Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Vang Vieng to Vientiane
So we got up early today as we are moving on again, we got up and checked out of our hotel and booked our bus to the capital of Laos, the tuk tuk took us to the station to get our bus, we were sad to be leaving Vang Vieng as we have had so much fun n met so many great people! But a detox and relax will be a nice change haha! After alot of faffing around at the bus station which seems to be the norm at south east asia transport terminals we managed to get on a bus...that was going to Chiang Mai and Bangkok the totally opposite way!! After alot of sweating n asking around it turned out the bus was doing a detour to Vientiane ha we just hoped that was right! We got speaking to some fella from Chicago and we where talking about the Chicago White Sox cos we saw them last year In Chicago turned out he was a die hard supporter haha so that was the conversation for our 4 hour bus journey :-/ he was going to Chiang Mai n was also stressing he was on the wrong bus haha so we had lots in common! The bus....no air con....no leg room....4 hours = killer!! We sweated the whole way n I mean the whole way!! We stopped for a toilet break n we spent our last pennies on ice cream we thought it would be the sensible option to get us through the journey!! So we have arrived in Vientiane thank god...we found a nice little guesthouse with three English TV channels woohoo!!! We went out for tea at a local Laos restaurant it was Amazing!!!! And now we are sitting in a nice coffee shop having a brew reading our bible and planning tomorrow :-) so goodnight ya'll! X
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Detox Day
The hangover has kicked in and a day off the Lao Lao (illegal whiskey but sold by the gallon everywhere!) has started. We had some breakie and spent a good few hours watching 'Friends' because it was on everywhere! After our chill we done the cultural thing and went to see the cave the Chinese Emporer had hidden in during a time of trouble. It had a fresh water spring which Ben had a swim in and swam through the caves into the mountain! Went on skype for abit before meeting up with everyone in the Bucket Bar and sayin our farewells as tomorrow we would leave for Vientiane and we would be back to culture for a while. Swapped numbers and agreed to meet again.....gem nearly cried! Back the room we went to pack our bags and get ready for the off! G'nite!
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Tubing Again!
Decided not to get tubes today and just get straight to the first bar! The day got off to a flyer after the whole bar started playing the whiskey train where two rows of people all sat one behind the other and we all got two shots of whiskey in a glass the person at the front of the train started and then the next an when u had ya shot ya whiskey u put ya glass on ya head...so on the train went and our team won woohoo but even tho we won the bar man threw ice cold water all over us anyway haha!! Next was the limbo if yandidnt do it ya had a shot if whiskey if ya did do it ya had a shot of whiskey haha! After the whiskey shots we moved onto bar 2, where our mate from Australia will starts doing all kinds of contortionist moves haha!! Next was bar 3..zip wires n jumps and backflips into the sea for the boys..buckets and dancing for the girls! Another party on the river ensued and we never managed to make it past bar three....Got some photos and met loads more people. It soon got dark and the river had shallowed so swimming home was out of the question. We got a tuk tuk home and sang some beatles tunes along the way! Everyone eventually wandered home for a quick change and we went out again later for more drinks and a snack before calling it a day! Until we heard our Irish mate Jean was so drunk she fenced hold of the sink and pulled it off the wall haha! We thought it was hilarious...how does that happen! She didn't think it was too funny like Cos she had to pay for it lol! What an end to a crazy few days haha!
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Sunday, 26 February 2012
Luang Prabang - Vang Vieng
The next day we met the boat crew and got our tubes which are basically tractor tire innertubes which you float down the mekong on. But to be honest we didn't do much floating. We met everyone in the first bar and played beer pong and I had to down loads of pints of beerlao and was drunk again. Few buckets later we floated to the next bar were we high dived off some planks and done a load of zip wires. It was just a load of outdoor clubs! Can't really remember much else but everyone else informs me that me and freddy were just propped up against each other all day trying to stay on our feet. Got to the tubing station to give them back and get some cashback. Had some tea and went to watch the rugby match. Lights out at 12 ready for the next days tubesville.
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Luang Prabang
We had agreed to meet up again and go the local waterfall which was pretty impressive. We were undecided on whether to jump a lift or get a motorbike but after the skinfull i had last night the bike was a bad option. We met Fred and albertina Jd and the kids again and done some rope swings and went for a dip. Had to jump in after some Chinese girl decided mid swing she couldn't remember how to swim and nearly drowned myself in the process. Took some photos jumped back on the tuk tuk to the room and got washed and ready to go back out. Went for dinner at a nice Indian restaurant for a change and wandered back the room for an early one. On our way we bumped back into the Irish and they looked worse than worse for wear. Turns out they made it to the waterfall and climbed to the top and the plan was to celebrate tonight with a few scoops. Unlike us getting the tuk tuk they decided to rent motorbikes and only one of the had any experience. On one of the bends a girl lost control and came off with her mate behind her and totally smashed the scooter up and wrecked there arms and legs. So now here they were thirty quid lighter and cut to death. We agreed to meet up the next day and all get the bus to Vang Vieng.
