Blogs in April 2007
Cambodian Beaches
We keep changing our minds. Shall we give the Cambodian beaches a miss and wait till after Phnom Penh and Saigon? The Vietnam coast does seem too distant for both the kids and us, in this heat, so finally it gets the nod.
We get the public bus, (the Mekong Express) as far as PP and apart from having to endure a (Cambodian?) pop promo dvd for the whole trip it was very comfortable.
We stop for lunch in PP and decide over a ploughmans at the Green Vespa Cafe to head to Sihanoukville rather than the closer Kep (our original choice). We pass through some torrential downpours and our driver does modify his driving style for the conditions, which pleases me.
The lovely German couple at the Gibbon Experience had mentioned Queen Hill Resort as nice but we decide to try the more developed Serendipity Beach instead.
Pretty, clean, squeeky white sand, but without the sunset over the sea that we had hoped for. The water was very warm and looked clean too, apart from some plastic bags and the like in the high tide line. We pick up quite a few. The next morning the rubbish is, surprisingly, ten times as bad so we take a tuk tuk to look at Queen Hill Resort. It is on the headland between Occheuteal Beach and Otres beach. A quick swim and lunch confirms that we should move here tomorrow. Back at Serendipity we talk to Khmer and some European locals and they all have a different story about the litter in the water. "It's not there all the time!" they say. One beach restaurant manager told us they don't have time to pick up that rubbish. Gabby and I think that they will have a lot of time on their hands if they ignore it. Where does it come from and if it is not there all the time, where does it go to?
We have just discovered that Coasters (one of the better resorts at Serendipity and almost next door to our increasingly spooky accom) has some bungalows on an island just one hour by boat from here.
A friendly Aussie, nursing a tuk tuk crash injury at Coasters, called his stay on Bamboo Island the highlight of his travels so far. Sounds good.
Less than 24 hours after our first swim at Queen Hill we are running happily back into the sea there, now, as residents. Thirty seconds later we are running, screaming, OUT of the water. We have all been ravaged by sea-lice. The worst I have ever experienced. The girls are crying, the restaurant staff are rubbing lime juice on them and Gabby is crying because the girls are in pain. Seeing their mum upset has a certain recuperative influence on our lovely caring children.
Anyway, we rescue that day by renting a boat and going for a snorkel out by the closest island (over some dynamite fishing deceased coral) and are buoyed by the thought of our trip to Bamboo Island tomorrow. We see a storm approaching and scamper back to Queen Hill just in time.
The following day, leaving most of our stuff in our bungalow, we tuk tuk back to Coasters and head out to Bamboo Island. We arrive there at 11am. It is perfect and our search for a great Cambodian beach is over. Sadly, we can only spend one night, but luckily, don't have to leave till 4pm the following day. We wish we were spending our whole five days here. We can see it raining back on the mainland and we feel smug. The sea is clean and the girls appreciate not being stung by jellyfish or sealice. In these small smooth waves Ella gets back the confidence she lost having been badly dumped (just once) during our last week in Sydney over a month ago. I love watching them both learning to body surf.
All is good. Thank you Bamboo Island.
Beaches at Last
We were going to miss the beaches in Cambodia but after a hot Angkor, we changed our minds and went to the beaches at Sihanoukville.
We arrived late in the afternoon at Serendipity Beach. It was really nice, perfect sized waves for me and we were staying in rooms right on the beach at Malibu House. I was very pleased with our choice of accommodation.
When we woke up in the morning, Mum and Dad were already having a swim. We went outside and saw what they saw, rubbish! The beach looked very different from the day before - plastic bags and bottles everywhere. We still went for a swim but further up the beach where there wasn't much rubbish. I do think that people who own the bungalows should clean the beach in front of them and then the beach would be much much cleaner. We did pick up a lot of rubbish but it would have taken us a long long time to clean the beach.
In the evening we went to one of the beach restaurants. While we were havign dinner, one of the ladies who worked there, called jenna, started doing fire poi. It was very cool and Florence took lots of photos. I had a go but was afraid my dress might catch on fire. Outside Jenna's cafe were a few Cambodian boys playing. Florence and I got carried away and started playing with them. We played hide and seek and rock, paper, scissors. It was a lot of fun and was good because you can play those games without needing to speak the same language.
The next day we moved to Otres Beach, which was much cleaner. There were only a few places to stay on the beach and we stayed at Queen Hill Resort and had a bungalow on the hill looking over the beach. When we first went in for a swim me and Florence started yelping that we had been bitten. There were little red dots covering us. We ran to the shower to put fresh water on them. Mummy knew what they were - sea lice! They are little translucent sea mosquitos that travel with the currents and they itch for a really long time. Mummy started crying because she thought it was her fault (but it wasn't). After the sea lice itches had gone away we went on a boat and went snorkelling and swimming off an island not far from our beach - no sea lice there. I have always loved snorkelling, but here most of the coral was dead, there were lots of fish though and we had a lovely time.
The next day we went to Bamboo Island, which is just a short boat ride from Serendipity beach. bamboo Island was really nice. We were staying in the biggest bungalow (with 2 beds) at Bamboo Island Resort. The bungalow was nice, the sea was great and the restaurant had good food - it was paradise. We went snorkelling there and saw live coral and lots of fish. There were also lots of sea urchins. if you don't know, sea urchins are black balls with black spikes coming off them. You really don't want to get a sea urchin spike in you because it hurts a lot and the spikes are hollow so lets lots of air in to the wound.
We had a great time on Bamboo Island. It was the best beach we went to in Cambodia - I wish we could have stayed there more than 1 night!
Beaches at last
Sihanoukville.
