Kati & Mattes

Monday, August 24, 2009

Laos - Nong Kiao

river life

Nong Kiao, beautifully located, very secluded, very cozy, nice place to chill and relax

Laos - border crossing to Muong Koah

Our trip to Lao started perfectly: the bus was cancelled. So the shortest way to explain the pain of this beautiful day is the following - 13h for 84km! Or taxi to vietnamese border, hiking from vietnamese side to Lao side for 1h, negotiating, hitchhiking on the yellow truck into Lao, negotiating again, getting on a local bus/truck for 70$!! which then got stuck in the mud, waiting, walking through the mud, getting on a non people truck (see below) to continue until construction side, where the road only opens from 11-13h an 17-19h. then finally getting to muon khoa and taking the ferry to our hostel (3rd pic). good lord, thanks we started the day at 5am.

Muon nong Kiao.. on the way south by boat we stopped at this remote village, only accesible by boat!!

Vietnam - Dien Bien Phu (cont'd)

Typical stilt house

A1 hill, the site where the french lost the final battle in Vietnam

the crater on the hill...

Vietnam - Dien Bien Phu

Countryside around Dien Bien Phu

sunrise on the way to Lao

Only bridge to village in the background...

Monday, August 17, 2009

Laos - we are alive

- Hey everybody,

sorry for being silent for a while.. but no, there is no taifun so far near us.. actually today was rather sunburn risk 10... we made it already to Vang Vien in Laos... and i am trying to catch up with the blog entries over the next two or three days..

got to go now again.. but dont worry.. we are happy as always and enjoying this little dream of a place..

soon, m&k*

Vietnam - Hanoi Perfume Pagoda

Back to Hanoi Kati got a little sick, like a normal flu.. nothing bad.. however, I she decided to take a day off, which I ended up spending with Mike (a friend of our superb Hanoiese host Eric). We got away with some bargaining and avoided the annoying tourist trappers.. meaning we didnt have to take a boat to the pagoda, but could drive our scooter instead - through the most remote little paths, though, which we wouldnt have found without our guide (in red). We never mede it to the actual pagoda, however, there are many in the region and I would call our hike into the jungle a little juwel in the off-the beaten track category!! see how Mike even tries to communicate with the trees... must be greek...

Vietnam - Castaway Island

Kati chillin while I was on the kayak

On our Halong Bay 3d 2n trip we decided to be generouys and picked the more expansive tour.. that meant we spent the 2nd day and night at a private beach on so called castaway island... the pics speak for themselves... although its hard to convey the feeling of freedom and loneliness of the place in pictures... either way, taking a kayak and going into the bay all by myself for about 2h definitely stays as one of the highlights of my trip... of course i got kati im schlepptau (surfing on a inflatable matraze behind me) later the same day to give her a tour of the highlights...
also we were lucky and got one of the two rooms aboard that led to a private terraze. nice!! on the picture as well Alex and Rahel.
Howey, please give Clare my apologies.. I really have to catch up with pics on the blog and Lao connection speed doesnt help... anyway, kudos to Howey and Clare for being the best Ozzies on the boat, and lets definitely meet up in Australia...