Grant and Alan Love You Long Time

So after all the buses and trains we'd taken we were both kinda looking forward to the Flight from Hanoi to Vientiane, and after the 1 hour flight we arrive in Laos, by far the shortest trip we've taken yet. So after getting our Visa's sorted at the airport, we jumped in a taxi and went to our Guest House, and then set off to explore The Capital of Laos...

Our first impression of Laos is that it is Soo much more laid back and quiet then Vietnam, which we weren't complaining about. We spent the Morning and early Afternoon looking at the Wat's (Temples) once again we both got a bit Templed out, and we'd seen a sign taped to a Number of Power poles advertising Super 14 Rugby (Cane's vs Crusader's) at one of the Bar's, so we thought well, no better way to spend warm afternoon. When we got there though the Bar was full, there was a Book Group thingy going on inside, atleast we still got to have a couple beers and watch the second half. After the game we booked our bus tickets to Vang Vieng for the next day, killed a few hours then went had a Nice candle lit dinner by the river, Crickets aren't half bad to eat!!!

To Vang Vieang we go...

We get on the bus in the middle of town and off we go, to the bus station to pick up more people, then the bring on a couple Plastic chairs to put in the aisle for the people they'd over booked for (only 3) and away we go again. About 10 minutes into the trip they turn off the aircon, so everyone opens up the windows, 5 minutes from Vang Vieng they turn the Aircon on again, not that Alan would know he slept pretty much the whole way. So we get to Vang Vieng after a 4 hour bus ride, find a Guest House, and go get lunch then go wandering...
Not many people here at all, then between 4:30 and 6:30 the town just fills up from Nowhere. We'd booked a little Kayak/Cave/Tubing trip thingy for the next day.

So next day off we go for our little trip, after a little walk we get to a water cave and get handed a Tube and Headlamp the water was great and the cave looked cool so in we go with our guide. After a little way in we have to walk for abit, well Alan almost had to crawl, then back into the tube. After the tubing came lunch. After lunch we were off Kayaking, and all of a sudden we realised where everyone came from the night before, The River, Lots of people tubing don the river.
After about 30-40 minutes of kayaking we got out at one of the Bar's/river swings for a look and a swing.

And Yes Even Alan Did it, Grant was first though.

Alan the swinger

And Grant the swinger

After a short break there we were off again in our kayaks, the kayaking was over in another hour or so, ohh and it was a twin Kayak so both of us were in the same Kayak so obviously we got beached a coupe times, but there weren't really any decent Rapids to speak of the Kayaking got a little boring. We got back to town at about 2pm. We spent the next few hours sat in one of the TV bar there and watched 4 Movies one after the other with a few beers to wash them down.

So after watching everyone go down the river on tubes we decided it was out turn... So we had a day in the sun, doing a few swings and eventually meeting up with a few Poms, Canadians, and the obligatory Aussie who became our Vang Vieng friends. So we stopped at a fair few of the bars, and left the last one just a little too late and everyone got separated as it got dark. Grant being his incredibly smart self didn't have his jandals as Alan had the bag, cut his foot on a bamboo bridge and ran home to clean it out. Alan got back about 30 minutes later, Grant must be a better swimmer!

That night ending up being quite large, as our Vang Vieng friends enjoyed drinking... So we got home late after a very amusing night of laughing at the Poms as they were the drunkest!

So the next day we did it all over again, but this time we got out early so it wouldn't be dark and got a Tuktuk to town. Then we met up with our friends again, had a few beers, but Grant being a big girls blouse went to bed early. Alan kicked on until the early hours of the morning... Who knows what he got up to!!!!

We were up early to get the bus to Louang Prabang. We will update you all on this in our next post as this one is far too long already and these keyboards suck ass.

Ka kite
Grant & Alan

So Grant did end up pulling a sicky, he is a sooky little girl after all. So Alan went out on a moto for the day, he saw the countryside and some other cool old stuff about how the Vietnamese used to farm and where elephants fought tigers to amuse the emporers.

That night we took the night train to Hanoi, another awful road! We slept a little between the sudden jolts of a random judder bar in the middle of the road for no apparent reason. So we got to Hanoi, and were told that more than a day in Hanoi was a waste, that we should spend 3 days in Sapa and then come back and fly to Laos, "sounds like a plan" we said. Just meant we had to kill a day in Hanoi. We waited in line for 90 minutes to see the embalmed body of President Ho Chi Minh, not worth it, but a good time killer. Then went to see a Pagoda, that was cool, it had a big ass drum which we really wanted to whack to see how loud it was. Then we went to KOTO restaurant, which is like Jamie Oliver's kitchen for underprivileged kids, except they're all Vietnamese and actually have no hope and not out of choice. Good food. Then sat by the lake, and walked around a bit, then ate dinner (Grant had roast pigeon, not much meat but tasty) and off to Sapa on the train we went.

