Weddings

Well it has certainly been a tumultuous week. I landed in Jakarta to the craziness of planning a wedding, then the bride had a miscarriage scare (but it all turned out to be okay and i got to see the baby kicking and dancing and hear it's strong heartbeat!!@!), then there was a 7.5 richter earthquake on the night of the wedding and the giant chandeliers in the hotel lobby swayed as the poor bride and groom had to run down 31 flights of stairs, and THEN we saw a volcano erupting from the airplane somewhere in Java and then there was a huge reception in Bali which included belly dancers and fire twirlers and everything in between! Am now heading back to Beijing to earn a bit of cash and chill for a bit while I figure out what I really want to be doing....wish me luck with that one!

Catch up

Back in Changi Airport - my second home...or is it my 3rd or 4th??? I don't know anymore! Anyways, since leaving the tranquility of Laos I spent 3 pampered days in Singapore with Boobie, then 10 days in old Melbourne town for my grandparents' anniversary and to catch up with everyone in the wintry breeze, then to Beijing for 2 weeks to start the mammoth task of updating my resume and finding a job, then to Singapore for 2 more days of snuggling, then to Koh Tao in Thailand with my family for a week of sun, pina coladas, and pad thai, and NOW I'm on my way back to Beijing for yet another week before heading to Indonesia, via Singapore, for Herman's cousin's wedding! Being on a time limit and a very basic computer, I can't add more details or photos just yet (and I can't access this from Beijing), so all of my adoring fans (does ANYONE actually read this anymore???) will just have to be patient and wait. So far it has all been fun, although I must say, rather than slowly figuring my life out I am now more confused than ever!

From Four Thousand Islands (Don Det, specifically) to four million people (Bangkok...actually, it's closer to 8 million)

After finally getting out of the hole that is Pakse, Rianne and I made it to the quaint old colonial town of Champasak, famous for its Angkor Wat style temple ruins. An easy and peaceful 8km bike ride through rice paddies led us to the ruins, known as Wat Pho. Unfortunately, access to several parts of the temple was restricted and it was much smaller and more dilapidated than Angkor Wat. Despite all this, it was a magical temple, partly set amongst a mossy green forest and a backdrop of sheer rockface, and it had a wonderful view across the Mekong plains of Laos. The next day we made our way south to the Four Thousand Islands, aiming for one particular island called Don Det, but, after lots of miscommunication and a frustrating tuk-tuk ride, we were taken to the wrong island! We were offered a boat ride to the correct island for 2 million kip (US $200) but, obviously, turned it down and discovered that it was only meant to cost 40,000 kip (US $ 4) ! One day late, we finally made it to the little slice of heaven which is Don Det. Here I spent 7 days doing little more than sleeping, reading (i read 3 books in 7 days!!! anyone who knows how slowly i read will surely be impressed by this astronomical figure!), eating, and having sunset Beer Laos. I never really been very good at doing nothing, but I think I became somthing of an expert of it on Don Det!! A major part of the reason I managed to stay so long was a dangerously delicious bakery run by an Aussie guy who would make the most yummy chocolate-banana doughnuts that are famous amongst backpackers throughout Laos! There was also always great, friendly people to hang out with and just chat, including a Chilean couple, an Irish oceanographer, an Isreali guy called Noam, and my bubbly Irish neighbours, Sonya and Aisling, among many others whose names I can't remember! Regrettably, I finally had to leave Don Det and the bakery and my new friends and embark on what felt like an epic journey from Don Det to Pakse to Ubon Ratchatani to Bangkok! I arrived at the Bangkok train station at 5:30 this morning and had to wait 4 hours until even an internet cafe was open (where I found this adorably ugly dog which you will see a photo of here). Since Herman's flight doesn't arrive until 10pm, I plan to spend the day pampering myself with cheap pedicures and massages and maybe catch a movie - all in one air-conditioned mall (ah, gotta love Bangkok!).

