Siem Reap-Bangkok-Vientiane-Vang Vieng-Luang Prabang and Happy Birthday Marcus

Currently we are in our guesthouse room in Luang Prabang watching Olympics.  Before Luang Prabang we were in Vang Vieng and before that
we were in Ventiane and before that Bangkok and before that Siem Reap and before that, try reading some of the previous blogs.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

After our foreign friends left us in Siem Reap we saw more temples, this time via bicycle. Unfortunately we saved the most boring temples for last which is not recommended, but we still had fun pedaling around in the heat with a flat tire and best of all the swimming pool at our hotel felt better than ever upon our return. We couldn’t find another place in Cambodia that looked like a good next stop so we decided to go to Laos.

Siem Reap to Laos via Bangkok

After much indecisiveness regarding where our first stop in Laos should be, we chose to skip the 4000 islands, and head straight for the north. We got on a tuk-tuk, then bus, then walked across the border to Thailand, then minivan and finally a taxi which got us as far as the train station in Bangkok. In SE Asia, as far as we can tell, a direct bus consists of changing vehicles at least 4 times so this was actually better than most. Many times you’ll get picked up from your hotel and driven 2 minutes just to wait at a restaurant for an hour for your bus to come. That way you buy something from the restaurant and everyone is happy (except you). Anyway, the ride was smooth and we headed right for our friend Paul, who has a café near the train station in Bangkok. Paul had given me words of wisdom on our previous visit and sure enough he was ready for more. This time he tells me: “If you have expectations [about the place you are going], you only have two options when you arrive: to be satisfied or not satisfied”.  So there you go, just erase expectations from your mind and then you’ll have way more than two options. He didn’t explain how to do the erasing part.

In Bangkok we paddled a duck boat around a pond and looked at big lizards and small turtles. Haley did a little more group exercise. We happened to be in a good place to hear the Thai national anthem and watch EVERYONE stand still for a minute or so, which was way cooler than this video shows.

 

After our 6 hours in Bangkok and some boring Thai food, we said goodbye to Paul and got on the nice sleeper train to the Thai border town Nong Khai which took 15 hours instead of 12, but who cares when you’re comfortable.  After that, we took a short train across the ‘friendship bridge’ into Lao, paid some visa fees and got a wet ride into Vientiane.

Vientiane, Laos

Vientiane is the capital of Laos, but there’s less action here than on a Wednesday afternoon in Mill Valley. It’s very strange, but we like mellow and they have a huge promenade area down by the river which was nice. We slept one night in a low quality guesthouse and left the next morning for Vang Vieng.

Vang Vieng, Laos

Vang Vieng is strange in it’s own way. It’s a small town that is mostly a place to party, tube down a river, do a few drugs, jump off a rope swing and wake up late. We knew this before we went, but we had also heard that it was surrounded by lots of natural beauty and that the party scene was avoidable. We scoped out a hotel that we thought was away from the party, but happened to be right in the middle of it. But it did have the best view in town and the party scene in the low-season was not even that impressive. We slept in our penthouse with views out to the karsts, ate horrible food for the most part (hard to find otherwise in Vang Vieng) and during the day rode bikes or walked around out in the beautiful surrounding country side.  We stayed 4 nights, saw a really cool cave, a big waterfall, lots of limestone cliffs, some nice rivers and lots of rice paddies too. We even sat down in one of the many restaurants that plays Friends re-runs and watched an episode while eating some mediocre food though we failed to order anything from the ‘Happy Menu’…not even an opium shake.

After all of that we got in a minivan to Luang Prabang, which is supposed to be 8 hours of some of the most beautiful scenery in Laos, but a thick layer of clouds and rain made it not nearly as interesting.

Luang Prabang, Laos

So, that takes us all the way here to Luang Prabang where we have settled in nicely with only one problem… we are currently both ill. Haley appears to have eaten something bad and in her words ‘is dying’, and I got a little cold and am coughing, etc. Lucky for us we have a TV in our room and there are two channels airing the Olympics.  Plus we still have 3+ days to heal up before my aunt Jo Anne gets here and the party really gets going. Don’t worry Jo, we’ll be ready for action long before you arrive. Before we got sick, we agreed that we really like this peaceful little town, we ate many meals next to the Mekong, we walked through the night market, we found these really yummy and addictive tapioca pancake things, we watched the monks collect their alms at dawn, we hung around at Utopia eating a mushroom burger and goat cheese salad, and we pretty much just enjoyed ourselves overall.

 

 

Other notes:

I’m much better than I was yesterday and Haley is still ‘dying’, but her fever is almost gone now and I’m sure she’ll stop saying ‘please make it stop’ sometime very soon.

In Vang Vieng, you have two choices for TV watching while eating your breakfast, lunch or dinner: Friends or Family Guy. There are at least 10 places to enjoy these shows while eating bad food and ignoring the people you are with.

We eventually did find a good restaurant in Vang Vieng and ate our next 5 meals there.

I got sucked on by a leach while in Vang Vieng. A first for me.

According to this article http://www.news.com.au/travel/world/laos-tourist-death-accident-waiting-to-happen/story-e6frfqai-1226242587502 at least 27 tourists died in Vang Vieng last year by jumping onto rocks, drowning, etc.

After I told the Luang Prabang tuk-tuk driver that we didn’t need a ride, he whispered ‘opium?’ Any good entrepreneur sells more than 1 product.

I’m not sure if they tailor the Olympic programming to Asia or what, but mostly we watch archery, ping pong and badminton. Archery is my favorite.

Haley took a nice picture of an egg delivery scooter.

Our room would be even better if the person who hammers at a frequency of 2-3 bangs/second for hours on end would stop. What the hell needs so much hammering?