Grinder backpacking Asia round 2
English After Work is an international organization that facilitates conversational English. It seems many Asian countries are desirous of simply hearing native speakers of the English language and its not just tourist rip offs of come and have expensive tea with me.
When we got to the dock a little boat took us to the bigger cruise ship. They served us lunch on the boat and they didn’t skimp at all. They started us with a gross potato soup and I was worried that the food would be terrible for the next two days. It wasn’t! Shrimp, bok choy, potatoes, chicken, rice, squid, eggs with veggies and finally pineapple. We couldn’t believe how much food they served us and it was all really good.
View from the cruise ship.
After lunch we took the small boat from the cruise ship to Cave Island which I’m sure you all can figure out how it got it’s name. The caves were absolutely amazing! We climbed stairs for a good 15 minutes before we reached the top and entered the caves. The caves were so beautiful and I just kept thinking that they looked too amazing to be natural but they of course are. We spent about 30 minutes in the caves before climbing back down and heading to the boat.
This is the cave entry from the ground.
Caves
Our next stop was Ti Top Island that had a mountain to climb or we could just stay on the beach. Most of us just stayed on the beach and a few people went swimming. I smartly decided not to as Maegan said the water was absolutely freezing. After Meg dried off we got back on the boat and headed for the cruise. We had a slight hiccup when our little boat's engine died and we had to be towed in by another boat. It was an amusing experience that I will probably never come across again.
Sunset after Ti Top Island.
Dinner that night started with more gross soup, this time of the squash variety. Again they then brought out an insane amount of very tasty food including chicken, squid and veggies, spring rolls, rice and passion fruit. Vietnam got me addicted to dragon fruit, it is so sweet and tasty.
After dinner a couple of people tried squid fishing but despite one person managing to hook one (and dropping it) nobody was able to catch anything.
We were woken up by the boat moving around 6 am the next morning. I got dressed and went outside to look at all the islands as we passed them. The scenery was perfect! They served us terrible chicken soup and toast for breakfast and then we got off the boat at the pearl farm. At the pearl farm they gave us a tour of how they grow the pearls, how they clean the oysters and make sure that they produce the best possible pearls. After the tour we looked around the shop where you could buy the pearls for way too much money. I was able to drag Maegan out of there before she spent her next year’s salary.
We went kayaking at the pearl farm which was interesting but Meg and I couldn’t get on the same page. She stopped paddling and just let me paddle the kayak which worked alt better. We found this massive jellyfish in the area with oysters and Meg managed to get some cool photos.
We went back to the boat, had lunch and then relaxed on the top deck as we cruised back to the dock. Meg went back with the group to Hanoi while I decided to go to Haiphong for a night.
You can’t tease a photo of a giant jellyfish without posting the pic!
My sister has the pictures of the jellyfish lol, I can get her to send me one.
There is also a casino in Ha Long too so I went there first. I took a taxi there that ran me 153,000 dong (7 USD). I played $20 minimum baccarat as the one BJ table was full with all the non locals. All the $1 chips were 1 of the 12 zodiac signs using cute baby animals on them. I was up $13 after I finished playing so I decided to keep the whole set which I never do. I was able to get all of them except the pig from the table or the cashier. They were amused by my request and helped me find the pig after searching through 5 or 6 tables.
After the casino I hailed a taxi who took me to the bus station so I could get to Haiphong. The taxi was 50k and as I arrived a bus showed up going to Haiphong. I hopped on, paid my 60k and fired up the Netflix. When I arrived there were many taxis waiting for us all offering rides for very high rates. They wanted 500k, I told them no chance. Eventually I walked away and one guy ran after and took me up on my offer of 250k.
When I got to the hotel I found out that we had booked a extremely high end hotel. I was given juice at check in and about 15 minutes later a beautiful fruit plate was delivered to my room. We paid $48 USD for a 4 star hotel, too bad that’s not available in North America.
I walked the 15 minutes to the Do Son Casino to collect a chip. I played $10 BJ and won $62. I kept a $1 chip and a $5 because it was an undersized jeton that looked really neat. The pit boss gave me a comped meal ticket as I was leaving so I grabbed dinner in the completely empty restaurant and then headed back to my hotel. To be honest the whole resort was empty for some reason, it was like a graveyard.
The area where Tecco Do Son (my hotel) and the Hon Dau hotel were was in a gated area with guards. The rest of the buildings were shells, it felt like a ghost town. There was nothing in the area except the casino down the street. The building next door had giant dinosaur statues and what looked like religious statues, I was so confused. I found out in morning that they are building the hotels. It was still weird because the buildings looked like old frames of buildings though. The dinosaurs are for kids they said.
My hotel
In the morning I had the free buffet which had rice, noodles, mini hot dogs, soup and passion fruit. I then took a taxi to the bus area although the taxi driver didn’t seem to want to take me there. I argued with him and we communicated back and forth on the translator (while he drove). Eventually we passed a sign that said bus station and I made him stop. I’m pretty sure he was hoping I’d give in and pay him a couple million dong to drive me to Hanoi.
At the bus station a nice man was able to communicate to me that the bus would be there in a hour so I walked around the area for 45 minutes until the bus arrived. The bus ride took 3 hours and cost 80k. Near the end of the ride a really nice passenger saw that I was on google maps trying to figure out where to get off so he helped me. He communicated to the driver where to drop me and then he told me to call an Uber from the drop point. I thanked him a lot because I had no idea where to get off.
Once I got back to the hostel I had a terrible crepe across the street and found Megs. That night we walked around the giant lake for hours enjoying the massive crowds. On weekends they shut down the streets to traffic and about 100,000 people come to play games, do arts and crafts and dance. It’s an amazing scene for sure.
Seems as if the casino was in an urban renewal zone of some sort. Anyway, what is that white fruit with the black seeds. I recognize the other stuff as apple slices and some watermelon slices. It looks quite refreshing in a hot country.Quote: PokerGrinderWhen I got to the hotel I found out that we had booked a extremely high end hotel. I was given juice at check in and about 15 minutes later a beautiful fruit plate was delivered to my room. We paid $48 USD for a 4 star hotel, too bad that’s not available in North America.
Meg and I had tickets to see Lang Toi which was a show with acrobats like Cirque. I took a nap in the afternoon and then we walked to the theatre. The show was amazing! All the music and singing was done live and the acrobats used bamboo poles varying in length to perform their stunts. I was very happy with the whole production.
Picture with the cast.
