Laos

Hello there!!

Today is the 17th of May (soon my birthday...) and we are in Vientiane, capital of Laos. We are on our way to Bangkok, and arrived from an 11 hours bus trip, and about to embark on a train for an other... 12 hours or so? You can imagine we slept extremely well last night, driving up and down through mountain passes, in the dark, lovely!!

So, I left the blog on our last day of Vietnam. I realized, after reading my update again, that i made the bike trip look really negative, and it's not right (well, not 100% of it at least), so i will start with a little adding up to my precedent message.

When we started up with the bikes, we went down South of Hanoi, by the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It's supposed to be the road that HCM took with his soldiers from the Viet kong to reach the South of Vietnam during the war.
Some of the road has not yet been updated, and there are quite a few passages which are just basically mud tracks. The old Minsk bikes are actually dirt bikes so it was good fun going through those passages, in the middle of puddles etc... Also, there is a place in Vietnam called Halong bay, which is a place in the country where limestone rocks (little mounts) poke out of the water of the gulf of... China maybe? Not sure... Anyway, we actually went through this kind of rocks, but instead of being in a sea of green, they were in a sea of green rice paddies, and we had to snake through them on our way. Every corner was like a kodak moment...

When we (I) broke down the first time, one of the man that helped us tow the bike to the garage invited us back to his hut. Yes, a real hut. We met his family, and i think pretty much all his neighbours, and we all packed into that little bamboo house on stilts, overlooking their little garden. They served us some sort of mango fruit that was actually not ripe... with salt to dip it into, and some peach alcohol. Nice mix hey?
Anyway, we were suposed to go and see a tribal village, and see the locals and sleep in an updated hut one night on this trip, but as we didn't get to go there, this was a good replacement!

I've already explained the funny and good points about Sam Son (the town with the vietnamese who had an english spirit : "there is a festival, it's raining, but i don't care, i will enjoy myself and hey, you know what? i'll even wear my swimming suit and, what the heck, i'll go swimming too, even if it's freezing!!"

On our way back, we went back on the quiet HCM Trail, and had a great sunset, the sun going down over the limestone rocks, the rice paddies, and the colourful clouds. And as the road disapeared to become a mud track, we had to ride again in there, but in complete darkness... Sometimes it was quite hard to see the difference between the track and the fields... We could have got a bit lost on a wrong turn, but we managed, and side by side made it back.

Pff, i almost said made it home there... Actually, we don't have a home at the moment, and sometimes, it's a bit tiring. We have been moving a lot recently, since we entered Cambodia, and a bit of routine wouldn't actually be so bad! Seeing new things everyday gets a bit much sometimes, and I think that is why we are already leaving Laos for the beaches of Thailand. We basically need a holiday.

We arrived on the 4th of may, in Vientiane, the capital, after a 21 hours bus ride (yes, we love those buses!!) We left Hanoi at about 6.30pm, and rode all night to the border with Laos, perched quite high on the top of a mountain pass. We managed to sleep ok, but got at the border quite early morning (3am) and guess what? Well, the border people have to sleep don't they? So here we were, all stuck in a bus, the driver and his little helper (there's always a little helper somehow) both sleeping on the floor in the alleyway, most people snoring, a few phones ringing...
At around 6.00am, there started to be movement in the bus, and Steve and I managed to pass over the driver and his little helper to breathe some fresh air (a whole bus sleeping with no air going through... sweet!) . We got offered some tea from the only border man awake, the one who charged us for using the flooded toilets!

We finally passed the border at about 8am, and entered Laos. We still had a long journey, as were scheduled to arrive in Vientiane at 5.30pm.
In these long journeys, the best you can do is GET A GOOD BOOK. That's all I did the whole way, while looking a bit through the window. We stopped an hour for Breakfast & lunch, and got to Vientiane earlier than scheduled, 4.30pm, but in the pouring rain. The only other country that welcomed us with rain, was Cambodia...

