Blog 2 - Uploaded in Luang Prabang, Laos.

So we made it through week two… just! The pace we have been travelling at has well and truly taken its toll on me in particular, I'm currently bunged up with a nasty cough not to mention also being a tired wreck at the moment. Never the less… at a guess, I must be at least 50 coconuts down already and if you know me well, this will be no surprise! Fresh young green coconuts are my thing, how could I possibly say no?

After a mere three hours sleep we started off our week with a groggy 5am wakeup. Whilst we still had the mopeds it seemed like a great opportunity to jump on them and ride out of town to Doi Suthep-Pui national park to soak up yet another sunrise. A chilly 40 minute ride later taking on the winding roads and managing hairpins as well as any professional, we had arrived at our chosen spot. A small viewing platform that protrudes from the thick forrest canopy revealing views out over the entire Chiang Mai city scape, we were joined by just a few others who also had the same burning desire to squeeze as much out this ancient city as possible. So there we were at 6am stood in anticipation for a sunrise unlike any other we had seen so far, "it won't be long until it pops over the mountain lads" I recall saying a few times - it didn't. Our efforts adventuring so early in the morning weren't going to pay off as the clouds hid any glimpse of orange and yellow and we soon realised we weren't going to get our dose of sunrise satisfaction. Taking the setback in our stride we turned to our next favourite pastime… eating!

Considering ourselves Chiang Mai locals already, we headed to our regular morning food spot and tasted yet more flavour packed authentic Thai cuisine, cooked fresh and right in front of us. Why on earth would you favour a bowl of cereals over these delicious morning delicacies? We english have definitely got something wrong.

After eating, it was time to chill and recharge our batteries as considering the pace we had been bouncing through many of Thailands hotspots, I'm surprised we hadn't all crashed and burned yet. Monday was definitely our "crash day" and well deserved at that, we caught up on some much needed zzzz's and also used this time to sort out our laundry - having only packed four t-shirts I'm pretty much constantly out of clothes, one of the downfalls of light (well… lighter) travelling.

By midday we were all set and back to normal (almost) and with our sense of adventure back in tact we decided to head on a "moped expedition" which would take us up the mountains until we could go no further with the time we had. We managed to get to 1400m where it was surprisingly chilly despite the fact it was around midday. All in all it was definitely worth the drive, we pulled up at the entrance of what looked like a lodge and thought… shall we? We decided to enter anyway, it wasn't long until we were met by a man wearing a warden uniform and instead of trying to explain why we had just invited ourselves onto his land, Jerome thought it best to whip out the 'you take photo' charade… It worked a treat and we ended up with an awesome photo. Shortly after our pose on the edge one of us remembered to check the time, realising that our mopeds were due back soon, all three of us raced back down the mountain like three scolded cats overtaking anything and everything on the way down! We made it back on time, handed the mopeds back and chilled for the evening.

The next morning we woke up a lot later than planned, this was definitely a blessing in disguise as I'm sure I didn't have it in me for another pre 6am wake up! After bundling our stuff together we finally checked out on time and walked straight to the local Thai post office, it had dawned on Jerome and Dugs that they had packed a little more than they needed which meant they both saw a good opportunity to free up some space for more tat. Approximately 5kg of miscellaneous goods is now making its way by slow boat to wintery England with, I imagine, an expected arrival date of December 2025.

After the post office it was time to enjoy our final meal in Chiang Mai, obviously at out favourite place but this time lunch was much more eventful. Progressively over the last few weeks our tolerance to chilli has increased, so much so that we now crave hot, spicy and aromatic foods. Thinking that we could handle heat like a true Thai, we spooned on the fresh chills and then threw on some more chilli brine. I can certainly speak for all of when I say, that was by far the hottest meal we have ever had. Not only could we not taste our food, we also had no taste buds left and Jerome had gone completely and utterly delirious. We eventually had a good cry together, dribbled a little more and then mentioned we'd never do that again. Apparently the Vietnamese are big on spice so who knows what trouble we will end up in whilst we are there.

With our tastebuds in recovery mode, we took a walk to the local bus station and bought a ticket to Pai. We had heard many people say many good things about this town so we were sure not to miss it off our itinerary. Little did we know at the time but we were just about to embark on one of the worst minibus journeys we had ever experienced. Not only were we crammed in like sardines again, we also had to deal with a three hour journey through the mountains and 762 hairpin bends!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank goodness I took a travel sickness tablet, the guy two rows in front of us spent half of the journey retching from places in his stomach he didn't know he had. What was even worse, the only place he could throw up was into a translucent plastic bag for him to carry for the next hour, not to mention that we all had to stare at it too! Our journey finally came to end and the three of us had made it all well and good. We had done our classic thing of not booking ahead so we spent a good 40+ minutes walking around in the blazing sun before finding a hostel. Good things come to those who wait though as 'Tayias' was an absolute gem of a hostel located a minute or two away from all the action. It ended up being the best room we have had so far and at the best price we have managed to find so far, we threw our stuff down and decided to head out to the night market for food.

