Travel Tales of 2

The bus from Vang Vieng took roughly eight hours to reach Laungphrabang with a stop along the way so we could change a flat tyre and cool the brakes (the braking fluid was bubbling). The road was really windy and steep but the scenary was amazing although i was asleep for over an hour (this was partly so i didn’t have to listen to the Laos family sitting in the middle aisle getting sick into plastic bags - not a pretty picture i know!!). When we eventually arrived in Luangphrabang it was already dark so couldn’t really make out what the city looked like so we just got something to eat and found a hostel. We hadn’t realised when we found the hostel that it was right beside a Wat (Laos buddhism temple) so we got a bit of a fright at 5 in the morning when bells and drums started banging. This was followed by monks singing and chanting for an hour. Once we got over our initial alarm it was actually really relaxing to listen to.

We spent over a week in Luangphrabang (for those of you who don’t know its a world heritage site - which means very little modernised buildings and lots of functioning Wats). Monks are tought traditional crafts and recieve farely good educations so that they can pass it on to others. The city itself is full of Coffee shops (serving Lao coffee which is really strong) and restaurants, little side streets you just stumble upon and a really amazing night market. We didn’t do any of the trekking on offer cause its quiet expensive but we did take a tuk tuk to see a waterfall. There was a bear sanctuary there where you got to see the black moon bears (as they’re called) up close. All of them had been rescued from poachers at one point. The inclosure wasn’t huge but they’d enough room to walk around easily and there were loads of tyre swings and wooden platforms they could play with. Most amazing was the Asian tiger in another inclosure (again rescued from poachers) we got to stand four feet from her with nothing but a chicken wire fence between us. A really beautiful animal but she was depressed as she had been on her own for so long she paced the fence nearest the bears quite a bit.

After chilling out in Luangphrabang until the 22nd of December we decided to head on to Houai Xai (a laos- Thai border town) where we were to go on the Gibbon experience over Christmas. We decided to take the fast boat as the slow boat didn’t really appeal. When i say “fast boat” what i really mean is a large canoe with a car engine at the back (to be specific a 16V toyota engine - wasn’t really sure if its made to travel on water, i was right!!!). The trip was supposed to take 7hr but like always it was never going to be that straight forward. First our driver was late (over an hour) which wasn’t too bad as we weren’t in a massive hurry. It was really cold especially at that time in the morning (9.30) speeding up the river at 80km/hr dodging rocks but we were prepared for that - i had about three jumpers on (bought them especially).

It only took 3hrs to reach the half way point where we had noodle soup with lots of chilli sauce to heat us up. We were well fed and ready to go only to see that our driver was taking the toyota engine apart - so much for toyota being relyable. It looked like the piston seal had melted!! (well thats the conclusion we came to - but sure what do we know about engines). Anyhow a new part was found and installed and the dismantled engine was put back together. It took roughly three hours and we were one of the last boats to leave. So we all clambered aboard plus two extra passengers we’d seemed to have picked up and were just about to push off from the restuarant when a police man arrived and started giving out.

It seems we had too many passengers - overloading a vehicle in Asia what where they thinking!!!! After a trip to the police station by our driver and a fellow fast boat driver (another half hour) the two extra passengers and their friend on the other boat where unloaded. Initially i didn’t understand why we didn’t leave straight away like the other boat but all was explained when a few minutes later the other boat arrived back minus three passengers (which allowed the three passengers earlier kicked off to be allowed back on baord). My suspicions as to the reason where confirmed when we traveled five minutes upstream - there on the river bank waiting to be picked back up where three passengers. Basically the drivers waited until they were out of sight of the police to load on the extra three passengers.

So after our little side trip to the river bank we were back on the road (so to speak) and were heading upstream at a good pace (it still looked likely we’d make our destination before dark). Then our driver stopped and waved down another boat - we’d run out of petrol. We got enough to make it to a local pitstop where we got some more (another half hour). Again we were under way and it looked like we’d be making it to Houai Xai just as it got dark but again the driver stopped. This time he’d run out of oil!!! When we heard another boat approaching some of the passengers hopped up and started waving at them - luckily they stopped and gave us a little oil. So again we were underway but it had started to get dark and unfortunately we had no headlights!! So we found ourselves traveling at 80km an hour upriver (the driver must have had night goggles). We got to our destination fully intact with no further incidents but we were so late all the tuk tuk drivers had gone home so we had to walk into town. I was glad of the chance to stretch my legs as we’d been fairly crambed in hugging our knees the whole trip.

