Steve and I have found our way back home. For various reason both of our trips ended before we had planned. I will be finishing the last few posts on the end of our trip. Steve’s last days were spent in Cambodia, while mine were in Bangkok. I will explain everything after the catch up posts go live.

You may also notice a lack of ads on the left hand side now, as well as a new image linking to the designers of this blog.

Happy holidays from the Two Dudes!

Upon arrival in Vientiane you can already see the French influence, not to mention every menu you see while in Laos has baguettes on it. We got off along the river and made our way one block in to Saysouly Guesthouse. It’s only 100,000 (roughly $12.00 CAD) Kip for a TV, AC, and a hot shower. We hadn’t had a hot shower in weeks at the time, so it was a must. We only spent one night in Vientiane so that we could get the most out of northern Laos, mainly Vang Vieng.

We hopped on a bus and 5 hours later we were in the small party capital of Laos. Filled with tons of young travelers this small town has tons of activities. You can tube down a river and have beer while you do it, go kayaking, cave exploring, rock climbing, or just enjoy countless Family Guy and Friends episodes in the bars. We spent 8 days here.

Our first day in Vang Vieng we moved our bags in to Popular View Guesthouse for 120,000 Kip a night for AC, two beds, and the most amazing view I’ve had at a guesthouse to date. We were on the top floor in the corner room, which had windows all around it which opened up to a great mountain view.

Later that day after getting settled we decided to try tubing. You just walk down the street and there are many tube renting outfits that will rent you a tube and drive you up river. So a few minutes later we were getting off our tuk-tuk outside of town at the original bar that started it all. It was all open and had a slide and a swing. They also give free shots before you jump in the water. So 2 shots later we were holding our beer and sitting on a slide ready to embark on our adventure. Both of us lost our beer on that slide but lucky for us they re-surfaced. About 10 minutes in to our tubing ride you see 4 bars on either side of the river pounding out music and packed with party goers. Don’t worry, you don’t have to do any work to get to these bars. They employ locals that have water bottles slightly filled with water for weight attached to a rope which they use to catch and pull you in. Getting out of the water is no easy task when you’ve had a few, very hard on the shins.

Steve and I ended up stopping a few times for beer, but the one bar that captured us was Slide Bar. It has a huge slide made out of bathroom tiles. The slide is roughly two stories above the river. You need to buy a beer to ride it, which was not a problem at all. So up top Steve asks me to take a picture of him going down it. I was to shocked at how fast he flew down the slide that I forgot about the camera. Next I was up, and waiting for people to clear the landing area. I was joined shortly by 2 drunk ladies telling me to go I said what about the dudes neck that I could land on, she said just do it. So I was off, with a waterproof bag full of cameras and beer. Steve and I are certain we have the all time distance record off the slide. I ran down a quarter of it flying off then end and landing some where in the middle of the water. My bag nailed me in the chest but I was to excited to care.

An hour or so later we were back on our journey. Stopping at the last bar on the strip to warm up near a fire and grab one more beer. It had already gotten pretty dark at this time so that was a brief stop. Now tuk-tuk drivers start flocking to the river banks at around 4:30 picking up tubers that were running out of light and getting cold. Steve and I being Canadian said no to them, and I quote “We payed for these tubes, and by god we are going to use them”. Long story short it was dark and cold when we finally came ashore at the River View Island just down from our place. Later that night we enjoyed the nightlife on the “Island”. Three bars that pump different music and all have different attractions. Rock Bar for rock and roll, Limbo Bar for fire limbo and fire shows, and Bucket Bar for bucket hi-balls.

The next day we vowed to get on the river sooner. We got on at about 1, which is the latest any one should attempt to do the full tubing trip at. We stopes about 10 minutes in at a bar for some jungle ping pong. The tabs was warped and cracked and the paddles were nearly garbage. But we played the hell out of that table. And the Laos bartenders were more than happy to bring us beer. A few hours later we were back at the Godzilla of slides, Slide Bar. With intentions on sliding we bought beer and got the stamp to ride the slide. But before we could do that Steve had made some Laos friends. I came over to see what was up and found myself sitting with them eating buffalo skin, sticky rice, dried basil, and morning glory. We soon found out one of the people at the table owned slide bar and the only nightclub in town. The owner really took a liking to Steve. It took a little Canadian charm but we soon had the owner and his butler playing a drinking game. Drink your full cup of beer if any one says full. After it was quite late and we were the last people there he drove us with our tubes back to our place where it was an early night for me. Actually his butler drove.

