FLASHBACK: Vang Vieng to Vientiane

As always, Hannah and I had two options to reach our next city.

Option #1: Take a bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane.

Option #2: Kayak from Vang Vieng to Vientiane...with a tuk-tuk driving us the last two hours.

Hannah and I went with the kayak.

For the most part, because it was the dry season, the rapids were tiny. However, there was one stretch where the rapids were pretty substantial. Our guide told us that 75% of kayaks capsize during this one stretch of rapids. In our group there were four kayaks. The first two capsized. The third, the one our guide was in, made it through without a problem. I'm no math expert but that seemed to guarantee that Hannah and I would be going for a swim. And well, we did. I think we made it about 60% of the way through the rapids when Hannah and I both started to go, "Whoah! Whoah! Whoah!!!." The next thing I knew we were floating downstream.

We ended up stopping for lunch right by the rapids and I thought to myself, "I'll get someone else flipping over so people can see how hard it was for Hannah and I." Well, I videotaped the next kayak to go down the rapids...and they made it without a problem. Okay I thought, statistically the next kayak will surely flip over. Well, I recorded the next group...and they made it too. And so did the next group. Apparently Hannah and I are just really bad kayakers.

Here's some footage of what we went through:

Flashback: Vang Vieng

(PICTURE: The river, mountains and hammocks of Vang Vieng.)

Vang Vieng is a major backpacker stopping point in Laos. It's famous for two traditional forms of Laos culture:

1. Tubing down the river while stopping at bars and drinking (tune in tomorrow for this).

2. Cafes and restaurants that show the television show "FRIENDS" non stop.



The city itself is located in a beautiful area between mountains and alongside a river Hannah and I spent quite a bit of time reading books in hammocks while taking in the scenery.

Overall, Hannah and I didn't love the food in Laos. However, we did go to this one gem of a restaurant (one of Lonely Planets few good suggestions...although they had the name of the restaurant wrong.) that we ate five straight meals at. It was called the Organic Farm Cafe.

FLASHBACK: Tubing In Vang Vien

(PICTURE: Hannah and I on the river.)

As I mentioned yesterday, one of the reasons backpackers go to Vang Vieng is to tube down the river. This activity is one of those things you encounter while traveling that you realize could never ever happen in a 1st world litigious nation. Frankly, this is one of the most dangerous things I've ever seen. It's not that the tubing is dangerous (although it was not the rainy season which meant low water and hence plenty of rocks nailing our butts), it's the things around the tubing that are dangerous.

The river is lined with makeshift bars. As you floast down the river employees from the bars try and rope you in. AKA: Throw bottles at you which are attached to strings. So you get pulled into a bar and proceed to have a drink. That's problem #1: Drinking and Tubing/Swimming.

Problem #2 is that at each bar has some kind of risky thrill seeking apparatus. i.e. A very high rope swing, a zip line, or an extremely fast slide that dumps you out on the river (and hopefully not on to passing tubers).

That said, Hannah and I were game for the danger. You're welcome for not telling you until after, Mom.

VIP vs. Super VIP

Hannah and I had a choice upon leaving Luang Prabang. Did we want to travel to Vang Vieng, our next destination, on the "VIP" bus or the "Super VIP" bus. The Super VIP bus cost about five dollars more than the VIP bus so we decided to pinch our wallets and go with the cheaper option. Those loyal readers may recall that just a few days earlier Hannah and I paid an extra $100 to fly to Luang Prabang. Now we were trying to save $5. Mind you, we had to purchase our tickets in town and didn't actually see what the buses looked like until we got to the bus station. Do you think we made the right decision:

Here's the SUPER VIP BUS:














And here's the VIP BUS:














Our bus had no shocks. Our bus stopped in nearly every village so our driver -- I kid you not -- could pick up his groceries. Our bus picked up villagers who clearly had never ridden on a bus and were seconds away from blowing chunks the second they stepped onto the bus. Our bus had squeaky brakes. Also on our bus the driver ate his lunch while going around the deadliest turns I've ever seen, on the edge of a cliff, above the clouds:



Hannah took about a hundred pictures of the amazing scenery on the drive. Between the exercise of hitting her camera button and not having her Laos coffee for more than two hours, she was utterly exhausted.

GUEST BLOG: A Laos-y Massage

As promised months ago, Hannah was given the huge responsibility of the first ever Ahoy Hanoi guest blog. Enjoy!!!
(PICTURE: Hannah August, guest blogger.)

