Friday, November 30, 2012
Laos Part 1 (Si Phan Don, Pakse, Champasak and Dong Hua Sao National Park)
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Thailand Part 7 (Khon Kaen and Pha Taem National Park)
Hey ho. This blog has been delayed by the stupidly shit, slow and expensive Laos internet, but its back and running now thanks to Vietnamese computers.
Anyway we arrived in the capital of Issan. Its a funky little city and a nice place to chill out. Especially if you have been away from civilisatiion a little too long. We checked into a hotel and went straight to the Laos consulate. One hour later and quite expensively we had a Laos visa. A guy had a go at Cannelle, because he had asked her what the border town was called and she had said Pakse because we were heading in that direction, but he had wanted to go to Vientiane. Bit moronic to have a go at someone for your lack of knowledge. We grabbed some burgers while we waited and they brought two waters. We had only asked for one so they charged us for the ice (strangely the same price as a bottle of water). We refused to pay as we hadn't ordered any. After we went to the cinema complex. There we watched Alex Cross. It was our first cinema of the trip and the film was a bit shit and very badly acted. Shame really. We had wanted to watch the highly rated sci fi film, but it was only in Thai. We ate dinner in a nice expat French restaurant where we got some decent steak. The town seemed to be full of expats. We were continuing to travel through areas of the country unvisited by tourists. Spure drew that evening with Maribor.
The following day was a day to chill out and relax off the tourist trail. We have to do that in a city every once in a while. We had found a super supermarket the day before. They had haribo, real cheese (cheddar) and even more unbelievably Walkers crisps. You can get just about anything you could ever want from home in this supermarket. We made a picnic up of stuff from home and took it to the disappointing lake in the middle of the city. After we grabbed a McDonalds and chilled out around some cool bars as I watched Arsenal sickeningly get a last minute equaliser.
After the day of rest we grabbed a bus to Ubon Ratchatani just in time to connect with the bus for Khong Jiam. You need to get the bus from Khon Kaen by 8am if you want to guarantee the connection. We got the 9am bus and made it by the skin of our teeth. A long day of transport. We met a French guy at the bus station and agreed to meet him for dinner the following day as he wanted to visit the national park by bicycle. In the evening we went looking for the naga fireballs as it was that time of year (they are strange red lights that rise out of the Mekong). We weren't to have any luck that night or the following one.
We grabbed a couple of motorcycles in the morning to head to the park. It has five parts and we were determined to see as many of them as we could. Jessica's had no wing mirror in what was maybe a precursor of what was to happen later. Mine had no functioning speedometer again. Fuck sake. I have still never ridden a motorbike with one. Maybe in Vietnam. We were bouncing around a bit from some of the potholes on the road. Generally its ok with a smooth road out to part one, but things become bumpier and more full of holes the further into the park you go. Part one was where we came across the mushroom rocks. They are orange and brown and carved from the weather. They are really quite beautiful and the whole area is in a desert environment that reminded me of the South West of the United States. Furthering the desert theme were the cliff top views over the Mekong and into Laos. Around that area there is also a little trail that passes underneath the cliff overhang and passes four groups of cave paintings. They are red and groups two and three are the most impressive. I am not that into cave paintings, but they were quite cool. The mushroom rocks were more interesting for me. After that we walked back along the top of the cliff through the variety of shrubbery. When we got back to the bike the Frenchman had arrived on his bicycle. He was making good time. We headed to part two of the park. This area was a little different as we headed to the famous waterfall. It is not huge, but it is very pretty. At the base it has carved up little stone circles as the water carves little pools into the stone. Its very, very pretty. You can even scramble all the way up some of the waterfalls and come out at the field of flowers. We gave up just before the top, but found out you could go all the way when we hiked round the top and saw the monks who had gone up just after us. Evidently they had climbed all the way through the middle. The field of flowers is a bit of an anticlimax, but worth the hike up the waterfall. We grabbed a quick lunch and headed to part three of the park. Cannelle started to feel a little sick at this point. It was here that we realised the dry season was far less impressive than the wet. There was the waterfall that cuts through the middle of a rock, which is unique and quite cool. The other one by the strangled tree (which is cool) was barely a trickle. They are not worth a grand trip, but if you have headed this way then they are worth a side trip. Parts one and two were much better. Cannelle was too sick to continue and so she went back with Jessica. I decided to carry on to part four. Cannelle was worried to leave me unless something bad happened. I assured her she had nothing to worry about. I set off