Backpacking in SEA for 15 days: 21st Dec 2008

Well today we didn't really wake up very early... coz the mini van will be coming to pick us up at 8am. hahaha...

yeah today we'll be having a heavy day... hahaha... coz we'll be visiting the Pak Ou caves and also the waterfalls... and these 2 places are a little far from Luang Prabang...
as in Pak Ou caves is about 32km north of Luang Prabang and Tat Kuang Si is about 16km south of Luang Prabang. anyway we went to Pak Ou caves 1st. the driver dorve us to a village tat's called Pak Ou village. that village is the gateway to the Pak Ou caves. as we walked through the village, we saw many stalls selling the Vietnamese silk carves, cloths and also lots of Hmong accessories. u can say that the village is pretty colourful despite the Lao houses at the back. (because village houses in Laos are all brown in colour and they are made of wood, bamboo and either tin or attap leaves for their roofs) but because of the colourful carves, cloths and accessories that the villagers were selling, made their village very colourful.




then we boarded a boat (in fact its a sampan) which will steer us across to the caves. the boat ride was juz about a few minutes ride across the Mekong river. =D



Well, by now u'll be wondering what it Pak Ou caves all about when i kept mentioning the place but have not talk about the caves. Right, the caves is a place where u're able to see thousands of Buddha statues within the caves. Buddhas which had been made during the ancient times. Buddhas made of wood, carved from stone, metal etc.... and most of them are lined with gold leaves. but because of the dampness of the caves, some of the Buddha statues were 1/2 destroyed. the Laos people from nearby will come and visit the caves every Lao new year (tat's sometime in April) and some households will bring their Buddha statues to place there in the scared caves.


hahaha.... then my frens and i even took pictures of the toilet... coz they tot the toilet was interesting.. but hmmm... its not tat interesting as the toilets in Hanoi where there were no doors for each cubicle... =P


after the caves, we then went back to mainland where the driver drove us to a village that was selling wines... and i can say that these wines are very special.... hahaha... y special... take a look at the picture to find it out urself!! =P

yeah!!! inside all those wines u'll be able to find either snakes, scorpians or gekkos soaked inside the rice wine... hahaha... and the 5 of us tried some of the rice wine with different alcohol content (but dun have all these exotic animals inside lah... coz its a little too gross liaoz...but our driver told us that he drinks and eat them.... and its very gd for health... we juz laugh and shudder). and i can say that the wines were pretty potent and they really taste nice... coz i know, as my mum used to make rice wine and now my family often get homemade rice wine from my aunties.

after touring around the village, we head for Tat Kuang Si (Kuang Si waterfalls). as we knew that we were running low on cash, upon reaching the waterfalls, we counted money of how much each one of us have (coz we paid quite a bit using the Kipp for our tours and bus fares). hahaha... u can say tat we were a little pathetic... but it was interesting... hahaha... then when we ordered our lunch, i was constantly using the calculator to calculate how much would the lunch cost if we were to order those dishes and if we do have enough for lunch and entry fees.
but it was at this lunch that we managed to taste the Laos sticky rice and also their famous Laap (this is made up of minced pork with lots of tiny chilies... very nice but super hot) and papaya salad.

after lunch, we made our ascent to the waterfalls. it was a nice walk there after lunch... and the waterfalls were really very very beautiful.... hahaha... we snap quite a few photos.


and wanting to get to the top, we climbed up. wah... tat climb up to the top of the falls is really no joke manz... coz the terrain is very steep and rocky... and all of us (except toshiko) were wearing slippers or sandles as we want to go swimming at the waterfalls later... so u can say that our footwear is not correct... but we managed to make it. and yes... the views up there were terrific...and most of the time, we had to immerse our feet in the cooling waters... and its really great!!! hahaha.... its a wonderful sight tat treats u after the super difficult climb up!



