Chang Mai - Laos April - May

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Ok, this is the second attempt at writing in my blog, first attempt i wrote for a whole hour in Luang Prabang and the electricity tripped, turning everything off and losing all my work!!!
So i set off on my travels on 20th April, was a pretty messy start to my travels! Got to London Heathrow airport to get connecting flight and i was told which terminal to go too, jumped on a bus, got to said terminal and it was the wrong one, got to correct one and was totally flummoxed as to where i was meant to go, just as i was about to panic ever so slightly - an old couple off our flight walked past looking as flummoxed as me, they had been my adoptive grandparents on the flight - so together we got to where we needed to be. Arrived at Bangkok to be met with a 5 hour delay to Chang Mai!!! Finally arrived at my destination at 11.30, luckily id met two Californian Girls on my flight so we all went to the same Guesthouse - Julie's Guesthouse, always really popular and full so glad i pre-booked!! Cheap dorms aswell so turned out to be a pretty good choice of accomodation! The 'night porter' handed me my keys to my room - though he was named this in my email to Julie's he was more of a random local who had no idea what to do!! But i was given my keys and left to my own devices! Which by this time after all the travelling was to go to sleep!! I suddenly felt very alone and abit lost - the people in my dorm were out and i had no idea what to do with myself, but they soon came back, we got acquainted slightly but then i was soon out for the count! Unfortunately wasnt the best nights sleep id had - my sleep talking antics kept me awake most of the night!! ha ha how embarrassing, luckily next morning nobody said they had heard me so that was a relief!!! The next morning i decided to take myself for a walk around Chang Mai! Quite a busy city, surrounded by a moat! it didnt take me long to walk it, and so decided i would book myself on a 2 day trek via my guesthouse! Wed night, i went to the night bazaar with two californian girls id met, it was nice to browse around though it was quite a touristy aimed market, apparantly there is a locals market which we did visit later on...
So Thursday morning (alarm didnt go off so i woke up at 9 with my pick up being 9.30!!!) i was put in the back of a pick up truck type thing, where two other guys from my trek were waiting, Lucas and Seth! Both really cool guys, and at this point i wouldnt have known but Lucas turned out to be one of my best travelling buddys, such a genuine honest guy i would trust him with anything! After the trek we travelled together for another 2 weeks.
So on the trek we were then joined by two Irish girls, Ciara and Nicola (also really good friends) then some swedish guys, girls and two koreon lads! The trek was amazing, we went to ride elephants first which was pretty funny, they are given bananas to eat as we walk around, but their trunks come back over their heads searching for food - it was abit freaky sticking a banana up and elephants nostril!!! next we started our walk, it was a blistering hot day and after our first big hill climb i was dreading having booked myself on the trek, everyone else seemed fine - i thought i was going to die!!! As the trek went on though i seemed to get used to it, with a few stops in between and it soon became clear i wasnt the most unfit one there! phew! The trek was pretty tough though and i had heard stories of people struggling so much people had to come and collect them on mopeds to take them home!! we finally got to the hill tribe village, and seeing the view from here looking out over Chang Mai, seeing the forest stretch on for miles as the sun set in the distance - made it all worth while and i soon forgot about the difficult parts of the trek! We all ate food and were joined by the village people to sing songs with the guitar! Unfortunately, between 12 people, not one of us knew the words to a full song, but it was a good laugh and we all got to get more acquainted!
The next day, the people doing the two day trek, were split up from the people doing the three day, so we all set off (luckily lal downhill) we soon got to a waterfall where we could swim and relax for abit! Much needed after walking in the heat for so long!!Next we were kayaking along a river tackling small rapids and getting splashed by all the locals playing in the river as we passed! Then we hopped on a bamboo raft, though we were submerged in water the whole way!! This was then the end of our trek, I am definately glad i chose to do it, i made some really good friends, and after getting to Chang Mai late on tuesday and feelig totally out of my depth, it really picked up my confidence and i felt like i was ready for my adventours ahead!
I arrived back at Julie's and was contemplating getting a massage and chilling out for the evening when a welsh girl (sarah) from my dorm walks in, within minutes we're in full conversation, we seemed to really hit it off! She had just got back from a trek aswell, so she invited me for drinks with her trekking crew! So that night we hit the town!! Well, it was a roof top bar, was pretty chilled, good music and a chilled out sitting area with an open roof! Also a good group of people! it was pretty interesting to hear where people were going and what theyv been doing etc! Though by now the conversation of asking people the same questions gets pretty monotonous ha ha! The next day (sat) me and Howard, a guy from the roof top bar, decided to hire out mopeds and go to see Chang Mai abit further afield! We stopped at various waterfalls along the way! Was nice seeing all the locals doing their weekend thing, all enjoying the water and socialising together! We also went to the famous temple on top of the hill, which had 300 steps to climb!!! Me and uphill walking seem to not go hand in hand too well haha but it was worth it again to see the view and the temples! I typically was wearing unsuitable, visiting temple clothing os had to hire some random clothing, dont think ill be putting those pics up!! We also went to the palace gardens, was not really what i expected, the gardens were not completely amazing and there wasnt alot to see really, but was still nice to get further afield and see the rest of the city!
