Travel Blog Chapter 17: Vang Vieng party town

It was around 9am when I waited outside the adventure tour company for my expedition for that day. As I was waiting outside the company I saw this other guy sitting there and I struck up a conversation with him. His name was Tal and he was from Israel and eventually the rest of our company arrived which included a Canadian couple, 2 Korean ladies and a guy as well as 2 other thai girls. It was an interesting mix of different nationalities. We loaded up a tuk tuk and proceeded to the place where we would be exploring some caves first as well as do some tubing in the caves. By this time, my camera was damaged and I wasn't able to take any photos except with my handphone and from the cameras of my new found friends. As we went on our way I found out that the Canadian couple were traveling teachers. They have lived in Korea previously for a year or so and was now taking time off to travel in Southeast Asia. They would be settling down next in Turkey, Istanbul to continue their teaching career there. It seemed like a very exciting life. The Thai girls were just taking a vacation and would be back in Thailand after a week. Eventually we exchanged contact details with some of them but it seemed like the handwritings were too blurred to make up accurately the alphabets when I got back to Singapore.

Our first stop was a trek to this place called the "Elephant Cave". It was a relatively short trek through some forested areas to a relatively small cave. There were alot of elephant statues in the cave; hence the name. By this time we have hooked up with another group of trekkers. It seemed that the Asians I saw the previous day had settled on this package as well. Their Singlish was unmistakable and in this combined group where there were more than 7 or so of them with a demographics of an almost equal number of males and females, they were the dominant group in this expedition. We struck up a conversation and I found out that they were from NUS as well and have just finished an expedition in Cambodia and was taking some time off to travel. They were in Vietnam previously also and one of them was robbed while he was there. I must have been lucky. It was great meeting your fellowmen in a foreign country.

My kayaking Israeli partner

The most uncapsizable kayak that day

The Koreans

A difficult pose for the kayak to maintain its position

After the Elephant cave, we went to some caves where we could do some tubing. The water was very cold and each of us wore a head band with a torch to show the way. It was a great time of fun as we splashed and navigated our way through the caves. After that it was lunch and we got to eat very tasty Laoatian food from banana leaves. We were all taking about a particular place that we would eventually be going to. It was this party place where you get to buy cheap drinks and where there were high swings and slides that you can land. We started on our kayaking session after the lunch and I was paired with Tal. It was going to be one of the most hilarious session in the trip as the Singaporeans were capsized umpteen times in the kayak where Tal and I proudly declared ourselves the best kayakers as we didn't capsize once. The Singaporeans tried to steal our bottles with drinking water next with Tal shouting at them to stop stealing our "whiskey". It was classic piracy. Eventually we arrived at our much talked about destination.

Chilling with the Thais and Israeli

Canada/Israel/Singapore vs Singapore..didn't end too well for the international group

Korea/Thailand vs Singapore..Singapore won..again

The aftermath

We tied up the kayaks at the bank of the river and around us we could see people tubing down the river and all kinds of ziplines lining the bank of the river. Further into the banks, there were loud music blaring from stereo system which eventually I realized was a pub. This didn't look like Laos at all but rather like a party enclave. There was a place for tug of war where you fall into the mud if you lost, a mud volley ball court and also a lot of foreigners were sitting around drinking their concoctions. We ordered a few beer lao and some other alocholic mixture and chill in small sheltered huts while we watched people going up a rather high platform, grabbing hold of a bar and going down the zipline while letting go and landing into the river. My dislike for water and really such rides required me to drink more to summon more courage to attempt this zipline. While everyone was taking their turns to have a go for the zipline, there was suddenly a commotion coming from under the platform. One of the girls from our group has let go prematurely and landed in shallow waters. She was dazed from the impact but still unharmed. It was a reminder to be careful as there was no safety net and I read later from the internet that some people have actually died while attempting this zipline most often while they were wasted. Finally I went for it and it was surprisingly not that difficult even though I must say it looked awfully high up while you are facing the zipline. We spent the rest of the time competing in tug of war with Singaporean guys against Canadian, Israeli and yours truly and also Singaporean girls competing against Thai and Korean girls. On both counts, the Singaporeans won with the losers falling into the mud pit. Must be the NS. After that, it was the mud volleyball and we were practically unrecognizable as we were covered with mud when we left the court. The wash up was done jumping into the river via the zipline with the more conservative just splashing water on the bodies through a hose.

