Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng it sounds like something out of a movie, either the name of an evil villain or maybe the real home of Count Dracula.

Vang Vieng is a 9 hour bus journey south from Luang Prabang, it apparently has amazing views however it was night time when we did the journey and all we could see were silhouettes of the mountains which looked beautiful but couldnt get a good photo of them (damn cameras and there need of light). We arrived at about 3am and stumbled to the nearest guesthouse.

In the morning, the Laos sun was out in full force and we proceeded to lug ourselves towards the town centre. Town centre is a bit grand, the streets are currenly mud with large dangerous channels running down each side of the road (at somepoint they will probably become drains). The place is pretty small and everything that is there is pretty much to do with the tourists, the people who live there either run or work for a business providing tourist services. Actually about 5 years ago there were people living where the tourist centre is but now they have moved a little bit further out.

We found a nice guesthouse called the Babylon, funnily enough run by a ex real estate agent from Beckingham, London (my bro lives there you see).

There really isnt too much to do in Vang Viang which doesnt involve either drinking, eating, smoking or the river. You can buy what they call "Happy Shakes" which have various illicit ingredients and have varying effects. Every two minutes you are being asked whether you want, weed, mushrooms or opium ... its pretty crazy.
Then there is the restaurants which run Friends, Simpsons all day (To help those who have participated in one of the shakes). Before you ask, I did try a couple of shakes a sip of a mushroom and a sip of an opium though to be fair nothing happened and I didnt feel too crazy about having any more of the opium (see below). However the weed shakes were great!

A couple of weeks before we arrived a lad died when he overdosed on Opium shakes, the guy apparently had 6-7 shakes which is just plain stupid but also you never know how much they put in a single shake.

Vang Vieng sits on the Mekong which goes all the way down to Vientaine and further south to the bottom of Laos. This river is beautiful and also provides much entertainment with kayaking and toobin'. Its possible to even kayak down to Vientaine which I fancied doing but the river is low and you seemed to spend more time in the back of a lorry than on the river.

Anyway check out some of the photos, I have been getting a bit lazy of late with the photo taking and there arent as many good ones as I would hope... sorry.

Luang Prabang Waterfall

Everyone when they visit Luang Prabang goes to the waterfall, its supposed to be one of the towns highlights. So far on my travels I hadnt seen too many waterfalls and was really looking forward to this one.

After quite a bit of wheeling and dealing we managed to get a tuk-tuk to the waterfall at a reasonable price, its funny tuk-tuk drivers will do anything to get you in their taxi including on agreeing on a price and then changing their mind when you set off. Its annoying and you just end up getting out of the tuk-tuk and changing with him going mad at you.

We also picked up three other travellers, a couple from Ireland and a Canadian lass who was running an NGO in Laos... all interesting people. We made our way down the dusty and bumpy track, an hour later we arrived.

The waterfalls I have to say are the most amazing falls I have yet to see. They are tiered falls but with the top one being what I would class as a proper waterfall i.e. it falls about 50 meters down into a splash pool. The only problem was that because it was low water season they werent as full and powerful as they could be - but hey you can't have everything!

The top was a real mission to get to and after about 30mins of searching for the final fall we stubbled on it, ignored the danger - cliff sign and climbed down. We joined a group of monks who were having a bit of a break from their religious duties - they were also doing some crazy jumps into the splash pool!

After a bit of psyching myself up I did a couple of jumps, saying that they werent too big about 10-15m and the only dodgy thing was that you landed into water and then bounced off the bottom of soft sand.

The rain started after about an hour of being at the fall so we decided to make our way down. It was really tretcherous and I slipped over a couple of times the journey up took about 30mins the journey down took over an hour.. it wasnt what you would call fun.

Anyway I will leave you with the pictures cos they are much more interesting!

Oh yeah did I forget to say that they had bears and a tiger in the little zoo at the bottom of the fall too - quite a bizarre place to have a zoo.

Bang Bang in Luang Prabang

The trip to Luang Prabang was a bit of an adventure. We were strapped in to a speedboat which is basically a bit of boat shaped wood with a massive engine (straight out of a Toyota Corolla). When they gave us crash helmets and told us to put in earplugs I got a bit scared (a few people die or get seriously hurt on this trip a year). Before we knew it were we hurtling down the river at 40mph, dodging the rocks. We had a few moments, including the time we bumped a little rock pertruding from the river.

