Laos PDR: People Don't Rush

Laos, Laos, Laos... this place really grips me by the Heart strings, I almost get a bit teary eyed (almost!) when I look around at where we are. I really, truly Love it here so much. If I could bundle up the feeling of Laos and wear it close to my Heart everyday, I would do it in a second.

So far we've been to Vientiane, Vang Vieng (majooor party town) and just got into Luang Prabang today. We have been doing so much driving from one town to the next, and as draining as it's been, the country-side keeps you perched by the window staring out for hours and hours.

Rather than spending our full-day in Vang Vieng floating down a tube, getting obliterated in dirty water that all the drunken tools pee in, we decided to instead rent bikes with "Team Norway" (3 Norwegian girls in our group) and Kim, a sweet Brit, and head out to the country-side in search of the "Blue Lagoon". The bike ride was only supposed to be about 7km, but the roads were dusty dirt, covered in rocks so it took us just over an hour to get to our destination (I also think the map was a bit off, seemed closer to 10km+). Either way, as rocky as the ride was, it was great. Biking through limestone mountains, little Lao-loum (lowland) villages, past caves and watering holes, sooo worth it!

We spent the afternoon trekking through "Phakoum Cave" (spelling may be off) which went deeeeeep inside a limestone mountain, littered with stalagmites every which way. It was pitch dark so we brought flashlights and had a real old-timey adventure (hehehe). Afterwards we all swam in the crystal blue waters of "Blue Lagoon", surrounded by hundreds of little fish and local teens blaring music and sipping on whiskey (lol). Fantastic day all in all. Spent the evening taking it easy at one of the many "Friends" tv show bars where they have lounge about pillows arranged that you literally flop on to and watch episode upon episode of Friends, while sipping Lao Beer.

I wrote a journal entry today while on the bus ride here, trying to sum up everything that is Lao (that we've seen so far at least) so to finish off this entry, here we are:

- Limestone mountains that scrape the blue, sun-filled sky;
- Sprawling jungle of every shade of green- Palm trees in all shapes and sizes, vines that wrap everything, ferns, vibrant flowers, the smell of oranges and moist, clean air;
- Butterflies of indigo, orange, green and white, so big that they look like birds;
- Beer Lao signs and smiles galore in all the villages;
- Little piglets rummaging with their mother, calves trotting behind their free-range parents, peeping chicks trying to keep up with their foraging mama's;
- Crystal clear blue waters with fish jumping & children playing;
-Tiny babies in toque-style caps & toddlers giving passing tourists "sabaideeee's" and naked high-fives (lol);
- Dogs running in friendly packs or lounging with their masters on the porch in the hot afternoon sun;
- People working and helping one another to build new homes;
- Love for each other, the Earth & animals;
- Rolling hills leading to more mountains on the edge of every horizon.

Namaste Family!
We miss you muchly but will be home in just a few more weeks <3

Misty & Jesse

PS- I've been meaning to include, but keep forgetting (and maybe it's a bit inappropriate for this lovey-dovey entry), but we got to fire M16's in Saigon at CuChi Tunnels! Video to follow :p

Oh, Laos

Sa-bai-deeee!!!

Okay, so we only have about 10-15 minutes of internet time left so I will try to type my little fingers off as fast as I can and share about our experiences in Laos thus far :)

Took a 10 hour (10 HOUR!) bus ride from Hanoi through the mountains to the Lao border... which is ontop of a mountain go figure, and once again, the difference between the countries is night and day. The people of Lao are maybe the friendliest and most welcoming we've encoutered thus far on the trip and the landscape is breathtaking. Picture ridiculously high mountains... upon mountains.. upon mountains surrounded with lush, deep green jungle, so dense you can't see a break in it anywhere. Beautiful.

I read that as early as 1997, Lao had an inflation rate of 100% and their currency (the kip) depreciated by 500%! Since then, the Lao governement has been promoting a "Tour Lao" program from tourists to help give the country the economic boost it needed. I think that may be a big reason why the people are so happy to see foreigners, everywhere they go you get "Sabaidee!!" (hello) and smiles.