We found a cheap guest house, and stayed basically 1.5 days there. It was raining, and after Hanoi, the town was awfully quiet! The next day we visited a market where they sold pretty much everything and nothing, and had an Indian for dinner. Later we booked our ticket to Veng Vieng.

We arrived in Veng Vieng (VV), which is North of Ventiane in the afternoon of the 6th, and checked into the loveliest little bungalow-hut guest house. The place had been "created" (Joe didn't like the word owned) by Joe, an Irish man. it had a great little Laos English style garden, a bit messy but in a nice way, mixed with exotic plants and big leaves you had to push away from your face to make your way to your hut... The Joe himself was... very irish! Very loud, very sarcastic, ready to make a joke on you any minute, but funny, and welcoming to the english (didn't like the americans much!)

Veng Vieng is in the middle of a valley, a little river runs through it. There are many caves and streams every where, and things they call lagoons.. I call them green rivers you can swim in but anyway!

We had arrived quite early, but the place was so nice and peaceful that we stayed at the guest house, on the terrasse of our little 6$ hut (3 pounds), played some cards, and drank some beer lao, enjoying the view...

Our second day? What didn't we do?? We rented bikes, went swimming, visited a cave, swimming again, cycling some more, cycled through fords, ate some really slimey textured noodle soup... We swam in a little blocked off bit of river, where there also was a little swing to throw yourself into the water, Steve did it countless times...
The cave, we climbed up to it by a dodgy bamboo ladder on the face of the cliff, and were guided by a little group of kids with one or two headlights. There were some stalactites in there that were hollow (apparently they all are, we were told later) that made musical notes when you knocked them. There were a few, so we could almost compose a little piece with the different notes!

We cycled probably 20 kms so were quite happy in the evening to discover that the main attraction in town by night are tv bars, where they play Friends and The Simpsons continually! We spent a little while there, got some food and off to our little hut.

The day after, we did the big thing of Veng Vieng: We went tubing. Ok, what is tubing:

Picture a river with a few gentle rapids, and also quite a few deep places. Then watch for a tractor's inner tube, then picture yourself on that tractor inner tube in a swimming suit, and add a few bars with enormous swings on the banks. Got it? Well, that's what we did, and it was great fun! There was just enough current to take you, sometimes having to lift the butt to avoid a few stones, but going at a lovely speed to look around (and sip your beer quietly). The swings though were monsters, and with the lowest being at the beginning, and me not being drunk enough right at the beginning, or courageous, whichever you prefer, didn't do any... That day...
Steve did most of them, and survived, although with his lighter body, i think he was flying off from higher than anyone else!!

We spent 6 days in total in VV, and the last day, went back tubing, and this time, i tried myself on the smaller swing at the beginning, and then went for the highest... once was enough i have to say, but it was cool, kind of like an enormous trapeze!
On another day we also rented motorbike, but as there was only one main road going South and North, it wasn't so great, and we went back to the river for a swim... Tom (brother), do you remember when i came to visit you in Brighton, and we went with Etienne somewhere between london and brighton to swim in that little river? It was a bit like that, but a bit cleaner (less green)...

On Saturday the 12th we decided it was time to move on however, and we got bus to the next big place on the list, Luang prabang, 6 hours North (here is that bus again)...

Luang Prabang is located in the middle of a junction between the Mekong River, and the Nam Khan river.
It was i think the capital of Laos, or where the king lived and is a Unesco World Heritage Site. It has about 39 temples, and 30 or so of them are still inhabited by monks.

We went around the town to have a look, and it is a very pretty town, kind of in construction everywhere or renovations more like, but has plenty of old style french colonial houses with big shutters, and a lot are a mix between a laos chalet in wood and a french house. Very nice. I have to say though, that Luang Prabang is the main touristic spot in Laos, but it was all so quiet!! in the middle of the day, it's too hot anyway to do anything, and so then it's deserted, but in the morning or evening, well, it's pretty much the same!