After having our fill of tubing steve and I signed up for kayaking. You start your day tubing through a cold cave. Ou wear headlamps and pull yourself along by rope. Then you hit a very shallow point where you walk for 5 minutes crouched over. Then you make a big chain of tubes and ever one paddles. Lucky for Steve and I we got the back, which meant we could enjoy our beer with little effort. After the cave they feed you and toss you in the kayaks which are double seaters. And off you go down the same river the tubers are all on. You then stop and have a beer at the first bar along the way. Close to the end of our trip we challenged the Brits and a couple randoms to a race. Steve and I had them all until we gambled and flipped our kayak 5 seconds away from hitting the shore. Took that corner to fast.

The next day was spent caving which was a great experience. We rented pedal bikes and biked 6 km into the Laos country side where you see tons of small huts and farms. All under the beautiful mountains that tower over this small river town. Upon reaching the main cave, we payed for headlamps and a cave guide. It cost about 8 dollars combined for Steve and I. You get an hour of cave trekking in the pitch black, wet and dirty caves. It’s definitely worth it. The best memory from caving was when Steve farted, which echoed and caused our guide to laugh uncontrollably.

The small town of Vang Vieng is quite an oddity having seen the rest of Laos. Considering Laos has a curfew of 11:00 PM, Vang Vieng makes the best of it and really pushes past that curfew to 3:00 AM on good nights. And if I forgot you get one free shot of whiskey for ever drink you buy. We won’t forget this town anytime soon.

We payed about $321.00 Canadian for PADI Open Water Certification, 4 nights in a bungalow with a hot shower and television, a free t-shirt, and 2 free beer.

We spent the first day in a class room. Doing small quizzes and watching videos. The next day was half in the class doing the same, then we had to write the final exam. In the afternoon we had out first dive, in a swimming pool though. It was to learn all the basics and get accustomed to breathing through the regulator.

Our next few days were spent diving in the ocean. Seeing all the different kinds of marine life was amazing. We spotted 3 sting rays, a school of barracuda, a giant clam, an eel, a few trigger fish, and tons of small colourful fish. Now apparently the other group that was diving in the same area as us saw a sea turtle. Sadly we didn’t.

If any readers ever get the chance to dive in the ocean I highly recommend it. It feels like you are on a different planet under the water. I can say that I will be pursuing the advanced classification in the future. If you’re afraid of sharks, as long as your are on the bottom of the ocean floor you can’t get bitten. Sharks can’t attack down.

After diving we had to jump back to reality and jump on a ferry to Ko Samui. Ko Samui is the largest of the three islands that we visited. Unfortunately when we got there the beginnings of a monsoon were happening so it was just constant overcast, no rain.

Ko Samui was to be where Steve and I spend our Halloween. Well we ended up staying on a beach populated with resorts, and very few bars. From what I can tell the big resorts appear to be purchasing all the small guesthouses on the beaches. This did affect Halloween for us. The island seemed nearly dead. Steve found a small bar that night with maybe 8 people dressed up. We just had a few beer and waited for our flight the next day.

There are a few tours of the island you can do, there is also monkey shows you can go see. But Steve and I were getting a little sick of seeing large Buddha’s. Also I’m beginning to not trust animal shows in South East Asia. It’s hard to find ones that aren’t cruel to animals, mainly the elephants.

Steve and I ended up going to Ko Samui Soccer Golf. They give one free drink when you buy a ticket. Naturally we got 2 Chang Beer. The game consists of golfing with a soccer all and your foot. 18 holes later the champion was yours truly, Golden Foot Mitch. When you have a winner the girls working there all come out with trophies for pictures and a score log book. It was great fun.

After the soccer golf, Steve wanted to bungee jump. So we told our driver and off we went. It looked a lot like Jeff’s down in Patong. It’s like a big crane with a basket on it that goes up and down. Steve got all snugged up with the jumping “gear” and before he knew it he was towering over Ko Samui. He said the view was worth going up there for. He did the jump where his head dips into the water. This turned out to be one of Steve’s highlights. I however did not jump, it could be because I’m not a fan of stuff like that or the fact that there is no safety line or certified instructors in Thailand.

