Champasak

Left Pakse on Saturday morning, with our tummies still queasy but reminding ourselves we only had 35 km to Champasak. Cycling past the big market, catching a glimpse of a dead pig amongst crowded passengers on a sawngthaew (small bus) didn't help the weak tummy situation... However, after an hour or so, helped by a tail wind (we couldn't believe our luck!) we eventually found a turning which looked like it could be the road to the ferry to Champasak (nothing written in English of course).It was a peaceful road and we arrived in a village where we were directed to the "ferry for motorcycles" i.e. 2 canoes lashed together to form a kind of catamaran. The more elaborate "ferry for lorries and cars" was made of 3 boats with a wooden platform joining them together.At each end of the wooden platform was a hinged tail board raised and lowered with blocks and tackle. After an exciting (and wobbly) ride across the Mekong, we landed on a walkway across several boats and after a hard push up a wooden walkway up a sandy bank, arrived in a quiet village (in fact it was in the middle of a temple!). It was absolutely lovely.

We have been here for 2 days, savouring the peace and watching local people going about their daily business.

This morning, got up early and after a cup of Lao coffee set off on the tandem to the Angkor temple at Vat Phou about 8km away. When we arrived, we were the only people there. It was stunning. It has recently (2001) been given world heritage status and is one of the most peaceful, unspoilt and majestic site we have ever visited. it is build on a natural terrace of the Phou Kao mountain where freshwater spring gushes out of rock is laid out on a linear plan and designed to be approached from the east to impressworshippers with the sanctity of the place. It stretches over 1400 m on an east west axis, stepping up the mountain side and one of the first building we saw is the Nandi Pavillion ( a building for the vehicle of the god Shiva called Nandi or bull), one of the first buildings to be consolidated and the work has only just started in partnership with the Italian Government, organised by UNESCO.Consolidation is necessary. Many of the ruins are unstable and have had temporary wooden props to prevent any further collapse. They are doing a wonderful job. Vat Phou has been developed over a long period with the earliest remains dating from 7th century AD, but major rebuilt in 11th/12th century and maintained by rulers of Angkor to the 14th century. It was converted from Hinduism to Buddhism in the 13th century and still retains local religious function today: every year a festival is celebrated in February and I am sure the village is less than peaceful then!

For us it will be an early night (with more Lao folk music from across the road) and an early start across the ferry again and then southwards.

Christmas Day still in Pakse...

Well, all best plans still need to be flexible.... Champasak will need to wait another couple of days. Nicole has been sick all night and John's tummy is rumbling painfully. Was it the water we were given in that little local restaurant a couple of days ago? It tasted and indeed looked as if it was coming straight from the Mekong... Or is it the salad we indulged in yesterday as it was Christmas Eve? - we usually know better and stay away from salads which we know could have been washed in any old water... So we've been languishing all day, looking at the swaying palms outside our window to soothe ourselves, trying to recover some strength and drinking pepsi to re-hydrate ourselves. The wonderful thing is that Christmas has been so quiet. The karaoke bar next door was silent for the first time!

Must go now and rest some more...

Christmas Eve in Pakse

Bjorn, a Sweedish cyclist met just before the border. He has been cycling for 6 months and will carry on for another 4 months. Very interesting to share experiences

