Chinese New Year

For the Chinese New Year festivities, we braved the madness of Bangkok's Chinatown. The celebration was a mix of old traditions and modern commerce opportunities. (i.e. There were dragons and lots of stuff for sale.) Judging by the expressions of the holders' faces, this dragon was very heavy or had slithered a long distance.
Human totem pole:

And red lanterns, which were raised over many city streets.

Centara Sky Bar

If you come to visit Bangkok, we will undoubtedly take you to Centara Sky Bar. I will never tire of drinking on top of a tall building while gazing across the city. Especially around sunset, which is amazingly when the 2 for 1 happy hour is. Feast away, eyes.



My traveling buddy MK, who I met in Bali and has shared many great tales from her journey through Bali, Laos, Thailand (including Wat Pho Thai masseur school) and now India.

Mom and Dad! More posts to come about the family visit, as soon as they share all their pictures with me (hint hint).

If you visit us

Nong Khai and Buddha Park

Nong Khai is a sweet little town on the Laos border. Aside from an esplanade alongside the Mekong, we visited an awesome sculpture garden called the Buddha Park. The artist, a Lao named Luang Pu, transformed traditional Buddhist images into towering, surreal sculptures.
Naga, the seven-headed snake:
One section is a circular ring that depicts the life cycle.



And then it was back on the overnight train from the Laos border back to Bangkok. What a fun way to travel! These two seats facing each other turn into bunk beds. Most trains leave in the evening, and arrive the next morning. Grabbing a Chang beer in the cramped, open air bar car was definitely a memorable experience.

Scary Fish monsters

At a temple in Nong Khai, visitors can buy pellets and throw them to the catfish in the lake. The catfish, who have grown large, congregate around the dock and whip into a scary frenzy when the pellets are distributed. But don't take my word for it...

Coral Reefs

Coral Reefs in Greater Peril.
Boo

Laos pt 2, Vientiane

By the third day I was ready to escape the backpacker gyre of Vang Vieng, so onto the mini-bus I went. The trip back to Vientiane (Laos' capitol and also pronounced Vien-chang - thanks French) was a windy four hour jaunt through the countryside. Vientiane may be the smallest national capital in the world. The downtown area is a small grid of streets, not much bigger than Saratoga Springs or West Chester, PA. Many travelers are underwhelmed and pass through quickly, but Vientiane is not without its merits.
First and best is the Mekong river. The Mekong is the twelfth largest river in the world. It starts in Tibet, and flows through China, Burma/Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The difference between rainy and dry seasons was very evident here:
Presumably during rainy season, the whole center sandbar would be flowing river. Because it hasn't really rained since November, the river has been reduced to two smaller flows on either side. Nevertheless (or even more so) very beautiful, and countless open air restaurant stalls lined the banks of the river, making for several memorable sunset dinners.
My first night in Vientiane was sans Maki, as he was taking the overnight train from Bangkok. So I ended up bar-hopping (with two backpackers I had met earlier) in what is decidedly not a city with great nightlife. One of the backpackers was convinced we could find "the party" if we asked enough people (including taxi drivers and random people on the street) and I have to say, it took us to many interesting and enjoyable bars. One stop midway through the night had a nice house band, but really got good when four Laos cougars comandeered the dance floor. Not to be outdone, the gayest man in Laos (remember, its a small country) strutted up and faced off against the head cougar. Just in case you doubt my superlative for this man, I tried to capture his seventies, West Village head-to-toe denim get-up.

The last stop for me was a Laos kareoke bar, which was also really fun. One of my traveler friends was drunk enough to sing there, and here is a super blurry picture of that.

The next day, Maki safely arrived and we did a pleasant walking tour of the historical sights and Wats (temples) of Vientiane. Here is the river by day, with several monks walking on the exposed sand bar.

And finally the night market. Delicious food options, many of them still alive. (I have a picture of cute frogs sitting and waiting to be eaten, but it was just too cruel to post). We ordered a papaya salad that came super spicy, and for the first time I saw Maki wince from the heat of a chili. I attempted to capture it on video, but he was playing it cool by the time I got to recording.

Overall, Laos is an extremely beautiful country, and has a relaxing backwater of Southeast Asia vibe. Much talk there is of the heavy investment from China, so it would be interesting to see in ten years.

Laos pt 1, Vang Vieng

Beautiful and notorious Vang Vieng. This tiny town on the Nam Song river, wedged between luscious green mountains, has become an unlikely hedonists' destination. The town is halfway between Luang Prabang and Vientiane, and at some point in the nineties, the stopover developed a cache of its own. The reputation is that of a spaced-out bubble where tourists drink "happy" shakes and sit and watch Friends or Family Guy every day. Upon arrival in town, the first thing you notice are all the cafes showing endless reruns of the show. To me, the vibe was immediately off-putting. But outside the center of town, the wondrous views were indeed worth the trip. Here is the river, near sunset.
I took an eco-tour that involved visiting a couple caves, including one that we floated through on inner tubes. Another shot of the river.

Nice walk through a Laos farming community.

Bike ride into the countryside. This place is a great eco-tour destination, as nature surrounds the town.

I was on the fence about the "tubing experience", but after meeting a couple traveling buddies, I went for it. Tubing in the Nam Song is basically a bar crawl, where you get dropped off up-river and then lazily float down at stop at the many bars along the way. I expected much more of a hippie/burn-out feel, but when we arrived it was pure Aussie spring break. My companions were an Australian college student and a couple from Donegal, Ireland (coincidentally where my grandmother's family comes from). So we spend way too much time at the first couple bars, and didn't get very far down the river. But it was tons of fun.

Lumpini Park Concert

Every Sunday night, the city puts on a free concert in Lumpini Park. We decided to buy some wine, bread and cheese, and check it out. Before we joined the crowd, we walked by many Thais doing synchronized aerobics. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that public outdoor aerobics are popular all across East Asia. Sometimes I want to join in.
The sun set as the orchestra played. The played a variety of tunes, from classical to adult contemporary.