Blue Lagoon Tree Jumping Vang Vieng

Currently working on the blog for our travels in Laos, but while that happens, here is another video while you wait :)

How to Eat in Asia!

Let’s talk about one of my (Kaitlyn here) favorite subjects; food. I enjoy trying new foods and have tried to be pretty adventurous on this trip. Before we left, a big question we were asked was “what will you eat and how do you know if it’s safe?” Here’s a few tips, tricks and opinions from two newbs. 

Lets talk about the CDC. While this organization is a wonderful resource, sticking to their rules would equate to eating only at expensive restaurants. No street food, local fruits, vegetables, etc. As backpackers, we have adapted some of their suggestions. 

1. The CDC recommends not eating any fruits/veggies that do not have a thick peel. We stuck to that rule for about 2 days and then it went out the window.  It made eating extremely boring/more expensive. In general, fruits and vegetables do not need to kept at a certain temperature to stay good, they simply need to be cleaned properly. If something looks questionable (like lettuce), we just tell them to leave it off.  Although I say this…in all honesty, we pretty much eat whatever comes with the meal now, vegetables and all.
2. The CDC states to only drink, brush and rinse with bottled water. We have stuck to that rule, until recently…we’ve seen other backpackers brush/rinse with tap water, so we have began to do the same and have been just fine. We do not drink any of the water though and don’t intend to as our goal is not to get sick. Bottled water is fairly cheap—less than a dollar for 1.5 liters— and we are content to purchase it.  Also, for those, like me, who are wondering how showering works with contaminated water…it is the same as in the US. Before leaving, Nicholas and I read the “correct” way to shower…turn away from the shower head, don’t put your face directly in the stream and don’t get the water in your nose and mouth…I don’t know about you, but those are a lot of rules to follow when showering.  I like to enjoy my showers, so don’t over think it, just shower like normal, but maybe don’t shower with your mouth open. ;) 
3. The CDC encourages travelers to avoid ice in developing countries. We originally stuck to this rule strongly but have since relaxed about it. Fruit shakes in Laos are cheap, amazing and made with ice. So far, so good. Generally, ice made with holes in it (instead of chips) is more likely to be clean. We also felt that, for example, Cambodia’s ice was a little more sketchy than Thailand, Laos or Vietnam.  One thing to remember is if locals are enjoying the same drinks, most likely that ice will be okay for you to enjoy as well…I promise you their goal isn’t to intentionally get anyone sick. However, in the end, going with your gut is often your best bet.
4. Street food is extremely common throughout Asia, and is in fact their way of life and making income. The CDC states to eat it with caution, which we have tried to do.  We’ve also learned a few things about picking the right street food vendor.  Rule 1: look for the crowds, if locals and other travelers are eating there, it is for a reason.  Rule 2: Find vendors that make the food in front of you and serve it hot, ESPECIALLY all varieties of meats.  Rule 3: Avoid stacks of food unless in a high traffic area.  Most likely that food is older and there is no means of rotation. Rule 4: If you go to a local restaurant and you can’t watch them make the food, know it is a slightly higher risk, BUT…almost ALL of them serve good quality food prepared properly.  Follow these 4 simple rules and you’ll be eating street food like a pro and finding your way into some awesome local restaurants.  Almost everything we’ve tried has been delicious and we’ve only gotten sick once!  But in the very beginning when everything was new to our systems. :) Also, shout out to Laos, which has a huge number of sandwich stands that we have frequented, providing great quality, filling food! 

Unfortunately, we did get food poisoning day 3 of our trip. However, this was NOT from street food! We got it in a restaurant from, we think, fish. We didn’t notice at the time, but the fish came out very quickly (10 minutes quick) and had probably been cooked that morning (or day before…who really knows) and left out all day. Lesson learned: fish goes bad much quicker than other meats. Again, if possible, try to watch them prepare the food that needs to be cooked correctly.

Ultimately, there is only so much you can do to avoid food poisoning. We met a guy who got sick from pizza, and a guy who had traveled for 5 months and never been sick. Using common sense and being cautious, but still adventurous, is a skill we are honing as we go. Praying over our food has taken on a whole new meaning, but that’s just one little reminder out of many of how our God looks after us. Luke 12:7 says, “Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” How encouraging that He watches so closely over us. 

I’ll end on this note in addition to the previous paragraph…It is amazing how God designed our bodies.  So perfectly designed in to adapt, heal, sense, etc…wow, our God is amazing and we are experiencing many more of His beauties in our travels, which is by far the greatest thing we are experiencing. Psalm 139: 13 “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb”.

