Our World Adventure

Kuala Lumpur

katandstevie — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:59:00 GMT

Ko Lak

katandstevie — Sat, 6 Dec 2008 01:59:00 GMT

Krabi & Railay

katandstevie — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:51:00 GMT

Scuba diving in Ko Tao!

katandstevie — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 01:50:00 GMT

Ko phangan

katandstevie — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:48:00 GMT

Bangkok

katandstevie — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:47:00 GMT

Pai

katandstevie — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:46:00 GMT

Luang Prebang

katandstevie — Sat, 8 Nov 2008 23:55:00 GMT

Chiang Mai

katandstevie — Fri, 7 Nov 2008 01:45:00 GMT

Vang Vieng

katandstevie — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:48:00 GMT

Vientiane

katandstevie — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:46:00 GMT

Tha Kheak

katandstevie — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:45:00 GMT

Tad Lo

katandstevie — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:40:00 GMT

Don Det (4000 Islands)

katandstevie — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:20:00 GMT

Laos, quite possibly the most chilled out country on earth, at least...thats what all the guide books advised....

A country I had known very little about before actually crossing the border, and without an up to date guide book - Laos was an unknown country to us. We had heard from other travellers throughout our journey that it was pretty cool, a friendly country, significantly less spoiled by tourists than other places.

We took a bus from Ban Lung in Cambodia to Stung Treng (another breakdown en route - we almost expect it now!), it was kind of like travelling with a family - the breakdown had ensured that the women had all bonded and were busy chattering in the front, and the men had magically become mechanics and all sat and laughed and joked on the floor around the car - sending various people out on motorbikes to retrieve parts and bottles of strange looking liquid. After a while we finally got started again and drove on where we picked up a women and her two kids. One of the kids had fallen asleep on Stevie's shoulder which was pretty cute....until he woke up and threw up all over his mother!

Upon our arrival in Stung Treng we moved from our bus to a large car which took us over the Laos border, the border consisting of two little huts about 1km from each other, ofcourse each border official claimed that $1 administration fees was required so we loyally paid this.....

After a short drive further over bumpy roads and past little huts with chickens and pigs, we eventually arrived at a little village on the waterfront. Our boat to Don Det was probably one of the rockiest yet, any slight hint of movement and the boat rocked from side to side - I was so glad to get to the Island! On our border crossing we met a Swiss Couple who were also going to the islands so together we searched for somewhere to stay.

Don Det was pretty amazing, and probably even more because we didn't really know what to expect and had only heard that the island had no electricity and no cars! After hopping off our rickety boat into the shallow part of the Mekong River, and rescuing our backpacks from the boat before their possible descent into the Mekong, we walked up and checked out a few places to stay. Most of the accommodation on the Island consisted of little wooden bungalows. Eventually we found one on the so-called 'sunset side' in 'Mister B's' Bungalows - a great little hut with two hammocks out the front...what more could one want? We brought our packs in and joined the Swiss couple (Sasha and Maria) for a well deserved Beer Lao on the Veranda...watching the Sunset :)

We stayed in the little restaurant at Mister B's for most of the night, following the sunset, lightning ensued and flashed accross the water, lighting up clouds and mountains in the distance which was very beautiful to watch. Stevie and I went for a walk up the 'street' (if you could call it that?!) which was lit up mostly by generators which all went off at 10pm. The island at night was like nothing I had ever seen before, everyone lay relaxing in hammocks or sitting at their little shops...chickens walked about at our feet (and cows, and goats, and cats without tails!) and backpackers sat here and there in the small restaurants - chatting and joking....yes this place was superchilled!

The following morning we got up and took a walk around and decided to go on the 'dolphin and big waterfall tour'. Apparently 'Irrawaddy Dolphins' native to the Mekong swim around the Islands so we took a boat and a bus and a boat to a grassy bank where we sat and waited for the Dolphins...we waited and we waited...eventually we seen a dolphin head and a dolphin fin a few times but overall our 'dolphin sighting' was a little disappointing! The big waterfall was a little more spectacular - a raging waterfall plunging down into the white frothy bottom - we climbed down and let the cool air surround us for a while, a temporary escape from the hot asian heat...an interesting little story about this waterfall - the locals believe the falls act as a trap for bad spirits as they wash down the river and so will never swim in the river...