It was much cooler here but sadly there was rubbish in the sea and rubbish everywhere. The jellyfish hid amongst the plastic bags. We tried to clean the beach but the waves kept on bringing plastic bags onto the sand. Soon we decided that this beach was toooooooo dirty so we decided to move beach. Otres beach was much cleaner. I got stung by a jellyfish on Serendipity beach but here we only saw one jellyfish dried up on land. Although I had been stung I was very brave about going back in the water. We stayed at Queen Hill Resort Bungalows and the sea was very warm. Ella and I got stung all over by sealice so we organised a boat trip to an island where we went snorkelling. There were lots of fish but no sealice. It was fun snorkelling but soon we saw a big grey cloud coming over the horizon so we started to go back to the beach.
The next day we went to Bamboo Island. All the houses were hidden amongst the palm trees. It was beautiful. Sadly we were only staying there for one night. The beach was really clean and the sea was really clear. The waves were a normal size and we were duck diving under them. I love the sea.
The next morning we went snorkelling. The tide was going out while we were snorkelling so we had to be careful of sea urchins, which are black balls with spikes coming out of the ball. I squeezed my tummy in when I swam over a sea urchin because it really hurts when a spike goes into your skin and I didn't want to know how much. Sadly it is our last day so we had to get on the boat. Before we started to leave we saw a big dark cloud coming over the horizon so we ran into the restaurant and outside there was thunder and forked lightening. I am glad we were not on the boat yet. When the thunder and lightening stopped it was still raining a bit but not that much. On the boat it was really cold and we went a bit faster than on the way there. Soon we got to the beach and the boat didn't park near the sand. We had to swim to the beach and the sea was really warm. (Well compared to how cold we were on the boat.)
I love Cambodian beaches, only if I don't get stung.
Cambodian Beaches
We didn't intend to visit the beaches in Cambodia. We had been told they were a bit rough and with (we hope) a lot of beach time in Vietnam, we felt we didn't need to. However, after 4 days in Siem Reap in soaring heat the last thing we wanted to do was head straight to Phnom Penh.
After a 6 hour bus ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh and a 3 hour car journey from there, we arrived at Sihanoukville's Serendipity beach in time for a quick swim before the sun set. A gorgeous crescent shaped, white sanded beach dotted with bungalows, beach bars and restaurants. We checked in to 2 adjoining (and expensive) rooms right on the beach front at House of Malibu, just for 2 nights to give us the chance to look for something else.
We had a quick dip in the sea and within minutes Florence complaied that she had been stung by something - we got straight out and headed back to our room. She wasn't screaming with pain but by the time we got back I saw that she had a huge welt across her tummy - a nasty jelly fish sting and not a great start to our first Asian beach!
The next morning, Dave and I went for a dip before the girls woke up. The gorgeous beach was littered with rubbish - plastic bags, disposable nappies, plastic bottles - loads of stuff. I don't think the rubbish is there all the time, it's a tidal thing, but we saw very few bungalow owners cleaning the area in front of their patch. It's a real shame, tourists have only been coming to this area in the past few years, I hope the Khmers (and ex-pat) business owners address it before the tourists decide not to come back.
We had been recommended a place on the next beach down, Otres Beach, so moved there the next day. We checked in to our hillside bungalow at the Queen Hill Resort and again jumped straight in to the (much cleaner) sea. Within seconds the girls were screaming that they had been bitten. Sea lice! They are little mosquito like creatures and thei bites itch for ages. So we all ran out again. I was really upset 'cos I thought we'd really stuffed up by moving. The girls were fine after a while and far more concerned about me being upset than they were about their bites. I just longed to be in cold temperate oceans rather than warm, tropical ones!! We spent the afternoon on a small boat snorkelling off one of the outlying islands. No sea lice, no jelly fish, just lovely and the girls have become great little snorkellers.
Just off the coast of Sihanoukville is Bamboo Island, one of the few Cambodian Islands with overnight accommodation. We kept our (cheap) bungalows at Otres beach and armed with day bags took the 1 hour boat ride out to the island for an overnight stay. What can I say - it was gorgeous and in itself was worth the trip to the Cambodian beaches. Very reminiscent of Thai beaches 20 years ago - no electricity (power supplied by generators), palm trees, golden sands, turquoise seas - perfect!
We were in one of 10 bungalows at Bamboo Island Resort, owned by the same people who run Coasters, one of the better accommodations on Serendipity Beach. The food was great, the staff lovely, the bungalows basic but clean with balconies and hammocks - we felt we had arrived in paradise and were all gutted we could only stay there one night.
Bamboo island is the destination for lots of day trippers, but once they had left, we pretty much had the island to ourselves (only 2 other couples were there). There are 3 different bungalow operations on the island, I am sure within a few years there will be more. I just hope, by then, the Khmers have learnt to really look after this bit of paradise.
Siem Reap
We fly at 6am. This is the only flight from Vientiane to Siem Reap. The nearby temples of Angkor are certainly the biggest tourist attraction in S.E. Asia, so consequently the airport road into Siem Reap looks like a hotel construction competition in full swing. In contrast Siem Reap town centre is quaint with a funky feel and a plentiful choice of good restaurants.
The Khmer kings built the temples at Angkor from 875 to 1230AD. All other dwellings here for the 1 million inhabitants of this city were timber and no sign of them remains. Their expansionist neighbours, the Thais, sacked this city in the 14th and the 15th centuries. The Khmer court grabbed their family jewels and moved to Phnom Penh, leaving Angkor to be swallowed by the jungle. It was stumbled upon by the Portuguese in the 16th century. And again in the 17th century by a Japanese pilgrim who drew a detailed plan of Angkor Wat only to later recalled that he had seen it in India. In 1860 a French explorer Henri Mauhot's vivid descriptions and colour sketches brought Angkor to the attention of the world. Some restoration work commenced in 1907 but in this war torn country these projects have been interrupted many times. We saw thousands of stones in a field which had been numbered by a French team in the early 60's. When they could return 25 years later the weather had removed all of their numbering. None of their plans survived the Khmer Rouge years and this is now the worlds biggest jigsaw puzzle. Things however are not as bad as UNESCO feared and in 2003 they removed Angkor form their endangered sites list.
