Vang Vieng

It was with massive expectations that we departed Luang Prabang en route to Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is famous for it's river, or more specifically the tubing that takes place on the river.


After a 6 hour minivan ride over some serious hills and with our driver doing his absolute best to hit every pot hole on the way (we were lifted clear off our seats several times) we arrived in Vang Vieng town. We were disappointed.

The town is pretty much one road littered with guest houses and restaurants/bars. We wandered the streets trying to find where all the action was before picking a guest house. Later that evening we went out exploring and our spirits soared as we found that everyone goes down by the river to a bar called "Bucket Bar" - where as the name suggests their specialty is small plastic buckets filled with a combination of Laos Whiskey, soft drink and red bull - a potentially disastrous combination.

Up early the next morning we set out to go tubing. Tubing means you hop on a tuk tuk which takes you up river and drops you off with an inner truck tube. You then float down the river - this sounds relaxing but not exactly fun - so it's a good thing that every 50metres there's a different bar setup where they pull you in for a drink.


Having a drink and tubing sounds good but it gets better. Every bar has at least one adrenalin based activity - rope swings, flying foxes, trapezes, mud pits or water slides. As you can probably imagine a river full of young people drinking in the sun and doing some extreme activities was a lot of fun. You have to be back before 6pm if you want your deposit back so we took it pretty easy and got back just in time.

All in all we stayed for 5 nights and really enjoyed the place. The town is one dimensional and we were glad when it came time to move on. We will put photos up the next time we're on the computers.


Highlights
- Watching other people get slammed on the high swings - belly flops galore! For example two aussie boys who were not content with the degree of difficulty of the swings etc so they did everything blind folded.
- Mud wrestling, very dirty but very fun. In the mud throwing fights there is power in numbers so pick one person and get everyone else to pelt them.
- Going to a Laos disco (nightclub) with some local Laos. Instantly we were transformed into C grade celebrities like actors off of Shortland Street
- New Zealand sport. The AB's winning as expected and the Kiwis with their unexpected World Cup victory. The Australian that told us instantly regretted it.

Random Fact: Several of the cafe's in Vang Vieng have TV's constantly playing back to back episodes of Friends. Good for 30 minutes or so when you're feeling the effects of tubing but some people sit in there all day - not exactly our kind of traveling.

Lessons Learned
- The distance from the last bar on the river to the tubing depot is truly massive - over an hour. Leave the last bar well before 5pm.
- Some of the bars have code words (e.g. number 420) which they advertise over the speaker early in the evening. If the code word is read aloud later in the evening, i.e. when the bar is breaking the curfew, it means the police have arrived.
- We both have fickle NZ accents. Too much time with others and our accents start to noticabley change - gross.

Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang is a small city in the North of Laos. It has a population of roughly 25,000 but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in beauty.

The French ruled the area that is now Laos earlier this century and as a result they have left behind tell tale signs such as: Good coffee, baked goods, French architecture and an abundance of French speaking tourists.

The coffee and baguettes are really tasty as the photo below indicates.

On our first full day in the town we thought we'd have a good look around. Hiring bicycles was an economical, and stylish option. Although they do only have one speed so you need some momentum before taking on any sort of hill.

We rode unbelievably far. I'm not sure what we were thinking but at the end of it we were both buggered and in need of a rest and a soft cushion. One speed bikes in the sweltering heat really take it out of you.

Arguably the best thing about Luang Prabang is the waterfall park (Kouang Si) which is located about 30 minutes from the town. The park is simply amazing and the largest waterfall is spectacular.


There is a very steep track to the right hand side of the waterfall. We both climbed it and walked around up above the waterfall - a safe distance from the edge. With a bit of climbing and swimming we found some good views and other mini waterfalls which aren't visible from the bottom.


After looking at the largest waterfall it was time for a swim in one of the swimming areas. Very relaxing and surprisingly warm as you can see from the photo of Clint below.

