The Eagles - Hotel California

Tubing in Vang Vieng

Travel Documentary

A short travel documentary from Laos and Thailand, made by Craig De Meillon.

Laos

We flew in to Vientiane, Laos. Because the buses were called the “buses from hell”. They were so overcrowded that people sat on rise bags in the isle for 17 hours.

We were heading to Vang Vieng. And on our way to my new favourite town, we met Jenny from NYC, Michael from England and Abraham from Mexico.

We were now a group of five.

We checked in at Pan's Place, and got each our bungalow, with nothing but a mattress on the floor.

On the front door they quoted Eagle's song: “You can checkout any time you want, but you can never leave”. And I couldn't have said it better my self.

We we're suppose to stay for 3 days. We stayed for 12.
The city was just about to wake up, and it was a funny sight. As the food stalls and restaurants were opening, backpackers, covered in permanent marker, their eyes bloodshot and their bodies hurting, was crawling home after a night out.  It is hard to explain the atmosphere in

Vang Vieng, it is something you have to see with your own eyes. It's so relaxed, it's absolutely amazing.

The town is know for the tubing. And I'm pretty sure I'll never see anything like that again. Tubing involves hiring a tube, and then float down the Nam Song river. Both side of the riverbanks are filled with bars. Feel like a cheap bucket? Or a cold beer? Or even free bananas? Well then wave your hand at the staff, they'll throw out a bamboo stick and pull you in. You park your tube, and let the fun begin. Since everything ends up wet, promotions of free drinks are written on people's bodies. Speakers pumping out music, loads of other backpackers, sun, and fun. Yes it started off very well. But each bar also have a very unsafe route in to the water. You climb up on a unsteady platform, and launch your self in to the river. After a beer or five, the thirty feet tall swing doesn't look that terrifying any more, and we all ended up with some pretty bad bruises. But we made it to the finish line, and were still so amazed by the hole plot that you soon forgot about your aching body. There was no time to rest, we were all struggling not to fall asleep during dinner, but after another bucket, you feel surprisingly fine. Until the next day...

So what did we do for 12 days?

We slept, ate, drank, and slept some more. But after a few days the guilt was sneaking up on us, so we thought it was time to explore the town, which made me love the little town even more.

We met the most amazing people from every corner of the world, it was such an easy life style, and life back home seemed so far away.

The friendships you make when you're travelling is something special. You've only know each other for a week or two, but it feels like the most natural thing in the world. I guess it's all the new things you experience together. And probably the fact that you're together pretty much 24 hours a day. My friends from Vang Vieng was a big part of our travels, It wouldn't have been the same without them. And one of the main reasons I am here in Dublin today, is because of another Irish guy I met in the same town, Adam. One of the down sides about travelling is saying good bye. Because who knows when you'll see these people again.

I didn't want to leave my new friends, and I didn't want to leave the charming little town. But unfortunately the fairytale doesn't last forever. And new adventures were waiting for us around the next corner.

Test Your Knowledge about Asia!

The Traveler IQ challenge ranks geographic knowledge of cities such as: Los Angeles, Knoxville or Fresno by comparing results against 6,284,289 other travelers. Brought to you by TravelPod, a member of the TripAdvisor Media Network

Hanoi

"Always do what you wish you could"

Another exhausting bus ride (that was suppose to take 15 hours, but lasted for 22) further up north took us to Hanoi. An amazing city I would love to go back to one day. We checked in at Hanoi Backpackers, and this was the start of a great adventure.

We signed up for a two days boat cruse in Halong Bay, together with 40 other people from all over the world. We got on board, and after talking and getting to know each other for a few hours, they teamed us up and put us in a kayak.

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW EXCHAUSTING THAT IS??

Well, I didn't. 15 minutes and my arms felt like jelly. Luckily I had a muscular Aussie in the back seat. We paddled in to a cave where we all jumped in the water, and turned each other kayaks upside down (with people in it). We paddled for two long hours, we were all so exhausted, we couldn't even talk at the end. But the glimpse of our cool pirate ship put a smile on everyone's face. We knew there was delicious food and beer waiting for us. We were such a great group. From America, Australia, Spain, France and some very loud Irish. We were surrounded by enormous cliffs, it reminded me of a scene from “The Beach”.