The people here are mainly Buddhist and look almost like South Americans. We spent last night in a small border town in the mountains called Lak Sao, and it was freakin freeeeezing! Took a 4 hour bus ride today to the capital, Vientiane (Weng-Chan), and spent the afternoon strolling the colonial style streets and meandering along the desert-style sand dunes of the Mekong River.

TONS of cats and dogs here, which I just can't help coo'ing at (it's driving Jesse slightly.. okay, more than slightly crazy), but they're just so darn cute! Lots of cattle (cows and buffalo) wandering the countryside, along with roosters, chickens, goats and miniature pigs (*squeal*!!).

On our last few days in Vietnam we saw some not so nice treatment of some very familiar animals so it definitely feels good to be back in a majority Buddhist country where the people, animals and wildlife live in Harmony.

I feel as though our perspectives of Life here have changed a bit since we first toured through Cambodia. I remember we drove through the Cambodian country-side, thinking how "poor" the people were... "shanty" houses, bare feet, animals everywhere, working their butts off in the hot sun, trying to make a dollar; and believe me, by our Canadian standards, the people are poor, but I wouldn't use that word anymore. When it comes to quality of Life, the people we've seen in the Cambodian and Loa country are actually rich- They have their families, they have homes, they have smiles on their faces, a pet dog at their feet, food on their tables and fresh water sources. I don't know exactlky what I'm trying to say, but the people are inspriring and make me think about all the things we have at home that we just simply don't really need... it's fantastic.

2 minutes, must run! Onto Vang Vieng tomorrow, much Love to you all.
Muah- Muah!

Misty & Jesse

Just 'cause

Thought I would post a quick update, just cause I finally managed to get onto the internet after numerous attempts which resulted in the computer randomly shutting down mid-email *gah*!!

We're in Hanoi but haven't done much since arriving. Took a walk with some group people through the French and Old Quarters of the city yesterday and grabbed a few bites to eat, but Jesse had an upset stomach since we arrived so we spent last night and all of today holed up in the room watching Discovery Channel and taking it easy. Not to worry though, he took some of the antibiotics we got and is feeling muuuuch better :) Will hopefully head out for some dinner soon and all in all, it's pretty chilly here (about 17 degrees) so it doesn't hurt to just take the day and recoup for our 5am journey into Laos tomorrow (which will also bring us back into 30degree weather, woohoo!).

C'est tout! Told ya it'd be a "just cause" kind of entry ;)

Peace from the East!

M&J

Beauty of North Vietnam

We've made our way up the coast of Vietnam through Hoi An, Hue, Halong Bay and onto Hanoi tomorrow- Both the landscape and the people are fantastic up here, definitely a World different from the fast-paced, insanely populated cities of the South.

Hoi An is an artist's dream come true. The whole city has been dubbed an "ancient city" by UNESCO and as you stroll the streets, you feel an odd combination of French, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese fusion. Everyone is extremely friendly and there are more art shops and pastry bakery's than you could count. Oh! And to top that, there are over 400 tailor shops and shoe-making shops as well (can you say shopper's paradise??).
Jesse and I bought some spectacular art work dne by an oooold Vietnamese man named Bng, who's apprently very famous among the locals for his work. We also paid a visit to what was touted as the "best tailor in Vietnam", Mr. Xe, and he certainly didn't disappoint. We were measured in every area possible, so meticulous we had no clue what we were getting in to; Jesse got two custom suits (cashmere, PIMPIN!) and 2 dress shirts, and I got an amazing spring/fall coat with satin piping and a black silk (satin?) dress that I literally picked out of a magazine. It was a fantastic experience and I will most defintely be contacting Mr. Xe to make my wedding dress in the years to come as he will happily ship overseas as long as he has your measurements. The price was astounding for what we got, about $330 for ALL of it, YES ALL! Even Jesse's cashmere/silk suits, ridonkulous!
Anyways, I'll stop rambling about the clothes as there was much more the city had to offer as well :p
Very laid back pace, we rented bikes and rode out into the country-side to a vegetable growing village. I should mention that the Chinese New Year is coming up this week so everywhere that we visit, there are lights strung up all over the place, people are excited and smiling, and celebrations of all sorts are in full swing.
We wish we could have stayed in Hoi An longer than the two days we were there, but I guess it gives us an excuse to come back again one day in the future :)
Jesse may disagree, but I think the atmospehere of Hoi An made the cockroach train ride totally worth it ;)

