The Great Barrier Reef

With no small amount of reluctance, we left Singapore bound for Cairns in North Eastern Queensland. You would think that by now we would be accustomed to travelling through the night, but we still arrived in Cairns exhausted.

A quick cat nap later and we headed off for a bite to eat and to make plans. Ultimately, we settled on a one-day sailing/snorkelling trip aboard a beautiful looking catamaran, Passions of Paradise. Motoring out of Cairns the next morning, munching on muffins and cuppa, we headed for our first snorkelling destination on the Great Barrier Reef, Paradise Cove. We had the option of hiring a wetsuit, which I thought I would go for. On hearing my accent, the crew member in question suggested that being Irish, I would be acclimatised to the cold so I wouldn’t need one – clearly, she doesn’t know me!!!!

As novice snorkelers, we were bound to be impressed, but we were lucky. With so many boats leaving the coast every morning, some locations become crowded, but Paradise Cove was quiet.

For us, this meant fewer people in the water to frighten away the fish! Donning the masks, fins and snorkels, we hit the water for our first taste of the Great Barrier Reef. It didn’t disappoint.

We saw stunning corals, sea anemones waving back and forth in the tide, beautifully vibrant fish in all colours. I was even lucky enough to see a small reef shark lurking in the depths.

It may be Oz, but it is coming into winter and the water does get cold, so we retired to the boat for a spot of lunch and basked in the Queensland sun to warm up and dry off!

The afternoon brought us to our second snorkelling destination, Michaelmas Cay. The cay is formed entirely of sand and coral as a result of tidal movements. Migrating birds dropping seeds have resulted in scattered vegetation taking root and over the years, it has become one of the most important breeding grounds for birds in the Great Barrier Reef. Fortunately for us, it is also home to some gorgeous fish, coral and even some turtles. The island is carefully protected with only a small area set aside for people to visit, the remainder being roped off for the birds. Unless you are prepared to shell out the $7,500 fine, you stay where you are told! Having the luxury this time of snorkelling off the shore, we could chill out on the sand and then dip back in for another look. We even managed to see a couple of turtles as we made our way back to the boat. Arriving back at the boat we were welcomed by a few Giant Travelli, these big, inquisitive fish are certainly not shy and you would be forgiven for thinking they are sharks, but we were well reassured by the crew that they are just curious!!

And how better to finish the day than to put up sail and let the wind take us home. Day 1 in Oz – verdict – awesome!

Tubing and Pii Mai

After arriving in Vang Vieng, having heard lots about the infamous tubing experience, we concluded there was no decision to be made. However, with the water level so low at the time, we opted for tubing sans tubes and headed out to Bar #1. After a cooling beverage we hopped into the river and floated down stream where we were met by Jake from the Joker Bar with a shot of Thai whiskey (uughhhh!). Tubing is really just a series of MTV-esque pontoons and beach bars along the rivers between which increasingly jolly tourists float along! Its not exactly horizon broadening but man is it fun! Zip lines from which nutcases do impossible backwards somersaults and even bigger nutcases do belly flops, trapezes and diving platforms make for some seriously entertaining viewing.  It took me a while and a few Beer Laos to get up the courage to give it a whirl.  I was slightly less interesting than the guy who somersaulted, raised his hat the crowd and blew a kiss, before tucking in and hitting the water, but I was proud of myself!!!  A few hours later, after bobbing bum first down some fairly shallow rapids (ouchy!), a few beers and some cheesy chart music, we saw the dark clouds on the horizon and headed for a truck back to town, reaching cover about 10 nano seconds before the heavens opened - Beautiful timing!

Having had our fill of Vang Vieng, we moved on to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, where we were to spend Pii Mai, the Laos New Year. Anxious (well I was) about not getting accommodation, we were lucky that some friends had arrived the day before so we managed to get a room in their guest house. Unfortunately, we shared our room with some other guests, nasty little nippers – bed bugs! Although, it seems ours was not the only accommodation venue with additional guests – quite a number of people we had met were in the process of moving hostel. 3 months in and we have our first bed bug experience, it could be worse!!!

P ii Mai started quietly, in an apparently deserted Vientiane, but it gradually ramped up to a crazy, street dancing, waster pistolling, bucket soaking, dye throwing crescendo. After a day and half spent running around the streets like commandos, dodging talcum powder and food colouring bombs, possessed and heavily armed tourists and dancing and drinking beer with lady boys, we finally headed for the bus station and our trip to Pakse – Sabaidie Pii Mai!

