Bangkok (again)

Becky catching the bus

So this time we decided to stay in a different hostel in a different part of Bangkok, and what a difference!  We were in the newer part of town where many international and business hotels are located.  Of course, this meant that there was still a 7Eleven within spitting distance but added to this was a sky train and metro station and a giant mall called Terminal 21.  This place kept us entertained for a good few hours as we ate amazing and cheap food in their food court and took silly photos as each floor was themed.  There was a London themed floor with Royal Guards, a giant London bus, a giant tube train and post box, Brick Lane (near where I live in London) and lots more.  Becky had to leave the same day we got to Bangkok and I will be forever grateful to her for taking a whole bunch of stuff (shopping) home for me – thanks Becky!!!

London calling

So Anushca and I were left to our own devices for a few days until I flew to Singapore on the day Thai New Year started and until Anushca left after New Year to go back to India/Miami/Jamaica.  We could have filled our days going to see some ruins out-of-town or going to another beach or to another waterfall but what did we do instead?  We explored some crazy gigantic shopping centres, visited some important little temples that we’d missed before, drank more iced coffee, had a dodgy massage, ate more delicious food and then checked ourselves into a 5 star hotel for one night.

The shopping centres were crazy!  One was two buildings, each five storeys high, filled with clothes (and a food court, of course).  We also went to another that had one floor entirely filled with electronic goods, stall after stall of iPhone covers, mobile phones, computer accessories etc etc except that they all sold the same stuff.  How anyone could actually choose what they wanted to buy in these places was beyond me but it was fun looking and people watching.

 

Temples and shrines in the middle of the city

As for the dodgy massage, we only wished that Becky had been there because it would have been even funnier!  The hostel recommended a cheap place round the corner but maybe we should only have had a leg massage or Thai massage.  Of course, feeling adventurous, and not knowing when we’d be able to get cheap massages again, I opted for a Thai herbal oil massage and Anushca an oil massage.  We were shown to a small cubical (literally, some partition walls with a door) that had to thin shabby mattresses on the floor.  We were given a towel each but no instruction whether or not to undress (and how much) and what to do… and so the giggling started.  My massage was ok and I enjoyed the traditional Thai herbal compresses after the oil but Anushca said the girl doing her massage was copying everything my lady did but not so well.  So all was fine until we sat  at the end with the towels draped around our shoulders while they massaged our necks.  After this they did that famous Thais massage manoeuvre where you hook your hands behind your neck and then the lady hooks her arms in, swings you from side to side and then flings you off to one side to release your spine.  Of course when they did this the towels didn’t stay in place and all four of us ended up in a fit of giggles!  Not quite what we had in mind when we paid for a massage but you learn to expect the unexpected when you’re travelling!

We came back to find our slipper laid out, the lights turned down, the beds ready and a small note with the weather forecast

The five-star hotel called Lebua was amazing!  It’s where the famous Sky Bar is located so after spending the afternoon lapping up the luxury in our suite (they don’t have rooms, only suites) and enjoying the swimming pool, sauna and steam room, we treated ourselves to a cocktail and a wonderful view of Bangkok by night.

Finally, I had to say goodbye to Anushca too and I was back to travelling on my own.  I’d had so much fun travelling with both of them and spent so much time laughing that I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about travelling on my own again.  Only one way to find out – next stop Singapore!

Balcony view

Sky Bar

Me and Anushca at the Sky Bar

Sawadeeka!

My favourite dessert - black beans with sticky rice and sweet coconut milk - yum!

Colourful taxis in Bangkok traffic

Don't Drive Drunk Foundation

Koh Samet (Thailand)

Colourful hostel in Ban Phe

To get back to Bangkok we took another crazy tourist mini-bus from Siem Reap to Bangkok.  Getting to the border was straight forward, as was crossing the border (though for a minute we wondered whether the Thai border guard would allow Anushca back in but he hadn’t read her visa properly…).  We then had to wait around for ages at a cafe on the Thai side waiting for all the tourists to arrive before we were then packed into more mini-buses like sardines.  Fortunately, we were with a good group of people (mainly Brits for some reason) and spent most of the journey putting the world to rights and talking about our travels in South America and Asia.

