Phonservan and the surrounding district is the most heavily bombed area on the planet, thanks to a illegal bombing campaign carried out by the USA during the Vietnam war. Today the area is still heavily covered with buried cluster bombs and hundreds of locals are maimed or killed every year just carrying out everyday tasks such as ploughing fields.

I went on a organized trek/bike ride to the plain of jars sights, mysterious giant jars origin unknown. Sight one was interesting but by the time we got to the third sight of similar looking giant jars the interest level was waning somewhat. At the sights there were landmine clearance teams in operation, a little worrying that’s they are still clearing mines etc from a well trodden tourist sight. Thankfully the other 18 or so sights are so heavily mined that we could only safely visit three sights.

We cycled back into Phonservan stopping at a scrap metal yard where everyday 15 tones of US gun metal is brought for recycling. The bomb metal is used for everything, house roofs, sheds, trailers, even the fire place at my guest house was an emptied out bomb shell. At the scrap yard a team of recyclers wee hammering at the end of a huge missile trying to break the end in order to remove the explosives for resale. I decided it wasn’t the safest looking bomb disposal operation and decided to move on and leave them to it.

The following day I get a bus to Vietnam! Which turns out to be the bus journey from hell. You see, they have built the border crossing on the peak of a mountain and opened it, but they haven’t yet got around to building a road to it on the Vietnam side. And Coaches aren’t the greatest off road vehicles. 12 hours later on a bus no longer representing the one we boarded in Laos (covered in mud, front and rear bumpers fallen off and side panel missing) we arrive in ‘Vinh’ a non descript city in Vietnam.

4-6th March

I was a bit disappointed with Louang Phrabang. The guidebooks had built the place up so much that I was expecting this amazing enchanting town. In reality its a pleasant small town, in a pleasant setting but certainly not the jewel of Asia as the guidebooks built it up to be.

Its starting to get a bit chilly as i head further into the hills and my warm clothes are going backwards and forwards on a train to Bangkok. Im cursing myself for leaving them now as i have nothing warm to wear and traditional Lao yak jumpers really arent my thing!

A days sight seeing, and a night on the town with the Kiwi and the Germans and I’m ready to move on, Heading East towards the Vietnam border my next stop will be a place called Phoncervan? (going to have to check these spellings)

2-4 March 2005

Two days in Vang-Vien basically involved me, two Germans and a kiwi, drinking copious amounts of Beer Lao whilst drifting down the river in giant inner tubes. A phenomenon known as tubing.

We were told when we left that the journey on the river should take between 3 and 4 hours depending on how many beer stops you take. We managed an all time record of seven hours! C’mon!!!

Vang Vien is a touristy little place consisting of a dusty track lined with restaurants and bars selling cheap beer and showing movies. All the buildings here are traditional timber style and the place has a rustic feel to it. A great hangout for a couple of days.

Next stop Louang-Phrobang. (spelling???)

Border crossing was a disappointment; I had been looking forward to complete chaos where traffic changes from driving on the left to the right. The reality however is very organized a boring, Goddamn traffic lights!

Upon arriving in Vientiane my first stop was the bank. After half an hour of form filling a people counting out bills, I depart having exchanged two 50 dollar notes for an entire suitcase full of money. This currency is ridiculous, roughly 16 million to the pound, and no notes bigger than a 5000. That’s allot of notes!

Vientiane the capital of Laos is more like a small town than a capital city. There are a few sights to see including a huge tower called the victory monument, built by the government with building materials donated by the USA for the construction of a new airport. I like that defiance, "Cheers we'll have the materials but we'll do what we damn well like with it".

Although not a great deal to see i spent a couple of nights here, the climate is bearable and the setting on the banks of the Mekong river pleasant. Entertainment is limited but 'Beer Lao' is plenty and its my duty to sample it well, Its supposedly the best beer in Asia. After two nights sampling I’m still not entirely convinced so I will have to do some more sampling at my next port of call. Vang-Vien.

What am I up to?
I had already agreed to meet Jilly, Chrissy, Pete, Stuart and Hannah (Friends from home) in Vietnam in early March so it would make sense for me to be heading North. Oh no! I’m heading in completely the opposite direction to meet some Australian girls I met in India. I know ill end up regretting it when I have to spend three days solid on a bus. But hey a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do. So here I am heading to the island of Kho Phan Ngan for a full moon party and no doubt a few days of heavy drinking and partying!

