Although we spent a month in Thailand, when I think back on it I realize that Jef and I really didn't do all that much. We do however have to say that we did not enjoy the people of Thailand. After coming from Lao where everyone is patient and friendly, Thailand is really impatient, rude, uncomfortable and is full of people just trying to rip you off.Hopefully, this blog will not be to long then since there really is not much to summarize besides us being lazy and bumming around on some islands for a couple weeks.
When we crossed the border from Lao into Thailand it as very much a cluster fuck with people yelling at us all different orders and places to go. We eventually got across however we only had a 15 day visa to show for it. It seems that when someone chooses to fly into Thailand they are allowed a 30 day visa but upon arrival you are only allowed a 15 day (unless you are Polish??) So this kind of put a damper on our plans since we were not planning on having to exit and re-enter the country just to be able to stay an extra 15 days. We ended up taking a sleeper train that night to Bangkok, which was at first really fun and then it quickly turned south to miserable. It is really expensive to travel by train, and since the train cars with a fan instead of AC is cheaper they fill up faster, so we were stuck freezing in a little bed all night. We also got stuck on the upper bunk because it was the cheaper one (I thought to myself SCORE because whenever I was at a sleep over when I was younger everyone always wanted the top bunk and it is cheaper here) however we soon realized why it is so cheap. It is right next to the AC and there is a blinding light that is on the ceiling right next to your face that never gets turned off.
When we arrived into Thailand we had a choice of either staying at the legendary and cheap backpacker hostel road, or to not. And we had had enough of locals trying to haggle us and forcibly throw you in their tuktuk every 15 ft. so we chose to not go where the locals go and chose to stay downtown. This ended up being an awesome spot because we were so close to everything, right across the street from the most massive mall I have ever imagined. It is seriously 7 stories tall and is endless (we have been there plenty of times and it still feels like we have hardly touched it). We ate the most delicious McDonald's meal in the world (I will not eat Thai food for a long long time when I get home). We then took the sky train out to the immigration office to try to extend our visa and payed WAY to much baht to find out that you can only extend it for 7days, meaning we still had to leave the country. So we chose to head down to the Thai Islands and to cross into Malaysia.
The next evening we took another sleeper train to a town in southern Thailand called Chumpon. We arrived there around 2 am and had a 'bus' to take at 6 am to the port to take a ferry to our first island Koh Tao. Well we didn't sleep much that night and the bus ended up being a massive tuktuk that just herded in tourists, we all laughed at how comical it was and how we all looked like we were being shipped like cargo to come concentration camp. We eventually got on our ferry and headed to Koh Tao. The island is the smallest in a set of three sister islands and it is best knows for it's diving and snorkeling since it is so small and that is all there really is to do. We got set up with a recommended diving company instantly and started our open water diving course that night. We were staying in bungalows right on the beach, and this resort was packed with backpackers. All the instructors were awesome and were people who were visiting and fell in love with diving and just decided to stay. We were going to have to do 5 dives in 2 days and we were going to have homework. I was really worried about diving because I have horrible ears but surprisingly the first 3 dives went perfectly for everyone in our group. We had a group of 6 people, ourselves and two other couples who we ended up seriously bonding with. We had a ball sitting up late at night together all talking and doing our homework together.After we all passed our exams it started to go south. Neither Jef nor I could equalize while going down on our 4th dive and had to call it off for a couple of days. It turns out that everyone at this resort was having ear problems because of how cold the rooms were at night. My ears then took a turn from bad to worse. Actually still right now (3 weeks later) my ears are still in loads of pain and are probably infected. I was unable to finish my course, however, Jef was able to and we celebrated by going snorkeling :) It turns out that snorkeling on Koh Tao is way better than diving and we saw LOADS of fish. We say barracuda and trigger fish, every sort of fish from Finding Nemo, massive and poisonous urchins, enemines and star fish. The fish aren't afraid of you so you will constantly just be swarmed with different schools, it was wonderful! We ended up spending a good week on Koh Tao just renting motor bikes and driving to the local beaches and going snorkeling. At night we would eat at the local food vendors and walk along the beach and watch fire dancers and then lay in hammocks.
Ko Phangan
We hadn't the slightest clue about the island of Ko Phangan until brushing over the Lonely Planet on the ferry ride over. All we had heard about it regarded the hoards of drunken & drugged out Europeans that collect in Had Rin awaiting the next full moon party. Being the old fogies we are we grabbed a taxi to the total opposite side of the island to a town called Had Yao. The taxi driver drops us off in the "Town" of Had Yao and it is as much of a "town" a Harvey the Rabbit is a good pet. As far as Jordan and I can tell we've just been marooned on some nameless road on an island we know zilch about. We eventually find a 7-11 along with a homely, scabbed up and probably still drunk Englishman that gives us directions to the happening place to stay in town, which still seems like a total sham because we've barely seen a car less than a guesthouse for a good 30 minutes.
After walking for a bit & weathering a pretty legit flash flood we found a homely alcove in "The Sun Moon Bungalow". It was pretty much a done deal once Jordan realized there was floppy dog with a whole bunch of frolic in him. Our time in Had Yao for the following 3 days was just pretty relaxed. The highlight of which was mostly reading, pictionary on the beach, taking on the San Francisco-esk hills by scooter, and of course gorging every night on fine 7-11 cuisine.
Around day four we go a little stir crazy & decide to venture down to Had RIn. We got down there to find that it's really not the Sodom & Gamora it's made out to be & the beach is gorgeous. The more we walk around the more we realize that this town is freak'n made for us. Along with the Metropolis of clothing stores to fuel jordan's addiction, we found our complete puzzle piece of a niche: "The Lazy House". It's a mecca of 16 couches, 7 tv's, 2 projectors, a bottomless supply of pirated movies, a full-out understanding of comfort food and a damn cuddly cat named Bacon. All that & an absolutely adorable waiter from Burma who we fell in love with... yeah, we found our spot. I swear we spent days there & I regret nothing.
We spent a good amount of time being beach rats but the water turned on us & became plagued with some devil spawn jelly-tick type monstrosity. These little bastards stung, and were in endless supply, so there went swimming... typically a pretty big part of the whole water thing. But I have to say the most profound thing that happened was on the evening of out second day there, during the perfect combination of storm on one side and epic sunset on the other the clouds blew up right in front of us with the brightest pink aura that filled half the sky. The waves turned bright green with caps so ridiculously white I swear they glowed. It only lasted about a minute and a half, but it was unlike anything I've ever seen.
The last thing we did on the island the night before we left was follow the crowd of hundreds of people out into the jungle for the "Half Moon Party" & absolutely nothing good came from it. Jordan and the vomiting corpse formerly known as Jef left the next morning for the mainland. The bus, boat, boat, bus tuktuk combination took about twelve hours and landed us in the city of Had Yai. Just to fill you in on the details, Had Yai is the raunchiest smelling rat infested city we've been in thus far and the whole point of this pointless trip is only to reach the Malaysian border before our visa runs out. Yes, underwhelming indeed.
PHUKET:
The last island that we decided to bum out on was Phuket, probably the most famous island in Thailand.It was definitely nice enough, but we had to stay in a town that wasn't right on the beach because everything on the beaches is way to expensive. Phuket is the honeymooners kind of place, not necessarily a backpackers place. It is really hard to find cheap and chill guest houses and it is even harder to meet fellow backpackers. We ended up snagging a pretty great place, although not cheap, that was run by a very adorable and friendly Scottish man. We had a great room right on the end with a balcony...overlooking the street. We ended up passing out right away, since it was a long bus ride there, and the next day we woke up and started celebrating my birthday :) Now, usually I'm not used to taking notice to my birthday because it is during the summer so it normally is overlooked, and since we are broke and traveling I was not expecting anything special. It ended up being one of the best birthday celebrations I have had yet. We woke up and the first thing Jef does is give me presents...which is always a wonderful thing to wake up to. He had somehow bought and hidden gifts in his bag without me noticing and they were fabulous ;) We rented a scooter and drove to the nearby beach, which was terrifying and I will never ever buy a bike and/or drive in a city again. Once we eventually arrived at Kata Beach we walked around town and then walked on the beach at sunset. When it was dark we went to the most epic miniature golf course!! It was straight out of Jurassic Park, with rivers and the rain forest, dinosaurs and caves and erupting volcanoes. I love miniature golf and this place completely blew me away with how epic it was. Then we got all dressed up and he took me out to dinner to this super nice place on the beach. When we were praying the manager walked by and happened to be Christian as well and gave us a discount on our meal (which was freaking amazing!) Then a lady walked by and was selling massive floating lanterns, so we got one and lit it for good luck and watched it float away from the shore. We ended the night by buying a massive firework and letting it off on the beach. Jef was a giggling fool and he is once again fabulous for surprising me with an unforgettable birthday celebration.
The next day, we decided not to go on the scooter because we felt it was to dangerous at the moment. It turns out that we were on Phuket during a Buddhist holiday so we were woken up way to early by a massive parade and marching band going down our street. We slept is way to late after that and walked around town and went to an internet cafe and wasted a good couple hours there. We went out to a great restaurant that night with live music sung by two local men. They were absolutely fantastic, and the food was as well. We then went to the local mall and went to the theatres and watched The Rise of Planet of the Apes, and it was bomb. We totally loved it! We have missed the whole movie theatre experience and loaded up on candy and sushi and just had a ball.
The next/final day on Phuket we decided to give the scooter another go down the highway to Kata Beach and this time it went way more smoothly. However, it was still to dangerous for us to feel comfortable. There are no driving laws and there is no order so it is terrifying. There are no stop signs or yield signs, people don't drive in their lanes and are constantly swerving around you. There are always cars in the wrong lanes coming head on towards you, and random people walk into the roads or open their doors, or don't look before they pull out. I don't understand how the locals can comfortably drive with a baby and three other passengers on one scooter down the highway and feel/be safe. Anyways, that final day on the beach was great. The beaches are why this island it so popular because they are so gorgeous. Soft white sand and crystal clear, warm water with good waves. We rented some boogie-boards for the day and laughed our asses off while riding on the waves. Of course we also got our asses kicked by the waves as well and are bruised from head to toe and have some serious rashes on our stomachs. The good ting about Phuket was that it has great food and great beaches, but unfortunately everything on the islands of Thailand are overpriced, and this high maintenance place really drained our bank accounts. We were bordering broke and woke up the next day getting ready to head out on a 12 hour bus ride back to Bangkok (where we are now) to get ready to fly back home to San Fran!!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
A Summary of Lao
So, since it costs to much money to go to internet cafes and to type up a blog everyday and to try to upload pictures on insanely slow computers new pictures will probably be put up on facebook when we return and for now I am just going to some up our past couple weeks spent in Lao.
One of the first things we did was The Gibbon Experience. We got to spend 4 days in the ancient jungle hiking and zip-lining throughout the forest and got to sleep in tree houses 250+ meters high. We went after a big rain so our tuktuk out to the village got stuck a total of 5 times with everyone having to get out a push it up a monster hill. From the village we got to hike a way through the rain-forest until we eventually zip-lined into our tree house, which we shared with an awesome Dutch family. It was two stories with a roof made from banana leaves. We had a little kitchen and tables and our own two person bed. The bathroom (which was the most awesome part) was basically just a platform next to a massive tree branch, and the floor just dropped off and had the most gorgeous view of the mountains. We got to hear a couple of gibbons sing but never were we gifted with being able to see them up close. We made the mistake of getting up at dawn to go try and spot some and were seriously attacked by leeches, which crawl up your pants to get to you...it was terrifying. So we zip-lined all over trying to keep our eyes out for tigers or bears, which of course we never encountered.
After The Gibbon Experience and getting to spend times with bunches of naked curious village children, we took another terrifying night bus back down to the temple city of Luang Probang. When we arrived at 6 in the morning we decided to rent a motorbike and go see one of the local waterfalls. We drove a good hour to the villages on the outskirts and got a bag full of fried bananas :) Then we started hiking to the waterfall just to arrive at a sun bear sanctuary. There were so many tiny adorable little bears swinging in hammocks and sitting in a serious hot tub. Sun bears are endangered, like most Asian animal species, because their bones are used for ancient Chinese medicine and or they are kept as pets in little cages. Me being an animal rights activist this was depressing. So we donated some money to the bears and then went to go swim in the bright blue pools of the waterfall. There was a rope swing and a waterfall you could jump off of so we spent some time there and mingled with some other backpackers. That night we went to the Luang Probang night market, which is just a bunch of little booths set up right next to one another, so there is hardly any room to walk, and the entire street is lit with lanterns. I wanted to buy everything there because it was all gorgeous and cheap, but I was already tight for space in my bag so I had to cut the spending short.
The next day we started our 3 day elephant mahout camp. The term "mahout" means trainer or handler, so we were going to learn how to handle and care for an elephant. When the van picked us up in the morning to take us to the camp we automatically fell in love with the couple that was on the adventure with us. There was a 6 ft 2in Australian man who looked like Gerard Butler and was just so over the top, just like myself and Jef, and his little 4 ft 11in Taiwanese fiance who has the voice of an 8 year old girl. We adored them and spent majority of the next 3 days talking politics, religion, philosophy, law and psychology with them. We got to get on the elephants and start riding them on the neck instantly, which is a lot harder then it looks and takes quite a lot of leg strength and getting used to. We learned all the commands in order to control them; however, I'm pretty sure they never listen to us and only listen to their mahout/trainer who is on the elephant with you most of the time. My elephant's name was Sunshine who was the most obedient, and Jef's was Pancake. When we are riding through the rain-forest all we hear is laughter and Jef constantly barking out "PAI PAI, YAYAYA" which means "Go Go, Stop Doing Bad" but pancake really didn't listen and just continued to eat. We got to feed them everyday, pineapples and bamboo shoots, and we also bathed them twice a day (once at 5 in the morning and once again at night) where we go in the river with them and they lay down and start to consistently spray us with their trunks. Jef's unfortunately couldn't spray with his trunk so he would just lay down completely in the water so Jef is almost floating off his back and down the river. One day we did a 3 hour trek through the forest to have a picnic and other days we would just trek around and laugh. We all got to stay in our own bungalow suit on the river and got free food and then got to tube/kayak to near by waterfalls. That was an awesome 3 days.
When we got back into town we went to some of the nicer restaurants, which really weren't good. If you want good food, then stay in America! We have the means to cook anything that we want, and honestly we do it better. I won't discredit Europe just yet, besides Greek food which was honestly bad. We woke up at 5 am and watched the monks beg for food on the streets, which they do every morning. And when you think begging and think that they look sad and skinny and have hardly any food and it is exactly the opposite. They have BAGS full of food and when they get full they pick through it and leave it on the street. The streets are lined with people waiting to give them food. The giver to beggar ratio is easily 25 to 1. And of course no woman can touch the food that they give them (it's weird) nor can they actually touch a monk, or look him in the eyes, and they always get the best seats on buses.
We went to a couple monasteries and listened to the monks sing their hymns but after you see one temple you basically see them all because they all look the same and are all over the place.