Petrol station on Koh Samet island

We couldn’t leave Thailand without going to the beach so after a morning shopping for souvenirs at Chatuchak Weekend Market (the biggest and best market in the world) we took yet another mini-bus (this time for Thai people rather than just tourists) to Ban Phe so we could go to Koh Samet island in the morning.  Of course, our driver thought he was Michael Schumacher (don’t they all!)  but we made it to Ban Phe and went in search of somewhere to stay.  Everywhere we asked was full but one place sent us to the only hostel in town, which was a colourful little place with two rooms with mattresses on the floor.  We had the room to ourselves and spent the evening having a beer with yet another drunk Steve (we’d met a few drunk Steve’s already) who taught English (no way I’d let him teach anything to anyone, let alone kids) and who insulted Becky’s nail polish and clothes to the point I thought she might hit him.  She gave him a secret V-sign but it turns out that the V-sign doesn’t mean anything in America – the things you learn when you’re travelling!

Shirtless policeman

In the morning we took a colourful boat over to Koh Samet and then opted to walk to the beach rather than take a shared taxi.  On the way we passed a police station that was manned by a policeman not wearing a shirt (who we managed to photograph covertly) and I guess that really set the tone of the place.  When we got to the beach it was like a postcard – white sand, blue/green clear water and blue skies.  Paradise!

We found somewhere to stay just across the road from the beach and then quickly bagged ourselves a spot with some chairs and umbrella to save my pale white skin from the sun.  Turns out that Thai beach sun is even fiercer than I thought – despite factor 50 suncream (Boots Soltan clear spray – won’t be buying that again!), sitting under an umbrella with a thin sarong over my legs and less than 45 minutes actually swimming in the water, I still managed to get comedy sunburn on my legs, face, shoulders, neck.  Not fair!  Luckily we were only staying one day and at night it was too dark to see the damage.

Becky getting her henna tattoo done

In the spirit of encouraging Becky to try as many new things as possible, she got a small henna tattoo on her wrist.  It looked really good but unfortunately she was allergic so it went all red and itchy after a while – oops!

We had a chilled out evening walking and sitting on the beach looking at the amazing moon, despite starting the night with a pina colada bucket (and eating rubbish food served by a dodgy waiter) and finishing it with home-made cocktails of coconut rum mixed with pineapple juice and ice in a juice carton.  We’re classy girls you know!  Oh, and I had to listen to Danza Kaduro coming from the beach-side bars at least three times that night (manos arriba…)

We enjoyed a tranquil morning visit to the beach again before heading off the get the ferry and bus back to Bangkok.  Becky was leaving the same day so we had to get back to the hostel to pack our bags and see her off in time.  It was the end of an era…

Koh Samet

La playa!!!

Enjoying the good life

Bucket time!

Koh Samet by night

Home-made cocktails

Boat from Koh Samet to Ban Phe

Siem Reap / Angkor Wat (Cambodia)

Siem Reap airport

So to save time, and to be at Angkor Wat to celebrate Becky’s birthday, we flew down to Siem Reap.  We got visas on arrival for US$20 without any problems and the hostel we stayed at organised a tuk tuk to pick us up (for free).  It was a bit of a squeeze for the three of us and our luggage in the small motorcycle tuk tuk but we managed, with Becky having to hang onto my rucksack for dear life!

By some kind of random luck there were some other people staying long-term at the hostel and it was one of their birthdays too so they were having a BBQ that evening, and they invited us to join them.  We went on a quick trip to the market to pick up some food and a secret birthday cake before heading off to Angkor Wat for sunset.  It didn’t quite work as planned (we didn’t make it to the temple that is the best place to see the sunset) but we walked amongst the ruins and found a nice spot by the moat to sing happy birthday to Becky, blow up balloons and eat birthday cake.  I think everyone thought we were mad but how many people get to say they celebrated their 35th birthday at the 8th wonder of the world!  I’m quite sure I won’t be doing anything quite as interesting on my 35th birthday.

