Howdy partner

Luang Namtha really should have some horses, a sheriff and a few cowboys roaming around. It has that Western, John Wayne feel to it. The roads are dusty and it is eirily quiet - like at any minute a gun fight could ensue. You wake up in the morning to the sounds of Old Macdonald's farm - cockrels, goats, dogs etc.

Apart from that - it is a lovely town set by the Nam Tha river, with some great cycling, trekking and rafting opportunities.


"The tree appeared out of nowhere as we paddled furiously down a grade 2 rapid in our white water kayak. Before we knew what was happening our kayak was on top of the tree and we were hanging on for dear life!

Thankfully the current wasn't too strong and the kayak freed itself and coasted into the calmer water. However as Sam looked to the back of the kayak to laugh at Garry, she saw an empty seat... Garry was still hanging onto the tree!"


All's well that ends well, and Garry swam back to the kayak and jumped on ready for the next set of rapids. We stopped at several minority villages by the river and had a Lao dinner on the banks of the Nam Tha. White water kayaking is much more of an adrenaline rush than the rafting, mainly because you haven't got an experienced guide steering. You are in control of where the kayak goes. Still, great fun!

"Sabai Dee" Laos

Our bus was leaving from the other side of the river in half an hour. Not only did we have to cross the river and find the bus station, but we had to get out of Thailand and pass through Laos immigration control.

We ran to the border crossing at Chang Khong only to find that we had outstayed our Thai visa by 1 day. "You will have to wait," said the ever helpful border control officer. "Great start!" We finally suceeded in escaping Thailand with a 1000 Thai Baht fine. A short boat ride later and we were greeted by a nice lady saying: "Welcome to Loas!" We flew thro' passport control and hopped on a pickup truck with a Dutch couple which took us to the main bus station.

We had made it! The bus was there and fully loaded. Our rucksacks were thrown on the roof, joining the five motorbikes and countless satellite dishes, televisions etc. We squeezed into our seats and the bus finally left an hour after it should have!

The journey to Luang Namtha was 9 hrs. The road was awful - no tarmac and so bumpy. One poor guy couldn't stop being sick. At one point we had to get off the bus for it to go up a hill. We picked up people on the way and when we thought they couldn't squeeze any more on - a man with a 3 ducks joined us! (See photo of the flat tyre).

We arrived in Luang Namtha exhausted in the early evening. We followed the Dutch couple to a clean and large hotel ($6 a night) and had shower, dinner and then bed.

Pai in the sky

Sitting in the back of the raft, I can see the wave coming as we carefully navigate a Grade 4 rapid on the Pai River. Garry, who is sitting in the front of the raft however, has momentarily averted his attention to a dancing bird on the shore. As the wave hits, he is thrown back, his legs slip out from beneath him and if it was not for Dutchman Dick, who was sitting next to him, we may have lost out right hand wing man. Dick couldn't even remember grabbing Garry's life vest and hauling him back in, but he was definitely the hero of the day.

We left on Tuesday with our Lahu (an ethnic minority group) guide Shadow for a 2 day trip into the jungle. We saw some small minority villages and visited a school, before making the trek through the jungle and along the river to our jungle camp. Shadow had to hack his way through the jungle with his machete - it was high adventure with treacherous cliff passes and several fast river crossings. (See photo left for idea of the path).

Our jungle camp was by the river, and Shadow cooked an amazing meal for us as we sipped Chang beers around the camp fire, before retiring for bed exhauted at 8pm! We didn't awake until 7am the next morning, just after our fellow adventurers Dick and Ann from the Netherlands awoke.

The morning started with the cheeky monkeys stealing Ann's waterproof camera and a mad chase ensued. We finally got the camera back - the monkeys had taken five shots, but broke the wind on button!

The rafting was awesome, with some really challenging water and stunning scenery. We stopped for lunch by some hot springs and the weather was glorious. Garry climbed up to the top of an 8 metre high rock and threw himself off the top into the river - very brave!

It was a great, fun, adventure filled trip. We all said we wished we could have kept going. The Pai River goes all the way thro' Burma and comes out near the Andamans!

Chillin' by the river

Pai is a small town in the north of Thailand. It has a real hippy feel to it and has lots of spas as well as a reputation for high drug use. This is evident by the amount of people we have seen either crashing their scooter or just falling of them. One girl had dropped hers and lacked the ability to pick it up!

We have a great bungalow in 'Pairadise'. It has a balcony that overlooks the river and valley. (see photo for view out of window.)The sun sets over the hills every night. I think they got the name of the resort spot on...

Yesterday we went for a 'spa day'. They had a huge natural spa pool and we opted for the 1 hour massage. Not a bad way to spend a day! Tomorrow we may go for some action and either do a trek or do some white water rafting.

A Jedi craves not these things

Chiang Mai is a busy little town. There are treks and tours to go on, but we wanted to wait until we reached the more remote town of Pai to do this. The scenery is once again stunning, and we hired a motorbike to go up to the hills. One day we got lost and ended up at a flower show. The people were really friendy, so we stopped!

