Advertisement
Published: July 23rd 2010
Us
Disrespecting some ruins in AyuttahaGreetings from Laos PDR, the fourth country thus far of our trip. Every time we finally get used to a currency we end up switching countries and have to figure out how much everything is worth again. We've been on the road nearly non stop since the last update, probably why I am once again well behind on the blog. I'll do my best to try to remember what happened in the last hectic week or so.
I think last time i left off we were all the way back in Bangkok. Our first trip was the quickest, spending two nights in the nice city of Ayutthaya, which was only a couple hours north of Bangkok. We jumped on the local train which looked about 200 years old and contained more animal passengers than human passengers. It was a really fun way to go, but i wouldn't want to be stuck there for much more than a couple hours. Ayutthaya was the original capital of Thailand some 400 years ago, and is well worth spending a couple days here having a look around. The old city is actually on a large square shaped island, surrounded by rivers. It is compact
Just Weird
I've seen some really strange street vendor food, but this wins the contest. Its a honeycomb cake covered in a swarm of bees. Painful but delicious. enough and the sights are close enough together that the best way to see everything is by renting a bike. A bicycle, not motorbike, cause were not that cool. Lots of ruins here of the old Thai empire. At one time during the 1700s they say it was the largest city in the world. There are many great spots to check out, although the best has got to be the Wat Na Phra Mane, which we saw that evening on a long-tail boat tour around the islands rivers.
After two nights in Ayutthaya we took the train again to the main city in Thailand's north called Chiang Mai. The train was another cramped 8 hours, but at least had the air-con set at a reasonable temperature. We didn't get into Chiang Mai until very late in the evening. Normally we try to avoid the "Farang hunter" guy at the train or bus station trying to catch people and bring them to a certain hotel. This time around it was too late at night to attempt to find our way around so we just went along with him. Good thing we did as he took us to a great hotel
Us
disrespecting a jungle temple and monastery with a nice pool in the town center for an absolute bargain of 400 Baht. Anyone coming to Chiang Mai be sure to stay at the "Chiang Mai Thai Guest House". This is easily the best place we've stayed with the friendliest and most helpful staff. Chiang Mai is a great place to visit and the three days we spent here is not nearly enough. It kind of feels like a Thai version of Jasper, but no snow of course.
We didn't have much time so we decided to blow our budget for the day and hire a guide with a 4wd truck to take us up into the mountains. Turned out to be a great investment as we had possibly the best day so far on the trip. The guide was another Joe. Thai names are so long and complicated and many people just tell you to "call me Joe". He took us to quite a few spots including a wooden Buddhist temple in the middle of a jungle, as well as nearly unreachable hill tribes where we were a more interesting attraction to the villagers than they were to us. Yumi also fullfilled a life long ambition
to visit with a "longneck" hill tribe, which she remembers seeing from a television show when she was young. The tribe actually originated from Burma, but was forced to cross the border to escape from persecution by the Burmese army. They have been granted refugee status by the Thai government, but their movement is restricted to a small village in the mountains. Here they sustain themselves by growing rice and selling hand made crafts to the tourists that make it up here. They seem quite shy and melancholy, but at least the children opened up when Yumi started passing out bags of popcorn.
On the way back down the mountain road it started raining heavily and the steep dirt path became a muddy river. Thankfully our driver was quite skilled or it could have been bad news as we were in the middle of nowhere. Our progress was further delayed by a Giant Tree which had suddenly appeared fallen in the middle of the road. The army was already there with several jeeps and they were working to drag it away. It took awhile but they were finally able to move it aside and let us pass. Later on,
back on the highway, we stopped for a minute at a viewpoint over the mountains. The same army crew pulled up to cook themselves dinner at the small hut overlooking the mountains. They recognized us from earlier and treated us to dinner on the side of the mountain. Before we knew it, a quick stop for a photo-op turned into the best example yet of Thai hospitality. Roast beef with noodles accompanied whiskey and beer. A friendlier bunch of people you cannot meet. It turned out they were bringing the tree to a local monastery for the monks to carve another Buddha with.
The north of Thailand is a place we both really want to return to. The people up there are without question the friendliest and most hospitable that we have met so far. Already i regret passing through so quickly, but we gotta keep moving to get everywhere that we want to. After checking out of the hotel, we took a local bus up to almost the extreme north of Thailand to a small town called Chiang khong. Here is really close to the infamous "golden triangle", which used to be where most the the world's opium
was produced. Nowadays it's pretty tame as the Thai, Laos and Myanmar governments have eradicated this. The region uses the golden triangle infamy to attract tourists. The reason for us to go to Chiang Khong is that it is a border crossing with Laos which is open to foreigners. The Mekong river forms the border between the two countries at this part and to cross the border you have to take a long tail boat across the river. It is easily the funnest and most laid back border crossing ever. After crossing the river, there is a small office on the Laos side where you can get a Visa on arrival. Yumi got a free visa for 15 days, as do all Japanese citizens. For some reason Canadians have to pay more than any other country to get the Visa, 42 dollars payable only in American currency. Nobody else has to pay that much, wtf.
Hua Xai is the name of the border town on the Laos side, and it is a picturesque spot on the Mekong. I wouldn't have minded hanging out there for a day, but we crossed the border in time to catch the next bus
to Luang Prabang so we decided it was best not to waste too much time and got on the bus. The bus left town at 5:00 pm and arrived at 8:00 am the next day. This was by far the most uncomfortable and annoying bus ride of all time. It was hot, sweaty and cramped. Worst of all the driver was blaring some truly awful music the entire night making it impossible to sleep. I imagine the conditions are similar to some of the C.I.A.'s secret interrogation facilities. Including the 8 hour bus in Thailand to Chiang Khong, we had been on a bus for almost 28 hours. After arrivng in Luang Prabang we slept all day, got up and had dinner, then slept all night.
Laos so far is pretty interesting. It is probably like how Thailand must have been 40 or so years ago. It's the first place we've been that hasn't had 7elevens and foreign fast food chains . Even ATMs are next to non-existent, except in the larger towns or the capital. The ones that we've found have either been broken or look way to dodgy for me to feel comfortable putting my credit card
into. Luckily every business accepts Laos Kip, Thai Baht and American dollars so we should have enough cash until we find a trustworthy ATM. There are some quite awkward restrictions they place on foreign visitors to the country, such as a nation wide curfew of 12 p.m.
I gots to run, still not quite up to date. We're a bit further south at the moment in a small riverside town called Vang Vieng. I'll do a proper Laos update when i get a chance. Sorry if the blog is getting rambling and incoherent but time is getting short and i dont want to spend too much of it on silly things like proof-reading. Until next time...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.13s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 14; qc: 63; dbt: 0.0989s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Duane M
non-member comment
Bri! Thanks for the updates. I read each of them with great interest and enjoyment. Have fun! Love Yo' Dad.