Making a birthday wish

I think none of us had quite realised just how big Angkor Wat is, or rather how the temples are spread out over such a large area.  We decided to go back the next day to see the highlights and then the following day for sunrise and to visit the actual temple called Angkor Wat.  We were already feeling a bit templed out by this stage of the trip and it was also boiling hot, so we wanted to enjoy ourselves rather than just trudging around in the blazing heat because we felt we had to.

The temples are amazing and in varying states of repair.  You can still see piles of bricks waiting to be sorted and restored, and we also saw lots of conservation projects in progress.  Many of these seemed to be in collaboration with the Indian government.  What amazed me (as someone who works in a museum) is that we were allowed to actually walk over the ruins in many parts, which gives you an amazing sense of how the temples would have been used in the past but this can’t be good for the long-term preservation of the site.  One of the temples was used for filming Tomb Raider but as none of us had seen the film, we couldn’t set about pretending to be Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft!

Although we spent most of our time visiting Angkor Wat we did also find time to potter about Siem Reap, checking out the markets, eating food and drinking cheap beer and cocktails.  Becky was particularly taken with the sales pitches in the market “you look, you buy”… err, no thanks… especially when all the stalls sold the same, same (but not different).  I did pick up a recycled purse and a typical Cambodian cotton scarf/wrap.  The stall holders were much more persistent with their sales pitches here compared with other places we’d been to.

Tomb raider was filmed at this temple

There were also lots of small children around selling postcards, bracelets etc at the Angkor Wat sites and in Siem Reap.  Most of them should be in school and when you ask them why they are not in school they all tell you it is the school holidays (we knew it wasn’t).  Most of these children have learnt quite a bit of English in order to sell goods to tourists and they amazed us with memorized facts about the UK (one small boy could reel off every British Prime Minister from the last 50 years or so).  Anushca was met with mainly blank stares when she old them she was from Jamaica.  This was the first place in Asia (on this trip) that I really noticed a lot of young children working/selling things.

We had a night out on Beer Street drinking, you guessed it, cheap beer ($0.50 a glass) and cheap cocktails ($1.50 each) and had fun despite hearing the same songs that I’ve been hearing in every bar and club since the beginning of my trip (Danza Kuduro, Moves Like Jagger etc etc).  We also treated ourselves to a cheap manicure and pedicure.  This was Becky’s first so she went to town with bright pink fingernails and toes!

The gang at Angkor Wat

Even though we were only in Cambodia, and only in Siem Reap, for a few days we did eventually get our heads around the dual currency system.  You can pay for anything in dollars or riels (the local currency) and you get change either in dollars or riels, depending on what type of place it is.  Cash machines also only dispense dollars (when they are plugged in and working that is).  As things are generally cheap in Cambodia, we found it useful to have $1 bills to pay for most things.

As Becky was flying home very soon from Bangkok we bought bus tickets to go straight back.  More about our cramped ride in a mini-bus in my next post.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

A piglet enjoying sunrise at Angkor Wat

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Becky getting her first manicure and pedicure

Local beer

Vientiane

More than 2,000 or 10,000 buddhas?

We opted for the mini-bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane, even though all the min-bus drivers think they are Michael Schumacher!  Fortunately this was only a short drive of about 3 – 4 hours and included time for us to blow a tyre and get it fixed.  For some reason the tyre blew right next to a tyre repair place – how convenient!  While we waited for the tyre to be fixed we used their toilet and I took pictures of their excellent darts board.

Vientiane is the capital of Laos, even though you don’t feel like you are in a big capital city when you are there.  It’s quite small and easy to get around and after visiting the market and a few temples, there isn’t much to do except eat yummy food and drink Beer Lao – so that’s pretty much what we did!

 

 

We went to Wat Si Saket, which is the oldest temple in Vientiane and the cloister walls are full of little niches containing pair of buddhas.  We heard one guide tell a group there are more than 10,000 (Wikipedia says more than 2,000) which I can totally believe.  We also found a fascinating pile of broken buddhas.