It is recommended to spend between 3 and 7 days visiting these temples, taking a break in the middle of the day to escape the heat. April is known here as the killing month by the local Khmer. It was extremely hot by 8am and by mid afternoon the sandstone and volcanic rock at the temples will toast you evenly on both sides as you walk the gallerys. As it turns out our guide is excellent and at the end of two days with him we have seen enough.
Temple visiting is not at the top of Ella and Flo's 'things we love to do' list. Mr Srun, our tuk tuk driver charges US$10 for the day and Mr Lee (guide) is $25. Without a good guide we would have spent 5 days here and seen less, I am sure of it. Day two we go to Angkor Wat for sunrise along with about 500 others, but as 450 package tourists are heading back to their hotels for breakfast we slip almost alone into the world's largest religious building. Mr Lee knows that the best time to see Angkor Wat is right now. Everyone I have met that has been to this region says "You must see Angkor Wat". All I can add to that is "Get a Khmer guide". Cambodian history is brutal and fascinating. We were moved.
Cambodian Kids
We arrived in Cambodia and it was hot and sticky. It was 8.30 in the morning and we headed to the Freedom Hotel in Siem Reap. Siem Reap is a very popular town because it is very close to the famous Angkor Temples. Most of the temples are over 1000 years old. The most amazing thing about Angkor is that more than a million people lived here when London was just a small town and everyone lived in huts.
To me the temples weren't the best part of Angkor, the children selling things were. At the top of Pre Rup, the temple where we went to see sunset, there was a little boy called Chai. He spoke really good English and surprised us by saying 'lovely jubely' and 'top banana'. He said he learnt those words from tourists.
On one of the mornings at Siem Reap, Mum and Dad dragged us out of bed at 4.30am to go to Angkor Wat (the biggest temple) for sunrise. It wasn't really that interesting because there were so many clouds. The funniest thing was watching loads of tourists, skipping around taking pictures of nothing but a white sky. After exploring Angkor we went to a cafe for breakfast. As we got out of our tuk tuk about 5 kids were there waiting to sell us things. By the time we got to the cafe, 20 kids were following us!!!! Florence and I like to give things to kids so I asked the smallest one to come inside and gave her my little leather bracelet. We also gave the kids lots of pictures and notes. I made some little paper boxes too. They also gave us things like notes and postcards, it was a lot of fun.
We also went to an orphanage in a village near the temples. It was cool watching them learn English, they were learning maths words like minus, plus and different numbers. They were also doing some sums. When the kids have finished school, they take the chairs and desks away and make their beds in the classroom.
The Angkor temples were amazing but not as amazing as the Cambodian kids.
Meeting Cambodian Children
We have left Laos now and are in Cambodia. We flew to Siem Reap which is near the Angkor temples. Angkor is very old. Some of the temples are over 1000 years old, they are broken and all of the Buddha's heads have fallen down. Angkor Wat is one of the seven wonders of the world. Nearly one million people lived in and around the temples when London was just huts. Children sell things around the temples so that they can buy food to be healthy. At the top of one of the temples was a little boy called Chai. We bought some bracelets from him and gave him a book and a compass. Chai was very smart. He could say words like "lovely jubly" and "top banana". Chai was 12 years old and very small but a lot of Cambodian children look small for their age because they didn't eat much when they were little.
Then we went to a cafe near Angkor Wat. Lots of children followed us so we played with them till our breakfast was ready. We drew pictures and gave them some. We gave one of the girls our bracelet and made boxes for other children. They gave us postcards that they were selling and wrote us lots of notes.
Next we went to an orphanage. The children sleep in the same place as their classroom. When we visited them they were having a maths lesson. It costs $20 to feed all of the 40 children for a day. When we go out to dinner we pay at least twice that amount.
It was so hot that the swimming pool in our hotel was like a bath so we decided to go to some beaches instead. Next stop Sihanoukville.
The Temples and Children of Cambodia
The beauty of the temples at Angkor is well documented. They certainly live up to their hype and deserve to be considered as one of the global seven wonders of the world. We bought a 3 day pass for $40 (interestingly enough the profits go to a Vietnamese owned hotel chain) and did what most tourists do: got up early to see the temples, took a long break for lunch to have a (not so) cooling dip in our (warm) hotel swimming pool, returning to the temples for the lovely late afternoon and sunset light. This is April, the hottest month of the year in Cambodia - it's hot, really hot and really humid!
We did the sensible, essential thing and hired a guide. I think had it not been for Mr Lee, we would have not covered so much in just a couple of days and we certainly would not have learned as much of the turbulent history in this incredible, up and coming country.
The girls were great at exploring the temples, and, credit to them, barely moaned. They were pretty amazed when they learnt that Angkor was home to over a million people in the 11th and 12th Centuries, when London was just a small town on the Thames. We even dragged them out of bed at 4.30 in the morning to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat, and although they were a bit grumpy at first and sunrise wasn't the best ever, they still managed to make the most of the experience.
Fortunately, there were many things to sidetrack them. First, the Buddhist shrines. The girls have seemingly become devout Buddhists since we arrived in SE Asia. There are many shrines at every temple, and in Angkor, often just the remnants of what was a Buddha effigy, covered in orange fabric and incense sticks burning becomes a modest shrine. The girls lit incense at every one, always befriending the nuns or monks who looked after them.
They were constantly amused by the coach loads of Asian tourists, many over-dressed, often in nylon - hardly suitable tropical weather attire! These tourists tried to take our girls photo at every opportunity, Ella tried to get a dollar every time they snapped but ended up with nothing.
