I couldn't wait for late noon of this Sunday to arrive. It had not only to do with my enthusiasm about the train ride: it was again so hot... but I guess everyone will be bored by now when the word "heat" appears...
So I took a Tuk-tuk to the station and waited for the train to depart. With open windows I enjoyed then again landscape, rice paddies, mountains and forests, the humid heat streaming in, towns and villages we were passing... I described train rides in Thailand already in one of the first posts, the tour from Bangkok to Nong Khai. This time we started at 14.50 h, so almost five hours we drove in daylight. I simply can't imagine travelling in a closed air-con carriage, with locked and insulated windows, with a temperature probably colder then moderate, as long as there are other possibilities...
We arrived in Bangkok early in the morning, it was dawning, the city wasn't fully awake yet. I hadn't slept a lot, because of course it was noisy with the windows open, but what the hell... I only hope that there are more opportunities for me in the future to ride one of these trains again...
If you would like to get a taste of it, you can find some magnificent books about train travels: Paul Theroux's "The old Patagonia Express", in which he describes his journey from his home town (Boston? Chicago? I don't remember...) down to Patagonia, most of it in trains. A very interesting account of meeting people and getting to know other countries... From the same author is " Riding the Iron Rooster", about travelling through China by train (this one I haven't read yet...). The dutch writer Cees Nooteboom describes a journey by train, in Senegal (or Gambia?), in his wonderful collection of short travel stories "Nootebooms Hotel". There are certainly more books and stories available... But the best still is to do it on his own, isn't it?
lunes, 25 de junio de 2007
domingo, 24 de junio de 2007
Sunday
There's a feeling which I almost forgot in the last three months: the tranquility of Sunday morning... I woke up early, after a very quiet night, to find that outside there was nothing going on. I got out of the guest house at around 8 o'clock and the streets were fairly deserted. It was Sunday, and in Thailand this day has some kind of meaning. I remembered Vietnams frenzy, where there was no rest at any hour, any day, and also in Laos and Cambodia Sunday was to a large extent a normal working day which started quite early...
I walked around a bit, found a restaurant that was open, where I had breakfast. After that I went back to my guest house, sat down in the courtyard and drank a few cappuccinos... it was instant stuff, but I didn't care. The atmosphere was too marvelous to worry about this minor issue... I simply sat there, reading a while, in between trying to catch the ambiance of the awakening quarter, and I have to admit that it wasn't a bad feeling at all. Very often in my life I worked on Sundays, but I always valued the fact that this day generally means some relaxation from the normal week days, less traffic, less people in the streets, a general tranquility floating over the city... after three months without real Sunday (okay, I didn't have to work, was on vacation, but you know what I want to say...) I really enjoyed this sensation again...
I walked around a bit, found a restaurant that was open, where I had breakfast. After that I went back to my guest house, sat down in the courtyard and drank a few cappuccinos... it was instant stuff, but I didn't care. The atmosphere was too marvelous to worry about this minor issue... I simply sat there, reading a while, in between trying to catch the ambiance of the awakening quarter, and I have to admit that it wasn't a bad feeling at all. Very often in my life I worked on Sundays, but I always valued the fact that this day generally means some relaxation from the normal week days, less traffic, less people in the streets, a general tranquility floating over the city... after three months without real Sunday (okay, I didn't have to work, was on vacation, but you know what I want to say...) I really enjoyed this sensation again...
Countdown
The last days...
Saturday morning I crossed the Mekong. Stepping off the boat in Thailand marked the beginning of the last days... In the border town Chiang Khong I jumped on a bus to Chiang Rai, there another one to Chiang Mai was ready to depart, I managed to get on. Back in Thailand... things seem to flow, compared to Laos or Cambodia. I enjoyed it, without meaning to depreciate these other countries...
In Chiang Mai I thought of catching the next overnight train to Bangkok, but had to find out, that almost all these trains only have air-conditioned carriages, which I hate... The only exception being the one at 14.50 h, but for this I was too late. As I wanted to enjoy the trip back to Bangkok, I decided to stay one night in Chiang Mai. This was definitely not enough to catch a glimpse of the city, which in itself is a destination, where many people spend one week or even more. But anyway, you can't see everything in your life...