We also went to Pha That Luang, which is the most important religious monument in Laos.  It is also giant and golden!  A small group of Laos tourists asked us to have our photo taken with them at the monument and we tried to add to our collection of ‘monk with a…’ photos.  This time we captured monks with a mobile phone (taking photos) and monks with umbrellas.  The star prize of our collection would be monk with an iPhone 4 (seen but not yet photographed).  Rebecca adopted a stunning building next door as her new house and I took photos of its beautifully painted ceiling.  On our way back into town we found n old London taxi.  Unfortunately our budget only stretched to a ride in a tuk tuk.

As if we hadn’t had enough of temples and buddhas by this time, we headed out the next day to the Buddha Park, which is a bizarre outdoor collection of huge concrete sculptures of Buddhist and Hindu gods with a particularly large reclining buddha.  As it’s not a temple, you can have a lot of fun taking silly pictures with all the statues.  Once again Rebecca got her photo taken with some local tourists.

Me and Rebecca at the temple of bling

Becky's new pad and the painted ceiling that I loved

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bus ride to the park was particularly memorable.  We took a local bus and we were packed in like sardines, even being told where to stand to even out the weight on the bus!  The bus also had a sophisticated door system, which consisted of a folding door rigged up to a piece of string.  As the bus driver put his fut on the accelerator (he also thought he was Michael Schumacher) the string would pull the door shut by the force of the bus moving.  To open the door the driver simply braked heard enough for the door to slide open again on the string – genius!

COPE Visitor Center

Two of the most memorable things about visiting Vientiane (apart from the giant breakfasts I ate each morning) were visiting the MAG information stand at the night market and visiting the COPE Visitor Centre.

MAG (Mines Advisory Group) is a is a not-for-profit organisation clearing landmines, unexploded ordnance ( UXO) and other remnants of conflict for the benefit of communities worldwide.  More than 2 million tonnes of ordnance was dropped over Laos during the Second Indo-China War and Laos is the most bombed country in the world per capita.  An estimated 30% of the ordnance did not explode on impact and UXO still affects more that 25% of villages in Laos and remains a key cause of poverty.  As in other South East Asia countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam, collecting scrap metal is a major cause of UXO accidents.  Forced into the trade by poverty, people risk their lives using primitive detectors to hunt for scrap: normally what they find is harmless, but there’s always the risk it could be a deadly bomb.  Organisations like MAG are working to help clear the UXO but people are still killed and injured – since 1964  more than 50,000 people have been killed or injured as a result of UXO accidents.

COPE Visitor Center (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise) is an organisation in Laos that works with the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) run by the Laos Ministry of Health.  COPE has five rehabilitation centres across the country to provide access to orthotic/prosthetic devices and physiotherapy and occupational therapy.  People affected by UXO, traffic accidents, polio, leprosy, club foot and children with disabilities are just some of the reasons why people might need access to COPE’s services.

The COPE Visitor Center has a series of really excellent and engaging displays about the UXO problem in Laos and how people are still affected today.  There were some particularly moving displays about children that had been injured or killed when playing with UXO they had discovered in their villages, or how a woman was killed when the heat from her fire stove heated the ground too much and a UXO under her house exploded.  We also watched an interesting and moving documentary about COPE’s work in Laos and they had a whole list of films and documentaries to watch (but we got there late and didn’t have time to watch more than one).  There was also a shop where you could buy gifts or make a donation to support their work.

Visiting the MAG stall and COPE Visitor Center made me realise how little information we get about Laos in the UK press, whether good or bad, and I was glad we were able to find out more about the history of the country and support the work of these two excellent organisations in even a small way.

Buddha Park

Of course, we found time to eat more yummy food and drink a few Beer Lao.  We also bought our flight tickets to Siem Reap (Cambodia) as we were running out of time and didn’t have 34 hours to spend on the bus to get there as we planned to celebrate Becky’s birthday at Angkor Wat!

