Cos thats where I am. But I'll backtrack. Flew into Bankok Suvarnabumi Airport (silent i, don't ask me why) two weeks ago, and met up with Josh. Very good to see him again! We stayed in the most amazing guesthouse ever, the rocking Sukhumvit On Nut Guesthouse. Run by a Japanese guy, it is not only a guesthouse, but a community centre, restaurant, internet cafe, language school, cooking school, web design company and 24-hour hairdresser (for when you get that late-night haircut craving). I arrived, and met a few guys that had been there for weeks, running up a tab because their money had been stolen/ were waiting to get more from family. They told me there' been a guy there that had stayed, teaching at the language school, for three years!
Sukhumvit On Nut is a little oasis of calm in the crazy commotion that is Bangkok. There isn't much to see in the way of sights, apart from temples (and I did drag Josh into a few) but just the streetscape is enough to keep you occupied for days. In Asian cities (and in some places in the country, like in Laos) people live their lives out on the street and with doors open - working on a street stall, eating at tiny restaurants which feel like you've walked into someone's living room (and in many cases, you have), and playing soccer and looking after their children outside. The concept of privacy is a bit flexible. But we were staying in a non-touristy area (i.e. not Khao San Rd) and didn't get any hassle at all, even with our extremely limited Thai, and my ability to complicate even the simplest of orders in restaurants.
We escaped the smog and traffic of Bangkok for a few days and went down to a tropical island a few hours south of Bangkok called Ko Samet. That place was heaven. A bungalow 200m away from the water, incredibly cheap, fresh seafood (for Josh), cocktails on the beach, a massage every morning...it felt like a million dollar retreat yet was no more expensive than staying in Bangkok. But we had to head up to Bangkok, to go to Chiang Mai.
I had my birthday in Chiang Mai - wandering the incredible night markets, getting Indian (preparation for Delhi!) and eating gigantic ice-cream sundaes with all our bags around us. We didn't stay there long though, only two nights, and headed off by minibus to the Thai-Laos border, the stay of three exhausting, but amazing days of travel through northern Thailand and Laos. We had decided to take the infamous Mekong slow boat, a two day, 16 hour boat ride, that was rumoured to be crowded, hot, and boring. And it was. But it was also amazing. We rode, in our little long boat, past some of the remotest parts of Laos - tiny villages, a few of which had cars, and you had to wander how they got there. Villages built into mountains so steep that I'm sure the effect of them getting onto flat land is akin to sailors on dry land. They kept hauling sacks to the villages, full of rice and other grains. We were evidently the star attraction of the day - some places it looked like everyone had come down to the dock to see us. Eventually we got to Luang Prabang, the second biggest town in Laos. Its tiny, nestled between two rivers, and everything was within walking distance of our guesthouse.
One day we were walking along a path towards the smaller of the two rivers, when we saw a sign saying there was a handicrafts village across the river. The only was to get across was by getting this old Laotian guy to take you across in his little canoe. We did, and for the first hour, wandered around the village sticking out like a sore thumb. Eventually we found the handicrafts stores and a temple and had a look around, then went back to get the guy to take up back across to the town. I learnt a good lesson about Laotian riverbeds that afternoon, because when I stepped off the boat, I stepped into a foot and a half of mud! Lost my shoes, although managed to fish them out of the mud again, the guy grabbed his bailing bucket and helped me wash it off (about 2 inches thick!), all while he, Josh, and the guy's wife were cracking up laughing at me. We managed to get we somewhat clean, but not respectable enough to go inside a shop, anjd walked back to the guesthouse, through the town. Everyone we passed - rickshaw drivers, women with the kids in their shops, kids playing beside the road, monks...smiled when we went past, then slowly realised what had happened to our feet (a very common thing to happen to a farang, or westerner, I imagine) and started laughing too. It was hilarious, to them and to us.
I also rode an elephant, called Nam, while I was there - I was wary of doing a packaged tour, but when I did it ended up being really good. It was through this absolutely gorgeous set of falls, and the animals were just beautiful. On the way back to the boat we encountered some kids with this little animal on their arms. At first I thought it was a kitten, but turned out to be a crazy, really affectionate possum called Ting Ting. I really liked Luang Prabang, and would have loved to have travelled more of Laos, but unfortunately we had planes to catch in Bangkok.
A word on overnight travel - there is a clear hierarchy. First, most comfortable, and the nicest overnight travel is by plane - there is no movement, you get a pillow and blanket, perfect temperature and if you have an aisle seat you may even be able to stretch your legs somewhat. Next down is the train. Extra points if you're in a booth and you can lie horizontally. The rhythmic motion is somewhat soothing; you can get some sleep. Next on the list is boats, and waay further down the list under bike, donkey, and turtleback, is a bus in Laos. We had the luxury of taking one from Luange Prabang to Vientiane on our last night in Laos, which was an experience, to say the least. Along with having enough space to fit maybe someone half my size, and a bus that looked like it was going to fall apart (in fact, it did; the bus broke down a few hours out of Luang Prabang and we had to wait by the side of the road for the new one, as it started to rain), the ride through mountains on the most interesting definition of a road I have ever seen was something akin to being in a washing machine. We did get a stop - at 1am in a tiny roadside cafeteria where it looked like the bus driver had woken the kitchen staff up to serve us (which they probably had). I did enjoy some of it, though...mainly the parts that involved pissing Josh off by stepping on his feet, or taking up too much space :P Vientiane does easily take the prize for most laid-back capital city in the world - even the notorious Asian driving was subdued somewhat. Getting back to Sukhumvit On Nut was awesome - the staff were glad to see us back, and, although Josh got a bit adventurous and went on a rampage trying every streetside thing-on-a-stick he could find, then suffering the consequences throwing up the whole night, it was good to be back. Next post, Delhi and Himachul Pradesh.
(Side note - Josh is now allergic to anything edible that comes in stick form.)
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