We just got news that congratulations are in order. Our friends Vikki and Tim officially became parents on the 28th September. Lots of love and every best wish for the family from both of us. We are so thrilled for you guys.

Welcome little Deagan Ty Metcalf to the show that that never ends.

– Posted from my iPhone

Turns out we have arrived just at the start of the Hanoi’s 1000 year celebrations and the city is buzzing (I suspect it buzzes all the time though). As a city or tourist destination it has failed to impress. We visited some of the recommended sites:
Ho Chi Min Museum – dull… and we like museums, Ho Chi Min mausoleum – closed for October and November, The reconstructed One Pillar Pagoda – we’ve slept in better looking tree houses, Temple of literature – cool incense burner but that was it and Hoan Kiem lake – just another pond.

We also took long walks around the old quarter where some of the buildings have an unmistakable French flare but the area feels claustrophobic and noisy. It is full of tourists strolling around or being wheeled in cylcos through the contrived streets. Travel agents by the thousand, coffee shops of varying success and endless rows of the usual clothing and trinkets line the streets. Moving around is a choice between the road owned by plagues of wild scooters carrying up to four, or the pavements, blocked by parked scooters and crammed with frustrating hecklers at every step. Not our scene at all I’m afraid. To finish off the complaints… The food is very expensive and the things we could compare at the supermarket are marked up between 100% and 200% in restaurants and corner shops.

I think the problem is that Hanoi to us just seems like an extension of China. A noisy, crowded and smaller scale extension but with more bakeries. In China we were a minority in the tourism industry. Tourism was geared more for the domestic Chinese. We felt more anonymous. Here though, we make more of an impact, the touts look at us and immediately see dollar signs. It’s easier too, the hostels organize your bus, train ticket and whatever else you need. We will never need to fight our way to the front of a train station queue (a term used loosely in Asia) here, this makes traveling easier but it insulates us and makes it a little less exciting.

Having said all that, Hanoi is a vibrant city with all you would expect from a modern capital and it looks like Vietnam is doing well. The bikes are almost entirely Honda, Yamaha and Vespa – hardly any Chinese junk ! (a stark contrast to Laos). We could not believe the Vespa shops everywhere. We had to stick our heads in to get a price – around £2000 for an entry level cutie. Nobody walks anywhere since the pavements are congested with parked bikes and the locals would rather jump on a scooter than walk 50m down the street.

Crossing the street is a real adventure (but less difficult than advertised) and we did not feel that crime and scams were an issue. It was funny to observe the tourists in the old quarter hanging onto their bags for dear life and skulking about with eyes in the backs of their heads. We were also surprised that domestic tourism is growing rapidly here – two random people asked us to pose for photos with them which we had not been asked to do since way back in China.

Another plus for this place is their Internet. The telephone lines look like complete chaos and yet I was getting speeds faster than those in the UK and Hong Kong (when the crowds were out of the hostel). I internetted myself, almost to death, last night on one of the hostel’s pcs. ‘The Drift’ hostel has some of the best facilities we’ve seen (and not just the Internet).

Tomorrow marks 5 months on the road for us and we desperately needed a decent scotch to celebrate. Luckily we found a small bottle of one of our faves at a store on the way home today – really lucky – you never see the small ones ! So our flask is recharged with Glenmorangie for tomorrow’s boat trip out on Ha Long bay 🙂 I suspect Vietnam will start to impress is shortly.

[Pictures: Love the skinny buildings. Ho Chi Min’s mausoleum – from the outside !]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

The hostel was fine – well at least quiet – and after faffing about for an hour we popped out to a bakery we had spotted last night for some excellent chocolate eclairs (thank you Frenchies). On the way back we stopped in at a ‘cafe’ for a local coffee. Thick and very strong with condensed milk and ice (optional) it was excellent. Even V enjoyed it. Then it was back to the buses !

We ended up on a sleeper bus – our tout pulled a bit of a bait and switch on us, claiming that the seat buses we had booked were sold out but he was good about it charging only 40 000 Dong extra (instead of 100 000. We checked later – it was a good deal).

