Christian et Willow en Asie

Le big apple

2008-03-19T05:30:00.002+08:00

We arrived safe and sound and have enjoyed our time with our wonderful friends here in NYC. It's $2 per 10 minutes in this internet cafe- so expensive in this town!!

We will be going back to MTL on Thursday morning.

Ciao for now!

W et C

Hong Kong (airport) (still)

2008-03-14T17:18:00.003+08:00

Last night was wild. But I have no time so will explain later. Contacted our friend Joe in New York city, so we will be staying with him when we arrive tomorrow. Yay! There is free 15 minute internet to be found at the Hong Kong airport, alors voila, j'ecrit un petit note. I miss Thailand already. I miss you too. Short and sweet. Will write more later.

OK.... this is later....I am currently editing this blog as.. well, I'll just come out and say it-we missed our flight! We were all settled in near a little jazz bar in the airport and somehow missed our plane! We didn't realize there was an hour's difference from Bangkok to Hong Kong, so we showed up and surprise! We felt to regretful and stupid and scared about how many thousands of dollars extra it would cost us-It was a total nightmare. For a moment. But then.... the little woman who worked for Cathay Pacific told us to follow her and well, after calling the right people, she got us on a flight to NYC tomorrow (actually today as it is now the dawn of the 15th!!) The ladies were so awesome- we didn't even have to pay anything extra- and we originally bought the restricted economy tickets!!? Anyways, no complaints- we will make more of an effort of hovering beside the proper gate this time! Unfortunately we couldn't leave the airport unless we wanted to pay hundreds of dollars to spend a night in Hong Kong, so we opted to stay in this mammoth airport mall complex. Looks a bit like the mother ship in Star Trek-actually a very sterile but beautiful architectural aestehtic. There are these lounges in the airport that you can pay to sleep and shower in, but they cost like $100 us dollars each, so we decided to sleep on the reclining chairs and benches in the airport- and well, I'd finally fallen asleep when this couple recently struck up a loud friendly conversation and I started thinking very nasty thoughts and decided to vacate my chair. You know when you are tired and then passive aggressive and then full out bitchy- that's me about 15 minutes ago. So here I am confessing our mistake to you at 5 am, Hong Kong time. When in Rome and sleep deprived, write a ranting blog- makes you feel better.

C'est fini...

2008-03-13T14:52:00.003+08:00

C'est fini... Ok pas tout a fait fini mais presque . Il nous encore quelques heures a Bangkok et 5 jours a New York. Bangkok est definitivement une des villes les plus intence que j'ai connue .Ca grouille de partout tout le temps.Tellement de gens partout c'est etourdissant mais tres interressant.On a passer deux nuits chez des connaissances ici a bangkok avec qui nous avons partager un exelent repas que Aum nous a prepare .Hier nous avons visiter le chinatown et le marche de fleur. Le dernier soir nous sommes alle feter dans une discoteque et par chance Carabao, le groupe le plus respecte de Thailande, ont fait un concert surprise.C'etait comme si les rolling stone fesait un consert surprise dans un bar de montreal .Tout le monde avait le sourire fendu jusqu'au oreille et dansait comme des dements. Ont s'ait serieusement torcher la face ce qui a surement quelque chose a voir avec la mesaventure qu'il nous est arrive le lendemain. Nous avons manquer notre vol a cause que nous avons oublier qu'il y avais une difference d'une heure entre Bangkok et Hong kong. Anyway nous avons eu enormement de chance, les gens de Cathay Pacifique ont change notre vol sans frais. Nos avons due passer une tres longue et penible nuit a l'areoport. J'aimerais avoir plus de temps pour visiter l'asie . En fait 2 mois et demi c'est pas suffisant pour visiter tout les endroits que nous avons visiter. Ah le prochain voyage sera plus long, J'espere...

Kho Chang Ile paradisiaque

2008-03-09T23:46:00.002+08:00

Nous nous sommes accrocher les pieds a Kho Chang, comment resister a une iles tropicale avec plein de plages ,de bars, peuple a 75% de filles! Un petit paradi pour touriste.Nous avons fait du snorkel, c'était vraiment intence de voir la vie sous la mer, des centaines de poissons et coraux aux formes et aux couleurs les plus allucinantes wow j'en oubliait presque de remonter a la surface pour respirer.Les gens avec qui nous sommes aller plonger etait merveileux.En particuler Bahar et FIrat Deux etre d'une extreme geneureusite qui nous ont heberge chez eux. Nous avons voler dans un ultra leger avec un de leur amis histoire de voir l'ile sous un autre angle et avons fait de l 'hebertisme dans les arbres a plus de 30 pieds dans les air. Nous Mangeons des fruits de mer et du poisson a presque tout les repas Mmmmmmm; des crevettes geantes, des langoustes, des huitres , des moules et plein de poissons.Nous fesons la fete a presque tout les soirs et passons nos journees sur la plage ou dans des hamacs a sirote des cocktails.En gros on profite de la vie au maximum, et ont fait tout notre possible pour vous rendre jalous! Il ne nous reste que quatre jours en asie et aujourd'hui est notre dernier jour a Kho Chang nous retournons a Bangkok ou nous prendrons l'avion pour New York ou nous passerons cinq jours avant de finalement retourner par train a Montreal le 21 mars. Alors a bientot!

Koh Chang or elephant island

2008-03-02T14:35:00.005+08:00

We arrived in Koh Chang a few days ago by boat and have enjoyed the sun, white sandy beaches and funky nightlife area along Lonely beach. We met this amazingly nice Turkish couple Bahar and FIrat(see the vampire with coral fangs photo)who work for Ploy Scuba diving (they had just swam with a giant and rare whale shark that day) and so we went out snorkelling yesterday. The world beneath the sea is so amazingly colourful - I think I might come back to Thailand some day and become a certified Scuba diver because observing fish...well I've always loved it. Last night we went to a famous seafood resto in Bangbao (still in Koh Chang) and tried giant shrimp, a mackerel curry and rock lobsters. It was truly delicious. The taxi driver wanted us to pay far too much for returning to Lonely beach, so we set out walking along the dark road. A couple passed us and stopped a little farther down the road looking at something and I heard them speaking French. I yelled out to the 'Excuse-est-ce que on peut poigner un lift avec vous?' They agreed to we hopped onto the backs of their scooters and they drove us back to our home. Turns out they were Quebecois and we had some beer with them and the Turkish couple and a bunch of their Turkish friends. We have come across alot of Francophone travellers- it's been fun to practice French along with the south-East Asian languages. Today we went to something called Tree-top adventures and climbed, swung and screamed from the tops of trees in an elaborate obstacle course. Fun stuff. Koh Chang is a little like Vancouver island here- you have the gorgeous beaches, lots of tourists (but the good kind) jungle (monsoon instead of rainforest.) Tomorrow we may go to the other side of the island to Long beach (2 hours away- Koh Chang is Thailand's biggest island) Perhaps we will have a bucket of Mojito soon. They put fuschia coloured orchids in it and they are so tasty when cold. We will stay in Koh Chang for 1 more day and then get on a boat and bus to go to Bangkok where we will visit some friends. -Mtl possibly around the 21st. Now for a swim in the ocean.

