Vang Vieng - The Town of the White People

The bus ride to Vang Vieng was amazing: full of blue, rain forest-covered mountain vistas layered in fog.

We were wary of the loud Irish trio that boarded the bus with open Beer Laos at 8 am, and a bag full for the road, but they turned out to be hilarious and fun, even if they were drunks (at least until their Beer Lao ran out and they hit the wall, passing out on each other's shoulders). We shared more than a few Beer Laos and a drinking game with them once we got off the bus right outside the bus station.  We also encountered a chic, very cool, very young group of Thai teenagers when we had to stop due to a truck running off the road down a hill.  We plan to hang with them when we return to Bangkok as that is where they are from.  The backup included passenger buses, cars, and semis full of food and the like - the myriad motorbikes flew threw the mess.  We walked up to the blockage and saw that some people were attempting to pull the truck up the hill with a rusty old winch strapped to a rusty old truck, which could only have moved the downed truck a combined total of about 6 feet (it must have been 40 or 50 feet down the hill) so we and a few others were a bit perplexed.  They gave up and we went on our way.  I hope someone figured it out and was able to help!

In Laos and Thailand, "phalong" means white foreigner and in Vang Vieng there were way too many drunk, under dressed, loud, rude ones.  As you walk down the main drag you can see multiple restaurants playing Family Guy or Friends over and over on big T.V.s for the foreigners. It felt a bit like the Twilight Zone for us, but we figured out that many people just head straight there to get drunk and tube down the river, taking shots and drinking beers at various bars as they pass by.  I (Devon) was feeling sick with a bad head cold so we skipped it, and we are both glad.  We ended up running into a wonderfully sweet girl from Holland and exploring the surrounding rice fields and authentic villages full of skinny cows, water buffalo and dirty dogs and cats. We ended up trekking through the rice paddies to the base of some of the beautiful cliffs to a dark, dank cave dripping with life.  It was fun adventure.  I got bit by the largest ant you have ever seen (not poisonous) and almost lost my footing and fell in a very dirty, muddy stream, but our new friend from Holland saved me.

We luckily found a beautiful guest house called the Mountain River View with hard wood everywhere and a lovely mountain and river view (go figure).  Sunsets were lovely and I did some Bikram on the deck, seeing as it was nearly 100 degrees anyway.  It was cheap and off the beaten track so we didn't have to hear the drunk phalong partying into the wee hours of the morn. Two nights was enough as we didn't feel like joining the kitchy parties.  We are glad we went just for the amazing views and beauty, but were happy to continue on our way and headed for Vientiane, the capitol city of Laos...

Love,
Devon and Breen

Luang Prabang - Best City Yet!

Luang Prabang is the old royal capitol of Laos and it's sleepy charm won us over immediately.  From the many beautiful temples and quiet monks to chic tea houses and hip hop shows, this has been our favorite place yet. We stayed in an old french colonial hotel that was expensive for us at $40 bucks a night, but lovely as were the gentle, helpful, men who worked there.  While Thailand is lacking in any bread other than awful sliced white bread, in Laos the French influence has brought delicious, crusty, personal baguettes of which we have eaten quite a few.  The French also brought cakes and other bready deliciousness that have we have enjoyed trying.

Getting there was quite an adventure in itself.  We decided to take the "slow boat" from Chiang Mai, which is slower than it sounds.  It took us three days to reach the town including two overnights at small, rustic hostels along the Mekong river. The first day we were in a van for 7 hours with the impressive highlight of getting to see the White Temple.  This is an intricate temple built over the past 15 years and still in progress.  it is the brain child of an architect who is supposedly a bit insane and all the work is hand- done.  It is quite the sight to be seen and perhaps our favorite temple of the trip, at least, so far...

We befriended two delightful, middle-aged Aussies and a sweet Brit on the way-sharing a bottle of whiskey to calm the nerves after the stress of getting onto the boat ( we were the very last ones and it was packed!). We ended up hanging out with them at Pakbeng, one of the tiny towns along the way.  We shared food, laughter and many Beer Laos under teeming swarms of mosquitoes and ate our first traditional Lao food and our favorite-"Larp," an herbaceous chopped meat dish that we will be attempting to replicate when we get home.

