Luang Prabang, Laos
According to this thing, I haven't written in here for 16 weeks. 16 weeks ago I probably hadn't even bought my ticket for South East Asia, yet here I am on a rainy day in Laos wondering where to begin.
I could start with the journey to Bangkok which was pretty traumatic. The wonderful airline (Etihad airways, how I love you not) initially refused to let us board the flight which led to several panic attacks, high blood pressure and a very near crise-cardiaque on my part. With 5 minutes before check-in closed they finally gave in, but by the time we were in the air I was feeling slightly unwell & began to get rather paranoid that immigration were going to claim I had a fever & throw me into quarantine for swine flu. Luckily I soon started to feel better, until we had the 20 hour stop over in Abu-Dhabi where we both got hypothermia due to the sub-zero temperatures caused by the air conditioning and suffered insomnia due to the most uncomfortable seats ever produced. After enjoying some turbulence on the flight into Bangkok we were more than a little grateful to have finally arrived and I was kind of pleased to find that it wasn't as overwhelming as I thought it would be. The journey to where we were staying was probably the easiest, most straight-forward part of the whole 36 hours!
After a quick strategical powernap (which lasted 3 hours) we headed out to explore and get lost a bit. It was actually quite easy getting where we wanted to go, and in the days where we had to faff around with uni stuff and sort out a few visas we managed to see quite a lot. We visited the famous recling Buddha at Wat Pho and the famous Emerald Buddha at the Grand Palace (a fancy little chap who gets his outfit changed according to the season in a ceremony conducted by the King himself!). A lot of wandering was done, a lot of good food was eaten and a lot of people watching was conducted on the Khao San Road (a rather odd place, if ever I've seen one).
A few days was more than enough though, and it was a relief to finally get moving and to head up to Northern Thailand. We took the night train to Chiang Mai, which was a bit of a novelty for me, despite the fact that I didn't really sleep well for fear that I would fall out of my bunk. I didn't, but once in Chiang Mai we did our usual pattern of seeing a few temples, getting lost, finding the market (miraculous!) and eating more good food.
On our second day there we went on an elephant ride, and trekked (or went on a nice stroll, depending on which way you look at it) to a waterfall, through a bit of jungle to a small village. After lunch we went Bamboo Rafting, which was not exactly the sedate experience I was expected and resulted in us all getting spectacularly wet. It was so much fun though and all in all we had a good day with good people, and it was much better than I thought it would be.
The next day we started the journey to Luang Prabang, which began with a drive to Chiang Kong where we stayed overnight, continued with an early start to cross the border into Laos and then ended with two days on the Mekong. It wasn't exactly a comfortable experience, but the scenery was beautiful and more than made up for it. The over-zealous Polish family in matching outfits were also quite entertaining, as they seemed intent on filming or photographing every possible moment of the trip. Strange, strange people.
We stayed overnight in Pakbeng in a funny little guesthouse with a nice host, good food and free lao-lao (rice whisky). We set off again the following morning and after many hours of gin rummy, reading, and staring absent-mindedly at the scenery we arrived in Luang Prabang.
Jenny and I have taken really quickly to this place. It really is very very pretty, with a bit of a French influence meaning that there are a lot of Bakeries to choose from. Funnily enough we have also got lost quite a bit, but we usually seem to find the market at some point so its not so bad. The food is great, I had the World's Best Omelette made up for me last night at the market for 10 000 kip - an absolute steal, and I followed it up with a Mango Crepe, which quite possibly surpasses the Nutella version. Yum.
Yesterday was amazing too - we headed out of the town to Kuang Si waterfalls, which I had no expectations of and was completely blown away by. The water cascades down into several pools where you can swim and it was just b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. A definite favourite so far.
In the evening we went out for a few drinks which was quite good fun. Although there isn't much to do in this town the bowling alley is apparently where it's at, and it's where I found myself at 2 o'clock this morning. Very, very surreal.
So yes, so far it's going well. We've both been quite surprised with how easy it feels and how we don't really feel like we're roughing it at all - I think Africa has kind of skewered our perspectives somewhat. Hot showers are the norm, we usually have comfy beds and if you need something organised there is always someone who seems to have a magical solution. We intend to head to Southern Laos from here though, and I think this will definitely change over the next few weeks.