After all the fun on the islands Steve and I had to leave Thailand. After 45 days our visa was up and we needed to continue our journey, heading in to Laos. So one flight to Bangkok, and a long bus ride started our Laos adventure.

So we went for a walk to get closer to the ocean for a good price. Bongo Bungalows is where we ended up at. With a good restaurant playing all the new movies and rentable bungalows we were half a block from the water in a sandy, palm tree laden garden. Inside the bungalow we had 3 beds and one fan. At 400 baht a night you can’t beat that.

Upon waking the next day we decided to scout this place out. There are many bars playing Family Guy, new movies and Friends. Lots of small grocery stores, and a few dive shops. Once down on the beach you can see about 9 big bars that set up and play music and serve drinks. But it’s at the night time when you see the fire shows and the huge amount of alcohol venders that set up in-between the real bars.

We booked our open water PADI dive certification that at Crystal Dive in Hat Rin before going on a snorkeling adventure.

Bored after booking our scuba stuff, we still had the better part of the day left to kill. So Steve and I purchased some snorkeling sets which were pretty cheap and proceeded to charter a long boat to a secluded beach. Little did we know the water had zero visibility. So after about 5 mins I was playing the Jaws theme over and over in my head. I was out of the water faster than Uncle Kev runs after his tip-ups while ice fishing.

Well after getting back to our bungalows and drying off we went and had some food and watched some movies while drinking Chang beer and Vodka Shark Bites. We sat in the restaurant until they closed at 11 and moved down to the beach to sell alcohol. So we followed and were truly surprised. Now keep in mind that this is the night before the Full Moon Party. The fire shows which are really just a side note to the whole party, are hilarious. People jumping over a flaming skipping rope. Guys with flaming balls on chains, and ones with flaming sticks like light sabers. Once you get past the fire shows you notice, hundreds of other party goers on the beach, some on drugs, but most drunk stumbling around. So Steve and I did what we do best, we found a stage and pushed our way to the front. We did Canada well that night.

Waking the next day to a blur we laughed for about an hour about the craziness that we experienced. And soon I realized that Chang beer gives one heck of a hang over. A Chang over is actually what you call it over here. So for most of that day I stayed motionless in a very sweaty bungalow.

Night time hit and Steve was right as rain. Pushing me to party I joined him for food and watched him order s Vodka Shark Bite as I got water. Well soon enough Steve had a French guy telling me to drink. So I had 1 drink and one bite of a burger. Much later that night Steve had me experiencing the Full Moon Party. The number of drunk people and ones high on something had grown quite a bit from the night before. Not to mention the chain of Thai people trying to give free pills to people by the ocean. From what I could tell they stand there and attempt to give free Date Rape to people saying it is something else, then they mug you once it takes hold. So some advice is to stay closer in by the stages as much as you can. Steve can vouch for this, he ended up getting pick pocketed at some point during the night. It’s actually pretty fun watching people rave dance like they are on Mars. You know are high on something. There is also a spot on the beach set up as a Free Nap Zone, Steve liked to wake them up and high five them. Also there are countless Tarot Reading stands set up. I hope Steve comes into that money like the ladies cards had said.

The Full Moon Party and Ko Phangan took their tolls on the two Canadian lads, that brief time we were there. So we boarded a ferry one day after all the partying and were off to Ko Tao for scuba diving.

Finally getting dropped off out side of Phuket Town, because for some reason our minivan driver was not allowed to drive in to town, we walked for about three blocks. Getting fed up with walking we asked a small mechanics shop to call a taxi for us, which ended in them giving us a ride in the back of a small pick up for about 200 Baht.

We arrived in Phuket Town, which is basically in the center of Phuket, not knowing where our Canadian friends had their bar or bungee jump. We stayed at the Thalang Guest House which is right on the main street only a few blocks away from the Chinese Shrines or the shopping mall. We settled in to a room that was very large, with a roof about 12 feet up, and very open breezy windows.

