Words can't even begin to describe the awe-inspiring temples at Angkor Wat. The enormity of the buildings combined with the detail found on all of the walls, doors and facades are indescribable. So, I won't even try. The pictures speak for themselves, if we can ever download them. What I will add is how we attempted to explore all of the major sites. Not to be forgotten is the town that we based our trek out of in Cambodia- Siem Reap. Given the recent history of the Cambodian people who had endured the Pol Pot Regime in which nearly 20% of the population was killed (1.6 million) it is amazing how unbroken their spirits are. The town is a great little town with cafes, restaurants and shops scattered around everywhere. We found a nice little guesthouse called Golden Temple Villas which proved to be a great place to book our tuk-tuks and guide for the Angkor Wat tours.
Day one was an introduction to the temples as we explored some outer ruins called the Rulos Group and Bantay Serei. The tuk-tuk was ours for the day which was a good thing because it was about 90 degrees and humid, so there was no way we would have been able to walk from temple to temple. It was hard enough to climb up and down and around the huge structures.
Day two we decided to hire a guide so that we could gain a better understanding of the history and details of the area. We began early in the morning with the famous Sunrise at Angkor Wat followed by the Temples at Ta Prohm.
Ta Prohm is straight out of Indiana Jones with trees growing right up through the temples. Actually the cover of Tomb Raider the movie with Angelina Jolie was shot at this location. All of the buildings have roots and limbs climbing in and around the stones. Interestingly enough, this was left uncut on purpose by the people who restored the temples to show how it looked when they came across the area.
The next day we were feeling adventurous, and our legs were not completely dead so we rented bikes and did a big loop around the perimeter to see the rest of the temples. We must have biked about 30 kilometers, but got to see some really cool things at our own pace. It was definitely worth the sore butts and tired legs.
The below blog is a little out of order as we have done Cambodia and the Thai Islands prior to Bukit, Indonesia, but we thought we'd share before we lose all our recollection of the experience. Enjoy! Pictures are now posted at: https://picasaweb.google.com/rayann.torres/BukitLuwang#
All monkeys, and all living in Bukit Lawang National Park in Northern Sumantra! Took a flight from Krabi International Airport thru Kuala Lumpur to Medan, Sumantra which is located in the northern part of Sumantra to meet up with Rayann's sister Michelle and her boyfriend Breck for some serious trekking and wildlife watching. The jungle in northern Sumantra is unbelievable with lush mountainsides filled with huge ferns, green mosses, and spiral trees. We stayed at a small guesthouse in the northern part of the river valley called Green Hill Bungalows, which did not disappoint. Each couple had our own bungalow built right into the cliffs of the valley with decorative stone work and landscaping everywhere. Breck and Michelle lucked out on the first night and got a bungalow with an outdoor shower lit by the moon! The bungalows are fairly new due to the fact that a flash flood in 2004 completely demolished the entire village killing 300 people (a village of 3000 people). But they are rebuilding feverishly and it seems like they are getting back to somewhat normal.
Day one included tubing down the river on tubes (aka huge tractor tires). A great way to see the river valley and pass by all the people in the village doing their daily chores while the kids play around in the river. Some of the rapids were pretty big due to the almost nightly rains in this time of the year. Rayann had a little scare when her tube flipped over and got sucked back under the rip current for a few seconds........did not look like Michael Phelps, but did a good job of pulling herself out of the rapids and to the safety of her tube!! We did this all afternoon until we were water logged, reaching the end and scrambling back up to the starting point to go down again. After we cleaned ourselves up we had dinner at the guesthouse. The power would go out intermittently, so we ate most of our meal by candle light and the occasional lightning that would light up the whole valley. It rained (to put it lightly) the entire night which added to the "jungle atmosphere" and only enhanced our experience.
