Southeast Asia

I woke up early this morning so that I could go and visit the Royal palace museum that Brendan and Dee had already seen. I crept out about 7:00 and went and got breakfast at Joma. The museum opened at 8:00 and it was beautiful walking through the town at that time of the morning, the streets were quiet and there were almost no other travelers around.

What I hadn’t realized is that the Royal Palace Museum was actually the official Royal Palace that was the residence of the King and Queen when Luang Prabang was the Laos capital and that it has only recently been transformed to a museum for the public. The grounds were immaculate and each of the rooms was ornately decorated with gold, marble, jade and many semi-precious stones. All the rooms were furnished with the original royal furniture, including the King’s throne in the central room. More interesting were the actual living areas of the King and Queen and the dining room and sitting rooms, it was amazing to be able to see it all. Also on display in the cabinets in the sitting room were all the gifts that had been presented to the Laos royal family by international countries. Places such as Japan, Cambodia, China and Thailand had all presented precious gifts of jewellery, tea sets and silver and gold items. By contrast Australia had presented a wooden and opal boomerang, although this was not nearly as bad as the USA which had given a small plastic model of a space ship with USA written on the side.

Leaving the palace I went downstairs to see the traditional clothing exhibit which was located underneath the palace in what was obviously the servants quarters. The rooms were all stone and tiny, with no windows to the outside, only to the courtyard. It was enlightening to see both sides of the palace. I honestly found it the most interesting museum of everything I’ve seen in SE Asia so far. I was very glad I had made the effort to get up early and go and see it.

On the walk back to the guesthouse I stopped off at the post office to send home the sheet set I purchased last night, I hope it makes it back to Australia. I also stopped and bought coffees for Brendan and Dee to help pries them out of bed. We all packed up and checked out in good time and caught a tuk tuk to the bus station in order to catch the 10:00 bus. Arriving at the station a Laos guy came running up and enquired “Where you go?” he looked very surprised when Dee and I said “Phonsovan” and then turned to his mate and started to laugh. He informed us that the only bus to Phonsovan left at 8:30 each morning. We almost started with the “but Lonely Planet said…..”, but it wouldn’t have achieved anything.

Of course I think he just wanted to scare us because after a few minutes he finally remembers that all we had to do was catch the bus to Vientiane for the first half of the trip, get off at Phu Kun and switch to another bus. I consider it a bad sign for the journey ahead when the driver walks through the bus distributing sick bags and motion sickness pills before the journey begins. Our bus left at 10:30. When I say it left at 10:30 what I really mean is we drove the 30m to the petrol station and then sat there for about 40 mins. We finally set off at about 11:15.

The first half of the journey took four hours and even though we had paid twice as much for the VIP bus we still had a man walk on with a box of chicks which chirped for the entire ride. The roads were narrow and winding; they first went up into the mountains and then back down the other side. The scenery was amazing, the mountain ranges are huge and the cliff faces are impressive to say the least. After 4 hours we stopped in Phu Kun where Dee and I Bailed from the bus. Phu Kun is a town that exists only because of the intersection between the road that runs from Luang Prabang to Vientiane and the road to Phonsovan. It was the smallest town I’ve seen that’s made it onto my map. Dee and I bought ourselves some fruit while a collection of Laos people stared and pointed at us. I don’t think they see a lot of farang with big backpacks buying fruit in their town. We mentioned the word “Phonsovan” to a few people but no one spoke English and as far as we could tell they were indicating that we should wait by the road for the bus. After about 5 minutes a pickup pulled up and offered to take us to Phonsovan for US$5 each. We had no way of knowing when the bus would come past and we wanted to get going so we jumped at the opportunity and clambered into the back of the truck. US$5 each sounds like a lot, but contrary to my expectations and popular belief Laos is not an inexpensive country to travel in, the bus would have been at least US$4. I think it’s because everything is done in US dollars, but I found Thailand much cheaper when it came to travel.

Along the road we stopped a few times to pick up additional people. You know, the usual, an old lady, an old Laos couple, an Army man with an AK47. When he jumped on Dee and I couldn’t help but stare in disbelief and then glance at each other and laugh nervously. I think he caught onto the foreigners not liking the massive gun resting so casually in his lap and he removed the clip. I felt marginally safer after that. The old man was captivated by the child’s toy truck that was rolling around and he picked it up to inspect, playing with the little dirt scoop on the front and spinning the wheels for a good 10 minutes. He was fascinated. It seemed like almost instantly the scenery changes from mountain ranges to low rolling hills. It was amazingly picturesque. We stopped a few times to let people out and also at the driver’s village where he had a chat and all the young children waved at us.

Once the sun set the ride became bitterly cold and I had to dig out some warmer clothes and layer up. This area of Laos is know for its cold weather and miserable winds. Watching the sun set over the hills from the back of the pickup was gorgeous.

