The Ancient Kingdom of Ayutthaya

An hour and a half north of Bangkok is the ancient capital of Ayutthaya (pronounced aye-u-taya), a small city dotted with the crumbling ruins of a once powerful empire.

Ayutthaya is a river island at the confluence of the Chao Phraya, Lopburi and Pa Sak rivers. It was from here that the Siamese ruled their kingdom from 1351 to 1767 and it was once one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Today it is a UNESCO World Hertitage Site and popular day trip destination for tourists from Bangkok.

We arrived in a crowded third class train carriage where Ric competed with an elderly Thai women for space on the narrow bench; she apparently did not want to share her seat with a sweating Englishman. To reach the ancient city we crossed the river on a small ferry and set off to find a guest house. As we were travelling north to Chiang Mai anyway, we thought Ayutthaya would make the perfect stop-off en route. 

To our surprise and joy our 300Baht (£6/$10) room came with a swimming pool and we were instantly grateful that we'd decided to spend the night. Despite the fact that we're supposedly entering the "cool season", the temperate hasn't dropped below 30 degrees and the humidity in Bangkok sits at a steady 70%. We happily spent the remainder of the day sitting in the cool swimming pool chatting to a Canadian who was five days into his first ever trip away from North America. His bubbling excitement and astounding ignorance made me feel old and wise - in a good way. The poor boy was surprised to find that there are no beaches in northern Thailand, perhaps he thought he'd arrived on an island?

The next day we hired bicycles and set off to explore the temple ruins. There are dozens of sites to see, both working temples and ruined temples, but we chose only to visit the main ones: Wat Phra Si Sanphet (Three Chedis), Viharn Phra Mongkol Bopit (Restored Temple Next To Three Chedis), Wat Phra Mahathat (Buddha In Tree), Wat Ratchaburana (Empty Hall), Wat Phra Ram (Overlooking Pond). I've appointed the names in brackets as the actual names are impossible for me to remember. The sites mentioned could be explored on foot but we chose bikes for speed and breeze.

Voila les photos:

Wat Phra Mahathat

Wat Phra Mahathat

Wat Phra Mahathat

Wat Ratchaburana

Wat Ratchaburana

Wat Ratchaburana

Wat Phra Si Sanphet

The temples we saw we really nice and we had a pleasant time riding around them. We've already seen more temples in Asia than most people see in a lifetime but these ones were unique enough to impress us for half a day. We had the sites to ourselves until about 11am when the tour buses from Bangkok arrived and we found ourselves surrounded by Indians in matching lime green caps. 

As well as boasting the lovely temple ruins, Ayutthaya also has an impressive night market selling all manner of tasty treats. It sets up by Wat Phra Mahathat at about 5pm and gets very busy very quickly with locals and tourists alike. We ate: sushi in the form of Angry Birds cartoons (Ric, not me); a unusually good combination of sweetcorn, coconut flesh and salt; fried chicken, including some neck that we bought by accident and did not enjoy; an incredibly spicy vegetable green curry that made us both cry; a Thai sausage; and sour bamboo and rice. Every day in Thailand we discover some new tasty delight, it's food heaven.

How To Get To...

The temples: maps are available from all guest houses. It took us about three hours to cycle to and explore the sites we visited, which was enough for us. To visit all the sites including those outside of the ancient city would take a full day.

We Stayed At...

Tony's Place: Great value rooms, nicely decorated, busy restaurant, swimming pool. 300Baht (£6/$10).

Champasak To Wat Phu

From Vientiane we travelled 400km south on a “VIP” night bus to Pakse. We were collected from our guest house at 6:30pm and driven an hour out of town on the back of a tuk-tuk, down dark, residential streets that had me questioning the motives of our driver. We arrived at the long distance bus station with an hour to contemplate the small booth that would be our bed for the night. The bus had two levels, each with several compartments containing beds. Perhaps we were lucky, or perhaps not, for we had the back of the bus on the top level, which was split into five narrow beds. The windows all around us gave the berth a strange conservatory feel, and provided a stunning view of the star filled sky during the sleepless night.

We took one look at Pakse and decided to move swiftly on to Champasak, which was an hour further south on the back of a flat bed truck turned tuk-tuk. Like most towns in Laos, Champasak is a sleepy, dusty town set on two sides of a long road, with a river running parallel.

