Monthly Archive for April, 2009

Apr
24

A once noisy Gecko

For the whole week at the Tiger Huts in Ko Chang there was this really loud and noisy gecko. Now this gecko lived in the roof of Claudia and Vinicius’s hut. All night he would scream “Gecko, Gecko” and, in their hut it was extremely loud. I’m not sure Vinicius or Claudia got much sleep?

Anyway when they left, a group of Russians moved in and well, lets just say I think it’s best not to mess with the Russians. I found him just lying there the next day*:
gecko
RIP you noisy gecko.

*I have no proof mind, and I certainly wouldn’t accuse the Russians of any foul play or anything! Maybe they just wanted a good nights sleep…

Published
by
lion
on Apr 24 2009
in Ko Chang and Thailand
. 0 Comments
 
Apr
20

Ko Chang, eventually!

The bus left Phnom Penh at 7am and it was a good 5 hours to the border. This was a much smoother crossing than the Vietnam/Cambodia border of yesterday. The bus left us in Koh Kong, a small border village, and from here we had to get a tuk tuk ride to the actual border which cost $10. Luckily we met Alessandro, an Italian guy on the bus who was going to Ko Chang as well, and we shared the ride. Once at the border we had to walk to immigration and when that was done we were once again in Thailand at the Ban Hat Lek border!

Next we had to get a taxi to Trat where we could get the ferry to Ko Chang. We had to wait around for about an hour while the taxi could get enough people and when it did it was another hour or so to Trat. Once at Trat we had to get another taxi to the ferry port, Laem Ngop. This was maybe another hour or so. Luckily we had plenty of time to spare for the last ferry and at around 6:30pm we were on Ko Chang island, in another taxi, on the way to Tiger Huts at Klong Prao beach where Claudia was waiting for us!

We had a lovely week by the beach and although the sea wasn’t the clear blue we had imagined it was lovely and warm and the beach went on for miles. Sitting in our hammock outside the hut was paradise. And at night the sound of the waves would send you to sleep.

Published
by
lion
on Apr 20 2009
in Ko Chang and Thailand
. 0 Comments
 
Apr
19

Race to Ko Chang

We left Ho Chi Minh nice and early on the 7am bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We managed to get on a “locals” bus and were probably the only set of tourists on it. For $10 we couldn’t really complain but the only downside was that we were stuck right at the back, next to the toilet and on top of the engine so it made for a really hot and pretty smelly journey.

Once across the border, which was the most chaotic we have experienced so far, it was plain sailing all the way to Phnom Penh. Unfortunately for us we arrived around 5pm and it was way too late to continue on to Thailand. The lady we’d been sitting next to suggested we stay at her friends hotel for the night and she very kindly helped us get the bus ticket for Ko Chang for the next morning.

The hotel was called Chi Cha and for $8 it wasnt bad, although it had been raining extremely heavily since we arrived in Phnom Penh and the room had started to leak! Still not to worry, the hotel mopped the room as we sat down to a very nice indian meal in their restaurant. One of the best and cheapest meals we’ve had since Thailand - and the mango Lassi’s were superb!! After a quick jaunt around the block we settled down to a nice nights sleep ready for another early bus ride in the morning.

Don’t worry dear readers (er… Gerry!), we’ll be coming back to Cambodia in about a weeks time so we will report back in greater detail then, hang in there it could be a bumpy ride…

Published
by
lion
on Apr 19 2009
in Cambodia and Phnom Penh
. 1 Comment
 
Apr
18

Long journey to Ho Chi Minh

We left Hoi An at 6pm on another mammoth 24 hour bus journey. The coaches arent bad really and fortunately this one wasnt full so we could spread out. You can’t really relax too much though as the buses stop every 3 hours or so for toilet and food breaks.

Eventually we arrived at Nha Trang, a big town along the coast, 12 hours later at 6am. Here we had an hour to wait while they changed buses so we took a stroll in search of some breakie. It was a glorious morning and I think it was a shame we didnt have the time to at least spend a night in Nha Trang. The beaches here are supposed to be very nice.  It wasnt long before we found a tiny cafe that seemed to be serving the locals breakfast. We ordered exactly what the locals were eating, mainly by pointing at their dishes and giving a thumbs sign. You can never go far wrong using this base level of communication! Here we had what was probably the best beef noodle soup we’ve had in Vietnam.  Imagine, beef noodle soup for breakfast with some hot chillis on top? Oh how our menus will change when we get back!

