All Good Things Must Come to an End

As the title suggests, a very good thing has indeed come to an end. After a hectic 'race around the world' through Indonesia, we arrived back in Oz late in October, bleary-eyed after a couple of crappy flights from Bali.

Our plan was to have a couple of week's relaxation in Brisbane while finding a job, but I don't think we could have planned our return to the mining workforce at a worse time! The markets crashed in October, capital was hard to get and most companies seemed to put moratoriums on hiring. A person we know who works in recruitment said that jobs went from 90 one week, to 3 the next, to none! We completed 90% of the recruitment process for two jobs based in Orange (which would have been so lovely) but right at the end those jobs evaporated. So at the moment we're still waiting until the silly season finishes up so we can continue the job hunt. We're not holding out hopes of finding much though, so I'm starting to think about doing other crazy things, like going back to uni.


In between everything I managed to fit in a quick trip to Broome so I could be at my friends' wedding. It was so fabulous to see all my friends from Tom Price, who reminded me of a few things I'd rather forget from my times as a party animal! Ceanne was a such a beautiful bride and Jeremy had everyone in tears as he got emotional during his vows.

My friends Carly and Chris were nice enough to ferry me around to the tourist attractions in their hire car as well, which felt like charity for the unemployed at the time.... in fact I'm still unemployed so I'm glad they were so generous! We went kayaking around the headland and saw some amazing things, the giant flatback turtles were my favourites. I stupidly forgot a hat so had to pull out my emergency Buff to keep the 36-degree sun off my scalp. We also went down to the headland to check out some dinosaur footprints, but the tide wasn't out far enough for us to see them. We also went to an pearl farm and got talked into taking a scenic chopper flight while we were waiting for a tour! Words can't describe how beautiful the water is there: You'll just have to check out the photos.


I stopped in Sydney on the way back through to Brisbane for a few days and stayed with my Auntie Tina. Sydney was great, although I'm still convinced I couldn't live in such a busy place. Pete and I met up for lunch and to see the Monet exhibition, which was a bit disappointing (albeit a bit cheaper than usual). For some fresh air and exercise I walked from Clovelly to La Perouse one day and was blessed with the weather and awesome views. Mind you, the amount of waiting and dodging golf balls and dirty old men through THREE golf courses was a bit much to handle. I was certainly glad to get to the proper tracks in the National Park. While walking through the banksias and flowering, heady-scented eucalypts I was close to tears as I remembered how much I missed this country and took it for granted.

Christmas was great, albeit a bit melancholy given the double-whammy unemployment status for Pete and me. We had a lovely Christmas Eve with my Mum and Dad, and my brother and his fiancee, Jasmine. Santa did a very good job this year and we all went to bed with smiles on our faces. At the end-of-year sales today I picked up a nice (cheap!) dress to wear to my brother's wedding in February, and a couple of other nice things I neither need or can afford! My budget starts tomorrow! We're thinking of doing an overnight walk at Lamington for NYE, but park or track closures might get the better of us.

Here's hoping for a good start to the new year with some job offers for Pete and I!

So Close But So Far....

At least that's how it feels anyway. We're currently in Lovina in the north of Bali, relaxing after a very hectic few weeks in Java. We fly home from Denpasar on the 26th of October giving us a good few days of R'n'R before returning to Oz.

Let's see what I can remember of our last few whirlwind weeks....... We had a great time in KL and Singapore eating up a storm and and shopping til we dropped (well I did anyway, Pete waited patiently for me at home..). In hindsight it was a bit of a mistake to spend so much time in Malaysia/Singapore before heading to Java because we became so accustomed to the wonderful hawkers' food that Indonesia has been a real culinary disappointment.