As we were walking along 'Walking Road', the main strip if you like, we experienced one of the weirdest coincidences so far. Whilst minding our own business I see a someone out the corner of my eye lower his glasses and stare at us for a lot longer than could be considered normal. Cut a long story short his name is George and he happens to manage Clique bar in Ramsgate! He recognised Dugs from the wild nights he spent in there during the summer, we were all totally blown away that our paths had crossed in a remote town in northern Thailand! We continued on to find food at a local restaurant tucked around the corner and ordered Pad Thai. We were bitterly disappointed… It was the worst food we had had so far and none of us dared to finish our plates.

Not convinced our day was done we decided to give the evening a good go. We made our way to Sunrise bar for a few beers and a few games of pool but quickly got carried away as we met more and more people. Dugs retired to bed whilst Jerome and I stayed to represent England in a pool showdown against Tim representing USA, Jerome managed to pull one out the bag for the victory! A few beers soon turned into a few more beers and it wasn't long until we found ourselves at a Rasta bar called 'Don't Cry'. It had one of the best vibes I have experienced in a long time! We did finally make it back to the room but at a dreadful time in the morning!

It's fairly safe to say that we woke later Tuesday morning with a headache and the taste of Chang beer on our lips but it wasn't long before we got over ourselves, after a spicy papaya salad I was raring to go again. Our next move was to rent 3 mopeds for 24 hours with a cost of 100 baht each, thats £2.50! We now had freedom to get around Pai to nail the itinerary we had created. First stop was the white Buddha in the forrest, a HUGE statue which is accessed via 300 steps. On arrival we found that again, this buddha was covered in scaffolding but this time made entirely of bamboo. We got some really cool photos and stayed a while to soak up the views though the valley. Our next stop was Pai Canyon where we shuffled carefully along the thin red stone ridge in the hope we wouldn't fall down the sheer drops either side. After ten metres or so the ridge widened and we could see for miles upon miles. We spent a while soaking up the hazy views and capturing some great moments.

We then found a trail which wasn't in our itinerary, it headed towards and up the mountain so we decided to follow in anticipation to discover something new. To our surprise we had come across a beautifully kept garden at the summit and with a 20 baht entrance fee we were offered green tea served in a painted tea pot. We all sat for a long while admiring the view over the whole of Pai and quickly became captivated by how much there was to see. It was at this moment that we understood how lucky we were to have found this place. I would definitely revisit.

The next morning our usual plan for sunrise didn't go too well, we woke really early, hopped on the mopeds and made our way to the petrol station which ended up being closed. On glancing up at the sky we then realised how cloudy it was so back to bed we went! Waking up later on we packed our bags to head to the bus station, the plan was to head to Chiang Rai but it turned out to get there, we had to go back to Chiang Mai therefore doubling back on ourselves. It also meant another dreaded 762 hairpin bends!!!!!!!!!! (down went another travel sickness tablet)

The journey went as we expected… terribly, and once back in Chiang Mai we booked a bus to Chiang Rai. The journey took another three hours and by this time we were pretty tired of this method of transport but it was soon to get a lot worse! I was starting to feel very ill and also felt some pretty horrible symptoms such as aching behind the eyes, cold sweats, fatigue and loss of appetite, I didn't know what was going on! We stayed the night in a guesthouse and I tried to get some good sleep thinking it would be my cure.

I woke up on the Friday morning feeling worse than I did the day before, what made me feel even worse was knowing that we had a 12 - 14 hour night bus to catch that evening to Laos, could my luck get any worse? We ventured out the Guesthouse by around midday in search for a local shop that takes passport photos for our Laos visa, it wasn't long until we found a local photographer so we all bought some just incase we needed them for anything else along the way. With that job ticked off we caught the 12:30 coach which takes two and a half hours to Chiang Kong, close to where we would cross the border. Thai immigration went smoothly from there and it wasn't long util we were stamped out of Thailand, we then hopped on the coach which took us over the 'Friendship Bridge' connecting Thailand to Laos. On arrival in Huay Xai we filled out some paperwork and paid 35 USD for our visa, again the process was smooth so the next task was getting a tuk tuk for a reasonable price to the bus station. Fortunately we met three lads from the Canary Islands, they were heading to the same place as us so we now had more bargaining power, it wasn't long until the price came down and we were on our way with the added bonus of some good conversation.