Yesterday we went to the zoo and saw two pandas - very cute. What a life they live! Sitting all day, getting pampered and fed by attentive staff and being adored by the ever present public. And boy, do they know how to pose! (See picture).

The Thai's, even outside of the big cities are relatively well off. There are not as laid back as the Cambodians, but seem to have their work/life balance worked out pretty well. Family is really important here and there is a lot of 'down time'.

We are still enjoying our 'down time'. After 9 months of it, life has become pretty chilled out. In the words of Ferris Bueller:

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."

Flashpackers

There is a new term in the travelling world. First we were confused and thought that it refered to backpackers who habitually strip naked. However...

According to the 'Telegraph' a "flashpacker" is a new breed of traveler, tech-savvy adventurers who carry a cell phone, digital camera, iPod, wearable electronics, clothes and a laptop, all snugly tucked away in their ergonomically correct, multi-function backpack.

Flashpackers are customarily men and women in their 20s and 30s with established careers, a desire for adventure and a bankroll to fund their sabbatical. Unlike their backpacking predecessors, the flashpacker opts for comfort and style, worrying less about saving money and more about saving time.

We have met many travellers who think nothing of spending just $3 a night on a scummy, little, dirty, bug infested room. These fall firmly in the 'backpacker' category. We on the other hand aspire to be flashpackers, but just can't quite afford it! Maybe we are something in between.

Any ideas what our category could be called? Answers on a postcard.

Elephant Island

We have decided to splash out and have some
R & R on an island on the South East Coast of Thailand. We hoped that Koh Chang would be a bit quieter than the south western islands and it was.

We stopped at a place called Paradise Palms - a bungalow right on the beach. The snorkelling was good and there was a great restaurant a 5 minute walkaway.

We had a motorbike and toured the whole island and went on an elephant trek through the rain forest. The sunsets were amazing and the beaches lovely.


After the trek we went for a swim with them and tried to wash their backs. Much scarier than you would think! We came out of the water on their backs and they took us back to the camp. So cool!

The river under the bridge

If we haven't had enough horror after the war history of Vietnam and and more recent genocide in Cambodia, we are now at the Bridge over the River Kwai where 16,000 POWs died in WWII! The town of Kanchamburi is a small place with few tourists. There are a few bus loads of tour groups doing the War Remembrance tour. There are many museums and 2 huge cemetries. The museums are quite moving, featuring first person stories from the time with photos.

We had a ride on a train over the River Kwai and along the death railway. One person died for every sleeper laid. The scenery was spectacular as the track followed the river through the Kwai Valley.

Erawan National Park contains a series of seven stunning waterfalls. We spent 4/5 hrs walking and swimming in the pools and sitting on the falls. The fish were too nibbly for Sam's liking - a fish massage is not as nice as it sounds!

The city don't know what the city is gettin'

Bangkok is a crazy, hectic place, full of tourists and girls in short skirts. It is a bit of a culture shock after Cambodia to have multi-screen cinemas, department stores and McDonalds, but we're enjoying it. Not a lot to do here really: sit around in bars all day, shop (Sam has 4 new T-shirts!), see some sights and watch the world go by.

It's not as seedy as we expected and I think the government has done a lot to clean up the sex tourist part of Thai travel. Lots of young girls with older men tho' and lots of adverts for mail order wives! In the words of Obi Wan Kenobi: 'You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villany!'.

Hello Thailand!

After an 11 hour journey by taxi, foot (across the border), tuk tuk, bus and another taxi, we arrived at the Thai Cozy House near the Khao San Road, Bangkok. Crossing the border was like entering Narnia for the first time (or maybe leaving it???).

In Cambodia the roads were basically a series of mud covered potholes. You could only travel at 30mph tops. Once across the border we hit a duel carraigeway! Haven't seen one of those for a while! Luxury... and they drive on the left.

Bangkok is huge, and busy! The Khao San Rd is mental. Our hotel is right in the thick of it. Great to have some life after the slowness of Battambang.

Goodbye Cambodia

Battambang is Cambodia's second largest town and at this time of year hardly has any tourists. There's not that much to do so the first day was spent learning how to cook some Khmer dishes. There were 6 of us in cooking class and we started the day by going to the local market to get all our ingredients, then spent the next 4 hrs cooking and eating our three recipes. Great fun!

The next day we went on a tour with Mo and his brother in law to see some of the countryside. Saw a cave where the Khmer Rouge killed 10,000 people by throwing them through the opening in the top. The bones were still at the bottom. We were walking by the remains of someone's son, someone's mother. These bones belonged to doctors, lawyers, teachers - anyone who had any sort of education was murdered. So sad.

We went to see a few Wats and went on a bamboo train - basically a bamboo board on the track. Mo took us back to meet his wife and 3 month old baby (see photo) - they were so poor. We took the family's photo and promised to send them a copy when we got home.

Battambang was a good stop to see some of the 'real' Cambodia, away from the tourist centers. Goodbye Cambodia!