Hannah here, guest blogging about the worst part of my trip with Ben. No, it wasn't how he would tense up with fear that I would tumble to my death any time we would hike a mountain; No, it wasn't that he claimed his favorite foods were all the meat ones because he wouldn't have to share with me; And No, it wasn't even his incessant need to shower, sometimes even as frequently as once a day!

Sit back, Gentle Readers, and I shall tell you.

Our first night in Laos, Ben and I decided that we would treat ourselves to a massage. I wanted to try a traditional Laos massage, he wanted to do something in the herbal steam arena, so when we found a place offering a Traditional Laos Massage/Herbal Steam Massage Combo Package we were sold.
Clearly blinded by the love of a good deal (thanks, mom), it wasn't until we were led to the actual massage room that we realized our 'spa' was at the back of a restaurant. The room was sandwiched between the seating area, the kitchen and the bathrooms, with the doors facing the hallway that connected the seating area with the bathrooms.

Already uneasy seeing this setup, the masseurs handed us towels and told us to put them on. Mine was damp and had the distinct smudge of a dirty handprint. Why we didn't leave then, I have no idea.

Changed into the moist towel, our masseurs entered and began the "Traditional Laos massage" which really just felt like someone poking at you indiscriminately. Even if the massage itself had been amazing, the atmosphere could not have been less relaxing. Besides the murmur of people eating, the clanging in the kitchen, and the distinct sound of peeing, our masseurs giggled and talked to each other the whole time. It was then I decided when they transitioned between the Laos massage and the Herbal Steam massage I would politely tell them we would have to do the second part another time, and then get out of there asap.

Unfortunately, there would be no transition.

The "masseurs" (who, I should note had the same uniforms as the wait staff of the restaurant- begging the question: Were there really angry customers waiting an hour and a half for their food?) went straight into the herbal steam massage which consisted of taking scalding hot towels out of a steamer and pressing them super hard against our skin. Several times both Ben and myself yelled in pain, but they just giggled and said "sorry sorry" but continued to press the burning hot towels on our skin, in a very non-massagey way.

At one point during this process (I guess I hadn't screamed in a while) Ben whispered to me, "Are you sleeping?" To which I whispered back, "No..." but to which I really wanted to scream, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HOW COULD ANYONE FALL ASLEEP DURING THIS?!?!"

Finally over, the masseurs left us in our misery to change back into our clothes, but didn't close the glass doors or the curtain behind them. The icing on the bad massage cake: just then, as we stood in nothing but our damp towels and scalded skin, the restaurant's garbage men walked by.

Now faithful Ahoy Hanoi followers may remember that I got food poisioning in Chiang Mai and ask how this could have been worse than a night in the bathroom and a day passed out with a fever and weakness. The answer is that the food poisioning was free, whereas Ben and I had to pay for this torture. It was the hardest $6 I have ever handed over in my life.

And no, we didn't tip.

FLASHBACK: Swindled By A Monk

On our first night in Luang Prabang Hannah and I went for a walk around the city. As we headed up a small hill we both heard some chanting. We took a right into a Wat and followed the noise to a temple where a dozen monks and novices were chanting. The music was so beautiful that we took a seat and listened for about fifteen minutes:


The next night Hannah and I decided to go back and listen to the music again. We took our seats outside the temple and enjoyed the methodical sounds of the monks. Before we knew it the monks were finishing up and walking out of the temple. One guy -- who later told us he was a novice and not a monk -- bee lined towards Hannah. He started to chat her up as if I wasn't there. My brother instincts combined with the knowledge I gained while being single from 2001-2008 told me that this guy was HITTING ON HANNAH. I don't want to be disrespectful but he was HITTING ON HANNAH! There's no ifs/ands/or butts about it, I really felt like if I didn't pipe in he was going to try and kiss her. For a sober monk he had the look of a horny drunk guy at closing time at the bar.

Before I knew it he invited Hannah (and me with reluctance) back to his room. Yeah, the novice invited us back to his room.
(PICTURE: Hannah never thought she'd end up on a guy's bed in a Buddhist monastery.)












The first thing I noticed when we entered his room -- and I will forever hate myself for not taking a picture of -- was a Playboy picture. No, not an actual naked picture of a girl but a Playboy insignia taped to his wall. I already had a bad feeling about this guy and this started to confirm it. We then took a seat on the novices bed and he started to ask us questions and answer some of our questions. The one thing that really stands out in my head is him telling us about "bad novices" who have gotten kicked out of the monastery. I mean, this guy couldn't have been far behind.