Day two we set out for our 2 day jungle trek into the National Park. First stop was the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center, where two workers sat on a platform and fed the semi-wild orangutans. They would swing down from the trees above to pick up their snack which included bananas, of course, and coconut milk. The Orangutans would take the cup from the workers, drink the milk and hand the cup right back to the workers. Pretty amazing and smart animals! Our two guides were Peeah (pronounced pee-i) and Indra, the assistant guide. They were ok; they knew the area and did a decent job of showing us some different types of trees and flowers etc, but could have done a better job of looking excited about what they were doing. The hiking was extremely difficult.....probably the toughest we have done yet. Climbing up and down steep, wet tracks grabbing on to roots, rocks, trees or whatever we could to keep from sliding down the entire mountain. To add to the difficulty, we had to be on the lookout for leeches which were everywhere, and not easy to spot. Unless you are Michelle, aka Curt Shilling (see picture below once we insert) where not one but two leeches attached themselves to the same spot on her sock making it a big bloody spot. Sorry Michelle.
Is that Curt!?
The wildlife was really good as well. We saw Orangutans, Thomas Leaf monkeys (also known as Funky Monkeys because of the stripes on their heads giving the appearance of a mo-hawk), and Long and Short Tailed Mekaks. The campsite was straight out of Jurassic Park.
Hanging at the campsite
We were waiting for a dinosaur to come tearing out of the jungle. It was located right on a bend in the river surrounded by 100 foot jungle walls. Our shower consisted of soaping up in the river, followed by dinner sitting indian style with our guides under the tent. And when I say tent I mean bamboo poles tied together with a tarp slung over the top.......pretty minimal. We slept on mats directly on the jungle floor. At any second a monitor lizard, snake or any other creepy, crawly thing could crawl right into bed with us. Thankfully none did! Before we went to bed though, PI entertained us with some mind games and card tricks that for the most part Breck was the only one to figure out. Luckily it only rained for half of the night so we were able to get a decent nights sleep, but again added to the experience and made it that much more fun.
We woke up early the next day and headed upstream to a waterfall that you could sit under and get a massage on your neck and back.
Group Picture!
After this we had lunch at the campsite and then set off in our makeshift raft which was just four tubes tied together with one guide in the front and one in back steering us around the rocks. To make it more interesting, the rapids were almost at their peak because of all the nightly rainfall!! It was very safe and all of us made it down without any problems. We finished up in Bukit Lawang that night with another riverside dinner and some competitive games of Uno with Breck and Michelle. The next morning we were woken up by the troop of Mekak monkeys making a racket, swinging from tree to tree chasing each other stopping occasionally to peer over our balcony's to see if there was any loose food they could steal.
Here they are outside our balcony
All in all it was a great stop in Bukit Lawang, and made even better by the fact that we got to experience it with Michelle and Breck!!
Hi All! We turned on the TV a few minutes ago and heard news of the Myanmar earthquake. Just wanted to write a quick post to let everyone know that we are safe & sound. We are currently in the Gili Islands in Indonesia and luckily did not feel the earthquake here. Our thoughts and best wishes are with the people of Myanmar and hope we can make it back to SF unscathed.
Hi Everyone - So sorry for the delayed blog postings. We have had some serious Internet issues in the last few weeks and we haven't had a chance to post anymore pictures, but working on it! I am happy to say that we were both out of harms way during the Japan earthquake. Luckily, we were in northern Indonesia (Sumatra) at the time it hit and in the jungle with no Internet availability. Below is our post from Bangkok. We are a little behind on our other posts but will try to catch up soon. To give you a preview of what to look forward to, we have upcoming blogs for Cambodia, Thai Islands, Northern Indonesia & Bali!
After an awesome week in Chang Mai, we decided to make our way down to Bangkok in style... Although we loved travelling like the locals up until now, we decided to travel in style and book a much nicer a/c bus from Chang Mai down to Bangkok. On the front end of Bangkok, we stayed at a pretty nice, newer hotel in Bangkok near Kao San Road (the tourist area). Although at first it seemed a bit far away, we really enjoyed the quiet and peacefulness in such a huge city. On the back end (after we returned from Cambodia we stayed a couple more days in Bangkok before heading to south thailand) we stayed in the newer financial/shopping area which was great to see the different sides on Bangkok.
