My cooking class...

After Vang Vieng we took a 5 hour van ride to Vientiane, Laos. This was more of a city, different than the beach town feel of VV. We were starving when we arrived and immediately ate at Blue Moon cafe. It was delicious and we knew we would find ourselves back there.

The first night we were there we went to this Australian bar so Conor could watch the final game in March Madness. We got there very early and just hung out and ate for the next few hours. I read and Conor watched basketball. We made our way back closer to our hotel and town to grab a drink at a popular bar there.

The next morning we took a Tuk Tuk to the Patuxay Monument. It was cool and in the center of the city. You can walk all the way up it and see a view of the city. It was starting to get so hot, of course, so we went back to hang out in a cafe for a while to avoid the heat. That night we walked through the market. I love that there are cheap markets everywhere, it's a great way to spend an evening walking around looking at everything.

The following day (and our last day) we had a cooking class planned. I was so excited and have been trying to plan a cooking class for us this whole time. We got so lucky because we were the only people who signed up for the class. Our teacher, Nook, was so kind and sweet. We made a feast of steamed fish, laap (minced meat, mint, spices), different dips, salad and mango with sticky rice for dessert. The food was so good and I can't wait to try to recreate it all at home. It was one of my favorite activities so far!

That day Reebs and Hatty were in Vientiane too. We all hung out at a coffee shop together to avoid the heat. It felt like hanging out with friends home in America. Except a coffee is $1.50 here instead of $6. After saying goodbye to them, Conor and I went for dinner. We had an overnight sleeper bus booked to take us to the 4000 Islands.

My day of tubing...

A few months ago Vang Vieng was like the spring break spot of Laos. It's streets line with bars and restaurants were the perfect places to come and enjoy time with your friends. Apparently it was a rowdy, wild, free for all and too many idiots got too messed up and died doing stupid things. I could definitely see how this could happen there. Now Vang Vieng is just a place to chill out. All the restaurants play DVDs of either Friends, Family Guy or South Park. You can just post up in a place and lounge on their pillows and watch TV all day.

The thing to do in VV is to rent a tube and go tubing down the river. It now has the reputation of being not as fun as a few months ago, but I disagree. Conor and I met up with Hatty and Reebs for our day of tubing. We rented tubes then a Tuk Tuk takes you down the street to the start. The water was very low because we are in the dry season, but we hopped on our tubes and began our slow decent down the river.

I'm not sure how many bars there were before. But now there are three places to stop on the river. The first was the most fun. The bartender Ni was so cute and nice, providing us with alot of entertainment. There was basketball, bocce ball and a ping pong table. We hung out and had a few drinks with whoever came up too. It was awesome. We continued on the river stopping again for a second at another bar. The third bar was okay, kind of a final gathering of people. Then we floated on for a bit towards the end. After 2 hours of floating it was getting dark and I was getting cranky so we bailed on the river and took a Tuk Tuk back. The day was so fun and I can't imagine enjoying myself if it was just a crazy wild party the whole time.

Another place to see in Vang Vieng is the lagoon. We heard it was a beautiful bike ride away so another day we rented bikes. It was not a fun ride. We took mountain bikes because the streets are so bumpy. It was hot, it hurt and I didn't enjoy myself at all. An hour of me complaining later (sorry Conor) we made it. The lagoon was small, but nice for a cold swim after a hot bike ride. We hung out for a bit and then headed back. If you ever go here- take my advice and just take a Tuk Tuk to the lagoon.

One of our best finds in Vang Vieng was a restaurant/ movie theater. They had a big screen and you just pick a movie (from about 100), watch and eat dinner. Obviously this is where we had dinner almost every night. We watched Ace Ventura, Dumb and Dumber and School of Rock.

Vang Vieng was a great place to relax for a few days. We had some TV binges with some river excitement, but we were ready to move on to Vientiane, Laos.

* sorry no pictures of tubing, didn't bring my iPhone that day *

My friends...

Taking a slow boat for 2 days really brings people together. I am happy to announce that Conor and I had successfully made 4 friends on that boat- Mike, Izzy, Rebekah and Hatty. Best part was that we were all staying in Luang Prabang for a few days too. The 3 girls went to their hostel while Conor, Mike and I found a different place to stay. We were exhausted that night so Conor,
Mike and I had dinner and went to bed early.

