Luang Phabang is another one of those towns whch are plintiful in Laos which are just really pretty. On arrival we went to the charming nightmarket which while having many hundred stalls, only stocked about 4 items, bags, scarfs, lanterns and bracelets. They were ver nice bags, scarfs, lanterns and bracelets though.
The following day we rented some bicycles and set out on a very ambitious 30km round trip to a famed waterfall, we soon saw a sign to a different waterfall and changed course. After a long hill climb and many many stairs we realised there are infact no waterfalls and set out on the far more enjoyable cycle home. The journey to the waterfall had been fine, for me, I was given a good price on a mountain bike with good gears in return for fixing the bike, much to the others irritation, all of whom had pretty rubbish shopping bikes, oh well, their loss.
Soon we set out on the 3 day journed to Chian Mai in Thailand. The journey consisted of two day long 'slow boats' then a night on the laos border before doing the final 4 hour bus to Chiang mai. Personaly I enjoyed the boat, it was cool, relaxing, we played cards, did some reading, and the scenery was amazing.
We stopped the first night in Pakbeng, where Tom was offered the challenge of a game of pro evo for a free meal, which he took and won, only to have the free meal skillfully removed 'i offered you, but you didnt accept'
The only exciting thing to happen in Houyxai, the boarder town was an all you can eat barbeque restaurant. Myself and boat friend Ben abused this as much as we possibly could.
Now we are in Chian Mai, and the next post will be written by Tom, a far more thorough journalist I feel.
Alex
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Vang Vieng
Vang vieng is a backpackers town if there ever was one. It is famed throught south east asia for it's 'tubing'. Tubing literaly consists of sitting in a tractor tyre inner tube and floating down the river, great fun in the sun. In Vang vieng however it is slightly different, the river banks are lined with bars serving unbelievabley cheap drinks. Each bar has either a 'swing' or a zip line, the sort of thing that throws you in to the water from anything up to about 8 metres in the air and would be about as legal as cannablism in the uk. Needless to say we all LOVED it, as does literaly everyone.
We later enjoyed an evening sampling the local nightlife before boarding yet another bus, this time to the town of Luang Phabang.
We later enjoyed an evening sampling the local nightlife before boarding yet another bus, this time to the town of Luang Phabang.
Vientiane
Vientiane while being the capital of Loas, is far from being a big city, a short 17 hour bus journey got us there on the morning of the 21st, ready to meet Ulrika and her friend Amelie that afternoon.
Probably the only activity of massive note in vientiane was how we avoided a small thai disaster. It turns out contrary to all advice printed in any book anywhere (perhaps a slight exaggeration) it turns out you cannot get a 30 day visa to thailand on arrival anymore, so we spent an extra day bumming around in Vientianne waiting for the Thai embassy to issue us with a visa.
Despite being small and unremarkable Vientiane was pretty, had a bustling market, and we all enjoyed a good long swim in the local pool.
Probably the only activity of massive note in vientiane was how we avoided a small thai disaster. It turns out contrary to all advice printed in any book anywhere (perhaps a slight exaggeration) it turns out you cannot get a 30 day visa to thailand on arrival anymore, so we spent an extra day bumming around in Vientianne waiting for the Thai embassy to issue us with a visa.
Despite being small and unremarkable Vientiane was pretty, had a bustling market, and we all enjoyed a good long swim in the local pool.
Si Phan Don, The Four Thousand Islands
Just on the border between Cambodia and Laos is an area of the Mekong river populated with many islands, i would guess at four thousand. That was our next stop, but before getting there there was the small issue of border crossing. Using our best good cop-bad cop routine we somehow avoided having to pay the 'stamp fee' aka bribe to get out of cambodia. Unfortunately despite pretending we had no money, asking for a reciept, asking to speak to a superior and sitting down and playing cards for 2 hours we failed at the laos side and had to be the ludicrous sum of 1 dollar.
On to don det, a beutiful little island very popular with backpackers. The place was pretty, and we enjoyed a day cycling around seeing waterfalls etc, but the wallpaper table beds were an aquired taste, so the following day we moved on to the next island of don khong.
It is difficult to know how to explain don khong, pretty without being spectular i think would be fair. We enjoyed some fantastic fish and a few good cycle rides before spending the evening drinking 'loa loa cocktails' with a Frenchman and a German whos name I cannot remember for the life of me.