Our driver dropped us off at a guesthouse in town which cost a US$5 per night for the two of us and was the cleanest room I’ve seen in a while, I think the bathroom may have been cleaned in the last month! We went out for dinner and booked ourselves on a tour of the Plain of Jars for the following day. While we were booking a crazy Swiss guy came out and told us not to book there because he had gone today and not had a guide. He then proceeded to yell at the guy booking our tour. Dee and I quickly confirmed we would have a guide before departing and leaving the Swiss man to demand he be put on a new tour with a guide for free and continue his yelling. We showered and went to bed about 8:30.

I woke at 9:30 this morning feeling about a thousand times better, the others were still asleep so I crept out and went to the coffee shop to get breakfast. I knew that given time they would each show up in search of coffee and food. We decided over breakfast that Brendan Joel and I would catch a tuk tuk out to the nearby waterfall and if there was time we’d also try and see the Pak Ou caves. We set off about midday, Dee stayed back in town because she wasn’t particularly interested in coming.

The ride out to the waterfall took over an hour on a very dodgy dirt road. The pot holes were close to the same size as the tuk tuk and occasionally our driver would slam on the brakes to avoid running into the wandering buffalo and we would go flying into the metal bars that separate the driver’s compartment from the back section. Thanks to this I now have a massive blue bruise on my upper arm.

At the waterfall we first walked up through the forest, passing the enclosures for 3 Black Bears which have been raised as cubs by the association since their mother was killed by poachers. Further up the hill we came across numerous stalls selling every souvenir ever produced in Asia.

The waterfall was spectacular; I could only imagine what it would have looked like in the wet season. I hadn’t thought to bring my bikini, which was stupid because the pools between each tier of the waterfall looked very inviting. We trekked up the steep rocky path to the first pool where we had to clamber over slippery rocks and pass under the flowing water just to reach the flat ground. From here we climbed even higher to the top pool which was a very demanding hike. the dirt had turned to mud which made the already steep hill impossible to grip and we had to use the vines to keep ourselves steady. Luckily, the view from the top was amazing so it was worth the climb. There were shallow rock pools with mini rock faces that the water flowed over, the vegetation was particularly dense. We waded through the water along the top of the waterfall and then began the climb back down on the opposite side of the waterfall, only to discover that on this side there had been wooden steps built which would have made the climb a lot easier had we known they existed.

By the time we got back to the tuk tuk and woke our driver who was asleep in his hammock in the back it was after 4:00.

I still really wanted to see the Pak Ou caves since they are the main tourist attraction in Luang Prabang because of their housing of hundreds of Buddha statues. Our driver decided we had just enough time to see the caves as well so we took off, although in retrospect I think he knew there wasn’t enough time but wouldn’t have found another fare that afternoon. When we were still on our way an hour later and the sun was beginning to set I grew slightly concerned. Along the road we passed dozens of school kids on their bikes cycling home from school to the villages, they all wanted to wave at us and a lot of the young boys tried to race the tuk tuk.

We finally got to our destination at 5:30 and we ran down the hill to the boat crossing and jumped into one of the wooden boats. We arrived at the caves with 10 mins of sunlight to spare and paid the 10,000kip entry fee before racing up the stairs into the cave. I can not pretend I wasn’t disappointed, the caves were less than impressive and the Buddha statues were covered with dust and less than interesting, perhaps if there had been some information on why they were there it would have been more interesting but there wasn’t anything like that.

We took a few photos and then dashed up the approximately 300 stairs to the second cave. A little Laos man came running up behind us and when he reached the top he was doubled over wheezing and trying to catch his breath. I don’t know about the boys, but I for one was glad to see that even the people who walk those stairs everyday find them a challenge. Once he had finally caught his breath he began unlocking the cave doors [they have had to chain the cave closed at night since people have been stealing the Buddha statues] with the keys he had brought, only to discover that he had come running up behind us with the wrong keys. He gave us an apologetic look that also implied he wasn’t about to go running back down to get the correct keys and rush back up again to let in 3 Farang who were stupid enough to show up just as the sun was setting. We told him it was ok, and we all stumbled defeated back down the stairs to the boat.

After crossing the river back to the tuk tuk we climbed back in for what promised to be a bloody freezing ride back into town. It actually wasn’t as bad as I expected, it was cold, but I survived. The driver dropped us off at the markets so that we could grab some food because none of us had eaten since breakfast. I finished eating before the boys and went off in search of tampons. it took me over an hour to find some and even then they cost US$3 for a box of 8. Since I was already out walking around I decided to go and have a look at the night markets now that I was feeling better. They were selling a lot of hand sewn sheet sets with the symbols of the local tribes on them. I bought a set for my sofa bed with the symbol of the Hmong people, I thought it would be a great souvenir of my New Years in the Hmong village. The set cost $19; I’ll have to post it home tomorrow.

