kiss me ~ jacquis ramblings

Kiss me. . . Where are you from?

We had such a cool chilled day today exploring Luang Prabang on
bicycles! We met the most amazing local who works at the elephant tour
company and spent ages talking to him. He is so intelligent and his
english (as his 4th language) was brilliant, probably the best we have
come across so far. He wants to achieve so much but just doesn't have
the money- he spent 2 years working at 2 jobs in Vientiene to get
enough money to study. He told us he wants to study IT and open his
own company. The communist government, who made the king 'dissapear',
doesn't offer education subsidiaries or loans. The laos people have
nothing and know very little- their access to the media is restricted
by the government. They have never heard of nelson mandela! And very
few of them have heard of south africa, so when we get the, 'kiss me,
where u from' question it takes a while to explain!

Luang Prabang, Laos - 22-27 Nov 2008

We are sitting waiting for our delayed flight out of Laos to Chiang
Mai, they only have a few flights a day yet still manage. . . .whaddya
know, murphy's law. We are now up in the clouds over Luang Prabang on
a tiny 60 seater plan, no engines, just propellors. Still could be
worse, we have to fly through Bangkok on Tuesday to get to Krabi which
at the moment is not possible with the airport being closed. We may
have to book different flights & fly via somewhere else or get a 24 hr
train down there. At least we have options, Giada & Lauren are flying
to Bangkok in 2 days so may no be so lucky.

The situation there is so silly but at least they are not attacking us
Farang, like in Irndia, but are still a nuisance!

Luang Prabang was quite nice, but a bit of a let down after Vang
Vieng. It caters more for the middle aged american travellers and was
definately the most touristy place we saw in Laos. Our hotel(Muanglao
Guesthouse) was ok but had to move rooms a couple of times as the
building works next door were really loud but eventually we got a
decent room. We took the first day easy to relax after our
rollercoaster bus ride and cycled around town to check it out at had
an awesome green curry at a restaurant on the river. For some reason
all the restaurants down by the river are really cheap but 2 roads up
are twice the price. The night market was really cool although most
people were selling the same stuff so once you have seen 1 scarf or
lantern you have seen them all. A definate highlight of Laos was
Mirinda! Orange, green & red, basically fanta orange, irn bru and
sparberry! Served in a packet with a straw. . . Will miss those.

We booked an all day mountain bike trip with White Elephant tours for
the following day but when we woke up Jacqui wasn't feeling great, she
didn't finish her breakfast and when she leaves fresh fruit behind you
know there is something wrong! However we decided to go anyway,
halfway through the introduction Jacqui ended up with her head in the
bushes showing the guide what she had for dinner the night before! And
just in case he didn't see, she showed him again! We postponed till
the next day & spent the rest of the day watching movies from the 90's
in the hotel room. Jacqui was kind enough though to show the waiter at
the restaurant I had lunch at what he missed earlier that morning, 3
times!

Next morning we were both feeling ill but had to do the ride today as
it was our last full day. The other people on the tour pulled out
through illness so we could at least go at our own pace although even
in our state the guides(Lee) pace was soooooo slow, think he is used
to fat american tourists, so we had to hurry him up a bit. We stopped
at a weaving village and saw the ladies making all the stuffs for the
market, it takes them 3 days to make 1 scarf on their looms! And 5
days for a tablecloth. It makes you think how you could have the
audacity to bargain them down from 40000 kip to 35000 kip . . . About
40p. Although we did get them from 50 000 kip to 35 000 for something
but when it came to paying, just paid the full price. It was £1 to us,
but a lot more to them. I just wanted to win the bargaining game &
show them who the boss was.

The main destination was Tad Sae waterfall which was amazing, it is a
cascading waterfall about 60m long, will pools to swim in at various
points, and if you are sicknote(Jacqui), pretend you are in some
shampoo advert under the waterfall. Bumped into Dave the canadian who
we met whilst kayaking in Vang Vieng, may seem him in Chiang Mai &
Krabi too.

