The Kids

The Kids
Southern Laos....

Friday 20 May 2011

All over....Back to England

So, here we are, back in Suffolk. Sam is in school, Meg is in pre-school and South East Asia seems a long way away. I went for a bike ride this morning and although it was very beautiful, no-one did a double take as I whooshed past, I didn't nearly run over any chickens, I didn't stop for noodle soup and I didn't curse and splutter over pot holes and cracked tarmac. What kind of a ride is that?!

It's been amazing and thank you to everyone who read the blog and commented on it. It's been fun writing it.

If anyone ever comes across this blog when thinking about going travelling (or better still, cycling) with their kids, then my unwavering advice is to go for it. Before we went, my imagination ran riot thinking up all the horrendous scenarios that could result from our plans...I read somewhere that Burma had open drains and I had this awful vision of one of the children disappearing forever into an abyss of stinking sewage. As with everything, the truth is seldom quite as awful - the drains were open but they were less than a metre deep and whilst the children might have got a bit stinky if they fell in, it wouldn't have been the end of the world.

The same goes for pretty much everything else. Yes, the kids got a bit sick at one point but only a bit of vomiting and it cleared up within a few days (and how many vomiting viruses go round schools every winter?). Yes the food was difficult at some points - there's only so much that you can do in SE Asia with children who won't each rice or chilli and who dislike noodles, but in the end we always found something (and they lost a few pounds!).  Yes, we stayed in some very unsalubrious accommodation but the children couldn't care less..... they didn't know what a brothel was so were unperturbed by our stays in such establishments, and they certainly weren't bothered by sheets which had seen cleaner times in previous decades.

In a nutshell, it was absolutely brilliant and I can't recommend it enough. Take with a generous pinch of salt, all the awful scenarios that your imagination conjures up and think only of all the wonderful things that you can do and see.

Saturday 9 April 2011

Back to Bangkok

Well, we have pretty much finished.

We left Cambodia yesterday and cycled over the border into Thailand. It was the strangest thing; as per my previous post, the town on the Cambodian side of the border is pretty remote and we didn't see any other foreigners. But the minute you cross into Thailand there were hordes of tourists, all there to do visa runs and get extensions to their time in Thailand. The differences between the two countries is stark and immediately apparent. Thailand really is pretty first world, with a highly developed infrastructure, excellent roads, highways and so on. The rutted, pot-holed roads we had cycled on in the morning were a memory but so was the peace and quiet, the small friendly villages and frequent sugar cane juice stops.

The rain started pretty much the minute we got over the border so we flagged down a songthaew (jeep) and got a lift to the nearest big town. On arrival it was still raining so we decided to keep going all the way to Bangkok. We arrived about half eight in the evening, loaded up the bikes and, horror of horrors, started the ride to our hotel.

It was the first time we had ridden in Bangkok, and most certainly the last. My heart was going like the clappers and my palms were a hot sweat. Mike had ripped his rear tyre that afternoon and had done a botch patch up job with a bit of plastic from a tube of face cream. It worked suprisingly well but he had had to partially deflate the tyre and also detatch the rear brake so he swerved rather alarmingly as he cycled. We had to go about 5km along one of the busiest roads in town (Sukhumvit, for those who know) and I really did not enjoy myself. At one point another cyclist (the only one we have seen in Bangkok, and who was lit up like a Christmas tree with endless flashing lights which made our single front/rear light seem a little paltry) flew past taking pictures, then stopped up ahead to take a video as we passed. All great fun but yet another obstacle to be avoided.

It was with great relief that we pulled up at our hotel and were told that there was a room and we didn't have to go any further.

So, that's it. The cycling is pretty much done. We notched up 3,500km which seems quite respectable. We will miss it.

Meg and the Princess Prostitutes

Back in Battambang we went to see a circus performance one evening. This was put on by a local charity, which teaches performing arts to poor children in rural Cambodia. It was held in a mini-top down a rutted side street on the outskirts of town, but was actually rather good. The first part featured a couple doing a Khmer version of the tango which was extremely acrobatic and involved a woman in a pretty red dress being launched all over the place. Both children were completely entranced; we described her as a princess and throughout the second half, which was a more sombre though equally acrobatic piece, portraying the horrors of war through dance, Meg continually and loudly asked when the princess would be back.

A couple of days later we were in Pailin, a small town on the border with Thailand with a seriously wild west feel about it; it was one of the last Khmer Rouge strongholds. The bike ride there had taken us up and over some hills; nothing too big mind, but hills all the same. Anyway, when we got there we went off to try and find some food and the only place we could find was a huge almost empty restaurant with a stage on which a solitary man was singing some rather tuneless Cambodian ditty to the distinterested few diners. We sat down for dinner and after a while a woman in a dramatically short dress came on stage and started to sing. Meg was entranced. 'It's the princess' she cried and immediately insisted in going up to the (empty) dancefloor and gazing up at her in raptures, whilst doing a few twirls. Mike felt sorry for her so went to cut some moves on the dance floor with her.

Later, when the song finished, Meg followed the singer around the restaurant, still shrieking 'princessssssssss'. The woman looked very pleased. Mike explained to our waiter that Meg thought the singer was a princess at which he gave him a lewd wink and said, 'princess yes, but also good boom boom girl', the local slang for a lady of the night.

After dinner another woman turned up, in an even shorter skirt and a pair of the highest stilettos, accompanying a couple of Russian business men. No prizes for guessing what she was up to, but again Meg was entranced and as soon as the Russians left, she rushed over and they had lots of cuddles.

The moral of the story; princesses come in all shapes and sizes.

Sunday 3 April 2011

3,340km and counting.......(not that we are bragging)

We chalked up our 3,000th kilometre about a week ago, riding around Angkor Wat and have since added a few to the odometer, bringing us to 3,340km.

