Angkor Wat

Epic and awesome are often over used words – but in a case like this it is fair to say that the impressive Angkor Wat is both of these things! Angkor Wat is the largest religious building in the world. There are hundreds of temples, and many of these are apparently worth visiting, and although we were going to barely scratch the surface of what was to be seen we thought we would get a three day pass to try and do justice to some of the more popular ones.

The first day we hired a tuk tuk driver who took us firstly to the gates into the city of Angkor Thom. I might sound like a stuck record in this blog as I run out of ways to try and describe the scale and impressive nature of these structures. Each of the gates had four large faces of Avalokiteshvara and were still incredibly detailed considering they were built around 1181!! The whole ‘complex’ of temples and structures are set within a kind of park land which for me added to the epic but still peaceful feeling of the area.

Our first building was Bayon, this was a very large building, and there were signs around the ruins explaining what some of the rooms would have been used for including a library. It was stunning and although they were ruins there was a lot remaining, including corridors and structures that you climb up to get magnificent views. One of the things that was fantastic about the place was there was no restriction to where you could wander, climb and explore making the place wonderful to get lost in. The same face that we saw at the gates appears here 216 times (bless the guide book of facts we had)– every time as big as me in size. Combine that with many intricate and wonderful carvings and you have a place where I just kept finding things that were amazing and impressive.

We then visited Baphon which is in the process of being restored, so you could only look from the outside while they were still reassembling areas of the ruins. We visited the Terrace of Elephants which is aptly named as it is a 300m long terrace with bas-reliefs of elephans and garudas (mythical human –birds). Then we took a brief visit to the Terrace of the Leper King before catching our tuk tuk to see some of the slightly further away temples.

The next set of temples were far more ruined, and were slightly smaller but no less impressive. The jungle had been allowed over 100’s of years to begin reclaiming the land and there were many areas where tree and their roots engulfed the stonework. Apparently there were areas of these temples where Tomb Raider was filmed, and it was indeed a perfect area. I also found the forest helped me gain a sense of age of the ruins. I also felt they were more interesting and amazing to look at than some of the more restored temples. These were called Ta Prohm and Preah Khan. That was to be the end of our first day. Awesome.

The next day we decided to tackle the temples by bike. Angkor Wat was only a couple of Km from Siem Reap, so we jumped on our bikes and firstly came to Angkor Wat an obvious first choice as we had left that one out from our first day. It’s scale was unbelievable. It has a large moat around it, and then there is a temple within a temple. To get to these you walk along a causeway where you pass over the moat. After walking about 500m from the entrance it turns more into a large wide path and either side there are large square pools which reflect Angkor when the light is right. Then through a massive archway and I find myself inside the ‘first temple’. Here there are many corridors to explore, wonderful carvings to look at and large pits which apparently used to be pools. Once into the middle of the ‘first temple’ you see the temple within the temple and this was a funerary temple of a deity called Vishnu. Unfortunately this temple was not opened to the public but was still fantastic from the outside as it is 55m tall! However, much to our surprise we turn round to see Chris and Brian being lead up the stairs into this temple by one of the police officers that was on patrol at the temple! It turns out that they had managed to bribe him for a few $’s each to take them up there. They said it felt great to see apart that is not often seen by members of the public, and we looked at their photos with some jealously!


We managed to spend most of our day in this temple and after a quick bite to eat we jumped back on our bikes and decided to cycle one of the inner squares of the complex and try and catch a few of the smaller less popular temples before it went dark. We saw a few before it was time to cycle back. One had been partly restored and had many areas where it was very obviously stuck back together, I can’t help thinking that sometimes things are better left incomplete or as ruins. The last temple we got to see was very different in that it was all made from red brick rather than large grey stone blocks.

We were loosing light so decided it was time to cycle home, just as we had made the decision it started to rain; then it started to pour; then the heavens really opened! I can honestly say I have never seen rain as heavy – let alone cycled in it! It was quite an experience as the thunder and lightening started up! We were drenched very quickly indeed so decided there was no point stopping we should just get home as fast as possible as we had no lights (and the streetlights weren’t on either), Rob’s saddle kept falling off and my brakes didn’t work so it made for a very funny ride home! A hot shower has never been so welcome!

The final day at Angkor was just spent watching the sunrise behind Angkor. Me and Chris (both very stoned at this point!!!) and Brian (who had to put up with me and Chris) sat by one of the square pools to see the reflection forming in the water as it slowly became light. It was very strange watching the shadows begin to form on the stonework and the reflection form on the pool (or was that the space pizza?) but unfortunately the sunrise was pretty unspectacular as there were no colours and it was a little cloudy to really see the sun. I am still very pleased I did it despite Rob insisting he was also very pleased to stay in bed!

The whole experience was awe-inspiring and one of the most impressive pieces of man made history I have ever seen.

Siem Reap

The first thing I should mention before I start to tell you all about Siem Reap is that hotelier work was not the only thing that our guesthouse did to earn a living! After being told to check out the back of the hotel by a very excited Chris, we wandered down our top floor corridor and out onto a little balcony. We stared down into a stagnant green pool amazed as a dozen full sized crocodiles came into view! To the side of this pit was a series of little what looked like rabbit hutches, where the baby crocodiles were reared. We were later to discover that these guys were all being bred for their skin, and the hotel had guests (often Chinese and Japanese) who would pick their croc and then take the skin home – presumably to be made into a pair of shoes, handbag etc! I’m guessing the Cambodians don’t have a division of the RSPCA... and as we were to discover later the meat doesn't go to waste either!

After crocodile watching we headed into town, and I was surprised by what we found. The centre of town was very western and still retained a colonial French feel. It was in general a very pleasant place to stroll around and had a fantastic French influenced bakery and lots of bars and restaurants. It even felt European in the weather - lots of rain :)

We had a great couple of nights out enjoying the many drinking establishments all with cheesy names such as the ‘Temple Bar’ and ‘Angkor What?’ The whole town flaunted its obvious wealth in comparison to its neighbours, which undoubtedly derives from the hoards of westerners coming to see Asia’s version of the pyramids. I’m sure that outside of the tourist areas the place had a very different feel to it – this poverty was hinted at by the child beggars and the landmine victims who had a band on the corner of one of the streets. If Siem Reap was your only insight into Cambodia you could be forgiven for thinking that it was as rich as its neighbour Thailand.

The other thing of note we did one evening was take a wander around the night market. This was full of tourist souvenirs and goods and had a very vibrant feel. In the centre of the market was a big square tiled trough containing lots of tiny fish. These 'DR Fish' as named by the locals running the stall – ate dead skin. The idea was that you popped your feet into the water and these fish would nibble at your feet and remove all the dead skin – 'leaving your feet smooth and refreshed'. We were intrigued, we had to try it. So for a few dollars we jumped in for our 20 minute session (it is probably good to explain here that strangely they have 2 currencies in Cambodia the US Dollar and Riel. Most people preferred and would quote prices in Dollars but you would quite often get your change in Riel. Even the cash points only dispensed US Dollars!)
It is a hard sensation to explain – but it is incredibly tickly! I pushed my feet hard to the floor to start with so the fish did not nibble the bottoms, and as I got braver slowly lifted them. It was almost too much to bear, and me and Rob found ourselves laughing uncontrollably at times. You could have as many as 50 little fish nibbling all over your feet at points! We don’t have any photos unfortunately as we mislaid the memory card (more about that later). But I really recommend it if any of you ever get the chance – it is an experience, and what’s more it actually works! My feet have never felt to supple and smooth! Maybe one day it will reach UK shopping centres?

Also at the end of this market was a tiny cinema which showed a film about Pol Pot. If I am honest I didn’t before visiting Cambodia know much about the Khmer Rouge, so we went and watched the film; and although informative in places left out a lot of detail. It did however make me keen to learn more about this part of Cambodia’s dark history and I knew I would learn more when I got to the Capital.

