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Published: April 22nd 2008
The month travelling through South East Asia, Thailand and Laos has been a truly memorably experience and everywhere we went we met so many like minded backpackers doing the same thing. South East Asia is without doubt a backpacker’s haven, with something for everyone. For us, ATV (quad bikes) and elephant rides in Thailand and boat trips along the Mekong and Tubing ( to be explained later) in Laos and a real drinking culture ( unlike in India) was a perfect mix for travelling in South East Asia.
Bangkok is the backpacker’s capital of South East Asia. All backpackers congregate in Bangkok before embarking on their individual journeys throughout South East Asia. Bangkok is a real love-it or hate-it kind of city, me personally I loved it. The hustle and bustle of a capital city with street vendors cooking up an extraordinary array of food, with something to satisfy everyone’s taste buds, including “twizzal sticks”, assortment of meats cooked up on the street and served up on a stick, a taste sensation! In a city that is constantly on the go, the home of 24 hour parties, and a shoppers paradise where literally everything is for sell from tailored
suits, tee-shirts, pirated DVDs and computer programs, ping pong shows and of course a massive number of irritating tacky souvenirs. Not to mention the crazy amount of tuc-tucs. These tuc-tucs (unlike the auto rickshaws in India) are the real deal, with powerful engines and fancy interiors. Tuc-tucs rides in Bangkok can be exciting and terrifying and none more so than one of our first late night tuc-tucs. With five crammed in the back where at most three should be, this particular tuc-tuc driver, a young, big, hip looking Thai guy decided to scare the living daylights out of us. With no room for error, he sped around corners at speeds none of us thought he could ever reach. Then the crème de la crème, with five of us clinging on for dear life, he revs the engine and pulls a wheelie sending the tuc-tuc up in the air and crashing back down to ground. With a smile across his face and a glint in his eye, he revved the engine again, the front of tuc-tuc jumps into the air, the five of us are thrown around the back, sparks fly from the back of the tuc-tuc and he holds it
More Tubing
Vang Vieng
(Photo courtesy of Padraic Heffernan)for about 20 metres and crashes back down to the ground. He had earned his tip by scarring the hell out of us, it was so much fun.
We stayed on Khao San Road, backpacker's central, which offers 24 hours bars, restaurants and clubs in abundance. We met up with the fifth member of our group, so it was time to celebrate and we did so in the only way we know by partying it up non stop for week, spending more money and time in Bangkok that any of us could ever have imagined. It would be unfair to say that none of us seen much of Bangkok ( some of the lads did see a lot ) but for me personally apart from a night at the Thai Boxing and a boat trip along the Mae Nam Chao Phraya, most of my excursions centred around Khao San Road and whatever beer was the cheapest and coldest. Bangkok must be the easiest place in the world to strike up conservation with fellow backpackers, just get beer, pull up a chair and the conservation is flowing. We met so many interesting and fun people from all around the
world and even in few guys from our hometown, only in Bangkok!
After Bangkok, we travelled north to Chiang Mai, a smaller city which signalled a change of pace and more laid back atmosphere than the organised chaos of Bangkok. We spent nearly an hour on the back of elephants just outside Chiang Mai which sounds fascinating but after spending 3 days on camels in India, it didn’t really excite us. However, on the same afternoon, we spent 3 hours on ATVs (Quad Bikes) which was probably most enjoyable experience of our Thai adventure thus far.
With a 5 second lesson behind us, we donned our helmets and followed our guides around winding roads and steep bends to the off course track. We sped down dirt tracks, narrowly avoiding trees, rocks and other obstacles. More often than not I found myself playing catch up, which resulted in me and everyone else for that matter being covered in dirt. At the end of afternoon, we stopped at a lake for a dip in the water and a few beers to cool of, a perfect end to a perfect day.
Our last port of call in Thailand (
for a couple months) was Pai, a quiet hippy village in the North of Thailand. I began to realise the further north you go from Bangkok, the more chilled out it is. Not a tuc-tuc in sight. We somehow survived the bus journey to Pai which can only be compared to a roller coaster, around and around we went till we reached Pai. I felt quite ill after that particular journey. We stayed in wooden shacks beside the river for a few nights with an old bamboo bridge to negotiate which got a lot tougher after a bellyful of beer. We had some great nights out in Pai, meeting some interesting characters, jumping on the back of motorbikes and drinking to the early hours of the morning. Our best night out in Pai was St Patrick ’s Day. There is not much of a Irish community in Pai but we managed to stumble upon a few and celebrated in true Irish fashion by getting extremely intoxicated and engaging in late night drunken antics, which involved a stray dog, one of the lads asleep in their mosquito night and a camera, I won’t say anymore! We really enjoyed our time in
Khao San Road
Bangkok
(Photo courtesy of Padraic Heffernan) Pai, and we always remember our Paddy’s day in Pai.