On our last night in Luang Probang we finally found an awesome joint hang out at with good food and hookah to smoke. It was right on the river in a massive bungalow with a bar and floor pillows and was decorated with the bomb shells that litter their country. (Every once in a while you will see people in Lao with limbs missing and that is because they accidentally stepped on mine, since their country side is seriously littered with explosives from when we used their land during the Vietnam war). Anways, we hung out at this bar for a while and then got to know a group of Englishmen who were just to awesome to leave so we decided to stay one more night before moving on. We hung out with them all night, playing volleyball and then going to the Lao disco. Which is just a massive rave with short people. After that we had to call it because it was so late but normally most people will move on to the local bowling alley where are the local whoop ass and everyone else is either on drugs or drunk or both.
It is so insanely easy to get drugs while in Lao. Opium, mushrooms, and weed are the most popular and you can get them at basically any bar or shake stand on the streets. So we saw a lot of people on drugs, some of our English friends where especially fond of the mushrooms which was more hilarious than anything else.
After that night we went to an insanely boring cave with some friends, that was way over priced and was full of a bunch of Buddah figurines. Since none of us are no where near Buddhist this cave was not in the least interesting but it was fun to be able to see the raw beauty of Lao, which is constantly surrounding you, and to be able to talk to our new friends. We left on another terrifying night bus that night and headed to the backpacker town of Vang Vieng.
Once in V.V. you can see why it is called the backpacker town, because it is covered in them, and there are guest houses and bars everywhere. Every restaurant is playing either Friends, Family Guy or The Simpson's so all the backpackers hoard to restaurants to satisfy their longing for westernization and humorous television. The tables aren't even table with chairs but are high platforms with a table and pillows around it so everyone falls asleep at the restaurants. We ended up having a few good meals there though and our guest house was insanely comfortable. On the night of arrival, we got in at 3 am and were so sick from our malaria medications being taken on an empty stomach that we were both clinging to the toilet seats all night. For the next couple days it down poured but it was so beautiful that we wanted to go outside, but we had no idea what to do yet.
When it finally stopped raining we rented a motorbike to drive out to the local caves. Now, Lao roads are always bad, but after it rains they are especially bad and if you get one scratch on the motorbikes then most of the time they just charge you for a new one no matter if it is the tiniest mark. I don't know how we escaped that day without being charged, because once we crossed the questionable bridge with gaping holes in it we had arrived onto the muddiest roads that had hidden sink holes just waiting to trap you. We were driving really slow just laughing yet the tension was just rippling off of us, but being able to watch other tourists fail and fall and get stuck made the day much more enjoyable (not because I'm Sadist but because that would mean that Jef and I were not completely and utterly incompetent). We were slipping all over the roads, and when I got on it it would just fall over. Around one corner there was a child standing in the road that pointed us over to the left side of the road, telling us it was safer. We think "well he is a local so we should probably trust him". It turns out that we had run into our first, and really the only, Lao scammer. When we went to the left side we sunk instantly up the handle bars of the bike. I got off but couldn't move because the mud was up to my waist and Jef had to reach in and help retrieve my shoes. The little boy would point tourists towards that direction and when they got stuck he would go and help them out of the whole and then ask for tips. Well we didn't tip him, and actually some other tourists came and helped us out.
When we drove all the way down to the end of the road (we decided to go to the very end cave and hit all the other caves along the back to town) and then reached our first cave. Since most of the mountains around Lao and made of Limestone there are tons of caves throughout all their hillsides. So I'm in a dress and in muddy flip flops (it was laundry day so this was all I had) so I couldn't lift my legs at all and could hardly take a step without slipping out of my shoes. So I basically crawled all the way up the mountain side, watching where I put my hands, until we reaching a very terrifying looking cave entrance. So Jef is not a big cave person but I talked him into going first and all we could think about for a while was the movie Descent or looking down to see a giant spider on our feet. So we start crawling with our headlamps and after a while we are seriously enjoying ourselves. We are crawling deep into the cave, and there were no bugs or bats so we weren't creeped out anymore. UNTIL...now this is really hard for me to think about because I truly try not to recall this memory because of how utterly terrifying it was. I was ahead of Jef and had just crawled down into this new part of the cave and was waiting for Jef to come up behind me but he was stuck at one point so I sort of walked ahead until he figured it out. Until I look up, I could hear something and when I looked I saw this figure crawling out of this hole in the wall. At first I though it was Jef, but then my light shined on his face and it was a local with a massive grin on his face. He started grunting and wheezing and laughing and was coming towards me. He was clearly mentally disabled because he didn't respond to mine or Jef's questions and instead he just made these sounds. He also had no shoes on or a light in his hand, so I thought that he lived in there or something. So I power walked towards Jef and told him lets go while I thought he was still back there trying to find a way down towards where I was standing. I thought that Jef and I were far ahead until I feel him standing right behind me breathing on me and making those noises into my ear. At this point I am shaking uncontrolably while Jef, as always, keeps calm and handles things perfectly (even though he said he was terrified as well). We slowly crawl our way out of the cave while trying to laugh and make idle conversationg. Anyways, we make it to the end of the moutain and I guess he thought he was our guide? So we paid him some kip. I guess he would just follow tourists up the hill to the cave and then pose as their guide and ask for money. He shoud be careful sneakign up on people though in the dark without them knowing.
We went swimming in a nearbye river with a rope swing and met some Canadians and I warned them about the potential shock of not being alone in the cave. Jef and I headed to the next cave and Jef decided to let me drive through the slippy mud and of course I fall over because the back tire slids and an adorable local man runs up laughing and helps me up. We parked and headed to the cave to be joined by two little boys with head lamps who were our new "guides". At least we knew that these two were following us this time. We walked through a farm of palm trees until we came to one of the most gorgeous spots I have ever seen ( I will try to attach a photo to this blog). It was a lagoon straight out of the movies! It was a clear blus pond next to the caves, with see through water and caverns to swim through and rocks to jump off of. We decided to seim in it on the way back from the cave so we entered the cave which was so deep I feel like we walked for an hour. I am thankful that we had guides with us because there were so many endless drops and slippery points that we would have likely ahve fell into some thinking that they were the way to go. Anyways, caves and their awesomeness are hard to explain but it was really awesome and on the way out we swam with the kids and started barting with them on how much to pay them for their guiding. We realized then how aweful the Lao people are at lying because even though we don't speak their language we can understand when someone is trying to scam you when they are whispering back and forth questions and then they tell us to pay them a ridiculous amount of kip. We just giggles at their ridiculousness and gave them a fair good amount since they walk so far to come guide and help give money to their families.
After that day we just went and relaxed and watched some Family Guy and then prepared to do the legendary Float the next day. The Float is what tourists come to Vang Vieng for basically. There are just hundreds of peope floating down a river with a multitude of bars lining the sides. All the tourists will stop at one at a time and either enjoy a a Lao beer or a bucket (which is literally a bucket of boose, some soda, and some red bull like stuff that is really about 10 times stronger than what is considerd healthy to intake). It was a total blast and we ended up meeting tons of people and learning all about the world and their travels. While floating down the river the bars will throw bottles attached to strings towards a group of floaters and they will pull you in. There is a bar with a massive slide that flings you a good 15ft in the air before you hit the water. Another bar has a huge mud volley ball pit and a rave floor, then the last bar has a massive pillow (as seen on the most recent jackass) that one person lays on while another jumps onto it from a platform and shoots the person sitting on it into the air. The float is really only about 45 minutes long but because of all the stops you end up floating all day. Afterwards everyone goes to the local bars where they spray-paint the poop out of you (which burns badly). There we met up with our old English friends from Luang Probang and hung out with them for a while that night and the next day. After that we got in a van and headed back towards the capital town Vietiene in order to leave Lao and move onto the next stop. We didn't really have the next stop planned we just knew that we wanted to spend the last couple weeks on an island diving and relaxing before we had to head back to school. It just so happens that there was one other New York backpacker in our van who had just come from the Thai Islands and he told us all about his diving adventures. Daniel Horowitz was his name and we owe the last couple weeks too him!
One of the first things we did was The Gibbon Experience. We got to spend 4 days in the ancient jungle hiking and zip-lining throughout the forest and got to sleep in tree houses 250+ meters high. We went after a big rain so our tuktuk out to the village got stuck a total of 5 times with everyone having to get out a push it up a monster hill. From the village we got to hike a way through the rain-forest until we eventually zip-lined into our tree house, which we shared with an awesome Dutch family. It was two stories with a roof made from banana leaves. We had a little kitchen and tables and our own two person bed. The bathroom (which was the most awesome part) was basically just a platform next to a massive tree branch, and the floor just dropped off and had the most gorgeous view of the mountains. We got to hear a couple of gibbons sing but never were we gifted with being able to see them up close. We made the mistake of getting up at dawn to go try and spot some and were seriously attacked by leeches, which crawl up your pants to get to you...it was terrifying. So we zip-lined all over trying to keep our eyes out for tigers or bears, which of course we never encountered.
After The Gibbon Experience and getting to spend times with bunches of naked curious village children, we took another terrifying night bus back down to the temple city of Luang Probang. When we arrived at 6 in the morning we decided to rent a motorbike and go see one of the local waterfalls. We drove a good hour to the villages on the outskirts and got a bag full of fried bananas :) Then we started hiking to the waterfall just to arrive at a sun bear sanctuary. There were so many tiny adorable little bears swinging in hammocks and sitting in a serious hot tub. Sun bears are endangered, like most Asian animal species, because their bones are used for ancient Chinese medicine and or they are kept as pets in little cages. Me being an animal rights activist this was depressing. So we donated some money to the bears and then went to go swim in the bright blue pools of the waterfall. There was a rope swing and a waterfall you could jump off of so we spent some time there and mingled with some other backpackers. That night we went to the Luang Probang night market, which is just a bunch of little booths set up right next to one another, so there is hardly any room to walk, and the entire street is lit with lanterns. I wanted to buy everything there because it was all gorgeous and cheap, but I was already tight for space in my bag so I had to cut the spending short.
The next day we started our 3 day elephant mahout camp. The term "mahout" means trainer or handler, so we were going to learn how to handle and care for an elephant. When the van picked us up in the morning to take us to the camp we automatically fell in love with the couple that was on the adventure with us. There was a 6 ft 2in Australian man who looked like Gerard Butler and was just so over the top, just like myself and Jef, and his little 4 ft 11in Taiwanese fiance who has the voice of an 8 year old girl. We adored them and spent majority of the next 3 days talking politics, religion, philosophy, law and psychology with them. We got to get on the elephants and start riding them on the neck instantly, which is a lot harder then it looks and takes quite a lot of leg strength and getting used to. We learned all the commands in order to control them; however, I'm pretty sure they never listen to us and only listen to their mahout/trainer who is on the elephant with you most of the time. My elephant's name was Sunshine who was the most obedient, and Jef's was Pancake. When we are riding through the rain-forest all we hear is laughter and Jef constantly barking out "PAI PAI, YAYAYA" which means "Go Go, Stop Doing Bad" but pancake really didn't listen and just continued to eat. We got to feed them everyday, pineapples and bamboo shoots, and we also bathed them twice a day (once at 5 in the morning and once again at night) where we go in the river with them and they lay down and start to consistently spray us with their trunks. Jef's unfortunately couldn't spray with his trunk so he would just lay down completely in the water so Jef is almost floating off his back and down the river. One day we did a 3 hour trek through the forest to have a picnic and other days we would just trek around and laugh. We all got to stay in our own bungalow suit on the river and got free food and then got to tube/kayak to near by waterfalls. That was an awesome 3 days.
When we got back into town we went to some of the nicer restaurants, which really weren't good. If you want good food, then stay in America! We have the means to cook anything that we want, and honestly we do it better. I won't discredit Europe just yet, besides Greek food which was honestly bad. We woke up at 5 am and watched the monks beg for food on the streets, which they do every morning. And when you think begging and think that they look sad and skinny and have hardly any food and it is exactly the opposite. They have BAGS full of food and when they get full they pick through it and leave it on the street. The streets are lined with people waiting to give them food. The giver to beggar ratio is easily 25 to 1. And of course no woman can touch the food that they give them (it's weird) nor can they actually touch a monk, or look him in the eyes, and they always get the best seats on buses.
We went to a couple monasteries and listened to the monks sing their hymns but after you see one temple you basically see them all because they all look the same and are all over the place.
On our last night in Luang Probang we finally found an awesome joint hang out at with good food and hookah to smoke. It was right on the river in a massive bungalow with a bar and floor pillows and was decorated with the bomb shells that litter their country. (Every once in a while you will see people in Lao with limbs missing and that is because they accidentally stepped on mine, since their country side is seriously littered with explosives from when we used their land during the Vietnam war). Anways, we hung out at this bar for a while and then got to know a group of Englishmen who were just to awesome to leave so we decided to stay one more night before moving on. We hung out with them all night, playing volleyball and then going to the Lao disco. Which is just a massive rave with short people. After that we had to call it because it was so late but normally most people will move on to the local bowling alley where are the local whoop ass and everyone else is either on drugs or drunk or both.
It is so insanely easy to get drugs while in Lao. Opium, mushrooms, and weed are the most popular and you can get them at basically any bar or shake stand on the streets. So we saw a lot of people on drugs, some of our English friends where especially fond of the mushrooms which was more hilarious than anything else.
After that night we went to an insanely boring cave with some friends, that was way over priced and was full of a bunch of Buddah figurines. Since none of us are no where near Buddhist this cave was not in the least interesting but it was fun to be able to see the raw beauty of Lao, which is constantly surrounding you, and to be able to talk to our new friends. We left on another terrifying night bus that night and headed to the backpacker town of Vang Vieng.
Once in V.V. you can see why it is called the backpacker town, because it is covered in them, and there are guest houses and bars everywhere. Every restaurant is playing either Friends, Family Guy or The Simpson's so all the backpackers hoard to restaurants to satisfy their longing for westernization and humorous television. The tables aren't even table with chairs but are high platforms with a table and pillows around it so everyone falls asleep at the restaurants. We ended up having a few good meals there though and our guest house was insanely comfortable. On the night of arrival, we got in at 3 am and were so sick from our malaria medications being taken on an empty stomach that we were both clinging to the toilet seats all night. For the next couple days it down poured but it was so beautiful that we wanted to go outside, but we had no idea what to do yet.
When it finally stopped raining we rented a motorbike to drive out to the local caves. Now, Lao roads are always bad, but after it rains they are especially bad and if you get one scratch on the motorbikes then most of the time they just charge you for a new one no matter if it is the tiniest mark. I don't know how we escaped that day without being charged, because once we crossed the questionable bridge with gaping holes in it we had arrived onto the muddiest roads that had hidden sink holes just waiting to trap you. We were driving really slow just laughing yet the tension was just rippling off of us, but being able to watch other tourists fail and fall and get stuck made the day much more enjoyable (not because I'm Sadist but because that would mean that Jef and I were not completely and utterly incompetent). We were slipping all over the roads, and when I got on it it would just fall over. Around one corner there was a child standing in the road that pointed us over to the left side of the road, telling us it was safer. We think "well he is a local so we should probably trust him". It turns out that we had run into our first, and really the only, Lao scammer. When we went to the left side we sunk instantly up the handle bars of the bike. I got off but couldn't move because the mud was up to my waist and Jef had to reach in and help retrieve my shoes. The little boy would point tourists towards that direction and when they got stuck he would go and help them out of the whole and then ask for tips. Well we didn't tip him, and actually some other tourists came and helped us out.
