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Day: 263
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Day: 251
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Day: 121
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Laos
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Mui Ne has a certain microclimate, thanks to the dunes surrounding it, which do not allow rainy clouds to get into town. At last we left the rainy areas of Vietnam!
Mui Ne is a very long and narrow town, it stretches along the cost for a few kilometers. Our guesthouse is situated 5 km from the centre, so we rent bicycles instead of going everywhere on motorbike taxis. It appears, that the only difference between our area and the centre is the prices.  We do not regret our choice of guesthouse, but we try to find accommodation on the beach for the New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately in all of the places we hear “Sorry, full”. When it comes to parties, every restaurant and hotel offer a New Year party. There is also a three day electronic music festival organized by a British, a German and a Pole. On the second last day of the year we go there and make sure that this is the right place to spend the next night. Finally we spend the “zero hour” on a different party on the beach, with fire-shows, bon fires and lots of people. We spend all night going from one place to another, really enjoying the beach clubbing.
Apart from all of the beach disco places in Mui Ne, we also visit other attractions, closely related with Mother Nature. We go for a long walk along Fairy Spring – a shallow, red stream, with a source close to the sea. It is surrounded by brick coloured canyons and dunes. Along the way we see a herd of red cows with a shepherd also walking in the stream and a few huge water spiders using surface pressure to “run” on water. Finally we a small waterfall that is the source of the lovely stream. It is probably our longest walk in the water.
We also make a trip to red and white sand dunes located several kilometers from Mui Ne. When it comes to the colours, the names are a bit misleading – we find the white ones rather yellow, and the red ones rather orange. The biggest fun is the sand sliding on special sand sleds (a piece of plastic with rope handles). All the local kids around try to lend you those, even if you have one already. Initially the price is ridiculous, as for a piece of plastic used for a couple of minutes. We manage to bargain for half of the price and slide like crazy on the huge “white” dunes. We are happy that the hot sand in Vietnam is not the cold snow in Poland.
We leave Mui Ne in the early morning on the 1st of January, a bit tired after the previous night. Fortunately we have sleeping places in the bus. We sleep all the way to Ho Chi Minh City.
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Distance covered at this stage: 153 km
Total distance covered: 13527 km
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Nha Trang is only a one day stop on the road to Dalat. We are told by two Canadian girls (with who we meet from time to time for the last three weeks) that is rains in Nha Trang for a few days and the forecasts do not predict any better weather. Tired with rain (and there is not much except the beaches in Nha Trang) we get on the bus to Dalat on the 27th of December, hoping it will be sunny there.
On the way the bus staff informs us about a two hour delay. We are surprised, because there were no problems on the way. The map on the GPS explains everything – the driver chooses a longer route, not to use the toll road, to earn some more money.
The weather is beautiful in all the places we pass on the way, but as we go up the mountains it’s getting colder and wetter. It appears there’s no sun in Dalat as well. We find a hotel 15 minutes from the centre and we know only one road leading to it from the centre. The narrow roads and alleys in Dalat are exceptionally complicated – everytime we try to find another way to our hotel, we get lost.
We spend two days in Dalat. Unfortunately almost all the time sightseeing is difficult because of the rain. We take a walk along the seven kilometer path around the Xuan Huong lake, visit the local market (where you can even buy strawberries!), buy seeds of some stunning orchids, and walk along the steep and curvy streets of the town.
On the 29th of December we leave to Mui Ne, where we plan to spend the New Year’s Eve.
Distance covered at this stage: 223 km
Total distance covered: 13374 km
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We arrive in Hoi An in the early afternoon on the 23rd of December. Because of Christmas we choose a very nice room to feel the make it more special, even in the tropical climate.
It rains lightly all the time, so we do not visit the nearby beaches and concentrate on the charming old town. The river that flows through the centre of the town causes some trouble flooding the pavements and streets from time to time. We really enjoy jumping from one dry place to another. We buy fresh fruits on the local market and eat them on a bench quickly between one shower and another. The place to eat on the first day is chosen by rain as well – when it starts pouring there is only one restaurant in our neighbourhood. We stay in the restaurant for much longer than we want, this is the opening day, so the menu is not yet available. After half an hour from placing our order we are told that our choice is not available and that we have to choose something else. Finally, after two hours we manage to leave, again in rain, because during lunch it stopped raining for a while and then started again.
We want the Christmas Eve to be an unusual day. We buy a telephone card to call our family during dinner time in Poland. We spend the day strolling around Hoi An, we see the Japanese bridge, some temples and colourful houses in the old town. After sunset, Christmas lights start to shine everywhere, people dressed as Santa Clauses appear on the streets; we feel the atmosphere of Christmas, despite there is no snow. We buy ourselves presents – elegant, silk clothes; we didn’t want to eat dinner in shorts and T-shirts. The tailor, who quickly makes some changes in Rafal’s shirt, recommends a restaurant for dinner. We looked for a place earlier, but the one she tells us about is was much better. The meals are served by waitresses dressed in red with Santa’s hats and carols are played all the time. Some other tourists dressed smartly appear. We light a candle, we share bread wishing each other all the best (a Polish custom). We order European pastas, cheese imported from France, and salads like the ones we have at home. Chocolate tart and delicious fresh fruits, which we wouldn’t even dream of at home, and cinnamon and chocolate shakes are a perfect ending to the splendid Christmas dinner in Vietnam. Around 11 p.m. we call our families and go to sleep in a beautiful, cosy room.