All in all the boat ride was wonderful, with beautiful scenery, but we will never do it again.  It was overcrowded and many of the tourists were very rude, taking up multiple seats, even when they saw people crammed together.  But we did see some wild and working elephants along the way, wild water buffalo, tiny villages, drippy rain forests, and met some wonderful people too. A  sweet man from India and some young girls from Montreal and Germany.  But, as we said-never again!  But, don't miss the experience if faced with the chance (:  It was all worth it in the end. (Small note- had we been swindled into paying more to take the bus, we would have spent the night on the side of the road as the bus broke down mid way,  it was supposedly quite the nightmare, and we are grateful to have taken the "slow boat.")

We planned on staying three nights in Luang Prabang, but fell in love with the slow pace and quiet appeal of the beautiful town and stayed an entire week.  Not that there is much to do there but eat, read, relax and enjoy our big bed (;  We avoided the heat of the day by chilling in this little bookshop/tea house called L'Etrenger drinking ginger-honey iced tea and reading to one another.  We befriended a young lad that worked there who had just finished an 8 year stint as a monk and his peacefulness added to the ambiance for sure.  It was great to have some slow travel time after the bustle of Chiang Mai and all the adventures we had signed up for.

I think the most active thing we did was hike to the top of Mount Phousi, a small mountain covered in all sorts of golden Buddhas with a beautiful temple that also provided an amazing view of the sleepy town. 

We also traveled via a long, bumpy tuk tuk ride to a stunning waterfall with mint green pools perfect for swimming surrounded by sunken mangrove trees. We climbed the half hour to the top and were met by an incredible view. We climbed down and jumped in one of the perfect pools despite the teeth chattering cold of the minty water!

We ate Lao BBQ at a rustic, local hang out where you make your own soup and grill your own meat.  It was a bit strange, but so fun and very delicious.  They literally just plop a burning bowl of coals into a hole in the middle of the table and bring plates of raw meat, dry noodles, veggies and herbs and a big bucket of chicken broth.   We were told by the owner that we were doing something wrong, but it was good anyway.

One morning we woke up at 5:00am to go down to the street to watch the alms giving ceremony.  There were people lining the streets during sunrise to give sticky rice or candy to the monks who walk from the temple all over town.  It was beautiful to see the chain of giving-the people on the streets give to the monks who then turn and give to the poor children who come from surrounding villages and whatever falls goes to the eagerly waiting dogs that also line the streets.

We were lucky enough to have been in Luang Prabang for the Loy Kra Thong Festival (Festival of Lights). It is meant to honor the Goddess of the River for all she gives and apologize for all we take, also it celebrates the end of the rainy (harvest) season and monks come out of a three-month silence to preach again and interact with others once more. In addition, small boats made of banana leaves and flowers are lit with candles and put on the river-Breen and I both sent one on it's way down the river as it is meant to seal the love between two people to let your lights float down the Mekong together.

The festival was absolutely nuts, or as our Brit friend, Paul, aptly put it -"This is MENTAL."  A huge parade occurred with many intricately made boats lit with candles and lanterns that were brought down to the river.  There were fire dancers and live bands.  The Mekong was alight with many burning things as was the sky as people make small hot air balloon-like, rice paper floaty things that are released for good luck. Small kids and pre-teens constantly shoot off and throw big firecrackers (or as we would see them, small bombs) and Roman candles.  And none seemed to care if a "Phalong" (foriegner) happened to get hit by one.  In fact, Breen saved me from losing a toe or worse when a group of 10 or 11-year-olds threw a big one right in front of us.  My hero.

Then it was off to Vang Vieng...but that's a different story altogether...

Sending lots of love to you from across the world!
Devon and Breen

Chiang Mai and Eco-Tourism

We are already in Luang Prabang, Laos, but we have to catch you up!  Chiang Mai was a whirlwind of fun and adventure.  Thanks to our friend Trey, who spent time with on Koh Phi Phi Don, we stayed at the Green Tulip House, a very clean, very beautiful hostel located in the heart of Chiang Mai.  The women who run the place were beyond wonderful and very helpful, we miss them already, Nine and Stella.  If you go to Chiang Mai definitely stay at the Green Tulip-just 6 bucks a night! We also met some wonderful people from all over the world that stayed there too. Shelly and Nick from Bristol, England were a riot and we spent time drinking Chang beer and whisky late into a few of our evenings.  We also spent time with a sweet and hilarious Canadian couple, Stacy and Tyler.  We also befriended Gavin, an observant, proper young man from England with whom we went to the Natural Elephant Preserve.  We had an amazing night going out to a restaurant on the river and eating on a boat and then listening to to some live music with the two couples, Gavin, and a handful of other travelers we met at the Green Tulip. 

