Doing the tourist thing...
2 de abril de 2018, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Today, my expectations are super low. A thing to do in Mũi Ne are the white and red sand dunes, but as they are quite far out and the police are quite strict in the town when it comes to bike hire the only real way of doing it is with a tour. So we bit the bullet and booked it. So we started at 4:30am to watch sunrise at the white sand dunes. We got there a bit too late but the site was OK and obviously quite hard to walk on! We then went to the red sand dunes, which I was pleasantly surprised with. In all the reviews it said it had just become a dumping yard for litter and yes there was some but I think the reviews must have been quite old as it wasn't half as bad as what we have seen in some places! We then headed to a local fishing market and then finally to Fairy stream. Fairy stream was a pleasant walk down the center of a stream with canyons towering on both sides. Maybe I set my expectations so low that I was actually pleasantly surprised that the whole tour was actually OK! The best thing was that we got back at 8:30am, booked our bus for 11am to Ho Chi Minh City and was able to spend an hour or so fresh in up and eating our yummy fruit.
We are now on a sleeper bus to Ho Chi Minh and as its during the day it's a bit odd to be lying down the whole way... Ah well back to our Vietnam mum get some yummy dinner!!Leer más
Mũi Nè
1 de abril de 2018, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
So as we splashed out a bit on a hotel in In Vung Tau we spent half the price for our place in Mũi Ne and wow, it was really good!! We basically had a studio apartment to ourselves with a cooker and fridge. Unfortunately Mũi Ne is the Blackpool of Vietnam and as we arrived quite late it was near impossible to buy fresh fish and veg without it being completely overpriced. When we arrived we looked up what to do... Here was the first line of a blog "There's not a huge amount of tourism worthy things happening in this area if you aren't a committed Russian sun bather, or pot smoking kite surfer, and there aren't many places not littered with trash unfortunately, as you will have observed if you've made it this far in Vietnam." A tad bit annoyed that we didn't do a bit more research beforehand we decided to venture out and find some dinner. The whole town is an absolute rip off for really low quality food. After eating such yummy food so far we were super disappointed but we ate for eating sake and then tried to find some fruit for breakfast. There were a couple of fruit stalls and each one of them had a huge markup on the price. So we just went back to the flat quite disappointed to practise our Vietnamese and plan for our next 2 days in Mũi Ne. Everything we read had quite bad reviews and complained about tourism ruining the beautiful sites and litter being everywhere. We decided to just get on with it and do the site seeing anyway.
In the morning we got up at 5am to begin a mini adventure using local buses to Tacu Mountain. The town of Tacu was about 1.5 hours away, but there was no single bus that goes there so we used our broken Vietnamese and made it all the way there. Actually, I say broken Vietnamese but actually between the two of us we are actually getting quite good with our phrase structure and pronunciation! When we arrived we were starving so went to the nearest cafe and tried Bánh Mi op là, bread and eggs. We'll ya can't really go wrong and it was pretty cheap so all was good. It was about 9:15am and we began the hike up. It was already very warm so we were absolutely soaked in sweat in about 2 seconds. Honestly it's just vile how much one person can sweat here haha On the way up we saw a monkey, lots of butterflies and some interesting birds (not quite sure what they were) and unfortunately heaps of litter in parts. Fortunately it didn't ruin our trip! At the top was the largest reclining Buddha in South East Asia.
The way down was super hot and felt like it went on forever, but we eventually got down and bought a well deserved ice-cream whole waiting for our bus back. And what fun we had... One bus went straight past us and didn't stop, the next bus stopped but said he's not picking up passengers, finally after over an hour a 3rd bus came and we were on our way to Phẩm Theit which was the main town where all the locals lived near Mũi Ne, famous for being a seafood town.
We arrived in Phần Thiet just after 3pm and could have died of hunger so we headed straight for the sea food restaurants and the place was absolutely barron! Nothing looked open and barely any people were around. We've realised that in most of these smaller towns everything shuts between 2-4:30ish to get ready for the evening. So we wandered around the streets and headed to Coop Mart in hope we could get something from the supermarket. We aimlessly walked around and came away with nothing. Things were getting desperate... Luckily we had walked around for so long that places were now starting to open and we went to a small street selling lots of goodies! First we went for Bánh cảnh cảnh chả cá and it was the busiest tiny place on the street. So we happily sat and ate our fish soup. We then headed next door for a cà phê and wandered further down the street where we found a husband and wife making bánh tráng. Well we decided we didn't want the horrid food we had last night so might as well eat more! So we tried these too. That wasn't the end of it! We carried on and found a lady cooking Bánh xèo so we shared a plate of that too! We were so so full!! But it was our linner, so we didn't feel too bad hehe We then ventured back to Mũi Ne, bought some rip off fruit from the fruit stall and watched friends before having an early night.Leer más
Vung Tau
29 de marzo de 2018, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
Today we decided to go to the Southport of Vietnam, Vũng Tàu. Tri was so lovely and took us all the way to the bus station again so that we didn't have to wait to hail a bus on the main road. We jumped on the next bus and to be honest we just did our Vietnamese the whole way so it was a pretty nondescript journey. I feel like I need to apologise to my readers as I don't think our journeys are half as crazy as Laos!! I must say it is nice to just relax on a bus instead of fearing for my life 😂
We booked a luxury room for vùng tàu as it was pretty cheap, so thought why not! The room had 2 double beds, a mini bar (of course we didn't take anything from it), a separate shower and toilet cubicle (honestly you have no idea how luxurious that is, being able to go to to the toilet without it being soaked is an amazing feeling!), AC and a balcony!! Ah living the dream! That evening we just wandered down towards the beach, ate crab noodle soup and headed back to practise more Vietnamese and watch Friends 😊 (Will has never seen it so when he was ill at the beginning of our travels he started watching it).
The next day we hired a scooter to sight see everything in in vung tau and I mean everything. First stop was to get some Banh Khot. You get a plate of crispy egg pancake filled with prawns, a huge plate of salad leaves, herbs, veg and a sweet fish sauce dip. You then roll the ingredients into the lettuce leaves and dunk it in the sauce. Its delicious!! It was a very very filling breakfast but amazing! We then headed to the lighthouse on top of "small mountain". It was a fun drive up the winding mountain and although it was a bit cloudy it had a nice view.
We then headed to "big mountain" where we were hoping 6o get a much nicer view of the island. We drove all the way to to the top, it was pretty rough terrain, to find a huge gate for the theme park. Bit annoying... but spirits still high we decided to try the other side of the mountain. We were able to see a couple of viewpoints along the way but had the same problem at the very top. It seems the entire top of the mountain is dedicated purely for a theme park and a super expensive one to get in too.
On our way down we grabbed a Bánh mì for lunch and headed down the tiniest little alley to the shoreline to watch the fishing boats. The alley was full of locals eating their lunch or sitting outside socialising. All the kids came up to us and watched to say hello and say the few words they could. On our way back to the bike I saw Bánh xèo! I've been looking for this everywhere so we had a second lunch 😂 We practised our Vietnamese by ordering the Bánh xèo, asking how much it was, asking where can I get coffee, I even understood their replies! We were very excited and they were very impressed 😊 Banh xéo is a big coconut pancake filled with prawns and bean sprouts. You then wrap small bits of this with salad in rice paper a bit like a summer roll and dip into a chilli pickle. We were so so full but sooo happy.
We then carried on seeing the sights including climbing up 700 steps to the top of a hill to see a cross and nearly dying. The one must see in In Vung Tau is the Jesus at the top of 837 steps. When dying on our way to to the top of the Cross we realised we were running out of time before Jesus closed so we sprinted down and rode back to small mountain to see the huge statue of Jesus. Just our luck... It was closed for Good Friday! To be honest I don't think I would have made it up another 800 steps... We finished the day going to a recommended ice cream place (it was absolutely terrible and grainy and unbelievably overpriced) and finished the evening with Tốt Lon, noodle soup and planning our next destination Mũi Ne.
