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Thailand
Monday, July 24: On plain-Bangkok
We were on a Thai Air Boeing 777-300 leaving 00:05. Very comfortable
junk class - definitely the best I'd been on. Seats tilted a
bit when reclined. I even slept a little on the short 4 hour
flight.
Bangkok
Easy arrival to very nice airport, so completely un-Indian. Bathrooms
were clean! Left luggage cost 70 Bath/day ($1 = 40 Bath), but
very reluctantly we left it there for 35 days. Then air-conditioned
almost empty bus to City center, which took 1+ hours in heavy
traffic.
I was a bit difficult to find the hotel room in a maze of alleys.
It was all full this early. We had breakfast, I Pad Thai, which
was good. But too mild. Then got a room in hotel #1, which was
OK but without window. Surain found out that we could store luggage
in hotel for only 8 Bath a day, so she went to airport to fetch
our suitcase (the claim name was with her passport). Meanwhile,
I switched to a room with window, much nicer. And did some email.
Surain got back and we had lunch - I had Thai vegetable curry,
which was very spicy. In the afternoon we walked down to the
Royal Palace area. Looked very much like I remembered it. 200
Bath in entrance, so didn't buy tickets (free for Thai people).
But as we went through bathroom, w saw parts of the grounds.
After that walked down to pier and took boat across the river
to Wat Arun, the very tall temple on the other side of the river.
Recrossed the river and waited for bus back. Then suddenly the
sky opened and threw down the rain. We tried to hide under a
small tree. We had the cameras but not the umbrellas.
A bus showed up - not the one we wanted, but hopped on anyway
from the rain. [War Pra Kao].
The bus was nice enough to drop us near the hotel and the rain
had stopped. Had dinner at the hotel and then played cards at
restaurant while waiting for Joan - but she never showed.
Tuesday, July 25: Bangkok
Slept late. Had müsli breakfast + 15 Bath for tea - at hotel
next door. Then checked email and found out that Joan had had
to stay in Katmandu for fever for unknown reasons.
Surain had chest pain immediately after swallowing for the 4th
day, so took bus to Mission Hospital. Very impressive hospital.
Indian doctor could find nothing wrong, but did electro cardodiagram
and then gave her medicine. Had lunch there - good.
Bus back and then walked through the shops. Bought air ticket
to Phnom Penh - cheaper than Angkor Wat. Then bought light lens
for Surain. Fixed our web site. Had dinner in the street.
Took thuk-thuk for ten Bath only to two temples. One was very
nice with lots of Buddhas. The driver had us visit two stores.
By our visit - no purchase required - he would get free gas.
So different from India! Clean, no beggars (hardly), no hassle,
people very helpful. But we miss the cows, occasional elephants
and other animals, the colorfulness and the contact with Indians.
People ignore us except to help us find the way. Food prices
are just a bit higher and so are hotel, but the "rest"
(tours and other tourist activities) seem much more expensive
and buying stuff in general.
Wednesday, July 26: Bangkok-Phnom-Penh
After breakfast took bus to pier near City Palace. Tours were
only personal (400 Bath), so we just took the rive boat to its
end down downstream, and then back again.
Checked out from hotel, had lunch, did shopping and Internet.
At 3 took van to airport. Departure tax 500 Bath ($12.50) per
person. It turned out we were flying Bangkok Airlines ATR 72
prop plane.
Cambodia
Getting into the country was pretty easy - it just cost money:
$20 per person. We got $98 cash back from $100 travelers checks
to accomplish it. People were friendly at airport, including
customs officials. Shared taxi into town with British tourists.
Phnom Penh
Found room near river and temple. Tea was cheap at nearby restaurant:
30 cents (~12 Bath) for large pot (Thailand 15 Bath for bad cup).
Thursday, August 27: Phnom Penh
Hard time falling asleep (too much excellent coffee in plane?)
but did get some sleep. Traffic started very early - long
before sunlight. Had breakfast across - noodle soup both of us.
Called Narin hotel about visa to Vietnam, which they could arrange
($70 for both of us!).
So walked out to bank. Here we changed $200 travelers checks
to $198 cash, since it seemed like most people used dollars anyway.
Then walked past market, which seemed quite interesting, with
some foods that we had never seen before.
