The Hostel Honeymoon

We left our cushy existence in Bangkok to head south down the Thai peninsula for some island hopping. We started our journey on an overnight train and arrived early in the morning in Surat Thani, our jumping off point for the islands. After a one-hour bus ride to the port and a three-hour boat ride, we finally arrived on our first island, Kho Pha-Ngan. All in all it took nearly 20-hours to travel from Bangkok to our beachside bungalow, but islands are usually worth the work. The islands here remind me a lot of St. Lucia in the Caribbean – green, lush, and mountainous. Our crescent shaped beach was located on a small bay filled with turquoise water. We spent three days lounging in beach chairs and swaying in hammocks. I somehow managed to get burnt even though it was pretty overcast most of time. And, like any good beach vacation, we ate our fair share of surprisingly delicious food at the resort (14 simple bungalows with one restaurant/bar).
On the ferry to the Islands
From the beach on Kho Pha-Ngan
Jeff relaxing in the hammock
A view of our little resort and bungalows
Our small strech of beach

After our R&R on Kho Pha-Ngan, we hopped aboard another ferry and headed for our next destination, Koh Tao. While waiting for the ferry, we enjoyed some great people watching. Kho Pha-Ngan attracts quite the mix of travelers, from retirees and preppy kids, to hippie backpackers and those sporting the 90’s grunge look. Some of them also looked completely destroyed as Kho Pha-Ngan is home to the notorious Full Moon parties (though it wasn’t a full moon while we were there, but apparently a half moon is a sufficient reason for a rave).
Our ferry to Koh-Tao

We arrived at Buddha-View Dive Resort on Koh Tao several hours later. Jeff’s birthday gift was to get his Advanced Open Water Scuba Diving License and Koh Tao, a diving mecca, was just the place. We were also extremely excited to be meeting up for New Years with friends we made while traveling through Mozambique months ago, Tristan and Caroline from Switzerland. They are also traveling around the world and our paths have now crossed in Mozambique and Thailand, and will likely also cross in Australia and New Zealand in the coming months. We spent our first night on Koh Tao getting caught up with them about their travels since Mozambique (South Africa, Hong Kong, Nepal and India) and enjoying some local and relatively cheap Thai food.

After Jeff’s diving lessons the next morning, we all made our way across the island to a beautiful stretch of beach. The island is surrounded by reefs, which is what makes it such a great place to dive, but it only has a few patches of white sand. Nevertheless, we managed to find one and enjoy the scenery for several hours. It was New Year’s Eve that day and our resort was hosting a little shin dig with complimentary fireworks. The party included a massive BBQ with all the island specialties (shrimp, fish, corn, etc.) and we enjoyed an amusing band that changed the words to several popular songs by inserting scuba diving references. Once it hit midnight, the resort started setting off the fireworks, which happened to be right near where we were sitting. Drunk folks and fireworks are generally a bad combination, so I was glad that no one ended up blind (deaf maybe) and that all limbs were intact at the end of the show.
On our hike to the beach
Shark's Beach
Relaxing on the beach
The vast array of seafood to grill-yum!
The deck on New Years
New Years with Tristan and Caroline
Fireworks at midnight!

We awoke in 2012 and had breakfast at a fabulous little French bakery on the island specializing in chocolate croissants – delicious! Jeff had three dives scheduled for the day, including his first night dive. Unfortunately, the visibility on the dives was not amazing, but he can now at least he can call himself Advanced We parted ways with Tristan and Caroline as they headed north to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. We have tentative plans though to meet up with them again when our paths cross in Australia and New Zealand.

