Laos? Done.

After our whistle stop of Laos, we're shortly due to catch our next flight, Lao Airways, for Hanoi... Wish us luck!

In a nutshell then, Laos is a country of diversity. There's a feel of relative western influence, not least the French in the major cities (Vientiane, Luang Prabang). This however seems quite far removed from the population itself. Sure, there's nice buildings, scatter cushions, nice spa's and bakeries, but the people don't live in the colonial towns, they don't own the cushions, and they certainly can't afford treatments and massage - after talking to a girl yesterday, she earns 80p for giving an hour massage, and works a 13 hour day, 7 days a week.

If you look merely 5 minutes away from here, you'll uncover the outlying villages (the real Laos), paved by mud tracks, seemingly ramshackle buildings which shout DIY, and children walking happily amongst livestock.

For me, the best experiences, have been visiting the places where the people live, to see where the locals eat, and where they wash their clothes and themselves in the river. If you look 50 yards upstream, you might see Water Buffalo, or even us washing our Elephants.

The people here, they don't have much, but they don't seem to want it. Family values and friendship are definitely close to the heart, you just have to look in the street at the kids playing with bicycle tyres, or a
mother clutching her baby as she cooks. The saddening part really I guess is not seeing this at home, when was the last time you saw a group of children laughing almost uncontrollably? Maybe the UK lifestyle is too far removed from this for comparison?

I'd definitely like to visit Laos again, the people here are friendly, welcoming and often not hard pressed to throw a smile in your direction. It definitely seems a daunting prospect as London looms wide on the horizon, the city that if you rely on the surly waiting roomesque tube etiquette and common practice (or art) of looking through people, just seems worlds apart, and it is!

Vientiane, not a lot to do there, maybe spend a day, rent a motorbike and take a ride out to a village, meet the local drug smugglers.

Vang Vieng, if you want Marijuana, Opium, Mushrooms or anything else trippy, come here, just don't expect to see any locals. Worth a visit for the Tubing, scenery and eco-trips though. (see pics)

Luang Prabang, for us, it was Elephant riding, Kayaking, Night Market and learning the perils of Pottery making. Lots of temple, and then a few more.

You can't easily summarise Laos (or indeed many of the places we've visited), but hopefully the constant stream of pictures can fill in the holes in my vocabulary.

Anyway, we're off to 'Nam maaaaan, and guess what? You just weren't thereeee maaaan.

We'll be meeting Rik and Rach in a few hours, and Rik has English teabags..... Woooooooooooooeiiiiiii

Cya soon!

Quick update

A couple of days ago we arrived in the city of Luang Prabang, it was once the capital of Laos, and therefore has lots of temples to visit, but frankly not a lot else. It's a nice looking place though, with primarily French colonial architecture, some nice eateries and in addition is situated on the confluence of two rivers (Mekong and Nam Khan).

We took a sunset boat ride out to a small pottery village, where we learnt just how difficult it is to make anything... other than a mess. Thankfully the children who were teaching us had a slightly better grasp of it. Pockets now a little lighter, we headed back on our chartered boat to the city.

Today, we're headed on a 2 day Elephant trekking, and mahout course. So getting back to London, not only am I fully qualified to drive a car, and ride a motorbike, I (fingers crossed) would be able to ride my Elephant to work, or even just for a leisurely stroll around Richmond Park.

Anyway, much more to come on that tomorrow night when we return to civilization. We hope you're all well, and that City find some form for next week...

Cya soon!

P.S Some new photos uploaded :o]    

Buddha's, Smugglers and Worm Tablets... oh and Caterpillar Salad

Yesterday involved all of these things.

Miranda wasn't feeling tip-top (tiredness due to Mosquito bites apparently), so being the caring person I am, I let her sleep and left a note stating my intentions to go and visit Buddha Park.

So, with my backpack in place and rice bowl fitted to my head I set off on the 24km journey to Buddha Park, which Lonely Planet mentions, but gives utterly inadequate detail on how to get there. Anyway, I reached a roundabout, had two options and followed my nose. Around fifteen minutes later following the road along the Mekong, and having to dodge an increasing number of what I've describe as small quarries in the road (potholes, big ones) and shortly after it turned into a dirt road, I realised this may not be the right way.

