A Night in Bangkok

On our way to Koh Samui, we had a quick stop in Bangkok.

A Day in Muong Ngoi, Laos

We were finally able to exchange some money this morning when the manager of the hotel returned from a bank run last night. Our hotel River Side gives the best exchange rates in town, even though they were pocketing about a 10% commission. We had breakfast, bought a ticket for the boat north and packed up.

We said goodbye to David who was going back to LP, and actually ran into the Finnish girl who was now traveling in her own, her Swedish compatriots having moved on to Vietnam. It's interesting having spent the three nights in Nong Khiaw because at the end we were the "veterans" of the place. We kept running into the other passengers in our boat but noticed which groups were newly arrived.

Sitting at the boat landing was kind of interesting, watching boats come and go, people getting on and off. A gay man from Toronto said we were a gorgeous couple. Being seasoned light packing snobs, we shook our heads at people lugging around suitcases full of stuff. Nowadays, even the younger backpackers have their huge bag on their backs and the a regular backpack in from. This is not unlike when I went to Cameroon and took my own picture of me hauling the same in Brussels.
A boats came in and unloaded cargo, there were these two old women hauling huge heavy sacks up the hill. They were work horses all right. Young men helped them load the sacks on their backs tied to their foreheads and watched them go, not helping.

Our boat was packed full. There were so many people going to Muong Ngoi that they got a second boat for the overflow. The second boat left and then more people came for a ride. In the end, our boat stuffed 27 people aboard, doubling up on the seats, plus sacks of supplies for the town accessible by river only. It was an iffy ride, especially up rapids, but we didn't sink and made it to Muong Ngoi.

The people here are really one with the river. It is used for transportation and tourism, recreation and food. The day begins with seaweed fishing and ends with laundry and a bath in the river. People brush their teeth in the waters.

Muong Ngoi had a boat landing similar to Nong Khiaw along with the concrete stairs up to town. The guesthouses that we intended on checking out were right at the top of the stairs. The "upmarket" choice Lattanavongsa was $13, clean and even featured a toilet and hot water, two luxuries new since our guidebook's review. Our cheapest yet!

We ate lunch at the restaurant overlooking a similar view of the river and karst mountains, glad that we made it up here away from the main tourist track. Had we gone on to Huay Xai, I think we would have missed out on what we were looking for here in Laos.

Traveling to Laos sounds like such an exotic and adventurous thing to do, even crazier is going to a place like Muong Ngoi where rooms are basic and cheap, and there is only electricity for maybe four hours in the evening. There are no motor vehicles and only one main road here. But wandering around LP and even sitting at the boat landing waiting for our boat along with a whole bunch of other people going to the same off the beaten path place, you realize that this town is pretty much <i> on</i> the beaten path.

It certainly feels safe, there are a lot of tourists here, the locals speak enough English to sell you Mars chocolate bars and enough signs are in English for us to know how to get around.   Which is fine for us really I think. If we had another two more days, I think we would have done a home stay, but I am quite happy with having visited Laos here. Were we to do it again, I think we would cut out time from the bigger cities in favor of exploring little towns like these up north.

After wisely sleeping the hot afternoon away, we walked up the road and followed the signs to the cave. We were rewarded with scenery of rice fields in amongst mountains and arrived sooner than we expected.

Shannon didn't want to wander in the cave too far, but I went all the way in with my cell phone flashlight. It was a big cave where again the locals hid out during the war. It was kind of creepy I must admit, being the only one down there. I think turned off the lights and let the darkness envelop me. There was a distant sound of an underground river, the air becoming more humid and warm. With the light back on, I found some white spiders and cricket like bugs that looked as if they'd jump on your face. After climbing around a bit, looking at stalactites chandeliers and imagining where the Laotians slept, I made my way back to daylight.

Cute puppies played around the countryside and walking back we found the main street abuzz with early evening activity. One boy was having fun pushing around a hoe making lines in the dirt. Some cranky babies were crying, kids played ball in the soccer field and others ate dinner without pants on.

Muong Ngoi is more quaint than Nong Khiaw, more unusual given the lack of vehicles and electricity. It is more condensed unlike Nong Khiaw which is bifurcated by the river and features a fancy bridge high above the water. It has more of a community feeling for the reason that everyone its closer together and only has one street. It's a really nice place.

