A big glassy step in the forward direction
And, my, how it glistens on my first inspection
The bells, how they've got me -- a deadly infection
And so then to marriage, here's my insurrection

It's coming up on two weeks, but John and I are engaged.

In a relationship of just over five years, I suppose that, in a sense, we've added a new date-to-remember: the engagement-iversary: May 29, which also happens to be Justin's birthday.

So the story: I had my last exam that Friday, and a couple of days earlier John had mentioned that we should celebrate and have dinner on Friday night. I turned him down, telling him that I had plans already to go to my class party, but the invitation struck me as a little odd, because John isn't really the planning type. So...suspecting something, I canceled my plans to attend the party and notified John of the change.

When Friday rolled around, I was definitely suspicious. But John was studying for his CFA which was still a week away, and I figured that if anything was going to happen, it would more likely happen after that. So, I was psyched out. John got up to get ready for work and we headed out to the subway together around 8 am -- he to work, me to the hospital, which are in opposite subway directions.

My exam went fine, and I had lunch with some schoolfriends afterward, followed by an afternoon of shopping (including the purchase of gorgeous pair of Lululemon pants) and then a looong coffee tell-all with the same friends, that lasted well into the early evening. Around 6 pm I decided to head back to John's. When I arrived and entered the condo, John was cooking. He shot me a deer-in-the-headlights look which, with him, either means he was doing something he doesn't want you to know about, or it means nothing at all. I ignored it.

I blabbed about my new pants and how excited I was and said that I'd go put them on and show him. I picked up my shopping bag and headed into the bedroom to changed. He followed me.

"Why are you following me?"

"I have a question..."

And that was that.

I couldn't stop laughing, wouldn't answer the question, and couldn't, for some reason, look at the ring. I just hugged him and laughed and laughed and laughed.

Eventually I did look at the ring, which is beautiful. I also said "yes."

I called home first to tell my parents (who already knew about it, because John had visited them the previous week to give them a heads-up), but my mom wasn't home and so I made up an excuse about how I'd call back later to confirm something or another. I called Jason, and once we'd finished our conversation, John and I sat down to eat a super yummy dinner of bacon-wrapped scallops, T-bone steaks, and tomatoes. No champagne or wine though...apparently when John had gone to "work" that morning, he'd actually taken the day off and instead went to the supermarket to buy dinner stuffs. It was so early, though, that the LCBO wasn't open. Hence the lack of a toast.

After dinner we set upon the big task of notifying friends and family of the news. I got Jason to call home to find out if my mom had arrived, and once we found out, we called my family. We called a few more friends, and then talked to John's parents, who seemed to be more excited about their impending trip to Canada than our news (but I guess in their defence 1. they're Chinese parents and 2. they knew this was coming so there wasn't much of a surprise). I also called Justin, whose prom night it was -- not to mention his 18th birthday -- and he was probably the person who was the most fun telling the news to. He screamed and giggled and blurted, "I've been waiting for this for two years!"

So the day is a while away -- we'll likely wait until May 2011 when I'm finally finished with my 8 years of post-secondary education, prior to embarking on another 5 years of post-graduate training.

We'll keep you posted.

Neonates and exam time

Babies are cute and oh, what a meeting
Although I'm enthused, this feeling is fleeting

I thought I'd make a quick little update, share a few random thoughts so that I could procrastinate a little more.

Last week in ASCM was probably the best ASCM session I've ever had, mostly because I got to play with babies. Like, babies. Like, newborns. Like, 12 hours old. It was awesome. I don't think that this really changes anything, because I still am not a huge baby and child fan (as in, I don't think I could work with them, day in and day out, and even worse, work with their annoying parents), but playing with babies (I mean...learning the neonate physical exam...) was awesome. The babies were so new that they hadn't even had a bath yet, and had crusty blood on their heads and pooped meconium at me. It was...strangely...cute. Maybe it's the vestiges of a well-hidden maternal instinct in me that thinks poo is cute. Not sure.

Anyways, it was great.

