This is a link to my second set of photos to date if anyone hasn't seen them or (dad) doesn't have facebook. It's getting a bit more difficult to upload them, as since Laos/Cambodian internet is much slower/less common/very expensive. So I'm about 2 weeks behind on the whole uploading front. But I will push through! There are some great ones of waterfalls and Mekong sunsets that I'm dying to upload.
Link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34924&id=264600154&l=0ef09df466
Also, I've been corrected on my previous post about America bombing Laos during the second world war, it was during the Vietnam War, which, in hindsight I did know this as they bombed the Hoh Chi Mihn trail which went through Laos but I obviously wasn't thinking as I typed. Thank you Mr History (Dad again).
After another border crossing, which seem to be becoming increasingly more and more weird we are in Cambodia. We spent 2 days in the south most region in Laos called '4000 Islands'on a pretty little island called Don Det. There's really not much to do except cycle around, laze in a hammock or get very drunk/high. We did the former! We are now in Kratie (pronounced Kra-chey) in northeast Cambodia and tomorrow we're off to see the Irrawaddy dolphins, which are an endangered species so that should be great. Have been reading the Cambodia chapter of Lonely Planet which is really interesting and has got me geared up to soak up some Cambodia culture and lifestyle. It's a country riddled with war and suffering that's only recently brought itself out of it. So I am excited for the next 3 weeks. Then only 3 weeks in Vietnam and a week in China before home. It's definately going far too quickly.
Right, off to freshen up and watch another Mekong sunset.
Love to all.
Friday 29 October 2010
Monday 25 October 2010
COPE Centre
So, whilst waiting for our vietnamese visas today we went to a place called the COPE centre across the city. COPE is a centre that details the effects of an american bomb campaign on Laos during the second world war, and how it affected the country then and still now. The time is known as 'the secret war' and it serious was, I had no idea that there was such a campaign on Laos, but it did happen:
http://www.copelaos.org/index.html
American forces dropped over 250million bombs on Laos over the space of 9 years. Around 78million of these didn't detonate and are still live somewhere in Laos. Every year 300 local Laos people die from accidently setting these devices off, many of them being children. It's genuinely shocking to hear the statistics, and to see the photographs, especially since most people who visit the centre have no idea it even happened. They sure don't teach that part of history in schools back home. I found it quite disgusting that something like this happened and so many people don't know about it, Laos is such a lovely country with laid back people and it has such a terribly history. Other countries have spent years abusing it, stealing land etc. It's really really sad. If you can, please read through the website and spread the word about the COPE project, as it really needs to be highlighted.
http://www.copelaos.org/index.html
American forces dropped over 250million bombs on Laos over the space of 9 years. Around 78million of these didn't detonate and are still live somewhere in Laos. Every year 300 local Laos people die from accidently setting these devices off, many of them being children. It's genuinely shocking to hear the statistics, and to see the photographs, especially since most people who visit the centre have no idea it even happened. They sure don't teach that part of history in schools back home. I found it quite disgusting that something like this happened and so many people don't know about it, Laos is such a lovely country with laid back people and it has such a terribly history. Other countries have spent years abusing it, stealing land etc. It's really really sad. If you can, please read through the website and spread the word about the COPE project, as it really needs to be highlighted.
Sunday 24 October 2010
Long Time No Blog
Sorry blog, I've totally deserted you. It's been a busy few weeks and getting good internet access is hard so for this, I am sorry. But I'm back now and promise to treat you better.
We are now in Laos, which is a lot like Thailand, but completely different. The people look the same, the language is similar but it's much more laid back here. There's a thing called "Laos time" which means nothing ever happens according to any time limit, so don't get stressed, just chill out and ride it out. We've come face to face with this a few times, namely with transport. But can bet your bum that the 8:30am bus won't leave until 10:00am, that the "VIP bus" you've booked isn't as VIP and new (i.e it's a broken down public bus) as you'd been led to believe by the kind guesthouse lady. Everything here is much slower, a much more laid back pace of life. Which is really nice after the hustle and bustle of Thailand, where you can't even walk down the road without someone trying to sell you something/take you somewhere. Very annoying. Laos people also aren't as pushy as Thai's, they're still very curious, especially when faced with two pale English girls. You just have to smile back if you catch someone looking at you, they're not doing it to be mean they're just curious. Laos is also one of the poorest countries in the world, so we have been making a big effort to avoid restaurants and instead opt for street stalls and local shops for food and toiletries. By doing this you can ensure you are helping the local community, rather than a big chain. And there's lots of chain restaurants in the bigger towns. The price is also so much better, if you buy from street stalls it's so much cheaper, you can get a meal and a drink from under a pound, all the food you buy is freshly cooked in front of you so it really is the better option. Definately going off restaurant dining and having someone wait on you.
