Bon Voyage to my daughter.

vc69

Love the pics and updates!

TECHNOKID

Nice pics again! Her trip seems to be going quite well despites the last minute changes to the itinerary. Keep posting with pics :cool:

TrashyTrucker

Shack,
Your daughter looked very proud in pic before her journey started! Nice 2nd pic you shared, like what you did with the light, bounce flash or diffuser? You a Nikon or a Canon man? Any way I guess thats another site I belong to? Nice to meet you.

Matt (NewB)

shack

TrashyTrucker wrote:

Nice 2nd pic you shared, like what you did with the light, bounce flash or diffuser? You a Nikon or a Canon man?

Natural light from a window coming from the left and an off-camera flash from the upper right (dialed down 2 stops with only the flip down diffuser). Canon.

shack

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve posted any updates from my daughter. She is now 6 weeks into her trip.

I mentioned last time they visited the glass sarcophagus of Ho Chi Minh for a viewing. It seems the body gets sent to Russia ever so often for a bit of “touching up”.



Then it was off to Halong Bay for a few days…some of the time on an island and some of the time on a junk sailing the bay.

Another form of transportation.



A misty morning on the bay.



Kayaking in a cave.



Then it was off to the northern mountain region of Vietnam.

They spent several days in the beautiful small town of Sapa.



This young local lady was their guide for a day…Her name is Chi and they feel she is now a friend.



Terraced rice paddies.



Another local “crop” just growing on the side of a path.



A little meditation and prayer with the some the locals.



Halong Bay and the Mountain Region of Sapa are the parts of Vietnam they enjoyed the most…not the normal “tourist” destinations.

After Sapa it was off to Laos….by bus.

The first leg of the trip was a 10 hour ride to Dien Bien Phu. There was road construction the entire way which meant the “road” was just mud and gravel. They only got stuck once and it was in gravel not mud. After a few minutes of pushing they were back on their way. Little did she know that that was the good/easy/comfortable part of the journey.

There is very little I can add to her description of the 2nd day of the trip…so I will just quote her.

The plan was to arrive early to the bus station the next morning to make sure I got a good seat on the bus. There was no such thing. I did get an actual seat, however, there was zero leg room causing me to be in a ball position. I should not complain though considering I could have been much worse off. Laura had a man pushing/leaning really hard on her and a lady hugging her legs. Others I had met along the way had people sitting on their laps, sitting between seats on pointy objects or standing at a side-goggled angle. There were 25 seats in this minibus but the driver, who had to take a hit from his bong every time we stopped, thought it would be a good idea to see just how many people you can fit into a minibus along with luggage, produce and a giant stuffed teddy bear. Just when you thought there is no way one more person could fit, we would stop for three more people. At one point an old lady was literally lifted and body surfed to the back. She was little so surely they could find a space for her. The total count including the driver and conductor……38 people. Crazy and cozy! Eight hours of this, great!

That was just on the inside of the bus, outside it got just a little bit worse. The path that we took (I cannot bring myself to call it a road) was nothing but pure mud carved out of the side of massive mountains. I’m talking sheer cliffs. The minibus was also top heavy due to all the produce. At one point, and I wish I was exaggerating, the bus hit a dip which was bigger than the driver thought and we about toppled over onto our side. Even the locals were scared and that is never a good sign. One lady was grabbing at Laura and me in fear. But hey, after coming down the mountain and crossing through, not over, a river the ride was smooth, yet still cramped.

Here is the bus.



Think it was crowded?



The “road”.



The bus driver taking a “bong break”.



Now they are in Laos. I will update as she sends me more pictures and tales.

schwarcw

WOW!:eek:

Sounds like quite a ride! The photos are beautiful and she must really be enjoying the trip.

The pipe the bus driver had was impressive. It probably doubles as a weapon.

Amazing journey. I'm wishing safe passage and lot's of fun!

joeparaski

Wow! Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing and keep them coming.

Joe

reeltrouble1

well my friend you done good, you know that, this is the joy of having children, sharing with them, seeing with them through their eyes, makes it seem so sad for those who say they hate children and so on.

how great to see the internet used as it should be.

somebody is going to be a very lucky young man, what a wonderful well rounded lady, excellent and thanks for sharing ShackDaddy, its likely as close to Asia as I might get, so its cool to see.