In the morning we went for breakfast at the same Banh Khot restaurant and then jumped on the bus to Mui Ne.Leer más
Ben Tre
25 de marzo de 2018, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 2 °C
When we woke up we did not have a clue where our next destination was going to to be but didn't think it was time to go back up northwards to HCMC so we asked our hotel owner and he suggested Ben Tre, which is where we had also read about. So we went to the bus station and bought a ticket. We thought it was quite expensive at the time of buying but the lady insisted on its price so we paid and then waited for the bus. After getting on the bus and speaking to a local Vietnamese we found out that we had been scammed. She tried arguing with the bus driver for us but we were told we would have to go back to the lady who sold us the ticket, but that the had to leave now so couldn't let us off. We were pretty annoyed as if you can't even trust the actual bus station for selling you the correct ticket then who can you trust! Ah well its all part of the adventure I suppose! And that wasn't the end of our adventures! Once we got to the bus station in Ben Tre we realised the hotel we booked was miles out of town... next mini adventure - how the bloody hell do we get there. We looked for a taxi and it was pretty expensive, luckily the Vietnamese lady we befriended came to our rescue again. She happened to live in the direction of our hotel and said we could catch the same bus. She checked with the bus man and everything was good... Phew! What we thought was going to be a simple 2 hour bus from Can Tho to Ben Tre turned out to be a 5 hour ride on 2 buses! I suppose it could have been worse but we were starving when we arrived at the hotel! The one time I really wish we were back at the homestay in Họ Chi Minh City and the lovely mum would take pity and cook us a big dinner! By the time we went out for dinner it was dark and this little village had barely anything open, so we just went to a tiny little stall and the noodle soup was soo tasty and unlike the others we've had. This one had quite a thick meaty gravy with Pork and other questionable meats. Most of the time the meat you are eating is unknown... On our way back to the hotel a lot of the locals invited us to drink with them at first we said no but then some mechanics convinced us to join. It was great fun, it's amazing how much you can discuss with broken Vietnamese, broken English and gesturing! We told them about our travels so far and where we are thinking of heading next. They even offered to rent their personal scooters to us for half price of our hotel but they didn't have automatic ones so we kindly declined. They were so lovely.
The next day we hired a scooter and went to Phung Island aka Phoenix Island well known for their Coconut Candy Factory. To get to the island we had to hire a boat. And here the adventures begin for the day... So we got to the pier and we were told it would cost 50,000 Đồng each. We knew this was a scam but we said we would pay half now and then we could see how much others paid after. So we got to the island which was nice and we wandered around, tried some coconut candy which actually tasted like peanuts, we cycled around the edge of the island and then got back on our boat to return. A few locals also got on with us and we asked them how much they paid and they confirmed it should only be 20,000 đồng each. Our pilot was yelling at the locals as she realised we knew she had scammed us. When we got off the boat she went ballistic. A Vietnamese girl was trying to help but gave up after a while so we just walked to our scooter to get out of the situation. To be honest we knew we were right as even the security guards didn't get involved. She followed us and stood next to the scooter to stop us going. To be honest in most situations we would just pay to get out of it but after being scammed yesterday as well we were getting a bit tired of it so we put the key in the bike and began turning it to move it out the way. She then sat on it and took our key. We shouted robber at her and to be honest the next bit was a bit of a blur but Will tried grabbing the key back and the lady tried pushing him off. (This lady was tiny so she knew she could never win this situation). She threw the key into a tiny cafe, Will leapt for his life onto a tiny chair, slipped and ended up toppling over another scooter. The lady ran off as she thought she'd hurt him and the cafe lady couldn't stop laughing at the whole situation. Honestly I wish I had filmed it! Luckily no one was hurt so in the end we could all just laugh about it. We quickly jumped on our scooter and cycled off!! We went to see another coconut factory on the mainland and also sat there for a while to calm down!! In the afternoon we just rode around the mainland and headed to the main town late afternoon where we heard they have a good night market. When we parked up we checked our lights and annoyingly they were barely working and cut out the bike so we had a coffee, did some Vietnamese and headed back to our village before dark. For dinner we tried Bún riêu and summer rolls and it was yummy! Then we headed to the mechanics shop again for our agreed beer session. Yesterday they wouldn't let us buy a single beer so this time we came with our personalised Heineken bottles as gifts. They loved them! We told them all about the fiasco from earlier and they were so nice and told us a lot of Vietnamese assume that all Westerners are rich and so scam them out of a lot of money. They told us to always threaten to get the police and they will generally go away. Anyway we were able to have a good laugh and it was a nice end to our stay in Ben Tre.
The next morning we decided to book a homestay about an hour away as we heard the owner was lovely and spoke English, so we wanted to use the time to get some advice on things to do in the area and also practise our Vietnamese. We stayed there two nights and finally got to go shopping at the local market and cook our own fresh food. We even cooked for Tri on the second night. Tri was so lovely he was always checking to see if he could help, in the evening he taught us some Vietnamese and told us all about his life and how he remembers the war etc
Today is Thursday 29th March and we decided to move on to Vung Tau which is a small beach town with a couple of hills at the south of Vietnam. Tri took us all the way to the Bus station (about 30 min ride by scooter) so he could make sure we get the right bus and aren't scammed! So off to Vung Tau we go!Leer más
Viajero
Haha probably a darned mosquito! It's so nice to hear from you. How is it back home? Has spring begun yet? You guys are absolute life savers giving us your deet as we haven't found anything up to scratch since. Today we are in Ho Chi Minh City specifically to source out large bottles of deet and suncream. Everywhere just has the tiniest of bottles.
ViajeroWeather pretty rubbish so no excuse not to redecorate our bathroom...boring . We spent a couple of days in Can Tho and Ben Tre on our way back from Phu Quoc island so did the floating market and a great cycle around the back lanes.Usual Brexshit stuff going on , more deaths in London...now more than New York over the same period! Nerve agents being used, Labour Party in another melt down, so normal UK snafu .Have fun , stay safe, avoid dark alleyways and Heineken !!!!!! Good god Heineken. Had a nice pint of Timmy Taylor's Landlord on Monday night.
Can Tho
24 de marzo de 2018, Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
Well we couldn't come to Vietnam and not do the famous Mekong Delta. So in the morning we headed to Can Tho which is the larger city in the area but has access to the more quiet floating markets. I was actually surprised with how busy and city like this place was. We checked straight into the hotel and then went to find a good deal for our Mekong Delta tour. As time has taught us the best way is to always go directly to the source of the sale and miss out all middlemen. Our hotel was trying to charge 550,000 Đồng for each person, but when we went to the pier we found a guy that only charged 600 Đồng total for a private boat and the same 7 hour tour. He wrote us a ticket on the back of a blank piece of card and said 2 motorbikes will pick us up in the morning and his son will be our guide. The tickets didn't look very legit so we decided to only pay him 100 Đồng now and the rest the next day... just in case... We then wandered round for the evening and went for duck hot pot dinner on Hot Pot Alley. I think we accidentally ordered a family sized hot pot as there was soooooo much food! It came with 3 different types of noodles each with a serving for 3 or 4 people... Wups 😂 It was yummy though!
The next day we got up at 4:30am ready for our 5am pick-up for our Sampan. I'm now absolutely full of a cold so let's just say I was very quiet... Although slightly worried it wouldn't pay off it was actually a fantastic day. We started the trip before sun rise and watched the sun rise over the Mekong. Our Sampan pilot was a lovely lady who did not speak English and our tour guide for the day was a 10 year old boy 😁 We saw two floating markets Cai Rang and Phong Dien. Cái Rang was the larger out of the two and seemed to sell wholesale bags of fruit and veg. Phong Dien had much smaller boats which I much preferred as we could sit among the smaller boats and see the local people trading around us and we even saw a black Smith on one of the boats making knives! For breakfast we went to see a noodle workshop and ate freshly made noodle soup with our cà phê sửa ( coffee with milk, literally can't get enough of the stuff ha). When back on the boat she also gave us a whole pineapple that she had been cutting up while piloting the boat! We then visited a local village and wandered around with Han Junior who showed us various plants and fruit trees and then we floated down smaller canals with not anoyher boat in site. It was so peaceful and with the hum of the boat so relaxing that we kept nodding off! Finally we stopped at Mr Han's homestay where we were shown their fruit garden and even got to Kayak around their narrow canal. Han Junior laughed at us lots, firstly Will nearly toppled the tiny boat when getting in and we were pretty terrible at steering our way round the canal. But it was fun! We then just journeyed back down the Mekong for about an hour back to the pier. We got back around 12pm and it felt like 12am so we wandered back, over an hour, to the hotel for a well deserved nap and rest! I was feeling quite ill again so we rested for much longer than expected.
