Up River

We decide to travel by small boat - it actually is a pretty basic little craft once we get a look at it - see pics! -

up the Mekong and the Nam Ou. It is the only place still navigable by river this time of year and this determines our decision of where to head in Northern Lao. So we book a trip - 7 hours up river to Nong Kieu and plan to travel next day 1 more hour to Mong Ngoi (I think, Hata, you did this too?) The Nam Ou is such a beautiful river - tall mountains covered in palms and bamboo come down to the water, and all along the banks are temporary gardens taking advantage of the silt left by the rainy season, fenced off from water buffalo. The water comes from China and flows down the continent to the Mekong delta. We are close to the Vietnam border here.

We reach Nong Kieu around 4 - and we travellers struggle up the steep stairs to the village to find our rooms for the night.We have ditched some of our luggage at guesthouses where we will return - some in Bangkok, some in Chiang Mai so we are carrying only one shoulder bag and for this we are grateful as we see other travellers struggling with huge pacs and bags. Our guesthouse is very nice and has mosquito nets and a balcony overlooking the river.

The next morning we catch an even smaller boat to travel 1 more hour upriver -to Mong Ngoi. The village is not connected by road so there is only river access - so no cars or motorcycles at all. We walk down the main raod, past shops, past chickens, and gardens and find a guesthouse right by the river, there is a balcony, there are hammocks - an attached restaurant for 50,000 kip - which is $5.88 a night. It is cool and misty in the mornings and hot in the afternoon. This might be heaven. There are defineatly lots of backpackers but also lots of Lao life - I tell Dave that we are doing this now because we didn't do this - enough - when we were 20. We ARE the only people our age here - we mostly laze - we don't trek to hilltribe villages, nor go upriver to fish - just hang out in the hammocks. We are both reading a series of books that star a 70 year old Laotian pathologist who is plagued with psychic powers - they are funny, cynical and set in Laos - perfect - I'd say. Which also may be the reason we don't have time to trek... We spend 2 nights and reluctantly leave - back to Nong Kieu and then the following day, back to Luang Prabang.

This leg we did by truck - see pics. That is 3 hours crammed in the back with - at one point - 25 other people, 1 chicken, a baby and assorted luggage on board. I passed around oranges bought at market and we all squooze our way down the highway. Northern Lao is very beautiful - no wonder the Lao people love their country. Tall tall mountains, rice paddies, blooming tropical trees. We know, from our homesteading days, that you can have everything you need with a vegetable garden,fruit trees, chickens, a water buffalo or two, a river flowing by and majestic view.



I am lobbying Dave to delay our trip one week so we can go to the beach - if you remember - I only got a 1/2 day in and when we think how cold Sausalito will be - we feel justified to stay....

Catch up Blog - From Bangkok to Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang

Bangkok was going to be a challenge - we had never been here before but I found a great place in a little neighborhood that is so manageable - the laundry is 90 steps to the left from our guesthouse; street food is right out front along the canal; there are restaurants along the riverside; the people at the front desk are so cheerful and helpful that we decide that BKK is OK. We shop at the huge weekend market Chatachuck to find our Red Stella goods.

We left Bangkok for Chiang Mai - it was such a great return. The streets looked clean and wide - the buildings are only 2 stories. From the chaos of Bangkok we see the familiar - almost suburban Chiang Mai - this is the 3rd visit for me, second one for Dave - and it was the coming back to: where you go for skicky rice,we know the stores where we buy things and surprise - the merchants remember us!! It's been 3 years but walking the familiar streets and seeing the things that have changed - it is comforting. We stay at the same place (they have added a pool!) - Baan Orapin is an old teak house that is now surrounded by guestrooms - the owner studied architecture at Arizona State. Nice peaceful oasis in the middle of the busy city.