Bandung was a real highlight for me, since so many memories came flooding back. We hired a driver for the day and went to visit the houses I lived in when I was a kid, and also my old school. By coincidence our driver also worked in the aviation industry in Bandung (just like my dad..) and his English was excellent. The first house we went to, Budi Sari, was still exactly how I remembered it, and the owners were nice enough to let us inside for a look. Amazingly, even some of the same furniture is still there! The second house also appeared the same, but the owners weren't too happy about some random aussies coming in for a look - it's in a gated secure compound. The staff at my old school were incredibly hospitable, and I almost felt like a celebrity for a few hours there. I had trouble recognising some of the buildings there but I think that's because so much has changed. The old playground is now a swimming pool! They were so disappointed when I couldn't hang around for 'fabulous friday' when all the early childhood classes perform songs for their parents and classmates. To be honest I would have felt quite embarrassed to be there!

We also spent a day climbing Tangkuban Perahu, the volcano which overlooks the city of Bandung. It's exactly as I remember it, except that this time the amount of rubbish is staggering. As friendly and helpful as the Indonesian people are, on the flip side they aren't so good at being clean or dealing with rubbish. Jalan Cihampelas (Jeans Street) in downtown Bandung was a scream. In a bid to outdo each other, each of the cheap clothing retailers have constructed enormous super hero statues outside their shops, so that in about 50m you can see Rambo, Superman, Batman and the Incredible Hulk. Pete just had to get a pic with Arnie.....

From there we spent a day at Pangandaran, a beach town I remember going to as a kid that was unfortunately been battered by a tsunami a few years ago. They're still rebuilding, and the upside for travellers is that all the accommodation is new and mostly in good working order. I was disappointed however to see 2m-high piles of rubbish on the beach, which I remember to be in better shape back then. It's the perfect example of paradise lost, I suppose.

We then went to Jogjakarta and had a lovely time. It's a bit smaller and thus less hectic that Bandung or Jakarta and it has Borobodur just down the road. We woke early to see Borobodur at sunrise and were glad afterwards that we did (although at 4.30am it was difficult to see through the haziness of sleep). I can't wait to see the photos from that day for real on my computer, the light was so beautiful on the carvings, and the haze over the surrounding jungle was so moody and perfect.

Now onto the epic tale of yesterday - We continued on the theme of early mornings by booking a trip a day after Borobodur to see Gunung Bromo at sunrise. Due to a bit of tout 'misinformation' we missed out on the best part of sunrise but were still in awe of the landscape - it was almost lunar. After the early morning yesterday we then continued on to Probolinggo, then on to the ferry to Bali, and then at 6pm had to find some transport to Lovina! We ended up having to buy out the rest of the seats on the local bus (so typical of the developing world...) because the driver refused to leave until the bus was full, never mind if nobody else showed up that night. The driver then had the cheek ignore our requests to be dropped in town at the post office, and instead dropped us at his 'friend's' hotel, half an hour's walk from Lovina, after 10pm! Peter the Patient lost his patience and wanted to chase the driver down the street for a chat but thankfully reason kicked in and we got our exercise for the day walking back to where we wanted to go in the first place, albeit way past our bedtime.

I'm getting a bit nervous about coming home, but I'm so excited for so many reasons. I think a bit of reverse-culture shock will kick in, I suppose most people haven't been arguing with locals over a $2 bus trip or had to bargain for such things as drinking water and the price of using filthy toilet! Travelling certainly isn't glamorous! There are so many things I realise now that I take for granted in Australia: road rules, good wine, reserved seating on public transport, fixed prices, and health and safety regulations. So first on my list of to-dos back home will be to enjoy a nice glass of wine, and breathe in the clean air which I so often take for granted. I'd even like to catch the train home from the airport but my mum won't hear of it!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again so if you're in Brisbane and free anytime after the 27th October, let me know! I'll be up for as many cups of tea as I have friends (I wonder which is the greater number?), and since I don't have a job (yet) I'm free almost whenever. Hope everyone's well xox

