Lazy Days in Si Phan Don

The musical selection for this post is “Islands in the Stream,” a duet by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. You know you love it. Link at the bottom.

After taking an overnight barracks-style sleeper bus from Vientiane to Pakse, we immediately booked a van/boat transfer another few hours to an area in southern Laos called Si Phan Don, which means Four Thousand Islands.

Grilled bananas for breakfast. I remember they weren’t as good as I expected them to be!

We went to the main island, Don Det, rented a bungalow and holed up there for a week. It was late September and nearing the end of the monsoon season; the Mekong was really swollen with water, which had many of the locals concerned about whether their homes or businesses would be washed out by the flooding. Due to the time of year, there were very few tourists. It was really mellow, just what we were looking for.

On the boat to Don Det:

After arriving on the island, we walked through muddy rice paddies to get to the northern end.

The rice paddies were so brilliantly green. The other photos don’t do it justice because it was so overcast all of the time. It was beautiful.

After checking out a few places, we found our spot for the week.

The view out of our door:

We stayed at a guesthouse situated on the very tip of the island. It had some nice gardens and a cafe overlooking the water.

Some of the locals make their living by fishing.

New friends! Rachel is from New Zealand & lives in Australia.

David is from the UK.

Didn’t see a lot of turkeys in Asia! Or really anywhere on our travels. 

Yoga on the porch.

Tim went fishing a couple of times.

Hmmmm…

Looking good, guys.

One day we took a group kayaking excursion on the Mekong. We did not kayak this part:  

We paddled over the Cambodian border to see some Irrawaddy dolphins, a critically endangered species that inhabits small pockets of the Mekong in Cambodia and Laos. These buildings on the Cambodian side were a testament to how swollen the river was.

We watched some dolphins surface and blow their spouts for a few minutes but couldn’t get any good photos.

“Just park your kayak right there on the porch.”

The kitchen of this restaurant was about 2 inches above the river. Doesn’t seem like the most sanitary conditions….  

(L-R): Sarah, David, Rachel, Lily, Laina, Freakshow with Awful Facial Hair

Our guide:

Back on Don Det:

Those mountains in the distance are in Cambodia.

Cool homemade wood-fired oven:   

Laotian people were always quick with a wave or a smile.

One of the benefits of visiting Southeast Asia in the rainy season is the frequent rainbow sightings:

Tim got in some good hammock time.  

Safe travels!

The butterflies loved this bush:

You can eat the raw seeds straight from a lotus pod, but I don’t recommend it. A little bitter but mostly just bland.

Shiny beetle bodies:

One final Beerlao before getting on a bus back to Thailand. We could have spent even more time in lovely Laos, but we had to get back to Bangkok ahead of the Zarek’s arrival!

In the Tubing (and More) in Vang Vieng

The music for this post is “Carry the Zero” by Built to Spill. Link at the bottom.

On September 6th the four of us left Luang Prabang, too early and a little hungover. The bowling alley gets you every time. I forgot my tablet computer at the hotel and had to cab back there, pick it up, and then cab back to the bus station, which made our whole minibus have to wait before leaving for Vang Vieng. Oops.

The drive between Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang is stunning, a seemingly solitary road winding through gorgeous jungle mountains. Unfortunately we were all crammed in the back of a minibus with a bunch of strangers, feeling carsick, so we didn’t really get to appreciate it or take any good photos. When we go back to Laos, I want to do this drive on a motorbike.

Adding to our general queasiness was the sight of some bear’s feet (and other body parts) in plastic jugs at the little shop and restaurant where the minibus stopped for lunch. I guess it’s like the bird juice we saw in Vietnam, people drink it for stronger boners or something. We had learned about the awful sun bear trade when we visited the bear sanctuary near Luang Prabang, but it was still a hard thing to see.

Our fortunes turned around when we got to Vang Vieng: DOUBLE RAINBOW! We saw this beauty right after getting out of the minibus. Oh my god, oh my god, WOOOOOOO! What does this mean?

