Travels in South-East Asia - Line Begby
A selection of some emails sent home from Line Begby
JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY
LAOS - April 7 2003
Sabai-dee!
Here comes an update of what I have done in Laos:
Two Sundays ago, we took the bus from Hanoi to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. It was really a bustrip to remember. Me and Joergen were the only western tourists on the bus, and fortunately there were so few people on that we were able to get one double-seat each. The bustrip started around eight in the evening, and everytime I get on a bus (there have been very many bustrips during this journey. and there will probably some more...) I just want to sleep. So with the help of my big backpack between my seat and the one in front of me, I was able to lie down outstretched and lie....well, not too uncomfortable. The problem with most of the buses down here is that you can not tilt them backwards. You have to sit up straight in a 90 degrees position all the time. And that's a real drawback when you have to spend the night on them. So as the night crept upon us, the local people started to snore, and the silence was often interrupted by the whistling sound of the people smoking opium from the waterpipe they made out of a waterbottle. How charming!
The next morning we arrived in Vientiane. It was not a big town at all. Smaller then Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, and the downtown centre of the town was even smaller. It consisted only of a few streets down by the river and a marketplace a bit further up. We stayed there for only two nights, and the one full day we spent there was used mostly just to walk around and look at what the city had to offer. It was a quite boring and relaxing place. Not too overcrowded by tourists, and I suppose I would be more charmed by the town if I hadn't seen Hoi An, for example, in Vietnam.
Wednesday we went to Vang Vieng, just three hours or so up north. And THAT was certainly a real tourist-place. The town was just a tiny village by a river, but the few roads there were packed with travelling-agencies, guesthouses, western restaurants, laundries and shops where twenty-something western backpackers could find chocolate, Pringles, and all kinds of things western tourists really crave after a few weeks far away from home. I got the feeling that 80 percent of the place's population consisted of tourists at all times. But I loved the place anyway. It was so incredibly laid-back and easy-going. The first day we were there, we walked around and came over a very nice bar/pub spot right next to the river. It had a terasse (terrasse?) with mats and cushions on the floor, and a small stair and float to make the descent into the river easier. And even though the river was shallow, (the water just reached me to the waist,) the current was very strong. The water was freshwater, not salty, and cool and very nice in the heat. (After Hanoi, the heat in Laos was a shock again. So now we're back up to 35 degrees Celsius during the day. I hope you are very envious of me up there in the north!!!) So you could just lie down on your back and the current would take you down the river. Very funny! There were places where you could rent tubes, so a lot of people started far up in the river, and floated down for many hours. Then a tuk-tuk would take them back to Vang Vieng. Very convenient. So there I lay on the straw-mat, in the heat, looking down the river with all the tourists and the local Laos-children swimming or floating down the river, drinking fresh fruit-shakes, surrounded by big mountains, and I felt my life was pretty OK at that moment.
The next day, we decided we should go trekking on our own, to see some of the caves surrounding Vang Vieng. Especially one cave 7 kilometres from the town, Phoukham cave, where you could swim as well. We could have rented bicycles or motorbikes for the trip, or take one of those strange vehicles which looked like a boat-motor with a wagon attached to it, but we decided to walk. The landscape was beautiful with mountains in different sizes. A lot of them looked like the mountain where Reodor Felgen, Ludvig and Solan lives in Flaaklypa Grand Prix! And the vegetation, as in Vietnam, was very lush and green. The sun was frying us, and as we went on the dusty sandy road, we felt the road was very, very long. We saw some villages along the way, and even though there are many similarities between Cambodia and Laos, I must say Laos is still much more developed than Cambodia is. It is something between Cambodia on one side and Thailand and Vietnam on the other. (But closer to Cambodia, still. Even though the roads are much, much better, and not nearly as bumpy!)
