Well, its now August, and our Asia trip seems a distant memory.  To aid that, we’ve just spent a few days creating a photo montage and got it printed out and delivered today in A0 size.  Its massive!! 5,200 pixels wide, and 7,300 pixels high.  Any bigger the laptop kept crashing and it wasn’t able to convert the file types.  Looks amazing.

Now doing one for our Europe campervan trips.

Such a PITA – having to copy & stitch together numerous “maps” to get one the size we want.

See attached for a much smaller version of Asia so you get the idea.  The quality and size of the real one is HUGE! (85cm x 120xm) and the detail is super as you can see all the name places etc really well.  The pics are roughly where they were taken..

Ahhhh – memories…..

Mistakes

We aren’t perfect, and we made a few mistakes along the way!  Here are some:

• Brought too much!  Our 35+8 litre rucksacks were perfect, but we still brought too much.  Laundry is cheap and by weight, so you could bring less and wash it more.  No need to bring much security; mozzie nets; sheets; towels; batteries etc.  .
• Temperature and seasons differ in SE Asia.  We hit North Vietnam when it was cold, and Sapa was muddy, cold and cloudy.  Hence we skipped Sapa (normally lush and green).  Check seasons for best route.
• We pre-booked flights in Vietnam as we thought it was going to be busy for Chinese new year.  This meant we cocked up and missed Nha Trang and Dalat which we wanted to see.  In the end there would not have been an issue.  So don’t plan ahead too far, and just let it happen.
• We probably weren’t as sociable as we could have been.  To be fair, we did socialise a lot, but because we got on so well (bless!) we didn’t really need or want any other company a lot of the time.  Though no doubt we missed out a little being a bit too enclosed.

Travel Lessons Learned

• No matter how slow or thorough you are, you will always meet someone who did something extra in a place you went to and you thing “damn – missed that!”
• Everyone is different and likes different things.
• Paying $3 for a posh bus instead of $1 for a naff bus that may or may not turn up isn’t cheating, nor does it detract from the overall quality of your own adventure.  Bragging rights and photos aren’t always worth the misery.
• Similarly, paying $15 for a clean room with hot shower and AC and a good nights sleep instead of $5 for a flea-pit and dirty sheets isn’t cheating, its wise.

Things we wish would change

The purpose of coming on this trip is to see different things and different ways of life, so really its unfair to hope that anything changes.  Some changes are for the better, some for the worst.  Tourist money though DOES help improve local infrastructure and as countries develop they will always change.  Of course, you will always meet someone who says “it was better 10 years ago”….

• Wish the “TukTuk Sir?” and “Masssarrrrrrrge?” questions were less frequent, as we hate having to ignore them.  Seriously, at times, you have no choice – you can’t say “No thanks” to them all.  Wish Asian TukTuk drivers understood people LIKE walking!  Also if they were more honest I’m sure they’d be busier.
• Wish prices were shown and market stalls were less “helpful”.  We like to browse and may stumble on something to buy.  We don’t always know what we want, and showing us load of stuff “For you sir?” just makes us walk away…
• Wish it was easier to chat and communicate with the locals.  We try, but in many circumstances people just want to sell you something or drag you into a shop or a fake Buddha festival.

Poor, Poverty and Charity

There are lots of poor people in Asia, but there are also lots of well off people.  Its not just westerners who are rich when some locals have expensive cars and houses, though most seem to value other things over material possessions.  The people living in the countryside seem to be poorer financially, but with a simple age-old life they seem generally happy and hard working.  Food seems in abundance and whilst we’ve seen poor areas and villages, we’ve not seen poverty where people can’t even get food.

As the lifestyle here is eons old, they only look poor to us – they probably know no better and giving money to people and especially children doesn’t actually help.  All it does is encourage begging and maximizing the Westerners ATM image.  Tipping for good service at an appropriate level is of course fine, but at a percentage or amount relevant.  Tipping too much just migrates people to tipping tourist jobs and not jobs that actually help the economy.  We found tipping at local street food stalls was completely unexpected and appeared to make their day, even though the amounts were trivial.

Remember, just being in Asia helps hugely.  Don’t feel bad being here and enjoying buying cheap things by western standards.  Remember everything you eat, drink and buy, and everywhere you sleep keeps lots of people employed at good rates.  In addition roads and transport links are improving which are sometimes with tourists in mind, but also help the locals. 