on a suddenly lighter bike and was getting used to the speed (maybe hitting 80km/h). I surged up to the halfway point of part four. Its a pretty road, but then it stops. Suddenly there is a car park and the route continues or doesn't. Its a bumpy dirt track. I tried to take the scooter down it (I think its just about possible, but you might damage it) but the speed was so slow and the light was fading. My advice if you want to see this part is to take a scooter early and hike from there as it was 12-16km of trails over which you can't really take a bike. Maybe a dirt bike, but it would be very bumpy. I think you could benefit from two days in the park. One to do what we did and a second to do some hiking off part four. So after sitting in the car park for 10 minutes trying to see if I should gamble, I decided to head back. I was trying to speed back to catch the girls and was making good progress. I was still going a little fast for some potholes, but was feeling pretty confident. Pride before a fall as they say. I came on a pothole too fast, hit the brakes and I think the back slid a little, but the next minute I hit the hole and I was flying through the air, while the bike slid beneath me. I don't really remember what happened, but I hit the road on my left shoulder first. After a few rolls I got up thinking shit the bike must be fucked. I had dropped it in the petrol station earlier, but believed I could have talked away and scratches. Given that the wing mirror was about 5m from the bike, it was going to be difficult this time. Strangely I was ok to carry on. Not even too shaken. Panic and adrenaline must have kicked in. I was bleeding from both knees and my hand. Never mind. Had to get back. I put the wing mirror back into the basket and set off for home (about 25km more). I felt quite lucky for my first bike crash. 50% record lol. In hindsight I think I may have cracked a rib (as sneezing was agony for a month), possibly fractured my foot (still hurts a little) and badly bruised both my knees. Oh well. I arrived and went to get Cannelle from an internet cafe, walking through the little town carrying the wing mirror in my hands. I was worried about how much I would have to pay. Fuck. It could be nearly 200 euros. I had no idea. I don't drive lol. We tried to find a repair shop, but we couldn't so the woman said we could just pay her. I braced myself. 2000 baht (40 quid). Ok shit yes. I took that. Much less than I feared for a new wing mirror and the cracked chassis. Cannelle cleaned me up with antiseptic and I limped out for dinner with the French guy and Jessica. He had done parts one and two by bicycle. A good effort. The park is really cool. One of the highlights of Thailand for us.
In the morning I woke up quite broken. That would take a while to fix. We got a shared taxi to the border for 400 baht. Fractionally more expensive than two buses, but it was much more direct and avoided having to do any changes. The French guy got his visa at the border and it was fractionally more than what we had paid in Khon Kaen. That worked out well. Laos here we come....
Anyway we arrived in the capital of Issan. Its a funky little city and a nice place to chill out. Especially if you have been away from civilisatiion a little too long. We checked into a hotel and went straight to the Laos consulate. One hour later and quite expensively we had a Laos visa. A guy had a go at Cannelle, because he had asked her what the border town was called and she had said Pakse because we were heading in that direction, but he had wanted to go to Vientiane. Bit moronic to have a go at someone for your lack of knowledge. We grabbed some burgers while we waited and they brought two waters. We had only asked for one so they charged us for the ice (strangely the same price as a bottle of water). We refused to pay as we hadn't ordered any. After we went to the cinema complex. There we watched Alex Cross. It was our first cinema of the trip and the film was a bit shit and very badly acted. Shame really. We had wanted to watch the highly rated sci fi film, but it was only in Thai. We ate dinner in a nice expat French restaurant where we got some decent steak. The town seemed to be full of expats. We were continuing to travel through areas of the country unvisited by tourists. Spure drew that evening with Maribor.
The following day was a day to chill out and relax off the tourist trail. We have to do that in a city every once in a while. We had found a super supermarket the day before. They had haribo, real cheese (cheddar) and even more unbelievably Walkers crisps. You can get just about anything you could ever want from home in this supermarket. We made a picnic up of stuff from home and took it to the disappointing lake in the middle of the city. After we grabbed a McDonalds and chilled out around some cool bars as I watched Arsenal sickeningly get a last minute equaliser.
After the day of rest we grabbed a bus to Ubon Ratchatani just in time to connect with the bus for Khong Jiam. You need to get the bus from Khon Kaen by 8am if you want to guarantee the connection. We got the 9am bus and made it by the skin of our teeth. A long day of transport. We met a French guy at the bus station and agreed to meet him for dinner the following day as he wanted to visit the national park by bicycle. In the evening we went looking for the naga fireballs as it was that time of year (they are strange red lights that rise out of the Mekong). We weren't to have any luck that night or the following one.
