Then the Sea Cucumber Says to the Mollusk....

PORTUGAL is wonderful! We really, really love it here. Everywhere we have gone people have been so nice and everyone speaks english which makes everything so much easier. We started our POrtugal tour in Lagos which is in the south in the Algrave part of the country. It was soooooo beautiful. So many people at home told me I had to come here and that the beaches are so great and the town so nice, etc etc and it totally was....although truthfully its got nothing on SE Asia (though nothing really compares so far). Unfortunatly it was the crappiest weather for the first few days we were there which was devastating for me as all I wanted was a day at the beach and the return of my tan. But finally, on our last day, the sky finally cleared up and we got our beach day!

One plus of traveling with Steve: intense sand castle building. Check out this beauty, took us like 2hours. So worth it, our castle totally kicked the ass of the castle kids had built a few meters down from where we were. Ha!So sadly we had to continue on from Lagos even though it would have been nice to get in another day at the beach. We headed up to Lisbon, the capital, where we are now. Sooooo nice here. And its relatively small so we have managed to walk the entire thing and in 4 days we now get around so easily. Our first full day in Lisbon we checked out the ocean side of the city where we found an Oceanarium! Honestly, it was the coolest thing ever. Although there were school children in large groups everywhere (with matching hats and t-shirts), the oceanarium had so much cool stuff that we managed to look past this unfortunateness. The coolest was this fish below:They had sharks, tons of sting ways (a huge manta ray too) and huge fish with eyes on just one side of their bodies. The penguins werent as cool as the biodome though (and they had the north pole penguins and the south pole penguins altogether - the biodome would NEVER allow that!) but i enjoyed them a lot more than last time if certain people recall hahaha....

Anyway, after our thrilling few hours at the Oceanarium we found a movie theater! So of course we had to take advantage and saw Oceans 13 annnnddd saw a preview for Harry Potter thus this day in Lisbon in total was the greatest ever!

That night we went out to educate ourselves on the Lisbon nightlife. Right now the city is crawling with Marines, so random! We,ve met a ton of em. Cant believe how different we are from them, they are like American through and through. Total army boys, they are all our age but married, and they seem to be mostly from the South (and tell us they eat gravy for breakfast and think its wierd that we think thats wierd). But yeah, baisically anywhere we go we end up talking to some Marines.

Next day we took a train about 45mins to Sintra where we visited some palace that was sooooo cool, it looked like a fairytale Disney castle! Loved it-

This morning we awoke to find an inch of water surrounding us. Our room was completly flooded from some pipe in the wall or something and somehow only my stuff managed to get wet, sweet! bahhh! but otherwise our hostel was pretty awesome. ALthough the other night i overheard Steve telling one of the army guys we were staying in a gay hostel to which i thought he was lying...but when has anyone ever heard the boy lie? So i asked what in the world he was talking about...well turns out I had missed all the signs: a massive rainbow flag above the door, gay club pamphlets at reception, and numerous amounts of older men in groups of two traveling together....yeaahhh i guess im pretty unobservant!

So now we are just killing time as its back to Spain tonight on an overnight train. Im kind of excited though, after all those overnight buses with steph where the lights come on and off like every hour, stops in the middle of the night, honking all night long, and the general feeling that you might not be alive come morning (crraazzyyyy busdrivers), i think a train that has a bar and resteraunt car will suit me just fine!

See ya back in Spain!

Tarifa-ed in Tarifica Tarifa

So we ended up making it to the Feria. It was crazy! Its a traveling fair that comes to each city in Spain for a week each summer. Kind of like the Ex but with Spanish flamenco dresses everywhere and with a merry-go-round with real ponies instead of plastic ones! Also it had tons of tents with bars and clubs along the sides of the fair. So we ate fair food, walked through the rides and games and had some drinks in one of the makeshift bars and had so so so much fun! Even managed to get a bus back 30mins home and everything with no waiting! perfect night and a good way to finish off Granada.

