Travel blog

Day 91 - Final entry, time to come home :(

2008-03-31T10:40:00.001+01:00

Well following my last post, after completing my last dive day, I went straight from the internet café to a party at the dive centre - it was Evylene's dive-master graduation (the sister of Christophe, our dive instructor). I met up with Alex and Dave and we started to enjoy a few beers and barbecue seafood. Later came Evylene's initiation - a snorkel with a upside-down bottle attached to the end, into which they poured a bucket of Samsung (local moonshine-style whiskey/rum out here). She managed to get through the whole bucket, and following a bow to applause she made a bit of a mess in the fish pond behind her :)

Later all were pretty drunk, and everyone at the party ended up getting chucked into the diving pool fully clothed (myself included) by this beefcake dive master. Then onto the late-night bar afterwards for some more drinking and (watching other people) dancing. A said goodbye to Alex and Dave sometime in the early hours. A few more hours later and I was up to frantically pack, and start my journey to Bangkok. I felt awful! To make matters worse I had to stop the group taxi (that gets you to the ferry) and jump out 400m down the road as I realised I left my passport with the guesthouse. A sweaty fast-paced walk back to collect it, and a fortuitous bumping into a diver instructor from another dive school, allowed me to hitch a lift back to the ferry, which I made with time to spare. Following that, a bus ride which I slept pretty much the whole way through ending up in central Bangkok late afternoon.

Didn't do much there except go for a walk around the local area the first night, eat, then catch up on some much needed sleep, by which time my taxi arrived to take me the the airport for my flight to Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, to meet the boys and get our return flight home.

My impression of Bangkok is limited by the minuscule amount of it I experienced, but it doesn't seem as bad as many made it out to be. The mishmash of architecture I observed on the final leg of the journey in was pretty fascinating, massive high-tech skyscrapers and luxury accommodation next to shanty towns over a stagnant pond. Massive investment in infrastructure with spaghetti junction style highways suspended 30m in the air on giant concrete pillars plunging the streets below into perpetual darkness. A bustling atmosphere that (where I was anyway) seemed more tame than I was expecting. Somewhere I'll have to return to another time (Thailand is a big place, and will have to wait for another adventure) to experience it properly. The airport in Bangkok was the best I've been in!

Bangkok at night, showing the crazy road systems flying through the air

Image source; flickr

The journey went like custard (sweet and smooth), and by the evening I was back in the centre of Saigon (HCM), and found the hotel and room Lukas was staying in. Went for some drinks with him, and Peter soon joined us for a good catch up on what we'd all been doing of he past week. Being our last night we made it a big one – had some nice seafood, and drank quite a bit, got a nice hangover to sleep off on the plane journey home. Have just done some last-minute shopping, going back to do a final pack, then get our taxi to the airport. It's 2 flights that take about 18 hours, but loosing 7 hours in time difference put me back in the UK tomorrow morning, and home for lunch. Final visual-journey update for Cambodia & Thailand.

Thailand was a much more developed country than the others, followed by Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos was undoubtedly the poorest, least developed. Every country was unique, and good for different reasons. I can't say I enjoyed one more than the others, as we did very different things in each. All were great, and I'd happily return to every one. Parts of northern-Laos we didn't get to explore I'd love to visit, and the rest of Thailand too. But all this and more will have to wait for another time.

It's been a fantastic journey. Have experienced some truly amazing things, and been some countless places that have blown me away. Have used 6 motorbikes and 3 push-bikes, ridden in over 20 coaches, in 4 different countries, where I've travelled (somewhere in the region of) 10,000km must have seen over 100 cities, town and villages. Have been burnt in blistering high temperatures, soaked in tropical rain storms, and been freezing cold - wearing as many layers as I could fit. Been in several different sea's, couple of lakes, countless rivers, and just one swimming pool :)

90 days/3 months, talking to people back home, seems to have flown by for many, but for me, the experience has helped make it feel like an eternity – doing something different and exciting every single day sure beats the daily repetition of life back home. I can hardly remember what it's like to live my life, and am looking forward to experiencing that weird unfamiliar sensation you get reintegrating back into your everyday routine. But my eyes have been opened further than I ever thought possible, and they'll never close the same way again.

Thanks to all those who communicated with me out here, and to all who have been reading and commenting on the blog as we've been going. I've enjoyed writing it, and will be archiving it somewhere as a personal diary (I'll correct the spelling and bad grammar ;), for those who who didn't get a chance to read it all – sorry I wrote so much.

If you're interested to know what you've been a part of, the web stats are; 350 unique visitors made over 1000 visits, with 2,500 page views. All from 33 different countries around the world and over 50 cities in the UK alone, with 14% of you lovely people using Macs :).

Thanks again for listening, and looking forward to seeing you all as soon as possible.

Lukas is writing his final entry right now to, and if there's time he may even upload his final set of images from roaming the street of Ho Chi Ming city, in which case they'll be in the usual place.

Day 87 – And now, then end is near, it's time to face, the dive site

2008-03-28T12:58:00.003Z

As planned here in Thailand, I've done my PADI open water certification which allows me to dive unattended with a buddy to 18m/60ft which took 3 days – one of theory, and two of practical with knowledge reviews in-between. It was hard work but pretty fun, and teaches you the basics of recreational shallow-diving. In doing the diving I met some nice fellow Brits who've been helping keep me company here in Koh Chang. One chap Alex (ex footballer, now stone-mason), from Oxford, was doing the course with me, but have never dived before, his friend David from Peterborough (already a qualified diver), and their friend Roger (who couldn't swim). Was nice to have someone English to go through everything with, and we were dive-buddies for our entire training period.

On board the dive boat. Alex in the green shorts, and David on the right holding the railing above.

We both past with flying colours, and enjoyed it so much we both decided to stay and further our scuba-education by doing our advanced course. This would be more challenging, as there are many more technical manoeuvres, processes and safety practices to master. The course came with yet another whopping text book (got to carry two of the buggers back now), which we had to study and pass knowledge review exams before each practical exercise.

The course took two days and included 5 dives; buoyancy control (learning to make yourself effectively weightless underwater & manoeuvring skills), navigation(plotting a course, setting headings and using a compass effectively), night-dive (diving at night), deep dive (diving to 30m/100ft to do arithmetic and test the effects of nitrogen narcosis on our bodies/minds), and search & recover (search patterns to locate and object, then use inflatable bags to float it to the surface).

Some were more fun than others, but all was thoroughly enjoyable, and great experience for a future where I intend to do much more diving! The instructors were great – always there to help and real good laugh, and the skills we applied today on our first fun-dive as qualified scuba divers! So I can now dive unattended to 30m/100ft, where 31 atmospheres of pressure is applied on your body – far out! :)

Dive sites here typically look like this – small island that is surrounded by reefs and life underwater. Crystal clear waters, with visibility ranging from 10-20m typically (good!).

So have basically spent the last 6 days on a boat diving around the numerous reefs and rocky islands out here. Seen a pretty vast array of underwater life, swum though schools of thousands of tropical fish (my favourite bit!), and made some new friends doing it.

This has of course been at the cost of not really seeing Bangkok -but after talking to a lot of people here who've been, it doesn't sound like a great place to be alone – more of a group thing, and only for the night life. No one seems to have much nice to say about the city itself... But I have to return there, o avoid 2/3 days on a bus to get back to Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam to meet the boys, and catch the return flight home. So tomorrow I'm getting the bus to Bangkok, spending one nigh there, then flying the next day direct to HCM, o meet the lads. One last night together, then we catch our return flight Monday afternoon. Will be back in the UK Monday afternoon, probably in a pretty bad state of jetlag, and ready to start reintegrating back in to blighty life.

A sample of what I'm leaving behind here – so tempted just to stay!

Will do a summary entry either between travelling, or once I'm back, as the rest of my time here is pretty much going to be ravelling around... Sleeping pills at the ready! :)

Am looking forward to seeing everyone again, and catching up on the past quarter of a year of your lives!

Lukas update:
He had finished with Campot, Cambodia, and has been doing his usual exploration (on a motor bike again) in search of photo worthy subject mater. I think he's done pretty well – check his latest work here. Today he should have made his way from Cambodians capital Phenom Phen over to join Peter in Vietnam, where Peter has been doing tours around the south of the country and finally getting to see all those museums we failed to get into when we were last there.

Day 82 – Separated in Cambodia

2008-03-22T09:24:00.002Z

That last few days we all spent together in Cambodia was pretty good. After returning from Bamboo island, we had a day to burn before our scheduled scuba dive. Lukas was feeling under the weather again, so we left him in bed, and Peter and I found some bikes to help explore the coastline. This time we didn't go for conventional motorbikes as we had in the past, we found these electric bikes from China that have pedals for when the motor runs out (or you come across a hill it can't handle), and a large removable battery that slots in the body.

Our funny little electric bikes – I really want one back home, would be great for zipping around London!

They were great fun – zipping around more or less silently at decent speeds, knowing you're not producing any bad emissions (although the power used to charge it obviously did), they were a right giggle and allowed us to visit all the surrounding beaches, some fancy resorts, and have a good look around town.