After the show we went to this fancy dim sum restaurant that we had seen as we headed to Ha Long Bay a couple days earlier on the bus. We walked there (had trouble finding it) and proceeded to have some of the best dim sum that I have ever tasted. Personally I think that is saying a lot as I had dim sum at a Michelin star restaurant in Hong Kong last year. We ate way too much and it was only 27 USD for the two of us.
After dinner we walked around the lake again for a while. It is so peaceful in that area at night with the lake and the scenery. We went for gelato (I had dark chocolate) and then headed back to the hostel for the night.
Maegan was on some tour the next day so I had the whole day to myself. I went back to the place where I got the rice rolls (pork, mushrooms and shrimp in them) earlier in the week for lunch.
There is a casino about a 65-70 drive away from Hanoi that I wanted to visit. It was going to be about $25 each way by taxi so I decided to rent a motorbike for $8 and drive there myself. I had to get gas before leaving Hanoi as they give you the bike almost empty. This became a problem as I couldn’t find any gas stations. I stopped and asked multiple people and used google maps but neither seemed to work well. After almost 30 minutes I managed to find a gas station. The funny part was I found another gas station as I headed back towards the highway after gassing up. I drove to Bac Ninh where the casino is without any issues. The speed limit for bikes was 90 km/h but my speedometer didn’t work so I don’t know exactly how fast I was going. I figure I was doing more than 90 as I was passing about half the cars. This motorbike was a much better machine than I had rented the two previous times.
I got to the casino gate where the guard didn’t want to let me in, I kept saying casino and he said no. Eventually he said hotel check in and I said sure why not. He let me in and I parked my bike in front of his little security hut. I figured I would just leave it there while I fake checked in and went to the casino. About halfway to Bac Ninh I realized that I had forgotten my passport at the hostel but I decided to try and get in without it as I really didn’t feel like turning around. I was able to bluff my way into the casino using my driver’s licence even though they were asking for my passport. I played dumb and since the ID check is 99% to make sure that locals don’t gamble I didn’t have too much trouble getting in as I am clearly not local.
The staff as usual were amused by the white guy in their casino. I got looks and some players trying to help me as if I looked lost or something. I bought some chips and headed for the $20 BJ table where I won $40. They didn’t have $1 chips so I went to roulette and lost $16 for a grand total win of $23 (kept a $1 chip), woot! The BJ was dealt oddly in that they dealt the game face down but after I looked at my cards they would turn them over on the felt and the game was played normally as if it wasn’t a hand held game. Seemed like a giant waste of time to me. Part of the casino was a shopping area where they sold extremely high end watches, purses and jewelry, way out of my price range.
I headed back to the gate to get my bike and the guard seemed thoroughly confused as I said thank you and good bye. He had no idea why I was leaving as he thought that I was staying at the hotel. The drive back was mostly uneventful despite some light rain. At the high speeds the wind was so strong as it hit me. Also the highways were quite sandy and I had broken my sunglasses earlier in Vietnam so I didn’t have any. 3 different times I got pegged with a rock from a car’s tire, each time it stung quite a bit as it was coming at me very fast!
I got back to the hostel, returned the bike and went for a nap. I napped a lot in Asia as it was nice to go do things early in the morning, nap when it was hottest out and then go back out as it was cooling off. We went for dim sum again although we ordered less this time. Later I tried Japanese Banh Bach Tuoc Nuong balls. They are made with pancake batter, onions and octopus. Meg really liked them when she was in Japan, sadly these ones were terrible and most of it ended up in the garbage. We went for a walk, stopped at the mocha bun shop and called it a night.
Cooked using just chopsticks!
Finished product.
The employee wearing a hat of the food wanted to take a picture.
We took it easy our last day in Hanoi before we headed to Laos the next day. We had Mexican food next door to the hostel for lunch. The nachos were solid, they were made with fried wontons instead of chips.
I had a burrito that didn’t have rice and they don’t use any real cheese just cheese sauce. We bought some local snacks and went and sat by the lake. I got some really good chocolate popcorn and some not so good spicy crunchy things. That night I bought some more mocha buns (don’t judge me) and watched a mediocre movie on Netflix (Game Over Man).
The next morning we woke up early as we had a afternoon flight to Luang Prabang. We ate the free breakfast at the hostel for the first time in 4 days as we were running low on Dong. We checked out of the hostel and walked around the lake one last time spending the last of our Dong before taking a taxi to the airport. I spent my Dong on a couple souvenirs and nachos next to the hostel.
Overall Vietnam was amazing! The country as a whole is much more relaxed and chill than a country like Thailand. From the South to the North the food, the culture, the weather and the buildings change so much. At the same time though it all still felt like Vietnam to me. There is a saying in South East Asia “Same Same but Different’, I think this truly applies to Vietnam.
The lake that I mentioned so many times.
Quote: GWAEIt drives me crazy how money is in the hundreds thousands. S I guess a millionaire would have 900 trillion
Eventually coming to a theater near you.
Best TR ever.
Echoing FS, what is the white fruit with the black seeds? What did it taste like? I'm thinking sweet and peppery, like Kiwi.
Quote: beachbumbabsPG, I am completely impressed by the detailed notes you must have kept, to write this months later.
Best TR ever.
Echoing FS, what is the white fruit with the black seeds? What did it taste like? I'm thinking sweet and peppery, like Kiwi.
I started keeping a note in my iPhone notes for each day once I started falling behind on my TR. This way when I do the updates 3 months later I can piece it together lol.
That is dragon fruit, it is very sweet with a touch of sour. Sadly we have terrible dragon fruit in North America. Kiwi is peppery? I’ve never had it as I’m allergic to it.
Quote: GWAEIt drives me crazy how money is in the hundreds thousands. S I guess a millionaire would have 900 trillion
$1,000,000 USD = 230,440,000,000 Dong
Not quite trillions but 100’s of billions.
Quote: PokerGrinderI started keeping a note in my iPhone notes for each day once I started falling behind on my TR. This way when I do the updates 3 months later I can piece it together lol.
That is dragon fruit, it is very sweet with a touch of sour. Sadly we have terrible dragon fruit in North America. Kiwi is peppery? I’ve never had it as I’m allergic to it.
Maybe kiwi tastes different to different people. How do you know you're allergic if you've never tasted it? Did you do one of those awful scratch tests?
A ripe kiwi has a unique flavor in the main, more like a crisp watermelon crossed with a perfect crunch American cucumber, but slightly different from both, just a touch of creaminess neither has. There's no sour. However, there's a tingly, peppery flavor only in the seeds. If you avoid them, the green flesh is smoothly sweet. The seeds add a pop. You should never eat the rind.
I think Vitaminwater brand sports drinks has a dragonfruit flavor. Did you try durian during your trip?
