Cambodia

Wednesday April 13th ( Nah Trang - Phnom Penh)

Our morning started pretty wonderfully. As we got into Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) we had yet to plan how we were going to make it into Cambodia that day without making any kind of reservations, but were very pleasantly surprised that the travel agent that they dropped us off at offered bus trips to Phnom Penh and that they actually had one leaving in an hour of our arrival into Saigon from Nha Trang. That gave us just enough time to eat breakfast from across the street and hop onto our next bus. This was a huge relief for the two of us and to make the situation even better, it was Cambodian New Year tomorrow and for the next 3 days and they do not offer international buses into Cambodia during these 3 days. We crossed over the border and got snuggled in watching Law and Order, when all of a sudden there was a lot of commotion going on in the bus. It ended up that something was going funky in the engine which was making a ton of smoke seep out. After our driver assured us that this happened pretty often, we were the first people to be sent back in. Luckily there were no other problems. We arrived into Phnom Pehn safe and sound, took a tuk tuk to the Town View hotel and were happily greeted by Jasons parents. It was really nice to see some familiar faces and we were happy that we were taken to the right hotel. We had just enough time to have a shower and we were off again on a walking tour of the tour with Colin and Nicky's tour group. We were pretty happy that everyone was so nice and welcoming of us joining along for a couple days. After a quick stop at a gas station for iced cofffees we were on our way to cover a lot of ground. It was a really hot day with very still air, our first experience of this kind of heat. But it was really nice to see a bit of the town like this except the stinky river. Our tour ended at a temple in the middle of the town, but the actual temple was closed so the highlight was getting to see a few monkeys that were living there. Next we took a tuk tuk to have dinner, something I think both Jason and I needed to boost our energy a little bit. After dinner we took our tuk tuk back to our hotel before realizing that it was only 7pm so we ended up heading back out right to where we just left. We ended our night at the FCC club, having a few drinks before we all called it a night.

-Lisa

Thursday April 14th ( Phnom Phem)

Look who we found!

We woke up early to meet the parentals for breakfast (included none the less :) The tour group was headed to an optional orphanage in the morning and the killing fields in the afternoon. So we decided to do our own thing and check out the town thinking that going to an orphanage and the killing fields in one day would be too much. Turns out that as mentioned by the guide that during the New Years (which seemingly goes forever) all the stores are shut in Phenom Phem and everyone returns to the villages. They weren't joking, pretty much everything was shut so we went back downtown to the tourist section by the river and had coffee and later to a roof top restaurant for pizza to take care of our morning. We met up with the group and headed first to S21 which is what is referred to as a school, even though nobody was taught there. It was phase one of extracting information by torture before the victims were transfered to a killing field. Unfortunately for insurance reasons we weren't allowed on the bus, so the four of us (mom, dad, Lisa and I) followed the bus in a tuk tuk. The later part of the afternoon was spent visiting the actual killing fields which was extremely sad. It was something that we wanted to see but it was very disturbing. In the killing fields after in rains, more bones and clothing are uncovered. You literally walk between mass graves... words can't really explain it :( For the ride home, the rules had been changed and we were allowed on the bus. We stopped in at an orphanage to what we were told is to watch the kids dance (they were out in the morning) but were later coaxed into joining in. The orphanage was nothing like we expected and the kids were extremely happy and full of life, leaving us regretting missing out on the morning tour. With lack of choices, we headed back to restaurant we ate at the night before followed by a few drinks at the same place we went to the night before.

-Jason









Friday April 15 (Phnom Phem - Sihanoukville)

We woke early so we could have one last breakfast with Jasons parents before we part ways again. It was a really great visit and the two of us we so happy that our plans actually worked out so that we could meet up with them. Before we knew it we were on our next bus down south the Sihanoukville. It seems that further south we go, the more unbearable the heat is. I couldn't believe how hot it was when we got out of our bus and into town. I thought I was going to pass out trying to make a decision where we wat to go in the heat. Our tuk tuk driver took us to a bunch of hotels, all completely full because of the new year. It was so frustrating, and as soon as we found one that had a room for us we took it no matter of the cost. It was a cute little bungalow style room with a fan. It's times like these that you really wish you had an air conditioned room. We were pretty tired from the bus and weren't in any hurry to move too quickly so we just lazied around and found this little restaurant that served the biggest portions ever. I had this plate of mashed potatoes that usually feed my entire family at Christmas time and Jason had this massive curry dish and rice. Definitely get your moneys worth at Roses.