When we got up the next day we discovered there wasn’t too much to Houai Xai. A simple border town a few restaurants and guesthouses, one or two shops and the only tourist sights nearby was a Wat which only took about ten minutes to look round. Unfortunately for us we had to stay an extra day there before we headed on the gibbon experience as they’d made a mistake with our booking. We did get a chance to ring home and wish everyone a merry christmas and catch up on all the news - congrats Edel and Nigel.
well thats all for now

S & G

• Being tall - still not tired off this one.
• Cheap beer especially the Vietnamese bier hoi - still missing China 20c beer though.
• Food - favourite dish had to be the Bo Ne Vietnams answer to a fry. Funnily enough have come to appreciate indian food here in south east Asia - especially Samosas.
• Making children cry just for being a white foreigner (especially now Garrett is growing a beard).
• Traveling by bike as opposed to buses - would love to do this more if we get the chance.
• Thailand beaches namely Ko Chang!
• Tubing - definately in my top ten favourite sports.
• Not going to miss: tuk tuk would you like a tuk tuk??
• Definately not missing breaking Cameras we’re on our fourth one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well the people here are what you call laid back and stress free!!!!!!!!!!!! It took us a while to get here - a 12hr bus trip from Hanoi to Dong Ha, then a 2hr minibus ride to the border and then a local bus, 9hr, to Savannakhet where we had an hour break waiting on our connecting bus,3hr, to Pakse. Needless to say i slept sound when i got to the hostel. The town/city of Pakse was really different to vietnamese cities, a lot quieter and a lot less traffic, no one asking you to buy stuff - the Laos people usually have to be woken up so that you can pay them for what you want to buy.

We only stayed in Pakse for a day as a stop gap on the way to the four thousand islands on the Mekong river in the Southern most part of Laos. After another bus trip and a boat we finally reached Dong Det where we stayed for three days really getting in touch with the Laos philosophy on life, which is there is no point in working if its not fun - so we spent most of the time in Hammocks reading books or meeting people for a few beers. We also rented out bicycles for a day and went to Dong Kon, which was great fun really easy going (the Laos philosophy even affecting Garrett!!!) until Garrett got a puncture. We had to walk it into town took about a half an hour. One of the locals passed us on his moped and was sitting out in front of his house with a pump when we walked by. He initially thought it was a flat - not so happy that he had to fix something when he realised it was a puncture, we bought him a pack of cigarettes for helping us he was genuinely taken back by the gesture.

After a few lazy days we decided to get on the road we stopped in Savannakhet for a night to top up on money only to find that the bank was closed on Saturday and Sunday (we didn’t even realise it was a weekend!!) and that the ATM was conveniently located inside the bank. We had to cancel a trip we’d planned to take on a motorbike and decided instead to head to the capital Vientiane where there were ATMs outside the bank!!! This bus trip was slightly more unusual as the majority of the passengers were bags of chicken feed and ginger roots……We only stayed for one day in the capital as we wanted to move onto Vangviang a backpacker mekka of sorts.

In Vangviang we participated in a sport called tubing, which involves sitting in a rubber tractor tube and floating downstream. Along the way you must decide which river side bar you should stop at in order to have a beer lao (or two). The object is to get safely back to Vangviang before it gets dark (which is around six o’clock Laos time) as very few people have waterproof watches this is actually harder than one might think especially as our senses are impaired by alcohol. Needless to say we met more irish in one day tubing than we have in our entire three months of travel, mmmm! Some of the best bars even have swings, where you launch yourself off a platform (12 - 15 meters high) and swing out over the river where you let go of the swing and fall gracefully (while trying to do some acrobatics) into the river. Obviously the more alcohol consumed the riskier the acrobatics - Garrett woke up with a few bruises!!