We grabbed a couple of motorcycles in the morning to head to the park. It has five parts and we were determined to see as many of them as we could. Jessica's had no wing mirror in what was maybe a precursor of what was to happen later. Mine had no functioning speedometer again. Fuck sake. I have still never ridden a motorbike with one. Maybe in Vietnam. We were bouncing around a bit from some of the potholes on the road. Generally its ok with a smooth road out to part one, but things become bumpier and more full of holes the further into the park you go. Part one was where we came across the mushroom rocks. They are orange and brown and carved from the weather. They are really quite beautiful and the whole area is in a desert environment that reminded me of the South West of the United States. Furthering the desert theme were the cliff top views over the Mekong and into Laos. Around that area there is also a little trail that passes underneath the cliff overhang and passes four groups of cave paintings. They are red and groups two and three are the most impressive. I am not that into cave paintings, but they were quite cool. The mushroom rocks were more interesting for me. After that we walked back along the top of the cliff through the variety of shrubbery. When we got back to the bike the Frenchman had arrived on his bicycle. He was making good time. We headed to part two of the park. This area was a little different as we headed to the famous waterfall. It is not huge, but it is very pretty. At the base it has carved up little stone circles as the water carves little pools into the stone. Its very, very pretty. You can even scramble all the way up some of the waterfalls and come out at the field of flowers. We gave up just before the top, but found out you could go all the way when we hiked round the top and saw the monks who had gone up just after us. Evidently they had climbed all the way through the middle. The field of flowers is a bit of an anticlimax, but worth the hike up the waterfall. We grabbed a quick lunch and headed to part three of the park. Cannelle started to feel a little sick at this point. It was here that we realised the dry season was far less impressive than the wet. There was the waterfall that cuts through the middle of a rock, which is unique and quite cool. The other one by the strangled tree (which is cool) was barely a trickle. They are not worth a grand trip, but if you have headed this way then they are worth a side trip. Parts one and two were much better. Cannelle was too sick to continue and so she went back with Jessica. I decided to carry on to part four. Cannelle was worried to leave me unless something bad happened. I assured her she had nothing to worry about. I set off on a suddenly lighter bike and was getting used to the speed (maybe hitting 80km/h). I surged up to the halfway point of part four. Its a pretty road, but then it stops. Suddenly there is a car park and the route continues or doesn't. Its a bumpy dirt track. I tried to take the scooter down it (I think its just about possible, but you might damage it) but the speed was so slow and the light was fading. My advice if you want to see this part is to take a scooter early and hike from there as it was 12-16km of trails over which you can't really take a bike. Maybe a dirt bike, but it would be very bumpy. I think you could benefit from two days in the park. One to do what we did and a second to do some hiking off part four. So after sitting in the car park for 10 minutes trying to see if I should gamble, I decided to head back. I was trying to speed back to catch the girls and was making good progress. I was still going a little fast for some potholes, but was feeling pretty confident. Pride before a fall as they say. I came on a pothole too fast, hit the brakes and I think the back slid a little, but the next minute I hit the hole and I was flying through the air, while the bike slid beneath me. I don't really remember what happened, but I hit the road on my left shoulder first. After a few rolls I got up thinking shit the bike must be fucked. I had dropped it in the petrol station earlier, but believed I could have talked away and scratches. Given that the wing mirror was about 5m from the bike, it was going to be difficult this time. Strangely I was ok to carry on. Not even too shaken. Panic and adrenaline must have kicked in. I was bleeding from both knees and my hand. Never mind. Had to get back. I put the wing mirror back into the basket and set off for home (about 25km more). I felt quite lucky for my first bike crash. 50% record lol. In hindsight I think I may have cracked a rib (as sneezing was agony for a month), possibly fractured my foot (still hurts a little) and badly bruised both my knees. Oh well. I arrived and went to get Cannelle from an internet cafe, walking through the little town carrying the wing mirror in my hands. I was worried about how much I would have to pay. Fuck. It could be nearly 200 euros. I had no idea. I don't drive lol. We tried to find a repair shop, but we couldn't so the woman said we could just pay her. I braced myself. 2000 baht (40 quid). Ok shit yes. I took that. Much less than I feared for a new wing mirror and the cracked chassis. Cannelle cleaned me up with antiseptic and I limped out for dinner with the French guy and Jessica. He had done parts one and two by bicycle. A good effort. The park is really cool. One of the highlights of Thailand for us.
In the morning I woke up quite broken. That would take a while to fix. We got a shared taxi to the border for 400 baht. Fractionally more expensive than two buses, but it was much more direct and avoided having to do any changes. The French guy got his visa at the border and it was fractionally more than what we had paid in Khon Kaen. That worked out well. Laos here we come....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)