Be aware of beggars and even children with their own babies begging for either money or food.  In Cambodia for example, all primary schooling is free, yet some children still beg as its easy to make a few $ per day which is a fair living.  Children asking for baby milk for instance (instead of money) is a scam, as they simply return it to the shop for money!  The Cambodians say:  “Let Children learn and Adults earn”.   Even disabled and disfigured people can be scams from parents deliberately deforming their children as they know it’ll provide them a begging income for life…  Not giving in will end this.  If you want to give, give to NGOs and registered charities you trust.

Not everyone is as poor as they appear!  Due to the different attitudes on materialistic things, we’ve seen poor looking street vendors with new iPhones; poor looking motorbike taxis also owning brand new 4x4s etc.

Costs

With 4 months in Asia, it is fair to say we now understand a lot more than when we left – and its scary on how little we knew about places before we left.  Whilst we were “backpacking” we didn’t slum it in the slightest and actually had some excellent accommodation, locations,  food and transport links.  Mostly things we didn’t know were available when we left!  Not sure we fit into the “flashpacker” category, but probably in somewhere between.

Our route overview was planned, and our idea was to roughly follow it, do anything we wanted, stay as long as we wanted, and see what happened.  If we went too slow then we’d miss a country off; and if we went to quick we’d go somewhere else.  As it was, our pre trip guestimate was pretty accurate and we used up the slack we built in easily. 

We would say, as novices, we didn’t do much outside of the ordinary.  A seasoned traveller/backpacker would look at our route and blog and fall asleep as it was so common and boring.  However, for us, for a first ever backpacking trip to Asia, we’re happy with what we’ve done and it suited us just right.

This trip has been vastly different to every other trip we have undertaken by probably an order of magnitude.  We have had to learn new skills on how to get around, eat and sleep – as without the campervan everything is more of a challenge!

Now without sounding like it was a perfect trip and everything was superb, overall – the trip was well, absolutely superb!  Yeah we had some challenges along the way; yeah we had the odd problem; and yeah we occasionally went to a duff place or somewhere we didn’t like.  But this just made the trip more interesting and added to the experience.  For the last couple of days in Bangkok we were reminiscing what we’d actually seen and done and can’t believe it – it really was an amazing and stunning trip, moreso than any van trip we’ve undertaken to date.

For the overall money we paid for everything, we think it has been excellent value for money.  We’ve had experiences that were awesome and out of this world; we’ve stayed on beaches that are in the Worlds top 10; we’ve eaten like Kings and been pampered and not had to do any chores for 4 months. 

Whilst we did plan a rough route before we left, and did some background reading, it is funny how little we know about countries, places and general stuff.  Also Asia is changing rapidly, and “new edition” books (even Lonely Planet) is wrong in some key areas, and even the Internet has duff information.  Here are some interesting views we had before we left compared to reality:-

• WE THOUGHT:  We may have to sleep apart some times in same-sex dorms…  TRUTH:  There were very good value guesthouses everywhere, we always had a clean private double room; all-bar-once had en-suite; and had AC 95% of the time.  Rooms typically cost from £6-£20.
• WE THOUGHT:  Mozzie nets would be needed, bed bugs would be everywhere.  TRUTH:  Only needed Mozzie net a couple of times in “basic” bungalows, but when needed they were provided.  No need to take your own.  No sign of bedbugs.  Bedding always spotlessly clean.
• WE THOUGHT:  We will need to learn to use squat loos.  TRUTH:  Every guesthouse had western facilities, and western facilities available everywhere we needed to go.  Though maybe we planned well and were able to keep it in when needed!  Such that I never needed to use squat at all, and Mel only once.
• WE THOUGHT:  Security, theft, and being ripped off would be common.  We bought numerous security devices.  TRUTH:  We never felt our personal well being was in danger, and we never felt at any more risk from theft than in Europe, and were probably more comfortable walking round at night than in the UK.  You do need to be aware of scams and being conned though.
• WE THOUGHT:  Electricity and Internet would not be readily available and hence brought extra batteries.  TRUTH:  In the last few years things have changed – mains electricity everywhere unless you deliberately go out to remote places, power sockets in every room we stayed.  Internet and free wifi available everywhere – may not be quick but it is there.
• WE THOUGHT:  Clothes would be good value and cheap to buy.  TRUTH:  Western brands not readily available, and whilst some clothes are cheap they are “market stall quality” only – and then not much cheaper than a cheap/junk shop in UK.  The only time we saw quality western clothes they were at (or above) Western prices.
• WE THOUGHT:  We would be alone and doing some unique stuff.  TRUTH:  There are 1000’s of travellers from young backpackers to oldies doing the same thing, and you see the same people multiple times.  Its not unique, and its easier than you think!
• WE THOUGHT:  It’d be tough to get around and between places.  TRUTH:  If you are in place A and place B is worth seeing, then there is a well trodden route to get there!  Its not worth looking at the next step till you get to a place, as each stop off will suggest alternative destinations you may not have considered. 
• WE THOUGHT:  Laundry would be a pain to deal with, so we bought loads of undies.  TRUTH:  Everywhere does laundry, by weight, for next to nothing.  You can easily get your laundry washed and dried in a day – so don’t worry about taking too many clothes.  (Typically 50p-£1 per kg)

