Back home...final thoughts

As quickly as the trip started, it was over. I said goodbye to my new friends in Hanoi, and wished my travel buddy for the past 5 weeks, Keels the best on his continued adventure. He had another month and half to go in his travels and was going to spend the next 3 weeks making his way to the southern city of Ho Chi Min in Vietnam, then 1 week in Cambodia, and 2 weeks in the southern Thai islands. I went to the airport at 5am Saturday morning and the trip home was testing to say the least. I couldn't find a flight from Hanoi to Bangkok that would line up with my previously booked flight out, so I ended up spending 18 hours in the Bangkok airport (This added to my 24hour normal travel time)! When I finally got home, I had spent over 2 full days in airports and on planes and was in serious need of a shower... I felt bad for the folks that had to sit next to me on the way home ;-) I really am happy to be back in the USA and home, but at the same time I loved my trip and was a little sad to leave the travel path in Asia. I never really thought too much about traveling in South East Asia previous to this opportunity. Most of my travel destinations were determined by activities (such as surfing, and snowboarding) or predetermined by family trips. Now that I am home, I definitely appreciate the fact that I spent time in these areas. At this same time I appreciate and realize how lucky I am to be from the United States. I have tried to share as much of my experience as possible in the blog ( and I hope it was enjoyable for all), but there was a lot that I experienced which cannot be put into words, pictures, or blogs for that matter. I would like to say that I had an epiphany, and my life is forever changed due to the experiences...but I cannot. However, my travels added greatly to the continuous learning experience which I consider my life to be. Some of these things came through direct experiences with the foreign culture and people of Asia...others came through my interactions and conversations with the backpackers from an array of other countries...and some even came from the absence of work /other normal distractions and the ability to think in an introspective manner. Whatever the combination, I think I have left with a greater appreciation of the world, its people, and life itself. I hope that you enjoyed reading the blog, and got something from me sharing this experience with all.

Oh yeah! There were a couple more things that I wasn't able to previously share that I will catch you up on...

Luang Prabang, Laos
When we were in Luang Prabang, Laos we went to one of their most famous waterfalls and were joined by a busload of Buddhist Monk children. They were next the waterfall in their orange robes, and it was a magical contrast of the orange against the green backdrop.

Monk Children next to the waterfall

Within a couple minutes, they had taken their main robes off and fastened them like a diaper around their bottoms as swim suites. Then, like the tourists, they proceeded to jump off of the waterfall and rope swing. It was ironic seeing them as playful, carefree children (as that is not what you think of when you think "Buddhist Monk")...but they are.

Jumping off the lower falls

Me Showing the Monks how to do a back flip off the rope swing!

Stairway up to the upper falls

Le Mat "Snake Village", Hanoi
The night before I left to go to Ha Long bay, Keels pressured me to go to the "Snake Village" outside of Hanoi. The village had been operating to breed and serve snake for hundreds of years. Snake meat, and blood is considered a delicacy for the Vietnamese men. The village it self was over a body of water, and you had to cross some bamboo bridges to get to the area where the festivities began. When we arrived, we were sat on the floor at a table and were given drinks until our dinner arrived. Soon after the hosts brought out two, 3-ft snakes and called us over to the edge of the table (There were six of us in the group). They had 3 tasks that they wanted volunteers for: 1.) Someone to cut the snakes underside 2.) someone to find and pull out the beating heart 3.) someone to swallow the beating heart. I have the weakest stomach, and writing about this still makes me a bit queasy! Well I didn't want to seem disrespectful to Vietnamese culture, or maybe I didn't want to seem a sissy, so I volunteered for # 1 above. Keels willingly volunteered for #3 and within 30 seconds he had swallowed the oyster sized, still beating, snake heart (whew!).

Keels after he had taken the snake heart

Once the snake heart was taken, they proceeded to drain the blood and bile to mix with rice wine as shooters.

Draining the blood and bile

Red=Blood Shot Green= Bile Shot

Finally they took the snakes (or whatever was left) back to the kitchen and made an 8 course snake dinner. The dinner was excellent tasting, however not extremely filling as you can imagine. There was fried snake skin mixed with garlic and peppers, fried snake meat, grilled snake, vegetables, rice, and oh yeah... all the snake blood rice wine we could drink. We underestimated the power of the snake blood rice wine and the table got blasted before the two hour ordeal was over. When I got home, I went to the toilet and threw up... not really sure if it was from the snake or the rice wine or both...but it was an interesting experience!

The courses