On to don det, a beutiful little island very popular with backpackers. The place was pretty, and we enjoyed a day cycling around seeing waterfalls etc, but the wallpaper table beds were an aquired taste, so the following day we moved on to the next island of don khong.
It is difficult to know how to explain don khong, pretty without being spectular i think would be fair. We enjoyed some fantastic fish and a few good cycle rides before spending the evening drinking 'loa loa cocktails' with a Frenchman and a German whos name I cannot remember for the life of me.
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Ban Lung
As soon as we got off the bus, we had decided that Ban Lung, like everything in existence, was a lot better then Kratie due to the fact that there was actually things to do. We arrived in the early evening and so found a hostel quickly before heading to Soup 63, a restaurant with two dishes, Grilled Beef and Beef Soup. The appeal is that you cook the dish yourself at the table so we quickly got our hands greasy and cooked our feast.
During the next two days, we rented bicycles and went around exploring the local area. The highlight was when we visited the Crater lake where we swam and lounged around with a combination of locals and tourists. A highlight is so often followed by a low point, so we we're not too surprised when the perfect weather we had enjoyed at the lake disappeared on the cycle home when the conditions we're so bad we had to stop off in a restaurant and enjoy a lengthy, and most importantly free, game of scrabble.
The real reason to visit Ban Lung is the national park and so for our final day in the area, and in fact Cambodia, we decided to book ourselves a jungle trek. We were picked up at about 8 am and to our delight discovered that there was two bikes between Alex, Tiffany and I so including drivers there was 5 people on two bikes, a very fun journey followed. We spent the following five or six hours trekking up hills, down hills through streams and ponds and dodging all the frightfully scary (well if your Tiffany anyway) insects. Occasionally we would stop off at a villagers house but they didnt seem overly pleased to see us. We all agreed that a trek is generally more exciting if there is a rewarding view or some fantastic minority village at the end which this trek lacked but it was a great experience none the less. That evening we were very knackered and so ventured out only to book our bus to Don Det in Laos before going to bed.
Tom
During the next two days, we rented bicycles and went around exploring the local area. The highlight was when we visited the Crater lake where we swam and lounged around with a combination of locals and tourists. A highlight is so often followed by a low point, so we we're not too surprised when the perfect weather we had enjoyed at the lake disappeared on the cycle home when the conditions we're so bad we had to stop off in a restaurant and enjoy a lengthy, and most importantly free, game of scrabble.
The real reason to visit Ban Lung is the national park and so for our final day in the area, and in fact Cambodia, we decided to book ourselves a jungle trek. We were picked up at about 8 am and to our delight discovered that there was two bikes between Alex, Tiffany and I so including drivers there was 5 people on two bikes, a very fun journey followed. We spent the following five or six hours trekking up hills, down hills through streams and ponds and dodging all the frightfully scary (well if your Tiffany anyway) insects. Occasionally we would stop off at a villagers house but they didnt seem overly pleased to see us. We all agreed that a trek is generally more exciting if there is a rewarding view or some fantastic minority village at the end which this trek lacked but it was a great experience none the less. That evening we were very knackered and so ventured out only to book our bus to Don Det in Laos before going to bed.
Tom
Saturday, 20 June 2009
Siem Reap
On to Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor. Angkor is an area comprising of several hundred stone temples in an area which is 220 km around. Most of the temples are around 1000 years old. The sheer logistics are unbelievable, not only is each temple made up of hundreds of thousands f stones weighing at least a tonne, but also the surface has been expertly crafted. Each must have taken hundreds of people many years to make. This was always going to be one of the highlights of the trip, and personaly I feel it definitely lived up to the hype. I went for 3 days with Robbie, Tone, Barron, and Gabriel. We had a guide and a tuk tuk for the first day, and then enjoyed exploring many of the less visited temles on bicycles for the following two days. The sheer scale is hard to descibe without photos, but with my camera cable in a bus at the moment, that will have to wait a few days.
Perhaps the funniest moment in siem reap was when I met some close friends of barron and robbies, some argentian girls they had been telling us about. They turned out to be the amazonian women who nearly murdered myself and tiffany when we beat them at table football.
On to the tiny Kratie for the group to once again be complete.
