The home stretch

Welcome to Singapore. Down in the metro they ask that you don't eat or drink on the trains, don't smoke and don't carry flammable goods-all reasonable and everyday requests. Oh yeah, and no durians please! Durians are a specialty here in Southeast Asia-a fruit that once cut open smells horrible! The taste isn't too bad-the biggest shock is that it isn't sweet like fruit. But the stench is enough to warrant this sign. 

They also have several extremely cute signs such as the one behind me, that promote polite etiquette on board the metro. The little man on the sign is #MoveinMarvin and he is kindly asking you to please do the Martin Shuffle and move further into the train car. 

I've been so some weird themed parks (not theme parks) in Asia (my parents can attest to that-Penis Park and Loveland are well known in Korea) and Singapore didn't disappoint in that sense. My friends I was visiting in Singapore took me to Haw Park Villa (the old house of the inventor of Tiger Balm-a miracle rub here in Asia). It was full of  entertaining scenes such as the one above which promoted virtues and values. 

It also housed the 10 Gates of Hell, where visitors can learn about in detail, the various punishments for sins committed in one's life time. Here in the Fourth Court of Hell tax dodgers, those who refuse to pay rent or commit business fraud can be pounded by stone. One who is disobedient to siblings or lacks filial piety (respect of parents)  will be grounded by stone. 

In the Sixth Court of Hell those who cheat, curse or abduct others will be thrown onto a tree of knives; and as the picture above shows-those who misuse books, possess pornographic material, break written rules or waste food will have their bodies sawed in half.  Very graphic right? (There was a sign out front with the warning, "Due to graphics nature of the exhibits, viewers' discretion and prarental guidance are advised." (the misspelling and grammar mistakes are not mine.)

Much of my three days in Singapore can be summed in these next two pictures-food and drink. Singapore is a very international city and in my short stay there I ate Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Singaporean and Malay food. This above was a delicious soup called laksa-spicy and creamy all in one, as well as a fresh-made spring roll full of veggies, peanuts and topped with some sauces. 

After 3 months of drinking very light lagers that lacked much taste, my friends brought me to some little shops that sell microbrews. I sampled all of the 4 or 5 beers plus an apple cider that they had on tap and settled on a wheat beer and later on an English Bitter. Both were DELICIOUS!

Arriving back in Hanoi, my friend, her two kids and I went to an old Confucius school, Van Mieu, or the Temple of Literature.  The school was built in 1070 and later became the first university in all of Vietnam. 

These are stone steles, tablets which sit on turtles (one of the four holy creatures in Vietnam). They hold the names of all those who took and passed the exams given while the school was open. 

The school is a popular spot for Vietnamese students to go and take pictures in their cap and gown. Either the school is always this full of students, or it was graduation time, because it was packed!

This is the outer wall of the school. I just loved that this man had installed his little barber shop there complete with a mirror and hook for towels. 

The Museum of Modern Art. Title: The effect of wine. 

I took my friend to a cafe that someone had taken me to 3 months ago when I first arrived. To get there you have to go through a shop and down a long hallway before coming out into the courtyard of the cafe. 

Then, four stories up, you come out onto this balcony, which overlooks Hoan Kiem Lake, which means Lake of the Returned Sword. Once the local king returned his sword to the Turtle King that had been given to him perviously by the Dragon King.

This wall stretches for at least one or two kilometers in downtown Hanoi. On the other side is one of the rivers that gives Hanoi the name means City between Two Rivers. 

I loved all of the paintings that could be found along it.

Up closer to my friend's home was West Lake, much larger and not nearly as touristy as Hoan Kiem.  Luckily my friend had several bikes, and we were able to ride around the lake several times during my stay there. 

I arrived in Toronto after nearly 30 hours of travel (Hanoi to Seoul to Toronto), expecting a short layover before my flight to CT. However my flight had been rescheduled to a later time without my knowledge and so I was stuck in the airport for a bit longer. But as this sign says, "Aren't you glad you're flying?" 

I boarded my plane and was surprised to see only rows of 1 seat, the aisle and another seat, 9 rows deep. This was the smallest aircraft I've ever been on. Despite the noise from the propellers, it was the first time I slept in 35 hours, after witnessing this beautiful sunset just over the clouds. 

Sailing from the treetops to the river

I traveled for a week or so without a camera until I realized that the one I thought was broken in Cambodia does work-just the screen doesn't. So shooting blind-I began again to try and capture the best of my trip. Here is the high point of Luang Prabang-literally-one of the top spots in town is the temple on the top of a large hill overlooking the river and town below. 