-Lisa

Saturday April 16th (Sihanoukville)

Finally being in one place for a few days excited us, we were feeling a little worn down from the buses. We decided that we would spend the entire day on the beach. The entire beach here is one big tourist attraction. Everything is catered towards tourists and people are constantly trying to sell you things. The little kids walk around selling bracelets, the teenage girls walk around balancing about 20lbs of fruit on there head and at a moments notice they'll whip it down and cut up as much fruit as you can eat for a dollar or two and the older ladies walk around offering mani, pedi's, hair removal via 'threading' or massages. It's quite entertaining some of the other ladies carry a bucket of seafood tied to one end of a stick and a small bbq on the other. It's crazy, there are people everywhere, I've never really been on a busy beach like this before. At night time they pull out tables and chairs right where the loungers were and serve dinner and cheap beer under candle light (Angkor Brewery, the official brewery of Cambodia owned by Carlsberg is located here, so you can get draft beer anywhere for next to nothing. After a day which turned into a night on the beach, we were happy to head back to our hotel to finally wash all of the sand off and apply some Aloe!

-Jason





Sunday April 17th (Sihanoukville)

We ended up choosing not to head to one of the islands and just stay in Sihanoukville for the few days that we were here. We had read some reviews online of the bungalows that are on the different islands ad it doesn't seem like anyone had anything nice to say about any of them. Jason wasn't feeling too good (too much time in the sun yesterday) so I had a lot of hanging time by myself because I felt like I was going to pass out if I stayed in the room too long in the middle of the day. I spent some alone time catching up on some of my reading and went to an Israeli restaurant for lunch for the best falafel pita ever. Trying to find things to do by myself really made me appreciate having someone else to travel with.

-Lisa

Monday April 18th (Sihanoukville)

Waking up feeling much better (I streamed a big Game 3 Canucks win starting at 7am), we decided that when in Rome, do as the Roman's do and headed down to the beach to soak up some more sun. As the New Year's ending the beaches were a lot quieter which mean's less tourists for the locals to try and sell their services to. Lisa ended up going back to her Mani/Pedi lady to get her legs threaded and before I knew it I was getting my toe and finger nails tuned up. After constantly being bombarded by kids trying to sell bracelets and food we decided to pull chute in the afternoon. We decided to keep our room for the day so we could freshen up before taking our night bus. I write you from the beach, just counting down until night bus time!

-Jason

Some serious blogging going down hard left. 

Tuesday April 19th ( Siem Reap)

Our night bus last night was a more interesting one than we are used to. We were super late being picked up and once we got to the bus station there was some major confusion as to where we were all supposed to go. There were people going all different places: Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Bangkok. Once it was finally figured out that we all were supposed to go on the same bus we hopped on expecting a sleeper bus like in Vietnam (it was the way the guy that booked it described it) but in reality it was just big leather seats that reclined. Once everyone was settled in there was some commotion coming from behind us. Apparently some tourist didn't like the fact that the guy in front of him was reclining his seat and it was hitting his knees. There were some insults being thrown both ways and it took a bus chaperone and an hour for everything to really cool off. After we dropped off passengers in Phnom Penh it really started to rain hard, and I was the lucky one sitting underneath the leaking emergency exit. Took much rain and I was getting furstated and soaked so I moved to a different seat that ended up belonging to someone else. When I told the bus worker what was going on, he grabbed some electricians tape which clearly wouldn't do the trick for the amount of water that was seeping though. Jason being a gentleman offered to sleep on the floor and I take his spot. We were both happy an hour later when the rain finally stopped. Our 6am hotel choice ended up being one of the nicest hotels that we have stayed at during this trip. The hotel only opened in January and everything was brand new in the rooms. There was a huge storm here last night (same one as in the bus) and the power was knocked out for most the day in Siem Reap. We caught up on a little sleep that we missed on the bus and before we knew it our tuk tuk driver was there to take us to the sunset at Angkor Wat. Walking up to one of the temples was pretty tough in the heat and when we got there I think it was a small indication of just how busy it is going to be tomorrow. There were so many people scrambling to get to the top of the temple and no such thing as personal space. Kind of began to remind us of Tikal. Once we had seen the romantic sunset shared with half a million of our closest friends we headed to Pub Street for some dinner. Going to be another early night for us.

