Mr. Pip & Monkey go travelling

A blog for Mr. Pip and Monkey as they go on their big adventure across South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the big old US of A. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25003196-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

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Mr Le

This is Mr Le Huu Chi. He's 94 years old! Yep. 9. 4. He's lived through three Vietnam wars - with Japan, France and America (as well as the civil war between North and South after the American 'withdrawal' from Vietnam). For years he ran Cafe 252 (Kinh Do Cafe), a bakery come cafe, in the Old Quarter of Hanoi and became good friends with Catherine Deneuve who got her morning coffee from him each day while filming Indochine. He's retired now but he's still sits in the cafe in amongst the photos of him with Catherine and a signed Indochine film poster, watching the world go by and chatting to locals and the odd tourist. Pop by if you're in the area and listen to his stories over a coffee (with real milk!) and croissant.

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Holy crap! Some more photos at long last

Here you go folks... Some photos that answer the question from Twitter yesterday. Could Pip and/or Monkey fit down the original 60cm x 30cm entrance of what of the Chu Chi tunnels? http://www.flickr.com/photos/onefatmonkey/sets/72157629302230869/ Don't forget, although this blogging lark isn't going too well we are tweeting fairly regularly and you don't need to be signed up or a regular tweeter to read our updates. Just click the link below... http://www.twitter.com/mrpipandmonkey

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Sunset from That Chomsi (Luang Prabang) now uploaded #flickstackr Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/onefatmonkey/sets/72157628495302109

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Back to Thailand

Hello again. A shortish post this time as Pip has promised faithfully to write the next proper blog post. She's unwell again the poor thing - hence part of the delay to a proper update of our travels, trials and adventures of the past few weeks. Since last time... We've covered a fair bit of ground - from Luang Prabang north to Nong Kiaw by boat, from there to north to Muang Ngoi (boat again) and then backtracking all the way back to Vientiane and then over the border into Thailand to get a new Visa (via boat, 'futuristic' (e.g. A vision of future from around the time of Alien or perhaps 2001: A Space Odyssey) sleeper bus, minivan and bus). And that's where I write this post from - Mut Mee Guesthouse, Nong Khai where we started our journey proper almost a month ago (a night in Bangkok airport doesn't really count we figured). Ill again :( Pip's got over her initial sickness (as have I - finally!) but now has a sore throat & temperature - it seems we always seem to get ill at our 'rest' stops at the nice accommodation. A blessing in disguise perhaps. I've picked up some strong antibiotics for her chomp so fingers crossed she can shake it quickly. In the meantime, last night, I fell down a large hole in the pavement I just didn't see - cutting up my shin, knee and toes (D'oh) so I'm pretty sore and banged up today. Thankfully the mud broke my fall somewhat and it was mud and not poo! So that's the 'bad' stuff (isn't there some famous quote about the worst thing that could happen on a big trip is that everything goes smoothly? Or maybe it was in the book I'm reading - "We need to talk about Kevin"). I'll leave the juicy good stuff for Pip when's she feeling better, although there are some photos online already from Luang Prabang and our day with the elephants. Christmas and New Year All being well we head back into Laos in a few days to explore the South. It's going to be an experience - a backwater town, the (hopefully) magnificent Konglor Caves and then Christmas in a posh(ish) hotel in a meh town before New Year in the backpacker Mecca of Si Phan Don. Then it's goodbye Laos for the last time and hello Cambodia (I wonder, would it be insensitive to, when we get there, title my first Vietnam post - "Good morning VIETNAM!"?). Until next time... Monks X

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Tech problems (order bit off) aside photos from Elephant Village online #flickstackr Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/onefatmonkey/sets/72157628426531245

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Some photos from Luang Prabang #flickstackr #LuangPrabang Elephants, waterfall, Nong Kiaw and Muang Ngoi to come... Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/onefatmonkey/sets/72157628396966733

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Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.