We had some dinner. Selection out in the boonies is definitely limited and I once again had chicken noodle soup and Shannon had laap. I had a pineapple shake which wasn't available to me before because of the lack of electricity.

We had chocolate bars for dessert, an unnecessary splurge for sure. Taking advantage of the last couple hours of electricity, we read on the porch and journals, got clean with a nice hot shower and went to bed, excited to start a new adventure again in Thailand tomorrow.

The Real Laos Experience?

Shannon felt good enough this morning to attempt the river cruise up to Nong Khiaw.

The boat was smaller than we expected for a seven hour trip. Another passenger told us the capacity was a 10 people, but there were about 14. We were told there was a bathroom, but clearly not.

Low on the water we went up the Mekong and turned up on to Ou Nan where it became much more scenic. Picturesque mountains lined the shallow (dry season) river. Our boat was quite the vehicle as well. Long and narrow, we cruised close to the water. At one point it got too shallow and we had to take a truck up several kilometers. At another point, a new bridge was being built and the diverted river had a current that was too strong for the boat, so we had to do a hike through a construction yard.

Even up further north development can be seen in the form of cell phone towers, even power lines along paved highways, and poor looking villages with brand new trucks parked under thatched wooden carparks. Still, young boys and girls are beaming happy just to have us wave to them on shore, some running down the bank to make sure to catch us.

How different life would be if you were born here, you know? This river scenery would be the norm fishing and farming for subsistence, seeing us strangely dressed light skinned people going about looking at you. The kids here muck around in the dirt for fun, playing with broken cassette tape or old tree logs, swimming naked.

The eight (not seven) hour boat ride went by quickly actually with pleasant conversation and a game of hearts with a recently retired American from Miami looking for an expat home in Asia, and a young couple from Spain. Eight hours on the boat, as cramped as it was was definitely better than eight on a bus. The water, air blowing on your face, towering cliffs and people going about village life was nice.

It doesn't mean we'll take the boat back however, Shannon already planning the minicab back. And this shorter trip made us glad we reconsidered cruising to Huay Xai.

We arrived just as the sun was setting behind mountains. It was also bath time apparently as people were out all along the river bathing, covered up of course, and also waving to us tourists as we cruised by.

Nong Khiaw is definitely more like the Laos we envisioned. While Vientiane and LP could have been just any other Asian city really, Nong Khiaw is where it just starts to get rural. Guesthouses lined the river and accommodations with hot water and wifi were easy to find, but the streets were red dirt and dusty, comforts a little more basic, and when darkness rolls around, it seems like bed time.

Shannon's first impressions: small, very rural and underdeveloped. Locals still try to charge 10,000 ($1.30) for a bag if chips even though the real price, available down the road is 8,000.

We quickly found a guesthouse for $20, a little pressed as it was getting dark already and rumors circulated that this little town booked up quickly. We had  dinner at the restaurant overlooking the river as the sky's final orange faded into night. We had a quick walk around before getting back to our room... only to find that it was only 7pm.

Oh well. Early start too the day tomorrow!

Luang Prabang

Shannon is sick today having eaten something bad, possibly the tasty chicken curry at dinner.

We spent the last two days in Luang Prabang, the famous tourist destination in Laos. Even when we arrived with Kenman, it was obvious that this city was wealthier than even the capital Vientiane. From the airport we were dropped off at Sisavangvong Road and made our way down looking for a hotel. We found Lan Kham Guesthouse with a balcony view out to the Mekong River for $50 USD.

You'd think Laos would be cheap, bring the least developed country we've traveled in South East Asia, but LP definitely is not. Over the years, tourism has raised the standards of living here and turned it into a place with streets lined with guesthouses, cafes and travel agencies. It seems like one sign-maker has a monopoly and wifi is ubiquitously available as tourists are now unable to travel without constant internet. Unlike other Asian cities, LP has managed to retain its relaxed atmosphere that everyone raves about in Laos. The market merchants aren't aggressive, the traffic is minimal and the streets are quite clean. That being said, the merchants seem less inclined to haggle, tuk tuk drivers can be found too readily and excursions end up being pricer than anywhere else in the vicinity.

After dropping our bags off at the hotel and enjoying lunch by the Mekong (not as romantic as it sounds as flies swarmed as soon a the food came), we wandered on foot, once again in the heat of the midday sun. Why do we do that all the time? There were a few markets stalls out and we saw the National Museum, but it was closed being a Sunday. We had a nap back at the hotel to cool down, had dinner and checked out the seemingly endless night market.

