Ten days In Laos

Ten days in Laos

A small river, crossable in minutes on a longtail boat, distinguished the boarder between Northern Thailand and Laos. Then a lazy, two day boat ride on the Mekong River took us to our first intended destination in north central Lao, Luang Prabang. 

Luang Prabang was a quaint town, with a busy tourist area selling baguettes, fruit shakes and colourful crafts at every turn. I've been getting up in the mornings for a walk/run, and it's usually the best time to see the locals doing their morning activities. In this town in particular, monks dressed in bright orange robes are out in large numbers, quietly collecting gifts of daily food from the local people. It's a nice ritual to see from afar.

We'd seen a lot of markets, so our plan was to get out of town to see the countryside. We signed up for a day of mountain bike riding with a guide to show us some sites. He took us to a gorgeous waterfall called Tad Sae, which tiered down a clear stream and pooled into perfect swimming pools. 

After a crisp dip, Hamish and I took off alone for a walk up the stream. When I say walk, I really mean sweating our way up and down steep, jungle clad hills while trying to avoid snakes, spiders, and whatever else was lurking.

Hamish seemed to be on a bit of mission forging ahead, I thought to find another waterfall.  It turns out he was looking for a pretty spot to propose. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was so lovely, and bit funny seeing him kneel down on the jungle floor with both of us hot and sticky from the walk. I said yes and we could finally turn back with big smiles all the way.

We took a 5 hour bus marathon to Vang Vieng, our second destination. It was a very windy, steep road through lush mountains and small villages that I would happily do again for the stunning scenery. We did some more rock climbing and kayaking, and spent a rainy afternoon watching friends re-runs- a weird theme in the towns' tourist joints.

Our third and final destination in Laos was Vientiane, the country's capital city. We found it pretty modern compared to the rest of the country and light on interesting things to visit. We did however find a very interesting exhibition on the Vietnam/ American war. It was unbelievable to find out that millions (literally) of unexploded bombs remain today in the Laos countryside.

Today we leave Lao after our short but memorable visit. We will fly (to save a 24hour bus ride) straight to Hanoi, Vientam.

North Thailand

North Thailand

I was pretty stoaked to find some good veg cafes and authentic Thai culture in the lovely city of Chiang  Mai. We had hoped to arrive in time for the famous Sunday Night Market, but our flight from Phuket was delayed and we arrived at 12.03am, just in the nick of time to check into a room before they shut up for the night.

We spent a quiet few days exploring Chiang Mai, including an interesting meditation session with a quirky monk. Meditation is harder than it looks.

Hamish had stayed in with a dodgy tummy, and thinks he picked up some salmonella from chicken we where served down south, and it lingered for several weeks. Then it was my turn to be sick, and I got dengue fever (as diagnosed by my travel health book). We moved on to a trendy little town called Pai and stayed at some comfortable mud brick earth houses to rest and recover.

After 3 lazy days in Pai, Hamish was eager to get moving on two wheels...He had hired a Honda Phantom motorbike and was keen to ride the loop route on highway 1095, approximately 500km long, that travels over mountains and through the countryside back to Chaing Mai. I'd be sitting on the back, a good idea in theory...

The first day of riding was spectacular. The scenery was absolutely stunning and Hamish was in heaven rolling through the perfectly sealed, curving roads. Something I hadn't considered though, was how sore my bum would get on the passenger seat! But kiwi ingenuity to the rescue on the next day, as we duct taped a frilly cushion to my seat and all was good again. But after the second day, despite the view and the cushion, I decided a bus would be a better idea, and Hamish happily completed the final 180km by himself. Next time I'll have to get my own bike I think.

We met back up in Chaing Mai in the afternoon,  in perfect time to visit the Sunday Night Markets.

South Thailand

South Thailand

Fresh food, beach bliss and outdoor adventure awaited us in Southern Thailand! 

Quite a contrast to India, we let loose in modern Bangkok eating fresh street food and sucking up heavenly icy mango smoothies. It's not that I didn't enjoy food in India, but I really missed fresh fruit and veg. After a few introductory days in Bangkok we ventured down south to check out Thailand's famed beach scene.

Stop 1...Koh Tao, the divers island. Apparently they churn out more Open Water Dive Certs here than anywhere else in the world. So, we joined the masses at Big Blue, diving by day and enjoying dinner and drinks out with other divers by night.

Stop 2... Krabi Town, more of a transit town with a very good local food market for evening dinners. Here we hired a scooter each and headed out into the country side with another couple, Mark and Rachael, for a day trip to a National Park. The star of the park was a 7 tier waterfall, although the epic hike up to it was more memorable. We had to resort to some Scout/ Duke of Ed style decision making when deciding if we should retrace back down the dangerously vertical track during pending monsoon type rain, or continue on a loop track with an uncertain ending.

Stop 3...Railey, the climbers island. I was really excited about coming here and got straight into a satisfying half day of climbing with the guy who sold us our bungalow accom, a seasoned local. I loved the rock climbing and am already thinking about how I can incorporate it into Melbourne life.

The next day we explored the beautiful island and found ourselves climbing, this time without ropes, up and down a steep  mountain to reach a secluded lagoon. It was a health and safely nightmare, that Hamish did with just jandals on, but it felt very adventurous. Luckily I'd had a bit of pre-conditioning with the previous days climbing, otherwise I might have chickened out.

The beaches on Railey, surrounded by huge cliffs (often with rock climbers scaling them), where absolutely stunning, and it was quiet enough that we could relax into the hippy island vibe. I could have stayed much longer, but we wanted to sneek in a look at famous Koh Phi Phi, so we island hopped our way over on a ferry.

Stop 4... Koh Phi Phi is popular..it turns out very, very popular. Perhaps because it is close to 'The' Beach. And defiantly for its party scene (sadly cheap and seedy). Consequently, we choose to spent more time off shore than on. We did a half day, island hopping boat trip to get a good look around, which included snorkeling, cliff jumping and a private beach party at night in a cave. Some young thai guys organised cold beers, a sound system and some epic fire dancing showing us how to party Thai style.

We had to get up earlier than we wanted the next day for another diving trip. Hamish was keen to dive a sunken car ferry, and I joined in on two very beautiful reef dives. 

Next we fly up north to Chang Mai, to see a different side of Thailand.