The following day (yes we did make it back safely from the tubing) we went Kayaking. First we drove North for an hour outside the town where we stopped off at some caves. One of the caves was quiet large and to see it you sat in a tube (no drink involved here) and using ropes drifted into the cave. It was really dark and eerie but luckily the tour included head lamps, a small lamp attached to a battery which hung around the neck (not all that practical as the battery was large enough to drive a wheelchair!!!). After our cave adventure we headed off in the Kayaks. We managed okay the river wasn’t very strong and we only capsized twice!!! Mainly Garretts fault as he insisted on soaking me and in revenge i soaked him back - the extra weight of the water in the Kayak tipped the scales so to speak. Near the end of our trip we found ourselves back on the tubing circuit - which was by far the most dangerous aspect of the trip as we had to avoid people floating in tubes more concerned about their beer lao than getting out of our way. We stopped off for a break at one of the bars before paddling back towards Vangviang.

We decided against the rock climbing the next day as our arms were sore from the Kayaking and instead decided to head on towards Louangphrabang in the North. The bus journey took us almost eight hours but the scenery on the way beat even that of our bike trip in Vietnam. The road curves round mountain upon mountain covered in forest only interrupted by the odd mountain village definately breathtaking. Unfortunately we couldn’t take pictures - our camera got water logged while tubing oops!!

well thats all for now

S&G

We stayed two more days in Dalat waiting for my ankle to get a bit better, I was stuck in the room where the only thing on TV was James Bond movies. I started to crack up after her 4th Bond movie in a row. Because we delayed the trip for 2 days it meant that one of the Easy Riders couldn’t go so Mr Vui (also known as Happy) asked if Garrett wanted to drive a bike by himself the whole way to Ho ain.1000km. He’d never driven a bike on the roads before, they drive on the wrong side of the road here, Vietnam traffic is crazy especially when trying to negotiate roundabouts, they’re by far the worst drivers we’ve come across and 15000 people a year die on the roads. So of course Garrett was thrilled with the idea. On Tuesday we strapped our bags onto the back of the bikes, both were 125cc Hondas, and set off on our five day trip. Garrett thought Happy would take it easy what with it being his first day – so much for that idea we were flying from one place to the other straight away with Garrett trying his best to keep up.

We visited all the sites around Dalat, elephant waterfall, the local temple (where a bus load of Vietnamese tourists couldn’t get over Garrett’s beard they had a great time laughing and insisted on touching it), and finally the Alice in wonderland hotel (really cool all the guestrooms are designed based on different characters in the story). We drove for 100km in all that first day and along the way we stopped at a silk factory, rose farm, coffee farm and at some war sites. We also called in for tea with a former army officer and at a house which makes rice wine (pretty raw stuff). It was great driving through smaller villages with all the kids screaming hello and getting to really see Vietnam (there was no chance of falling asleep when you’re on a bike not like when you’re traveling by bus). The land in the Vietnamese highlands is rich and everyone grows some sort of crop, from cauliflower and cabbage to coffee and tea. When the coffee beans are harvested they’re left out in front of the farmers home to dry in the sun so there was a lovely smell of coffee as we drove through the villages. We eventually reached Lak Lake about five o’clock and had a look around the minority village there. In this minority when you marry you take the womans family name – when a woman in the village marries her husband moves to her village and when a man in the village marries he must leave the village therefore everyone in the village has the same surname). The people in the village all kept animals so as you walked around piglets would be running hell for leather when you disturbed them and chickens would run along the road with five or six baby chicks in tow – there were no pens. After this we headed to our hostel where we had something to eat and drank a bottle of Cobra rum with Happy and his friends (tasted a bit like cough medicine).

We started off around half eight and headed back to the minority village we’d been in the other day to have another look around. As we were walking two men on a motorbike pulled up and asked us if we’d have a beer with them, seeing as we’re so polite we couldn’t refuse even though it was only 9 in the morning!!! The two men didn’t have much English but enough to so that we understood what they were trying to say. It turned out they had fought in the war for the South it was interesting to hear their thoughts on the war. We didn’t like to stay too long as we had to get back on the road so we said our goodbyes and headed off. We traveled 200kms in total with a few stop offs at some amazing waterfalls and had a swim in a remote freshwater pond which joined the Mekong river. Our driver happy set up his hammock for a nap while we made our way to the pond where we had a picnic. We also met up with two irish guys we arranged to meet them later for a drink.

