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Published: October 30th 2007
Hello again,
Having left Australia I embarked on the final stage of my trip, that is a trip through South East Asia. First stop was Thailand, and after a day or so checking out Koh San Road and the big buddha and stuff, I was ready to head down to the island of Koh Tao. Spent a few days there chilling out in beach side bungalows and doing my advanced open water scuba diving course, which was lots of fun, really great coral and warm water so it was all pretty good. Could easily get stuck there diving and chilling if the money would last! Had my first banana pancakes there, so good I went straight back for seconds, (those that have tried them will hopefully understand what I mean, they really are that good). Although the one with chocolate sauce inside and nutella spread and choc sauce and condensed milk on top was a little bit too much of a sugar hit to be honest!!
All too soon it was time to head back to Bankok to meet up with my brother Owen who flew out to spend a month or so travelling SE Asia with me. After
Trekking in Chiang Mai area
Bright sunshine as you can see.... thats my brother Owen on the right.a day in Bankok eating banana pancakes and telling people we didnt want tuk tuks, taxis, suits, gems or those irritating wooden frog things that the ladies use to attract your attention (again a reference for those that have been there - sorry). I took a day trip to Kanchanaburi which is where the bridge over the river Kwai is, so a chance to pay respects to all those soldiers that lost their lives in that part of the war.
Next stop was Chiang Mai, which was a quieter change from Bangkok although still a busy city with an old city section located within the old city walls. Stayed at a family friends guest house here which was really nice and we got some good local advice - thanks Garry. One of the main attractions in Chiang Mai is the trekking out into the highlands to visit the hilltribe people - so we did.
We did a three day trip with a group of other travellers, the first day involved hiking through the jungle to stay in one of the hilltribe villages. The hike was made all the more interesting by the monsoon rain falling, there were lots
of river crossings so our guide Mr Whiskey (yeah he liked a few!) was pretty keen for us to keep moving so as not to get trapped by the rising rivers... all worked out well and was lots of fun, rewarded with a great meal of fried chicken (absolutely stunning and cooked in a very primitive kitchen in a bamboo hut!). Next day was hiking down and swimming in some wicked waterfalls, lots of fun. Final day involved elephant riding, ours wasn’t the quickest but hey what can you do! This was followed by whitewater rafting - now the safety standards arent the same as New Zealand, basically here’s a lifejacket - hope it fits! Here’s a helmet - ditto! Now get in and paddle!! Credit to our guide he did a good job. Then the last bit of the trip was on flat water so we swapped to a bamboo raft,this was a good giggle and time to be pushing everyone in etc, well the water was pretty warm!
After this we left Chiang Mai and headed for the border and into Laos. Changing money on the Laos side and suddenly we are millionaires! ah happy days.....
Village shop, trekking Thailand
Plenty of these places to buy drinks etc. From the Laos border we got the slow boat down the Mekong river to the town of Luang Prabang, stopping overnight in a small village called Pak Beng which is there basically to feed and house the boat passengers overnight. The slow boat is kind of a bit like a large canal boat with a roof, open sides and seats. At the front are some old airline or car seats, quite comfy if your lucky enough to get one - known as club class by those that didnt get one! The rest of the seats are wooden benches which have padding so they are ok and if you get one to yourself its tolerable for the trip. Wouldn’t want to be on a really packed boat though. Very chilled out trip, chatting playing board games and watching the world go by there are lots of small villages along the way so great way to see a bit of life on the river.
Arrived in Luang Prabang which is a really nice town with colonial style builidings and a laid back atmosphere, surrounded by hills and the Mekong river running alongside so very picturesqe. We spent the time hanging out
with Jamie, Hayley, Rowan, Faye and Tom who we all met on the slow boat, hey guys! Spent a great day at Kuang Si Waterfalls. A stunning waterfall with several smaller waterfalls and turqoiuse blue pools to swim in below it. There were rope swings and a place to jump off one of the waterfalls into the plunge pool so lots of fun to be had, being pretty hot it was nice and refreshing.
The most random thing to do in Luang Prabang was to go ten pin bowling... yes totally kosha with computers and everything. The bars all shut at 11pm sharp, lights just go out and the police enforce the closing, but the bowling alley stays open till 3am, so thats where everyone goes... very surreal experience.
Another shall we say eye opening experience was a visit to the Laos China Friendship hospital with a friend who was ill. Hospital looks great from the outside, but eeirly quiet inside, signs up for all sorts of equipment including a CT scanner (sadly very much doubt anyone would be able to use it though) looks like a lot of the equipment is now missing and the conditons were
Elephant riding, Thailand
Another way of getting around. pretty grim, the surgery ward and ITU, had no fans in the rooms with relatives left to fan the patients with newspaper etc, there were blood stained sheets...and dodgy looking stains in the hallways and one of the most disgusting toilet I have ever seen… makes you realise how good we have it in the western world despite all our complaining.
After a great few days in Luang Prabang, it was time to head to Vang Vieng with Jamie and Hayley. Had an interesting ride on the VIP bus, me and Owen in the back row of seats with 5 big guys (I was the smallest) crammed in and the air con not working at the back. Also the brakes kept overheating, so we stopped a lot to throw water on the brakes and then just carried on down these steep hills without really checking that the brakes were now working!! The bus would suddenly stop and a guy would run off to a pond or stream and get some water, on one occasion he ran into someones shower whilst they were using it to get some water!! Still the windy steep mountian road meant for some great views.
Arrived in Vang Vieng, which is basically a backpacker town, with lots of resturants and bars, many of which show 'Friends' all the time, literally back to back episodes all day... all set up with tables and cushions to sit there and veg out for a while, easy to get sucked into it.
The main reason people go to Vang Vieng is to go tubing, basically you are taken to the start point and given a tractor inner tube, and you then float down the river. All the way down there are makeshift little bars that you can stop at, they have all built rope swings and flying foxes (zip lines) into the water so you spend your time throwing yourself into the water and then when youve had enough, float on down to the next one... lots of fun. Now these swings are feats of engineering although they wouldn’t meet any health and safety inspections that I am aware of... but hey they all worked for us. Spent most of the day doing this finishing just before a monsoon downpour. Just enought time to grab a banana pancake before the heavens opened - yes there were pretty passable
ones here in Vang Vieng, great after the dissapointment of no decent ones in Luang Prabang (its not that im addicted or anything!!).
Another cool day in Vang Vieng was riding bikes out to a cave out in the countryside, (Tom and Rowan had caught us up by this time so went with them) good to see a bit of the rural life up close, cave was quite cool and they had a great swimming hole nearby with 2 different height tree branches to jump from, so we did.
Next stop for Owen, Jamie and myself (Hayley had already had to go) was Vientiane. The capital of Laos, interesting to see but not a lot there to occupy us for more than 24 hours or so. Did find some wicked banana pancakes and great fruit shakes tho, so cant complain. From here we parted company with Jamie and headed accross the border back to Thailand and onto Cambodia. Had a great time in Laos, very friendly and laid back which is a nice contrast to the busy in your face nature of Thailand.
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