Day 18 - Dandong

Cameron had very kindly organized a trip for us to Dandong. We went by private taxi with two other Chinese passengers. It was difficult not being able to speak any Chinese but we managed to catch up on some sleep on the way - I didn't know but apparently the teenager next to me was sleeping with his head on my shoulder!

Dandong itself was an interesting city. The entire time we were here we didn't see one other caucasian person and were quite a novelty. We found a Tesco which we enjoyed going round - however our attempts to ask for and mime deodrant met with little success!! We walked to the Green Duck River and looked across to North Korea. On the surface, it looked pretty grim and grey. Although there was a ferris wheel just over the border it was static and we wonder if it is ever used or just for show. There was a bridge across the river which was "accidentally" blown up by the Americans ( along with the airport) during the Korean War. Only half the bridge remains as a monument. We walked across this through the cold blowing wind!

Dinner was a real fear factor affair tonight. We had no idea where to go. The first restaurant we tried mainly sold seafood ( we think!!), but the menu was all in Chinese and they had lots of tanks of strange looking creatures so we decided to try somewhere else. If you're going to have a fear factor experience you need to at least know what you're eating so you have the bragging rights!!! We went across the street and thankfully found a restaurant where the owner spoke a little English and could help us to order. This meal proved to be fantstic! You had a pot of boiling broth which you cooked meat and veggies in and dipped them in various sauces before eating them. Apparently this is a traditional hot pot meal.

Xi'an - Terracotta Warriers

Today we took on the challenge of navigating the Chinese bus system to travel to see the Terracotta Warriors. This was no mean feat - I honestly don't think I've ever been anywhere as chaotic, crowded, and frustrating as a Chinese bus station!! Eventually, after having searched several locations for the bus, evaded a multitude of hawkers selling various bogus trips we found the bus and had a very uneventful journey.

The Terracotta Warrior museum was certainly well worth the hassle getting there. The three pits were very impressive - lots of warriors , each with different facial features. The level of detail and craftsmanship was amazing. It took your breath away. I can't help but wonder what the well diggers who discovered them thought - although they would not have been aware of the extent of their find, archeologists are still excavating the site. We spent the afternoon wandering around the site and museum.

Cameron and I

Xi'an

Today Cameron and I were up early to catch the plane to Xi'an. We were both feeling tired and lack of breakfast food did not help!! The congee on the plane just didn't cut it : ( (think rice gruel -ugh)

We managed to get a bus down town and soon located our hostel down a busy narrow side street. The hostel is extremely nice and has lots of information on tours, a cafe, roof top views and pool room.

After a bit of comfort food at Pizza hut we rented bikes and rode on the old city walls -very picturesque as you could look down on the town. Despite the 35 plus degree heat we managed to do all 14 km -it was great fun.

In the evening we ventured out to find somewhere for dinner. This is quite a challenge as often the menu is only in Chinese characters - we have to look for somewhere that has translation and preferably pictures too! We found somewhere that was very busy - always a good sign and ordered chicken kung pao, aubergine and lotus dish -very good!

Bangkok at night from our hotel















Cameron & Nicky outside Maple Leaf School in Dalian where Cameron is teaching



















Colin in the rock park












our new Chinese friends who kept wanting to take our photo, so we had to reciprocate











some of the many neat rock formations on the coast beside where Cameron lives - this one is called the Arabian Castle

Bangkok & Dalian

Day 15 – Bangkok (Nicky)

Got in Bangkok by nine this morning after a HORRIBLE breakfast of fried eggs…ugh!! Felt a little tired after the night train but really not too bad. It was pretty sad saying goodbye to the rest of the group…but this was softened by the anticipation of a hot shower, good breakfast and luxury of the Royal Orchid Sheraton.

We cleaned up, ate a second great breakfast and then off to the weekend market to make some last purchases before flying out of Thailand tomorrow.

We treated ourselves to a great massage in the hotel, fantastic western supper and then early to bed as we have a 4:30 am start tomorrow!!

Day 16 – Bangkok - Dalian (Colin)

Another early start – up at 4:30am and off to the airport at 5:00am to catch our flights to Guangzohu then on to Dalian to meet Cameron. Got the hockey results in Guangzohu and very disappointed to hear the Canucks have lost yet another playoff game to Chicago, so the series is tied 3-3 after the Canucks were originally up by 3. We called Katie while in Bangkok and it was good to hear all is well with her and the animals back in Kelowna.

The two flights today flew by as we both slept very soundly on each of them – only waking up when they brought food round!! It was LOVELY to see Cameron who met us at the airport and deftly instructed the cab driver where to take us in mandarin.

We arrived at the Maple Leaf Campus and were amazed by the size of the school and how modern the buildings are. Cameron’s apartment is good, interestingly he has a washing machine in his shower!!We went to Susan’s pizza for a quick supper.