The best thing was the kids - the legions of kids who try to sell you their wares are outside every temple, at every street corner and lurking near every cafe and restaurant. Once you get beyond the sales pitch, you quickly realise that these kids are funny and smart. With their ubiquitous smiles and cheery disposition you can't help but spend a dollar or more with them. Their English is generally so much better than their parents (who are always noticeably absent), generally because of their interaction with the tourists. Ella and Florence loved the banter with them. Seeing how little the Cambodian children live with really makes them appreciate what they have themselves (at least I hope it does.......that's the point of this isn't it?).
A great time exploring the temples and Siem Reap is a vibey town, but after spending 4 days in 40 degree heat, we were ready for some beach action and hopefully some cooling sea breezes........
Vang Vieng and Vientiane
Before getting to Vang Vieng we had heard that this town was full of restaurants and bars with reclining foreigners watching re-runs of Friends. Unbelievable - almost. After a long winding scenic drive over the mountains we slid into town and it was worse than I had imagined. That night we chose to recline for dinner in an establishment screening The Simpsons very loudly, with the added bonus of being able to simultaneously watch Friends on four TVs right across the road. How did they get it so wrong? For added convenience every restaurant in town has an identical menu. This is a paradise for the unimaginative.
We are staying at Ban Sabai Bungalows, which is on the river, thankfully, 10 minutes walk out of town. Nice location! The views around Vang Vieng are amazing. A range of precipitous mountains run north from here and is riddled with caves.
We have only one day here and we make the most of it. For US$13 each we have an excellent day out. We are taken first, to four very different caves. One of them is large and safely housed 400 people during the early 70's while bombs rained down. Another cave is half full of water with a narrow entrance. We went about 300m into this cave, using rubber tyre tubes, both paddling and pulling on ropes against the current. It was (of course) pitch black and the few head lamps they supplied only worked intermittently. The girls loved this cave. Their bravery never ceases to amaze me!
The highlight of this day was tubing down the Nam Song river back toward town, past giant rope swings and busy bars all selling our favourite thirst quencher, Beerlao. Fun for all the family this tubing. "Just remember to raise your bum a bit in the rapids" is my only advice. BBQ lunch served on banana leaves included - a great day out.
Our trusty mini bus driver (Khone's brother) picks us up from Xoyah Bungalows the next morning and we move on to Vientiane. Despite this road being a lot straighter than the mountain crossing he is now driving maximum 30km/hr and we never work out why. By afternoon end we arrive at the Settha Palace. A grand hotel with high ceilings and hallways that you could could reverse a London Bus through. The pool is reputedly the nicest in town and while the girls immerse, Gabby and I get on with our chores. We need to post about 10kgs home. Our bags are bulging and we are flying to Cambodia tomorrow.
Vang Vieng and Vientiane
In Vang Vieng we stayed in a place called Ban Sabai Riverside Bungalows. The actual town of Vang Vieng is not very nice, eg full of TV bars and unwelcoming cafes, but the surrounding mountains are beautiful. The most popular things to do around Vang Vieng are caving and tubing, we did both of them. One of the caves we went in had a river running through it so we got in our tubes/rubber rings and paddled our way to the end - about 300 metres. We went to 3 other caves, 2 of them were really big and the other had a giant Buddha and an elephant shaped rock in it.
After caving we got in our tubes again and started floating down the Nam Song River. While we were floating down the river we saw lots of swings on which you had to hold on to a bar and jump off a ledge and at some point while swinging you have to let go and fall in to the water! I didn't go on the swing but lots of people did. Caving and tubing was brilliant fun.
After Vang Vieng we went to Vientiane (Laos' capital city). We stayed in a posh hotel called Settha Palace Hotel. It had a great swimming pool and our room was lovely, Mum and Dad had a 4 poster bed.
On our second day we had to get up at 4.30 in the morning to go to the airport. The hotel took us there in their proper London taxi.
Next stop, Cambodia.
Tubing Down Rivers
I was very sad to leave Khone and Khune's guest house but Khone's brother was taking us to the next place. it was a long drive to Vang Vieng. We stayed in Ban Sabai Riverside Bungalows. Ella and I shared a bungalow and Mum and dad were in a different bungalow.
While we were in Vang Vieng we went to 4 caves. First we went to a cave where about 400 people lived during the American War. The second cave was smaller than the first cave and no people lived there. The 3rd cave we went to had a river running through it so we had to go in rubber rings to explore it. At the end of the cave there was some mud that made your skin soft.
After caving we went tubing, which is floating down the river in a rubber ring. Ella was in her own tube but then I got to have a go in my own tube. The guide stayed with me until we got to some rapids and then let me go. It was a lot of fun! There were lots of restaurants with high swings on the river but we didn't go on them.
The next day we drove to Vientiane and stayed at the Settha Palace Hotel. It had a big pool, we swam in it a lot!
Last Few Days in Laos
We ended up staying at Khone and Khune's in Luang Prabang for nearly 2 weeks. We were all very sad to leave our new friends. As we had stayed there for so long we felt we had to speed through our final 2 destinations in the country, Vang Vieng and Vientiane. The south of Loas will have to wait for another trip
After a 6 hour drive along windy roads, mountain passes and stunning scenery we arrived in Vang Vieng just as the sun was setting. We had booked accommodation in Ban Sabai Riverside Bungalows overlooking the Nam Song river, as we had been told that the town itself was pretty noisy.
