Around the world in 367 days

No fear but there is a generous portion of self loathing topped with whipped cream, chocolate buttons, hundreds and thousands and a flake!!!

Sometimes I really wind myself up! I have managed to lose my hat! It's not just any hat, it a very pricey hat (a Tilley hat) and was a gift for travelling before we left that I have managed to keep for all of one month! I managed to leave it behind in one of the guest houses and only realised half an hour into the three hour bus trip back to Luang Prabang from Nong Kiaew. I proceeded to spend the next two and a half hours devouring my overly decorated portion of 'cake'.

It's a great deal to do with the item itself but as much to do with the repeated forgetfulness / thoughtlessness / sheer stupidity that I seem to demonstrate with increasing regularity!! Maybe it's stage one Alzheimer's but I can't remember a time when I wasn't forgetful - but then being forgetful; how would I? It honestly amazes me that I don't fall down more or bump into trees or fall off cliffs!!

No fear, in a day or two I will probably have forgotten the whole thing and be back to narrowly avoiding trees and cliff edges and wondering why my head feels a little cold!! Until then woe is me!!

Posted by Alexander at 08:02 | Permalink | Comments

After a week in Luang Prabang, though very nice, it can be a little touristy so I decided to go looking for 'The Lost Lao people of Luang Prabang'. Unfortunately, the Indiana Jones outfit was in the wash so I took off on my search in my Pirate uniform (missing the eye patch and the parrot!).

Walking a few kilometres south proved to be their hiding place. Luang Prabang has a very good night market but here I found a proper local market with all manner of weird and wonderful (and disturbing) foods. It was quite good being the only westerner in the whole place and they probably found as much interest in me as I did in their market. I then headed off in search of the Chinese market as I had heard the weird and wonderful factors are vastly increased here.

However, on the way I got chatting to a novice monk called Vanthong. He invited me to his temple and I then spent the afternoon with him and some of his friends. He showed me his temple and where he lives in the temple. It was an excellent way to spend the afternoon and I feel privileged that they invited me to see their day to day lives. I also met another novice monk named Loiy who taught me some of the foundations of Buddhism and the precepts that monks or Buddhists have to abide by. Thankfully, considering my attire, number six is not required for the lay person and I was getting rather peckish so it's also good I'm exempt from number seven. The rules for number three can also be relaxed which kept a smile on my face. They then followed to give me a blessing which was very special and something I will never forget. I was also given a 'heads up' on an annual festival that was taking place at 6 the following morning. So I raised my weary bones early the next morning and headed off to see the festival. It's a huge thing in Laos and hundreds of people had arrived to give offerings to the monks. Two monks from each of the sixty temples in the area where at the festival and it was quite impressive to see.

Having found the Laos people we hungered for more (tastier than your average Thai) so headed north on the slow boat to Nong Kiaew; you would have thought two days on the first slow boat might have discouraged us! However, this was a smaller boat and we had the whole boat to ourselves. Being a smaller boat you go a lot closer to the shore line and also to the other local boats. This gives it a very different feeling to the Luang Prabang boat and one I personally preferred. As you pass the riverside villages the children would come out to watch or wave and the people in the passing boats would say hello as we travelled up stream. It's a great way to see how these riverside villages really live and is an, albeit brief, glimpse into a simpler life.

Nong Kiaew is a beautiful town (just one notch up from a village) in Northern Laos nestled next to the river between dominating limestone cliffs and very different to Luang Prabang. To explore the area we hired a motorbike and set off into the hills. Riding a motorcycle for the first time ever in one of the least developed countries in the world where the nearest hospital is 100 miles away and you are advised to fore go this in favour of a trip back to Thailand might not be the smartest move but as luck would have it we arrived back in one piece (just). Similar to the boat it's a great way to see these small villages sat on breath-taking vista's where the sight of a Western face is probably the talk of the town for the next two weeks. Kids again would come running out of their homes (rattan shacks) to wave and shout 'Sa Baa Dii!!!

All was going well until we started back towards Nong Kiaew and our trusty stead started to complain. We only made it a further kilometre before she gave up completely still 15k from home. Luckily, a village lay only a few hundred metres away and down hill so we rolled into town. Kwik-fit was closed ;-) but through pointing and trying random Laos words we managed to get a local villager to look at the bike. An hour later having taken most of the bike to bits and trying some very dodgy looking electrical work we finally got it restarted. More by look than skill I suspect. By this time I had shipped Deborah off on a passing truck to make sure one of us got home and she could send out the cavalry.