I found a terrific guest house, which made me forget the forced overnight stop. It was in one of those alleyways, which are so interesting and so much more typical, if one wants to get a glimpse of urban Thailand... and - most important - these alleyways are some really quiet oasis in the big, noisy Thai cities...
Saturday morning I crossed the Mekong. Stepping off the boat in Thailand marked the beginning of the last days... In the border town Chiang Khong I jumped on a bus to Chiang Rai, there another one to Chiang Mai was ready to depart, I managed to get on. Back in Thailand... things seem to flow, compared to Laos or Cambodia. I enjoyed it, without meaning to depreciate these other countries...
In Chiang Mai I thought of catching the next overnight train to Bangkok, but had to find out, that almost all these trains only have air-conditioned carriages, which I hate... The only exception being the one at 14.50 h, but for this I was too late. As I wanted to enjoy the trip back to Bangkok, I decided to stay one night in Chiang Mai. This was definitely not enough to catch a glimpse of the city, which in itself is a destination, where many people spend one week or even more. But anyway, you can't see everything in your life...
I found a terrific guest house, which made me forget the forced overnight stop. It was in one of those alleyways, which are so interesting and so much more typical, if one wants to get a glimpse of urban Thailand... and - most important - these alleyways are some really quiet oasis in the big, noisy Thai cities...
sábado, 23 de junio de 2007
On the Mekong
Two days on a "slowboat" up the Mekong, from Luang Prabang to Huay Xai: I don't know whether this sounds exiting or boring... I guess it's a little bit of both. We departed from Luang Prabang at 8.30 in the morning, and I hardly had gotten any sleep the night before. Don't ask me why... the heat is only one aspect, but probably not the only one. So the first day wasn't really one to remember...
The boat was not very full, it's low season... a dozen locals, half a dozen tourists. We made our way upstream, slowly but steady. The river was running through mountaineous terrain, quite beautiful... as the water level was very low - it's the end of the dry season - there were many shallows, and sometimes I really wondered whether we would pass them or hit the ground. Rocks emerged on all sides, which would be underwater in september or october... As I said before, I was quite tired, so the day dragged on, but all in all it wasn't that bad.
In the evening we arrived in Pak Beng, where we spent the night. Due to the low water level it is impossible to run the river in darkness, but I'm not sure whether there's any traffic at night at all... Pak Beng is another "one-street town" and looks a bit like beamed here from somewhere else, a little bit out of place. It's really in the middle of nowhere, but along this one street one finds almost a dozen of guest houses and even more restaurants. The town owns its "importance" to the fact, that these two-day Mekong trips (in either direction) have become quite popular and apparently through a good part of the year this place is full of foreigners who spend the night there (I think nobody stays for two nights). The town has a couple of hundred inhabitants, maybe little more than one thousand, it is accessible by river and one unpaved road, and has currently no regular electricity supply: generators are humming until 10 o'clock in the evening, when they are turned off and it's incredibly silent then... yet there are two Indian restaurants and one German-Laotian... I wonder how they ended up here...
I slept fairly well that night, although the guest house was not exciting at all, but I felt rested the next morning. Another day on the river, which I enjoyed much more. We passed through narrow valleys, but in the afternoon the landscape opened, becoming wider, with hills and lowlands replacing the steep mountain slopes. One thing didn't change: it remained hot... the motion of the boat produced a nice breeze, but whenever we stopped to take people on board or to let them go off, the heat was immediately around us, making us sweat just by sitting around and doing nothing...
In the evening we finally arrived in Huay Xai, the border town, with Thailand being on the other side of the river. It was too late to cross, so I had to stay in Laos one more day. Again the guest house wasn't really great, but as it was for only one night, I didn't care too much.
Huay Xai is a little bigger and becoming slowly but steady important, as a road is being constructed to connect Thailand with China. Yet as I wondered through the streets, I didn't like it , somehow... I had seen more interesting river towns...
I haven't made up my mind whether I would make this two-day trip again. Maybe it would be different entering Laos through Huay Xai and going from there to Luang Prabang, the more common direction. I myself was on my way back, a little bit tired and worn out. I guess I shouldn't think too much about it. It was quite nice, travelling on the Mekong slowly through north-western Laos, passing villages, fishermen, herds of water buffaloes, children playing on the river banks...
how many opportunities are there in life to see all this?