The final thing to mention was our pizza experience in Siem Reap. We went to this restaurant for pizza and discovered you could ‘space up’ the pizza at no extra charge! We were of course slightly cynical at this claim so we ordered our pizza with ‘space’. We thought it was funny that the owner and his family then came and sat in the restaurant, and then we realised it was blatantly to laugh at us stupid tourists! He had done what he claimed and indeed the pizza was heavily ‘spaced’ so much so that within an hour we found ourselves giggling manically and making very benign conversation. Then we got very tired, and as myself, Rob and Chris were all planning on going to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat at 5am we retuned home to bed. However, when getting up at 4am to my surprise I was even more stoned than when I went to sleep, so much so I forgot our passes for Angkor and had to go back for them while Rob didn’t even make it out of bed. Needless to say watching the sun rise over Angkor was a very other worldly experience for many reasons! Our hazy evening is also when the memory card went missing, neither myself nor Rob has a very clear memory of leaving the restaurant with or without a memory card, but thankfully my camera and card survived the experience so we still have some photos of the previous 2 days. The moral of the story – don’t be responsible for anything for 24 hours after eating pizza in Cambodia!

Fat Freddy's Drop

Here’s a few choice snaps from another superb music night out in New Zealand. Thanks to a dawn raid on Real Groovy in Wellington a couple of months ago we managed to grab our tickets to this exclusive event and it was well worth the effort! Once again we were rewarded with a very positive experience of a small venue, ample bar, friendly relaxed crowd and awesome sound system which was put to full use both by the warm up DJ and the band.

We discovered many of the New Zealand bands like to play a very different live set to their albums - and FFD is infamous amongst the NZ crowds for doing this. There was almost no silence over two and a half hours - you could tell that some of the musicians on stage came from a jazz background. At times the set went really psychedelic and improvisational and the energy was fantastic. It was lovely to see 7 musicians obviously enjoying themselves so much. The atmosphere was very infectious as the whole crowd were dancing the night away, it felt far more like a club night than a gig. It was really wonderful and for me unusual to see such an established band doing this - very refreshing. I enjoyed trying to spot the occasional tune from the albums - I reckon they played 3!

So all in all another excellent New Zealand gig - we'll definitely miss this place!

Brewery Tour

We've just reached the end of an awesome week on the west coast with Katie and Dom, it was so hectic and packed with fun experiences that it felt like we were on holiday all over again too!
While you wait for me to set up more photos and Amy to dream up the words here's a quick photo story showing what we got up to on our first evening together in Greymouth at the Monteith's Brewery.
Sadly I didn't get any photos of the dwarf night that was on at the first pub we went to after this, or of the singalonga oirish night at the last pub, so you'll just have to use your imagination there ;)

Knifemaking

Here's another quick entry from NZ! Yesterday we went and did a knife making course. It was fantastic and both me and Rob are really chuffed with our results. We started the day with no more than a long rectangular piece of carbon steel, a couple of small squares of brass, a few brass pins and a block of rimu (native hardwood tree) wood. Steve and Robyn were our hosts and instructors. They were very hospitable, and Steve also told a constant stream of bad jokes which kept us laughing throughout the day.

The first job was to transform the dull looking piece of steel into something resembling more of a blade shape. To do this we had to heat it in the fire and then on an anvil, using our best blacksmith skills and a large lumphammer to beat the end to form the point of the blade. We continually reheated the steel bar in the fire and gave it a good old beating to squash the side of the metal that would eventually become the blade. This was definitely the most fun of the day :)

Once we'd forged the blade, we cooled the metal quickly in a bucket full of a mixture of water and duck shit (apparently there are lots of nitrates in it that help with the strength of the steel). We then had to cut the unhammered end of the metal off so we had the correct length of knife.

Next we glued the brass pieces on - which were then drilled and riveted. After this we cut wooden handles and stuck them on too, again they were drilled and pinned. We then began the more tricky process of shaping the handle on a belt sander. Once roughly shaped we placed a polyester resin into the cracks of the knife between the blade and the brass and the wood and the steel.

The next process is the only one we weren't involved in. Once hardened the polyester had to be sanded - apparently this produces a rather toxic dust. So Steve did this part wearing a special mask. He also did some very useful corrections on our handles for us too!

Now we had back something that actually resembled a usable knife. The next stage was to polish the blade with a series of 5 or so different sandpapers. Thankfully all of this was also done on the belt sander so it was quite a speedy process. Once polished to almost a mirror finish, Steve went over the few bits we missed and the it was time to hand finish. Several wet and dry papers later and we had pretty much a mirror finish on our blades. Rob's knife not had only had sweat and tears poured into it as he managed to stab himself - so can proudly say it has been polished with his own blood! It was time to give the knife back to Steve who put the last finish to the handle before we stained the wood. Once this was done Steve stepped in again to give the knife the final sharpen, a quick polish of the handle with some shoe polish sealed the handle and made it waterproof. And we were done! It took us about 6 hours to complete the process and was a very enjoyable one indeed!

At lunch our group got to play on a really large swing in the garden combined with some very nice Venison Salami toasties made for a very wonderful, enjoyable and informative day which was topped off by some 'Barrypagne' (our course was held in a place called Barrytown) this was white wine that Robyn and Steve had placed in the Soda Stream to give it bubbles!!! Fabulous!!!

In case you are wondering when you look at the photos my knife is the shortest one of the group and Rob's is the long one next to it.

What a journey!

“What a journey!” is a very polite summary of my thoughts on our epic trip from 4000 islands to Siem Reap.
We’d bargained hard to get a good deal on the transport (or so we thought) into Cambodia. So our large group clambered into our first mini van of the day at 9am where we were driven a short distance to the local farmer’s bank to exchange our kip into dollars and pay for the journey. The bank looked like it was something from the turn of the 20th Century – all work was still meticulously logged into large legers with receipts signed in triplicate, and everything was calculated and handwritten by the few administrators, one of which had such a streaming cold that the face mask she was wearing was damp where she had been continually sneezing into it – nice… The whole bank appeared to operate out of 2 rooms – an office for the male manager, flanked by a framed mugshot parade of his senior executives, and the main room where the female administrators worked with the customers. Every transaction had to be signed off by the manager, so it was a slow process, especially when those in our group who needed to withdraw money using their cards found that plastic-based banking technology had not yet reached this venerable institution so instead they had to visit the bank of Chris, who boasted a substantial fund of his native currency for loan at favourable rates!
It was actually quite an interesting experience seeing the bank operate at first, watching the locals coming and going with various dirty bundles of kip flowing over the counters but two hours later we’d definitely had enough!

Once we had got rid of the soon to be worthless Kip we headed to the riverbank and boarded a battered pontoon which was noisily and painfully pushed by a little tugboat belching out an acrid black smoke. A few bumpy dirt lanes later we stopped at a café a few miles closer to the border. The driver asked us all to get out and get some lunch. We had to unload our backpacks as someone else would be along to pick us up soon.

As it was lunchtime we grabbed a quick plate of rice and then waited for our next lift to arrive. We waited. We continued to wait. Finally about an hour and a half later someone arrived to pick us up. It was after 1pm by now and we had still failed to travel more than 10 miles. Our driver picked us up – we bundled in eager to get to the border, which wasn’t too far. Our driver drove very very slowly, and proceeded to tell us that they could take us all the way to Siem Reap for an extra $5 each rather than the agreed overnight stop off. That is when the alarm bells started to ring. We thanked the driver and said that we would like the stop off, he continually advised against it. We got to the border and were told yet another mini van would be waiting on the other side for us. So we got out paid the $2 leaving fee (or bribe) to the Laos officials to stamp us out of Laos and then walked through no mans land to the Cambodian border hut. With no problems we were stamped into Cambodia and jumped into the next mini van.

This driver then tried to tell us that it would be much better to pay the $5 and get to Siem Reap in one night, he said we could be in Siem Reap by 7pm, then he added that the ‘other’ mini van had broken down and he couldn’t guarantee us a lift to Siem Reap the next day as agreed – instead he said it would be 2 or 3 days before they could get us to our destination. It was quite obvious that they never planned us to do a stop and thought we would jump at the option to be taken straight to Siem Reap – so they were quite taken aback when we weren’t so keen. However, we finally decided as a group that now we were in the mini bus we would go straight to Siem Reap. I for one now did not trust these people and knew that if we had been dropped off for the night we would never see them again – so I figured it would be best just to get there and pay the guy his $5, we had done well not to be ripped off before hand. We told the driver and his assistant that we would pay the extra but not until we got to Siem Reap as the plans were being constantly changed and we wanted to ensure that we actually got to where they were promising us! That was when the drivers assistant well and truly threw his toys out of the pram, and after having a tantrum followed by a wonderful impression of a 3 year old sulking we pulled up at what turned out to be the drivers house! (During the journey we must have made 5 or 6 stops in a 3 hour period for the driver to empty his bladder at the side of the road!) After the driver had faffed around in his house for maybe ¾ of an hour we set off again, where we stopped at a guesthouse and met several more very disgruntled travellers who had been promised a lift to Siem Reap, had been dropped off there to be told they would be picked up soon and had been waiting over 5 hours!

