Best of South East Asia's food Vlog

Check out these two videos of some awesome food experiences we've had. 

First is dried squid that you buy on the street at night. You choose your squid, then they grill it, flatten, and tear into bite size pieces. This is best accompanied with hot sauce and multiple beers. Notice the helpful mobility of the woman's cart!

Second is Ngoc's favorite papaya salad from Laos. Made with the very pungent shrimp paste(mam ruoc), it brings new definition to acquired taste.

Enjoy!

Some stories

Apologies to my loyal readers to have deprived you of my literary gift. I've been reflecting on my final moments here in Asia and did not want it to end. I also was thinking about content so as to not bore you as Jamie have been. I'm supposed to talk about Bangkok, that happened like 3 weeks ago, but this will bore you. Instead, I'll make Bangkok brief and talk about a few funny and unfortunate moments we've encountered on our travel thus far.

Bangkok did not disappoint. It really is as wild and as crazy as you've seen on tv...if you want it. Coming from new york, nothing really surprises us anymore about these big cities. Bangkok had a skyway system, subway, skyscrapers, etc. English is spoken widely and people have enough money to dress nice and drive nice cars. It is also very gay! We went out partying a couple times with a friend that we met through a mutual friend. He was great and showed us the in's and out's of Bangkok. one night, we went to dinner beforehand and had some seafood followed by a dance club that the gays frequent. This was when I started feeling woozy. I tried to toughen it out and just thought it was because of the smoke in the outdoors patio. We proceeded to move inside and after 5 mins later, I started projectile vomiting [luckily] in my dark corner! "okay, let's go home!" said Jamie, and as I took a step, the rest of my dinner came out. Luckily again, we only live 5 mins walk away. That night, I got a fever, and it lingered till the next morning. It was my first time getting food poisoning that caused vomiting and it was traumatic. It also delayed our plans to travel to Cambodia. Till now, I haven't had any seafood, but the craving is resurfacing!

Thailand still had a lot of sandbags around from the flooding. They were just for precautionary, and the flood did not make its way to the center of the city. People were cautious and a lot of business were closed.

Our trip to Cambodia is a blog on its own which includes riding in a Camary sedan packed with 7 other people and a live chicken! In one of the picture, I got to fed a wild monkey which was pretty tame. We were in Siem Riep visiting Angkor Wat when all these monkeys just appear begging for food.

On another trip riding around Angkor Wat (because it's so big, one would need 3 days), our tuk tuk driver had to fix and secure the carriage to his motorbike and accidentally dropped us. Neither one of us got hurt, just rattled, but we all laughed about it during and after.

We've encountered many accidents on our trips of cars flipping over! After awhile, it becomes normal to see a group of people sitting in the shade while the men strategize a way to flip the vehicle over. On this particular accident, it was a truck coming back from the circus that flipped, sending metal carousel and some bananas overboard. I don't think anyone got hurt, and to them, it's just a minor setback on their travel.

We hope everyone in the states is enjoying the holiday season. I'm sure everyone is busy with family and Christmas shopping. We miss you and we will see some of you very soon.

Koh Kong Island

Pictured :

Our private beach excursion today, spring water that come from who knows where, our lunch, "Crabby" that Ngoc caught and now has in a bottle in our room, and a great view of the mangroves.

Airborne in the Gulf of Thailand

Today we embarked on our last big adventure. Boarding an actual modern looking plexiglass boat, with a modern engine, we took off at full speed. What a pleasant surprise after the aging spare part wooden "boats" that sound more like helicopters we have grown used to. Or so we thought...

The ride to the island was fast and fun. Our guides spoke no English so we were left to figure things out as we went. The beach was beautiful and our guides grilled us whole fish and chicken kabbobs for lunch which they served on banana leaves. After eating, Ngoc hunted (and trapped) little spider crabs and I got burnt in the sun.

The excitement came with the ride home. The tide had moved in bringing large waves. We fought to get the boat off the shore and to even get inside without soaking our camera bag. Once on the water the driver needed to push the speed ahead to get us out to sea. We fought 6 foot swells moving most of the boat above the water only to slam back down once off the wave. At one point the wave was so high we became compeletely airborn, slamming back into the water with great force. Ngoc and I screamed and laughed like it was the last time we may do so. In the back of our minds we were also aware the boat had no preservers and Ngoc can't swim! Luckily for us, the captain knew what he was doing and after stalling a few times later in the journey, he got us home shaken, but safely.

