The night bus that we took from Pai to Chiang Khong was pretty harsh on our stomachs, partly down to the Sangsom we'd drunk the night before with Greg, and worsened by the bus constantly flying up and down hills and lurching around corners. As soon as we did arrive, we were ushered to some rooms for 3 hours sleep, before being woken abruptly and quickly ushered to the immigration point. We had to have our visas for Thailand stamped to say we'd left the country, and we were then ferried across the river to obtain visas for Laos. It was [View Full Entry]

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Here's some photos from our two day voyage down the Mekong River from the Thai/Lao border at Huay Xai to Luong Prabang! Our boat was a rollicking, overcrowded vessel full of good-natured partiers. There was a young Dane playing Johnny Cash favorites to drunken applause, people perched on rice bags, car seats, and cushions, and amazing scenes of untouched jungle. We made some friends on this boat that we have continued to run into throughout our travels since, an Australian and a bunch of Canadians. We purchased our first street food that we couldn't finish in PakBeng (purportedly fish in banan [View Full Entry]

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We said our goodbyes to Pai as Jess, Josh and I headed to the Laos boarder via Chiang Mai where we dropped off Nancy as she was heading to Cambodia with a friend from back home. The day was spent in a minivan but thanks to Jess' drunken state the night before we kept ourselves amused with her hysterical antics. Don't worry girl, it happens to the best of us! 7 hours and one dodgy Pad Thai later, my stomach had finally caved in and I spent the night cuddling the loo. Oh the fun. There you go Jess...karma for laughing [View Full Entry]

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EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE Mud here is a way of life. It is everywhere and anywhere, red, brown, greenish, grey, and it is as much part of life as the river, the pace of which determines Lao's livelihoods. At first, like when I arrived in Don Det, you try to avoid it, jumping from one seemingly hard dry spot to the next. Then, after missing a few times and splashing mud all over your nearby friends, clothes and shoes, you realize there is no escaping it, and then it begins growing on y [View Full Entry]

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i am now in the Laos town of hoay xai, in the banks of the mekong river, opposite chiang khong in Thailand, to where i shall be taking the cross river ferry to tommorrow. since my last blog, i spent a few more days in the laos capital, vientiane, before making my way through northern laos to here, via vang viang, luang prabang and luang namtha. it cooled down in vientiane after some really bad thunderstorms, so that was a relief, remaining refreshingly cooler up until yesterday in luang namtha. i think that was something to do with cyclone Nargis. i [View Full Entry]

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Day 12 After a fairly boring couple of days we were pumped for the Gibbon experience! A rarely advertised three day trek aimed at preserving the jungle but allowing high paying tourists to visit it without destroying it. We'd been lucky enough to hear about it through Mark and Chrissie whom we meet in China (thanks guys!). We set off with four packed into the cabin and another four in the back. A very bumpy but scenic 2 hours we arrived at a small village laden pigs, chicks, kids and with two finished groups desperate for beers and raving about their [View Full Entry]

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Alors pour une fois, je suis à l’ heure (et beh oui, je vais parler à la première personne pendant trois semaines... snif). Je vous livre du tout chaud car je viens de finir mes deux jours de trajet en bateau sur le Mékong. Pour une fois que je trouve un café Internet qui marche bien et rapide, j’en profite car cela faisait longtemps... Je crois que c’ est sans doute un des plus beaux trajets de transport entre deux points que j ai eu à faire pendant ces deux jours à voguer sur le Mékong. C est très très beau, [View Full Entry]

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Two Day Slow Boat [View Full Entry]

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When I think back at all the places and things I've seen my head begins to swirl. It’s gotten to the point where when people ask me the question "when did you get into X city" I actually have to stop and think about it...especially how I traveled to it. But its funny how much you learn about your own body and psyche traveling for a long duration. You quickly learn the physical limits of your body from food poisoning, dehydration, sprained body parts (various places I didn't even know you could sprain making you think, when and where did I [View Full Entry]

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Interessanterweise gibt es in Houay Xay kein einziges gutes Restaurant. Das Deen hatte die wohl schlechteste indische Küche, die ich je gegessen habe, und ansonsten gibt es nur einfache Lokale mit Standard Lao Kost wie Laab mit Sticky Rice, mal besser, mal weniger gut zubereitet. Dennoch blieb ich noch ein paar Tage hier, las, entspannte und fuhr ein wenig Fahrrad. Mehr gibt es hier auch nicht zu tun, aber die Lethargie von Laos übertrug sich schnell auf mein Gemüt. [View Full Entry]

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