Tubing in Vang Vieng... Now in Luang Prabang!

Hey All,
Sorry we have not had a chance to post for a while we have been having a blast in Laos...what a beautiful country!! Today we were due to get up at 5am to see the monks presession...we failed...I did get as far as putting my clothes on and going back to bed, Saskia was peacefully dreaming and mummbled no as I asked does she want to get up to watch the monks! We will try and go tomorrow but then have a flight to catch so will be whingey and moody on our flight!

We have made a little group of friends and have meet them all along our way, tonight we are planning to go to the beer garden with them. Yesterday we met with them in the evening and trecked across a river (don't ask which one as I can't remember)...to a lovely restaurant serving local food and good sangria! I think that is our tipple for the trip. We all sat down on the fall and was really relaxing and a great atmosphere. They also had a range of board games...I tried to convince everyone to play scrabble but they were having none of it, Sas said she would play the junior version as I went on for ages..(I have wanted to play scrabble the whole time I have been here, no idea why!?).

Ok so Vang Vieng...
We stayed on the river in a beautiful house on stilts...although there was a couple of cockroaches, we trapped them in glasses as we freaked out a bit! The highlight of Vang Vieng has to be tubing, we did not manage to go to the caves or lagoon as the day we were due to go it was raining all day so had a indoor day of eating and chilling with our holland buddies.

Tubing was a crazy experience and we did end up having a couple of buckets, each bar you go to they offer you free drinks...one bar they gave me 8 buckets of whisky cocktails which were distubuted to our gang! Me and Saskia ended up giving ours away as it was stupidly strong, one bar had alcohol with bees in it, some kind of delicacy...freaked me out, the man was doing shots like it was going out of fashion! We have also seen rice wine with cobras, scorpions and all other bugs and creepy animals in them...SCARY! During Tubing I was soo scared a fish was going to bite my bum, but forgot a few times and did not lift my bum up high enough and when you get to shallow bits you sometimes get stuck in the rocks or your bum gets scratched up! No wonder so many people get drunk not to feel it! A guy we spoke to said 3 people died when he went, due to stupidity probably, drinking too much and diving of the zip wires or monkey swings after a few too many buckets!

We arrived in Luang Prabang on the 24th after a 7-8 hour journey on a mini van..seeing the beautiful mountain sights along the way! In the evening we went to the night market which was really cool and I managed to bag a few bargain gifts as did Saskia! Was wierd haggling with a child though!

Yesterday we went to a bear sanctuary and Kuang Si Waterfalls...they were breathtaking and I braved swimming in one of them, the water was ice cold which was nice in the heat. Saskia was not as keen to get in though!

Today we will go to a local musuem and then head to big brother mouse were we take part in some voluntary work: proof read books or read to some local children.

In the evening we are going on a cruise along the mekong...I am really excited, can't wait!!

Tomorrow we will be flying to Hanoi- Vietnam to meet Dan, our friend from Uni who is living in Vietnam...we will write you all once we get there and keep you updated on our latest!

Lots of Love

Poonam and Saskia

Quote of the day: "Sabaidee" The only phrase me and Saskia have learnt on our travels, everyone says it in Laos everywhere you go, usually to engage you as they are trying to sell something- It means hello and sounds really cute! :)

xxx

P.S Happy 22nd Birthday for tomorrow Ravi... Hope it is really sunny for you!

Ohh it is snowing somewhere...oh no its just black and white, oops!

Hi Fellow Blog Lovers,

Wooo we survived the overnight sleeper from Bangkok and they gave us Visas to stay in Laos!! It was actually not scary at all and way fun, we met two old, cute little thai ladies...they looked after us and even offered us some wierd sweet thing for breakfast in the morning..It was gross though and we polietly scoffed it down...followed by a gulp of water!


We are now in Laos, Vientiane staying in Mixay Guesthouse..lonley planet recommendation...9 poundaroonees a night, BARGAIN!! Including breakfast (saskia made me change this from breakie to breakfast as she said breakie sounds lame) ...heart shaped eggs (not that i eat eggs, but all the rest was yummy) and AC, yes we are living the life of luxury and you all should be sickly jeaulous!!