Hue was a bigger city than Hoi An, but definitely much more relaxed than Saigon and Nha Trang. The weather was drizzly, but we had some good eats with the group and managed to get out to the Chinese "Forbidden City" where emperors used to rule in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The Chinese influence is very evident in the Northern city's we've been in thus far and it adds a new culture and energy to the way of everyday Life. Forbidden City was pretty cool, it was HUGE, and apparently had an "old, sad elephant" but we weren't able to track him down... maybe he made it to the wild or his elephant heaven in the sky-

Anther overnight train ride that was... *gasp* 15 hours (!!!) got us into Hanoi this morning, and we hopped directly onto a bus headed 3 hours north to Halong Bay.
Halong Bay... how do I even put it into words... the best way I could describe it is "Avatar" minus terodactyls and dragons flying everywhere... although you almost half expect to see one leap off one of the limestone cliffs towering high in the sky above the East Sea. The water is turqoise and there are 1,969 separate limestone islands, all with unique shapes, flora and fauna, and many a cave to explore.
We got to go int one of the caves on a famous island called "Palace in the sky" and as soon as you step inside, you feel like you're in a different world. Stalagmites and Stalacites (sp?) EVERYWGERE! It almost looks too far out to be true.. but I guess that's how you would sum up Halong Bay as a whole.

Loving every minute of this trip, we were a bit jaded by the harsh and cold treatments we got in the South, but there's a raelly complex history here and our experiences so far in the North have wiped our slates clean again.

Some funny observations I forgot to blog about before:

- Jesse got pinched and "sized up" by an old Cambodian man at the bus stop who called him fat (as if! LOL!) Jesse pinched and sized him up in return and called him skinny, they both had a laugh, it was pretty funny.

- EVERYONE wears socks and sandals here, I think we're the freaks cause we don't :s!

- They play "wake up" music through the streets on PA speakers around 5:30am... every morning...

- We saw fields upon fields that were eerily lit up over night while riding the sleeper train, turns out they're dragon druit and grape fields that the workers need to heat and keep warm over night.

- 20,000 Vietnamese dong= $1 US (took a while to get used to the flash-calculating!)

- We have become pro-hagglers

That's all beloved friends and family, much Love from the East! Till next time :)

Misty & Jesse

Hell Train

Just got into Hoi An, think we're going to like it here ALOT! It's much much quieter, almost no smog and ís one of UNESCO's hertiage sites of the World.

Journey here wasn't so fun though :s... took a 10 hour sleeper train that waas classified as "medium" quality... considering hơ good our first sleeper train waas, we were soo not prepared to walk into our cabins and see crumbs all over the beds... cockroaches and "other" little flying insects. *bleh*!! The mattresses were damp tô and the A/C didn't work. Thank GOD Jesse convinced me to buy a sleeping bag because I dont think I would have slept a wink otherwise... I gues it's a crazy experience ì nothing else, LOL, and hopefully we'll never have to live it again!!

Anywho, here we are, safe and sound and looking forward to a chillin day exploring Hoi An. Jesse's going to get a suit tailored and then perhaps we'll rent some bikes out into the mountainous countryside. Internet's free hểre (Woohoooo!) so will be able to update more frequently.

Much Love!

Misty & Jesse

Cambodia to Vietnam!

Hello Helloooo!!!

Sorry for not updating for so long, we've been on the go-go-go every second day if not daily and it's been hard to find either a computer or the time in the midst of it all.

SO, I'll try to summarize what we've been up to the last 6 odd days of so :)

PHNOM PENH
- Went to the orphanage; it was amazing!!! The group bought them a 50kilo bag of rice, as well as bananas, tamarinds (delicious surprisingly!!) and a whole load of candy ( we were told we'd have to pay for the dentist bills LOL). Played with the kids for about 2 hours or so, theres 29 in total, a few young ones, majority were teenagers. Did some "kumbaya" styles guitaring/singing with them (the LOVE Justin Bieber so hardcore over here!) and then played some standard Cambodian kids games (one which is kind of duck-duck-goose styles except you whip whoever's "it" with a rolled up string of scarves) and the other was a blind-folded "banana-eating" game where Jesse was fed 3 massive bananas in the span of 20 seconds (he hasn't eaten them since that day) hahahah. good times, good times :)

SIHANOUKVILLE

- Crazy party, beach town, like a surfer-dudes paradise. Stayed in a cool beach bungalow and were terrified when we woke up at night to hear an animal making a VERY loud noise in our room (tunrs out it was just a gecko no bigger than my thumb!)

