Month: September 2016

After a little more casual start to the day, we boarded two mini buses for our excursion to the Kuang Si Waterfall. Apparently, I didn’t see much along the way as my head managed to find a comfortable position for the entire journey.

We stopped by a village to wander around to see, and purchase no doubt, scarves being made from the cotton grown in the area. The cotton tree is a high variety compared to the low bushes in Australia. This lady was getting rid of the seeds in the cotton before spinning the thread onto a reel ready to be used in the looms. All this is manual labour and many of the houses in the village have weaving looms set up under their houses. It was handy to know that the purchases were locally made goods rather than the China version brought across the border to the north.

Just close by, is the entrance to the Kuang Si Waterfall. After a visit to the ‘happy room’ (the term used by the tour guides for toilet), we wander through an area set up to protect bears from poachers. They have been rescued from poachers; some with injuries from traps.

Kuang Si (Xi) Waterfall is the biggest in the Luang Prabang area with three tiers leading to a 50-metre drop into spectacular azure pools before flowing downstream. The pools also make great swimming holes and are very popular with both tourists and locals. You can change clothes for swimming at the wooden huts located close to the entrance.

The pools also have cascades of up to five metres high with deliciously cold water due to the shade given by the surrounding lush tropical jungle, if you don’t fancy a swim then you can relax in the shade and watch others having fun jumping in and out of the water.

There are trails allowing you to climb up to the top where you can see the stream feeding into the falls and enjoy some more natural pools. www.visit-laos.com

The falls are in hearing distance, and it is good to have some coolness in the air. We wander upstream past rapids along the way. There are many tourists and backpackers visiting too. The difference between them and Scenic tourists is that we were able to enjoy a prepared picnic just near the falls – another great feature that Scenic provide for their clients.

When we had eaten lunch, we returned to the gate and the ice-cream guy was inundated by us all. He ran out of magnums with one bunch of tourists. I didn’t see much of the return journey to the hotel either; the head found that comfortable position again. However, more relaxation was on the way as 4 of us took a tuk tuk ride into town for another 2 hour massage; one of the best of the six we have enjoyed during this tour.

Our evening meal this evening, was our farewell dinner at the Elephant Restaurant near the Mekong River. Our Vietnam Tour Guides fly back to Saigon early in the morning so there were lots of good wishes to them both before going to bed.

Tomorrow, we fly to Singapore via Bangkok.

Early starts are hard to face. Today, we were up at 5:00am for a ‘look see’ at the Alms Ceremony. Each morning, the monks go around the town collecting food such as ‘sticky rice’. They either use some themselves or give the ‘gifts’ to the city’s poor. Groups of monks walk in single file to collect the food before returning to the temples or pagodas for their day’s activity.One young monk would have been around 7 or 8.

The people of Indo China love markets. Experiencing a, what I call ‘a breakfast market’ is another ‘why would I eat that’ experience. We see lovely fresh garden produced fruit and vegetables as well as the ‘you’re not going to get away’ crabs, fish, insects and rodents. I can leave what is included in that group to your imagination but to the uninitiated, its not a pretty sight.

We get away from breakfast by 9:00am for a city walk that includes the national museum and the Vat Xiang Thong Temple. A long boat awaits near the town to take us to the Pak Ou Cave. This boat has a ”first class”, as we call it, for us to take a nap during the 1.5 hour journey up the Mekong River. We are at a point 4,000 kms from the mouth of the river in the south of Vietnam and only at 300 metres altitude. That’s not a long drop in altitude for such a distance, and the water is moving very fast.

It’s good to see the countryside of Laos. The lifestyle seems so much less fast moving compared to the cities of Saigon, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, and the countryside is made up of jungle and lush farms. Rice is not the dominant crop anymore like it is on the plains to the south. We were served a meal on the way to the caves.

The Pak Ou (also written Pakou) Caves are one of the most treasured religious symbols of the Louang Prabang Province. Several legends tell stories of this site where, over the years, thousands of statues of Buddha have been deposited.