Vietnamese rules of the road should be explained at this point:

• They drive on the right side of the road except when it’s more convenient to drive on the left.
• The bigger the vehicle the more rights you have i.e if you’re a motorbike you must give way to a truck even when its on your side of the road and you’ve nowhere to go!!!
• At roundabouts don’t yield keep driving in the direction you want – everyone else must avoid you, (hence all the accidents).
• If someone is in your way (or if you just want to be annoying) beep your horn excessively.
• If you encounter animals on the road don’t alter your course they should move out of the way – if they don’t (usually the chickens as they’re pretty dumb) it’s their own fault. Although I have to mention this rule does not always apply when Happy and i encountered a cow strolling up the middle of the road, Happy lay on the horn - no effect. A serious game of chicken ensued (the cow won), as we passed her she looked up as if to say this is my road find your own!!!
• The most important rule however is when you encounter a bus it has full right of way (even when it’s on the wrong side of the road).
• Last but not least pedestrians have no rights.

On our second day we encountered all these rules especially when we reached our destination Pom a Trom during high traffic Garrett was really impressed with his driving skills after that. In all honesty he actually deserves some credit what with at least a hundred kids walking home from school on either side of the road, lots of people going home from work weaving their way through traffic on motos, not to mention the trucks, buses and jeeps it was difficult to watch what you were doing as well as keeping an eye on where we were headed, Happy as always was tipping along nicely. We met up with the two irish guys we met and had a few nightcaps although we didn’t stay out too late everywhere closes at half eleven -at the latest.

Our third day was a long drive we traveled from Pom a Trom to Kon Tom which was roughly 250km - tough going as it was pretty straight roads although we did stop off for a rest in one of the roadside stops. These are just little stalls which serve drinks and snacks but most importantly they have a number of hammocks where you can catch forty winks before you head off again. Pretty useful for breaking up a journey if your feeling tired. We say a number of war sites the hill of bones, the hill was an important  position to hold as it was so high you could see for miles around therefore there were many soliders on both sides killed trying to hold this position / take it over (depending on what side you were on). We also pulled in at a number of war memorials where records of those killed where engraved in stone. Happy has a habbit of just pulling in anywhere to give us a chance to stretch our legs - he’ll talk to anyone. We called in at a makeshift mechanic who fixed anything from motorbikes to T.V’s, a house were the family made noodles and finally a rubber tree plantation. All the people we meet rarely see foreigners so they’re always asking Happy questions about us. At the rubber tree plantation the men were standing beside Garrett comparing their heights and laughing at his beard and the hair on their legs!!!! The most significant event of the day was that Garrett ran over a poor defenseless chicken - all i saw where the feathers. Have to say the chicken was standing in the middle of the road and it waited until Garrett was passing when it decided to run back to the side of the road, it’s own fault really. Don’t worry though we gave him plenty of slagging!!! When we got to Kon Tom Happy brought us to another minority village where we gate crashed a wedding. They saw us walking past and asked us to come join them. I handed out a packet of balloons i had and there was a rush of kids and adults trying to get one (it was a good job it was a big bag). There was one kid in particular only two years old with huge big eyes and a georgeous smile, his sister was holding him and brought him over to see Garrett. His facial expression was hilarious his eyes got wider (if that was possible) he didn’t no what to make of the bearded freak smiling at him he started trying to run away his arms and legs were going hell for leather. He couldn’t go anywhere though cause his sister was holding him. We all got a great bit of entertainment from him poor guy. The sister would take a few steps back and he’d calm down then she’d bring him back over to Garrett - same expression everytime he had everyone in stitches. Of course it being a wedding there was rice wine there its a unique kind this minority village makes they ferment it for two to three years strong stuff i didn’t really like it weird taste. We had a bit of a sing song - mainly the beatles would you believe, then it was time to say goodbye (Happy had come looking for us - he thought we’d got lost again).