What’s the smallest denomination of Dong? Are there fractional prices? e.g. 222.22? Or even 1,003?
Quote: AyecarumbaThanks for the great trip report PG! I really enjoy the great photos too.
I think Vitaminwater brand sports drinks has a dragonfruit flavor. Did you try durian during your trip?
What’s the smallest denomination of Dong? Are there fractional prices? e.g. 222.22? Or even 1,003?
I tried durian last year in Malaysia and it was as bad as it smells lol.
As far as the Dong there are no coins and the smallest bill is technically 500 but I saw those only a handful of times over 3.5 weeks in Vietnam. 1000 is the smallest really used.
Quote: beachbumbabsMaybe kiwi tastes different to different people. How do you know you're allergic if you've never tasted it? Did you do one of those awful scratch tests?
A ripe kiwi has a unique flavor in the main, more like a crisp watermelon crossed with a perfect crunch American cucumber, but slightly different from both, just a touch of creaminess neither has. There's no sour. However, there's a tingly, peppery flavor only in the seeds. If you avoid them, the green flesh is smoothly sweet. The seeds add a pop. You should never eat the rind.
Hi. That doesn't read like the fruit available here in SEA and as pictured. Nothing crunchy or sweet about it and the seeds don't have a flavor and nothing is green. I'll get the local name and post it but it might be mentioned the fruit is considered very healthy and thought of at least to contain something you don't find in many other foods. To be continued...I'll get the proper name.
Quote: NokTangHi. That doesn't read like the fruit available here in SEA and as pictured. Nothing crunchy or sweet about it and the seeds don't have a flavor and nothing is green. I'll get the local name and post it but it might be mentioned the fruit is considered very healthy and thought of at least to contain something you don't find in many other foods. To be continued...I'll get the proper name.
Ok. I'll be interested to hear what you're thinking of.
I was trying to get the flavor, not so much the texture. In texture, they're soft, like a ripe cantaloupe. The flesh doesn't crunch at all.
But to me, they TASTE like a sweet (crunchy) firm cucumber crossed with the red part of the watermelon nearest to the white rind. It's a fresh taste.
They're emerald green in the flesh, with stars of golden yellow/white out from the center, and little black seeds, about the size of a lime. The skin/rind is kind of khaki green.
All the kiwi fruit I have ever seen had green flesh. Is Nok Tang thinking you were describing dragonfruit? If not, I am very curious to see a kiwi fruit of a different colour.
Kiwi fruit is the Chinese Gooseberry and does seem to have some hypersensitivity reactions associated with ingesting or even handling it, though it is considered a quite rare reaction and is often provided to infants.Quote: PokerGrinderI assume Noktang is thinking of dragon fruit. Miscommunication I think.
Beware Passion Fruit. In Texas, the name refers to a fruit from a type of cactus. Doubt that in Vietnam, known for its monsoon seasonal drenchings, it would be the same cactus as in parched desert scrubland. Probably utterly different foods.
While many people might object to the 'mohair-like rind' it is indeed edible and adds to the nutritional benefit of a Chinese Gooseberry. High in vitamin C, magnesium and folate. Eating the rind will triple the amount of fiber intake and enhance the blood sugar stabilization value of the kiwi fruit. Those with trouble sleeping often take kiwi fruit with the rind as a sleep aid.Quote: beachbumbabsA ripe kiwi has a unique flavor . . . You should never eat the rind.
Quote: FleaStiffWhile many people might object to the 'mohair-like rind' it is indeed edible and adds to the nutritional benefit of a Chinese Gooseberry. High in vitamin C, magnesium and folate. Eating the rind will triple the amount of fiber intake and enhance the blood sugar stabilization value of the kiwi fruit. Those with trouble sleeping often take kiwi fruit with the rind as a sleep aid.
Ok, thanks.
Take it how? It's like eating mohair leather.
LOL. Then I would suggest that you simply avoid ingesting it. Although its probably as good an excuse as any to have a large mojito both before and afterwards.Quote: beachbumbabsTake it how? It's like eating mohair leather.
Quote: FleaStiffAnyway, what is that white fruit with the black seeds. I recognize the other stuff as apple slices and some watermelon slices. It looks quite refreshing in a hot country.
I was answering this inquiry. The white fruit is known as "Dragon" as confirmed with Thai people a few short hours ago. I tasted a slice, as usual find it bland and sort of creamy, the seeds have no flavor I sensed. The health effects remain just "good for you". Sorry for any confusion with BBB and the green looking Kiwi fruit.
I’m afraid of trying new fruits, especially Asian ones. I once tried rambutan and had an anaphylactic reaction. Now that I’ve been exposed to it, the next reaction could be worse.
We slept in the next morning before heading out in search of lunch. We realized very quickly that not much goes on during the day and that everyone comes out when the night market opens at night. We stopped at a restaurant and had mediocre food. I ordered noodles with squid and veggies, the noodles were over cooked and the sauce was average.
Our bill came to 57,000 and we gave them a 100,000 bill as we only had big bills. The waiter asked for smaller and said that he couldn’t break the bill. I insisted he did and so he went somewhere down the street and broke it. We sat there wondering if bigger bills were going to be a problem in Laos, turns out we never had another issue and it was just this place. Very weird! The night market wasn’t open but there were ladies selling random things on the side of the main road that gets shut down for the market. I bought a cute apron for my Aunty Jo and I haggled pretty hard eventually getting the price that I want. It made Maegan so uncomfortable with how hard I haggle and I basically said to her that nobody is making these people take my pricem they have free will. I know that they live in poor country but they are trying to screw tourists with insane prices all the time so why shouldn’t I haggle as much as possible. Needless to say I did all of Meg’s haggling for her. Meg went into some temple that I had no interest in paying to see as I was beyond templed out after 3 months of them. I walked down the street and bought a spicy sausage on a stick that was so good that as I walked back I bought another one. I headed back to the room as the heat was overwhelming. I came to learn that in Laos it is best to be inside during the hot days and go out at night.
Later in the day we headed towards the night market. Meg climbed an insane amount of stairs to see a temple and I well, I didn’t lol. I went to find yummy street food and find yummy street food I did! I started with a coconut waffle (5,000), and then I went to this stand that had a bunch of different noodle dishes. I bought one (10,000) and they warmed it up in the wok for me.
I paid with a 50,000 bill to which he handed me 31,000, I counted it, he acted surprised and then gave me 1,000 more to which I again said no. He finally gave in and went to get the correct change. Like I said they will screw you if they can so I have no issues with aggressive haggling. I walked toward the Mekong River for no reason other than to go for a walk.
