Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia - July / August 2012

From the end of July, we allocated ourselves a month to travel through Northern Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and back into Thailand starting and finishing in Bangkok. A month was not enough but here’s what we managed to fit in!

Thailand

We arrived in Bangkok on our delayed flight from Macau and scouted out a reasonably priced taxi to get us across the city to a hostel we’d booked in advance. The next day after we explored Banglampoo, the area we were staying in, a little more and went for some spicy Thai food with some nice Spanish people.

We spent most of the following day trying to arrange our visa for Vietnam as Bangkok was the last place we were visiting with a Vietnamese embassy. This turned out to be far from our last opportunity to get a visa as we carried on through Thailand and Laos and we actually paid far more than we could have done elsewhere. Hindsight is a wonderful thing! We managed a quick look around one of central areas of Bangkok while our visas were being processed though and bumped into a very friendly Thai bloke who liked to stop tourists and teach them Thai phrases!

With the Thai phrase man in a park in Bangkok while we wait for our Vietnam visa!

Our mini phase book from the bloke in the park!

One of the most popular touristy day trips around Bangkok was to a large floating market selling handicrafts and local foods and then to a nearby cobra show where local snake masters performed tricks with various snakes. Both of these were really good!

Floating market

An old lady selling coconuts

Enjoying the floating market

Old market women having a natter

A really old woman offers us a fishy dish with a warm toothless smile!

WI meeting on the river!

At the cobra show

A snake handler gets close

Up close view of a snake ....with two penis's

And that's how you catch a snake in your mouth if you have both your hands full with other snakes!

After only couple of days in Bangkok we took an overnight bus north to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai was quite a small and very touristy place with a very friendly laid back vibe. There were many things to do in and around Chaing Mai so we quickly arranged an itinerary to pack as much into our time as we could!

The first night we went to a Thai boxing night with several fights including an entertaining blindfolded fight with a midget!

The next day we booked a motorbike tour up to a Hill Tribe family further North close to the Burma border. This included an elephant ride and some bamboo rafting in with the package but the highlight was learning to ride the semi-automatic bikes on and off road for most of the day. The trip turned out to be an incredible and very inexpensive personal motorcycle lesson, surely the best way to learn to ride!

Whilst in Chiang Mai we also took a Thai cooking course with a crazy Thai woman who showed us everything from choosing herbs and spices, buying ingredients from the local market and then making several traditional dishes including curry paste, spring rolls, glass noodle salad and cashew nut chicken.

Coconut milk!

Below the belt? Thai boxing in Chiang Mai

Photo with the midget boxer!

On our bike trip to the Hill Tribe from Chiang Mai

No room for mistakes!

Even less room for mistakes!

Some unofficial off road training!

Learning fast!

Bamboo for lunch!

With the Hill Tribe family

Hill tribe kids enjoy being the focus of attention!

A stop off at a waterfall

Chiang Mai taxi

Cover up to go inside the Buddist temples

The oldest temple in Chiang Mai centre

Chubby Buddha!

Relaxing at our hostel in Chiang Mai

Our loopy cooking course teacher

Star pupil!

That's how you fry a spring roll! 

Some of the fruits of our labour

Probably the strangest temple we'll ever see - the White Temple on the way to  Laos from Chiang Mai

White Temple

Laos

From Chiang Mai we endured another long bus journey to the Thai / Laos border at Chiang Khong / Houy Xai and then down to Luang Prabang. The two countries are separated by the Mekong river at this border point which runs all the way south from China and through several other countries. After we went through Laos immigration, we had to jump onto a different Laos bus. We were ushered onto a terrible looking bus and were dreading the next 10 hours overnight through Northern Laos ...luckily this turned out to only be our taxi to the local bus station where a more comfortable bus waited to take us to Luang Prabang!

Luang Prabang is tiny and enclosed by a bend in the Mekong River. During our few days here we rented some cheap bikes and rode around the small town, helped out at an organisation called Big Brother Mouse were local students could learn English from travelling westerners and hit a couple of the local bars.