The next day the 3 of us (as in Mike, Conor and I) took a Tuk Tuk to these beautiful waterfalls in LPB. They are about an hour outside of the town, but so worth going to see. In front of the entrance is a weird zoo of bears. But after that is beautiful waterfalls and swimming holes. We walked around for a bit and then went swimming in the freezing water. It was refreshing, but definitely cold. On our way out we ran into Izzy, Reebs and Hatty for a bit and agreed to all meet up later.

Since its March and they are boys, Conor and Mike found a bar where they could watch the March Madness basketball games. During which I treated myself to some spa treatments and I swear I got waxed by a ladyboy.

For dinner we went to this random side street buffet. You pay a small amount of money for a plate and fill it with as much as you want. Not the worlds greatest buffet, but cheap. The boys were all about their sports sports sports, so I met up with Hatty and Rebekah (and another new friend Ricki) after dinner.

The 4 of us were going to Utopida, the only happening bar in the town. We decided to all change our names for the night because sometimes girls like to do funny weird things like that. Roxie (Hatty), Lilah (Reebs), Zoe (Ricki) and Norah (me) had a fun girls night. We mostly just harassed people with weird hippie questions like "what's your spirit animal". It was fun and nice to be away from boys for a change.

The next day Conor and I braved the heat and decided to rent bicycles for a day tour. It costs about $2 to rent a bike for a whole day, but if you're lazy like we are then a few hours are good enough. We biked around stopping at some temples and we even found a Korean restaurant. We tried not to eat too much because we read about an amazing pizza place and were trying to save our appetites for dinner (it lived up to expectations).

To get to the pizza place have to cross an old bamboo bridge over the river. It was cool and made getting to the pizza all the better. That night we (Conor, Mike and I) went back to a bar close to our hostel. Mike brought Charlotte, a French girl from our hostel, to come hang out with us. She was awesome and French which automatically made her cool.

The next day we decided to brave the heat at a swimming pool! Charolette, Conor and I went in a Tuk Tuk close by to the cool pool hang out. We were planning to meet Hatty and Reebs there. (Mike had to work so Conor was broless). The pool reminded me of Cancun spring break. Filled with young people, a swim up bar and a volleyball net. We hung out for most of the day and planned to meet Mike later for dinner.

In Luang Prabang there is an 11pm curfew. Curfew meaning all the stores, restaurants and bars have to close by 11. So once the clock strikes 11 all the foreigners do what any normal person would do- we go bowling!! The bowling alley is about a 20 min Tuk Tuk drive away. It's really weird and really fun at the same time. Conor, Cha, Mike and I went one night a little early, but at 11:20 like clockwork all the foreigners came pouring in. It was a really interesting experience!

So as you can tell we spent alot of time with friends in Luang Prabang. We were leaving and heading to Vang Vieng next. Hatty ad Rebekah were going there too. Izzy had already moved on. But we had to say goodbye to Mike and Charlotte . Sad, but so glad to have spent time with them. Conor and I are already planning to visit Mike in Texas this summer.

We got a van to bring us to Vang Vieng. Somehow we lucked out and were the only people taking the van that day so we got to stretch out in the van. Up 4 hours of winding streets, a few stops (our driver stopped once to legit buy rats for dinner) and we made it!

My slow boat trip...

After spending one last night in Chiang Mai, Conor and I were finally ready to make our wait to Laos. We took a van ride to Chiang Khong, a very small town in Thailand. It's main purpose to to take you across the border to Laos.

On the van we met Izzy and Mike. Two American travelers the same age as Conor and me. We were all going to be taking the slow boat to Laos the following day. Arriving in Chiang Khong we quickly learned there was basically nothing there. We found a bar, and knew where the 4 of us would be spending our evening.

After a night of tequila shots, jenga with locals, access to YouTube and Mike purchasing a ridiculous Pitbull and JLo poster we met up at the border crossing bright and early. To get to Laos you take a small boat across the Mekong River. It takes about 5 min to get from Thailand to Laos. In Laos you fill out some forms, hand in your passport and wait for your name to be called with your visa. Once you have your visa it's very popular to take a slow boat, 2 day trip down the Mekong to Luang Prabang, Laos.