Kho Phan Ngan

I didn’t really like the whole Kho phan Ngan experience. From the moment I was hearded on to the tourist boat like some kind of sheep with about three hundred ‘think their cool’ teenagers. I knew it wasn’t going to be a place I had much time for. I got there a few days before the party, so that I could go and check out some of the nicer beaches in the north of the island. Don’t get me wrong this place is stunning, but the whole over touristy thing just made me feel like i was heading off on a ClubMed holiday. Not what I came away for.

Anyway.. enough grumling, It was great to meet up with friends from India and we did have a great few nights partying. More people than I expected from the India posse were there so that was cool. The full moon party it self was a bit pants really. Just like any other night but more crowed and with too many bars all trying to play their music other one another which made for one big distorted noise. We end up partying for three nights in a row and i got no sleep to help me face my manmouth journey. I wasn’t particularly sad to see the back of the island itself but one more night for sleeping would have been nice. Next ive got 4hours on the boat fromhell! Followed by back to back night trains heading up the far north of Thailand and the border with Laos.

Going to make these entries short and sweet as I am sooooooooo far behind.

Ayuthaya 15-17th Feb

Jenny and I traveled up to Ayathaya together by local bus. Auythaya was once the capital of Thailand way before Bangkok existed. However on arriving there you could be mistaken for thinking you had got on the wrong bus. I was expecting ancient buildings and narrow streets. Wrong. Ayuthaya on the surface looks like any other town or city in Thailand, wide multi lane highways, big modern buildings and thousands of motorbikes! However the ruins of the ancient city are there and we spend two days exploring them and numerous temples, our transport? knackered old push bikes again! and sure enough we both ended up with punctures and maintenance issues on numerous occasions.

The ruins of the old city were interesting but the temples weren't doing it for me. Maybe ive seen too many temples and the whole Wow factor has gone. Temples in Thailand all seem to look the same to me. But then just as I had lost interest we went to a temple, which is a big pilgrimage site to the Chinese Buddhist community of Thailand and home one of the largest golden Buddha’s in the world. It’s huge! We arrived in the middle of a religious ritual. That was fun, lots of noise, lots of yellow material being wrapped around the Buddha and the pilgrims. (Don’t ask me why!) and lots of people all generally doing their stuff. (As you can tell I’m well read on the worlds religions!)

Other than site seeing we spent time eating drinking etc.. with some German Guys (names escape me) and another Swedish girl named Eva. Don’t know why but the girl’s names don’t seem to escape me as easily!

After two days Jenny and I say our good-byes. She was a little tearful (Silly Girl!) and I head back to Bangkok by train.

Kanchaniburi

I get a tourist mini bus from bangkok to Kanchaniburi. Mistake! They crowd more people on the mini bus than you would normally expect on a full sized bus. Only two hours though so its hust about bearable except when the driver had to change gear, i had one leg either side of the gear stick! I did however meet a swedish girl called Jennie, and we deicide to travel together for the next few days. Jenies exceptionally attractive but i know from the outset that she is uncorruptable, Good ‘eye candy’ though!

We find a guest house by the river kwai, a fraction of the cost of Bangkok accomodation. That afternoon we head off to the war museum to learn some history about the significance of this place during the second world war. Educational!! Then we walk to the War Cemetary's where thousand of Allied troups were burried.. Emotional!! .

The following day I get up riduculously early to meet Jennie for some more sight seeing. We hire bikes and head off to the Bridge over the river Kwai. After visiting the rather unremarkable looking bridge we go cycling in the coutryside but the bikes arent built for the terrain and after 18km I have a puncture and Jennie's brakes have broken.

That night i head out to watch some football with a rather annoying Australian bloke who's favorite conversation is how crap the English are at everything. He predicts a Man U loss and an England Loss to the french in the rugby.. Bloody French!!! At least United won though...

Following day another early morning to catch a local bus to vist a national park with some opf the coutry's best waterfalls.The falls were amazing and after trecking up the hills and through a thick canopy of forrest we make it to the top teir of the water falls where there is an amazing pool of clear turquois water. Perfect!! We spend an hour here swimming and taking photographs before starting our treck back down the mountain.