Vang Vieng has a well-deserved bad reputation for being the most debaucherous and dangerous party town on the Banana Pancake Trail – at the peak in 2011 about two dozen tourists died in this small town – but that wasn’t our experience at all. In 2012 the Laos government cracked down on the out-of-control party scene, destroying all but 3 of the bars along the tubing route and closing dozens of other bars and clubs. The party moved elsewhere (Sihanoukville picked up some of the slack), and Vang Vieng chilled out, for a little while at least. We were there in the off-season, so that contributed to the mellow vibe as well.

The first 3 days were super fun – it was really awesome to be able to spend time with Stef and Meredith. We stayed at a quiet guesthouse just a little south of the town center. We would get up whenever we woke up and walk to one of the restaurants with a big deck overlooking the Nam Song River. After breakfast the first day we rented motorbikes and rode north of town.

The karst around Vang Vieng is just amazing. These pictures don’t do it justice.

We hired this boatman to take us across the river so we could go check out one of the most famous caves in the area.

We hired a local guy to be our guide through the cave, which was a good idea even though the cave is pretty easy to navigate. I’m just happy that my motorbike keys didn’t end up in his underpants.

There is a big seated Buddha at the entrance to the cave.

Inside the cave we walked through shallow pools of water and saw some cool rock formations. The muddy-looking wall you see in this photo was formed naturally by water and creates a pool behind it; we walked through a series of these shallow pools.

At the end of the main passage there is a larger pool that we could kind of swim in.

Back outside, the clouds had dispersed a bit to reveal another lovely day.

Another monster rainbow spotted late in the afternoon.

The view from breakfast was always nice. Local kids liked to jump and fish from the bridges. Despite its outsized reputation, Vang Vieng is a pretty small town.

We went for a walk on the west side of the river to see some more caves and check out a local swimming hole. In this photo you can see more cluster bomb casings used as decoration.

We crossed a few really sketchy bridges.

Like this one:

The valley that lies to the west of the Nam Song River is simply gorgeous.

Heavy rain rolled through so we sought shelter for a few minutes.

Check out the banana leaf umbrella.

Batman, Stefanie, and Meredith

See, I told you they had cracked down on the partying:

This cave is huge. We didn’t hire a guide this time, so we didn’t go too far back into it, but the part that we saw was fantastic.

GAAAHHH! This spider was freakin’ enormous!

That night we went out for dinner to a terrific Korean barbecue place. I really regret not getting the “Grilled Milkiness”.

This is the place:

The next morning we encountered “Toast Milk” on the menu. Still didn’t sound appetizing.

After passing on toast milk, “King of Bus” came to take Stef and Meredith away from us. It was hard to say goodbye.

Laina and I had a few more days in Vang Vieng after our friends left us. We had no agenda and just sort of went with the flow. I recommend getting the Hobo Maps map of Vang Vieng and the outlying areas. It’s a great guide for exploring the natural wonders outside of town.

On September 11th we decided to take the plunge and go “In The Tubing”. It was raining and there were only 3 bars still standing along the river, but we made the most of it. Here is Laina climbing out of a tube at one the river’s edge.

Some people playing soccer in the mud:

The float is pretty enjoyable after a couple beers. And maybe a little lao-lao…

The next day the woman who ran our hotel offered us some tasty small snails. They were really good. Snails are definitely under-appreciated in the U.S. – they’re kind of like land-oysters – but I can’t honestly say that I’m going to try to eat them more often.

Later that day we went for a bike ride through the valley roads on the east side of the bridge. It was a fun ride through the villages on the outskirts of town.

This guy was using a large block of styrofoam as a fishing raft.

These schoolgirls were checking out an aquaculture project at a local eco-resort.

Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the small towns of Laos.

This lady was on her way home from digging some roots:

This photo – which I should not have taken – shows a local woman showering in a typical small-community water facility. Everybody gets their water and showers and washes clothes from the same spout. As far as I can tell, the spout runs all day and there is not a valve to turn the water off.

