Lovely Laos...

Answers on a postcard please...

Having spent a month in super easy, developed Thailand we were ready to get back on the road & experience somewhere a little more rustic and 'real'. Laos was the perfect next destination and we immediately fell in love with the country. Some say it's like Thailand 15 years ago, before it was well and truly placed on the tourist trail. Although not completely undiscovered, you can definitely travel through Laos feeling like you're seeing real people living real lives - the pace of life here is most definitely slow, the people friendly and the beer flowing.

The view from Wat Phu

After crossing the border we spent our first couple of nights in Pakse, mostly hunting for an ATM that would let us withdraw cash.  Eventually we found one that worked, and realised we needed to take 2 million kip out of the bank.  Paying for things with 50,000 notes and carrying around such a fat wad, we've never felt so rich.  Long may it last. 

John's new favourite head gear

After Pakse we headed south to the one street town of Champasak to see the 6^th century Wat Phu ruins. I'm somewhat ashamed to say that this was only our 2^nd visit to any kind of temple since we arrived in South East Asia before Christmas, so we made the extra effort to wake up early and headed off by bike at 7am.

Visiting the old ruins

Old Buddha statues

I'd been finding it relatively easy to find vegetarian food, until arriving in Champasak.  The concept of not eating meat seemed a bit more alien and I was struggling to get across to one restaurant owner that I just wanted vegetables with my noodles.  After struggling with my bad Lao and drawing numerous pictures of chickens, pigs & fish, I luckily managed to find another westerner in the restaurant that was fluent in Lao.  He confidently explained to the woman that while John wanted beef with his noodles, I just wanted veg.  It was great, apart from the decorative piece of beef slapped on top.

Our house

Our next destination was the island of Don Det, not far from the Cambodian border on the mighty Mekong River and part of the 4000 Thousand Islands.  Here we found our cheapest digs so far, at £1.70 a night for a wooden bungalow on stilts over the edge of the river.  The island was super laid back and the hammocks on our porch made it difficult to do anything but relax, knit, read and sip cold Beer Lao's.  Our most strenuous activities were strolling a few kilometres around the island and 'tubing' down the Mekong at sunset.  

Tubing down the Mekong

Tubing basically involves being taken up stream a few kilometres by boat & then floating back down at a very slow pace sat in a large rubber ring. Easy! Until you have to try and cross the river to get back to the beach.  Luckily there being 4000 islands meant there were enough clumps of trees in the river for us to hold onto while the boat came back to rescue us.  It's really popular in the North of Laos but is often combined with lots of drunkenness & accidents, so it was nice to have the option of trying it somewhere easier. It was great fun & soooooo relaxing, floating back down the river over the course of a couple of hours and watching the world go by.

The Mekong River

Back in Bangkok, after a few months off, I managed to find myself some knitting needles & yarn, a couple of patterns on the internet and have occupied myself for many an hour since trying to accomplish various new knitting techniques. My new year's resolution was to actually get good at knitting, & since I have so much time on my hands I have no excuse. Saying that, the 30 degree heat isn't the most inspiring for making winter woolies but I'm persevering all the same. My friend Gemma's newborn baby, Thomas, has a jumper on the way as soon as I can find a post office. I also crocheted a dress that was intended for the baby daughter of some good friends of ours, but I figured by the time it arrived home it would be too small (sorry Andy & Leanne, the thought was there!). In the end I gave it to a lovely family running the small restaurant next door. They were made up and I have to say the little girl looked super cute.

Cutey cute cute!!!

I also taught our new friend Flo how to knit, & after just one go he was better than me!  

Flo and his knitted phone case

We've spent the last couple of days at the waterfalls of Tat Lo, swimming in the river and walking through the forest.  A few elephants (that we think had been retired from the logging industry) were living near by & it was amazing to see them being washed in the river & one of John's favourite things of our trip so far.

Elephants having a bath

Over the next couple of weeks we are gradually heading up north, & then back into Thailand to meet our friend Natalie who's coming over to visit us on holiday. Yay!!! I'm so excited, and am currently trying to compile a list of everything I'm missing from home that I can get her to stuff in her suitcase.

A Thai New Year

Happy new year! We hope you had a good one wherever you were :-) Our first post of 2012, we better make it a good one...unfortunately you have to put up with my ramblings again as John's having a small dose of 'writers block'.

