All good things have to come to an end

It is my last night in Lao. It is a little surreal that I am flying back to Bangkok tomorrow and then to USA the next day. This has been such a brilliant experience (I realized that I say cool, awesome, and amazing too much so I picked up the Adj brilliant from the brits) It is going to feel wierd paying more than $2 for good meal and $3 for a hotel.Here is an update of what we have done the last couple of days. Yesterday we went on a Wat tour of the city and then Anne and I went to a waterfall in a tuk tuk. It cost $2.50 for the round trip ride that took us 30 km away and we got to see the country. It was pretty funny as all of the kids in each small town waved and yelled hello at us. We passed at least 10 towns and all of the kids did the same thing. I wondered if the government paid the kids to make the tourists feel that special, but it is Lao to make everyone feel good about themselves. They are the kindest people. THe waterfall Kuang Si falls looks like Havasu Pi and Agua Azul in mexico with its blue blue water and limestone falls. As we were swimming it began to down pour. The rain was so warm and the droplets were the size of pennies. We were drenched and all of our stuff was drenched when we got back to the tuk tuk. It was a strenous hike and after we took a warm shower(I think that this sounds weird, they were separate showers and separate beds) Anne and I both fell asleep for 3 hours accidently.Today we went rafting and had a lovely (brittis again) time. The rapids weren't very huge but you couldn't beat the scenery and surroundings. I have fallen in love with Lao. I could see why everyone we meet says that they wish they had more time in Lao. Tonight we went to the night market and again I spent more money than I should ($12) but when are you going to be in Lao again?Well tomorrow we will go see some more Wats and fly out to Bangkok if all goes well.See you soon and mom and dad I will call you on the 31st (mon) around 3pm your time to tell you when my flight is. It is kind of weird to fly standbye and I might be in LA for a day (Let hope not)

Loving Lao

We are in Lao! It is amazing. Last night we stayed in Vietien and we took an 8 hour bus ride to Lam Prabang where we are now. The drive was an adventure in itself. lao has jutting green mountains and skinny skinny roads with sharp cliffs on the side. It reminds me a lot like Ecuador except with less development and people. All we could see were tiny thatched roof villages. But it was entertaining to watch the people as we passed. You got tiny glimpses of peoples lives: children swimming naked in the rivers, men with triangle hats picking rice and plowing the rice paddies, women working in thier kitchens with children in slings on their backs, old men and women talking and laughing together. It was pretty interesting although it was only for 2 seconds as you passed them by, but you could guess if people were suffering or happy by the expressions on their faces.last night we went to a PakIndiThaiLao restaurant. It had food from those four different countries and one chef. The food was excellent and we met the cook who was pakistani. The meal cost $2. I am definately trying to get my fill of Asian food while I can for so cheap.Yesterday we had a little ordeal at the airport. Our flight was supposed to leave at 830, so we got to the airport at 630. When we got there we found out it was delayed to 1230pm then to 430pm twenty minutes after we checked in. The airline put us up in a hotel and paid for our food. We got to the airport at 3 to catch our flight and found out it was delayed to 630 that night. They bought us drinks to ease our pain. So it was waste of a day especially because it was an hour flight, but if we would have taken the bus it would have been 15 hours so it was alright to wait.I don't know if I wrote to tell you about seeing Uncle Ho (what they call Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi) we got there too late and only saw the moseleum from the outside. we saw the museum of ethnology which was really cool. They had people from the different tribes in Vietnam come and build traditional buildings on the grounds and they were huge and interesting. I can't remember if we have a museum of ethnology in Utah.Well hope you aren't baking too much in Utah

Boating in Halong Bay

We went on an awesome tour of Halong bay (I am still on the tour actually) Halong Bay is a maze of jutting mountains in the calm China Sea. There are 16 of us on this tour: an older German couple (both chemistry professors), a young Spanish couple(scuba instructors and internet cafe owners),and Isreali couple (undergrads), two Brits on holiday, an Aussie, a Canuk (both on a year adventure), and us. We first went on a cave tour which opened up to a huge cavern. Last night watching the sunset on the top of this boat and then talking with these people under the stars was definitely a high light of the trip.Today we went on a trek in the blazing heat and 100% humidity which is always fun. We got to a look out. Then we went kyaking to a beach and went swimming. I was with the guide. I really enjoying talking to the people here in Vietnam. I think meeting people from different walks of life is the best part of traveling. He was 25 and from a small farm. He learned English and became a tour guide. He was shocked when I told him there were 8 kids in our family because the law in Vietnam is one or two ( more than that you have to pay) We then kyaked to a fish farm and I had to balance across 2x4" passing over the fish and shark cages in order to get back to the boat (it was pretty intense.)We go back to Hanoi tomorrow. I hope everybody is doing alright. We have about a week left (2 days in Hanoi and the rest in Lao.)So i will see you soon