Vang Vieng has become a bit of a mecca for backpackers. The town itself is pretty awful, it's full of bars and restaurants with blaring TVs showing repeat episodes of Friends, The Simpsons and the like. The mountain scenery surrounding the town is amazing, huge limestone escarpments, great rivers and an abundance of incredible caves. We only had one day there and made the most of it - an organised day out with about 8 other backpackers. We explored 4 caves, one with a river running through it which we navigated on inner tubes - pitch black and the girls loved it. After a great picnic lunch we spent the afternoon on the same inner tubes and floated or paddled (depending on how strong the current was) down the Nam Song back towards Vang Vieng. The river has bars and giant swings dotted along it's length, allowing farangs and locals to take a cooling dip in the river. It was the day after the official last day of Laos New Year and it was still in party mode. Many farangs get stuck in Vang Vieng for weeks and spend large parts of their day sitting at the bars drinking, getting stoned, taking the odd dip in the river. It really is the closest to a beach vibe in this country - I completely understand why people are drawn here. It's just a shame the town has become what it has.
Ella and Florence really enjoyed our day out, not just caves and the rapids (which weren't too ferocious as we were approaching the end of the dry season), but the opportunity to interact with other travellers. Ella is becoming particularly independent and spent most of the day hanging out with 3 Swedish girls. Dave's (frequent) offers of help (I think he wanted to hang out with the Swedish girls) on the steeper rapids were refused, she was out to prove she could cope on her own.
We didn't really do much in Vientiane, Laos' capital, on the banks of the Mekong and a 4 hour drive from Vang Vieng. It's possibly about the quietest capital city I have ever encountered. With a lot of wiley manipulation, I persuaded Dave that we should stay in Vientiane's loveliest hotel The Settha Palace. To be honest, it wasn't that expensive and with the South East Asian currencies tied to the US $, these usually inexpensive countries are a bargain at the moment! It's a gorgeous old colonial building, beautiful wooden floors, 4 poster beds, a fantastic swimming pool in beautiful frangipani filled gardens - a great way to end our time in lovely Laos.
This is a country I definitely want to come back to - it is really beautiful, the people are lovely and there is so much more to explore!
Laos New Year
Well this was worth waiting for.
There is a dramatic increase of traffic and people in Luang Prabang leading up to Pi Mai Laos. We have found ourselves here with fortuitous timing. Judging from the crowds flocking in and our recent research, Luang Prabang is known for having the best water festival in the country (and probably the whole of SE Asia).
Khoun is busy doing repairs to the Jeep, not only so that we can experience it with a superior platform from which to distribute our watery good luck blessings but also to make us prime targets for the locals because "every family needs lots of luck in the new year". Khoun and Khone take us to build a stupa down on the far side of the Mekong. We build stupa fast "for good luck" then cover it in white flour..... "lucky colour".
Dear reader, you, like me, have probably already spotted the central theme in Pi Mai Laos. It is certainly a time for cleansing houses, bodies and Buddha statues but most folk are busy mustering enough luck to get them through to 2551. Laos is one of the poorest countries in S.E. Asia and luck plays an important roll here.
We spend two days in the middle of the biggest and best water fight I have ever seen. Actually 'fight' is the wrong word. There is no aggression, only a sea of smily happy Laos and farang. Funnily, you do on occasion see a half dry foreigner who thinks it possible to stay dry by adopting an attitude of 'I am not involved' as they walk this watery gauntlet. Useless. We are soaked all day and my face aches from grinning insanely. I take a lot of photos but believe me this is not easy.
We get hit by a lot of flour and also a black grease made from the soot from the kitchen gas burners. It is like a black creosote.
There is a superb parade to interrupt the deluge for a while and then it resumes unabated till sunset, when without a word spoken all water throwing suddenly stops. We are prepared and have our dry clothes and other dinner essentials like Boggle, pens and paper in a plastic bag.
The next morning, short one white tee shirt (now blackish) but having gained the experience of a lifetime we sadly leave Luang Prabang and our new friends, Khone and Khoun.
Laos New Year
For Laos New Year, Khone and Koune drove us in their jeep to the Mekong River to get a boat across to the other side. We did this to make a sand stupa. Normal stupas are big cone shaped tombs that you see in temples but sand stupas are slightly smaller and Laos people traditionally make them next to the Mekong River for good luck at New Year. Another traditional thing you do after making a stupa is walk right into the river and wash away all your bad luck. I didn't mind walking into the freezing cold Mekong because I was already soaked from the jeep ride into town.
Nearly all over South East Asia they celebrate New Year with water fights! People start selling gigantic water guns and people line up on the roads with big buckets of water and soak everyone who passes by. It was a three day festival and I thought Laos New Year was the best water fight you could ever have.
We had a great two weeks in Luang Prabang.
Laos New Year
Coming up to new year everyone starts throwing water. They rub powder into your skin and you have to keep your eyes peeled for people with waterguns and big buckets of water. Our guest house has a jeep that we drove around in. It seemed like it was raining and by the time it was evening you had loads of water in your ears.
There are lots of activities to do at Laos New Year and this is one of them: We built a stupa which is like a sand castle made out of mud. When we finished the stupa we put little balls of mud around the stupa and then we sprinkled flour over it and put a Laos flag at the top. If you build the stupa quickly it is more lucky. Then we paddled in the Mekong River.
We joined in the water fight for two days. It was a lot of fun.
I liked Khoun and Khone's guest house and I was really sad when we left.
Pi Mai Lao 2550
Laos New Year is celebrated particularly enthusiastically in Luang Prabang. Wanting to be there to witness the festivities was our main reason for staying in the region for so long. I don't think any of us realised quite how fervently the Lao and farangs (foreigners) would embrace the 3 day festival. It is traditionally called a 'water festival' as getting wet brings good luck, but not only plain water is thrown, there's coloured water, flour, grease, paint. It's not a time or place to decide to wear your best clothes....
Our guest house owner, Khune, spent the week prior to New Year tinkering with his open-topped US Jeep in order to get it working so we could drive to and around town in it every day. Of course, this guaranteed that we would be soaked by the time we arrived in town. A bit of a blessing really because once we were wet through we didn't mind the additional dousings.