Sitting in a space 1m long with your knees tucked up for 6 hours is not what you would call comfortable. But its a better option than sitting on the slow boat for 2 days.

After the 6 hours we thankfully arrived safe but painfully in Luang Prabang. Grabbed a rather expensive tuk-tuk into town and settled in the guesthouse.

Luang Prabang is famous for its beautiful waterfall and also has a temple which overlooks the rest of the city, apart from that its got plenty of backpackers who want to party. The first thing you notice about Luang Prabang is how well setup it is for the tourist, cafes and bars everywhere all serving pretty good food.

That night we found a local restaurant which was doing a buffet with dance show for $7. The food was amazing with all you could eat pork, chicken and various cantanese dishes. The local dance school also put on a show. Unfortunately not many of the photos came out so all I have is this one. It was well worth the money and good to see some local dancing and stuff. Even if it was a little strange at times.

The Gibbon Experience

The Gibbon Experience is situated near Hung Xuai which is in the North East of Laos. (Did you know that the reason that Lao is spelt Laos is that the French misspelt it after they arrived here).

Anyway the reason for the Gibbon Experience is to provide a way to protect the rainforest from poachers. The project was started by Jeff, a french climber with a good imagination.

The Gibbon Experience, or the touristy side of it, is a network of treehouses which tower over the rainforest canopy. You travel between the treehouses between ziplines (see pictures) which can get up to a 150m in height.

We arrived into the camp and waited around for 20mins for our guide to arrive. Something that I have to say about Laos, since I have been here all the people I have met have been Canadian. So low and behold whilst we are waiting for our guide the people from the previous trip are walking by. The first one says Hi with a Canadian accent, she is from Vancouver, the next 2 our from Toronto and basically all the members apart from 2 are from Canada.... they becoming as common as muck!

Finally our guide arrives and we hike towards the base. Through rivers we wade, the first thing that hits you is the heat, 2 mins into walking (sorry hiking) and beads of sweat are running down my face. The second thing that hits you is the noise from the rainforest, beatles, birds and bugs all making their crazy noises which silence as you walk towards them. It is a fantastic experience.

We arrived at the base camp and met by a baby sun bear (see pic). This bear is 4 months old and a real little fighter. As you play with it would just run back a few steps and then jump you.

Tip: when playing with a bear (whatever type) don' t let them bite you, it hurts!

After a while we donned on some harnasses and walked up towards the first zipline. Walking up was pretty scary and its worse when you clip in for the first time. As you look over there is a treehouse in the distance, which you are supposedly going to. However below is a 50m drop and if you fell then it would instant death. All thats holding you is 2 carabina clips, which funnily enough are made by a company called "SIMOND" (this is my name) - realising that this was a hint that all was going to be ok - I pushed off and slide across the line towards the treehouse. Its an amazing rush as you zoom across. I tried not to look down too much in case I completely freaked out, however when you tell yourself not to do something you always do it, don't you?! So I looked down and freaked myself out a bit. After regaining my composure I pulled myself into the treehouse.

We were met by Liz who was Manchester and told all the ground rules.

An hour later we set for the next treehouse and this is where I am a bit miffed. I was planning to get some video footage going across one of these lines, however on the last day when we supposed to be going ziplining we didn't. So sorry no footage.

The views from a couple of these ziplines are crazy as you go over a valley and look down and across you can see 150m down and then miles across. Its absolutely fantastic, especially as you have the adrealin pumping through your veins from the zipline.

We then hiked for about an hour and half to treehouse 3 and setup camp.

The treehouses are really well built they each have a toilet, shower and running water which is taken from a well. The toilet and shower our known as a long drop which is that the waste material goes down a hole to the ground. Its quite cool watching your p*ss falling into the bowl and then accelerating as it drops out of the hole...

All food was provided and it was really good, the other plus was that you could make 'proper' fresh coffee too albeit with condensed milk, which while it sounds pretty bad.. is nice after a couple of cups.

We sat back took in the views and ate our food to the most fantastic views, then went to bed.

During the night we had a few visitors including a couple of rats which tried to knaw through a rice container and basically just made a lot of noise. Apart from that I slept like a baby.

The next day another hike to treehouse 4 which is some 2 hours away and set next to a waterfall. The day was hotter than the last and it took no time before everyone was hot and sweaty.