Mike and Izzy had met some other young American travelers (Hatty and Rebekah) at their hostel, so we had a crew ready for our slow boat experience. With some Lao Lao whiskey, we were officially ready. Hatty and Rebekah had a competition going on with some of their friends who had taken the boat a day earlier. The goal was to take the most ridiculous picture on the boat. These girls were serious with this challenging, carrying all kinds of props. Needless to say we all got involved with the challenge. With the Pitbull and JLo poster they had it in the bag.

We road the boat for 6 hours that day. Drank, got to know each other, played some card games. It was a really fun day. We docked in Pak Bang for the night and all stayed at a hostel close by. Luckily it started down pouring after we had gone inside.

After a really comfortable nights sleep (like seriously the beds were so comfy), we were ready for day 2 of the boat. Sailing down the river was beautiful. Great scenery, some wildlife- it was a very cool experience. Day 2 was a little more relaxed, compared to the picture madness of day 1. Still great fun. Another 6 hours later we arrived in Luang Prabang.

My new dog...

Conor and I had heard about this cool place called Cave Lodge. A guy from our elephant day had highly recommended it to us. And since we were trying to be adventurous we decided to go, why the hell not.

We took the train back to Bangkok and stayed at Top Garden again. Victor reintroduced himself to us and reasked us about all our plans. After hanging out for the day (eating at Cathouse and Nice Kitchen one last time) we were taking a bus to Sop Pong (northern Thailand, right next to the Burma border).

When we got to the bus station we learned the bus we wanted to take was sold out. So we took a bus to Pi and were told we'd be able to catch another bus in Pi. Of course there were no buses out of Pi so we had to spend some money to get a guy to drive us to Cave Lodge.

Cave Lodge was built in the 70s by an awesome traveler named John. He's well known in the area, our driver kept referring to him as Mr. John. John is an Australian who loves caving. He fell in love and married a Thai woman and built all these bamboo huts in the jungle for people to come, hang out and go caving in. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet Mr. John. He was on holiday in Australia. But his daughter and her husband were really great and friendly.

Cave Lodge was really cool. We were just set in the jungle, living in a bamboo hut and chillen hard. Conor and I aren't the huge "caving type" so we opted out of a big cave tour. We kept ourselves busy in the big common area- reading, lounging, playing UNO with the staff kids.

Our first day there we went with a group of people to a smaller cave, one that requires little physical activity. You pay a guide to take you on a raft into the cave and then you walk around throughout the cave. After an hour of this we knew that was enough caving for us. It was cool and beautiful, but it was enough for me. Our favorite cave lodge activity was probably the herbal sauna. They chop up wood for you and put all these herbs inside to make the sauna smell amazing! We did it twice, but I wish we had done it more. So relaxing, hot and smelled great.

At the lodge they have stray dogs that come and end up pretty much living there. Enter, Sammy, my new dog. If you have ever met my dog Billy you will understand this more. Sammy was what Billy is not: friendly to people, loyal, kind and super defending of me. Billy is antisocial and only loves my parents. Sammy loved Conor and me, and we loved him back. One day we went for a walk down the river. Sammy was there and he crossed the river to come hang out with us. He led us back to cave lodge too and never left our side. Another male dog showed up that night. If the dog came near me Sammy fought it. Sammy slept on our porch that night. He walked me to the bathroom in the middle of the night. This is how dogs should be. I miss you Sammy and I hope you still think of me. Billy, if your reading this, I'm sorry.

Cave lodge has a good paying system. They just talley all the food and drinks you get and you just pay at the end. Needless to say Conor and I had an embarrassing amount of food on our bill. It ended up being a joke between us and the staff, because if you didn't joke about it, it was just awkward.

My swimming pool...

I was really excited about taking the overnight train from Chaing Mai to Bangkok. I haven't really done much train traveling- besides within the tri state area. And I couldn't wait to see how they made the sleeping cars.

We bordered the train around 5, ready for adventures of eating cars, mingling with other train people, etc. We immediately learned our train there had no dining car. So we ran out to buy snacks to sustain us for the next 14 hours. We also bought a bottle of cheap whiskey, because why not? In an attempt to save money we chose the car with just a fan and no AC. It was fine for night, but the following morning when the sun started to rise we were sweaty messes. Immediately arriving at the train station we upgraded to air conditioning for the return trip. The train wasn't as glamorous as I anticipated- but it was fun nonetheless. They make up the beds early. The bottom seats push together for one bed, and a bunk opens from the top for a second bed. The beds were bigger than I thought, I slept better than expected. And a few hours later we arrived in Bangkok!