We, of course, participated in the more spiritual elements of New Year with Khone and Khune: for good luck we built a sand stupa on the banks of the Mekong (normally sandy but a bit muddy this year due to the thunderous rain that had fallen during the preceding nights), we watched the procession, where everyone, including monks, nuns and local dignitaries are doused in water to wash away past sins.
By far the best fun was plotting up at a bar on Luang Prabang's main road and witnessing and participating in the madness and mayhem that ensued. Of course, the girls gave as good as they got, I entered in to the sprit of things with my usual enthusiasm and Dave took plenty of photos. It was a lot of fun, no one lost their temper or got mad and once the sun went down, without a word, everything stopped enabling us to put on some dry clothes and walk through the streets safely.
Luang Prabang
I guess the true highlight of this town is us discovering the Khoun and Khone Bungalows. They have six huts on about two acres of land just ten minutes out of town. Gabby, who is the head of research and bookings for the Bracey family, discovered them on the Travelfish website. Their huts are rustic/perfect for us. Our hosts are charming and have a philosophy of including their guests in their life and after a few days we felt more like family than customers. They are happy to run us to and from town in their mini-bus or (Khoun's pride and joy) the Jeep. There is a lot to do here. The Buddhist temples are beautiful and you are never out of sight of them or the orange clad monks. The French colonial architecture looks like it will be well looked after as well, thanks to the town's World Heritage status. There are plenty of good restaurants that cater to western tastes as well as Laos food. Good shopping too (if you like that sort of thing). Especially the night market, which runs through the centre of town every day from about 5pm till 9pm.
On our third night we stir to an amazing thunder storm. We are in a separate bungalow from the kids at Khoun and Khons. We are about 10m apart but in this torrential rain we would never hear them if they were to wake up. Through my happy sleepy haze I hear the pitter patter of Gabby's feet on the path to Ella and Flo's hut just in case.
Our original intention was to stay in Luang Prabang for about five days but we are approaching Lao New Year 2550. Sounds like a big one to me. Also, we are getting a smoke cleansing storm every night now. The air is clear and we can see for miles. We like it here!
We spend a day kayaking down the Nam Pa. Florence is princess passenger in a guides kayak. We are using inflatable rubber kayaks. They do seem stable in the rapids. Ella is doubled up with the second guide except for down one set of rapids where he has fallen off the back and she is on her own for a bit. We stop for a close look at some gold panning. Here they are working in the faster flowing sections and have a mechanised rock crusher. For a closer look at the shiny stuff we pass their wok containing the precious gold dust over our four bobbing kayaks.
One sunny afternoon Khone and Khoun take us to the nearby Kuang Si waterfall. It is about 80m high over limestone and has a series of enticing milky green swimming holes below it. We do the steep climb up one side, across the very top of the falls and down the other. (pic) It is a hard trek in this heat but a long swim is our reward at the end.
It looks like we will stay here till after Laos New Year. The longest stop on this trip so far and for us the longest we have ever stayed somewhere without a beach!!
Luang Prabang
After our journey down the Mekong we arrived in Luang Prabang and met with our hostess, Khone. She drove us in her mini van to Ban na Dat, which is a little village just outside Luang Prabang. When we arrived at Khone and Khune's Guest House, Florence and I were filled with joy because we noticed that there were 4 dogs and 4 cats living there. The 3 puppies were called Max, Owen and Tim and their mum was called Ikashu. There was a ginger cat called Tiger, a black cat called Creepers and a mum and daughter cat both called Chicken! My favourites were Tim and Tiger. Khone and Khune have a son called Fly, he is 8 years old and speaks quite good English, it was fun playing with him.
While we stayed there we visited lots of temples. The first temple we went to was Xieng Thong. That one was my favourite out of all of them but the other ones I still liked. There are lots of monks in Luang Prabang. Monks are boys and men who devote their lives to the Buddha. They shave their heads and wear bright orange robes.
We had great fun kayaking down the Nam Pa. They kayaks were not plastic like normal kayaks, they were inflatable. There were a couple of big rapids on the river and because my guide was so heavy on the back, he weighed the back down, while I was flying in the air on the front over the rapids! On one of the rapids my guide fell off the kayak in to the water. I didn't see it but my Dad did, he said it was very funny! I had a very nice time kayaking.
Another really fun thing we did in Luang Prabang was going to the Kuang Xi waterfall. The best thing about the waterfalls was being able to swim at the bottom of them. It was very cold but it cooled us right down. In one of the pools there was a plank to jump off. The Kuang Xi waterfall pools were all different shapes and sizes and I really liked swimming in them.
There was also a waterfall near Khone and Khune's guest house called Nadear waterfall. We only went there once but we enjoyed making dams in it.
But all of that was nothing compared to the thing we were staying in Luang Prabang for, Laos New Year..............
Khone and Khune
We arrived at Khone and Khune's Guest House and Ella was very excited because there are 4 dogs (3 puppies and a mother). There are also 4 cats, 2 mothers and 2 kittens called Tiger and Chicken. Khone and Khune have 2 daughters who are away at school, but they have a son here to play with us, his name is Fly. There are lots of temples in Luang Prabang and we went to visit them. Most of the temples are gold and have carvings of the Buddha inside them. Monks go in the temples a lot and devote their lives to the Buddha. Monks don't wear what we do, they have to wear orange robes all the time. Their orange robes are a really nice colour. But monks aren't that different, you can find them in restaurants, temples and even internet cafes. Women are not allowed to touch monks. If you want to give something to the monks you have to get up early so they can collect it in their alms bowls.