-Lisa

Wednesday April 20th (Siem Reap)

We woke up early with hopes of checking out as much of Angkor Wat as we could in one day. We met up with out tuk tuk driver and headed out to the park. We managed to view 6 different temples which were all really impressive. It was extremely hot (about 35) and we were disgustingly sweaty and worn out in what felt like an up hill battle. I'll be honest, that by the end of it they all looked pretty similar. We were able to pick up some souvenirs which we figured were a good deal only to be harassed the rest of the way round by other venders offering to give us a better deals. We headed back down to pub street for some much needed food in the late afternoon as well as a final few Angkor Draft before headed back to our hotel. Our fate is another night bus leaving at 2am to Bangkok and then hopefully if we can arrange a night train down to southern Thailand once we arrive :( All and all a great experience checking out Angkor Wat, a little touristy and very hot. The guide books recommend a minimum 3 days - 1 week... but really, a night and full day was more then enough for us.

-Jason

Southern Vietnam

Thursday April 7th (Hanoi - Hoi An)

Note the toilet door

Our night bus ended up being a lot nicer then we had expected. It was really new and had individual pods for everyone to sleep in. It was pretty space age looking and since I had no idea what to expect I was definitely happy about it. Both of us ended up getting a full nights sleep and arrived in Hue safe and sound. We figured that we were going to have to cut some things out of Vietnam so we hopped on the next bus out of Hue and to Hoi An. The bus didn't come for a few hours later and it ended up being an older sleeper bus, which was kind of weird because it was a 5 hour bus in the middle of the day. But it was okay for us because we got to lay down to watch Law and Order in the back. When we got to Hoi An we went for a walk around town and to the old quarter to get dinner. The feel of Hoi An is so calm and relaxed (no vehicles allowed in the old part of town :) ) and you aren't walking around thinking you are going to get hit by someone. I'm pretty happy we're going to be spending a few days here to unwind from Hanoi and the weather is supposed to be really nice for us.

-Lisa

Cau Lou... A Local DIsh

Friday April 8th (Hoi An)

Waking up to a nice day we decided to pull the trigger on renting a scooter for the day to cruise around and make our way down to the beach. We quickly found the cheapest scooter in town, fueled up and then joined the flow of traffic. I have little to no experience driving a scooter and was a little nervous driving through all the traffic. It turned out to be a blast, ripping around through the traffic with Lisa hanging on for dear life. In true scottish spirit I refused to pay for parking and luckily got waved in by a lady to come and sit in her restaurants section... thats the thing, you park and sit for free but are subject to there expensive prices. The joke was on them, we were extremely prepared with drinks, snacks and fruit for the day. We didn't bring much money with us, so saying no to people trying to sell us trinkets along the beach was easy. It's kind of sad, we found out from another traveller who spoke Vietnamese, that if you say no, they say extremely rude things about you in Vietnamese :( Not to worry, we had a good time soaking up the sun. We spent the evening having dinner at a good cause restaurant who gives all proceeds to charity. We hoped to go out and experience some of the Hoi An night life, but we were really tired after the days excitement. We sought out a donut cart and headed to bed.

-Jason

Saturday April 9th (Hoi An - Nah Trang)

We were torn between deciding if we wanted to take a tour somewhere or just hang out at the beach again, and in the end we rented another moped and were on our way back to the beach. We figured we'd see a different part of it and parked at a different spot, where ladies are waiting to usher you to a sun lounger. Nice change to laying on the sand.Time went by so fast and then it was time for us to head back into town to catch our next night bus. 