Perhaps the funniest moment in siem reap was when I met some close friends of barron and robbies, some argentian girls they had been telling us about. They turned out to be the amazonian women who nearly murdered myself and tiffany when we beat them at table football.
On to the tiny Kratie for the group to once again be complete.
Sihanoukville
Yes, the rumors are true, due to creative differences Alex and I split up and went our own ways for a while.
Tiffany and I caught a bus south to Sihanoukville but were not pleased when we were offered plastic stools in the isle for our four hour journey. After some gentle persuasion followed by some less gentle persuasion we we're in the seats we paid for and were on our way. Sihanoukville is on the coast with the golf of Thailand as so likes to model itself as a Thai island with its golden sand and clear water and general raving atmosphere in the evening it wasn't half bad.
During the day, Tiffany and I spent our time on the beach, lounging around in front of a beach bar that were happy to wait on you all day. We only left our sun loungers to take a dip in the cool sea and to take a break for our tanning in the hot sun. In the evenings we visited the many beach bars and guesthouses and took part in Ko Pha Ngan style "Full Moon" parties which we're fun but it remains to be seen whether they'll live up to the real thing.
Other then the huge number of Cambodians that came up to us on the beach selling bracelets or massages or other useless rubbish, the time on Serendipity beach was a well needed break in our hectic travel schedule and was greatly enjoyed,
Our next stop was Siem Reap, home to the famous Angkor Temples which was something we we're really looking forward to. The option is to get a one, three or seven day pass and as we were short for time Tiffany and I elected to go for the one day. Alex was in Angkor for longer then us and so he' will go into detail about it as there is no point us both failing to describe their wonder and beauty so I'll leave it up to him.
After Siem Reap, Alex and I decided to put aside our creative difference and unite once more to craft a great holiday plan. So, Tiffany and I traveled to Kratie where we met up with Alex and carry on our travels. Kratie has very little to offer other then the rare Irrawaddy dolphins and even they weren't that interesting and so we quickly moved on to Ban Lung which will be my next entry.
Tom
(pictures coming soon)
Tiffany and I caught a bus south to Sihanoukville but were not pleased when we were offered plastic stools in the isle for our four hour journey. After some gentle persuasion followed by some less gentle persuasion we we're in the seats we paid for and were on our way. Sihanoukville is on the coast with the golf of Thailand as so likes to model itself as a Thai island with its golden sand and clear water and general raving atmosphere in the evening it wasn't half bad.
During the day, Tiffany and I spent our time on the beach, lounging around in front of a beach bar that were happy to wait on you all day. We only left our sun loungers to take a dip in the cool sea and to take a break for our tanning in the hot sun. In the evenings we visited the many beach bars and guesthouses and took part in Ko Pha Ngan style "Full Moon" parties which we're fun but it remains to be seen whether they'll live up to the real thing.
Other then the huge number of Cambodians that came up to us on the beach selling bracelets or massages or other useless rubbish, the time on Serendipity beach was a well needed break in our hectic travel schedule and was greatly enjoyed,
Our next stop was Siem Reap, home to the famous Angkor Temples which was something we we're really looking forward to. The option is to get a one, three or seven day pass and as we were short for time Tiffany and I elected to go for the one day. Alex was in Angkor for longer then us and so he' will go into detail about it as there is no point us both failing to describe their wonder and beauty so I'll leave it up to him.
After Siem Reap, Alex and I decided to put aside our creative difference and unite once more to craft a great holiday plan. So, Tiffany and I traveled to Kratie where we met up with Alex and carry on our travels. Kratie has very little to offer other then the rare Irrawaddy dolphins and even they weren't that interesting and so we quickly moved on to Ban Lung which will be my next entry.
Tom
(pictures coming soon)
Monday, 8 June 2009
Phom Penh
Who do we meet on the early morning bus to Phom Penh but the slightly unusual group of Robbie the Irishman, Barron the Texan and Gabriel the Brazilian who we had met at the Cu Chi Tunnels. When we arrived in Phom Penh the 3 of us, 3 of them and Tone (a Dutchman from a musical family whose siblings are called 'Rayme' and 'Bass') all set out looking for a hostel together. We found a perfect one with a massive bar/communal room and a free pool table overlooking the lake.
