I haven't been keeping up with my blog updates as planned so today I have made 2 new updates (Pai and Chiang Mai) but unfortunately the computer I'm on doesn't let me upload photos so those will come later.
Pai is a little hippie town to the northwest of Chiang Mai and quite different to Chiang Mai. Everything here is much more relaxed and slower although it's still very touristy both with foreigners and with Thais. The biggest difference here though is that the town is located in a mountain valley so in the morning and evening it's quite a bit colder. The temperature was a nice change from the rest of Southeast Asia as I even had to put on long pants and a jacket one night, but it was pretty entertaining watching all of the Thais walking around in huge parkas and toques while I was usually in a t-shirt.
For my first couple of days in Pai I joined a 2 day trek to nearby ethnic villages in the national park. The trek was a lot of fun as it wasn't too hard but we got to see some nice scenery and all our meals were eaten in different villages (except breakfast and dinner). Meeting the locals was quite interesting and seeing how they lived was great, the most unexpected aspect of the villages was that almost each house had a solar panel for electricity but as far as I could determine the only thing that they used electricity for was a radio and large sets of speakers.
After the trek I returned to Pai where a festival was about to start called Loi Krathong. This festival started on the 12th of November and lasted for 3 days with celebrations occuring each night (not much happened in the day though). So I ended up staying in Pai for two days of the festival so that I could observe the party. The festival was in celebration of the end of the rainy season and to celebrate it the local people send flaming laterns (like small air balloons) into the night sky and float rafts made of banana trees and leaves down the river with candles lit on them. Also added to the celebration was a parade each night and a big outdoor festival. The festival wasn't all that interesting because all it seemed to be was food stalls, muay thai boxing, a game that's best described as volleyball without using hands, and lots of noise. The muay thai boxing and feet volleyball were quite interesting but with the boxing more time was spent waiting for the match than actually seeing it. The volleyball was pretty interesting but it's played everywhere here in Southeast Asia so I had seen it lots before. The biggest problem with the festival was that it seemed like everyone had large stands of speakers blaring music as loud as possible, but each one was playing something different so it just seemed like a lot of noise.
After the festival I took a 2 day white water rafting trip from Pai which ended up in Mae Hong Son. The trip turned out to be pretty fun but at first it seemed that our guide was completely crazy as he would aim for every rock in the river to make the raft swing around and get everyone as wet as possible. In the end it was a great trip and no harm was done although we did manage to flip the raft once and I fell out with our guide a second time. The rafting was a great way to travel between Pai and Mae Hong Son because the road between the two towns is extremely twisty and the river we rafted on was along the edge of the national park so the scenery was absolutely beautiful.
I spent a day in the small town of Mae Hong Son relaxing after the rafting trip. The town was quite nice a small lake in the centre but not a lot to do in town, most people make day trips to nearby villages which I didn't have time to do since I felt that I spent too much time in Pai. From Mae Hong Son I made my way down to Mae Sot stopping overnight in Mae Saring (another small and sleepy town with not much here).
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Chiang Mai
After leaving Laos my first destination in Thailand was Chiang Mai. My first impression of Thailand was one of almost a culture shock because after sleepy Laos Thailand was very busy. The amount of traffic on the streets and the number of people walking around was something that didn't exist in Laos.
The old part of Chiang Mai contains several wats that I spent the better part of a day wandering through. The wats seemed to be fairly similar to most of the wats that I had seen in Laos so I didn't feel that many of them were special. There were a couple though that were quite impressive: wat chedi luang contained the largest chedi that I had ever seen even though it was significantly damaged in 16th century, wat phra singh is the other impressive wat as it is quite large and one of the most important temples in the city.
Just outside of the city is wat phrathat doi suthep which is located on a hill overlooking the city. This wat is huge tourist attraction as when I was there so were about a hundred other tourists, mostly Thais. The wat itself was quite impressive with a golden chedi in the middle; however, the most impressive aspect about this sight were the superb views of the city from here.
Aside from all of the wats located in Chiang Mai many people come here for a massage or cooking course. I joined a cooking course on my last day in Chaing Mai and had a great time although I ate entirely too much food. The course started out with a trip to the local market to learn about the fresh fruit and vegetables used in Thai cooking. After the market tour we returned back to the house to spend the next 6 hours learning how to make 5 Thai dishes of our choice (from a list of 15). I learned how to make phad thai, spring rolls, panaeng curry paste and panaeng curry with pork, tom yam soup, and sticky rice with mangos for dessert. It was all very delicious and a great way to spend the day.
