So, I know its boring now, there are no exciting travels on the Mekong or through the mountains of Laos, just an old bloke and his nephew chilling in a resort on the beach in Thailand. But the blog is written for me and not you, I know I should apologise for my selfish behaviour but I don’t think I will.

Ok breakfast as usual, the same place, about the same time. I can’t see Art Sangsri as he’s deep in concentration on a family portrait in the Banthai foyer so we decide to head out to Beach Road and see if Oz is around to run us out to the tailors at Kamala Beach. The tailors, which is connected to the old Hilfiger Fashion at the front of the Banthai closed during Covid, Mr Siam’s nephew runs Tommy Fashion at Kamala Beach so we reckon the quality should be as good as what it was at Hilfiger.

Oz is out the front, a little surprised to see us I think but we wander over and chat, he has no jobs on so will take us out and bring us back. He had no work yesterday, things are tough for these guys trying to survive.

A little of Oz’s story, I hope he doesn’t mind me telling you. His work stopped overnight when covid hit and Phuket shut down over night. Nothing to do, no money coming in for his family so action was needed. He is married, has two adult sons with university educations, and he and his wife care for or are the guardians for their seven year old neice (daughter of his wife’s younger sister who has a new partner and the daughter wasn’t part of the deal). Oz sold the family home, his wife moved to Bangkok with the girl and they are living with the two sons in Bangkok while Oz is trying to make money with his taxi in Phuket. I think they like having a neice/little girl in the house, and now she is getting a good education in Bangkok. The plan is that hs wife will move back to Phuket when educational obligations are complete and business is better. Oz lives in a small rented place on Phuket Town side of the Kathu hill not far from Patong, and he still toots the horn when you drive past the Buddha for good luck, but only in daytime, at night tooting the horn wakes Buddha up and its bad luck – must remember that. If you are in Phuket and need a driver call Oz or find him on Facebook.

The drive to Kamala Beach is past the Diamond Cliff Resort where some of our fellow Christmas travellers will be staying. Oz says its a very nice resort that was set up for the Japanese, it does look very nice but its a fair walk into the main part of Patong so a tuk tuk or shuttle bus will be the go to get where the action and “maliwanna” is. Oz says there are apartments for sale now, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, furnished, in beautiful developments with views for $100k- $200k AUD.

The coastal drive is very pleasant, resort after resort in beautiful bushland /jungle setting with most having a view over the sea. Kamala Beach is quite nice but very quiet, we head down near the beach where DD, nephew of Mr Siam and manager/owner of Tommy Fashion greets us like we are long lost family, he’s an enthusiast fella but I’m not that stupid, business is dead and he needs every customer he can get so he’s not going to chase us away. We get offered wine, beer, whisky, water, you name it. Neither of us want suits, we want a few shirts and some pants but the big upsell is applied, after some negotiation a compromise is reached and we leave a deposit, with a Friday fitting scheduled. We walk the small shopping street, down to Kamala Beach which is lovely, then find Oz and drive back to Patong.

A swim in the beautiful pool near the rooms where Genelle and I and Mark and Simone will be staying at Christmas, right on the pool in a quiet area. The water is so bloody refreshing we stay there for ages, the swim up bar is run by Timmy and he does the big sell on Happy Hour drinks, but we don’t get back for them.

The hotel has its own bakery, and cafe (small) and they make these divine cookies, you’d crawl over broken glass to get one, how do we know this ? They give everyone a cookie when you check in, good salesmanship! A late lunch of an iced coffee and TMM has 2 cookies and I have a muffin.

TMM heads off for a massage, he’s addicted to massages and Chicken fried rice I think, have to keep him away from the multitude of cannabis outlets as he might get to “maliwanna” as Oz calls it.

I head to drop some laundry off down the street, 50 baht ($2) per kg and I have a reasonable bag which costs me 125 baht with pick at 2pm tomorrow – so cheap but not as cheap as Laos which is mega cheap.

I then opt for a new experience – a shave at the barbers (where Hilfiger Fashion used to be) with a cutthroat razor, a No 1 haircut (no challenge to the worst barber), a face massage for 600 baht ($24). I have’t shaved for a few days because the razor was in the missing bag. Like the man From Ironbark (Google that poem fellow Intrepid Travellers) I’m a little hesitant. First the No1 haircut is done and its No 0 up the back, theres not much hair there so no damage, then the razor comes out. I try not to sweat and keep my eyes closed occassionally opening one, for move for fear of losing a lip or half my nose if I accidently twitch, sneeze, BUT i reckon he’s done this a few times before as its the closest shave I’ve ever had. He then gives a quick electric buzz shave for any errant follicles he’s missed, then points the hair dryer at my chin and a fine mist of aftershave hits exacty the right part of my face. Its certainly an experience, might even get another one before I get on the plane home. Mark (The Mechanic) did this in London a few years ago after getting lost in Kensington – maybe he was as nervous as I was, I reckon he paid four times what I paid though. He can get one at Christmas time.

Dinner tonight will be at Sweat – no surprise – but I won’t be having the spicy dish again. No Giger and herps with sea bass for me tonight.

