Valentine's day!

Pakse has little to offer other than a gateway to Si Phan Don -Four Thousand Islands - and the road to Cambodia, the Bolaven Plateau and its coffee plantations and trekking opportunities or the road to the Thai border. It is also within easy reach of the Khmer ruins at Wat Phou which can be reached by road or by boat. We chose the boat trip and spent a pleasant day cruising down the Mekong - with a stop at a very old and decrepit Wat with only one remaining monk - to Champassak and a tuktuk ride to the temple site.

Arriving 5 days before the Maha Puja celebrations meant that whole site was crowded with traders, entertainments, food stalls - even a mobile ATM - in preparation for the million or more visitors expected for the full moon celebrations and merit-making. This is the largest Khmer site outside Cambodia and I am sure it is a lovely place to visit at any other time but it felt more like a fairground with hawkers and traders in every open space around the ruins.

A very pleasant lunch in a riverside restaurant before our return journey was spoiled when our Swiss travelling companion discovered that his Iphone - with all his photos, contacts etc., from 3 months on the road - had been misplaced. By the time we got back to Pakse it was clear that someone had taken it and removed the sim card - he spent an hour or two grieving the loss of all the information but then put it behind him and started organising the rest of his trip.

Our guide for the day had spoken reasonable english and we had fun teasing him about his plans for Valentine's Day. Having booked a table at the Panorama restaurant - on the rooftop of our hotel - and allegedly the best place to eat in town - I was feeling quite smug. I reckoned without the organising skills of our French Hotel manager who had managed to screw up the booking so that we ended up having dinner on bar stools while the rest of the diners had white linen and roses for all the ladies - on top of that the food was nothing special.

We were glad to leave the place for our bus ride to the islands.

Heading South

Arriving at the domestic terminal at Wattay airport at 6.00 am on Sunday morning for our flight to Pakse we were surprised by a heavy shower of rain but it had passed by before we had to walk to the aircraft. It did make for a bumpy flight - on a Chinese MA-60 which was clearly designed for short people. It was impossible for me to stand in the aisle without bumping my head and the doors on the overhead lockers were lethal. Lao Airlines inflight service - hot drink and snack box - was a bit limited but having been too early for breakfast we both managed to finish the sausage roll with chilli sauce and the iced cake that went with it! A flight time of one hour 15 mins was definitely more preferable than a 10 hr bus journey - think we are way past that sort of travelling now.

Our booking at the Pakse hotel had included transfer from the airport and when we arrived to find no-one waiting for us, we spurned the advances of the many taxi drivers and called the hotel to be told that the driver was on his way. After 25 minutes - all the taxis having now departed - we called again and were assured by the French manager that his driver would be with us in 5 minutes. After a further 20 mins - still trying to maintain the lao attitude on 'boh peng nyang' (loosely translates as no problem / never mind) - I called again and after a lengthy discussion finally spoke to the manager again to learn that he had misread our booking message and had arranged a car to pick us up at the airport at Ubon Ratchatani - 3 hours away in Thailand. This time the Driver did arrive in the promised 5 minutes and we reached the hotel 2 hours after landing.

Having got off to a bad start, his offhand apology and the shabby state of the rooms did little to improve the situation - Linda took advantage of the free wifi to post a frank review on Trip advisor!

Coffee and pastries at the Sinouk Cafe around the corner put us in a better mood - owned by one of the largest Lao coffer producers and a great place to stop.

Back in the civilized world

After 5 weeks travelling in Thailand and Laos - although we have generally eaten well - you cannot imagine the joy of sitting down to lunch on the sun-dappled terrace of a French brasserie just next to Nam Phou with a chilled bottle of Chablis, a fresh green salad and an omelette aux fines herbes.

Vientiane shows signs of its French Colonial past amongst the newer concrete government building. This is most clearly seen in the Avenue Lane Xang - an asian version of the Champs Elysee, with its own Arc de Triumphe -Patuxai - at the end. Apparently the final sections were built using cement provided by the US in the 60's for the construction of an airport - hence the loacl nickname 'the vertical runway'.

The city is easily walkable and substantially cheaper than Luang Prabang and we had planned to stay for an extra day or two. Unfortunately, the flight we had planned on taking to Pakse was full and we had to leave earlier than we would have liked - literally since the flight out was at 0730 and Lao Airlines require check in 2 hours before departure.

Sat in a rooftop bar to watch the sunset over the Mekong which was spoiled by clouds of smoke from a big fire on the outskirts: ate good Sushi in a city centre restaurant and had an excellent Lao meal in Amphone restaurant. The jazz bar was a little disappointing - although perhaps we left too early, while the selection of cafes for breakfast - with real coffee- was excellent.

