On Friday we returned to our hotel to find that a money belt containing both our passports, three bank cards and 190 pounds had been stolen from our locked room. We had put it under the pillow so it was out of sight - we wouldn't have left it there it all if we had realised the hotel had maid service.Admittedly we perhaps shouldn't have left anything valuable in the room under any circumstances, a lesson we've now learned to our cost. The room had been cleaned and since nobody else could have had access to the room it was pretty obviously one or both of the maids who were responsible. (The hotel, by the way, was the Royal Pake Hotel on Route 13 in Pakse, Laos. Do yourself a favour and don't stay there.) The manager was helpful to a point but accused us of leaving a window open, which is not possible as we confirmed all the windows were locked from the inside when we discovered the theft.
We spent most of Saturday involved in increasingly Kafkaesque dealings with the local police force - it took three hours to track down a police officer who would speak to us and even after doing that they couldn't give us a police report.
Today we tried to take our minds off the whole thing by gping on a day trip. When we returned to the hotel in the evening the manager had somehow obtained our passports, although he refused to tell us exactly how. We checked out straight away and we're planning to carry on with our original route tomorrow. The whole experience has been upsetting and frustrating, but we're both just so relieved to have our passports back - the cash is annoying but getting replacement passports would have been expensive and incovenient.
I'll update soon with a more positive post on the fun things we've done recently, going to have a cocktail now on the rooftop bar of our nice new hotel!
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Friday, 26 February 2010
Vientaine: Paris for people who can't afford it
For the journey to Vientaine (pronounced Wieng Chan) I wore travel bands, took motion sickness pills, and then ended up sleeping the entire way anyway. We arrived around 5pm and for the first time since we've been away it was really tricky to find a room. The first five places we tried were all full, or out of our price range. Eventually we paid a tuk tuk driver an exorbitant amount to take us to one about 1km out of the centre, which had a pretty garden and a vacant room. We went to a little French restaurant called Le Cote D'Azur for dinner, one of the many atmospheric French bistros in the centre of Vientaine. The food was excellent, equal if not superior to some of the best meals I've had in posh restaurants in Glasgow. We splashed out and spent a total of 11 pounds (no pound sign on this keyboard!) on the meal, including a glass of wine and a large beer Lao. Dave had home-made salmon ravioli in a creamy sauce, and I had unidentified white fish in a garlic, lemon and butter sauce, served with chips, vegetables and an artichoke and spinach pate. The other customers in the restaurant were all French, which was also the case in our guesthouse strangely enough.
The following day we hunted down the Joma bakery in Vientaine and found out the quiche there is just as good a sin Luang Prabang. Dave, still not an egg lover, conceded it was nice, but had something bizarre called a taco salad instead. We then spent a couple of hours wandering the streets of Vientaine, checking out something picturesque wats and the central fountain Nam Phu, above. The city is filled with French and Italina bistros and expensive cafes, as well as a large supermarket filled with gourmet Western food, wih prices the same as Peckhams. Next we headed to the National Museum, which contains some dinosaur bones and lots of interesting photos from the various revolutionary struggles in Laos in the latter half of the twentieth century. This is definitely history written from a Lao perspective, as the captions on the photos of the American imperialists indicate. A few more English translations of some of the exhibits would have been good, as well as a bit more introduction and context before some of the rooms. We headed to the central swimming pool next, pictured below at sunset. It was a relaxing place to spend the afternoon, and was also right next to the bowling alley, where Dave persuaded me to go afterwards. I'll draw a veil over my absymal bowling ability and move on to dinner....
We returned to the Swedish bakery, a pizza place we first found in Luang Prabang, and shared a pizza before going for a drink at a rooftop bar called Bor Pen Nyang, overlooking the Mekong. After sleeping in on Monday morning and then visiting the internet cafe, bank and post office, we returned to yet another branch of the Swedish bakery for a sandwich platter - fresh bread, salad, cheese and ham.
Afterwards we set off on a 4km walk to a couple of Vientaine's major tourist attractions. Firstly was the Patouxi, Vientaine's replica of the Arc de Triomphe, built to commemorate the Laos people who died in the revolutionary wars. It's smaller than the French version and set in an attractive park surrounded by fountains. From there we headed to Pha That Luang, pictured above, a national monument and religious symbol. We arrived just before sunset, which meant that we saw it at its most romantic but couldn't enter the actual monument - although it is perhaps better admired from outside.
We visited the night market for dinner and bought fried rice, stir fried vegetables, spicy sausage and a spinach and mint curry. Most locals buy this food to takeaway home in the plastic bags provided, so we had to use a shared stolen fork to eat it, also pictured above. We returned to the rooftop bar afterwards for a margarita and a beer lao, and made the impulsive decision to head south to a famous cave, on a bus at 7am the following morning, which would mean leaving our guesthouse at about 6am. The plan was doomed to failure from the start - details on where we actually ended up to come!
Afterwards we set off on a 4km walk to a couple of Vientaine's major tourist attractions. Firstly was the Patouxi, Vientaine's replica of the Arc de Triomphe, built to commemorate the Laos people who died in the revolutionary wars. It's smaller than the French version and set in an attractive park surrounded by fountains. From there we headed to Pha That Luang, pictured above, a national monument and religious symbol. We arrived just before sunset, which meant that we saw it at its most romantic but couldn't enter the actual monument - although it is perhaps better admired from outside.
Monday, 22 February 2010
Vang Vieng: the Costa del Sol of Laos
On Tuesday the 16th we arrived in Vang Vieng, which resembles a kind of purgatory set in the surroundings of paradise. It is appropriate then that the journey there felt like dying in agony, for four hours. The landscape around Vang Vieng is extremely mountainous and the roads twist and turn past the vertiginous drops exactly like a curly-wurly. Drivers do not seem to recognize speed limits, or two distinctive sides on the road, and often have to slow down quickly due to cows wandering onto the road or children playing on it.