The slow boat
The madness began.....we met a gang of Irish n we all know what happens when ya meet a gang of Irish people
Haha! The slow boat turned into a booze cruise everyone was drinking dancing playing the guitar singing everything from Ed Sheeran to what shall we do with the drunken sailor hah! It was so much fun we didn't even know the boat had moored as we where having that much of a laugh! So we arrived in Pak Beng where we met our good friend buffalo man aka Gareth! We went into Pak Beng the smallest town ever...we went for tea Gareth had two teas n ben n he both had the buffalo! They loved it! So the fun began again we got singing some Laos pop songs attayaa attayaa! So we felt it would be a good cultural exchange to swap attayaa for a bit of coldplay...the locals loved it haha! The quietest town in Laos was blaring with coldplay from bens iPhone haha!
Next day we woke up to get back on the boat...we also met another guy called Yugi a Dutch lad who had fell off his motorbike four days before and had big cuts all over his legs so that was the conversation starter. Yugis English was brill and me Ben n Gareth decided our country is really bad as we cant talk any other language and everyone else can talk at least two! We felt kinda stupid really n we said it will be our missin to come home speaking at least the basics in Thai!
Soooo it began again...the whiskey..flower vodka...guitars and singing haha it was great!! It was here we met some more good friends! Fred and albertina..Justin and jade...jack all the Irish And Jd and kale and team Sweden!! It was a fun day ben played the hardest card game with team Sweden (a gang of Swedish lads who resemble a boyband all in co ordinated illuminous shorts hah) We sailed for another seven hours today and when we arrived in luang prabang the hill we were met with was unreal. People were rolling down it backpacks still on! Straight into the Mekong! After a mad scramble a tuk tuk ride and some bartering with a hotel owner while completely intoxicated we'd made it! We went out for some fried rice to settle our drunken heads and the town closed at half eleven so after meeting the Irish again we sorted the next nights meeting point. Back the room we went for some much needed kip.
Chiang Mai - Huay Xai
So we got up early and made the 3km walk to the bus station with our backpacks....hard going! We got there n had to wait two hours for the bus which we didn't mind cos we were knackerd from the walk so we got some noodles n chilled out in the station. When we got on the bus It was infested with mozzys arrghhh I freaked out, ben thought it was funny like 4 hours with me terrified and swatting everything on sight...I looked mental! Got off at Chiang Rai got our room...it had a bed...it would do haha! Went out to the night went to the night Market, it was lovely all the locals selling handmade crafts it was like a fairy town all lit up. We watched some Thai dancers and singers on the local stage and bought two disgusting milkshakes!
I bought a pair of elephant earrings for like 50p :-). Then off to bed!
Next we has to get up to Chiang kong to make the border crossing over to Laos, we met a nice guy from Korea called Mars and crossed the border with him, it only took about ten mins across the Mekong on a long tail boat. Then we had to sort all the visas n that out again...
Huay Xai-
Got a nice room and had a little wander around Huay Xai it was a nice little place not much to do really Just a stopover on the way to Luang Prabang. We sorted out boat trip out for tomorrow which was a two day slow boat down the Mekong....sounds tranquil.....that's what we thought!
Friday, 17 February 2012
Today was our scheduled 'lazy day' were we stayed in our room until 5:00 pm. We went the night bizarre down the road for a look for some clothes and food. Had a few drinks then went back the room :-)
The 15th was 'Bungee Day'.(this is ben by the way) I hadn't told anyone I was doing it due to that girl putting a dampener on the whole thing by snapping her bungee rope falling in a river and then nearly gettin eatin by crocodiles an endin up on the news. So we got up early got our scooter back and road to Mae Rim. You could see the crane you jumped off from quite abit a way and it started dawning on me. Got to the X-centre and paid for the t-shirt photos and jump package (photos uploaded soon!). Got revved and roped up and set Gem up with the camera. There was an option to go naked but I declined to the Thai fellas offer. Hopped into the basket of the crane and climbed the 50 metres to the top. You could see the mountains and the guide gave me the instructions. I hopped over to the edge of the basket and wiggled me toes off and for the first time thought twice about doing it...anyway too late for tha he was counting down from three and off I jumped. Horrible feeling didn't really want to do it again but...got down to find Gem didn't understand how to work the video function on the camera and never filmed it! So there I was back in the basket on the way up again! Definitely worse the second time but felt better afterwards than the first. We sat outside afterwards and watched a girl who u can hear laughing in the video proceed to do the bungee naked! We drove to the nearest waterfall and had a dip then went back to the room to get changed. Headed back out to the local shopping village and had tea in a traditional Thai eatery. Found a tea and cake shop and had desert (gem was in her element). Headed back the room nackered but content after ticking one off the bucket list.