They climbed into the mini van – which was now completely full and a Cambodian boy who we found out from the driver was the bosses son was sitting / crouching in the foot well of the sliding door. A few more hours and we stopped again – it was now 7pm and the sulky man had left us and we stopped at a café where we were told that we were waiting for a couple more people to join us and then we would continue. We naturally assumed that must have meant that the other travellers were leaving us at this point – we were wrong!

We got taken round the corner after another hour of waiting and moved into a proper rusty old mini van, and then it was filled to capacity and then filled some more! By the end of it the mini van had 5 more people in it than it was designed to have and we were very cosy indeed!! Although uncomfortable we all put up with it as by this point we just wanted to get to our final destination. We set off and very soon the road turned from tarmac to dirt and then it felt like we were off-roading, the potholes in the road were very deep and made up more of the road than the dirt! It was fun to start with – but an hour later we were more than ready to get off the road. At about midnight (we started our journey 15 hours ago now) we hit normal road again and could see houses at the sides of the road again.

What was interesting was there were large sheets of polythene that had been strung up which formed nets. Above this were big blue UV lights. The thing that was strange was there wasn’t one or 2 there were literally hundreds lining the roads, in the fields, outside people’s houses – it looked like we were on a film set for some strange sci – fi film. We managed to find out from the driver that it was cricket season (as in the bugs rather than the sport!) and these sheets were used to catch them. Apparently the Cambodians loved to eat them, and the ones outside houses were a personal stash for the owners. We stopped to look at them.

Another line that we had been strung was that accommodation had been organised for us when we finally got to Siem Reap – although slightly concerned about the condition of this accommodation we were just pleased to know we had somewhere when we got to the other end. However, yet again this plan turned out not to be true. When at the outskirts of the city we were told that they did not have anywhere for us to stay! We were then fed a load of rubbish of how they couldn’t drive into the city – but they would drop us off with some tuk tuk drivers who would take us to a place that was open. So at 3am we wearily got out of the mini van and into a tuk tuk and were whisked off to a guesthouse – fearing the worst about the standard of the place we were about to be taken. Thankfully it actually turned out to be a nice new place with reasonable prices too, so we all decided to stay. It was actually quite funny when we were checking in at what was now 4am they were busy trying to sell us trips to Angkor Wat the next day. We were all so tired by now we just ignored them, but it wasn’t the best introduction to Cambodia! Our 7ish hour journey had turned out to end up taking over 19 hours to complete….. I really hoped there wouldn’t be many more journeys like that to come.

Sandflies - the new peril

Seems we'll never be safe from biting insects on this trip. After my four relatively itch-free months of gloating over the fact that northern hemisphere mosquitoes find Amy infinitely more tasty than myself (well who wouldn't?), I'm surprised and saddened to become the new dish of the day for all the carnivorous critters that buzz around these isles.
The plague of the west and south coasts of the south island here are the sandflies, who all regard my shiny bald head as a tasty meat flavour chupa-chup and every moment I am hoodless or without a hat it's DINNERTIME!. Even my trusty Cambodian insect repellent serves as a simple garnish to their ginger meal.
They have all the subtlety of a chainsaw juggling mosquito which is my one small consolation – their first mouthful is invariably their last as they feel a swift splattering retribution from the icy hand of death (in practice that's whichever of my hands is closer to the bite site).
So now it's Amy's turn to gloat as I zoom up our blog's biteometer league table, will I catch up her staggering high score before we move on to South America to face a whole new continent of antisocial insects?!

4000 Islands

The Lonely Planet says “Si Phan Don, where the Mekong fans out forming an intricate network of channels, rocks, sandbars and islets 14kn wide is one of natures marvels” It therefore made sense that as this was enroute to Cambodia this should be our next and final stop of Laos. We travelled down to the area by Sleeper Bus (with double beds too!), then a Mini Bus and finally onto a small boat to get to the Island (which is in the middle of the river) of Don Khong. It was a relatively smooth journey even though we did feel like sardines on the mini bus!!

It was a pretty area and after settling into our hostel we went for a quick explore, as we actually knew very little about the area and what there was to see. There was not much of note on the Island except a little temple. We decided to go on a boat trip the next day, as the island had nothing much to offer.

The next day we all bundled on a little boat and were taken down the Mekong where we saw the collection of the 4000 islands, some of them big enough for settlements – others so small you could be forgiven for mistaking them as rocks that had been washed from the banks of the river. After a hour or so on the boat we were dropped off at one of the neighbouring settlement islands to see a waterfall. We were popped into a couple of people carriers. Ours was driven by someone who looked no older than 14 and drove like someone of that age! The only saving grace was the roads were so quiet there was nothing to bump into!!

We were dropped off in the waterfall car park and as we left the comfort if not the safety of our vehicles the heavens opened – rainy season had begun. After a wet 20 minutes looking a violently spectacular waterfall which had many tiers and vast amounts of water we headed off the local café to wait out the rest of the time in the dry.

Once back in our hostel we spent most of the evening sitting on the balcony watching the beautiful lighting that was striking over the other side of the river. It was mesmerising – so much forked lightening and wonderfully booming thunder. It really marked the beginning of the rainy season and although beautiful it showed that it was a good time to leave Laos, and the next morning we begun our journey out of Laos and into Cambodia.

Laos had been a beautiful country to visit, and I can’t help thinking that it was probably what Thailand had been like before the tourist industry really boomed there. While travelling round the country we saw an awful lot of building work, as the country began to embrace tourism and realise the money it would bring in – so I urge as many of you as can to visit this country before it becomes overrun by people like me!! Not that Thailand was in anyway bad – but I’m sure it has been influenced and changed by tourism, so I felt privileged to see fledgling Laos and it will take some beating for fun and beauty on our trip.

Vientiane – Laos

After a day of recovery in Vang Vieng we decided to move onto the Capital of Laos – Vientiane. Some of our fellow travellers opted to do the journey by mini van while Rob, myself, Yehel and Arthur decided to get a sawngthaew. This form of transport is a converted pickup with two wooden benches down either side – not the comfiest form of transport – but very cheap and was a great way to see how the locals got around (only a few public buses to speak of). During our trip we watched many locals being picked up and dropped off and at each stop point we had various different goods pushed and waved at us through the truck frame – the most bizarre had to be a BBQed bat on a stick – wings ‘n’ all!

After a 4hr journey we arrived and were pleased to there! The benches were ok for a 20 minute drive rather than one as long as ours! We were dropped off just outside town and then went through the usual bartering with a few tuk tuk drivers to get us into town.

We were dropped off in town to discover that our first choice of accommodation n longer existed – the lonely planet book of lies strikes again! After walking around the block we finally managed to find some where that was neither mouldy nor full of mosquitoes and holey nets and suited our budget, but to be honest our first impressions of Vientiane weren’t great. The city was quite dirty and very polluted. It was also expensive for the quality of what was on offer. We quickly realised we wouldn’t be here long, that said we had just been completely spoiled with what we had just experienced in the North of the country.

The 2nd and next day turned out to be the best if not the most tiring day of our time in Vientiane. Just outside the city (well 25km outside) was a place called Buddah Park where as the name suggests it is a place full of Buddhist sculptures. I had this bright (?) idea we should cycle there and Rob, Yehel, Arthur and Kat agreed. It was a scorching day (high 30’s) but we hired bikes and set off. The route was pretty much flat which was one saving grace for the whole adventure but the heat made up for that! We cycled for what seemed to all of us like an age and saw a roadside bar/café on the side of the road so decided to stop and cool down at next to one of the fans. We all thought by this stage that we were really close and were all getting excited about our destination. This was shattered by the woman telling us we still had about 11km to go! So we jumped back onto our bikes and after watching many public buses sail by – undoubtedly stopping at Buddah Park – and cycling on a road that resembled Swiss cheese we finally arrived. Thankfully it was worth it! There was a statue of a large face and you could climb inside through the open very toothy mouth. Once inside there was a series of narrow corridors and steep steps which lead you to the top of the structure and outside to look over the whole park.
There was a large variety of different Buddhist statues – everything from snakes and crocodiles to birds and rats. After a well deserved ice-cream (well I thought so!) we headed back home – the journey seemed to take much less time and we arrived back in the city tired but very content, and slightly more sun-kissed than when we left.