Full Circle

I'm writing this post from Penang, where I was born 28 years ago (although I wish it was a few years less!). So far we have been here for about a day and we have had fried mee, char koay teow, indian thalis and more. I love this place! It's a total gastronomic paradise. And the highlight so far is the lack of tourists. I think the bulk of the young Bangkok tourists are put off from travelling here because it's a strict Muslim country, so you don't get the party animals, narco-tourists, sex tourists or up-and-coming barflies. Basically you cut out all the crap! I think it will be a bit easier to meet people here than on the tourist trail in Thailand. On Wednesday we're catching the ferry to Medan where I think there will be even less foreigners. Mind you, there will be less Indians and Chinese too, so finding something to snack on during the day at the moment might be a bit tricky! Hope everyone's well.

I Love Bangkok!

Yes, I'm still alive and in Bangkok. It's my first visit to the Thai capital and I love it so far! Thais are so neat and clean, and smiley as well. The only negative experience so far was our attempt to buy a couple of cool t-shirts on Khao San Rd last night. Khao San Rd is the main tourist strip in Bangkok, and for most of the time it's closed to traffic because there are so many tourists. There are some awesome t-shirt designs in amongst all the other mass-produced ones, but when we tried to buy three of them, the shark running the stall wouldn't give them to us for any less than 200 baht each. That's about A$8! A total rip-off when you can buy the same shirts at the weekend market for about $3. I think too many clueless people have passed through there and paid way too much, ruining the fun for everybody else. But enough complaining..... Bangkok is so cool!

Yesterday we spent the entire day wandering around Siam Square and the surrounding shopping district. We saw a movie as well, in the plushest cinema I've ever seen! And it only cost $5 - That's cheaper than when I was at uni! We bought a couple of things (Pete finally has his battery-powered hair shaver) and drooled over lightweight laptops. We had a fantastic lunch too, in a really swish food court. I think tomorrow we might go ten-pin bowling in the Siam Paragon centre. I love this city!

The Middle of the Mekong

Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands), in the middle of the Mekong on the border between Laos and Cambodia, is the sort of place where it's easy to extend your stay. We planned to stay for one or two nights and stayed for three, and six years ago when Pete was here previously, he stayed a week! Below is Pete doing what suits Don Khon best - reading and lazing about.


There's no escaping the fact that we are travelling in the wet season, and while we have had mostly clear weather throughout SE Asia so far, the rain is never too far away. Apparently the Mekong is currently at 100-year flood levels up north, so I shudder to think what might be happening to the bars, restaurants and bungalows on Si Phan Don.


One of our favourite things to do was to sit on the French colonial-era bridge and watch the sun set and the water rush by. It all went down nicely with a icy cold Beer Lao from the shop next to the bridge.


There are several 'waterfalls' in the vicinity and below is a photo of Pete cycling on his weapon bike to the slightly smaller one. I don't think we've found a bike yet that fits him, which is great for me, I get a laugh every time I see him riding by!


Here's the slightly smaller, but arguably more spectacular waterfall on the Mekong. Even my wide-angle lens doesn't do the spectacle justice - it's almost a 270 degree view of rapids.


Night two sitting on the bridge was spectacular, not only was the beer nice and cold, but the sunset was amazing. Mother Nature manages some glorious sights sometimes, and the cloud formations as viewed from the bridge were one of her better efforts. Never mind the clapped-out pair of thongs below, the bridge was still hot from the day's sun, and stubby coolers are rare in Laos!




On day two we caught a rustic long-boat and then a very luxurious mini-van to the slightly larger waterfall. It was pretty amazing as well, and as with the other waterfall, it was also a 270 degree view. As ever Pete was being a boy and couldn't resist posing.


And on to the finale: The sunset on night three. We saw and felt the cool change come through - that's it you can see in the cloud stretching across the horizon.


Finally, just for fun, here's a photo of one of the menus on the island. Along with 'Spin Rolls', we could also choose to have 'Streamed Rice'. There's two I haven't seen before.