Most of the town is full of cute souvenir shops, massage parlours (of which I partook), and lots of restaurants and cafes located on one of the two rivers that surround the downtown. I caught this rowing team during practice one day while I was enjoying a mango shake. I missed several boat races during my travels (one time by one day), so this was as close as I was getting. 

From Laung Prabang I headed northwest, almost to the Thai border, to HueySai. From here I joined the Gibbon Experience-a three day trip created several years ago to protect the gibbons in the area and using the former poachers as guides. Paying what normally would have lasted me several weeks of travel (but totally worth it!!) I spent the time zipping through the treetops, sleeping in a treehouse (that's right), and seeing/heading the gibbons. The tour started with a 8km/5mile drive along this very muddy road in which one truck couldn't make it the whole way. When it's really bad you have to get out and walk the whole thing.

We were dropped off in a small village that serves as base camp for the trip. We had to cross this river first and then hike a few hours before the zip lining started. I'm the one up front with the walking stick-which became my best friend as it saved me from slipping and falling in the mud many times. 

After the hike and a few zip lines we arrived at our treehouse. I really wish we had this architect in our neighborhood when I was little. It definitely was a step above what we ever achieved.  

Here are my new French-Canadian friends chilling after the first day. 

This ladies and gents is the shower (can you see it in the upper left hand corner?) and the view from the bathroom-not bad right?

This is the whole gang from Treehouse 7. The nine of us plus our two tour guides (who were amazing!) had a blast together. All of our meals and drinks were flown in by a girl who worked in the kitchen located just up the trail from the zipline. In the mornings, one of the guides would zip over with a large kettle of hot water. And the first night they were kind enough to bring us a large beer bottle full of LaoLao (the national drink-a rice whiskey-basically moonshine). Between that and some card games, we had a wonderful time together. 

The reason for the trip: the gibbons! My group was lucky enough to see and hear the gibbons the very first morning. We were awoken by their singing (almost whale like) before the sunrise one morning. And by the time we were able to see, they were active-swinging around the trees. Gibbons have the longest arms to body ratio of any ape-so it was pretty impressive to watch them quickly move meters in seconds.

(I hope this video comes out well I haven't much success loading them yet). Here I am with my tour guide Mike. Can you see the background? At any one time we were 50-60 meters off the ground. Twice we were given an hour or so to do a figure 8 shaped course of zip lines and I always maxed out on the free time. 

After the three day zip lining tour, myself and my four new French speaking friends hired a boat for 2 days and set off down the Mekong and then up the Namtha River for a scenic route to Luang Namtha. 

Along the way we passed numerous small villages like this, all roadless, meaning that the only access was the river we were traveling on. 

We spent the night at the house of the boatman and his wife in one of the roadless villages. It was one of the highlights of my trip. Although it's not unheard of to choose to take a boat instead of the bus, there were no other tourists for our 2 day tour. As we walked around the village people were going about life with little regard for us. We watched as people gathered water from one of several wells in town-their only form of water besides the river (which is still used for bathing), cooked on open fires, and shucked rice.

But the most common task we saw happening was weaving. The women here are renowned for their beautiful woven skirts. Beneath each house (which are all on stilts), at least one woman from each family could be seen at all hours of the day and night, weaving on these old fashion looms. I was mesmerized by the complicated process and several times just stood and watched as the women were working. 

We also got to watch a match between our boatmen and his friends. He is the one about to head the small ball back over the net. I've seen this game played in other countries with a soccer/football. It's a lot like volleyball but you use more soccer/football skills. Here in southeast Asia, a ball made of woven bamboo is used.

As I said, there are no roads, but there were several paths the ran up and down and around the houses and animal pens. After walking through town and enjoying a delicious meal by the boatman's wife we made friends with the old men in town and we invited to shots of Laolao.

Cute kid picture of the post-the boatman's son joined us on the second day. Here he is asleep on his dad's lap as he drives. Also, I hope you can see how this boat operates. The wooden cylinder that is vertical has ropes wrapped around it in opposite directions which then lead to the rudder on the back of the boat. The gas pedal is the rope that is looped around the big toe of the boatman. 

Luang Namtha-my last stop in Laos, was a sleepy town but their morning market was alive and kicking....or wriggling about. This guy nearly got away. 

I had seen this several times and was glad to finally glad to snag a photo on my last day in Laos. Do YOU know why I really wanted this picture?

another sunset over rice paddies, it never gets old. 

