Stopover at Kampong Cham

Since Ban Lung is rather far from Phnom Penh, we decided to add a stopover on our way to the capital. Kampong Cham is quite a big city, not exactly pretty but with a nice riverfront and a couple of touristic points of interest.

Sour Sdey

With Christmas being over, it was time for a change ... and for a new country! We arranged the transport from the islands all the way to the Cambodian town of Ban Lung in the northeastern province of Rattanakiri. Although it included a boat, big bus and a minivan, the trip was surprisingly uneventful - maybe our horror bus stories are over! Even crossing the border was quite easy, although the 'fees' that both Lao and Cambodian authorities charge for letting you cross are criminal. Not to mention the so-called medical examination, where the Cambodian official checks your temperature, of course for another fee. I wonder how much they make you pay if you happen to have a fever...

A cockadoodle Christmas

Si Phan Don, also known as "4000 islands" is an archipelago of (mostly tiny) river islands in the southernmost part of the Mekong in Laos. Three of the islands are open to tourism, and are famous for the relaxed atmosphere. This is where we decided to spend our Christmas.

Ruins and ride from hell

We knew it wouldn't be completely easy but we didn't expect it to be that hard. When we first saw our bus we thought that finally we would have a normal pleasant ride. But no, we are still in Laos and the transport is painful, so if you are not in the mood for another rant about buses in Laos, please skip the following paragraphs. The trip from Savannakhet to Champasak turned out to be yet another memorable trip, easily one of the worst here.

Savannakhet pancakes

Getting to Savannakhet from Ban Nahin by local transport is another classic tale of Laos road trip.

Heart of darkness

When we were walking through the Vientiane's deserted streets at 5.30 in the morning, the tuk tuk (local taxi) drivers couldn't believe their eyes. The long distance bus stations of the majority of Lao cities are located outside of towns, not in the outskirts but litterally in the middle of nowhere, usually at least 5 km or more far from the city itself. We reckon it must be because of some strong lobby of the tuk tuks that are waiting at the bus stations and are normally the only option how to get to the city center, thus gaining a fortune. Luckily Vientiane has a public bus that goes to its bus station and that was what we were looking for so early in the morning. We managed to find the right one (thanks to an extensive use of sign language) and shared the ride with the street food vendors who were on their way to work. They also looked surprised to see a farang on a public bus at this hour...

The small capital

When we arrived to Vientiane, we were tempted to leave right away. It was super hot, the city looked ugly, everything was more expensive than elsewhere in the country... But we needed some rest and not to rush away immediately and so we decided to give it a try after all.

I'll be there for youuuuuuu

After eating a baguette with nutella and banana (our favorite breakfast in Luang Prabang) we headed towards the bus station to get our VIP bus to Vang Vieng. This "VIP" thing is very common here as in Thailand: horrible and overcrowded buses decorated with impossible colors and with a huge VIP sign in the front. More or less the same old and crappy vehicles as the local buses, only more expensive and packed with tourists.

Voulez-vous un croissant?

We were planning on continuing to Luang Prabang by boat as I had read how spectacular the scenery was along the river, but when we saw the hordes of people at the boat landing, we chickened out and decided to take the bus instead. We didn't miss out completely on the scenery as the road followed the river for a large part of the ride and it only took 4 hours instead of 7 on the boat, and at half the price.

Hammocks time

The ride to Nong Khiaw was another memorable one. This time nobody vomited from the window but it still was far from comfortable. The minivan that was to take us there should not fit in more than 15 passengers but our driver thought it wasn't enough, so off we went, 17 people crammed in an old Toyota van. I had the young Lao boy's leg literally glued to mine the entire journey as he was squeezed between me and his dad.

Sabaidee

My health is getting better in the last days, so I'm back here to write a little on the blog.

Since the last post we have crossed the border between Thailand and Laos and slowly travelled the first hundreds of km into the country. Crossing the border was easy: a tiny boat took us across the Mekong river, then it was just a matter of filling the papers, giving a visa photo (a shiny new picture of me with short hair!) and paying the fee (in American dollars, as it is cheaper).

Black or White

Surprisingly we managed more things in Chiang Rai in a day and a half than we did in five days of Chiang Mai. We did some shopping for medicines, shampoo, toilet paper and such before going to Laos, we stocked up on postcards and stamps, we got our picture taken for the Lao visa since D finally cut his hair... Yes, HE CUT HIS HAIR SHORT, but he does not let me put any picture up, sorry!

Recharging batteries

We didn't do much in Mae Hong Son. At least not in terms of sightseeing or tourist activities. D was feeling better but still not great, so we decided to just stay put for several days and enjoy the tranquility. We updated the blog, caught up on e-mails, did laundry and in general did nothing more than walk around the lake and watch the people getting on with their things. We made a little Thai-Burmese restaurant our base, trying out almost half of the menu including some farang (foreigner, 'guiri') food.

Sometimes you need a break from rice and noodles.  I gained  two kilos in two weeks!

One afternoon I climbed up a hill above town to see a temple with a very long name Wat Phra That Doi Kong Mu. The temple itself was not worth all the sweat, but the views from there were stunning.

The views from above

And while D was resting some more, I decided to learn how to ride a scooter! I never thought I would do it and only until recently I was very afraid of motorcycles (we both were/are). But I figured that it is that kind of skill that can be handy in Southeast Asia where even babies ride a scooter and Mae Hong Son was the perfect place to learn, as the traffic is nowhere near as heavy as in Chiang Mai and there are many side streets where I could practice. So the night before I watched some videos on YouTube on how to ride a scooter or at least how to start it... I got a small Honda (with no insurance whatsoever) and it was as easy as it looked on the videos! I fell in love immediately and even convinced D to try it out and very soon I was driving all around town and even ventured out into the fields and hills outside.

I did wear a helmet while on road,  I promise

Myanmar just behind the corner

And we took the scooter for a ride ... to the hospital! It is becoming our habit to visit hospitals anywhere we go now. Again the hospital was very nice, people very professional and they charged only 4 euros for a blood and urine test! At least now we know that D most likely does not have neither malaria nor dengue fever, good news!

We like hospitals

We spent four easy days in Mae Hong Son and got so fond of it that we were wishing we didn't have to go. But it was time to move on and we spent 9 hours on the local bus again to get back to Chiang Mai. Luckily only to spend a night and this morning another bus took us further north, to Chiang Rai.