Laos

Deciding that 6:30 in the morning was too early for me to surface, we decided to wait in Chiang Mai for an extra day and get the later bus to Chiang Khong (later being 8:30 zzzzz). It was a fairly standard bus journey through the winding roads of northern Thailand. We were accompanied on the bus by about 10 other tourists all with the same goal as us to cross the Thai-Laos border between the booming metropolis of Chiang Khong and the bustling town of Huay Xai (in reality I think both towns exist almost solely for the purpose of border crossings).

On arrival in Chiang Khong we quickly got a Tuk Tuk to the Thai-Laos border where we got ourselves a crammed long boat across the Mekong. On the other side we found ourselves in Huay Xai where we stayed in a guest house (BAP) close to the pier, whose owner is described in our guidebook as “Hard as Nails” which is loosely translated as “battle-axe”.

The plan was to get the slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang which would take two days. We arrived in Huay Xai after all the travel agents had closed so the only place to buy our tickets was from the Guest House. Mrs. Hard as Nails kindly offered us free cushions (to protect our delicate derieres on the wooden benches aboard the boat) if we booked with her. We decided the next morning to book with her and found out that our free cushions were in fact 10000 Kip each (roughly €1).. So after some pointless arguing we got down to the pier to board the boat.

Finding reclining cushioned car seats was our reward for being 2 hours early (making our “free” cushions redundant). The 2 hour wait did afford us the opportunity to stock up on some fresh pineapple (I'm going to miss that) and other assorted snacks for the trip – except the bananas, which I forgot, which will not be forgotten!

The journey was slow (as the mode of transportation would suggest) and although the scenery was stunning in places, we were pleased to arrive in the apparently sleepy village of Pak Beng. The hours had passed relatively painlessly though,

We were very glad to have met a Scottish/Irish couple who kept us company for the journey along with a few good books and the most well behaved baby ever, the son of a swiss couple, who was naturally enough accompanied by his parents!

Arriving in Luang Prabang, we found a place to stay and headed for something to eat and for a wander about town, finding ourselves almost immediately in a thriving night market – totally geared towards tourists, but great all the same.

Our second day in Luang Prabang was a quiet one. After a badly needed lie in, we decided to investigate some of the activity options available to us. Ultimately, we opted for a 2 day mountain biking, trekking and kayaking tour with the well established Tiger Trails.

Starting the next morning, we were given mountain bikes and helmets. Before the cycle we were asked to try out the bikes in the car park where I proceeded to press the brakes and then go over the handle bars. Embarrassing as that was I quickly found an excuse. The brakes were on the opposite sides so I changed them around and on we went. Our guide was a pleasant but quiet person who was in need of a little exercise it seems. Both myself and Fiona finished the cycle ahead of him and on our bikes while he pushed his up the last hill.

After lunch we boarded a small long boat and headed up stream where we went for a short walk through elephant tracks and jungle to a small village. We stayed the night there and the next morning headed to the river to kayak our way back. After a few small rapids and only one dunking (due to a leaky boat might I add) we made it back to dry land in one soggy piece!

A slice of Pai

We decided after a couple of days in Chiang Mai that we should really see a little more of northern Thailand; and so we set off for the hippie town of Pai. Apparently Pai came to prominence during the days of the hippy trail through Asia, and still remains a very popular tourist chill out spot.

We took a 3 hour bus journey arriving around lunch time in Pai. First thing first, as has become habit, we had to find some accommodation. On the recommendation of our of our Chiang Mai mountain biking compatriots, we headed down towards the river bank. After some wandering, we found a gorgeous little bamboo hut on the banks of the river for 300 baht a night – about 3 euro each. Idyllic doesn't begin to describe it.

We also decided now that we would be in the same place a few days, to try and come up with some cost saving measures. We invested in some small plastic bowls and cutlery and finally found a good use for UHT milk – cereal and milk for breakfast in a bamboo hut!

Pai is incredibly relaxed and laid back, but you have to leave before it sucks you in! It would be quite easy to pass away a week or two just relaxing, so after 3 days of lolling around, indulging in luxurious smoothies, decadent cakes and the scrumptious mango and stick rice combo (fast becoming a favourite!), we hit the road back to Chiang Mai, for one last stop before we departed for Laos

On arrival back in Chiang Mai, desperate for some exercise, we invested in a pair of runners each. We broke them in on the first evening with a lovely run around the old city and again the next night. The temperature has how

ever dramatically increased since then, so I have to admit, they haven't had as much use as they should have. But, they will ....