Anyway, we got a room in one of those laos french style houses, very lovely, and took a trip to a waterfall with a group of English and Thai people we shared a tuk tuk with. There was a rescue center for black asian bears, and a tiger rescue (only one tiger). We had a look at the enclosures and saw the cutest baby bears, trying to look tough and climbing to the highest spot of the enclosure and standing up almost, only to realize that it wasn't so easy to get down from there, and therefore looking a bit stuck...

We also had a look at the tiger enclosure and there he was, the second Sher Khan of our trip, lying there on a little wooden platform in the leaves. Suddenly, one of the english guys we were with starts to run, and there goes the tiger, jumping off and starting to run behind his fence... Dear i wouldn't like to be in there with him. it was good to see him in action though, he was really quick! I took a few pictures of him, and as i was zooming on his mouth, his teeth kind of gave me a little chill... they are pretty big things!

The waterfall was arranged for plenty of tourists to visit, and there also were pools set up under it. Nice clear green water, or more a dark turquoise, i don't know, but not a usual colour! Ropes to jump from, smaller waterfalls to jump from... pretty cool, although that's also how i could describe the water!! Pretty freezing!

After a little revigorating swim we climbed all the way up through mud stairs to the top of the waterfall, about 30 meters up, and enjoyed a great view again... I'm sorry, you must be fed up about reading about "great views" all the time... Sorry i can't describe them in an other way... They are amazing, every time you turn, you'd like to take a picture, but realize its a film you need, and then not even that would bring back the sight in full. Shame...

In the evening, Steve needed his football fix, and so we went to a sports bar where we could (he could) enjoy the Man U - West Ham U match.

The next day, we walked up the central Hill of the town, where the main Wat is (wat is?? Wat do you mean? Well, that's a wat dear...) sorry - a wat is a temple here, and we've been having loads of fun with that word... Plus there's an other one called "Wat That"!! Come on!!

Anyway, we could see the whole city from up there, and it was pretty cool. Then we went for a laos massage, which is by far the best we've had. All that for 3 dollars (1,50 pound).

Last full day in Luang prabang, we rented some bicycles and visited on wheels the area. After 1pm, it just got too hot, and we had to stop a few times to refuel (sometimes water, sometimes beer, it's like with old motorbikes, mix the oil to the petrol!!).
We booked our tickets back down to Ventiane, 11 hours or so for the day after.

The reason we are going back to Thailand before visiting the rest of the country is, as i said at the beginning of this email, we need a break, and a beach break. We're hoping this won't be ruined by the monsoon... We planned our trip perfectly really... India in the winter, and we couldn't go to the North, and Thailand and its beaches just as the monsoon starts. We'll have to work on that next time...

If the monsoon does hit us hard, then what we might do is return to India for a while. The idea germed in our heads as we were having indian food the second night in Ventiane, and well, we've got to look into it.

On this, i will tell you that i'm up to date, and quite happy about it! I will try not to delete this message before publishing it! (tricky for me) and i'll say bye bye to all our readers!!

I hope you are all doing good, and as a little reminder, we will be back in about 2 months now!
Take good care of yourselves

Lots of love from Laos xxxx
Jenny & Steve

Gooooodnight Vietnam!!

Hello Hello!!

I was updating our blog yesterday, and after about an hour of typing, i pressed a wrong key, and the whole bloody thing disappeared!! Couldn't be asked to type it all again, so gave up, and am starting again today.

Anyway, last time i gave some news, we were in Hanoi, thinking of doing a few days bike tour in the North, in the end we opted for the south of Hanoi, to visit a national park 155kms from the town, and a tribal village called Chau Mai west of the Nat Pk. Well, we didn't see either the national park, nor the tribal village. As we were happily riding along on our Minsk bikes on the Ho Chi Minh trail, my bike decided it had had enough. And stopped.

With my extensive knowledge of bike mechanic, i knew exactly what to do... "STEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVE!!!!"
It turned out it was the electric, we changed the spark plug, nothing, open countless boxes, generators whatever, nothing. After about an hour in the sun in the middle of knowhere, about 15 vietnamese guys were around trying to help. They ended up towing the bike to a nearby village, where a mechanic fixed it... not for long!

