Day 28 - Ayutthaya to Bangkok "After 28 days, we're all 'watted' out!"

After breakfast we caught the ferry to the other side of the river and then a tuk-tuk to the first of many Wats in the town. We walked from Wat to Wat until we were all "watted" out then headed off for a tour of the quite small Ayutthayah Historical Centre. We then stopped for some lunch before catching a bus to Bangkok. The bus ride was quite easy at 1hr & 40 minutes and we finally ended up at our old faithful hotel, the Asia Hotel. This is our third stay at this hotel - it might not be the poshest but it has to have one of the best locations in Bangkok, being the only hotel with its own skytrain station, which means that wherever you want to go it is straight out the door and onto the fast, clean, cheap and efficient Skytrain.
Our first task was straight to the tailor next door for Mike to be measured for a new suit and shirts. The tailor made a couple of attempts to upsell to Kathryn but she couldn't really see herself standing in the paddock in a 3 piece suit!
It was then onto the train to what we thought was going to be the Siam/MBK shopping centre but instead was a new complex called Paragon, which sells everything from ice cream to Lamborghinis! We should be able to do our Christmas shopping here - but don't any of you look for something car shaped in your parcels!
Back on the train for dinner at a restaurant, however we couldn't find the one we had planned to go to so ended up at another one instead. Followed by another trip on the skytrain back to Paragon for dessert. Only to find the first place we came across was actually a branch of the same restaurant we had just travelled miles to have dinner at! Told you the Paragon has everything!
Finally starting to feel quite weary we headed back to the Asia to do our blog. One small problem there is no free internet at the Asia Hotel, but resourceful Mike has found a way.... sshhh.....

Day 27 - Khorat and the trip to Ayutthayah "But I still can't figure out which toilet is which ....."

We decided to get a taxi to take us to a few sites around Khorat in the morning, as we needed to get the bus to Ayutthaya later in the day. Khorat isn't known as a tourist destination so our hotel didn't have anything like an organised tour. While we waited in the lobby for the taxi to arrive, Kathryn decided to take advantage of the facilities downstairs, and was quite amused with the signage for each toilet ... it's too hard to describe so check out the pictures!
First stop was Ban Prasat, where some archaelogical digs had uncovered the remains of a 3000 year old civilisation. The sites were small but quite interesting, and the town itself was also nice to walk around .... at least until it was invaded by around 100 schoolkids on an excursion!
Next stop was Phimai, to visit an old Khmer temple complex - very similar in style to Angkor Wat, but much smaller, but worth seeing nevertheless.
Finally we went to the Dan Kwian Pottery Village. Mike vainly tried to escape the ordeal by attempting to hurl himself from the taxi, but as he was carrying all of the money Kathryn kept a pretty tight hold on him. Most of the pottery was actually disappointing, as the main theme appeared to be garden ornaments, though Kathryn's keen nose eventually picked detected a few interesting pieces which she promptly purchased.
Once back in Khorat, our taxi dropped us at the bus station. We hopped onto a bus which we were both told would take us to Ayutthaya. A couple of hours of travelling later, we both started getting a little nervous as there were no signs of the bus stopping before it reached Bangkok! A quick word to the bus driver, and we were told "we're stopping in 10 minutes". 10 minutes later we were dumped on the side of the road next to a bunch of roadside stalls - where a tuk-tuk driver there informed us were were 25km from Ayuttayah! Of course he offered to help us resolve the situation, and as our options were limited we weren't really able to negotiate a good price for the ride into town. The tuk-tuk ride was an adventure in itself .... weaving in and out of highway traffic, being overtaken on each side by cars even though there were only two lanes, and speeding past cars along the edge of the road .... we almost got our money's worth.
Once we finally arrived at our hotel, we caught the ferry across the river into town, did a quick walk around the city, had dinner at a riverside restaurant where I think the mosquitoes had a better feed than we did, and finally called it a day!

Day 26 - Nong Khai to Khorat "Where's a good tuk-tuk driver when you need one?"

