Laos

I'm in Laos. The town of Huay Xai to be exact. It's Saturday evening.

Wednesday I joined the tour group. There's 11 of us in total. There's 9 Australians, 1 Irish, and me (it's an Australian tour company). I didn't do too much during the day, we didn't have to meet until the evening. I checked out the area near the hotel a bit, near downtown. It was cool to see, but is a bit like other big cities. I prefered some of the other neighborhoods.

Once we all met we headed out for dinner. We had all sorts of Thai food. I was able to get some very, very spicy pork with rice. Everyone got to get to know eachother a bit. Everyone is getting along well.

On Thursday there was some sight-seeing to do. I hadn't really done any up to this point, as I knew we would hit the big sights. The city itself seems to be the big draw.

We visited the Grand Palace which was spectacular. It was very ornate and grand (whodathunkit?). The tour guide, Tiger, mentioned that the amount of tourists there was only about 30% of normal (thanks to the protests). We then visited Wat Pho, the big temple in the city. That was also really cool to see. There were Buddha statues everywhere, including an enormous reclining Buddha with mother of pearl feet. Additionally, there was the Emerald Buddha which was beautiful.

After sight-seeing in the morning, the tour guide showed me to a place where I could have some fish stomach soup (nobody else wanted to come). It was delicious. It was in a thick broth with vegetables and bamboo shoots.

After lunch we took an hour long river/canal cruise. It was interesting to see Bangkok from that angle. I got a bunch of great photos (sorry, can't upload them today, connection is too slow). After that I wandered for a bit around the city on my own.

We met up for the overnight train to Chiang Mai that evening. The ride went well. Let me say that sleeping trains are far superior to sleeping buses. It was vry comfortable. We left at 7:30 pm and arrived at 10 am.

After we settled into the hotel we split off into smaller groups according to what we wanted to do. I, along with a few others visited the Hill Tribe Museum. Honestly, it was pretty boring. After that we headed to Wat Doi Suthep which is on top of a mountain near Chiang Mai. We got a bit of lunch first which was great. I had a bit of pork with basil leaves, papaya salad and sticky rice. It rained buckets for a while while we were in the restaurant. We made it to the temple (skipping the 300 steps in favor of a inclined elevator). There were spectacular views up there. The temple itself was quite nice as well.

We made it back to the hotel and I wandered the city a bit. It's a really pleasant place, pretty laid back and scenic. We all went for dinner by the river. I had a lovely dish of fried pork in red curry with rice. It was very spicy and very good.

After dinner aome of us went to see Muay Thai (kickboxing) matches. That was a lot of fun. The arena was pretty basic. WE lucked out and got some ringside seats. The atmosphere was very gritty. There were people shouting and gambling and chainsmoking and drinking beers. Traditional music was being played (horns, bells and drums). It was a lot like you see in the movies (like the first scene in "Kickboxer" with Jean Claude Van Damme). And if your're wondering, yes, it is pretty brutal. We saw two knockouts. I bet a local guy 500 baht ($15) for one of the matches. I lost. Gambling is a big part of the event.

After the matches I did a bit of souvenir shopping at the night market then went ot bed.

This morning we started to make our way to Laos. We had a 3.5 hr bus ride to Chiang Rai. Then there was another 2 hour bus ride to Chiang Khong, the border town, arriving mid-afternoon. We went through Thai exit formalities. We then hopped a long boat (which was uncomfortably low in the water) and crossed the Mekong River. It was really cool to see the Mekong for the first time, something I've wanted to see for a while now. Upon arrival we were in Laos. We went through immigration and that was it. We met our Lao tour leader (different from the one in Thailand). The town, Huay Xai, is a pretty small, basic town. The accomodation is alright though, there's hot water, 24 hour electricity, internet (obviously). I had some spicy grilled duck for a snack from a street stall, my first food in Laos. In a bit I'm heading to dinner.

Tommorow we hop a boat to Pakbeng. The next day we continue down the river, arriving in Luang Prabang which should be awesome.

Well thats about it for now. I should be able to update once I get to Luang Prabang.

Take Care,
Mike