We woke the next day to some very loud sounds, that could only be made out as gun shots or car accidents. We walked out onto the balcony and were surprised that we had arrived in Phuket Town during their Vegetarian Festival. It comes once a year on the first day of the 9th lunar month. During this time you see dragon dances, acts of decapitation, people walking up ladders of swords, fire walking, and lots of fire works. (Check this post out for more on the festival.)

We saw pretty much everything this festival had to offer withing the three days of staying in Phuket Town. So we made our way on towards Patong Beach, where Gunners Bar is located, and where Jeff has his bungee jump set up.

Our first night in Patong, we settled in to a guest house called Simon’s Laundry, which was hilarious to try to explain to people where we were staying. After setting in we made our way down to a bowling alley which was right beside Jeff’s bungee jump. After looking around for a bit we got a motorbike taxi to take us to Gunners Bar. Here we met Gunners wife, she said Gunner was out of the country but she called Jeff for us. Well Jeff came down tot he bar within twenty minutes of that call, and the Chang’s really started flowing. This night ended with all of us going to karaoke, including some of the waitresses.

The next few days we relaxed and had beers enjoying the beaches and the climate down in southern Thailand. We also booked some deep sea fishing and a visa run to Burma.

The Deep Sea Fishing would have been a blast, but let me tell you something, the seas were angry that day friends. Even on two anti-seasickness pills I was puking over the edge of that boat within the first hour of the trip. So that led to me getting skunked, simply because I didn’t pick up a fishing rod. But for those of you that know me, I would have slayed mighty Poseidon himself had I been able to sit up! As for Steve he got skunked. I am fairly certain he did not even have bait on his line.

Now the visa run was a much needed chore to be done, how ever it was horrible. Imagine a minivan crammed full with the maximum amount of people you can fit. Now imagine that you have to sit like that for 4.5 hours one way, then back. Well that’s exactly what we endured that day, but if we didn’t do that we couldn’t have stayed in Thailand that extra 15 days, so it was well worth it.

Our final day in Patong we did possibly the stupidest thing on the trip thus far. We rode go-karts that go 125 km/h, that have no safety harness, and no roll bar. You just suit up in coveralls, a helmet, some funky gloves, and away you go. The only advice we got was do not put your foot on the brake and gas at the same time. Oh I almost forgot, Steve and I did this in our flip-flops. Some people thought the Tiger Kingdom in Chang Mia was a stupid thing to do, well I can tell you that this was far crazier.

We had originally planned to return to Patong to bungee jump at Jeff’s, after the Full Moon Party, but we were un-able to head back down that way. So sorry about that Jeff.

Our next leg of the journey starts at the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan, I’ll write that one and catch you all up once we land in Laos and get settled. Until next post; if the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

The big tourism area of Chang Mia is basically Moon Muang road. It’s one side of a large square in central Chang Mia. It has many small pubs, western and Thai food shops, and plenty of market activity at night. Also you are never more than half a block away from moped rental shops.

Our first day in Chang Mia we found ourselves riding an elephant, which i was given the chance to ride one it’s head instead of in the seat. After riding an elephant around like kings we started our grueling 3 hour hike in the jungle, stopping only at a waterfall to eat and cool off. Nothing, in my experiences back home in Canada, was even close to this trek through the jungle. The amount of life moving around you at every step was absolutely amazing! Not to mention the amount of large spiders that spun their web head height in the middle of the trail. Now I forgot to mention our guide Uri. I would ask him the name of the spiders, to which he would reply “we call them friendly” or “big yellow one”.

Finally arriving at the hill tribe we met a few of the inhabitants but being as tired as we were, they took us straight to a special hut with about ten mattresses in I, and a large table out front. They have a cooler full of water, beer, and some pop. The beer flowed good that night. And Uri sang us his best renditions of Neil Young.

We were fed two vegetarian dishes and one curry chicken dish. And our guide Uri brought me over some bamboo shoots which they dip in a spicy sauce, after I had asked what he was eating. But the best part of this meal was the fact that a small gecko enjoyed our curry dish so he decide he would plop right down into it. And for the record, we still ate the chicken curry dish after.

After finishing our supper we were greeted by the villages school going children. About fifteen of them. They came to sing us songs, but in exchange we had to sing a song for them. So naturally our choice was O Canada.

Waking up bright and early the next day, we got to have a true American breakfast, eggs and toast, before trekking another three hours so that we could go bamboo rafting.