As I was heading back towards the market a hippie said hello to me in Japanese and I said hello which got me an invite for a drink, I accepted. I had a beer with him and his friend, they were nice but quite opinionated about politics. The one that said hello was Americana and the other was a Brit. They both were teachers in China. After a beer I paid and made an excuse to leave as I had grown bored of their political arguments. I found the main food area of the market down a back alley and settled on a chicken breast, grilled and tied between two sticks. It was so simple but the spices on it were excellent and I would have it a couple more times over the next few days.
I finally found Maegan who had also found the food area and bought dry beef. She couldn’t finish it so I did and it was very good.
It was almost jerky but with a little more moisture. We got desert (chocolate peanut cake, too dry but tasty), then I got dry pork jerky and Meg got a giant bag of fruit that we picked at. I was sooooo full but I kept seeing things that I wanted to eat and I have zero self control. We walked back through the market and headed to the hotel. We stopped at one temple so Meg could take some pictures before calling it a night.
This is the night market, as you can see it is right in the middle of the road.
We slept in and went in search of a better lunch than the day before, sadly it wasn’t much better. I had curry rice and mixed veggies which were ok but not great. I learned that the restaurant food in Luang Prabang isn’t great but the night market is so eat more there I guess. I went back to the hotel and took a 3 hour nap after lunch as my body was absolutely exhausted at that point in the trip from all the travel. 3 months was my breaking point, I ran out of steam the second last day in Hanoi. Oh well I know for the future.
After napping we headed to food part of the market as we planned to get this grilled fish we had both seen the day before. It was a whole fish and we got one to share for only 40,000. The fish was absolutely amazing and I’m not really sure why I didn’t get it again before leaving Luong Prabang. There wasn’t enough fish so we went in search of more food.
Terrible picture
I got the chicken breast again and then this buffalo sausage that was disgusting. It had innards in it and just didn’t taste good at all so I fed it to a stray dog. We met a guy from Oregon while I didn’t eat the sausage, we talked for awhile before heading on our way. I got some beef jerky and then Meg and I proceeded to have our first big fight of the trip. I didn’t feel like fighting with her so I told her to eff off and I walked away. Later I found out that she didn’t hear me tell her off and was just confused where I was as she didn’t see me walk off lol. I tried a different chocolate cake that again was too dry, American pastry in Asia is just not a great thing. I walked back towards the hotel past the market and called Baba (grandmother) and we talked for about a hour. She was always so thrilled to hear from us and that we were having such a great time.
We booked a bus to take us to the Kuang Si waterfalls the next morning with 2 other people. We left around 8:30 am and the ride was just under a hour. We got there, paid our fees and started in. The first thing you see is a small bear sanctuary with mostly black bears which are pretty damn cute. We then started our hike towards the falls in a light rain. We got to the first body of water where people were swimming with water flowing down the rocks. I went swimming (we were wearing swim suits) in the freezing cold water because how often can you swim in a waterfall? It was very refreshing but freezing cold. I dried off, got dressed and we continued the hike.
We stopped a few different times to take pictures of the absolutely beautiful falls. We started the real hike which was up the mountain. The hike started to get difficult as the rain started coming down pretty hard and the ground is basically mud and twigs. We got all the way to the top and then after taking a lot of pictures we started our descent. The descent was much harder than the climb since everything was mucky and slippery.
There were no stairs just random rocks and mud. Luckily there was a railing because Meg was having enough trouble since she is less than five feet tall. We were very careful and managed to make it through the 45 descent without falling on our faces. The waterfalls and the hike were one of the highlights of the whole trip for me! We grabbed lunch (yummy noodles) just outside the main gate while we waited for the van to take us back. I showered and then fell asleep from pure exhaustion.
We took it easy that night, did a little souvenir shopping and got some food. I got noodles from the guy who tried to scam me (they’re good, don’t judge me), a chicken breast, pork jerky and chocolate cake. Yes I am definitely a creature of habit!
The next morning we woke up early to fly to Vientiane. I went for breakfast in town and found a standard western breakfast. I ate half of it but it made my stomach upset so I gave up on it. We grabbed a cab to the airport (for a proper price) and flew to Vientiane. Adios until next time!
Did the folks selling the jerky actually say it was “beef”? I didn’t think there were a lot of cattle in SEA.
I'm struck by the automatic counting of your change that you did and the double attempt at rectifying it. Life there must be a constant haggle but I also understand your reasoning. Its like the Fulton Fish Market in NYC wherein a guy was offered a price he knew was good but if he accepted it without haggling he would be marked as a fool, so he haggled as a sort of self defense. Its simply a life style choice no different than choosing to live in the cool of the night rather than the heat of the day. Its simply the thing to do. When in Rome, seduce a visiting American school teacher. When in Laos, live in the nighttime and haggle over every 'penny'. Were you at this time using any phrase books or merely gestures and the like. I'd have difficulty haggling in English but you had to haggle in a foreign language.
As to "beef cattle in South East Asia" perhaps its time for that Missionaries Rule: If you don't know, don't ask. If you do know, don't tell and whatever you do: don't go into the kitchen. By the way every time I see 'SEA" I think of SeaTac airport and it gets me confused all over again.
I'm struck by the automatic counting of your change that you did and the double attempt at rectifying it. Life there must be a constant haggle but I also understand your reasoning. Its like the Fulton Fish Market in NYC wherein a guy was offered a price he knew was good but if he accepted it without haggling he would be marked as a fool, so he haggled as a sort of self defense. Its simply a life style choice no different than choosing to live in the cool of the night rather than the heat of the day. Its simply the thing to do. When in Rome, seduce a visiting American school teacher. When in Laos, live in the nighttime and haggle over every 'penny'. Were you at this time using any phrase books or merely gestures and the like. I'd have difficulty haggling in English but you had to haggle in a foreign language.
As to "beef cattle in South East Asia" perhaps its time for that Missionaries Rule: If you don't know, don't ask. If you do know, don't tell and whatever you do: don't go into the kitchen. By the way every time I see 'SEA" I think of SeaTac airport and it gets me confused all over again.
Do you use any sort of guide book or do you look 'online' and see what shows up? Perhaps your sister would be a great guide but I happen to share your aversion to visiting too many temples. After the first dozen or so, what's more to see about a temple? I wonder if night market stalls make the tour guide books ever?
Fleastiff everywhere I go I count my change because I am a paranoid person. Also it is a common scam along with pickpocketing.
I mostly use google to figure out what to do in each city. There is no point in carrying a guide book anymore as google is infinitely better.
