Miserable bastard in paridise

A Miserable Bastard in Paradise

Overland through Laos

Where the Bloody Hell am I ?

TREK TO BAN PHONESIM

(Are mobiles allowed here ?)

Custard Cake & Vientiane

Buddha’s and Monks at the Mouth Of Hell

Miserable Bastard in Paradise

In deep water:
Sorry I broke the Bridge

Luang Prabang

Kmau Spirit

A Hoot with the Mahouts

Bangkok and Ayutthaya

A view to die for - near Maylene Guest house

17^th September

There was little to say about the first part bus trip; other than the weather was nice and the country rolling, with occasional neat small towns and villages. That is the most notable thing about Laos. It is such a clean and tidy country. Even the Rough shacks of the poor farmers had a sense of pride in their houses. Rubbish is rarely seen; even in the cities and towns. The thatched walls and roofs are neat; thought some of the villages have rough rusty tin roofs which contrast with the bright tiles on the many new villas.

We had a half hour lunch stop and a simple café and continued towards steadily higher ground. Impressive blue hazed peaks came into view as we steadily climbed towards Vang Vieng. The country was very beautiful from the high viewpoints along the road. We passed through a Number of neat wooden villages before our descent, approximately 4 hours from Vientiane

Vang Vieng Town tuk tuks taxiing on runway one!

We passed under a huge industrial complex and a few minutes later; were driving across a airfield runway. The views of the mountains was stupendous! We pulled into a guest house grounds. It looked pretty neat but I declined the offer of a room. There was no real pressure to stay there; but they did give out well designed flyers on the bus.

The Maylene Guest house looked to be an interesting choice; being just out of town in a garden setting. It was a hot walk. An Australian gave direction and told us the bamboo bridge was down and to look out for the new one further along the road.

The new suspension bridge has a 2000k charge for Foreigners. It seemed a lot just to walk over the bridge; but there was no choice.

The Maylene was in an idyllic village location well away from the TV bars of the town. The neat rattan walled bungalows were scattered randomly amongst the palm trees and tropical plants. The incredible backdrop of limestone peaks just takes your breath away. A maze of pathways meandered through the gardens and back to the reception and thatched dining area. It was 40.000 kip per night. At $4 its incredible value.

J and I had a really good and filling meal for 1 ½ dollars then planned to take a walk. The music being played really took me back in time. Ska and reggae of the Seventies; Desmond Dekker, Jimmy Cliff etc. While J finished his second huge portion of lunch; I took a walk around to immerse my self in this tropical paradise.

Paradise ended with a meeting with the owner Joe, an Irishman of around 60 I guess. I made the first mistake of asking him how he was.

“ I’m foking bad today; picked up something from the wife’s family. I’m grumpy when I’m Ill. I hate being Ill;. “

“Cant you see a doctor”

“I don’t see Foking doctors here their crap and the bastards don’t know foking anything .

“ What are the hospitals like here?

“There are no fokin hospitals here. last time I went to Hospital I had to go the bloody Thailand and cost me fokin 2 grand I’ll bloody die here I know it”

I just about resisted the temptation to say “This is a very nice place to die” and tried to lighten the conversation and change the subject.

“This is a great place you have; You have made a real Paradise here!

“Paradise! Don’t talk to me about paradise; tourists; foking come here for 3 bloody days and think this is paradise; You don’t have to bloody live here”

I proceeded to explain that I did live out here; Cambodia anyway . Joe moaned a lot about his family and that he had do employ family members to keep the family happy.

“I’ve got a to put up with a new foking girl starting here. She’s bloody useless foking ugly but because she’s my foking wife’s second cousin I have to put up with the ugly c**t . I don’t have any foking control here any more”

The conversation continued in this way discussing the whys and wherefores of running a business in SE Asia gradually Joes language toning down although he was having a whinge of just about everything before I realised time was getting on and left.

I don’t know why but somehow I sort of had some sympathy for the miserable old bastard. I just don’t meet the likes of him very often.

It was a perfect afternoon to take a stroll to the spectacular mountains. J and I took a path through rice fields to where a man sitting in a small shack asked us for money to visit the Phadang caves. Caves weren't on the agenda; but seemed an interesting diversion out of the heat. We were given a torch; or a lamp with heavy battery pack and two wires which needed to be touched to make it work.

We walked under the immense tree clad cliffs to a river bed where an arrow marked the path up. It was short entertaining scramble to the cave entrance. The Smaller of the caves was worth the visit which took around ten minutes. The Larger of the two caves were a few minutes clambering over rocks and scrub with nice views of the town to the east.

We spent around 20 minutes in the dark cavern; with dried calcite pools and colourful stalagmites; sadly there was a lot of graffiti on the white walls. With only one torch and a dodgy one at that; we did not go too deep inside; to avoid getting lost..Outside; the sun was going down; so we waited for the sunset. J’s camera battery failed after all his use of flash in the cave. Sunrays began to stream up from behind the craggy peaks. There were some dramatic cloud formations.

More Spelunking!

18^th Sept

For those who do not know; spelunking means caving. I have been in a few show caves but I’ have left the caving game well alone as the idea of spending hours in a dark hole getting muddy wet and disoriented has never impressed me. At breakfast Jo; was a bit more sociable and less of an ugly mood; explained a good walk to a spectacular valley which would be a good plan for the morning. J and I walked a couple of kms along the map counting the electric poles to a path which led off to the right past pole 22. A short walk through ripening rice fields took us to a junction where we dropped down to a dry stream bed. It was a surprise that it was dry; as it rained with thunder in the night.

The River from Bridge on way to the Maylene

A cave guide by another entrance shack told us about the Buddha cave and persuades us out of a few thousand kip to guide us there. He made sure we had lamps;(we were prepared this time). The stream bed walk was rough and at times shady. It took around 20 mins to get to a sign for Khan Cave. A few minutes of shady forest walk, we were climbing down a ladder to the dark cave.

The chambers were much higher than wide; angling upwards into darkness. The guide took us in a few minutes to the brightly panted Buddha in a larger chamber, sitting on a bed of lotus flowers. We doubled back into narrowing passages which expended for tens of meters upwards.

It was drippy and muddy in places so one had to watch ones footing. One section had a deep chasm to the left of a narrow ledge. It was hard to see how far down it went; but I guessed that the effect of a fall would be terminal with little hope of rescue.

A little bit of slimy climbing and ducking under low arches took us to some larger chambers where it was difficult to see the extent by torchlight. We could feel the cool air from and opening the other side of the mountain. There as an underground pool there and a window to get outside.

The passage narrowed and reduced in height to the point where claustrophobia was an issue. Trying to manoeuvre into the tight space J was finding it awkward. J was a little taller than I. With my camera gear and feeling less agile; the suggestion from the guide to go back met with no resistance at all from me; or J for that matter.

A Word about the night life in the town.

Vang Veng consists mainly of one street with most of the guest houses and bars. Its not an unattractive place; but almost without exception; all the restaurants have either loud music or TVs at high volume. Apparently its not a s bad as it was; but its no place if you want a quiet life or a taste of local culture.

Jason in a hole!

I preferred the Laid back atmosphere and the sounds of birds, frogs and crickets on the other side of the river.