briefly india

I ran into Alex on the morning I left Vientiane. Since I saw him in Chiang Rai he had ridden his bike through Laos and arrived in Vientiane the night before. So we caught up for breakfast in Joma cafe and he related his adventures - which made my own seem paltry and insignificant by comparison! It's always fun to have a "random-return" meeting while on the road.  

I crossed the border back into Thailand which was relatively easy, and took a very cheap flight back to Bangkok. Two more nights here in a smart airport hotel to rest and recuperate and then I found myself back in India.  

I'd forgotten just how tough India can be for the taveller. The heat, the smell, the dirt and rubbish and the swirling maelstrom of humanity certainly takes some inner strength to deal with.   My first encounter was with a thieving money changer at the official exchange office at the airport. I only needed to change $30 as my room was prepaid ahnd I was only staying two days. He tried to shortchange me $5 from it! I was too tired to rant so I just made him give me it back and headed off to get a taxi. Second rip-off opportunity! Get used to it.  

Finally settled into my hotel which was only 50 metres from the entrance to the Golden Temple.   I should add here - there are really only two good reasons to visit Amritsar: the Golden Temple and the changing of the guard at the Wagah Gate border - the only current road border crossing between India and Pakistan.  

Now I have stayed in countless numbers of cheap budget room in my travels around the work during the last 35 years - and I think I found a contender for the very worst!! I should have taken the option to sleep tinned sardine-like in the temple dormitories with the pilgrims. It was only after the first night that I realised how bad it was and the second night I was beyond caring. I adopted the Mantra: "location...location...location"  

The temple is really quite wonderful - and in hindsight best viewed in the evening. The lighting really makes the place sparkle. The kitchens in the grounds creates an unholy racket as they provide free food to the pilgrims so there is washing up (a task every seikh tries to fulfil once in his life) going on incessantly - and when you hear the noise it's like an epileptic brass band tuning up.  

My first evening I walked around the edge of the pool that the temple sits in, and became an object of complete fascination for the locals. With thousands of people milling around I didn't see another Westerner during my circuit. One group of Uni students gave me the usual grilling "Where are you from, how old are you, what is your job..." etc. My responses are well rehearsed through long years of practice!  

My second afternoon I went out to the border to watch the Wagah Gate ceremony. I think I first saw this on a Michael Palin doco and thought it would be great to go and see it. The border is about a half hour car ride - my hotel organised a shared taxi that would also wait until the ceremony was over and bring me back.  

On arrival there is an absolute crush of Indians and a few bewildered looking foreigners. I had already been tipped off that there was a foreigner VIP stand so I spread the word to as many Westerners as I could see and we were eventually seperated from the surging crowd and led to a section close to the gate.   We had to sit through about an hour of fervour whipping nationalism as people continued to arrive. During this time Indians were given large national flags and proceded to run down the road to the border gate and back again in mock provocation. No doubt Pakistanis were doing the same thing on the other side.  

After a bit of a sing song the officially ceremony began. A number of guards in their finest peacockery marched down to the gate with exaggerated high goose-stepping with such extraordinary suppleness and agility it would have put Nadia Comaneci to shame. The Indians went wild - and it was hard not to get caught up in the whole ridiculous pompery of it all. Worth the effort!   Tomorrow I am back at the border - this time to walk through the gateway myself.  

(ps: I accidentally wiped the photos from this bit of the trip so I'm afraid I have to rely on some pix from the net!)


golden temple


temple at night


wagah guards


wagah gate

leaving laos

that dum stupa

Leaving Vientiane tomorrow so I thought I'd throw up a few pix before I go.

Two days was more than enough for what is in reality a fairly small city. The centre consists really of just a couple of major thoroughfares and their side streets. Many of the guest houses and budget style hotels are clustered around a few of these side streets.

The main sights appear to consist of several temples, a museum or two and a walk along a not-particularly-inspiring stretch of the Mekong.

But it has some great cafes and patisseries. Any longer here and I could have some serious weight issues to deal with.


mood? seriously happy!

The twelve hour bus trip to get here wasn't too bad. It was a large comfortable coach style but unfortunately the air-con couldn't be turned off. While we were high up in the mountains where it was cold it made it uncomfortable and this bit lasted about 9 hours. Thankfully the locals (everyone of the bus except me) managed to keep their lunches down.