After Granada we headed South to Tarifa where our friend Pascale is currently living the greatest life ever. Tarifa is the most Southern point of Spain and is where the Atlantic Ocean splits into the Medeteranian Sea. The greatest part of all - you can see Africa from the beach! Its amazing! Morroco is only a 30min ferry ride away (see below, mountains in back is Morrocco). Tarifa is also the windiest place ever which makes for tons of kite boarding and wind surfing and mostly everyone there is VERY into all that. Soooo of course, we had to try it. It was fun....not that we ever got the sail up....but I think i would have just been happy enough trying to balance on the surf board without having to try to lift a huge giant sail that i was scared of. Also wind makes things COLD. and the atlantic is COLD. and wind happens to be my least favourite form of weather....so i think its safe to say wind surfing is not for me!

Annnyway, we stayed with Pascale and her ''boss'' on a camp site 5km away from the bar they are painting and fixing up for its opening next week. It was cool cuz steve and i would spend some time on the beach while they slaved away and Pascale could always come hang out with us on one of her many breaks! A few days Franz, the boss, would let Pascale stay on the campsite for the day and one day we decided to help her work. This resulted in the three of us constructing 25 stools for two days straight. But it was fun....mostly since we´d build two or three then take off for either wind surfing lessons, tapas, etc. A typical working Pascale and our first stool!

The greatest part of Tarifa tho was definitly the lifestyle. We absolutly loved camping. It was super cheap and pretty much like luxury camping! We had a sweet tent and theres a resteraunt that seems to give out free beer and store like right next to where we slept. It was actually much easier than staying in a hostel! and no mosquitos!

the people on the campsite were awesome too....though very, very random as most of them have big campers and have been there for a loooooong time (for ex. Franz whos been camping there for FOUR YEARS). Our absolute favourite was Paul whos been traveling for 7 years and has been to more than 150 countries, driving a sweet RV the whole time (its serisouly a house on wheels) or when he cant drive that he drives his 'trike' which is a VW bug converted into a motorcycle type thing. We all got to ride on it twice!!!! its SOOOOo fast, we went up to 140km!!!!!

Anyway, we got Tarifaed, meaning we could manage to leave the place. But unfortunatly today we dragged ourseleves onto a bus and now we´re in Seville and missing Tarifa terribly already.

Campfires on the beach

Tomorrow we have an early early early bus to Legos, Portugal!!! Can´t wait!

On Our Own in Spain!

So found cheap internet place but I think the problem in Europe will be lack of internet places.... BUt we´ll see, maybe there will be more places at our next stop. EIther way, here are some pics from Cinque Terre, Italy that we couldnt get up last post.

View while hiking Me and the boys in our home of Riomaggorie.

So we had one last night with the Andersons and our sweet villa. It was Kari´s birthday so we all we took the train to Vernazza and had the greatest meal of all time (seafood pasta, calamari, killer dessert, it was fabulous). Then we ventured to find the Pirate Bar we had seen a sign for the day before. THe Andersons seems to have quite a thing for pirates and thus Kari planned her entire night of celebration on this Pirate Bar...but alas, aftre much searching in the cold hard rain, uphill the whole way, it turns out the signs had lied, this was no bar, just a closed Gelateria. BOO! So we had to drag ourselves back home and found ourselves spending yet another night at Bar Centrale. In the end tho, we had lots of fun and stayed up way too late after the bar playing several intense rounds of cards that Andy never won. Pretty much he can´t beat me at anything (ESPECIALLY mario kart!).
Anyway, I'd like to take this moment to thank God for two things 1. The Andersons - Partington parents for forcing Kari and Andy to rent a car and 2. GPS systems. Out of some crazy coincidence Kari and Andy were heading to Bergamo the very same day Steve and I had a flight to catch from there (and only realized too late that no trains run there! oooops). So we had a nice little road trip before parting ways. Well nice for me and Kari who slept, stressful and scary for Steve and Andy who navigated and drove, respectively, in sudden downpours and tight time scheduling.

