This One's For All the Bargain Hunters Out There

1 May 2016
Today is Labor Day in Thailand. Because of this, my friend Jenna had a holiday from work (she always works weekends!) We decided to spend the day together, and where better to start our day than at Big C Extra on Rama 4? This particular Big C is amazing because it has a section with imported items that are cheap, cheap, cheap! Jenna and I were on the hunt for swimwear because earlier in the week, the girls in my building were raving about their new "bathers". Excuse me, you're what? You know, "bathing costumes". Huh? Oh right, right, right. Bathing suits. Anyway, who really cares what you call 'em when bottoms are 20 baht (that's $0.57) and tops are 40 baht ($1.15). I spent 200 baht ($5.74) which got me 4 pairs of bottoms and 3 tops. The kicker: these suits are Old Navy, JCPenney, OP, Joe Boxer & New Look. Since we didn't break the bank by buying bathing suits, we stopped by a food stall to try kanom bueang, a thai dessert taco. We tried one made with egg, coconut, cheese and raisins and another that had coconut with curry flavoring. I definitely could've done without the curry flavored one! The best part of the day however, was brunch at BKK Bagel Bakery. This place has actual New York Style bagels! I tried a corned beef and poached egg hash accompanying a sesame bagel with honey walnut cream cheese- mmmm! delicious. To end the day we went for a night swim in our new suits. #bkkfordealseveryday

Craft Beer in Thailand

23 Apr, 29 Apr
After being abroad for 6 months, one thing I really miss is flavorful beer. Sure, I can walk into any 7/11 and have my choice between Chang, Leo or Tiger, but these beers are equivalent to Natty Light. Can't believe I'm saying this, but even Bud Light sounds great right about now. Flavorful, "craft" beer is hard to come by in Thailand because the law prohibits making it. "It is illegal for anyone to brew their own alcohol, or even have the equipment to do so." If an offender is caught, he can risk 6 months in jail and up to a 5,000 baht fine. If he sells the liquor, he can be looking at a year behind bars and a 10,000 baht fine. Yikes. No wonder I can't find flavorful, cheap beer anywhere. Luckily, I work with some Americans who've been in Thailand far longer than I and have made it their mission to scope out establishments that can offer more for the palette than Chang and Leo.
Last Friday, Sam, Jamethon, Greg, Mary and I went to "I Hate Pigeons", a bar and thrift store that sells flavorful, craft beer made from underground brewers. When asked why they make these tasty beers, the brewmasters simply point out that prostitution's also illegal in Thailand... At the end of the day, I don't care why these brewmasters are choosing to brew, I just care that they are!
I was able to choose from a variety of beers, so I tried Vuur & Vlam, which is an IPA from De Molen brewing in the Netherlands and Ayinger, which is a wietbeer from Germany. Both were exceptional.
My co-workers also told me about Wishbeer Home Bar, which started out as a beer delivery service. Today they have a space located off of sukhumvit 67 which Jenna, Julianne and I visited this past Friday. Wishbeer was hosting a "De Molen 12 Tap Takeover" event. I was able to try a flight of 5 De Molen beers, including a light beer with citrusy notes, a beer flavored with wasabi, a dark, smoke infused beer, a chocolate caramel stout and an IPA. The flight of beers also came with a stroopwafel, which is a famous dutch waffle. While there, we noticed the guys sitting next to us at the bar were drinking green beer. We asked about it and they told us it was a homebrew that mostly just locals were familiar with. The hops for the beer come from the North of Thailand, as well as the mineral water used in the beer. Like most drinks in Thailand, the beer is incredibly sweet. The bartender let us try some-- it tasted a lot like the mint sauce you put on lamb meat. I'm so glad to have been able to satisfy my beer cravings.

Did you know?

17 Apr 2016
Did you know?
Laos is the most heavily bombed country per capita in history
Did you know?
All 17 provinces in Laos suffer from bomb contamination
Did you know?
The US conducted 580,000 bombing missions in Laos from 1964-1973
Did you know?
The US dropped over 2.5 million tons of bombs in Laos from 1964-1973
Did you know?
It's estimated that over 80 million of those bombs (UXOs) did not detonate
Did you know?
The US spent $51 million over three days to bomb Laos; The US spent the same amount over sixteen years to clear unexploded bombs
Did you know?
Today, less than 1% of that 80 million has been cleared
Did you know?
From 1964-2008 more than 50,000 people were killed by UXOs; 20,000 of those deaths were caused by post-war explosions
Did you know?
40% of bomb casualties were children