Are we proud? Yes.
Are we bragging? Absolutely.
Do we have buns of steel? Clearly.


Truth be told it is fairly easy to chalk up the distance in Cambodia as it is FLAT AS A PANCAKE. There isn't even a ripple in the landscape - Suffolk is like the Himalayas in comparison. It's not really the most interesting cycling either, as it is the end of the dry season so the fields are brown and parched. But we still pass through enough friendly villages where we get cheered on our way to enjoy it. Today, for example, we stopped for some sugar cane juice at a roadside stall, and a few minutes later a woman who spoke English rode up on a motorbike. She lives in Boston but is back visiting her family; half an hour later we were ensconced in her back yard eating mangos freshly picked from the tree.

We are now in Cambodia's second biggest city, Battambang, staying in a snazzy(ish) hotel and enjoying our last couple of days before we head for Thailand and brave the rains. We'll keep you posted.

Sunday 27 March 2011

Angkor Wat

Wow, Wow, Wow, Wow, Wow.

Meg and Sam have this dreadfully banal Charlie and Lola tape, which they have fortunately now lost interest in but which used to be a firm favourite. (For those without kids, Charlie and Lola are a really annoying brother and sister about whom there are endless boring stories, and who need some top tips on how to speak properly). Anyway in one of the stories Lola discovers the tooth fairy and says, in her irritating voice, 'I can't believe that there is a tooth fairy, WHY didn't someone tell me this before?!'.
For some reason, this refrain keeps going round in my head as we look around Angkor Wat. The ruins are STUNNING. Not just impressive, or beautiful or any of the usual adjectives. They are absolutely breath-taking and I am incredulous that I've never realised quite what I've missed out on by not coming here before.

Angkor Wat itself is a single (but huge temple) which is amazing, but what I had failed to realise was the sheer number of temples that form part of the group, and the variety contained within.

Our first stop was the Bayon (see photo below) which is a huge temple with faces carved out of the rocks staring out in all directions. Again, I had seen pictures before but I hadn't realised quite how big it was, or quite how many faces there were staring out at you. But this was just for starters. We have been exploring solidly for four days and have continued to discover new favourites every day; we have still only really touched the tip of the iceberg. It is just staggering. Some temples are immaculately maintained, others have been left slightly more 'naturally', with the jungle still all around and tree roots working their way through ancient stone work. Some are huge pyramids with steep staircases you can climb, others have cloister after cloister after cloister, each brilliantly carved.

There are hundreds of them and only the most impressive merit a mention in the guidebooks and on the standard tour itinerary.

On the third and fourth day, Mum and Dad hired bikes and we rode out to some of the temples a little further away. We all felt very virtuous as the buses and tuk tuks roared past us.

They left this morning and the children are bereft. There were tears all round and even the promise of ice-cream did not do the trick....Meg continued to sob for the best part of twenty minutes!

Sambor Prei Kuk

From Phnom Penh we hired a van to take us west, stopping for the night in a smallish town, well off the tourist trail, called Kamphong Thom. En route we climbed a holy mountain (the only slight hill in a country that thus far is as flat as a pancake). The views from the top were beautiful, as were the temples and the 850 steps up gave us all a good work out. Well, most of us. Mike was not feeling quite so lively and persuaded the van driver (against his better judgement) to drive him to the top. We then all jumped in for the descent, which was positively perilous as the brakes were awful and the incline very steep. We had a precarious moment when the brakes suddenly failed and we went careering around a corner but fortunately the driver got things under control again.

The following morning we headed to some Pre Angkorian ruins called Sambor Prei Kuk. These are about 1200 years old and consist of more than a hundred brick temples situated in the middle of the jungle. They are wonderfully atmospheric; during our morning there we saw perhaps 5 other tourists, so these are rather off the beaten track but we all loved them. You were able to clamber over all of the ruins so the kids played at Indiana Jones and we all played hide and seek endlessly.

We then drove on towards Siem Reap, the base for visiting Angkor Wat.

Phnom Penh


After a week or so following the Mekong south through Cambodia, we cycled to where our quiet road intersected a major highway into Phnom Penh and jumped on a mini bus. There was just too much traffic, and the drivers too crazy, for cycling to be fun. Arriving in Phnom Penh we biked to our hotel and even that was an experience that you wouldn’t want to repeat too often. The following day, in a state of HIGH excitement, we headed out to the airport to meet Mum and Dad who were arriving for ten days. It was lovely to see them; we’ve been away for nearly five months now, the longest I’ve spent away since my tour leading days. Over the next couple of days we went sightseeing in and around the city, returning frequently to the blissful oasis that was out hotel (the Billabong, in case anyone is heading in this direction). There was a pool there and the kids spent many an hour showing off to Granny and Grandpa.

More pictures

 The Mullet...



 Nope, we just couldn't live with it........... so we went to the other side of the market for the second haircut of the morning.....



Cue the skinhead, poster boy for the Aryan Youth.


 Relaxing after a morning on the bikes..


 Finally, FINALLY, reaching tarmac again after far far too long on a dreadful dirt road. Admire, if you will, my fancy lemon yellow cycling trousers.

Meg is the bag lady on the bike, somewhere in Central Laos.


Crossing the Mekong (for the first of four crossings in a single day).

More pictures

 Three generations in front of Angkor Wat


 Bayon Temple (Angkor Thom). Wow.


 Dad and Meg taking their sightseeing seriously.


 Grandparents and grandkids


Same again....

Saturday 26 March 2011

pictures


This was when we left the main Route 13 in S. Laos and headed off towards Vietnam border.



 Reaching 2000km YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEE



 The kids make friends in Laos..


Hanging out in the Plain of Jars


The Road That Nearly Killed Me ............. doesn't look too bad but ooh so long.....