So Sapa was pretty cool, it's 1650 metres high, and looks over this enormous valley. Photos don't show you the enormity of it, so we won't put one on. We got there and went for a wee wander of about 10-12 kms down into the valley about 600 metres down, with lots of hilltribes trying to sell us their handiwork, with our giude Tao and a couple of German guys. Apparently we were quicker than most others so were all done by 2:30. So we went down to the river and Alan had a swim, and we watched a couple of buffalo fighting. Then we went to a bar in the local hilltribe village. Alan shot a crossbow (he was pretty good, maybe he'll get on the SWAT team in the police force) and then watched the owner of the place whack the shit out of his monkey (it was an actual monkey, no metaphor there you dirty people!) which was pretty cruel. Then we went and drank beer up at the homestay and had a few rice wines, well Alan had a few (stuck to the Beers), Grant had about 10-15. So it was a good night.

Mot, Hai, Ba... Zo!!! (One Two Three... Drink!!!)

Woke up in the morning without a hangover, we want the recipe for this rice wine stuff. It's quite difficult to do so we decided not to pursue. After Alan devoured about 70 Billion pancakes, off we went at around 9:30 up a big hill, then down a big hill. This happened a few times, and we were all done by 2:00 again. So we got back to Sapa town, walked around it, had a nap, had food, had a few beers, but it was pretty quiet so went to bed.

The next day we went down to the CatCat village, this was only a two hour walk. Saw a waterfall and got attacked by sandflies. I don't know how, but we managed to kill about 6 hours until the bus. Beer was involved of course, but not too much. So the bus arrived to take us to the train station and we get on...

And now the fun begins...
So the train leaves at 9 PM, and is supposed to arrive at 6 AM. However, a freight train ahead of us derails and we stop at about midnight, thinking nothing of it we go back to sleep. At 6AM we wake up and find out we still haven't moved. A word that starts with F and rhymes with duck came into our heads a few times. So we missed our flight by about 5 hours. So here we are in Hanoi, bored, hungry, in need of another Halida (this beer is the best in Vietnam in our educated opinion as we have tried every beer possible).
We got a flight for the next morning, so not too much time lost.
LAOS HERE WE COME!

OK so after our waiting for our hotel room in Nha Trang, we were pleasently surprised at how wicked the room was... We even got a sea view of Nha Trang beach!

Nha Trang is pretty much a seaside town, like the Mount but with a lot more hotels and Vietnamese people. We spent the first day wandering around and checking out the place. And then went down to the market as we always tend to do, just in case there is a bargain to be found. Then spent the late afternoon on the beach, such a hard life we lead. Then Grant was a loser and crashed out at 8 again.

The next day was awesome, we went on a boat trip out to the islands, the first stop was some snorkelling and we could see some fishes and some coral. Pretty cool. Then we got taken to another island and we ate a whole lot of food, and then the crew started playing music and stuff, which was pretty hilarious. The coolest thing on it was the floating bar, we were put in rescue tubes and swum around in them drinking red wine. Then we went to an island and hung out with some crazy Canadian dudes and then off to an aquarium. After such a hard day of having fun we had a nap, and up again two hours later for food and beer, which progressed on for a while longer than expected.

After the night before, we decided to sit on the beach. That lasted a while, then we jumped on a bus a few hours later to Hoi An.

Hoi An is an old town, lots of old Asian buildings. It looks like a really cool place, but we had a hotel that was complete arse so it put a bit of a dampener on it. There are millions (or so it seemed) of tailors here, but since we are not girls we didn't get loads of clothes made. But Alan bought some silk for his Mum. The first day was nothing to report, 2nd day about the same. We jumped on some rickety bikes and went to the beach 4 kms away, not that great compared to Nha Trang. We had an afternoon bus to catch to Hue anyway.

So we got to Hue after our shortest bus trip yet of 4 hours. As our luck is so great, about 3 kms from Hue, we got a flat tyre. Awesome. But we've found a good hotel (yussss!!!) and we even have our own computer to look up thai wives for Alan!
Today we went on a boat trip looking at some temples and tombs of ex Vietnamese emporers. They were pretty cool, but nothing compared to Angkor.

Got fed on the boat again, that was cool. And Day 13, we finally had rain... And it's not as hot anymore so we only sweat a little.
Grant has a cold so he's gonna be pulling a sicky tomorrow, Alan will do whatever he damn well wants, probably eat. All Day.