The first night in Bangkok, Rayann took a stroll through the tourist section while Shaun was nursing a stomach bug at the hotel. Unfortunately, he was fighting the bug almost the entire 3 nights in Bangkok, but that didn't stop stop us from seeing the sights! The first day, we walked around Kao San Road, checked out the tourist scene, drank some delicious Thai ice teas & coffees and got our bearings straight. We then headed over to the National Museum to get a little Thai culture in us. We spent the majority of the hot day there reading about the history, culture and admiring the different artifacts that are on display. Afterwards we hailed a cab to the weekend market in Thailand, an outdoor market with about 8000 stalls (great recommendation by the O'briens!) This may have been the largest market we had experienced yet and thought it injustice not to buy something, so we each purchased a small memento to help sustain the local economy. Luckily, Rayann convinced Shaun not to purchase the Boston Celtic's gear, which there was surprisingly a lot of. The rest of the day we walked around a small area of Bangkok. Up until now, we had not felt as though we were in a big city. There were taxis, metro, water ferries, and public buses to get around and although exhilarating and comforting we were definitely missing the small town feeling. We ended the day by having a filling dinner at our favorite San Francisco ice cream spot....Swensons!! Yep that is correct, they dont have Swensons on the east coast but they have it in Asia! They even had one dessert called Coit Tower which prompted a little nostalgia for our much missed SF apartment :(
The next day we decided to see some of the historical wats (temples) in Bangkok. We decided to get on a water ferry to get around. We learned the hard way that they like to pack those water ferries just as much as the local buses. After a little while on the water ferry we made our way to our first stop, the Portuguese Catholic Church. We thought it a little bizarre that a catholic church would be a tourist spot in Bangkok, but later learned that Thai king(s) respected the catholic religion and supported the Portuguese in Thai. On our way out of the church we came upon a small bakery shelling out delicious Portuguese pastries, which was a great mid morning snack before we headed off to the next temple. The next temple we arrived at was Wat Arun. The architecture was impressive and the climb to the top was steep and narrow but we couldn't miss the views of Bangkok from the other side of the river. Our last stop for the day was visiting Wat Pho, where the infamous reclining Buddha sits. The Buddha was enclosed in one building and was enormous. The remainder of Wat Pho boasted some other impressive statues and Buddhas to see but the major attraction was the giant sized Buddha. We ended our day relaxing at the hotel and then enjoying some delicious Thai cuisine.
Next stop: Khao Yai National Park. While in Chang Mai we were convinced to try out the National Park which is famous for its wildlife and trekking. We arrived in Pak Chong where we were met by our driver for Green Leaf Tour and Guesthouse. This place was great - it seemed like a family run tour and hotel operator that organized your entire stay and activities in the park. We chose to do the one and a half day tour which consisted of a half day of swimming in a natural spring, visiting the nearby "bat caves" and a full day of hiking through the natural park in search of wildlife (snakes, scorpions, gibbons, wild elephants, horn bills to name a few...). The highlight of the half day tour was easily the bat caves we visited. The first cave we visited housed about 1 million bats and we were able to get very close to these little guys. The tour guide explained to us that every year the bats migrate to this area and live in these caves for a few months per year before heading out. We were able to walk throughout the cave, getting closer and closer to the bats as we walked deeper into the cave. In even the smallest of spaces, the bats manage to fly around you and not hit you, even though your hand can touch the ceiling of the cave.
We were also fortunate enough to come across a tarantula in the cave. In doing this every day, our guide knows where these guys live and managed to keep the tarantula out of its hole for us to see it. With bats, spiders and other creepy wildlife, the experience was frightening but unlike any other.
The next stop was the famous "bat cave" which houses about 5 million bats. Every day, just before sunset, the bats leave the cave in swarms and go out to the nearby areas in search of food. The all leave the cave together and do so as a form of protection against awaiting hawks and other predators. Once the bats began flying out of the cave the entire event lasted for about 45 minutes. It was unbelievable to think how many bats were in the cave. As expected, the hawks were also out and flying into the swarm of bats in hopes of catching some dinner. With 5 million bats, their odds were pretty good! This may have been one of the best experiences we've seen as of yet!
