From Luang Prabang to Pakse
Hey everybody,
This time Ill write the story in English, so that my family in South Africa and dear international friends will be able to read my experiences and adventures as well.
Last time I wrote was in Luang Prabang. It is a really cool little city with a bit more then 50.000 inhabitants. It was the first time that I took a real breath and relaxed. I ended up staying there for five days, cause of the amazing people I met and the beautiful scenery as atmosphere.
On monday morning I got picked by u tuk tuk in front of the hostel to leave to Veng Vieng. This place is really famous for its tubing down the river. The tuk tuk brought me to a bus station to hop on a vip bus. The vip bus that I got on wasn't really what you could call vip, cause it was all over the place. Therefore it wasn't really a surprise it got stuck and had to replaced. Luckily at that time we (the passengers in the bus and me) were at a resting place. We played some games, guest each others name and made a bet on when the new bus would arrive. After three hours it finally showed up. The delay actually worked out pretty okay, cause we all got the know eachother pretty well, so almost half the group decided to stay in the same hostel.
The next two days I went tubing. Imagine a river with 3 km of bars on the shore. Everytime you want to go to a next bar, you use your tube/tire to drift on the river and get pulled in by a rope that is handed/thrown out to you. It was a fun and interesting experience, but because the tubing was only about drinking and partying it made me also realise that this is not why I went traveling.
Since I got to Bangkok I ve been drinking almost every day. Sometimes one drink, sometimes a couple or more drinks. After my second day of tubing I decided to take it easy. Because some people go traveling for only a few weeks, they experience it as their holiday, which most of the time involves a lot of drinking. Well I have some other goals for my travel. I want it to be about health, being active and freeing the mind. I understand that I must be a bit selective who I want to travel with and visit more the off beaten tracks where there is a higher change to meet backpackers with the same interest as me.
Thursday morning I left to Viantiane, the capital of Laos. It took the bus about five hours to get there. It was the roughest ride so far :(
In front of the hostel I met a French girl. We decided to share a room together to split the costs. The next day we walked around to visit some sights. On saturday we hired a bike and went to Sengdara Fitness which offers yoga and aerobics classes. The classes were only during night time, but I did some fitness anyway and made use of the sauna. It was the first time I have been exercising since I left home. I felt great!! After that we tried to find Wat Sok Pa Luang, a tempel that offers meditation lessons on saturday to foreigners. It took us a while to found it, so the lesson already started. It didn't matter to me. The place was beautiful and I was happy to atleast find it :)
On sunday the French girl left. It would mean I would have to spend the day alone. I decided to go to the Buddha Park, which is located about 20 km outside of the centre. I could go by tour or with a tuk tuk, but that would be relatively expensive. With the help of the Lonely Planet, which is really your bible when you travel, I took a local bus. They charged me 6000 kip, that is 60 euro cents for an hour drive!!! It was also really cool cause I was the only foreigner in the overcrowded bus. I felt so pride of myself :D
At the Buddha Park I got approached by a Loas guy and his younger niece. I ended up to spend the day with them and the whole family (grandmother, wife, baby etc). We went to a big shopping mall and again I was the only foreigner. Wow, it was really unbelievable!
At a local park we said goodbye. I had dinner by myself and went to my room. I was so tired and energetic at the same time. I think cause of all the impressions of the day.
Yesterday I left at 7 pm with a sleeping bus to Pakse, which is about ten hours drive to the south from Laos.I actually wanted to stop at two places a bit closer to Vientiane, but because of floods they are very difficult to access and consequently the sights are closed down. So that is a bummer :(
But Pakse has some great sights and activities to do as well. Let me tell you about that later.
xx Liekachu
ps. It took me ages to upload the photo's so I had to make a very selective choice. I must found another way to share my photo's with you guys. If anyone has suggestions, im open for it :)
Geweldig om weer je verhaal te lezen, echt leuk! Hihi en deze keer ben ik de eerste die een reactie plaatst, joehoe... :-) Goed om te zien ook dat je het tot nu toe elke dag gezellig hebt gehad met soms (veel) lekkere drankjes... Maar dat je toch inziet dat dit niet het doel van je reisje was & in een keer kom je in een heel andere wereld terecht! Gek zeg, maar zo zie je maar dat als je je mindset even omzet, je kunt doen wat je zelf wilt! :-D Vooral leuk om te zien dat je ook met wat locals hebt opgetrokken, dan zie je toch in een keer een hele andere kant van een land.
Geniet ervan & dikke kus,
Bianca
Leuk om weer wat van je te lezen. Ben blij dat alles nog steeds goed gaat ;) en dat je het mooie reisdoel dat je hebt niet uit het oog verliest :D. Take care en ik kijk uit naar de volgende update!
Dikke kus.
PS: wat betreft het trage uploaden van foto's dat probleem had ik ook altijd met mijn blog toen ik in spanje zat. Mss kun je eens kijken bij ' Flickr' (http://www.flickr.com) daar kun je geloof ik gratis je eigen foto blog aanmaken maar dat is dus speciaal bedoeld voor foto's, dan kun je ze voortaan daar plaatsen. Succes ermee!
It is so great hearing from you! I loved reading your little journal, and it seems like you are having a blessed time with a lot of new experiences! I am so happy for you, continue your journey of discovery, but focus on your mission and the goal of your trip as you said keep in mind what you are looking for and what you would like to get out of it;) I am so proud of you that you are encountering this journey on your own! Be safe, play smart and have a great time! Talk soon! Hugz and lots of love,
Anita
Heel fijn om te weten dat het goed met je gaat en dat je het er naar je zin hebt. Gaandeweg voel je zelf al hoe je de reis laat verlopen en ik lees uit je blogs dat je al heel goed weet wanneer je het rustiger aan moet doen met reizen etc. Bewust of onbewust, laat je gevoel gewoon er op los voor zolang je het leuk hebt. Ben je al volledig hersteld van je blessures en bebloede wonden? Kijk er weer naar uit naar je volgende blog!!
Tip: Je kan bij http://www.kodakgallery.com snel en gratis in 1x paar honderd foto's uploaden door een selectie van een bepaalde map (van je USB). ;)
xxx, Sie Man
wederom fijn iets van je te horen, mis je!!
kus kus je zus en nardoan
ook dikke kus van Iccah-chu :)
XXX Aunty Mickey
-x- Koos
Huub & Alice
fijn te lezen dat alles goed gaat! Doe je het rustig aan? Mag hoor, de tijd is alleen van jou.
geniet ervan, liefs Erica
So where are you now ?
No uploaded news about Pakse or the 4,000 thousands islands ? I hope that everything is okay and that you're enjoying a lot !
In Siem Reap, Angkor is about everything (even beers) but it's quite more noisy and touristic than Laos.
Take Care !
Geweldig wat je allemaal meemaakt.
Als ik toch eens had gedurfd (en gespaard daarvoor)
Het ga je goed en toch weer.
Liefs Willy xxx