Almost A World Tour!

Our first stop in Thailand was Chiang Rai but it's fair to say it was relatively short-lived - 18 hours to be exact. We arrived, had a wander round but there was just nothing to do and Chiang Rai itself lacked any sort of appeal after laidback Laos. Maybe we just needed abit of time to adapt to a faster pace of life again.

The following morning we made the four hour bus journey to Chiang Mai. I was certainly abit taken aback initially by how westernised it was - McDonalds, Subway, Pizza Hut, Starbucks and Baskin Robbins. I suppose this was mainly because when I was reading up on the area it focuses very much on the fact that it has 300 Wats so I had imagined it being alot less "neon" but then you remember this is Thailand. We mulled over what to do the rest of the day whilst devouring a Big Mac (well it has been 8 weeks of rice and noodles)

It just so happened that it was the final day of the Lanna celebration of the refurbishment of the largest temple in Chiang Mai. This was one big party, there were Monks attending from all over Thailand, traditional dancing & music and alot of fireworks. It was a real experience to attend such an event and witness how these people celebrate something that is so important to them.

Trekking is very big business in Chiang Mai so we signed ourselves up for a 2 day, 1 night affair starting the following day. We were greeted the next morning in the guesthouse reception by quite possibly the most hyperactive and smiley Thai guy ever. Mr T was his name and there was no way this Trek was going to be dull with him at the held.

It took quite a while to pick up all the other trekkers from their guesthouses, it appears Mr T wasn't so familiar with the urban jungle. Eventually, after a few laps of Chiang Mai all 12 of us were on the road. It was a good mix of people, some lads from America, a few Canadians and the rest were Europeans, not to mention the 3 Dutch stunners who thought quite rightly, it was perfectly acceptable to trek in hot pants.

We had a four hour trek that day, the going wasn't too bad but it was really hot so we were all slightly relieved when we reached the village we were staying in that night. When we booked the Trek the overnight stay was pitched to us a "Tribal Village" but to be honest we had found Chiang Rai alot more tribal. This was abit disappointing as I was really up for mingling with some authentic hill tribe types. We had a walk round all the same and took lots of photo's of the huts like you do.

That evening we all sat down to eat and then the evenings entertainment cranked up a gear courtesy of Mr T being the wrong side of a few Chang beers. It seems the guy had an endless array of magic tricks and riddles he was only too willing to share (if he could stop pissing himself laughing long enough to perform them). Check this one out for size - "What has roads but no cars? Rivers but no water? and Cities but no people?" He kept us guessing for a good 10 mins - it's a map apparently - pure genius!

After a pretty much sleepless night due to the fact that I managed to pick the only bit of floor space directly below a hole in the roof and it pissed down all night we were up at 7am for day two. We trekked for a further 3 hours to look at another waterfall. I did a spectacular fall on a slippery rock and almost got washed away, I'm really not having a good relationship with water at the moment.

They had laid on activities for the afternoon, first up was an hour of elephant trekking. Mark and myself were assigned what had to be smallest elephant in the world (how Mr T laughed - alot) which just followed the other normal sized elephants smelling thier bottoms. Then it was time for whitewater rafting which was really good fun, amazingly, against all odds I managed to stay in the boat. But they had saved the best till last, bamboo rafting. We didn't have as much luck with this one. The guide seemed think a raft made from bamboo could hold the weight of 7 men so we all climbed aboard and promptly sunk about 4 inches underwater. The guide then steered us straight into a concrete bridge forcing us all to abandon ship and we spend the next 15 mins helping the poor guy rescue his livelihood from the bottom of the river.

Next on the agenda was an authentic Thai cookery course. We were taken to the food market early in the morning to buy all our fresh ingredients and then it was to the kitchen to cook. To be honest it was a really good laugh, the group was made up of Brits, Americans and Canadians all our age so we all got on really well. I made Thai green curry, sweet & sour pork with veggies & Pad Thai in the morning then we broke for lunch and ate our dishes. In the afternoon I made spicy beef salad, chicken & rice soup and mangoes with sticky rice. I was really impressed with how damn good they all tasted - I evidently inherited my mothers culinary skills. I will be laying on a Thai banquet to celebrate my return to the UK so look forward to that one guys....

Our next stop - Koh Pha Ngan via Bangkok

To set the scene, The Gibbon Experience is essentially a nature reserve which has been set up in the Bokeo forest in very Northern Laos. The project was created to help protect the Nomascus Concolor Lu Gibbons which were once thought to be extinct but have been living in this part of the forest for many generations. By taking part in the project not only are you providing funds but also helping to raise awareness - sounded like a good enough reason to us.