- Lay on the beaches for 2 days, tanned our butts off and partied hardy at one of the local bars with the other group peeps.

- Got a BUCKET, yes a BUCKET, of whiskey with red bull and coke for only $2!!! CRAZAY! Needless to say, it was a pretty fun night.

CHAU DOC, VIETNAM (along the Mekong Delta)

- It's insane how the landscape changes completely (no joke) as soon as you cross the border. Entered Vietnam on foot, tons of rice paddies everywhere, very very green.

- Chau Doc is pretty sleepy, the people were fantastic, very friendly and always waving to us (minus the "you buy" in Cambodia)

- Took a boat cruise down the Mekong Delta (it's totally brown cause it's a mud bottom river). Visited the biggest fish farm (basa) on the Mekong and cuddled the bejeesus out of 4 little puppies that couldn't have been more than a few weeks old.

- Visited a minority Muslim village along the Delta, got some amazing handcrafted silk scarves (we actually saw the lady who weaves them on the loom!!!)

- Had our first authentic Vietnamese Pho.... YUM! I am going to live off that stuff while we're here.

SAIGON (HO CHI MINH CITY)

- Insanely built up city, like NYC on steroids. 7.1 million people riding around on motorbikes... need I say more?

- Visited Cu Chi Tunnels, where the Vietcong hid 20-30m underground during the Vietnam War. Had an excellent, EXCELLENT, guide named Hai who actually fought as a commander with the Southern Vietnamese forces (trying to battle communism... didn't work so well). He later transfered to work with US forces as a Vietnamese-English translator, he was only in his early 20's. He told many, many stories of his experiences which were both gut-wrenching and comedic. He definitely had a good sense of humour considering all he's been through. He spent 9 years with the forces and was placed in a "re-education" camp (a.k.a. concentration camp) for 3 YEARS after his side lost the war on Communism. Felt very lucky to meet him and hear everything he's been through.

- PS tunnels were SOOOO small, I almost got claustrophobic, but sucked it up and went down underground; you're crouched down and literally have to crawl on your knees and hands in some areas.

- Communist symbols everywhere... and facebook is blocked *pwow pwow*

NHA TRANG

- Took a 10 hour overnight train to the beachy & mountainous Nha Trang (train was a crazy, but cool experience, had bunk beds and felt like we were back in slumber party days with two Aussie girls in our group) TRES FUN!

- Rented bikes and navigated through the mayhem streets to a Cham temple overlooking the South China Sea and mountains, beautiful.

- Woke up this morning feeling ilke crap... turns out I got sun stroke biking around yesterday, but Jesse nursed me back to health (what a great guy) <3 and we headed out to the Thap Ba Hot Springs & Mud Baths center a few km out of the city. Spent allllll day there, soaking in mineral mud baths, hot HOT mineral baths, got foot massages, full body massages (Vietnamese masseuses are crazay! they have poles on the ceiling and walk all over your back, soooo good), and finished it off with waterfalls and hot-tub'esque swimming pools.

Taking another sleeper train tonight (except it's 10-12 hours) to Hoi An, heading further and further north. Still pretty hot but once we get to Hanoi (on the China- VIet border) temps are spose to drop to 15'ish... I'm not complaing :p

Miss you and Love you all!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Peace from the East! (I stole Jesse's saying, hehehe)