Southern Laos

After five days in Vientiane (and a wonderful massage and herbal sauna treatment in a temple), I finally got myself organised enough to continue my travels further South. After a 6 hour bus ride I found myself in the sleepy little town of Savannakhet and settled in to a very friendly guesthouse. I was hoping to go on one of the many community-based eco-tourism treks around Savannakhet (that don't exploit the local villagers and the environment quite as much as most trekking companies), but there were so few tourists in Savannakhet that no one else had signed up, making it much to expensive for me to do on my own. Instead, I made friends with the handful of other travelers in my guesthouse (a Swiss woman, a Dutch girl, and a Dutch guy) and together we made our way further South (on a bus that played Lao and Thai karaoke music at a huge volume for the whole 5 hours) to the convenient but uninspiring town of Pakse. After a nice (and much-needed) evening of drinking chilled beers while watching the sunset over the Mekong and a delicious Italian dinner, we headed off the next morning to the tiny riverside town of Tat Lo, famous for its waterfalls and relaxed atmosphere. We spent one day just doing nothing - reading, relaxing, eating, eating, eating - and I finished The God of Small Things ( a WONDERFUL book). As I am not very good at doing nothing, however, we decided to do a 4 and a half hour trek the next morning to a couple of waterfalls and through several of the nearby villages with a local guide, which was excellent!! It was just the right amount of walking (not so much that we were completely exhausted but enough to feel like we had done exercise), the right sized group (just us 3 and the guide), and perfect weather (not too hot and not raining!). The scenery was gorgeous and very lush and the villages were very welcoming but not touristy at all. Now we are back in Pakse (minus one), walking the streets looking for other travelers to join us on a 2-day trek in the next day or so...we are keeping our fingers crossed but most of the other tourists here are only in transit or are not willing to pay considerably more to do a non-exploitative trek! Regardless, over the next few days I plan to head South to the Angkor-style temples of Champasak and then have a few relaxing days in Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands) near the Cambodian border.

Koh Chang - mid April...

Until I can find a computer that can read DVDs, these are the only photos of Koh Chang that I have

:(

Journey to Lao(s)

Having spent about a week total in Chiang Mai, I was more than happy to be on my way to Laos with my little group of travel buddies - Rob & Charlotte, Laureli, and Bee (and, later, Graciella). After struggling with whether to let our hotel manager take all of our passports or to arrange our own visas at the border (and possibly face a 2 hour wait), we finally succumbed to her pressure and handed over our most important documents, hoping that we'd see them (and her) again in the morning!Perhaps, in retrospect (and, seeing as there was NO queue for visas in the morning), it was a bad idea, but all worked out fine and we safely putt-putted across the Mekong to Laos the next day. It was the next part of the journey, however, (a 2 day boat trip from the border to Luang Prabang) that we were completely unprepared for. The seats on the boat consisted of little more than a plank of wood and a cottonwool-stuffed flimsy pillow, which would have been fine for a couple of hours...but after 8 hours of trying unsuccessfully to get comfortable and watching our fellow travellers get progressively more drunk we couldn't stand to be on that boat for another minute. Except we had to get right back on again the next morning for the same amount of time! Needless to say, we were all relieved to finally reach the beautiful old town of Luang Prabang. It has a delicious mix of French architecture (and croissants and coffee) and Lao culture. When you need a break from temple-watching, you just stop somewhere for a latte and a baguette! On our 2nd (or was it 3rd??) day we journeyed out to these beautiful waterfalls about 30kms out of Luang Prabang with the most amazing coloured water and set amongst lush forest - we spent hours climbing, swimming, and swinging off ropes into the crisp water! We also discovered L'Etranger - an adorable bookshop/restaurant/cafe/movie venue - with the most delicious food I have had in months, where we watched Stranger than Fiction (GREAT movie...suprisingly, considering that it has Will Ferrell in it!)! Eventually we had to pull ourselves away from Luang Prabang and get back on the travel-wagon (along with most of the people from our boat trip from the border...they just keep popping up everwhere...I guess most people take to same route through Laos), so we headed for Vang Vien - NOT a cute, charming town at all! In fact, Vang Vien is full of tourists and backpackers under the influences of multiple substances all glued to televisions playing Friends on repeat and at the highest possible volume! However, the AMAZING scenery around Vang Vien almost makes up for the abnoxious travellers and blaring TVs - it is surrounded by huge limestone cliffs that shoot up into the air dramatically...full of caves to explore and a quiet river running through it all. It took us a few days to really get anything out of Vang Vien...partly due to the incessant rain and partly due to the lure of pizzas, internet, and DVDs! When we finally did visit some caves and go tubing down the river (virtually a right of passage in Vang Vien), we were hugely rewarded! Having felt (finally) like we had done some justice to Vang Vien, we hopped back onto a bus (no trains in Laos) to the capital city, Vientiane. Very possibly the quietest capital city in the world, Vientiane is quaint and small, but still a convenient place to hang around in or pass through in between other travels. Although it is much more expensive than the rest of Laos and despite the VERY messy and muddy combination of massive road-works and the rainy season, the cafes and convenience (and, perhaps, waiting for my Chinese visa to be processed) will keep me here for a few more days. Unfortunately all of my fellow travel buddies have now left me - Laureli to Cambodia, Bee to Thailand, Graciella back to the US, and Rob & Charlotte to Thailand and then to Aussie, so I will be on the lookout for more poor souls to latch myself onto over the next few days!