We had hoped to get off the island on the morning of January 2nd, but between our procrastination in making travel arrangements and the weather, we were tragically stuck on the island for another day The south bound trains were fully booked and there was flooding in southern Thailand blocking road travel to Malaysia, our next destination. So to mix it up for a day, we decided to rent a moped in order to see more of the island. It was a fun and nerve racking experience all at the same time. For starters, neither Jeff nor I had ever driven a moped before, and it was surprisingly hard to balance and steer. On top of our inexperience, the island is also mountainous, so occasionally the moped didn’t have enough juice to get us both up and over some of the hills. Thankfully, we survived the morning but that afternoon the skies opened up, putting a definite kibosh on moped-ing from there on out.
On our moped tour at the opposite end of the island
Enjoying the view
Jeff on the infamous moped

Our time on the Thai Islands has come to an end, but we are not done island hopping just yet! We head to Penang Island in Malaysia next and will catch you all up when we get there! We hope you had a wonderful New Years and a great start to 2012!

We crossed the border into Cambodia and were welcomed by several seedy gambling joints. Apparently it’s legal to gamble in Cambodia We eventually ended up in the capital, Phnom Penh (pronounced “nom pen”). It’s a pretty big and busy place with an assorted reputation. We found it to be a classic Southeast Asian capital, a mix of the first and third worlds. We made the obligatory stop at the Royal Palace which includes several temples housing jade and crystal figures of Buddha as well as exhibits depicting the pomp and circumstance surrounding the royal family.
Inside the royal palace
The grounds of the royal palace
Under that Western Union was Cantina, an authentic Mexican joint where we ate- it was good!
The other main attractions in the capital revolve around the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge period in Cambodian history, 1975 to 1979. The goal of the revolutionary movement was to transform Cambodia into a peasant dominated farming cooperative. Almost overnight, Pol Pot, the radical leader of the Khmer Rouge, forced the population of Phnom Penh and other urban areas into the country side. In the process, he also tried to weed out intellectuals, so anyone who spoke a foreign language, wore glasses, had a professional education, or even had soft hands was executed. In the end, millions died from starvation, disease, and exhaustion. Thousands of others were tortured and executed, including whole families – men, women, and children – Pol Pot did not believe in allowing heirs to survive who could seek revenge.

We visited the Tuol Sleng Museum which was a school converted into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. Thousands of Cambodians were housed and tortured on the grounds, and upwards 100 Cambodians a day were executed at the prison. The prison guards kept excellent records and, as a result, today there are hundreds of photos of the victims scattered around the museum giving it an eerie presence, both pictures before and after death. We also went to Choeung Ek, better known as The Killing Field. There are supposedly over 300 similar fields scattered around Cambodia, but this is the most famous. Most of the 17,000 people who were kept in the Tuol Sleng Prison were executed here and thrown into mass graves, women and children included. It’s a sad and haunting place, especially when you see the memorial with over 8,000 skulls excavated from the mass graves.
Inside what was the prison (known as S-21)
Some photos of the prisoners
The monument at the Killing Field housing bones and skulls
Mass graves at the fields

For anyone interested in learning more about this period in Cambodian history there is a good movie from 1984 called "The Killing Fields". The movie tells the real life story of an American journalist in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge’s reign. Our hostel in Phnom Penh showed the movie every night. Perhaps what is most amazing is that this dark period in human history did not happen that long ago – there are literally hundreds of thousands of Cambodians who lived through that time still alive today.

After two days in Phnom Penh, we headed east to the small, river front colonial town of Battambang. I couldn’t tell you much about it because I got food poisoning and just laid around the hostel most of the day. Jeff, however, hired a tuk-tuk driver to give him a quick tour. He took a ride on their famous bamboo train along an old French railroad line. Resourceful locals combined two train car axles, a small motor, and a bamboo platform in order to move people and goods. When two bamboo trains meet, the train with the least amount of passengers and stuff is quickly disassembled and then reassembled in order to allow the other train to pass. His tour also took him to the Killing Cave, a cave with a “skylight” that the Khmer Rouge would push people into in order to kill them and do away with their bodies. Finally, his last stop was a hilltop Khmer temple supposedly older than Angkor Wat.
Town of Battambang
Jeff (and a monk) on the bamboo train Locals harvesting rice
The temples that supposedly inspired Angkor wat
Speaks for itself
Inside the Killing Cave
A monument at the cave displaying bones and skulls found there