Bangkok is a really fun place. This was my third time there, and each time was different and equally as fun. Conor and I planned to spend our time on the famous Khaosan Road. Streets lined with shops, bars and restaurants.

Most importantly was our hotel. Our main purpose of Bangkok. The swimming pool. Back in December when I traveled to Thailand with my friends from work a few of them stayed at this hotel for a night before coming home. Kim, Anna, Ife and Sam- thank you for finding the Rikka Inn.

We spent our days swimming and bathing in the sun of the rooftop pool. When we went down to the streets we were immediately hot and cranky, so we made sure to spend as much time up there as possible. I snuck up food and drinks for us to prolong our pool stay. It was perfect and just what we wanted.

I could go on about different restaurants we went to or the food we ate. But honestly, this time around in Bangkok, it was all about the pool.

My day with elephants and tigers...

Our flight from Kuala Lumpur to Thailand was smooth sailing. It was an early flight so we both slept on the plane. We flew into Chiang Mai, Thailand. I was excited because I hadn't been to this part of Thailand yet. We found an awesome guesthouse to stay at and headed over there. Victor and his wife own Top Garden Boutique Guesthouse. He is a sweet older Canadian man and his wife is from Thailand. He was so kind, we stayed a few nights and actually booked another night for a week later. As much as we loved him, Conor and I teased him alot behind his back (don't tell). Victor couldn't seem to remember anything he said to us so he ended up repeating himself so many times. Oh, Victor.

We booked a tour to go to an elephant camp. We were going to learn from Mahout trainers. I was so excited for this- not only would we be riding the elephants but we got to feed them, bathe them and "command them". Elephants are awesome. I love them. This was my second time up close and personal with some and it is truly an experience. They are so gentle, smart and really all have their own personalities. After learning some words we all got to try out commanding an elephant. It was pathetic watching a group of foreigners try to pretend to be elephant trainers. The Mahout trainers there let us believe the elephants were following us, but they weren't. We rode our elephants to a pond to splash around in the water with them. Luckily we had changed into weird denim outfits to not ruin our daily clothes. I loved this day and really hope we can hang out with elephants again before we leave Southeast Asia!

The same elephant day we also went to the tiger kingdom. This is a zoo like place but only filled with tigers. You pay a certain amount based on which size you want to see. Obviously babies are most expensive because everyone wants to see them. So obviously that's the ones Conor and I paid to see. You enter this small caged off area with someone who works there and they walk you around to the mostly sleeping tigers (and they take your picture!). Some of the babies were up and playing which was just ADORABLE! We stayed for a bit then headed back to town.

In Chiang Mai we found two awesome restaurants that are noteworthy. The first is called Nice Kitchen, Victor recommended. This was a great breakfast place. It was one of those restaurants where you want everything on the menu so it's hard to choose. So then you just order 3 meals at once and call it a day. They had fresh fruit drinks and mouthwatering homemade granola bars. The other place is Cat House. Just thinking about the sandwiches from there make me salivate. The pesto lime sauce was so unbelievably good. Conor considers himself a sandwich master and he said it was one of the best!

We saw a beautiful temple in Chiang Mai called Doi Suithep. Up at the top has a beautiful view of the city. Unfortunately it was very hazy in Chiang Mai so we couldn't see much. There was a monk in the temple who gave us blessed bracelets. Monks can't touch the opposite sex so he just placed it on my wrist for me to tie. As always, the temple was beautiful. But there were alot of tourists at this one, which always takes a little away from the beauty of it all.

We took an overnight train to Bangkok to hang out there for a few days.

My crazy cab driver...

Ignore the title of this one until the end.

After a 7 hour bus ride we arrived in Kuala Lumpur. We found a place to stay and headed out for a place to eat. Close to where we were stating was a street filled with bars and restaurants. It was a little commercial and touristy, but we were in the mood for that. We settled down somewhere- drank some beers and had some food. Just what we needed after a long bus ride.

