As you can see I didn’t really blog during my US road trip, mostly because of non reliable Internet. There are some photos at least. The trip finished exactly a year ago and I am now again in full Burningman mode. I’ll be posting updates on the Burningman section.
I’ll be doing a road trip in the North West of the US from the 4th of July until mid August. Perhaps I’ll even blog about it.
Back in Bangkok for something like the 6th time and the feeling is mixed. On one hand I am sad to finish the time in SE Asia, but I am also looking forward to meeting everybody in California and start the next phase of my adventure.
I actually got a lot done this week and even found some time to relax on the beautiful beaches of the Andaman Sea. It started in Koh Lanta which is a very chill island. There isn’t much to do and the scenery is not very impressive so I only stayed for 2 night. Still, I did a day of diving and also ran into some very cool people, as expected at off-the-beaten-track places such as this. From there I continued to Koh Phi Phi which is extremely small and crowded, but had the most impressive beaches of this trip.
I got to relax a bit and also managed to go out for the last dives. I’ve done 21 during these six months – not bad! The last stop was Phuket which also has some nice beaches, but the biggest attraction was a day trip to Phang Nga National Park with it’s famous “James Bond Island”.
So that’s it for this round of blogging. Not sure where the website will go from here after I return to the states. We’ll just have to wait and see. Thanks Southeast Asia! This is Yariv, signing off!
Pai ended up being one of my favorite places in Thailand and a nexus of synchronicity. I could have easily stayed there for a month, unfortunately at this phase of the trip I need to wrap things up. On the way back to Bangkok I stopped at Sukhothai for a final dose of Buddhist archeology. The historical park is quite impressive and reminded me a lot of Ayutthaya, just smaller. Spending a night in Bangkok and Khao San road was actually nice and I even managed to take care of some food craves that I had for a while.
Earlier today I flew to Krabi with an intention to spend a couple of days on one of the beaches close to town, but after reading more in the guidebook while waiting to board the airplane I decided to change the plans and instead opt for Koh Lanta. It’s supposed to be one of the least developed island in the country, which would be a big contrast to the next destinations: Koh Phi Phi and Puketh. I have only 5 nights to explore the Andaman Sea so gotta make the most of it..
I was noticing a trend in reports of people coming from North Thailand. The new travelers were raving about Chiang Mai while the ones doing it for a while said Chiang Rai is much nicer. Now I can understand why. Chiang Mai has an abundance of tour agencies offering cool stuff to do like elephant riding, zip-lining, minority village tracks etc. and is full of Buddhist temples everywhere you go. This is great if you’ve just arrived from Bangkok, but after traveling for a long time it isn’t exciting anymore. Chiang Rai on the other hand is about quality instead of quantity. It’s small and more laid back but the atmosphere is very inviting. There are two new and more artistic temples which are simply breathtaking.
The white temple is already 13 years under constant expansion and even the architect behind the vision doesn’t know when work will end. I stole the following picture from the Internet because photographing isn’t allowed on the inside.
The murals reminded me a lot of visionary artists such as Luke Brown, Alex Gray and HR Giger. It also included pop culture icons such as Darth Vedar, Neo from the Matrix and also Osama Bin Laden vs. George W. Bush. The overall theme was criticism against accumulating material wealth and instead emphasizing social and spiritual merits.
In contrast to the white temple there is also a black one on the opposite side if town and constructed by a different artist. I liked this one even better and it really had a Burningman feeling to it.
The artist draw his inspiration primarily from bones, skulls and other old artifacts. The grounds contain about 40 buildings and the overall theme is “heaven vs. hell”. You can see many other pictures in the Photos section of the blog.
So right now I am in a small hippie town called Pai after being in Chiang Mai for just one day and getting a bit bored. My fractured finger prevents me from doing most of the strenuous activities and I need to get used to the idea that my last 3 weeks will be mostly about relaxing instead of doing stuff. I might as well. As we move more into the rainy season outdoor activities become less attractive and by the time I make it back to the south I’ll want to rest anyway.
Wow, the last few days were so full of excitement! First of all was the Gibbon Experience. So much fun and so highly recommended! If you ever make it to Laos then don’t dare skip it. Even if you are just in North Thailand it is totally worth crossing the border for. A day before heading out I randomly ran into most of our ‘tree household’ at a restaurant in town and already realized that it is going to be a cool crew. We left Huay Xai the next morning and after some 4×4 river crossing and muddy trails got to the village of former gibbon hunters, now converted into gibbon protectors thanks to the work of the project. After a short hike into the park we were each given a harness and continued the journey to our treehouse. Using the zip lines was scary at first but the views are superb and it becomes addictive after a very short time.
We had lots of laughs after sunset and consumed all the alcohol in the tree house. The first night was very stormy but our tree house held up nicely and in the morning we got to see and hear gibbons in the trees around us! Unfortunately I don’t have pictures because the gibbons were too far to catch with my lousy camera., but we did have a telescope and got some good views of them and also of the many types of jungle birds.
We continued by hiking to the other tree houses and zipping around the area of the project. On the third day we pretty much just hiked out and returned to Huay Xai, but we got early enough to do a little extra zipping. It really is lots of fun.