We started the night drinking games, where you had to make an animal sound before you took a sip, if you swore you had to lie down with your nose on the deck, and you were not allowed to say 'yes'. As you can imagine it was a night with loads of fun and laughter.

6 am the next morning they woke us up, and at breakfast it was remarkable quiet. By the look on people's face, we were all being punished from the fun night before. Exhausted, tired and with what felt like a car crash in my head, we were going trekking. There were a million (if not more) stairs, and the mountain we were about to climb looked like Mount Everest.

But we did it! And the view from the top was stunning. On our way down the mood was slightly better, the Irish guys were even singing! Rest of the day was very relaxing, with a motorbike tour around the Island, dinner, and a good night sleep..... Until the Irish guys busted in to our room, refused to leave, and then started making prank calls. Calling the other rooms, saying “Check out time! Your bus is waiting! Hurry Hurry!” One very confused guy was waiting in the reception at 4am.

Early the next morning we sailed back to Hanoi and spent a few more days with our new friends. It was such an amazing trip, and just the thought of it still makes me smile. But it was time to pack our bags again, a new country was waiting for us.

Next stop: Laos.

The Sleeping Bus

Good Morning Vietnam

.“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

January 23^rd we left Cambodia, and headed to Saigon, Vietnam. I liked it there, we found a nice hostel in a 'backpacker' area, and didn't feel that lost any more. It was so hot, so unbelievable hot. Air condition is not something these hostels provide. But after a while you get used to the constant sweat down your back.

The currency was insane. I walked around with 2 million dong in my pocket, and bought a dress for 250 000! Which was hard to get your head around. The traffic was even more insane than both Cambodia and Bangkok, there are absolutely no rules! Mostly just motorbikes, which could carry five to six people. Pretty impressing!

Unfortunately we had to leave pretty soon. They had just started their New Years celebrations, and all the buses were full. Next stop was Nah Trang.

I knew that they called it 'sleeping bus', but what we didn't know was that it was actually bunk beds instead of seats! And you wouldn't believe how many beds they manage to fit in that bus. So yes, it was pretty cramped. Our 11 hours journey started with the kid next to vomiting, when he was done, a woman behind me started to snore, and it sounded like an orchestra was playing for each breath she took.

Well, it was now time to celebrate New Years Eve – again.

Our first night we met an English guy, Dan, and had a late meal together, which was the start of a great friendship. We spent the next few days with Dan and his friends, from all over the world, and had a 'bloody good time'.

New Years Eve was really something. Hundreds of people on the beach, fireworks, buckets and good company.
Two New Years celebrations in two months is not bad!

Our last night was a not a good one. I had eaten something my stomach really didn't like.

And I spent a good few hours in the bathroom that night.

Sad to leave Dan and his friends, we went on yet another sleeping bus.. And I must say that this night is on the top three list of worst nights in my life.

The bus didn't have a toilet!

Which is highly necessary when you got food poisoning. I had fever, stomach cramps and hadn't eaten in more than 28 hours.

After three hours he finally stopped and I ran to the toilet.

The “toilet” was a hole in the grown.

Eventually we got to Hoi An. A beautiful little city.

Because of the New Year celebrations, the hospital was closed! That's right, it was closed!

But after two days in bed a doctor came to see me. Five days without food, and I was finally getting better. And all I could think of was my mum's delicious food. I got to my feet, and was happier than ever the nightmare was over.





Phnom Penh

Let your memory be your travel bag." - Alexander Solzhenitsyn-

A six hour boat ride took us to the capital, Phnom Penh. We got a bus from the harbour in to the city. And for a moment I thought they were trying to beat the Guinness record in how many people they could fit in van. We were eighteen people, plus the driver in a bus with nine seats.

My seat was in the lap of a German girl. A very intimate bus ride.

And if we didn't beat the record, we can't have been far off!

We walked around for hours trying to find a place to stay. And my backpack was heavier than ever. We finally found a nice little hostel just by a beautiful lake, and for only 2 € per night!

***

Less then thirty-five years ago one of the most brutal massacre in the worlds history took place.

This time in Cambodia.

A man named Pol Pot, the leader of the military group The Khmer Rouge, wiped out more than 1.8 million people. The Khmer Rouge killed anyone who looked intelligent. Anyone wearing glasses, those who knew how to read, or even those who had any form of contact with the western world.

