south east asia – Travelling Pole

Koh Chang, Thailand

Koh Chang is a small island in the Gulf of Thailand, close to the border with Cambodia. We came here back in 2015 and really enjoyed our stay so when our original itinerary for this trip got cancelled due to the spread of coronavirus and Thailand was the only viable option, we didn’t hesitate and left Cambodia to spend what turned out to be our last few days of the trip in this beautiful place. The island is very accessible from Bangkok too, if you have a good driver you can be at the ferry port in about 4 hours after leaving Bangkok airport. The ferries leave every 30 minutes to an hour, depends which one you happen to get. Because of this, the island looks a bit more developed now but there is still plenty of unspoilt scenery to enjoy.

If you’re coming from Cambodia, you can buy a van or a bus ticket that will take you all the way to the island however the transport on the Cambodian side involves cramped minibuses and bad roads so when you add a very arduous border crossing and the delay there having to wait for other people in your van, it may be easier to rest in Trat and then make our way to Koh Chang the following day which is what we did. The journey was one of the hottest ever, I’m surprised the thermal scanner at the border didn’t kick off when I was going through as I must have been about 8000 degrees. The van which drove us to the border didn’t have air con either so all things considered I was pleased we stopped in Trat and enjoyed a shower and a cold room for the night. We bought the ferry ticket as well as the taxi to the port from our guesthouse in Trat (Residence House, £16 per night, good location, clean and with a small balcony). The ferry ticket plus the taxi was approx. £4.50 per person so very reasonable.

We were promptly picked up the next morning and driven to the port. After a short wait we got on the ferry and departed for Koh Chang. The ferry takes around 45-50 minutes to reach Koh Chang. The only transport available on the island are shared pick up trucks. The fares are fixed depending on where you are going. We were staying in Kaibae beach and ended up paying about £2 each for about half an hour ride. The drivers know most of the hotels and we got dropped off right in front of ours which was handy.

The hotel we picked was Awa. Given the dwindling tourist numbers and the virus crisis we got an amazing deal, it was just over £40 per night in one of the best (if not the best) hotels on the island. The design, the service, the quality were all incredible and I can really recommend it as a great holiday choice. The only downside was the beach which was a little rocky but there were plenty of proper beaches nearby you could walk to.

Steve taking a dip in Awa’s beautiful pool

We came to the island with no firm plan, just hoping to relax and escape the developing news stories and while the news turned out to be unavoidable, it is a perfect place for relaxation. There are plenty of beautiful beaches all around the island and you can take your pick where to spend your time. There are bars and restaurants on the beach but also many places to eat, drink and shop just behind the beach on the main island ring road (these tend to be a little cheaper).

We ended up visiting two beach areas: Klong Koi in the south and the Klong Prao which was a walking distance from our hotel.

Klong Koi was about half an hour’s drive away from where we were staying. We got there just after a huge downpour of rain so the beach was quite empty which was lovely. There are no upmarket places on this stretch, most places were guesthouses or small hotels situated on the beach. Lots of eating options along the beach too. The beach is really long and the water good for swimming (not too many tocks). It was a really nice day out 😀

Klong Prao beach was very close to where we were staying, took about 20 minutes to walk over there through Dewa Hotel. This is definitely my favourite beach on Koh Chang. The sand is lovely and white and the beach long and pristine. There are a couple of upmarket hotels at the southern end of it (Dewa and Vayna) but the rest of the beach is pretty much just beach restaurants and small guesthouses. We spent the day in the Family restaurant and in Mandalay. We also had two seafood dinners in the Family restaurant. The food was delicious every time and you get to see an amazing fireshow there too if you come for dinner. During the day, you don’t have to pay for chairs as long as you buy food or drink.

The best squid Pad Thai in Mandalay restaurant

Other than the amazing squid Pad Thai we had a lot of delightful meals in Koh Chang. We particularly enjoyed the food in a little restaurant on the main road called Khow Jaw. The prices were very reasonable and the fishcakes out of this world!

Kampot, Cambodia

Kampot is a relatively small town on the banks of the Tuek Chhu river, southern Cambodia. It is only an hour or so away from the Vietnam border which was the only reason we ended up there in the first place. However, the town was a real surprise and we really liked its laid back vibe. It is also rare for an Asian place to have a pedestrian area and Kampot had this really nice riverside area where you could walk without the fear of being run over by a motorbike, huge plus!