Buddhist Monks, Bamboo Bridges and Bowling

16 Apr 2016
Buddhist Monks
Tash and I awoke at 5:30am so that we could participate in the daily alms giving ceremony, but when we tried to leave our hostel we ran into a problem... the hostel gate was closed and locked. It's considered incredibly rude to interrupt the ceremony once the procession has commenced, so Tash and I needed to figure out a way to get there and fast! We tried the side gate but it was also locked, so we ended up having to scale the fence. It wouldn't have been an issue if this fence had been a traditional wood post fence, but this fence was made of iron spikes. Did I mention that when attending an alms giving ceremony the givers must dress according to buddhist teaching, so shoulders and knees must be covered? So not only were we scaling a fence made of iron spikes, but we were doing so in dresses. One more thing: the ceremony begins at dawn, so Tash and I were scaling the iron spiked fence, in our dresses, in the dark. A girl from our hostel came out, took one look at the two of us, turned and headed straight back inside. Woof. That was one for the books.
Once we made it over the fence we had to book it to the main road to buy our alms and get situated before the procession started. We bought sticky rice and banana leaf wraps. We then kneeled on the sidewalk and waited for the monks. The monks have big silver containers that they hold out while they walk; almsgivers are to put their offerings in the containers without looking directly in the eyes of the monks. These offerings help the monks make merit and provide food for their one meal of the day.
I had been sick the night before and felt another wave of sickness coming on. I needed to get back to the hostel, and I needed to get there fast. I took off in a run and the whole time all I could think was "if I have to scale the fence again I'm not going to make it". As I rounded the corner I saw not only that the iron spiked fence was open, but that the monks were processing right in front of our hostel. Almsgivers were kneeling right where the fence had been...

Bamboo Bridges
Tash and I visited the bamboo bridge that crosses the Nam Kahn River. The charge to cross the bridge is 5,000 kip, or 61 US cents. This money goes toward rebuilding the bridge each year. The bridge only exists 6 months of the year; during rainy season the bridge is removed because otherwise the currents would sweep it away. Each year, a Laos family rebuilds the bridge so that locals and tourists can cross the river. Although they say the bridge is incredibly sturdy, I was not a fan of walking across the shaky, bamboo slatted bridge.

Bowling
Luang Prabang Nightlife consists of bars and restaurants that stay open until 11pm. Once they close, everyone goes to the bowling alley! Late night bowling is one of the most popular things to do in Luang Prabang, so Tash, myself and twelve others from our hostel crammed into a tuk tuk and headed for Vangvieng Bowling Center. There are no bowling shoes here, just cheap beers, squatty potties and bad music. A good time was had by all!

Kuang Si Falls

15 Apr 2016
Rachael, Ali, Tash and I decided to get up early and head to the Kuang Si Waterfalls. We took a tuk tuk about an hour into the countryside. At the entrance of the falls was an asiatic black bear rescue center. The manager of the center, Luke, just happened to be doing a walkthrough upon our arrival. After chatting with him for a few minutes, he took us around to the "employee only" entrance and walked us through the enclosure to the bear cub area. Ali, Tash, Rachael and I got to watch 6 bear cubs interact just feet from where we were standing. Luke went on to explain how the asiatic black bear population is endangered because of the illegal bear trade in SE Asia. Not only does the center rescue bears, but they also educate the local community about the bear trade. I didn't understand why poaching bears would be such a problem, but Luke explained it in this way: Laos is ninth on the list of most impoverished countries in Asia; more than 1/3 of the population earns less than 1 USD per day. 800 USD would drastically change the quality of life for a Laos worker and his family and Chinese traders know this. Traders offer the Laos workers money in exchange for help poaching the bears. Once the traders get access to the bear, they sell it in China for THIRTY TIMES the amount they paid the Laos worker. The reason the bear trade is so profitable is because owning an asiatic black bear is a sign of wealth and power; many high ranking officials purchase bears to keep in their homes as a symbol of their status! Free the Bears isn't only rescuing bears, but they're also entering schools and educating local children regarding the illegal bear trade. In order to keep future generations from poaching bears they need to be educated about why it's a problem.
After watching the cubs play, Luke introduced us to another bear, Champa, whose story is absolutely remarkable. Champa developed hydrocephalus (water on the brain) which caused her to lose most of her vision, stunted her growth and caused erratic behavior. Free the Bears advised euthanasia, but because Laos is a buddhist country, the government wouldn't allow it. Free the Bears had to come up with another solution. They called in Pizzi, a veterinarian living in Edinburgh, and asked him to perform laparoscopic brain surgery on Champa. Although the conditions in Laos were much different from those in Scotland (unreliable electricity, no MRI machine and hot, hot weather) Pizzi agreed. Champa is now a healthy, thriving bear.
Check out the organization and the story here:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/04/130411-bear-brain-surgery-laos-wildlife-trafficking/
http://www.freethebears.org/

After spending over an hour at the bear sanctuary, we started our trek up the falls. The water was beautifully pristine and freezing cold. On our way back from the falls we got completely soaked from the locals throwing water at us in celebration of the new year.