The entrance to the caves is a masterpiece, being as it is situated in a vertical cliff (which confirmed climbers will thoroughly enjoy) in the middle of a luxuriant jungle. The stairs, even though they are steep, are well looked after and equipped for many visitors. This site, which is primarily a religious site, is very much visited today by tourists; so don’t expect to be on your own for meditation. http://www.luangprabang-laos.com

Our guide advises that the steps are ‘heavy going’ for those who find steps a problem but for all, it is worth a look just to see so many statutes, some gold leafed, scattered around the cave. There are somewhere in the vicinity of 2,500 of these statutes, some large, some very tiny. It is the sort of cave where you expect some opera singer to start up and enjoy the acoustics and atmosphere.

The return trip back to Luang Prabang was almost half the time it took to go upstream to the caves, and those who took advantage of the ‘first class’ lounge, didn’t get such a good nap. Along the way, we stopped off at a village. The first stall was a rice-whisky making venture. Some tasted the 40-50% alcohol drink that sounded like a very overpowering solution. You can guess only a couple chose to try it.

An excursion of a different kind was planned for when we returned. We’ve all tried bocce, or pentaque. The laotian people learned it from the days of the French occupation and so the adventurous went to the city competition location. After a lengthy explanation of the rules, we were divided up into two teams and had a good time of competition of the laotian kind.

Our evening was free dining so a group of us made our way to the town and found The Blue Lotus Restaurant. Laotian currency is the Kip and nothing is priced under 100 kip. Our meal cost 216,000 kip, about $A35,

Tomorrow, we visit some waterfalls for a picnic lunch and for the brave, a river swim.

Today is just a travel day. We left The River Resort, near Champasak at 10:30am and arrived at this extraordinary hotel in Luang Prubang just after 6:00pm. Our flight out of Pakse was late by an hour and then we had 2 hours in Vientiane transferring to our onward flight.

We woke to a great sunrise streaming into our “room with a view”. At the Pakse airport, there were some great signs to remind us who should board the flight first and in what order, as well as a reminder that certain dangerous weapons should not be carried in our hand luggage. I suppose we should have put them in our checked luggage. LOL!

The accommodation here in Luang Prubang is amongst the best we have ever had, but then our memories are fading quickly and perhaps there was a few luxurious hotels somewhere down the line and in the past.

Tomorrow, we are up early for an excursion to attend an Alms giving ceremony, so stay tuned.

Today is the day for an elephant ride in the Laotian jungle. We board a made-up catamaran canoe with chairs on the deck for us to experience the crossing of the Mekong River. A coach ride for 40 minutes, transfers us to where our elephants are grazing, waiting for us. Boarding an elephant can be one tedious task. (I do have photos, but I’m not allowed to show, of Lyn boarding ours). After all of us had boarded, we headed off up a trail, past rice fields and towards the jungle.

Elephants are graceful, but purposeful in their movements. Riding one is like you are receiving a bottom massage REAL deep – thanks for the chairs between our botts and a moving bag of bones. The leading elephant was a little on the ‘slow’ side and held the rest of us up from getting to the top of hill in good time. He started to slow significantly and our driver, who was leading his/our elephant, started ‘whipping’ him around the ankles to hurry him up. (We could tell the elephant was a ‘man’ as he identified himself with great gusto). I saw his driver grab his hooked prodder, and suddenly the elephant went down on his back legs and rolled onto his side. Of course, his passengers and driver were thrown off. The other elephants started to appear agitated and the ones to the rear did a quick U-turn back home and two moved quickly forward away from the scene. When I first saw the elephant go down, I immediately thought he had had a heart attack and because there was no movement to try to get up, it seemed he had died.

The elephant which we were on, showed hesitancy to move on as we motioned to our driver to move away further up the trail. It was a difficult time for us all as we wondered how the passengers were. We could not get down to run back to help them. So for the next 1.5km, two elephants with 4 people were in pure unbelief, not being aware of what was happening behind us, while the others were headed back to where the coach was. We ‘disembarked’ at the top of the climb and refused to get back on. We then casually walked, with shaking knees, most of the way back to the coach before motor bikes ferried us back. Where the elephant ‘went down’ was an enormous ‘load’ of what elephants do when they have a heart attack, and no elephant. We thought that in the past 40 minutes, someone had come and ‘dragged’ the beast into the bush.

