Another Quick Update

We are in Vientiane, Laos. Since we last updated we spent two days on the Mekong, a couple days in beautiful Luang Prabang, a day tubing in Vang Vieng and a day kayaking /riding to Vientiane. More updates are, indeed, in order, but just wanted to let everyone know where we are now.

And We're Off Again

After three wonderful days in Huay Xai ziplining through the forest (Matthew will be happy to know that there was no splatting) we are off again. This time we'll be traveling by boat to Luang Prabang. We've met up with a wonderful crew from the Gibbon Experience, almost all of whom will be joining us. So, tomorrow we'll head up to the dock to cruise down the Mekong on the two-day trek to Luang Prabang. We stop for the night in Pak Beng, but internet is uncertain. We have some fabulous photos (and hopefully video, if our camera gets returned), that we'll be updating with shortly (the nine hours on the boat should give us time to compose some long overdue posts).

On the Way to Jinghong

We made it to Laos a couple days ago after pausing in Jinghong for two nights. According to the hostel in Kunming, the bus station was 2 hours away by bus and 1.5 hours away by taxi. We decided to leave for our 8:30 bus at 5:00 and ran into a gal from our hostel that Reid had been hanging out with the previous (headache) night who had booked the 6:30 bus for Jinghong and hadn't realized that the bus station had moved further out of town. We shared a taxi and arrived forty minutes later--in time for Kristen to make her 6:30 bus and giving us two hours to kill before our bus departed. The bus station is in a temporary building temporarily while they finish the bus station (we could see them working on it). We checked our bags and went to explore the area.

There was a large building across the street that Reid conjectured was a shopping mall, so we headed there in hopes of a coffee shop and clean-ish bathroom (figuring most anything would be an improvement over the bus station bathrooms). We found an entrance but two security guards signaled that we couldn't enter, so we wandered around the building curious about what it was passing several closed entrances along the way. We worked out that it was a shopping mall, not yet opened.

We were rewarded by seeing what we can only guess was a group of young people hoping to get hired at the new mall. When we arrived they were milling about a square and quickly got into neat rows and columns when several men in suits came out and started calling commands to them. After taking some time getting the rows and columns to their satisfaction, the suits called out a command and all the people lined up turned to their right and then proceeded, in an orderly fashion, into the office. It was quite the sight.

Although Reid was worried about the sleeper bus, it ended up being a pretty good experience. The bunks were pretty small, but our bus wasn't very full and we were able to move. Reid picked a bed in the middle and was able to just barely fit into the bunk. He took a sleeping pill and was out for most of the trip. I dozed for several hours at a time, which wasn't too bad or too awesome. We arrived in Jinghong at 6:30 in the morning very bleary eyed and were immediately descended upon by touts. It took us a while to fend them off, but to be fair, I wasn't sure if they were still trying to sell us something or just chat.

Lonely Planet was a bit devoid of sleeping options, but highly recommended a cafe for great travel information, so we decided to head there. It was walking distance so we set off down the road to find the cafe not yet open. We only had to wait about twenty minutes for workers to show up and open up one of the cafes. Luckily, they had internet and we were searching for hostels and reviews as we ate our breakfast. As we were sitting there, our friend Kristen from Kunming wanders up and asks where we were staying. She'd arrived at 4:30 am and a helpful Chinese man had set her up in a less-than-awesome Chinese hotel. Just as we were getting ready to set off for the new Many Trees hostel that was so new it hadn't even made it into Lonely Planet, a young man from the Czech Republic stopped by our table and asked, "do you know where to stay around here?" We had to laugh and confess we were also stumped. His Rough Guide mentioned a place that he hadn't been able to find--the road no longer existed, or something. So, we all set out together to find the hostel. Jinghong, we soon discovered, was warm and tropical and we were all coated in sweat when we found the hostel. It was good, but we still decided to check out a place recommended by Lonely Planet. We found it, but rejected it and all jumped in a taxi back to the hostel to check in, drink a beer, and take a shower. And it wasn't even lunchtime yet!

That's enough for one entry, check back for the rest of our adventure in Jinghong plus lovely lovely Laos.

A Wonderful Headache

Reid here. I am sitting out in the courtyard of the Cloudland youth hostel, sipping on an Americano (delicious, made with Illy coffee). People are just starting to wake up and there is a comfortable bustle around. There's a vine covered in small purple blossoms covering the wall opposite me. As I wait for my breakfast to arrive, I am enjoying the remnants of the best headache I've had in years.