The boat was not very full, it's low season... a dozen locals, half a dozen tourists. We made our way upstream, slowly but steady. The river was running through mountaineous terrain, quite beautiful... as the water level was very low - it's the end of the dry season - there were many shallows, and sometimes I really wondered whether we would pass them or hit the ground. Rocks emerged on all sides, which would be underwater in september or october... As I said before, I was quite tired, so the day dragged on, but all in all it wasn't that bad.
In the evening we arrived in Pak Beng, where we spent the night. Due to the low water level it is impossible to run the river in darkness, but I'm not sure whether there's any traffic at night at all... Pak Beng is another "one-street town" and looks a bit like beamed here from somewhere else, a little bit out of place. It's really in the middle of nowhere, but along this one street one finds almost a dozen of guest houses and even more restaurants. The town owns its "importance" to the fact, that these two-day Mekong trips (in either direction) have become quite popular and apparently through a good part of the year this place is full of foreigners who spend the night there (I think nobody stays for two nights). The town has a couple of hundred inhabitants, maybe little more than one thousand, it is accessible by river and one unpaved road, and has currently no regular electricity supply: generators are humming until 10 o'clock in the evening, when they are turned off and it's incredibly silent then... yet there are two Indian restaurants and one German-Laotian... I wonder how they ended up here...
I slept fairly well that night, although the guest house was not exciting at all, but I felt rested the next morning. Another day on the river, which I enjoyed much more. We passed through narrow valleys, but in the afternoon the landscape opened, becoming wider, with hills and lowlands replacing the steep mountain slopes. One thing didn't change: it remained hot... the motion of the boat produced a nice breeze, but whenever we stopped to take people on board or to let them go off, the heat was immediately around us, making us sweat just by sitting around and doing nothing...
In the evening we finally arrived in Huay Xai, the border town, with Thailand being on the other side of the river. It was too late to cross, so I had to stay in Laos one more day. Again the guest house wasn't really great, but as it was for only one night, I didn't care too much.
Huay Xai is a little bigger and becoming slowly but steady important, as a road is being constructed to connect Thailand with China. Yet as I wondered through the streets, I didn't like it , somehow... I had seen more interesting river towns...
I haven't made up my mind whether I would make this two-day trip again. Maybe it would be different entering Laos through Huay Xai and going from there to Luang Prabang, the more common direction. I myself was on my way back, a little bit tired and worn out. I guess I shouldn't think too much about it. It was quite nice, travelling on the Mekong slowly through north-western Laos, passing villages, fishermen, herds of water buffaloes, children playing on the river banks...
how many opportunities are there in life to see all this?
miércoles, 20 de junio de 2007
No smoking !
Two strange words for SE Asia, with the exception of a small city in Northern Laos: Luang Prabang.
A couple of weeks ago the local authorities issued a ban on smoking in all public areas. The background: Luang Prabang is a "World Heritage Site", and I must admit that this local law fits it quite well...
Situated on the bank of the Mekong, Luang Prabang is a definite must-see in SE Asia: a wonderful mixture of French colonial architecture, Buddhist pagodas and monasteries, quiet alleyways, river life, exuberant green vegetation... all surrounded by a very tranquil ambiance and a relaxing and refreshing atmosphere..
To learn more about this magnificent small city, please employ your search engine... you will find plenty of information on the internet. As I had explained in the former post, the first days I was not too active due to a state of tiredness, which still was hovering above me. It also took away some of my fantasy, indispensable to write some interesting, maybe even entertaining posts...
The next news you will hear in three or four days, when I'm definitely on my way back... tomorrow I'll go on a two-day river journey, up the Mekong: Luang Prabang - Pak Beng - Huay Xai. From there I'll cross into Thailand, starting the final lap which will lead to Bangkok... back to reality, slowly but steady...
A couple of weeks ago the local authorities issued a ban on smoking in all public areas. The background: Luang Prabang is a "World Heritage Site", and I must admit that this local law fits it quite well...