I'm also really enjoying two albums right now:
(1) William Fitzsimmons: The Sparrow and the Crow
(2) The Stills: Without Feathers

Additional random thought: trying to decide whether or not to open the blog back up publicly again. I've stopped ranting childishly and in an angry fashion...I don't think anything I've written is particularly contentious or has the potential for career-harming...maybe? And at any rate, it's a delisted blog which can't be searched; however, I think I like my privacy. Except for the fact that I get far fewer comments on my posts since I securitized it up. Will continue to ponder as I memorize the pediatric immunization schedule.

Why meds are making me better

It's not so much a frame of mind but more a frame of reference
When pushing daily has me stepping out of bounds of preference
Standing side beside myself 'tween fearlessness, behoovement
These challenges face me toward continual improvement

I was just thinking that medicine has been really good for me. I think a lot of things in the past have been really good for me in terms of my personal development, but I think that medicine has really been good. Engineering was good because it taught me about hard work. Consulting was good because it taught me about confidence. Medicine has been good because of two things: (1) humanity, and (2) taking a leap.

I spent yesterday morning in a palliative radiation oncology clinic in which I'll be doing research for the year. My staff radonc offered to let me see patients by myself. I declined, but mostly because I didn't really know how the clinic works, but I made sure to be clear that I'd like to see patients in a few weeks when I return.

I remember this silly little mantra I started a few years ago, while working at AECL: Do something that scares you every day. The idea was to push myself daily, improving myself a little further. And it was a little fruitless, because there were few things that I could really identify on a daily basis. So while it did make me more comfortable with small things, like cold calling, or standing up for myself, the opportunities were few and far between.

But medicine...it happens all the time. I'm terrified all of the time. I'm going to hurt the patient I'm examining. I'm going to mess up when taking a history. I'm going to sound like an idiot.

But it's good for me. And I'm realizing this, slowly.

Our pain and our pride

A double-edged sword is the love that we share
The subsequent pain that with it we bear
These truthful companions, not one without twin
And thus inescapable, is pain's darkest whim

It struck me this week that everyone seems to be in so much pain. My Gung Gung died recently, and it was really hard on me, especially since I was there for the last month, through both hospital visits, the one where he recovered and was sent home, and other, where my denial had me thinking the entire time that he'd be going home. And I was there at the end, when he was finally able to leave. And I was sad for a while, first getting through hours without crying, then days, then weeks. And on my path to healing, there have recently been entire days when I don't think about him.

And then one of my classmates, who happens to be in my ASCM group, was away from school for a week and a half. She emailed me to let me know that her grandmother had died suddenly and unexpectedly, and that she would be with her family for a little while. And I was as supportive as I could be, but the fact is, nothing I could do or say was going to make anything any better for her.

Then this morning, I received an email from a member of OG, saying that he'd be away from school for a little while because his grandfather is gravely ill, suffering from myasthenia gravis, experiencing respiratory collapse, and refusing ventilation. And I was as supportive as I could be, but the fact is, nothing I could do or say was going to make anything any better for him.

It suddenly hit me that each of us is very lucky. The fact that we suffer or feel pain is like badge, really, and reminds us that we love, and if we're so lucky, are loved back. The three of us are not particularly close (and I'm not even sure that the two of them know each other), but there is something spiritual about the way we have been connected in our suffering, learning to lean and rely on each other.

The OG member was actually quite instrumental (and I never told him this) in helping me deal with my own loss. When I told him the news, more because I had to miss a meeting than to actually let him know what was going on in my life, he responded by telling me about his own grandfather, who died last year during Anatomy, and how difficult it was for him to be at school, in the cadaver labs. And that shared emotion actually really helped.

It's nice to know that we are not alone in our suffering, and even better to know that our suffering is a symbol of the greatness of being connected as humans. As Paul said: "...but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us..."

Oh gee...give it up for OG

Releasing each part of my innermost muse
To defend, to defy, it's all part of the ruse
For in it, I find it, such great satisfaction
To hear it and cling to their wondrous reaction

The Orbital Groove Halloween show was on Monday night, and I'm still struggling to catch up with school, summer research responsibilities, my community health research project, my proposal for next year's summer research, and my personal life. OG has been quite a ride so far, and much much improved from last year, now that I'm in charge.


