Nick - To Happy Endings!

Well this is my last blog post for this trip. What can I say, it has been one incredible ride. From Pho on the streets of Saigon to raging river parties of Laos, and finally to rubbing the belly of a 500 lbs Tiger, what a trip. For those of you who have faithfully followed our adventures thank you soo much and I hope you enjoyed reading about them... and without further adue..

Chiang Mai is incredible! Yesterday I got out and toured around the city. I found the popular bar strip, and while walking a very nice Thai tuk tuk driver offered to take me around the city for only 50 Baht ($1.20). I agreed and away we went. I visited several Buddhist temples and as always I was astonished at their decor, Catholicism doesn't hold a candle to Buddhist extravagance. We followed the old riverways and looked at some of the strongholds around the city than, inevitably my tuk tuk driver took me to a jewelery store, leather store, bamboo shop, trinket shop, etc (tuk tuks get a commission for brining their fares to these places as I later was told). Then I settled in for a good night's rest because since I arrived in Chiang Mai I have been having horrible headaches. (for Mateo y Lidia - Lo hice! "Cuando deseas alguna cosa, todo el universo conspira para puedas realizarla!")

Today was an exciting day. I decided to go a bit over budget and go to the Tiger Kingdom to pet a Tiger. The ride was short and I arrived at yet again a very Jurrasic Park themed park. I was the only tourist (again) and the whole staff was there to greet me. Being that funds were low I could only opt for the "Smallest Tigers & Biggest Tigers" caged tours. Of course after I tell them what i want I have to sign a waiver that read.. "Should you receive injuries, be maimed, or die we are not...", I looked up at the cute Thai woman behind the desk and asked if they have ever had any problems with eaten tourists, she just smiled and pushed the form towards me... This was the first thing that made me nervous. Then I got my tickets and went through the gates. They must have had over 60 tigers in cages there. It was unreal. I was concerned because some of the larger tigers where enclosed in 10ft chain-linked fence (no barbed wire at the top, nor roof of any kind, remember these are cats that can climb trees..). Most of the tigers just laid about but there were a few that took immediate interest at new and supple prey/tourist that wondered aimlessly into their territory. I could feel their eyes on me and I swear some of them were even lick their lips. I scooted in the direction of the cubs' cage and was met by to very energetic young Thai who let me straight into the cage with the cubs. Imagine the largest cat you have ever seen... now quadruple it, they you have an idea of how big these 2 month old cubs were. I immediately noticed that their front arms were double the size of their hind legs (about the with of my calf [I have big calves]). I got to play at will with them because I was the first and only guest of the day. They were cute and vicious at the same time. the staff snapped off a few pictures and I had to say goodbye to these soon-to-be man eaters. Again walking between the tiger cages and areas more of them were awake. I passed by the small tigers (100 lbs), the the medium tigers (200 lbs), then the large tigers (300 lbs), and the cage of the beasts I would be entering lay around the next bend. And then I saw them. 2 brothers each weighing ~500 lbs lounging about. At the enterance to the cage I was met by three trainers (one looked to be about 500 lbs too named "Tiny"). They started off by asking me if I had any experience with tigers...(I had to think..). Next they walk me through the dos and don'ts pretty straight forward (don't act like a wounded animal, establish dominance, when you touch the tiger do not do it softly..). Needless to say I was left with a feeling of (ME! establish dominance over TWO 500 lbs TIGERS?!?) So they let me into the cage laughing about something in Thai (reassuring.). I walked with semi-confidence towards the twins thinking "this will make for a funny story at my funeral". I approached "Meatball" from behind and started petting his belly (firmly), he rolled to his back a stretched like a happy 500 lbs kitty. His brother "Dumpling" meanwhile got up and (eying me the whole time) made his way to the pool for a refreshing dip. One of the trainers agreed to enter and take some pictures which may have been a bad move because the others trying agitating Meatball so he would smile for the camera (ps- next time I WILL bring a better camera). He only yawned once, flashing his surprisingly white but razer sharp I'm-definitely-not-in-the-mood-for-this-today-guys teeth. That was enough for me. At the encouragement of the trainers I approached Dumpling who had not taken his eyes off me since I entered and sat at the edge of the pool (HIS pool), at this he got up and meandered towards me and stood up quickly and could hear Shawn William Scott from "The Rundown" screaming "Establish dominance! Establish dominance!" in my head. So as calmly as I could I walked around to Dumpling's flank and gave him a hard pat on the back. Luckily a trainer got a good shot of this because I don't think Dumpling was super-stoked about it. After that I stepped out, read some fun facts about Tiger Kingdom and left. What a rush! I developed my film and that camera sucks so sorry about the quality of the pictures.

Now all I have left is to start studying for Histology 101 and catch my flight tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening! And GO TO SE ASIA!!! IT WILL ROCK YOUR WORLD!!!! Cheers!

ps- I enjoy comments!

Nick - Elephants and Rambo

After yesterday's cooking class I walked around a bit and found out that there is a famous weekend market here. The whole city turns into a giant market and the streets are filled with musicians. I had some gift shopping to do so I ventured further into the bowls of the city. Anything you could imagine was for sell here and CHEAP! One of my most memorable moments in this market happened while I was walking down a particularly packed street when over the cities PA system they asked everyone to please rise for the Thai national anthem and as the music started EVERYONE stopped moving and talking at once. It was like out of a thriller movie with zombies, aside from the music you could hear a pin drop anywhere in the city! And as it finished everyone started to move again as if nothing happened. I finished shopping (man-o-man funds are low...) and returned to my hotel for a quiet evening.