Situated on the bank of the Mekong, Luang Prabang is a definite must-see in SE Asia: a wonderful mixture of French colonial architecture, Buddhist pagodas and monasteries, quiet alleyways, river life, exuberant green vegetation... all surrounded by a very tranquil ambiance and a relaxing and refreshing atmosphere..
To learn more about this magnificent small city, please employ your search engine... you will find plenty of information on the internet. As I had explained in the former post, the first days I was not too active due to a state of tiredness, which still was hovering above me. It also took away some of my fantasy, indispensable to write some interesting, maybe even entertaining posts...
The next news you will hear in three or four days, when I'm definitely on my way back... tomorrow I'll go on a two-day river journey, up the Mekong: Luang Prabang - Pak Beng - Huay Xai. From there I'll cross into Thailand, starting the final lap which will lead to Bangkok... back to reality, slowly but steady...
Tired
Maybe some noticed it... the number of posts decreased in the last weeks. Partly because I was in some more remote places, with internet access being quite expensive or not available at all... but also because I felt an increasing fatigue...
I guess it was due to the continuously high temperatures over the last weeks or months and a lack of sleep, which accompanied me for a very long time already... maybe also due to a certain dehydration, because I tend to underestimate the necessary amount of liquids I should drink... all of which again was probably leading to a debilitation of my immune system. I had developped some kind of light diarrhea, nothing serious at all, but also contributing to my general state of tiredness. It's hard to describe: I wasn't sick and didn't feel so, but I also didn't feel very fit... I simply felt tired...
So what to do? Trying to get some sleep, to rest as much as possible, to find the necessary energy again for the last weeks... sounds easy, doesn't it? If it only would be that easy...
Still, the most important thing: trying to look at it as something normal... as long as it wouldn't go on too long...
I guess it was due to the continuously high temperatures over the last weeks or months and a lack of sleep, which accompanied me for a very long time already... maybe also due to a certain dehydration, because I tend to underestimate the necessary amount of liquids I should drink... all of which again was probably leading to a debilitation of my immune system. I had developped some kind of light diarrhea, nothing serious at all, but also contributing to my general state of tiredness. It's hard to describe: I wasn't sick and didn't feel so, but I also didn't feel very fit... I simply felt tired...
So what to do? Trying to get some sleep, to rest as much as possible, to find the necessary energy again for the last weeks... sounds easy, doesn't it? If it only would be that easy...
Still, the most important thing: trying to look at it as something normal... as long as it wouldn't go on too long...
sábado, 16 de junio de 2007
Phonsavan
As I thought to need some better photos for the story about UXO, I had decided to make another stopover in Phonsavan. The last time the end of my visa simply forced me to leave, although I only would have needed two or three days more. In Vang Vieng I had teamed up with David, an Englishman living in Singapor. Quite interesting to learn about this part of the world. I actually met a lot of people living in Singapor, and they all had different backgrounds and roots, Chinese, Malaian, Indonesian, European... and this all makes me wish to visit this city one day...
The two days in Phonsavan were little spectacular, but worth the detour. I managed to meet again some of "my English-students"... As they were on vacation, they agreed to guide us through some H'mong-villages. Tommy and Duong themselves are H'mong, so the communication with the villagers was no problem, although the main part consisted in asking permission to enter their yards to take some photos of war scrap, used as fences, flower pots, and more...
One evening we went to the English-school (it's a private school, so no vacations), they all were surprised and happy to see me again...
Although I was not completely satisfied with the scope of photos I could take, I decided to leave after two days. Several reasons, one of them that the clock was running faster and faster and the date of my return flight getting closer and closer...
The two days in Phonsavan were little spectacular, but worth the detour. I managed to meet again some of "my English-students"... As they were on vacation, they agreed to guide us through some H'mong-villages. Tommy and Duong themselves are H'mong, so the communication with the villagers was no problem, although the main part consisted in asking permission to enter their yards to take some photos of war scrap, used as fences, flower pots, and more...
One evening we went to the English-school (it's a private school, so no vacations), they all were surprised and happy to see me again...
Although I was not completely satisfied with the scope of photos I could take, I decided to leave after two days. Several reasons, one of them that the clock was running faster and faster and the date of my return flight getting closer and closer...
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