He then started to tell us how he doesn't want to be a monk and wants to be a tour guide in Luang Prabang...and then asked us to buy him clothes so he could become a tour guide. He wanted us to sponsor him leaving the monastery. I wish I had a tape recorder to record the awkward silence that filled the room. To break the silence I gave him five dollars and told Hannah that we had to go.

Yeah, we got swindled by a monk. The thing is though, I'm 99% sure that if I wasn't there he would have tried to make a move on Hannah. I know that sounds ridiculous but it was a "had to be there" feeling. Since that day though whenever I see something like this...

...I wonder if monks have a code: If the robe is on the line, the chick inside is mine.

FLASHBACK: Luang Prabang

(PICTURE: The most crowded street in Laos)

The word "Charming" was created just to describe Luang Prabang. The city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, had me at hello. From the moment Hannah and I stepped onto the old streets I was won over by the simple beauty of everything: the narrow walking streets, the river side restaurants, the crayola-colored night market, the temples on seemingly every corner, the lanes of BBQ fish and chicken, the tuk-tuks, the clean air and the friendly people.

I read somewhere that Laos people are the most relaxed people in the world. There's a saying that goes soemthing like, "In Vietnam the people plant the rice, in Cambodia the people watch the rice grow, and in Laos the people listen to the rice grow." Indeed, the people and the overall atmospher of Luang Prabang was just relaxed.

A few of our highlights included:

1.Taking a boat ride to some caves that housed Buddhist relics. The caves, in total honesty, were lame. However the boat ride was really pretty and allowed us to make friends with a group of Women from Malaysia. It's a good thing Hannah and I are patient people because we had THE SLOWEST boat driver of all time. We were the second boat to leave Luang Prabang that morning and no less than 20 of the exact same boats passed us on the way to the cave.














2.Touring dozens of local Wats.


















3. Drinking Lao coffee. Hannah hadn't drinken coffee in years until she sipped my delicious cup of Joe. After her first hit she couldn't stop... we couldn't go an hour without her demanding another cup of coffee.
















4. Eating street food...which was good, but not as good as Thai or Vietnamese street food.















5. Buying TOTALLY AWESOME FISHERMAN PANTS!!!!!! I bought these pants at the night market and didn't take them off for a week...even though they gave me a heat rash.

Flashback: Laos

(PICTURE: About to board our propeller plane to Laos.)

Lets see, where did I leave off with my trip with Hannah. Oh yeah, we were about to go to Laos.

When Hannah and I left Chaing Mai we had two options:

Option 1: Spend two days on a bus and a boat to get from northern Thailand to Luang Prabang.

Option 2: Spend $100 more and fly to Luang Prabang in an hour.

Yeah, tough call. We went with the flight.

At the airport in Chiang Mai I saw a strange sign:

Hannah and I both thought this was pretty interesting. You could pray in this special area if you were a Buddhist Monk or a novice. I mean, I'm like a novice in a hundred things so I could totally chill out in there.

What a novice really meant wouldn't occur to me until a few days later when Hannah and I met/were swindled by a novice. Stay tuned for that.

So.... Hannah and I boarded our propeller plane to Laos and took off for the hour flight. If you haven't flown on a propeller plane before -- and I had but it had been a while -- it's amazing how much slower you feel like you're going. You almost feel like you're floating through the air and not soaring...and then thoughts like this start to creep into your head: "Uh, how old is this death trap?"

The flight to Luang Prabang was quite beautiful. We passed seemingly endless mountains and appeared to be following the winding Mekong River for a little while. Finally we started to come in for our landing and I saw a small village...which turned out to be Luang Prabang.

When we stepped off the plane I immediately noticed two things:
1. A dozen kids standing and waving at us from behind a chain linked fence.

2. We were the ONLY plane at the "international airport."

Here's a picture of the airport I took the next day. If you click to enlarge the picture or squint really hard you'll notice there were NO PLANES at the airport. Air Laos seemingly has one plane.

After exiting the airport Hannah and I caught a taxi and headed into Luang Prabang, my new favorite city in Asia.

Off to the village...

(PICTURE: It's the year of the OX.)

Today Huyen and I are driving to her village to spend Tet with her family. There is a big celebration in Hanoi for Tet tonight but from what I've been told, it's more traditional to spend Tet in the country with relatives. In my head I've compared it to this: spending Thanksgiving in NYC watching the Macy's Day Parade or spending Thanksgiving at my home in Livingston watching the parade on TV while eating my mom's cooking. The latter will always win...even though Huyen's house might not have a TV.