Beach on one of the resorts we drove into. Was too expensive to even consider buying a drink there

The scuba diving outing the following day was a resounding success! We set our early and after a 2 hour boat journey to get to the dive sites, we started our basic training in the shallow sandy area off an island with little more than a small fishing village in one corner. It was Lukas, Peter, a German chap, and myself in our group. Our Danish dive master was a funny chap who made the day or the more enjoyable as he took us through the basic training. Was all stuff I'd been over in the past, but nice to get a refresher. Half and hour of that followed by shallow first dive in the area concluded the morning, and it was back to the boat for lunch.

The fishing village off the coast of an island where we trained in the crystal clear wasters.

The afternoon was to be our dive over the reef. We only went down to around 12 metres, but the reef was pretty stunning, and one of the only left in the area after the extensive dynamite fishing that used to be practised here, as we'd experienced snorkelling on Bamboo island. The range of wildlife wasn't an abundant, but the environment made up for it. We saw plenty of schools of smaller fish, and lots of individual brightly coloured tropical varieties, but nothing much lager than your hand (well mine), a few crabs, a small octopus, and various things like sea cucumbers sitting on the bottom. After our second hour in the water it was time to get back to the boat and head back. A day well spent, one that turned out to be the last we'd spend together in a while.

Lukas has all the pics of the diving day, so will have to wait till he publishes them to see, but they should end up here when ready.

That night it was celebration time – good day, and bye bye Peter for a wee while. We all had come to the conclusion that we wanted to do separate things in the remaining time we had, to get what we each wanted to round off the experience. Peter really wanted to go back to Vietnam, do the Mekong delta area we bypassed at the beginning of our journey, and see Ho Chi Minh city properly, which we didn't really get a chance do to when we were last there. I really wanted to stick to the coast, and do some more diving. The one day we did in Sihanoukville convinced me it was what I wanted, and speaking to people we met there, that Thailand was the place to do it. Lukas wasn't keen to return to Vietnam just yet, and diving for 3 or 4 days straight didn't appeal either (also being Czech, the boys would have to pay for a Thai visa, while I don't need one). So yesterday Peter set off early in the morning to catch his bus, while Lukas and I bummed around on the beach, playing pool most of the day (Lukas seemed to be doing well at at first, but once I warmed up I really kicked his but :) then the following morning I awoke to catch my bus and leave Cambodia.

Lukas and my last day on the beach – beer and squid (+ lots of pool) about sums it up, oh and rain – short-lived thunderstorm that night – our first in Cambodia.

It wasn't a simple trip. Due to lack of infrastructure, the first river we came to required exiting the bus, and climbing aboard a raft to be ferried across to the other side where there was another bus waiting for us (well it arrived 30 mins later). A few more hours on the road, and another bridge that was incomplete – this time we could walk across to a third coach. This took us all the way to the border where we left it behind, got through border control had another stamp added to the passport, then found our appropriate minibuses that would take us onwards. Mine took us to a town further down the coast, where we collected our ferry tickets and waited for a dude in a truck to take us to the ferry. Another wait for the ferry, and we were across the water in no time. Once there I need to get a van with a group of others to a resort I chose pretty much at random. Updated visual journey progress.

The small, overcrowded first ferry to bypass the river where a bridge was still in construction.

Am now in a place called 'White Sand beach' on the north of the island, and is pretty expensive/less cheap than what I've been used to. Talking to a few people here, seems I chose the family destination. There's plenty to do here – nice restaurants, beach, shops. It's just all a bit too package-holiday for me. So I got up early, rented a bike (110cc Suzuki this time) and went exploring. I must have looked around 25 bungalows on the beach, but think I've found one that a good balance of quality and price, in a lively area. Moving there in a bit with my bag. This island has some pretty stunning scenery, and the roads are literally like a roller-coaster – ridiculous hills, dips and curves that are such fun to drive around, and give you that weightlessness feeling in the pit of our stomach as you burn around them.

Beach scenery here is pretty stunning, and it's got the super hot weather to match!

I also used the time to explore the diving options, and think I've found the best dive centre (well it had the most attractive women working there) with whom I kick off 3 days of diving tomorrow. Starting with basic training again – will be going into much more depth than before and doing lots of theory as well as emergency procedures underwater. Following completion I might do an extra day out at sea, so I can use my PADI immediately and experience an entire day of diving without having to learn anything – just enjoy it. Got my text book already, so reading up on that tonight.

Once I've done all that I'll likely head to Bangkok for a few days while I'm here (please comment and leave tips anyone who has been, remember to say whose commenting so I know who to thank :) ) before getting a flight back to Ho Chi Minh to meet up with the boys and get our return flight back home :(

Once the boy Lukas and Peter get online and in touch, I'll post updates here in English (for the non-Czech speaking out there) for everyone to follow :)

Day 77 – relaxation time :)

2008-03-17T15:46:00.000Z

So last I wrote we had just finished Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. Following that we jumped onto another bus and headed back to the capital, Phnom Penh – the central transport hub for the country. While there we stayed 2 nights and a day to have a look around. The first night we checked into the traveller part of town on the lake-side. A bustling street of guesthouses, hostels, bars and restaurants. I'd spotted a poker night tournament sign on our way through here the previous week, and luckily our return timed perfectly with the next match, so Lukas and I signed up.

The sun setting over the lake at our cheap-as-chips guesthouse.

The pub was British run – had a pool table (which was to be our poker table), darts, footie – the works, and most of the people playing were British too! After a few hours I was knocked out, and the two tables of 19 people (total) merged for the last showdown of the final 8 survivors, of which Lukas was still one. He almost got wiped out at one point but recovered from practically nothing, and ended up winning the game (well after 45mins with the final chap, they were 50/50 on chips and split 1st & 2nd place between them and called it a draw) – trained the boy well ;) Following that Lukas and I spent most the morning recovering from the booze we drank, while Peter did tourist attractions around the city. Once the haze had passed, Lukas and I joined him in town for a final few sights, then back for a nice meal, and to bed, as the next morning we were on the move again to Sihanoukville on the coast.

Central market in the city centre.

Our plan in Sihanoukville was to get to an island straight away, and start the winding-down part of the journey. There's only one boat a day that we'd missed by the time we arrived, so got accommodated and hit the beach for the afternoon there. It's like a ruined European holiday destination here – Brits everywhere! (most of which look like they belong in Ibiza), but it's still enjoyable.

Playing pool in a beach bar.

Next morning and we packed again to get on-board the boat and get to our secluded island destination – Bamboo island. The boat we needed to board was 20m off-shore, and not thinking it through I decided to wade into the sea fully clothed (well shorts & t-shirt), forgetting I had my mobile in my pocket, which ended up being submerged in the water for a minute or two. Suffice to say it no longer works, so I can't reply to any calls, voicemail or text messages, until I get back and sort out a new one... email only for a while :) Updated visual journey progress map.

View from the beach as we landed on Bamboo island.

An hour later we'd arrived and checked into our bungalow on the beach. This place is no tropical island like you find in Thailand, but it's extremely nice none-the-less. Warm, clear ocean, sandy beaches, palms, hot hot weather, hammocks and beer. We stayed 3 days and 2 nights, and did little more than hit the beach, swim, snorkel, read our books, eat and drink. It was a really nice break from all the travelling around and constant activities we'd been doing for the last 2.5 months, and sorely needed! This is a holiday after all :)

Our row of bungalows on the palm covered beach.

We met some nice people there, found a second, more secluded beach, on the other side of the island, and Peter and I went for a few hours boat trip where you watch the sunset over the ocean, and fish using some hand reels over the side. Didn't catch a bean, but others on-board had more luck, one girl from Quebec proved to be a pro catching two, and herself plus her friend proved to be nice dinner company too. We all enjoyed relaxing very much, and we're all a bit orange-er as a result :D

View of the sun setting from the boat.

Today we got the evening boat back to the mainland, where we intend to bum about on the beach one more day, then I've roped the boys into doing a scuba discovery 1-day course with me on Wednesday, that I'm really looking forward to. There's only a few dive sights here that are any good though – it used to be different, once sharing comparable coral reefs to Thailand with abundant sea life - but he locals used to do a lot of fishing with dynamite that has destroyed nearly all the reefs in their entire section of the Gulf of Thailand, as we experienced when snorkelling on the island – not much down there. But we've been assured they have some decent sites, and fingers crossed it will be good... After that we are still thinking what to do, Peter is keen to return to Vietnam for the Mekong-delta and spend some more time in Ho Chi Minh city (where we will eventually fly home from in 2 weeks time), while I'm thinking of continuing scuba diving to complete my PADI qualification (here if it's good, Thailand if it looks better?), and Lukas isn't sure...? We all want to get different things done in our time remaining, so parting ways might be best for everyone, and meet up again in Ho Chi Minh once more for the final few days before flying home :( But nothing is decided yet, so lets see...

Happy St Patrick's day all you Irish blooded people out there.

More pictures from Lukas as usual.

Day 71 – the ruins of Angkor

2008-03-11T09:45:00.006Z

Leaving Lukas behind in few days ago in the east of Cambodia to add to his child photography collection, Peter and I continued ahead, travelling on buses for 2 days, getting clear across the country to start our planned 3-day tour of the legendary ruins of Angkor, the remnants of the Khmer empire that spanned 600 years and dominated the bulk of S.E. Aisa since the 9th century. Lukas wasn't keen to see them anyway, so we didn't feel too bad about leaving him behind... That is until he was further delayed by some dodgy pineapple that didn't agree with him, making a bus journey to catch up as planned the following day not possible.