The next day new headed into the national park. Our guide, Lek, had been working for this place for seven years and knew exactly where to find the animals we were looking for. He first spotted a family of gibbons high up in the trees. These monkeys make the funniest sounds and live way up in the trees so we had little chance of seeing them up close, but we were lucky enough to encounter a good pack of them swinging in the trees. After that we headed into the woods in search of more close-up wildlife. Throughout our trek, Lek pointed out a few different holes in the ground, home to the scorpions. Finally he found one that he thought big enough and went in with a stick and pulled the scorpion right out and onto his hand. He claimed that scorpions are not poisonous but that they hurt very badly. As long as you don't touch them on the tail, you are free to play with them all you like. Eventually the both of us mustered the courage to hold the scorpion.
The rest of the day we encountered different species of spiders, snakes, more monkeys, and the elusive horn bill bird. Our guide managed to catch the snake by spotting it while riding in the back of our moving truck, hanging in a nearby tree! How he saw it, we are still baffled! We were all coerced into holding the snake, something Shaun wasn't too excited about. At one point the snake even got loose in the truck and Shaun made it a point to make sure Rayann was blocking him from the snake's head...what a great boyfriend! Our day ended on a wild hunt for the wild elephants. After a few hours searching the park, we found no elephants but it may have been a good thing as we had heard that wild elephants can be quite vicious and some elephant attacks have been reported at this park.
The day was one of the best we had experienced and loved being out in the "wild" for a short time, albeit with a guide. The next day we packed our bags and headed to the bus station for an interesting bust trip into Cambodia. But you'll have to wait for our next post to hear about it!
Leaving Laos was one of the harder things we have had to do so far on our trip. We thought that nothing could compare to the warm and friendly lands of Laos.......we were wrong. Again we opted to hit the pavement and head to the bus station as it is now our favorite mode of transportation. The trip was broken into two sections, one overnight bus from Luang Prabang to the border and then the border to Chaing Mai. We could really see and feel the difference when we crossed the border into Thailand from Laos. The roads were different, the buses were different, the scenery was different.
Upon arriving we decided that we should map out an itinerary for the next few days, a foreign concept to us the past month. Chaing Mai has so many activities to offer, making it very difficult to choose which ones to do. So after much debate we went with the following plan:
Day 1- Mountain Biking. Day 2/3- Two Day/One Night Trek & Rafting. Day 4- Cooking Class
Day 1:
Being novice mountain bikers the Hike & Bike tour immediately jumped out at us. The brochure looked more like a ski map with everything from green circles (easy trails) to double black diamond (expert) runs. The outfit we went with is run by a guy who is originally from Hawaii and moved to Northern Thailand a while back. He set everyone up with the right gear and provided an hour long Google maps presentation on the in's and out's of the mountain. We spent the first half of the day with 2 guides trekking straight up the side of the mountain. Apparently they do not believe in switchback trails and blazed a path directly up the mountain stopping at some waterfalls and some great view points looking out over the city. The bottle of whiskey that our guide said he drank the night before did not phase him one bit, as the pace was non stop for hours at a time. It was pretty much the first time we had a workout the entire trip, so we did not mind it at all. Once reaching the top we broke for lunch at a cool little mountain village. Next we suited up with helmets, shin guards, elbow pads and riding gloves......no joking around.
Then we did a couple of practice runs in front of the guides so they could gauge our skills and make sure we had ridden a bicycle before. Once they were satisfied that we were not going to kill ourselves the downhill portion of our trip began. The mountain was awesome and extremely challenging. You have to watch out for every little rock and stump while keeping an eye on the person in front of you to see which path to take. About half way through the guide must have thought we were ready for some black diamonds as he took us off the main path and down a steep little chute peppered with the aforementioned obstacles plus heavy dirt and trees on either side. First, the guide goes down effortlessly. Next Shaun makes the attempt missing the rocks but getting stuck in the dirt. This led to a chain reaction of Rayann skidding out narrowly missing a few trees followed by an Irish guy in the group veering off course, and his bike, to miss everyone. This happened pretty much all the way down the mountain. Usually ending with the same result of the guide gliding down at top speed followed by the group bouncing all over the place and getting thrown off their bikes. We both escaped the mountain unharmed. Even Rayann who had many near misses with trees and close calls almost getting thrown over the handle bars never once hesitated hurtling down the steep runs.
