The End of the Adventure

Over two months ago I left DC to start what I called "Mollie's Grand Adventure," and what a grand adventure it has been! In the last 68 days, I have had so many experiences -- mostly good, some bad -- and seen so many cool places:

• 1 day in London,
• 31 days in Nepal,
• 8 days in Thailand,
• 5 days in Cambodia,
• 8 days in Laos,
• 15 days in Vietnam,
• and 1 day in South Korea.

It's been like doing seven vacations in one trip. I've done a lot of things and learned a lot of things -- this wasn't a "finding myself" venture by any means (I already know me pretty well), but I was frequently forced to be brave and more uncomfortable than I would normally choose. I feel like I've been traveling forever, but at the same time I can't believe it's already over!

I'm sad to leave of course -- this traveler lifestyle is something I could get used to -- but at the same time I'm ready for certain home things, including but not limited to my family, constantly available drinkable water, preparing my own food, washers/dryers, truly clean feet, and having access to more than four outfits.

As you know, I spent all of Nepal within 5 feet of Sister2, and then most of Southeast Asia within 5 feet of Andy. Two major travel partner wins, since they both like to do the things I like to do, try all the food, and walk a ton.

If you've been following my posts all along then you know what I've been up to, but here are my retrospective highlights and things I would have done differently from the Southeast Asia portion of the trip.

Best days (I can't pick one):

• Dirt biking to the waterfall in Luang Prabang, Laos.
• The second day camping at Erawan Falls, Thailand.
• The Plain of Jars in Phonsavanh, Laos. 

Worst day:

• Excluding long days-o-bus rides, the last day in Bangkok. It ended in massages and delicious food, so it was not a total loss by any means, but the day itself was hot and super-polluted and draining. Cities after too long (2 days) wear on me.

Place I would have stayed longer:

• Hoi An -- beaches!!!

Place I could have skipped:

• Hue (it was fine but not amazing).
• Luang Prabang (we stayed 4 days, but should have only stayed 2. It's SUPER over-priced and there isn't much to do. If you want to just hang out somewhere, hang out somewhere with a beach.)

Nicest people:

• Thais -- I love how much they smile!

Sketchiest people:

• I'm sorry to say this, but be warned if you go, a lot of Vietnamese people will screw you over at every opportunity. We were upsold (multiple times), cheated, tricked by a taxi driver, forced into the worst bus seats (we successfully fought back on this one), and robbed, all in Vietnam. :(

Best food:

• It's waaaay too hard to pick just one thing -- so I'll say Vietnam. All of the things. 

Worst food:

• Cambodia was the least exciting food-wise (pho pho pho pho). But oh man this coconut curry ("Amok") at Angkor Wat was delicious!

Best activity:

• Dirt biking!!!

Worst activity:

• There was a Class 3 whitewater kayaking experience outside of Luang Prabang. I didn't blog about it at the time because it was mostly upsetting and terrible and scary. It was also really unsafe (despite the very legit-looking guide company there were NO safety precautions taken), so I do not recommend doing this.

Favorite city:

• Saigon

Least Favorite city:

• Bangkok

Best Palace:

• Grand Palace, Bangkok

Best Ruins:

• Angkor Wat

So would I go back? Maybe. I feel like I saw Nepal and Vietnam pretty thoroughly, and Cambodia doesn't have that much to see, but I would love to explore more of Laos (we stayed in the north/central area, but further north or way south would be cool to see). Southeast Asia was pretty freaking awesome and relatively easy travel-wise, but there's a whole world of other places to go and see and explore! Who knows where I'll end up next...

Dirt Biking through Laos: The Movie

As promised, here it is: video evidence of our dirt biking adventure through Laos!

Dirt Biking through Laos: A Perfect Day in Luang Prabang

Today was the perfect combination of running, delicious coffee, speed and adrenaline, exploration, and time in the sunshine. I am so happy!

We arrived in Luang Prabang yesterday, a touristy but nice little city between the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. It was an 8-hour dirt biking experience to get here from Phonsavanh, but unlike other 8-hour transportation ventures, this was actually really fun! 

