Plans, puppies, Burma and a piece of Pi

Journey: Pi Thailand - Mae Sai border (10hrs), Mae Sai - Tachilek Burma (10 mins walking), Tachilek - Kuang Tong (3 hrs), Kuang Tong - Loi Moi (2 hrs), Kuang Tong - Tachilek (3 hrs), Border crossing (10 mins walking), Mae Sai - Bangkok (12 hrs), Bangkok - Taipei (4 hrs flight), Taipei - Ju Bei (45 mins by car.) Total duration: Approx. 10 days.

The universe seems to have a way of surprising me when I least expect it. It's interesting planning a trip of this nature and thinking about where you're going to be in two months, and who with... It doesn't matter though because you can plan all you like but in a minute all those plans change, the faces around you change and soon you're sitting right back where you started knowing that this is where you are meant to be at this time...

The changes in regards to my trip began with an email in Pi. I was enjoying my time in the beautiful valley. Amazing scenery, cozy bungalow all to myself, friendly locals and travelers and stunning sunsets. I had finally decided that I would return to Taiwan for the summer to work, mainly because I left a sweet, gorgeuse, and wonderful little puppy back in Hualien and needed to find a way to get him home. Yogi is his name and he is a Tu go doggie (the name for mixed breed in Taiwan.) Anyway, I had finally found someone who would take him back to Canada and my mission was to get him ready. Plans all set, confidence in tact, I checked my email one week before my flight to find that Yogi had been hit by a car and died... I was, and still am devastated. He was such a special friend and although I never had any plans to adopt a dog (hence my intense allergies) he kinda adopted me. But that's life, and I have to believe that everything happens for a reason and I will see him again...

The following day, I decided that I needed a change of scenery if I didnt want to go insane with what ifs and such. The opportunity came with a guy I met in Pai JJ, who introduced me to the guy (Freddi) he'd been traveling with, who was heading to Burma that night. Keeping up with my no plans status, I decided to join him. 10 hours later, we arrived at the Mae Sai border.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into really, I hadn't done any research for Burma whatsoever. So when I entered the country, I received a little map that had a town about 3 hours north on it, called Kuang Tong, and decided to go there. The cultural change from Thailand to Burma aka Myanmar was seen instantly. The government officials at the border were pretty scary, they asked me a million questions, took my passport and said they'd be keeping it at the border until my return, gave me a handful of "permits," and they wouldn't even accept my American currency in the account of too many folds... When I hit the street, I could see that this country was much poorer in comparison to Thailand. I was interested to learn more about the country and decide for myself why it was that tourists are often advised not to visit.

It was strange traveling here on the account of needing to hand out passes wherever you go, as the government needs to know where you are at all times! I was pleased to find that there was a tremendous amount of chinese influence in this part of the country though, because this meant that I could communicate with the locals, something a lot of travelers are unable to do. I met a young girl on the bus to Kuang Tong who invited me to meet her family and helped me decide where I would stay. At this point Freddi and I had decided that we would just do our own thing, so this gave me plenty of opportunity to mingle with the locals. I checked into the only real backpackers in town that wasn't run by the government, and slept.

The next few days were incredible. I bumped into a local man on the street who was anxious to show me around. He introduced me to Li Li, a chinese woman from Beijing but who'd been living in Burma since she was 13. I spent that afternoon with Li Li touring around the city and chatting. She told me that she and her family moved here because there was more freedom and opportunity here than in China. Strange because the locals have very little freedom and opportunity. She plays tennis and told me that she and her father would return to Beijing for the olympics. Not sure if she said to participate in the olympics or watch them... I asked her where I could use the internet. She said "Ohhh no, you can't use the internet here!" She could only use it with a special pass and in another town three kilometers away. Locals are not allowed to use it and there is no way to get connected, except of course if you want to bribe the government officials on the top of a sketchy hill, which I was not prepared to do. Oh, and a one minute phone call home would have cost me about 6 USD for one minute!! She told me that almost everyone she knew didn't have a passport. Unless you are really rich, you aren't allowed to have one, but you can get special passes that will allow you to go to Thailand or China temporarily... A lot of people don't even have enough money to go to school as the government doesn't pay for it, so if you don't have money, you don't go... She was very careful about talking politics and such with me in public cause she would have gotten in trouble, not as much trouble as a local she said, but definitely trouble.. Wonder what trouble would be in store for a local talking to a foreigner... and why? Brings the question of freedom and human rights to a whole new level...