Sabaii De Pii Mai

14 Apr 2016
Happy new year from Laos! The water festival is the celebration of the new year. It begins on the 14th, which is the last day of the old year. Laos people clean their houses and prepare offerings of perfume, flowers and water. The 15th is the "day of no day" because it doesn't fall in the old year or the new year. The 16th marks the first day of the new year.
On the 14th there was going to be a big parade down the main street in Luang Prabang. Tash and I bought our water guns (they sell them everywhere on the streets and if you don't have one you're in serious trouble!) and then headed to the parade. Within the first 5 minutes of our walk we were soaked. Everyone participates; locals, tourists, monks, young people, even elderly people! The locals put huge bins and pools of water outside of their storefronts and passersby are allowed to fill up their guns- the only catch is that while you're bent over the bin filling up, you're getting buckets and buckets of ice cold water dumped over you!
Some locals even used colored dye to wipe on tourists' faces-- my face was definitely a casualty!
After participating for the day, Tash and I decided to chow down at a street food vendor that tons of people had been raving about. Tourists were flocking to her vegetarian stand because she was an american running a stall-- she assured us her food was safe.
Fast forward about 6 hours later: those tons of people who had been raving about the vegetarian street food were all sick. My time would also come, but not for another day. #donteatlaosstreetfood

Landing in Luang Prabang, Laos

13 Apr 2016
We took a prop plane from Vietnam to Laos. We landed late Wednesday night in a tiny, tiny airport in Luang Prabang. We took a taxi van from the airport to our hostel and it only cost us 25,000 laotian kip, or 3 USD. Once we got to the hostel, our first mission was to find food. We told ourselves we weren't going to eat street food (we had been warned that the quality wasn't great), but after walking for about 45 minutes and finding nothing else, we decided to try our luck. We ate at a sandwich stand but promised one another we would only order toppings that couldn't spoil: avocado, tomato and lettuce sandwiches for us! While there we met Ali and Rachael, two girls we spent a decent amount of time with while in Laos. They entertained us with tales of their horrible travel experiences while we ate our sandwiches and crossed our fingers that we wouldn't get sick.

Halong Bay

12-13 Apr
If you're going to Vietnam you better go to Halong Bay. If you're going to Halong Bay, you better do a cruise. This is what people kept telling us, so Tash and I decided to do it. We had a few options: we could: 1. take a booze cruise for cheap, cheap, cheap or 2. take a two day one night 5 star cruise for 189 USD. These two grannies decided to splurge on the 5 star cruise and we were not disappointed.
The van picked us up at our hostel and to take us to the dock. We encountered a backup on the highway so our driver decided to do some offroading through the Vietnamese countryside. This was a great way to see the other side of Vietnamese living, however it was not a good way to keep from getting car sick.

After about halfway through our drive, we stopped at a rest stop that employs people with mental disabilities. The money these workers make supports their families, many of which have suffered tragedies from the Vietnam War.

We reached the dock safely and boarded a small boat that took us to the cruise ship. The ship slept 36 people-- Tash and I were the youngest by generations. We met a Vietnamese couple in their 50s traveling from Seattle. The two had grown up in 'Nam and had escaped to the US as refugees. The husband had been back since fleeing, but this was his wife's first time visiting since she'd left.
Our room aboard the ship was amazing. There were two beds with multiple pillows (this is a huge luxury!) and a large bathroom complete with a jacuzzi bathtub, robes, slippers and toiletries!

Every meal aboard the ship was 6-7 courses long (Tash and I felt so badly because we were never able to finish all of the food!)

Our first day included cave exploration, a spring roll cooking class and squid fishing. The caves were absolutely amazing! Our tour guide Tom was incredibly knowledgeable regarding the caves, or so we thought... at dinner that evening the Vietnamese couple informed us that much of the information we were being given was inaccurate, even down to the number of islands clustered throughout Halong Bay (we're told there are 1,969 islands because the year 1969 is incredibly important to the communist party) This was the second time during our trip to Vietnam that I realized, on a deeper level, how lucky I am to be American born.

Tash and I were up and ready at 6:30 the next morning for a tai chi class on the top deck. I have never done tai chi before and it was very relaxing-- the views of the bay were gorgeous and it was actually a bit cool out. After we had a buffet breakfast with pancakes and peach juice- yum!
Then we got ready for our morning excursion which was a trip to a pearl farm. There used to be many pearl farms scattered around the bay, but the government shut them down. Now there's only a handful left. The Vietnamese workers aren't allowed to live on their boats, so the government built small water houses for them.The people must pay rent to live in these houses. There used to be a teacher who came to the water community, however now the water school house is not used. If children want to go to school they have to go to mainland Hanoi and live with friends or relatives. The water village we boated through consisted of only 10 families. Everyone does their part to help sustain the village. Women take tourists back and forth to the farm in paddle boats. Men work on the farm collecting oysters. A pearl is formed when an "intruder", such as a grain of sand, slips between the two shells of the oyster. The oyster immediately begins to secrete layers of nacre to protect itself. The layers of nacre coat the sand until a pearl is formed. Instead of waiting for this process to happen naturally, the pearl farmers collect oysters, inbed their own "intruders", then wait for the oysters to start protecting themselves, which in turn forms the pearls. Ladies, here's a tip: if you want to know if your pearls are real or fake, set fire to them. If they burn, they're not real pearls.

After exploring the pearl farm, we headed back to the ship to "check out". Tash and I missed the memo that we had to be out of our room, so we laid down for a nap. To get us out of our room, the boat staff started blaring horrid pop music through our room speakers; the music didn't stop until we vacated the room.

Our journey ended with a 7 course lunch and a beautiful view of the port- Land Ho!