A sunset walk along Patong beach and the place seems busier than when we arrived. There are lots of Indians, lots of people from the middle east, a few caucasion looking people with eastern European languages and some Pom’s and Aussies. The paragliding and jet ski’s are busy, fat and skinny people taking off the beach with jockey size Thai’s guys hanging onto only the ropes steering the parachute. People x 2 or 3 on old popping farting motorbikes with rusting sidecars roaring up and down beach the selling god knows what. Only in Thailand!!!!!

Sweet and some beers beckons, its time for dinner. Tonight Wal the owner comes over and says hello, he recognises me but not TMM. TMM doesn’t say anything, but I know it pisses him off. Wal tells us the story, he reopened two weeks ago, he shut down for eitht months and while shut down he and some expats organise support packages for locals and Burmese refugees, some government support assisted. But the police watching over the program were taking 2 bags of rice each home a day and the program went broke. Over the program they had delievered 40,000 packages to poor people and refugees. He’s upbeat and positive, great to see him and talk to him. While we are there he embarrasses another Aussie patron who saved a person with his CPR skills at Molly Malones Irish Pub a few doors away, we meet them and he’s from Melbourne.

Tomorrow we are going to Maybelle’s Coffee Garden at Kata Beach, Oz is picking us up at 11. Hopefully Ritchie and Maybelle will be there when we get there.

Ciao from Patong Beach, Thailand – Pauolo

The wet season has finally caught up with us, it rained early this morning and has rained on and off all day. In between rain and the occassional cooling breeze it’s humid, the forecast says its hanging around for a few more days yet.

Almost forgot, its my birthday today, so will celebrate with a watermelon shake at Sweet for lunch.

The Doubletree Hilton – Banthai Resort (I’ll call it The Banthai from here on) has a great breakfast so we head over pancakes, eggs, crisp bacon, cappuchino, you name it. A walk on the beach is cut short by a storm blowing in from the south and it absolutely buckets down so we shelter under a surf shop awning until it slows, the girl inside invites us in but we’re a wake up to her and decline her generous offer. TMM heads back to rest and I get the umbrella and go for a walk in the rain. I do a lap of Bangla Road, then the street that runs parallel to beach road, the offers of the massage girls start to grate aftre a while so I head back to rest my wet feet.

Still no signs of our bags, although the desk has called Thai Smiles Airways ( without prompting) and they are supposed to be here after lunch – we’ll see! The Banthai have excellent staff.

Art Sangsri still has his desk in the Banthai foyer, I chat to him and tell him that I will call when I get my bag, I have a job for him. He did a portrait of Tim in crayon and charcoal, we’ve his portraits

A lot of shops and business’s are shut, there are people walking on the street but not many. It’s quiet, even though it’s the wet season. There are still all the shop people trying to entice you, massage girls grabbing you by the arm, the difference between the legit and dodgy places is still easy to pick but whether the girls are girls or boys is still difficult.

We meet at Sweet for lunch, watermelon shake, shrimp fried rice, Singha beer in an exotic location – nice first for my birthday, dont think I’ve had one overseas before.

Another short walk, a check to see if our bags have arrived yet – they haven’t so we head out into the drizzle to check some markets, TMM has to do some more “girl” shopping. The drizzle turns into an absolute downpour and we head back to the Banthai – our bags are supposed to be here shortly (not that bloody likely I think to myself) but as we watch the counter through the rain soaked glasses and sweat running into my eyes I see two orange Kathmandu 70 litre Hybrid bags arrive at the counter. Huge relief, I don’t have to go and buy socks and jocks and TMM doesn’t have to remember the hundreds of bits and pieces he’s bought, mostly for a little girl, and maybe thought he’s have to try and replace, he looks pretty happy.

Dinner again at Sweet, I had a beautiful fish dish but the spiceness gets to me and I can’t finish it, the sweat is mixed with snot and the fluid frm my running eyes – where is USA David when you need him!

I’ve received a lot of birthday wishes from lots of people, thanks everyone. Genelle (The Navigator) forgot but remembered later on, thats OK I can handle that.

I have also seen lots of lovely messages on Facebook regarding the clip where we put a small amount of Tim’s ashes into some flower petals and scattered them in the Mekong River, with everyone from the Intrepid group participating. Our Tour Leader Naa was the mover and shaker that made this happen, one of the hotel owners gave her the flowers (she was paying for them), she took all the petals off for the ashes ceremony, then soem of the women worked with Naa and made decorative chains and origamy figures for the COPE centre – not a thing was wasted. Naa said Buddhist prayer with the burning incense and said some beautiful words before we put his ashes in the water. So what I’m saying is the credit for this should go to Naa, all I was thinking of doing was a quiet thing that I was going to coopt Dale into helping me. The video was done by Naa but I have a full version of it on my GoPro that Dale videoed that I haven’t seen yet, and maybe might be a little embarrassed to see.

There are no significant photos of today, it poured rain all day.

I hope the Intrepid crew are enjoying Vietnam, I actually miss the company, they were such a great bunch of people to travel with.