Meg holds on tight to an orange (given to her by friendly Chinese child passing in 4wd). The old lady tried to extricate it but Meg was not having any of it.


First night out of Luang Prabang.

Friday 11 March 2011

Hello Cambodia

Here we are in Cambodia, in a small Mekong town called Kratie. We arrived from Laos a couple of days ago, after a long hot dusty ride over the border. Met a couple of very friendly but corrupt officials who were after money for all sorts of ingenious things - exit stamp, money please; temperature check for health reasons, money please; entrance stamp, money please. Luckily we were almost completely out of funds (Mike's rather blase confidence that there would be bank facilities at the border having proven unfounded) and were thus genuinely unable to pay most of these.

Our initial impressions of Cambodia are very favourable - it is perhaps very slightly greener than southern Laos, but still parched. The people are very friendly and continue to take a great interest in the children.  The landscape through which we cycled at first was very remote with rather frightening land mine signs placed frequently along the road to deter you from heading into the bush, but the towns are lively, with great markets and more to look at than in Laos.

We are spending a few days exploring the Mekong and then heading for Phnom Penh to meet Mum and Dad. All are very excited!

Thursday 10 March 2011

The 4000 Islands

From Champasak we crossed the Mekong on a small boat and rode south to an old temple called Uo Muong. This was atmospherically situated in an large forest but truth be told, you needed a vivid imagination to get much out of it. Still, it was a beautiful ride to get there, on small tracks past quiet villages. Our intention was to continue south on the main road, stopping in some small guesthouse along the way, but it was just too hot and we were running out of steam, so we jumped on another bus and headed for the 4000 islands. This is in the far south of Laos, where the Mekong spreads wide across the plain, divided into countless smaller streams that curl around small islands, some inhabited, some not. Our destination was Don Khong, the largest of the islands, where we believed that we would be able to stock up on some Western food and there wasn't a bakery to be seen. Seizing the bull by the horns, we took a boat back across to Mekong (third of the day), rode south and then headed to Don Det, one of Laos' backpacker hubs.

As the boat pulled into the beach, sure enough there were some pink backpackers sunbathing, a bakery promising cake and lots of cheap and cheerful bungalows. Unfortunately, Mike had been having what we will delicately refer to as chafing issues during the course of the day, and decided that he wanted to stay somewhere posh. Cake - tick. Hamburgers - tick. Cold beer - tick. Internet cafe - tick. Cheap bamboo bungalow - tick. Posh hotel - nope. Round and round we went, trying everywhere that looked like it would cost more than a dollar, and none of them had a room (or didn't want us to stay there; we were pretty grimy). Eventually we got to the end of the island, it was getting dark, the chafing was getting worse, the moods were remarkably light, but the options were running out. Then, bliss, around the corner we see an old railway bridge leading to another island, one renowned for being for the more discerning traveller. We tried one hotel; full. Tried another; turned out it was a monastery. But finally, FINALLY, we found somewhere that did the trick. Blew our budget for a few days but it was worth it.

I liked the islands and cycled around with Meggles. Mike thought they were dull and wouldn't put his delicate rear anywhere near a bike seat so him and Sam were less adventurous. We celebrated Meg's birthday (three!) and ate Mekong fish.

South from Savanakhet

So, our bikes were repaired, all squeaks gone, brakes and chain oiled, new crankshaft fitted (not sure what it means, sounds painful, but apparently crucial) and we were ready to go. We decided to hop on a bus to Pakse (in the far south of Laos) to save ourselves a couple of hundred scorching and rather dull kilometres. From Pakse we searched out the new road to Champasak, eager to put our spiffy new wheels to the test. 20km of shiny tarmac later and we were full of the joys of spring. We stopped at what we thought were some minor road works for a drink and then carried on; alas, they were not just a a small section of road repairs; contrary to popular belief the road was in fact not finished, in fact not even close, in fact not even close to being close. We hauled ourselves over loose scree, rutted verges, deep sand, loose gravel and some strange fine dust that was so thick yet loose that you couldn't get any purchase, getting ever more despondant. The squeaks started up again, the crankshaft started to grind and when we finally arrived in Champasak 25km later, all the good work of our trusty mechanic was gone. AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!

Anyway, we stayed in and around Champasak for a couple of nights in order to visit the beautiful Wat Phu. (You can imagine the many fun games two five year old boys (one in a 39 year old body) can have with the combination of 'Wat' and 'Phu' in a single name....time just flies by in Laos!). The site is stunning and we spent a wonderful morning clambering over the ruins and enjoying the view from the top. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and fully deserving of it, despite the fact that it is little known abroad.

Thursday 3 March 2011

The Mullet

A few days ago, we decided that Sam's hair needed a trim. You may recall that Sam previously had an 'interesting' hair cut when in Thailand.....helmet hair, without need of the helmet. Well, it was in his ears and mindful of Granny's impending visit (nothing Granny dislikes more than hair in the eyes, isn't that right mother?!) we decided it was time to try again. We found a market, found a willing hairdresser and off she went. Mike is rather protective of his son's blonde locks and looked on aghast as she chopped mercilessly with no apparent design, skill or plan. Within minutes he looked truly extraordinary. By the time she finished, he had an absolutely brilliant 1980s mullet. Now, I know he is half Australian, but there was no way my son was going around looking like some Aussie rules footballer so an hour later, we found a barber. He did a much better job but Sam now sports a shorter hair cut than ever before. It looks great but I must admit, he looks worryingly like a poster boy for the Hitler Youth. I'll post before and after pictures when we can find somewhere to do so.................

Off the beaten track......pretty much off any track whatsoever....