We definitely blew through Cambodia pretty quickly, but we have plans to return in six weeks and were on a mission: Bangkok by Christmas! My big plan from the start of our trip was to stay in a swanky hotel for Christmas since we were not going to be home to celebrate with our families. Plus, it was an opportunity to get a break from all of the hostels, but I have to admit, we haven’t been dipping too low in the accommodation department as guesthouses here are pretty cheap. But splurge we did! We stayed at the Banyan Tree Hotel and bought a package that got us upgraded to the “Club Level” - it was exciting! Our gorgeous room included a bathtub, so I spent quite a bit of time soaking. As Club Level guests, we also had access to “free” food and drinks most of the day at the “Club Lounge”. We indulged in a 90 minute massage and got to skype with our families on Christmas which was fun. We also headed out to the mall for some holiday spirit, took in the new Mission Impossible movie, and enjoyed a white chocolate cranberry mocha from Starbucks Our Christmas dinner was at the Banyan Tree’s signature restaurant which serves traditional Thai, so not quite the holiday fare we were craving, but good nonetheless. I also ordered a surprise cake for Jeff’s birthday - it was supposed to be a yellow cake with chocolate icing (his favorite), but it ended up being a chocolate cake with yellow icing – something got lost in translation We ended our Christmas Day with a trip up to the Banyan Tree’s roof top bar on the 52nd floor for some drinks. Although it was not like being home for the holidays, it was a nice way to celebrate Christmas and Jeff’s birthday and I certainly enjoyed the luxury for a few days!
I have arrived!
Our bathroom and my tub!! The mall all decked out for the holiday and New Years
Our Christmas and Jeff's Birthday dinner Post dinner drinks on the roof

We are now heading south down the Thai peninsula for some beach time through New Years - we’ll write more soon!

We definitely started off on the wrong foot in Vietnam. It’s a long story, but the short of it is that our bus driver from Laos to Vinh, Vietnam did not want to take us to the bus station and was forcing us to get off the bus on some random street at night while at the same time demanding that we pay extra money for our tickets – all of this being conveyed via gestures and very broken English. We refused to pay any more money, but did finally agree to get off the bus at a major intersection. Unfortunately, in the drama of the whole situation, we either lost or had our camera stolen - we aren’t sure. It was a bad night indeed. Fortunately, we had backed up the pictures on the camera two days before, so we did not lose many photos, and there was a nice hotel nearby that we checked into for some mental health R&R.

The next morning, we made it to the bus station in Vinh and picked up a bus heading eight hours north to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Once we were situated in our hostel, we walked around town, got sushi for dinner, and took in a water puppet show. Unlike normal puppets which are controlled by string, water puppets are controlled by sticks under water. The art form supposedly started in the flooded rice paddies of Vietnam. It is entertaining to watch for a few minutes, but we were glad that the show only lasted an hour.
The water puppet show

Traffic is crazy in Hanoi and, as a result, crossing the street can be an intimidating experience. By far the most common way for locals to get around is on a motorbike or moped. The narrow streets are jam packed with them. In Egypt, it was a “commit and run” type of street crossing. Here, in Hanoi, it’s a “walk slowly across the street to let the motor bikes avoid you” type of cross. It’s so counterintuitive - you have to put aside your overwhelming desire to dart across the road and walk slowly. It’s a crazy experience, but one that we have thus far survived.
Crazy traffic in Hanoi
Woman carrying quite a bundle in Hanoi

For our second day in Hanoi we set out to see some of the sights, including Ho Chi Min’s Mausoleum and the Hoa Lo Prison. Ho Chi Min’s body is on display in the Mausoleum and is jam-packed with visitors. As for the prison, it was nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton” by POWs kept there during the Vietnam War, including Senator John McCain. It was interesting to see, but the placards describing the museum are very propagandist in tone. We stopped to eat lunch at a café called Koto, which stands for “Know One, Teach One”. It’s a non-profit organization that trains street kids for jobs in the service industry, including teaching them English. It is a very neat concept for a restaurant and seems to be doing great work - for more information you can check out KOTO. In the evening, we took a taxi to a nearby movie theater - I made Jeff go to see “Breaking Dawn” with me - he was really excited about it