I don’t know enough about the Cambodian genocide to give a full history but here it is in a nutshell. A couple of French educated Cambodians lead by Pol Pot decided to create a utopian society, a perfect implementation of communism. The only way to this was if everyone was equal. They murdered intelligent people, people of non Cambodian ancestry, and virtually anyone they felt like. Cities were evil so they relocated everyone to the countryside with the plan of creating enough rice that they could gain any other commodity through trade with other communist states. The abolishment of money meant people could never leave the place of their birth as this is the only place they could claim food. All told about 25% of the Cambodian people died during the Khmer rouge regime which only finished in 1979. The Khmer rouge continued to have people on the UN council until 1992!
The world community knew nothing of the genocide in
On our first day in Phom Penh we visited an old high school which was used to torture and murder men women and children, even newborn babies, we then went to the 'killing fields' so named as this was where thousands were buried in mass graves.
Today was Tom's birthday, after giving him his presents and generally embarrassing him we set out hoping to see a Khmer rouge trial, we weren’t let in. We then went to watch Robbie try (and fail) to shoot a chicken with a Tommy gun before going to see the amazing royal palace.
When we got home it was time to unveil tom's birthday cake. It turned out the cd we had bought with 'happy birthday' on it designed to be played at full volume in order to embarrass tom in front of the entire hostel didn’t work, so we had to sing. The cake was beautiful and am sure tom will add a photo. This seems like a good time to mention Lydia, a large French girl who simply would not shut up, normally found screaming 'GABRIELA' at a pitch just on the range of human hearing, we all agreed, the most annoying person in the entire world. Just as we were cutting toms cake she comes over, sticks her finger in, and then says, do you mind. And then has the audacity to ask for a bit, did she not realise we hated her, its not like we were subtle about it!
That night we went out for Tom's birthday, for more details perhaps contact tom directly.
The following morning there were some teary goodbyes as I left for Siem Reap with Robbie, Barron Gabriel and Tone, while the others left for the beach. We are due to meet up again in the next few days, so we will update our contrasting fortunes then.
Saigon
Next stop the newly renamed 'Ho Chi Minh City', still refered to as 'Saigon' by everyone who matters. While it is no longer the capital city it is the largest city in Vietnam, the most important economically and the most westernised.
As we arrived in Saigon we were met by the heavy rain that seems to be whispering 'stupid tourist, why would you visit Vietnam during the rainy season' and so decided not to play our normal hotel finding game that goes something like this - how much is it - really, next door we can have it for much less - well ok, can we see the room - thank you we will come back in a minute. Instead we just chose one quickly to save us a soaking.
We had two complaints about the room, one was that the air con we were paying for didn't work and second that the door would lock. After a night's issues gave us new fire to go out and find another room. We trekked around Saigon for what felt like hours from one dirty overpriced room to the next, eventualy deciding to just go back to our original room and complain. Any gueses as to the problems in our room? well the door didnt lock because the do not disturb/please clean sign was getting trapped in the door, and the air con needs to be turned on to work, good use of a morning huh!
Next was to the revolutionary museum, this place was almost entirely unremarkable, apart from the endless stream of newlweds ligning up to have their picture taken on the stairs which we all found hillarious, especialy when the majority of the men had to where high heals or stand on higher steps so as not to be overshadowed by their taller wife.
After an unbelievable value lunch of a drink, rice, a main meal, soup and a desert all for 30,000 dong (1pound) we moved on to the war remnents museum. This was perhaps the most shocking museum I have ever been to. One must note before entering that in britain we certainly see the american point of view to the war, and in the museum there is a strong vietnamese bias, however even with all this in consideration some of the poictures of crimes commited by the americans are shocking. They dropped a chemical called agent orange, it is impossible to aim this perfectly and so thousands of innocent civillians were affected. Disfigured children continue to be born today as a result of the dropping of agent orange.
We finished off the day with a goat fondue, yes you heard right. Tom and I arrived at this highly recommended restaurant before tiffany. They had no english menue, and no english speaking staff. Tom and I decided to order a beer each while we waited. Clearly they misuderstood and brought a cauldren of soup, or so we thought. We knopw the restaurant only serves goat so presume the large chunks of meet floating around were goat, and the small pieces we were given to dip in were also goat. Personaly this was my favourite meal by a mile.