From Lak Sao, where we ended 'day from hell' as described in the previous post, we headed south on a small road. We knew it was not going to be tarmaced so we knew what we were letting ourselves in for, but nevertheless it was hard work. The whole day was spent bumping over rocks and gravel, getting covered in dust every time a truck went past, slewing through piles of sand, avoiding pot holes, bumping over more rocks, getting stuck going up hills etc etc. Sam, Mike and I were fine but I felt a bit sorry for Meggles bouncing around on the back of my bike, rather plaintively singing (Bumps Bumps Go Away - our Laos version of the more well known 'Rain Rain Go Away'). We stopped frequently but by the time we arrived at our guesthouse we were covered from head to foot in a fine red dust, with aching shoulders and wrists and sore bottoms.

The following day saw another 20km of this before the tarmac resumed (joy of joys) and we raced on, relishing the smooth surface. Unfortunately we somehow missed our guesthouse and had to ride for miles and miles before we found another one so were all knackered by the time we eventually found somewhere (idyllically situated next to a huge cement factory).

On the plus side this meant that the next day we only had a short distance to cycle and were able to stop at a large cave and explore; we found a beautiful pool near the far end of the cave and all stripped off and skinny dipped. Bliss. No sooner had I got my clothes back on, two women appeared at the mouth of the cave and giggled immensely at the view of Mike trying to struggle back into his cycling shorts without getting them dirty.

Finally, we arrived in Tha Kaek (back on the Mekong, and therefore on the main north/south highway). We devoured cheeseburgers and chips and then bumped into some cyclists who told us about a great bike shop in the next town, so we hopped on a bus and here we are in Savanakhet. Bikes are being repaired, kids are being stuffed with Western food, and everyone is happy!

Lest you think it all a bed of roses......

So, we had a wonderful visit to a cave and the next day we were to head onwards. As mentioned previously Mike broke a spoke coming in to Nahin so he had to spend an afternoon repairing it as well as other small gripes and problems on the bike. One of his wheels had also developed a puncture overnight so I repaired that. The following morning we rose at the crack of dawn to continue east. Unfortunately, my repair job hadn't done the trick and the wheel was flat again. Not good. A Pleasants row ensued. Eventually the inner tube was replaced (I hasten to add that neither of us could find the leak so I still maintain I did the perfect patch up and the pumping (by Mike) was somehow defective) and we set off, now in the heat of the morning. The road rose sharply so our mutual bad moods were further worsened by a 7km climb in the baking sun, up a never-ending steep hill, with big trucks belching past on their way to the tunnel bore site. You can imagine the scene.

Eventually we got out of the hills and were beginning to get out of our ill temper when my bike suddenly gave out a loud hiss and the rear wheel flattened instantly. Off we went to the side of the road, unloaded, repaired the puncture and headed to a noodle shack nearby for lunch. Noodle soup consumed, we clambered back on our bikes only to find that my rear wheel was once again flat. I'm far too mature to cast aspersions.........

Finally that puncture (third repair job of the day) was dealt with and we set off. Our spirits improved as the road flattened out but 5km from our destination a vicious head wind started up and the last bit took us perhaps 6 times longer than it should have.

Headed out to dinner that evening to 'Only One' restaurant, which was a farce. Had the worst meal of the trip - so bad I refused to eat anything and went off somewhere else leaving Mike to shovel in congealed fried rice and gristly chicken.

As you can imagine, not our finest day!

Kong Lo Cave

After our 'fun' in Laos answer to Patpong, we continued south on the main highway. It was pleasant but nothing like as exhilarating or beautiful as some of the mountain roads in the north. So, after 3-4 days we decided to head east, along one of the routes that lead to Vietnam then work our way south on a less used smaller road before heading back to the main artery that follows the Mekong. As soon as we started east, the scenery was once again beautiful as we headed into hills. The traffic dropped off straight away and we were into a landscape full of karst peaks and jungle. (I don't know why everyone heads to Vang Vieng....the whole of Laos is jam packed with karst scenery yet without the hordes of backpackers. However, I won't start that rant again.) We stopped at one point in a particularly scenic place, and the jungle was very dense around us, so dense in fact that we were soon surrounded by swarms of some flying insect that just loved our salt sweat skin, so we had to carry on. The end of the first day saw us finally cresting a huge hill (so steep that the lorry drivers barely managed to overtake us and one stopped to give us some water as he figured we must be struggling). At the top there is a viewpoint and a small shrine where the truckers stop to make offerings for successful completion of the gradient. The view was staggering...one of the best in Laos and that is saying something.....miles and miles of karst peaks, one ridge behind another, stretching to the horizon. We had had a long day so it was nearly sunset by this point and we could barely tear ourselves away.

But, we did and we had a great run down the hill into a small town called Nahin. We had to stop along the way as Mike broke a spoke but that is for another entry.

Nahin is a strange place, home to a 13km tunnel that is being bored through a nearby mountain, for hydroelectric reasons, I believe, though I can't quite figure out how a tunnel can assist in that. Anyway, point being that there are lots of men (engineers, mechanics, labourer etc) and therefore once again a glut of 'ladies of the night'. We were there to visit a nearby cave that Kong Lo cave, which we had read about.

This cave stretches for 7km through a limestone mountain and you can take a boat ride through the whole thing, emerging into a pristine and gorgeous valley on the far side. Rather unexpectedly (a cave is a cave is a cave) this turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. The cavern through the mountain is vast - sometimes 100m in width and in height, and puttering through in a small three person boat just with the light of the driver's head torch, was really something. One small section has been lit and you can climb up to the top of the cave, past endless stalactites and stalactmites lit in weird and wonderful colours. It was a geography lesson in action.....I had the mantra 'tights fall down' going through my head throughout.

Somehow this cave doesn't figure on most people's itinerary in Laos, but it really is superb and the kids loved it.