I started feeling ill about an hour into the journey, and soon started hyperventilating, which I think helps control the nausea, or at any rate keeps me busy. It scared some Italians who were on the minibus with us, so they kindly asked the driver to stop for a few minutes. But there was still about three hours to go, and travel bands, motion sickness pills and a move to the front beside the driver didn't help. Eventually I fell asleep; luckily the nausea didn't follow into my dreams....
On arrival in Vang Vieng we checked into a guesthouse on the banks of the Nam Song, and headed out to investigate the eating options. Vang Vieng is a town overrun by foreigners. The main street is lined with cafes showing non-stop dvds of Friends and serving mediocre burgers and pizzas. Scantily clad backpackers wander everywhere around the town, giving it an atmosphere somewhere between the Wild West and any crappy beach resort anywhere in the world. The scenery was beautiful, and I'm not going to pretend we didn't spend a couple of hours watching The Simpsons in one of the cafes, but it definitely isn't one of my favourite places so far.
On our first full day in town we rented bikes and headed off into the countryside to explore some of the caves in the limestone cliffs looming over the valley. Unfortunately we rented bikes more suitable for racing rather than cross-country cycling on very rocky roads - we were bouncing around for most of the journey! The weather was overcast although still warm, which made it more suitable for cycling than the glaring heat. It was a lot of fun exploring the countryside, and following the random handwritten signs for the local caves. One of caves we visited in particular could only be reached by biking 1km across a bumpy field, walking another 1km through scrub to the foot of the cave, then climbing up a steep rocky path for about ten minutes. For me the adventure usually stopped shortly after that, as I discovered a deep-seated hatred of caves. They are very freaky places! Some went very far back, and David walked for about ten minutes inside one into the mountain and found passages that went even deeper.... There was an underground spring at one of the more famous caves, that ended in a pool of surprisingly warm turquoise water.
I had a cold the following day, so we spent most of it reading by the river and drinking fruit shakes. We also tried laap, which is the Lao national dish and consists of meat in a chilli and lime marinade, served alongside salad and sticky rice. On Friday we finally tried the activity that brings the backpackers to Vang Vieng - tubing. Before doing this we both naively thought that tubing was about drifting down the river while wedged in a giant tyre. It's not. It's about travelling between the open-air bars every few metres down the river by means of a tube.
It actually was enormous fun, facilitated greatly by the free shots of Lao Lao whisky most of the bars gave away. We spent all day there, and went most of the way down the river with a Welsh couple called Kate and James. (We ended up accidentally stealing James' sunglasses, so if anyone comes across him in Oz let me know and I'll post them back at some point!)
As well as the free shots, liberal amounts of beer lao and a dubious cocktail masquerading as a mojito were involved. The stereos were playing recent British and American hits and it was very social. The day was overcast and the water actually got a bit cold as it got later, but there were bonfires at a couple of the bars. I ended up buying chicken nuggets and chips as well - there was no kitchen in sight so I have no idea where it came from but it wasn't bad at all!
As well as drinking, another feature of the tubing experience is the zip line over the water. You hold onto the bars and swing over the river, before dropping in. I was too scared to do it for the first few hours, then made up my mind to go for it. I climbed the ladder then chickened out at the top, after realizing how high it was. But then a couple of guys from Yorkshire told me I would "regret it for the rest of my life" if I didn't jump, so I did and it was great! Although due to my feeble arms I only managed one swing across the water before I dropped like a rock into the deepest part. (You can just see me at the start of my swing on the right of the photo.)
It was dark by the time we arrived in Vang Vieng, soaking wet and starving despite the chicken nuggets. We had a fairly quiet night and headed to the capital on Saturday - more on that soon as we plan to leave tomorrow.
P.S. I've added a new feature to the blog under my picture on the sidebar. It's updated a bit more regularly than the other posts.
I started feeling ill about an hour into the journey, and soon started hyperventilating, which I think helps control the nausea, or at any rate keeps me busy. It scared some Italians who were on the minibus with us, so they kindly asked the driver to stop for a few minutes. But there was still about three hours to go, and travel bands, motion sickness pills and a move to the front beside the driver didn't help. Eventually I fell asleep; luckily the nausea didn't follow into my dreams....
On arrival in Vang Vieng we checked into a guesthouse on the banks of the Nam Song, and headed out to investigate the eating options. Vang Vieng is a town overrun by foreigners. The main street is lined with cafes showing non-stop dvds of Friends and serving mediocre burgers and pizzas. Scantily clad backpackers wander everywhere around the town, giving it an atmosphere somewhere between the Wild West and any crappy beach resort anywhere in the world. The scenery was beautiful, and I'm not going to pretend we didn't spend a couple of hours watching The Simpsons in one of the cafes, but it definitely isn't one of my favourite places so far.
On our first full day in town we rented bikes and headed off into the countryside to explore some of the caves in the limestone cliffs looming over the valley. Unfortunately we rented bikes more suitable for racing rather than cross-country cycling on very rocky roads - we were bouncing around for most of the journey! The weather was overcast although still warm, which made it more suitable for cycling than the glaring heat. It was a lot of fun exploring the countryside, and following the random handwritten signs for the local caves. One of caves we visited in particular could only be reached by biking 1km across a bumpy field, walking another 1km through scrub to the foot of the cave, then climbing up a steep rocky path for about ten minutes. For me the adventure usually stopped shortly after that, as I discovered a deep-seated hatred of caves. They are very freaky places! Some went very far back, and David walked for about ten minutes inside one into the mountain and found passages that went even deeper.... There was an underground spring at one of the more famous caves, that ended in a pool of surprisingly warm turquoise water.
I had a cold the following day, so we spent most of it reading by the river and drinking fruit shakes. We also tried laap, which is the Lao national dish and consists of meat in a chilli and lime marinade, served alongside salad and sticky rice. On Friday we finally tried the activity that brings the backpackers to Vang Vieng - tubing. Before doing this we both naively thought that tubing was about drifting down the river while wedged in a giant tyre. It's not. It's about travelling between the open-air bars every few metres down the river by means of a tube.
