By Way of Asia

A Thai-iring journey

Chiang Rai, Thailand: Hello once again from Thailand (except this time much further north)! We are quite happy to be back after a grueling two and a half day trip from Luang Prabang. For those interested in a rough breakdown, here is how it went:

• Put on large backpacks and smaller backpacks; shlep other large bags with gifts we’ve acquired over the past two months to the boat
• Pick-up breakfast, lunch, and snacks to-go at a local coffee shop
• Take “8-hour” (more like 11 hour) slow boat from Luang Prabang to Pakbeng; get to the boat an hour early to ensure we get “soft seats” (e.g., minivan seats fastened to the floor of the boat) and not “hard seats” (e.g., wooden benches)
• Help console Ash when she opens up her chicken and cheese sandwich for lunch and finds only chicken
• Put on large backpacks and smaller backpacks; shlep other large bags with gifts we’ve acquired over the past two months off the boat
• Stay overnight in Pakbeng, a small town on the Mekong River that exists purely for the slowboat stops and whose electricity turns off at 10:30pm
• Put on large backpacks and smaller backpacks; shlep other large bags with gifts we’ve acquired over the past two months to the boat
• Take “8-hour” (more like 12 hours) slow boat from Pakbeng to Huay Xi, the border town in Laos where we can cross over to Thailand
• Realize we’ve gotten there too late and immigration is closed for the night
• Put on large backpacks and smaller backpacks; shlep other large bags with gifts we’ve acquired over the past two months off the boat
• Stay overnight in Hauy Xi, a town we had never even heard of until that day; find an adorable guesthouse named Arimid’s run by the sweetest man ever (Mr. Arimid)
• Wake up early so we don’t have to wait in line at immigration
• Put on large backpacks and smaller backpacks; shlep other large bags with gifts we’ve acquired over the past two months to immigration
• Go through immigration on the Laos side
• Walk to the passenger ferry that takes people across the Mekong to the Thai side (Chiang Kong)
• Make sure we still have our bags
• Go through immigration on the Thai side
• Walk to the tuk-tuk stand and take tuk-tuk from immigration to the Chiang Kong bus station
• Breath a sigh of relief when we give our bags to the bus driver to put under the bus
• Take 3 hour bus from Chiang Kong to Chiang Rai
• Have Zach put on large backpacks and smaller backpacks and shlep other large bags with gifts we’ve acquired over the past two months off the bus because Ash really has to go to the bathroom and can’t hold it anymore
• Take tuk-tuk from Chiang Rai bus station to guesthouse in Chiang Rai
• Arrive at our guesthouse in Chiang Rai
• Take best nap ever
• Wake up from nap and, while getting changed to go to dinner, realize we still have the key to our room at Mr. Arimid’s in Zach’s pocket. Oops

More pictures and other goodies later…

Luang Prabang, Laos: During our last day in Luang Prabang, we decided it was time to do something a bit more sedentary. So, inspired by the kitchy textile galleries all around town, we signed ourselves up for a day-long natural dying and weaving class with Ockpoptok - a group dedicated to supporting and promoting Lao textiles. 

We arrived at Ockpoptok’s weaving center and spent the first part of the morning learning about how silk is made, from worm to scarf. We were then taught how each color is dyed using only natural ingredients found around their center (did you know tumeric dyes silk bright yellow and wild almond bark dies silk green?). After the lessons, we got to dye our own silk. We chose yellow, orange, and red.

After lunch we learned how to use a loom - who knew how cool these things were? - and spent the remainder of the day trying our hand at weaving placemats (with the aid of a master weaver). All in all, we were quite proud with our handiwork and are looking forward to using our handmade silk placemats when we get home.

Oh, and our guide made us try silk worm poo tea (a Lao delicacy)…it was actually kind of good.

Luang Prabang, Laos: Some more up-close-and-personal fun with the elephants…

Luang Prabang, Laos: After exploring the city a bit, we decided to sign up for a two-day “mahout training experience” - mahout’s are the guys who train and take care of the elephants that have been rescued from unfair work conditions or dangerous hunting environments. Unfortunately there are only about 1,000 elephants left in all of Southeast Asia, so making sure they are well taken care of is very important. We decided to go with a group called Elephant Village and signed ourselves up for two days in the jungle with the elephants where we would get to go for a few rides, learn some commands, and - the best part - give the elephants baths in the river. 

Once we got to Elephant Village, about 30 minutes outside of Luang Prabang, our day started off with an hour long ride in a chair on the elephants’ back to get our “sea legs” so to speak. We then got to spend some quality one-on-one time with the little buggers, feeding them bananas (forget about peeling - they put an entire bunch in their mouths at once) and giving them some rubs on their trunk (what animal doesn’t like a good rub?). Next we learned some mahout commands (e.g., stop, go, turn left, turn right…luckily “run” wasn’t in the vocabulary) and took a turn riding “bareback” on the elephants’ neck practicing our newly-learned commands under the watchful eye of the mahout. Now mahout veterans, we then rode our elephants across the river and into the jungle, where they spend the night eating…and eating…and eating…

In the morning, we woke up early and trekked back into the jungle to wake up our sleepy friends. We hopped back on their necks and rode them back to the river where it was…you guessed it…bath time. The elephants seemed very excited as we headed to the water, picking up speed as we went and trying to pass each other. Once we got to the water, they paused to take a few big gulps (you’d be thirsty too if you ate pineapple leaves all night without access to a refreshing beverage), and then in they went - surprisingly gracefully considering they can weigh more than 12,000 pounds. They walked in until they were mostly submerged and then just hung around, letting us scrub their bodies and faces with the biggest scrub-brush you’ve ever seen. When they felt like it (or when the mahout told them), they would all of a sudden dunk themselves completely underwater, leaving us lowly humans flailing around, trying to keep both our balance on their necks and our heads above water. Occasionally, when they were feeling a little playful, they would splash their trunks hard up and down over the water, splashing everything around them. Sound fun? You bet it was. When they were all clean, we rode them back up to the camp and said a (quite sad!) goodbye.

Needless to say, we had a ridiculously good time and it was Ash’s favorite part of the trip so far. 

Luang Prabang, Laos: Greetings from Luang Prabang! Luang Prabang, the old capital of Laos, is an absolutely charming little town filled with sidewalk cafes, old cars, and beautiful colonial buildings. It’s our favorite city/town so far, and we’ve enjoyed it so much we’ve decided to stay longer than planned. One of the first things you might notice when coming to Luang Prabang is all the monks - we’ve heard there are in fact over 1,000 monks in the town and you can’t go outside without spotting them in their bright orange garb - sweeping the temple stairs, sitting under a tree, or even bartering in the night market. At dawn every morning, the monks rise and walk the town barefoot in single file talking “alms,” small donations of rice, money, or other gifts from the kneeling townspeople. According to anyone who has witnessed it, it is a must-see site. So, despite the obnoxiously early hour (e.g., 5:30am), we got our butts out of bed to see the procession for ourselves. Although we did see many monks pass by - and it was definitely beautiful to watch - we think we may have missed something because we only saw about 50 monks, not the 1,000 or so that we’ve been told participate. Oh well - perhaps we’ll try again tomorrow.