Siem Reap update

2008-02-26T06:59:00.009+08:00

We arrived by small plane to Siem Reap from Laos safely and spent 2 days at the world famous Angkor Wat. Very beautiful- wonderful carvings and structures. I read over 40% of the population of Cambodia is under 14 years of age. The food in Cambodia delicious- comparable to the quality of Thailand- surprised it's not more popular world-wide. Laotian food apparently had less variety in their diet than Khmers, from what we can tell. The town Siem Reap is quite nice- this morning we booked a bus ticket to go south stopping for 1/2 hour in Phnom Penh and then continuing on to Sihanoukville the south (finally going to a beach.) Tired but happy at 5 am, over and out.

Les temples d'Angkors

2008-02-26T06:59:00.008+08:00

Nous sommes maintenant a Siem Reap, Deuxieme ville en importance et definitivement la plus touristique du Cambodge.Siem Reap est situe a quelques minutes du plus grand site de monuments religieux au monde. C'est tres dispendieux ici, visite les temples, la bouffe, les transports, en tout est un peu plus cher qu'ailleur dans le sud est asiatique.Mais les temples vallent definitivement la peine d'etre vue. Nous en avons visite au moin dix en deux jour. Les plus beaux sont ceux qui sont envahis par la jungle comme Ta phron et Phrea Khan. Nous aurions voulue visite deux autres temples situes plus loin de la ville mais c'est tres couteux, le temps nous manque et en fait, je crois que nous avons notre dose de temples pour le moment. La bouffe Khmer est l'une des plus interessante que j'ai mange en asie du sud est . Plus sucre, plus fruite et moin epice que la cuisine thaie mais d'une grande finesse. Cette cuisine gagne a etre connue et est plus accessible que la cuisine thaie car moin epice.Quand ils n'ont rien a nous vendre les Cambodgiens sont tres sympatiques, mais ceux qui depende du tourisme sont vraiment ennnuyant.Ils ne savent pas ou arrete. L'extreme pauvrete les a transformes en betes assoifes d'argent. Apres Siem Reap nous nous dirigerons vers Sihanookville pour un jour ou deux et ensuite nous irons sur l'iles Ko chang en thaillande.

Trop cour passage au Laos

2008-02-22T20:06:00.003+08:00

Nous sommes arrive a Paske au tot le matin pour aussitot repartir.Nous y avons louer une moto et avons pris la direction du plateau Boloven. Region qui produit l'un des meilleurs cafe du monde.Nous y avons vue les differentes etapes de la culture du cafe et nous avons visiter de gigantesque chutes d'eau. Apres nous sommes aller a Si Phon Don (4000 iles) sur une ile appeler Don Det. C'est tres similaire a Pai mais sur une iles. C'est touristique mais pas trop, les gens y sont tres relax et les effluves de marijuanna se font sentir un peu partout. Certain restaurant offre des menu "happy"(mets avec du pot dedans) et meme des joints et des dejeuner anti lendemain de brosse avec un cocktail de drogue pour te remettre de tes abus de la veille! Nous nous sommes prommener en Kayak au travers des iles et des buffles autour de Don Det en buvant du pastis et avons relaxer et fait la fete. J'aimerais avoir plus de temps pour voyager car je serais reste plus longtemp ici et beaucoup d'autre endroit au Laos semblent vraiment interressant a visiter. Mais il est deja temps de quitter, demain nous prennons l'avion pour Siem Reap au Cambodge pour y voire les temples d'Angkor et ensuite nous retournerons en thailande au parc national de Khao Yai et Les plages de Ko Chang.

Luang Prabang, Bolavan plateau, Don-Det, Laos

2008-02-22T20:04:00.003+08:00

Luang Prabang was so beautiful. It is French colonial architecture and it's filled with European tourists. We heard French everywhere- even so older Laos were speaking French to us. This is my favorite city in south-east Asia so far. The grilled fish in the night market is a must. The Hmong textile and artisan market glows at night, such beautiful stuff. They were selling these funky antique children's hats- many of them with little ears and the most intricate embroidery. Our last night in Luang Prabang a bartender gave Christian and I a shot of cobra whisky- it was so gross, the little grey scales floated on the top of the shot glass. After 22 hours in a pimped up double decker "V.I.P."tourist bus (which supposedly has films, Kareoke and full meals but had no such thing for us) There are rumours going around that they were putting dwarves in large suitcases and then during the ride they would unzip themselves and steals all the valuables from everybody else's luggage- but nothing was missing from my bag, or at least not that I noticed. We went immediately to the motorbike rental place and scootered out of town and went to a beautiful waterfall and then another that looked like the one in Jurassic park. We were waterfall hunting. They were beautiful and it was fun, we even came across Father Coffee- an old guy who roasts his own. The next destination was Don-Det- a tourists paradise in the region of the 4,000 islands in southern Laos. This place was fun. We rented kayaks, hikes, went biking and ate wonderful food at the many restaurants- last night we tried this Lao style of barbeque- your cook your own meat over this little fire and stew veggies a little bit like fondue-chinois (for my friends in quebec- you know what I'm talking about!) We loved Don-Det-it warmed us up for tomorrow- we will be taking a plane to Siem Reap, Cambodia tomorrow morning-right next to Ankor-Wat. Can't wait. Only 20 days or so left in Asia-I think I would like to come here again.

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Luang Prabang

2008-02-22T19:27:00.011+08:00

Nous avons decider de nous diriger plus au sud, Luang Nam Tha etait tres bien mais un peu froid. Nous avons passe quelque jours a Luang Prabang, a mon avis une des plus belle ville au monde. C'est tres touristique et les "guest house" sont plutot cher mais la ville a su garder un peu du charme colonial francais et le developpement de la ville s'est fait d'une facon harmonieuse.Le Marche de nuit est comparable a celui de Chiang Mai, sauf que la bouffe y est encore meilleur et l'artisanat que l'on y trouve est d'une qualite et d'une beaute exeptionnelle. En particulier les tissus, les differentes ethnies du Laos sont probablement les meilleur tisseur du monde, leur travail est impressionnant et le prix de ces oeuvres est ridicule.Pour moin de 20$ tu peu trouver un foulard de soie tisse a la main fait de A a Z (elevage des vers a soie, teinture naturel fillage et tissage) par des artisants. La confection de ces tissages peu parfois prendre jusqu'a quelque mois et demande enormement de minutie. A cause d'un manque manque de temps nous avons decider de prendre un autobus V.I.P. de nuit pour Paske. Sautant par dessus Viang Veng et ventianne.