Now Steve and I are in Granada, Spain on our own and we loooovee it here. Its such a bautiful city with lots to do and the people are so stylish. We spent a good part of yesterday sitting in a plaza and just people watching. The families are all outfit coordinated and everything, I got very excited. Eating is pretty good here too, though doesnt start until about 9ish but its nice cuz its like being back in Montreal all over again....except its nice outside....and people speak Spanish instead of Quebecer French! Today we slept in for once and visited the Alhambra, a Muslim-style and archeticture castle or fortress or something like that. It was huuugggee with amazing views and crazy carved ceilings and walls. Now we are gonna go have a siesta in keeping with local culture followed by a late dinner hopefully in the outskirts of the city where a huge fiestival is going on (or so we hear, altho the details of which sound too good to be true...). Tomorrow we might head to the shore, right across from Morrocco to a place called Tarifa but not 100% sure yet as its a camping beach area and our friends tent is not really equipped for 3 people.....

We´ll update when we can, till then xo

Kevin Bacon, Kelly Ripas and Two Andersons aka Eurotripping Begins

Back at the traveling life - Steve and I are now in Italy and leaving for Spain tomorrow!! No pictures today as this internet place has too many rules (im already missing Asia and their inability to limit any behaviours) but promise pics to come. Anyway, here is Andy with the first entry of this trip:

Hi everyone, for the enjoyment of your eyes Andrew Anderson is taking over today's blog entry (not to worry, Natalie is safe and sound after much protesting and threats that this better be funny).
Since Asia Natalie has spent many hours with Oscar and her imaginary friends. More recently Natalie and Skim have met up with Andy and his sister Kari in Cinque Terre, Italy. As Natalie was here a few years ago she has been our resident tour guide (which was decided based on who had the largest backpack).
Natalie and Skim arrived in Cinque Terre via a train from Milan after a flight from Toronto to Montreal to Zurich to Milan but were suprisingly clean upon the arrival of the Anderson's who drove down from Zurich after a car rental debacle. Since Kari and I were late Skim started to get nervous as to whether we were even serious about coming to Italy, Natalie (the seasoned travelling pro) took it in stride with a few glasses of wine. We spent the first night enjoying more than a few more glasses and lots of seafood.
The hostel we're staying at is really nice aside from the Chinese torture device that is the futon. But we have our own kitchen, a big bathroom and reside above the only bar in town (truly a blessing and a curse).
Anyway, yesterday we hiked almost the entire length of Cinque Terre, battling the elements, hunger and sibling rivalry. Upon reaching Vernazza we decided the rain had won and it was worth taking the train home (so naturally the skies parted and the sun came out as we stood on the platform). After getting back to our home of Riomaggiore we decided a home-cooked meal would really hit the spot so went and buoght a giant bottle of wine (at 3.50 euros) and ordered a pizza to go (essentially all the cooking I learned in University). Of course it was delicious and the bottle ran dry so we ended up down at the bar for a night cap and a gellato for a midnight snack before I (Andy) destroyed everyone else at cards and playing the Movie Game.
Ok, that's all I got. Sorry it couldn't be more humourous but Natalie's going to check this over before posting anyway and would have deleted any major Kelly Rippa's. Ciao everybody! If you want more stories come to Calgary!

- Andrew E. Anderson VII

Signing Off From Southeast Asia =(

Back in Bangkok. Leaving for the airport in 8hours exactly, SO sad about this. We just wanted to make this a quick one to wrap it all up. We've been up to a lot (mostly shopping) in Bangkok and maybe we'll update when we get home but in case we dont...

Been the best trip ever. We will miss it here so much and we're not sure if we can be normal, functioning citizens again but I suppose we'll have to try. Can't wait to see everyone and catch up.

Also, might post a whole bunch of pictures from home. PLus, Natalie will be using this for Europe in the summer and Steph might also from wherever it is she ends up.

