Thinking of alliterative titles for all of the above places seemed like too big a task I am afraid.
So I met Sophie in Chiang Rai and we spent a day and a half exploring the small but nice town. Wandered around the night market, looked at a gold clock, ate a Thai sausage which was nice but was just a sliced sausage on a plate with some raw vegetables (that does not a meal make), and visited the White Temple. The temple was really beautiful, and completely different to any other temples I've seen. I was more than slightly perplexed by the paintings on the inside of the temple, which featured images such as the twin towers falling down, Spiderman, Superman and Neo from the Matrix, among other strange images, supposedly with some kind of symbolic meaning about reaching Nirvana but I didn't buy it. I then collected my laundry from the guest house, most of which had been dyed blue and therefore ruined, and we made our way to Chiang Saen, where it turned out there was nothing going on, not even the night market, which the Lonely Planet had promised us. We arrived too late to go to the centre of the Golden Triangle (where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet) so ended up having a quiet evening in our very jungly guesthouse (i.e. MASSIVE spider on toilet seat). We set off early the next day for Chiang Khong, which should have been a breeze as it was only 53km away, but which actually involved walking 2km down a road with our heavy bags on looking for the trucks to take us there, getting a taxi back down the road as we had walked too far and were too tired to walk back, and then waiting for about 2 hours for the truck to leave as the driver wouldn't go until it was so full that people had to hang off the back of it. We got dropped off somewhere half way, where we were told another truck would come to take us the rest of the way. This did not happen, so we had to charter a truck to take us there. We crossed the border to Laos in a tiny wooden boat which took about 2 minutes, and spent the night in quiet and not particularly interesting Huay Xai, before getting the slow boat the next day to Luang Prabang, stopping off at Pak Beng for the night on route. The slow boat journey was much better than expected; pretty comfortable and with absolutely beautiful views along the Mekong river. On the second day a group of locals who seemed to be moving house as they had so much stuff got on, and entertained everyone sitting around them by getting absolutely smashed on BeerLao, and playing a drinking game which involved spinning a ducks head in a sticky rice basket (whoever the head was pointing to had to drink). They were very friendly, offering cucumber to all the tourists and even trying to get us to join in on the drinking. Sophie and I spent 4 nights in Luang Prabang, which I absolutely loved. The city was really charming and beautiful, with amazing river and mountain views everywhere you looked, and some of the nicest people I have met so far on my trip. Days were spent wandering/cycling between eateries, drinking strong and sweet Lao coffee, sampling the Beer Lao, visiting temples and shopping in the night market. On our second night there we made our way to the nearby bowling alley where most tourists go once all the bars have closed, since everything closes at around 11pm in time for the midnight curfew. We expected the bowling alley to be a bar with some bowling on the side, but it really was just a brightly lit, standard bowling alley, where everyone was actually bowling. It was pretty funny though and we made some friends there. One evening just before it got dark we walked up the 300ish steps to Phousi hill and admired brilliant views of the city. On another day as we were on our way to go into a temple we got invited to have a beer with some locals inside their shop, where they tried to get us drunk in the middle of the day and told me I was Miss Luang Prabang. They were lovely and it was very amusing. One of the guys was a tuk tuk driver, so we agreed to let him take us to some waterfalls the next day, where we had a swim and saw some elephants.
After 4 nights Sophie had to leave to make her way to Bangkok for her flight home, so I left the next day and headed to Vang Vieng with an Australian guy called Glenn, who we met in the bowling alley. I was very sad to leave Luang Prabang though. The journey to Vang Vieng should have been 5 hours, but it actually took 8 on account of the recent mud slides that had blocked some of the roads as it had been raining so heavily. We were also delayed somewhat by the stop we made at a local market, where two of the passengers (one of whom later started driving the van) bought some live crabs, some dead birds and some chicken feet (the feet were a snack for the journey). Vang Vieng was as touristy as I expected, with every single bar/restaurant playing episodes of Friends and Family Guy on big screens, but the river/mountain views were again absolutely beautiful. On our first day Glenn and I rented bikes and cycled to a nearby cave. We thought the 7km journey would be a breeze, but unfortunately the roads were not really roads, just mounds of rocks, and because of the recent rain there were also some fairly huge mud puddles to wade through. It was really nice cycling through the villages though, and when we made it to the cave we were able to wash the caked on mud off our legs and have a swim in the lagoon. We then had to climb up a 200m practically vertical slope (there were steps so I may be exaggerating, but it was hard) to get into the cave, which was very dark and very slippery. By the time we got back into town we were filthy and tired, but it was good fun. The next day we decided to sample tubing, which is what everyone goes to Vang Vieng for. You hire a rubber tube in town, get driven to the river, get a boat to the first bar, then float to the next bars inside your tube where the staff throw you a rope to grab onto and haul you in. Optimistically, Glenn and I decided to share a tube, and I thought it would be a good idea to wear my bikini and just tie my dress around my neck so it wouldn't get too wet. Unfortunately the river was flowing faster than expected, and Glenn and I nearly drowned trying to get to one of the bars. We fell out of the tube, my dress floated off down river, and we gave the guy pulling us in rope burn. After that we just walked to the other bars.... We did manage to hold on to our flip flops and the tube, although it was pointless looking after the latter as in the end we made absolutely no effort to locate and return our tube, which meant we didn't get our deposit back (I think the tubing company makes a lot of money from tubes returned late or not at all). Aside from the near death experience the tubing was fun, the atmosphere at the bars was great, and the views were stunning.