So far China is not at all like we imagined – Dalian is really modern with massive development (30% increase in development per year!!!). 35 billion dollars spent on their transit system in 3 years!! There are lots of high rises, wide impressive streets. The school is situated in a Jin Shi Tan national holiday resort, the first state sponsored development resort so there are lots of apartments being built.

Day 17 - Jin Shi Tan (Nicky)

Today Cameron was teaching so we decided to go and explore the local area. We wandered down to the beach area and watched lots of small boats full of seaweed being unloaded. They were getting the beach area ready for the national holiday which starts next week. This involved painting the bridge railing (which we discovered a little late!!) and emptying sand bags on the beach!

We met Cameron for lunch and then decided to explore the rock garden. They had unearthed some incredible rocks when excavating and had turned the area into a garden. It was very impressive. We are very amused to discover that we are novelties here – lots of tourists stare at my blonde hair and groups want to get their photos taken with us, in a multitude of poses!!

We also hiked to the geological area. This proved to be much further out than we had anticipated but was well worth it. It was very nicely set up with pathways and signage to show you what the formations were. The rocks had names like the Arabian castle, dinosaur eats sea, Beethoven’s face etc. The trail was 1.7km long and then we took a little bus back to the start. However….we then discovered that the buses stopped running at 4p.m and there were no taxies to be had…groaning we started on the 6km hike back. Luckily for us at that moment a motorbike taxi pulled up and agreed to take both of us. Even more luckily for us, Cameron had very thoughtfully asked one of his trustworthy students to write out the names of the local places in Chinese script…so we whipped that out and he immediately understood where we wanted to go…so we travelled in style 3 on a motorbike back to the school!!

In the evening we took the Chinway ( train) into Kai Fa Qu for dinner, a look at the shops. We met Kristen (Chelsea’s sister) and a friend for Japanese food then rushed to catch the school bus home at 8:30pm. It was a great day.

photos

We're discovering it's easier to add the photos as a block rather than inserting into the text....this blog work is fairly tricky to do.....


This is Nicky leaping into the water at the falls above Luang Prabang
(the Sarong stayed on amazingly....)









Mahout training
















Elephant bathing - I wasn't sure I was going to stay on...











biking around Luang Prabang














hot air balloon over Vang Vieng









sunset over Vang Vieng









bike ride in Vang Vieng














Kayaking in Vang Vieng















Relaxing between elephant rides in Luang Prabang














Mrs Mahout

















Cavers about to exit (note econo head torch)

Day 9 DonDeng – Luang Prabang (Nicky)

Woken up by the monastery drums at 4 am, followed soon after by the enthusiastic roosters! After breakfast and strong coffee - the spoon could literally stand up in it! We bade farewell to our kind hosts and headed off to Vat Phu which was an impressive fifth century temple. Lots of steep stairs, holy water, sacrificial crocodile stone for human sacrifices. Colin chatted away to a saffron robe clad monk who was eager to get his picture taken with us. It is interesting to see how few Caucasian visitors there were visiting the temple even though it is a World Heritage site! It was also very good to see that people were actually using garbage containers and there wasn’t much garbage strewn around. There is definitely a very different mindset towards garbage in South East Asia. The local people seem to throw their garbage anywhere.

In the afternoon we flew up to Luang Prabang - flight was a little sketchy….lots of turbulence. Surprisingly they also fed us. As we landed in LP we saw totally different countryside – steep mountains, jungle and lots of terraced rice paddies.

The town of LP is a world heritage site and is very quaint. The buildings definitely show the French colonial influence. It also had the best night market we have found so far with lots of local crafts, beautiful silks and needle work. Colin found a bottle of whisky complete with cobra and scorpion which he bought – not sure if it will be allowed back into Canada……

Day 10 Luang Prabang - waterfall (Colin)

An unusually reasonable start at 7:30 am saw us loaded into a tuk-tuk – yet another version of a tuk-tuk called (phonetically) a “som two” (seats 6 comfortably – we had 10 in it) for the ride up to a waterfall. It became interesting when a couple of large spiders were spotted. Several ladies tried to change seats which sent the tuk-tuk into a death wobble. On the way to the waterfall we went to a bear sanctuary – it had Asian black bears (a bit smaller than their North American cousins) and sun bears (much smaller). The bears were amazingly active, standing up and wrestling with each other – very cute.

The walk up to the waterfall was really beautiful with many falls over limestone rock and clear pools, surrounded by jungle. We elected to make the hike up over the top of the falls – it was fun over steep ground and wading across the river at the top, however no views were to be had. On the way down we stopped at a pool that had a great rope swing, followed by some swimming. Even Safety Ann took a turn!!

