Vang Vieng!

Vang Vieng is a beautiful town, surrounded by limestone cliffs carved by a river. First up when we arrived it was quite late so we hit the bars, where I bought too many buckets. The next day we continued the drinking while tubing down the river. I was still feeling a little under the weather from the night before, so didn't drink too severely, although most of the bars offer free shots of lao-lao, the extremely cheap ethanol-like Laotian liquid. The whole idea was absolutely awesome, with really high rope swings into the river everywhere, and tubing down the river was great fun. I didn't realise beforehand that the focus was mainly on drinking in the bars along the river rather than the actual tubing - I had more fun floating sedately down the river rather than the doof-doof bars filled with highly inebriated teens. Guess it's a sign that I'm getting old, although if I was in the mood I think it would have been a great experience and I would have joined the ranks of over-drunk party-goers. Also I couldn't get past the feeling that drunk tourists were scarring what would be a beautiful town. The locals seem rightly unhappy at what has happened to their once-pristine town.


With my wrinkly old-age maturity cast into sharp contrast, we decided to go for a bicycling trip to some caves the next day rather than any more brain-cell destroying activities. The first part of the bike ride was quite taxing because my seat was at the lowest possible setting. After 7kms I found a place to fix the seat. With the much higher setting, riding was easy and I arrived at the caves 13 km from town in a much better mood. The first cave, the Elephant cave, was barely an excuse for a cave - more like an overhang on a cliff with a big buddha in it. The next two caves, Tham Hoi and Tham Loup (Tham means cave) were much better. Tham Hoi burrowed 2kms into the mountain, although it was quite similar for the first kilometre so we turned back at the halfway point. The cave was great and quite spooky, especially with only the meagre light of a torch to prevent ankle-turning missteps. Apparently spirits protect these caves, although I was unable to get the guide to elaborate on this. Tham loup was only 200metres long, although it had much bigger caverns and cool crawl-throughs, as well as a big hole in the ground to avoid.



On the way back I came off the bike on the gravel, grinding up my right knee and elbow and getting gravel deep inside the cuts. After a fun escapade scraping out the gravel from the wound and a good burn from the alcohol, we were on our way again. We stopped by the organic mulberry farm 4km from town. While it would have been tranquil before the tubing, it's right on the edge of the bars now, so doof-doof music rang throughout the place. However they did have delicious food; the eggplant dip was magnificent (maybe better than Baba Ganoush!); as was their goat's cheese. The honey and mulberry shake was a treat for the tastebuds, too!

The Plain of Jars, Phonsavon

The reason for existence of the Plain of Jars is totally unknown - possible reasons range from vats for rice wine to a place of burial. I love mysteries, and this place motivated me to see even more, like Stonehenge and Easter Island. This place was great, although the trip here was very windy. I had no idea it would be so ridiculously cold, we were huddling around fires between trips out into the drizzling weather. Miraculously, on the trip away from Phonsavon to Vang Vieng, the skies cleared and within ten minutes the sun was shining and the weather was warm again. Another mystery to add to the Plain of Jars.

Loving Luang Prabang

A beautiful 100 year old hotel, a hilltop wat, lovely architecture and great coffee. These are all the things that the French have given me through the lovely UNESCO listed site of Luang Prabang. The views of the city from the wat on the top of the hill are amazing. There is also a small cave shrine a little further down the hill, where Bec and I spoke about religion and Buddhism in a hushed tone, overawed by our tranquil surroundings.


The buildings here are all beautiful, and speak of an age when people put their heart and soul into building design, rather than being content with a concrete box as we are now. Even the window handles and door locks are beautifully wrought. The markets are extensive, although you would experience nothing new after seeing the first three stalls.



Laos-style barbecues are also a fantastic aspect of this country. The waiter serves you a hefty stone bucket filled with red-hot coals, upon which he places a metal hat. He then appears with one plate filled with thinly sliced beef and a serving bowl filled with cabbage, mushrooms, eggs and tomato; basically a million things that can be boiled in a soup. Filling the bottom of the hat with broth, you boil your meal over the hot coals yourself, while frying the fat and beef. It's the funnest dinner experience I have had in a long time!!




After appreciating the delicious crepes, coffees, and muffins that are in abundance here, I went out to Utopia with the crew I had met on the slowboat. Utopia is a lovely lounge in town, where the more active can play beach volleyball while the less adventurous can sit and chat, sipping beer in a woven straw hut perched over the river. Drinks kept flowing, and when the bar closed at 11.30, we partied on in a hotel room with a very cheap thinly-disguised ethanol brew and more beers. The night got pretty hectic, so much so that one of the English guys only realised that he broke his ring finger the next morning.

Boating down the Mekong to Laos

What an experience!

As we boarded the old wooden boat that would take us for the journey from Chiang Khong on the Thai-Laos border to Luang Prabang in Laos, I felt a chill of excitement - two days aboard a boat, what an interesting way to travel! Our night in Chiang Khong was lovely, with the most comfortable mattresses in all of Thailand, as well as many relaxed restaurants overlooking the Mekong, and Laos on the other side.The first picture in this blog post shows me in a restaurant in Thailand, looking out to the lights across the river - Laos. That night I also happenstanced upon the most amazing of desserts - an Ovaltine Volcano. If you're ever in Chiang Khong, be sure to get one from the cafe that's open late near Boom Guesthouse. It was filled with ice and horrible turkish delight and was ridiculously sweet.

