List of images in reverse order.
1. Mai at Cafe 43 Hoi An, 2.Choose you Lingham, My Son, 3.Thank you America My Son, 4.The beach Hoi An, 5.My new Thai friends Dong Hoi, 6.Laos border crossing, 7.The next bus to Savannakhet, Taxi! 8.View from bus window, 9.Garden shrine
Savananakhet Laos 29th October 2007
I was sorry to leave dear Hoi An, it was really starting to feel like home there and my last two days were especially fun. I discovered a beautiful beach at a small fishing village whilst I was out and about cycling around on a wild stormy day. There were guys far out to sea, fishing from these tiny round corracle type boats, battling with the waves with such skill. As they started to make their way ashore the villagers gathered on the beach. As they got nearer even greater skill was required to negotiate the breaking waves, incredible, they watched and waited and then at the right moment surfed the waves. But at the last moment one of them came a cropper and over went the boat. But all was not lost as the fish were secure in a basket and the boatman held fast to the rope which joined to the boat and the fish basket. Everyone went to the rescue and soon the catch was being distributed to all... That night back in town it was the full moon festival. No bikes or cars were allowed near the river and there were lanterns everywhere and people floated candles in paper lanterns on the river. So beautiful to see. Next day, my last in the town I went on a trip to a holy place called My Son, site of 70 ancient Cham temples of which only 20 remain after the bombings inflicted on the area by the Yanks in the Vietnam war. The temples are Hindu, dedicated to Shiva and Rama with a lot of tantric lingams and yonis sculpture scattered about the place. In one temple they had some US shells displayed alongside the sacred carvings which I overheard one of the guides describing as American Lingams. Such a crime to bomb such places, some of the temples were just heaps of rubble. Later that day I plucked up the courage to rent a motorbike and took myself up the coast road to take a look at the famous China beach and then a place called Marble Mountain which is literally what it is. All around its base are marble carvers, sculpting amazing artifacts, but now they use marble imported from China as they realised that there would be no more Marble Mountain if they continued to hack away at it. On the mountain are numerous temples and shrines inside caves and pagodas of both the Buddist and Hindu ilk. I climbed right to the top, met a couple of young Swedish girls being escorted by 2 Vietnamese lads who were really sweet and friendly, but I realised it was getting dark very fast and didn't want to drive back in the dark, so I rushed away only to run out of petrol half way back to town...oooh errr. Slight panic, but then my new friends came along the road stopped, went off to get me petrol (in a plastic bag!) and then escorted me back in convoy. My trusty angels strike again. Then my last day, I awoke to bright sunshine, gorgeous day, oh so sad to leave but the bus was not till afternoon so I cycled to the beach again and at least got a swim and a little sunbathe in before departure. And then a last lunch at my home away from home, the Cafe 43, run by a beautiful family and selling the most delicious and cheap food in town and right next door to my swish hotel. I've become almost one of the family so there were sad farewells to be said before I departed.
The next leg of the journey, a 6hr bus ride back north to a town called Dong Ho followed by a sleep over till 5 the next morning at a simple guesthouse followed by a 3hr minibus ride to the Laos border, and then another couple of hours on a local Laos bus to this town. Total price including the sleepover around 15 euro. At the night stop I was told that 3 other people were coming and that I would have to share a room with one of them. They turned out to be 3 Thai cyclists returning from a bike tour of Vietnam, residents of Bangkok and again, thank you angels, great people, great company. A woman called Nue, her partner Rat and their friend Charoon who runs a coffee shop and travel club in Bangkok city. I now have an invitation to look them up in Bangkok when I get there, lucky me. So we spent the night and following day together on our low in luxury but high in interest value journey. The bikes were packed in the back of the minibus and then to our surprise so were mountains of packages of produce and a big gang of women heading to sell their wares at market. And then packed in like sardines off we set only to stop numerous times along the way to squeeze in yet more and yet more people. We sped inland, into tropical mountain landscape, white water river rushing alongside, past simple wooden/bamboo palm thatched dwellings on stilts, swerving to avoid the occasional goat, water buffalo, cow, dog, child on oversized bike, rat, overturned lorryload of bananas and much more all making their way on this road. And so we arrived at last at the Laos border where we all got off and walked (or rode) through the checkpoint for visa checks etc. Then a ride on a motorbike for 3km to the bus station. Its amazing how crossing a line marked on a map changes everything, new language, new food, completetly different lifestyle. My Thai friends could communicate as Lao and Thai languages are very similar. The Lao people are famous for their laid back attitude to life, they like to take things easy and slowly. Nobody here tries to sell you anything, whereas in Vietnam everyone is selling eagerly and try very hard not to take no for an answer. Savannakhet is a bit run down but it's an attractive French colonial style town with wide tree lined boulavards, ornate Buddist temples and a fine well preserved Catholic church, and everyone has these neat little shrines in their gardens. It's spacious and airy, situated alongside the Mekong river, and you can clearly see Thailand on the other side. There's little traffic and it's very bike friendly so again I've hired a bike and cruised about a bit to get to know the lie of the land. I was going to head on north today but my day progressed well and I decided to stay another night. I took lunch in a vegetarian restaurant where I met a young woman called Bai who runs the nextdoor traditional Lao massage therapy shop. She told me that she was a great Enya fan and had all her albums. We chatted about music for a bit and I let her hear some of the stuff I had recorded on my mp3 yoke and she loved Kate Rusby, and Kathryn Tickell and Lunasa and a few other things, so we went into a computer place and got them copied onto CD for her. Then I decided to go for the traditional Lao massage which was a bit like Shiatsu and excellent (cost about 2.50 euro for 1 hr) and then I cycled around some more and ate a delicious dinner in a floating restaurant on the Mekong river as the sun set. And now I will leave in the morning for Vientiane which is the capital city of Laos, a 9hr bus ride away.
