Chiang Mai

We flew into Chiang Mai in another crash free Laos Airlines flight (I don't know what we were worried about!). A quick taxi trip into town and we checked in at our guest house. We took the chance to have a quick look around, Lianne was most excited about the really nice coffee houses we found!

That evening we took our first (of many) visits to the night bazaar to stock up on hookey DVDs, T shirts, watches, shoes, etc... We also indulged an urge by having the first Big Mac we'd had for 4 weeks!

The next day we planned on walking around the old town and visiting the temples and other sights. However, once we'd got up and had breakfast we just couldn't face it! I think we were a bit travel weary so instead we went to the Mall, looked at some shops, had Pizza Hut for lunch and then went to see Ocean's 13. The cinema in Thailand was entertaining as at the beginning they ask you to stand in honour of the king and then play the national anthem. You don't get that at the local cinema at home! That evening we arranged our Hill Trekking for the next day which was going to be a lot more energetic than today!

Next morning we packed a small overnight bag each and were picked up by our guide in a covered truck with two bench seats in the back. It was just us and another Canadian couple, Norman and Jill. We drove for a couple of hours and arrived at small village in the hills about 100km or so from Chiang Mai. At one point in the journey the heavens just opened and torrential rain came down, the truck had open sides so we got a bit wet at this point but it didn't last too long.

We had lunch then got given life jackets (for tomorrows rafting) and then jumped in the back of the truck. Just 15 minutes down the road this time, until the track became too muddy for the truck to proceed, then we jumped out and started walking.

It was pretty hot, mid 30s probably, and it was sweaty work walking along. We started off along a road, stopping at a couple of small villages (well a couple of grass and wooden huts each). At one we met a guy who makes home made guns to sell at the market. They are old-school breech loading guns that look like something from the American revolution (but I still wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of it). Shortly after this stop we turned off the road and started to walk cross country. There was plenty of up and down to the walking and we were all very, very sweaty as we progressed. It was about a 3 hour walk to our destination which was a small hill tribe village of about 11 families.

The village is very isolated with the walk that we had just done the only practical way to get in and out of the place.

Once we had stopped the four of us grabbed a warm beer (civilized enough to have beer, not enough to have ice) and wandered down to the river to cool off our feet.

Our guide was cooking dinner for us and as we waited for it we had the now expected hard sell from the locals trying to get us to buy some of their locally made goods.

Dinner was good with a curry, stir fry and lots of rice to fill us up. That night we spent in one of the bamboo buildings sleeping on very thin mattresses under mosquito netting.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast waiting for the next part of the adventure, and sure enough they soon arrived walking down the river. We were going elephant trecking.

Norman and Jill were on one, with the guide, and we were on another behind. Lianne was looking forward to riding on the elephants but was also terrified of the things, especially when getting on (which involves the elephant walking up to a platform and then you step on its head and then on to a platform strapped to its back). We rode them for an hour up along the river and then back down the river itself. Great fun.

After that we were then going bamboo rafting, which involves riding a raft constructed out of about a dozen large pieces of bamboo all lashed together. At a distance it didn't look that sturdy and to be honest it didn't look much better close up. But it did the job and was very stable as we rode back down the river to where we started. It was great fun riding over the small rapids as the water splashed around our legs.

After that we had lunch and then headed off home via a waterfall on the way. It was a great couple of days with a rewarding walk through some great scenary and lots of fun on the way back made all the better with a great couple to share it with.

We met up with Norman and Jill later for a quiet drink, however the drinking was far from quiet and we made it back to our hotel at 2am after watching Lewis win the F1 and a few games of air hockey and pool.

The next day started at about noon due to the previous nights excesses and didn't really get going after that! We made another visit to the night markets to finish up all our shopping and then headed to bed, for the last time on our holiday.

The next day we were off to Singapore ready to catch our flight back to the UK.

We're writing this from Singapore airport and we have to dash off to board our plane. To everyone in the UK, we'll see you soon; to those in NZ, all the best and stay in touch!

Tony & Lianne aka Foxy & Shirlz!