Cold, wind and rain seems to belong to another universe... Laos with its smiling children, rural scenes and slow pace of life has re-conquered our hearts.
We arrived in Pakse 2 days ago after a fairly gruelling ride from Phibun Mangsahan in Thailand. Going across the border was more painless than we had remembered, although the Visa fee had gone up to $35 (strangely, Canadians have to pay $42, Indians and Afghans $40 and Swedes $31...) and we were asked to pay another 40Baht for having our passports rubber stamped!
We didn't at first have a very good impression of Pakse, 66 000 inhabitants. We were tired, hungry, it was getting dark and somehow, for the first time during our travels couldn't make sense of the map. We had crossed the Mekong and somehow our compass and map didn't relate. Eventually, after cycling around feeling lost, we stumbled upon just the guesthouse we were looking for in the old part of town, Sabaidi 2 (Sabaidi = Hello). Only then did we realise that not only the bridge we had crossed had been built after our Lonely Planet was printed but there were two Champasak Hotels near two different bridges...
Pakse, however has grown on us and we are in danger of settling here too long... It was founded by the French in 1905 and hasn't got very many old houses but John has found a few colonial-era buildings of Franco-Chinese design and has amused himself photographing and sketching them. Nicole, in the meantime has been sipping lemon juices and indulging in French bread and coffee...
Our guesthouse is charming, extremely relaxed and the owner, Mr Vong, very friendly and knowledgeable. A couple of years ago he returned to his native country from a life in France and converted his grand parents house into a backpackers haven. It even has some hot showers! Planning to leave tomorrow for Champasak, a smaller town 35km south where we have read there are Angkor-period ruins.
We wish you all a Happy Christmas!

Two days as a novice monk/nun

This is a little place which makes gongs by the side of the road. Unfortunately they are to big for us to bring back for the Newport Buddhist meeting!




We are back in our "River Moon Guesthouse". Although we haven't travelled very far at all during these last 2 days, we both feel we have made a significant personal journey.

On Thursday morning, we got up at 5 am, packed and were delighted to find our little restaurant open at 6 am! We had a delicious breakfast (rice porridge and strong "Lao coffee" - very strong and sweetened with very sweet condensed milk) and cycled to Wat Pha Nanachat and arrived in a different world. Just off the road, about 15 km from Ubon Ratchatani is this small forest monastery established by the famous Theravadan monk Ajahn Cha. I think we talked about Ajahn Cha during one of our meetings at Dave's? Ajahn's Cha's straightforwardness and sense of humour are just extraordinary simple and powerful, and on his death, in 1992, thousands of people came from all over the world to Ubon Ratchatani...

Wat Pha Nanachat was established for the many foreigners who wanted to learn this traditional Thai way of monastic training and (luckily for us!) English is spoken as well as Thai. On our arrival we had to relinquish mobile phone and camera so we couldn't take photographs but if you are interested to learn more here is their website: http://www.watpahnanachat.org/

A day in the monastery by John:
3am: the day starts with the early morning gong calling us to the sala for chanting and an hour's meditation
5 am: chores, sweeping leaves off paths (with lighting on as it is still dark)
dawn: monks go out for their daily collection of alms food
7 am: preparation of the food for the one daily meal
8 am: chanting, blessing of the food and procession to the dining area where we collect our food in a bowl
8.30: sitting on mats on the floor, we eat our meal with the novice monks in silence
9.30: wash up and more chores (more sweeping) then time for personal meditation, reading and free time
2.45 pm: more chores
4.30 pm: drink in the outer sala (in the forest - only for the monks, novice monks and laymen, not women)
6.00 pm: chanting and an hour's meditation
8.00pm: bed

My room was 10 feet by 15 feet, open to the roof, 2 windows on each side with wooden shutters. The only furniture was clothes line and a hook. I was shown a cupboard from which I could take a mat to go on the floor, blankets and a pillow and a mosquito net that opened like an umbrella. I was given a white top and white trousers to wear. the trousers have no elastic and you have to roll the top over to keep them up, a technique I will need to refine as I found them round my ankles during a particularly vigourous sweeping session!
The community is inside a forest, so although you can hear traffic in the distance, there is a sense of being away in peace and quiet. Time stands still. Everybody helps and works together. Everywhere is beautifully clean and ordered. The monks have a serenity about them. There is time to search one's inner self that I don't have the discipline to do in everyday life.
Much to my surprise (and Nicole's) I didn't have any difficulty in only eating once a day!