I decided to leave Vang Vieng the next day as there isn't much to do there if you don't want to drink buckets again, so I got the bus to Vientiane on my own this afternoon. I arrived this evening, and luckily bumped into a girl I met in Pai, so we went and sampled some food at the night market. Haven't seen much of the city yet as it was dark when I arrived, so I am going to explore tomorrow.
Whoever is reading do keep me posted on news from you and from home. Lots of love xxx
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Friday, 9 September 2011
Kicking back in Kanchanaburi, chilling in Chiang Mai and police raids in Pai
Ok so I've exaggerated a bit with the police raids in Pai but it made for a better title than anything else alliterative I could think of...
After Bangkok I moved on to Kanchanaburi, taking with me my new resolution to remain sober at all times. Kanchanaburi was very peaceful and pretty, although it being low season there weren't too many people around in the evenings. I stayed in a very sweet guest house with little bamboo huts and very nice views of the river Kwai. On the first day I went to look at the death railway bridge which had very beautiful mountain scenery but obviously a not so nice history of people dying whilst building the bridge. I saw a woman carrying her dog in a little backpack on the bridge which was most interesting, and met an Italian girl called Luna who I spent the rest of my time with. The next day we rented bikes and did some cycling in and around the city. We went to visit the WW2 cemetery which was quite moving, and learnt interesting things about the building of the bridge in the railway museum. Luna and I got a bit lost while cycling so when we saw a Westerner reading the lonely planet we followed him on his bike and hung around with him for the rest of the day. Went and visited a cave where there were lots of Buddha worshipping things placed randomly inside, and lots of bats. I met an English uni student called Eddy when I went out for dinner and kept him company in a reggae bar in the evening (I had an orange juice of course).
The next day I went back to Bangkok and then got on a sleeper train to Chiang Mai. The train was an absolute dream in terms of comfort and I got talking to an English girl and a German couple on the way which made the journey more interesting. Arriving in Chiang Mai at around 7am was nice as I got to see the monks walking the streets and collecting alms. The mountain scenery around Chiang Mai is beautiful, and I spent my days doing a lot of temple visiting and general wandering. Whilst sat down at one of the temples I was approached by a monk who asked if I would mind talking to him as he wanted to practise his English. I ended up talking to him for about an hour which was really interesting. He was very passionate about Buddhism and was very keen for me to learn the art of meditation. It got slightly awkward towards the end when I realised that we had been talking for about an hour, it was raining, and I was starving and he was showing no signs of wanting to end the conversation. I didn't feel it would be appropriate to mention that I wanted to go and get lunch as he had just been telling me that he is only allowed to eat one meal a day. I managed to extract myself though, and made my way to Doi Suthep, a temple on top of a hill with great views of the city. Whilst up on the hill I also visited the winter residence of the royal family, which I found distinctly unimpressive and not at all palatial. Maybe the Thai royal family are fairly low key in terms of their accommodation needs. The next day I did a cooking course, so I am now a culinary genius when it comes to Thai food. I particularly enjoyed the deep fried bananas which was a surprise given that I hate bananas.
Got a bit bored of Chiang Mai, even though it was nice, so I made a last minute decision to go to Pai, which I loved. Met some American girls on the way who I spent most of my time with. Pai is tiny but has a really nice, laid back atmosphere. We visited a hot spring spa resort on the first day which was quite pleasant except for the weird sulphuric smell and then went out with a big group of people from our guest house in the evening, including Tor, the owner of the guest house. When moving between bars Tor gave us all a lift in his tuk tuk, which we somehow managed to cram 10 people into, and also attracted a following of local street dogs. The police are really strict about licensing hours there, and whilst we were in one of the bars the owner suddenly turned off all the lights and music as the police were driving around closing bars down for the evening (hence the title). The next day the American girls and I tried to rent some motorbikes as we had an ambitious plan of driving ourselves to various sights around Pai. Some guys from the guest house gave us a practise session on their bikes first, which was just as well as we discovered that motorbike riding is hard. Luckily I managed to drive in a reasonably straight line down the road without driving through someone's fence and into their garden, but unfortunately the same cannot be said about one of the other girls I was with. The motorbike plan was then abandoned, in favour of riding on the back of other people's bikes. I found that much more fun and a lot less scary, and we had a marvellous day involving a visit to a canyon with amazing views and a swim in a waterfall. Then it was back to Chiang Mai for the night and then on to Chiang Rai the next morning, where I met up with Sophie, which was an absolute joy. We're going to get a reasonably early night today so Sophie can recover from her jet lag, and we plan to visit the golden triangle tomorrow, as part of our route to the border for our crossing into Laos.