One of the most famous things to see in Vietnam is Halong Bay. It’s an extremely picturesque part of the country where thousands of small mountain-like islands rise out of the ocean. For a change of pace, we signed up for an all inclusive, overnight boat tour out of Hanoi. During the trip, we spent time gawking at the scenery, visiting one of the many caves in the area, and kayaking around some of the islands for a closer look. All meals were served aboard our boat and the boat even doubled as our hotel for the night. It was really nice to lounge on deck with our fellow travelers while the boat zigzagged its way through the bay.
A view of Halong Bay
Just outside one of the caves
Kayaking along Halong Bay
Sunset

Once back in Hanoi, we boarded an overnight bus to Hue. It turned out to be a difficult journey as our bus broke down and we were delayed for over seven hours. Fortunately, we were on a sleeper bus - literally a bus with narrow beds for seats – so were able to sleep for a good part of the ride. Despite the rain caused by a tropical storm off shore, we visited Hue’s citadel, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The fortified citadel was the center of government and home of the royal family in Vietnam from around 1800 to 1950. Unfortunately, because of wars and weather, the citadel has become fairly run down. Hue was also an important battle ground during the Vietnam War, the Battle of Hue, especially the area around the citadel, which I didn’t find out until after we visited the town. My dad was a Marine in the Vietnam War, and he was able to recall his time there and the layout of the town. It was surreal to be in a town where my own father had been in active combat.
Riding mopeds rain or shine in Hue
A view of the Citdadel in Hue
Jeff on the steps inside the Citadel- pouring rain
Inside the Citadel

After Hue, we wandered around Hoi An for a day. It’s a coastal town in the middle of the country that is pretty quaint and charming. It’s just down the road from China Beach, the beach where American soldiers enjoyed their R&R during the Vietnam War (you might remember the TV show “China Beach” from the 1980s). Hoi An is also considered one of the best places to buy tailor made clothing for cheap in Southeast Asia, so we checked out a few of the stores. Unfortunately, most of the clothing is formal and I have no place to wear a gown for the time being
The Japanese Bridge in Hoi An
The Riverfront in Hoi An
In front of the flower stand at the market
Inside one of the temples during prayer

We then continued down the coast to Nha Trang, Vietnam’s most famous beach town. It was definitely one of the nicest and most modern towns in Vietnam that we visited. It has a really great stretch of beach, although the weather was still not cooperating, so we headed to Vinpearl instead. Vinpearl is a small amusement park on an island that also has a great aquarium. You get there by taking a two-mile long gondola ride over the water - due to the tropical storm, the wind was howling and I was clinging to the sides of the gondola like a psycho. Thankfully, we made it there and back, and in between had a good time enjoying the park and hanging out with the locals.
The 2 mile long gondola
At the aquarium at Vinpearl
Inside the tunnel at the aquarium
We find that we are rather tall in comparison to the locals- here the door knob is like Alice in Wonderland for us

After another long bus journey, we arrived at our final stop, Saigon. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in honor of the man who lead the communist uprising in Vietnam (including North Vietnam during the Vietnam War), although many people still refer to the city as Saigon. Since we finally had nice weather, we took the opportunity to do a walking tour around town. We stopped at the former headquarters of South Vietnam, the Reunification Palace, which has been frozen in time since 1975 when the North Vietnamese took control of the palace. We also visited the War Remnants Museum, a museum about the Vietnam War (or the War of American Aggression as they like to call it here). It had some quality exhibits, including a floor displaying photos from war journalists and a room devoted to the lasting effects of Agent Orange and other defoliants. But, the museum as a whole was rather one sided and propagandist in tone - there was no mention of the fact that the war was north (communist) vs. south (capitalist), it was just spun as America vs. Vietnam. For dinner in Saigon, we found a “Subway” restaurant. I am not ashamed to admit that on two occasions in 36-hours, we enjoyed the break from Vietnamese fare.
The sleeper bus on the way to Saigon Try and cross that! Crazy!
French colonial inspired architecture
Cyclo ride back from the museum

From here we head to Cambodia for four days and then on to Bangkok for Christmas. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday!!!