Wat Pha Nanachat's impressions by Nicole
When we arrived, slightly puffed after our cycle ride, I was glad I was wearing long trousers rather than shorts. We found the Guest Monk, Tanyio, a young English born Australian, who combined serenity with matter of factness and approachability. John was directed to the men's dormitory and I found Aram, a young Korean woman who showed me the women's "residence", a compound separated by a high wall and I hardly saw John after that. Keo, a shy and helpful Thai novice nun invited me to share her Koti (a wooden hut on stilts with 2 rooms and a bathroom, scrupulously clean and free of ants because it was surrounded by a 5 cm wide little moat of water). She took me under her wing and tried to be very helpful but as her English was practically non-existent it was hard work for both of us! Arum lived in a smaller Koti on her own and so did Tid, an Lao born American laywoman, who was always busy and bossy. I was given a white blouse and a black sarong which I found a bit cumbersome during meditation. There were only the 4 of us as women and there were many areas of the Wat we were not allowed to go to. However we were allowed in the sala for the chanting and meditation and also allowed to sweep the leaves (incessantly! - my arms are still aching...) As a diversion, we were also allowed to clean the toilets.
Nonetheless, the silence, punctuated by the chanting (very moving), the birds songs and the shrill drumming of the cicadas at dusk (at first I was mystified as what it was- it sounded like a continuous bicycle bell!) was a wonderful gift and I felt at peace. The only wildlife I saw were hundreds of scampering squirrels (apparently the other forest monks had to cope with tigers in the past - a test to their faith!). John saw a rat running along the altar during the 3.am meditation... I was too sleepy to notice! In fact, the following day I slept most of the midday free time (instead of meditating, resting and having a shower...) in an attempt to recover from all the sweeping of the leaves around the Bot in the morning (do look on the website for a photograph of this beautiful temple), and I had to recommence sweeping in the afternoon... Sweeping is another form of walking meditation...
I liked one of Ajahn Cha's many saying posted here and there on trees: "if you have time to breathe, you have time to meditate"

Ubon Ratchatani

River Moon Guesthouse: recovering after Bangkok's concrete jungle...

Warin's market (South of Ubon Ratchatani)

Catching a local bus...

Bangkok to Ubon Ratchatani

On Monday morning, left the friendly "Bankok House" guesthouse. It was such a haven of peace and the day ahead unknown, as the possibility of bringing the tandem back to Hualumpung central train station back on the train not an option. We left our bags in the station, took a train to Sukhumvit 71 and arrived at Tamsin and Tae's midmorning. Alex, their charming 18 months old little boy was all smiles and games and even cried when we left!

After cycling beside the railway track (the new -unopen still- railway line to the airport follows the route of the old line but on stilts and 50 m above it!) we find our way to a canal running in the right direction towards Hualumpung. There is a footpath besides the canal which we can get along but is full of obstacles and eventually stops about halfway, when another railway line and a huge flyover cross the water. John sets off and tries to find an onward route by crossing the canal on the railway line but gives up eventually as he would have to cross a 6 lanes freeway on foot. So we abandon the canal and cycle along oneway streets (!), past the British Embassy ride the tandem on a dual carriage way with a sky train and various other concrete lanes ahead. Nicole was absolutely terrified, John thought it was ok... We found out later we were cycling in the Siam Square area, more or less the busiest place in Bangkok. The traffic was VERY FAST with buses and tuk-tuk being the worst hazard as they seemed to stop wherever and whenever they felt like it. We somehow eventually found a quiet side street and miraculously arrived at the train station! Nicole had a croissant and last latte, we also had a lovely cool shower for 20 pence each, sorted out a train ticket for the tandem (so easy compared with India!) and leisurely boarded the train and found our bunk. Well it would have been leisurely... the goods carriage still wasn't attached to the train 10 minutes before departure and John was waiting to load tandem on.

Uneventful and comfortable train journey overnight and we were pleasantly surprised in the morning to see dry rice paddies surrounded by small banks with cows and buffaloes here and there and occasionally beautiful pink lotus flowers in little ponds.