It actually was enormous fun, facilitated greatly by the free shots of Lao Lao whisky most of the bars gave away. We spent all day there, and went most of the way down the river with a Welsh couple called Kate and James. (We ended up accidentally stealing James' sunglasses, so if anyone comes across him in Oz let me know and I'll post them back at some point!)
It was dark by the time we arrived in Vang Vieng, soaking wet and starving despite the chicken nuggets. We had a fairly quiet night and headed to the capital on Saturday - more on that soon as we plan to leave tomorrow.
P.S. I've added a new feature to the blog under my picture on the sidebar. It's updated a bit more regularly than the other posts.
Luang Prabang Take Two - Less quiche, more sweat
Our next day in Luang Prabang was designated a cheap day, which is basically just an excuse to do nothing but spend several hours sitting in cafes. Western food is actually easier to find in Luang Prabang than Asian food, although Lao coffee is everywhere and bizarrely is usually cheaper than Nescafe instant stuff. We had brunch at a cafe run by a French woman but staffed by Lao people, and I satisfied my craving for potatoes. The afternoon was mostly spent exploring a bit more of the town, and engaging in protracted and tense negotiations at the book exchange.
We had dinner at a restaurant called Lao Lao garden, which was festooned in pink balloons for Valentine's Day. The restaurant specialised in Lao barbecue, so after we had downed our free shots of Lao whiskey, our waiter set up an individual barbecue in the middle of our table, with a lid on top of it where you could make soup and cook meat. He brought us stock, fat to cook our meat in, a selection of vegetables and noodles, an egg, and strips of chicken, pork and water buffalo. We also had limes, chillies, garlic and tamarind sauce to add to the soup and the meat. It was a lot of fun and the end result was really tasty, although I kept adding more chillies until Dave's puny tastebuds were committing harakiri, and our attempt to involve the egg in the proceedings was just a complete debacle...
It was an early start on Monday, for our first organized tour. We were travelling by truck a short distance up the Nam Ou river, then kayaking downstream onto the Mekong. Rather unfortunately our fellow kayakers turned out to be four massive English guys, wearing about a square cm of cotton between them, none of whom looked like they had even been in the same room as someone who had been picked last in PE before.
Our guide was a Lao guy who had been working for the travel agency for about a year, after being a monk for six years. He was very excitable with a contagious laugh, and he seemed to find everything funny. We dragged our kayaks about 200m down to the river through rough scrub, and then got in, after donning our life jackets and helmets. I had never done kayaking or canoeing before, and found the movement of the paddles really difficult at first. Dave had once done an hour of kayaking in a swimming pool, so found it only slightly easier. We capsized twice before lunch; the first time I got confused and thought you were meant to grab the paddle rather than the boat, so I got swept away a bit in the current before two of the English guys paddled over to rescue me. Each time we capsized they were forced to halt their massive, synchronized strokes in order to wait for us, but they didn't seem to mind too much...
Lunch was fried rice with chicken on a beach at the of the Nam Ou. Afterwardswe paddled for another half hour or so to some nearby caves, which were filled with sculptures of Buddha. Then it was another 45 minutes of kayaking down the Mekong to the elephant camp. I was terrified we would capsize again and a giant catfish would swallow me whole, but we got there without any trouble and actually seemed to be improving near the end. It was very hard work though, and we both had blisters on our thumbs the next day.
Next came an elephant ride through the jungle, for about forty minutes. It was a lot of fun, although very slow. Going down steep hills was a bit scary as well, as we ended up at some strange angles! We had a guide who sat on the elephant's neck and rode it like a horse, while singing traditional songs to it the whole time, which he told us the elephant liked. Apparently our elephant was 38 years old and called Dowfaah.
Our travel agency had a truck ready to take us back to Luang Prabang after the ride, where we got ready to head onto Vang Vieng in the morning. By nighttime I could barely move my arms due to the kayaking, so we got a takeaway pizza from one of the bakeries in town and headed back to our hostel.
We had dinner at a restaurant called Lao Lao garden, which was festooned in pink balloons for Valentine's Day. The restaurant specialised in Lao barbecue, so after we had downed our free shots of Lao whiskey, our waiter set up an individual barbecue in the middle of our table, with a lid on top of it where you could make soup and cook meat. He brought us stock, fat to cook our meat in, a selection of vegetables and noodles, an egg, and strips of chicken, pork and water buffalo. We also had limes, chillies, garlic and tamarind sauce to add to the soup and the meat. It was a lot of fun and the end result was really tasty, although I kept adding more chillies until Dave's puny tastebuds were committing harakiri, and our attempt to involve the egg in the proceedings was just a complete debacle...
It was an early start on Monday, for our first organized tour. We were travelling by truck a short distance up the Nam Ou river, then kayaking downstream onto the Mekong. Rather unfortunately our fellow kayakers turned out to be four massive English guys, wearing about a square cm of cotton between them, none of whom looked like they had even been in the same room as someone who had been picked last in PE before.
Our guide was a Lao guy who had been working for the travel agency for about a year, after being a monk for six years. He was very excitable with a contagious laugh, and he seemed to find everything funny. We dragged our kayaks about 200m down to the river through rough scrub, and then got in, after donning our life jackets and helmets. I had never done kayaking or canoeing before, and found the movement of the paddles really difficult at first. Dave had once done an hour of kayaking in a swimming pool, so found it only slightly easier. We capsized twice before lunch; the first time I got confused and thought you were meant to grab the paddle rather than the boat, so I got swept away a bit in the current before two of the English guys paddled over to rescue me. Each time we capsized they were forced to halt their massive, synchronized strokes in order to wait for us, but they didn't seem to mind too much...
Lunch was fried rice with chicken on a beach at the of the Nam Ou. Afterwardswe paddled for another half hour or so to some nearby caves, which were filled with sculptures of Buddha. Then it was another 45 minutes of kayaking down the Mekong to the elephant camp. I was terrified we would capsize again and a giant catfish would swallow me whole, but we got there without any trouble and actually seemed to be improving near the end. It was very hard work though, and we both had blisters on our thumbs the next day.
