Eastward Ho!: September 2011

We arrived in Laos and immediately noticed the difference, the lush green paddy fields, the wooden huts, next to no traffic on the road, and no beeping horns. It was a total contrast from the madness of China, and when we arrived in Luang Nam Tha, it was time for everyone to chill and relax.....well not for long, as we decided it would be a good idea to do a 30KM bike ride in the ever progressively hotter sun.

Lush paddy fields

Paddy field

The next morning we were all ready to set off on our bikes, and a gentle pace was set by our guides as we cycled aroung villages, and past paddy fields, chickens and water buffalo. The guides showed us village life in Laos, and we got to see how silk is made, right from the beginning when they boil the silk worms, which is when I ate one of the silk worms. Yum. Then after cycling a few more sedate Kilometers we stopped for the 'ice cream man' who was a man on a motorbike with a polystyrene box on the back and we had a lucky dip to see what flavour we'd get. I got green pea, which sounded gross but was actually delicious and I've been trying to find it again soon but to no avail, the nearest I got was mung bean ice cream.

After our lolly refreshment, the guides picked up the pace and we had a gruelling trek to our lunch stop, the paths were terrible and we had to negotiate rocky roads and delapidated bridges to get there. On arrival, some where close to tears and we were all in bits. Luckily lunch was being prepared for us and our location meant we could cool down in the waterfall. Lunch was freshly cooked fish and rice with vegetables served on the floor upon banana leaves. After a dip
in the waterfall, some of the group decided to get the tuk tuk back as they coudn't face getting on the bikes again, whilst I and the others finished the last gruelling few kilometres before heading for a well deserved beer!

Mandy beside a traditional hut at the village we visited on our bike ride

Small boy at work with a sharp knife preparing cardomon pods

Our delicious lunch

Cooling off during the bike ride

Frogs speared through the leg ready to be sold at the market

Hooves of some description at the market - everything gets eaten here

Our second destination in Laos, Non Khiaw, consisted of traditional huts, very basic, overlooking the river. We had a family living right underneath us and had the obligiatory cockroaches and giant spiders sharing our living space. It was here that we walked to some caves, fistly having to wade through a fast flowing river to reach them.

Jenn in our hut


Spider in our bathroom!

View of our huts overlooking the river

Cave carving

Leaving Non khiaw, we left the truck behind and set of on long boats along the river which was to take us onto the Mekong River and to Luang Prabang. Jim and Cj drove Calypso to Luang Prabang, arriving not long before us. The boat took about 3 hours to get us into Luang Prabang, and we stopped off for more cave action along the way.

long boat


the only way to travel around here...

Susan, Emily, Mandy, Aoife and Zoe on the long boat

Random pink buddha in the caves we visited

Luang prabang had a cool vibe and after visiting stupas and the like, a spot of shopping was done by most at the fab night market. It was also the place where we celebrated Zoe and Susan's engagement, in a bar overlooking the Mekong River. It was a great night with lots of fun with the whole group attending.

Congratulations Susan and Zoe!

An early morning outing for some was to get up early to see the monks getting alms. We woke up at 5am to be in town early to see the serene monks. By 6am it was all over and back to the hotel to pack as we were leaving for Vang Vienge at 7am.

Monks in Luang Prabang

Monks collecting their food for the day

We rested on the truck to Vang Vienge, as after such an early start we needed to get our energy levels up ready for the afternoons activity - Tubing!! We had been getting excited about this for weeks and as soon as we arrived we dumped our bags, got changed and headed to get our 'tube', and the tuk tuk took us to the start of river experience. A boat took us with our tubes over the other side
of the brown muddy river, and we all set off, sitting in our tubes heading down the river towards the first bar. People throw ropes so you can pull yourself onto the edge of the river, and an afternoon of drinking, mud pools, slides and river tubing ensued, and we all had a fun day, many with war wounds to boot.

