This was the question we were asking ourselves before we got here.  Also, what is hello and thank you and how many kip do we get to the dong (lol international currency jokes right there).

Laos Airlines took us from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang in an ATR72 plane (same as the ones you take to Invercargill.  The flight time was 1 hour from gate to gate and yet we still got a sandwich a water and a beer.

Luang Prabang International airport is like arriving into Nelson or Palmerston North airport except it has customs and immigration where they charge $31 USD per kiwi for visa on arrival (payable only in cash) and taking up an entire page of your passport (Canadian passports have to pay $50).  There was one queue for passports and we got to watch our bags go round and round the carousel as we waited for two people to authorise the visa that had just been issued and stamp umpteen pieces of paper including our passport (but everyone gets a job in a socialist/communist country).

We stayed in a gorgeous little guesthouse Thongbay Guesthouse (recommended by my friend Cameron) right on the river with views out over the water and an ant colony in the outdoor shower.  Each morning they serve the most enormous breakfast to your balcony with the best coffee in the world.  At night they will serve you dinner on the balcony where the fireflies come and dance around you while across the river the Laos karaoke bar gets into full swing.  All in all it’s a magical experience and one that makes it so special for us.

We spent most days wandering around the very small city and ducking in and out of cafes and bars when it started to rain torrentially.  Think Auckland in Spring (with jungle like downpours) and then the sun comes out literally 15 minutes later.

There are monks everywhere in their luminous orange robes.  They carry umbrellas rain or shine and you see them absolutely everywhere.  I had been warned that if a female comes in contact with a monk they have to spend days ritually washing the sin away so I was very careful not to bump into one.  There are temples on every hilltop in Luang Prabang and the tributary rivers wind their way down to the Mekong.  There are Bamboo Bridges (with little old lady charging the tourists to cross them) and scary bridges with extremely rickety boards nailed to the side of it that cross the rivers.  The streets are filled with people selling things from the pavement.  Flowers for the temples, bags of corn, live frogs, cooked river fish and anything else you could think of.

We took a beautiful slow boat trip up the Mekong against the current to the Pak Ou caves where inside you will find thousands of golden Buddhas.  It dates back to the 1700’s and has been a spiritually significant site since then, with people adding more and more Buddhas into the limestone caves.  It’s a really steep climb up from the boat but worth every leg stretching step.

They also stop the boat at a small village called Xanghai which is famous for making whiskey and rice wine (which is actually more like moonshine than whiskey).  It becomes even more interesting as they infuse the whiskey with scorpions or large centipedes or small poisonous snakes.  You can buy it by the bottle full or just get some out of a big jar.  Not sure if you eat the critter once you’ve drunk it but it’s a pretty extreme version of the tequila worm if you ask me… blurgh!

The boat then turns around and catches the downstream current and you hurtle back to LP while they serve a traditional Laos lunch.  All in all pretty good value sort of a day for $25!

The next day we hired a local tuktuk driver to take us the 30 kms through the villages up to the Kuang Si Falls.  Think a combination of the pink and white terraces with a beautiful tall waterfall feeding them, a bear conservation centre and the biggest carpark and food stall you’ve ever seen.  It was brilliant!

The walk through the jungle takes you through the bear sanctuary where have rescued Sun bears that use to be used to provide bear bile to the Chinese.  Beautiful lumbering smiley, look like Yogi Bear bears… They are native to the jungles here and if they were released they would be caught again and put in a cage for the rest of their life where they would have their gall bladder tapped every day.  Apparently bear bile helps treat gallbladder and liver ailments and is widely regarded in Chinese medicine… or you could just use the synthetic version like every other normal person you sickos!

You can swim in the falls (we didn’t) but there were groups of locals there hurling themselves off ledges into the limestone milky blue water.  There were lots of European backpackers washing their socks in the streams (FFS) and even a couple of what looked like models climbing up on the very edge to take a million posed for and obviously going straight to Instagram photos in bikinis.  It was quite the day.

Last night in LP and we went into town for a sublime steak dinner (Australian beef) and watched the world go by.  Walked back through the night markets and then tuktuk home.