RT1

Fireman32

Awesome pictures and story!

hearingimpared

Wow how incredibly awesome pictures and trip Steve. She's one great gal!!!

Ricardo

Amazing the different realities in different places. She's so lucky to have the opportunity to live all that. Wonderful experience!!

steveinaz

How cool for her! Great pics.

faster100

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

well my friend you done good, you know that, this is the joy of having children, sharing with them, seeing with them through their eyes,

how great to see the internet used as it should be.

somebody is going to be a very lucky young man, what a wonderful well rounded lady, excellent and thanks for sharing ShackDaddy, its likely as close to Asia as I might get, so its cool to see.

RT1

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

makes it seem so sad for those who say they hate children and so on.
RT1

Couldn't have said it better myself.. i love to travel, But this is extremly cool and as close as i may ever get there either.. Thanks for the pics

cfrizz

Awesome! Looking forward to the next update.

dorokusai

Great news Steve....your daughter is a real world trooper. What a cool Dad you've been to support her and give her the confidence to explore the world. I'm waiting for your support of my pole dancing side job....and am very disappointed.

megasat16

Cool pics! She's really enjoying it. I hope she'll be back home safe and sound soon, Shack!

LeftCoast

I travel in this manner all the time. Pick the entry point and the exit point back to the U.S., set a loose itinerary that I may or may not stick with. It's really pretty safe. I remember sharing a breakfast table with a quiet little Japanese girl in Prague once. She couldn't have been more than 80 to 85 lbs. and quiet as a mouse. She was travellling solo. I remember thinking, "If she can do it, anyone can." I've met many females travelling solo as I do. (I'm a guy). Travellers tend to look after each other.
I was in Croatia when Westerners were afraid to go there (it was a tip from someone I befriended in Slovakia) I went to Bosnia (next to Croatia) on a whim. The few of us adventurous types who tried it would share a knowing look of finding a rough jewel of being somewhere not many others think of visiting. Ok, talking too much, Good for your daughter. i'm sure she has a view of the world based on knowledge and experiece.

TECHNOKID

Thanks for sharing the great pics of her trip, makes us feel we are part of it :cool:

shack

It has been about a week since I last updated my daughters travels and since several of you seem to enjoy them, I will keep posting.

She is now solo for about 10 days as she and her friend have split up to do a couple of different things. She is on a Thai island (Ko Phi Phi Don) in the Indian Ocean near Phuket (remember the tsunami?). Those tales and pics will follow at a later date.

As you may recall, in the last post the girls had just had a cramped, harrowing ride over the mountains of Vietnam into Laos with the bong-smoking bus driver. They actually arrived safely to the shores of the Mekong River. From there they were able to take a longboat ride (they were the only passengers on the boat with LOTS of room) to a remote island in the middle of the river. The ride lasted a few hours and the scenery and view of life along the river was spectacular. Upon arriving on the island of Muong Ngoi Neua, they discovered they would be staying in a beautiful bungalow with hammocks overlooking the river. It was a nice retreat and they decided to stay several days. BTW there was NO electricity on the island, but they would run generators from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM each night to perform essential services. They explored the island and relaxed. There was not a lot to do other than get to know the people living there. They met and offered to help one of the fishermen paint his longboat, which of course he accepted. When they showed up the next day, the plans had changed and they were offered the opportunity to attend a local wedding…which of course they accepted. It turned out to be an all day affair with most of the villagers in attendance. The drinking of Lao Lao (local whiskey) had started about 6:00 AM but they did not join in until about 10:00AM. There was lots of food, music and Lao Lao (which they were “required” to participate to not be rude) and the girls were the only “outsiders”. They had a great time…and stopped partaking of the lao lao after 7-8 shots.

It was a small island and there were only 6 monks attending to the buddhist villagers (as opposed to hundreds in the larger cities). Through a friend they met on the island, they were able to attend the morning giving of alms to the monks. Their new friend had prepared the alms of rice for them to give and gave them the required scarf to wear. It was a very interesting experience.

Here are some sights from along the river.





Rice up close



Their bungalow



The Wedding



Alms for the monks



The monks



They stayed several days and were really reluctant to leave…but it was time to move on.

From there it was on to the Plain of Jars. It is a very remote area in the center of Laos that has only been accessible recently by means other than by air. Here is what she had to say about the place.

