Friday, November 16 - Friday, November 23
Our week in Laos
Again on a night train from Bangkok to Vientiane, actually the Thai / Lao border. This time we were in first class compartment. It was a beautiful ride and the sky was clear and the stars were shining brightly. After arriving in the early morning and going through the very long immigration process we took a tuk-tuk into town. We realized after dropping two others off that the guesthouse we had booked was on the very outskirts of town, away from any restaurants or sights, so off we went with our packs to search other accommodations. Found a great place one block from the Mekong River surrounded by French Bakeries and good vegetarian restaurants, and actually down the street from one of the more famous temples. Again, an easy city to walk around in. Felt completely safe the entire time. You can really see the influence of China and the money they must be putting into Laos. Everyone seems to have new cars and nice motorbikes. Many, many western travelers. Met a very friendly French man who was telling me how the city has changed over the past several years. Mike even noticed changes from when he was here two years ago. I can’t say it’s an attractive city, not many trees and although there is a “river walk” park, it’s a lot of concrete, therefore, walks were done in the late afternoon when the sun wasn’t too hot.
Strange to see a hammer/sickle flag flapping in the breeze. One evening we stopped at a corner bar and listened to music. Some western songs, but many Thai and Lao tunes as well. Along the river is an open theater area with Chinese opera every evening, and there is the night market, which seems to be in every city we’ve visited. These markets sell everything and anything. Most interesting item at this particular market were the bracelets and necklaces and eating utensils made out of the aluminum bomb casings the US dropped on Laos during the Viet Nam conflict.
After two days in Vientiane we headed for Vang Vieng, about 169 km north of Vientiane. The drive/ride there was beautiful. After the brown of Vientiane it was nice to see the green fields of rice with water buffalo wondering along the fields. Also the traditional Lao villages with homes built on stilts. But along side what would be considered shacks there were brand new mansions being built. These new homes looked like they could have been in Great Falls or Potomac, very out of place in my opinion.
Then we started to go up into the hills and all of a sudden you could see the mountains and cliffs in the distance, beautiful sight, and that were we were headed.
Our little guest house was on the banks of the river, overlooking an island and just in the near distance were the mountains, blue sky and fluffy/puffy clouds that if you used your imagination, could think they were lotus flowers floating in the sky. We spent a lot of time on the second floor deck reading and looking out at the beautiful scenery. It was difficult to leave this little bit of paradise, but we knew if we didn’t, we might not. I think this stop has been my favorite. So back to Vientiane for one more night before heading back to our home base, Bangkok.
Friday, November 9 - Tuesday, November 13
Our week in Chiang Mai
I already mentioned our overnight train trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, which was very comfortable even in second class sleeper. Our guesthouse was really convenient to the main section of the old city and it’s a very easy city to walk around in. It’s much less crowded than Bangkok and less expensive too. We discovered a friendly little bar down the street from our place that has a happy hour from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM, and from all appearances, it seems there are a number of Ex-Pats that do spend the entire day there playing pool, darts and visiting with each other and occasionally eating a burger. I’ll admit, we would stop there each evening for a beer before heading out to dinner. One of the waitresses, Peanut, would spend a few minutes with us just to practice her English. Oh, and if you ever do travel to Thailand, be aware - they start to play pool at a very young age, so they are very good. I wouldn’t even attempt to play with one of them, they would clear the table before I would even get a shot.
Chiang Mai is really a pretty city, with many beautiful temples, old city walls and a canal surrounding the entire area. We did the typical tourist sights; temples, walking along the river; people watching; visiting the street markets and going to the city park. I must have walked 3 to 4 miles each day we were there. My highlight was taking a Thai cooking class one day, which included going to the morning market to pick out the vegetables that would be used for the recipes later that afternoon. The teacher was a hoot, very entertaining and I had such a good time. It was good to chop and cook again after so long being out of a kitchen. I’m now prepared to make hot Thai noodles.
At one of the temples an old lady was “selling” families of birds you could buy for 100 bts (about $3.00) and you could release them to the wild of the temple trees. I understand it’s good merit to release them. So of course, I felt sorry for the little critters and set them free. Mike told me the lady probably catches them again since she feeds them, get another sucker tourist to release them again. Oh well, she got a few dollars, the birds got to flutter their wings and I supposedly got merit.
We returned to Bangkok on a day train (very boring ride that was at least 2 hours late arriving back to town) on Tuesday, November 13.
