Tuesday, 9 July 2013 – Tubing in Vang Vieng, Laos

Vang Vieng was once party central for backpackers in South East Asia.  It was famous for the ramshackle wooden bars lining the Namsong river, water slides, rope swings and zip lines. Fuelled by free shots of local whisky, potent cocktails and drugs, injuries and fatalities occurred with alarming regularity. In January 2013, the Laos government shut down all but 3 of the bars.  Before the government intervened, there were 40 bars and in excess of 400 people would tube down the river each day – this number had now dwindled to around 130 per day.  We took a ride down the river to find out what it was all about.

At noon we arrived at the tubing shed where we each handed over 55,000 Kip for tube hire and 60,000 deposit.  We signed a disclaimer and were warned that if we didn’t return our tubes by 6:00 pm we would be fined 20,000 kip.  We had to wait around until more people arrived to make up numbers.  We were then loaded into a tuk tuk with 6 other people plus tubes and driven 3 kilometres north of town.  There with money and cameras in dry pouches slung around our necks, we clambered into our tubes and headed downriver.

Riding the tube was much easier than we expected. However the water was shallower than we expected as well – sometimes scraping our bottoms on submerged rocks on the shallow river bed. We were carried along by the current and at each ramshackle wooden bar, waiting attendants threw out ropes weighted with plastic bottles of water to haul us in. We stopped at all three bars spending most of our time at the liveliest second bar where you could play petanque, basket ball and volley ball.

We left the third and last bar at a little before 5:00 pm so that we could be back in time to return our tubes without forfeiting our deposits. We thought we had plenty of time but it was quite a long way and we only arrived back in town just after 6:00 pm and just as it started raining.

The last leg of the journey was sublime – we drifted over gentle rapids surrounded by the forest-topped limestone karsts and watched the sun set.

5 – 7 July 2013 – Vientiane, Laos

We arrived in the nation’s capital after a rocky, bone rattling journey of 10½ hours in a sleeper bus from Pakse.  Our compartment wasn’t as small as we had feared – probably just a little wider than a single bed and only just long enough for both of us to lie fully stretched out. This is fine if you are travelling together as a couple – but if you are a solo traveller you don’t know who you might be sharing your compartment with. Some solo travellers actually purchase two bus tickets but perhaps it’s a good way to meet new friends!

Presidential Palace

The cloister at Wat Sisaket, the oldest temple in Vientiane

Locals playing boules on the street

Vientiane’s answer to the Arc de Triomphe – the Victory Gate (officially called Patuxai) built to commemorate Laos who had died in pre-revolutionary wars

How would you like your frog?  Rare, medium or well done?

The bizarre Xieng Khuan (Buddha Park) – a small area crammed with concrete Hindu and Buddhist statues

Baguette vendors in Talat Sao Bus Station

Tarte aux pommes at Vientiane’s best bakery – Le Banneton

1 & 2 July 2013 – Si Phan Don (4,000 Islands), Laos

Si Phan Don is a group of islands in the Mekong River in Southern Laos.  It took us almost a day and a half of travel by bus and ferry to reach there from Southern Thailand.  There are three main islands visited by travellers – Don (island) Khong, Don Det and Don Khon.  Don Khong is targeted towards the older, more sedate traveller whilst the other two islands Don Det and Don Khon are cheaper and targeted towards the younger party loving crowd.  Needless to say we stayed at Don Khong!

On our first full day we cycled across the island.  It was a long, hot and dusty 8 km ride to the other side of the island. We rode past lots of rice paddies, cows, buffalo, and little houses on stilts.

The next day we went on a longtail boat which took us past some of the some of the islands dropping us off at Don Khon where we walked to see the Somphamit waterfall.

Somphamit Waterfall

Old French Primary School on Don Khon

On the river we motored past friendly kids playing in the water along the riverbank, little islets, fish traps, fisherman and little settlements all along the banks of the river.

Friday, 28 June 2013 – Phanom Rung & Muang Tam

Located at the top of an extinct volcano and surrounded by lush green rice paddies, Phanom Rung was spectacular. To reach the complex we walked along a paved laterite (volcanic rock) walkway lined with stone lotus buds and up series of well worn steps.

We walked around the complex admiring the intricately carved lintels and the incredible views over the surrounding countryside.

Our next stop was Muang Tam at the base of the volcano.

25 & 26 June 2013 - Ayutthaya

On Tuesday morning, we caught the train to Ayutthaya because we didn’t want to get caught in the Bangkok traffic – which really is terrible.

Most of the ruins at Ayutthaya are on an island.  On our first afternoon, we explored the temples on the island.  We spent a couple of pleasant hours walking around the ruins in the late afternoon light. 

On the second day we chartered a longtail boat around the island and visited some other “off-island” temples located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River.

Large goanna on the riverbank

Monday, 24 June 2013 – Chao Phraya Tourist Boat

On Monday we spent a day on Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River. We took the Chao Phraya Tourist Boat and got off at each of the stops and walked around taking in the sights and the smells and stopping for an occasional snack before getting back on the boat again.

Waiting for the next boat

The Chao Phraya River was a highway of activity. There were longtail boats, local ferries, tourist ferries, tugboats pulling improbable loads of building materials and construction equipment, schools of catfish and islands of lush green water weed.

Sunday, 23 June 2013 – Chatuchak Market, Bangkok

We caught the Skytrain to the Chatuchak weekend market.  We thought that the Chatuchak market was absolutely fantastic. There was a wide range of products besides the usual clothing and accessories, including vintage clothing, jewellery, home wares, local handicrafts, art and collectibles, food, live animals, plants and gardening accessories, flowers, wickerwork and ceramics. This was a shopper’s paradise with an enormous number of stalls housed in steamy aluminium sheds running down narrow alleys overflowing with merchandise and people. The market was organised into sections with similar products located together – our favourite sections were the ones containing ceramics, home wares and art. We managed to get totally lost - we tried to find a food stall that we had seen earlier but found that we had wandered miles from our original location. We ended up walking around the markets for a few hours snacking on mango sticky rice, orange juice, crispy roast pork, pineapple, som tam (papaya salad) and coconut ice cream from the various food stalls.

Art in Chatuchak Market

Chatuchak Cowboys