Day two was fairly uneventful, we went to the laos embassy to get a visa, and this was near enough it. Strangely while going for a walk i bumped in to Jo, a student teacher we had met in Ha long bay. She promised me she would talk us out and show us a good time in saigon that night, and seeing as she walked 15 minutes back to the hotel with me, and then waited in the lobby while i ran up to get toms number so she could call us and let us know the plan. That call never came. Jo, if you are somehow reading this, I hope you are proud of yourself!
Last day in Saigon and we went to see the famed 'Cu chi tunnels' a network of tunnels about 200km in length built to hide from the americans. For me the most amazing thing were not the animal traps they used to catch and kill american soldiers, or the fact that people lived in there for 17 years, or even the fact that girls as young as 12 wielded guns and fought the americans, for me it is that the tunnel entrances are completely open. The americans knew where the tunnels were, and how to get in, but they knew that they were not vietnamese, they would be lost and as good as dead in the 80cm by 80cm tunnels.
That night we went to a nightclub full of vietnamese prostitutes, a worthy way to celebrate our last night in vietnam, next stop phom penh in cambodia...
As we arrived in Saigon we were met by the heavy rain that seems to be whispering 'stupid tourist, why would you visit Vietnam during the rainy season' and so decided not to play our normal hotel finding game that goes something like this - how much is it - really, next door we can have it for much less - well ok, can we see the room - thank you we will come back in a minute. Instead we just chose one quickly to save us a soaking.
We had two complaints about the room, one was that the air con we were paying for didn't work and second that the door would lock. After a night's issues gave us new fire to go out and find another room. We trekked around Saigon for what felt like hours from one dirty overpriced room to the next, eventualy deciding to just go back to our original room and complain. Any gueses as to the problems in our room? well the door didnt lock because the do not disturb/please clean sign was getting trapped in the door, and the air con needs to be turned on to work, good use of a morning huh!
Next was to the revolutionary museum, this place was almost entirely unremarkable, apart from the endless stream of newlweds ligning up to have their picture taken on the stairs which we all found hillarious, especialy when the majority of the men had to where high heals or stand on higher steps so as not to be overshadowed by their taller wife.
After an unbelievable value lunch of a drink, rice, a main meal, soup and a desert all for 30,000 dong (1pound) we moved on to the war remnents museum. This was perhaps the most shocking museum I have ever been to. One must note before entering that in britain we certainly see the american point of view to the war, and in the museum there is a strong vietnamese bias, however even with all this in consideration some of the poictures of crimes commited by the americans are shocking. They dropped a chemical called agent orange, it is impossible to aim this perfectly and so thousands of innocent civillians were affected. Disfigured children continue to be born today as a result of the dropping of agent orange.
We finished off the day with a goat fondue, yes you heard right. Tom and I arrived at this highly recommended restaurant before tiffany. They had no english menue, and no english speaking staff. Tom and I decided to order a beer each while we waited. Clearly they misuderstood and brought a cauldren of soup, or so we thought. We knopw the restaurant only serves goat so presume the large chunks of meet floating around were goat, and the small pieces we were given to dip in were also goat. Personaly this was my favourite meal by a mile.
Day two was fairly uneventful, we went to the laos embassy to get a visa, and this was near enough it. Strangely while going for a walk i bumped in to Jo, a student teacher we had met in Ha long bay. She promised me she would talk us out and show us a good time in saigon that night, and seeing as she walked 15 minutes back to the hotel with me, and then waited in the lobby while i ran up to get toms number so she could call us and let us know the plan. That call never came. Jo, if you are somehow reading this, I hope you are proud of yourself!
Last day in Saigon and we went to see the famed 'Cu chi tunnels' a network of tunnels about 200km in length built to hide from the americans. For me the most amazing thing were not the animal traps they used to catch and kill american soldiers, or the fact that people lived in there for 17 years, or even the fact that girls as young as 12 wielded guns and fought the americans, for me it is that the tunnel entrances are completely open. The americans knew where the tunnels were, and how to get in, but they knew that they were not vietnamese, they would be lost and as good as dead in the 80cm by 80cm tunnels.
That night we went to a nightclub full of vietnamese prostitutes, a worthy way to celebrate our last night in vietnam, next stop phom penh in cambodia...
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