After promptly spinning the 'beast' around, I headed back to the roundabout where in my best Lao (I have a vocabulary of maybe 4 words by now), where I asked for directions at a scooter repair shop. The guys pointed me to take the only other available road. So on their information I whizzed away down the dual carriageway, heading roughly towards the Friendship bridge. About twenty minutes later I was starting to lose faith, so pulled in at a garage, where I guy pointed (but said nothing), and with that I carried on for another mile. I then pulled into some small roadside cafe, where 4 women greeted me (probably hoping I'd buy something) and learnt my name, and where I was from... eventually I got the information I needed and set off, as the women continued to laugh - the helmet isn't the most flattering thing I've been seen in - with refreshed faith that I was on the right track, I headed up the road, got some more fuel, again re-clarified and, after another 20 minutes landed at a place in the back of beyond, in a tiny village along the Mekong, at yes, Buddha Park.

Before gaining entry, I had to grab some food. The selection was limited to some street vendors, so I took my pick and ended up at some place selling a comprehensive menu of... noodle soup. I grabbed a drink, took a seat and waited patiently as I watched her prepare my food. The funny thing is, non of these places would last a day in the UK, food hygiene is probably akin to the '3 second rule', meaning, if it looks OK, it is OK... oh and don't worry about the flies, they're all part of la familia At this point I can see the value of being vegetarian, which was great because I'd just found out my food had been delivered with a very fresh leaf salad. Let the feast commence...

The soup was huge, full of noodles, herbs, spice, vegetables and meat (some of which was harder to identify), however, sticking to the rule of thumb - always eat where the locals eat - I ploughed on, safe in the knowledge there were also eating it. About this time, I realised that the salad I was eating had some extra protein. I watched 2 Caterpillars walking around freely, I guess also enjoying the salad. At this point I became a full on carnivore, and left my new friends to eat the salad. The meat itself was OK, and 24hrs later I'm still alive, but man's best friend arrived shortly after to help me consume the soup without raising any suspicion that I'd had help with elements of it, I think the dog grew to like me.

Shortly afterwards, I was joined at the table by a Lao guy he was a nice chap seemingly. He was 24, spoke very good Ingerisch, and we enjoyed a decent conversation for probably an hour at the table. Actually it was great to speak to some locals, and swap opinions and exchange views. It came to talking shop, where I explained I (had) worked in IT, based in London. His job was a little different, he basically explained that he smuggled Marijuana across the river to Thailand, with his friends, a few times a week. Lucrative it seems because Thailand's laws see that most people there won't risk growing their own because of the harsher laws. Here in Laos the laws are more flexible, and with the right approach i.e cash, you can buy yourself a certain amount of freedom. In their case, they knew some Lao policeman, that they dealt with, and on the other side of the river, knew some Thai police, who collected the drugs on the other side.... interesting business plan, I'm sure you'll agree. They also had some guns, bought from.... yes, the Thai police for £40, yes, for a handgun!!

Anyway, we went for a stroll around Buddha Park, he explained what he knew of it, having grown up in the same village, and we had a about anything and everything. Right now, I can guess a few of your faces are screwing up, imagining this animal of a druglord, let me assure you, far from it. I trusted him, and I think over the course of the trip, you meet people and you get a nose for sniffing a rat. Anyway, we concluded our walk, I had a look around the park, and he said he was going over the road to his friends house for a few beers (Lao people like to drink, and beer Lao is a good beer), and would I like to join them. Initially I was slightly hesitant, and recognised that there's an element of risk, but after getting to their house, and seeing them all out in the front garden, drinking and chatting away, I figured what the hell not. So there I was, sat around with a group of new friends, chatting and having a good time - I think more than anything they were curious about life in England, and comparisons about things, from music to cars and back.

Unfortunately, I had to call time, as I wasn't much fancying a ride back on the 'ped in full on darkness, though as it happened by the time they'd all said their goodbyes, and how much they liked chatting with "their new Lao friend", James Bond... it was dark. After declining offer of a house party and sleeping at their house, which would of been great, but, obviously as circumstances dictated, it was time to say goodbye.

I got back to the hotel, and we went to eat one of the worst steaks of our trip, polished off with some antibiotics we found in the minimart, for killing worms (to be sure, to be sure) ... Well, you can't have it all!