Northern Thailand Costs and Review

See our general tip page here.  Note the costs here do not include flights, vaccines and insurance etc – this will be detailed at the end of the trip.

Overall

After enjoying Southern Thailand previous, Northern Thailand was always going to be interesting.  We did the main sites and enjoyed the cities we visitied.  Fair to say though our heart wasn’t into seeing too many more temples, caves or waterfalls.  Had we seen Northern Thailand first then we’d have done a lot more.

Still, very much enjoyed Thailand and would recommend it.

Budget

Our daily spend of £42 for us both we think is pretty good.  If you like drinking more, eating in better places, or buy more tat, then £50 a couple is a good budget.  We did use good and more expensive guesthouses, and had a few expensive meals and trips.  Thus on a budget, you could do everything we did for probably £30-35 a day for a couple quite easily.  (e.g. shared bathroom, no AC, and only street food). 

We also did spend money on good transport and didn’t always use the cheapest option, sometimes a simple taxi to the airport is easier than a crammed lorry with bags balanced on the roof doing the rounds trying to pick more people up for an hour…

Security

You will hear all the nightmare stories before you go and when you are there.  But we didn’t have any security problems, and only felt vulnerable once or twice – and that was in “night life” areas of dodgy places.  Always carry your valuables, so don’t leave laptop/money/passport anywhere other than your “day bag”.  You may be forced to leave main rucksack out of view (bus hold, ferry bag pile etc) and thus don’t keep anything in main rucksack of value.

That said, we never had problems, and no one tried to short-change us or rip us off, so for us, Southern Thailand is as safe as anywhere.  Just don’t get complacent.

Useful facts:-

• ATMS:  Everywhere for VISA and Mastercard.  Easy to get cash at airport. Only Bhats are dispensed
• Currency:  Everything is priced and paid for in Bhats.
• Landry:  Everywhere – 20 to 70 bhat depending where you are (35/40 average)
• 7/11:  Everywhere – convenient for cheap/cold water and sweets!
• Transport:  Busses easy; Trains easy; and taxi/tuk tuk “beep” on way past you – so easy to get as you just wave.  Agree taxi/tuk tuk price before getting in.  We used taxi; tuk-tuk; bike tuk-tuk; pickup truck; songthaew; mini van; old bus; newish bus; train; sleeper train;  speedboat; longtail boat; ferry; moped.  No problems in anything…
• Chemists:  Everywhere
• Food:  Easy to get on street – wherever people are there are food sellers
• Language:  Knowing Yes, No, Thanks, How Much and numbers in Thai is enough to get by easily.  You will learn other things when needed. 
• Power:  mains plugs everywhere so charging stuff is trivial (socket adapter may be needed, and of course make sure charger is 110/240v!). 
• Internet:  Wifi available in every guesthouse we used and in many bars/cafes.  Internet cafes and PCs to borrow also available free/cheap.
• Toilets:  Western style in all guest houses and in most “good” public places, there may only be one in a row so look.  Worth carrying toilet paper though seldom needed.

Stuff we took and didn’t use

(see our packing list here)

• Towels – they were provided by every guesthouse, even special beach towels
• Mozzie net – only needed in one place, and it was already provided.
• Loads of clothes – you only need 4-5 sets of undies – laundry is so trivial to do you do not need to carry as much as us.
• Spare batteries for stuff – power so available we kept things charged
• Main padlock – all guest houses had normal locks

Things we’d change

Pattaya probably isn’t on our list to visit again, but apart from that we’d not change a thing

See trip index here, Northern Thailand index here and more photos from Northern Thailand here

For a couple of chilled days we decided to head to Pattaya which is probably not one of the best places in Thailand!  One guidebook quotes it as the place where all the Western and Russian Scum washes up…  But, it is close to Bangkok, has a beach and an island or two, and should be bearable and fun for a couple of days.