On the Road to Vientiane

Leaving the Plain of Jars, we had to retrace our route for about 80 miles until we reached Phou Khoun and rejoined the road south. Since our average speed over the three days was never more that 30mph, it was a long drive with a couple of stops to admire the stunning scenery - wave after wave of mountains seemingly marching away from the road on both sides. It was quite a relief to finally reach the Nam Song valley and arrive in our overnight stop at Vang Vieng.

The self-styled 'tubing capital of the world' is a must see place for any backpacker passing through the region and one that we would have preferred to bypass. Unfortunately after another 7 hours on the road there were no other options - but we had at least booked a room at a small hotel away from the main drag overlooking the river.

It turned out to be a lovely peaceful spot and one where we would have been happy to stay for a few nights if it hadn't been for the backpackers inferno which surrounded the place. Our guide book told us that despite dozens of restaurants and bars that we would have to search hard to find good food. They were right - we didn't.

We did however have a very peaceful night's sleep and good breakfast at a shady spot on the river bank before we were back on the road for the last 100 miles to Vientiane where we arrived in time for lunch.

The Plain of Jars - and the legacy of the 'Secret War'

Our driver - Mr Oa - was very punctual and was a much better driver than some we have had. Probably just as well given the roads over which we travelled the next 400 miles. While the highest mountain here may be just over 2500m, northern Laos has to be one of the most mountainous areas that I have ever visited. For the first 120 miles of the drive to Phonsavan - although the road surface was good - we rarely travelled more than 100 metres in a straight line or on the level. Very impressed by the number of falang cyclists who were braving the mountan roads - some even with their weans in tow (literally).

Interesting to see the villages perched on the edge of the mountain sides and the land that they have cleared on the slopes to plant their crops. Since they have little land suitable for rice they are amongst the poorest comunities in the country but still had satellite dishes outside most houses and shacks.

We descended about 1000m to the Plain - which is 1200m above sea level and could immediately see the difference in the lifestyle and prosperity of the villages and the towns we passed. Much bigger farms and a lot of concrete houses - some of them very grand places - as Mr Oa suggested some had made money in agriculture or transport or tourism but the biggest were those who made their money from corruption!

Since Phonsavan was largely wiped off the map by US bombs in the 60's and 70's it was rebuilt in a very communist style with a lot of large concrete buildings along the main street - mostly Chinese / Vietnamese owned hotels and restaurants. Not a place to spend more than a night or two unless your business is construction, or clearing unexploded ordnance.

Our hotel was in the Chinese utilatarian style, a huge soulless place which was good enough for a one night stay -and a surprisingly good breakfast. Our first stop in town was MAG (Mine Action Group International) one of the Charities which is helping to clear some of the huge quantities of explosives left behind by Curtis LeMay's carpet bombing campaign. Have a look at the website to see some of the consequences.

With Mr Oa's help we found a local guide - who spoke good english - to show us the main Jars sites. Local legend says that the jars - up to two metres in height - were used by the previous inhabitants of the plain - a race of giants - to ferment their rice wine while the archaeologists date them to 500 BC and claim that they are funerary jars. I think I prefer the legend - with that much rice wine it would have been one hell of a party!

Of course Linda took some photos in Thailand!!

If you follow this link, you may even be able to see them -https://picasaweb.google.com/109254847766143856862/ThailandAlbum?authkey=Gv1sRgCIuM0JSa_sjX3gE&feat=directlink

Travelling in Laos

After a day exploring Luang Prabang - more temples and an excellent dinner at Tamarind - we spent our second day kayaking on the Nam Ou river which flows into the Mekong above Luang Prabang - a very peaceful alternative to the hustle and bustle of the town.
Stopped at the Pak Ou caves to see the Buddhas (apparently this is where they deposit all the old damaged / broken statues) and then had to paddle across the flow of the Mekong to get to the landing beach where we being collected. Tried a bit of local culture - at the Royal Ballet Theatre - with less than 30 others in a hall that probably seated 150. Very artistic and colourful but I was glad it only lasted for 90 mins and was followed by another very good meal at Coconut Garden.
We were disappointed by the range of tours on offer - despite the fact that almost every other shop front was a tour agent - they all offered the same sort of things with minor variations and it seemed expensive after Chiang Mai. We decided to have a couple more days in town and then head for Phonsavan and the Plain of Jars and onwards to Vientiane. The price from the agents seemed excessive - over $650 for two of us over three days with a tight itinerary - so we decided to organise it ourselves.
After a couple of false starts, we arranged to hire a car (minibus actually) with driver, booked our own accommodation and figured we would save at least $200 and be able to do things as we wanted.