Luang Namtha, Muang Sing, Laos

2008-02-22T19:27:00.010+08:00

It has been so long since I've posted anything, sorry about that. We took the incredibly twisted road from Chiang Kong to Luang Namtha where we signed up on 2 treks- one day we went to a Sida village and had our first taste of Lao-Lao. Stumbled upon an natural dye studio downtown Luang Namtha behind a textiles store- the people were wonderful and we couldn.t help but purchase 2 indigo-dyed shirts. The textiles in Laos are beautiful. The second hike was supposed to last 2 days, but after the incredible introduction to the Khmu village Ban Nalan we chose to stay another night. Upon arrival we saw some chicks and a chicken devouring something out of a clay pot-the chicks had even jumped inside the container to get to the stuff. Turns out this was a recently emptied pot of Lao-Li, a rice wine fermented in a pot and drunk with little rubber straws. We were invited to a hut-warming (I swear they built the entire structure in one day!) and we partied with the Khmus. They had a gong that some drunk young person would beat when it was drinking time. So we were sharing shot glasses, drinking from the communal Lao-Li hoses and everybody and their dog tried my melodica. Germ city. But I didn't get sick to date and we had the best time. The next day we had a picnic down the river and ate fresh fish roasted over a fire. Fun stuff. Great hike too, some beautiful old growth forest-I dig jungles. After the hike we rented a scooter and drove out to Muang Sing, a small town beside the Lao-Chinese border surrounded by hill tribes. We went for a hike and were surprised to hear the children asking us for bon-bons, monnaie and crayons (in French) We were advised not to bring candies and gifts to the kids as it encouraged them to beg. It is a strange balance-you are a visitor in their town, but you aren't allowed to impact the culture with your presence. For example, the Akha villages have these wooden structures called spirit gates, and no foreigner must touch them, doing so might lead to dire consequences such as needing to sacrifice an animal to appease the tribes spirits from bringing bad luck or illness to it's people. The variety of tribes was impressive, but we were saddened when we entered this one village and were swarmed my dirty little kids who wanted to see what was in our pockets and angered that we hadn't brought them candy. One little boy was swinging a machete around following us out of the village repeating boon-bons? Monnaie? Couteau? The image of child soldiers comes to mind- when they know far too much for such a young age. Laos are not as used to tourists as Thais in general. Women have a very strict dress code and you get very dirty looks if you wear a shirt above the knees or a sleeveless or v-neck top. Another thing I have seen is women will bathe in the river wearing a sarong- even a t-shirt and shorts is apparently taboo for women who are desiring to go in the water. We had a great time in Luang Namtha (lots of spontaneous drinking of Lao-Lao whiskey and Beerlao (the famous Lao beer with a Czech recipe) with the generous locals), but got very cold up there so we decided to go south.

Muang Sing

2008-02-13T23:17:00.002+08:00

Nous avons louer une motocyclette en somme parti pour Muang sing petite ville au nord de Luang Nam Tha.Nous y avons trouver un "guest house"tres confortable ou j'ai pu enfin dormir trois pleine nuit de someille les premiere depuis tres longtemp l'asie etant tres bruyante.Nous avons fait une longue rendonner dans les montagnes de villages en villages et avons rencontre deux jeunes filles qui voulait perfectionner leur anglais avec nous. Elles nous ont donner rendez vous le lendemain et nous sommes aller au marcher avec eux c'etais tres interressant au debut mais un peu decevant quand elles ont commencer a nous demander de leur acheter des choses. J'aurais aimer ne pas avoir la bariere linguistique pour leur expliquer que nous ne somme pas aussi riche qu'elles le pensent. Nous leur avons tout de meme achete un ditionnaire lao\anglais cadeau qui leur sera utile pour comprendre le reste du monde. Nous sommes revennus a Luang Nam Tha dans le froid et la pluie et avons decider de nous payer du bon temps dans un des meilleur restos du nord du laos.

Party chez les Khmus

2008-02-13T22:20:00.003+08:00

La premiere rendonne etait interessante. Les adultes de la tribu Sida (j'ignore si il connaissent la signification du mot sida en francais) etait plutot reserve, tout le contraire des enfants qui eux nous ont acceuillient a grand coup de sabaidee (Hello en lao)et qui posaient pour nous tout exites de voir leur image sur nos cameras.Notre guide nous a ammane voir une petite chute ou nous avons eu notre premier contacte avec le Lao Lao (alcool de riz artisanal qui doit faire dans les 45% d'alcool)Le lendemain nous sommes parti avec la meme guide pour la deuxieme rendonner (bonne chose car ont l'aimait bien) .Nous avons marcher tout la journee en foret avant d'arriver au village Khmu. Lorsque nous sommes arrives dans le village les hommes y etaient affaires a construire une hutte . Le soir venue les gens du village nous ont invite a un "hut warming party" Celebration qui dure deux jour chez les Khmus. Ils nous ont fait boire du Lao Lao en quatite industriel et du Lao Lai (un vin de riz artisanale non filtre que l'on boit dans une cruche en terre cuite a l'aide d'une petite paille en bamboo pour eviter de de boire le mout de riz ).Et pour faire passer tout ca nous avons bue quelque Beerlao (exelente biere d'inspiration tcheque qui coute environs 0.50$ la grosse quille).Le lendemain les gens du village nous ont invite a reste une journee supplementaire que l'on a passer a pikniquer, pecher et manger. Nous avons jouer avec les enfants et avons dessinner leur portrait, ils ont adorer. Les enfant s'amusait avec de petit poissons qui se gonflait comme des ballons lorsqu'il se sentaient en danger ,etrange! Le pik nik etait memorable ils ont cuisiner les poissons pecher dans la riviere avec des aliments trouver dans la foret (cett tribu est pratiquement autosuffisante) c'etais delicieux Meilleur que la bouffe des restos en ville.Le lendemain nous avons parcourue la parti la plus difficile de la rendonner mais aussie la plus impressionnante. Nous marchions dans la jungle au millieux d'arbres qui avais plus de 400 ans. Ensuite nous avons traverse un village Lanteen (tribu)ou nous avons pue voir une femme en train de fabriquer du papier de Bamboo. Nous avons ete tres chanceux d'assiste au festivale Tan Dam car c'etait le dernier a avoir lieux . Tout les membres de tout les tribus de l'etnie Tam dam c'etait reunni pour une derniere fois , c'ertain sont venu d'aussi loin que les etats unis pour assiter a cette evenement.L'atmosphere etait a la fete et le Lao Lao coulait a flot.