The following day, Li li, Mister um... Cant remember his name, and I set of for Loi Moi. An old village high in the mountains which was colonized by the English years ago. We had to go to the local immigration office and get a pass, which I had to pay a bribe to get, on top of the men at the office being incredibly sleezy. When we got to Loi Moi, I had to pay yet another bribe for them to let me enter, despite my having a permit. I was beginning to wonder if it was them who asked for the bribe or the old man who offered it to them... One US dollar was more than a lot of people make in a day, so I wasn't too upset in having to pay them. Nonetheless, it was worth it becuase Loi Moi was incredible, like a little heaven tucked away on a mountain. There were horses grazing in the fields and beautiful little houses covered in flowers. It was definitely worth the drive.

On our way back we visited a boy's orphanage. They were really intrigued by my presence, I think most of them had never seen a foreigner before. Even just asking them for high fives received a very happy response. I went with them to play soccer under the nearby temple and spoke a little with the owners, congratulating them on taking on such a wonderful task.

The next few days were spent cycling around the city and trying to find a place to swim, which ended with me finding a square hole filled with brown water with about 15 teenage boys inside... Not my cup of tea, but it looked like tea.. or coffee maybe... Anyways, the girl that I met on the bus to Kuang Tong had tracked me down and found me at my hostel. She invited me to come out to her house in the country and see the hotsprings. Very excited, I went with her. The drive out there was spectacular, rice fields with a huge fluffy cloud backdrop, and horses running by. Her family was so sweet, they wanted me to stay with them, but I'd already booked my bus for the following morning. She (wish I remembered her name, but it was chinese and not easy to remember) brought me to the local school which reminded me of little house on the prairie, see pictures below. I've considered going back to teach but I'm pretty sure that would not be permitted, I might cause too much trouble...

I wasn't able to get to the heart of the problems in Burma, but I could see a lot of them with my own eyes. People that are expected to adhere to a very strict set of rules, no socializing with foreigners, no passports, restricted travel, corrupt government officials... But the people were still... happy. As it seems is the case in all the countries I have visited. Those who have very little and yet don't need any more than that... Something to be learned from this?

When I left Burma, I knew that I needed to go back, and next time see more of the country via arrival in Yangon. I wasn't allowed to travel there by land because the space of land between where I was and where the capitol city is located, is where a vast majority of opium is grown and sold. There's been reports of a lot of violence in that area, as well as witnesses of military training of children... You can learn more at:

http://burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/200102/msg00016.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5071966.stm

Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Ong San Soo Chee), Burma's pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate, symbolises the struggle of Burma's people to be free. She is currently under her third house arrest and the government has continually restricted her movement within the country and abroad. See the link below to learn more:

http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/aboutburma/aung_san_suu_kyi.htm

And a great site to learn more about Burma is www.voicesforburma.org

The more aware we are of what happens in the world around us, the more we can help or bring awareness to those who can...

I'll leave you with that thought. I am leaving for Canada in one week from Taiwan. Going back temporarily to help my family and then will be traveling again. Let me know if you want to meet up, I'll be in BC for the month of September and then onto Hamilton, near Toronto.

Love and peace to all of you,

Kusuma/Tiffany xo

See Burma photos at: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=a415xus7.43yistu7&Uy=-89sp5m&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=329394716108_797120681503

My crazy month in Laos, China, Laos and Thailand...

Journey: Chinese Border - Muang La (2hrs), Overnight in Muang La, M.L - Kunming (18hrs), 4 days in Kunming, K.M - Dali (4hrs), 4 days in Dali, Dali - Li Jiang (8hrs), 2 days in Li Jiang, L.J - Kunming (16 hrs/due to bus crash), Flight Kunming - Vientiane Laos (1hr.), V.T - Vang Vieng (4hrs), 10 more days in Vang Vieng, V.V - Luang Prabang (8hrs), 3 more days in Luang Prabang, L.P - Nong Kiao (4hrs), N.K - Muang Noi by boat (1hr), 5 days in Muang Noi, M.N - N.K - Odomxai - Luang Nam Tha (8hrs), Overnight in L.N.T, L.N.T - Thai border Huei Xai (4hrs.), H.X - Chang Mei (3.5hrs) Overnight in Chang Mei, C.M - Mai Sariang - Mae Hong Son - Pai (3 days/driving motorbike through the mountains.) Total time for this journey, approx. 25 days...


