Millionaires at last!

Well, we're glad to report that the bus to the Thai/Laos border got there OK and despite some earlier concerns the border formalities couldn't have been quicker or smoother.  The only thing which would have made it better would have been if we didn't have to pay $35 each for the Laos visas.  A 5 minute longtail boat ride took us across the mighty Mekong River and, hey presto, we were in Laos!
Without any Laos money (though they happily take Thai baht and US dollars) our first port of call (after finding some overnight accommodation) was the local bank.  We changed a mere $300 US dollars and came away as millionaires with 2.3 million Lao kip!  (There are 12,500+ Lao kip to the pound).  Laos doesn't have any coins so our wallets were stuffed with notes, the largest of which appears to be 50,000 kip or around 4GBP.  The smallest note we've had (and still got as it's hardly worth anything) is 500 kip or around 4p.  We are being very careful when we hand over notes for payment as it is very easy to miscount the '0's!
After a night overlooking the Mekong and Thailand we set off on the 2 day slow boat journey down the Mekong towards Luang Prabang (which used to be the capital of Laos when they were a monarchy).








The boat journey was quite interesting and peaceful with lovely scenery.  After 6+ hours we made landfall for the night at Pak Beng.  This place is about a half-horse town and only there for the boats that overnight on their way between Huay Xai and Luang Prabang. 









Day 2 was longer but we arrived at our destination after around 9 hours and with numb bums!  The boat had made numerous other stops during the 2 days to pick up and drop off many locals and supplies because many of the villages we passed had no road access.  We also saw a working elephant at the beginning of the second day.

Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage city and most of it is well preserved.  It is certainly the 'prettiest' place we've been in for a long time, but unfortunately it's also one of the most expensive places around.  On UK standards its still pretty cheap but we've very quicky got accustomed to south east Asia prices!






We spent a couple of days looking around temples, the National Museum in the former Royal Palace and taking a tuk tuk ride to some waterfalls where we went swimming and saw black Asiatic bears in a rescue centre.















 

















We then got a minivan for 7 hours to a place called Phonsovan.  It was supposed to be air conditioned but as the engine overheated going uphill the driver opened his window and so the A/C cut out.

The main (only) attraction in Phonsovan is something called the Plain of Jars.  There are many sites around the town where stone jars around 2-3000 years old have been found.  The actual age hasn't been determined and neither has the exact use but it is thought they are funeral urns.  The urns vary in size from site to site but are anything from 1 - 3 metres high.  It's Laos' answer to Stonehenge!  There are only a few sites that are open to the public because the whole area is full of unexploded cluster bombs and other types of bombs which were dropped by the Americans during the Vietnam War.  Only the sites cleard by the Mines Advisory Group can be visited.

  We had an interesting day tour of 4 of the sites and various other places (including a visit to a Buddhist community centre where we were blessed by a monk smoking a cigarette!)














From Phonsovan we decided to give Vang Vieng a miss.  This is a place where mostly gap year type students go to go tubing (floating in a large inner tube) down a river stopping at every bar en route.  The aim appears to be to get as drunk as possible.  We decided we were much to old for that so caught the bus direct to Vientiane, the capital of Laos.
In order to save a night in a hotel we opted for the VIP nightbus (the nightbus in Thailand when we went to Bangkok was fine) ...... mistake!
The bus left 30 minutes late at 8.30pm.  It was full of locals except for us and 2 other westerners.  It wasn't long before the music started and it got louder and louder.  Jon asked a couple of times for it to be turned down but was just laughed at.  We began to think we'd bought tickets for a mobile all night disco rather than a bus on which to sleep.  We stopped at 2am for a meal (noodle soup) that was included in the ticket price and finally reached our destination an hour late at 7am.  Having found accommodation we went to bed for a couple of hours!

Today we took a local bus (complete with chickens and tractor tyre) for an hour (25kms), cost 40p each and visited a Buddha Park.  What a bizarre place!  Some eccentric has placed all sorts of Buddhist and Hindu (and other) sculptures in a field on the edge of the Mekong - we wonder what drugs he was on!  Some of the sculptures were labelled as having been donated by a Mr Ear-Kim-Ou and his madam!  Still it was something to do and an experience on the bus.

We've tomorrow in Vientiane and then on Saturday we fly to Hanoi.  Thank goodness we decided to fly rather than catch the 'bus from hell' after our experiences the other day!  Instead of 24-36 hours in a mobile disco with border hassles we're hoping for a trouble free 1 hour flight!  Touch wood!
We'll let you know if it was the right decision when we next update the blog.