Ninh Binh, Hanoi and awesome trains

Trains are awesome! We took the overnight train to Hanoi (kind of we got off at Ninh Binh to see the city) We had to split up to get on the train. I went bymyself while the other three went in a car with 3 vietnamese women. I was in a car with an Austrailian couple, 1 guy from Chicago, and 2 girls from quebec. I think that I got the better deal by being by myself. I had a great time talking with these people. The two guys were talking and found out that they both got scammed out of $8 and their vietnamese-english dictionaries by the same guy. It was pretty funny. I wondered what that guy was going to do with so many dictionaries that he scams off people. I slept on the top bunk and the "hard beds" were actually thin, but comfortable mattresses. I had a hard time sleeping even though it was comfortable. My mind wouldn't shut off; I kept thinking about how different Vietnam is, what makes someone happy, and what I need to do in my life. Life of PI was on a boat, life of scott was on a midnight train to Hanoi.We decided to get off early in the city of Ninh Binh. We took another motorcycle tour to these cool mountains jutting out of the rice patties. We climbed a mountain to look out over the valley. We then took a bout tour of the river with an old married couple (they were like 50!) They were so funny and kept asking me when I was going to get married to Anne. I can't tell you how many times people have said that! We had a great time joking around in their broken english and my broken Vietnamese (which consists of reading out of a phrase book.) We had a great time. They trapped us though, while we were in the boat they sold us handicrafts for $2. I felt guilty and got some more stuff for mom and dad's house.We took a bus to Hanoi. A 25 year old kid sat next to me. We talked for a while and he invited us to come to his house 30 km out of Hanoi. I declined but he was very nice. Tonight we went to a water puppet show. It was amazing.They used fire works under water, traditional music, and awesome wood puppets. I felt underdressed it was such a cool event.Well hope everyone is good. Tomorrow we go for a 3 day boat tour in Halong Bay. were sleeping on the boat, So no emails for a while.

Things before the Night Train to Hanoi

I wanted to add a couple of things about our cool tour yesterday. At one ofthe buddhist pagodas, we waw the tomb of a monk that burned himself to protestthe south vietnam government that was killing people that wouldn�t convert toChristianity in the 1960�s. It had the picture of him meditating while he wasburned alive and his car.At another pagoda, we watched the monks chant their evening prayers. Theywere in a monestary where the monks say around 50 words to each other a day atmost. Then they come together and they sing loud together. The boy monksdidn�t have their whole heads shaved but they left two pony tails and theirbangs. They graduate, as our motorcycle guide put it �coconut� head (shaved)when they become 20. As the older monks chanted, the little boy monks playedsoccer.Today we took motorcycles to the beach 25km away. We had the beachpractically to ourselves. It was great. Many local people stopped and talkedwith us, even though we didn�t buy anything from them. The people are sofriendly and try to emphasize that they don�t have any hard feelings towardsamericans. They like them, but they think that French people are rude. It ispretty funny. I tried to convince them that not all of the french are bad, butthey wouldn�t believe me.Now we are getting on a night train from Hue to Hanoi. The only bed�s leftwere �hard beds� so i probably won�t sleep too much tonight. We�ll see.Mom and Dad, Paul emailed me that you were planning a vacation August 1-4. Iwould be happy to go as long as we left Aug 2 and came back Aug 4 during theday so I could be back for Deppe�s wedding reception that night. I will havesome wicked jetlag because I get back the day before so I hope you don�t mindif Paul does all of the driving. Paul and I are then planning to visit Karenon the Aug 6. So I guess I will have a summer of trips away from home

Motorcycles and Hue Vietnam

Yesterday we went on a tour of the My Son ruins. It was a holy spot for the Cham people and they would come to worship there twice a year. They are a matriarcal society that now lives in southern vietnam. When they are going to get married, a girl has a party with all of the single men and then she picks the one that she wants. And they go down the list until one of the guys agrees. The women make all of the governing decisions and the guys stay home with the kids. It was bombed heavily by the U.S. during the war because the Viet Cong were hiding there. our guide told us that the Viet Cong found the US troops there because they had stepped on a mimosa plant which fold in on itself when disturbed. So by the plants they could tell the location of the US troops. We then went to the beach and had a great time.Today we went north to Hue which used to be the capital of Vietnam. We took an awesome tour of the city on motorcylces. We saw the tombs of past kings and rice paddies and a bridge that was built in 1776 and the wood is still in great shape. We also went to Bunker Hill and we saw hamburger hill from a distance. They dont let people go there because there are still tons of land mines. We had an awesome day. I think that everybody should see Vietnam on the back of a motorcycle. We will be in Hue for the next two days. It is interesting to see lots of old women and not very many old men because of the war. hope that everybody is happy. It sounds like it is hot in Utah.