Next came an elephant ride through the jungle, for about forty minutes. It was a lot of fun, although very slow. Going down steep hills was a bit scary as well, as we ended up at some strange angles! We had a guide who sat on the elephant's neck and rode it like a horse, while singing traditional songs to it the whole time, which he told us the elephant liked. Apparently our elephant was 38 years old and called Dowfaah.
Our travel agency had a truck ready to take us back to Luang Prabang after the ride, where we got ready to head onto Vang Vieng in the morning. By nighttime I could barely move my arms due to the kayaking, so we got a takeaway pizza from one of the bakeries in town and headed back to our hostel.
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Home of the world's best quiche - Luang Prabang
It was already dusk by the time we arrived in Luang Prabang on Thursday. The town (it only has around 26000 inhabitants) is Unesco World Heritage Listed due its French colonial architecture, beautiful wats and attractive streets, as well as its position on the banks of the Mekong river.We had chosen a guesthouse from our guidebook so headed off to check it out. It turned out to be a very grand sprawling building with a big garden, with rooms that just stopped short of too expensive for us.
We spent Thursday night checking out the night market in town. All the stalls have red canopies, and many are selling brightly coloured scarfs and shawls, so it all looked very pretty and was fun just to browse. We had dinner at a fairly expensive restaurant, which offered set meals that were also sampling platters of Lao cuisine. We tried bamboo spring rolls, pork with vermicilli noodles and cashew nuts, and a couple of different chicken curries.
After a noisy night thanks to the cockerel and dog in the garden, we embarked on what was to be a momentous day in my life: the day I discovered the best quiche in the world. This position was previously held by my mum's quiche but sadly the quiche lorraine at Joma bakery in Luang Prabang has won that coveted title. The chocolate croissants there were also pretty good, and the coffee was strong and really nice, but the quiche was just the best thing ever.
The rest of the day was inevitably going to be anti-climatic after such blissful heights, but it was still pretty enjoyable. We spent it looking round town, which felt like a cross between the Wild West and Paris. The streets are dusty and there is no glass in the shop fronts, but there are also many chic wine bars and bakeries, charging prices which would be a bargain in France but seem shocking after Thailand. At sunset we climbed up to Phou Si, a temple at the top of a hill overlooking Luang Prabang. The views of spectacular, although due to the cult of Lonely Planet everyone else knew they would be too, and it was very crowded. We saw several people from the slow boat again, including the Schizophrenic American and the Talkative Canadian.
We bought dinner from the baguette stalls which line the main boulevard. As well as fresh baguettes most of them sell fruit shakes and sponge cakes in different flavours - my favourite was jackfruit cake.
On Saturday morning we had plans to cycle the 32km to a waterfall called Tat Kuang Si, but the tourist information office was closed and without a map we were unsure of how to get there. Instead we arranged to share transport there with two German girls. The waterfall was fairly impressive, but the turquoise pools surrounding it made it really stunning. We went swimming there for about two hours, in water which was colder and deeper than it first appeared. At points there were natural jacuzzis formed by the waterfall, which were fun to sit in. Over the course of the day we also saw the American and the Canadian again, as well as the two smiley English girls from the boat.
Back in Luang Prabang we went out for dinner to a little restaurant covered in fairy lights, on the bank of the Mekong. Beyond the restaurant looking across the river the night was pitch black - Laos is so underdeveloped there is often nothing at all for several hundred kms. In much of Southeast Asia it's customary for everyone at the table to share all the dishes, so food for different people often comes pretty far apart. Dave had chicken noodle soup which was very good, but which I was staring at for about twenty minutes before my Luang Prabang salad came. This is a regional specialty and consists of a kind of watercress particular to this part of the Mekong, sliced boiled eggs, cucumber and tomatoes. We also ordered bamboo spring rolls again - they have a crunchier texture than ordinary spring rolls and I'm starting to prefer them. To come - action adventure in Luang Prabang! Rugby boys! Near drowning experience! Jungle treks on the back of an elephant!
We spent Thursday night checking out the night market in town. All the stalls have red canopies, and many are selling brightly coloured scarfs and shawls, so it all looked very pretty and was fun just to browse. We had dinner at a fairly expensive restaurant, which offered set meals that were also sampling platters of Lao cuisine. We tried bamboo spring rolls, pork with vermicilli noodles and cashew nuts, and a couple of different chicken curries.
After a noisy night thanks to the cockerel and dog in the garden, we embarked on what was to be a momentous day in my life: the day I discovered the best quiche in the world. This position was previously held by my mum's quiche but sadly the quiche lorraine at Joma bakery in Luang Prabang has won that coveted title. The chocolate croissants there were also pretty good, and the coffee was strong and really nice, but the quiche was just the best thing ever.
The rest of the day was inevitably going to be anti-climatic after such blissful heights, but it was still pretty enjoyable. We spent it looking round town, which felt like a cross between the Wild West and Paris. The streets are dusty and there is no glass in the shop fronts, but there are also many chic wine bars and bakeries, charging prices which would be a bargain in France but seem shocking after Thailand. At sunset we climbed up to Phou Si, a temple at the top of a hill overlooking Luang Prabang. The views of spectacular, although due to the cult of Lonely Planet everyone else knew they would be too, and it was very crowded. We saw several people from the slow boat again, including the Schizophrenic American and the Talkative Canadian.
On Saturday morning we had plans to cycle the 32km to a waterfall called Tat Kuang Si, but the tourist information office was closed and without a map we were unsure of how to get there. Instead we arranged to share transport there with two German girls. The waterfall was fairly impressive, but the turquoise pools surrounding it made it really stunning. We went swimming there for about two hours, in water which was colder and deeper than it first appeared. At points there were natural jacuzzis formed by the waterfall, which were fun to sit in. Over the course of the day we also saw the American and the Canadian again, as well as the two smiley English girls from the boat.
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Down the Mekong
The journey between Chiang Mai and Chiang Khong, a little town on the border between Thailand and Laos, took seven hours. The route was pretty mountainous, which normally means it may as well be a journey into hell if you suffer from motion sickness. However, whatever sadistic part of my body (inner ear? brain?) has objected to travel in any sort of moving vehicle for my entire life, seems to have formed some sort of reluctant amnesty with my stomach, as I've not been feeling travel sick at all since we got here.