after our snapping pictures, we went down for a swim in the 'swimming pools' nearby. wah lao eh... the waters were super super cold lor... and we were all contemplating whether we should swim or not... then keiko and toshiko were saying we may not come back again... and this maybe the once in a lifetime chance... so juz go for it... hahaha... it was great swimming in the waters... but nobuko was quite scared of the coldness of the waters... so 1/2 of the time i was encouraging her when she got into the waters... hahaha...but she din stay long... and she helped us to take some photos....
hahhaa... never will i imagine myself swimming in waters from the waterfall...coz u dun have these in s'pore...and neither have i done it before in my other trips... so u can say that it was pretty exhilarating for me and the other gals... and also very exciting!!! =D


after our 20min-1/2hr swim, we changed and piled into the car to head back to Luang Prabang town. and that night? hahahaha... we went shopping again!!! hiaz... coz we can't sleep too early mah.. must make full use of the whole day right??? and that night, toshiko, keiko & harumi tasted the Lao beer. But me and Nobuko made a pass (as we were under constipation) and said that we will drink it only tomorrow. and the both of us had herbal drink each. =D

Backpacking in SEA for 15 days: 20th Dec 2008

Yes! today we'll be heading to Luang Prabang!!! Yipee!!! =P


we woke up veary early around 5am. Coz the Taxi will be coming to pick us up at 6am. Coz from Hanoi city center to the airport will take about 45min to reach there... and somemore we're not sure if we'll be caught in the traffic conjestion or not... so we've got to be a little more 'hardworking' and i kept assuring the glas that we'll be able to catch a 1hr sleep on the plane... hahaha... pretty patethic i mean 1hr of sleep only... but better than nothing right?? muhahahaha.... =P

because we bought our plane tickets from the agent and they took a super long time to give us our tickets and also increased the price of the tickets (coz they told us that we pay 1st class for Lao Air but will be taking Vietnam Airlines economy coz they kept reassuring us that these 2 airline companies are code sharing), i was a little skeptical abt this and checked the flights again on the niternet on our 2nd & 3rd day in Hanoi... coz u can't really trust the pple there......

anyway, we managed to board the plane with no problems... initially we thought we'll be taking the Vietnam Airlines blue planes then when we saw our plane, i almost want to faint.. hahaha.... coz the plane look pretty beaten up lor... and with all those things u read form the reviews from customers and the fact that there is a possibility of plane crashes of old planes...
u're really terrified whether u'll be able to land in Luang Prabang in one whole piece. so throughout the flight (when i'm awake) i would be praying very hard for us to have a safe journey to Luang Prabang.when we're flying above the Luang Prabang prefecture, u can see endless mountains and the majestic Mekong river below the plane.... it then struck me that Laos is a very beautiful country with so much vast lands...


once we landed at Luang Prabang airport, we took a tuk tuk to the city center....



and started hauling our heavy bags walking the streets knocking on guesthouse doors. Coz the guesthouses listed on the websites & guidebooks do not have any emails... so no choice, i was not able to make any booking of rooms for us before we reach there... so wat to do??? have to go door knocking session lor...

finally we managed to find a guesthouse, Thalin Guesthouse, that was up on a hill, but right in front of it was the main street and it was super near to the Handicraft night market! and the woman offered us USD 22 per night for the 5 of us (for 2 rooms)!! but bathrooms had to be shared... but the rooms were squeaky clean and the owners are very very nice and friendly! The owners, a retired French professor (but Laos native) and his wife ---- gave us some tips, food and places where we can go and visit. =D so once we've found our accomodation, the next thing we did was to look for food, followed by changing USD to Laos Kipp, then book our day tours & bus to Vientiane on 23rd Dec. (so much to do on the 1st day)   So we managed to book a tour that will bring us to visit the famous Pak Ou caves in the morning the next day, followed by Tat Kuang Si (tat's Kuang Si waterfalls) in the afternoon & also our bus from Luang Prabang to Vientiane. after that we went to visit the Royal Palace musuem as we've still got some time before we climb the Phousi mountain.

