April 11, 2007

The Endless Journey. . . .

Two days ago we left Luangprabang on a boat to go to Chaing Mai, Thailand. We're still not there.

The first day was on a boat, travelling up the Mekong. It was good to start with. The scenery was beautiful and it was pretty peaceful. We were on the boat for about nine hours, when we reached Pak Beng, a little village on the banks of the Mekong.

We stayed here for the night. Early the next morning we took a different boat further up the river.

This was supposed to be a shorter journey that took us right to the border, where we could cross into Thailand and get a bus straight to Chaing Mai. Of course things didn't go to plan. The boat was 2 or 3 hours late which meant that by the time we arrived the border was closed. Not so much of a problem. We just stayed there for a night then the next morning (this morning) we got up early and crossed the border. This was suprisingly easy and I thought things were looking up. I was wrong. Once in Thailand we saw lots of adverts for buses to Chaing Mai, unfortunately everyone of them was full. So we decided that the local bus would be just as good. On arrival at the station we found that this bus was also full. Eventually we decided to get a bus to Chaing Rai (on the way to Chaing Mai) because we were asured that buses leave from Chaing Rai to Chaing Mai all the time. Two and a half hours on a bus later we arrived in Chaing Rai. We went striaght to the ticket office to find that all the buses are full until 4.30pm. (5 hours later)

We are now waiting. We only hope that when we reach Chaing Mai, at what will probbably be about 9pm we can find somewhere to stay...

Posted by admins at 7:57 AM | Comments(0)

Waterfall, Bears and Tiger

While in Luangprabang we went to see a waterfall. We weren't expecting too much as it is dry season so we thought there would not be much water in the river but it turned out to be pretty amazing.

The waterfall was spectacular and really massive, with lots of pools that we swam in on the way. Then at the top you could look down on it all.

In the same area we came across an enclosure with bears in it. They turned out to be moon bears that had been rescued from poachers as cubs. Apparently there are a lot of this type of bear in the area and poachers take them to put in bile farms, so the bile can be used in chinese medicine. The guy there told us that they rescue about three every year but it could be so many more. They are at present building another, much bigger enclosure so they can take more and eventually hope to be able to release some of the bears back in to the wild.

In another enclosure nearby there was a tiger. Same story, it had been rescued from poachers about three years ago and it's mother had been killed. So it has lived here ever since. The tiger did look good but maybe slighly bored. It's enclosure was big with lots of trees and vegetation but it did look bored.

Posted by admins at 7:40 AM | Comments(0)

April 7, 2007

Luangprabang (Katy)

We arrived in Luangprobang yesterday afternoon. The journey here was okay. We decided to pay a few dollars more and travel on a mini bus instead of a big coach. I'm glad we did as the journey was on winding mountain roads. We also saw a lot of people along the road with big guns (which was a bit scarey). I'd read in the guide book that shootings had taken place along this road, but they have lessended in the last few years. I was glad when we got to Luangprabang safely.

Luangprabang is where the King used to live, before he was made to abdicate in1975. There are lots of temples here, some of them dating from the 1500's.

Posted by admins at 5:09 AM | Comments(0)

April 4, 2007

Climbing

Today we went climbing about 2 km out of Vang Vieng.

The site is on the river, we actually paddled past it yesterday. It was an amazing place.

I saw the rock face as we alked towards it, then there was a corridor, in between the two faces, that was about 2 -3metres wide. Most of the climbs were in this area.

I've never climbed anywhere like this before. The climbing was mostly pretty easy, although there were some harder routes, but the holds were good and I found myself getting really picky about what I used.

Posted by admins at 11:36 AM | Comments(0)

April 3, 2007

Kayaking in Vang Vieng

Today we went kayaking. Joe wanted to go on some massive rapids but unfortunately it's dry season and all the rivers are really low. So we opted for a more sedate days kayaking.

Joe managed to persuade them to let him use the guides play boat and I had to share a sit on top with an american girl named Anna.
The river was, as promised, pretty flat although there were a few little drops that made it a bit more interesting. The area was amazing with big limestone cliffs all around us. We stopped off a few times along the way to go in some caves.

These also were pretty amazing and unlike the ones in Halong Bay, they seemed to be left as they were found, no lights or pathways.