Tomorrow we head back to Phnom Penh super early in hopes we can connect to a Saigon bound bus in the afternoon. This will give us a full week to wind down in the city were it all started for us.

Koh Kong trek part 3 (video)

Our guides creating the structure to hold our 6 hammocks in the jungle. They created this in about 30 minutes with only simple tools and the materials from the jungle. Let's hope we remember how to do it for our next camping trip!

Koh Kong trek part 2

Yesterday we took on a big challenge and signed up for a 2 day and 1 night jungle trek. This was not accomplished without a large amount of strong arming on my part to convince Ngoc. In the end I told him he had no choice and stuck to my guns. I harnessed the strength of talking Candace into going white water rafting in Costa Rica, where I had to endured hours of her telling me how horrible of an idea it was only to end up loving it!

Well, I don't think Ngoc loved it, but he really held it together concidering what we endured. Leeches, super humid conditions, raw meat being cooked on the open fire that had been with us un-refrigerated the entire day, the threat of death by mosquito bites over night, or just simply being attacked by a wild boar.

In the end we had a great time and were extremely impressed with our guides who drove us everywhere and built our camp structure from only what the jungle offered. The only damage done was being covered in dust and a slight lack of sleep. For the experience, this was well worth it!

Koh Kong Jungle trek

From the Killing Fields

One of the many interesting and disturbing sights in and around Phnom Penh is the Killing Fields, where Pol Pot's crazy regime killed and tortured thousands. The place was intense and i thought it should be shared.

From Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khmer_Rouge&oldid=464297314"></a>

'The Khmer Rouge (Khmer: ខ្មែរក្រហម – "Khmer Krahom" in Khmer) literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan. Democratic Kampuchea was the name of the state as controlled by the government of the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979.
Khmer Rouge means Communist Cambodians. 'Rouge' comes from the French word for red, which is a symbol of communism. Khmer means people from the Cambodian region. This was another name for the Communist Party of Kampuchea that was given by the former King Sihanouk. The organization began in January 1968 as the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea and was changed thirteen years later to Party of Democratic Kampuchea. [1]
This organization is remembered primarily for its policy of social engineering, which resulted in genocide.[2] Its attempts at agricultural reform led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency, even in the supply of medicine, led to the deaths of thousands from treatable diseases (such as malaria). Arbitrary executions and torture carried out by its cadres against perceived subversive elements, or during purges of its own ranks between 1975 and 1978, are considered to have constituted a genocide.[3]
The Democratic Kampuchea was established in 1975 and created their top level of command and named it Angkar, which literally translates to "high organization".[4] By 1979, the Khmer Rouge had fled the country, while the People's Republic of the Kampuchea was being established. This meant that life started going back to the way it was post Khmer Rouge. The governments-in-exile (including the Khmer) still had a seat in the UN at this point but it was later taken away, in 1993, as the monarchy was restored and the country underwent a name change to the Kingdom of Cambodia. A year later many of the remaining Khmer Rouge guerrillas surrendered themselves. Then in 1996, a new political party was formed by Ieng Sary, who was granted amnesty for all of his roles as the deputy leader of the Khmer Rouge. The main leader, Pol Pot, had a trial the following year that ended with a sentence of life imprisonment. Pol Pot never paid the full price for his actions as he died in the jungle in 1998. [5]'

Walking around the country near Siem Reap

Finally figured out how to post videos directly here for those of you that don't use Facebook!

Trip map

The circle will be complete in less than 2 weeks!

more...

Angkor Wat photo shoot part 3!

More highlights from Angkor Wat. When will Ngoc write about Bangkok? Keep checking back and maybe we will see something by the end of the weekend.

We have one more day to explore further out of town tomorrow before heading south to Phnom Penh. Almost the two week countdown. Has it really been 2 months?

How is everyone's holiday going so far? We love to personal emails we get from each and every one of you, but could always hear more. Email us! Jamiegorton@yahoo.com or nbnguyen1030@gmail.com

Siem Reap photos part 2

Expect to see a mass amount of photos for these few days. The temples are beyond beautiful and each step brings another view to shoot. We are off to take even more today!

Photos from Siem Reap part 1

Just to keep everyone interested while we wait for Ngoc to write about Bangkok, here is what we've been up to the last few days!

