Huay Xai

I'm pleased to report that I was feeling a bit better this morning and just about up for the bus ride to the border town of Chiang Khong and the river crossing to Huay Xai in Laos. But that's enough travel for today. I've had a stroll around the area, and up to the local Bhuddist monastery. The photos are of the steps, and of the view looking back to Thailand from my lodge window. My options from here were down to either the slow boat (2 days) down river to Luang Prabang, or the speedboat option (6 hours).

Since I'm beginning to feel that my time is rapidly running out I'm going for the latter.

Spoke too soon!

I guess I've paid the price for boasting about how I haven't had a day of illness on my travels. That has changed over the last 24 hours - but just with a badly upset stomach which I'm sure will recover fairly quickly. Anyway, my plan for today had been to head for Laos and get started on a river journey to Luang Prabang. In the morning my stomach told me this would be a bad idea; so I have just lain low here all day - until heading out for a low-risk meal this evening with Alicia - a fellow traveller from Canada. She has just arrived from Laos, and is heading for the Golden Triangle; so we hade a useful exchange of experiences.

That's it for now.

Chiang Rai - and Thai garlic soup!

I'm at the Golden Triangle Inn and it seems like a fine place, and Chiang Rai generally has a very nice relaxed feel. There is a night market here, as in most Thai towns- with plenty of choices of places to eat as well as yet more shopping opportunities! I headed there last night and chose an ordinary looking place in the market square. I decided to remember my mission and asked if they could do a garlic soup. I don't think he had heard such a request before, but he did a fine job anyway. Not much like the Himalayan variety; more like a garlic version of French Onion (complete with bread and cheese on top) as well as chicken and various Thai spices and lemongrass. There is a picture in case you are interested. I needed a long sleep last night and more or less managed that. Today I've been strolling around CR, eating, investigating bus options for escape tomorrow, buying a new book (I'm going through about one a week), and buying a new pair of reading glasses (from a proper optician). I haven't told you here before now, but I lost my (varifocal) specs somewhere around Annapurna Base Camp, and have been using cheap glasses from Pokhara, which are pretty lousy to be honest.

My new purchase isn't the whole solution but it will help.

Does anyone remember Spike Milligan's "I left my teeth on Table Mountain"? I think I have a new verse for it!

Golden Triangle

Something of an epic day yesterday. I decided to book a group excursion to the so-called Golden Triangle - where Thailand meets Burma and Laos, and which was once the centre of the opium business. My plan was to get off at Chiang Rai on the way back rather than return to Chiang Mai.
It worked out well in the end, but only after a rather bad start.
I was up at 5:45 for breakfast before departure at 7:00 - but the minibus didn't show up. As I was becoming more frantic I was being given promises that the bus was just a few minutes away. The fact is that it had gone without coming by my hotel and was well out of town. Needless to say I was kinda unhappy with this and my feelings were made abundantly clear. Anyway, they came back for me and we finally set off again at 8:00. The others on the bus had been allowed to vote on the matter; so I'm grateful to them - a fine bunch of 9 in total (from all corners of the world, and Belgium) + courier and driver.
One thing that had not helped my general demeanour whilst waiting, by the way, is that the hotel's poodle decided to cock its leg and pee against my rucksack - which was waiting by the door. With the assistance of the kitchen staff , I made an effort to clean it up, but I fear that it will never be quite the same again. At this time I thought the puddle on the floor was the only golden triangle I was going to see today.
It was a long drive to the border town of Mae Sai: after 2 pm when we got there. We had a couple of stops on the way to visit some hill-tribe people - the kinds with elongated necks or ears and the like. I found that a bit distasteful and counted myself out.

Undoubtedly the highlight for me was my 1/2 hour crossing on foot into Burma. It is difficult to summarise even that short visit, but it was a mix of army border guards and local people trying to sell counterfeit copies of everything that you can imagine - from Scotch Whisky, cigarettes, watches to Viagra. One fella was genuinely friendly and took my picture by a roundabout. When I offered him a small tip he became very nervous and wouldn't accept it because the army would be watching. I'm pleased that I managed to have a laugh with some local women - just making fun of mutual inability to communicate in any other way. BTW none of the others chose to cross the border and I think they all regretted it.