Once down we catch the bus half way home and are then left with a conundrum,we want to get to a train station in a nearby village in order to catch a train back which runs down the death railway line and across the bridge over the river kwai. Problem is there is no transport from where we are to the village. We have next to no time and decide to resort to hitching. Jennie was unsure about it but our other option was um…well…. We didn’t have any other option! Anyway the whole hitching thing turns out to be really easy, every car that passed stoped to see if they could help. In the end a young guy in a pickup offered us a lift, when we got close to the village I asked him where he was heading and it turns out he was going completely the opposite way. He refused to take any money though, and got us there just in time. 2 minutes to spare.

The train ride was fun, if a little bumpy… The scenary was amazing and having learned about the railways history in the museum, the significance of it seemed very apparent.

Following morning Jennie and I get up early again (that’s three bloody early mornings in a row!) to catch an early local bus heading for Ayuthaya. Thailands old capital.

Bangkok 8th -12th Feb 2005

Arriving in Bangkok after India was a huge culture shock. I have spent so much time surrounded by chaos, filth, broken infrastructure, and crumbling buildings that I forgot what the real world was like. This place is modern, high-tech, organised, and relatively clean. Everything that India is not!

From the airport I shared a taxi with and Israeli guy I met on the flight. Neadless to say, being Israeli he got us a cheap taxi in to town. Once in the taxi my culture shock continues. Busy 4 lane motorways (no potholes), no trees growing out of the middle of the road, no bullock carts, and real cars (modern ones!). People even stick to the correct side of the road and generally pay attention to road markings (hold on. Road markings, what are they? No such thing in India) The taxi takes us past gleaming modern buildings, perfectly preserved temples, clean pavements with no rubbish, and high tech public transport (the Bangkok sky-train). The entire taxi journey passes and I didn’t see a single cow wandering the streets. This place is far too civalised!

The taxi drops us off in the Kho Shan Road area (backpacker central/touristville…… Horrible!!!!!!) This place is a cross between London’s trafalgar square and Blackpool's golden mile. I find myself some accomodation a couple of blocks away from the main travellers centre. Attack and retreat distance.

On the first night one of the most aparent sights is the amount of western guys walking around with their Thai girlfireds (I use the term’girlfried loosly, as paying for a girlfriend hardly qualifies in my books) The whole thing is so sleazy and a bit sad. Even with my poor record I’m not resorting to buying a gilrfriend!

On my first day I head out sightseeing and attempted to see the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. However I havent yet got my streetwise hat on and fall for the oldest trick in the book. A man apporaches me telling me that due to the Chinese New Year both are closed. At that moment, out of nowhere a rickshaw (Tuk-Tuk) driver appears and offers me a tour to some other attractions, I agree and spend the next two hours being taken to shops or travel agents where he gets commission. I refuse to buy anything but even so I end up wasting an afternoon.

The next day, my 2nd attempt is more successful and as i approach the Grand Palace I see signs everywhere saying ‘Don’t trust people who tell you we are closed. We are open everyday!’ You live and learn!! The Grand Palace and Wat Pho make a great day out but both are very touristy and a bit too crowded.

I spend the first two nights hanging out with a Swiss girl called Anja. She was quite attractive and good company so that was nice. Unfortunately no action for Marky though. She flew to Singapore on my third day so I didn’t get chance to work the English Charm!

After a couple more days sightseeing and catching up on beer drinking I decide to head to Kanchaniburi. Bangkok was a good reality check for me, but i need to get out. It’s too hot and there are too many things to watse money on.

Market stalls, Mysore.

Ambitious rickshaw wallah. Madurai.

Temple complex. Madurai.

Holy man. Trishy Temple complex.

My kind of temple!

Temple complex, Trishy.

Landscape Hampi

Bullock cart, Hampi.

Street scene, Hampi

Goats transported by conacle. Hampi.

Ancient ruins. Hampi.

Chai seller. Manmalapuram.

Movie billboard. Chennai.

Masala Dosa foir breakfast!

Water Melon seller. Chennai.

Market stalls, Mysore

Fishing Nets, Fort Kochi, Kerela.

Fisher Men repairing nets, Kerela.

Backwaters, Kerela.