Danm it, wheres a good old congregation of alligators when you need them most.Quote: PokerGrinderOn to Laos! We flew from Hanoi to Luang prabang because the alternative was to take a 32 hour bus ride and well, pardon my French, but F!#/ NO! When we arrived in Laos we paid the airport price for the taxi as it was later on in the night and they were the only transportation in the area sadly. The price wasn’t terrible (50,000 kip/6 USD) but more than it should have been for the 10 minute ride. When we got to the hotel (yes hotel, Laos doesn’t have a big hostel scene) we dropped our stuff and headed out for a walk on the town. We got to the main part of Luang Prabang just as the night market was closing up. I had gotten mildly addicted to dragon fruit at the end of Vietnam so I grabbed a whole one at the market. Sadly it was tasteless, luckily I would find much better over the next two weeks. We walked down the street and I bought a coconut waffle for 5,000 kip which was fantastic so when I saw coconut pancake balls 10 minutes later I bought those too! The balls were terrible and I ended up throwing them out, stick to the waffles people, stick to the waffles! We headed back to the hotel and called it a night.
We slept in the next morning before heading out in search of lunch. We realized very quickly that not much goes on during the day and that everyone comes out when the night market opens at night. We stopped at a restaurant and had mediocre food. I ordered noodles with squid and veggies, the noodles were over cooked and the sauce was average.
Our bill came to 57,000 and we gave them a 100,000 bill as we only had big bills. The waiter asked for smaller and said that he couldn’t break the bill. I insisted he did and so he went somewhere down the street and broke it. We sat there wondering if bigger bills were going to be a problem in Laos, turns out we never had another issue and it was just this place. Very weird! The night market wasn’t open but there were ladies selling random things on the side of the main road that gets shut down for the market. I bought a cute apron for my Aunty Jo and I haggled pretty hard eventually getting the price that I want. It made Maegan so uncomfortable with how hard I haggle and I basically said to her that nobody is making these people take my pricem they have free will. I know that they live in poor country but they are trying to screw tourists with insane prices all the time so why shouldn’t I haggle as much as possible. Needless to say I did all of Meg’s haggling for her. Meg went into some temple that I had no interest in paying to see as I was beyond templed out after 3 months of them. I walked down the street and bought a spicy sausage on a stick that was so good that as I walked back I bought another one. I headed back to the room as the heat was overwhelming. I came to learn that in Laos it is best to be inside during the hot days and go out at night.
Later in the day we headed towards the night market. Meg climbed an insane amount of stairs to see a temple and I well, I didn’t lol. I went to find yummy street food and find yummy street food I did! I started with a coconut waffle (5,000), and then I went to this stand that had a bunch of different noodle dishes. I bought one (10,000) and they warmed it up in the wok for me.
I paid with a 50,000 bill to which he handed me 31,000, I counted it, he acted surprised and then gave me 1,000 more to which I again said no. He finally gave in and went to get the correct change. Like I said they will screw you if they can so I have no issues with aggressive haggling. I walked toward the Mekong River for no reason other than to go for a walk.
As I was heading back towards the market a hippie said hello to me in Japanese and I said hello which got me an invite for a drink, I accepted. I had a beer with him and his friend, they were nice but quite opinionated about politics. The one that said hello was Americana and the other was a Brit. They both were teachers in China. After a beer I paid and made an excuse to leave as I had grown bored of their political arguments. I found the main food area of the market down a back alley and settled on a chicken breast, grilled and tied between two sticks. It was so simple but the spices on it were excellent and I would have it a couple more times over the next few days.
I finally found Maegan who had also found the food area and bought dry beef. She couldn’t finish it so I did and it was very good.
It was almost jerky but with a little more moisture. We got desert (chocolate peanut cake, too dry but tasty), then I got dry pork jerky and Meg got a giant bag of fruit that we picked at. I was sooooo full but I kept seeing things that I wanted to eat and I have zero self control. We walked back through the market and headed to the hotel. We stopped at one temple so Meg could take some pictures before calling it a night.
This is the night market, as you can see it is right in the middle of the road.
We slept in and went in search of a better lunch than the day before, sadly it wasn’t much better. I had curry rice and mixed veggies which were ok but not great. I learned that the restaurant food in Luang Prabang isn’t great but the night market is so eat more there I guess. I went back to the hotel and took a 3 hour nap after lunch as my body was absolutely exhausted at that point in the trip from all the travel. 3 months was my breaking point, I ran out of steam the second last day in Hanoi. Oh well I know for the future.
After napping we headed to food part of the market as we planned to get this grilled fish we had both seen the day before. It was a whole fish and we got one to share for only 40,000. The fish was absolutely amazing and I’m not really sure why I didn’t get it again before leaving Luong Prabang. There wasn’t enough fish so we went in search of more food.
Terrible picture
I got the chicken breast again and then this buffalo sausage that was disgusting. It had innards in it and just didn’t taste good at all so I fed it to a stray dog. We met a guy from Oregon while I didn’t eat the sausage, we talked for awhile before heading on our way. I got some beef jerky and then Meg and I proceeded to have our first big fight of the trip. I didn’t feel like fighting with her so I told her to eff off and I walked away. Later I found out that she didn’t hear me tell her off and was just confused where I was as she didn’t see me walk off lol. I tried a different chocolate cake that again was too dry, American pastry in Asia is just not a great thing. I walked back towards the hotel past the market and called Baba (grandmother) and we talked for about a hour. She was always so thrilled to hear from us and that we were having such a great time.
We booked a bus to take us to the Kuang Si waterfalls the next morning with 2 other people. We left around 8:30 am and the ride was just under a hour. We got there, paid our fees and started in. The first thing you see is a small bear sanctuary with mostly black bears which are pretty damn cute. We then started our hike towards the falls in a light rain. We got to the first body of water where people were swimming with water flowing down the rocks. I went swimming (we were wearing swim suits) in the freezing cold water because how often can you swim in a waterfall? It was very refreshing but freezing cold. I dried off, got dressed and we continued the hike.
We stopped a few different times to take pictures of the absolutely beautiful falls. We started the real hike which was up the mountain. The hike started to get difficult as the rain started coming down pretty hard and the ground is basically mud and twigs. We got all the way to the top and then after taking a lot of pictures we started our descent. The descent was much harder than the climb since everything was mucky and slippery.
There were no stairs just random rocks and mud. Luckily there was a railing because Meg was having enough trouble since she is less than five feet tall. We were very careful and managed to make it through the 45 descent without falling on our faces. The waterfalls and the hike were one of the highlights of the whole trip for me! We grabbed lunch (yummy noodles) just outside the main gate while we waited for the van to take us back. I showered and then fell asleep from pure exhaustion.
