The craziness of Phnom Penh

Days 82 - 86 (20/06/08 - 24/06/08): Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I caught a bus from Battambang to return to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh is crazy, hectic, disgusting, exotic, dirty, beautiful, lovable city. I returned to the same guesthouse I overnighted in a week or so ago, and proceed to immerse myself in the uniqueness that is Phnom Penh.

The first thing that strikes you about Phnom Penh is the amount of people. Unlike the rest of Cambodia, which seems to be relatively sparsely populated, Phnom Penh is packed with over 2 million people. Secondly, the city is not a particularly clean city at all. Wherever you look there is rubbish, on the sidewalk, in the gutters, on the road and in the lake. Plastic bags, plastic bottles, cigarettes, food scraps, and all items of household rubbish are scattered everywhere or piled in big clumps. Thirdly, the driving and road rules (or more precisely the complete and utter lack of road rules) are somewhat mind-blowing. While cars are rare, there are enough motorbikes, scooters, tuk-tuks and bicycles to ensure that any main road is filled to the brim with vehicles going wherever they feel they need to, regardless of road lanes, other vehicles or incoming traffic! While the internal combustion engine has found its way to Phnom Penh, the technology of brakes, indicator lights or crash helmets certainly have not!

Phnom Penh actually has quite a few famous sites and a lot of history, and so I spent my days exploring these different places. First up, and most (in)famously, were the Choeung Ek Genocide Centre (known as the 'killing fields', situated just outside Phnom Penh) and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. These two sites are the most well known Khmer Rouge sites, and are a definite eye opener to the unthinkable atrocities that occured in Cambodia a mere 30 years ago. While most of the buildings at the killing fields have been removed, there are still a large number of mass graves that are being excavated. A large memorial has been built that houses a few hundred skulls of the victims, which for most visitors is something they have never seen before and really drives home the brutality of what happened in this place.

The Genocide Musuem is the site of a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. The prison was mostly used as a place where the authorities tortured thousands upon thousands of everyday people to extract confessions. Afterwards these people where taken to one of the killing fields to be executed and buried. Walking around the former high school was a very chilling experience. Some of the rooms used as prison and torture cells still had the implements of torture in them, and several of the rooms had blood splatter stains on the walls and ceiling. The place is now a museum, and among other things has thousands of pictures of the victims, taken from the Khmer Rouge records. It is a very sobering and reflective experience looking at a wall of photos of young children that were all brutally interrogated and violently executed.

To make up for the rather depressing Khmer Rouge experience, I also visited some sites that show a much nicer part of Cambodian history. These included the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, and National Museum. While not as impressice as the Royal Palace in Bangkok, I still very much liked the Cambodian Royal Palace, with its ornate gardens, golden throne room and impressively large buildings, all decorated in the Khmer Style. The Silver Pagoda, while just a normal looking Pagoda from the outside, has a floor made entirely of silver. Although most of it now covered in rugs to protect it from the thousands of tourists and praying locals, parts of it are uncovered to expose the beautifully worked and intricately engraved silver floor panels. Unfortunately, like most of the religious sites, photography within buildings is prohibited. The National Museum contains a number of artifacts from Cambodian history, some dating back over a thousand years. Mostly they are stone statues and engravings, a lot taken from the Angkor Wat sites. It really made me realise how much more impressive those temples would have been when they where filled with the gold decorated statues of Buddha, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and the odd Ganesha (my personal favourite). Also very interesting was the gold, silver and brass jewellery, household items, military weapons and coins, some dating back six hundred years!

The other days in Phnom Penh were simply spent relaxing. I was staying along the lake, and my guesthouse had a wooden deck extending out into the lake. It was a wonderfully calm place, and each night gave a wonderful view of the setting sun over the lake and shanty buildings on the far side. I spent a couple of days just sitting in a simple wooden chair, reading books, overlooking the lake and enjoying a very peaceful existence. This 'peace time' was a definite necessity, as leaving the tranquility and seclusion of the guesthouse brought you into full contact with the streets of the backpacker ghetto of Phnom Penh. It was impossible to walk more than a few steps without being offered something to buy. These ranged from 'innocent' tuk-tuk and motorbike drivers wanting a fare, children selling books, or people selling sunglasses and hats, to the seedier folk selling everything from Class A drugs to 'massages' to 'lady companions' for the night. In a simple 2 minute walk from the guesthouse to a restuarant, I would constantly be shaking my head and saying no to the repeat offerings of everything. If you are really lucky, you might be able to go a few metres without having to say anything or saying no. I even spoke to some girls (from Mt Maunganui of all places!) who were offered to buy unwanted human babies from ladies in the main market. We came to the conclusion that everything and anything you want is for sale in Phnom Pnomh, its jsut a matter of agreeing on the price...

Boating across the Tonle Sap

Day 81 (19/06/08): Battambang, Cambodia


I woke up at the ridiculous time of 5 in the morning, to get ready to catch my boat to Battambang. I met Tony and the others for an early morning breakfast, they were headed off to Sihanoukville. The guesthouse owners were even kind enough to make the breakfast free! At 6am I boarded a minibus for the ride down to the pier on the river. We went through a small Cambodian village, and it was very interesting to see how a lot of the locals live. The overwhelming thing that keeps hitting me about Cambodia is the rubbish, there is a lot of it! Everywhere there are large piles of rubbish and refuse, plastic bags and bottles being the worst culprits. When the van stopped, we were confronted with the usual small army of Cambodian woman trying to sell us food and drinks, and they don't take no for answer easily.

The boat trip itself was quite interesting and enjoyable, although not particularly comfortable! The boat wound its way through the river, passing a few floating villages and boat people, before crossing the massive lake known as the Tonle Sap. This lake was big enough that I couldn't see the far side, and it reall felt like you were out at sea, with nothing but the water and the horizon in the distance, no sign of land at all. After crossing the lake, it took about another 5 hours winding our way through small rivers to get to Battambang. At one point, while going through a particularly small and narrow river, our boat got stuck on a large pile of driftwood branches. We managed to escape after some of the crew got out to push (the water is shallow) and the driver revved the engine enough to fill the entire area with diesel fumes! The scenery was pretty impressive, as we went through the jungle and passed numerous little fishing boats and locals who live in boats. All the local children were always filled with smiles and would wave enthusiastically at us as we passed.

Battambang is Cambodia's second largest city, although there isn't really much to do there. I spent the remainder of the afternoon walking around the dense concrete jungle, trying to get some life back into legs that had spent 7 hours on a cramped boat. The accomodation was cheap, and my little room even had a tv! So I spent the evening lying on bed watching crappy movies.

Status update - Vietnam!

I realise it has been a little while since I have updated this, but lying on a tropical beach is really hard work, leaving little time for blog updates! So I'll give a quick update to let everyone know that I am still alive! I'll write up the full account of my adventures later, but since the last post, I spent a few days in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, checking out all the Khymer Rouge history. A few days basking in the sun on the tropical beach of Sihanoukville on Cambodia's southern coast. From there I left Cambodia, and entered Vietnam, where to much happiness I met Karen as she flew in from New Zealand, and we will be spending the rest of the world wide adventure together!

