A Familiar Face

On Sunday, Gav and I met up with Wilhelmina. Wills took over my job when I left Tesco. She's in Bangkok visiting another one of her friends, Nicola who also works for Tesco but is based in Thailand. Nicola had been invited to a party to watch the England game, so gav and I tagged along. It was surreal enough to be out in Bangkok with Wilhelmina without getting a chaufer driven car to a party. Then we get to the party and I recognise our host. It was Barrat (for the Tesco people out there, he used to work in the support office for Steve Manders, then Richard Dodd also turned up.) Anyway aside from the game, the highlight for me and wills was the private lift that Barrat and his wife had to their appartment. 2 days before hand gav and I had been filling a bucket with water to flush the loo, and there we were in a luxury apartment with its own private elevator!! Here's a pic of the lift. It was a lovely evening, Gav enjoyed watching the game on a massive screen (bigger than either Ste or Um's) and I enjoyed catching up on all the Tesco gossip.

We spent monday with Wills just hanging around the city, here's us enjoying an ice cream sundae and chocolate fondue. And finally here's us at Nicola's apartment (she has a maid every day!) If I ever go back to Tesco I need to go back as an ex pat somewhere - they live like the rich and famous.

Anyway we're back to basics again now. We had a 13 hour bus journey to get to Seam Reap in Cambodia, 6 hours of it along a pot holed dirt track. The guide book described Cambodia in the rainy season as looking like a giant puddle and that's fairly accuate.

Tomorrow we're visiting Angkor Wat so prepare for some good pictures...

Leave off my wig!

After reading Ste's comments - I've attached my own with a score so far (see tubing time)

By the way we're back in Bangkok now to meet up with Wils from Tesco. We're looking forward to seeing her and also the small matter of England v Ecquador in 5 and a half hours time. After watching the Germany game do you think Shevchenko is worried, with Ballack and Lampard both having a shoot on sight policy, he'll never get any chances.

The next update will be from Cambodia where we'll we visiting the temples of Angkor Wat, Phnon Pnem and Sihanoukville.

2-0 Rooney and Gerrard.

Holland to go out to Portugal on pens.

Au revoir Laos.

That's it for Laos then. We will come back one day as we've both loved the atmospehere, scenery and people.

I asked this young lady (at the bus station in Vientiane) if I could take her pic to show all these delicious baguettes - the French influence again.

Better out than in

I'm back. Hopefully we'll take it in turns to do the blog now I've shown Bec how easy it is. I've added some scenery pics from our balcony in Vang Vieng - Bec thinks they're boring.

We'd decided to travel on a normal bus again to go from Vang Vieng to Vientiane - a short 4hr journey. The normal practice is to give out sick bags as we start any kind of ascent as a lot of the locals aren't used to travelling in cars or buses and so they become travel sick quiet often. Once the sickbags are full then they are just chucked out of the window!

It's not the only bodily fluid that goes out of the window though; throughout SE Asia you will see people "hocking up greenies", "gozzing" quite happily - it's normal. So, it's run of the mill to see people spitting through open windows.

The couple in front of us on the bus were prolific, especially the bloke. However, after the young lady, with manicured nails, had done a couple her male companion gave her a lesson in what I'll call "greenie etiquette". So that there was no danger of any of her gozz going onto me he motioned for her to cup her hand as she was spitting. The next time she was ready she politely cupped her hand and gozzed right round it so that it came straight back towards me, hit my windowsill and sat there right next to my elbow. She was horrified but I wasn't that bothered, I just took out a wet wipe and got rid of it, like the true English gent I am.

After nearly 2 hours the bus stopped by the side of the road. My new mate did a weeing motion to me so that Bec and I knew why we'd stopped. The toilet was the side of the road, no bushes or anything and half the bus (men and women) got off and in full view of the other half of the bus relieved themselves. It's a bit different from travelling on the tube where you don't even notice the person sitting next to you. I'd seen the woman in front of me have a wee, puke up and nearly gozz on me!

Tubing Time

The main attraction in Vang Vieng is Tubing down the river. you sit in an old tractor inner tube and just float down the river for about 3 hours. There are loads of little bars to stop off at on the way with rope swings and stuff. It was so good we stayed an extra day and did it again. I was too scared to go on the rope swing but gav made a big splash. Luckily for everyone there are only pics of gav so you don't have to see me in my swim suit! Not sure why gav insisted on wearing a life jackets - it was live a mill pond most of the way - we just bobbed along. Gav did manage to burst his tube on the first day.

Every day is a bad hair day!

