Fancy a swim in the Mekong river?

Mekong River

And off we were to Luang Prabang! That almost makes it sound like we got there quick but that was most certainly not the case. In fact, it took us longer to get to our destination than the amount of time we spent there! The journey from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang using a combination of buses and slow boats takes nothing less than three days and two nights.

Day 1: bus to Chiang Khong. Overnight at a guesthouse

Day 2: cross border over to Laos, board long boat. Arrive in Pakbeng Village in the evening.

Day 3: leave village early in the morning, arrive in Luang Prabang late afternoon.

I didn't know much about Laos before including it in my travel itinerary. As it turns out, Laos is still one of the world's 20 poorest nations but with a GDP growth of 8% this may possibly change in the next decade or so. Unfortunately in the attempt to spur economic growth Laos willingly sacrifices a lot of its nature and wildlife to logging and slash-and-burn farming, which neighbouring countries, foremost China, are more than happy to exploit. 10% of Laos is original-growth forest; a hundred years ago this number was 75%.

Laos, or kingdom of Lan Xang (meaning the land of a million elephants) as it was known from the 14th throughout the 17th century, hasn't been a sovereign nation state for very long; it was only in 1953 that the country gained its independence from France. Before this, Laos was a collection of disparate principalities subject to wars, invasions, prosperities and decays. The country has a very diverse ethnic make-up, with 132 different beliefs and traditions. The one thing they all have in common is the laid-back attitude and 'doing good in order to receive good' mentality (this is a little conflicting considering the number of common scams we have heard about).

I should tell you at this point my facts come from a combination of sources including Lonely Planet, locals, tour guides, and other travellers, and I don't guarantee the accuracy of any of it! So please don't hold it against me if I get my factoids wrong and tell you Buddha is Jesus reincarnated in the reverse time order or anything else that may be untrue.

Day One

Anyway, day one went smoothly before you knew it the seven hour bus ride was behind us and we had arrived at our guesthouse! A little unsettling was finding mosquito nets with holes in them in our room, knowing this is a malaria infested area - lucky it wasn't the rainy season!

Day Two

Broken mosquito nets

Day two began with big bags under our eyes. The night we spent at the guesthouse in Chiang Khong was a little on the uncomfortable side, mostly because it got VERY cold. To begin with, as the pictures demonstrate, the room wasn't exactly on the luxurious side. Worse than that, after sunset it got seriously cold; so cold that eventually at 3 am without having slept at all Aurea and I decided to join forces and sleep in the same bed with doubled blankets so we could get at least some shut eye.

The bathroom in our room

We had left our passports at the reception desk and overnight the hostel had arranged visas to Laos for us which was nice and convenient. So in the morning we picked up our passports and visas and boated over the river to the border where we crossed over to Laos. After we had passed immigration we were picked up by the travel organiser who took us to a rinky-dink shop where we waited, and then waited some more (without actually quite sure why) until we got own our long boat and sailed away!

This very funny and friendly travel organiser who guided us from the border to the long boat gave us 'an introduction' to Laos's dangers and annoyances and heads up as to what to expect from the next couple of days. He told us about some common scams that are known to occur in Pakbeng; for example, the police and the guest houses collaborating in robbing tourists. He also told us about other travel options if we wished to shorten our journey time to Luang Prabang all the while making the long boat seem like a very bad idea! Whilst I appreciated the heads up about the various dangers I was disappointed that even this chatty and smiley travel organiser was trying to milk us dry by first recommending we change our pre-paid means of transportation by paying just a little extra, and then by telling us it was a good idea to book accommodation through him as he can recommend a reliable and safe guesthouse without overcharging (ha!). He actually said he was "just watching out for his guests' best interest." Another dodgy thing he did which we still haven't been able to figure out why (but whatever it was, happened whilst we were waiting and waiting again in the rinky-dink shop) was he took our passports and went away with them for about an hour before returning them to us. He said he just wanted to take them back to the police so they could check they had been stamped correctly at immigration... Hhhmmm....possibly?