Tuesday 22 February 2011

The Pleasants Family discover the Laos Sex Trade

You may recall that at the start of our trip we found ourselves having dinner in a brothel in Bangkok. Well we topped that over the last few days.....
Leaving Vientiane, the road was long, straight and dusty. One stretch ran for 30km without a kink in the tarmac and the view was boring, boring, boring and it was HOT. It was not our favourite cycling day. After 60km or so, we started to look for a place for lunch. Mike pulled up at a roadside place with table cloths (he is a sucker for a nice touch) and the welcome was warm, so we settled in for lunch. The family running the place were very friendly and Sam took a particular shine to one of the girls, aged about 17 or so. She was wearing a fairly transparent top with a fancy bra poking out the top. Another girl had heavy eye make up and a relatively provocative top. We began to wonder......Any lingering doubts were swept away when an older guy rocked up and started drinking beer with one of them.....I went to the loo and noticed a couple of private bedrooms on the way. So, lunch in a brothel.

After an (admittedly very delicious) lunch, we went on our way, looking for a hotel. Eventually we saw a sign, 200m down a dirt track, and off we went. It was quite pleasant. We only began to wonder an hour or two later when a van rolled up with an older guy and a younger girl. They disappeared into a room and left an hour or two later. So, overnight in a brothel.

That evening we went out for dinner. First stop a brothel, second stop a brothel, third stop a brothel, finally found a restaurant that wasn't a brothel. After dinner I returned to the hotel with the kids and Mike went to a shop across the road from our hotel to get a beer. An hour or so later I could hear a girl screaming with laughter. He's a funny guy, but not that funny......clearly something was up. Mike came back shortly later, looking a bit alarmed. Turns out that the two girls in the shop were chatting to him (they didn't speak English, he doesn't speak Laos, but clearly they managed). The conversation took a turn for the worse when they showed him a poster of some Laos women (very innocuous picture from the national airline, but with three or four attractive women on it) and asked him which one he liked best. One of them then surreptitiously showed him a picture on her phone of two girls kissing, then showed him another picture of a naked girl and gave him the eye. He scarpered.

Mike likes to think that they may have just been 'excitable young girls' but I suspect not. So, a drink in a brothel too.

The following day we left and things returned to normal. I suspect it was just a 5km stretch of road that has somehow got renowned for prostitution and we stumbled unsuspectingly upon it.

Vientiane

Vientiane is a lovely city. Although first impressions are ominous (scruffy dusty streets), the centre is very attractive, with a wealth of quiet temples and numerous street side cafes. The French influence is clear. We spent three very enjoyable days there soaking up the sunshine, enjoying the food and the kids loved the new playground on the banks of the Mekong.

We stayed in a comparatively plush hotel which was a great bonus (there are only so many rock hard mattresses a family can take) and stuffed the children with hamburgers, ice cream and dumplings (from an exquisite Chinese restaurant - I was in heaven). All in all it was very pleasant and a good break from 'the road'.

Wednesday 16 February 2011

2000km and counting

So, two days ago, en route to Vang Vieng, we completed 2000km, about which we are all rather chuffed.

Since my last post, we have enjoyed some absolutely spectacular cycling and our thigh muscles have grown somewhat exponentially with endless ascents and descents up and down some of the steepest and longest mountains thus far encountered. Once my bike was finally fixed, we left Luang Prabang and headed south. After a couple of days cycling we dog-legged to the west, to the ‘Plain of Jars’ which is a rather sobering place famous not only for its huge ancient jars spread across the parched landscape, about which no-one knows a thing, but also for the extraordinary amount of unexploded ordnance in the area, dropped by the Americans during the Vietnam War. One village has had the bomb disposal squad out 18 times in the past couple of years but continue to find further bombs in their fields, school playgrounds and roads. Our children were kept on a short leash at all times and although we enjoyed our time there, I was constantly uneasy. I can’t imagine living there.

We then carried on south, through some extraordinary karst mountains, to Vang Vieng. I went to Vang Vieng twelve years ago, and it was a laid-back small town with one main street, a few traveller restaurants and a couple of quiet back roads that you could explore by bike. Fast forward to 2011 and it has grown into the backpacker centre of Laos, complete with LOTS of very young, very drunk backpackers who spend their time either 'tubing' down the river (floating in a truck's inner tube), stopping en route at various bars or eating 'happy pizzas' (ie those laced with dope) in restaurants playing endless re-runs of Family Guy and Friends. Funnily enough, we didn't exactly blend in. To be fair we had heard awful things about it and the reality was not as bad as the stories had led us to believe but still, it was a bit of culture shock after some of the more out of the way places we had been. Some places are probably best left to memory and not re-visited.

We are now in Vientiane, having spent today heading south in a songthaew (kind of like a jeep) as our visas run out tomorrow and we have to nip over to Thailand to renew. First impressions of Vientiane are very promising, with lots of French influenced cafes and patisseries, shaded sidewalks and quiet temples.

And some more pictures

 Sam dodging monks in Luang Prabang
 Somewhere in Northern Laos
 Somewhere else in Northern Laos......
 Mummy pushing up a mountain in Northern Laos (note the road snaking its way in the background of the picture....)
 Sam and Meg on a bus when our bikes died outside Chiang Rai in Thailand

Pictures

At last we can add some pictures.....
Temples of Luang Prabang (Northern Laos)


Stunning scenery in Nong Khiew (Northern Laos)


Sam and friend making a ball run (with ever present audience)


Arriving in a village and immediately surrounded.....


Resting in a road-side hut (of which there are fortunately many) somewhere in Northern Laos


Meggles in a temple

Somewhere en route


Dom Chai....some of our more basic accommodation. Mum and Dad, we promise you one step up from this when you visit......