It started last night, as all good headaches do, when Dyanne and I dropped down to the courtyard for a beer before an early bed time. We got into a bit of conversation with Peter, a German who has traveled to the area several times. He gave us more information on Vietnam, then gave us his lonely planet Vietnam - very nice of him! He was sitting with a group of about 10 people from various countries (South Korea, China, Sweden, Germany, and Australia). They were all very friendly and, after learning that I was from Chicago, I learned that Sue from South Korea loves Al Capone. I then learned that she was much better than me at ping pong, and her Chinese friend from Shenzhen (near Hong Kong) was even better. Dyanne had the good sense to go to bed at a reasonable hour. I, on the other hand, stayed up with this international group drinking until about 1am. At that point, the situation was beginning to deteriorate rapidly, and I judged it past time for bed.

I woke up this morning to sunlight and noises in the street. It was very early and my head hurt. Dyanne was sleeping soundly. We had a long day ahead of us that would end in a long trip on a sleeper bus. I weighed my options. I tried to sleep more. That failed, so I decided to go for a jog. I only made it about three blocks before I came to a little park that was just filled with activity. There were several groups playing the most vigorous badminton I've ever seen, a few people doing calisthenics, and a big group of people doing tai chi. I was the youngest person in the park by at least 20 years. I started following along with the tai chi from near the park entrance. After a few minutes, a couple of older ladies noticed me and emphatically gestured to an open space in the square. I joined them and did my best to keep up for about 45 minutes. My headache completely forgotten, I had the most excellent morning getting a free (and very genuine) tai chi lesson in a park overlooking a pleasant pond.

On a slightly related note, there is something very striking about the sense of community I've been seeing in Kunming. Older people doing tai chi (how many years have these same people been getting together to do tai chi every morning?), playing cards and mah jong at little sidewalk tables, etc. It definitely puts the community in communism.

Kunming Day 2

Happy Mother's Day to our Moms.

We decided to spend a second night in Kunming because we were enjoying the hostel and didn't get a chance to explore too much yesterday as we recovered from the long travel night. Because it was Sunday, we decided to head to the park and see how the Chinese spend their weekend. We packed a little picnic--we had already found some peanut butter (much to Reid's shock and pleasure) in Yangshuo and found some wheat ("bean sprout") bread at a local bakery along with some black current jam at a bakery here in town--and headed to the park.

Once at the park, we were surpised to find not the lush green lawn that "park" conjured to our minds, but a lake with paved paths and many many people. There were paddle boats on the lake and I even spied some bumper cars. Generally, it seemed to be modeled after the park on the lake at the Summer Palace in Beijing. It was beautiful and just crammed with couples and
families, young and old to enjoy the beautiful day. We ate our pb&js and just enjoyed the beautiful day.

Tonight we went to a vegetarian restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet. Vegetarian restaurants in China differ from those in the states in that their objective is to make non-meat products taste (and look) as much like meat as possible. We walked in at 8:00 and they closed at 9:00, but it was empty and the staff looked at their watches before they seated us. We asked them what they recommended and ordered mushrooms made into meatballs; sweet,
sour, and spicy mock pork; some kind of buddha's delight. We were also served endless cups of weak tea. At about 8:30, they decided to close up and brought us our bill (the first time this has happened in China-usually we have to go find them to ask for it) and most of the staff left.
Luckily, we had finished our meal and headed out shortly thereafter.

Back at the hostel Reid lost a couple of ping pong games as I drafted this. Tomorrow we'll head to the Flower & Bird market before leaving on the 20:35 sleeper bus to Mohan.