Good Morning Vietnam

This morning I woke up in Nam. Yesterday we went to Saigon for the day during our lay over. It was a cool place. It felt kind of weird though to take pictures in front of tanks that probably killed American soldiers. We went to the reunification palace, the Notre Dame of Saigon (10% of Vietnam is catholic), a chinese pagoda, and a hindu temple. I figured we hit a site for Atheists, Christians, Buddhists and Hindu. We only missed a mosque.It was quite strange as we were in the airport we watched a Vietnamese live version of the smurfs. It was quite funny even though we couldn't understand anything. Another funny thing is that waiting in line is not part of the Vietnamese culture. It was kind of funny and frustrating trying to get on the airplane:people in a huge group funneling through one by one as they took our tickets. People elbowing and "butting" in front of us (they didn't mean to be rude but it was hard for us.)We went to Danang last night and stayed in a hotel along the river. We took a taxi to the marbel mountain and saw these cool shrines that they had in the caves. In one cave, the incents would not float out and it looked ghost like.We then got to Hoi An where we are now. We ate lunch at this restaurant where this woman kept showing us how to eat our food, say thank you, feed us, and then washed our faces. She treated us like babies but it was very amusing. The food is amazing and it was all you could eat for $3. I of course over ate. We are going to the ruins of My Son tomorrow and to the beach. I also splurged and got custom made shoes for $15. I felt kind of weird as they measured my feet. I pick them up tomorrow. So we'll see if it was a good investment or not.Vietnam is a very interesting place. I feel guilty being an American even though they have no hard feelings on the outside towards us. But it is interesting to see men Dad's age and think that they were probably Viet Cong soldiers. This is my first time in a communist countries, but it seems like Vietnam is doing pretty well. I guess after Cambodia that most countries would seem more developed. We were discussing that it is probably weird for Dad and his generation that I would be here on vacation. It would be as if my kids ever went to Iraq! Crazy

Phnom Penh

A quick update:The day before yesterday, as we were in Angkor Wat, we were at a temple called Ta Phrom which is a huge temple that has been overrun by the jungle. the french, who rediscovered Angkor Wat, wanted to show how the temples looked when the found them. Nevertheless, this temple was one of my favorites. It had huge trees growing on top of the walls. It started to downpour and we had to take shelter in the temple along with all of the other tourists. We met some girls from Canada. They are traveling for a year in Asia. I thought that would be pretty cool, except it probably would get too frustrating for me to not have a purpose but to sight see for a year. They of course asked us what we were doing. And when they found out we were from Utah, they asked if we were mormon. I guess one of them went to the temple viewing before it was dedicated in their city and had some questions about baptism for the dead and sealings. So we had our conversation about the temple inside a different temple.Yesterday we took a bus ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh which was great. We got to see the countryside. On the main highway, people drive motorcycles going 20 miles an hour with 3 to 4 people on them, or chickens or pigs. We had to swerve around them. There were also horse drawn carriages hauling wood. It was a strange contrast to see, however, when we got to Phnom Penh the shacks and the new high rise condos in the city. When we got off the bus, there were 20-30 tuk tuk drivers all fighting for our business. I felt like a fish on the deck full of seagulls. A couple of them would stick with you the whole time as you walked around looking for your back and kept asking for your business. Luckily, our tuk tuk driver in Siem Reap called his friend to come pick us up. We then went to the market. I bought a watch that definitely is the style of a man's watch but has I love you blinking on the screen with the time for a couple of bucks. Now that I look at it I think it was stolen. The market was huge. Anne and I decided to find our way back to our hostel by walking. It was pretty fun and quite the adventure. There are tons of cars and no street lights. To cross the street, you have to walk into the road and the cars swerve or stop for you.We are off to see the killing fields, the kings palace, and the silver pagoda so I will write later.Scott

Phnom Penh 2

This email is a little graphic. If you have a weak stomache than skip thefirst paragraphYesterday in the morning we went to the killing fields where more than 9000bodies were found of men, women and children. They had a memorial of a hugetower of skulls of the people that had died there. It was very sad. Becausethe regime was poor, they didn�t use bullets, but they used hammers,bayonettes, and stones (violent deaths.) They had a tree with a microphonethat would amplify their moans when they were being killed in order toencourage them to be quiet. They also had a tree where they would take thebabies from their mothers and bash their heads against the tree to kill them.Or they would throw the children up in the air and stab them with theirbayonettes. They would do this all in front of their mothers. We went to ahigh school turned prison by the regime. Their were hundreds of pictures ofmen, women and children that were killed their. They would kill the familiesin order to make sure they didn�t come back for revenge. 14,000 people wereheld their but only 7 made it out alive. We walked through the class roomsmade into cells and saw pictures of what they found when they liberated theprison: people being tortured in terrible ways. They also had personal storiesabout people who were in the Khmer Rouge to show that they were people too.We then went to the king�s palace and the silver pagoda. They had a life sizegold statue with over 9000 diamonds. Some of them were over 25 carats. It wasquite impressive. We are off to Vietnam right now to spend the day in Saigonand then we are going to be in Danang tonight.

