This post takes us through the last of Asia, and then onto Australia. Goodbye Asia, you have been a kind mistress, we will miss you. Hello Austrai.....what, you have to pay $12 to get from the airport, but that was 6 days accomodation in Asia?!? Okay okay, I'l have a bottle of water for the ride then....What?!?! $3.50. How much is a beer instead....(you can see where this is going) $7.50!!!!!!! Not that I am complaining of course. On with the informative post.
The last of Vietnam
Once Alex caught up to me in Hannoi we visited the temple on the lake which houses a fossilised giant tortoise. The legend goes that the first king of Vietnam was given a magical sword by a giant tortoise which helped him liberate the country from the Thai. When he had suceeded he was asked to give the sword back (presumably by the talking tortoise, who must have regretted giving it away) and so the sword was returned to the lake and is still there today. There are still 4 giant tortoises residing in the lake (apparently) who I am assured by the guide (in broken english) are over 400 years old.
We did the boat trip for 2 days 1 night around Halong Bay, as I suppose you have to whilst in Vietnam. It was very impressive to be fair. The hills were very like those in Yangshuo apart from they were sticking out of the water. Being on a big boat with a fishing line strung out the back fishing for squid (squidding?) at night was great. You couldn't really ask for a more atmospheric surrounding, as the fog rolled in around the hills dotted amongst the water. Kayaking and swimming was thrown in with the price, as well as a visit to a cave. I didn't realise how cold the water was until I jumped off the boat, that was a shock I tell you.
Sapa
We moved onto Sapa after that. The plan was to climb Fansipan, the highest mountain in Vietnam. However, we didn't allow for the terrible weather conditions that high up. The fog was so thick at points I have no idea how the bus driver didn't plummet off the side of the mountain on the way up to the village. We couldn't do the mountain, but there was still lots of minority villages to visit and Sapa itself was lovely. Unfortunately I got pretty ill, so spent most of my time in bed whilst Alex, Hannes, and Toni went off on a 2 day trek. The staff at the hostel were really kind to me though, sharing their fruit with me and making me cups of coffee.
On the last day I felt better so walked out to the nearest minority village on my own. It was great trekking down little lanes, not being able to see more than 10 metres infront of your own nose because of the fog. That doesn't sound too great, but then out of the mist would loom a old woman carrying more bamboo than I would want to carry in a lifetime. Then a village of huts, with kids playing in the rice fields nearby. Makes you feel like an explorer, and thats what most travellers want I guess. I want to feel like I'm discovering some new land, and when you find a quiet, beautiful spot just to find a group of Germans there it kind of ruins it a bit.
Sapa was where we left Hannes and Toni behind. I'm not sure how long we have travelled with them, but it must be a month at least. They are great guys, and hopefully we will keep in touch with them. Who would have thought Germans could have a sense of humour? I think they may have single-handedly changed my opinion on an entire nation.
Crossing the border
A bit of advice, if you ever find yourself having to cross the border between Vietnam and Laos, do it further down South than we did, the journey is pretty terrible. The views are great, but not so appealing when you realise you have to travel through all those mountains, and the roads are mostly dirt and rocks, apart from where a river crosses them. A river poses no problem to Vietnamese bus drivers though, they just plow through them. When we got to the border we had to buy our Visa which we had drawn just enough money out for. The border police decided that the exchange rate was about 15% higher than it actually was, so we didn't have enough money. "What do we do then?" we asked, "We don't have any more money and we are in the middle of nowhere". Their succint reply was to put our passports in a drawer, and beckon forward the next passangers from the bus. Great. An Israeli guy on the bus thankfully agreed to bail us out, otherwise we would still be there now I think.
The first village we arrived in was ridiculous. There was a ferry accross the river, which was powered by a JCB and a peice of rope. Thats a transport link for international lorries to travel along. We managed to scrape together a bit of Cambodian Riel, Lao Kep, and Vietnamese Dong to pay the ferry driver to take us over. The village had 1 ATM, which only worked with Laos bank accounts. Luckily, Israel came to the rescue once again, lending us the money for our bus ticket to the next town along. We were otherwise considering getting jobs in rice paddies...I'm sure I could do that.