Vientiane, and pictures of Bangkok uploaded

We landed on our feet in Vientiane, we're staying at Le Leela hotel, and basically have the place completely to ourselves. Who said Laos had to be third world :o]

So aside from nice accommodation, what do I make of it? Well, to be honest I wasn't expecting a lot, and I was probably very unfair to Laos in seeing it as a gateway to Ha Noi. Vientiane definitely isn't hustle and bustle, fast paced or metropolitan. What is apparent, is Vientiane is finding it's feet, apparently with occasional backing from some wealthier neighbours (a Malay shopping centre, Japanese funded clinics), and an increase in tourism.

Aside from a fine selection of Wat (Buddhist Temples), and a very small CBD (think smaller than Hinckley) there's not a lot to do, a few swimming pools, a decent selection of eateries, bars and street vendors, that's your lot, from a tourism point of view. What it does have is a serving of French culture, apparently a few of them landed here and made an impression - probably running from a war. The positive result is some decent food (we don't like to admit it, but French cuisine cannot be denied), and here in Laos, you get plenty of fine dining for your money.

Today we hired (another) two wheeled bundle of joy... a 110cc monster. Great for getting around, and given the traffic here is by any standards low, our £4 a day bike is well recommended. Tomorrow, or possibly Sunday we shall go to Ban Na, at the National Park where we shall go in search of Elephants, Tigers, Bears, Baboons and if we're really lucky - some more Mosquito's, which also seem to like Laos, and Miranda, a lot. The weapon of choice for that will be a Honda Baja as we'd probably kill our 'ped.

We're forced to stay here until at least Monday, as the Vietnamese Embassy (your only means of a VISA, $50 please) apparently can't process it before then. Monday we hope to get a bus to Vang Vieng for tubing (floating down the river for 3.5km on an inner-tube, drinking Beer Lao from one of many floating bars) and a visit to the caves there. Probably two days later, we head to Luang Probang the old capital to see the apparently wonderful Wat and other historic interests. Then we must press on to the border towards Ha Noi to meet Rik and Rach... our travelling buddies for the week. Rik, Yorkshire teabags, ok?

So that's us in a nutshell. As a final note, feel free to take a peek at the photos'/video we've been trying to get up to scratch with!

Bangkok to Laos

Tomorrow we're leaving Bangkok, and it's definitely city I would recommend, and come back to. We spent four nights here at the Cha Da hotel, which for 25 sterling a night was excellent value, given the quality - we've done our best to avoid the touristy Khao San Rd, and thankfully as a consequence haven't seen many Euro/US faces out our way.

The best thing about Bangkok for me, is the availability of good cheap (often street) food, and if you avoid the tourist traps you can eat for 30/40 baht (50-70p).  If you don't like spicy food, you're likely to go hungry, but I haven't really had a bad meal, or experience (anywhere) from eating where the locals eat... on the street!

The people here are also pretty friendly from what we can gather, hopefully that's a trait that will continue in the final stages of our trip. The city itself is big, much like London, and houses around 8 million heads. Actually, the only real annoyance here we've found are the greedy Taxi drivers. Being good travelers, we read up before we arrived, and knew the Taxi's were good value - providing they switched the meter on. Most of them however, try and agree an 'off the meter special price', which in my reckoning is usually 100% more than the fare if you had them use the meter rate... most of them either just drive off when you say meter, or as we found last night at the Banyan Tree hotel (we visited the Moon Vertigo bar, 59 floors up) agreed the meter to the concierge then didn't switch it on, assuming we'd roll with whatever price he decided when we arrived - at which point, I opened the door, and politely slammed the door for him 100 yards down the road, ahole.

Everything works pretty well here logistically, you have the Metro, the Skytrain (monorail), Taxi, Boats (river & canal), and the 'special price' Tuktuk (see above). As I said, it's definitely somewhere to look at visiting, and if we had more time I'd spend it in northern Thailand, and not the busier southern islands, hopefully on return to Bangkok we can take a look at Ko Chang/Ko Mak and discover more of rural Thailand, if it still exists!

Anyway, tickets booked, hopefully speak to you in Laos! 

           

The Haircut and new videos

Below is an extract from an email I sent to Zoe. She seemed to find my situation most amusing so thought I'd publish it on the blog for you all to have a good laugh too.