We're currently in Vientiane, the capital, which reminds me too much of Bangkok so we won't be here long (hopefully). We're going to be heading south next for the 4000 islands, which is an archipelego of islands in the south of Laos.
Very much enjoying our laid back time here in Laos, the only downside we've had has been the english people we've met (not all of them I might add)., The majority of english travellers are like us, friendly, approachable and conscious of local customs and traditions. The rest are rude, loud, obnoxious and have no idea about the damaging image they are portraying of westerners abroad. It's so frustrating when we are trying really hard to fit in with the locals, and adhere to local tradition and things when the boozy 18-21's club are also here. Very frustrating. But apart from that we've met some wonderful people, so it's not all bad.
Right that's enough for one day, I won't leave it so long next time.
Peace.
We are now in Laos, which is a lot like Thailand, but completely different. The people look the same, the language is similar but it's much more laid back here. There's a thing called "Laos time" which means nothing ever happens according to any time limit, so don't get stressed, just chill out and ride it out. We've come face to face with this a few times, namely with transport. But can bet your bum that the 8:30am bus won't leave until 10:00am, that the "VIP bus" you've booked isn't as VIP and new (i.e it's a broken down public bus) as you'd been led to believe by the kind guesthouse lady. Everything here is much slower, a much more laid back pace of life. Which is really nice after the hustle and bustle of Thailand, where you can't even walk down the road without someone trying to sell you something/take you somewhere. Very annoying. Laos people also aren't as pushy as Thai's, they're still very curious, especially when faced with two pale English girls. You just have to smile back if you catch someone looking at you, they're not doing it to be mean they're just curious. Laos is also one of the poorest countries in the world, so we have been making a big effort to avoid restaurants and instead opt for street stalls and local shops for food and toiletries. By doing this you can ensure you are helping the local community, rather than a big chain. And there's lots of chain restaurants in the bigger towns. The price is also so much better, if you buy from street stalls it's so much cheaper, you can get a meal and a drink from under a pound, all the food you buy is freshly cooked in front of you so it really is the better option. Definately going off restaurant dining and having someone wait on you.
We're currently in Vientiane, the capital, which reminds me too much of Bangkok so we won't be here long (hopefully). We're going to be heading south next for the 4000 islands, which is an archipelego of islands in the south of Laos.
Very much enjoying our laid back time here in Laos, the only downside we've had has been the english people we've met (not all of them I might add)., The majority of english travellers are like us, friendly, approachable and conscious of local customs and traditions. The rest are rude, loud, obnoxious and have no idea about the damaging image they are portraying of westerners abroad. It's so frustrating when we are trying really hard to fit in with the locals, and adhere to local tradition and things when the boozy 18-21's club are also here. Very frustrating. But apart from that we've met some wonderful people, so it's not all bad.
Right that's enough for one day, I won't leave it so long next time.
Peace.
Sunday 10 October 2010
Visas, Mojitos, Markets
Haven't done much over the past few days except sort out our Chinese visa and meet friends for cocktails. It's weird meeting people from England here because you start to forget where you are, it's like you're not in the middle of south east asia it's like anywhere else. I could be in Bath it feels so natural here!
We're going back to the elephant sanctuary to volunteer for 4 days tomorrow and then we'll be crossing the border into Laos. First stop - Luang Prabang where we hope to chill out and cycle bikes etc.
Will update sometime next week when we have arrived in our new destination.
Goodbye Thailand! Part one is done.
We're going back to the elephant sanctuary to volunteer for 4 days tomorrow and then we'll be crossing the border into Laos. First stop - Luang Prabang where we hope to chill out and cycle bikes etc.
Will update sometime next week when we have arrived in our new destination.
Goodbye Thailand! Part one is done.