Set on my way with a wave and more unknown Laos phrases I made it just one more kilometre towards home before she died on me once more. Still 14k from home I decided to plod up the hill to find a spot to await my rescuers. My last chance was a rolling jump start which luckily worked and so put my foot down (proverbially of course) and actually had a good time racing back through the Laos countryside, trusty stead remaining trusty all the way!

The last 48 hours in Laos have been a great highlight. It's a beautiful country and the people (in the most) are very friendly and generous to visitors to their country. It is just a shame that we are only here for three weeks but it's also good to leave having reasons to come back!!

Posted by Alexander at 12:00 | Permalink | Comments

It was a week ago now but we took the two day slow boat down the Mekong River last week when we entered Laos. We had been led to believe that this might be the worst experience of our lives but in the end I really enjoyed it. Granted, two days spending 7 hours a day sat on a wooden bench with a thin cushion is never going to too comfortable but the endless stunning scenery more than makes up for it.

We also met some great people on the boat which was nice as you kept bumping into them in Luang Prabang. The town itself is very pretty with old French colonial buildings in various states of repair and disrepair. It can be a little easy to forget you are travelling here as it is a very popular destination to visit. You might walk the whole length of the main street without seeing a single Laos face.

Luang Prabang is also a very hard place to bring yourself to leave. So we find ourselves still here a week later having fallen into a nice routine. A late breakfast at JoMa's before spending the afternoon reading or touring the town; a trip to the night market in the evening and then picking out a nice restaurant from the great selection for some great tasting Laos food and a stop in a local bar. Life is tough!!

Posted by Alexander at 15:11 | Permalink | Comments

18 days, 18 different modes of transport since I first put my backpack on. Though you might dispute one or two; technically, unarguably, undoubtedly - in my book - the mechanics of the movement of a person from point A to point B differ for each:

1. Parambulate - out the front door to the waiting;
2. Car - to the airport, care of Mum and Dad (thanks again!)
3. Lift - at Heathrow to the correct floor
4. Aeroplane - en route to Bangkok
5. Moving walkway - around Bangkok airport as I'm just plain lazy
6. Tuk-Tuk - mad Thai's driving us around Bangkok
7. Escalator - around the hideous MBK shopping centre in Bangkok
8. Elevated Railway - SkyTrain across Bangkok
9. Bus - to Kanchanaburi
10. Saamlaw - passenger in a three wheeled push bike around Kancahanburi
11. Motorbike sidecar - more journey's around Kanchanaburi
12. Train - overnight sleeper train up to Chiang Mai
13. Bicycle - self powered touring around Ayuthaya
14. Sawngthaew - bench on a pick up truck around Chiang Mai
15. Elephant - down the river valley in Chiang Mai
16. Bamboo raft - further down said valley
17. Ferry - 2 day slow boat down the Mekong in Laos to Luang Prabang
18. Swimming - across the rock pools of Kuang Si falls, Laos

Posted by Alexander at 12:00 | Permalink | Comments

Our plan when we arrived in Chiang Mai was to spend a couple of days kicking back and just taking some down time. It had seemed pretty much non stop since we had started our travels so we figured we deserved it. How plans change!! Within 10 minutes of checking in we had booked ourselves on to a 3 day trek leaving the next morning. They weren't pushy but the trek sounded perfect for what we wanted to do, and it turned out great!!!

There were 6 of us on the trek. Deborah and I were joined by Phil, Emma, Will and Helen. The other four knew each other but it didn't feel like two seperate groups and we had a great couple of days trekking through the jungle's of Northern Thailand. Nuu, our guide was from the Karen tribe where we spent our first night and he was great at pointing out things you would otherwise miss or have no clue were even there.

On day one we trekked for around 3 or 4 hours stopping occasionaly to see waterfalls, snakes, views, catch our breath or for Nuu to show us a trick with some leaf that made special tea or strange popping sounds.