As we settled in it became obvious that it was going to be an uncomfortable day. The Vietnamese pop was cranked up to ‘brainmelt’ as the driver utilized the sonic boom from his hooter to clear a path out of the city. We were stopping continuously for pee breaks and to collect passengers. The beds were packed within an hour and the isles filled up quickly after that. The day wore on as we wore out passing through plains of rice and the occasional distant clump of karst mountains. Traffic, pouring rain and half meter deep potholes made the going even slower. To our surprise each village (and there seemed to be one every 5kms) had a Christian church. Most looked like large Gothic cathedrals in immaculate condition. The town buildings also seemed odd. Brick and concrete but very (VERY) narrow fronts on the street. Tall and deep they seem as if a tiny earthquake could send them all toppling like a domino rally ! V read something about a tax way back that led to this.

Our six hour ride ended up being an eight hour test of our patience and eardrums. We arrived in Hanoi in the dark and at a bus station that was not on our map. A taxi driver approached us before we had collected our packs but we refused his attempt at a fixed fare to our destination. Eventually we got away from him and found an official metered taxi – good thing too, the other guy had wanted 2.8 times the real cost ! He drive through Hanoi was ‘educational’. This place is insane with scooters and hooters. After a 30 minute ride our driver announced our arrival but we could not see the hostel and were honestly scared to step out into what looked like a street in Joburg central ! V spotted our salvation – a bunch of honkies standing at an entrance. The building is another Vietnamese ‘skinny’ – 6m wide, around 20m deep and 8 stories high.

Our plan was to go back into dorm beds but two exhausting days of buses left us begging for a comfortable night at twice the price. What a great room – we have a third of the top floor to ourselves with glass all round offering > 270 degree views of the city. Well worth it. Perfectly appointed (for us). We slept like royalty.

[Pictures: The dodgy alley to our spot in Vinh. Paradise found: from the ‘city view’ room at Drift Hostel, Hanoi the next morning]

– Posted from my iPhone

Our bus was heading for Vinh. During low season they run every other day, but not directly to Hanoi so we had no choice. Our friendly Loa bus driver was brilliant – we had no problems at all.

The border procedures went smoothly and we left the long trail of logging trucks behind. Seems trade is one way (Laos to Vietnam) because there were no trucks heading the opposite direction. No prizes for guessing which is the bigger economy. Shortly after the crossing we stopped for a lunch at a horrid looking little town with China standard toilets. V and I just waited for everyone to finish as we watched the people walk along the main street past dozens of Vietnamese flags. The rest of the trip went slowly but with only 7 people on board it was comfy. We dropped down out of the mountains and onto the rice covered plains (no more sticky rice though).

Eventually, 11 butt-breaking hours after setting off, we pulled into the main bus station in Vinh and were welcomed by touts trying to get us onto another 6 hour bus to Hanoi. No way ! A ‘helpful’ tout showed us where to find an ATM and walked us to his hostel to have a look. As we walked down some dingy alleys near the bus station we started to worry. 15 minutes in a Vietnamese city and it felt like we were about to be mugged 🙂 we needn’t have worried. The hostel was of poor standard and high price but it was close to the bus station and we were too knackered to care.

The streets of Vinh (around the station) were utter chaos and bustling with scooters, buses and cars – pedestrians are at the bottom of the food chain here. The roads, buildings and sheer volume of people creates a definate ‘China’ feeling. After a day of sweets and snacks we needed real food, but pickings were slim. One canteenish looking place was pumping so we grabbed a table and had a filing, if bland, meal. No prices on the menu left us with a bill that felt expensive and no way to question it. We handed over a bunch of plastic note (Yip. Notes are plastic and have a transparent window – cool) before heading off to bed. More of the same tomorrow – oh dear.

[Pictures: Welcome to Vietname – Rusted old government poster at the border. Packed Canteen – there are just so many more people here than in Laos]

– Posted from my iPhone

150 days on the road today ! Maybe we should stop counting 🙂

We were up late last night even though we needed to be up at 5:30. V was reading horror stories about Vietnam bus travel and border crossings in our guide. We always get apprehensive when we have a border crossing – the stories were not helping ! Seems corruption and theft (by drugging with drink) is an issue along with bus drivers stopping in the middle of nowhere and demanding higher fares especially on the less traveled routes like the one we had chosen. At 7 our guesthouse flagged down the correct bus (a half hour late) and we were on our way with a 12 hour journey ahead.