The minivan ride from Phnom Penh took about 4 hours and cost $12 each, this time no overcrowding and no overheating, thank God.

We booked the Two Moons hotel as it had a pool and in Cambodia the pools are essential. Trust me, it is the hottest place on earth and it is impossible to survive the day without cold room breaks or pool dips. At times, I even considered not showering before going out. As soon as you step out it’s like walking into an oven and before you know it you’re sweltering. It is a reality, especially towards the end of the dry season in March and April so if you can’t stand the heat consider visiting at another time.

The Two Moons is located a short walk from the town centre. The rooms were basic but did the job. They have a bar and a restaurant onsite and can arrange transport as well, so pretty convenient if you just want to lie by the pool. If you’re up for a party, there was one going on pretty much every night in the nearby Mad Monkey Hostel 😂 We spent a couple of days being lazy since we had 5 days there. Apart from being at the pool we should have got a loyalty card from Simple Things, a vegetarian restaurant in town centre. The food there was truly incredible and I think we went there in excess of 5 times for sure. Cambodian food standards can be hit and miss so when you do find a good place you kind of stick to it for safety.

Kampot is famous for salt and pepper production and we felt it would be rude not to see how the world’s most famous condiments are grown and made. We hired a tuk tuk driver to take us to these sites as well as others in the area. The driver who called himself Ian (Eang) was such a nice person and we even ended up going to his house for some refreshments as a part of the tour. When I say refreshments, I mean refreshments Cambodian style – fresh coconuts collected from a tree right in front of us! It was amazing.

The visit to the salt fields was really interesting. Kampot is very close to the sea and has an abundance of salty water and the ever hard-working locals made a viable business from it. However, it is a hard slog, the heat is relentless and you only get $2.50 per field! Sometimes it is shared between 2 people too.

There are a number of pepper plantations in the area, some are big operations like La Plantation and some are small family run businesses. We went to La Plantation and got a free tour of the farm as well lots of information on different types of pepper and how it is used. They also give you a free tasting session which although a nice touch won’t be to everyone’s taste. How many peppercorns can you feasibly eat on their own without it all just tasting like pepper? Turns out I can’t do as many as the tour guide wants you to. He also accidentally threw some ground pepper in my eye (probably showing his disappointment in my pepper tasting skills) which was the final straw for me, I was truly peppered out and didn’t buy any pepper to take home.

We also saw an ancient cave temple thing and a man made lake which is called a Secret Lake (it’s called this because it’s a secret how many people died building it…). Both nice, however my highlight was the last stop – Kep crab market. There was a lot of seafood on offer but the guide suggested we should only eat there if we have a strong stomach. That’s a no then 😂 He took us to a crab restaurant instead (called Kimly) where I ordered a whole plate of the little fellows and it was truly delicious, I could have eaten several portions easily. Kep is actually on the seafront and it was so lovely to finally see the sea after travelling inland for the past 2 months. The beach is not amazing though so if you are wondering if you should stay in Kampot or Kep, Kampot gets my vote for sure as there is more going on there. There is an island near Kep called the Rabbit Island where apparently the beaches are really nice if that’s what you’re after but we haven’t made it there so can’t comment.

Another thing which I would definitely recommend in Kampot is a sunset cruise (turns out I’m a cruise fan, clearly getting old is taking its toll). There are a number of boats operating the cruise and you can book any of them through one of the travel agencies in town. It costs only $5 and we got 2 cans of beer each included in the price, bargain! It’s a very relaxing experience and you get a bonus attraction too – fireflies! The boat sails out of town to a more jungly part of the river and just stops by the shore. As the light slowly disappears you can see tiny lights flickering. 2 hours well spent 😀

As mentioned, we were obsessed by the vegetarian restaurant in Kampot, to the point we barely had any actual Cambodian food. But hey, sometimes you just need to give your body what it wants, right? In my case it was a giant aubergine pizza, oriental pesto pasta, mozzarella eggs and falafel.

Raw cheesecake, walnut base, mango layer and coconut shavings, pure delight

Vang Vieng and Vientiane, Laos

These two places are fairly close to each other so you can visit both in a single trip easily. Also, we didn’t explore everything Vang Vieng has to offer because we stayed out of town so our experience of it is pretty limited.