It was an awesome afternoon and we finally had to leave and kayaked back to main land and we ended the day by each of us going our way and washing up. It was world cup fever in Laos at this time and you have painted patriotic faces cheering for their national teams. Every pub at night was filled and saturated with a very intense atmosphere of competitiveness between hardcore world cup fans. I wondered how they would react if I strolled in with my face painted with a Singapore flag.

Beautiful landscape

Lost in the forest during my hike

Without buildings, cattle was the only "landmark" available to find my way out

Thought there was a path somewhere but all I saw was wet padi ground

The next day in Vang Vieng I met the Singaporeans again in a cafe while they were having breakfast. They were going to do more tubing that day and eventually when I met them again later some of them sustained some minor injuries from the slides. I decided instead to do some trekking around this picturesque juxtaposition of a town and wilderness. I find it difficult to categorize Vang Vieng. For Singaporeans, think Clark Quay or Sentosa in the wild. I couldn't find any place that sell maps so I asked for directions from the trusty trekking company regarding where I could go and set off. I made a mistake not to rent a bike, thinking that it wouldn't be that far but I was wrong. Halfway through the hike, I was sweating, thirsty and seeing people on bicycles and motorcycles riding past me past me. I met the Koreans on the bikes and I looked enviously at how fast they were covering ground.

My company along my hike

Very thirsty at this point

The road seemed never ending

...and the road continues

Eventually I visited 2 caves, 1 which was rather small and cold with a Buddha statue inside. It was a strange sensation being alone in the cave with no one seemingly around. After that, I hiked for another few hours to another cave location and met the Koreans again where we had Beer Lao together. They had met other Koreans along the way and in the midst of this double marginalized situation, I appreciated the rest that I have. I made my way into the cave and I realized my torch was too dim to explore further. I was going to leave when some Canadians came in and with their stronger flashlight we explored the cave together. We were lost at one point but eventually found ourselves back near the entrance but at a higher ground. That was where I met my Korean friend. He was only 17 years old but was traveling alone in Southeast Asia during his summer break. He would be on the road for 6 months. That was pretty cool. He offered to ride me back to Vang Vieng town but we found that out to be impossible after awhile as there were too many uphills and downhills and at one point we almost went careening off a bridge into a lagoon. Since I was almost halfway back, I told him to go ahead while I would walk the rest of the way. I admired the beautiful scenery and sunset as I made my way back. It was evening when I arrived back in Vang Vieng town and I realized I have been hiking for more than 6 hours. I was tired and went to chill at those cafes with reruns of Family Guy. The food was delicious and I made plans to go up further north to Luang Prabang by booking my bus transportation that night. Vang Vieng was too touristy and was an interesting place to be in for awhile but not for too long. I was looking forward to see what else Laos has to offer.

Travel Blog Chapter 16: From Vientiane to Vang Vieng

Vientiane was a rather quiet city compared to urban Vietnam where you have lots of impatient vehicles honking at one another. The road traffic system was also more organized compared to Vietnam as you have traffic lights that cars actually stop at. The people were significantly more friendly as well. As you passed by shops and people on the street, on occasions they would smile at you and greet you with "Sabaidee" which essentially means "hello". After checking into Sabaidee guesthouse, I decides to stay in a dorm for a day to see how it goes. The place was old but clean and there were not many people in the dorm. I took the lower decker and unpacked my belongings. There were only a couple of Japanese travelers sharing the dorm with me.