The cycle back was on tar roads thank goodness as my butt was aching
from the dirt road on the way there. We stopped at another village and
the guide showed us how the whole village worked. It cost $2000 to
build a new house, but is done in 3/4 stages over up to 10 years as
they can't afford it all at once. A couple of houses had satellite
dishes the size of . . . Well big! Just for a few tv channels.

This particular village has moved from a more remote area but the
government said they would not help them will electricity, roads etc
so they had to relocate in order to have these 'luxuries'. The men of
the village were not around as they were all out hunting for dinner,
not hunting for a bargain at Marks & Spencers, but hunting for
squirrel, snake, wild cat etc.

Needless to say we were feeling sorry for ourselves when we got back
so went for a pizza and an early night. Still not quite sure what is
wrong with us, I am ok now but jacqui is far from 100%. Could be 2
weeks of asian food, the water, something she ate or
malaria........hopefully should pass by tomorrow and if not at least
Chiang Mai has proper pharmacies & doctors, the Luang Prabang pharmacy
was a stall on the side of the road!

All in all Laos was quite an eye opener, it is classed as one of the
most under developed countries in the world. Anything imported is
really expensive & not much is made there. The people don't know much
about the outside world, not knowing where South Africa is or who
Mandela ihs, I guess that's what years of communism can do to a
country.

Some thoughts on Laos...

I thought today was the end of my life.

We went on a 6 hr mini van journey from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang and it was all treacherous mountain road- I mean windey-windey, no lanes, 90 degree blind corners, lunatic driver road. At one point the narrow road was missing a lane: it had collapsed down the mountain. I hate to think how the overnight buses will manage with that. We also had to slam on brakes on the bend of a sharp right, millimeters from the edge of the cliff, as a crazy local was flying and didn't go wide enough- at that moment I thought it was all over! So I’m very happy to say we’re in our guest house in LP safe and sound.

Vang Vieng was the most amazing place with such genuine and content people (our local friends we made- LV, Bun, Wan) and the most breathtaking green mountains. And more importantly the best, most crunchiest and delicious hersheys and milo pancakes made by the locals for 10000k (70p)! They were indescribable!

If traveling through laos doesn't kill you, it definitely brings you back down to earth. There are no flushing or western toilets, no boxed/ packeted/ tinned food. Everything is completely natural. Ours bodies must be in shock with no regular additives and preservatives! Its very humbling living like the locals. I would hate to know how they would survive if we dropped them in central London!

Just when I started getting used to flushing squat toilets in Bangkok, Laos presented me with outdoor non flushing squat loo’s. Thinking it couldn't get worse, the bushes with mossies and bugs are getting used frequently- Laos style! I definitely think I have evolved more than the Laosions. They assume the squat position all the time- they prefer it to using a chair. I unfortunately have legs that are too long that bash my chin so can not squat without holding on to something.

23 November 2008

Vang Vieng, Laos - 21/22 November 2008

The journey up to Vang Vieng was longer than expected, as our bus broke down and appeared to lose a couple of gears, seemed like 1st or 2nd was missing. After a few girls had words with the driver, he reluctantly stopped for a toiler break, in the middle of nowhere, he seemed to enjoy the 'farang' (foreigners) splitting up into the bushes and returning to nature. It was rather amusing.

We managed to find our bungalows easily, they were really cute wooden bungalows along the river banks, ours only got finished being built last week. Vang Vieng is a tiny town set along the Mekong river, surrounded by enormous limestone cliffs. It is sort of a halfway house between Vientiane & Luang Prabang and home to lots of backpackers. Food there was really cheap & really good! The main street is full of bars & restaurants playing reruns of Friends episodes at full blast, very bizarre. On our first night we succumbed and lay down at our table / bed at Pop restaurant and ate our dinner whilst watching a few episodes.

We booked a full day tour for the following day, we visited and local village, went tubing through an underwater cave before kayaking 18km downstream back to Vang Vieng. We met some very cool girls from north London in the middle of a 7 month trip, we are definately amateurs compared to some of these guys!