We arrived in Vang Vieng in a minivan from Luang Prabang. It is a pretty uncomfortable ride as the roads are very bad but it only takes around 4 hours so it is bearable. We paid £8 each for the journey and booked it through one of the travel agents on the main street in Luang Prabang. After the fact, we were told by our hotel that you can do this cheaper but it seemed a fair price to us so we didn’t change the plan. The VIP bus was double the price and more comfortable (it avoids the bad roads) but it takes 2 hours longer I’m told.

We booked to stay in Green View Resort which we saw in YouTube videos. The hotel is located on the shores of the Nam Ngum Lake which is around half an hour drive south from Vang Vieng. We were aware of the location and picked it so that we can have a relaxing time but if you wish to be close to the action I would recommend staying in Vang Vieng centre. It was a bit difficult getting in and out of the resort and it cost a lot too.

The town of Vang Vieng itself isn’t amazing or particularly big but it became very famous a while back for raucous backpacker parties along the river. Tubing on the river used to be huge business here. You basically got a giant tractor tire and you floated down the river in it stopping in various bars. But all good things must come to an end and after a year of over 20 tourist deaths on the river, the Lao government shut down the tubing and the bars. The town needed to reinvent itself and now you can do tons of other activities here like kayaking and zip lining. Tubing was eventually reopened and lots of the death traps were removed but only 3 bars can be opened on any given day and no drugs are advertised openly either. I’m guessing the fact that the activity was toned down, coupled with the modern, health conscious backpacker profile, is the reason why tubing doesn’t attract as many people today as it did in the past. Nevertheless, we liked the idea of floating gently in the river for a few hours so we decided to give it a go. It was really nice and we thoroughly enjoyed it, we even stopped in one bar and got slightly tipsy but decided to move on once the owner started offering us some dubious looking opium vodka shots… The river is really shallow and it was slow in parts so we had to get out of the tubes to try and push ourselves along. A good piece of advice would be to wear water shoes as the bottom of the river is covered with stones. We had a lovely time and including the bar stop it took us just over 5 hours to get to the end. The tube hire is just under £6 per person and the tuk tuk to the starting point is included. Overall, a very good value activity. You end up right in town and leave your tubes there.

So that was our Vang Vieng experience! We stayed in the resort for 5 nights and were largely super lazy but the hotel offers free kayaks so we explored the lake a little which was fun and my first time in the kayak too! As some of you know, I can’t swim so this was a big deal. The hotel is just a few chalet type rooms overlooking the lake with your own private terrace. They also have a restaurant on site and the chef makes really good food, the curry and larb were superb. The swimming pool is a big bonus too. The views were beautiful and sometimes you felt like you were in a nature program when the water buffaloes came to graze on a nearby island and were swimming in the lake just in front of you.

Once our lazy time was over we took a minivan to Vientiane, the capital city. It took just over 3 hours to get there in a minivan and cost £5 each. There is of course an airport in Vientiane too if you were flying in to this part directly (no direct flights to Europe but you can easily connect from Bangkok or Hanoi). Vientiane is a small capital city, with less than a million people and no major high rises. It certainly feels like a local town more than a capital. We stayed in Vientiane Garden Villa Hotel, great location near to the night market and many bars and restaurants. We didn’t have a long list of attractions to tick off here so wanted to be near a pool and the hotel offered this too (about £30 per night).

The first thing we saw was the Cope project centre. It is a charity which helps people who lost limbs to get prosthetic replacements. This is actually a big issue in Laos and one I wasn’t aware of. Due to tons of unexploded bombs scattered around Laos accidents involving these bombs are actually fairly common. The charity helps to raise awareness of the situation too it was very eye opening to find out how badly Laos suffered during the Vietnam war. Highly recommend a visit here.

The next day we went to see the Buddha Park which is located out of town, 30km away. The hotel quoted some outrageous price for a return journey so we were a bit put off but we noticed an ad for a tuk tuk tour on a tree in town and decided to try it out (it was about £7 pp). Simple advertising works it turns out! The driver was a bit of a character and spoke decent English. He stopped at a temple before getting to the park and told us a few interesting stories.