You buy a 1, 3 or 7 day pass for the ruins. We thought 3 should be enough, and so set off on day one with our tuktuk (small motorbike powered cart found everywhere throughout S.E. Asia) driver Rich – who was a very pleasant chap indeed – a rare thing to found in a tuktuk driver in most people experiences. Day one started late morning with The biggest and most well-known of all the temples – Angkor Wat – the temple outline that features on the Cambodian national flag. I could go on forever about the details of each temple we visited (20 in all), but am sure I'd bore you all to death, so will list the main ones, and give you a picture-fest below :)

Angkor Wat really is rather large and impressive – built in the early 12th century for King Suryavarman II . Surrounded by a giant moat and protected by enormous walls, the inner courtyard leading up to the main temple stretches for hundred of metres. Once we reached the main complex it took us 3 hours to full explore it. It's the most intact of all the temples and is by far the most popular one to visit.

The view from the opposite/east end of the temple

A stitched together panoramic shot from inside the inner courtyard – impossible to fit it all in a single shot! Huge! Picture doesn't do it justice.

After that bombshell, we moved swiftly on to Ankor Thom – a series of temple complexes housed within a giant outer wall with impressive entrance gates depicting giant warriors handling mythical multi-headed serpents. Inside we viewed another 4 temples; The Bayon, Terrace of Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King and The Baphoun. One of which was being restored by the occupying French in the 40's – a giant jigsaw puzzle with a million pieces, carefully dismantled, catalogued and restored. In the process of the French relinquishing control of the area, all the plans were lost, leaving this unsolvable puzzle spread across acres of surrounding forest land. Only now with the advent of computers can they scan each piece and find it's most likely location in the temple. It'll be decades till they finish!

Bayon was one of my favourites – the centre of the old capital, it really seemed like a city with corridors & usable rooms, not just a giant shrine – loads to explore :)

One of the temples within (I forget which one – might be Phinmeanakas?). This one more of a layered pyramid style construction with damn steep slope - Peter there scaling the side.

After leaving the complex we ventured into a nearby collection of more Romanesque style ruins with column supported roofs and large stone doorways. Each temple is restored with the collaboration of another nation – presumably for each nation to cash in on the huge business of millions of tourists a year coming to see these ruins, and each shelling out a hefty entrance fee.

Thommanon temple ruins, restored in collaboration with Japan I think... could have been Switzerland?

Directly opposite was a temple called Chau Say Tevoda. This one restored in collaboration with China – not such a good quality job done here, but still, better than a pile of rubble I guess.

We continued to be driven around by Rich in our tuktuk, visiting more and more temples. By the end of the day we'd seen 8, and had a sunset view planned for dusk.

Ta Nei – the tallest (after Angkor Wat – whose tallest points were closed for restoration) we'd climb, took some doing by this point, but the view was well worth it.

We finished with a jungle temple – another sprawling complex , this time encased in wildlife, with giant tree roots slowly pulling apart the immense brickwork over hundreds of years.

At sunset we grabbed a few beers and climbed with a flood of other tourists to the top of a hill to a less impressive (in construction) temple at the peak, that gave an outstanding panorama of the surrounding promodominantly flat area. We sat with everyone else to watch the sun set just off the horizon in a shroud of haze, before the mad dash back down to the the first to get to your driver and avoid the inevitable traffic chaos.

Sunset at Phnom Bakheng on the hill, with at least a thousand other people.

Day 2 we were pretty knackered, and so started a little later, but we still had a lot to cover. Less descriptive detail and more pictures now...

Banteay and it's confusing layout that left your head spinning.

Pre rup – another whopper to climb, this image taken from the second-tear, looking up at the top.

East Mebon was another set of ruins taken over by the jungle. Here we could see the infamous image of the gateway and budda face behind encased in a tree almost as ancient as the building itself. Stunning!

Preah Neak was a water-temple, that in the wet-season is filled to create islands and public baths that leach into one another, and into a surrounding moat.

Preah Kan was the last of day 2, and very impressive to explore – again more jungle encroachment throughout, and more Romanesque features.

Another image from Preah Kan – showing the multiple floor column layouts that seem more similar to ancient ruins found in Europe. These being constructed likely had some influence from the west by this point.

Day 3, and Lukas made it into town, and joined us. We saved the sunrise day just for him, as we knew he'd like the light condition's for photography and it's another opportunity to see Angkor Wat – the largest, that he'd missed previously on our first day. A ridiculously early rise, and run to the back for what turned out to be a bit of a disappointing dawn – too much haze.

Leaving only the west-side silhouette image the only real winner.

the rest of day 3 was overall less impressive. We done all the large temples, leaving only the far flung smaller ones to explore for the rest of the morning. The distances we had to cover in the tuktuk (not the most comfortable of vehicles) were greater, and the reward less. To add to this our tiredness levels after two full days of walking and climbing in near 40 degree dry temperatures and getting up at 4:30 that morning – we were glad that they took less time to explore, and longed for our hotel, some lunch and a well-deserved beer.

Banteay Srei – a pocket-sized baby temple, but the most impressive of the day.

And so 3 days, 20 temples, a lot of walking, heaps of climbing, and many litres of water drank and evaporated right back out of us... later, we're now ready to leave this corner of the country to head back to the Capital Phnom Penh tomorrow. There we want one full day to explore, before making out plans to head down to the coast for the relaxing part of our travels – maybe an island...?

Until next time.

Day 68 – Cambodia wild-east exploration

2008-03-09T00:51:00.003Z

So we've been in Cambodia for 5 days now, most of which we've been spending on buses getting around, but have also been doing a fair amount of our usual exploring...

Upon crossing the border from Laos, we settled in the nearest city to the border for the night – Sung Treng. It was w bit of a hit hole to tell the truth, and not the best introduction to Cambodia, so we promptly sort out a bus the hell out of there. We were keen to do some more rural stuff before the planned onslaught of touristy attractions we had planned ahead. So we headed East to a place called Ban Lung in the province of Ratanakiri.

The shithole that is Sung Treng – the best image I could find to take of the place

The road was pretty rough, and the mini bus crammed to well over capacity – Cambodian people tend to overcrowd transport to bursting point, and we've seen minibuses that look like a 'maximum number of people in a mini' world record attempt, with a handful of people thrown on the roof for goods measure. We were sold the tickets with the assurance we would have one whole seat of reach of us,m and thanks to some Czech tenacity it stayed that way as the local squashed around us. The road was the roughest I'd ever experienced off a bike so far. It was little more than a dirt track through arid forest land with a surface that would take apart monster truck suspension. Our driver was really going for it, then slowing rapidly every few kilometres to a crawl to cross rickety old wooden bridges that are all in a scary state of disrepair. He held his fist to the windscreen as a sign of minibus driver comradeship at every oncoming bus that nearly drove us off the 'road'. All while we watched endless androgynous Thai pop stars performing incomprehensible renditions on the screen of the in-car karaoke system.

The road was dusty, dusty like we'd never seen – think red dust that just got everywhere, and blinded you as an oncoming vehicle tour up the surface at high speed. The town is nicknamed 'red-earth' by the locals after it's rust-coloured affliction.

The dusty town of Ban Lung – the wild-west of Eastern Cambodia, and the hunk of junk Honda Dreams we rented to get around this wasteland

We arrived in one piece, and booked into friendly little hotel that served the best food in town. Our plan was to hire motorbikes again and do some of the sights, and see some villages. The first day of which was a really lazy one. Guess we were pretty whacked after all the travelling, so all we managed in our first day was to see a lake, and 2 waterfalls. The lake was a water-filled extinct-volcano crater that provided a refreshing break from the searing the of the midday sun. It was also a nice way to removed some of the dust that we were completely covered in after only a few kilometres of driving.

Waterfalls on our first day of exploring...

Second day of driving we headed north in an attempt to find some isolated villages we'd read about in the sacred lonely planet. After some really fun driving down some seriously off-road paths, again coated in thick red dust, we hit our destination of Voen Sai, on the banks of the Tonle San river where we had a quick nose around, before taking a short but well deserved rest. We happened to stop for a drink in a place where a friendly English speaking chap offered us a boat tour up and down the river to see some villages that we wouldn't be able to reach on our own, and a cemetery. Sounded cool, so we hoped on board and headed upstream. There cemetery was creepy – embedded in the forest, were tens of shrine-like wooden graves, some hundreds of years old, each with carved figures depicted a story of the individuals unfortunate end.

Creepy village-cemetery in the jungle

Afterwards we wondered through the village, which we found to be a huge contrast to our village experienced travelling to date. Unlike the curiosity en-mass we'd experienced stumbling into isolated villages in Laos by bike, here (with a local guide) there was an air of unfamiliarity and almost fear directed towards us. It was easily dismissed with a simple greeting and smile, but the people were so much more cut-off from civilisation than anywhere else we'd been, I guess they just didn't know what to do. Lot s of people simply ran away, but we got to interact briefly with some, and were able to see there way of life in a way that wouldn't of been possible without our guide.