The city was cleaner than India, but not as clean
as Bangkok. There were beggars, too. Many streets outside the
center had no pavement. Surprisingly many cars and, especially,
motorcycles (many wanted to take us somewhere for a fee). Bicycle-rickshaws
Indonesian style with people in front. Many nice buildings, but
many of these were either for sale for rent. Some cars were quite
large. Somehow I had expected the city to be more backwards.
Reached Narin hotel and bought tickets for the boat
to Sien Rep tomorrow. Then continued down to the Tual Sleng museum,
preserved from where all the people had been interrogated and
then slain during the Pot Pol regime. About 3.6 millions had
been killed (about 6 millions during Hitler's regime).
Walked back towards the center and found a restaurant.
Ordered one noodle vegetarian dish and vegetarian we had never
heard about. They were quite good with some chili mixture added
(which the servant did without asking). We were also served tea.
Then walked past three wats:
- Wat Senorom (not mentioned in the Guide Book, but
in a way the one way I enjoed the most)
- Wat Ounalam (the most important in Cambodia), and
- Wat Phnoun near our hotel (did not go in there, since
they required $1 from foreigners only.
It was nice walking along the river with several
crossings and many empty tour boats. Had dinner next door, mine
was egg and some sea food and onions. Good but too low on seafood.
Friday, July 28: Phnom
Penh-Siem Rep
Slept well and was awakened by watch at 5:30. Had
breakfast - noodle soup again - and tea across the street. Our
6:30 car showed up 6:45+ - just as we were getting worried. It
was a big boat, very long. Noisy but very powerful and fast.
Passed lots of homes along the river and also many boats. Sat
on top of the boat all way rather than below in the air-condition
and assigned seat area.
After a couple of hours we entered the very big lake.
We could barely see across to one side only - though the vegetation
was very low, so could not see very far. Water in lake was very
high. Most of it was sandy, reddish. Eventually the other side.
Lots of houseboats and people in small boats. These boats
looked like the boats we had seen on Lee river in Guilin in China.
Siem Rep
Arrived after 5½. Big zoo of people wanting
our business, everybody crowding around us. Found Smileys that
had been recommended and got into their van for transport. The
room we got was not all that nice with without bath, so we bargained
it down to $3. Rice and vegetables for lunch, not all that inspiring.
Rained in the afternoon, then took walk around town.
Lots of nice restaurants, nice walk along river, a few temples,
nice park - in short, a nice city to walk around.
Earlier agreed with French couple to go in car with
them next morning (Patric and Jeanine). In the evening went to
dinner with woman from Austria (Karen). Nice evening at nice
restaurant with excellent Cambodian food.
Saturday, July 29:
Siemp Rep (Angkor Wat)
Angkor Wat
The watch rang 4:15 since the French couple wanted
to see sunrise. At the entrance we paid $80 for both of us (ouch!).
They also took pictures of us for the pass. We were early for
the sunrise, it was still a little dark. When the sun came up,
it was in our face, a bit strange for good picture taking.
Had breakfast and then they changed drivers. He
was nice enough but did not say much, only "you can see the
temple there" and "I'll meet you there later" (we
learned later that other guides were much more talkative and knowledgeable).
After sunrise at Angkor Wat we spent most of the time at Angkor
Thom.
It was nice enough, but nothing like places in India
(like Ellora) or Machu Pichu, Copan, or Palenque. After Angkor
Thom the driver took us to a few places outside: Bayon (where
we walked to the t op and could see Angkor Wat in the distance),
ChaU Say (that they were working on).
Went back to hotel for lunch and took off again at
2. It was a long drive (maybe 45 minutes) towards the capital
to Rolous group. First visited Lele, nice but not worth the drive.
But Preach Ko was the favorite for all four of us. Much fewer
people, very nice setting in harmony. After third place went
to sunset place. Great view but rain was on its way, so we headed
back.
Had dinner at same place as yesterday, again with
Karin from Austria and two girls from Norway. Rained as we walked
there.
Sunday, August 30:
Siem Rep (Angkor Wat)
Breakfast 7:30. My omelet was too oily. Got on
the moto with Chaya at 8:20. He was very nice, spoke good English
and was quite informative. We first visited Preah Khan (stopped
at the nice northern gate to Angkor Thom; Chaya said there were
52 "King" stones and 52 "evil" stones on
the inner part of the gate; nice). It even had a small visitors
guide describing some of the restoration - done by Japanese.