An hour and a half later it was back on the bus to continue the journey to Ho Chi Minh.

We finally arrived in the early evening after the mammoth 24 hour journey. The bus left us in District 1 on Pham Ngo Lao, which had a lot of hotels, guesthouses and bars. It wasnt long before we found a reasonable guesthouse down an alley for $8p/n.

Unfortunately we only had time for one full day in Ho Chi Minh so we started to try and organise a plan for the next day, as well as book up a route to Ko Chang via Cambodia.

Extremely hungry after the journey, we took a stroll around the block in search of some good ol’ local tuck. Fortunately the area was inundated with bars and restaurants and it wasnt long before we were drawn to a small cafe which had just started to bbq some meat. It was like the old bisto adverts, we just followed the smell, salavating as we went.

Through out South east Asia there’s always hundreds of places to eat along the sides of the streets. In Vietnam they all have tiny chairs next to low tables to match. You have to kind of squat down to sit on them. They remind me of the small chairs and tables you have at primary school, they’re the exact same thing. The only thing being, now at our age, they take some practice to sit on and even more to get up from!

The food was really delicious and mine didnt last long!

It wasnt long after we sat down that a group of kids came over to us begging. I’d already finished my food but Sandra was still eating (she takes ages, chewing a 1000 times!) so I was apologising to them saying that we couldnt give them any money. I think it’s better to not encourage these young children to beg, though it is very hard to not give them anything. Anyway one boy stayed as his friends went off to the next cafe and he started rubbing his belly and putting his hand in his mouth to emulate his hunger. With this, Sandra offered him her plate of food. The boy readily accepted and immediately squatted down, pulled the plate close to his mouth, which was now at the same level as the table, then preceded to grab a chicken drumstick and use it as a spoon to scoop all the rice and meat into his mouth. He did this in one full motion. He chewed a couple of times before standing up with the drumstick in hand and his cheeks bulging, he pressed both palms together and bowed as low as he could to us before making off to join his comrades in the middle of the street. What a hunger! My gaze followed him off down the road as he munched on the chicken drumstick. I’ve never seen anything like it. My gaze then shifted to the empty plate, there wasnt a trace. I was open mouthed, never before have I seen such a quick and methodical act of eating. I then looked at Sandra who was looking at the plate shaking her head. I asked her what was up and she just said “That poor boy, he even ate the bits of grissel I’d chewed and spat out”. She tried to tell him but it was just impossible to communicate…

First thing the next day we booked up our bus ticket to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. We tried to get a ticket all the way to Ko Chang but this proved impossible, so the plan was to get another bus immediately from Phnom Penh onwards. We were on the 7am bus the next morning so we now had to see as much of the city as possible.

We had planned a route to walk but just a few yards down the road it wasnt long before we were offered a Xich-lo (chit lo), one of the many bicycle taxis. We refused at first but the guy followed us down the road showing us countless pages from an Autograph book that had pictures of him with his many customers who were absolutely delighted with his service! We soon bargained a price of $10 which would take the two of us on a journey to the Post office building, the war memorial and China Town. It seemed a fair price, much better than his initial $30!

It does feel strange riding on a Xich lo through such a busy city. The roads are packed with hundreds of mopeds and cars and they seem to come from all angles. No one stops or gives way for anyone else. Everyone wants to be first. I guess the trick is to keep moving, just like crossing a road, and you can’t go wrong. I felt a bit sorry for our driver. He must have been in his 60’s and he was now driving the two of us through these busy streets. Slowly but surely he navigated us around town to see the sights and it turned out to be a very interesting, but extremely busy day!