Luang Nam Tha - Laos

2008-02-13T21:34:00.002+08:00

Malgre un bon nombres de similarites, le Laos est tres different de la thailande. Les deux languages ont beaucoups de mots de mots en communs mais la prononciation est differente.La monnaie laosienne le Kip, est un vrai casse tete. Nous devons convertir les prix en bath et en dollar constament pour etre sur que nous ne payons pas plus cher qu'en thaillande et que nous respectons notre budget. Le Laos est plus pauvre que la Thailande, et la facon dont les touristes sont percus ici est differente. Les gens croits que nous sommes riche, c'est un peu agacant.Ici ont vit beaucoup plus la difference entre les prix pour Laosiens et ceux pour les etrangers. Mais les laosiens sont aussi dune extreme generosite, ils nous est arrive a plusieur reprises d'etre invite a partager une biere, un repas ou d'etre invite a une celebration du nouvelle an chinois et meme a un marriage par de totales inconnus. Luang Nam Tha est une petite ville tranquille qui doit sont attrait au parc national qui l'entoure (le plus important au Laos). Pour entre a l'interieur de cette reserve faunique il faut un permit et un guide alors nous avons opter pour deux rendonners guidees. La premiere de une journee en foret incluant la visite d'un village sida (nom de la tribu ) et le lendemain une rendonner de deux jour avec une nuit chez les khmus (autre tribu). Et nous reviendrons juste a temps pour la festivale Ta Dam (encore une autre tribu !).

Happy birthday Cassandra!

2008-02-10T12:58:00.000+08:00

It is now officially midnight in Toronto and I wanted to post my sis some birthday wishes...hope you're having fun!!! We are currently in Luang Nam Tha- more on that later when we have more time- today we go to Muang Sing. Soon we will update our travels with new pictures and many stories.

A quick note from the Lao/Thai border

2008-02-02T22:21:00.000+08:00

Well, it kept on raining in Mae Salong, so we had to leave that enchanted place, but if in Thailand, I highly suggest visiting there-especially the guest house we stayed in- Ho was a great host and he kept pouring us whiskey! We had to bike in the rain for a couple of hours (Christian is a really good scooter driver!) and arrived in Chiang Saen. We tried to sleep last night in the middle of some angry Shih-tzu howling puppies in cages and drunken lady-boys at the karaoke bars surrounding our mildew-smelling overpriced guesthouse. We did not sleep well, and in the morning we went to find transport to the Lao border. (We were definatley NOT staying another night in Chiang Saen!) I left Christian alone to find a bathroom, and when I got back Christian sheepishly asked me for 20 baht, as this weird smelly guy decided to give him a 15 minute unwanted massage- and forced him to pay for it. It takes all kinds... After 2 lifts in different small truck buses we arrived in Chiang Kong. We have met a few travellers who told us that internet access is not as common in Laos, so we will probably be posting less messages for the next while, but we will try our best. Hope you are all well, and tomorrow- Luang Namtha, Laos! Christian has already started writing out Lao phrases in a book and we are still baffled about the conversion of Lao to Thai to Canadian currency- we are both really bad at math.... and it is exactly twelve hours difference from Montreal. So good night and good morning!

Dernier jour en Thailande

2008-02-02T22:19:00.000+08:00

Demain matin nous quittons la thailande pour le laos. Nous avons eu du mauvais temps pendant les deux dernier jour, il mouillait et il fesait froid. C'est triste car nous n'avons pas plus explorer la region de Mae Salong autant que l'on aurait voulue. Ce coin de la thailande est, je crois la plus belle region de la tailande que j'ai visite. La prohaine fois peut etre. L'hote du "guest house" ou nous avons passer les deux nuits etait vraiment tres acceuillant. Il nous servais du the vert a longueur de journee et le soir venue c'etait au tour du wiskey( gratis). La chambre etait spacieuse et etais pourvue du plus grand lit que j'ai jamais vue (lit triple!) et nous coutait la somme ridicule de 50 Bath par personne (Environs 1.30$). Nous Sommes revennus de Mae Salong jusqu'a Chiang Saen sous la pluie battante. En arrivant a Chiang Saen nous avons manger une tres bonne soupe, seul point positif de cette ville. Nous sommes presentement a Chiang Kong a la frontier du Laos ,ville beaucoup plus charmante et plaisante et le soleil est revenu. La bouffe y est exelente et a un gout un peut plus Laosien. C'est probablement le dernier post que nous ecrivons pour un petit moment car l'internet est tres rare en dehors des villes au nord du Laos, mais des que nous arriverons a Luang prabang nous aurons plein de chose a raconter. Demain nous partons pour Luang Nam Tha et apres Muang Sing et d'autre trou perdu au fond de la jungle du nord du Laos.

Lost & found!

2008-01-31T19:15:00.000+08:00

So.. since the last time I wrote, we lost our digital camera, our keys for the scooter in a Mae Hong San market, even my melodica our last barcrawl in Pai (in my drunken stupor I swore I brought it home!!) Luckily we have found all these things again due to kind and honest Thai strangers. I must say I feel quite safe in this country- even the drivers seem to take care of others on the road more than in Mexico and Canada. (I am of course am not talking about drivers in Bangkok, that's another story!) Using my off time while C studied Thai cooking, I read 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest'- such a good, sad but inspiring book! I rented a mountainbike and checked out the small villages around Pai- it's so funny to go places and have all the kids yelling hi and waving their hands at you. Sunny Thailand. We went swimming with an elephant named Boonma- which was fun because elephants, like trail horses get awfully bored going for another walk around the block, but get them to do tricks and you will see them respond in a very positive way. It's really like she enjoyed chucking us off into the river- if you've ever seen an elephant laugh, you know what I mean. Anyways, when we get the film from the disposable waterproof camera developed you will see Christian bronco riding an elephant and getting spat in the face with water. Elephants are really smart. The morning before our last day in Pai Serpab the lovely gardener brought us sticky rice and noodles with fish and a very useful lesson in Thai for breakfast. Such a nice guy. Christian's wonderful cooking and carving teacher made us a spectacular meal our last night- a fried Thai fish with amazing herbs and another specialty fish steamed in soysauce- a recipe from Hong Kong. Our last day it rained cats and dogs- the first time we have seen rain since... whenever it rained last in Montreal. We had some time to kill so we went to this fantastic little video rental spot called 'Cinema Pairadiso' which rents you a DVD and then gives your own private livingroom and TV with surround sound. They had an excellent selection of film classics and by coincidence there it was!! I got to see Jack Nicholson in 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest'- man is he ever good. I find the novel stronger, but the casting in that film is fantastic.