Liked it despite the ruined state of a lot of it, it had several
great trees breaking up the rocks.
After that we visited Ta Prehim, which had pretty
much bee left in the ruined state with not much restoration work.
Lots of big trees ripping the rock apart. Lunch (noodles
and vegies - not so much food). Rested for 45 minutes or so overlooking
Sra Srang, the largest royal bathing pond.
At 2 we visited Bantey Kdei (or The Citadel of the
Cells). Not bad, but had seen much similar and did not stay long.
And so Angkor Wat itself. Lots of restoration seemed to have
taken place and saw lots of "new" "carvings"
- but most pretty well done. Spent some time sitting high up
enjoying the view. There were lots of Cambodians at the temples
since it was Sunday. This was especially true at the last one.
There were many shortly cut nuns out here.
Chaya mentioned that landmines is still a problem
and farmers don't dare to go back to their homes. The border
is cleared of mines everyday. No rain today and it was warmer
than yesterday. Went to new restaurant for dinner. Good food
and great lemon shake.
Monday, August 31:
Siem Rep-Phnom Penh
Up 5:20 to get ready. Noodle soup at 5:45 and then
took the van just afte 6 down to the fast boat. It was a different
one, a hydrofoil, much quieter and it took only 4½ hours
(instead of 5½). Sat on the top all the way. Mess on arrival,
Narin did not show up with the van. We shared a taxi for $1.
Phnom Penh
Nice room, the best in Cambodia. Left our passports
+ one picture for Vietnamese visa. Rice with veggies lunch at
Narin's wasn't too bad. In the afternoon I walked to the bank
in the hot sun to break yet one more $100 travelers check into
cash.
Walked around the main street just south of the hotel
at dinner and found lots of restaurants. Most of them were heavily
geared towards meat, though. But we had nice enough veggie meal
for 4,000 Riels each plus beer for 5,000 plus rice for 1,500 for
the two of us. Not bad. [$3.85]
Words in Cambodian:
- Sue'seda: Hello
- Sock'sebai: How are you?
- A'kon: Thank you
- Le'hai: Goodbye
About 13 million people live there, 3 million in
Phnom Penh. Last year 260,000 arrived by air, this year it is
up 34%. There are so many motorcycles, many with 3 people
on them.
Tuesday, August 1:
Phnom Penh
Scrambled eggs for breakfast, better than the omelet.
Then we took a motorcycle out to The Killing Fields, where they
had found mass graves with over 8,000 dead bodies, some without
heads. They had now built a nice stupa with many of the skulls
inside. Hwas pointed out that this was more cruel than Hitler's
execution of the Jews, since her they had often killed the victims
cruelly.
Had lunch near the hotel, where we had eaten the
first day and liked it. Read in the afternoon (when I wasn't
sleeping). Went to the market nearby a little later when the
sun wasn't quite as hot (they had many kinds of fruit there).
Dinner at same place as yesterday. When we left
yesterday, they had started preparing an intriguing dish on the
burner. So we asked for that today but without meat. They brought
so much food - several veggies, two kind of noodles, tofu,
etc. In the pot they had broth - spicy and very good. The veggies
were all neatly arranged separately. Then they would put some
in the soup in the pot on the burner and serve us from there.
Great food and a real show to see all those people prepare our
meal.
Wednesday, August 2:
Phnom Penh-Saigon
Ate fruit plate and yogurt. Nice plate, but the
yogurt was sweet and a far cry from the curd in India. Bus left
6:30, a crowded minibus with driver and 11 tourists, quite tight.
Road was good in the beginning. Had to wait for ferry across
Mekong.
Lots of vendors there and I bought one loaf of bread.
The first time we had bought bread, we had paid 1,000 (they wanted
more) the second time 800, and now 200 [$.05]! Guest house 800).
After the crossing there seemed to be water everywhere and rice
grew also everywhere. The road started deteriorating. Finally
less water. In the end the road was really bad and the driver
had to inch his way through.
Vietnam
Saigon
Nice customs building in Vietnam. The crossing took
a long time. Very nice bus with air conditioning and the road
was very good - an incredible contrast to Cambodia. Arrived Saigon
about 3:30. Nice hotel that accepts visa (we are short on cash!).
And 2 hours free Internet.