Misty & Jesse

Phnom Penh's Killing Field & Genocide Museum

*warning, very gruesome and depressing entry*

Today has been a stomach-churning and solemn day.
We visited Choeng Ek's Killing field's, where Khmer Rouge soldiers barbarically murdered tens of thousands of Cambodians, only a mere 30 years ago; all at the orders of one monster, Pol Pot. The site had a very eerie, unexplainable, feeling to it with a tall "Bone Monument" in the centre, where thousands of skulls and bones of Cambodian victims are displayed to pay respect to those who suffered at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.
There were something like 186 mass graves found, as early as the 1980's I believe, and of those, 80 have been excavated since. Regardless, when it rains, bone and teeth as well as the clothing of those who were killed, rise through the ground to the top of the soil to this day. As we were walking through the site we spotted numerous rags of clothing half in the soil, half out, as well as bone fragments, teeth and even a skull. It's mind-boggling to think of what these monsters did to the people of Cambodia, and even more so, that the World turned a blind eye and allowed it to continue.
We saw a massive tree that the soldiers used to bludgeon babies against before tossing them into mass graves with other bodies, as well as a tree that they hung a loud speaker playing music on to drone out the sounds of people being executed. Words cannot describe the feelings you experience when walking through a place like that where such atrocities have occurred.
We encountered our "first" up-close and personal land mine victims there as well, which was equally hard to take... one man in particular who just kept saying "please, please, my foot, land mine, my foot".... it definitely makes you that much more appreciative for all that we are fortunate enough to have back home in Canada.

After the killing field we travelled by tul-tuk to the Genocide Museum, which was almost worst than the first experience as it was where prisoners were held, tortured and executed. The building itself used to be a school but was converted into a 3 building prison, with small brick and wooden cells, some with original torture devices still in them, many with blood smears on the floor or walls. The Khmer Rouge took photos of all their prisoners before interrogating them so in one of the buildings, we came face to face with the people who suffered in that very place before they were finally executed and brought to the mass graves of the killing fields. Needless to say, the place made us sick to our stomachs, light headed and dizzy.. it was just unreal. I still can't even believe that the World allowed such things to happen, it was during 1975-1979, that's not that long ago at all!! Absolutely disgusting and barbaric. Many of the Khmer high-ups are still detained in prison to this day awaiting trials, and many countries refuse to call these atrocities "genocide" opting instead for the term "mass murders".

So yes, today was quite depressing, but I can't imagine coming to Phnom Penh and not seeing this part of their history. It'shard to believe that just 30 years ago this entire city of 1.8 million people was destroyed and vacant... I know this is alot to hear, but I think it's important to acknowledge what the people of Cambodia have endured and how far they've come since that horrible, horrible time.

It's almost 5pm and we're about to head to the local orphanage to give some rice and play with the kids. Hopefully this will be a bit more of a cheerful experience.

MIss you all <3

Misty & Jesse

Bangkok to Cambodia!!!

Haven't updated for a few days but SO much has happened!!! Need to try and keep it short as we have a 4:45am wake-up call to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat so this'll be a "bullet-ed" observation type entry.. more or less :)

First things first, WE'RE ENGAGED!!!! Jesse proposed on January 7th, our 5 year anniversary, after a fantastic dinner atop the Banyan, Bangkok's "Vertigo" restaurant. He had secretly booked a room for the evening as well, so once we were done with our meals/ taking in the sprawling panoramic views of BKK (which words cannot capture, sorry you'll have to wait for pics :p) we headed downstairs for champagne & a hot tub. I want to keep the proposal story "hush-hush" for now because I'd much rather tell it in person, so that's all the details you're getting for the time being! :P So yes, we're engaged (!!!) and I couldn't be happier! In the words of Owen Wilson in "Wedding Crashers": "Love is your soul's recognition of it's counterpart in someone else", which is something we both feel we have been fortunate enough to find <3

Okay, now starts the bullet-ed run through of what's been up the past 3 days:

- Wandered BKK, went to tourist haven Khao San Rd, bartered for dress (love it) and had excellent padthai from street vendor.

- Mastered city bus, got props from locals for being only "farangs" to ride it Lol

- Visited temples of Grand Palace. Thousands of gold Buddha's and Boddhisatva's everywhere, from small to massive! Saw the biggest reclining Buddha in the World, absolutely stunning. Feel very lucky to be allowed to visit Thai people's temples, architecture was so intricate and ornate, pics can''t do justice but will help a bit ;)

- Met up with tour group, 15 of us in total (some staying for full month, others only for certain parts). Everyone's our age or there abouts, mainly Aussies with a few Brits and Norwegians. Everyone's very nice and we've made some great new friends :) Grabbed food and beer last night for last night in BKK.