Our 3rd Day was spent looking at the main sights of the city. The main one is called Patuxia. This is a replica of the Arc de Triomph; it is quite a bizarre sight. You can climb to the roof to take in the sights, so after several floors of absolute tourist tat inside we got to the roof and enjoyed some nice views of the city. It was a stinking hot day so after some sight seeing in the city we grabbed our swim stuff and went to one of the local hotels and spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool. Lovely. The day ended with a goodbye meal for Arthur who was back to Bangkok for a few nights before flying back to Oz land. It was a lovely evening of beer and pizza and a reunion of all the people we had met and travelled with in Laos.

The last day in Vientiane was spent pampering! After a tough day of cycling a few days previously we were in need of something more sedate so we opted for a traditional sauna and massage in a temple just on the outskirts of the city, which has a great reputation with the locals. We walked through the gates of the temple and then into an area slightly separate from the actual temple. It was an open wooden deck enclosed only by a roof. To one side of the deck there was a wooden shed which we were soon to discover this was our sauna. We were all given sheets of material and told to get undressed and wrap this around us, when we emerged from the changing area we were greeted by a very refreshing fragrant tea. The sauna was then ready, we went in. It was pitch black with a series of benches running the length of the shed. Between the benches there were gaps where a wonderfully aromatic steam was rising. It felt great but within 10 minutes the sheets we were wearing were completely saturated! Yehel, Brian and I dived out after about 15mins but Chris, Roald and Rob stuck it for about 20 mins. We all managed 3 rounds and then we were all ready to stop! Once finished in the sauna we were given a fresh sheet and could go and wash under a tap outside – the cold water was divine!
Next we went onto the deck area where there were 6 massage tables. The main idea behind Laos massage is to work pressure points, which was almost slightly painful – but overall tremendously relaxing. The massage ended with the masseur getting me to sit up – he then placed his knees behind my back and twisted until there was a very satisfying crunch sound. We left feeling very relaxed – it was a great way to finish in Vientiane.

Gomez

Just had to tell you what an awesome time we had recently in Christchurch, the highlight of which was catching one of our favourite bands, Gomez, kicking off the world tour of their new album A New Tide.
This was also our first gig in New Zealand and a very different experience to the Manchester we're used to - no scumbag ticket touts or long cold queuing outside and inside the venue boasted an ample bar, relaxed security and many friendly music fans, both locals and expats. We positioned ourselves comfortably right at the front to see the support band The Chills and secure our front row spot for the main event.
So we all know that Gomez went off the boil after their first two LPs and there's always a risk when you go to see a band touring their new album that the new stuff is all you'll get, however they started in fine style with How We Operate and Hamoa Beach, the two best tunes from their last album. Warm memories came flooding back from seeing the group headlining the Summersundae festival in Leicester three years ago when this was their latest material, and from then on we were treated to a selection of great tracks from the last 11 years including standout performances of Tijuana Lady, Warm Trombone and Devil Will Ride. Loved the classic rock parcan lighting too which helped me grab a few great photos, although I felt like I was the only one snapping away in there, gone were the sea of mobiles and cameras you'll see back at home!

Salmon Farm - Golden Bay - South Island NZ

Just to confuse things we thought we would give you a really up to date blog entry as it is a really quick one. Apologies for being so far behind - but we are getting there slowly......

If you didn't know (which you won't by the state of the blog!!) We are in New Zealand now. While in the Abel Tasmin National Park we went to a place called Golden Bay and went to a Salmon Farm. I know that doesn't really sound altogether that interesting but the great thing was they supplied all the equipment (for free) and you could go and catch your own in the lake at the one end of the farm. You then paid for what you caught.

So rods in hand we wandered to the lake and as you can see from the photos below caught some beauties! Rob caught one in particular which was huge! We had them all filleted and smoked while we were at the farm, and for about a week afterwards pretty much every meal we had contained salmon. We managed to catch 6kg of Salmon in all!! As a result I have many recipe ideas for Salmon - all which can be cooked in a campervan!!!

The fish tasted delicious, not only because of how fresh (the first piece we ate had gone from lake to table in about 30 mins...) but because of the satisfaction of catching it yourself.

More news soon... we're nearly ready with the next Laos entry - just to keep you all on your toes!!

TUBING!

We didn’t really know what this was, except it was pretty much why most people stopped in Vang Vieng when touring Laos, so we felt we had to give it a go. A steady stream of travellers coming the other way to us had been sporting T-shirts promoting the activity and were all only too keen to tell us to do it! We had had a little taster of what to expect from our Kayaking trip the day before, but we were totally unprepared for the fantastic day we were about to have.

We strolled to a warehouse in the town, and each signed out a tube. This was literally just an over inflated tractor tyre inner tube with a splash of white paint around it. Every tube came with the intriguing combination of an optional lifejacket, and a disclaimer to protect the tube hire operation if we hurt ourselves! Our tubes were promptly loaded onto the top of a Tuk Tuk and we were crammed in there too with Arthur, Yehel, Tony and along with several other tubers, we were among the first of the day to be driven to the start point.

We arrived and were greeted by pounding music coming from a ramshackle wooden waterfront shack which turned out to be a bar, promising us a free shot of the local whiskey with every drink purchased – it was only 11am at this point! Due to a few too many beerlaos the night before we grabbed a soft drink, but with the free spirits flowing the drinks didn’t stay soft for long! The bar’s main attraction was a huge rope swing, which was about 5m up and pointing out into the murky brown river. You climbed up a big tree, grabbed the swing from the platform, swung down and out and let go as late as you dared above the river. Gravity then took over and seconds later you found yourself very wet and being swept rapidly down the river to the next bar unless you swam to the bank or grabbed the lifeline the barman would throw at you. There was a sign at the bar saying the river had been dug out for our safety – I wasn’t too sure about safety as it looked rather high, but watched Rob and Yehel both throw themselves off it- much to their delight and the others on the deck watching. Then to our absolute surprise Arthur said he wanted a go. We had no doubt at this point that he was as hard as nails but we were still rather impressed that a man in his sixties was going to give it a go, especially considering he had a dodgy shoulder and had difficulty lifting his arm some days! But up he went and to the largest cheer of the day he swung out and made a perfect landing into the water! Next thing we knew he had climbed out of the water and was shinning up the tree to go again, but unfortunately this time he span in the air and hit the water hard, side first. When he climbed out of the water he was bruised up his leg and his whole entire side and chest. We quickly got him some ice and he decided that his swinging was over for the day, but he still wanted to continue down the river with us. Just after that who was to arrive but Jamie and Shawn ….. then Roald and Chris! We were all back together again! We looked at our watches and realised that we had spent over an hour at the bar and we hadn’t even done any tubing!

It was time to tube, so we went down to the riverbank, scrambled into our tubes and began floating down the river, holding onto each other and trying to steer in and out of the currents, it was harder than it looked to go where you wanted to! However we can’t have been in the water much longer than a couple of minutes when we happened across the next bar. More of the same, a simple wooden shack on legs sticking out over the river, blasting out the tunes, this one with a huge zip line instead of a swing but still plenty of free shots. Helpfully the bar staff threw out some ropes to haul us into the rocky bank. We greeted by a guy carrying a shot each for us, after that we got onto the platform of the bar. It was to my horror that I realised we’d seen the bar from kayaking the day before and this had the zip line that I had promised I was going to go on. One more shot later and Rob’s gentle persuasion I found myself at the top of the platform. I will be frank….. I was scared! I grabbed hold of Rob who then prised my fingers off him and moved them to the handle of the zip line. I stared down, then shut my eyes and held my breath and jumped…….

Thankfully I landed well and apparently made a good job of it. It was actually much more fun than I thought it would be and found myself jumping off once more. But then that was enough! We had a few drinks at the bar and then headed onto the next one. The next bar had a smaller version of the swing from the first bar and then next thing I know I had Rob in my ear again going - go on have a go – it’ll be fun…. Shaun was also being pestered my Jamie to go and he was just as nervous as me. After a while he was persuaded and went, and said he enjoyed it – so I didn’t really have much of a choice, and again I found myself at the top of the platform wishing I wasn’t there and I shut my eyes and went. This one was definitely scarier than the zip line, but again I came out the water and found myself buzzing. This one I did just the once though.