Later in the afternoon we wandered to the lake in the middle of Can Tho to practice our Vietnamese and watch sunset. As per usual outcame all the Vietnamese of all ages to do their evening exercise wanders. It's actually really great to see. People from the age of 20-90 always come out just before sunset to socialise and exercise in little groups. While practising our Vietnamese 2 ladies came up to us and complimented us on our pronunciation and gave us a few tips on places to see and eat while in Can Tho. And I'm so glad they did as our dinner was scummy!! We had Nem Nướng, which is a plate of meat, rice noodles, salad leaves and herbs, pickles, chilli and rice paper. You take a bit of everything, wrap it in rice paper and dip it in a scummy sweet and sour peanut dip. Yum! After dinner we decided to get a grab taxi home, a bit like uber, to save me walking another hour back... we should have just walked... I'm not sure if it was because of the location or what but 4 grabs cancelled the pick-up, and before ordering the taxi we bought a 6 litre bottle of water (we just use it to top us our smaller bottles which is much cheaper and more importantly we waste a lot less plastic), which meant walking home truly would have been difficult! 20 mins later one came to pick us up... I went straight into bed!Leer más
Ill and rest days
22 de marzo de 2018, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
We slept in a bit longer than normal as I was feeling very ill. I was beginning to get the flu, my body agonised when I moved it and my throat was completely swollen so we had a very slow morning and went for brunch to the small stall downstairs. The food was so yummy but unfortunately I wasn't able to enjoy it so much and had to head back to bed. To be honest I just led in bed all day as I just couldn't move. It was a shame but hey these things happen! While I was resting Will went out for a wander and read his book.
I was soo glad to be in a homestay as when we went down for dinner my homestay mum truly looked after me giving me lots of yummy dinner and home remedies and teas.
The next day I was feeling a bit better so after breakfast we wandered to the river and walked along until we got to the botanical garden and zoo. It was very very cheap to get in and part of me wished they had charged more. I suppose it would be OK if you had little kids... and in need of something to do in a city but honestly the zoo was quite sad. The animals had little to no room to roam around. The birds had more room than than the tigers! The botanical garden was a very very tiny part of the site, but ah well it was something to do in our last day IN HCMC. We then headed to the famous chocolatier, Marou, that supposedly do an incredible hot chocolate. Having tested I'd say the chocolate is very good, but the hot chocolate was neither hot nor thick enough for my liking. We ended the day with our usual yummy dinner with the family.Leer más
Cu Chi Tunnels and Splashing Out
21 de marzo de 2018, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Apologies for the delay in the last couple of posts I've been getting quite ill, but here you go!
I think I'm beginning to get ill again. My throat is completely swollen... Ah well can't let it stop our very busy day ahead! Today we visited the famous Cu Chi Tunnels,which was an underground tunnel system that the Vet Cong dug during the war to hide from the Americans. Although its a must see sight, we were a bit sceptical as we had heard various reviews of how touristy and inappropriate the tour guides and tourists are. But we did a bit of research and Dhu recommended a Agency so we went ahead. Actually we were pleasantly surprised, yes there were a lot of tourists, yes sometimes you might have to wait for another group to finish explaining before your group and yes the allowance of shooting guns is somewhat inappropriate, but our tour guide was very informative and effective in showing us everything without it feeling to rushed or busy. It was amazing how small these tunnels really were. As they were made for the Viet Cong they were very narrow burrows, impossible for large American men men to get through. Will tried one of the original holes and could barely fit! We then went to a tunnel that had been "made bigger for tourists" and crawled for about 20 metres with ups and downs but it felt much much longer. Wow if these had been extended I don't want to know how it must have felt before!
After the Củ Chi Tunnels we went for lunch at a the Secret Garden restaurant, another hidden gem we read about in the hip part of town. The food was nice, but jeeze it was expensive and after having some really yummy street food for half the price I think I'd carry on with the street food!
Having had quite an early and full on day so far we went back to the flat for a quick nap and freshen up before heading out for our posh night out to the Bitexo Tower.
It was actually pretty cool up there. As we'd seen quite a few different parts of Ho Chi Minh it was nice to see them from so high up. We watched sunset from the top and then carried on up to begin the "Heineken Experience". It was actually a lot of fun! For only 50,000 Đồng, £1.75, on top of the entrance to the sky deck we got a tour around the Heineken museum, we got to pour and drink our own Heineken, 2 more free ones, a couple of activities including a dj set and another free bottle of Heineken with your name on it! Bargain! Oh and the highlight cheese and onion crisps (we were starving!!!). After our free drinks we headed for some cheap and cheerful Bánh mì. Yum!! We met two Australians while having our dinner and gave them a couple of tips of where we had been.
Our final stop for the evening was Snuffbox and the Australian guys came with us. Snuffbox is a snazzy cocktail bar and it just happened to be ladies night. I got free cocktails till 10pm! Woohoo! What we thought was going to be a very expensive day turned out to actually be a lot cheaper which was great! I think the best looking cocktail was by far Will's Pirate cocktail which came in a treasure chest and when opened out came lavender scented vapour.
Finally it was home time 😊 What a great day! Culture and cocktails, now that's the way to travel!Leer más
Eating Great Food and Exploring District
19 de marzo de 2018, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Yesterday evening we went to the craziness of Walking Street which is basically full of tourists, bars and loud music, but we were recommended a restaurant so we decided to head over for brunch. We headed down the tiny streets off the main walking street and found a really cute coffee shop and a family run Pho stall. We are determined to get more confident in Vietnamese so we ordered our coffee and Pho in Vietnamese and sat practising. The owner said our pronunciation was spot on! Such a compliment!
After lunch we took the local bus to explore Ben Xe Cho Lon aka Chinatown. Now this is what I wanted from a market! Fresh fruit everywhere and for super cheap!! We may have overbought but we got a pineapple, oranges, dragonfruit and rambutan. Rambutan are sooo yummy!! I'm really going to miss the fruit here, 100% better than in the UK. We wandered round the markets, saw some really lovely Chinese temples and headed back in a bit of a rush. Our plan for the evening was to go back to the house, shower, dress up, go up the Bitexo Tower, watch sunset and do the Heineken experience. But we were running very late... When we finally got there they told us they had an event happening so we couldn't go! Disaster! Ah well, as we were in the area we heard there were boutique shops and coffee shops in Old run down flats, so we went and it was like stepping into Shoreditch. You go up very dodgy run down staircases and each flat has its own hip coffee shop or boutique shop. I'm really loving Ho Chi Minh, it really is like London for its food, hidden gems, vast amounts of history and just such a cool place to live! After coffee, which I am loving here by the way, we went back home for another outstandingly yummy dinner. Met some new people in the homestay and then went for an early night before our busy day tomorrow.Leer más
Such a great start to the day!
18 de marzo de 2018, Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C
Having had only 4 hours sleep I dragged Will out of bed to watch the performance. We were the only tourists there and it was a really lovely start to the day. They played a mix of classical, Disney and even New a York New York 😊 I think it was a bit too early for Will though... We are now unbelievably shattered so nap time for us!
In the afternoon we went to get the famous Banh Mi which is a Vietnamese sandwich. We ordered 2 and they were huge!! Nowadays we just can't eat big portions mainly due to the heat but also because in restaurants they don't generally overfeed you. The sandwich got us in a bit of a food coma, but as it was 2:30pm and dinner was at 7pm we realised it might have been a mistake! Ah well it was very yummy all the same 😊 Then we walked around the city to a see the French colonial architecture of the post office, city Hall, Notre Dame Cathedral and then walked along the river to find a secret bar selling craft beer I had read about. When there we read more about the area and its actually where all the hip jazz bars and coffee shops are so I think we will be back! We tried the Cashew Cream Ale which was pretty nice and practised some more Vietnamese before walking back for dinner.
As it was Sunday Yu, our host, cooked up a feast!! (We really shouldn't have had dinner!) we had spring rolls wrapped in rice paper and we all genuinely thought that was the main dinner... Nope that was just the starter and we were already super full! Then out came huge bowls of chicken noodle soup. When we were half way and truly struggling to eat she asked if we wanted more, everyone said no thank you and she came round to each of us with more food! It's really lovely but myself and Will were on the floor! For dessert she served green lentils with water chestnut. It was a bit odd, but honestly we just couldn't eat anymore! So had to waste it 😔 Over dinner we sat and chatted to Pao who we met the night before also staying in the homestay. He's from the Philippines and his English is truly excellent! I wish we were better at languages. He was so lovely and really reminds me why we love travelling so much. We don't meet new people everyday but when we do they are so incredible and you create a very close bond very quickly almost like being in a family. Unfortunately he's off back to the Philippines tomorrow but I'm sure we will meet again!
After dinner we went to Beu Vien to meet the Chiang Mai family before they all move on. Having had a crazy long day already we were pretty shattered so decided to get an uber home. When we arrived home we realised we hadn't paid so had to trek all the way back to the pub. Bit of a nightmare, especially as the total cost of the uber was the same as the drinks but hey these things happen! I think we might take it easy tomorrow 😊 Although we probably won't!Leer más
Good Morning Vietnam!