Luang Prabang
The first commandment for any traveller who finds themself in South East Asia is: "Thou must ride an elephant. Thou must enjoyest riding the beast, and much photographic evidence must be accumulated to place on Faithbook(Facebook). The owner of the elephant must be paid handsomely for this". I was in serious danger of burning in the eternal fires of Hell, so we decided to put that right in Laos just to be safe. It wasn't too long of a ride, but I think it would get pretty sore after more than an hour anyway (whoever just laughed at that sentance has a filthy mind). The elephant walked Alex and I into the river so he could bathe. It was a lot of fun splashing him with water and getting squirted back. They are intimidating animals close up, I was pretty wary of him at times to be honest.
We did a 3 hour kayak ride down the Mekong which was great, some fantastic views. We did get a bit tired of kayaking after a while, but you could just drift if you were feeling lazy. We visited a cave which contained 1000 buddhas. The first recording of the cave was by a French traveller in the 18th century whose sketches of the cave from his journal were on display (just photographs of them). It made me jealous that I can't sketch to make my journal look more creative. I guess photographs are the modern sketches.
Luang Prabang is a lovely town, I would like to have spent longer there. It is well worth a visit, even if it is just to spend days cycling around the town and along the river front, stopping in cafes for drinks.
Vang Vieng
Easy to sleazy in 4 hours. Travelling from Luang Prabang, a town with a 11pm curfew on drinking, to Vang Vieng is a good way to see the...diversity of Laos...yes...diversity. Vang Vieng is famous for its tubing, where you float in a tube down a river lined with bars. These bars throw you a rope and haul you in. All along the river are zip lines, big swings, slides etc all going into the river. They are pretty high, you just don't notice because you are hammered. All the bars in town are playing episodes of friends or family guy (I literally do mean all of them, if you sit in 1 bar you can even hear next doors) where people can recover from a hard days tubing.
Alex and I agreed "lets take it easy, a couple of drinks, pace ourselves". As soon as we arrived we got playing beer pong with 2 guys from England and after that....I woke up at midnight with a hangover after going to bed at 8pm. Hah. Nah, I do remember it, but it was a bit messy. I was a stereotype and somehow hurt my neck going down a zipline, grazing it god knows how. There were no major events to speak of apart from the swings etc. I think I knew it was time to go home when I got skinned by a 5 year old Laos kid on 1 of the beach football pitches in a bar. I just fell flat on my face.
There are other things to do in Vang Vieng. 1 day I went to some caves to have a little explore. I didn't want a guide, assuming it was just your classic case of them trying to get money of tourists, however you definately do need a guide. The cave is pitch black, you need the flash light they give you, and there are loads of turnings to chose and holes to fall down (as well as bamboo ladders to climb). The walk into the cave was about 30 minutes there 30 minutes back. I would have been terrified on my own, it was even a bit creepy with my guide. At the bottom is a lagoon. I had pictured the cave opening up onto a secluded tropical lagoon with clear green waters. It was a muddy pool in the bottom of a dank cave god knows how deep under the rock. I was waist deep in the water when I casually asked my guide "are there any fish" to which he replied "nahhh, no fish, just snakes....really big snakes". He wasn't joking by the look on his face, and I was out of there pretty darn quickly.
Chang Mai
From Vang Vieng we travelled back into Thailand to a nice town called Chang Mai. We bumped into Tesse and Phil (who we originally met in Goa, India) again. We had bumped into them in Luang Prabang as well. Its a small world after all. It was great to see them and we all went round the night market together which is the highlight of the town. It is pretty extensive.
Singapore
We flew from Chang Mai to Singapore as thats where we had to get our flight to Cairns from.
Alex and I went to Universal Studios which was great. Not too cultural but still great.
My parents were in Singapore as well, having a few days between their flight from London to Cairns where they have come out to visit me/holiday. I met up with them for dinner, which was really nice. I didn't feel like I hadn't seen them for 6 months, I guess its never awkward with your parents. The following day we went around Singapore together, Alex in tow, and saw the sights. The crazy bastards have built 3 sky scrapers that have a boat connecting them on the top. Asians!