The cool thing about this trip was a little baby monkey, 1 year old called SameSein (probably spelt like that!). We were all sat down waiting for the guide and when he turned up, he brought the monkey. The monkey looked up, saw me and came running up, jumped up and then fell asleep in my lap. I liked this monkey!

After an hour and a half, with monkey sat on shoulder we arrived at the next treehouse. Dumped all our stuff and went down to the waterfall.

The waterfall was fantastic (sorry no decent photos as you had to swim to get to the good parts) and after some dodgy rock climbing we reached the top. Its called a tiered waterfall as its made up of a number of parts ... We did see some jumping fish going up the waterfalls to lay their eggs at the top (I guess).

And so to the end of the Gibbon Experience... after another 2 hour walk we arrived back to where we started.

After the last river crossing, I took my shoes off to check for leeches and low and behold there was this black thing on my leg. I thought it was a bit of twig, but the thing was pretty damn huge - I realised it was a leech (it was pretty damn big) grabbed a lighter and burnt the little **stard to a mere crisp. The wound bled quite profusely for about 4 hours due to the anticoagulant which they secrete when they bite you.

Anyway I shall leave you with some photos....

Voyage to the Laos Border

Somewhere in a Galaxy Far, Far, Away.....

.. oh sorry wrong post.

So we headed off to the Laos border, bags in hand. Arriving at the bus station we had been told that the bus was leaving at 3:030. Arriving half an hour earlier we thought would give us plenty of time to get tickets and seats... however the bus was full or so we thought.

The bus had 2 seats left and myself and Brett didnt think there was any point in waiting. However the rest of the group persevered and when we came back they had their bags on board and were sat/standing. We got on and being the true English gentleman I ended up standing too.

The trip was 2 hours long and after a few games from the Europe quiz book we arrived in Chiang Kong. We then heard that the Laos border was closing at 6pm and it was 5:30pm. I still had to get some money, so we all jumped in Tuk-Tuks got money and then got to the Thai border. The guy was locking up, but would process our passports. I unfortunately had run over my visa by 1 day and although I thought there was no fine for 1 day, I found out that wasnt the case. He then had to unlock the doors he was locking as we came down and he wasnt happy about it!

Anyway we were now at 5:54 and jumped on the boat ... counting down the minutes to 6pm we arrived at 5:59 and a few of us jumped off and up to the Laos border. Its funny I thought we'd not made it but they said "quick, quick" and we paid our 1500 baht and got stamped in... job done!

Si in Chiang Rai

So it sounds like Chiang Mai but is 4 hours North of said city... we arrived in true style on a VIP bus which is super dope.. with fully reclining chairs which would make BA proud.

Once off the bus we were inundated with offers of guesthouses and after a bit of discussion we decided on the Riverview Guesthouse.

Chiang Rai is best seen via motorbike and after renting a few bikes we all went out to explore. Within 5 mins, Brett had fallen over, Hans had nearly killed himself (and maybe others) a couple of times but we pressed on.

Before I continue I should introduce you to the group who I am hanging out with there is Brett and Shannon, brother and sister from Calgary, Bretts best mate, Hans, Paul an Irish lad and Cara from Vancouver both who they met on their travels.

All Thai towns seem to have Night Bazaars (or markets) and so we went for a joly to there first however we drove out of Chiang Rai in the dark, not the best idea on motorbikes in Thailand.... the driving is a little bit crazy! Anyway we made it back and went on to the market, trying out fresh coconut milk from a coconut (was pretty horrible - probably not ripe), mango with sticky rice (really good), mango rice combination with corriander(also really good) and finished off with a Slurpie which was great.

Chiang Rai is a little confusing to drive around and we lost Paul and Cara, rode around for about 2 hours - completely lost... I then lost everyone else and decided to ride back to the guesthouse which took about another hour.

The next day we planned for the Laos border, the whole reason for going to North Laos is down to the Gibbon Experience which I will talk about in the next installment....

Trekking in Chiang Mai (Day 2)

Being awoken by 3 Cockerals at 4:00am isnt the nicest way to surface. I stuck some ear plugs in and managed to drown them out until about 7:00am which we were then woken up by Porn for breakfast.

We were sleeping in this hut and although the floor seemed pretty hard, it was really comfortable (I think maybe now I am just getting used to it) and only left a small crick in my neck.

