May 6, 2013 - Luang Prabang

Ya, the simple side turned into a breakdown about bugs and resulted in me leaving the hotel for another, which was actually pretty nice. There has been some crazy rain storms around here at night. Fast and furious. The arrival to Laos and transfer to the slow boat was a little rough I won't lie. Three hours in the Visa line, paid to use the most horrifying bathroom I've ever seen in my life (if you could even call it that) The slow boat ride was again an experience to say the least. Kinda fun though, good scenery. Boarded with our new...

Feb 14, 2013 - Luang Parbang

Auckland to Laos- Sunday February 10., The Air Malaysia flight, Auckland to Kuala Lumpur left on time at 2.40pm. Pete had to pay $40 for the extra kilo in his bike box, it must have been the extra pair of shoes he put in. Our panniers seem lighter and smaller than for our Europe trip, as we are only packing for 5 weeks and one season. Temperatures should range between 20 to 40C. Dinner, a spicy chicken curry and rice for Nickie and a beef curry for Pete,( Asian cuisine already!) was enjoyed with a celebratory Tiger Beer. Pete dozed and...

Feb 8, 2013 - Royal Buddha image

Luang Prabang (meaning Royal Buddha image) is not a place, it is a frame of mind, a daily pattern formulated eons ago and still recreated today with the same precision. This mountain kingdom in today's northern Laos is no longer a French colony within Indochina and no longer boasts a royal family (the last king was sent off for 're-education' in 1975 and has not been seen since, but life goes on in much the same way regardless of these changes. The day starts before dawn, when temperatures are still well below the high nineties of midday...

Feb 5, 2013 - Some places never seem to change

They say travel broadens the mind but it is perhaps more accurate to say that travel caused one to question the great mysteries of life. Take as an example the sight of a local, clothed in a simple loincloth type of garment, sitting on a remote rock recently under water but now exposed by the falling river levels at this time of year, on the bank of the mighty Mekong river, swirling it was down from the high plains of Tibet to the distant river delta in southern Vietnam. There he sits, rod in his right hand, seemingly miles from the...

Jan 30, 2013 - Look mum, this is me at ....

See photo above for explanation: You don't need a lot of training to be a professional photographer here, it turns out right every time. No squinting, closed eyes, funny faces or not so you'd notice. And if it all goes wrong, just dress up a few friends and reshoot. No one will notice. And the pictures don't date over time so you look as young as ever. Clever stuff. N.B. that's Maggie, second from left of course. Well spotted.

Jan 19, 2013 - Return to Indochina

Outlook: bright and sunny. Well, this is assuming Heathrow manages to open before May to permit the odd flight to depart. As ages creeps up, we feel more and more that we should concentrate on the places that we know and love, rather than too much experimenting with new and untested spots like Eastern Algeria (Algiers was bad enough 30 years ago) or Guinee-Bisau. (Oh yes, still planning to hit Ukraine and Georgia - the country - later in the year). And so it came to pass that in 2013 we will be restricting our itinerary to three magical...

Jan 18, 2013 - Giving Alms to the Monks and Bicycling around Luang Prabang

We were up at 5 and off to the Main Street. We purchased food to give to the monks. I had a basket of sticky rice that I made into small balls and placed into different monk's metal bowls. I also passed out bananas and biscuits. I sat on a mat and made sure my feet did not point at a monk. While placing the food in their bowls I had to be really careful not to touch them since I am a woman. The monks walked in single file, with bare feet and wore bright orange robes. Along the street, a temple boy held a big plastic bag where the monks...

Jan 17, 2013 - Luang Prabang & the Kuang Sii Waterfalls

Our room is gorgeous with lots of teak wood and high vaulted ceiling and wooden shuttered windows. We visited the museum of ethnology. We found the wedding traditions fascinating. At a construction site next to the museum, both men and women were working. We took a private bus to the Kuang Sii waterfalls. At the beginning of the path to the falls, we passed a black bear sanctuary. We trekked around the falls, passing many pools at different levels that people could swim in. The water was cold since it is their winter. We hiked up to the...

Jan 16, 2013 - Pak Ou Caves & Luang Prabang

We stopped to explore the very spiritually important site, the Pak Ou Caves. These caves are home to thousands of Budda statues and images. They are placed by the Lao people. We toured the main cave and then climbed lots of steps to get to the upper cave. We all went out together for dinner. Some went to the night market where a street is shut down and hundred of stalls are set up just for the night.

Jan 5, 2013 - Luang Prabang

Our early start was to go to see the monks walk through the streets with their alms bowls receiving gifts from the people. It was a special Buddha day so there were over 300 monks of every age walking in saffron splendour. People were lined up on the pavement sitting on mats with baskets of sticky rice and sweets. There are also strategically placed boxes where once a monk's bowl is full he will take the overflow and put it in the box to be given to the poor. Next up was a stroll through the morning markets where everything that could...

Jan 5, 2013 - Luang Prabang

A day full of adventures A free day! You might expect us to sleep in, but no we were up at the crack of dawn: at 5 am! At 6am we were all in the minivan on our way downtown. We were participating/watching the morning ritual of monks going through the streets with their alms bowl to receive gifts from the people. They do this every morning. People are lined up on the sidewalk with baskets of sticky rice and sweets, sitting on mats. We did not know whether we could join them on the mats. Eke asked a woman who actually spoke German. We could...

Jan 4, 2013 - Luang Prabang

Exploring and enjoying Luang Prabang It was an early awakening, this time by the sound of monks hitting the gongs at several temples at 4am! We also had a cat underneath our bungalow who was clearly on the prowl! We had breakfast served in the garden. Doesn’t that sound sophisticated! The wonderful thing about this morning was that we did not have to be ready until 10am. At 10 the vans drove us into town where we visited the Ethnology Museum. We learned about the four dominant groups that make up the people of Laos. There are a lot of...