It was dark by the time we reached Chiang Khong, so we banded together with some other backpackers and jumped in a truck to go to a nearby guesthouse. The accommodation was pretty basic, but it did have views of Laos across the Mekong river. A sense of camaraderie started to develop between all the backpackers at the hostel, as most of us were planning to travel into Laos and then down river to Luang Prabang. We got to know in particular an American guy with multiple personalities, (he told us he was from Colorado then told someone else Memphis...) a voluble Canadian, a painfully cool-looking Norwegian couple and two smiley English girls.
We all got the ferry across the river together on Wednesday morning, and acquired our Laos tourist visas. The process couldn't have been easier or more casual although the price was slightly painful. All of us then got tickets for the slow boat down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang, which took two days of travelling for about eight hours, interrupted by an overnight stay in a tiny village called Pak Beng.
The journey was very slow at times, but the scenery was incredible. Laos is very undeveloped and at times we cruised for miles without seeing any signs of habitation on the banks. The river was brown and completely opaque, and the current was so slow that in places it didn't seem to be moving at all. The banks were white sand, rising into lush jungle and tall cliffs. It was possible to sit on the side of the boat with your legs dangling over the side, so I stayed like that for most of the second day.
Being an English Lit geek I spent most of that time thinking about Heart of Darkness and Moby Dick, both of which have long chapters describing sitting on a boat studying the water pensively and thinking about the universe...And that hopefully is the closest I'll ever come to any other experiences from those books. No shipwrecks or jungle ambushes here please.
We spent quite a lot of time speaking to a Swedish guy on the boat, and also got to know a Canadian couple in Pak Beng, so things are definitely getting more sociable, probably because we're on a fairly well-established tourist trail. We arrived in Luang Prabang around sunset - updates to come, including news of the most spectacular quiche...
It was dark by the time we reached Chiang Khong, so we banded together with some other backpackers and jumped in a truck to go to a nearby guesthouse. The accommodation was pretty basic, but it did have views of Laos across the Mekong river. A sense of camaraderie started to develop between all the backpackers at the hostel, as most of us were planning to travel into Laos and then down river to Luang Prabang. We got to know in particular an American guy with multiple personalities, (he told us he was from Colorado then told someone else Memphis...) a voluble Canadian, a painfully cool-looking Norwegian couple and two smiley English girls.
We all got the ferry across the river together on Wednesday morning, and acquired our Laos tourist visas. The process couldn't have been easier or more casual although the price was slightly painful. All of us then got tickets for the slow boat down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang, which took two days of travelling for about eight hours, interrupted by an overnight stay in a tiny village called Pak Beng.
The journey was very slow at times, but the scenery was incredible. Laos is very undeveloped and at times we cruised for miles without seeing any signs of habitation on the banks. The river was brown and completely opaque, and the current was so slow that in places it didn't seem to be moving at all. The banks were white sand, rising into lush jungle and tall cliffs. It was possible to sit on the side of the boat with your legs dangling over the side, so I stayed like that for most of the second day.
Being an English Lit geek I spent most of that time thinking about Heart of Darkness and Moby Dick, both of which have long chapters describing sitting on a boat studying the water pensively and thinking about the universe...And that hopefully is the closest I'll ever come to any other experiences from those books. No shipwrecks or jungle ambushes here please.
We spent quite a lot of time speaking to a Swedish guy on the boat, and also got to know a Canadian couple in Pak Beng, so things are definitely getting more sociable, probably because we're on a fairly well-established tourist trail. We arrived in Luang Prabang around sunset - updates to come, including news of the most spectacular quiche...
Friday, 12 February 2010
Chiang Mai - Cultural Capital of Thailand, or, Little America
On Sunday morning we set off for Chiang Mai from Lampang, our trip to the bus station improved by a free lift from a Thai guy with a pick-up truck who presumably took pity on us as we trudged along in the heat. Chiang Mai is a leafy city encircled by a moat, and most people who go there use it a pit-stop to arrange treks to visit hill-tribes. These treks squick me out slightly (touristy; voyeuristic; uncomfortable) so we were just going to check out Thailand's second city and chill out for a couple of days before heading further north and onward to Laos.
At night we wandered along what is known as Sunday Walking Street, a night market with buskers and stalls selling beautiful scarfs, jewellery, food, ornaments and just about everything else. There was a very relaxed atmosphere, and we got some food at an open-air restaurant overlooking the street. I ordered fried pork sausage as I had heard this is a Chiang Mai delicacy, but although it had a really nice flavour, the texture was...odd, or as Dave put it 'like fruit'.
On Monday we went to a little vegetarian cafe for lunch, where I tried another Northern dish, curried noodle soup, which came with crispy noodles on top. It was really nice, although very filling. The taste was very unlike other Thai curries, and more similar to Indian food. The rest of the day we spent wandering around town and stocking up on supplies at Boots and at the bookshops. At night we headed out to a street nearby known as the Rasta area, where a lot of the bars are.
We ended up somewhere called Heaven Beach, which seemed to be trying as hard as possible to live up to the name of 'dive'. It had wooden benches, sand on the floor and graffiti on the walls, and is quite possibly now my favourite bar in the world. The live band performed covers of British and American pop songs, including 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You'. At first the only people inside were us, a group of Americans and a very drunk solitary German, but things livened up as the night went on. A group of English guys sauntered in after a while, all of whom were blonde and looked like Prince Harry crossed with various animals - there was Prince Harry and a sheepdog, Prince Harry and a gazelle, Prince Harry and a lemur....Thoughtfully they were all wearing a uniform of caps and shorts, so we could immediately mark them out as morons and avoid them for the rest of the night.
On Tuesday we had brunch at the UN Irish Pub in Chiang Mai, which I believe is a bit of an institution and which bakes fresh bread every morning. Then we set off further north, to cross into Laos.