That night i had arranged to meet Lucas, Seth, Ciara and Nicola from the trek at my hostel, so the 'new' group from friday night and the trek group, aswell as 'Ginger beard guy' - an Aussie lad i met in Bangkok airport, but couldnt remember his name, hed gone to bangkok but had said he would meet me in Chang mai - i could not remember his name but he had the most distinctive, ginger beard you culd imagine! I obvtold him hed been christened this name and he was pretty happy with it i think! Anyways, so we were all gathered in Julie's hostel, i felt like back at home being a little social butterfly organising our night out!! Some things never change! Some of us decided to visit the more local market which was mainly stalls with lots of food, and some jewellery etc! We were all pretty hungry so picked at various foods, before we went to meet the rest of the crew at the same roof top bar! felt like id had a very fun packed, busy socialising past few days!
Unfortunately that night i left the rooftop bar and went home feeling pretty ill, i proceeded to be 'ill' all night into the early hours of sunday morning! Not the best when you have a bus then a slow boat to catch to laos! Luckily, a 6 hour bus journey later, we arrived in Chang Khong and i felt alot better! This was our stop off point before getting the 5 hour boat ride on monday, a stop off in Pak Beng followed by another 6 hour slow boat ride on Tuesday to Luang Prabang! I was dreading the boat journey but i honestly didnt think it was so bad, a bit of sleeping, reading, chatting n playing games soon passes the time!! On the tuesday slow boat journey, we were joined by some locals - this included a few baskets of chickens and ducks being put on the roof of the boat, huge bags of cement type stuff, food, children, grandma and a few others in between! It was a VERY packed journey, but they kept getting food out and sharing it with us, no idea what we were eating but it was pretty cool to sit amongst the locals, try to communicate though none of us could speak the same language, whilst sharing food and taking pics etc! So on wednesday we decided to hire bicycles to go and see Luang Prabang, by this point i had met Lynne, my new travel buddy for the next two months! and a dutch couple, lucas and myself - all hired bikes! It was really nice again seeing further afield and being out in the sun, luckily by this point id started getting some colour, compared to everyone else who had been travelling awhile, i was looking abit too fresh out of England!!That night we all decided to go bowling!! Abit of a random thing to do whilst in laos but i think it has been made the place to meet for us Falang (foreigners) to meet, as the drinking places around LP close at 11.30! It really was a backpackers meeting place but another chance to catchup and meet new people!
Wednesday 29th April, Lynne, Howard and myself decided to get a tuk tuk to see the waterfalls, picked up some random swedish people along the way! The waterfalls were about 30km away but defo worth a visit, the pools were a lovely blue, with tumbling waterfalls to cool down in! We stopped at the first for a dip, then gradually made our way up, they seemed to get more and more beautful as we went further on, i did a swinging jump into the water! then we came across the main waterfall, was really pretty and you could climb to the top looking out across LP! All very picturesque!
Friday 1st May (im putting dates as im already forgetting what i did when and how!!?) we got a mini bus to Vang Vieng, we paid for air cond but the driver refused to put it on the whole way there!! So we werent really impressed by that, luckily Lucas and I manged to bag a window seat so we had lots of fresh air! It was abit of a windy uphill road so not the best journey if you are a bad traveller! We hit the tubing on Saturday, was another chance for the backpackers to get together, drink lots and have as mch fun as possible whilst trying to swim from bar to bar in the river!! Ended the binge drinking session by having a mud fight ha ha i will try and upload pics, we were a mess by the end of this! All good fun! Sat & sun night more late nights drinking around the town, they have certain bars which people tend to go to and fro until the early hours! Again all good fun keeping in touch wth all the people we had picked up along the way, by now there was a pretty major group forming! On the sunday, lucas, lynne and the dutch girls & dutch couple hired mopeds again, we went caving and found a blue lagoon, not quite sure how it is so blue but looked really attractive after picking your way through the dark cave, getting slightly lost and not being able to see your hand in front of your face!!
Monday was travelling to Vientianne day, here most of the formed group from Vang vieng would split up and go their sep ways, the 'caving' group from sunday all travelling to vientianne so we had longer together yet.
They all got the bus but lucas and i decided to kayak to vientianne, not the best with a hangover, but i soon came round when we got in the freezing cold Mekong River and started kayaking! Definately my best idea so far, the scenary was amazing, the river was calm and tree lined and was jst so peaceful! We had a couple of pretty big (ish) rapids to get through but by time we had tackled the big one i wanted to do more!! Apprently there is a much bigger one but we werent allowed to do this, shame!!
So Monday night we re-grouped and went for tea around Vientianne, we ended up in a pretty low key hostel with three of us in a room, wasnt so bad but the whole of Vientianne accomodatin was full! I think this is the downside of getting there later in the evening! That night i decided to grab myself some more cash form the atm - the screen then turned itself off and swallowed my card!!!! Not what you need, there was a sign on the atm telling me to contact a bank, which luckily happened to be in my lonely planet! So next morning i was up and walking the streets of Vientianne looking for a bank, found it but this was the new building so had to walk for another hour or so before finding the old one and being told to go back at 2!! I did so and they had retrieved my card so it was all ok in the end! Phew!
I dont really feel there was a great deal to see in Vientianne, 2nights defo enough, tuesday we went to the buddha park which is definately worth a trip out but quite a way out of town, theres a pool and a bowling alley (yey!!) but other than that not a great deal - alongside the usual woks and temples which are nice to mosey around! So today (Wednesday 6th May) our group is dispersing once again for good this time, Lynne and I are getting a late night sleeper bus to Pakse, heading south to eventually reach the four thousand islands!

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