We're still in Siem Reap after a few false starts. Hoff and Katrina turned up and we all had an impromptu big night drinking 'Tomb Raider' cocktails (cointreau, lime and tonic). They went down a little too easily and we stumbled home way after midnight. The next day we felt sore and sorry and yesterday we tried to spend the day doing at least something useful. Katrina and I went to a interesting but very expensive artisan workshop, where to create a certain effect on the imitation wood carvings, they rub the wood with their calloused palms for one week! I'm going to remember that every time I think I'm getting bored at work! Today we were meant to leave early on the bus to Bangkok, but as luck would have it, Iron Guts Stonestreet is scared to leave the proximity of the toilet. So the plan is that we'll finally leave tomorrow if nothing else changes.

What? Poo?

Hi, I have time for another post I think so here goes. First up is a photo of a typical street in Savannakhet, a small town in southern Laos. It's full of dilapidated old French colonial buildings, with the odd new Chinese building or Wat (temple) thrown in for good measure. With some paving and a lick of paint, the town seems to me to be almost identical to Luang Prabang, now the hippest and fanciest place to go in Laos.


While we were discussing the day's events with a Beer Lao looking out over the Mekong, we were lucky enough to see some locals in a dragon boat going past. Because it's the wet season right now, the river is flowing very fast, so when we saw them coming back the other way, they were definitely going slower and working a lot harder! That's Thailand you can see on the other side of the Mekong.


After our gastronomic excesses in Vientiane, we tried to keep things low-key, but we couldn't go past this crazy place which was floating on the river. I think it was run by Thais, since most of them were speaking English. I believe that the Mekong is now experiencing 100-year flood levels, so I wonder how this place is going, and if you can get out there at all? Note the boardwalk for access.


After a night in Savannakhet we kept heading south to Pakse, Champasak, and the lovely Wat Phu. On the way to the Wat we shared the tuk-tuk with some French girls, who bought one of these things for a snack. Having seen plenty of them for sale I was intrigued as to how you might eat them. It turns out that you break the seed pod apart and then peel the seeds to eat the inner crunchy and slightly-sweet part. I found out later that these things are the seed pod of some kind of water lily.


Upon arrival at Wat Phu, we were immediately impressed. It was inexpensive to get in, and small enough that we saw everything in under two hours. It's an old Khmer temple complex which dates from the 11th-13th centuries. Although the walk was a bit tough in the sticky weather, our efforts were rewarded since the ruins at the top are nicely shaded and cool. There is even a natural spring seeping out from the sandstone cliffs above.




These gorgeous things are available for purchase for Buddists wanting to make an offering at some of the shrines around the complex. There are loads of different types, most of them involving orchids, marigolds or jasmine.


This is the view from the upper temples at Wat Phu. As you can see, it's only a small site, but quite nice. It was a taste of things to come later at Angkor Wat.


It might take a while to make it out, but this is a carving of a crocodile. There were a few cryptic carvings labelled on the map, so it was a bit like 'Where's Wally' as we tried to find them.


Finally, the steps we climbed to access the upper parts of the temples. It might not look that bad in the photo, but those stairs were steep!


At the moment we're in Siem Reap, the town that services the Angkor Wat temple complex. It has to be seen to be believed - the number of temples here is just amazing - Angkor Wat is the biggest one but there are hundred of others, all in various states of disrepair or restoration. I especially liked the Bantay Srei temple - the relief carvings are almost 3D, and so beautiful. We went back for a second visit to Angkor Wat yesterday for the sunset and it was so beautiful. The temple started to glow with the warm golden colours of the setting sun. The reflections in the adjacent pool was perfect and so majestic. I can see how this place can be so addictive and mesmerising.

We spent two days checking out the temples and we have two days in Siem Reap left. Today Hoff and Katrina are flying in from Koh Samui so I think we might have a big night tonight! Tomorrow I'll try and squeeze in a cooking class and maybe a massage from the blind people. After that we're going to Battambang for a couple of nights, and then on to Bangkok! I can't wait to go shopping!