Back at the guesthouse we sat outside and discussed the plans for tomorrow. Dee and I have decided to head east to Phonsovan and the Plain of Jars while Brendan is going to go south straight to Vang Vieng and we’ll meet him there in a few days. Joel is going north to Nong Kwai for a couple of nights and we might catch up with him in Vientiane. Once we were all decided on our destinations I left the others to debate gun laws in the USA and Canada and went inside to pack. Although I was feeling much better today I’m still quite low on energy and today’s adventures wiped me out. Fell asleep with no problems.

Last night dinner had been great, but seeing it again a few hours later did not make for the most pleasant experience. I threw up again during the night and when I woke up this morning I felt terrible. I had a burning fever and absolutely no energy. the others left for breakfast, but I stayed in bed. The skin all over my body was hot to touch, as though I had terrible sunburn. I’m certain that its heat stroke from sitting under the blazing sun in the boat all day yesterday, but I was at a loss for what to do because I couldn’t keep down even the smallest amount of water. I just spent most of the day sleeping underneath a wet towel trying to cool myself down.

About 4:00 I was starting to feel a bit hungry which I took as a good sign and I was also very disappointed that I was wasting a day in a town I had been so excited about seeing so I ventured around the corner to a coffee shop that Brendan and Dee had recommended. I ordered plain toast because that was all I could face, but all the food looked delicious. The coffee shop, Joma, was gorgeous; it reminded me a bit of a nicer version of coffee club. I just kept thinking how much Mum would love it here. I finished my book, so I began on Bill Brysons “A Short History to Nearly Everything” which is very slow reading, but also very interesting. I drank 2 gastrolyte tablets which should really help to re-hydrate me if I can manage to keep them down.

Next I went looking for an internet café so that I could email mum and dad and tell them how sick I am and get a bit of sympathy from back home. Leaving the internet café I stepped out into the Luang Prabang night market. The market was amazing, it was the best market I’ve seen in all of SE Asia and it actually had some very appealing items, if I wasn’t feeling so shitty I might have bought a few things. I’ll head back tomorrow night.

I think Brendan really wanted to go out and get drunk, but I was far from in the mood for alcohol as were Dee and Joel so we went and watched “The Bourne Identity” at the local cinema. when I finally went to bed I was feeling slightly better and I even drank half a bottle of water before falling asleep.

Got up at 7:00 this morning, it was actually quite easy since I’ve been getting up with the sun for the past few days. Went downstairs for breakfast and found everyone else from the Gibbon Experience there. Ordered breakfast and then rushed off to try and buy some tampons. It was to no avail, turns out tampons are hard to come by in Laos, but this is also a very small border town and I’m sure that I can get them in Luang Prabang. I was really worried about what I’d do without any for the day but the Belgium girls gave me a couple of hers which was a lifesaver.

Eating breakfast I met a gorgeous Greek couple who I was to spend that day with on the speed boat, they were great and did make for a fun trip. The car that was supposed to pick us up at 8:30 finally arrived at 9:30 and then left at 10:00, I’m getting used to Laos time, everything just runs an hour or so behind schedule. The speed boat station was literally a floating shack at the bottom of an incredibly steep dusty hill. There were about a dozen young Laos guys walking up and down the stairs with huge rocks on their shoulders to lay next to the path at the bottom. To what purpose, I have no idea, but the stairs were bad enough to walk down with a backpack let alone a boulder on either shoulder. I bought a packet of Pringles and a bottle of water to get me through the 6 hour ride.

When the lonely planet author had said that “life jackets and crash helmets should be provided” I assumed it was a joke alluding to the possibly hair-raising journey. Much to my surprise I was immediately issued with a life jacket and helmet which did not invoke a lot of confidence in the ride ahead. The boat was a slim, long tailed boat like those in Thailand and was no more than 80cm wide with four seats. Of course in Southeast Asia, this means that you can fit at least 8 people in, along with all their crap. They can pack any form of transport with absolute precision to within an inch of its life. We all squished in, each in a very tight crouched position against the wonderful wooden backrests that stop at the perfect height on the spine to leave you in agony from the first moment.

I’ll admit that the speed boats are correctly named, the engine roars constantly and we picked up to a very serious speed, very quickly. The wind on my face as we shot down the Mekong was almost unbearable and I could barely keep my book open. The river was beautiful, the scenery is amazing here, it is still rather weird to think that Laos was on my left and Thailand on my right. The further down the Mekong we sped the more the scenery changed. Initially the river banks were low and there were sandy shores on either side with low, flat paddocks beyond, however, this gradually changes to views of the mountain ranges and cliff faces hidden behind dense jungle. There were also small rocky islands all through the water and our driver had clearly motored down the river before, because he knew exactly where to swerve just in time to miss the rocks. I really enjoyed the view; Laos is without a doubt one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever seen in my life.

The river banks and any sandy shores were the host to numerous locals who use the river to bathe, wash their clothes, rinse the rice and pan for gold. The latter came as a bit of a surprise, but it reminded me of something the American geologist had said in the jungle about gold in the Mekong. There were also young children playing soccer on the sand banks and messing around in the water. Any shores not occupied by Laos people, were so by any number of water buffalo herds laying in the water and on the banks of the river.