Vietnam is obviously doing petty well with many very
nice buildings. But it is not as clean as Thailand, and there
are some areas that approach India in filth (not as many though).
And a few places stink of urine. We find a very nice - and cheap
- vegetarian restaurant. And the milk shakes are great!
Thursday, August 3:
Saigon
Have breakfast where we had dinner yesterday. My
Vietnamese curry is wonderful. And they have Vietnamese tea for
1,000 [7 cents] as well as Lipton for 3,000. Do some Internet,
then go to travel agent and book Mekong delta tour for next two
days.
Walk along to Eva Air, but fail to rebook our flight
home. The market is very interesting with all sorts of things.
We buy some plastic containers for storing food with screw lid.
Lunch at another vegetarian restaurant, also very good.
Buy Christmas gifts for my family - compasses mounted
on nice wooden carved. Book bus to Hanoi, great dinner again,
and managed to download pictures from digital camera with guy
doing most of the work! Had wonderful coffee with dinner and
thus don't sleep too well.
Friday, August 4: Saigon-Mekong
Delta
Omelet with veggie breakfast - not bad. Our bus
- nice but air conditioned - left 8. Long ride but got on the
river at 11:00 (half hour break in between).
Mekong Delta
After short ride
we saw puffed rice making. Road for a while and then had lunch
- beautiful fish, veggies and rice puffs rolled onto very thin
rice paper - very nicely arranged.
Then rode bicycle for a while. Long boat ride followed,
from 2 to past 6. Last hour was quite interesting, but the beginning
was long. Crossed both of the two big arms of the Mekong river
and many, many small ones. Also one market.
We were put up in fairly nice hotel - the setting
was really nice. We had to pay for our dinner and ordered rice
wine, which was OK but strong as sake and much too much for us,
so we shared across the table. The guide Tea (spelling?) - very
nice but pronunciation a bit hard - bought us snake wine. This
was a bit better than the rice wine (Thuy). Hotel was bungalow
style.
Vietnam has 70 million people, the world's second
biggest rice producer. 18 million live in the Mekong delta and
almost 8 in Saigon.
Saturday, August 5:
Mekong Delta-Saigon-night bus
Continued a bit on river in smaller boat to market
- not bad but stayed too short. Then back to other market and
several rice making places (rice, rice noodles, etc.). Had lunch
in fairly large town and then wandered market and waited for our
bus, one hour late.
At ferry we all had to get out, but people stayed
in other buses. It was explained that bus passengers would drown
if ferry sank. This did not matter for Vietnamese, since they
do not know how to swim. However, westerners would survive if
not in the bus, since they do know how.
Back just before 7. Had dinner at the nice restaurant
and then took 8 p.m. bus to Nha Trang. We lucked out - there
were only 4 passengers in the van, so we could both lye down.
The other guy was Vietnamese, who had lived 20 years in New York
but spoke poor English and his newly wed younger wife from Cambodia.
Sunday, August 6: in
bus-Nha Trang
Nha Trang
I slept a couple of hours. Many minor stops and
the passenger was driving when I woke up. Arrived 6:45 instead
of 5 and had free breakfast and used free Internet. Hotel was
pretty nice, very near beach.
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So walked down to beach, and I swam in very blue
and quite warm water. Nice! We then walked down along shore
towards bridge, and ended up in fishing village. It was surprisingly
poor and it was filthy like Indian and people used the beach for
toilet.
Couldn't get through here, so walked back to market
and took moto to the Buddhist temple. Nice large Buddha. Walked
back to hotel and had lunch on the way. Grabbed our swim cloths
and went down swimming. Back to hotel and got diary and book
to read and rented two chairs in shade very close to the water.
But we hadn't been there very long, when people started arriving.
With the middle of the day heat gone, it seemed like everyone
in town descended on the beach just where we were. Lots and lots
of motos and bicycles and people everywhere having fun in the
water.
When it got dark, we had dinner at nice restaurant
right at water. My seafood was good but very "fishy".
Monday, August 7: Nha
Trang-Hoi An
Bus picked us up 6:20 to take us to restaurant, where
we had breakfast before departure. Long bus ride 7:10 - 6:45
through very lush green, beautiful blue waters at times, and salt
lagoons and Chinese fishing nets.