At the end of the course the whole group was rewarded with a swim at the lake at the bottom of the mountain followed by dinner and sunset on a wooden bungalow right on the water. To say the least day 1 was awesome!
Day 2 & 3:
We ended up booking our trek on a whim with a guy named Tony, of Tony's Tours. We went into his shop planning on booking the trek with a bigger outfit, but soon changed our mind. He was a good guy, and said he was from one of the surrounding villages. He grew up poor, and always got picked on because the city people looked down on the village people. Rayann fell for this hook, line and sinker. After such a good sales pitch, how could we say no? We opted for the 2 day, 1 night trek that included elephant riding and bamboo rafting!! We even ended up booking our cooking class with him. Our group left the next day and included 5 Dutch guys in their mid twenties, 2 French Canadian girls, and a couple from Prague. We really couldn't have asked for a better group of people for this adventure. The 5 Dutch guys were a riot, and were a lot of fun when it came time to sit around the campfire. The trek unfortunately was not as demanding as the previous day, however it was no less beautiful with sweeping views of the valley below (we even got to see a mountain range over in Mayanmar). There were waterfalls, and hilltop villages and some hot springs along the way. We arrived at the village we were camping at for the night at about 5pm leaving enough time for a shower, aka a dip in the river with a bar of soap. Once cleaned everyone put on some heavier clothing, as it got a little chilly at night because of the elevation. The dinner was really good and we got to hang out all night with our new friends from around the world!
The next day we were up early and the group was split into two. The 5 Dutch guys and two French Canadian girls were doing the 2 night trek, so stayed behind while we left the village with the couple from the Czech Republic. Our transportation was waiting right outside tied to a tree............2 giant elephants!! We later found out from our guide that it was a mother and child elephant and they arrived early that morning from a neighboring village. We hopped on Noi (the younger elephant meaning small) and started down the river with our driver "Butterfly". These animals are huge and pretty much go at their own pace. To "steer" the elephant Butterfly would rub the inside of Noi's ear to move him left or right. Pretty amazing. Rayann even got to try her skills at steering Noi, while Shaun and Butterfly sat behind and enjoyed the ride.
After about a 2-3 km ride on the elephants we said goodbye to our driver and elephant and boarded the bamboo raft that was constructed in our village the night before! The safety check before heading out was to take our shoes off and stand on the raft to see if it could hold all our weight. Since there was only about 4 inches of water over the raft and it didn't sink, it passed their requirements and we pushed off for our second leg of the day. Now Tony had told us that since it was dry season and the rapids were not flowing, we couldn't opt for the white water rafting part on the river. We pretty much got the white water rafting without the raft! Each of the guys got a bamboo pole to push ourselves down the river, and to use to steer around the rocks and through the rapids. We are still not sure how the boat made it down in one piece. Every few kilometers we hit another set of rapids armed only with 3 bamboo poles and a raft that barely held our weight. Only in Thailand..........It ended up being the highlight of the trek!!
Day 4:
I'm sure some of you are asking the same question. How on Earth did Shaun get Rayann to take a cooking class, especially on vacation? Kidding. The cooking class was great. The one that we chose was Thai Farm Cooking School. Hands down the most unique one, driving us 20km outside the city to their organic farm for the day! They took us all around the farm showing us the ingredients that we would later be using in our meals. They even gave us some cool aprons and hats so we looked like professional cooks......well kinda. We got to choose 4-5 dishes including curries from scratch, spicy soups, papaya salad, pad thai and fried spring rolls. The day was broken into two sessions to give us a little breather in between to digest and take a nap in the shade of a tree on the farm. Our instructor was awesome, and made the whole experience that much better. Watch out Nina.......you are going to have some company in the kitchen!