On the 25th of December we spend another rainy Day in Hoi An. After it rained all night we fear the river flooded a bigger area of town, but it is not that bad. Before sunrise we go on a trip to My Son – the most important monument of Cham architecture in Vietnam. Together with some other tourists and a guide we visit the religious complex – it’s oldest part dates back to the fourth century! During the war the Americans heavily bombed the area because, which was supposed to be a Vietcong base. Because of that some of the buildings were completely damaged; there are plenty of wartime souvenirs – bomb craters surrounding the buildings of ancient Champa kingdom. During the war the (curator) of the Guimet Museum in Paris wrote a special letter to president Nixon asking to stop bombings in My Son area because of the heritage sites. That very letter saved the Cham temples from being completely destroyed
About 7 p.m. we take a night bus to Nha Trang. It appears that there are more passengers, than beds, so there is a small fight for the places in the beginning. Some people have to sleep on mattresses in aisles (efficiently blocking our way to the toilet).
Distance covered at this stage: 132 km
Total distance covered: 13151 km
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After a night spent in a comfortable sleeping bus, we arrive in Hue in the early morning. During thinking of a plan of sightseeing in the former capital of Nguyen empire while having breakfast, we are accosted (apart from sellers of books, sunglasses, paintings, etc.) by a man offering motorbike trips around the city. We resist the first impulse of saying “No, thank you” as to all other proposals, and take a look at the album with pictures and comments of satisfied customers the motorbike driver hands us. Finally, tempted by a reasonable price and the opportunity of seeing all the sights of Hue in a few hours with a native guide, we say yes. It appears to be a very good choice. First, we go to a Buddhist temple to take part in the morning service of the monks. The prayers sung to the accompaniment of gongs and bells are blissful and let our distracted thoughts concentrate. Apart from us, there are only a few tourists, who decided to go on a trip with “easy-riders”; the temple is not described in the guidebooks.
Afterwards we visit an incense village. We smell it, before we see it. There are freshly made incense sticks drying in the sun everywhere. They attract also with their brightly coloured sticks. We try to roll some incenses ourselves, but the results are not worth mentioning. We buy two bags of incense sticks (cinnamon and sandal tree fragrance), and a traditional conical hat – Hue is said to produce the best in Vietnam.
Then we stop near a few bunkers near the river. Now they are surrounded by lovely greens, but it is easy to imagine what happened here during wartime. The guide explains, that there are French and American shelters on our side of the river and South Vietnamese on the other.
Our next stop is the Tu Duc Tomb. Apart from the emperor’s tomb, there is his wife’s tomb, some temples, and facilities he used during his life. The whole complex was built in 1867, however despite the fairly young age most of the buildings are severely damaged. There is no sign of conservation works or securing the area from the devastating climate. Nevertheless the breadth is easy to see, it takes us two hours to see everything in the complex. We eat lunch in a place just outside the tomb area and continue the trip, next stop – Thuyen Tran temple. A huge, over a hundred meters long dragon serves as a handrail along the stairs from the old temple, to the new one situated on a hill behind. The guide says that this is the longest dragon in Vietnam. The new temple was built last year and the whole area again is not yet popular with tourists.
The next place – Thien Mu pagoda is one of the most popular sights in Vietnam. The eight storey construction was build in 1601 and since then was destroyed and rebuilt several times. In the 60s anti government protests took place near the pagoda. Behind the sanctuary there is a car, used by a monk named Thich Quang Duc to get to the pagoda to commit self immolation in protest against the politics of the president. This event began a series of self immolation acts, which were named by the notorious president’s sister-in-law as a „barbecue party” – a phrase that shocked the world.
We end the trip near the citadel, which we visit on our own. We do not regret the choice of the “easy-rider” – thanks to this, we see many important places in Hue, away from crowds of tourists with a well prepared, English speaking, local guide.
We spend the remaining day in Hue looking for ingredients for traditional Polish Christmas dishes, we want to prepare just one, so it feels more like home. It didn’t work, not much of the European food reaches Hue supermarkets. It wasn’t enough even for the simplest dish. We end the day with a stroll on the riverside.
We leave Hue on the 23rd of December, going to Hoi An.
Distance covered at this stage: 738 km
Total distance covered: 13019 km
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In the early afternoon we arrive at Cat Ba, starving as we had no time to eat during the trip. When we finally reach the restaurant, it appears that the power is out on the whole island, so our lunch is prepared in complete darkness (we know, because as usually we have to go through the kitchen to the toilet). We split up with Jacquie and Mike, because they want to spend the night in the tent on the beach, we prefer the cheaper hotel in the centre.
We decide to go around the island on our own. We rent a motorbike for 4 dollars and we start the trip in the early morning next day. The motorbike appears the best way to see the island –it is too big to cycle it around in one day. We shoot some pictures of a very curious water buffalo couple and just next to the pasture we spot an entrance to Quan Y cave, hidden behind huge, iron door. We find a Vietnamese guy with the keys to the cave. We pay money for the entrance (we doubt it was an official fee) and he guides us through a small labyrinth of tunnels. During the war the cave was used as a shelter and a hospital (among many rooms there even used to be a cinema for people living in the cave), but we have to learn all the facts from the guidebook, as the guide only communicates with us using his charming smile. Nowadays all the rooms in the cave are completely empty – the only thing left is the electric network providing light.
As we go further along the coastline we reach a huge area of artificial lakes, that appear to be prawn farms. There is a lovely bamboo hut with a restaurant build on one of them, where we eat lunch. The waiter offers us fishing while we wait for the meals, but unfortunately we do not enjoy such activities. ;]
After coming back we arrange a one day trip to Ha Long Bay. At first everything looks perfect – there are only four more people on the boat except Jacquie, Mike and us – we are glad, because the boat in rather small. The included lunch is very big and tasty, but the kayaking lasts only one hour, instead of two. Half way to Ha Long we have a long, unpredicted stop, because of the engine breakdown. From then we continue the trip using only the boat’s slowest gear, stopping from time to time, when the engine totally refuses to cooperate. We stop in Ha Long just for a moment; we don’t have time to see the caves and explore the bay. During the return trip the crew tells us to stay inside the cabin, not on the upper deck, so we play cards, until it gets too dark to continue. It starts to be a bit scary, because the boat has no light, it is completely dark outside and we still have over 10 km to go. The crew tries to avoid the rocky islands of the bay (we hit only one), the boat goes very slowly, we are hungry, because we should have been home by that time, and the only thing left on the boat is beer. We are very surprised to see that the crew decided not to go straight to Cat Ba, but to return the kayaks before. The stopover has an advantage though – we get a plate of rice with egg. We return to town with a four hour delay, a bit disappointed, but we manage to get some of our money back, so we indulge ourselves with a big dinner.
