We were happy to touch down safely in Bangkok....but at the same time we were VERY nervous about Asia! Could it be as good as South America? We didn't think it could be, surely not....South America had treated us too well.
So, after arriving after another very long travel day we crashed down at a hostel called Lub D! Really worth a mention, if you are ever in Bangkok it is well worth the stay. Reasonable and super modern! Our first evening we decide to hit the infamous Pat Pong are (or red light district) just to see what it is all about! So we head for a restaurant....any restaurant. We had been thinking cheap tasty green curry for about 3 months!
So we find a decent place and the guy at the restaurant starts chatting to us....usual spiel, where you from etc etc. We ask him if there are any normal bars where travellers and normal locals hangout around (as the places we had popped our heads into seemed very dingy). Dingy as in girls approaching us and saying you want ''boom boom'' dodgy! Sure, no probs, he know just the place. He walks us to an okay looking restaurant place (not what we wanted but we sat down). Before you could whisper ''Thai Hooker'' a line of literally 30 beautiful Thai ladies are lined up outside our table. They all have numbers. The dude says take your pick. Jules and Guy just look at each other, too embarrassed to do anything! Eventually after much pushing we decide on 2 ladies! We sat and chatted to them for about 30 minutes asking them what they do (as if it weren't obvious...apparently only massages), what nationalities they like/dislike (they hate the Japs by the by), where they were from etc. We actually had a decent conversation with the gals....we bought them a couple of drinks and conversation flowed as well as could be expected. Everything was fine till we decided enough chat was enough and we wanted the bill. Sure...the bill comes.....1000 Bht (20 pounds for 2 beers and buying the girls 2 cokes...the most expensive round/drink we have ever bought....beating Ibiza and Sweden for price per drink! Ha, a cheek but anyways! After that we checked out a real ''Go Go'' Bar.....a real experience! We were flocked to as we were the only guys under 30 who looked half decent. Everyone else was 40 plus and looked like any of the following:
* a giant walking tattoo
* Ron Jeremy on a particularly steamy day at the office
* most likely to become a paedophile
Go Go Bars explained: Go to one for yourself.
After a single beer at the Go Go bar it was to sleep! Woke up the next day and explored Bangkok a bit....took the Sky train etc etc. We then caught a train up to the north that evening....a train to Chang Mai area. Obviously we had not booked ahead (not our style) so we had to settle with 3rd class non-sleeper! Not advisable for comfort or speed! After the overnight train and 2 buses we made it up to the border where we had a night in preparation of the boat down to Mekong to Luang Prabang! We had an early start (b/fast, border crossing etc etc) and then did a little waiting around for our boat. Initially we booked the ''fast'' 7 hour boat down, but having spoke to several people (who highly advised against it) we chose the more sensible 2 day ''slow'' boat.
Anyone ever doing this trip should defo do the ''slow'' boat! It is large boat with a couple hundred people we reckon, quite cramped and full of backpackers and interesting types! We met some really good good people on the boat.....people that we kept on bumping into all the way in Cambodia (as people are often on the same route as you). Notable mentions were
* Raj and Sandra
* The Yanks (Caitlin, B and Andrea)
* The Argies (Lara and Denise)
and many more!
Anyways, the trip was slow, as the name ''slow'' boat suggests, but a lot of fun! Beer was drunk, cards were played, friends were made......all whilst admiring some of the finest scenery you could possibly hope to see! 2 days well spent and then we were in Luang Prabang!
Luang Prabang, a little gem of a place that you could easily spend a week in......full of old school French architecture, fine dining, colourful markets and ''monky'' monasteries! It is a place you could fall in love with quite literally! Once we had settled our belongings and went out an Indian dinner (superb) with team America. After dinner Jules and I decided to find a spot to indulge in a couple of cold ones! Much to our disgust we discovered that Laos had a curfew of 12. The only place that opened past 12 was the bowling alley They sold booze and apparently it was a gas, so we hit the bowling lanes! in the end we had, as usual ''too much fun''......after all we are travelling, why not have a good time!