500 meters down the road, the bike is caughing like it's going to die again. I say it's not right, but one of the "helpers" that we had to take back home said i should let him drive... Yeah right, like i had just ridden 150kms, but i still didn't know if the bike was going well or not!!

Anyway, after dropping him off, we're on our way again, but not for long. The exhaust is backfiring, it's getting on my nerves seriously, night is falling, we're still in the middle of nowhere, we end up stopping at the next house we see, wake up (they're always sleeping) the mechanic. He replaces the electric box again saying that the other guy before gave us an other faulty one... grrrr Mechanics, they're the same everywhere. That one also opens the generator, checks it then closes it again. Magic, the bike is going again.

We ride in the dark on the little road to the hotel that this family indicated to us, check in, and head for the closest bia Hoi seller (fresh viet beer).
That was well needed, but at least we thought, now it's going well, we can go tomorrow and enjoy the rest of the tour.

That evening, after the beer, we asked our waiter (in our lovely broken miming vietnamese) where we can find some food. He takes us down the road to a little restaurant that serves some kind of meat "brochettes". Just to make sure, we ask what kind of meet it is.. hum hum. They point at the dog who is looking at us with his sorry eyes that seem to say "please don't eat my brother, or i'll be next!!!" ARGHHHHH!!

Quickly we get out of there, and head for an other place, the waiter next to us laughing away... Barbarians!!

In the next place, we mime: "No doggy?? waouf waouf..." The woman smiles and say no, we are a bit reassured, but when she serves us our Phu (noddle soup with meet and herbs) well, that meat still doesn't look like anything i've seen before. She assured us it was no dog, so we ate a bit, but mostly we ate the noodles. I have to remind you we left Hanoi at 8.30 after a ham and cheese sandwich, and had nothing else the whole day. Well, god knows what was in there, we try to forget about it, and go back to the Bia Hoi place to help.

Next morning, fresh and early, and in good mood, we open the door of the hotel room. Argh again... It's pissing down with rain!!!
Nevermind, we're off anyway (after a 15 minutes effort to start the bloddy russian Minsk and killing our feet on them both). We need some breakfast, so we stop in the next town. We ask for Phu with pork, and get served just that. It smells really nice! We eat away, although the meat is a bit chewy, so i only eat a bit.

Later, after a few cafes cause the rain is still pouring down, Steve goes to the loo at the back.
When he comes back, his face looks somehow disturbed, and i ask him how are the toilets (civilised or hole in the ground full of mosquitoes?) second option.. ok we're used to that. But at the same time he also says "well, it's quite an eye opener at the same time" I look at him: "What do you mean??" and he looks down at the remaining of our Phu in the bowls... Oh dear!!!! not again!!. For you mum i won't give you the description Steve gave me, but you can imagine what we think we've eaten... again.

Light headed, we leave the dog eating town, and decide we want some civilisation. Head for the beach town of Sam Son. Well it's raining but who cares, it will be quiet, we can get a massage and some civilised food.

One hour down the line, guess what. My bike breaks down!!! Again!!

This time, Steve manages to fix it, and it appears that our last mechanic had closed the generator on one of the cables, and melted the flipping thing... arghhhh . Steve cuts it short, somehow manages to fix it, and off we go.
We hit the national highway one, full of suicidal and murderers, but make it safe and sound to Sam Son.

Haha, Sam Son, the town with the Vietnamese who have a british spirit.
We arrive there, and there is some sort of festival. About 10 000 people on the beach, in the cloudy and windy and actually pretty cold weather, all nethertheless in their swimming suit, all goose bumped hehe, and obviously, we can't find a hotel under 20 $... Well, we book in there anyway, ask where we can find an ATM, there aren't any. ARGh and ARGH again... I'm telling you, this is proper travel experience!!

We explain to the hotel that we'll ride to the closest town in the morning (30kms there and back) and pay them after. So in the evening we're left with very little money to eat, and have some rice and bony chicken (but i saw the whole chicken beeing cut in the kitchen, so that was better.