16 de marzo de 2018, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
(I couldn't resist!)
We have now arrived in the long awaited Vietnam, first stop Ho Chi Minh City!! I have been so so excited!! We have decided to immerse ourselves into the Vietnamese culture a bit more and are trying to learn Vietnamese (so far we know our numbers and a few basic greetings), so we tried saying a couple of things when out and about and jeeze it's difficult. However, day 1 and we said our numbers correctly when paying for our sim card 😂
We are also staying in a homestay which is so great!
The mother insists on cooking for us and wants us to join her family every evening! We had a couple of hours to kill before dinner so we ventured out to get a sim card and cash. Wow... the traffic... It's absolutely crazy but with an odd sense of order. For pedestrians if there's no traffic light you just go for it and it's like the parting of the red sea. You'll have bikes just weave in and out of your path, but don't stop or you might get a bike up your ass! We wondered round the streets and found dance, outside gym, aerobics and even ballroom dancing classes in the main park. Definitely going to have to try it out.
For dinner we headed back to the Home. She is just like an Indian mum and if your plate is slightly empty she fills it up, or if you take a minute to breathe instead of eating she thinks something is wrong. We are currently only booked for 3 nights here but think we will stay till Wed, although I might gain a couple of pounds if she carrys on feeding us like this haha If you are reading this and have friends in Vietnam please hook us up as we really want to meet locals.
Today is St Patrick's Day and the Chiang Mai family are together once again! During the day we walked around the central area near the park, around Independence Palace, went for a coffee and then went to the War Remnants Museum. The museum was so sad. It told the story of the US and Vietnam War Times with stories from the US veterans, showed news articles from the time and incredibly detailed and graphic pictures and videos of the events that occurred.
In particular the stories and images from the after affect of Agent Orange was shocking. Agent Orange was a powerful herbicide used by U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest cover and crops so they could see the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops,who were hiding in the forests. In addition to its damaging environmental effects, the chemical has caused major health problems for many individuals who were exposed. Up to four million people in Vietnam were exposed to the chemical. The government of Vietnam says as many as 3 million people have suffered illnesses because of Agent Orange. They showed pictures of veterans, their children, their wives and 4th generation offspring that are still exposed to the chemical which damages genes resulting in deformities among the offspring. It was just inhumane to see.
After such a heavy afternoon we walked back through the park and went home to freshen up before dinner and Paddy's Night! Dinner was once again fantastic and I was soooo full!! Yu just keeps putting more food in my plate hehe
After dinner we went to join the family and brought Pow, staying in the homestay too, who had never experience British drinking culture. Being Irish the others were already quite a few drinks in when we joined and the Irish Pub was heaving! It was soooooooooo hot and sweaty inside with every singing and dancing! So much fun and so nice to see everyone again 😊 It was a very late night though and when I got back home I read, every Sunday morning at the Opera House they have live music, so obviously I had to go!Leer más
Final stop - Phnom Penh
13 de marzo de 2018, Camboya ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
As always we decide to book the earliest bus there is and have the most terrible night sleep the night before and therefore wish we could have a lie in.
Cambodian drivers are just mental and I soon realised this was because most of them are either drunk or drugged up... Anyway, the journey wasn't too bad, for once the bus wasn't heaving and, although there were a couple of close shots, we didn't die so I feel I need to be thankful. 😁 We went straight to our hostel and chilled out for a while before heading out. After grabbing some lunch we headed to CINA Travel Agency to sort out our visa. As we've heard so many incredible things about Vietnam we've decided to apply for the 3 month visa just in case we decide to stay more than a month. And wow, I recommend this company to anyone, super efficient, super polite and cheaper than going to the embassy, oh and they gave us sweets! Although they said it would take two days to process the visa it was done by 5:30pm the next day! Fantastic! We then went for a wander round Wat Phnom, along the Riverside, to the old and night market, bought my 4th pair of cheap crappy sunglasses (fingers crossed they will last this time!) and then wandered down the river in search of dinner. We decided to go to a noodle place that made the noodles fresh in front of you. The experience was pretty cool but the sauce on the noodles was non descript. So a bit of a disappointing end to the day but a lovely day anyway ☺️
Last night we both had a terrible night sleep so had a bit of lie in. Then we hired a tuk tuk and went to S21 and the Killing Fields. I'm not going to write much here but please take some time to research them and the history of Cambodia. I just can't believe the history of this country and how it all only happened in 1974 and even then countries like the UK still supported the Khmer Rouge in spite of the mass genocide of men, women and children, who they were and the lack of care for the Cambodian people. All they cared about was money and all the western countries cared about was money. Truly embarrassing.
When we got back we picked up our Vietnam visas and passport, visited the central market, bought some scummy longan berries for snacks and had the scrummiest dinner in a while. Grilled mackerel, fried garlic prawns and stir fried rice ☺️ God I've missed mackerel!!!!!
We had another awful night sleep so let's just say our tempers were a little short until after breakfast/ brunch. We decided to head to the Grand Palace, but found it shut for lunch which also didn't help matters. It was hot, we were bothered and I sat down unknowingly next to some bird poop and dipped my hand in it. We had to sit in shade to calm down for a while... Hehe the rest of the day was great though!! We wandered down the river Tonle Sao to where it meets the Mekong, saw a couple of monuments, splashed out on a make your own salad bowl (super yummy), got a free coffee from the cafe, went to Le Moon Rooftop bar drinking expensive cocktails while learning Vietnamese, picked up our free Angkor beers that we won and then ate roasted duck on the street. Overall a very expensive but good day. Tomorrow, Vietnam!!Leer más
Part 2: Kep
12 de marzo de 2018, Camboya ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
When we got to Kep we went straight to the Butterfly Farm which was so amazing and only $1! We saw so many lovely butterflies including the male striped blue crow which was particularly lovely. We then went walking around the national park, rode along the coast to our final stop for the day, the famous crab market. Apologies in advance to my vegan/ vegetarian readers! I think we got there just in time before the market closed. It was so much fun! We chose crabs that had just been freshly caught and took them to the chef who cooked them for us. Literally the freshest crab I've ever had, so yummy and with the beautiful sunset while having dinner.
What a fantastic day!! Tomorrow we will journey to our final stop in Cambodia, the capital, Phnom Penh.Leer más
Part 1: Kampot Pepper Plantation
12 de marzo de 2018, Camboya ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
So today we are off to the famous pepper plantation farm and Kep. I've split this day into 2 footprints as I have too many pictures to choose from!
We hired the scooter for an extra day and took an extra change of clothes in case we decide to stay the night in Kep. The road to the Plantation was pretty rough but Will did an incredible job of steering us round pot holes! We stopped at a "Secret Lake" and then to the Plantation. It was really fantastic, with lots and lot of pepper tasters. I was truly peppered out by the end! For those that haven't tried Kampot Pepper it's really fruity and only gives a light pepper kick at the very end and you eat it non dried. The plantation also grew many fruit trees including mango, banana, papaya, pineapple, passion fruit and pomegranate. We then had peanut butter and jam sandwiches before heading back on the nightmare road and then to Kep.Leer más
Why do we do this to ourselves?!
10 de marzo de 2018, Camboya ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
So as per planned we got up at the crack of dawn to pack, grab breakfast and get our bus to Kampot. What we didn't plan was to get in gone midnight, to be packing at 1am, to only have 4 hours sleep and for the mini van to Kampot to be an hour late and be absolutely ram packed! But all of the above did happen.. Luckily the journey was only 2 hours so we went straight to our hotel checked in and had a rest.
For the rest of the day we wandered round the town seeing the various monuments and sites and booked a sunset and firefly boat trip for the evening. Wow just wow. The evening was spectacular. The sunset was really beautiful with the mountains silhouetting below and the fireflies were just unbelievable. There were hundreds just glowing in the trees. So peaceful and tranquil!
