Mekong Nomads – Day 1 – 28th November  Sydney to Bangkok.

A $26 Uber picks us up at 7.15. A tip we learned from the front desk of the Quest – don’t book until you’re ready to go, last night to pre book was over $40.

Qantas checkin by machine at the airport still feels like a cluster f… to me, they need more human staff there to guide the clueless people like us through tagging, which side to put the bag etc. But, we get there. 2 x 13kg bags and 2 x 14 kg bags.

Borderforce checks done, time for food. H reacts to her malaria medication, diagnosis was by Drs Robson and Reid. She’s nautious, faint, hot, and GREEN. They sponge her forehead, and try to softly suggest helpful things to a stressed green face. I’m sure it helped.

I made it clear at the start I wasn’t taking them ( malaria tablets ) after they made me really crook a few years ago, and they aren’t really needed as Laos is malaria free.

Its a slow walk to Gate 58, however by then she’s a better colour. The trips still on!

Boarding is orderly by groups. The Finnish airline that code shares this leg for Qantas has tighter seat spacing than other long haul, are Fins short? I didn’t think so!

I read a Slow Horses book and listen to an AI blues playlist, good songs but voices and musicians that are computers. Songs like ” My Mumma Still Owes Gas Money” , ” She Left Me For A Man with Shoes” and ” The Dog Don’t Miss Her Either”, mainly blues and soul genre. Its a very clean sound,  tight rhythym section with a heavy back beat and screaming harmonicas and lead guitars. Eric Clapton, Peter Green and John Mayall eat your hearts out!

Other than a bloke up the back of us who makes 19 trips to the toilet, the flight is uneventful. Even the babies behave. Staff are good, food ok.

We come in over the paddy fields and aquaculture dams on the outskirts of Bangkok. Landing is good. I suppose anytime a plane lands is good.

It took a little while but we found our transfer company and after and hour of mind numbing traffic we’re at the  Sian Champs Elysee hotel in our rooms with an old style club foot bath. Not 100% practical but its water.

A quick freshen up then a guided tour of Khaosan Road, then through the back via Susie Walking Street for dinner, a few drinks, a walk to the Chao Praya river, a few drinks at the Sheep Shank Bar before struggling home for a midnight end to a 22 hour day.

Busy busy but we fitted a bit of stuff  in. The temperature is perfect, dry season , light breeze 27deg C in daytime, 20 at night.

Tomorrow we’re into it again.

Ciao from Bangkok

PAUOLO

The train is running late, yesterdays storms have created issues but now we’re underway.

1st class on the XPT is roomy, cool and quiet.

The train trip to Sydney is pleasant, uneventful but pleasant. We had oodles of snacks and a GF $13 Butter Chicken for dinner, but, not sure the bun was GF?????

The Navigator is planning things to do, and questioning why the train is still running late. Its a bit out of our control, bit we do end up at Central a fair but later tgan planned.

A taxi gets us to the Quest at Mascot for $23

An early start tomorrow.

Cheers

Pauolo

Day 0   27th Nov ’25

Note it is Day Zero. We haven’t left yet, but in a few hours we are. The Navigator has been packing for weeks, and trying to decide how little, how much, how hot, what coat do I need, do I need these tablets, and on and on and on. It’s draining.

Anyway, tomorrow us Day 1, tomorrow night we’ll be dining in Bangkok.

This trip is semi adventure.

The travellers are;

Pauolo – that’s me, aka Paul

The Navigator – thats Genelle

Al – that would Dave

H  – that’s Helen

I’ll try and come up with more disparaging creative names as true characters reveal themselves under pressure.

The Plan

1. Train to Sydney
2. Fly to Bangkok for short orientation of big SE Asian city  things
3. Fly to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand
4. Drive via Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong on the Mekong River
5. Cross into Laos and 2 Days on a slow boat on the Mekong via Pak Beng to Luang Prabang.
6. 9 Days chilling in Luang Prabang
7. Fly home via Bangkok

Ciao from Sydney

Ok, 9 days to go until we leave.

Rough Plan

Thailand, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Khong, Laos, Mekong for 2 days via Pak Beng and finishing at Luang Prabang.

More details later

Ciao

Pauolo

Perth to Dubbo

The trip is coming to an end, tonight we’ll be home in our own bed. 7.30am we set Google Maps to T4 Perth airport, drop The Navigator and Wally, then Don & I return the Prado to the car hire return.

The GX Prado has been excellent, averaging under 10 ltr per 100km. Plenty of space, maybe not as much in the back seat as a Kluger but close. Tax invoice says we did 2104 km, no dings detected, which is correct.