Thursday 7 October 2010
Elephant Nature Park
Early start today to go to the elephant nature park, which is about 1 1/2 hours chiangmai. In chiangmai there are so many elephant parks, most of them do things like mahoot training, where you can learn to be an elephant carer, or camps where you can go and see elephants do things like play football or paint a picture. We decided we didn't want to go somewhere like this as it's pretty cruel so we opted for elephant nature park, which is a charity that was set up in 1995 by a thai lady called Lek. She's from a small hilltribe and has dedicated her life to rescuing abused elephants and setting up this camp. She started with 4 elephants and there's now 33, including 2 babies that were born at the camp. It's such a nice place, and relies heavily on donations from visitors or people around the world. Elephants used to be useful in Thailand as they were used to things like logging, but since that has been made illegal they are no longer deemed useful and therefore are treated really poorly. A lot of them get bought by people that ride them around chiangmai and bangkok in the evening and get tourists to pay them money so they can feed the elephant. They dose them up with amphetamines so they stay awake longer and can earn more money. This is currently NOT illegal in Thailand, and since we've been here we've already seen 2 elephants at night walking round town who looked really distressed. If you want to you can sign a petition to appeal to the government to stop this, lots of locals support the action, it's just the thai government don't deem it important enough:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/street-begging-elephants/
So anyway, we arrived at the park and began to meet the elephants. It's a really open place and they're free to go whereever they want (within the land that the park owns, although they seem to love going outside). Each elephant has a mahout, which is their carer/previous trainer etc. It just makes sure they're not getting up to mischief, as a lot of the young ones are prone to do. So they roam around and you kind of join them. Some of them you have to avoid, like the mothers of the babies because they can get quite territorial, but others you can go up to and pet, takes photos with. There are 2 times in the day where you can feed them, they eat 2 tonnes of fruit and vegetables each so it does take a while to feed them! They usually take the food out of your hands, but some of them (the older ones) like it if you put the food directly into their mouths. We got some really good photos of this so they will follow. You also get a chance to wash the elephants, which involves them stomping into a lake and you following and chucking buckets of water all over them until they are satisfied. You get very wet but it's also pretty funny.
We had such a lovely day at the elephant park, and I could go on for years about some of the abuse some of them have had to suffer. Like one elephant that can only walk on 3 legs because she trod on a landmine and can't use the fourth one. Or one elephant that broke both her leg and spine from years of work. It's really terrible which is why the nature park is doing such good work and is such a lovely place to visit. We both came away wanting to go back, they do a programme where you can live at the park for a week and be a volunteer, but it costs quite a lot and we're running out of time with our visas so may not get a chance to do it. Maybe next week, maybe next year! It's definately a place I would recommend anyone comes to see if they get the chance:
http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/index.htm
We also took 2 days out of Chiangmai to visit my friend Emily from college at a school she works at:
http://www.threegeneration.org/
It was lovely, and very chilled out! We rode bikes and went swimming and enjoyed a massage from the legendary one eyed lady and her mate, emergency back-up. Staying in Chiangmai this weekend to try and sort out some elephant volunteering and to visit the Sunday market again before heading to Laos next week via minibus and longtail boat.
Phew, that was long. Done.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/street-begging-elephants/
So anyway, we arrived at the park and began to meet the elephants. It's a really open place and they're free to go whereever they want (within the land that the park owns, although they seem to love going outside). Each elephant has a mahout, which is their carer/previous trainer etc. It just makes sure they're not getting up to mischief, as a lot of the young ones are prone to do. So they roam around and you kind of join them. Some of them you have to avoid, like the mothers of the babies because they can get quite territorial, but others you can go up to and pet, takes photos with. There are 2 times in the day where you can feed them, they eat 2 tonnes of fruit and vegetables each so it does take a while to feed them! They usually take the food out of your hands, but some of them (the older ones) like it if you put the food directly into their mouths. We got some really good photos of this so they will follow. You also get a chance to wash the elephants, which involves them stomping into a lake and you following and chucking buckets of water all over them until they are satisfied. You get very wet but it's also pretty funny.
We had such a lovely day at the elephant park, and I could go on for years about some of the abuse some of them have had to suffer. Like one elephant that can only walk on 3 legs because she trod on a landmine and can't use the fourth one. Or one elephant that broke both her leg and spine from years of work. It's really terrible which is why the nature park is doing such good work and is such a lovely place to visit. We both came away wanting to go back, they do a programme where you can live at the park for a week and be a volunteer, but it costs quite a lot and we're running out of time with our visas so may not get a chance to do it. Maybe next week, maybe next year! It's definately a place I would recommend anyone comes to see if they get the chance:
http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/index.htm
We also took 2 days out of Chiangmai to visit my friend Emily from college at a school she works at:
http://www.threegeneration.org/
It was lovely, and very chilled out! We rode bikes and went swimming and enjoyed a massage from the legendary one eyed lady and her mate, emergency back-up. Staying in Chiangmai this weekend to try and sort out some elephant volunteering and to visit the Sunday market again before heading to Laos next week via minibus and longtail boat.