This morning I woke up early to catch my shuttle. It arrived and I was informed that I would be the only customer all day. I was a little bummed but at least I would get to see some elephants. We arrived at the elephant camp and to my surprise there were hundreds of elephants! Babies to full grown adults. It had a very Jurassic Park feel to it as the gates and aisle-ways were super tall. The rioting must have hit this region pretty hard because I only counted 5 other tourists. The elephant I was to ride was ironically called "Dumbo" and the driver "Cookie". We set off through the jungle and a slow pace, I can't describe well enough the sheer awesomeness of seeing herds of elephants roaming around freely. These are (excuse the pun) mammoth-size creatures that shake the ground as they walk. I took more photos with my disposable (God I hope they turn out) and since I was the only tourist on the trek the driver let me drive for a little while; which involved kicking the side of my elephant's head and shouting mean sounding Thai words at him. But I made it up to him by buying bananas and sugarcane at every stand. Dumbo and I got to be great friends. The mountain biking was lame but then we jumped into a safari truck and drove about an hour straight into the heart of the jungle where we met the rafting camp. Again because I was he only one they gave me and extra hour (which means we went to the head of the river) and we had to use a canoe (inflatable rapid canoe). My captain was a psycho looking Thai man with a hint of we're-going-down-in-a-blaze-of-glory about him. We set off with my guide shouting some funny comment like "try not to lose this one ok!?". The scenery was heart-stopping (picture scenes from Rambo, Anaconda I) my ears were riddled with jungle noises: monkeys, birds, elephants, and it smelled thick with life. All of a sudden a tropical down pour hit us which drown out the jungle banter and....Let's just say it was THEE most spectacular spectacle I have ever witnessed (Matt I am going to kill you for leaving early!). Drifting calmly down the river I asked if there were any alligators or crocodiles to which my guide said "no, anacondas yes". Then came the rapids...

We had been practicing Thai commands: left "say", Right "Khwa", get down "Lng", when he said "here come first rapid". It was pure chaos (in a fun/terrifying way), water was coming from all directions someone was shouting Thai and someone else was wishing they spoke it. What a RUSH! Occasionally he wold tell me "careful." which I quickly learned meant "after we go careening down this next waterfall there will be a rock in the middle that you will smash into so please do take the necessary preparations." It only took two times before I learned that "careful" = bend knees, brace for impact, broken toe will hurt no matter what. But we made it through relatively unscathed. Limping up the trail (the river wasn't so high yet so i received a few unexpected rock bumps in a few unexpected places) my captain (named Boots) told me I was a natural and should consider a job there. Ya right!

Tomorrow I play with baby and full grown tigers so in case anything should happen I love you all and please play "Eye of the Tiger" at my funeral. :)

Matt: This is the end...Beautiful friend

Well this is a depressing title for blog, but hey, it's the end of my journey. I am sitting in a FREE internet cafe in Seoul, South Korea airport with a 12 hour layover til my flight to Seattle takes off. I also used FREE internet computers in the Bangkok airport. I wish the states would get itself together and start providing free internet computers in airports. We're all in agreement that a society that can communicate cheaply is a good thing for business and/or hapiness, right? I left Bangkok airport at 12:30 am on Monday and will travel for 31 hours to get back to Seattle on Monday around noon. Crazy what happens when you cross the international date line. I am oficially on the back leg of my trip, which has to be the worst. The anticipation of going to a new place is far behind me, and I am coming back without anyone to talk to. No me gusta.

I can't wait to get home. When I arrive in Seattle I am catching a shuttle out to Nick's sister's and brother-in-law's place in Bellingham to stay the night. Then the next morning I will grab a 4:00 am shuttle back to SEA-TAC and catch my first of two flights that will take me to Denver, to finally collapse in the Rav4 with mom and dad and relax in sunny Colorado. Grandmary, Granddad, and Havah will be there too which will make for a great group to dump my stories and photos on.

My last day in Bangkok was spent souvenir shopping, eating, reading, and getting a tattoo. Since before leaving El Salvador I had really considered putting permanent ink on my body to memorialize my time there. In southeast Asia I was able to put my experience in perspective with Nick; talk about what I had done and what I had experienced; meet some great travellers who gave me their experiential advice on getting tat-ed. I had a buddy of mine help me with a design that was simple and would remind me of where I lived, who I lived with, how they lived, and what I learned from that. I chose the cuma, the Salvadoran sickle, the first tool that I ever owned in El Salvador, and a tool that almost never left my hand while on the mountain. It is the campesino's machete. The means in which he prepares his field to grow his family's food; in which he chops the wood used to heat the stove to prepare the tortillas; in which he harvests his corn, bananas, sorghum, etc. A farmer's cuma is his best friend, his livelihood, his most reliable asset outside of his family and without it, he doesn't eat, has no work, and is socially useless. A harsh reality. This symbol is a reminder to me of the back-breaking work it takes to have a family while living in a completely marginalized community. I hope it will always remind me that anything I want in life, I must work hard for it. As well as be a constant reminder of the many opportunities I have had in my life.

I love it. The artist did a very good job protraying the image of the cuma. A tattoo is something big for me. I have never until now had body art of any kind. You can deduce how big of a decision this was for me. And for the record, it stung pretty bad, but honestly while laying on the table getting needled, to counter the pain I thought of the most painful sensations I had during Peace Corps, like digging earth with a pick-ax for eight hours until my hands were comlpetely blistered and the blisters ripped off and throbbed with pain, or when I had the bot-fly larva growing in my wrist and ankle which would wake me up in the middle of the night as they burrowed around in my flesh and stuck their heads out to breathe...those kinds of pain. That quickly deafened the prickly-hot electricution sensation I had when getting tattooed. It all felt right.