And... we're in Kunming

Well, we made it to Kunming and get off the plane at exactly 11:19 this morning.  Turns out "soft" sleeper is a bit of a misnomer and Reid didn't sleep very well on the train, so we decided to take a day in Kunming to get a decent night sleep before boarding a sleeper bus for the border.  Without too much drama we managed to get on the proper bus and get off at the proper stop for the hostel recommended in Lonely Planet (Cloudland).  Actually finding it proved more tricky, but about twenty minutes later we were standing in the lobby getting our key.  It's an enchanting hostel with an open courtyard and all the rooms opening into the courtyard.  The beds are hard, but not as hard as the train, so we're hoping for a better night's sleep.  Right now we are at the "French Cafe" where I had a lovely quiche and part of a salad--it's sad when you have to start eating fries to keep yourself of eating too much salad (one should avoid fresh veggies while traveling, so salads are forbidden and, yet, so appealing).  They have a couple second-hand books but none that look too interesting, so I think we are going to head back to the hostel for a quick nap before dinner.  I don't think we've decided whether to stay two nights yet, but will be on our way again tomorrow evening or the day after. 

On the Road Again

Well, turns out that Thailand is open again, or at least the British FCO has revised their travel warning to advise against non-essential travel to Bangkok only.  The rest of the country is, apparently, safe again.  Alas, we had already bought our overnight train ticket bound for Kunming, China when we got the news.  So, we are headed to Laos.  We may be out of touch for a few days as we are going to be in transit for the next few days and its unclear what internet access we'll have.  We checked out of our hotel in Yangshuo this morning and took the bus to Guilin and checked our bags at the train station. We then headed back to the pizza place we ate at last time we were in Guilin transiting through to Yangshuo. We were transported half-way here by a rickshaw driver who had no idea where we wanted to go and ended up charging us ten times what we thought we agreed to (apparently two fingers means not two but 20--we got out for 11 since he only took us half way).  The pizza place was only a ten minute walk along the river from where he dropped us, so now we sit here awaiting our pizza, sipping some juices, and updating our blog.

We will board an overnight train bound for Kunming, China at 5:00 this evening.  We splurged for the soft sleeper, so we'll have to report back on how luxury train travel in China is.  We arrive in Kunming at 11:20 am tomorrow.  From Kunming we'll take a nine hour sleeper bus to Jinghong, China.  We may decide to stay the night in Kunming.  This decision will likely depend on how badly we decide that we need a shower and time off of a moving vehicle.  Jinghong is supposed to be a nice destination as well so we may break up our trip with a couple days there before we board another bus for Mohan which is on the border with Laos--apparently the border crossing is at the end of the main street.  From Mohan we'll enter into Boten, Laos.  In Boten, we plan to catch a bus to Luang Nam Tha.  There is, apparently, only one daily bus to Luang Nam Tha and it leaves Boten at 8:00 am.  The border opens at 8:00 am. So, we may need to spend the night in Boten.  After all this we will arrive in Luang Nam Tha, where we can do some trekking and maybe some homestays.  We are also excited for the "Gibbon Experience" where we'll get to sleep in tree houses accessible only by cable lines, be awoken by the sound of Gibbons in the morning, and do some trekking.  

From what we've read, we are really excited to be heading to Laos, even though on our original itinerary we were supposed to be sunning ourselves on a Thai beach right now.  Turns out this timing may be even better, by allowing us to take more time in Loas/Cambodia/Vietnam, if we'd like to and if not, then we can spend the balance of the time in Thailand.  That, plus we aren't supposed to dive on our Malaria meds until we find out what side-effects, if any we experience (which, for those who are curious so far include insomnia (both) and nausea (Dyanne, but note that this could also have been caused by my cold that has stubbornly decided to stick around or some various amoeba or bug)).  So, we couldn't have been learning to dive now anyways.  

We'll try to update from the road, but if we don't, we'll let you know for sure when we get to Luang Nam Tha, which probably won't be until Tuesday or Wednesday.  

Moon Hill Photos Plus

As Reid mentioned, we finally set off for our long-awaited bike ride today.  It was sort of overcast and muggy from the rain, but it was much cooler than the first day we attempted the ride.  Boy were we glad that we waited.  As you can see from Reid's shirt, it was a rather sweaty hike up Moon Hill and I think we would have been just miserable had we attempted it any other day.  But we were rewarded with a picturesque bike ride and a great hike up a karst, something Reid has had on his to do list since we go to Yangshuo.

