Khao Lak

It was time to leave Bangkok.  I had booked a cab with the hotel the day before, also checking how long it would take to get to the airport.  She told us that 40 minutes was ample, so we booked at 8 for our 10.35 am flight.  Forty minutes in the taxi had us about 3 kilometres down the road where we had been sitting for a good fifteen minutes without moving.  It was hard to tell what was happening, but with no traffic at all coming from the opposite direction, and what appeared to be police bikes further down the road, we were inclinded to think that the traffic had been stopped for a formal cavalcade.  Fortunately we do prefer to allow a little extra so we still arrived with time to spare.

The flight was uneventful, taking off and landing on time.  This return flight to Phuket was again with Thai Smiles and we can't fault them for service and a very low price.  I also had the seats behind premium economy, and we were the only ones in that row.  There were no passengers in the premium economy section, so for about the first time ever, we were the first off the plane.

I had organised transport with our accommodation, and we were quite impressed with the private car with leather seats that picked us up.  Quite an improvement on Bangkok taxis.

It was an easy one hour drive to Khao Lak and we arrived in time for a late lunch at the waterfront restaurant the accomodation has.  I had booked the second best rooms, but emailed a couple of weeks ago to ask if the waterfront were still available.  So glad we changed as this is just heavenly.  We have an extended verandah compared to the other rooms, so lots of space to sit outside and enjoy the view with the water about ten metres from our steps.  Of course it was into the water as soon as possible.  It was so warm it bordered on being hot, my sort of temperature for getting wet.  So easy just to float out there.  After a walk into the business area and a little shoppig, we thought we might just eat at the same place for dinner, but discovered them closed, so after watching the sunset from our verandah we just walked a little way up the beach until we found one that suited.  A great elevated spot by the water.  By this stage we had discovered that Hayden, Belinda and Jack were no longer coming the next day, as the specialist had deemed Thailand not the best place to take Jack's burnt hand.  Despite this disappointment we weren't sorry to be here, as it is a lovely place to finish our holiday.  We also have no wifi signal problems here, one of the routers is in our room.

Jim relaxing at our bungalow

The bungalow, far left, from the water

Friday morning after breakfast it was low tide, so a good time to try snorkelling from outside our room.  When the tide is out there is quite a lot of rock and reef to explore and we enjoyed it immensely.  We then donned our walking shoes and headed south along the beach, amazed at all the accommodation lining the  water.  When we reached the rocks and could go no further, we nipped through one of the resorts to get back onto the main road to return to our accommodation.

Morning walk

Artistic crabs

After lunch and another swim, we made another of our crazy decisions and headed off for a long walk in the hottest part of the day.  It was a little over 3 ks to the Tsunami Museum.

Khao Lak was the worst hit area of Thailand during the 2004 Tsunami (something you try not to think about with a beachside bungalow).  The museum could really have had a lot more in it, but they did have videos that they put on for us, and comfortable seating to rest after our long hot walk.  We think it likely that it is just something a booking agency (out the front) has put together, but there was no charge, we were given a refreshing jasmine tea, and no pressure for anything else.

Nearby is the Tsunami Memorial Park, which doesn't really look completed yet.  There is a  large concrete wave sculpture, but dominating the park is the police boat.
This very large boat was guarding the King's grandson who was water skiing (and unfortunately did not survive).  The tsunami picked it up and carried it nearly 2 kilometres inland.  The boat has been mounted where it came to rest.  A sobering reminder of the power of the tsunami.  But everywhere you look, you can see the resilience of the people and marvel at what has been achieved in ten years and the effort it must have taken.

Boat 813

Memorial

As the walk up to there had been quite hot, we thought if a taxi came along we might get it back.  But what a laugh.  The number of times we have been touted and not wanted one, and when we do, none are in sight.  In the end we found that as it was now around 5.00 pm the heat was out of the day, there was now quite a lot of shade, and the walk back didn't seem anywhere near as long.  By the time we got back, we had been gone three hours.  Jim convinced me to try another foot massage, so I agreed to half an hour at the massage hut near our room. She wasn't as bad but I still have bruises.  Even though it is a foot massage, they always finish with a neck and shoulder.  I still can't work out how Jim can front up for two hours of this torture.  Time for another swim before dinner.