The last day before leaving the island we (all 4 of us) go trekking to a national park on the island. We decide to go on our own, without a guide and we choose the longer of two alternative routes. We heard that it is possible to arrange a return boat in the village on the other end of the park. This is our plan and it works out perfectly. During the trek we manage to see huge spiders, a stick bug, a small snake and we hear sounds of a big animal in the bushes, which we do not manage to see. We like the fact that the trails are not maintained by people; we are surrounded by nature, in some places we have to hack trough the thicket or guess which road to take when the trails cross.
In Cat Ba we buy an open night bus ticket to Ho Chi Minh City with a few stops in the most popular places. On the 20th of December we leave the beautiful island and take the bus to Hue.
Distance covered at this stage: 157 km
Total distance covered: 12281 km
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We arrive to Hanoi before sunrise. Despite the early hour a lot of people work already, especially those selling food. Unfortunately a lot of hotels (the word hotel is also used for guesthouse standard accommodation in Vietnam) are still closed. We eat a very early breakfast and after a long search we manage to find a room, which is twice cheaper than the average in Hanoi (which is still two times more than we paid in Sapa). We travel together with Jacquie and Mike as we have the same plans for the north of Vietnam, so we have good company for wandering around Hanoi.
We start sightseeing in the Museum of Ethnography. The exhibition located in a huge building is not breathtaking. The exhibits are well prepared and have descriptions in three languages, but the lack of interactive, interesting forms of display makes the visit a tedious walk along showcases, not a cultural experience. However a few exhibits, like a tribal, wooden badminton set or a terrifying shaman mask draw our attention for longer. The heritage park outside the museum is much more entertaining. The traditionally decorated wooden huts show the character of tribal villages. We also like the local sculptures, that straightforwardly explain everything about the birds and the bees.
We continue experiencing Vietnamese culture in the Water Puppet Theatre. The show consists of seventeen short episodes with scenes of traditional dance, legends and the life of rice farmers. We are truly amazed both by the colourful show on the water and the traditional Vietnamese music. No wonder why tickets sell out so quickly for all the shows.
The next day we visit the Temple of Literature, which apart from being a regular temple, is the first Vietnamese university as well (founded in 1076). The whole complex is dedicated to Confucius. Just before leaving Hanoi we pay a visit to Uncle Ho, as the locals call Ho Chi Minh. The body of the communist leader raise strange feelings in us. The visit in the mausoleum lasts only a few minutes, you walk around the corpse of Uncle Ho surrounded by communistic symbols and straight faced soldiers, in complete silence. The strange thing is that the last will of Ho Chi Minh was to cremate his body.
Hanoi is a city of motorbikes. We quickly learn the technique of crossing the streets, which is quite scary in the beginning. There are no rules, green light means nothing, no one will stop to let the pedestrians cross. There is only one law – the bigger and the one with the loudest horn goes first. If you want to cross the street you need to slowly, but surely start walking and the motorbikes will (hopefully) drive around you.
In Hanoi we get on a train to Haiphong, where from we take a boat to Cat Ba Island.
Distance covered at this stage: 324 km
Total distance covered: 12061 km
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The bus we waited so long for, goes to the border along dirt roads winding around green hills. Sometimes rivers cross the road, but the driver does not mind the lack of the bridges and just drives to the other side like he was having an amphibious vehicle.
On our way to Sapa, we stay overnight in Den Bien Phu, where from we take a bus to the most popular town in Vietnam’s mountains.
On the 10th of December, 10 minutes before the scheduled departure, the bus leaves the station with screech of tyres and starts racing another irresponsible bus driver along the curves, ups and downs. None of the passengers react to the driver’s behavior – in Vietnam this way of driving is considered normal. Within the first quarter of an hour everyone already has symptoms of motion sickness. We are worried about getting safe to our destination. Luckily, after a few minutes more passengers get on the bus and the rest of the journey is a slow trip in an overloaded bus.
Sapa is the coldest place we visit during our tip. We manage to find a room with a fireplace and a view on the boundless, foggy valley for a reasonable price. We buy some winter gear on the local markets – things that we will only use during high-mountain trekking (gloves, scarves, hats and sweaters). Fully equipped, in a nice company of a Canadian couple, Jacquie and Mike, we set off to conquest Fansipan – the highest peak of Indochina, 3143 metres high. The Lonely Planet guidebook says that two, three and four day treks are organized and that the shortest one is for advanced trekkers only. After visiting a tourist agency (where we are convinced to summit and come back in one day!) we choose the two day option. We are joined by Nee, a porter and guide from the local Hmong tribe. Because of the language barrier our communication with Nee is rather limited. All our questions, despite their complexity, are answered with a truly American ‘Yeah!’. The first day we reach the base-camp on 2800 m, where we stay overnight with some other trekkers. Nee cooks a delicious dinner for us and starts a loud party with other porters telling us to go to bed. During the night, the triangular, tin hut creaks and shakes due to a very gusty wind. We cannot sleep for a few hours, because of the sounds, the party and the freezing cold (it got a few below zero degrees during the night).