Today was the big day, we were going to get to go on Elephants and then a Bamboo raft. We ate breakfast and then started to trek to the Elephant park, something that was supposed to take only 40mins. After an hour of climbing up and down really slippy paths, including a path where I saved Paul the Irish fella from slipping to his doom, we reached the Elephant park.

Elephants are pretty damn big, they were being washed when we arrived and we were told to not get too close to the guy (when I say guy - I mean elephant, not a guy with tusks) with the tusks. "He has a bit of attitude problem", we were told....

Somehow I got conned into sitting at the front of the elephant, where apparently I would be steering the thing. At that time I had no idea on how to steer the elephant and even to this day I still dont. Its pretty scary climbing on to the head of the Elephant and it took me a few goes to not worry about the fact that if I slipped I would fall some 15ft. Once I got on, we started to the trek.

Let me tell you, if you go on a trek, dont sit around the neck, its so uncomfortable. Your groin muscles basically give up after about 5mins and then your inner thigh muscles just ache.

The start of the trek was the worse bit, the elephant walked down this really steep bank, how he did it without slipping I dont know as I would have fallen on my arse. But he managed it and also without throwing me or any of the other 2 on the back off.

We walked for about 2 hours and I felt sorry for the Elephants, they didnt really want to walk. Any moment where the guides were out of reach the elephants would just stop and there was no way you could get them to move without the guides having to throw a stone at their behind. Not nice.....

I was glad to get off the Elephant and we then proceeded to go on the bamboo raft which was brillant fun. They build the rafts as you arrive out of 6 large bits of bamboo and 6 crosspieces or lashed together with vine and then we have a paddle each. The river was pretty slow but we still managed to get really wet going through some rapids.

I am looking forward to getting a taste of some proper white-water rafting in Laos.

After a 2 hour trip back we arrived back in Chiang Mai.

Trekking in Chiang Mai (Day 1)

We headed off to North West of Chiang Mai for the trek. The itenary included a trip to a waterfall, a 4 hr trek through the rainforest, an elephant ride and some bamboo rafting. To be fair I wasnt really interested in the Elephant trekking, there is a bit of a hu-ha about this at the moment as the Elephants aren't treated well. However its a Catch 22 if you the locals don't receive any money from the treks what will happen to the Elephants, will they be put down or just treated worse?

We met our guide Porn at 9am (yeah i know made me laugh too.), got in the back of a pickup and set off.

Chiang Mai had seen a lot of rain whilst I was there and so we decided to pick up some ponchos, I bought the cheapest I could find at 25baht (about 30p) and we all climbed back in and set off.

The first port of call was a waterfall (I cant remember its name).. it was beautiful about 30ft high and when the water landed on you, it felt like you are being punched in the back. The water was pretty damn cold - much colder than I expect but that made it super freshing.

From there we got back in the jeep for the start of the trek. The trek was through the rainforest and the first thing that we were told was to watch out for leeches. Not really knowing too much about these - I commented on all the small worms which seemed blind as they moved around trying to discover their path. I was then told that they were actually leeches.

The rainforest here was so hot and humid and after 10mins I was sweating like there was no tomorrow. We walked for 3 hours and stopped at hot springs which unfortunately too hot to bathe in. They were amazing, the water shot out some 10-15m at about 90C, all around the rocks had metallic deposits which gave them this pearlesant look.

Finally after 3hrs hiking we arrived at a Karin village. The trek had been pretty hard work, the first thing we did was check for leeches, I had 4 of the little buggers, 2 on the outside of my shoe and 2 on my sock. Its funny they did freak me out and I was trying to borrow a lighter to burn them off. Unfortunately know one was listening to me... so I started to panic a bit and eventually someone reacted and I burnt them all to their death.

The Karin village had a population of about a 100 and as we sat down, Beer Chang (the local Thai beer was brought over).

The night before, there had been a wedding - a shame we missed it as they cooked a whole Buffalo, anyway we were being honoured by getting to eat the lungs, heart, kidneys and intestines... I tried them all the lungs were the strangest thing and the intestines took some getting used to .. but I chowed them down. Its amazing what you will eat when your hungry.

From there it got worse, after a few Beer Chang and some drinking games, a big bug landed and Porn said "Oh, these are my favourite!" and popped the bug in his mouth. Another one landed and he split it into two and offered the bottom part to me... I ate it. As for taste, not bad, the texture was pretty crunchy. This continued until one just didnt taste good and I stopped at that point.

I started to feel a bit sick and went to bed....