We are loving Laos and our adventures are getting more and more exciting by the day! The people here put us Brits to shame...everyone is sooo friendly and helpful, but me and Sas are still ever soo cautious that they may have an alterior motive which so far they have not.

Today we have indulged in relaxing and eating...local cake shops (basically french patiseries) and little restaurants...5 meals a day...and Laogria (basically sangria named after laos) for under 2 pound a jug...me and sas are a little tipsy writing this...only our third time getting tipsy since we have been travelling...near enough once in each country. We realised this evening we should probably not have much more as I looked at the television screen in the bar/ restaurant and said "ahhh its snowing somewhere" to shortly realise afterwards it was a black and white film and not snowing...Also it took us about 20 mins to figure out how much we had to pay...damn confusing notes!...12,500 kip equals 1 pound, after a few glasses of the gria this is intense to work out if we have overpaid.

Tomorrow we are heading to Vang Vieng... on a coach and hoping to do tubing, depends if we have the guts...definetly will not be drinking if we do it..so those of you worried, fear not!

We have been looking into doing a few volunteering programmes in Luang Prabang and can not wait to get stuck in as they all look amazing...we will keep you all updated once we know which ones we will be taking up.

Keep on reading and commenting...we like to feel like you all are close to us!

Love, Hugs and Laogria!!

Pocky (look it up...you know how I like sweets) and Seaweed (Well it starts with S and they like seaweed!!)

xxx

Quote of the day from a sign in our guesthouse: "Prostitutes are not allowed to meet guests in the room". Made me and Sas laugh, hope it made you all laugh too!

I LOVE BANGKOK

Hey all,

We are now in Banglampu staying in a cute guest house on samsen road...called samsen cafe...just off khao san road were most travellers stay. The decor is soo cute and a must try is the sticky rice with mango and homemade waffles! (Yes most of our Bangkok pics of us eating and more eating).



Definetly would recommend for the personal service offered by bow and her family , breakfast included and a/c ...cant not go wrong! Plus lots of veggie restaurants close by...saskia even ate shitaki mushroom stalk without even realising it was mushroom...The owner did not tell us and to our surprise Saskia loved it and I hated it...Saskia being the mushroom hater and me loving mushrooms!! For those of you who know us this will be a big surprise!

Tomorrow we are off to the floating market which means an early morning start, today we went to the chatu chak market were we got a few bargains...we do love to shop!

I will get my new mobile tomorrow as my last one died during songkran due to having a bucket of water poured over my head....hahaha! I am no longer using my india number and back to my traveller number...those that have texted me or asked for my number!

We are missing our lizard buddy...u know who you are!! xxx

Sunshine...veggies and mushrooms...

Poonam and Saskia! :)

Quote of the day on the menu of a restaurant we ate at...In siam paragon shopping plaza...The restaurant ''grey h o un d''...yummy food!

"Life is a journey, full of pleasures, places, stories and good tasting recipes''.

Happy Thai New Year!

Went to explore some other parts of the city today and found ourselves a nice little guest house under our budget, basic but pretty and very clean, above a nice stylish little cafe too. Also on the same road as a vegetarian restaurant we found from a Bangkok lonely planet guide Poonam brought yesterday...really yummy food and so healthy too! I don't think we are going to loose any weight in Bangkok either hehe!

A guy in the tourist informatin place didn't believe I had been traveling for so long because I have no tan..I am tanned damn it! Well for me anyway :P

We went shopping in a shopping mall yesterday, and are going to go shopping in another big mall tomorrow, unfortunately all the other smaller shopping places are closed until the 16th so there isnt much around, but it is nice because the city is not too crowded...apart from all the water throwing parties that is!!

Today we also got an epic soaking, we walked around a different part of the city which wasn't too bad, a few water pistols and buckets but we dried fairly quickly from it. We decided to get the BTS (skytrain) back to Nana and then walk the short way down our road to our hotel...such a mistake!! The road was FULL of people with water pistols, buckets of ICE water, hoses etc. We didn't stand a chance, everyone rides around in the back of trucks with water as well, getting the people on the street, at one point we could not see because of the water being poured on our heads! See picture below...

They also put chalky plaster of  your face as well...fun times! Though I was drying money in the room and Poonams phone broke from water damage so we are off to buy a new phone and new shoes also tomorrow as they will take days to dry oops! We will be better prepared tomorrow...everything in plastic bags...triple wraped and water pistols at the ready.