Sam and Tilda (cousin) 'jungle flying'


The cousins (just outside the cave temple in which Meggles has just weeed)


The boys 


The bigger boys (Mike with his brother John)


Snorkelling near Koh Phi Phi


Grandma and the Girls

Thursday 10 February 2011

What to wear on a bike?

I promised pictures, but the computer kept crashing when I tried to upload them, so I'm afraid that was not to be. I did however manage to upload the picture you can see at the top, of Mike and Sam, which has prompted a few comments about their attire. So, to clarify.
Sam - in the picture, is wearing a rather natty pair of shorts that were made by a tailor in Myanmar, out of a left over piece of cloth that he had been making Mike some trousers from. Yes, this does therefore mean that Mike has a pair of rather extraordinary checked troosers which apparently 'will be ideal for golf'.
Mike - in the picture, is clad from head to foot in cycling gear. We started the trip in normal clothes but slowly he has made sneaky purchases from cycling shops and now wears padded cycling shorts (yes, indeedy, padded right over the crotch, need I say more?), a cycling vest and cycling gloves. Very practical or geeky depending on your take on things.
Liddy - Well, here's the thing. I was wearing normal clothes but was having what I shall delicately refer to as 'comfort issues' (M&S lingerie is perhaps not designed with the mountains of Northern Laos in mind), and have now had to ditch my usual bottom half for a pair of lemon yellow cotton pedal pushers. complete with rust marks where they have been on the hanger for the last decade. No, it's not a good look and funnily enough, you may find that pictures of me cycling will remain in short supply. But they are wonderfully comfortable.
Meggles - Generally just looks like an urchin, whatever she wears, as she has taken to playing in the dirt. Daddy's Little Princess, she is not.
So, there you have it, now you can picture us all, even if I can't post pictures.

Friday 4 February 2011

Pictures and Maps

Lots of requests for pictures...hoping to do that in the next couple of days.
Also, for those wondering where Mike's contribution to the blog is, click on the map - he is tracing our route, with comments about what has happened along the way.

Stranded in Luang Prabang

So, you may recall us riding merrily out of Chiang Rai a couple of weeks ago, me gaily describing our newly repaired bikes as wonders on two wheels. Well, it didn't last. My bike started to creak and crank about a week later, with a pedal coming loose and some gear issues that I don't really understand. Then a few days ago, the relentless onslaught that is the roads in this part of the world, took their toll and the creaking ratcheted up a notch and the pedals ceased to work. Fortunately this took place in Luang Prabang, the scenic ancient capital of Laos and as good a place as any to be stranded. Unfortunately, it took place on the first day of celebrations for Vietnamese / Chinese New Year, and the shop that stocks the spare part that we need is owned by a Vietnamese man who has shut up for the week. So, here we are. Its a beautiful, beautiful city but we are a tad bored - the scenery around is spectacular but not so easy to explore without our wheels.
My last entry was posted just before we were disappearing off for an overnight village stay / cave visit. Robin, you found the right cave and the description of the road was spot on. It was a shocker. Fortunately we were in a 4 wheel drive, but it still took nearly three hours to drive 35km, bouncing and bumping all the way. The hills were beautiful and we passed through quiet villages, the peace generally interrupted only by the squeeling of black pigs who were being strapped on the back of motorbikes to be taken to the local market.
Our arrival in the village where we were staying caused quite a stir. They get three or four groups a month, but Meg and Sam were the first foreign kids who had been out there, so everyone and their uncle, sister, fourth-cousin-twice-removed came out to see us. It is currently wedding season so there were a couple of weddings in full flow (cue LOTS of locally brewed wine and drunk people) which added to the 'atmosphere'. The caves themselves were pretty impressive - we all had to don helmets and head torches as there is minimal lighting inside the caves and what little light there is stops after 500m. Huge caverns, mighty stalactites and stalactites and lots of rather butchered explanations to Sam of how these are formed......I regretted giving up geography so early in life!
We were accompanied on our trip by the Vice President of the provincial tourist board. He was a rather dour man and we never quite worked out why we were thus honoured;  something to do with having the kids and him wanting to make sure it was all okay, we figured.
In the morning we ambled around the village; Mike finds this excrutiatingly embarrassing as he can't help but imagine his own reaction if a load of tourists were wandering around Wickham Market and stopped to peer in our back gate and take pictures of our kids. You can imagine his face when we were pulled towards one of the weddings and asked to strut our stuff on the dance floor; fortunately the roof was about 5 ft 6 so he was able to refuse, protesting height issues.
From the cave we travelled by bus / bike to a small village called Nong Khiaw which is in a stunning location on the edge of the Nam Ou River (a smaller tributary of the Mekong). We pottered there, playing on the edge of the river for a day or two, before continuing downstream by boat to Luang Prabang. This was beautiful - really gorgeous karst scenery with not another boat to be seen and just the occasional 'rapid'.
Luang Prabang, as mentioned, is just lovely with lots of old colonial French buildings sporting picturesque shutters, peaceful alleyways with laid back cafes, endless views of the Mekong, and more temples than you can shake a stick at. There are also hordes of tourists, some with little blond kids, so we are not quite so conspicuous.
We will be here another couple of days, then, fingers crossed, my bike will be feeling better and we will be back on the road, heading south.

Thursday 27 January 2011

Up Hill and Down Dale

Liddy

OH. MY. GIDDY. AUNT.