That night we went for dinner in the 'Reggae Bar', a nice little restaurant by the water with kittens, a pet monkey, dogs and kids running around. We started with 5 people but soon people began joining us and we ended up with nine people - eight different nationalities of people sitting around a table sharing their travel stories...it was really interesting and great to meet so many different people! Ofcourse hometime was never really that late as the generators went out at 10 which meant we needed to get get back before that or risk finding our hut in the dark (and my fear of bugs didn't allow us to come back in the dark for the fear of the unknown!!)

On our second day we woke to hear a chanting sound outside, when we looked out around 20 monks were sitting in their orange robes in the owner's house and also blessing the huts, these are the kinds of one of experiences that stick in the mind and belong to the Asia experience...

After this enlightening experience, we had some breakfast and were joined by Bas, the Dutch Guy who invited us to his wife's birthday party in the local bakery at 5pm. To see the island a bit more we hired some bicycles and cycled around the Island. The Island is incredibly beautiful with rice fields and waterfalls and jungle. and we cycled over an old railway bridge to the second island where we had some lunch. At around 3pm a dark sky indicated that we should return to our hut before getting caught in a monsoon downpour, we we made our way back and chilled out in our hammocks whilst watching the ferocious rain...

At 5 O'clock, we walked down along the mucky mucky path to the Bakery where we had birthday cake, pumpkin burgers and Beer Lao, all lit by candle light....we had another lovely night with lots of backpackers talking and laughing and sharing their experiences, our walk back to our hut was a little less fun sliding and slipping in the muck in the pitch black!

Having extended our trip from two nights to three nights, we reluctantly got up the next morning and organised our bus to our stopover destination of Pakse before going to 'Tad Lo', a very beautiful part of Laos in the Bolaven Plateau...

Ratanakiri

katandstevie — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:24:00 GMT

Siem Riep/Angkor Wat

katandstevie — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:22:00 GMT

We made it to Phnon Penh!

katandstevie — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:30:00 GMT

Sailin up the Mekong to Cambodia!

katandstevie — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Two choices lay open to us as to how we would enter Cambodia, one was to take a bus which would take us to Phnom Penh directly, the other was to take the boat up the Meokong river, which seemed like a far cooler way to do the crossing!

Our boat ride took us up to a small border crossing where we had to get off the boat to get our passports stamped, once this was done we walked to another boat which would take us to Cambodia. The journey took around 4 hours, but was a most enjoyable experience! As we ventured up the River, it was immediately clear that Cambodia was different than Vietnam, the land is flatter, we saw huge beautiful tempels with monks standing at the side of the river, and hundreds of cows grazed looking out at us lazily. I think the best part was probably the kids, who after hearing the engine of the boat, ran out to wave at us from their houses - we must have waved at hundreds!

It was a wonderful trip, everyone relaxed around our boat reading, sleeping and taking photos of the new land we were slowly approaching.

Chau Doc - Last stop before Cambodia!

katandstevie — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 22:56:00 GMT

In order to get to Cambodia via the Mekong Delta, it was easiest to get a tour which organised Visas etc for us. At 8am Thong (yes, that was his name!) picked us up from the travel agent and explained our day's activities...which consisted of the first part of our crossing - getting to Chau Doc - final resting place before Cambodia.

First day of our tour started off quite nicely with a boat tour of a floating market, this market consisted of hundreds of boats floating (believe it or not?!), each with a bamboo stick on the front of their boat showing what they were selling - eg bananas or hats or leeks, the residents of the local boat houses then sailed out to these boats and bought what they needed - this was quite cool to see although the safety of our boat was sometimes questionable - especially when the tour guide starting blessing himself! After the market our boat took us to a little village where we were shown how they made coconut candy, rice paper, rice crispies, popcorn and peanut crunchy biscuits - we really enjoyed this and it was an interesting experience, we even got to taste some of the local 'snakewine' which consisted of a big glass jar with ricewine, a snake and a big black (dead) bird! It was really strong but one of those things you just gotta try in Nam...

After this visit we went to another lovely little island where we had lunch overlooking the Mekong River. Our guide had told us that there were crocodiles further on down the island so we went for a walk to a crocodile enclosure where they sold bits of meat hanging off strings, they called it "crocodile fishing"! It was fun to feed the crocs and see them jump up and snap at the meat...again probably not totally safe but we survived the adventure. Our visit to this island was rounded off by some traditional Vietnamese music which was pretty special, at the riverside by older men dressed in traditional Vietnamese clothing.