He wanted to create a country with no religion, no money and no education.

We visited the two most historical places in Cambodia.

The Killing Fields, and the S-21 prison.

In S-21 prison, they brought men, women and children, most of them never saw the outside of the prison again. The regime became paranoid, and tortured the prisoners for days, suspecting them to be working with the CIA. Pulling out their finger nails, beating them with wires, hanging them from their arms until they lost conciseness and sticking needles under their nails to make them talk.

The prison was once used as a school, which is hard to believe when you see it.

They turned it in to hell on earth.

One of the most disturbing sights was a big tree in the middle of the fields. This is were they killed infants, beating them to death. It was strange to walk around through old mass graves and sculls, it was hard to get your head around the fact that this has really happened.

More than 15 000 people were held prisoners at the S-21, about 12 survived!

It was a day we will remember for a long, long time.

A day that brought many emotions.

Our taxi driver told us, with the little English he knew, that he lost most of his family during the years of Pol Pot's regime. He said he was one of the “lucky” ones.

He survived. His wife and two of his children did not.

It is hard to believe that something so inhuman took place only about thirty years ago. And with so little attention from the western world.

I find it hard to understand that we don't even learn about this in school. Not once did we hear his name. Even after spending a day in these surroundings, I don't think we will ever understand how much Cambodia suffered.

We didn't stay for long in the capital. We didn't really like it there.

It was too big, too many people, and we felt pretty lost.

I will post a video of one of the few survivors from the prison, and some photos I took when I was there.

Where would you want to be right now?

Vis større kart

Kingdom of Cambodia

“. .life is short and the world is wide"

 -Simon Raven-

The trip to Cambodia was a nightmare.

After another sleepless night in Bangkok we got up early, eager to get on the bus.

And so we waited, and waited.... And waited.

But there were no bus.

We tried, we tried so hard, to make the local guy understand that we had paid for our two seats to Cambodia. The locals just smiled back at us. It was like talking to a wall. But after a lot of hand guestering, frustration, and bodylanguage they gave up and placed us on a bus. The conditions was shocking, you would not believe the bus would even start. There were flies everywhere, it was so warm I was sliding off my plastic seat, and there were litteraly no space for your legs. It was half the space they offer you on the Ryanair flights.

A few miles from the boarder, a very helpfull man offered us his help to get our visas, naive, and new to the game as we were, we thanked him and gave him our money.

Bad idea.

Half of what we paid went straight in to his pocket. But we were tired of all the hassle and lies, and didn’t have any more energy left to argue. When they say it’s ‘no problem’, be aware, it usually is ‘big problem’.

At the boarder the bus driver waved goodbye and we were on our own. Lonley Planet wisely suggested that we would get a taxi from there, because the busses are not very safe. So we did. We teamed up with one Russian and one French, and hit the road.

Taxi for three hours, tuk-tuk for two.

For the first time I felt like a real backpacker.

Many, many hours later we arrived in Siem Riep.

We were both pretty scared, it was like entering a new world. Everything was so different, and all the men were wearing scarfs around their faces.

It looked like a scene from an old western movie.

But it is one of the most friendly people I have ever met. And I soon learned that the scarfs, was a protection for all the sand and dust whirling around in the street. The difference between rich and poor were remarkable. On one side of the road it’s a five star hotel, and outside the gate kids are sitting in the road covered in dust.

When we walked the streets of the little town it felt like we had travelled back in time. The kids were running around with no shoes, and just a little piece of clothing covering their bodies. There were markeds, music, and food stalls everywhere.

Siem Riep is known for their temples called Ankor Wat. After days of an unhealthy lifestyle we figured it was time to be sporty, rented bikes for the day, and made our way out to these amazing ruins, on a dusty road, surroanded by wild forrest and not to mention the wild-life. The scenery was stunning!

And the temples were abseloutly beautiful.

After a few hours though, the heat was crawling up our skin, and we were templed-out.

We spent the next few days strolling around in the city, eating delicious food, becoming more and more comfortable with the new culture and our new lifestyle,  meeting great people, among them two swedish girls who we were going to meet several times over the next few months. It was so warm we were close to melting point, and we were longing for some lazy days at the coast. But before we would see a glimps of the sea, we headed to the capital, Phnom Phen.