Hey gang! It’s me again! I just got back to sunny Santa Rosa, Ca and just had to post one more blog about our adventures. It’s sort of funny…when I posted the first blog, I was thinking…hmmm….maybe I shouldn’t include everything that’s happened. After all, what am I ever going to talk about after bears, a waterfall, a trip to the hospital, monks and chocolate chip cookies?
Well…the great news is that I have tons and tons to write about!!!! Sooooo many “bests” , I hardly know where to begin!
Got to start with the elephants! There is nothing more fun than getting to feed an elephant, bathe an elephant or get kissed by an elephant!!!!! We got to spend a day at the Elephant Nature Park (where they rescue elephants!) and it was awesome!
Haley was trying to tell this elephant that she was out of bananas, but the elephant didn’t believe her.
haley in her element
joe in her element
probing elephant
First…let me tell you about the plight of elephants in captivity. It’s brutal! Actually, I’ll spare you all the details but you might want to think twice about ever wanting to ride an elephant or going to see one in the circus. In fact, I just read an article about why elephant riding should be removed from your bucket list. Here’s the site if you are interested.
The Elephant Nature Park rescues elephants – from circuses, from people who use them to beg money from tourists, or from people who just left them out to fend for themselves because the elephants are sick or injured. It was started by Lek, a woman from Thailand, whom we actually got to meet! Not only does she rescue elephants, but she rescues dogs! They rescued more than 1,000 dogs that were made homeless by the floods in Thailand last year!
Yikes! I could go on and on about the elephants and dogs but I won’t. (Check out the Elephant Nature Park either on Facebook or the web for more info.) Suffice it to say that it was totally cool to spend a day with the elephants!!!!
Another highlight was renting motorbikes and getting to see the Thai countryside near Chiang Rai. Our thought was to “head for the hills” so to speak and check out the rainforest and national park. It seemed like a good idea at the time but…there was one problem. The waterfall was in a rainforest, so when we got there it was raining and the sign clearly stated ‘WATERFALL CLOSED FOR RAINING’. We waited almost 2 hours for the rain to stop and it only got heavier. The funny thing was that as soon as we gave up and came down out of the rainforest, the rain stopped and the streets weren’t even wet. We had literally found a rain cloud and chosen to hang out under it for a while. It’s probably still raining there.
Jo back on a scooter for the first time in a long time and loving every second of it.
Riding motorbikes (or bicycles for that matter!) is a real treat in Thailand. We had rented bicycles the day before and it was also a blast. They drive on the “wrong” side of the street so it’s an adventure. If you are going to rent scooters or ride bikes, Thailand is a good place to do it. People are pretty laid back and there isn’t the aggression like you see here in the States nor the congestion that you see in other Asian countries.
this looks very posed and I think it was.
Oops…I think that I forgot one little important detail – like how did we get to Thailand from Laos? In my last blog, we were still in Luang Prabang, which I still can’t say enough good things about. But we decided to head up even farther north in Laos to Muang Ngoi anyway.
Muang Ngoi is really off the beaten track – you can only get there by boat. It’s a small village with electricity for a few hours each evening. Rooms are cheap ($3.75) which includes a killer view of the river from the hammock on your bungalow’s deck. We took a “long boat” (seats 5) to a couple of the villages upstream. Not a lot of tourists in this part of the world. We had fun “talking” to the villagers. Actually, no one spoke English there and none of us spoke Lao but we made the best of it. Gabe had fun helping with chores (chopping wood, sweeping stairs, etc.) which provided a lot of entertainment all around. And…I got a great traditional Laotian sun hat! It was so great that I even gave her my red baseball cap as a thank you.
chop chop
And just to tell you how great the hat was…when I was leaving from the Bangkok airport earlier today, a Chinese man on my flight from Bangkok to Taipei asked me if he could trade my Laotian hat for his cowboy hat. Of course I told him no way!
jo buying a hat for way more than it usually goes for in this little village and enjoying it.