Hoi An
But arrival was a shock - all empty hotels charged
$15 or more! Finally took a room for $12 at a place that did
accept credit cards and that was hot as nice as the $6 in Nha
Trang. But one "plåster på såren"
was that we found a great Indian restaurant.
Tuesday, August 8:
Hoi An
Had noodle soup at small place near hotel. Then
walked to Japanese covered bridge and a few of the "tourist"
buildings. Came to river and market and bought coffee maker for
the kayak. Checked our several hotels and switched to same price,
a bit smaller, much nicer, and they accepted visa card.
Then lunch - Vietnamese style with shrimp nicely
arranged and not bad, but not something I would order often.
Changed money and walked home via market. Noted so many women
here - almost all. So different from India - and people are shorter.
Boats were delivering fish in small boats, and people were wandering
about slightly bigger ones. It seemed there were going somewhere
with them.
Rested back at the hotel and wrote post cards. Then
to post office. Walked over the bridge - rickety - and shared
a beer there. Watched the Chinese fishing nets at bridge at market.
Later we had dinner at Indian restaurant again.
Wednesday, August 9:
Hoi An-Hue
Took 7 a.m. bus to Hue after breakfast. This was
a big bus that was fairly full - quite a difference from the previous
buses. They first drove to Marble Mountain. Didn't see much
without a flashlight. Seemed to be a nice pagoda on top, but
there wasn't enough time to climb to the top of the Marble Mountain
(they gave us 15 minutes, not 1½ hours as stated in brochure).
Then they drove us to Cham Museum in Danang for a
"10 minute" visit. We did not pay the $2 entrance fee.
The view from top of the pass was great, but the bus did not
stop at the beach as advertised.
Hue
Arrived around one at hotel and we did check in there
for $8. Lunch there was OK but not too inspiring. In the afternoon
we walked to river and then across bridge and to the Citadel (maybe
20 minutes). When we found out it cost $5, we decided to wait
until the next morning. Walked back the other way and found several
tourist restaurants and hotel on the way - got a bit lost on the
way to the hotel, but a friendly cyclo driver brought us there
(after a long discussion about the 3,000 price). Later we walked
back to a restaurant for dinner (fruit juice for 3!) and then
did email.
Thursday, August 10:
Hue-on bus to Hanoi
Checked out in the morning and walked to same restaurant
for yogurt + fruit plate. Then walked to Citadel again and paid
55,000 dong (which is $4 and not $5). Spent several hours in
there and found t quite interesting. Very Chinese-looking but
ut was build to look like The Forbidden City. Built starting
about 1805, it had been added on to many times. Unfortunately,
much of the former glory was gone and wars had destroyed some.
Reconstruction could be seen at many places.
Then walked back to other restaurant we had seen,
but service was very slow and we could never come to an understanding
on the fruit juice contents, so w skipped it (had at yesterdays
restaurant). Then ensued a long discussion with cyclo driver
about taking us to the Thien Mu Pagoda. We walked to the market
for almost 10 minutes, until a driver - who had been following
us - finally agreed to 15,000 dong (he wanted 20).
It was a 20+ minute peddle to get there. Liked the
pagoda. Then to the market for a few pictures and back to hotel.
Took shower and read for a while and waited for our 6 p.m. bus
to Hanoi.
But the bus - not a very nice one, it had seen better
days - wouldn't start. So they worked on it for a while, but
to no avail. So it had to be push-started (only twice actually,
and rolled by itself once). We left 6:30 and picked up a lot
of people, so the bus was completely full. And we left town 7:15.
Just before 9 stopped for dinner (and changing a few passengers,
since some were changing to bus for Laos from here). Chinese
restaurant.
Friday, August 11:
on bus-Hanoi
Road got bad pretty soon after dinner, for the entire
night thee seemed to be construction going on with slow movement
and constant rocking. Backpacks everywhere (they were all inside).
But in the morning we finally reached better road.
But our bus was so slow, it was constantly being passed by other
buses. Also very cautious (slow) driver. We got "breakfast"
at 10:30 (we had noodle soup) and the driver after that was faster.
Hanoi
1:30 - after 19½ hours - we reached Hanoi.
Having walked with hotel guys for a while - getting further and
further away - took VISA place for $10 - actually a very nice
place worth more than $10 and much better than the $7-$8
offered. Bought plane ticket to Vientiane and signed up for Halong
Bay the next day.
