Mid-way Mark!

Today marks our 3 week anniversary in SE Asia. We are currently in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam. Let's backtrack a bit though...

*Disclaimer: Written by Lauren. Jacqs doesn't endorse the commentary, only the itinerary.*

We started in Bangkok on June 19th...Ko Sanh Road, the backpackers mecca, was overwhelming and crazy. we got swindled by a tuk-tuk driver (kinda like a taxi/mini truck/tricycle hybrid form of transportation) who took us to all his friends' stores and travel agencies. we got mad at first but it ended up being a blessing in disguise cuz some crazy thai woman booked us on a trip to chiang mai in northern thailand and arranged for all our transportation into laos. in chiang mai, we met alicia, our new best friend from amsterdam who traveled with us for 10 days, and lukas (dreamy german gentleman friend), tom and calum (19 yr old english boys who instantly became like our family)...we went on a trek through the jungle and played in waterfalls, rode elephants and went bamboo rafting. all in all, a great start to the trip. we played in chiang mai for two nights, went to zest bar and spicy bar, ate the BEST falafel in the world and spent an hour after the restaurant closed talking to the isreali owner (who came from israel to visit thailand 15 yrs earlier and married her trekking guide! oh, LOVE, she said.) she was a pretty phenomenal lady. we tried to get the boys to come to Lao with us but they were too 'pissed' --> meaning drunk (England English is much more fun than America English). also, our the lady at our hotel in Chiang Mai hooked us up, her name was Noi, she was the CUTEST lil button of a thai woman and loved us and gave us free snickers bars when we came back famished from our trek. she was shorter than us. i feel tall here. AMEN.

To get to Lao we took a very hot mini van (hot b/c the AC didnt work YIKES) to the border town crossing. we stayed in Probably the dumpiest place in the world, no joke, but the guy who arranged for our visas was SO nice, totally hooked us up and it was the first meal I (Lauren) ate all trip because it was delicious and I've been having trouble getting into the cuisine here.

To get to Lao, we have to cross the river at 8 am...and we do so in a SPRINT fashion because we have to get to the Gibbon Experience office on the other side of the border by 830 to get on the trip that leaves that day (6/26). Our visas weren't ready yet but like I said we were in a hurry so the police let us into Lao w/o our passports or visas...which is pretty cool looking back. We got our visas by 845 and sprinted to the office and the woman took pity on us- already drenched in sweat, me nearly on the verge of tears and hunched over in my overweight pack- and let us on the trip! YES!

The Gibbon Experience was PHENOMENAL. literally a lil kids' dream come true....some tough hiking at first, but then we ziplined into our treehouse where we stayed for two nights. we spent 3 days ziplining through the canopy of the Bokeo Nature Reserve in Laos and it was unreal. so beautiful, so one of a kind...after all the hiking you zipline across the most beautiful scenery imaginable and it makes all the sweat and bug attacks (yes a BEE FAMILY followed me around all day cuz i wore my yellow VOTE BODE shirt on the trail) worth it. We shared our treehouse with Georgie (english girl from nottingham), Karen (Kiwi!) and Dudley (English guy)...5 girls and one guy...LUCKY MAN. We dranks lots of ovaltine, ate pineapple all day long and played yahtzee. i got an all time low score twice. clearly luck was not on my side in the game of dice. side note- jacqs has since spent the last 10 days begging anyone on the street for dice. we finally found em in a small alley in hoi an, vietnam. jacqs is still glowing.

from gibbon we sailed on, literally, via slow boat to loang prabang, the cutest lil town in Lao. It took two days along the Mekong River to get there and we stayed in Pak Beng Village as a rest stop- a place where the power goes out at 10 pm. 10 pm. so no fan, no lights, nothing past 10. we did pay $1 each for the room though, which i thought was a pretty great deal. and the owner of the hotel kept calling us beautiful girls, so i was like fine, love ya babe.