Karen and I only spent a small amount of time in Saigon, before fleeing down to the southern coast and the offshore island of Phu Quoc. Unfortunately, it rained the whole time we were there(that is why its called the 'rainy season' after all), and so we left the island, and are now spending the next few days exploring the area of the Mekong Delta, before heading back to Saigon to explore the city and its sights properly.

Angkor What?

Days 76 - 80 (14/06/08 - 18/06/08): Siem Reap, Cambodia

I spent five days in Siem Reap, exploring the old history and culture of the Khymer people. On the first day, Andy and I decided to go out to the temple of Beng Melea. This temple is reasonably unknown to most people, as it is not in the main temple circuit that people do, as it is 70km out of town. I was quite keen to visit it, as I had met somebody in Singapore who told me it was definitely worth seeing, and so I made a note of it in my notebook. We asked a few tukt-tuk drivers (the normal way of seeing temples), however it would cost $45 for the 5 hour round journey (2.5hrs each way!). This seemed like a sub-optimal solution, and so on Andy's smart idea, we walked around town until we found the fanciest hotel we could, the Siem Reap Riviera. It was low season, and as such almost completely empty. We spoke to a uniformed bellboy, who made a few inquiries for us. Very shortly he had organised a car for us for the day for $45, that would take us to Beng Melea in just over an hour in air conditioned comfort! Brilliant!

The temple of Beng Melea was very impressive. It is pretty much a ruin, with large parts of it collapsed and big piles of rubble all over the place. The jungle has been overtaking the temple, and the whole complex is covered in trees and plant life. Over the last few decades there had been an effort to try and reclaim the temple from the jungle. However, it still had a very undiscovered feel to it, as we clambered over the rubble, through the old passageways and over the walls, led by guide who pointed out the interesting parts to us. It really was impressive, and you felt like you had just discovered this massive ruin in the middle of the jungle. (It helped that there were no other tourists around as well). Luckily, just as we finished walking around, the heavens opened up, and we got absolutely soaked to the bone on the 5 minute walk back to the car. It was actually very refreshing, the rain here is nice and warm and is better than the sweat you are normally soaked with. Our driver took us to the war museum on the way back, it wasn't much more than an empty field with a few old Russian tanks and artillery pieces in it, but still quite interesting to see.

I had met Tony in our guesthouse, a guy from Manchester who I first met in Huay Xai, and kept running into throughout Laos. So with him and a few other people from the guesthouse we went down to 'Bar Street' to one of the numerous bars there. What started as a few quiet drinks quickly escalated (due to the cheap price of booze in Cambodia), especially when it turned midnight and officially became my birthday. We eventually left the bar when it shut and they kicked us out, where we retired to our guesthouse to play pool and have a nightcap, or two.

Unfortunately all this means that I wasn't really in the mood to go to the main temple complex of Angkor Wat the next day. After waking up and eating, it was already late in the morning, and I didn't really feel like doing anything. Luckily, it then started raining, so I could use that to clear my conscience and spent a quiet day watching movies and reading my book. Everyone else was feeling the same way, and so we had a quiet night playing pool and watching movies.

Which means that the next day, I was rearing to go! I woke up at the ridiculous time of 5:30am, and 15 minutes later I was on a crappy rent-a-bike, cycling out to the temples. Most people choose to explore the temples by tuk-tuk, hiring the driver for the day. However I decided that doing it on a bike by myself would be good fun. I had a few issues with directions (I took a back road out to the complex, meaning I had missed the ticket booth, so had to cycle back into town, get a ticket, and then back out to the complex). But by 7am I was at my first temple! The Angkor Wat complex houses a large number of temples, spread out across a large area. The temples were built over quite a large time-frame, and so they are all quite different stylistically and architecturally. I visited too many temples to describe them all here, but for my own future reference more than anything else, the official list for the first day is: Bayon, Baphuon, Angkor Thom, Terrace of the Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King, Preah Palilay, Preah Kahn, Neak Pean, Ta Som, Eastern Mebon, Pre Rup, Bantai Kdei, Ta Prohm and Ta Keo.

Each one of them had their own style and architecture, and while some people can only look at a few temples before getting bored, I found them all absolutely amazing and interesting. The temple of Bayon has hundreds of large carved faces in the towers and walls. Preah Kahn is a vast old university, full of corridors and colonnades. Neak Pean is a very picturesque collection of pools and sculptures. Ta Prohm is overgrown with giant trees. East Mebon and Pre Rup are huge pyramid temples that reminded me of the ones in Ayutthaya. By this stage I had been cycling for almost ten hours. The park was still open for another couple of hours, and I was hoping to fit in the temple of Angkor Wat, the largest and namesake temple of the complex. However, within the space of a few minutes, the wind changed, and the sky turned black. The inevitable rainy season storm came down, and I knew it wasn't going to finish any time soon. So I packed everything away, jumped on my bike, and had a great 40min ride back to town in the thundering tropical rainstorm, getting strange looks from locals and tourists alike. It was a great experience!

I managed to meet up with Garth that night, who had just arrived in Siem Reap as well. We were back at 'our bar' in town, and Garth made up for missing my birthday by buying me lots of drinks. So once again there was another great night in a bar in Siem Reap, Cambodia. This of course meant that once again the next day I didn't really feel like doing anything. However, I had a three day ticket for the temples, and still hadn't seen Angkor Wat. So I got back on a bicycle, and rode out to the temple complex under the midday sun. Words cannot describe just how large and impressive Angkor Wat is, the temple is vast! It takes almost ten minutes just to walk from its entrance, over the moat, through the 'gate', across the giant courtyard, to the temple itself. Then the temple is huge as well, the giant stone towers reach up into the sky and I spent a lot of time walking around with my head craned skywards. While it is the largest and most impressive, I still preferred the individual aspects of the smaller temples, which to me had more impressive carvings, interesting details and features. But you still have to respect the a culture that built such an impressive building such a long time ago! I only spent an hour or so walking around Angkor Wat itself, the combination of exercise, a bad hangover and the unbearable heat soon beat me into submission, and so cycled back into town for another relaxed afternoon of DVD watching and hanging out with the other guesthouse people.

The guesthouse owners had just opened a large extension to their guesthouse across the road, and so they were having a big party to celebrate, which we were all invited to. There were about 10 backpackers, and a large group of Cambodians, many of whom we had gotten to know over the last few days. There was a bunch of free beer, and we were also served a free meal, which we all tucked into. By some random luck, a few other Kiwis had checked into the guesthouse, and so for the first time ever, the five of us kiwis outnumbered the usually dominant english! We all rubbed it in, especially as the All Blacks had just recently beaten the English! Once again we went back to our usual bar in town until they kicked us out, went back to our guesthouse, and sat on the top mezzanine level overlooking the city, and chatted the night away until the sun rose in the morning!

Which of course meant the next day was spent sleeping and watching DVDs, and packing up my stuff. I booked a boat ticket for early the next morning to the town of Battambang. I am not sure if there is much to do there, but I have heard the boat trip is very nice as it winds down the river, across the Tonle Sap, and through numerous floating villages. So in the end I spent five days in Siem Reap, alternating between partying and exploring ancient temples, and had a great time!