Soon enough, we leave for our Luang Prabang jag - we fly from CM to LP - we had never been before and it is an incredibly beautiful city (World Hertiage) The French were here with their architecture (think Indochine) and it is a pennisula between two rivers - the lovely Mekong and a river flowing into it - I cannot imagine a more beautiful town There are 43 temples (called wats) and every morning the monks walk out to collect their daily food from the devoted. See pics.

It is actually a bit of a tourist zoo ( some quite aggressive - I think it is the French!). However is also evocative and special. Just a block away from the main road, the monks return back to their wat and this looks like it must have - no tourist cameras, just old ladies giving rice to the orange clad monks - beautiful!

We are here for a few days - mostly go out in the mornings, sleep during the afternoons (it's hot) and have G&Ts, then dinner at night, watching the sun go down over the Mekong.

Dawn Chorus in Chiang Mai

Dave says:
One of the things I really enjoy about travelling is awaking to the foreign sounds of whatever country we may be in. In Sri Lanka it was both Buddhist and Muslim prayers being broadcast from the neighboring temples. Preceding this, though, always seems to be a chorus of roosters - and I like this because it reminds me of our life in Bodega. Sometimes the rooster, especially on full moon nights, decides to start at about 3 AM but when he hears no response he decides maybe he should get back to the roost. I, on the other hand, am now completely wide awake. I bring this all up because here in Chiang Mai there seems to be a unique difference in the creature. For those who remember the classic cartoon, 'Lady and the Tramp', you will recall some of Tramps buddies serenading the couple. I believe it may have been a quintet. Right behind our hotel appears to be the equivalent to Ladysmith Black Mambazo. There must be at least 20 dogs ranging from baritone to soprano and even falsetto, some in the bark tone and others in the howl. It generally starts about 5AM with a soloist howler that laments for about 5 minutes and then as if being conducted everybody else joins in for their part. This continues maybe 20 minutes and then, again as if a conductor has given his command, they all come to rest. It amuses us no end because we remember this from 3 years ago here, and we are generally early risers, but the overheard comments from new guests ... well sometimes we have to bite our tongues to stop from laughing. Maybe an hour after our lot has stopped we hear another chorus - just the same - from further down the street. Obviously another neighborhood with there own choir. Anyway, it will be nice to hear roosters again - maybe when we get down to the coast.

This is a little out of order and Bettysue can catch you up on Laos and I have a few observations about eating in Thailand, but for that you will have to wait just a little.

Oh Hideous beastie

For your viewing pleasure!

Elaine Benes in Thailand?

I am pursued and horrified by a mannequin that is everywhere I look in Thailand. I can't stand it - Bettysue warns me when we are approaching one so that I can look in the opposite direction. Those who remember the Elaine Benes mannequin episode of Seinfeld will perhaps understand this, but I wonder about the fixation the maker of this mannequin has. She looks like she was at a Full Moon Ecstacy Rave at Phuket. Sometimes she even has rainbow hair! If there was one thing I could change about Thailand it would be the elimination of this creature - and just for good measure, her creator and model. Chiang Mai is wonderful after Bangkok ... very laid back and clean. We have revisited some old friends - the noodle soup man across the road, vendors at the night market, and our non kick boxing masseuses. We are here for a couple of more days and then off to Laos for 10 days before we work our way back to Chiang Mai and Bangkok.

Back In Thailand

OK - we are back in Thailand. Bangkok was busy and productive for us at the Chatachuck market, though we will have to return there when we are done up here in the North. My first Thai massage in many years proved to be excruciatingly painful, all the time the pint-sized masseuse was nodding with a huge grin on her face, "Is good?" I, of course, was nodding back with what I hoped would pass for a grin, " Yes, yes", not wanting to appear a crybaby. When it was over I found out she was also an exhibition kick-boxer.

Hooray Thailand!!