One day we went kayaking. The kayaks weren't plastic like the ones we used in New Zealand, they were inflatable. There were rapids on the river. The first rapids were the biggest, it was like kayaking over waves because you slid up the rapid then splashed back on the flat water. It hurt my bottom! I also really liked swimming in a waterfall, it was very cold. It was very close to Khone and Khune's bungalows. Lots of people had built small dams and Daddy and I built a dam there. Then we broke the dam and made miniature rapids with the rocks. Another day we went to some other waterfalls - they were much bigger than the ones near our bungalows and had lots of pools to swim in. In one of the pools a tree had fallen over and landed in the water - but not while we were in it! It made a really good jumping spot!
Lovely Luang Prabang
By the time we arrived in Luang Prabang, Florence's cold had developed into a really nasty cold sore and, I suspected, impetigo. Poor little thing, she was so self conscious about the huge sores on her face she couldn't bear to look up at Khone, our Luang prabang Guest House owner, who met us from the boat.
We had booked in to Khone and Khune's Guest House, in a small village about 4km out of Luang Prabang on the recommendation of Travelfish - a great online resource if you're travelling through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
Khone and Khune's is a family run guest house and when I read they had kids I thought it would be great for the girls to have some local kids to play with as they have been really missing their friends from home. Unfortunately, their 2 daughters were away in Vientiane at school but there was Fly, their 8 year old son. There were also 4 cats and 4 dogs (3 of them puppies), all very healthy and well looked after, so, in contrast to our usual rule of not touching any animals in Asia, the girls were delighted when I said they could play with these. Ella and Florence were in their element and I knew they'd be happy here.
It was clear very quickly that Khone and Khune were good hosts, they only have 6 bungalows - we occupied 2 of them and were the only guests. They went out of their way to help us, run us in to town, recommend places for us to go as well as sort out a good Doctor so I could get Florence some antibiotics.
By our first night in Luang, I loved the place. It has a laid back air of sophistication I haven't experienced in anywhere else in Asia. It is now a Unesco world heritage site and is a perfectly preserved area of local and colonial teak houses, French provincial architecture and gorgeous temples encircled by mountains at the confluence of the Mekong and Khan rivers. There's a huge range of accommodation to stay in, great cafes and restaurants as well as decent wine and coffee! There are over 60 temples in the city, with monks and novices living in many of them, so the orange robes are very much part of the Luang Prabang scenery.
By day 2 we had decided to extend our 4 or 5 day stay and stay until Pi Mai Lao (Lao New Year) nearly 2 weeks away. With Florence recovering and Ella feeling that she'd arrived in heaven, we didn't think it was a bad place to stop for a while.
It was an amazing, relaxing time until the New Year mayhem started. We kayaked down one of the many surrounding rivers, we swam in the turquoise swimming pools at the Kuang Xi waterfalls, we ate really well, and just generally soaked up the atmosphere in this lovely city.
Khone and Khune became like friends. It was a lovely way to experience Laos. Sometimes you get more out of staying in one place for a while rather than haring around a country trying to grasp a little of this, a little of that. I never imagined we would spend so long in one place in this landlocked country - Luang Prabang didn't let us down.
Smoke on the Water
This morning we arrive at the 'dock' at Huay Xai but the boat we are now boarding is not the boat we had booked. It is the end of the dry season and the Mekong is currently 7m below it's peak water level. Our nice boat, the 'Pak Ou' is awaiting us two hours downstream, just below the rapids. This one, anyway, seems comfortable and we are told it only draws 1m "so very good for rapids".
We have been joined by Mark and Erin, the heard but never seen inhabitants of Tree House Two. It is great to have their company for this two day boat journey. We can see very quickly that the remaining passengers are not our kind of people.
For instance: There is the English art teacher who is moaning because the visibility is low and the woman who regularly corrects our Lao guides English pronunciation. She was trying to make him say 'rice' like 'rie-sssss'. The 's' sound as we know it, does not exist in his native tongue. I did see several others cringing at that point.
We are on the overpriced boat service to Luang Prabang (the Luang Say). It stops for one night at their own, very nice, lodge in Pak Beng. We would have preferred the mid-priced boat, 'The Nagi on the Mekong', but it meant waiting three days in Huay Xai to catch it. Most people use the very frequent 'Slow Boat'. Cheap, crowded and uncomfortable. A long-tail speed boat is the fourth option. Most of their brave customers wear a helmet and suffer no leg movement for nine hours. To add a dose of terror to the cramp, it is well known that these fast boats hit rocks. There is a major accident once a week and sometimes fatalities. We see several zoom past and no one raises a hand to wave.
We pass many water buffalo, fishermen and gold panners. Stopping off at villages to purchase the local whisky and gorgeous hand woven cloths is a treat.
I am surprised how fast flowing this mighty river is. There are rapids, whirlpools or turbulence most of the time. Huge towers of basalt rock line the river's banks and also create many islands. This boat, the 'Pak Ou' is about 36m long and draws 2m. I am amazed by the skill of the captain as he guides us between the rocks. The boat takes on a life of it's own as it sways in these rapids. I would love to be here again at the end of the wet season, to see this river 7m higher. The French built concrete stepped pylons on some of the high rock to aid navigation but these are way above us now.
Speaking of wet, we are still waiting for some cleansing rain. The smoke is now at it's worst. For the first time we can see large fires burning on the hills and ash is raining down. Visibility is less than a kilometre.
But let us spare a thought and put it into perspective: We are in the middle of the most bombed country, per head of population, in world history. 12 million tons for 2.5 million farmers and fishermen. Between 1964 and 1973 there were more bombs dropped on Laos than on the whole of Europe during WWII.
What we are experiencing for a few days is not so bad.
A great journey, an enchanting river.
Two Days on the Mekong
After 2 nights in the jungle, we decided to have some boat time so we booked the Luang Say river cruise. It started in Huay Xai and was full of old people, except for a couple, Mark and Erin, we had met at the Gibbon Experience. Florence and I wanted to do some drawing so we sat down at a table at the back of the boat and drew. Soon the cook on the boat decided to come over and see what we were doing. Laos used to be a French colony so many Laos people can speak French and the cook could. She gave us a French lesson by drawing something and saying what it was in French. She got very attached to us.