But I’m getting way off track…We had total fun in Muang Ngoi. We went tubing down the river with travelers from Ireland and Israel which was an adventure – especially getting back into the long boat which I won’t bore you with the details! Suffice it to say that grace is not one of my strong points! And thanks to Shinead for rescuing my flip flop that didn’t quite make it back into the boat when I did!
this girl saved jo’s flip flop and everyone was happy.
But it wasn’t tubing that I’ll remember from Muang Ngoi…It will be the leeches! Here’s the deal…My little bungalow was next to this couple from England. When we arrived, I hung out with them and they told me that we should do this trek up to the top of this mountain just out of town. They said it was a very tough climb, but it was worth the view. They went on and on about it and I told Gabe and Haley that it was something that I really wanted to do. So…the next morning we started out. It certainly was everything that the couple had told us. The trail was slippery, rocky, etc., and the view was absolutely breathtaking but…What made it so difficult, was the damn leeches. They were everywhere! They looked like inch worms – little guys that were spring loaded and jumped on your tennis shoes. If you didn’t catch them the minute they landed on your shoes, you never had a second chance. In a second they would burrow into your shoes and the next thing you knew, they had bitten your feet.
It was crazy! The “trail” which was no more than mud, rocks and bamboo railing, wasn’t the problem. It’s just that every time a leech jumped on me, I jumped a mile high. Oh well…3 leech bites later and a cold shower, I was almost as good as new. Must admit…I found another leech stuck on my hip which set me back a little!
jo showing off her dirt. at this point there was only one leech sucking her blood.
view of muang ngoi from the viewpoint above muang ngoi
I can see that this blog is going on way too long. Here’s the short ending. From Muang Ngoi we took a 7 hour boat back to Luang Prabang and then a 2 day boat to the Thai Border, then a bus to Chiang Rai the next day. We then went by bus to Chaing Mai where the elephants and a wonderful couple named Harry and Margaret welcomed us. Harry and Margaret are the greatest! It’s a long story but they are friends of friends who welcomed us with open arms in their beautiful home!!!!!
the best hosts ever, Margaret and Harry taking us to dinner on our first night in town.
I’m home now and it’s 4am on Sunday morning and it’s time to go to bed. I really want to thank Haley and Gabe for letting me come visit them. I had a wonderful time. They are easy to travel with, adventuresome, and just wonderful people. I’m proud to be a member of their family! And for anyone who is thinking about visiting them in their travels, do it! It will be the memory of a lifetime!
This picture was taken from our balcony.
Big hug to everyone!
Jo Anne (more commonly known as Aunt Jo)
Other notes from Gabe and Haley:
Muang Ngoi, Laos was one of our favorite places we’ve been this year. If you get a chance to go, then go. It’s about 7 hours bus and boat from Luang Prabang and you might never leave. Jo had to drag us out of there.
I hesitated to put up this picture, as I feel that it will increase tourism to this place. just promise to be a good tourist when you go please.
We took lots of boats and the scenery was always beautiful. Sometimes the seats were more comfortable than others. On most of the long rides we were living large.
Jo stretching out on the long ride from Luang Prabang to Pak Beng.
On one boat ride a local guy next to us who spoke no English bought my fake Rayban sunglasses off me for $1.25 (I paid $7 in Cambodia but they had cracked so we had to account for depreciation – plus that is what he offered me). He liked the polarized part, plus I’m sure he was the coolest guy in his village when he had those on. This was also the weirdest part of our day that day.
Not only did he have my glasses, but he had a cowboy hat most likely purchased from another traveler. His village probably had a population of 30.
One of our ‘bests’ during this timeframe was giving our camera away to this sweet couple from Holland/Ireland after theirs had broken and we had gotten our new one delivered by Jo. Ours had a scratch on the lens and some other issues, but it still took great pictures. We also had lots of fun playing crazy 8s with them on our boat ride from Pak Beng to Huay Xai.
I’m pointing to Luca, because she was the crazy 8s champion at the time. Not to be confused with the current crazy 8s champion, me.
As usual, the blog is behind schedule and even though more things have already happened (see post date), they will be discussed next time.
Check the videos page or photos page if you want to see even more.
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