Chiang Mai is undoubtedly attractive, with broad streets, greenery and fountains. The area of the city we were staying in was a backpacker enclave, and this was evident in the coffee shops (including Starbucks) on every street, and the restaurants and bars advertising burgers and pizza. Western food was much easier to find than Thai food in the streets near our hostel. This was fantastic for a change (we had great burgers for lunch) and I loved how many secondhand bookshops there were, but the backpacker part of the city didn't feel like Thailand as much as it did America. Since we also heard many American accents around, there was an odd feeling of dislocation while we stayed in Chiang Mai.
On Monday we went to a little vegetarian cafe for lunch, where I tried another Northern dish, curried noodle soup, which came with crispy noodles on top. It was really nice, although very filling. The taste was very unlike other Thai curries, and more similar to Indian food. The rest of the day we spent wandering around town and stocking up on supplies at Boots and at the bookshops. At night we headed out to a street nearby known as the Rasta area, where a lot of the bars are.
We ended up somewhere called Heaven Beach, which seemed to be trying as hard as possible to live up to the name of 'dive'. It had wooden benches, sand on the floor and graffiti on the walls, and is quite possibly now my favourite bar in the world. The live band performed covers of British and American pop songs, including 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You'. At first the only people inside were us, a group of Americans and a very drunk solitary German, but things livened up as the night went on. A group of English guys sauntered in after a while, all of whom were blonde and looked like Prince Harry crossed with various animals - there was Prince Harry and a sheepdog, Prince Harry and a gazelle, Prince Harry and a lemur....Thoughtfully they were all wearing a uniform of caps and shorts, so we could immediately mark them out as morons and avoid them for the rest of the night.
On Tuesday we had brunch at the UN Irish Pub in Chiang Mai, which I believe is a bit of an institution and which bakes fresh bread every morning. Then we set off further north, to cross into Laos.
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Sukothai: bikes, bungalows and baked goods
For the journey between Lopburi and Sukothai, we splashed out for the air-conditioned train. This was much more expensive than the third class option, and while it was very comfortable, the closed windows and quiet atmosphere made it all a bit dull compared to the ordinary train. I spent the journey working on my latent talent for hangman, which has been biding its time since primary school but has now emerged to kick David's ass.
When we arrived at Sukothai, we were ambushed by a forthright Dutch girl, who wanted to share a taxi to the guesthouse area. We agreed, and then the three of us engaged in some ineffectual haggling with the sangthaew driver. The Dutch girl ( we didn't learn her name) complained that she felt robbed much of the time in Thailand. I think the key is to not be too combative but accept that haggling is necessary and that sometimes you will inevitably be charged more than locals. And of course even if you are, the difference probably wouldn't buy you a Big Issue in Britain anyway...
Our guesthouse in Sukothai was possibly the nicest place we've stayed at yet - little individual bungalows set in a garden overflowing with palm trees, for 6 pounds a night. I also had my first encounter with a squat toilet here, which is a rite of passage I could probably have forgone...
For dinner we went to a local place with the unfortunate name of Poo Restaurant. The food however was extremely good - I had penang curry, also called red Thai curry, and a margarita which was not bad at all. (I've given up on the beer for now.)
For dessert we bought roti from the night market. These are small Indian breads which you can often choose a filling for, such as chocolate, banana or egg. I read before coming to Thailand that dessert isn't big over here, but as well as roti we found a stall selling freshly baked chocolate cake every morning on the streets of Ayuthaya, and the Seven Elevens here offer the bizzare combination of strawberry cheese sandwiches!
On Friday we visited the Sukothai Historical Park, which is spread out over a large area and consists of wats amidst attractive park land and lakes. In appearance the park is not dissimilar to an elaborate golf course. We rented bikes again, and spent most of the day cycling around the ruins at a pretty leisurely pace. To be honest by this point I think we had both seen a few too many crumbling wats, so we limited ourselves to a fairly small area within the park. It was definitely a nicer setting than the ruins at Ayuthaya, but there was less of a sense of discovery as everything was so much neater and closer together.
We returned to Poo Restaurant on Friday night, for rice soup and more cocktails. Saturday was spent travelling to Lampang, known in Thailand as the Horse and Cart city. I was inspired partly to go travelling in the first place by reading years ago Bill Bryson's account of backpacking across Europe. He quite often formed arbitrary impressions of a place based on its initial appearance and general atmosphere, and I think he would have loved Lampang, a sleepy but very pretty town. We stayed at another lovely guesthouse, run by a French woman with a very businesslike air. It was set along the banks of the river, and had a cushioned chillout area surrounded by jasmine flowers. For dinner we went to a riverside restaurant and bar which served excellent green curry, and provided the slightly surreal experience of watching four Thai guys in a cover band sing 'Eternal Flame'.
Today we arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand's second city. More on that at a later date.
When we arrived at Sukothai, we were ambushed by a forthright Dutch girl, who wanted to share a taxi to the guesthouse area. We agreed, and then the three of us engaged in some ineffectual haggling with the sangthaew driver. The Dutch girl ( we didn't learn her name) complained that she felt robbed much of the time in Thailand. I think the key is to not be too combative but accept that haggling is necessary and that sometimes you will inevitably be charged more than locals. And of course even if you are, the difference probably wouldn't buy you a Big Issue in Britain anyway...
Our guesthouse in Sukothai was possibly the nicest place we've stayed at yet - little individual bungalows set in a garden overflowing with palm trees, for 6 pounds a night. I also had my first encounter with a squat toilet here, which is a rite of passage I could probably have forgone...
For dinner we went to a local place with the unfortunate name of Poo Restaurant. The food however was extremely good - I had penang curry, also called red Thai curry, and a margarita which was not bad at all. (I've given up on the beer for now.)
For dessert we bought roti from the night market. These are small Indian breads which you can often choose a filling for, such as chocolate, banana or egg. I read before coming to Thailand that dessert isn't big over here, but as well as roti we found a stall selling freshly baked chocolate cake every morning on the streets of Ayuthaya, and the Seven Elevens here offer the bizzare combination of strawberry cheese sandwiches!