Back in Chang Mia we rented mopeds and took our selves to the waterfalls around the city. We also took our selves to all the other attractions that Chang Mia had to offer. It works out much cheaper and much more fun, than taking tuk-tuks everywhere.

We booked a Flight of the Gibbon trip, and it was the most adrenaline inducing thing we have done on the trip yet. We were higher than the World’s Largest Dinosaur back home. I can’t even explain the feeling of flying from tree to tree like we were. But if you ever get the chance to do zip-lining, I highly recommend it. Especially if the guides try to scare the crap out of you, that’s the greatest. We also met the worlds most interesting man while zip-lining.

There is a place called Tiger Kingdom near Chang Mia. It was about a half an hour ride on our mopeds, but very simple straight there straight back with maybe one turn. We bought the package that let you play with the smallest tigers, and the largest ones. The larger ones hardly moved in the heat, but when one flicked his tail it felt like you were getting punched. As for the little ones, Steve and I had two of them play fighting right in front of us. It was a great experience.

We finally ended our Chang Mia trip with the Chang Mia Zoo and Aquarium. I had only every been to an aquarium in British Columbia, but I have to say it was really cool getting to pet and feed two different kinds of sting rays. Both still had their stingers. They also had one of the worlds largest aquarium walk through tubes. We got to watch Scuba Steve feed some sharks right beside us.

We left Chang Mia, hungering for more adrenaline, so we made our way down into southern Thai land for bungee jumping, scuba diving, and deep sea fishing.

We came to Phuket for beaches and sun. So far, we’ve only got rain. But we did get one heck of a surprise. We got a front row seat to 10 days of self mutilation, fire walking, and ear deafening fireworks. This video doesn’t even do it justice.

Click this to download the video.

Khao San road is a small backpackers paradise. As we found out, very friendly to Canadians that enjoy a beer or two. We walked around Rambutri road trying to find a place to stay for the night. It’s just off Khao San road and is a lot more peaceful in terms of traffic. The bars were still humming with lots of people and music as we walked by. Finally settling on a hotel we hit the sack at about 2:00 am. The hotel rooms here, as is with most of the guesthouses have a toilet and shower in the same room. The shower not having a curtain and the drain right beside the toilet. So don’t even think about using the toilet after some one has showered.

Getting up the next day wasn’t to hard thanks to the roosters that were just across the street in a walled off area that a bunch of locals take residence in. You can only fully see their yards from the view we had, 3 floors up. Also the early day could have been because it was my birthday. I walked down to the street to check out our surroundings as Steve finished his beauty sleep. We had cyber cafes, suit shops, small food stands, and plenty of bars right close by. Once Steve was ready we got our first taste of Thai food. For 20 baht, slightly less than a dollar, I got a plate of rice with an omelet on top and Steve got chicken fried rice for about 30 baht. They also have fresh squeezed orange juice right beside the food stand. So we indulged in that as well. I found my self coming back to these same two stands go meals quite often. We decided after eating that we would move to a new guesthouse. So we walked around and found the New Siam lll. It’s a pretty glitzy hotel, but we got a big deal because of some construction in the room across from us.

Now that we weren’t so tired we walked down to see Khao San road. It’s filled with tons of souvenir stands, small bars, restaurants, and food stands. They have every kind of gag t-shirt that you can imagine. Fake designer sunglasses, and watches are also apart of the mix.

Starting early on the account that it was my birthday, we picked a small bar where you could sit right beside the road to watch people walk by. Quickly ordering two large Chang beers, which is basically one and a half beer at 6.4%, we were finally relaxing. The Changs were flowing and we met a gentleman from New Zealand. He celebrated with us for a bit. We learned some Thai words, like hello and thank you. Which Steve and I learned the next day, that we were saying them quite loud and every Thai person that worked that night would not forget us. Before we knew it, there were about three women carrying small trays of trinkets seeing if the drunk canadians would buy anything. Well Steve knowing it was my birthday, proceeded to buy me and himself a laser pointer, and some helicopter on an elastic. Needless to say we left quite an impression on the trinket ladies. They didn’t forget who we were the remainder of our time in Bangkok. So once we had drank enough, and had enough of asking for ridiculously low prices on trinkets, we parted ways with or new friend and went for some late night pad thai and a few more beer. The rest is history.