At night in Chiang Mai there is always the night bazaar which is a fairly long night market set up on one street. Here a person could buy anything that they desired; but it was a very touristy market with the majority of people wandering around being foreigners. In addition to the night bazaar there is an even bigger night market every sunday that seems to take up most of the old part of Chiang Mai. I was lucky enough to be here for a sunday and got to witness this huge market where you could still buy anything you wanted and more but it was not only for tourists which made it even better. There were still lots of tourists there but probably just as many Thai people shopping around as well.
After Chiang Mai I took a bus to Pai a small town just to the Northwest of Chiang Mai. Again the computer I'm on doesn't let me upload photos so I'll get some up soon.
The old part of Chiang Mai contains several wats that I spent the better part of a day wandering through. The wats seemed to be fairly similar to most of the wats that I had seen in Laos so I didn't feel that many of them were special. There were a couple though that were quite impressive: wat chedi luang contained the largest chedi that I had ever seen even though it was significantly damaged in 16th century, wat phra singh is the other impressive wat as it is quite large and one of the most important temples in the city.
Just outside of the city is wat phrathat doi suthep which is located on a hill overlooking the city. This wat is huge tourist attraction as when I was there so were about a hundred other tourists, mostly Thais. The wat itself was quite impressive with a golden chedi in the middle; however, the most impressive aspect about this sight were the superb views of the city from here.
Aside from all of the wats located in Chiang Mai many people come here for a massage or cooking course. I joined a cooking course on my last day in Chaing Mai and had a great time although I ate entirely too much food. The course started out with a trip to the local market to learn about the fresh fruit and vegetables used in Thai cooking. After the market tour we returned back to the house to spend the next 6 hours learning how to make 5 Thai dishes of our choice (from a list of 15). I learned how to make phad thai, spring rolls, panaeng curry paste and panaeng curry with pork, tom yam soup, and sticky rice with mangos for dessert. It was all very delicious and a great way to spend the day.
At night in Chiang Mai there is always the night bazaar which is a fairly long night market set up on one street. Here a person could buy anything that they desired; but it was a very touristy market with the majority of people wandering around being foreigners. In addition to the night bazaar there is an even bigger night market every sunday that seems to take up most of the old part of Chiang Mai. I was lucky enough to be here for a sunday and got to witness this huge market where you could still buy anything you wanted and more but it was not only for tourists which made it even better. There were still lots of tourists there but probably just as many Thai people shopping around as well.
After Chiang Mai I took a bus to Pai a small town just to the Northwest of Chiang Mai. Again the computer I'm on doesn't let me upload photos so I'll get some up soon.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Luang Nam Tha
Luang Nam Tha is a very small town in northern Laos and really the only reason to go here is for a trek to the nearby national park. Which is what I spent three days doing.
The trek itself was really good it started off from a local village where we picked up our second guide and more importantly our cook for the first night. The trekking itself was fairly easy and through some very beautiful jungle. The only downside with the first day was that upon reaching the camp for the first night there was nothing to do there; no fire, no where to explore, and nobody brought cards or a book. So needless to say when the sun went down at about 6:30pm it was bed time shortly afterwards as we only had one candle to give us light.
The second day of trekking was similar to the first although it became very muddy in sections thanks to water buffalos living in the region. For the second night we were joined by a different cook from a different ethnic group to sample some different local food. The second camp site was also in an abandoned village so we were able to have a nice fire and go exploring so there were things to entertain us here.
The final day was spent trekking through more mud back out of the jungle to Luang Nam Tha. The trekking here was excellent: through very scenic jungle, not too hard, the food was delicious, and the only downside was having to constantly pick leeches off of ourselves.
After Luang Nam Tha I went to the town of Houay Xai which is on the border with Thailand. Here I spent a couple of days but the town has nothing to do so I didn't stay very long and quickly took the ferry across the Mekong river and into Thailand.
Trekking through the jungle.
Standing infront of a section of bamboo forest.
The sleeping accomadation for the two nights.
One of the houses that we used as a camp on the second night of the trek.
The guides preparing lunch on the first day of the trek: sticky rice with some pork, vegetables and chili sauce all eaten using our fingers off of bananna leaves.
A view from just outside Luang Nam Tha of the rice fields at sunset.
The trek itself was really good it started off from a local village where we picked up our second guide and more importantly our cook for the first night. The trekking itself was fairly easy and through some very beautiful jungle. The only downside with the first day was that upon reaching the camp for the first night there was nothing to do there; no fire, no where to explore, and nobody brought cards or a book. So needless to say when the sun went down at about 6:30pm it was bed time shortly afterwards as we only had one candle to give us light.