The best part -- blog wise -- about going to Huyen's house is that I have to share a twin size bed with her seventeen-year-old brother. Today I'm going to practice a few new Vietnamese phrases including:

1. Please don't cuddle with me.

2. Roll over, please.

3. Don't worry about it, I went through puberty once too.

After Huyen's house I'm going to be going on a five day motorbike trip with some friends. Because Huyen's village doesn't have internet -- and I'm assuming wherever I go on my bike -- over the next week I'm going to post some belated entries from my trip with Hannah. Happy Tet everyone!!!

(PICTURE: The only Ox I'm really familiar with.)

Vietnamese Christmas Trees

(PICTURE: A vendor selling the Tet trees in a park.)

Tet Holiday, the Chinese New Year, starts in Vietnam this weekend. As a casual observer, you would have thought the holiday started weeks ago because the traffic and overall level of madness has doubled around the city.

One sign that Tet is approaching is that the streets are lined with small orange tree/bush things. Although the fruit looks like oranges they're actually more in the lime family. Every family basically buys one of these trees and puts it in their house. Yeah, it's basically the Vietnamese equivalent of the Christmas Tree. Or perhaps the Christmas tree is the Christian equivalent of the Vietnamese/Chinese new year tree since I'm pretty sure China was celebrating New Years way before Jesus was born.

Last night as I was tutoring my next door neighbor, I commented that his orange-tree thingermerbob was quite nice. He told me that he and his father drove 10K to a farm to get their tree. He told me many people have the same tree every year and they keep it on a farm for basically 51 weeks out of the year and just pick it up for Tet. It's kind of like a distant relative you only see on Thanksgiving.

Book Review: They Marched Into Sunlight

Turning 30

As I blogged about ages ago, everyone in Vietnam turns a year older during Tet Holiday regardless of when their actual birthday is. This means that I'm about to turn thirty next week in the eyes of 84 million people.

Even though I personally don't subscribe to this birthday rule, it does bring up the issue that I will be turning 30 at some point this year. In fact, nearly all of my best friends will be thirty by the end of 2009.

This past week, was one of my best bud's birthday bashes. Tom Tancred -- who I describe to people as "The coolest guy I know" and my sister describes as "Ben's man crush" -- turned the thirty corner in memorable fashion. Tom rented out a warehouse in Los Angeles and threw a "Greasers vs. Socs" theme party. Here's the poster for the throw down:

(PHOTO: Tom through the years.)




















(PICTURE: Tom and Maggie at Tom's 30th)











Perhaps the most memorable part of "The Outsiders" is Pony Boy reciting Robert Frost's poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay":

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
so dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.


Well, Robert Frost was right. Tom, I hope you enjoy being thirty...because on January 26th, the first day of Tet, you're 31 in Vietnam.

Speaking of gold, check out the golden tan Tom got when we were on the beaches of Greece a few years ago:

Times Are A'changing...

Forget the first 100 days of office. Obama has been President for less than twelve hours and already the world is changing. The proof? I can blog again!

Yesterday my local IT guy came over (he climbed one floor up) and showed me how to blog. I'm not gonna reveal the secret of how I'm avoiding the new anti-blogging laws but lets just say my server is no longer in Vietnam.

We're beating the system!!!
(PHOTO: My IT guy -- Ryan "Yes We Can" Tharp.)

As everyone knows, last night (or this afternoon for those in America) Obama was inaugurated. Ryan, my boss Jim and I watched the swearing in at 12:30 AM here (that's with the half hour Vietnam news delay). I was filled with emotion last night and despite the gigantic obstacles our country has to overcome, I think Obama can do it. Hell, if I can blog again we can do anything!

A few things I found interesting about the ceremony:

1. Ryan said it best about Cheney being in a wheelchair: "It's symbolic of how he left our country."

2. It's fitting that a Bush appointee, Chief Justice Roberts, fumbled over his lines.

3. Uh, how big was Joe Biden's bible?

4. My friend Jennifer in LA emailed me a question that I'd like to know the answer to: "Do you think Michelle had to write her kids a note to skip school?"

5. Lots of talk was about Obama seeing Bush off in the chopper. However, I thought the best part was that Bush's Dad and Mom were in the chopper. It was like the kid had finished playing president with his buddies and his parents picked him up to take him home.