It hadn't been part of my original plan, but I decided to go along with most of the others on a speedboat trip on the Mekong River - a gigantic piece of water even this far from the ocean. This included a 1/2 hour stop on the Laos side of the river - again with shopping opportunities of course. I bought a map I wanted, and which I had failed to find in Chiang Mai.

I was dropped of in Chiang Rai (at a guest house suggested by one of the others) at 7 pm - pretty tired after a long day. I felt sorry for the others who still had the best part of a 3 hour trip to get back to Chiang Mai).

I've done a postscript edit to add some photos: a picture of a bit of Burma (left) and Laos (right) from Thailand, me at a Burmese roundabout - and Gee a Korean New Yorker from our team, who decided to copy my pose at the Golden triangle monument (but looks far better)!

Escape to Chiang Mai

OK, the news is that I left Kathmandu yesterday on a flight to Bangkok, and onwards this morning to Chiang Mai - in northern Thailand. I didn't arrive in Bangkok till 7 pm and so took up a good offer of accommodation near the airport and returned there this morning to take my chances on flights to CM. It all worked out very well, and I was here at the back of 11 am and I am now checked in to the SK Guest House (from Lonely Planet recommendation). I was in Thailand 8 years ago, and this is as far north as I got; so I feel that I'm starting again where I left off last time. Although I didn't get to see Bangkok city, I can already tell that this country has come on a long way in the few years since I was here. Bangkok has a brand new airport. It is 45km out of the city, but definitely one of the best I have seen in terms of general efficiency. I took a wander from the hotel last night and sure enough found a more traditional Thai place to eat. It was full of Thais singing karaoke - pretty badly but funny anyway, and I think that is the whole point.
I'll stay here for a max of two days then head further north to see if they will let me cross to Myanmar for a short visit, then try to roughly follow the Mekong river through Laos and Cambodia. That's the plan anyway, but I reserve the right to change it completely!

A rough bike ride!

Here is a picture of Chuda standing at the site of what he plans to turn into a fish farm. The whole site is at least 3 times as big as what is shown in the picture. At the moment he is paying lots of money for one of those giant Komatsu excavators, as well as a team of two operators. It is a big project, and I hope it pays off for him. Certainly there are several other fish farms in the area - because there is natural water in the ground, and the clay nature of the soil means that it is relatively easy to create man-made lakes.

To get there I hired a bicycle (as it happens from his brother Ishwori) - and cycled about 12km each way. This was one of my worst experiences so far - not because of the searing heat, but because of the state of the bike. It was designed for someone about a foot shorter than I am. And when I paid a roadside repairer (all of 5 rupees) to try to raise the seat, he succeeded in ruining the thing altogether. Not only was it no higher, it was now pointing upwards at an angle of about 45 degrees.

Apart from the bike though, it was another very interesting experience.

This afternoon I came back to Kathmandu by bus, and am back at the Potala Tourist Home.

My job with the Namuna School is more or less done for now, but we will continue by email (as we do some further editing). So the time is approaching for me to move on from Nepal. I'm considering a couple of options, and I'll be sure to let you know here before too long.

It's a small world!

Well I'm certainly glad I came down to Chitwan for a few days. It makes a pleasant change from the hustle & bustle of Kathmandu. Suaraha is just a tiny village on the edge of the national park - and it turns out that my friend Amit from Canada has been here for the last five weeks - doing some voluntary work in the local school. As a result she seems to know everyone in the village - including Chuda's younger brother Ishwori and his family! So apart from all the interest of the jungle I've found it to be a very friendly place. It is very hot though! I think this is just about the height of the hot season, before the monsoon.

I've already done a canoe trip on the river which skirts the national park here, and been on a jeep safari through the park yesterday and, this morning, an elephant ride. On the way we have seen lots of the very special animals which live there - and I'll attach some pictures here. You will probably recognise most of them - except maybe the Sloth Bear - perhaps the scariest so far!

Best bit for me was having a bath with the elephants. If it wasn't for the delay on my digital camera, there would have been some great pictures - 'cos I kept getting thrown off, or sprayed with a trunk-full of water. As it is you will just have to be content with me climbing on (by holding on to the ears and having the elephant lift me up using its trunk) and a big splash with me in the middle of it!

This afternoon I've hired a bicycle and plan to take a trip to Chuda's hole-in-the-ground which he intends to turn into a fish farm. But it is scorching at the moment and I am waiting for it to cool down a bit.