Today has been dedicated to figuring out what day it is. I suppose it might also involve a temple, getting lost and finding the market again. Good times.
xXx
I could start with the journey to Bangkok which was pretty traumatic. The wonderful airline (Etihad airways, how I love you not) initially refused to let us board the flight which led to several panic attacks, high blood pressure and a very near crise-cardiaque on my part. With 5 minutes before check-in closed they finally gave in, but by the time we were in the air I was feeling slightly unwell & began to get rather paranoid that immigration were going to claim I had a fever & throw me into quarantine for swine flu. Luckily I soon started to feel better, until we had the 20 hour stop over in Abu-Dhabi where we both got hypothermia due to the sub-zero temperatures caused by the air conditioning and suffered insomnia due to the most uncomfortable seats ever produced. After enjoying some turbulence on the flight into Bangkok we were more than a little grateful to have finally arrived and I was kind of pleased to find that it wasn't as overwhelming as I thought it would be. The journey to where we were staying was probably the easiest, most straight-forward part of the whole 36 hours!
After a quick strategical powernap (which lasted 3 hours) we headed out to explore and get lost a bit. It was actually quite easy getting where we wanted to go, and in the days where we had to faff around with uni stuff and sort out a few visas we managed to see quite a lot. We visited the famous recling Buddha at Wat Pho and the famous Emerald Buddha at the Grand Palace (a fancy little chap who gets his outfit changed according to the season in a ceremony conducted by the King himself!). A lot of wandering was done, a lot of good food was eaten and a lot of people watching was conducted on the Khao San Road (a rather odd place, if ever I've seen one).
A few days was more than enough though, and it was a relief to finally get moving and to head up to Northern Thailand. We took the night train to Chiang Mai, which was a bit of a novelty for me, despite the fact that I didn't really sleep well for fear that I would fall out of my bunk. I didn't, but once in Chiang Mai we did our usual pattern of seeing a few temples, getting lost, finding the market (miraculous!) and eating more good food.
On our second day there we went on an elephant ride, and trekked (or went on a nice stroll, depending on which way you look at it) to a waterfall, through a bit of jungle to a small village. After lunch we went Bamboo Rafting, which was not exactly the sedate experience I was expected and resulted in us all getting spectacularly wet. It was so much fun though and all in all we had a good day with good people, and it was much better than I thought it would be.
The next day we started the journey to Luang Prabang, which began with a drive to Chiang Kong where we stayed overnight, continued with an early start to cross the border into Laos and then ended with two days on the Mekong. It wasn't exactly a comfortable experience, but the scenery was beautiful and more than made up for it. The over-zealous Polish family in matching outfits were also quite entertaining, as they seemed intent on filming or photographing every possible moment of the trip. Strange, strange people.
We stayed overnight in Pakbeng in a funny little guesthouse with a nice host, good food and free lao-lao (rice whisky). We set off again the following morning and after many hours of gin rummy, reading, and staring absent-mindedly at the scenery we arrived in Luang Prabang.
Jenny and I have taken really quickly to this place. It really is very very pretty, with a bit of a French influence meaning that there are a lot of Bakeries to choose from. Funnily enough we have also got lost quite a bit, but we usually seem to find the market at some point so its not so bad. The food is great, I had the World's Best Omelette made up for me last night at the market for 10 000 kip - an absolute steal, and I followed it up with a Mango Crepe, which quite possibly surpasses the Nutella version. Yum.
Yesterday was amazing too - we headed out of the town to Kuang Si waterfalls, which I had no expectations of and was completely blown away by. The water cascades down into several pools where you can swim and it was just b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. A definite favourite so far.
In the evening we went out for a few drinks which was quite good fun. Although there isn't much to do in this town the bowling alley is apparently where it's at, and it's where I found myself at 2 o'clock this morning. Very, very surreal.
So yes, so far it's going well. We've both been quite surprised with how easy it feels and how we don't really feel like we're roughing it at all - I think Africa has kind of skewered our perspectives somewhat. Hot showers are the norm, we usually have comfy beds and if you need something organised there is always someone who seems to have a magical solution. We intend to head to Southern Laos from here though, and I think this will definitely change over the next few weeks.
Today has been dedicated to figuring out what day it is. I suppose it might also involve a temple, getting lost and finding the market again. Good times.
xXx