We finally arrived at Phoukham cave. We crossed a small bridge over a pool of fresh, completely blue water with big fish in it. It was a small oasis, and the tourists there were swimming, jumping off the tree-branches, and just enjoying the cold water. We went up to the cave first. (A very steep hill!) And even though Phoukham cave wasn't nearly as big or dramatic as the ones we saw in Halong Bay, this one was also very nice. Here there were no paved roads for the tourists to walk on, or spotlights to accentuate the limestone formations, so we had to climb our way up with a flashlight in the hand. I sat there for several minutes and just contemplated the different formations and in my imagination, I saw all kinds of strange monsters and figures up in the roof or down at the sides. I felt almost as if I was in the Muria-caves in the Lord of the Rings, and got associations with The Hall of Dovregubben in Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen. It looked as if thousands of monsters had been turned into stone as the sun broke into the cave. Then we went down again to swim in the Blue Lagoon. Wonderful! But we decided to take one of the strange tuk-tuk things back to the town, as our feet were quite sore. And then we went back to the straw-mat place by the river again, and bought ourselves some cold beverages before we went floating in the river again.
The next day, we went on a kayak-trip! I had never tried it before, so I hoped it wouldn't be too difficult. But after 15 minutes of some fumbling, I got the technique more or less right. Me and Joergen went with two swedish girls and the guides. The scenery was very beautiful, with us kayakking down the river, with forest and all kinds of strange sounds on each side of us, with the blue sky and sunshine over us. After a while we came to a rapid, and even though it wasn't very steep because it was the dry-season, I managed to fall out of the kayak and into the water. But there was another group coming after us where there also were many people falling into the water, and that made me feel a bit better, since the rest of my group stayed in their boats. We stayed at the bank of the rapid for a while, eating lunch, swimming, and jumping off the rocks and into the rapid. Then we continued down the stream, and stopped at another place where we jumped off the cliffs about 9-10 metres over the water, and swimmed back to the kayaks. The last distance lasted for 40 minutes, or perhaps more. I started to feel blisters in my hands, and my arm-muscles ached after the unusual strain and movements. I have to say I was thankful when we finally were at the spot where the car waited for us. But the trip was great, and my arms weren't nearly as bad the next day as I expected.
Saturday we went to Luang Prabang. Joergen and I were the only ones on the whole minibus, so our ride was very comfortable. Even though it lasted only 4 hours. On the way, we saw a lot of forest-fires. Small fires all over, and the smoke made the sky grey and misty. At one point, there were flames right next to the car. I think the locals make the fires for some reason, but I really don't understand why they want to burn down all the trees and plantations.
Luang Prabang is yet another small town. It consists mainly of one long street with a lot of tourist-things crammed together. There is a lot more traffic here than in Vang Vieng, and it's not as peaceful, but believe me, it's still very relaxed. Every evening, they seal off a part of the street for a market, where they sell a lot of textiles and food. Charming!
Saturday evening, Joergen wanted to see a football-match in a restaurant here, and since the place was packed with western football-fans, we shared a table with a very nice english couple in their forties. We talked a lot to them, and we agreed to rent motorbikes the next day to see the famous Kuang Xi waterfalls the next day. We met them at around 11 o'clock, rented the bikes, and went the 30 kilometres to the waterfalls. It was a sandy, dry road with a lot of curves and hills, so there were many times where I was sure we would slide and fall and break our necks. In addition, the bikes were in terrible shapes, and the one I and Joergen got, made some strange snapping-noises and was kind of jumping all the time, as if it was gearing by itself. But nothing happened, fortunately. The only thing was that again we saw a lot of fires around us, so the sun looked pale and red through the smoke. When we came to the spot where we had to park our bikes and buy a ticket for the waterfall, the ashes came down like snowflakes on us. Very strange.