Since then the following has been ‘worked out’. It seems that the driver must have prodded the elephant in the forehead in a most sensitive spot and knocked him out. He went down for the count. Our guide for the event, jumped off her elephant to check our clients and called an ambulance and a vet. The ambulance took the clients to the local hospital and thence on to the larger hospital in Pakse. Fortunately, there are no breakages but quite heavy shock. The guy has returned to tell us what he saw happening and what caused the nasty event. We are all so relieved that they are safe and also that the elephant is still alive. The village vet injected ‘something’ into the elephant and it returned to the village. I’m sure I saw it grazing on my return.

Lyn and I have been quite upset at the event but there is nothing more that we could have done to help. Large animals need to be taken care of with trust, even though humans may have been injured along the way. Medical reports are saying that she is sitting up and conversing normally and the ‘shocked’ state is wearing off. (I haven’t mentioned names for obvious reasons.)

The return trip to our resort was very quiet initially with the tissue box being handed around to a number of very concerned fellow travellers. We then felt it good therapy for us all to talk about the situation to relieve that tension amongst ourselves.

After lunch, we took a short rest before an excursion to Vat Phou, a pagoda up a steep climb, not too far from the resort. It was also good therapy to get some strenuous activity happening.

The religious complex of Vat Phou, a combination of Khmer architecture and Hindu religion, is located at the foot of a hill.

The summit, the Phou Kao, immediately attracts one’s attention because of its shape, identified in ancient times as the linga, the phallic symbol of Shiva, from which its ancient name, Lingaparvata, originated, and its reputations as a sacred hill.

The permanent spring, at the foot of the cliffs, is probably one of the main reasons that prompted the ancient rulers of the area to establish a Shivaist sanctuary there.

The walk up to the pagoda was treacherous as we climbed a steep stone stairway with high narrow steps. But once achieved, the view was fabulous. The spring of water was interesting coming out of a rock face and into a wooden gutter before into a pipeline which went to wherever. Descending was more difficult than our ascent. But we made it to the base before enjoying some great reflections in the late evening.

Here’s a few orchids and flowers along the way.

Tomorrow, we fly to Luang Prubang in the north of Laos.

A ‘free half-day’ is always a welcome item on the program. We have a few hours to ‘kill’ before our transfer to the airport for our flight to Pakse in South Laos. 10 of us decide to take a tuk tuk ride around the town in a ‘lets see as much as we can in the shortest amount of time’ mode. Our drivers are experienced at providing this service and so we do the pagoda visit, a drift around the markets and a ride around the outskirts of this busy regional town.

Although our flight departed an hour late, no one seemed too disappointed as the time became a mid-day nap for some. We had a great view of the town, particularly Angkor Wat. From the air, the size of Angkor Wat is indeed large.

Laos in Brief

The Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Laos is located in the centre of Indochina, sharing borders with China to the North 416 kilometres, Myanmar to the Northwest 236 kilometres, Thailand to the West 1835 kilometres, Cambodia to the south 492 kilometres and Vietnam to the East 1957 kilometres.

With a total area of 236,800 square kilometres, around 70% of Laos’ terrain is mountainous, reaching a maximum elevation of 2820 meters in Xiang Khouang Province. The landscapes of northern Laos and the regions adjacent to Vietnam, in particular, are dominated by rough mountains.

The Mekong River is the main geographical feature in the west and, in fact, forms a natural border with Thailand in some areas. The mekong flows through nearly 1900 kilometres of Lao territory and shapes much of the lifestyle of the people of Laos. In the South, the Mekong reaches a breadth of 20 kilometres, creating an area with thousands of islands.

The Pakse airport is not very busy. We were able to pass through customs and immigration in less than 15 minutes total. Our tour guide for Laos is an experienced tour guide named Bobby. She is kind and knowledgeable with an interesting sense of humour.

Our 45 minute coach ride takes us to ‘The River Resort’ downstream from Pakse on the Mekong River. We arrive just on dusk and hardly get to our rooms before the tropical darkness closes in quickly. Our rooms are overlooking the Mekong River. They are comfortable with both inside and outside showers; now this could be interesting.

Tomorrow, we take an elephant ride and then a visit to another pagoda about 30 minutes further downstream.