The next day we reach the summit of Indochina The amazing view rewards the difficulties of the hike – we could watch the giant cascades of clouds falling down from the lower peaks forever. Nee gives us ginger candies, Chinese pears and after a while we get ready for the descent. Nee hikes in plastic sandals without socks, carrying a huge wicker basket, but the steep trail is not a problem for him. At the end his feet are covered with blood, but he is a tough mountain guy and he seems not to notice this at all.
After coming back to Sapa, we take a quick shower, then we set off to Lao Cai, from where we take a night train to Hanoi.
Distance covered at this stage: 343 km
Total distance covered: 11737 km
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In the early morning on the 7th of December we head towards the bus station to go to Luang Nam Tha and further to Vietnam. On our way we are accosted by a songthaew driver with a Czech couple onboard offering to give us a lift for half of the normal price. We accept the promotional offer. After a quick lunch in Luang Nam Tha we catch a bus to Oudomxai; we reach the destination in the evening. After dinner in the only restaurant that was open in town (we have show the waitress what we want to eat, because of the language barrier) we go to sleep in a guesthouse next to the bus station. The next day we plan to finally reach Vietnam, so we take the earliest bus that goes towards the border. We decide to cross the border in Tay Trang, despite some sources mention that it is closed for foreigners. We are tempted by its location; we would have to travel additional several hundred kilometers, if we used a different crossing. On our way we learn that the Tay Trang crossing opened for foreigners in may 2008 and that probably we will be able to cross the border. After a few hours we reach Muang Khua, where we hope for a quick change to a bus going to the border. Unfortunately it appears that the next bus to Vietnam is… the day after tomorrow. This is how we got stuck in a small town at the world’s end, where electricity is a luxury and is only available from 6 to 10 p.m.
We spent two nights in a room that satisfied only the basic needs, waiting for the four hours of energy with chargers of all kinds of equipment. In one (out of two) eateries in town we witnessed the processing of live chickens (delivered in sacks) to fresh meat. In Muang Khua women work with picks on road construction areas, families share rooms with pigs and different kinds of poultry wander all around the place. The town will probably gain popularity due to the convenient border crossing to northern Vientam.
We will retain only good memories from the forced stopover; we experienced true Laos, unspoiled by tourism. We spent two days cut off from the outside world walking around town, playing with children joyfully greeting us with ‘sabaidee’ everywhere we went. Most of the time we were forced to do nothing. On the 9th of December we cross the river surrounding town in a small boat and finally get on the bus to Vietnam.
Distance covered at this stage: 276 km
Total distance covered: 11394 km
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Day: 36
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After a short journey along hilly and curvy roads we reach Muang Sing. Despite our efforts, it takes two days to find a guide for our visit to Akha tribe. A young Laotian named Ong is a perfect guide – he speaks English and Akha and the agency he works for doesn’t charge unbelievable amounts of money for his services. Ong organizes a trip to a village located only 6 km from Muang Sing, but it seems as the end of the world. The only road leading to the village is in terrible condition and as we learn later becomes impassable during the rainy season. We don’t suppose that anyone ever visited Ban Pasang for touristic reasons. Thanks to Ong, who knows people from the village we spend a few hours with the headman of the village, who eagerly answers our questions. We feel honoured that he didn’t go to work in the field that day just because of our visit.
We sat in front of his house and the first lady of the village treated us to water and cucumber. Ong appeared to be a very good interpreter. After a long and very interesting conversation we went for a walk around the village. Ban Pasang has 213 inhabitants living in 44 houses. During our visit most of the people worked in the fields a few kilometres from the village. The headman showed us two classrooms, where local children learn till the age of 15. They are encouraged to learn with food they get for free for attending to classes. The daily struggle of people from Ban Pasang is hard to imagine. Lack of food is a problem – even the rice they grow themselves needs special processing, which cannot be done in the village. Water accessibility and quality is a bigger issue – there is one well (a hole in the ground) with dirty water, outside the village. The only place with electricity is the headman’s house – there is a small solar panel on the roof. Despite all this our interlocutor claims to be happy. He named three things, that would make his life entirely happy – a bigger house (despite being the biggest in the village, it’s area is no more than 30 squared metres and there are 10 people living in it ), running water in the village and building material for a new road. The headman asked the government for stones several times, but he was always told to wait. The chances for change for young people are very small: most of them cannot speak Lao and the prices of living outside the village are unimaginable. The richest person in Ban Pasang – the headman of course, earns 500 000 kip monthly, he manages to save half of it – that means that daily expenditures of his family are less than 1 Euro.
Despite the hard conditions we are hosted with exceptional hospitality and cordiality. After the conversation and walk we eat lunch (rice, eggs, boiled mustard and grilled broom grass) at headman’s house. Especially the last dish was very tasty, despite it’s simplicity. We leave the village late afternoon, we thank the headman for his time with small gifts, he says that we are always welcome to come and sleep in his house. On our way back we go to a different Akha village also not popular with tourist but much richer. Just as we enter the village, we encounter a very strange thing – a man with diabolic eyes shouts at us from a cage. Ong, who was probably used to this, calmly informs us that this is “a crazy man” who has to be kept in the cage not to kill anyone (he once tried to set fire to the village). This is the weirdest mental hospital we’ve ever seen.
Altogether we spend 5 days in Muang Sing. Apart from visiting the Akha, we visit the GTZ office (a German project that aims to improve life conditions i.e. of Akha in Lao), walk around the neighbouring countryside; we are impressed with the local ‘football stadium’ – a huge pitch with a small tribune, where the grass is cut by local cows.;) We also try some local specialties (rice with coconut milk and fruits, traditional fermented soy bean and chilli pastes and seaweed crisps) in all four restaurants in town, but quickly we choose our favourite, just opposite our guesthouse and run by the same family. The grandma seems to be the most important person there, she always tries to make everyone feel at home. Her husband’s knowledge of English is limited to ‘OK’, but his laughter is so impulsive, infectious and unpredictable (and a bit worrisome), that we end up laughing with him all the time without any reason. The third person (the daughter) is sad all the time, we have an impression that when taking orders she forces herself not to cry. A one-eyed mongrel fulfils the image of the restaurant. We spend our last evening in our favourite restaurant chatting with a British girl and an Australian guy about our travels till late night.