Bettysue says: Hooray - we are back in Thailand - we are feeling good - acclimated to the heat - not jetlagged and everything seems a little more familiar - we were a little concerned about being in Bangkok - it is the first time for us and everyone said - so congested! - so busy! but even though more people in Sri Lanka could understand us (English is taught in the schools and they have about 98% literacy), somehow it seems easier to find what we need - there is more infrastructure for tourists, maybe. There is a little less tourists - people got scared off because of the airport closure in December - but I figure if we braved the Tamil tigers, what are a little peaceful protesters?


We found our ride to the hotel just fine but I was just a bit stressed because Sri Lanka airlines sent my bag on to Hong Kong and I faced the prospect of losing all of my clothes! But, at 1:45am we had a knock at the room door and my bag had returned to us! So, the first day we headed off to see Jim Thompson's house - it's a strange story about this American but basically he had a very beautiful teak house built and filled it with Asian beautiful objects - he is gone but they have tours of his house. We loved it all and were filled with envy - want that - want this! It's funny but most things don't inspire this craving - we kinda feel that we have had enough - big houses, land, etc and we now don't really want much more. However, we did feel this want and need for a beautiful tropical Asian style house.


We had our first sticky rice and mango and it was wonderful. Then we headed for Khao San Road. It's a legend and you really can't say - I have been to Thailand 3 times but I have never seen Khao San Road. Uhm, now we have seen it and now we know what we haven't missed. I did get some knit pants (brown) and a teeshirt top - more travel clothes.

Today, we went to the Chakachak weekend market - huge huge market with anything you can imagine for sale. We were looking for hilltribe textiles and silver and mostly noting what we can get here if we don't see it in Chiang Mai.


And, we made the decision to return to Bangkok after Chiang Mai and before returning to San Francisco. We like our guesthouse and the neighborhood (our neighborhood now). Not many tourists around - it's near the river and we have been to 2 riverside restaurants within walking distance - great food - fish - huge prawns for under $10 - can't get that in SF!


I have had a foot massage already and I am now looking at Dave getting a full massage from the same lady that hurt me yesterday! I have to say that it was the most intense massage ever but my legs and feet felt like they were not there afterwards. Maybe Dave will feel like his body has disappeared!


Our guesthouse is so cute - it is 'artsy' - I guess - you can see it if you go to www.phranakorn-norlen.com - people are really nice and there are a number of people with little children - babies and toddlers - I have to admire the energy it would take to travel with little ones in this climate - and what do you do? - hit the city parks!


We return to the Chatachak market tomorrow - we lasted only 4 hours today and then, we leave for Chiang Mai on Monday. We have a dinner date with Janah (and Brady) - meeting at a riverside restaurant just down the street from our hotel that evening. Always so much fun to meet up with friends half way around the world!


Hey tomorrow is Sunday and HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAN! Many happy returns and all - I think we should start celebrating your day first thing - whilst you sleep.

No pics this time - will post some next time. More from the north....

Yala, Beach (not) and Galle Fort

Bettysue says: We left Ella next morning. Ella is a quiet mountain village with a left over British post office - still with the wooden cubbies and 3 office clerks, but we were anxious to start a safari. We travelled down the mountain, stopping at an outdoor temple where there is a giant buddha carved into the hillside.

Reaching Yala village hotel in the mid afternoon, all we could do is fall into the beautiful pool. Yala village hotel is located in the park and they insist you have an escort if you leave your cabana after dark. WILD animals roam around - we saw lots of boar and water buffalo and monkeys but no elephants that do come in - we saw the poo - but not that night. Next morning early, 5:30 am we climb into a landrover and head out in the park to see what we do.

Unhappily, D&BSue do not see one of the 12 leopards in the park (there are only 60 left in Sri Lanka), but we do see a tusker elephant, and more elephants, and sloth bears, jackels, wild water buffalo with huge horns, who are perpetually angry and will attack you outside a vehicle. It was a great experience (especially if we don't get to kenya) here are some pics:

Sometimes when you travel, you see the same people at each spot. Our regulars were David and Susie (I know) who were at the Temple of the Tooth, walking down our road in Ella, on the safari in Yala (different jeep) and finally walked in when we were having our G&Ts on a veranda of a fancy boutique hotel in Galle Fort. They are British but live in the Emirites. Here is a picture of them - let us know if YOU spot them.