That's it for today, since Slowstreet is finally at the tail-end of drafting his CV. I can't wait to put some of my Angkor photos up.

Vientiane

Hello, here's some photos from our stay in Vientiane. Although most travellers seem to think it's a boring place, we spent a good few days there and probably could have spent longer. There are plenty of lovely shops and restaurants in town (many of them French..) and some great places to sit by the Mekong and enjoy a Beer Lao. La Cave Des Chateaux was the best French restaurant we tried: You can't argue with a perfectly-cooked steak for just $10! I took a photo of the sign because the gecko looks so out of place.


While walking to the markets, we came across this sign, apparently sponsored by the Australian Government. It's pretty cute!


Here's me having a whale of a time at the brand-new water park. I think I posted something earlier about our trip to this place - Pete ended up bruising his rib cartilage when he started going too fast and fell. We were having a great time up until about then. After the rib incident we mostly floated around in the kiddies pool.


Again, here's me having fun while Pete was nursing his sore ribs. He was miserable for a few days after that and even now he's still a tiny bit sore.


Although it was only hours after the rib incident, Pete perked up for dinner with my mate Rosco, who works for Pan Australian in Laos. We went for dinner at La Cave Des Chateaux and then headed up to one of the many bars in town where ex-pats go for a drink (or maybe even to find a Lao girlfriend). It was on the fifth floor of a building right next to the Mekong, so the views were impressive. Although I remembered too late to make a can of 'harden-up', I did do my best to shoosh Rosco (these jokes will only be remembered by a few who were at George Fisher around 2002-2003!)


Patouxai, Vientiane's Arc de Triomphe is pictured below. Apparently it was built with cement donated for construction of the new airport, so some ex-pats have nicknamed it 'the vertical runway'. It's lovely from a distance, and ghastly up close!


And just in case you don't believe me, here's the sign that proclaims that fact:


The view from the top is impressive however, and from the photo you can probably deduce that Vientiane is not much of a city, and more like a big town. I don't think there are any buildings in Laos that are more than about five stories, which makes for a laid-back and relaxing place.


Finally, just for fun here's a photo of Pete's lunch while we were on our way south to Savannakhet. He bought some boiled eggs as part of his lunch and got a bonus with his purchase! The man with guts of steel couldn't quite bring himself to eat a baby chicken so the dogs did very well for themselves that day.


That's it for now, I'll post again if I have time today. Pete's doing his CV so I may have some time up my sleeve. Mine's already done but it's too scary to send it off - because then reality really will kick in! We only have about ten weeks left until we return to Australia, which is not a very long time at all!

Tubby Tubers in Vang Vieng

Hi everyone, I'm making the best of a good internet connection and putting up as many photos as I can at the moment. First up below is an example of the awesome snacks you can find from the street sellers in Laos. Five or more ears of corn usually costs the equivalent of about 20 cents, and comes with the guarantee that it's sterile and unlikely to make you sick! You don't see purple corn that often in Oz, or come to think of it, in South America either, the home of corn. We bought this batch from some street sellers on the way to Vang Vieng from Luang Prabang by bus.


Upon arrival in Vang Vieng, we were in for a bit of a shock. The town basically exists to service 18-22 year old tourists from Australia and the UK on their way to either country. Most of them are overweight, loud and insensitive to the local people. The most sought-after activity seems to be 'tubing' which involves hiring an old truck inner tube for the day and floating down the river, stopping at as many makeshift bars as possible. Not suprisingly a few people do die this way, from swift currents, hidden derbris underwater or from plain drunkenness. The water's a bit murky and swift-flowing at the moment for my liking so we opted out of any sort of tubing. Instead we hired some bikes and rode out to the caves and swimming holes that surround the town. The views were spectacular and we had a great time. And as a bonus, the 'tubby tubers', as Pete nicknamed them, were mostly too lazy to do likewise so we almost had the place to ourselves.