Phew!! It looks like a lot when you list the amount of hours traveled... It's no wonder I am vegging in Thailand at the moment and not wanting to move! Looking at my pictures and hearing about all the places I've seen in the past 4 months you might assume that I am the kind of traveler who likes to cram as much as possible into a short period of time. Really it's an art, this type of travel I mean... It takes a lot of energy, non-planning and lack of trusting instincts to pull off what I've done in the past month. Oh the stories to tell...

It all began with a coin toss and a rock fall. Sasha and I planned to go to China from Laos to meet up with her boyfriend Lloyd in Kunming, Yunnan province. Being the painfully awful decision maker that I am, I was debating on staying in Laos a little longer as China just didn't feel quite right. So I tossed a coin, and it landed tails on China. We went to the bus station and as the bus was minutes from leaving, we stood in the rain, Sasha wrote a C in the sand on one side of a big rock and L on the other, gave me a small rock and said "drop it." It, of course, landed on the C side... So I paid my 20,000 kip (2 bucks) and hopped on the bus to China.

Two days, 4 buses, a scary taxi ride, and much lack of sleep later, we arrived in Kunming, at 3 am. The woman at the front desk wouldn't let us see Lloyd in the dorms so we checked into a room and decided to kidnap him James Bond style. We tip toed past two guards and a hotel clerk, carefully working our way up the stairs and woke everyone up in the dorm, but we accomplished our mission, obtaining one surprised and sleepy Canadian boy.

We spent 4 days in clean and modern Kunming, doing I don't really know what... That much travel makes one delirious. We then headed to the old town of Dali. It is apparently one of the only places where one can get a true glimpse of old China. The town and buildings were charming but it seemed like somewhat of a theme park with travelers from all over the world eating in "Tibetan" style restaurants with vegetarian lasagna and brownies. The mountains are said to be spectacular in Yunnan province, we sadly could not see any due to the massive downpours of rain. I had a very unfortunate mishap involving a poorly run guest house and a crazy Chinese man, making me question what I was doing in this country, with public rest stop washrooms that need a sign which says "Beware, enter only with blindfold and gas mask," when I could be enjoying beer Laos and relaxing in Vang Vieng. Nevertheless we continued on.

We paired up with a couple from Holland and took a minibus to Li Jiang. Our goal was to see Tiger Leaping Gorge, which is supposed to only be around for a few more years due to plans to build dams and destroy the nature in the surrounding area. We drove past the oldest pagodas in China, where they were charging something crazy like 20 USD to enter, and continued on. We had strong hopes that the weather might be better in Li Jiang but sadly it wasn't, and it was colder. Unfortunately I started to get sick from the wet and cold and spent our first night sucking back inhalers and fighting off the hotel cat, who insisted on sleeping in my bunk bed. The following morning, I decided to turn around and go back to Laos.

I said a sad goodbye to Lloyd and my lovely travel partner Sasha before boarding the overnight bed bus to Kunming. This bus actually has three rows of bunk beds all along the bus, without any seats. It was a cozy bus ride, until in the middle of the night I woke up to the bus swerving, and a sound that can only be described as terrifying, as the bus collided with a transport truck and the highway's central railing. It was a little like a movie, people screaming and crying, the smell of leaking petrol, nobody knowing what to do... With only a small bruise on my leg, I left the bus to find the truck overturned, the metal coils it was transporting all over the road, along with its gas supply. Not surprisingly, people were smoking while standing in the gas puddle, so with my Chinese ability I told them how dangerous that was and luckily no one was blown up. Almost everyone seemed to be ok, most surprisingly the driver of the truck as it was crunched. The front of our bus was as well, and I heard later that our driver had lost his leg. It was truly one of those moments where you look over the other side of the highway, see the huge drop off and realize how incredibly lucky you are to be alive...

When I arrived in Kunming I changed my game plan of taking the 40 hour bus ride to Laos and hopped on the first flight back, which just happened to be an hour after I arrived. I made the flight, which also connected perfectly with the bus to Vang Vieng. Perhaps it was all the chaos of the previous night, but It wasn't until then that I realized I had a full blown respiratory infection and felt like I was going to die. I made it to the organic farm in a few pieces and said a quick hello to some friends before checking into a room and sleeping for 12 hours straight.