OK, that is all. Stay in school kids.

05/04/07 - to Phnom Penh for the night before going to Vietnam...

Our travelling hasn't been the best of late, after misguided Taxi Driver and the nice Road to Siem Reap, and well todays Travels werren't to be any different.
The Bus company had organised a Mini Bus to travel around Siem Reap and pickup the passengers, we were told to be ready outside our Guest House at 6:40am, but when we hadn't been picked up by 7am for our 7:30 bus we phoned the bus Company and asked what was up they told to wait and someone would be there shortly to pick us up. A guy on a Moto (small scooter type Motorbike) turned up a couple minutes later and organised a Couple other Moto drivers to give us a ride to Bus Station, so atleast we got to the bus on time.
About 2 hours into the Bus trip someone at the back of the bus noticed Smoke, so the bus stopped and found the problem. They had stacked peoples luggage on top of the Battery and some plastic had started to melt, thankfully not burn, but it still added about 30min's to our 6hour journey. the rest of the journey was pretty uneventful.

Phnom Penh was pretty boring, the highlight of the over night stop over was the 1 hour Foot Massage.

As we stayed in the guest house that organised our next bus ride, we managed to get there without any issues... Finally! This bus trip was surprisingly uneventful after all we had read about how bad the Vietnam border crossing was. I'd heard of waits of around 2 hours, but it was about 30-45 minutes all up! Brilliant!
We got to Ho Chi Minh City at around 3 PM and just wandered around the backpackers area and to a market (apparently Bill Clinton had Beef Noodle Soup there, wow). Then we had more food, we do like food after all. And more beer, if there is one thing we like more than food, it's beer. And finally got to bed at a normal hour... No more crashing out at 8 PM!!!!
Next day we went to the Cu Chi tunnels, these crazy Vietnamese people made 200 kms of tunnels with a bamboo basket and a hoe (not the North Shore kind, a short handled one). Sorry Sarj. It was really interesting, as they had the total opposite opinion about the Vietnam War to what we see in the movies. They're pretty passionate about it, but willing to forgive and forget. The Cu Chi people managed to fend off the Americans for pretty much the whole war, and lived in the tunnels for a long time as well. And they still tended to the crops in the afternoon, now that's dedication!
Alan couldn't quite fit into the secret holes that they jumped out of to shoot the 'Evil Americans'.

Next stop was the War Remnants museum, which was pretty eye opening. Seeing what Agent Orange, Napalm and Phosphorous bombs did to people makes the Americans look like they're the bad guys... Not the Vietnamese that we so often get the impression of in the movies. Wandered around the central city, it's pretty impressive see...

Actually, that's the royal palace, but the rest of the CBD is pretty flash. Lots of construction.

Now we're in Nha Trang after taking the overnight bus. Grant slept like a log, Alan kinda slept. Opposite to every other night so far!

Now we're waiting on our hotel room to be ready, then off for a walk and to book our trip around the islands tomorrow. Swimming and Snorkelling sounds pretty good about now. So how's work been everyone???? Muahahaha I'm so evil...

Ka kite, Stay Wicked ass good.
Grant and Alan

Firstly we appolgise for taking so long to add anything, we have been waiting to get an Internet Conection fast enough to allow us to upload some of our Photo's.

Just as a Highlights package...

1:30am 31/03/2007 - We arrived in Bangkok Airport, grabbed a taxi to Suk 11 Guest House and slept. We spent the next couple days looking around (Climatising) Bangkok and organising a Visa for Vietnam. We also0 went to the Night Market, Huge Market with Garden Food/Beer Court, Live Band, and 2 Huge Screens showing Football.

This elephant was just outside the restaurant we were at!

03/04/2007 - The Journey to Siem Reap, Cambodia, and what a journey it was. To start with we had to be up at 5am to get a taxi to the Bus Station for a 6am Bus. The Taxi Driver obviously misunderstood and took us to the airport, so we missed the 6am Bus and had to take the 7am bus. After a 4 Hour bus ride to Aranyaprathet and a Tuk Tuk ride to the border we were ready to go, but that was all to be the easy part of the journey. After about 1 hour at the border sorting out our Visa'a we shared a Taxi (Toyota Camry) with 2 other Tourists to Siem Reap, 155km away. The trip took us about 3 1/2 hours, the Road Is Terrible dirt road for probably 90% of the way and just in a terrible condition.

04/05/07 - Angkor Temples, Beautiful Place and a must see for all Cambodian Tourists, we got up for sunrise, sadly cloud in the way, stayed at the temples till sunset and again cloud in the way, but still a Great day.

More to come tommorow.