The second day of trekking was similar to the first although it became very muddy in sections thanks to water buffalos living in the region. For the second night we were joined by a different cook from a different ethnic group to sample some different local food. The second camp site was also in an abandoned village so we were able to have a nice fire and go exploring so there were things to entertain us here.
The final day was spent trekking through more mud back out of the jungle to Luang Nam Tha. The trekking here was excellent: through very scenic jungle, not too hard, the food was delicious, and the only downside was having to constantly pick leeches off of ourselves.
After Luang Nam Tha I went to the town of Houay Xai which is on the border with Thailand. Here I spent a couple of days but the town has nothing to do so I didn't stay very long and quickly took the ferry across the Mekong river and into Thailand.
Trekking through the jungle.
Standing infront of a section of bamboo forest.
The sleeping accomadation for the two nights.
One of the houses that we used as a camp on the second night of the trek.
The guides preparing lunch on the first day of the trek: sticky rice with some pork, vegetables and chili sauce all eaten using our fingers off of bananna leaves.
A view from just outside Luang Nam Tha of the rice fields at sunset.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Luang Prabang
For anyone who is very much into culture and history then Luang Prabang is a must to go to. The center of the city has been proclaimed a world heritage site since there are so many wats there, there seem to be thousands of them.
I spent a day in Luang Prabang just wandering around the city itself and stopping to visit some of the wats. It was a pretty good day but for myself once I've seen 3 or 4 wats then they all start to look the same. So needless to say I didn't see all of the wats that the town had to offer.
Surrounding the city are some nice waterfalls and caves that can be visited in a day trip, although I split it into 2 half day trips since I didn't get up in time to catch the boat to the caves on the first morning. The waterfall that I went to and the water level wasn't too high so we could climb up to the top of it and stand right on the edge of the waterfall looking down with the water rushing around our feet. At the bottom were sets of smaller falls with pools that were deep enough to swim in so most of the time at the falls was spent swimming in the pools and jumping off of the smaller sets of falls. A great way to spend the afternoon on a hot day. As we were leaving the falls we took a little detour and found a cage of 7 black bears, apparently it was an operation that saved orphaned bears and kept them so they didn't die. The caves that I visited the next day were fairly unimpressive after all of the caves around Vang Vieng. The only slightly interesting part of the caves was that there were thousands of Buddha statues in them.
On my last morning in Luang Prabang I got up at sunrise (5:30am) to see the parade of monks collecting their alms. The entire procession was fairly interesting to watch as hundreds of monks walked down the street collecting rice from locals that lined the street. The only drawback was that there were so many tourists there taking pictures that it didn't seem very real anymore and almost more of a tourist attraction as even some of the tourists joined in giving out alms and getting pictures of them doing it.
One of the many wats in Luang Prabang.
The monks receiving their daily alms.
Myself jumping off of one of the smaller waterfalls (about 10 feet high).
Standing in front of the main waterfall.
I spent a day in Luang Prabang just wandering around the city itself and stopping to visit some of the wats. It was a pretty good day but for myself once I've seen 3 or 4 wats then they all start to look the same. So needless to say I didn't see all of the wats that the town had to offer.
Surrounding the city are some nice waterfalls and caves that can be visited in a day trip, although I split it into 2 half day trips since I didn't get up in time to catch the boat to the caves on the first morning. The waterfall that I went to and the water level wasn't too high so we could climb up to the top of it and stand right on the edge of the waterfall looking down with the water rushing around our feet. At the bottom were sets of smaller falls with pools that were deep enough to swim in so most of the time at the falls was spent swimming in the pools and jumping off of the smaller sets of falls. A great way to spend the afternoon on a hot day. As we were leaving the falls we took a little detour and found a cage of 7 black bears, apparently it was an operation that saved orphaned bears and kept them so they didn't die. The caves that I visited the next day were fairly unimpressive after all of the caves around Vang Vieng. The only slightly interesting part of the caves was that there were thousands of Buddha statues in them.
On my last morning in Luang Prabang I got up at sunrise (5:30am) to see the parade of monks collecting their alms. The entire procession was fairly interesting to watch as hundreds of monks walked down the street collecting rice from locals that lined the street. The only drawback was that there were so many tourists there taking pictures that it didn't seem very real anymore and almost more of a tourist attraction as even some of the tourists joined in giving out alms and getting pictures of them doing it.
One of the many wats in Luang Prabang.