Two days in a bus

Days 74 - 75 (12/06/08 - 13/06/08): Four Thousand Isles to Siem Reap (Via Phnom Penh)

The plan for the day was to get to Siem Reap, home of the famous Angkor Wat temples. I had booked my bus ticket the previous night, and was told it would take two days, overnighting in a small town. And so it was a very early start to the morning to catch a boat back across to the mainland. After a bit of waiting, it was a short minivan ride to the Cambodian border. I had already got my Cambodian visa sorted in Vientiane, but like everybody else, I still had to pay a $1 'fee' to the Laos border guards, and then the same to the Cambodian guards. We all knew it was going into their pockets, but there isn't really anything you can do about it. And at the end of the day, its only one dollar. I was now in the 5th country of my trip, and a country that has a lot of interesting things. Cambodia will probably be the most undeveloped country of all the ones I will visit on my trip, and will be a unique experience.

After a bit of waiting, we transferred into another minivan and had a very bumpy journey to the Cambodian town of Stung Treng. Here we got some food, and after waiting some more (sensing a pattern?) we boarded a larger bus for the rest of the journey. Luckily the bus was reasonably empty, and I headed to the back and got the whole back seat to myself, which means I could lie down if I wanted to. Unfortunately, Cambodian roads are not exactly the autobahn, and it was a very bumpy journey. Some parts were even over unsealed roads, through giant holes and mud puddles. It got so bouncy a few times that I actually bounced right clear of my seat by a few inches, and then came crashing back down again.

There were about 7 or 8 backpackers on the bus, and we had been told we would overnight in a small town (whose name I can't remember, and different people had been told different towns), but not how long it would take to get there. Eventually at 8pm at night, after 12 hours in boats, minivans and buses we pulled into a large city, and upon disembarking, we found out it was the capital city, Phnom Penh! Oh well. We were told that in the morning we would get on another bus that would take us out to Siem Reap. I was pretty knackered at this stage, and so collapsed into bed after having a big dinner.

It was another early morning to catch a minivan to the waiting bus. Luckily this bus trip was slightly shorter, and nowhere near as bumpy, the road from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap being the major road in Cambodia. I ran into an Andy, an american I met in Don Det, and so at least we could chat a bit. This bus ride was fairly uneventful, except for the brief stop we made about halfway. There were the normal food vendors hawking the usual things, although there were also several ladies with large buckets filled with live tarantula spiders, all clambering over each in a big swarming mass of black bodies and hairy legs. Every once in a while one would manage to climb out, only to be put back in the bucket. The ladies also had plates of cooked spiders to buy as well. I found the whole thing quite amusing, but a few of the more arachnaphobe tourists had a hard time. Unfortunately my camera was still packed in the bus, so I couldn't get any photos.

The bus pulled into Siem Reap in the early afternoon, after a short bus ride of only 6 hours (in these parts of the world, 6 hours is a short ride!). The awaiting crowd of tuk-tuk drivers and guesthouse touts was the worst I have ever seen. People were having trouble stepping off the bus into the waiting crowd, all yelling at us to stay at their guesthouse or drive us somewhere. Luckily the guesthouse from Phnom Penh had a sister guesthouse here, and so there was a driver waiting with our names on a placard! Easy! After fighting the crowds to get my pack, Andy and I jumped on the tuk-tuk and escaped the scene of the carnage.

The whole town of Siem Reap only exists to accommodate the masses of tourists that visit the Angkor Wat temples. As such, it has numerous guesthouses, lots of restaurants and a happening night scene. The guesthouse was very nice, and had a nice little communal area on the ground floor with a tv and collection of DVDs. I spent what was left of the afternoon just wandering aimlessly around the town, taking in the sights and getting a feel for the place. In the evening I popped along to the night market, although once again it was just filled with all the normal tourist trinkets that I have no intention of buying. I did however, buy a small guidebook for the Angkor Wat temples that explains their history, construction, iconography etc, as well as a guided tour of each main temple. It is a nice book, filled with colour photos, so definitely worth keeping. I had another early night, as after two days I had spent most of my time in a bus, and driven across most of Cambodia!

Relaxing in the Isles

Day 71 - 73 (09/06/08 - 11/06/08): Don Det, Laos

I spent three wonderfully relaxing, beautiful and enjoyable days in Don Det. As I said before, Don Det is a little perfect slice of tranquility, a small island bounded by the mighty Mekong river on all sides, and home to nothing more than a few backpackers, rice paddies and water buffalo. The island is joined to the neighbouring island of Don Khon by a small bridge built by the French during the colonisation. On the first full day we were there, Charlie, Lou and I rented some bicycles to explore the islands. The bikes were the old fashioned type, very upright, bent handlebars, full mudguards, a little basket on the front, and to complete the look, a little bicycle bell. The weather was scorching hot, and very soon we were soaked in sweat, as is normal for this part of the world. We spent most of the day cycling around, over the rough farm tracks that criss-cross the island. The scenery was very picturesque, lots of little rice fields with children playing in them and water buffaloes wallowing in the mud. We crossed the bridge (after paying a small toll) to Don Khon and went to the large waterfall. The waterfall here was very impressive, although not really a waterfall, more of a large collection of big rapids the swirl around giant boulders and come crashing down through the gaps, driven by the mighty power of the Mekong River. They were very big, and definitely a sight to behold. By this stage by cheap rent-a-bike had developed some problems, with the chain falling off pretty constantly. Normally this is an easy fix, although sometimes the chain would jam itself tight between the cassete and the wheel hub, requiring a lot of tinkering and brute force to fix it.

We continued cycling down to a small 'beach', a little bit of sand next to a small inlet off the river. There were a few warning signs up saying that it was very dangerous to swim there if you went to close to the river itself. The current is phenomenally strong, and their was a small memorial to a backpacker who died there a few years ago. However, we were all hot and sweaty, and so went into the water anyway. We just stuck to the little inlet, and it was fine, no current at all. There were however some small fish that delighted in nibbling on parts of us. Back on our bikes and we explored the rest of the island, finding a small local village and more water buffalo. At one point we came across a very dodgy looking bridge. The structural work was made of old iron, and it looked stable enough, but it only had a few narrow planks running across the top of it to walk over, less than a foot wide. To top it all off, the bridge was high enough that a fall would not be very nice. We all got across in the end, trying different styles of getting the bikes across. We found our way back across the islands, with me stopping every few minutes to put the chain back on my bike. Luckily we had rigged up a little 'device' of ribbon and leaves to stop the chain jamming, and so fixing the chain was a simple thing that I could do in a few seconds (I got a lot of practice).

The next two days on Don Det I spent doing almost nothing. I would actually wake quite early, when the morning sun came into my bamboo hut. I would lie in bed and read my book, and then perhaps migrate outside to my hammock, where I would continue to relax and read my book, overlooking the Mekong river. Ultimately, a pretty good way to spend the day, and it beats being in an office by a long shot. At night we would meet up for dinner at one of the eateries. Afterwards we would spend most of the evening sitting on someone's deck around some candles, listening to (battery powered) music and having a few drinks. On one night we went across to the other side of the island (about a 2 minute walk) and watched the sun set across the Mekong river and the plains of southern Laos. Overall, a pretty good way to spend a few relaxing days in the middle of the Mekong river doing almost nothing except enjoying the peace of the place and the company of good friends.

