Vega, Baby, Vega!

No, that is not a doubly type-o my friends, it is the name of our new favorite travel company, Vega Travels.We booked two tours with them, one in Halong Bay, and the 2nd one in Sapa. Last time we spoke, we had just finished our tour in the majestically beautiful Halong Bay, before we high tailed it on up on the bumpiest/loudest train ride you could possibly imagine to the hill-tribe mountain town of Sapa. Sapa, the place where hill-tribe ladies follow you on 15km hikes up and down the dreamscape scenery, soloing you out from the start of the trek so you'll buy their handicrafts at the end. You can't really decline once they've put in all that hard effort, can you? And in flip flops, no less! After our hike we ran into our new best friends from England, Helen and Mark, and had a couple beers before a delicious Italian pizza dinner. Our third best friend we made in Vietnam was our tour guide, Tu. A self-proclaimed lover of hookers and rice wine. He took Josh and I out on a private trek on our third day in Sapa to a place even he had never been. It was beautiful, new, and exciting, even for him... and he lives in Sapa half the time! We had lunch on the rice paddies that flood the mountains, and we dined on delicious cheese baguettes, mango, and pineapple. Along the way we taught him some funny sayings such as:

"Don't get your panties in a bundle!"
"Use it or lose it!"
"You should see the other guy!".... and many more, which he proceeded to write down in his trusty notebook. We are hoping that he will join in with us at the neon body paint/techno beach rave fest that will be the Full Moon Party on Ko Phangan at the end of April.

Speaking of the islands... looks like we will be heading there a bit sooner than we thought. We have been in northern Thailand for about a week and it hasn't been nice to us. It's unbearably hot, and when you get lost for three hours on a bike in 100 degree heat and no one speaks English to tell you where to go, your mind kind of starts to lose it. At least mine did, which resulted in what almost was a complete mental breakdown for me outside on the steps of a Tesco Express. Luckily my trusty co-traveler Josh was there to boost my spirits and motivate me to continue our journey. Eventually we did find what we were looking for, but at that point we were so tired and hot, we just wanted to leave as soon as we got there.

Another factor that caused us to change our plans so suddenly was the incredibly mediocre trekking and average scenery at best here in northern Thailand. We talked about how there's better hiking back home and the views and treks weren't worth all the work we put into it. So, when the time came for us to go to our next destination in northern Thailand, we played what can best be described as musical chairs at a Thai bus station. We changed our plans over and over as we were in one bus and out within a matter of minutes, eventually deciding to just go to Chiang Mai a week early and go to the islands right after. Unfortunately, this meant we'd miss the famous Thai New Year Festival, Songkran in mid-April. But you know what? It's going to be OK, because we will be down at Ko Phi Phi for it, and I can only imagine how insanely beautiful that place is going to be (it has the beach from the movie, "The Beach!").

Chiang Mai was good though. We played with baby tigers and snakes (much to Josh's amusing hesitation), went to a wat on top of a tall mountain, and took a Thai cooking class! I can now say that I can confidently make anyone back home Red curry, Tom Yam Goong soup, Papaya Salad, Pad Thai, and my favorite, Mango with Sticky Rice. So, when you want a home cooked Thai dinner, you just call me and Josh and we will be over there in a jif, ready and willing to cook you up a Thai feast.

Now we are in the ancient capital city of Sukhothai, where we enjoyed a day of ruined temple viewings, buddhas, and recreating pictures from my Thailand Lonely Planet guide. Tonight, we take an overnight bus to Bangkok where we will have to brave the traffic and commotion caused by all the Red Shirt protests (have you all heard about this?). The Thai Government just issued a state of emergency for Bangkok and the surrounding regions due to the ongoing, and increasingly violent protests in the capital. Hopefully we won't come across them and can make it to the airport safe and sound, where we will catch a flight down to Phuket. Hopefully all those tsunami warnings have cleared up by now...

As always, link on over to Josh's blog, The Awkward Traveler, to check our his take on our Southeast Asian Adventures!

Oh yeah, one more thing! If you happen to get any Vietnamese TV stations, keep a lookout for us. That's right, we were interviewed for a Vietnamese TV program while we were at a "hot pot" restaurant. Ilan and Josh... Vietnam's new biggest TV superstars!

One more last last thing! How great was the new episode of LOST?! Best episode of the season so far. Desmond and Penny... greatest TV couple of all time? Debate...