The next day we hired a scooter and ventured into the Bokor National Park. We had a fantastic day and for the first time in a long time we actually felt a bit chilly with the wind of the bike, but it was a refreshing welcome. We drove around the mountains and saw the old church and casino. For lunch we sat at a viewpoint and this was the highlight of the day. We saw a pair of Wreathed Hornbills!!! What a delight! Well we aren't 100% sure but we are 95% sure they were, so we just sat for an hour watching them glide around in the distance. After lunch I decided to have a go with the scooter and woohoo I mastered it. It was lots of fun but I definitely need some more practise before doing anything big. It was such a lovely day ☺️
It's Monday 12th and we are going to the Kampot Pepper plantation and then driving to Kep which is a small village with a butterfly garden. Can't wait!Leer más
Otres Beach
8 de marzo de 2018, Camboya ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C
We all went for breakfast for 9am and although Will and I were going to stay one day longer we decided to get to Otres Beach with the others as the only reason we were going to stay another night was so we could take a boat trip to see the plankton but we did that. So we packed up and caught a boat to the pier to get another boat the mainland. When we got to the pier Will realised he left his famous and much talked about pants to dry outside his dorm. By gosh I've never seen him so upset, he was determined to run back along the beach (about 30 min run in the peak heat of the day) and retrieve his favourite pants. Although we all told him not to and its just a pair of pants and he might miss the ferry, he obviously did it anyway. We all made bets on how long it would take him and we watched as a tiny red dot ran along the beach. He did it and got back just in the nick of time for the boat. I wish I meant as much to him as his pants do haha
We jumped on the boat and the sea was quite rough so everyone went in the boat to avoid getting wet. Will and I soldiered on at the back getting soaked but it was so fun. We then took a tuk tuk to the resort where the others planned to stay and it was lovely so me and Will decided to treat ourselves and book a double room with a private room.
Oh my god it's heaven. I'm currently lying on the outside double bed overlooking the river and watching the birds whilst editing this blog. Again we hadn't eaten since breakfast so we ordered a pizza to share and it was so yummy!! We were so so shattered from not sleeping the night before that we literally didn't move a muscle and ended up sharing another pizza for dinner as well. Wups!!
The next day was a chores and planning our next steps day. We kicked off the morning by doing our washing and then planning our next move to Kampot and Kep. In the afternoon we went to the beach to read our books, watched sunset. It was our last night with the Chiang Mai family so we went for a family dinner. I had a really yummy seafood and red snapper BBQ before heading for drinks. For the past 2 months, apart from Beer Lao Dark I've been drinking awful lager type beer. I've started to get used to it but it just doesn't hit the spot. We went to a bar on the beach and oh my gosh they sold Angkor Extra Stout and it really was like heaven. So creamy, smooth and chocolatey with a hint of coffee. Just what I needed. A really fab night to end another chapter of the travels.Leer más
What an amazing day!
7 de marzo de 2018, Camboya ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C
After having two days of doing very little Will and I were getting very itchy to get out and about so we went for an early breakfast packed up our bags with water snacks and swim stuff and did what we do best, trekking. We told the others we will be back in about an hour or so. First we trekked to a lighthouse which was about an hour from our dorm. It was so hot but so lovely to walk the length of the island and then through the jungle. Along the way we met a lovely guy called Valt who was planning on staying in his hammock on the otherside of the island, so we trekked together to the lighthouse. The view was so lovely, a full 360 of the island. We then trekked to military beach which was so lovely and untouched! The water was so deep and cooling with so many fish! We then dried off on the beach and were told by locals that we could walk to the next beach over which is then about 30 mins from our side of the island. So we decided to go for it. We did some more swimming in deep water, found some more interesting fish and then set up Wills hammock and read our books while waiting for sunset. At this point we realised we had told the guys we'd be back in an hour or so... we left at 10:30am and it was now 6:30pm, but there was no WiFi or signal at all so we headed back through the jungle in the dark back home. We planned to get back before 7pm so we could go on a glowing plankton boat trip but we didn't quite make it. Wups we had a couple of missed calls but we found them and had our well deserved shower.
You've probably noticed that I've not mentioned food yet. Well I had a fruit plate for breakfast and we at a couple of oreos and peanuts along the way but thats it. We were starving when we got back!!! So we showered and headed to our lovely Khmer restaurant and ordered a chicken curry and green Papaya salad. The others wanted to go somewhere else so we went to meet them later at the bar.
It was everyone else's last night so we all got beers and things escalated... Gosh where do I even start things started off quite calm happily drinking a couple of beers, then we had Joss shots, jaeger red bull and then more beers... For those that know me and caffeine and me don't really go well together... After doing 2 shots of Joss I was told each sachet is equivalent to drinking about 7 red bulls. Ah crap! Let's just say I was AWAKE! Then a couple of people said they were going to swim out to see the glowing plankton and as we hadn't seen it yet we got down to our underwear and jumped straight in as a really big group. It was incredible, I felt like tinkerbell! You just had to wave your hands the smallest bit and everything would glow green. It was so beautiful!! After a lot of midnight swimming in the sea we went to bed. What an incredible day, so much fun from start to finish. But I did not sleep a wink, I was so wide awake it was unbelievable. I even got up and did my washing early in the morning as I couldn't lie in bed any longer. When I got up I realised there was something seriously wrong with the bottom of my foot, I couldn't put any pressure on it. We thought I might have been stung by a jelly fish or stood on a sea urchin, but aren't quite sure.Leer más
To our first beach!
4 de marzo de 2018, Camboya ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
We got on the sleeper bus and although it was generally fine we did not sleep like babies. We arrived in the main town at 5:30am and it was deserted. Nothing was open till 8am so we sat and waited for a place to open for breakfast. I got a huge bowl of muesli, fruit and yoghurt and Will treated himself to a full English breakfast. It had a real sausage, bacon and toast!!
We then began the nightmare part of the journey... The ferry to the island was really lovely, but then we had to find a hostel in the burning sun while being horrifically dehydrated and tired. Let's just say our relationship was tested! But eventually we found something affordable and it was such a relief so we celebrated with a plate of hummus and freshly made pitta. Then the family arrived and it was soooo nice to see everyone. I literally felt over the moon to see everyone again.
That evening we all went for dinner, chilled out and had an earlyish night. But when we got back to the hostel Elaine and Brian found bed bugs in their beds!! We checked ours and couldn't really see anything and by this time it was nearly midnight. Brian and Elaine the poor guys were trekking the beach trying to find accommodation, but we just decided to stay and luckily we were OK.
The next morning Charlie and Brian found a lovely dorm for us all with air con. It wasn't ideal as it was single sex dorms so we were in different rooms but it was the cheapest and cleanest place we could find on the island. We had a much better day of swimming and catching up after everyones exhausting couple of days. For dinner we found a lovely cheap Khmer restaurant which had a very simple menu but the food was lovely and we actually ended up eating there for a couple of days for breakfast, lunch and dinner ha.
Today is the 6th March and everyones feeling pretty exhausted or ill so we are just sat in a chilled bar reading and catching up on the world with WiFi. 😁Leer más
Angkor Archaeological Park
1 de marzo de 2018, Camboya ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
The next day we got up at 3:50am to begin our full packed day of seeing the Angkor heritage site. First stop Angkor Wat for Sun Rise. It was really lovely. Our expectations were provably set a bit ridiculously high but it was truly lovely when the sun rose over the central tower.
We then went to see Banteay Srei which was 37km from the main site and unfortunately it was really spoilt with the swarms of screeching and pushing Chinese tourists,which was a shame but I would recommend it even if though you have to travel far. Banteay Srei is a 10th century temple dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva. It is the only temple made of sandstone which allows for the intricate wall carvings.
Next we went to to Pre Rup, East Mebon, Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som which were part of the outskirts of the Angkor site and had very few visitors. Personally Preah Khan and Neak Pean were by far my favourite as they were still true ruins with little to no restoration and set in a lake and jungle surrounding. It was beginning to get very very hot and quite difficult to keep going, but being who we are we did not give up.
The next stop was the very famous and ancient city of Angkor Thom which holds the iconic Bayon temple which is known for the giant stone faces that surround the towers. There are 54 towers each with 4 faces, a total of 216 intricate faces. We were beginning to get very weary.
It was now the hottest part of the day and although we had been waiting all day to see this masterpiece is was a true killer. We then plodded on to Baphuon, the Elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King. I was soooo thankful to see the smiling face and waving tuk tuk driver. I sat down feeling like absolute death to be honest. But this still wasn't the last stop. Our tuk tuk driver looked at us and said he's more than happy to take us home as we must have looked like a right pair! We were drenched from sweat, our hair was all over the place, we were just a mess.
We had a quick wee break and then headed to our final destination, Angkor Wat for the 3rd time in 24 hours. Although we'd already seen 90% of it we hadn't climber to the top of the center, where we were told there were incredible views of the site. So we powered on through ran straight to the middle and got to the top. It was really lovely, I wouldn't say it was quite worth it for a 3rd visit, but still.
We decided not to stay for sunset and headed back to the hostel. Our tuk tuk drivers was absolutely incredible he showed us way more temples that we expected and was just so patient, flexible and hospitable to our needs.