The next day we walked around the city for a while. KL homes the famous Petronas Twin Towers. Of course it was too expensive to go up them, but we got some cool pictures from below. The towers are located in a big park so we walked around there for a bit. We found a kids swimming pool and just wanted to put our feet in, but security guards stopped us immediately. We were just so hot!

We headed back to our hotel and stopped for some bubble tea. I think I had bubble tea like 6 times over the two days we were there. It was a toss up to name this entry My bubble tea or My crazy cab driver. We hung out and read in the comfort of our lobby's AC. For dinner that night we ate at a kind of cafeteria style Indian place (and maybe we had lunch here too). Cafeteria style doesn't really describe it accurately- it was a big open restaurant with amazing Indian and Malay food. It started pouring rain and we were happy to be under the roof eating delicious food.

That night we went to bed early because we had to wake up at 4am to get to the airport the next day. Enter our crazy cab driver. He was nuts. Speeding through empty streets but yelling about traffic. He kept going on and on about "youngsters" and how they just party and basically ruin the world. He told us that we were maybe going to be late for the plane which is why he was going so fast. I wish I had taken his picture. Oh well, off to Thailand

My time at Ewan's...

In Malaysia Conor and I decided to go to the Perhentian Islands. Another recommendation from our friends Jenny and Jason, thanks guys! To get there we took an overnight bus from Joho Baru bus station. Being the only white people at the bus station we were stared at. We posted up at one restaurant there and found our love for murtabak (totally butchered that word). It's like a pancake of meat and onions served with delicious sauce.
Our bus left about 9pm and got to the pier at 6am. I was surprised that I didn't think the bus was that bad. I fell asleep on and off for a while, more than expected. Once at the pier we took a 7am small boat to the island. We had booked a bungalow type room at Ewan's Place for the next few days.

Ewan is a big, jolly, Malaysian man. He was so kind and friendly. He remembered our names, kind of. I was Anna for the week and Conor was sometimes John (because of John Conor from The Terminator). His daughter was adorable and just kept herself busy all day.

The island we were staying on had two beaches connected by a small path through the jungle. We spent our days on the beach- swimming and reading. (Maybe I read 50 Shades of Grey in two days). We spent our nights at this restaurant which showed random movies (Step Up 4 and the Avengers). It was so beautiful and so relaxing.

One day we decided to go on another snorkeling tour. This trip was one of the best trips we've done so far. We went to a few different locations so see certain things. We saw small sharks at one point, loads of tropical fish, sea turtles and we jumped off a floating lighthouse. I have not had much experience snorkeling but this day was really amazing. Conor has a waterproof camera which has all our pics from the day.

After a few days of relaxing. Some kayaking. Lots of eating and reading. We decided to head back towards Kuala Lumpur. We had to take a ferry back to the pier and then a long day bus. We missed our alarm that morning, but luckily some thunder woke us up. The beach was fantastic and beautiful, but we were ready to be in a city for a few days.

My run in with rats...

Singapore is a fancy fancy place. Arriving in the airport was a breath of fresh air compared to Manila's airport. The bathrooms had touch screens to rate your "bathroom experience"- enough said.

We got in late and headed to Ideal Backpackers Hostel. Singapore is very expensive and this was the cheapest place we could find (and it wasn't that cheap). This place was horrible. Our "private room" was a room full of bunk beds all to ourself. I saw no 'backpackers' here, just rats.

Rats are disgusting. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and saw a rat carrying a chicken bone. I went to the bathroom again before bed and saw another rat. Then, as we were trying to fall asleep the rats were fighting in the ceiling above us. It was scary and gross and totally not ideal. We changed rooms to one equally weird and tried to sleep. Early in the morning we were out of there.

We had planned for only one day in Singapore on our way to Malaysia. We first went to see the famous Singapore Flyer. It's the worlds biggest Ferris wheel! I recently just read the book, Devil in the White City, about Chicago's worlds fair and the murders there. The first Ferris wheel was built for the fair, so I was nerdily (is that a word?) excited to see this wheel. Of course, it was so expensive to ride it. So we just looked at it for a while and pretended that was good enough. We also went to these beautiful gardens in Singapore. (They were free!) And walked around throughout them. We had a map and just planned to walk from bench to bench so we could put our bags down for a bit. We had eventually wasted enough time and headed to the bus station to take us to Malaysia.