After we’d trekked up to a temple on a hill overlooking Luang Prabang and the Mekong River, there was not a great deal else we wanted to do in the town so we went eating and drinking. We tried a Laos barbecue with meat and noodles that you cook yourself in the centre of your restaurant table followed by some drinking at a chilled out bar called Utopia and then off to a local bowling alley, the only place open after 11pm!

Crossing the border into Laos

That's our overnight bus to Luang Prabang?? Got to be kidding! .....luckily they were!

Green Loas countryside

Ready to get off the bus now!

More lush countryside

A huge spider tuck into her lunch in Luang Prabang!

Ever seen this many bananas on one branch?

Bike tour round LP

The view from the temple on the hill in the centre of LP

The night market starting up

Laos barbecue

Big Brother Mouse - helping locals read books and learn English

The next day we took the afternoon bus south to Vang Vieng. We got talking to four dutch girls on the way and spent our time in Vang Vieng with them. The only thing happening in this tiny rural town is ‘tubing’ on the Mekong River. Tubing means floating down the river on a tractor tyre inner tube and drinking at bars on the riverside on the way. Tubing has a bad stigma as many gap year kids get themselves too drunk and / or drugged up and go a little too crazy. There are shocking number deaths and injuries each year resulting from drink/drug induced accidents. The town is in fact overrun with young tourists only there for tubing and it is the main industry there with shops selling tubing memorabilia – mostly brightly coloured vest and shorts. As grotesque as it was, we did the tubing to see what all the fuss was about and it was fun but felt pretty wrong since it was visibly ruining the town. During peak season we read that tourists (all there to get wasted) outnumber locals 15 to 1!

Spectacular scenery enroute to Vang Vieng

Tubing down the Mekong

More tubing fun

We didn’t stay long in Vang Vieng, and organised our tuktuk and kayaking combo journey further south to Vientiane with Sarah and Kate, two of the Dutch girls we’d met on the journey from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng. The four hours in a tuk tuk on rough roads was not that much fun but the kayaking was great, especially the make-shift barbecue part way down the river - chicken skewers cooked on a bamboo frame and eaten off banana leaves!

Vientiane was pretty quiet and relaxed with few touristy attractions considering it is the capital city of Laos. There were the usual markets and restaurants and bars but one of the most interesting places was a small visitor centre for an organisation called Cope who help people who need prosthetic limbs largely from accidents associated with unexploded bombs left from the Vietnam war of which there are an estimated 80 million left in Laos!

We spent the rest of our time relaxing before our flight to Hanoi eating and drinking and catching up on ourselves in an internet cafe.

During this relaxing few day, we went to a place called Magic Fingers - sounds like an establishment which should offer excellent hair cuts and massages, right?.... in actual fact they offered probably the worst of both in the city! Steve got his head shaved there (well mostly shaved apart from a few straggly patches) and then we both sampled half an hour of stressful Laos massage which featured elbows to the souls of the feet and knees in the buttocks! Magic Fingers??! ...more like sausage fingers!

We ended up at a big lying Buddha after some confusion with a tuk tuk driver!

House pyjamas mandatory for the Laos massage!

Relaxing before the world's most stressful massage!

Steve made bald

The haircut featured a wonky neck shave and ear extension!

Vietnam

The flight to Hanoi was a nice break from enduring long Laos bus journeys – we replaced the 24 hour bus with a one hour flight.Great decision!

We landed in Hanoi late in the evening and the next day we hooked up with some other travellers over breakfast - Andy, Trisha and Tessy. They gave us a few glasses of red wine that afternoon when we were stuck in a little restaurant taking cover from a heavy rain storm. This lead to a few more (bottles) and drinking games back in the hostel dorm. We booked a cheap 2-day, 1 night trip to Halong Bay together the next day.