Found Indian restaurant for dinner - quite good but
expensive. Went to bead early, since we hadn't slept so well
the night before.
Saturday, August 12:
Hanoi-Halong Bay
Halong Bay
Bus left at 7. Nice air-conditioned bus and we reached
Halong at 12. Lunch at Chinese restaurant was OK (squid was good).
Then took pleasant boat at 1:30 out to Cat Ba island - maybe 25-30
people on board. It first stopped at the caves. Nice caves,
quite large, lit up by various lights and colors. Shortly thereafter
we stopped for swimming - diving down. It was wonderful and warmer
than Nha Trang. Just too short.
Then again long boat ride to Cat Ba island. There
were beautiful islands, but still I was a bit disappointed, considering
my expectations. Got there about 6 and short bus ride to hotel,
which was quite nice. Great view from the hotel. Walked through
town after dinner - lots of hotels and tourists (200,000 every
year).
Sunday, August 13:
Cat Ba trek
Breakfast was boring - omelet and two sandwiches.
Then we took short bus ride to cave, that had been used by military
during Vietnam War (built by the Chinese). It was dark and I
almost fell into a 1½ meter abyss (scream from Surain saved
me).
Started the trek at 10. It did cover six mountain
passes - one slipperier than the others, especially after we got
a bit of rain. At one point we had to crawl under very low branches
(~½ meter) for 10 or more meters. Those who weren't already
muddy became it here. Surain fell many times, especially towards
the end. Got noodle soup (good) in village (about 2) and then
walked to beach (~½ hour) to ride small boat back to town.
But stopped at nice beach so we could go swimming.
Back at hotel 6:30, nice to ride the boat all the way back.
"Guide" spoke very little English - but he pointed out
big spiders and two small snakes, one green and one red (both
poisonous). Also saw "walking stick". We crashed shortly
after dinner.
Monday, August 14:
Cat Ba-Hanoi
Took boat back in the morning, and again it stopped
for a nice swim. Lunch in Halong at 11 and back in Hanoi at 4:00.
Our old room was taken, so they put us up in another hotel, not
as nice. Wrote postcards in the evening.
Tuesday, August 15:
Hanoi
Surain tired due to cold, so I read a bit after breakfast.
Then moved back to first hotel and got a very nice room on top
(4th) floor. Walked to lake and bought tickets to
the puppet show in the evening. Walked to banks and exchanged
$50.
As we walked towards pagoda, we stopped in little
hole-outside-the wall restaurant, where we selected a few veggies
and tofu and fish and omelet etc. Quite nice and nice to eat
in a real Vietnamese restaurant at least once. Then to Vietnam
airlines (check on airport transportation) and cyclo to Ho Chih
Minh mausoleum. Walked to market and Queen's for email, then
home. Dinner at Indian restaurant again and bought independence
Day T-shirt.
The puppet show was great, all done under water (had
never seen that before). One woman played strange instrument
wonderfully.
Wednesday, August 16:
Hanoi-Vientiane
I did some email before breakfast. Then back between
all moto's coming in roaring speed from all directions in the
street - certainly never felt at ease crossing the streets. At
least no auto-rickshaw and few cars. Short taxi-ride to Vientiane
Airlines office an minibus to airport. Arrived 10:00 after 45
minutes ride.
Easy checking in (and paying departure tax $10=dong
140,000 per person). Plane left 12:15, 15 minutes late. Same
kind of prop plane as Bangkok-Phnom Penh (ATV 32 from France).
Laos
Vientiane
Arrived Vientiane 1:35, flying mostly over green
forests with no houses.. Hotel at $5 was not to nice, but acceptable.
Walked around town to look at several Wats and Mekong River.
Hardly any traffic here, so different from Hanoi. Hard
to believe it was a capital city.
We had dinner at a (mostly) vegetarian place, great
food and especially the lemon grass dish. Both the hotel and
the restaurant offered free drinking water - so civilized compared
to Vietnam, where nobody did.
Thursday, August 17:
Vientiane-Luang Prabang
Took thuk-thuk at 6:15 to bus stand for Luang Prabang.
Easy to get seats, but there was no breakfast available - except
bread. So we bought some of that. Bus looked quite new and was
in good condition. And the road was excellent. It stopped for
lunch a little after 11. We got rice and veggies and it was good
and there was drinking water available.
