We had the whole morning free at the jungle resort so after breakfast I took advantage of the cool, misty weather and made a 5 mile loop-de-loop circuit of the various walks on site. I finished with my favorite walk thru the bamboo, “forest bathing” say the Japanese. At 12:30pm we departed Nam Kat for … Continue reading SE Asia Day 15: Luang Prabang

We have a second day here at our resort in the Lao jungle. This morning we did the Namkat Hanging Bridges and Waterfall Trek. It was a 40 minute drive in open-air bus/trucks deep into the park lush with bamboo, clinging vines, big banana palms, and towering trees. We had to cross multiple streams and … Continue reading SE Asia Day 14: Nam Kat

A “lite” day today as our only activity was to move locations up to Nam Kat. There was an optional sunrise hike at 5:30am but the only person who was interested besides me dropped out so we cancelled it. To be fair, it’s still cold and dark at that time of morning and with the … Continue reading SE Asia Day 13: Nam Kat

Commuting home from work!

“A Day of Laotian Village Experiences”. Another great day! First we visited Nayangtai village, a traditional Tai Lue community. We had a walk around town seeing a couple of villagers, visiting their temple, and learning a lot about all the edible and medicinal shrubs and fruit trees. The only heat source/cooking fire is located OUTSIDE … Continue reading SE Asia Day 12: Nong Khiaw

A very brisk 11°C this morning, both outside and inside my wooden bungalow I think. I slept warm enough with the duvet folded in half but getting out of bed was definitely unpleasant. An early 6am start as we’ve once again a very long travel day ahead. The sky was just lightening as we boarded … Continue reading SE Asia Day 11: Nong Khiaw

7am start as there’s a long day of travel ahead. It’ll be a 2h drive to the border crossing with Laos, take a public bus across No Man’s Land, enter Laos, a 20 minute van ride to Huay Xai to board our “luxurious riverboat” to cruise 7-8 hours along the Mekong River to Pak Beng … Continue reading SE Asia Day 10: Pak Beng, Laos

Woke up to a sunny but chilly day: 49°F! The restaurant was semi-outdoors so everyone went back upstairs for more layers. What a difference from Bangkok. Today’s agenda consists of a 19km bike ride with a temple or two thrown in. We had to drive about an hour to Chiang Saen to pick up our … Continue reading SE Asia Day 9: Chiang Rai

A terribly early start of 5am this morning as we have a noon flight out of Bangkok to Chiang Rai. What with loading us & luggage into the longboats to take us back to the pier, and a 4-5h drive to the airport it meant getting up before the roosters. An exhilarating/scary ride with heavy … Continue reading SE Asia Day 8: Chiang Rai

The twittering of birds and faint hoots of howler monkeys greeted the dawn today. The river had calmed overnight so it felt more like sleeping in the hull of a ship last night rather than in a washing machine. We have a full day here in the jungle today starting with a visit to Hellfire … Continue reading SE Asia Day 7: The River Kwai