Recap!

5 weeks. 6 countries. 13 cities. 3 medical facilities. 8 means of transport (planes, buses, trains, cars, boats, bikes, cyclos, tuk-tuks, and feet). +4 star to -4 star hotels. 2 girls. 0 fights. :)

Here are some memorable snapshots from our trip.

Festive bus in Seul

Mandatory photo with Pokemon

Chirping in Hong Kong

Boating in Ha Long Bay

Drinking wine on train tracks in Hanoi

Sunshine in Hoi An

Evening in Nha Trang

Crazy night in Ho Chi Minh

Mekong crossing into Cambodia

Feeling tiny in Angkor Wat

Out of our element in Vang Vieng

With Linzy in Vientiane

Thanks for following our trip!

EK and MN

End of This Road

Feb. 10, BANGKOK

E and I had a hectic day. It was our fault; we left the hotel at noon. I personally blame the relaxed Lao attitude we'd become accustomed to. We saw the huge reclining Buddha, we went to a mega-mall that still managed to feel like an Asian market, ate $1 Phad Thai, and I visited the Jim Thompson house, former residence of an American architect/GI who disappeared in Malaysia.

And now we're saying our goodbyes! I'll be back in Seattle in 36 hours, and she's off to Singapore. *cry*

This will be our last post from the road, but stay tuned for our Failed Photo Blowout and a recap of the past few days in Vientiane and Bangkok!

MN and EK

Vang Vieng Recap

Feb. 6, VANG VIENG

Here was the party scene in Vang Vieng - debauched, drunken, and pasty-white.

The most common way to experience Vang Vieng is to rent a tube, get driven up river, and float down through a veritable Scylla and Charybdis of bars blasting Akon and Lady GaGa.

The bars reel you in by tossing you a rope, and ply you with free shots of Lao rice whisky in hopes that you will purchase a bucket of vodka/redbull. After you're lubricated, you can jump off insanely tall platforms or ziplines operated by 9-year-old local boys while sober onlookers like me pray that the river is deep enough where you land.

We stayed in the party area for 30 min, enough to take an obligatory free shot, and escaped via bicycle for calmer waters.

6km of riding brought us to Blue Lagoon, straight out of Avatar.

And we made friends on the way.

MN

Local Motion

Feb. 5, VANG VIENG

Despite prominent mention in the Lonely Planet, neither E nor I noticed the section on local bus travel that mentioned the Lao people are notoriously prone to motion sickness.

Our "VIP" bus (read: has AC and sometimes a toilet) was half-full of Westerners when it departed the Luang Prabang bus station. By the time we'd been driving for an hour, the bus operator had filled the rest of the seats with locals who'd been waiting at various intervals by the side of the road.

The next warning was the small plastic bags distributed by the bus operator - only to Lao passengers. I wondered why until we hit our first hairpin turn. Barf city. And the man directly in front of us was the worst of the lot. He puked every 10 minutes for 4 hours without fail. When he ran out of material, the noises got worse. "Brrrrr-GAK-GAK-rrr-HOCK!" It was truly incredible. People were staring but he paid them no attention.

After all of the curves and hills and bumps, when the roads flattened out, his stop magically appeared, and he hopped off the bus looking no worse for the wear.

To add a bit of insult to injury, the town we arrived in is a shameless spring break type of town and I can't wait to leave tomorrow. I'm off to float down the river with the rest of the revelers and not enjoy myself at all. ;)

MN

Slow life in the LP

We've spent the last 4 days in Luang Prabang... if you know LP, you'll know why we're behind on this blog. The motto around here seems to be "relax, take it easy. " And so we did. Total relaxation, in a half-hypnotized, happy-go-lucky, whatever happens will happen state of being.

Luang Prabang is enchanting. The town is now a Unesco Heritage site and is located in a narrow peninsula at the intersection of the Mekong and Mae Kok rivers.



Our main activities have been lounging, eating, reading and some light biking on the riversides and temples around the village.





Many hours spent at Utopia, my favorite hangout there.



On day 3, we took a break from relaxing and rented mountain bikes to check out Kuang Si Falls. It was an epic 37km trek, through steep hills and lovely scenery, and one which left me in near collapse from dehydration at the end. No photos are available of this trip - we were too tired to think.

The falls were pretty, but the best part were the swimming pools at the bottom. I conquered my fear of swinging from trees and jumping into water.



And Morgan conquered her fear of jumping from waterfalls.



One last sunset in Luang Prabang from a hill-top temple before we hit the road again.



EK

Angkor Wat

Jan. 30-31, SIEM REAP

We explored the Eighth Wonder of the World, Angkor Wat, at sunset.

A guard basically asked us to bribe him for access to the highest part of the temple. He worked hard for the $6, racing from spot to spot taking iconic pictures for us. Here's one:

The next day, we borrowed a pair of truly antiquated bikes from our hotel that we rode through the site. Mine made an alarming rattling noise but made it through the day!

The Bayon temple has over 200 sculptures of giant faces built into the architecture.

Ta Prohm is where Tombraider was shot, known for its immense trees. We had two Angelina Jolie sightings. For some reason she wanted to borrow our clothes for the pictures. Clever girl.

MN