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...

Thai-style 4th of July, aka Fireworks in Bangkok!

Longtime readers of this blog know that I am into 4th of July. Whether in Tahoe or DC, at the beach or on the National Mall, it is a big holiday in my life. And when I'm in Thailand, twelve hours ahead of the US, that just means I get to celebrate this great holiday before everyone else!

So while you were all running your 4th of July 5Ks, or enjoying your fireman's pancake breakfasts, Andy and I were setting off fireworks in Bangkok.

It was our first full day in Bangkok, and quite the day it was. We started with a run (my second since leaving America oof!), trying to find a park but failing miserably and running around the streets of Old Bangkok for an hour. Honestly, I don't know if my exhaust-filed lungs will ever recover...

Then we started our tourism. We hopped in a tuktuk, that took us to a couple temples and sights to see. The driver tried to get us to buy things along the way (he gets commission I'm sure), but we are at least a little savvy and were having none of it. Then we ended up at the Grand Palace, which is the main sight in Bangkok and definitely worth the price of admission.

As we meander around the city, we stumbled upon a firework shop on a side street. Andy's eyes lit up, "Today is 4th of July! We should set off fireworks!" Yes!

We tried to ask the shopkeeper if/where it's ok to set them off, and she seemed to think parks were a-ok. (I say "seemed" because language barriers are like that game Telephone, in that you never know how your meaning is getting garbled along the way and vice versa.)

So a few hours later, after exploring the most epic flower market ever -- seriously, picture about five blocks plus a full warehouse completely packed with every kind of flower imaginable -- we found a park.

We snuck in, furtively looking right and left and wondering if setting off fireworks in a public park on a Thursday night in Old Bangkok constitutes a crime. The coast was clear, and there were no signs saying we couldn't set off fireworks. They sold them to us here, so they must be ok here, we reasoned.

We launched our first mortar into the city sky, and with a BOOM! it exploded pink and white above the trees. 

Woah that was loud!

Should we do another one?

Yes hurry quick before someone stops us!

I was about to light the fuse on Fireworks in Bangkok Take 2, when an agitated but smiling (they're ALWAYS smiling) Thai policeman ran up our little grassy knoll, waving his arms and yelling "No! Stop! No!"

Uhoh busted. I put on my biggest Thailand smile and played dumb of course, "Hello! Not ok here? We're so sorry! Yes yes ok we'll leave now!"

We left the park and pondered our options. Five more mortars to shoot...where to do it? I remembered a bit of open space next to the little canal near where we bought the fireworks, so let's try there?

Location number two was a success. There was a parch of grass with not too much around (well, a major road on the other side of a wall, but at least there was a wall?), and we were able to shoot off all five fireworks before someone came to stop us. And the man who did come to stop us was again smiling so big it was hard to tell if he was here to reprimand us or just to enjoy the show! Turns out it was the former...sorry Bangkok, but happy 4th of July!!!

Eating Our Way Through Bangkok

No more alone time for me! I met up with Andy in Bangkok a couple days ago to embark on the final month of my adventure. He's taking a month off work, and I am, as you know, funemployed, so here we go Southeast Asia!

One thing I have learned about myself through my travels is that I am not a city person. I like living in a city in America, but when traveling, I find them loud and polluted and hot and hurried and dirty and crowded. Turns out I am tangibly happier when in a small town or the countryside -- it's just so much nicer. 

BUT here we are in Bangkok and I'm making the best of it. We're seeing all the things, walking to all the places, and eating all of the food! And Thai food, as you probably know, is especially awesome. From the street-side restaurants, to local ice cream flavors, to fancy roof-top restaurants; we're on a mission to try as much of it as possible. 

On the streets, there many many many are food carts of street snacks. We tried these little taco-ish things that I'm guessing were made of buckwheat flour, then covered with a bit of egg, dried fruit (maybe apricots?), then sprinkled with what looks like shredded cheese but we later learned is made of egg.