Street in Vientiane

After settling down and washing up a little, I took some time to explore the city. Laos is a Buddhist country so you could see many temples with magnificently sculpted statues along the street. Eventually I went into an Indian restaurant to have my lunch. The food was good and spicy. It was wonderful to eat something of similar semblance to Singapore food after a few weeks away. I continued my touristy exploration of the city after that, visiting shops and just walking around the city to get my bearings. I realized that there was relly just not much I could do in Vientiane and eventually felt that it would be a waste of time to stay another day in the city. I went into a bus booking company and decided to book my transportation to the next closest destination, Vang Vieng which was I heard a very "happening" place to go. Over there I could supposedly indulge in Sea sports as well as other trekking activities. Sounds fun. The rest of the day was spent chilling out in a coffee cafe beside my guesthouse, surfing the net and reading my book as there was not much else to do in Vientiane except shop around and I think temples just don't interest Singaporeans that much compared to westerners as we have those in Singapore already.

I had a good sleep that night and very early in the morning after packing and checking out, I waited for my bus to pick me up for Vang Vieng. the bus was half packed with loads of people going to Vang Vieng that day. I saw a group of Asians that I thought strangely look Singaporeans. There was this European that booked 2 seats so that he could have more leg room and also to leave his bag. It was not a wrong move as there was so much room in the bus that most of us have 2 seats to ourselves without paying for the other one. The ride was around 4 hours and we stopped for awhile to have our lunch. We were going up the mountains and the air was getting colder. The scenery was very beautiful as well and this part of Laos look like something out of a Chinese painting with rolling hills, soaring mountains and villages that littered the undeveloped landscape.

Laotians playing ball game

Vang Vieng landscape

Evening in Vang Vieng

We finally arrived in Vang Vieng and the bus stopped at a guesthouse where most of the passengers checked in to. It was a little too pricey for me and I decided to explore a little. The buildings in Vang Vieng looked very quaint and they all have some buddhist influence. As I was walking along the road, I met this guy from Netherlands who was also looking for a guesthouse to stay in. Eventually we settled on a very nice and new looking white washed guesthouse tht had a bargain price. 10 USD for both of us and we decided to share a room that night. We had our lunch at a cafe where there is a special menu if you want to get high. You get to buy cannabis, weed in these places and you can also request to have some of your food cooked with such concoctions. It was interesting. You won't have that in many places.

The main thing to do in Vang Vieng was tubing. It is this activity which I found out later they adapted from the United States where they got these huge Tyre tubes, inflate it and you lay down in it and float down the river. It was fun but also you need to be careful as there were cases of people drowning when the tubes got into fast flowing waters and people lost control of their tubes. My Netherlands friend wanted to do it but I wanted to see what else was available. That day I spent my time exploring the town and checking out trekking companies to see what they were offering. Eventually I settled on a kayaking, caving and trekking package at  bargain price. We would be starting out early in the morning the next day and the whole session will end by evening time. During that day I kept seeing those Asians I saw in the bus and when I finally heard them talking, their Singaporean accent and Singlish was unmistakable. Singaporeans are really everywhere. I spent my night watching reruns of Friends and Family Guy in cafes as it was aired in every cafe. Laos has the best fruit milkshakes as well and I while away my night sipping on my delicious concoctions in this supposedly party town.

Travel Blog Chapter 15: Overnight bus out of Vietnam into Laos

It was evening time when I reached the bus interchange in Hanoi to take the bus to Vientiane, Laos. That day I scrimped on my food intake as I know it was going to be a long bus ride and having unnecessary bowel movement was not something I want to be coping with. The bus left the interchange at 7.30pm and I got to know the bus driver and some other passengers that would be heading towards the border crossing. It was going to be a long ride, around 17 to 20 hours and I spent the time talking to this Vietnamese girl who was studying in Hanoi and was going back to her home town during the weekend. The bus picked up a lot more passengers along the way and after awhile in the bus I had no idea where I was. From what I gathered talking to people, the bus actually passed through Vinh City, Hue and some countryside. I was totally oblivious of my whereabouts in the bus and I know that I would be reaching the border crossing before dawn.