Because of how everyone seems to love it here, it felt like we were missing something in terms of sights or things to do, but the truth is, this isn't really a big activities city. Guidebooks and travel forums don't offer much help with itineraries either.

We set out on the second day with a plan. Hiring a tuk tuk, we went first to Tad Sae falls.

Definitely more spectacular during the wet season, it was really beautiful nonetheless. We went for an elephant ride, Kenman's first, and then played around in the pools. The limestone terraces were surprisingly not slippery and you could walk around on them without getting entirely wet. We watched other tourists after us "bathe" the elephants where they would ride the elephant bareback into the pools and get soaked. One Asian girlfriend didn't like it at all, but it was halarious to watch at her expense. On the way out, we got some bananas and sugarcane and fed the animals. Shannon was like a little kid trying to peel off individual bananas from the stalk fast enough to satisfy the reaching trunks.

We made a stop at a tourist Hmong village where we caught a glimpse of rural life. A path through the village was lined with tables of souvenirs where little girls were put to work saying to us foreigners "5,000," holding up five fingers and pointing to a friendship bracelet. I think some of the villagers were really desperate for extra income asking for "500" right off the bat for the same thing.

A rather long bumpy tuk tuk ride took us to Kwang Si waterfalls. This was a beautiful falls with the area around it covered to a picnic and relaxation area. We got there later in the day and the weather had already cooled of so Shannon didn't go for a swim. The rope swing landing front of the waterfall was too awesome for me to resist, and despite the chilly waters, I jumped in a couple of times. Further up the path is the towering waterfall. Shannon thought this waterfall rated right up there with Milford Sound falls. It was delightfully beautiful, I think the tallest in the country if not the region.

On the way back to town our driver picked up his daughter from school and dropped us off right at the night market.

Shannon loves markets. Unable to help herself, she stops at nearly every stalk looking through dresses and bags. Tonight, she made a few purchases and Kenman got a couple  of gifts as well.

We had dinner at an unlikely sounding restaurant The Pizza Luang Prabang, where I had pizza and Shannon had her fateful curry. Kenman ordered two identical dishes, one was just in soup, the other dry.

We made a booking to Nong Khiaw by slow boat. We originally planned to take the two day Mekong River cruise down to Huay Xai, but our unexpectedly accentless travel agent suggested that unless we were planning on crossing the border to Thailand, that there wasn't any point. So we decided that a trip up to Nong Khiaw and then Muong Ngoi would be more interesting, and then fly out of LP to Thailand. Arrival into Thailand by air gives you a 30 day visa as opposed to 15 by land (I guess they prefer wealthy tourists who can afford to fly).

Before bed, we realized that there would be no food on the seven hour boat trip so we frantically went back to the market for some muffins and fruit, as well as an ATM stop.

That brings us to today (Jan 31) Shannon going to the unwell all night. We thought about going on the cruise, but at the last minute, asked to change our ticket to tomorrow and checked in for another night at the hotel.

Munduk and Jatiluwih

We didn't get to sleep in today as our driver was scheduled to meet us at 9am. Hurriedly, we packed, had breakfast and settled our bill.

As a souvenir of our stay here, I bought some admittedly overpriced pajamas from the hotel trying to take a piece of the Komaneka experience back with me. But hey, I haven't bought anything yet!

They presented us with another gift bag for our departure, another two scarves! I think actually they probably forgot that we already got a set.

Because the hotel was so memorable, along with the feedback survey, I left a thank you note and tip for the staff.

We set off with our driver, the first stop being Munduk for a hike.

Artha was more chatty than Darma, our driver to Tulamben. Along the way, he pointed out a bunch of things, talking about rice agriculture, his two children getting married at 17, his son marrying because he got his girlfriend pregnant, driving him crazy.

He visited Hawaii once sponsored by a friend her worked for, and although the place was nice, he liked it much more in Bali because there was more "power." Here there was a lot of spirituality and worship. They make offerings all the time and the calendar was full of ceremonies in the Hindu religion. Hawaii seemed "empty."

The landscape gradually turned mountainous as we neared Munduk. No, not Rocky Mountain mountainous, but lush green mountains, cool with a view of lakes on one side and visibility off to the northern coast on the other. We stopped at a viewpoint between lakes Tamblingan and Buyan for some photos.

