Well, been a while. It's raining in Saigon so maybe it is time to add an entry.

 

This short holiday started from Bangkok; we landed with my friend Jari and there was a car to pick us up by another friend, a swedish fellow named Lars. He has been enjoying his unemployment in Hua Hin and also recovering from a motorcysle accident (still all bandaged up). So we went to Hua Hin as well, met up with Lars, had a lunch on an emply beach and went for some sightseeing. The king lives in Hua Hin, so it's quite empty of most of the shit you run into in Phuket or Pattaya (including the tourists that go into those places). We had quite a few beers, went to see a ladyboy show (just singing), had an encounter with a local rock band and that was pretty much it.

 

Next day I woke up late, went to beach to continue sleeping. Jari was there already. We did some shopping stuff, and by the time we got back Lars was also back from the hospital visit. We went to have a Chinese BBQ dinner in some local joint, and the co-host of Lars dog, Tammy, joined us. After dinner we went to see the local rock band again in the irish joint, one more friend joiuned us, Pep, I think. We hoped to se esome bar where localsw go, and without certain services, so we headed to a place called Hi4. There was actually a supercool local teen rockband, and loads of quite young people. We drank a lot and had loads of fun, and at some point somebody dropped us to the guest house.

 

 

Lars, being a weird businessman he is, also had a company in Nong Khai. He was heading there, so we hitched a ride to the northern border of Thailand. We got some rooms and a German guy, having a travel agency there, helped us to plan our trip further. We also had a dinner in his restaurant, and got quite drunk as a result. Jari needed an extra bite from seveneleven and I was so tired so I hitched a ride from some teenager moped girl. I had no idea where I was or where was my hotel, so it was rather long ride but once we found Mekong I got back to the hotel as well.

 

After a nice breakfast on the terrace next to the Mekong river we booked some flights, hotels and tranportations from the German fellow, Carsten. There was also maxing market in Nong Khai, with loads of things I had no incling what they were for. Still some mysteries and wonders in this world. We took our driver to some sightseeing; I wanted to see some temples, but we ended up to an amazing sculpture park of old gods. Adter that we went to a nice ourdoor part to give Nicky (the dog) a run, then just the normal - dinner and drunken stupor.

 

Next morning our car was waiting at ten, Lars couldn't join us for breakfast. Hope he is ok. We headed to the friendship bridge between Thailand and Lao. The visa process took only five minutes, we had our form filled with photos beforehand. And we were in Vientiane before the midday. Vientiane is a lazy city, easygoing and not too many people. The river bank is quite attractive with many restaurants, shops and even with public aerobic events. There was nothing much to see otherwise, we went to see some vistory gate and then soem golden stupa that was symbol of something. Shopping mall. Jari was feeling sick, so I went to find an ATM, but that evening the ATMs were down. I booked a kayaking trip up north, had a beer, and that was it.

 

I coudn't reach Jari before the morning, so I was a bit worried. It seemed that he had some stomach issues and he was in no shape for kayaking. So I was picked up by a Tuk Tuk, and then I changed to a Jumbo Tuk Tuk and traved three hours north. I had some thoughts that it's the monsoon season, and even Mekong was 20 metres higher than usual, but I managed toi quiet those easily. We had quite unstable plastic kayaks where you sit on top, and my partner in crime, Mario, from Croatia, was as experienced outdoorsman as myself. We fell down, as rest of the bunch, in the first rapids, the waves there were quite many times higher than the kayaks and the people within. It went by the book, we grabbed the boat and paddle, and eventually were able to turn it back and get on. The second was way bigger, we fell again, the boat hit my head, I still managed to grab it and I tried to breath a bit when not underwater. One girl fell and was taken by the rapids; I managed to grab her, but she was just crying. I put her hands to our kayak, but she couldn't hold on. I managed to grab he again before she was too far, and rest of the rapids we went like that. One hand on boat and one on the lifejacket of the girl. I can't swim by the way, so it wasn't the funniest possible situation for me either. After the rapids she swapped the boat with one of the guides, but the big one was only coming. Rest of the kayaks made a big raft, that girl in the middle, and headed on. We tried our best, and did quite well until the waves just started to hit us from all the directions. We fell, I hit some rocks, lost the paddle and the kayak. I was also heading for some big rocks and eddies, kayak going to a different direction. You are not supposed to swim, as you can get stuck by your feet, but the alternative looked so bad that I headed for the kayak. Mario managed to push it a bit to my direction so I managed to grab it in the end and then it was easier to take the rest of the washing machine. After that we had a nice dinner in some bamboo hut in quite a movie setting. The second part was without rapids, everybody was quite happy about that. The girl thanked me for saving her life; I don't think it was quite that serious, but I felt quite manly (doesn't happen often).

 

The trip from Kayaking was also fun; it was kind of a open van. The driver stopped for an old lady selling knives and stuff, but there was no space. So I let her in and hanged myself on the outside. There was a ledge on the top of the bumber, so I could just see the road underneath me when the driver was doing eighty on the bumpy road. The good part was the all the local moved driver started laughing and waving like crazy when they saw the white monkey hanging on the outside of the car. Closer to the city teh driver took two more sales people in, so all three of us were hanging on the back of the car. Then there was of course a police check up point, and the sales people stuffed their stuff inside and tried to hide themselves as well. I was just there with a big smile to greet the inspecting police. What fun! The driver got a fine anyway, serves him good. That evening I ate two dinners, I was so exhausted.

 

Next morning  we had a flight to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon). We heard thet you need a visa to Vietnam, but we didn't have any.. Nor we had any travel guide books. They are for tourists. In any case we had heard that if you have a flight ticket from Vietnam within one month you don't need a visa. And so it was, very modern airport and a fast process. We booked a hotel with a pool in the centre, and got there within 40 minutes. Saigon seems to be very fast moving business city, reminds more China than rest of the region. Great restaurants, big market places, some historical buidings, horriple amount of mopeds going to all directions. Also it's quite stressing that everybody is trying to sell something, there is continuos yelling "Hello, moto, massage, lady, marijuana". We had an excellent Tapas dibber and then we went to Apocalypse Now disco. It was excactly that. Loads of tourists. Loads of local people. Two dance floors. Horribly crowded. And of course a few old geezers with their 14 year old girlfriends.

 

Next day we too a ferry to Vung Tau, it's one hour ride out of the city. It didn't go exactly as planned, but we gopt some beach time and managed to get back to the city. The funny thing is that they have the same hydrofoils than in St. Petersburg taking people to Peterhoff. Viva communistic co-operation. Just excellent dinner in o'briens, some single malt, a cuban sigar and sleep. And today it's raining. I went to gym, and then here and now I should eat. Take care!