(It's freaking awesome being at the helm.) Our show went so well, and I had a super great time, and our band got along amazingly, and people loved us, and I loved us, and it was awesome, and our costumes were great. I went as Jennifer Beals from Flashdance...a bit of a cop-out, cheap costume, but oh well, not so much into the dressing up, but if need be...there you go. And it was great. Tonnes of people showed up to show their support, and I'm so amazing grateful for that: John, Emily, people from school, people from MDHS, my cousin...it's great to see that sort of support from people, and I'm so thankful to you all for coming out to see me, and support Bloorview Kids Rehab, too.


Emily even drank beer!


One of the best things about OG is that I can pick a lot of the songs -- and I've been dying to do a cover of the U2/Mary J Blige version of One since last year (but was never allowed to). So this year, I finally got to, and I think it was a big hit. It got called as the encore song (not by me...but by the rest of OG which, in itself, was a huge compliment), and all that aside, I really enjoy singing that song. It went over pretty well at the show too: although I have to say, I was probably off key quite a bit, since I couldn't hear myself, it still sounds okay. And...since I happen to have a sound file ripped from a video of it, and I've been getting requests, I thought I'd post it here.

Click here for to hear my performance of One.

So...enjoy, but please don't judge too much, I know I act like a rock star, but I think you kind of have to...so...yeah...and please ignore the offkey parts too.

OMG, I made you bleed!

Was offered, but frightened, it left me declining
My confidence waning, my skill insufficient
Preceptor, he ordered, and I without whining
Did take it and stab it, embark on this mission!

Wow wow wow.

I think there's a moment in everyone's life where you do something for the first time and it blows you away because your studies and skill-building and hard work have been leading up to this moment and then you do it and it's over and it's great.

(Now I know that I'm a little out of order with the travelogue but it'll eventually get complete, and please check back and scroll down to the appropriate time period, because I'll add to it slowly. This was just too good to not blog about.)

I did my first Family Medicine Longitudinal Experience (FMLE) session today. I'm one of the few in our class who gets to participate in an elective that gives me time to shadow a family doctor for six afternoons.

When I walked into the clinic, I met Dr. Sid, who's super nice and super cool, and as we walked to go see our first patient, who needed a flu shot and another injection he asks me: "Do you want to give the shots?"

I answered with a huge and loud "NOoooo." I just wasn't comfortable. Anyways, he made the fourth year student (CC4) do it, and explained what she was doing as she did it.

And then later, when another patient needed a flu shot, I gave it to her. I did it. I filled the syringe with 0.5 cc's of vaccine, I cleaned her skin, and then I jabbed her, IM in the deltoid, and pushed the syringe. I wasn't even nervous. I was a little nervous leading up to the jab, but when all's said and done, it was okay. And it was kind of cool.

I'm not the most excited about all this shadowing stuff, but I really enjoyed today. And I'm sure there will come a time when I'll think that giving injections is just the worst thing in the world, but for today, it was exciting.

Funny though, how Dr. Sid will let me give vaccines, but won't let me do any physical exam manoevres (even take blood pressure) on the patients. Oh well, everyone has their own teaching style.

But today was awesome -- I'm not all that into family medicine, and when it comes down to it, I probably won't become a family doc. But the exposure to real clinical cases was good, and the fact that Dr. Sid quizzed me and made me run differential diagnoses on patients in real time made it a great learning experience. Plus (and this was a huge plus), we only had to see one cough/cold the entire 6 hours I was there (and it was a sinusitis...a real cough/cold). There was a huge range of casese that we saw, and the patients were friendly and funny.

And I got to stick someone with a needle.

A sleepy, spiritual last Laos day

Days in transit, travel savvy
Glad that we're traversing on
From the sky, views legendary
From place to place my soul is drawn

August 12, 2008

LUANG PRABANG, LAOS to HANOI, VIETNAM

Finally comes the day when we are able to leave Luang Prabang behind and move along on our travels to a more interesting town (although, all in all, I guess I did enjoy LP...it was just a slower pace than what I'm used to).

I awoke very early, around 5:30 am, after spending a night reading until 1:30 am. Not sure what roused me, but I figured that since it was my last day in LP and since I was already awake (though way groggy), I might as well take advantage of the early hour and go watch the almsgiving one more time.

I chose a different corner this morning, and stood across the street from two old men giving alms.


The procession was already well underway and as I observed quietly (and the few tourists around were also very quiet), I noticed the sound of the monks' feet shuffling on the ground as they processed.