Over the past couple of weeks we've gradually headed up the west coast of Thailand, stopping off at various islands and beaches along the way. I'd like to say we've been super busy filling our days with endless action, but no, we've pretty much done nothing the whole time. It's been absolute bliss though, & has felt like a real 'holiday' if you know what I mean.

Christmas day was spent on Koh Lanta, where we tried to make things festive by making a stocking out of an old pair of trousers & swapping a few gifts.  John peaked in the Christmas shopping department by getting me a fake student card complete with photograph from Bangkok, genius!  It didn't quite feel like Christmas what with swimming in the sea & eating mangoes on the beach, but that said we had a great day & spent most of it zipping about the island on 2 wheels.

Our last moment's in Koh Lanta weren't so great though, and as we were waiting for a taxi to the pier, a 4x4 pick-up truck with a bunch of people & their luggage in the back ran over John's rucksack....a loud bang saw the colour run out of John's face as he envisioned his mangled computer underneath. Fortunately it was just his plastic soap box, a tin of sardines (that he still managed to eat) and the contents of his washbag that were sacrificed under the heavy load, thank goodness.

After a few rest days on Koh Lanta, we headed up the coast & treated ourselves to a day's snorkelling in the stunning Similan Islands National Park. I've been snorkelling a few times before but never tried diving, so when the opportunity came up to do a beginners dive without needing the relevant PADI qualification I jumped at the chance. It was great to try but lets just say I didn't exactly take to it like a duck to water.  I spent the afternoon snorkelling instead though which was great fun & the boat we were on was lovely, with an endless supply of food that kept John happy for the day. Unfortunately both of us were temporarily overcome with sea sickness, me on the boat & John as he bobbed along on the waters surface in his mask & fins. Luckily it went unnoticed by the group he was snorkelling with. Apparently snorkelling is much harder for people with facial hair & he had to stop every couple of minutes to empty out the water that his moustache had gradually allowed into his face mask.

Our next stop was the beautiful Koh Phayam, a small island off the west coast of Thailand with just a handful of resorts and restaurants. We've been here ever since & it really feels like the ideal island retreat. Our bamboo bungalow is a stone's throw from the white sandy beach and clear blue sea.

New Years Eve was spent on the beach with fireworks, bonfires and dancing until the early hours. A great way to see in what promises to be a great year.

Next stop Bangkok, where word on the street is that there are a couple of knitting shops and a knitting cafe!  YES!!!x 

Christmas Wishes From Thailand!

Time for the annual email Christmas card, woop!!! I can't believe it's Christmas Eve - I have to keep reminding myself that it's not July and there's been snow on the ground back home. Although, we did spend a few days in the mountains last week in the Tamil Nadu town of Ooty, and we also managed to stay in an old-school Christian hostel that was fully prepared for the big day – baubles and everything.

Going up 2500+ mtrs to Ooty meant a serious drop in temperature that our thin t-shirts and hippy pants just weren't ready for. We needn't have feared though, because Ooty seemingly has an endless supply of truly amazing retro jumpers, all for no more than about 60p. John couldn't resist this super special blue number, and was all too willing to model it for us:

Don't worry – he's posted it home so will be wearing it again on our return.

Now as if an online Christmas card weren't enough, we've also decided to make a short festive film showing bits of our time in India. Too much time on our hands? I think so.

How cute are the little kiddies at the end?!!! So adorable....and they just loved posing for pictures.

The film was great fun to make, & although John's been doing this kind of thing for years its pretty new for me. It's the 2^nd short film we've made in recent months - here's an animation we made for the birthday of John's gorgeous niece, Gwen.   Future employers of John, I take full responsibility for the 'home-made' style :-)

The last couple of weeks in India were great, & probably the most chilled out of our whole time there. After a laaaaaaaazy week by the beach in Varkala, we put our swimming gear to rest and headed north east into the hills of Tamil Nadu. The bus rides there and back were spectacular, taking us through tea plantations, national parks and eucalyptus forests. We even spotted a couple of wild elephants on the way down to Mysore.

Ooty is a bustling hill station with a small pocket of tourists but none of the hassles we've experienced elsewhere. We met some lovely people in the hostel and spent a day trekking through the countryside with a local guide. It was pretty stunning and so nice to finally find true peace and quiet.