Published
by
lion
on Apr 18 2009
in Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam
. 0 Comments
 
Apr
14

The Tailors of Hoi An

We left Hue on the afternoon bus and arrived in Hoi An around 6pm. This really is a gorgeous little city, one of the very few places that wasn’t bombed during the war. The town is littered with hundreds of tailors and this is the place where many people get themselves suited and booted for an extremely reasonable price. So you can guess what we did? Yep that’s right, first thing the next morning we trawled the towns old market for a suitable tailor. It’s so easy to be overwhelmed by them all vying for your business, so when we our heads spinning we left the market and found the charming Banana Split Cafe just around the corner.

Over lunch the owner started chatting to us and it wasn’t long before she insisted we pop into her cloth shop next door. We were a bit cautious at first as everyone in town is, or knows a tailor that they recommend. But after lunch we did indeed pop into her Cloth Shop Number 68 and it wasn’t long before we were looking through magazines and albums for ideas and the stacks of fabrics they had on offer. These girls can copy any style you want. Anything from Gucci to Ozwald Boateng or from any photo or, as we were to find, a description or roughly penciled sketch!  It was all a bit too much at once, so we left to clear our heads. We promised to come back later when we had an idea of what we wanted.

It’s hard to take a stroll around Hoi An without being stopped every few feet by Moto taxis (”where you going sir”), Hawkers (”Name your price sir”) or Tailors (”Come into my shop sir, it’s the best in town”) so to get away from it all we dived into a cafe/bar for the afternoon to try and wind down and discuss what clothes we were going to get made up. With the help of a free WiFi connection and the start of Happy Hour it wasn’t long before we knew what we were going to get - me, a ‘copy’ of a Ozwald Boateng two button suit and Sandy, well Sandy was going for the works: a Breakfast at Tiffany’s number and a full wardrobe of 60’s Grease lightning dresses!

Armed with our printouts and hand drawn designs off we went back to Cloth Shop 68 and spent the rest of the evening drinking tea and going through our designs with the girls. They really loved Sandy, especially when she started dancing to try and describe the exact way she wanted her dresses to flow! Soon all of them were dancing around the shop singing Sandy, Sandy (all in a Grease styleee) - absolutely bonkers to watch!!

A bit before hand, on the way back to Number 68, we were propositioned by another shop to have a look at their “exceptional” cloth and fabrics. Now, just coming from a Happy Hour we accepted and soon got to looking through more fabrics etc. Before we knew it I’d agreed to a winter coat (for when we get back to old blighty) and 5 bespoke shirts! After all the measurements were taken I described how I wanted them and they told me to come back the next day.

After all the energy spent, the next day we decided to take it really easy. You couldn’t really walk around town without being hassled (all in a nice way mind) but it was getting quite annoying so we decided to cross the river and chill on the other side. There wasn’t really much going on but we found a book shop and a bar called “The lazy Gecko” run by an English guy who has set up shop in Hoi An. Who can blame him, after our few days there it wouldn’t be a bad spot to hole up for a while. It made a pleasant change from the hustle and bustle on the other side. In fact, from our vantage point on the river you could see them all  buzzing about their business! Next door to the Lazy Gecko we sat and watched a real craftsman building some magnificent furniture from bambo, a real treat to see.

Eventually we made it back to our tailors. The shirts were spot on and the winter coat was feeling good. It was at least 34c outside and there was me walking outside sweating in a thick warm duffel coat, I got a few odd looks! Still, you’ve got to make sure it fits nice and snug?!.

Next it was on to try the suit, and I’ve got to say it was looking good. It was amazing what they can turn around in 24 hours. It was also amazing to see what they had done with Sandy’s dresses. All from a few sketches, pictures from magazines, and a bit of dancing to get the flow right!

It’s going to be hard going back home, once you’ve tasted bespoke there’s no turning back - especially at these prices!

All kitted out it was time to move on again. We were really running out time now as we had to be in Ko Chang(Thailand) to meet up with our good friend Claudia on the 19th. And we still had a 24 hour bus ride to Ho Chi Minh followed by a trek across Cambodia to look forward to before we could relax on the beach!

You can check out some Hoi An pics in the gallery

Published
by
lion
on Apr 14 2009
in Hoi An and Vietnam
. 0 Comments
 
Apr
11

Hue

After the excitement of Hanoi it was time to move on. We bought a couple of really good value bus tickets that would take us all the way from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City which included open stops at Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Dalat and Ho Chi Minh for the paultry sum of USD$35 per person! this is by far the best bargain we’ve had so far!!