So I will leave that as that big news in this entry. I know my family will be surprised to see me with new additions to my olive epidermis. My friends as well. They will be even more surprised to see it drawn right on my forehead...just kidding.

Nick - Chiang Mia how fun!

Yet again the overnight train proved to be useless. I couldn't sleep a wink but at least I was comfortable. There was a dramatic change in landscape from flat, dry, and hot to hilly, cool, and forested. It reminded me of northern La Union. Chiang Mai is a very quaint and quiet little town. I am staying in the backpacker district which is aptly named because it is soooo cheap here (at least 1/2 to 1/4 the price of Bangkok). There are very few travelers here which has driven the prices down. Yesterday was a relaxing day (in part because I horrifically jammed my already broken big toe setting out to explore). But the next few days should prove to be fun. Today i'm taking a Thai cooking class and tomorrow I am off to white water raft/ride elephants/mountain bike, then the following day I either will play with tigers or zipline through the jungle's canopy. It does suck doing all of it alone (Mateo.......) and I won't have photos to share until I return so you will just have to read. Also last night's soccer match between USA and England made me realize that we suck at soccer as a country. But thank God for English goalkeepers and their notorious rep for choking at the world cup!

Later that day…

So today I went in for my Thai cooking class at The Best Thai Cookery School. I was picked up by my instructor a cute little Thai woman named Boom. She was unbelievably sarcastic which made the whole experience a blast. There wer only 4 other people in my class which made it all the better because we didn’t have to compete to take photos or ask questions or any of that. I was able to pick 7 dishes from 14 to learn (it could have been more if I had a travel buddy), so I picked chicken in coconut milk soup, chicken with cashew nut, green curry with shrimp, Pad Thai, papaya salad, spring rolls in plum sauce, and sticky rice with mango. Our first stop was the market to buy fresh veggies and learn about strange new foods. I was the class guinea pig because, let’s face it, I’ll eat anything. I sampled fermented duck eggs, the hottest chili pepper in all of Thailand, fetus eggs (won’t tell you what that is.), snake, and many strange fruits (including one called Jasmine which smells like a dead corpse but tastes sweet [in fact it smells so bad few hotels allow it]). She was impressed with my knowledge of foods and preparation (props to Mom for all of the Baby Bok Choy, Chinese eggplant, and lemon grass). Once we bought all of the ingredients we set off toward the cooking school. We arrive at this off-the-beaten-track school where we have our own cooking stations and aprons. Boom starts off by showing us the secret to cooking Jasmine Rice which was.. sorry you’re going to have to fly all the way to Thailand to learn that one… Then we started on the soups, which were comprised of simple yet rare ingredients and after we completed the soup I sampled mine and nearly fell over it tasted so amazing. Boom is a very odd teacher; one minute she is giving you praise then the next she is slapping your hand as if to say “bad dog, no touch!”. I can tell that the others in the class have never cooked for themselves (lighting a high gas stove with their face directly over it, cutting their fingers while dicing the onions, etc..). Boom was also impressed with my uncanny ability to be unmoved by spicy food so she kept dumping peppers, and hot spices into my dishes and smirking at me, but each time I ate without a hint of displeasure and every time she asked me “why you no live in Thailand” to which I replied “I don’t know, Nick no talk Thai?”. All of the other dishes were mindbogglingly delicious. Our kitchen was soon saturated with intense smells and light banter. I chatted with my fellow chefs and learn two were from Israel and two from England (to which I gave much thanks for their goalie in last night’s game). One of the Israeli girls was Kosher which sort of threw Boom for a loop. This chick had brought all of her own cookware! For the grand finale Boom showed us how to fire sear our stir fry. Now she gave us the demonstration first the new were supposed to follow if we wanted. Her demonstration went like this: she super heat a wok of oil threw in garlic with its peel on (“so peel burn no garlic inside burn”), she tilted her wok slightly away from herself and said “very easy, very danger, same same” and proceeded to add chicken with water which acted as a catalyst for an immense fireball that erupted from her wok sending a Mt. St. Helens-like heat wave hurtling towards us. After the smoke cleared and over turned chairs from the scared onlookers were righted, there stood Boom behind a wok filled with the most mouthwatering stir fry know to man with a huge grin saying “you see now, very easy”. There were only two souls brave enough to attempt such a mortal cooking technique, myself and one of the British girls. We took our positions behind our woks and after some brief instructions from Boom we were ready (I of course was a sweaty mess at the thought of my body hair + hot oil = extremely flammable). With a quick flick of the wrist we had two fireballs of our own which were tempered only by the roaring applause and whooping of our classmates. At the end of the class we all sat together and toasted over our prepared food to a job well done. Boom gave each of us a cook book and a certificate and we snapped a few photos and said farewell. I hope my pictures come out! Tomorrow is white water rafting, elephant riding, and biking! See you soon!

Matt: Solo in Bangkok (aka Tribute to my former travelling buddy/Peace Corps crutch)

Today was my first day travelling alone since I left mom and dad in Denver. From the moment i landed in Seattle Nick was there to pick me up and from there our adventures began. I put him on the cab yesterday and to be honest it felt a little surreal, a little like it wasn't really happening. It felt kind of like it did when I left El Salvador a month ago... I didn't really feel much. And I can't explain why. Maybe it is because for the past three years Nick and I have been seeing each other and saying goodbye for a few weeks, then seeing each other and saying goodbye, repeating this over and over, so I feel like the same will happen now, though I know it won't. Nick is off to Seattle then Alaska to start med school and I will be in Indiana trying to jump-start my life again. Needless to say, I miss the guy.