- Saw women siting out on the street with food and picnic baskets; thought they were having picnics... they weren't, found out it's a front for prostitution... mhmmm..

- Cats in BKK have no tails!

- Walked across Thai-Cambodian border.. INTENSE!

- Cambodia is strikingly different than Thailand... noticeable poverty, garbage strewn everywhere, yet the people seem very Happy and are always smiling and waving. Houses are either massive French colonial style, or shanties with tin roofs built ontop of stilts.

- The dirt in Cambodia is red (!) and everything is very dusty so almost all the people wear big sun hats with cloths attached that they wrap around their faces.

- Pickup trucks and trailers that have been converted into a car with an engine aded on carry anywhere from 1-20 people at a time.

- It feels like we've gone back in time a thousand years since arriving here, it is very, very different, but as you pass by various homes, you can see families inside all sitting together watching TV (the similarities of human-kind World wide are clear). Family dinners, children playing, working in the rice fields, relaxing in hammocks.

- Cattle.is.EVERYWHERE!! They range from "plump" bodies to the bony kinds you would expect to see in Africa with bones sticking out and little black birds sitting on their backs (yes, there are actually little black birds on them!)

- Had a delicious ("chieng" in Cambodian)traditional Cambodian meal at a family's home in a jungle village. SO many dishes, I can't recount, all sat on a raised bamboo floor hut, decked out with linens and dishes and ate family style. Also sampled home made Cambodian rice moon-shine.... much better than expected AND you can get a whole L for $1! (I don't think I'll go quite that far though)

- Children here are SOOOO freakin adorable!!! Always waving", smiling and saying "HELLOOOOO", they walk with the group and ask us questions in surprisingly good English. Some boys were setting off cherry bombs in a field and then later on around dinner time, they grabbed a (poisonous) frog out of a tree and tossed it about only to have it spray one of them literally JUST above his eye (talk about LUCKY!!!!).

- Roads are mainly dirt here with little electricity (made for a sketchy tuk-tuk ride back from dinner, but all was fine because our guide speaks Cambodian and she does this trip every month). :)

- Saw jungle gecko's, frogs and hoards of bugs while having dinner

Don't know what else to say, too much going on!!! Heading to Angkor Wat tomorrow morning at 4:45am to watch the sunrise over the stone temples. Continually feeling so blessed to be here and get to experience this part of the World and their way of life. Speaking of which, tried my first "squat toilet", that was a joy (!) but much easier than I had expected!

We miss you all and send well wishes!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Misty & Jesse

Culture

It's 6am here and I had a nightmare I can't shake so I figured I'd come and write a bit about the rich culture here in Bangkok (seeing as my last post was quite rushed and sloppy due to that damn beer!).

Well, well, where to start... the culture here is undeniable and deeply entwined with customs and daily living. Bangkok is a literal melting pot of people from every part of the World and the city has areas where followers of each religion can pay respect to their higher beings. So far we've encountered Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Sheiks, Muslims, Christians... and I'm sure there is more, but like I said, it's 6am and I just woke up from a bad dream :p

There are temples, mosques and churches everywhere and scattered throughout the city are little shrines of elephants, temples, sculptures, deities, Gods etc etc where people can go and make an offering to whomever it is that they worship. It seems that most people leave either little ceramic carvings of various deities... or cans of soda-pop with straws sticking out the top :)

We learned a valuable lesson yesterday (and semi-embarrassing too!) while riding the skytrain in regards to the multitude of Buddhist monks, donned in their orange robes going here and there and everywhere. When we entered the sky train we observed that everyone got up and shifted where they were sitting by a few seats in order to give the monks a place to sit. Jesse and I, ignorant Westerners that we are LOL, sat down right beside the two young monks to be promptly told by a local that we had to have at least one seat separating ourselves from where they were sitting. Okay, done, no problem! However... there was a problem. We ALSO learned that regardless of how many seats are between the monks and yourself, women are still not allowed to sit adjacent to a monk (Jesse had to switch seats with me so he was closest to them and I was on the other side). It was a bit embarrassing, but the locals were very kind in explaining to us that it's a custom and not to worry that we weren't aware (they had a good chuckle at our expense) LOL. Another thing I noticed about the monks is that some of them have cellphones!! I don't know what I was expecting but it caught me a bit off guard to see these holy men in their orangey-brown robes chatting away on a blackberry while waiting for the skytrain to arrive :p