The rest of the trip was through the mountains.
It was cloudy and drizzled a little, but most of the time it was
quite beautiful and very green. Crossed one fairly high pass
- at least we climbed a lot to get there and it became chilly
outside.
Luang Prabang
Reached Luang Prabang 4:30 after 9½ hours -
certainly much better than our book said - it claimed the road
to be impassible during the monsoon and take at least 2 days otherwise.
Got a nice hotel and had nice dinner with lemon grass. Hotel
was Jaliya Guest House.
Friday, August 18:
Luang Prabang
Went to the market in the morning and had noodle
soup for breakfast thee - with green leaves in it (basil). People
were surprised we did not want any meat. Then wrote post cards
and took thuk-thuk with three other westerners to a river and
boat five minutes to nice waterfall - reminded us of Sete Quedas,
though this was all under trees. Fairly strong current but shallow.
We all went swimming or mostly wading. Then had lunch with Martin
from Holland and went to the bank and post office. Walked to
a few wats - one near road and one with nice view of Luang Prabang
on top of hill ($1 entrance). Had fruit shake, back to hotel
for rest and then Indian dinner - quite disappointing and very
greasy.
Saturday, August 19:
Luang Prabang
In the morning we walked to a village, 4 kilometers
away. But ended up at the wrong place, so no village, just a
few buildings at a road junction.
Had some unusual Laotian lunch - quite good. Then
walked through the city palaces, which was interesting. I had
been occupied until the Patet Lao take over (August 1975 in Vientiane,
and I had visited Vientiane in April 1975). Then walked along
the river confluence and saw some of the dragonboats being practiced.
Good dinner at Hong restaurant near hotel.
Sunday, August 20:
Luang Prabang-Van Vieng
Got up early and got to bus stand early with thuk-thuk
to get on the 7:30 bus. We arrived 6:40 but were told the bus
was starting there already full with passengers and the next bus
would not leave until 10. So reluctantly we got on we got on
and sat down on plastic stools - not too comfortable. Then the
7:30 bus left 7:10 and we had just had time to chew on some bread.
It was not too comfortable as the bus started working
its way through the mountains. It would turn left and right all
the time and we had to hang on with our hands. But it was beautiful
- so green and the clouds would sometimes lift, sometimes you
could see the mountains above the clouds.
Van Vieng
But the bus was having problems and the driver often
had trouble shifting gears, especially downshifting. But we did
make it. Lunch stop and an hour later we arrived Van Vieng at
around 2 p.m. Nice but basic hotel near the river with a great
view of river and boats and people floating down on inner tubes.
Really spectacular view. Showered and took it easy, reading
my book.
Later took walk and then had dinner at the Sunset
restaurant. Had OK Non Ka Ghai (?) with fish. Great sunset!
Swedish couple had coffee at our table, so we chatted with them
an hour or two. He knew about Kåge and was sure that he
and Surain were related.
Monday, August 21:
Vang Vien-Vientiane-Nong Khai-on train
Easy morning with short walk through village. No
bus for 3 hours, so at 9:20 we took van with open seating in the
back for 3+ ride to Vientiane. It wasn't as bad as yesterday,
but could have been softer. In Vientiane we hopped on a thuk-thuk
for a long ride (18 kilometers) to the border. Had lunch there
and took the shuttle bus across the bridge.
Thailand
Easy to get into Thailand and we bought train tickets
and changed money. Then read at train station waiting for our
6:40 p.m. train to depart. But the train station was so
different from India - everything was calm with nobody sleeping
on the ground - quite like European train stations. The train
looked very similar to what I had taken in 1975, with "drapery"
so you could sleep without people seeing you. The conductor made
the bed with clean sheets.
Tuesday, August 22:
on train-Bangkok-Koh Samet
Bangkok
Slept well, only waking up a few time. The train
passed what looked like slum areas, though better than India.
After breakfast (Chinese), we took bus 40 to the Eastern bus
terminal. But after almost an hour, we got off after a woman's
advice. Short taxi ride and then another bus for "H Havi???",
20 minutes wait, and then nice air-conditioned bus for almost
two hours to the Pier Ban Phe.
Koh Samet
After some 20 minutes wait a boat took us across
to the nearby island Koh Samet. It was cloudy and windy and the
slow boat rolled quite a bit. And then, finally, a truck taxi
took us to our hotel, Jeb's Place. It was not as quiet as it
had seemed from the book.