After crossing the border into Laos we got a 2 day slow boat down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang. Despite our initial concerns of safety and structure of the boat, the boat trip was thoroughly enjoyable. With mountains, dense forests and unusual rock formations along the river, we drank Beer Lao, our new favourite beer, all day, talking and joking with people from all over the world. We spent a few nights in Luang Prabang and like everywhere else in Laos, all the bars close at midnight due to a state wide curfew. So everyone heads for the bowling alley which stays open till 3 am and more importantly serves Beer Lao. Bowling and beers are only combination in Luang Prabang. Every night the bowling alleys are packed with backpackers, drinking, bowling, talking and laughing. Some chairs even got broken in the drunken madness. One night after late night bowling, I found myself beside the Mekong River, guitars being played and people singing until early hours of the morning and I met a cousin of a guy I went to school with.
Just outside Luang
Big Star Jump
Look closely top right of the picture and you will see Bradley (An Aussie guy) doing a fantastic jump Prabang, there is Tat Kuang Si national park with its picturesque waterfalls within a beautiful forest and small pools, with crystal clear water, running off from the waterfalls which are ideal for swim. With a few beers in hand we explored the forest and took a dip in the water to cool off. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon. It was so good we went back the very next day.
We had all planned to go to Phonsavan to see the Plain of Jars but after another late night at the bowling alley, a few of us missed the bus. So we headed straight for Vang Vieng, and met up with the others a few days later. Vang Vieng is the party capital of Laos. It caters exclusively for backpackers. Bars and restaurants constantly show reruns of Friends, Family Guy and the Simpsons and other bars show movies on request. Beside the river, there is an island which is connected by two of the worst bamboo bridges known to man, where there is the main strip of bars. All the bars have hammocks overlooking the river, with mountains surrounding Vang Vieng, it really is an ideal
ATVs
Chiang Mai, Thailand place to kick back and chill out. At night the bars are packed with backpackers drinking buckets and beers. We had some magic nights in Vang Vieng, meeting so many cool people, laughing and joking all night long.
Vang Vieng is the perfect place to chill out but is famous for one thing in particular, Tubing. This entails getting in a big rubber tube and floating down the river where there are number of bars set up. You see a bar you like, you call out and a large bamboo stick is thrown in the water and you pull yourself in. The river is packed with people, drinking all day long, floating from bar to bar as they please. There are number of swings and jumps set up for anyone brave enough or drunk enough to give it a go. The swings are a spectator sport with cries of “OH NO” from the crowds at the bars when someone miss-times a jump from 50 feet up and crashes into the water and spontaneously around of applause when some perfects a jump. The atmosphere in the bars is best atmosphere I have ever experienced, everyone has a beer in
hand and a smile across their face. People join in games of volleyball set up beside bars. I captained a group of Lao teenagers to a moral victory against the rest of the group ( We lost by one point). Tubing is the ultimate Vieng Vang experience and the 2 days we spent tubing down the river were the by far the best 2 days we had since we have been away.
Our month travelling through Thailand and Laos has been a fantastic experience. Thailand is a fast moving country with late night bars and people always coming and going where Laos is a beautiful, laid back country where everywhere closes by midnight. However the one thing that both countries have in common are the fun and interesting people we have met. We met so many cool people from England, Scotland, Australia, Greece, New Zealand, Canada, USA (California in particular) to name just a few, not to mention so many Irish. And of course, the local people of Thailand and Laos, with their ever glowing smiles which are so infectious that you find yourself smiling as well. Children run up say “hello” and run off giggling. All over
Swimming pools
Luang Prabang. Laos Thailand and especially Laos, people greeted us with a smile and we returned a smile. It has been an unbelievable month travelling Thailand and Laos with people we met, backpackers and locals alike, making a truly memorable experience. We head to Vietnam and Cambodia which I expect to be same, same but different.
Author Note: My camera broke! So big thanks to Colin, Podge and Darren for use of their photographs and big thanks to Adam for use of his laptop. Cheers!
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Grainne
non-member comment
TUBING!!!
Well done PTB, your blog is very entertaining, loved the tubing part, sounds cool. Take Care Gráinne