Just not my thing I think

Saturday morning after breakfast and more snorkelling we decided to walk north up the beach.  This was an even bigger eye opener.  There were bars and restaurants for a huge distance along the beach.  We walked through a creek that Jim had read about.  It was low tide and only ankle deep, but when the tide is in it can be shoulder height.  An enterprising Thai has set up a ferry service, and will take you the few metres over for 20 baht.  Around midday we caught up with Hayden's friend, Paul and family, who had arrived the night before.  After discovering we were planning on having dinner in the same direction we arranged to meet up.

On our way back we had lunch at the nice restaurant from the first night.  This then gave Jim time to head off for another of his two hour massages while I enjoyed my rocking chair and a book.  Another swim and it was time to meet Paul for dinner.  We found a nice looking place in the main street, and the food was very good, especially the fish.  Little Harry woke during dinner, but was quite happy if allowed to partake of some of the table contents.  There is a four hour time difference and it is amazing how quickly kids can adapt.

For the second night running, I just had to stop at the pancake stall on the way home.  I don't know what they are made off, but they stretch the dough out like a very thin pizza, throw it on a hot work, add bananas to it, then fold over and turn.  Delicious.

View from our room

Inside the room

Farewell to Laos

We had breakfast with the last remaining group members.  Some had already left, some were leaving that night and a few were staying the extra night like us.  Ironically we ended up running into everyone of the remaining group at some stage during the day.

Vientiane is small for a capital city, and really lacks any defining soul as Luang Prabang has.  Natacha from Switzerland was flying out that night, so we had arranged for her to leave her bags in our room, and the three of us headed out together.

Firstly we headed towards the Mekong River.  Across from the river is Thailand, and we certainly expected something a bit more impressive.  Between us and the river was a bit of a wasteland, not the lovely bank with gardens I was expecting in a capital city.  We walked along the pathway to a rather impressive statue, then turned and headed to the Day Market.  Its main redeeming feature is that it is air conditioned, otherwise it was mostly full of the usual Chinese manufactured items.  Oh well.

Pathway with river wasteland to the right.

Impressive statue - we never did find out who he was

From here we did the fairly long walk to the most impressive attration in Vientiane, the Phat Luang Stupa.  This dates back to 1566, and there is also a beautiful large temple and other buildings nearby.  On the way we had passed a number of impressive looking Embassies, but overall there isn't a lot that is exciting, so it was an easy decision to catch a tuk tuk back to the hotel to freshen up before lunch.

The Stupa

With Natacha outside one of the temple buildings

Lunch was in a delightful bakery.  There is an extremely strong French presence here, despite the fact they have been gone for a long time.  Previous towns had signs in English as well as Lao, but here the alternative language is French.

Next stop was the National Museum.  The first part was very interesting highlighting excavations that had unearthed signs of occupation back to 500,000 years.  The later part of the museum was an interesting exercise in how a communist country portrays their history.  Again, we had to leave our bags and cameras in lockers and take nothing in with us.  The building was getting a little the worse for wear.  There was only one room that had an airconditioner, coincidentally the room with the most propaganda.

We farewelled Natacha and left her to use our shower before her flight back to Switzerland, and headed out to find somewhere for dinner.  I expected that like the other places in Laos, every second building would be somewhere to eat, but the few we found didn't appeal.  Eventually we found ourselves back where we had eaten the night before.  This was just a little more expensive, but the service was fantastic and the food good.

We had a tuk tuk organised for 9 am on Tuesday morning, and caught this with the mother and daughter from Sydney who were on the same flight as us, but catching onward flights in Bangkok.  We flew Bangkok Air, which classifies themselves as a boutique airline.  We were given lounge access with our ticket, and as we were at the airport quite early, this made the wait far more comfortable.  Even though the flight was only an hour, they attempted to serve a meal, a bit difficult when we hit turbulence and they had to suspend the service.  I hope the others  in the back got theirs.

Flying into Bangkok the sky was quite black, and by the time we got out to a taxi it was pouring.  We got to experience Bangkok traffic at its worse.  Our taxi driver told us before heading off that with the rain we were probably looking at 1 -2 hours to get to the hotel.  It took one and a quarter, and a great deal of that was stopped and not moving.  I don't know how they put up with it the traffic jams.  Poor taxi drivers.

The hotel we are staying at, for the third time now, is going to be closing next week.  It has been bought by the Ibis group and will be closed for nearly two years for renovations.  It is very well located and I'm sure will be missed over the next two years.  The manager looked after us when we came back and upgraded us to a family room which is much bigger.  He said the place was nearly empty.  We asked about the staff and he said there were 160 workers and they all had to find other jobs.