We actually intended to go straight to Hoi An but after the 12 hour overnight bus ride to Hue we thought we’d stop a day and see what it had to offer. It was a lot calmer than Hanoi and had a lovely vibe about the place. It could have been the fact that it was blue skies, sunshine and smiles rather than the rain and mania we left behind in Hanoi, I’m not sure, but it was a welcome change.

We did the usual at the bus stop, ignored all the hotel touts and taxi drivers baying for business and sat and found a local cafe to get our bearings and check the trusted bible (lonely planet). We had fun ordering a coffee, non of the people spoke any english whatsoever and I ended up with a small, but very strong cup of iced cold vietnamese coffee! The locals seemed amused by my expressions though which broke the ice a bit.

We soon found out that the two locals being helpful were actually taxi drivers, or rather Xich-lo drivers(bicycle taxis), vying for our business. The smiles and talk turned sour when we tried to explain that we’d rather walk than take a taxi. Still no worries we thanked them for showing us a route on the map then left them to remonstrate amongst themselves as we trotted off into the distance.

We soon found a cheap place to stay across the river in the ‘old’ town. After a refreshing shower and some lunch we went off to explore Hue. First we had a look at the old Citadel. As with most attractions we found it a bit disappointing after the impressions we had built up. Still it was worth a visit but you did have to use your imagination a bit when walking around the old forbidden city. I guess you’ve the got Vietnam war to thank for that as most of it got bombed during the war and it was the scene of the famous battle of Hue city.

We spent the night drinking in a lively bar by the river talking with Filipe and Coqui, the chilean couple Sandra met on her 24hour bus journey from Vientianne. Next day it’s off to get suited and booted in Hoi An, suits you sir!

Published
by
lion
on Apr 11 2009
in Hue and Vietnam
. 0 Comments
 
Apr
10

Mutiny on the Junk boat

We booked up on a Ha Long Bay tour after hearing so much about this wonderful place. This is definitely worthy of a visit and after all, it is classified as one of the worlds natural wonders.
Our tour was to consist of two days and one night aboard a junk boat that would take us on a majestical journey around the bay cruising past a dense cluster of hundreds of limestone stone karst formations and a stop off at a couple of small islands to visit some caves.

halongbayboat.jpg

We took a mini van ride from Hanoi to Ha Long City(Port) where we boarded a Junk boat.
It was obvious from the start that our guide was a bit special. In his initial introduction to us he declared his love for us all, alarm bells started ringing!
At the port we were told to wait to one side while he went off to organise the tickets for the tour.

There we sat and watched as group after group of tourists arrived then left on their junk boat adventure in what seemed like minutes on a well organised tour.

An hour later we were still sitting in the corner of the port waiting. All we could do was watch our guide run all over the place like a headless chicken trying to organise our tickets. It turned out there were too many people booked onto our tour and he was running around to try and squeeze the excess onto the other groups. Occasionally he would come panting over and ask for a group of two or three people and then scream at them to “Go there, you go there”.

At this point we realised we had maybe booked with the wrong company. There were so many companies offering the same tours and most of them had the same name of “Sinh cafe Tours” which was supposed to be the official tour operator in Hanoi. The agent even told us this while pumping his chest saying ‘but we are the real Sinh Cafe! We were starting to wish we hadn’t bargained so hard on the price.

Still, an hour and fifteen minutes later our guide re-joined us holding the tickets and he excitedly handed them out. We then proceeded through the gates and were just about to board the boat when we were stopped, pushed to one side and had to watch as a group who had just arrived at the port were ushered onto the boat which departed immediately. Forget Sinh Cafe Tours, we were booked on to “The Mickey Mouse tours inc”…

After more waiting and watching our guide get animated, another boat pulled in and we started to board!
We couldnt leave just yet however as there was one more episode to come. The headcount! There was still too many people on our boat!!

Some, like us, were booked on a one night/ two day package while others were on a two night/three day tour. Confused?? We were and so was our guide!