-Lisa

Sunday April 10th (Nah Trang)

After a quick power nap we were up and at it. You never feel quite right after missing a nights sleep but we were eager to explore Nah Trang. Turns out it's Vietnams beach hot spot. Being extremely urban with lots of money invested it has a Miami feel to it... even though I've never visited Miami. We walked part of the beach (which is 8km) and then explored the main part of town. It's crazy because prices and establishments vary from high high class back home to local vietnamese standards. Out of all the cities that we've visited though, this is by far the most expensive. We spent the afternoon sitting in the sun on a roof top patio sampling southern vietnamese beers and then went out for dinner. For some reason I was extremely extremely hungry and after walking back to our hotel we went out for a second dinner (Lisa only had dessert) after polishing that I walked across the street and got a baguette sandwich before heading back to the room. A nice relaxing day.

-Jason

Monday April 11th (Nah Trang)

After booking a boat cruise last night, we woke up early and were ready to see some islands around the area. In the lobby of our hotel we met another couple who were from Calgary who were on our boat trip. They were at the end of their year long trip and had seen everything from Australia to Vietnam. I was very surprised to find out that they had only graduated high school last year and were the same age as Wyatt, my younger brother. They take you from your mini bus to a boat port that was just as chaotic as the boat in Halong Bay. Our guide introduced himself as Barrack Obama and was very energetic and upbeat, making sure everyone was involved and asked us all where we came from. Our first stop was 45 minutes away and we were told we were going to go snorkeling. When we got there, they gave us each a mask and told us to jump in, right on the shore line where about 100 other people were already standing in the knee deep water. The water was crystal clear and not one fish to be found. It was kind of a site to see that this is what they were calling snorkeling. We ended up just going for a swim and lounging on the beach. Next we had some lunch on the boat, everyone circled around our benches that had been transformed into a big table. After everything was cleaned up a live band started to play Vietnamese music that sounded kind of like Santana. Then our trusted guide Obama came out dressed up like a woman complete with a wig and dress. After the band we tied together with 3 other boats and in the middle they threw down a floating bar, where passengers could jump off the top of our boat into the circle and get free rice wine. "Happy hour" as they called it. Jason was one of the first to jump in, and I didn't want to be one of the only ones not to go in, so a few minutes later I ended up jumping in too. When all the wine was gone happy hour was over and it was time for our next island. It was a pretty rocky beach but 10 of us joined together to play a game of volleyball, pretty unsuccessful but fun and better then laying on the rocks. Our last stop was an aquarium, but we ended up deciding to stay on the boat because we figured we do that tomorrow instead.

-Lisa

Our guide is dressed up as the lady boy :S

Tuesday April 12th (Nah Trang - Ho Chi Minh City - Phenom Phem)

Waking up to another perfect day we decided that if we didn't visit the island of Vin Pearl we would always wonder. We checked out of our hotel and headed to jump on the gondola that takes you to the island. You can go by boat for cheaper, but I had read that the gondola is one of the best bits. Its maybe the weirdest thing that we've done, it felt out of place. The place was almost empty but it showed signs that it could handle a lot of people. It was all pretty much brand new. We split up our day by going to the water park until 2, then had a bite to eat, ran through the aquarium and ended the day in the amusement park... tough life, I know.  The water park was good fun, it had maybe 15-20 different slides, a water half pipe, wave pool and lazy river. The slides are only open at certain points during the day because it wasn't busy enough, so we coordinated things so we could try each one. It was a real hustle to fit it all into a 3 hour window. At lunch Lisa ran into the weirdest meal of our trip, it was cold bean soup with yogurt and egg in it.... it looked disgusting. The aquarium was exciting, the highlight for me were Giant Arapaima which are one of the biggest fresh water predator fish in the world, they were massive weighing about 200-300 lbs a piece and at least 6 ft long. We ended the afternoon by going on the 3 main rides which were all pretty tame, which included the worlds smallest roller coaster which was fun. The only time we ran into a line was leaving. All and all a fun action packed day at Vietnams Disney Land. For those who don't know, I collect hot sauce from all of the countries that we visit, so we went on a quick shopping trip to get a bottle. Unfortunately we are boarding another night bus tonight to HCMC and then a bus tomorrow morning to Phenom Phem, Cambodia to meet up with my parents. After all that, I'm hoping I sleep like a baby.

-Jason

PS: A weird factoid, Vin Pearl Island was funded by a Vietnamese businessman that introduced instant noodles to the Ukraine.

Picture doesn't quite do it justice, but it was really impressive standing next to this tank with 6 massive fish in it.

