After spending two days in the capital of Laos I ventured south to Udon Thani, Thailand. Getting there was a small ordeal. I had decided to take the last bus from Vientiane to Udon. It was suppost to depart at 5:00 pm. Well the bus didn't even arrive until 5:40 pm. This is sort of a problem as the border closes around 6-6:30. You never really know in this part of the world. So after about 40 minutes we get to the border. It was still open but it was quite obvious that we were the last ones to be let through.
With the border behind us the bus headed south to Udon. Upon arriving in Udon I was hassled left and right for a taxi. I didn't want one, all I wanted was to know where I was. Amazingly no one either knew where I was or would not tell me. Eventually I figured it out (always look for the super nice hotels, they are few and almost always on the map) and went on my journey to find a cheap guesthouse. On my way walking I ran into another white guy (its pretty rare up here) who told me about this other place that was closer to where I was and nicer. So I followed him back and got a room there (140 baht). Turns out the guy was from Alaska and had spent a lot of time in Hillsboro...small world we live in.
With my room taken care of I went to get some food and some drinks. Later that night I went to some night club that was really close to my guesthouse. It was ok, they played some good house music but the drinks were really expensive.
The next day I got a Jumbo (like a tuk-tuk) to the Airport. They driver was trying to rip me off so I ended up getting angry at him and he finally lowered his price...it was still more expensive than the going rate....but I needed to get to the airport asap.
That day I would fly from Udon to Bangkok and then to Penang, Malyasia.
Once I got to Penang, Mark picked me up and we headed to his place. After some good Indian food and some drinks we went to the "Chill Out Club." So most clubs (even in SE Asia) have a good music selection. This place had 3 rooms with 3 djs all playing the same 5 songs over and over again. I think the DJs were just for show. It was really bad. And at 40 ringit a "Jug" rather expensive. A Jug is about 3 beers.
View from Mark's apartment in Penang
Carina is going to kill me
Good DJ
Bad DJ
Friday morning was a step back to reality for me. I woke up checked my work email and starting doing work again. However it didn't last too long and in the afternoon Mark, Carina, and I headed to KL to see the Paul Van Dyk show.
Driving in KL (Asia in general) is quite a task. Roads aren't straight nor do they make any logical sense. One minute you are going south and 30 seconds later you are headed west. This makes it really hard to navigate cities to say the least. While it only took about 3 hours to reach KL from Penang, it took about 1 hour to reach the hostel in China Town.
That night in KL we went to see PVD. The show was pretty good and for about $16 US with 2 drinks, it was a great deal.
The next day we went down to Melaka. Melaka is an interesting city on the SW coast of Malaysia. It has a very complex colonial past. First ruled by the Indonesians, then by the Portugese, then the Dutch, then the British, then the Japanese, and then the British again, and then finally Malaysia became independent. Its history is very rocky, but it gives the town a really different flavor than the rest of Malaysia. Many of the buildings are European, the streets are clean, and things seem much more orderly and planned out.
After a nights stay in Melaka we headed back to Penang. On the way we stoped along the way to see a bunch of fireflies. It was quite a sight. There were so many fireflies in the bushes that they looked like the bushes had Christmas lights blinking. It was like nature's Christmas show. All they needed was a little music.
So for the past few days I have been traveling through the Peoples Democratic Republic of Laos. Laos is a rather interesting country. To get to Laos I crossed the Mekong river at Chiang Khong in Thailand. I didn't cross in some large ferry boat either. I basically got in a very small wooden boat and was shuttled across for $0.50. Across the river is Huay Xai, a small village used primarly for trade between Thailand, Laos, and China. Yes, I am very close to China at this point, only about 100 km away.
Gate to Indo-Chine
Crossing the Mekong River into Laos
In Huay Xai I booked a speed boat for Luang Prabang and just wandered around the town. That night I practiced my Thai with the guy working at the guesthouse. We went through the Thai alphebet and some basic sayings in both Thai and Lao. See, Thai and Lao are basically the same language. The script is a little bit different, but the vocabulary is nearly the same. Same same, but different.
