A short post for once. I’ve updated the photo gallery with collections from Kanchanaburi, Ayutthaya, Umphang and Chiang Mai. The “Hall of Fame” is also new, a collection of photos of quality people that I’ve met while traveling. Check them all out in the Photo Gallery
Well, we’re still in Vietnam and as they say, time does heal wounds. Hanoi is crazy. Not Delhi crazy, but crazy none the less. Population is three million and there must be about two million mopeds buzzing around. Most don’t bother paying attention to traffic lights so at cross junctions motorbikes from four directions pile on in, and miraculously after a lot of weaving most come out the other side unscathed. Despite this crossing the road is not a problem. One just walks across as if crossing a stream, and the traffic flows around either side. Hanoi is quite cool…
“All the peoples on earth are equal” Ho Chi Minh Unless of course you are a western tourist in Vietnam. Never before have I entered a country and wanted to leave within the first 24 hours. Many of the travellers I’ve met that have been to Vietnam were negative about their experiences. Of course there are a few who loved it, but I’d heard that the people are very aggressive and not friendly. This was reinforced further when Jordi said “I’ll never go back there”. Still, you can’t judge for yourself until you try it. Our last day in Laos…
Everyone has heard about the Vietnam war, but what do you know about the secret war waged by America in Laos? The 1954 Geneva Convention established Laos as neutral. This was recognised at the time by the USA, yet in 1955, the CIA created a special programs to replace French support of the Royal Laos Army against the communist Pathet Lao. The US kept their hands clean using CIA trained local Hmong tribesmen fighting against the Pathet Lao. This escalated and with the start of the Second Indochina war (The American Vietnam war ) America took the opportunity to run…
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…