tokyo: noodles

Well I've been in Tokyo just over 24 hours and already I've already had a great time. I arrived at the hostel right around lunchtime yesterday and before even dropping off my bags, I was asking the receptionist to point me towards the best ramen in the area. This small spot didn't dissapoint - even though there was not a word of english on the menu. I picked what ended up being ramen with thingly sliced fatty pork. What a great way to start the trip. I left full and with a huge grin on my face.

Since Adam, Russ and Pierre weren't in yet, I decided to walk through Rappongi, Hiro-O, and Ebisu, with the ultimate goal of finding the Onitsuka Tiger store which was just west of Ebisu. These are quite affluent neighborhoods and somewhat quiet during the day, so I didn't think we'd be going back with the rest of the crew. Turns out the walk lasted 3-4 solid hours as I repeatedly got lost. I purposely left any maps and addresses back at the hostel, so I was just using the subway station maps and my memory to navigate. Unfortunately each of the maps around town is oriented with the north arrow pointing in completely different directions each time, so that can be rather confusing. I eventually found the Onitsuka store and was rather dissapointed with the rather measly selection of shoes and the exhorbitant prices. oh well, t'was a good little walk anyway.

For dinner I met Neha who was also traveling through Japan, and along with a few of her friends we ate at an Izikaya restaurant in Shinjuku. We ordered way too much food - and yet managed to eat it all. See the pictures of most, but not all of the dishes below. The fried chicken cartilage and chicken skin yakitori were my favorites.

Today I moved to a hotel in Shinjuku where we'll stay for a couple days. For lunch I walked around Shinjuku thinking perhaps I was craving sushi. I've noticed that some of the best food in Tokyo is usually hidden in small alleys or on the 9th floor of buildings. Since going up and down building elevators didn't seem practical I focused on the small alleys. I ended up finding an soba/udon/tempura spot that seemed rather popular. I sat down, pointed at the businessman next to me's bowl of udon with tempura and was promptly served - mine with the addition of a soft boiled egg. I wolfed down the bowl like everyone else around me and once again left very satisfied. 3 for 3 with meals so far. I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Shinjuku and the adjoining park snapping pictures of the few trees that were in bloom.

phnom penh

This weekend I went back to Phnom Penh briefly to revisit the city. I had passed through in 2006 and hadn't been particularly impressed. In fact, I'd say I left the city with a pretty negative view of it. Dusty, hot, dirty, full of dirty old men with questionable intentions - it really hadn't seemed like a place to visit. I flew in from Bangkok Friday afternoon and Amity joined me from Siem Reap later that day.

This time I opted to get a slightly nicer hotel so that we would have a pleasant place to retreat if things hadn't changed a whole lot. Fortunately, despite the sweltering heat, things felt quite different this time around. There were more people out and about, it felt a bit cleaner and more orderly, and we stayed away from most of the expat bars where I'd previously come across the aforementioned seedy characters.

Over the weekend, we hit most of the main sites in town - visiting the royal palace, the national museum, Wat Phnom, and the genocide museum, which, other than the genocide museum, I had skipped last time (unclear why I did that). The palace was very stately, and with far fewer tourists than its counterpart in Bangkok, far more enjoyable to walk around. The museum too, was very well put together and had a ton of very well preserved and presented Khmer artifacts. The building itself was also a beautiful dark red and had a great little courtyard inside - very nice. The genocide museum remains about as bleak of a museum as you'll ever go to, and left both Amity and I with the same uneasy feeling when we stepped back out the main door. Nevertheless, we topped off both days with some very tasty food - something else that I somehow didn't run across last time - and a fair number of tasty cocktails at the Foreign Correspondents Club and other bars along the riverfront. And so overall we both really enjoyed visiting the city and I'll certainly have a very different opinion of it going forward. Perhaps not somewhere I'd recommend spending an entire week... but for a couple days, it's a great place to swing through.