Later that day a group of us went and visited a temple on a hill in the centre of the town. The view was really great and it coincided with the sunsetting - it was romantic enough to draw plenty of "ough's" and "argh's" from the couples that decided to join us.


Highlights:

- The French influence. Fine dining and impressive architecture that is slowly deteriorating.
- Curfew loophole. All the bars have to close at midnight so everyone goes bowling (ten pin). The place somehow has an exemption and stays open until 3am.
- The Laos attitude - laid back and carefree. No one pesters you to buy their wares!
- The "Krispy" biscuit flavoured treats that we found at a market. Presumably made from rice they were piping hot and for 5 at 5000kip ($1 NZD) they were fantastic - a reward is on offer for anyone who know's the recipe.

Random Fact:

-A popular rumour on the traveller grapevine is that to date a Laos person a foreigner must first acquire a license to do so. Fact or fiction? We like to think fact.

Lessons Learned:
- To rapidly check out a small town you can't beat a bicycle for some cheap fun.
- If you elect to climb the hill to watch the sunset in Luang Prabang ensure that you wear long pants and long sleeves. As the sun sets the dinghy mosquito's change guard with the malaria mosquito's and neither is afraid of insect repellant with deet as an ingredient so a feeding frenzy ensues.

Great escape down the Mekong

After 29 days in Thailand our visa's were due to expire. With our backs to the wall we went to the Chiang Mai bus station and got tickets for a 6am departure to Chiang Khong.

The bus ride was good, we were the only tourists and it was quite empty so we could stretch out down the back and sleep.

Chiang Khong is a small border town set on the Mekong river. We went through customs (a guy in a small wooden office) and caught a boat across the river into Laos . It was pretty cool being able to look across the river at a different country.

We stayed the night in Huay Xai before catching the slow boat down the Mekong. The slow boat (as the name suggests) is a big long boat full of tourists which goes slowly down the river. The first day we were quite cramped and the benches are ridiculously small - the width was the length of my forearm (elbow to wrist).

We docked into a small town at dusk where we were promptly assaulted by the locals trying to get us to stay at their guest house and eat at their restaurants. We blasted through the scavengers and found some comfortable lodgings before going in search of some dinner.

Luckily we managed to find the place with the worst service in the entire town. Eight of us ordered - it took 90 minutes before the first person was served and three of the orders were incorrect - none of this mattered as the host said we could drink his home made rice whiskey for free - rice whiskey for the uninitiated tastes like a combination of mouth wash and petrol and we were amazed that it didn't burn when we tried to set a small amount on fire.

The next day we were back on the boat and after 7 hours we arrived at Luang Prabang. Laos used to be a french colony so there are baguettes and coffee everywhere which is a bit of a laugh. The town also seems to be a meka for the more mature tourists (40-60).

Random Fact: In Laos cars drive on the right hand side of the road (presumably because of the French).

Highlights
- Being a millionaire for the first time. A million kip (the Laos local currency) is the equivalent of $200 NZD
- Cruising on the Meekong sipping a cold whiskey and coke
- Bagettes and coffee. The body has been craving gluten and caffeine.
- The Polish group. Six Pols on tour (25-40sh in age) who had their own recipe for a good time - 90% Polish Vodka early in the morning, along with cameras about the same size as our bags. Hands down, they were the six happiest people on the boat.

Lessons Learned
- Laos ATM's are unrealiable. There are three in this town, two of which don't work, the other is a good distance out of town.
- Town shuts early. The bars close at 11pm at which time everyone goes bowling (ten pin). The alley is exempt from the curfew which means the drinks flow freely until 3am, so we are told...

Pai

After a rest day in Chiang Mai we took a minivan to Pai - a small hippy village located in a valley about 3 hours west of Chiang Mai. To get there you have to go over a rather windy hill which makes for a hard trip.

The positive aspect of the hill is that it has kept the town really small and chilled out. When you arrive you actually feel like you're on holiday - no suit salesmen and not even any tuk tuk guys, amazing!