Luang Prabang

We got a minivan to Luang Prabang which is about 180km north of Vang Vieng. It was an extremely narrow winding road that just goes through the hills. It took about 5 hours of driving but was worth spending the extra dollar for the minivan that the bus as this would have taken a few hours longer. The only thing that we ever saw in the five hours were small villages built along the side of the road. Most buildings were built with wood/bamboo and had thatched roofs. The funniest thing was then counting the number of satellite dishes that were in these villages to get cable TV!!

We got to Luang Prabang, found a small cheap guesthouse and just went for a bit of a walk. It is a really pretty town and once again very quiet. You don't get bothered by anybody on the street trying to sell you things or ask for money. Luang Prabang is situated on the Mekong River and is preserved with it's French and Asian influences as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is surrounded by mountains and is a really beautiful setting. The first night we went to one of the many restaurants along the Mekong River for a very cheap meal and bottle of beer.

The following day we decided to go to the Pak Ou caves by slow boat. This took a couple of hours and we stopped off at a couple of the local riverside villages on the way. One specialised in whisky making (we declined to try any at 10am!!) and one in paper making. Everyone there also sells all of the silk scarves and materials also that Laos is famous for. The Pak Ou caves are a Buddhist pilgrimage site and situated inside the caves are over 4000 Buddha images that have been placed inside them. There were only 3 other people on our boat who were really lovely and once back in town we had a late lunch with them. We had a very relaxing afternoon which included walking around some of the town looking at some of the wats around, and then dinner before an early night.

The next morning we set out alarms early (5.40am is early when you are on holiday!!) and ventured all of the way to the end of the driveway of the guesthouse. We had heard about the monks alms giving and wanted to experience it first hand. There are many wats in Luang Prabang (all of Laos and south east Asia really) that have many monks living in them. Every morning the monks do their rounds in Luang Prabang and the locals come out and give them rice. It was quite an amazing experience to watch.

That morning we hired bicycles and cycled around much of the town and visited about 8 of the wats we hadn't been to the night before. One of the highlights was when one of the young monks decided to come and practice his English and chatted to us for about 10 minutes. He was absolutely lovely and his English was very good. Later that afternoon we went in a minivan to visit the Kuang Si waterfalls. These were a series of waterfalls that were quite stunning. One of the best bits is that you can swim in a couple of the waterfall pools and it was cold!! The water was actually cold (the first time we had had that feeling since we had started travelling I think). At the bottom of the waterfalls was a black bear rescue centre where there were quite a few bears in a really large area with lots of stimulation. They had been rescued from poachers which is still a big problem in Laos. There was also a tiger that had been rescued when it was 4 days old after it's mother had been killed and it had been sold on the black market. It is now about 2 years old and an absolutely beautiful creature.

That evening we headed up the citadel hill for the views over the city and then dinner. We also had a look around the markets that get set up each evening around the town streets by the local tribes selling their goods. It has been really nice to have been in Laos for the last week where it has definitely been a change of pace and much more relaxed. We now head back to Thailand to Chiang Mai which is the last stop for us...

Vang Vieng

We caught a bus from Vientiane to Vang Vieng which is about 150km north. It was a really pleasant drive, even if the bus didn't have air conditioning. Vang Vieng was a bit of a one horse town. It was very quiet and they base the town around 'adventure tourism'. If you want to you can go caving, white water rafting, mountain biking etc etc. I'm not sure what the health and safety criteria are for the companies that run these tours, however my suspicions are that they are non existent.

We only had one day in Vang Vieng so decided to do what just about everybody does, and go tubing. This involves getting driven in a tuk-tuk about 4km out of the centre of Vang Vieng and getting dropped off at the side of the river with an old tractor tyre inner tube. You just launch into the river and leisurely spend the next 3-4 hours getting back to town. It was quite nice and slow going with a couple of minor 'rapids'. There are bar/restaurants on the way down the river that will pull you in with big poles if you want to stop. We stopped at one for a snack towards the end which was quite cool. They all have big swings and jumps into the river that you can do also. Lianne did a swing/jump one from about 8m which was quite scary whilst Tony decided that he would just hold the inner tube to prevent it from floating away.

That night we just had dinner at one of the restaurants. This is a bit of an attraction in itself in Vang Vieng with many of the restaurants set up with TV's that blare out 'Friends'. You can just wander around and decide which series/episode you want to watch and lie down at the tables with the pillows provided. It is quite bizarre watching one episode whilst being able to hear another 4 getting played round you.