Now South East Asia is behind me and I'm in Japan for the last stop of the trip. Adam, Russ and Pierre will join me tomorrow for the beginning of what will likely be two pretty ridiculous weeks of fun. Tokyo, Hiroshima and three days of skiing in Hokkaido! Going out with a bang :)

taiwan

wow, it's been well over a week since my last post. after my four day scooter adventure in northern Thailand I took it easy for a day in Chiang Rai before making my way to Taipei on Friday. There I met up with Amity, Darren, Chris, Ed and Melinda from the HK and Singapore exchange programs for another weekend of eating. Friday was an early night, with everyone tired from traveling, though I did manage to sneak in a very good scallion pancake with a fried egg while walking around that evening. Saturday we made our way to the National Museum, which is full of Chinese artifacts from the mainland, many of which were brought over to Taiwan when the Kuomingtang fled to Taiwan after WWII. Afterward we made our way north to Beitou, which is full of natural hot springs. We stayed there till all our toes and fingers were completely wrinkled and our suits had a pleasant sulfur smell to them :) After retreating to the hotel for a quick nap we went to check out the Shilin night market followed by a somewhat late night at a seemingly popular nightclub. The market was bursting at the seams with great food and was certainly different than the Thai markets I am accustomed to. Much more food and much less crap to buy - not a bad thing at all...

Sunday we made our way east to Jiufen - a former gold mining town located about an hour east of the capital. Though it was wet and cold all day, we once again manage to eat a ton of food walking down the main street of the village. mushrooms, ice cream burritos, sea snails... the list goes on. We eventually were done in by the rain and we decided to retreat to Taipei for a nice dumpling dinner at one of the more famous spots in town - Din Tai Fung. It pretty much lived up to the hype with some delicious pork and crab soup dumplings. Making me hungry just thinking about it again! The night ended with an epic night of bowling in a random, and decidedly unpopular bowling alley. The lack of customers certainly didn't stop us from staying until they kicked us out at midnight.

Monday morning was spent visiting some of the main sites in and around Taipei. Once again it was rather cold and rainy, but we weren't to be stopped :) Most everyone headed out their own ways that evening, while I stayed back with Ed for a few more days. Once everyone headed to the airport, we caught a high-speed rail train to Sun-Moon Lake. It's the largest lake in Taiwan and is supposed to be known for its picturesque setting, with mountains surrounding the lake. We didn't do much that evening besides locate a place to stay and grab some food, but our plan the next day was to rent scooters and make our way around the lake.

Alas, it was raining once again, and so we scrapped that plan. Instead we took the bus to the other side of the lake to visit the main temple there and get a look at the scenery (through much fog). It cleared up a bit once we made it back to the town we were staying in, so we snapped a few pictures, but overall the weather was rather miserable. So we made our way back to Taipei. That evening, Ed had planned to have dinner with some distant relatives and invited me along. And so there I found myself at a table with half a dozen of Ed's relatives. It was a fantastic meal, with chicken, steak, shrimp, ribs, and much much more. I didn't snap any pictures because of the setting, but it was certainly a great experience.

So that's it. Overall, Taiwan was much more enjoyable than I anticipated. It's chalk full of great street food, the people are very friendly and it's super easy to navigate. Certainly a world apart from mainland China. In fact it almost feels like Japan at times. Definitely recommended. Now I'm in Phnom Penh for the weekend and will be heading to Japan on Sunday for the last leg of the trip.

motorcycle (...err scooter) diaries: part 2

Day 3
I left the cool air of Mae Salong behind early on day three to make my way towards the town of Fang and Doi Ang Khan. There's nothing particularly interesting about Fang, but Doi Ang Khan is a peak with an agricultural center, which offers the local communities demonstrations on how to farm things other than opium. Opium really isn't produced in Thailand any more, but 20 years ago, this was at the forefront of the battle against the drug.

The road up to Doi Ang Khan was somewhat of an adventure. First I tried going up some small backroads - only to find that they'd been blocked off by the army because of its proximity to Burma. So after accidentally running into a military base I back tracked 20 miles to the main road and went up to the top the standard way. On the way back to the main road, I had a run-in with a snake. Now normally I wouldn't really flinch at the sight of a small snake, but this thing was roughly 12 feet long, basically the width of the road. I didnt have time to stop so I simply rolled right over it and kept going. Definitely gave me a good scare though.

Doi Ang Khan was pretty nice, though since it is the winter, there wasn't much in the way of fruits and veggies, mostly just flowers (hence the pictures below). The way back down wasn't so adventurous, and I spent a quiet night in Fang walking the weekly night market.