We took it easy that night, did a little souvenir shopping and got some food. I got noodles from the guy who tried to scam me (they’re good, don’t judge me), a chicken breast, pork jerky and chocolate cake. Yes I am definitely a creature of habit!
The next morning we woke up early to fly to Vientiane. I went for breakfast in town and found a standard western breakfast. I ate half of it but it made my stomach upset so I gave up on it. We grabbed a cab to the airport (for a proper price) and flew to Vientiane. Adios until next time!
Probably not necessary in Canada but it sure sounds like it is a necessary habit in all of South East Asia.Quote: PokerGrinderFleastiff, everywhere I go I count my change because I am a paranoid person. Also it is a common scam along with pickpocketing.
I got short changed a dollar last Saint Patrick's Day and I sure have not been back to that bar ever since. My memory is impaired with age. I still look at waitresses but can't remember why. However I'm not going to forget the place that gypped me out of a dollar.
Quote: AxelWolfDanm it, wheres a good old congregation of alligators when you need them most.Quote: PokerGrinderOn to Laos! We flew from Hanoi to Luang prabang because the alternative was to take a 32 hour bus ride and well, pardon my French, but F!#/ NO! When we arrived in Laos we paid the airport price for the taxi as it was later on in the night and they were the only transportation in the area sadly. The price wasn’t terrible (50,000 kip/6 USD) but more than it should have been for the 10 minute ride. When we got to the hotel (yes hotel, Laos doesn’t have a big hostel scene) we dropped our stuff and headed out for a walk on the town. We got to the main part of Luang Prabang just as the night market was closing up. I had gotten mildly addicted to dragon fruit at the end of Vietnam so I grabbed a whole one at the market. Sadly it was tasteless, luckily I would find much better over the next two weeks. We walked down the street and I bought a coconut waffle for 5,000 kip which was fantastic so when I saw coconut pancake balls 10 minutes later I bought those too! The balls were terrible and I ended up throwing them out, stick to the waffles people, stick to the waffles! We headed back to the hotel and called it a night.
We slept in the next morning before heading out in search of lunch. We realized very quickly that not much goes on during the day and that everyone comes out when the night market opens at night. We stopped at a restaurant and had mediocre food. I ordered noodles with squid and veggies, the noodles were over cooked and the sauce was average.
Our bill came to 57,000 and we gave them a 100,000 bill as we only had big bills. The waiter asked for smaller and said that he couldn’t break the bill. I insisted he did and so he went somewhere down the street and broke it. We sat there wondering if bigger bills were going to be a problem in Laos, turns out we never had another issue and it was just this place. Very weird! The night market wasn’t open but there were ladies selling random things on the side of the main road that gets shut down for the market. I bought a cute apron for my Aunty Jo and I haggled pretty hard eventually getting the price that I want. It made Maegan so uncomfortable with how hard I haggle and I basically said to her that nobody is making these people take my pricem they have free will. I know that they live in poor country but they are trying to screw tourists with insane prices all the time so why shouldn’t I haggle as much as possible. Needless to say I did all of Meg’s haggling for her. Meg went into some temple that I had no interest in paying to see as I was beyond templed out after 3 months of them. I walked down the street and bought a spicy sausage on a stick that was so good that as I walked back I bought another one. I headed back to the room as the heat was overwhelming. I came to learn that in Laos it is best to be inside during the hot days and go out at night.
Later in the day we headed towards the night market. Meg climbed an insane amount of stairs to see a temple and I well, I didn’t lol. I went to find yummy street food and find yummy street food I did! I started with a coconut waffle (5,000), and then I went to this stand that had a bunch of different noodle dishes. I bought one (10,000) and they warmed it up in the wok for me.
I paid with a 50,000 bill to which he handed me 31,000, I counted it, he acted surprised and then gave me 1,000 more to which I again said no. He finally gave in and went to get the correct change. Like I said they will screw you if they can so I have no issues with aggressive haggling. I walked toward the Mekong River for no reason other than to go for a walk.
As I was heading back towards the market a hippie said hello to me in Japanese and I said hello which got me an invite for a drink, I accepted. I had a beer with him and his friend, they were nice but quite opinionated about politics. The one that said hello was Americana and the other was a Brit. They both were teachers in China. After a beer I paid and made an excuse to leave as I had grown bored of their political arguments. I found the main food area of the market down a back alley and settled on a chicken breast, grilled and tied between two sticks. It was so simple but the spices on it were excellent and I would have it a couple more times over the next few days.
I finally found Maegan who had also found the food area and bought dry beef. She couldn’t finish it so I did and it was very good.
It was almost jerky but with a little more moisture. We got desert (chocolate peanut cake, too dry but tasty), then I got dry pork jerky and Meg got a giant bag of fruit that we picked at. I was sooooo full but I kept seeing things that I wanted to eat and I have zero self control. We walked back through the market and headed to the hotel. We stopped at one temple so Meg could take some pictures before calling it a night.
This is the night market, as you can see it is right in the middle of the road.
We slept in and went in search of a better lunch than the day before, sadly it wasn’t much better. I had curry rice and mixed veggies which were ok but not great. I learned that the restaurant food in Luang Prabang isn’t great but the night market is so eat more there I guess. I went back to the hotel and took a 3 hour nap after lunch as my body was absolutely exhausted at that point in the trip from all the travel. 3 months was my breaking point, I ran out of steam the second last day in Hanoi. Oh well I know for the future.
After napping we headed to food part of the market as we planned to get this grilled fish we had both seen the day before. It was a whole fish and we got one to share for only 40,000. The fish was absolutely amazing and I’m not really sure why I didn’t get it again before leaving Luong Prabang. There wasn’t enough fish so we went in search of more food.
Terrible picture
I got the chicken breast again and then this buffalo sausage that was disgusting. It had innards in it and just didn’t taste good at all so I fed it to a stray dog. We met a guy from Oregon while I didn’t eat the sausage, we talked for awhile before heading on our way. I got some beef jerky and then Meg and I proceeded to have our first big fight of the trip. I didn’t feel like fighting with her so I told her to eff off and I walked away. Later I found out that she didn’t hear me tell her off and was just confused where I was as she didn’t see me walk off lol. I tried a different chocolate cake that again was too dry, American pastry in Asia is just not a great thing. I walked back towards the hotel past the market and called Baba (grandmother) and we talked for about a hour. She was always so thrilled to hear from us and that we were having such a great time.