The first night in the village was really nice. We had some nice food cooked by the tribe - Deborah and I had decided to stay veggie but with my notorious cast iron stomach I eventually succumbed to the dark side and tucked away some chicken too. Then we all sat around a camp fire downing a few cans of Chang and getting to know our fellow trekkers. Unfortunately a couple of the guys weren't too well that night which led to a pretty restless night for all. To their credit they avoided the temptation to head back to Chiang Mai and we all headed off the following morning for another 3 or 4 hours trekking.

Day 2 was again lots of stunning views - if I could, I would have stopped every 10 feet to take another picture but that would have driven everyone nuts!! After a spot of lunch we then did and an hour and a half's elephant riding along the bottom of a valley. This was great though we managed to get the most fearful elephant in history. He backed away from water buffalo which is maybe acceptable as they do at least have large horns but when he got scared of frogs I figured there was something a bit wrong!! Good job he didn't look down and see his own reflection in the water!!!

Two more fell ill (including myself) that night and one was bordering... how on earth Deborah, with notably the weakest stomach known to man, was the only one unaffected I don't know but then maybe that veggie pact was now showing it's wisdom!!! The good thing was that even though most of us fell ill we all still had a great time and we still had a day left.

It ended up being another restless night, I actually spent 4 or 5 hours sleeping on the bamboo terrace in front of a firepit listening to the sounds of the jungle at night. Other than the frequent visits to the bathroom (aka a hole in the ground) it was an interesting and memorable night even though I didn't manage to sleep more that an hour all night!! With the nearest man made light probably over 20km away it's amazing how many stars you can see in the sky - certainly more than my attempts in Clapham!

Thankfully, day 3 was very relaxed. Nuu and members of the Lahu tribe we were staying with hand built a bamboo raft and we set off for a couple of hours drifting along with the river. Most of it was pretty calm with the odd bits of white water. It's a stunning way to see the jungle and I was happy not to be trekking to much at that point.

It was an excellent 3 days and so far, for me, definitely the top highlight. We made some new friends, saw some pretty spectacular views and couldn't have felt further away from life back in London. Plus, getting ill and not eating for a couple of days can only mean good news for the belt notch count!

Posted by Alexander at 09:35 | Permalink | Comments

After our short stay in Kanchanaburi we then headed back to Bangkok for a couple of days as we had to pick up our visa's for Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia and also sort out our transportation up to Northern Thailand.

Whilst in Bangkok we went to the Grand Palace which is one of the best examples of temple's in Thailand. It's also where you can see the famous Emerald Buddha. The Wat and Palace are stunning with example's of Khmer and Buddhist temples to keep all happy!!




On the way up to Chiang Mai we stopped for a day in Ayuthaya which is the old capital of Thailand. A city of two halves, one side is a bustling Thai town whilst the other half is given up to hundreds of temples, most of which are now in ruins. The best way to get around them was to hire a bike and then go exploring and it's a great way to see all the town has to offer.

It was a nice spending a few days 'templing' in Bangkok and Ayuthaya but now templed out we were ready to head up to Chiang Mai for some relaxation...

Posted by Alexander at 09:04 | Permalink | Comments

1. 21 - countries visited in the next 12 months


2. 17.5 - tonnes of CO2 I need to offset for my flights over the next 12 months


3. 10 - number of different modes of transport used in last 7 days


4. 4 - current belt notch


5. 25 - number of pence my dinner cost last night


6. 0 - number of upset stomachs


7. 1 - number of pieces of wood I just touched


8. 1 - desired belt notch


9. 70 - average Thai wage in pounds

Posted by Alexander at 11:49 | Permalink | Comments

We have now landed in Kanchanaburi on the river Kwai. The place itself isn't really that interesting. It does of course have the famous bridge but that is just 200 metres of a 450km railway built by POW's. More interesting was a trip to the museum and the war cemetary that tells the tale of how the whole line was built.

After a day of war sights we needed something a bit more upbeat so headed off to Erawan falls. It's a seven tier set of waterfalls with a trek up through the Thai jungle. Spiders, snakes, monkeys and huge lizards await.

We are now just chilling here for a few days. The guesthouse we are at isn't great but the staff are friendly and the food is excellent. We will probably stay here a day or two before we head back to Bangkok to pick up our visas for Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia and then head up towards Ayuthaya and Chiang Mai.

Posted by Alexander at 10:47 | Permalink | Comments