Off to have our last buckets on Khao San Road....see you on the other side

xo

On last Hurrah (Vietnam Pt 2)

Continued...See below post first, technical difficulties confuse things

After a final day of relaxation we decided to hit the elusive beach in Hoi An (which involved a 5km very scenic bike ride through this farming area (Below)). This beach was very different from the ones we had been used to. It was completely secluded and the water stretched on forever, and it was beautiful.
Later that night, we boarded a 14 hour over night train (the first of this trip, first ever actually) for Hanoi.The train was smelly and our cabin had a loud snoring Vietnamese man in it, and the food was DISGUSTING, but overall it was better than the bus, a lot better. We arrived in hanoi at 430 am and took the morning off (obviously). We woke later to go to the Prisoners of War museum (though we're kind of done with war museums in general) and the temple of literacy (which was nice because it is chinese style, dedicated to confucious, and we hear he's a cool guy when he wants to be). We also booked our boat cruise/trip thingy to Halong Bay for the next day. Pretty much everyone here does one and though we only had time for the one night trip, we wanted to give it a shot.

As part of this trip we visited some caves (which really, if you ask us, are incredibly tacky excuses for deciding rocks look like all animals, dragons, turtles, etc. along with a waterfall that was "50% natural and 50% man made", we're guessing the water pump is the fifty percent man made, liars). We then went to a charming little floating fishing village where everyone lived pretty far apart on separate barges (don't know how they kept dogs there but they did), and took a smaller boat through two caves and around to see the school.We met some great people as part of our last hurrah of travelling and spent the night in darkness or the boats' terrace.The boat was "basic" but it was our home for the night and with all homes, we came to love it. Of course this was largely due to discovering our cabin was free of rats, cockroaches and otherwise scary creatures. It was also Halong Bay, so you don't need much to enjoy the scenery.

The second day was essentially just tanning, some swimming, and lots of reading. Overall it was a great last tour of our travels.

Now, we await our evening flight to Bangkok for two days of shopping, sight seeing, and *hopefully* a little bit of a reunion with whoever happens to be around. As long as we keep far away from those young'uns just beginning their trip...

Vietnam Part One (we'll make the next title more creative)

As promised!!! So, we last left off in Saigon. If we have time, we will update the last post with more pictures too as this computer seems to be working okay so check that after! Anyway, we left HCM City for Nha Trang on the overnight bus which took about 10hours but it was well worth it. The beach was just beautiful with a very Miami feel to it. The water was a bit too rough for swimming though but we know when to not complain. Nha Trang was also very fun at night. We found several cool places and wherever you look there were people just like us (big change from Southern Laos). For some reason we only have this picture from our nights out but we feel its pretty characteristic of how our Nha Trang evenings progressed.
After a few too many nights out in Nha Trang we once again boarded a night bus and headed 11hours to Hoi An. We were sooo excited about this place because its where you get all your tailor made clothes done. At first it was so exciting, you get to look in catalogues and magazines and pick out what you like then after you go through each item and pick out fabric that you want it made in and discuss details. It soon became a nightmare. So much we wanted, so much confusion, difficult decisions, too high prices, people everywhere in the tiny store, baahhh just a lot of stress for shopping! As can be seen below, Steph starting to lose it.

We emerged much poorer and with a new suitcase filled with clothes and shoes (thats right, they do shoes too!). We stayed awhile in Hoi An because you are constantly going in for fittings then adjustments are made then you have another fitting then more adjustments ahhhh and of course we didnt do it all at one store so we were baisically running around town all day every day. But again, we know not to complain!

Hoi An was really pretty although a bit quiet but a nice change from Nha Trang. We ate extremly well (personally i think Vietnam has the best food by far) and had nice relaxing nights drinking wine and eating deserts yuuumm. Okay having some technical difficulties so we have to start a new post but just in case we dont include it later, heres a picture of Halong Bay (we'll get too that in a bit...)

IT LIVES!!!!!!!!!! (as do we)

I'm not sure exactly what Vietnam has against our blog but since we left Saigon we have been under the impression that our website was down and dead for good. Turns out you all could see the posts and thought we were just being lazy while all we could get was error page after error page....yeesh, technology.

