Pakse

Of course the bus broke down... of course the ride tht was gonna take me 10 hours took me 14... pero al margen de esos pequenos detalles novelezcos ... I am in Pakse!

Yesterday in Vientianne was excellent. We rented bicicles and visited the city. You go 15 minutes away and you are already in the countryside. Siento como si Vientianne es lo que era Lima hace 50 anos. Por supuesto que no puedo saberlo a ciencia cierta ya que no estuve ahi... por lo menos en esta reencarnacion... pero parece Domingo todos los dias (especialmente ayer!... pues era Domingo...) . Casi no hay gente en la calle, las puertas de las casas abiertas, trafico casi nulo... en fin una ciudad super amigable. Luego de visitar los monumentos historicos Laosianos caimos en una fiesta de gente local donde nos diern de tomar y tomar y tomar... the glass was ALWAYS full!

Luego por la noche cogi el bus que me trajo hasta Pakse y lo demas ya es historia conocida...

Playing freezbee by the Mekong

Me and Omri "chillin' out" in Vientiane, by the Mekong con la infalible beer lao

Tomorrow we will get some motorcycles and go explore this area (the bolovan plateau) for 4 days... is supossed to be amazing , full of waterfalls and elephants... en los pueblitos no se si habra internet, asi que hasta que vuelva aca Pakse en unos 4 dias no prometo mucha comunicacion.

Capital City - Vientiane

This "big town" is too relaxed to be a capital city!
Really nice, small, mellow... I am in the mighty Mekong again... ohhh Vientiane city...

I left Vang Vieng early this morning cause' I couldn't stand it any more. Today I walked through the city, ate a really nice baguette with pathe (es como un pate de higado , supongo que de chancho, con hiervas y etc... buenaaso) and for the sunset we went to a big sandy river island in the Mekong where we played freesbee and football with the locals. Tonight is Saturday ... so it's party night, my stomach is better so I am ready for lots of beer lao and barbecued fish!
I will stay here one more day and tomorrow I will catch a night bus to Pakse in the south of Laos.

pD. There are ATMs here!!! yuhuuuuuuuu!!! tomorrow I will be able to get some money... (I need a suitcase for all the bills). The maximum amount you can get is 700 000 Kip... and their biggest bill is 50 000 Kip!!! (5 US$).

Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng is beutiful!

Vang Vieng is aweful...

The surroundings are amazing... limestone peaks, huge caves, nice, quiet and peacuful river... on the other hand... the town and everything around it is made FOR tourists which makes it a little unconfortable. Every single restaurant has a huge TV where they broadcast Friends episodes 25 hr. a day. everythibng is overpriced and made for the tourists "relaxation". The bars on the river banks are really ice but they have the loudest bum bum bum music (its so preety you don't actually need music!). Here you can see the exact type of tourism that I dislike the most... I wonder why you would come to the other side of the world to watch TV????

Sleeping Budha dentro de una cueva

pD. Las cuevas son increibles!! esta donde esta Budha es gigante por dentro... casi como un anfiteatro...

pD2. Pa... efectivamente es increible pensar como esta gente taaan tranquila ha pasado por tantas guerras sin sentido. Como dato, Laos es el pais mas bombardeado del mundo, muchas de las cuevas que visite sirvieron de refugios para militares y civiles.

Luan Prabang

La gente pide fotos... y el internet esta rapido... asi que ahi van!

Luang Parabang from phousi hill

El wat Xieng Thong, el mas importante de Luang Parabang (notese templo budista + palmeras detras)

Sunset in the Mekong (probably one of my best sunsets ever...)

Una imagen vale mas que mil palabras... y lo que ven y se imaginan... eso es Luang Parabang.

Really impressive little town (actually is one of the big cities in Laos), full of temples, buddhist monks everywhere, palm trees... You can really notice much of the french influence here in the buildings, people playing petanque on the streets, fresh baguette every morning! (not as good as in Paris of course).

Yesterday I walked through the city went in the national museum (impecable!) and climbed the phusy hill where there is a wat and a big nice stupa... It was the first day by myself in a long time and I enjoyed it. Today I took a boat in the Mekong to some not very interesting caves... the best part was the boat trip itself... viajar por el Mekong es como navegar por la yugular del sud este Asiatico...

Tomorrow bus to Vang Vieng!!... and then work my way down to southern Laos

Nong Khiaw

Hola Hola! Aca estoy de vuelta!

No internet in Nong Khiaw(here the famous quote "where there is a tourist there is an internet cafe" doesn't apply) ... NK is a very small village in the banks of the Nam Ou river. We arrived there after a long bus day and the sunset was waiting for us! amazing!
I got a really nice bungalow and the rest of the 2 days there I was in bed with mucha caca #3... I think it was some chineese biscuits I ate the day before that looked like they were expired... anyways now I am full power again and in Luang Parabang.