With Dennis Hopper watching over us

It turns out that neither Ngoc or myself are much of the novelist type. With great excitement we started this blog, but as time goes by our natural inclinations of laziness kick in. I am going to do my best to jump start the literary engine, but until then keep checking for new posts and communicating I with us on fb.

Since I've last blogged we have visited 3 towns in Laos and moved on to Thailand. Our spirits remain strong even if tested by travel fatigue, my epic grumpiness, or Ngoc's bad luck with food. Tomorrow we are excited to be heading back into the jungles after a 5 day stay in very very fancy and developed Bangkok. Ngoc will post the details of these days soon enough. Before that let me share the tales of our first multi-destination/day motorbike trip from last week...

In my infinite blind confidence of my motor vehicle skills(Louis, Jen, and candace know of the best) it seemed a no brainier to rent yet another motorbike in Paske. Our travel book very clearly states (in the most vague descriptions of any location for Lao) that traveling to the Bolaven Plateau by motorbike is very safe and simple to do. This time I was right to listen to the book!

We departed the semi-urban landscape of Pakse into the wild. The roads very oddly and in major conflict with the rest of Laos are in amazing shape. Smooth riding all the way! With Ngoc on the saddle behind me riding shotgun I pushed the bike to full speed down the beautiful tree lined roads. The sky above us opened up to a beautiful clear day with the warm tropical sun beaming down on us. The air was fresh and not a bit of dust or grime could be sensed around us. The occasional moto or truck would pass us, but more often it was just the two of us and the open road.

As we moved further and made the slow climb to higher elevations the shade and breeze offered relief from the sun. I couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity to riding around the lake in Erieville, NY this last summer on my mom's 4-wheeler. The feeling of the clean cool air, the moisture around us from the forest, and the thoughts that nothing could feel better. I had a permanent smile on my face the entire ride to our first location and could not have been happier with our decision to go off on our own journey into the wild. One without a guide, a common language, or knowledge of where we would stay that night.

Taking the simplified route described in the guide book (3 days instead of 5), we made our first stop in Tat Lo. With only a brief sighting of a sign pointing us in the right direction and the estimated distance from our odometer compared to what we were told, we spun around and took a right turn where ngoc though he saw a sign. Well, he did see that sign and now we knew we were headed in the right direction! Another few turns down narrowing and twisting plantation roads, past a few villages with local children yelling, "waterfall here!!". We stayed focused and within minutes we were back to civilization. In the town there are 4 hotels, 2 shack restaurants, a "tourist center", and a school. Let's just say it was a quiet place. Even further than quiet, it seems not many tourist brave the way out east. We would finally have the journey we have been looking for!

After exploring one of the many waterfalls (yea, more of them) we settled on a bungalow resort across the bridge from town. Here there were fancy aircon bungalows with tv for $80 or the more primitive bamboo shack with a fan and a bathroom for $8. I thought the disconnect between the two prices was a bit suspicious and we would find the catch later on, but I was wrong. It seems that it is just bad pricing techniques to attempt pulling more money from the westerners, maybe this is why many don't make the trip? Needless to say, we did not pay $80!

We dined at the hotel restaurant overlooking yet another waterfall and enjoying the cool air. We returned to our bungalow to find an enormous lizard near the door. We've become very used to seeing very small geckos running all over, even in our rooms, but not this. At least a foot long and with bright red spots, the beast was what we've only seen in zoos! After a few flashes from the camera he ran off into the night and we settled into our bungalow. With the sounds of the jungle and waterfall in the distance we had a beautiful nights sleep. The next morning we woke up rested and ready to jump back on the bike.

After a few wrong turns and many quiet villages full of pigs, puppies, and children waving and greeting us we made it to Paksong. We stopped off at the only place in town with wifi and also happened to be a coffee shop run by a Danish coffee aficionado. Unfortunately he was not there at the time, but we took advantage of the free wifi and figured out where we would stay that night. With the promise of fresh local coffee later we took a ride further down the road to the cheaper of two resorts. After some price negotiations we settled on $22 a night for a beautiful fully finished bungalow with tv, AC, and a wrap around porch. This night would be a bit different than the last. Again with the very odd pricing tactics, but the place was completely empty spare one or two other guests in the resort that was smack in the middle of a coffee plantation. In addition to the waterfall the plantation sat connected to, there was pristine jungle all around us and not a peep of civilization the be heard. With that settled we headed back to town for coffee and dinner.