Apart from a breakdown and about 12 pee stops (where everyone leaps from their seats and rushes outside and squats or unzips according to gender right around the bus) it was fairly uneventful. At one of the roadside stops people from nearby shops ran up to the side of the bus offering all manner of snacks. A young lady thrust a handful of various meats baked between skewers at me - one of which was most definitely rat!

The incessant and relentless rain of the last few days has abated and today the sun actually appeared and the temperature has risen. I've 'done' the sights I wanted to so it's just a matter of killing time with a few double expressos and pastries until I get the morning bus over the Mekong and back into Thailand.

One of the higlights of Vientiane was finding THE best vegetarian restaurant in Laos (if not S.E.Asia!!). Just in the adjacent street to my hotel, the Cuisine D'Or had such tasty food I have had all of my lunches and dinners there. The only disappointment is I am not here long enough to try all the dishes. Each meal I tried a different dish and every one was as great as the previous. And it's prices were competitive with the dodgy hole in the wall eateries I had been going too.


haw pha kaew temple


bronze from above temple


another

how to find a temple complex

vientiane street map

jars and jarring

I was pleased to have given myself extra time in Luang Prabang as it rained for about 50% of the time - and I mean RAIN! Buckets of it all day long. But it failed to stop the enjoyment of the town as it's just so damned pretty!

Besides I had a decent hotel room with private bath for $6.25 a night! It's a bit weird when your breakfast at a decent cafe costs more than your hotel room. But that's Luang Prabang for you.

Several dinners I ate at the evening market's veggy buffet - a large mixed plate for 10,000 kip ($1.25) then I'd go to a French cafe and have a 50,000 kip coffee and dessert!


wat xieng thong l.p.


l.p. museum


luang prabang dragons


l.p. temple


monks


small temple


temple detail

When I eventually left L.P. I was mildly irritated (barely contained expletives) as the large (comfortable) bus I was promised and paid for, mysteriously had broken down and instead I had to get on a mini bus that was already packed to the rafters with locals and other paraphernalia stored on the floor. After failing to convince me to squeeze in with four Laotians on the back seat (made for four not very large persons) for the 8 hour ride to my next destination, instead I took the assistant drivers half-seat which at least had leg room if not back support.

He wasn't happy but then I was paying for the journey and he was being paid.

The eight hour journey passed quite quickly vomit notwithstanding. (The locals don't seem to handle road travel too well.) I was heading for the town of Phonsavanh in order to visit the Plain of Jars. (you're sitting in front of a computer - Wikipaedia it.) The final 4 hours of the journey was on such a torturously potholed winding mountain road that on Google maps it resembles a particularly nasty looking varicose vein.

It was to be a fleeting visit, arrive the evening, arrange transport for early the next morning - see the sights on a full day tour (easiest option unless you have your own vehicle) and then take a twelve hour bus trip to Vientiane the next morning. There is no point spending longer in Phonsavanh - you can see all the sights/sites in one day and the town is as exciting as a bowl of tepid wallpaper paste. (Sorry - my analogies don't work too well in extreme humidity.)

The jars themselves I have to admit were a little underwhelming - but in their defence I have been a little spoiled ruins wise. (I expect the Germans have a word for that...) And it rained the entire time. The track to one of the jars sites was so incredibly muddy that my sandals picked up so much of the sticky clay that it felt like I was wearing boots of steel. I kept trying to wash it off in one of the myriad of rivulets that cascaded down the path. In one small pool, I stepped in to rinse off my right sandal and sank up to my knee.


wet ride to phonsavanh


jars


jars 2


jar et moi

My randoms this part of the trip were two Schweizerdeutsch and a German.


'out of the rain' smiles

lounging in luang

Luang Prabang really is a lovely little town in central northern Laos.
My second days ride on the boat was really pleasant - bigger boat, less people and great weather.


mekong river ride


mekong river view

Arriving in L.P. I immediately felt certain I would like the place. Being off season it is relatively quiet tourist wise, but the weather is completely unpredictable. Yesterday it rained almost the entire day. Fortunately I have given myself about four days here to wander the streets and visit the temples.

