Happy 2010 from Thailand!

I gotta be honest: we're a little tired, folks. The trip has been crazy and wonderful and filled with many happy moments. But it's time to go home. 2010 is going be a big year. I can feel it. We're ready to get back to work, to grow, to learn, to face ourselves and seek out a little more truth.

I wish the same for you (the four people reading this blog ;)... May 2010 bring equal parts adventure and stability. May you have more love, bigger laughs, a healthier body and more joy.

Lots of love,

Kieran and Dave

Signing off from Thailand... see you soon!

Sawasdee-kaa!: Back in Bangkok...

We flop into the hotel room after the flight from Siem Reap. First day back in Bangkok is a wash. With Dave sick in bed, I head out into the streets alone to try and find a laundry place. We're not in a particularly touristy area so all the signs are in Thai and almost no one I meet speaks English. After an hour of walking, I finally find the place. Two Thai sisters grab my clothes and count everything out as their shirtless dad (I assume) with a belly big with ascites and glasses thick as jars yells indiscriminately from his perch on the Laz-y Boy. They hand me my receipt and with a "Khap kun kaa" (thank you) I'm on my way to find soup for Dave.

The next day, Dave is back to his old self and we head out to explore the temples of Bangkok together. First stop, temple of the Emerald Buddha (actually it's made of green jade, but the legend sounds cooler) and the Grand Palace. After getting busted for my tank top (they wouldn't accept my shawl) and standing in line to rent a big hot polyester shirt, we finally begin the tour. The ornate detail of the structure is mind-boggling and makes me wonder what Angkor Wat would have looked like in its heyday.

After finishing, we check out the temple of the Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho), which houses a gi-normous buddha more than 151 feet long and 53 feet high.

Hot and tired and cranky, we try desperately to make our reservation for tea at the Oriental (at Aunt Elly's suggestion). After much haggling, some passive aggressive remarks, and much gesticulation, we finally find the right boat taxi to take us to the hotel. As we settle into the historic Author's lounge with white lights and matching colonial rattan furniture, we enjoy their signature tea blend and a pastry before heading back for a not-so-wild new year's eve... in the hotel room.

Soa s'day! Cambodia and the lost (and found) capital city of Angkor

We meet our guide, Sal (short for Kosal, his name from his years as an orphan in a Buddhist monastery), a little after 5AM (it was supposed to be 4:50AM, but Sal overly informed us he was partying with his buddies and overslept). We head out on the darkened road, chauffeured by Chum in the remork (like a tuk tuk), with the caravan of other tourists. Arriving at Angkor Wat in total darkness, Sal deftly guides us to a picture spot where plenty of would-be photographers are lying in wait for the legendary Angkor Wat sunrise. As Sal recovers from his hangover, we sit and listen to the clicks, beeps and other little sounds digital camera manufacturers dream up. Suddenly, the first lights of dawn fill the sky and the ancient 12th-century temple reveals itself. Built in honor of the Hindu god Vishnu, the temple was later transformed into a Buddhist temple (in fact, some of the Vishnu statues now sport the orange robes of the Buddhist monks). Sal takes us around, regaling us with stories from his studies of both Hindu and Buddhist philosophy while making sure to point out the bullet holes, beheaded Buddha statues and other tragic remnants of the time of the Khmer Rouge rule in the late 1970s.

Next, we head off to Bayon Temple, part of Angkor Thom (the city of Angkor) and explore the faces on the walls and more beautiful bas reliefs depicting stories of battles long past. This temple was built after Angkor Wat as a primarily Buddhist Temple. The place is teeming with tourists like us, so we head out soon after snapping some shots and climbing the precarious stone steps.

Last stop was Ta Prohm, my favorite. The temple was left in ruins as the rest of Angkor was freed from the grip of the fig, banyan and kapok trees. The trees and their monstrous roots break through the stones and wind in an out of the crevices. It's like they're an essential part of the whole structure. I walked away with a whole new respect for trees...

Sweaty and exhausted, we head back to the hotel, but not before buying some bracelets from one of the many Cambodian children selling things at the exit.

