Sunday, November 30, 2008

Buddha Park Part 2: Vientiane

The sculpture garden in Vientiane was a lot smaller than the one across the river, but it had some pretty strange features. Our favorite sculpture was an enormous head that we entered through the mouth. Inside, it was very dark, but we could just make out the shapes of lots of old and broken sculptures cluttering the ground. There were steep spiraling stairs that lead up through the head to a tower on top, from which there was a great view of the park. Psychedelic, huh?

The opening at the top of the head

The complicated neurological structures of the sculpture

Ian made it out of the head alive!

Buddha Park Part 1: Nong Khai

In 1958 an eccentric priest-shaman, Luang Pu, built a massive Hindu-themed sculpture garden in Vientiane, Laos. After the revolution he fled to Thailand, and he built another sculpture garden in Nong Khai in 1975. The two gardens face each other across the Mekong River. We love sculpture gardens, so we made sure to visit both of them while we were in the Thai-Lao border area. First off, we checked out the more recent park in Nong Khai. There were lots of Buddhas, of course, but also some neat mythological and surreal creations. See for yourself:


Eternal love:
Brutal:

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

I made a post about a big gate

Hi everybody!

I'm still charlie, and here is my first post "on assignment!" Tiara said if i do good on this one i can write another. Ian said "go away you little batard, i'm trying to sleep." I don't know why he called me a batard when i am an ice cream cone, i think he is still confused from being sick.

Okay, now i will start my report, I went a couple days ago but some of the words are hard and it took me extra long to press all the letters. This is the victory gate of vientiane! Tiara gave me a ride because my legs are little and i can't always keep up.


A sign said the gate is a monster and it made me scared. Tiara said not to worry that calling it a monster was a "petit foure" (i think that is what she said).


We climbed all the way up to the top of the arch. Inside it was dark and scary and ian said it looked and smelled like a subway, but not the kind with jared and the sandwiches. At the top i looked down and it was really far.


Afterward we went and looked at it from the other side. I took a picture of it from far away, but the camera is really big and it came out kind of slanty. Tiara read in her big yellow book that it is made from concrete donated to build an air strip, and that some people call it the "vertical runway." I waited for three hours but didn't see any planes land on it :(


Ian and tiara went on a walking tour instead of watching for jets, so i had to take the bus back by myself. It was hard but i am okay, thank you for asking.


Okay, you can leave now. Bye everybody!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Sunsets #2: Ridiculous Koh Phi Phi Pictures

As promised, here's the second installment of the sunsets series. These were taken over three nights in Koh Phi Phi - the first set was from a hill overlooking the main two beaches, the second and third set were taken from our guest house on 'Long Beach.' Again, it's hard to get this stuff with a camera, but some of these still came out quite pretty. Enjoy.
Night 1 - Picture 1

Night 1 - Picture 2

Night 2 - Picture 1

Night 2 - Picture 2

Night 2 - Picture 3

Night 3 - Picture 1

Night 3 - Picture 2

Friday, November 21, 2008

Koh Phi Phi

Yes, it's pronounced "pee pee." Phi Phi is a collection of twelve islands. The biggest, Phi Phi Don, is the only one that's inhabited. While you were all watching the election results on TV, we were on the ferry to Phi Phi Don, biting our nails and worrying that McCain would pick up every swing state. When we found a guest house on the island, the first thing we did was turn on the TV and see that Obama was giving a victory speech. Much excitement ensued.

Phi Phi is an expensive and heavily touristed island. We were unhappy with the beach we first settled at, so we moved a couple beaches down the island and found a good deal on this very slanty bungalow:

Even better, the hotel's restaurant served this super fun fried rice in pineapple dish:

The main attraction in Phi Phi is to take a boat trip to the other islands in the archipelago. We took our second private longtail trip for an all-day excursion of sightseeing and snorkelling. The first (and most popular) stop was Maya Bay, the setting for that infamous beach in the aptly named film The Beach. Our guide book says that Maya Bay is so beautiful that it will make you weep, and that you'll weep again when you realize how many tourists you have to share the beach with. True on both counts. It was stunning, and would be far more so if it weren't the Disneyland of southern Thailand.

We did find that piece of tranquility on this deserted beach on Bamboo Island, where we enjoyed lunch and a walk all the way around the island:

At Monkey Island, we kept our distance while we watched others get a little too close to the monkeys. Word of advice: if your sandal falls off on Monkey Island, do not try to retrieve it. Finders Keepers is definitely the rule here. This scene between kayakers and monkeys was pretty hilarious:

As soon as the kayak pulled up, the monkeys claimed it as their own and the tourists hopped out in a hurry. Notice how they are prepared to use their oars as weapons to reclaim their kayak.

Sunsets #1: Thailand

Sunsets are hard to capture on film. We've seen a lot of really good ones while we've been here, and decided to do a pair of photo dumps. Some of the pictures in today's post look pretty, but don't fully do the sunsets justice. Come back tomorrow to see the really ridiculous ones from Koh Phi Phi.

Taken on a ferry to Koh Samui


Taken in Krabi

Also taken in Krabi

This one is from Pang Na

Here's one from Khao Sok. The color isn't amazing, but it was a nice place to drink a beer.


This last one is from Koh Samui. Apologies for the large amount of railing in the shot.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Phang Nga Bay

Thanks to Charlie for making this blog post possible! A couple of weeks ago we took a day trip on the Phang Nga Bay. We experienced one of the huge benefits of traveling in low season when no one else signed up for our tour, and we had the longtail boat all to ourselves. Our six-hour boat trip took us through dense mangrove forests, into caves with wax-like stalactites and stalagmites, past hundreds of karsts rising out of turquoise waters, and, of course, to the infamous "James Bond Island." Lately Ian and I have been talking about what would be on our "lists of places." By this we mean those places where you just ooh and ahh, and no matter how many photographs you've seen, being there in person doesn't disappoint. My list includes Machu Picchu, Torres del Paine, the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Valle de la Luna, and Canyonlands, among others. The Phang Nga Bay was definitely one of those places. I couldn't resist dumping loads of photos on this page, so kudos to you if you make it all the way to the bottom.

By the way, this tour cost us each no more than $20, including lunch and pineapple. If you're in Thailand, this is a must-see.
James Bond Island, as featured in The Man with the Golden Gun.

Not a bad spot for lunch.

Proof we were really there! That's the trouble with low season - there's no one around to take your picture.