It's a pretty quotidien sound, hardly one that I would ahve individually distinguised out of a veritable tapestry of city sounds at any other time. But I think that's what made its impression on me. Its very mundaneness, and the fact that this sound, above all other possible, was discernable, meant that everything had stopped except this one thing. And that in itself (and perhaps more so for me, having a religious perspective on life, with the belief that those who identify with a religion often forget to take the time out for the non-traditional, little, unexpected, non-miraculous, and ordinary religious and "miracle" moments in life) was a very powerful thing. I'm glad I got to witness the almsgiving a second time, because it felt very differnt from the first. And maybe that was more a product of going alone rather than a second view: seeing things all by yourself allows you the time to really get lost in your own thoughts...


When the procession had ended, it was only about 6:30 am, so I went for a walk, figuring Taulee was still sleeping. I visited a few of the smaller wats; LP is overrun with them, and they are literally line up, side by side on the main road.



They were all fairly unremarkable and I decided to hit the local market and find something to eat. It was nice getting to opportunity to just quietly soak up the feel of the town.


It was an interesting market, and bustling with locals (and so few tourists!). There were no stalls; all of the vendors were set up on the sides of the streets, on blankets covering the ground.




It was mostly a fresh market, and so I went looking for a snack. I found one in a banana leaf, within which was contained purple rice, red beans, coconut shavings, and coconum cream. Quite the yummy and also prompted conversation with the front desk guy at our guesthouse. (Who later, by the by, when we checked out, insisted that I take his phone number. "I have the guesthouse number already." "No, my personal number." "Uh...okay...")


The rest of the morning we spent chilling out in a coffee shop, communing with the last cup of Laos coffee in Laos that we'd have. I also ate a coconut cookie which was quite amazing. Sipping coffee and watching the town be itself...tres cool.


After leaving the coffee shop to finish packing, we took the long way around the delta, deciding to walk along the river one last time. And that was...interesting. Turned out that because of the previous day's rain, the river had flooded the lower roads down at the river side.


The flight was uneventful, and when we arrived in Hanoi, we started getting ripped off again. The shuttle downtown was supposed to be $2 per person but they wouldn't take less than $3 per person. And the travel agent at the tourist info desk called a few hotels for us but they were all "full." "But let me suggest X...I think is better for you..." We did eventually make it through into Hanoi! But the hostel in the Old Quarter we wanted to stay at was full, so we ended up in a really nice hotel instead (it actually had a fridge in the room, and a separate bathtub and shower (no asian combo!). We wandered around the streets a little before going to sleep...

Oh, the ghetto travel life...

A sleepy town that unbeknownst
To me was quite the tourist trap
UNESCO! us misled -- poor show!
And thus, sights skipped for Western sap

August 10 - 11, 2008

LUANG PRABANG, LAOS

Luang Prabang is overrated. It's a sleepy town with sights that are little more than overly touted tourist traps (and sometimes a lot less so), and is incredibly overpriced. The best thing in the town tough, is getting up early (luckily for us, we arrived in town at 5 am) to watch the almsgiving to the months. This happens every morning. All the monks in LP process through the town while townspeople give each of them offerings of food. It's quite a beautiful ritual which has, quite sadly, been marred by the steady flow of tourists who visit.

When we arrived at our guesthouse in the early morning, we didn't know about this ritual, but were told (luckily) by our guesthouse guy, who recommended that we don't waste time even taking a shower, but that we should get out on the streets right away, so we staked a place on the street corner and waited.


Townspeople are supposed to give freely to the monks, as a Buddhist offering, and a few still do, but unfortunately, a few more opportunistic ones now sell their food to tourist to give to the monks. Happily though, at least most of the tourists were quiet and respectful, declining to buy food from the townspeople, and observing the ritual while taking pictures from a distance back.


Funny enough and completely unexpectedly, I ran into Dan P from med school...and his self-proclaimed best friend, Wodlinger, from engsci. That was odd. And not completely surprising once I thought about it (them being friends, not so much running into them in Laos). Small world in so many respects. Not entirely my first choice for running to in a foreign land...but ah well. And just as an update to the engscis...W's neck is still bent over at a 90 degree angle.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful: a cafe in the morning to try world class Lao coffee (a watered down cup, NOT so good), and then some wandering around this tiny little town.


