Magazine Asia Hero 2005, among other accolades. She was able to fund the park's creation with an anonymous donation from a wealthy Texas businessman. She has since worked passionately to rescue Thailand's retired, abused and downtrodden working elephants and provides them a place to live with dignity at the park. A visit to the park is just as much about educating visitors as it is about playing with the elephants and seeing them up close- we learned about the background stories of many elephants while feeding them their breakfast and washing them in the river. The great thing about the nature park is that it allows visitors to see elephants just being elephants... no "treks" atop exhausted animals, no having to watch them paint and play ball with one another (which may seems harmless enough, but they are actually tortured into learning to submit to their mahouts when requested to do things such as pick up a paint brush, step into a harness for carrying trekkers, etc). Whether or not the average tourist realizes it, a typical visit to see elephants in Thailand usually involves a fair amount of elephant exploitation. At Elephant Nature Park, the elephants reap the benefit.

Us with Lek, founder of Elephant Nature Park

Lek with the elephants

The work Lek is doing to awaken awareness about the ancient training practice of the "phajaan" was featured in a National Geographic documentary, which was shown at the end of our visit. It is incredibly painful and difficult to watch, but serves as an important educational tool. The phajaan (which literally means "crush" in Thai), is a "violent, ritualized separation and breaking ceremony dating back hundreds of years" (nat geo) in which young elephants' spirits are broken in a physical torture lasting three to seven days. They are separated from their mothers and clan, forced into a tiny pen, and brutalized by taunting, stabbing, sleep and food deprivation and other sorts of torture at the hands of villagers and mahouts. The purpose of this ceremony is to train the elephants to always submit to their human handlers (mahouts) and obey when given an order from a human (for when they work in the logging, trekking, or street begging industries, later on in life). It is believed that so badly are their spirits distorted during this process, that afterwards no elephants that knew them before (including their mothers) will ever recognize them again. As horrendous as this all sounds, the documentary and Lek go to great efforts to present it in an unbiased, culturally-sensitive context. She is desperate to change opinion on the phajaan by showing that elephants can be trained more effectively through positive reinforcement, instead. She is experimenting on the babies at the nature park with this new method, and we were able to witness some of their tricks through positive reinforcement training during our visit. The concept is simple enough- instead of training them through torture and intimidation, they are rewarded with a snack or a pat after obeying their mahouts. If anything, the technique works too well- babies eager to get another banana kiss anyone's cheek in sight. Even those of us who are unsuspecting:

mmmm...

the trunk trick...

We decided to visit the park for a full day. Although it was very expensive compared with other activites in northern Thailand, it was definitely very much worth it. In the morning we were taken by van from Chiang Mai out into the countryside. The elephants are free to roam on a rather sizeable piece of land, and you can see them as you drive in (there are no fences) all about. We were first briefed on the history and background of the park before being taken outside to feed them, bathe them, and just generally watch them hang out as we listened to stories from our guide. One of the greatest aspects of the visit is hearing the stories of the different elephants while simultaneously observing them. One elephant is blind as a result of abuse she suffered as a logging elephant. She has befriended another older female at the park who acts as her "eyes", taking care that she is okay during bathing time and in social settings. Hearing this story while watching the two friends bathe together in the river together was unforgettable for us. Also interestingly, even though none of the animals are blood-related, they naturally form family groups and hierarchies, to which they adhere in eating, sleeping, and everything in between.

Visitors are only allowed to come into physical contact with the animals twice- during bathing time in the river, and during feeding time. Our guide, Nadia, showed us how to feed the elephants bananas and watermelons by handing the fruit to them, via their trunks. Amazing feeling to hand-feed an elephant!

hungry!

...and during bath-time, as well:

All in all, it was an amazing visit. Here are some of the many pictures we took, for you to enjoy.

one of them was apparently feeling a little frisky the day we were there...

If you are interested in learning more about Elephant Nature Park and the great work they do for Thailand's elephants, check out their website:

www.elephantnaturepark.org

And in the meantime, be a responsible traveller- say no to elephant treks, shows, and the like.

We flew into Chiang Mai ready for relaxation, culture, and cooking school. From the moment we were picked up from the airport by our friendly (female!) cabbie, we knew this would be a great place to hang our backpacks for a few days.

We ended up staying at Julie's Guesthouse, a mainstay in the CM backpacker scene. For the first time... well, almost ever, we found ourselves in a mostly singles, buzzing backpacker scene. Probably a good thing for us, as we'd been getting a little lazy about the nightlife lately. Julie's has lots of funky decor- hammocks and multi-colored cushions, bright, flowery wall-murals, golden and bronze Buddha images, and a "help yourself!" beer cooler. We spent our first few days hanging out in the common area playing Gin Rummy, and scouting new traveler friends. We sure enough found them our third night, when Ricky (another American guy) introduced us to a whole international crew of fellow travelers from Poland to Brazil. Enter Gabriela Werner, or Gabi, from southern Brazil, who would become our travel buddy and adventure confidante for the next few weeks. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

We started out by taking a leisurely stroll through Chiang Mai to check out some of the temples and architecture. Chiang Mai is famous as the most culturally significant city in northern Thailand, and the temples did not disappoint. Here are some pictures:

Wat Phan Tao

in front of the Chiang Mai Arts and Cultural Center

Wat Chiang Man

sometimes it's "no" to the ladies at the wats...

Wat Chiang Man Interior

As usual in Thailand, many of the wats are home to a menagerie of dogs, cats, monkeys, etc. The monks take care of all.

One of our other favorite things about Chiang Mai was the food. Street food in Thailand is great to begin with; in Chiang Mai it's so good that it's almost other-worldly. Green curry, pad thai, satay, anything you want is available cheaply, freshly, and most importantly, conveniently.

eating at the night market

satay skewers at the night markets of Chiang Mai

hungry for some fried insects, anyone?

random sign

All of the street food prepared us for the ultimate culinary adventure, cooking school! Ever since Catt's cousin, Jenni, raved to us about her culinary experience in Chiang Mai, we couldn't wait to take a country-side cooking course. Our explosively cheerful, pint-sized, encouraging teacher took us to markets first, and then to the countryside to explore her farm's organic garden and roll up our sleeves. We spent the afternoon up to our elbows in green curry, tom yam soup, spring rolls, coconut milk with bananas, and other delicious dishes. When we finished, we enjoyed our creations on the farm. Bonus? Opportunity to take pictures of Catt in a sombrero-like chef's hat.

Pictures:

at the Chiang Mai market

raw chickens at the market

different kinds of rice for sale

learning about the differences between different kinds of curry paste

learning about string beans in the cooking school garden

Megan rocking the cooking school couture

Catt in the hat

Here are some pictures of us attempting to re-create some Thai classics:

the victim

afterwards... on the way to becoming green curry

finished product

slicing and dicing

we could almost be on food network...

tom yam soup

frying up spring rolls

Catt with his completed meal

our group, eating

During our time at the cooking school, we got to meet Washington state-cum-Hawaiian couple, Josh and Irena. Irena was six months pregnant and travelling through Thailand like an old pro! Congrats on the soon arrival, guys! Josh and Irena also referred us to Elephant Nature Park (more to come on that), which turned out to be one of our favorite experiences in all of Thailand. See next entry.