The next ten days were spent doing exactly what I needed; relaxing, laughing with friends and getting my health back on track. This return also gave me a chance to truly see what an impact the owners of the farm, the employees and the volunteers have on this community. It was so impressive to see the way in which this village was united and how everyone had so much interest and respect for the English class, run 4 times a week. I taught a few times and had a wonderful experience, getting to know the kids and the adults in the community. As fellow travelers know, its very rare to get an opportunity to have an authentic meeting with locals that are not working in the tourism business. I was happy to be a part of this and to be back in this amazing place.

A friend from Australia, Cam was still at the farm when I came back, so we decided that when he was finished his teaching contract with the farm, we would head north and travel together for a while. We left on the 27th after vegging in town for a day, getting a good dose of movies and friends episodes. We went to Luang Prabang and took a day trip to the waterfall that I had visited 3 years previous, and was now about 1/10th the size... From there we took a bus to Nong Kiao in the north of Laos, and then a boat to Muang Noi, our desired destination.

Muang Noi is a quiet and very undeveloped village which has streets of mud, is run on generators and has only been seeing tourists for probably less than 5 years. We found a bungalow with hammocks overlooking the river for a dollar a night (50 cents each.) On our second day we talked to some travelers who had visited the villages in the surrounding area and raved about how great it was. So we packed our bags and the next morning we headed out into the unknown. (I say the unknown because we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into!)

We first visited a cave, about a half hour from town and hiked through rice paddies to the first village for lunch. We indicated that we wanted to hike to the village close to the waterfall, and a villager showed us the way to the path. He left us with a point uphill and a laugh saying "you go uuuuup!" Ok, how hard could it be? Three and a half up hill climbing hours later, knees shaking, skin burnt and only 100 mils of water left, we finally spotted the village. Both Cam and I are used to being stared at, that's the nature of being a foreigner in a foreign land, but this gave a new definition to "stare." When we entered the village, I think everyone came out of their house, and every child gathered around us. Luckily they understood "water" and people even said "you stay here!!" offering their houses for the night. We settled into one family's house and shortly headed off to the waterfall. About half of the kids, maybe 20 of them, surrounded us and then showed us the way. It happened to be straight downhill about 40 minutes walk, but the kids ran, in bare feet, I slid most of the way, mostly on my bum. When we finally got there, the waterfall was nice but all we wanted was to rest. 40 minutes later we were back at the house, fed a dinner of instant noodles and bamboo shoots and then attempted to go to sleep, when a group of mid 20s guys arrived with a boom box on one of the guy's shoulders. They played their music and sat in our room, very little was said due to the language barrier, it was all very bazaar. After an hour or so they said good bye and we got some much needed sleep.

The following day we hiked down the 3 hour mountain trail and made it back just in time for a massage in the first village. We made it almost the entire way back to Muang Noi when for the last 20 minutes we walked through torrential downpour and sloshed our way through the mud. We finally made it back and I had my first leech on my leg. There were a few travelers in the restaurant who looked horrified at the state we were in, no doubt rethinking their plans to venture into the void the following day.

From there its all travel talk, border crossing into Thailand, motorbike trip around the mountains of Mae Hong Son, and finally a chance to settle in Pai Thailand, where I am now. Cam stayed for 3 days, then to stay on schedule with getting back to Aus in time for the school semester, he had to leave. It was sad to say goodbye to another fantastic travel partner. That's the tough thing about traveling, always bidding farewell to good people... But there's always more lovely folk to meet right around the corner. I'll probably stay here for the next ten days, teaching Chi Gong and chilling out in my bungalow by the swimming pool of my guest house. Life.. Is good.

I am heading back to Taiwan on June 28th to teach summer camp and make some more money before going to India and Africa. If you're going to be in Taiwan, let me know so we can grab a coffee and swap stories.

Love and miss you all,

Kusuma aka Tiffany xo



Copy and paste these addresses into your internet browser to see pictures of my trip.

Check out my pictures from Northern Laos at:

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Check out my pictures from China at:

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My Return to Northern Laos

Journey: Pakse-Vientiane (12 hrs), VT - Viang Vieng (3 hrs), VV - Luang Prabang (8hrs), LP - Luang Nam Tha (8hrs), LNT - Muen Sing (3 hrs), MS - LNT - Boten/China border (6hrs) Total time for this journey: Approx 18 days.