Life in Laos is slow. It could be the most relaxed country in the world. Most of the day it’s too hot to do very much and where ever you look you’ll find bodies dozing in a hammocks. The country is made up of rivers, with boat travel being the traditional mode of transport. If you ask what time the boat leaves you’ll find yourself facing the bemused smile of a Laotian; the boat leaves when the boat leaves. The people here are used to waiting around. The pace of life here is comparable to the pace of cruising down a river, there is no rush, no stress, it’s laid back.

We’ve adapted well to this pace of life and spent our first day in Chamapasak reading, writing and sketching on the veranda of our riverside bungalow. The only interruption in our day was the need to move to a restaurant to enjoy leisurely meals of coconut curries and fresh vegetables.

Our room, Dokchampa Guest House, Champasak

The next day we dragged ourselves out of our hammocks and cycled out to Wat Phu, a pre-Angkorian temple complex at the foot of a hill. Riding out of Champasak we were faced with an unusual obstacle; a lorry carrying a heavy load had collapsed the bridge that provided the only route south. A crane was presently hoisting the lorry out of the river whilst the bridge lay utterly destroyed. We were informed of a diversion and found that the clever locals had dammed off the river with rock and dirt to create a temporary bridge. Later, on our return to Champasak, we saw that concrete pipes for the river to flow through had been lowered into the river next to the mud dam and a tarmacking truck had arrived to make the bridge a semi-permanent fixture until the real bridge is repaired. We were impressed by how quickly the locals had responded; the lorry was out of the river within a couple of hours and traffic was already moving north and south over the temporary mud bridge. Some cunning Laotians had capitalised on people’s voyeurism by setting up food stalls near the broken bridge, feeding all the hungry onlookers.

Collapsed bridge brings in the crowds.

Wat Phu

 The 8km bike ride to Wat Phu was easy along the paved, flat roads and we arrived in just under an hour. We rode through several small villages where calls of sabaidee (hello) greeted us from roadside houses and shops. Ric even got a kiss blown to him from one cheeky little girl.

We were alone at the Wat Phu apart from a retired French couple who were shocked to find an English girl who spoke French, c’est rare! The temples date back to the sixth century and have only been minimally restored, maintaining their ancient charm. The site is not touristy like the Angkor Wat complex in Cambodia and it was nice to wander around the carved sandstone ruins in peace. A short walk up a crumbling stone stair case, warped by tree roots, led us to huge stone cliff with a ruined temple at its base. From the cliff we had a view down over the surrounding countryside, with the Mekong slicing through the scenery, a brown, winding smear on the lush greenery. 

 How To Get To…

Wat Phu: We hired bikes from Champa Restaurant for 10,000kip ($1.25/£0.75) and followed the road leading south out of town. There are signposts along the way for the temple.

We Stayed At…

Dokchampa Guest House: We had a great river front bungalow for 50,000kip ($6.25/£3.75), although the owners spoke no English and the restaurant was overpriced compared to others in the town.

Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng is a town stripped of its character and culture. It is a backpacker town, full of bars, drugs and cheap accommodation. It's a funny place. Its reputation precedes it among the backpacker crowd and I had mixed feeling about coming here due to its dubious infamy.

Two to three years ago this small town was the Mecca of Southeast Asia for young backpackers looking for non stop partying, drugs and outdoor fun. The place became famous for its tubing; visitors hired a tractor inner tube and floated along the river, stopping at dozens of bars along the way for free shots and cheap cocktails. So popular was the tubing that the bars continued to multiply and dangerous slides and swings appeared over the jagged rocks along the river banks.  Sadly, drink, drugs and fast flowing rivers don’t mix and 27 travellers died on the river in 2011 alone, with many more injured. International governments pushed for the bars to close and the slides and swings were dismantled, causing a sudden decrease in tourism to the area.

This article by The Guardian paints a vivid picture of the former the party scene in Vang Vieng: 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/07/vang-vieng-laos-party-town

"There are signs asking tourists to respect dress codes, but many ignore them. At peak party-time on the river, there are frequent episodes of boob-flashing, mooning and boys waggling their privates around for the hell of it... couples having sex in inner tubes as they float along the Nam Song is known to happen, too."

Within minutes of checking in to a guest house we over heard conversations of “where is the opium bar?” and “this place is the Ayia Napa of Laos”. The information booklet in our room described happy pizzas (made with magic mushrooms), opium tea and bars that give away free joints and then tip off the local police. It didn’t really sound like our kind of town.