After some great experiences in Thailand, we headed east to Laos. Prior to visiting Laos, I knew almost nothing about the country. And apparently pronounced "Laoww" by the locals and not like "louse". From our guide book, we learned that Laos is a communist nation and one of the 20 poorest countries on Earth.

After crossing into Huay Xai, Laos, we stayed the night in the border town and signed up for the Gibbon Experience. The Gibbon Experience is a zip line course through the nearby Bokeo Nature Preserve and includes one or two nights of sleeping in tree houses inside the preserve. The next morning, after a safety briefing on how not to die and meeting the seven other travelers in our group, we drove out to the preserve and hiked up the mountain for about an hour (I’m always reminded of how out of shape I am) to our first zip line. I generally don’t enjoy heights, so I was definitely nervous about flying over the jungle on a cable that I was attached to by a carbineer, two-foot section of rope and harness. Despite my fear, I am glad to report that we survived and it was one of the most amazing experiences of our trip! Some of the zip-lines were upwards of a ¼ mile long and 500 feet high! Each of the dozen plus zips was an adrenaline rush and the experience of soaring over and through the jungle canopy was pure magic. We even had to zip into our Swiss Family Robinson like tree house for the night which was 200 feet in the air! It was by far the most unique place I have ever slept and included a rainwater shower with the most amazing view. Our guides zipped in with dinner made at a nearby camp - sticky rice and veggies- classic Laos fare. We ate with our fellow travelers while watching the sun set over the jungle and swapping travel stories. We hit a slight snag in the evening when I discovered a rat in our tent/mosquito net - it is the jungle I suppose. The boys all banded together and were able to scare it out, but in the end I felt worse for the rat - it looked absolutely terrified. When we woke up the next morning, we were greeted by fog and rain showers, which made the zipping even crazier. The rain is like Crisco on the wire, so you go faster and have to brake earlier. The long and short of it was that we had just as much fun zipping out of the preserve as we did getting in the day before. We didn’t see any of the Gibbons (a type of monkey) which the preserve is known for, but the amount of fun we had zipping more than made up for it! I feel like video really gives a better idea of what it was like so below you can click on the links to see some zipping fun!
To check out some videos of us zipping through the Bokeo Jungle click here and here
Zipping through the jungle
Our treehouse hotel
The stunning view from our treehouse
Jeff trying out the zipline
Our zipping crew and our guides