I was sorry to leave dear Hoi An, it was really starting to feel like home there and my last two days were especially fun. I discovered a beautiful beach at a small fishing village whilst I was out and about cycling around on a wild stormy day. There were guys far out to sea, fishing from these tiny round corracle type boats, battling with the waves with such skill. As they started to make their way ashore the villagers gathered on the beach. As they got nearer even greater skill was required to negotiate the breaking waves, incredible, they watched and waited and then at the right moment surfed the waves. But at the last moment one of them came a cropper and over went the boat. But all was not lost as the fish were secure in a basket and the boatman held fast to the rope which joined to the boat and the fish basket. Everyone went to the rescue and soon the catch was being distributed to all... That night back in town it was the full moon festival. No bikes or cars were allowed near the river and there were lanterns everywhere and people floated candles in paper lanterns on the river. So beautiful to see. Next day, my last in the town I went on a trip to a holy place called My Son, site of 70 ancient Cham temples of which only 20 remain after the bombings inflicted on the area by the Yanks in the Vietnam war. The temples are Hindu, dedicated to Shiva and Rama with a lot of tantric lingams and yonis sculpture scattered about the place. In one temple they had some US shells displayed alongside the sacred carvings which I overheard one of the guides describing as American Lingams. Such a crime to bomb such places, some of the temples were just heaps of rubble. Later that day I plucked up the courage to rent a motorbike and took myself up the coast road to take a look at the famous China beach and then a place called Marble Mountain which is literally what it is. All around its base are marble carvers, sculpting amazing artifacts, but now they use marble imported from China as they realised that there would be no more Marble Mountain if they continued to hack away at it. On the mountain are numerous temples and shrines inside caves and pagodas of both the Buddist and Hindu ilk. I climbed right to the top, met a couple of young Swedish girls being escorted by 2 Vietnamese lads who were really sweet and friendly, but I realised it was getting dark very fast and didn't want to drive back in the dark, so I rushed away only to run out of petrol half way back to town...oooh errr. Slight panic, but then my new friends came along the road stopped, went off to get me petrol (in a plastic bag!) and then escorted me back in convoy. My trusty angels strike again. Then my last day, I awoke to bright sunshine, gorgeous day, oh so sad to leave but the bus was not till afternoon so I cycled to the beach again and at least got a swim and a little sunbathe in before departure. And then a last lunch at my home away from home, the Cafe 43, run by a beautiful family and selling the most delicious and cheap food in town and right next door to my swish hotel. I've become almost one of the family so there were sad farewells to be said before I departed.
The next leg of the journey, a 6hr bus ride back north to a town called Dong Ho followed by a sleep over till 5 the next morning at a simple guesthouse followed by a 3hr minibus ride to the Laos border, and then another couple of hours on a local Laos bus to this town. Total price including the sleepover around 15 euro. At the night stop I was told that 3 other people were coming and that I would have to share a room with one of them. They turned out to be 3 Thai cyclists returning from a bike tour of Vietnam, residents of Bangkok and again, thank you angels, great people, great company. A woman called Nue, her partner Rat and their friend Charoon who runs a coffee shop and travel club in Bangkok city. I now have an invitation to look them up in Bangkok when I get there, lucky me. So we spent the night and following day together on our low in luxury but high in interest value journey. The bikes were packed in the back of the minibus and then to our surprise so were mountains of packages of produce and a big gang of women heading to sell their wares at market. And then packed in like sardines off we set only to stop numerous times along the way to squeeze in yet more and yet more people. We sped inland, into tropical mountain landscape, white water river rushing alongside, past simple wooden/bamboo palm thatched dwellings on stilts, swerving to avoid the occasional goat, water buffalo, cow, dog, child on oversized bike, rat, overturned lorryload of bananas and much more all making their way on this road. And so we arrived at last at the Laos border where we all got off and walked (or rode) through the checkpoint for visa checks etc. Then a ride on a motorbike for 3km to the bus station. Its amazing how crossing a line marked on a map changes everything, new language, new food, completetly different lifestyle. My Thai friends could communicate as Lao and Thai languages are very similar. The Lao people are famous for their laid back attitude to life, they like to take things easy and slowly. Nobody here tries to sell you anything, whereas in Vietnam everyone is selling eagerly and try very hard not to take no for an answer. Savannakhet is a bit run down but it's an attractive French colonial style town with wide tree lined boulavards, ornate Buddist temples and a fine well preserved Catholic church, and everyone has these neat little shrines in their gardens. It's spacious and airy, situated alongside the Mekong river, and you can clearly see Thailand on the other side. There's little traffic and it's very bike friendly so again I've hired a bike and cruised about a bit to get to know the lie of the land. I was going to head on north today but my day progressed well and I decided to stay another night. I took lunch in a vegetarian restaurant where I met a young woman called Bai who runs the nextdoor traditional Lao massage therapy shop. She told me that she was a great Enya fan and had all her albums. We chatted about music for a bit and I let her hear some of the stuff I had recorded on my mp3 yoke and she loved Kate Rusby, and Kathryn Tickell and Lunasa and a few other things, so we went into a computer place and got them copied onto CD for her. Then I decided to go for the traditional Lao massage which was a bit like Shiatsu and excellent (cost about 2.50 euro for 1 hr) and then I cycled around some more and ate a delicious dinner in a floating restaurant on the Mekong river as the sun set. And now I will leave in the morning for Vientiane which is the capital city of Laos, a 9hr bus ride away.
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