The name Siem Reap literally means “Siam Defeated”. These days, however, the only rampaging hordes are the tourists heading to the Angkor Archaeological Park. This once quaint village has become the largest boom town and construction site in Cambodia. It’s quite laid-back and a pleasant place to stay while touring the temples and a nice compromise between observing Cambodian life and enjoying the amenities of modern services and entertainment, thanks to a large expatriate community. http://wikitravel.org/en/Siem_Reap

And yes, today we were part of the ‘rampaging hordes’ that arrived at Angkor Wat for the sunrise. Before I left the most comfortable Park Hyatt Hotel, I checked the sky for stars – none. So our ‘sunrise’ photos could be in jeapody. Disappointment is exaggerated when you get a 4:30am wake-up call only to find that the sun didn’t rise like you wanted it to, over a world renowned site at 5:55am.

Many photographers were on the edge of the small lakes in the foreground of the great temple, all trying to get that illusive picture that no-one else could share. After a fantastic opportunity in Rome a few years ago when as I opened the video camera to start filming, the background grey sky became a background blue, the same thing happened at Angkor Wat today. I was happy. It should make for a great start to the ‘final cut’ movie I am here to make. Next to me was a couple on their honeymoon from Madrid and so we struck up a friendship quickly – with a surname SPAIN it is very easy to strike up a conversation with someone from Spain, if they can speak English. (They have become another chapter in my book “You can sit there as long as you talk to me”.)

The long walk back to the coach revealed lots of tuk tuk drivers sleeping in their hammocks strung in their tuk tuks. Lots of breakfast stall holders are now waiting for coffee drinkers to be served. Our coach takes us to ‘another’ pagoda, where a small fruit breakfast and tea or coffee is served. The driveway in to the pagoda was lined with statue monks ‘protecting’ the entrance. We are free after returning to the hotel. Four of us had chosen a massage place last night offering 2 hours with 4 hands (two therapists) for $US27 and then they threw in a pedicure. So we turned up there for what turned into 3 hours. Not bad rates at all – yes, worth it.

At 2pm, our coach takes on a ‘free massage’ ride along some bumpy tracks down to the edge of a lake, Boeung Tonle Sap, for a boat ride around the village of Chong Kneas floating village. Most of the people are either Kymer or Vietnamese and have had a lifetime living on the water. It was interesting to see trade stores, schools, basketball courts, restaurants and tourist precincts on barges lined along the shore. We stop at one barge and find a crocodile farm within the shop. They are grown for leather ware.

Our evening farewell dinner is at another luxurious restaurant with a further 5 courses to try and fit into what has become a ‘noticeable’ extension of ‘overhang’.

Tomorrow we have a free morning to pack before flying into Laos, Another adventure awaits us there.

Today is ‘temple day’. Siem Reap is the city you must come through to visit the many temples of Cambodia. An archeologist’s dream. After a bit of a disorganised breakfast, we get into smaller buses to make our way to ticketing counter for our photos to be taken and then printed on our 3 day $US40 pass for the duration of our stay here in this very busy city. I would have to say it is the only ticket I have purchased that has my photo on it. They say this saves people transferring the tickets to someone else for ‘recycled’ use. Good on them.

Angkor is one of the most important archaeological sites in South-East Asia. Stretching over some 400 km2, including forested area, Angkor Archaeological Park contains the magnificent remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire, from the 9th to the 15th century. They include the famous Temple of Angkor Wat and, at Angkor Thom, the Bayon Temple with its countless sculptural decorations. UNESCO has set up a wide-ranging programme to safeguard this symbolic site and its surroundings.

The day looks a little damp. During the early morning, there was a large tropical thunderstorm which brought on the humidity big time. Out came the umbrellas and raincoats when we arrived at the first and most important temple, Angkor Wat. The rain stopped soon after but by the time we completed our 2 hour visit, we were bathed in sweat from the humidity. This temple is amazing in that it becomes part of you, especially if you return for another visit. Even though no-one lives there, the knowledge you gain from a good guide stays with you forever. In many ways, in my view, the structure is much more involved and detailed than the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Building a a structure out of large heavy stone and then sculpturing the shapes and windows with fancy frames by hand must have been a long tedious job. However, all was complete within 37 years. Angkor Wat is undoubtedly the masterpiece of Khmer architecture.

