Och
I'm back in Pai - primarily to spend some more time with my good friend Willow, and to reclaim a bag of items I left here with him. I had planned 3 days here prior to heading south for Christmas but then the Pai bug caught me ...and I caught it (a cold that is). I ended up staying here until the 26th December. Pai is an easy town to get stuck in and a nice one to get stuck in at that. The town apparently has 'lay lines' converging here, which accounts for its very tangible energy. It is a noticeably relaxed place, with many people coming here for a few days and staying for a few weeks/ months/ even years! Willow arrived here shortly after 9/11 (that was the last straw, as he said) for a few days and never left. He is a joy to be with and I truly feel like I have fulfilled some higher purpose in my life simply by getting to spend time with him. I feel the same way while studying for the certificate in Permaculture Design earlier this year - every moment was precious, a happiness unto itself, with the knowledge that my brain was awakening in areas I never knew existed. Sitting with and speaking to Willow is like that for me - his 78 years of experience, thought and reflection are an absolute learning curve for me and fill me with enthusiasm and happiness.
I'm staying at Mae Hen bungalows - they are made of wood which is important at this time of year, when the nights get quite cold (too cold to be in a flimsy - but pretty - bamboo hut), such that I have contracted a sticky cold (i.e. it's sticking and won't leave me). The 'hot' shower is actually no more than luke warm so I haven't figured out yet how to take a shower without further depressing my immune system....however, I did hit the hot springs the other day which were delightful.
Contrary to Lonely Planet (which by the way, I advise everyone to ditch - I've had a number of really shitty experiences as a result of their 'advice'), the Tha Pai camping hot springs were awful; they no longer do the mud wraps and facials which I was looking forward to, nor do they have a hot pool. It is, in fact, less than lukewarm and judging from the amount of human skin and other unidentifiable debris floating in it, I can only guess that the last time they cleaned out the pool was 1992. Within 60 seconds of getting into this - what can only be accurately described as - human soup, I exited, asked for my money back (which I got) and headed off to the origin of the hot springs, in the national park up the road. I paid 4 times as much to go in there (still only $6) and it was worth it - I sat in one of many shored-up hot pools which ran like a daisy chain along the stream of hot water, surrounded by clean air, tall trees, blue skies and sunshine. It was delightful. And hot.
I'm still working on getting over this cold and hopefully that will be my Christmas present.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Groundhog day in Vientiane, Laos
Wow folks,
It's been way too long without an entry - apologies for the delay. I spent 4 weeks in Laos after all, and ended up having a 'groundhog day' experience for 9 days running in the capital: Vientiane. For you Europeans, Groundhog day is a USA 'holiday' and a movie where Bill Murray's character ends up experiencing the same day over and over again....
Met so many great people in Laos - it made up for the absence of traveller friends in Thailand throughout September and October: Owen and Hannah from Galway; Anton from Holland; Nicola and Jodie from Scotland; Kim, Mal 'n' Barb from Australia, Rory from Monaghan, Tricia from London...all fabulous folks each of whom I was sorry to say goodbye to. I can only look forward to seeing you all again! Anyhow, the slowboat along the Mekong is THE place to make friends on your way into Laos, so ignore the chumps and DO it!
In Vientiane, I arrived with Mal 'n' Barb. Checked into Douang Deuane hotel for a whopping $20 per night but did so as I was gagging for a bath. It's been 3 months since I've enjoyed the timeless necessity of a bath and really, the whole cold shower thing had long lost it's adventurous flavour. I luxuriated in my bath for a whole 20 minutes and was quite surprised (and pleased in a way) to see that I left a ring of grime around the tub afterwards!
Vientiane as a city is not remarkable. There are a couple of things to keep the tourist busy - That Luang, a huge, gold stupa situated on a high point in the city; Victory Monument, built in 1957 (similar to the Arc de Triomphe but in Khmer style) by the French; the national museum (which I'm ashamed to say I never made it to in 9 days...) and various wats (temples) around the place. The big draw is the Mekong river, across which you can see Thailand. Having said goodbye to Mal and Barbara, who headed south, I now had Anton from Holland and Dominic from Melbourne to hang out with and hang out we did! We went up to a rooftop bar each evening to see the sunset across the Mekong (photos included here) river and ended up going for dinner and then beers until curfew time (midnight) each evening. When Dominic had left (sob!), Owen and Hannah came along. Owen's grandfather and my Dad were both in the UN armed Peacekeeping forces in the Congo in the early 1960's, and as it turned out, knew each other! Ireland is a small country as you can see....