6. I thought the most touching part of the whole ceremony was the benediction. I had never heard any parts of the "Negro National Anthem" before and thought it was really touching. Here's the lyrics to the full anthem:

Lift every voice and sing,

'Til earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the listening skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,

Let us march on 'til victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chast'ning rod,

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;

Yet with a steady beat,

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

Out from the gloomy past,

'Til now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who has by Thy might

Led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,

Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,

May we forever stand,

True to our God,

True to our native land.

I'm glad to be blogging again. I've got A LOT to catch up on: Laos, Tet, Vietnamese roller skating.... Stay Tuned!

Important Ahoy Hanoi Info

Ben has told me that Blogspot is not working in Vietnam, possibly due to the Tet Holiday. Ben will continue to check the website every day and if the site still doesn't work after Tet he'll switch to a new blog host. Stay tuned, and Happy Tet everyone!
Hannah

New Friends

(PICTURE: Hannah, in her famous sideways pose, standing in the "bat cave.")

Although our three day jungle "trek" was a lot of fun, it was also quite falsely advertised. On the first day we were supposed to go to a "Bat Cave." We went to the cave, which was pretty cool, but there were definitely no bats.

On the first night we were supposed to stay in an ethnic village. However where we stayed strangely had no villagers. The next day was our big trekking day and I think we only actually walked for about three hours. This to me was the big disappointment of the trip. For a "trekking" trip there was a big absense of "trekking." Overall I would say we hiked no more than 8 miles in three days. I was hoping to hike at least 8 miles a day.

Despite the lack of exercise we still saw a couple gorgeous waterfalls and more importantly made a bunch of new friends. Hannah and I met a really nice couple from France named Pascal and Raki. We met a great kid from California named Riley who was taking a year off from college. And lastly, we met Cathal and Lucy, a really cool couple from Ireland. Here's some pictures of our new friends:

(PICTURE: The Irish couple with some puppies)

(PICTURE: Pascal and Raki. This is really a video. They were frozen with fear)

(PICTURE: Riley is in the back left. Hannah has a lot more pictures of him on her camera. I guess I'm not as interested in taking pictures of single dudes as she is...)

Oh, and we had a pretty good tour guide too. Although like most of the trip, he was falsely advertised. He didn't exactly speak English. However, he spoke the universal language: MAGIC. He taught us a handful of sweet magic tricks. All I need is a string and I can blow your mind!


(PICTURE: Our tour guide/traveling magician.)

Look What We Found!!!

Hannah and I found elephants!!! It turns out that they are really easy to find when they're chained down in the middle of the jungle.


After a couple days in Chiang Mai Hannah and I decided to do another jungle trek. On the first day we hiked through the jungle until we came to a little village/base camp. At the bottom of the camp were a bunch of elephants. The next morning we got to ride them.

When we started out on the elephants there was a "driver." Although after about fifteen minutes the guy just jumped off and told us we could drive the elephant. Hannah went first and slid down to the elephants neck. Once she was done I got my turn.

I will say that I was slightly torn about the whole experience. It was definitely fun to ride an elephant but clearly it was sad that their lives are spent lugging around tourists. Okay, yeah, I feel pretty guilty.

Anyway, check out this video of our elephant tearing a tree out of the ground:

Chiang Mai

I had high expectation for Chiang Mai since my buddy Marc -- my friend who met me in China for the World Team Table Tennis Championships back in March -- had lived in Chiang Mai for a few months in 2007.

Hannah and I arrived in the city in the evening and took a tuk-tuk to a guest house. After we BOTH showered (our first hot water since the first night!!!!) we went out to a Thai vegetarian restaurant. Following dinner Hannah and I grabbed dessert on the street. A very common dessert in Thailand are street pancakes. They're kind of like a crepe. Here's a pancake stand we went to on the islands:

After dinner Hannah and I walked around the city until we found a nice looking massage place. We paid a couple dollars and had traditional thai massages. At some point during the massage I passed out. I'm not sure if I fell asleep because I was utterly exhausted or because of the extreme pain I was in from this surprisingly strong Thai woman pushing on my pressure points.

After our massages Hannah and I went back to our room to go to sleep. I was dreaming away in the middle of the night when some disturbing noises awoke me from the bathroom. I got up out of bed and found Hannah sitting on the floor praying to the porcelain god (all these Wats must have inspired her):
Hannah claims to have gotten her first case of food poisoning. She thinks it was the street pancake. That said, I'm pretty sure her body was just rejecting the fact that she took a shower.