We decided to skip both the royal palace and the mountain temples, since both seemed small and were charging $3 entry fees, which seemed, or our South Asian-primed senses, an exorbitant amount. It's tough too, having visited Cambodia's temples (Angkor), and Thailand's palaces first, since these were really the pinnacles of their respective lines of structures. Everything else (and especially the run down, tiny stuff of Laos) seems a let down.


A walk along the river, though, was very nice, but since it's the rainy season the river was a little brown. It was kind of cool to see how high the river comes up with respect to the river bank. While I'm not sure what it's like in the dry season, it's right up to the top of the walls separating road from river. Seems high. Apparently the Mekong River is about 2-10 m deeper in the rainy season than the dry, depending on where you are. That's crazy.

Dinner was at a local noodle place and afterward, we went in search of a sports bar to watch Olympics. Luckily, we found a bar with a big screen and divans, on which we reclined for a couple of hours. I finally got to try Beerlao, a national institution -- and the legends are true to life: the lager was smooth, light but full, and not bitter at all, leaving no aftertaste. Def something I would drink back at home.


Day 2 in LP was much more eventful, as we headed out to Pak Ou Caves, about 30 km from town. We found an amazing noodle shop where we decided to have breakfast, and it turned into one of the best noodle meals I'd had: something called Khao Soy, a type of pho with chili sauce and seasoned ground beef on top. There's also a special Lao dipping sauce that's added, in which you can dip your noodles -- it's made of fermented buffalo skin and tastes AMAZING. Taulee even had some, not knowing what it was. Doesn't taste like meat...just goodness...until I said to her "I wonder if this is that buffalo stuff..." and then she decided not to take the chance (she's a vegetarian).

It was raining really hard, and the roads were flooded in a few places on our jumbo drive out to the river. But, hey, we're on a trip, why let the rain stop us? REAL travelers don't mind getting a little soaked. Not like those dry tourists...most people take a boat to the site, which may have been better given the rain, but was more than double the cost.

When we got to a village from which we could charter a "ferry" to the caves, we teamed up with a group consisting of two Brits, an Italian and a German, the only other hardcore travelers like us, who had braved the rain and decided to visit Pak Ou sans tour group. They were nice. And they had Oreos. We got to sample the local moonshine lao lao, the undistilled version which was nice, and the distilled whisky which would blow your socks off and I think made me go bind for a second and a half. The distillery:


We chartered the most rickety boat I've ever seen, which was TINY (and more rickety than the ferry that took us over the Thai-Lao border, if that's even possible), and while it was still pouring, headed up the Mekong; our ineffectual motor putt-putted away as we bared outstriped the current of the fast-flowing Mekong. It was quite the memorable ride. It seemed that the boat would either capsize or run out of steam leaving us to the graces of the Mekong to swiftly carry us away into water oblivion (and life jackets? What are those?).


And in fact, the boat did break down three times en route. However, it was power failure two that was, for me, most memorable, since we stopped at a dock where there lived about five little boys, maybe around 8 years old or so. They jumped into the river when they saw us, and to see them swimming against the strong current without displacement was positively hilarious. A couple of them were holding on to our boat and yellihg and smiling -- one let go of the boat to wave, and was swept away by the current. He just yelled "bye bye!" smiling and laughing. I would have loved a picture, but my camera was ziploc'ed up safe away from the rain.

It was both humbling and wonderful to be on the Mekong. It was really such a huge river, fast flowing, and just the knowledge that it is more than 2 m deeper than in the dry season in this area makes me think how insanely big it is, and how much water it carries. And why it has, for thousands of years, sustained life on its banks.

The caves themselves were uninspiring, overpriced, and, like much else in LP, a bit of a tourist trap. The lower cave was filled with hundreds of Buddha statues (not thousands as advertised), but all in all it was quite small.



The upper cave, built 54 m into the mountian with no light, was more interesting. It too was filled with Buddhas, but also platforms and carvings and paintings and etchings -- all done in a dark cave during a time before electricity was available.


Another funny thing was to see the tourists boats alongside ours at the caves. Our boat was so tiny...silly tourists...their boats even had roofs.


