El pueblo de Codpa

I got picked up from the bus station by Roberto and Fabiola that I had gotten in contact with through work away. As we stopped at an apartment they have in the city, a baby goat and two dogs tried to escape through the door closely followed by two kids yelling at them in Spanish to get back inside. Roberto and Fabiola have three kids, Matias (first grade), Augustina (fourth grade) and Valentina (sr. in high school). It looks like they split their time between a house in a small pueblo about two hours into the desert with weekend missions into Arica for food and errands. I really hit the jackpot getting to spend time with this family. The love they have for each other and their happiness is just so obvious only after spending half an hour with them.

Breakin' up the bus ride

My ultimate destination was Arica. It's so far in the north of Chile that it's only about a half an hour busride to the border with Peru. But if you do it all in one shot its a 28 hour bus ride. Soooooooooooooo I decided to break it up and spend a day in La Serena.

On the road again

I had originally planned to buy my tickets down to South America for a few weeks after Burning Man, similar to what I did last year. Then for various reasons, I didn't end up buying my ticket out of Washington until the week before Thanksgiving.

Back to Kathmandu

The flight from Lukla back to Kathmandu was a sobering one. The sixteen-seater planes don't fly very high so it was pretty easy to see a lot of the damaged buildings. In most of the empty space or grass that was backyards and parks, you could see bright orange or blue tarps set up that people were living under since so many buildings were't safe to live in. At this point, there were still aftershocks with enough regularity that people didn't want to move back into their homes for fear of more damage/collapse.

Lions and tigers and rhinos (oh my!)

After spending some time getting to know Kathmandu, I hopped on a bus and went down south. Down some crazy sketchy windy roads back to the heat and sun. I was headed for a little eco-village pretty close to the border with India and to one of Nepals first national parks, Chitwan National Park. For the first week, I was staying with another WorkAway host.

In which my trekking plans took an unexpected turn.

Day 8: Gokyo to Phortse (3643m)
We got an early start and headed back down away from Gokyo. The goal for the day was to walk down the valley a little bit so we could cross the valley below the glacier. If the snow stopped early in the day, we had a chance at being able to cross the Cholla pass and get over near EBC. If the weather stayed crappy, we would walk down the other side of the valley and around. We stopped to chat with a group of Irish and French on their way up to Gokyo.

The wind and snow made all the prayer flags over the river look super cool.

Climbing some tall pointy rocks.

After posting on a couple of trekking bulletin boards about the treks I wanted to do, I got an email from David, an Irishman who had essentially organized a trek that did all the things I wanted to do in the Everest region. It made it significantly cheaper for him to share the cost of the guide and porter with a second person. Yes, we had a porter. I had no idea what kind of shape I was in after six months of traveling, and we both liked the idea of putting some money into the local economy. When I go back to Nepal in the future, I will most likely just be hiring the same porter and not hire a guide.

First view of the tallest mountains in the world

Our second attempt to fly to Kathmandu went much more smoothly than the first one. The sky was clear. Because of congestion at the airport (it's the only international airport in the entire country.), we got to do several circles. Each circle gave me a spectacular view of the massive snow covered mountains towering above the valleys. These views only increased my excitement. In a matter of weeks I would be walking in them!

An early goodbye.

I woke up a couple mornings ago in my hostel in Kathmandu sick and sore, and I realized something. I'm ready to go home. A complete 180 from everything I've told everyone since the earthquake happened. "Yep, I'm good. I just want to find a way to volunteer." It doesn't really matter what the logical side of me wanted to do. Or how badly I wanted to say that I stayed and helped pack boxes or deliver rice to villages. My brain decided it was time to go home. I admit it, I flip-flopped. Completely.

24 hours in Mandalay and a much needed rest in Bangkok

It was recommended to us that we take the train at least part of the way to Mandalay, where we were flying to Bangkok from. So of course we did. That means that in Myanmar we used a ferry, taxis, a bus, boats, an airplane, bikes, a horse cart, electric bikes, a train, and our feet to get around Myanmar. Dang.

Train dogs are tough dogs.

Trekking in the smoke

We arrived in Hsipaw (See-Paw) as cold and cranky little icicles after the overly air conditioned sitting night bus. Luckily the hotel was prepared and had little nap spots set up for us until we could check in. After sleeping most of the morning away, we motivated ourselves enough to wander around. And by that I mean we managed to find a stand that sold fruit smoothies. We then wandered around the town a little bit more to where we were told we were able to see an old palace. Unfortunately when we arrived at the gate, it was closed and had no indication of when/if it would be open. Wandering back in the direction of our hotel we found the morning market (also closed), and booked our trek for the next day. It was a approximately six hour hike through some villages with an hour long motorcycle ride back to the hotel.