Tomorrow, depending on the rain, we’re planning on visiting the tailors, having lunch or coffee at Maybelle’s Coffee Lounge at Kata Beach, maybe a haircut and a shave (300baht and its still dear), a swin now I have my swimmers back. I’m refraining from massages for a few days as I reckon one of them cracked my neck a bit hard and I’ve had headaches a few days since, today it feels much better.

Ciao from Phuket – Pauolo

A good sleep but wake with a slightly dodgy gut, so a precautionary immodium goes down the hatch, like Jack Reacher I retaliate before the next attack.

We’re up early for breakfast, there is Bruce and Aussie Dave then USA David, Dale and I rock on. Its nice to have cereal, toast and yoghurt with a good cappuchino. The others start wondering in, I think the mood is a little sombre this morning as we’re busting up, 6 go on to finish the SE Asian loop flying to Hanoi then travelling through Vietnam, finishing in Cambodia. What a trip. Four go to Bangkok, two stay in Vientiane for a day or two I think and two of us head to Phuket. It’s been a wonderful trip with a great bunch of people from all over the world , with tour leader Naa being the glue holding it all together.

The flight out of Vientiane is a little late leaving, not too late but when things go wrong the lack of luck can escalate. The d…h… in front of me tilts his seat back immediately we’re in the air, he needs a smack in the ear, but I call up the restraint gene and don’t hit him, but I do breathe softly into his hair, it’s so close and I can’t resist unsettling him. But it doesn’t unsettle him, he goes to sleep, the tactics are a failure. If anyone saw me there might be some suggestion of slightly camp behaviour but honest to God it isn’t.

The flight goes ok, nice chicken roll and nice cup of coffee. As we get near Bangkok the clouds are heavy and thick, and the Captain tells us there is heavy rain at Bangkok Airport and we have to go into a holding pattern until we are given permission to land. We are flying in circles in cloud, bouncing around for ages until we finally get on the ground. Our flight to Phuket is awfully close, we’re not sure we’ll make it as we have 1. To go through immigration and get another stamp/visa in the passport, 2.get our bags off the carousel, 3. Check in at Domestic and get our bags on the plane via the heavy parcels area (becayse we are so late) 4. Find the gate we board at (Its B9, about 60o metres from where the carousel was 5. Hope we can get on the plane.
We sprint (well I don’t, I walk quickly) to get out through the crowd and find check in 4 floors up from where we are. The Thai Smile people are great, the Check In for our flight was closed but they got us checked in, the gate was closing so we were last onto the bus before a rude Japanese couple just pushed front of us  I did say ” You rude prick” but both he and his sour faced wife ignore me, probably don’t speak English!  Finally we are on the plane, a miracle, and we beat the Japanese couple on to the plane.
3 hours minimum you need at Bangkok if you don’t have the same airline all the way through. Anyway I reckon we were 3-4 minutes from missing that plane, we are sweating, puffing, and laughing at our good luck. Dale reckons it was 90% luck 10% good management we got on, but we worked hard to get where we were meant to be. (Thanks Sonya for calling, but we had it under control by then – just)

The flight to Phuket is quick and uneventful, the plane isn’t that full. We land, go to the carousel, and wait, wait, wait, no bags, same story for a lot of people so we go the Thai Smile Baggage desk to report and check, the same Japanese woman pshes in front and I give the “Hoi” and a big F… Off look to respect the order and get to the back of the line, she looks the sort of person who’d steal her Grandchildrens pocket money. Oz our driver waits patiently and finally we get out with backpacks only. There are a lot of bags missing, the staff are stressed.

Its raining and it takes Oz about 30 minutes to get to the Doubletree Hilton (aka The Banthai), our room is nice, first floor looks over the pool,easy to remember Room 1234.

First things first we head to the lane to Patong Tower and there it is Sweet Restaurant – its open, quiet but open and Wal the owner still owns it, he’s sitting there with some people. The beers are good and the beers are better, Its been a long day.

We buy a cheap shirt, get a massage and finally to bed, hopefully with good news about our bags in the morning.

Ciao from Phuket – Pauolo.

Early breakfast at Naked Vang Vieng Cafe – run/owned by an Australian woman, the scrambled eggs, bacon, avocado and tomatoe is beautiful. Oh, and the iced coffee I ordered actually comes as iced coffee and tastes sensational. A victory I say.

8.30 sharp we leave the hotel in two mini buses, TMM (remember him? ) and me have strategy to make sure we are not on the same bus as the person who put us at a bit of risk two days ago, the strategy involves getting in and taking the middle seats so he can’t sit there because apparently he will only sit in those seats. Its not an issue and he’s not on our bus, we have a nice calm group.

The road is wonderful heading south the Vientiane is multi lane, smooth, and wide. its a dream compared to the road from Luang Prabang. The discussion on the bus is politics in the USA and Europe, boring and interesting at the same time, but interesting that we have a US citizen involved

In no time we are Vientiane at the hotel, about 11am I think. We take the bags to reception, leave them and head to walk to the museum and the Vientiane version of the Arc de Triomphe. A

A visit to the COPE Centre is very sobering and 2 T Shirts and other things are donated by our group for them to sell to raise money. This place is very sobering, the damage from unexploded bombs and landmines kills and injures lots of people every year and their speciality is prosthetic limbs.