He has been the best travel buddy. The boy is fearless. He made this trip an adventure because he, like me, likes to try new things. And that's why we travelled so well together. That and because we don't mind going with the flow in developing countries where everything is uncertain and things quickly and often go awry. From his unbelievable cravings for burn-your-culo-spicy food, to his no-holds-bar form of bartering on the streets which often led to extremely pissed-off OR extremely amused sellers, to his impeccable knack for finding a good deal, his gift as conversation-starter and crowd entertainer, Nick has kept me happy and on my toes this whole trip.

Hopefully he is doing well up north in Chiang Mai. All I know is that today in Bangkok, it sucked. I woke up and did the routine morning rituals: showered, looked for food, shook off 18 different people trying to sell me suits, trinkets, and sex, and then back to my room to plan my day. I grabbed a random city bus seeing where it would take me, and it brought me to the busiest market in Bangkok, The Chatuchak Weekend Market. It supposedly has over 200,000 visitors a day, though all the merchandise that is sold is geared towards tourists and middle-class Thai. It wasn't the humongous market I was expecting to see that supplied all the lower-class with their basic living items, like I was so used to in El Salvador. Needless to say, I had to peruse and piddle about by myself. I tried a new soup, which was quite good and very authentic. In fact, I could not name even one of the five ingredients that were in that dish. They all looked and tasted completely new. I don't know when that will happen again. And I have only been used to eating new things with Nico. There was no one to share the experience with, and that didn't feel right. I finished the mid-day ceremonies by grabbing a cab back to the hostel, fast, because my stomach was achy and I barely made it to the bathroom in time. Now I am killing time until it's time to eat, and then time to watch the USA v England game at 1:30 tonight. I will cheer alone :(

So a toast to Nick, the best support I have had away from home for the past three years. I miss you buddy. Travelling without you is about as fun as sitting on a bus in San Miguel as the cobradors search for passengers and I sit and melt in the depressing 110 degree heat, wondering when this thing will move and I will be going home.

Safe travels.

and go USA!

Nick - Alone...... :(

It was a sad day in the capital of Thailand. Mateo and I did our best to fill the hours before my departure but alas the time came. I had a half an hour before taking a taxi to the train station so we decided to have one last memorable walk along the touristy street. Grabbing some refreshing beers at the local 711 we set off at a slow pace each remembering the experiences shared over the past 3 years. We exchanged stories, memories, laughs, and our own words of wisdom. It was truly a picturesque moment as the sun set and the street vendors came to life. We waded through the throngs of tourists only to be stopped by the occasional suit salesman who, upon realizing who we were (we had been walking this beat for the past 4 days and everyday refused to buy) foolishly bowed away. The cool beers and light conversation seemed to fend off the sweltering heat of the city. Mateo and i have known each other for the past 3 years and looking back we realize that between Peace Corps and this trip we have been on one incredible ride. From the first days of training and struggling with language to living in adobe huts to beaches, gang violence, natural disasters, etc we made it through. And through all of it we have cultivated a grand friendship. The moment finally arrived and I hailed one of Bangkok's flaming pink cabs hugged Mateo goodbye, told him affectionately to "stay safe" and "always use protection" and drove off into gridlock traffic.

I must take a moment here to tell those of you who don't know Matthew Beyrouty a little about him. Mateo helped get me through Peace Corps, both of us have experienced both the best and worst sides humanity has to offer and have pulled through miraculously stronger than ever in our beliefs. Mateo is one of the kindest and most dedicated people I have ever met. Even as his service has ended he still strives to help those in need in El Salvador. He is the kind of guy that would give you the shirt off his back and back you up in a fight (maybe not win; but at least be there). He is wicked smart and aspires to help others as a doctor someday and I know he would make a fantastic doctor.
To Mateo: Muchisimas gracias por todo hombre. Eres un amigo incredible y tienes toda mi confianza. ¡Hasta Brazil!

So after a nerve twisting cab ride in gridlock traffic with only 1 hour to catch my train my cabby pulled some amazingly illegal maneuvers and got me to the station with time to spare. I went for some Pad Thai (half the price and double the size over where we were staying) and boarded my sleeper train.

Matt: Crossing a semi-busy street in Hanoi

Matt: I can't believe this could be...the end

Nick is leaving me. After bickering and pleading with Air Asia, trying to get them to change my flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, with no avail, Nick and I have come to our final day of travelling with a buddy. I will be stuck in central Thailand for the next few days until I fly home while Nick will head up on the train to Chiang Mai tonight. I don't really know how I am going to be able to travel without him now. He has been my security blanket/adventurous eater pal/bar mate/other-hairy-guy etc. for this trip and someone I am glad I had to share the experiences of SE Asia with for the past month. I am going to miss him.

Bangkok is a very modern city with beautiful new skyscrapers and light rail systems and McDonalds and Starbucks all around. It is not cheap. In fact, it is the most expensive place we have been on this trip. The food and beer are two to three times what we were paying in Vietnam and the hostels are twice as expensive. Of course we are staying in the most touristy part of town, but still, the name "Backpacker alley" should carry with it a bit of sensibility towards economic travelling. We have discoverred that Bangkok is a great place for shopping. They have thousands of t-shirts for sale on every street, incense, arts, massage parlors, clothing, bags, and more, and it is tempting to go berzerk and spend spend spend! We have shopped a little bit but now that our departure dates are closing in we'll probably be hitting the shops for some last minute souvenirs.

