Border Crossings and Jail Threats

Thursday

We departed from Chiang Mai around 9 a.m. on the shuttle headed for Chiang Khong. The driver stopped halfway into the five hour ride somewhere in Chiang Rai to give his ankle a break from violently sealing the pedal to the floor for the past couple hundred of k’s.

The stop ended up being a pleasant surprise. We were given permission for a quarter of an hour to explore the White Temple, Wat Rung Khun. The buddhist temple was blinding and absolutely stunning, like a bridge in a crisp white wedding gown that indecisively chose to decorate herself with too many jewels so you couldn’t decided what to focus on.

I felt like I was walking around the set of The NeverEnding Story. 

 

A few hours later we arrived at Chiang Khong. Chiang Khong doesn’t exactly have a lot going on, which was fine because we were only in the mood to stroll around in the sleepy town. We went out to dinner with Jackson and Lyndsey and called it a night before our border crossing and slow boat the following day.

Friday

This particular morning was pretty crap.

That might be because we were told to be up and ready by 8 a.m. and at 7:15 a.m. our idiot guide was slamming on my door telling me to get in the truck. Thanks to him putting us up in the wrong hotel, we need to be at breakfast somewhere else without more than a 2 second notice.

He was furious with me and I can’t say I was very apologetic for his own idiocy. Sorry dude. I’ve dealt with elite scamming scum likeminded indiviuals the past three months; and this particular morning I wasn’t in the mood to spend the next 12 hours half-showered still in my pajamas.

While trying to find a quiet spot to enjoy my powdered coffee and my own miserable company, this same guide decided to set up his folding table scam shop just outside the reception of the hotel we were supposed to (and already paid for) have stayed at…also the one I could be enjoying a shower and a change of clothes that very same moment.

He carried on, ripping off every poor budget traveler with every opportunity he could. He was charging for coffee (that was included in their package), transfer to the border (also included), and offering up exchange rates that even a Zimbabwe bank wouldn’t accept in exchange for their once existent currency.

By the time I tasted the undissolved sand in my coffee, I was fully aware that this guy sucked, and I was confident that his ego was so inflated that his feet didn’t even touch the ground.

Next up, it was our groups turn to deal with him. We forked over our transfer tickets and exchanged some baht into kip. He told us Laos had locked currency and it would cost $20 to get anything out of an ATM, regardless of the withdrawal amount. James handed him 3000 baht and the sucky man handed him back the equivalent of a quarter of what it was worth in kip. With my XE Currency app in hand, I immediately called him out. He didn’t appreciate me one bit as he had already decided he didn’t like me earlier that morning. We asked for our money back and he handed us exactly half back, claiming that is all we gave him. He flat out just pocked half of the money we had handed him seconds ago.

“Very funny. The rest of our money?” We said loudly.

We weren’t impressed with the magician and probably shouldn’t have put ourselves in that situation. Our voices were raised and obviously inflated with anger.

I think we forgot we weren’t in India – the land where screaming gets you further in life.

He didn’t respond well and immediately morphed into a crazy raging defensive lunatic. Long story short, he threatened to call the police, send us to jail, and in the end our bags were thrown out of his truck and we hung off the back of another pickup to get to the border crossing into Laos.

The border crossing was pretty hellish. Still pissed off, I apologized to the Laotian border control for sticking my ass in the air while repeating down dog and sun salutations in attempt to chill the heck out.

By noon we were finally on the slow boat.

The slow boat is primarily a tourist boat that takes travelers down the Mekong River. It shouldn’t be called a slow boat. When everyone said ‘slow boat’ I imagined we would be crammed into a little wooden row boat with a man dressed in a two tone onsie, a variation of a sailers hat, smoking a pipe while playing an organ and intermittently paddling us down the Mekong.

It’s not slow. It is fully equipped with a roaring engine that has some serious guts.

The whole trip has the potential to be quite boring.  If you have good company, some cash for onboard beers, snacks and playing cards then this is easily an enjoyable way to spend a day (well, two).

The scenery that passes by is a sweet green hazy welcome into Laos.

We moored at around 4 p.m. and found a hotel to make home for the short night in Pakbeng.

Pakbeng was surprisingly sweet. There were several options for eating and drinking, but besides that there wasn’t much to see or do so that’s how we spent our evening.

Saturday

We boarded the boat around 9 a.m.

Unfortunately we chose seats wrong and there was a very sick, maybe dead body that was brought onto the boat about 45 minutes into the ride so James and forfeited our seats and shared the stairs as a seat for the eight hour journey. It wasn’t necessarily a fun day but it sure beat any day in India.

We arrived into Luang Prabang and I have to say I was a bit nervous. I wanted badly to love everything about Laos, particularly Luang Prabang.

The first impression one receives after walking up the stairs from the dock might not be the best, but oh how quickly one can fall in love with Luang Prabang!!

 

Bye Borneo. Hi Chiang Mai.

Friday, April 18, 2014

I like budget airlines. I’m not saying that just because my bank account agrees, but because budget airlines have this raw glamour-free way about them. Budget airlines let you simply pay for a seat on the plane, not the luxury of a brilliant website, six peanuts and a complimentary swig of Sprite onboard.

Air Asia has been just what we needed. But on this particular morning, Alfonso in baggage check was giving us a hard time. After some very amusing conversations with him, we forked over some extra ringetts, our 13 kilo bags and chaotically boarded our flight back to Kuala Lumpur.

Part of me wished we would miss our connecting flight so we could spend the evening toasting with John and Jude to our own incredible vacation poolside on the aLoft rooftop. Unfortunately we landed back into KL on time, meaning it was time to say goodbye.