Nicole's throat still not good, so after we find RiverMoon's guesthouse (very quiet, very cheap,-150B = 3 pounds, rather rundown but off the road and all to ourselves... no tourists are coming to Thailand) we decide to stay put for a couple of days to acclimatise ourselves to Asian food and way of life. John sets off with his compass in his pocket to investigate Wat Pa Na Na Chat, where we have heard "foreign" monks welcome guests with previous Buddhist experience. He takes 2 sawngthaews (sort of pick up buses) and as no one understands English (but everybody wants to be helpful) he lands up somewhere(?) where a "kind" (he later asked for 200B fee) motorcyclist took him for miles and miles of dusty road after dusty road, and eventually arrives at the monastery. John arranges with a monk (who spoke very good English thank goodness) that we should arrive at 7.30 am and speak with the Abbot, who will decide if we can stay for a couple of nights. Apparently if we stay longer we would have to shave our heads...

Bangkok by train, bus and foot

Arrived back in Bangkok this morning after a pleasant 12 hours journey on the train from Surat Thani. However, after a whole day spent preparing our tandem ride into central Bangkok tomorrow (involving riding local buses to the station -of course no destination is in English... standing all squashed up in a crowded comuter train and walking for miles trying to find Tamsin's house, where we had left the tandem), we are exhausted, dusted up and sufferring from eardrum and lung fatigue.
Have established we will definitely NOT ride on any main road, so small roads by the railway line will have to do, however long it takes!
Wish us good luck!

Bangkok and Phuket

Here we are in Phuket, after many hours spent sleeping, recovering from the 15 hours flight to Bangkok and 12 hours bus ride to Phuket... Lovely to see colourful blooms all around, Thai smiles wherever we go and feel a gentle heat again.

Bangkok airport was as imposing as we had remembered but the ride out

less stressful than we anticipated (after John had a mini break down when he realised he had lost the speedometer... he should have given it to this Indian Man who had asked for it all these years ago...). Cycling on for a couple of hours on relatively "quiet" road - got lost a few times though, we eventually found Tamsin's house where we left the tandem. Tae, her boyfriend thankfully was there and put us on a boat (!) to ...somewhere where a very nice man, Dong, directed us to a bus (number 511) which took us to the Southern Bus Terminal. From there, a bumpy and uncomfortable (to my standards) 12 hours ride to Phuket.
We have now recovered from all this, drank a few cafe lattes :) and had many chats/meals on the beach/ serious discussions with John. Tomorrow, we'll catch bus from Phuket to Surat Thani and take the night train (18.22) to Bangkok where the REAL travel will start. No more lattes then...

A bath at Ealing...

... another lovely hot bath at Katie and Sheila's! The second one if four days (the first one was at Jo and Des's)! My skin won't know what is happening to it! Yesterday, took the bus from Barnes to Ealing, well 2 buses, to use John's Senior bus card allowing him to travel free. Getting older has some advantages...

This delay in England has brought unexpected delights: (the baths of course and...) spending a little more time with Jo and Des, meeting Royin, seeing Katie and Sheila and enjoying a lovely sunny crisp weather In England in December. Life is good!

So now, fed, scrubbed and rested we are ready for tomorrow's flight. No need even to worry about cycling to Heathrow in the cold as the tandem is already there! Bliss!

Resting at Barnes...

Our flight yesterday to Bangkok was, as expected, cancelled and we cycled leisurely to Heathrow just before lunch. Had our flight still been running we would have had to cycle at 5 o'clock in the morning in the bitter cold and probably skidding on the very frosty roads... We spent the whole day in Heathrow, trying to decide if we could possibly manage Singapore or Kuala Lumpur with the tandem. Eventually, after talking to a very helpful man from Jet Airways, we booked another flight to Bangkok, leaving on 7th Dec and went downstairs to pack the tandem which we left at the left luggage office.

Jo and Des,very kindly are putting us up for another night and we have met Royin, their very determined, intelligent and charming grand-son who spent the day here.

Still half packed and not really knowing if and where we are going to fly on Wednesday. And will Jet Airways accept the tandem? It will be another occasion to use ingenuity and to practice how to respond appropriately...