Lao local Transport

Day 70 (08/06/08): Don Det, Laos

It was with a touch of sadness that I had to leave Tadlo, it was such a beautiful and relaxing place. I met Lou and Charlie for breakfast, and we caught a tuk-tuk back to the main road. We had to wait there for a little while before the local bus came past. Once again we went back to the 'Pakse Southern Bus Terminal' and were greeted by numerous people wanting to know where we were going. Eventually we figured out what to do, and found our way onto the back of a very crowded truck. Unfortunately we were the last on, and so were squeezed into the back. I had a sack of something at my feet, and so couldn't even put my feet down. A number of local Lao guys where hanging off the back, one of whom spoke good english and spent a lot of time fascinated with my blonde leg hair, which he constantly touched (much to Charlie's amusement). Three very sore hours later, we arrived at our destination stiff, sore and very dusty.

Siphandon, otherwise known as the Four Thousand Islands, is in the very south of Laos, near the Cambodian border. The Mekong river has been gathering water and momentum since starting in China, and by now it is a very large river. At Siphandon the river breaks into a large delta, spreading across the flat land, forming numerous small islands. Some of the islands are quite large and support habitation, others are just tiny small outcroppings poking up above the river. We had picked the small island of Don Det as our destination, which was a quick boat ride from the mainland. Don Det is a wonderfully laid back place, just a small collection of guesthouses, eateries and paddy fields. The island has no mains power, and just runs a few generators in the evening. Like Tadlo, it is a brilliant little quiet spot to relax and just chill out. After a much needed meal, we found a nice guesthouse. I got a little bamboo hut right on the river, complete with small deck and hammock, all for the princely sum of $2NZ a night. Fantastic.

The tranquility of Tadlo

Days 67 - 69 (05/6/08 - 07/06/08): Tadlo, Laos

The sleeper bus, while comfortable, is not quite a bed and I only managed to get a couple hours of napping during the journey. However I am also at the point where I consider ten hours in a bus (at least a decent bus), as an average journey, and in all honesty it didn't really feel all that long. We arrived in Pakse about 7 in the morning, and as is typical in SE Asia, were assaulted by the waiting tuk-tuk drivers mob as we stepped off the bus. We politely declined them all, and walked the very short distance into the centre of town to find some breakfast. Pakse is a very small place with not much happening for it. Mainly it is used by tourists as a stepping stone to the surrounding countryside, which is exactly what I was doing.

I considered the possibility of going on a guided tour of the local area, however the rates charged by the tour company were horrendous, upwards up $90USD for a two day trip. The kind of money would normally last me over a week in this place! So I just decided to do it myself and head to a small village called Tadlo, which not many people have heard of, but I had been told about it through the travellers grapevine and decided to check it out. Garth and the two other English people we caught the bus with were planning to go straight on down to the Four Thousand Islands in the south of Laos, which is where I would be going after Tadlo.

For some reason in a lot of places in South East Asia, the main bus station is well outside town, and so we split a tuk-tuk for the 20 minute ride there. The 'Pakse Southern Bus Terminal' was little more than a large dirt patch surrounded with some market stalls. All manner of vehicles were in here, offering transport to all sorts of places. Our tuk-tuk driver sorted out the others, putting them on the right 'bus' to the Isles (although it was actually a large truck with bench seats at the back, filled with locals, sacks of rice and a couple of screaming cavorting piglets, and of course the odd chicken). I was led to a very old bus, where I too climbed over the sacks of rice and local children to a very small upright and uncomfortable seat. However after the lack of sleep from the overnight, I was soon fast asleep, sleeping through the bumpy dirt road and all. Arriving at the Tadlo intersection, and I joined the few other backpackers for the 2km walk down the road to the village. Despite the sweltering heat and our packs, the walk was very nice, passing through a traditional Lao village, complete with waving kids.

I found a very nice bamboo hut overlooking the river and the waterfall. I had a small walk around to explore the area, the waterfall is very nice, quite wide, and reasonably high, set in amongst large trees and dramatic cliffs. Further down the river you could see all the local children swimming and playing, while the woman washed clothes and the water buffalo took an afternoon dip to escape the heat. Despite my best efforts to stay awake, in the later afternoon I collapsed onto my bed and had a good nap to recover from a long night and a long day of travel.

The next day was exactly what I needed, a day of doing nothing to recover from the hectic nature of the previous three weeks. In my defense there was a light rain falling for most of the day, and so after a long sleep in, I spent most of my day sitting on my little deck (which was awfully rickety and was nowhere near level) on a plastic chair, watching the river and the waterfall and reading my book. I went and found a quite little eatery for dinner, and halfway through my meal, I got a wave from Charlie and Lou walking past. They had followed my tip on Tadlo and had just arrived that day. We joined together for a beer, and had fun talking to the old Lao lady who ran the place. Even though she must have been into her fifties, she was clearly as high as a kite and a great laugh. She explained to us with a great smile how she fostered her 'little plants' up on the hill. It was a very funny time, and something that could only happen in a place like Laos.

The following day the weather was a lot better, and so I met up with Lou and Charlie for the day's adventure. The guesthouse didn't have any more maps of the area, and we didn't really want to pay for a guide so decided to explore the river for ourselves. We knew there was another big waterfall upstream and so followed the river by clambering over fallen trees, skirting the banks and jumping from boulder to boulder, all the while humming the Indiana Jones theme. The waterfall upstream slowly came into view, and it was very impressive. There was a large sheer cliff, and at several points across its large width, the water streamed over in big frothing cascades. There was actually a small bamboo 'bridge' across the river, and this really was from an Indiana Jones movie. Very quickly we were swimming in the big pool underneath the waterfall, being careful not to get too close to the swirling currents under the falls or strong current taking the water down the rest of the river. After this wonderfully refreshing swim we found a path up the cliff and proceeded to follow the river further upstream. Up here there were lot of locals fishing and washing clothes, and as usual plenty of naked little kids playing in the water. We found little herds of goats, and several small fields of vegetables, irrigated by the river. Overall it was fantastic, a truly beautiful place where we really felt like we where in the middle of Laos.

For the return journey we decided to cross to the other side of the river and walk back along the path. We scouted an area that had a lot of boulders and rocks, and managed to make it most of the way across while still keeping dry. However the gaps between the rocks got too large and we were forced to wade across a quite deep, flowing section. Normally this would have been an easy swim, however we had bags with us and I had my camera. I managed to get across in the end, although my bag got wet (nothing to worry about). I managed to keep my camera dry by holding the camera bag handle in my mouth and keeping it just above the water. The hardest part was not laughing with Charlie and Lou as they looked back and saw the ridiculous scene of me in chest deep water frantically biting into my camera bag and trying to keep it above the water. Another fun experience to remember about Laos.