The bus was almost empty and once again we were the only westerners around. We really miss our friends from the Gibbon group. Such a great bunch. It will definitely take a bit of time to get used to eating ‘alone’ again. Arna, Jessica, Christian, Nick, Sarah and Jacob – you better all stay in touch ! V and I slept the morning away as the bus wound through and up some more spectacular valleys in the heavy rain. The bus and driver were from Laos which, for no valid reason, made me feel far more comfortable. Apart from the loud Lao pop music being played over a video of an American concert it was a comfortable trip to the border.

Laos has been fantastic and it’s a pity we had to rush it a little. Feels like we hardly explored the country at all. During our travels there have been many places that we would like to re-visit but Laos is now at the top of the list. A small population of respectful, polite and friendly people with amazing food, immaculate toilets, good (if windy) roads, totally relaxed attitudes and enough honky comforts at good prices (okay, a little more expensive than expected). We are concerned that the locals will become sick of tourists like much of South East Asia – I really hope not.

[Pictures: Was way to early for that !]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Okay so the ‘Nice’ guesthouse is nice enough. The staff were great, actually brilliant. Rooms clean (if aging) and quiet but our mattress felt like sleeping on a bag full of scrap metal ! We had a quick bite and met up with our guide and driver for the day. We had tried to get an older kiwi that traveled with us from VV on the tour to bring the price down but we couldn’t find him last night. Probably a good thing – anyone who thinks Fox News is the best place for information is in a different league.

First stop for the day was the old city of Phonsavan :gps:(GPS)::19.332628::103.367123:gps: which experienced heavy bombing and fighting during the Vietnam war (reminder to self: watch the documentary ‘The Secret War’ sometime). The original monastery was destroyed leaving ‘miraculously’ the Buddha statue and some columns complete with bullet holes. The city’s main stupa (15m high) was also damaged but more so by looters. It’s very ‘Tomb Raider’ with cracked brick and mortar and plants growing all over it. Very cool to explore.

We took a quick stroll through a quiet traditional village and were wondering why we had not seen or heard many birds. They are a popular food source. Bird traps dot the countryside especially around lakes. They consist of bamboo poles covered in glue with swallows as their primary target.

After a simple lunch we took a walk out to the site 3 of the ‘Plain of Jars’. The paths and boundaries are marked with ‘MAG’ flagstones indicating which areas have been cleared of unexploded ordinance. The clearing is ongoing – both the army and private companies are very busy but it’s an immense challenge. There are a few thousand jars at 50 odd sites around the area but only 3 are tourist attractions. Their origins (2000-3000 years old) are a bit of a mystery as little other evidence their creators exists. The jars are carved from chunks of solid rock quarried about 10km away – impressive – and it seems that they were used for burials.

Jar site 2, the chassis of a cannibalized T-72 Russian tank and a demonstration of the production of Lao-Lao whiskey (fermented rice) occupied us for the next few hours. Our final stop was site 1 :gps:(GPS)::19.430478::103.152052:gps:. Although the jars are generally smaller and more damaged than at the other sites, it is the most impressive covering a large area. Huge bomb craters, trench lines and bullet scars bear witness to the fact that the area was the home (and still is) of a major military base. Two of the jars here are unusual. One is huge (around 6 tonnes) and was probably for a ‘king’ while another has a carving of a person on it. A cave guarded by a massive bee hive and a cobra was the last thing to check out in the area before heading back to town.

The tour was in all very interesting and our guide was good but it was expensive for what it was. If we had more time in Phonsavan it would have made sense to rent a scooter and to have done it ourselves. Tomorrow we are off to Vietnam !

[Pictures: The surviving Buddha statue and the King’s jar, or just a really fat dude]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

We said our final farewells to our new found Canadian friends this morning over breakfast. Jessica and Christian we hope to see you again someday. It has been wonderfull meeting you and we have thoroughly enjoyed your company – as soon as we have a home, you will be most welcome 🙂

Managed to find some motion sickness pills (aptly named Vomina) before our 6 hour minibus trip to Phonsovan. They worked extremely well and knocked me out for most of the journey for which I was extremely grateful. The road to Phonsovan was very windy and only straightenend out about an hour from our destination. Seems Laos has less than 10km of straight road in the entire country ! The views were stunning though. More gigantic kharst monoliths and never-ending jungle.