We were starting to feel sorry for him until he threw a major hissy fit and started yelling at everyone, and no one at the same time, saying “Why you not listen to me!, I tell you, you go there and you go there, but you no listen to me!” At this point he nearly burst ino tears, but as we were to find out later these were to be crocodile tears that could be switched on and off at a moments notice!

We finally embarked, two hours later than everyone else and all was soon forgotten as the excitement of earlier came back and we sat down to a nice lunch and got to know our fellow passengers. After lunch we were allocated our cabins only to find out that there was actually still too many people for the number of cabins. Fortunately for us we were allocated a cabin first and immediately trotted off to settle in, while the fun ensued above. A few minutes later we could hear some animated voices from above so we left our cabin to investigate. Back on deck we witnessed the guide trying to match together two sets of two different guys into one cabin with a double bed! Of course they werent happy and quite rightly steadfastly refused to share the one cabin. Eventually the crew agreed to sleep on deck and forfit their own cabins for the night!

After lunch we were again cruising amongst the limestone karst formations and these were really stunning. What made it more mysterious was the light mist that was drifting in. They look like monolithic islands rising from the ocean covered in thick Jungle vegetation on the top.

sandyondeck.jpg

An hour later we stopped at an Island to see ‘TWO’ caves. I emphasize the two there for good reason. We were given 40 minutes to go off on our own to visit the caves. Everyone seemed to rush through the first cave. They appeared to keep walking while taking photos and before we knew it we were on our own. Studying the different formations of the stalagmites and stalactites. Unfortunately, and this seemed quite sad at the time, some of the big stalagmites and stalactites had actually been chopped off by some over zealous builders.

On to the next cave and this one seemed deserted. Sandra didnt go up to this one so I did it solo. This cave was much better than the first and it had a wooden walkway built all the way through. This felt much better than the ruin of the first cave. After a while I left to go back to the boat, feeling a little strange that no one else was around!
I caught sight of Sandra and excitedly ran towards her about to tell her how much better the second cave was only to be greated with a frowned “Everyones waiting for you, and the guides gone off to look for you!”.

Blimey, I reckon I was 5/10minutes late and he’s gone to look for me. 10 minutes later he appears, running along the jetty and he keeps running onto the boat and up the steps to deck. He falls dramatically at my feet screaming “Why, why you no listen to me? My friend, I been everywhere looking for you” then he pretends to collapse as he’s holding my legs. All I can do is puzzlingly look down at this wreck of a guide and then look around me at everyone else. All seem dumbfounded  and I can see it in everyones eyes that they’re thinking the same thing we were earlier - this guide just isn’t right!

Next up was the canoeing, and this was the sole reason why some people had come on the tour: to canoe in Halong bay. Only from now on the guide said we were running late which he pinned entirely on me, forgetting that I was only 10 minutes late back from the caves, he seemed to forget about the 2 hours we lost at the port due to him not being able to count!. So we were told we couldnt go canoeing, because of me. After a near mutiny on the junk boat he eventually gave in and 10 minutes later we were canoeing in Halong Bay. All beit only for 40 minutes. This was amazing though and a real highlight. The Bay was becoming more majestic and mysterious by the minute due to the continuing mist that was enveloping the entire bay. The water was emerald green and very still. It was a real pleasure to paddle out to the middle and just rest there, floating amongst the limestone karst formations. Back to reality, we looked to the jetty where we could see some arms frantically waving and their attached body jumping up and down. We soon realised that this was our guide again, obviously trying to tell us the 40 minutes was up. When we reached the jetty he was yelling again “Why you not listen to me my friend?! I tell you 30 minutes but no, you take 45?!”  I won’t say I lost it at this point but I was very frosty with him.

Onboard we all relaxed a bit, had dinner and discussed the very eventful day over a few beers.

