Blogs from Luang Namtha, North, Laos, Asia
May 20th 2012
Keen to get off the typical tourist route down the Mekong river, I headed up north on a bus filled with locals, to go treking in Nationally protected Luang Nam Tha park. As it was low season, when I arrived, there was only one trek in town that had people going on it scedualed for the next day. So keen as ever I set off with 5 other lovely girls on a 3 day treck through the dense jungle, rivers, farms, hills and mountains. We stayed at a hilltribe village full of baby goats, piglets, chicks and puppies as well as many cute excited kids who loved to get their photos taken so they could see themselves on our cameras . On the second night we stayed in a village just off the side of the ... read more
May 13th 2012
What a Journey! My first border crossing was the most strange, unorganized and stressful experience of my trip so far! After almost getting left behind while the rest of the group crossed the river, getting hit on my the immigration officer and trying to find my way with language barriers etc (so much for paying for the convenience with packaged deal), I made my way onto the slow boat headed down the Mekong River for Laos. It was a beautiful 2 day Journey amount cliffs, farms, villages, watching other boats, fisherman and local kids playing in the river as we floated by.... read more
February 8th 2012
W Guangzhou zatrzymalem sie na dwie noce w tym samym hoteliku ze sloniami trabiacymi za oknem, po czym polecialem do Pekinu. Waz w kieszeni ostro zasyczal przy zakupie biletu, ale wlasciwie nie bylo innego rozsadnego rozwiazania niz podroz samolotem, samo juz kupowanie biletow na pociagi w wigilie chinskiego nowego roku to sport ekstremalny, ktorego wolalem nie probowac. Pekin w swieta – pusty! 3/4 mieszkancow pojechalo do domu, ku wielkiej radosci rdzennych mieszkancow. Metro bez tlumow przepychajacych sie lokciami, ulice bez korkow, nawet charchanie ze spluwaniem niemal zamilklo. Wkrotce zaczelo sie strzelanie – i tu lekki zawod, bo pekinskie fajerwerki na przywitanie roku smoka nie potarfily jednak przebic tego, co widzialem podczas fiesty Fajas w Walencji w 2003r. I owszem, masowo bylo tego pewnie wiecej, ale rozprzestrzenione na ogromnym obszarze, a w dodatku mniej wymyslne, ... read more
January 25th 2012
Stray Tour around Laos The minibus arrived in Chiang Mai around midday to collect us and we got chatting to our new travelling buddies. The first stop was the thermal pools just outside of Chiang Rai, where the locals actually boil eggs in the natural hot spring water. The second stop was the White Temple (see pic), which was amazing. The White Temple was basically designed by a very wealthy Thai famous artist, who refuses to charge admission into the temple or accept handouts or donations from the government. His vision is quite different from anyone else’s (inside the temple, theres hand painted images showing Osama Bin Laden and George Bush painted in the devils eyes!!), and he does not want to be controlled by anyone who may influence his ideas. Its a 90 year project, ... read more
January 20th 2012
On my first full day in Luang Namtha I pretty much did very little. In the afternoon I hired a bicycle and rode 4 km to the Lanten village of Ban Nam Di. I came across quite a few older women in traditional clothes making garments but felt a little awkward about taking their photo, so I didn't. I rode back to Luang Namtha along the same bumpy dusty road and stopped to take a couple of shots of the ricefields in the evening sunlight. Next morning Nina and myself hired a motorbike and rode the 60 km to Muang Sing. The ride passed by quite a few small villages and Nam Ha National Park. We didn't have a lot of time to explore Muang Sing so we pretty much had a late lunch and then ... read more
November 28th 2011
Jetzt sind wir schon vier Monate unterwegs und mittlerweile in Südostasien angekommen. Unsere erste Reaktion in Bangkok war nur: "wow, ist das modern hier". Die ersten Wochen in Thailand haben wir auf wunderschönen Inseln und an Traumstränden (z.B. da, wo der Film "The Beach" gedreht wurde) verbracht. Wir haben unsere Tauchausbildung gemacht, sind geklettert, haben ausgiebig am Strand gelegen und das exzellente Essen genossen. Ein Highlight waren drei Nächte auf einem Tauchboot, mit 4 Tauchgängen am Tag im Naturschutzgebiet der Similan und Surin Islands. Dort habe ich (Stephanie) sogar einen Walhai gesehen. Außerdem haben wir noch ein paar Tage mit Maurus und Sandra aus Luzern verbracht. Am besten lassen wir jedoch Bilder sprechen... Thailand ist ein sehr moderneres Land, es ist sehrt touristisch und die Hotels sind super. Jedoch passen die buddhistische, is... read more
October 30th 2011
Originally 22nd June 2011 On the winding road to Luang Prabang, we're taken through luxuriant green mountains shrouded in cloud, past water buffalo cattle cooling off in muddy pools, tiny bamboo-strip houses with huge satellite dishes outside, and little shelters on the mountains' slopes consisting of nothing more than a raised platform and roof. Rain falls most of the way. Last time I made this journey with Matt I remember seeing kids, no older than fifteen, walking the margins of the road carrying outrageously oversized AK-47s. Kid soldiers like you'd see on the news, as though the bus window was a television screen. Halfway through the journey a crash on the road ahead stops us in our tracks. A jeep had crashed into the side of a truck smashing its fuel tank, its contents leaking all ... read more
August 14th 2011
So if China was big brother, Laos was the quiet cousin. The cousin who leaves the family under a cloud of controversy after he refused to take over the family business in order to go and chill out in the jungle and drink Beer Lao and smoke joints. The cousin who shuns the fast tourist lane and is happy to just let the people come to him. Maybe a strange analogy but I think it fits. China felt big, brash and modern compared to the sleepy Laos, even the border showed the difference. On one side a massive gold gateway adjacent to a building holding computers and xray machines and on the other a jungle shack, a bit of bribery and a mangy dog. Our first drive in Laos was so different to China, lazy wooden ... read more
July 20th 2011
Greetings All from Laos! Since my last blog we have travelled to northern Thailand with a 5 night stop in the lovely small city called Chiang Mai. We left Bangkok last Tuesday week the 12/07/2011 (two days later than orinigally planned) we decided to have two more nights in a luxury hotel called the Baioyke Sky which is the tallest in Bangkok (84 floors)!! On the Tuesday we linked up with our stray tour bus which left Bangkok early that morning. We took a 5 hour train journey and then a 1 and a half coach trip to the town of Sukothai. It's national park is a UNESCO world heritage site as it contains very old temples. We had an over night stop in Sukothai and on the morning of departure we rented bikes and cycled ... read more
May 12th 2011
Alarm goes off at 07:30 and gets reset for 08:00. Jump in shower 07:50. Not sure about buses or where I'm headed so take washing down on way for breakfast. Stop to ask tour centers for details on buses o Luang Perbang. There's a local bus at 09:00 - some say there's a night bus, some a VIP day bus and some a minivan. None say the same thing. Breakfast is banana pancakes with honey and ginger tea from the same place we're getting the tour. Makes it easy when the breakfast is delayed getting to us. The bikes are waiting and look OK, if a little tall for anyone under 5'7" (everyone apart from me). We cycled about 30 klicks and saw a lot of impressive countryside. Highlights include: Water falls - not very big ... read more