To Zoe:
I must tell you about my dreadful haircut. If you're at your desk stop reading now because you will laugh!! We were in a Malaysian Market and there were a couple of hairdressers in there. One of which said they had hair treatments and because of the sun, my hair is fried. So went to enquire. The lady explained that my hair was very dry (yes I know that) and it transpired that because I was going to the beach the next day, the salt water would breakdown the treatment.

Ok, that makes sense. She suggested that I definitely needed a trim and knowing James did too, we agreed on two cuts and 1 blowdry for about £18. I sat in her chair feeling quite relaxed. She asked how much I wanted off the ends, I said 'hardly anything'. She said ok. I thought we were on the same wave length.

I was getting a wash and blowdry too but apparently the wash comes after the cut- alarm
Bells should have started ringing. Then she proceeded not to cut my hair across the bottom in a straight line like any normal hairdresser but dragged the scissors vertically down my hair, almost slicing it. She saw the look of confusion on my face when she'd done one side and said 'too much hair lady, we make thin, we make better'. So needless to say although I haven't lost loads in length, my ponytail is like a rats tail, when it's down, the 'thinning' has created lots of short layers, this coupled with the humidity means I look like a frikkin poodle!!

So at this point my hair rivals lily's before hers started growing properly. Her next move was to wash. I walked over to the washbasin after her, at which point she barked at me to go back to my seat. I did as I was told and she came back over with a bottle of water and shampoo in her hand and proceeded to try and wash my hair whilst sitting upright at my seat. Yes it was weird, yes there were bubbles everywhere, no I have no idea why I wasn't allowed to have it washed in the sink!!

Next came the blowdry... No combing of my hair after the wash, just madly blowing my tangled hair in different directions. Eventually she picked up her brush and started curling the feathered front part around my face 80's style! When the torture was over I stepped outside and started madly messing with it, trying to make it look better. James asked if I didn't like it, genuinely seeming a bit confused. I shot him a death stare and concluded that boys just don't get it and never trust a Malaysian woman with 'thinning scissors' in her possesion with anything as precious as hair!!

To Miranda:
Oh my god I'm actually crying sitting on the tube reading about the Malaysian Market haircut! I do have to initially say that you have been travelling and away from civilisation for way too long if you thought from the outset that a haircut from a Malaysian Market was going to be relaxing and bang on the money. I've never been to Malaysia but my gut instinct screams don't do it!

Wise words...


In other news James has done some IT geniusness and managed to convert our videos into a format that will go on the blog so they're very slowly uploading.

Our plan now is to go to the Laos embassy today to get a visa and then head over the border tomorrow as our Thailand visa expires then. We're both really looking forward to Laos. It's no where near as developed and touristy as Thailand and has fun activities like river tubing which we really fancy.

Hope everyone at home is well. I hope both Mums had a nice Mothers Day in your favourite children's absense. Hopefully get to speak to you all soon.

Mx

Update!

Well it's our last night tonight on our little island heaven. Tomorrow we head off in the morning on a new adventure, destination? Bangkok. We're planning I guess to be there for 2/3 nights, as we really need to cover some miles over the next few weeks.

There could also be a change of plan, heading instead to Loas, before Vietnam. We're meeting Rik and Rachel out there in Ha Noi on March 29th, so it makes better sense! 

In other news, I'm now also an Advanced Openwater diver, good for 30m, with some additions like night diving, and wreck diving. I'll leave it at that for now, as Miranda is fast becoming a dive widow :o)

Bye for now, J&M

Diver James

Just a quick post to say I'm now a qualified diver, yey! Had some great dives today over on Phi Phi (Koh Bida), I've been lucky enough in the last two days to see Black Tip Reef Sharks, Kuhl Stingrays, Pharaoh Cuttlefish, Seahorses, Trivally... actually hundred's of species of marine life.

Back to our plans, well, we've just booked to go to Koh Tao (Turtle Island) on the East side of Thailand, the South China Sea. There I'll hopefully get a chance to log my 5th dive and Miranda will get the chance to do some apparently excellent snorkeling. From there, we really need to get a move on and head up towards Bangkok, preparing for our departure for Cambodia - curiously, having arrived on a boat from Langkawi, you only get a 15 day entry to Thailand, instead of the normal 30 day via an airport, though you can come back in and get it re-stamped if you can be bothered, or pay.