Back at the hotel, The Sabaidee@Lao Hotel, which is very nice and the rooms very nice, we find our room hasnt been made up so we end up being moved to another room which is made up.

Lunch for TMM and I is a Joma, the same french bakery chain that’s in Luang Prabang, a Mango Crumble, a coconut cake and an iced coffee (tick number 2 for the day) arrive and all is delicious. Tonights final dinner venue, KhopChaiDeu Vientiane is just over the street.

The day is hot and humid, not unusual, but it seems maybe a little bit more so than I’ve felt so I stay in and have a rest while Dale goes walking.

Tonights dinner is everyone except one person, a lovely night and very entertaining. We’ve been blessed to travel with a group that has people from all over the world, an age range of about 50 years, but the common bond of travel and adventure binds us together as a team – for whatever reason this group works and gets on together so well that it will be hard to leave them tomorrow.

A poem for the night seemed to go ok, at least nobody wanted to punch my head in because I’de insulted them. I also read The Copper Haired Girl to them as an opener and the new poem I called ” The Intrepid Trip” and it goes like this;

The Intrepid Trip                   Paul Reid      31st July 2022

I was thinking and a bit worried a long time before,
Who was I travelling with on the long awaited Intrepid Tour,
Who was our leader, who had to keep us in line,
And who were our fellow travellers, well we’d find out in time.

Its a long way across Thailand and down through Laos,
So it really concerned me as I packed a bag in my house,
That I’m so shy, so quiet, a real introvert it might be said,
How will I handle any pains in the bum, the people I dread.

There’s my travelling mate Dale aka The Maintenance Man,
He’s quiet until he’s not when people don’t stick to the plan,
He spends most of his time shopping for his daughter,
He calls me forgetful, and fixes Pak Beng’s running water.

Georgia is quiet, an independent a strong young woman,
She loves cats and bought one, not sure if that was the plan,
Hot spicy food she devours until her face turns bright red,
So hot it makes her nose run until she showers and goes to bed.

Aussie Dave, sixty five kilos, hollow legs not an ounce of fat,
Has travelled everywhere, knows music, mind like a steel trap,
He wears no underpants, he says he likes the airflow,
If he walks a bit funny, its because he’s gone full commando.

Robyn I met when she walked over at the hotel in Bangkok,
She wouldn’t give her age, but experience, she has a lot,
Every day as we journey Thailand, Laos and around,
She loses a phone or something else that has to be found.

Pink fan, disarming smile, Jesus don’t let her analyse me,
She wed Valentin not long ago after he asked “marry me”,
She disarmed him, poor fellow didn’t see it when she hit,
She’s good fun, would you let her in your head to sort out your shit?

Valentin, full of knowledge, has a German political view,
Of the world and where things sit and who’s who in the zoo,
He found her on the internet and they’re on the honeymoon,
Mate, listen I’ve been married 44 years its not all gloom.

She’s tall and artistic, a mother a copper and she looks fit,
If I was in trouble I’d call Ange cause I know one look and they’d quit,
She likes bubbles and ducks out for the occassional smoke,
I don’t like either really but I’m not sayin a thing, no joke.

A maths teacher once but now not one no more,
He’s good at euchre, knows his trumps and how to score,
The chilli king can handle the heat and eats spicy food
American David mixes with everyone and is never rude.

Shepparton is his home town, Melbourne where he lives,
We’re all better off for all the advice that Matt gives,
He throws down beer like he knows what he likes
Especially in Chiang Mai after 30k on old push bikes.

This Canadian gal lived in Malaysia it was her home,
She’s Asia savvy travelling with friends and alone,
The school mam watches over us like a mother hen
Keeps us on track when we wander off now and then.

Bruce, Bruce, is that your name, I didn’t hear, say it again,
I don’t understand, I can’t do it, is the constant refrain
You disappear at night and sometimes during the day
Silence is golden so say nothing when there’s nothing to say.

And two Irish lads, Ben the the elder Mark so young
Fit in with us middling and old farts and join in the fun
We’re so glad you came along on your adventure with us,
Because you dropped our average 10 years without any fuss.

Sak joins us at the border he guides us through Lao,
The history, the war and where US landmines hit farmers ploughs
Him and Naa in the land of elephants, jungle and waterfall,
Answer our questions, guide us and make sure we don’t fall.

Our leader she watches where we are, she really cares,
Don’t go near the edge, don’t climb in with the bears,
Here is a plan but do what you want, don’t go too far,
If you get lost this my number, remember my name is Naa.

Some go home and some continue the SE Asian loop
It’s been good fun and I think areally  great group
Sayonara, Ciao, Kap Kum Kah,  Sabaidee, Khop Jai Li Li
Thanks for your company, tomorrow it’s bye bye..

Paul Reid   31st July 2022

The food and the bar at the restaurant in Vientiane are great and the last of us leave the bar at about 11.30pm, walking back tot he hotel in the drizzling rain. ts been great, we’ll see the group at breakfast before we all head in our different directions. Tomorrow we fly to Phuket for a relaxing break.