So now I am back in Thailand after a smooth border crossing this morning and a short ride to Chiang Rai. I like this town, it has a really nice vibe in the backpackers area. Once here I went on a different type of experience – the hospital experience. I tripped over some steps back in Vientiane over 2 weeks ago and hurt my ring figure. It wasn’t so bad but then I tripped again during the jungle track in Luang Nam Tha and it got a bit worse. Since there are no decent hospitals in the entire country of Laos anyway (not to mention the north) I decided to just make a ghetto splint from a popsicle stick and have it examined in Thailand. Mind you that it didn’t hurt much and I was able to easily ride a motorcycle for 2 days AND zip-line through the jungle safely, but it was better to have it looked at by a doctor. I thought I just tore or hurt a ligament but it turned out that I actually fractured the middle bone of my right ring finger.
So now I have this huge thing on my hand for 4 weeks even though there is hardly any pain (unless I flex my finger all the way) and I feel very ridiculous. Oh well. BTW, the bill for the medical treatment was:
– Emergency room examination
– X-Ray
– Orthopedic surgeon consultation
– Aluminum splint
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Total: US$9
The staff was super friendly and professional and I was out of there in less than an hour! Why does healthcare in the west have to be so painful? So now after all these experiences I am going to explore the area a bit tomorrow and then probably just take a day of rest and doing nothing before continuing to Chiang Mai.
I’m starting to feel like I’m done with Laos, and the timing is perfect because I have just one more thing scheduled here: a visit to the “Gibbon Experience”. It is a 3 day stay on a very comfortable tree house in the middle of the jungle near a large concentration of gibbons. We’ll be tracking every day for a few hours but the highlight is the way we reach the tree house and move around using an elaborate system of zip lines! At least in theory it sounds super cool but I’m trying not to set my expectations too high. After that my Laos visa runs out in 2 days so I’ll be returning to Thailand and probably start with Chiang Rai, making my way to Bangkok over the following 3 weeks.
North Laos turned out to be a bit bland. The activities and views here are not as exciting as the central part. The river ride from Luang Prabang to the village of Nong Khiaw was gorgeous but since then there was nothing much to do. I went on a 2 day track in the jungle of Nam Ha National Park but because of the number of tourists in the last few years the animals are long gone and the views are obscured by the trees. It was more fun to just rent a motorcycle and zip around the area on my own, but the views are not as spectacular as before. There is a cool cave here though. So overall I am happy to move on into the final stage of my Asian adventure.
It’s holiday season here in Laos (also Thailand BTW), as the Buddhist new year is coming in just a few days. Traditionally it is celebrated by throwing water at each other on the streets, as appropriate for the middle of the dry season. The kids however are eager to start early and even though it hasn’t been especially dry this year and there are a few days to go, the little devils are already lurking behind every car and street corner ready to empty a bucket over the unsuspecting “Falang” (tourist) that walks by. I don’t mind it so much, just afraid for my camera…
I am back in Luang Prabang, the gateway to the north of the country, after a few short adventures in the central region. I won’t make it to the south because I don’t have much time and I’ve already sampled what that area has to offer from the Cambodian side. I am still constantly overwhelmed by the natural beauty of this country and its impressive landscapes. Green hills, mountains and rivers everywhere – so different from where I’ve visited to far. I don’t think there is a single straight road in the entire country though.
I can’t believe that I go back to California in only 5 weeks. Where did the time go?!? It’s starting to feel like I need to hurry up a bit and make more structured plans than I’ve done so far. The next two weeks are dedicated to Laos and the final three to Northern Thailand. All engines full steam ahead!
If you came here because of my Facebook post about returning to California then yes, it’s an April’s fools joke and I’m not going anywhere except North Laos. What am I crazy? But I’m sure you knew I wasn’t serious all along. The weather is actually perfect so I feel excited to get back in the hiking groove. I arrived today to Vientiane the capital of Laos and tomorrow already taking an early bus South for a small hiking mission in the center of the country. I won’t be going further south than that. When done there I’ll do a U-turn back to Vientiane to sort my Thailand visa and explore this city properly.
It turns out that Laos is a hardcore party country and the age of the average backpacker is significantly lower than Vietnam and even Thailand. I just came from a town called Vang Vieng that is totally taken over by drunk teenagers. I’m not being judgmental, they actually have quite an epic setup and I would totally get into it if I was younger. The way it works is like this: the minute you land in town they give you a map of the bars along the river. As you can see below, these bars are equipped with slides, swings, zip lines, trampolines, and you can guess what the smily faces stand for. The river runs in an amazing canyon of pointy limestone karst mountains and the view is breathtaking. You get a large tire tube and a lift up the river where they drop you off and you float down the stream with your tube, stopping at bars along the way. It’s pretty much a natural outdoor water park with alcohol! Check out the photos. It would have been nice if they kept some quite spots without all that loud music, but for that I rented a bicycle and went exploring in the hills a day before.
I’m looking forward to the rest of my time here. The roads between towns are beautiful and although it takes ages to get from place to place it is worth it.