Turned out that my parents were on the same flight as us guys, which meant we could hop in their taxi with them to the airport. In the airport toilet my dad bumped into Ant (I don't know why he was hanging out in the toilet). It was good to see him again after so long. Alex and I figured out that we would probably have seen him more being at home than we have these last 2 months travelling. He looked really well, and groomed. I guess 5 star hotels agree with him. I felt a bit inadequete in my well-travelled clothes.
This update is long enough now, I will leave Australia for another day.
I apologise for my appalling grammer/spelling. I am writing this at 3am Australian time as we get our camperavn tomorrow so god knows when we will get access to the internet again. I have just had to bash this update out (poor me hey).
The last of Vietnam
Once Alex caught up to me in Hannoi we visited the temple on the lake which houses a fossilised giant tortoise. The legend goes that the first king of Vietnam was given a magical sword by a giant tortoise which helped him liberate the country from the Thai. When he had suceeded he was asked to give the sword back (presumably by the talking tortoise, who must have regretted giving it away) and so the sword was returned to the lake and is still there today. There are still 4 giant tortoises residing in the lake (apparently) who I am assured by the guide (in broken english) are over 400 years old.
Sapa
We moved onto Sapa after that. The plan was to climb Fansipan, the highest mountain in Vietnam. However, we didn't allow for the terrible weather conditions that high up. The fog was so thick at points I have no idea how the bus driver didn't plummet off the side of the mountain on the way up to the village. We couldn't do the mountain, but there was still lots of minority villages to visit and Sapa itself was lovely. Unfortunately I got pretty ill, so spent most of my time in bed whilst Alex, Hannes, and Toni went off on a 2 day trek. The staff at the hostel were really kind to me though, sharing their fruit with me and making me cups of coffee.
On the last day I felt better so walked out to the nearest minority village on my own. It was great trekking down little lanes, not being able to see more than 10 metres infront of your own nose because of the fog. That doesn't sound too great, but then out of the mist would loom a old woman carrying more bamboo than I would want to carry in a lifetime. Then a village of huts, with kids playing in the rice fields nearby. Makes you feel like an explorer, and thats what most travellers want I guess. I want to feel like I'm discovering some new land, and when you find a quiet, beautiful spot just to find a group of Germans there it kind of ruins it a bit.Sapa was where we left Hannes and Toni behind. I'm not sure how long we have travelled with them, but it must be a month at least. They are great guys, and hopefully we will keep in touch with them. Who would have thought Germans could have a sense of humour? I think they may have single-handedly changed my opinion on an entire nation.
Crossing the border
A bit of advice, if you ever find yourself having to cross the border between Vietnam and Laos, do it further down South than we did, the journey is pretty terrible. The views are great, but not so appealing when you realise you have to travel through all those mountains, and the roads are mostly dirt and rocks, apart from where a river crosses them. A river poses no problem to Vietnamese bus drivers though, they just plow through them. When we got to the border we had to buy our Visa which we had drawn just enough money out for. The border police decided that the exchange rate was about 15% higher than it actually was, so we didn't have enough money. "What do we do then?" we asked, "We don't have any more money and we are in the middle of nowhere". Their succint reply was to put our passports in a drawer, and beckon forward the next passangers from the bus. Great. An Israeli guy on the bus thankfully agreed to bail us out, otherwise we would still be there now I think.
The first village we arrived in was ridiculous. There was a ferry accross the river, which was powered by a JCB and a peice of rope. Thats a transport link for international lorries to travel along. We managed to scrape together a bit of Cambodian Riel, Lao Kep, and Vietnamese Dong to pay the ferry driver to take us over. The village had 1 ATM, which only worked with Laos bank accounts. Luckily, Israel came to the rescue once again, lending us the money for our bus ticket to the next town along. We were otherwise considering getting jobs in rice paddies...I'm sure I could do that.Luang Prabang
The first commandment for any traveller who finds themself in South East Asia is: "Thou must ride an elephant. Thou must enjoyest riding the beast, and much photographic evidence must be accumulated to place on Faithbook(Facebook). The owner of the elephant must be paid handsomely for this". I was in serious danger of burning in the eternal fires of Hell, so we decided to put that right in Laos just to be safe. It wasn't too long of a ride, but I think it would get pretty sore after more than an hour anyway (whoever just laughed at that sentance has a filthy mind). The elephant walked Alex and I into the river so he could bathe. It was a lot of fun splashing him with water and getting squirted back. They are intimidating animals close up, I was pretty wary of him at times to be honest.