Last night we were taken out to eat with Gift, the sister of my good friend Gale from school. She took us to a trendy trasitional Thai restaurant in the business district and treated us to some amazing food. Nick already mentioned what we ate so I won't write about it, but I will say it was a meal we will never forget. Gift was a wonderfful host and hopefully I will see her again before I fly out. I told her that when she visits Indiana I will take her to eat traditional Hoosier food, which i guess is a steak or a cheeseburger or green bean casserole. She drove us around and we sent to a night-time market and even passed through the area of the city where the protestors had been holed-up for so long. We saw the giant shopping center that had been burnt down. It was so strange to be in the exact place where dozens of people had been killed only three weeks before, and to see nothing but business-as-usual traffic and realize that life goes on here. Gift, however, along with many other Thais, believe that what happened here divided the country and there could be more protests in the future once the water has settled from this last bout. We're safe though.

So in an hour I give Nick a big hug and put him on the cab that will take him to the train that will carry him up north. It has been an amazing adventure with him. We have so many stories. So many that weren't put into words on this blog, but ones we will always have. I will miss the guy.

Until next time.

Nick - Alas The Two Amigos Say Farewell

We have spent far too much time in this crazy city. The other night a sister of a friend of a friend of Mateo's picked us up from downtown Bangkok and treated us to an extravagant dinner at one of the local businessman eateries. We let Gift (that's her name) take the wheel and order for all of us. The dinner consisted of mind blowing green curry followed by a colorful assortment of the local veggies, and local fish that was fried and came with a most peculiar sauce that was a mix of both sour and spicy. We ended the dinner with two very distinct desserts a green tea jello and a black tea jello both were very interesting.... Yesterday was filled with planning and arraigning for our next step in this trip. Unfortunately Mateo's flight from Ho Chi Mien City was not cancelled like mine so he doesn't have a free flight and he is leaving in 2-3 days where as I am here another week so we must part ways today.. :( I am heading up to Chiang Mai and he is heading to a town closer to Bangkok. We have had a blast together and it will be hard to say goodbye. So we decided to live it up a little yesterday and to our surprise there was a HUGE World Cup Celebration along our street. This included a horde of school children carrying flags from all of the participating nations, an armada of specialized motorcycles, a fleet of tricked-out cars, and, my personal favorite, dancing/soccer playing elephants!! I got a big-ole smooch from one of them too! I attached a video and I hope it is the right one of them dancing, if not I will post it later. But the whole street came alive and everyone celebrated together. Tomorrow is our last day together so you will have the opportunity to follow our separate adventures! Stay tuned for more action!!!

Nick - Whats the capital of Thailand?

Well sorry about not writing for a while but yet again we are in an area with limited access to Internet. The overnight train from Laos though comfertable, did not warrant us a wink of sleep. That and the fact I picked up a small cold made the ride downright misrable. But we arrived! Bangkok! This city personifies the tourism industry. With tuk tuks afoot and sketchy Thais asking if we want to see the infamous "ping pong peep show" we are constantly bombarded by street venders and suit salesmen. Though annoying one must stand in utter awe at their persistancy. It is hot but all of this pales in comparison to the food. With all-you-can-stuff-your-face-with Pad Thai sold on every street corner and curry so spicy it will have your culo cringing even before the first bite we are in heaven. It is true that southeast Asia has become not only a spiritual venter bun a culinary one as well. Fresh off the train and exhausted we piled into one of Bangkok's pink taxis where we bargained the price despite there being a meter. We arrived at tourist centro and still at 6am the smut peddlers were still lingering. Thailand has proven to be the most expensive part of our trip yet we finally locate a "cheap" hostel and collapse on the used mattresses. When we awoke we immediatly set upon the streets. Everything looked inticing y todavia no sé que compraré para mi mujer... But some shirts we saw that are worth noting here, "If you Google MySpace I'll YouTube your Yahoo" Mateo really wanted so get the shirt "sorry ladies I'm gay" but fourtunetly I talked him down from that cliff. Then randomly during our travels we met a Thai man that informed us that the king had recently visited and subsidized the Tuk tuks for the day. This mention we could see all of the sights in the city for only 20 Baht! So we hailed one down and got to see the 45m Buddha and a monk that held so still Mateo thought he was fake (but I saw him blink). We went out to some bars and drank with some interesting people. Hopefully tomorrow we will get out of this city and explore more of the region. Thanks for listening!

Matt: In Thailand?

Yep, we're in Thailand. Yesterday we arrived in Bangkok after taking an all-night train from the Lao-Thai border and have had a taste of Thai already. You might be wondering if it's safe to be here now, and the answer is "Yes." The protests and "open fire" zones that had once paralyzed Bangkok and left security in doubt in the minds of many have been over for a couple of weeks now. We have met numerous travellers in Vietnam and Laos who had been in Thailand during and after the manifestations, and told us that the city is safe. We felt we had to finally make it back to see our first port of entry in a little more depth, though it would be in less the time that we had hoped to spend here.

Thailand is a country we have heard so much about. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, with amazing beaches, beautiful textiles and cheap tailored clothing, as well as an astounding sex-trade that we have heard accounts for a large portion of the country's economy. We have been solicited and harassed by men on the street trying to get us to go to the peep shows, hook us up with a nice Thai girl for a very special price, etc. It is openly, blatantly, out there. Walking down this very touristy road that we are staying on, one can see a tall western man escorted by a small Thai woman or girl at about every 20 feet. Also every 20 feet we see transvestites. There are transvestites everywhere, which should be alarming to the sex-tourists here who might worry about ending up with a HE instead of a SHE when the time comes for the solicited fun.

