Laos

We flew from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang to explore our fifth and last country of this trip around South East Asia.

Laos (pronounced Lao) is a country covered to 70% of mountains. It is also the most bombed country in the world without really being involved in any wars.

During the Vietnam war, bombs that for different reasons wasn’t released from the loaded aircrafts meant for targets in Vietnam or Cambodia got dropped over Laos to secure a the landing of the plane back at base. How horrible is that?!

Still today people get injured and even killed from the bombs that never exploded when they were dumped. And they are everywhere. So very sad.

Apart from this Laos is a beautiful country with breathtaking views wherever you go.

For Christmas Eve me and S rented bicycles and road around town of Luang Prabang and visited some surrounding villages. This after getting up in the crack of dawn to watch the monks collect their aims. 

A lovely day.

An eight hour drive in the mountains we had travelled the 186km to get to Vang Vieng. A small little cute town surrounded by limestone karsts. 

We took a short boat trip on the river. Stunning scenery!

In the afternoon we travelled by local transport- tuk tuk to the Blue Lagoon where you could have a swim in the natural pools. Further on we walked through two villages, one Hmong and one Khmu, (two different mountain tribes).

We were given an opportunity to climb up to a viewpoint, but I decided not to, which turned out to be a very good decision. It was a very hard climb.

The day ended with a lovely group dinner at a restaurant located on the river. We sat on a platform on the water, as the locals - no chairs and a very low table.

We were also given the great opportunity to send a lantern to the sky together. 

The next morning we took the bus to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. We visited the COPE Center. An organisation helping people that suffer injuries from the UXOs around the countryside. A very interesting visit. 

That was also the end of my SE Asia adventure! Due to circumstances with flights I left the group early and started my journey home.

It turned out to be a different and a bit dramatic, but I made it all the way home.

Thank you for taking part in my travels! 

I wish you a Happy New Year! May 2019 become a fantastic year!

Northern Thailand

This morning we boarded a local bus, really fancy compared to other local busses we’ve travelled with. This was a double decker and myself and S managed to get the two front seats upstairs. Great view, but unfortunately not much to see. 

We arrived in Chiang Mai mid afternoon and had one and a half days to explore it. I was imagine a small picturesque town, but met a big city. I am not really interested in more cities. 

We went to the old city, but it was far too touristy and not at all charming.

The next morning we strolled around the neighbourhood by the hotel and found much more interesting roads and allies.

Later that day we visited Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep a very important temple for Thai Buddhist. 

The story tells the location of this holy place was found by a white elephant carrying holy remains, who was sent out to pick the spot for building this temple.

And the elephant climbed a mountain and when he kneeled they knew this was the right place.

From Chiang Mai we went to Chiang Rai by private car. The driver was a bit of a maniac driver on this mountain roads. After stopping at some very commercial hot springs and a place selling cashew nuts we reach the “White Temple”. What a place!

A local guy decided he wanted to build a temple, but a very special temple. He started in 1997 and estimates to have it finalised 2070.

The place is surreal! It could be taken straight out from a Disney movie. Very strange things are going on everywhere. 

Very awkward but also spectacular. I’m having a hard time taking it seriously though. Difficult to see it as a sacred place.

After white comes black, and the next morning we visited a similar but very different place - “The black house”. 

A local artist that built about 40 buildings in different sizes on his property. The one more awkward than the other.

We ended of our Thailand excursion with a visit to the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet via the Mekong river.

As this used to be an area for growing opium we visited the opium museum to learn more about the “black gold”.

Sukhothai

From Bangkok we went to Sukhothai by train (and last bit by taxi). A journey that took more or less the entire day. The train ride was the most pleasant one we’ve hade as for comfort, but the most boring one for scenery. Maybe we have become a bit blasé after all the fantastic landscapes we’ve travelled through, and green rice fields and small villages doesn’t impress as much anymore.

However this train won on comfort and service. A pretty smooth ride, not much rocking and bouncing, pretty ok seats, but best of all we got served a warm meal that was kind of good, and later coffee/tea with cookies.

All one could miss was the drink trolley!

As Sukhothai is an old capital city from the 11th century when this part of then Siam, now Thailand belonged to the Khmer empire.

Old Sukhothai has many ruins from that time and we spent a day on bicycles visiting some of them. 

We also biked around the countryside through small cute villages and fields.

In the afternoon we needed to rest our behinds from the saddles a bit and stopped at a small shop in one of the villages. The shop owner did everything he could to accommodate this two strange ladies on bikes.

We got to sit on his bench were he was seated as we arrived watching badminton on tv. He even run to his house behind the shop to fetch glasses for our beer. What a sweet man. 

In total we estimated our ride to 40km. A lovely day that came to an end with a sore bum, a lovely meal and a rock hard most uncomfortable bed. Not to talk about the pillow. 

Bangkok

We managed to fit a lot into our two days in Bangkok.

The first day we spent the morning exploring our neighbourhood and as we do, we found the small little allies where the people live. We had delicious street food on a curb for breakfast. 