 

Wow! the Royal Palace museum is super golden and there were quite a bit of information of the town & the history in there... but we couldn't take pictures in the museum, so there are no pictures of the artifacts but we did snap quite a few pictures of the exterior building though... =D once we've finish touring the museum, we went to climb Phousi mountain so that we'll be able to capture the sunset views! hahaha... u can say tat we're pretty kiasu, coz we were at the mountain top (nah.. in fact its juz a hill and its super easy to climb) around 4.45pm... and we juz sat there and wait.

as time passes, u'll see more and more westerners crowding the area with their cameras on tripod stands ready to capture the perfect views... hahaha... u can say its pretty hilarious... and a little crazy... but saying this, the 5 of us are equally crazy to sit there and wait lor... =P

 

but during the waiting time, we talked to several westerners and they told us of their stories and tips as to where we should go next for our holiday... hahaha... very interesting... and also a very good form of net-working... seriously... when u talk to some of them... u'll be amazed there are so many people who live, sleep on travelling... hahaha... u can say that travelling is their life. =P but its really interesting... and this was also the town that we see more westerner tourists as compared to asian tourists... hahaha... perhaps the asians are still not that adventurous to venture to this part of the world yet! =P

 

once the sun-set was over, everyone all rushed down the hill coz as it gets darker, it will be difficult to climb down... and the 5 of us chose to go another route... and using this route we need not pay... i mean if we were to use this route from the start we would not need to pay for the entrance fee. but i din really check out my guide book until we were sitting on the hill waiting for the sun-set.    we ended off our day at the Handicrafts night market... the things u see there will blow ur mind away! there are juz so many beautiful and wondeful things displayed at each of the stalls... and its really tough to make a decision as to what u really want to buy... coz seeing all the things.. u juz feeling like buying all... hahahaha... (tat a little exggerating)



Later that night, whilst talking to Harumi, someone came and knocked on our door. it was our 'neighbor'. She told us to lower our volume as there are no sound-proof in the walls... oops... seems like we were making a rackus unknowingly... we said our 'sorrys' and later when we did our evening gongyo, super tough.. hahaha... we had to whisper... but also very good training of team spirit and looking out for one another!

btw.. its the 1st time for me & the rest to do our gongyo (with more than 1 person) using whisper... hahaha.. like what keiko said 'muzikashi neh!' but we managed to pull through.. and tat was how we do our morning & evening gongyo throughout our stay in that guesthouse. =D

Backpacking in SEA for 15 days: 19th Dec 2008

Today we also wake up exceptionally early! why u may be asking... becoz, we've got lots of sights to see in Hanoi before heading to our next destination: Luang Prabang.

So this morning, we waked up very early to head to Ho Chin Min Mausoleum. hahaha.... yeah, we're going there to pay our respects to 'Uncle Ho' as how the Vietnamese pple address him. today is exceptionally cold. When the wind blows, even with our jackets on, we're still shivering.... and my frens juz kept commenting 'samui! samui!' (tat's cold in jap)... hahaha... but we got no choice.... and we were so kiasu (don't want to loose to others), that we were there before the gates were open to allow visitors!

becoz cameras and bags were not allow to be carried into the mausoleum, therefore we are not able to take any pictures of Uncle Ho. Hmmm... even when u stand too long at a position looking at him in his glass coffin is not allowed, the soldiers will be grabbing u tightly on ur arm urging u on... and also we're not allowed to speak in the mausoleum.... talk abt respecting the dead... this is really respecting the dead....

after tat we went to a coffee shop juz across the street and tasted vietnamese tea & coffee!!! hahaha... yeah this is something tat all of us agreed upon that we must try everything from that country! after our tete a tete, we walked around a market nearby and looked at things and purchase things... hahhaha... and even ate at a roadside stall admist the houseflies and garbage tat was juz next to the stall.... all of us ordered some pork soup with noddles in it.... despite the sort of dirty environment, the food was really gd!!!
hahaha.... this is really immersing ourselves with the locals.... we also tried a sort of rice pudding with some meat inside it... tasted pretty nice and we also talked (as in super broken english) with the locals sitting on the low stools looking at the woman who prepared the rice pudding...
after all these interesting episodes, we went to the Temple of Literature... yeah... this is the 1st university in Vietnam. why is it called a temple, because, the scholars who studied there in the past, prayed to confucious so that they are able to do very well in their examinations. and why literature, because, its the only place where scholars are able to get their Phd!! =D

walking along the streets of Hanoi will allow one to see many many ineteresting things... hmmm... perhaps to me... coz there was 1 street whereby i saw many huge oblong objects that were hanged on the wall... it took me a while to register what are those objects on the wall... take a look at it and guess....
Yeah! they are the seats of the motorcycles or scooters!! hahaha... interesting isn't it??