The only downside, we thought, being old & stuff was about 3km before town, the tubing run into town starts & a whole bunch of riverside bars have popped up playing loud commercial music and full of travellers getting pissed on beer lao before tubing into town. It kinda ruins the whole innocence of the place. Still they have some awesome zip lines, water slides and swings into the river. Of course there was little respect for health & safety so it was at your own risk, I managed to land rather painfully face first into the water after flying 10m through the air off the slide. You have to see the pics to see the size of that bad boy.

We were due to leave for Luang Prabang the next day but considered staying an extra day as we fell in love with this place, but in the end decided to stick to our plan & booked the mini bus up to LP...the route which takes 6 hrs sounds less than pleasant, so fingers crossed.

Had a really nice dinner at some random non-friends bar, I had a monster whole fish out of the river on the barbie(£2) and Jacqui finally managed to get a non spicy yellow curry(£1.50), ooooh and an amazing peanut & milo shake. Am so excited to rediscover milo, you forget how many things from SA you don't get in London.

Whilst waiting for our bus the next day we bumped into our swedish friends who went up to LP & were now spending half a day in VV before a 16hr bus ride to Bangkok...rather them than us!

Vientiane, Laos - 19/20 Nov 2008

The train ride was ok in the end, very bumpy and noisy at times, but at least we were 1st class so had our own cabin with a sink to ourselves. Not sure we will be able to afford to travel '1st class' again so we can say we have done it. . . . Kind of! It sounded like we were on a roller coaster through jungles and rivers with water and branches constantly scrapping the window. Jacqui did eventually find the normal western toilet about an hour before we got off the train! We got into Nong khai an hour late- 9:30- and got a shared tuk tuk with a swedish couple, Daniel & Tina, to the border. They have been travelling for about 6 months and have been to a lot of places we are going to, so got a few pointers.

The whole visa process at the border was a little slow, and costly, lots of charges every step of the way(visa $30, photos 100 baht, bus over bridge 15 baht, entry fee 100 baht) but we eventually got through and shared a mini bus up to Vientiane with the Swedes and some english guy with his local lady. . . We had accomodation reserved but decided to have a look round town and found a nice place, closer to the action for half the price ($25 a night), there we cheaper options from $5 a night but they were ummmmm how do you say....unsatisfactory. Our hotel was the lv riverine, very friendly people, well most people in Laos are, unlike Thailand. I think we got the last room so was a little noisy in the morning but ok.

Spent the afternoon walking round the riverfront, there are hundreds of food vendors and bamboo restaurants lined along the Mekong river. Stopped at one run by a cute lady and her husband, no speaka da english though. My pork fried rice was amazing but we are still not quite sure what jacqui had. . . Apparently papaya is different here. She did get a whole coconut with a straw to drink though. Then she got even more risque and tried some barbequed bananas from some lady who looked like she was out of a gypsy horror movie, she managed to stomach one which was good form, I gave them a skip! The other restaurants have big buckets outside displaying their wares, massive fish and shrimps caught in the river, and then the unexpected, massive bullfrogs....nein...

Vientiane is very nice & chilled, quite a few travellers here, Laos seems to be the flavour of the month at the moment. Went to the full moon cafe which came highly recommended on tripadvisor, again Jacqui tried a local Laos laap meal. Meat with minced mint, interesting but not that satisfying, I went safe with the fish. One odd thing is every meal we order you get a bowl of onion/cabbage soup, I keep wanting to wash my hands in it, tastes ok I guess! Finished off with a massage at our hotel before bed, $4 for an hour.

Woke up early to do some sight seeing, breakfast in the hotel was quite nice, fruit and eggs on toast. Then headed off to see some Wats and other local sights. Shopping here is interesting, definately friendlier and more honest than Bangkok, although I think Alcatraz is more honest than Bangkok! However in Laos, if you ask the price and don't buy the item expect to have to walk away with the shop owner snapping at your heels as you run down the street, they don't give up easily.

