Laos And Into Thailand

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Hello and a Happy New Year to you all!

I think you can probably tell that this blog malarky is getting harder and harder to maintain regularly (or, just that we can't be bothered sitting in an internet bar when we could be drinking in a proper one!) But, our bus has been delayed for 3 hours and we have free internet so, it's time to update you with over 5 weeks' worth of news. We'll try and keep it brief for all our sakes!!

1-12.08 - 4.12.08

Crossed the border into Laos without a hitch (apart from having to pay a bribe of $1 on each side. We weren't going to argue...) and then took a tiny boat across to the river island of Don Det (part of 4,000 islands, or Si Phan Don). Quite surprised that both our rucksacks, and us, managed to stay dry... This place was lovely; so relaxed and much prettier than the Vietnamese part of the Mekong. There are palm trees, beautiful, lush mountains and basic bungalows for accommodation.
We settled on one on the sunset side of the island for 15,000 kip / night (about a quid!). As with the whole island, there is no electricity (just generators for the restaurants), no hot water, just a shared bathroom (quite interesting making it to the loo in the middle of the night with a torch!), and a hard bed with a mossie net, but great views and hammocks on the balcony of our bungalow to watch the sunset from. Definitely chill out central. Stayed here for 4 days we loved it so much. Spent a lot of time with a lovely Finnish girl, Pia who we met at the border. Hired some bikes to explore the adjoining island of Don Kon which included seeing where the Mekong river turns into a collection of pretty impressive water falls, but much of the rest was spent reading and relaxing. We met a guy who recommended some trekking further up in Laos so planned with Pia to travel up from now on together. Oh, Jase also came a cropper while we were here. No, he wasn't drunk, but managed to fall through some steps barefoot and bent his big toe right back. Ouch!

5 - 6.12.08

Decided to visit the larger island of Don Khong but kind of wished we hadn't bothered! Apart from an annual rowing boat race which was quite fun to watch, this was no where near as pretty or relaxing as Don Det, but oh well...you have to try these things!

7 - 9.12.08

Barely worth a mention this bit....headed up north to Tha Khek via the rather boring towns of Pakse and Savanaket to break up the journey. This involved some pretty interesting local bus trips, one of which was a 5 hour trip sat on small plastic chairs in the aisles of the bus as it was so packed. Jase made a friend though - a chicken was sat on the lap of the guy right next to him for the entire journey. It stank by the end of it! Nice...

10 - 13.12.08

Found a lovely place to stay on the outskirts of Tha Khek called the Traveller's lodge. Nice rooms and places to hang out including a lovely bonfire surrounded by benches. The fire was lit nightly for the much cooler evenings here. Went on a 2-day eco trek with Pia and two other couples which was good fun. The first day included walking through flat woodland and rice paddies. Stopped at a lagoon / cave, where we took a refreshing dip after which we had a lovely local style lunch with our guides, served on a bed of banana leaves on the floor. Was surprisingly good! That night we stayed in a small village at a homestay. By the time we got there we were both suffering with our feet. Me from blisters from hell and Jase from his toe injury that was still playing up. The homestay was nice. We had a 'baci' ceremony performed for us by the local villagers to wish us good luck. We were given cotton bracelets and Lao Lao whiskey while the village elder chanted a mantra. We then downed the whiskey - lethal stuff! Had a fun evening of playing cards with the villagers and singing traditional songs (us included - we chose Jingle Bells!!). The second day we awoke sore-footed but well slept depsite the hard floors. The local kids were so intrigued by us, watching us as we left - so cute! Did some proper trekking today through steep forests which got the old heart pumping! Much more interesting scenery but Jase pulled his toe again and my blisters were almost unbearable (my new shoes are too small!) but we soldiered on. The final part of the trip was a tractor journey, Laos style. Spent the evening around the fire getting very drunk with the other travellers (for medicinal reasons, of course!). Had a top night.

14 - 15.12.08

Got the bus to the capital, Vientiane. Very quiet city really. Not much traffic for a capital. We stayed in a very basic room - noisy and smelly! Spent some time at the riverside which was nice - lots of chill out bars with cushions so you can recline while you drink! We said our goodbyes to Pia as she headed up north - quite sad after spending 2 weeks together. Hoping to meet up again soon though...

16 - 20.12.08

Headed to the party capital of Laos, Vang Vieng. This is a place you either love or hate and is a paradox in itself. Beautiful mountains set the back drop and a lovely river flows through its centre. The river is lined with bungalows and bars but the town is lined with lie-down restaurants playing constant re-runs of Friends and Family Guy (which we did indulge in, I have to say!) and lots of wild tourists. The river side bars turn from lovely chill out places during the day to crazy booze bucket-serving parties by night! (we indulged in that also!). We did take in something more wholesome than booze while we were here however - we hired some mountain bikes and cycled to a cave over some very bumpy 'roads'. Was worth it though. There was a lovely blue lagoon at the base of the mountain and then we took a steep hike up to see the cave within the mountain which was pretty impressive.
The main reason people come here is to try out the tubing. This involves floating down the river on a big inner tube and being pulled in by ropes from the crazy bars lining both sides of the river. Many of these bars have ziplines and ropeswings or slides of some kind so you can imagine the mad scenes when you mix rides with lots of booze! We had a great time...we'd met up with Pia again last night so she came along. People were handing out free shots of local whiskey in most bars so we were soon feeling rather tipsy! Me and Jase went down a huge slide towards the end of the afternoon and we both did ourselves an injury! Jase slapped his leg right onto the water (still has the bruise now..) and I landed on my shoulder and winded myself! Was getting late by now so rather than tube all the way down the rest of the river in the dusk, me and jase got a tuk tuk back. Pia went on her own and made it back almost 2 hrs later in the dark! All good fun...