We walked down the small path through the countryside back to our village. Arriving there it was still too hot and we went for another swim in the river. There were a bunch of kids swimming in a pool amongst some rocks and small rapids and so we joined them, taking it turns to be pulled along by the river before standing up and moving back into the pool. The current was awfully strong in the shallow part, and it made for good fun. All the small kids actually stayed in the current and proceeded to go down through the next little series of rapids, screeching and hollering the whole way, before getting out and running back to us. I, unfortunately, followed them. While having fun swimming in the current, I didn't stop in time and got swept down over the rapids. I wasn't too worried as I had seen all the kids do it, and I was in the right position with my feet forward and body behind. Unfortunately, I then proceeded to smash my shins right into a rock, flipping me over, and I bounced through some other rocks before managing to catch myself and stand up before being swept down the next series (which the kids were staying well away from). Apart from a nasty bruise and scrape on my shins, I was fine, and I enjoyed a good laugh about it with Lou and Charlie.

Our last night in the beautiful little village of Tadlo was spent enjoying a few good drinks of the local whiskey while sitting on my balcony overlooking the river, bathed in the flickering glow of candlelight. As I have said before, Laos is an amazing place..

A day in Vientiane

Day 66 (04/06/08): Vientiane, Laos

The day was spent in a pretty leisurely fashion. I had a good sleep in, my first decent one in days. I had been told that there wasn't much to do in this sleepy capital, and so Garth and I booked a sleeper bus leaving that night to go to Pakse, the next destination of mine. I had originally intended to go out to one of the big temples just outside town, or perhaps the Buddha park, but after sleeping in, checking out of the guesthouse, eating some food and catching up on some emails, it was already the early afternoon. So I just spent a few hours walking around the city, meandering aimlessly through the less touristy parts. I quite enjoy just walking around new places, you get a feel for the vibe of the place and see what the 'non-tourist' parts look like. I walked past a couple of quite impressive buildings, and stopped at the 'Black Stupa', a very old stonework Stupa that is now a roundabout.

Walking back to my guesthouse in the mid afternoon, I heard someone yell something at me and ran after me down the street. Not knowing exactly what was going on I turned around and was confronted with the face of an old friend from New Zealand, someone who had gone to College House with me in my first year of uni. A fellow engineer (albeit only a chem eng), he is working on a mine site in northern Laos through and Australian company and was down in Vientiane for a few days. He had a colleague with a car, and so we all jumped in and went down to a pub for drinks (incidentally, the same pub I was in the night before). We had a good chat over a few drinks and laughed at all the old stories and caught up on the news of mutual friends we knew. It was definitely one of the things I least expected to happen in the sleepy streets of Vientiane!

Unfortunately after a few hours I had to leave and meet Garth for dinner before our bus left. We found a great curry place and proceeded to eat a lovely curry with samosas and naan bread. Brilliant. We said a quick goodbye to Charlie and Lou, before leaving for our bus. As is usual with any transport here, we waited for a good half hour at our guest house before the tuk-tuk arrived. We piled into this, and after picking up more and more people to the point of overfill capacity we arrived at the bust terminal. There was some confusion as the person issuing the tickets didn't have a matching ticket for my receipt (like everyone else I had booked and paid at my guesthouse). Nevertheless, after a few of them argued in Lao, I was given a ticket and sat down in my recliner seat of my VIP bus for the next ten hours.

Status Update

The last week has been spent in the south of Laos, a truly beautiful and amazing place where everything and everyone is very relaxed and happy. This also means that (working) internet connections are as rare as hen's teeth, and so I have had no chance to update this blog.

I have now left Laos, and am in Cambodia, in the city of Siem Reap, home to the world famous temples of Angkor Wat. It is quite a touristy place, which also means there are reliable internet connections, and so I will try and catch up on this blog. Inevitably I will skim over details, but oh well.

To the capital of Laos

Day 65 (03/06/08): Vientiane, Laos

And so it came to be my last day in Vang Vieng. The whole Gibbon crew was leaving today, and so once again our loyal group of Gibboner's got further fragmented. Simone was heading off to Bangkok and Lucy was going north to Hanoi in Vietnam. The remaining 4 of us, myself, Garth, Lou & Charlie were all heading to the south of Laos, and had booked the same bus to the capital of Vientiane.

Our little group had breakfast together, in the same place we always have breakfast. Even though we had all been tubing many many times, we all still felt a pang of jealousy as we watched as the 'tubers' for the day gathered their tubes, jumped into tuk-tuks and prepared themselves for a day of great fun. We lamented the breaking up of our group and reminicsed about how good a time we all had together. Even the owner of our guesthouse, who had come tubing with us a few times, was sad to see us go.

At 1pm we climbed aboard our minibus, and it was with some sadness that we said goodbye to our home for the past 13 days. We will all remember it with great joy and it will hold many happy memories for us. However, amongst all the melancholy, was also the deep down excitement of travelling. We would be going to new places, to discover new things and experience new adventures, and as much fun as Vang Vieng was, moving on to new places is also always fun.

The minibus ride only took just over three hours, and I actually managed to sleep for parts of it. The south of Laos is considerably flatter than the mountainous north, and as such the roads got smoother and less windy the further south we got. We arrived in Vientiane in the late afternoon. Vientiane is the capital city of Laos, although it is actually rather small, with a population of only 200 000. Everyone I have met, and even all the guidebooks say that there isn't really a lot to do in the city, and to spend as little time there as possible. The original plan was to use the time to get a Cambodian visa, but luckily the guesthouse we stayed in can organise it for you overnight, so that made things easy. We are staying close to the Mekong River, and across from it you can see Thailand. Dotted along the river are a number of small little restaurants/street stalls, where I had dinner with Garth, and an Irish guy who was on our bus and sharing our room. That evening we met a few other travellers outside our guesthouse, and ended up going to a local pub and drinking a few beers. Tired from all the travelling, and probably still not completely recovered from tubing, I ended up going to bed reasonably early and having a good nights sleep.

Tubing Tubing TUBING!

Days 58 - 64 (27/05/08 - 02/06/08): Vang Vieng, Laos

I ended up spending a lot more time in Vang Vieng than I originally had planned for, a total of 13 nights in the end. It is the kind of place that can do that to you. I met quite a few other travellers who were also staying for a lot longer than they originally thought. The simple truth of the matter is that Vang Vieng is just a very fun place. I have been to lots of places that I have really enjoyed for one reason or another; I loved the history at Kanchanburi, the relaxed vibe of the Perhentians, and of course the unforgettable adventure of the Gibbon Experience. But Vang Vieng is just pure unadulterated good old fashioned fun.

Most of the time in Vang Vieng was spent tubing, with the odd day of rest and relaxation thrown into the mix. In the end I went tubing a total of seven times, and each time was a blast! I realise you must think that it would get boring after a while, but each day was always as fun, if not more fun, than the last. Part of the reason is that there always new people doing it, each day new people arrive and bring their energy and enthusiasm to the party. And of course there are the giant rope swings, which never get old. To show just how high the big one really is, I have attached a video of myself doing it. You will notice there is quite a drop after letting go before you hit the water! Another reason that I really enjoyed Vang Vieng and the tubing was the great company. When we first arrived in VV, there were 9 of us from the Gibbon Crew together, which made for a lot of fun. Joe and Justin left after a day, and a few days later Gemma and Johnny left, to much sadness. The rest of us stuck together, and were later joined by Simone. Louise had 2 of her friends come out on holiday from the UK, and so we were one big happy family, having meals together, tubing together during the day and dancing away the night. We still met a lot of other people, particularly when you run into the same old people each day out on the river.