I’m sure you get the idea of what the rest of our day consisted of, floating a few minutes down the river to be hauled in by someone to have a few drinks and whatever other intoxicants were on offer, to watch Rob, Chris, Roald and Yehel throw themselves off what turned out to be increasingly larger and larger swings.

The largest swing however was the last swing, by this point we were if I’m honest – rather drunk…… There was no way I was going to throw myself off anything, but I looked up and there was Chris at the top of the platform throwing himself off! The platform was at least 6m high over the river. As soon as he came out of the water he was straight to Rob telling him that he had to go! (They had become swing buddies throughout the day) After some ummming and arrring Rob decided he had to go, and him and Chris ran up to the platform and I watched – nervous for them both. As I watched Rob grabbed the Zip line and Chris the swing and they both jumped together. It was at that point I realised that Rob was far braver (or stupid?) than I would ever be, as their combined efforts broke the swing and sent Chris crashing into the water with a nasty whiplash across his forearm!!!!

After one more bar with an impossibly even higher swing that must have nearly killed Chris and definitely put an end to Rob’s swinging activites for the day, we jumped in our tubes as apparently it was a bit of a float before we got to the finish point. We had no idea just how far it was going to be….. It was very relaxing just bobbing down the river, then we noticed it was starting to get dark….. and then it got darker and darker until it as pitch black! It was also beginning to get cold at this point, despite the beercoats we were wearing, so we were now eagerly awaiting the end. After floating for a mile or two longer we finally found the end point and climbed to safety on the gravely shore while fending off the small children trying to grab our tubes so they could return them to us for a small fee!

Thoroughly soaked we then staggered back through town to the tube depot where the owners were waiting for us. It turned out we were the last guys back and the second guys out that morning. We were suitably impressed with our tubing efforts and returned home for a long hot shower and even longer sleep…..

Kayaking in the Vang Vieng

After spending a few lovely days in Luang Prabang we decided to move on. Vang Vieng was to be our next stop, which was a half day journey by mini van. It was such a beautiful drive around jungle covered emerald mountains. However, that wasn’t the only thing that was many shades of green, poor old Rob didn’t get on with the very windy roads (one thing that can be said about coming from Mid Wales, you do get used to windy roads!!!) and changed all different colours throughout our trip.

Once we got there (at this point we had lost the rest of our group – all of us had booked different methods of getting to our destination) we booked into the most lovely of all our accommodation in SE Asia. It was a brand new wooden bungalow on stilts with fantastic bathroom and a lovely balcony with a large tree trunk wooden table, and a brand new mosquito net to boot!

About 10 mins after checking in who should we see but Roald and the rest of the group scoping out the same apartments! I soon discovered this as we travelled – you really do just keep bumping into the same people again and again and again. No need to plan meeting up – it will just happen. Unfortunately there were no rooms left in our complex so Roald and crew headed down the road.

We then met up with Athur and Yehel (by accident again!) and had a drink with them and Kat, Mags and Angelique (more boat people we met in Luang Prabang) and we decided to go on a day trip Kayaking down a part of the Mekong the next day.

We got to the start point of our day and were given our 2 man canoes and told we had to paddle straight across the river as we were going to look at a cave and a temple first. Me and Rob jumped into our canoe and paddled off and much to our pleasure got across very successfully while watching others being carried off down the river with the instructor yelling ‘KEEP PADDLING!!!’ Once we were all safely on dry land again, we walked for about 20 mins until we got to a cave. The entrance to the cave was mostly under water, and we were all issued with tractor tyre inner tubes. We were also given a head torch which resembled a primary school basic circuitry lesson (literary just a bulb on elastic attached to a little car battery type thing with the battery having a piece of string tied to it so you could hang it round your neck and to turn the torch on and off you simply screwed or unscrewed the bulb!) After putting the head gear on, we had to put the inner tube into the water, jump into the middle of the tube and then grab a rope which was tied from the bank and led into the darkness of the cave…..

So in a line with the rest of the group, instructor either side of us we pulled ourselves into the cave. (I was a little nervous as my last caving experience did not go too well and ended up with me getting lost and loosing the group – I figured it would be extremely bad luck for this to happen twice!!) Once in it was fantastic. The temperature dropped and the walls remained tight in, but you could see and touch all the droplets on the ceiling and the water was a wonderful green colour. The further we pulled ourselves in, ducking for the occasional ceiling obstacle the darker and darker it got, we eventually hit land again and following the guide we crawled through slippery warm mud, stones and a stream to find a large cave which had lots of the stalactites and mites. The highlight of the caves had to be the bats. It started with just one, a blur in corner of the eye and a thought of “did I see that?” Then there were too many not be sure. They flew really close – hurtling around and between us then back into the darkness with faint flaps and squeaks. That was when the realisation hit us though; it was not mud we were crawling through after all, just a rather large mound of bat shit! Back in our tubes we floated back to the river and our start point at the bank. We washed our thoroughly exfoliated hands and knees in the river and sat at the dinner table, wet and happy!

After a very tasty lunch of BBQ skewers and rice we walked to a temple. This temple was where many of the locals went to pray, and also had a goddess of fertility and a god of wealth. The thing that was special about this temple though was it was built inside of the cave, and on the left side of the cave there was a natural feature which looked (if you looked very hard…I’ll let you look at the photographs – might depend on how much acid you have taken….) like an elephant. Strikingly, the temple bell was made from one of the many bomb shells left from the Vietnam war.

After the temple it was back to the canoes. The scenery was lovely down the river and there were a few gentle rapids to give us a little rest and a good splash along the way. We headed down the river with me and Rob increasingly discovering that we had not yet mastered the technique. We probably canoed twice the distance of many of the others, and a few sharp words were exchanged at times!!! But it was fun nevertheless, and just before our end point we stopped at a riverside bar that was set up for the river tubing (will explain more in the next entry) It had a bar, but also a rope swing way out into the water and a tug of war mud pit. I watched as Rob and Yehel and a new found friend from the trip called Tony threw themselves from the 5m high platform down into the water. I watched and then promised on the tubing the next day I would do it – hoping everyone would forget – how wrong I was…….

It was a great taste of the next day’s activities. It was then time to do the last half hour of canoeing. We had been going for a couple of hours before our stop so my arms were quite tired by the time we finished, but to our delight our stop point was less than a 5 minute walk from our bungalow, so we took ourselves off for a well earned warm shower 

Wonderful Waterfalls

We had decided at the bowling that we would meet the following morning and take a trip to check out the waterfalls that were close to Luang Prabang, but except for a little write up in the Lonely Planet and the hoards of tuk tuk drivers constantly asking us if we would like a lift there we knew very little about it.

So, anything but bright and early we met the next morning and there was a few new boat people to add to our group. Two dutch girls and Sean and Jamie from Miami who we’d met at the bowling. Plus a mysterious short, tanned and bald man; seemingly no-one knew who he was, where he came from or how he had heard about our meeting. He just sat outside our hotel waiting for our uncoordinated, hungover group to assemble while moaning all the time in a German accent about how slow we were to get ready and go. It turned out that his name was Martin and he was a troubled man. Waterfalls were his crack and he was in deep withdrawal. Seeing as he professed to know an awful lot about our daytrip destination, we let him sort out the tuk tuk driver and before we knew it we were on the 30km journey to the waterfalls. When we arrived we had to pay an entrance fee of 20000 kip each (about £2) this seemed a little expensive but we were told it was well worth it – so paid up and strolled into the park. A short walk later, much to our surprise we found there was a bear sanctuary, it was a great set up for the bears with a large amount of space and lots of things for them to climb, hang from and lie on (there was a bear hammock which one bear looked incredibly comfortable in). It was a conservation and rescue project as many of these black bears had been rescued from places where their habit was being destroyed or where they were being farmed for their bile (it apparently has many uses in Chinese medicine and is sold on the black market). The eventual aim was to try and put as many of the bears back in the wild but unfortunately this was not always possible with the farmed ones. After some bear spotting and seeing a few rather large and scary looking spiders hanging on the fence we continued further into the park.