We booked a bus to take us to the Kuang Si waterfalls the next morning with 2 other people. We left around 8:30 am and the ride was just under a hour. We got there, paid our fees and started in. The first thing you see is a small bear sanctuary with mostly black bears which are pretty damn cute. We then started our hike towards the falls in a light rain. We got to the first body of water where people were swimming with water flowing down the rocks. I went swimming (we were wearing swim suits) in the freezing cold water because how often can you swim in a waterfall? It was very refreshing but freezing cold. I dried off, got dressed and we continued the hike.
We stopped a few different times to take pictures of the absolutely beautiful falls. We started the real hike which was up the mountain. The hike started to get difficult as the rain started coming down pretty hard and the ground is basically mud and twigs. We got all the way to the top and then after taking a lot of pictures we started our descent. The descent was much harder than the climb since everything was mucky and slippery.
There were no stairs just random rocks and mud. Luckily there was a railing because Meg was having enough trouble since she is less than five feet tall. We were very careful and managed to make it through the 45 descent without falling on our faces. The waterfalls and the hike were one of the highlights of the whole trip for me! We grabbed lunch (yummy noodles) just outside the main gate while we waited for the van to take us back. I showered and then fell asleep from pure exhaustion.
We took it easy that night, did a little souvenir shopping and got some food. I got noodles from the guy who tried to scam me (they’re good, don’t judge me), a chicken breast, pork jerky and chocolate cake. Yes I am definitely a creature of habit!
The next morning we woke up early to fly to Vientiane. I went for breakfast in town and found a standard western breakfast. I ate half of it but it made my stomach upset so I gave up on it. We grabbed a cab to the airport (for a proper price) and flew to Vientiane. Adios until next time!
Ouch that one hurts Ax 🤣
When we arrived in Vientiane we took a taxi to the hotel. After check in we turned on our fan and it made this loud screeching noise when it oscillated. I fiddled with it but I couldn’t fix it so the front desk girl tried and she failed as well. She offered us a smaller room and didn’t want that. We went back to the room and I smacked the fan a few times (I’m a handyman!) and the squeaking magically stopped! We stopped by the donut shop across the street and thank G-D the donuts were horrible because that could have been a real issue having such easy access to them. We grabbed lunch at the Indian place down the street. I had really good chicken biryani and Meg had palak paneer. It was crazy hot outside but we still walked around exploring the city for about 3 hours. The problem that we came upon was that after 3 hours we had covered most of the city on foot and we still had 4 more days in Vientiane. We walked back to the hotel because the tuk tuk driver wouldn’t budge at all off his price that was 2x what it should have been.
That Dam
President’s house I think?!?
Patuxai – War memorial featuring a European style arch
Ceiling of Patuxai
We slept in the next day because we were tired but also we just didn’t have the same zest for exploring as we had 2 months earlier. My plan for the day was to visit the casino that was a hour outside of town. I had chicken tikka and then I took a tuk tuk to the hotel where the free shuttle runs out of. I originally got off at the golf course without realizing that I was in the wrong spot. They have two small casinos in the golf course area, one for slots and one for tables and slots. I lost at the golf course while I waited for the shuttle to come back so I could go to the actual casino. The actual casino is massive! It had 15 tables in the main area plus 5 VIP sections and a separate area for slots. I ended losing early and chasing for a while to the tune of a $480 (USD) loss. All gambling is done in Thai Baht but the cage will exchange most currencies. I got a free buffet and the food was pretty solid. Rice, stewed duck, stewed chicken wings and some random veggies. While I was eating this woman that was watching me play sat down to eat with me, I assumed that she wanted money as she kept telling me how much she lost. She eventually did, I said no and went for more food. When I got back to the dining hall she was gone and I was invited to sit with three ladies. I did since I didn’t want to be rude. They asked about the other lady and I told them she asked for money and I said no. I’m pretty sure they were going to ask as well although they could have been hookers too. Who knows in Asia??? I grabbed a brownie to go and then took the shuttle back to the city. I am glad that I didn’t rent a bike to drive to the casino as the roads were an absolute disaster. The shuttle let me get off around where my hotel was which saved me a tuk tuk ride if I had just gone all the way to the hotel where the shuttle goes from.
The next morning I went for a 45 minute walk, mostly searching for food but I never really found anything that interested me. I met up with Maegan and we walked to a mall that had a movie theatre. At the mall I had crispy chicken on rice which was enjoyable. Sadly the movie we wanted to see wasn’t in English until 4 hours later so we walked back to the area where we were staying. That night we went to the night market which was pretty underwhelming as far as night markets go. It seemed like most of the stalls were just repeating the same crap over and over again. We went in search of a good restaurant for dinner but nothing seemed overly interesting to us. We were checking out a menu in front of a restaurant when a guy commented on my Winnipeg Jets shirt. Turns out he was born in Winnipeg, grew up in Vancouver and now he lives in Vientiane. We mentioned we were looking for food so he told us to check out his restaurant down the street and boy am I glad that we ran into him! His restaurant specializes in pizza and they do it very well. We had a half mac and cheese and half Canadian with no onions. The Canadian had chicken, bacon, mushrooms and maple syrup, that was so tasty. The mac side was good but nothing to write home about... oh wait that’s what I am doing.
The next day in Vientiane was way too hot for the human body to function or at least my human body. I went to the Indian restaurant since it was close and had Malay Mee Goreng which is a pasta dish. I have had Mee Goreng at Lemongrass at Aria which is a Thai restaurant so I was confused that this version was Malaysian and being served in an Indian restaurant. This version was ok but I much prefer the version at Aria in Las Vegas. I headed back to the air conditioned room and took a nap hoping that the horrid heat would go away. I woke up and found out that it didn’t go away sadly. I walked out of the hotel and even though the sun was gone I got hit in the face with hot air as if I was entering a sauna. It was gross! We walked around the market area for a few hours, there was a bunch of street food available today. Meg went to this sushi restaurant while I sampled street food. Street food is one of my favourite parts of Asia. I ended up having shawarma but it was served in a tortilla instead of a pita. They put chicken, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, cabbage, mushrooms and corn. They also had onion but I don’t like onions. I added hot sauce and garlic sauce to make one hell of a wrap. It was so fresh and tasty. I found the mini mart, bought some snacks and retreated to the AC in the room.
We were tapped out by our last day in Vientiane, the heat had won. We took it easy all day and then at night I had the shawarma twice which was a bad plan since they were so big. It is really hard to want to be outside when it feels like thick hot air is hitting you in the face all the time. We grabbed some food and water and went back to the hotel. We had a 8 am flight to Savannakhet so I made a really smart decision to not sleep and instead watch all 12 innings of the Red Sox game. We arrived in Savannakhet and I immediately went to sleep for the next 7 hours. I got my own private room for $8 USD which was a nice change.