I had thought that the rest of the afternoon by the pool was enticing, but the weather put a stop to that.  Instead we just walked around the area going through all the market stalls.

I had booked two nights in Bangkok, partly to make the travel a bit easier, but also to allow time to see other sights.  So as we are in the old part of the city, we headed to the new commercial area, the MBK shopping precinct.  We caught a local bus which cost all of 7 baht each, even if we did have to stand the whole way.  Once we got into the centre, it was pretty much, wow, look at the size of this place.  A large part of it was the same sort of market stalls, but there were also a number of brand name shops as well.  We crossed over to the other side which is the more upmarket area, and browsed around there for a while.  Although the bus was the quickest and most direct, we decided the experience was more important, so caught the Sky Train to the river and then boarded a ferry back to the hotel.  Pretty much a full day by the time we got back.  We have had to adjust back to cars driving on the left again.  Laos was on the right, which made for crossing the road a bit dangerous as we kept looking the wrong way.

Sky Rail above

Vang Vieng and Vientiane

Some research I did before arriving here made me realise that Vang Vieng is quite well known, even if it is for the wrong reasons.  It is a big backpacker hangout, in particular for its tubing and bars along the river.   I then remembered about Australians who had died while tubing the river.  In fact in 2011 twenty seven backpackers drowned here, and the next year was nearly as bad.  But in late 2012 the government stepped in and removed most of the bars and dangerous ziplines along the river and there is now some regulation to the tubing.  The most dangerous time is the wet season and as this is the dry, the river is quite low.

River action at sunset

The night before we had all worked out what we wanted to do for our free day.  Three quarters of us had agreed on a tuk tuk to Blue Lagoon.  We woke up with time to spare and headed out for breakfast.  But wait, what was this on the road, and maybe the sound I had heard in the room wasn't the airconditioning runoff.  Yes, it was rain!  We hadn't seen any possibility off it since arriving three weeks ago, and I had even left the rain coats and umbrella in the cases at Bangkok.  But it was certainly rain, and some thunder thrown in to boot.

Breakfast was a recommended restaurant just around the corner from the hotel.  When we arrived there was only one other table being served.  We only ordered fruit juice and pancakes, but it was nearly an hour later before we got them.  and it seemed that a lot of locals called in for breakfast and their orders went to the top of the queue.  At least we had plenty of time.  Maybe not a good choice for the next morning's early start.

 The tuk tuk to Blue Lagoon was supposed to leave at nine, and another couple who had turned up after us and joined our table were already discussing the benefits of going out there.  Our guide and most of the others turned up, with the decision already made that it wasn't worth going out there.  Apparently after rain the Blue Lagoon becomes decidedly yellow.

We headed back to our room where I attempted to update my blog which was already three days out.  We have had a number of wifi problems where it either didn't work or was so slow it barely worked.  When my frustration level became too high, and the rain and thunder had stopped, we decided it was time to get out and explore.  We headed back into the main area, finding a bridge we could cross (at no charge, compared to the one we had found the night before).  We walked through the accommodation huts and then the farming land on the other side, towards one of the limestone karst hills.  There is a cave there, but in the end we decided to head back as the track was now quite muddy.  We then walked further along the river, seeing the many bars and backpacker accommodation available.  After a stop back at our hotel, we then headed out again, finding a great lunch deal of burgers, fries and fruit shake.  Sometimes you need a change from the Asian food.

View from a bamboo bridge.  Day beds and huts on the water for the backpackers

Beautiful scenery

After lunch we went back to the hotel where I again tried to update the blog with the spasmodic internet.  I was quite disappointed that we hadn't gone to Blue Lagoon, or in fact had seen a lot of the area.  So some research mentioned long tail boats on the river.  We headed back to the place we had found the first night as I thought I remembered boats parked there.  While we were having a look at the river, a small yellow bus decided to back up along the stone way.  We had to move out of its way, and couldn't understand what it was trying to achieve.  Jim thought the driver was perhaps looking to wash the bus in the river.  Well, if he had trouble on the loose rock surface, that was nothing to when he backed the bus into the water.  Yep, it wouldn't come out again.  Despite his many attempts it just got deeper.