Theoretically it is a 2 to 3 hour drive from Huay Xai to the start of the forest and then a further hours trek to the reserve. It all started well and we were approx 1 hour into the drive when we stopped for lunch. It had been raining alot the past few days so the roads were really, really muddy, so muddy it turned out that the truck we were meant to all change into was stuck on the way to pick us up. We waited for an hour or so before the guide said we have no choice to walk the final 14km's. So we got our waterproofs on and set off thinking this won't take too long. It soon became apparent the going was pretty dreadful even by foot, we had to wade through rivers, balance over rickety old bridges and trudge through deep mud. After 6 very long hours of walking we arrived at the village completely covered in mud and pretty tired.

We were met by another guide who would take us the final hours trek to the reserve (which ended up taking 2 hours). Little did we know that this would be the most extreme trekking we had done so far. There was barely a path as it had been washed away so most of the time you were having to be extremely careful not to put a foot wrong unless you would fall over the edge. We all made it in one piece although there was plenty of complaints from some members of the the group. Where was their sense of adventure..?

Our home for the next three days was a treehouse 100 meters in the air. The only way to get into the treehouse was by zipline so after a brief breather for some water and pineapple we got strapped into our harnesses and prepared to take flight for the first time. It was now 7pm and dark so we had to just push off the launch platform and aim for the lights of the treehouse. It was a pretty amazing feeling to be flying through the air in the darkness. After showers, dinner was served and we all hit the sack exhausted.

The real treat came the following morning when we were woken by the sounds of the gibbons singing, I climbed for underneath my mozzie net and saw the full treehouse and forest for the first time. It was unbelievable, I couldn't believe how high we were, the views were absolutely stunning we were just surrounded by trees. After breakfast we were given a quick safety and procedure talk about using the ziplines and then allowed to go and play.

There are four treehouses in total and they are all connected by a network of ziplines some running as long as 300 meters and the highest being 250 meters above the ground. Most of went out with one the guides to try and spot some gibbons. Doing my first zipline in the daylight was pretty spectacular as this time you could actually see how high you were and you had to climb the main tree holding up the treehouse and zip out over the side. This was probably the best day I have had travelling so far as we spent the day zipping and trekking around the forest. It didn't take long from us to graduate from novice zippers to one-handed, leaning right back in the harness and zipping like the guides. We had such a great time.

That evening when we all settled down for dinner I felt something on my leg, I just presumed it was another mozzie bite but when I rolled up my trouser leg I realised I had two leeches trying to suck me dry of blood. The weird thing is that you don't feel it at all at first and when you get them off they bleed like hell, apparently they have an anti blood clot agent in their bite.

On our final day we had to leave the reserve at 10am in order to get back before dark. There had been even more rain so there was speculation as to whether we would have to do another 6 hour walk. We did our final zip back to the HQ and set off on the initial walk back to the village. When we arrived there was no car so we waited and waited and waited some more until Hannah (a volunteer worker who was teaching the Laos guides English) said we had better start walking. Well all hell broke loose as these two American girls who were in our group went mental saying there is no way they could walk as they had blisters from the the walk on the first day. It was pretty funny they were so dramatic, threatening law suits and all sorts. We just started walking.

After about 45 mins we saw the truck which was dropping off the next batch of people so we waited for it to come and pick us up. We all piled in (all 13 of us with our 2 guides on the roof) and started what was the most extreme off-roading I have ever seen. The roads we were so deep with mud that the truck kept getting stuck but the driver was so good that he always got us out even when all thought there was no way he could.

We changed into two smaller pick-ups at the half way point and myself, Mark, Hannah and Chico (one of the guides who we had got on really well with) got stuck with the banger. Despite having chains on the wheels the pick-up got stuck at least 6 times on the way back, each time we had to all jump out and push it out of the mud. We had a good laugh with it though getting covered in mud and there are some pretty funny photo's to follow.

It was so good to get in a proper shower when we arrived back in Huay Xai, we were filthy and it has taken about 3 days to get myself properly clean. We spent that evening drinking our last Beerlao's with Hannah and Chico reminiscing about our 3 day adventure. It has been by far the best thing I have done whilst travelling, anyone heading over to Laos should definitely check it out!

Our next stop - Chiang Mai

After all the excitement of death defying tubing in Vang Vieng our next stop was Luang Prabang for some much needed R&R. Eric and Mel who we had been hanging out with in Vang Vieng were also heading that way so we all got the bus together.

Luang Prabang itself is really stunning, an incredible collection of Buddhist and French colonial architecture against a drop back of mountains. We found ourselves a really nice guesthouse on the banks of the Mekong River which was run by a very chilled out family. I was chatting to one of the son's about Laos and how I really liked it when he said he though the best thing about Laos was the beerlao which he declared "very, very delicious!" made me laugh - maybe you had to be there...