How much more than we can chew have we bitten off ???!!!!!!
We are now in the mountains of Northern Laos and have spent the last week or so on some absolutely spectacular roads in the mountains, plumbing levels of exhaustion that I didn't realise feasible. Yesterday's extravaganza saw us riding 90km, yes 90km, not a typo, with two epic hills on seriously rubbish roads. The last 15km (by which time we thought surely we must be only minutes away), took nearly two hours and were my definition of purgatory.......bend after bend after bend, hill after hill after hill, pot hole after pot hole after pot hole on an endless, bumpy, gravel road. We were seriously knackered when we arrived. Actually, scratch that, Mike and I were seriously knackered when we arrived; Sam had been complaining about being mildly tired but as soon as we arrived him and Meg started doing laps up and down the hotel corridor. Where oh where do they find the energy?? We all went to bed at about eight thirty, and slept twelve hours straight.

It is, however, truly truly beautiful and, with the exception of late yesterday afternoon when I never wanted to see my bike again, we are loving pretty much every minute. We are passing through very remote hilltribe villages where we are creating quite a stir - not Mike and I, but the kids, and if we stop, the whole village collect to inspect them both with frank amazement. People are generally very respectful though, and Meg is greatly relieved that there has been very little arm pinching and only a little surreptitious hair stroking.

Some of the roads are in tip top condition - slightly strange as there is next to no traffic - but as above, some parts are shocking. We passed 18km from China and the influence is clear - there are lots of Chinese people around (I've been practising my Chinese) and they are responsible for building all the roads in the area, presumably in the hope that the trade links will follow.

Strangely, there are quite a lot of cyclists - each day we see at least one or two other people on bikes and there is a nice sense of camaraderie on the road. Though I could have throttled the Spanish guy the other day who passed me as I panted (walking) up a road pushing Ten Ton Tessa, thinking that surely I was nearing the top. He stopped to commiserate and said I was nearly there, only another 1-2 kilometers. Aaarrrggghhh! Mike has been being very chivalrous and on many occasions when we've been pushing, he has trotted up the hill and then come back for my bike. I think it comes down to brute strength. Or perhaps he is just fitter than me.

We are now in a place called Oudomxai and have decided to have a break from cycling for a couple of days, so we have booked a two day trip off to a huge cave in the countryside, with a homestay.

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Hospitality Thai / Belgian style

Liddy
Leaving Chiang Rai behind, we headed back towards Laos, trying to reconnect with the route that we had been following before our bikes collapsed. 50km of cycling on our trim new machines took us to a place called Pha Mengrai, where we planned to stay the night. As we arrived in town, eyes peeled to try and find a place to stay, a foreigner on a motorbike rode up beside us and asked us if we would like to stay with him. Thus we met Polo and Som and experienced the most remarkable hospitality that we have come across thus far on our trip. Polo is a retired Belgian man who has moved to Pha Mengrai with his Thai wife, Som. They have a beautiful house on the outskirts of town with a 'spare' house in the garden that friends and family stay in. Polo had seen us cycling past and had jumped on his motorbike to intercept us and make sure we were okay. Within half an hour we were sitting on a shaded terrace drinking beer whilst the kids raced around the garden, playing with Polo's grandchildren's toys and having a wonderful time.
We spent the evening there and this morning, rather than setting off at the crack of dawn as planned so as to ensure we got to the border in time, we had a leisurely breakfast, went out for lunch with Polo and his brother (who also lives nearby) and then Polo drove us all the way to the border, nearly 60km away.
I can't imagine being so hospitable in the UK,  but whenever we thanked Polo and Som for their kindness, Polo always said that he was sure our parents would do the same back at home......So Mum / Dad / Elaine, keep your eyes peeled for backpackers passing by who look like they could do with a comfortable bed for the night!
THANK YOU, Polo and Som, the kids miss you!
We are now in Laos and first impressions are very promising but that is for another day.

Bike MOT

Liddy
From Pa Daet we set off happily, enjoying being off the beaten track. Unfortunately about two hours into our ride, Mike's bike gave up the ghost and his chain resolutely stopped working. Sam pedalled manfully for a few hundred metres, but his little five year old legs were clearly not going to shift all 100kg of Mike + panniers + bike.
Mike took it all apart but to no avail, it was badly broken. He hitched a ride to the nearest 'garage' but the mechanics there had no idea where to start. Whilst I was en route to the garage, my bike also started to shudder and  by the time I had arrived, my gears had broken. Ouch.
Fortunately we were only 30km from Chiang Rai (a big town) so we hopped on a local bus and headed there, where we found a very snazzy bike shop. One day and a hundred and fifty pounds later, we picked up our new and improved overhauled bikes. The contrast is remarkable, like giving up a battered old pick up for a new state of the art BMW. I've got a reinforced rim on my back wheel (they took one look at Meg and said that I needed some extra metal work!) and various other bells and whistles which all in all mean that we are now able to boost along very happily. Money well spent!

Bodies and Brothels

Liddy
It seems a while since I last posted but it wasn't really, we've just had an eventful few days. So, we left Chiang Mai and headed to a small provincial town called Phayao. This was nice enough but we were only really there for a night as it was where we were starting cycling towards Laos from. We stayed in a hotel which was fine, but stank to high heaven.....sewage, or so we thought.
Anyway, the next day we cycled on to a place called Pa Daet - don't bother looking on a map, you won't find it! The cycling was lovely, much nicer than further south in Thailand. The roads were in tip top condition but there was comparatively little traffic and the views were stunning, of paddy fields backed by distant hills. Arriving in Pa Daet, where we intended to stay the night, we were told that the only hotel was 10km out of town. We decided to have some lunch and then consider our options - didn't fancy another 10km but on the other hand, didn't fancy sleeping rough either! After about 10minutes in the local noodle joint, a foreigner (Rudi) pulled up on a motorbike and introduced himself. It turned out that the woman from the noodle shop had called him as she knew we were looking for a place to stay, and he was married to a local Thai woman and she knew he spoke English so................in he was drafted to assist. He promptly helped us find a place to stay and we invited him to dinner.
In the afternoon, Meg and Sam played with the children at the hotel (aged 12 and 14); Meg had her hair done up like Minnie Mouse in two giant bunches and they all disappeared off to a local playground for a couple of hours, leaving us without childcare responsibilities for the first time in a couple of months. Bliss.
That evening, over some beers, we talked with Rudi and his wife about what we had been up to and happened to mention our hotel in Phayao.
'Ahhh, the Tharn Thong Hotel, yes that is very famous' we were told.
'Yes, many people die at this hotel'.
'Huh?!'
'Yes, this is a mafia hotel, people are invited to stay there by the local mafia but then they are killed'.
Harumph, and there I was thinking it one of the classier places we had stayed. Was the smell sewage or worse??
It also transpired that the place that we had been advised to try, 10km away, was in fact a brothel, and they would have charged us by the hour.
Anyway, we had a very pleasant evening with our new friends.