The most interesting place we visited was COPE( Coperative for orthapedic and prosthetic enterprise) They basically rehabilitate victims of UXO's (unexploded ordinance) which are bombs littering the whole of Laos which the darned yanks dropped constantly for 30 years. They dropped a bomb every 8 minutes during that time. Of the 260 million I think that were dropped, 30% are unexploded, so there are constantly being uncovered by villagers by mistake or they look for them and try sell them for scrap. The people we spoke to there were really amazing and as the guy said to us, the Laos people smile on the outside, but on the inside they are not, they are scared. The yanks do donate money to recovery of the bombs but not to helping victims who lose limbs etc. when the explode. More bombs were dropped on Laos than any other country during WW1, WW2 and the Vietnam war. We are still not sure why, something to do with them being communists, will have to check it out when we get back.

Anywho! After that we headed to the river, chilled in a bamboo hut, had a Beer Lao and pineapple shake- scrumptious, watched the sunset and had an amazing green curry, apparently with not hot at all. . . But try telling Jacqui's mouth that! Dinner for 2 with drinks, totalling a whopping 75 000 kip/$8/£5. Currency is rather confusing as the accept US$, thai baht or laos kip, and we are thinking in pounds! We are officially millionaires though and withdrew half a million kip yesterday, and its all nearly gone! Ok, its only about £40 but still!

We are on the bus to Vang Vieng as I type for a couple of days of tubing and kayaking down the river before heading to Luang Prabang.

Bangkok 18/11

Today we woke up a little late as I think the jet lag is still
affecting us, and went 2 the tailor 4 lukes fitting. the suit and
shirts looks very nice so far! So does my shirt! They will deliver to
green tulip guest house in chaing mai for us.

We then got meter taxi to wat pho to see the famous reclining buddha;
42m long. We got a tour guide for 300 baht and he was brilliant! We
spoke politics, buddism, religion, corruption etc, and it gave us a
really nice overview of thailand and the current situation in the
country. He taught us the basics of buddism and answered all our
questions we have been accumulating over the past day. There are 66
different buddha poses and he has 32 characteristics different to
humans. We also learned about the naga, a mythological serpent, who is
bad but part good as he came down and protected buddha from the rain
when we was meditating under a tree.

We picked up some corn in a cup(not on the cob) and some chilli pork
from a street vendor and then got a taxi from the wat to jim thompsons
house and did a tour of it for 150 baht- I got student discount with
my expired student card! Jim is famous for starting the thai silk
export company. He dissappeared in the cameron highlands, how crazy!
His house was made and out teak and situated on the longest canal in
thailand- it was beautiful and he was a very artistic man combining
thai design with western design. We had delicious shakes at the
restaurant on the koi pond- I has a banana raspberry shake, and luke a
crushed cookie frappe.

FACT OF THE DAY: thai ppl keep their floors so clean and remove their
shoes before entering the house because they traditionally eat off the
floor.

We walked from jims house to the mbk shopping mall which was cool!
Luke got a wife beater(£4) and me a beanie for snowboarding(£4) and a
new navy element fanny pack to replace the skokkend old beige one!
Then rushed home in crazy bangkok traffic to collect bags from hotel
and go to hump along station 4 over night train to nong khai. Its
absolutely crazy how the tuk tuk drivers and taxi drivers try and rip
you off cos u r a witou farang! Luke has to ask 3 or 4 taxis each time
we want to go somewhere to use the meter and they refuse and many
times quote you a fixed rate of up to 4 times the meter rate! Tip for
gary, giada and lauren: ONLY USE METER TAXIS! As soon as we say
"chinatown, meter?", you get a shake of the head. So we close the door
and onto the next one. We found going to a rank helps as there are
officials there, although the drivers still refuse sometimes so then
they have to go to the back of the queue. The dorky drivers are always
willing, they will go to nirvana I am sure! Another thing to avoid is
these damn slimy tuk tuk drivers to take u for a laugh and take you to
all their commission shops and pressure u into buying, and more
importantly waste your time, so they can get gas money. Fair enough
they hardly charge a thing, we paid 40 baht for the lift to 3 or 4
attractions which is peanuts but then got taken to 4 places so he
could get coupons. The craziest thing of all is that 95 % of the
population is buddist and they so superstitious and lying is one the
the main sins, yet they so easily lie to your face.