On Friday we visited the Sukothai Historical Park, which is spread out over a large area and consists of wats amidst attractive park land and lakes. In appearance the park is not dissimilar to an elaborate golf course. We rented bikes again, and spent most of the day cycling around the ruins at a pretty leisurely pace. To be honest by this point I think we had both seen a few too many crumbling wats, so we limited ourselves to a fairly small area within the park. It was definitely a nicer setting than the ruins at Ayuthaya, but there was less of a sense of discovery as everything was so much neater and closer together.
We returned to Poo Restaurant on Friday night, for rice soup and more cocktails. Saturday was spent travelling to Lampang, known in Thailand as the Horse and Cart city. I was inspired partly to go travelling in the first place by reading years ago Bill Bryson's account of backpacking across Europe. He quite often formed arbitrary impressions of a place based on its initial appearance and general atmosphere, and I think he would have loved Lampang, a sleepy but very pretty town. We stayed at another lovely guesthouse, run by a French woman with a very businesslike air. It was set along the banks of the river, and had a cushioned chillout area surrounded by jasmine flowers. For dinner we went to a riverside restaurant and bar which served excellent green curry, and provided the slightly surreal experience of watching four Thai guys in a cover band sing 'Eternal Flame'.
Today we arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand's second city. More on that at a later date.
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Ayuthaya and onwards
AOur journey into Northern Thailand began at Huelamphong train station in Bangkok, which must serve some of the best cafeteria food I've ever tasted. I tried papaya salad for the first time, which definitely lived up to the hype. It took slightly longer than the other meals to be served up as each person's salad was prepared individually and painstakingly in a large mortar and pestle.
We got the ordinary train without air con to Ayuthaya, which cost about 25p per person. The quality of the air seemed to improve the further we got from Bangkok - David is also adamant it is much more mild even an hour away. The landscape also changed, from ramshackle dwellings right next to the train lines to green vistas filled with palm trees.
After a brief interruption to our journey when we got off at the wrong station and were stranded for an hour, we arrived in Ayuthaya. Until 1767 when the Burmese attacked, this was the capital of Thailand and it now hosts some spectacular ruins surrounded by a modern town. It is possible to see it on a day trip from Bangkok, but I would recommend actually staying here for a couple of nights as there's a lot to see and it's much more interesting to explore by yourself rather than with a guide.
We spent our first afternoon in town relaxing and getting our bearings, before going to a local bar which was meant to be a popular backpacker hangout. It was pretty quiet however, and the people who were there seemed to be content just talking to their travelling partners, whilst Dave and I are already bored of each other's company!
Most of our interactions so far have been with Thai people rather than other travellers, although the further we get from Bangkok the more that seems to be changing. A lot of Thai people have volunteered directions when we've been standing around looking lost, and many others have shouted hello when we've been walking past on the street, all of which is nice. The Thai sales pitch, at least in Bangkok, was fairly advanced and involved building a level of rapport and engaging you in conversation before trying to persuade you to go in their tuk-tuk to a gem shop across town. As a result, we've been asked many times where we come from, and I'm keeping a rough tally of the responses: whisky (3), blank face (3), bagpipes (1), very cold (1), and Stockholm? (1). Does Scotland need to work on its global profile?
On our first full day in Ayuthaya we hired bikes from a world-weary American to cycle around the ruins. At times it felt almost unbelievably twee as we cycled through the park, with birds singing in the trees and ancient palaces rising up on the horizon. The ruins in Ayuthaya are a Unesco World Heritage Site and as the pictures will attest they were well worth seeing. There were tour groups around but although it is currently high season, at times we were entirely alone in the park or at the temples. It felt oddly like stepping into a virtual reality video game with a stunning back-drop.
On Wednesday morning we arranged a private boat tour to see the ruins located on the mainland surrounding the island of Ayuthaya. This was quite expensive but probably worth it, as the river was quite picturesque and the last wat we went to in particular was amazing. As these temples are slightly more difficult to visit, there were even less people there, and little tourist infrastracture. This all worked out to our benefit as again visiting these places felt like walking onto the set of a Disney film, and then having a gigantic playground to explore.
After our boat trip we travelled on the train to Lopburi, a small town notable mainly for the monkeys which wander freely around the town centre and crawl over the temples. At night they line the electrical wires and screech at each other, which is actually a pretty sinister sight. (Apologies to all the monkey-lovers out there - I'm looking at you Emma!)
We're moving further north today, and heading towards Sukothai, which will supply even more pictures of ancient ruins! If you can't wait till then, there are plenty more pictures from Ayuthaya on David's facebook.
We got the ordinary train without air con to Ayuthaya, which cost about 25p per person. The quality of the air seemed to improve the further we got from Bangkok - David is also adamant it is much more mild even an hour away. The landscape also changed, from ramshackle dwellings right next to the train lines to green vistas filled with palm trees.
After a brief interruption to our journey when we got off at the wrong station and were stranded for an hour, we arrived in Ayuthaya. Until 1767 when the Burmese attacked, this was the capital of Thailand and it now hosts some spectacular ruins surrounded by a modern town. It is possible to see it on a day trip from Bangkok, but I would recommend actually staying here for a couple of nights as there's a lot to see and it's much more interesting to explore by yourself rather than with a guide.
We spent our first afternoon in town relaxing and getting our bearings, before going to a local bar which was meant to be a popular backpacker hangout. It was pretty quiet however, and the people who were there seemed to be content just talking to their travelling partners, whilst Dave and I are already bored of each other's company!
Most of our interactions so far have been with Thai people rather than other travellers, although the further we get from Bangkok the more that seems to be changing. A lot of Thai people have volunteered directions when we've been standing around looking lost, and many others have shouted hello when we've been walking past on the street, all of which is nice. The Thai sales pitch, at least in Bangkok, was fairly advanced and involved building a level of rapport and engaging you in conversation before trying to persuade you to go in their tuk-tuk to a gem shop across town. As a result, we've been asked many times where we come from, and I'm keeping a rough tally of the responses: whisky (3), blank face (3), bagpipes (1), very cold (1), and Stockholm? (1). Does Scotland need to work on its global profile?