Taking silly photos at the Buddha Park (one of too many)

Monks with mobiles

Monks with colour coordinated umbrellas

Catching a black cab in Vientiane

How far from Vientiane to......?

Vang Vieng

Amazing view on the bus ride from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng

Our next stop in Laos was a famous little riverside town called Vang Vieng.  Ok so maybe it’s only famous on the travellers/backpackers trail but I’d heard enough about it in advance to wonder if I actually wanted to go there.  The town is known for travellers arriving en mass, getting drunk and stoned and then floating down the river on tyre inner tubes (and sometimes dying because they are so drunk and/or stoned).  You can read a Guardian article about Vang Vieng here, which pretty much sums up what has happened and continues to happen in this once beautiful riverside town.

We had been promised an air-con bus for the supposedly 4-5 hour bus ride from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng.  Our complimentary transfer tuk tuk picked us up at the ungodly hour of 6am and took us to the bus station for our 7am bus.  We quickly realised that we were taking the local bus rather than the tourist bus (we’d decided not to take the VIP bus so it was probably our own fault…) and the air con turned out to be windows that opened!  As all good local buses do, the bus stopped at every opportunity to pick up people and their luggage/goods.  I was actually quite glad that we caught the local bus because it felt like the first time we got a closer look at how people in Laos live.  The road was winding, of course, and with spectacular views (especially as we narrowly avoided oncoming traffic or skirted too close to the edge of a bend with a sheer drop) as we travelled through rural Laos.  About 7.5 hours later we were dropped at the side of the road with our dusty luggage as the only other tourists on the bus (three older women who seemed well-travelled) declared loudly “who would want to get off here?!”.

Vang Vieng (it looks very different during the day compared with at night)

We found ourselves a nice little guest house but quickly decided that going tubing after that bus ride was too much, especially as Anoushca wasn’t feeling well.  Becky and I wandered about town that night marvelling at the bars which were ALL showing episodes of Friends or Family Guy (though we did see one showing South Park).  Vang Vieng is full of bars and restaurants catering for western backpackers (that’s if you like watching old TV series while stoned/hung over or getting super wasted every night on cheap alcohol).  It’s totally bizarre, not very nice (or maybe just not my cup of tea) and I found it actually quite sad that this beautiful little town had been ruined just so western tourists could have some fun.

Reading for tubing at 8.30am!

So we went against the grain and decided to go tubing at 8.30am the next morning.  This was partly because we had no choice (the bus to Vientiane left at 1.30pm and we didn’t want to stay any longer than necessary in Vang Vieng) and partly because we thought it might be a bit quieter.

Well, we were the first and only people on the river that morning as all the bars were pretty much shut.  We stopped at the Big Slide Bar about 10am (as they seemed to be open) and had a go on their big slide (obviously) and their zip-line.  I can’t imagine doing either of these things drunk but we had a lot of fun as it was only us and a couple of tourists from Vietnam who were travelling down the river in a canoe.

 

 

Kids playing on the river

As it was dry season the river was very low with hardly any current at all.  This meant that in order to catch our bus we pretty much had to paddle with our hands ALL the way down the river and at times even get out and walk on the river bed.  It took us about 3.5 hours to get down the river and at the end me and Becky had chafed inner arms from rubbing our arms on the inner tube as we paddled!  We were all creamy crackered at the end.

Having the river to ourselves though was amazing!  It was so peaceful and the scenery was beautiful (once past the bars) with lush green mountains rising up alongside the river.  We saw lots of children playing and families going about their business at the side of the river, something which we wouldn’t have seen if we gone when the bars were open.  We also saw lots of water buffalo casually hanging out at the side of the river.

We bought one of those disposable waterproof cameras to capture our adventure.  It was lots of fun taking photos but actually quite hard to work out what would appear in the photos when looking through the view finder – we’re all so used to digital cameras these days!  We got the photos developed and put onto a CD when we got to Vientiane.  They all look like they have been Instagramed!

My view as a floated down the river

Taking a short break from paddling

River view

Me dropping (not very elegantly) off the Big Slide - it hurt a lot when I hit the water!