There are also tons of little "restaurants," i.e. a cart and movable kitchen set-up with plastic tables and chairs on the sidewalk. Some places you order what you want, others have already-made pots of curries you can point to. I guess I should have taken more pictures...

The next step up are restaurants, many of which are open to the street, but have actual real estate and fans (woot). At such a place we got what was recommended to us as the "best pad Thai in Bangkok." I expected a bit of a tourist-trap, but this place was legit and full of Thai people. We both got their special -- shrimp pad Thai covered in egg. So good, and I think about $2 per plate.

The next day we walked to a big public park and OMG look at the giant lizards that crawled out of the pond when it started raining!!!

On the way back we stopped for lunch at a roadside soup restaurant. I asked for chicken soup, and they brought me a steaming bowl, which was full of all kinds of chicken. Literally. The look on my face was clear, priceless, and absolutely terrified. 

I tried to psych myself up to eat around the offensive parts, buuuuuttttt, adventurous eater though I am, there are feet in this soup. With little chicken toenails! Laughing at the horrified look on my face, they smilingly switched it out for a bowl of normal chicken noodle soup. Much better thanks!

Andy got the fish ball version. I don't strongly dislike fish balls, and they're not super-fishy tasting at all, but they have a strange bouncy texture that throws me a bit.

Post-lunch we got some desserts to go -- let's call them Thai empanadas, filled with coconut, sweet bean, and pineapple.

We also bought some chrysanthemum tea, which is supposed to help sore throats (damn the pollution!), and an assortment of unidentified dried fruits while walking through China Town. The sales people are all pretty happy to let you try things if you ask, which is great for confused foreigners like ourselves.

For dinner on our last night in Bangkok (and last night in Thailand -- Cambodia here we come!) we splurged for a fancy rooftop restaurant and bar. I was super-dressed up for my traveler self (i.e. skinny jeans), but awkwardly underdressed for the location of course haha. Oh well who cares! The view was awesome and the food was pretty great too!

We got pork and shrimp spring rolls, pork belly with crispy fried basil, tofu with cashews and vegetables, and asparagus with mushrooms. 

And for dessert LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT IT! We stopped at a street cart for this: a crepe-ish pancake (but butterier and crispier), filled with fresh banana and topped with sweetened condensed milk and chocolate sauce. Why don't we have these in the US???

Sweetened condensed milk is all over the place here -- on desserts and in drinks/coffee yummmmm -- and I am such a fan!

So like I said, we're off to Cambodia (Angkor Wot) to see what that country had to offer. I'll keep you posted.

Oh and a parting shot from a grocery store aisle in Thailand. Because one of these things is not like the others...

Alone in Thailand

I have five days alone in Thailand before Andy arrives...

No one really knows what to make of me, a woman traveling alone. All the other foreign tourists travel in couples, so Thais and foreigners alike look at me quizzically and wonder about the location of my male counterpart. 

This also means that I have no one to talk to. Other than "sawatdeeka" (hello), "ghee baht" (how much), and "kai geow" (omelet -- a girl's gotta order breakfast!), I speak no Thai well duh, and other than "hello how are you?" and "where are you going?" most Thais don't speak much English. 

But I'm figuring things out slowly slowly. The first 48 hours were ROUGH -- everything went wrong hotel- and transportation-wise. Signs are only in Thai script, so figuring things out means I have to ask people, but the aforementioned language barrier leaves a lot of margin for error. I won't bore you with the details because clearly I lived, but I definitely cried on a bus and in the street a couple times...the traveler's game of figure-it-out is far less fun when you're playing it alone.

Days 1-2

I spent the first night in Bangkok (a scary and lost mess), but by noon the next day I was situated in Ayuttiyah, ready to see some ruins! I rented a bike to explore the ancient kingdom, which is a relatively fun activity to do alone.

Ayuttiyah is about an hour from Bangkok and used to be the capital of Thailand way back in the 1400s before it was conquered by the Burmese, and some 300,000 people lived there (I think).