The trip from Ayutthaya to Pattaya was interesting… TukTuk to minibus station; minibus to Future Park; then forwarded by 5 people to the right man to give us a seat on a minibus to Pattaya, then as it was so hot we hired our own songthaew to take us to our hotel.  Quite a fun and friendly trip if a little confusing.  Our hotel was rather good, a nice little suite, but probably not in a family area!  Far too many old/grey westerners with young Thai partners everywhere.  It is a very male dominated place, though a lot of the males are at least as feminine as Mel, and many of the women probably weren’t born that way.  Of the genuine females, as many were Russians a fair few were more masculine than me!

Pattaya Walking Street is a usual interesting road, lots of ping pong and lady boy dancing and touts, but a fun place to be.  Getting around Pattaya is easy and cheap using the songthaews – something we’ll miss when we return – hanging off the back of a pickup truck through traffic…

We did manage to have one of our most expensive meals for tea though – a huge and good Fish n Chips, with ketchup salt and vinegar!  Okay – yeah – we’re almost home…. 

To be fair we’d probably not recommend Pattaya to anyone, but it is suiting our need to see the sea before we return.  We did plan to visit Laan island but the weather was so hot we thought we’d just be hiding in the shade all day.  There is just about enough to do wandering around and people watching, but even so the lack of photos we took does suggest its not the prettiest of places.

Our return to Bangkok was quite simple – bus to the Airport and then the sky train to the city, and then public bus to the hotel.  Imagine that at Heathrow!  Our hotel was a bit of a luxury for us – a rather large suite for the princely sum of £28 a night.  A bit pricy for us, but a bit of a final treat.  We wondered how Bangkok would fair now our Asian experience has increased, but really it is still a fun and mental place to be.  We were still very close to Khaosan Road and the busy and bustling atmosphere, and we were also close to one of the canals enabling us to take a boat into the main city.  We expected a slow canal boat, but these were mini racers and how it didn’t tip up we’ll never know.

After a couple of days of wandering round we had our last supper in a very nice place, but with plenty of wine and pricier food it has got us back into the UK mentality!  After the last restaurant bill we should now be more ready for the UK… 

And so.  That’s it.  The end to an absolutely amazing trip, far different to any other trip we’ve undertaken.  We’re going to be very sad leave Asia, and no doubt we will return…

See costs and review of Southern Thailand here

See trip index here, Northern Thailand index here and more photos from Northern Thailand here

Sukhothai has a new town which in itself is nothing special, just a typical newish Thai town.  Market, night market, and lots of cheapish street food.  The main reason to stop here is for the historical old Sukhothai and the twin town of Si Satchanai.  Both of which contain large ruins and historical buildings, with the former being more renovated than the latter.

The old Sukhothai is very pretty indeed, nicely landscaped and some of the more renovated states and temples in nice surroundings.  Really rather pleasant to walk around and have the audio guide explain a bit more about the history.  It is good and worth seeing, but it doesn’t really touch Angkor park in terms of scale or wow factors.  There are many Buddahs, Wats and a lovely Stupor with elephants all around the bottom but nothing fully awesome.

Probably due to the bodies of water, there are more mozzies in Sukhothai at night than we’ve seen elsewhere which makes open air restaurants a lot less comfortable which is a shame.

We had planned to visit Si Satchanai which is similar but has not been renovated, and as such is less popular and a lot wilder and tomb-raider like.  But as time is running out for us, and our next stop is Ayutthaya where there are even more ruins and old temples, we opted to skip Si Satchanai and see if we can fit a couple of days on the beach before we fly back to reality.

It was supposed to be simple getting to Ayutthaya – a main bus from Sukhothai to Bangkok and just get off an hour early and grab a tuk-tuk for the last 7km.  Getting off the bus was fine but it pretty much dropped us on a motorway hard shoulder, so we just had to walk a bit till we could get where we wanted (GPS phone a perfect tool!).  As luck would have it, a legitimate “motorbike taxi” stopped us and asked where we were going, but we said “not getting on your bike mate!” (in fluent Thai, obviously) – so he said “no problem, I’ll get my truck”.  And in 3 mins we got in his brand new truck and taken to our hotel.  So don’t think these motorbike taxi owners are poor!

Our hotel is superb for the money and the hosts provide as much information as you need.  It is the first place in Asia we’ve seen with a smoke alarm (albeit a cheap home one). 