Village life for these people can be hard – many houses are in a deteriorating state as the families can't afford to fix them once damaged. We were assured they would get fixed – they just need to save the money first – can take a while

Two days of driving in the dust had fulfilled Peter and my satisfaction for this corner of the country, and we were keen to press onto Angkor Wat. Not really being Lukas' bag, and being unsatisfied with the volume of people shots from the overly shy villagers he decided to remain behind and catch up in a few days – tagging onto the back end of our 3 days exploring the ruins. Onto a coach (leaned our lesson – no more minibuses!) Peter and I hoped for a lovely 11 hour drive to the capital Phnom Penh. Here we just stayed the night in the travellers district which seemed to be a really party area – somewhere we'll be returning to properly on our way back down the country – and straight back onto another coach the following morning for 5 more hours to get us to Siem Reap the town just outside the vast complex of ancient Angkor temples.

An afternoon of exploring the small town and sorting our plans for some kick ass tomb raiding for the next few days, now we're fed, relaxed (after a massage to work out the two days of travelling), half-dunk and ready to rock tomorrow morning.

This is our Cambodian visual-journey update map – covered quite a lot in a few short days haven't we? Next time – Angkor temples, then back to the capital to see how the city folk here live...

The map above is pretty big, so here's a closer look at at our current location:

As always, you can see Lukas' updated snaps here.

One last thing, as I'm, finishing here, a giant fucking rat just crawled over my foot then climbed the wall behind me.... eeww! I'm outta here! TTFN.

Day 63 – Arrival in Cambodia

2008-03-03T09:42:00.003Z

Excuse the lack of pictures once again, but the machines here are not able to the business... :) Will update at later time.

So last I wrote we were in the southern most part of Laos, in a place called 4000 islands created by the Mekong river being at a lower level in this the dry season. There are several permanent islands that have year-round residents, and we we're staying on the largest - Don Khon. Our first full-day here we decided to hire push bikes and do a tour of the island - something like 20km+ round-trip. Lukas got up at a ridiculous hour to make use of the limited good light in the unforgiving weather out here, while Peter and I took our time, and went it alone in the other direction.

Seeing the island by bike was the best way, as you could burn across it on a motorbike in minutes. Also Laos is a very very relaxed place, more so than anywhere I've ever experienced, and down here in the islands – life barely even crawls along, they really do take the easy-going lifestyle to a new level. And in keeping with the way of life here, we were cycling at a pace to match – if not only to stop ourselves from sweating to death in the heat. Everyone here is 'off-the-scale friendly', with every household you pass shouting Sabadi (hello/general greeting) and waving as you pass at Lao pace. Kids especially are great again here – always really interested to meet you – jumping on your bikes back seat to get a lift somewhere – always joking and playing around.

We stopped at very hospitable man's riverside shed where we enquired if it was all right to rest. He seemed pleased to accommodate and brought us a mat and pillows to catch a power-nap in the shade. We were awoken by the town drunk (whom we always seem to attract), who caused a spot of bother with our host, and so we carried on our way soon after he was moved on.

The south of the island where we started was more populated, and as we continued into the north in the afternoon; the gaps between villages (and shade) became greater, and we soon started to feel the fatigue in the searing heat. Eventually we made it back, after stopping at every possible location for a beer-lao to cool down a little – sure it didn't help the energy levels much :)

That night we met a nice group of fellow travellers, who'd come together from all over the place. We had Brits, South-African's, American, Dutch, and Austrian. We had dinner and drinks together exchanging stories and tips for the various peoples alternative destination, and also talked a lot of bollocks.. as you do.

The following day we'd booked ourselves in on a day-tour to get a glimpse of the southern islands we couldn't be bother to go down and stay in. We took a boat, toured the islands, saw some old French-colonial railways, some villages, some cool waterfalls, swam in the river (clear of the falls of course) to cool off, and went dolphin watching. The second of the two falls we saw was pretty impressive – the whole Mekong falls over a ledge near the Cambodian border that's not that high, but it's wide and the largest in S.E.Asia (by volume of water). The dolphin watching consisted of dumping us on a small rock/island where you stood in silence looking for a river-dolphin to surface for air. They were always at least 100m away, so difficult to see in any detail (or photograph), but going for a swim allowed you to hear them which was much more incredible – it was so loud and sounded like a duck/cow combo noise in your ear.

We met our friends form the previous night again after dinner for drinks and conversation, before hitting the sack for the last time in Laos, as this morning we were booked on a minibus down into our third country – Cambodia. We crossed the border today, sorted our Visas and are now in a small town south of the Laos border. Our plan is to spent tonight here before heading East to see some of the rural side of the country before committing ourselves to what looks like 2 weeks of touristy activities including Ankor Wat, and some coastal towns before returning to southern Vietnam for our final stretch.

Over 2/3 of the way through now... :(

Day 60 - The last few days of biking

2008-02-29T07:07:00.000Z

Back on the road again, on the 4th day of our second biking adventure - this time we were off the main tarmac-ed roads and onto completely red-dirt rocky unmade surfaces, harder to drive, but more fun! :) This day was to start as a travel day - not much exploration planned as we had some distance to cover, and no guarantee the place we were aiming for could provide any accommodation for the night. The sky was brilliant blue, with not a cloud in sight, amazing considering the sky-scapes the night before we stood photography for an hour as the sun began to fall from the bridge in the town we were staying.

Skies like I'd never seen them in Attapeu - in all directions, a full 360 of amazing clouds

It was hot hot hot, and this was at 9am. Sunscreen applied, we set sail, stopping at a midday point to sit out the hottest part of the day (the heat was just too much), by the river Sekong where we grabbed some shade and zzz's. Was pretty nice - with the river so low we pretty much had our own private stretch of beach.

Our own private river beach where we kipped in the shade

Continuing a few hours later we came to a river at a village where we asked directions and we were pointed across the water. Figuring we had to cross we got a local lad to help us load the bikes onto the ferry (two small rafts nailed together with planks), and he towed us across on foot. We continued further through more villages and down some pretty off-road paths that clearly weren't designed for bikes - but what the hell - it was fun! Crossing another small stream we could drive though (slowly of course), and along some even more dangerous/fun jungle paths. Eventually we came to a river that seemed too wide, fast and deep to simply drive through. Asking a passer by he assured us we were on the right path, but we aired on the side of caution and decided to double back to teh last village and take an alternative route we thought we saw... It turned out to be a dead end and so we returned to the river again, covering the same arduous track for the third time, where we made the decision to take the bikes through the river ourselves. It took all three of us steadying one bike at a time, slowly pushing, pulling and lifting it over the river bed of slippery rocks, safely to the other side - to the amusement of more locals.

Pulling the bikes through the river - this one was a just a small one, so Lukas could afford to take pics :)

Driving on again, the path became increasing demanding, and after a while we were starting to wonder if we'd taken the correct route as laid out on our hand-drawn map from the hotel we rented one of the bikes - the most detailed we could find. Soon we were starting to loose light, and realising it was too late to turn back we had no choice but to press on. Asking for more directions at a village we passed through we knew we had minutes of light remaining and despite our best efforts found only another river (it was too unsafe to consider crossing in the dark) and several dead ends. Giving up we headed back to the village where we found the hut where some helpful people previously directed us, hoping to find a bed... No one spoke any English, but after a long game of charades we communicated that we were lost needed to rest. These lovely people found a hut where a wonderful family put us up for the night. They had to send their children to their friends, and we settled in for the night sleeping as the Laos villagers do - in a small wooden hut. They offered us some dinner of rice and fried minnows, that admittedly tasted a little of dirt, but we were more than thankful for it, and afraid of offending their hospitality. The village had extremely limited electricity - basically no lights, leaving the night sky to shine through lie I have never seen - the clear day left a cloudless night that with no light pollution allowed an array of stars to be visible I'd never experienced - really special.

The hut where we slept

We slept remarkably well, and arose with the rest of the village at 5:30, We looked around briefly before saying our goodbyes and expressing our gratitude by giving our hosts the money it would have otherwise cost us to stay in a hotel, then continued onwards.

Our gracious hosts for the night in the village

Following a very long 'conversation' trying to find out where on earth we actually were and which direction we should be traveling the night before, we discovered that we took a wrong turn, and should never have crossed on the ferry at the river some 80km back, and we were only 60km from the town we slept on the first night - Paksong (we were aiming for Pakse, and obviously not pronouncing it correctly when asking directions the whole day we were repeatedly being pointed in the wrong direction). We had to cross the river we decided was too dangerous in the dead of night. To reach our destination we had to climb the Blolaven Plateau - the mountain we'd spent our 5-day trip driving around, and the path started to become extremely steep, boulder ridden and much harder to drive, to cap it all our tanks were verging on empty, and the new dilemma became how far we could get before one of us simply ran dry...

Four more stream crossings later we reached the top of the plateau, and the terrain opened up into deforested farmland (makes sense being the only flat land for miles), where we saw trackers - that meant there was diesel fuel somewhere, and diesel often means petrol too. A few tens of kilometres more, and a few stops to ask where to find a top-up-point, we finally discovered a small stall selling fuel from bottles and purchased enough to get us where we needed to be. PHEW! We also bought some much needed drinks, and breakfast.

Lady selling fuel and snacks on the outskirts of the village on-top of the plateau

Another hour of driving and we reached the town we'd visited 4 days previous, at which point we thought we deserved a beer! Back on familiar ground we explored a waterfall we missed on the 1st day, where we fell asleep for at least 90 mins before grabbing some lunch, and then heading back to Pakse to get some accommodation. We had a few hours left before turning the bikes, and the weather was still great, so one last drive, north this time, before returning the motors, and taking a much needed shower. I also got another hair chop to match the boys.