21 - 25.12.08

Took a very windy bus ride up to Luang Prabang. The town is very pretty and looked especially nice all lit up at night. The markets sell some lovely textiles and crafts. You could spend a fortune here though; it's definitely aimed at the holiday maker rather than backpackers. We did spoil ourselves a bit whilst here though - we found a wine shop where you sit and drink so we treated ourselves to a couple of glasses of good red wine (the first since we've been away). We visited Phu Si, a temple at the top of a hill in the centre of town. Some brilliant views up there so worth the hike up. On Christmas eve we went to Kuang Si waterfall which was beautiful - the best we've seen yet. We decided to celebrate Christmas that night as we thought Christmas Day would be really quiet (plus we are leaving here on Boxing Day). After a lovely dinner we managed to find a garden-style bar with a late licence (til 2am) so brought Christmas in there, until closing. Christmas Day was a damp squib - hungover from last night, all we managed to do was open our cards and pressies (thanks Dad and work!), go out for some very traditional fish and chips / pizza (and a curry later on). No turkey or roasties in sight 😞 Very jealous to be missing out on all that nice food back home. Also missed everyone back home quite a bit today. Felt strange to be away from family and friends...

26.12.08 - 27.12.08

Began our mammoth boat trip up the Mekong to the Thai border. The first day it rained all day (the first rain we've seen in a month!). It was also really cold on the boat so we were wrapped up in 3 layers and huddled together for 9 hrs - it wasn't as bad as it sounds though - the time seemed to pass quite quickly. Stopped in Pak Beng that night (generated electricity only and rather dull all round...) before embarking upon another 9 hr journey the next day. The rain had cleared for this part though, so it was much more pleasant. Saw some lovely scenery and local people going about their daily lives along the river; bathing, playing, fishing, etc. It was no mistake that we arrived at Huay Xai near the Thai border just after the border closed...some sort of money spinner to make you stay another night in Laos, we assumed. This was another uneventful night stop. We had the hardest mattress ever - sure it was just a hay stack with a sheet on it! Had another early night and we're both looking forward to Thailand. Feel like we've really done Laos to death but have enjoyed it.

28.12.08

Took a boat over to the Thai border in the morning and went through immigration very quickly and easily. However, after checking our passports, we noticed we'd only been given a 15-day visa, instead of the expected 30. Oh no! We want to spend about 5 weeks here! We were gutted and spent some time thinking through our options, none of which were hassle free... In the meantime, we took a bus to Chiang Rai, quite a large place compared to much of what we've seen in Laos. We like the buzz of Thailand already. Did a bit of walking around the town, not a great deal to see apart from a really ornate, golden clock tower in the middle of a roundabout which, at night, lit up and changed colours. Had a nice dinner and a wander around a lively night market where we bought a few bits and pieces.

29.12.08 - 01.1.09

Spent the next few days in the much bigger city of Chiang Mai. It's weird to be back in urban civilisation. There's a really nice vibe here. The locals are so smiley and wishing us happy new year, etc. And, the bikes and cars actually let you cross the road! Love it here already... It's much warmer in the evenings too which is nice (just above 20 degrees) and we've found a lovely bohemian style hostel called Julie Guesthouse. Finally decided on our plan of action regarding the visa situation - we agreed that a trip back into Cambodia to get another 15 days is the quickest and cheapest option (albeit 2 x 5 1/2hr journeys in one day...how annoying).
Visited Chiang Mai's Night Safari. We shared a tuk tuk there with 3 Italians on holiday who kindly insisted they pay our fare when they learnt how long we were travelling for. How nice! The safari was pretty impressive, lots of money obviously ploughed into the place. Highlights include seeing white tigers, panthers and a laser show projected onto fountains. Felt sorry for some of the larger animals though, their enclosures were a little on the small side...

On New Year's Eve during the day, we went downhill mountain biking (my first time, so quite anxious!). It was really good fun in the end but this was meant to be the easiest route but was very challenging for both of us, especially the middle section which had loads of rocks and ruts to navigate over, not to mention the steepness. Needless to say at this point, I had a nasty fall and badly grazed and bruised my leg but didn't let it put me off. Almost everyone in our group came off at some point. Jase tried a couple of the harder single track sections but had to walk his bike down some of it...sounds like a nightmare but we loved it and will try it again in New Zealand.
Went out for NYE in the city, not really knowing what to expect. It was buzzing everywhere with fireworks being let off and the huge market area in the centre had a stage and live music. Also, saw loads of pretty lanterns being lit and set off into the sky throughout the night which filled the sky with a plethora of floating orange lights - they looked like stars - a gorgeous sight. We saw the new year in at a really nice, busy rooftop bar with great views and we met some really fun people who we spent the evening with. One of our most enjoyable NYE's yet!

Woke up on NYD hungover with a BigMac craving only to realise Jase had lost his wallet. Doh! We retraced our steps back to the bar and couldn't believe our luck to see a note pinned to the door: 'Lost wallet, J Everson. Call back later'. Phew! You wouldn't get that in Manchester would you? Everything was still in it when we got it back, even the money and train tickets to Bangkok. Lucky or what?! We celebrated with a Double Big Mac! (4 burgers in 1! Such pigs...).
Off to the former hippy retreat of Pai, up in the mountains tomorrow...

Well, that was meant to be a short update but we got carried away! Here's to a happy 2009. We'll be in touch again soon.

Louise and Jase xxx

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Photos

Sunset in Don Det
(Yes this really was taken by us!!!)

Trekking - Lagoon
Where we went for a swim! Rather cold but refreshing.