Author Archives: Bryan Ballweber

Happy New Year!!!

Have quite a bit to catch-up on as computers have been a bit harder to get on and wifi speeds have been super slow.  We made it to Laos in a record 24 hour bus ride.  It could have been a bit faster but going across the border also included a nice trek from the Vietnam border station to the Laos border station.  Also, we had a three hour stop to pick up about sixteen locals to squeeze into the already “full” bus.  Once we made it to the bus station we hooked up with some others to make a fun Tuk Tuk ride into the city center of Vientiane.  Vientiane is the capital but it is pretty quiet and almost seemed like a small town.  The currency here is called the Kip and rates about 7,700 to 1 US dollar.  Sort of throws you off after you have been dealing with such bigger numbers in Vietnam.  That night Taner, Janett (a German couple), Megan, and I got to enjoy some scrumptious crickets and larva with some Beer Lao.  If there wasn’t any seasoning they just would have been crunchy and tasteless.  The larva in specific were just like paper.

The next day we rented some bikes and cruised around town with Taner and Janett taking in the sights.  It really only takes a day to do that, but is really enjoyable as it is pretty easy to get around with traffic being so much less than Vietnam. We stopped at the Patuxi which is a large tower structure made from concrete that the US donated to Laos to build a new airport runway. While we stopped there a large school group showed up and about every student had a survey for us to fill out. It was nuts! I didn’t think we would ever escape them. We had to b.s. our way through nearly all of it, hope they got a good data pool! Vientiane has a really nice and lively night market as we enjoyed some scrumptious grilled sausages and other balled meats that I couldn’t figure out what they were.  Probably pork mixed with something else.

Back on the bus again.  This time it was only a few hours, but for Megan it might as well been twenty-four hours.  This bus ride was really fast through constant forty-five degree turns.  About half way through Megan was getting motion sick.  I felt pretty bad for her as I was just mad because I couldn’t read or watch the tablet with the constant hard turns and bumpy road throwing us around.   Luckily we made it to Vang Vieng stomachs intact.  Vang Vieng was known for it’s river tubing and copious amounts of bars lining the river.  Here recently they closed nearly all the bars down on the river as about once a month someone would die tubing.  Megan and I actually found it most relaxing  and quite enjoyable. Not that I couldn’t enjoy a few cold ones while drifting a little over 4km in about 3.5 hours, but the absence of blaring beats and hundreds of inebriated backpackers was ok. Just recently before the river bar restrictions were put in place, they were averaging 800 tubers a day. We heard they are now averaging only 100 tubers a day. In the evenings we hung out at some restaurants that continuously play either Friends or Family Guy non-stop.  It was hard to leave as the fresh fruit shakes are so amazing. The next day we rented some mountain bikes and cruised out through local villages to check out some caves.  The first one wasn’t too impressive but the second one was pretty awesome.  It took us a better part of an hour to circle through just the main cavern.  Outside the cave there was a real nice “blue lagoon” with clear, cool water.  It was nice to take a dip in it after the workout of riding the bikes out there.  To bad there wasn’t an identical lagoon back in Vang Vieng.

After two and a half days in Vang Vieng we hit the road again on a six hour minibus ride to Luang Prabang.  I think I much prefer a minibus to a full bus,  but it looks like Laos has a bunch of road work to do up north.  Some of the pot holes could have been mistaken for ponds, or maybe our driver just took a more scenic route???  We were a bit worried when arriving in Luang Prabang because it is the beginning of their New Year so we didn’t know if we could find accommodations.  Fortunately we did, but prices are pretty high.  Either way Megan and I are enjoying the festivities.  The New Year lasts for three days, but here they sometimes extend it out for a week or better.  During the holiday the entire city, or country for that matter, turns into a massive water fight.  Everywhere you go people are squirting you with water guns or literally throwing buckets of water on you.  It doesn’t matter who you are, but they will stop if you have something that can be broken like a camera but one doesn’t take that chance.  Just taking a Tuk Tuk from the bus stop to city center we had a few buckets of water chucked our way.  To say the least we were soaked before finding a hotel.  Tomorrow is suppose to be a big street party, the next day is some pageant, and the following day another party.  Woot!  I think they have the US beat on a good New Years celebration.

We have found that the Laos people are much nicer and considerate in general than the Vietnamese.  It may be because tourism hasn’t hit Laos as hard yet. It also appears there may be more of a middle class, but that might be because we are seeing more cars and less motorbikes. All in all we just enjoy all the smiles and hellos we have been getting.

Megan and I are heading farther north after this and then back to the Southern portion of Laos.  More than likely we wont really have any internet for some time so it might be a bit until the next post.  I should have all the pictures since we left Vietnam up in the next 24 hours. Enjoy!