We’ve loved our cruisy old time here in Laos, it’s such a cruisy town and really laid back people.  We realised we needed better work stories though when the biggest story of the day was when Nigel finally managed to eradicate the ants nest in our shower using a combination of water and Deet infused mosquito repellent which I have to say was a pretty impressive story that morning and had kept us entertained for days.

Off to Cambodia! P.S still don’t know if it’s Lao or Laos… I’ll ask reception when we check out.

 

 

What I love most about how we are travelling this time (as we use to travel) is that we actually have no idea where we are going, we are kind of making it up as we go along.  We do have a fairly good idea of what we want to see but no rules about how we do it.  That’s how we ended up in Chiang Mai.

Vietnam was full!  Think Easter weekend in New Zealand.  Everyone traveling and staying in hotels and most things closed for the holiday break.  So we decided to hop off to Thailand and swim with elephants.

Chiang Mai when I first heard of it back in the 90’s was the place to go to and ride elephants for days in the jungle.  Chiang Mai has resurfaced as the chilled out hippy eco friendly capital of Thailand.  It’s all Eco tours and sanctuaries and funnily enough jungle zip lining (with the longest zip line in Asia).   I’ll be honest I was too scared to do the zip lining.  Poor Nigel had to miss out but I just knew that if anyone was going to pay hundreds of dollars to go zip lining and then chicken out when push came to shove it would be me.

We stayed at a small guesthouse of about 6 rooms slightly outside of Chiang Mai central.  Run by a childrens foundation.  They rescue kids from appalling conditions in Myanmar and the hill tribes of Thailand (who legally have no status in Thailand) and bring them to a children’s foundation village where they support them in going to school, learning English and they help out in the Guesthouse.  It’s one of those quaint little places where there is Grandma, Mums, Dads, Aunties, Uncles, kids singing Jingle Bells, babies, dogs, cats, frogs and the odd millipede.  Everyone helps out with everything and it’s very chilled out and relaxed.

We spent a day at Lanna Kingdom Elephant Sanctuary (which is one of those magical days that stays with you forever).  This sanctuary (apart from being the number 1 rated attraction in Chiang Mai on Trip Advisor) was absolutely brilliant (I can’t vouch for every elephant sanctuary in Thailand as being the same but this one was top notch).  They have a maximum of 15 people per day to spend time with the elephants. There were only 10 people on the day we went (we were lucky enough to strike low season while we were there).  Any other time of year you need to book weeks in advance as they are very strict about how much tourist time the elephants can have.

Each elephant had its own story.  Many coming from the logging camps where they had been branded, had scars from the chains around their necks and had spent 35 of their 40 years of life in absolute hell.  The baby elephant (2 ½ years old) had been rescued from a circus.  It had been beaten into learning tricks which it now couldn’t unlearn.  One of them was to give people a kiss by sucking the end of it’s trunk on your check and then not letting go.  Another was to bow when the mahout (elephant guardian) said a certain word.  The elephants can’t forget how to do these tricks that they were taught under horrible circumstances, which makes you assume they can still remember the horrible life they use to have.

But now they are living in pretty much heaven.  They eat 17 hours a day.  They wander freely in the sanctuary when the tourists aren’t there. They each have a 24 hour 7 day a week mahout who is there to care for them.  Feed them, keep them clean and happy.  The baby of the group as evolved to become the leader.  She is the first one in the line of elephants to head off to graze or to the mud bath where you get to hop in with them.

Nigel and I were in literally up to our waist in mud.  The other tourists were a bit squeamish about getting in but not us!  First elephant in and so were we.  I think we picked the wrong part of the pond though as it was literally up to my waist.  I couldn’t move.  Both of us were stuck in the mud right next to this massive elephant who was rumbling with happiness when we smothered her in mud all over her back.  She started flapping her ears at me when I went too close behind the ears so we ended up shovelling it high up on her back.  When they were finished (and believe me when the elephant wants to move on the elephant moves on), the larger female helped to push the baby out of the pond.  This female had adopted the baby after she lost her own baby a year ago.  She was honorary aunty to the little one and looked after her the whole way.