Ayutthaya is a rather pleasant island town, and the new developments fit around the ancient buildings rather well, and many of the older temples are surrounded by good parkland.  Amazingly there is no sign we’ve noticed of the flood damage from November which was probably a meter deep throughout the place.  The photos we’ve seen are astounding, but you’d not believe it… This is the reason we’ve been going backwards for the last 4 months.

We only went into some of the Wats, but Wat Ratchaburana is really quite impressive with a hidden deep staircase into tiny room filled with old paintings.  Sadly deteriorated, but it must have been very special to be hidden so deep.  Other wats are also interesting and on par with Sukhothai.  The town of Ayutthaya has a really nice feel to it – very chilled, and whist a bit touristy, no bother whatsoever.  The night marked is almost entirely locals and so we took up with eating random dishes with them – not sure my chicken-foot-noodles what was I expected….

The following day we had a morning outing to Bang Pa-In to see the summer palace.  We opted for tuktuk to station and then a 10 minute train ride. Tuktuk was 50 Bhat (£1) but train an astounding 3 bhat (6p!) each.  The palace itself was interesting to walk around and look inside, and the grounds were equally a nice place to chill.  There was a bizarre helter-skelter lighthouse structure sadly missing the slide, and I felt the place had an unreal feel to it – similar to Portmeirion in Wales where The Prisoner was filmed.  Enjoyable for a few hours.

For the afternoon we had a boat trip on the rivers surrounding Ayutthaya to visit some more temples, complimentary from our guest house.  The route went backwards to how we expected, but the first Wat was very impressive indeed.  Sadly you could not wander inside due to flood damage – and it is astounding to see the flood level about 4m above the river…  The second Wat was okay, but the third stop had the most impressive Buddha in it.  Apparently, as it was closed when we got there.  But nevertheless a fun trip ending in another street market where we got some very enjoyable food.

Thats it.  Thats pretty much our trip over, just got a couple of days to have some fun before we return to Bangkok and our flight home…..  Now where is the best place to have fun near Bangkok…

See final installment here

See trip index here, Northern Thailand index here and more photos from Northern Thailand here

Our guest house in Chiang Mai was about our 5th or 6th choice, all the others were fully booked.  We’re glad we did book though as the city is large and trying to find one off the bus would be a nightmare as most had full signs.  As it was, the guesthouse was OK but not great so we only stayed a couple of days before moving.  We checked about half dozen and a lot were naff ,but we did find a nice one to move to – but even that was so full we needed to change rooms twice in 4 days!  So book ahead if you want a decent place.

Everyone seems to rate Chiang Mai so we had high hopes, but looking around the town it doesn’t seem very special at all.  The old town is interesting enough, but it isn’t a must visit town.  What it does have though, is oodles of trips, treks and excursions into the surrounding countryside – probably the biggest variety of trips we’ve seen.  As its towards the end of our trip though we’ve done a lot of similar things already so had to choose wisely.

Chiang Mai has a “must see” temple on the top of a nearby hill which we decided not to bother with – too many temples!!  There is also a Tiger Kingdom where you can play with tigers, but after a bit of research Mel decided there were too many questions over their welfare as they seem to be bred for human entertainment, then sold on rather than being rescued.  It does have one redeeming shop we found, ice cream for 10 bhat (20p) – or eat as much as you can with a 2hr limit for 69 bhat (£1.50!) and that includes as many toppings as you dare.

Our first trip from Chiang Mai was a cooking class at an organic farm just outside town.  We learned to cook a fair few new dishes, and it was so nice to get most of the ingredients from just outside.  Probably not all will be available in the UK though which may make replicating them tough, but overall a very (full) filling day. 

For an evenings entertainment we went to the international boxing stadium to watch some Thai Boxing.  What we didn’t know was there were a couple of the bouts were between kids who were under 10!  Bit weird watching them fight, but the ref had them under control.  There was also a round with 8 blind-folded boxers which was a good laugh, as they just hit anything they found – including the ref!  There were a few real bouts though which were very interesting to watch – Thai Boxing is a bit “dancy” and as well as punching aka UK style, and the boxers are allowed to use their feet too.  The heavier weight fights were quite impressive and it was clear both parties were trying to win!