"In Vietnam they plant rice, in Cambodya they watch it grow and in Laos the hear it grow" (my addition is... in Thailand they bring the tourist to see ir grow!)

Muang Sing

Trekking in Northern Laos...

Akha Village on the top of the mountain where we spent the night

There is not so much tourism here... the villages I visited are very authentic... and untouched. We spent the night in an Akha village... these people have their own language, meaning thay don't even speak Lao! there are like 50 different tribes in Laos and almost 30% of the population doesn't speak the country's official language. The trekking was not very hard, only two days... first day going up second day going down... great landscapes... and a little bit annoying group (specially the Italian woman with the british accent!!!... worse than the roasters in the morning!).

Tomorrow I have another bus day... [I feel like in Laos, have of my time is spent in a bus]... heading to Nong Khiaw... but there are no direct buses so I will have to go to a city 4 hours away from here and then hope I make it for the bus to Nong Khiaw. I will keep you posted.

Luang Nam Tha

rice fields forever...

No words to describe my experiences today...

The People's Democratic Republic of LAOS just become my favorite country!

I rented a bicicle and cycled around LuangNamTha... at first I was a little dissapointed cause' the town is not very nice (well, is NOT nice). It was destroyed during the Indochine war so they re-built it 7 km. north. However... you go just 5 minuted away from the town and... wooooooow... amazing rice fields... small villages with hill tribe people... smiles... green mountains... waterfalls... I really didn't know where to look.

Tomorrow I will go to Muang Sing... it is supossed to be the best place for eco-trekking in south east Asia.

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1US$ = 10,000 kip ... ahora entiendo lo que sentian en Peru cuando necesitabas un fajo gigant de billetes para pagar tu comida... aca una sopita buenasa en el almuerzo cuesta la enorme cantidad de 7,000 Kip !!!! ahora si quieres pagar tu cuarto en el hostel, 30,000 Kip... eso es mucha plata!!! (o por lo menos un huevo de billetes!!)

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in Laos

I aaaaaaaaaaaaaam in Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaos.... Everythiiiiiiiiig iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis reaaaaaaaaaaaaally slooooooooooooooooooooooow heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere...

160km bus ride from Thailnd border to LuangNamTha = 7 hr
Internet = leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeento
Gente = tranquiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiila

So I arrived to LuangNamTha... as I said after a 7 hr bus through the dustiest read of my life... actually is not a road yet, is being built... I decided to come here cause' I heard there are some good treks and the nature is amazing (it is in the middle of a new national park).

It is all about crossing a river, you get out of thailand and you enter the 3rd world again. No more tourist buses, now is real life! Laos looks really exciting ... the people is sooo nice... even the boarder officers were nice. You sit down they come with the inmigration papers, they help you... really amazing...

pD. I am walking two days before in the street in Pai ... I turn my head and I see ... Olivier!!!! He wrote me an email in the morining saying he was in Chian MAi but there he was in Pai! We spent a few hours together and then I had to leave for the Lao border. Always nice to see my primo.
Danae! would ber nice to see you too! I might be in Nepal in March...

+Mariano... Alex-Li es un maestro!!

Bye Bye Pai

The peaceful Pai days are over... time to move on!

I am leaving Pai tonight for Chiang Khong (border with Laos).

Maybe I will tour the golden triangle area for the day (border of Thailand, Laos and Burma)... and then cross to Laos and take a slow boat on the Mekong River.

++Feliz cumpleanos Adrian!!!!!!!! sobrino... ya estas vieeejo... DOS anos!!!++

pD. I can't leave Thailand without a Thai Massage... so I will go get one after writing this... por la increible suma de 150 Baht (45 B = 1 US$)

Mas Pai

Motorcycle day! (yesterday)

Amazing... probably one of the most exciting days of the trip... some facts:

-I learned how to drive a moto with shifts (but with automatc clutch...)
-We went to some amazing waterfalls!!! and we chapoteamos un huevo!!

-We went to Pai Canyon, really cool, walking on the thin paths with precopicios on both sides

-We went off roading!! to the most amazing little villages and probably some unbelievable (I mean it...) sceneries... rice fieldas, green mountains, the sun setting on the back of the green mountains...

-When I say off roading ... I also mean it... our 125cc Hondas were deffinitely not made for that purpose... but we took them to the road less taken...

One of the WAAAAALA views ... (if you enlarge the pic you can see the motorbike on the back)

Today... chill out day... doing nothing... reading (the autograph man! enjoying it a lot)...

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How do you know when a samll village (PAI) is becoming TOO touristy:

You are laying on the bamboo made restaurant of your hotel (well, your huts...) enjoying the beautifull river view when a group of three people (of course one of them wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt and hugeOkleay glasses) come... they put on Wedding Crashers! (a movie) on the DVD of the restaurant, full volume... you go to the toilet to take a leak and think about what to do next (either stay and try to read... or leave...) and when you come back your seat's been taken by a woman, you aproach the table, take your book (that was IN FRONT of your seat), and the girl says ... so, you r leaving.... well, yes I was leaving!!!