We also made a great connection with the woman, Nine, who ran the place and she showed us some interesting Thai cultural videos and talked about her Theravada Buddhist religious beliefs and the famous tattoos of the region.  We learned a lot.

The second day in Chiang Mai we took an all day cooking class at Nine's friend's place.  It was amazing and we are now "certified" Thai chefs! The food we made was so fresh and some of the best we have had here.  Breen is stoked to make his own Pad Thai and glass noodle salad-two of our favorites!  We burned ourselves with chilies and almost burned ourselves with flame too.  First, we went to the market and learned about the fresh, fragrant roots and herbs they use in pretty much everything.  All of which provide health benefits.
 

Then we went back to their home and chose dishes to make and dove right in.  It was such fun and very educational.  We also learned how to carve fruit, Breen was the star of the class and made some works of art with a potato and some carrot. The couple that run the small school, Nancy and Port, were funny and very sweet.  It was a fabulous day that we ended later by enjoying the amazing leftovers that we made ourselves!

We also took advantage of a few of the activities offered in and above the rain forests surrounding the small city.  We went zip lining for a day.  It was called the Flight of the Gibbon, but the only monkeys we saw were our rambunctious, jokster "sky rangers" who made us all laugh and freak out a fair amount.  It was thrilling and fun.  But not just that.  Of the money we paid to do it, 20% goes to supporting the local village, ensuring the safety of that part of the rain forest as well, which was adjacent to a Thai nature preserve and in effect expanded the nature park. Also, none of the zip lines were attached to the trees themselves, but to wooden slats to ensure as little damage to the majestic Banyans and other rain forest tree giants as possible.  It was such fun whizzing through the air over the top of the rain forest canopy together and we supported a very sustainable enterprise! We had a great group with us and took a liking to an adorable, quiet couple, the woman was Thai and the gentleman was Taiwanese, both living in Singapore.  We had a nice talk over lunch and then they bought us tee-shirts, so sweet!

Our favorite (and most emotional) day, by far, was the day trip to the Elephant Nature Preserve.

We learned about the exploitation of the Thai Elephant, smaller than it's African cousin.  We learned that there used to be 100,000 of them roaming the rain forests and the number has dwindled to a mere 5,000; 3,500 of which are owned and used for tourism, and even for street begging (the worst for the dear beasts). Only 1,500 remain in the wild!  The numbers are still dropping rapidly.  The nature preserve saves elephants.  Some have physical deformities from bad breeding practices or being hit by cars when street begging, one even had her foot blown off by a landmine, others have mental problems from facing much abuse over many years.  A few have been saved from the wild as babies when their mothers were shot for grazing on farmers' crops, these most assuredly would have died on their own.  At the preserve, they all get to roam free-with Mahouts (gentlemen trained in caring for and guiding elephant behavior) lingering not too far off to keep them from hurting each other or leaving the preserve.

There are 32 elephants there and they have formed naturally into 5 families.  One was even pregnant.  We were able to feed them, hug them, watch them, and bathe them, but not ride them or watch tricks as that is considered unnatural by the amazing woman who founded the preserve, Lek (it means small in Thai).  She has been a pioneer of a new way of understanding elephant training and treatment.  The villages of Thailand have used brutal training techniques over hundreds of years.  Lek, though born into the that culture as the daughter of a Shaman that supports these techniques, has begun a positive reinforcement reginen and campaign, using love and treats to train them much like we train our dogs, and is helping a new school train Mahouts to treat the majestic creature much better.  We saw evidence of the positive reinforcement when they had one give us a big, wet  kiss on the cheek and was rewarded with bananas and sugar cane.  It was an incredible day and the money we spent to go goes directly to Lek's campaign and to feeding the elephants and rescuing more from brutality or abandonment.  We both cried a lot and hope that we can use our new skills to help Lek's endeavor in the future.

It was hard to leave Chiang Mai, but now that we are in Luang Prabang, we are content and looking forward to exploring this old royal capital of Laos...

Sending love,
Devon and Breen

She said yes!!!

How to begin.... I've been planning the proposal for a while. I've been nervous for weeks about how and when would be the best time, what ring to choose, and what to say. If you know me, and you've been around me since my graduation from the GreenMBA, it's apparently been written all over my face because countless friends and family (except Devon thank God) has called me out. (If you were one of those intuitive folks, thank you all for supporting me, giving me guidance, and for not spilling the beans.)