The river itself was full of whirlpools and even at the speeds we were moving you could feel them pull the boat as we crossed them. There was also an extremely strong current, thankfully we were heading downstream, I think it would have taken about twice as long to make the same trip upstream. We pulled into the occasional boat stations [floating bamboo shacks] at regular intervals along the river to let people in and out. Later on, many of the stops were made at secluded beaches beyond which you could just make out a remote village. After 3 hours, I was pretty certain that I was paralysed into my crouched position and pleasantly surprised to find that I could still move.

After lunch we managed to motor along for about 40 mins before the motor died. Our driver did everything he could to get it working again, he continually pulled on the started cord for about 10 mins and when that didn’t work he tried giving it numerous good whacks. Shockingly, this didn’t have the desired effect, nor did the following shaking of the engine. After this he seemed to be of the opinion he’d done all he could and so he took a seat and we floated down the Mekong for the next hour and a half until we came across a river side hut. Here the driver chatted to a Laos man who lived there, and had a good laugh before the man disappeared and returned with some oil which they poured into the engine. It was obviously what the problem required because the engine started first time after that and we were finally on our way again.

Having now wasted a good chunk of time the sun was beginning to disappear behind the mountains which meant that things got incredibly cold. I was wearing a hoodie but with the sun gone, it was no longer warm enough and the wind chill was indescribable. Thankfully we dropped another person off and I could move a bit further to the back of the boat so that the people in front could act as a windbreak. The bright-side of the situation was that we had a completely unimpeded view of the sun setting over the Mekong which was stunning.

Finally arrived in Luang Prabang [also known as louangpabang or luang pabang since for sometime the letter ‘r’ was banned in Laos due to the King’s dislike of it] at about 6:00 and was greeted by a whopping great set of stairs, which to my great pleasure I had the opportunity to hike up with my pack. A young boy offered to carry my bag for US$1 but honestly my bag was the same size as him and I need the exercise anyway. At the top I shared a tuk tuk with the Greek couple into tow. The first thing I did in town was check my email and find out where Dee and Brendan were staying and then I took a tuk tuk to meet them. At the guesthouse I walked into the room to find a strange guywho gave me a “um hi, who the hell are you” look. I thought I’d walked into the wrong room until I recogised Brendan. Turns out the strange guy is Joel and he’s from Canberra [I told him how sorry I was about that]. Brendan and Dee had adopted Joel the night before when they had overheard him begging the guesthouse owner to let him sleep on the floor since there was a serious shortage of rooms in the town. Dee had gone running out and told him they had a spare bed because I wasn’t arriving for a few days. He’ll stay again tonight, I felt bad kicking him out, so Dee and I will share a bed.

Everyone seemed to be in the mood to go out, I wasn’t feeling great, but decided to make the effort. I’d heard about a riverside restaurant where you have a stove in the middle of the table and a private BBQ and you cook your own veggies and meat. It was really a lot of fun.

I still wasn’t feeling well but we went out looking for a bar, a tuk tuk driver offered to take us to a laos disco which we opted to check out. It was great, a bit like a cheap bar in Sydney with a live band, we were the only westerners in the room. The dance floor was packed but in the 40 sec break between each song every single person would clear the dance floor and return to their seats, only to head back to the dance floor again 10 seconds later for the next song, it happened without fail. It was the most bizzarre thing I’ve seen. They also had a feew co-ordinated dances [similar to the nutbush] which Dee and I joined in on while a couple of Laos girls tried to teach us the steps. The disco ended at 11:30 and the others went looking for a new bar but I felt so ill I had to go home. Back at the guesthouse I promptly threw up, and then spent the next few hours in the bathroom.

Woke again this morning with the sun at 7:00 and packed up. Breakfast was a quick snack where we were told that we had been invited to join the New Year celebrations down in the Hmong village. The program volunteers seemed nervous about our intended presence and sorted us into 2 groups so that we could remain in the background and not interfere with the festivities. They were also very concerned about us taking photographs since no-one has ever been in the village on such an occasion. I felt lucky to have the opportunity, as did the volunteers who seemed very excited.

At 8:00 we set off to hike back down the mountain, a much easier task than the ascent. The walk down took far less time and was not nearly as tiring. The cloud was still lifting and the sunlight behind the corn fields looked magical.

The village was alive with festivities, the atmosphere was fabulous. All the women were dressed in traditional Hmong clothing as were some of the men. We were invited to one of the homes of the villagers for the New Year feast which the women prepared before us in a single roomed, dirt floor house with a small fire place in the middle of the room. Whilst the food was being prepared we sat with ‘the man of the house’ who fed us rice whiskey shots. I accepted the first because we had already been warned that it was very rude to refuse but at 10 in the morning it was about the last thing I wanted and I barely kept it down. It was not unlike rocket fuel and it burnt the whole way down my throat and sat like a fireball in my stomach. I politely refused the next half dozen shots that were offered, but many of the others went on to down about 8 shots over the course of the morning. I have no idea how they managed to stand up afterwards.

