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Published: January 9th 2008
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For the first time since the start of our many bus voyages I must admit I truly disliked one. Five hours of Lao hills and (very few) valleys with agonizing curves in all possible directions. I was probably the happiest person on the bus when we finally arrived. Luang Prabang was named UNESCO World Heritage city in the 90s. As we found out, that meant the prices of virtually all the products and services have gone up. There isnt too many regular bars or restaurants in Laos where youd have to pay $1.5 for a bottle of BeerLao. There are in Luang Prabang. The city is world famous for its 34 temples, some of them really are amazing. They also have a lovely night bazaar. I wanted to buy a copy of a Mont Blanc pen but in the end refused to pay $10 for it. Otherwise it was way too turistic for our taste. Oh, one last thing. My favoruite place in LP was the royal palace. The royal family was killed over 30 years ago by the communists, but the palace was preserved just as they left it. Among other things it has an impressive collection of swords and
gifts to the royalty from all over the world (nothing from Slovenia or ex-Yugoslavia though).
From northern Laos we had to somehow get back to Thailand to celebrate NY there. We decided to go for a two-day slow boat trip. Its a relaxing and peaceful trip on the Mekong where one gets to marvel at the tropical vegetation with an occasional bamboo hut here or there. Our trip had an interesting start. About half an hour into it our boats engines denied us, so we had to swap and get a new vessel. After 9 hours we arrived to Pak Beng, a tiny village on the banks of Mekong, about half way between Luang Prabang and the border town of Huay Xai. The next day was pretty much the same. Since not much can be done on the boat, I read a lot again, thus finishing Enthusiasm makes the difference by Norman Vincent Peale. Its a classic well worth its reputation. The next morning we waved goodbye to Laos and crossed the Mekong to arrive to Chiang Kong. Because of my hastiness we managed to miss the bus and had to wait for almost 3 hours. I dont need to
stress Andrrej was furious with me.
In late afternoon we arrived to Chiang Mai to spend a few days, including new years eve, in the capital of northern Thailand. We immediately found out it is starkingly different from the cities in Laos we were used to. The place is ALIVE! Tons of bars with prostitutes, pool tables and TVs, Muay Thai rings, a whole bunch of night markets (some opened till as late as 5 AM), 2nd hand bookshops at every street (to my delight!), night clubs and over 300 temples. We surely werent gonna be bored here.
Our first whole day in Chiang Mai was the last day of the year. We had a relaxed approach to it, not really rushing anywhere, but rather taking it slowly. There was one very special thing in the day for me. In the morning I discovered a leaflet in our guest house. It was advertising a macrobiotic and vegetarian restaurant. I knew right away I just had to find it. And I did. Its an amazing place with the best food I had on the whole trip (even better than in Vang Vieng). As you can hopefully see on the photo its
set in a natural environment, like a little garden in wood, bamboo, stones, water and lots of tropical vegetation. Having a meal is really an experience you dont forget. I couldnt get out of my skin and also established some business contacts with the restaurant owner. It turned out the place is only a year old, but the company is a German-Thai joint venture headquartered in Chinas Yunnan province. They specialise in the organic food products from the upper Mekong area, where they also conduct research in cooperation with a German university. Simply fascinating.
We spent the last evening of the year separated. Andrej was in bed, feeling ill again, and I was on the streets with thousands of Thais and farangs watching fireworks and, more interestingly, some special flying devices - a kind of kratongs (see photo) - being sent to the sky. Thais are definitely very superstitious. The first day of the new year was much the same as the day before. We didnt do much except relax and play PS2 games (Pro Evo soccer, to be exact) a Pantip Plaza, huge IT shopping center. And we also marvelled over our shiny new camera 😊 The treat of
the day came in the evening. We went to see Muay Thai boxing to a local stadium. Since Im into martial arts, I loved it and thus 7 fights passed by very quickly.
We were supposed to go to Sukkhotai the next morning, but since Andrej was again not feeling well, we decided to go separate ways. He was to stay and rest in Chiang Mai and I was to go on. We agreed to meet in Bangkok again. So I set sail for the last travelling part of the trip. Sukkhotai, Ayuthaya, Lopburi and Kachanaburi proved to be even more fun than I expected. Especially when I became a temporary English teacher at a secondary school...
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