It felt far too soon to already be saying goodbye. It was exciting to get to know them both and I can honestly say we had more fun hanging with them than we have in a very, very  long time. It meant a lot to see James spend time and enjoy his parents. I’m grateful they took the initiative to make it out here, and pretty flattered that they wanted to spend time with us budget backpackers.  It was such a real reminder of how important relationships are, how you can’t be thankful enough to have parents you get along with and love, and how we might all underestimate how lucky we truly are.

I’ll never be able to thank John and Jude for their visit. It was what James and I both needed emotionally and physically, and I know we both didn’t know how seriously we were suffering from a lack of these things until we had to say goodbye. They’ll never know how they brought us back to our version of reality, clarity and reminded us that all of the world is not bad.

James and I boarded our next flight to Chiang Mai. When we landed the hot air temporarily paralyzed our lungs and sent my hair into a worse fit.

The Green Tulip off Samlam Road would be our home in Chiang Mai. Our first night was spent walking around Old Town. We ended peacefully walking up Bamruang Buri road toward the Chiang Mai gate.

Wandering through food stalls we decided to introduce our tempermental tummies to Thai cuisine in a sweet little café on the corner that lent to amusing people watching. For hours we talked about James parents, our trip to Borneo and our trip in general. A little lady outside the window worked efficiently making up dozens of batches of kom kompak (coconut pudding cakes). Little did she know we would be visiting her multiple times daily for the rest of the week.

I liked this place. I decided then that I was quite happy to be there.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Saturday night in Chiang Mai hosts the most darling market in the world.

Yes, I said the word darling.

The market was overflowing with canvas totes painted delicately with pastels, tee-shirts with pixar cartoons, handcrafted jewelry that actually looked handmade in that ‘Etsy’ sort of way (instead of the garage sale rusty junk appeal that Indian goods offer), and lanterns I would fill my backpack with if I knew James wouldn’t notice.

If you are in Chiang Mai, forget the nightly market and just be there on a Saturday for the best picks.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

We spent our Easter Sunday inside a Thai kitchen all day. We signed up for a cooking class with The Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School.

We stopped at the market to pick up some fresh ingredients before we made our way to the farm where we would spend the day. Our teacher led us around the farm, letting us steal lime leaves, make funny faces after offering us strange sour fruits, lemongrass and suck on chives before lighting up our woks.

We learned how to make jasmine and sticky rice before diving into our individually selected menus.

Recipes will be featured in our Recipes Section soon!

A day in the kitchen experimenting with different spices, herbs and creating foreign flavors was precisely what I needed to feel right at home and Pharrell happy.

 

…

To sum up our time in Chiang Mai, the week was spent in Kaldi Café, night markets, getting a painful 200 baht Thai massage, inhaling 60 baht pad thai for breakfast, lunch and dinner, passing by and in temples, sweating in 35C plus heat, and me having an initial Skype interview with a hospital in Seattle.

On our last day we rented a scooter for 200 baht and headed straight for the mountains. A few hours were spent slowly walking in and around Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.

 

 

Chiang Mai – you are surprisingly sweet. Thank you for the kind SE Asia re-introduction.

Borneo – Beaches

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

On Tuesday morning we woke up exhausted from our climb to the peak of Mt. Kinabalu, but determined to make the most of the day.

After a tasty breakfast at Mile 36 Lodge, we got back into the rental car and headed a few miles down the road to the Kundasang World War II memorial. The memorial was built in 1962 to commemorate the 2,428 Australian and British prisoners who died during World War II at the Sandakan POW Camp and the casualties resulting from the forced death marches from Sandakan to Ranau.

The memorial was made up of a number of separate gardens, each commemorating the fallen soldiers and civilians from each country involved.

After spending about 30 to 45 minutes at the memorial, we continued down the road to visit the Poring Hot Springs and to take a canopy walk in the surrounding jungle.

The hot springs were unbelievably stinky, but served as the perfect remedy for our aching muscles from our hike the day before.

Relaxed from our dip in the hot springs we made our into the jungle for the canopy walk. Even though we didn’t see much wildlife, the canopy walk was pretty cool because gives a unique perspective of the jungle from more than 130 feet above the ground.

When we finished the canopy walk it was already early afternoon and we needed to start making our way back to the coastal city of Kota Kinabalu.

The drive took most of the afternoon and by the time we had checked into the Dreamtel Hotel, finished returning the car and getting ready for the evening it was already time for drinks and dinner.

We set out to explore the town and settled for drinks on the waterfront promenade before making our way to the nearby night market food stalls for dinner.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

We woke up early, but our day got off to a slow start because we spent an enjoyable and leisurely three hours eating breakfast and chatting in the hotel restaurant.

Full of good food and relaxed from our long breakfast we decided to head out to Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park, which is made up of a chain of islands just off the coast from Kota Kinabalu.

It’s about a 20 minute speed boat ride out to the islands and they are absolutely beautiful. We ended up spending all afternoon swimming, laying on the beach and having a couple of beers.

After having such an enjoyable afternoon, we decided we would return the following morning to spend all day hanging out on the beach and snorkeling.

Once back in Kota Kinabalu we returned to the waterfront promenade for drinks before making our way to El Centro Bar & Grill where we ate dinner and participated in ex-pat trivia night.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Our last full day with John and Jude was spent back at Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park hanging on the beach and snorkeling with the fish.

After a few hours we decided it would be fun to take a quick boat ride out into the bay and take a shot at para-sailing. First Tarynne and I went for a sail, and then I went up a second time for a spin with Johnny.

Once down in the boat we cruised back to the beach and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

In the evening we packed our bags for the next morning and then headed out to Chilli Vanilla for dinner and then out to Corner Bar for late evening drinks.