Northern Vietnam

Saturday April 2nd (Vietaine - Hanoi, Vietnam)

We woke up early and rushed to get to the airport to make sure we were on time. Turns out that the Lao airport is tiny and it doesn't operate like any airport we'd ever been to before. Everyone waits outside these glass doors and when your flight is up everyone checks in, then you proceed through security and wait again. It just meant an extra wait for us because they were running a little behind. We finally arrived at the Hanoi Airport around 5pm, it was a little disappointing to spend an entire day waiting but it sure beat a 28 hour bus ride. We arrived in rush hour and took at $2 shuttle into town (which is 50km's away) it always surprises me, but every we go traffic seems to get crazier. There are usually no sidewalks, and scooters parked on the edge. Intersections don't usually have lights and they use traffic circles.... it's a crazy system but it seems to work. To cross the road you just walk into traffic and trust that if you go slow they will avoid you... the same deal when you are walking down the street, you just walk on the side of the road and they will avoid you. Upon arrival we were so scared that we only left our hotel to eat and book a tour... a total of walking one block, but today we walked around cautiously but surprised at how well the system works. We ended up booking a 3 day boat tour of Halong Bay and Cat ba Island, one night sleeping on a 'Junk' and the other in a hotel on the island. Seems like go-go-go but we didn't want to waste a day in Hanoi. 


-Jason

Sunday April 3rd (Hanoi - Halong Bay)

This morning we headed off to our tour of Halong Bay. We were both pretty excited because we have heard so many good things about it and everyone who has been to Vietnam told us it's a must see. We get on our mini bus and it is already completely full. We were the last two people on so we are stuck on the fold down chairs. At least the four hour ride is a smooth one (not windy). When we arrived in Halong City, we had to get off the bus and wait to get on our boat. There was a lot of confusion and I don't think our guide knew what to do with us. There were people who were just getting a ride to Cat Ba, people who were on a 2 day tour and then people who were on a 3 day tour(us), but they put us all together. When we finally go to our boat and told our itinerary, it was completely opposite as to what we were told when we booked it. We were spending the night on Cat Ba island and tomorrow night on the boat. We were served lunch (cold french fries, fish, rice and tofu) and went to our activity of the day, an island cave. It was a huge cave and pretty tricked out with fluorscent colourful lights. It was kind of cheesey with a million people inside, but still amazing to see. Our next stop was the "floating village" which was a few houses in a bay and we had the option to take a power boat around for an hour for $5 each. We decided against it and it was a good thing because the trip only lasted 20 minutes. We then headed further south until we made it to Cat Ba Island. After we got off the boat and were rushed to the bus, we then got to sit on the bus waiting for 2 hours until the driver was ready to go. The tour company is very tight lipped as to what it is that we are always having to wait for. But 2 hours sitting on a bus while our driver ate was a little irritating to everyone on the tour. Making it to our hotel that night was a pretty big relief to everyone. The hotel ended up exceeded our expectations. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.



-Lisa

Monday April 4th (Halong Bay - Cat Ba Island)


Waking up nice and early to meet up for breakfast with the group, we got downstairs to find out that all we were getting was a mini bagette, not what most people were expecting before the trek. Having all your meals included is nice, but it seems to be hit or miss. We all boarded our little bus and headed to the  national park where our guide booted us out and told us that we could walk up the mountain if we wanted and if not it was free time. No guide was really necessary, but there were not frills with this budget tour. The trek took about all of 30 minutes up and 30 minutes down, so it meant about an hour and a half wait for the bus with nothing to do... spirits were down because everyone was starving after the hike and the locals had us trapped an hour away from anything else. We took the bus back to the hotel for some lunch and then on to the next activity.. Monkey Island. Part of the problem is that there are so many tour companies booking different tours which all get tossed together and people pay different prices and are promised different things. We ended up paying $20 more then the cheapest tour booked but $30 less then the most expensive. There were some unhappy individuals when it came to forking over $8 to go to Monkey Island... because it wasn't supposed to be included. A few of the groups had their receipts which showed that they had it included. It ended up in some heated arguments and some calls to various travel agents. We decided just to pay up because it really wasn't worth the fuss, in the end it only costed $5... our tour guide was apparently trying to take $3/pp overhead. It was worth the money to go and see the Monkey's.. but it was a sad at the same time. There were tons of monkey's who all relied on getting fed by tourists... so they we eating bags of chips, oreo's and whatever else they could get their hands on. They were extremely aggressive and even stole a bag of oreo's out of a man's hands but who could blame them. After this we were bused around the island back to a 'Junk' to spend the night, turns out that we got a fancier boat then we originally cruised over on. After a nice dinner we shared a few over priced drinks (you weren't allowed to bring your on beer because it was technically a restaurant) but it was funny because the kid that was selling them to me was maybe 15 years old. Minus the waiting and the upset people in our tour we enjoyed the day :) 