For the afternoon we had booked a tour to the floating market, the train market and a boat trip. 

The organiser said it would be a group of maximum 10 and turned out to be 14, so that meant a full bus. 

The drive to the market was long and for quite a bit of time we sat in traffic. 

I slowly started to loose interest for this tour... 

Finally we reached the floating market, which turned out to be such a disappointment. I had imagined a small canal packed with little wooden boats and ladies in straw hats selling fruit and veggies etc.

Instead we met an almost empty canal with market stalls along the sides in buildings suited for just that.

The few boats that actually were on the water, served as restaurants. 

Not at all what I imagined, however we found some great street food. 

Next was the train market. A market strangely situated along a railway track. Basically on the tracks! Every few hours there is a train passing and all the stall owners has to push back their stalls, which are on wheels. And you have to find a little spot to hide as the train passes v e r y close to you!

One wonders, who came first - the market or the tracks?

We ended off this tour with a boat trip on the river, to look at fireflies. We managed to see some, but it was too much lights in the area to really experience it. The boat trip itself was nice tho.

However the long drive back to town wasn't...

The next day we met our new group. Only three other people and a guide. Seams like an ok bunch.

We visited the Gran Palace, together with thousands and thousands of our new Chinese friends... 

The palace is a place out of the ordinary. Gold, sparkles, decorations, temple after stupa. Too big to try and take in, and impossible to get your head around.

We visited "The Emerald Buddha temple" the most sacred place in Thailand.

After the Grand and the Royal palaces some of us took a boat trip on the canals, to experience a bit more of the "real" Bangkok.

We visited, what used to be a floating market, which today is like a big food court, partly placed on a barge. 

All in all a lovely day, that ended with food in one of the many restaurants popping up at night.

From Inle Lake to the end

Inle Lake is a big lake. We boarded two long tail boats that took us around the lake to visit several places.

We passed the floating gardens where they grow mainly tomatoes at the moment. The often change crops after every harvest to get the most out of their “land”.

We went through a couple of villages, that are placed on the lake. All houses are of course on stilts. It looks very well organised with straight “roads”, fenced “gardens” around the houses, shops and of course a temple. 

This is one step further than Venice. 

We visited some workshops for Cheroots (Burmese cigars), silver smith, weaving where they make thread out of fibres in the stems of Lotus plants and also silk.

At one stop they had a sanctuary for Burmese cats and showed the different fish found in the lake.

The last stop was old ruins of hundreds and hundreds of stupas mixed with newer ones. An amazing site.

We travelled back across the lake while the sun set behind dramatic dark clouds, but no rain on us today.

In the evening me and S found a great bar for a light meal. Again it was us and the men in town...

The next morning we left for HeHo airport. During the way we stopped at an old wooden temple and a place where they make umbrellas. 

The airport was a small place run very  manually and the small propeller plane took us to Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar.

A city built for 60 000 people where the population is 6 million, whereof 1.5 in down town. Motorcycles are not allowed in Yangon, so 90% of the cars in the country are here.

Our guide took us around downtown showing some old colonial buildings, and other places of interest, we visited the skybar at Lakeview Hotel for the views, and after being stuck in traffic we visited the big pagoda, that unfortunately was under construction but the area was impressive! 

To end this leg of the trip and put another country behind us we had dinner with the group.

It was now time to relocate to Bangkok, for a days “break” before our final leg starts.

Elephants & Caves

We left Bagan by private van to go to Kalaw, a small town up in the mountains. 

After a short drive we stopped at a place where the show how to make peanut oil the old way, having an ox walking round and round pulling the grinder.

We were also shown how the get the juice out of the fruits on the toddy palm, to make toddy. 

Last but not least they showed how palm sugar candy, Jaggery is made.

The drive continued on very curvy mountain roads until we reached Kalaw district. 

Here we had a rememberable experience at the “Green Hill Valley Elephant Camp”

A place where they look after retired log elephants and disabled domestic elephants. The government recently forbid working elephants.

At the moment they have 8 elephants at the camp.

The go find them every morning to check them, feed them and bathe them before letting them free again.

We got to meet four of the elephants and fed them pumpkin, banana stem and grass.

You put it in their mouth or trunk. How amazing!!!

Then we got in the river to bathe and scrub them.

Loved it!!!

Before we left we met the vet that talked about their job at the camp, and how they make “poo paper” from the dung.

Altogether a wonderful experience!

It was late when we reached Kalaw. Myself and S found a lovely little bar, no bigger than a closet where we spent our evening.

The next morning we hade a little bit of time before our train departed so we took a walk to a cave, full of Buddha statues. Over 8000 of them scattered everywhere inside this natural cave with narrow patches and small halls. Fascinating!

The train left almost on time and a couple of rocky and bumpy hours we reached Shwe Nyaung. From here we got a van to Nyaung Shwe. 

This is by the Inle Lake which we will explore tomorrow.

Bagan - the city of temples

We took a local bus to Bagan. A very uncomfortable trip as the bus had no real luggage compartment so all the big bags people carried had to go under seats and in the aisle. 