Friday 14 January 2011

Crying in Chiang Mai

Liddy
So, we had to bid the family farewell today and the kids are heartbroken. We waved goodbye as they disappeared off in a songthaew (jeep) and the kids started wailing and didn't stop for quite some time. Clearly, the thought of another few months with just Mum and Dad for company is NOT a pleasant one.
Anyway, we've had a great couple of days. We are still up in Chiang Mai and a couple of days ago Alistair, Mathilda, Sam and I headed out to the forest to go Jungle Flying. This meant donning a foxy harness (climbers take note, you may think you look good but a harness is just NOT a good look), a blue shower cap (ostensibly to keep the hair out of the various bits of equipment, but possibly just to make us all look like dinner ladies), and a helmet and then climbing up into to forest canopy to be linked up to zip wires and fly from platform to platform a la a gibbon. It was amazing.
We abseiled, zipped along 300m long wires, climbed up staircases spiralling around giant trees, and followed suspension paths through the jungle. And, I mean we. Mathilda and Sam did everything and loved every minute of it. Sam had one nervous moment when he had to abseil off a platform 40m up in the air, but he managed it and was chuffed to bits afterwards.
Mike and Kathie went the following day (we had to go in shifts and Sebastian and Meggles were too young) and also seemed to enjoy themselves.
We are heading towards Laos tomorrow, and will probably take 4-5 days to reach there. No idea what the internet options are going to be like for the next couple of weeks, so if we go a bit quiet, that will be why.

Monday 10 January 2011

Two families, Nine wheels.........Cycling in Chiang Mai

Liddy
So, we have met up with Kathie and Alistair and family again, and are now in Chiang Mai, the 'capital' of Northern Thailand and currently ranking as one of my favourite places in Thailand. There are hundreds of small 'sois' (alleyways) all around the city which are fun to explore and take you to all kinds of unexpected places.
Kathie and Alistair have hired bikes to join us cyling so Sebastian (4) has been riding around in a chair on the back of Alistair's (mountain) bike whilst the girls got the bum deal with Mathilda (7) perched somewhat precariously on the back of Kathie's (one gear only) bike, on a flat seat with two fold down foot supports. She was so bounced around that by the end of day 1, the flat seat had lost a crucial nut on one side and we had to tie it on with a piece of plastic. What with Kathie's helmet being a strange shape and poor fit (such that it sat at a jaunty angle like a beret) they made an interesting sight......
Anyway, equipment aside it has been really fun to explore the area on two wheels. Yesterday we explored a few of the less visited wats (temples) which were lovely. Low point of the day was when Mike and I had ignored Meg's request for the loo once too often and she created a huge puddle on the floor of a temple. High points were the children running around pretending to be archaeologists, banging the bells in the temple compounds, and Alistair finding a stash of money in the road. Not mega bucks but enough for a big round of cornettos which kept everyone smiling.
Today we went off into the countryside to visit some ruins which were beautiful at least in part because they were completely deserted. High point was stopping at a random hairdresser for group hair cut. Low point was the resulting hair cuts. Suffice to say that you might not see any pictures of Sam for a while..........
We have a few more days en masse before Mike, I and the kids head towards Laos and some mountains. I read some cyclist's blog the other day, and they described the route........100km between towns and 20km ascents of steep mountains. Hmm, sounds interesting.
Last but not least, the good news on the culinary front is that Meggles had her first mouthful of rice today. Its taken two and a half months but a breakthrough nevertheless!!

Thursday 6 January 2011

The Thai Tooth Fairy

Liddy

The Thai tooth fairy had to make another visit last night, with the second of Sam's teeth falling out. I promise that I won't bore you all senseless with a constant update on the state of our children's teeth.... reporting on the first two to fall out is enough. But he now has a good lisp which is fun with a name like Sam.

We bade goodbye to Elaine and John a few days ago and a temporary goodbye to Kathie, Alistair and kids, and got back on the bikes for our first bit of cycling in Thailand. I have to confess that it wasn't too dreamy. The roads are in tip top condition but this means that not only can we rocket along, so can every 4x4 driver, bus, lorry, tuk tuk and motorbike. We thought we were taking back roads but they were still pretty busy and the verges were strewn with rubbish. The view wasn't very scenic either. As you can see, I'm not yet a convert. On the plus side, we did manage 75km in a day, which is a Pleasants record, though we were all absolutely exhausted at the end of it.

We stopped for a couple of days in a town called Khampaeng Phet, which has some beautiful old ruins, much like those in Ayutthaya and Sukhothai but completely deserted. We spent a wonderful day cycling around through the forest, clambering over ruined temples and crumbling walls, playing hide and seek (though not always successfully.....I found a great hiding spot but it was so great that the kids gave up and I was sitting there for 15 minutes before I realised they had wandered off).

We are now in Chiang Rai, up in the far north of Thailand, and hope to go find some hills to cycle around tomorrow.