We spend the night quite well in the end, Bia hoi costs about 10 p for a pint, so we can drink, and practice our vietnamese with the locals. It turned out Sam Son was a touristic place, yes, but not for westerners, only viets... hum. People are really nice though, so it makes up for all the bad stuff. Actually, even the dog eating people were lovely, and everyone that helped us on the way..

Right, so my bike has broken down 3 times in 2 days. I come to hate the bloody thing. When it goes it's ok, eventhough it does sound a hell of a lot like a lawn mower, it's really nice, but when it stops... argh, as i said.

So the next morning, without a shower cause it's freezing (20 $ room remember, but not the luxury that goes with the price usually) we decide to head straight back to Hanoi. We set up, and what do you know, 1 hour after, not even, guess what. YES, it breaks down again! By that time i'm calling it every name under the sun, and am very tempted to send it to the scrapyard.

Again, some nice vietnamese mechanic helps us, and after two hours of going through the manual and every possible electrical problem, it turns out the lovely little plastic plug that goes into the electric box was... dirty!! we clean that up, and it's 4pm. about 200 kms from Hanoi, we set out again, decide not to stop the whole way. We're riding up that suicidal and murderer's road, and decided against it, and go back west to the dog eating towns districts, to take the nicer and quieter Ho chi Minh trail. We rode all the rest of the day, and a few hours in the dark, going through strips of road, no sorry, mud tracks, that were great fun really, and drove back side by side to get more light on the non lit road. At 10.30 about we finally hit Hanoi, with an amazingly sore bum, and achy wrists and feet, and oviously, get lost for about 1.30 hour turning around that crazy town's road system. We get some directions in the end and finally find our quarters, the old quarters of the town.

The bike shop is obviously closed, but we know that some australian guys, Digby and Dan, that work with the shop, are usually at a bar called Highway 4. We head there and find one of them who is basically singing the praises of Minsk Bike (load of bullshit if you ask me!! I mean we have so many jokes about Ladas, why the hell didn't we go for Japanese Honda!!??)

Well, after a few beers, we get our sense of humour back, and realise that this was THE travel experience.

By the time we get out of the bar, still with our minsks parked outside, it's 1am and we need to find a hotel. Surprise, magically, the hotel prices go up in the evening, and so we can only check into an 18$ room again... Well we made it, and tomorrow we know we'll go set fire to the bike rental place, and then go enjoy a nice french croissant in our favourite bakery...

We go back to the rental shop, and they decided they'll only charge us 1/2 day extra (we had paid for 3) i'm well against it, but Steve gives the money anyway, and in the afternoon, we see a westerner girl on the same flipping bike, and god, i feel ever so sorry for her...

So the day we came back to hanoi was the 30th in the evening. Our visa expire on the 3rd, which is today. We decided to stay in Hanoi and recuperate, and book a bus to Laos, which we are hopping on tonight at 6.30pm. We just chilled for 2 days, drinking plenty more of Bia Hoi, (basically getting drunk for 1 pound or less, amazing, the paradise of beer drinkers!), did a bit of shopping, and reading about the next step, Laos, where we should be staying about 2 weeks, as a 30$ visa at the border will only give us 15 days. Then the plan is to head back to Thailand, forgetting about the North of Thailand as we'll probably do some trekking in Laos, and apparently, Laos's north is nicer.

Wel, that's it for Vietnam, it is an amazing place, so much to do, not enough time to do it in a month, something for every taste, definitely definitely recommended to everyone. Every one would find some great things about it.

Been typing for a while now, so will stop now...
Take care everyone!
Can my family kindly tell me when i could call home (which home?) to talk to everyone at the same time??
Pierre Petra, Gert, i need to know when you are all flying, so we can maybe book our tickets now.
Leanne, last night we were drinking beer with a kiwi that had exactly the same accent as you, ie i didn't understand a word hahaha...
Laura, haven't had news in a while!! how is it going?

Hope everyone is doing good,
Lots of love from the two of us!

xxx Jenny & Steve xxx