There were so many curves and hills and beautiful views! By the end, our butts were sore and our joints were stiff and we were ready for hot showers and dinner and to be sitting on something non-moving and non-vibrating of course, but overall the 250k (155 miles) was a great ride! (Be afraid Mom and Dad -- I might get into this motorcycling thing...)

I woke up early this morning for a nice little run around town (my fourth run since leaving DC a month and a half ago -- let me tell you, I am so out of running shape!).

The architecture here in the Old City is very French and very pretty. Riverside cafes line the road and sometimes it feels like I'm in Europe instead of Asia, which is strange, but nice.

After breakfast on the river (Laotian coffee = swoon!), we got on our bikes for Day 6, our final day of this dirt biking excursion. The 30k ride out to Kuang Si Falls was great! Curves in mountains are exciting, but scary because you constantly have to check your speed. Curves on flats (i.e. today's ride) are just fun because you get to go fast. 

And the waterfalls, of course, were beautiful and refreshing. I don't think I'll ever get tired of exploring waterfalls, which is convenient considering they're all over Southeast Asia. 

The limestone rocks make for super-turquoise water, and the multiple levels of falls are fun to climb up and jump off of (carefully!).

We returned our dirt bikes at 5pm, sad to see our freedom of transportation go. So to those of you who doubted (you know who you are), I'm pleased to report that, though it could easily have gone the other way, a week of dirt biking was a major success! Look forward to the soon-to-be-public movie of our experience...

Dirt Biking through Laos: The Plain of Jars and Unexploded Ordinances

Here we are in the weird little town of Phonsavanh, in Northern Laos. It looks like a cross between an old western movie and southeast Asia (dusty and full of cowboy-hat-wearing locals), nestled in Northern California-in-the-winter-looking-hills.

We rolled in here yesterday afternoon after a loooooong day of dirt biking up and over multiple mountains. After seven-ish hours on the bike, I am getting really good and sharp steep curves, riding in the rain, waving at small village children, and avoiding meandering livestock. All important skills I'm sure, so we'll count that as a win. 

Phonsavanh is the capital of this province, and is kinda sorta a tourist destination (for those willing to work for it) because it is home to the Plain of Jars. Phonsavanh's other claim to fame is that from 1964-1973 it was one of the most heavily bombed regions of Laos, which is the most heavily bombed country in the world ever (we'll get to more details on that soon).

The Plain of Jars is a series of sites of huge stone jars that were used for ancient burial practices from about 500 BC to 500 CE.

So this morning after some delicious Lao coffee and waiting out a rain storm, we got back on our dirt bikes to see some jars! 

Site 1 is the most popular and accessible. We walked around the jars -- they really are huge! 

Then we rode to Site 2, which was quite the dirty experience, made more interesting (i.e. muddy) by the recent rains. While Site 1 had a cool cave, Site 2 had great climbing trees. And the jars were bigger and in better shape.

On our way to Site 3, which allegedly has a waterfall, this rainstorm hit, 

and then the road kinda ended, so we decided to turn back and instead enjoy the mud on our bikes. Sadly I kept my camera/phone stowed away safe and dry, so no pictures exist, but we were covered in mud. 

The jars themselves are cool, but what makes this place even more interesting (in my into-armed-conflict-prevention semi-morbid opinion), is that the Plain of Jars and much of the surrounding area is the site of major unexplored ordinances excavation work. So if you visit, stay on the marked paths! For serious. 

Since it's good to be informed about the places we go, in the afternoon, we visited the MAG (Mines Advisory Group) office to learn about their work. Then we watched a documentary about the US in Laos during the war. This is all FASCINATING to me. 

During the Vietnam War, the CIA was conducting a covert war in Laos (the largest CIA operation ever). A US-backed (secretly of course) civil war destabilized the country (1953-1975), and in the largest air campaign ever, the US dropped a planeload of bombs on Laos every 8 minutes, 24/7, for 9 years, completely decimating the Plain of Jars (more info).