Neither of our nights in Vang Vieng was late as we had TV in our guest house and could watch the two singles finals of the French open tennis. This was quite good, even if the commentary was in Laos!!.

After a fleeting visit, our next stop was to be the World Heritage City of Luang Prabang...

Vientiane

We were in two minds about whether or not to visit Laos, as we were tight on time and we'd heard that there's really not that much to see or do there. In the end we decided to go, and we're both glad we did.

We flew Laos airlines from Hanoi to Vientiane which made us a bit nervous as our guidebook strongly advises against flying on them due to their poor safety record. As you can see, it all turned out fine. Getting a visa for Laos was the easiest so far, they issue a 15 day visa on arrival at the airport for US$30 which took 5 minutes.

Vientiane is a very small city, much quieter than the bug bustling cities that we had become used to in Asia. We checked into a guesthouse and took a quick look around.
The place is so much more basic than we had become accustomed too, but the best part was that we were no longer constantly hassled to buy things or ride on a moto or tuk-tuk. It was such a relief we instantly took a like to the place.

For dinner that night we sat out at one of the "cafes" overlooking the Mekong and had a beer and a bite to eat. I say "cafe", but it was really just a few plastic chairs and tables on a patch of dirt next to the river. The whole length of the Mekong waterfront is filled with cafes like this and it is a very pleasant and cheap way to spend the evening as the sun goes down.
The next day we hired a couple of bicycles and rode them around town. I think that it is testament to the tranquility of Vientiane that we considered hiring bikes, we wouldn't have contemplated it in Hanoi!

We rode out along Lane Xang Avenue to the Patuxay, which are the Laos equivalents of the Champs-Elysee and Arc de Triomphe respectively.

We cycled on to Pha That Luang which is a beautiful temple and the national symbol of Laos. It is surrounded by a number of other temples and old buildings and the area looks stunning.

We spent the rest of the day on our bikes exploring the other temples and buildings of the city. As I said it is a small place so easily manageable on a bike or even on foot.

One of the other things we liked about this place is that it seems to punch above it's size in terms of the restaurants it has to offer. We had a fantastic curry here and we discovered a great cafe that did awesome bacon and egg bagels and the best cup of tea we'd had since New Zealand!

I think one day was enough to see most of what was on offer in Vientiane but we enjoyed our time here. The next day we were on the bus again, off to Vang Viang.

Ha Long Bay

So, it started on a great note when we had a lovely air conditioned mini bus from Hanoi all the way to Ha Long Bay with only us and one other couple in!! This is almost unheard of as they normally cram everyone in like sardines. After a very pleasant 4 hour drive we arrived at the pier to catch our boat but ended up waiting for a bit. We finally got onto our correct boat and had a lovely lunch of rice, fish, meat, french fries, and cucumber salad (all meals are included in our 2 night 3 day cruise).

We set sail and cruised along on our lovely old wooden boat out into the bay. Ha Long Bay is a huge area which consists of over 2000 limestone islands jutting up out of the sea. It is absolutely stunning scenery.

There were about 16 people on our tour, most of whom were really nice, especially a lovely family with 2 kids from Ireland that we spent most of our time with.

Our first port of call was a couple of grottoes with lots of stalactites and stalagmites. it was extremely hot so quite nice to be in a cave where it was quite cool. We then headed a bit further afield and visited a floating village. At this point we did some kayaking around some of the islands and the village. This should have been one of the highlights, however, The Foxes were having a few issues (navigational, motivational, and matrimonial!!). It nearly ended in divorce, but after a nice swim in the sea to cool down it was all back to normal.

We then anchored down for the evening and had a lovely dinner of rice, fish, meat, french fries, and cucumber salad (we were starting to see a pattern). People from the floating village row out in small boats and visit the big boats with all of the tourists on selling everything you can think of. We bought a few beers (our Irish friends were the best hagglers finally getting 13 very big beers for about NZ$8). We all sat up on the roof of the boat and had a few drinks. We did not want to be downstairs as firstly our generator was not working so we did not have any power/lights, and then when it finally got going, our guide and the crew were all downstairs singing Vietnamese karaoke which we definitely did not want to be a part of. Up on deck it was an amazing sight with many other boats floating round and a lightning storm happening quite a way away for a couple of hours made it look like fireworks.