Day 4
I decided to head back to Chiang Rai today in order to leave me some time to get a few things done. So I picked out a few points of interest on the way home, not really knowing how nice any of them would be. First up was a waterfall. Turns out this "waterfall" was more like a little stream. I guess it's the dry season - oh well. Next up was Chiang Rai Winery. A little better than the waterfall but not much. There's weren't any vineyards to be seen as this "winery" only produces fruit wines. DOH! I had a small taste of their mangosteen wine and some herbal wine, neither of which I would recommend to anyone. Yuck. I didn't feel bad not buying anything since they didn't even want to give me a tour of their facilities.

Third on the list was a random bakery that was listed in my map. First success of the day. I don't normally care for sweet things much, but I could get used to eating mango pie. Delicious. Final stop on the way back was Wat Rong Khun, a modern temple that's certainly unique in Thailand. It was built in 1997 and unlike all the other temples, it's entirely white and has very non-tradition imagery like the sculpture of reaching arms when you enter the temple.

So... that's it. 4 days, 1 snake, 1 military base, about 300 miles, and a whole lot of interesting things along the way. Next up: Taipei for a long weekend!

motorcycle (...err scooter) diaries: part 1

Part of my thinking when I decided to make it back to Thailand so quickly was to get the traveling out of the way, and then have more time to do something interesting once back in Thailand. And so in Chiang Rai I made the decision to rent a scooter for a few days and check out the northernmost part of the country. So I bought a detailed road map of the area (this is a popular place for motorcycle trips, so there isn't a shortage of good maps) and started planning out the trip. I also bought a flight back to Bangkok for Friday night for a mere $60, and so that left me with 5 full days to travel.

Day 1:
I woke up early Sunday morning and found a rental shop that seemed halfway reputable. After copying my passport and leaving a deposit I was quickly on my way with a manual 110cc scooter - a real monster (which I was assured could actually make it up some of the steeper roads in the area). I headed north from Chiang Rai to Chiang Sean. A sleepy border town (with Laos) which had a good midday market - a perfect pit stop for lunch. After a hearty bowl of soup accompanied by plenty of smiles (nice to be back in Thailand), I continued just north to the Golden Triangle. It's where the borders of Laos, Thailand and Burma meet. As it turns out it's about as interesting as any other point along any your average international border - which is to say not very interesting at all. It's actually a giant tourist trap and I was glad I had my own wheels and I could get out quickly. However, just north of there is the Hall of Opium, which is a great exhibit, built by the Thai royal family, which details the history of the opium trade in and around the area.

After the museum visit, I continued onward towards Mae Sai, the border town with two bridges into Burma. The road there was a little better than the first section (which was mostly flat, boring, and under construction). As I followed the Mekong River, I passed through a number of small villages and essentially had the road to myself. I think I almost hit 55mph! When I arrived in Mae Sai, I was greeted by quite a bit of commotion. Turns out this is quite the lively little border town, and so I quickly found a hotel room, parked the scooter and walked around the market area. There wasn't much here I hadn't seen elsewhere in Thailand, so I made my way towards the main bridge into Burma. The border crossing was relatively simple. The Thais stamp your passport and wish you well and then the Burmese, err Myanmar army, takes your passport, gives you a temporary pass with your name on it, and lets you enter the country. You simply give them US$10 and they hold your passport until you leave the country. You aren't permitted to go too much further than the border town (Talichek) without a more formal permit/visa. I'd heard there wasn't really much of anything in Talichek, and that turned out to be pretty much true - not that I looked very hard. I simply went in, walked around the market (which had the same crap as in Thailand, plus some counterfeit cigarettes), found a coffee shop and had a Burmese beer. Overall I'd say it was a successful trip. I only stayed a couple hours, but I got a $10 stamp in my passport, and tried a new beer - what more could you want. Back into Thailand for the evening.

Day 2:
Today promised to have some better roads to scooter along. In fact I made my way up into the mountains and drove in and out of valleys and along ridges all day long. Despite all the smoke from slash&burn agriculture, it really was a beautiful road to travel along. I mostly stayed on very minor roads, most of which were signed in Thai, and so I got lost a few times, but eventually found my way out thanks to the map I got in Chiang Rai. First up was Doi Tung, a peak along the Burmese border with a nice temple, and when it's not so hazy, presumably a good view too. The road I took to get there followed the Burmese border, which apparently means I had to cross three military check points along the way. Each time, the Thai officials smiled at me and waved me along without flinching.