Next day we arrived at an island, Dao Titop,  to see a pagado. Now this is where all the tensions between all of us and the guide came to a head. When we had got off the junk and stepped onto the island the guide immediately insisted we had to pay an admission fee to go to the pagoda. With ths we all got our backs up and refused to pay, we all thought it should have been included in the price of the tour. Steadfastly we refused to pay and the guide then started shouting at us all again to now get off the island and back on the junk. He got quite animated and even physically tried to push a few people onto the boat. But like a true mutiny we all held firm, insisted we werent leaving the island. Even if we couldnt go up the hill to the pagoda we were staying put, right where we were for the allotted hour! It was great to see the guide so helpless and throwing another pointless hissy fit while we all enjoyed the moment!

A few hours later we arrived back at Ha Long port for our last supper and the van back to Hanoi. It was an extremely interesting tour, but it could have been just fantastic had it not been for the guide.

Published
by
lion
on Apr 10 2009
in Vietnam
. 1 Comment
 
Apr
07

How not to cross a road in Hanoi

After my 24 hours journey I arrived safe and sound in Hanoi. I could feel the difference in temperature, Hanoi was a bit cooler at night. After a well needed hot shower, Lionel took me out for a meal in the local restaurant and he was eager to show me the proper local stuff as he had arrived almost a full 22 hours before me, by plane (Grrr!). He had been exploring the locality and also been practicing crossing the roads, quite a dangerous pastime in Hanoi especially after being in the calm of Laos for the past few weeks.

*How do you cross a road in Hanoi?
The best way, without fail, is to do what the locals do. Admittedly this takes a bit of courage at first, but when you get it down it’s a fail safe. Once you’ve decided to cross just keep walking at the same pace without deviation or hesitation, no matter what is coming towards you, behind you or to the side of you. By all accounts close your eyes if it helps! All traffic will calmly pass around you as a stream would a rock. Truly amazing, it never fails! *Disclaimer: Thanks go out to Brad for this top tip, so if you follow this advice and somehow fail, sue him!

The next day we went to see the famoso Perfume Pagoda which is about a 2 hour drive from Hanoi city. Next up we took a small iron boat which are traditionally rowed by women. This journey was roughly 50 minutes along a narrow stream. Me being me, I felt that I had to help this lady as she was doing such a hard job on her own. Watching it , it looks pretty easy, but doing it is another thing. I got one of the oars from this lady and tried to maneuver but to surprise the boat wouldn’t move forward. All I could get was giggles from this lovely Vietnamese lady. She explained to me a couple of times in Vietnamese and me being fluent in Vietnamese just couldn’t grasp what she was saying. After trying several times I bumped into other boats that where moored and this time was my time to have a burst of the giggles and get back to my seat. Oh well, the adventure continued!

An hour later we arrived at the foot of the perfume pagoda  where we had a spot of lunch before  trekking  up the mountain. We had a choice of either trek it by foot or taking the easy option, by cable car which would have cost 70000 Dong (roughly 4GBP return per person).  Anyways, me being lazy  and wanting to get away from the 3pm heat just wanted to get there see the pagoda and get down, but some of us are a bit more conscious about spending the greens so after a short consultation, we decided to trek it on foot!

After the 50 minute trek up the winding Huong Son Mountain we realised it was money well saved as it was a more than worth while trek. The scenery was stunning and all along the route up are locals selling Cassava, Tapioca, Medicinal herbs and at every 50 paces vendors selling traditional Vietnamese folk songs, which are blared out from TV screens. These were an acquired taste at best and we were more enthralled with the rickety structures built from bamboo and overhanging the mountainside that they were selling all of this from.

We finally arrived at the entrance to the cave and to our horror we saw some signs that said “no shorts, sleeveless tops or open toed shoes” permitted! Lionel looked himself up and down from his t-shirt, to his shorts and then his little toes and nearly fainted at the thought that he wouldn’t be able to go in after the arduous trek.  Not to worry though as we managed to sneak in with all the other falang (foreigners).

Once inside, we were a bit disappointed with the perfume pagoda, we were told that  we would be able to smell the perfume but the only thing we could smell was the incense being burnt by all the locals beside the many Buddha statues praying for good luck for the year ahead.

After exploring the pagoda off we went back down the mountain for the journey back home and another Vietnamese boat ride. Our next endevour will be at the beautiful Halong Bay…asta la vista!