Our next day we decided to have some more outdoor fun, and undertook a “hike and bike” trip – a 3 hour hike up a mountain, and a 2 hour mountain bike down on off-road and some single tracks. Unlike Chiang Rai, these bikes were a bit knackered, iffy brakes; iffy gears; baldish tyres; and my pedal was broken.  All this meant that I was the first to fall off after hitting a pile of sand, and Mel fell off a couple of times – once by running into me.  Hmmm.   One guys bikes brakes failed completely and he came off – and as they ran out of elbow pads he didn’t have any and hence cut his elbow.  Apart from that it was an excellent trip and we survived and enjoyed the views from the mountain.  We’re now know how good our bikes are!  We got covered in sand and dirt, and whilst it is great in Asia getting your clothes washed for next to nothing, the washers lost Mels new “Specialized” cycling t-shirt.  Even more annoying as it was new and perfect, unlike our other t-shirts that are due for the bin anyway. 

The next day we wisely planned a massage course opting for oil-type massage rather than Thai, run by a lady just out of town.  There was just the two of us which was rather good, so we spent the day trying to ease all the pains we gained from the mountain biking and hopefully learned some new skills.  I’m sure we gained some more aches and pains though…

For tea we found a great plastic-chair local eatery and had a lovely meal with one of the best BBQ fish we’ve ever had.  Including beer it was still under £2 each.  Bargain.  Going to miss this sort of thing when we get back to UK.  Good news though as the laundry woman found Mels t-shirt and delivered it back to the hotel.

We left Chiang Mai early to head to the bus station and sort out transport for our 6 hour bus journey to Sukhothai.  We arrived at the wrong terminal but were sent to the correct one.  As soon as we entered we got “where do you want to go?” – and then pointed outside.  As soon as we got outside we got “where do you want to go?” – and then pointed to a window.  Then same question, ticket, then pointed to a bus which promptly left.  Thai efficiency at is finest!

Arriving in our Sukhothai, our guesthouse was rather good for £8 a night, and even the local market had a cake stall with small cakes from 2p!  Thats tea sorted….

See next installment here

See trip index here, Northern Thailand index here and more photos from Northern Thailand here

We awoke our last morning in Laos with slight trepidation, as we loved our earlier time in Thailand and we didn’t know if we would think the same now we are a bit more experienced.  Leaving Houei Xai turned out to be quite simple, just go to the immigration hut and “check out” – the only problem is being forceful in your place in the queue…  Then a 10,000kip (80p) boat across the river to the Thailand immigration.  A simple case of filling in a form and handing it in with your passport and then getting it back, though you still need to be forceful to prevent local queue jumpers.  We already had a visa so we didn’t need to get a VOA.

From the immigration, a tuk-tuk is 30 bhat (60p) for 3km to Chiang Khong (as opposed to 80p for 1km in Laos).  We were going to get the bus direct to Chiang Rai, and the tuk tuk took us directly to the bus, showed us the conductor, and very quickly we got on and left 5 mins later with the conductor charging the correct amount.  So nice to be back to fair people and honest pricing, though we know it isn’t always that way in Thailand!

The 2 hour slow local bus was quite fun with interesting views, and on arrival in Chiang Ra it was a simple walk to our guesthouse which was perfect for a few days.  For a nice change we got some decent free town maps and a 2 hour walk that took in most of the sites, temples and the impressive clock tower which is golden but changes colour at night. 

On our walk we headed into the Hilltribe museum which is an informative place, and almost certainly worth a visit if you are considering visiting the ethnic tribes.  It did underline our views on visiting some villages, and also mentioned that the Long-neck Karen tribe are actually not indigenous to Thailand, but imported by a businessman ONLY for the viewing by tourists – so in effect it is a human Zoo!  Sadly, we then crossed a visit here off our list.

The evening market and night bazaar was also great – loads of nice and different food, and amazingly all priced even though the market was mainly locals.  Food seems to be a lot cheaper than Laos, but beer is a lot more.  Going to miss Laos beer!

 We decided to do a biking tour with 50km of cycling and a few miles walk which took in the White Temple (Wat Rong Khun) and another waterfall.  We were promised decent bikes, and indeed they were.  Trek brand and perfectly maintained making the 50km as easy as possible.  The tour was just the two of us (plus guide), and even so we had the support truck following just in case we ran out of steam – which we almost did as the last 4km or so was up hill. But we made it!

The White Temple really is a “wow” and a “must see” which incidentally was designed by the same artist as the colourful clock tower.  Yes, we’ve seen loads of temples, but this was hugely impressive despite being modern and not yet complete.  Our bike guide explained the meaning of various bits, but even without this the artistic elements are astounding.  Outside it is all white, with heaven and hell depicted, and inside (no photos allowed) is some amazing art work – and this is untypically modern.  For instance, the back wall shows events and things in the current time, so pictures of Angry Birds, Terminator and even George Bush and Bin Laden.  When it is all explained to you it tells a story, and with other bits pointed out it is most impressive and it must be unique in the world – no idea where else an Angry Bird is inside a religious building – especially as it was flying towards the twin towers…  More pictures are in our album (linked at start of post) – but none of the impressive interior that makes it worth a visit alone.

