Where 7 Chang Mai, Thailand --OR-- One Bus All The Way !?

Hi Guys,

Oh what fun I have had since last email (Hanoi) - some memorable journeys
(although not for the right reasons) and some serious chilling out........

When I first started travelling I asked a few people already travelling
whether their backpacks got heavier or lighter as they went on. They all
said that they got heavier because they picked up lots of books along the
way. As I don't tend to read many books this isn't likely to happen to me.
So now I have a backpack ladened down with about a dozen books !!!

First of all by bus from Hanoi across the border into Lao and to the capital
Vientiane where I spent a few days waiting for a visa for Myanma (Burma).
Then north to Vang Vieng - a tiny place famous only amoung travellers; and
then north again to Luang Prubang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site for the New
Year (aka water festival). Then a cruise no less, up the Mekong for 2 days
to the border with Thailand. If only it had been that simple...............

Best Bits
- Vang Vieng is a village with a few locals, loads of travellers and
virtually nothing to do...except play pool, drink beer (US 25c a large
glass) paddle down the river in inflatable canoes, visit some caves, jump in
some pools and just chill out... Big Time. So I spent a f e
w days there ...........

- not to forget the slow 3 hour trip down the river in inflatable inner tubes -
nothing could be more .........er........ nothing

- The water festival. Basically for several days anyone is allowed to soak
anyone else !! In Lao this consists of a few water pistols and a few
small buckets of water mainly being thrown at motorcyclists and other
motorised transport (although no one is exempt). However in Chang Mai (I
got here just before the end of the festival) it is taken slightly more to
extremes....... The streets are packed with pick up trucks packed with huge
barrels of water and people with extra large buckets to get everyone they see soaking wet. The amount of water thrown is immense .... you cannot go out on the street during daylight hours without getting soaked .... carrying passport, travellers cheques etc is not a good idea !


Worst Bits
- the journey from Hanoi to Vientiane. At 22 hours this was always going
to be an experience. However once you have paid your US$26 and given your
ticket to the bus driver as you board you are out on a limb..... (remember
it is guaranteed to be one bus all the way!!) Started 7pm. Got thrown off
the first bus at 2am by a busy road in the middle of nowhere -' you have to
get a different bus from here which leaves at 4am'. Bus no 2 left at 4am
and we get to within 20km of the border (at 7am) and we then have to get a
local bus - this is packed with sacks of grain, bags, people (although
strangely no chickens) and has negative legroom. Then up a huge moutain and
cross the border at a mountain shack at the top. Luckily we have been
promised a luxury minibus from just the other side of the border. 30km the
other side we stop in a small town and thankfully get off the ultra cramped bus! And the
transport for the next stage is a pick up truck (!) with a few seats in the
back. Unfortunately it is already full with 20 people crammed in and the 4
of us are supposed to pile in on top. After some heated 'negotiating' we
get given the money for the remainder of the journey and told to sort it out
ourselves....... So after carefully weighing up our options we realised we
didn't have any ........ so we end up standing on the tailgate of the pick
up holding on for dear life for a couple of hours as we sped on our way.
Then we stopped and a minibus appeared to take us the last 3 hours (bus no.
5 of our guaranteed 'one bus all the way' journey). Still it gives me
something to write about in my emails..............

- Luang Prubang - I expected this world hertitage site to be full of
buildings worth saving (like Hoi An in Vietnam) - but whilst this does have
some pre WW2 french architecture, it has more satelite dishes than charm !

- The jouney out by boat from Luang Prubang to the border is by boat (either
a 1,2 or 3 day journey depending on which boat you choose (the 1 day is very
fast and expensive). I and about 10 others chose the 2 day boat (my visa
expired on the 2nd day so I had to make it to Thailand by then). At
nightfall on the first day we failed to make our expected destination
(stopping at a small village very near the middle of nowhere [actually most
of Lao is the middle of nowhere] and found out that the 'captain' was on a 3
day schedule. So after 1.5 days we made the halfway point and at great
expense transferred to a fast boat and, a tuktuk ride and a ferry later,
just about made the border with 30 mins to spare. Could have done it in 1
day for what it eventuially cost me !!


It's funny how everyone thought of coming back to Thailand almost as coming
home to familiar things. So it's Hurrah for McDonalds then ?
Maybe that would be going just a bit far !!

There has been a slight change of plan - I have decided to go to Myanma
(Burma) for 1 month and this together with my addition excursions into
Cambodia and Lao mean that my original target of coming back in November
(when my ticket runs out) looks unlikely. Plan B is to make South America
by November and take in a few sights there (Patagonia, Carnival in Rio etc
) and come back home around Easter next year....

Luv
Pete