Our biking adventure took this route - the red line showing where we went, and the green where we were supposed to continue on the 4th day :S Please excuse the crudely drawn map - resources here are limited :)

Today we were back on the road (bus this time) down south to a place where the river Mekong fans out into an inland delta creating 4000 islands at the border with Cambodia. Just a few hours on a minibus, and a short ferry crossing to the main island called Don Khong.

A satellite view of this region of Laos - the Mekong river fans out to create thousands of small islands

While here we intend to rent bikes (push bikes this time) and explore this the largest of the islands, and perhaps do a boat tour to see the rest - hopefully gonna see some Dolphins that inhabit these waters too. Here we hope to spend our last few days in Laos, before crossing into Cambodia, and starting a whole new adventure... More to come soon :)

More amazing pics from Lukas.

Day 57 - biking around S.E Laos

2008-02-26T13:13:00.002Z

Apologies for the lack of images this time, but the connection is too slow to allow us to upload much, simply posting text was really painful – will populate with more later, and hopefully have a a lot more to show next time :)

So last I wrote we were just waiting for our flight to Pakse in the South-East arm of Laos, leaving the North behind. Upon disembarking the 3 hour flight the wall of warm air form the more humid environment hit us like a slap in the face, and seconds later we were blasted by a light but warm rain shower. Wondering why we moved to a place the weather was fine to somewhere it was raining, we set about finding some accommodation in town. Once that as sorted, and we'd had a look at the town in the process, we decided to get the hell out of there asap (really not much to see/do), and fulfil our wish to hire bikes and do a couple of days touring the area. It wasn't easy finding bikes, but we each found a half decent machine from different sources, and booked them for 5 days.

Packing the minimal that we thought we needed to for that time into a plastic bag we bungeed to the back (no luggage racks this time), and stuffing the rest in the handy wire basket in the front, we set sail for a 5+ days adventure in this unexplored corner of the country. We had no idea what to expect, but were hoping to find more of we'd experienced off the beat'n'track up North – the real Laos village life.

The first day didn't get off to a great start. Lukas split to do his serious photo thing that would bore poor Peter and I to tears, and we went ahead in search of waterfalls. We found one that seemed pretty nice, but one of the smaller in the area. Was no one there but us, so was nice to have the freedom to roam and time to take some snaps.

Peter taking 'a moment' beside the falls – was quite a walk down :)

Pressing forward in search of the next, larger waterfall we came across a spot of bad weather. Seems the climate is much more volatile down here – being landlocked and extremely hot this time of year ,the isolated and plentiful large bodies of water (lakes and river) evaporate and rise of the dramatically shifting geography to create pockets of intense dry heat, followed by 'tropical'-heavy rainstorms that are usually short-lived. We happened to pass through one of these rainstorms, and got pretty wet. We pressed onto the town we were intending to stay in for the night, and arrived just in time to avoid a seriously heavy storm which we sat our with a couple of Beer Laos. We'd done our fare share of rain dodging for the day, so another quick drive while we had some sun, and then meeting Lukas for dinner, and n early night.

The next morning we all stuck together from the outset, and stared to go exploring off-road, down small dirt roads that were clearly not good for our motors, but fun to drive down. The weather was better, and the skies really started to look fantastic. Finding small village one by one, and waving at everyone we passed, eventually we came across a small village were music was bellowing from an open door, and locals were beckoning us in. After some persuasion they dragged us inside and started plying us with booze. From what we could gather, there was some festival to celebrate the plentiful harvest and to bless the coming year. They thrust Beer Laos into our hands and started putting glasses of Lao Lao Whiskey in our hands. They also began tying these cotton wristbands to our arms as a good luck charm for us I guess, blessing a drink at the same time you had to down. It was pretty fun, and they certainly enjoyed the experience as much as we did.

Saying our good byes, we continued on, finding village after village, waving to everyone as we went. Finally finding some accommodation in our next stop Sekong. Again the town wasn't much to look at, and basic resources such as restaurants were hard to find, as was a bank to withdrawn or change money, which was starting to run precariously low... Next morning ,up and back on the road again. Following a similar pattern, we explored every village that came our way, snapping everything picture-worthy we could find. Didn't get invited to any parties this time, but we caused quite a stir when we entered a local bar for a drink, attempting to converse with the local drunk men (seems to be most men around here), and showing them pictures of themselves which seems to hold no-end of fascination and enjoyment for them. One guy was so impressed we think he was trying to get us to send him a giant print-out for his wall, guess it beats a mirror?

Again to more accommodation and a hair cur for Lukas and Peter. In the internet café now (first we've seen in days, and the slowest we've every experienced). Updating what we've been up to before we head off for another couple of days exploring the area, before returning the bikes and continuing the journey by more conventional means again.

We really are enjoying having bikes again – it's not the same as having our own, and in some ways these new s (real) Honda's bikes aren't as good as our Chinese copies, probably because we're not willing to fix these one's up... But it's loads of fun, and when it doesn't rain (been lucky the post two days) the weather really can be glorious.

Having a great time, and more tales of the final days of biking to come shortly. TTFN

Day 53 - Luang Prabang and the surrounding area

2008-02-23T03:41:00.001Z

So we've been in Luang Prabang a good few days now. Our first duty was to do the touristy things inside the city itself, and as a newly formed foursome we set about exploring the cities temples, monasteries, hills and markets - plenty of all these things here! Crossed the Mekong river on a boat to check out more temples, a cave and a village, before returning back to the developed side of the river for some well-earned food and rest.

The view from the top of the towns central hill where there are great views and a collection of monuments and shrines. And monks.

Cute kids from the poor villages here - always wanting a chat (and looking for an opportunity to make some money), doing what they can to keep themselves occupied.

The next day our plan was to get a boat down-stream to visit the larger of the two waterfalls we'd heard good things about in our guide books and from travelers we'd talked to along the way. After some difficult haggling, and an unsuccessful search for additional bodies to bring the cost-per-head, we got out deal and set off in a pretty bendy (bendy through low-quality workmanship, not intension) boat. One hour later we reached the village where we were to catch a truck to the start of the waterfall complex.

A classic (older) village man, waiting and watching as we ascended the river bank to our ride. Great snap Lukas!

A 20 minute bumpy ride in the back of a pick-up later, and we at the entrance to the waterfall. On foot from here, we first walked through an animal sanctuary where a collection of bears and a tiger (the two species kept separately of course) who'd been rescued from cruel tourist-based treatment/captivity, and were being cared for, and restored to health. After which you walk on through to the first in a cascade of pools created by the stream. The scenery was pretty stunning, and the water a tone of blue I thought only existed in the movies - presumably created by minerals in the water, or algae from the various chunks of decaying tree that seemed to be scattered within. There were combinations of swimming areas (we didn't realise you could swim and so had no costume, plus it wasn't a particularly hot day) and naturally cascading levels of sky-blue water, surrounded by picturesque jungle.

Unnaturally blue pools of water from the falls further up ahead. I wish I'd bought my swim suit!

After a few hundred metres of pools and small cascades we approached the main attraction - the large waterfall, tumbling from a total hight of around 100m, which you could scale along a difficult path to reach the top and get a pretty good view. A few hours after our arrival we were back on our return journey. The river part took longer on the way back as we were moving upstream, and our boat ran out of petrol before we reached the town again. Our driver left on foot with a canister to fetch more for 30 minutes, giving us some time to take in the scenery whilst not moving, was pretty funny really.

The main waterfall.

Another meal later, this time joined also by a fellow Ozzy acquaintance of Mailey's from Vang Veing. We'd also spent time in the day booking ourselves onto the tour we'd talked about before - not our original vision of 4 days (became too expensive!), but a more compact, but equally exciting sounding 2 day trip that included mountain biking, elephant riding, trekking, villages and kayaking. All booked in the following morning we were up bright and early to start the adventure. Mailey wasn't joining us so we said our goodbyes at this point and she continued her journey to Hanoi in Vietnam.

It began by hoping on mountain bikes and heading out of town. Stopping by first at a temple, then a paper/parchment-making facility, we continued onto cycle along a pretty rough and hilly track, that didn't completely fulfill my visions of off-road biking, but was sure fun to burn down the steep slopes. After about 2 hours we reached the elephant village where we met our elephant. We hoped on-board a wooden bench mounted to her back, as the driver guided her around am hour long walk through the forest, kicking at her ears as commands and giving her a whack with a sharpened stick when she didn't obey. It was nice to be so close to an elephant, but as I shifted side-to-side as she took each step on the very relaxing journey I started to wonder if the continued domestication of these animals in any country is still appropriate, and if by contributing to the tourist trade use of elephants, I was in some small way making the plight of these majestic animals worse... Elephants have been domesticated in this part of the world for millennia, used as work-aids to help carry large loads (eg: logs from logging), farm, and generally get about. And the development of the countries as they obtain machinery to do such jobs for them means some elephants became an unnecessary financial burden, and were abandoned - there are tales of elephants begging for food in the streets of Bangkok. Tourism has given some of these unwanted animals a new purpose, but surely it would be better (although I'm sure very costly) to just reintroduce them into the wild where they belong, and leave them alone. Being so few in numbers today, and considering their levels of intelligence, this would make me feel better, especially as I learned the process of domestication kills 40% of young elephants they use, and consists of extreme starving and sleep deprivation methods to break their will to fight back. Sounds more like a concentration camp to me.