In the afternoon we did a cycling tour of Luang Prabang which was great fun – the city is a world heritage site and quite beautiful with lots of old buildings which had a distinct French influence.

Day 11 Luang Prabang - Elephants (Nicky)

I was REALLY excited about what the day would bring as Colin and I had signed up to be mahouts (elephant trainers!!). When we arrived at the elephant camp our first activity involved climbing onto the back of the elephant by holding onto the top of its ear. The elephant would bend its knee to give you a boost and then basically the trainer shoved you until you managed to scramble up –not too dignified to say the least!! We also went for an elephant ride through the river. We had a choice of riding behind the elephant’s neck or on a “saddle” (like a park bench strapped to the elephant’s back). We both did the neck option. Our mahout was very keen to photograph us - 60 pics in five minutes!

In the afternoon we took the elephants down to the river to bathe them. We each had our own beastie and a scrubbing brush and rode down a steep path riding on their necks. The elephants sunk under the water, soaking us as we were on their backs – we didn’t have a change of clothes either!! We got to stand on their backs –it really was an amazing experience and certainly well worth it.

As soon as we got back from the elephants we went for a crazy bike ride around LP – speed seemed to be the order of the day!! A quick banana pancake by the river followed by the night market and off to bed quite exhausted (again)!

Day 12 – Luang Prabang – Vang Vieng (Colin)

This day involved a lot of traveling on our small 15 seat bus (typical to other legs of our journey) over some very steep windy roads. Jason describes this very well in his and Lisa’s blog as they travelled the same road a few weeks before. It consists of crazy overtaking heading into blind corners – one highlight was when our seriously underpowered bus actually overtook another bus which was its self overtaking!

The scenery was quite spectacular – lots of steep jungle covered hillsides many of which are cultivated with rice, corn and other unknown crops on impossibly steep terrain – just like you see in calendars, but not easily photographed because the air was quite hazy due to smoke from logging clearing fires.

When we got into Vang Veing, we went on a cycling tour of town which was fun, before going to an ‘Aussie’ restaurant for supper. Not too much Aussie about it, except for the steak and kidney pie that Nicky had as she was craving western food.

Day 13 - Vang Vieng – Vientene (Nicky)

Up bright and early for a kayaking trip on the Ton Soule River. We first decided to brave the local suspension bridge – very rickety, full of holes and very wobbly –a real fear factor experience! The kayaking was superb, and Colin and I managed to navigate most of the rapids, at one point it looked like we were going to capsize and we had to trade kayaks with the guide as ours sprung a leak.

Half way down the river we climbed up to a cave. Using flashlights and candles we crawled through narrow openings waded through pools and scrambled over slippery rocks. It was pretty exciting!

After a quick lunch we once again braved the crazy drivers and windy roads as we headed off to Vientiene the capital of Laos. The hotel (Laos Paris) here was a bit of a disappointment – not very clean and rather strange, with a few mosquitoes hovering around waiting to pounce – not too comforting in malaria country! In the evening we went for a tour of town (moderately interesting), followed by night marketing (more interesting), then a local disco (very interesting) up until the midnight curfew which the entire country is subject to.

Day 14 – Vientene - Bangkok (Colin)

In the morning we made a visit to the local UXO office – UXO is an organization that is working to clear up unexploded ordinance in Laos and assist land mine victims. It was really quite harrowing to get some insight into this largely unknown situation. We learned that in the early 70’s the USA contravened the Geneva agreements and bombed Laos (a small country with a population of 8 million) with more bombs than the entire amount of bombs that were used in WWII. It was called the Secret War because the USA emphatically denied doing it until it was exposed to the rest of the worked when so many Lao people fled the country & in turn was investigated by others. The USA motive was to curtail the “passive” support Laos was providing to the North Vietnamese by allowing men and supplies to sneak up and down the Ho Chi Mhin trail in Laos (I think). The nature of the bombs was horrific – cluster bombs that distribute about 300 smaller bombs (called bombies) – in total more than 80 million bombies were dropped. It’s estimated that more than 30% do not explode on impact and contaminate large chunks of the country – quite a hazard for farming.

In the afternoon we visited the local Laos National Museum – generally pretty lame, but the sentiments towards the “Imperialist Americans” and their “puppets” was loud and clear.

In the late afternoon we crossed over back into Thailand and boarded the overnight train to Bangkok. I was a little apprehensive about this leg wondering what we might get (or not get) for services, so took matters into my own hands by stocking up on basic survival rations (beer and chips) before we left. As it turned out it was fairly comfortable – they converted the seats into bunk beds, and served food – albeit a bit sketchy – especially the breakfast which Nicky tried to eat and came to regret it. I had one bite of my fried egg and backed off, so I fared better (but not scot free).