Distance covered at this stage: 354 km
Total distance covered: 11118 km
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Day: 35
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We arrived at Luang Prabang late in the evening and we only managed to find accommodation and eat supper. Due to the lack of Couchsurfers, who could host us in the north of Laos, we have to rely on guesthouses for a while. We also rent bicycles to travel around the city. By accident we find a nice viewpoint over Mekong hidden behind the bushes. We notice a group of young monks playing on the other side of the river. Despite their respectable looks, they behave like other children at their age – shooting from catapults, chasing dogs, laughing loudly and fooling around. After a while an older monk in his late teens joins them and they take a boat and cross the river. He starts a conversation with us and we spend a while talking about our trip, monk’s life, winter in Poland and so on. At the beginning he said that they were all going to school, but judging on the amount of time he spent with us, the school is not very strict or they just left the temple way to early.
We spend most of the time cycling around town and sight-seeking . Near one of the temples, which attracted us with a loud ceremony, we saw a small petang (Laotian version of boules) championship on a specially prepared field. The players cheered by a small crowd of spectators tried to throw their silver balls so that they stop as close to a small orange ‘jack’. A professional score table hung on a tree emphasized the prestige of the game. We also visited the national stadium – a football pitch surrounded by a dirt track and a three metre high stand. In fact the pitch was full of cycling children and there was no sign of professional athletes. We managed to climb up the stairs of Phou Si mountain just in time for one of the must-sees in Luang Prabang. The stunning view of the sunset over mountains attracts lots of tourists with cameras of all types.
The evenings in Luang Prabang appeared to be very cold and the amount of the warm clothes we brought insufficient. In search for some warm gear we visited two markets. The first one was huge and offered everything from huge Nokia lookalike phones, through second-hand clothing and smoked puppies, to motorbikes and fruits. The second one was a night market, which after dusk came in place of one of the main roads. It offered a huge selection of beautiful, local handicrafts – silk scarves, embroidered clothing, silver jewellery, paintings, colourful handbags, and ceramic opium pipes. It was very hard to focus on one thing and leave the market empty handed. Even if we asked about the price driven by pure curiosity, the possibility of getting a over 50 percent discount made us consider buying each of the hundreds of those amazing souvenirs. When we finally purchased an item, the salesperson convinced us that the product would surely bring us luck and that this was our lucky day. We definitely enjoyed our time at the night market.
On the 2nd of January we get on an almost empty bus to Luang Nam Tha, which leaves the bus station on time, but spends half an hour just round the corner without any particular reason.
Distance covered at this stage: 211 km
Total distance covered: 10975 km
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Day: 25
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We spend the five hours in the bus to Vang Vieng accompanied by loud vendors and their giant frogs in plastic bags (alive at the beginning of the trip), fish products and countless amounts of bags with herbs, rice and other stuff. Thanks to the wide open windows we survived in this weird mixture of smells and sounds.
When the bus stopped In the middle of a red, dirt road in a place surrounded by only a few stalls, we were surprised that this was the famous Vang Vieng, the main tourist destination between Vientiane and Louang Prabang. After a short walk from the old runway used as a bus station, we reached the main road. Both sides were packed with guesthouses, restaurants, stalls, shops and tourist agencies. But the first thing we noticed was the tranquility of the place. It seemed like all the inhabitants were hidden in their homes. While having lunch near the main road, one could count no more than a dozen cars passing by. The town was very relaxed, all of the restaurants had lying places with small tables; even the dogs were sunbathing, not willing to move. Vang Vieng is so tiny, that a two minute walk from the ‘centre’, gets you to the middle of the fields, where the cattle is bred free – without any fences or harnesses. The place is surrounded by steep limestone peaks and seems to be hidden here from the rest of the world. We reached the Laotian oasis of tranquility!
When it comes to the most popular activities in Vang Vieng, most of the guest houses and probably all of the agencies offer a wide range of tubing or kayaking trips. Our choice was a bit different, we decided to explore some caves and neighbouring secluded spots.
Thanks to the old bikes we rented for 10.000 kip (ca. 1 Euro) we were able to cover a bigger distance and avoid ‘Do you need a tuk-tuk?’ questions. During the three days in the extremely slow and chilled out town we did, what one cannot avoid in Vang Viang – rest. In the early morning on the 29th of November we went to the new bus station to go further north. Another nice surprise – with one hour of delay a VIP bus arrived instead of a local one, which broke down a few miles from Vang Viang. We leave Vang Vieng comfortable and relaxed.
Distance covered at this stage: 153 km
Total distance covered: 10764 km
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Day: 25
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The second class sleeper train was perfect – after a good sleep in great conditions we reach Nong Khai, the border town, which is linked with Vientiane by The Friendship Bridge build by the Australians. This time crossing the border took less time and cost a predictable amount of money. We easily find the house of our next host – Jeffrey. The house is very spacious and beautifully surrounded by coconut palms. Jeffrey lives with his girlfriend and, a Dane and a German guy named Stefan, who appeared to be an anthropologist, who studied the life of Akha tribe for 12 years. It couldn’t have been better!!! Akha is the hill tribe I want to base my research on. Next day Stefan gives us plenty of information about the Akhas and arranges a meeting with Ronald, his workmate and I guess a personal authority as well, who has a great knowledge about hill tribes. Both Stefan and Ronald give us plenty of tips for the future and lots of advice considering not only the Akha tribe.
