Grand Canal, Dublin

Normally it's virtually impossible to get certain members of the i-conX management team to shift themselves from their usual chairs in the hotel bar. So not surprisingly, when a four mile walk along the nearby Grand Canal was proposed, the suggestion was greeted without much enthusiasm. Mysteriously, that all changed when it was mentioned that there was a pub at the end of the walk, and we soon found ourselves striding along the towpath.

Being quite familiar with the Grand Union Canal right next to my apartment, I have to say that the Dublin Grand Canal was something of a disappointment. It looked like it had not had any upkeep for many years, being clogged with weed for much of its length. It also appeared to be totally devoid of wildlife, with not a heron or swan in sight, and no one bothering to fish along its banks. As we neared the end of the walk, there were more signs of activity, with a few decrepit boats moored up, and we did spot one rather lethargic duck.

Anyway, it was still good to get out for a walk and the chance to see some of the countryside away from the hotel. The pub did a good draft cider too, which went down well after our unaccustomed exertions.

Kuala Lumpur revisited

So here I am again, back in good old KL for the final part of this SE Asia trip. No plans to do anything in particular while I am here. The main aim of this trip was to catch up with old friends in this part of the world, and on the whole that has been quite successful, bearing in mind that most of them are traveling throughout the region on an almost continuous basis, and are very hard to pin down in terms of dates and places to meet. I am really grateful to all who have offered me their hospitality during my travels, with a particular thanks to David and Anne in Khon Kaen, and Colin and Soo in KL. Please drop me a line if you are ever back in the UK and fancy sampling the delights of Brentford.

Songkran

From Songkran

Songkran (Thai New Year) is officially celebrated from 13-15 April, in theory at least. In practice it seems to start earlier and go on longer. The main tradition associated with this event used to be the pouring of a cup of water over one's friends and relations to wish them good luck for the new year. This seems to have evolved over time to the extent that today's celebrations take the form of a mega water fight. All very childish, but good fun, up to a point anyway. I was co-opted to join a posse from the village where I was staying, who were heading into the centre of town to join the fray. We set off in an open topped pickup truck, laden with great barrels of water and things to throw it with. As we got nearer to town, the traffic slowed to a crawl and fire (i.e. water) was exchanged with nearby trucks and bystanders on the pavement, who in turn returned the soaking. Once in the centre, we joined the crowds in the streets, which had been pedestrianized for the occasion. There followed hours of wet mayhem, with numerous bands attempting to compete with each other on sound level, and a generally happy crowd enjoying the party.
I could only stick a day and a half of this, and opted for a quieter party in the village for my last day in Thailand.

Luang Prabang

From Luang Prabang

My decision to travel to Luang Prabang by bus turned out not to be a good one. For a start, Lao buses, even the so-called VIP one that I took, are a lot older and more cramped than their Thai counterparts, so anyone over about 5' 8" tall is going to find it extremely uncomfortable. The road from Vientiane to Luang Prabang is one long series of s-bends through the mountains, with the result that it is impossible to get to sleep as you are thrown from side to side. Luckily it was too dark to see outside from where I was sitting, but another British tourist commented afterwards that it was quite frightening to see how our driver negotiated the narrow road and managed to just avoid the oncoming traffic. Oh, and I forgot to mention that instead of offering passengers in-journey snacks, as they do in Thailand, the bus attendants hand out sick bags, which were put to good use by several passengers. We finally arrived in Luang Prabang at 5:30 in the morning to the sight of lines of orange robed Buddhist monks heading back to their wats, having received their daily alms from the townspeople.
Luang Prabang is a charming town in a very picturesque location on the banks of the Mekong. Making it a World Heritage site was certainly a smart move, as the end result is that a tremendous amount of effort seems to have gone in to restoring dilapidated colonial buildings to their original glory, and all new buildings seem to adhere to this style. A similar amount of effort appears to have been devoted to restoring and maintaining the numerous wats that are dotted though out the town. I gave up traipsing round these after the first half dozen or so, as once you have seen one seated Buddha figure, you have to some extent seen them all.
Because of my late booking and the looming Lao New Year, I was not able to get a guest house on either of the two main roads in the old town, and had to settle for a hotel a little way out from the centre. This ended up working out quite well, as it featured a large riverside garden for chilling out in after exhausting trips round the town. It was only about 10 minutes walk from the town centre, but the hotel also provided free bicycle hire and I made use of this on several occasions to get around more quickly and explore slightly further afield.
Like everyone else I know who has been to Luang Prabang, I was wone over by its charms and would have liked to spend a few days more getting to know it even better. Perhaps somewhere to return to another year when I have more time? Meanwhile, back to Thailand, but this time I think I'll fly!

Vientiane, Laos

From Laos

So, after a two day bus ride (including an overnight stop in Khon Kaen), and several years of meaning to get around to it, I have finally reached Laos. First impressions are that it almost indistinguishable from Isaan (North-East Thailand), as the people all speak the same language, Lao, and look the same. Apparently this is due to the historical fact that Isaan used to be part of a much larger Lao kingdom until it was grabbed by the Thais.
Although I am normally fairly relaxed about making up my travel arrangements as I go along, the very short notice nature of this trip has caused a few logistical problems. Firstly, I had not realized that the Thai New Year is also celebrated in Laos, so every form of transport is either fully booked or the prices are hiked for the few remaining seats. The other unforeseen issue, having not read my guidebooks beforehand, is that the journey from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, although it is only about 300km, takes over 11 hours by bus via the twisty mountain road! You end up losing a day just for this leg of the trip unless you fly, which is of course much quicker but not cheap. My compromise solution is to take an overnight bus on the outbound leg to Luang Prabang , then fly back to Vientiane at the end of the trip. The only drawback of this approach is that I will miss seeing the spectacular mountain scenery on the way there.
Vientiane itself is a quaint mix of French colonial architecture interspersed with Buddhist temples, although it has to be said that it is not nearly as impressive as some of the best that Thailand has to offer. There is only really enough tourist stuff here to fill one day, so my whistle stop schedule is not unrealistic. The weather here is currently too hot to wander around in the middle of the day, so I just did a quick orientation of the city yesterday evening, and will be spending today revisiting the museums, etc, that are only open during the day.

Bangkok

It's been about nine months since I was last in Bangkok. Having got some work commitments out of the way, the highlight of this visit was meeting up with Vincent, our man in the i-conX "Bangkok Office", i.e. his living room. (Even though I had already spent a couple of days with him in Dublin the previous week). Our aim for the evening was to visit a bar that Vince had discovered, which served an extensive section of Belgian beers (Vince is Belgian by the way). His report turned out to be correct - the bar boasted more than 40 beers, each served in its own unique glass. There was no way we were going to sample all of these in one sitting, but we did our best. I think we had about 5 each. Being Bangkok, there was plenty of visual entertainment on offer for occasions when the conversation flagged. I don't remember anything about the evening after about glass 4.

My original plan for this trip (or at least version C) involved a trip to Koh Lanta to do some diving. However this was again frustrated (I had also had to forgo a trip two years earlier due to the Bangkok airport sit-in) this time due to extensive flooding in southern Thailand. The scenes of devastation on the TV news were reminiscent of post-tsunami Japan. So my plan D is to head north to Laos for a few days, before returning via Khon Kaen for the Songkran (Thai New Year) celebrations.