Mekong River

The boat ride was kind of what I was expecting. The scenery sailing down the Mekong river is stunning. The landscape changed as we sailed deeper into the forest, from plain terrains with a few trees scattered here and there to dense forest. The type of vegetation also changed to more jungle like greenery. The seven hours on the boat went by relatively quickly I though which was good since I had eight more hours of sailing fun lined up for the following day. Just looking at the beautiful rural villages and jungle covered hills glide by put me in a relaxed trance-like state where time didn't matter. Also, I slept. A lot.

The village where we stayed overnight, Pakbeng, exists solely for the purpose of providing overnight accommodation for travellers to and from Luang Prabang. It is anything but luxurious but it serves its purpose just fine. We survived without being robbed or even scammed (that we know of!) and had a decent dinner and sleep for the equivalent of £5.

Day Three

After yet another COLD night sharing beds and blankets with my travel buddy Aurea, off we were on the boat again! Still cold and mountains covered in thick fog, I was wearing every warm piece of clothing I owned.

Having a beer on the boat

This leg of the journey was the same in every possible way as the previous day except for one thing - we must have stopped at least seven times along the way in various villages to pick up more passengers, locals this time. It was a little uncomfortable if not even embarrassing I thought that every time we pulled up at one of these villages everyone pulled out their cameras to point and shoot like they were taking photos of attractions at a zoo. By the end of it, we must have had an extra 60 passengers on board. With no extra seats on the boat however, these additional people managed to somehow fit into the back of the boat with the loud engines (with smoke coming out of them) - not a pleasant experience I'm sure.

Although the second day on the boat went smoothly, it did feel long. I think both Aurea and I were ready to take a swim in the Mekong river just to have something to distract us from the endless sitting.

We arrived in Luang Prabang just after sunset, and fell in love with it at first glance. Can't wait for the exploring expedition to begin!

Blackfast anyone?

Chiang Mai Conclusions

Laid back and relaxed Chiang Mai was a place definitely worth visiting, especially after the craziness of Bangkok. Exploring a few of the hundreds if not thousands of temples, going on an all day cooking course, and the couple of day trips we tried have left me with many beautiful memories I will cherish for years to come. I wish I had had the opportunity to stay a little longer to try some of the activities recommend to me by so many, such as meditation courses and yoga classes. Oh well, next time!

The guesthouse we stayed at, Bow Chiangmai House, deserves to be praised as it provided us really amazing quality accommodation for a mere £4 a night per person! It is run by Bow, a lovely woman who does the most amazing job at keeping her travellers happy.

The highlight of the whole trip was without a doubt (and I'm sure this comes as a real shock) food related! There was a special dish at one of the restaurants we had dinner at, Peppermint Coffee House, that must have been one of the best dishes I have ever tried. They prepare this dish called Khao Soy which is uses noodles that are characteristic of this region, cooked in coconut cream with spices and served with either chicken or beef.

What makes travelling in Southeast Asia such a pleasure is how easy it is to organise travel and trips. There are travel agents EVERYWHERE capable of getting you transported ANYWHERE without you having to do any of the hard work, research, or booking tickets separately. Included in the 1,600 baht (£32) that we paid for the three day journey from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang were bus and boat travels, border crossing transport, overnight stay at Chiang Khong, dinner, breakfast, and packed lunch for the boat ride! The only research we did was deciding which method of travel was best suited for us. We could have chosen between slow boat, speedboat, or bus, and after reading about the various options on several travel blogs we found out that Lao buses more often than not break down on the road, and that getting on a speedboat means having a death wish meaning we were left with the slow boat option - which I really didn't mind actually.

Goodbye, Chiang Mai!

Next stop: Luang Prabang!

Day trip to the Golden Triangle

At the Golden Triangle

We signed up for a day trip to the Golden Triangle, a point in northern Thailand which borders with both Laos and Myanmar.

The schedule of this day trip was hardcore, considering the distance covered! In addition to the Golden Triangle we got to see several other places of interest, such as the hot springs, the White Temple, and the Long Neck Tribe Village.