Although we could have easily spent another couple of days in Vang Vieng laying in our bungalow hammocks, we hopped on a day bus up the windy and sometimes nauseating road to Luang Prabang. It turned out to be one of the most beautiful rides yet. (It has been well worth the sore butts to travel the countryside of both Vietnam and Laos, getting to appreciate how most of the people in each country actually live. We have been able to stop at many local villages along the way interacting with the people.) A lot of the villagers live right between the main road and the edge of the 400 foot cliff!!!!!! We are assuming this is so they are close to the power lines, but still looks very very unsafe. After the beautiful, but long six hour trip we were excited to get off the bus and meet up with our good friends from San Francisco, Kevin & Hannah O'brien. They had arrived into Luang Prabang a few days before us from Northern Thailand. It was so great to see good friends half way around the world in Laos.....pretty amazing when you think about it!! Of course the first thing we had to do was have a few Big Laos Beers and start swapping stories about our adventures while watching the sun set over the Mekong.
This eventually bled into dinner at a great little riverside restaurant specializing in hotpot (Laos BBQ). Very challenging, but worth the time and effort, Laos BBQ is where the waiter brings you a pile of fresh vegetables accompanied by marinated chicken, pork and beef. And of course some sauces unique to Northern Laos and chilies. Kevin and Shaun are both gluttons for punishment with the same mindset that you are not truly eating unless your mouth is on fire and you have a good sweat on the brow. Although they both have both found out it is a lot more bearable if you actually eat the peppers with some other food. Knowing we were in for a big day the following day we decided to limit our drinks to a few scotches and in Rayann and Hannah's case a Coconut Milk and Lao Vodka at Lao Lao Garden, which translates into whiskey garden. The 'scotch' as they called it was surprisingly smooth, and at the price of $20k kip ($2.50) & buy 1 get 1 free, the price was right.
The next day we got up early and headed up to the Kouang Si Waterfalls. This place blows any other waterfalls out of the water (see pics). They are multi-tiered pools of blue green water that only get more extraordinary around every corner. Every time you think it is done another set of pools and rapids appear until finally you arrive at the main waterfall that cascades down about 30 meters into a pool below. After a steep hike up to the top of the falls we enjoyed a chicken sandwich that we packed into our bags (our new favorite lunch out here).
The falls were great to hike around, but now it was getting hot out and it was time to get into the water and jump some waterfalls and try out the "Tarzan Swing"! Needless to say, the Tarzan swing is exactly what you would expect from a rope that is named such. The premise is that you climb a steep, slippery tree, corral the hanging rope with a small hooked branch and viola.......you are transformed into Tarzan swinging effortlessly through the air letting go of the rope and splashing into the cool blue water. Right before Kevin and Shaun get to the tree to give it the old college try, a local boy maybe 10 or 11 years old scoots past them, scales the tree, grabs the rope and nails a perfect "Tarzan dive". Kevin and Shaun look at each other, give a nod of approval and head up the tree for their Tarzan imitations. Easy enough right. Wrong (sorry Kev) On his first attempt he left too much slack in the rope. The laws of gravity held true and when he jumped off the tree the rope tightened, and he slid right down the rope and splashed into the water........no swinging involved. Not to worry though, I think the crowd of about 30-40 people got their monies worth and got some great entertainment and pictures.
This is a picture of Kevin's first jump - note the 2 guys in the background laughing.
This is Shaun's first jump - a true pro!
But in the end Kevin redeemed himself and nailed a few swings right after the failed first attempt. It should also be noted that of the 10-15 people who tried the swing about half did the exact same thing, including one poor guy who didn't let go of the rope and hit the tree coming back towards the shore narrowly missing the rock ledge.
Day two in Luang Prabang we chartered a long-tail boat up the Mekong to Caves and a stop at 'whiskey village'. The first cave was filled with hundreds of Buddha statues of all different sizes and poses. Compared to all of the other caves on our trip this one lacked in size, but was still very interesting when you add in the dusty, cob-webbed statues.......kinda eerie.
Really, the highlight was the boat ride itself. Putting along the Mekong with the sun shining surrounded by jungle and getting to see riverside villagers do their daily chores was awesome, whether it be fishing the river, washing their clothes and dishes or the kids doing back flips off the river bed. The whiskey village was very unique and apparently grew vegetables until they found out that Lao Lao was a much more lucrative business. After taking a windy path through the village we arrived at the "brewing station" that was manned by a little old woman that was more than happy to show us around her little compound and have us taste the different types of whiskey. She also showed us the different stages of brewing the whiskey from the fermentation of the rice to the final stage of dripping the finished product into the barrels.