The most graceful fishermen in the world

Even though I have been in Asia for six months, its still funny the assumptions that my brain makes. If they say "paved road" I still think about smooth asphalt not a flat road that was maybe paved at some point. Or a gravel road. If they say restaurant, I still automatically look for something western-looking even though I know I really should be looking for the little red plastic chairs they use so much here. When I'm told that Inle Lake has avocado salad, I can't help but picture a bed of greens and cubes of avocado. Myanmar does salads a little differently. They seem to say salad when they mean "vegetable side dishes." So the avocado salad was actually guacamole which was just as delicious as an avocado salad in the traditional sense. And I think when that's the biggest gripe I have about a location, it's doing ok.

There's nothing to see here. Move along.

Stand with Nepal

As I have mentioned many times, I've been spending the last few days reading through the interwebs, talking to people, and trying to find a way to volunteer or help in Nepal.  The articles taking about donations are spot on,  those that I have talked to have  asked me to spread the word about donations for their causes.  I know lots of people don't like giving to big organizations because the money doesn't go directly to the cause. The following  are links  given to me by Nepalis that I have had the privilege of staying with. PLEASE PLEASE consider even a small donation to help them rebuild.

The first one I'd like to recommend is the family that I stayed with when I was staying in Kathmandu. He runs a children's home, daycare for disabled children, and also trains and takes care of dogs in Kathmandu. His home is currently cracked and will not be lovable anymore. This man has one of the biggest hearts of anyone I've ever met and has truly decided to dedicate his life to improving the lives of people and dogs around him
http://www.lchome.org/donate.html
Or:  http://dm2.gofund.me/langtang

Secondly, I stayed with Pemba Sherpa's family at the Namaste Lodge in Phortse the night after the earthquake. His family managed to make us feel welcome, safe and warm while still  trying to take stock of what had happened, and figure out if ther family on Everest was safe,. Whenever there is tragedy on Everest, it usually directly affects at least a few Sherpa families. These men spend a large amount of time climbing through dangerous areas and  act as the backbone of many Everest expeditions.  These funds will go directly to helping rebuild in some of the Sherpa communities in this area and supporting families affected by the earthquake.

http://www.alexlowe.org/p/earthquake-relief

http://www.thelittlesherpafoundation.com/donation.php

Please share this and remember that any little bit will help. 

Thank you!!

Some pretty epic temples.

We finally arrived in Bagan! Probably the most famous thing in Myanmar. It's also in the hottest part of Myanmar during the hottest part of the year. So basically like being back in the Arizona summer, but with more dust and some really old temples.

That wifi thing.

Edit: I wrote this thinking it would be posted while I was out  trekking. I had no idea that there would be an earthquake  of such a magnitude while I was out. The sentiment is still the same and even greater. Thank you so much for all the love. I have felt it from lovely Nepali's here and from so many people around the world. If you're feeling helpless, the donations you make will really make a difference. Nepal doesn't have the infrastructure to handle a disaster like this and rebuilding will take a very long time.  I have had several Nepalis go out of their way to check on me while in the midst of dealing with their own troubles and worries. 

Here is a list that seems reasonable to me. 
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-04-25/how-help-nepal-7-vetted-charities-doing-relief-work-following-earthquake

I was in a relatively safe area, and the quake and its aftershocks were still terrifying. I can't imagine what the more damaged areas are like. Please keep all that are affected or missing in your thoughts. 

A fleet of flying foxes

Cheyenne loves bats. Like a lot. And Sittwe had several trees full of fruit bats. After napping through to hot part of the day after our flight from Yangon, we spent the rest of the day watching bats. My neck spent at least two hours gazing upwards at the bats sleeping, squabbling and flying around.

Bed bugs. A travelers worst nightmare.

We were back in Yangon once again. And we went back to the first place that we had stayed. They had a massive dorm room, but it was clean and each bed had its own curtain, outlet and fan. Unfortunately it also had bedbugs. And Cheyenne found out the hard way when she woke up at 3 am with a massive cluster of bleeding bites on her leg.

You'll never be bored on a Myanmar bus

And I don't think I've said a truer thing this entire trip. I probably could write separate posts for my various bus trips, but by this time they have all blended into one crazy bus ride, so that's how I'll write this post.

To the beach!

Our original plan was to see the Irrawaddy Delta for some dolphins and crocodiles. Unfortunately, due to the lack of established tourism that would mean hiring our own boat and paying all expenses like guides, gas and food. It's not unreasonable, but it was WAY out of our price range. So we decided to head straight to the beach to even out some tan lines. After a large amount of logistical research and discussion, it was confirmed that we would have to stop for a night in Yangon before heading out west to the beach.

