Lazy laidback Laos - English
Door: babettetravels
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Babette
01 Juli 2014 | Nederland, Amersfoort
Lazy laidback Laos and the northern provinces of Thailand
2 July 2014 at 19:33
Didn't really think for a while. My brains actually do have a holiday of their own (without taking me). Just thought of how I'll manage to travel from Bangkok, Ayutthaya to Chiang Mai.
Last time I wrote this blog I was in Bangkok. Love my life now. I do think of all the colleagues who are struggling to survive these last few weeks before summer will come. My dearest colleague An, who'll be moving to her home country, and friends not in higher education working throughout summer.
Bangkok 24th of June. I decided to visit the Royal Palace in the morning, and leave for Ayutthaya in the afternoon. Believe me, it's worth the time, heat and price. The moment I arrive at the pier, the space is full with tuktuks, taxis and tourists. To visit the Royal Palace and the temple, which lies within the walls of the palace, you'll have to wear decent clothes. So I finally got decent. The Royal palace and the temple are absolutely worth the visit / change of clothes.
Finally needed to return to my guesthouse, ate a great verrry spicy green curry, picked up my stuff and left for Ayutthaya. Went to the trainstation and took a fan-cooled slow train. Actually quite nice. The day before i had booked a hostel named San Sook. Planned to stay there for two nights. If you'd ever have the idea of travelling to Asia: do it! It's beyond all expectations. It changes everything, for example the way you look at the world, your habits. You'd have to change your expectations constantly and leave your habits home for a while..
The reason i say this is because the moment I arrived at San Sook place, I was biased. "It was a hostel far from town, no atmosphere at all". This absolutely proved differently. I met a guy called James. A teacher in English language, whom with 17 others, stayed in the homestay hostel San Sook to teach in Ayutthaya. He asked me to join him and his fellow teachers to the night market to buy real Thai food. Wasn't this great?! Yes of course I wanted that!
That day I bicycled through Ayutthaya. Only crazy tourists, especially the Dutchies, take the bikes. Others take scooters or motorbikes. On my way home to the guesthouse, i needed to cross a bridge. This bridge, as a kind of highway, seemed to be suitable for cars, motorbikes, scooters, and yeah, bicycles too, though: all shared the same part of the road. Oh my, how am i going to survive. Decided to take the risk. I survived.
The teachers were already ready for leaving on their scooters (i said so, only the dutchies drove bicycles here) when the monsoon started. We decided to go anyway, since we'd still needed food. Lovely and real homemade Thai food!
Next day had to leave for Chiang Mai. Bought a luxurious 2nd class ticket with aircon. Fourty degrees celcius outside and ten inside the train. Man. This is #%&*@#% winter. Did change clothes, long pants, sweater. At that very moment we arrived in Chiang Mai. Thirty something degrees... Please manage your expectations B.
Next day I went to the Elephant Nature Park. I went there to feed, wash and love them. The owner of the park, Lek, doesn't get any funding from the government for her projects. This is why she lets tourists help and volunteer in the park, and pay for it. This money she'll use for buying elephants which are mistreated by their previous owners, young elephants whose mothers were poached, and to educate owners how to treat their elephants without hurting them. Her work is not yet finished. If you like please have a look on their website: www.elephantnaturepark.org.
That same evening I was in desperate need of a good Thai body massage. Lila Massage. This massage salon started as a social project for women in jail. They learned a profession to reintegrate well in society. That evening they folded me good times.
The folding - origami session was neccesairy for me to continue my trip. On saturday 28th of June we (where ever I say we, I mean I, though I'd never have to be alone if I didn't want to. This is why I automaticly write 'we') headed off for Laos. We were going to do this by VIP bus. Good deal! Easy. This bus brought us a few (10) kilometres before the Lao border. Tuktuk drivers waited for our money literally to jump into their pockets. Off we went. From the tuktuk we walked the first part of the border, got through customs, and a bus took us hundred metres to the place we could buy our visa. Wth. Manage your expectations dear B. We queued up for the first part of the visa. Then: the next desk was waiting for us. A woman playing a game on her phone, needed to hand over our passports. It brough me back to Russia in the good old times. When there was no unemployment at all (only hidden).
Throughout this non-bureaucratic proces of entering the peoples republic of Laos, an Italian guy took good care of me. Actually we've been having wonderful conversations in the VIP bus. He wanted to share a room and give me a footmassage. No thank you, no shared room. No massage. Really, I'd rather take my private room. I've definitely smashed his big ego. Although it is quite common in travelling sharing a mixed room, I'd like to pick my own roomies.
That night our group of the VIP bus stayed in Huay Xai, on the Lao side of the border. A street, a goat and a cow. We've lost the Italian guy (so we headed off for pizza) and ate this in a homestay guesthouse in the Lao hills.
Interesting days have gone by. And yet a lot to come. On that very moment I was travelling for 9 days. It feels like a month at least. Intens. This is the name which perfectly fits to this region. After these intensive days, 48 intens hours to come. Two days on a slowboat along the river Mekong from Huay Xai to Pak Beng and from Pak Beng to Luang Prabang, Laos. You could not wish yourself any greater views than from this slowboat by the way. First day of travelling was six hours, including rain and thunderstorms, the next day we travelled 9 hours. Halfway the steering wheel broke down, and the Mekong started to push our boat towards the rocks. The crew screamed, while two of them took their clothes off and jumped into the water, swam to the rocks, and came in time to save our (wooden!) boat from crashing onto the shore. Another crewmember went to land to get a spare part for the boat, and not long after that they were repairing (i.e. yelling and hammering) the parts of the boat which had been lost in the water. Several hours later we could continue our trip to Luang Prabang.