From the mud bath we walked with them to the fresh water where they gave us scoops and brushes and told us to get in and scrub the mud away.  Again up to our waist in water next to the tonnes of animal.  It was a truly magical experience that we won’t forget.

We also managed to squeeze in a Thai cooking class. One where they take you on the motorbike sidecar to the market and choose the ingredients and then back to our guesthouse where they set up an outdoor kitchen for us to make pad tai, red chicken curry and Thai pork salad.  We loved it (although had no idea how much sugar goes into Thai cooking… we will leave that behind when we make this again in NZ – when I say ‘we’ I mean Nigel).  Made enough food to feed an army and then sat in the open air restaurant while the thunder and lightning and torrential rain hit us full force.

We had such a relaxing time in Chiang Mai, so serene and chilled out.  Off to Laos next and our third new country this trip.

That was the final instruction on the handout from the Hotel when we arrived about walking the streets of Hanoi.  The other instructions were to be relaxed and self confident and keep up your speed – never slow down.  The cars and bikes are a river they will flow around you.  Bollocks!  The cars and motorbikes are out to hunt you down, to spring upon you from behind beeping and pushing through and to definitely keep you anxious.  Our first five minutes on the streets of the Old Quarter we had five near misses and an old lady falling down in front of us (she ran into Nigel’s foot and then looked like he’d tripped her up.  It was a complete debacle).

The other instructions and advice they gave us was “how to get away from pushy vendors”. “How to bargain in the streets”, “How to get away from street risks i.e. do not walk alone at night, put your bags in front of you when walking, look out for pick pockets in the markets and be careful using cell phone on the street”.  Last but not least “Be careful of the scam people on the street especially travel agents”.  Within the first 15 minutes we had some nutbar trying to distract us and grab Nigel’s arm (we still don’t know why really).  I was in there though with the best inside hooking block I could muster and Nigel was about to smash him one.  Haven’t had any other problems since but Jinkies we’ve been in some mad places before but the old quarter of Hanoi takes the cake.

First day was spent completely in the Old Quarter and we ended the afternoon doing the Hanoi Street Food Tour.  It was really great and an awesome way to learn about the foods and what’s good to eat and what to avoid.  We had eight different stops along the way and each one was completely different.  The guide knew her stuff and with only eight of us on the trip we got to learn heaps.  Finished up in Beer Street (I’ll give you 20 guesses as to why it’s called Beer Street).  They have white lines on each side of the street and the café tables and chairs have to stay behind them.  When the police drive down the street they hoof the tourists off the tables and get them to stand with their drinks and meal while they fold the tables away really quickly.  After the police have gone to the end of the street, you can sit back down again.  We chose a table behind the white line.

Next we walked from the Old Quarter through the newer parts of Hanoi and through to Ho Chi Mihn’s mausoleum and palace.  Fifteen kilometres later we were back at the hotel having been through the botanic gardens, down to the red river and past umpteen cute French inspired buildings.  The more we walked the more we appreciated how quaint this city is.  Busy, frantic, dirty, smoggy, stinky and really quaint.  The street sellers, hawkers and hagglers collide with generations of families squatting on the sides of the street washing dishes and fish heads and spitting out pumpkin seed shells.  The streets all sell the same thing in the same area (We found this in Taiwan too).  If you want to buy sellotape you go to one part of one street where that is all they sell.  If you want a bra then go to bra street.  You’re buggered if you need sellotape on steering wheel cover street though.

Today we realised that we are at the start of the biggest long weekend they have in Vietnam all year.  It starts today (Friday) and ends next Wednesday.  Monday is Independence Day (where they celebrate their victorious defeat of the Americans in 1975) and then Tuesday is May Day (another holiday).  We realised that it was a long holiday weekend when we tried to book any transport, trains, flights, accommodation etc. over the next four days.  Not so good.

Long story short – we’re going to Chiang Mai in Thailand for a few days.

And that my friend is why we are winging it.  Because you never know when you’re going to end up somewhere that you didn’t think you would, until you do.  Yay, next adventure on its way and we will see you again soon Vietnam!