So we no longer carry our USB cords with us since we thought this site was a lost cause thus no pictures right now which is a shame because we have so many to update (especially since last post we meant to post about a million more). Promise to update HUGELY on April 2nd so get excited!

Briefly - loved Siagon; stayed in Nha Trang (beach town, much like Southbeach) for many nights: partied till the sun came up, tanned until the sun went down; travelled 11hours to Hoi An: picked out clothes, got fitted, refitted, picked out shoes, got fitted, refitted, ate ate ate, tried to meet up with Cam (complete failure, so sad); finally, travelled 14hours on sleeper train to Hanoi which is where we are now.

Tomorrow we leave for Halong Bay for two days and one night. We will be sleeping on a big boat tomorrow night. It was on Amazing Race last season so I am way overly excited. But apparently its crap weather lately so we will see......

Okay promise, when we are back from Halong, we will post a glorious post! Till then....

Temples, Genocides, War.....and a Waterpark!

Well, we are sadly on the last leg of our journey (or race as we like to say). We have survived Cambodia which was not nearly as difficult as we thought. I will be posting pictures from siem reap and angkor wat. But we have also been through Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville (the Cambodian Beaches). We are now in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon), Vietnam (along with the one and only miss angelina jolie...they weren't at the water park though, which we thought was a sure thing to do witha new adopted child, oh well).

This is Angkor Wat...obviously the main attraction at angkor. This was on our first day there, though we made it back for sunset the second day. Armed with our own chauffeur forthe day (which we subsequently lost, but there was no shortge of them willing to drive us), we started at the largest religious building in the world. The pictures will not do this place justice. Nat and I just felt glad that we had the chance to see it.

This picture was a must have. Its really just that the orange and red of the monks robes standout really well on the grey temple background.

Bayon Temple (my personal favourite) had around 216 faces made out of stone, EVERYWHERE.

Angkor Thom was another amazing one. With most of the temples, the jungle had been cleared away to make them easier for the busloads of tourists to walk through, for this one, the trees had been left in place and they literally had roots over the temples. I have no idea how to explain how that works...but it does. This was also a setting where Ms. Jolie taped some of tomb raider...she has been somewhat constant throughout this trip.

After Two days of temples (highlighted above) we took some time off on Bar St. This was one night when we met a couple who were living in Singapore, but originally from canada one of them gave Curly her camera. he took maybe 50 pictures and was very amused with it. As was his sister thsekids actually work the strip of bars. we bought them some food the night before but there's really not much you can do. other than play with them a bit.

After a day off from sightseeing, we traveled to Phnom Penh (Capital of Cambodia). Here we took in some of the History that as it turns out doesnt make all that much sense (as could be imagined duirng genocides). There were the killing fields, which is where people were killed and buried in mass graves (now commemorated by a monument) and the Tong Sleung Genocide museum which was a school before the khmer rouge (i think), turned it into a prison and torture building. So, needless to say, not the best day, but necessary all the same.

From phnom penh we went to Sihanoukville, Cambodia (the beaches in the south) to rest for a few days, and figured St. patty's might be good to spend on the beach. turns out it was successfully the worst St Pattys day ever. I won't get into details, it was just nothing to what we're used to.

From Sihanoukville, we crossed the border into Vietnam. Now in Saigon we have been to a waterpark, which was quitefun and pretty self-explanatory, except you don't have to carry your tubes to the top of the slide. there is a conveyor belt to take them for you....genious. They also had a black hole type slide (wonderland reminiscent) that made scary noises as you went down.

After a night of celebration (of Nat's acceptance to NYU) we visited the war museum and got a dose of ...well war. Tonight we will be leaving for Nha Trang (more beaches!!!) and then Hoi An (tailor made clothes !!!) and then...

Love you,miss you. Love the comments!!! (but keep em comin!)

p.s. Meant to have more pics, they won't load....

