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Round half the world!
a travel blog by
Tim and Em
We are packing up our things, moving out and going to find ourselves.. not really - just in search of sunshine and of course some cultural experiences!
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Vang Vieng
Vang Vieng
,
Laos
We arrived in Vang Vieng after a 3½hr bus journey from Vientiane. We were met by the usual people trying to get you to stay at their hotel. Then Dad and Em decided we were going to stop somewhere for an iced coffee (that’s all they drink nowadays, I’m surprised they haven’t turned into one yet!).
After having iced coffee we walked to our hotel, I knew it wasn’t far, but it seemed like miles with all our luggage. Finally we got to our hotel, it was actually quite nice and had a good view of the river.
Vang Vieng - Nam Song view
Like in Vientiane, Dad and Em thought it would be fun to go for a walk as there were meant to be some ‘‘nice’’ caves nearby. We went across the bridge to a cross paths (paths because they weren’t roads!) with three signs about caves all of them saying they were the most beautiful, which didn’t help. In the end we decided on one path but the way was sooo muddy it was like walking through a swamp. I slipped and got a muddy knee, it was soo funny. We decided to turn back and try a different cave.
Vang Vieng - Walk through the rice fields
Instead, we went to Tiger Cave that led us through three rice fields, The path was only a foot wide, which I wasn’t happy about at all.
Vang Vieng - Walk through the rice fields
In places you had to jump across gaps filled with water, in other places bits of bamboo had been put across. After wading through a river, Em had had enough and was not going any further. Dad and I continued on as we thought the cave was really close. By this time we were permanently wading, the path had disappeared under water! It then started to rain heavily, great! We had to scramble up a steep path to get to the cave, Dad fell over and I started to laugh and then I fell over as well - we were both soaking wet and covered in mud. The cave wasn’t really anything, more like a gap in a cliff, not sure whether we got to the right place or the locals were trying to get some money !?
We trudged back to the hotel, I wasn’t really that happy that lots of the locals were laughing at me. I was so muddy, it looks as though someone had dragged me through it.
Vang Vieng - Results of a muddy walk
It seemed to be Dad’s mission for me to eat vegetables and not have any Fanta’s (yawn) . We ate in a local restaurant, I had some of Emma’s curry and it was actually quite nice. The meal was really cheap, so we decided there and then that we would probably eat here again the next night.
The following day we went “Tubing”. Tubing is where, you hire a large tractor tyre inner tube and get taken by tuk tuk to the river about 3 kms away. You then jump into your tube and float down the Nam Song river back to Vang Vieng. Within 100 metres, Em & I got stuck on reeds. The river was really strong so we managed to use each other to get ourselves out.
Vang Vieng tubing - Help, I'm stuck
There are lots of bars that are on the banks of the river and they encourage you to stop by throwing ropes to you and pulling you in. We were told that the first bar was the best one so we had only gone a little way before we were pulled in.
Dad and Emma ordered a drink that came in a bucket! I was actually allowed a Coke for once! The bar was really busy and they were playing music REALLY loud. The best thing was that they had a trapeze set high in a tree that went over the river. People would queue up in the tree and whenever anyone jumped off the whole tree wobbled.
Vang Vieng tubing - Polly on the trapeze
I persuaded dad to let me go on it, MAJOR adrenaline rush when you let go to land in the river. The first time I did a bomb so I didn’t go that deep, check this out -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJewh_LS8e0
(you might want to turn your sound down!) It was aaaaaaaaaaaawesome you get thrown a rubber ring on a rope and you hold on while someone pulls you in it was really fun.
Vang Vieng tubing - Bad Tarzan impression!
I had to get dad or em on it but emma was totally against it so I got dad on , he almost chickened out but he did it and loved it. That was quite enough for him and after I had about 5 more goes on the swing we left but it was really funny coz everyone was at the bars so the river was empty.
Vang Vieng tubing - Messing about on the river!
It was really relaxing but getting out was quite hard coz we went the wrong way so a local boy had to come and save us. We all got abit bruised but it was sooo fun and when I am old enough to go with friends I will .
written by
Tim and Em
on August 7, 2010
from
Vang Vieng
,
Laos
from the travel blog:
Round half the world!
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Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang
,
Laos
In our wisdom we paid additional money for a mini van from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. The picture in the tour office was of a very new looking people carrier which we were assured had air conditioning. What we actually got was a pink and white van with no air conditioning! The journey wound up and down through mountains with spectacular scenery.
Luang Prabang - This is not a luxury mini van
Luang Prabang - River view
Luang Prabang is another Unesco site, it has lots of beautiful old historical buildings and is surrounded on 3 sides by mountains, bisected by the Nam Song and Mekong rivers. On our first night we had a great meal at a restaurant that specialised in traditional Lao Barbeque food. As a bonus, we got a free drink!
Luang Prabang - Free shooters, yum!
Our table was transformed into a barbeque with the arrival of a burning bucket of coal and we proceeded to cook (both ourselves as it was pretty hot –and the meat!). We all really enjoyed it and tried buffalo for the first time, which was tasty!