The monks receiving their daily alms.
Myself jumping off of one of the smaller waterfalls (about 10 feet high).
Standing in front of the main waterfall.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Halong Bay pictures
Typical fishing village in Halong Bay, there are tons of these scattered around.
Kayaking through a cave to get into a lagoon. This cave is the only way into the lagoon and it can only be accessed at low tide.
Local fishing boat.
Fishing boat inside one of the many caves .
Sunset over Halong Bay.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Pictures from Sapa
Trekking through the forest to get to Fansipan
Our group of trekkers at the top of the mountian, couldn't see anything though.
Our guides cooking dinner over the fire with the accommodation building in the background.
Kids using the irregation ditches as a slide and having a great time.
The waterfall at Cat Cat village.
Yours truly helping the locals harvest some rice.
Locals working hard harvesting rice.
Vang Vieng
I'm fairly certain that Vang Vieng is unlike any other town in Laos (and maybe Southeast Asia). The town itself is pretty small but a major destination on any backpackers trip as there are tons of activities around here and some pretty good night life too.
The main attraction in Vang Vieng is to go tubing down the Nam Song. Loads of people rent large inner tubes in the town and take them up river where they start the trip back down. The activity was described to me as pub crawling mixed with a water park which is a very accurate description as along the river several bars have set up to allow you to drink beerlao and lao whiskey. Also at all of these bars are swings, slides and ziplines into the river. All in all the activity is very fun but there are many incidents that occur (usually from people who get too drunk so as long as you keep your wits about yourself the day is very enjoyable).
Also around Vang Vieng are several caves which can be reached on bike. I did this for one of my days there and although most of the caves aren't too impressive a few of them are. One cave, called blue lagoon, also contians a nice lagoon in front of it that you can go swimming in to cool off, a great activity in the heat. Although the caves themselves weren't very impressive the ride through the country side was stunning. The dirt road that I followed went through green rice fields with limestone hills rising just beyond the edge of the fields, also the road went through a couple of small villages. The only downside to my day of cycling was that on my way back it started to absolutly pour. So I spent an hour waiting for it to pass in a Lao shop drinking beerlao with the people working there.
The only downside to the town of Vang Vieng is that there doesn't seem to be any real Laos left in it because it's such a party town. The restaurants all seem to have the exact same menu (consisting mostly of western food) and they all play the TV show Friends over and over. So the average person spends the day tubing down the riverm then they sit in these restaurants watching friends for a few hours before going out to the bar. It appears that everybody comes here just to party which can be fun for a couple of days but not many more.
In Vang Vieng there are also plenty of opportunities to go rock climbing, kayaking down the river (I'm told the tubing is better though) and rafting; but I didn't partake in any of these just the caves and a couple of times down the river in a tube before I decided to move on and see more of the real Laos.
The main attraction in Vang Vieng is to go tubing down the Nam Song. Loads of people rent large inner tubes in the town and take them up river where they start the trip back down. The activity was described to me as pub crawling mixed with a water park which is a very accurate description as along the river several bars have set up to allow you to drink beerlao and lao whiskey. Also at all of these bars are swings, slides and ziplines into the river. All in all the activity is very fun but there are many incidents that occur (usually from people who get too drunk so as long as you keep your wits about yourself the day is very enjoyable).
Also around Vang Vieng are several caves which can be reached on bike. I did this for one of my days there and although most of the caves aren't too impressive a few of them are. One cave, called blue lagoon, also contians a nice lagoon in front of it that you can go swimming in to cool off, a great activity in the heat. Although the caves themselves weren't very impressive the ride through the country side was stunning. The dirt road that I followed went through green rice fields with limestone hills rising just beyond the edge of the fields, also the road went through a couple of small villages. The only downside to my day of cycling was that on my way back it started to absolutly pour. So I spent an hour waiting for it to pass in a Lao shop drinking beerlao with the people working there.
The only downside to the town of Vang Vieng is that there doesn't seem to be any real Laos left in it because it's such a party town. The restaurants all seem to have the exact same menu (consisting mostly of western food) and they all play the TV show Friends over and over. So the average person spends the day tubing down the riverm then they sit in these restaurants watching friends for a few hours before going out to the bar. It appears that everybody comes here just to party which can be fun for a couple of days but not many more.
In Vang Vieng there are also plenty of opportunities to go rock climbing, kayaking down the river (I'm told the tubing is better though) and rafting; but I didn't partake in any of these just the caves and a couple of times down the river in a tube before I decided to move on and see more of the real Laos.
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