I am currently in Li Jian Southwest China, which is approx. 30 hours away from Laos and relatively close to the Tibetan border.

We have covered quite a bit of land over the past month, bus after bus and tuk tuk after Song tao, we managed to see a lot of Northern Laos and make our way to China. This blog however, is to update you on the remainder of our time in Laos.

We left Pakse in southern Laos, sadly, and ventured north on the overnight bus to Vientiane, the capitol city of Laos. Our mission was to extend our visas, which is aparently a difficult task during Laos New Year when the government offices stay closed for days, weeks even past the actual holiday. So we decided to hop the first bus to Vang Vieng.

For those of you who haven't been to Laos, Vang Vieng is a beautiful haven wedged between limestone cliffs, on the Nam Lik river (which connects with the Mekong.) The last time I was there I found it incredibly inspirational and longed to return. This time we stayed at the organic farm which is 3km outside of town. The owners of the farm help the community in various ways and they appreciate the help of volunteers to keep the various activies running. They have built a school where they teach English to the children and adults in the nearby village, every evening. I attended the class a few times and was blown away by the friendliness of the locals and their passionate desire to learn English. We also worked on the garden and participated in a few activities to support the locals, ie. learning cross stitch embroidering. Sasha and I haven't stopped since we left the farm, making all sorts of cool stuff. Yes, I am officially a grandmother...

We had an awesome time at the farm with great people from around the world. Some days were spent tubing down the river, while enjoying the unique menus in town, special pizzas and such. And nights were spent playing mafia, and insane card games causing us to acting like monkeys, dancing rediculously with each win, while simultaneously managing to finish off more beer than my whole trip combined... with the help of an Aussie ;)

I wish I could stop to tell you the various stories that happen along the way but it's so hard to find the balance between what I think to be funny and exciting and those stories which you had to be there for. I guess I'll have to save those for when we see eachother once again.

After ten days we said a sad farewell to the farm and hopped an 8 hr bus to Luang Prabang. I can't say that I have much to report from here as we really just spent our time pigging out on great food (thank GOD for the french influence... cheeeese mmmmmmmm) and shopping at the market. We were too lazy, or too full of food to motivate ourselves to see anything, although I'd already been there so it was alright with me.

We then had about a week to see Northern Laos. The main attraction here is trekking in the tribal villages and enjoying the country side. Due to the weather we weren't able to do much of either. We did however find a great place named Adima which was only 10 kms from the China border and within walking distance to local villages. We walked to two or three in one day and witnessed the tribes in their natural setting. The children were very friendly, one was very anxious to show off his mud tobogganning skills, sliding down on his bare tooshie... We seemed to attract the attention of half of one of the villages while playing a detuned guitar and singing along with the locals. My sad attempt at brown eye girl was a big hit :) It was great to have the opportunity to see all of this with our own eyes and without the assistance of a tour guide. It created a great experience and it was a nice way to end off Laos.

Despite my clinging to Laos, and my desire to return to the farm to vedge out for another month, I hopped a bus with Sasha to the China border. We were sad to leave and honestly extremely culture shocked the second we crossed the border. It's amazing how two countries that share a border can be so incredibly different. When I write next, I'll fill you in on China and my plans for the summer, perhaps back to Taiwan, or Canada even??

Wishing you all well. Thank you for reading about my adventures and following my progress through my travels. Your input, comments, and questions are always appreciated.

Love and peace,

Kusuma aka Tiffany xo

Waterfalls, Turkeys and dolphins in Southern Laos

Journey - (Thai) Bangkok- Ubon Ratchathani - (Laos) Pakse - Ban Nakasang - Si Pan Don - Don Det - Don Khone - Ban Nakasang - Champasak - Pakse - The Bolaven Plateau - Pakxong - Tad Lo - Pakse

Where to begin?? We have only been in Laos for 15 days but I feel like we've lived here for years. Every place and its people welcome us with open arms, warm hearts and inviting smiles. Sash and I both feel as tho we've been here before, as if lived or visited in a past life...

This country is a kind reminder to any traveler of the beauty of living simply and in peace. During the years of the Vietnam war, Laos became a hideaway for many Vietkong attempting to escape US attack, as well as a "secret" location to hide and transport war weapons. Unfortunately because of this, Laos was bombed to pieces and became the country most bombed in the entire world, per capita. You'd never know it, the people never talk about it, nor show any hostility, anger or resentment for being unfairly pushed into a war. They are incredibly peaceful and seem to be happy with what little they have, and are willing to share their homes, their lives and their hearts with eachother and the many tourists that pass by each year. The children are also so lovely. They smile, laugh and play everywhere, having a seemingly normal and happy childhood, which is so nice to see.