The end of another awesome day…

I woke up the next morning with the feeling that it was time for a haircut. I drew up this little sketch to try to convey the idea that I wanted my mohawk to be made skinnier and my goatee as well.

I’m not sure what Prickly Heat is, but now I know not to accept any brand other than Snake Brand.

Yeah, he did a pretty good job.

Split open and get out of this maze.  Thanks for the sunglasses Stef!

Like I said, things have changed a little in Vang Vieng.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t spend a lovely afternoon watching the river float by from a hammock.

“Serpico Mudflap” sounds like a good butt-rock song title.

We ended that epic day by finally finding a place near town that my friend Yu had recommended but whose location he could not fully describe. It was a fantastic overlook that gave unparalleled views of Vang Vieng and the valley to the west that we had spent the day pedaling. It’s kind of hard to find, but if you get the Hobo Maps map, just look for Pha Ngeun (Pillar), right there in the center of the map. The guy who introduced this place to Yu called it “The Apotheosis of Zen”, which is a pretty satisfactory description. The views from this place are incredible. I wish we had more time here.

Laina tried to steal my thunder with this pose, but points were deducted for her wonky double-jointed elbow.

That’s more like it!

We visited another cave (Chang Cave) which was just okay, but nearby there was a powerful stream flowing right out of the mountain. The water was sort of milky and flowed very swiftly. We swam for a bit but felt a little self-conscious in our bathing suits – most of the other adults there were swimming in clothes.

Leaving that place we bought some delicious green sweet rice snacks.

Loo-ong Pra-bong

We’re back – again!  In real time:  Tim and I are back home in Oakland.  As our lives get back to “normal,” we are finding it difficult to carve out time to finish the blog, but we will keep trying.  Here is the next chapter.

The song for this post is a ridiculous ditty called “Party Barge” by the Silver Jews.  Link at the bottom.

After a couple of days in Nong Khiaw, Laos, it was time to move on to one of the country’s main cities: Luang Prabang.   To get there, we had to take one of the sketchier bus rides of our trip.  The “bus” was really just a pick up with an open cover on the back.  We squeezed in with a bunch of locals; at one point there were 20 adults and 3 kids in the vehicle.

Rambo says it’s time to crush this bus ride.

Our driver was very professional.  He only had one beer, at least while he was driving.

Our fellow passengers.  We got a lesson in how Laotians perceive personal boundaries.  The woman in the foreground casually leaned on me (Laina) for a good part of the 4-hour trip.  At least she offered me peanuts for my trouble!

We stopped on the side of the road so some of the other passengers could buy some melons.  This little guy was so excited to see me and Tim.  He kept yelling at us and waving.

Finally we reached our destination, Luang Prabang.  LP is a charming little city which is clearly gets a lot of the tourism dollars in Laos. It seemed very modern to us after having spent a couple of weeks in remote villages.

The other most striking impression of Luang Prabang is the incredible number of Buddhist monasteries.  Everywhere you turn, you see ornate, gilded temples and monks roaming the streets with their shaved heads and saffron-colored robes.

The view from the 2nd-floor veranda of our guesthouse.  It was so hot and humid!

A Laotian “food court.” This was a good place to load up on calories for a couple bucks. 

The most exciting part of Luang Prabang for us:  we met up with friends from San Francisco!  Welcome Stefanie and Meredith!  Nothing quite like seeing some familiar faces after months and months away from home.

Welcoming the ladies in traditional Laotian style, with beer and balloons.  Meredith is on the left, Stefanie on the right with Psy.

Hitting the town with Stef and Mere.

Our first bucket of the local hooch.  Pro tip:  One bucket of Lao-Lao is plenty.

We have seen a lot of bar/cafe cats in Asia.  These were by far the creepiest.

Hitting the food tables after a few drinks.  Think I’ll pass on the chicken heads.