At one point we were just paddling along and I spotted a heard of Water buffalo in the water. You could only see the tops of their heads and their horns sticking out. I think they had some calves with them because when they saw us they got into a defensive huddle with the biggest one rising out of the water. It was time to paddle on.

Posted by admins at 10:53 AM | Comments(0)

April 2, 2007

Vang Vieng (Katy)

This morning we got a bus from VienTien to Vang Vieng. Apart from it being an hour and a half late, the journey was good and uneventful.

Vang Vieng is nice place. It's very touristy and appears to be the adventure sports capital of Laos. Every other shop offers trekking or Kayaking. Unfortunately it's dry season so there is very little water around. We're going to try and hire some kit and go climbing though, which should be good.

Like Vien Tien, Vang Vieng is quiet and laid back, which is nice. People sit around in cafes all day.

Posted by admins at 10:34 AM | Comments(0)

April 1, 2007

Laos (Katy)

Despite our first experiences in the country, Laos is a really nice place. We're staying in VienTien, the capital city, although it's really hard to believe it is the capital, it's so quiet and laid back. The people are friendly and don't to hassle visitors which is a relief.

The currency in Laos is the KIP and there are about 18000 to 20000 kip to the pound. All the notes seem to be in quite small denominations so you have to carry around a massive wad of cash. The cost of living seems pretty cheap here, similar to Vietnam. A good meal and drinks cost no more than a few pounds.

Like everywhere else in South East Asia, people are happy to accept US dollars pretty much anywhere and there is only one cash machine in the whole country.

So far the people and the feel of the country remind me more of Cambodia but the structure (roads, rubbish being taken away etc) seems a lot more like Thailand. We are very close to the border here (Friendship Bridge) so I guess there will be influences.

Posted by admins at 8:48 AM | Comments(0)

The Road to Laos - A Sad Journey

We set of from Hanoi at about 6pm on Friday to get he bus to Laos. The bus should have taken about 13 hours, or so the woman in the shop told us when we booked the tickets.
To start with things were not going too well. Most buses in Asia are not so good and this was no exception. The bus had been loaded with bag of rice, tins and some large green packets of some thing they did not want us to look at. In between the bags the passengers had to squeeze in.

The bus was very full there where even people siting on the floor, after about 2 hours on the bus and 5-6 stops we pulled up at some layby to pick up more people and more rice. There was no more room in the bus for the rice so the driver started picking up our bags and putting then on the roof. I had put up with no room and the bags of rice everywhere but I was not about to let them lose my bag off the roof. After a bit of a stand off with some we come to a understanding that the bag would stay in the bus not on the roof.

The jorrney to the Vietnam Laos border was pretty straight forward and it took about 10 hours.

Once at the border we sorted out our visas and set off again to head of to Vientien (Laos).
This should have been another 10 hour journey - but things went very wrong.

The road from the border in to Laos is windy and steep and at one point we had to get off so the bus could get up a hill. At About 5-6 hours from Vientien (Laos) the bus headed down a particularly steep bend in the road all of a sudden there was a really big bang and no one had a clue what was wrong. I knew we had crashed but was not sure to what extent. I ran down the bus and to the front of the bus where there where two young girls laying in the middle if the road with there moped laying on top of one. At this point I think I went into autopilot.

I headed to the first girl and there was nothing I could do - it was too late. I checked for signs of life but nothing so I went to the second girl. She was in a bad way. I tried to help her but she died afer a few minutes.

Then there were people all around. We weren't to sure what to do so far from anywhere. After a few mimtes some one came to mark the road and move the girls' bodies.

In the meantime the bus driver had jumped onto a moped and left the scene.

One by one the bus crew disappeared and left us on the side of the road. I tried to find out what was happening but they seemed more bothered about one of the bags of rice that had split in the crash. I managed to flag down a parcel van that was going past and said we would pay him to take us to the nearest town. I'm so glad I had my GPS with me it gave us a clue to where we were and how far it was to the next place. I think that GPS paid for itself today.

The van driver took us to the nearest town, which was about 1 hour away and then he said he would take us to Vientien (Laos) which was really good of him. The drive took about 2-3 hours to the capital where we paid hime and gave hime a pretty big tip for helping us out.

Posted by admins at 8:15 AM | Comments(0)