Last night we treated ourselves to a traditional, full-body Thai massage and HOLY MACKAREL was it ever amazing!!! They apply intense pressure with the weight of their body and do all kinds of things like ramming their foot into your back while they grab your arms and pull your spine upwards in an arch (think intense yoga "cobra" move)! From foot to skull, front and back, their technique was flawless and Jesse and I left feeling like a couple of rag dolls (I'm moving my back around right now and I think it's safe to say there's not a knot or tense muscle... ANYWHERE).

After the massage we headed out to one of the many night markets for some exploring and food searching. I noticed that there are quite a bit of Deaf market vendors signing with one another and gesturing with customers, I didn't feel comfortable engaging in conversation in my zombie'ish state, but we're going to head back there today so I'll give it a try!! I noticed that most of the signers I saw were using ASL, which was interesting as I was expecting to see Thai Sign and have to try my hands at gesturing to hold a conversation. Like I said in my last post, the people are SO warm and friendly, so hopefully whomever I try to strike up a conversation with will be open to having one.

Today is our 5 year anniversary <3>

Well, I suppose I should give sleeping another try, 'till next time!!!

Sawatdee-kha from Bangkok!!!

Hellooooooo!!! SawatDEEE-kha!!!

We've arrived in the wonderful (and HOT!) city of Bangkok and although we've only been here for one day so far, it's been quite the experience! I'm currently drinking 6.4% Thai beer on a semi-empty stomach, so needless to say, i feel a bit of a buzz going on but I will attempt to make this as smooth of an entry as possible :)

The flight was ridiculous long, but we made it to the orderly, brown-hazed city of Hong Kong smoothly to connect to our 3 hours flight into Bangkok. Last night was pretty much a nothing night because we'd been up for a good 24 hours upon arrival. The city is HUGE and the people here are extremely friendly (even the hard core looking Thai military officials will reciprocate a friendly smile) :)

Today was pretty exciting as it was our first day out and about exploring this mecca of everything and anything. Our hostel, which is more of a posh hotel, is right across from the busiest train station in Bangkok "Hua Lumphong". When we woke this morning we headed out to explore the maze of streets for some breakfast and spotted an older Thai woman with 10Baht coins shoved in her ears....yes... we weren't quite sure either, but it was pretty funny to see none the less. Thanks to Jesses navigation skills we managed to "master" the Thai transit and got ourselves (via subway, and then bus) to the ferry dock along the Chao Phraya river. We bought two day-passes for the boat and headed up river in search of the Grand Palace.

It's really quite a scene to look around and see 80-storey buildings, condos, palaces and shanty house-boat's all in one glance. We disembarked at Maharaj Pier and made our way down a market-maze of stalls selling everything from knock-off Oakley's to small ceramic buddha carvings. A Thai police officer informed us that we were inappropriately dressed for the Grand Palace (not a surprise as we were both in shorts, flip flops and cut off shirts), so that idea got scrapped pretty fast. Instead, we admired the beautiful architecture and meandered through the markets until it was time to head back to the ferry and then onto the train station.

One thing I've noticed so far since we've arrived, is that although Bangkok is a ridiculous, swarming city (there's literally 9 lanes of traffic outside... on one side of the street!!) the pace of Life here is very easy going and the people are extremely friendly.

We sampled some street "pork satay" and "gyozo" for the lavish price of $1.50 and I cooed and "small bodied" at the the various street cats/kittens and dogs we've encountered thus far.

I currenly have only 3 minutes of internet remaining so I'll unforunately have to cut this short... plus my beer is kicking in, so it's probably for the best :p

heading the night market tonight and then a massage, will update more hopefully tomorrow!!!

Mis syou all and hope you're well!!

xoxoxoxoxo,
Misty & Jesse