We did arrive to Bagan though. Bagan is a place where there are more than 2000 temples, pagodas and stupas.

The first day we visited a couple of the big more famous temples, and watched a beautiful sunset from a hill overlooking the area.

The next morning we flew hot air balloon over Bagan. That was soooo amazing!!! The flight was at sunrise. It was just sooo beautiful to see all the temples and pagodas from the air. As tradition says we got a glass of bubbles after the flight. 

The rest of the day we drove around on Electric scooters watching more different and interesting temples and pagodas.

The last day we walked around in the close by area and found one very interesting little place, and another market. The afternoon we spent at the pool before having a delicious dinner in an Indian restaurant.

Some more Myanmar

Our last day in Hsipaw was open for our own adventures and we did what we always do - explore by foot! We walked around the countryside and visited a lovely area called “Little Bagan” where there is many old overgrown pagodas. 

We took the local bus from Hsipaw to Kyaukme a very local bus, our bags got tide up on the roof and the inside was full of bags of rice and corn - and people!!! The bus only had 16 seats, but at one stage we were 32 people in it (with one hanging outside the door) 

In Kyaukme we went on a full day hike up a mountain to a Palaung village. 

A stunning walk in a beautiful landscape. A family in the village welcomed us into their house for lunch.

The next day we took the train to Pyin Oo Lwin. A long and rocky ride through a beautiful landscape. It took a couple of hours longer as a wheel of the back car came if the tracks. So we had to wait till they had lifted it back and got a clear to go.

It was dark when we arrived to Pyin Oo Lwin so it wasn’t until the next morning we were able to see any of it, which we did by horse and carriage. A great way to get to see the little colonial town.

After the tour we headed back to Mandalay where we went sightseeing for the rest of the day. A few temples  gold leaf making, marble sculpturing a real bridge and more. Best was the “Largest book in the world”. Every page has its own white pagoda!! Amazing! 

The day ended on Mandalay Hill, where you normally watch the sunset from the temple, however we were late but saw the city lit up. 

First part of Myanmar

We left Bangkok early in the morning to fly to Mandalay, Myanmar(Burma). A new county to explore. I hardly know anything about Myanmar so I’m very excited to learn more about it.

We got to our hotel mid-afternoon and managed to squeeze in a little walk-around before it was time to meet our new tour leader and group.

As we always do we found some interesting small allies where we walked around amongst the locals. We even got invited to a house where we got to speak to the old-man. Very interesting.

The next morning we got divided up into three taxis, me and S got our own. After a five hour long crazy drive on very winding roads over the mountains into the small town of Hispaw, where we had a lovely walk along rice paddies and small villages until sunset. Stunning walk! 

The following day was all open for our own activities. Most of the group took a boat trip while me and S did another exploring. We walked and walked around villages, fields, monasteries and other interesting places. As the Bamboo Buddha.

When we continued our trip we traveled by the local, very local bus. We sat amongst bags of corn and rice. The few seats the bus had were taken by tourists, so the locals sat and stood on top of each other. At the most we were 32 people + some kids in a bus made for 16...

We arrived to Kyaumke where we went on a 15km hike. We visited a Palaung village on top of the “mountain”. A local family invited us in to their home for lunch. Very special.

The hike was great, the landscape fantastic and the views breathtaking!

A lovely day that ended with cake for S that had her birthday and interesting but difficult information about the country and their complicated history.

Last of Cambodia

In Battambang we took a ride on the Bamboo Railway, the former transport way between Battambang and Phnom Penh. You ride on a bamboo platform placed on to pairs of wheels. In the old days it was manually driven, today they use a 6 Hp motor. It was pretty fun and the landscape was beautiful.

After the train ride (going back in rain) we visited the one and only vineyard in Cambodia and tasted their products; a red wine, a brandy, a grape juice and a ginger drink with honey. 

I don't think I have to go in to details about the wine? Let's put it this way - I didn't buy a bottle... 

In the afternoon me and S took a bicycle ride that we were recommended. Our guide, a uni student, took us 22km around the countryside where we visited small family businesses in their homes; rice paper, banana plantation,fruit farm, rice wine making, Sticky rice making and a Killing field from the Khmer Rouge regime. 

It was a lovely and very interesting afternoon.

From Battambang we travelled to Siem Reap, where the highlight of the trip was to be visited, Angkor. We got there before sunrise and saw the characteristic silhouette of Angkor Wat with the sun slowly rising in the back ground. Amazing!

The Angkor are is huge, we visited 4 of the temples, Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom City with Bayon and one more that I forgot the name of and finally Ta Pram for our guided tour and a few on our own.

Bayon in Angkor Thom City was built with 54 gothic towers with 216 faces of the king.

It was amazing to walk around the remains of it.

Ta Pram is overgrown by trees and also amazing!

We ended this fantastic day with a helicopter flight over the area and got to see Angkor Wat in all its beauty from above.

What a lovely day!

That was the end of this part of the trip. We flew to Bangkok where the tour officially ended wished the rest of the group happy travels and closed that chapter and opened a new... 

To be continued...