When we drove all the way down to the end of the road (we decided to go to the very end cave and hit all the other caves along the back to town) and then reached our first cave. Since most of the mountains around Lao and made of Limestone there are tons of caves throughout all their hillsides. So I'm in a dress and in muddy flip flops (it was laundry day so this was all I had) so I couldn't lift my legs at all and could hardly take a step without slipping out of my shoes. So I basically crawled all the way up the mountain side, watching where I put my hands, until we reaching a very terrifying looking cave entrance. So Jef is not a big cave person but I talked him into going first and all we could think about for a while was the movie Descent or looking down to see a giant spider on our feet. So we start crawling with our headlamps and after a while we are seriously enjoying ourselves. We are crawling deep into the cave, and there were no bugs or bats so we weren't creeped out anymore. UNTIL...now this is really hard for me to think about because I truly try not to recall this memory because of how utterly terrifying it was. I was ahead of Jef and had just crawled down into this new part of the cave and was waiting for Jef to come up behind me but he was stuck at one point so I sort of walked ahead until he figured it out. Until I look up, I could hear something and when I looked I saw this figure crawling out of this hole in the wall. At first I though it was Jef, but then my light shined on his face and it was a local with a massive grin on his face. He started grunting and wheezing and laughing and was coming towards me. He was clearly mentally disabled because he didn't respond to mine or Jef's questions and instead he just made these sounds. He also had no shoes on or a light in his hand, so I thought that he lived in there or something. So I power walked towards Jef and told him lets go while I thought he was still back there trying to find a way down towards where I was standing. I thought that Jef and I were far ahead until I feel him standing right behind me breathing on me and making those noises into my ear. At this point I am shaking uncontrolably while Jef, as always, keeps calm and handles things perfectly (even though he said he was terrified as well). We slowly crawl our way out of the cave while trying to laugh and make idle conversationg. Anyways, we make it to the end of the moutain and I guess he thought he was our guide? So we paid him some kip. I guess he would just follow tourists up the hill to the cave and then pose as their guide and ask for money. He shoud be careful sneakign up on people though in the dark without them knowing.
We went swimming in a nearbye river with a rope swing and met some Canadians and I warned them about the potential shock of not being alone in the cave. Jef and I headed to the next cave and Jef decided to let me drive through the slippy mud and of course I fall over because the back tire slids and an adorable local man runs up laughing and helps me up. We parked and headed to the cave to be joined by two little boys with head lamps who were our new "guides". At least we knew that these two were following us this time. We walked through a farm of palm trees until we came to one of the most gorgeous spots I have ever seen ( I will try to attach a photo to this blog). It was a lagoon straight out of the movies! It was a clear blus pond next to the caves, with see through water and caverns to swim through and rocks to jump off of. We decided to seim in it on the way back from the cave so we entered the cave which was so deep I feel like we walked for an hour. I am thankful that we had guides with us because there were so many endless drops and slippery points that we would have likely ahve fell into some thinking that they were the way to go. Anyways, caves and their awesomeness are hard to explain but it was really awesome and on the way out we swam with the kids and started barting with them on how much to pay them for their guiding. We realized then how aweful the Lao people are at lying because even though we don't speak their language we can understand when someone is trying to scam you when they are whispering back and forth questions and then they tell us to pay them a ridiculous amount of kip. We just giggles at their ridiculousness and gave them a fair good amount since they walk so far to come guide and help give money to their families.
After that day we just went and relaxed and watched some Family Guy and then prepared to do the legendary Float the next day. The Float is what tourists come to Vang Vieng for basically. There are just hundreds of peope floating down a river with a multitude of bars lining the sides. All the tourists will stop at one at a time and either enjoy a a Lao beer or a bucket (which is literally a bucket of boose, some soda, and some red bull like stuff that is really about 10 times stronger than what is considerd healthy to intake). It was a total blast and we ended up meeting tons of people and learning all about the world and their travels. While floating down the river the bars will throw bottles attached to strings towards a group of floaters and they will pull you in. There is a bar with a massive slide that flings you a good 15ft in the air before you hit the water. Another bar has a huge mud volley ball pit and a rave floor, then the last bar has a massive pillow (as seen on the most recent jackass) that one person lays on while another jumps onto it from a platform and shoots the person sitting on it into the air. The float is really only about 45 minutes long but because of all the stops you end up floating all day. Afterwards everyone goes to the local bars where they spray-paint the poop out of you (which burns badly). There we met up with our old English friends from Luang Probang and hung out with them for a while that night and the next day. After that we got in a van and headed back towards the capital town Vietiene in order to leave Lao and move onto the next stop. We didn't really have the next stop planned we just knew that we wanted to spend the last couple weeks on an island diving and relaxing before we had to head back to school. It just so happens that there was one other New York backpacker in our van who had just come from the Thai Islands and he told us all about his diving adventures. Daniel Horowitz was his name and we owe the last couple weeks too him!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Vip bus vs Slowboat
Vip bus to luang probrang…
I wish a had a snappy acronym it, but basically VIP means night bus that is air conditioned enough to hang meat and Karaoke’d enough to bleed from the ears all night. So sleeping is pretty much out of the question, but it gives you what Lao high-life is all about. We were fortunate to soak up an extra 6 hours of full volume androgynous lao music while a huge chunk of the mountain was being pulled off the road.
We show up in Luang Probang dragging some serious ass, but fortunately we find a tuktuk to pour into that takes us straight to the doorstep of a guesthouse. It always feels like being an orphan dropped off on stranger’s doorstep, and I know we look the part. Jordan is still all kinds of sick, so most of my day was spent taking trips to the saddest pharmacy ever and the local pancake nook with Jordan totally cheating on me with The Shawshank Redemption in our room. (I’m still a little wounded, that movie NEVER comes on in Laos.)
After a couple days of the same, cheap food, antibiotics and HBO, we book our two day slowboat up to Huay Xai. Although the trip is gorgeous the title isn’t kidding about the slow part, it took us 10 hours to get up to the next town. I mean come on, it’s like an inch away on the map. It turned out to be just a lot of getting rained on through the 3 foot wide cloth flap that is supplied for your barrier from the elements and 10 later we’re in Pakbeng. The next day god decided to supply us with Jay and Sam, two canooks that have enough Bacon/zombie movie/ New Findland/ Thai prostitute stories to keep us thoroughly entertained. Jordan and I fully abscond with them as friends, forcefully made them Drink Laolao(rice whiskey) with us and exchange silly stories ‘til the wee morning hours(like 10:00).
I wish a had a snappy acronym it, but basically VIP means night bus that is air conditioned enough to hang meat and Karaoke’d enough to bleed from the ears all night. So sleeping is pretty much out of the question, but it gives you what Lao high-life is all about. We were fortunate to soak up an extra 6 hours of full volume androgynous lao music while a huge chunk of the mountain was being pulled off the road.
We show up in Luang Probang dragging some serious ass, but fortunately we find a tuktuk to pour into that takes us straight to the doorstep of a guesthouse. It always feels like being an orphan dropped off on stranger’s doorstep, and I know we look the part. Jordan is still all kinds of sick, so most of my day was spent taking trips to the saddest pharmacy ever and the local pancake nook with Jordan totally cheating on me with The Shawshank Redemption in our room. (I’m still a little wounded, that movie NEVER comes on in Laos.)
After a couple days of the same, cheap food, antibiotics and HBO, we book our two day slowboat up to Huay Xai. Although the trip is gorgeous the title isn’t kidding about the slow part, it took us 10 hours to get up to the next town. I mean come on, it’s like an inch away on the map. It turned out to be just a lot of getting rained on through the 3 foot wide cloth flap that is supplied for your barrier from the elements and 10 later we’re in Pakbeng. The next day god decided to supply us with Jay and Sam, two canooks that have enough Bacon/zombie movie/ New Findland/ Thai prostitute stories to keep us thoroughly entertained. Jordan and I fully abscond with them as friends, forcefully made them Drink Laolao(rice whiskey) with us and exchange silly stories ‘til the wee morning hours(like 10:00).
After this we just kind of mill around Huay Xai until Our big Gibbon Experience day comes about.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The Land of Smiles
Here is Laos everything is different. Traveling here makes me feel like someone cannot possibly be complete without traveling, especially to this part of the world. The people here have a philosophy that is so different than that which is witheld within America citizens. I will not bore you with details yet I am starting to see why people get depressed when having to go home, although believe me we are excited as well. Thinking about the next trip is becoming a consuming thought though.
Laos is vibrant in basically every way imaginable. The peoples smiles, their generous and always happy attitudes and the colors of the temples and the rainforest surrounding us. There are new types of flowers and plants everywhere, and on a more negative note bugs. We have had plenty of run ins with the massive insect and spider population here in Asia. Our first couple days we stayed in an Eco Lodge out in the rainforest right on the Pha Nam Tha River. We were the only guests at the lodge since it is the slow season here in Lao so we got a personal bungalow for no money at all right on the river. It randonly downpours throughout the day but it never gets cool andit is humid but not unbearably so. I couldn't imagine visiting during the hot season, during the tourism peak, because boy oh boy that would be miserable. The locals working at the lodge and within the surrounding villages are all shy, and supposedly view foreigners as "superior", but they are extremely curious and always look while you walk by, smile and then say hello. Some will approach you and smile and touch you like you are the most gorgeous thing you have ever seen and they have been waiting all their lives to meet you, where as others will just approach you in hopes to better their English and ask you a series of questions.
There are lots of children running around, all are adorable with the msot creative hair cuts, and every morning we woul wake up and go to the floating restaurant that would have a bunch of local children running around and fishing on it. We were so smitten with the people we were with we never wanted to leave, it was complete paradise for us. There are butterflies the size of birds floating around everywhere; however, the downfall is that there are also bird sized spiders that you have to try to avoid walking into. Thankfully there are no poisonous spiders in Lao but that does not make them any less creepy.
The man who runs the lodge is british and a couple other workers speak english so it is great to get to communicate with the locals. Every day I would go to the floating restaurant and sit in and help with the english lesson that our british friend would be teaching. Along with helping them learn english they would help me learn lao and they slowly got less and less shy around Jef and I that they started joking, eating and playing games with us on the regular.
The first day there we were reading the menu and it said that every once in a while they have snake that they serve. Instantly Jef and I were completely interested and couldn't wait to try it. While we were sitting at the restaurant I saw a river snake start booking it across the river. I turn to Jef and say (in a rather unexcited manner) "Oh look a snake" and at the mention of the word snake everyone perks up like dogs hearing a squirrel and literally hop onto their feet asking, "Snake? Snake?" A young 17 year old boy named Dalat jumps into a flimsy little canoe that is hardly staying together and starts to paddle (against the fast current) towards the direction of a snake that was way out of sight. I thought for sure it was on the other side by now but we sit and watch him patiently. He is on the other side of the river observing the bank slowly, standing/balancing on the front tip of the canoe until all of a sudden he swings his paddle and smacks the water! Before we new it he was paddling back over with a snake in his hand, and his dad was beaming. We watched his dad, named Boon, prepare our dinner for that night. And it did taste like chicken :)
We fished for a day, which cracked me up because Jef behaved exactly how I did when I started fishing as a child, impatient and anxious and always getting the hook stuck. He ended up just helping them with the fishing net used to catch small fish, which we caught hundreds of. The locals are always laughing with you and sharing with you and trying to bring up new and cool bugs to show us and then stick in our hands. When you're walking and you hear a crack you know to run because fruit is about to fall from above, and it is covering the ground. We can just pick it up and crack it open and enjoy! For the first couple nights we fell asleep to the sound of rain, falling fruit and the geckos which cover every guest house in Lao. They make that unmistakable gecko call that sounds like "Gecko, Gecko, Gecko".
We went to the local Hmong village. They are the tribe that helped America during the Vietnam war by giving us a pathway through their country and aid to our troups. After the war some of them were offered sanctuary in our country (mostly in California) however not all were helped. So they were treated as terrorist race herein Lao and were forced to live in the mountains to starve. They have survived though and are recognized as equals now by the rest of Lao. They believe that their ancestors were wherewolves who flew down on magic carpets to Lao, where they avoid the major communities. We rode bikes to their local markets and bought TONS of weird fruit to share with those at our lodge and just soaked up the scenery of families working in fields of rice patties with the raisforest mountains in the distance.
Laos is vibrant in basically every way imaginable. The peoples smiles, their generous and always happy attitudes and the colors of the temples and the rainforest surrounding us. There are new types of flowers and plants everywhere, and on a more negative note bugs. We have had plenty of run ins with the massive insect and spider population here in Asia. Our first couple days we stayed in an Eco Lodge out in the rainforest right on the Pha Nam Tha River. We were the only guests at the lodge since it is the slow season here in Lao so we got a personal bungalow for no money at all right on the river. It randonly downpours throughout the day but it never gets cool andit is humid but not unbearably so. I couldn't imagine visiting during the hot season, during the tourism peak, because boy oh boy that would be miserable. The locals working at the lodge and within the surrounding villages are all shy, and supposedly view foreigners as "superior", but they are extremely curious and always look while you walk by, smile and then say hello. Some will approach you and smile and touch you like you are the most gorgeous thing you have ever seen and they have been waiting all their lives to meet you, where as others will just approach you in hopes to better their English and ask you a series of questions.
There are lots of children running around, all are adorable with the msot creative hair cuts, and every morning we woul wake up and go to the floating restaurant that would have a bunch of local children running around and fishing on it. We were so smitten with the people we were with we never wanted to leave, it was complete paradise for us. There are butterflies the size of birds floating around everywhere; however, the downfall is that there are also bird sized spiders that you have to try to avoid walking into. Thankfully there are no poisonous spiders in Lao but that does not make them any less creepy.
The man who runs the lodge is british and a couple other workers speak english so it is great to get to communicate with the locals. Every day I would go to the floating restaurant and sit in and help with the english lesson that our british friend would be teaching. Along with helping them learn english they would help me learn lao and they slowly got less and less shy around Jef and I that they started joking, eating and playing games with us on the regular.
The first day there we were reading the menu and it said that every once in a while they have snake that they serve. Instantly Jef and I were completely interested and couldn't wait to try it. While we were sitting at the restaurant I saw a river snake start booking it across the river. I turn to Jef and say (in a rather unexcited manner) "Oh look a snake" and at the mention of the word snake everyone perks up like dogs hearing a squirrel and literally hop onto their feet asking, "Snake? Snake?" A young 17 year old boy named Dalat jumps into a flimsy little canoe that is hardly staying together and starts to paddle (against the fast current) towards the direction of a snake that was way out of sight. I thought for sure it was on the other side by now but we sit and watch him patiently. He is on the other side of the river observing the bank slowly, standing/balancing on the front tip of the canoe until all of a sudden he swings his paddle and smacks the water! Before we new it he was paddling back over with a snake in his hand, and his dad was beaming. We watched his dad, named Boon, prepare our dinner for that night. And it did taste like chicken :)
We fished for a day, which cracked me up because Jef behaved exactly how I did when I started fishing as a child, impatient and anxious and always getting the hook stuck. He ended up just helping them with the fishing net used to catch small fish, which we caught hundreds of. The locals are always laughing with you and sharing with you and trying to bring up new and cool bugs to show us and then stick in our hands. When you're walking and you hear a crack you know to run because fruit is about to fall from above, and it is covering the ground. We can just pick it up and crack it open and enjoy! For the first couple nights we fell asleep to the sound of rain, falling fruit and the geckos which cover every guest house in Lao. They make that unmistakable gecko call that sounds like "Gecko, Gecko, Gecko".