-Jason

Tuesday April 5th (Halong Bay - Hanoi)


It's the last day of our tour and neither of us got a very good sleep because we pulled the short end of the stick and were stuck next to the engine. We both woke up with sore throats and to the smell of sulfur. Breakfast was a million times better then yesterday because we each were lucky enough to add an egg to our bread. Right after breakfast we went kayaking, an activity that would have been better if it wasn't so foggy out. It was still fun and it was cool to be so close to some mini islands and in the crystal blue water. It was time to head back to Halong City and we were all pretty tired and hungry after we got off the boat and expected to get right onto our bus but instead were faced with more waiting. They make you sit in some womans shop expecting that you will buy her pringles and the lady is constantly moving you from seat to seat to make room for the other tourists they are bamboozling with their waiting scheme. The lady didn't know personal boundaries and was poking at my side to make me sit down at the opposite end of the table away from my entire group. After an hour our bus showed up to pick us up but once we started to get in he quickly drove off, turned around and picked up some other people instead. Our guide seemed confused and told us the new driver will be here in 5 or 2 minutes. Half an hour later we were on the bus. Jason got the last seat and after I swore I would never sit on a pull down chair, it was how I spent the next 4 hours. We got dropped off somewhere in the Old Quarter of Hanoi and were just going to find a random place to stay, when a random guy asked us if we needed a room, and we followed him to our home sweet home for the night. Hanoi is a fast paced, crazy motorcyclists city and I have a heart attack everytime I walk in the street, so I am eager to get out of here and to the south. We booked our open tour bus tickets and went off the movies. We ended up seeing Battle LA, and watching movies in Hanoi is the same experience as Central America, cell phones and kicking the back of your seat the entire movie. The verdict is still up in the air about the movie.

Overall our opinion about our tour is a mixed one. While in the end we got everything that we were told we were going to get, hearing that people were paying half of what we did for our tour really was a shock and it made us really upset. We could understand if it was a few dollars, but not when you're paying twice what other people are and getting the exact same tour. That isn't what any traveller wants to hear. The guide having a melt down and yelling, showing that he was unable to deal with difficult situations and did not act professional also was a huge negative. I guess using our Chiang Mai trek as a standard for any tour we take makes us realize that we were really fortunate. But I don't know if we would have really wanted to go through all the trouble of planning it by ourselves. It would have been a huge stress and i'm glad we didn't have to go through it. Also we wished we could have had at least one nice day :(. If we ever book again we'll have to look around a little bit more to make sure we aren't being over charged.


-Lisa

Wednesday April 6th (Hanoi - Hoi An)


Knowing that we had a day of being homeless we waiting right until 11:29 to check out. We wandered down the busy street to find a nice restaurant serving reasonably priced breakfast (sit down restaurants can be extremely pricy, especially in tourist areas) After breakfast I decided that I would get a bike tuk-tuk down to a market... not really even thinking about anything other negotiating a good price... we were at a market before we knew it. We got there and realized that we had no real desire to buy anything other then some cheap shoes... they laughed at me when I asked for my size. We wandered back to the lake to kill some time and decided to go check out a museum that is in the middle with an embalmed fresh water giant turtle. These giant turtles apparently live in this lake and they have legit pictures of them... but it's like the Ogopogo/Loc Ness. These turtles are believed to have stolen the mythical sword that fought off the Chinese... so it's a big deal. After the museum we decided to try and find a restaurant that the book raves about and give it a shot. On the way we stopped into a few shops and I finally found a pair of shoes, I got her down to $20 US, good thing she didn't know that was the first pair I found in Asia that fit. Now we are sitting in the lobby waiting for our night bus to Hoi An :( I really do hate night buses, but this on is apparently a sleeper bus with beds.... $35US for an open ticket for all of Vietnam, I find it hard to be overly optimistic... fingers crossed. 