Now normal people would then go back to the hostel have a shower, maybe have dinner and then go to bed (we could barely walk...). Nope not us... We had booked a sleeper bus to take us to the Cambodian Islands. This was initially a romatised idea of well we can save money and we will sleep really well as we were so exhausted and then we will wake up rested, get a ferry to the islands, be able to find a hostel super easily and then be checked in and ready for a swim by lunch. Gosh were we wrong...Leer más
To Cambodia!
27 de febrero de 2018, Camboya ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
It's time to move on to our 3rd country in approx 6 weeks. The Laos- Cambodia border is also known as Scambodia. Throughout our time in Laos we have heard absolute horror stories of how people have been scammed at the border or had to wait for hours if they didn't just pay up the scam etc. Let's just say we have not been looking forward to today! We booked our bus from the Cambodian border to take us to Siem Reap so all we need to do is take a boat to the main island and then tuk tuk to the border for 10:30am for the bus pick up... Simple. We decided to leave at the crack of dawn to give plenty of time incase of any scams or holdups.
Firstly we jumped on the boat off Don Khon to go to Bangkok Nakasang on the mainland. Destination 1 Complete.
We arrived on the mainland with sooo many tuk tuks offering a lift to the border for 20,000 Kip, approx £20. Outrageous, so we confidently declined. We were told we should pay between 50-70,000 kip. We hadn't had breakfast and had no snacks for our long journey so grabbed some fresh steamed dumplings, a doughnut, fruit and snacks. We walked to the bus station to find it closed. A tuk tuk driver came and told us the bus and tuk tuks no longer go to the border as there is now a fine of $20 per traveller on the tuk tuk which has been enforced by the mafia Laos police in the last couple of days. For the first time we actually felt sorry for the tuk tuk drivers as they are now completely out of business! In the end he offered to take us 4km from the border and then said we can walk the rest of the way. It wasn't the ideal situation but suited us fine. We actually felt happy to have found an honest tuk tuk!! So first he took us to the money exchange and then off we go in our tiny lawnmower tuk tuk.
All was going so well for the first 15 mins, super happy we hadn't been scammed yet and on our way to check point two. However, all of a sudden he stopped the tuk tuk and said he can't go any further and would only take us to the waterfall which was about 11km from the border, approx 3 hour walk, for $20 each... We were outraged and stood our ground. I think he realised we were not going to budge, literally, so he happily carried on to our agreed destination without any further hassle. Although he tried that initial scam we were happy with his general honesty and he was very apologetic about not being able to take us to the border, he genuinely seemed quite scared of the police to be honest. So Destination 2,the border, not quite complete.
We then began our 50 min walk. To be honest it wasn't that bad, it was still coolish as it was only 8:30am and as we are pretty quick we got there in 40 mins. Destination 2 Complete!
Next stop, making our way through the border scam free... Now this was supposed to be the more difficult bit... but as it was so early we were the only tourists there and although very nervous we got through in no time and didn't pay a single penny more than we were expected! The one eventful happening was when Will had to give his fingerprints. Bless him, the fingerprint scanner couldn't detect any fingerprints on any of his fingers. The guys at the immigration were trying to push his fingers down to make it work. Eventually he just laughed at waved him on. Destination 3 Complete!
We found our bus driver straight away that and said the bus will leave at 11:45am. We had a good hour and half to just chill out, drink a pineapple shake and eat some lunch before heading to Siem Reap on the bus.
Just a side note, before I came here I didn't really like pineapples, I'm now obsessed, a day without a pineapple shake is like being on holiday without having an ice cream! Criminal!
So now to complete the journey to our final destination. The ticket we bought was specifically a ticket for the bus that uses the newly built road which shaves off a couple of hours off the travel time. Oh my god what a dream! OK sure it felt like we were constantly melting and the minivan wasn't the comfiest but the road, oh the road!! It was sooo smooth!!! We were on our first normal road in 6 weeks and we'd forgotten that its not normal to constantly be thrown out of your seat due to gravel and pot holes. OK so I wrote the above paragraph a couple of hours ago... I'm now sadly having to update our perfect trip. So we are supposed to arrive at 7pm and it's now 5:30pm. I'm not sure if the driver is running late for dinner or needs a wee but he's suddenly driving like a maniac!! He is not stopping for anyone, constantly beeping to tell people to move out the way and overtaking everything even if there's oncoming traffic. The last hour and half of the journey so pretty rough! But hey we got to Siem Reap safe and sound and the bus company organise personal tuk tuks to your hostel which was great!
For dinner we had a quick look on Google and we saw the Bug Cafe. Well when in SEA! If intrigued look up bug cafe, Siem Reap on Google. So we read reviews, looked at all the crazy looking pictures and psyched ourselves up for some crazy food. We got to the cafe and it was closed! Disaster, but we ended up at a really lovely Khmer restaurant and ate yummy, not so crazy, food.
The next day Will had a tummy bug again so we had a slow day of replenishing our stock of toiletries and clothes and planning the next couple of days and how we would do Angkor Wat. With quite a tight budget it took us a bit longer to organise Angkor Wat but eventually with the help of social media we were recommended a tuk tuk driver who would take us the route we wanted in one day for the price we could afford! We have to wait till Saturday but I really can't wait! In the evening we went to the night Market and I got 2 new tops, a skirt and my third pair of sunglasses. Hopefully they last longer this time! If you've never been to the night market, in particular in Siem Reap, the shop assistants constantly ask "do you want tshirt, do you want skirt, do you want trousers, do you want... " and follow you in your face round the market. I'm not really one for people following me and constantly talking to me when shopping and there was one stall in particular where she wouldn't leave me alone and I cracked and said very politely" actually I just want to be left alone". The woman went ballistic... And told me to get out. Well let's just say I didn't buy anything from her. But it was a very successful day and we bought everything we needed to get. Towards the end of the day Will was feeling pretty rough so we went back to the hostel and I bought a margherita pizza, corn on the cob and a Angkor Beer and he was soon better 😊 The beer was actually for me!
The next day was a slow day starting with my first poached eggs in 2 months! We then went to visit the War museum. The museum, although quite small, was really heart wrenching. A war veteran who went to war from the age of 9 and nearly died over 9 times, also known as the Cat. He had been injured by an array of weapons including an RPG and AK47. He showed us his wounds, ball bearings and shrapnel that is still under his skin. He told us stories about the number of people in his village that had died due to UXO including children just running in the fields or adults gathering food. It was so sad to hear and see the pictures of people to this day that are still dying due to UXO. The museum is a definite must if you are in Siem Reap. For the rest of the day we just relaxed, ate a late lunch and planned our next steps after Siem Reap.
Today, 1st March, was full of various chores and planning for Angkor Wat and for our sleeper bus and also finishing off our Siem Reap bucket list.
Firstly with the chores, we finally found a super cheap laundry service that uses hot, I repeat hot water! You have no idea what a luxury this is so we threw our entire 5kg worth of clothes into the wash. Job 1 done.
For once we have been planning a bit ahead and we've realised our wonderful Chiang Mai family are now in the southern islands off Cambodia and our next stop is there! It will be great to have a mini reunion. However having looked at price of accomodation it is pretty steep... So we are hoping to find something when we get there... If not guess what we decided to purchase. A HAMMOCK!! One of the guys Charlie felt the accomodation was also too steep so he has spent the last couple of days in his own hammock, so we decided why not try it haha Job 2 done.
After a late lunch we went to see the beautiful Angkor Wat at sunset. For those that haven't been you can either get a one day or 3 day pass. The full site is 400 acres of land, it is unbelievably epic! Of you get time please read or watch a documentary about it, just astounding! We decided to get the one day as you can get it at 4:30pm the day before and then the full day after. So we decided to go crazy and try and do it one day, well the main sites anyway. Having watched the documentary the other day I knew that the site was big and I suppose I knew what it looked like but wowee. When you actually see it. It's just breath taking. As we only had an hour and half before closure we basically ran round the whole place to make the most of our pass and we decided not to go tomorrow and go to others instead. By the end we were being escorted and whistled off the premises with a couple of others hanging on to the dear end. But we saw everything we wanted to see and it was just epic. We then waited till sunset which was also lovely. I am so unbelievably excited for our day tomorrow.