The feast was enormous and the food was delicious. After breakfast we learnt a small amount of the Hmong language and then walked back into the village to join in the games. The program co-coordinators hopes of us remaining in the background as silent observers was clearly not going to be accepted and we were asked to join in games of catch and a version of volleyball played like soccer, using only the feet and head to get the ball over the net. The children were so gorgeous and thrilled to be able to play their games with us. They were captivated by my digital camera and each time I took a photo and showed them a small crown would form to ooh and ahh. Even the parents wanted to get in on the action.

About midday the decision was made that it was time to leave, so we all piled into the back of the truck and awaited the arrival of the driver. He of course never showed up because he was off drinking lao lao with the village chief who was by now more than slightly intoxicated and encouraging our driver to join him in his happy state. Luckily an alternative driver was found and we were soon on our way back down the China to Thailand dusty ‘soon to be’ highway. Being in the back of the truck, by the time we arrived in Huay Xai two hours later I had transformed into an orange, fluffy haired monster and wanted nothing more than a long hot shower. I managed to get at least a long shower at my guesthouse, which despite being cold was bliss.

Feeling once again human, I ventured out to the balcony, only to find half the tour group there chatting. We decided to book a speed boat together for the ride to Luang Prabang tomorrow, but each boat only had 6 places available for farang. I happily volunteered to take another boat. It doesn’t matter to me and as lovely as some of them were, other had become very wearing. We all had dinner together at a restaurant down by the Mekong River, looking across to Thailand. It was really gorgeous and both countries were still celebrating the New Year [they will continue to celebrate for almost the next week] and letting lanterns up into the sky. 2006 has begun…..

I slept terribly last night. Sharing a bed with a strange guy was awkward, but not the end of the world since we had separate blankets and curled up in our respective corners. What really killed the possibility of any sleep was the fact that he snored, extremely loudly and without pause, all night long. I don’t think I had more than 1 hour’s good sleep.

Woke with the sun rise at 7:00. The jungle looked beautiful at that time of the morning since all the cloud was yet to lift and condensation dripped from all the leaves. Breakfast was traditional Laos food, very similar to dinner actually. I had chat with Liz and a few of the guides over breakfast. They were very surprised to hear about the article I had found on the project and obviously had no idea that it had been written.

There were 2 options for today, the first was to take an 8 hour hike to the waterfall. I’m sure it would have been beautiful, but I opted for the second option which was to stay and play on the zip wires. I’m sure I’ll have opportunity to see many more beautiful waterfalls in Laos, but the zip wires are a once only opportunity. A few of the guides suggested some of their favorite walks for me to take through the jungle. I eventually decided to take my book (just started on ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’) over to tree house number 3 which involves a beautiful walk through the forest beyond the zip wires. I had to take 3 zip wires before I even reached the beginning of the walk, they are so much fun. It was a gorgeous walk because it was in a different level of the forest, it took about 30 mins and I had to zip wire into the tree house. No.3 is a much smaller tree house than no.1, but it is in the most amazing position. Unlike tree house 1 which is in shade early in the mornings and late in the afternoons each day because of the mountains, tree house 3 would have a completely unimpeded view of the sunrise and sunset. I sat and read for a few hours before walking back to the zip wires, but instead of using them to get back to the main tree house I decided to walk up the mountain and around the back of the ridge which was completely exhausting and took over an hour. I could feel every muscle in my legs burning after the hike up the mountain yesterday.

I hit my head on the zip wire coming back into the tree house, which I barely noticed at the time but tonight is very red and beginning to scab although it looks much worse than it really is. Back in the tree house I spoke to Liz and played with the resident monkey who was abandoned by its mother and donated to the Gibbon experience with the hopes of re-introducing it to the wild. Although Liz was telling me these monkeys are reluctant to accept a new member to a family group, particularly a female, so if assimilation is not successful she will remain a member of the Gibbon Experience family. It was also explained to me that tonight is not only new year for us, but also for the Hmong people since tonight is the new moon, it is rare for them to coincide. Because of this many of the employees were not working and instead were down in the village preparing for tomorrows New Year celebration.

For the rest of the afternoon I had planned to read my book, but I fell asleep instead, I hope I get some more sleep tonight. Early evening, just before the sun set and it got too cold I took a shower in the tree house. The water comes from a natural spring further up the mountain and is therefore safe to drink, which makes it the only safe drinking water in SE Asia. The shower was freezing and the floor was lattice, it was a weird sensation to look down and see all the water pouring the 40m down to the jungle floor.

Dinner was similar to yesterdays, although we were allowed wine because it was NY. That was actually a big surprise since they have a strict no alcohol policy which is fair enough considering the living in a tree thing. Even so, one of the villagers also came by with a bottle of lao lao (rice whiskey) just incase the wine wasn’t enough. I thought the wine was delicious, perhaps because I haven’t had any since Australia – its very expensive here, but apparently its not the right thing to give French wine to a Belgium couple, an Austrian couple and an Italian guy. It has become quickly apparent to me that when you take one European couple and put them together with another European couple they do nothing but bitch and whine about anything that’s not European, and more than that, not from their respective European countries (I’m sure that there are lots of Europeans who are not like this, its just that I’m yet to meet them).