Here's Team Trek showing off his wheels. I was Team Chinese, with some sort of dodgy Chinese contraption with no gears, questionable brakes and a flat back tyre. I didn't go quite so fast that day.

This is one of the best water holes we visited during our bike ride. The water was pretty clear and very refreshing. You might be able to see a rope swing in the background - of course Pete had to try it out. He managed to squash his finger between the rope and the stick so now he has a mark underneath his fingernail. All in the name of fun I suppose.

This was the view from the waterhole above. It was so lovely, and special since there were only a handful of other intrepid travellers and local kids to share it with.

Here's the view we checked out as we were having lunch. Lunch was a bit of a mixed bag. We were starving so the fried noodles with veggies definitely filled a hole, but there was so much MSG in them that we both drank about three litres of water afterwards! Nice scenery though....


And finally, on the way home, I had some fun with the camera. I'm quite good now at taking one-handed action pics, and I'm quite pleased with this one! The local kid was chasing his dad's tractor, I think. My tyre got worse as the afternoon wore on, and by the time we cycled over the last bridge each rock was hitting the rim. Lucky I only paid a dollar for the privilege.


We have one more day in Phnom Penh, then we're catching the bus to Siam Reap. I'm so excited about seeing Angkor Wat. The Cambodians are certainly proud of it: It's on everything from their beer to their flag so it must be pretty good. Stay well.

Luang Prabang

Hello, it's been a while and I've been itching to write some more and put a few more photos up. I think the last post was from our trek near Luang Nam Tha? From there we endured a sinuous and lengthy bus trip to Nong Kiaow via Udomxai. I won't be upset if I never have to do that trip again! There's not a whole lot in Nong Kiaow except beautiful limestone karst scenery and a river. We took a while finding a place to stay, and even then we relocated for the second night. I think lots of people have a romantic notion of what bungalows are, but in reality they mean holes in the floor, mouldy walls and often very basic furniture. The first bungalow we stayed in had stale sheets on the bed, rats in the ceiling and as a bonus, a nice collection of used hotel soaps in the bathroom. Oh, and a squat toilet. Since Pete was getting over a cold and I was getting one, the mould proved too much for our sniffling so we moved across the road to a similar, but cleaner bungalow. I'm sticking to tiles as much as possible now! This first photos is of the bridge, river and spectacular scenery in Nong Kiaow. It's the view that greeted us from the verandah of our second bungalow.




After a very relaxing day in Nong Kiaow, we caught the boat down the river to Luang Prabang. Now that the roads have been fixed up, it's much cheaper to travel there by bus, but it's just not the same as a boat! So after a bit of haggling we found our boatman and started the six-hour journey. The photo below shows the type of boat we caught. I'm sure it didn't have any safety gear, and although it had a toilet, it was an interesting experience to use it! Pete is happy to divulge the mechanics of peeing there to any males who might be interested.




Not long after we started our boat journey, ominous dark clouds appeared on the horizon downstream. At one stage during the following rainstorm, our skipper pulled off to the side of the river and stopped because visibility was so bad. I think he was worried about a few things: debris floating downstream, submerged hazards and some of the scary rapids that punctuate the usually calm river.



The sun came back out for our arrival in Luang Prabang, and the city (well, town really) was a sight to behold. Gorgeous colonial French architecture, local bars shaded by palm trees along the river and some really lovely shops greeted us when we climbed up the bank. I really loved Luang Prabang although I can see why some people might not. I suppose you could argue that you're not really experiencing another culture if you eat at the Scandinavian Bakery for breakfast, but hey, I wasn't complaining! The photo below is of the main tourist street in the town, and as you can see it's a mix of lots of different styles. The most beautiful buildings in my opinion are the French ones, but some of the locals have done a good job of opening new swanky restaurants and the like. Amusingly, falang (foreigners) are forbidden to hire motorbikes in Luang Prabang because there were too many accidents, and the rustic hospital system in Laos just couldn't cope with some of the injuries.