Hanoi Interchange

Looking out of my bus window in Hanoi

One by one the passengers got off until there were less than 5 passengers in the bus. Finally the bus stopped and the sky was still very dark. It was around 3am and the engine was turned off. In my half awake state I wondered what was going on. The door of the bus was opened and the breeze blew in. The driver reclined on his chair and went to sleep. I woke up to the sun shining through the bus windows and saw a few other buses parked around this huge compound. Getting my bearings, I realized I was at Vietnam customs where I would be crossing over into Laos. I saw many travelers got out of the buses in the compound, stretching and making their way to the toilet. I was glad that my nature's call was to just relieve my bladder as the toilet was in quite a bad condition. The air was very cold that morning and I was shivering when I got out of the bus.

I gave the driver my passport as he was collecting them to be stamped and we drove towards the customs. It was going to be a very messy affair crossing the border. The driver gave the customs officer my passport and when I checked my passport there was no stamp. I had to go back to get them to stamp and had to pay 1 USD for leaving the country. Eventually it was done and I had to walk to Laos custom while the bus drove through. The process at Laos customs was much better and faster. I waited at a convenience store while the bus came through the customs to pick us passengers up. I had to pay 200000 dong more to continue my journey into Vientiane. It was extortion.

The bus continued the journey into Laos and as I looked out of my window the landscape has change dramatically from that of Vietnam. Even though Vietnam was a developing nation, there was still enough semblance of similarities to city life in Singapore that I could relate to but Laos was very backward in comparison. There were miles and miles of villages with huts with thatched roofs. You would see women bathing or washing their hair by the side of the road. You could see rolling hills and by the side of the road where the bus was moving there would be forested greenery for miles at one time. Finally we arrived at a more urban setting amnd we stopped at a road side eatery for lunch. I got to know one the travelers on the bus who was a Vietnamese and worked for the foreign embassy in Thailand. He was stopping over in Laos to visit his wife before crossing into Thailand from Laos. To my surprise he could speak Mandarin.

Vientiane

After the lunch, we continued our journey to Vientiane and finally arrived at noon. From the bus interchange, I took a tuk tuk into the town central and tried to find a hostel that was listed in my "Laos Rough Guide" and to my dismay was no longer open. Rough Guide needs to update their guidebooks more often. Around the corner I found a hostel called "Sabaidee Hostel" and seeing that it was quite cheap at around 5 USD a night I checked in.

Travel Blog Chapter 14: Back to Hanoi

Sapa was one of the best places I have visited during the trip where I really enjoyed the environment and the people. I was there for almost 5 days and on the morning after coming back from Fansipan Mountain I was ready to head back to Hanoi. There were a few unpleasant confrontations in the morning. What happened was that the bus was supposed to pick me up at 8.30am and I went for breakfast at 7am and was back by 7.30am but the bus was already there and I was expected to board the bus immediately. To say that I was annoyed was an understatement. It got worse when the driver started spewing Vietnamese vulgarities and start making universal sign language because I was not ready to go. I was very irritated about the change in timings and confronted the guesthouse staff who has made my booking. She was nonchalant about the whole situation and said it was normal for such changes to occur. Holding back my irritation and annoyance about the entire situation I packed my bags and boarded the bus. The driver looked angry the entire journey and to prevent making a fuss in a foreign country, I kept silent.

I had to transit to another bus at Lao Cai where this bus would take me back to Hanoi. The trip back to Hanoi was much more comfortable than the train ride to Lao Cai. It was a sleeper bus and I was able to sleep for some portions of the journey. You have the usual impatient horning throughout the journey and along the way I met a Japanese guy and a Canadian lady who were traveling together in the bus. They were both traveling on their own but have met in Thailand and eventually went to Laos together and from that point onwards have been traveling together and would be continuing to travel for a year. It was evening when we finally arrived in Hanoi. We shared a cab together to go the the central part of Hanoi and I went back to my Vietnamese's friend's house to wash up and stay the night.

Tucking into his bed that night was a surreal feeling as it was so comfortable after my "nights of horror" in Sapa. I was so tired and slept soundly the whole night. The next day I booked a bus ticket to Laos and would be setting off at night into Vientiane. It was going to be another 17 hours bus ride. I was looking forward traveling into Laos.