However, once we checked out of the rowdy guest house with the Ayia Napa fans and into a quiet bungalow with huge gardens over looking the river, we found Vang Vieng to be quiet and laid back, if somewhat lacking in character.

View of the sunset over the karsts from our guest house.

Bars line the water front offering views over the karst scenery with Bob Marley playing in the background. At least half of the bars in town have wide screen TVs that play constant videos of Friends, series seven. So much for soaking up the Laos culture.

We gave famous tubing a go and it was great. A tuk-tuk took us a few kilometres out of town to a bar where we were offered our first and last free shots. We then floated tranquilly down the river Nam Xong, taking in the stunning scenery and stopping off at a couple of the bars that have remained open. Far from the scenes of unadulterated debauchery that I've seen on the internet, our trip was quiet, picturesque and relaxing. Among people tubing with us that day was an Irish couple well into their eighties. I'm pleased that the slides have all been removed because I’m sure I’d have had a hard time persuading my adrenaline seeking boyfriend not to go down them.

Tubing!

Another day, another bike ride. My initial enthusiasm for cycling is wearing off but it tends to be the cheapest and safest way to get around in Laos; tuk-tuks are too expensive, taxis non-existent and the only other option is to hire a scooter, which we’re not too keen on. It’s good exercise too I suppose. We set off into the countryside that surrounds Vang Vieng on a bone-shakingly bumpy road. The pot holes and rocks were havoc on my back so I bailed on the bike ride and headed straight for the Blue Lagoon, leaving Ric to complete the 30km loop with a friendly Australian.

The Blue Lagoon is a natural swimming pool surround by karsts and mountain caves. Although an undeniably beautiful place, it has been turned into a major tourist attraction and was bursting with tourists, diving, swinging and jumping into the cool blue water. Crowded or not, it was still a nice place to spend a couple of hours out of the sun.

Rope swings at the Blue Lagoon.

How To Get To...
The Blue Lagoon: Head out of town across the river on the toll bridge, follow the signs for 7km.
We Stayed At...
Phou Bain Guest House. Possibly my favourite place we've stayed in months. We almost walked past this place without checking the prices because it looked too posh for our budget, but for 55,000kip ($7/£4.20) per night it was a bargain. Wooden bungalow, huge gardens, river views. 

Cycling to Kouang Si Waterfalls

Wanting to beat the crowds of tour groups and day trippers, Ric and I rented mountain bikes and tackled the 35km trip to Kouang Si Waterfalls, southeast of Luang Prabang.

We set off in the cool morning light of 6am, just as the sky was turning from black to grey. The way to the falls is well signposted and we whizzed out of town along the main road, which is thankfully well paved.

The ride took us almost two and a half hours, with leisurely stops to drink water, eat bananas and gasp for breath along the way. On the way we passed several villages where the residents were giving alms to the monks, children were making their long journeys to school and the village men were preparing for their boat races. It’s amazing how much activity we usually miss by sleeping in until after eight!

The route was challenging, certainly for me, with a fair few hills to climb, and I was glad to have a bike with gears. Cycling through the valleys was very pleasant, with the Laos mist still hugging the green mountains around us.

Eventually, after a fair amount of sweat and almost a couple of tears, we arrived. We entered the falls and had the place to ourselves. The falls start with a thundering 60m drop before cascading down through several different levels where it is possible to swim in the freezing blue water. As we were visiting at the end of the rainy season the water level was high and the park staff had had to dam off some areas with tree trunks and sand bags to stop the whole area from flooding. 

Swimming in the natural swimming pools was wonderfully refreshing after our long bike ride. Ric had fun climbing up rocks and trees to bomb into the pools whilst I relaxed in the shade, fighting off man eating fish! The pools are full of little fish that like to nibble your feet, the same kind they have in the ‘fish massage’ spas. I can’t comprehend why anyone would pay to have those fish eat your skin; the feeling is like a mild electric shock, horrible!

Next to the falls is a bear rescue centre. The two bears found in this part of the world, the Asian Black Bear and the Sun Bear, are at risk from so many threats. The bears are kept as pets, they are made to dance and are paraded around as tourist attractions, they are poached by the Chinese for their bile which is used in traditional Chinese medicine. The local people are also a threat; they believe that bears bring you strength and we have seen bear paws marinating in rice whiskey for the local men to drink and become strong. The centre rescues and rehabilitates the bears in a natural setting, releasing them back in to the wild when possible.