We visited the Royal Palace Museum which provides a real insight into the local history as this was the residence of King Sisavangvong and his family. The king died in 1959 and his son Savang Vattana inherited the throne, but shortly after the 1975 revolution he and his family were exiled to northern Laos and the palace was converted into a museum. So no-one can say I wasn't listening but I appreciate this must be abit boring for you guys so no more culture talk.

We also went to more waterfalls which to be fair weren't the most impressive waterfalls ever but you could swim in them and jump off the top into the water and there was also a rope swing thing you can swing on and then let go. So once we had done the usual teetering around the edge for 10 mins not wanting to go in because the water is cold we had lots of fun jumping and swinging off things.

There were alot of monks in Luang Prabang (presumably because there are a few temples) but these are cool monks who like to hang out man. They were at the night market, cash points and internet cafes looking all cool in their orange robes and shaved heads. I was doing a spot of emailing one day when a monk came in and started using the machine next to me to chat up some birds on MSN - I'm not sure Buddha would have approved it was getting pretty fizzy!

After 4 days in Luang Prabang it was time to move on, the fact you couldn't get a beer after 11pm didn't have anything to do with the decision. We were heading further north to Huay Xai as we plan to move onto northern Thailand and also because we had had a trip called "The Gibbon Experience" highly recommended by some mates we met in Vietnam. There are two ways of getting to Huay Xai, either by slow boat which takes 2 days or by speedboat which takes 6 hours. To save time we opted for the speed boat. Now I was expecting a James Bong style speed boat where I could lay in the roof working on my tan but then I remembered I was in Laos and that transport is always rather on the basic side.

When we arrived at harbor the following day we were both pretty shocked by this speed boat, not only was it tiny and apparently took 8 people but it also didn't look too sturdy. We were issued with a crash helmets and a lifejacket and took to our tiny seat (so small your knee's were round your ears) and off we sped. It was pretty scary at first as it was pretty nippy and you were sat about 3 inches above the water but we arrived safe and sound. There are some comedy photo's to follow.

Our next stop - The Gibbon Experience

Sabadee Bloggers

So we are back in Laos and I can't believe Vientaine is the capital. It is so small and chilled out, a complete constrast to the hussle and bussle of Vietnam but I like it.

We met a nice British couple (Jim and Kate) on the flight over so we all shared a taxi into town in search of a guesthouse. We ended up in a $3 USD a night place, I am even impressing myself with my economising now adays. We all went for lunch and it turns out that Jim and Kate are also from Clapham - it really is a small world. We all spent the afternoon exploring Vientiane.

That evening we went out for beers with Jim (Kate was really knackered so she stayed in). The best thing about being back in Laos is Beerlao - probably the nicest beer in the world and Lao-lao the rice whiskey which is probably the most lethal drink in the world.

We were getting well stuck into the pitchers of Beerlao when a group of Chinese people on the next table asked us to jion them. There was one guy who spoke really good English and the others spoke limited English but they were keen to learn. They were a lively bunch and in Laos for a fortnights holiday so it wasn't long before the Lao-lao made an appearence. Then the camera came out and they all took photo's of us - it was abit nice but abit wierd. As we were all chatting it was apparent that there was one guy who seemed to be the ringleader of thier group, he was a really nice guy and when our bill came he insisted on paying for all our drinks. He then insisted on us going onto a club with them, paying for our entrance fee and even more drinks. We were all convinced he was some sort of chinese mafia boss - there was no way he would let you pay for anything all night.

The club was full of young Laos people so we had a great night dancing with them all. They have these funny dances they do so I picked up a few new moves, I can't wait to hit Inferno's with them when I get back. When the Chinese people left he was really thankful for us hanging out with them. We were just all relieved to wake up the following morning minus horses heads in our beds!

We left the club at 4am and were really hungry so we stopped off at a food stall on our way back home. We sat with more locals and ordered some sticky rice and what I thought were chicken schewers. The food was going down pretty well but the chicken was pretty chewing and it didn't really taste like chicken. I asked one of locals we were sat with and to my horror was told we were infact feasting on chicken hearts - nice! You need to be careful in Laos as apprently they eat anything that they believe has nutritional benefit.

Two days was long enough for Vientiane so we got a bus up to Vang Vieng. It's a tiny place and so laid back its unbelievable. There is only really one main road where all the restaurants and bars are but whats really wierd is that they all show Friends and Simpsons episodes all day long. However, now I'm sports expert we opted for the men's Wimbledon final and the World Cup final - I didn't get bored once!

The following day we went for a traditional Lao massage, I was pretty exhausted after watching all that sport to be honest. I swear to God I have never been in so much pain in my life. I mean massages are meant to be relaxing right? But I would never of thought such a tiny Lao person could inflict so much pain! I felt pretty beaten up by the end after having had my entire body pumelled, pulled, stretched, twisted and cracked. He even cracked my earlobes for god sake! He was laughing at me so much because I spent the entire hour wincing in pain.

