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Published: February 23rd 2006
Hi Everyone
Well, since we last wrote we have been to the Similan islands which is about 100kms of the Thai coast. It is a national marine park which is very isolated and not many people actually get out there. Its one of the best dive sites in the world and we stayed on a live-a-board boat and did 11 dives in 3 days, including a night dive. It was amazing diving seeing leopard sharks and turtles and 1000's of fish and stingrays. The diving was quite advanced but we managed to be ok - truly an amazing site.
From there we stayed in Phuket for a few days - right above a titty bar. Such a contrast from the beautiful remote islands we had been on before that... We went to a Thai boxing match with an English bar owner and a crazy Norwegian guy, who got so drunk that he fell asleep and then went missing so we left without him... talk about crazy zany!!! Maart also managed to scare the beejezus out of a local frog in the toilets who all of a sudden got to see a full Dutch moon rising above the squat toilet...CROAK!
From Phuket we flew to Vientiane, which is the capitol of Laos. It is a nice town, although there is not a whole lot to do - spending two or three days here seems to be enough. We went to the Buddha park which is about 25kms (1 hr tuk tuk ride) outside of the centre - this park was developed by a guy as the resemblance of his philosophy of life and the cosmos. It was really quite a noice and unusual park full of Buddha status and other strange sculptures Afterwards we both felt like getting some of the stuff that guy must have been on while working on the park - totally psychedelic man!
From Vientiane we caught a bus to Vang Viang which is about 4hrs on a very uncomfortable bus. This is a beautiful place, situated in a valley on the banks of the NamSong river. One of the main attractions here is to go tubing, which is a unique Lao experience set up for tourists - you basically get into the inner tube of a truck tyre and float along the river for about 5 hours stopping for Beer Lao (which is
about 90centsUS for a big bottle) at the many makeshift bamboo bars set up along the way. They hold out long pieces of bamboo to help the tubists out of the middle of the river into their bar. We did the whole journey and didn't stop at too many bars, but we had sore arms at the end of the trip. We also went to caves and kayaked down the river while we were here.
Vang Viang is obviously the place to chill out for most travelers who seem to be here only to get very very stoned and watch TV in one of the many bars in town. On nearly every menu there are "happy funny foods for you" which are either mushrooms or other stuff. Felicity tried one happy funny shake but didn't make her happy or funny so we are not sure if she just didn't have enough or is just immune to it all!!! We stayed just on the outskirts of town about 10 minute walk from the centre which was great. The bungalows had the most comfortable bed we have had since arriving in Asia and it was cheap (at 15US a night) and
the views were to die for.
We are now in Louang Phabang which is a world heritage city. There are beautiful silk and jewelry shops and because of the French history there is lots of French food available - the menu's here seem to have everything from frogs legs to noodles... very strange.
We are now nearly half way through our amazing adventure and we are really enjoying ourselves and wish we could just keep on doing this forever. Don't expect us home anytime soon as this life suits us just fine....!
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Dazza
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Truly beautiful!!!