Simon still has a cold and now a sore ankle from all those swings yesterday (sim: and neck and back)

Phonsovan looks just like Shemula in Northern Natal. The people and the houses are a little different but the vegetation and sandy soil looks so similar. The place is full of ‘Un-exploded Ordinance’ signs on tour agencies and support centres. Shops and hotels all have shells and other munitions as decorations in their lobbies. This part of Laos was one of the most heavily bombed areas during the Vietnam war – it is on the Ho-Chi-Min trail.

We are staying at ‘Nice Hotel’ which seems ok, and we have already organized our onward bus tickets to Vietnam for Friday and a tour of the sights for tomorrow. The tour tomorrow has cost us a fair whack for what it is but all the places in town are doing it for the same price so we did not have much of a choice. So tomorrow we are off to see some stone jars, a rusted russian tank and a bombed out old city.

[Pictures: Huge pile of bombs, mortars, external fuel tanks and other goodies]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Vang Vieng is known by all as just a party town and honestly it doesn’t have much else going for it besides a few outdoor activities and some extreme pancake vendors (think Banana Chocolate pancake with Milo, coconut and condensed milk) on the streets. They work until the wee hours for retiring revelers, but unfortunately not for breakfast when we needed them. After fighting with ATMs and finding a sandwich to replace the missing pancakes we headed out on our morning tour of some caves in the area. I was hoping for some serious spelunking, V not so much 🙂

Our guide was very good (Green Discovery again) and led us around a grotto/temple (Elephant Cave) and two other caves in the vicinity – about 100m and 400m deep. We saw beautiful sparkling stalactites in the large caverns. The caves were good but I was really, hoping for a little more ‘adventure’. The last cave on the morning long tour was the ‘Water cave’ that required floating inside on a tube through a tiny gap and up an underground river. Ditching the tubes we leopard crawled through narrow gaps and waded up to our waists while dodging overhanging formations. The cave did not run very far – maybe 100m – but it was a lot of muddy fun. Even V enjoyed it after overcoming her initial fears. We could really have done the caves ourselves if we had the time to find them but it would have probably resulted in me going too far and getting into trouble!

Back in town our friends were waiting for us to go tubing down the river. This is what Vang Vieng is about and what we came to gawk at. It’s a simple recipe (for disaster). You rent a tube in town, catch a tak-tak for 3km upriver and jump in. Along the river are dozens of bars well stocked with free buckets of booze and an alarming variety of drugs (all illegal). Each bar also has some kind of swing, zipline or slide to launch you back into the river. Most seem to just copy one swing style – if V and I worked here they would have far more interesting designs. Obviously the aim is to get as drunk as possible while tubing from one bar with it’s blaring music and assorted activities to the next. The combination of water, booze and big swings is a good enough reason for the waiver we had to sign before taking a tube and explains why idiots die here every year (apparently). Think of it as a functional ‘Gene Pool Control System’.

Our friends had run the gauntlet a couple of times already so it was easy for us to find the cool swings and slides. We immediately skipped the first couple of bars – they were packed with drunk kids and only offered dismal slides as attractions. The next stop had an impressive swing. I was like a kid in a candy store. Releasing at the highpoint gave you an estimated 8m drop to the rushing water. It was brilliant fun. Nick and I kept going back for more. The rickety platform that you swing from is possibly more dangerous than the swing itself – it felt like it could collapse at any moment. Christian (nursing a radio-active sunburn) and Jessica abstained having done it before and no amount of heckling could get V on a swing. As the drunken hoard started piling into our spot we opted to stay ahead of the wave.

As you go down the river the swings get bigger but we were continuously being caught by progressively more intoxicated crowds, so after Nick had his chest spray painted with an obscene slogan we decided to skip on down to one of the last bars. This one had a huge slide, zipline and the biggest swing yet – maybe over 10m to the water if you release at the highpoint. After a fruit shake with our friends I had a go at the zipline, swing and slide. The swing was awesome, the zipline dull and my technique on the slide left a lot to be desired – barely plopping of the end. Jessica and Christian perfected the slide, launching well into the river with all the style of Canadians on ice. All just too much fun. With the weather turning overcast we headed downstream and back to town. Around 30 minutes of floating through peaceful and stunning karst topography got us to a good exit point that Jessica and Christian had discovered (they had been hassled by locals on a previous excursion). A hectic and fantastic day, but not quite over !