Next stop was Thoed Thai. I think this spot has some historical significance for the Chinese, but I was hungry and so the only significance it had for me was delicious pork fried rice I ate. It really was some of the best I've had in Thailand, though since the town is half Chinese, this isn't much of a surprise. After lunch I proceeded on to my final destination - Mae Salong. This is another Chinese-ish town. It was settled by remnants of the Kuomintang army who moved from Burma to Thailand after the Communist Party consolidated its hold on China. (history lesson thanks to wikitravel). It's a lovely little town up on a ridge lined with tea shops and surrounded by tea plantations. There I found a great little bungalow with internet, Cable TV, hot shower (this isn't always a given), and reasonably comfy beds for just $6. Not bad.

So that's it for now. Two days - roughly 120 twisty miles and everything's still going well. Not sure where I'm headed the next three days, but I will probably stay up in the mountains as I'm really enjoying the cooler air (minus the smokey haze). Stay tuned.

back to thailand

After my stay in muang ngoi neua, I started on my way back to Thailand. I wasn't sure where I'd end up that night, mainly because I got conflicting information on how long the different legs of the journey took. As it turns out I made it back to Chiang Rai in two days. Here's how:

Day 1:
Leave Muang Ngoi Neua on a crowded long tail boat. This time the engine isn't as loud and next to me are the people I met in the village. Going down river takes only 45 minutes (instead of over an hour upriver) and so despite leaving 30 minutes late I arrive at 10:15 or so in Nong Khiaw. Off to a good start. Cost: 20,000 kip ($2.35)

Next I head back to the bridge/bus station and buy a ticket on the 11am mini-van to Udomxai. I end up sitting next to two American girls, one of whom speaks Thai... (thai and lao are very similar) - so this would be helpful. Three and half hours later, four if you include the usual late departure, I arrive in Udomxai. Road was a bit bumpy but nothing compared to what was coming... Cost 40,000 kip ($4.70)

The mini-van driver offers to take those of us in the van who want to go onward all the way to Luang Nam Tha. He wants 65,000 kip, but we soon realize the local bus only cost 35,000 and leaves at 3PM (giving us an hour to stretch our legs). Local bus it is. After buying my ticket, I promptly lose it, get yelled at by the bus driver, but am allowed to continue. The road is just awful. Under construction, dirt road, dust, potholes, more dust, awful. Thank god for Dramamine. We arrive at nightfall in Luang Nam Tha and get on a shared ride pickup for 10,000 kip into town. For some reason bus stations in Thailand are always 8000 miles away from town centers. Anywho, we (the two american girls and I) find a hotel right where we get dropped off, clean the dust off everything and go grab some dinner. Hotel: 60,000kip, Dinner 45,000kip. Total cost 150,000 kip ($17.65)

Day 2:
I had planned on staying in Luang Nam Tha for a couple days, but the crappy roads, dust and long travel day made me reconsider. Instead I jumped on the earliest bus the next morning to Huay Xai at the Thai border. This road is a bit better for a while but quickly deteriorates as we wind through the mountains. It's also packed full, and at one point the kid sitting in the aisle next to me (and on a bag of rice) turns a shade of green that is never a good sign. I opened the window for him praying that he wouldn't lose his breakfast all over me and apparently the fresh air helped. Five minutes later a few people got out and he moved up to the seat in front of me - where he finally threw up. I had been spared. Three and half hours later (1pm) we arrive at the border. From there we catch another shared ride pickup to the border crossing across the Mekong. I swear I've crossed that river two dozen times now. Total Cost 55,000 kip ($6.50)

After going through the formalities and spending our last kip on some Chips Ahoy and a Coke (that was officially lunch i think), we hop on a long boat to cross the Mekong, arrive on a sandy beach, and go through Thai immigration. Welcome Home. Cost 10,000 kip ($1.20).

The girls are considering making the trek to Chiang Mai - another 5 hours, but I'm only headed to Chiang Rai, a paltry 2 hours away. After a 30 baht tuk tuk ride, I hop on the local bus headed to my final destination. After all this travel, I hardly flinch when I see a school bus that appears to be 40 years old. 2 hours in that thing - no problem. Total cost 95 baht ($3)

After all that, I finally arrive in Chiang Rai (which actually has a bus station near the center of town) and after walking around a bit, find a nice hotel room with everything but wifi. It's only 6PM, but feels like much later. I go grab some Pad Thai(!!!), a passion fruit smoothie, check my email at an internet cafe, and call it a night.