The following day we trawled around various tour operators, looking at elephant related activities. We were determined that whatever we booked had to be conservation based rather than just a tourist attraction offering elephant rides. After the trawl around and a heated debate over lunch we booked ourselves on a one day Mahout course for the following day.
We awoke the following day to torrential rain but were picked up from the hotel and taken to Elephant Village (http://www.elephantvillage-laos.com/). It was quite a sight when we got there to see elephants up close and personal. We first went on an elephant ride through the jungle for an hour, unfortunately, the rain had not subsided but it didn’t detract from the experience.
Luang Prabang - Elephant Village
Once we got back, our group were taught a few basic commands and then we were boosted up onto the elephants neck to have a ride. This was a totally different experience to riding in a chair (obviously). I know it is stating the obvious but you are incredibly high up and as the elephant walks you are swayed from side to side by its hips, you almost felt in a permanent state of falling off! Elephants are actually very bristly, its like a stiff brush rubbing against your knees! Its also a slight worry that you are on the elephant on your own after just a few basic instructions!
Luang Prabang - Elephant Village
Luang Prabang - Elephant Village
Once the mahouts were happy with our abilities, we rode the elephants down to the river to give them a bath. It felt very strange to ride the elephant into a river until they were completely submerged. We gave them a good wash down and there was lots of splashing around. I cannot begin to describe what a fantastic experience this was, it was pure magic, I think this photo maybe sums it up?
Luang Prabang - Love thy Elephant
By now the weather had really changed and it was hot and sunny. After lunch we went on a boat ride up the river to Tat Kuang Si. This is a series of waterfalls and pools which cascade through the trees. It was very picturesque and really nice to jump in the clear water after bathing the elephants in the muddy river.
Tat Kung Si - Nice!
Tat Kung Si - Yeeeeeeeee ha
Our next stop was Chang Mai, we weren’t looking forward to this journey as we were told it would take 16 hours just to get to the border. More about this epic journey in the next entry....
written by
Tim and Em
on August 11, 2010
from
Luang Prabang
,
Laos
from the travel blog:
Round half the world!
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Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai
,
Thailand
The journey from Luang Prabang to Chang Mai was of epic proportions. We were picked up from our hotel at 6pm and the bus left the station at 7pm, a little surreal at the station as The Great Escape was playing on the TV! The bus stopped innumerable times for reasons unknown, one stop was to collect the animal they had run over (we don’t know the identity of the victim!) It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words, perhaps this is one of them?
Somewhere in Laos - Does my hair look alright!
We arrived at the Laos town of Houay Sai at around 11am, it was then a tuk tuk ride to the border itself to check out of Laos, followed by a boat ride across the river to get stamped into Thailand.
Houaysai - Lao/Thai border
Chiang Khong - Thai border
We were horrified when the guy trying to sell us a (very expensive) mini van ride to Chang Mai advised that the public bus took a further 12 hours. Ignoring him, we got another tuk tuk into town and paid £12 quid for the public bus (instead of £90 for a mini van), a further 7 hours later we eventually arrived in Chang Mai. In total the journey took 26 hours and involved 7 different vehicles/boats!
As you can imagine, we were exhausted and extremely hungry when we arrived. Polly’s face lit up when we decided fast food was the order of the day for dinner!
The next day, as we were still jaded, we just had a stroll round. We went to have a massage by blind masseurs to try to rub away some of our aches and pains from the previous days travelling. In the evening, we found a really great place to eat where you can pick your food from a number of different stalls – you choose from Thai (obviously), Indian, Japanese and Western dishes. We mixed and matched from various places and had a right feast. On the way back, Polly spotted a CD/DVD stall. After about 15 minutes we walked away with 6 CD’s of dubious legality!
Chang Mai is a kind of Mecca for mountain biking so the following day we went for a ride. We were taken by pick up to the top of a mountain outside of Chang Mai – 5400 ft according to the marketing material. Once the leader had cleared a baby Cobra from the forest floor (I jest not), we had a bit of formal instruction and they assessed our riding abilities – this consisted of riding over a branch! We then jumped on our bikes and set off.
Chiang Mai - Biking before the rain!
Unfortunately, the cloud was very low so we didn’t see any of the spectacular views we were promised. The first part of the ride was on quite a good track and was really easy. The group stopped at a coffee plantation for refreshments and then it was into the saddle again. Within 10 minutes of riding the thunder started and within 20 there was torrential rain. By this time, the track had become quite challenging in places made all the more hazardous by the streams that were forming where we were trying to cycle.
Chiang Mai - Mountain Biking
It was fairly miserable to be honest and my fellow cyclists (Emma & Polly) were extremely slow. Polly was becoming more and more disillusioned with the whole mountain bike thing, this culminated in her falling off (several times). Thereafter, she flatly refused to get back on her bike. I got increasingly annoyed and tried to ride my bike whilst pushing her bike, this resulted in me coming off my bike and pretty much impaling myself on the handlebars. In the end we had to tell the rest of the group to carry on without us. Lunch was included in the day, however it took us such a long time to get to the end, it was gone 4pm and all we wanted to do was to get back to the hotel and get out of our wet muddy clothes, but we had to polish off some green curry first!