Not sure if we mentioned it after our first bike ride, but riding bikes here is very interesting.  To begin, they don't give you helmets (their is one joint in town where you can get a helmet, but it costs 50 yuan to rent a bike versus the 10 - 20 everywhere else) and no one else rides with a helmet either.  And riding on the "main" roads to get out to the countryside seems daunting at first, but from the bike it seems to make a lot more sense than from a car.  First, there are a lot of bikes here and pedestrians and bikes converted into buggies or truckycles (a tricycle with a pick up bed on the back) and scooters that don't go very fast.  So, if you are biking at a decent pace you are actually going faster than a lot of the other traffic on the road.  Even a lot of the motorized vehicles, like trucks, don't go very fast because they are so underpowered.  Once you are actually on your way, the traffic doesn't seem nearly as bad as it does to look.  That is, once you realize that people honking at you is more of a "hey, I'm here" instead of what I've always taken honking in the US to mean--you are doing or have done something wrong (swerved into my lane, waited too long after a red light, etc.).  Luckily, the road out to Moon Hill was closed in one direction, so it was rather pleasant with only a few cars to bother us as we cycled our way out to Moon Hill.

As usual, not more than a five to ten minute cycle out of town and we were in the midst of farms.  We got to watch the farmers planting and some water buffalo doing whatever it is that water buffalo do.  We passed over a rather scenic area of the Yulong River (Yangshuo is on the Li River but the Yulong is close by) and stopped for some photos.  After our hike we headed into the town across the way for lunch.  On our way we met a young man who professed to be studying tourism and had a survey he wanted us to answer, we obliged and answered a few questions about how we liked the area.  Nearby to where we were stopped a man was putting on a show with two monkeys.  Not sure what kind they were, but one was larger and one was smaller.  They were atop stands and had chains around their ankles,  They were dressed up in doll clothes with funky hats and had little sticks that they were supposed to be holding behind their heads, but were resting on when their owner wasn't paying attention.  It was very odd--they were some human looking and chained up like that, it was just a sad sight.  We declined to pay for a photo.

Instead we managed to find Luna Cafe and were rewarded with a wonderful Italian lunch from a rooftop where we had a great view of the karsts we had just climbed.  It was wonderful.  We headed home (as Reid mentioned, the short way) and were rewarded with a shower and some time to do some laundry before we headed off for dinner.  We returned to the clay pot place and met a French couple finishing up their 10 month trip in Southeast Asia.  It was fun to compare notes and hear their recommendations on the countries we have yet to visit.  After dinner we headed up the street to find out if the optometrist was still open--the only place we've seen with contact solution that we desperately needed.  They were open! The young man in the shop didn't speak any English, but luckily the containers were similar enough to what we have in the states that we were able to pick something out and he told us the price via hand signals.  We then wandered back through town and there was a live guitar at Bar 98, a spot where we've enjoyed a couple meals, so we stopped in for a couple beers to enjoy the evening and the live music.  After a week here, I think we've finally figured out where we're going just in time to leave.

Alright, well I'm going to sign off so we can figure out how to get to Laos from here before we call it a night. 

Lao-ward Bound

Reid here.  We have finally decided on the next thailand-skipping stage our travels!  After much careful consideration, and, when that failed, a decisive tournament of rock-paper-scissors between the major options, we have chosen to head overland to Laos and work our way south to Cambodia.  

Our first stop in Laos will be Luang Nam Tha, a small border (ish) town that is the jumping off point for excellent eco-trekking in the Nam Tha jungle preserve.  But lets not get ahead of ourselves.  First we have to get to the Laos border, and that will involve a few exciting (?) firsts: our first overnight train in China (reputed to be quite nice), our first sleeper bus (not necessarily sharing the train's reputation), and our first land border crossing (not counting the hong kong - shenzhen one, since both are technically china, and I wanted three "firsts" for narrative flow).  

We'll take a short (1.5 hour) bus ride from Yangshuo back to Guilin, where we will catch the 18-hour night train to Kunming (capital of Yunnan province).  From there, we will take an overnight sleeper bus from Kunming to Mengla (a small transport hub near the border).  There, we'll transfer to a local bus that will take us over the border (where we'll cross the border and pay $30ish for a one month visa) and on to Luang Nam Tha.  

A side note on sleeper buses.  I did not realize such things exist.  I sort of wish that I still didn't.  It is a coach type bus with the seats replaced by two rows of bunks along each wall and another row of bunks along center.  The bunks are a bit less than 6 feet long and travelers have frequently described the sleeping experience as "coffin-like".  Smoking and spitting are also frequent complaints.  I think it will be an adventure.