The first part which was quite short just felt like walking through woodland. We then came to a clearing where we saw the most beautiful natural limestone pools. They were light yellow limestone and the water within them was a most wonderful turquoise blue. The first pool we saw had a rope swing tied to the tree which dangled over the water, and there was a 4m ish waterfall cascading down into it. It was so perfect looking it was hard to believe what we were looking at was completely natural. We all wanted to jump straight into this pool, but were told that was just the start, and our mysterious guide led us up a flight of wooden stairs to the side of the pool. We passed a few more pools that according to the signs were ‘don’t swimming areas’ and then we were back into wood land but could hear the running water. We climbed for a while which was hard work in the heat and then about half way up the flight of stairs we were led off, it didn’t look like a track at all, but we followed. The next challenge was climbing a load of rocks. Some of it had a small amount of water flowing over it other bit were completely dry, they were however all steep and like most of the other rock in the part were these smooth limestone formations. We all battled and pushed and pulled each other up the slimy stone and eventually got to the top where we were then led through a small amount of standing water surrounded by trees with very slippery rocks underneath. I had begun to hope all this effort was going to be worth it. I wasn’t disappointed, and nor was any of the rest of the group, when we finally got to the clearing we saw one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. We were at a pool which was one tier down from the top of what must have been a 8 or 9 tiered waterfall. This first tier was stunning, about 5m in diameter with a waterfall based in the middle and then many points horseshoed around the pool from which you could jump or dive off into the pool. The other fantastic thing about it was once in the pool you could swim to the very edge of the tier and look down and see all the other equally beautiful but not as large tiers stepped below. The water in the pool was very still just filling up and then cascading down, so you could sit on the edge very easily and take in the view. It felt like we were in a theme park, it was just so perfectly designed for swimming and jumping into and the colours were so vivid it just didn’t feel real. And no safety barriers either, to look down the main waterfall drop from the edge of the swimming pool was quite exhilarating! It was such a wonderful natural feature. I did a few very small jumps of 1 or 2m while Rob and some of the other members of the group did some 6 or 7m ones. Once we had swam for a little bit, and relaxed we actually began to get a little cold as the water was surprisingly not very warm, we decided to head back down towards the bottom and check out the pool with the rope swing. As we descended down the other side (we were back in woodland now) it became increasingly steep and soon the group was split up. As we knew very little about where we were going I had worn my flip flops. It was definitely not the right footwear for the occasion and soon I had taken them off and Rob was helping me slowly navigate the way down the slope. Once at the bottom we soon realised that the others had stopped on one of the middle tiers! There was no way we were going to climb back up there and meet them so we stayed at the bottom and waited for them to make their way down.

When we were reunited again as a group we headed towards the first pool we had seen that day with the rope swing. I spent some time watching several people including Rob fling themselves into the water using the rope swing and one thai girl (from another group of tourists) who once she had swung into the middle of the pool lost the bottle to let go and rather painfully crash back into the tree with a chorus of oooooo owwwww and general “that must have hurt!” murmurings from the crowd of people watching.

Then Rob swum up to me and suggested we jumped from the waterfall feeding the pool. It was about 3 or 4m tall and certainly the highest thing I had ever thrown myself from and although nervous I agreed to Rob’s suggestion and moments later I found myself at the top of the waterfall cutting the circulation from Rob’s hand wishing I had never agreed. He counted to three and I shut my eyes and took a massive jump. Moments later I hit the water, I surfaced with the adrenaline pumping slightly shocked at the fact I had just done it and a beaming smile from Rob. It was frightening but great fun – and a cool way of concluding the day at the waterfall.

We jumped back into the tuk tuk and just outside of town our Germanic guide jumped off and vanished into the distance, to sit and wait for his next group of tourists and waterfall fix. Just as mysteriously as he had arrived he left us – but he showed us some great things we would never had found without him.

We got dropped off at the hotel and I popped into the bathroom for a shower when stuck to wall before me was one of the large black and spiky spiders we saw hanging from the fence at the bear sanctuary. I adopted girly mode and let out a scream and ran to Rob to take his manly duty and sort it out, a quick flip flop movement later and the spider was a squashed ball on the floor, I asked Rob if he was sure if it was dead, and he showed me the 4 or so legs that had been left on the wall which helped convince me! I suppose going just over 4 weeks with out a creepy crawly encounter like this was not bad going?

Luang Prabang – Cycling - and of all things - ten pin bowling!!

After disembarking the slowboat and ignoring the onslaught of touts (we were becoming more and more accustomed to this – and beginning to get good at ignoring it without feeling rude) we headed for a hostel that had been recommended by one of the girls on the boat, unfortunately it was full so we headed back down the street in search of another place. We met a tout who was cruising on his bike looking for travellers fresh off the boat. Soon after we jumped on a tuk tuk heading for his hotel, and lucky for us it turned out to be a nice cheap room – I think we ended up paying a whole £4 a night! Sharing our hotel were Roald, Chris and Arthur, and an Israeli girl called Yahel (who Roald and Chris had met on the boat). Once settled in we decided to go for a curry (Indian rather than Laos!) and just after we arrived more and more travellers began to join us, by the end of the evening there were more than 20 ‘boat people’ at our table! The curry was ok but as we were discovering, unlike their neighbours in Thailand, Lao chefs were not very good at making food spicy in any cuisine or context even if you specifically asked for it.

After the meal we decided to go and explore the town by night. We quickly came across the night market, and to Rob’s horror I dived into the many rows of stalls containing many ‘shiny things’ of handmade jewellery, scarves, clothes, cloths and other handicrafts. It was defiantly a market for the tourists but I loved it, and soon (well not so soon – poor old Rob looked bored to tears!!!) came out with earrings, scarves and a pair of trousers 

Next day after some breakfast at café down the road – which had a balcony which over looked the Mekong, an over friendly cat who finished our breakfast for us, and a kitten who looked like it belonged on a black and white Athena poster. We decided to explore the town by bicycle. Luang Prabang actually is quite a small town with a population of just under 26,000 but it a Manchester size city by Laos standards! It is incredibly picturesque with a mainly traditional French architecture with a handful of beautiful Buddhist Wats thrown in for good measure. To top all of this is the fact that the whole town is surrounded by large imposing mountains covered in many hues of unspoilt green jungle.

So we jumped on our bikes, joining us was Chris, Arthur, Yehel and an American called Brian who our friends had met on the slow boat the day before. After getting our bearings by getting lost and finding a rather if I’m honest rubbish temple (maybe I’m getting fussy now!) we eventually found Wat Xieng Thong which is Luang’s most magnificent (quoting the Book of Lies – aka the Lonely Planet) temple. This actually turned out to be true and it was indeed beautiful and while it wasn’t as large or as imposing as some of the Thai temples it had all the charm and the same feeling of religious importance. The temple was surrounded by several other buildings which was then enclosed by a large wall with several carved gate entrances. Two of the most impressive things were the Tree of Life mosaic on the back of one of the temples and a 12m high funeral chariot which was housed in one of the smaller temples on the complex, the chariot was surrounded by tens of Buddhist statues of all different shapes and sizes.

Once we had explored the complex we jumped back on our bikes and decided to go for another explore – a bit off the beaten track of the Lonely Planet. After getting to the outskirts of town and heading over a small bridge and finally down a dirt track for half an hour (which was an interesting ride as by this stage Yehel was loosing her chain everytime she hit a bump and I had no brakes - I went back to the old school bmx foot braking method) we found a small settlement which had a local shop, a few houses and a bar / pool house. The bar was an open fronted open plan room with just enough room for 2 pool tables and a tall fridge of beer inside. It was a very simple wooden building but the local men seemed to love it! I guess it did have everything they needed…………….

Although it was mid week, mid afternoon the bar was full of local men crowded round the pool tables watching, giving tips and playing. (In Lao culture the women do all the work, run the home, and also work in all the offices and shops while the men are seen to be the ones in charge – but it was fairly obvious that women ran the show too!) They looked slightly bemused to see us but made us feel welcome by clearing one of the tables for us so we could play. So we grabbed a cold Beer Lao and had a few games of pool. It was fantastic find as Luang although beautiful is quite touristy so it was lovely to find a local spot. After soaking up the atmosphere and in my case playing pool badly we jumped back on our bikes and headed back into town.