-Jason

Vang Vieng, Laos

Sunday March 27th (Luang Prabang)

After spending a few days in Laos, we were soon discovering that the use of tap water in food and drink preparation was the standard. It had caught up to us and ended up with two unhappy campers spending their sunday taking turns to use the facilities. This lead to an unproductive day of us feeling sorry for ourselves and not really getting up to much. We made a few treks to downtown to visit our favorite crepe stand and chased it with a fruit shake (which we had since thought back on and realized this is was adding fuel to the fire) costing all of $2. We watched a fair share of movies, took some preventative medicine and booked a mini-bus for tomorrow... with hopes that whatever demon we had inside of us had settle down.


-Jason


Monday March 28th (Luang Prabang - Vang Vieng)

Our crazy driver, he didn't speak a lick of english and
we didn't speak a lick of Lao, made pulling over for a
puke challenging.

We woke up this morning, revived and ready to head out of Luang Prabang. This happy attitude ended about half an hour into our minivan ride. The rumours that we heard about the roads being windy were very true. On top of that our driver insisted on going as fast as possible. It wasn't too long until we were both feeling very car sick, and to top it off we were the last people on the bus and I ended up being stuck on the pull down seat which was a thin cushion with metal rods going across my back. Finally after we made a quick sandwich break 2 hours into the ride the gravol began to kick in, and so did the dowsiness. Barely able to keep my eyes open we strolled into Vang Vieng. Our lonely planet didn't have a map of the city so we began strolling through the streets to find a cheap place to stay. We saw a few rooms and ended up picking one that happened to be in the book. A nice room except we didn't check close enough and have a bathroom sink that constantly leaks. You always have to wear your flip flops or shoes to battle the inch deep of water that's in there. After I took a little nap while Jason went to check out the internet, we headed out looking for a place to eat. Every single restaurant plays either Friends or Family Guy. When you're sitting there you can hear clashing intro music ("I'll be there for youuuuu" vs "seems today that all you hear.."). We ate some dinner then heading out on a tour of the town and found out some information on getting our Vietnamese visa while we're here instead of having to go down the Vientiane. We also found out that we can take a bus directly to Vietnam, without having to go down to the capital of Laos.


-Lisa

Just an example of the highway, we are on top of a mountain, and these guys are going as fast as humanly possible around these corners.

Tuesday March 29th (Vang Vieng)

The happy camper

Feeling better and excited to explore the much hyped Vang Vieng we first had to sort out the Vietnam visa situation and then we were off to tube down the Nam Song River. We purchased a few supplies (every store here sells tubing equipment and disposable clothing so you don't wreck what you have with you) so we bought some shirts and a waterproof purse :S which we hoped would protect Lisa's camera and it did (we found disposable waterproof camera's the next day) We rented tubes and headed up to the drop off point in a tuk tuk not knowing what to expect. When we got there, the rumors were true it was literally party central. Free shots all day starting before you even cross the bridge and ending at 2am back at the bar in town. They had a number of high structures, rope swings, slides and platforms to jump off into the river. It was easy to imagine how things get out of control and often result in injury and sometimes death.  We quickly made some friends and played some games making sure to keep a handle on things. It turns out that nobody really floats down the river unless it is a nice day (which it wasn't) so as things were dying down we decided to float the river and see what it was all about.... only to find out why people don't unless it's high water season. It was only a few feet deep and it was really really slow, resulting in us having to paddle in order to have any hope of making it down 3km's before it got dark. On the way we passed literally 30+ bars all with unique platforms or things to jump off which weren't even open because the river was low. We ended up almost making it down the river but had to stop with about a kilometer left because it was dark. We walked to the closest bar and got a tuk tuk back to town where are fun ended for the night. All and all an amazing day and a must do for anyone passing through Laos, its an experience all on it's own, very hard to explain fully.