We all agreed that the caves were less than stellar, but the trip itself was incredible, and was probably one of my favourite traveling days in South East Asia thus far. The boat ride was insanely awesome. On the way back to town, more street had been flooded, and the dirt roads had turned to mud.


Our dinner in LP was by far the best food Lao was able to offer us during our brief stay -- we found a small night market and bought food in bags out of bowls -- not sure what I ate, but one was a curry, and the other a vegetable, and both very good. We also met a few other travelers as we ate in the streets.


The night was capped off by a return to our favourite sports bar, lying on divans and sipping Lao coffee (this one was SO much better, and deserving of the reputation for being one of the world's best coffees). I even sweetened my coffee with sugar and full fat milk...which made it into a creamy dessert (though I regretted it afterwards because it killed much of the coffee flavour that way. Don't get me started on how to actually drink coffee...black... I then proceeded to finish the rest of my Oreos.

48 Hours in Transit: Bus, bus, boat, bus

Traveling like locals and eating my shoestring
This fabulous frenzy is strangely appeasing
The dirty, the bumpy, I find no fault with it
For low key and budget I'd want no alternate

August 8 - 9, 2008

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND to HUAY XAI, LAOS to LUANG PRABANG, LAOS

And after a day of living like Canadian royalty abroad (just call me Adrienne Clarkson), thus begins a grueling 2-day journey to Luang Prabang.

Time in transit: 44 hours
Modes of transport: 6
Cost of trip: $86
Time spent on public bus: 22 hours
Number of types of currency used: 3

Holy non-reclining seats, Batman!

We woke up, I called home and John with a calling card I'd been given by Andy from the CIH, and then we hurried to the bus station, by hiring a sangthiaw.


Our adventure in crossing from Thailand to Laos started at the bus station in Chiang Mai when we missed our direct bus to Chiang Khong at the Thai-Lao border. There was a bus going to Chiang Rai and another connecting to Chiang Kong from there, but we didn't know what time the bus would be leaving from Chiang Rai, and on top of that, we didn't know if we'd get into Chiang Khong early enough to cross the border, which closes at 6 pm. And you don't want to get stuck in a place like Chiang Rai overnight...because there's nothing there, including any English.


So, throwing caution into the wind, all South East Asia style, we hopped on the 11 am bus to Chiang Rai, which turn out to be a really nice public VIP bus, giving us bottled water and "spicies" flavour cracker snacks (most disgusting crackers since the Cambodian "salt and cheese" cracker disaster), complete with reclining chairs and a/c. I was stuck sitting beside quite possibly the only obese man in Thailand, who, fortunately though, was very very nice; but unfortunately I was relegated to having only half a bus seat the entire ride.

I was struck by how little the Thai countryside resembled Cambodia. Even in the rural areas, the houses are quite large, and, though made of wood or bamboo, they don't look as ramshackle or makeshift or unsanitary as those in Cambodia. It's quite a stark contrast, really, to see the extent of the urband-rural divide, and, more eyeopening, the rural-rural divide between neighbours.


Luckily enough, we did make it to Chiang Rai in time to catch a bus to Chiang Khong -- but it was a pretty rickety bus with fans that didn't work, and uncomfortable wooden benches. It was a painful 3 hour ride, but the view was pretty, as we made our way through the high hills of Thailand towards the border (and prayed as the rickety old bus struggled to make it up the lowest-grade hills). Phew. That was lucky. Grabbing that 10 minute-tight connection. Whew.


We did eventually make it to Chiang Khong, and with time to spare. Actually crossing the river proved to be the easiest part of the trip. A rickety ferry (little more than a canoe) over the Mekong was super fun: the water was flowing quite quickly, and it was raining, but it was great being on the might Mekong itself. It's easy to feel the power of such a large river when you're in a tiny speck of a boat, struggling to cross the current.



When we stepped off the ferry, we were on Lao soil. The boatman handed me my huge backpack, and we headed over to customs.

(I'm continually surprised at how people complain about my pack. I assume that people are pretty strong -- well, maybe in rural areas more so than urban -- but it kills me to see these men puffing and straining just to lift my pack. I usually just try to do it myself -- don't want to give anyone a herniated disc.)