Xin Chao!: Hanoi, again.

During the second stop, we saw the Hanoi of 4:30AM (after arriving on the overnight train from Sapa)… the streets were quiet and empty and we were tired. After sleeping for a couple hours in the only seedy motel open at that hour, we regrouped and decided to get a feel for the history of Hanoi. First stop: a traditional Vietnamese breakfast of pho: noodle soup with vegetables and meat (just veggies for me, of course). We toured around in little chair pushed by a tough Vietnamese man who showed us the sights, a statue of Lenin, a military flag tower and Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum – a monolith of stark concrete architecture located in front of Ba Dinh square where he delivered a speech declaring Vietnam’s independence in 1945.

We then toured the Temple of Literature, Vietnam’s first university and a structure that is about 1000 years old. The university originally centered on the teachings of Confucius.

After walking back to the seedy motel to grab our stuff, we headed on to the airport for our flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Oh, sweet Internet...

I am one spoiled Internet brat... connections have been tougher to come by during our SE Asia hopping than in the Buenos Aires apartment one year ago. I've also noticed that as soon as it takes longer than one nanosecond to load something I get very, very testy. New Year's Resolution: be more patient with technology. And maybe my husband, too.

I will try to get the posts updated in the next couple days. So much to share! This really has been an incredible trip and I look forward to sharing more of Dave's photos with you. Still to come: the far northern border mountains of Vietnam, Cambodia and Angkor Wat and Bangkok.

We are in Bangkok now and trying to figure out this crazy city... off to a beachside chillout spot on New Year's Day and then back to home sweet lala land!

Miss you!

xoxo
Kier and Dave

Xin Chao! Part 3: Sapa

After a challenging night’s sleep on the overnight train from Hanoi to Lao Cai, we jump on a minibus that will take us into the mountains of Sapa and on to the isolated Topas Ecolodge for the next two days. To say the ride along the bumpy curvy twisty turvy road was nauseating would be a slight understatement. I try to keep my eyes on the road as the Australian in front of me practically sticks her whole head out the window to keep from getting sick all over the car. Finally, we reach solid ground, dump our bags and enjoy the Topas Ecolodge breakfast. Feeling refueled and rejuvenated, we sign up for a 6-hour tour of the surrounding villages to see the sweeping views of terraced hillsides and learn a little about a way of life that was, until recent years, unknown to foreign visitors.

The area is home to a number of Vietnamese minority groups, including the Black Hmong, Tay, Xapho and Red Dao groups. The main agricultural product is rice, followed by corn, cassava and other goods. We traversed the muddy rocky pathways and our guide, who is himself from a local Tay village, taught us about the methods used to improve farming, distribute basics like water and electricity (each home is allowed about one kilowatt per day). Dave enthusiastically tries his hand (actually, his whole body) at an old concrete and stone hand-churned corn mill (no doubt dreaming up new functional exercises with which to torture his clients). Although more efficient machines are slowly replacing them, some farms still use water mills to clean the shells off the rice grains. You can see a picture of one below and I'll try to upload a video in our video bar of how it works.

Our guide also takes us to visit a local home – a large wooden structure with no windows and a corrugated metal roof. Large families live inside (though smaller now due to new Vietnamese restrictions on the number of children each family can have). There are two cooking areas – one for animal food and one for human food. A large storeroom makes up the attic, piled high with huge bags of rice and vats of corn. The matriarch of the household, a strong beautiful woman in full traditional costume, invites us to try a little homemade rice wine. “I like sake,” I think, “I’ll try some of your rice wine.” Dave and I thank the hostess and down the liquor, which quickly burns our throats and warms our bellies. Quite a bit stronger than sake…

We head back through the valley, stopping to wave to the kids and take pictures of various animals and plants.





We return to the ecolodge, sweaty and thoroughly exhausted. Our room sits atop a hill, looking over the valley. Half of the electricity supplying the room comes from a solar panel outside. There are no TVs, no hair dryers, and electricity comes in and out. Surrounded by silence and a fine mountain mist, we drift off to sleep…

The next day it's off to the local market in Sapa and back to Hanoi.