We did a 3 hour kayak ride down the Mekong which was great, some fantastic views. We did get a bit tired of kayaking after a while, but you could just drift if you were feeling lazy. We visited a cave which contained 1000 buddhas. The first recording of the cave was by a French traveller in the 18th century whose sketches of the cave from his journal were on display (just photographs of them). It made me jealous that I can't sketch to make my journal look more creative. I guess photographs are the modern sketches.Luang Prabang is a lovely town, I would like to have spent longer there. It is well worth a visit, even if it is just to spend days cycling around the town and along the river front, stopping in cafes for drinks.
Vang Vieng
Easy to sleazy in 4 hours. Travelling from Luang Prabang, a town with a 11pm curfew on drinking, to Vang Vieng is a good way to see the...diversity of Laos...yes...diversity. Vang Vieng is famous for its tubing, where you float in a tube down a river lined with bars. These bars throw you a rope and haul you in. All along the river are zip lines, big swings, slides etc all going into the river. They are pretty high, you just don't notice because you are hammered. All the bars in town are playing episodes of friends or family guy (I literally do mean all of them, if you sit in 1 bar you can even hear next doors) where people can recover from a hard days tubing.
Alex and I agreed "lets take it easy, a couple of drinks, pace ourselves". As soon as we arrived we got playing beer pong with 2 guys from England and after that....I woke up at midnight with a hangover after going to bed at 8pm. Hah. Nah, I do remember it, but it was a bit messy. I was a stereotype and somehow hurt my neck going down a zipline, grazing it god knows how. There were no major events to speak of apart from the swings etc. I think I knew it was time to go home when I got skinned by a 5 year old Laos kid on 1 of the beach football pitches in a bar. I just fell flat on my face.There are other things to do in Vang Vieng. 1 day I went to some caves to have a little explore. I didn't want a guide, assuming it was just your classic case of them trying to get money of tourists, however you definately do need a guide. The cave is pitch black, you need the flash light they give you, and there are loads of turnings to chose and holes to fall down (as well as bamboo ladders to climb). The walk into the cave was about 30 minutes there 30 minutes back. I would have been terrified on my own, it was even a bit creepy with my guide. At the bottom is a lagoon. I had pictured the cave opening up onto a secluded tropical lagoon with clear green waters. It was a muddy pool in the bottom of a dank cave god knows how deep under the rock. I was waist deep in the water when I casually asked my guide "are there any fish" to which he replied "nahhh, no fish, just snakes....really big snakes". He wasn't joking by the look on his face, and I was out of there pretty darn quickly.
Chang Mai
From Vang Vieng we travelled back into Thailand to a nice town called Chang Mai. We bumped into Tesse and Phil (who we originally met in Goa, India) again. We had bumped into them in Luang Prabang as well. Its a small world after all. It was great to see them and we all went round the night market together which is the highlight of the town. It is pretty extensive.
Singapore
We flew from Chang Mai to Singapore as thats where we had to get our flight to Cairns from.
Alex and I went to Universal Studios which was great. Not too cultural but still great.
My parents were in Singapore as well, having a few days between their flight from London to Cairns where they have come out to visit me/holiday. I met up with them for dinner, which was really nice. I didn't feel like I hadn't seen them for 6 months, I guess its never awkward with your parents. The following day we went around Singapore together, Alex in tow, and saw the sights. The crazy bastards have built 3 sky scrapers that have a boat connecting them on the top. Asians!Turned out that my parents were on the same flight as us guys, which meant we could hop in their taxi with them to the airport. In the airport toilet my dad bumped into Ant (I don't know why he was hanging out in the toilet). It was good to see him again after so long. Alex and I figured out that we would probably have seen him more being at home than we have these last 2 months travelling. He looked really well, and groomed. I guess 5 star hotels agree with him. I felt a bit inadequete in my well-travelled clothes.
This update is long enough now, I will leave Australia for another day.
I apologise for my appalling grammer/spelling. I am writing this at 3am Australian time as we get our camperavn tomorrow so god knows when we will get access to the internet again. I have just had to bash this update out (poor me hey).