Southern Laos: An Education on Bad Transportation and Really Old Fossils

Yes we have been bad again! But this time, it wasn't our fault! Anyway lets just get right down to it -

We arrived in Vientiane, Laos (capital city) where we said goodbye to Arie and Alex and where Steph, Jacco, Kathy and I had one last night together. So, in celebration, we went bowling. I wish I could upload the pictures now as they are pretty humourous but Cambodia (where we are now) really will not allow for that at all. The next day Jacco left us and Kathy, Steph and I decided to work our way down the South of Laos. Bad idea. Although we have a huge, massive amount of love for Laos, Southern Laos did not leave us all that happy. First of all, there was the transportation. Looooong hours on non air conditioned buses where not only is every seat taken but there are also stools in the middle of the aisles where another person sits. Oh yes and there are also people standing at the front of the bus. This inevitabley leads to flat tires, tons of body heat, and general misery. Also, we discovered that Southern Laos is the hottest place in the entire world. So inside the bus is probably around 40degrees C and if that bus stops for a single second (like say for a flat) allowing for no more wind thru the windows, you kind of are halfway between wanting to die and feeling like you might die pretty soon. But DONT WORRY! After one particularily peculiar 20hour journey (overnight so much less hot) that included on our bus a rooster, a man in the middle of the aisle smoking 4 cigerettes an hour and a leaky ceiling, we arrived in Si Phan Don - the 4000 Islands - at the very most Southern tip of Laos.

While journerying down through the South we stopped in Th Khaek (quite boring) and Savannakhet. There we went to the Dinosaur Museum which turned out to be just one room with bones in it. But it was our lucky day because the owner came in to talk to us and he was very cool, we learnt lots about dinosaurs and even got to hold 110million year old bones! Including a T-Rex tooth! You should have seen us, we were like elementry school children, so giddy about it all! Its a good thing we enjoyed it because besides trekking, its really the only thing to do in Savannakhet! Speaking of, Kathy and I (steph had a sore throat so stayed home) went on a one day trek where we met quite possibly the coolest locals and got to eat things in the forest like leaves that tasted like lemons or this really sticky fruit that monkeys really like. Kathy and I also spent a night at a local disco where we were the only white people for miles which lead to everybody staring at us the entire time we were there. BUt they played really good music and we hadn't had a night out in so long so we got over the staring and had a fabulous time!

After finally reaching the 4000 Islands, the three of us rented bikes and rode to a waterfall that is the most volume of water waterfall in all of Asia. It was a beautiful bike ride and very fun altho a little painful as the roads were very rocky and unpaved! The next day we left Kathy and crossed the boarder into Cambodia and that is where we are now! First we made a stop in Kratie where we got to see rare fresh water Dolphins. They were very weird looking but it was a very relaxing activity - floating in the Mekong while the sun set, observing dolphins jumping around you - after so many days of traveling. Especially because crossing the boarder was no piece of cake either (non air conditioned extended mini van where we sat in the sun in the back of the van for a few hours, soooo hot).

Now we are in Siem Reap, Cambodia. So far we love Cambodia the most out of all the places we have been which is wonderful because we were always sort of expecting Cambodia to be a challenege for us (based on others accounts) but its been nothing but pleasant and enjoyable. We spent two entire days visiting Angkor. We thought we'd just be seeing Angkor Wat but turns out Angkor is like an ancient city of temples and it streteches at least 30km! You have to hire a tuk tuk driver for the day who takes you all around and only hired cars and motorbikes are allowed to drive in the area. But we really need pictures to coincide with our Angkor stories so maybe in Phnom Penn we will have better internet access and thus a proper post about Angkor Wat and the temples of Angkor. They are just too beautiful, intricate, ancient and crazy too describe without pictures!

Off to Phonm Penn tomorrow, it will be hard to leave Siem Reap, we really do love it here.

Also, what is with the lack of comments? Andy, I think Marnie enjoys your comments more than the actual blog so get on it. And sam i know u are our most faithful reader, show us some love. Miss you guys...but wow, we are going to be home soon.....