Close by Angkor Wat is Bayon Temple. This temple is one of its own kind with many faces of Buddha carved into the large stone blocks.

The distinction between architecture and sculpture disappears. Despite its ruined condition and the undoubted architectural problems caused when a third level was superimposed on the second, cramping the courtyards and galleries, it retains an extraordinarily enigmatic and exotic power. The level of artistic creativity in evidence here is awesome, with richly carved bas-reliefs and a forest of 54 towers showing the heads of Buddha that significantly resemble Jayaverman VII himself.

Many of the temples in the area require steady feet as you jump from stone block to stone block. We were fortunate this visit in that there was no thunderous storm with torrential downpours every 5 minutes. If you enjoy counting, there are 216 faces of Buddha in Bayon Temple.

We came back into Siem Reap for a 4 course lunch at a comfortable restaurant. Our tour director put some chilli slices into his soup. I ventured into this procedure just to ‘try it’. The slice was not in the soup for too long at all, but oh boy. What a difference 30 seconds of chilli in a soup makes. It became HOT!

After a early afternoon nap, we departed on another excursion for the late afternoon. This was to Ta Prohm. The trees are slowly asserting their rights over the crumbling monuments of rubble. It is fascinating how, from just a tiny seed, great trees develop ‘tentacles’ that spread across the stone building-like structures. It’s a great place to take photos.

Our evening was free, and a group of us walked to the nearby night market and ‘pub street’. Lots of lights and loud music filled the streets, not forgetting the ever present tuk tuk driver harassing you to board his ‘machine of invention’, some with silk padded seating. I suggested to the group to ‘come this way’. Not far and we found a gemstone shop with a convincing seller who convinced the ladies to each by precious gemstones mined in Cambodia. He had the machine to test the stones for authenticity, so his wares were definitely worth buying. I asked him he should pay me spotters fee but that didn’t happen.

Tomorrow very early at 4:30am, we will be woken to board the coach to see the sunrise back at Angkor Wat.

At the end of a cruise, with less than 60 passengers on board, the time comes when you have to say good-bye to the staff and crew that have served up the best service one could be provided with. Mr Scenic, you have a great product in the form of the Mekong River Cruise. The Scenic Spirit you had built and completed in January this year is comfortable, functional, and a pleasure to be a passenger on. All the way from the Captain to the Crew behind the scenes, we found them kind and helpful, happy and fun, able to provide the service you wanted for us to be a part of, and give us a holiday that no other company on the river can provide. I can still see from the bus, the staff waving to us as if we are family and that they genuinely wish for us to stay. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The drive from where we disembark is a 6 hour drive from to the second largest town in Cambodia, Siem Reap. Along the highway, which is quite smooth for a developing country, we enjoy the view of farms and towns, bustling people doing their chores, motor cyclists taking their wares to and from the market, ‘loaded cows with an engine’, green fields of rice that go on and on; this is a country that has a good future in mind. After such a bad regime, which seems like yesterday, the people have put away the devastation of the past and are employing a lifestyle of ‘lets get this country going again’ attitude. It is no menial task for a government to encourage its people to become industrious and ‘grow’ a country in methods designed to help all its citizens at their level of ability. Australians often wonder where the ‘foreign aid’ is spent. Today, we crossed two bridges built with aid money from Australia. The bridges are signified by a kangaroo at each end. (Lyn was very lucky to snap this kangaroo while crossing one of the bridges.) Congratulations, Cambodia.

Work in this country seems to happen ‘anywhere’. We stop by the highway and literally, stone masons are creating sculptors, mainly of buddha, on the side of the road. We do not even have to leave the road to see their work up close.

We also stopped by an old Kymer bridge built in the twelfth century. “Happy Rooms” are here too. (WCs)

It takes us just 30 minutes to check in to our hotel and be on a massage table again. 6 of us decide that $US12 for an hour is rather cheap and how handy the massage shops are, just across the road from the Park Hyatt we are staying at. After an introduction to Siem Reap by our Tour Director, Man, we have a quick evening meal before going to the Cambodian Circus Phare. This is run by a non-government organisation designed to help youth become excellent in this circus art form.

Tomorrow is a high day for us. We visit three temples: Ankor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Ta Phrom.