The next day we got up and enjoyed yet another very cheap tasty meal. And we were off on our second day in Bangkok properly nourished. We decided to walk down and talk with Mr. Thai, a small travel outlet in the Rambutri Village. Just to let him know our plans for a trip to Chang Mia. After this and another day of touring around we decided to have a sit down at an outside bar again and see who we could meet this time. Take note that it was later in the day this time. Well not long after our next few Changs, we met a couple Canadian girls that were on our exact flight to Beijing when we initially went to Mongolia. So we drank with them for a while until our New Zealand friend joined us with his sister, and an American decided he’d like to come party but not drink. Now we had a real gang of backpacking drunk adventurers. So it wasn’t long until we moved to another outside bar with a small Thai man playing some Neil Young on guitar. Us Canadians were pretty happy.

Later on it was time for a snack, so we hit the market on street over for some fried insects. We all got scorpions, which only the two Canadian dudes could finish. Now if you know me at all, I couldn’t pass up the chance to not be slightly arrogant. So I said the scorpion wasn’t bad at all, this signaled the American to buy me some ants on a mint leaf a grasshopper and a stinky, soft beetle. Well everything went down easy except the beetle, it was horrible. Once we all got our fill of these delicacies we made our way back to some live music and that’s where we spent the remainder of the night.

Day three, we were ready to see a temple.we were going to see Wat Arun, which has an 82m high spire that you can climb up into. So we walked down to the Mae Nam Chao Phraya river to take a riverboat taxi (it’s more like a bus than a taxi). We went up river about 5 stops and then had to take a ferry to the other side. It was a pretty brutal boat ride for me. If you recall in one of the Mongolia posts I nearly puked on a lady. Well this was no different other than I could puke overboard. So finally on land I was very thankful. We made our way past the statues and into a large courtyard with a great big temple. Around the temple were a few Buddha statues and lots of donation boxes. It was at this point that we realized you could go up along the spire. So we set off. The first few sets of stairs were fine but the last two felt like you were going up a ladder. Once reaching the top we both agreed that neither of our moms could ever have came up to the top and look down that last stair case. It was a pretty nice view of the the parts of Bangkok Steve and I wouldn’t get to see other than atop large spire by the river. After we got down from the spire we saw a coconut stand and I got us 2 fresh green coconuts with straws. Steve said that it reminded him of the milk tea from Mongolia after one drink, but I liked it. It has a different taste depending on how much you drink at ounce. On the way back to dock, I was dreading the river boat taxi ride, so walking by a longboat tour stand trying to sell 2 hour boat rides around the river, I asked the guy if I could charter a longboat to go straight back to Khao San road. We settled on the price of 200 bhat and Steve and I got our longboat ride, which was way better than the river taxis.

When we got back to Rambutri road we booked our train to Chang Mai and a 2 day one night jungle trek with a hilltribe, elephant riding, and some bamboo rafting. And our final night was spent at the bar next to Rambutri Village. It’s quite a large bar and seems to verge spot to be later on in the night. So we ordered a tower of Singha. Singha is the other popular beer here in Thailand, and if you get a tower of it, it comes in a clear cylinder on top of a water cooler like tap, with a tube of ice going down the middle of it. And I don’t recommend the pizza there.

We will be coming back to Bangkok after Chang Mia. On the second tour of Bangkok we will be seeing the worlds largest market, the temple that houses the grand palace, the bridge over the river Kwai, and a snake sanctuary.

It’s been a whirlwind of events up to this point so it’s going to take me a while to get out all the blog posts. We have had a lack of wifi lately here in Bangkok. It’s a little expensive to sit down and type an article but I have some free time at the moment.

We left Mongolia with our tails between our legs. It went from t-shirt weather to needing a coat on all the time. The “cab-vultures” were circling us waiting for one wrong move. And the trip we did book we didn’t fully get what we had paid for.