Surrounding us were miles and miles or coffee plantations and as you moved closer into town you could see the new harvest being dried on driveways, roadways, or even in satellite dishes. There was no mistaking that we were in Laos coffee crossroads. Now how it tasted...

The owner of the coffee shop brewed us a simple espresso with a Italian manual pot. Even Ngoc summoned the interest to have a taste(something he never does). The beans were grown behind the shop, then roasted that morning in a pan by hand before cooling. Then they are ground per order and brewed for us. Somehow food with a story always has a way of tasting best, but this coffee would have stood on its own without the story. This was one of the best I've had in sometime and will rank with the first time I had a properly made macchiato in Seattle nearly 10 years ago (when I fell in love with coffee).

We made our way to a dirty little shack advertising Vietnamese food in hopes Ngoc would be able to communicate with them. Luck had it and we feasted on rice, fried chicken, and greens. With our bellies full and buzzing from the coffee high we headed back to the resort. The night was spent relaxing and enjoying the surroundings. With another peaceful nights sleep under our belt brought the realization that we did actually have to go back to Pakse. Sadly and slowly we made our way back to the real world. The one where the sun burns and dust, exhaust, and scents of garbage and sewage fill the air. A truly sad journey, but one we've gotten used to. The show must go on.

During our journeys we caught wind that land routes to Bangkok had dried up. This meant we could make our way to the city without paying for an expensive flight. We solidified our plans back in Pakse after giving back the bike and departed for Bangkok. A van, a tuktuk, a bus, and 14 hours later we arrived in the bustling urban landscape of Bangkok at 5 Am...In the dark.

Below you will see Ngoc picking up more fleas, the vie from Tat Lo after the somewhat traumatic hike to the top of the waterfall, cute piggies, our lizard friend, and the front of our bamboo bungalow.

We leave Bangkok for Siem Riep, Cambodia tomorrow. We'll do our best to up the photo variation and quality for our last 20 days. Happy holidays too all and to all a good night!

A cat is coming!

There's probably some quote out there talking about how an experience should be felt, and not retold. It's because when you retell an experience, certain qualities get lost through words. That's why I cannot tell you how wonderful my journey has been hugging all these mangy puppies! Many with fleas, a few with mud and feces. But I don't care, love is love. You dont abstain from loving a child just because it's covered in poop.

While we were in Dalat, we went to see a fortune teller who told us a lot of general information in combination with things we already know about ourselves. She also refuses to recognize that we are a couple even though the evidences were clear from her tellings and our demeanors. She did say that we are both in a very loving relationships (separate of each other) and that we balance our partners out very well. Also that weddings bells will sound next year for both of us. Hopefully its with each other. One of what she foretold was of an accident on motorbikes, that we should be cautious and not even drive one. Yea, the next week we were pretty cautious and did not rent a motorbike. But here in Laos, we are defiant. And let me say before we get scolded, It was the best decision we have made! And yes, we wear our helmets even though it messes up our hair and the law doesnt even require them.

In Luang Prabang, we evaded the $35pp tour that they were charging to bring us to Kuang Si water fall. Instead, we spent $15 for a motorbike and $2 worth of gas and we were on our own adventure. Thank you apple iPhone for the technology of a Map, we have found our ways everywhere....well maybe most of everywhere. We saw the waterfall, took scenic routes home, explored some unpaved roads, and just lose ourselves in the city and unmarked roads. We really put that bike to work!

Our next location was Vang Vieng, a location known for its party scene. We were forewarned, not by the fortune teller but from guide books and those that have been. When we got there, it was exactly like the first week of college. Frat boys...and girls hoot'in and holler'in, all dressed very scantily in beach gears and with stupid body paint. Our dinner options were to sit in a restaurants (more like a bar/shack thing on a beach) with either Friends or Family Guy playing on the jumbo screens. It was such a weird experience that I cannot capture here. All these kids (yes, very condescending of me) were chillaxin' from their exhausting day of tubing, kayaking, etc., and now they're just lounging around watching American tv, and really, the only TWO options were Friends and Family Guy. Of course, we chose the restaurant...and once again, it's more like a shack on a beach....with Friends.