Finally, at the White Temple there is an exhibition of the artists impressive works.

The waterfall at the end of our trip was reasonably impressive, 70m drop, but we are now waterfalled out and have no intention of seeing any more waterfalls for the rest of the trip.

Chiang Rai did have a nice homely and comfortable feel about it, so we’re pleased we still like Thailand, and waved a fond goodbye as we headed on our 3 hours bus ride to the old walled city of Chaing Mai.  We arrived safely (though feeling a bit sick as the driver wasn’t the smoothest on the mountainous twisties) – and got to our guesthouse.  All the top recommended guesthouses were booked up well in advance so we had to resort to an OK one – still – glad we booked ahead as most seemed to have “full” signs up when we arrived – including ours….

See next installment here

Laos Costs and Review

See our general tip page here.  Note the costs here do not include external flights, vaccines and insurance etc – this will be detailed at the end of the trip.

Overall

Laos was completely unknown to us, and prior to the trip we probably never heard of it.  Of the countries we have visited, it is probably the least developed and the poorest we’ve seen.  We entered from the south and the first few days were quite disappointing as we didn’t really find anything exciting or really that interesting to us.

To be fair, the 4000 Islands would have been interesting and some old Khmer ruins would have been worth a look had we not come straight from Cambodia.

Laos’ unique factor is being so undeveloped, with most backpackers wanting to go trekking and seeing old tribes.  This isn’t something we’re comfortable with, so whilst these opportunities were abound, they weren’t for us.

Once we got to Vientiane things started getting better.  We very much liked Vientiane and we thought Vang Vieng was a superb fun place,even for us, though many non-mass-drinking backpackers hated the place. We enjoyed the fun elements as well as the scenery which was stunning, though fair to say it isn’t an authentic town!  Luang Prabang was nice and chilled and the boat trip to the Thai border was also nice and relaxing.

We’re glad we went from south to north – the other way round would have had the nicer elements first and then ended on a low…

In Laos, you do get the feeling you are being over charged for a lot of things – silly things like maps and temple entry are at European prices, and pretty much everything is chargable.  Of course there are reasons for this.

So we liked some of what we saw, but for our particular taste, Laos didn’t have a huge amount to offer us, though there were some unbeatable and unrepeatable experiences like the elephants at Luang Prabang and the fun in Vang Vieng…

Budget

We spent just over £40 a day, though we didn’t skimp on anything, and even had the luxury boat ride to Thailand.  In addition we stayed in an expensive (but nice) guesthouse for a week in Luang Prabang.  If you were on a budget you could easily knock off £5-10 without changing too much, and possibly more if you had cheaper food and accommodation.

Probably hard to spend too much more…

Security

Keeping small change (notes) loose is a good idea so you don’t get you wallet out.  Be wary of having “stuff” on display, or things dangling, as there are so many mopeds snatch-crime would be easy to do and hard to catch.

For us, we’d say we had no security issues – though we stayed alert throughout.

Useful facts:-

• ATMS:  ATMs in most towns, and in the first town near a border crossing.  Annoyingly most ATMs restrict you to 700,000kip or 1m kip per withdrawal which means you pay more charges   ANZ allows 2m withdrawal but not many ATMs around
• Currency:  Most big items priced in USD (e.g. trips and sometimes accommodation), whereas smaller items priced in kip.  8000 kip=$1. 
• Landry:  Most places around 5-10,000kip per kg
• 7/11:  None – local shops only, but water etc similar price everywhere.
• Transport:  TukTuks are typical – negotiate first. Avoid tourist minibusses as they put 20+ in busses meant for 16. (+luggage!). VIP busses (big) were okay for us.  Easily arranged near any guesthouse.
• Chemists:  Rare
• Food:  Street food easy to access but maybe not the most exciting.
• Language:  Knowing Yes, No helps – but English ok for normal stuff. 
• Power:  mains plugs everywhere so charging stuff is trivial (socket adapter may be needed, and of course make sure charger is 110/240v!). 
• Internet:  Wifi available in most guesthouse we used and in many bars/cafes in main towns.  Internet cafes and PCs to borrow also available free/cheap.  Limited away from big towns.
• Toilets:  Western style in all guest houses and in most “good” public places, there may only be one in a row so look.  Worth carrying toilet paper though seldom needed.