The next day we got up early fed some huge carps and catfish and hired bikes to visit the temples of Chiang Mai. At the fourth temple we joined in 'Monk Chat' where we were greeted by a happy monk saying "Calm down, Calm down". We didn't really expect tha to say the least. He answered some questions and seemed really friendly and Gem told him how he should use the word 'boss' in his vocabulary. Seen the rest of the temples on the tour and visited the recreational facilities on the Womens Prison. The massage centre was full but we got our tea cooked by the inmates instead. The service was surprisingly good from inmates lol but the food was even better! We even considered getting another plate each but thought that was a bit greedy ha!
Gem- We Rode back the hotel on our bikes and decided we would get cleaned up then head back out. We went down the Sunday walking street and it was alot more relaxed than it was on Sunday! Sorry to talk about food again....but we had tea in the most lovely family run restaurant, we had stir fried chilli n garlic chicken with holy basil and sticky rice yummy! It was so nice i decided to learn how too tell the Thai lady it was delicious! "A-Roy mahk" I said when she took our plates and she was delighted and asked where we were from were we were going ect and said if we ever go back to Chiang Mai she would be so happy to see us again :-) we left feeling great! It's surprising how a friendly chat can make ur night haha! Afterwards we went to a backpacker bar called UN Irish bar, we didnt think we wud find guiness in thailand haha! we had just missed the quiz...gutted! After a few drinks and laughs we headed home knackerd!!
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Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Monday, 13 February 2012
Mount Doi Suthep
Bartered with the hotel receptionist to let us in the room early and she eventually give in. Got 5 hours in after the horrible train journey then went the 'sunday walking market'. Watched the local celeb singer and Chinese girls with bendy fingers perform in the street. Got a fresh strawberry smoothie :-D. It had loads of hand made crafts and was alot more laid-back than a Bangkok Market! After our long day we scoffed some chicken balls (not chickens balls) and went back the hotel for more sleep ahead of our busy day tomorra :-) Chiang Mai is definitely the best place yet.
Woke up early had jam on toast for breaky and got movin! We was gonna get the bus to Doi Suthep (chiang mai's biggest mountain) but it turned out gettin a scooter was the cheaper option (£3 bargin!!) so I got back to me scooter roots and on the road. We drove up to the Temple at the top to start off with as it was early and quite mild. Once we got to the top we had to climb up about a thousand stairs and rewarded ourselves with choc ices. Got blessed by a monk and given a piece of cotton for our travels. Monks cannot touch women so he passed Gem the cotton and she passes him it back...he shook his head and Gem passes it back again the serious monk started laughing an reminded Gem he cannot touch women...Gem went beetroot and laughed oooo yeah sorry!! Lit some incense sticks and candles and headed back down for the next sights. Chiang Mai Zoo is at the bottom of Doi Suthep so we stopped off there to see the panda's. After hand feeding some Elephants and seein alkinds on the way we went in the 'Panda zone' to see the 3 fluffy fellas. Got some photos and videos and left the zoo for the next stop. The Doi Suthep waterfall was just past the zoo on the way up the mountain so it was worth a dip before we headed back. We decided to cross over the stream so we could get a lil sun tan..all we had to do was take two steps across the stream...Gem stood on the most slanted and slippy rock in the stream and fell right in!! I pulled her out and we laughed about Gem being so disastrous haha! Got completely lost for about an hour on the way home so hard when all the signs are in Thai and Gem is reading the map upside down on the back of the scooter! Went out and spent the last of our baht on 'route 66' burgers and gems steakhouse butty with onions and mushrooms and chips it was delicious a nice change from noodles haha! Washed all our clothes coz we had nothin left and we stink! We went the shop bought some drinks and chocolate and went back to our "luxurious" room to chill after our busy day!
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So...fancy some frog?