-Jason

Bar 1

Team UK VS Team Canada

Not actually Simon Pegg

Bar 2

Wednesday, March 30th (Vang Vieng)


We didn't really know what we wanted to do today, whether or not we wanted to head down to the river again or just hang out around town. Both feeling particularly lazy we just stayed in town and watched endless hours of BBC, Australian network and Friends. We don't get our passports and visas till tonight, which means we have a long 24+ hours of bussing ahead of us tomorrow and need to get mentally prepared for it. Neither of us are too fond of bus riding, but after looking at the alternative of flying(way out of our budget) our only option is taking the bus. We keep hearing wonderful things about Vietnam and I am getting really excited to get there. Just hope the weather is on our side after this last week in Laos.


-Lisa

After spending the day hanging out we had plans to meet up with a couple of our friends from the Trek that just came to VV (Joe and Nick from Australia) for dinner and possibly a few drinks. While having dinner at a much-hyped bakery (which didn’t disappoint) we ended up running into two more friends (Forrest and Jessica from California) who convinced us to stay and extra day and go tubing again for Forrest’s birthday. With promises of good weather and good times we decided to stay.

-Jason

The book warned us that this happens, the restaurants are all lounger style with free wifi and friends or family guy getting played constantly. When we inquired, everyones either tubing or hungover from tubing.

Thursday, March 31^st (Vang Vieng)

The weatherman was right for once, it was nice, finally! We had run into a stretch of average weather after leaving Chiang Mai but nothing compared to who some parts of Asia are experiencing. After putting down an American Breakfast we were ready to start our way down the river. We ended up having a big group of ten or so friends which was great, we had a blast floating down the river. Organizing bar hoping with ten people is a little difficult but we managed to stay together for the most part (There was one point where I ended up ahead of the group playing mud volleyball with some strangers). A second look at many of the structures eased my mind on the safety factor. As can be expected we ended up having a blast, I would say arguably the best day of the trip.  We had a quiet dinner and ended up heading to bed early instead of heading out… we were worn out from the sun. After hearing many bus horror stories we decided to look a little further into flights and found one that was roughly twice the price of the bus but we decided a worth while investment because it was the only significant jump we were going to make and it would allow us to see north and south Vietnam. Plus, after taking buses previously in Laos… they are horrible. Everyone is carsick, by far the worst driving I’ve ever seen. Since there have only been highways in the last decade or so, driving rules don’t really exist or aren’t obeyed… it’s absolutely crazy, it makes Central America seem tame. As fast as you can all the time, passing on blind corners, constant tail gating, constant honking, bikes, scooters, cows, tractors, kids and cars all on a road with no lines… Straight Chaos! Goodbye Laos!
-Jason

...should of taken advantage of the free bananas 

Friday, April 1, 2011 (Vang Vieng - Vientiane)

Since we made a spur of the moment decision last night that we were going to fly into Vietnam then take the 24+ hours on the bus we had to make our way to Vientiane to be able to catch our fight. I woke up early this morning and was able to book the two of us on a bus out of Vang Vieng at 10 this morning.  Since we had been in VV for a while we had completely dumped the entire contents of both our bags on the floor and now had the lucky task of packing it all up and having breakfast before we headed out. Flashbacks of a terrible incident involving a cockroach on a previous trip to South East Asia flashed to my head and memories of my mom always warning me to always zip up my bag just so I don’t have any surprises next time I open it. A mini bus came to pick us up and take us to a bigger bus across from the deserted old runway strip. Apparently it was over booked and the two last guys on were lucky enough to be able to put plastic seats in the aisle and sit on them for the 4 hour ride. We made it to Vientiane and then went to search for a hotel for the night. It seems like the places to stay around here are about double the price of anywhere else we have been staying in Laos($6 vs $12 for a room, nothing to really complain about) for the exact same amenities. Finally it was lunch time, I’m not a person who likes to miss a meal. We headed down our street and found an Indian/ Malaysian restaurant and since the both of us are a little tired of noodles we decided to try something a little exotic. Best decision of the trip, the meal was definitely a highlight. We both shared an appetizer of some kind of deep fried veggies, rice, naan and each had our own curry dish and drinks all for $5. Amazing. Considering a repeat performance for dinner.

-Lisa

In Laos... this is what happens when the seats are all taken.... yet they still call it a VIP BUS.
In Lao they treat tourists like cattle... thankfully we got the last two real seats.