The next stop for us was a much anticipated beach layover - originally planned for 4 nights but trimmed down to 2 (meaning 1 full day at the beach) It was a good thing that we hit the beach the afternoon we arrived because the entire next day - our 1 day - was overcast. Probably saved us a sunburn. This beach was probably the lovliest we have ever seen - here is pic (from our veranda).

We travelled to Galle Fort - a Portugese/Dutch fort that has lots of old houses and pretty hotels - and we were lucky enough to stay at a very fancy one - helped by our SriLanka in style friends. We visited the markets - see these pics:

Here is Dave on a veranda just before a G&T:

Next morning we travelled by train up to Colombo. We travelled along the same stretch where the tsunami washed every one away. There is major efforts of recovery and still some damage to see. Life continues here and everywhere.

We stay in Columbo 2 more nights and travel on to Bangkok... (to be continued)

The Train To Ella.

Dave says: OK - I should have checked Bettysue's last post because I found, after an hour of typing that I had repeated everything that she had already mentioned. I ate my hat and it wasn't tasty. Anyway, we left Kandy by train on a 7 hour trip to Ella. It was very crowded but we had decided to spring the extra $2 each for a seat in the observation car which travels in the back. Much to my chagrin, I found that it was full of old European couples - Dutch, German, French. Oh well - I reasoned - old people need to travel as well. It was only at the end of the trip I caught my reflection , and, shit, goddamn, I looked just like them. It was a shock to the system. It took me several gin and tonics to calm down. Anyway, back to the train,! This was a beautiful train ride through the hill country, up through pine forests, through many tea plantations and picturesque towns and villages. Children would always return waves with huge smiles on their faces and some adults got in on the act as well. The train goes through land that isn't accessible by road so there was some very unspoilt scenery - rivers, waterfalls, jungle and forest. This observation car was a funny thing - like I said, it was at the back of the train and so the train's reaction to the irregularity of the track was like when you snap a rope. The last car - us - seemed to be bouncing up and leaving the track at times. I was very thankful that I had no 'tummy troubles' because this motion would have proved disastrous. We travelled from the early morning, ate a packed lunch on the train, and arrived at our destination at around 4:30 in the afternoon time - funnily enough - also G & T time. Our hotel was a fairly small place that overlooked the valley route that we would be taking the following morning. It was also just down the road from a Buddhist temple so we were serenaded by prayer chants that wafted through the trees to us.

America's Special Day!

Bettysue says: January 20, 2009. We are first to start this great day for America. We went to the Botanical Gardens and laid out in the sun around the pool. We can watch CNN and started watching it when it was 5AM in Washington DC time – everyone is bundled up from the cold and we are sunbathing. Everyone here, when we say we are Americans, - say Obama!. Taxi and tuk-tuk drivers, hotel waiters, restaurant owners. The whole world is happy today. It is wonderful to the people of colour that America has a president of colour. And then, there is the hope and relief that we have survived 8 horrible years – others have not been so lucky.

We left Colombo and drove up the Kandy road – the scenery changing into what Bali looks like – palm trees and rice fields. Along the way we stop for something – some part of the palm tree that is edible and sold in small plastic bags from the people on the roadsides. Small while balls of fiber – not juicy – and tasting vaguely of coconut – not too bad. We also stop for some roasted cashews.