With the spotty weather we've experienced in Thailand during the monsoon season, and with so many opportunities to propose in the future (on an elephants back in Chiang Mai, on a river boat along the Mekong River in Laos to name two others), I wasn't sure I would do it until the day of. But as the day unfolded and the weather held true, and because I've been hiding the ring on my person the entire trip, I decided to pull the trigger and relieve myself of the excitement, nerves, and love that I had been bottling up until then.

We spent the the first part of the day on a tumultuous longboat ride to Koh Phi Phi Ley (the small uninhabited twin island of the more popular Koh Phi Phi Don where we were staying). I laughed as Devon squealed as the waves almost came over our boats starboard side. I laughed because I was more afraid of what was to come than the waves.

Once we had made it to the calm side of the island I spent the rest of the tour bouncing between being completely distracted by the beauty and grandeur of the shear cliffs covered in rain forest and intense nervousness about what I would say and where. I never was able to create a plan because I had never seen where we were going, and every time I thought of what to say I would freak out a bit. The words were never right, and the moment was never perfect enough in my head.

As we jumped in the water to brave the waves crashing against the rocks next to the stairs to "The Beach" I was clutching the ring with one hand, camera in the other. In hindsight this may have been stupid, but my emotions had taken over and I was NOT going to loose the ring and I was determined to capture the moment. Luckily I'm a strong enough swimmer, and was able to get on land.

Once on the beach I was dismayed by all of the people that were there, but as luck would have it they all left, save the two that came with us and one other after about ten minutes. It was then, and only then that I knew it was the right moment. I convinced her to walk to a quite piece of the beach instead of go swimming. I had to dodge the trash at the end of the beach and managed to find a little corner of sand with an awesome view and no one around. I told her I loved her and that I wanted to spend the rest of my life by her side. She anticipated the moment and attempted to slow me down by kissing me continuously, but I managed to finish what I had to say, took the ring out of my back pocket, opened the now soaked ring box, got on one knee and asked her to marry me. I was shaking, and I felt as though my life was in her hands.

She said yes and made my dream come true. I was the happiest and most relieved I have ever been in my life. I had captured a perfect moment for the most perfect woman in my life and it could not have gone better.

I'm still high from the emotion and I can't wait for the adventures to come.

--Breen

His Proposal!

It was already one of the most amazing days of my life.  We woke up to an ocean view on the island of Koh Phi Phi Don and hopped on a longboat for a half-day trip around the island of Koh Phi Phi Leh.  The only other people on our little tour were two business students studying in Singapore, one was French, the other German.  Both very sweet as was our long boat captain (who was all grins) and we were happy to be sharing the day with them.  The waves were rougher than expected and it was roller-coaster thrilling. My heart kept jumping as big bright blue swells knocked us left and right and ocean spray drenched us all.  The islands there are so beautiful.  Jutting cliffs with bright green rainforest on top, eaten away at the bottom by the constant waves of the Andaman Sea. We saw Viking Cave, a scary gauge in the rocks that some doc thier long boats at and people actually seem to live up on the side of the cliff! We saw a little house in a small cave above the big one!  What a way to live, can't imaging the commute ;)

Then we made it (without tipping over) to a beautiful bay with the clearest water surrounded by the huge cliffs and we all jumped off the long boat and had a good swim in the warm water.  It was beyond words.  Breen was playing happily like a little kid, pushing off the boat and doing flips, jumping in from the hight tip of the old wooden boat as our captain chatted with another longboat captain that pulled up.  There were not that many tourists that day, perhaps because of those waves.

Then we got back in the boat and circled to the other side of the island where the waves were darker and fiercer.  Getting to Maya Bay (the famously beautiful one from that movie) was an adventure in itself. We had to jump out of the long boat to brave the waves as they crashed meanly against the bottom of the cliffs.  We then had to grab some thick, weathered roaps and pull ourselves to "safety" on a slippery, steep set of stairs, climb up and then down again into a small shallow bay full of sharp coral and walk through that (with shoes on). 

Then we made our way through some beautful palms, bushes and flowers that look just like the white all-knowing seeds from the great spirit tree in Avatar. 

We walked through a small camp and then the rainforest opened onto Maya Bay, the most beautful bay, with turqoiuse waves crashing against white sands and those green-topped cliffs again shooting out of the ocean.  It was just so beautiful.  It is a tourist destination, but all but three of the people on the beach jumped back on their ferry boat and made their way out of the bay on the ocean side.  Leaving us with what felt like our own private paradise. 