Moving To Laos, Becoming Professional Tubers

Once getting our act together after arriving in Vang Vieng, we booked a day trip to go kayaking and also some local caves (caves are a big thing here). we quickly realized tours here involve a lotof waiting. our guide was the only fat laos man we have seen and he was at least entertaining by eating bright blue bugs off the trees. we saw three caves in total. pretty generic, but fun because we needed flashlights to see and they were really big. The third cavewas by far the highlght of the day as we got to get on tubes and float through it. at the end there was a pool that we swam in "for youth and luck". we still had to keep our lights on when swimmng though because it was so dark.

After the caves we visited a village outside ofvangvieng and our guide described the type of living ofthe particular tribe members of the village. it was a nice change from "you have fifteen minutes to shop" type villages of most tours.

we also went kayaking along the Nam song river where there are bars lining the sides and where the cities main attraction, tubing, takes place. we quickly learned that our kayaking skills need some work so needless to say, there won't be full days of kayaking in our future but it was still a goodtime. we got a preview for our tubing day by stoppping at one bar. i (steph) did my first swing, in preparation for future river times.

The next day, with the news that Arie and Alex would be coming to Vang Vieng sooner than we anticipated, we decided to wait until the day after to go tubing. So with a free day, the brit boys who have joined us again decided they wanted to explore some caves nearby. The Lonely Planet said it was a 7km walk and I was feeling a little in need of some exercising so I (Natalie) went along. 7km didnt sound bad at the time. Steph, being the smart girl she is, opted to spend the day with Jacco and the many resteraunts around town playing non-stop Friends episodes. So off we went in the stifiling hot Laos day. The first cave was close by and only up a few bajilion stairs (first sign of a tough day ahead) but the view was worth it.

The first cave was really big and long but had stairs and railings and lights all along it so it didnt really feel authentic at all. We then had a swim in a little lagoon before heading off for our 7km walk to the next cave. Someone really should have told me how long that amount of walking takes. By the time we reached the lagoon and cave our feet were aching and we were covered in dust and dirt. And by the time we got outof the lagoon (NEEDED to cool down), we barely had any time left to explore the cave (which was a 200m rock climb, pretty rough after allthat walking). But the cave was beautiful and extremly big. I've never seen anything quite like it. Hard to see in pictures but i could have stayed there for quite awhile just enjoying it. Thankfully, we got a tractor ride home and made it back just before the sun went down.

The next day, our group was ready, overly excited, in celebration mode (alexs birthday) and most importantly, finally all together! Arie her boyfriend Alex, Arie's friend from childhood Kathy, Jacco, Steph, me and Anthony and Fred (the british boys we left in Koh Tao but who missed us too much to stay away for too long, obviously) had a nice big breakfast and then headed to rent our tubes and dry bags for the day. The wavers we signed stipulated that the tubes needed to be returned by 6pm and no one thought twice about this, afterall who tubes until it gets dark? Well turns out we do. but more bout that later. We got on our tubes and floated down the river for approxiomately one minute before stopping at the first riverside bar. Actually it was mostly a bamboo raised platform with a woman selling Beer Lao.

clockwise from left Kathy, Arie, Steph, Fred, Jacco, Alex, Anthony

After our first beer of the day and free shot of Lao Lao (we were celebrating a birthday so we had to do it but it still tasted like the worst thing that has ever been created) and getting aquainted with the zip lign, we were off again. Although once again we made it about a minute in the water then got out again to sample the beer at the next bar as well as their rope swing.

As you can imagine, the day pretty much progressed like this. Tube a bit, get stuck in the rapids (dry season water sports not so efficient), paddle with flip flops, stop at bars and drink and swing and eat. Before we knew it, it was suddenly very late. And we had a 30min ride to our final destination. We knew we were in trouble when we noticed the moon was already out. Somehow though we made it and just as it was getting way too dark outside we boarded a tuk tuk and ended our amazing, fabulous, wonderful day of tubing fun.

Now the boys have left us again, Jacco starts heading towards Cambodia tomorrow, Kathy, Arie and Alex are departing too and Steph and I will be back on our own again with no set plans in mind. After being in a group for almost a month now, we're not sure we remember how to travel by ourselves anymore! But oh well, lots to see and do so we must be on our way.