That's our girl on the left

After our ride we packed up for the trek which was to take us through villages, over rivers, and through some really incredible open plains of farmland, bush and forest. We walked up some pretty steep hills in what turned out to be the hottest day we'd experienced in over a month. A well earned break for lunch and a quick power-nap in a makeshift bamboo hut used for hunting were much appreciated!

One of a million amazing views experienced on the trek

The trek lasted about 3 hours in total. Once we reached the village we started to see how the majority of Laos people lived a dry dirt covered town with huts made from bamboo and weave - mostly on stilts. Children everywhere - most families have between 3-5 kids, and they are left to play in the village while the adults go out to work the land or practice their trade. We found our accommodation for the night - a home-stay shack run by a local family - and started to explore the town. It had everything you would expect; a school, animals roaming around, people preparing food and weaving straw, children playing, buildings going up, and all the time people coming to say hi, or pointing and talking at you from a distance. Taking photos is something of a sore point in this country - people generally don't like it, and it's impolite to do it without permission. A quick raise of the camera and a smile would usually provide you with a reassuring permissive nod, and as long as you show them the picture afterwards they are always keen to shoot more - they don't have mirrors so seeing themselves is a rare opportunity.

View as we entered the village

Our guide noticed a celebration in town - one hut was overcrowded with people with chatter and music coming from the open door. After enquiring he discovered there had been a wedding earlier in the day, and the celebrations were still continuing. He approached and asked if we could join in with the festivities - they were more than happy/drunk to include us. Upon entering we discovered the hut was packed with drunken Laos villagers of all ages, some playing a bamboo wind instrument, and a lady singing in tune to the music as others clapped. We sat crossed legged on the floor in what looked like the heavy drinkers corner. Pots lay about the floor with plastic (used to use bamboo) straws coming from the top, from which people were sucking back. It was Lao Jar Whiskey - fermenting sticky rice in a jar, to which you continuously add fresh water to the top, as it filtrates down you suck from the bottom. The tubes were shoved in our hands and they made us start necking this stuff as they filled from the top. It was great! Really sweet taste, with little alcohol in the flavour, but plenty of effects in the head. It's apparently 30%, and from the effects I wouldn't be surprised... We also met the town chief, who likely had many wives, who was pleased to welcome us to his village - one they are turning into a regular on the eco-tourism map. They were also passing around some snacks of sticky rice, and boiled pigs lung and liver - it's rude to refuse so we politely chewed as little as possible and swallowed the organs :S

Peter and I sucking down the jar-whiskey with the locals from the wedding party - what fun!

A few hours later, and few stories and songs sung about us, we'd left the party and sat down for dinner. Other foreigners had purchased similar packages, and had ended up at the village also. We shared our meal and evening continuing to drink with a Canadian, a French-Canadian, a German, and a guy from Holland - all really friendly. Off to our huts for a sleep under the mosquito net, then up for breakfast the next morning. Day two consisted of a easier trek along a maintained path down through a few small villages, across some streams, and down to the river where we were to start kayaking. The river was pretty easy, and only contained a few small rapids. We got stuck on a rock once, but after that it was clear sailing all the way to the point where we disembarked, and got drove back to our hotel. All in all it was a pretty cool experience, of which the highlight was definitely the village and experiencing the wedding party. The two days was only attended by Peter and myself. Lukas felt he wanted some serious photo time, and fancied exploring just villages on his own, rather than doing the activities. So he hired a guy with a bike, and spent his time traveling from village to village experiencing similar things to us, but in a more photo-opportunity creating context. He really did take some amazing pics, and he was much happier for it. So we met back up with him in town for what would be our last night in Luang Prabang. The following morning - this morning - we're booked on a flight to the south of the country, to a place called Pakse. Sat in the airport now killing some time as our flight is delayed a few hours. Our flight will take us on this updated-visual journey progress path.

Jon's-eye view kayaking along the river

Once there we hope to rent motorbikes again, and do a couple of day circuit around a network of roads - exploring the towns and villages in the south of the country before continuing on down into Cambodia.

Until next time.

Day 46 - Laos is a calling

2008-02-18T14:41:00.002Z

Firstly, apologies for the length of the last post - I did ramble on a bit, but I had nearly two weeks of activity to document - we'd been busy :)

So we've left the freezing cold north of Vietnam, sold the bikes and used to dosh to fund a flight into Vientaine - the capital of Laos. The Vietnam leg of our the journey has come to an end, and the whole path we took from bottom to top can be seen here in the final visual journey-progress update map. We made the cross-country journey in a small Airbus 2-engine propeller plane that took just under 2 hours. The airport is just outside the capital, a quick taxi ride later and we were in the centre of the hotel district.

We read it can get busy in the peak season (now), but we had no idea it would be so hard to find accommodation. We tried a few hotels at first - all full. Lukas stayed with our bags and a beer, while Peter and I continued hunting - still no room, then I continued on my own. After nearly 2 hours I'd tried over 30 hotels, only 3 had room, and only one was (just) in our price range, and clean enough to consider spending and time sleeping there. So decision made, we checked in grabbed some grub and hit the sack.

The weather is sooo much nicer here - it's mid-high twenties, still a little overcast, but we can stop wearing two jumpers and a jacket to go outside. The shorts have been promoted up from the bottom of the backpack, and the jumpers relogated back down to the bottom where they belong! The city itself it pretty small, and there's not an awful lot to do here - quite a few silver-tourists around, which says it all really. So we started exploring our options for travel out of the city, and off into the countryside where we would see the countries real beauty. Luang Prabang in the north is a place we all agreed we would like to have a real good root around, but it's all very remote and isolated - we would need help, and the only morally sound way to do it here is through an eco-tourisim group. We found a major one in town and started researching options. We've spotted a 4-day tour we like the sound of, doing a combination of trekking, rafting and mountain biking through national parkland, but there was another place we wanted to check out en-route first; Vang Vieng. So after a day of exploring the city on knackered old girly pushbikes we'd rented for the day (loads of fun!), we were booked on a bus to head 180km north.

Locking up our girly bikes outside a riverside drinking hole

Laos certainly has some beautiful scenery, and we were sorely missing our bikes and experiencing the freedom (and speed - this was one slow-ass bus!) we'd grown accustomed to. Got ourselves accommodated in Vang Vieng , and instantly we could see what the guidebook meant about this being a backpackers haven - this town only exist because of backpackers, and all businesses here are geared to the travelling way of life. It's a rel party town with bars and restaurants pumping out music, or airing endless episodes of friends from DVD boxsets, as the hungover tourists all lie down on giant cushions transfixed to the tone of those familiar 6 voices. Our first evening there consisted of going to an island where there are 4 large open bars with bonfires and cheap BeerLao (the rather nice local beer that come in giant 640ml bottles), and travellers drink in their hundreds - a nice place to meet new people and share stories an tips for places visited.Brand new visual-journey progress map for Laos.

There are many caves in the surrounding area along a small river that are ripe for exploring. We wanted to do it on our own having been relatively independent so far, so rented more bikes - this time mountain bikes - and they were really really crap! Lukas went off doing his photography thing while Peter and I tried finding these caves. Found a couple that extend a few kilometers into the mountainside, but they were pretty straight, and not overly interesting. A cave we tried later was much better with loads of compartments and giant opening to root around in. You pay and entrance fee and are handed a torch, as they are completely pitch-black inside.

Inside the coolest cave - jet black wit only a lame flashlight to look around. And no one else for miles - we had them all to ourselves! Great fun!

Stopping for beers along the way, we met Lukas later in the evening, and decided to extend our stay another day to partake in the tubing everyone we met raved about. Particularly this Ozzy guy who we met in the evening who was pissed off his head, who we later discovered was returning home to Oz after living in Bournemouth and working in Walkabout there for two years - small world! I also met a fellow Bournemouth-ian later that night too - Bizarre!

Sipping down Lao-Lao (local rice-whiskey) cocktails from buckets - classy!

Tubing the next day started just after lunch, you pay your dosh, get given a giant rubber ring, and get carted 3km up stream to the drop point. Quick cocktail at the bar before getting wet, and you just jump in and let the current take you downstream. After 50m we were drinking beers on the bamboo-made bar of the first drinking hole of many en-route. There are hundred of people just floating along, with rope swings and zip-lines into the water that we were all having fun using. 6/7 hours, and countless BeerLao's later we'd run our of light and made it back to shore.

Tubing down the river, slowly being puled along, with the sun on your back, magnificent scenery, and a beer in your hand - we loved it! More images of us getting pissed up.

Next morning we had pretty monster hangovers, but had to sport them all day no another bus journey - which today took us to Luang Probang, a further 200+km further north. Updated visual-progress map. Again - scenery was breathtaking - as we drove around massive mountains, and through tiny village communities. I had a pretty rough time on-board, with a bout of travel sickness not helped by the remnants of the night before swishing around my stomach the whole way. But about 6/7 hours later we made it. Met a nice Australian girl, Mailey, on the minibus, and after sharing a ride into town together, we all found a hotel, and are sharing 2 rooms to help spread the cost. Tomorrow we intend to do the sights of the town, and book ourselves in for the next tour - probably some waterfalls in the area first, then the big 4-day adventure. After which,.. who knows?