I almost got carsick again on the overnight ride to Chiang Saen, but some nice guy gave me a sleeping pill and I passed out for a while. We arrived at around 3:30 am and had no idea that would be the time of arrival, had to find a guest house and wake up a woman, but we found a room luckily. Travel plans are sometimes unpredictable. The next morning we rented a motorcycle and headed off for the golden triangle where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (formerly Burma) can be seen from the Thai shore of a town called Sop Ruak. The opium museum was quite interesting and we ended up spending the night in the Riverside guesthouse, which was right beside the most northern point of Thailand and gave us a view of Myanmar across the river in a town called Mae Sae. As this is on the border, we found a rather bustling market the next morning everywhere we looked. Everything from flashlights to turtles were for sale. We hopped on the scooter (a 'Click'- a much better machine than the 'Icon' ladyboy-definately rent one of those if you are two travelling together, more comfy and gutsy!) Then we continued to get completely lost and ended up at the border, so C crossed and got a picture taken on the other side- man is it ever beautiful in ex-Burma! All the tourist maps we had didn't have any names on the streets and we got so lost several times that day, sometimes lacking gas, but we always got lucky somehow and arrived to our destination. We found the gorgeous park with caves called Tam Luang and I tried to get a photo of this butterfly and told C to stay away and not scare it for my photo, but then it ended landing on his foot! There were also rabbits there that would eat out of our hands. The caves were really cool, and after we went to a little resto where we ate some spicy green papaya salad and the lady there dared C to eat a deep fried cricket and he said it was interesting. We also both tried deep fried grubs and I almost puked after mine. After that we went to the Royal Palace/garden near Doi Tung which was beautiful, but we got really lost and yes once again found ourselves at the Myanmar border. The area smells like pine needles and flowers-very special place to be lost in. We finally made it late that night to the Chinese-Thai town of Mae Salong where they speak a Yunnanese dialect (somewhat Mandarin) and ride horses. The entertaining owner of the guest house we are staying in (Shin sane-50 baht a night each-wow what a deal!) told us we didn't have to take off our shoes in our room anymore because they are Chinese! It's quite multi-cultural here, there is a Chinese muslim mosque just behind the guesthouse. I had the best Won-Ton soup of my life today and I befriended these 2 Akha women (hilltribe women historically from Tibet, but now their tribe resides in Thailand) You can see the sort of clotted-blood grin of the little woman to the right of my chewing on Betel nut to make her teeth stained dark red (makes them look like funky little vampires.) This is a cool area surrounded by tea fields and different hilltribes (Akha, Mien, Lahu, Lisu, Yapa and Long-necked Karen. )We went to the morning market at 6 am today, and then it started raining so we have been taking it easy- C took a shot of one of the motorbikes passing by with umbrellas- but we are not that ambitious to get moving on yet. Next stop will be Chiang Saen to return the bike, then we will go to Chiang Kong, cross the border to Laos and arrive in Luang Namtha in a few days-depending on the rain.

bye bye Pai sabai!

2008-01-31T08:25:00.000+08:00

Pai etait vraiment sabai (cool) mais il etais temps de quitter avant que l'on se transforme en hippy! Nous sommes reste le temps que je suivre 2 jours de cour de cuisine et une journe de sculture de legumes. Nous avons profiter de nos dernier jour pour nous gater avec un merveilleux souper au resto de mon professeur (poisson frit aux herbes thaies et cachew et et un poisson vapeur a la mode de Hong kong ) et une session de 2 heures de massage thaie.Le lendemain nous avons eu droit a notre premiere journee de pluie nous en avons profiter pour aller voir un film dans un club video\cinema. Nous avons quitter le soir meme pour Chiang Saen ,point de depart pour notre visite du nord de la thailande.Nous avons louer une motocyclette et sommes parti pour Sop Ruak a la pointe du triangle d'or ou ,sur les berges du mekong on peu apercevoir le Laos et le Myammar.Nous avons visiter le musee de l'opium qui etais tres instructif.A pars de cela Sop ruak est un gros attrape farangs (touristes). Ensuite nous nous sommes dirige vers Mae Sai, la ville la plus au nord de la Thailande. Mae Sai est une ville a la frontiere du Myammar et a quelques Kilometres de la chine .Le jour la ville se transforme en un immence marche avec des produits chinois, birman et thaie. Ca recemble au super mercado echelonne sur tout un quartier de la ville. Malheureusement (ou heureusement pour notre budget) nous n'avions pas assez de place sur le scooter pour nous permettre de magasiner a notre guise. Alors nous sommes parti pour Mae Salong. En route nous avons visites des grottes et vue de merveilleux paysages des montagnes du Myammar, des champ mis a brules pour la culture du riz et un merveilleux coucher de soleil.En chemin nous nous sommes arrete pour manger un Som tam Thai(salade de papaye verte tres epice) et la vendeuse ma proposer avec defi de gouter a des insectes,curieux comme je suis je n'ai pas pu resister.Pas mal mais ce serait meilleur accompagner d'une bonne chang (biere thai). Et bien sur nous nous sommes encore perdu, ca devient une habitude! Par deux fois nous sommes arriver a la frontiere thai\Birmane et nous avons passer a un cheveux de manquer d'essence.La signalisation Bilingue n'est pas toujours tres presente et les cartes routieres pour les touristes sont tres approximatives. Mae Salong semble tres interessante les gens y parle le Mandarin et les alentours sont plein de village Akha, Lahu, yunnan, Mien, Lisu, Hmong perche dans les montagnes.

Mae hong son

2008-01-22T11:45:00.000+08:00

Mae hog son est une petite ville paisible a quelque kilometre du Myamar.Comme la plupart des vilee de Thaillande le beaux y cotoie le bric a brac et la salete. La campagne autour est de toute beaute . Nous avons passe une journee formidable a visiter la region en motocyclettes.Willow a apprivoiser tres rapidement sa moto, elle conduit maintenant comme une pros ! Nous avons visite une des plus grande grotte du monde, nourri des poissons vegetariens sacres, visiter des villages de differentes tribus des montagnes dont les Padaugs a long coup,tribu dont les femme porte traditionellement plusieur ranger de collier leur donnant un tres long coup.Et bien sur nous avons visiter les allentours sans destination precise, notre nouvelle activiter favorite. Les gens nous regarde souvent de facons bizard ils ne sont pas habitues de voir des touristes visiter leur villages perdu au millieu de nul part.Mais les plus beaux paysages sont souvent en dehors des circuit touristique et c'est dans ces endroits que nous voyons la vrai thaillande.Plus on s'eloigne des villes et des attrcations touristiques, plus l'anglaisdevient inutile. notre langage des signes evolue plus vite que notre thai, mais nous avons tout de meme apris plusieur phrases de base. Nous repartons aujourd'hui pour Pai, Willow en bus et moi avec Ladyboy.

