Jon the Traveller

Having made the decision to fly into Luang Prabang, I needed to find a place that would pick me up from the airport, as its a slight way out of town.

After much browsing of Travelfish and Google, I happened upon Rattana’s and fired off an email. A few hours later my reservation was confirmed. A day later I was met at the airport and taken to the guesthouse.

Rattana’s itself is close to the boat landing for the slow boats, as well as close to Phou Si, the Hmong Market and pretty much the rest of Luang Prabang. The rooms are pretty spacious overall, and very well maintained. And at $15 a night you cannot ask for more.

Rattana’s also offers trekking and other tour services ould they interest you, as well as being able to arrange onward bus tickets to anywhere in Laos.

Overall as a slightly more costly place than most of the budget range in town, Id say Rattana’s does what it does very well and I have no complaints about the place.

Tags: Laos, Luang Prabang, Rattana, Review, Trip

(Trek was undertaken over the 12th and 13th February 2010 basing from Pai, Thailand)

After a few days in Pai, Anna, Luke, Mat & myself decided it was time to do something energetic and we made arrangements to do a jungle trek. We used Back Trax on the main road in Pai, mainly because they are recommended in “the book” (Lonely Planet Thailand), which is usually something I avoid following as once a “service” is in the book, the reason for it being there tends to vanish rather quickly.

However this recommendation proved to be brilliant. We spoke to a guide named Cha, who basically offered us what we wanted: Trekking with no elephants and no hill tribes, just roaming through jungle and over/around mountains, staying overnight under the stars.

Cut to a day or so later and we arrived – after a start that was early even by my standards – at our starting point. For me it went well at first, however the heat and being fabulously unhealthy soon caught up with me, and I had to slow it down a lot. This did give me more of a chance to appreciate our location, which while not deep jungle was still ensuring it let us know our place.

After a good few hours – and a slight fall that pulled all the muscles in my ever messed up right foot – we made camp, well everyone else swam while the guides built it and I got some well earned shut-eye (neatly avoiding any effort). The guides: Cha & Sap, really out did themselves on the preparation for the overnight stay, they built a “sala”, which is like an open-sided sleeping area, made a huge number of utensils and cooking pots out of bamboo as well as building the fire and along with Anna’s assistance, made a wonderful dinner.

And they provided booze in the form of local whisky, presumably made from rice!

I really was not that useful as standing up required a huge amount of effort and so slept soundly – near enough anyway – for the whole night after I’d had my fill of dinner (a very delicious potato soup was the stand out thing in my mind).

Due to my foot making it hard for me to walk a lot and often, my second day of the trek was cut very short and after watching a squirrel get shot for lunch I, with Sap’s assistance left the others to finish out the trek with a serious hike and arranged to meet them near the road to Pai after they were done.

Despite my slight injury I really did enjoy myself on the 2 days and would do it again, given a few months of gym time obviously.

Tags: injury, Pai, trek

I’m in Laos now, more specifically in the town of Luang Prabang, a UNESCO protected World Heritage site.

Town is very pedi friendly, so I’m a happy chappy.

I’ll have more to say in a day or two.

Tags: Laos, Luang Prabang

Called this place after finding them in Rough Guide. Price is a winner, less than £3 (150 baht) per night per hut; 250 baht for the ones on stilts and there are also a couple of Tee-pees for 100 baht a night.

Very basic bamboo huts, quite spacious inside for the size of the hut’s. Shared facilities but well maintained, even has hot water showers. A nice relaxation area and several fire pits for late night bonfires which are a must in the area as the nights can get pretty cold.

Other than the huts being basic and it being not that easy to find (Other side of the river behind a couple of similar operations), it is a good place to stay for those on a serious budget.

Tags: Chai-Niz, Pai

We – Anna, Luke, Mat & I – spent some time while in Pai doing a spot of sightseeing.  We visited a bridge the Japanese used as a supply route in World War II:

As well as Pai canyon, a waterfall and a working rice paddy:

It was also Luke’s birthday during our time in Pai. We as usual ate at Na’s, however Anna arranged for a cake and candles to be brought out. Very impressive cake and Luke was I’m sure very surprised by it all, especially when half the restaurant joined in with Happy Birthday, before helping polish off his cake.