To get off of that topic, I will easily transition to the thing Nick and I are enjoying most, which is the food, of course. We have had a few banging-good plates of Pad Thai with Thai tea. Last night I had the most amazing green curry and rice I have eaten in my life, followed by fried spring rolls off the street. Here we are again blown away at the rich flavor of Southeast Asian food and can't wait to start looking for our local Thai and Vietnamese restaurants back home to keep the sensation alive.

I am personally getting tired. It has been a long trip and we've been on the road for many, many hours of our journey. As the end of our trip nears, I am feeling more and more anxious to get on my place home. Travelling the way we are can be tiring in all of the planning, finding hotels, cheap food, haggling, sweating, and communicating. I have loved it, but I am ready. I hope that our last few days in Thailand are very fun but relaxing. I can tell Nick is ready for some rest too.

Tonight we are meeting up with the sister of a good friend of mine from college, Gale, who was in Engineers Without Borders with me. Her sister, Gift, is going to tell us about the great things to do in Bangkok and what to see in our few days left here. One thing we are looking forward to is the kick-off of the World Cup with the USA playing against England. We hope to find an American ex-pat bar where we can go and support our boys, otherwise we will be the only two US boys wherever else we go to watch the game, as there are thousands of English in this city.

only pictures

This are the pictures for the blog below... Sorry

Laos…Holy Cow!

So the bus ride from the capital of Laos to V.V. was spectacular; lush green jungles wrapping around tall rock outcroppings. This place reminds me of Halong Bay, only, without the ocean. Every time we look out the window the scenery seems to slap us in the face with its awesomeness. We arrive in V.V. and it is a very interesting little town filled with Arab style seating restaurants perfect for lounging around and watching Friends, The Simpsons, or Family Guys which are playing 24/7 in each restaurant. The streets seem to be lined with an overabundance of quick sandwich stands and every guesthouse we stopped in had a very welcoming feeling to it. All of the tourists (young Europeans) don’t seem to have that super-energetic frenzy that we have noticed in the other places we visited. All in all, this town had a very weird ora about it. We had come here because some of our traveling buddies said it was THEE place in Laos to go, they were famous for their “tubing”. After finding a cheap guesthouse we flagged down a Tuk Tuk and ventured towards the “tubing”….. We descended upon a surreal scene, and finally found out what tubing was. The Meking river runs through Laos and especially along side this town. So, some very smart Laoacions decided to build iconic spring break bars all down a section of river and rent tubes out to party goers to drift down river from bar to bar. But the fun doesn’t stop there, each bar has its own gimic. For example our favorite bars had 20-25m jumps and swings and ziplines where extremely inebriated people could go swimming in the moderately strong current of the Meking River (don’t worry there were locals to throw life-lines and pull you into their bar). Other bars had mud wrestling/volleyball/tug-o-war. Still others had long slide shoots that spit you out at dizzying speeds into the coffee brown water. But I digress, we were greeted by a mob scene of half naked Spring breaking Europeans, loud music, and free buckets (a bucket is a small 2 liter bucket that is filled with one whole bottle of the booze of your choice, Red Bull, and a mixer over ice). Everyone was wasted, to say the least, and people were covered in marker and spray paint (yes, they spray painted stencils on people and for some just covered them in paint head to toe). Mateo and I arrived late, so all the free bucket deals had passed and the regular prices were a bit too steep. We had a few drinks and went off the flying trapezes a few times. The next morning we realized that this town was made for the common bing drinker, as everyone slowly crawled out of where ever they slept the night before and into the restaurants with couch seating and watched cartoons all morning. This time Matt and I wanted to experience the bar scene full on so we went tubing at 1pm. Bar 1 – this 60 year old woman named “mamma” came bounding over to us and shouted that it was her b-day and made us our first free SUPER-bucket which was a 2 gallon bucket for us to share with whom we pleased. Then after stomping some Europeans at beer pong we hit the water a few times. We wanted to explore further down the river so we drifted to Mud Bar where we joined a group for tug-o-war session (this is where I broke my big toe, but didn’t notice until the next morning). After tugging a bit we got into an epic mud wrestling match with 20 people! The rest of the day is a blur and I am glad I am here as sort of my last sha-bang before entering the professional world. It is hard to put into words exactly how ridiculous this place really is or the pure quantity of alcohol consumed daily and not to forget that one had to merely look up from their bucket to catch a magnificent back drop of towering mountains. Matt and I will be heading to Bangkok soon to end our trip. We miss everyone terribly and have tons of funny stories to share. (mamacita te extrano muchisimo!)

The break in hiatus. sorry.