Our second last day we followed the Ho chi minh trail, they’ve built a main road along the same route although you can still see some of the traditional trail leading away into the forests. We went way up into the mountains - it was so quiet and peaceful very little traffic only small minority villages, the air was really fresh and clean and the scenary it was breath taking. We called in at another minority village to hear some traditional music a bit of a one man band with ropes tied to a foot pump which he used to bang a drum and wind pipes while he played a wooden Zilaphone. Garrett gave it a whorl too - he’s not much of a musican though. We passed a lot of different minority villages where we took a look at some of their traditional houses we also called in at a hunting village where we met no less than three ninety year old women all a picture of health - looking after younger kids helping with the cleaning and looking after the chickens. The men of the village head into the mountains and hunt for monkeys, deer, wild pigs and even tigers (they usually carry these across the border to Laos as its illegal to kill them in Vietnam - they’re fast becoming extinct). The family kept the skulls of these animals in their homes as mementos - eerie enough waking up to that every morning but i guess they’re used to it. We also took a break at a waterfall where you can go swimming but it was a cold day and the water was freezing so Garrett and Happy headed into the hills to get to the top of the waterfall while i looked after the bikes - my leg wasn’t up to the task well i thought it wiser not to test it out anyway. We stopped in at a family home where they grew pepper trees and had some green tea and later just as an excuse to stretch our legs we pulled over at some cinnamon trees where we chewed on some of the bark (thats where they get the cinnamon from - you learn something new everyday).

We arrived at a small village where we stayed the night can’t for the life of me remember the name of it. But it was nice and quiet except for the twenty cattle being walked down the main road - definately not like home don’t think they’d take to kindly to in in Carrick or Kingscourt!!! We started early again the next day and headed east towards Hoi An our final destination we took one of Happys shortcuts, where we also passed coal mines (you wouldn’t want to be claustrophobic) and again we called in to a family home where they made rice paper (thats what they use to make spring rolls). The shortcut! brought us to a river were we had to drive our bikes onto a small boat along with five other bikes and a number of passengers (this was really a fishing boat with a flat platform in front) to get to the other side. This brought us to My Son which are a collection of stone temples. They were interesting but nothing of the scale of Ankor in Cambodia, it was good to stretch the legs though. From there it was on to Hoi An, via another short cut, which took us through Happy’s uncles village. Really remote village - definately don’t see too many foreigners. Got to watch a number of farmers using water buffalo to plough their fields. When we reached Hoi An after calling in for tea at Happy’s uncle we got booked into a hostel and arranged to meet Happy and his uncle for dinner that evening.

This was definately the highlight of Vietnam it will be tough to beat. We met lots of interesting people and got to see the real Vietnam as such. Happy was a great character - he really lived up to his name always smiling and he introduced us to some great Vietnamese food. Unfortunately we coudln’t extend the trip to Hanoi we had to catch a 16hour bus instead. We stayed in Hanoi for a few days and met up with some friends we’d made on our travels, including the two irish guys, Garreth and Conor, we met on the easyrider trip - met up for drinks again this time at a bier hoi - great for glass of beer or two (only 20cent a glass). We made our way to Halong Bay, which looks like Yanshou (in China) except its in water, on a three day tour. We spent the first day and night on a boat which made its way through the network of islands to a cave which we whipped around so we could spend longer kyaking - which was great fun but extremely hard going on your arms. It was easy to get lost in the maze of islands it was worth visiting but it was cold while we were there so you couldn’t go swimming which took away from the trip. We met some really interesting Australians and one Canadian who we had a few beers with that night although the ship ran out of beer quiet quickly - we couldn’t understand it as we’d only had two cans each. It turned out the two older aussies who’d left the boat to stay on Catba island had managed to drink their way through 40 cans of beer before they left so the boat had to send someone off to the mainland to get more beer. They following day we went to Catba island ourselves where we went on a hike - nothing really strenuous but we met up with the older aussie guys who we arranged to meet for a few drinks in the bier hoi later on. The following day we made our way back to Hanoi. It’s cold up here in north Vietnam and i’ve only one jumper and one pair of trousers so we’ve decided to head on to Laos in the next day or so. Thats all for now.

S&G