Arriving in LP was like paradise. our friend Vicki from the Gibbon Experience hooked us up with the DREAMIEST room (we each only payed $5/night) for the family suite in this lil hotel. we never wanted to leave. great beds and aircon. we spent 2 days wandering around the city, eating western food (finally!) and meeting up with other travelers (jacqs' cousin and camp friends). we also spent one night at a bowling alley, bc the city shuts down at 11 pm, so all the western travelers take tuk-tuks to the bowling alley in town that stays open till 4. its hilarious, and also a funny scene and good time. we brought Dudley (the dreamy englishman), vicki, wendee and marika (gibbon experience friends) and it was a ton of fun. Lao is very beautiful, but very poor. It's wild- the people are so friendly, so beautiful, as is the scenery, but you want to do so much for them and can't really.

On 7/1, we said goodbye to Alicia. sigh. she went off to bangkok to meet her BF and jacqs and i pressed on to Hanoi, Vietnam. talk about a stark contrast. Hanoi is loud and fast-paced...motorbikes buzz past you at alarming rates, honking is the only sound within a 5 miles radius and everyone on the street hassles you to buy something. we immediately ducked into the first gueshouse we could find which was totally shady but ended up having great aircon and a TV. we left early the next morning for a Halong Bay cruise, which was absolutely beautiful, though we had to dine on the boat with these 2 pompous asshole Dutch guys who made calls on Americans...all I wanted to do was throw their stuff overboard and them too. haha. but the bay was gorgeous, and finally jacqs and i put our feet up and got some sun. it was lovely. we also ran into Alex Stein, an '06, who we'd met in Bangkok and got dinner with her the next night.

We got back to Hanoi, chilled in the city for the night, ran around the whole next day shopping and going to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Museum, which is the most tightly guarded place we've been to. We also had to cover our shoulders and knees as a form of respect, so here I am in a cute lil pink dress and get kindly escorted to the gift shop where I have to wear possibly the most unflattering red communist flag shirt and white elastic band capris. i wanted to cry but couldn't over jacqs' laughter so decided to fuck it and have a photo shoot. the museum was really cool, though we got followed around by our motobike driver and he tried to get more money from us...we held strong though, we're getting good at this! and only payed him 40,000 VND for our transport there and back (roughly $2 dollars). Ho Chi Minh's body was really cool to see- extreme security around it, like the JFK Eternal Flame at Arlington, and no talking allowed.

We left Hanoi for Hoi An via "Sleeping Bus" as it was called on our receipt. What a JOKE. I might have died overnight and come back to life on this thing...it was the most grimy, smelly bus I've ever scene...the air con blew out hot air and jacqs and i were cooped up on these chairs that pulled out into beds on the bus. we got a flat tired around midnight and our trip that was supposed to take 17 hours took 24. 24 hours on a bus. got in a fight with the ticketing guy when we stopped in Hue cuz we couldnt find our ticket. he laughed at me. i yelled at him. ticket in my pocket the whole time. jacqs and i speechless. ate pizza in celebration after at some place in Hue. get back on another non-aircon bus for 4 hours to Hoi An, a lil beach town that is known for making clothes. sweating through my now very dirty capri/red flag ensemble from mausoleum day. jacqs is fine, listening to joni mitchell on IPOD.

We arrive in Hoi An, and follow Lonely Planet's Directions to a lil place called the Huy Hoang Guesthouse. It was lovely. the best bfast we've had all trip. banana pancakes- talk about WHOA. if collis started making them, dartmouth would need new dorms b/c so many peeps would come to dartmouth merely for the food. we got clothes made. we are a joke. i got a GREAT suit for $70 amen, but we got carried away and tried to get all these cute dresses made. we look like babushka dolls in them. i hope none of you ever see pics of these things....at least they were well made and cheap. we ate well in Hoi AN (finally!! and shared lots of delicious specialties of the region...it felt like jacqs and i were on our honeymoon, but hey, whatevs)

We left Hoi An and FLEW to Saigon, the capital of Vietnam (b/c getting on another bus was a def NO after our last experience) and checked into this hilarious guesthouse....jacqs and i are sharing a bed with a crayon print comforter and its up 6 flights of stairs. but we have great aircon and HBO so we are happy. we're going to the war tunnels tomorrow and we leave for cambodia in 2 days and then head back to thailand to check out the full moon party and the beaches. YES!!! after that its bali. will write more soon, am sure i left a lot out but my time in the internet cafe is running out.

love to all- jax and lauren