The schedule for the day was as follows:

7.30am Leave Hotel

9.00am Hot Springs

10.30am White Temple

1.00pm Boat to No Man's Land and Laos

2.30pm Lunch

5.00pm Long Neck Village

9.00pm Arrive back at hotel

Hot Springs

We were picked up from our hostel at 7.30am sharp by an air conditioned minibus with our driver, guide, and the rest of our tour group on-board. Our first stop was the hot springs, just over an hour into our morning drive. Now this site I found hilarious, as these so called 'hot springs' were a tiny ponds of a sorry excuse for yet another tourist money trap, trying to induce my kind to buy more and more junk. Now, I shouldn't be too harsh; not everything could be classified as junk. In addition to the knockoff Barbie dolls and fake Rolexes you can make real finds. Sterling silver and semiprecious stone jewellery are bargains waiting to be picked up! I happened to glance at a pair of sapphire earrings and before I had the chance to blink a sales lady had swooshed over and was offering them to me for a very special price of 1,500 baht (£30) which in all fairness is already less than I would pay anywhere in Europe. With no intention of purchasing them in the first place I politely declined, which to her was a cue to lower the price - just for me, naturally - to 1,200 baht. This went on until the price had dropped to 500 baht (£10) at which point I think she understood I wasn't going to show her the money.

White Temple - Wat Rong Khun

Back in the car and on the road again, after about an hour and a half we arrived at the White Temple.

Our guide explained it had been built in 1996 by Thailand's most famous artist, and that it wasn't quite ready yet but was to be finished 60 years after the death of this artist.

My vocabulary doesn't contain the words necessary to accurately describe this spectacular and unconventional building, all I can say is the sensation of awe at first sight was overwhelming . It is difficult to find a description that would make it justice and help someone else to visualise it.

I'll have a go anyway. The temple is white - shocking, huh? Admiring it from afar the temple seems to glimmer in the same way water does when the sun is reflected off the surface. It is only once you get closer that you see that the walls and the statues are decorated with tiny pieces or mirror that reflect the sunlight, and this is what gives the temple it's fantasy-like glimmer.

The temple is surrounded by shallow water (home to beautiful goldfish of all sizes) and there is a bridge connecting the outside garden with the path leading to the entrance. Beneath this bridge on both sides are hands and arms reaching up towards the bridge, some holding human skulls, as if they were begging to be saved - from what that I don't know. The devil? Death? These obscure hands and skulls are made in a noticeably darker shade, which stands out against the whiteness of the bridge and the rest of the temple. Apparently crossing the bridge to the path leading to the temple is the walkway to heaven.

The White Temple

As always when entering a temple we removed our shoes and stepped in to explore the inside. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it sure wasn't this. There was only this one room in the temple, and it was about 8x5 meters in size. Directly at the far end was a big golden statue of Buddha, and in front of the statue was a waxwork of Gautama Buddha the monk itself wearing a very traditional orange robe, sitting down in prayer. As I turned 180 degrees to face the door again to see what the Buddha was directing his prayer at, there was a huge painted face of the devil or demon covering most of the wall. Above the demon was a skull and scattered around sporadically all over the wall little reminders of everything evil in our world. So far so good. This is where it gets weird. Each of the devil's eyes has a person painted in the pupil; on the right is the face of Osama bin Laden and on the left is - guessed it yet? George W Bush.

When I said the wall has images of everything evil in this world here are a few of the images I remember: Goku, twin towers on fire, superman, Michael Jackson, a bottle of alcohol, the red bird from Angry Birds, Darth Vader, Spider-Man, man and woman having sex, Kung-Fu Panda, Freddy Krueger, Keanu Reeves in Matrix...you get the idea. Unfortunately pictures were not allowed so I can't show you the artwork in images.

The Golden Triangle

Again back in the van, we travelled for another hour and a half or so and arrived at the Mekong river. Here we climbed into a slow boat as they are called, an set off to explore this historic site.

The Golden Triangle, the place where Thailand borders with both Myanmar and Laos, was once upon a time the main trading place for opium and heroine. Our guide tells us that the main factory was in Myanmar (Burma), from where a private army then helped transfer the drug to the border or rather the no-man's-land of the river crossing between Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. Here there was no police and no law to prevent trade, and easy access to China (3 days up the river), Vietnam and Cambodia. The opium traded here was the best and purest quality, and price was extremely high- 1kg opium for 1kg gold- and this is where the Golden Triangle gets its name.