I was already on cloud nine, walking the beach with my love, watching the waves.  We walked to the far end of the beach and Breen turned to me, back facing the lapping waves and the goreous bay and said..."Well, we have been together a long time..."and that is all I heard bacause suddenly I knew what was happening, I was shocked and I wanted the moment to slow down and last forever so I kept interrupting him with kisses.  Then he pulled a ring box out of his board shorts and was on one knee and he asked me to marry him.  I said "yes" and he swung me around and kissed me so beautifully over and over.  Then we got in the waves and held each other kissing and looking into eachother's eyes for a long time.  I have no idea how long, time definitely warped at that moment.  All I know is the two girls we were with were already in their life jackets and jumped up when we finally stepped out of the perfect bay.They had seen the proposal down the beach and had been patiently waiting for us.

I had no idea!!!!  The ring is beautiful.  It is alexandrite and white gold with celtic knots that mimic his tatoo on either side.  The alexandrite is a dark blue-green stone that changes color with the light like his blue-green eyes.  Alexandrite (he told me) is the traditional Jewish wedding stone and one of my birthstones!  The celtic knots represents his long Irish lineage.  The ring is the the two of us together just like we will be for life.  Well, if I ever doubted that Breen was a romantic I had no reason to beacuse it was the most romantic proposal I could have dreamed of and I am over the moon with joy.  He said the ring is just sort of a (very beautiful, very thoughtful, amazing) place holder  beacause he didn't want to bring something that would be devastating to lose or have stolen as we travel.  But he put so much thought into it and wanted to be meaningful anyway.   And it will be forever. He says when we come back we will find or design a ring together, which is what he thought I wanted.  He is so thoughtful and loving.  I am the luckiest girl.

Now we are in Chiang Mai and looking forward to cooking classes, elephant trecks, ziplining through rainforests full of Gibbon monkeys and getting more massages...life couldn't be better.

The Andaman Sea - Koh Phi Phi and Railay Bay

Such beauty and such peace here.  Islands shoot up in sharp cliffs topped with wet rain forest and the ocean is so blue.  The islands layer against each other in the distance reminding me of the beauty of Big Sur.  The ocean is clear and the fish are brightly colored and friendly.  The sky is so big against those jutting cliffs.  And the people...we stayed at this incredible bunch of little huts on a private beach on Koh Phi Phi Don and made many Thai friends.  We also befriended, Trey, a wonderful fellow traveler from DC who has been living in Australia and a lovely, very very tan, broken-hearted Italian man who took a liking to us and got Breen far too drunk.  They were good company at the isolated resort. We hiked through rain forest to a view point and found a small village with a pet monkey and a little goat and tons of chickens. We dodged many creepy crawlies including a hammer-head striped leach.  At the top of the mountain was one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen.

Breen somehow got hooked up with a Muay Thai lesson from the brother of the owner of the beach resort, Ken. Such a funny, sweet man.  I think was just an excuse for Ken to practice his boxing and relive his glory days as a professional fighter, but Breen gladly took the opportunity.  I took a ten minute video that they are going to put on their website to help Ken start his own fighting school at the resort.

Breen took a good beating, learned a spinning elbow maneuver and entertained the entire resort.  After that, we were in.  At the end we were "one of them" and they gave us shirts that they wear when working there and many hugs, telling us they'd see us next year.  It was very hard to leave.

Amazing beach, amazing people, best time ever. The pace of was life was that of molasses.  I could get used to this.

We thought nothing could beat the beauty but then we went to Railay Beach and stayed at a beautiful resort within view of some nutty cliffs.  We ate some incredible Italian food.  They know their noodles here.  We sat in a restaurant for hours that was right on the beach and watched the most amazing sunset, flanked by these sea mountains.

Aaand...now we are back on Phi Phi Don...we had such fun at the small isolated resort that we never did take the day trip to see Maya Bay (a.k.a. the beach from The Beach).  Had to see it, so here we are after a very tumultuous ferry ride.  We just had our fourth Thai massage and a few shots of Thai whiskey and we are putty.  Excited for all that is to come.  We really loved the south more than we had anticipated so we have been here and extra few days.  Tomorrow we will feed monkeys on a beach, see Maya Bay, and perhaps a few sharks if we are lucky.  Unfortunately I won't be swimming with the lomaa (dolphins) as it is not the season...but we plan to hang with elephants in Northern Thailand, in the city of Chiang Mai, which is our next destination.  We already have flights and reservations at a hostel that Trey told us is wonderful.

Not missing home, but loving all of you!
Devon and Breen