The next day Hannah was in pretty rough shape so we just took it easy all day. In the afternoon when Hannah took a nap I rented a bicycle and went for a ride around the city to get the lay of the land.

The next day Hannah was feeling a little better so we ventured out of our hotel. Hannah wanted to get some traditional Thai food for lunch so we went to a place honors the king. Not this king:



(PICTURE: The 81-year-old king of Thailand whose picture is everywhere.)

Instead we went to this king:
Hannah got the veggie burger and I had my first non KFC fast food in a year.

After lunch we continued to walk around the city. We stumbled into a random Wat that had some strange statutes in front of it. See if you recongize this Buddha:



Finally, at the end of the day Hannah and I went to the famouse Chiang Mai night market. Like most night markets in Asia they sold a plethora of cheap junk.

Hugging Karma

I consider myself a pretty big hugger. When I say goodbye I generally like to hug people who I feel close with. Sometimes I do the half handshake - half hug thing with guys but usually I go for a full-on hug if I sense the other person is down with it. Once or twice since living in Vietnam I've gone in for a hug with friends of mine who proceeded to stiffen up like a totem pole. It's definitely a cultural thing.

Well, Hannah's love of hugging definitely trumps mine...which resulted in a pretty funny story.

After we were dropped off from our jungle trek I said a quick goodbye to the Germans and our tour guides and sprinted into the guest house to go #1. It was a long drive and I had to pee really really badly. When I came out of the bathroom, Hannah was just getting back from saying her goodbyes. She looked at me and said, "You just missed the most awkward thing ever." Apparently Hannah said to everyone something like, "I just want to warn you but I'm going to hug you goodbye because I like to hug." Hannah then proceeded to hug the Germans and the Thai tour guides -- NOBODY reciprocated.

Hannah couldn't stop laughing about how everyone must have thought she was the weirdest person in the world and how she couldn't stop hugging everyone even as everyone stiffened up around her. In everyone's defense, at this point Hannah hadn't really showered, minus bathing in a waterfall, for a few days.

Anyway, Hannah and I joked about this awkward situation for the next day or so...until karma struck Hannah back.

While bike riding in Sukhothai, Hannah and I rode up to some old building with a bunch of elephant heads on it's side. As we rode up we passed a Thai man who was sitting under a tree. Hannah and I walked around the building and started to take pictures. After a minute the Thai man approached us and asked if we wanted him to take a picture of us. We said yes, thanked him and he took this picture:

After he took this picture he asked if I could take a picture of him and Hannah. The man excitedly walked up to Hannah and gave her a hug...AND THEN HE TRIED TO KISS HER!!! Hannah turned her head fast enough so that he only got her cheek.

Being the good big brother I am I stood there frozen and giggling. Hannah politely pushed him off and said to me, "Let's get out of here!" We rode off as fast as we could. I don't think I stopped laughing for about ten minutes.

Here's their intimate moment seconds before the kiss:

Hannah's First Prophecy

Hannah is not much of a bike rider. I remember as a kid our family once made a big purchase -- we all got mountain bikes. After the first day with our bikes, I'm pretty sure mine was the only one taken out of our garage more than two times. In fact, they are still all in our garage collecting dust as I type this (a million years from now archaeologists or aliens will discover all they ever need to know about human civilization from the never-throw-anything-out August garage).

One person who NEVER rode a bicycle was my sister. To be fair, I think Hannah was so young that she was the only one who didn't get a bike. However, what I'm positive about is that as a kid she never rode a bike. In fact, when she studied abroad in Belgium she rented a bicycle and never rode it because, "I couldn't ride on cobblestone."

Why am I telling this? Well, because Hannah and I went to Sukhothai, Thailand, a place that is highly suggested to be seen while bike riding. Sukhothai is the old kingdom of Thailand (It existed from 1238 till 1438...according to Wikipedia). The area of the old kingdom is pretty spread out and would have been a lot to see on foot. Our guide book told us to rent bikes so the day before we got there Hannah prophesied, "Tomorrow I will ride a bicycle." Well, call her Moses:



(PICTURE: Frog faces, our money pose.)

Overall Sukhothai was a great stop on our way to Chiang Mai. Most people go directly from Bangkok to Chaing Mai and miss this little gem of a place. If you're in Thailand and have an extra day, I would highly suggest going to Sukhothai...especially if you like bike riding.