We all met up for dinner at a quaint little grill spot. Vang Vieng has no shortage of western style restaurants and the one we chose wasn’t bad. Braaied kebabs – can’t really go wrong with that. Our next stop was one of the many bars. Nick got accosted into accepting a ‘Beer Bong’ – free if he could finish it in one go. He wasn’t at all phased by the proposition and set a about preparing the bong while explaining his intricate technique – it was almost a science lesson – hilarious 🙂 It was down his gullet in less than 4 seconds. All were impressed. Seems they have a lot of spare time in Belgium. Being the last night in VV, Nick decided to enjoy it. Even with more beer in him than the rest of us combined he stated “I can still do calculus. Come on… Give me something” – and I have no doubt he still could ! We left him to live it up while the rest of us headed for our pillows.

[Pictures: Busy day. Red bull required. It’s imported from Thailand and manufactured by a pharmaceutical company ! Not silly enough to take my phone on the water so you’ll have to wait for the photo uploads]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

I was woken at 6 by V clambering around and cursing in the dark. She had decided to get up early (always a bad way to start for us) and check out the alms ritual in the streets. Every morning at sunrise the monks make their way around town in a colourful and peaceful procession. Originally they would have been given food by the locals (the only food they got) but the the event has become a tourist draw. It has also had it’s fair share of controversy. Yesterday Arna had food forced into her hands by some pushy locals so that she could give it to the monks and be part of the ritual. Once she had handed it over they demanded payment ! This is normally food left over from the previous night and would just have gone to waste. Reminds me of buying food to feed the birds. I don’t have much respect for monks but they are human beings! Treating them as tourist attracting animals is disgusting. Some time ago there were a few cases of the monks getting sick from bad food and they wanted to stop the alms procession. The government would not allow it – they did not want to lose the tourism. Anyway V stood behind the hostel fence and didn’t even take any photos. If you want to be involved in this thing – rather go buy them a bag of rice.

Okay.. Off my box again… After collecting our passports at the Vietnamese consulate we headed for Utopia to have a brunch and take some photos. It really is a cool spot and we lounged around until our minibus was ready. The minibuses in Laos have been brilliant. Super comfortable and they just about all look brand new. Our driver took us out to the LP bus station and we transferred to a bigger van (also very comfy) before heading off on time and to our surprise (Arna had a miserable time the previous day).

The trip to Vang Vieng took five a half hours on incredibly windy roads. V was really battling to keep her brunch down even after using up the last of her motion sickness pills. The landscape was unbelievable. Karst mountains and endless deep valleys plastered with thick green jungle. The larger views could have come straight out of ‘Lord of the Rings’ – Laos has some serious tourism potential ! Unfortunately we battled to take photos as our van swung violently around endless chicanes.

After the minibus a short tak-tak ride got us into town. Already dark we started a search for accommodation. A spot we had seen on line and in our LP guide (LP now means ‘Lonely Planet’ again and not ‘Luang Prabang’) was on the far side of a 4000 Kip (30p) toll bridge. We turned around at the bridge and found something closer to town (Le Jardine Organique Guesthouse). Snazzy name, brand spanking new room, furniture and fittings – perfectly acceptable. We ditched our gear and headed down the main street to arrange a caving tour for the morning. Luckily we spotted a group of our friends from the Gibbon – 7 out of 10 monkeys – not too bad… and great fun 🙂

On another note. We are getting worried about the time we have left. Looks like we will run over if we don’t start skipping and rushing things. To be honest we are having such a great time we just don’t want it to stop. Oh well. We’ll worry about that tomorrow.