We turned in for a pretty early night to our cabin. It was ok, but very hot and a few small cockroaches to keep us company.

The next day we awoke to find that the storm had arrived and it was torrential rain. Tony and I were doing an extra day than everyone else on the boat so we got dropped off at Cat Ba Island which is where were staying in a hotel for the second night. There was a possibility of doing a hike through the jungle, however in our Lonely Planet it said it was a difficult 6 hour trek, and it was pouring with rain. Instead we booked into the hotel and watched our cable TV!! When it had stopped raining we headed out for a lovely lunch on board a floating restaurant. You guessed it, rice, fish, meat, french fries, and damned cucumber salad!!! Our guide was now only for the two of us (he was a bit young and enthusiastic for our liking) and he informed us that the next activity of the day was kayaking. We looked at each other, took a big breath, and got into the kayak. We didn't have to go but due to the previous day's effort we thought we should try again. This time was much better and we had a good look around another floating village with lots of fish farms, pet dogs, and even petrol stations all on the water. We then paddled to a secluded beach where we were the only ones and read our books. It was so nice to actually have a beach all to ourselves.

We eventually headed back to the hotel and had a small wander around town to explore. After dinner (the same as usual!!) we went to our room as we had cable TV and the French Open was on. The next day we headed back on the boat to the mainland and had lunch (Tony didn't hardly eat anything here as he couldn't face it yet again!!), and headed back to Hanoi in the minivan.

Ha Long Bay was absolutely magnificent scenery and we had a great time. After one night in Hanoi we were off to Laos...

Hanoi

The flight from Da Nang airport to Hanoi was wonderful, after weeks of travelling on trains and buses it was a joy to get on a plane. It was a brand new Airbus A320 and we had exit isle seats. We felt like royalty.

When we got to Hanoi airport we decided to take the cheap option of catching the 5000 dong bus (US$0.40) instead of the expensive US$2 shuttle bus. This was fine, except it dropped us off at some random bus stop vaguely in the centre of Hanoi. After walking for 20 minutes we decided that we were miles away from where we wanted to be and hailed a taxi, which then drove the long way to where we wanted to go and ended up costing more than the shuttle. We were pretty grumpy with the taxi driver and ended up paying him less than what the meter said, and walking off in a huff.

We found ourselves an OK hotel to stay in and grabbed a bite to eat.

The next day we went exploring around Hanoi and found that there isn't actually that much to see. We had a look around the old quarter, where we were staying, which is full of narrow streets full of traders. Interestingly each street seems to have it's own trade and every shop in the street does the same thing. There's a metal work street, a paper street, a toy street, etc... very odd.

We then went for a walk around the lake in the centre of Hanoi and a quick bite to eat.

Hanoi is a typical busy Asian city with cars, bikes, scooters and motorbikes everywhere. Crossing the road involves picking a spot in the traffic where it is slightly less busy and then slowly walking across the road at a steady pace. Closing your eyes helps. The vehicles will then just drive around you. On no account stop, as this is the last thing anyone expects and will probably result in an accident!

The next day we went on a day trip to Tam Coc. We were the youngest on the mini bus by far!!! It was a really nice day though with the highlight being a 2 hour row down the river marvelling at the scenery. Basically Tam Coc is a river running through the rice paddy fields with huge limestone rocks jutting out of the ground. We were a bit worried at one stage as the man rowing our boat stopped (conveniently half way through and at the farthest point of where we needed to end up) and his wife proceeded to try and sell us things. She showed us bags, tea towels, even embroided tablecloths at which we gave our standard reply of "no thank you". there was a little bit of a stand off with no rowing, and no purchasing, but we finally gave in and purchased a pack of 10 postcards for $1. They were pretty dark with us but at least we made it back to the end!

The other interesting thing from the day was looking at the locals at various stages of their rice crop production. We saw people in the fields harvesting, right through to seeing the rice drying out on the side of the road. You think there would be somewhere better for them to do this as we saw people, chickens, and even dogs walking through the rice. I just hope a lot of processing goes into it all after this!.