2 weeks in Thailand

Just before we continue with the blog we must just mention that Carol managed to watch the Royal Wedding courtesy of CNN!  We were in the Cameron Highlands and the guesthouse had a TV room which she commandeered for 3 hours!

Anyway, to continue ...........


We made it safely in to Thailand with no delays at all crossing the border and finally arrived on the island of Koh Phi Phi on the Andaman coast (despite the minivan breaking down and having to transfer to one that was following which had lousy air conditioning).

Koh Phi Phi was devastated in the tsunami on Boxing Day 2004, but is now completely rebuilt and functioning as a holiday resort once again.
The accommodation we found was OK but not great - no air conditioning so it was very damp.  We spent the first day lazing on the beach in between cooling off in front of the fan in our room and being moved along the beach away from the deckchairs that had to be paid for (there was little beach space at high tide with all these chairs even though they were all empty 'cos everyone was a cheapskate like us!).

On day 2 we went on a longtail boat trip ('longtail' because the propellor is on the end of a very long shaft joined to a big diesel engine balanced on the stern).  The trip went to a small neighbouring island - Phi Phi Lay - and the first stop was a lagoon for swimming, very pleasant.  Unfortunately the stop for snorkelling was spoilt by the rough seas and murky water caused by the sand being stirred up by a storm the night before.  The trip also visited Maya Beach - The Beach from the film of the same name.  The beach itself was very disappointing, completely spoilt by litter (human waste included) caused by tourists going on organised overnight camping tours there.  On the way back to the main island we called in to Monkey Beach to see .......... yes, you've guessed it, monkeys!  As a half day boat trip it was OK, but as a snorkelling trip it was pretty disappointing.
Phi Phi itself was OK but we preferred Tioman Island in Malaysia - it was far less spoiled and much quieter.

Saturday 7 May saw us catching the afternoon boat back to the mainland and then getting on our first overnight bus, destination Bangkok.  This journey was nowhere near as bad as we thought it would be.  The seats reclined far more than aircraft seats and a leg rest came out too when the seat went back.  We left Krabi at 6pm and apart from a 40 minute refreshment stop at 9.30pm we went straight through to Bangkok arriving on the Khao San Road (infamous with young backpackers) at 5am!
Luckily we'd picked the brains of lots of people we'd met over the past few weeks and so had an idea of where to look for accommodation.  We found a lovely hotel quite close to the aforementioned Road, but much quieter.  It cost more than we'd paid before (but still only 17GBP for the 2 of us - trying staying for that amount in London!) but the room was large, it had air conditioning and a TV and even a swimming pool on the roof.  We were also able to check in immediately - before 6am.
After a couple of hours' rest we were ready to face the day.  After breakfast and a wander up the Khao San Road we decided to take it easy by viewing Bangkok from the river via the river ferry (28p each per trip!) followed by a lovely long laze around the pool

The next day we think we were done by a scam!  We planned to visit the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha but it all appeared to be closed.  A well dressed Thai man confirmed that that was the case and would open in the afternoon, but that sites outside the old city were open in the morning.  He hailed a tuk tuk for us and negotiated with the driver to take us to 4 different sites and also an export factory all for 40baht (80p between us).  He told us that as it was a special day the drivers got their petrol free for taking us to the export outlet.  True to his word we went to the Golden Mount and the Lucky Buddha and the export outlet.  We were then taken to a gem outlet and a tailoring outfit and were then told that the other sites were now closed.  However, we were taken back to the Grand Palace so a morning's tour for 80p wasn't too bad as we had nothing better to do!
The Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha were very impressive in the end!

From Bangkok we caught the train north to Phitsanulok (halfway to Chiang Mai) where we stayed for 2 nights.  On our full day there we caught the bus to Sukhotai, rented bikes and toured around the ruins of the ancient kingdom.

 A 6 hour bus journey from there saw us in Chiang Mai.  We weren't that impressed with the city but did do a fantastic cookery course for a day.  The course began with a tour of the local market with 2 of the organisers of the course pointing out all the different fruit, veg and varieties of rice, etc.  Once back, cooking began.  We had previously chosen 5 dishes each to cook from various options.  After each dish was cooked we sat and ate it!  Eating began at around 11.30am and finished at 3.30pm by which time we were stuffed!  We didn't really eat much for the following 24 hours!

 On 14 May we walked around Chiang Mai in the morning and then got a saungthew (sort of shared taxi, 2 bench seats in the back of a covered pick up truck) up the local mountain to Doi Suthep temple, much revered in Buddhist culture.