[Pictures: A small corner of Utopia – promise we’ll try get better at taking iPhone shots !]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

So our last full day in LP has arrived. On advice from Sarah and Jacob we decided to catch the second (and larger) waterfall in the area – the Kuang Si. After another good breakfast at the Scandinavian (we are regulars now) we negotiated a tak-tak ride out to the falls for 11:30. Our driver arrived on time with 4 other people in the back. Manouk (from our Tibet tour) was one of them ! It was great to see her again but unfortunately the group was split into different vehicles – we ended up alone in the back of the original one trolling the streets for more passengers. We even resorted to joining our driver shouting ‘waterfaaaalll’ at all the strolling honkies. No luck ! We were not willing to accept the fare for just the two of us and resigned ourselves to spending the day chilling put around town. A half hour later a tak-tak with 3 passengers on board swung past us on the streets – we hopped in after checking that this one would not be splitting or stopping and were on our way.

The falls and associated park were far bigger than the one from the other day were complete with Asian bear enclosure and Idylic picnic areas. The falls were even more stunning than we had expected and hiking the very steep trail to the top yielded some interesting views. Swimming areas were limited and a little busy so we found a picnic bench and table ankle deep in the river where we could relax and watch the world go by. It was good to see that, being a Sunday, the park was full of local families having braais and picnics – just enjoying the setting. Another striking thing was a tour group from Thailand. We always think of Thailand as a tour destination but when you see their citizens out in the world you know the country is doing well – really cool to see.

Our fantastically considerate driver got us back to LP around 17h – so just enough time to relax before meeting Manouk and our other friends for a last supper down on the Mekong river.

We’ll truly miss having such cool and diverse people to travel with. Was great to meet you Sarah and Jacob. All the best for the rest of your trip – and for the special delivery that’s on it’s way 🙂 Manouk, we’ll hopefully catch you again in Vietnam – keep an eye out for half-full tak-taks with us on the back! Off to Vang Vieng tomorrow – with a bit of luck Nick, Arna, Jessica and Christian will still be there.

[Pictures: Waterfall – duh]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Started the day with breakfast at the Scandinavian bakery again. We like this little spot on the main drag and the croissants are good. Plus we can get free WiFi from the restaurant across the road. Weird homeless looking guy was also doing his rounds again wandering up and down the road just staring at people or into space.

Next stop was the Royal palace museum. As palaces go it was a really small one, more like jist a really big house built in the early 1900s. Love that we had to take our shoes off to go inside. Was great to wander around with barefeet on polished hardwood floors. We really liked this museum. It wasn’t very big and the descriptions weren’t very detailed but the displays were nicely varied. The kings reception room was painted bright red and the walls and ceilings were covered in depictions of traditional Lao life all made out of little bits of coloured mirror. Lots of goldy bits too as befits a palace. Towards the end we came upon a little treat for a space buff like Simon. Amongst the display cases of gifts given by other countries (including an ugly plate from the Canadians) was a plaque from Richard Nixon with the then Lao flag on it and a tiny bit of moon rock. The flag went to the moon and back apparently on Apollo 11. There was also a little model of the lunar module too. It was just a cool little spacey bit in a most unexpected place.

The royal garage was less interesting. A couple of old fords and a clapped out old Citroën. The palace grounds were pretty run down but they are doing some serious renovation on the wat in the front garden. Fresh coats of paint and a helluva lot of gold leafing going on.

We left the palace and carried on up the road that runs alongside the Mekong eventually coming to Wat Xieng Thong which all the guidebooks describe as ‘Luang Prabangs most magnificent temple’. To be honest we weren’t that enthralled with it apart from the pictures on some of the structures that were made out of colored mirrors just like we had seen at the palace.

We tried walking around the old quarter looking for the french architechture but couldn’t really identify anything strikingly French. It was getting quite hot and Simon was battling with the heat (think he might be coming down with something) so we headed back to our guesthouse for an afternoon siesta.

We joined up with Sarah, Jacob and Arna at Utopia for a lovely dinner. It is likely to be our last meal with Arna who is moving on tomorrow. We are sad to see her go. Happy travels Arna hope to see you again some day. Utopia was a really nice place to have a meal and we will likely go back for another meal just to see it in the daylight – probably the coolest resturant/bar we have ever seen.

