The Basics

It occurs to me (me being Kyle) that many people reading this blog will have no idea about the basic ins and outs of life on the road in SE Asia. This blog entry will therefore fill all of you in and serve as a reminder to me that, although sometimes it seems like all we do is eat and look at things and figure out which places look good to eat at, there is in fact a whole lot more going on.

MONEY: In Thailand, money was the Thai Baht, with about 35 Baht to the dollar. Thus, if something cost 100 Baht, it was about 3 bucks and that was reasonable. If something cost 1000 Baht, it was about 30 bucks and ridiculously expensive. In Lao (which is what people say, not because they are pretentious but because this is the Lao People's Democratic Republic, or Lao PDR, and the S is one of those colonial holdovers, like expatriates and Laughing Cow cheese), the currency is the Kip, with about 8,600 Kip to the dollar. Thus you can readily throw down a 10,000 kip bet on things and sound like a high roller, when in fact you're only investing a buck fifteen. For some reason, in Lao you can use Thai Baht pretty much as much as Kip, and in some towns they quote you prices in baht (which can be confusing).

TRANSPORTATION: Between cities, we have pretty much only taken buses, which are cheap and everywhere if not always comfortable or on time. You go to the city bus station and a bunch of guys ask you where you are going and try to steer you towards their bus, eventhough the prices are all pretty much the same and buses have a schedule and we always buy our tickets at the ticket window (or on the actual bus). You never know what you're going to get or how many stops its going to make. Around town, people take tuk-tuks, which are little three wheeled motorcyles with a tiny little covered truck bed in the back that has benches. They are moderately fast but exceedingly good at weaving in out of traffic, and rarely pay full attention to traffic signals. They are also ubiquitous, and the calls of "tuk tuk" whenever you are walking anywhere can begin to get on your nerves. Bargaining with the drivers is a whole experience in and of itself. The other way to get around is samthaw or jumbo, which are trucks with the covered back converted into two long benches of varying degrees of comfort. You can pack a whole lot of people into these things, and they do.

BATHROOMS: Always an adventure in any foreign country, SE Asia is no exception, but it does keep you on your toes. There are regular western toilets but without plumbing (a bucket filled with water that you empty into the toilet to flush) and squat toilets that are pretty much a platform and a hole in the ground, again with a bucket to flush. Sometimes there's a hose to spray yourself down; ocassionally there's toilet paper. In the fancy joints its just like home and people whisper excitedly about the W.C. Not infrequently, the bathroom at the resaurant or where ever is also the family bathroom, so there's somebody's toothbrush and soap and underwear hanging to dry. At bus stations and similar places you pay about 20 cents to use the bathroom, and the conditions are exceedingly variable. Good luck figuring out exactly where one washes ones hands.

STREET FOOD: Like other hot places, SE Asia has a lot of night markets, where you can get regular stuff but also delicious dinner for super cheap. You run around to the various stalls and point at things that may or may not be delicious, and when your hands are full of food you wonder how you're going to eat it and beg a spoon off of some kind-hearted vendor. The curries are usually good and some of the barbeque has been excellent, but other stuff tastes like feet and its hard to figure that out ahead of time. Thai street food was consistently better than Lao food, with better flavor combinations and spice, but Lao makes up for it with baguettes and baguette sandwiches. The BEST thing in the world is this crepe like thing with egg and banana, grilled up on a little griddle and covered with sugar and sweetened condensed milk. Holy crap. You can also buy fruit and stuff, but why would you??

OTHER STUFF: Beer is relatively cheap and everywhere, but there is no wine to speak of. Lao coffee is horrible, horrible stuff and no matter how many times you try it, it just doesn't get better. You can buy insects and other interesting foods, but we haven't been compelled to do so yet. There are monks everywhere and though they seem like pious enough fellows, you occasionally catch one in a bright orange yankees hat and wonder what the hell is going on. Its cold up north in these countries and we did not pack right, to say the least. I can't believe I forgot to say this:

THE ROOSTERS: Are everywhere and are incredibly loud - I don't know how they manage to survive in every corner of the city, but the certainly do make their presence known. Its much quieter at 8am than it is at 6am. The goddam roosters...seriously. And they are perhaps the only animal that sounds exactly the same in every language. They actually do say Cockadoodledoo, with infuriating predictability.