The waterfall was beautiful. (I use that word "beautiful" a lot, don't I?) I suppose it is even better during the rain-season, but still it was very nice. We walked up the hills for a while, climbed over some rocks in the water, and came to a long stair. From there, we got to one of the stages in the waterfall, where we found that the nature had created a big swimmingpool in the mountain. On one side, there were several small waterfalls coming down, and on the other side of the platform, we could see down to the foot of the mountain. The swimmingpool was deep enough for people to jump down from the cliffs around, or swing themselves down with a rope from a tree there. It was an amazing place! And quite naturally, full of backpackers like ourselves. We stayed there for a long time, swimming in the cool water, swinging from the rope and jumping down.
Then, on our way back, it happened. At the same time, both of the two motorbikes crashed down. The one Sheryl and Andy had suddenly got a loose tire, so he had to swing to the left for the bike to go straight ahead. And ours got a flat tire. A small mechanicalshop in one village fixed our flat tire, but couldn't help our friends. But they came unharmed to LP anyway, about 20 minutes after us.
That evening, we met some of our friends from Vietnam, at random, as has happened so many times before at this trip. An american couple we got to know in Halong Bay, who we also met in Vang Vieng, and an australian guy we went out with a couple of times in Saigon.
So this is our last day in Laos. Even though we have only been in this country for a week, we have seen the three main places in the northern part of the country, and we don't have the time to go down south. And except from trekking, there isn't that much to do here, really. We really want to stay in Chiang Mai for the New Years Eve and Waterfestival in Thailand, which starts april 13, and we would like to go to a small town called Pai first, and maybe go with a bamboo-raft for two days down the river to Chiang Mai. And so we are leaving tomorrow, with a slow-boat to the border of Thailand. We thought we should go with bus, for some hours, but the only way to get there is by boat! Hm. Very strange. The slow-boat takes two days and one night, but we know some people who also are going with the boat, so it will probably be a nice journey. Many people have told us the trip is lovely.
So that was one week in Laos. The 30 day visa was a lot more expensive than the 10-day visa, but how could we know? I have to say I really like what I have seen of Laos. The people here are a lot less aggressive and pushy than the ones in Vietnam. We can actually pass taxidrivers and shops without being shouted at and grabbed after! And the traffic consists of much more cars than in the other motorcycle-countries we have been to so far. But now we got back to Thailand and motorcycle-Paradise. And there, the traffic is left-sided again. And here in Laos, seven norwegian crowns (one US dollar) is 10 000 kip. When we get 100 dollars from the bank here, we get a big stack of bills which is like 10 centimetres tall! We can litterally bath in the money! We are millionaires here! But now we go back to the baht in Thailand again.
KOH PHA NGAN/THAILAND - 23 APRIL 2003
I live a dangerous life, I have come to realize. Before we went to Cambodia, we had heard a lot of rumours about problems between Cambodia and Thailand, and that there had been riots in Phnom Penh, and that it was impossible to
cross the border. A few days after, we went there anyway. Then, we heard that there had been some rebellion-groups in Laos which had shot a lot of people on a bus, including some tourists. We went there anyway too. And two days ago, the same happened again, on the same road as we travelled some weeks ago. 12 people were killed between Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang on a bus. And the SARS! In the countries we have been to, Hanoi in Vietnam is supposedly the most dangerous place. We have been there too!!! What's next to come? Anyway, I'm safe and sound and unharmed. So far... ;-)
From Laos and Luang Prabang, we took the river boat for two days to the border north in Thailand. The boat was very uncomfortable, and though the nature was good enough, it was very, very boring. We spent the night in a small village on the shores of Laos, and arrived at the border the following day. From there we were supposed to go to Pai, a small village in Thailand, so we went to Chiang Rai first, to take the bus from there. None of the
taxi-drivers wanted to take us to Chiang Rai, they all insisted on taking us to Chiang Mai, but since we were 9 people, we finally managed to get hold of a taxi anyway. When we came to Chiang Rai, we realized we had to take the bus from Chiang Mai anyway to get to Pai! So it was really just a complete waste of time to spend one night in Chiang Rai in the first place. But how could we have known?