The next morning, we managed to drag ourselves out of bed for the daily alms-giving.  There are numerous monasteries in LP, and every morning hundreds of monks walk the streets to collect donations of rice and other types of food from the devout locals who support them.  It’s impressive that people rise at dawn to do this every single day.

A line of monks collecting food from the locals on the curb.  In turn, the monks would give some of the food to a few children walking along on the other side.  We assumed that these children were collecting surplus food for their own families.  The oldest monks were at the front of the line, while the young boy monks were in the back.

Catching a cat nap between the morning alms-giving and…

The boat races!  We were lucky enough to be in Luang Prabang during the annual dragon boat racing festival.  Village teams from the surrounding area compete against one another in these races on the Nam Ou river, one of the two rivers that intersect Luang Prabang (the other is the Mekong).  Below you can see a couple of teams warming up before the competition.  They paraded up and down the river with one or two fabulously decorated maidens in tow.

We got a better view of two traditionally-dressed women a little bit later.

The starting line.

Spectators and booths lined the race route along the shore.

And they’re off!

Kids playing with their new toy guns.  It seems like every single child was playing with a new toy gun, no other toys.  It was slightly disconcerting.

Not quite sure what is going on here, but cross-dressing Snow White’s diva attitude transcends all language barriers.

One of the party barges blasting tunes on the water.

Me with the t-shirt that I should have bought, but didn’t.  One of the worst decisions ever.  What if the next fringe-lined t-shirt with shoulder cut-outs that I find only has four cats on it instead of five?  Totally a missed opportunity.

The view from Mount Phousi, a nice little hike up a hill in the center of town.

Tim’s a lucky guy.

The victorious dragon boat team celebrating in the streets.

At this point in the day, a lot of normally-reserved Laotians were pretty drunk.  There was a loud rager going down at the TV house.

Olive Oyl crossing.

Our last day in Luang Prabang was one of my favorites of the whole trip.  We rose early to do a zip-lining tour over the Tad Sae waterfalls with the awkwardly-named Flight of the Nature.  It was another wet day, but we didn’t mind.

The falls were really swollen with rainy-season runoff.  This short retaining wall was just a few inches from being overtopped.

At this point in the trip, we had seen elephants up close once (at Angkor Wat).  They are simply incredible.  We did NOT ride the elephants at the Tad Sae waterfalls.  We learned that you shouldn’t ride elephants outfitted with these kinds of saddle chairs; bare back is better for the animals.

Ready to zip line!

Our highlight reel.  We started in the canopy and came down right over the falls.  It was incredible.  So fun!

Tuk tuk ride through the countryside.

In the afternoon, we visited the Kuang Si Falls.  The entrance to the park hosts a wonderful bear rescue sanctuary established by the non-profit charity Free the Bears.  Body parts of Asiatic bears have been used in traditional medicine for centuries, and consequently the animals have been horribly exploited.   These animals get a second chance thanks to this awesome organization.

Everything was flooded.  It was the beginning of September and the height of the rainy season.

Kuang Si Falls.  One of the prettiest sights in Southeast Asia, even on a rainy day.  I’ll just let the photos do the talking!

It was so awesome to have Stefanie & Meredith with us.  Such a fun experience to travel with friends!

Another ridiculously named liquor…

100% Special

Buckets…

Then bowling!  And maybe a few push-ups.  Thanks for the memories Luang Prabang!

 

Places with Funny Names

The music for this post is “Dancing With the Moonlit Knight” by Genesis. What’s that? You think Genesis sucks? Well, so did I until a couple years ago, but now I love Peter Gabriel-era Genesis. In the 70s, before “Land of Confusion” and MTV, Genesis made some of the best prog rock ever. This track has it all, including some fantastic guitar work by Steve Hackett. So enjoy this track while you read the long post (covering nearly three weeks, more than any post yet). Link at bottom.

