TravelBound

Laos: Mountains and Dust Its been a while since the last post, so here are a few updates. I spent two days in Luang Prabang. I did not particularly like the town. It is too touristy, and not in a good way. Local life (as in shopping, dining, entertaining...) is practically non existent, or if it exist it is somewhere outside the tourist area, that is by accident or on purpose is separated from the rest of small town. Some how the town does not feel authentic or charming. It lacks character. It is situated in between two rivers and has really beautiful nature backdrop. The nature part does make up for the lack of character somewhat. It was not very expensive to stay there I paid 60,000 ($6) for a room with bathroom and hot ... read more

My last days in Chiang Mai were highlighted by the visit to Doi Suthep, one of Thailand most famous Wats. Doi Suthep is UNESCO heritage sight and it is said that if you haven’t been to Doi Suthep, you haven’t been to Chiang Mai. The temple is beautiful. Three hundred and six steps (or two hundred and eighty seven by some sources) lead to the temple. The views of Chiang Mai from the temple are impressive. It was a time well spent. Pictures included. Tiger Kingdom...very touristy...well, it is purely for tourists. It is a zoo of sorts that specializes in tigers. The difference from the regular zoo is that you are able to pet tigers. You pay certain amount of money ($17-25) for the privilege of spending 10- 15 mins with a tiger one on ... read more

Another day in Chiang Mai… I went on a trekking tour yesterday. Quite an adventure. The program for the day included visiting orchid/butterfly farm, going to a local/tribe village, walking through the jungle to a beautiful waterfall (swimming in it if you really, really wanted), visit to another local village, riding elephants, eating lunch, more tribal village experience and finally, the conclusion of the day: white water rafting and bamboo rafting. The whole deal was 1200baht, about 35-40$. What can I say about this experience…Let me start by saying that yesterday was really cold (Thai standard) and cloudy in Chiang Mai and surrounding areas (It is wintery here and temperatures were in low 20s….not too bad to walk around, but pretty terrible to swim , later about that part) Butterfly/orchid farm…Butterfly part was …unimpressive. I enjoyed ... read more

So, the capital of the north proved to be pretty small. The lonely planet guide says that the city has about 1.6 mil. Population, but it looks much smaller to me. The older part of the city is surrounded by wall (most of them are destroyed) and moat (pretty functional, filled with water, makes it a challenge for traffic. The old city makes a perfect square. Very interesting. The weather is good (according to fellow travelers, who have been in town for some time it have cooled down significantly), was cloudy most of the day, but still hot and humid. I am sweating all the time (forget about make up here, or any kind of hair products, will run in minutes), I am wondering about Thais, they never look hot. Everybody is always dressed pretty warm ... read more

How does any trip starts? You have a dream of going to particular place because you have seen it in the movie before ( Las Vegas? New York? Tokyo anyone? )...You have read a book that had a perfectly romantic description of Rome or Paris, and you feel like you absolutely have to go to the same place in order to experience the same thing... Well, it was not exactly the case with me. I found out that I have a two month break from school and have decided that I have to do something interesting during that time. Traveling sounded like a good idea. I am a student and this kind of implies that I have to travel cheap. Europe was out of the question for my projected vacation for that reason. I toyed with ... read more