For those of you who have ever been on a trip with me, you will know that I like to every so often remind myself and those around me that I’m having a good time so far.  It usually becomes the catch phrase of the trip by the end of it as it always kind of catches on.  Nigel and I are reminding ourselves every day (sometimes quite often) that we are “having a good time so far :-)”.  It’s about taking in the moments and this trip is full of loads of incredible moments.

Hong Kong has been really great.  We’ve been on every form of transport you can think of.  We spent and afternoon riding the double decker trams right into the heart of the residential area.  We spent a morning walking with a Hong Kong tour guide who explained the history (and recent history) of Hong Kong and why in 2014 thousands and thousands began the Umbrella Movement outside of Government house (it’s a really interesting story).

We rode a double decker bus to the top of the Peak and then rode the cable car back down.  We took the MTR (all over the place wow what an incredibly efficient underground that is).  We took a glass bottom cable car to see the Big Buddha (I think we are embarking on a journey that will involve a lot of Buddha’s).  Then we took a very rickety bus to a small fishing village of stilt houses called Tai O.  What a cute little place.  We boarded a little boat to go and see the village form the water and then out into the sea looking for the Chines white dolphin (that apparently roam the shoreline everyday – didn’t see any).  What we did get to see though was the bridge that is currently under construction from Macau to Hong Kong.  This means that you won’t need to board a boat to get across to go gambling.  You can drive!  It’s an incredible engineering feat and one that will end up on a Discovery channel superstructures programme one day for sure.

We then took a shuttle bus out to Disneyland.  I love Disney and my infectious enthusiasm for everything Mickey (and the fact that skip most of the way) tends to rub off on Nigel eventually.  In 1972 my parents took us to Disneyland in LA.  I don’t remember it but I have seen the photos.  It must have cost them a small fortune at the time but they really wanted to do it.  I remember growing up in Foxton being the only kid at school who had ever been to Disneyland.  Didn’t matter though coz there were heaps of kids who had been to Fantasyland in Hastings and that was the same thing according to them.  But now I have nothing but happy memories of Disneyland’s.

When Nigel and I went to the one in LA and I thought he was going to propose in front of the castle and he didn’t.  When Nigel and I went to the one in Orlando and it rained and I made him wear a bright yellow rain poncho with Donald Duck on the back (I had the Daisy Duck one).  When we went to Disneyland Paris and found out that it sold beer!  Then when we took Stefan when he was eight and he fell asleep with his head in his dinner as he was so tired by the end of the day.

Now we can remember the day we went in Hong Kong and it was a rainy Tuesday and the park was almost empty and you didn’t need to queue for anything and you could do all the rides as often as you wanted and Nigel was so happy and said that if every Disney was like the Hong Kong Disney then he wouldn’t mind going as much as you don’t get squished and bored standing in all the lines waiting two hours for a two minute ride and if you really want to ride Big Mountain Railway again you can.

So now it’s Anzac Day and I have been reading up about the Vietnam War before we fly to Hanoi this afternoon.  I’m sure we will learn a lot more about that unfortunate part of history in the next weeks too.

Until then, it’s timely to remember that “It’s a small world after all!… It’s a small world after all!… It’s a small world after all… it’s a small small world!”

We had a great flight and we were full of beans. Nigel’s bag however had other plans and had decided to go on its own adventure.  We watched the carousel go round and round.  My bag was there but his just wasn’t. I left Nigel and went hooning to the other end of the bag claims to check the other Auckland flight carousel… nothing!  After a small panic and a very helpful lady who checked the name of every bag on the carousel whether they looked like ours or not, there was a special delivery!  Yay, reunited!  Naughty bag going off on its own for a tour of the incredibly vast Hong Kong airport!

Getting from the airport into town and onto the underground was incredibly efficient and really easy.  Public transport is amazeballs.  Double decker trams, buses and an incredible underground network.  Also we got to see the new bridge they are building to Macau.  That is going to be simply mind blowing.

I’d forgotten how incredibly interesting Asian cities can be.  It’s all in the little things.

The groups of old men playing board games surrounded by their mates watching on.  The exercise parks with hundreds of people doing Tai Chi, or randomly swinging their arms or legs with no apparent rationale and our personal favourite the dude who was doing the entire exercise route backwards (like walking quickly backwards… not sure why).  It’s the elderly being taken to lunch and cared for by their grandchildren.  The number of really really really old people who are out and about in the markets.  The smell of smoke and cars and fish and rotting somethings.  It all reminds me of when we lived in Taiwan or visited Beijing.