So what do I do with myself? I wander around seeing what there is to be seen, I am all over email and whatsapp (talk to me please!), and I read -- in restaurants, coffee shops, next to ruins, in parks, in my room -- everywhere.

Food-wise it's been interesting. I've experimented with street food (various meats on a stick), which is delicious with the spicy sauce. And coconut ice cream everywhere! Served in half a coconut with peanuts and slivers of fresh coconut YUM. I've also been rocking the street-side noodle shops. I smile, point to things, and they hand me a bowl of deliciousness.

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Day 3: Camping in Erawan National Park

Well now I'm either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. I've decided to camp, alone, in Erawan Falls National Park. It's a legit national park with a legit campsite -- bathrooms, a caretaker, tents already set up and gear ready to rent -- so it's not like I'm roughing it in the wilderness solo. It's just me in my tent on the riverbank of the River Kwai.. 

I arrived here around 3 pm and immediately hiked up to explore the falls. Erawan is a series of seven waterfalls, each one possibly more beautiful than the last. There's a dirt trail and steps connecting them all, which I walked up through clouds of flitting colorful butterflies. Am I a Disney princess in the enchanted forest? MAYBE!

In each waterfall's pool there are hundreds of little fish that nibble on your toes. It sounds cool, but actually totally creeps me out. Some of the fish are pretty big (like a foot long!) and being nibbled alive to death is not my way to go of choice. 

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Day 3 (evening)

I made Thai friends! Around 5:30 I was strolling around the park and ran into a Thai couple who are also camping. The woman speaks a little English and invited me to join them for dinner, "You are alone?!? I have food! You come!" My normal reaction to this sort of situation would be to politely decline with some excuse, but a) not enough shared language to politely make excuses, and b) I hadn't sat down and spoken with someone for days and dinner with a smiling Thai couple sounded quite nice!

A couple hours later we sat down on their picnic blanket overlooking the river for amazing shabu-shabu (aka hot pot). I learned that their first date was at Erawan Falls three years ago (oh jeez I think I just crashed their anniversary), she's 34 and he's 38 and they live in Bangkok. She told me that they were SO surprised to learn that I was here by myself. When they checked in, they asked the caretaker if there were any other campers and he said, "Just one! A woman! I have never seen this before!" and she couldn't believe it either. 

I'm not going to lie friends, the fact that they were so concerned about me being alone had got me concerned about me being alone...their tent is an easy shout away tonight but tomorrow they go back to Bangkok and I very well may be the only camper here. I am not afraid, I am not afraid, I am not afraid...

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Day 4: Erawan Falls 

Happy to report I survived the night. I've spent the day making my way up and down the seven tiers of Erawa Falls, exploring and rock-scrambling like a 10-year-old in Tahoe. I started early (around 8:30 am) to beat the tourists, because the main benefit of camping in the park is that the first busload doesn't arrive until 10 am. 

Cold water, hot sun, a bathing suit, and a huge pile of rocks and this girl is happy! I amused myself with the falls ALL day. 

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Day 6:

As I was going to sleep on my second night of camping (and fifth and last night alone!), two mangey looking dogs started prowling and growling around my tent, totally freaking me out.

There was one other camper, a man I'd seen but not met, who pitches his tent about 100 feet from mine. I couldn't decide if he would be my ally against these potentially rabid dogs, or the enemy himself...what type of person camps alone? What if he's crazy and tries to murder me in my sleep??? (Over-active imagination much?)

Despite my protestations, the dogs settled for the night just beyond the edge of my tarp, and completely freaked out when the man walked past. #Win. Guard dogs.

I won't claim to have slept well -- every abnormal stick snap jolted me to terrified wakefulness -- but when I saw my two dogs slumbering peacefully on my doorstep I could go back to sleep, assuming that if they're cool with whatever that was, then I'm cool with it too.

And that, my friends, ends my alone adventures. I guess I'm proud of myself...but mostly I never want to have to do it again.