Another travelling day, so this will be short. We caught the bus from Nong Khai, near the Laos border, to Khorat, about 400 km south on the main highway to Bangkok. 6 hours and one lunch stop later we arrived and checked into our "trendy and boutique" hotel (well, that's what is says out the front of the V-One Hotel). After freshening up and researching where to go out for dinner, we decided on a place called "Cabbages and Condoms", which we had been to in Bangkok. We ventured out to the front of the hotel to find a tuk-tuk or taxi, but there were none to be found ... quite a change from everywhere else we had stayed! When we finally managed to flag one after about 10 minutes, the driver had no idea where the restaurant was, or any of the nearby locations listed in the Lonely Planet, and our dodgy attempts at pronouncing Thai words didn't help much either! Back to the hotel for some assistance, we finally managed to get to the restaurant, and ended up having a very tasty meal.

Day 25 - Vientiane to Nong Khai "Check out all of the weird statues!"

Today was our last day in Laos - and regrettably it's also the start of our journey homewards, as we have a few days of travelling ahead of us until we reach Bangkok.

We had an early start, walked along the Mekong for a while and then into the city to Talat Sao (the Central Market) for a bit of shopping, then over to the neighbouring bus station to check out the bus times to Nong Khai, today's destination which is just over the border in Thailand.

We ended up catching the bus at 12:40pm, a pretty easy way to do the border crossing since the one bus takes you between the border checkpoints for each country, and then on to Nong Khai.

Our accommodation there was the penthouse suite at the Pantawee hotel. The suite included the whole rooftop area to ourselves, outdoor jacuzzi, a laptop to use as needed, a mobile phone to call for room service at any time day or night, a fully stocked minibar, outdoor and indoor dining area, lounge suite, and a huge widescreen TV and entertainment system ..... all for just $74!!

As we had a few hours left until dark, we visited the Sala Kaew Ku Sculpture Park, which was full of surreal, religious themed sculptures of various sizes. However they weren't your normal, serious religious sculptures, some were quite funny, and other just plain weird, such as the sculpture of the pack of dogs driving various vehicles chasing after an elephant!

Back to town for dinner and a walk along the Thai side of the Mekong, then back to the penthouse suite!

Day 24 - Phonsavan to Vientiane "Just hanging around ...."

Yet another travelling day, but we had to wait around until 3pm to check in at the airport. As we'd pretty much seen most things of interest in and around town already, we had a very lazy day. Slept in, then hung around the hotel after breakfast until checkout time at 12, walked into town for lunch (the same place for three days running, but at least the Pat Phet with chicken was very tasty!), hung around at the hotel a bit more, hung around at the airport until boarding time, hung around on the plane (not much else to do on a Lao Airlines plane), hung around at the hotel in Vientiane for an hour or so as we'd had such a stressful day, walked into the centre of Vientiane for dinner, hung around in town for a while, walked back to our hotel past the riverside food stalls (where large toads seemed to be a popular menu choice), then finished the day with a bit more hanging around. The end result was complete and utter exhaustion (as you would expect), so we're in no hurry to do so much hanging around again on this holiday!

Day 23 - Phonsavan and the Plain of Jars "Do you eat kangaroos in Australia?"

At 9am we headed off on our tour of the three of the Plain of Jars sites. The jars are large sandstone jars, up to 2.5m tall, made over 2000 years ago by an unknown people - there are many theories and stories about their purpose but no-one knows for certain. Only three of the 400+ known sites are able to be visited, because of the danger of unexploded bombs (UXO) .

We visited all three sites - the first site has over 250 jars, the second and third have somewhat less. There were many bomb craters around the sites, and signs warning of UXO (unexploded ordinance). After visiting Site 2, Kathryn stayed with the bus while Mike and another of the tour members trekked the 5 or so kilometres to Site 3 with the tour guide. On the trek there were many more bomb craters, and even some examples of UXO - one a bomblet from a US cluster bomb, the other a couple of mortars found at the edge of a bomb crater.After Site 3, the tour continued on to a couple of villages, one where aluminium spoons were made from recovered aeroplane parts, and another where Lao rice whiskey was made, as well as viewing the remains of an old Russian tank. After all that it ended up being a pretty full day, we didn't get back to the hotel until after 5:30pm.