A circle around Yangon

I look forward to every new country that I go to, but the more I read about Myanmar, the more excited I got. It has really only been open to tourism since 2012. This country has a very complicated and interesting history that will get its own post. This post won't be written while I'm in Myanmar however, because government censorship (though not as intense as a few years ago) is still strong in this country. And I have been guided to watch what I say or write as well as what types of conversations I have with locals.

The Golden Rock

We took a short bus ride over to the town closest to the Golden Rock or Kyaiktiyo Pagoda. Its a major pilgrimage site because its a massive boulder perched precariously on a strand of Buddha's hair. Our timing was also pretty great in that we visited the temple on a full moon holiday (which we didn't know until we arrived).

Mr. Anthony

The Breeze Guesthouse in Mawlamyine had such horrible reviews online but was the only guesthouse online that was in my price range. Cheyenne and I decided to take the tuktuk from the bus station to the center of town and try to find alternatives. We figured we would be able to bargain with one of the hotels that's not online, but the tuktuk driver took us straight to the Breeze Guesthouse. The rooms were cheap, small and bug free (as far as we could tell). Apparently we were lucky. Some of the other rooms had bugs. The horrible bitey kind that lives in the mattress.

A return to Thailand

To fly to Myanmar, the best option was to return to Thailand and take a flight out from either Bangkok or a city in nothern Thailand. We opted to fly out of the city that neither of us had been to, Chiang Rai. It also happened to be the closest to the Laos-Thailand border we were going to cross.

Cute graffiti

In search of the cloud leopard

Luang Namtha is the town closest to the Nam Ha Protected Area. This is supposed to be about as close as Laos gets to a national park I think. And the Internet has described the area as a decent one for wild life, including guar and a possible cloud leopard. 

On the minivan ride up there I was incredibly happy that I had a seat belt. Not for any unsafe happenings, but because I was in the back of the van on one of the bouncier pot-hole-filled roads I've been on. The seat belt kept me in place and saved my head from hitting the ceiling. Most of the roads in Laos are windy and bumpy. I didn't know buses could bottom out on potholes until I came to Laos. And this one was the bumpiest of them all. 

Buddha Buddha Buddha Rocking Everywhere!

Vientiane doesn't have a lot on paper to pull travelers in to visit except that it is the capitol of Laos. It's relatively small and doesn't have a lot of attractions. But it's packed with pagodas! Like most tourists I only spent a couple days there. I think if I had spent another day there it would have been to visit the Beer Lao Brewery and a water park. 

Coconuts for days

And I really mean that. Coconuts for three days. I was with two ladies from the yoga retreat I went to in Cambodia. We met up in Vietnam and crosses the border together. At some point we were all talking about the copious amounts of caffeine, baguettes and other Vietnamese goodies we had been consuming like we might never see them again. A couple people at the yoga retreat did coconut fasts. But why do that when you've already paid for delicious vegan food. (Yeah, I did just say that.) So we decided to welcome ourselves to Luang Prabang with a three day coconut water fast.

Snapped a quick pic of these two ladies having a very serious chat at a festival at a pagoda we visited.

Tubin' the river

Vang Vieng went from a quiet little town on the river to an epic backpacker party spot with the creation of a tube float down the river. It escalated quickly with the addition of many bars that floaters could stop at. Combine this with decently shallow water, wide availability of drugs including opiates, and drunk-decision making. It got so crazy that there were multiple tourist deaths each month, and the government stepped in and shut it all down. 

I'm on a boat.

I'd been pretty tired after spending three days trekking (trekking will be its own post soon), but by the time I got to Luang Prabang it was apparent that I was sick. Good thing we were spending a day in Luang Prabang before marching onwards. 


Meh, it's not so bad. I'll push through it. Let's book those boat tickets for tomorrow after a quick nap. 

All in my head? Most likely.

So far in my trip I have felt like I've had pretty decent luck with busses. Sure, I seem to regularly be seated next to some wall or vent that gives off far too much heat, but I've always arrived where I want to be with all my stuff in about the predicted amount of time. I haven't been sick on a bus or sat near any chickens. So that's a win in my book.

Calm down little pup!

Cheyenne and I  had to pass back through Luang Pabang on our way to our next stop. In the evening we wandered down to the Mekong River to catch sunset. As we walked over to a spot that appear to be the best for sunset pictures, we saw a tiny poodle-like dog barking frantically at the water. He would run up and down and then scratch at the sand and bark frantically. There were enough scratches in the sand to show that he had clearly been at it for a while.

Laos PDR - Please Don't Rush

I was so proud of myself for getting up to date on my Vietnam posts that I forgot I had a whole  other country to be writing about. Laos is a country that seems to get less attention from the typical SE Asia travel crowd.

A healthy bit of fear

I'm not a fan of a lot of the posts that seem to float around the travel blog world (really the Internet in general) that are lists.

The Capitol!