Well I have one more write up to do and hopefully if I don’t get distracted that will happen today!
?
As far as what you would call Chinese food, that doesn't exist in China. What you are used to is Americanized Chinese food. It is the same crap we eat in Canada, I can't be bothered with it anymore.
Quote: PokerGrinderPizza isn't that hard to find, the quality varies quite a bit. Western food isn't that hard to find but it is usually more expensive.
As far as what you would call Chinese food, that doesn't exist in China. What you are used to is Americanized Chinese food. It is the same crap we eat in Canada, I can't be bothered with it anymore.
If I go to China and can't get gerald tso chicken then I gonna be pissed
Quote: GWAEIf I go to China and can't get gerald tso chicken then I gonna be pissed
I don't see you ending up in China lol.
When I woke up from my 7 hour nap/sleep we went for dinner. We ended up at this Japanese restaurant which turned out to be good. The owner/chef was from Tokyo and just wanted to escape the craziness of back home. I had chicken katsu curry which was excellent although I’ve only had it once before so I don’t have much to compare it to.
After dinner we hit up the corner store and went back to the guesthouse since it was raining. I bought what I thought would be enough snacks for a couple days but they only lasted one day, oops.
The next day we walked to the dinosaur museum, yes they have a dinosaur museum. It is two rooms inside this building and they have a pretty solid collection for how small the building is. We looked around for a hour before we headed out.
We walked around town, walked along the Mekong River; we saw a temple (never seen one of those before) and a disheveled church before stopping for lunch. This local spot had a very small menu but would end up being a daily stop for me. I had crispy chicken on rice and they give you a little bowl of soup as well. The chicken was perfect both in taste and crunch.
I watched The Flash in my room until we went to check out the night market. We found out that the market is only open one day a week and we would be gone by then. We then had tiny dim sum which was one of the worst things that I ate on this trip.
Very tiny pieces
We stopped at a cafe on the way back and I had seafood noodles which was much better. There chopsticks were terrible and it was almost impossible to pick up the noodles using them.
The next day was casino day! Maegan decided to join me (confused the hell out of me) mostly out of boredom I think. We arranged a tuk tuk for 200 Baht even though the local curreny is Kip. Savannakhet is right on the Thai border so some of the drivers live in Thailand. The drive was uneventful except that in the back of the vehicle was the drivers very young child sitting in a box. I guess it was take your kid to work day :P
The casino was big and quite nice. They had giant elephant sculptures everywhere inside and out.
I played 200 Baht minimum BJ and won 4200 Baht. As was standard in most casinos in Asia I was able to exchange USD to Baht and then back again before leaving. The BJ was the closest to North American BJ that I had seen in that the dealer was fast and there wasn’t a card burned before every hand. The cards were hand shuffled by the dealer at the end of the shoe. The dealers were good because they actually deal this game everyday unlike most other casinos where BJ was only opened on request. Maegan sat in the restaurant and used the wifi for the couple hours we were there. After I was done I joined her and had spicy chicken with rice. The chicken was cold and the rice was hot, one of those needed to have their temperature changed for sure.
We tried to get a tuk tuk outside the casino but they were asking for 5x the real price and wouldn’t budge so we walked. We walked for 3.5 kilometers to this souvenir shop Meg had seen on the ride to the casino. We got there and bough a crap ton of souvenirs as everything was so cheap and we had a lot of Kip left. One of the workers called us a tuk tuk to take us back to town. We waited for about 15 minutes in the sun, I had cookies and cream ice cream while we waited.
Later that night we went walking and searching for food. I bought a dragon fruit, then we had dinner rolls with pudding put into the middle of them and finally steamed buns with pork and half a hard boiled egg in them.
Such a cool looking fruit!
The dragon fruit was so tasty, the rolls with pudding were weird to say the least and the steamed buns were really yummy. I then found a kid cutting hair in a shack on the side of the street. I asked him how much, he told me 18,000 Kip so I waited my turn and got a haircut. The kid was 23 and very nice. He asked me some questions in English that he had memorized, I answered but he didn’t understand a lot of my answers. The cut was very well done and so I gave him 25,000 with the extra being a tip. He was thoroughly confused by this but he eventually figured it out and asked tip? To which I answered yes! I guess people don’t tip hair dressers in Laos?
Not quite North American.
Now I am starting to get bored! Meg flew to Bangkok and I, well I just killed time. I woke up early and I was hungry so I had crispy chicken at the same restaurant as the previous day. I then went back to bed for a while. The rest of my day involved watching Netflix and wandering aimlessly around town. I got ice cream and walked, then I looked at random stores and walked, finally when I was done walking, I walked some more (I sound like Forrest Gump). Wow this was a boring day!
My last full day stuck in Savannakhet I woke up and you guessed it, went for crispy chicken and rice! I talked to my mom for a while and then went to the massage that I scheduled the day before. I was almost out of Kip so I arranged to pay in Baht. The massage was excellent and only 180 Baht plus tip. For dinner I had crispy pork on rice which wasn’t as good as the chicken but sadly they were out of chicken. One thing that I noticed as I walked around Savannakhet on my last day there is how kind the locals are. Everyone would wave or say hi to me as I walked around every day. I think part of it is they don’t see white people very often as they don’t get a lot of tourists but for the most part they just seemed more kind than people from other countries. I stopped at a fruit stand to buy dragon fruit, I had almost no Kip left so the lady let me pay in Baht and she gave me change in Kip. I went back to my room, ate the fruit, packed and watched more Flash. That night I went for a last walk around town, had the pork/egg buns and bought one more dragon fruit for the morning before calling it a night.
I woke up early for my flight; I had my dragon fruit and a baguette. The driver they called me had no idea where the airport was??? How is that possible? He went the wrong way and then after asking for directions multiple times we finally arrived. He then didn’t have change so I had to go search for change while he sat there looking like a doofus. This airport was tiny and wasn’t even open when I arrived.
This is all the WEEKLY flights that come or go from this airport.
My flight flew to Pakse, Laos before taking off again for Bangkok. I was able to finish The Flash during these flights.
I’m not sure where in Savannakhet I took this picture but it’s pretty, so here lol.
I have one more write up to do and then I will be done! Hooray!
Quote: PokerGrinderI don't see you ending up in China lol.
Because I am cheap/poor?
No it was an actual massage, no funny business.
USD is accepted in many countries and it’s easy to exchange to other currencies. Nobody wants my Canadian funny money.
I mostly replied just to say "WOW! That's one huge finger!"