The women have the bags tagged when we return, then We get taken as visitors to the Qantas Club for breakfast. It’s been 17 years since I’ve been in  Qantas Club when it was paid for as part of my job. It’s too expensive now for the amount I travel, I think?

We’re told earlier we don’t have the seat between us empty, would have been $70 well invested if it came off. However, the plane is full, not a seat spare, and a lot bring huge carry on cases, don’t get me started on that!

It’s raining and cold in Sydney when we arrive 4 hours later, a few whiskeys in Qantas Club (compliments of the Anderson) fixes that.

Dubbo is freezing,  The Mechanic delivers us home to unpack, for the final time on this trip.

Ciao from Dubbo

Pauolo

Jurien Bay to Perth

A drive around Jurien Bay, fly the drone briefly, then a coffee and a drive around Cervantes before heading back to Perth. We like Jurien Bay, its clear waters, and its easy relaxed vibe. And Cervantes looks a but bigger and s fair bit older.

We decided to come to Kings Park in Perth for a walk around before going to our hotel near the airport.

The Botanical Gardens are excellent, the walks wind around different botantic areas of WA,  there are lots of varieties of native plants by region. It’s Sunday, so there are lots of people in the park, Sunday loungers, hipsters, fathers with sons (on scooters), bikers on their Triumphs and Harleys trying to look cool in jeans and leather. The view over the city is terrific.

Only a week ago, The Don crashed on to a Hop On Hop Off bus floor in the rain at Kings Park. He’s recovering now, but the scene of the crime must bring back the memory of an event that he has no memory of.

Dinner at the motel is interesting, the Sanno Maracoonda is a base for fly in fly out operators, so it feels a bit like a mine canteen (I don’t know what one looks like, so it’s in my imagination)

Tomorrow we fly home. We left Dubbo 3 weeks and one day ago, it seems longer. The trip has been terrific, great company on both legs of the trip and we’ve seen a lot of places we’ve never seen before.

Ciao from Perth

Pauolo

Mandurah to The Pinnacles to Jurien Bay WA

A relaxed start to the day, a cup of tea then The Navigator and Wally go power walking around the water. The area we are staying is pretty ritzy, and all the pretty young things walk in their skin tight tights, leading fluffy dogs, men with manscaped five o’clock shadows at 8am and the odd pensioner in baggy shorts and a sloppy Joe with holes in it. The boats are heading out fishing on the change of tide, dodging the kayakers.

We get under way dead on ten am, Pauolo has the reins of the stagecoach today. It’s not a long way to Perth, we refuel, then head into the banked up traffic on Highway 2 only for Pauolo to take an unplanned detour into an industrial area.  Corrections made we’re back into the traffic heading north. This is a reflection of Pauolos card playing later that night.

Woodbridge and the Verge 301 Cafe sign catch our attention but The Don navigates past it requiring an about turn. Two highway patrol coppers in a pretty car arrive for coffee, a young blonde and a solid older bloke,arrest any of Nomad 2 crew and instead look at their phones and chat. Clearly unaware of my future crimes against the card game of ” Kings”

The Pinnacles is busy busy busy, bus loads of tourists from Asia mainly, everywhere taking selfies, flying a drone (illegal in the park), digging holes. But away from the tourists it’s spectacular. They are quite dramatic.

We move on to Jurien Bay where we’re booked tonight. Nice place, I imagine it was a fishing shack village once upon a time, but not now.

Dinner is at a Cafe at the beach near the jetty. Fish and chips is great, fresh Spanish Mackerel, and nice green salad.

Cards tonight is all Don, Pauolo f…d up and kept a Joker and threw a King so a record maximum score sees Pauolo finish last by a mile. The Navigator comes in second, Wally a close third.

Ciao from Jurien Bay

Pauolo

Margaret River to Mandurah

We’re breakfasted and packed early, and get away on time at 9am

Cowaramup is a funky little place, cafes, eclectic looking shops. “Up” means place of, so it’s the place of cows. The local  Aussie rules team are the Cowaramup Bulls, go figure how they came up with that name. This area is big dairy farms, friesian cows everywhere and green green grass.

Oh and lots of grapes vines. And sheep with black faces, dorpers I guess. And Angus cattle, not much off anything of any other colour except the black and white friesians.

Busselton Jetty is 1.9km long. We walk half way so that means we walked about 2km before a coffee.

The Don and Sharron have arranged to meet some friends from 30+ years ago from when they all lived in Jabiru in the NT. The Kakadu men and women catch up over coffee at a nice Cafe.