I’m sitting in my reclining sleeper chair next to Nick who is sprawled out in the aisle of our all-night bus taking us from Hue to Hanoi. The chairs in this bus offer a little more legroom than the last few buses we’ve taken, but in order to do so, you must stick your feet into a tube that goes under the seat back in front of you. Nick didn’t fit too well, bless his heart. The boy was born broad, and this part of the world discriminates against his kind, constructing everything a little too short, and a little too narrow. However, the boy is comfortable. He is lying flat and has the whole aisle to find room for his feet. I am comfortable and happy.
We spent one night in Hue, the intellectual capital of Vietnam. Highlights of our stay there were extremely long walks through the city, taste-bud massage-with-happy-ending teriyaki chicken, Buddhist celebrations of the full moon, and a journey into a huge, ample market. Hue is a very beautiful city with a large river that runs through it and a huge walled-off sector called the Citadel, a fortress built in the early 1800’s for a Chinese emperor and his concubines and eunuchs and family. Today it is a United Nations World Heritage site. We toured the fortress and saw elephants and took pictures. We felt good that we had finally seen something historical to Vietnam other than the war.
After Hue and a 12 hour bus ride we landed in Hanoi, the former stronghold of the Viet Cong, and now the capital of Vietnam. We stayed in the old quarter which has old French architecture for many blocks around a lake, with a bustling center for buying whatever your heart desires. We had some banging-good food on the streets but were saddened by the unprecedentedly-awful beer of Hanoi, the Hanoi Export, which is kind of like Bud Light, but much lighter.
From Hanoi we booked a tour to see Halong Bay, a four hour drive away and also one of the UN World Heritage Sites. It is a bunch of hills that jut out of the water forming islands in the bay. We had to go. There were gobs of different tours available, at varying prices and with different luxuries. We obviously opted for the cheapest, us being not very far removed from small budget living in El Salvador. This turned out to be a mistake. After viewing the itinerary of our trip we had high hopes for our trip: all meals included with a wonderful stay on a Junk boat in the ocean, then a night at Cat Ba Island in a Hotel by the water, a visit to Monkey Island and all-day kayaking. We learned very soon that the food was cafeteria-quality at best; the accommodations were hot, smelly, dirty, and cock-roach-ridden, without electricity for most of the stay and in the Red Light district. We were treated like insignificant tourists with cameras and money, and anything that we wanted was for a price, and over-priced. Luckily we had some great travelling mates on the journey. A few Aussies, a Canadian, and another American helped us get through the agony of the dirty scam trip that we were on, and enjoy the night life of Cat Ba port, the hours stranded at the port waiting for our boat and unaccounted-for passports, the breathtaking sunset over the bay islands, the full-moon card games on the upper deck accompanied by the crazy afterhours jumping into the ocean that woke up the crew. We loved our trip to the bay because we had good people to share it with. But a word of warning for future travelers: opt for a more expensive tour unless you wish to be haggled, scammed, and duped into something you think will be as good or better than you see in the tour brochure.
Right now Nick and I are sprawled out in our beds in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. We just finished drinking a Lao Beer after our 20 hour bus ride from Hanoi on Wednesday. Lao is surprisingly similar to El Salvador in its appearance and its poverty. I, in a way, feel right at home here. Vientiane is a city of barely 300,000 people and is the capital of one of the 20 poorest countries in the world. We drove in seeing beautiful forested-mountains in the fog which produced a bit of nostalgia for El Salvador. Tomorrow we head north to Vang Vieng to explore the beautiful scenery of Northern Laos.

Nick - I think I have Laos

The day before we leave for Laos was full of exploring Hanoi and again I love this city apart from getting ripped off at every street corner. So we're off! On a much anticipated 25 hour long bus ride to Vientiane, Laos. Its not the most comfertable ride but yet again Mateo and I have more intament moments spooning (remember I'm still the big spoon!). I have to write about this bus experience and please realize it probably wasn't that bad but just felt like it. First we were dropped off on a random section of highway and left there with several other backpackers, then when someone came along ~1 hour later to take us to our bus we were put in the back so the Vietnamese could have the spacious front seats. Then we commenced our 25 hour trip at 8pm with loud Vietnamese soap oprah and lights stopping at every place imaginable. Did I mention there was no bathroom onthis bus? Oh.. That's right..25 hour no potty. Ocasioally all of the Vietnamese would randomly stand up and the bus would stop for a pissing break but by the time all the foreigners figured out what was going on everyone was back on board and we were moving. And we stopped once to eat... at 1:30am just when everyone fell asleep. Border crossings were chaotic to say the least, filled with bribes and self-entertaining customs agents. But finally we entered Laos (which I believe translates to "we have no idea how to build a straight road"). The road was one amazing view after another of lush green jungles peppered with sharply jetting out stone structures. And I Not kidding about the road. I don't think there was more than 50 yds of staight pavment from the border to the capital. The wealth of Laos is apparent in it's capital; it feels like Ketchikan Alaska in the winter. Barely anyone on the streets, eerily quiet, and drug dealers on every corner (but not in the "south DC projects" kinda way, more so "drug peddling taxi driver meets suburbia" way.

At this point I have to say something about backpackers. They are one of the most amazing groups. Everywhere we turn there are other travelers giving us the inside scoop: places to stay, eat, avoid, MUST-SEES, and more. A few backpackers we have seen before and we greet one another as old friends, swapping stories of our adventures, making one another feel jealious at the cheaper prices we found, and just sharing in the brotherhood of the aimless traveler. We all are living to the fullest and find great comfert in those that do the same. I will never forget this amazing trip!
To Momma Beyrouty: I have been on Mateo to write his blog too!

Returning and FINALLY INTERNET!!

Read the other new blogs first!

Well as vengance for last night the crew woke us up at 6am to go kayaking in the rain. The night before there was no music but this morning they were blairing it. Kayaking was nothing special either :(. Floating calmly back towards Halong Bay through towering islets again reminds us that the suffering was all worth it.

The bus ride back to Hanoi was long but it offered me a great chance to chat more with Todd, the US soldier, about medicine in the army. He's major in the medical service corps and loves his job.

Aside from that Mateo and I are going to take it easy tonight because we have a VERY long bus ride (36 hours) in to Laos tomorrow.. Wish us luck!

Nick - Halong is your Bay?