Getting to Malaysia from Singapore is very interesting. You drive on a bus for about an hour, get off at the Malaysia border. Run up the stairs, exit Malaysia, run back down to get on your bus. Same idea in Singapore. However, at the Singapore border we missed our bus. Maybe I wasn't running fast enough? No worries. You just wait a few minutes and another bus is on it's way. And just like that you're in Malaysia!

My first stop...

So I know it's a little bit late to start blogging considering I'm halfway through my trip. But better late than never, right? I apologize in advance for grammar and spelling mistakes- let's just blame them all on my
iPhone autocorrect and not on me- okay?

The night of March 2nd was our last night in Korea. After a delicious last meal of Uzbek with everyone, Conor and I headed back to our tiny apartment to finish packing. Kim came over and we all decided it was a good idea to just stay up all night. We watched Life of Pi, cleaned, packed. Very early (maybe 5am?) we got into our cab and headed to the bus station.

It was a strange feeling leaving Korea, my home for the past year and a half. Honestly to this day I feel like it was all surreal. Saying goodbye to my students was so much harder than I expected. I had such a great time in Ansan!

Anyway, Conor and I had been planning this trip since October. Our first stop was the Philippines.

It was a great feeling leaving cold Korea and entering warm Philippines. We were heading to the island of Puerta Princesa to a beach El Nido. Our friends, Jenny and Jason, had been there a few months earlier. It looked awesome based on Jenny's blog, and seemed like a relaxing first stop.

We had an 8 hour "lay over" in Manila before our next flight so we headed to the Mall of Asia, the biggest mall in Asia. To waste time we decided to go see a movie (and we had our heavy backpacks on and didn't want to walk around for 8 hours). With limited choices we settled for Jack, The Giant Slayer. Despite it's exciting tale, Conor and I passed out almost immediately in the theater. We were exhausted. After some more wasted time we headed to the tiny airport to make our way to Puerta Princesa.

After a night in Puerta Princesa, we were picked up early the next day for a van ride to El Nido. 7 hours and a winding ride later we were here. El Nido was like something out of a postcard. I was so happy and relieved to be somewhere settled for the next few days.

We heard of this beautiful beach called Napcan- so naturally we rented a moped to go find it. I say naturally because we acted as if we were moped professionals. Yes, of course we can follow this hand drawn map (we got lost). Yes, we've driven mopeds many times before (once). What! We have to wear helmets! (Helmets are for nerds!) An hour of bumpy roads and getting slightly lost we made it. Deserted, white sands, the clouds look painted- it was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen. We found a restaurant and had a great meal where I am convinced they killed a chicken on site when we ordered and fed it to us. Nom nom nom. Side note- this trip has proven to me that chickens are dumb, ugly, stupid creatures.

The next day we went on a snorkeling tour. We mostly saw sea urchins which was just annoying because you have to be so careful not to step on them. BUT we went to some cool lagoons and had a really great lunch made by locals. It was nice to just be in the water all day.

Our trip to El Nido was coming to an end and we were heading back toward Manila. On our van ride back to Puerta Princesa we were told to sit in the front seat. You would think it would've been better- air conditioning blasting on us, front row view to the action. But I think it was more cramped and uncomfortable. We made it back in one piece and were on our way back to Manila.

Manila at night is a dark and scary place. We arrived late and our cab driver was seriously lost. He also instructed us to lock our doors once we entered a certain neighborhood, and pointed out a bridge where he "used to live under". We finally got to our hotel and were comforted by the fact that our fave show, the Biggest Loser, was on. In the morning we headed out through China town. After a bit we got in a cab to head back closer to the airport.

As many of you know, Conor has taught for two years in Korea. His first year was in Daejon and his second, in Ansan with me. In Daejon, Conor met his 'noona' (Korean word for older sister)- Nicole. Nicole ended up moving to the Philippines to work for her uncle at a fancy hotel. We were going to see her for the rest of the afternoon until our flight. The Maxxims hotel was high class all the way. I was so happy to escape from scary Manila for a bit. To say that Nicole hooked us up for the day is just an understatement. She scheduled us massages at the nicest spa I've ever been in, got a private driver to take us to the mall, took us to Shabu Shabu dinner, hired a car to drive us to the airport and had a lady at the airport speed our process up. We could not thank her enough for all she did for us that day! It was the perfect end to our first stop, the Philippines.