2 hours along, we pull into the elephant orphanage. It is government run and it is a rescue operation. Babies without mothers, injured or blind elephants are taken in here – fed, some by bottle and taken to the river twice a day. They have lots of elephant company – about 80 are here. But they are not trained to be around people and they are not wild. The public can come close but pretty much kept away from touching them, which is as well because they are huge and not domesticated animals. We watch them eating, cleverly ripping up tender fibers from logs with their strong trunks. Sri Lankan elephants have only 6 % with tusks but if you have them, they are handy at ripping these logs. I have heard criticism of the orphanage as too touristy. I only saw a few foreigners and mostly Sri Lankans and the support that the tourist activity sure goes a long way to feed these huge animals. There is another facility that limits human contact, feeds only what wild elephants eat and hopes to return the elephants to the wild. But the elephants at the orphanage will never go back to the wild. All of the elephants in the river is a beautiful sight.

I had my palm read by a Sri Lankan palmist – I will live to be 91!

We traveled on to Kandy and next morning went to the Temple of the Tooth – Buddha’s tooth was taken from his cremation and delivered to Sri Lanka – and now this is a very important Buddhist site. We went with pilgrims and when they opened the little gate, we could see the chamber where the gold chest that has the tooth in it - can’t see the tooth.













Monkeys come to our balcony – many many monkeys – they are cheeky and will rampage your room if you leave the sliding doors unlocked.

More later….

Paradise Lost - ( for some )

Dave says: This is a very beautiful place and the people we have encountered have been so friendly - even the stranger on the street asking if we need help. Of course, recovering from jetlag. which continues to be a problem, we play the 'colonial' on the veranda drinking our gin and tonics - a drink we rarely have at home but has been a daily ritual in our visits to the tropics. I'm sure if we continue travelling to these places our brains will become like swiss cheese or whatever the fallout of gin is!

Anyway, whilst in the midst of our G & T a load, thundering roar comes down the beach. I know what it is immediately having always thrilled at the Blue Angels displays during Fleet Week over the SF Bay. This was different though because I realised that they were returning to Colombo after having delivered a payload of death and misery somewhere up north. I learnt that this was a twice daily trip these fighters made and it made me rethink my Fleet Week excitement.

Our trip into Colombo had many further reminders that we were in a war zone with many soldiers in a variety of uniforms in sandbagged machine gun outposts throughout the city. Not too unlike London during their troubles some years ago but here I'm not conversant with the details and hesitant to ask. Traffic is reduced to a crawl sometimes as we go through checkpoints - our tuk-tuk was stopped and the driver was questioned whilst an eye from the soldier remained on us. The driver turned, "She wants to know where you are from". "California", we said and we waited a further 10 minutes whilst a helicopter circled our area. I'm hoping that their presence will be less as we leave the city but that remains to be seen.

Landed, Signed Sealed, Delivered

Bettysue says: Here we are in Sri Lanka - I am beginning to feel like we are here - we had a harrowing travel - total of 30 hours of flying (4 flights) and waiting (record was 8 hours) in airports to arrive in Columbo praying our guesthouse sent someone to fetch 2 travel-zombies (They did!). We got deposited in a room (with a bed!) at midnight 2 days later than when we left. Grateful!!

The IceBear Guesthouse in Negombo was PERFECT for us - a room, a beautiful garden, a great veranda where we lived for 2 days recovering. We met some nice couples (one lives in Goa - luckies!! and one was a carrot farmer in Cambrideshire). Dave and Bill drank arrack at night and we slept off the travel/drink/whatever. We did walk on the beach a bit (see some handmade fishing boats - we watched as the fishers separated the little caught fish from the nets) but when I say we lived on the veranda - that is the truth. It overlooks a beautiful garden of palms and bushes and large crow like birds that drink from water spigots. Just what you need to chill out. They serve all meals there so you only have to move from veranda to veranda to eat.

After a couple of days of that, we were ready to begin our 'work'. We travelled to Columbo - busy, trafficy with tuk-tuks going way too fast, (really, the street scenes look the same same in Mexico, Bali, Guatemala, Thailand - lots of dusty concrete shops and houses, dogs avoiding traffic, people walking in not very separated from the traffic sideways, this time the ladies are wearing saris and salwar kamezs) and under the stress of a high security zone -lots of soldiers, jets flying over, etc.