Not a good place to wash a bus

Meanwhile I had found the office for the long tail boats and discovered that is was quite cheap, going six kilometres up the river and taking about forty minutes.  What a great time we had!  The river is very shallow at many points, and the long tail boat sits just under the water.  In fact he had to stop a number of times to bucket it out.  But we got to see what all the fuss is about, with so many kayaks in the water and the people tubing floating down the river. There are still a number of bars, but apparently no where near the number that used to be there.  But the scenery is just fantastic and late in the afternoon it was so pleasant out on the water.  At one stage the motor died but he managed to get it started, and another time he was unable to get through the small opening in the rapid and we ended backwards heading to rocks.  But all was well as he finally got through.  Apart from getting wet, we weren't too worried as we could see most of the tubing people were able to stand up, or had to stand up to get their tube moving again.  We figured there was little danger from drowning at this time of the year.

Day beds and huts in use during the day

Busy on the river

Party time

Jim's idea of a selfie

Now there are two buses.  We saw the rope break three times and never got a chance to see if they finally got it out.

We were so glad we did this as it really gave us a good overview of what Vang Vieng and the backpackers are really about.  But at the same time, we saw lots of families with children also floating down the river.  Back at the hotel we found some of our group had gone out to Blue Lagoon in the afternoon, but had been somewhat underwhelmed by it.  They had also nicknamed their tuk tuk driver "Satan".  So it appears we didn' t miss a great deal after all, but ended up with our own great experience.

Dinner was at a lovely spot that overlooked the river, and we managed to grab the last table on the water.  And the food was good too.

Sunday the 22nd was Jim's birthday.  The day started with giving food to the monks, a daily ritual.  Our guide organised fresh food for them and we lined up on our mats along the street.  They all looked so very young.  Our guide also organised for them to chant a blessing for us.

Here come the monks

Food offering

  It was then time to find some breakfast.  A few had ordered theirs for a certain time, but we didn't trust the same place after how long the previous morning had taken, so we headed off with Natacha to the bakery where we didn't have to wait for something to cook.  On our way back we saw most of the others still waiting, and they ended up having to take it with them.

We were in the bus and on our way by 8.00 am.  Although  nowhere near as steep or windy, the road wasn't in any better condition, so it was still a four hour trip to the capital of Vientiane.  We stopped at a fishing village on the way.  It was next to the end of a large dam, and the roadside market stalls had a huge array of fresh, smoked and dried fish of many varieties.  The next stop was just a quick refreshment stop then the final hour and a half into the city.

Dried fish

This is our final night of the tour.  I had booked an extra night for us as we had time up our sleeves.  My research had shown that although the hotel was quite nice, the standard rooms were very cramped and the only window is to the corridor.  As it was Jim's birthday I booked a deluxe and organised with our guide for the tour night to be upgraded.  Our room is lovely, at the front of the building with a little balcony.  It's a large room and even has a day bed.  The others were all very envious after seeing their tiny claustrophobic rooms.

The day bed

We only had fifteen minutes to freshen up and then we all headed out for a lunch of noodle soup.  After this we did an orientation walk, visited the oldest temple in the city, and went to the Victory Arch, something resembling the Arc D'Triomphe, but built to celebrate driving the french out.   Looked like a bit like a stick it up them to me.

Not quite up to standards

Our final group photo at the Patuxay Monument

From here we had tuk tuks to the Cope Centre.  Intrepid supports this centre, and the information centre was quite interesting.  Laos is apparently the most bombed country per capita in the world, and one third, about 80 million bombs are still unexploded.  Farmers and their families are still being maimed by these devices and the COPE centre builds prosthetics at a low cost.  They also help babies born with a club foot.  Another part of the program is trying to educate the villagers to not touch any they find, as the money from scrap metal can be a draw card.

Display and the COPE centre

Another tuk tuk ride back to our hotel, Jim off course headed out for a massage, and it was then our final dinner with the group.  Tudtu our guide took us to a very nice restaurant nearby where we had a lovely table on the top verandah.  A beautiful cake came out at the end for Jim's birthday.

Luang Prabang

Everyone was up early for breakfast on the Wednesday as we had a full day of activities.  First up was a walking orientation tour.  The hotel is a kilometre or so from the main action.  We went in a different direction from the previous night.   This still took us past where the night market is held, but it looked so different from the night.

We also went to the day market, which is mainly produce.  Lots of very fresh looking fruit and vegetables, some quite unknown to us, varying meats and just about anything you would require to cook a Laos meal.