Zip-line on the river at the Big Slide Bar

Our breakfast view

Luang Prabang

Local market

So Luang Prabang was our first stop in Laos and what a lovely place to stay for a few days. We ended up staying at the guest house that lured us in on the night the boat arrived with promises of a cheap room and free coffee, bananas and wifi (we’re easily pleased) and by this time we also had Ivan (from Argentina) in tow who we’re met on the boat.

First stop was the night market (same, same but slightly different from Thailand and a bit cheaper) where we also found the famous vegetarian street buffet. Here you can fill a bowl with food, have it re-heated in the wok in front of you, add a fresh spring roll if you wish, and then eat it at the side of the market at a low table – all for the princely sum of 80p!

Becky on a bike

The next day we hired some old but functioning bicycles (again for 80p per day) and headed off to the local market (Phousi Market) for a nosey around. This local market (we were the only tourists there that day) sells all sorts of things from food to clothes, shoes and mobile phones. We bought a giant, fresh coconut each which the lady tipped into a plastic bag each (with a straw) and added some fresh coconut flesh to each one – supper yummy but super filling because the coconuts were the biggest I’d ever seen. Between us we also bought some textiles, cooking utensils, some natural cotton thread and some stationery.

We also cycled to Wat Xieng Thong temple, which is one of the most important in Laos. When we visited many monks were working to replace the gold leaf that decorates the exterior of the main temple.

Monk applying gold leaf to the temple

After a coffee and cake stop (the coffee in Loas in amazing) we headed up to Wat Chom Si, which is another important temple that sits upon a hill (Phou Si) in the centre of town so you get an amazing view from the top, especially as the sun starts to set. We also saw something that was supposed to be Buddha’s footprint (it was a big gold blob), more golden Buddha’s and a creepy temple inside a small cave.

Throughout our stay we had lots of yummy local food (mainly noodle soup), lots of Laos iced coffee, lots of fresh fruit shakes (with varying amounts of sugar), I had a peanut butter and nutella shake one night and we also consumed our fair share of the famous Beer Lao (the national beer, which is good and cheap).

On top of the world in Luang Prabang

We also checked out the typical travellers bar called Utopia (which has a lovely riverside setting and chilled atmosphere) and also ended up going to the famous bowling alley, which is the only place to go if you want to drink after 11pm. Basically, everyone piles into overcrowded tuk tuks outside Utopia and then you are driven to an american style bowling alley a few kilometres out of town. This place is completely surreal because it’s only full of travellers and it looks like any bowling alley in the world. Of course the main attraction is that bowling is cheap and you can buy drinks until late. As it was nearly Beck’s birthday (and going bowling on her birthday is a bit of a tradition) it seemed only fair that Becky beat all of us at bowling, including a cocky American guy who was trying to give Maria bowling tips. Go Becky! Getting back from bowling was easy because the tuk tuk drivers wait outside for you and we shared one back with a bunch of British teenagers (the least fun part of the evening).

Supposedly Buddha's footprint...

Scary temple in a cave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our other main trip was to the beautiful Kuang Si waterfalls about 30km out of town. We hired a tuk tuk to take us there and back and the journey took us through some amazing landscape and winding roads. The waterfalls were in a beautiful forest setting where you could swim in several pools. Someone had even set up a rope swing that I think Becky might regret not jumping from for the rest of her life!

Also in the grounds of the forest was a small bear sanctuary where they cared for bears that had been rescued from people who kept them as pets of mistreated them. As it was the middle of the day, the bears were quite sleepy and mainly lounging around.

Anoushca jumping into the waterfall pool

After a lovely few days in Luang Prabang we booked what we thought was an A/C bus to Vang Vieng that turned out to be the local bus… more about that in the next post. As the bus left early, we were up early enough to see the monks walking the streets to collect their alms from the locals. This was a real treat because we saw the monks away from the touristy part of town (it’s a tourist attraction to get up early to see the monks each morning).

Monks collecting alms

Monks collecting alms

Late night bowling

Rebecca was a millionaire for a day

Beer Lao