The rest of our time in Pai passed very quickly in a haze of Jungle Trekking (Post to come shortly), drinks and sunbathing. In the final few days we met another couple of people from “the group”: Clare & Shaheen, and many drinks where had over the days we were in Pai together.

However, eventually the slow pace of life in Pai gets to you and Anna moved onto Laos, a few days after Luke & Mat did the same and I moved back to Chiang Mai to sort a new battery for my netbook – it gives 2 hours max these days. The bus ride back was great fun, sitting chatting with a couple of Monks at the back of the bus, which had stacks of leg room, only place that did.

So I am back in Chiang Mai for a short while, before heading to Laos myself.

Tags: Bridge, Cake, Images, Pai

I had looked this place up on Travelfish before heading out, and it looked like a nice one to stay at, a little expensive for the area at 400 baht per night I had thought, however on seeing the room and the very central, yet secluded location I forgot all about the price.

The room itself was very large with a double bed, fan and small but usable en-suite bathroom, and best of all the room was the first on the site, which meant I was able to come and go as I wished without disturbing the other residents.

CM Blue House has a restaurant that operates on a limited hours basis, but that does not affect the quality of the food on offer from breakfasts with some twists on the staples to an interesting array of lunch options.

The owners Tim & Tony are great guys and are really knowledgeable on the local area and on the various things to do in the surrounding region. Another good point was there being an honour system in operation with regards to a very well stocked fridge of drinks from water right through to beer. Just remember to write what you take in the book for your room.

Location wise it can be found on a soi on the eastern side the old town of Chiang Mai and is about 10 – 20 minutes walk from a lot of the big attractions in town and the main eating area’s too.

Tags: Chiang Mai, CM Blue House

After much waiting due to a combination of the Flower Festival and repeated “15minutes” – Thailand seriously works on its own definition of time – we eventually left Chiang Mai for Pai, a town up in the mountains that is a good place to base for treks and chill out for a while.

Minibuses really do suck by the way. Cramped and hot is the politest way I can describe the journey in one of these, although as an alternative to the non-air con local buses with non-existent suspension, I can see some merit in using them in particular area’s. Still don’t like them though.

Pai itself is a very small town, about 20 minutes walk across, so it is possible to get a feel for town in no time at all. It has a serious amount of bungalow operations, many by its small river which you can float down on tubes should the whim take you, as well as innumerable guest-houses dotted around town. There are plenty of bars, however they never all get busy, its more of a case that one does and when that closes people occasionally move on, or due to it being damn cold at night here, they go and find a bonfire to huddle round. Playing with fire is great when its cold.

To be continued…

Tags: Cold, Pai, Small

I’ll be reviewing my guest-houses from now on in the format shown below.  Also shall post these on Travelfish and other sites.

Stayed 6 nights here. Paid 340 baht for a double fan room with shared facilities.  For the price its pretty good, not much noise and facilities are cleaned at least twice a day what I saw.

The restaurant there is not that amazing but that’s not down to the food, more the staff there who can be a little off when it gets busy, or even just plain forgetful. The food itself is a good introduction to Thai food for those who do not wish to start straight on the street food. Menu also has a nice array of western food, which I found out is actually made at one of New Siam I’s sister properties, but that doesn’t really matter as they are very close by.

Location is on a sub-soi off Soi Rambuttri which is much more genteelthan the nearby Khao San Road, although its still a bit of a zoo at times. Going the other way from Soi Rambuttri brings you onto Th Pra Athit which is good as it has a riverboat pier on it and once on the river you can get to the main sites quite easily indeed, and even the sky-train should malls or the bigger markets be your destinations.

All in all I do recommend the New Siam 1 to people who want to stay somewhere quiet in the city, and yet still easily get to all big musts in Bangkok.

Tags: Bangkok, New Siam, Review

Make a note folks, Im as cold here at night as I was at lunch time in the UK during january…

Tags: Cold, Pai, Trip

Packed. Check.

Checked out of guest-house. Check.

Met with the others and breakfasted. Check.

Stuck in Chiang Mai due to Flower Festival Parade. Check.

Tags: Chiang Mai, Festival, Flower, Parade