I hope all is well with whoever is reading. Do send me your news and I will send more word soon.
xxx
After Bangkok I moved on to Kanchanaburi, taking with me my new resolution to remain sober at all times. Kanchanaburi was very peaceful and pretty, although it being low season there weren't too many people around in the evenings. I stayed in a very sweet guest house with little bamboo huts and very nice views of the river Kwai. On the first day I went to look at the death railway bridge which had very beautiful mountain scenery but obviously a not so nice history of people dying whilst building the bridge. I saw a woman carrying her dog in a little backpack on the bridge which was most interesting, and met an Italian girl called Luna who I spent the rest of my time with. The next day we rented bikes and did some cycling in and around the city. We went to visit the WW2 cemetery which was quite moving, and learnt interesting things about the building of the bridge in the railway museum. Luna and I got a bit lost while cycling so when we saw a Westerner reading the lonely planet we followed him on his bike and hung around with him for the rest of the day. Went and visited a cave where there were lots of Buddha worshipping things placed randomly inside, and lots of bats. I met an English uni student called Eddy when I went out for dinner and kept him company in a reggae bar in the evening (I had an orange juice of course).
The next day I went back to Bangkok and then got on a sleeper train to Chiang Mai. The train was an absolute dream in terms of comfort and I got talking to an English girl and a German couple on the way which made the journey more interesting. Arriving in Chiang Mai at around 7am was nice as I got to see the monks walking the streets and collecting alms. The mountain scenery around Chiang Mai is beautiful, and I spent my days doing a lot of temple visiting and general wandering. Whilst sat down at one of the temples I was approached by a monk who asked if I would mind talking to him as he wanted to practise his English. I ended up talking to him for about an hour which was really interesting. He was very passionate about Buddhism and was very keen for me to learn the art of meditation. It got slightly awkward towards the end when I realised that we had been talking for about an hour, it was raining, and I was starving and he was showing no signs of wanting to end the conversation. I didn't feel it would be appropriate to mention that I wanted to go and get lunch as he had just been telling me that he is only allowed to eat one meal a day. I managed to extract myself though, and made my way to Doi Suthep, a temple on top of a hill with great views of the city. Whilst up on the hill I also visited the winter residence of the royal family, which I found distinctly unimpressive and not at all palatial. Maybe the Thai royal family are fairly low key in terms of their accommodation needs. The next day I did a cooking course, so I am now a culinary genius when it comes to Thai food. I particularly enjoyed the deep fried bananas which was a surprise given that I hate bananas.
Got a bit bored of Chiang Mai, even though it was nice, so I made a last minute decision to go to Pai, which I loved. Met some American girls on the way who I spent most of my time with. Pai is tiny but has a really nice, laid back atmosphere. We visited a hot spring spa resort on the first day which was quite pleasant except for the weird sulphuric smell and then went out with a big group of people from our guest house in the evening, including Tor, the owner of the guest house. When moving between bars Tor gave us all a lift in his tuk tuk, which we somehow managed to cram 10 people into, and also attracted a following of local street dogs. The police are really strict about licensing hours there, and whilst we were in one of the bars the owner suddenly turned off all the lights and music as the police were driving around closing bars down for the evening (hence the title). The next day the American girls and I tried to rent some motorbikes as we had an ambitious plan of driving ourselves to various sights around Pai. Some guys from the guest house gave us a practise session on their bikes first, which was just as well as we discovered that motorbike riding is hard. Luckily I managed to drive in a reasonably straight line down the road without driving through someone's fence and into their garden, but unfortunately the same cannot be said about one of the other girls I was with. The motorbike plan was then abandoned, in favour of riding on the back of other people's bikes. I found that much more fun and a lot less scary, and we had a marvellous day involving a visit to a canyon with amazing views and a swim in a waterfall. Then it was back to Chiang Mai for the night and then on to Chiang Rai the next morning, where I met up with Sophie, which was an absolute joy. We're going to get a reasonably early night today so Sophie can recover from her jet lag, and we plan to visit the golden triangle tomorrow, as part of our route to the border for our crossing into Laos.
I hope all is well with whoever is reading. Do send me your news and I will send more word soon.
xxx
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