We met up later in a bar and had a couple drinks, when it came time at the bar Roald said he had heard of a place everyone goes when the pubs shut that was just out of town. It was a ten pin bowling place, so we thought we’d head there. We jumped in a tuk tuk and 10 minutes later we were there. It was a bowling alley consisting of about 10 lanes and the place was packed of people bowling and drinking – it was indeed the place to be after hours! The crowd was a very mixed one of locals and tourists so the atmosphere was fantastic. Very relaxed but frenetic. We booked a couple of lanes and soon enough we were playing. There were no bowling shoes so you had to do it barefoot, we soon discovered why most places give you shoes – pretty much all of us ending up falling over as we were bowling at some point!

It was great fun though and to Rob’s excitement the lane had a speed monitor on it so very soon a game of speed bowling was instigated, where it didn’t matter how may pins you hit just how fast the ball was travelling! Much more beer and laugher later we left. It seemed to be a very bizarre thing to be doing in what is pretty rural and poor part of SE Asia but a fun night nevertheless and a good way to escape the curfew that winds up the bars in town too early!

Country 2! - Laos

So it was off to Laos. We had had a very enjoyable time in Thailand – 4 weeks went incredibly quickly. We were even contemplating not going to Laos at all because we had begun to realise that actually 3 months wasn’t that long to travel all of SE Asia, but Rob suggested we went as he had heard lots of good things, and I am so so pleased we did 

We travelled by mini van from Chaing Mai up to the Thai/ Laos border where we stayed over night in a little hostel in a town that seemingly existed just for travellers to pass through. From here we were to catch a small boat which was to take us over the river to the Laos border. It was that easy! The night before we were due to take the crossing while having a few drinks with Chris we met Arthur - an Australian bushman who flew into Bangkok and intended on spending a few weeks in Laos and Roald – a Dutch guy who had been travelling for about 10 months and was intending on travelling for as long as he could before his money ran out. Little did we know when we met them that we would spend the entirety of the journey in Laos with them!

So we got up bright and early and boarded the boat – and after a very simple border procedure we were in Laos. Country 2 of the journey. We decided to get the slow boat which took us up the Mekong River from the border to a town called Luang Prabang – the first major town in Northern Laos. When I say we caught the slow boat – it was a very good description of what we were catching – we were to spend 2 days on this boat – this was thankfully broken up by an evening stop in a small town called Pakbeng. We walked down the hill to see our boat, it was very basic, with a 2 sets of double seater wooden benches and then lots of people sprawled on the floor with an array of bags, guitars etc. We had been told to buy cushions before we boarded the boat and I am very pleased we did 5 hours one day and nearly 8 the next - plenty to bring on a numb bum even with a cushion! We made a beeline for the back of the boat as we saw these seats had additional padding and we very pleased with ourselves.

We started the journey and realised that although a wonderfully beautiful route it wasn’t to be the quiet peaceful journey we had maybe expected. We may have selected the comfortable option but the engine of the boat was only several meters away and one of the crew members insisted on keeping the door open (despite Rob and Chris’s efforts to sneak back and close it) we soon discovered why when we made 4 or 5 un scheduled stops where the captain would pull the boat up to a sandbank with the engine sounding decidedly ill and run back to the engine room with a roll of lx tape, a spanner and some string, fiddle around in the engine and then we would continue on our journey! The stops were actually quite nice though as often we would pull up to a bank with a load of buffalo grazing or get to marvel at the side of a hill which was covered in jungle that hummed and buzzed with life. The scenery was stunning, with large sheer cliffs and big areas of jungle. The river itself had quite a current in a few places and is was rather impressive in places where it became up to and above 50m wide!

A bottle of whiskey later and we had reached our destination and it had been a reasonably pleasant journey. The whiskey had definitely taken the edge off the uncomfortable nature of the boat and the scenery was interesting and diverse enough that there was always something to look at. Also the atmosphere on the boat was very relaxed and friendly. Pretty much everyone on there was a tourist, so was making the best and chatting with everyone around them.

Then we landed at our first destination - Pakbeng. After finding a guesthouse (there were many many touts awaiting our arrival on the bank) we dumped our stuff and headed out to find some food. The town felt like the set of a wild west film with one dusty street lined with wooden cobbled together houses, most of which were restaurants or bars. It soon became obvious that this part of the settlement existed only due to the slow boat. We struck a deal with one of the touts of the restaurants – and we managed to get a free shot of the local liquor (lao lao whiskey - which was a non descript lighter fluid type of spirit, too much I’m sure would lead to blindness) and some money off our food. We had our first sample of Laos cusine – which to be honest was nothing to compare to the wonders of the Thailand but still very nice, after a few more beers and the group commending the owners on their choice of British and American Rock playing on the stereo we headed back home. When we arrived back we discovered there was still a large group of people yet to go to bed. They had arrived on the slow boat coming from Luang Prabang, so after getting some top tips off of them (something called tubing – which I will come to later I promise!) we were soon plunged into darkness as the generators were switched off, and once the few candles that we had been given were finished we went to bed for an early start to our second long (8 Hours this time!!) boat journey.

Day 2 of the boat journey was indeed tedious, our boat was down graded and there were no vaguely comfy seats so we sat on our wooden benches with our cushions moving occasionally to stop the numb bum from spreading. Thankfully however after our lesson in engine song the day before we sat much closer to the front of the boat – and had a much quieter journey. Although the scenery was beautiful it was still the same as yesterday, so it had lost its novelty factor, and unfortunately another day on the whiskey didn’t seem as appealing, so after much book reading, DS gaming and eating of sandwiches we finally cruised into the beautiful Luang Prabang.

3 Day Jungle Trek - Don Inthanon National Park.

In SK House (our hotel) they offered 3 day jungle treks – which is pretty much one of the things most people do when in Northern Thailand (especially Chaing Mai area) and after 2 minutes of Mr June (our hotel owner) talking to us about it we knew we were going, we booked on the tour for the next day – already excited about the prospect of an adventure. It was also going to be great as we hadn’t been anywhere too rural or jungle based on the mainland so it was going to be a great chance to discover the natural Thailand. The trek was to take place in the jungle in Don Inthanon national park which contains Thailand’s highest peak and some stunning scenery.

DAY ONE
So we got up bright and early on the first day, packed a small satchel type bag that we were issued with, with some essentials and jumped in a songthrew (which is a pick up with a couple of benches in the back). We drove for a couple of hours, and then stopped near and walked to Wat Phra That Si Chom Chom Thong, a very pretty looking temple at the top of a small hill. As well as offering lovely views about the jungle we were about to explore there was also an interesting collection of statues with all manner of Buddist symbols. The most interesting though had to be the one that a monk was busy completing. He was meticulously shaping the figure of a lady with cement and trowel which we were then told would be covered in mirrors, glass and gold leaf. I would love to go back and see it once it was complete which we were informed would be about 3 more months. After viewing the temple we wandered back down the hill and enjoyed our fried rice lunchboxes.

We then jumped into the pick up for another couple of hours and were eventually dropped off at a huge horticulture site set up by the king to grow and learn about all kinds of plants We (there were 3 other travellers trekking with us and our two guides Fu and Ec) all donned our raincoats and ponchos and set off down the lane. As we walked we passed rows and rows of Chrysanthemums which the villages grew to sell, plus a wonderful array of herbs growing wild such as lemongrass, mint and ginger. Fu pointed all the different plants and herbs out to us explaining what they were. As we walked down the lane it changed from herbs to expanses of paddy fields it was already very picturesque and we hadn’t even been trekking for 30 mins! We stopped again for Fu to pick some herbs and leaves which he planned to add to our dinner in the evening so we could sample them (we had stumbled across the Thai Ray Mears!!!) He also showed us a leaf that if you split the stalk you could blow bubbles with the sap (I particularly liked this plant!) Finally we veered off the track an entered the jungle! I was very excited at this point but was also having to concentrate on keeping up. Our guide had really picked up the pace! It was quite easy walking except for the occasional fallen tree trunk to jump over, the only thing that spoilt it was some chompy bug took a liking to my heel and managed to sting me, it was quite painful, but I told myself that this was to be expected in the jungle and carried on; it was about 10 minutes later when I looked down at my hand to see what I thought was a little slug sitting on the back of it, so I went to flick it off. The thing didn’t move and more disconcerting was the fact that the bloody thing appeared to be getting bigger! I quickly grabbed it between my nails and threw it into the bush, it was when I saw a little drop of blood that it dawned on me that it was in fact a leech. I was getting less sure about the jungle all the time……. Well at least it had stopped raining…..