The Halong Bay tour was a bit of a scam (as they told us our nice boat had sunk that morning and we had to get a different boat) but we had a lot of fun anyway, saw some amazing scenery and got very drunk! Halong Bay is one of the natural wonders of the world and deservedly so, our pictures do it little justice.

We spent another day in Hanoi afterwards and tried to get round some of the sights in the city. We made it to the preserved Ho Chi Minh tomb (prime minister during the Vietnam War and a bit of a Vietnamese hero) and then wandered round the old town.

Flash flooding in Hanoi

With our new friends partaking in some indoor activities!

Drinking games in the hostel dorm!

Our new friends a little worse for wear on the way to Halong Bay

The girls on the boat on Halong Bay

A stop off at a cave

The it crowd

Another cave

Back on the boat... and back on the rum

Sunset at Halong Bay

The girls still just about sober....

...but not for long!

Party on the bus!

When you gotta go.......

A little worse for wear!

Cheers!

Ummm...

The morning after the night before

Serene Halong Bay

This way Tessy!

Best buddies

Back on land.... the flag tower in hanoi

A posey one for the camera - trying to keep up with all the wedding photographers nearby!

A rail track running through the old town in Hamoi

Some street food Hanoi style

A hat seller weaving through the mad Hanoi  traffic

Scooter central in Hanoi

Dinner for the second time at our favourite Hanoi restaurant

Back on the bus to Dong Hoi

From Hanoi the five of us all travelled over night down to Dong Hoi together.

Dong Hoi is a small town that was very affected by the US bombing during the Vietnam War and has some interesting sights including a ‘war village’ left intact from the wartime. It also has a couple of really nice beaches which we spent some time at one with a large resort with a nice pool and bar.

One of the only remaining building still standing in Dong Hoi since before the Vietnam War

Some excellent sea food surprised us after communication problems at a local restaurant!

First Vietnamese beach - Dong Hoi!

Paradise!

To the sea!

A hidden spa resort by the beach let us use their pool!

The gang

The local kids getting some attention......

.....and loving it!

The start of a 31km cave network near Dong Hoi

Amazing cave interior

Some strange face-like formations in the cave

Very fresh chicken for dinner

Et voila! Dinner is served

A dip in the river

Floating bridge access only to the War Village - preserved since the war

Housing  from a  'bombie' left over from the war

Living quarters preserved from the wartime

A bunker attached to a house for protection from the bombs

An underground wartime maternity ward 

The sweet man that showed us round the war village

Tessy getting acquainted with another local resident!

Left over bombs

Bunker exit from a preserved building

Our transport around Dong hoi

Leaving the farm next to the War Village

Some volleyball with the locals on a beach near Dong Hoi

Another posey bike picture!

Our next stop down the east coast of Vietnam was a small town called Hoi An famous for its silk trade and tailors. It also had a couple of nice beaches.

We went for a few drinks on the first night ending up in a club nearby to our guest house. The next day Andy and Trisha left and the three of us (with Tessy still) explored the town and surrounding areas by bike which you could hire for a dollar per day. We also browsed some of the clothes making shops and each got some clothes made to measure. The results were excellent and we picked up our purchases the morning before we left for Muine further down the Vietnam coastline.

Buckets of drink - a common alternative to a glass!

Looking like a local!

Market street in Hoi An

Exploring Hoi An by bike

Across the river from Hoi An

Leaving presents from Trisha

A goodbye present from the guys

Cheesy ...but true!

Getting measured up

I wasn't sure her tape measure would be long enough!

Pleased with the results!

Smiles all round!

Business on the beach

Hoi An beach

Best known for its water sport scene, our next destination Muine was a very small coastal town consisting of only one road parallel to its long beach. We tried some surfing here but the waves were too small so we spent more time lying around on our boards waiting for waves and getting too much sun! Caroline spent the next few days peeling her legs after getting a little bit sunburnt!

We took a jeep tour to the nearby sand dunes, ‘fairy stream’ and fishing village. The two sets of sand dunes – the white dunes and red dunes were stunning.