When we got back as it was our last proper evening we decided to try the bug cafe again. We ordered the tasting plate which has water beetle, crickets, silk worms, scorpion, tarantula and ants. When the plate came although yes it looked odd it didn't look as scary as in the pics and actually they were very easy to eat! Water beetle and silk worm were the nicest to eat and scorpion was very bitter with a slight liver texture. Well at least I can say when insects become the future for protein I'm ready!Leer más
End of 4000 islands
27 de febrero de 2018, Camboya ⋅ ⛅ -10 °C
For lunch we really wanted to go the Chez Fred etc Lea, which is where we have been having breakfast but it was shut! But we were more than happy to have lunch at the amazing Indian restaurant. After lunch we decided to try out a pool that we had seen on our cycle round the island. To be honest the pool was pretty grim but it was nice to get a bit of exercise after our very lazy morning. As Don Khon was such a small island it was so easy to bump into people that you have seen around or met in a restaurant etc so it had a really lovely village feel. In particular, we met a lovely retired couple from Devon who were on their first solo, unorganised, trip. They were such a pleasure to meet and share tips and ideas of things to do or restaurants to go to, so we planned to celebrate our last night on the island with them. Fantastic food, fantastic company, our first taste of....... an incredible end to an wonderful time in Laos!
So as we are at the end of our 2nd country I thought I'd put down a few shocks that I just didn't know about or expect when coming to SEA. Plastic, plastic, plastic, plastic, plastic... I don't think I've seen so much plastic in my life and not just the use of it but the disaster that it causes. There is litter just everywhere because the villagers just can't dispose of it. Everything you get or buy will come in plastic. We have to specifically stop them putting anything we buy in plastic. Even takeaway drinks come in a plastic bag! It's truly horrible and saddening to see the effects of using so much plastic. We drink about 4-6 litres of water a day in this heat. Imagine if everyone is doing this. How many plastic bottles alone are being used! Luckily in Laos we have been able to use water fountains in hostels and if we can't we have a filter so aren't really contributing to the figures, but it's truly so sad.
UXO caused deaths in Laos. Its unbelievable to think this even still happens after so many years since the wars. 25% of the countries villages are still in UXOs and in the last decade there have been over 300 deaths in Laos due to these.Leer más
Si Pan Don (4000 Islands)
23 de febrero de 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
Well after a rocky start the sleeper bus was actually OK. It wasn't our best night sleep but we were able to nap in parts. Will couldn't fit in the bed so it was a bit of a squeeze. We arrived into Pakse and decided to keep moving south and just spend our last week in Si Pan Don instead of constantly travelling. With sour cream onion pringles and chocolate biscuits (actually turned out to be chocolate covered jelly) for breakfast we jumped straight onto the next bus to Si Pan Don. When we arrived we saw a few familiar faces including the lovely Didi and Leo! It was great to see them even just for the short couple of minutes. They were starting their journey to Cambodia. There are so many scams with regards to the border crossing so I'm really not looking forward to this part of the journey!
We took a lovely boat ride to Don Khon and then checked into our bungalow. We were absolutely starving, luckily on our journey in we tagged a couple of places we wanted to eat. So first stop was a local Tamil owned Indian restaurant. I've been craving home cooked for a while and this hit the spot!
The next day we had the day off to just read our books, begin learning Vietnamese and enjoy sunset on the tip of Don Det.
As we had a really lazy day, today we decided to have the complete opposite. We were up and out by 6am and hired bicycles by 6:15am! We cycled for half an hour, seeing some of sun rise and caught a private boat to see the Irawaddy Dolphins. Irawaddy Dolphins are salt water dolphins and not usually found in fresh water rivers but this part of the Mekong River has 3 of the species left. It was really beautiful and such a lovely start to the day, we saw all 3 dolphins only a couple of meters away.
We then cycled around the island to see various viewpoints, beaches and waterfalls. It got to about 12pm and the heat was getting quite intense and we were starving as hadn't had breakfast so we went for brunch. We spent the afternoon cycling around Don Det, the connecting islands, and finished the day with a well deserved dinner!
For our final day we decided to plan our big move onto Cambodia and relax before the hectic time ahead travelling across the border and in Siem Reap. The 4000 islands are really lovely and relaxed, definitely not to be missed when visiting Laos!Leer más
Whistle stop trip to Vientiane
21 de febrero de 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
We only have a 30 day visa in Laos and its dawned on us we are quickly running short, but still have so much to see so I think the next couple of places are going to be whistle stop tours. Next stop the capital, Vientiane.
For once we had a great night sleep, no Cockerells or manic dogs, and for once we were up and out early! We picked up our breakfast and lunch and headed to the bus station. The morning bus we wanted to catch was only a local one... after our experience with locals travelling when in Huay Xai let's just say we weren't so keen. We went for it anyway, the bus was absolutely jam packed with rice sacks, luggage, locals, us and a German guy on the very back seats. We waited outside the bus until the very last minute! While waiting the bus driver was cutting into a strange plant and eating something from inside. I asked him what he was and he offered me one... it was a maggot!!! I did not want to eat that before a 8 hour journey which was no doubt going to make me travel sick anyway!
The journey although not as bad as we thought it might be was still very rough. We were constantly being bounced out of our seats and holding on for dear life, of course there weren't seat belts. We were being thrown out of our seats so much that our mi band pedometer thought were walking and by lunch time we had done our 10,000 steps even though we had barely done 100! For lunch we were very excited to have our omelette sandwich but we're very disappointed, we opened them up to find laughing cow cheese and salad. Not ideal but food all the same!
We eventually got to bus station in Vientiane and of course the station was miles out of town. The haggling begam with the tuk tuk driver saying 50,000 kip each. I laughed at him and said 10,000 Kip each person, he said no, so I said 20,000 to which he said no 50,000 for the 3 of us. I don't think his maths was great so we ended up with a bargain ☺️ We started walking to our hostel after being dropped off central and the heavens opened. Luckily we weren't so far from the hostel and got in just in the nick of time. However, it's so bad that we weren't able to go out for dinner so ate our rations of an apple, banana, longan berries and coconut crunch sticks while watching peaky blinders.
The next day it rained once again but we went to book our bus ticket, saw endless wats and took a bus ride to Buddha Park. Buddha Park was created by a guy who wanted to portray the Buddhism and Hinduism sculptures. It was different and definitely worth the small bus ride out of town. We then visited Laos very own Arc de Triumph, Patuxay and finished the afternoon sipping a pineapple and coconut shake and grabbing dinner before getting our 10.5 hour sleeper bus to Pakse.
We arrived at the station with an hour and half to spare only to be told the bus is leaving at 7pm! It was exactly 7 when we arrived and the bus was completely empty! Phew we made it. I think we were spoilt by the sleeper train. It's not quite the luxury we had on the sleeper train... Let's see how the night goes...
Ok I was going to stop the blog for the day and update in the next footprint but this is too funny. So as I mentioned we jumped on the bus at 7pm and off we go. Journey felt like it was going OK, but all of a suddenly the bus turned around drove back to the station. God knows why it left an hour and half early just to turn around, go back to the station and pick up everyone else. No wonder the bus was so empty! It's now fully packed and off we go again!Leer más
Phonsavan
21 de febrero de 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
Phonsavan isn't usually a destination for most travellers as its quite a long journey to get to it and it only has one thing to see. The Plain of Jars is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of stone Jars scattered around the valleys and foothills of the phonsavan area which were believe to have been used for bodies. So we began the 5 hour journey and met a lovely couple Ryan and Roberta from London and Staines who we chatted with for a lot of the journey. Again the journey felt ridiculously long and the roads were very windy. The minivan was quite an old one with no seat belts so the journey wasn't great. But... What a treat... The bus station was actually in the town centre! No tuk tuk scamming required! Basically everytime we've taken a journey in a minivan in both Laos and Thailand they drop you off out of town and then the tuk tuk make you pay over the odds to drop you off. To be honest it's a very unwelcoming way of entering a new town as you instantly become annoyed with the scam. Anyway we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived. We checked into a hostel which was a really nice twin room with a terrace so we could do our washing! (It really is the little things!)
We went to a lovely restaurant called Simmalys. It was unbelievably cheap, yummy food and wow the portions.... they were huge!! We actually ended up going here for breakfast, lunch takeaway and dinner for our duration in Phonsavan!
From about 3am we were woken by a Cockerell and manic dogs that just wouldn't stop barking. It wasn't great! The next day we paired up with Ryan and Roberta to see the Plain of Jars the next day. We had a luxury minibus all to ourselves and it was great fun. We saw 3 different sites that have been fully excavated and are now safe from bombies. It didn't take long to see the sites so we were back by mid afternoon, just in time for a nap ☺️
We then met up with Roberta and Ryan for drinks and dinner. I'd say a very restful and fulfilling day.Leer más
To Vang Vieng
15 de febrero de 2018, Laos ⋅ ☁️ -12 °C
I don't think we will ever get used to Lao-ish time. We decided to book the bus trip through the hostel. We were told a tuk tuk will pick us up at 8:30am and the bus would leave at 9am. The tuk tuk picked us up at 8:50am and then proceeded to pick up another 8 people. Luckily everything is on Lao-ish time and our minivan hadn't even started loading up. The journey begins. The journey was actually one of the best we've taken, comfortable and the driver drove like an old man so it was actually nice and smooth! I even had a couple of naps 😊 As its Chinese New Year tomorrow, the price of hostels are pretty high so we decided to stay in a dorm which turned out to be great. A hot powerful shower, comfy bed and a rooftop with a beautiful view of sunset, see pic below.