In the morning, we once again rented a motorbike, this time for much cheaper than Luang Prabang, only about $5. We found the "Must sees" in Vang Vieng and saw them. And oh my god, what an amazing sigh we saw! First, we hiked for a good 25 mins up a vertical slope (and I mean VERTICAL!) to the top where there is a shack overlooking the beautiful landscapes. Out of breath and Jamie complaining about the heat, we sat for awhile to enjoy a view and later played a game of cards. We were the only two people there and once you get over your fear of height and the possibility of the wobbly shack giving out, you begin to see the wonders around you and gain an application of life. My thought at the moment was how wonderful my life is. I appreciated the people I have in my life, my accomplishments, my future accomplishments. I also gained insights for my new life back in the states while letting go of old stressors and general negative thoughts.

The next site in our path was some sort of cave which again we had to trek up a vertical slope. Luckily for us, it was only a 5 mins trek. Being the slightly fragile person that I can be, I was weary of the cave. You know, bugs, weird cave animals, and the general scaries of caves. It was said that you'd need a guide and the cave was going to be slippery and DARK! Being the cheapies that we were, we refused the $1 headlight offered and instead I used a small bike light, and Jamie with his iPhone. Again, I cannot describe to you how amazing, and sometimes scary this cave was. There were points of pitch darkness where all you could hear we're drips of water and Jamie making stupid clicking noises with his mouth. I swear, a homicide could happen there and the body would find a perfect place to hide. Eventually we could no longer see the red arrows directing us, for the laos locals cannot afford neon lighted arrows, and we were lost. I wasn't afraid one bit, but I can't say the same for Jamie. And still he was making stupid clicking noises, I don't know for what. The cave wasn't humongous, and with a bit of patience, we found saw natural light.

After the cave was the "blue lagoon" that was actually blue...well more turquoise to me. Maybe it's also a lagoon too, but I don't know exactly what a "lagoon" is. The water was clear and Jamie said it was very refreshing to swim in. I took his words for it and sat on the sideline cheering him on as he swung and plunged with the Germans. There were fish in this lagoon and they were all cornered nicely off to a corner for us to swim and play. Very polite fish they were. We then got lost on our way home, but eventually found it. Yes we get lost VERY often, but they're the funest part!

They don't really have road signs here, and when there are, they're written in squigglies. A lot of the roads are still dirt roads with lots of bumps and holes. The worst is when a big truck or any vehicle for that matter, passes by with you riding behind it in a dirt storm. You get use to breathing in the dirt and the orange tint on your hair, skin, and clothes become very flattering at the end of the day. Not so good for my allergy.

Current location: the capital of Laos, Vientiane. We can see Thailand from here!
Current mood: hung over from a wild night of partying and drinking where we made Laos friends!!! One of them was a mute "lady-boy."
Most memorable quote from last night: a cat is coming!
Happy thanksgiving lovelies we wish we are there to enjoy the food and festivities with you.

Voyage back to the Mekong

There are a few different options to consider when planning a trip from Northern Vietnam to Central Lao. You could take a flight directly from Hanoi to Luang Prabang and enjoy the 45 minutes in the air and then a quick 10 minute taxi to your guest house in the quant little French colonial village... You could... Or...

Assuming you don't want to spend $175 for each ticket and also the logic that says, hey, we'd have to ride back 8 hours to Hanoi and then take the flight in the same direction we just rode from! We are already soooo close to the border, let's take the bus!

Why yes, close to the border we were and the bus path would only cost us about $20 each...No brainier right? Even after reading the horror stories that are found online within seconds of searching for other peoples experience, we thought it would be an AWESOME idea. And it was!

Now what path do we take? What is the first bus's path? We assumed finding a night bus that would bring us a good ways along the path was a given. Though after asking around, the reality of what we were about to embark on became much more clear.

Day one started with jumping into our mini bus at 7:30 AM. We had chosen a shit hole guest house to stay the night in Sapa just so it would be directly across the street from the bus station. Thinking ahead as usual! After some minor confusion we found our mini bus and had our seats.

Now the fun part begins... As we should have already known from prior experience, the van actually goes back into town to pick up other customer directly at their hotels. So much for our planning ahead, and now this is adding on an extra 45 minutes and we have not even left town. Why they can't have everyone meet at the bus station to save an hour is beyond me, but that is a whole other blog in itself!

Finally the van was full. 18 seats, 16 people, nice. Two more seats remain, who would get them? We pull over once again to grab our last couple. Wait, they have four people! Four, we can't fit four says our driver, "pick a boy and a girl and let's go!". Yea right, the group and the van guide argued for a good 15 minutes before we finally left. Now we know why we got to the bus station early on! We actually received our seats that we paid for! Later, a couple on our van told us the same had happened to them the day before. They were offered a free nights stay and a ride the next day. This works out fine if you are not on a planned trip with limited time only! Luckily, we had neither issue. We were on our way to Lao (here they do not have an "s" at the end)!