After a while we arrived in a Laos hill tribe village. It was very sweet, it had a communal washing area and a little blacksmith. When our guide, called Tee, was explaining things to our group one of the old ladies tried to make him pronounce rice properly. Many Asian people find it difficult to pronounce their s's and c's and she really embarrassed him. I thought she was very rude.
We soon arrived in our accommodation for the night. It didn't have a swimming pool or playground but we wouldn't have had time to use them because we were only having dinner there, sleeping there and having breakfast there. I wish we could have stayed for another night because the beds were so comfy!
The boat was going to reach our destination, Luang Prabang, on our second day, but we stopped at two more places on the way. The first place was another hill tribe village. I didn't want to go up but dad said it was very interesting because there were lots of people weaving and making clothes. The second place we went to was the 'Cave Of a Thousand Buddhas'. That is only one of it's names, it is also known as Pak Ou caves. We gave some offerings to the Buddha and left. On the way out a family was selling birds in cages and you were meant to buy them to set them free - it is considered lucky. I felt so sorry for them - there was one cage with 3 birds in and they were all squashed together so we bought them. They couldn't fly that far. The first one got to land and the second one fell in the water. The third one couldn't fly at all so we kept it on the boat, fed it and gave it some water so it would be able to fly from Luang Prabang. Before we arrived there I was showing it to some ladies on the boat and it escaped from my hands and fell in to the water. I really hope that it's OK because it was rather far away from land when it fell in.............
We were not far from our destination, soon we were there, Luang Prabang, a Buddhist fairy tale.
Mekong River - Burning Hills
We were in Huay Xai and we were going to go on a boat trip down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang. When we got on the boat we did some drawing. I drew a picture of the boat sailing along the river. The cook on the boat came over to see what we were drawing, so I drew a picture of her at the back of the boat (that's where she cooked). She drew pictures of a little town where she lived in our books. On the way we stopped in 2 Hill tribe Villages. There were lots of children selling things like cloth and bracelets so they could earn some money. We went to see an old fashioned blacksmiths.
When we went back on the boat we played a game of Jenga. The Jenga was very tall and we were playing it while going over some rapids on the river so we had to be extra careful. It wasn't the best time to play Jenga because the rapids were a bit bumpy.
We stopped half way on our river trip at our accommodation called Luang Say Lodge. We slept in our own bungalow, the beds were very comfy. We made friends with 2 people on the boat, their names were Mark and Erin. They had been on the Gibbon Experience and were very nice.
On the 2nd day it was very smoky because the farmers were burning fires on the hills by the river. It looked very hot! We could hear the fire crackling.
The boat stopped at the Cave of 1000 Buddhas. There were 2 caves full of thousands of Buddhas, some big, some really tiny. I took lots of pictures.
After 2 days on the boat we arrived in Luang Prabang.
The Mighty Mekong
The 2 day Mekong River trip from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang had been recommended to us by a few people as a 'must do' while we were in Laos. While researching the different options available we discovered there were 4:
1 Really cheap option on a slow boat, hard bench seats, often overcrowded, 2 x 9 hour days with an overnight stop in the small town of Pak Beng (own cost in one of the few, basic, guest houses there). $20US pp.
2 Luxury Slow boat option - comfortable boat, maximum 40 passengers, 2 x 8 hour days. All meals & soft drinks included as well as one night's accommodation in the luxury Luang Say Lodge. Cost $340US Adults $170US Kids!
3 Speed Boat option - only 1 day, but have to wear helmets, no leg space and there are frequent fatalities due to the hidden rocks in the Mekong - especially at the end of the dry season. Cost negotiable. For us - not an option!
4 Fast boat option, Nagi on the Mekong, one day only, reasonably comfortable boat but departures from Huay Xai only twice a week, Cost $80US pp.
We really wanted to go for the fast boat but we would have had to stay in Huay Xai for an extra 3 days. There wasn't really that much to do there so that wasn't an option. The only other alternative was the luxury slow boat option, we knew it would be good, but at what cost?! The timing was perfect as the Luang Say boat left the morning after we arrived back from the Gibbon experience and to be honest, I felt so tired and grubby after our weekend of living in trees, I was really glad we were going to experience some luxury for a couple of days!
A couple from London who we met on the Gibbon Experience decided to do the same trip as us. I was so relieved, because when we stepped on the boat, it was full of elderly, middle class tourists travelling with tour groups! Thankfully, there were only about 20 other passengers so the boat was comfortably empty.
The boat was lovely, the overnight accommodation at the Luang Say Lodge was perfect and the food was amazing. I think we were given special treatment as the cook took a shine to Ella and Florence. It was easy to while away the 2 days by reading, playing games and soaking up the passing scenery. A lovely, relaxed way to travel.
The views on the Mekong weren't great. The slash and burn farming has created a haze across 3 countries - it does every year during March and April. At times visibility was down to less than 1km and ash would rain down on us. The river was about 7 metres lower than it's highest level (November is the best time to travel to experience the Mekong at it's mightiest!) revealing huge rocks and sandbanks. But, there is so much more to see on the Mekong. It's such a life force and is still the main artery of travel for the Lao people in this land locked country. Passing along it gives you a great insight into it's importance.
It's very concerning when you consider that the Chinese plan to build about 20 dams further up the Mekong, and along it's tributaries, in order to provide power for their burgeoning middle classes. 2 dams have already been built and the volume of water passing through the lower Mekong countries is already decreasing. As the only country of the 6 bordering the Mekong not to sign the 1995 Chiang Rai Accord (set up to settle disputes regarding development of the river), the future of the Mekong is very much in the hands of the Chinese......................