My friend here was trying to bargain with these ladies. Well actually he didn't want to buy anything but they insisted on his buying something, so his method to get rid of them was to offer way under the price they asked. It was funny to watch. These ladies walk around town selling their wares: bracelets, purses and among other things- drugs. I was offered both marijuana and opium several times. This region is very close to China and is known for their opium.

I'm back in Vietnam! Having just crossed the border I can now finally read again (in Cambodia and Laos they don't use the Roman alphabet). Unfortunately the first sign I came upon was this one.....so close ;)

Biking through Laos' countryside.

From the 4000 Islands I headed north in Laos to Pakse which is famous for the start of the "Southern Swing." But before I left the city I had to of course visit the Mekong River for the umpteenth time this trip. 

In all I spent about 7 of 8 days traveling the countryside and mountains of Laos on motorbike! There are several loops that are known in these parts for offering some incredible views of the landscapes, while allowing you to cruise past tiny ethnic villages and see the day to day life of people and then enjoy and refresh in some gorgeous waterfalls or explore some very deep, dark caves. The "Southern Swing" I completed in 3 days and "The Loop" out of Thakhaek in 4 days. 

These were some of the houses I saw along the way-
some like above were mainly concrete based and appeared
newer. Others had all wooden structures and the walls seemed
to be woven with thin strips of wood. Sometimes the older houses
which were always build on stilts then had newer additions under
the original floor and those were always concrete as well. 

This little roadside stands were also very common. Each one was selling some local produce (bananas, green beans, pineapples or papayas. I stopped here for some papayas that I'm guessing were picked that day from the trees nearby.

Of course the animals were out in full force-sometimes they were
the most dangerous things on the road because they don't really
seem to care about the traffic. 

There were even elephants (not loose of course) but at one of the first stops I made at a waterfall I was able to see this guy and his buddy taking a bath. 

The local people also bath and wash dishes and clothes in the rivers. 

This was Tad Lo-the first waterfall I stopped at my first day on the bike. Although not the best waterfall by far that I've seen recently, I was able to glimpse these two men fishing in the falls. I watched one of them climb out into the water to cast his line for a while before climbing back out. I was pretty nervous the whole time. 

Another common way to fish in these parts is via this wooden structure that I saw often in waterfalls or rapids areas. The fishermen come in the morning to empty the traps. 

This waterfall was near the end of my second day. The mist from the fall left the ground around the waterfall a luscious green color and it felt amazing as well. (oh-my camera was stolen on this second day of the trip-ripped off my hand while I was driving along-so since I've only been using my Ipad or borrowing from others. The good thing-there are less photos to chose from to show you guys!)

I spent my second night at the top of a mountain overlooking the valley where I'd seen 3 waterfalls the afternoon before. I was the only guest that night and spent it sleeping in this tent. It was a different experience for sure.  

In the morning I awoke to this sight-mist rising off the mountain tops.  

On the 3rd day I got to Tad Fane-which is the largest waterfall in the area at 120meters tall. This is looking down into the valley from a view point. Although the most spectacular waterfall on the trip, there was no way to get down to the bottom, so aside from viewing it from atop, there wasn't much to do.

After 3 days on the "Southern Swing" I caught a bus to Thakhaek a few hours north and the next day started "The Loops" (the original I guess). I'm still waiting on some photos from my travel buddies, so in the meantime, forgive the low quality. After a few hours drive in the early afternoon we arrived to our first guest house and were stunned at the beauty of the lake that surrounded us. It was unfortunately artificially created when a dam was built, drowning the forest, but making for an eerie and mystical sight of tall, dead trees all around.

From the balcony of my guest house on the second night I had an amazing view of the fields which are currently being harvested. The families are out at all hours of the day and night (honestly-through the night too or else they could lose some crops). 

School's out! Play time for the kids. Or at least I thought so. Some of the girls were collecting shells from the riverbeds to bring home for dinner. 

Turning my head, looking up the other side of the river I could see the mountain ahead that I would cross through-literally-the next day. There is a 7.5 km/4.6mile cave located here that in only now receiving recognition. We rented some boats and boatmen and passed from one side of the mountain to the other (45 minutes one way) and to quote my guide book, " you might liken it to Middle Eart (the lights of other boats like Gollum's eyes swallowed in the gloom) or the Greek Underworld of Hades." Even if I had the pictures I don't think they would do the cave justice. 

On the third morning I left at sunrise to drive 4 hours back into Thakhaek. On the way out of town I snapped a bunch of pictures of the sunrise. But this was my favorite. The trail of mist over the fields was just perfect. 

 A bit random, but I like this picture a lot. These little bouquets of flowers are made and sold outside of most temples. They can be bought and placed around the temples or statues of Buddha.