There isn't really much more to say about what happens during a day tubing that I didn't mention in my last post, although each day always has its own little unique moments. One of the days it rained a fair bit, and the resulting mudfight at one of the river bars drew in everyone, willingly or not! Unfortunately a lot of the funny stories are only funny if you were there, and so repeating them here would be pointless. Each morning we would gather for breakfast and recollect the stories of the night before, giggling and laughing about what had happened.

On one of the relax days, I got on the back of Charlie's scooter and we drove out of town to a collection of caves and a small swimming hole. The journey involved driving through some old muddy rice paddies, some of the time I would have to get off and push the scooter as it got stuck in the mud. It was a lot of fun. The caves were not particularly impressive, mostly pretty small. One cave was very long and thin, I had to breath in to fit through. At the end was a deep swimming hole. One of us held the torch, while the other gingerly floated in it. It was actually quite scary going for a swim in almost complete darkness, with unknown things lurking in the water below you...

On another relax day the others rented scooters, while I rented a mountain bike and we went 7km out of town to another series of caves and a small swimming hole. The road was pretty mud and quite rough in places, which can be very hard on a scooter. However, it posed no problems for a mountain bike, and as such I rolled in before any of the scooters did. The swimming hole was quite nice and relaxed, with a small rope swing and jumping platform. There were also some caves around, but it started raining pretty heavily, and we decided to not bother with the caves. The ride back was great fun, and I got very muddy indeed.

Crazy days and nights in Vang Vieng

Days 53 - 57 (22/05/08 - 26/05/08): Vang Vieng, Laos

I am going to write up all these days at once, because they have all been pretty similar. I have now spent 5 days in Vang Vieng, 3 days tubing and 2 days recovering. The first day we obviously all went tubing as it was our first day, on the second day Lucy had arrived, and so obviously the polite thing to do was accompany her, even if our bodies weren't as keen. Then there was a much needed day of recovery in which I did nothing except go on the internet and read my book in hammock. Lou's friends then arrived from England, and so obviously we had to go again. It was like walking willingly to an execution, knowing the trauma and carnage you are going to be putting your body through, and yet doing it with a smile on your face.

So what is this 'tubing' thing then? Well let me explain a typical day tubing in Vang Vieng. You'll wake up mid-morning, and go out for breakfast. This for me is most likely going to be a filled baguette (as Laos is an old French colony, they bake good bread, unlike Thai bread, which is horrible. There are numerous street carts that will make a custom baguette sandwich for you, it is exactly the same as Subway, only with slightly less choices and its only 10 000 kip, or $1.50NZ). At about midday we will congregate around our guesthouse, dressed in nothing but togs and some money in a waterproof bag. At this point Garth and I will start dealing out a whiskey shot to everyone. We then ritually play 'Eye of the Tiger' to get ourselves in the right mood for tubing. We go down the street and sign in at the tubing place, pay our 40 000 kip, and climb into a tuk-tuk, on whose roof a number of large truck inner tires are strapped. A five minute dive up the road, and you are ready to go....

Grabbing a tube you jump into the river, and proceed to float for a whole 30 meters before stopping at the first bar. Well, its more of a bamboo platform built onto the side of the river that is selling booze, giving out free shots of local whiskey, playing pumping music and packed with people. All of which is fun, until you look up and see the biggest rope swing you can possible imagine. A very high platform is built off the side of a tree, and from an even higher pole is a steel cable with a swing handle (You can just see the platform in the upper left of the group photo). A local Lao guy pulls the recovery cord and you hold onto the handle, realise just how high up you are, and jump anyway. Generally you swing once, wait till the highest point of the swing and then let go, about 5 or 6 meters up in the air. At this point you come crashing down into the (very deep) water, hoping that you land upright, and not on your back or stomach. Occasionally that does happen and a collective 'ooohhh' will issue from the crowd. Or a big wave of applause for someone who tries something particularly gutsy, such as a flip. The whole thing is exhilarating, and while it is very scary, once you have done your first one for the day, the rest are easy.

The rest of the afternoon is then spent this way, drifting down the river in a tube, stopping at pubs and going on giant rope swings. The first pub still has the biggest one, but some of the smaller swings (which are still incredibly big, just not as big as the first one) at other pubs allow you to go two at a time, which is great fun. There are also some ziplines, although after going on the Gibbon Experience, the ziplines were pretty tame in comparison. I prefer just to climb up the zipline tower and jump straight off it.

Ultimately the idea is to make it back to Vang Vieng, although because all the pubs are in the first half, it takes about an hour to float from the last pub back. And most times it gets dark while you are still at a pub and we just catch a boat back. I did manage to make it back all the way the second time I went tubing. Back in Vang Vieng, those people who are still able to will go down to the riverfront bars and continue to party the night away around the bonfires. Now while this may all sound a bit cheesy, it is in fact an incredibly incredibly fun time. Everyone is very social, with everyone talking to everyone, dancing around bonfires, having mudfights and jumping into the river together to float down to the next pub. I personally think the swings are my favourite, and sometimes just spend the whole time at a stop doing continuous laps of the swing. As some of you might know, I am not particularly keen on heights, but with the Gibbon Experience and climbing to the tops of all these platforms and the big swings, I am getting a lot better.

Unfortunately, tubing really takes it out of you. Without stating the obvious, your liver is working overtime from a whole afternoon of drinking. Your arms and chest muscles will really hurt from all the paddling and hanging onto the rope swings. Your shins and feet will be bashed, bruised and cut from constantly climbing out of the river over the rocks (I wear my sandals for this reason). You get surnburnt (most sunblock is stripped off from the high speed impacts with the water), and whichever part of your body hits the water first will most likely be sore, generally thighs and arse for me. Although people who back or belly flop can bruise their whole body. One girl's entire stomach was purple the next day after belly-flopping. And yet it is great fun, and you are rearing to go the next time.

Some people bring dry-bags with other possessions in, normally cameras, and so I've managed to grab a few photos of tubing from others, including some great ones Johnny took of me on the big swing, it really looks like I am flying, and will give you some idea of the height of the swings. (My camera is too big and expensive to risk or be practical). So there you have it, a day of tubing down the NamSong river in Vang Vieng Laos. I have now done it three times, and doubtless will do it a few more times before I move on again.

To Vang Vieng in a bouncy minibus

Day 52 (21/05/08): Vang Vieng, Laos

We had organised a minibus ride to the next destination of Vang Vieng, party capital of Laos. There were six of us Gibboners booked for the minivan, myself, Garth, Charlie & Lou, and Gemma & Johnny. Joe and Justin were going down the same day in a different minivan with their friends. Lucy would be following us the day after. Initially there was some confusion, as the minibus driver (who spoke no english) wouldn't go and pick up Lou and Charlie from their guesthouse, and we had one shared ticket for all six of us. And then he made Gemma go in another minivan, even though there was space in ours. In the end it turned out that he was only taking us to the minibus station, not to Vang Vieng itself. We all re-grouped at the station, and then climbed aboard our proper minibus for the 5 hour ride. If there is one word to describe the journey, it would be 'bumpy'. I was on the back seat as the minibus wound its way around and up and down the steep Laos mountainsides, bouncing all the way. I was trying reading my book for some parts of it, but it proved too hard to hold the page steady enough to read. The scenery was absolutely fantastic though. Laos, especially its mountainous north, is a truly beautiful place.