Ciao from Vientiane – Pauolo

It was steamy last night, the air con worked overtime and the windows looking over the mountains fogged up this morning. Walk outside and glasses and cameras fog up immediately.

Not sure if I’ll be going to the Blue Lagoon, I had a bit of Vang Vieng belly early this morning and have taken imodium to slow the flow but not confident its sorted just yet. I’m leaning towards not going and being certain it’s fixed so I can go kayaking this afternoon. Too much information I know, but this is my blog not yours.

So I have a shower, relax in the air con and call the home office, The Navigator and The Mechanic who are in Sydney shopping. The Melanoma Institute has given them a clear card, just the excuse she needs to take her poor suffering son shopping. I also call Sister 1 and Sister 2 and give them a look at the view for the room window which is spectacular. Sister 1 travelled to Laos a few years ago and loves Laos, Luang Prabang in particular. Sister 2 and family have booked Thailand (refundable) for Christmas but have not yet booked flights as The Waitress has just started a full time job and not 100% certain she can get away.

I’ll insert some of The Maintenance Man’s photos of this morning activities that I missed.

OK, its late afternoon now, TMM (remember him?) has returned from the Blue Lagoon and apparently they did the kayaking up there already and if I go kayaking it will be by myself, so I have decided to make today a full rest day. Should I throw a little sooky fir – nah, not orth it! My belly feels good now, so we head the the bakery for a snack and a coffee lunch, I’m looking forward to an iced cappuchino – twice today I’ve ordered iced cuppuchino’s and got hot ones and bugger me dead it happens again. TMM gets a mango shake which is large, cold and nutricious, he feels, not as nutriscious (how do you spell that word – what I have looks wrong) as a coke and I have to help him drink it to cool my core temperature down from all the hot coffees today. Hot drinks in this part of the world at this time of the year are not the best decision, don’t they speak f….g English up here? Sorry, just realised most of them don’t, so its my problem not theirs, as it gets pointed out to me by TMM (remember him?)

Its dripping humidity, and a storm is forecast for late this afternoon, its late this arvo now and it has only just drizzled then stopped. No wonder they call this time of the year psycho season, it could drive you a little around the corner. TMM and I go for a walk around Vang Vieng, there isn’t a lot to see besides restaurants, massage places, small shops, adventure tour operators and other odds and sods of business’s and like a lot of these places the streets are pretty dirty lots off plastic and rubbish but it is a third world country,very poor, but offset by gentle natured people living in a beautiful country. A massage is order of the day to kill an hour.

Dinner tonight is 7.30, mystery venue yet to be determined. I’ll go easy on the guts tonight, don’t want a repeat of last night. Late mail – we’re at Luang Prabang Bakery tonight, so I’m going to see if the buggers can get the iced cappuchino right this time.

OK, dinner tonight I decide to skip Iced Cappuchino and go for a beer, my gut is telling me it’s all ok to proceed with the fine amber fluid as its cool, refreshing, has no caffiene to keep me awake and is most likely to turn up as it should in a bottle thats not f….g hot. As well as a low risk drink I go for a low risk meal in Bagun Beef Burger & Chips, “Bagun” is Lao for bacon – I’m almost multi lingual with all that free time today, it wasn’t all a waste of time.

It’s a great night, great company and good fun, a few poems and a few shared memories of our lives. The trip seems to have gone so quickly that it only seems like yesterday that we met at the hotel in Bangkok, with a little bit of trepitdation wondering if we’d like these people, where they came from, will it be fun, the answer has been yes to everything except for one person who never participates in anything. I’ll miss the company of young people and people not so young, who share the passion for travel, seeing new things, challenging themselves to see new things in the world. Its been a wonderful trip, although tomorrow nights final dinner will be a lot of fun, I’m looking forward to that.

Tomorrow we are on the road for 3 hours heading for Vientiane, the capital of Laos, back on the Mekong River again with Thailand just across the river.

Cheers & Ciao from Vang Vieng, Laos – Pauolo the failed coffee consumer

We duck up to Joma – the French bakery and get coffee and croisants for breakfast, so good. 8.30am we load up the 2 minivans for the trip to Van Vieng, 7+ hours over a very rough road. The journey from Luang Prabang to Vientiane can be done in 2 hours on the Chinese financed train but we do it the hard way. the trip by road would be 7 hours to Vang Vien + 3 hours to Vientiane.

Vang Vien is a former US airforce base in the Vietnam war, I think Mel Gibson was in a movie based on that base called Air….. something. It was also an adventure spot for young Australians and Americans with lots of drugs involved. We hear about the Aussie who drowned after swimming after having a mushrrom milkshake. Americans stupid Aussies stupider. The town is on the Nam Song River, quite a fast flowing river.

The road is long, winding, steep and so rough its unbelievable the vehicles can handle it, The road is narrow and passing trucks on corners is a hair raising experience which happens often.

The limestone karst mountains are pointy and steep with jungle and the occassional paddock cleared for some sort of farming. Quite often you are looking over a cliff edge as you drive, its a bit scary, probably not as scary as the road up to Kathmandhu but rougher. There are plenty of great photo shots but rarely is there room to stop a vehicle. One of our passengers virtually yelled at the driver to stop so he could get a photo, needless to say this person is now on everyones blacklist.

