Travel Diary - Weirdest fruit ever ^^

The second day in Vientiane was a pure shopping day.

We began the day lazily with some hotel breakfast before chilling inside the room for a while. Then we walked outside to see what Vientiane had to offer by day.

We walked into a convenience store and found a "european corner", where they had a lot of brands we recognized - especially the über Swedish "Wasa"! :)

We kept on walking around until we got hungry again and decided to eat some dinner. We got lazy and decided on pizza, which unfortunately wasn't nearly as delicious as Swedish pizza, but the owner was incredibly nice and even gave us some jackfruit for dessert. 

We had no idea what jackfruit was until we got to Asia, and for the first time we got to see how they grew because the owner had her own jackfruit tree. We were surprised by the big and weird, almost gross looking fruit that grew from the trees - a big contrast from the sweet taste we had gotten used to.

After dinner we decided to have another go at the night market. And this time we were luckily not caught in a tropical rainstorm ;)

While walking along the evening market we began hearing musik pumping very loudly through broken speakers. Naturally we got curious and went to have a closer look. What was happening? Why aerobics of course! And all along the promenade similar workstations were popping up all within minutes.

 

Totally exhausted by just looking, we wound our way back to the hotel with nothing but food and sleep on our minds.

//Wayu & Robert

Travel Diary - Unexpected weather

Our lovely stay in Vang Vieng was up and it was time to travel to the capital of laos - Vientiane.

We ended our stay in Vang Vieng by eating at the local restaurant we had come to love an then rode in a mini-van to Vientiane. We arrived late in the afternoon and started looking for a good and cheap place to stay. We tried quite a few places before we found one we liked - with a little help from a nice Austrian couple. 

We went for a little fika with them before we tried to go to the so called "night market" (which actually is from 5-10pm so more like evening market). But when we arrived the shops were all packing away their stalls. The only reason we could think of was because of the few raindrops that were falling and when we asked why they were closing almost two hours before the normal closing time they told us it was indeed because of the rain. None of us thought the drizzling was anything to worry about though, so we continued walking along the bay.

And then, only a few minutes later we were caught in a tropical rainstorm. We all ran back to the hotel and decided to go to the nightmarket another day when we weren't completely soaked.

And so, we returned to our room and had one of those cosy evenings were we stayed inside and read our books while listening to the rain smattering against our window for the rest of the evening.

//Wayu & Robert

Travel Diary - Cows and Caves

As we had come to expect, the roosters started to scream their lungs out at around 6 o'clock and as a result, we had to wake up. After breakfast Robert checked his mail only to find out that Tom the dirtbike instructor had gone and hurt his knee and now recided at the local hospital. Poor thing ... That also resulted in no dirtbike for us. 

Instead we decided to do the second best thing, rent our very own motorbike and drive to the most remote of all the caves in the area. This place was also said to have a nice chill out area outside with really blue water and to that we couldn't say no.

After we bought some picknick we set off towards Blue Lagoon. We had to cross some very dodgy bridges which creaked omniously as we tried to get to the other side. After a while we got out on the open dirt road and we had a bit of fun with trying to dodge all the cows and other livestock that seemed to thrive on the road. We also took some time to stare on all the beautiful mountains that shot from nowhere straight towards the sky. A very pretty sight indeed.

When we got to the Blue Lagoon we were both drenched in sweat, and in good order we took a soothing swim in the calm blue water. We ate our picknick lunch and then headed up the mountain side towards the cave. It was a steep climb and not one for the fainthearted. 

Out of breath we arrived at the cave's entrance and set out to explore. We had two mini toorches at our disposal but we soon realised that it is hard to hold a toorch and climb at the same time. Since Robert had a bit more experience with climbing he set out first to scout the way and slowly obut steady we wound our way down towards the cave's deeper parts. After a while we found ourselves in pitch black darkness with nothing but our toorches to guide our holding. Big spiders and dripping water was now our only companions as we realised we were the only ones in the cave. We therefore had to be extra careful but as the climb went on it only got harder. 