Mae Hong San and the pink ladyboy

2008-01-22T11:10:00.000+08:00

So we rent this brand-spanking new pink scooter for our trip from Pai to Mae Hong San. We think it is good that it is brand new but forget to notice how small it is. Taking the bare minimum (meaning my 47 litre backpack full) we both climb on this trike of a bike we nick-name
Ladyboy and head off to Suppong with a deviation to the Lod cave. The ride was VERY bumpy, (and it had been extremely hilly from the start) and we arrived to the cave with bruised buttocks and rattled tailbones (with some periods of me walking up hills as the motor sounded like it was going to give up on occasion. ) The cave was awesome- huge- (looked like Yoda's lair) Our lovely guide took us around led by a big lantern and we walked around and saw many different shapes in the stalactites and stalagmites. She showed us some coffins that looked like canoes that were 1,000 years old. There was also a river going through the cave that we floated through on a bamboo raft. Mom would love the geology and geography here, it is so beautiful. We stayed at the Lemon guest house where the hostess reminded me of my Grandmother Sadie, but Thai. She insisted we call her Mama, and our little bamboo room looked over a rushing river. The next morning we hopped back on the bike and headed for Mae Hong San. When we stopped for gas Christian checked the oil and we asked the kid who worked at the gas station what type of oil to use and she gave us a small bottle of oil with 2 on the label, the rest was in Thai. Filled her up. (the gas is often puped into these glass jars and then poured through a hoe, measured manually-wild gas stations here) Started going up the hill when C thought the bike sounded funny, so we went to the nearest mechanic (which was closed, but people were helpful even though our Thai is quite limited) We ended up getting another bottle, this time white with 4 written on it and C did an oilchange much to the amusement on the onlookers. Moral of this story- don't trust a kid's mechanical advice-( duh!) Then we sped off to Mae Hong San with a little more worry wrinkle on our brow- would this bike make it all the way?? We arrived at the market along the fishlake in MHS and were delighted by the street food we encountered. The next morning we rented another bike from a wonderful tattoo artist named Tit- look him up if you are ever in Mae Hong San- him and his friends run a bar and are SO nice. THe one guy even lent me his full face helmut and gave me a little lesson on scooter riding. Thus began my first day riding my own motorbike. Scary. Exhilarating. Fast. Learning curve. We first took the bikes to a beautiful waterfall and then over to the fish cave where the fish are supposedly vegetarian- but it appears they might eat flies and eggs as well. They really like the lettuce we fed them. There was a cool bamboo structure which funnelled the river water to bamboo tubes and they made these knocking notes when they were full, then the water poured back into the river, they were filled up again, and the sound was repeated. Nice garden music. After that, we decided to go to see the longneck Karens at a bizarre refugee camp that is open to tourists. This sounds bad, I know, but perhaps before I go into this- what is a longneck? Google it to be more precise, but from what I gather these people come mainly from Burma, and due to ethnic wars, they had to leave and now live in this 'temporary' camp (for the past 16 years.) The ride was treacherous- my first day on a motorbike and we decided to go motor-cross country- it went on and on, but we finally arrived after sunset and there they were- beautiful women and girls with brass rings elongating their necks and occasionally limbs. They were cool, but it definately weird to be in an
Anthropological Disney world-type refugee camp- their handicrafts they were selling were beautiful- C bought me a lovely silver bracelet made by one of them. Today I will take a big Thai bus to return to Pai- and yes you need travel pills here- these roads twist!

Surprenante ladyboy

2008-01-21T11:32:00.000+08:00

Ladyboy C'est le nom que l'on a donne a notre scooter rose que l'on a louer a pai pour faire la route jusqu'a Mae Hong Song .Il est neuf et est supposer etre assez fort pour nous ammener la- bas,c'est ce que le vendeur pretendait ,avis qui n'est pas partager par d'autre personnes. En fait il n'etais pas assez fort , nous aurions du suivre les conseil des autres voyageur. Willow a du marche dans certaines cote et quelquefois notre vitesse descendais a 20 Kl\heure!Nous aurions du prendre une motocyclette a transmission manuelle. La route pour Mae Hong Song suit le meme genre de trajet que la route pour pai. Ideal pour une chevre! La vue y est formidable et nous passons par plein de petit village.Le trajet c'est bien passer mais on a passe a un cheveux de tuer Ladyboy; L'agence de location a oublier de faire le plein d'huile et nous nous en somme rendu compte seuleument a mi-chemin. La jeune fille au garage ou nous sommes arrete en route nous a donner le mauvais type d'huile (2 temp au lieu de 4 temps ).Heureusement J'ai remarquer le probleme peu de temp apres.Nous avons alors arrete a un garage qui etais fermer mais la femme m'a laisser utiliser les outils alors j'ai pue effectuer le changement d'huile moi meme!Ou la la! Nous sommes arrive a Mae Hong Son saint et sauf et nous nous appretons a visiter la region cette fois sur deux scooters.

Bungalow #5

2008-01-18T22:42:00.000+08:00

Hmmm.. where was I...We took this awesome '50's style overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai- Thailand's second largest city. We slept in bunks and I must admit- if I had the choice, I would choose that method of travel over all cars and planes-the view and the sounds the train are so great for sleep and songwriting. I bought a chinese plastic melodica, but there is a note which sometimes doesn't work- I miss my accordions!! We rode elephants-(oh how I love these amazing creatures,) then we bamboo rafted (which is a weird activity as you are trapped on this tippy raft, with Thai tourists watching you try to hang on in your bathing suit, with the Thai children splashing you- (a little like Xochimilco- the Venice of Mexico if you've ever been there)- but with a more zoo/water park feel. Oh and of course the 3 day trek-up and down the hills of the Hilltribe of the Karen people-I even wrote down the words (phonetically of course) of the lyrics of a song our drunken guides were singing in their red Karen language- I don't believe they'd ever seen it written down before and we had a laugh trying to learn it from them. The hilltribe women are beautiful- they weave really bright clothes and wear headcoverings and look really impressive with a baby strapped to their back and look you in the eye when they're smoking their pipes and corn leaf cigars. We stopped at a market before the trek and there was a red Karen cute little old man selling machetes and crickets and bouquets of veggies for soups. These big Aussie guys came and were daring each other to eat the crickets when the little old man opened his mouth to grin mischieviously revealing his blood-red teeth- which majorly freaked out the Aussie boys. The red Karens chip off bark from some kind of tree and then dry it in the sun. Then they either chew the bark or ingest it-not sure which- and it dies their teeth red and eventually black. Black teeth are considered very attractive in this culture, from what I've been told. Most interesting. We got to drink hot rice alcohol with the leader of the community we stayed in- so smiley! The livelihood of this and many villages has had to change, as (until recently) they were growers of opium, but the government came with the military and killed something like 20,000 farmers so they were forced to make drastic changes concerning crops. The traditional lifestyle is changing with the times, and now they raise this small breed of cow and crops like cabbage, tobacco and coffee, and this village we visited had been given a solar panel from the goverment. We bought eggs for the school children and the farangs (us -the foreigners) were asked to fry up and serve the eggs and give them some art supplies to the children of the village- who sang and thanked us for the crayons, etc. So many interesting plants here- one of the guides picked a leaf from a shrub and broke it's stem and blew bubbles from the sap between the fibres of the plant. After that we stayed in Chiang Mai- beautiful city- so different from the pushy Bangkok markets- it's really true what they say- Thais are SO nice! We met our first Buddhist monk, Gabe at the temple Srisupan, and he talked to us about all kinds of things- he was a really interesting fellow and he showed us the metal workshop in the temple- such fine craftsmanship here (correction- he's from Laos originally) The temples are breath-taking and everywhere. We arrived in Pai- this funky little village with lots of artsy types- Christian found this wonderful cooking and vegetable carving teacher- and took a class with her the other day- she's so cool and talented, and he plans to study with her further when we get back from a 3-4 day excursion to Suppong and Mae Hong Son. We love it here. The people here are so laid back and they seemed to like my nasty melodica playing last night. Sometimes I blow into the tube and no sound comes out- other times it honks really loud. After taking a stroll we found our dream home (temporary, but oh so wonderful) and we have been staying there ever since. It belongs to an old Thai farmer named Supaa, and after a little bartering he agreed to 150 baht a night (like $4.50 Canadian!) Bungalow #5 is a rickety yet extremely charming bamboo hut- with it's own private bathroom with shower. I have not seen one nail used in it's construction- it's all woven like a basket and attached with wire and straw bamboo ties. The roof is made of these giant leaves from the Tong tree- they are so big that when they fall from the tree they made a wooden 'clunk.' There's a mosquito net over the wood-like mattress and a tiny bridge over a little stream at the entrance. We are surrounded by ricefields and oxen and mountains and the view is beautiful. It's a fair walk from town, but we have rented a pink scooter and now I am happy to say I am learning how to ride it- next a Harley-vroom vroom! (Actually still prefer a real bike that forces me to exercise, but I must admit it's fun to put the pedal to the metal.) We rode over to these hot spring baths yesterday morning-a great way to start the day. Nights and mornings are chilly here, then it's so hot and sunny everyday in this season. Before we went out tonight, Supaa's son Yod made a little campfire and he taught us some Thai, we took turns singing songs- it was nice. Thais love to sing. Last night we went to the local Chinese Yunan village- bought some delicious tea and Christian pointed out that the Yunan people look a little like Yoda- and then I looked across the room at this attractive older Yunan woman, and sure enough, Yoda features! They are famous for being the horse people of Thailand. We came across this strange wooden windmill thing with swings attached to it. Some Thai guys came over and saw we were intrigued, so they told us to get on it-they held it still while we got on and it was the coolest thing- like a merry-go round made of wood- a little scary because it was high up and we weren't sure about the guy's intentions- but they were just having fun and they helped us off about 2 rounds after we wanted to stop. There are many new things to me- such as these giant paper lanterns that you light and the let go and they stream up up up into the sky and go so far they resemble glowing jellyfish, then they become stars, and eventually look something like comets. Asia is so cool.