We walked probably for another 30 or so mins as well as seeing an array of butterflies ants and other creepy crawlies we were lucky enough to see a massive green stick insect. We got to a clearing where there was a large wooden hut and then a smaller covered area with the remains of a fire in it. This was to be our home for the evening. We went to explore our new home it was very simple and consisted of about a dozen mattresses placed under mosquito nets and some blankets. We dropped our stuff and headed for the waterfall that was just behind and after a rather refreshing (the water was a little chilly!!) swim we headed back and had a wonderful green curry prepared by Fu and one of the local hilltribe people, with the addition of the herbs he had picked up earlier. After that we gathered round the fire. We chatted to Fu about the trek and the jungle, and he gave us some local rice wine to sample which tasted very similar to sake, after a little of that we were offered a sample of the local ‘tobacco’. It was prepared for us in a rudimentary bong that Fu had made for us out of one of the water bottles from the day. He promised us that he would make us a better one tomorrow should we enjoy the ‘tobacco’. We did indeed enjoy it!  So much so that we didn’t notice that Fu had disappeared until he returned. He stood just behind me and then I felt something slimy behind me – it was a frog clutching at my neck!!!! Fu had been out hunting and had caught us a couple of frogs for us to eat – proper bush tucker!!! After putting them on the fire we were each handed a ‘mini chicken drumstick’ (Rob’s phrase!). It was actually really tasty, though probably a little overcooked and chewy, reminded me of British bbq’s with that charcoal aftertaste! After our supper we retired to bed having consumed a bottle of rum, several bottles of local firewater and many beers, and having made some new friends on a very enjoyable day.

DAY TWO
Next morning we were up again bright and early and had a quick breakfast. We were then handed our lunch parcels for the day which to our delight were rice wrapped neatly in banana leaves and tied with a vine. We popped these it our packs and headed back toward the jungle. It was rather hot work and the terrain was much trickier than the previous day when we were climbing we were really climbing and the descents if anything proved more difficult and slippery. But we were still enjoying it and I was really amazed by the wealth of fungi and many amazing butterflies. Eventually after about 3 or so hours we stopped for lunch. Fu handed us each a couple of sturdy stalks that he had cut from a tree for us to use as chop sticks. We got stuck into our lunch and enjoyed the surroundings. We then headed off going up and down all the way. On our journey Fu stopped us – he and the other guide had spotted a squirrel hole. Fu thought it might be another good jungle food for us to try so the other guide quickly shinned up the tree and began poking a long twig up into the squirrel hole…. No squirrel emerged. Not disheartened by this Fu pick up a thin piece of pine bark which he easily lit and handed to the guide up the tree. He stuck this in the hole, trying to smoke the poor squirrel out. I am actually quite pleased to report that Mr Squirrel did not appear to be home as nothing emerged, though I am sure he was in for a shock when he did get back!!

We trekked for about another 4 hours, and after 7 hours of trekking up and down hills I was ready to get to our destination. I had had a good day, but it had been some of the most challenging walking I have ever done. We arrived at the village – it was pretty much as I had expected and we each had our own little hut to sleep in. It was a great scene we were in a clearing on the top of a hill with jungle all around us as far as we could see there was a communal table in the middle of all of our little huts with a villager carving himself a new handle for his spade that had just broken. We were greeted with much enthusiasm and many smiles. Our base was about 50 or so meters from their actual village and unfortunately we did not get to go and see their homes – but they all came up to say hello. Some of them spoke better English than others but all made a real effort to communicate and be welcoming. We then looked at some home crafts and I couldn’t resist and bought a few lovely scarves. After all of that it was time to clean up before dinner. After having a shower (well a hosepipe above our heads) we went and sat around the table. Much to my surprise there were too large black tarantulas on the table one dead and on a banana leaf and the other limping around the table. Fu informed us that he had caught them and the fangs had been removed of the one that was still alive so we could handle it! These were to be our starter for dinner! After everyone had a prod and a handle – some people including myself were more tentative than others – they were taken off to be bbqed. We were then presented with a leg each to munch on! It actually didn’t taste of much just crunchy non descript bbq meat! But it was defiantly an interesting one to try and add to the list! We then had a wonderfully fiery northern Thai curry with lots of potatoes and greens, a little more conventional than the starter!

The rest of the evening was spent sat round the fire smoking local ‘tobacco’ in a rather wonderful bamboo bong that Fu had fashioned for us, drinking rice wine and listening to some of the locals singing us traditional songs and playing traditional pipes (Kwe) made from animals horns and drums made from hides and tree trunks it was wonderful and we actually bought one of the instruments, and the villager showed us how to play it. It was a thoroughly good evening.

DAY THREE
The next morning we woke, had breakfast and started to trek away from the village. We trekked pretty much down hill all the way for a couple of hours and then were picked up by our truck where we were taken to an elephant enclosure. We climbed onto a platform and an elephant was lead towards the platform. The elephant had a 2 seater saddle type thing on his back. The guide signalled to us to get on. To my surprise we had to step onto the back of its neck, I was worried about hurting it but as I stepped on it hardly seemed to notice! Once me and Rob were in the saddle the elephant guide jumped on and sat on the back of his head legs dangling behind its ears. Then we were off! Not the steadiest of rides and we had bought some bananas to feed the elephant as we rode and it could obviously smell them as every couple of paces it would stop and the trunk would appear signalling for another banana. It was fantastic experience and what I enjoyed the most was seeing the animal so closely and being able to touch and feed it. I did not expect the skin to feel so much like slightly hairy sandpaper! After about 40 minutes the ride was over and we’d made it around the track with only a few detours up banks for the elephant to pull down half a tree to eat!

Once that was over we jumped in the truck again and were taken to the bank of a river, where we climbed on a raft made entirely from lengths of bamboo, and a guide at the front who was punting. Rob grabbed the back to steer and punt from there and nearly lost his head several times as we went under trees! We had a really fun guide who encouraged us to splash the other rafts and splash each other, and actually capsized the raft a couple of times to ensure we were thoroughly soaked by the end of the trip! The ride lasted about an hour where we all giggled and laughed all the way – it was in beautiful surroundings and was lots of fun.

And so that was the end of our trek. A thoroughly challenging, entertaining and enlightening 3 days. This was to be one of our last adventures in Thailand before heading to Laos and a great way to remember Thailand. The last cool thing about the trip is we met 3 great people, Marek and Agnieszka from Poland and Chris – the American of the group who was planning the same route as us to Cambodia so we had a new travel buddy!

JUNGLE TREK SLIDESHOW! Click on the pictures to see the full album....

Meat

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai was everything that we hoped it would be. After loud brash Bangkok this had a much calmer feeling to it, more like a small town that a 2nd major city. It had a historical aspect to it that had been in many ways swallowed and lost in Bangkok, with the 5 square mile ‘old town’ area surrounded by a crumbling defensive wall and moats which were apparently built 700 years ago to keep the Burmese out. What was also wonderful about it was it was a little cooler than in Bangkok meaning that the average temperatures were early 30’s rather than late 30’s early 40’s. It felt much more bearable and it made us want to be more active than when we were in Bangkok. We decided to rent bikes for the day and tour the city, exploring the many temples and checking out the town and park. It was lovely to cycle round, peaceful and quite pretty except for the occasional western takeaway place (like Mike’s Burger Bar which proudly claimed to have been converting vegetarians for 28 years!). We went to Wat Phra Singh which had beautiful murals and carvings, and is considered the top temple in the Chiang Mai city. It was built in 1345 and ended up to be a wonderful spot to watch the rain from. It proved in my opinion to be just as special a place in the rain with all the water cascading from the roof tops, the tranquillity of the surroundings accentuated with the sound track of the pouring rain.
In addition to this temple we went to Wat Suan Dok, this again was beautiful and had a 500 year old bronze Buddah, which we marvelled at and then jumped on our bikes and headed back to the hotel. I could go on about these temples for ages – but I’m sure it would bore you all senseless – much better that I bore you with the endless amount of pictures instead! They will do them justice far better than I will with my ramblings! We also cycled to watch the sunset in the park which was a great spot to watch the locals too, and headed home very pleased with our self propelled tour, although it became more stressful on the way home as once it turned dark we soon realised that bicycles don’t come with lights or reflectors here!