the pictures are: Budday Park. Sunset boat trip in Don Det. 'waterfall' at Don Det. Learning to ride a manuel scooter (dont worry mum it was in a vacant car park!). Monument in Vientienne.
More pictures are being uploaded on www.bebo.com/ingridjones
well i havent had much access to reliable cheap internet since my last blog, hence the long time!!
I ended up staying 11 days in Vang Vieng in all, having tonsillitis. Went to the local hospital to seea doctor and was seen straight away!! and it only cost me $6. puts the New Zealand health system to shame really.. I did manage to do another days cave exploring, with a 4 year old guiding us at one point.. were awesome caves to see. I also went tubing as must be done in Vang Vieng. Ryan (the Canadian guy i was travelling with) and i got the last two life jackets available, got our tube and tuk tuk'd up to the drop off point. we hopped into the river only to realise the first bar was 100m downstream!! We were pulled into the bar of course, had a drink and a jump off the massive swing (photos to come), and hopped back into the river only to realise the second bar was a further 200m down stream!! This one was massive, with lots of places to sit and drink, a big flying fox swing (with an equally large line), and some vollyball courts. i shared a Beerlao and joined in a game of vollyball on the muddy court, with a bit of mud fighting thrown in for good measure. then we hopped back into the river, to enjoy the beautiful scenery of limestone cliffs surroudning us, and rice paddy fields all around. it was a bit surreal to rouind a corner and find techno music pumping and lots of drunk foreigners...
Anywho i decided i'd had more than enuogh time in Vang Vieng so Ryan and i headed off to Vientienne, where we stayed at his family friends house right in the city. Was brilliant to have a nice bed, hot shower and access to a fridge, jug and toaster whenever i wanted!! We did a walking tour of the city one day, seeing the museum, market and some temples, and hired a scooter teh next day out to see Buddah park. Buddah park was fantastic, with lots of budday and hindu statues. they all clearly depicted famous stories but i had no idea what they were and was left wondering what on earth was going on when someone was riding an elephant in a lake of skulls, trying to kill someone else...
We also went to visit a big golden monument in Laos which was great, nothing like i have seen before. And that night i hopped onto the night sleeper bus down to Pakse, in Southern Laos. Now by sleeper bus i mean you get a bed, slightly larger than a single bed, about teh right length for me for two people. the tall belgium guy next to me was quite squashed, being far too tall for the beds proportions. still the mattress was soft, a nice change from the usual Laos beds which resemble something like sleeping on a straw mat on concrete, which is what most people here sleep on anyway. 10 hours later we arrived in Pakse and i headed on my Songthaew (which is pretty much a ute with a cage around the back and benches for seats) down to Champasak. this also included a 'ferry' ride across, which was pretty much two small wooden boats,attached by some planks of wood across the top. one of the boats had a motor, and this pushed you across the Mekong to Champasak. Champasak has a really old temple which used to be the capital of the Laos kingdom, but now lies in ruins. it was dreary and raining the whole time but that just added to the mystique of it. the buildings were mostly still in good condition on the outside soyou could see what it used to look like. and when you got to the top temple, you over looked quite a large area and could see the two temples down below. was gorgeous! Again pictures will come when i get the camera cable from my bag at the hotel.
The next day i found some travellers also going to what i thought was Don Khon and joined them on our songthaew and ferry journey down to Don Khong. Haha never the matter though i joined with some spanish people for an afternoon of island exploring on bikes, with the Mekong on one side of us and rice paddy fields on the other. Friendly waving Laos locals along the way too. the people here are so friendly, on the Songthaew on the way down we would stop occasionally and literally have a hoard of locals run at our truck, with entire chicken legs (foot still attached) bbq'd on a stick, or maybe some intestines wrapped around it.. one of the guys on the bus bought a bag of what looked to be bbq'd banana's. through some shitty picture communication we figured out that they were in fact banana's, and when i tried to buy one to try the local guy gave it to me for free! Wouldnt even take small change for it. was quite delicious too. Another girl on the bus also gave me some flower seed thingys to try (impossible to explain), also quite nice.
the next day i headed off on a boat to the intended Don Khon (though stayed on the neighbouring island joint by a bridge, Don Det). Found myself a bungalow with a deck and a hammock right on the Mekong for $1.87 a night!! Even had a queen bed, although no electricity as the island only recently got generators. I followed a lovely british couple in renting bikes to head around the island. the only bikes we could rent were granny-dutch style ones with one gear and a basket on the front, designed for the flat dutch tarmac roads. fortunately for us the roads on the island were neither flat nor tarmac, so it made for an interesting ride. my bike chain fell off about 10 times! still the island was beautiful, and lucky for us the rains ceased for a day so we could really enjoy it. we found a waterfall (which really was a large rapid, is probably more of a waterfall in the dry season) and a beach, which was totally submerged but we swum anyway. and had a great bike around the island.
the next day i decided i needed a lazy day to try and properly kick this tonsillitis so had a read in my hammock, only to discover the girl in the bungalow next to me was the same girl i had bumped into in 7 different places now!! (from the northern border or Laos right down to the very south), so we had to have a coffee, and actually learn each others names... and that afternoon i decided to go for a wander and ended up walking for 3 hours. its such a beautiful island though, with most of the houses still not having electricity, and water bufalo ploughing through the rice fields, it really is like old Asia.
Anyway one very long day, and a rice on a boat, songtheaw, bus and night train and i am back in Bangkok for the next few days, waiting for Owen, my friend from Australia to fly in tonight.