For some reason, we had been asked on more than one occasion during the day whether we ate kangaroos in Australia - our answer was no, only tourists eat kangaroos!

Day 22 - Vientiane to Phonsavan "I didn't know these sorts of things even existed any more"

Today is another travelling day, so not much to report. After breakfast we did part of the Lonely Planet walking tour of Vientiane, mainly along the Mekong river and into the "tourist" precinct, then headed over to the airport for the flight to Phonsavan (also known as Xieng Khuang), where we'll visit the Plain of Jars tomorrow. The flight was short, and the weather on arrival was quite cool (only 19 degrees). After checking in to our hotel and booking our tour for tomorrow, we walked the three or so kilometres to town and had lunch. As the town is in an area which is said to be one of the most heavily bombed places in the world, it wasn't surprising to see the hotels and restaurants decorated which old bomb and missile casings! We then did a quick tour of the very small town centre and the two markets, the highlights of which were finding a packet of "Viso" washing powder, and a shop that sold false teeth one by one, along with the glue to stick them into your dentures! Back to the hotel for dinner and an early night.

Day 21 - Vang Vieng to Vientiane - "Where is that music coming from, oh that would be Thailand".

Another early start to be packed and on the road again for another mini bus ride, this time 3 hours to travel to Vientiane. The usual tuk tuk rip off from the bus station to the hotel when you don't know how far it is and how much you should be paying, only to discover it is actually quite close. Though we are yet to have one to match a stop we had in Mexico where we got in the taxi with our bags & were driven around the corner - less than a block.

Gorgeous room overlooking the Mekong, very new, bright and airy. We headed down for a late lunch to the nice restaurant in front of our hotel, we then decided we were so tired we went for an afternoon nap!

We woke up to a lovely sunset from our bed overlooking the river and headed down for dinner. The music was very loud from the other side of the Mekong and when I questioned where it was coming from was told "Thailand"
So that was the lovely view from our bed - Thailand.

Day 20 - Vang Vieng - "If my parents were like you I would hang out with them more.."

Headed off to town to hire our tube and take the tuk tuk ride 5 kilometers up the river to start the cruise down, We passed many bars and restaurants on our way down the river - they throw out a long pole to you and haul you across the river and out of the tube to visit. We watched many huge swings and flying foxes that people were throwing themselves into the river from. There are some good videos of it on youtube. We visited one bar and then headed down the river only to discover that the rest of the trip was quite slow with no riverside entertainment. So we finished the trip and caught the tuk tuk to do it again.

By now it was about 2.30pm so the river had really fired up so we decided to visit some bars. There was lots of advertising for drinks by the "bucket" and sure enough that is exactly what they were! The buckets were a little larger than honey tub size filled with whatever alcohol you wished, for about $5. We splashed out on a g & t to share - it goes in the tube with you as you float to the next bar stop. The next one we stopped for lunch as well, while watching the mud wrestling put on by the local backpackers. Chatted to some backpackers from Doncaster who made us promise we wouldn't tell their parents what they were doing ... jumped back in the tube and finished the river about 6pm.

A nice shower and then on the way out of the hotel helped a couple who had driven their 4WD off the side of the raised driveway, surprisingly we got it out undamaged, headed in to town for dinner and then home totally exhausted.

Day 19 - Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng - Survived the dreaded bus ride.

Were picked up at our hotel to join the others in our mini bus to start the "5 hour" road trip to Vang Vieng. The road trip is notorious for its roughness, mountainous winding and is not popular with people with vertigo or travel sickness problems - so not one for you Charlotte! The spectacular views driving through the mountains and passing hilltribe villages made up for the road

The trip turned into a 7 hour drive, we were then dropped in the middle of town and had to make our own way to the hotel dragging our cases behind us.

We walked into town, had a drink at a riverside bar, found a place for dinner and sorted out how the river tripping went for the next day.