It is sad that Vientiane is a place for one day, but we decide to spend some more time here, to rest after the stay in busy, noisy and dirty Bangkok. The main attraction for tourists here are Patuxai – Asian version of Arch of Triumph, a few temples and of course watching the sunset over Mekong in of the open air, riverside restaurants. Another thing that makes one’s stay in Laos more enjoyable is that being a millionaire here is very easy, as 1 million kip equals about 100 Euros. Vientiane differs from the European’s idea of a capital city. The time passes very slowly here, the only ones that are in a hurry, are the diplomats in convoys; they disturb the tranquility of the city for a minute and then everything comes back to normal. Because of the small area of the capital, the city is packed with government buildings and embassies. The free space between them is filled by dozens of temples.
We visit the two main ones – Pha That Louang and Wat Si Saket. The first is a great, golden stupa, a place so important for Lao people, that it even found it’s place on the national seal. Next to the stupa, there are two more temples all is surrounded by a beautiful park. Rafał was invited for a chat with a young monk, who spent his free time painting motives from Lao decorative art, which is strictly connected with Buddhist relegion. He started being a monk when he was 12 years old and since then every day of his life looks more or less the same – he wakes up at 6 a.m. and prays, than goes to school, meditates, prays again and goes to sleep at 10 p.m. The chats with monks are very interesting and because of their usually good English, broad knowledge and talkativeness we can learn about their tradition and religion.
One of the places, where citizens of Vientiane meet in the evenings are the greens with fountains. The benches of one of them fill up with flirting and laughing teenagers just after dusk. The park surrounding the second fountain, close to Patuxai, fill up with people exercising and enjoying the audiovisual water show.
On the 27th of November we take the local bus to Vang Vieng, not being happy to leave the laid back capital, but hoping that the rest of Laos will be as fascinating as Vientiane.
Distance covered at this stage: 646 km
Total distance covered: 10611 km
click here to download photos
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We land in Bangkok on the 19th of November, 10.30 local time. We want to “just pass through” the Visa on arrival point, not knowing that it will cost us 4 hours and a lot of money. It appears that we won’t get the visa on arrival without having the return tickets for a flight departing within the next 15 days. The border guard is not willing to negotiate, says that even a ticket to Lao is not enough and that we need a ticket back home! Our only option is to book tickets do Dusseldorf for the 3rd of December, which we don’t need and return them the same day, paying a cancelling fee of 7000THB per person. Nevertheless, we explain to ourselves, that every expedition has to have its’ worse moments and we are glad that they happened in the beginning and the rest of the trip will be lucky and problem-free.
In the evening we reach On Nut, a district far from the city centre, where we meet Clovis, a guy from Cameroon, who agreed to host us during our stay in BKK. We go to bed very early as we are tired after over 20 hours of travelling.
The next day we head towards the Democracy Monument in the city centre. We come across a huge ceremony connected with the death of the king’s sister. There are crowds everywhere, school trips, families, elderly people and almost no tourists, which is rather uncommon in Bangkok. We sit on the side making photos, when an old Thai with long, gray hair and a friendly face starts a chat. He used to work in an office, but now he retired and spends his time travelling and learning to dance. He has no plans for the afternoon so he joins us for the rest of the day. Together we visit Wat Po with the giant statue of the reclining Buddha. There are a few Chinese stone statues in front of the temple. Our Thai companion explains that they were brought here as a ballast on the merchant ships exporting rice to China. He also tells us some details about the decorations in the temple. The ones on the feet of Buddha were made from fragments of pearls, the ones on the walls from broken pottery. After visiting the temple we go for a late lunch in one of the street food stalls. We split on Khao San Rd. in the late evening after having a great time together. We eat an Indian dinner and after that we return to Clovis’ house in an extremely cooled bus no. 511. Despite being tired, we stay up till 2 a.m. discussing problems of Africa with our host. Clovis is sad about the mentality of African people and annoyed with the lack of organization in the African countries. Before coming to Thailand he was a distributer of palm oil in his country, but he was forced to leave by the huge and unfair taxes. He says that the thing Africa needs the most is not help, but the change of the mentality, which of course is a very hard task.
Probably because of the late night discussions and the time change, the next day we get up at 1 p.m. We would sleep even longer, if it wasn’t for Clovis, who woke us up and served a delicious African breakfast. We realise that we won’t make it for the meeting with professor Werner at Ramkhamhaeng University. ;( Professor Werner is helping us from the beginning and was one of the first to support our project. Luckily, we will visit the crowded capital again in a few weeks time and then we won’t miss the chance to meet.
The first half of the day continues as awkwardly as it begins. We spend three hours in a giant traffic jam and because of it we reach Pratunam market – a great place for cheap shopping, just before it closes. Despite that, we manage to buy what we are looking for and from now on everything goes the way we wish. We buy the train tickets to Nong Khai (near the Lao border) and we use super fast over- and underground transport to reach On Nut. We eat a goodbye dinner with Clovis and go to sleep early.
We get up early the next day and go to Hualampong train station to leave our luggage to do a bit of “lightweight” sightseeing. We get on a bus heading towards the centre, but not only is it slower than the pedestrians due to the traffic, but it goes all around the city as well. Because of the long trip we only manage to eat dinner (we leave half of it as the hard lemon grass and some weird stick seem to be left in the meal accidentally) and we head to get back to the railway station. We planned to see Wat Arun, but that has to wait till next time as well. After having fried rice with vegetables for dinner (as usually) we get on the night train.
We leave the heavily crowded Bangkok with feeling slightly relieved and we hope that in Vientiane, we will manage to rest a bit.