On our first full day in Ayuthaya we hired bikes from a world-weary American to cycle around the ruins. At times it felt almost unbelievably twee as we cycled through the park, with birds singing in the trees and ancient palaces rising up on the horizon. The ruins in Ayuthaya are a Unesco World Heritage Site and as the pictures will attest they were well worth seeing. There were tour groups around but although it is currently high season, at times we were entirely alone in the park or at the temples. It felt oddly like stepping into a virtual reality video game with a stunning back-drop.
We stopped for lunch at a tiny market stall in the middle of the historical park. The man and his wife running it urged us to sample the food they had in massive tureens, and then served us portions of rice and a delicious minced pork dish. We were the only tourists eating there which was a shame because they were very friendly and the food was excellent. The pink plastic holder appears on restaurant tables across Thailand and contains fish sauce, chillies and sugar which you can add to taste.
After our boat trip we travelled on the train to Lopburi, a small town notable mainly for the monkeys which wander freely around the town centre and crawl over the temples. At night they line the electrical wires and screech at each other, which is actually a pretty sinister sight. (Apologies to all the monkey-lovers out there - I'm looking at you Emma!)
Monday, 1 February 2010
Lost in Bangkok part 2
Yesterday morning we woke up late and had brunch at our guesthouse. (Fried flat noodles with chicken in a black bean soya sauce for Dave and chicken with veg fried in black pepper with rice for me.) I also had my first ever full bottle of beer. Thai beer is definitely growing on me.
We had a relaxed day and then got a taxi to Lumphini Park, which is a large park in the centre of the city. It was similar to Hyde Park in several ways, although on such a hot day in London there would have been far more people around. We hired a swan boat and pedalled around the lake in the middle, which was fun in a self-consciously cheesy kind of way. The evening aerobics we had seen on a smaller scale at the park close to us started as the sun set, and with around 200 people taking place they were pretty cool to watch.
The mosquitos started to bite as it got dark so we headed to the skytrain, which we were planning to get to check out Patpong, the former red light district which is now apparently more of a tourist market. Those of you with delicate sensibilities do not fear, as we went the wrong direction on the sky train and gave up. Instead we headed to Little Arabia, which is in a district which itself has no shortage of go-go bars. As we passed one open-air bar I started to think I was seeing everything twice, as there was an elderly gentleman with white hair and a young Thai lady at every table...
Aside from that, Little Arabia was really interesting - it was buzzing with energy and definitely seemed to be a district with a distinctive identity of its own. The sky was lit with neon signs and the air smelt of Indian spices than Thai food. We ate at a restaurant called Ali Hussains - recommended by the Holy Text LP - and I would seriously urge all of you to fly to Bangkok now just to eat at this restaurant! It was without a doubt the best curry I've ever had, and I speak as someone who lived in Glasgow for four years and sought them out on a regular basis.
After our meal, we followed my plan for getting home, which involved getting the skytrain to the boat then a river taxi to near our hotel. Dave just wanted to get a taxi the whole way, but I was certain that my plan was better. However, we arrived at the remote pier the river taxi leaves from and discovered the services had ended for the night several hours before. Our only alternative was to get a taxi home after all.
Yesterday was a rest day which actually turned out to be restful, although we did get up fairly to go to Chatuchak weekend market, which received about 20000 visitors each Sat and Sun. The stalls sold a mixture of goods obviously aimed at tourists and more practical things for Thai purchase, such as live fish, turtles and maggots, all on display along the pavement. We looked around for a couple of hours then headed back to the guesthouse to chill out for the rest of the day.
Today we are headed north to Ayuthaya, which used to be the capital of Thailand before it was invaded by the Burmese. We're planning to stay there for a couple of nights while we check out the ruins, which should be a change after Bangkok.
We had a relaxed day and then got a taxi to Lumphini Park, which is a large park in the centre of the city. It was similar to Hyde Park in several ways, although on such a hot day in London there would have been far more people around. We hired a swan boat and pedalled around the lake in the middle, which was fun in a self-consciously cheesy kind of way. The evening aerobics we had seen on a smaller scale at the park close to us started as the sun set, and with around 200 people taking place they were pretty cool to watch.
The mosquitos started to bite as it got dark so we headed to the skytrain, which we were planning to get to check out Patpong, the former red light district which is now apparently more of a tourist market. Those of you with delicate sensibilities do not fear, as we went the wrong direction on the sky train and gave up. Instead we headed to Little Arabia, which is in a district which itself has no shortage of go-go bars. As we passed one open-air bar I started to think I was seeing everything twice, as there was an elderly gentleman with white hair and a young Thai lady at every table...
Aside from that, Little Arabia was really interesting - it was buzzing with energy and definitely seemed to be a district with a distinctive identity of its own. The sky was lit with neon signs and the air smelt of Indian spices than Thai food. We ate at a restaurant called Ali Hussains - recommended by the Holy Text LP - and I would seriously urge all of you to fly to Bangkok now just to eat at this restaurant! It was without a doubt the best curry I've ever had, and I speak as someone who lived in Glasgow for four years and sought them out on a regular basis.
After our meal, we followed my plan for getting home, which involved getting the skytrain to the boat then a river taxi to near our hotel. Dave just wanted to get a taxi the whole way, but I was certain that my plan was better. However, we arrived at the remote pier the river taxi leaves from and discovered the services had ended for the night several hours before. Our only alternative was to get a taxi home after all.
Yesterday was a rest day which actually turned out to be restful, although we did get up fairly to go to Chatuchak weekend market, which received about 20000 visitors each Sat and Sun. The stalls sold a mixture of goods obviously aimed at tourists and more practical things for Thai purchase, such as live fish, turtles and maggots, all on display along the pavement. We looked around for a couple of hours then headed back to the guesthouse to chill out for the rest of the day.
Today we are headed north to Ayuthaya, which used to be the capital of Thailand before it was invaded by the Burmese. We're planning to stay there for a couple of nights while we check out the ruins, which should be a change after Bangkok.
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