Mekong river from Huay Xai
Mekong river from Huay Xai (sunset)
Woman on a motorbike
Main Road
The next day I woke up to get on my speed boat to Luang Prabang. This speed boat ride would prove to be the highlight of my journeys through Laos. Imagine getting into a tiny little wooden boat with a huge engine on the back of it. The boat looks like a sled with a huge car engine attached on the back. These things hold 8 people and go about 50-60 mph. They are also incredibly noisy. Its rather funny, they offer you earplugs when you get in for 40,000 kip ($4). Thats probably about 40x the going rate for earplugs elsewhere.
So I get in the speed boat and its like sitting in the back of a small sports car. My knees are pressed up against my chest and I am incredibly uncomfortable. Hmmm, only 6 more hours of this....great.
Me on the boat
Getting Gas
Onward!
So we take off and its like a rollercoaster ride down the river. We are moving left, then right, then left, then right in order to avoid the rocks. You see the Mekong river isn't the most navagable river in the world. There are no dams anywhere along it. Its wild and untamed. So was our jouney.
Speed boat passing by
Lunch Stop
Another Stop Pic 1
Another Stop Pic 2
Another Stop Pic 3
After about 8 hours my legs were about to fall off. But we finally made it to Luang Prabang. Getting off the boat I could hardly move, but I managed to make it to the taxi and get a ride into town.
Luang Prabang is a nice sleepy town. There are no new buildings there, everything is old and classic looking. After looking around for a bit I found a guesthouse for $5 a night. This seems rather pricy to me, but the other places were going for $15-30.
Money in Laos is an interesting experience. Small purchases are make in Lao Kip. Medium sized purchases are made in Thai Baht. Large purchases are made in USD. Several times I paid using multiple currencies. One time I made a purchase using all three currencies. Its rather entertaining.
I spent 2 nights in Luang Prabang. I mainly just visited a bunch of temples and did some shopping at the night market. The city has a real laid back atmosphere, but there were tourists everywhere. This kind of turned me off a bit. That and things were more expensive than Thailand. Additionally, there is a lack of street food venders during the day. Nonetheless, Lao is still a nice place to visit.
Temple
Temple showing the Tree of Life
Budda
Temple
Temple
Art inside Temple
Tree of Life 1 (closeup)
Tree of Life 2 (closeup)
Wat across the river
Wat across the river (closeup)
Precious farmland 1
Precious farmland 2
Wat
Buddha
Little Monk
Wat
Wat
Alley
Wat
Wat
Royal Museum
Royal Meseum
Temple and River
City and Mekong River
Monk at Hilltop Wat
View from Hilltop Wat
Night Market
After 2 nights in Luang Prabang I flew to the capital Vientiane. Vientiane is not nearly as congested and dirty as Bangkok. In fact, it has a real sleepy feel to it. Like all cities in SE Asia, there are a ton of Buddhist temples. Unlike other SE Asian cities, traffic is managable, and crossing the street can be done. Also of note, the drive on the right side of the road here. This is rather odd because in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore the drive on the left side of the road. I'm not sure how the roads work at the boarder. I'll find out later today. It will be interesting nonetheless.
Airplane to Vientiane
Streets of Vientiane
Government Building
View of the ?
View of ? (closeup)
Opposite side of ?
View from top of ?
My time spent in Vientiane has been mainly used walking around the city. I saw a bunch of temples, visited a few markets, and ate a lot of food (there are more street vendors here). Yesterday I had a Beer Lao and watched the sunset over the Mekong river.
Sunset and boat on the Mekong 1
Sunset and boat on the Mekong 2
Beer Lao meets Lonely Planet
Market
I'll wrap up by stating what Lao doesn't have.
No western fast food
No beer other than Beer Lao
Not to many crazy drivers
No ATMs
No safe drinking water
No valuable curreny (10,400 kip = $1 USD, largest note 20,000 kip)
Today I finished a three day trek into the hills above Chang Mai in northern Thailand. Three days ago eight of us ventured out into the hills. In our group there were 3 South Africans, 2 Canadians, 1 Welsh, me, and our Thai group guide. Everyone got along in the beginning, so a lot of fun was to be had.