//Unfortunately the route on the map was not recorded by the GPS (we couldn’t use it on the plane), hence it is just a straight line.//
Distance covered at this stage: 9965 km
Total distance covered: 9965 km
click here to download photos
Nadszedł najsmutniejszy dzień wyprawy. Kupujemy ostatnie pamiątki, sadzonki orchidei, zostawiamy sobie 300 baht na pamiątkę, mówimy „bye, bye, Thailand†do ostatniego Tajlandczyka stojącego u drzwi samolotu i o 11:35 odlatujemy do Dusseldorfu.
Goodbye Big, Big, Thailand!
Â
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Rano płyniemy łodzią na Phangan, gdzie spotykamy się z Brazylijczykami, po czym lokujemy się we czwórkę w Power Beach Resort. Cały dzień odpoczywamy, wieczorem idziemy na Black Moon party, ale okazuje się, że jest to impreza na dużo mniejszą skalę niż Full Moon, a na dodatek bardzo droga, więc rezygnujemy. Gramy jeszcze trochę po ciemku w bilarda w ośrodku, ale nie idzie nam najlepiej, więc idziemy spać.
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Budzimy siÄ™ tak późno, że okazuje siÄ™, że nie ma już żadnego dziennego promu do Krabi, nastÄ™pnego punktu podróży. Jedynym wyjÅ›ciem jest Night Boat, który pÅ‚ynie dwa razy dÅ‚użej niż inne statki i dowiezie nas do celu nad ranem. CzekajÄ…c na statek w mieÅ›cie prosimy jeszcze pana w songthaewie, żeby nas zabraÅ‚ na jakiÅ› Å‚adny punkt widokowy. Pan decyduje siÄ™ pokazać nam wodospad, ale na miejscu okazuje siÄ™, że po wodospadzie pozostaÅ‚o jedynie suche jak pieprz koryto. Wracamy wiÄ™c do portu, na Night Boat, który nie mniej nas zaskakuje. Pod dumnÄ… nazwÄ… kryje siÄ™ rozklekotana dwupiÄ™trowa Å‚ajba, w której Å›pi siÄ™ w pomieszczeniu majÄ…cym okoÅ‚o półtora metra wysokoÅ›ci, przy czym na jednego pasażera przypada okoÅ‚o trzy czwarte jednego, cienkiego materaca. To nie jedyny przykÅ‚ad ciÄ™cia kosztów – Night Boat zabiera okoÅ‚o 200 pasażerów i posiada 100 kamizelek ratunkowych Warunki sÄ… spartaÅ„skie, lecz o dziwo wysypiamy siÄ™ jak królowie.
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Z samego rana wypływamy promem na Ko Phangan. Kupujemy wejściówki do kabiny VIP na górze statku, aby troszkę jeszcze dospać, ale okazuje się, że wybraliśmy złe miejsce. Załoga statku traktująca kabinę VIP jak pomieszczenie służbowe, włącza na cały głos jakiś drastyczny horror i całkiem dobrze się przy nim bawi. Dalszą część rejsu spędzamy więc na plastikowych krzesłach na najniższym poziomie łódki.
Na Phangan nocleg znajdujemy u holenderskiej rodziny, która prowadzi ośrodek wypoczynkowy przy plaży. Kiedyś mieli sklep pod Rotterdamem, jednak zmiana waluty na Euro zniszczyła ich rodzinny interes, więc za radą ekonomisty znaleźli korzystniejszą walutę i założyli ośrodek w Tajlandii.
Późnym popołudniem raczę się tajskim masażem na poddaszu u sympatycznej pani. Po szybkiej kolacji wraz z resztą gości z Moon Flower Resort udajemy się na Full Moon Party. Impreza za darmo, urządzona z takim rozmachem, że warto by było przemierzyć taki kawał świata wyłącznie dla niej. Przy plaży aż po horyzont ustawione są obok siebie różne sceny muzyczne prezentujące niemal wszystkie gatunki muzyki; wszyscy mają na sobie fluorescencyjne ozdoby, a w momencie kulminacyjnym podpalany jest ogromny napis „Full Moon Party Thailand†umieszczony na kilkumetrowym stelażu. To najlepsza impreza w moim życiu.
Po powrocie rozmawiamy do siódmej rano z gospodarzem, który siedział przy barze i czekał, aż wszyscy dotrą z imprezy.
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Ranek spędzamy nurkując z rurkami na rafie koralowej. Wykorzystujemy czas w wodzie do maksimum, wychodzimy z niej dopiero, kiedy sól boleśnie drażni nam oczy i usta. Jesteśmy zachwyceni krystalicznie czystą wodą oraz morską florą i fauną. Wśród kolorowych rybek udało nam się nawet odnaleźć Nemo! My już wiemy, gdzie jest
Popołudnie i wieczór spędzamy objeżdżając wyspę na quadach. Po drodze oglądamy plażę otoczoną z dwóch stron morzem, która łączy Ko Tao z mniejszą wyspą, wielkie wysypisko kokosów, zachód słońca na skałach i bardzo ruchliwe kraby. Kolację jemy przy akompaniamencie monsunowego deszczu w uroczej restauracyjce ukrytej na zalesionym wzgórzu.
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Cały ranek zachwycamy się widokami na plaży Chwang Mon. Biały piasek, błękitna, przejrzysta woda, palmy, słońce… wszystko jak z rajskiej widokówki. Wszystko pięknie, tylko śniadanie na plaży nam się nie udało. Jemy mango o smaku kiszonej kapusty i okropne niby-figi kupione w spożywczym. Spędzamy trochę czasu z lokalnym sprzedawcą hamaków, który w ramach „Happy hour†chciał nam sprzedać jeden za równowartość 50 groszy. Chłopaki grają z nim w piłkę, on natomiast leczy nieprzyjemną ranę na stopie Krzyśka jakimś zmielonym ziołem, które zrywa przy plaży. Dostajemy się także wpław na malutką wysepkę oddaloną o kilkadziesiąt metrów od brzegu Chwang Mon.