and also another very interesting sight and also a very common sight is, the buildings in Hanoi are all very tall and thin and along on the sides... hahaha... very interesting... u only get to see these sort of building in Hanoi and no where else...
then another very interesting thing about the building that was next to my guesthouse is, everyday we smell a sort of spicy smell in our room...took us a bit of time to figure out wat that smell was... and guess wat? hahaha... it was the smell of incense sticks!

yup! not joking...coz it was on the 2nd day of the morning, we heard some noise coming from the roof top of the next building, then we was a lady laying out lots of joss sticks on the roof top to sun! and that's when the smell started to get really strong! hahaha.... so we managed to solve our mystery of the spicy scent in our room.....
another thing tat we crazy gals wanted to try in each country was their local beer... hahaha... yeah tat's wat we did on our last night in Hanoi, despite the packing of our bags.... and my frens are reallygd drinkers... hahaha... wat can u expect?? coz all of them are japanese... so naturally, they shld be pretty gd drinkers... and harumi and I are the only ones who will turn lobster red once we consume alcohol....
hahaha... this tells us tat we can't really bluff our way through in our lies in not consuming any alcohol huh... =D

Backpacking in SEA for 15 days: 18th Dec

Today we go to Ha Long Bay!!!
yeah its the 2nd time for me to visit the place. in fact i visited the world heritage site earlier this year, and the beautiful scenery juz blow u totally away...=P

anyway this time round the weather is not really good, coz it was really very cloudy...

and we couldn't really see very nice scenery. and before we take the minivan to Ha Long Bay, we had to wait for quite a bit for the minivan to come an pick us up. but all went very well.=D

then at Ha Long Bay, we went to the Tam Coquoc Caves (may not spell correctly). and this is a huge cave with lots of limestone structures inside. and because our guide do not explain to us some of the significance of some of the structures in the caves, my frens decided to follow a japanese gp, whereby the guide was explaining everything very clearly in japanese.

hahaha... say abt budget travelling, we're really doing tat! =Pand i can tell u, the French quarter of Hanoi is really very different as compared to the Old quarters. the building structures are so different! i mean the buildings there are very mordernised, u see branded shops all over the place, and the building strucures are europeanised and the area was decorated with lightings for the upcoming christmas! =D
and i can say that this part of the city was much much cleaner as compared to the old quarters. =P

anyway, after taking a few photos, we began to hear our stomachs rumbling and calling out for food! so we decided to look around and discovered a vietnamese restaurant along the road side! so we juz went in and order our food. hahhaa.... it was quite a sight manz... coz the pple there are all vietnamese and they do not speak a single word of english... so we had to guess most of the time and luckily... and really very lucky, the menu had english in it!! hahhaa.... so we were able to order our food with not much problems!

and one of the exotic dish we ordered was: Roasted rabbit meat!! yup! it was the 1st for all of us to taste rabbit meat! and i can tell u, rabbit meat really makes u excercise ur jaw muscles a lot! wah lao... the rabbit meat was super tough lor... but it taste like chicken... only tougher to chew and break... hahhaa... but the meat was delicious.... not only was the rabbit delicious, but other dishes that we ordered were also delicious! =D

and the amount we had to pay was also very beautiful lor...

hahaha... coz this meal will be the most expensive meal that we ate in Hanoi throughout our 3 days there... each one had to pay around USD 8 for that dinner.

after dinner we went to a nearby supermarket to buy our supplies and some souvenir. and because our accomodation was very far from the supermarket, we decided to take a taxi back.... wah lao eh.... only when we alight fr the taxi then we know tat the taxi driver demand a horrendous amount for the taxi fee lor... he kept saying that the taxi can only take 4 pple, but there were 5 of us, and he wanted us to pay 10 000 dong for each person, and tat amount up to 50 000 dong when the entire journey only required us to pay 19 000 dong! really sickening fellow! i really felt like boxing him... but because i fear for what he may do to us considering that all of us are gals, so i juz told my frens to pay him and make this a learning lesson for us. meaing tat we got to ask 1st before boarding the taxi!