[Pictures: Some shots of the main wat at the palace – major restoration work]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

We met the rest of our posse at the Green Discovery offices in preparation for our day of fun out in the jungle and on the river. Green Discovery is one of the well know operators all over Laos and were recommended to us by some of the guys on the Gibbon Experience and they did look and feel more professional than the other companies (or maybe that was just because they are more expensive). Our guide was very good. Perfect English and knowledgeable but arriving at the mountain bike depot was a bit of a let down. We found only 21″ frames for all – nobody needing more than 19″. Uncomfortable helmets, bad breaks and worn out shocks were part of the package. As it turned out we didn’t really need mountain bikes. There was nothing technical about the route save for some muddy patches. Our group completed the 2 hour bike ride along good dirt roads in around an hour – even with me getting a flat and V doing some hilarious muddy acrobatics over her handlebars.

It was then onto the kayaks for a 15 minute paddle to the Tat Sae waterfall :gps:(GPS)::19.843489::102.220426:gps:. We had requested a single kayak each but were not given enough so V and I ended up on a double. Hehe. Just like being on a tandem bike 🙂 The waterfall was stunning. Milky water running ferociously over dozens of pools and limestone formations. When we arrived the place was empty and we took full advantage of the slightly cool pools, swings and jumps before the place flooded with tak-tak delivered day-trippers. Arna is definitely a water person. She could not resist going back for more and more. Lunch at the pools was filling but probably the least appetizing meal so far in Laos – sticky rice with an assortment of dishes. I tried to pin our guide down on the price of local bus tickets but his answers seemed unlikely. Everyone here seems to try and keep tourists on the well trodden path (in this case, minibus rides). The waterfall park also had, for a fee, a set of zip lines (nothing compared with our experience) and some sad looking little nellies to ride – not our thing.

As we got back onto the river the sun came out in full force making the landscape ever more beautiful. It was a long paddle passing villages, fisherman and water buffalo. We paused occasionally to rest letting the current take us. As we floated we had chance to chat with our friends and enjoy ourselves. Suddenly our guides lept to their feet (on their kayak) and started gesticulating wildly. They had spotted a King Cobra crossing the 50m wide river. We watched it go at an impressive pace, climb out on the far bank and disappear into the bush. The thought of falling out or going for a swim in the muddy water became instantly less appealing !

Rapids ahead meant one thing – a little fun for me 🙂 V and I didn’t fall out by I managed to get into a fair amount of trouble by steering us into a half submerged bush part way through a rough section. V was not impressed. So no more tandem bikes for us – and now no more tandem kayaks either ! A little further down river Nick had to swat at another crossing cobra as it approached his kayak. This one had it’s head raised. A shot at the right scale and it would have looked like Nessy. Scary – the thought of one of those sharing your kayak.

It was a great day out but we arrived back in LP burnt and totally spent. At six V woke me to a pool of drool on my pillow. We needed to go out to meet up with Nick at the Belgian (in Lao you spell ‘Belgian’ as ‘Expensive’) restaurant for a farewell drink. We arrived to find Nick fast becoming best mates with the proprietor. A glass of Leffe and a big grin on Nick’s face said it all. Cheers Nick – it was great to meet and travel with you ! Maybe we’ll catch up with you again sometime.

[Pictures: V – oops. Landed in the mud on a FLAT road LOL. Beautiful waterfalls. Nick in his Kayak]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Not much to report today. Our main mission was to get our visa for Vietnam arranged. Our guest-house obligingly pointed out the consulate on the map and instead of paying the $5 commission we decided to take a walk (tak-tak was recommended – but we like to walk).

Luang Prabang is a wonderful little spot. You can walk around the entire town in two hours (and it’s the second largest city in Laos !). Full of western coffee shops, restaurants, galleries, curio shops, guest-houses and wats it is an easy, quiet and inviting place. Another thing is the 23h30 city curfew which, strictly enforced, guarantees a good nights sleep.

We stopped at a little coffee shop (Saffron) on the Mekong river bank for a quick breakfast and fantastic local coffee before heading around the back of the town’s koppie in search of the consulate. $45 each for the visa (3 day processing time) meant that the price has gone up and that we would be here until Monday. On the way back we explored a couple of wats, perused some ‘for sale’ buildings and skimmed the restaurants.