Generally Laos has been a pleasant experience so far. It's very different to Vietnam. Everything in Laos seems to happen at a much slower pace. There are a lot less people here, and the majority of the population live in villages, not cities, and everything is just more rural. The people as a race are slightly different too - usually taller and broader with slightly redder skin, and different shaped faces. The building styles are different too, and conditions are generally much more basic - running water is by no means everywhere, but satellite TV seems to be, with many small wooden shacks sporting a 3m dish in the front garden. There is less traffic on the roads - most of the traffic is actually made up of cars here, not bikes, and no seems in a rush to get anywhere - politely waiting behind slower vehicles until tit's safe and clear to overtake - no horns!

The food has been better in my opinion, but we've only really been in touristy places so far.. expecting food quality to deteriorate rapidly once we start getting rural. But I don't think they eat dog here, so fingers crossed - no more nasty surprises when blindly ordering, if indeed there's even a choice.

That's it for today, but more to follow shortly ;) Over half-way through our time away already! So better get a move on - lots still to see! TTFN.

More fantastic images by Lukas as usual.

Day 44 - Hanoi, the North, and the end of an era.

2008-02-13T06:45:00.000Z

Firstly, Lukas's arm is fine now. He was taking the antibiotics for a few days and it cleared right up - just a scab remains, and his arm has deflated back to a more ordinary size. We're very relieved about that! :) In the last post we had just arrived the countries capital - Hanoi. After much hunting around for a reasonably priced, decent hotel, we eventually found somewhere in the old-quarter down a quiet street, a few doors away from the city's main hostel, with a handy internet cafe opposite (always full of shouting, smelly young children), and a decent pizza restaurant around the corner that we frequented a few too many times in our days here. In total we spent 5 days in Hanoi, enjoying being back in a city, and experiencing the freedom of having choices of places to eat, drink, and shop once again - something you don't realise you miss until you have those luxuries back once again. We bought things like decent driving gloves, scarfs, a few extra layers of clothing, and replacement socks (pairs seem to go missing when we get laundry done?).

Our Vietnamese friend Lan (one of the girls we met on the boat trip in Nha Trang) happened to be in the city at the same time visiting family and friends over the festive period, so we spent some time with her looking around, shopping, eating, and helped us get some things sorted, like buying playing cards - something we found unusually difficult to do here. Also did some night-time exploration of bars and restaurants, taking some pictures of the city and lake illuminated at night.

The lake at night illuminated like the bat-signal, lights beam from the tortoise monument situated at the lakes centre

We spent a lot of time exploring the city on foot (driving in the traffic here was a little overwealming at first). Lukas and myself especially enjoyed roaming the street of the inner-city residential districts in the north - down narrow alleys, and winding streets, seeing how the people who lived here really lived. Being the start of the holiday season, children were not at school, and many people had finished work, so there was plenty of activity to observe. There was a real mixed bag of accommodation, anything from crumbling shacks, to near-mansions can exist on one street, and the variance in building height differs greatly from one building to the next. The most interesting stuff was seeing the people interact with each other and with their local environment - everything from buying goods, to chilling in a roadside bar, washing clothes, to taking out the trash to the meandering bin-man. We also passed through endless markets where we saw the usual array of S.E.Asian vegetables on offer, and the meat stalls with cuts arranged openly on the street ready to be cut to requirement. We also saw a level of meat preparation we had not seen before in the more urban marketplaces. Chickens still alive, crammed into small steel of wooden cages. From these you select your bird, which is then placed upside down in a large cone, it head sticking out of the small-end. Then its throat is cut, and is left to slowly bleed dry. Once empty the bird is plucked, and then cleavered to your specification. A far cry from selecting a prepared bird nearly wrapped in plastic from a supermarket shelf!

Chickens being bled dry, plucked, and washed for sale. You pick one and watch as they prepare your meat from being alive, to being ready to cook. Spared you the really gory one here - it's quite messy. Sorry vegetarians out there :)

We also saw the beginnings of the dinner we wish we never ate - dog meat :S Whole dog carcass that had been cooked, ready for selecting your cut, and dog heads to the side (assume they eat parts of this too?) with the teeth snarling back at you as the cooked flesh has pealed back from the skull, and simultaneously pet dogs roaming around the streets and being played with by children... a confusing level of contrast between pet and food. We have heard from people we've met crossing the Laos-Vietnam border, that you see trucks filled with dogs leaving Laos, destined for Vietnam - perhaps they only eat imported dog, and keep their home-bred varieties for pets...? Who knows. It just seems so different to the level of separation we're used to at home.

Dog meat stall in the residential street markets

We attempted to see a few tourist sights such as monuments and museums, but because of the approaching new years - everything was gearing down and either closing early, or was not open at all - but we wanted to spend the new years here to see how the Vietnamese celebrate it in their capital city. It was a little annoying, but we got to see parts of the city we might not have otherwise ventured into, and it gave us an opportunity to do some fun photography. Photography such as chasing these bikes carrying mini-orange trees around, apparently good luck to have in the home around new years - you couldn't look at a street without seeing a handful in your field of vision - they were everywhere! And the trees came in all shapes and sizes. Some bikes were grossly overloaded with the weight of these things, and we witnessed some funny moments where people were trying to secure them to their vehicles.

The bikes we were chasing around the city, trying to get the perfect shot. They really were everywhere!

New-years eve we went down to the lake in the old-quarter, where it seemed most of the city congregated to watch the fire works displays. It was really crowded, which was good as the penguin effect started to kick in and keep us warm enough to sit comfortably outside. As midnight came, the fireworks began (no countdown here), 15 minutes of big bangs, and pretty lights, finishing in a crescendo of colour, accompanied by 'oooooo's' of impressed on-lookers. Once the fireworks ended everyone instantly stood up, turned and bolted, attempting to avoid the inevitable gridlock that ensued.

Fireworks from the lake

We walked around the 3 major lakes here, through the parks, used taxi's, drove our bikes and walked through most of the districts. Never have we come to know a place we have stayed quite so well on our journey. Also there was the question of what to do with the bikes... We were really leaning towards wanting to just continue our journey on them into Laos, and continue all the way through Cambodia, Thailand, and back to Ho Chi Minh in the south of Vietnam for our flight home in April. But the border was a long way to go with no guarantees we could cross, meaning loosing a few days traveling to get somewhere we could sell them again, or if we got desperate enough - simply ditch them. So I grabbed my passport and went to visit the British Embassy for some advice. It was not good news. After some phoning around the border control people, they discovered it is technically possible to cross the border on a bike as a foreigner, but it would require more paperwork that we had time to do, which included getting our own Vietnamese driving licences for bikes and would also involve cooperation from the guys we originally bought them from down in Mu-Ni. Our hearts were broken :( Defiant as ever we thought we might just risk it, try and blag our way through the border control - say 'we rented them and were told we could continue our journey across the border'. Either way we had a journey still to make - heading 140km east to the coast, to a place called Halong bay.

Satellite view of the Gulf of Tonkin - Halong Bay, and it's 3000+ islands

Here we were to find some unique geographical features created when the sea levels were much higher, leaving 3000 or more incredible islands rising from the sea. The idea sounded great, and there are countless tours run from Hanoi city on a bus, but after checking the weather, and seeing no rain (only cold temperatures below 10 degrees C), we decided to drive again, stay overnight in Halong city on the coast and book our own tour boat when we arrived. The drive took longer than expected, and it was cold! We were starting to get tired of this shit weather, and longed for the days we wore t-shirts and shorts, caked in sunscreen, and had to stop driving in the middle of the days because it was too hot... We arrived in Halong city, and decided against trying to make it Cat Ba island (the largest island of the group, and the only one containing hotels), as it was getting dark (we'd slept in a little, and check out pretty late). Updated visual-journey progress. Finding a hotel was similar to our usual routine; start somewhere that look nice - too expensive, try every hotel in the area, find a reasonable room for a reasonable price, then haggle them down a little. Got a decent one in the end - the tallest we'd been in yet - 10 stories, and we were on the 8th floor, thank god there was an elevator this time :) Had the air-con unit yet - could pump out some serious heat, which was badly needed after our freezing journey there. We then got some grub and crashed out. The city itself it a bit grim - nothing to really do except go on tours, which is why most people do package tours direct from Hanoi. As the guidebook correctly states, 'Halong bay is the attraction, Halong city is not'. Waking the following morning we were going to drive to the dock where the boats depart, find out some info on the options available and to get ourselves a good deal. Got on the bikes that were outside the hotel (they always bring them inside for the bulk of the night), and Peter couldn't get his key in the bike... Turns out some little bastard had tried stealing it. They'd jammed a screwdriver into the ignition and snapped the main rod that the key activates and you turn to start the bike up. Bugger! Peter was not happy at all. It was also still TET (Vietnamese new years) holidays. Nowhere was open. So he proceeded to take his bodywork apart to get to the problem to see if it could be fixed. It could not. And the hotel people (who rightly felt a little guilty having not seen this crime take place right outside the completely glass fronted building), got a garage down the road to open especially and have a look. Peter's ignition is not a standard part, and the only ignition blocks they had didn't work in his bike, despite 2 hours of trying to wire them up without success. In the end they had to hard-wire the bike 'on', and to turn it off he has to unscrew the front panel, and manually unplug the electric block that connects the ignition to the rest of the bike. Peter was even more unhappy. 'He was pissed' just doesn't cut-it.