Lunch is at a spot the is 1350 metres above sea level and we climb higher again, maybe to 1500-1600 meters above see level. As we get closer to Vang Vien you can see rice paddies on the lower country.

We arrive in Vang Vien pretty busted, so its a quick orientation walk around after we get our gear to the rooms then dinner before retiring for the night. Tomorrow we’re going for a swim at the Blue Lagoon and after that some of us are kayaking don the river.

Ciao from Pauolo

An early start today, up at 4.50am, leave to walk to the street where the locals give alms (food & offerings) to the Buddhist monks. Naa has a spot sorted for us, bowls  or better described as baskets of sticky rice and a chair fit for a 2 year old, but we have to sitting. The ritual roughley – Before they arrive, you put a scarf over your left shoulder under your right armpit, you pick your basket up, say a little prayer, they as they have their bowl in front of you you put a small handful in their bowl which may have money or other food in it. You stay quiet, be respectful of the event, this is their food, thy do this every day but today is a special Buddhist day so lots of people are out. They do a few laps and a few of us haven’t got rid of all our rice so we wait for another group of monks to walk past. Its a very quiet serene event and I’m glad I got out of bed early, not normal for me I have to say.

We walk to early day markets down near the river, all the local food is cooking, there is a “wet” meat market as well as fish, vegetables and herbs and spices of all sorts, hardly a tourist in site.

Breakfast at the French Bakery, an almond croissant with an iced cappuchino with the local coffee beans hits the spot. We walk back to the hotel about 7am and rest until 8.30 when we leave for the jungle.

About 30 minutes drive out of Luang Prabang is Mandalao Elephant Rehabilitation Park. It’s run by some Lao locals but setup by an American guy probably early 40’s, to get elephants out of logging camps and tourist parks where they are ridden every day. The saddles affect their reproductive functions and the Lao elephant population, once land on 1 Million Elephants now only has about 5,000. So they own 400 hectares, have to buy the elephants usually old tired females usually at the end of their breeding time but probably not going to reproduce anyway, cost $20-$25,000 US each. They then work on getting the females back to health and fitness and release them to the National Park in groups. The staff are mostly ex mahouts so they know elephants pretty well. The American guy turns up at lunch and is very grateful for Intrepid’s business, he’s an interesting character. There are no chains, no ropes, no hooks, no work, only care and food for these fantastic beasts.

We have to get a narrow boat over the river to were the elephants are, the river is rocky bottom and flowing freely. Fist thing we do is feed 2 elephants with banana’s, then we walk into the jungle with them and their carers, the elephants decide where to go, nobody leads them. its hot and humid, again, but a fantastic day. The elephants return to the river under their own steam to bath and cool down.

We get the boat back over the river and have magnificent lunch prepared by their staff. The elphants are still over the river playing in the water.

Its been an early start so the afternoon is a chill down in the air con for us, some go walking, some go for a massage, some for a beer.

Tonight its dinner at a very nice restaurant then TMM and I head to the markets, but my feet are swollen with the heat so I return home to pack the bag, newly laundered clothes will give my bag a bit fresher smell.

Tomorrow we leave Luang Prabang, we’re heading overland throught the limestone karst country to Vang Vieng, about a 7 hour drive over some pretty mountainous country.

Cheers Ciao and Sayonara from Luang Prabang – Paulo

Today we did one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done and seen one of the nicest natural things I’ve seen, but more about that later.

We’ve been resting for the last few hours after a busy morning starting at 7.30. Just a heads up, I got through my headache, it can be caused by only one of a few things as I haven’t had headaches much since I stopped drinking wine. 1. The malaria tablets are causing them 2. The heat and humidity is causing them. 3. Something else eg constipation is causing them – rule this one out my friends “The Bowel Queens”, things are moving ok. I spoke to Naa and she asked if I was taking the malaria tablets, answer is “yes”, she said that if you drink the Thai or Lao beer or other beer as well with the tablets then a lot of her travellers have headaches and belly problems. Her advice is that where we have been and are going is malaria free and we should be comforatble not taking them. TMM (remember him?) he stopped this morning not knowing this as he’s been feeling pretty off, me, I took mine this morning and I’m stopping tomorrow and not having a beer today.

So, what happend today? We start by immitating Bruce, our disappearing, non compliant, ignorant fellow traveller by not having breakfast at a French Bakery and not with the others at the hotel. The bakery has lovely looking breakfast pastry, we both get 2 pastries and a coffee but I end up with 2 coffees ( I order an iced coffee – brilliant over here in the heat). Ambitions outweigh our ability to consume this much food and 2 strong coffees gives me a bit of a buzz. My eyes are pilsing, apparently this is local coffee and higher caffiene content. We waddle back to our hotel ready for the 8.30 walk to the local markets near and on the river. Some men are playing boche in a clearly marked area on river bank, think money might be on the game as its serious stuff. It’s very competitive.

Its a lovely walk, I see some lovely hand stitched aprons, might see about getting one for The Navigator so she cooks me more cakes when I get home (price is 50,000kip = $5) We stop at a Budhist temple and three novice monks are knocking lychees or nuts out of a tree and eating them, just being boys, which is all they are.