Obviously we had been naive about the smooth and simple plan to do most of the traveling overnight. The roads were insane! Crazy curves through the mountains, dirt roads to rock roads, to paved and back to dirt! 50 foot drop offs with no guard rails, speeds that shouldn't be used on a finished straight road, oh it was good. On top of it, you couldn't even fit a normal bus on this road and you CERTAINLY would not want to be driving at night. The beauty of it all made it worth it. The endless mountain ranges, beautiful blue skies, all breathtaking, especially when being flung from side to side around the curves!

Day 1 ended in Dien Bien, on the border. We're not in Lao yet? Turns out there is a 5:30 am bus in the morning that will cross the border. Good thing we made friends on the bus. It looks like we will be very close friends before the end of this...

Day two began very early. We had spent the prior night walking around the dinky border town and eating some decent Pho. We had a nasty, but dirt cheap room with the rest of our van mates across from the bus station. We boarded the bus rested and ready at 5:15 AM. Our buddies had already found their seats, no one was taking any chances.

The bus was beat up and full of goods being transported over the border. We sat squished, but comfortable for the 8 hour ride. The scenery was amazing as day one, and the breeze through the windows made us feel like we where in a luxury van, not a beat stinky one. We were moving along now.

After a smooth, but hour long process of going through customs at the border, we reinterred our vehicle. This was easy, just need to be patient with time and we will be there safely and comfortably for sure. Our guide (I use the word loosely, there is always another guy or two in these kinds of vans to collect money and tell people what to do. They are not there for your convenience, they are there for their own transport and to be sure everyone behaves and pays) tells us it will only be 2 more hours. Two more hours to Muang Khua and the prospect of a later bus or boat to our first location! We were optimistic...

After town hours the van stopped abruptly at a river crossing. There was a ferry there, but it seemed that the van was not driving on the ferry. The guide opens the door and says, "GET OUT". All of us puzzled, slowly get out of the van. We gathered our things and trying to look like tough and solid travelers all asked what was next.

A long boat will ferry us across, "Luang Prabang", says a man as he points across the river. Only 2,000 kip? That's only 20 cents, and we have change from the border crossing. There will be in ATM in the town I assured Ngoc confidently. So we got on the long boat (2 feet wide and 20 feet long powered by a weak stinky engine that sounds like a helicopter). Took a total of 30 seconds to get us across and we were back on land. So we're was everyone pointing? Why are they loading up the goods from the boat on to trucks (tuktuks)? Again, "Luang Prabang", that said and pointed further in the same direction as before. The bus station must be in town further up. Keep in mind we are n Lao now, no more Vietnamese, no more communication skills!

The tuktuk... How do I even describe this? Think of the front end of a motorcycle with the back end of a pickup truck connected behind it. Then cover the back and add benches. Don't forget to load 500 lbs of packs and goods on top in a very precarious way. Then charge 5000 kip a person (70 cents) even though we just paid your friend to take us across the river. Fine, we have no choice and now let me share also that we have about 20 kip left between the two of us. We got on...

We expected a quick ride and then to see a some what urban environment after being so harshly dropped at the edge of a river. Not so fast, "Bus station" they say. What!? This is a grass patch with a tiny van parked on the side. We have nearly 20 people! Yes one singular van...and no ATM. Of course they have a ticketing window though, they must get paid!

Ticket cost, wait one minute. Where does the bus go? Not Luang Prabang, but to
Muang Khua, we haven't made it there yet? What about all the pointing? Price is 35,000 kip each? We only have 20,000! No time for weighing other options, the sun is going down and we are the middle of no where. What to do??

Ngoc begged and pleaded with multiple people before someone agreed to buy 100,000 of our Vietnamese dong. Ok, we are nearly there, 15,000 more. Two of our travel mates loaned us the money and we got the tickets! Yes, we are back on track! Wait, the bus is filling, where will we sit?

