Monday, January 21, 2013

3 days in Cambodia



Where we travelled down the Mekong to Phnom Penh. My camera gave up the ghost due to sand in Don Dat but a nice little shop two doors down from our hotel fixed for me which was nice especially as we had a great giggle about it which I can now share:-

We got off the bus in the centre of town, just near the market and thought this is a good location  Near our favourite  Phnom Penh restaurant and the waterfront lets find a cheap guest-house ... This one was clean, friendly and wanted $6 a night with en suite bathroom.... we took it.

Walking away, Liza asked - what's it called so we can find our way back...... Yes folks it's the Ly Hor. which made us smile, and we thought, at least we'll remember where we are staying.

Being good guests of course we read the regulations:-
Not sure if you can get the whole detail here but the pertinent one is part 6..... Girlfriends aren't to be trusted!!

We left Phnom Penh and flew to Manila from where I write this and we recover from one special sort of AGGGH flight via Singapore.... an airport guaranteed  to make any sane man scream with frustration which will probably make it's own blog entry.

Last of Lao Pictures

 On a day trip out of Pakse before we went to the 4000 Islands Mekong falls we went out to the plateau and came across a couple of nice waterfalls...


 And the laegest old Wat in Laos - What Pho - whoch is a smaller version of Anchor Wat however this one is on a hill so the views were spectacular.

 Liza contemplates another set of steps with Frangipani trees.... very pretty.

 And another set of steps!
 To the top of the temple - note the old tin roof which housed the following inside.


Our bus to Don Dat broke down so we all crammed onto this one!!

 A beautiful dead tree on Don Dat

 Well you need a kitten picture somewhere!

 We liked their veg and salad planters.


 Sunset pictures to finish off Laos
 But just before you think it's all superb we did have fun with insects after dark
And with buffaloes on the beach.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

A last gentle couple of days in Laos

After Pakse we caught the local bus too the Mekong falls on the boarder of Laos and Cambodia, the natural boarder as the river spreads out - up to 14 km in places and develops a series of about 4000 islands with channels, small rapids (in the dry season - large in the wet) and waterfalls making navigation in anything larger than a rib almost impossible.

This was a typical Laos bus ride, without which no journey to the country is complete. Here is a bullet list of things that have happened to us while on Laos buses:-

  • Breakdowns - (only 1h wait followed by everyone cramming onto an overgrown tuk tuk for another hour..... think 40 people in one minibus.
  • Dogs (in plastic bags... head only out)
  • Chickens (usually very large roosters carried under a locals arm, usually off to a cock fight we think)
  • Pigs - again in sacks.
  • Every bus is ALWAYS full this means plastic stools down the isle.
  • If the sound system works it is on, full on, with whatever the drivers taste is... usually bad soft rock or local atonal stuff.
  • Any local produce or things that people want to bring with them is just fine, you can never have too much luggage... roofs, sacks of rice (all down the isle on one ride.) an industrial size food mixer (4 of us to lift onto the bus then 5 more to heave it onto the roof. A moped on the roof is just standard. We were slightly concerned with the 12 large boxes labelled 'Fireworks'.
  • All drivers make a little on the side by picking up more people just round the corner from the bus station... they sit on the floor by the front door well.
  • A toilet stop every 2 hours..... where everyone tries to get off through the people sitting in the isles & 5 women try to get on to sell you meat on sticks  (I enjoyed the 2 lightly BBQed sparrows I had for breakfast at Oudomsay). If the women are not off the bus before the driver is ready to leave they get an un-requested lift to the next village.
  • Locals do not travel that much so a bus journey is rather an unusual occurrence for them.... which is why the bus boys, at least 2 on every trip, are always handing out sick bags which are always needed.
  • The bus is always late.... both leaving and arriving. You just don't worry about it - it will arrive when it arrives. It will load and unload at the discretion of the driver and a help moving stuff around is appreciated.
  • All the buses are old decrepit and would have failed a UK MOT in about 1995 and have been running ever since.
  • How long the bus ride will take depends on the state of the road and the rains wash so much of the roads away annually any timetable will bound to be a best guess. As the roads and the vehicles improve it will obviously get better but for now the frontier feel of the place where you just do the best you can with what you have got works very well. Help is always at hand as to not stop if needed around here is impossible. If you are walking down a country road everyone who drives past will stop to see if you want a lift. The mobile phone has made such a massive difference to the lives of people around here it is difficult to comprehend.

The Mekong falls stopped Laos becoming part of both Cambodia, Siam and only an offshoot of the Kymer empires, plus it's a really beautiful place to be. We spent 3 days on the island of Don Dat.... and yes they have produced the 'Been there Don Dat' tee-shirt .... Another quiet Lao destination worth doing nothing much for a couple of days.... The sand is particularly fine and seems to get everywhere - unfortunately this included my camera. I'm not having much luck with cameras having now lost one and broken one. So sorry no pics.

Yesterday, the 17th Jan we left Laos having misread our visa resulting in us overstaying by a day.... (curses a 10$ fine each), and re-entered Cambodia. We are spending a quiet couple of days in Kratie in NE Cambodia , the bit we have not been to yet, then on to Phnom Penn.We have now bought a flight to Manila for the 20th where we intend to spend a while island hopping around the Philippines.

Hopefully pictures will be available on the next instalment!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Vientiane and onwards south.... Sunsets on the Mekong

 After the fun filled new year we headed to Lao's capital, where we had to stay while we had the travellers usual games of fun with visas. Vientiane is not the largest and wildest of places, it wins the award for the sleepiest capital we have ever come across. Here's a picture of the national theatre!
 The one thing no one mentions in the guide book is that Vientiane, during the dry season has one massive massive beach!! here's a pic of fish traps in the sunset!