The town is very well kept, tidy and neat with beautiful buildings and back lanes.


luang laneway


laneway

There is also an abundance of temples scattered around the town. I have enjoyed wandering around the town (when it isn't raining) getting a feel for the place. I've visited a few of the temples but you can tire quite quickly from them. Yesterday afternoon I went into one of them for the afternoon chanting by the monks. The sonorous drone in the humid and darkened hall was quite mesmerising. Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.


view from temple


temple doors


shrine


national museum rooftop


chanting monks

mekong meandering

I am currently sitting in a little cafe in Pakbeng - a one street town in North Western Laos. I arrived here last night after a 7 hour boat ride down the Mekong which would have been incredibly scenic if it hadn't rained non-stop. But in a slow-boat full of mostly gap year European backpackers it was anything but boring.

I was glad to finally get out of Bangkok. It didn't really feel as if I had started my trip.

I flew to Northern Thailand to a small city called Chiang Rai for just a couple of days en route to the Laos border. Being monsoon season and rainfall unpredictable I decided to forgo the trip into the mountains for the scenic dawn view!

One of the other recommended sights was Wat Rong Khun aka The White Temple. An odd blend of modernist Thai construction and Disney, it was however quite striking after having visited many of the bog standard Thai temples.


white temple


white temple


white temple


white temple sculpture

Another highlight of Chiang Rai was running into a couple of 'randoms' (term for chance meetings with strangers).
One was a French guy who chucked his job 15 years ago and started global roaming. He's lived in Tokyo and New York and is once again off backpacking for 6 months or more.

The other was a young Aussie (24) on his first o/s trip. He flew to Hanoi, bought a motorbike and then proceeded to ride all through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and had just completed Thailand. He was about to ride back through Laos from the north to Vientiane the capital to sell the bike! We all met in a cafe and hung out together until I left yesterday.


chiang rai clock tower


bug food


more bugs


and more bugs


night bazarre

Before I left Chiang Rai I went in search of some mozzie repellent - found one tube in a local pharmacy which stated on the front "repels mosquitos and snails". My mind boggled a bit.

Pakbeng, this little town out in the middle of the Laos jungle is the halfway point of the boat trip. It is probably one of the only reasons for it's existence.

Tonight I should be in Labang Prabang.

boring in bangkok

Well I am finally away once again, having left Sydney for good last week.

I've been in Bangkok all of this time as I needed to finish off some major dental work before continuing with the travels.

There's not a lot to blog about as I am not enamoured with the city. But this post is just to get the ball rolling!!

More to come.....


Scenic - but be thankful it aint in smellavision


The Rolls Royce of fruit - and a dollar a kilo


Bangkok Centre for Arts and Culture


Inside BCAC


well thank goodness its fresh

towards the roof of the world

Well finally, after wanting to do this for quite a few years, ('any takers') I have booked a spot on the Baltoro, K2 Base Camp, Gondogoro La trek for 8th August. (NB updated to actual dates 06/05/12)

I leave Sydney in early July and I will be arriving in Pakistan via Laos, and North West India then crossing at the Wagah Gate to Lahore.


trek map (all images courtesy of the web)

Leaving Islamabad, Pakistan - it lasts 22 days in all. The glacier trek itself coves some of the most spectacular scenery on earth, encompassing as it does, 8 of 20 of the world's highest mountains.

The high point of the trek, both in figurative and literal terms, will be the K2 Base Camp and Gondogoro La high pass (5,940m) and Concordia - the junction of the Baltoro, Godwin Austen,Gasherbrum and Vigne Glaciers.


gondogoro la pass


trango tower


K2


ali camp before taking on the pass


vigne glacier



charakusa valley


k2-concordia

Gondogoro La is slightly higher than Kilimanjaro (5,895m) but I anticipate it being a little less taxing as the start of the trek is around 5,000m and the climb over the pass (begun at 1am) is only 940m up from the base camp. Whereas the Kili summit entailed a midnight start and climb of almost 1,400m.

After the trek I will head either north up the Karakorum Highway into China and head to Kashgar to try and see some of it before the Chinese completely destroy the ancient town, or south to a region called Fairy Meadow - an unusual very non - Pakistani name for a high alpine region that could be mistaken for Switzerland.


fairy meadow

Here one can confront the magnificent Nanga Parbat (8,126m), the ninth highest mountain in the world which possesses the highest mountain face on the planet.

Or perhaps I'll do both.