But after lunch we went swimming. Nice enough in
the water, thought not as warm as in Halong Bay and it was cold
out of the water in the strong wind. Would we be able
to snorkel? Walked through town before dinner and then listened
to all the showing of video movies at most everywhere. There
were a few mosquitos, but we managed to kill these inside the
room.
Wednesday, August 23:
Koh Samet
Took a Forest Walk after breakfast. It drizzled
slightly all day. The walk took us up to several viewpoints with
nice views and descriptions of some of the plant life. But the
path got harder and harder to follow and divided several times
without signs where to go, so we eventually lost it. But followed
a trail almost overgrown that eventually took us down to the beach.
Long walk back to hotel.
Changed hotel to a nicer one and then walked across
island following road. Came to a nice resort. Back at hotel
- I swam again in light drizzle. Read later in the afternoon.
Good Thai dinner.
Thursday, August 24:
Koh Samet-Bangkok
Easy morning and went swimming again. Sun seemed
to be thinking about coming out. Then took jeep plus boat back
to Bangkok. Long ride - left about 10:15, boat 11:15, bus 12:15,
arrived Bangkok bus terminal about 4 and hotel about 5.
Bangkok
Checked
in and ran to restaurant - and found a nice one with much veggie
food with inspiration. Wandered around Khalsan Road and left
some laundry. Email.
Friday, August 25:
Bangkok
Changed the last $150 and then took bus to the Software
Plaza. CDs cost 150 here [$3.75] here, 220 at Khalsan Road so
we saved 630 bath ($16) for the 9 we bought. Surain stomach problems,
so I had lunch in the street. Then she had headache until 7,
so I walked around, did laundry and read quite a bit. Rained
a little in the afternoon.
After fruit shake we went to dinner + dance, performance
we bought in the morning. Good dinner with some spicy Thai food
and good other veggie food. Dance performance was interesting
and beautiful costumes, but I would not see it more than once.
Three men smoked and talked, until hushed by woman later, who
noticed I was fanning to get smoke out of the way. Not many people
there.
Saturday, August 26:
Bangkok-Ayathuya-Bangkok
After breakfast walked 10 minutes to catch bus 53
to train station. But people told us to take it in the other
direction. Strange! We had checked the map. So got off and
on in the other direction. Long journey, and halfway we had to
get off and into some further ahead in queue. Biut eventually
we got there and inquired in info. Nice man helped us, but after
a while and other man said there was a train to Ayathuya in 2
minutes (which the first man did not know obviously), so rushed
and go on. 1½ hours ride (the man had said maybe 3).
Ayathuya
Thuk-thuk guide who spoke good English took us to
wats from the train station for 350. Wat Yi Chaya Mongkol, Wat
Mahathat Reclining Buddha, The Bronze Buddha and Wat Pra Sari
Samphet. Liked the first one best (20 ?). It had 132 Buddha
around the old Wat. The second one was Cambodian and had the
Buddha's head wrapped around by tree with the rest 10 meters away
(done by Burmese military). The reclining Buddha was interesting,
but the carvings were not especially good. He took us to simple
restaurant, but great food (he ordered for us)
Train back 1 hour 15 minutes, had to stand first
half of it. Bus 53 back, but this time in the other direction
via Chinatown and eventually near home. It took 45 minutes at
least. Don't know if we'll ever understand bus 53! Dinner in
the street, found fruit shake for 10 and bought a few things.
Sunday, August 27:
Bangkok
Got some money on MasterCard - a first! Then bus
to Chinatown. Lots closed but also many markets open. Bought
very cheep mini calculator (49 bath). And cloth to Viveka and
Surain.
In Old Siam Plaza we marveled at all the food preparations
- certainly had not seen anything similar before. Most of it
seemed sweet, but we certainly could not tell (but did taste 2
slightly sweet preparations). Asking Sikhs (who spoke very good
English) we found the way to an Indian restaurant, where we had
masala dosa, lassie and chai - just like in India.
Then boat on Chao Pya River back to "our"
bridge and walked back home. Afternoon did just shopping. Found
a place that had lots of Thai vegetarian dishes and had our best
meal in Thailand with galangal - wonderful! Did lots of packing
during the day.
Monday, August 28:
Bangkok-on airplane
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