 In fact a whole collection of Vientiane sunset pictures...
 We went to the small museum set up by the charity that provides prosthetic limbs for people who loose them to landmines - an all too frequent occurance... The bomb cases tend to be found throughout the country in other uses - here's a plant holder.

 We were getting our Myanmar visas here - which took 3 days so we had a chance to take some more sunset pictures.

We actually had a really positive experinece getting our visa here... very unusual, we were told it would be ready at 4.30 pm on the wednesday but on the Tuesday we got a phone call at our hotel from the Myanmar embassy saying we could pick it up at 9.30 am instead. A real result as we could then head out of town on this bus!!!


 We headed down Laos and spent one night here..... Very clean and plesent just made out of every cheap tile they could find!!

 We also found this immigration office and casino..... I bet there's not too many of those in the world!


 More Meking sunsets!
 Bomb case as waste bin - our Hotel in Pakse



Where I took another few Mekong sunset pictures.... They put very nice bars by the river and I think this helps..

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Through northern Laos - very slowly!!

Following our Christmas day epic we stopped overnight and then we then took another day down the river to Muang Ngoi. .

The view from our room.
 Note bomb cases made into arch!
Muang Ngoi main street - no roads to here so no transport bigger than a bike! We left after two days on another spectacular river trip......

The scenery changed as we moved into limestone so the steep v shaped valleys changed to massive limestone cliffs.









The locals used the shore the falling waters left as their premier veg plots which sprang up all along the river - bamboo fences kept the buffaloes out.



Luang Prabang

The Nam Ou runs into the Mekong about 4 km upstream of our destination Luang Prabang, Laos's 2nd city, so once again we were on the mighty Mekong..... it seems to be becoming a major feature!



The city is the main tourist centre in Laos but in a very refined and sophisticated kind of way.
It has lots of beautiful buildings some of which have been converted into exclusive boutique hotels.
What is known as colonial Chinese shop style. Designed to have a shop on the front...




Lots of Wats and a Royal residence to visit.  A pagoda at the top of a hill which over looks the town which on a clear day has amazing views.


 The bridge - of which we have crossed a fair few, is a dry season only bamboo bridge which will not last long when the rains come.....
 This Wat had the always present Tuk Tuk and driver plying for trade.... It is easily possible to transport eight and luggage on roof with one of these... only not quickly or in any way comfortably.




They also have had the widest choice and best value tourist shopping we have seen.  They had beautiful hand woven silk and cotton of the highest quality, really fabulous hand crafted silver and all sorts of other hand crafted gifts.  If I didn't have to carry it all I would have been tempted by lots of things. Postal costs cancelled out any savings you make though and there is the fact that it all looks really lovely over here but will it fit in at home?

We took the bus - about 6 hours over some more mountains to arrive at Vang Vieng


Vang Vieng

Is the party capital of Laos and this is where we ended up for new year.  I can't really describe the place to you its a cross between Toromolinos and (?Andy help me out here) (Kendal!.... Weird but true AH)
Its got noisy bars, surrounded by the most beautiful backdrop of mountains with fit energetic youthful people bouncing around doing lots of adventure sports.  I am not sure why, but I love it.

We had a great new year as we bumped into a guy we had met along the way called Marco who we both really like.  We joined him and his mates for the evening and welcomed in the new year in boisterous style.

We are staying in a bungalow on the other side of the river so we aren't in amongst the late night bars which are very noisy.  We have been able to do lots of walking as there are easily accessible paths all over the place.  In other places in South East Asia its been difficult to go for walks. Sometimes the landscape is impenetrable or the area is mined so you can't be sure you will be safe or in easier terrain where we would normally be happy to toddle off on our own the government insists you pay a guide which is expensive as so many people are taking a cut.

After my trekking experience I was a bit worried that Andy was missing out on some of the more exciting but physical things on offer in South east Asia like white water rafting, off road cycling, zip wires and treetop fun etc etc:.  Vang Vien is famous for a sport called tubing, for the uninitiated this is where you get into a rubber ring and float down the river.  I had heard that tubing was adrenalin packed but mostly safe if you didn't get too drunk and asked Andy whether we could go.

In the wet season May - August it is indeed adrenalin packed and can be dangerous as there are rapids along the way, but in the dry season (like now) when the water is low it is very safe and like the lazy river ride you get at water parks.   It turns out that Andy had been checking this out and knew it wasn't going to be dangerous or adrenalin packed which is why he agreed to take me.

However adrenalin packed or not it was great fun and stunningly beautiful and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.
 A stroll to the waterfall - not much to see in the dry season but when it rains I expect this is pretty spectacular.


 Out Hut..... Got a bit obsessed with sunsets & sunrises so hope you enjoy them.


 Came across turkeys and as it was just after Christmas thought you should see a picture of some of the lucky ones!!



 Sunset from a bar.


 Vang Vieng's main bridge (dry season only) fun to cross at all times as is single track with no passing places and lots of mopeds!


 Sunset pics...





These flat rice fields and then vertical limestone cliffs make it a great place for walking and climbing at all levels.

 Walking around here is either flat or very very up and down... top class scrambling or full out climbing!!!

 Just your average boat building operation.



 The roads don't half get dusty!!

A great scramble to get to the top here for this pic.


 View through our hut.




 Note the digger.... if you want ballast, you just get ballast!!


 Liza can be seen working hard in the hammock here!!


 More sunset pics!





 Followed by a couple of sunrise!!





So after what turned into an unexpected six day stay in Vang Vieng - a place that we will remember with great fondness we continued on the long long road (like we thought we'd be here ages ago to Vientiane Laos's capital.