We went to the local Hmong village. They are the tribe that helped America during the Vietnam war by giving us a pathway through their country and aid to our troups. After the war some of them were offered sanctuary in our country (mostly in California) however not all were helped. So they were treated as terrorist race herein Lao and were forced to live in the mountains to starve. They have survived though and are recognized as equals now by the rest of Lao. They believe that their ancestors were wherewolves who flew down on magic carpets to Lao, where they avoid the major communities. We rode bikes to their local markets and bought TONS of weird fruit to share with those at our lodge and just soaked up the scenery of families working in fields of rice patties with the raisforest mountains in the distance.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Bangkok, it’s like getting beaten to death with a bag full of cuddly puppies.
I honestly don’t know what needs to be highlighted within this 8 hours of the absolute friendliest pandemonium known to man. The second we arrive we realize we don’t know what time and but we’re pretty sure our plane leaves in like 8 minutes. We got off the plane to find a squad of very smiley Asian people holding a sign with our names on it. At this point we’re convinced that our hostel in Vietnam has misunderstood our directions and has driven to Bangkok to pick us up. I know this sounds like a ridiculous conclusion to come to but I promise for most third worlds it’s not far fetched idea. So we’re trying to explain that we didn’t need a ride from Thailand while they start walking us all over the airport. Everywhere, up and down escalators to the complete opposite side terminal and through security we have truly no clue but at this point we’ve some what figured out that their not from our hostel. Apparently the airport appointed this special task force for the purpose of making sure we figured out where our connecting flight was. We’re then delivered to a counter where a very sweet lady explains the complete wrong time for us to check in but it’s totally cool in that we understand that if we have a flight that leaves at 1pm we don’t check in 11 hours later at midnight. No big deal. We take a nap in our terminal and come back to find another posse of Thai airport staff assembled to find us and make sure we knew what time we leave.
While checking in with our new friendly airline representative (let me remind that every person you talk with in this country is beyond frantically helpful especially in matters that are not their jurisdiction) he very politely explains that you cannot enter Vietnam without a letter of approval. The letter, of course, has to be received 24 hours before arrival and the next flight will be 4 days out. At this point in our summer Jordan and I have become surprisingly good at the art of not caring at all what happens. We just shrug it off, “Well… the hell with it I guess we’re going to Laos, and by the way how do we get there?” At this time we are appointed a new conglomeration of staff lead by the very small, active and unintelligible worker of god knows what department; who starts leading us in figure eights all over the 3rd and 4th floor while talking into 2 phones and a radio. The whole time we’re trying to intervene and make sure he knows that we’re just trying to take the train. Every time we say train it’s always “Oh yes, yes, yes”. He then comes back with receipts for Lao airlines and tells he spent the $400 out of pocket for the tickets (THAT WE DIDN’T WANT!) and to just pay him back for them. By the way $400 is basically a full months pay in Thailand. We accept because what in the hell else are you supposed to do in this circumstance. So we take the tickets and tip him so he can feed himself the next time his friendly functional retardation gets him into trouble; he's off in a flash and from that whole encounter we still don't know what his name is, or if he really even works at the airport. After his disappearing trick we sit down and realize our names are completely wrong, and we have absolutely no freaking clue where he bought the tickets let alone where he is. All we know is that even shadiest of airlines would not let me on the plane as first name Jacson Last name Jeggrey.
Due to the same rabid friendliness that everyone so far has shown us we get the most amazing girl at a general information desk to taking it upon herself to get our tickets squared away. This poor girl ended up spending the next 45 minutes on the phone back and fourth with us and the operator (who doesn't understand what the problem is) and manages to get this phantom company to correct and fax over the tickets. Facebook buddies!
We board our flight at around 6 to arrive in Monsooning Vientiane, meet our escort that we threw together at the last minute, and start the hour long trip to god knows where in rural Laos.
While checking in with our new friendly airline representative (let me remind that every person you talk with in this country is beyond frantically helpful especially in matters that are not their jurisdiction) he very politely explains that you cannot enter Vietnam without a letter of approval. The letter, of course, has to be received 24 hours before arrival and the next flight will be 4 days out. At this point in our summer Jordan and I have become surprisingly good at the art of not caring at all what happens. We just shrug it off, “Well… the hell with it I guess we’re going to Laos, and by the way how do we get there?” At this time we are appointed a new conglomeration of staff lead by the very small, active and unintelligible worker of god knows what department; who starts leading us in figure eights all over the 3rd and 4th floor while talking into 2 phones and a radio. The whole time we’re trying to intervene and make sure he knows that we’re just trying to take the train. Every time we say train it’s always “Oh yes, yes, yes”. He then comes back with receipts for Lao airlines and tells he spent the $400 out of pocket for the tickets (THAT WE DIDN’T WANT!) and to just pay him back for them. By the way $400 is basically a full months pay in Thailand. We accept because what in the hell else are you supposed to do in this circumstance. So we take the tickets and tip him so he can feed himself the next time his friendly functional retardation gets him into trouble; he's off in a flash and from that whole encounter we still don't know what his name is, or if he really even works at the airport. After his disappearing trick we sit down and realize our names are completely wrong, and we have absolutely no freaking clue where he bought the tickets let alone where he is. All we know is that even shadiest of airlines would not let me on the plane as first name Jacson Last name Jeggrey.
Due to the same rabid friendliness that everyone so far has shown us we get the most amazing girl at a general information desk to taking it upon herself to get our tickets squared away. This poor girl ended up spending the next 45 minutes on the phone back and fourth with us and the operator (who doesn't understand what the problem is) and manages to get this phantom company to correct and fax over the tickets. Facebook buddies!
We board our flight at around 6 to arrive in Monsooning Vientiane, meet our escort that we threw together at the last minute, and start the hour long trip to god knows where in rural Laos.
other armenia things...
So we did a few other touristy things while in Armenia. We were really enjoying our new hostel and were having some conversations about God with a few new people which went well I suppose. We went to a monastery called Khor Vrap that was built where a kingdom used to once be. Under one of the monastaries was a prison where a man named Grigor was kept for 13 years. The story behind this man went as follows..
Once upon a time there was a King and a kings advisor. One day the kings advisor kills the King of Armenia and the advisors two sons went into hiding. One of the sons was a boy named Grigor ho converted to Chrisianity later in his life. He then befriended the old kings son (so the new king of Armenia) and became part of his council all the while keeping his faith a secret. One day the King ordered Grigor to bow and place a wreath at the feet of one his pagan god idols. Once Grigor refused and revealed his faith, the King realized he was the son of the man who killed his father and had him thrown into prison to die. However, someone within the noble family was sneaking food to Grigor who sat down in his tiny little whole deep under the earth. The King then got very sick/cursed becoming insane in the mine and grew pigs ears until one night his sister came to him telling him of a dream she had. In her dream she had to let Grigor, who was still alive, go free and listen to what he says. So he lets Grigor go and Grigor tells him that in order to be cured he had to denounce his Pagan faith and become Christian. So the King oes so and was cured and then declared Armenia the first ever Christian Nation. The End.
So we went to the old monastery and then went down into the whole that Grigor was kept. It was just a ladder down through a whole to a circular stone room with one tiny little air/light whole. How this man kept sane and remained faithful while in this whole we have no clue. Then Jef and I got laughed at by a bunch of locals (which is not rare). Some of which followed Jef around and giggled for a while, then we took our leave and met a weird Russian universalist/budhist of some srt who decided to lecture us on how all religions are the same…it was strange.
We also went to the equal of the Vatican within Armenia called Ejmiastin (I butchered the name) and we went to the local relics museum where all the old pope like dudes outfits and staffs and chalices and incense things were kept, and the spear point that pierced Jesus’s side. I asked a couple questions about how they would have gotten ahold of this spear tip since there are 4 recorded throughout the world. Apparently this is the only spear tip that dates back to the year of Jesus’s death and when the Roman soldiers blind eye got healed by the drop of blood from Jesus’s body he realized the Jesus was indeed God and gave it to Bartholomew. However, they do not really know how it came into the hands of the ancient Armenian church so I’m definitely still skeptical and doubt it is accurate.
We went to a pretty nice fountain light show in he downtown court yard and then went to a place that looked amazing from the outside and all the locals were telling us to go to. It was some pizza bistro thing and I wanted the super cool looking salad bar full of unique treats. Once we get inside we order ONE salad bar and a pizza. The waitress asks if we want 2 plates for the salad bar so we can share so we are like SHWEET yes! But once we get to the salad bar it was soooo nasty. You didn't know what you could eat from because everyone left their half empty plates up there. Everything was cold and stale and or smothered in ketchup (LUKE: you may have liked it). So we pushed that away dissapointed and waited for our pizza which was again a little ketchup, barely any cheese and shredded chicken. It was very awful, and it was the most expensive meal we had and the waitress charged us for 3 things we didn't want and we had to pay for it because she would just shrug when we tried to explain and say sorry. So we left totally pissed and to throw a little of God's grace in there we left all of our money on the table there that night because we were so flustered. Oh-well.
I was pretty done with Armenia and ready to leave, it is nice, but overall I don't think we were to impressed. If you leave Yerevan though than it's wonderful, always escape the citiesif you want a real taste of a place.
Once upon a time there was a King and a kings advisor. One day the kings advisor kills the King of Armenia and the advisors two sons went into hiding. One of the sons was a boy named Grigor ho converted to Chrisianity later in his life. He then befriended the old kings son (so the new king of Armenia) and became part of his council all the while keeping his faith a secret. One day the King ordered Grigor to bow and place a wreath at the feet of one his pagan god idols. Once Grigor refused and revealed his faith, the King realized he was the son of the man who killed his father and had him thrown into prison to die. However, someone within the noble family was sneaking food to Grigor who sat down in his tiny little whole deep under the earth. The King then got very sick/cursed becoming insane in the mine and grew pigs ears until one night his sister came to him telling him of a dream she had. In her dream she had to let Grigor, who was still alive, go free and listen to what he says. So he lets Grigor go and Grigor tells him that in order to be cured he had to denounce his Pagan faith and become Christian. So the King oes so and was cured and then declared Armenia the first ever Christian Nation. The End.
So we went to the old monastery and then went down into the whole that Grigor was kept. It was just a ladder down through a whole to a circular stone room with one tiny little air/light whole. How this man kept sane and remained faithful while in this whole we have no clue. Then Jef and I got laughed at by a bunch of locals (which is not rare). Some of which followed Jef around and giggled for a while, then we took our leave and met a weird Russian universalist/budhist of some srt who decided to lecture us on how all religions are the same…it was strange.
We also went to the equal of the Vatican within Armenia called Ejmiastin (I butchered the name) and we went to the local relics museum where all the old pope like dudes outfits and staffs and chalices and incense things were kept, and the spear point that pierced Jesus’s side. I asked a couple questions about how they would have gotten ahold of this spear tip since there are 4 recorded throughout the world. Apparently this is the only spear tip that dates back to the year of Jesus’s death and when the Roman soldiers blind eye got healed by the drop of blood from Jesus’s body he realized the Jesus was indeed God and gave it to Bartholomew. However, they do not really know how it came into the hands of the ancient Armenian church so I’m definitely still skeptical and doubt it is accurate.
We went to a pretty nice fountain light show in he downtown court yard and then went to a place that looked amazing from the outside and all the locals were telling us to go to. It was some pizza bistro thing and I wanted the super cool looking salad bar full of unique treats. Once we get inside we order ONE salad bar and a pizza. The waitress asks if we want 2 plates for the salad bar so we can share so we are like SHWEET yes! But once we get to the salad bar it was soooo nasty. You didn't know what you could eat from because everyone left their half empty plates up there. Everything was cold and stale and or smothered in ketchup (LUKE: you may have liked it). So we pushed that away dissapointed and waited for our pizza which was again a little ketchup, barely any cheese and shredded chicken. It was very awful, and it was the most expensive meal we had and the waitress charged us for 3 things we didn't want and we had to pay for it because she would just shrug when we tried to explain and say sorry. So we left totally pissed and to throw a little of God's grace in there we left all of our money on the table there that night because we were so flustered. Oh-well.
I was pretty done with Armenia and ready to leave, it is nice, but overall I don't think we were to impressed. If you leave Yerevan though than it's wonderful, always escape the citiesif you want a real taste of a place.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
On a More Serious Note
Just a little history:
In 1915, just after World War 1, the Turkish systematically invaded their neighbouring country of Armenia in hopes to conquer and destroy it and turn it into a Muslim nation. Talk about Christians being persecuted for their beliefs, it is amazing to think of how the Armenian's stayed strong and faithful while being slaughtered by the thousands. And to choose Jesus still while looking death in the eye (that is if they were given a choice). It amazes me that I never heard of the Armenian Genocide before I met Jef because this is a nation that deserves respect for their faith and hope in the Lord. And their courage for still being a declared Christian nation surrounded by Muslim countries who are pressuring them constantly with threats. It was the first recorded modern genocide or holocaust with the total number of resulting Armenian deaths at 1-1.5 million. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands left to die, tortured and sold to slavery. Jef's family was involved in this genocide, his great grandfathers sister was one of the woman taken as a slave and raped until her right to bear children was taken away,and the rest of his family 5 brothers and sister and his parents and extended family apparently were forced to jump to their death. Turkey still does not even acknowledge that this event even happened, and it not taught in their textbooks so it will soon be forgotten by the new and upcoming generations. Before I visited the Armenian Genocide Museum, the word Genocide was just another word and the phrase "1-1.5 million killed" hadn't seeped in. It was just another issue or event that there was no face for so it elicited little emotion. These people and their remaining families deserve our prayer and respect not just on the basis of murder but also on the basis of faith, and the strength given to them by God.
Oh and although Jef states that we are not one of the countries mentioned at the monument, America was the cause for majority of Armenian orphans finding orphanages and support and was also the main country that raised support to help the Armenian's during this time. Within the museum we are recorded as a country that recognizes the term "genocide" and recognize that this was indeed what the Armenian's suffered.
In 1915, just after World War 1, the Turkish systematically invaded their neighbouring country of Armenia in hopes to conquer and destroy it and turn it into a Muslim nation. Talk about Christians being persecuted for their beliefs, it is amazing to think of how the Armenian's stayed strong and faithful while being slaughtered by the thousands. And to choose Jesus still while looking death in the eye (that is if they were given a choice). It amazes me that I never heard of the Armenian Genocide before I met Jef because this is a nation that deserves respect for their faith and hope in the Lord. And their courage for still being a declared Christian nation surrounded by Muslim countries who are pressuring them constantly with threats. It was the first recorded modern genocide or holocaust with the total number of resulting Armenian deaths at 1-1.5 million. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands left to die, tortured and sold to slavery. Jef's family was involved in this genocide, his great grandfathers sister was one of the woman taken as a slave and raped until her right to bear children was taken away,and the rest of his family 5 brothers and sister and his parents and extended family apparently were forced to jump to their death. Turkey still does not even acknowledge that this event even happened, and it not taught in their textbooks so it will soon be forgotten by the new and upcoming generations. Before I visited the Armenian Genocide Museum, the word Genocide was just another word and the phrase "1-1.5 million killed" hadn't seeped in. It was just another issue or event that there was no face for so it elicited little emotion. These people and their remaining families deserve our prayer and respect not just on the basis of murder but also on the basis of faith, and the strength given to them by God.