Our last day in Vang Vieng was pretty active. We hired Mountain Bikes in the morning and set off to find these wicked caves. It was pretty short-lived, Mark lost the map after 5 minutes on the road so we just kind of cruised round decided to go Tubing instead.

Tubing is like Vang Viengs national sport. The concept is very simple, you are issued with an inflated tractor inner tube, dropped off a few km's up the road and you float back down the Nam Xong river to the tubing place.

It all started off well, we met another British guy at the start so we all floated merrily down the river chatting away. They have bars every 30 or so mins where a guy will pull you in and you can stop for a cold beer and jump off a massive rope swing into the river so we did that a few times. We were told at our last beer stop we only had 10 mins till the end of the route. Now my tube has been abit slow which had been an ongoing joke with Mark and Eric so I noticed the middle of the river had developed quite an impressive current so I decide to get myself in the middle of that.

The next minute I'm flying down the river past the others and as we turn the corner its the end of the route. Mark and Eric get pulled in by the guys no problem but I'm too far out still picking up speed. It's when I turn the next corner that I begin to panic. There is no-one else in the river as far as I can see. I decide the best thing to do is abort my tube and swim to the side. I fling myself into the river, prompted loose both my flip-flops (which I really liked) and frantically swim to the side dragging the bloody tube with me. I manage to get myself onto the bank feeling pretty relieved. There is however a big barbed wire fence running down the bank of the river. I have no option but to scale the barbed wire fence with my bare feet being very careful not to puncture my tube. I then limp shamefully and abit shaken back to the tubing place to meet the guys.

Tubing in Vang Vieng - good fun but its not a race!

Our next stop - Luang Prabang

Bloggers,

We faced another grueling journey from Hue to Hanoi (15 hours on the bus) so we decided to treat ourselves to the overnight sleeper train. It's a slightly longer journey by train (they aren't exactly lightning fast) but you do get a bed, a prospect I was pretty excited about. It worked out really well, there were very few westerners on the train but we were sharing with a Vietnamese guy and a French guy who both spoke excellent English. As soon as the first catering cart came round the Vietnamese guy ordered a load of beers for us all so we sat on our bunks drinking beer and bantering until 1am and then got some shut eye.

We arrived in Hanoi at 11am the next day and headed for a guesthouse which had been recommended by some Aussies we had met in Cambodia. The family who run the guesthouse are super friendly and helpful, we were hungry so they recommended a noodle place down the road. This restaurant only serves beef noodles so you don't have to place an order, you just sit down and they bring the food over for you. We have been back everyday since, you wouldn't believe how good beef noodles can be!

England were playing that evening so we went for dinner with our new French friend from the train and arranged to meet some friends who we originally met in Cambodia but happen to be staying in our guesthouse in a bar later to watch the match. Obviously, we were knocked out (just when I was getting into footie too) but it wasn't all doom and gloom, it was Canada day! So we drowned our sorrows and celebrated being Canadian with our Canadian friends - there was alot of Sambuca & beer.

We spent the following day nursing our hangovers and exploring Hanoi. We booked a 2 night trip to Halong Bay & Cat Ba Island. Halong Bay is one of those places you have to visit to really appreciate how stunning it is. It looks like something from Jurassic Park, a series of small islands covered in jungle and you cruise through it all on a boat. We went on to visit two massive caves, I took loads of photo's which I will add to my blog so you can check them out - it was pretty cool.

We were staying in a hotel on Cat Ba Island so we hit the beach in the late afternoon and spent the evening drinking with some Aussie's we met on the boat trip. The following day we did a Trek through the National Park. When we arrived the guide showed us the mountain we would be climbing and I thought he was joking! It wasn't too bad going at first as there were steps but they soon disappeared and we were off-roading through the jungle, climbing over rocks the full shabang. It was knackering (and very sweaty) but we made it to the top and I even ventured up to the top of the observation tower. I was happily taking a few snaps when someone pointed out how dodgy the planks we were all standing on looked, we all sh** ourselves and legged it back down.

The guide decided to take us down the "adventure route" on the way back. It was probably harder coming down the mountain then going up, it had rained over night so it was really slippery and some people did some spectacular falls in the mud. All in all it was a really good laugh although it was pretty hard going at times.

We have got one more day on our Vietnamese visa's before we make our move to Northern Laos. Again we have taken the wussy option of a 1 hour flight over a 24 hr bus ride.

Vietnam has been absolutely brilliant. I didn't really know what to expect but I have been constantly impressed with each of the different area's we have visited traveling up the country. It has so much to offer interms of history, culture & scenery. The food is amazing and the people make visiting their country a pleasure.

Our next stop - Vientiane