On May 23rd we flew from Sydney through Bangkok to Phuket (say “POO-ket”). At our hotel we had the pleasure of meeting up with our good friends Kim and Yu, their adorable 22-month-old son Kai, and Yu’s parents Masanori and Noriko. The Kuwabara family was on a two-week vacation in Thailand, and we met up with them after they had spent a week in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. After the endless bustle of South America, we were happy to see good friends and relax, and just sort of go along with their plans for a week or so. And it was just so nice to see some familiar faces again and hear tales from home.

Phuket is kind of seedy, from what I’ve heard, so the very next day we took a ferry to Ko Phi Phi (say “kaw-PEE-PEE”) which is not a fraternity but is in actuality a gorgeous island group in the Andaman Sea. Ko Phi Phi Don, the only one of the Phi Phi islands that is permanently populated, was more or less obliterated by the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, but it has since been completely rebuilt and re-commercialized, for better or worse. Phi Phi Don is a truly stunning island, with towering karst limestone cliffs along Tonsai Bay, and a narrow, heavily touristed isthmus separating two perfect beaches and clear blue bays. Oh, and no roads or cars and very few scooters, which makes for a very pleasant experience. The other Phi Phi islands are similarly beautiful, all sheer cliffs surrounded by clear water.

Watching a storm roll in.

Hanging out in the room during the rain, getting to know each other better.


Thanks for clearing that up…


Anyone need to use the restroom?

We all spent two nights on Phi Phi Don, which was enough to see the good parts and party a little without getting overwhelmed. We got good cheap massages, hiked to the lookout, watched the fire dancers at night, and took a snorkeling trip to Ko Phi Phi Leh, which is the next biggest island and was made famous by the movie The Beach. A little too famous I’d say, as what should be a sublime crescent moon of sand on a bucolic bay enclosed by limestone walls has been transformed into a beach choked with tourist and boats. We quickly turned around and left, disenchanted. The snorkeling was just okay, not great; not much variety of fish to be seen. But we did see some monkeys swimming and jumping into the water, which was pretty cool. It would have been much cooler if tourists and boat operators weren’t feeding the monkeys. Will people ever learn to not feed wild animals? For me the highlight of Phi Phi was probably the fire dancers on the beach at night. They were incredible. Yu got some good photos that he was kind enough to share with us.

We took another big boat (say “BOAT”, not “AIR-plane”) to the town of Rai Leh/Railey/Railay, which is attached to the main land but accessible only by boat, so it feels like an island. Looks like one too, with more towering limestone walls above clear blue sea. Again, no roads or cars in Railay, which only adds to the sense that this might be paradise. We got some great bungalows with air conditioning, mini-fridges, and a sweet pool for $20/night in East Railay, which is cheaper than two nasty dorm bunks most places in South America. The seven of us spent five nights in Railay, exploring the beaches and bays, relaxing by the pool, and drinking lots of fruit shakes.

Let it be known that the Durbins dominated the Kuwabaras at Yahtzee, Cacho and Pigs for the entire week. The force was strong with us.


Yu, doing his thing:

The crowd pays rapt attention as I spin another classic yarn:

There are cats everywhere in Phi Phi and Railay. It was a nice change from the rampant stray dogs of South America.

Oh, the food. I’m not a Thai food devotee at home, but the food in Thailand has won me over. We ate Thai food three meals a day, pad Thai for breakfast, tom yum for lunch, banana pancake for a snack, curry for dinner, with beers and shakes in between. Massaman curry, which is of Muslim origin, is a dish particular to southern Thailand that we all loved. My favorite dish was probably the fish curry served in the coconut. Fun fact: In Thailand, Thai food is just called “food”. (I made that joke earlier on Facebook and was immediately called out by my only Thai friend.)

Railay is famous for rock climbing, but we were happy to just relax on the beaches or at the pool. The finest beach is the southernmost one, Phra Nang Beach, which is notable not only for its perfect squeeky-fine sand but also for the phallus shrine (AKA Wooden Dong Cave). They say it’s a fertility thing.

Kim, Yu, Laina and I kayaked around the bays and island towers, checking out a few of the caves and tidal passageways and blowholes.