We made a few short stops for food, but in the mid afternoon we rolled into the Vang Vieng minibus station, and shared a tuk-tuk down to the riverside, where the 6 of us all checked into the same guesthouse. We are all planning to stay here for a little while, and so haggled for a better price, and I got my own room. There is a very nice little bamboo gazebo with a few hammocks in it that overlooks the river, and it has quickly become a favourite spot to relax or have a few quiet afternoon beers. Both Lou & Charlie and Gemma & Johnny had been to Vang Vieng before, only leaving to go on the Gibbon Experience. In fact Gemma & Johnny weren't supposed to be coming back, except that it is such a fun place and with people they knew going to it, they couldn't resist to come back for a few short days.

It was blisteringly hot (what a surprise!), and so we headed down to one of the riverfront bars and had a quick swim in the river. Although you tend to 'float' more than 'swim'. The current is very fast and the river shallow, so you just jump in and float down a couple hundred meters, then walk back. The scenery is, as always, amazing. Across the river are some truly huge sheer mountains, whose faces are so steep in parts that no vegetation can grow. We all sat back, gazed at the scenery, enjoyed a cold beer and listened to the two couples who had been here before talk about tubing down the river, the activity Vang Vieng is famous for. I have heard a lot of stories about tubing down the river, and everyone says that it is an absolute blast of fun. Garth and I were very much looking forward to it, after hearing the stories of the giant rope swings, ziplines and riverside pubs. Bring it on!

The evening was spent at the same bar, now geared up for its nightly patrons with several large bonfires and pumping music. It was very much a deja-vu night, as I ran into several other people I had met previously, including some people from the Perhentian Islands almost 6 weeks before!

Amazing waterfalls

Day 51 (20/05/08): Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang is a very pretty town, full of history and culture, and more temples than you can shake a big Buddhist stick at. One of the things the town is famous for is the Kuang Si waterfalls, and so after a breakfast with Garth, Gemma & Johnny, the four of us grabbed a tuk-tuk for the hour journey out the waterfalls. Its only 29km to the waterfall, but it is very steep, and as such the underpowered tuk-tuks take an hour to get there.

Before getting to the waterfalls, you walk through a short forest path, in which you go past the Bear Conservation project. Here are a number of Asiatic black bears that have been rescued from poachers. The bears were all playing in their enclosures, and climbing trees, and were pretty cool to see. There is also a rescued tiger, however it wasn't out for viewing that day. Walking a bit further we came to the waterfalls themselves. The waterfalls are incredibly beautiful. It is actually a series of small waterfalls that cascade over multiple levels down the side the hill into beautiful aquamarine pools. We followed them up, marvelling as each pool seemed more beautiful and picturesque than the previous one. After a short while we got to the main fall, which was pretty high and very pretty. Here we met Lucy and Lou & Charlie, three other Gibboners who had taken the bus instead of the slow boat.

You are allowed to swim in the pools at the bottom of the hill, and so after working up some sweat walking to the top of the waterfall, we were all eager for a swim. There is a small waterfall here, about 3m high which you can jump off, as well as a tree of similar height overhanging the pool. We all had a great time jumping off the waterfall and tree into the beautiful water. At one stage a large contingent of young orange clad monks appeared and walked to the top of the waterfall. Some started rolling up their robes, and we were all hoping they would jump, but alas a senior monk came along and disavowed them of the idea.

The tuk-tuk ride back was considerably quicker, an advantage of going downhill. Later in the evening I met Lou and Charlie, and we climbed over 200 steps up the large hill in the middle of Luang Prabang to watch the sunset. Unfortunately the clouds were in the way, but it was still a fantastic view watching over the town as all the lights came on for the night, and as is typical for Laos, there were fantastic mountains and cliffs in the background. Luang Prabang has a large number of Buddhist temples, which at night are lit up by spotlights, and so standing on top of a giant hill in the center of the town, you could see all the illuminated Buddhist Stupas dotted around the place.

Lou and Charlie hadn't made it to the bowling alley the previous night, and were quite keen to go, and so for the second night in a row I found myself at the bowling alley after dinner. Garth joined us, and the four of us had a couple good games. I was really bad in the first game, coming dead last and scoring a paltry 35. But then I got my eye in, and easily won the second game with a score of 115. Overall another fun night with the 'Gibbon Crew'.

Two days on a slow boat

Days 49-50 (18/05/08 - 19/05/08): Huay Xai to Pakbeng to Luang Prabang

There were six of us 'Gibboners' catching the slow boat to Luang Prabang; myself, Joe and Justin from my treehouse, Gemma and Johnny (an English couple) and Garth, the Canadian. We got to the boat really early in order to grab good seats, and we quickly camped ourselves out near the front of the boat, each with our own seat. The boat is just a long wooden boat with open sides and a roof, with rows of wooden benches down it. The boat ride was actually quite good fun, the seats were simple wooden benches, but on some advice we had each bought a small cushion. We spent the time reading, listening to music, chatting, playing cards or a great little game called 'Pass the Pigs'. In the afternoon we even cracked open a few beers and relaxed as we watched the Laos countryside drift by. The boat goes down the famous Mekong river, and as such it was my first time on the river that I would be spending a lot of time on in the future, as I follow it down through Laos, Cambodia and then into Vietnam. It was also the first time in my trip that I was heading South. I have spent the last six weeks travelling North from Singapore, through Malaysia right into the North of Thailand, and now I am heading south again, and will be for the next few weeks.

The boat stops at a small town called Pakbeng, whose sole purpose is to house the tourists coming down on the boat. As such there is a large crowd of guesthouse touts waiting to ambush you as you come off the boat. We all checked in to a relatively cheap guesthouse, had an average curry for dinner, and spent the evening drinking a few beers and playing Pass the Pigs. Until 10:30pm, when the generators for the town stop and it loses all electricity.

We arrived at the boat early the next day again, and so ensured that we had good seats at the front of the boat (the back of the boat is very noisy from the big engine). The second day was very similiar to the first, with the exception that it rained a fair bit, so canvas covers were pulled over the side of the boat to stop the rain coming in. Once again we entertained ourselves with games and cards, and had a few beers.

We arrived in Luang Prabang, where Joe and Justin were meeting a bunch of friends. They were waiting at the jetty for us, and we followed them to their guesthouse and all booked in together. I continued to share a room with Garth, like we had been doing for the past few days. Luang Prabang is quite famous, the entire town is a Unesco World Heritage site, and it is home to a large number of temples and a lot of monks. In fact if you walk outside a temple just before dark, you will see a large number of orange clad monks leaving. It is even weirder to pass by an internet cafe and see all the young monks checking their email and texting on their cellphones. Nevertheless, the town, like most of Laos, is very conservative and most restaurants and bars will shut at the curfew of 11pm. There are only two places in town that stay open after this, the disco and the bowling alley. And so on our first night in Luang Prabang, we all found ourselves going to the bowling alley after our dinner. The bowling alley was apparently the place to be, and very shortly the entire place was packed, almost entirely with backpackers, a lot of whom I recognised from the boat trip. I didn't actually end up bowling, I just drank some beers and chatted to other people.