The final part of our day included travelling by boat,and ferry, and bus to Chau Doc. Our hotel here was pretty basic and the long black hairs on the bed meant that we were glad it was only for one night! Our one night in Chau Doc wasn't much to write about,although walking along the riverside with lightning flashing within the clouds was pretty spectacular! We went for dinner in a little Lonely Planet mentioned restaurant around the corner,funny enough the whole tour had gone to the same place,an experience we encounter pretty often on our travels as everyone seems to frequent the same places!

The following morning we were awoken at 6am by Thong at our door shouting something,I didn't have a clue where I was! After breakfast we were taken out on rowing boats, incredibly unsturdy, to see a house with a fish farm on their veranda - it was amazing, every time the guide threw in some food hundreds of fish splashed and practically jumped out to get the food! This was followed by a visit to a Cham Ethnic minority village, and eventually the trip to the Cambodian Border.

In order for the process to be speeded up in getting our visas, we all had to give our passports and the $22 to a guy who subsquently jumped off the boat into some bushes to organise this! It's amazing how much trust one can put in somebody just because they say they're off to get you a visa! Luckily for us the guy showed up again at the border with our passports stamped, and thus we entered Cambodia...

Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon

katandstevie — Tue, 7 Oct 2008 22:52:00 GMT

We arrived in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City at around 6am, it appears people aren't quite as early to start in this city as a few hotels we had researched were still closed! We decided to check out a small guesthouse which a guy in Nha Trang had recommended (this guy was actually a guy which stevie knew from home who we happened to bump into - amazing to meet someone you know when so far from home!)so after snaking down some small alleyways, dodging cats, kids and noodle bowls, we were finally directed to the 'hen guesthouse', which was actually just a family with a room available! Upon our arrivel the whole family was still asleep and opened the door in their jammies (they slept on the stone floor in the front room)and (a little confused as to why we were there) told us to leave our bags and come back at 8am.

The guesthouse was such a lovely little place, the people were really friendly and it was an adventure to stay in such close proximity to Vietnamese family life. The family had a 2 little chihauas (hard one to spell!) whom we became very friendly with and every time we left the house or returned we spent about 10 minutes greeting and stroking the dogs!

On our first day we took a walk around the city, watched the old people do martial arts in the park, visited the 'War Remnants museum'(a poignant reminder of the war accompanied by an excellent series of photographs) and arranged to meet Dan and Michelle for some dinner. Getting back home from our walk was pretty harrowing, the city is famous for its amazing rush-hours full of mostly motorbikes, but also every other vehicle you could imagine and trying to cross the roads was sometimes quite scary! The thing about the Vietnam traffic system is that there is none,(which we discovered when we first got to Hanoi when a girl looked at us standing at the side of the road and advised us to 'just walk'!)The best way to cross the road is slowly and without hesitation, it appears the motorbikes and cars just swerve around you until you reach the other end of the road, they don't stop for red lights or any other things which you might think would regulate the traffic!

The following day we took a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels and Cai Dai temple which were both in the area. Our tour was an interesting guy who had spent much of his life teaching english (it always helps when the guide speaks english!)and he had also spent a year fighting for the South Vietnamese.

The Cau Dai temple which we went to was an amazing experience, the religion is a mixture of several religions and the people attending the service were dressed in white, blue, yellow and red robes to represent each religion. The temple has 4 services every day, and we were lucky enough to be there for the 'noon service'. The temple was an amazing mixture of colours and symbols, with huge dragons swirling around the pillars, and golden figures on the walls - the ceiling was decorated in an amazing array of stars upon the navy background...it was certainly a very special place.

After the temple we went on to the Cu Chi Tunnels, a series of tunnels which were used by the north Vietnamese during the war to get to places unseen. We were lead around the complex where several bomb craters still were visible, and although we didn't go through the real tunnels, (as none of us non vietnamese would fit!) we went through a different set which had been built as a replica (and a bit more our size!) Despite these tunnels being bigger they were still pretty tough to get through and it is unbelievable to think that the Vietcong crawled through kilometers of these tunnels to get to their destination!

This tour marked the end of our short stay in Ho Chi Minh City, we had found a tour up the Mekong Delta river which would take us to Cambodia - and it left the following morning at 8AM!