We began our journey to Laos via 12 hour sleeper train from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchthani. We had to endure the south east asia travel craze by making our way on foot, motorbike, songtao and bus to the Southern tip of Laos. Destination Si Pan Don, the four thousand islands. 12 modes of transportation, 3 currencies, 2 countries and 24 hours later we finally reached our destination, confused and a little lost but happy to arrive.

Si Pan Don is home to many islands which have a unique culture unto themselves, with waterfalls, friendly locals, irrawaddy dolphins, bathing water buffalos and virtually untouched beauty. We stayed in a fantastic bungalow overlooking the Mekong river, huge balcony, running water, and mozi net, all for 2 USD a night! We spent 6 days in Don Khone Island exploring, relaxing, hangin out with the locals and trying to spot dolphins near the Cambodian border. Mission accomplished and minds settled from our 24 hour travel fiasco, we left Don Khone and moved a little north.

Champasak was the old capitol city of Laos. We couldn't figure out why... There were supposed to be over 200,000 locals but we couldn't figure out where they all went! When the sun went down, so did everyone in town, the town was so deserted, it was eerie. Sasha endured her first dose of food poisoning, I tried my first Laos coffee and began my addiction, and we saw Wat Po, part of the Anchor Temples... That was pretty much our experience in the old capitol.

One car ferry, a songtao, and tuk tuk later we reached Pakse, determined to head north but once again changed our plans when we realized the beauty surrounding this area. Sash and I began a mission to see if we could do the Bolaven Plateau with just our day packs for 6 days (mainly for me because I need to prove to myself that I dont need all the "stuff" I carry with me.) We left on the 10th and took a local "bus" along with 19 locals, chickens, live fish and 4 gas tanks to reach our first destination, Pakxong. We stopped at two spectacular waterfalls along the way and hitchhiked the rest of the way. Arriving at Dusk, we hunted for dinner and found it at the town coffee festival where we ate the spiciest papaya salad and I gambled away 10 cents, convinced I could win, hahaha. We then checked into the only guesthouse for miles, the Pakxong hotel, which reminded us of The Shining, but decided to endure it for the night.

The next day, bodies still intact, we hitched to Tad Lo (said to be the foreigner or "farang" hangout of the area.) This little town, situated around the largest waterfall in the area, was a fantastic place to get stuck during Buddhist new year. Tim, the local tour guide and farang co-ordinator, organized the new year festival (in Thai known as Song Kran - Song = watering, Kran = time.) Its been 2050 years since the birth of Buddha, and the Lao people celebrate by spending time with friends and family watering and cleaning their buddha statues, and eachother to ask for and give good wishes, good luck, clean the slates and start over new. This involves an incredible amount of H2O and lots of happy, drunk Lao locals. We took part in the celebration preparation in Tad Lo and enjoyed the waterfalls, as well as hiking to nearby villages, where we were confronted with locals shocked to see foreigners, as well as evil turkeys that traveled in packs and attacked/drove us out of the village... Not kidding!

Today actually, we left Tad Lo in hopes to move to the north but once again plans have changed when we realized the impossibility of traveling during the new year festival. So we surrendered to this reality and are enjoying getting soaked to the bone with water flying in every direction! When we left Tad Lo we grabbed a ride with local transport but his little bus broke down... So we decided to walk along the country roads until we were invited to a local party on someone's front lawn, where they soaked us, covered us in baby powder and insisted on us drinking Lao Lao and Beer Lao with them while we all danced to very Karaoke sounding Lao music. Although enjoyable, we had to bid fairwell when our driver spotted us, surely amused, and picked us up. We got half way back to Pakse when he wasnt going any further, so we had to change transportation. Hitchhiking in this country has proven to be not only very safe but incredibly entertaining. Our next ride came from two pickup trucks full of Chinese men who let us take over the water buckets in the back. We would drive for a while, then slow down to soak the locals who happened to be unfortunate enough to be standing at the side of the road when we drove past. Needless to say we didn't make it to our guesthouse in Pakse with a single dry patch of skin or clothing or our bodies.