We have had our beds made and eaten our seafood pad thai and cabbage
chicken from a hawker for £1 and are about to sleep. We are first
class so have bunk beds and our own basin. Pity the train only has
eastern toilets! Tomorrow we will be in nong khai, away from the
hustle and bustle of bangkok!

shanghai inn

Bangkok 17/11

Gosh, what a day, what a city. . . . Neither necessarily in a good way!

Firstly we got to our hotel late last night & what an amazing hotel
(thanks david for the recommendation). It is a boutique hotel in the
heart of china town, away from a lot of the tourists. I cannot stress
how amazing this hotel is, look up the shanghai inn/mansion.

Anyway onto bangkok, we got a free hotel tuk tuk to the grand palace
but could not go in, although there are lots of scams involving
tourist attractions being closed, this week they are mourning the
death of the kings sister, its on bbc news so we believe it...

Now we were a little lost and some suppsosedly helpful guy recommended
some wats/temples to go visit as well as a tailor . . . Hmmmm yeah
right. At the 2nd wat we met another guy who also recommended the same
place, we had decided we were going to buy a suit for some weddings
next yr although the story sounded very to good to be true especially
as 2 randoms recommended this same place. We ended up ordering a suit
and a couple shirts, but upon googling the place later realised all
these recommendations were part of an elaborate touting scheme. We
were a little pissed as we were so sceptical of everything! But needed
the suit anyway, just irritating the way they all go about it,
hopefully when I get the suit it will be nice, most people online seem
happy with their suits. After the tuk tuk driver took us to some
travel place & 2 gem shops, the usual scam, we just told them, no
thanks, bo thanks, no.....NO!

Anywho, headed over to khosan rd., had a delicious late lunch & then
got the riverboat back down to the hotel. Headed out to suan lum night
market, bought some cheap brand name shirts etc. Thinks they were
about 2 quid each! Had to fight with a cab to get a metered ride back,
which cost 53 baht(£1) instead of the 200 baht they were trying to
charge, they refuse until you ask the official/policemen standing
nearby, then they all of a sudden agree.work! Got a quick curry from a
hawker for 80p each and then back to our exotic hotel.

Its a crazy, dirty, hectic, cultural mix which you can't begin to
imagine, but with all the scams and rip offs lurking around every
corner, it kind of ruins the place. Definately worth a 2 day trip but
don't think we will be back, to much hard work!

Final 4th flight!

We have just taken off on our air asia flight to bangkok from singapore. This has been the longest stretch of traveling we have ever done- our 2nd flight from dubai to singapore actually went via columbo in sri lanka and we had no clue about that! We were held on the run way 4 about an hr while passengers disemabarked and new passengers boarded.

The food on emirates was yummy- cos we had 3 flights with them, we got to try the breakfast lunch and dinner! Sat next to english old man going to australia, german women, 100 yr old vegetarian sri lankan wrinkles, and pleasant thai man. Sri lankians really smell; the thai dont.

My damn travel shampoo and conditioner leaked all over my bag so spent a bit of time cleaning my bag at singapore airport. We also finally managed 2 brush our teeth at singapore airport after 4 meals and a day and a half of traveling!

The time is so confusing, we left london at 1340 on sat and arrive in bangkok at 2200 on sunday local time, which is actually lunch time in london. So its been about 24 hrs of traveling. But we have eaten 5 proper meals!? I guess that's because we are not sleeping much.

Hope to get to bangkok hotel safe and sound tonight and get some rest 4 tomorrow! Im excited to see bangkok again cos I hated it when I was here with giada and Nicole so gonna give it another go.