Mark Twain (see on a few menus in Laos)

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A few photos from our time in Vang Vieng #flickstackr #VangVieng Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/onefatmonkey/sets/72157628396786261

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Buddha Park (Nong Khai) photos finally online via #flickstackr #VangVieng, #LuangPrabang, #KouangSiWaterfall to come... :) Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/onefatmonkey/sets/72157628245461979

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The story so far

So here we are. We're now into our third week of our big RTW (Round the World) trip. First off, apologies for the lack of posts so far, this being only the second proper post. It's a mixture of: 1. It being ruddy hard and frustrating to type anything longer than a few sentences on an iPad and even then it's going to be filled with typos. 2. Finding the time to blog is hard! 3. Pip gets bored and cross if Monkey spends too long connected to the t'inter'web or farting about with photos. So since the last (and first) proper post from Nong Khai in Thailand we have crossed the border into Laos, spent a few days in the capital Vientiane, gone tubing in Vang Vieng and spent five nights so far in Luang Prabang (staying in three different places - more on that later). We're here for one more night then we're getting the slow boat up river to a two street town called Nong Kiaw / Nong Khiaw. Then it's up river some more to a one street town called Muang Ngoi that only has electricity for a few hours in the evening. Both towns are meant to be set in beautiful scenery with tall mountains either side. We might even try our hand at an afternoon's kayaking. After which we hot foot it back the way we came, partly via a 'VIP sleeper bus' (Note - Laos roads are very windy, often unsealed and have consist of more pot holes than roads) back to Nong Khai in Thailand, get a new Visa and then hit Southern Laos. Nong Khai So... Nong Khai (Thailand) was a bit dull to be honest. Not a lot to see or do outside of the Buddha Park (photos to come but see point 3 above) and the national museum although the guesthouse we stayed in was lovely. Vientiane Vientiane is a typical South East Asian city but quiet considering it's the capital (Luang Prabang was the old capital until it changed for tactical / strategic reasons). And we did eat some yummy street food including some soft pasty type things. Vang Vieng Vang Vieng is party town. Full of tanked up, stoned and/or high tourists. You can (sadly) spot/hear the stereotypical Brits abroad in a tuk-tuk from a mile away. Having said that tubing down the river was a blast, we met some fun people and despite Pip's initial reservations the accommodation was OK and a bargain at around £6 per bungalow per night. We would have stayed another night but we couldn't move our guesthouse booking for Luang Prabang (it's #1 on TripAdvisor so almost always fully booked) so it was into a minivan (it should have been a big bus but it had 'broken down', e.g. Not enough people to warrant taking the big bus) for 6.5 bumpy hours through the mountains to Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang Pip immediately fell in love with both the picturesque guesthouse and the town itself as Monkey had done two years previously. If only all SE Asian towns and cities were like this! While here we have got up close and personal with an elephant, visited the Kouang Si waterfall, watched the sunset from That Chomsi above town and eaten some more great street/restaurant food. After three nights we moved from ThongBay Guesthouse (#1 place mentioned above) to another highly rated TripAdvisor guesthouse but given it's now been renamed semi-affectionately, by us at least, to 'Slugville' you can understand why we checked out a night early and sought alternative digs. Slugville Numerous slugs and the mysterious animal that lived in the roof and kept crapping on our bungalow floor (nice little 'welcome home presents' they were...) aside the couple that ran it were amazingly lovely and we did feel a bit bad for not staying the third night. But the 25min jeep ride down bumpy lanes from town was too much, even if the ride itself in old US army jeeps from the Vietnam war was fun. Especially considering we need to be at the boat dock by 8.30am at the latest tomorrow and need to get supplies first before our day on the river heading to Nong Kiaw. So that's it for now. Hopefully there will be some more photos soon and maybe I can persuade Pip to write the next blog post when we're back here in Luang Prabang in around 9 nights time. Until then... Monks x P.s. Bug bite count now stands at around 11 for Monkey and 25+ for Pip. I never win at anything! ;)