Travel Blog Chapter 13: The climb up Fansipan

The new family guesthouse that I have checked in was problematic as well. Everything was alright on the surface but when night came, it was creepy crawlies land. You see this guesthouse was located at the foot of another mountain in Sapa so what this meant was that after closing all the windows and shutters, there were still crevice small enough for all the creepy crawlies to make their way into my room. That night to my horror as I woke up in the middle of the night, my bed was covered with flying ants with crickets on the ground and all other kinds of miniature bugs you could imagine. Half awake and disgusted at the same time, I took out my poncho, my face mask and covered myself like a cocoon and tried to go to sleep. By morning, most of the bugs were gone but this was the final straw. I went to Queen Hotel after breakfast and as luck would have it, there was room 2 days later. I made an advance reservation and got ready for my climb up Fansipan that day.

Room full of bugs at night

Appearances are deceiving

Entrance into Fansipan

Reloading Supplies

The trek up Fansipan would take 2 days 1 night. Some people were able to accomplish in 1 day but it was going to be seriously difficult as I found out later. For those of you who are thinking of doing this climb, I would recommend 2 days 1 night. If you have time and money to spare you can even consider 3 days 2 nights where you can really climb at your own pace and do a lot more sight seeing around the mountain side. My hmong guide was punctual and came to my guesthouse to pick me up on his motorbike. The start of the climb was outside the town and the ride there took around 20 minutes.

I would get to know my guide better along the way. He told me he was 40 years old and have gone up Fansipan countless times. We stopped at the entrance into the climb for him to reload some supplies. He carried a hand weaved huge basket on his back while I was going to be climbing with my backpack. I realized later that this was going to be slowing me down alot. Most climbers I met later on the way climbed with little to nothing on them. My guide offered to carry any other things I felt would be too heavy but being the overly-heroic novice trekker that I was I declined his offer politely. It was cold and i had on my thermal wear but my guide was very thinly clothed and was climbing with sandals. I have read that it was madness as he shrubs would scrape your ankles raw but he was perfectly fine. After scouting around the bushes for some makeshift walking sticks from bamboos we were off.

First Campsite

View during the climb

Another view

Posing on the incline

My super fit guide

Campsite

Another view of campsite

My guide was strong, fit and agile for a 40 year old. I was able to keep up initially but after awhile it was too much for me and I had to tell him to slow down. Negotiating up and down the forested mountain side and crossing shallow rivers, we eventually reached our first camp site around 4 hours later. By this time, I was beat and I cannot understand how anyone can do this climb in 1 day. It was more strenuous than I thought. It was afternoon and on the way to the campsite we met another trekker and his guide and to my surprise he was a Singaporean. The weirdest place to meet your fellow men. He told me that he was giving up. They have started the trek at 5am hoping to finish the whole climb in 1 day but mid afternoon he realized that it was going to be impossible as to do it in a day, he has to do the steep inclines at a running pace and in his own words, "Singaporeans are not made to climb Fansipan in 1 day."

At our first campsite, my guide unloaded our supplies and went to prepare lunch. A few moments later, we were joined by another trekker with his guide. He was Finnish and when I talked to him I found out that he had quitted his job to travel for a year as well. I would realize that every traveler has an interesting story to tell. Gathering around a small wooden table we had our lunch and it was one of the best lunch I had. My guide was a great cook or maybe it was just that everything taste better after a strenuous activity. My Finish companion advised me to not do the climb too fast and told me to set my own pace so that I can appreciate the scenery. I heeded his advice after that.

Trekking up

Clouds shrouding the mountain

Giddiness

 No man's land

More photos..

photos..

Taking a break

The climb got more challenging and tougher after that. It was so steep on some points that I have to go on all fours and scale the rocks. At some point during the climb, there were man made railings as the path was dangerous and you would topple over the mountain without hand-railed support. I was starting to feel giddy every time I stopped. I was wondering if I was ascending too fast and if that was altitude sickness. But it passed and I was alright after that. We reached the second campsite early evening and it was going to be where we would be spending our night. The moment we stopped, the cold set in. I was freezing in a few moments. Another group of climbers came in with their guides after half an hour when we were at the campsite. I was surprised that these were Singaporeans as well. This pair of girls would be climbing the mountain in 3 days 2 nights. I would realized that you can find Singaporeans everywhere.