As we peruse the Lonely Planet, we're getting excited about eco-trekking, staying at the "Gibbon Experience" - www.gibbonexperience.org, volunteering with some local literacy projects, and (hopefully) using my construction experience to help build a school.   

A Long Hike and Great Lunch

Reid here.  We had an excellent "adventure" day today in Yangshuo.  We woke up (relatively) early, had rather good egg sandwiches at our hostel, and then rented bikes and headed out to "Moon Hill" - a nearby karst that is on the tourist maps because of the strange arch shape at the peak.  We set off through town, then turned around after Dyanne pointed out that we had ridden in a circle (thankfully, it is a small town).  Properly oriented, we set off again, this time in the right direction.  Our route took us out to moon hill along a main road with the return planned along country tracks.  The forty-five minute ride was uneventful, but we regularly saw "tourist attractions" dotted along the road with parking lots for the inevitable tour buses.    (More signs of the "If there's tourists here, there must be attractions!" mentality).  My favorite was the sign for the "Real" water caves that warned you not to be fooled by the many other "fake" water caves.  I'm glad they cleared that up for me. 

When we arrived at Moon Hill, we paused at the 15 yuan entrance fee.  The guidebook had said 5yuan, and I think we were both concerned that this might not actually be moon hill, but merely a hill with a sign in front saying moon hill.  Two little old(ish) chinese women approached us and started into a pitch.  They would show us the secret locals way up for only 5 yuan.  No one should pay the 15 they said.  We conferred and decided that 5 seemed reasonable and it was likely to be a bit of an adventure.  The little old ladies took us back a few hundred yards along the road and had us lock our bikes up.  One stayed behind to watch them, the other sold us a water for 5 yuan (the one bottle we had was "no enough!" and then she took us across the street and up a dirt path.  After some climbing about we came to a bit of barbed wire that had been tied down, climbed over it and joined the "proper" path to moon hill.  Our little old lady guide had been nervously looking around the entire time until we were on the path and headed away.  We didn't see anyone except for two other little old ladies heading back down the way we had come in.  

A little while on, we found a fork that led to "Vanity" and "Moon Palace".  I chose left, Dyanne thought right.  Dyanne was correct.  We discovered this when we got to the peak of "Vanity" and stared across at the peak of Moon Hill.  Good view, but another long hike.   I considered giving up at this point, but we carried on.  The view from the peak was worthwhile.  There were rockclimbers on the "archway" segment, and hopefully a few decent photographs of the surrounding area.  I bought a mango juice from yet another little old lady to try to get her to stop fanning us and following us around.  It didnt' work, but the juice was nice.   We got to the bottom, found our bikes right where we had left them, then headed into the small village across from the hill.  Our guidebook had mentioned a good italian restaurant, Cafe Luna, here.  We followed the large sign and found Luna.  We sat on the rooftop (with an excellent view of moon hill) and had the best western food we've found in China.  Somewhat refreshed, we headed back towards Yangshuo.  We briefly considered taking the back roads home as originally planned, but the sky looked like rain and our legs felt like jelly, so we headed back on the main road.  We had a beer and a guava juice on our balcony to celebrate the successful adventure. 

Stuffed Noses and Other Stuff

Despite taking a self-proclaimed sick day yesterday, I still have the sniffles today.  We slept in to re-arm our immune systems and woke up to rain.  So, we skipped the bike ride and headed to a cafe for lunch and travel planning.  We pulled out our travel books (did we tell you about how we picked one up on the rooftop of a nearby hostel a couple nights ago) and proceeded to price out alternatives.  Well, it seems they all cost approximately the same and so it's just a matter of deciding what we would prefer to do.  Should we replace our couple weeks of beach-bumming in Southern Thailand with a trip to Malaysia and an equally gorgeous island beach complete with diving, less malaria, and easily accessed via Kuala Lumpur (hub for Air Asia--the low cost air carrier in these parts) or go overland towards Laos and begin making our way down the Mekong a few weeks early?  When no decisions are bad ones, how do you decide.  We may be resigned to flipping a coin. 

In other news on the travel front, we talked to United today to get our flight from Hong Kong to Phuket moved out a couple days and found out that , indeed, our flight to Phuket is not subject to a change fee waiver and that we'd have to wait a month to find out if our flight to Bangkok is eligible.  It looks like some progress on resolving the situation is being made, but it's still too soon to tell whether or not we should add Thailand back into our itinerary. 