The Munduk waterfall was quite easy to find, being a well beaten track now paved for accessibility. It was pretty nice and unique in that you could walk up quite close to the base of it along a shallow shore.

Instead of heading back like most tourists at this point, we went for an hour hike off to the second waterfall. To get there, you continue down the paved walk down past the sign to the coffee plantation. At a main dirt road, take a left down hill and keep going. Passing by barking dogs, villages pointed us in the right direction.

The second waterfall was really nice, more natural and bigger. We didn't follow the stairs to the end, and even then had quite the sweaty work out getting back to the car.

Munduk was nice, but not great, considering we've seen so many waterfalls already. I thought about staying a night up around the area, but for us a day trip was sufficient.

Artha suggested stopping at the Temple by the Lake. Here was a beautiful temple packed with both Indonesian visitors and Western tourists. Javanese tour buses were paying a visit with offerings to the temple and we say a couple of ceremonies performed.

The crater lake was peaceful with a pagoda built off on the water. Small boats floated lazily around.

Shannon remarked that there was so much more to Bali than just the beaches. And it's true. Our impression of Bali from back home is one of beaches, sand and warm waters. Very similar to maybe Mexico beach resorts, but just a little more exotic. But really, the beaches aren't even the main part of the island, at least not on our vacation.

We thought it was really too bad that some people missed out on all of this. Some friends of ours only made it to Kuta and Nusa Dua and didn't enjoy it much.

The landscape is so varied, it's people full of character, all sorts of foods to try and sights to see.

Artha suggested stopping to pick some strawberries. He drove us up this side road where he usually went because the prices were much better. We picked a kilo of strawberries while the farmer picked us another kilo, so we ended up with too many strawberries for $5. Artha also got a bag and told us about how he liked strawberry shakes, mixing it with milk and honey.

We went to Candikuning market. Before our car even shut off, a woman ushered us to her stall and began giving us all this fruit to try. We didn't know what half of it was, but we tried things like white mango, two types of passion fruit, snake fruit, tamerino, and this purple one that looked like a small squash.

We eventually bought some fruit. She started off the price with a crazy $20 for four purple fruits, two passion fruits, some crackers and cashews. The bargained her down to $4, but even at that, a Javanese woman who saw the spectacle whispered in Shannon's ear that she was getting ripped off. Later, Artha told us our bag of goodies looked like about $2, so that wasn't too bad and we treated the other $2 like a tasting, which was really quite good.

The market is definitely tourist geared. Reading about it, I was expecting something louder and dirtier, more local like the Klungkung market. Shannon bought a belt and a gift for Julia.

Our final stop was the big highlight of the car trip. Jatiluwih is famous for its rice fields, protected from development and I think an upcoming UNESCO heritage site. We had already seen lots of rice fields, so I wondered if it'd be any different, but this place was amazing!

We stopped for lunch looking out to the terraces. Rows upon rows of fields stretched as far as the eye could see. Flooded rice terraces with newly planted rice stalks terraformed the entire hilly landscape.

Artha was disappointed we couldn't see weren't able to see the tall rice which was planted here, as they must have harvested just a few weeks ago. Tall rice yields crop twice a year, as opposed to the newer GM short rice that's harvested thrice. He said it also tasted better and was quite a sight growing much taller.

An entrance fee of $2 along the road afforded an even more wonderful vista.

We were very lucky today with the weather. Not a drop of rain, and the fog that usually blanketed Bedegul lifted so that we had great views of the lakes and mountains.

It was 6:15pm when Artha dropped us off at our new hotel Pertiwi, just next to our old one. We paid Artha the 500,000 we negotiated and tipped another 100,000. Drivers usually quote $66, but I've been able to negotiate down to $55 easily. We've heard of one couple getting $44 (400,000), but that's really good.

Pertiwi has beautiful grounds, nice decorations and two pools where we went swimming as soon as we checked in. It's definitely no Komaneka unfortunately, now that we've been spoiled by their exemplary service.

We had a tougher time than expected booking a boat to Nusa Lembongan. Several shops along Monkey Forest do tours on the side so they aren't familiar with all the ferries. As a result, we got some sketchy quotes and details about getting to Lembongan, with one shop telling us that the boats weren't running because of rough seas.

We eventually booked the trip at one of the stores specializing only in tours and transportation, who knew what they were talking about.

