My Travel Adventures

Yesterday evening, we asked our hotel’s front desk service whether they could arrange a taxi for the following day. We wanted to be driven around from about eight to twelve, intending to eat lunch at noon before setting off for the airport. The price we were quoted, however, amounted to about a million kips, which we judged far too high for a four-hour hire. Instead, we decided to trust the local rideshare app Loca. After our checking out the following morning, we hailed our first cab to the Lao National Museum, which only cost us 120 thousand.

We began our first and only full day in Vientiane with a bus ride to the famous Buddha Park. We had considered hiring a tuk-tuk, but taking a bus – at 36,000 kip per person for a round trip – was a cheaper alternative that allowed us to observe a little bit of local life. Finding the Talat Sao bus station was not difficult, and we knew from the internet that we were to take bus number 14. We also made sure to cross-check this piece of intelligence with nearby information boards, which to our surprise were translated to English. And, as though these two sources were not enough, several local busybodies came up to us and confirmed we were waiting in the right place.

Barron and I began our breakfast promptly at seven o’clock, but our efficiency was undermined by Barron’s capacious stomach demanding a serving of noodle soup after finishing a whole buffet plate. We felt regret at leaving our hotel so early, as our fifth-floor room offered us a beautiful view of the mountains across the river. Still, we knew better views awaited us.

On the morning of our last day in Luang Prabang, I made a quick excursion with my camera to Wat Xieng Thong. It had been cloudy during our previous visit, and I really wanted to get a few pictures of the temple under clear blue skies (Barron quite rightly made fun of me for being a slave to Instagram). Having completed this task, Barron and I checked out of our hotel and walked to a nearby motorcycle rental place. For about eight dollars, we rented a motorcycle for the whole day, with no questions asked about licenses or insurance. I imagine the lady renting us the motorcycle had some second thoughts about this policy when I asked her to start the engine for me.

We began our second day in Luang Prabang with a bright and early rise at half past five. After brushing our teeth and dressing hastily, we made our way down to Sisavangvong Road, where the Tak Bat ceremony unfolds every morning around sunrise. Traditionally, the Tak Bat is an almsgiving ritual during which locals give rice to a procession of monks from the temples in the city. In Luang Prabang, however, the whole ceremony has become more of a spectacle for Chinese tour groups: Rice and other foods are sold to tourists, who line the roads for the opportunity to deposit them in vessels carried by the monks. Since the monks are vastly outnumbered, a whole system has been devised whereby they dump the excess food into nearby receptacles, and the food is distributed among people in nearby villages.

This Thursday evening, my friend Barron arrived in Bangkok. Planning his visit, we decided that I would take a week off from work and that we would explore Laos and Cambodia together. On his first day, Barron toured Bangkok by himself while I wrapped up my work and did some last-minute research. I also bought tickets for the train from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng and from Vang Vieng to Vientiane, as these only became available three days before the journey. I had hoped we would be able to take the night train from Bangkok to Vientiane, but these were sold out far in advance.

This weekend, I visited my friend Yang in Singapore. My Friday night flight had a two-hour delay because of bad weather coupled with Lion Air’s inexplicable decision to begin refuelling only after everyone had boarded. These unfortunate circumstances have added to my ever-deepening dislike of Lion Air for imposing a ban on the use of all electronics during take-off and landings (regardless of whether they are in flight mode) and for its strict policy of “no outside food.” To this I add the fact that I was not able to check-in online for my flight from Bangkok to Singapore, but I was able to check-in for my flight back with a different airline. This may not have even been Lion Air’s fault but at this point I am not exactly primed to be understanding.  

This Monday was a holiday commemorating the death of Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand’s previous king. Although I was still a bit tired from my trip to Chiang Rai, the sky was so blue that I could not help feeling drawn outside. At eight o’clock, I called a Grab cab and rode it all the way to the nearby town of Nakhon Pathom; I should point out there are trains from Bangkok to Nakhon Pathom, but I could not for the life of me figure out the schedule, which seemed to indicate that only one single train would leave that entire morning.

For our second day in Chiang Rai, we booked a visit to an elephant sanctuary. I was very proud of myself for making the reservation, as I had gleaned from the sanctuary’s website that its owner was a Frenchwoman and managed to make the phone call entirely in French. We were picked up promptly at half past eight in the morning and began our forty-minute ride at the back of an open-air truck after picking up two other tourists and buying some insect repellent at 7-Eleven.

This weekend, Reese and I travelled to Chiang Rai, a city nestled in the northernmost corner of Thailand, and so far north that local agencies offer two-day boat rides to Luang Prabang in Laos. Chiang Rai was founded in 1262 by King Mangrai, who named it after himself: the word “chiang” means city, so a loose translation of “Chiang Rai” would be “the City of (Mang) Rai.” Heir to the kingdom of Ngoenyang, Mangrai unified the city states (or mueangs) of northern Lanna and present-day northern Laos, establishing the Kingdom of Lanna.

This weekend, I made a visit to Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market with my friend Reese. We arrived a little after nine o’clock while the air was still fresh and before all the stalls had been set up. There were enough stalls, however, to guarantee a wealth of breakfast options, of which many were vegetarian due to some upcoming religious festival. The market was a bit more touristy than I had hoped. There were no fruit and vegetable stalls selling local produce, and instead most stalls offered various snacks and drinks, which visitors would carry to wooden tables overlooking the canal. Nevertheless, the place was not completely overrun by foreign tourists, appearing relatively popular with Thai people looking to get out of the bustle of central Bangkok.