Ahh Laos, such a fabulous place to be, especially at this time. We shall continue to the north and in about 3 weeks we're onto China. Will write again in the meantime. Please check out my Laos Pix, best ones yet in my opinion, and not to be missed :) Comments, suggestions and Q's can be posted here or sent to kusumatiffany@gmail.com.

Love, peace and happiness to you all,

Tiff aka Kusuma xox

Check out my Southern Laos pix at : http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=a415xus7.arwdqt2j&Uy=-5s3375&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=255348901784_260182767403

Thailand!!

Travel in Thailand: Bangkok - Krabi - Railay beach - Koh Yao Noi -Chai ya (Suan Mokkh) - Koh Samui - Bangkok - Kanchanaburi - Bangkok

Hello everyone,

I am back with more from my eventful tour of our beautiful world... I've updated my entire blog with more info to the right of my update, check it out :)

When I originally wrote this blog I was sitting in an internet cafe on Koh San Road in Bangkok Thailand, surrounded by fellow travellers racing to see who can type home the fastest. For those of you who aren't familiar, Koh San Rd. is the Backpacker's haven of Bangkok. Its every new traveller's haven of convenience mixed with diversity, wall to wall shopping, and of course, hoards of tourists from all over the world.

Sasha, my lovely friend who I met in the Philippines over 2 years ago, decided to take up the challenging task of being MY travel partner on this journey. She and I met up in the south about 3 weeks ago and we will be together until we finish travelling India, approximately 8 months from now.

My journey in Thailand began with a flight from Ho Chi Minh, one quick night in Bangkok, and a long bus ride down to the south, heading for Ko Samui. However, I met two great folks on the bus and decided to change my plans to Krabi, ah the nature of travel and its unpredictability. Kristen and I had an awesome time together being beach bums in Railay beach and then travelled together to the quietest island we could find, Ko Yao Noi. Located just 1 hour East of Phuket, this island has around 8000 inhabitants and at one time, during high season, there are possibly 50 tourists altogether on the island... I celebrated my birthday on the island with a great motorbike ride around, A picnic on the beach and what birthday would be complete without a downhill skid and wipe out on a motorbike...? Don't worry, we laughed far more than we cried following our little "accident." Sasha came to the island to meet us the day after my birthday and we stayed there, doing pretty much what beach bums tend to do for a week.

On the 27th we said a sad goodbye to Ko Yao Noi and boarded the ferry to the mainland. I parted with the girls close to Surat Thani, as I intended to make my way to Suan Mokkh, the buddhist monastry where I would meditate for ten days, beginning March 1st. The man on the bus stopped in the middle of nowhere and said, you, Suan Mokkh, Suan Mokkh, and pointed out the window at the hiway. I reluctantly climbed off the bus, lacking confidence in my surroundings, and waved a quick good bye to the girls. A woman looked at me and said, you go Suan Mokkh? Come with me.. So she put her arm in mine and lead me across the street to where her husband, a police officer, was waiting. They put my bags in the back of their truck and we climbed into the cab together. I figured this was pretty much how things worked in nowhere town, so I just went along with it. They stopped shortly after and bought me a huge iced chocolate milk and then we drove like mad people, passing every car on the road to arrive at the monastry. When I asked her how much early in the ride, she said 50, but when I arrived, I realized she meant 50 kms, which we covered in a matter of minutes and all completely free of charge. It was a nice treat :)

The next ten days at Suan Mokkh were challenging. I thought this time was definitely going to be easier than the last, me being a clear headed, meditative yogi... However, I had my work cut out for me. They say the average person has around 16,000 thoughts a day, I am positive that my count is around 160,000 tho, and most of which I should be arrested for thinking in a monastry... I made it alright through the first 7 days but cracked around the 8th day and started chatting with some fellow slackers, and on day 9, snuck out of the monastry for a beer... Not something I'm proud of but it only gives me a reason to do it all again! And properly next time!!

Afterwards I met up with Sasha in Ko Samui. Our time there was pretty mundane aside from meeting some very lovely people, a lovely couple from Hungary and some old friends from the Spa, but we basically spent our days roasting in the sun and enjoying the amazing food at the Spa. The only productive thing we did the entire week we were there was a one day fast, which ended with us squeezing teeny lemons and seasalt into large bottles of water, to chug them and end up with unmentionable bodily reactions... Needless to say, we were cleaned out!