I guess looking back it was fairly comical, like some spoof programme you might watch on the TV. However, at the time, I was fuming mad! In fairness to Polly, the track was pretty treacherous and I think I underestimated how much she had hurt herself when she fell off. Needless to say, we will not be doing any further biking activities together, EVER! Looking back perhaps we should have realised that friday the 13th was not a good day for this kind of activity!
written by
Tim and Em
on August 14, 2010
from
Chiang Mai
,
Thailand
from the travel blog:
Round half the world!
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Ao Nang
Ban Ao Nang
,
Thailand
From Chang Mai we flew down to Phuket and had a couple of nights there. We didn’t do an awful lot other than laze around the pool hence no separate blog entry.
We moved onto Ao Nang, this was the final part of the trip for Polly before heading home to the UK. Decided just to stay in Ao Nang for 6 nights and have day trips out rather than move around. It was really good to settle in one place and unpack our rucksacks. We pushed the boat out a little and stayed in a very nice hotel set back from the main street so it was nice and quiet.
Another horrible beach!
Booked a boat trip which toured 4 of the outlying islands on a long tail boat with some snorkelling. The islands were beautiful, all very bounty like, with white sands and clear aqua water. Snorkelling was also brilliant with quite a large variety of very friendly fish! Our underwater camera seems to have worked quite well, so got some decent photos too.
Most of the rest of our time was spent relaxing by the pool, which was wonderful.
Plenty more fish in the sea
Amazing snorkelling
On the last day we decided to go on a speedboat trip to the Phi Phi Islands. The boat stopped at several different locations, yet more idyllic beaches and snorkelling sites. One of the stops was Maya Bay, which was the location used for the film “The Beach”.
We're not having a good time!!!!!!!
It was pretty stunning, although it was full of speedboats! Despite it being rainy season we had been lucky with the weather so far, however within about 20 minutes a storm blew up. The beach cleared very quickly, a very strong wind appeared and we were in the middle of a sandstorm! It was pretty rough back on the boat, but we headed away from the storm and things calmed down again. Ao Nang beach was in sight on the return journey when the boat slowed down considerably.. we then ran out of fuel! The boat was adrift for about 40 minutes before another boat came with extra fuel and we eventually got back to the hotel.
As it was Pollys last night we decided to ignore the budget and went to a locally renowned steakhouse. We all made a bit of an effort and were almost dressed up! It was a fair distance away so we got into a motorcycle with side car taxi thing, which had been totally pimped up with huge speakers and neon lights. It was a nice touch when he specially selected a song called “Beautiful Girls” – what a smoothie! We had a great meal, the steaks were amazing and we even had wine, it felt like a real treat!
The next day we all flew to Bangkok as Polly was flying back to the UK that night. Its been great to have her with us for so long and there was an emotional goodbye at the airport. It will be strange without her but it won't be too long before we are back in the UK.
Bangkok - Farewell group photo
written by
Tim and Em
on August 22, 2010
from
Ban Ao Nang
,
Thailand
from the travel blog:
Round half the world!
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This is it!
Ko Lanta
,
Thailand
After 204 days, 10 Countries, 17 Flights, 72 hotels/hostels, 65 Buses, 44 ferries/boats, 13 rented moped, 2 rented campervans, 1 rented car, an unquantifiable number of taxi/moto/tuk tuk and approximately 75,000 Kms later, we are saying farewell to the blog. We came away as boyfriend and girlfriend, we return to the UK engaged to be married! We came away pale and (perhaps) slightly overweight, we return a little tanned and over 3 stone lighter between us.
Happy, happy, happy
We said a sad farewell to our Aus Screen suntan lotion. This suncream had become like a friend to us. We met in a supermarket in Byron Bay, Australia and since then he has never been far from us. Perhaps he was the most well travelled sun cream in history? We thought he was everlasting but he dispensed his last in Ao Nang, Thailand. We leave you with one of the last known shots of Aus Screen looking resplendent in blue and yellow!
Goodbye Aus Screen
For our final two weeks, we are just relaxing and avoiding any bus journeys! Currently we’re in Koh Lanta, it has been the perfect tonic to a hectic travelling trip – very quiet, few tourists and the beach pretty much to ourselves.
Koh Lanta - Long Beach, where is everyone?!
Koh Lanta - Long Beach
We volunteered to walk dogs at the local animal Sanctuary so took Punky and Crusty for an afternoon stroll.
Who let the dogs out
Crusty(in black), Punky(light tan) and Em(green dress!)
We return back to Ao Nang for a few nights on Tuesday and hope to do some more snorkelling. Then head to Bangkok for the final few days before flying home.
Thank you to everyone for looking at the blog and a bigger thank you to those who have left comments. We have had over 2200 hits on the blog since it started but we think about 2199 hits are our parents!
We appreciate that some of you may be rather blue that the blog has come to a close. However, don’t worry we’ll be home soon and we can show you the 4000 pictures we’ve taken!!
Tim & Em have now left this blog.....
No more blogging!
written by
Tim and Em
on August 28, 2010
from
Ko Lanta
,
Thailand
from the travel blog:
Round half the world!
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