In Mongolia Steve and myself booked a trip to go out and stay with a nomadic family. Eat what they eat, sleep how they sleep (they sleep in what is called a ger or a yurt), and ride the horses they keep. Well we started our little venture with a small man named Hoki. Hoki seemed to only know four words in English. Sleep, hot, cold, and hello. There was a quite a language barrier, which most of the time is the fun part. However Hoki was supposed to be our translator as well. We got to see some of Moingolia’s most beautiful country side, and it was a blessing to not hear any honking at all for 2 days. We got just 10 minutes out of the city where we passed a religious site. This religious rock pile is called an ovoo. You pick up three pebbles and you circle the ovoo, three times clock wise throwing one pebble each time. Hoki then proceeded to say something and motion like he was honking the horn three times. Once we had passed a few more ovoo it was clear that he was trying to tell us that it’s customary that you honk 3 times when passing one if you don’t have time to get out at every one and do the same ceremony. We passed probably twenty of them so it’s good we didn’t stop.

There was a small restaurant not more than 5 minutes from the ovoo. This was the first real taste of Mongolian food that Steve and I got. Hoki ordered us some massive platter of Mongolian food each. And some Milk Tea… Now Milk Tea is basically very creamy milk with a taste of salt boiled with some sort of a tea leaf. It curdles while you drink it, and this is what stopped Steve from continuing to drink it. I was about half way through my cup and a curdled hunk of it stuck to my lip and swung down to below my chin. Steve had the most horrified look on his face, while I was laughing. Back to the meal, we got a bowl of beef soup, some mystery meat in almost an enclosed taco shell, a really doughy bun, almost like it wasn’t cooked the whole way through, and a small helping of salad and carrots. It was a very interesting meal to say the least.

The total trip time to get out to meet our nomadic family was about three hours. We spent a lot of time going from ger to ger asking where the family was located. The road out there was more like goat trails. I also forgot to mention Hoki’s vehicle was a small car slightly larger than the Toyota MR2 parked in the garage back home. Our nomadic family had just moved from 20 kms out of Ulaanbaatar, to 100 kms out. And I am guessing they take a relatively different spot each time they move.

Finally arriving we said our welcomes, drank some more Milk Tea and got used to our surroundings. The family we stayed with was , from what I could tell one of the more wealthy in the area. They had solar power, with a satellite dish, and a small LCD TV. After about and hour of sitting around while Hoki and the family spoke in Mongolian, we were taken our side to ride some Mongolian horses. Now I have never rode a horse before, and Steve said he was very young when he rode one. So there we are sitting on a couple horses when the gentleman that got the saddles on them for us proceeded to explain how to control them. Pull to the left is go left, pull to the right is go right, and pull back is stop. Then he walked away. I looked over at Steve with a huge smile on asking how the heck we get the horse to go forward. It wasn’t a few moments later and Steve’s horse took off in a hurry, causing a chain reaction spooking mine into running. So there we were, riding horses in Mongolia having no idea how to really control them. Later in the ride we were told “choo” and whipping the horse makes it run. Just to mention the saddles that they use, they are small, wooden, and really hurt. We still have bruises from the horses.

For supper we got to eat noodles, beef, potatoes and yams. The meat in Mongolia is very fatty. This is what they like to eat, so that is what we ate. We finished our one helping and were pretty full. After that two older Mongolians from a town close by came to visit, not with us though. They did how ever offer us the snuff bottle. Apparently there is a special way to hand the snuff bottle to people which Steve learned pretty quick. He grabbed and handed me the bottle because he didn’t want any. You have to hand the bottle in your right hand and place it face down, and then turn it up in the other persons hand, like a hand shake. So we both tried it, and it is what I imagine the snuff back in Canada is like. But it is a ceremonial offering in Mongolia so it was pretty great to be a part of it.

After supper Hoki asked me to come with him and gave me an extra coat. We went out side and gathered cow patties. This is what they use to fuel their stove, which in turn heats the ger and allows them to cook food.

We spent the better half of the night watching some Mongolian television. Before hitting the sack. It was about -7 that night. Did we ever feel it. Steve and I tossed and turned all night trying to keep warm, and every time you moved you were cold again.

The next morning you couldn’t help but be up at the crack of dawn with the family. I got up and had some bread and tea, before going out side and walking around to warm up. By lunch time we were eating basically the same meal as before but Steve was given two bowls to my one. Which I think is because he didn’t eat breakfast and they wanted to thicken him a bit.

We said our good byes and set off back to Ulaanbaatar shortly after lunch. Spending one last night in Ulaanbaatar Steve and I boarded a plane to Thailand and that is where our next post will start.