Tomb Raider moment.

We finally emerged into daylight after almost three hours in the dark and we welcomed the sun on our faces. We were both dirty with Syrena taking the price since she desided to climb in white... We saw no other option then to jump head first back into the water and try and scrub the worst of the dirt off. That the water was cooling to our skin was just a big bonus.

A weird little creature that we found on our climb down from the caves.

The sun started to set and we said our goodbyes to the place and headed back towards the town. Syrena got behind the steeringwheel and before we knew it she was driving us home. First time she ever drove a motorbike! We'd like to think that Robert is a fantastic teacher and Syrena is somewhat of a natural :p 

We returned the motorbike and when Robert got his passport back, which he used as a pawn, the guy working in the shop ripped apart the sticker on the backside of the passport. We got really upset with the way they were treating it and we also got a bit scared. What if the passport now was invalid? We got back to the bungalow quickly and checked online for guiding. Turns out it was no worries and you could see us visibly relax. Suddenly very hungry we went to our new favourite diner and ordered something really delichious. We even got a pic with the masterchef :)

Feeling the food comatose rushing our way we headed back to our bungalow and our bed. It didn't take long before we fell asleep. We dreamed of the day that had been and the day to come. 

Next stop, capital of Laos, Vientiane.

//Wayu & Robert

Travel Diary - Well earned rest

The next morning we woke to what sounded like a rooster being strangled, repeatedly from around 6 in the morning until around 9 when it was joined by the festivals loud music.

We gave up on sleep and instead got up to eat breakfast. We found this lovely little place right by our bungalows that made delicious food and so we ate there twice that day.

We also booked an exciting dirt bike tour with "uncle tom" for tomorrow - a tour with 5 star reviews from all reviewers on trip advisor.

The rest of the day the rain was pouring down and so we decided to just have a relaxing day, reading, blogging and sleeping in our little bungalow.

//Wayu & Robert

Travel Diary - Bear paws & Vang Vieng

We woke up with a mild headache and the memories of crashing (bowling pins) and laughing people on our minds, leaving us very content during the morning.

It was still early in the day when our pick-up for Vang Vieng arrived, but we managed to down some breakfast before we set of to pick up the rest of the travelers. The road was very windy and full of pot holes. Our driver however surpriced us by driving responcible, something that we never experienced before on the trip :p The view was absolutely breathtaking when up in the mountains but we didn't get a good picture while driving so you'll just have to take our word for it ;)

We stoped for lunch in the middle of nowhere and got ourselves some cup noodles. We then stumbled on a local brew of vodka and what was in the brew if not one of those cuddly asian black bears that we visited at the waterfall... :( Not really hungry anymore we got back into the minivan and contiued our journey towards our next goal.

By the time we got to Vang Vieng we were exhausted and so we found a bungalow and then just laid on the bed with a book in hand for a few hours. Our stomachs then remembered us that it was time to eat. Luckily for us, the locals had a small festival going on just a few hundred meters from where we were staying and so we set out to get some food. We came across this kind old man that was roasting a pig over a fire and we bought some meat from him.

Crunchy delishiousness! We downed it with a banana/chockolate crepês while walking around looking at the different stalls and what they had to offer. Syrena bought what she thought was cookies with chockolate filling inside, which later turned out to be salty crunchy bisquits with dried grapes inside... When we were done with the festival area for the night we went back to our bungalow and quickly fell asleep thinking that western cuisine wasn't all that bad.

Wayu & Robert

Travel Diary - Duds, bowling and pictureroll

The people we met in the tuk tuk were super nice. They told us about their bad and good experiences travelling Asia and soon we were back in the city.

We decided to all meet up again for dinner and went our separate ways.

We showered away the dirt and mud from our venture to the top of the waterfall, changed clothes and rested for a bit before it was time for dinner. Then we met up our friends from the tuk tuk and went to the cheap and delicious restaurant by the Mekong that we found the day before.