We are hanging out in the hotel room now planning for an early bedtime so that we can get up and go for our long-awaited bike ride in the morning and perhaps some Tai Chi (or as they say it here, Tai Ji) in the afternoon.  And then probably some local food to eat.  After trying out some of the "fancier" places around here that serve Western food, we have decided that when in China you should eat Chinese and have found a couple local places that beat out anything we have had here for more than twice the price.  Unfortunately, when we ask to have most things made vegetarian (sushi) we end up with something and uncooked lettuce on top.  Which, in addition to not having the very good vegetables and seasoning that you get here, we can't eat the uncooked lettuce.  Oh well! Reid managed to get some very good clay pot rice with vegetables, so I guess I'll give that a go tomorrow. 

Now that the influx of domestic tourists have vanished, Yangshuo seems almost like a ghost town.  In part, there are just so many restaurants and bars that when it isn't packed, most places are virtually vacant.  Oh well, we've learned that the fact that we are the only ones eating at an establishment isn't any indication of the quality of the food or service.  And, we ended up able to keep our room and only pay an extra 70 yuan ($10) for two nights as a result, so we were happy with how that worked out.

A Sick Day

Reid here.  After days of sniffling, Dyanne has finally admitted that she has a cold.  So we're taking the day off for recuperation.  This is appropriate, since today is a chinese national holiday to celebrate May Day - which is the Chinese version of Labor day (May 1-3).  Yangshuo has been mobbed this weekend with domestic (Chinese) tourists and visitors.  Most of them seem to have departed today and West street has returned to a more reasonable level of commotion. 

I had a few adventures this morning, procuring the necessary items for Dyanne's recuperation.  After several minutes of miming a sore throat and making sucking noises, I was rewarded with a box of throat lozenges (I think).  My attempts to procure tea in a dry form were a complete failure.  The host at my hostel very patiently explained to me several times that ginger tea was what Dyanne needed, and that you needed to make this over a flame, not in the auto kettles in the rooms.  I did locate a small box of loose tea in a store (thank you, lonely planet phrase book), but it was an expensive souvenir package, so I took a pass.  I took the hostel up on its ginger tea offer.  We were rewarded with a pot of delicious tea made from boiling fresh ginger root.  I finally understood why he thought I couldn't make this in my room.  

This might be a good time for a digression on Chinese supermarkets.  In shanghai, we found a few stores that appeared to be small (very small) supermarkets, with a few "imported" foods.  More common were 7-11 style convenience stores (with a bit more selection).  However, Yangshuo does not seem to have either of these creatures (at least not in the sections of town where westerners go).  Instead, I've found mainly "Local Food Super Markets" that, I think, sell souvenir food items plus beer/coke/water.  I can't say for certain because most all of the items are in boxes covered in non-descript flower and landscape scenes with chinese writing on them.  These boxes are piled on islands that take up most of the store.  They could be filled with lovely things, but I wouldn't know.  Instead, I try to puzzle out what's along the walls.  70% of this is liquor (most of which is apparently counterfeit), the remainder seems to be a jumble of dried fruits, expensive teas and a few toiletry items (yay, travel sized toothpaste that isn't bubble gum flavored!  Yes, apparently small toothpaste containers must be destined for small people, or so goes the apparent logic of Colgate and Crest in China.  I am sick of kid's toothpaste.)  We searched every one of these stores we could find looking for peanut butter a few days ago.  We eventually found one jar in a bakery.  Our buying caused the clerk to call to the owner something in chinese.  I think it was along the lines "See, I told you they actually eat this stuff!"  But I digress...

We had planned to go on a bike ride down a bit south to a couple of local attractions today - "Moon Hill" and the "Water Caves", and maybe check out a really old banyan tree on our way back.  We'll probably do that tomorrow instead, but it wouldn't be a tragedy if we didn't.  I think that is my favorite (least favorite?) aspect of Yangshuo tourism.  All of the "attractions" came after the tourists.  Once upon a time, there was a beautiful peaceful place in rural china with two rivers and tons of limestone karsts.  Backpackers started coming to get off the beaten track (beating a track in the process).  With all of the people here, attractions were developed to give them concrete activities.  It seems like whatever direction we set our bikes in, we find something beautiful and fascinating.  