Gav is refusing to get his hair cut. He actually thinks it looks good. Instead of his traditional boufont, he's taken to having a side parting. He likes nothing better than pushing his hair accross his head, the way balding men used to before they all shaved their heads! And the side burns are just too fluffy to mention.I don't know what he see's when helooks in the mirror, but it makes him smile (and me cringe).

But despite the hair and sweat patches on his legs, he does look lovely in this pic. It's in a smalll bar by the river in Vang Vieng. He's listening to new order, having a beer and watching the sun set behind the mountains - a happy man (with big hair).

Luang Prabang

Well, by tomorrow we'll have been here for 6 nights and it's still a wrench to leave - it's effortlessly elegant. I'm having real problems uploading the pics today and seem to have lost the better ones. In order the pics are - me swimming in the Khian Si waterfall, the Royal Museum, Bec at the waterfall and a view of the town itself.

Laos was a former French colony so there was a pic of some locals playing petanque, games spring up all over the place just like France. Most of the buildings have a French feel and houses wouldn't look out of place in the cote d'azur.

The Royal Museum was the Royal Palace until the communists came to rule in 1975. The royal family then went into exile and no-one has heard of them since. Weirdly, there is no mention of this in the museum but they do have exhibits of their clothes, LPs and gifts from other state heads (including a model of of a spaceship from Richard Nixon!)

From here we'll be going south to Vang Vieng, then the capital Vientian and then back to Bangkok (on our way to Cambodia) to meet Wils and Nicola.

Right, I'm going to try and retrieve the pics I may have lost or have a cry somewhere!

General News

Thanks for all your emails - it's good to know some people are reading the blog. The boat trip entry is about half the size it could have been.

Kneewatch: Bec's knee is a lot better and the scab is ripe for picking!

World Cup: I've kept up to date but missed the France and Brazil games last night. Bec could only manage the 1st half of the England match such was the excitement. But at least it's a win.

Phil: get well soon after your operation. Is it all in the mind?!

Rebecca Oliver: Ste, can you send any more pics yet?

Bored, Border and most Boarding

The last 2 pics show the Mekong river border crossing between Chiang Khong (Thailand) and Huay Xia (Laos). It's only 100m or so and costs about 20p each to cross. Immigration on the Laos side is a bloke at a tressle table who asked why so many Brits were visiting Laos.

We'd heard and read so many different opinions of the boat trip on the Mekong between Huay Xai and Luang Prabang that we expected a long, boring, uncomfortable journey at worst and a visually stunning, bustling adventure at best. We got the latter with a bit of discomfort thrown in for free.

It's a 2 day trip with a stop on the first day at half wayish Pakbeng. Described by Bec as "a small village in the middle of the jungle". Not quite but the accommodation was pretty basic.

After an enjoyable breakfast we got down to the boat early for the 2nd day's travel. We left our bags on our seats and then I got off again to stretch my legs. OK, I went to see if anyone else would fall on the steep descent down to the boat. I'd missed someone fall earlier and had been gutted.

The boat filled up quickly but as we set off both Bec and I still had double seats to ourselves. Bonus. The previous day we'd stopped when locals flagged us down. An hour and a half in and we were stopping for the 2nd time already. I did a quick calculation: people on shore + people already on boat = v crowded.

As we approached the the shore little Miss Apprehension appeared on my shoulder "see those pigs that are being untied, they're getting on, they are!" "Yeah, right" replied Mr Unsure. A jovial local lady asked Gronje, an Irish farmer's daughter, to help her pass things onto the boat. No probs. As she nonchantly took the 3rd box she screamed in surprise when she saw the contents. How we laughed at her when we saw them - about a dozen little cutey ducklings. Aww. "The pigs are coming" whispered Miss Possibility. "Ha" laughed Mr More-Unsure. Bec's voice interrupted my "shoulder" discussion. "The lady's gone to get her pigs" I laughed at her "joke"

The biggest pig was tied up first, front legs together then back legs together, turned upside down and a pole between both sets of legs to carry on board. All you could hear between the pigs' squeals were the chirps from the ducklings as the Westerners panicked. 4 pigs were tied up and put in front of the teenage captain's window on the deck. Just the goat to board unless the elephant was out of view(!) The goat was shoved onto the rough was minimum fuss and we were off again.

15 mins later we were flagged down. When the locals piled on I weighed up my options. There was a little old man who was tiny, if I shared with him and his basket of chickens then a) he might not be going all the way b) I wouldn't get a smaller backside to share with and c) worse might board. Blimey, some scousers or Aussies might get on!

I gestured to the 250yr old man to sit down next to me. He smiled at my act of outward kindness, I smiled back and we bonded. It was 11:00 am and we had 6 hours ahead: the pigs were squealing, the goat was giving us his Roy Castle impression and my new mucker fed his chickens. Bliss.