The sun sets here at about 6:00pm and since there is no electricity it’s difficult to achieve anything after this time. Hence staying awake until midnight to see in the NY was not really an option. We spent an hour or so looking at the stars through the telescope in the tree house. The sky is so clear here and there is so little light pollution that you can see hundreds of stars. The American geologist pointing out the planets which was interesting, but about 9:00 we all gave up and went to bed. Although not before the resident cat caught herself a rat in the tree house which she settled down to demolish throughout the night.

Alarm went at 6:30 so that I could pack up the last few bits and pieces, get dressed and eat before the truck left. I had breakfast at the Gibbon Experience office and met most of the people who are coming on the trek. They are all couples, and much older than me so I don’t think that new years eve tomorrow is going to be bundle of excitement. I also dumped my big pack in the office because I managed to fit everything I going to need into my daypack.

Finally set off at about 8:30. Being in the car, the first thing that struck me was that they drive n the right-hand side of the road. That came as a big shock, especially since Thailand drives on the left and its still a stones throw away, literally. The road, I use that word liberally, we were on is the new China to Thailand highway that passes through the northwestern corner of Laos. There was no tar laid since it is still under construction, and it is just a dusty orange track with potholes the size of small cars and tractor ruts about a metre deep. The dust, that covered not only the road, but also everything nearby including villages and any vegetation, is sent into an orange cloud with every passing vehicle.

At one point the Belgium couple sitting beside me asked me if the roads were like this in Australia and when I replied “not in the cities” it was greeted with a very serious “ahhh, not in zee zities?”. God only knows what their perception of Australia is but they went on to tell me that one of their friends had been to Australia and had come home and told them that it was full of red-necks. I gave up on them after that.

The drive was very steep and winding and it was a good three hours before we reached our destination at the heart of the Bokeo National Reserve in the Hmong village that sits at the base of the mountain we were set to trek up. The girl I had been speaking to in the office about the program said that the tours leave every 2nd day, yet our arrival in the village still seemed to be a great cause of excitement. Liz, one of the volunteers with the project, explained to me later that the village feels very involved with the program since almost every family has at least one member who works up in the jungle, either as a forest guard, guide, or in the kitchen.

Our trek began through the corn fields of the village and as we walked deeper into the jungle we took numerous river crossings. Initially I used the bamboo stalk laid across as a walking plank, but it was incredibly unstable, bounced beneath my feet and had a tendency to roll so soon enough I took my shoes off and waded through the small streams. After the final river crossing we stopped for lunch, which was chicken and salad sandwiches wrapped in banana leaves. At this point our trek really began, the uphill climb was brutal to say the least. Everyone collapsed in a heap at the top.

All was forgiven almost immediately though when we were handed our harness for the zip wires [flying foxes]. A short demonstration later and I was zipping through the sky among the tree tops into tree house number 1, 40m above the ground.

In the tree house liz offered us tea and coffee and some snacks of nuts and roasted beans and told us a bit about the conservation project. It was begun by a Frenchman, Jeff, who over 6 years ago began to look for a way to protect the forest from illegal logging and poachers. Almost exactly one year ago the gibbon experience opened to the public, although the zip wires have been in place for much longer than that since they were initially installed to allow the forest guards to move quickly around the jungle to catch poachers.

At one point I was looking out into the jungle from the tree house when I spotted an animal moving through the trees. I assumed it was simply a common animal but the guides were very excited to see it so close to the tree house. The animal which was about the size of a small dog was black and had a long bushy tail, much like a possum, and moved through the trees by running along the branches and jumping into the next tree, is known to the locals as a ‘Mariloua’. What makes it so special is that it seems to be unknown to the western world and there is no record of it anywhere. I felt very lucky to have seen it, although I saw it again a few ties over the course of the afternoon. We went out this afternoon with a guide on the zip wires who showed us the way to the other tree houses. The longest zip wire is over 400m and must be at least 70m above the jungle floor. Its quite an adrenalin rush to be flying through the tree tops at a decent speed, particularly when you look down. Our guides lead us back at about 5:30 which was just in time to see the sun disappear over the ridge.

Dinner was at 6, I had little idea what to expect because its really only my first day in Laos and I’m not yet acquainted with the cuisine. It was delicious, although very different from Thai food, there was almost no sauce, it was just vegetables flavoured with salt and a few herbs served with sticky rice. As soon as the sun set the jungle seemed to come to life with noise, in every direction there was rustling in the trees and there was the occasional barking which our guides assured us were the barking deer, although I’m more inclined to believe it was the dogs in the local village. Without electricity its difficult to stay awake late so we all packed it in about 8:30, I was tired anyway from being up at 6:30. I have to share a bed with the only other solo traveler, a Thai doctor. It should make the night sufficiently awkward.