Next we leave with our swimmers and hats and head to go to Kuang Si Waterfalls about 35 minutes out of Luang Prabang, its also a sanctuary for rehabilitating bears to allow them to return to the wild after being injured.

The falls are spectacular, nicest waterfall I’ve seen yet anywhere. We go swimming at level 2 where we linger for ages. The water is clear, clean, bluey/green (to my colour blind eyes) and coolishly refreshing, we don’t want to leave. We all exit the water feeling so much better, like a different person. The place is well worth the visit.

Lunch in the resturant in the park is an exercise in patience, service is crap but the people nice, they get the orders wrong and it takes ages to come. I order a papaya salad (tiny spicey), I can’t eat it, my lips and tongue are dancing and almost numb, my nose is running and my eyes watering. Naa thinks I’ve ovecooked the theatrics and tastes it (she has the Thai tolerance for really spicy food) she immediatly spits it out, its too hot even for her. My spice tolerance is at best middling, I like small medium amounts but this has been atomic level spiced. Looks like I needed the big breakfast after all.

Next we stop at a buffalo research centre, focused on improving genetics for the Loation herd, they raise money by selling buffalo milk icecream. Its a nice icecream.

A 2 1/2 hour rest is on the cards, I’m weary but no headache so that’s pretty good so a shower and sit in the air con and chill is the go. Tonight is dinner together at a nice place near the river and we’re off shopping again I think.

Dinner is a a very nce restaurant, a pork and rice dish with a watermelon juice costs me 65,000 kip $6.20. A quick walk to the markets and a 1 hour massage finish the day pretty well

5.10 am start tomorrow to go see the monks collecting their alms so ciao for today – Pauolo

6am, its a misty morning over the Mekong, the Pak Beng roosters are crowing, pointy little river boats zoom up and down the river in the cool morning air and a few scooters zoom around doing morning jobs. Yesterday afternoon this place was steaming hot, its in the jungle, its ever so poor but children and adults seem happy and cheerful, but it must be a struggle.

TMM has had to solve an engineering issue, he woke up at midnight because the shower wouldn’t stop running, the tap wouldn’t tur off so he cable tied a pen to the tap to hold it closed. He lives up to his name as The Maintenance Man.

Breakfast is at 7 in the open air dining room looking over the Mekong, scrambled eggs, beautiful little dumpling looking things with sweet potato and potato in them, filter coffee and french bread, its delicious.

8.00am we’re on the boat and heading off down the Mekong. Yesterday was about 150km on the river, today is a bit further. Overall we spend about 300+km of the Mekong.

Initially the mist is still hovering over the mountains on either side of the river, but later it warms up, steamy monsoon warm/hot but probably only 28-30degC. A euchre game gets going, Ginger and I organise a music trivia competition which goes on forever and we find out how big Aussie Dave’s trivia brain is, its enormous, he blows everyone out of the water, even the bonus questions. Its mad how much he knows and he makes me feel like I hardly know any useless information at all, and here I was thinking I had the useless information game sewn up.

Lunch is a lovely vegetable soup and a fried chicken and rice dish – TMM (remember him?) thinks its pretty good, strange that. He’s been quietly sleeping up the front of the boat all morning and surfaces for food and drink. Naa makes a dessert up, banana and a sweet coconut milk sauce, its pretty good.

The afternnon is siesta time again, it is hot and the conversation dies down as people sleep, listen to music, or just rest and watch the jungle and mountains as we push down stream towards Luang Prabang. We should arrive about 4pm

We arrive at Pak Ou Caves, where the Ou River joins the Mekong, its 34deg C and about 90% humidity and probably the heat and sweat temper the shortness of the stay. But it is quite old, lots of memorials in the shallow cave in the limestone mountain.

A storm is brewing over Luang Prabang, there is lightning, wind and rain so the boat pulls into the jungle covered cliff which is the river bank for half an hour to let it blow away. We finally reach Luang Prabang, head into our hotel in the old World Heritage area near the river. It is lovely, leafy, crumbling, a mix of Laotian and French architecture. Our Hotel is Luang Prabang Legend Hotel. The rooms are spacious, good air con, good wifi, good bed, good shower, a welcome respite for 3 nights.

A short break and we head up to the night markets for dinner, one of the most expensive places in Luang Prabang and a long neck beer and a Ka Pao meal cost 65,000 kip (About $6.20 AUD). We walk through the markets and TMM gets sidetracked looking at and buying stuff, he’ll never want to make a comment about me or his Aunty about shopping ever again. I buy nothing but I might tonight, the markets are quite different to Thailand, more local stuff, hardly any knock off stuff. I like it and its ever so cheap, even compared to Thailand.

A return to the hotel through the safe streets about 9pm. I decide to finish the days blog but a headache hits me, not sure if its the heat or the malaria tablets or what. The Bowel Queens (you know who you are) will be happy to know things are good so it shouldn’t be that causing the headache.

Next day – Things are ok, paracetamol does its job and I feel better.