Outside of Luang Prabang there is a vast range of seemingly untouched beauty! Tiny authentic Lao Villages, the smell of burnt wood (very African in a way), fresh air and clean rivers! There is a lot one can do.....and in our 2 days there we did a few of the highlights! We randomly met up with team Argentina after a breakfast and decided we wanted to do the Kuang Si Waterfalls! These waterfalls were epic.....we rented bikes and drove the 20km on windy roads out there with the Argies on the back! That was one of the best days of the trip so far....the smells, the views, the little villages, the wind our faces....quite spectacular! It was almost ruined when we decided to let the gals drive the last 5 km home. They had never ever been on bikes before but because they were automatic we decided to trust female drivers! Needless to say Jules and Guy both came within inches of their lives a couple of times! Argentines are really not good drivers....don't ever drive with one, especially not a female one!
The next day we were elephant riding and ''waterfalling'' again! This time we did the Tad Sae Waterfalls! If you want to do elephant riding in Asia we would recommend you do it here in Luang Prabang. Other Asian elephant riding companies have been known to be really cruel to the ellies. This elephant centre is haven unwanted and mistreated ellies and apparently they are really looked after here. From elephant riding and waterfall it was straight onto a bus to Van ''in the the tubing'' Vieng!
We heard from reliable sources (Lying Planet) that this route, route 13, was a dangerous route to ride and has been hijacked by Laos pirates before. We didn't think much of this rumour till we sat down. Waiting for the bus to arrive a little Laos dude jumps on dressed pretty normally par the giant AK47 strapped to his shoulder! Okay, so maybe it is a little bit of a dangerous route! Arrive in Van Vieng pretty late at night and sort accommodation....pretty lucky as most things were very closed! The next day we were greeted by perfect day. It would be rude not to have a few beers and go tubing!
On our time budget we only allocated 3 days to Van Vieng! Lonely Planet neglected to tell us how much fun it actually would be! It is the most insane party place in the world I reckon. It is simply an open air night club, with people running around in bikinis and boardies, swinging and jumping into the river, dancing and getting drunk on Asia's infamous buckets.....all to the tune of MGMT, Kings of Leon, and songs like ''Infinity!'' What a way to spend a day! Along the river there are slides, swings, fires, mud baths, people writing all over each other in markers (refer to some facebook pics).....people are basically running amuk and going 'bos' wild. A very hedonistic place where everything is done in the name of fun!
Julian once again reaffirmed his camel mans status on the trip with some good backflips off the high swing (quite a feat)! He was feeling so confident that he thought he would attempt the double.....bad mistake Julian. Jules was flying through the air like a flying goat, one flip, coming around for the second, people had their breath held, is he gonna make it, SLAP, Jules lands on his back! The crowd go absolutely bazurk.....you get more cheers for totally messing up and hurting yourself then you do for doing a flawless triple backflip!
Quick aside on buckets: Buckets......Buckets are quite literally small plastic buckets that you buy as you would a spirit and mixer in a club. Only difference is the volume of booze, in a bucket they simply open a half jack of spirit (usually vodka, Asian rum/whisky {if u feeling budget}) and pour that into the already ice filled bucket. You then simply mix the half jack with whatever you want.....usually m150 (Asia's Red Bull) and Manoa soda (a lime lemonade mix....very nice). Buckets get you very intoxicated.....and very quickly!
Tubing was a bit like Ground Hog Day, everyday feels a little like the same. Wake up, go tubing, get a tuk tuk back, fight for the shower (as u freezing cold by the end of it), get an Indian Curry from Nazeem, go to Smile Bar. Wake up and press the repeat button! In the end we did tubing for a week.......and we would have done it for longer had our exhausted chassis not started to strongly disagree with what they were having to do everyday!
If you were to be stuck anywhere in the world an experiencing ground hog day, Van Vieng would be the place! We partied hard with a many fab people.......Some of the people who really made our time in Van Vieng so cool were:
Raj, Sandra, Team Aussie (Scarlett, Alanna, The Hoff and Kate) and the 'Great Danes'/our volleyball oppo (Helle and Henriette) just to name a few.
The week in Van Vieng was awesome but it also put some time pressures on us for the rest of Laos and Cambodia! Doing what we wanted to do meant we would have to put the pedal to the metal if we were gonna make full moon by the 8th!
So the race begun! We caught an overnight sleeper bus (literally the biggest bus I had ever seen) down to 4000 Islands. We cycled around Don Det, checked out the waterfalls, had a few drinks, took in the village life and then we were off......
Adios Laos, Cambodia here we come............
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