We thought the last van trip I wrote about was bad, ohhhh no. This van had 2 seats next to each other on the left side of the bus and single seats on the right. In the aisle there were small plastic seats sitting one in from of the other to fit more. In the tiny space left were goods for transport and Ngoc and I sitting on our packs. Squished like sardines next to our travel mates of more than 24 hours straight now. There were people stacked in the front like bags of rice (on the bags of rice ironically) and about 6 men standing squished against one another next to the side door. There was not an inch to move. Once you find your self laying between a strangers legs (a grown man) on a bus in the middle of Lao, bracing your arm on a local girls back and the the arm around a young boys shoulders just to sit straight...it's just laughable. This is all we could do, laugh, and we did the entire 3 hour ride to the city!

Well, not quite... 2 hours and 45 minutes in, the van breaks down! We are literally on a deserted road with a few shacks next to us. The sun is gong down and we have no money! The bus is actually breaking down!

Leave it to Ngoc to find the positive. He walks up to one of the shacks and befriends the 6 puppies and little kids playing. We spend the next 30 minutes in utter disbelief about what was happening and praying we were not about to walk 8 km to town. Luckily for us, a man arrived with some new gas, some tinkering in the engine, and we were off again. No hiking tonight!

We made it to the town finally. Exhausted beyond belief and now very sure that wed be staying another night before making it to our actual first location. We found the energy to walk into town and find a hotel. We found an ATM after some searching and a minor freak out when the first wouldn't accept my card, but the second ATM down the street worked just fine and we now had money! A nice place to stay with wifi and English tv, yes!

Day three began with the knowledge that things could not really get worse. With this in mind we walked down to the bus station and purchased our tickets. On the bus we met a few of our travel partners from the previous days and sat comfortably in a full sized bus not even half full. This was too good to be true?

About half way through the very comfortable ride we stopped to pick up a few more passengers. They were from a local village and looked the part. Men, women, and children boarded the bus will baskets full of who knows what. The children were covered in ripped and dirty clothing and many were elderly women. This was fine, they smiled and found their seats. But why do they all have odd white paper bandages on their face, necks, and arms?

15 minutes in and we knew... A remedy for motion sickness! They must have never been on a bus before! One by one, they all began to vomit... loudly. The guide knew this detail ahead of time and had given them all plastic bags, now we knew what those were for! All around us you could hear and smell the aroma. Behind us sitting next to a friend an elderly lady was having a rough time. She insisted on holding on to her bag even it it was nearly full of whatever she had eaten that morning. She tied it to the back of the seat ahead of her just in case more was to come. The bag swayed back and forth as Ngoc and I did our best not to look back and worry about our packs sitting just a few feet away from the swinging bag on the floor. Would it leak? Would it fall? We didn't want to get involved...

Ngoc had to though, even after wrapping his hoodie around his face as a filter (I had a scarf on already to protect from the dust) he couldn't stop thinking about the swaying bag of vomit...he stood up, grabbed all of the bags from where the guide had placed them and offered them to the lady. She tossed hers over our friend and out the window. Catastrophe averted, all thanks to the amazing Ngoc, the care taker of elderly native Lao women on futuristic transportation.

This all went on and on for about another hour until we hit a rest stop. There we all ran off the bus and got some fresh air. I personally kept my scarf over my face for safety sake, but ngoc felt relieved enough to walk into yet another strangers house to go kiss and cuddle their puppies. The day was looking up.

We boarded the bus again (while one woman still had her head out of the window vomiting on the street), but together exhaled a HUGE sigh of relieve when the entire village exited the bus about 15 minutes later. Now all we needed to deal with was the lingering offensive scent. Nothing the scarf couldn't handle.

We sat comfortably and listened to our music for the next hour or so until FINALLY arriving our actual first destination in Lao, Luang Prabang. A short and cheap ride on another tuktuk lead us to the center of this beautiful French colonial town on the Mekong.

Three days of travel offered us an experience that no 45 minute flight could ever. New friends, beautiful scenery, worry for the safety of our life's, and worry that some major illness was circling the country side leading to mass vomiting was just the beginning of what we gained. In the end we would have changed nothing. This was the way to do it and now we are ready for Lao. A new country for the second month of this wonderful journey. We can only hope for such great stories to tell when we attempt to go from Lao to Cambodia in a few weeks!

Below you will see the view when crossing the border with the clouds below us in the valleys, the sun set our first night in Luang Prabang, me on a Mekong riverboat, and these amazing and adorable boys playing as a pack along the rivers cliffs. They made their way into the water looking more like Antelope than young boys. Why didn't I grow up doing that?

Next up is Ngoc's story of us going against clear warnings of a fortune teller in Vietnam. What did we do?