A short comment on what i feel about Laos after a few days, it’s poorer than Thailand but the people seem to smile a lot, children seem very happy playing in the streets and the markets, there is a genuinley nice comfortable feeling in this place. The old town of Luang Prabang is beautiful.

Ciao from Luang Prabang – Pauolo

An early start this morning, TMM (remember him?) has had a rough night, so I leave him with panadol and go downstairs to the open air bar area looking over the Mekong for breakfast. Its warm and humid, the instant coffee and sweet toast with a fried egg revive me enough to head up and do a quick repack of my bag.

8.00am and we’re on the bus to the border crossing, first we exit Thailand with stamped passports (love to have them stamped), then onto a bus that crosses a huge bridge financed by the Chinese to the Laos side. The process on the Laos side is a bit slow and laborious but after handing over visa applications with passports, getting temp checks, showing the Vaccination Certificate (they are very thorough with that – in Thailand nobody looked), then getting our passports back with the visa pasted in stamped, initialed, rechecked, photgraphed, fingerprinted, everything except having a strip search, we’re finally in Laos. We meet Sak our Laos guide, we still have the tour leader Naa running the show.

A short bus ride up to where the boat is moored on the Mekong, looks a little rough on the outside but inside its open, all nicely laquered, clean toilet and kitchen, sitting under cover on the river is like the air conditioner is set on the perfect temperature. Its so relaxing, as we wind our way slowly down the Mekong, through the whirlpools, dodging the occassional rock rapids. Small pointy boats with outboard motors piled with fishing nets scream past us, the river is like a highway and clearly drives the life of people who live on its banks.

Everyone has settled in, and chatting, I’ve all spread out over one cubicle by myself sorting out my camera gear when Naa comes up and says its time to do the memorial for Tim. She has split all the flowers up into petals, put them in a beautiful silver bowl with the little container of Tim’s ashes sitting in the middle of them. She lights some insence and says a Buddhist prayer then invites everyonedoen the front of the boat where she says some lovely words about Tim being here with us and then asks me to put the ashes (I keep the container with a few ashes for other things) into the flowers and put them into the river. I put his ashes and flowers into the flowing river and see them float away, Dale puts some in then everyone on the boat comes and throws some of the flowers and ash into the river. Very moving little ceremony. Naa is such a gem, so thoughtful and so genuine. I say a few words beacuse it was so nice that everyone helped with it. I decide to read a poem that I had written called “Nothing Lasts Forever”, almost bring me undone, not sure what happened but I promise not to repeat it. The are no photos of the service, only videos

Nothing Lasts Forever

Don't waste time wondering is my little tip,
Nothing lasts forever so just appreciate the trip,
Get on the road or start whatever it is 
That pushes your buttons and makes your brain fizz.


Me, I like many things but to travel to places far away,
Gets me excited to leave my home and garden of clay,
Go to mountains in Laos, land of the green paddy field,
And to the hills of Cortona where Tuscan secrets stay sealed.

Nothing lasts forever, so I put my thinking hat on,
I need a coffee to stimulate and move my thoughts along,
As I sit in the cafe sheltering from rain and frozen air,
My thoughts drift to far away places as I rock back in my chair.

To Switzerland, Scotland, England, Croatia and Wales,
Be a tourist, a traveller, soak cuture, eat their food, drink their ales,
Talk to locals, smile with them and laugh at their jokes not so clever,
Do it now while you can because nothing lasts forever.

And think about where you live, adventure home grown,
So much to see from beaches to deserts, together or alone,
Pack the bags, mortgage the house to finance the cost,
Because nothing lasts forever, there's no time to be lost.

Paul Reid – July 2022

It’s very chilled, you can buy a beer (Beerlao brand now) or a soft drink, there is jungle and some crops on both side of the river, children swimming on the banks waving to us from shade of the family boats, water buffalo grazing on the banks. We stop for the boat owner to check in with officials at one point and a guy comes on selling bunches of lychees for 10,000 kip (Laos currency 10,400kip = $1AUD), we buy some but we mostly only got 100,000 kip notes from the ATM’s at the border.

Lunch is a gourmet delight, about 4-5 main dishes with rice, stir fry veggies, fillets of fried Mekong fish,a mildly spicy noodle dish, 2 curries like a mussaman curry, and juicy ripe paw paw for afterwards. After lucnh the boat goes quiet, its siesta time. And, I think that this is exactly the experience that we were thinking about when we signed up for this trip and the key word in the name of the trip was “Adventure”.

The afternoon goes slowly, its hot and humid and the only breeze is because of the boat moving, so we’re all a bit sweaty and weary by the time we pull into Pak Beng. Our guest house is nice but very basic rooms with a strange setup for the bathroom BUT the air con works a treat.

We walk around the village, its very poor and covid has knocked their business community around significantly. A hill tribe market is a subsistence market, no tourism about it, its trading food for food basically.

Dinner tonight is at the guest house, most of us go for the local Laos food, either buffalo or pork larb with sticky rice, TMM has fried chicken with rice, but it is very tasty.

Tomorrow we’re on the boat again at 8am heading for Luang Prabang, time to hit the sack and catch up on some rest time.

Ciao from Pauolo in Laos