Chaing Rai, Thailand

Here is the gold clock tower in the centre of town. It was at a round about in the centre of a busy intersection. The whole street was lined with golden light poles along the centre of the road. Very impressive day and night.

We did a jungle trek as we thought we just should as it's what everyone else did. Luckily we only did a short one for 3 hours and that was enough. We traversed some pretty dense jungle and very narrow paths on the side of a river. We had no desire to repeat the experience but at least we did it. The couple with us were from La Reunion Island (near Mauritious). He was a doctor and she was a nurse so we were in good hands if anything happened. They were such a lovely couple also so we did enjoy our day. The later photos of the elephant ride was on the same day.

A most important photo for us to remember. One of the many Chang beers we shared.

Here's the jungle photo and then part of the walk. We visited our guides village and had tea at his hut. Interesting to see how the villagers live.

We did the traditional elephant ride here. It was a good experience as the relationship between the elephant and their mahout was good. The elephants seemed to be very happy. We went through the river for 1 km.

What Won Krung - the white temple was a highlight of our time in Chiang Rai. A very unconventional temple. The dream of one man. It was just so amazing and very hard to reproduce in a photo. It was white with mirrors inserted and was blinding on a sunny day. But oh so beautiful. It was bizarre to find paintings of Hollywoods super heroes on the internal walls. We found it hard to determine the message being given, but they were all 'good' superheroes.

This was the toilet complex. Pretty flash!!!

The Saturday night market took over the main street in Chiang Mai and we were lucky enough to be there. This shows the street lit up at night.

Vientiane to Luang Prabang

Below are some photos taken during our bus trip from Vientiane to Luang Prabang. The scenery was spectacular. The mountains, the low clouds and the mist produced some lovely shots. Most were taken through the bus window so not the best quality but still lovely.

Mekong River To Thailand

On 12th May we left Luang Prabang to travel to Thailand. This entailed a 2 day slow river boat trip up the Mekong River, a total of 18 hours. The following photos show the boat we travelled in and the beautiful scenery along the way. It is a very mountainess area with very few villages nestled in the hills. On day 1 near Luang Prabang these villages were only accessible by river and not road. Very remote.

Below is a series of photos taken of the boat and the scenery. The first boat is a house boat with cargo in the front.

A typical example of the jungle we saw. Much of the land had been cleared for crops.

Day 1 was interesting as the boat's propellor hit a rock. We were travelling up river, at times through rapids. They pulled over to the side to repair the propellor. We started to wonder if we might be camping the night on the side of the river and had worked out we had enough food to get us through. But luckily they fixed it enough to keep going, even though the constant vibration was a bit much at times. But we made it. Took us a while to stop vibrating when we got off the boat.

The first night we stayed in Pakbeng. The hotel was right on the banks of the Mekong and the restaurant overlooked the river.

More scenery along the way.

On Day 2 as we got closer to the Thailand border the area became much flatter with mountains in the background. The area was much more populated and accessible by road

The boat on day 2 was very comfortable. The seats were airline quality and we all had a double seat each. Plenty of room to spread out. And there was plenty of room to walk around and stretch the legs.

When we arrived in Thailand we managed to get straight on the bus to Chiang Rai. It was the local bus but it made pretty good time. We arrived 2 hours later. We had no idea where to stay as we didn't have the option of checking Agoda accommodation as we had no internet connection. We went with a hotel recommended by a tuk tuk driver, Chat House. It was pretty basic but had aircon so we decided to stay.

Luang Prabang Laos

Luang Prabang, a heritage listed old city. It is situated where 2 rivers merge, the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers. In the cental city the only way to transverse across the river is by ferry and 2 bamboo bridges. There is a bridge but it's a little further out of the city.

Here is a local ferry which takes you to the village on the other side. We took our bikes over there and visited the village.


We took a tour to see Kaungsi Waterfall. It was very popular with both tourists and locals. The highlight was you can swim in the very clean water. No photos of us in our bathers!!!!







The waterfall also has a bear rescue centre with about a dozen bears rescued from different situations. They try to make the environment as natural as possible for the bears and seem to do a very good job.

It was hard to capture a good photo of the bears so here's a substitue of 3 bears ....... Hee Hee!!! Notice the bared teeth of the middle bear. Scary hey!!!





And this was a beautiful flower at the waterfall. We would have liked to capture some photos of butterflies which were plentiful, but didn't manage to.