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Photos from Vientiane in Laos #flickstackr Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/onefatmonkey/sets/72157628156318871

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Nong Khai photos now online via #flickstackr Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/onefatmonkey/sets/72157628059529679

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"And it looks like we might have made it"

So we've finally in Thailand and starting to unwind. After many hours we've finally stopped at last in Nong Khai - a quiet town on the border of Laos. The last few weeks have been manic for both Pip and I, which is at least part of our excuse for the lack of posts to date. But we've moved out of the flat, the tenants are in, we've survived the 12 hour flight to Bangkok (not as uncomfortable as I feared actually), got through a very uncomfortable night 'sleeping' in the airport (e.g. we didn't get more than an hour's sleep if that), got another flight and found our first guesthouse. Very nice it is too. Although the snake consuming a gecko a few meters away from where I'm sitting is a bit of a culture shock. I'll tweet a pic later once I get the card reader working. 1st night roaming Bangkok was a bit of a non event - partly because didn't have a map but also because we knew we had to get back to the airport in a few hours. In true Brit abroad style we ate a processed cheese sandwich for dinner on the first night (made from ingredients from a supermarket) and had McD's for breakfast this morning in the airport before our early morning flight today. I did get Pip to try some street food in Bangkok though so that's a start. Tonight we'll try to eat something more authentic and rice based. Off to unpack in a bit - we stop here for three nights before crossing the border into Laos. I'm carrying 23kg, Pip's got 16kg. And both bags are full to bursting. Oops. To be fair I am carrying 8 months supply of contact lens though. One last thing before I sign off... My mobile won't accept my SIM card so the 666 number is unreachable for the foreseeable future. I'll work something out later. TTFN Monks x ------------------------------------------------------ A quick update. Struggling to get upload photo with Tumblr so the snake photo is on tweet stream instead.

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Don't worry lads, I've got a plan

So despite only getting one hour's sleep last night (damn insomnia combined with a super early 5am start) Monkey survived his last Monday at work.

Just four working days to go now.

Following the Bangkok/Thailand floods online has been worrying. Typical Thai authorities delivering mixed messages and failing to grasp the problem early enough means things are not looking good for Bangkok.

Our first few nights accommodation is near the river and there is some flooding on the street and nearby so they're battened down the hatches and are preparing for the worst.

What's more with flooding to the north of Bangkok and with it taking an estimated 4-6 weeks to hopefully get back to some normality a serious change of plans may be needed.

So after initially giving some thought to reversing the whole Asia route (Thai beaches > Cambodia > Vietnam > Laos > Thailand), Monkey has come up with a cunning plan. And in the spirit of good (Agile) web dev it involves the simplest, cheapest, easiest solution possible.

Instead of hanging for the first few nights in Bangkok, heading West to Kanchanaburi and then getting an overnight train North to Nong Khai the new plan involves fast forwarding things a bit. So just a one nighter in Bangkok and then getting back on a plane and flying straight to Nong Khai.

It's a shame as Monkey and Pip were looking forward to overnight train but the flight is probably cheaper and it's an hour as appose to 12-13 hours on the train.

We can then chill around the Thai / Laos border and if there's still time at the end of The Loop (round South East Asia) we can spend a bit of time in Bangkok (hopefully still staying at Phranakorn Nornlen) and all being well check out the real floating market at Amphawa. Assuming the other floating street markets are no longer floating down the street that is.

So option A or B. We'll make a final decision nearer the time. Now where did I pack my water wings...

- Monks x

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Three weeks and counting

And that's another week down.

Monkey now has just three weeks (15 days, 105 hours) left before the job gets packed a way in a pedestal under lock and key while Pip and Monks tour the world. Giggity giggity goo!

Pip has slightly longer as she doesn't finish until the 1st week of November but she does have a few days of leave booked to go see Daddy and Mummy Pip.

Now will the hours zoom by or will they drag...

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Mr. Pip and 'her' happy face.

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A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles

Tim Cahill (not the footballer!)