It was very interesting but unfortunately it absolutely poured with rain and we would have got soaked had we not bought plastic ponchos from an opportunistic vendor outside the temple.

Another early start the next day - we had to leave the hotel at 6.30am to get to the bus station for the bus to Tha Ton.  We had decided to go to Chiang Rai by slowboat rather than bus so we had to be there for the 12.30pm departure.  There were only 6 of us on the longtail boat rather than the maximum 12 so it was far more pleasant even though we still got numb bums!





Three hours later we were in Chiang Rai and searching for accommodation again.  It was more difficult here and although it's low season, the first 3 places were full.  We got somewhere in the end and stayed last night, but moved this morning (16th) to a cheaper place that we preferred.  Today has been the wettest day we've had in the whole time we've been away.  It's hardly stopped raining all day.  We know it's the start of the monsoon season, but hope that it won't continue for the next 7/8 weeks!

Chiang Rai is much quieter than Chiang Mai and we prefer it.  We visited Wat Phra Kaew (a temple where the Emerald Buddha was found 500 odd years ago) and a Hilltribe Museum which was actually very interesting.  The entry fee here also entitled us to a free cup of coffee in the restaurant downstairs called Cabbages and Condoms!
As we write this it's 8.45pm on 16 May and still raining!  Tomorrow we catch the bus to the Laos border and cross in to our next country.  Hopefully border formalities will be fairly swift!  We plan to stay tomorrow night on the Laos side of the border before catching the slowboat (2 days) in to Luang Prabang, but what we actually do will depend on the weather.

All will be revealed when we next update you at the end of our time in Laos!

Malaysia here we are!

So far, so good generally!
The bus from Singapore to Mersing was OK and despite a 4 hour wait for the boat at Mersing to get to Tioman Island we thought we were home and hosed!  However, it took us 1.5 hours to leave the jetty area  as the tide was too low and the boat grounded in the silt!  Everyone was asked to move to the bows of the boat in an attempt to free the boat - shades of Dad's Army!  A scheduled 8pm arrival quickly became 9.30pm but luckily we'd pre-booked accommodation for 2 nights when in Mersing.  This turned out not to be too good, so the first morning we found an alternative (better position and cheaper) to move to for the 3rd and 4th nights.  We spent our time here relaxing on the beach and swimming in the very warm South China Sea.  Evenings began with 'happy hour' - happier than other parts of Malaysia but not that cheap (booze is expensive here).  We spent one day on a boat trip to a waterfall (where they filmed the scene from South Pacific 'I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair - you have to be a certain age to remember this!) and snorkelling.

From Tioman we crossed the peninsula to the World Heritage City of Melaka which was conquered by the Portuguese, Dutch and British at various times.  We stayed in a very friendly hostel there (the manager organised a BBQ the night we arrived and took us out on bikes to find somewhere to eat on another evening).
 
We spent the days walking around, going on a river cruise, visiting the Chinese night market and visiting various random museums (education, literature, etc!)

Then it was on to Kuala Lumpur.  We were quite disappointed with this city and found very little to do.  We spent 2 hours one morning queuing for tickets to go up the Petronas Towers and finally got a slot for 3.30 that afternoon so had 5 hours to kill.
 

There was an air conditioned shopping mall quite close by (complete with M & S) and we also spent an hour over lunch in Macdonalds - yes, we succumbed.  Rice or noodles at every meal was getting a bit much!  A McChicken burger, medium fries and a drink cost around 1.40GBP!
From KL we headed to the Cameron Highlands where it was much cooler and far less humid.  We hired a scooter to visit the tea plantations and had the best 'cuppa' there since leaving the UK.  Unfortunately it rained on the way back to the guest house and we arrived back completely soaked to the skin.

And so we came to Penang, another World Heritage City.  We've walked around viewing lots of temples and mosques and also went to a tropical fruit farm.  Today (3rd May) we went up Penang Hill by funicular railway.  All was well until we started the return journey.  Stray dogs on the track didn't move and sadly one was run over and injured.  It seems that when this happened the carriage was damaged so we were returned to the station and had to wait about half an hour while the problem was sorted.  We finally got back to the guest house in one piece!

Tomorrow at 5am we are travelling to Thailand and going to Koh Phi Phi (an island near Phuket) for a few nights to chill out before we head further north and hit Bangkok!
So, until then, farewell to all readers.  With luck the next post will be in around 2 weeks as we prepare to leave Thailand.