So there you go... 2 days, 15 hours of travel on wonderfully smooth roads and comfortable boats, and about $35 dollars later, I was back in Thailand. Till next time Laos. (sorry for the lack of pics through all this - it's best you use your imagination anyway)

muang ngoi neua

One of the reasons I wanted to get to Laos was to get away from everything - even for just a short amount of time. It seemed remote, and until very recently, I really hadn't heard a whole lot about it from friends or even other travelers. During the first ten days of the trip in Laos, I didn't feel especially disconnected from anything. I was traveling with my Kellogg friends and everywhere we went we had western food, internet cafes and well... electricity. I decided to change that this week. With all the Kellogg folks heading their seperate ways to other parts of the continent, I continued on in Laos making my way 4-5 hours north of Luang Prabang to a tiny village called Muang Ngoi Neua. I still don't think I'm pronouncing it right, but I made it here safely and without too much hassle. It started with a quick three-hour bus ride to Nong Khiaw from LP, where I was dropped off on one side of the bridge, litterally. There really wasn't a whole lot else to distinguish this as a bus stop - save perhaps a few other confused westerners and another mini-bus.

Luckily, I quickly found the one tourism company in Nong Khiaw and asked for directions to the "port." This in turn was nothing more than a little hut (where you buy tickets) and cement stairs leading down to the Nam Ou river. There I bought a ticket to Muang Ngoi Neua (which, as I mentioned, I don't know how to pronouce properly) and was informed that the boat left in two hours. This gave me ample time to find Nong Khiaw's finest dining establishment and order some fried noodles. They were good. So what if I got rice instead of noodles.

The boat ride was a bit dodgy as they say in some parts of the world. I'm not convinced that the boat was designed to carry 24 westerners and their oversized backpacks up through rapids, but who am I to say. Sitting in the back, and right next to a wonderfully noisy 4-cylinder Toyota engine, I could see the front of the long tail boat move in every direction but the one the back of the boat was moving in. Amusing really.

Muang Ngoi Neua is everything I hoped it would be. It's basically the little village that time almost forgot - but didn't. While there aren't any phone lines and the only electricity comes from generators which run for but a few hours in the evening, there are a number of guesthouses and bungalows, as well as restaurants, that cater to backpackers and a few adventurous tour groups. A relatively cold Beer Lao is never that far away - neither is the cell tower or the satelite dishes. I even found a place with a warm shower. It's really an easy way to get away from it all for a couple days.

I ended up spending two nights and only one full day there, but I met some wonderful travelers and had a great time exploring the local villages on my own. Locals and tourists alike are quick to point you in the right direction as you're wandering through the dry rice paddy fields behind town, and other than the occasional snake or water buffalo, there really isn't much else to worry about. In the end, it's exactly what I hope Laos would be and if I didn't need to get back to reality sooner, I would happily spend a couple more days here just watching the overfilled long tail boats take tourists in and out of this little village on the Nam Ou River.

luang prabang

Everything I'd heard about the old capital of Laos turned out to be true - right down to the 11pm curfew. It's an extremely picturesque little town, with old french colonial buildings lining the streets and a relaxed atmosphere which slows everyone right down. I spent almost a week there enjoying the easy-going town and a few of the local attractions. I arrived a day earlier than John, Neha, Connie, and Kimberly to meet up with the Hong Kong Kellogg crew who were doing a rapid tour of SE Asia over their Chinese New Year break. After an arduous seven hour drive through endlessly winddy mountain roads from Vang Vieng, I arrived mid afternoon and made my way to the main street to rent a scooter. "$18 for one day - you've gotta be out of your mind!" And so ended my quest to rent a scooter. That evening I met up with Amity, Ashley, Darren, and Chris for some dinner, drinks, a massage, and a stroll through the night market. These activities would be repeated a number of times throughout the week.

Though we had every intention of making it to the local waterfall the next day, the unseasonably cold weather dictated that we find something else to do. And so we did - spending the day sampling the street food on offer, and specifically the pho - or foe as they spell it here. We also made a little trip to the locals market to take in the sights and sounds and this didn't dissapoint - rats, frogs, dogs... you name the animal, it was chopped up and ready to be cooked. I'm not entirely sure what else we accomplished that day - unless you consider the aforementioned - dinner, drinks, massage and stroll through the market an accomplishment. A cold, yet relaxing, day all around.