Kite surfing central in Muine

Long sandy beach at Muine

Waffle and ice cream

That surf board makes me look like a borrower!

A long wait for some waves!

After a long afternoon of floating on the flat water!

Fairy stream in Muine

Feeling the warm silky bottom....of the stream on our feet 

A fishing village near Muine

Quad bike on the sand dunes!

And now to take it for a spin!

Wooohooo!

The three of us

Caroline taking the jeep for a .... stationary posey photo!

Got the snap... first time!

Tessy couldn't resist a photo with the coolest restaurant singer of all time!

Sunrise at Muine

Our last stop in Vietnam was the capital, Ho Chi Minh City (formally Saigon). Here we parted company with Tessy when she flew home to the Netherlands and we spent a couple of days visiting some of the touristy sites. The war remnants were of most interest and we visited an old tunnel system located outside HCMC used to hide and defend the Vietnamese politicians and leaders during the Vietnam War and then a war museum in the city. There was also a good night market selling the usual touristy tat!

Squeezing down a hole used by the Vietnamese to hide from US enemies during the Vietnam War

First time for everything - firing an AK47!

Bang bang!

Tunnel network at Cu Chi near Ho Chi Minh City

A building connected by the tunnels

Fruit cocktail.... served in half a pineapple in a street restaurant in Saigon

War Museum

From HCMC we arranged our journey to Phnom Penh on a two-day trip via the Mekong River Delta. We were able to visit some of the local fishing farms and diverse rural villages of southernmost Vietnam before we crossed the border and took a slow (meant to be fast!) boat to Phnom Penh.

Along the Mekong Delta

Mekong Delta fishermen

Trade on the Mekong

One of the many supply boats with Buddha eyes painted on the front running up and down the river

Mekong view

A pile of crocs at a crocodile farm on the way to Cambodia

A typical view along the Mekong

The border crossing point into Cambodia, although you wouldn't have guessed it!

Cambodia

Phnom Penh was quite a small and friendly capital city and the main sites of tourist interest were to do with the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot in the 70s. One of many ‘Killing Fields’ in Cambodia is located near the city where many hundreds of Cambodians were slaughtered during the Khmer Rouge rule. This brought home the reality of the horror the Cambodian people suffered surprisingly recently.

A prison called the Tuol Slenger in the centre of Phnom Penh was a former school where many persecuted Cambodians were imprisoned and tortured during the regime. Most Cambodians hold this period in the living memory and have all been personally affected by the genocide.

A cabinet of skulls on display in a monument to the memory of the many Cambodians who died at the Killing Field

The monument from a distance

Taking the tour of the Killing Fields with an audio guide

With a survivor of the Tuol Slenger Prison in Phnom Penh

Inside the Tuol Slenger

A hot day in the centre of Phnom Penh

After Phnom Penh, we passed through the flat lush green countryside by mini bus on to Siam Reap, a small town near to the temples of Angkor.

On Steve’s birthday we got up to see the Angkor Wat temple as the sun came up and then spent the rest of the morning exploring many of the other ancient Angkor temples in the area including the one where Tomb Raider was filmed! After a mid afternoon nap and some birthday cake that Caroline sneaked out and bought, we hit ‘Pub Street’ and hooked up with a couple of Austrian friends we met a few weeks before back in Hanoi.

On the road again towards Siam Reap

Angkor Wat at sunrise

Inside the Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat from the back

Some monks collected alms in exchange for chanted prayers

Another temple at Angkor

Hiding from the rain in style

Cheesy birthday photo!

Stairway to Heaven?

One of the amazing trees growing around the temples

Another photos of the two of us having a good old time!

The ancient trees were as impressive as the ancient temples!

Tasty birthday cake courtesy of Caroline!

Birthday buckets down Pub Street with some Austrian friends, Phillip and Anita!

Party on down Pub Street!

A downpour in Siam Reap

From Siam Reap we crossed the border back into Thailand during an 8 hour bus journey to Bangkok to plan the next stage of our trip heading south towards Australia.