Went to the live food markets today were they sold EVERYTHING you could imagine. In true Thai style all was still wriggling including the prawns (and they had no water! :-/ ). Turtles, Eels, Catfish, Frogs, Chickens allkinds. They would of sold the dog for 10 bob. I asked some woman how much for a 2 foot turtle she said a fiver! 2 week old fish heads were on sale today aswell if you fancied them. Stunk. Went to some monuments and temples and got a phone for our ma's sakes...Hung about in some cafes and bars and recuperated from the sights of the markets.
Got as much sleep as I could but Gem decided with it being chinese new year today she would get up early and go and join the party spirit at 8:30. Turns out it didn't start til I got out of bed (11ish :-)). Same deal as the one back home really except with wild monkeys everywhere and LOADS of fire crackers. Watched the display then pottered round really just waiting for the hell train to Chiang Mai at 20:15. Turns out the train werent tha bad (all 10 hours of it) just didn't sleep but....Gem didn't have a problem :-/ (Next time bring ale or somethin!).
Gem: before I went asleep for ten hours on the train hehe....it was sooo funny cos ya got these free blankets...well they were towels really but they were meant to be blankets,anyway the lights on the train went off and next minute everyone on the train put the blankets (towels) over their heads to go asleep and it looked like we were on the ghost train haha! I thought it was dead funny n laughed loads! So there's my insightful input into our blog hehe :-) xxxx
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Friday, 10 February 2012
Wild Monkeys
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Moving on
Day 8 - Bangkok -> Ayuthaya
So we decided to stop lazing around and get up and out early to see some sights so we did, we went and got the ferry crossing on the chao phraya river (it cost 20p for the both of us!) the breeze was great! We could have stayed on all day! We got off at Th Siam which was the wrong stop oops sorry ben! This meant we had like a 3 mile walk back to the right stop haha! Oh dear! So we got out our map and started walking....about 40mins and one stone lighter we decided to stop for a drink we got talking to an old thai lady (well u couldn't really say it wasnt full blown conversation like considering she couldn't speak English n we couldn't speak Thai haha! But we all laughed and we said thank u in Thai which she seemed really happy that we could say something in her language! She pointed us in the right direction, after walking some more we came across an air conned shopping mall...it was sent from heaven haha! We had a look about there then carried onto the pier. Got the pier turned out it was closed today...so both of us got on some girls scooter and whizzed to the next pier. We then got off at the grand temple had a look around then went to wat pho temple were we wrote our names on a slate which would be fitted to the new temple roof :-). Had a look at a 42m long 14m high Gold Buddha which was amazing then headed back to the hotel by boat. We packed our bags went for tea went on skype and went to bed!
Got up early and got the number 3 bus from khoa San to the northern bus terminal where we had cheese and ham toasties and got the bus to Ayuthaya. 2 hours later and were in Tonys place with a great room with air con double bed and en-suite for 600 baht (£12). We went to the local Market which sold chinese firecrackers and lots of food and clothes. We got the boat back to Tonys where we had our supper and drinks before bed :-).
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Sleep, Fish Feet and the dude
After going to bed at 4 through reading our lonely planet book and others we decided a sleep in was the only option. So we got up and dressed around 6:00pm and went for pad thai noodle breakfasts. I got me a 'lebowski' t-shirt after much deliberation for 3 quid and gem some sunglasses for 3 aswell. We had some street food and then decided to treat ourselves I got a fish spa where they eat the dead skin on your feet which is abit sick really and Gem got wha could only be described as going through a mangle head first. She looked worse when she came out and said to me "arrr let's go!". (gem) it was like some form of Thai torture some lil fella standing on my back with his knees while I am sitting up telling me to twist...how exactly do u twist with a Thai man kneeling on ur back haha! After that we decided it was dinner time 12:30am and went for some more Thai goodies I got garlic and pepper chicken stir fired with sticky rice it was amazing!! Ben got the old faithful pad Thai noodles and we ate it with chopsticks...well we tried ha! Here we are not only eating tasty food we were also...tasty food to those loveable creatures....Mosquitos!! Grrr!
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Monday, 6 February 2012
Tourist Trap
After a bit of a late one last night we woke up and we had fifteen minutes to pack,wash,dress and check out of the Nasa Vegas. I had some spicy chilli pork noodles for breakfast (coz thats how they roll here) and Gem got a brew (suprsed?).(Yeah coz Ben thinks its totally normal to eat spicy chilli noodles first thing for breakfast!...weird)
Got the train to the closest station to the Kho San road then jumped a taxi with some friendly fella who was from Dubai. Had a wander round the market stalls and decided we needed to book something to do coz the whole eating loads....sleeping loads....and drinking all kinds wasnt really the plan!!