From Luang Prabang, Laos, I wish you all the best,
Love Babette
1 juli 2014
2 July 2014 at 19:33
Didn't really think for a while. My brains actually do have a holiday of their own (without taking me). Just thought of how I'll manage to travel from Bangkok, Ayutthaya to Chiang Mai.
Last time I wrote this blog I was in Bangkok. Love my life now. I do think of all the colleagues who are struggling to survive these last few weeks before summer will come. My dearest colleague An, who'll be moving to her home country, and friends not in higher education working throughout summer.
Bangkok 24th of June. I decided to visit the Royal Palace in the morning, and leave for Ayutthaya in the afternoon. Believe me, it's worth the time, heat and price. The moment I arrive at the pier, the space is full with tuktuks, taxis and tourists. To visit the Royal Palace and the temple, which lies within the walls of the palace, you'll have to wear decent clothes. So I finally got decent. The Royal palace and the temple are absolutely worth the visit / change of clothes.
Finally needed to return to my guesthouse, ate a great verrry spicy green curry, picked up my stuff and left for Ayutthaya. Went to the trainstation and took a fan-cooled slow train. Actually quite nice. The day before i had booked a hostel named San Sook. Planned to stay there for two nights. If you'd ever have the idea of travelling to Asia: do it! It's beyond all expectations. It changes everything, for example the way you look at the world, your habits. You'd have to change your expectations constantly and leave your habits home for a while..
The reason i say this is because the moment I arrived at San Sook place, I was biased. "It was a hostel far from town, no atmosphere at all". This absolutely proved differently. I met a guy called James. A teacher in English language, whom with 17 others, stayed in the homestay hostel San Sook to teach in Ayutthaya. He asked me to join him and his fellow teachers to the night market to buy real Thai food. Wasn't this great?! Yes of course I wanted that!
That day I bicycled through Ayutthaya. Only crazy tourists, especially the Dutchies, take the bikes. Others take scooters or motorbikes. On my way home to the guesthouse, i needed to cross a bridge. This bridge, as a kind of highway, seemed to be suitable for cars, motorbikes, scooters, and yeah, bicycles too, though: all shared the same part of the road. Oh my, how am i going to survive. Decided to take the risk. I survived.
The teachers were already ready for leaving on their scooters (i said so, only the dutchies drove bicycles here) when the monsoon started. We decided to go anyway, since we'd still needed food. Lovely and real homemade Thai food!
Next day had to leave for Chiang Mai. Bought a luxurious 2nd class ticket with aircon. Fourty degrees celcius outside and ten inside the train. Man. This is #%&*@#% winter. Did change clothes, long pants, sweater. At that very moment we arrived in Chiang Mai. Thirty something degrees... Please manage your expectations B.
Next day I went to the Elephant Nature Park. I went there to feed, wash and love them. The owner of the park, Lek, doesn't get any funding from the government for her projects. This is why she lets tourists help and volunteer in the park, and pay for it. This money she'll use for buying elephants which are mistreated by their previous owners, young elephants whose mothers were poached, and to educate owners how to treat their elephants without hurting them. Her work is not yet finished. If you like please have a look on their website: www.elephantnaturepark.org.
That same evening I was in desperate need of a good Thai body massage. Lila Massage. This massage salon started as a social project for women in jail. They learned a profession to reintegrate well in society. That evening they folded me good times.
The folding - origami session was neccesairy for me to continue my trip. On saturday 28th of June we (where ever I say we, I mean I, though I'd never have to be alone if I didn't want to. This is why I automaticly write 'we') headed off for Laos. We were going to do this by VIP bus. Good deal! Easy. This bus brought us a few (10) kilometres before the Lao border. Tuktuk drivers waited for our money literally to jump into their pockets. Off we went. From the tuktuk we walked the first part of the border, got through customs, and a bus took us hundred metres to the place we could buy our visa. Wth. Manage your expectations dear B. We queued up for the first part of the visa. Then: the next desk was waiting for us. A woman playing a game on her phone, needed to hand over our passports. It brough me back to Russia in the good old times. When there was no unemployment at all (only hidden).
Throughout this non-bureaucratic proces of entering the peoples republic of Laos, an Italian guy took good care of me. Actually we've been having wonderful conversations in the VIP bus. He wanted to share a room and give me a footmassage. No thank you, no shared room. No massage. Really, I'd rather take my private room. I've definitely smashed his big ego. Although it is quite common in travelling sharing a mixed room, I'd like to pick my own roomies.
That night our group of the VIP bus stayed in Huay Xai, on the Lao side of the border. A street, a goat and a cow. We've lost the Italian guy (so we headed off for pizza) and ate this in a homestay guesthouse in the Lao hills.
Interesting days have gone by. And yet a lot to come. On that very moment I was travelling for 9 days. It feels like a month at least. Intens. This is the name which perfectly fits to this region. After these intensive days, 48 intens hours to come. Two days on a slowboat along the river Mekong from Huay Xai to Pak Beng and from Pak Beng to Luang Prabang, Laos. You could not wish yourself any greater views than from this slowboat by the way. First day of travelling was six hours, including rain and thunderstorms, the next day we travelled 9 hours. Halfway the steering wheel broke down, and the Mekong started to push our boat towards the rocks. The crew screamed, while two of them took their clothes off and jumped into the water, swam to the rocks, and came in time to save our (wooden!) boat from crashing onto the shore. Another crewmember went to land to get a spare part for the boat, and not long after that they were repairing (i.e. yelling and hammering) the parts of the boat which had been lost in the water. Several hours later we could continue our trip to Luang Prabang.
From Luang Prabang, Laos, I wish you all the best,
Love Babette
1 juli 2014
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