One of several things to do in Luang Prabang is to check out the Palace Museum. Laos was a monarchy up until the 1960s (?) when the palace was converted to a museum. It's quite modest by western royal standards, but it is a beautiful building nonetheless. As always in Laos, visitors are requested to remove their footwear before entering buildings, a request I have no problem with for a change. The polished wooden floors throughout the palace were cool and spotlessly clean. The Lao people are some of the cleanest in the world, I think. The decoration was sparse but so tasteful, and some of the royal gifts were really amazing. Moon rocks and a plaque from the US, gorgeous tableware and silverware from France, and just to round out the field, a boomerang from Australia! The photo below shows just one part of the outside of the building. Cameras were prohibited inside.




Luang Prabang has some of the most tasteful and lovely markets that I think I have seen. I think it might even be better that Otovalo in Ecuador! All the handicrafts for sale were so lovely, and I could have bought boxes full! In fact I did buy a few things: fisherman pants at $2 each, and a really lovely doona cover for $17. Boy did I regret buying that doona cover for a few days while I lugged it down to Vientiane!




Finally, travelling's just not travelling if you don't eat your way through the culture, so here's Pete doing just that. Each night we walked down to the night market and feasted on fish and chicken on a stick, fresh spring rolls and mini-coconut pancakes, all washed down with a BeerLao. I can't wait to go back!


Well, that's it for now. Right now we're in Phnom Penh where the people are definitely not so clean as the Laos! Mind you, the Laos have had an extra 20 years of peace to construct gutters and organise rubbish collection so I am trying to cut the poor Khmer people some slack. Today we went to the killing fields and the genocide museum. It doesn't make for a happy or fun day but I couldn't imagine visiting this city and missing them. I was disappointed several times during the day when some tourists (tourists, not travellers) didn't pause for reflection as requested by the Khmers at the killing fields memorial, or took photos of themselves smiling out from behind the bars at the genocide museum. I don't understand how people could be so cold or insensitive, especially when most Cambodians can still remember such horrible events. Tomorrow will surely be a more upbeat day since we are going to the palace museum to see the silver pagoda!

Leeches, Mud, Bamboo Rafts.....

Hello, here's another post for today, bringing the total to three! I was planning to do this much later on, but since the second fierce rainstorm for today is in full swing, I might as well keep busy on the blog. I've chosen a couple of photos from our recent three-day trekking in the Nam Ha NP in Northern Laos. We were lucky enough to do the trip with three other great people - Alex and Tanya (an Irish lass) from Woolongong, and Sophie from Scotland. Had we had any whingers on the trip, it would have been almost unbearable since the accommodation was rustic, and the mud and leeches were incessant.

On the second day we had a little hiccup when the bamboo raft which we were supposed to use to cross the river was swept away downstream towards the rapids, with the two guides, Pete, Alex and Tanya on board. Luckily they jumped onto an island (well, more of a protruding log) and then begun the tricky task of being rescued. The first two photos show Peter and Tanya on the bamboo raft, this time crossing the river safely, complete with 'safety' vine; and our two guides guiding the raft safely to the other side of the river.




After the unpleasant experience of the bamboo raft river crossing, the fun wasn't over. There was more mud and even more leeches to come. Here's our bloody, wrinkled feet at the end of day 2. Pete's are the worst-affected by far.



And finally, at the end of the trip, here's us all stinky and happy (l-r Jai, Sophie, Alex, Tanya, Jacquelnie, Peter and Manoi (sp?)). It took us about two hours to clean our things back at the guesthouse in Nam Tha! And boy was that shower good!


Now that's really it for today. I'm off to watch the rain with a BeerLao. xox