In Laos there is a place that has stumped archeologist for years. There are groups of huge stone jars all over the place and they cannot figure out what they were used for. Some say it was to store food and Lao Lao (whiskey) while others say they were for burial rituals. They may never know because there is no way of carbon dating them. It’s pretty cool!

There were hundreds…maybe thousands of jars. After you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all…right? Not necessarily…she decided to name some of them….

The Plain of Jars



King jar…the largest of the jars



Busted jar



Lid jar



Lonely jar



Heart jar



Leaning jar



Jungle jar



Tree jar



Three jars



One last thing for this post. For those of you that may remember the Vietnam war…Laos was the heaviest bombed country of all the SE Asian countries because of its proximity to China and N. Vietnam. There are still thousands (if not more) of UOX (unexploded ordnances) throughout the country. Here is the warning at the Plain of Jars.



Ok...enough about jars.

After this they are headed to the capital of Laos to get their visas in line to get back into Thailand.

More later...

Ricardo

(Steve, don't drink so early. You've misplaced a few pictures. Lonely, lid and heart jars are the same, and no warning picture)
Awesome experience. Please continue sharing.

shack

Ricardo wrote:

(Steve, don't drink so early. You've misplaced a few pictures. Lonely, lid and heart jars are the same, and no warning picture)
Awesome experience. Please continue sharing.

Yeah...I caught that and was in the process of editing when you replied.

Don't you have anything better to do during the day than to read stuff on CP as soon as it is posted...:D...;)

(thanks for the heads up though!)

I will continue to post.

Ricardo

shack wrote: »

Don't you have anything better to do during the day than to read stuff on CP as soon as it is posted....

I happened to be making my daily call to EMU to let them know I don't want any more amps. They always place me on hold for a couple of hours, so I browse through the latest posts while I wait.

Edit: They always ask me to say hi. I always forget to pass it to you

shack

Ricardo wrote:

Edit: They always ask me to say hi. I always forget to pass it to you

Thanks...the next time you talk to them (tomorrow) please let them know that I haven't forgotten them and will continue to not buy any of their gear.

wodom1

It's really cool to see some of these pictures -- I was in some of the same places earlier this year. I took a month off of work in January/February and went to Tokyo (2.5 days), Bangkok (2.5 days), Laos (two weeks), Cambodia (eight days) & Singapore (2.5 days). I've been to Thailand previously (Railay and Ko Phi Phi in 2008), but all of the other places were new to me. I went on a 7 day motorbike trip in Laos and everything I saw was incredible. We went to the Plain of Jars as well. We rode cross country on Honda Baja 250 dirt bikes. I did something similar in Vietnam in January, 2009, but on a soviet-era Minsk 125 motorbike and did homestays with local families in the Vietnamese countryside northeast of Hanoi for six nights.

You mention that Laos is the most heavily bombed country in Asia -- if I remember correctly, more bombs were dropped there during the Vietnam war by us than all ordinance dropped during WWII by all countries involved.

I love SE Asia!

mrbigbluelight

As others have said, Shack, thanks for posting these updates.


Awesome on all counts; pics, narratives, ....... a flat-out 11 out of 10 !


Thanks !

TECHNOKID

Amasing, her trip gets even more interesting as she travels and time goes by :cool: Keep the posts and pics coming, really, really enjoy!

shack

Time for another update.

Before the girls left Laos, they had something they wanted to do. They learned about an organization in Luang Prabang called Big Brother Mouse, which is a business started five years ago by an American gentleman who recognized the lack of books in Laos. The organization delivers books to villages and also sells books to tourists to hand out. They found a Big Brother Mouse stall at the Luang Prabang night market and bought a stack of these books. Some were funny short stories, while others were about animals and places around the world. They were all written in both Laos and English. Younger children can read them in Laos, while older children can practice their English as well. As they were traveling in some of the smaller villages, when they came across a child, they would try to offer them a book. The children were often wary at first, but once they realized the girls weren’t crazy foreigners and just wanted to hand them a book, they were thrilled. After staring at her book for a few moments, one little girl suddenly yelled, “Thank you!” in English. and started jumping up and down while hugging her book, then takes off running toward her father, flapping the book in her hand, and yelling. They gave away half in Phonsavan and the other half in Vientiane.

