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

TLG Photos II

Same batch of photos, separate blog entry. In addition to the lovely mint tea that the people running the guesthouse brought us, they also served up some great and inexpensive dinner. Chinese food is best eaten in a group, it's almost unheard of in China to order a meal just for yourself. Here's Pete and Daniel getting stuck into the eggplant and potato.



I just love this photo. We were a bit weary and dirty when we arrived at the guesthouse, but after a shower, this was the view of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain that greeted us from the courtyard. The glow from the late afternoon sun was so special, and we were so lucky that it lasted long enough for me to capture it. That white strip of snow on the top of the mountain is actually a glacier on the other side. 2km below, at the bottom of this enormous cliff is the Yangtze River.



I just love this picture too. Although as soon as I'd taken this one, everyone else got out their fancy SLRs and made me homesick for mine! I can't wait to see my Nikon again! There are so many times I've wished for it and then corrected myself straight away - There's no way I want to carry around that extra 2.5kg! The picture shows the courtyard at the guesthouse, and that's a wall of drying corn on the right.



The view from the stairs leading down to the toilet at about 7.30am the next day. I could go on putting photos like this up, but I'm sure you'd all be sick of them. This will have to do!




A rare photo of me while walking. It's a shame about the powerlines above! Yangtze River below.


That's all for now. Thanks for dropping in, and I hope you like the photos. I'd highly recommend Tiger Leaping Gorge, it was definitely the highlight in Yunnan for me.