After about a 2 hour ride in the back of a pickup truck we made it to the beginning point of our trek. Our goal for today would be to make it to one of the villages of the Lua people. Unfortunately the village was about 4 miles away on top of a rather large looking hill. So for about 4 miles we hiked up and up to get to the village. It was pretty strenuous getting up there. Much more than I expected. On the way up our guide, Jumbo, showed us many of the different plants that grow in the area. The ones you can eat (Lemongrass, Teak, eggplant), and the ones to avoid.
On the way to the village
View on the way up
Upon arriving at the village we were greeted with the sounds of a working farm. Think pigs, chickens, and a ton of dogs running around. The buildings were made up of the trees and branches found in the area - mainly bamboo. In the village we stayed in a special hut ment for us foreigners. The building had a deck, kitchen, and a large sleeping area.
Another village across the valley
Women getting food
Village House
Village Picture
Welcome Sign
After some time spent wandering around the village, we had dinner and started a fire. See, there is no electricity in this village, so when the sun goes down there is not a lot to do (or see). There are no lights, only candles. We spent most of the night eating and then waiting for children to come and sing to us. Unfortunetly no children came that night, so we went to bed. Unlike in southern Thailand, the north gets cold at night. It was pretty darn cold both nights on the trek. We had some blankets, but not enough.
The next day we had breakfast and afterwards the children showed up and sang to us. As a reward we gave them some candy and they were really happy (who wouldn't be?). With a full stomach and some new tunes in our head we headed out for another village.
The next village we came to was a different tribe. These people were from China orginally and fled due to persucation. Many of them spoke some english, and like the other tribe they wore normal clothes. Honestly, you wouldn't really think you were among a hill tribe. They had TV and electricity there. We just made a quick stop and continued on.
Village Picture 1
Village Picture 2
Our next stop was at a waterfall. There we went swimming and had lunch. Our lunch was some raman noodles wrapped in a leaf for safe keeping during the journey. It was quite tasty and the waterfall was quite refreshing. While there we meet some people who lived there. There were two men who could not hear who lived there. They were really funny though. They jumped off some cliffs and just wanted attention. They were quite entertaining.
After the waterfall we continued on to our final destination for the day, a guest lodge by a river down below in the valley. The trip there was quite strenuous. The trail was not very good and the terain was quite steep. Many people in the group fell or slipped on the way.
Upon arriving at the guest house we had dinner, went swimming in the river, and drank a bunch that night.
The next day many of us woke up with hangovers. It was ok though as we had a good breakfast with lots of coffee and tea. After breakfast we went on a short elephant trek. Riding an elephant is pretty fun. Its not super exciting as the elephants move at a snails pace, but occasionally your elephant may do something out of the ordinary and you are held hostage while he/she does what they want to do. For me, my elephant decided it wanted to climb a hill into some bushes away from the group. Its ok going up, but when the elephant comes back down the hill you have to hold on really tightly as you can easily fall out of the saddle/chair.
Elephant Ride 1
Elephant Ride 2
Elephant Ride 3
Elephant Ride 4
Elephant Ride 5
After riding the elephants for about 1 hour we went white water rafting. My raft had four people on it, me, the two Canadians, and our Thai river guide. Our guide was pretty cool and he kept splashing us and trying to push us overboard. The whole trip down the river was a big water fight. The rapids were pretty weak when compared to what we have in the NW. At best we went down 1 or 2 class 4 rapids. I'd probably put them at 3 though.
After the white water rafting we went bamboo rafting. Bamboo rafting is pretty non-eventful. We just sat on the raft, chatted, and layed out in the sun. It lasted for about 1 hour.
After the bamboo rafting we had lunch and came back to Chang Mai.
Tonight all of us are going out to dinner and then to the bars. It should be a good time.