Much love from Saskia and Poonam xxx

Bangkok...

Hi all, just a quick post to say that Poonam and I reached Bangkok early this morning. The city is buzzing at the moment because it is new years today, everyone is throwing water at each other (and us) on the streets. We are soaked through, I think running away provoked them even more!


First impressions are that it is very different from India and Sri Lanka, for example along with the usual water and snacks in the minibar we have condoms too!! And there are quite a few 'massage parlours' here, loads of old men with young thai women "cringe" its a party place. It is very modern, everyone here is really fashionable so we feel a little trampy!


Lots of love and hugs from Saskia & Poonam x

Socks and sandals...

Hi all we have been in Sri Lanka for 9 days now, very hectic so this is the first chance we have had to post anything. From the start then...

We arrived in Colombo in the afternoon on the 1st of April, we met Riten there (who has joined us for two weeks in Sri Lanka) and after inspecting all the necessities he brought from the UK (ie cream eggs, wet wipes, foam burst shower gel etc) we went to explore the city a bit, there were fires lit on the pavements everywhere, we still haven't worked out why.

Highlights of Sri Lanka so far have been:

Going to an elephant orphanage in Pinnawala - although me and Poonam were too wimpy to toutch them (our driver said 'There wild animals, keep away') That didnt scare Riten and he gave the elephants a stroke.

Climbing to the top of Sigiriya rock which was so high and hard work in the sun but so worth it for the views and the sense of achivement when we got to the top...we also made a friend...a dog followed us half the way much to the distress of Poonam! You all should know about her love for dogs by now!

Riding an elephant through marches and water, Riten also rode on its neck...again me and Poonam wimped out... although getting on the elephant on the first place was an achievement for us! We also saw a crocodile going through the water, one of the guides was taking pictures of us in the water and wasnt scared at all, though me and Poonam put our legs up so it couldn't bite out toes!

We have visited many places and sacred temples..too many to mention all of them...though we have a new found respect for sandals and socks...all of the sacred places you have to take your shoes off and socks are a must if you dont want to run around like a headless chicken due to burning feet! And we are too lazy to remove socks before putting on sandals again...soo much effort in the heat, Poonam upped the game by putting socks with flipflops..she is certain it will be in fashion next year...traveler trends don't you know.

Dambulla rock temple - we climed loads of steps with our aching feet from the Sigiriya climb and saw a beautiful temple with over 150 images of budda and the largest figure of budda carved from rock which was over 14 metres long.

Saw a variety of traditional dances, costumes a bit weird but the stunts and skill was amazing.

Went to a gem museum and could not resist buying some bargin priced rings, real gems and all!

Went to a tea factory and saw some beautiful waterfalls and dodged the sellers, one of which climed up the hill to meet us on 3 seperate roads, Poonam was so impressed she wanted to give him some money for his effort!

Went on a cool safari in Yala National Park, we saw wild elephants, boars, a leapord, spotted deer, crocodiles and load of different birds. The elephant was a tad scary, it charged at our jeep! The driver was laughing like a mad man and our tour guide was freaking out and shouting at the elephant haha! That was definately an experiance..with only a metres distrance from us and the jeep.

We now understand why the people on the news in the desert with guns have scalves over their mouth and nose...its not just to be scary and anonymous its to keep from inhaling tons of dust! We were covered in it from head to toe...white clothes turned red (red sand).

Although we would like to tell you everything we did there is too much to mention in just one post. Those were the highlights. We are now in Ahangama in a beautiful resort by the sea..we have the whole place to ourselves apart from about 4 other people, which is cool when you want to lay on a sun lounger by the pool but can get a tad lonely. We have decided to venture out to a local club tonight to get our grove on..listning to Rihanna and Sean Paul by the pool side has got us in the mood for some dancing.

Honorary quote of the day from Riten "You look like a lizard, man" Doesn't sound quite the same when written down but has kept us amused the whole trip so far, we have decided he should be an impressionist if he ever loses his day job.

Love, hugs and sunshine from Saskia, Poonam and Riten x

p.s A lovely picture of me saving Riten from drowning...Baywatch watch out!