Katie and I are currently awaiting a bus to take us to Chang Mai from Bangkok and we have some time to kill. Sounds like a good time to write. I think I left off in Vang Vieng last post.
Besides going tubing Katie and also rented Bicycles (as usual) and went for a ride. We wanted to visit one of the caves in the area as caves are pseudo-famous in this region. As we've come to expect, the best cave for visiting is also the furthest away from town. It was a bit of long journey on those azn-one-speeders, but we made it. We cycled a rough dirt and gravel road to a cave that was just under an hour bike ride away (later I had to go back there cycling alone, and it only took me about 25 minutes- thats a diffferent story though). The cave was really neat, I must say I was glad I had Katie with me for the spelunking (cave exploration?) because it quite the creepy experience, and nice to have someone with you for hand holding, nervous conversations and comfort in an otherwise scary situation.
Before entering the cave we had to hike up a flight of about 40 nature-made stairs to get to the cave entrance. (Nature made stairs means very big, uneven stone steps and a vine handrail). Under the intense sun this alone proved a bit of an exercise. There was a Buddha and some offerings near the entrance, and still quite a bit of light entering the cave through holes and such, but as we went further into the cave it got darker and darker and creepier and creepier.
After 10 minutes we were definitely relying on our Flashlights and headlamps. At one point, just to try it, we decided to turn off our lights to see 'how it feels'. The feeling was very unnatural and quite new to me. When our lights were turned off everything was pitch black, total and complete darkness. If the boogeyman lives...he lives in a cave, that's for sure. Luckily, on top of this, Katie and I had just recently watched a Natural Geographic urban legends special on the existence of giant man sized bats that roam in abandoned caves much like the one we were inside of at this very moment. Lets just say the lights were only turned off very briefly.
What really amazed me is this cave was home to many, many Laotians during the Vietnam War. The villagers used the caves as shelters from bombs the US forces were dropping in their efforts to slow the flow of supplies from North to South Vietnam. It was difficult to try and imagine living in one of these caves, but I suppose when faced with living in a cave or risking death by bomb it would be an obvious choice. After a creepy hour or so of spelunking we were back at the entrance and down the staircase to the beautiful lagoon at the foot of the Cave. The lagoon was a perfect swimming hole after sweating in the heat of the cave and the bike ride. We took a short break here at the lagoon, went for a few rope swings and a swim and then off we went, on our cycles, back to our hotel. The ride back was a little easier...it seems the ride back is always easier because you know approximately how long it takes and what to expect whereas on the way there you are always going on either local advice or tour guide book approximations, and none of these ever seem entirely correct.
So that's about it for Vang Vieng, the whole town is driven especially by tourism it seems and deals on food, rooms and swim gear are abundant.
And I know I've said this before, but Cycling in SE Asia is absolutely amazing (if you can handle it). While the bikes are usually rickety, only have one speed, creek non stop, need new brakes and are an all around P.O.S by our standards, in all my years cycling it has only been recently that I can say "I had to wait for that water buffalo to cross before I could enter the bridge", or "I thought that pig/duck/rabid dog was going to bite me!". And lets not forget about all the smiles you get from locals being on a bicycle rather than a motorbike (scooter). If you've got the gusto for it, rent a pedal bike.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand, after Vang Vieng we made our way to Phonesavahn to visit the mysterious and awe inspiring Plain of Jars. While it was worth seeing, and I definitely would never regret it, the van ride to Phonesavahn was not an easy one. Seating was fine (a nice change) but the road winds through the mountains and can be a little unnerving and stomach turning. We all made it without giving back our lunches though....it was close.
In Phonesavahn here is basically nothing to do except go to the plain of jars and learn about UXO (UnExploded Ordinance). We spent a very short time in Phonesavahn and have some great pics from the plains I'll have to show everyone. I would describe the 'jars' (as they are called) as giant cement flower pot type things and while they vary in size, even the small ones are bigger than a human. The mystery still exists behind them as nobody knows how they got there or what they are used for. One popular belief is that they were used as crematoriums or caskets for important kings and other like people in ancient society, but who knows, it might have been something as simple as a method of collecting and distributing water.....Either way, yet another mysterious sight to behold on our tip through this land. It is difficult ot explain exactly what they look like so I will put pictures up soon, and there is always good ol' Wikipedia.....
From Phonesavanh we made our way back south to a town called Pakse. In Pakse we rented a scooter so that we could go and see the nearby waterfalls. The drive there was quite exciting as we got a flat tire on our scooter and got a little squirrely on the back tire. I kept calm and remembered the advice from my motorcycle course back home and brought us to a controlled stop. We didn't have to walk the bike very far before we found a tire repair shop, the culprit was a couple small pieces of metal, much like part of a nail or something like that (it was a little suspicious as the culprit piece of metal was on the road only about 300 meters from the repair shop,the locals probably know, "at this part, stay only in this area of the road"). Anyway, we were fortunate the flat tire repair only cost us about $3.50 and 30 minutes of downtime. Soon enough we were on the road again to behold 2 very incredible waterfalls, some of the best I have ever seen. Their names elude me right now, but if you are in Pakse, it is easy to find them.