Published
by
sandyD
on Apr 7 2009
in Hanoi and Vietnam
. 0 Comments
 
Apr
04

From Laos to Vietnam

After the unforgettable Gibbon Experience we took a slow boat to Luang Prabang along the Mekong river. This took 2 days and was, on the whole, very enjoyable especially after the adrenaline driven last few days zipping around the canopy in the Bokeo reserve.

Luang Prabang was quite a sleepy town and we stayed at a very nice place along the Nam Khan river called “Cold River” hotel. It was far from cold. The family run hotel was very friendly and we bumped into the proprieter in town one day and he insisted we join him and his mates for lots of Lao Lao (rice whiskey) and snacks (very salty crispy seaweed with bbq pork). Very enjoyable, and it’s the first time I’ve seen Sandy drink anything so potent. In fact, it’s the first time I’ve had anything as potent - the Lao Lao was 50%!! As you might guess, we didnt do much for the rest of the day.

Just like Chiang Mai it would be all to easy to lose a couple of weeks chilling here but once again we had to move on. From here we went to see The Plane of jars in Phonsovan in the Xieng Khouang province. The journey was a really unpleasant one. By mini van the road was one long, twisting and turning mountainous route that on the whole took around 7 hours. For the first time since a child I was car sick. Infact several times along the way I was car sick. Luckily the driver had a stash of plastic bags to hand and by sheer luck I managed to hit the target everytime. It was such a relief when we finally arrived.

This whole tour was something of a mystery as no one can really say why, what or how the jars came to be. There are many folk tales and legends involving Giants and even Aliens, so we went with an open mind.

There were three main sites and at all of them were these massive stone jars that could have held Lao Lao (rice wine), rice or other such supplies, again no one can really say. Like most of Laos this province was subject to heavy U.S bombing during the “Secret war” (1955-1975) involving communist Vietnam (Northern Vietnam) and the communist Laos party (The Pathet Lao) versus “The Alliance” which included the U.S. (of course!), Thailand and The Royal Laotian party (the party in power in Laos). So my comrades it was all about, from the alliances point of view, stopping the spread of communism.

Due to the the lethal legacy of cluster bombs and other Unexploded Ordnace (UXO) left behind from this war, we could only walk in designated cleared “safe” areas that were marked by red (uncleared) and white (cleared) bricks. I must just say though that for the Laos people this is an everyday deadly reality. It was an interesting experience and a real wonder as to the real purpose and significance of the stone jars. Some were big enough for us to stand and sit in and there was no real pattern to the areas where they were clustered together.  All in all a great experience that we’d recommend to see, and we were lucky with our small group of 4, whom we all got on great with.

Next up we headed for Vientiane by mini van but actually stopped off at Vang Vieng on the way. We stayed a night here which was quite pleasant but to be honest one night was enough. It’s all about tubing (riding down the river in a tyre tube) and bars with the town mainly filled with young falang (tourists) getting pissed. I’m sure there’s more to the town so I don’t want to do it an injustice, but we didnt really have time to explore the caves and limestone karsts and anyway I was kind of itching to get to Vientiane!

Vientiane, the capital of Laos, was more our thing. An old french colonial town that had some interesting architecture and a lovely charm about the place. We spent 3 nights here just chilling really and wandering aimlessly around the town.

Next up was Vietnam and after the torturous road down from Luang Prabang I decided to fly to Hanoi rather than take the 24 hour road trip. I guess it seems quite extravagant looking back but I just couldnt face another road trip so soon. For Sandra on the other hand, it was a no brainer - $18 for the 24 hour bus trip or $130 for the flight… she chose the bus!  So the race was on ;) I left Vientiane international airport at 5pm on the Saturday and arrived at the Little Hanoi Hotel around 2 hours later (Just in time to see Spurs lose away to Blackburn) and Sandra arrived like clockwork a full 24 hours later in need of a good shower and a proper meal.

Apologies for the brief update but it’s been a bit of a whirl wind since Laos and its hard to find time to update the blog as often as we’d like!

We’ve added our twitter tweets to the top of the side bar now and these should have a more “real time” account of where and what we’re upto for the next few weeks…

Published
by
lion
on Apr 4 2009
in Lao and Vietnam
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