We left for Bangkok on a crouded bus that blew two wheels in the middle of the night! But we arrived safely, and tried to plan our next move. Pai, in the north was our desired destination but due to HUGE forest fires causing incredible smog and terrible air, we are steering clear of that area and instead decided to go to Kanchanaburi until our visas for China, Nepal and Laos were finished processing.

Our last destination in Thailand, Kanchanaburi ended up being a very nice surprise. We found a quaint little spot called the Jolly Frog, which has a nice grassy courtyard with hammocks, right next to the river Kwai. Remember the movie "The bridge over the river Kwai?" Well I walked over the bridge and watched some very daring kids jump off it as well. I was very fortunate that the owner allowed me to teach Yoga so we spent 8 days there doing yoga, and not much else :) The picture on the top of this blog is ofme with the children in Kanchanaburi who are in training to be monks. We spent some time with them on one of our tours, trying to communicate through hand movements and laughter, I even caught a little guy hangin out in a phone booth, a must see in my photo update.

So thats all folks. We are on our way to Laos tonight, I will surely keep you all posted on my travels. I welcome your comments, questions and personal stories from all of you. Please keep checking back periodically and check out my photos, the links will be posted below.

Wishing you all love, peace and happiness on your own journeys.

Tiff aka Kusuma

My pictures from Thailand, Click on the link or cut and paste it into the web address line:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=a415xus7.8m9p17er&Uy=-2wwhds&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=675429833224_523635317403

Travel adventure part 1 - Vietnam

Hello friends, family,other world Nomads...

(Introduction note: This is my first time tryin the blogging thing so bare with me. Go grab a cup of coffee, and a comfy chair, Vietnam is definitely one to read about. I'll work on future blogs being fabulously entertaining in a shorter period of time ;)

Okay so Vietnam! The first destination on my round the world tour. A land of contrasts, where noise and beauty collide. A great place to start off due to small challenges and annoyances reminding me to use my patience and return to my center daily. Preparing me for the road ahead, and giving me an example of the beauty and diverse cultures we encounter while travelling.

I spent 17 days total in Vietnam travelling from North to South. My comfy pace allowed me to see the change in culture and appreciate the different locations as I moved through this beautiful land. You may think that 17 days is actually quite short but its definitely an improvement to my insane 6 countries in 24 days fiasco in Europe! So, my intentions with Vietnam were really to wrap up the South East Asia circuit as well as to see the progress the country had made since the war. Being completely ignorant about history in general has given me a large incentive to experience different countries and learn for myself. Throw away the textbooks, I'm goin in!

I'm in no position to give you an accurate overview of the county's progress, so instead I will simply give you my impressions. From what I know of communism, it didnt seem as though the people are under any harsh government regimes and had to adhere to any strict rules. I often had to remind myself of the fact that there was even a war 30 years ago! I did notice a difference in the people from the North to the South. I warmed up both physically and metaphorically as I moved South. The people definitely grew on me and I found them to be very warm and caring.. They often gave me a reminder, much the same as those in Cambodia, that there are people much worse off than some of us claim to be, and yet they are incredibly happy. Many examples for us to live by.

As far as my experiences go, I left Saigon with a warm fuzzy in my tummy, feeling as tho I had experienced 2 months of travel rather than 2 weeks. I met some awesome people reminding me that the world is a very small place and that after that initial hello, friendships are easily created. I had a blast in the middle of Vietnam in the mountains of Dalat and the beaches of Mui Ne, went tobogganing down huge sand dunes, and motorbiking all over the countryside, celebrated Tet (Vietnamese new year) with the locals in Saigon and slept on a boat in the middle of the bay of dragons (Halong Bay.) Pictures are a must see.

So I guess thats one down and many more to go. Each day I travel I am reminded of how fortunate I am to have this amazing opportunity to see, taste, feel and experience this beautiful world of ours. I know that each step I take is one towards a greater future and a lifetime of fulfillment as I am pursuing a dream and living out part of my purpose here on this earth.

Much more to follow in the near future. Until then enjoy my updates and photos (which will be sent along shortly.) Please keep me posted on your lives, some with great comfort of which I am sometimes envious ;)

Love and Peace

Tiffany aka Kusuma xo

Check out my photos from North Vietnam at http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=a415xus7.bc4hlz03&Uy=-m6pkjk&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=905726501761_652530736403

And the photos from South Vietnam at http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=a415xus7.5ad53xcr&Uy=eihfz3&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0