Owen and Hannah are two of life's good people and so we ended up hanging out for a few days in Vientiane together. I couldn't get enough of their company. Equally, Jodie and Nicola were wonderful company and it was easy to while away the hours with any and all of them. Between the three of us, Anton and few others, we kept ourselves well happy and entertained. Needless to say, the same thing occurred every day - ambled around the city by bike during the afternoon, met for sunset in the rooftop bar at 5pm; took photos of sunset; easy conversation poured forth endlessly and the rate of beer consumption almost matched that. Dinner was had, a select bar would be visited and then we all made it home to our respective guesthouses by midnight (mostly!). Only to begin again the next day....
I finally broke away on the 8th of December and made my way back up to Vang Vieng (successfully avoiding the endless re-runs of Friends and the alcohol-fuelled tubing) to explore more caves for a couple of days. Some of the most gorgeous scenery exists here in Laos. Flat rice fields punctuated by dramatic sheer, limestone towers in which have been eroded hundreds of karst caves, many of which are fabulously explorable without the necessity of a guide.
It's been way too long without an entry - apologies for the delay. I spent 4 weeks in Laos after all, and ended up having a 'groundhog day' experience for 9 days running in the capital: Vientiane. For you Europeans, Groundhog day is a USA 'holiday' and a movie where Bill Murray's character ends up experiencing the same day over and over again....
Met so many great people in Laos - it made up for the absence of traveller friends in Thailand throughout September and October: Owen and Hannah from Galway; Anton from Holland; Nicola and Jodie from Scotland; Kim, Mal 'n' Barb from Australia, Rory from Monaghan, Tricia from London...all fabulous folks each of whom I was sorry to say goodbye to. I can only look forward to seeing you all again! Anyhow, the slowboat along the Mekong is THE place to make friends on your way into Laos, so ignore the chumps and DO it!
In Vientiane, I arrived with Mal 'n' Barb. Checked into Douang Deuane hotel for a whopping $20 per night but did so as I was gagging for a bath. It's been 3 months since I've enjoyed the timeless necessity of a bath and really, the whole cold shower thing had long lost it's adventurous flavour. I luxuriated in my bath for a whole 20 minutes and was quite surprised (and pleased in a way) to see that I left a ring of grime around the tub afterwards!
Vientiane as a city is not remarkable. There are a couple of things to keep the tourist busy - That Luang, a huge, gold stupa situated on a high point in the city; Victory Monument, built in 1957 (similar to the Arc de Triomphe but in Khmer style) by the French; the national museum (which I'm ashamed to say I never made it to in 9 days...) and various wats (temples) around the place. The big draw is the Mekong river, across which you can see Thailand. Having said goodbye to Mal and Barbara, who headed south, I now had Anton from Holland and Dominic from Melbourne to hang out with and hang out we did! We went up to a rooftop bar each evening to see the sunset across the Mekong (photos included here) river and ended up going for dinner and then beers until curfew time (midnight) each evening. When Dominic had left (sob!), Owen and Hannah came along. Owen's grandfather and my Dad were both in the UN armed Peacekeeping forces in the Congo in the early 1960's, and as it turned out, knew each other! Ireland is a small country as you can see....
Owen and Hannah are two of life's good people and so we ended up hanging out for a few days in Vientiane together. I couldn't get enough of their company. Equally, Jodie and Nicola were wonderful company and it was easy to while away the hours with any and all of them. Between the three of us, Anton and few others, we kept ourselves well happy and entertained. Needless to say, the same thing occurred every day - ambled around the city by bike during the afternoon, met for sunset in the rooftop bar at 5pm; took photos of sunset; easy conversation poured forth endlessly and the rate of beer consumption almost matched that. Dinner was had, a select bar would be visited and then we all made it home to our respective guesthouses by midnight (mostly!). Only to begin again the next day....
I finally broke away on the 8th of December and made my way back up to Vang Vieng (successfully avoiding the endless re-runs of Friends and the alcohol-fuelled tubing) to explore more caves for a couple of days. Some of the most gorgeous scenery exists here in Laos. Flat rice fields punctuated by dramatic sheer, limestone towers in which have been eroded hundreds of karst caves, many of which are fabulously explorable without the necessity of a guide.
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