PAI

2008-01-18T22:29:00.000+08:00

Apres avoir visiter les deux plus grande villes de thailande nous avons decider qu'il etais temps d'aller voir la campagne.La route pour pai resemble plus a mon intestins grelle qua une route .Il n'y a pas un seul troncon de cette route qui est en ligne droite .En tout 267 courbes. Les courbes etais tellement serre que l'on pouvais apercevoir le derriere de notre propre minivan!Pai est une petite ville de campagne qui est devenu un petit paradis pour les jeunes voyageurs.C'est festif et tres laid back,tout le monde ici sont la pour relaxer.Nous vivons dans une petite cabane en bamboo un milieu d'un champ de riz avec les buffles et les vaches! C'est super cute.Nous avons louer une petite moto pour aller explorer les attractions qu'il y a autour de la ville comme des chutes, des "hotspring", des elephants etc. Mais le plus amusant c'est de partir sans destination precise.J'ai aussi pris un petit cour de sculture de legume et je crois que je vais prendre des cours de cuisine thai aussi . Demain nous partons pour Sopong et ensuite pour Mai Hong Son.

Chiang Mai

2008-01-15T18:07:00.000+08:00

Nous avons pris le train de nuit pour Chiang Mai ce qui etais une tres bonne idee.Les couchettes etais aussi comfortable que le lit de notre precedente residence et les couvertures etais fourni .Chiang Mai est tout en contraste avec Bangkok C'est calme,c'est beau et les gens y sont Sympatique et tres relax.Le tour organise etais pas mal.La promenade en elephant et le rafting sur radeau de bamboo etais des attrapes touristes mais la randonner en montagne etais formidable.Notre groupe etais cool et nos guide etais de la meme ethnie (Karen) que le village que nous visitions .Il pouvais donc repondre a tout nos questions.Notre nuit dans le village Karen a ete tres enrichissante. Nous avons prepare un repas pour tout les enfants du village et nous leur avons offerts des cadeaux,wow c'etais noel...Apres le tour nous etions tres epuiser ,surtout moi car j'ai souffert d'une serieuse insolation qui ma terrasser pour les trois jours suivants et ma laisse avec une douleur dans les reins.Maitenant ca va beaucoup mieux.La vie en thailande s'organise autour des marches la plupars des gens y mange tout leur repas et les marches de la fin de semaime semble etre la sorti par exelence pour la famille ou en couple.Les vendeur de Chiang Mai sont beaucoup plus agreable que ceux de Bangkok tout comme l'ambiance en general.

Dernier jours a Bangkok,Prochaine destination Chiang Mai

2008-01-15T17:36:00.000+08:00

Nous commencon a peine a nous habituer a cette ville qu'il est deja temps de la quitter .
Bangkok est un melange de tout ce que tu peu trouver en thailande en formule ultra concentre.Trop concentre! C'est epuisant.Nous avons tente de trouver des renseignements sur le reste de notre parcour mais il est extremement difficile d'avoir des informations juste ; Ici tout le monde a quelque chose a vendre et les solutions D.I.Y. sont les plus difficiles a trouver.Nous nous sommes donc decider de prendre un petit tour\package organiser comprenant une promenade en elephant,une randonner de trois jours dans les montagnes avec une nuit dans une tribu des montagnes et du rafting sur radeau de bamboo ! Apres nous serons a Chiang Mai une ville plus calme ou il sera plus facile de trouver des informations.Pour notre derniere soiree a Bankok nous sommes sorti dans un bar restaurant chic avec Eric ,le frere d'un ami de Willow. La bouffe etais tres bonne et les prix comparable a ceux d'un restaurant pour touriste ,le tout dans une ambiance bien plus agreable que dans le ghetto a touriste

Kor kum mahk makh krap Eric!

Sorry I am a lazier typist than Christian

2008-01-07T10:58:00.000+08:00

It is really funny- we haven't read each other's thoughts on the trip, and I just checked out what he wrote- it is surprising how often we are thinking the same thing. Like Cathay Pacific rocking, for example. (Mais en francais) I suppose you deserve more info about Bangkok. Let's see... Thais don't appear to ever hurry. Most of the men drink on the job in this neighborhood as far as I can tell. The people with their kiosks on the street sleep in front of it at night. Christian and I have recently had insomnia and went for a night-long walk and have found a woman (an excellent cook) who apparently never sleeps. When she found out Christian was a cook she shoved a spoonful of roasted fish into his unsuspecting mouth. He enjoyed it except for the fish bone that got caught momentarily in his throat. She's a real character- we have eaten at her kiosk almost daily since we got here.

Bangkok le delire totale !