Just a quick update

Not much new going on over here.  Megan and I have been wandering around Hanoi this last week looking at some small pagodas and temples.  Most of our time has been relaxing at coffee shops and people watching.  This is all probably a good thing since most of our tours have put us a bit over on our expenses so we have been able to cut back a bit this week to make up for it.  There are some street stalls that we found where you can get a beer for a little under a quarter a pop and we have been able to scout out some small places that have excellent food for less than a dollar.  There is one family that makes an amazing beef noodle soup, but they yell at you if you eat it wrong.  “No Soup for you!” 🙂  The beef soup doesn’t have much liquid in it, but they give you another side soup to dip some bread in.  I like to pour a little bit of the soup into the beef soup bowl, but one the guys yells “no” at me.  I really think it makes him mad. Yesterday we went to a super market so we could find a better array of products.  That was an adventure as we finally rode on a motorbike and took a taxi.  There was a rather long bridge we had to cross but you cant walk across it.  The motorbike was a bit nerve racking because three people on a small bike hauling through heavy traffic is not too much fun.  It was a bit funny because up until this point we have continually had people coming up to us offering to drive us somewhere, but when we needed to cross this bridge we had to hunt people down.  Today Megan and I are loading up on snacks for our 20+ hour bus ride tomorrow to Vientiane, Laos so wish us luck!


(yummy sandwiches!!!)

Whoaaa…that was strong!

We made it to Sapa on a sleeper bus that was much better than the others, minus a really cold AC. Today has been amazing and quite a blast. We got here early so we nearly had a full day to explore. We wandered around the city center briefly before we made it to a park that allowed us to overlook the entire city. Quite amazing.

Later in the evening we headed to some street stalls to try some local cuisine. After wandering through briefly we settled on a grill place where we had some really good sticky rice, sprouts wrapped in some kind of meat, green beans, some round hush puppie like thing, and smaller pig intestine. We were quite skeptical, but went for it. We sat next to a couple of local gentlemen, Minh and Hoan. Hoan said hello and then they both immediately offered us shots of homemade rice wine. I openly accepted as not to insult them and Megan joined. They loved it.

Hoan knew english and Minh knew french, albeit Minh did most off the talking and quite well he did. Ooops time for another shot! Interestingly, Minh fought for the North during the war but he held no grudge to us. At this time all I could taste was really hard alcohol. Guess it will disinfect that pig intestine! We finished up our meal and I looked over at them and Hoan was already holding another shot up to me. Bottle is empty and my ears are still on fire. Best part is that these two guys drive tourists around during the day!

It was like a giant mentos/coke experiment.

All I want is a large cup of coffee, or two, maybe three. The Vietnamese coffee is real good butit’ss practically served in a shot glass. Anyways, Megan and I made it to Hanoi and spent or first night in the Old Quarters. Hanoi is much like Saigon, but people don’t seem to get up as early. Its a bit difficult to get a cup of coffee before 7 a.m. After staying just the first night we headed to Halong Bay for a three day, two night boat and island excursion. Heading out on the water you are immediately introduced to hundreds of massive, limestone karsts randomly jutting out of the sea, covered in foliage, and teaming with birds. It was quite a breath taking site.

Not too far into the cruise we stopped to get off on a very small island with a beautiful cave. Inside it looked like someone had set off the world’s largest mentos and coke experiment. Good times! It had absolutely massive rooms.

Soon after we saw the cave we reached a small floating fishing village between several karsts where we got to kayak all around. There was this magnificent rock with not much of a base pertruding from the middle of a cove like area. We found out that the rock was featured on the Vietnamese 200,000 Dong.

That evening we enjoyed the company of a few Germans. We have had a blast with the multitude of different people we have met. We enjoyed a comfy night in a little cabin on the boat. The next morning we arrived at Monkey Island where we enjoyed more kayaking, small hikes, and some monkeys. We had a nice beach bungalow, mosquito net included. Through this entire excursion we ate like royalty, and I must say the fried calamary was yummy! Couldn’t get enough! Megan and I both got to try oysters for the first time and they were also quite good. The following day we sailed back into harbor to head back to Hanoi. A most curious thing keeps happing when we do this. We have gotten room 302 nearly every time we book a hotel. It has been 4 times in a row if you don’t count the tour. Crazy! Yesterday, in Hanoi, we made a trip to the Museum of Ethonology. It was a very interesting and well-done museum of the varying cultures and tribes within Vietnam and throughout Southest Asia. We got to see a massive boat reminiscent of old Indian war canoes but it was actually a racing boat that was retired because it won many races and was considered very powerful. The museum also had full size models of different types of home structures from different cultures, with huge differences between them.

This afternoon we are heading to Sapa, so we are stoked as it is going to be amazing!  Also I uploaded some more photos to the gallery.