Backpacking in SEA for 15 days: 17th Dec

we reached Hanoi at around 8.30am. having gotten all our luggage at the airport, we had to try looking for the taxi driver who was being sent by the guesthouse to the airport to pick us up. finally we found the taxi driver and all of us piled into the car and we were very surprised that it was a MPV that came to pick us up (and in the vietnamese pple's context, this is the big taxi).

as we were being driven along the streets to the city of Hanoi (it takes about 30 - 45min to reach the city from airport), 1 major thing i realised was, the weather was superbly blurr, meaning that it was terribly foggy. it was only much later when i talked to some other locals then know that at this time of the year, the weather is like this and its pretty cold. temp are ard 15 degrees celcius.

anyway when we finally reached our guesthouse (Thu Giang guesthouse), we only need to pay USD 13 for the taxi that was so much cheaper as compared to the USD 20 that the owner told me over the exchanges of emails ealier on. then we were showed to our room. goodness! the room was at the top of the building and we've got lots of stairs to climb. (anyway our room was at the 4th level, but the stairs can really kill you) and the room has a weird smell, like some sort of spice smell.... and anyway, 2 of us have to sleep on the floor, coz there were only 2 beds (1 big bed & 1 single bed). so me and keiko chose to sleep on the floor using our sleeping bags as 'sheild', coz  the matress that were given to us were a little damp... perhaps is due to the weather.... anyway its not gd to sleep on damp sheets as this will cause ur body to ache... and our daily schedule is packed to the brim, so we cannot afford to be sick... hahahaha.....

so after haggling the price of the room, we finally settled with USD 23 per night for the room, that $2 lesser than the initial price. after that, we went around the city and the 1st thing on our list was to book our day tour to Ha Long Bay and also our air tickets to Luang Prabang. so we searched for the 'Sinh Cafe' which will charge us for the cheapest..... and we managed to find it!!

so we inquired about the Ha Long Bay tour (1 day) and the price of bus ticket & the no. of hours on road and the plane ticket price. wah lao, if we were to choose the bus, think i'll not be back in s'pore lor... coz the entire bus hours from hanoi to luang prabang is 46hrs!!! crazy right??? but price is cheap lah... coz it cost USD 45 for the bus, but if its the plane, that will be USD 150. but plane only takes 1hr to reach there and we'll be flying on vietnam airlines. So we chose the plane instead..... and our ha long ba tour it only cost us USD 16!!! that really ver cheap as compared to some of the cut-throat prices that others offer us!!!
after settling our important things, then we went and do some shopping, look around the city and also book our water puppet tickets. oh yeah... and also eat the local food!!! hahaha... yeah we ate quite a bit of interesting and delicious food there!! being pretty adventurous!! and the 1st bowl of noddle that we ate was called Bun Bo (pho with lots of beef slices & salad)

then at night we had cha cha la vong for dinner. that grilled fish soaked in lots of oil and herbs! very very nice but a little pricy for us.... but its really gd and its also recommended by lonely planet!

If you are interested to try out the dish u can head down to 14 Cha Ca Street & 107 Nguyen Truong To Street. You will definitely not be disappointed with the food! =D

becoz we walked a lot tat night, so when we went to watch the water puppet, hahaha.... most of us doze off...coz the environment was very good to sleep. nice music, a little dark... hahaha... yeah quite wasteful with my $$$.... but can't really help it, coz i was really too tired... only had a couple of hrs of sleep at the KL airport... hahaha... anyway after tat we went back to our guesthouse to knock off... so tat we can go for our Ha Long Bay trip the next morn! 

                                                                                 Picture of Hoan Kiem lake

backpacking in SEA for 15 days: 16th Dec 2008

Decided to copy 1 particular trip backpack trip that i went with 4 other friends in 2008... hahaha... think that trip was a little crazy but very fun and exciting. it also made me realised our own strengths and weaknesses. on this backpack trip, we went around to 5 SEA countries in 15 days. almost every city that we visited, we spend about 3 days before moving to the next stop.

the 1st city that we visited was Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.

we took a morning coach to KL from golden mile bus terminal. hahaha... this time round, all of us are the budgeting type, so naturally we'll try to spend as little as possible... therefore making my life easier when i do the booking of the tickets. muhahahha...