Susan tubing down the river

Me tubing

Aoife me and Denis enjoying the mud pool

The tubing gang

Aoife with the tubing grandads, Denis and Colin

It was in Vientiane that we left the truck as it couldn't be brought into Vietnam or Cambodia, so we would be using public transport until we met up with Calypso again in Thailand.

View from the top of the Stupa

Clair, Aoife, Emily and Ben at the top of the Stupa

A serene monk

Buddhas at the stupa

Aoife and her long lost twin

Arc De Triumph - Vientiene

Exiting Laos was not quite as pleasant as the entrance was, we had to endure a night bus to Vinh in Vietnam. The lights went out at 7pm for people to sleep, then we arrived at the border in Vietnam at 1pm, but the border didn't open until 6am so we had to sleep on the bus with no air conditioning and seats like we were in coffins. Some managed to sleep but most had an extremely restless
night, likening it to a torture chamber!

Steve at the beginning of the night on the overnight bus to Vietnam

So we said goodbye to lovely laid back Laos and wondered what Vietnam would hold for us......

China has been the biggest surprise for me so far, I thought that a month may have been too long to spend there and we would be itching to get on with the next country, but for many reasons most of us didn't want to leave.

One reason being our lovely guide George. He met us at the Kyrgystan border to take us through the 110km no mans' land, and from day one the whole group was smitten with him. Throughout our time in China, George was there to help in many ways including hospital visits for some of us, down to overseeing staff in kitchens to check that all was in order! We all became very attached to George and will all remember him fondly. Right now he will be at be at home and attending to his rice crop, harvesting in the paddy fields as his job in tourism isn't all year round.

George and Denis at the Terracotta Warriors

George and Steve

After leaving Kyrgyzstan in the morning in a flurry of snow, we headed through no mans' land and into China, heading for Kashgar. Arriving in Kashgar late afternoon, and what a difference half a day makes - we were in a hot dry environment, such a contrast to the morning.

The first week of China consisted of long hot drives throuh the Taklamakan Desert, taking our lives into our own hands everytime we stepped into the truck. The rules in China? There are no rules, it's everyman for himself. The trucks on the road far outnumber the cars, and all day it was a case of weaving in and out between massive trucks, sometimes you would see two or three heading towards you, and most of us had our hands over our eyes and some points during the day. We were just surprised we didn't see more accidents, and were all pleased that we had Jim to drive us.

So far on the trip, we have been able to communicate with people as most have a small understanding of English, or we have been able to point or gesticulate. In China, it was total contrast as almost all had no understanding of English and even gesticulating got you nowhere. This made life quite difficult at times but certainly made for entertainment. We were lucky that we had George the guide who could translate, and we also had Aoife who had been learning Mandarin at
night school, so her phrase book came in very handy!

We visited Turpan, the second lowest point on earth, and the heat was intense, but luckily it was a dry heat with no humidity.

Buddhas have been a key feature whilst in China, especially giant ones. In Dunhuang, we went to the caves with giant Buddhas that were carved into the rocks. They were absolutely breathtaking.

The next Buddha was the largest laying down Buddha in China, another awesome sight. The last giant Buddha was the one in Leshan, and the best was left 'till last. He was incredible, situated on a cliff side overlooking the river, he is 71 metres tall and was built between 618-907 AD. We climbed down the stairs to the bottom of the Buddha, then up the other side. No amount of
photos will be able to capture the size of the Buddha, it was just amazing.

He's huge!

Giant Buddha

Another key feature in China was the food, and soon chopsticks became our friends as every meal was eaten with them, so very soon we were all experts. Noodle soup became a lunchtime staple dish, and evening meals a culinery delight as we sampled the different foods on offer, and became accustomed to the chilli inspired dishes, especially in the schezuan region!