Bye for now!

Langkawi to Ao Nang

Langkawi is a small island up on the Northern tip of Malaysia, to it's West and sits in the Andaman Sea. We spent I think 4 days there at the Lankasuka Resort, and would recommend it as a budget choice without hesitation, around 28 sterling a night for a huge (biggest room I've ever stayed in) premium king including breakfast. 

Sadly, and much to my dismay you couldn't use it's seafront due to Jellyfish warning signs - we never actually saw one - and to be honest it's not the thought of being stung that would bother me... I'm just not sure I want to give Miranda an excuse to use her Shewee on me from great high, actually, I can see her smirking face now! You'll hopefully have taken a look at the beach sunset shots of the palm shacks, and writing in the sand , it was a nice beach.

We hired a car on the last day, the dodgiest/best car I've ever hired, depending on how you look at it. I walked down to the airport, basically with 100 RM (17ish sterling), my photo ID and license, it wasn't until I'd bartered them on the price and settled a deal that I realised I'd picked up Miranda's photo ID. Fearing I was onto a loser, I carried on with it anyway and just produced my counterpart (paper bit), she glanced at it, and gave me the key... So there I was, Toyota Vios, 17 pounds for the day, zero deposit (no card swipe) and asked to just park it at the agreed location (the other side of the island), leaving the car open, and the keys under the floor mat.

Anyway, the car worked out really nicely. We did a decent lap of the island, stumbled on the bustling market you saw in the photos (the one with the food that non of you liked), and then watched the sun set at Pentai Cenang beach, and after some Chicken Satay and a badly mixed cocktail headed back to the ranch for our last night.

We departed from the Kuah Town jetty, bound this time for Thailand via the port town of Satun. Arriving there we got the (pimped out) bus directly to Krabi, and from there a collectivo of sorts to Ao Nang, from where I'm writing this.

Ao Nang, well it's Ibiza town/Magaluf kind of affair, lots English, everyone hassling for you to grab a taxi that you don't need, to buy some chince from them, to eat at their restaurant. But actually once you come to terms with the place being touristy, commercial and lively, it's not as bad as it first seems. With that said, if it weren't so well located for getting to the islands of Phi Phi Don/Leh, James Bond Island and Phuket, we'd have more than likely moved on to somewhere nicer. The other draw are the beaches, Ao Nang's is fine, but a longtail boat can get you to Rai Leh (West), Phra Nang, Ton Sai in a matter of 5-10 minutes... so like I said, it's easy to get places from here.

One of my personal goals of Thailand was to get my diving certification, and yesterday after visiting every dive shop in town decided on doing it with a UK fronted firm called Scuba Addicts (established for 6 years, unlike a few of the newer outfits). I enrolled on a 3 day SSI (not PADI, equally respected, though less known) course, and today was my first day. So after spending about 4 hours reading yesterday, today I was back at school, and learning new things in the classroom and swimming pool (24 skills). Tomorrow, I'm going on my first outing to the local islands, and the following day have a day diving at Phi Phi and the exam. All being well, I'll be a qualified SSI Open Water diver, certified to a depth of 18m by the start of the new week. Unfortunately, Miranda decided against it, largely I think due to her concerns over Asthma (which can kill you underwater), and her cold which was still lingering in her inner ear/sinuses over the last week - I'm sure they'll be other occasions if she were to change her mind in the future.

With that said, I reckon she'll be happy with Thai guys pouring attention over her on the beach as she reads her new book, and trying to rival my (mediocre) tan.

Anyway, just a quick update, hope you're all well and good. We'll see you in 6 weeks (sweet baby jesus) and 2 days... I look forward to Miranda supporting my lifestyle as a professional Diver/Playboy/Skydiving/IT Geek for the weeks after we return, bless her!

See you soon!   

  

Thailand

This morning, we leave Langkawi this morning on a boat, destination Satun, where we cross the border and jump on a bus to Krabi [6ish hours], there we plan to spend a few days on the beach [Phra Nang maybe], then see James Bond Island, and Phi Phi, before heading to Phuket.

See you in Thailand...

P.S New photos are up.