But before I get onto my latest holiday, there have been some interesting goings-on in Bangkok lately. In particular, an on-going political demonstration by a large group of people who believe (quite rightly it seems) that the current government is a corrupt proxy government of the former billionaire Prime Minister who was ousted in the military coup a couple of years ago and is now hiding out in London because he was recently found guilty of corruption and has been sentenced to 2 years jail if he returns to Thailand. As part of these demonstrations, they have hijacked the parliament building for the last 2 months, forcing the government to move their entire operation to the old airport. This is a classic “only in Thailand” moment - I can’t imagine a few thousand people would ever be able to just take over parliament house in Canberra! In the midst of all this, the Prime Minister of Thailand got sacked about 6 weeks ago because he continued to appear on his long-running TV cooking show. And the new Prime Minister now appears to be facing court on charges relating to the deaths of two protesters a few weeks ago. Add to this that there’s a good chance the current government may be disqualified entirely if an impending court decision rules that they broke the law at the last election. I must say, Thai politics are far more interesting than Australian politics. Although on a more serious note, it is very sad that many people have been injured and a few people killed during isolated violent clashes during some protests.
Fortunately however, none of this has affected me directly. In fact, if I hadn’t read about all this stuff in the paper, I’d have no idea that it was all going on in Bangkok, as nothing has really changed in most people’s day-to-day life as a result of it. Work has been very busy for me since school started back in August. I got a few weekends away, although most of them were for school-related training – one to Khao Yai National Park and one to Ayuddhaya. Even though they both involved work, it was nice to see some other parts of Thailand and get out of Bangkok for a bit. I also got to go white water rafting in Chiang Mai again for a weekend, which was a very enjoyable weekend away.
Last week we had a week off, so I decided to head up to Laos. I flew into Luang Prabang, which is a beautiful little town on the Mekong river. It’s a UNESCO Heritage town, so all the buildings were quite historic, mainly with a French colonial flavour, but there are also dozens of Buddhist temples around the place as well. I found it an incredibly peaceful and relaxing place to be – quite the opposite of Bangkok in many ways. I spent a lot of time just walking around, visiting temples, stopping off at cafe’s for proper bread (something Thailand has particular trouble producing), fresh fruit shakes and delicious desserts (while in principle I am opposed to the whole colonialist thing, the French influence on Laos cuisine is no bad thing), all at ridiculously cheap prices. I did a couple of day trips to a waterfall and a cave, got several massages and spent a fair bit of time chatting with some of the many monks around the place who were keen to practice their English. One monk in particular named Aot I became quite good friends with during the 5 days I was there. I really enjoyed my time in Luang Prabang. After a busy and at times quite stressful few weeks previously, it provided the quiet serenity I really needed at the time.
The main street of Luang Prabang
Novice monks collecting their morning alms
Inside a Buddhist temple
A local inhabitant
And another
And another
And some more - the locals are nothing if not diverse
A typical village scene
Luang Prabang from the top of a hill
The night market in front of a temple
Another temple
The main street of Luang Prabang
And again
A village up-river from Luang Prabang
Some chillies drying in that village
Pak Ou CaveMy original plan had been to take the bus from Luang Prabang and spend a couple of days in Vang Vieng before continuing on to the capital Vientiane. However, due to a combination of not wanting to leave Luang Prabang so soon and not wanting to endure a fairly unpleasant (by all accounts) 8-hour bus ride to Vang Vieng, followed by another 3-hour bus-ride to the capital, I decided to fly directly to Vientiane (which took all of 40 minutes). I had been warned that Vientiane is not all that exciting, and that pretty much sums it up in my opinion. It’s essentially like a big version of Luang Prabang without the charm, and while spending hours wandering around the quiet streets and temples of Luang Prabang was a delight, doing the same thing in Vientiane was just a bit dull. However, the restaurants and cafe’s in Vientiane are amazing. I had one of the most delicious French meals I’ve ever had, which included without doubt the best steak I’ve had since leaving Australia, all for only $6! And that was a fancy, expensive meal by Vientiane standards. In several other places I ate in, it was very hard to choose what to eat because so many things looked fantastic. If there was more to do outside of mealtimes in Vientiane, it would be an incredible place to visit.
The Vientiane version of the Arc de Triomphe
And the view from the top of it
A temple in VientianeVientiane is very close to the border with Thailand, so coming home I took a short bus ride across into Thailand then jumped on a domestic flight back to Bangkok. Even though it was only a week away from work, it was very restful and enjoyable. So now I’m back at work again, waiting for my next holiday in December, which I’ll be spending back in Sydney. It will be nice to come back and visit and I’m looking forward to catching up with as many people as possible then. Cheers!