Oh and although Jef states that we are not one of the countries mentioned at the monument, America was the cause for majority of Armenian orphans finding orphanages and support and was also the main country that raised support to help the Armenian's during this time. Within the museum we are recorded as a country that recognizes the term "genocide" and recognize that this was indeed what the Armenian's suffered.
The Armenian Genocide Museum
Genocide memorial.
It was apparently erected only after the Armenian republic at the time of Russian control made a huge demand for recognition of the genocide. The Russian rule eventually gave in but to hide it from society the Russians built an amphitheatre four times the size directly in front of the only possible view point. I believe it was built at the very same time. The monument is twelve stone slabs that jet out from a platform with a space needle looking thing beside it. One is to pay respect to the 12 Armenian districts that were over taken and killed; the needle represents Armenian determination or hope for the nation to stay whole (something like that).
In the entrance are the declarations of all the nations and political leaders that have recognized the genocide publicly all carved into stone slabs encircling a cross.. By the by, America is not on that list. In the first hall is the breakdown of how many existing schools, people and churches we in each of the 12 districts, along with family portraits and town pictures. Erzram where my grandmother was from was one of the largest districts assimilated.
The entire rest of the museum I can’t convey. An artist named jean jansem painted around 12 abstract depictions of the slow death met by close to a million Armenian woman, though the very first you see is an interpretation of the slaughter brought on by death riding a pale horse. It softens the blow in contrast to the actual photographs. Though what I found out there about the photographs taken during the time completely blows my mind. This German cat named Wegner was working in the polish army as a nurse in route through turkey at the time of the mass murder. Wegner after viewing the slaughter started taking pictures against his superior’s orders. After Turkish demand he was forced to give up all his photo’s and was thrown in jail, but like a magician snuck some of the negatives in his belt and mailed them to Woodrow Wilson before his incarceration. Wilson then started to collect aid. After being released he returned to Germany again to find himself front and center for the Jewish holocaust. He was the only person to write a letter directly to Adolf Hitler giving him notice that his regime was unacceptable. As I recall he was also quite fervent in his public display of nazi rebellion. He was then sent to incarceration camp in Italy (I think) that he escaped from before the war was over.
Near the end was a diary of a missionary and the testimony of a travelling Arabian man and were absolutely awful in their detail but entirely necessary. I was glad to finally see a first person testimony of what actually happened to all these countless families, because despite all our pressure we just could never get our grandfather to dig up the memories. (There needs to be a word for glad that doesn’t mean happy)
The museum somewhat concluded our day except the cab ride home that consisted of sitting in traffic for 25 minutes to get about 6 blocks while watching a group of riled up locals partially assault a police officer.
It was apparently erected only after the Armenian republic at the time of Russian control made a huge demand for recognition of the genocide. The Russian rule eventually gave in but to hide it from society the Russians built an amphitheatre four times the size directly in front of the only possible view point. I believe it was built at the very same time. The monument is twelve stone slabs that jet out from a platform with a space needle looking thing beside it. One is to pay respect to the 12 Armenian districts that were over taken and killed; the needle represents Armenian determination or hope for the nation to stay whole (something like that).
In the entrance are the declarations of all the nations and political leaders that have recognized the genocide publicly all carved into stone slabs encircling a cross.. By the by, America is not on that list. In the first hall is the breakdown of how many existing schools, people and churches we in each of the 12 districts, along with family portraits and town pictures. Erzram where my grandmother was from was one of the largest districts assimilated.
The entire rest of the museum I can’t convey. An artist named jean jansem painted around 12 abstract depictions of the slow death met by close to a million Armenian woman, though the very first you see is an interpretation of the slaughter brought on by death riding a pale horse. It softens the blow in contrast to the actual photographs. Though what I found out there about the photographs taken during the time completely blows my mind. This German cat named Wegner was working in the polish army as a nurse in route through turkey at the time of the mass murder. Wegner after viewing the slaughter started taking pictures against his superior’s orders. After Turkish demand he was forced to give up all his photo’s and was thrown in jail, but like a magician snuck some of the negatives in his belt and mailed them to Woodrow Wilson before his incarceration. Wilson then started to collect aid. After being released he returned to Germany again to find himself front and center for the Jewish holocaust. He was the only person to write a letter directly to Adolf Hitler giving him notice that his regime was unacceptable. As I recall he was also quite fervent in his public display of nazi rebellion. He was then sent to incarceration camp in Italy (I think) that he escaped from before the war was over.
Near the end was a diary of a missionary and the testimony of a travelling Arabian man and were absolutely awful in their detail but entirely necessary. I was glad to finally see a first person testimony of what actually happened to all these countless families, because despite all our pressure we just could never get our grandfather to dig up the memories. (There needs to be a word for glad that doesn’t mean happy)
The museum somewhat concluded our day except the cab ride home that consisted of sitting in traffic for 25 minutes to get about 6 blocks while watching a group of riled up locals partially assault a police officer.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Before I continue, I want to apologize for any grammatical errors. Or anything that may have sounded confusing or scattered. Most of these posts are typed on Non-English key boards (whose keys are very sticky) and are written in the middle of the night in a last minute attempt to summarize our past week in order to get it posted for reading.
Day 3 Armenia:
We wake up the next day early, well earlier than before, and get ready to start our first tourist stop. The Monastery of Geghard was built back in like 1215 over a sacred spring and it was built into the mountainside and used to house the spear that had pierced Jesus's side, which was supposedly brought over by the Apostle Jude but is now held in a local museum. (I'm skeptical of the authenticity of that claim, especially since Armenian's like their folk tales) Since we were going on Sunday we were hoping to get the the Monastery on time to attend the church service, which we read up on and is very intricate and beautiful. Except for at the end they sacrafice an animal and boil it and feed it, that part is not so beautiful, but none the less we wanted to see it and take part. Since Armenia was the first declared Christian nation Jef and I had done some reading up on how their practices and beliefs may differ from America's. And it definitely differs and makes me think about and rethink about the way things are practised in western America and how boxed in many of us truly are.
So we call a taxi to head up that way and our taxi driver of course speaks to no English but is adorable and helpful all the same. Once we leave the city of Yerevan we get a taste of what Armenia and it's people are really about. There are rolling green hills, with Mount Ararat in the distance gorgeous as ever. There are random heard of sheep and cows everywhere, including in the roads. Well in Armenia their roads are barely even roads it's basically all broken up pavement with humongous pot holes. So we're swerving our way up into the hills I swear at a deadly speed, and no cars have seat belts, until we arrive at the Temple of Garni (an ancient Greek temple). So we have the same dialogue with the taxi driver over and over: Us "Ummm we want to go to Geghard, not Garni..NO Garni, NO Garni...Geghard" Taxi Driver, "YES Garni, you...blah blah blah (motions with his hands for us to get out and walk around)...Garni, YES" So we finally do what he says and buy tickets to the Temple of Garni and walk around it thinking that if we do so then he will be satisfied and take us where we need to go. The Temple of Garni truly was wonderful and was made to be perfect geometrically.
After walking around Garni we got back in the taxi and asked, "Geghard?" and he yells back "Geghard!" and so we all smile and were on our way. After driving by some flag dancers playing flutes and wearing masks we arrive at the Monastery of Geghard. It is placed right in the centre of all these mountains and rock faces next to a river. On the way up there are local villagers who had come and set up tables with their local goods. All the locals and old people of Armenia are incredibly adorable, all small and hunched and tan. There is to much about Geghard to really type but it is so intricately built with so much symbolism involved and it still houses clergy men and women over the summer. There are so many rooms just filled with carvings and the sacred fountain is still flowing inside where you can take drinks to heal yourself...we passed though (it looked kinda milky and was covered in children). Our taxi driver joined us on our excursion and basically became our tour guide. We all lit candles once inside for our prayers and then joined the service..which was GORGEOUS!
It is filled with old paintings and artifacts with carvings everywhere. All the clergy men were decked out in robes and the choir consisted of 5 women but sounded like four times that with how amazing the acoustics were in this room. People were coming in and out to say a prayer and none were dressed up so that was a good thing. Unfortunately the incense they were burning, which I guess burns bacteria, started to make my stomach hurt so we left after that and didn't stay for the sacrafice. We did buy some really huge and legit fruit roll ups from one of the local vendors though :)
We then headed back into town, thanked our cab driver and once again met up with David and one of our Armenian friends Shushan (Susan). We took the local subway (which we had no clue existed) got plenty more over exaggerated stares and laughs along the way, and went to some local sweet shops and cafes. Then climbed up to the top of this giant monument called The Cascade, which attaches the lower part of the city to the upper to watch the sunrise over the city and over the mountain of Ararat. We had dinner then said our goodbyes and Jef and I arrived back at our hostel to see our adorable little front desk man trying to hold his eyes open and laughing awkwardly at I don't know what. Then we slept basically.
Day 3 Armenia:
We wake up the next day early, well earlier than before, and get ready to start our first tourist stop. The Monastery of Geghard was built back in like 1215 over a sacred spring and it was built into the mountainside and used to house the spear that had pierced Jesus's side, which was supposedly brought over by the Apostle Jude but is now held in a local museum. (I'm skeptical of the authenticity of that claim, especially since Armenian's like their folk tales) Since we were going on Sunday we were hoping to get the the Monastery on time to attend the church service, which we read up on and is very intricate and beautiful. Except for at the end they sacrafice an animal and boil it and feed it, that part is not so beautiful, but none the less we wanted to see it and take part. Since Armenia was the first declared Christian nation Jef and I had done some reading up on how their practices and beliefs may differ from America's. And it definitely differs and makes me think about and rethink about the way things are practised in western America and how boxed in many of us truly are.
So we call a taxi to head up that way and our taxi driver of course speaks to no English but is adorable and helpful all the same. Once we leave the city of Yerevan we get a taste of what Armenia and it's people are really about. There are rolling green hills, with Mount Ararat in the distance gorgeous as ever. There are random heard of sheep and cows everywhere, including in the roads. Well in Armenia their roads are barely even roads it's basically all broken up pavement with humongous pot holes. So we're swerving our way up into the hills I swear at a deadly speed, and no cars have seat belts, until we arrive at the Temple of Garni (an ancient Greek temple). So we have the same dialogue with the taxi driver over and over: Us "Ummm we want to go to Geghard, not Garni..NO Garni, NO Garni...Geghard" Taxi Driver, "YES Garni, you...blah blah blah (motions with his hands for us to get out and walk around)...Garni, YES" So we finally do what he says and buy tickets to the Temple of Garni and walk around it thinking that if we do so then he will be satisfied and take us where we need to go. The Temple of Garni truly was wonderful and was made to be perfect geometrically.
After walking around Garni we got back in the taxi and asked, "Geghard?" and he yells back "Geghard!" and so we all smile and were on our way. After driving by some flag dancers playing flutes and wearing masks we arrive at the Monastery of Geghard. It is placed right in the centre of all these mountains and rock faces next to a river. On the way up there are local villagers who had come and set up tables with their local goods. All the locals and old people of Armenia are incredibly adorable, all small and hunched and tan. There is to much about Geghard to really type but it is so intricately built with so much symbolism involved and it still houses clergy men and women over the summer. There are so many rooms just filled with carvings and the sacred fountain is still flowing inside where you can take drinks to heal yourself...we passed though (it looked kinda milky and was covered in children). Our taxi driver joined us on our excursion and basically became our tour guide. We all lit candles once inside for our prayers and then joined the service..which was GORGEOUS!
It is filled with old paintings and artifacts with carvings everywhere. All the clergy men were decked out in robes and the choir consisted of 5 women but sounded like four times that with how amazing the acoustics were in this room. People were coming in and out to say a prayer and none were dressed up so that was a good thing. Unfortunately the incense they were burning, which I guess burns bacteria, started to make my stomach hurt so we left after that and didn't stay for the sacrafice. We did buy some really huge and legit fruit roll ups from one of the local vendors though :)
We then headed back into town, thanked our cab driver and once again met up with David and one of our Armenian friends Shushan (Susan). We took the local subway (which we had no clue existed) got plenty more over exaggerated stares and laughs along the way, and went to some local sweet shops and cafes. Then climbed up to the top of this giant monument called The Cascade, which attaches the lower part of the city to the upper to watch the sunrise over the city and over the mountain of Ararat. We had dinner then said our goodbyes and Jef and I arrived back at our hostel to see our adorable little front desk man trying to hold his eyes open and laughing awkwardly at I don't know what. Then we slept basically.
Day 2 Armenia
Well after having to fall asleep to the sound of gunshots right outside our window we once again get woken up by the hostel staff telling us we had to leave the premise so they can do their mandatory "cleaning fest". So we once again escape out into the blazing hot city dazed and confused but this time we feel a little more confident after our previous nights excursions. We go over to the "nice side of town" to some cafes in order to try the "wonderfully cheap and amazing coffee" that our over enthusiastic roommate couldn't stop talking about. Once we arrived bibles and journals in hand ready to spend a day relaxing we sat down in some of the comfy looking seats and ordered some of the cheapest things on the menu. Unfortunately every place in Armenia, and vehicle that drives by is playing obnoxiously loud, and bad I may as well add, American pop music. So Jef couldn't focus to read or write so we decide to leave and our bill is way over the price of what we ordered. It turns out that certain areas of cafes charge you a ridiculous amount of money just to sit there. So Jef's anger level is rising but I wanted a milkshake so we went to the neighbouring cafe just to get servers that seem to want to get hit by a car to not look us foreigners in the eye and or serve on us. It's weird that we don't stop getting stares from any random person on the street but when it comes to those that we want to notice us, servers, they would gladly look the other way at all costs. Anyways, I guess this story is not to interesting since I do eventually get my awful chocolate milkshake and I leave unsatisfied and Jef leaves pissed.
We go back to the hostel and meet up with our buddy David again, who is opening for a local show in town so we decide to go check that out. He was super nervous talking about how he couldn't remember his lyrics, and he is in a New York band back home, so I was getting a little nervous for him but Jef and I supported him all the same. We were at a local bar/club that was built in order to host shows since you could see the stage no matter what floor or area of the club you were in. It was pretty crowded and we made friends really quickly with a couple of local fellows and some others that were in the bands. Then David took the stage, just guitar in hand, and he was incredible! He absolutely blew Jef and I away. He sounded a lot like the lead singer of The Format or from one of mine and Jef's favorite bands Buster Blue. After his set a local Armenian band came up and we disliked them from the beginning. They were super showy and the music was not very good, none of it was unique or stood out and the lead singer kept stopping the rest of the band mid song to tell them that were playing wrong and then she would restart. After that band came the main band who we met before the show. They are from New York as well and the stand up base player went to Chico! They definitely stole the crowd and were probably one of the best bands I have ever heard. Very folksy, the lead singer\band name is Sima Cunningham and her little brother (the stand up bass player) is a scrawny little white guy with a Jew Fro and was just dripping with bluesy soul.
We stayed out pretty darn late that night, we went to couple local bars after the show with Sima and her band and David. We went to one bar where everyone sits on floor pillows and the walls are covered in tapestries and everyone gets up and dances in the middle. It was wonderful and packed full. We then walked back with a drunken David who talked of moving to California and living in our tree house (probably just false hopes).
That night was a good night...and we slept soundly absent from the sounds of gunshots.
