We were relaxing by the river in Vang Viang watching the sun set over the mountains. Espe is currently battling her way through Orwell’s Burmese Days (which is full of words that I’ve never seen before). She stopped to look up the word “shabby” in her Spanish – English dictionary. “Shabby – Desaliñado / Zarrapastroso” she read out loud. “Zarrapa que?” I responded. “Zarrapastroso” “Quien usa esta palabra” “Pues yo no” “Yo tampoco” came a response from the guy sitting on the riverside bamboo platform next to ours. And that was how we met Nuria and Jordi, a Spanish couple…
I’m not going to apologise for this post which is sure to be rather long. I’ve just got too much to say. We’ve been in Luang Phrabang for a week now. We’d only planed to stay two or three days, but for reasons that will become apparent shortly we’ve stayed longer in this quaint little city. French colonial architecture sitting along side many ornate Wats surrounded by saffron clad novices makes for a pleasant place to be. My first impressions were of how much slower the pace of life is here in Lao. Everyone is so friendly, novices (trainee monks)…
After 6 hours spent on two different buses in varying states of decay, we reached the Thai border town on Chiang Kong. From here it was a short hop across the border, and as it happens the river Mekong, into Laos via the slackest overland border crossing I’ve ever seen (EU doesn’t count). With the plan of taking the slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Phrabang, we were up early the next day with the intention of securing good seats. We’d been warned in Umphang by an American couple about the boat for the two day trip being absolutely…
It’s a reasonably steep dirt track. My confidence is up after 25 minutes or so on some rough downhill terrain. My weight is shifted over the rear wheel, as the instructor told me. My pedals are level, as the instructor told me. I’ve managed to limit my speed by starting slowly and using primarily the rear brake, as the instructor told me. There is a deep patch of sand like dusty mud approaching really rather quickly. I seem to remember the instructor saying something about this. Bugger. I’m going too fast. No problem, keep off the front brake and keep…
I mentioned that I loved the food in India. All the cheap curries, tasty samosas and wonderful breakfasts. Well, now in Thailand I’m in Heaven. Thai food, along side Italian, is my favorite. Pad Thai, Green Curries, Spring Rolls, Tom Yam soup… It’s all good. Finally, three days before leaving Thailand I got round to doing a Thai cookery course. There are hundreds to choose from in Chang Mai, but I was so impressed by the professionalism of the Eagle Guesthouse that I signed up for their Chili Club course with little further thought. I was not disappointed. After selecting…
The return journey from Umphang wasn’t so great. The 1219 curves on highway 1090 just lead to travel sickness, but more due to the terrible driver than the curviness of the road. Excluding everybody in India, he was the worst driver I’ve encountered on the trip so far. It wasn’t that he was driving dangerously, just stabbing the brake and releasing it repeatedly instead of doing a single smooth movement. This happened on curves and even in dead straight lines when there was nothing in front. His technique on the throttle was the same. Sitting sideways to the road on…
The following are the top five cars I’d select for driving Highway 1090 between Mae Sot and Umphang: Twin bike engined Mini Lancia Delta Integrale Evo II Ford GT Porsche 911 (996 turbo) TVR Tuscan R Let me explain. I’ve arrived in Umpang after four hours in a Songtheaw (Pickup truck converted into a taxi with two bench seats in the back – see pic below) on the ultra smooth twisty mountain road from Mae Sot. Talking was out due to the wind noise, reading was out due to being thrown around, so there is not much else to do…