From Pakse we made our way to the land of 4000 Islands, an area in southern Laos where there are thousands of islands varying in size along the Mekong river. The larger islands, Don Khon and Don Det even have electricity and all those other comforts. I'll go through our adventures on this Island a little later, although they are limited mostly to a simple relaxing, a couple enjoyable bike rides and one not-so-enjoyable bike ride. Until next time, thanks as always for reading and I appreciate everyone's support and comments. I'll have some more information up here soon enough. We leave for Australia in a few days and I hope I can wrap up the rest of our SE Asia adventures in my first couple weeks there and then just let you know how it is trying to get back into a 'real life' (working, cooking, etc) in Oz.....
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
Happy New Years from Thailand!
So I'm getting back into the Blogging thing (hopefully). I'm going to run through the last couple months very quickly, probably won't have very detailed descriptions of each place...
So from Dalat we went to Hoi An. Hoi An is an alright place however it rained every day we were there so it probably could have been a lot more fun. It is known for it's tailors and I had 2 suits made among some other clothing. We sent the clothes hoome so I'm crossing my fingers the box makes it there eventually. 2 Tailor made suits (Cashmere wool) for $120USD....not bad.
From Hoi An we went all the way to Hanoi, skipping Hue completely...We felt we were running low on time and it was raining in Hue when we got there too, so we kept on truckin. Hanoi was okay, although as far as the big Vietnam Cities (Saigon, Hanoi) i thought Saigon was leaps and bounds better than Hanoi. Hanoi was more expensive than the rest of Vietnam in every respect except for one. Beer is cheap in Hanoi. For about a quarter you get a medium sized glass of draft beer....3 dollars goes a long way if you want to drink. There's one catch though, all the cheap beer stand's seating arrangements are kindergarten style stackable plastic chairs...in fact all the cheap grub in Asia uses these types of chairs and little plastic tables at the food stalls. It really is a great way to eat lots for a good price...and usually the flavor is really good as well because the vendor makes one or two kinds of food and so they are very good at making whatever they serve. Anyway, Katie and I started using the term "Kindergarten Soup?" or "Kindergarten Beer?" when discussing where to eat. Note, Kindergarten Pho is delicious!!
Katie didn't feel very well in Hanoi and so we stayed a couple extra days before moving on to Ha Long Bay. Ha Long Bay is an amazing place and really needs to be seen with your own eyes to understadn the wonder of the place. You can look at pictures on the net and get an idea, but it is quite something to behold in person. you can purchase pre-arranged trips but Katie and I were getting sick of pre arranged tours and excursions and so we did Ha Long Bay on our own. it ended up being a great decision. We spoke with some other people who did the arranged trip and it turned out we followed very similar itineraries except that we saved a little money, had a nicer hotel, and didnt have to deal with the crowd being in a big tour group. Definitely no regrets in the Ha Long Bay Decision. We were there for Katie's champagne birthday (26 on 26th) and i have a humorous little anecdote about getting her birthday cake you'll have to ask me about. Birthday cakes, or even bakeries, aren't an everyday thing in the small town of Cat ba....which is why getting Katie a cake turned out to be a good little story (ask sometime). And the cake was delicious!!
We didn't want to leave Ha Long bay but our Visas were down to the wire and we didn't want to risk overstaying the Visa. We left Ha Long Bay back to Hanoi and stayed one night in a dorm style room where a Rat or some sort of creature ate a box of crackers we had purchased for a bus ride the next day. The best part is the crackers were right beside Katie's feet and so whatever ate them was proabbly crawling all over Katie's sleeping body. She loved coming to that realization.
After Vietnam we took a 30 Hour bus to Laos, it turned out to be only about 18 hours which was nice. It was a little dreadful and crowded, but again there were people in worse sitting positions than us (like Kindergarten Chairs in the aisle of the bus) so I didnt complain too much. Getting our Laos Visa on arrival was quick and painless. For some reason however, Canada has to pay the most of any country for the Visa....maybe they dont want Canadians visiting their wonderful country? Who knows....
Laos is a very nice place. So similar to Vietnam yet so different. Same Same but Different. (Asia joke). I actually didn't enjoy Vientiane very much (where we arrived in Laos) but we quickly left for Vang Vien and Vang Vien was unreal. I absolutely loved it. It is a little town driven by tourism of people going tubing down the River...i can't remember the name of the river right now. I highly recommend the river tubing just so you can try the rope swings the rope swings are incredible. There is a whole bunch of them, all attached to restaurants/bars as you float down the river. The very first swing is the best one though as it is the very highest. I was actually so scared going on it my first try that I couldn't even breathe. It is that high up....and the swing is so large that it is almost more like a trapese, you reach an incredible velocity as you swing out and when you let go you fall what I would guess is between 4 to 6 meters.. A totally unreal feeling that I kept going back for after the first try. Still scary every time though....just one of those kinds of thrills mountain dew lovers live for....