From all of the other people we'd talking to, it seems like people either like Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh and dislike the other. It's strangely polarizing. I liked Ho Chi Minh, so I was excited to get to Hanoi and see what I thought.

Cat Ba Island- the village of puppies

After our horrible tour on the way over, I swore I was done with tours. Done! After the bus finally dropped us off at the hostel, we wandered out to get some pho. After getting some warm food in our tired bodies we perked up a little bit and started chatting with some guys sitting in the restaurant.

Lessons learned after three months (and also maybe some adviceforfellow travelers)

Edit: I wrote this a couple weeks ago and just realized I never posted it. Whoops!

Recently I got some wonderful news from a couple friends that are also quitting their jobs to join the travel life. We had a FaceTime chat and they had a bunch of questions for me. I realized after I got off the phone that I've been traveling for almost four months. So what I'm saying is I am now an expert.

Animals!

I keep saying that I lucked out on my travel timing because of the weather. It seems like I've been able to avoid anything too rainy or too miserably hot this entire trip. I definitely had no idea that I would be here during "babies season."

Caves of wonder (and mud)

After Hoi An, we headed out to a national park called Phong Nha Kẻ Bàng. It houses the largest cave in the world. It can fit an entire Manhattan city block inside it, skyscrapers and all. They also restrict the number of people that visit the cave and it costs several thousand dollars to visit. So I did not go there.

Rice terraces and more baby animals than you could imagine

Sapa is a small town that has boomed for tourism in the last ten years. It's the home to to several ethnic minorities like the Hmong. They grow rice in beautiful terraces on the mountainside. We had amazing weather for the first two days. Warm during the day and pretty chilly at night. The third day, fog and rain rolled in during the night and the day stayed quite cold and the paths were quite muddy and slippery.

A rant. Let's have some respect people.

I've thought a decent amount about writing a post on sustainable tourism. I may write a more helpful post about that a little bit later. Instead this is going to be a rant. Because I feel cranky and think this needs to be said. We all travel for different reasons, and are looking for different sights and experiences. But I feel like some travelers have no respect for the places and cultures they are seeing. And it frustrates me.

Superbowl Sunday

I decided to wait a little bit to post this one. Let the wounds heal a little bit. Cheyenne is a NE fan, so once the Super Bowl teams were set we got pretty stoked. The game was gonna be like 6am Monday morning, so we were game to find a place to watch it. And then we realized thats the day we needed to be out of the country. And we're too cheap to fly (which is what most people do). 

Hey thanks guys!

I just recently looked at my blog's statistics and was thrilled to see that I have page views from nine different countries. I had no idea many people were reading it.

Thanks a bunch!! I'll try to keep things relatively interesting. 

Lantern City

I kept hearing about Hoi An from all the travelers coming south. "It's beautiful!" "You can do so much shopping!" The only criticism I heard was "It's so full of foreigners!"

In which I meet a little cluster of Americans

In Vietnam, people generally tend to go from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi or vice versa. So when you're staying in one of the more touristy areas, there's this great mix of people who have all sorts of advice and recommendations to swap.

Beach life pt. 2

After such a busy few days on the river tour, we really needed some rest and recovery. We hopped on a plane and flew to an island in the south west called Phu Quoc. If you're going to Vietnam anytime soon and want a beautiful sandy beach to lounge on, go here!!

The mighty Mekong Delta (or how I spent a lot of time on a bus/boat)

Ho Chi Minh City was definitely my favorite big city so far.  We got the same warnings about getting pick pocketed and ripped off by taxis that people give in every big city, but somehow I liked the feel of this city better. I think part of it had to do with the long park running down the main district, and part of it was because everything was walk-able (at least of the touristy stuff).  It may also be that I had amazing sandwiches, pho, and coffee. A great start to my month of nomming my way through Vietnam.

Gooooood Morning Vietnam

After a wonderful six weeks in Cambodia, it was time to head over to my next country. As sad as I was to be leaving Cambodia, I had an extra special visitor to look forward to in Vietnam. To get to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon or HCMC), I would once again be passing through Phnom Penh.

Dolphins and turtles and fish! Oh my!

After a quick visit to Phnom Penh, I wasn't super thrilled with the city so I hopped on a bus up northeast to a place called Kratie. The pronunciation of the city is something like Krach-ie, but I could never seem to get it right.

Tour from hell

I know I'm seriously behind on this blog. About three weeks of Vietnam behind to be exact. I'll get around to it, I promise.

Rice rice baby.

Now that I've moved on to Vietnam, its time for my Cambodia food post. I'll start this off with one word: rice. Rice for breakfast. Rice for lunch. Rice for dinner. And, just like Thailand, there was always some sort of basic fried rice available to tourists who didn't feel like eating anything else. I also found that there are fried noodles, which included the same components as fried rice, but substitute instant ramen noodles for the rice.