We returned to the main side of town via the wat on top of the koppie. Seems walking at altitude in Tibet hasn’t improved our stair climbing abilities 🙂 The wat encompasses outdoor shrines and stupas with lots of gold (mostly paint) along with a grotto containing ‘The footprint of Buddha’. Depending on where his other extremities are he may be good at twister ! We particularly liked the ‘snagon’ (snake like dragon) handrails.

You can’t go long here before bumping into someone you know and by lunch we had arranged a 1/2 day MTB, 1/2 day kayak trip with Arna and Nick. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing around town and our guest-house. The plan was to waddle through the night market on the way to dinner but just as we arrived the clouds opened sending all the tourists (and a lot of the stall owners) running. It was not a successful outing – V managed to get a really tasty smoothie, but that was it ! We squelched to a halt at a randomly chosen restaurant and enjoyed yet another acceptably good dinner with Arna (who was in a lot of pain – recovering from a 2 hour massage marathon). Tomorrow should be more our speed – bikes, waterfalls and kayaks !

[Pictures: Saffron – love their logo & coffee. One of the Wats – there are so many !]

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Day 2 on the boat ! A good sleep and breakfast at our little dive before heading to the boat via the wors roll stand. We were very early in the hope of getting a comfy chair but to our delight we found a different boat. Wide wooden chairs and tables guaranteed a better day on the fast flowing water. The Argentineans once again sat close to our group but they were mostly quiet until 11 – no doubt nursing hangovers (they were up late in the room next to our friends). Later they reverted to their noisy selves lubricated with a bottle of vodka. We entertained ourselves reading, writing posts, chatting and playing battleship (well Arna and I did). The river was at times turbulent causing our long boat to creek and the sun was occasionally interrupted by waves of rain. Nearing Luang Prabang the landscape grew to include high kharst cliffs – quite beautiful.

Arriving in LP our posse split as we went in search of accommodation. The town seems compact and colourful. Full of travelers wandering about and touts desperate for low season business. It didn’t take long to find something acceptable. We ended up with Arna at the SokDee Guest-house and spent the early evening relaxing in our room enjoying the free wifi. We followed the relaxation with a quick dinner on the main street – no shortage of options – before heading home for an early night.

[Pictures: Land Ahoy – stunning views as we approach LP]

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Today was the first leg of our slow boat trip from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang (stopping overnight in Pakbeng). We got tickets through BAP hostel (cost 50 000 Kip each more than buying at the ticket office) and on advice from the Canadians stocked up on munchies and cushions for the 6 hour trip. The hostel got us to the boat early and we sat waiting for hours for it to fill up. A hastily converted cargo vessel it had uncomfortably hard wooden benches arranged like an airline but it did have a clean loo.

By the time we left the boat was packed with young (and some annoying) western tourists. They probably call themselves ‘backpackers’, we call them ‘more honkies in one place than we have seen in months’. Most had crossed from Thailand that morning – we are now on the well known SE Asia loop trail. Good thing we had a few from our gibbon group to keep us company – it’s great to travel with people sometimes.

The trip was slow, hot, boring, uncomfortable and excruciatingly painful for our butts. The immense forests and odd gold temple lining the Mekong did nothing to offset the very noisy Argentineans that plonked themselves down next to us. Some people just don’t get it. Posters all over Laos provide useful information on social etiquette and yet one of the girls in the Argentine delegation was reading ‘A Short Introduction to Buddhism’… wearing a string bikini. She obviously hadn’t gotten to that chapter 🙂

We arrived an hour early at Pakbeng and as we walked up the road into town were overwhelmed with a wiff of the impossible… Boerewors ?!! Yip… it looked and smelled like it. We vowed to return to the braai after securing accommodation. The rest of our posse went looking for better lodging since our standard is pretty low. In retrospect we didn’t get real value for money. Two young Canadian Rastafarians also passed on our guest-house (The Phonethip). They wanted aircon and more comfort. We thought that was hilarious. Pakbeng is described as a bit of a dive. It survives just to service the daily slow boats and now during low season is very quiet.

The wors was expensive with a little too much ginger and garlic but it was excellent – some small tweaks and SA will have one less unique delicacy. We followed that with a perfectly acceptable dinner with our friends at an Indian restaurant. Tomorrow we have another hellish day. 9 hours or so on a boat. Not looking forward to it.

[Pictures: Boat-load of honkies]

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