So in addition to seeing large ancient jars, today we also saw bomb craters and trenches used by Pathet Lao and Lao Government troops. 

That sign says "Bomb Crater."

MAG is a really cool organization -- they find and disable unexploded ordinances (which are still a major problem), work with affected communities, and train local woman to clear the bombs. Most of the UXOs are from cluster munitions, which are bombs that scatter small bombs ("bomblets") over a large area. Often the bomblets don't detonate on impact, and remain dangerous for years. The bomblets look like tennis balls and are usually detonated by people collecting scrap metal for money, or children playing, or farmers ploughing. 

Pretty interesting and important work! If you're interested in learning more about ending the use of cluster munitions, go here.

Beyond MAG and the Plain of Jars, there isn't much else in Phonsavanh, so our next stop in this beautiful country (that I hope will one day be cleared of UXOs...though that's unlikely), is Luang Prabang.

Dirt Biking through Laos: Vientiane to Vang Vieng

Go Laos, way to be beautiful!!!

The view from our hotel in Vang Vieng.

After a 24-hour travel experience (Kratie, Cambodia to Paske, Laos, to Vientiene, Laos) Andy and I picked up dirt bikes in Vientiane and were on our way. (See what I did there? Skipped over the icky bits and made it all sound so easy!)

Here's a little background on how this all came about: Andy and I know each other through running the  Ragnar Relay. Back around December, I mentioned to him that I planned on traveling in SE Asia this spring or summer. Turns out he was thinking of doing the same! Me: Want to travel together? Andy: Sure! I was thinking of doing it on a motorcycle, would you want to do that? Me: Ok sounds cool! And that, my dear readers, is how my major life decisions are made.

All geared up on top of a mountain in Laos!

We left the city, and biked 150 kilometers through lowlands then up into the hills and over a super-curvy little mountain. The mountain part was mostly in the rain, which makes for quite the beginner's dirt biking experience! Considering that this was my third time on a dirt bike ever, and first time on a dirt bike really outside a parking lot, I'm feeling pretty darn pleased with myself for surviving and enjoying it. 

I assume that most of my readers are not dirt bikers (neither was I until about 6 hours ago), so I'll explain that they're manual, like a motorcycle, but with more suspension so they have a higher center of gravity. 

Our first stop along this dirt biking tour was the riverside town of Vang Vieng, a so-called "backpacker haven," that now, in the semi-off season, is actually quite nice. (Though we are techincally backpackers, we're not really the stereotypical "backpacker/traveler" type.) The ride there was beautiful, through bright green rice paddies, blue and cloudy skies, and jungly mountains. Seriously, I cannot get over how spectacular this country is. 

Kaeng Kyui Waterfall

We spent a day in Vang Vieng, and here's where the dirt bikes come in handy: we can just go places -- no tuktuks, busses, or taxis required -- whenever we want! And we can go places those other vehicles can't, because dirt bikes are meant for potholes and mud! 

First we biked to Tham Phu Kham ("Blue Lagoon") cave outside the town. It was big, with interesting rocks and stalagmites and stalactites and crevices to explore. 

There are a lot of caves in the area, but I'm not much of an underground person (i.e. I don't love caves), so one was enough and afterwards we headed to the cave's nearby lagoon and rope swing to cool off.

[It has recently come to my attention -- as in I just googled -- that the Tham Phu Kham cave was supposed to have a big Buddha statue. We saw nothing like that...so maybe we misread the map and went to the wrong cave? Meh oh well, it was still pretty cool!]

The next stop for our day was Kaeng Kyui Waterfalls, about 15 fun kilometers to the east of town. As you may recall from my Erawan Falls experience in Thailand, waterfalls are my jam. Much more so than caves! I led Andy on an Mollie-style adventure, clambering up a rocky waterfall just to see what there is to be seen. 

And we totally lucked out weather-wise! It rained until about 10 am, then was overcast, and then sunny! Monsoon shmonsoon. The ride back from the falls was beautiful!

We have the dirt bikes for six days, and plan to tour to the max around Northern Laos. So wish us luck and safe riding and sunshine -- I'll keep you posted!