Hello From Cambodia

Well, We are in the incredible country of Cambodia. The people here arevery happy and kind on the outside. I don't know if it is because I am tourist and they want to get my money, but they seem very sincere. The last couple of days we have been going to Angkor Wat and the temples around. We hired a tuk-tuk for the four of us. Our driver is a guy named Sane.I asked him a couple of questions about himself and he was a little taken back because tourists usually just tell him where to go. he is 26 and the sixth child of 10 of a farming family in a small community. He moved to Siem Reap with another brother and sister. I asked him how many kids he had and he said a surprised no. he said that to get married it costs $2000 to buy a woman from her family. He usually only makes $200 a month. he said that he is saving his money though to go to school. His situation is better though. He used to work in a factory in Phnom Pehn and only made $70 a month working 6 days a week. I told him that to get married in the US it costs around $2000 just in dating fees also.Angkor Wat is incredible. It is the largest religious structure in the world and one of the 7 wonders of the world. American classic movies like Tomb Raider have been filmed here. A lot of the temples have 20 foot faces of former kings in them. One of them had 216 faces of the king (to show that big brother is always watching) The temple complex was built from the 2nd century to the 14th. You will need to look this up on the internet.There are tons of kids with excellent english skills here. The majority of the people here in this town speak English incredibly well. Yesterday we went to lunch right before a huge downpour. A group of children trying to sell bracelets and postcards and books learned our names and gave us papers about them so that we would buy their things. We went to eat and told them that we would think about it. There was a huge down pour while we were eating. The 15 year old girls working in the restaurant had a huge waterfight in the back in the rain. It was pretty funny to watch. When we had finished eating we thought that the rain had gotten rid of the kids. We were wrong. We tried to get in our motorcycle taxi and they ran up to us. They tried every trick in the books to get us to buy their things and then resulted to guilt by telling us that we had promised to buy and that we were liars. I felt bad because I knew what it felt like to be rejected in the mission so many times and these were only kids. I ended up buying a copied book today from one. I am a sucker.We will be in Siem Reap today and tomorrow. We then go to Phnom Penh and fly to Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) on the 15th while we have a layover and then go to Danang Vietnam.

Beaching it.

I have been a slacker and haven't written so I apologize if I freaked you out parents. Anyways last weekend we were in Cha Am and stayed on the beach. And that is all I can say because it was relaxing. We came back to Bangkok sunday afternoon. We went and saw the golden palace(former home of the king), Wat Phraw Kao which holds an emerald Buddha about 2 feet tall, and Wat Arun. We then were walking to find a place to eat when it started downpouring. We went to an indian restaurant down an alley way that was recommended by the travel book. It was some of the best Indian food that I ever had and cheapest.The next monday we learned about malaria and dengue vectors again. We saw how they test insecticides including the citronella smoke which actually works! It was pretty cool. We then took off that afternoon to go buy our plane tickets for the other places we are going. MOM HERE IS OUR ITENERY Tomorrow we leave for cambodia and will be in Angor Wat for 3 days and in Pnom Phen for a day. We then go to Vietnam (Danang) for 4 days and then we go to the beaches of Hue we then go to Hanoi and fly to Lampabrang in Laos July 26. And come back to Bangkok July 30 . The flights are definite. And the plans are pretty set in stone. I don'[t have my calendar to give you the exact dates but this should tie you over for right now.Tuesday of last week, we learned about the AIDS vaccine trials that are taking place in Thailand. It is under stage 2 in people in some of the provinces here in Thailand so maybe within the next 10 years it might be out for the public. The people were afraid of it at first (it doesn't have a live virus) but with T hailands infrastructure and HIV dense population it was the best place for the world to put it to the test. We also learned more about Dengue and it's vaccine. I am having a brain fart and can't remember the other things we did on Tues or Wed.The last couple of days we went to Ko Sumet. It is an island off the southern coast. It had white sandy beaches and it was great. My watch didn't survive the wave unfortunately So I have to look for one from the venders here. I also got pretty fried.Well next time I write I will be in Cambodia