The Guesthouse we stayed at was on the Mekong Riverside road. As it is going into the Monsoon season we had several downpours while we were there. Here is a photo of the road at the front of the guest which flooded. It was lovely to see the children having fun in the water.

One of the bamboo bridges to another village. We visited this village and saw women weaving and making paper.


Another bamboo bridge below.

Views from the temple in the centre of the city. We visited early morning and spent the next hour watching the mists lift and the views emerge. Here is a view of Luang Prabang. The buildings dont stand out as there are so many trees.

This is the view from a restaurant we ate at often. It was on the very edge of the river and the views were superb. The food was good too and the service.

View of a county road on the way to Luang Prabang.

Vientiane Laos

We travelled to Vientiane from Hanoi by Sleeper Bus. You know we had never thought that we were too old to travel by sleeper bus until a family in Hanoi said 'aren't you older than all the others on the bus' and you know, we were, except for one other 'oldie' like us. It was us and the 'kids' all in their 20s and younger and from all over the world. When we arrived in Vientiane we did the rounds of the backpackers and hostels dropping them off and then we got dropped off at our 'plush' hotel, and it is nice too.

The bus was a bit of an experience, same as last year when we did the Thailand to Cambodia border crossing. We always seem to get charged too much on the border but then the kids were too and there wasn't much you can do about it. You either want to cross or you dont, and it's a long way back. 24 hours in a bus is a long ride, even though it's a sleeper. We were packed in like sardines with many pick ups along the way. Oh well. Adds to the experience.

Vientiane is so different from Hanoi. Firstly it is much hotter which isn't quite so good. But it's so clean, the streets are clean, the roads are wide, the people are very friendly and the stall holders dont hassle. They offer but when you say no, that's it.


One day we hired bikes to go further afield and here we are outside the hotel. Our room is the window/door just above the parked van. It was very hot so bike riding was a little challenge but well worth the effort.




One of the highlights for us was visiting Buddha Park. We caught the local bus which took about 1 hour each way. The bus stopped at the Friendship Bridge which is where you cross the border into Thailand. Many locals seemed to be going over the bridge and coming back with bags and bags of shopping, food and items.

Buddha Park is a collection of Buddhist and Hindu concrete statues built in 1958 situated in a lovely garden about 24km from the city.

Here we are in the entrance to one of the structures. You enter through the mouth and can go right to the top (that's Patricia there sitting on the top right). It has 3 levels which represent Hell (the bottom one of course), earth and then heaven. Very strange and a bit daunting, especially the hell section. But we did it and climbed to the top.














Patricia in the local bus to Buddha Park. This was before we picked up everyone from Friendship Bridge. Then it was packed all the way back to the city. Fun!!!!









This is named Patuxai, a local rendition of Paris' Arc de Triomphe. Quite imposing.






We have spent 4 days here and leave tomorrow for Luang Prabang in the north. A 10 hour bus trip. We have done all the highlights of Vientiane.

Hanoi

Hanoi was a very busy place. Smog, traffic, motorbikes. Busy, busy!!

The catholic cathedral was on the same road as our hotel and as it was easter it was a very busy place. There were outdoor services held throughout easter and the bells ringing were lovely to hear. You had to remember it wasn't Europe, but Asia. It was lovely to see the children involved in the ceremonies.

The lake taken at night. This was a very popular place with both locals and tourists. For the locals it was time for tai chi, exercise, socialising and eating.

The lake in daytime. This was taken from a lakeside restaurant where we enjoyed a beer and spring rolls.

One of the highlights of Hanoi was our visit to the Opera House to see an orchestral concert and the ballet. The first photo is of the entrance to the Opera House.

On the streets of Hanoi. Cooking preparation in bulk. And she was so fast.

The old city wall and gate.

One of the many temples in Hanoi.

The changing guards at the Ho Chi Minh Crematorium.

Another restaurant on the lake is renowned for it's icecream. It was very nice.

In the middle of the lake there is a temple. This is taken from a pergola near the temple overlooking the lake.

The Opera House taken from the road out the front. It is on an intersection where 5 roads converge and it's very busy and hard to cross.

Our stay in Hanoi was broken by our trips to Halong Bay and Sapa. We did enjoy the old quarter of Hanoi and the Luxury Hotel started to feel like home. The staff were always happy to see us return. They were all very friendly and helpful.