2008-01-07T10:53:00.001+08:00

Les nuit de bangkok sont tres bruillante la circulation et les fetard ne se calme que vers les 4 heure du matin juste a temps pour le concert de coq qui nous reveille (si par hazart nous avons finallement reussi a dormir un peu) vers les 4 heure du matins! Et oui, des coqs(des centaines ont dirais) en plein centre ville. Apres plusieur heures a arpente les rues de Bangkok sans trop savoir ou aller nous avons decider de contacter un amis de niki qui habite la ville depuis 3 ans.Jay nous a ete de tres bons conseilles non seulement pour Bangkok mais aussi pour pratiquement chaque etapes de notre voyage.Ce qui nous a redonner confiance car il faut l'avouer cette ville est un peu intimidante au debut. Les gens t'accostes ou t'interpelles a systematiquement chaque pas que tu fait pour te proposer de la nourriture, te vendre tout sorte de quossins ,des immitations d'a peu pres tout. Les chauffeur de tuk tuk qui veulent te trimballer un peu partout ou t'ammener voir des spectacles de femmesqui sont capable de chose extraordinaire avec leur sex (jouer au ping pong,tirer des darts, manipuler des bagettes et j'en passe!).tout cette solicitation est tres intense au debut mais avex le temp tu t'y habitue. Certain de ces vendeurs sont plutot agressif et desagreables mais la plusparts sont toutefois extremement gentils, serviables et toujours souriants. Nous avons pris l'habitude d'aller manger au kiosques d'un sympatique vielle dame qui prepare les meilleurs curry et Tom Yum je j'ai jamais mange.

Bankok jour 1

2008-01-07T10:37:00.000+08:00

La chambre que nous avons trouver recemble un peu a une cellule de prison, les mur ne sont pas du tout insonorise et les lits plutot dur et denude de drap et de couverture.Mais a 11$ par nuit c'est probablement le mieux que l'on pouvais trouver.Les rue de Bangkok sont un vrai delire, les pietons et les automobiles y cohabite dans une totale anarchie . Chaque mettre carre de trotoire est occupes par de petites boutiques itinerantes qui change selon l'heure du jour.les restos de rue y servent des fruits tailles , des satays et toute sorte de mets etranges a des prix derisoires.

First week in Bangkok for the Anglos!

2008-01-07T10:05:00.000+08:00

I am going to write a different account of what is going on during this trip in English. We spent a lovely time with our dear friend Zarah in New York and she invited us to this loft party reminiscent of Andy Warhol- cool night-lots of red wine. Then 5am the next morning we hopped into a cab and felt good about being early for something for once! The airline Cathay Pacific economy rocks- they gave us socks and eye sleeping covers and 4 meals (one was a lemongrass beef dish-really good!)- but the best thing was this sort of laptop thing in front of our seats that allowed us to play video games, choose movies and even make playlists from their music catalogue. You would think one would go mental after 15 hours on the plane from NYC to Hong Kong, but it was surprisingly pleasant-there were even 6 babies surrounding us but they only cried mostly during take off and landing. Poor little eardrums...Christian found a Berlitz Thai language video game and so we had fun for a while trying to figure out the pronunciation- believe me it isn't easy. We changed planes in Hong Kong- pretty looking city and nice airport. We arrived in Bangkok 21 hours later and were told by immigration that we needed an address in order to be able to enter the country. The address was in Christian's backpack being unloaded from the plane at the time. So we had to go to some BOSS-type official and he slipped us an address of a popular hostel. Obviously we were not the first travellers to bumble into this situation. Hopped into a HOT PINK cab and then arrived in the backpackers area and set up camp in a prison cell like bedroom. Earrrrrly morning (like say 3 or 4am) we hear this familiar sound- is it an alarm, the apocalypse? No, that morning and every once since we have been awaken at the pre-crack of dawn by trumpeting roosters in downtown Bangkok. Lots of them- on the rooves (roofs?) of the gorgeous temple next door. We were so scared to eat anything the first day- taking small bites of things and expecting intestinal earthquakes- but nothing...The next day I called a friend of a friend from New Brunswick and we met up with this great guy Jay (thanks Jar!) Anyways he really knows the ins and outs of SE Asia and now we are riding the water taxis, tuktuks and eating like wild dogs from the street vendors- who make the MOST amazing Thai food. (Please note we are not eating wild dogs, we are eating like wild gourmet dogs.) Bangkok reminds me alot of Mexico city as far as the pollution, ceiling geckos, lack of toilet paper, (and toilets) tasty street food and local friendly strangers helping you out on the street. We plan to go to Chiang Mai on the overnight train tomorrow night and have purchased a tour including trekking and staying with the hilltribes, an elephant ride and rafting. I hate tours in general, but for this time I will make an exception, (as I am surprisingly bad at Thai-even after a 15 hour Berlitz computer course!)

3 Janvier 2008 5 a.m. N.Y.;le grand depart.

2008-01-07T09:56:00.000+08:00

C'est avec des papillons dans l'estomac que nous attendons le taxi pour l'areoport J.F.K. pour ce long periple de 21 h en avion,destination Bangkok! L'embarquement c'est derouler a merveille .
L'avion que nous avons pris etais d'un tres grand luxe, les repas nombreux et savoureux. Chaque siege etais equipe d'un petit ordinateur sur lequel nous pouvions choisir entre une multitude de films et d'emissions de t.v., ecouter de la musique ou la radio, jouer a des jeux videos et meme suivre quelque lecons de Thailandais!(Cathay pacific ROCK)Les 17 h passees dans cette avion ont passees tres rapidement.Nous avons fait une escale de deux heures a Hong Kong qui du haut des air a l'air d'une tres belle ville border de montagnes.Ensuite nous avons pris un plus modeste avion pour un cours vol de deux heures (avec repas!).Nous sommes finalement arrive a Bangkok vers les six heure P.M..A l'aeroport nous avons eu un petit probleme technique l'agent d'emmigration ne voulais pas nous laisser entre car nous ne savion pas a qu'elle hotel ou nous alions passer la nuit (ce renseignement etais dans dans mes baggages). Nous avons demander a un autre agent de nous en nommer un et le probleme c'est regle en quelque minutes.Quelque minutes plus tard nous etions dans un taxi pour Banglaphoo, notre nouveau cartier pour les prochains jours.

Derniere journee en amerique!

2008-01-07T09:41:00.000+08:00

Merci N.Y. ! Nous avons eu beaucoup de plaisir,meme si il fesait tres froid.Zarah, Joe et les colocs de de zarah ont ete d'une grande hospitalite .MERCI BEAUCOUP!.Joe et zarah nous ont accompagner tout la journee dans nos achat de derniere minute et nous ont guide dans les rues de brooklyn et Manhattan et nous ont ammener a la plage.Ensuite nous somme alle a un party chez des amis de zarah.

Premiere etape,New york.

2008-01-03T02:03:00.000+08:00

Apres un long voyage de 13 heures en train (le train est tombe en panne) nous sommes finalement arrivees a Brooklyn, NYC chez notre amie Zarah.

We have arrived in NYC after a 13 hour trainride.

Happy New Year/Bonne annee!

Bienvenue sur notre blog de voyage!

2007-12-29T10:17:00.001+08:00

Grâce au talent de Ludo, nous avons maintenant un blog pour vous partager nos experiences de voyage!

Merci Ludo!