In Chiang Mai, Joergen and I split up. He wanted to go to Pai and take a bamboo-rafting trip down to CM, while I decided to stay there and skip Pai altogether. The reason for this was the Songkram Festival, or the Water-throwing Festival, combined with the thai New Years Eve. We had heard it started 13th of april, but a lot of people said it started earlier, and I
really didn't want to go to Pai just for one day and then come back again. I was really lucky and got a good room at the first guesthouse I went to, since I heard others searched for hours without luck because Chiang Mai is THE main place to be in during the festival.
The next day I went on a tour with elephant-riding, bamboo-rafting, swimming in a waterfall and seeing two hill-tribes. I must admit I wasn't that impressed. It was cool enough, but it really couldn't compare to the other places I have seen so far during this trip. All though the elephant-riding was a new experience! I suppose the best thing about the tour was that I met some people there who I ended up spending a lot of time with during the following days. Two english guys, and an english girl.
The Songkran festival was absolutely crazy! I can't really describe the atmosphere in the city. There is a river that runs all the way through the city, along the main streets, and there were thousands of people in the streets, throwing water at each other from buckets or water-guns, loud music everywhere, people passing by in cars and on motorbikes who got soaked or soaked the people they passed, and laughing and screaming all over the place! It was physically impossible to stay dry. If you looked dry, you would immediately get attacked by 3 litres of water! Very funny and amusing when you were in the right mood in the beginning, but after 5 days, it was a relief when it was over. The water-throwing always ended at sun-set, but anyway... Except from celebrating the water, I went to something called a Khantone-evening with Helen, the english girl I met. It was at an old Cultural Center, where you had to reserve a table in advance, and where we were served wonderful food and saw a show with several traditional thai-dances and hill-tribe dances. It was very nice, and I hadn't eaten that much for weeks!
From Chiang Mai I took the plane (Yes, the plane!!!!) to the south of Thailand again, to get to the islands. I am now staying at Koh Pha Ngan, the same island as where we experienced the Full Moon Party in February. Actually, there had been one of those parties the day before I came here, but I didn't care. Been there, done that. :-) I first stayed right in the
party-centre next to the beach, Hat Rin, where the narrow roads are jammed with all kinds of tourist-places. I changed accomodation the next morning. It really was too much people and too much noise there, so now I stay at a very quiet part of the island, Hat Yao, with a much better bungalow for a much lower price. It even has a hammock on the balcony, and believe me, I have spent a lot of hours in that hammock! The only drawback is that the beach there isn't very good for swimming, so I have to take the taxi or hitch-hike to get back to Hat Rin. It's about 20 kilometres, but it's no problem. I just stick out my thumb whenever I see a car, and they always stop. I tried to rent a motorbike, but since not even the locals take the motorbike up those incredibly steep hills to Hat Rin, it's safer to stick to the cars.
I have been scuba-diving again. I went on a tour to Sail Rock, the supposedly best place in the Thail Gulf, and it WAS incredible! I have never seen so many corals and plants, and there were myriads of fish everywhere! It looked like clouds of fish! A great experience. So in two days I return to Koh Tao again to take the advanced diving-course. I'm quite looking forward to return , since I really liked the place the last time I was there. And after staying there for 4 or 5 days, I go to
Surat Thani, on the mainland, to stay in a temple for 10 days on a meditation-retreat. That's 10 days without talking, reading, writing, eating after 12 o'clock in the day and without killing insects, and where I have to wake up at 4 in the morning, wear clothes that cover my knees and shoulders, not put on make-up, or even think about anything sexually related, and spending several hours each day just doing meditation. Sounds hard? Yeah, I suppose, but I'm really looking forward to it. It will be a very interesting experience! :-)
So that's it for me this time. Now I'm going out into the blistering sun again, take a nice bath in the bright blue water and work on my tan on the white beaches, looking at the palms... My life is good!
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