We all ate some good food and chatted for a few hours before we went to a club called Utopia. The club was like a tropical garden with a bohemic twist and duds sticking up from the ground as decorations. The atmosphere was pure  chill and so we stayed there until the club closed. (Once again we did take some photos, but it seems my camera malfunctioned at some point and removed some of them)

But the night didn't end there. The big afterparty is traditionally held at ...*drumroll* ... A bowling alley!  Super weird but super fun! We all went there together and the place was packed! We had to wait an hour or so for a lane but we had fun on our own in the meantime ;)

After a while a lane opened up and so we all played. And we all sucked haha. Robert won and Wayu was third but none of us scored over a hundred ;)

How a normal person bowls:

How Wayu bowls: 

The person we got most attached to was this tiny little chinese cutie named Ning that lives in Singapore. She was so funny and had such a great personality that we decided to meet up again at the end of our trip when we go there. She promised to show us around then and suddenly we both really started to look forward to Singapore.

//Wayu & Robert

Travel Diary - Kuang Si waterfalls

Morning came and it was time go get ready for departure to the waterfall. We had time to get to a nice little stand in a crossing which sold amazing avocado baguettes and stock up before the minivan came and picked us up. A rocky windy road awaited and Robert quickly took something against the motion sickness to keep from getting ill. 

When we arrived we had untill 4:30 untill we should be back at the minivan which was about four hours, and so we set out to explore.

We first stoped at a bear rescue center that had alot of asian Black bears living there. We arrived just in time for feeding and saw the bears climb over obstacles and dive into tree trunks, all in the quest for food. It was so endearing that Wayu wanted to stay forever taking pictures :) (Unfortunately though, the bears seems to be ninja bears that deleted the photos of themselves from the camera because the many bear-photos are, in all meaning of the word, gone)

After the bear rescue center we found ourselves on a trail winding itself forever upwards. Adventiually we could hear water and so our steps quickened untill we saw the first of many pools of blue clear water. We walked a bit more untill we found a big pool with a tree hanging over the water so we could jump from it. Some locals had also put up a rope and we had alot of fun jumping out with the rope and splashing into the water! 

After some time we decided to walk further up the track and stoped every once in a while for some nice pictures untill we got to the base of the big waterfall itself. We climbed as close to it as we dared, any closer and the wind from the waterfall would surely pull us down into the water. 

Happy Robert after a swim in the natural pools.

Wayu was wearing Roberts shorts for the day and they were just a liiiittle bit too big ;) 

Ready for the jungle in Roberts clothes. It's better someone elses clothes right? ;)

The big waterfall. Do compare to the tiny humans at the bottom of it ;)

We then heared that you could climb up to the top of the waterfall for some amazing pictures and so we set out on a winding, incredible steep climb up the last bit of the mountainside. When we finally got up we were both kind of exhausted and we took a moment to catch our breath. During that time the sky thought it would be funny to open up, and so the rain started pouring. We managed to get to the waterfall after walking a short time through slimy muddy water almost waist high only to find that the rain kept us from taking any really amazing pictures. 

A steep climb to the top of the waterfall.

The too-cloudy-and-rainy-for-a-good-photo view from the top of the waterfall.

 

The steep waterway down...

A bit sad we decided to go back down again, and the huge leech that Robert found sucking on his knee made all the more motivation. There was just one problem... The rain had turned the path into a treacherous mudslide and Wayu couldn't get good footing anywhere. The climb down was even more mentally draining than physically and by the time we got down we were both tired and relieved.

The climb down had taken a bit longer than anticipated and so we rushed to get back to the minivan on time. We made it with a few minutes to spare only to realise that the bastard left without us 15 min ago. 

We ended up having to pay a tuk-tuk driver overprice to get back into town and we were a bit angry to say the least when we boarded the car. The people in the tuk-tuk however were wonderfull and so began the second part of the day.

Wayu & Robert