Could not for the life of me make the shower hot this morning and spent 10 mins being sprayed with cold water before I went to find the crazy old lady and have her get the gas working. Unfortunately by then I was so cold that the lukewarm shower did not warm me up. My theory on the crazy lady is that she married a western guy, because the daughter is definitely Asian/western mix, but he left her and now she hates foreigners but cant afford to close the guesthouse. I also discovered this morning why Asian people don’t use toilet paper. How did I discover this? well…. As it turns out the plumbing in Asia is not exactly designed for toilet paper and tends to clog, particularly in the case of a non-flushing toilet that you flush by pouring in additional water. I was in the bathroom in absolute hysterics and yelling at Dee through the door what was happening and then she was in hysterics. It was about the funniest thing I’ve done in Asia. In the end, by pouring in about a bathtub full of water, it finally worked itself out, but I now understand the no toilet paper policy.

Found breakfast in a café run by a French guy, it had only been open 3 weeks. 2 German guys who live locally came in to check the place out while we were there and despite being well over the age of 60 spent an hour enquiring how to roll pot cigarettes and telling the owner all about their ‘I almost got arrested for drugs’ stories.

Left the packs at the guesthouse and caught a sawngthaew for the 10km north o the opium museum at the golden triangle. The opium museum was good, but I’d seen a lot of the information yesterday at the hill tribe museum. About 50m up the road was the official view point for the Golden Triangle, the meeting point of Thailand, Burma and Laos divided only by the Mekong River. There were countless number of tourists and little kids walking around in traditional clothing posing for photographs, along with about a hundred stalls selling ‘I’ve been to the golden triangle’ t-shirts.

We could not work out how the hell to catch the sawngthaew back to the city of Chiang Saen so instead we grabbed a life with an old Thai couple, who let us sit in the tray of their ute. After he dropped us off he refused to accept our money, we thanked him profusely.

The border crossing to Laos is from Chiang Khong so we picked up our packs and made our way to the sawngthaew station for a ride. The cost was 60B but after waiting 20 mins to leave I began to get concerned because the driver was clearly not leaving any time soon and we had to be at the border before 4:30 if we wanted to cross today. When I finally enquired about our possible departure time his response was “when full”. Since no one else had come in the past 30 mins and it seemed unlikely another 8 people were going to come along in the next 30 we had no choice but to charter the truck to Chiang Khong for 250B each. We were dropped off at the top of a dusty street where the driver pointed down the hill and said “Laos”. Sure enough about 50m down the dusty hill was a sign that said ‘departures’ and pointing to a small building. Inside the officers took our departure cards and stamped our passports. When Dee asked which way we should go next he looked at us as though we were as thick as 2 short planks and said “down street”. Obviously. Further down the street the road ended and at the bottom of the dusty hill was a small sing that announced ‘ferry crossing 20B’. We each paid our 20B for the 1 minute boat ride across the river to Laos.

Once on the other side of the river we walked about 20m up the dusty hill to ‘immigration’ where we filled out a form and the official glanced at our visas. The whole process took less than 5 mins. Now that we were officially in Laos we went looking for a guesthouse. At the top of the hill we saw a sign for the BAP guesthouse and grabbed the last room for ourselves. Whilst checking in who should wander in but Brendan. Its lucky the room was actually a triple.

We went for a walk just a few doors down to the Gibbon Experience Office to enquire about the trek/program in the Bokeo National Park. I had read about the program in a magazine article back at home and was keen to spend the next 2 nights living in the tree houses and flying through the jungle on the zip wires [flying foxes]. The others weren’t so keen and for all 3 of us to go we would have had to hang around for 3 days which is not appealing since Huay Xai consists of one main street and a border crossing. Given that I was the only one interested I managed to squeeze in as the last person for the tour leaving tomorrow morning. I think I was very lucky to get the place actually. The cost for 3 days and 2 nights is 5000B which is much more than I have spent on anything else, but I feel that it will be worth it. When am I ever going to be Laos again with the opportunity to live in a tree house and fly around the jungle by zip wire?

We went and grabbed dinner and Dee and Brendan made arrangements for places on the 6 hour speed boat to Luang Prabang tomorrow. Back in the room Brendan and Dee read while I packed my bag, I’m only taking my daypack with me. I’ll have to be up at 6:45 tomorrow. I’m really excited about tomorrow and very proud of myself for surviving my first border crossing by land. Yay me!

Awoke to the sounds of construction on the guesthouse this morning only t discover the electricity and water had been switched off, so much or the hot shower. Packed up and checked out before 11:00 and went in search of breakfast.