Got talkin to one of them "friendly strangers" who told us of the Thai governments new scheme of subsising local travel for tourists. We were wary and decided to jump a Tuk-tuk (government subsidised) advised by the friendly face. The tuk-tuk guy was super friendly he took us the tourist centre were we talked about how we wanted to get the bus to Chaing Mai and then she tried to get us to go on a 500 quid 10-day trip where four days of it we done f*** all! So we left after apologising about being skint.
When we got out the tuk-tuk fella was still there so we get back on and explain that we never bought anything which he seemed to be shocked about "I know another place " he said "very cheap". Next minute were goin down a side street which looked more like a jigger in Bootle and at the end of it was our next stop. We looked through the glass window to see 3 Thai men sitting in a row looking at us, the walls lined with lined in multi-coloured fabrics and mannequins with suits on. We realised the same stunt got pulled on us in Egypt, we grabbed our bags had a little argument, pushed some fat 5 year old kid off me who was pestering for money. Then we got back on the tuk tuk and take us back to the hotel and we'd pay him 100 baht. As we were leaving more people appeared with angry faces in the jigger and it looked like a good mve. We stopped at a shop got change give the tuk tuk driver 20 baht (40p) and walked off. After realising the con we nearly fell for we laughed and jumped a cab and went back to the hotel. Later on that night we walked down the street parralel to kho san road which was much more laid back and had VW campervans converted into bars! We had some nice food a few drinks then went back the hotel after a loooong day!
bangkok
So we've arrived in the land of smiles we took a taxi to our hotel which turned out to be alot nicer than expected for 9 pound!!
Had a good sleep then ventured out into bangkok! Just now were sitting on Khao San road ...in one word...Mental!!
People everywhere...crickets on sticks...noodles left right and centre, music blaring and buckets of beer whiskey and vodka everywhere haha!
We had some delicious street food Pad Thai Noodles with prawns and egg (with sugar and peanuts) for a quid! Yumm!!
Ben got hit on the head with a bottle of water by some little Thai kid coz he wouldnt (have a thumb war or) by me a flower haha!
Now were listened to Rihanna in a bar having a bucket of long island cocktail sitting next to some fella who thinks he is the dude haha (lebowski)
Well so far Bangok is hot...fun...and everything we expected and more :-) Walked abet further down Khoa San Road to sit and drink some more. Gems got over her initial fear of 12" rats after five ran past her feet (I laughed). Had a few more drinks then headed back to the Nasa Vegas hotel. It took ages because nobody knew where it was, 5 taxis and 100 baht later we got back to our hotel!
Friday, 3 February 2012
Today is leaving day and it's all becoming more real now. Were not too bothered leavin coz we've seen all the sights and it isn't really tha hot! Left the room at 12 and got the boat to the Gold Souk which was worse than the Mersey ferry but only 20p a go so ya can't complain! Walked round there abit then got the skytrain to the Dubai mall for dinner (Gem: spent £5 on an ice cream it was delicious tho!) Some fellas head got squashed on the train and gem thought it was hilarious. (Gem: it was hilarious i nearly cried laughing!) Had dinner then went back the hotel got bags and went to the airport (Gem; spent our last dirham on 2 brews so hopefully we will get some free plane food haha!) now for the next chapter....! :-)
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Thursday, 2 February 2012
Abu Dhabi
Woke up around 2:00. Jetlag...well that's our excuse! Jumped the skytrain from Spinneys to the Emirates Mall and had some kind of Philly Cheese Steak with cheesy chips :-). Got the train to what we thought was by the boat lookin hotel in the sea but infact it was a 3 mile walk away...so we got walkin......after walking for miles and miles (ok so am exaggerating a bit but it was far!) we arrived at Souk madinat
Jumeirah an old fashioned Arabic shopping centre. It's beautiful we are just sitting by a river that's all lit up having a cuppa hehe! Carried on walkin to the boat lookin hotel (Al Arab?) got some snaps then got the bus back to Internet City. Jumped the skytrain to the Dubai Mall had some tea then went back the hotel.
(By the way its illegal to drink here!)
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Dubai
After a 7 hour flight we landed in Dubai. Thumbed a pink lady Taxi to our hotel and had a walk round the local 'Spinneys' and the shopping mall. Were still abit jet lagged and we realised this after we fell asleep in the reception while waiting for our room key! so a nap was in order....well a 5 hour kip more like. After our "nap" we headed out to the Dubai mall it was very posh, we saw the worlds biggest indoor aquarium, watched an ice hockey match and had a krispy kreme donut hehe! 12pm we waited in the worlds longest taxi que for our taxi home (longer than the taxi queue in town by the adelphi at 4am!) Got in had a brew....some galaxy then sleep!
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