We go back to the hostel and meet up with our buddy David again, who is opening for a local show in town so we decide to go check that out. He was super nervous talking about how he couldn't remember his lyrics, and he is in a New York band back home, so I was getting a little nervous for him but Jef and I supported him all the same. We were at a local bar/club that was built in order to host shows since you could see the stage no matter what floor or area of the club you were in. It was pretty crowded and we made friends really quickly with a couple of local fellows and some others that were in the bands. Then David took the stage, just guitar in hand, and he was incredible! He absolutely blew Jef and I away. He sounded a lot like the lead singer of The Format or from one of mine and Jef's favorite bands Buster Blue. After his set a local Armenian band came up and we disliked them from the beginning. They were super showy and the music was not very good, none of it was unique or stood out and the lead singer kept stopping the rest of the band mid song to tell them that were playing wrong and then she would restart. After that band came the main band who we met before the show. They are from New York as well and the stand up base player went to Chico! They definitely stole the crowd and were probably one of the best bands I have ever heard. Very folksy, the lead singer\band name is Sima Cunningham and her little brother (the stand up bass player) is a scrawny little white guy with a Jew Fro and was just dripping with bluesy soul.
We stayed out pretty darn late that night, we went to couple local bars after the show with Sima and her band and David. We went to one bar where everyone sits on floor pillows and the walls are covered in tapestries and everyone gets up and dances in the middle. It was wonderful and packed full. We then walked back with a drunken David who talked of moving to California and living in our tree house (probably just false hopes).
That night was a good night...and we slept soundly absent from the sounds of gunshots.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Forced outside to Disco Dance
Whilst walking around downtown yerevan, directly under the mid day sun, jet-lagged, confused, hungry, and not even able to use a bathroom because our hostel has locked us out we realize two things: 1st The warning we got that the ONLY thing armenians do is glare you down, is a full blown understatement. and 2nd this freak'n sucks.
About the awkward silence and stare. You know in movies when someone walks into a bar and you hear the record player screech and every single bar member stops in their tracks and stares daggers at the protagonist of the movie. Yeah, every second of every day is like that in this country. We are in a constant state of watching everyone stop, mid-sentence, mid-walk, mid-everything, to stop and turn around completely and stare until their unibrows start to smoulder. This is also often occompanied by pointing, talking shit, and laughing histerically. I think a pretty massive undertone of my family is starting to make sense.
After we pull the plug on there being any possible way for us to be outside and NOT feel like we're in the ending scene of "The birds" we call it quits and shut ourselves inside.
If you need clarification: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-CRkq5zjfI&feature=related
This is where we are introduced to Mr. David Bechle and a way too jolly Britan named Jonathon.
Jonathon is just so rabidly happy and excited about everything in armenia that we have to completely disregard anything he has to say. He's just to damned enthusiastic for us to suffer at this point.
David just got back from renting a car and touring basically the whole country and is a lot more toned down. He then tells us he will be playing a show in yerevan the next day and invited us to english pop night at one of the local clubs. This turned out to be helariously epic. We showed up with david's tiny and weird little armenian friend that danced his ass off with 30 other locals, to the sounds of david bowey and iggy pop. This kid's dance routine was indescribable. If you were to mix an out of water fish with a puppet being tugged on by a 5 year old you've basically got his dancing style. And it never stopped, the entire night. Combined with some of the most glamorous arm dancing from all the other 29 performers made it probably one of the most akwardly epic grown-up version of a school dances I've ever seen. Good times.
Our little trio leaves in search more retro disco action to find absolutely nothing but settle for amazing shwarmas and head home.
About the awkward silence and stare. You know in movies when someone walks into a bar and you hear the record player screech and every single bar member stops in their tracks and stares daggers at the protagonist of the movie. Yeah, every second of every day is like that in this country. We are in a constant state of watching everyone stop, mid-sentence, mid-walk, mid-everything, to stop and turn around completely and stare until their unibrows start to smoulder. This is also often occompanied by pointing, talking shit, and laughing histerically. I think a pretty massive undertone of my family is starting to make sense.
After we pull the plug on there being any possible way for us to be outside and NOT feel like we're in the ending scene of "The birds" we call it quits and shut ourselves inside.
If you need clarification: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-CRkq5zjfI&feature=related
This is where we are introduced to Mr. David Bechle and a way too jolly Britan named Jonathon.
Jonathon is just so rabidly happy and excited about everything in armenia that we have to completely disregard anything he has to say. He's just to damned enthusiastic for us to suffer at this point.
David just got back from renting a car and touring basically the whole country and is a lot more toned down. He then tells us he will be playing a show in yerevan the next day and invited us to english pop night at one of the local clubs. This turned out to be helariously epic. We showed up with david's tiny and weird little armenian friend that danced his ass off with 30 other locals, to the sounds of david bowey and iggy pop. This kid's dance routine was indescribable. If you were to mix an out of water fish with a puppet being tugged on by a 5 year old you've basically got his dancing style. And it never stopped, the entire night. Combined with some of the most glamorous arm dancing from all the other 29 performers made it probably one of the most akwardly epic grown-up version of a school dances I've ever seen. Good times.
Our little trio leaves in search more retro disco action to find absolutely nothing but settle for amazing shwarmas and head home.
A polish layover and Day one armenia
In poland, they love their booze, chocolate, and the pope. Although I was kind of disappointed with it all. I was expecting to get in and find like 4 pound polish dogs and the locals walking around with dog shit in their hand saying "Look at what I almost stepped in!". Absolutely none of these unique polish fantasies were true at all... Sad day. My hot dog was pretty good, but easily 3 lbs and about 4,000 calories under what it should be. The poles are awesomely devoted though, the airport came fully loaded with a catholic chapel in the east side of our terminal, we were impressed.
We end up getting more or less locked in our gate, which could have doubled as a meat locker, I get a nap and around 10 we load our flight.
Arrival
We get in around 5, start getting through all the passport checkpoints and realize that armenia is the only country that wants all the documentation possible. "Your boarding pass please? baggage ticket? do you have the tag on your pillow? would you please submit the receipt for the toblerone you bought in poland?" We have absolutely nothing and they just let us by regardless which makes you wonder if this whole checkpoint is just a place to put overstaffed employees.
We get outside the terminal, amazingly enough, to find a very tired looking cabby holding a sign. I still can't believe they got our last minute email that we're showing up around this time and just some-what thinking about staying at their hostel. I'm pretty sure the walk from the terminal to the cab took a year off of the cabby's life. He was tripping over everything and is working past a SERIOUS wheeze, I honestly feel like I should have given him a piggy back over the 30 yards to car. I feel kinda bad.
We drive through southeastern yerevan to our hostel and once again a look at the architecture makes you expect to then look at the sidewalk and find a legion of zombies out marauding for flesh. BUT i finally see mount ararat on the drive; the birthplace of the most extravagant christian folklore in the world.
When we got to our hostel we basically slept until 1pm ( which is when they kick us out to clean"... but really I'm not at all sure what they actually do with the time, it looks exactly the same when we return.
We end up getting more or less locked in our gate, which could have doubled as a meat locker, I get a nap and around 10 we load our flight.
Arrival
We get in around 5, start getting through all the passport checkpoints and realize that armenia is the only country that wants all the documentation possible. "Your boarding pass please? baggage ticket? do you have the tag on your pillow? would you please submit the receipt for the toblerone you bought in poland?" We have absolutely nothing and they just let us by regardless which makes you wonder if this whole checkpoint is just a place to put overstaffed employees.
We get outside the terminal, amazingly enough, to find a very tired looking cabby holding a sign. I still can't believe they got our last minute email that we're showing up around this time and just some-what thinking about staying at their hostel. I'm pretty sure the walk from the terminal to the cab took a year off of the cabby's life. He was tripping over everything and is working past a SERIOUS wheeze, I honestly feel like I should have given him a piggy back over the 30 yards to car. I feel kinda bad.
We drive through southeastern yerevan to our hostel and once again a look at the architecture makes you expect to then look at the sidewalk and find a legion of zombies out marauding for flesh. BUT i finally see mount ararat on the drive; the birthplace of the most extravagant christian folklore in the world.
When we got to our hostel we basically slept until 1pm ( which is when they kick us out to clean"... but really I'm not at all sure what they actually do with the time, it looks exactly the same when we return.
Bit piece about greece's efficiency
So I'm totally amazed at this niche market that Greece has stumbled upon. It's a full rotation of efficiency marketing. So you get into Greece and buy mineral water, because it is literally the only type of liquid in a bottle that isn't soda or 8 euro a bottle juice. Drink it down and then shit fire while feeling like a gaggle of hedgehogs are trying to tear out of your abdomen. Then from that point drink more and more of the devil water now because you're totally dehydrated. And you're a little worried about dying and being found resembling an empty ketchup packet perched on a toilet. So you spend the rest of the night drinking mineral water and start this amazingly engenuitive process all over again, while spending two euro's a bottle to accompany your own rendition of kabuki theater in the bathroom. Awesome.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
The Ominous Walk of the Budgeted Backpacker :Greece Part 2
Tip Number 17: Never order the pasta bolognaise at a Greek restaurant no matter how tempting they make it sound.
Tip Number 18: Buy a spare battery for your camera in case it takes a crap on the most spectacular day.
Tip Number 19: Unless you have time and money, don’t visit a country that is fond of strikes, especially when they concern public transportation.
Tip Number 20: Fire Stadium= Fire Station
Tip Number 21: Always ask at least 3 people the same question...maybe more…because their answers are never the same.
Tip Number 22: BEWARE OF DOG
We wake up, get a late check out, hang out with our front desk man and meet a lady to share a cab with to the port in Cephalonia in order to get over to Zakynthos. Once we get over to the port, the water was just too beautiful in this little fishing village to not go snorkeling in so put on our goggles, plop in the water and swim around for a while. Once we arrived in Zakynthos we realized that the port was a lot more…well… absent then we expected it to be for it being the main port of Zakynthos. And that is because once again we had arrived at the wrong port on the wrong side of the island. Except this time there is no bus for us to hop on, actually there was not a whole lot of anything. So we pick a direction and start walking until a man comes running out from his restaurant, tells us to sit down and then tells us he will call us a cab since we look lost. Then he runs off and is lost for while. So we decide to eat while we are sitting there (Jef and I realized that this is probably a routine of this mans, to capture wandering travelers and leave them for a while sitting at one of his restaurant tables with a menu just long enough for them to eat his food haha). After we eat, I have to say, one of the worst meals of our lives our cab shows up and we were on the way to our hotel.
The Greek Islands truly are beautiful, with every house looking like its own little villa. Unfortunately the Greeks do need to learn how to build and use trash cans since some streets are completely littered with garbage. Once we arrive at our hotel I am completely blown away with how gorgeous it was. It was pink and massive right on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean. Our room was big and had an ocean view along with a view of the island town. And it was only a minute walk from both. We decided that since we only had the rest of that day and the next day to look around we went for a walk down town and were wrapped up in how magical and quaint it was. There are horses and carriages all over the town, everything is lit up with twinkly lights and all the people are friendly and talkative. On a whim we get signed up with an all Day Cruz around the island for following day so we got some ice-cream (of course) and went up to our hotel to get some rest.
The next morning is when we realized that Jef’s camera was officially on its way out and we were not going to be able to use it throughout the day of the cruz …sucky! Sooo we bought some disposables, which are kind of cool you know? Since it is kind of like a surprise waiting to arrive. So we got on our little cruz ship that actually had a fair amount of people on it. And after a long hour at the dock of the bay we left for our adventure. Since it is impossible it seems to escape awful American pop music anywhere you go we were thankful for having the i-pod with us. So we spent a lot of time making new playlists and mix cd’s in our mind. The island is gorgeous and surrounded by turquoise water. There are 350 caves around the island, some of which we got to snorkel through. We went to the beach where sea turtles lay their eggs, and where sadly not many make it back into the ocean. Then we went to the highlighted stop of the day Shipwreck Cove. One of the most beautiful beaches in the world, the sand is snow white and is surrounded by cliffs. On the beach there is a 100 year old smugglers ship that was abandoned and then wrecked upon the shore. It was used to smuggle booze and women apparently back in the day and you can still walk aboard it if you wanted. We got to spend plenty of time at this beach snorkeling and then we were off again.
We made some British friends who I guess love American accents, good to know someone does right? And there was a little boy with water wings and a foe-hawk who loved to talk about his fear of shark. This little boy later decided to brave up and go swimming in the pool that is on board the ship. He runs, he charges, and then he trips and flops/face plants right into the water. Afterward he gets back up and goes again; he was quite an entertainment factor.
We got back to the hotel that night and ate the best meal we had had so far in Greece, granted with the worst service. Then we went back to our room and watched the sunset over the town. Jef got sick again so I took a trip down to the ocean and went swimming and then listened to the most epic Reality sermon and came back covered in sand.
The next morning we were supposed to catch the ferry back to the main land of Greece and take a bus back to Athens to catch our flight the next day. Buttt that day was the day that the Greeks decided to hold a public transportation strike. At this point in the trip I didn’t even care or worry anymore because it wasn’t worth the effort and I knew that the Lord would again provide in some way. It turns out that there was a flight off the island at 5am the next morning to Athens which would be perfect! So we reserved some seats and met some other families that were stranded on the island and in a lot more of a pickle then us and then we went back to sleep for a while. We once again got a late check out and then talked about where we would be sleeping our last night in Greece. We have hammocks and I was stoked on that idea but the problem with Greece is that there are not a whole lot of trees. So we decided to just sleep in the airport that night. We spent the day at the beach and got some more sweets, come chocolate and banana crepes (the best in the world). We then decided to save the last of our money for a cab from the main town of Zakynthos to the airport since we couldn’t exchange American money due to the absence of American tourism at this island. So we had to walk from our small town of Tsivili to the main town of Zakynthos, which wasn’t too bad it followed the beach for around 3 miles and our packs were a bit lighter than before.
Once we arrived at the main town of Zakynthos my legs and feet needed a rest so we stopped at a sweet shop and then came to a crossroad. Do we try and walk to the airport as well so we can have money to buy ice-cream or do we not rick getting lost in the dark and just take a cab? Well we decided that we had all night to get there since it was only 930 and we went crazy and each got 4 scoops of ice cream! Ugh it was wonderous! Then we had a while to walk until we could find someone who spoke enough English to send us on our way to the airport, since no one has maps. We asked a couple people and then headed off at 1030 on what Jef called “The Ominous Walk of the Budgeted Backpacker”. This consisted of feeding stray kittens, smelling flowers and of course trying not to get eaten by guard dogs and trying not to get hit by all the random drag racing cars.
We walked 2.5 miles down a creepy road for a while where Jef almost got his leg ripped off by someone’s dog. Dogs are the main form of security in Greece, empty car lots will just have a random dog sitting in front of it along with every house. We eventually come to a hotel which tells us that it is 2.5 miles in the direction that we had just come from and then a right at a fire stadium. First…seriously…we’re exhausted. Second, what the heck is a fire stadium? So we wander back the way we came with our spirit dwindling bit by bit until we run into a random taxi driver (which we can no longer afford) to tell us that at a fire STATION we turn right. But we had no clue where this fire station was or what color it was so we were stopping at every building looking in it and walking down every crossroad. Eventually around 1:00 am we find the fire station and walk 2 miles down a street where all these random men were drag racing down with no regard to how close they are to hitting you. The airport was practically glowing when we saw it and it was open! There was no one around so we posted up on some benches for 3 hours of rest, which turned into 2 after another epic Reality sermon on worry then we woke up at 3:00 am to find out that the airport is still empty. We go back to sleep and then wake up at 5 and it is still empty. So we stay awake and finally someone shows up to tell us that our flight is at 7:00 not 5:00 and that we had to wait for the ticket lady to show up.