As you can see from the pics there was plenty to distract us, elephants , water buffalo, stunning scenery and a beautiful clear blue sky.

The pigs got off before us and were untied and back on their feet in no time. Around 5ish we arrived in Luang Prabang and while some complained they were bored I'd not even had chance to listen to the iPod.

Violence on the bus

I woke up disappointed that with only 2 games gone in the World Cup I already had a dismal 50% viewing record. Pathetic. Anyway, we had a 3 day journey ahead of us to Luang Prabang (Laos) so I couldn't waste any time worrying about what the Poland v Ecquador was. The 6hr bus ride to Chiang Khong on the Thai-Laos border was comfortable, we also had the national anthem routine again at 8am.

What was disconcerting for me was the film choice. We had 2 and the 2nd was the most brutal film I've ever seen. Now you all know that I will watch anything. Well this was unbelievable, there was a 20 minute fight scene (no exaggeration) where one guy fought an imaginary bull AND rabid dog, he could disappear at times, it rained blood while both blokes seemed to die and reincarnate at will. The most shocking bit was when someone cut off a neat 15cm square chunk of skin Silence of the Lambs style. At this point my Englishness got the better of me and I looked round to see if any of the Thais were as horrified. Oh no, the family behind had their nippers on their knees and were watching intently! And to think when I worked for Eurosites someone once complained that showing the Addams Family on the way to Andorra was inappropriate(!)

Long live the King

After my exertions of trekking the Himalayas in flip flops and Bec's 2 days of creativity, her pad Thai noodles were delicious, we had decided to have a lazy day in Chiang Mai and stay for the King's 60th jubilee party in the town centre and then set off for Laos Sat morning.

We hired a moped to zip out of town and buy our bus tickets. Bec lost the map, that shows the intricate one way system, en route but because we're so relaxed we didn't argue and had a laugh about it. After an hour and a half of going "freestyle" we still hadn't found the bus station so I pushed her off the moped and haven't seen her since.

Himalayas in flip flops

Here are pics of the Vachirathan waterfall. Doi Inthanon is the National Park just outside Chiang Mai and it contains the highest peak in Thailand - 2800m. It's also part of the Himalayan mountain range. Because of the rain and temperature the climate is a lot different from the rest of Thailand and so is the vegetation. It seemed strange seeing Thais have their photos taken next to fuchsias and I told them I had them at home in my garden, then realised I had neither!

Chiang Mai

Here are Bec's lovely wares from today's batik art school. Tomorrow she's doing a Thai cooking course out in the countryside on a farm. While she's cooking I'll be visiting a National Park north of here and climbing Thailand's highest peak, then on Friday morning we'll be taking the bus north east to Chiang Khong and then crossing into Laos at Huay Xai. After that it's just a 2 day boat trip to Luang Prabang. Maybe we'll splash out and do the 6hr speed boat instead.

Chiang Mai is obviously a lot less hectic than Bangkok but the reason Bangkok charmed me last time (Nov 03) was because everything was so frantic, lively and rushed. This time though the 100 miles an hour pace of life was beginning to grate.

Above are a couple of wats (temples) I visited while I was out and about today.

Haymakers Galore

We went to watch some Thai boxing the other night and maybe we should have gone in Bangkok - the standard was pretty poor here. They even had a novelty fight with an English guy Tim fighting a Thai guy. When the Thais warm up they do a ritual and then the music starts at the same time as the fight. The Thais seem to dance in rhythm to the music as they bounce and sway but Tim just stood there like some Spencer Prior lookalike swinging massive haymakers that you could see coming all the way from Singapore.

To be fair, some of the guys were red hot and could do lightening-quick roundhouses while their other shin was deflecting an onslaught from their opponent. There was one wince inducing moment when someone grabbed his opponent's head and kneed him full in the face. There was nowhere for the impact to go apart from the poor guy's chin and nose. He was floored and was still really dazed as he was led away from the ring a couple of minutes later.

Gambling is illegal in Thailand but you wouldn't have guessed it as the locals went betting crazy as the bouts entered the last 2 rounds (fights were 5 rounds each). I managed to resist the temptation of having a quick flutter(!)

Train up North

I loved everything about the journey. At the station when the 6 o'clock news came onto the big screen in the concourse the national anthem was played and the whole train station stood up for it en masse, without exception. It's the King's 60th year of his reign next week so all of Thailand is gearing up to celebrate. Hence the navy's manouevres last week in Bangkok, they were practising for a display.