Same Same, but Different

We have finally made it out of Thailand and it was a very difficult farewell. Afterall, it had been so good to us. And there was a few loose ends to cover up before we could leave. Luckily Chiang mai is the perfect place for that. After recovering from our trek with an oil massage (1 hour for 8 dollars) we enjoyed some thai boxing at the arena. We missed the canadian guy that got knocked out but apprently put up a good fight, and made it in time to witness a norweigian knock out the thai, very dramatic.

Before leaving we needed to learn more about the culture, especially our favourite part, eating!!! at a cooking class with a cute little thai women named wendy, we each got to chose three dishes and then we cooked them. Then we ate them!That night we celebrated our second-last night in thailand AND Birthday week (Natalie and arie's, eventhough it was a month late) in Chiang Mai at a "roof top" bar that had cockroaches in the bathroom (i only found out at the end of the night, i was just happy the bathroom toilet flushed).
Making new friends of every species, as always:

The next day we visited the "must see" temple onthe chang mai mountain which was really nice. We got blessed by monks for good luck and it was chinese new year so there were a lot of people there.





After one more night of night-market shopping we left for the town Chang Khong, which really only makes money from tourists staying there before crossing the border to Laos. after getting to Laos and discovering what it feels like to be millionaires, we boarded our new home. The ENGINE room of a long boat. yes, there was too little space for the eight of us to sit on the spacious and very uncomfortable looking wooden benches lining the walls so we made the engine room our "university apartment" for the day. After settling into our fate we soon found it quite comfortable. everyone had space to lie down, walk around, play cards and drink "beerlao". We even managed to ignore the people coming to the back to take pictures of us like we were refugees and talking about reporting the boat to the tourist board. A very funny concept if you think about it. After a night of no engine noise but very rude company in the town of pak beng (cockroaches and no electricity after 10, oh, and a guy knocking on your door at 730 am asking for more money) we decided we liked our engine room better. I even got comfortable anough with the engine to sleep right next to it with only temporary hearing problems when we returned to it the next day.


Once in Luang Prabang we understood (finally) what the Lonely plant kept saying about Laos being relaxed and easy. Luang Prabang (our first stop) was like a monk town. we began to notice that everything revolved around them. The dress was more conservative, the mornings were earlier, and everything quieted by 10 pm, then stopped at midnight (the monks need their sleep). During the first day we simply wandered the town. Arie and Alex decided they would leave the next day so at night we went to Lao lao garden and met up with people from our engine room. The main discovery of this night was that lao lao (lao whisky) tastes like crap and subsequently all other lao alcohol tastes like lao lao. Beerlao is good though, at least they got one thing right.


The next day we went on a day tour to some villages with really nice jewelery and scarves, then to caves tat are now temples on the banks of the mekong. Finally we went to really nice waterfalls. they loooked almost like fake waterfalls in pools at resorts. Natalie worked up the courage to jump off one of the waterfalls while i discovered my lack of interest in jumping from high place into water...i was still proud of her though and played photographer.





After returning to town we taught english by dropping into what seemed like an after school program. the kids were really sweet. besides paying more attention to the toys most of the time, they were quite quick learners. I even had some time helping two 15 and 16 year olds to read.

The following day we took a private minivan through the very windy roads of the lao countryside down to Vang vieng. It was quite a good trip, especially passing through the villages and by people on the highway. One thing particularly interesting (put lightly) was the guys with guns, in civilian clothes, patrolling every so often on the side of the highway, to which our driver would toss a pack of cigarettes out the window. The only thing we could think of is that the men were protecting the stretch of highway and our driver was showing his appreciation. Apparently there are a lot of shootings there. I didnt ask any more questions, thought it best not to.

Now in Vang Vieng with our two amatuer (sp?) photographers jacco and jason, we are planning tubing and caving, maybe some kayaking and hoping to meet back up with Arie and Alex and possibly others in the coming days. We will keep you all posted with more stories!!!

xo