We couldn't go to China and not visit the Great wall, so it was decided we would visit the wall and have our last bush camp there. We set up camp, and CJ cooked our final bush camp meal, then we ascended the steps to the very end of the wall reaching the last fortress as the sun was setting. It was magical, a moment that we'll never forget, and we enjoyed some time there away
from the usual crowds that gather at other great wall spots such as Beijing. Arriving back at our camp just as darkness was setting in, we were greeted by angry police asking us to pack up our tents and move on. Apparantly we were near a military space and so the tents were packed up by moonlight for the final time, and we were escorted to the nearest hotel by the police and made sure
that we were checked in for the night.

It's a steep climb, but worth it

A great wall and sight

Susan admiring the view

Aiofe and Wendy at the Great wall

The girls at the great wall

Susan and Ben checking out the hotel gowns after de-camping at the Great Wall

Whilst in Xi'an, the first item on the agenda was visiting the Terracotta Warriors. These were found by a farmer back in 1974, and have slowly been restored and excavated ever since.They truly are a marvelous sight.

Terracotta warriors

The next day, Mandy, Emily, Zoe, Susan and I decided it would be a good idea to hire tandem bikes and cycle around the city wall in the searing heat. The route around the city is 14km which in itself isn't excessive, except when trying to cycle with bikes that have punctures and wonky seats! We hired 2 tandems and 1 bike, alternating along the route. Great fun and different way to spend
a morning in the city.

Emily and Mandy on a tandem in Xi'an

Emily and Me

Some of the guys headed off to Beijing for 5 days from Xi'an, so we said goodbye to them until we caught up with them again in Chengdu.

Our first morning in Chengdu saw us rising early so we could visit the Giant Pandas in time to see them having their breakfast before doing what they do best - sleeping. They were exceptionally cute, and we spent a few hours wandering around, watching them and also the red pandas before heading back to Chengdu for KFC! It was one of the few western foods eaten in a while and went down a treat!

Cute Giant Panda

Red panda

Doing what they do best....sleeping

Feeding frenzy at the pandas


Red panda

Very cute!

Towards the end of our time in China, the drive days were a total contrast from the earlier days when we were traveling through the desert, these days the scenery was spectacular with the most gorgeous lush green mountains and mystical clouds drifting over. We stayed in Leijang, which had a great vibe, especially as it was a popular tourist spot for mainly Chinese, but with more
westeners there than we had seen since entering China 3 weeks before.

We had been staying in places where there were obviously few westen visitors, and everywhere we visited the curious Chinese would take photos of us. We imagined that this is what it would be like to be famous, so enjoyed our short lived fame!!

Posing for a photo for Chinese man

Dali was the next touristy spot after Leijang, and had a great chilled out feel to it. It was here that the group all decided that a few days of pampering was on the cards, and hours of massages, reflexology and hair cuts commenced. I had a massage and a reflexology foot massage, then onto the hairdresser for a trim. My hair being curly, and the hairdresser not being able to understand
a word of english, was not a good combination, and after cutting of the right amount of hair he decided to blow dry my hair straight. My eyes were as wide as saucers as he spent ages preening and brushing and I could hear the sniggers coming from everyone as he was let loose on my hair.

The end result? Me looking like I had just stepped out of a 1960's movie set, I had been likened to Marilyn Monroe, Penelope Keith and Gloria Hunniford amongst others, and I couldn't wait to get back to my usual shaggy 'do'.

Another beauty treatment some of had done whilst in Dali was 'Cupping'. This consists of lying on your front whilst cups and suctioned onto your skin and then dragged up and down your back,before about 12 cup are suctioned onto your back and the skin is sucked up into the cups so tight you can hardly breath. This is then left on for about 30 minutes, halfway through more sucking of the skin is done. At the end you are left with massive red marks on your back, which
look like you've been attacked by giant sucking leaches. The marks slowly dissapear over the period of a week and apparantly take out all your impurities. I can't say I felt any more pure after having it done, but it was an experience, and probably never to be repeated again!

After a month in China, the only thing I concluded that I wouldn't miss were the exceptionally hard beds that we had been sleeping on at the hotels. The beds were as hard a concrete with pillows to match, but apart from that, it was a sad day at the border as we left China behind.