It’s all about food here too.  Markets everywhere with fresh meat, fish, frogs, crabs, squirty shellfish of some description and fruit and veges up the yinyang.  I don’t think I have been further than 10 metres from a Kumquat or some Bok choy since we got here.

I have never seen so many people driving Porsches and high end Mercedes.  The roads aren’t really conducive to high end power vehicles but people look pretty cool driving them I suppose.  The high rise apartments are something to behold.  Everywhere you look there are 40 story buildings.  Wow, I’d be investing in some fairly robust clothes pegs if I lived here to staple my undies onto the washing line as they hang out of the 34th floor balcony.

There are signs everywhere advising how to live in the community effectively.  “Please keep voices down in the park”, “Please help if you see someone in need”, “Please hold the handrail and don’t walk on the escalator”.  People are pretty courteous so the signage must help.  There are signs all over the place too about spreading germs.  Avian Flu I understand, Middle Eastern Respiratory Disease I have never heard of and Rabies? (Don’t feed the monkey in the monkey forest Jen).  We went to a fantastic place for lunch and after we were almost finished we noticed that EVERYONE apart from us was using boiling water to sterilise their chopsticks before they started eating… Oops (never stop learning).

Our evening of walking adventure ended at the fabulous Hotel Jen (where everything is named Jen).  Even the towels have Jen written on them.  Early night for us as we catch up to the timezone.  Last thing to do tonight?  Work out if you are supposed to peel Kumquats.  Hints tips and tricks on that one warmly received.

People thought we were being weird when we said we were going to cruise to Napier, but when we explained why everyone thought it was such a good idea… AND IT WAS!

We had the best time!  We were on the Pacific Jewel (which use to be the Crown Princess and will soon become some sort of cartoonified ship sailing around Asia according to Nigel).  Had a mini suite so we did it in style, huge room with a fantastic balcony perfect for sitting and dolphin spotting.  We did see dolphins pretty much every day which was awesome.

Nigel’s birthday was simply awesome.  We had such a great time.  Arrived early and saw Napier port as we really carefully pulled in.  As it’s a working port they need you to bus into town so we quickly made other plans for Barrie to come and pick us up.  Then off to the airport to pick up Stefan (who arrived with no luggage at all and only his phone in his hand – looked dodgy as).

Then we went around to Church Road winery where we had a lovely table under the shade cloth for everyone to come and go as they pleased.  And everyone did come which was fabulous.  It was so great to see everyone.  Then back on the boat for dinner!  Weirdest trip to Napier ever, yet coolest at the same time.

Yesterday was the last day and another sea day.  We mooched about and watched people and tried our best to take the stairs to keep the step levels up.

We met a very nice couple who hated the whole trip.  They felt very claustrophobic with each other and got bored on the first day without the internet.  It really goes to show that things are what you make of them.  We had an awesome time!  Just being together, doing something different and watching the world go by (with no internet).

Nigel’s 50th – Complete Success!

Warbirds over Wanaka 2018 didn’t disappoint (not that I thought I would).  Queenstown was beautiful as always and the Hilton Residences were really amazing to stay in.  Day One of the airshow Nigel and  Barrie went across to Wanaka to check out the practice day while Dawn and I went to Rata for lunch!  Oh Rata… if I never eat anything else ever in life it would have to be the Rata cheeseroll that sits on the top of the list.  There is something about the honey and the cheese and the numminess that just blows everything out of the water.  Anyhoo… The airshow.

Day One we decided to leave a little bit later as the weather was clearing but still raining.  When we arrived we heard over the speakers that the runway was closed.  We later found out that it was because a Yak 3 had crashed into a cherry picker in the opening part of the show.  So we hadn’t really missed anything at all (apart from seeing the crash).

Part of the reason that I love WOW is because we have VIP tickets.  As you all know I love a magic lanyard.  It opens a world of possibilities that mere mortals don’t get to see eat or drink.  It provides luxury toilets, no queuing and a front and middle of the runway view.  Perfection!