Stuff we took and didn’t use

(see our packing list here)

• Towels – they were provided by every guesthouse, even special beach towels
• Mozzie net – only needed in one place, and it was already provided.
• Loads of clothes – you only need 4-5 sets of undies – laundry is so trivial to do you do not need to carry as much as us.
• Spare batteries for stuff – power so available we kept things charged
• Main padlock – all guest houses had normal locks

Things we’d change

Savannahkhet isn’t worth visiting, and Pakse only is if you want to veg a bit and do some tourist waterfalls and the like.  For us, the North of Laos was far nicer and maybe the south wasn’t worth going to.  Perhaps an alternative loop route to/from Vietnam would be more fun – e.g connecting Hanoi and Hue via Laos – and Vietnam doesn’t have much between Hanoi and Hue to visit.

See trip index here, Laos index here, and more photos from Laos here

The journey from Luang Prabang to Houei Xai (or vice versa) has been in the back of our minds since before we left.  The internet describes it as an arduous journey, but on our route it is pretty much necessary.  Flying isn’t really feasible as it is both expensive and misses out a couple of places en route, and the speedboat option is dangerous and Mel ruled it out as she’d certainly be throwing up for most of it.  The bus journey is said to be up to 15 hours, and with stories of drivers falling asleep at the wheel, and brakes burning out on the mountain roads, we ruled this out.

This left the tedious slow (15-20 knot) slow boat which historically is uncomfortable, but more recently fitted with car bench seats.  These aren’t comfortable and can be overcrowded, though to be fair the boats we saw were full but not ridiculously so.

Our Shompoo cruise VIP boat, whilst more expensive, promised a more luxurious way of transport, and on cue at 6:30am our tuktuk collected us from our guest house and took us to our boat – a 30m or so boat, and to our surprise there were only 4 guests!   The only real shame on this boat is that we didn’t really click with the other couple on it, as good company on this sort of trip makes it special.  We’ve still got each other!

This meant we pretty much had a private boat all the way up – so full access to wander round, use the sun loungers and chill in a stress free environment for a couple of days.  The normal slow boats had maybe 60-80+ people in the same space.

There was no usable TV/DVD as we thought, but as we had movies on the laptop we were able to catch up on films as well as watch the Mekong life go by, with riverside dwellers doing their fishing; washing; and generally getting on with life.  Food on the boat was included, and was a pretty good 5 course meal.  Really no complaints about the cruise at all, apart from the time we needed to get up.  You also do need to wrap up warm as the first couple of hours are quite chilly and we were pleased to hide under the provided blankets.

The first day, Luang Prabang to Pak Beng took around 10 hours (upstream) plus some stoppage time when we stopped at Pak Ou caves near where we went elephant riding.  These caves are Buddhist caves with numerous Buddas in, and also showing the ridiculously high flood levels from 2006 and 1966.

The view along the river is interesting, with more rocks and mini rapids than expected, and even huge sand banks better than some beaches we’ve seen.

Pak Beng, the overnight stop, wasn’t really how the guide books describe.  We were expecting a few huts, naff accommodation and scarce electricity.  But over the last year or more there is now mains electricity which means full power in the main area at least, and enough interesting eateries, bars, and shops as needed – at least one selling Pringles cheaper than anywhere else in Laos!  Our guest house (£8 for double en-suite) was clean and perfectly fine for the night.  There was even (flakey) wifi in a couple of the bars.  Probably won’t be long before Pak Beng is suitable for a 2 night stop.

On the second day we stopped in a little Mhong village next to the river which almost like going back in time apart from the fact there is now electricity and a few large satellite dishes.  We differ from some other travellers and tourists in as much as we hate going to these sorts of villages just to have a “tour” around.  It doesn’t sit right intruding and we don’t walk around taking photos like it is a museum.  We know some will argue its seeing the real country, but unless we stumbled across it and were there to stay/eat or drink in a local eatery, then it isn’t really real.  Not sure Mel enjoyed being followed round by a group of girls trying to sell her crafty stuff.

The rest of the journey to Houei Xai was uneventful and we arrived about 10hrs after we left.  We decided to say in Houei Xai for the night and got a reasonable place for 80,000kip (£6.50) and just settled down ready for the border crossing to Thailand which are generally eventful…

See Laos costs and review HERE

 See next installment, with border crossing, here