Big Brother Mouse stall at the Luang Prabang night market



A young boy shows off his new book



Reading their new books



The next set of photos were portrayed to me to be Buddhas, meditation and shopping. They left Laos and were back in Thailand. One of Lauren’s favorite cities has been Chiang Mai.

One of the things they did while there was go to a 2 day meditation retreat. They were able to arrange it through a local university. Once there they had several strict rules to follow. First was the dress code, which allowed only loose non-see-through white clothing. Not having anything suitable they were able to purchase a set. Her comment about this was:

Once putting the lovely all white outfit on, I officially looked like a giant marshmallow. But I was not the only one. All together we resembled a bag of marshmallows or the patients at a looney bin, whichever you prefer.

See for yourself.

The marshmallows




The next rule was silence. For the next 24 hours there was to be absolutely no talking or communicating unless addressing the monk with a question about meditation. Other rules included chanting before meals, no reading (this interferes with the focus on yourself and brings in outside thoughts), same sex roommates even if you are married, and attending the sessions when the gong sounded. They had 2 days with the monks learning the ways of Buddhism and the methods and purpose of meditation. She came away with a great appreciation for the meditation and not so much so for the spiritual/religious side of Buddhism. Not that it is bad...Buddhism has many positive perspectives...but as a religion it just isn't for her.


After that they stayed in the Old Walled City section of Chiang Mai which is surrounded by a moat as well as an ancient wall. Chiang Mai is a big destination and there were many tours they could take including a trip to an elephant sanctuary, a snake farm and a play date with tigers. After long consideration she decided not to go see the elephants...even though she really wanted to...because she couldn't bear having to hear the heartbreaking stories of how they were mistreated and about the ones they couldn’t save. The other two were not even an option in her mind. Instead they spent time walking through the city and visiting many of the beautiful wats...and of course…more Buddhas.

This is the holiest wat in Thailand, Wat Suan Dok. It was on high on a mountain (seems the Buddhist like to put their wats/temples on high ground) with beautiful views of the entire city.

Wat Suan Dok



Another thing they had a lot of in Chiang Mai…was jade. The city is near some of the largest jade mines in the world. Of course there was a large jade Buddha in one of the wats.



They visited a jade factory and watched a craftsman make…what else…a jade Buddha.



The prices for jades items, even in Thailand, were quite high. However, they managed to find a couple of jade pendants they could afford. Not only could they shop for jade, there was a huge “night market” where they could shop till their hearts content and the stuff was CHEAP. Since this was a night market...and as you may recall...it is the rainy season (mainly at night) so they were forced to wait out the rain during a big storm...so they could shop some more.



Needless to say, they were real troopers and stuck it out and ended up buying a few (or maybe more) items. Instead of lugging them around in their backpacks for another couple of months they shipped them back to the US via surface mail. It should arrive in the states in 2-4 months…probably well after she returns.

Also they found a little touch of home while there. She writes:

Thanks to Laura and her tweeting skills, we were able to meet up with several expats that live there. First I met a family of three, Jack, Aye, and Emma who is eight. Emma and I got along great since she loves to draw and play Uno. Then there is Bessie and Kyle who have been traveling for the last two years since they were married. They love board games and even introduced me to a new one - Settlers of Catan. We had a game night and it was so much fun. And last we met Daniel, an amazing photographer and Lindsey, who has the best southern accent and reminded me so much of home. They are all such amazing people. I can definitely see why they have chosen Chiang Mai as their home for now. In fact it’s the only city so far that I could see myself staying in for awhile. But alas I must move on. I really do love it here and probably will be coming back someday.

Like I said...it was one of her favorite cities.



From here, she and her friend will split up for a while and she will head to the southern coastal areas and islands for some “chillin' and recharging” time while her friend heads to the Thailand/Burma border for a visit. They will hook up again before heading to Malaysia and Bali.

More later.

TECHNOKID

Younger children can read them in Laos, while older children can practice their English as well.

This idea of books is great as the ability to read provides knowledge and knowledge provides power. This is the best gift one can provide a nation.

One of the things they did while there was go to a 2 day meditation retreat.