Day One was great but Day Two when the sun was shining bright and we arrived in plenty of time to see the whole show was absolutely brilliant.

My favourites were the jets especially the F16 (including the American commentary set to music was so cool.  When it’s timed to speed past front and centre precisely as the beat drops in “TURN DOWN FOR WHAT?” (You had to be there)

My other favourite was the helicopter lineup, the Harvards formation, the Texans display, the 757, Jurgis the nutty Lithuanian aerobatics guy and the model aircraft display surprisingly enough (we had to apologise cause we thought that was going ot be really boring and the only time we would get out to see any of the displays – not the case).

Anyway, I had a really great time!  Barrie and Dawn loved it and Nigel was in his element.  He finished off the day today before going to the airport buying a half dozen fresh Bluff oysters and eating them down by the lake.  Pretty much an ideal weekend really.

So back home now for a few hours and heading off on the cruise to Napier tomorrow.

Thankful…  I’m truly and utterly thankful 🙂

So I started packing up our wardrobe today.  Boxes and boxes of stuff I won’t need while we are travelling and needs to go in storage.  Amazing how many clothes you forget you have.  I have minimalized my toilet bag so that it fits in the 70 litres that is our backpack rolling bag.  I’m looking forward to being so limited in what to wear again.  Does it stink?  Nope ok then it’s good to go!

Today was a booking day for the few things that we have decided to sort before we go.  Booked Hotel in Hong Kong… had a lot of awesome choices and ended up going with Hotel Jen! Finally someone listened to me and named their hotel JEN!! It has a swim up Jen bar! The restaurant is called Jen!  Don’t care if it’s in the wrong part of town (not sure what the right side of Hong Kong is to be fair).  It’s called JEN!

I have successfully applied for a Vietnam Visa (although need to wait 72 hours for confirmation that it worked).  They only asked me one question (apart from passport details etc.) “What is your religion?”. Athiest, Agnostic, Jedi and Pastafarian were not options fyi.

Have also booked a place in Hanoi for when we arrive.  Daisy from the front desk has just emailed me to say how happy they are that we have booked with them and would we like them to pick us up at the Airport.  She also wanted to advise that apart from the family suite and the mini suite none of the rooms have windows.  Funny when you look at the photos you don’t notice that until you look back at them.  Never mind, $60 a night you can’t go wrong.

Cuba Visa proving really tricky.  Because we are going via boat from the USA the Cuban embassy in NZ says that their visa won’t be valid to board the boat (only if we fly).  The Cruise Line isn’t able to process  our visa for us because we aren’t Americans.  I’ve emailed the embassy and I have high hopes that everything will be fine :-).  We can’t be the only kiwis to cruise to Cuba!

Anyhoo.. our first adventure starts on Thursday when we fly to Queenstown for Warbirds over Wanaka.  This year we get to take Barrie and Dawn into the corporate tent.  They are really going to love it!  (I love a good airshow especially when it involves corporate tents).

The countdown is on… tick tick tick tick tick

 

So we’ve spent $1000 on luggage.  Nigel now has a slash proof, chip evading locked up the yinyang daypack.  He will be responsible for the passports and the chipped creditcards and I will be responsible for the medivackit! (I made that word up it’s supposed to sound like a mobile medical evacuation kit which I actually do travel with).

I have a really awesome new daypack and we have both invested in Osprey wheeled backpacks.  Full harness for walking over cobblestones and crappy (literally) pathways yet wheeled for jaunting through the airports.

Nigel and I have worked out that we will buy teeshirts along the way.  Otherwise it will look like our entire trip happens in one day as we are always wearing the same clothes.  I always say that everyone else seems to look so fashionable and lovely in their travel pics whereas I always look the same.  I have decided this will be our signature piece on social media #sameclothesdifferentcountrybutwedontstink.

We are off on the soft launch of our trip this Tuesday.  I’m off to Oz with work and Nigel will join on Friday.  It all starts here for us! Wahooo!

 

Auckland

Hong Kong

Hanoi

Venice

Copenhagen

Stockholm

London

New York

Miami

Las Vegas

San Francisco

Auckland