The next day, with John, Neha, Connie and Kimberly back in the mix, we all rented a long-tail boat (and its driver) and made our way down-river to the waterfall. Now that the weather was once again cooperating, this turned out to be one of the nicer waterfalls yet - even during the dry season. The rest of the day we did what we do best - eat, drink and enjoy a massage :)

We kept up the same routine almost daily for the rest of our stay.mixing in a few other activities including treks up into the local villages and even a tiny little bit of wat-seeing. Overall I really enjoyed Luang Prabang. It's clearly in the midst of a huge tourist boom, and is clearly changing on a daily basis. I would certainly recommend it to anyone traveling through the area, especially if you want to relive a small part of colonial French Indochine.

lethargy and debauchery

Someone on wikitravel describes Vang Vieng as "lethargy by day and debauchery by night." This isn't completely true. I'm not sure how to describe this place. On one hand it's nestled in a beautiful valley along a river in what would be a very serene setting if not for the hordes of backpackers that have turned this place into a bizarre world where watching endless American sitcoms and tubing down a river with a bucket of alcohol in hand seem perfectly logical. So first the town. It's two main streets are lined with restaurant/bars where no one talks. Why don't they talk? Cause all the bars show reruns of Friends, The Family Guy, and The Simpsons all day, every day. So basically everyone picks a bar based on what season is showing from one of those three shows (and only those three shows), and just sits around and watches as much as their little hearts desire. Of course they're all drinking large Beer Lao's, but really alcohol is an afterthought here.

On the other hand, along the river, alcohol appears to be a priority. Backpackers have managed to turn this tranquil spot spot into a year round spring break party - you might as well be in Cancun in March. Besides drinking, the activity of choice is tubing. You rent a tube in town and then get dropped off upriver, and proceed to slowly float back south into town, stopping at one of the many bars that line the river. Each bar obviously has various drink specials, but they also have swings, zip-lines, slides and other dangerous ways to launch yourself back into the river. Needless to say, safety does not appear to be anyone's primary concern.

I wish I could tell you I took part in this debauchery, but alas, we were content just tubing down the river watching the 18 year olds doing belly flops and giving themselves whiplash. It was remarkably amusing and just floating didn't wear us out too much - so that we could join them afterward for half a season of friends. One day of all this was enough for me however, so I left Neha, John, Kimberly and Connie behind, and moved north to Luang Prabang. The eight-hour mini-bus ride was, well... long, but certainly worth it. Traveling up Highway 13 in Laos has got to be one of the most picturesque trips you can take. The road is lined with schools, villages and people going about their daily routines. It was surely a fascinating way to see the country. Unfortunately as I was sitting in the middle of the bus, no pictures were taken. Hopefully I'll take some as I continue to travel north. (btw picture uploads are coming... just some minor technical difficulties)

onto laos

Back to full time vacationing! This time I’m off to Laos with John, Neha and Kimberly from Kellogg as well as Connie who was also on exchange at Sasin from Cornell. Our trip started at the Bangkok train station where we caught an overnight train to the Laos border. Since the A/C units were all sold out, we settled for fan only 2nd class beds, which turned out not to be as bad as we imagined they might be. It wasn’t that hot at night, but keeping the windows open all night was loud and dusty – and so sleeping was a bit challenging. We arrived in Vientiane, the sleepy Laos capital at 11am, and after securing a hotel room for the night, we followed the Lonely Planet walking tour of the city... err town. With a population barely over 200,000, Vientiane is certainly one of the smaller capitals I’ve ever been to. We walked around rather lethargically, trying to get a quick feel for this new (to us) country. Unfortunately we were exhausted from our train trip, and so our walk, turned into a very lazy stroll through the blistering heat (it was probably 95 degrees and rather sunny). He hit some of the main sites, which were generally rather unimpressive, and so after an early meal, I passed out early for evening on my hotel bed. Somewhat unimpressed with the capital, we decided to move northward towards Vang Vieng, our next destination, four hours north of Vientiane. Overall though, it’s nice to visit a new country, with some new foods to try – including many baguette sandwiches :) There's certainly a strong French influence around town - both in terms of food and architecture. Alright onto Vang Vieng.