I’ve noticed that people here ‘claim’ their dogs by putting clothes on them to identify them as home dogs rather than strays. Its very cute to walk around town and seen all these dogs with clothes on, but I can only begin to imaging how hot the poor things get during the day. We left our packs at the guesthouse and walked 15 minutes to the Hill Tribe museum. The museum was actually fascinating and I enjoyed reading about all the different hill tribes in Thailand. We spent almost 2 hours there before venturing downstairs to the Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant. So named because its run by the Thai government in the hope to eradicate HIV/AIDS and at the end of every meal you get a free condom. There were cartoon condom pictures everywhere and the motto was “Our food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy”. Dee and I only had drinks because we weren’t hungry and sadly we received no condoms. I guess they assume that you only deserve them if you eat a whole meal. Its not as though I have any immediate use for them anyway, but it was definitely the most unusual dining experience I’ve had in Thailand.

Walked back to the guesthouse to collect that packs and then headed off for the bus station. Got stopped on the way by a group of students looking for targets for their English question surveys. It was similar to the thousands I completed in Sukhothai except that these children were older and had slightly more questions; they still needed to take the photo though. Caught a sangthaew to the bus station and bought tickets to Chiang Saen. Got to the gate just in time to see the bus pulling out. We probably could have caught it if we’d waved our arms, the drivers in this country will do anything for an extra fare, but I held back because the bus was packed and I didn’t want to stand for the 1.5 hour ride. This turned out to be the right decision since the next bus came within 10 mins and was a luxury coach with aircon and leather seats. The 50B price tag also secured a bus hostess who wandered down the aisles with drinks and biscuits. Dee and I both had two seats to ourselves, it was the most luxurious bus ride to date and an additional bonus was that we refrained from making the standard 40 stops along the way.

About 10 mins out of the city we stopped for a police check and they boarded the bus checking everyone’s ID’s. We are getting very close to the borders now so I guess that explains it, they weren’t even slightly interested in Dee or I though. Arriving in Chiang Saen we again disappointed the waiting tuk tuk drivers by opting to walk to find a guesthouse. Cam across one called the Chiang Saen guesthouse with a nice room and hot water for 200B. It was run by a crazy old woman who owned at least 4 dogs, one of them being the fattest Dalmatian I’ve ever seen in my life, it was almost square, and in addition to this she had about 3 dozen cats roaming around all over the place. She also managed to refrain from smiling the entire time, despite the best efforts of Dee and I.

Went out for dinner while it was still light and ate at a gorgeous outdoor vendor restaurant with tables overlooking the river. Chiang Saen is a really gorgeous town with its amazing view of the Mekong River.

The English menu for dinner was non-existent and the final result was interesting to say the least. Despite Dee’s best efforts to convey her need for no meat she received a soup with every meat under the sun floating in it. My prawns were delicious. Went for a walk around town for an hour or so and came across a Thai aerobics class which was great to watch, they were pumping it out in unison to ‘I love you baby’, Dee and I were captivated.

[Please note that many people may want to tune out this first paragraph, feel free to skip to the next.] Woke twice in the night to visit the bathroom with terrible diarrhea accompanied by crippling stomach cramps, which ensured that I got very little sleep although I think the majority of it was over by the morning.

I was exhausted when the alarm went at 9:00 and went downstairs to get breakfast with the others, but happily returned to bed to sleep for a few more hours while the others read. I Eventually decided to face the day and I went off to transfer all of my photos to CD so that I could post them home along with all the bits and pieces I bought at the markets last night. I had to wait an hour for the photos so I walked around the town. I’m really disappointed with Chiang Mai, I think the town gets a lot of hype but there’s not really much appeal, I found it very overrated. After picking up my photos, I finally located a post office and sent my stuff home by airmail with no problems, total cost was about 600B. Walking around in the heat all afternoon wiped me out and I collapsed in a heap on the bed back at the guesthouse.

Only about 10 mins after my passing out onto the bed, Dee came rushing through the door saying that she had a tuk tuk waiting to take us to the bus station. Since we had no reason to stay in Chiang Mai Dee and I had made the decision earlier in the day to leave Brendan here to meet up with a friend of his and see us aging in a few days in Laos. It was the fastest pack I had done so far and I was paranoid that I had forgotten something, but it turned out ok. In all honesty I was completely drained and the last think I wanted to do was pack up and leave town, but I could understand Dee wanting to take off, besides we have to cross the border before Dees visa expires on the 29th.

At the bus station we bought tickets for the 5:30 bus to Chiang Rai, which took 4 hours. Although the sun set 30 mins into the trip Dee and I crammed ourselves under the emergency exit light on the back seat so that we could read. Arriving in Chiang Rai we walked around town and checked out a few guesthouses before settling on one, which cost 200B for the night with a hot shower. We had seen a pizza place whilst we were walking and decided to head back there for dinner because I wasn’t sure I could face anything spicy given the state of my stomach which was still not 100% even though I’d been fine since this morning. The pizza place was identical to Pizza Hut and even had a salad bar, it was exactly what I needed.

I walked back to the guesthouse to go to bed, while Dee headed off to feed the addiction in the nearby internet Café. The security guard at the guesthouse was the cutest old guy and he came out to say goodnight.