In the meantime, Lukas and myself made use of this time to research the options and costs of a tour - the only reason we'd come here. We'd need to book for the following day, as Peter's bike mishap and a little internet time took up most of our time... We had booked a tour that started at midday the following day, on a boat with groups of other tourists. The guy we booked from offered us 2 rooms (as you can only fit two people per room), for which we paid extra, and played a few games of cards to decide who get the luxury of their own space. We were also told by the guy that beer was $1 (16,000 dong), and we could bring our own booze on-board with no complications (both conditions identical to the boat trip we took in Nha Trang), so we took him for his word and handed over the cash for a 2 day, 1 night tour. The next day we checked out of the hotel, parked up at the docks, and boarded our tour boat. One we started to move, the tour guide lady on the boat told us that we now had to share our second room with a stranger. This didn't really bother us that much in principal, but we paid extra cash to have the second room for one person (paid the price for 2 people, to get 1 room as a luxury), so we obviously wanted the difference refunded. She wouldn't give it to us, and said we had to get it from the guy (the agent) who we bought the tickets from. We weren't sure we'd ever see him again, and started to kick up a bit of a fuss... We had to share otherwise this poor guy would have nowhere to sleep, but they purposely overbooked the boat to get as much money as possible from it. We'd already paid the fee for the extra space. This made us unhappy. Then we find out the beer on board the boat is double what we were promised, we became even unhappier. At our first stop we looked around some caves, which to be fair were pretty spectacular, but were ruined by some really crass lighting - it looked so Disney due to the array of colours used, you'd think you were in a Star Trek set, on another planet and Kirk would jump from behind an stalegtite at any moment.

Disney caves - spectacular, but lit up like a Christmas tree

On the islands there were the usual tourist shops, some selling beer for 13,000 (90 cents). So we bought a round of beers, and grabbed some waters for the night. When we arrived back on the boat they shoved a printed notice in our face telling us we had to pay a 15,000 dong cover charge for every can of drink we bought on board - another broken promise form the agent who sold us the tickets. We were furious, and outright refused to pay anything. We bought a couple of more beers onshore in protest, and started drinking them. Once we were back on the water, the guide sat down with us and tried convincing us to pay to charge. We refused, and a full-on argument broke out. We caused quite a scene, and Lukas and Peter were really shouting at the girl. I the end she asked to speak to just one person as we were all shouting, so me being the calmest/most-English, became the mediator, and put our case across. In tern she communicated back into Vietnamese to the captain, who was a real hot-head. They just weren't getting it. The guy they employ to sell tickets lied to us. We bough them on a set of conditions that were explained to us. They moved the goal posts and expect us to pay more money than we intended. There was no way were budging. It was simply the last straw, 3 pretty big lies, that cost us money on each occasion. It wasn't the money, it was the principal of just being lied to so much, we were disgusted with their behaviour - it's just not the way to do business, not in any country. Combined with Peter's bike, and the amount of lying we'd experienced at our expense in the country so far, we just snapped. They wouldn't budge either, and eventually treathened us with our passports (you have to hand them over everywhere you sleep for visa reasons, the boat was still a hotel effectively). We didn't care, and demanded to have police waiting at the shore when we docked to sort it out. We stopped drinking the beer we bought on-board to not further agitate the situation, and drank their beers instead, clocking up a pretty sizable bill. We drank our own drinks in our room at night while playing cards (also prohibited by their rules). The sight seeing wasn't great either. Although it was not raining, it was cloudy, and visibility was restricted to a few kilometers, so the beauty of the bay was mostly masked by mist. Was turning out to be a nightmare trip, and we began to regret ever leaving Hanoi.

About as good-a-view as we could get, given the weather conditions

In the end they magically produced another spare room for the other guy to stay in, and we got our room that we paid for to ourselves. Which made things a little better, and the trip improved after a spot of cyacking around a bay area, that allowed us to go exploring some of the caves large enough to enter at the waters edge. Some were quite large and we ventured in at least 10 metres, well at least far enough until we couldn't see a thing, got scared and started back padeling. It was quite tranquil, and pretty fun. That and the two ozzy girls we met on board whom we shared a few cards games with were the saving grace of the experience, and made us start to think, perhaps it was worth doing after all... maybe.

Peter and myself cyacking around the bay - was really quite pleasant and turned our lifted our spirits a little after the experience on the boat so far

Midday and we docked back at the port, and we paid the price for the beers we drank, but not the service charge on our own drinks, They then handed our passports over without saying a word. We'd won, back of the net! :) We're glad it didn't get out of hand again. So we refueled, loaded up the bikes and hit the road again. We were all ill by now from all the driving in the cold weather, and the boat trip was the nail in the coffin - temperatures were sooooo low we all came down with nasty colds. Mine seemed to be pretty bad, and I felt like I had the flu all the way back - my whole body ached, and was having some hot & cold flushes. The ride wasn't pleasant. On the way back I broke the chain on the pony - it just gave in and flew off. Had to push it (backwards - wouldn't go forwards as the chain was jammed) to a nearby garage that was shut due to the holiday. After some sad-face-pulling they agreed to open for us and see what they could do. No part shops were open, so this small garage had to mend the broken link, rather than replace the whole thing, which took a while, and once finished was only a temporary measure. I couldn't accelerate or down-shift fast- everything had to be gradual and slow, or the chain would simply break again, but she made it all the way back.

Pony having a brand new chain fitted later in Hanoi

We were all cold, ill, tired, and aching. We decided that's enough. We were planning to to go to Sapa in the north of the country, but with this crap weather it was pointless, as it's all about scenery up there, and so we agreed to sell the bikes back in Hanoi, and use the money to fund buying some plane tickets to somewhere warmer. The signs were telling us it's time to give them up. If we kept them our distance per day would be limited, and staying north would mean more cold, and we'd had over 3 weeks of naff weather since leaving the south, and we yerned for warmer climates. We checked ourselves back into the same hotel we were in several days before, and set about fixing the bikes up for sale. I got a brand new chain fitted and spark plug, Lukas's was okay, and Peters we couldn't fix due to the unavailability of the part until the stores reopened fully in a few days time. We also gave the bikes a proper cleaning - 50p to have 3 people slaving over the cleaning of a bike for 20 minutes. Same as a can of coke over here.

Pony getting the cleaning of a lifetime

We composed an advertisement, and thanks to some brilliantly rendered hand-typography by myself, and some spot on distribution by Lukas around town, we had a couple fo phonecalls within hours. We were aiming at selling to other travellers, and not wanting to rip anyone off, and needing a fast sale, we set the price at $200 a piece - trying to sell them as a trio, but willing to split if neccessary.

The ad we photocopied and posted around town

The viewings went well. The first couple to look were only interested in one bike, and low and behold they preferred the Pony! She was very flattered. Quick fix and a wash, and she was good as new, and the most attractive again :). But the first phone call we received was from a pair of American travellers, who wanted 2 bikes, and we would rather shift 2 at once and deal with the 3rd separately. After another successful viewing, the Pony trumped the others again, and thankfully we convinced them (or rather they convinced themselves after test driving) that Peters bike with the broken ignition was the better buy - it really is the best bike of the three, we just didn't have the time to hang around for the part and get it fixed. It still worked, you just have to unscrew a panel to get it going first. And so we were glad the people who'd be travelling had the two best bikes to help them get there. They wanted to sleep on it, but they seemed really keen on the idea. Reserving those two bikes for them, we went back to the German couple who were living here, and informed them Lukas' bike remained if they wanted it. And they decided to take it. Nothing wrong with it, was in good shape, just the one least suited to longer distances, as her top speed was only around 70kmph. So one sold, and another deal to seal in the morning. We went out and blew a silly amount of money on some French red, followed by some beers, and a decent meal. The next morning our heads ached, but awoke to receive a call from the young Americans, Al & Aliah; sealed! They wanted the bikes. Best way to start a day - with good news. We were thrilled the bikes would be doing our journey in reverse, and continuing to carry fellow travellers across this great land. So we had our last day with them, bought flights to Vientaine, Laos, with the money for the following day, signed over the bikes and then went for dinner with our bikes new owners to share travelling tips. We told them of the route we took - best route to use, and good places to stop off en-route, and in-tern they shared their experiences they'd already had in Laos, and highlighted a few things we should try and do as our journey continues. It was quite an emotional experience parting with the motors, and I had to take the pony for one last spin around town before handing her over. The experience was so different to when I first tried driving her, all her quirks i'd learnt to cope with and use to my advantage, I was a good driver now, and we'd spent enough time in the city to have a really good drive around in traffic, and be more than confident of my surroundings, and location. It was a good last drive, and I felt sad letting her go. I will miss that old bike.

Lukas saying good bye to his Ruzenka

That brings us bang up to date. Just checked out of the hotel and waiting for the Taxi to take us to the airport, then onto Laos, and more adventures in teh second country in our journey. Until next time.

More photos from Lukas as usual.