Phew, that was long. Done.
Sunday 3 October 2010
Gay Town
Long time no update, we've spent the last few days moving around the country a bit so it's been difficult to get near a computer. We spent 2 nights in Phuket in the Patong region in Adonis Guesthouse, which is by far the most comfortable place we've stayed and would definately recommend it to anyone travelling to that region. There's loads of expensive Resorts and Spa Hotels around but Adonis was cheap and really good, we even had a DVD player so managed to watch a moving one night. The first night we were there we went our for dinner along the beach strip, which is full of English people. Who are all sunburnt. Seriously, Patong is fast becoming the new Benidorm. So as we were walking back to our guesthouse we stumbled upon the gay district and we decided to go for a drink. We ended up picking the worst bar on the street to have a drink in but it turned out to be hilarious, as "Emma" our brand new ladyboy friend spent the evening flashing us and asking us to come and watch her caberet. Which again was hilarious. After a few mai tai cocktails we stumbled back to our guesthouse and went to bed, as we'd booked to do a boat tour the next day.
After an early start and a trip on a minibus we got to our destination at the top of phuket where we were taken by speedboat to see a variety of local islands, such as Hong island, James Bond island, Nacka island etc, they are all beautiful but they do all start to look the same after a while! Best parts of the day were kayaking through rocks and caves and the speedboat ride through a thunder storm. Although this has left us with colds. Unlucky. That night we watched a DVD and went to bed early.
Up at 6am for a flight from Phuket to Chiang Mai. We looked into the option of getting other modes of transport like a bus or train but they would take about 24hours whereas the plane took 2 hours and only cost around 60pounds. Finally arrived in Chiang Mai on Saturday afternoon and after checking into a guesthouse we'd found in our lonely planet book we went to explore the city.
Chiang Mai is already infinately better than Bangkok, it has so much character and soul, the people are really genuinely friendly (bar the tut tut drivers) and the city itself is so beautiful. It has the old city in the middle, where you can still see relics of the old city walls and gates and then the new city outside. Last night we met my friend Emily, from collyers and spent the evening with her and her friends. They all work at a very posh and exclusive school outside Chiang Mai and were out on a boozy night to which we tagged along. Ended up in another gay zone, rode on the back of a moped and partied til the early hours.
Today we have visited lots of temples and the famous night market, which is in full swing now and doesn't seem to have an end! There is so many beautiful things to see, eat and buy you could spend hours wandering the streets. Am having to restrict myself as bit concerned about money but there are similar markets in Vietnam which is at the end of our trip (nearly) so we're going to go shopping mad there.
That's all for now, off to an elephant sanctuary tomorrow for rescued elephants. Can't wait!
After an early start and a trip on a minibus we got to our destination at the top of phuket where we were taken by speedboat to see a variety of local islands, such as Hong island, James Bond island, Nacka island etc, they are all beautiful but they do all start to look the same after a while! Best parts of the day were kayaking through rocks and caves and the speedboat ride through a thunder storm. Although this has left us with colds. Unlucky. That night we watched a DVD and went to bed early.
Up at 6am for a flight from Phuket to Chiang Mai. We looked into the option of getting other modes of transport like a bus or train but they would take about 24hours whereas the plane took 2 hours and only cost around 60pounds. Finally arrived in Chiang Mai on Saturday afternoon and after checking into a guesthouse we'd found in our lonely planet book we went to explore the city.
Chiang Mai is already infinately better than Bangkok, it has so much character and soul, the people are really genuinely friendly (bar the tut tut drivers) and the city itself is so beautiful. It has the old city in the middle, where you can still see relics of the old city walls and gates and then the new city outside. Last night we met my friend Emily, from collyers and spent the evening with her and her friends. They all work at a very posh and exclusive school outside Chiang Mai and were out on a boozy night to which we tagged along. Ended up in another gay zone, rode on the back of a moped and partied til the early hours.
Today we have visited lots of temples and the famous night market, which is in full swing now and doesn't seem to have an end! There is so many beautiful things to see, eat and buy you could spend hours wandering the streets. Am having to restrict myself as bit concerned about money but there are similar markets in Vietnam which is at the end of our trip (nearly) so we're going to go shopping mad there.
That's all for now, off to an elephant sanctuary tomorrow for rescued elephants. Can't wait!
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