This morning was rough due to the fact they shut the power off at 3am! So no AC, no fans, no anything! I thought the roof leaked from last night on my sheets but it turns out that it was only my profuse sweating that attempted to drowned my bed. The tour was supposed to take us trekking up a mountain but both Mat and I had had enough of these guys so we told them that we would explore ourselves and man-o-man did they look pissed but we didn't care. So after shaking the cockroach out of our clothes we left in search of scooters. We found a great deal and agreed that the best plan off action was to get as lost as possible and thank God for that because the views and roads we found were breathtaking! Better that the rocky mountains, Mt. Fuji, and dare I say it riveled the Misty Fjords. We decended into secret valleys of lush fruit orchards, wound around sharp limestone cliffs, and saw landscapes as the eagles do. This made the whole trip worth it. Under the time constraint we had to turn back and leave this garden of Eden. Upon our arrivel we were literally thrown from our rooms and fed food that we saw dropped on the floor a few times. But there was some enjoyment at watching the faces of the newly arriving groups. They all had the same what-the-&!*%£ faces. We told them what to expect at the great displesure of our hosts and told them of our scooter adventure. As we were doing this our group was returning from their trek. They looked pissed, dirty, and exhausted and told us how bad it was. Mateo and I just sat back with smiles on our faces at yet another great discion on our part. Soon Mateo went to the beach while I stayed behind and caught up on some sleep but it was short lived because the the manager must have told the girls from the brothels next door that I was alone because they came over to pester me. Finally they came back and we were bused back to the rock to head home and to our surprise there was no one there to help us get on a boat (that aside from the fact that one of the boats had all of our passports!) it was a bit of a panicked fiacsco. The "guide" told is that the captain had our passports and the captain told us that the guide had them. So we staged a sit-in on the dock and started warning all the incoming tourists and surprise surprise they found our passports and put us on the boat with the worst captain and crew. We did get to finally jump in and that was a lot of fun. The group on the boat was chill and filled with Russians, Englishmen, Brazilians, and Finnish. We all sunbathed on the top deck and swapped travel stories meanwhile the crew below festered and wondered why we weren't buying the $1.50 beers. Dinner came and went thank goodness and we played drinking games all night to the GREAT displacer of our crew members who took over most of the boat and fell asleep at 8 pm. At midnight due to some excellent decision making we jumped in the water... Big mistake, the whole crew woke up at were screaming at us but at this point due to the horrible treatment we recieve from them no one cared. I am so relieved that there were other young people because we had to make our own fun and were fairly successful. Sleep time I can't wait to post all of these when I get back!

Nick - Hanoi...

Hanoi is by far my favorite major city in Vietnam. We made our way to backpackers ally where we found a plethera of other young travelers like ourselves. Our hostel (backpacker's hostel) is deffenatly the party hostel complete with drunken Europeans hanging from every windowsill. The ally where we are staying is a pleasant mix of travelers and locals cooking up new and interesting dishes. The smells are amazing and apart from the ever constant jackhammering it is peaceful here. As we look for a tour through Halong Bay our hostel attempts to pull us into their $170 three day two night spring breaker's wet dream but again money is an issue so we venture out into the bustling city in search of a better tour. Again the food has rocked our world. We found ourselves a cheap tour for $40, but the tour agent wasnt to hopeful, "you pay cheap you get cheap". We asked about AC and she said "for cheap I donno if work or no. For delux package I guarentee". So we signed up with the mentality that we've been through worse and we may arrive at Halong Bay to meet a dingy. In the market we sat down to enjoy some teryaky and soup. Out of all of the beer I have ever tasted Hanoi beer is by far the worst, it tastes like beer flavored water. On the way back Mateo And I started contemplating our trip, we have 14 days and are not sure if we want to return to Ho Chi Mien to catch our flight to Thailand (we can make our way over by land instead). So a quick trip to the travel agent revealed that our travel insurance (that we paid for) doesn't exsist and we can't change or cancel our tickets (well because of a major fluc I can, but Mateo got hosed). So we returned to our hostel for happy hour to discuss our options with our fellow travelers over some beers. We met a group of very diverse people from Denmark, Germany, austrelia, and we had a very fun night out with them chatting in over 7 different languages. By the end on the night I was shouting German and Danish phrases at the already inebreated masses in backpackers ally.

Wood. The next morning we reluctantly got up early to catch our mystery bus tour all the while praying we wouldn't be the only young people. The party boat group looked primed and ready for their cruise when our bus pulled up and thank God it was filled with our age group. Along the 4 hour trek to Halong city we got to know some of the people and found some travelers to hook up with on the cruise. The port was caotic to say the least; passports being asked for, groups being split up, pure chaos. Finally we saw our boat and to our delightful surprise it was HUGE! Halong Bay........ One of the... if not thee most beautiful sights I have ever or will ever see. Over 1,600 limestone islets sticking sharply out of the ocean. With each islet covered in jungle and riddled with caves. Our giant boat chugged along at an incredibly slow pace but it was worth it. I kept reciting the line from the line from the movie Contact "No words..... They should have sent... A poet..". We stopped at one of the caves which again was mindblowing but SUPER touristed out (see pictures). The cave it self was enormous and the disney-like colored lighting only added to this overwhelming effect. Then more cruising up the bay and just island after island after island. It looked like a scene from Avatar. I did get to chat with a US soldier who works in the medical side of the military and he got me very interested that option.... We finally arrived at the main island Cat Ba were our 1st night stay would be. Our hotel is aweful. No eletricity, horrible smells, rude staff, crapy rooms by far one of the worst hotels ever. And half of the options we were promised we didnt receive. We teamed up with others from our group and went out on the town and had some fun. Tomorrow we will explore the island and sleep on the boat. That's it for now.