We stayed in a bungalow next to the river for a very reasonable price. To get to our accommodation you had to cross a rather rickety little foot bridge

I guarantee that people have fallen off of this after returning from a night out!

During the day we hired scooters and explored the town and area. We started out to see a waterfall but found out that it was a two hour walk (each way) so went and played in the rice fields instead.


That night we met up with some friends we'd made in Chiang Mai. The night scene in Pai was rather quiet (probably because there was a three day festival starting in Chiang Mai) but still good fun. Worth noting was the bar 'Ting Tong' (rough translation is 'crazy but in a good way') which had some fire artists and some rather relaxed staff - oh, and Andre from Outkast was working there...

The following day we went and checked out another waterfall which was pretty cool. While we were out near the waterfall we spent time at a couple of little villages observing the happenings.


Random Fact: The hill between Chiang Mai and Pai has 762 curves

Highlights:
- Fook, a friendly local gay guy with a South African boyfriend and some fluffy earmuffs
- Pie clothing, bucking the Thailand trend of selling imitation clothing etc. Pie has it's own labels and it's own sense of style influenced by reggae and rusta's.
- Pie countryside: no traffic, slow speeds, beautiful weather and windy roads. Exploring was great fun, you could easily spend a few days driving around looking at nothing in particular.
- Eight young westerners on 125cc mopeds which can go over 100km/hr. Does that constitute a biker gang?

Lessons Learned:
- You can sometimes tell if a local is lying to you by observing the reactions of other locals. This doesn't always work but can be of use.
- Pie is very cold at night. The jeans and thermals we had been lugging around finally got some action.

Trekking out of Chiang Mai

We recently spent 3 days and 2 nights trekking in the north of Thailand. The hostel we were staying at organises treks which they guarantee are not "zoo" trips...

Day 1
8.30am departure with a 4 hour minivan ride (minivan = back of ute) before stopping for lunch. After lunch our guide Nu took us on a hike north in one of the national parks for about 4 hours until we arrived at a small village in the hills. The village had a population of about 160 and was made up of Thai and Burmese people. A lot of the villagers were illegal immigrants so if they get raided they scarper back over the border to what they call safety.

When we arrived at the village the kids got pretty excited and started calling out "candy, candy!, Falangs, candy!"... so luckily we had taken note of the advice and stocked up on lollies.

FYI - Falang = white person



After a massive dinner we looked up and noticed that we were surrounded by grinning women and kids that had suddenly emerged from the darkness. The kids got their candy and the women wanted to sell us their handy work. We both got roped into buying head bands - it's impossible to say no when you are literally surrounded by breast feeding villagers and kids/dogs knocking into you under the table.

After being mauled by the locals we hit the hay in a raised shed complete with mosquito nets.

Day 2
Woken early by the roosters and the pigs we devoured breakfast before crossing a river and hiking for about 4 hours.


(the river was chest height)

Lunch was made for us and served in bamboo plates with chop sticks that were made whilst we waited. We were allowed to play with the knife and apply our own skills to the bamboo as well.



After lunch we went bamboo rafting - the raft was about 10 meters long and as the name suggests it consisted of lashed together bamboo. The people at the front and back do the steering.



The rafting was pretty cool - nice views and no walking. We found a passion fruit floating in the river and divided it up amongst the crew - very tasty.

After probably 4 hours we arrived at the next village.

This one was even smaller than the last with about 60 people. After dinner we were once again swamped by the locals who set up a little market just for us - aren't we lucky? Each time the make shift market kicked off our guide, Nu, was nowhere to be seen... convenient timing I guess.

Day 3
This time we were woken by roosters, an ox (who had a bell around his neck) and a pig who was under our hut. After breakfast we were put on the back of a truck and driven to a cave. The cave was pretty big and took us about an hour to get through - lots of stalactites but no stalacmites - we deduced that the cave is prone to flooding. There were lots of spiders and bats. We did our best to wake a sleeping bat with the aide of several rocks. End conclusion was that it was a very deep sleeper impervious to physical pain, or quite possibly dead.