The slow boat route is a tried-and-true banana pancake backpacker's trail, so we could be sure that every western comfort was provided, comfort forged by the decades of pilgramages by previous banana pancakeists. After being told of hard wooden seats and dodgy toilets, we were very pleased to find a western toilet and washbasin - even the seats were padded, although they did look like that had been requisitioned from a bus that happened to be in the wrong place at the right time.


After a day filled with the most amazing sights along the Mekong, fishing boats, nets and large cargo ships overtaking our meandering passage down the river, we stopped off in Pak Beng for the night, a little village that contains only hostels to accomodate slow-boaters. The Indian restaurant we tried was well below standard for the price of the meal, which took 2 hrs to be served. The only resemblence to Chicken Tikka Masala was the chicken in the meal. In Pak Beng I also discover a most delicious lunch, which is the baguette with filling that is everywhere in Laos.

After two days taking in the beauty of the Mekong, lined with rocks and light jungle plants and the occasional small waterfall stream, I couldn't wait to stretch my legs and check out our destination, Luang Prabang.

The Art of Massage

One thing I felt I wouldn't get another opportunity to do authentically is a Thai massage course. As I have only read books on massage before and not taken part in any courses, I was very excited to finally get some hands-on experience in Thai Massage.

Thai massage works in a strange way. Rather than focussing on relaxing muscles by kneading them, it follows a set of energy lines around the body. Over the period of my five day course, I got to learn where each of the major energy lines are in the body and the energy points to press. Main Thai massage techniques include pressing down with the palm onto muscle, and pressing your thumb along the energy lines in the body. To facilitate this, the body is manipulated into various contortions, hence it being referred to as 'yoga massage'.

I had a great time that week with my two massage intructors, Oui and A. Apart from teaching me massage, A also told me how to make Pla Chu Chee, one of my most favourite of Thai dishes. Learning that I loved it, she also made it for me on the second last day of my course. What lovely women!

Another great skill to put in my repertoire, can wait to try it out on willing volunteers!!

Learning Northern Thai Cuisine

Once back in Chiang Mai, Bec and I booked into a Thai cooking school called Asia Scenic. It provided us the opportunity to each learn how to cook an appetizer, a noodle dish, a stir-fry, a soup, a curry paste, a curry, and a dessert. I chose spring rolls, pad se-uw (one of my favourite thai noodle dishes, with the fat noodles), chicken with cashewnuts, Tom Yung Koong (a hot and sour prawn soup), green curry paste and green curry, and sticky rice with mango for dessert.

After being starved of being able to cook for months, I absolutely loved the cooking course, and would recommend it to anyone - it's 900baht for the course, which is around 30 Australian Dollars, and while giving you the opportunity to cook and eat the dishes you select, also shows you the basics of how all the other options are made (for example, red curry paste), and furthermore provides a cookbook which tells you how to make all the other dishes on the options list, including paneang and massaman curry and curry pastes.

I can't wait to get somewhere with a kitchen so I can try my newfound Thai cooking skills out!!

Climbing Chiang Diao

We set ourselves a difficult task, starting a climb up an extremely steep mountain at the hottest part of the day. While it was only a 4.5km trail one way, we also rose 1km in elevation across the walk, most of which was straight up without any respite. The walk took 2 and a half hours to get up to the very top, after which stage I was very tired and swaying where I stood. Bec was going better than me, all the jogs back home must have been good for her!

Once we reached the top, we could check out the amazing view to all sides. The last 5 minutes of the climb involved climbing across a rocky face. It was all so beautiful at the summit, with every inch of tree bark covered in tiny orchids, and yellow flowers on the bigger trees. The climb down, however, only took about 30 minutes - mostly sliding down in a way I invented called shoe-sledding, where you crouch down and propel yourself with your hands. I don't recommend it, however - it probably makes the path even more slippery for the next avid climber. Chiang Diao, you almost killed me, but luckily I was still alive at the bottom, to enjoy a long rest in the pool and a delicious Thai dinner at a fine restaurant called the Nest 2.

Caving in Chiang Diao

 Correction - we were staying in Malee's Nature Lover's Guesthouse, which is next to the Nest. After an afternoon resting, swimming in the pool and checking out the local Tham Chiang Diao, we were refreshed and ready for the next morning. I went and visited the Tuesday Morning Markets, which were supposed to contain wares from the local hilltribes. However, there were only the usual items one would find at markets and no people from the hilltribes, so after finding some delicious food there for breakfast, including dim sims, a spring roll, banana muffins, a corn waffle, and some mini-proffiterroles, I headed back.

On my return, we headed to the caves in Chiang Diao mountain. They are in complete darkness, so we had to hire a guide with a gas lantern to take us around the caves. The guide's claims that the rocks were shapes like an elephant, cat, or some other animal annoyed me, but once I was able to ignore his suggestions I could appreciate the wondrous natural rock formations without needing to imagine the supposed zoo of rock animals. The caves were great, with amazing rock formations, stalagmites and stalactites, as well as bats on the roof of the caves. Spooky shadows were cast by the lantern which made the whole experience seem surreal.

On the way to the Big Buddha cave, there were fluorescent lights on the side of the cave walls, the light from which bracken and ferns were growing, it was beautiful! However, a local film was being made so we were unable to see the Big buddha cave itself. Having seen many very large Buddhas already, I was not too concerned. Upon exiting the cave, the bright light blinded me into the real world again - I was sad to leave such a cool place! Maybe I'll try spelunking or more caving sometime!!