Once we were done swimming, exploring and looking at bears, we ate some lunch and made our way back to town. Whilst Ric powered on to cycle the whole 70km round trip, I chose not to fry in the midday sun and hitched a ride with an American couple in a tuk-tuk, bike and all!

It was definitely worth the early start and the lengthy ride to have the waterfalls to ourselves, it’s a beautiful spot.

How To Get To…

Kouang Si Falls:

A mountain bike costs 50,000kip ($6.25/£4) from Luang Prabang. Follow the signs heading southeast out of town, and check out this great map.

A private tuk-tuk will cost you 200,000 ($25/£15) for up to eight people.

Organised tours are 50,000kip per person but don’t leave until 11am, the busiest time of day.

The Many Caves of Ninh Binh

I wasn't looking forward to our night train from Hue to Ninh Binh; India has traumatised me and all I could think of were the rats, the cockroaches, the smell of urine, the overcrowding and the dozens of Indian eyes peering at me through the dark above handlebar moustaches.

The Vietnamese train, on the other hand, was lovely: fresh bedding, a six bed berth with a door that closed, a nice table by the window. It was even clean. We'd just settled into a nice game of scrabble when the man sitting opposite us decided he'd use the 10 hour journey to learn English. He rudely interrupted our game and started writing random words on my piece of paper. For the next 30 minutes I was completely ignored whilst the stranger pestered Ric for pronunciation tips. When he gestured to me and asked Ric my name I got so cross I had to go for a walk. Sexist scrabble botherer!! 

To top it off, we were told the train would arrive in Ninh Binh at 5am but it arrived two hours early, leaving me and Ric sitting in the train station in the middle of the night, being bitten by mosquitoes, waiting for the sun to rise. Not the best start to our day.

90km south of Hanoi, Ninh Binh is home to some of the worst hotels and restaurants in the whole of Vietnam. We dragged our tired selves around several river-front hotels that could have passed for derelict buildings, before finally finding a place to rest.

Fortunately, for what it lacks in accommodation and food, Ninh Binh makes up for it in natural geographical wonders. 

First we took a boat ride through caves and around limestone rocks at Tam Coc, where our skillful guide rowed the boat with his feet! 

View down over Tam Coc from Mua Cave.

We were up early the next day to explore the incredible landscape on bicycles. First stop was Bich Dong temple, built into the side of a mountain with pitch black caves full of bats and Buddhist shrines. At the top there was a sign that says "do not climb up". We learned the hard way that the sign was right; the 100m climb was too difficult in our flip flops and we arrived at the rocky summit drenched in sweat, to find the only patch of shade was home to a nest of wasps. 

Outside Bich Dong.

Cave shrine, Bich Dong.

From the temple we continued along a dusty back road lined with rice paddies to Han Mua; another cave temple at the foot of 500 steps. The labourious climb was worth it for the panoramic views down to Tam Coc and out across Ninh Binh, however; I was not impressed with the Japanese tourist sat at the pagoda at the top playing a horribly out of tune Asian wind instrument! Talk about disrupting the peace.

View Ninh Binh from Mua Cave.

To end the day we took a three hour boat trip around Trang An where we traveled through yet more impressive caves. The karst landscape is really beautiful but once again there was somebody to upset my peace and quiet; this time a large, over-excitable Vietnamese family who shrieked and screamed and cheered their way along the river, having raucous boat races. Ric said I was being a killjoy but he soon changed his tune when the father of the family asked Ric to pay his portion of a tip to the boat driver!

Trang An landscape.

Trang An caves.

Ninh Binh has some amazing scenery, well worth a visit but the town itself isn't very pleasant. We left after two nights with a mild case of food poisoning as a souvenir.

How to get to...
All the caves! All the sights in Ninh Binh are within cycling distance, although hired motorbikes are probably preferable as the sights are quite spread out (about a 30km round trip), and the boat trips are long (Tam Coc 2 hours, Trang An 3 hours).
We stayed at...
Queen Mini Hotel. For $8/£4.80 the room was much nicer than anything else we'd seen in Ninh Binh. All the hotels along the waterfront are disgusting. The services in the Queen Mini Hotel were very overpriced compared to other local agents.