At the end of the night, a large group of us were all going back to the same guesthouse, and so we all got on the same tuk-tuk, all 17 of us (bear in mind this was a 'truck' style tuk-tuk, with two benches in the back of a small converted van). Nevertheless, there were 9 in the back, 3 on the roof, 3 standing on the duckboard at the back, and 2 in the front. It was a lot of fun, and since the tuk-tuk only had a 1400cc engine, we were going so slow that it was pretty safe.

Gibbon Experience 3

Day 48 (17/05/08): Gibbon Experience, Bokeo Park & Huay Xai, Laos

We all woke early with the morning sun, and Max our guide zipped in, ready to take us 'Gibbon Hunting' again. The girls didn't want to come, so it was just us guys. We were ready in our harnesses, and under Max's instruction, sitting very quietly in our treehouse, waiting. And then we heard it, the distant sound of a single gibbon singing in the morning. With that we all sprang into action. Ignoring the standard rules of one person at a time, Max threw us all down the zipline as fast as we could each clip on. Down on the jungle floor we followed the sound, which had now grown in cacophany as several gibbons joined in. We turned off the main path, and climbed and slid our way down a steep hill, towards the source of the amazing howling, whooping and shrieking of the gibbons. Whenever they paused in their singing, we would freeze and not make any noise. When the singing resumed we would continue down, trying to make as little noise as possible. We probably got to within 50m of the gibbons, whne they decided to move on. I managed to see just a few fleeting glimpses of gibbon silhouette against the morning light, and then they were gone. However, it was worth it just for the singing. The gibbons are incredibly loud when they sing, and have a big vocal range. All the more impressive was how the group of them all sang together, one gibbon would start off with some low notes, before all the others would slowly join in, building to a brilliant crescendo of gibbon voices. It is incredibly eery, hiding in the fog of the early morning jungle, listening to this other-worldy song.

We clambered back up the hill, pulling ourselves up on the trees and vines, not worrying about making noise now. Being as 'zip-addicted'as we were, we went for a few more quick zips. There was a heavy mist this morning, and it was a great fun zipping through the mist above the treetops. Although as we found out, the first person down the zipline gets completely soaked, as all the condensed water on the zipline sprays into you. At about 9am all others came over for breakfast, and the 13 of us enjoyed our last meal together in the treehouse. It was then with much sadness that we all packed our bags and had the last zip out of our treehouse. A short walk back to the base camp to drop off our harnesses, and an easy hour walk back to the main village. After all the walking over the past few days, this last walk was easy for everyone. There was only one four wheel drive to take us back, and so instead of all cramming in, Garth (the Canadian in the group), and I jumped on the roof and enjoyed the ride back getting a great view and dodging all the low lying branches.

Back at the main road, and we had lunch at a small shop, before the first of us 'Gibboners' (as we had taken to calling ourselves) had to part ways. There were three going North, while the rest of us were going back to Huay Xai. At least we could all fit in the jeep now, and we spent most of the trip already reminiscing about how much fun we had just had, and how it was one of the most amazing experiences we had ever done. Back in Huay Xai, and most of us checked into the same guesthouse. We all went out and had dinner together, and then had a good party on the upstairs balcony of our guesthouse.

Gibbon Experience 2

Day 47 (16/05/08): Gibbon Experience, Bokeo Park, Laos

I woke up at a very early hour to the sound of Owen zipping out of our treehouse. Our guide would be coming around at 6am to take us on a walk to try and find gibbons, but in the meantime we still had half an hour, and so the rest of us guys threw on our harnesses and did the quick loop to Treehouse 2 and back again. It was brilliant zipping in the early hours of the morning, the air was crisp and dew covered all the ziplines. We got back just in time for our guide, Max, who then took us on a walk in the jungle. The best time to spot gibbons is in the early hours of the morning, when they sing. Gibbons literally do sing duets, the males and females each having different parts. Because the jungle is so dense, and the gibbons are so high up, it is impossible to spot them during the day, so the only way is to listen for their singing in the early morning. Alas, even though we walked very quietly through an area that Max said there are normally gibbons, we didn't spot or even hear any. It may have been because of all the noise we made in the night, oh well.

Another few zips on our own, then back to our treehouse for breakfast, consisting of steamed rice and vegetables. Being our full day in the jungle, we now had the choice of two treks we could do. One would take us down some ziplines to Treehouse 5, the newest and biggest treehouse overlooking a great valley, and then an 1.5 hour walk back. The other option was to walk for several hours to the waterfall, go on the really big ziplines there, and then walk back for several hours, overall a long day. The people in the other two treehouses decided on the easy walk, but we were all quite keen to go down to the waterfall, so shortly after breakfast, we stocked up on water (the tap water in the tree house was safe to drink), and we set off. The walk was actually quite easy, it was downhill for most of the way, and the Laos scenery is fantastic. Along the way Max also pointed out some of the more interesting plants and insects, and we even ate the stalk of one of the edible plants. It tasted like bland celery.

The Gibbon Experience has two different areas of operation, the 'classic' and the 'waterfall'. We were doing the classic, and staying in that area. But now we were getting the best of both, by walking all the way to the waterfall area. Personally I think the 'classic' area is a nicer place to stay, and the ziplines are more accesible, allowing for a lot of zipping. Howerver the ziplines at the waterfall area are huge. And when I say huge, I really mean huge! They were all at least 300m long, with the longest one touching 400m. The highest one went from one big hill/mountain, all the way over the valley and the river, to the hill on the other side. It is supposedly 1000 feet high, or just over 300m. You literally felt like you were flying. We did about 7 different zips in this area, they follow a big long circuit that takes about an hour to do, including all the walking between ziplines.

We came to the waterfall itself, and all the guys jumped in for a swim in the large swimming pond. There was a bamboo raft there that had seen better days, but it didn't stop us from all trying to sit on it and keep it upright. 'Bamboo submarine' is probably a better term for it, and much hilarity ensued as the raft lost all stability with 5 guys on it. Lunch was more sticky rice and vegetables, at one of the little village camps where the food is cooked for the 'waterfall' area. We then had the walk back, the first hour or so was flat, and then we got to the big hill that had taken us 40 minutes to walk down. We all split up at this point, everyone going their own pace. Joe and I soon were at the front, and decided it would be a lot easier if we just power walked and ran our way up the hill. This way we did the whole thing in less than half an hour. Joe and I got back to our treehouse, and had enough time to have a shower and a few hot chocolates before the others started arriving. Treehouse 2 and 3 came over as well, and the whole group sat and chatted while our Treehouse had our dinner. The others had to leave before dark, and having no whiskey for the night, we spent a quiet night chatting and listening to the jungle sounds.