The meditation retreat is cool and appropriate for this type of country. When travelling, I prefer to immerse in local traditions versus the typical tourist approach as it gets you to understand local and put your self a little into the mind of the people you are visiting. What an experience she is going through and what found memories she will carry in her mind for the rest of her life :cool:

You originally mentioned that there was no opening in her line of work at this point but this young lady makes the best of it by going through some such postive actions and experiences in her life. You have all the reasons in the world to be proud of your young lady!

shack

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about my daughter’s travels. Since then, she and her friend had some time left in Thailand. They had visited quite a few Temples/Wats that were still active. Lauren said the she was just about “templed out” because once you’ve seen 20+ Buddhist temples…you’ve pretty much seen them all. They are beautiful and impressive…but there are lots of them…and after a while they start looking the same. Anyway, they traveled to Sukhothai, the oldest and first capital of Thailand where there were extensive, well maintained ruins. Rented bicycles were their mode of transportation for the day. They had the site completely to themselves. According to her, the grounds resembled Palm Springs mixed with Southern Georgia and large ponds were scattered throughout. Lauren really enjoyed the visit and was impressed with the condition of the ruins given their age…they are over 1,500 years old. Here are her images from that visit:



















After this, the girls split up to travel solo for a while, with her friend heading to the Thailand/Burmese border to work with an organization there for ten days or so and Lauren headed to Southern Thailand to spend some time relaxing on the coastal beaches and islands. After a long overnight train ride (with a sleeper berth) and a short bus ride she arrived in the coastal town of Ao Nang. For $10 a night she was steps away from the beach, had air conditioning, hot water, a fridge, and tv with movie channels. The price was right because it was the off season. For 4 days she had a beautiful mile long beach to herself. Sleeping in a hammock on the beach, reading, snorkeling and just enjoying a beautiful place. Here are those photos:









After that she caught the morning ferry from Ao Nang and arrived on Ko Phi Phi island about two hours later. On first impression she thought it was pretty but not what she had expected at all. It was complete “touristville”. Everything was VERY EXPENSIVE and out of her price range. The only thing she could find was a dungeon-like room with no view in the back alleys of “touristville”. She contemplated catching the ferry back to the mainland and calling it a day. On a whim she gathered up all her stuff and headed for the far end of the beach just on instinct. By a stroke of good luck, she found a place called Sunflower. It was a guest house posing as a giant ship wreck right on the beach. It was quiet and had a hippie like vibe. She had to go past quite a bit of construction on the way which is probably why the place was so devoid of people and noise. No one went down that far. There were rooms available in her price range with a hammock and a beach front view. It also came with free wi-fi, which was a rarity on the island, even in the high end hotels. She ended up spending 4 days on one of the most notoriously beautiful islands in the world. Some of you may know it from the movie The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio, which was filmed there. She claims the pictures do not begin to do it justice. The place is beautiful not only because of the pristine beaches and clear water, but for the cliffs that rise straight out of the water. Most of the archipelago is uninhabitable because of the vertical terrain. But the view from the cliffs is exceptional if one can get there. She spent days lounging in a hammock, lying under an umbrella on the white sand, an occasional hike up the mountains and an afternoon scuba diving. Here are those photos:












After Ko Phi Phi she took the ferry to Thailand’s largest island, Phuket. As you may recall, Phuket was the site where famous video of the tsunami during Christmas of 2004 (12-26-04) was taken that killed tens of thousands of people in SE Asia, including 5,300 on Phuket itself. Her visit there was not very pleasant. She was having a great deal of difficulty wearing her contact lenses. After a very short time she simply could not wear them. She has bad eyes and needs either contacts or glasses to see. THEN…her only pair of glasses broke while we were on a skype video call when she was showing me how poor shape her glasses were in. It was evident they were unrepairable so she would have to wear the contacts which were very painful. After prodding from me she ended up finding an eye doctor. She had two ulcers on her eye which was causing the pain…but she was able to get a new pair of glasses that hopefully will last the remainder of the trip. By then her time on Phuket was over…so unfortunately…after visiting one of the most beautiful tropical islands in Thailand, the only places she saw were the eye exam room and the glasses showroom and all she has to show is a beautiful new pair of glasses.



After this is was off to meet up again with her friend to go to another island for some diving before heading to Bali.

TECHNOKID

That is what I like about these old countries, what we called old here in America is few hundred years old compare to thousand in those old countries. Beautifull sceneries of ancient days.

Nice having a whole beach for her self, gives her the opportunity to recharge before they move again. Definitely beautfull beaches in this area, really "heaven like" cool!