With that kind of hospitality we felt obliged to buy a couple of bottles of original Lao Lao from her (which is still sitting in our backpack).
We spent the last day in Luang Prabang biking around the city and the outskirts. We biked to a few nearby villages, saw some pretty amazing wats and countryside, and got some traditional Thai, Lao massages. Great finish to an awesome week! The next day we headed to the border to cross into Thailand. Be on the look out for our next post from northern Thailand!
Goodbye rainy Vietnam and sabaidee (hello) Laos! After an all day "VIP" bus from Hue Vietnam, we finally made it over the border and into Savannahket, Laos. Our one way, non transfer bus turned into a transfer, local bus, which for those of you who haven't experienced a southeast Asia local bus means it tacks on another 2-3 hours to your trip. We spent one night in Savannaket as there weren't many sights to see and really just a stop over town. The next day we took another local bus, at the advice of our guesthouse manager and arrived in Vientiane about 10 hours later. I never saw so many people crammed onto a bus, alongside motorbikes, newborns, chickens and other live stock. Funny enough, we met a Loa woman on the bus who lived in Fremont, CA. She was with her family visiting her mom's town because there was a death in the family. Small world that we meet someone who lives in CA on a local bus in Lao! Needless to say, after that bus ride, we were exhausted & tired from those last 2 days. Vientiane is the capital of Laos and compared to Vietnam, SO MUCH quieter. There was rarely any honking in the streets and not thousands of motor bikes zipping around you! We spent the day walking along the very dry Mekong River. The Mekong in Vientiane borders Thailand, so we could see Thailand on the other side. We checked out a few beautiful wats and just really enjoyed a quiet day with lots of sunshine...and food of course!We saw the sunset over the mekong with some ice cold Bia Lao! That may have been a highlight after the 2 day bus rides :)
The next day we hopped another bus to Vang Vieng...known mainly for its infamous tubing and drinking down the river, oh and bar and bar lined with plasmas playing repeats of Friends and Family Guy. Think spring break, but for Australians! The town itself is not typical Laos, but a fun, warm and welcoming 3 day break with all the traveling, sightseeing and cold from Vietnam! We decided off the bat that we wanted to get a small bungalow on the river...at a whopping $10 a night! We loved the bungalow, especially for the hammocks, although we will need to definitely get in some more hammock time in southern Thailand.
Our first day in Vang Vieng instead of tubing, we decided to go on a kayak and caving trip instead. We left early in the morning and visited a few nearby caves (the Elephant cave an the Water cave). The water cave was a blast because they put the group in inner tubes and we followed a rope through the dark cave in our tube. We had headlamps on and swam a little in the cave. We had seen a few caves already in Vietnam but seeing one in the water up close was so much fun!
After the water cave we went down the river further to start kayaking. This time of year the rivers aren't so deep so we had to start a few kilometers down to avoid the dry spots. We hit a few fun rapids but nothing strong enough to tip us over. The 8 km kayaking trek included the 4 km done for tubing so this is where we started to see the debauchery and why Vang Vieng is known for this. There were bars lined up on either side of the river for about 4 km with slides, rope swings, zip lines, you name it, catapulting people into the river. There were tons of people partying, dancing and jumping into the river from these riverside bars and moving from one to the other as the sun moved throughout the day. We stopped at one bar, where after a few beers and a "whiskey bucket" (think scorpion bowl mixed in a child's sand bucket), the both of us got the courage to slide down one of the slides and Shaun jumped off the zip lines. We have some great videos of these, but you will have to wait until we download those on youtube :)
The next day we decided to do a few hikes around Vang Vieng which has beautiful local sights. We explored a few more caves (since we haven't had enough) and trekked around the surrounding rice fields. We also rented mountain bikes and biked about 4 km to a blue lagoon, where we swam while the sun was setting. The had a few much smaller rope swings and jumps there that we were happy to partake in after the crazy jumps we saw on the river.
We enjoyed our last night in the bungalow sitting and relaxing on the hammock.