On our way to Laos

Thailand banned opium 60 years ago but a lot of illegal trafficking still goes on.

Laos

After a tour of the no-man's-land we got off the boat in Laos. As we stepped out we were greeted by a number of orphans, age wise anywhere from nearly newborn to early teens, begging for money. We were advised not to give them money upon entry as they will then single you out as 'the generous one' and will surround you until you get back on the boat. Rather, if you wish to give them anything we were advised to do so when leaving. I was torn trying to decide whether or not to give these children anything - on the one hand it is usually not encouraged but at the same time it is heart breaking to look into their eyes and just walk away. I couldn't help myself and ended up handing out my change between them.

Orphan holding his sibling, Laos

Lao-Lao

The village we visited in Laos was nothing more than a market for tourists - yet again. The one thing you could try if anyone dared to were the animal rice whiskies, called Lao-Lao. These are animals such as snakes, scorpions, armadillos, or tiger penises sunk in rice whiskey and meant to give you strength and cure illnesses. I thought I was strong and healthy enough so didn't feel the need to try - just looking at them close up gave me an enormous burst of strength to make my way out of there.

Long Neck Tribe

After the triangle business and lunch we headed to visit the Long Neck Tribe. These are the people you have seen in National Geographic magazines where the women wear gold or brass rings around their necks. Apparently they get their first six rings when they are 5 years old, and then a ring per year until they are 25 or get married. The rings are worn their whole lives and according to our guide the women are not bothered about them at all but can do everything wearing these. Originally they were worn as protection from tiger attacks. Tigers attack by sinking their teeth into their prey's throat, and the reason only women wore them was because men were seen as strong enough to fight the tiger. Also originally they used to be made of gold but these days it's brass. I held one in my hand and let me tell ya, I wouldn't want to be wearing one of those everyday! It weighs about one and a half kilograms I'd say. Originally based in Burma/Myanmar, due to political conflict many of these tribes fled to Thailand and are very happy here.

The village itself was like a page straight out of a National Geographic book; the most rural village you can imagine with the most basic living conditions possible. Everyone was incredibly happy and friendly and more than willing to take pictures with the tourists. I presume tourism is their main source of income, selling handcrafted scarves and jewellery to visitors.

There, that was our VERY long day and now I am siting at a chill out bar relaxing with a beer in my hand, waiting for tomorrow's jungle adventure :)

Loving Chiang Mai and Thai Cooking!

Monks in Chiang Mai

Loving Chiang Mai! This town has a village feel to it, and it's the total opposite to Bangkok; everything is done at a slower pace and life is just chilled.

Someone told me there are 3,000 temples in this town which is the same amount as in Bangkok, except the population of Chiang Mai is 150,000 compared to Bangkok, which is approximately 8.3 million. So no wonder it feels there is a temple around every corner!

Eating our own cookings!

We did a cooking course the other day up in the mountains - so much fun!! As it turns out, I'm really good at cooking Thai food! We all had to choose five dishes to cook, and I decided to make Tom Yum soup (prawns with veg and chilli), a Thai green curry, a chicken, cashew, and dried chilli stir fry, a phad thai, and to finish off a banana in coconut milk dessert. It was all amazingly delicious and we even got a recipe book to take home. The place itself was stunning; located up in the mountains surrounded by rainforest, Wowzas!

Our hilarious teacher

Our teacher was hilarious. She would make jokes and then laugh hysterically at her own wittiness. When we were in the garden learning about thai herbs, vegetable and fruit, more often than not what she would pick up from the ground was, according to her, 'good for your maaaaan! Make them strong to work in the fields harder!' (Hysterical laughter)

All in all, a fantastic experience made even better thanks to our lovely group- an Australian girl traveller from Canberra, a Canadian couple on a mission to escape the icy winter, a Dutch couple on their first holiday together, and an Australian couple who were on their way back home after a six month tout of Africa and Eastern Europe. Great stories, even better cooking!

A Treat!

Tourist information - or a salesman in disguise?