I'm off to see if there are any good DVDs at the reception desk.  We watched two yesterday, "smart people" and "Book of Eli."  The best part of Smart People was the subtitles, which were sort of in English.  It sort of seemed like each phrase had been through a long game of telephone before it was transcribed.  

Oops, Thailand is Closed Today.

Reid here... As some of you may know, Thailand is having a bit of a problem lately.  Pro and Anti government protesters have been staging demonstrations in central Bangkok and a bit of Chiang Mai for a while now.  The situation has deteriorated in the last few weeks.  There have been police crackdowns and grenade violence that have resulted in many injuries and some deaths.   Nonetheless, the conventional wisdom had been that the problem was isolated to Bangkok and it was fine to travel in the rest of the country.  

This seemed reasonable to me until the last few days.  At the end of April, the US state department said that US citizens should avoid all non-essential travel to Thailand.  The Brits said the same thing, and even Australia said it could be dangerous if you get caught in a demonstration and you should re-think your travel there.    

The next leg of our RTW plane ticket takes us to Phuket, Thailand, where we were planning to spend a few weeks eating delicious thai food and learning to scuba dive (and probably getting a sunburn).  After that, we were going to move north to Chiang Mai to start our trek along the Mekong through Laos, Cambodia and then work up through Vietnam to Hanoi.  

Now we are in a pickle.  Thankfully, we're in a very picturesque (and relatively cheap) spot in China (Yangshuo) to take a few days to strategize.  We've come up with three or four options for our onward journey and we're puzzling through the logistics now.  One unfortunate side effect is that all of the options look a bit more expensive than Plan A.  But, as the sign on my mom's fridge says, the key to life is how well you deal with Plan B. 

Plan A.  Decide that the US/British/Australian embassies are just whining, that we are nimble enough to avoid large groups of people in red shirts, and that we should be pretty safe on the tourist beaches in a country filled with very peaceful buddhists.  As one line of thinking goes, all of the troublemakers from either side have gone to Bangkok anyways.  Ahh, beautiful Phuket.  Why does the beach here look so empty?  Umm, could someone please take me to Cambodia?

Plan B. China is rather a lovely country and we didn't really budget enough time here in the first place.  Take another week or two to visit Yunnan province, especially the trek through the beautiful Tiger Leaping Gorge.  Then we can take a bus from Kunming (China) to Luang Prabang (northern Laos) and start our planned trip through Laos, and Cambodia.  Take an extra week or two on an island in southern Cambodia to get our scuba ceritificatons (same water as Thailand, same PADI course, but cheaper).  Then we can work our way up through Vietnam, catch a cheap flight from Hanoi back to Hong Kong, and resume our RTW trip (skipping the Phuket and Bangkok legs).  The downside is that we don't get to the beach for quite some time (and, says Dyanne, no Thai food either!)  

Plan C.  We go back to Hong Kong and revise our itinerary to skip Thailand and go directly to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). From there we can go to a few islands or nearby beaches for our scuba certification, then work our way up through Vietnam to Hanoi, then over to northern Laos and do our planned Mekong itinerary back to Saigon.  The problem is that our visas for Vietnam don't start until June 1, so we would have to get new visas issued (and pay the fee again) in Hong Kong.  

Plan D.  We take a train/bus combination from Yangshuo to Nanning, a Chinese city near the Vietnam border with a consulate.  We get new visas and then head to Hanoi and do our planned trip through SE asia in reverse, stopping in Cambodia/Southern VN for scuba.  The difficulty here would be getting from northern Laos back to Hong Kong to resume our RTW trip. 

So these are the plans we're currently considering, give or take a few esoteric logistical differences.  Oh, did I mention that almost all of the regional flights route through Bangkok, particularly on Star Alliance?  Oops :)

In the meantime, Yangshuo is beautiful.  We are enjoying our little double room with a huge balcony on a quiet alley off of the main drag.  We've gone for some fantastic (though tiring) bike rides in the countryside.  We might be volunteering with a local program to teach english in one of the rural primary schools for a few days or a week (they want the kids to get used to speaking english with foreigners).  Also, the local beer "LiQuan" is quite drinkable and costs about 50 cents per liter. So, we are rather content to hang here until we figure out where to go next.  If you have any comments please be sure to e-mail us, since we cannot get to our blog to read the comments.