Independent travel
Independent travel gives you the freedom to move on when you are ready and not tied to a single hotel. Its fun fending for yourself and finding accommodation when you arrive at a new destination. It enables you to travel off the beaten track and away from the crowds, it is a liberating kind of travel. Mingling with the locals, eating their food, learning about their culture is an important part of travel. Travelling independently ensures that your money goes directly into the local economy and not to national or international businesses. The easiest way to experience independent travel is in Greek Islands where it is easy to travel between Islands
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The Other Side Of It
We always try and keep the blog upbeat and positive in keeping with our outlook. But of course although we are very lucky, not everything is perfect. This story is for those like our lovely follower Terrie who always says she wants to see a “dark side” blog post. It’s the story of Day 41; not exactly a disaster but probably not the best day of the trip so far. Written by Phil… For me the gut rot attack had arrived the previous Tuesday. You know how it is, a slight odd feeling upon first waking quickly becomes extreme gripes and an hour later it’s obvious that breakfast is off…
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Laos: Final Words
In our short time here we have seen a stunningly picturesque country, packed with glorious scenery, some so beautiful as to be hard to believe. Mighty rivers flow through mountainous landscapes; lush green crop fields fill the plateaux between jungle clad mountains; unchanged tribal villages mix with developing visitor spots and peaceful laid back towns and cities. Laos remains a poor country in spite of increasing popularity and over 80% of the population are still farmers or self sufficient; fortunately this is a fertile land and food, particularly fruit and rice, is plentiful. Its people are happy and honest and eager to please. Yet the memory of the bombings must…
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Laos: Nong Khiaw
Nong Khiaw is an absolutely spectacular and beautiful place, just simply one of those places which really does take your breath away. It wows everyone: every other traveller we meet uses phrases like “most beautiful place I’ve ever seen”. It is for us too, it is beyond stunning. More description in a minute. First, it seems the storm on our last day back in Luang Prabang was actually the outer reaches of a typhoon, and as we leave, our minivan has to pull around fallen trees and other debris, and we hear stories of one of the Mekong riverboats being turned over into its murky depths. Hopefully with no one…
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Laos – Luang Prabang
As the mighty Mekong swings its way through northern Laos, a tributary, the Nam Khan, no small river itself, sweeps around to join the Mekong at a 45 degree angle. In the resulting triangular peninsula sits Luang Prabang, a UNESCO world heritage site with a reputation of being one of the most beautiful places in South East Asia. Here is the story of our 5 days in Luang Prabang. The Town Expectations were high coming here, based on many blogs and commentaries, and, as we all know, high expectations can often lead to disappointment. Not here though: everything about Luang Prabang is delightful, from its mix of Lao housing and…
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Out Of Thailand Into Laos
Leaving the amazing experience of Nongtao behind us, our last port of call in Thailand is Chiang Rai, towards the north east corner of the country, our stepping stone to Laos. We make two stops en route to Chiang Rai, firstly at the hot springs at Wiang Pa Pao, the water not just hot but boiling as it shoots out through the geysers. What the hell is happening underground to create that amount of heat??! The second stop is at the famous White Temple which sits around 20 minutes from Chiang Rai, a slightly bizarre creation which can’t make its mind up whether it’s a temple, a tourist trap, or…
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Nongtao Part 4: The Jungle Trek
Night noises. You fall asleep to the sound of a thousand cicadas, and wake to dozens of cockerels. Now and again in the darkest hours, the village dogs bark and howl as one; maybe a wild animal has passed through the village and the dogs are on guard. As dawn approaches, our wooden hut creaks and groans as the temperature plummets. And then the national anthem booms out. The morning dew is heavy as we await our guide, these sweeps between day and night temperatures absolutely soak the ground each morning with both dew and mist. Still cold at dawn, the rising sun brings instant warmth and another mountain day…
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Nongtao Part 3: The People
We leave the elephants behind and head for coffee with Lazyman. Carmel explains to us that some of the villagers are known by Karen nicknames rather than their real name, including “Lazyman” and “Big Sister”. We are destined to meet both. Lazyman has a small fruit and coffee plantation in the village; we are treated to coffee ground from freshly picked beans and taken on a tour of the small garden. The coffee itself is delicious, and so, surprisingly, is the juicy flesh from around the coffee bean. But our visit to Lazyman is more than just to share a coffee. Lazyman is a descendant of senior Karen tribesmen and…
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Nongtao Part 2: The Elephants
A cacophony of crowing cockerels breaks the morning silence of this remote Karen village, the mountain air still fresh, and then the booming sound of the Thai National Anthem is played through loudspeakers throughout the village, it’s clearly time to get up! School starts at 7am preceded by this tribute to their King, it happens every day, you really couldn’t oversleep here. It’s time to see the elephants, we take the 15 minute drive in the back of a pickup truck to Elephant Freedom Village and spend a while with Nongchai who explains about the elephants and the difficulties the Karen tribespeople have encountered, even to this day, it’s all…
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3 Days With The Karen Tribespeople
It’s all too easy when travelling to be OTT about current experiences, but it’s hard not to use effusive phrases like “best ever” after our wonderful, educational and humbling few days with the Karen tribespeople in Northern Thailand. Experiences like this are what travelling really is about…. 1: Welcome to Nongtao After cities and islands, we head out in search of the “real” Thailand. Chiang Mai gives way to rice fields, the roads become narrower, villages become fewer and farther between. Straight roads become hairpins, the climbs get steeper, farmland becomes jungle. The dust roads lead us finally to Nongtao, a tiny village and a traditional home to Karen tribespeople,…
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Northwards to Chiang Mai
The evening flight from Krabi brings us to the 700-year old city of Chiang Mai, over 900 miles north of our previous location and some 3,000 feet higher. With a domestic flight and an airport so close to the centre, it’s a satisfyingly quick transfer and we get from aeroplane seat to hotel room in record time. From Koh Lanta to Krabi, the road trip by minibus, or minivan as it’s called here, had its own dramas, the driver continually pulling off the route to pick up more passengers and luggage even though we seemed already full to bursting. Each time we felt there wasn’t another inch of space, on…