During the short trip to the bus station I couldn't help but notice how suddenly different my surroundings were, it didn't feel like we had just crossed a border, it felt like we were in a totally different part of the world. The first impression Laos left on me will last for a lifetime, homemade wooden bridges bound to fall at any moment and unavoidable potholes in the road. Also the run down shacks at the crumbling roadside and local residents trying their best to get by, theres no doubt in my mind that Laos is still way behind the times.

Once at the bus station we decided to sit down for our first Lao meal, I was still feeling TERRIBLE so ended up eating a very interesting plate of plain white rice whilst the others tucked into a fried rice/veg/meat combo. We thought it best to get some food in before the dreaded journey as we didn't want to face another of those apple paste bread rolls! (we definitely made the right choice, later on Dugs and Jerome were served fried frog which didn't go down too well!)

We boarded the coach just before 6 and within seconds we were all sweating, It could have been due to the fact it was 30+ degrees in there or maybe and more likely down to pure anxiety as to what we had let ourselves in for. We were shown to our bunks so Dugs and I climbed up and snuggled into a space no bigger than a dogs bed. I still can't comprehend how anybody on that coach got a single minute of quality sleep because as with most places in SE Asia, you come across roughly three varieties of mattress.

Hard

Bloody hard

You have to be kidding me, this isn't even funny hard

So there we were on our way to Luang Prabang and I can now officially mention it's the worst journey I have ever taken, Laos does not have a single road that is even remotely smooth. To make things worse, the coach driver must have been on something as all he did for the night was speed like a mad man regardless of huge potholes, honk his horn every 2 minutes for any length of time he wished and talk to himself at a volume that was frankly, embarrassing. What on earth had we done?!

The journey from hell that was supposed to have taken 14 hours had been driven by our driver in 11, I'm still not sure whether he's a complete maniac or a complete hero but I'm glad he got us there. We felt as though we had been scooped up, churned around and spat out in a foreign land at 5am, brilliant!

We started our first day in Luang Prabang with a taxi to the city centre, just next to the river. We found a guesthouse pretty quickly and managed to check in straight away. It was then time to wander the streets to discover some new food. Believe it or not, the french only left Laos around 60 years ago so there are still many remnants and reminders of their prior presence. Firstly, to our surprise the Lao delicacy is the baguette, as a meal they offer you one which they fill with salad and then offer you 'Laughing cow' soft cheese and mayonnaise before asking if you want any meat… so bizarre! For breakfast I ate a salad baguette whilst the other two went for the full shabang, the baguette itself tastes fairly normal only sweeter. (we quickly polished them off)

Next stop was the local hospital with Dugs for his third rabies vaccine, he wasn't impressed after realising how unsanitary and rundown the building was, it didn't give any of us much confidence at all! After a quick jab by the nurse we were relieved to get out and hopefully not return!

Upon returning to our guesthouse we decided to make the most of the afternoon and venture to a famous Buddha cave, a 30 minute taxi ride away. The scenery was incredible. We were invited down to the riverside to catch a longboat over the Mekong, which at this particular point spanned 75 meters across. We had a good look around the upper and lower caves which must contain a minimum of 300 buddha statues, some of which had been there so long they were starting to erode. We made the most of our time here and tried to take as much of the scenery in as possible before heading back along more particularly bad Lao roads.

It was time for another night market venture and just before our daily dose of noodles we ended up buying food at the first stall we came across, on the BBQ was a selection of big juicy corn on the cob. What made these so interesting was the secret sauce the lady was brushing on, a lumpy, deep dark red dressing which they just called 'spicy sauce' in an accent I can't possibly mimmic. Jerome and I ordered one each and in all honestly, this sauce was like liquid magic! I have no idea what the official ingredients are and I probably don't want to know but both Jerome and I made it quite obvious that we were thoroughly enjoying it from the noises we were making. Officially the best chilli/barbecue/sweet&sour/god knows what else concoction we have ever tasted.

Our action packed week concluded with me retiring to bed (still feeling ill) whilst Dugs and Jerome were in the right mindset for a proper night out. They got themselves ready and left the room at around 9pm and didn't return until gone 5am after 9 Laos beers and a bottle of whiskey. (we are still working on piecing that nights events together)

So far, none of us have shown any need to slow down and we have only needed to make a few changes. Our itinerary has changed slightly in the fact that we are now travelling direct to Vietnam on Monday and skipping the rest of Laos leaving it for another time. Our next 48 hours will be character building to say the least! We have paid for a bus ticket that does just that however we only recently discovered the journey takes 24 hours!!!!!!! and has a reputation for being the worst bus journey in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, what are we doing?!!

With so much to do in Vietnam theres no sign that these blogs will be getting any shorter. Wish us luck as ill be thoroughly surprised if we get off the 24 hour coach still smiling.