Since Greeks have no regard for lines we had 45mins to check in, go through security and get to our flight, and when we got up to the counter she said that our name was not on the registry. Just to ask someone else who said it was to send us back to the same woman who then realized that we were. So we checked in and got some wonderful orange juice then got on our little plane to Athens. Once in Athens we had 10 hrs to wait until we flew to Poland and then onto the great country of Armenia…
Tip Number 18: Buy a spare battery for your camera in case it takes a crap on the most spectacular day.
Tip Number 19: Unless you have time and money, don’t visit a country that is fond of strikes, especially when they concern public transportation.
Tip Number 20: Fire Stadium= Fire Station
Tip Number 21: Always ask at least 3 people the same question...maybe more…because their answers are never the same.
Tip Number 22: BEWARE OF DOG
We wake up, get a late check out, hang out with our front desk man and meet a lady to share a cab with to the port in Cephalonia in order to get over to Zakynthos. Once we get over to the port, the water was just too beautiful in this little fishing village to not go snorkeling in so put on our goggles, plop in the water and swim around for a while. Once we arrived in Zakynthos we realized that the port was a lot more…well… absent then we expected it to be for it being the main port of Zakynthos. And that is because once again we had arrived at the wrong port on the wrong side of the island. Except this time there is no bus for us to hop on, actually there was not a whole lot of anything. So we pick a direction and start walking until a man comes running out from his restaurant, tells us to sit down and then tells us he will call us a cab since we look lost. Then he runs off and is lost for while. So we decide to eat while we are sitting there (Jef and I realized that this is probably a routine of this mans, to capture wandering travelers and leave them for a while sitting at one of his restaurant tables with a menu just long enough for them to eat his food haha). After we eat, I have to say, one of the worst meals of our lives our cab shows up and we were on the way to our hotel.
The Greek Islands truly are beautiful, with every house looking like its own little villa. Unfortunately the Greeks do need to learn how to build and use trash cans since some streets are completely littered with garbage. Once we arrive at our hotel I am completely blown away with how gorgeous it was. It was pink and massive right on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean. Our room was big and had an ocean view along with a view of the island town. And it was only a minute walk from both. We decided that since we only had the rest of that day and the next day to look around we went for a walk down town and were wrapped up in how magical and quaint it was. There are horses and carriages all over the town, everything is lit up with twinkly lights and all the people are friendly and talkative. On a whim we get signed up with an all Day Cruz around the island for following day so we got some ice-cream (of course) and went up to our hotel to get some rest.
The next morning is when we realized that Jef’s camera was officially on its way out and we were not going to be able to use it throughout the day of the cruz …sucky! Sooo we bought some disposables, which are kind of cool you know? Since it is kind of like a surprise waiting to arrive. So we got on our little cruz ship that actually had a fair amount of people on it. And after a long hour at the dock of the bay we left for our adventure. Since it is impossible it seems to escape awful American pop music anywhere you go we were thankful for having the i-pod with us. So we spent a lot of time making new playlists and mix cd’s in our mind. The island is gorgeous and surrounded by turquoise water. There are 350 caves around the island, some of which we got to snorkel through. We went to the beach where sea turtles lay their eggs, and where sadly not many make it back into the ocean. Then we went to the highlighted stop of the day Shipwreck Cove. One of the most beautiful beaches in the world, the sand is snow white and is surrounded by cliffs. On the beach there is a 100 year old smugglers ship that was abandoned and then wrecked upon the shore. It was used to smuggle booze and women apparently back in the day and you can still walk aboard it if you wanted. We got to spend plenty of time at this beach snorkeling and then we were off again.
We made some British friends who I guess love American accents, good to know someone does right? And there was a little boy with water wings and a foe-hawk who loved to talk about his fear of shark. This little boy later decided to brave up and go swimming in the pool that is on board the ship. He runs, he charges, and then he trips and flops/face plants right into the water. Afterward he gets back up and goes again; he was quite an entertainment factor.
We got back to the hotel that night and ate the best meal we had had so far in Greece, granted with the worst service. Then we went back to our room and watched the sunset over the town. Jef got sick again so I took a trip down to the ocean and went swimming and then listened to the most epic Reality sermon and came back covered in sand.
The next morning we were supposed to catch the ferry back to the main land of Greece and take a bus back to Athens to catch our flight the next day. Buttt that day was the day that the Greeks decided to hold a public transportation strike. At this point in the trip I didn’t even care or worry anymore because it wasn’t worth the effort and I knew that the Lord would again provide in some way. It turns out that there was a flight off the island at 5am the next morning to Athens which would be perfect! So we reserved some seats and met some other families that were stranded on the island and in a lot more of a pickle then us and then we went back to sleep for a while. We once again got a late check out and then talked about where we would be sleeping our last night in Greece. We have hammocks and I was stoked on that idea but the problem with Greece is that there are not a whole lot of trees. So we decided to just sleep in the airport that night. We spent the day at the beach and got some more sweets, come chocolate and banana crepes (the best in the world). We then decided to save the last of our money for a cab from the main town of Zakynthos to the airport since we couldn’t exchange American money due to the absence of American tourism at this island. So we had to walk from our small town of Tsivili to the main town of Zakynthos, which wasn’t too bad it followed the beach for around 3 miles and our packs were a bit lighter than before.
Once we arrived at the main town of Zakynthos my legs and feet needed a rest so we stopped at a sweet shop and then came to a crossroad. Do we try and walk to the airport as well so we can have money to buy ice-cream or do we not rick getting lost in the dark and just take a cab? Well we decided that we had all night to get there since it was only 930 and we went crazy and each got 4 scoops of ice cream! Ugh it was wonderous! Then we had a while to walk until we could find someone who spoke enough English to send us on our way to the airport, since no one has maps. We asked a couple people and then headed off at 1030 on what Jef called “The Ominous Walk of the Budgeted Backpacker”. This consisted of feeding stray kittens, smelling flowers and of course trying not to get eaten by guard dogs and trying not to get hit by all the random drag racing cars.
We walked 2.5 miles down a creepy road for a while where Jef almost got his leg ripped off by someone’s dog. Dogs are the main form of security in Greece, empty car lots will just have a random dog sitting in front of it along with every house. We eventually come to a hotel which tells us that it is 2.5 miles in the direction that we had just come from and then a right at a fire stadium. First…seriously…we’re exhausted. Second, what the heck is a fire stadium? So we wander back the way we came with our spirit dwindling bit by bit until we run into a random taxi driver (which we can no longer afford) to tell us that at a fire STATION we turn right. But we had no clue where this fire station was or what color it was so we were stopping at every building looking in it and walking down every crossroad. Eventually around 1:00 am we find the fire station and walk 2 miles down a street where all these random men were drag racing down with no regard to how close they are to hitting you. The airport was practically glowing when we saw it and it was open! There was no one around so we posted up on some benches for 3 hours of rest, which turned into 2 after another epic Reality sermon on worry then we woke up at 3:00 am to find out that the airport is still empty. We go back to sleep and then wake up at 5 and it is still empty. So we stay awake and finally someone shows up to tell us that our flight is at 7:00 not 5:00 and that we had to wait for the ticket lady to show up.
Since Greeks have no regard for lines we had 45mins to check in, go through security and get to our flight, and when we got up to the counter she said that our name was not on the registry. Just to ask someone else who said it was to send us back to the same woman who then realized that we were. So we checked in and got some wonderful orange juice then got on our little plane to Athens. Once in Athens we had 10 hrs to wait until we flew to Poland and then onto the great country of Armenia…
Monday, June 20, 2011
Greece Part 1: Keffalonia
So Greece was full of surprises and lessons to be learned/ Tips 11-16 (which we decided to number throughout this post) but the Lord just showed himself more and more, so we thank him for every low moment!
So, the island of Keffalonia…
I had been dropping pebbles awaiting Greece and my one utter ignorance of the greeks written and spoken language. Let alone the chest hair ripping manly men, that will tell me that my Y chromosome is to effeminate for their countryside. I’ve got this whole scenario down in my head, play by play… BUT what I don’t have planned out is exactly how we’re going to stumble out of our terminal directly onto a series of busses to then find the hostel that exists more or less on a hunch… Without speaking the language.
Lesson number 1/Tip Number 11
Luckily almost everyone in Greece speaks some English and everything is translated into English as well. When you call a bus/ferry/airplane operator thank them for their time, and call them directly back within 5 minutes and ask the same questions over again. The answers change.
Lesson Number 2/ Tip Number 12
I call our bus operator and the last bus to our port leaves within 45 minutes and is an hour of middle day traffic away. With every taxi charging a $45 dollar flat rate we’re not so hot on the idea of spending $100 on transportation to just fork out another $65 on an overpriced hotel in Athens. In despair, we call back and find out the absolute contrary to the first piece of Intel and now realize that if anything we have a surplus of time. Getting to Patras Port, first of all Patras as well as the greater part of Athens looks, feels and smells like a town set in post zombie apocalypse. I found myself literally waiting for a hoard of thick-browed undead to knock over the bus at any second.
It took a little coaxing to walk Jordan off of the bus into the twilight on my spider sense that somewhere off in the rubble was a hostel with our name on it. We sure enough found it eventually, and yes I’m sure it had our name on it somewhere but it was probably written in red lipstick backwards on a mirror by some freaky kid that referred to himself in the third person as tony. (props to anyone that gets the reference). This place truly is Jive, it reminds of something you’d find after googling economy rehab clinic. Pretty great.
Getting on the ferry goes seemingly well. Minus the greek coffee (despite how legitimate it sounds it’s just Nescafe with grounds added in for authenticity) and the cheese toast we’re off to a good start. The sea is gorgeous and I have a new found wonderful sense of false security.
Lesson number 3/ Tip Number 13
No matter what you think, the ferry you get on is never taking you to the side of the island you’re planning on. Because when you ask the answer is always, “yes of course it is going to the main port” even if there is a Metropolis on one side and goat country on the other, the main port that day will goat country. Never trust the term “Main Port”.
So we’re getting off on the total opposite side of the largest island in the Ionian sea, and I don’t realize this until the moment a step off the ferry. After a slight break for a micro-tantrum, Luckily enough we find a bus to stowaway on to go to yet another mystery town.
Lesson number 4/ Tip Number 14
When left stranded in a new place after by whatever means you got there. Ferry, bus, donkey carriage. Try Immediately to find a connecting bus and do so successfully. Then began the search for the missing hotel. Now at first everything is like being in a mouse maze but eventually, with the help of one lovely Greek woman then a few other helpers, we found our hotel right on the corner of the main square. Our room was great with a balcony and since our clothes smelled of rotting bacon we washed them instantly in the shower and hung them outside to dry. We were so shocked with how quiet the island was when we arrived; seriously all you could really hear was the wind and the birds. This was a big change from Peru, and one that we were going to savor entirely. We thought that all of the stores were closed, since Greece is in a major downfall right now and most of the locally owned businesses are going under. However, come 6 pm everything on every street opens and all the people of the land arrive.
I don’t know where they all come from but I guess in Greece the people are late to bed and late to rise. They all smoke and all wear familiar American apparel. Most of them find us interesting and we get a lot of stares, probably since it is apparent that we are tourists. More than likely we were some of the only tourists on the island, since this is the quieter side of Greece which was our intention. Everyone we talked to was incredibly friendly and could go on talking for hours if we sat there patiently. Most of them were curious about where we were from and were surprised to hear America. I guess that the Ionian Islands never get American tourists so everyone assumes we are British or Italian. Then a lot of them talk about the local politics and how impossible it now is for them to make a living (the country in constantly in my prayers).
After eating one disappointing meal after another, basically just a bunch of carbs and bad meat, Jef got really sick and couldn’t leave the bathroom for a couple days. It turns out that vitamin water and Jef aren’t really the best of friends and vitamin water is the only form of water you can buy in Greece.
Lesson number 5/ Tip Number 15
So we decided we could vedge out and just watch T.V. for a while; however, only two channels were in English and the Greeks love commercials more than is humanly bearable. We got lucky with some old classics of Ghost Ship and Clash of the Titans, and every once in a while we’d get a break and watch some American shows such as Friends and House. On the third day we went to the local beach, which was by far the most gorgeous beach I had ever seen. The water was an incredibly bright turquoise and was completely see through. Jef and I both got way to red for comfortability but we didn’t want to leave since the person watching was just too grand. Nobody, and I mean not a single person was not what America would call “a healthy weight” and it was fabulous because they were all beautiful and sexy and rocking it.
We got to stay an extra day on the island since it turns out that once again the ferries aren’t running when we expected. And it was a day much needed since Jef was once again feverous and needed to sleep. We made sure to escape every day for our daily sweet fix though and to have dinner at a new restaurant. Once wonderful thing about Greece is that they LOVE their sweets and it is really one of the only great things you can get to eat there. Every street is lined with stores in this order: Clothing, Bar, Café/possible market then sweet shop! With the world’s best ice-cream, crepes and cakes. Oh my gosh there is no way I can explain the magic that is in those sweets, through the glass they are heavenly and enjoyable. Oh man, we were pleased with the sweets that is for sure…maybe a little too much but that comes later…
Lesson Numer 6/Tip Number 16: Find the Mango Sorbet and EAT IT! It makes you redefine mangos entirely…because it’s awesome!
So, the island of Keffalonia…
I had been dropping pebbles awaiting Greece and my one utter ignorance of the greeks written and spoken language. Let alone the chest hair ripping manly men, that will tell me that my Y chromosome is to effeminate for their countryside. I’ve got this whole scenario down in my head, play by play… BUT what I don’t have planned out is exactly how we’re going to stumble out of our terminal directly onto a series of busses to then find the hostel that exists more or less on a hunch… Without speaking the language.
Lesson number 1/Tip Number 11
Luckily almost everyone in Greece speaks some English and everything is translated into English as well. When you call a bus/ferry/airplane operator thank them for their time, and call them directly back within 5 minutes and ask the same questions over again. The answers change.
Lesson Number 2/ Tip Number 12
I call our bus operator and the last bus to our port leaves within 45 minutes and is an hour of middle day traffic away. With every taxi charging a $45 dollar flat rate we’re not so hot on the idea of spending $100 on transportation to just fork out another $65 on an overpriced hotel in Athens. In despair, we call back and find out the absolute contrary to the first piece of Intel and now realize that if anything we have a surplus of time. Getting to Patras Port, first of all Patras as well as the greater part of Athens looks, feels and smells like a town set in post zombie apocalypse. I found myself literally waiting for a hoard of thick-browed undead to knock over the bus at any second.
It took a little coaxing to walk Jordan off of the bus into the twilight on my spider sense that somewhere off in the rubble was a hostel with our name on it. We sure enough found it eventually, and yes I’m sure it had our name on it somewhere but it was probably written in red lipstick backwards on a mirror by some freaky kid that referred to himself in the third person as tony. (props to anyone that gets the reference). This place truly is Jive, it reminds of something you’d find after googling economy rehab clinic. Pretty great.