We travelled 2nd class to Chiang Mai which is a 12hr train journey. It was like travelling on a plane - the seats reclined and we were served 3 meals - dinner, supper snacks and then breakfast before we arrived in Chiang Mai. The aircon was blissfully chilled and the other Thai travellers seemed relaxed and friendly.

When we woke up from the couchette seats the next day I was disappointed that I'd missed the sunrise but that soon evaporated when I looked out of the windows. There was a rainbow of green either side with endless mountains covered by large brocolliesque florets stretching into the distance. Stunning.

(Wo)Man down

After editorial differences Rebecca would like to distance herself from these postings. I tried to call home and the line was pretty awful but Bec said that mum would look at the blog and my voice would come through. That's nice I thought, but she carried on.. "Yes, the blog is just like how you talk. From tangent to tangent with no punchline." Ouch.

I can't post any new pics today 'cos I'm charging the ipod (while listening to it on headphones - blogs, ipods, who dragged me into the 21st Century?) and the USB ports are too close together for me to plug in both at the same time.

Bec is at a Battik painting school today so I'm doing the chores, while wondering around Chiang Mai; checking bus times to the border with Laos (done), dropping off some laundry, having wig cut (refusing) and updating blog.

As she's not here I can tell you about her fall as we were leaving the hotel in Bangkok. It had rained for about an hour or so before we were due to set off for the station. Bec stepped off from the hotel cafe onto the slippery road and her right leg didn't plant. It just skidded until it couldn't any more. At that point she just collapsed onto her left knee (with her backpack strapped on). No one in the cafe laughed as it looked damn painful. I gallantly rushed to her side and asked if she was OK and I could see that she was hurt. She hobbled 'til we were out of view of the hotel and then had a look at her wound: a nice graze right on her kneecap. Of course, I'm being the sympathetic husband until I inadvertantly bushed my leg against her knee in a bar last night and I was given a punch on the nose for my thoughlessness. Maybe I shouldn't have taken her to see the Thai boxing afterall...

Jamaica? No, she went of her own accord.

Well, what can I say. I've not seen moves like that since Fads on Palatine Road* Crouch should keep his place for entertainment value alone. After criticising Khao San Road for being too touristy we went and watched the England v Jamaica game while relaxing with a couple of cheap beers. Hypocrite? Yes, thank you.

I bought a World Soccer World Cup preview mag at Heathrow and I am devouring it. Ste, Hutch, Jon and Nic; that "90 Minutes" in Cologne is nothing to how thoroughly I'm reading this.

Looking forward to the big kick off and I don't mean when I laugh at Bec's mozzie bites again.

* The home decor had a brilliant surface where Northenden's hard core break dancers used to congregate to practice their windmills, flares, bodypopping, headspins and dolphin dives.

News

So far so good. The biggest mishap we've had is me eating Bec's dinner by mistake. Hey, the lady brought the food to me and I thought the meat looked like pork rather than the chicken I'd ordered but guessed that was down to my dodgy Manc-Thai, so I tucked in until Bec's food arrived and it was mine. Unlucky Bec.

As we've been to Bangkok before we've found it quite easy to use the riverboats, skytrain and public buses rather than tuk tuks and taxis. So when the tuk tuk driver told us there were no river boats today we smiled as we knew it was a scam to use his service. Oh how cute are we? We know all the tricks, until we read the notice on the pier that said that as the Navy were practising manouevres today there were no boats. Message: don't be cynical all the time. So we got a tuk tuk with our tail between our legs and humbled.

We were awake last night (due to jet lag rather than still being out partying) when we received a text from Ste to tell us about the birth of Rebecca Oliver. Great news and congratulations to Ste, Cath, Ems and Hannah. By the way Ste, this is a blog.

Thanks to Helene and Tracy for your messages. Keep them coming H or we'll put the pic of you up from the airport!

Take care everyone and keep me updated with any world cup news. This is my 4th straight world cup out of the country.

Cheers Gav and Bec

On your marks..

We took an ordinary bus to the train station today to book our train ticket to Chiang Mai tomorrow evening (sun). On the way I discovered that the black and white lines next to traffic lights aren't zebra crossings but starting grids for tuk tuks, mopeds and motor bikes!

Khao San Road

The delights of Khao San Road where you can eat spaghetti carbonara and watch films in all the bars(!)

Mind you, there are a few with MUTV but they seem to be off limit.

Our hotel is a few streets away from here. We've tried stall food for the first time and so far so good.

Room with a View

We can see the Grand Palace from our new hotel. Admittedly Bec had the camera on super zoom but I've got good eyesight!

Despite our reservations the 2nd hotel isn't as bad as we expected and we still have aircon and our own bathroom.

Setting Off

This is us at Manc airport on Tues evening. The flight and journey to our first hotel went smoothly.