It was only about 5:30 pm at this point, and from what I knew, the border was supposed to close at 6 pm. nevertheless, the customs agent insisted I pay him an extra 1 USD above the posted visa price for "overtime." Pretty sure it was a bribe...but why argue over a dollar?

And not the prettiest of towns, either...

Anyways, that's how we made it to Huay Xai in Laos. Thurns out that there is nothing to do in this tiny town, and since it was raining, and the country has an 11 pm curfew, after an unremarkable dinner, we tried to go on the internet. Didn't work, though -- the whole city was out of electricity. Luckily, our guesthouse had a tv and electricity (and I guess, a generator?), and they were watching the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, so we joined them for a little bit before bed.

We opted (mostly -- and by that I mean "entirely" -- at my cheap-ass, I-love-to-travel-like-a-local, no-uncomfortable-is-too-uncomfortable-for-granola-me, insistance) for the pbulic bus from Huay Xai to Luang Prbang, an 16 hour ordeal with no air conditioning and straight back seats, combared to the 11 hour minibus with a/c and comfy seats.

It was worth it. Freaking awesome.

We got to the bus station at 10:30 am. The bus didn't leave until 12:00 pm.


The bus was crazy. There were plastic chairs, and old-school 6 foot diameter satellite dish, and a motorcycle, along with all of our luggage, strapped to the roof, and covered in tarp. The seats on the bus were tiny and wooden, with no butt dip to hold you in place. I sat next to the sweetest girl in Laos who spoke almost no English but kept offering me snacks and pointed out things of interest outside the window. She was going to Udomxai, a stop we made around 10:30 pm, leaving me to sprawl out to sleep over the two seats.


The ride was definitely -- strike a Sarah-brand action pose here -- an adventure. The road wound its way through the mountains, and our bus, with about a 2 hp engine and 3 N break force, really struggled to get up the steep roads, and flew down the downhill grades.


And bumpy. When I was sitting in my seat, I actually fell out of it twice, since I had fallen asleep sitting up and the bus pitched sideways; with no armrest (or the butt dip to hold you in place), I went flying into the aisle. The first time, the girl beside me laughed. The second, the Taiwanese guy talking to Taulee laughed at me. Couldn't help it. I'd become the laughingstock of Laos.


The rain has been really bad in Laos -- record rainfalls that have flooded Vientiane, Vang Vieng (the reason for our rerouting through North Thailand), and the mountains in the north west were no exception. There were landslides covering the roads in many places, and sections where the asphalt had broken as a result of a landslide below. A few times we had to stop and wait for the road to be cleared. It made for a very slow ride.


I've developed quite a penchant for Oreos on this trip. I don't even like them that much at home, but I've found them so yummy and satisfying (taste of home?). I ate a lot of them on the bus. I'd been rationing...but...


The overnight was pretty hellish and uncomfortable. "Sprawled out" over two seats still meant being super cramped, but at least two seats are better than one. Luckily, I still had that nice travel pillow I'd taken from Korean Airlines...which proved to be a godsend throughout the insane bus rides thus far.

We got there though. Arriving in Luang Prabang at 4:30 am with no idea where we were or where we were going (and on top of that, without sufficient light to read the Lonely Planet!) was not a good idea. We hired a sangthiew and had to try four guesthouses before finally finding one, but we did. And...that was the end of the en route from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang. Despite everything...it was a pretty expensive transit.

And at 5:30 am, we unpacked in our new guesthouse. But we didn't go to sleep...and why not? Well, that's technically the next day...

A menu of relaxing

Soft repose from metro crazy
For indulgence, being lazy
Backpack-strapped and on a schedule
Leaves no time for minutes dull

August 7, 2008

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

Chiang Mai is one of the nicest cities on earth. It very much has a backpacker feel to it that is laid back and calm, and doesn't feel all too touristy.


It was a shame we didn't have more time to spend her, since hill tribe trekking and rock climbing would have been pretty fun. And it's a pretty neat, historical city -- some of the original wall that surrounded the city still remains, even.


Our one day in Chiang Mai was very long and filled -- we certainly made the most of it. Arriving at 7 am by bus meant that nothing was open so (gosh darn) we headed to Starbucks to wash up after our overnight ride (read: indulge in a coffee that cost almost $3). Every bone in my coffee-deprived body was singing with joy and thanksgiving as I swallowed each wonderfully bitter, sensually hot, tongue-enveloping mouthful. SO GOOD.