Leaving Thailand - and those bloody bankers again!

Have really enjoyed Chiang Mai - could definitely come back here to spend more time - will have to plan another trip!

Our arrival in Luang Prabang went very smoothly -hotel car waiting for us at the airport and a very pleasant room at Villa Pumalin - stretching the budget a bit at $70 per night - but in addition to A/C, wifi and a roomsafe, it also had one of the best showers since we left our Barbican flat. The town is full for Chinese New year - both expats from neighbouring countries enjoying the long weekend, and tour groups of Chinese who seem to go everywhere in a mob (more on this later). It is a charming town and worthy of its World Heritage designation but the current levels of tourism - while good for the local economy - may soon destroy the special nature of the place.

Before coming here, we had been advised to take money in US$ and Thai Baht as it was often difficult to exchange other currencies and the ATM's were not always reliable. As we got off the plane - loaded with cash - we tried the airport ATM - just to see whether it would work or not. You can imagine our delight to get a message that our cards were declined and that we should contact our bank!

On Friday morning - after trying a couple of other machines with the same result -we were on the phone to Lloyds again to learn that our cards had been stopped for a second time - despite all previous conversations - as a security precaution and that we would have to speak to the fraud team. Unfortunately they only work UK business hours - so please call back after 9.00am!

When we finally got it sorted we were told that this was all due to the security systems on their computer systems and that there was nothing that they could do. Since we will be in at least two more countries before we head home, I assume that we will have to experience this again and again.

I would love to change banks but I doubt it would be worth the aggravation and they're all as bad as each other anyway. Perhaps I should move to Canada where the banks are - allegedly - more efficient.

Are there really only 84 temples in Chiang Mai?

Although we only visited 5 or 6 temples while here, it did seem that there were a lot more - almost one on every corner. However our guide today was quite sure of his figures.

We spent yesterday morning on the temple trail and managed to see Wat Chiang Man, Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Pan Tao and Wat Phra Singh before a bottle of Chang beer dragged my attention away. While there are many differences between them, they all adhere to the same basic principles and the architecture is as stunning as the decoration. While the major Wats are on a grand scale, some of the smaller buildings are - in my view - much more pleasing to the eye.

We missed out on the Monk Chat - on offer at many Wats - but did have a conversation with an older monk at Wat Kat Karam today - after our Ping river trip on a scorpion-tailed boat - where our guide, who claimed 67 years but looked older, admitted to having been a mercenary in the Vietnam war - assume on the US side.

One more Wat to visit tomorrow - Doi Sutthep - before we head for the airport and our flight to Luang Prabang. Travelling over the Chinese New Year holiday -Kong Hay Fat Choy to all - has made hotel bookings hard to find. However Jinty's recommendation came up trumps and we have at least got a bed for our first few nights.

It will be interesting to see what differences there are between Thailand and Laos - we have enjoyed the friendly helpful Thai people we have met and are told that the Lao are even more friendly and laid back - watch this space!

A Walk in the Park

Doi Inthanon (2565m) is the highest mountain in Thailand and the National Park which surrounds it, while geared mainly to wildlife conservation, is also home to a number of Hill tribe villages -mostly Karen on the lower slopes with Hmong higher up. According to the guidebooks it shelters a huge variety of Flora and fauna - including 380 bird species and a number of orchids - which should all be at their best during the cool dry season (now).
It was therefore disappointing that our guide - Daeng, from a Karen tribe who live on the upper reaches of the mountain - did not make the effort to tell us about the trees and plants that we were trekking through. He led the group fairly well and the trekking (about 30km in total), meals, accommodation and rafting were all well organised but he rarely volunteered information about flora and fauna and was only really chatty when we were sitting round the fire in the evenings.
There were only 7 of us on the trek so there was no pressure on space but we did spend a long time sitting on benches in the song thaew (a covered pickup) on our way to and from the park. Our companions included a thirtysomething couple from Helena, Montana who were good company and three gap year graduates from London who could have been scripted by Matt Lucas or Catherine Tate - 'Am I bovvered?' was a regular response to each other in their nonstop inane chatter.
Two nights sleeping on bamboo mats in the Hill tribe equivalent of a Long House was enough for me - not least because it got down to about 5C on the first night and my sleeping bag was a little on the thin side - I was very glad to get back to the guesthouse and a bed with a mattress and pillow on Monday night!
On the subject of nonstop chatter I must acknowledge that two of our Austrian friend, Kai's, recommendations were excellent - the Blue Diamond has been the best breakfast place we have found in Thailand while the food at Taste from Heaven was also very good - even if it was veggie!