We spent the next day in Hanoi again where we got out of bed early to go and see Ho Chi Minh.

'Uncle Ho' as Vietnamese people call him, has been preserved, and his actual body lies in a mausoleum in Hanoi that people can visit. There was the biggest queue I have ever seen to do this, with most being Vietnamese people who have made the trip. The line moved fairly quickly, luckily for Tony as he had a little old Vietnamese lady behind him who came up to the middle of his back. She literally stood 1mm from him and I think she was a bit excited about seeing 'Uncle Ho' as she even started pushing him at one stage. At least it made the time pass quickly giggling and playing games about how to inch forward in the queue. The body is amazingly preserved and it looks just like he is sleeping. We later went to the Ho Chi Minh Museum which is on the same grounds, although didn't really get much seeing as it was all in Vietnamese, and visited his old home (not that impressive either).

That evening we went to see the water puppets (which is just one of the things you do when you are in Hanoi). It's a puppet show performed in waist high water with the puppeteers hidden behind a screen and the poles the puppets are on hidden in the water. The whole thing was narrated in Vietnamese which made it a little hard to follow, but it was entertaining enough and worth every one of the two dollars it cost to go.

The next day we headed off for a three day trip to Ha Long Bay...

Hoi An

The train trip to Da Nang (nearest train station to Hoi An) was relatively smooth. Left at 9pm and arrived at 5.30am. It was a 'hard sleeper' and was in a cabin of 6 and despite the name, the beds were very comfy and we both had a good sleep. After walking around Da Nang for about an hour looking for the bus station, we finally boarded a bus to Hoi An, about 30 km away.

We decided to splash out and spent US$12 on a room but buffet breakfast and a swimming pool were all included, as was a huge air conditioned room with cable TV!

Hoi An is a beautiful old town with a mixture of French and Chinese influenced architecture and is situated on the Thu Bon River but is still only 6km away from the beach. We were absolutely shocked to find that Hoi An was relatively quiet, you were able to walk down the middle of the main street during the day without a car in site at times. Also, there has recently been a crack down on local touts so we were pretty much left alone for a couple of days from the stress of telling everybody "no thank you".

We spent much of the first day just wandering around and exploring and managed to find the most amazing cafe with a French style patisserie. We made the most of this over the next three days, going back every single day to try something new. If you ever go to Hoi An go to the Cargo Club and have chocolate truffle cake on the balcony.

We had heard that Hoi An was the city of tailors and it definitely was the most common feature. There were literally streets with 10 tailor shops in a row. We decided to get a few things made with mixed results. The simple things that were made right the first time were good and cheap, however if it was a bit more complicated or they didn't get it exact the first time, it all started to go a bit wrong. Over the next few days we spent far too much time and energy at the tailor shops arguing about if an item fitted correctly or looked the way it should.

We tried to put this aside and enjoy the rest of the time, which we did. We hired bicycles and went to the beach but only spent about 30 secs in the water as I have never seen so many jellyfish in my life!!! Despite this, it was stunning white sands and crystal clear blue water. Apparently the 30km coastline between Hoi An and Da Nang is exactly like this and nearly nobody on the beach!! We also went on a walking tour and studied some of the architecture and buildings, and we definitely made the most of the swimming pool at the hotel which passed some time.

We bought a painting at one of the art shops in Hoi An, and when we got back to the hotel with it all packaged up, the guy behind the reception desk noticed and asked if we liked art work. I misunderstood his dialect of English and assumed he was trying to sell me something (like every other Vietnamese we've met) as he was waving a flax woven tube at me. We fobbed him off but no less than 10secs of getting to the room, there was a knock at the door. It was 'Mr Krazy' (that was what he said his name was) and instead of actually trying to sell us something he was giving us 2 more paintings for free that somebody else had left behind. He was being extremely nice and altruistic. If your last name is Johnstone, you are Australian, stayed in Rm 311 at the Than Binh 2 Hotel, and left 2 paintings behind when you checked out, we have your goods!!

We were heading on to Hanoi next and decided we couldn't face a 16hour train journey so splashed out on a flight.