We then strapped on our backpacks and walked until we found a guesthouse (which actually took quite a while), but we managed to ply a great deal: hot water AND satellite TV AND two beds for $12. Luxurious.

We finally got a taste of real Thai cuisine at lunch, at a local restaurant that specializes in Chiang Mai gastronimic fare. I had a wonderfully scrumptious local pork and ginger curry which, while doing nothing from my already vegetable- and fibre-low diet, was amazingly tasty. It's easy to see why Thailand is so popular with foodies. The curry was pretty firy (they refer to levels of hot as "spicy" for tourists, versus "Thai spicy" for locals), but it was such a good tongue burn...

Wandering around Chiang Mai after lunch and checking out a few more wats (surprise...that's all there is to do in Thailand) made it clear that this is a sleepy, quaint, laid-back, relaxed town. The nice thing about the wats here, were that the style was different than what we'd seen in Bangkok since they featured Lanna architecture, a Thai style influenced by the Burmese. One of them, in fact, was made entirely of teak. And another was decorated in mural paintings on the inside which were in great condition, and while we were there, an art class was sketching the murals.



After grabbing fresh fruit shakes for 10 baht (33 cents!) -- mine was pineapple -- we headed to our Thai cooking class. This has really been a highlight of the trip so far. The cooking school was a friendly family-run business, and our teacher was a bubbly girl named Boom.


We started out with a market tour, getting to know how to buy Thai herbs, fruits, vegetables, spices and other ingredients like fish, snacks, and meat.


We started out our culinary experience by eating the fresh fruit and snacks we had purchased in the market -- and the big winner of this experience was the Thai longan, which was different from the stuff we get at home. When peeled, the flesh actually came apart in sections, and it was sweeter and much more flavourful that regular longan -- it was almost like a cross between litchee and longan. So yummy...


The cooking itself was amazingly fun. We started off making deep fried bananas for dessert which we left frying while we made a red steamed curry with fish. The curry was steamed inside a banana leaf bowl which I made myself (and thus was a lot lopsided).


For our appetizer, we made green papaya salad -- and teh greatest thing about this was since it was being made to taste, I was able to get it exactly how I like it, with flavours well-balanced and working together so harmoniously one would have Chopin had made this salad (the touch of dissonance being the fire of the chilis). In fact, I ended up going virtuousically overboard on the spiciness. We learned that green chilis and small chilis are hotter than red or larger ones. And as I was advised to add 2 or 3 chilis to my salad, of course, I put in 4 green ones to get it Thai spicy. And then when I was martar and pestling the crap out of my salad, and was advised not to smash for too long because it mushes the chilis and makes it too hot, of course, I smashed it even more.

And then of course I added an extra chili at the end.


When I sat down to eat my salad, my mouth was BURNING like Detriot. But it tasted very good. It was just really^100 hot.

The final dish that we cooked was a cashew chicken stir fry. Not insanely complicated, but it did contain cloud ears (mook nge for all the hakka ngin out there), and I probably improved my wok skills too, so that was really useful.


All the food turned out to be delicious, and though I was beyond stuffed, I ate all four servings that I had cooked -- and when they brought the friend bananas out, I ate mine, and then ate some of Taulee's because she couldn't finish hers.


Taulee and I had massage appointments for right after the class, and I was so full that I was worried that the joint manipulation of the massage would make me vomit. Luckily, it didn't, and this massage was even better than the previous one (not to mention cheaper, and for double the amount of time). It was super indulgent: they started us off with pandan tea which taste like a dessert cake in tea form, and I liked it so much that I'm bringing some home. And then we settled in for some bone-breaking, joint-dislocating, muscle-pounding, painful goodness. The masseuse was great, and I got to experience many more manoeuvres than last time (including a butt massage which, while mildly disconcerting, was strangely enjoyable), with her stepping and leaning, and kneeling on me.

Most relaxing, indulgent, luxurious day ever. Which was good, because we were preparing for the next leg of our journey, which would include two days in transit as we somehow would get ourselves across the border, into Laos, and down to Luang Prabang.