Today would have been my dad's 78th birthday and although I feel pretty home sick I'm also so thankful. In terms of my health I literally couldn't be happier. Normally this time of year I'm really ill and I pretend to get on with normality. This year I've possibly had the most stressful couple of months since buying a flat and losing my job and yet I've not had a single attack. Touch wood, I'm done with it and when I come back to the UK I'd love to begin my path to raising awareness of non-epileptic disorder, something I've suffered with for nearly 7 years.
I decided to have a night in reading my book while Will decided to hit the town. There are two bars in Vang Vieng that in the evening give out free Lao Lao, of course that's where Will went! I think he had quite the merry night!
In the morning we went to the climb up the local view point. We left a lot later than expected, *cough* Will slept... I wonder why... but that did not stop us. It was a very very sweaty, very hot, very steep hike up to the top of Big Pha Nger, but such a lovely lovely day. We then cambered down and did its smaller sister Pha Nger. It was so peaceful and although a bit hazy a really amazing view. Altogether we walked for 5 hours and then decided to get a tuk tuk back to save an hour of walking. We stopped on the river side of the town for a well deserved Grilled Tilapia, salad and fried rice. ☺️ What a great find. The owner and his family were so welcoming, we were the only tourists there and he asked us to join them on their table to drink Beer Lao. It was so much fun. The family were already very drunk when we joined and it was so interesting how you can have so much fun with botched Lao and English speaking. The owner then invited us for a wedding the next day. We didn't know if he was serious but got ready for him to pick us up and he did. Neither of us had clothes suitable for a wedding so we felt very odd. But what an incredible day!! Everyone welcomed us from the very beginning and loved having sooo many pictures taken with us. Their clothes were so colourful and beautiful, it was such an honour to be invited. They insisted on us drinking lots, eating and doing a lot of Laos dancing. Also wow, can the Laos drink. We experienced a taster of this yesterday when we sat with the family but didn't realise they would do it for an entire day! Every glass of Beer Lao they poured they followed by "full" which means down it. The first couple we joined in but it was only 11am!
At one point I nipped to the loo and came back to see Will teaching the men how to do the macerena. The guys were completely fixated on learning this dance and thought they were the coolest people on earth! They even made Will do it so they could record it on their phones so they could practise. Later on in the night a Hollywood song came on and I taught them my attempts of bollywood dancing too. Everyone was so friendly!
We felt so guilty that we hadn't paid for anything so we asked the owner of the restaurant how we can gift money. We paid 200,000 Kip between the two of us which bought them 24 bottles of beer and they went wild for it! They did a huge announcement presenting us gifting the crates to the bride and groom and then we had our own special dance with them. They then invited us back to their house for even more drinks and dancing. It was 7pm and it was time to get out of the madness of constant drinking so we started walking to the town centre approx 1km, but soon realised this was going to be difficult, so we found some guests we had been drinking with and jumped in the back of their pick-up truck. Another thing off the bucket list. Today was by far the most welcoming and most incredible day of our journey so far. We have had small snippets of the Laos hospitality but this was just incredible. We can't wait to see more of Laos. We were only supposed to spend a couple of days in Vang Vieng but think we will be here a bit longer.
The next day we hired a scooter and visited 2 caves and the blue lagoon 1. Although really busy it was still pretty fun to watch people dive off the top of a tree into the pool. In the evening we had dinner and chilled with a couple of brits that were staying in the same hotel playing President, a pretty fun card game. Obviously Dr Will as he is now being named everywhere was president and I was Vice Donkey 😂
The next morning we woke up very early and on the spur of the moment decided its time to move on. We didn't have a clue where our next stop would be so we got to the bus station early so we could decide. Phonsavan was the winner!Leer más
Last and best day in Luang Prabang
14 de febrero de 2018, Laos ⋅ 🌙 31 °C
The next morning we woke up first thing to thick fog. Did this stop us, nope! We went to the Mekong River and jumped on the boat to begin our haunting meander down the river. It was like a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean 😂 The fog soon began to clear and with a short stop at a whiskey village and the some caves the sun was soon beaming down. We visited the local Museum of Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre, which was small but informative about the local community. We finished the day with an absolute highlight, we ate Bun Bo. The only way I can describe it is a an open summer roll with chopped fried spring roll in. Yum yum yum, possibly the best thing we've eaten in the last month! Will tried the Beer Lao Gold, the middle range of Beer Laos.
Tomorrow we are off to what was once tubing and backpackers haven, Vang Vieng.Leer más
Final days in Luang Prabang
12 de febrero de 2018, Laos ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
The morning started with a whole fresh pineapple and papaya to make the most of having our own kitchen. Then we packed our stuff ready to check out.
We went to the local Ock Pop Tock Living Craft Centre where they hand weave silk. It had a really lovely free tour showing us how they make the silk, dye it using various natural colourings and finally how they make it into garments.
We then checked into our new hostel in the town centre and decided to celebrate our month anniversary travelling by going for lunch at the best place in Luang Prabang and by golly was it yummy! We ordered the Buffalo meat Fondue and Banana Daiquiri and we ate like Kings on the Riverside. It was such a lovely place to just sit and chill out so we did exactly that and ordered a Black Rice beer while finishing up my blog for the day.
So being a month in I thought I'd take this opportunity to reflect a bit. Honestly, we've only been gone a month and I just can't imagine going back to the hustle and bustle and stress that people have in life. Life is simple here. For a month we've stayed in various hostels of various quality, we've had little hot water, solid as a rock beds, been living out of a small bag with barely any clothing, doing our clothes washing in a sink of cold water and honestly I've got the hairiest legs imaginable (yes and I'm still wearing shorts), yet no one judges, everyone's so happy and so friendly and content with the very little they have. When is the last time you were stressed out about something... Yesterday?... An hour ago when the man in front of you walked too slow on the pavement?... Will and I keep chatting every so often about the craziness of how we get or got stressed so easily. I'm not saying it doesn't happen all of a sudden, but it's very interesting to remind ourselves and reflect. Does it really matter if you're 5 mins late or wearing the same clothes, or even have hairy legs? The other day I was feeling snotty and ill with my hairy legs out walking around the grand Palace. A security man came up to me and told me how beautiful I looked and compared me to a chandelier from Czech Republic. He didn't mean it in a weird random man way we always assume in England if a stranger talks to you. He was just being nice and friendly with no strings attached. Imagine if you complimented one person everyday. What a friendly and happy world we would live in. But maybe people do try but our perception is that these people are clearly weirdos and you can't accept compliments from strangers. Maybe just spend 5 minutes everyday talking to someone about your day, list 3 things that made today a good one.
Both myself and Will are feeling pretty ill today, so glad we've done most of the sites we've wanted to do. Both full of a cold with stomach cramps. Had a slow morning updating my blog and then we ventured out for breakfast. For those that don't know, Luang Prabang is a town in northern loas which combines classic Laos tradition with a dash of French colonialism. For the past few days Will has been eyeing up coffee and cakes, but has been quite restrained due to us going for fancy dinners. Today Will knew exactly what he wanted for breakfast, a chocolate and almond pastry twist and a creamy coconut cake. I think he's forgotten we are backpackers 😋 While having coffee we met 2 lovely ladies who had a daughter that came to Laos to work in a school, moved back home to Edinburgh after 2 years and fell very ill and unfortunately passed away at the age of 22. The mother and her friend now come once a year to help the local community bringing luggage full of stationary, clothing, shoes and money that has been raised for local schools and hospitals. I think my favourite part of this holiday is when we meet such incredible people.
We then decided to try and get a boat down the Mekong River to the Pak Ou Caves. Unfortunately the public boat only leaves at 8:30am and after that you have to get a private boat which is a lot more money so we decided to just chill out and sit on the river reading for the rest of the day before watching the story of Chiang in a free outdoor cinema. The film was about filmed in 1927 and is about a family living in the jungle of Thailand. A short and pleasant film to round off the day.
We've decided to stay one more day as not taking the boat along the Mekong River is probably a crime in this region, plus being full of a cold the thought of packing and moving is rather unappealing.Leer más
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