I'll blog more later on. Nature is calling. Merry Christmas everyone. Very special Birthday wish for my Grandma who just had a milestone birthday yet she still manages to beat me at Crochet (The line, "You play like my grandma" isn't so bad when it comes to Crochet.) It was hard being away at this time of year but it's like my Dad said, when I'm getting down about being away I just have to think about all the snow in Calgary and all the turquoise water and white sand here in Thailand. Thanks for reading everyone!! Happy New Year! We really miss you all and can't wait to see everyone again.
So from Dalat we went to Hoi An. Hoi An is an alright place however it rained every day we were there so it probably could have been a lot more fun. It is known for it's tailors and I had 2 suits made among some other clothing. We sent the clothes hoome so I'm crossing my fingers the box makes it there eventually. 2 Tailor made suits (Cashmere wool) for $120USD....not bad.
From Hoi An we went all the way to Hanoi, skipping Hue completely...We felt we were running low on time and it was raining in Hue when we got there too, so we kept on truckin. Hanoi was okay, although as far as the big Vietnam Cities (Saigon, Hanoi) i thought Saigon was leaps and bounds better than Hanoi. Hanoi was more expensive than the rest of Vietnam in every respect except for one. Beer is cheap in Hanoi. For about a quarter you get a medium sized glass of draft beer....3 dollars goes a long way if you want to drink. There's one catch though, all the cheap beer stand's seating arrangements are kindergarten style stackable plastic chairs...in fact all the cheap grub in Asia uses these types of chairs and little plastic tables at the food stalls. It really is a great way to eat lots for a good price...and usually the flavor is really good as well because the vendor makes one or two kinds of food and so they are very good at making whatever they serve. Anyway, Katie and I started using the term "Kindergarten Soup?" or "Kindergarten Beer?" when discussing where to eat. Note, Kindergarten Pho is delicious!!
Katie didn't feel very well in Hanoi and so we stayed a couple extra days before moving on to Ha Long Bay. Ha Long Bay is an amazing place and really needs to be seen with your own eyes to understadn the wonder of the place. You can look at pictures on the net and get an idea, but it is quite something to behold in person. you can purchase pre-arranged trips but Katie and I were getting sick of pre arranged tours and excursions and so we did Ha Long Bay on our own. it ended up being a great decision. We spoke with some other people who did the arranged trip and it turned out we followed very similar itineraries except that we saved a little money, had a nicer hotel, and didnt have to deal with the crowd being in a big tour group. Definitely no regrets in the Ha Long Bay Decision. We were there for Katie's champagne birthday (26 on 26th) and i have a humorous little anecdote about getting her birthday cake you'll have to ask me about. Birthday cakes, or even bakeries, aren't an everyday thing in the small town of Cat ba....which is why getting Katie a cake turned out to be a good little story (ask sometime). And the cake was delicious!!
We didn't want to leave Ha Long bay but our Visas were down to the wire and we didn't want to risk overstaying the Visa. We left Ha Long Bay back to Hanoi and stayed one night in a dorm style room where a Rat or some sort of creature ate a box of crackers we had purchased for a bus ride the next day. The best part is the crackers were right beside Katie's feet and so whatever ate them was proabbly crawling all over Katie's sleeping body. She loved coming to that realization.
After Vietnam we took a 30 Hour bus to Laos, it turned out to be only about 18 hours which was nice. It was a little dreadful and crowded, but again there were people in worse sitting positions than us (like Kindergarten Chairs in the aisle of the bus) so I didnt complain too much. Getting our Laos Visa on arrival was quick and painless. For some reason however, Canada has to pay the most of any country for the Visa....maybe they dont want Canadians visiting their wonderful country? Who knows....
Laos is a very nice place. So similar to Vietnam yet so different. Same Same but Different. (Asia joke). I actually didn't enjoy Vientiane very much (where we arrived in Laos) but we quickly left for Vang Vien and Vang Vien was unreal. I absolutely loved it. It is a little town driven by tourism of people going tubing down the River...i can't remember the name of the river right now. I highly recommend the river tubing just so you can try the rope swings the rope swings are incredible. There is a whole bunch of them, all attached to restaurants/bars as you float down the river. The very first swing is the best one though as it is the very highest. I was actually so scared going on it my first try that I couldn't even breathe. It is that high up....and the swing is so large that it is almost more like a trapese, you reach an incredible velocity as you swing out and when you let go you fall what I would guess is between 4 to 6 meters.. A totally unreal feeling that I kept going back for after the first try. Still scary every time though....just one of those kinds of thrills mountain dew lovers live for....
I'll blog more later on. Nature is calling. Merry Christmas everyone. Very special Birthday wish for my Grandma who just had a milestone birthday yet she still manages to beat me at Crochet (The line, "You play like my grandma" isn't so bad when it comes to Crochet.) It was hard being away at this time of year but it's like my Dad said, when I'm getting down about being away I just have to think about all the snow in Calgary and all the turquoise water and white sand here in Thailand. Thanks for reading everyone!! Happy New Year! We really miss you all and can't wait to see everyone again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)