Our guide at the market

It was then down to the Mekong River, back through some of the small lanes, through some temples (the city area apparently has 32 of them), silversmiths at work and then our tour of the Traditional Art and Ethnology Centre.  Our guide for this had exceptional English, and it was extremely interesting and we learnt quite a lot.  We hadn't realised what a melting pot of cultures Laos is, and how many can be identified by their type of dress.  Of course nowadays this is a lot harder to do as traditional dress is not worn as it once was.

Silversmiths at work

One of the local temples

Back to the Mekong River we had lunch together at a restaurant overlooking the river.  Then it was time to board our tuk tuks for the trip of about 45 minutes to Kuang Si Falls.  These were really beautiful, with multiple falls and pools.  Our guide suggested the lowest one would be the best for us, and in we went, surprised at how cool it seemed.  The Laos culture is very modest, and we were all asked to cover our upper body and upper leg areas.  It was a shame to see many backpackers completely ignoring this request and strutting around in tiny bikinis, very disrespectful.

Views of the top part of the waterfall

Bottom pools

On the way back to the tuk tuks there is a bear rescue centre, and we saw quite a lot of black asiatic bears that have been rescued.

Thursday was a free day, and I think everyone was ready to get up and breakfast in their own time, and do their own thing for the day.  After breakfast we put on our walking shoes, and walked and walked.  Firstly we walked along the river that runs into the Mekong, surprised at how many food places were along this road.  We also saw the bamboo bridge.  There is a fee to cross this as apparently each wet season it is washed away and has to be rebuilt again.

Bamboo bridge in the background

We weaved our way in and out of the many quaint streets in the town, enjoying the architecture and life in this city.  Loung Prabang is UNESCO Heritage Listed which is protecting its uniqueness.  We had lunch at the french bakery, which was absolutely delicious.  The French influence is evident in a lot of the architecture and of course some of the food.

We lined up at 1.30 when the National Museum was due to reopen.  She finally strolled back to open about 1.40.  The museum is in what was the Royal Palace.  The palace was built in the early 1900's and is pretty much as it was when the royal family were taken and "re-educated" around the late 60's.  It was quite interesting, especially the display of gifts from other countries.  The visit here did prompt me to look up the history of the royal family later that night.

View from the Palace steps.  We weren't allowed to take bags or cameras inside.

By this stage it was mid afternoon, and we had been to look at a massage place earlier in the day.  It was one of the more expensive ones and we had opted to try it to see if it was any better than the cheap ones.  I guess for starters it was air conditioned, which was an extra.

Jim chose a 90 minute "Colonel Sanders" type massage with lots o herbs and spices.  I opted for a facial.  The evening after we had been bike riding, Jim had talked me into a Thai foot massage.  This was the longest hour of my live, accentuated by the fact I could see the clock which appeared to be not moving.  I think I can still see the bruises.

By the time we got back to the hotel we had time for a shower before heading out to dinner.  One of the single girls came with us.  She is a little older than the young girls on the tour, so fluctuates between.  We walked back to near the bamboo bridge that we had been to in the morning, and found a very nice restaurant with very reasonable prices.

Friday was another full day on the bus, and what a bus trip it was.  How can I best describe it?  From Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng is about 110 kilometres as the crow flies but about 220 kilometres by road.  We left at 8.30 am, stopped for about 3/4 of an hour for lunch, three other very short stops and we arrived at 4.30 pm.  So that 220 kilometres took around six to six and a half hours of actual driving.

Our guide told us that in the wet season there are often land slides and the trip can take ten hours.  The land between is mountainous to say the least, the road narrow and windy is an understatement.  It is full of pot holes and washaways and some sections are completely back to dirt.  There are also many trucks travelling it, both ways.  It is probably quite spectacular scenery wise, but the constant thick smoke screen limits visibility to a short distance.  Our lunch stop, perched on a high point with views in all directions, we could tell would be quite breathtaking, if we could have just seen it.  By this stage of the trip we were travelling on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Lunch stop.  There's a great view back there somewhere

Along the way were many small villages, seemingly clinging to the edge of the road with steep drops directly behind them.  Quite a lot of houses were thatched bamboo, and there seemed to be children everywhere.

The road winding through the mountains is in the haze somewhere

Around three o'clock we finally left the steep mountains and travelled through a valley.  We now had many and unusual shaped limestone karst hills breaking the skyline, with fields of terraced rice paddies in the foreground.

All were happy to finally get to our destination in one piece and there was a loud cheers and claps for our excellent and careful driver.

After so long in the bus, it was good to take a walk down towards the river.

Water buffalo wallowing in the mud

Sunset view at the river