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Pai

Cooking!

Yes! I made these... coconut soup, Phat Thai (fried noodles) & Beef Salad... the Curry is not in the pic but I also made curry paste!

So as you can see... I took cooking lessons.. in honour of Marda & Jamyis... It was really good. I really don't know if I will be able to do it again but I will try. [only if you write comments asking for it...]. Yesterday night in Chian Mai I went out and in the hotel a friend was staying the owners were singing karaoke... so of course we joined in! muy cague de risa... desde beatles hasta Linking PArk, thai style.

I left Chian Mai and now I am in Pai, beautifull samll town in a beautiful valley... as the guide says... "there is nothing to see in Pai"... but that is precicely what is nice about it. You can just realx and do nothing in front of the gorgeous river with the nicest breeze...... In fact I did do something (I couldn't stay all day watching the river...) . The nature here is incredible, lots of springs and waterfalls and elephant camps. Today we went for a hike by ourselfs to a waterfall 6 Km. away... and tomorrow we are planning on renting motorcycles to go see some more of this alucinantei area.

I am staying in one of the huts on the right... more to the right there is a river...

+Pa... problema solucinado! parece que estan cambiando el sistema del blog...

Wats

Praying to Lord Buda

Andre & Wat

Wat (temple) day today! I went to many many of them today. The one on the picture is the bigger one in Chian Mai, but there are at least 20 more... some of them really beautiful. The one I liked the most is a samll wooden temple with an amazing magic/holy tree...

Then I took a shared taxi to go to Doi Sutep... the top of a mountain where there is another amazing wat and a grat view of Chian Mai... by the way... I am in love with this city, it is so friendly... easy to walk, easy to eat, easy... and peaceful...

+ We = Yo y Rashid, un amigo que conoci en el bus hacia aca... estabamos literalmente tan cerca que no nos quedo otra que hablar! (pa no se si me has escrito mail, pero no he recivido nada) + Agustou... musica hay un huevo... el problema es mas de espacion en mi mochila que de ganas, cada gramo hace la diferencia, en el ultimo lugar donde este ahi comprare +Thanks Op friends ALTA 2007 in Peru! +Gracias Cone por la felicitacion, nos vemos en unos meses nennnnn

Chiang Mai

After a long bus ride (again) I arried in Chiang Mai this morning...
After looking for a guest house (again) we found a cheap one...

Chiang Mai feels like a small town even though is a big city... really nice, full of temples and plenty of activities (trekking, cooking classes, massage, massage classes, elephant rides, thai boxing, etc...). Fuera de la ciudad antigua amurallada, esta la ciudad mas moderna con sus edificios, MCs, Starbucks, Dairy Queen, 7Eleven. Es decir lo que toda ciudad debe tener (me cuesta pensar como hasta hora sobrevivi en India sin un 7Eleven!).
My idea now is to relax a little bit... enjoy the city for a couple of days and then see...

+ Dato anecdotico1: Today I had my first beer in the month and 1/2 I am travelling
++ Dato anecdotico2: El rey de Tailando es amado por su pueblo com ningun otro que yo halla visto en el mundo. Es el rey que esta en el trono por mas tiempo en la historia (del mundo). Igualmente su dinastia es la mas larga...

Ao Khoei

View of the gathering from the ocean

Amazing beaches surrounded by the jungle

Un par de fotitos para que vean lo hermoso del lugar...

The beach time is over. It was amazing!!! The place, the whole idea of a gathering of 500 people doing everything together in the nature, being with Olivier, New years!!!!!

For New Years there was an amazing show... lots of people participated dancing, singing and playing music... but the most amazing part was the fire show... like 20 people doing tricks with fire, it was a lot better than a circus, almost full moon, in the middle of the jungle ... really unbelievable (e indescriptible).

Now I am in Bangkok... went walking to the city all day (I am reaaally tired now...) . I love Bangkok, really an amazing city.. I love that you can walk, you can take buses so easily (actually I haven't taken any taxi or tuk tuk yet...) You can eaaaat !! all day I have been eating... every two meters and you have a different amazing food...

Tomorrow at 6pm I go to Chian Mai (north of Thailand). So far it looks like I will stay there for a week or so and then go to Laos...

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+JAmyeB! I didn't know you had been in India! +Marianne y Meli , gracias por ordenar mi ropita, hoy por primera vez he mandado a lavar ropa aca (hasta ahora lavaba a mano, no creas que estuve mes y medio usando la misma ropa). Los zapatos son de Jamye...

Sawat di pi mai krap! ... o happy new year .. aka FELiz Ano!

... todo en orden... please do not worry about the BKK bombings. i am fine, Olivier and Pu also.
Actually I just found out about it, right after buying my bus tickets to... BANgkok!
I will be fine, just one night or 2 and then I am going North to Chian MAi.

(more details about these past weeks on the next post... make 07 the best year of your life!)