Wieczór spędzamy w pobliżu naszego miejsca pobytu, lepiąc z piasku na plaży stadiony, toalety i góry z kulek, czym znów zdobywamy uznanie turystów, tym razem Japonek.
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Jak przystało na rozsądne turystki opalamy się z Ewą o siódmej rano nasmarowane kremami z wysokimi filtrami.
Przed południem opuszczamy pokoje, ale zaskakuje nas ulewny, monsunowy deszcz, przez który nie ma prądu na całej wyspie, więc początek zwiedzania opóźnia się o jakieś trzy godziny. Dopiero koło szesnastej udaje nam się wypożyczyć małego jeepa i od razu udajemy się na wycieczkę ku wielkiemu posągowi Buddy na wyspie. Posąg budzi jednocześnie respekt i śmiech. Opodal modlą się mnisi i znów czuć tę specyficzną energię, ale tuż za posągiem znajduje się koło z migającymi, kolorowymi światełkami przypominające diabelski młyn. Odpustowo-jarmarcznego charakteru dodają jeszcze maszyny-Buddy, które za pieniądze przepowiadają przyszłość.
Wieczorem chcemy zobaczyć bardzo osobliwÄ… atrakcjÄ™ – skaÅ‚y w ksztaÅ‚cie prÄ…cia i pochwy, jednak zmrok zapada zbyt szybko. W pobliżu znajdujemy przez przypadek Reggae Bar, w którym spÄ™dzamy wieczór. Malutka plaża odgrodzona skaÅ‚ami, nad niÄ… mocno Å›wiÄ™cÄ…cy księżyc, palmy, uÅ›miechniÄ™ci i przemili tajscy Rastafarianie relaksujÄ…cy siÄ™ na hamakach, muzyka reggae…. jednogÅ‚oÅ›nie stwierdzamy, że jest to najbardziej urokliwa knajpa na Å›wiecie. Wbrew wczeÅ›niejszym ustaleniom wracamy do oÅ›rodka bardzo późno.
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Dużą część dnia spÄ™dzamy zwiedzajÄ…c przepiÄ™kny kompleks budowli przy PaÅ‚acu Królewskim. Wielokolorowa, czasem balansujÄ…ca na granicy kiczu architektura stwarzaÅ‚a urzekajÄ…cy, bajkowy nastrój. Wielkie wrażenie wywarÅ‚a na nas energia w Å›wiÄ…tyni Szmaragdowego Buddy (jest ona dla tajlandzkich Buddystów tym, czym Jasna Góra dla polskich Katolików). Po krótkiej medytacji mamy podobne odczucia – spokój i religijne skupienie tego miejsca wchÅ‚onÄ™liÅ›my każdÄ… komórkÄ… ciaÅ‚a.
Wieczorem udajemy się na spacer po parku Lumpini. Przy wejściu napotykamy grupę kilkuset ludzi uprawiających aerobik pod dyktando żywotnego instruktora na podeście. Tańczą młodzi, starzy, niektórzy tuż po pracy; teczki i wizytowe ubrania po ciężkim dniu pracy odpoczywają obok, na ziemi. W dalszej części parku znajduje się siłownia na świeżym powietrzu, po raz pierwszy spotykamy także mężczyzn grających w takraw (popularną w regionie siatkówkę kopaną z użyciem rattanowej piłki). Kolację jemy w wielkiej hali ze stolikami, otoczonej różnymi stoiskami z jedzeniem.
Bangkok zmęczył nas trochę. Decydujemy, że następnego dnia lecimy na południe, na wyspy.
Â
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The day starts wonderfully. The breakfast served in the hotel (included in the room price) appears to be a feast. Then we spend the whole day riding around the capital in two tuk-tuks (a sort of motor powered rickshaw). We visit some typical tourist attractions including the Big Budda monument, and the Golden Mountain – a teple towering iver Bankok with a magnificent view of the entire city. On that occasion we are suggestively encouraged to visit tailor shops, tourist offices and jewellery shops, sklepów z tkaninami – the drivers tell us that they get a coupon for petrol for every customer they bring. This explains why they charge us $0,5 for a one day trip for 5 people. We take the drivers’ phone numbers willing to use the patent for cheap sight seeing tomorrow as well.
In the evening we eat dinner in a cosy Indian restaurant at Kao San and then we makre one of the trip’s biggest mistakes – we are persuaded to see a Ping-Pong Show. All because of naivety and curiosity. The show which was supposed to be a kind of erotic entertainment appeared to be a demonstration of pornographic underground run by a mafi. The only fun we had was the trip to Pat Pong (the red district) itself. We got there with a crazy tuk-tuk driver, who drove faster and faster the louder I screamed. He took the turns on two wheels, lifted the front wheel when accelerating, took hands off the handlebars when driving through crossroads… – free fun fair (transport price was included in the ticket price) We got back from Pat Pong all in one tuk-tuk (that makes 6 people with the driver) – its as funny as it is uncomfortable.
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We still don’t belive that everything worked out and we really are in Thailand. The first thing that amazed us was the air. A hot mixture of tropical damp with low-octane, urban smog seems to be so dense, that one can push off from it. As befits unexperienced travellers, we overpay for a taxi from the airport and for the hotel, that costs us twice as much as it should. We expected some small deceptions, but when we heard “Don’t sleep there, you will get robbed”, we didn’t think much. Being far away from home, still with full wallets, we chose the more expensive option, not wanting to risk.
We refresh after the flight and go shopping on Kao San Road (you can buy everything you need for this climatre there). We drink Thailand in with all our senses, everything is different from what we saw in Europe. The blend of smells of humid air, smog, city canals and food and spices sold at stalls is so exotic, that we find it astonishing. However Janek is astonished by the number od transmit/receive satellite antenae he notices on every roof
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