anyway we took the coach to KL, and my goodness, we could have reached KL earlier than the 6 1/2hrs but because we were caught in teh jam for about 1hr upon reaching KL, it ended up as a 6 1/2hr journey. When we reached the puduraya bus terminal, wah lao eh... its super chaotic manz.... coz so many people on the streets and u juz dun kno which direction is to the subway. and furthermore, all of us are carrying our super huge and heavy backpacks, so i've got to start asking people for directiosn to the nearest subway. and i can say, the m'sians' english are not very good. (coz i asked a couple of malays and they were not able to ans me in proper eng), so getting a little fed-up, i started to ask chinese. hahaha... coz i can use mandarin to converse with them so make my life easier. =P

anyway tat's wat i did! having gotten the instructions, we started to walk to the subway. goodness, never did we realised tat the subway will be so far away! it took us a good 10min to reach the subway. then we took the train to see the KLCC, that's where the petronas towers are. coz my frens have not seen the towerrs yet. but before we can go and see the towers, 1st we have to fill our stomach with lunch + dinner, 2nd we need to visit the bookshop as i needed to get some info on thailand (as i did not bring my thai guidebk), 3rd, get breakfast supplies, the lastly we
can view the petronas.

once we've done all those things on our list, then can we head for the airport! yeah! we'll be spending our night at the airport! most pple haf asked me y are u going to KL 1st then fly to Hanoi? Y not fly to Hanoi from s'pore? well, the problem is, only air tiger flies to Hanoi from s'pore and the air ticket is super expensive as compared to we taking coach to KL and flying from KL. in fact is about S$60++ more if we were to fly from s'pore by tiger airways. so tat's y we decided to fly fr KL instead.

only down side is, we've got to spend a super cold night at the low cost terminal. wah lao... the air con in the airport was turned to super low temp lor... coz all of us were shivering terribly in the night. luckily, keiko & me each brought a sleeping bag, and we could take turns sleeping using the bags, but i only got abt 1-2hrs of sleep the entire night. coz it was too cold, and the seats (where i was using them as my make-shift bed) were too hard and very very uncomfortable for sleeping. 

one of us sleeping in the sleeping bag surrounded by our baggage. hee hee....

A new trip in the plans!!!

Yay!!! Its been decided! I'm heading to Mumbai & Aurangabad this May!!! by now most of the pple who knows me well... are not surprise in the countries that I visit anymore. lol

In fact 1 of my friend & I were talking on msn... and we wanted to go somewhere in may. initially had decided on Tibet.... coz the both of us wanted to visit some nice place in Asia, where anywhere u take a picture, the picture will turn out nice. I quoting from another friend who had visited Tibet a few years ago. Furthermore, Tibet being in the high altitude regions... its better to visit it when we're still young. lol
We decided to change our destination, when i realised that I've got a duty @ work that will last from jan till june this year. So no choice, we can only go for a short trip. So we decided to head to India instead!

U may be wondering why india of all places? well, somehow, I managed to convince my friend to give India a try. Coz its 1 of the countries that I've always wanted to visit someday. I was more intrigued to see the Taj Mahal, Ref Fort & some of the majestic temples of India. Ironically, this time round, I'm not going up to Delhi, but the more metropolitian cities of India. and also the home of Bollywood. (not that I'm a fan of Bollywood) And I've also managed to convince my friend to include Aurangabad. hahaha... think this city may sound foriegn to most. Me too.... in fact i was googling on the places of interest of Mumbai, then they mentioned about the state on which mumbai is in. That's Maharashtra, then when I googled this, out popped the UNESCO heritage sites "Ajanta Caves" & "Ellora Caves" & also a picture of the 'Poor Man's Taj". these are pretty intriguing places... and decided to pay these places a visit since we'll be going to Mumbai.

Not to forget that we'll also be visiting some of the sights in Mumbai too.... but i doubt we'll be paying a visit to the Bollywood studios... hahaha... coz i read from the guidebook that the Bollywood tours maybe a little expensive. We're still finalising our plans for the trip. It will be a short 6 days getaway from singapore. hahaha... I'm juz very excited and really looking forward to this. We've managed to get another 2 other friends to join us in this trip also. It will be my maiden voyage to India. I'm not sure what to expect. My family members and some of my friends who knows about my travel plans are telling me to be extra careful and bring lots of charcoal pills. hahaha... yeah i think i will.

Well.... till then! I'll fill u up on my trip once i've been there and back in 1 piece! =D