Second campsite

Cooking place

Supplies..

The temperature dropped below 10 degree Celsius that night but with my thick sleeping bag, thermal wear and sweater I was warm. We slept in a shed and the whole night we could hear the wind howling outside. The night passed uneventfully and I woke up to my guide telling me my breakfast was ready. The plan was to summit that day late morning and it was very doable. I bade the Singaporeans goodbye and set off with my guide after breakfast and finally just before noon, we reached the summit. It was the first mountain I have climbed and it was a good feeling but the downside was that the fog was thick around the mountain taht morning we could not see anything. But my guide told me if the weather was good, the sight would be one of the most panoramic sights. From the top, we supposedly could see China, Dien Phien Phu, Cambodia and Laos if there was no fog.

Summit

Accomplishment

Looking disheveled

Foggy summit

Standing on the edge

Eventually we made our way back down from the Summit to more flat land and arrived at the entrance where we started from via a shorter route 4 to 5 hours later. I was tired and beat after this. There was a minibus to bring us back to Sapa Town. I was thankful that this was more comfortable than a 2 wheeled mode of transportation. I checked into Queen's Hotel and washed up. My clothes were filthy and mud-caked. I had to start washing clothes but the level of fogginess in Sapa made drying any clothes difficult. That same day I made a reservation for bus transportation back to Hanoi. Thank God that I could go back by bus and I did not have to take another train. That day I pampered myself by dining at a more expensive European restaurant. I had a very sound sleep that night after the whole climb and I look forward to hitting the road again.

Travel Blog Chapter 12: Around Sapa and into the clouds

The third day in Sapa I had to switch to another place to stay. The current hotel just doesn't cut it anymore. The toilet was really bad as it was choked and you know what cannot be flushed down anymore. It was with a great relief that I checked out of the hotel and checked in to a family guesthouse further down the road where I was staying in. The ideal place of accommodation was Queen Hotel as recommended by Lonely Planet with a good price and comfortable facilities but it was full during these few days. Anyway on the third day I had an arrangement with Chi who would be bringing me around other villages and explore some caves around Sapa. With a personalized tour like that, it was better as Chi explained the Hmong culture as well as the history surrounding Sapa. To my surprise I realized that most of the Hmongs were Christians as there was a mission work in progress in Sapa. Chi warned me that it would not be a very easy climb up Fansipan as well. That time I was thinking how hard could it be? Isn't it just a trek up into the clouds?  But I was warned that there would be leeches and some other not so pleasant things to deal with up the mountain. But my mind was set.

Petite but sturdy guide

Trekking around villages

Hmong boy

Dirt path along the way

Rolling hills and soaring mountains

After that nice afternoon trekking around with my Hmong guide we had a meal at a very cheap eatery. Much cheaper than the places I have been eating but foreigners usually avoid these eateries in fear of food poisoning. But the food was really good. The rest of that day I went up the Ham Rong Mountain which was an easy trek up the outskirts of the town. There was not really alot of things to see in Ham Rong Mountain apart from a cloud garden and a place where you could see Fansipan Mountain from afar. The Roof of Indochina look so elusive from where I stood then. At that point of time I was still unable to secure a tour up Fansipan mountain as tours are only carried out if there were other trekkers who want to go up as well. Eventually after negotiating with one of the tour operators, I managed to secure a bargain at $75 US for a personal guide to bring me up Fansipan Mountain. Food and sleeping bags among some other things would be taken care of by my guide. We would be starting off at 9am the next day. For the rest of the day, I went to some cafes to chill and relax.

View of Fansipan summit form Ham Rong Mountain

Clearer view of Fansipan

Walk up Ham Rong Mountain

Mountain garden covered with clouds

Entrance to Cloud Yard

Cloud Yard

I have to get up there somehow

Fansipan looking mysterious in the distance