We were ready to move on though & head somewhere a little easier, which definitely sums up Thailand! Even the Indian airport proved difficult and we had to pay £100 for a flight out of Thailand that we won't be using, just to assure the check-in staff that we won't overstay our visa. Boo them.

After 5 days in Thailand we're still amazed by how efficient it is – signs and everything! We spent our first fun day in Bangkok with a friend we'd met in India, then took the overnight train southward - a bus & a boat journey later and we ended up in the small resort of Ton Sai. The pace of life is super laid back & the scenery is pretty picturesque, with amazing cliffs and jungle surrounding the small beach and blue water.

Unfortunately having avoided illness for the whole time in India I've somehow managed to get myself a bit sick, so have spent the past few days not eating and hibernating indoors.  We've managed to move to the island of Ko Lanta though, a couple of hours away by boat and have found ourselves a beautiful beach bungalow to spend the next few days. 

I guess that's it for 2011 then!  We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas & happy New Year!!!

Fort Kochin -> Kerala

So since my last cocktail, Ive had some more-  I had one called Black Colin.  I don't think you've ever heard of this one before, and im pretty sure its not travelled very far either. Ask your local weatherspoons. It was quite good though.

Fort cochin was a nice place to stop, we had a great day on bikes (my bike was called Hero, 0.6 tonnes, rod pull front brake, no rear), and Laura's was called Red something (one brake also, one pedal missing). They had working bells though, which in India is more important than having brakes.  That goes the same for cars too.   Still, they were 90p each for the day, which was a lot cheaper than the ones we hired in Valencia back in July.

A row of famous Chinese fishing nets along the estuary, cantilevered with large stone boulders, are swung up and down during the day to catch all sorts of fish.  

So on to Alleppey in Kerala, home to the backwaters and mighty houseboats.  I'd always been looking forward to this, and the waterways really were something to see.  Flexible (and cheap) as ever, we decided to do a canoe trip instead on the first day.  This was our guide. What's not to trust?

He'd obviously been to Blackpool Pier to get that hat.  Anyway, he took us to his humble house, which was just recovering from some flooding.  They were growing mango's, bananas, coconuts and pineapples in their garden.  We were fed some amazing food, served up and cooked in banana leaves by his wife, and then headed out into the canals.  Best just to show some pictures I think.

Now, our boat was rather more modest than the two above here.  A bit more man powered. A bit more, 'sawn off plastic garden chair seats'.  But that's the way we like to do things isn't it.  Actually, having the small canoe let us go into much much smaller canals, and see the sights above, whereas the large houseboats stick to the open waters.  And our little boat stopped at the Toddy Shop, a canal side 'bar' selling homemade coconut beer (slightly fermented, lightly fizzy mix of coco milk and ethanol in glass bottles).  We were told later that night to avoid it where possible, you can go blind.  Meh!

We were a bit torn about whether to go for the large boats as well, for the following day/night.  They did look really good, and would have been a rare slice of luxury for us.  Though for 22 hours on one of the boats above, moored up for the night and touring in the daytime, it was the same cost as 20 nights in a hotel for the two of us.  

We'd been asked by our canoe guide if we could help with getting an English visa for his daughter (and I don't think he meant with the paperwork), after mentioning earlier that we could tip him extra if we liked the trip.  There's really no escape, even out in the country, and it created a slightly uncomfortable atmosphere.  Anyway, after our long day paddling around with Blackpool Pier, we'd seen everything there was to see there, had a wonderful time, and had found a comfy, social and genuinely kind hotel with staff who really cared.

Plus, around the corner from the hotel, was a small car garage, where i bought a new horn controller for Roo (our van back home).  So we'll have 3 horns, playing 3 different songs/noises.  I know, it'll  be amazing.  A project for me and Dad when we get back home- what do you say??

We are presently in Varkala, a beach resort in southern Kerala.  We've actually been here over a week, since we're counting down days to Thailand, and just want an easy time of it now.  Its a cliff top path of bars, shops and restaurants, above a great beach with nice waves and a lot of palm trees spotted around.  Just the job! Its a bit touristy, but what the hey, its what we are after all :)

john

Ricksha! Ricksha!