Seriously, there are kittens everywhere. Not so much full grown cats. We quickly figured out that hotels, restaurants, etc. always have kittens on hand because tourists like them. But what happens to them when they grow up? It makes you wonder, and it started rubbing us the wrong way. They are kind of irresistible though.


A monkey threatened Laina one afternoon when we went for a hike. Then Yu and I made the surprisingly dangerous, exposed, and muddy descent to the lagoon nearby. I was rewarded with one of the most sublime swims of my life, a unique float on a lagoon surrounded by limestone walls, 360 degrees, the sky an eye-shaped screen in the distance, the water seemingly more dense than seawater. Unfortunately we managed to not get any pictures of the lagoon, so just take my word for it, it’s badass.

After a week of beers by the pool, it came time to say goodbye to the Kuwabara Krew. We were sad to see them go but thankful for the uncommon generosity of Masanori and Noriko and the companionship of all. Thanks for coming guys!

After they left, Laina and I walked to the even more isolated town of Tonsai, where we stayed for another 4 days. Tonsai was more of the same: relaxation, reading, the beach, slacking, trying to slackline, kayaking, food.

Fresh ginger in your soup. It’s good for you, promise.

You’re gonna get SCORPED!

Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful and rolled a double-snouter.

Eventually Laina and I had our fill of paradise and headed to the city of Krabi, by boat and pickup truck. We spent 4 days in Krabi, working on the blog in the air conditioning. The night market in Krabi, along the river, was our spot for a cheap but delicious dinner. The weekend market and the other market and really all the markets were super and highlights of our time Krabi. Except don’t buy the cheap snorkels. Those are worthless.

Limes? Nope, these are oranges:

Sometimes Asians are a bit “on the nose” when naming their business establishments. Laina was stoked about the address though!

Random picture of Frank Zappa in a Krabi pizza joint.



After publishing a bunch of blog posts from Krabi, we headed back to Tonsai for Weekend at Bernie’s II. We were there for another 4 days; a monsoon blew in and we got more rain this time, but we didn’t care. We strategized for the rest of SE Asia, worked on the budget, tried to figure out whether we should go to Ko Lanta or not. We had beers at Small World Bar and played games and kept trying to slackline.


This guy was one of the best fire dancers we have seen. Slack lining and twirling multiple fire batons – incredible!

Damn it feels good to be a kitty-toting gangsta.

Huh?


This is a spectacled langur. Apparently it is evolutionarily advantageous to look freaking insane.

Tonsai at low tide. The water goes out hundreds of yards.

The better to find stranded crabs! We love how their two main instincts are “hide” and then “fight to the death.”

One night we were at Sunset Bar and the bartender poured me a free mystery shot. I knew something was up because the other two guys behind the bar were watching me with smiles on their faces. When I gave a skeptical look the bartender poured himself one too. Not one to refuse such a gesture of hospitality, I raised the glass, toasted with the bartender and downed the shot. It wasn’t that bad, just typical cheap brown liquor. Then the guys all started laughing and the bartender produced the bottle, which you can kind of make out in the photo below. It’s hard to see, but that’s a small cobra and a scorpion in the bottle. I felt the animal powers surge thorough me and wished that there were cars in Tonsai so that I could bench press one. Now I’m half man, half reptile, and half arachnid.

We returned to Krabi for two more nights and finally checked out the famous Tiger Cave Temple. The temple (wat) itself isn’t great, but if you climb the 1,237 steps above it, you are rewarded with fantastic views across the farms and river valley and city. From this point you can see just how improbable all of the sheer limestone towers in the region are; I wonder what combination of creative and destructive forces caused them to rise from the floodplain. It was a grueling sticky climb but a nice way to say goodbye to the area. The next day we were moving on to Koh Tao, in the Gulf of Thailand on the other side of the south Thailand peninsula, in order to escape the monsoon weather and hopefully get in some more scuba diving.

While it did rain a bit that day, my hair is mostly drenched with sweat. I melt in the heat and humidity. Surprised that Laina was willing to hug me.