Emerging from the cave we were back on the truck and off again - this time arriving at a small elephant park. We jumped on an old male elephant that went by the name of Gaeo. Gaeo was very hungry and spent a lot of the walk eating vegetation that we passed and drinking from puddles before squirting mud onto his back and therefore onto us.

The little elephant leader man jumped off so we took turns riding on his neck - a precarious position to find one's self in - it's surprisingly hard to balance, and you never really know how close your feet are to his mouth. At the end of the walk Gaeo knelt down and we scampered off.



Once again it was back onto the truck but this time back to the luxuries of Chiang Mai (like a shower and western toilet).

Highlights
- Our tour guide Nu. Burmese by decent he had a quick whit and lots of banter
- Staying in the "remote" villages but noticing solar panels and satellite dishes as-well-as locals on cell phones
- Elephant riding. Classic animal exploitation and very cheesey - but it's still a huge animal and fun to ride on
- Ong; he was a guide for the first two days. He spoke little to no English and was basically a packhorse. He carried a bag that weighed about 10 kgs - an old flax weaven one with one strap. His preferred carrying method was with the strap across his forehead and bag on his back - not bad for a man in his 50's (surprisingly small traps).

Lessons Learned
- Take candy to remote Thai villages
- There is no such thing as under prepared - we were advised to take good foot wear but the guide was rocking around in jandals
- Leeches are easy to burn off but the wound bleeds for a while (thanks to the aussie who went through this)
- Don't get on the wrong side of the man with the machette - you should have seen the look on the guys face each time he swung his knife. Simply ferocious.

Chiang Mai

If you're looking to get from Koh Phanang to Chiang Mai the following is a recipe for a full day in transit:
- Ute
- Catamaran
- Bus
- Tuk tuk
- Train
- Minivan
It was a little over 26 hours in total, but served its purpose of getting us to Chiang Mai rapidly. You could sleep on the bus and train which was good.

We arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday and had a decent walk around the town. The city is cool and pretty chilled out. It is a lot better than Bangkok in terms of people numbers, noise, navigation etc. The temperature is a little cooler which is great, you can walk around in the sun during the heat of the day without dying of heat stroke. In short, we both think that Chiang Mai is much better than Bangkok.

Last night we went to the night bizarre - a night time market. In all honesty the market wasn't very good. I can't see a lot of the stuff they were trying to sell ever being sold!

After the market we went out for a couple of drinks. It's a pretty quiet night life, but enough people to have a good time. Instead of drinking to excess people are more about socialising and having a good time. I can safely say that we both met our first really annoying person last night. She was Irish, had spent 3-4 months in New Zealand and "knew" absolutely everything.

This morning we decided that we didn't like our accommodation. We shifted to a place that some friends had recommended. It's good - cheap, clean and the main guy that works here is hard case with decent English.

They can organise trekking trips for you. We're both looking at going on a three day (two night) trek in the next day or so. They all seem to involve elephants, walking, waterfalls and local villagers. Apparently the local villagers have electricity and it's a bit of sham but I guess we'll find out for sure soon enough.

It's time for the afternoon nap - early start of 10am this morning!

Hope the real word is going well.

AND in case you were interested we found a South African sports channel which played the AB'z vs Aussies - NZ commentators and all. If the cameraman had of known what he was doing it would have been like watching it on Sky. Didn't find an aussie to watch it with but it was still really good.

Highlights:
- Chiang Mai in general - very chilled out and not so "in your face".

Lessons Learned:
- Don't buy breakfast on the overnight train. The quality is poor and walking past the filthy kitchen carriage afterwards is even worse.
- If you find yourself on an overnight train make sure you get the bottom bunk (we both got the top ones). They are hotter and brighter and you wont wake up shouting "ARGH, ARGH" when you think you're falling out (Dan - I had a sleep mask on and was confused after a long day!).