Helloooo..
So here's what I did in South East Asia..
I arrived in Pakse in Southern Laos on the 1st or 2nd of March...I was so surprised by how toursity it was! I'd come form North East Thailand and before that The Philippines where I'd see a white person maybe once every week or 2 but here it was flooded with white people! It was so weird to see tall people again..I'd made friends with a Thai guy on the bus the day before, so we decided to hire a motorbike and explore the Bolaven Plateau where there are amazing waterfalls and traditional villages and the temperatures a bit cooler. It was a pretty awesome day but my but hurt so bad by the end of it for sitting down too long on the back of a motorbike.. Anyway we visited like 5 waterfalls.. One of them took absolutely forever to reach.. we were riding down a dirt track for ages and there were plantations of trees with white blossoms that smelt really good.. But we couldnt work out what they were until the end of the day when we discovered they were coffee plantations.. So that was pretty cool.. Finally we arrived at the car park and we had to climb down a super steep ladder to reach the waterfall, so that was exciting. I walked behind the waterfall and through the cave behind it.. And so after an hour or so there went hunting for another waterfall. .But on our way back along the lane a Dutch couple (who we'd seen before at the waterfall) stopped us and asked if we could give their 2 daughters a ride to the end of the lane coz they were so tired from walking.. So the two girls hopped on and we must have looked quite a sight, a Thai man and a Western woman on a motorbike with 2 young blond kids sandwiched between us. So yep we visited some more waterfalls, at one of them there was a huge Thai tour group and some random men wanted a photo with me coz they thought I looked like someone famous, it was so funny... At about 4 o clock we made our way home, I was trying hard not to fall asleep (slightly dangerous on the back of a motorbike) and then I said I wanted to stop to take a photo of one of the villages on the side of the road... So we stopped, and we were greeted by so many kids, they were soo cute! They absolutely loved having their photos taken and couldn't stop laughing, it was so nice. Then the adults started to emerge out in the village too to see us.. Lao people are so friendly... Ok so that was just the first day.. The next day I got a bus to Si Phan Dhon or the 4000 islands which was gorgeous.. Its where the Mekong river gets really wide and there are 4000 islands where a few of them are big enough to live on... We got on a longboat where I met 5 other people around my age and after about half an hour arrived on Don Khon island.. It was soo gorgeous... Really traditional and relaxed.. We got lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Mekong, we waited for about an hour and a half until the food finally came.. But they'd forgotten mine haha.. So we had to wait like another half hour.. We spent the rest of the day chilling out.. I went for a walk round the island and then we got dinner where the waiter boy who was like 12 looked just like a mini Usher.. Then we spent the evening chilling in the hammocks and went to bed..
The next day the other guys moved to the next island and I changed guesthouses.. For less than 4 quid per night i got a big double room with a bathroom and a balcony and hammock overlooking the Mekong.. It was beautiful.. It costs a dollar a day to hire a bike so I cycled to the nearby waterfall which was absolutely gorgeous and then walked to a riverside beach and went swimming for a bit.. I climbed up the cliffs to have an amazing view of the river and surrounding area.. It was so perfect! That evening I was cycling along about to go back to my guesthouse when the guy who owns the internet cafe stopped me and asked me to join him and a Japanese couple.. who weren't a couple they were just friends.. It was really cool, we ate sushi and drank Lao Lao and Beer Lao.. I cycled home at 11 but didnt realise there were no street lights.. so I had to cycle about 400 metres in the pitch black along a bumpy track (don't worry it was perfectly safe) After about 200m I heard something beside me and I could just make out like 10 huge buffalo walking beside me! They are really huge.. You cant imagine unless youve seen them.. WHoah that was scary.. But I kept peddling and finally arrived at my guesthouse..
The next day I hired a motorbike to drive around the island, I haggled it down to about 4 pounds for 3 hours. Not bad... I had another incident with buffalo when I thought they were chasing me when in fact they weren't.. But i was so scared to go and retrieve my motorbike from near them that I beckoned some random locals and somehow communicated with them to get my bike for me.. It was funny.
The next day I got the bus to Phnom Penh the capital city of Cambodia... It was an interesting journey.. We got a long boat to the mainland.. And then had to wait ages till anyone told us where to go.. There were about 70 of us backpackers.. Then after a 15 minute walk in the heat half the people got on a comfy looking coach, but the other half of us were left on the road.. I think they'd overbooked.. Then they told us we were getting on this tiny run down looking local bus.. So everyone squeezed on.. with 3 guys on the back and absolutely no room to move inside.. and then the driver told us all to get out coz we were too heavy to move out of the dirt.. HAha it was quite amusing and very annoying.. So he backed out of the mud with the guys still on the roof and we all jumped in again, I was standing up hanging onto the back of the bus.. Then after 5 minutes the bus stopped and we had to get off again to wait for the linking coach to the border.. Haha crazy.. After that it was a pretty smooth ride.. It took all day to get to Phnom Penh.. I met a German guy - Marlon on the bus and we decided to go hunting for a guesthouse together.. We found one then went searching for somewhere local to eat.. We found some noodle soup and then got a couple of beers.. I like beer in Asia but not in England.. Is that weird?
The next day we explored the city after finding a better, cheaper guesthouse.. We had noodle soup for breakfast for like less than a dollar... and then got a tuk tuk to the Genocide Museum.. It was pretty horrific.. It was the place where the Khymer Rouge imprisoned the pretty much innocent people, tortured and killed them.. It had been a high school but was converted to a prison.. It was horrible.. As soon as I walked in I got this really bad feeling inside of me...
In the evening we ate baguettes which were really good.. and then went looking for a bar alongside the riverfront.. There was a really cute little boy trying to sell us bracelets and he'd repeat everything we said and he followed us everywhere.. but then 2 of his friends joined us and they turned nasty haha.. coz they wanted us to buy them ice creams but we wouldnt... they followed us to the bar and just waited outside for us and kept shouting at us calling us stinky! But finally they went away thank god.. So lesson learnt - dont be nice to kids on the street! Ignore them!
The next day I went off on my own and explored some markets.. which were pretty cool.. I bought a really nice purse for like 2 quid.. In the early evening I went to a park which appeared to be the place where all the locals went to chill out.. It was soo nice.. They had music playing, men were playing football, families were just relaxing..
The day after that I got the bus to Kampot - a riverside town in the south.. I had to pay twice because the stupid tuk tuk driver took me to the wrong place twice! And it was too late to go to where I was meant to be so I had to buy a ticket for a different bus.. They always say they know where theyre going but they dont!
To be continued........
No comments:
Post a Comment