The Kids

The Kids
Southern Laos....

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.