http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/The-Juckers/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from The Juckers en-us Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:59:02 +0000 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:59:02 +0000 Last day before we head for South Africa.We did sweet nothing all day Just relax and counting the hours before we leave. We leave tomorrow night from Bangkok then to Hong Kong then South Africa.This is the end of the South East Asia Blog for the JuckersThanks for reading.Next will be South Africa Blog only once every week or so as we will be at the beach most of the time..... http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Western-Thailand/Kanchanaburi/blog-354106.html We decided to go see the Tiger Temples today and go see a few other things in that area. We hires a motorbike for the day and head off at about 9am. We heard that you can play with the tiger cubs and have photos touching the big tigers. They start at about 1pm and the tourist buses come around 2.30pm so we wanted to avoid the tourist bus.Our first stop was Krasae Cave which is situated along the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/blog-354105.html Today we hired bicycles to see the town and the bridge on the river Kwai.The Bridge On The River Kwai is about 2 km from where we were staying. What can one say about a bridge It was nice Apart from the history there is nothing amazing about this bridge. When you walk over it it has a amazing view of the river which is very clean. So I tell Linda to walk ahead so I can get a photo of her on th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Western-Thailand/Kanchanaburi/blog-354104.html We took the morning train from Lopburi to Bangkok then had to take a taxi to another train station to get a train to Kanchaburi. 2 hours on a hard seat from Bangkok we arrive in Kanchanaburi. When we got off as usual there are tuck tuck guys everywhere. We had a general idea on where we wanted to go so decided to walk. A few hundred meters we bump into a oldish guy on a bicycle and cart in the b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Western-Thailand/Kanchanaburi/blog-354103.html We arrived early in the morning having taken the night train from Chiang Mai. The train was so so we had seating so it was a little better than taking the bus We arrived at the station at 7.00am and were greeted by a huge gold statue of a monkey with the hugest balls sorry there is no easy way of writing itSo we jump off only to be greeted by tuck tuck drivers. We knew where we wanted to stay http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Lopburi/blog-354100.html Today we set of bright and early as we had to have the jeep back by 11am and still had some waterfalls to see and a bit of a drive as wellSo off we go Team Swissdens last leg of the road trip. Spirits high and everyone keen to see the waterfalls as they were supposed to be the best ones in the region. We first stop to fill up gas and notice a morning market with food and stuff so we decide to ge http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-354099.html Today our goal is to get to a town called Khun Yuam so we can see the waterfalls and another hot spring. Along the way we stop off at a number of small waterfalls. We seem to be driving forever again praying it is the the right direction. We found a hot spring and it looked like one could swim there. So we all jump out and make our way to the spring. Unfortunately the spring was there but we cou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-354098.html Today we set off early for Lod Cave and made sure we knew where we were going so we never spent time driving in the wrong direction.Now the drive to Lod Cave was pretty amazing up and down mountains small villages etc. The only reason we saw small villages was because we got so lost again. It turned out we drove straight past Lod Cave and did a full circle through small villages dirt roads s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-354095.html So we got to Chiang Mai expecting it to be a lot like Sappa relaxed little town in the hills with hill side tribes all over town in the market. Wrong it was arriving to Bangkok. It is a pretty big city with a lot of western influencelike Mc Donald's KFC Toyota car dealerships etc. We met a Swiss couple on the bus to Chiang Mai Corine and Alex and made friends with them. We decided to share http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-354092.html 25 November. Heading north.After two hours waiting at the bus station in Vientienne we caught the bus to Nong Khai on the Thailand side. The boarder crossing went swiftly and one or so hour later we had crossed the friendship bridge joining Laos and Thailand and were relaxing at the Mut Mee guest house a peaceful and very nice guest house on the Mekong riverbank. We had a nice dinner on a river http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Sukhothai/blog-354090.html Well the 3 hour bus ride turned out to be 5 hours. We walked around town looking for a place to stay but all were either full or way to expensive. We finally managed to find a place with hot water and TVToday we decided to go see Xieng Khuan otherwise known as Buddha Park. It is a garden full of Buddhist and Hindu sculptures of Vishnu Buddha Siva and other deities. It is pretty amazing at how http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-347648.html Today we have booked a kayaking trip down the river. Good move since I was suffering from the night before and Linda was not happy with me for coming home that smashed. I don't blame herWe left the hotel at 9.30am and made our way by tuck tuck to Tham Xang cave also known as Elephant Cave. Here the cave has stalagmites and stalactites that have formed to look like a elephant. Also there are a n http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-347646.html We made our way to Vang Vieng on the 17th. After finding a room we walked around getting to know the town and had dinner on a bamboo hut with no walls nor chairs but an amazing view of the river and mountains. Today Linda and I hired mountain bikes and were ken to explore a few caves. The first cave we set out to explore was Poukam Cave which is 6km from town. We cycled for some time through the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-347645.html We were up and ready to go to Tad Sae Waterfall early. We had breakfast and head on down to Tad Sae Waterfall at about 10am. After a Tuck Tuck ride and a short boat ride we arrived at Tad Sae Waterfall. These waterfalls are made from limestone. Making its way through forest it falls into hundreds of natural pools. This was amazing. We all take a short walk around and see the elephants walking thr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-347644.html We woke up on the 14th and were keen to stay another day to explore the area and some caves close by. Unfortunately for us the whole town was fully booked so there were no rooms available and we had to leave.So we left that morning by boat then a bus ride and ended up in Luang Prabang. That day the 15th we found a hotel an amazing room with a very comfortable bed big TV and hot water. I forgot http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-347643.html We arrive at Muang Ngoi Neua at around lunch time. A small village set along side the Nam Ou river and at the foot hills of Mount Phaboom. There are restaurants come pubs along the river with amazing views.We all find a place to stay then head on for lunch and beers. On the trip we met a few more people one Croatian who lived in South Africa for 10 years but now lives in Canada Sasha another http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Muang-Ngoi-Neua/blog-347641.html So here we are Linda dying in bed the last 2 days of flu and I running errons and foriging for food.This town should not exist. There is sweet nothing here to do but slit your throat if you can find someone here who speaks english so you can ask for a knifeOur pland was to leave Sapa and come here to sort out our money issue as my card was stollen a few days ago and Lindas card was running dry http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Dien-Bien-Phu/blog-345007.html First I would like to thank sweet baby Jesus sweet infant Jesus for allowing Linda and I to make it from Sapa to Bien Dien Phu alive Oh my God what a trip. We left Sapa at 8am for a 7 hour bus ride to Dien Bien Phu. This is one journey I will never ever do again. We booked tickets for a bus what comes to pick us up A mini van This shitmobile was on its last legs. So we throw our bag into the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Dien-Bien-Phu/blog-345005.html This morning we are on our way to visit 3 villages on a 9 km hike. There were 6 of us in total 2 elderly people from the USA another younger lady and her brother both from the USA but he was living in Guam. He is in the US army and is based there some island off JapanAnyway we started at 9am by driving down the mountain to a path off the side of the road. We were very lucky because the sun w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-345003.html We woke up early today first so we could leave the hotel which was pretty crap and expensive. Apart from a good view it had nothing. Everything was damp because these rocket scientists leave the door open when no one stays there so the clouds and mist move in and wet everythingAnyway we collected our washing which had not been done for some time and paid we left with a smile they were not to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-345002.html