It is not a secret that tourists in Thailand are the target of anything and everything that is sold on the streets. We are harassed walking down the streets in Bangkok; every few metres someone is guaranteed to grab you to try to get you to buy an overpriced tuk tuk ride, a massage, or 'same same but different' tourist junk. Well, as we discovered today, we can't even escape it at the airport! Having passed security at the Don Meuang airport on our way to Chiang Mai we were approached by a man in uniform with an official badge declaring he was there for 'tourist information'. He asked to see our boarding passes and then proceeded to lead us to the information desk where an overly 'helpful' airport staff member attempted to get us to book a hotel through him, trying very hard if not almost forcefully to convince us that since it is high season, the prices at the destination would be seriously inflated (upon arrival we found a lovely hotel for £4 per night). He very reluctantly let us go after we convinced him we would survive just fine. Looking forward to what Chiang Mai has to offer!

After my brief Bangkok experience I came to realise the area we stayed in was like a little bubble of cuteness within a harsh and cruel city. Outside our traffic free touristy 'island' that was our neighbourhood is a very different story. I think both Aurea and I were quite surprised at how uncharming, filthy, and poor the surrounding areas were with crammed spaces, poverty, and buildings in a near collapse state (without forgetting the 8 lane streets of pure traffic chaos). Having said that, there is much more to Bangkok than what we had time to explore and next time I will make a point to see those other faces of Bangkok to see what this busy city is all about!

Smoking is cool and you know it

There is one thing which cannot go unnoticed. Everybody smokes- yes everybody! Now looking at the fellow foreigners of who the overwhelming majority are smokers, I'm wondering where these people are back home?! Or does everyone just light up once they set foot in a foreign country? Maybe someone should do a study to see if there is a link or correlation of some kind between backpackers and smokers- is the type of person most likely to pack a bag and head travelling one who has a ciggy hanging from their lips? Whatever the reason, I really want one! Because smoking is cool and you know it.

I am staying in a hostel called Wild Orchid Villa, in an area favoured by many fellow backpackers in Bangkok. The hostel is on a lovely and lively small side street - in fact, the whole area is a collection of quiet yet lazily busy side streets full of guesthouses, hostels, restaurants, markets and shops. All cafes and restaurants are open to the streets so that you're never 'inside' anywhere, and there are leafy tropical plants and trees everywhere; some of which are covered in outrageous Christmas deco. Sitting here sipping on my iced coffee at 6pm my phone tells me it's 31 degrees, which sounds about right. Very happy about that aircon in my room!

My long journey from Battersea to Khao San went so smoothly it's not even worth talking about. And as for jet lag - what jet lag? Who has time for that when you have just taken the first steps into what will probably be the trip of your life?? Over and out, this chick is going out on the town!

Cross eyed in Amsterdam

Bloodshot eyes and relying on caffeine to make me more alert during my five hour layover in Amsterdam. No, I didn't leave the airport for a coffee shop stop, just exhausted from the lack of sleep, disappointingly. Would have made a more interesting story had I taken a detour downtown!

Packing. Easier said than done. 

For those who I haven't had the chance to share this with (can't imagine there will be many), in short, I quit my job and bought a one way ticket to Bangkok. That's pretty much it.

Over the next several months I am going to kick back and travel around Southeast Asia, partly planned partly not, and do everything I have always wanted to do - I just have to figure out what those things are exactly. Don't worry mom, getting a tattoo won't be one of them.

The first three weeks I will spend with my very dear friend Aurea who arrives in BKK a day after me, and together we will travel north to Chiang Mai, over to Laos, further to North Vietnam, and finally part ways in South Vietnam where I will meet my old flatmate Alicia for New Years!! After Alicia leaves to go back to sunny Melbourne I don't really have a concrete plan but it will hopefully involve lots of adventures and meeting fun people in many different countries. Many different warm, humid, exotic, countries!

Those who know me know I can sometimes be a bit of a walking disaster waiting to happen, so I'm expecting lots of funny stories to share with y'all. Having said that, I feel like a changed woman altogether after I got organised for this trip and I'm confident there will be less near disaster moments if I keep it that way. I did find my passport in the dirty laundry basket the other day when it went AWOL. Damn you red wine.

There it is, my first proper travel post with a pic and all!

Next stop: Bangkok. Please cross your fingers (eyes and toes) for me and to hoping I will be reunited with my backpack at the other end!