The manager was pretty talkative that evening. He thought I looked just like his nephew who was a doctor in his village he told me. Now, he was working at a government hospital in Denpasar to get experience before gradually shifting over to private practice. He himself was a lawyer, but was over worked and changed careers to tourism as the pace was better.

He first started learning English in the mid 80s when two students from Vancouver stayed at his uncle's as a homestay. I can only imagine how undeveloped tourism was back then. Judy, one of the girls, was studying law at the time and now a judge in Vancouver.

We stopped off at an Internet cafe charging 10c every 5 minutes. I caught up with emails and we made a few more travel arrangements.

An older woman next to us was from Toronto and we got chatting about traveling. She was headed to NZ for two and a half months, traveling on her own and planning to work along the way.

She told us she loved Luang Prabang and ended staying there 2 out of her 3 weeks in Laos when we asked her what she thought about that area. Ben told us that that was his favorite SE Asian country, and we've heard great things from pretty much everyone about Laos that we may have to see how it goes and potential cut out Thailand altogether for another trip.

Back at Pertiwi, we ate as many strawberries as we could and went to bed, looking forward to the beaches and snorkeling of Nusa Lembongan.

Tulamben diving

We took a short break from Ubud because they were still charging "high season" prices at the hotels. We decided to head over to the east coast and stay at Tulamben for two days and then return to Ubud.

The snorkeling / diving in Tulamben is absolutely amazing. We've been to many places snorkeling and I have to say this ranks among the best. The corals were not as bright as it was overcast and thunderstormed while we were in the water, but there were a diverse variety of fish ranging from little blue fluorescent ones, to ribbon fish, a tremendous school of jackfish, tons of angels and bigger tuna like fish deeper.

We explored the two halves of the sunken USAT Liberty wreck, torpedoed by the Japanese during the war. It was shallower enough to see from the surface, but certainly much more interesting close up on a dive. The water visibility could have been better at about 15-20 meters, but a lot of the ship is no deeper than 5-10 meters making it a perfect place to try out my new freediving skills!

We took a break for lunch after Shannon's course. Later in the afternoon, we went out again for snorkeling. I did several dives swimming around the wreck, some scuba divers wondering what the heck I was doing down so deep without a tank. Shannon couldn't believe a I swam through the deck of the ship emerging on the other side and almost gashing my head on a piece of coralled metal.

Aside from the wreck, another highlight were the hundreds of jackfish swimming about creating a tornado of fish right at the surface. You could swim right into the school, the fish always just out of reach.

We didn't even leave the resort today, swimming in the pool for a little while before cleaning up. Then it was dinner at the restaurant and night time already.
 

The next morning, I was glad to wake up feeling great after freediving. Because I got sick with a horrible headache after freediving on Gili Trawangan, I wasn't sure if the water pressure, equalization, or just breathing up made me sick. But I guess it was just a bad bug, maybe even dengue as Dave might have thought.

After a fried rice nasi goreng and toast and eggs for breakfast. We slathered on sunscreen waiting for our food to digest before heading out in the waters again.

This time, I borrowed a diving belt with one weight as yesterday I was using up a lot of energy just to keep myself from surfacing. As well, we took a life jacket for the breathe ups.

The water couldn't be any nicer at about 29C. Usually snorkeling, I get cold pretty quickly, but even relaxing for free dives, this is probably the only place where water temperature didn't keep me from staying in the water.

Once again, we were swimming among schools of tropical fish, easily finding the swarming school of a thousand jackfish once again. I did several more dives in the wreck with my longest video recorded dynamic breath hold at 93 seconds. Shannon tried a couple but had a hard time sinking, the weight making a big difference.

We returned the motorbike not having used it much, got an ice cream and chips on the way back to the hotel and just lounged the rest of the day.

We made some plans for our last week in Bali (already!). Originally, we wanted to spend the last couple of days at Nusa Dua resort hopping, but figured that it wouldn't get better than this here in Tulamben, and at western prices. So we looked into spending some time at Nusa Lembongan. We also booked the Komaneka back in Ubud, now that the prices have dropped $70 from high season.

Tulamben turned out to be one of the highlights of Bali, I must say. These last two days have been amazing just relaxing at the Ocean View hotel and snorkeling. Even the intermittent rain didn't hamper our mood because we were either in the water or just relaxing on our deck.

A taste of Gili