The place we are staying is FABULOUS! It is in the lonely planet but it is a little odd - there are only 2 large rooms with a shared living room attached to an office that conducts travel arrangements to very high-end hotels in Sri Lanka and Indochine. It is upscale but not expensive. The building it is in is a large dilapdated office building that reminds Dave of rundown Barcelona hotels and I have seen the same in Italy in 1968 when I travelled there. Weird, large empty halls, chipped steps up floors, tiny deep open ventilation/light portals that look only out at the next room, a nightwatchman asleep at the door, you would never guess that behind an ordinary door - there is a large clean stylish apartment. It is across the street from the Galle Face hotel - one of the colonial icons of Sri Lanka - you sit on the veranda looking out at the sea where Leonard and Virginia Wolfe sat (and everyone else passing through Sri Lanka - then Ceylon) The travel people in the office are arranging us to stay in an extremely upscale hotel in Galle on our way back to Colombo in a couple of weeks - one of those - 'I will call a friend to get you a room for not much more than what you would pay - wonderful/happy events'. We try to be open to the universe in situations like that and we continue our habit of mooching off the rich lifestyle.

I have to say they are so friendly and helpful - when we asked where to buy a sim card for our travel phone - they gave us one to use with lots of credit on it! They are running a company called Sri Lanka in Style - see their website http://www.srilankainstyle.com/ and you can see the hotels they book and can see our room at the Galle Face Court. We are in the Orange room.

We are travelling to the elephant orphanage and Kandy on Monday. Excited to see the babies and we will attach photos and tell you about that. I know that Dave wants to blog soon so I will let him...(I am asking him to post some pictures now - need to sort out how to do it on this machine.....)

Dave says:
Hmmm - I've got the beginnings of a thought rolling around inside me bonce that tells me I got a role to play on this trip!

On Our Way!

BSue says: Our final day before the TRIP! We have had bags fully packed - repacked- partially packed and now finally packed. It's so hard to decide how little to bring. I imagine me having to wear the same things all the time and ending up hating the very material of the item ( I remember that from the last days of pregnancy - never wanting to see those things again!) And, then there are the useful things - like the book light, the duct tape, battery rechargers for camera, ipod, a heating element for tea making, pg tips, a mozzie net, endless useful things. In the end, we are taking what we are taking. I have 1 checked wheelie bag that could turn into a backpac, 1 timbuctoo bag to carry on. In these are an empty cargo bag and extra soft bag for the goods. Dave has a camera bag that will never ever leave his back, a timbuctoo bag and a checked wheelie bag - also can be a backpac.We are not exactly light but we could struggle up a jungle path if need be.

Some have asked us why Sri Lanka and its hard to pinpoint why exactly. The words Ceylon and Malabar have held magic to my ears for my whole life. Then, Dave won a lonely planets guide for Sri Lanka in 1998 or so (a sign!) and 3 years ago we had to choose between AnchorWat and Sri Lanka and Anchor Wat won so... it's time now for Sri Lanka. We have heard it is India on valium.

Thailand because we get stuff in Chiang Mai - and we will spend some time in Bangkok (1st time) and Laos because we went to Vientaine last trip and missed Luang Prabang and we wanted to see that beautiful town. So, it's Sri Lanka, Thailand and Laos in 6 weeks.

Here is a picture of us - before trip - on our houseboat - we are ready. Hope the door-to-door man remembers to pick us up. We fly out of SF at midnight - to Hong Kong airport for a couple of hours - then to Bangkok airport. There, we are stuck for 8 hours (not our original planning but Sri Lankan air kept changing the flight time) (sleep? massage?), then it is off to Sri Lanka - arriving there at 10PM Tuesday night. Sleep will be our first order - chill for a few nights at the beach in Negombo. Get ready for hot, humid...
-to be continued-