I think this blog may be long enough now, will endeavour to get my photos on in the next few days. Not sure where my next stop will be, probably Burma or Cambodia.. will let you know
much love,
Ingrid
I ended up staying 11 days in Vang Vieng in all, having tonsillitis. Went to the local hospital to seea doctor and was seen straight away!! and it only cost me $6. puts the New Zealand health system to shame really.. I did manage to do another days cave exploring, with a 4 year old guiding us at one point.. were awesome caves to see. I also went tubing as must be done in Vang Vieng. Ryan (the Canadian guy i was travelling with) and i got the last two life jackets available, got our tube and tuk tuk'd up to the drop off point. we hopped into the river only to realise the first bar was 100m downstream!! We were pulled into the bar of course, had a drink and a jump off the massive swing (photos to come), and hopped back into the river only to realise the second bar was a further 200m down stream!! This one was massive, with lots of places to sit and drink, a big flying fox swing (with an equally large line), and some vollyball courts. i shared a Beerlao and joined in a game of vollyball on the muddy court, with a bit of mud fighting thrown in for good measure. then we hopped back into the river, to enjoy the beautiful scenery of limestone cliffs surroudning us, and rice paddy fields all around. it was a bit surreal to rouind a corner and find techno music pumping and lots of drunk foreigners...
Anywho i decided i'd had more than enuogh time in Vang Vieng so Ryan and i headed off to Vientienne, where we stayed at his family friends house right in the city. Was brilliant to have a nice bed, hot shower and access to a fridge, jug and toaster whenever i wanted!! We did a walking tour of the city one day, seeing the museum, market and some temples, and hired a scooter teh next day out to see Buddah park. Buddah park was fantastic, with lots of budday and hindu statues. they all clearly depicted famous stories but i had no idea what they were and was left wondering what on earth was going on when someone was riding an elephant in a lake of skulls, trying to kill someone else...
We also went to visit a big golden monument in Laos which was great, nothing like i have seen before. And that night i hopped onto the night sleeper bus down to Pakse, in Southern Laos. Now by sleeper bus i mean you get a bed, slightly larger than a single bed, about teh right length for me for two people. the tall belgium guy next to me was quite squashed, being far too tall for the beds proportions. still the mattress was soft, a nice change from the usual Laos beds which resemble something like sleeping on a straw mat on concrete, which is what most people here sleep on anyway. 10 hours later we arrived in Pakse and i headed on my Songthaew (which is pretty much a ute with a cage around the back and benches for seats) down to Champasak. this also included a 'ferry' ride across, which was pretty much two small wooden boats,attached by some planks of wood across the top. one of the boats had a motor, and this pushed you across the Mekong to Champasak. Champasak has a really old temple which used to be the capital of the Laos kingdom, but now lies in ruins. it was dreary and raining the whole time but that just added to the mystique of it. the buildings were mostly still in good condition on the outside soyou could see what it used to look like. and when you got to the top temple, you over looked quite a large area and could see the two temples down below. was gorgeous! Again pictures will come when i get the camera cable from my bag at the hotel.
The next day i found some travellers also going to what i thought was Don Khon and joined them on our songthaew and ferry journey down to Don Khong. Haha never the matter though i joined with some spanish people for an afternoon of island exploring on bikes, with the Mekong on one side of us and rice paddy fields on the other. Friendly waving Laos locals along the way too. the people here are so friendly, on the Songthaew on the way down we would stop occasionally and literally have a hoard of locals run at our truck, with entire chicken legs (foot still attached) bbq'd on a stick, or maybe some intestines wrapped around it.. one of the guys on the bus bought a bag of what looked to be bbq'd banana's. through some shitty picture communication we figured out that they were in fact banana's, and when i tried to buy one to try the local guy gave it to me for free! Wouldnt even take small change for it. was quite delicious too. Another girl on the bus also gave me some flower seed thingys to try (impossible to explain), also quite nice.
the next day i headed off on a boat to the intended Don Khon (though stayed on the neighbouring island joint by a bridge, Don Det). Found myself a bungalow with a deck and a hammock right on the Mekong for $1.87 a night!! Even had a queen bed, although no electricity as the island only recently got generators. I followed a lovely british couple in renting bikes to head around the island. the only bikes we could rent were granny-dutch style ones with one gear and a basket on the front, designed for the flat dutch tarmac roads. fortunately for us the roads on the island were neither flat nor tarmac, so it made for an interesting ride. my bike chain fell off about 10 times! still the island was beautiful, and lucky for us the rains ceased for a day so we could really enjoy it. we found a waterfall (which really was a large rapid, is probably more of a waterfall in the dry season) and a beach, which was totally submerged but we swum anyway. and had a great bike around the island.
the next day i decided i needed a lazy day to try and properly kick this tonsillitis so had a read in my hammock, only to discover the girl in the bungalow next to me was the same girl i had bumped into in 7 different places now!! (from the northern border or Laos right down to the very south), so we had to have a coffee, and actually learn each others names... and that afternoon i decided to go for a wander and ended up walking for 3 hours. its such a beautiful island though, with most of the houses still not having electricity, and water bufalo ploughing through the rice fields, it really is like old Asia.
Anyway one very long day, and a rice on a boat, songtheaw, bus and night train and i am back in Bangkok for the next few days, waiting for Owen, my friend from Australia to fly in tonight.
I think this blog may be long enough now, will endeavour to get my photos on in the next few days. Not sure where my next stop will be, probably Burma or Cambodia.. will let you know
much love,
Ingrid
