Dengue Fever and Laos

Turns out some time around the end of December I had an unfortunate encounter with the wrong mosquito . We stayed a week in Chiang Rai but I didn't get out to much as I had come down with a mild case of Dengue Fever. Basically low fever and lots of joint aches, not much fun but at least we were in a nice guest house and Huong kept me supplied with hot tea. I wish I could find out if I can get it again!

After a week or so we got on a fairly rough local bus for the 3 hour ride to the far NE corner of Thailand, Chiang Kung. Here we cross the Mekong River and board a boat for a two day trip into North Central Laos, Luang Prabang. This is a very lovely place and is a world heritage site and has been aided much by UNESCO because of it's historical significance. It was developed by the French and is a small city full of beautiful buildings and travelers from all over the world.

The weather here is pretty much perfect! Just like a warm June in Yamhill County, every day! It cools off a bit a night except in the mountains where it is just plain cold at night. Bamboo huts have no heaters in this part of the world.

As I'm not up to speed on posting pictures, I have included a link below which loads fast and has many pictures of the trip and around Laos in general. I am continually amazed every where we go in SEA how well they have geared up for western tourism in recent years. For the most part getting around here is very easy and the guest houses are modern, clean and very nice.

We will get a VIP bus as they are known here for the 5 hour trip south in a day or two to begin the trip south through Laos.

http://viptravel07.com/laos/englpbpht01.html

for many pictures of SEA. Also Google Earth has lots of pictures from this part of the world.

Christmas in Cave Lodge

At this point I think the place we stumbled onto just before Christmas is the high point of the trip for me.  It was so beautiful and peaceful we stayed a week and I could have stayed a month.

cavelodge.com will give you a feel for the place.

better late than never? posted a month late

Greetings from Chiang Mai Thailand. I'm spending a few weeks in far North Thailand in an area where many westerns have escaped to either full time or for the winter and I can see why. The weather here now is just like a warm June day in Yamhill County with very pleasant cool evenings. Chiang Mai is a big city of 2 million but the ancient city complete with moat is the area which attracts the travelers. The square mile is full of guest houses and cafes and music clubs. The food here is wonderful and it's hard to spend $5 on two dinners. I've been really enjoying the fresh fruit shakes made from about every tropical fruit you can think of.

My goal here was to slow down and get on Thai time. Up to now I have been pretty much a tourist and on the move. We were in the far North of V Nam near the China border for 5 days which was very nice. We based out of Sapa and rode motor bike for three days to see the surronding countryside. Then we headed out to the coast for the boat tour of Halong Bay and extended a few days on the National Park Island for a bit more motor biking. After a few weeks basing out of Hanoi, Huong and we decided to try traveling together so we took a plane to Bankok to start our Thailand adventure. A 10 hour over night bus ride got us up north in Chiang Mai where I was in new territory. This is the first time Huong has been out of V Nam so it is all new to her. After a week and a half or so in Chiang Mai it was time to move on to see more of N Thailand so we are off for several days on a 125cc Honda seeing the sights. Made it to near the Burma border yesterday to see a village of the long neck women. We are basing for a few days in Ma Hong Son with the little bike but will move closer to Lao in the morning. This is a very quiet town tucked away in the mountains and is very low keyed compared to everything we have scene up to now.

Considering Huong has only limited skills in English and has never traveled before I think things are going very well. She is a successful business women from Da Nang in Central V Nam and is very independent so that works well for me. At times the cultural differences are pretty profound but all in all I am enjoying not doing this adventure alone.

I have lots of pictures but have not taken the time to down load but hope to soon. It is very hard to spend time in the web cafe after a day of seeing this amazing and beautiful country so I have pretty much given up on the blogging but will try to post some pics soon.

Christmas is a total non event here. I'm not sure were we will be but it will be closer to Lao than we are tonight in far NW Thailand near Burma.

Good Bye Weekend

I was lucky to have daughter's Sarri's schedule work out and we got to spend a few days together at the coast just prior to my exit. The first day was cold and wet but the next was a beautiful fall day.