The final leg is up the freeway to Mandurah, a bustling city of 100,000 or so. Our apartment is nice, a bit of chipped paint to be fixed and sugar soap could clean some walls but beautiful views over the water. Mandurah has a large estuary area behind a narrow entrance to the Indian Ocean.

We meet The Don’s cousin Kelvin for a few beers at The Peninsular Hotel. He has lived over here for many years because it’s warmer than Crookwell and he’s got a wing of children and grandchildren in the area now. I don’t think Crookwell is going to win him back.

Cards Report ;

Kings is under way as soon as we get through the door. The Don feels his luck from the last few nights might continue. But, he’s disappointed, Wally and Pauolo steam ahead and Wally wins with a last a round crusher of a hand. We offer Don a box of tissues, but he’s busy plotting revenge for tomorrow.

Ciao from Mandurah WA

Pauolo

Margaret River – Cape Leeuwin

Today was a slower day, a bit of catch up on rest.

Three of us head south to Augusta and Cape Leeuwin light house. Its really hard to get the compassion in my head right, what is actually south feels like north, and vice versa. My head has it sorted by lunch time

It’s a pleasant drive south, not hot, a few scuds of rain, sunshine, cold wind. Four seasons in an hour weather.

Tge lighthouse is the tallest on mainland Australiaz built in 1895 and still a working lighthouse. It’s made of local linstone quarried not far away. It’s not been manned for many years but I think the stat’s show its effective, up until 1895 30+ ships are known to have perish on the 13km stretch of rocky islands off Cape Leeuwin, and since 1895 only one has perished. A navy destroy ( not the ship that perished) was hit by a freak wave in 1945 and ten sailors died. Its a hard remote beautiful bit of coast line. The wind is howling from the south and white top waves are everywhere, I can’t tell where the Indian Ocean meets the Great Southern Ocean visually but a line on a board shows me where it is. Apparently some days you can pick the line where the twon oceans meet, but not today.

We drive back and have a nice lunch at the bakery at Witchcliffe.

The Navigator is keen to have a look at a craft glass place, its only the edge of Margaret River. It’s called Melting Pot Glass, and it’s an interesting place. Nice Glass work, ramble tamble property, and very relaxed proprietors. She buys a couple of very nice glasses for our “places we’ve been cabinet”

The afternoon is spent shopping, looking in windows, checking out the condensed Margaret River shopping precinct. A few books are the purchases of the day.

A few drinks are procured and we watch Melbourne Storm steal the NRL game from Penrith. Tonight we eat in.

Kings cards tonight is won by a gloating smirking Don, he averaged 6-7 a hand and won by a mile. His day has come, hopefully tomorrow it will be gone.

Ciao from Margaret River. Tomorrow we head to Mandurah.

Pauolo

Albany to Margaret River

An early start this morning, the air con only just kept the apartment warm. It’s a lovely spot near the water, views over the bay through the trees and the sun is out.

After breakfast, a tour ofctown and a refuel ($123 for Perth- Hyden- Albany) we find Middleton Beach for a coffee at Three Anchors Cafe – I rate it ☕️☕️☕️☕️ the coffee and the beach vibe is great.

On the way to Denmark we see a sign – ” Jesus is Wauting for You” . Please tell him I’m not ready, he can wait a while.

First stop is Denmark where we all agree its a really nice looking place, the further we go the more cattle we see, no crops, and the trees are getting bigger. Ocean Beach has a few surfers out in the break, past the brown line of tanin coloured water hitting the blue Great Souther Ocean. A few surfers say its cold ( no shit Sherlock!), and the swell isn’t big enough.

Next stop is the Valley of the Giants. Brilliant engineering to build the walkway amongst the huge trees. It is spectacular walking through the tops of these enormous trees. Some facts;

The treetop walk opened in 1996 and has attracted about 4.2m visitors ( till 2024)

We get to about 40 m high but the tree canopy gets to about 80m in height.

The walk is 650m long

Timber used in the structure and offices is Jarrah, Hoop Pine, Karridale and Red Tingle

The Tingle Forest is unique to south east WA and some plants can be traced back 65m years.

Lunch in Pemberton is nice, the honey pumpkin fetts frittata is especially nice. It’s another nice clean tidy town. In 2015 they shot the Jasper Jones movie in this town. It’s based in the fictional town of Corragin which is actually based on Corrigin.

As we driving into Margaret River the rain that The Navigator forecast starts (5 minutes early) and it buckets down on and off until late.

We have a lively unit close to the town centre, it will be nice to slow down for 2 nights.

Dinner at the pub then cards. It’s a close game but The Don gets the money right on the post.

Ciao from Margaret River

Pauolo