We parted ways with our zipping friends and headed off to Luang Prabang in north-central Laos. We heard that the roads in Laos were windy and bumpy (to put it mildly), and, as a result, were not surprised to see barf bags in the bus seat pockets (not sure if there is a nicer way to say that). Yes, the roads live up to their reputation and at least one local had to make use of his bag on our overnight bus to Luang Prabang. It’s always an experience! After a short “jumbo” ride from the bus station (a motorcycle, pickup truck hybrid), we arrived at our hostel, Merry Villas 1, which was one of the nicest and cleanest places I’ve ever stayed for $20. They even provided robes, wireless internet, bottled water, tea, coffee and bananas- I mean, come on!
Luang Prabang is a charming, former French colonial town that attracts all of the tourists in northern Laos (you would be surprised how many there are). We enjoyed strolling around town, visiting several Buddhist temples, a boat trip upriver, and eating at very “Americanized” cafes. We found one, Jo Ma Café that served a “Thanksgiving Sandwich” and played Christmas music. I’ve had very few moments on the trip where I felt homesick, but that combination was a perfect storm - the holidays are definitely my favorite time of year after all! We were also in town for the kick-off of the second annual Luang Prabang Film Festival. All of the films at the festival are about Southeast Asia. The film we watched was a documentary called “On Safer Ground” and it is about the first Laos youth soccer team that gets to go to Sweden for the Gothia Cup, the largest youth soccer tournament in the world. It was a very inspirational story and, at the end of the movie, as a surprise, the whole team came out on stage. In addition to the soccer story line, the movie also highlights the issue of UXO (unexploded ordnance) in Laos. During what's referred to as the "Secret War", between 1964 and 1973, in order to combat communism, the US apparently dropped two million tons of bombs over Laos, but 30% of the bombs failed to detonate on impact. There are now thousands of bombs buried in the ground and, unfortunately, they sometimes go off when disturbed, even 30+ years later. Thousands of people have been killed by UXOs since the end of the war, mostly farmers and children. Many others have been blinded or lost limbs. It’s something I’d never heard of before- I just had no idea. For more information you can check out COPE, an organization that provides rehabiliation and prostheses to victims and UXO LAO which aims to clear affected areas of UXO.
The Mekong River in Louang Prabang
From the hilltop Temple
Jeff in front of one of the town Temples
The French colonial feel- with a throwback to the 50's
After the viewing of the film- the soccer team featured in the documentary
A view of the rural village around Louang Prabang
On our slowboat ride up the Mekong
A stop off in a small town after our slowboat ride
Getting ready to hit the road

We then made our way south to a town called Vang Vieng. Its huge draw is tubing down the Mekong River, which sounds fun but unremarkable, yet it now has a cult following. Over the years, the river bank has been taken over by bars and the atmosphere is less nature and more “spring break”. The basic concept is that you rent a tube, then a tuk tuk drops you off several miles upstream, and finally you float back to town past a dozen plus bars over the course of several hours. Many of the bars along the river have a gimmick (e.g., swing, water slide, zipline, free shot) to get you in and they throw you a rope to pull you over with the hope that you buy a few drinks and attract others to partake in the fun. While getting our tubes, we met up with a large group of fellow travelers and they invited us to join them for the day. While we generally don’t consider ourselves to be crazy spring breakers, this is just one of those situations where you have to give in. So, at 11 am on a Tuesday, we were drinking beer and mojitos with hundreds of other Westerners in the middle of Laos. Jeff was his adventurous self and tried out all the slides and rope swings along the way, while I opted for just the biggest slide. After several hours, we eventually floated back to town with our new friends. By then, the sun was going down and the temperature cooling off, so we were all excited to get out of the water and take hot showers. We polished off the day at one of the many restaurants in town that play episodes of Friends or Family Guy back to back from morning till night. It was a crazy day - one of those things you couldn’t make up if you tried.
On our ride up to Vang Vieng
The riverside bars
Tubing down the Mekong
Kids on their way to school in VV

With “I Love Lao” still spray painted on my arm, we headed to central Laos and the Kong Lo Cave. We stopped overnight in the capital, Vientiane, for a break from the windy roads and for another “Thanksgiving Sandwich” at a Jo Ma Café (just as delicious as the first). The next morning we headed on to a small town several hours further south called Ban Khoun Kham. The town itself is fairly unremarkable, but it gets some tourists because of its proximity to the Kong Lo Cave. From the town, we rode in a “sawngthaew” (a pick-up truck with two benches in a covered bed) for about an hour to the river and hired the two cutest old men for guides. The river runs through the cave for about five miles and, with the exception of a short, lit walking trail to check out some of the awesome stalagmites and stalactites up-close, the only light inside the cave is from our guides’ headlamps. It is a surreal and spooky ride down the river in the dark!
A photo of the cave entrace
Inside the mouth of the cave
Inside the cave where they've lit some of the stalagcites/stalagmites

Laos was full of surprises and fun experiences, thanks in no small part to the incredibly cheap prices. Moreover, the people are laid back and there’s very little hassling. After ten busy, fun-filled days, we are heading to Vietnam. We’ll write more soon!