Until next time!

K

Activities in Vang Vieng, Laos

Thailand

This blog will give you a general run down of our time in Thailand and share a few of the things we enjoyed while there!

Kaitlyn and I arrived in Bangkok, Thailand around 7:30 pm on March 8th. We took a large tourist bus from Siem Reap that took 11.5 hours, which means it was a full day on the road. On our way to Bangkok we met Bert, a fellow backpacker from Utah, who provided us with many insights about traveling! We stayed in a hostel located 100 meters from the BTS sky train, which we used about 3 times. Our first night we went and wandered about to see what was around our hostel.  Our drive in allowed us to see how big Bangkok was and how little we would see in our short time there.  The city was loud and noisy…TukTuk's sounded like little race cars! There were elegant cars, sports cars, street bikes and more. To us, it seemed like another big city as if we were back in the U.S. Our hostel was nice and clean, however, we quickly learned that Bangkok is a big party city and unfortunately so was our hostel. We did not get the best rest due to all the noise. You could hear noise from the street and, because the building was fully cement, we heard everything that happened in the hostel. It honestly wasn’t our favorite city, but we’re still glad we got to experience it!  With that rather captivating intro…let’s talk about what we DID enjoy doing!

On our first full day, Kaitlyn and I (along with our new friend Bert) began a long 5km hike to see the Grand Palace. About 3/4 of the way there, we were stopped by a Thai student at the university who told us the Grand Palace didn't open until 2:30, plus we needed pants to get in (we were all wearing shorts). He pulled out a map and showed us some local places to go see before returning to the Grand Palace. He also told us that the Tuk Tuk's with yellow license plates are subsidized by the government and cheaper than the others. So we jumped on board a tuk tuk and were off to see some of the other sites.  We went and saw a reclining Buddha, a standing Buddha, Thai fashion and then to the Grand Palace. The standing Buddha we saw was unbelievably tall…so tall it once was the tallest in the world, but it was overcome by a Buddha erected in China. The Grand Palace was something quite spectacular. All the temples within were stunning and housed many precious gems, metals and buddhas. It is quite possibly the most beautiful temples we have seen so far! Everything glitters and shines due to the meticulous maintenance of each temple. 

That evening Kaitlyn, Bert and I went found some street food for dinner; we tried the most delicious banana crepes for dessert. Sweetened condensed milk was used as syrup to sweeten it even more. We also had some pretty awesome Pad Thai from a street food vendor. Overall, we did a fair bit of relaxing in Bangkok.

On our third day we went to the Marble Temple, walked to the King’s residence and the Chatuchuk market, where Kaitlyn finally got her coconut. She has wanted to try one since she lived in the USVI, so finally that dream came true, and she drank most of it. Sharing is caring, but so is buying your wife a coconut, so it worked out. ;) 

On the 12th we headed onto our next destination, Ayutthaya. It is a UNESCO Heritage sight with many old temples. We were somewhat “templed out” by this point, so decided to see them all in one day via a scooter (motorbike)! Also, it was the hottest and most humid day we had experienced yet, so it was not pleasant to walk around. So…the scooter was by far one of the most fun things we’ve done.  And it only cost 220 baht for a whole day (6.25USD)! Nicholas loved it, and since Ayutthaya is smaller the traffic wasn’t nearly as crazy. We also had the BEST street food EVER there. Each night we went and tried something new; fish balls (yes we know this sounds weird, but how else do you say balls of fish?), mango with sticky rice, grilled pork on a stick with some kind of sweet/spicy sauce, coconut pancakes, little pork sausages, a big pork sausage (that was the only gross thing we tried) and fried chicken. Our favorite thing was a egg omelet/scramble that had mussels and veggies in it. If you ever go to Thailand, you have to try one! 

From Ayutthaya we took a night train to…Laos! But you have to wait for the next blog post to hear all about that country. ;)

XOXO, friends and family!

N + K

P.S. I forgot to mention our trek back to Bangkok to pick up the over night train tickets we forgot to pick up that we purchased earlier on through an agency. Luckily 1 ticket only cost 15 baht which was about 47 cents.  One thing we continue to learn is truly going with the flow…lucky for us, it was an easily correctable mistake. :)

Here is another video of Ayutthaya, Thailand!

Temples of Siem Reap Cambodia

You can see the fun we had visiting the temples in Siem Reap! Hope you enjoy this video!

Here is a taste of the nightlife in Siem Reap as well. :)