Laos -> Thailand!

So I've failed on updating this...we've been moving around a lot and I've been so busy/exhausted I haven't been able to write! I guess that's a good thing. I fly home on Thursday - what???????? Mixed feelings about it.

Right now we're in Bangkok but let me back track to Laos.

We arrived in Luang Prabang at night but luckily the famous restaurant in town was able to squeeze us in! It was a delicious first bite of Lao food at Tamarind - I had mok pa (steamed fish in banana leaves) and Stacey had pumpkin, ginger, coconut soup and eggplant jeow (kinda like a heavier type of salsa).

And don't forget our Lao basil gin and tonics!

We were so exhausted from Cambodia that we slept in pretty late the next morning! Our hostel let much to be desired but it was functional and had AC (most importantly). The hostel owner, Ninh, was quite obnoxious and nosey and he was Vietnamese, not Lao and only lives in Luang Prabang for 5 months while his wife is in Saigon - there must be some story to this...but we didn't want to be nosey!

So a run down of our 3 full days in Luang Prabang - they basically consisted of going to Joma, this great cafe on the river, for breakfast, explore a wat or two, find lunch, rest, then massage and dinner then shop at the night market. Obviously we had a terrible time! Hahaha. We rented bikes every day which made our time more enjoyable so we didn't have to walk in the heat. One day we visited the Pak Ou Caves, caves with hundreds of Buddhas that are no longer used in the temples in Luang Prabang, which are about 45 minutes outside of Luang Prabang by tuk tuk. We were less than impressed by the caves and our visit lasted about 30 minutes...so not worth it but we saw lots of Buddhas!

Biking over the Mekong to lunch one day.

Wat Xieng Thong - main temple in Luang Prabang.

Young monks - a common sight in Luang Prabang!

Boat to the Pak Ou Caves

Pak Ou Caves

All in all we had an enjoyable time in Laos, though it did rain a lot but it is wet season. The people are so kind and welcoming, just like in Cambodia!

We flew from Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai, Thailand (our last propeller plane of the trip!) on Sunday to spend 2 days in Chiang Mai before heading north to the Golden Triangle. Chiang Mai, the "capital" of Northern Thailand, is a city full of culture - night markets, wats, cooking schools - but is becoming more and more developed as tourism increases which is kind of unfortunate. People said that ten years ago, Chiang Mai was similar to Luang Prabang - laid back, quiet and quaint.

Sunday night is a BIG night for the city of Chiang Mai. The main drag (the city is a square with a "moat" around it) shuts down to cars/motorbikes/tuk tuks and shops pop up, taking over the city. It was quite an experience after I've been to so many markets. The night market went on and on and also took over the side streets. Temples became food courts which was rather odd. We decided against getting street food (though I did grab some mango sticky rice - I have a problem!!) and found a cute Thai European restaurant walking back to our hotel.

Sunday Night Market in Chiang Mai - lots of street performers!

After dinner we continued walking to our hotel and found ourselves walking through a very disturbing and seedy area. We felt safe but seeing all these young Thai women trying to coax men into bars was so upsetting to see. Especially seeing old white men with two Thai women on his arms - just yuck.

The next day we woke up late again - whoops! - and went to explore the main wats (temples) of the city. We ended up shopping a littol and went to this cute store 3 separate times in one day. Yep we're that ridiculous but we kept remembering "ohh I should've got that pair of earrings! Or that painting!" The owner of the shop gave us 2 leather key chains that say Chiang Mai in Thai for free because we were such loyal customers!

Wat Chedi Luang

I thought this monk was meditating REALLY well. Turns out it's a fiberglass replica.

Wat Phra Singh

We needed some yoga after traveling so much so Stace found a great studio, Wild Rose Studio, where we took a restorative yoga class. If you've never done one, go take one immediately (it's for beginners and adavanced yogis!). It was such a calming class and the studio had lots of windows so we could feel the breeze and hear the sounds of the neighboorhood.

Intimate yoga studio - we needed to be stretched out!

We scheduled a Thai cooking class for Tuesday and were picked up from our hotel to go on a market visit before heading to the farm where the cooking class was held. We lucked out with a group because it was all young people and also 2 Americans living in Chicago! I bonded with them over the craziness of this past winter (I forgot - I will have a California "winter" this year and I am rather excited!!)

Our Thai cooking instructor, MB, was a hoot and a half. She was making jokes left and right which were almost more funny because they were in broken English. We learned how to make curry from scratch, coconut soup, pad thai, chicken cashew, and mango sticky rice! We were so stuffed and tired by the end of the day but had just enough room for mango sticky rice for dessert of course! Wow I'm going to miss it so much...

Our cooking class! 4 Americans, 1 French, 1 Dutch, 1 Polish,  2 Belgians, and 1 Lebanese (yeah Lebanon!!!) 

Stace working on her green curry.

I don't think I'll remember how to make any of this.

Yellow curry with sticky rice and chicken with basil!

My true love: mango sticky rice.

Wednesday we traveled by bus to Chiang Rai for our time in the Golden Triangle (Thailand, Burma, and Laos). That will be a separate post because it was an extremely special time.