Getting on the ferry goes seemingly well. Minus the greek coffee (despite how legitimate it sounds it’s just Nescafe with grounds added in for authenticity) and the cheese toast we’re off to a good start. The sea is gorgeous and I have a new found wonderful sense of false security.
Lesson number 3/ Tip Number 13
No matter what you think, the ferry you get on is never taking you to the side of the island you’re planning on. Because when you ask the answer is always, “yes of course it is going to the main port” even if there is a Metropolis on one side and goat country on the other, the main port that day will goat country. Never trust the term “Main Port”.
So we’re getting off on the total opposite side of the largest island in the Ionian sea, and I don’t realize this until the moment a step off the ferry. After a slight break for a micro-tantrum, Luckily enough we find a bus to stowaway on to go to yet another mystery town.
Lesson number 4/ Tip Number 14
When left stranded in a new place after by whatever means you got there. Ferry, bus, donkey carriage. Try Immediately to find a connecting bus and do so successfully. Then began the search for the missing hotel. Now at first everything is like being in a mouse maze but eventually, with the help of one lovely Greek woman then a few other helpers, we found our hotel right on the corner of the main square. Our room was great with a balcony and since our clothes smelled of rotting bacon we washed them instantly in the shower and hung them outside to dry. We were so shocked with how quiet the island was when we arrived; seriously all you could really hear was the wind and the birds. This was a big change from Peru, and one that we were going to savor entirely. We thought that all of the stores were closed, since Greece is in a major downfall right now and most of the locally owned businesses are going under. However, come 6 pm everything on every street opens and all the people of the land arrive.
I don’t know where they all come from but I guess in Greece the people are late to bed and late to rise. They all smoke and all wear familiar American apparel. Most of them find us interesting and we get a lot of stares, probably since it is apparent that we are tourists. More than likely we were some of the only tourists on the island, since this is the quieter side of Greece which was our intention. Everyone we talked to was incredibly friendly and could go on talking for hours if we sat there patiently. Most of them were curious about where we were from and were surprised to hear America. I guess that the Ionian Islands never get American tourists so everyone assumes we are British or Italian. Then a lot of them talk about the local politics and how impossible it now is for them to make a living (the country in constantly in my prayers).
After eating one disappointing meal after another, basically just a bunch of carbs and bad meat, Jef got really sick and couldn’t leave the bathroom for a couple days. It turns out that vitamin water and Jef aren’t really the best of friends and vitamin water is the only form of water you can buy in Greece.
Lesson number 5/ Tip Number 15
So we decided we could vedge out and just watch T.V. for a while; however, only two channels were in English and the Greeks love commercials more than is humanly bearable. We got lucky with some old classics of Ghost Ship and Clash of the Titans, and every once in a while we’d get a break and watch some American shows such as Friends and House. On the third day we went to the local beach, which was by far the most gorgeous beach I had ever seen. The water was an incredibly bright turquoise and was completely see through. Jef and I both got way to red for comfortability but we didn’t want to leave since the person watching was just too grand. Nobody, and I mean not a single person was not what America would call “a healthy weight” and it was fabulous because they were all beautiful and sexy and rocking it.
We got to stay an extra day on the island since it turns out that once again the ferries aren’t running when we expected. And it was a day much needed since Jef was once again feverous and needed to sleep. We made sure to escape every day for our daily sweet fix though and to have dinner at a new restaurant. Once wonderful thing about Greece is that they LOVE their sweets and it is really one of the only great things you can get to eat there. Every street is lined with stores in this order: Clothing, Bar, Café/possible market then sweet shop! With the world’s best ice-cream, crepes and cakes. Oh my gosh there is no way I can explain the magic that is in those sweets, through the glass they are heavenly and enjoyable. Oh man, we were pleased with the sweets that is for sure…maybe a little too much but that comes later…
Lesson Numer 6/Tip Number 16: Find the Mango Sorbet and EAT IT! It makes you redefine mangos entirely…because it’s awesome!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Leaving Cusco
TIP WHATEVER NUMBER IS NEXT: Dont choose to fly in the emergency exit row. Not because of the constant pressure of everyone asking you if you understand the rules that you are the very last person to leave the plane in case it crashes but because apparentally there is a whole new set of rules. Including no sleeping, leave shoes on, and the drapes must be open! On an overnight flight this was the last try of my patience.
The day we left Cusco was a sad sad day but we said goodbye to our friends and hopped on the plane to Lima. Once in Lima we got even more depressed to be away from the Andes and the jungle since Lima is a seriously a hustling bustling billboard for soda and models. We got to relax at a hostel on the beach; however, the hostel was probably one of the loudest areas in the city! There was construction going on outside and the hostel apparentally has a gaurd dog that barks at everything that goes by. Not to mention the club that the living room transformed into at night. The people who worked there were wonderful though and thanks to them and a psychotic break by both Jef and I the Lord truly saved us and got us on our flight to Greece. Since someone stole my shirt I we decided to go shopping for a new one at the nearby americanized mall but the smog nearly choked us to death on the way there. Lima sadly needs to invest in some oxygen bars. The mall was incredibly over priced so boo hoo on that, but their fashion and jewelry is gorgeous! So Jef and I get lost in the hustle and bustle of the city on the way back to the hostel and run into a local bargain/thrift store where we find the most awesome stuff! And Jef gets all the ladies to giggle by walking off with a pair of underwear while they are trying to communicate "the way" to him. "The way" you buy clothes abroad is a lot different in america and a bit confusing to explain so I'll save it for those who are interested when I return. We do eventually get on the plane at midnight to New York and then Switzerland and then to Greece. And Greece so far has been amazing..
The day we left Cusco was a sad sad day but we said goodbye to our friends and hopped on the plane to Lima. Once in Lima we got even more depressed to be away from the Andes and the jungle since Lima is a seriously a hustling bustling billboard for soda and models. We got to relax at a hostel on the beach; however, the hostel was probably one of the loudest areas in the city! There was construction going on outside and the hostel apparentally has a gaurd dog that barks at everything that goes by. Not to mention the club that the living room transformed into at night. The people who worked there were wonderful though and thanks to them and a psychotic break by both Jef and I the Lord truly saved us and got us on our flight to Greece. Since someone stole my shirt I we decided to go shopping for a new one at the nearby americanized mall but the smog nearly choked us to death on the way there. Lima sadly needs to invest in some oxygen bars. The mall was incredibly over priced so boo hoo on that, but their fashion and jewelry is gorgeous! So Jef and I get lost in the hustle and bustle of the city on the way back to the hostel and run into a local bargain/thrift store where we find the most awesome stuff! And Jef gets all the ladies to giggle by walking off with a pair of underwear while they are trying to communicate "the way" to him. "The way" you buy clothes abroad is a lot different in america and a bit confusing to explain so I'll save it for those who are interested when I return. We do eventually get on the plane at midnight to New York and then Switzerland and then to Greece. And Greece so far has been amazing..
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Cusco Part Two: Macchu Picchu
Come nightime we end up running past downtown to try and find the hiking office realizing we're mapless then back to the hostel and back to the hikers office in a matter of minutes, sit through orientation and then start scrabbling to replace all the warm clothing I had lost over the course of 3 different airports. We then crash out late and get ready for our 6 am departure to km 82 the point where the inca trail starts.
Day one:
Starts with copius amounts of Coca Leaf that apparently you're not supposed to swallow. (Coca leaf is a Peruvian "super food" that is supposed to help aclimate you to high elevation... it's also what cocain comes from. Hopefully we don't have drug tests coming up) Our hike this day is totally cake but we still manage to lose the san franciscan photographer from our group for at least an hour. WE got to stop at a couple Incan sights and then we roll into camp and eat our typical 4 course meal and hang out with a strangley friendly ferril cat that won't detach from the dinner table. Minus the poopoo flooded bathroom even our first night was surprisingly gorgeous, we saw more stars that night than ever before.
Day two:
We wake up at the crack of dawn to start the hardest day of the trek. I remember reading multiple blogs about "day 2" not to mention the stories from our porter. It is the day that is straight up a mountain for 5 1/2 hours. They serve you coca tea every morning and then you get to eat another amazing meal from the chef, chef outfit and all. Of course I (Jordan) wake up barfing with altitude sickness. Now Jef and I were planning to aclimatize when we got into Peru for a couple days but since we missed our flight we weren't able to. And now at 10,000 ft my body was not happy. We got introduced to the porters, who carry 100 kilos up the mountain in sandals basically at a run while carrying on a conversation. Jef and I are carrying packs taht are way above the suggested weight limit for this trip but since the first day was ok we thought we could tough through it. Turns out that I can't...I am puking and falling over in the first 2 hours and am getting the "windows". That was by far the worst I have ever felt, and I couldn't enjoy the scenery without getting vertigo and being on the verge of passing out. So after multiple hours of pestering me to help take on some of the weight of my pack Jef again comes to my rescue and carries my ENTIRE pack for me. I mean come on who is so wonderful that they would carry two full sized ridiculously heavy packs up a mountain on the hardest part of the trek? Well Jeffrey Coleman Jackson, who set a completely new level of manliness, selflessness and perfect boyfriendness. I still had to stop every tweny meters to throw up and breathe while the porter is making my inhale some local alcohol that supposedly settles the stomach. We became the famous couple throughout the groups on this trek. As either the Californians, the sick couple, or the sick girl with the amazing boyfriend. People kept cheering us on and taking picture and videos of us as we climbed and eventually reached the top, surprisingly not last or to far behind the rest. Aparentally amongst other groups those who got altitude sickness just fell over and either couldn't continue or had to get a porter to carry their stuff. Once I got to the top though, then my porter decides to offer my altitude sickness medication which is a total god send uxcept it makes your hands and feet tingle. Those pills got me through the nest couple days.
Day Three:
This is the longest day, 10 hrs of hiking with lots of Incan remains along the way. Most of it downhill so it destroys your knees. But thank the Lord I chose to get a pair of poles so Jef and I both took one. The Andes are by far the most grogeous thing I have ever seen. It is no surprise to me that the Incans thought them to be gods because everytime I stopped ot look at them I couldn't believe how terrifying and magnificent they were. The plant life is so different than in America that it made me feel like I was in Jurassic Park or Jumangi. We got a porter for this day to arry one of our bags and the day was one of enjoyment. At night however not so much, I started getting sick again and fell asleep at 5 and slept til 330 the next morning when we got up to hike into Macchu Picchu.
Day Four:
We wake up and frantically hike to the Sun Gate entrance to Macchu Picchu before the sun rises. My this point all the groups that are on the hike are really close and you see familiar faces everywhere, and once we finish hiking up "The Gringo Killer" (stairs that are seriously straight up) you see the Sun Gate and it is suddenly the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. Once we're there we can see Macchu Picchu down in the canyon, more massive and beautiful than we could have imagined. We hike down as the sun rises and the birds sing and then stop and stare, finally feeling the "we did it". From the pictures you think that Macchu Picchu looks big but my god it is massive. It seriously is an entire city with a convent, a school, housing, temples and 1000 terraces. It is surrounded by moutains that seem to never end and was built in only 30 days then abandoned when the Spanish arrived in Cusco and news got to the hidden city. Although we were exhausted and I felt like I was on my death bed we didn't want to leave this magical place, that was covered in wild alpaca. We finally got some peace from the chaos of Peru.
Day one:
Starts with copius amounts of Coca Leaf that apparently you're not supposed to swallow. (Coca leaf is a Peruvian "super food" that is supposed to help aclimate you to high elevation... it's also what cocain comes from. Hopefully we don't have drug tests coming up) Our hike this day is totally cake but we still manage to lose the san franciscan photographer from our group for at least an hour. WE got to stop at a couple Incan sights and then we roll into camp and eat our typical 4 course meal and hang out with a strangley friendly ferril cat that won't detach from the dinner table. Minus the poopoo flooded bathroom even our first night was surprisingly gorgeous, we saw more stars that night than ever before.
Day two:
We wake up at the crack of dawn to start the hardest day of the trek. I remember reading multiple blogs about "day 2" not to mention the stories from our porter. It is the day that is straight up a mountain for 5 1/2 hours. They serve you coca tea every morning and then you get to eat another amazing meal from the chef, chef outfit and all. Of course I (Jordan) wake up barfing with altitude sickness. Now Jef and I were planning to aclimatize when we got into Peru for a couple days but since we missed our flight we weren't able to. And now at 10,000 ft my body was not happy. We got introduced to the porters, who carry 100 kilos up the mountain in sandals basically at a run while carrying on a conversation. Jef and I are carrying packs taht are way above the suggested weight limit for this trip but since the first day was ok we thought we could tough through it. Turns out that I can't...I am puking and falling over in the first 2 hours and am getting the "windows". That was by far the worst I have ever felt, and I couldn't enjoy the scenery without getting vertigo and being on the verge of passing out. So after multiple hours of pestering me to help take on some of the weight of my pack Jef again comes to my rescue and carries my ENTIRE pack for me. I mean come on who is so wonderful that they would carry two full sized ridiculously heavy packs up a mountain on the hardest part of the trek? Well Jeffrey Coleman Jackson, who set a completely new level of manliness, selflessness and perfect boyfriendness. I still had to stop every tweny meters to throw up and breathe while the porter is making my inhale some local alcohol that supposedly settles the stomach. We became the famous couple throughout the groups on this trek. As either the Californians, the sick couple, or the sick girl with the amazing boyfriend. People kept cheering us on and taking picture and videos of us as we climbed and eventually reached the top, surprisingly not last or to far behind the rest. Aparentally amongst other groups those who got altitude sickness just fell over and either couldn't continue or had to get a porter to carry their stuff. Once I got to the top though, then my porter decides to offer my altitude sickness medication which is a total god send uxcept it makes your hands and feet tingle. Those pills got me through the nest couple days.
Day Three:
This is the longest day, 10 hrs of hiking with lots of Incan remains along the way. Most of it downhill so it destroys your knees. But thank the Lord I chose to get a pair of poles so Jef and I both took one. The Andes are by far the most grogeous thing I have ever seen. It is no surprise to me that the Incans thought them to be gods because everytime I stopped ot look at them I couldn't believe how terrifying and magnificent they were. The plant life is so different than in America that it made me feel like I was in Jurassic Park or Jumangi. We got a porter for this day to arry one of our bags and the day was one of enjoyment. At night however not so much, I started getting sick again and fell asleep at 5 and slept til 330 the next morning when we got up to hike into Macchu Picchu.
Day Four:
We wake up and frantically hike to the Sun Gate entrance to Macchu Picchu before the sun rises. My this point all the groups that are on the hike are really close and you see familiar faces everywhere, and once we finish hiking up "The Gringo Killer" (stairs that are seriously straight up) you see the Sun Gate and it is suddenly the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. Once we're there we can see Macchu Picchu down in the canyon, more massive and beautiful than we could have imagined. We hike down as the sun rises and the birds sing and then stop and stare, finally feeling the "we did it". From the pictures you think that Macchu Picchu looks big but my god it is massive. It seriously is an entire city with a convent, a school, housing, temples and 1000 terraces. It is surrounded by moutains that seem to never end and was built in only 30 days then abandoned when the Spanish arrived in Cusco and news got to the hidden city. Although we were exhausted and I felt like I was on my death bed we didn't want to leave this magical place, that was covered in wild alpaca. We finally got some peace from the chaos of Peru.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)