The entry to the park is about £1.50. The park has over 200 Buddha and various Hindu statues scattered all over beautiful landscaped garden. It’s a lovely place to hang out and enjoy the green space (there aren’t many of those in the city). As a part of the tour you could also go and see their most impressive temple and the Patuxai monument but we chose to call it a day and see them the next day.

We explored Vientiane further on our second day. First we went to see That Luang temple, supposedly the biggest one in town. It was all gold and nice to look at but didn’t have the grandeur of its Myanmar equivalent, Shwedagon Pagoda. Still, it’s worth a quick visit and you can also see a reclining Buddha in a nearby religious complex too.

Our final stop on the sightseeing tour of Vientiane was the Patuxai monument which is also called Arc de Triumphe since it bears some resemblance to the one in Paris. The area around it feels very European and it’s a nice square to hang out in and have some ice cream.

We also had a brief stroll around the riverside and the Night Market which predominantly sells clothes and tech from China so unless you need some new tshirts or shorts can be skipped altogether I think. The area around the market has a lot of nice bars and restaurants though, so should definitely feature on your agenda. We had a few beers in the Bor Pen Yang bar, very lively atmosphere and decent music (well, apart from the 15 minutes they played Ronan Keating’s biggest hits). Tired from the Asian food, we used Vientiane to fill our bellies with as much Western food as possible and if you fancy a change from the endless rice dishes please visit Tyson Kitchen. The owner is Canadian but of Lao descent and is super friendly and attentive. The food is amazing too.

Steve enjoying a Beerlao in the Bor Pen Yang bar

To sum up, I think Vientiane is good stop over place if you need to break up the journey around Lao or rest after a long flight but I wouldn’t recommend more than 1-2 nights here as the attractions are far and few in between. Also, being any longer in a city where there are no proper taxis and you have to haggle with tuk tuk drivers would drive anyone mad.

Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang was our first major stop after we crossed the Thai border with Laos. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and for that reason it attracts a lot of tourists from all over the world. It has some well preserved cultural and religious monuments and the city itself is very visually appealing due to lovely French colonial architecture. It was a no-brainer that we had to visit it on our journey through this part of the world.

First of all: logistics. Luang Prabang can be easily reached by air from the neighbouring countries making it a very accessible destination for most people. Since we tried to reduce the amount of flying on this trip, we decided to get there by boat on the Mekong from Thailand. There are a number of companies running cruises and there is also a slow public boat you can take if you’re on a smaller budget. The journey takes 2 days and you need to stop for the night in Pak Beng. I researched the options and decided to go for a slightly more comfortable option using the Nagi of Mekong tour company. They were super helpful on email and provided a lot of information and pictures which ultimately helped us decide on who to pick. We got to Chiang Khong on the Thai side the night before the cruise and the tour agency gave us all the Laos immigration forms so that we could fill them in ahead of time. They then picked us up in the morning and escorted us through the border which was very helpful and took us to the pier on the Lao side where we boarded the boat. There were around 30 people on board and each couple or group had two benches and a table (a booth) to themselves. There were also beds you could nap on and tons of extra space. The lunch was cooked by the family who owns the boat and both days it was delicious. Coffee and tea were available all day as was some fruit. The cruise was really lovely and we spent the time watching the scenery and chatting to fellow passengers. The price of the cruise also included a hotel for the night in Pak Beng in the Mekong Riverside Lodge which was awesome (think bamboo huts overlooking the Mekong). We made a couple of stops in local villages and in the Pak Ou Cave near Luang Prabang which was great since the cave is one of the attractions in Luang Prabang, so we got to do this before we even got to town. Throughout, we had an English-speaking guide and at the end of the journey they organized vans to take us all to our respective hotels – amazing service. All of this cost £115 pp which I think was great value given the comfort of travel, great food and the excellent service. I would definitely recommend doing this as it’s an unforgettable experience.

Lunch on board: chicken curry, stir fried veg, fried fish and rice

Now for the main event – Luang Prabang. It is a lovely little town and I can see why it draws the crowds in. It has a beautiful riverside location, Mekong on one side and the Mekong’s tributary on the other, so you are never far from a river stroll. There are of course numerous, well-preserved temples to visit but the architecture and the whole vibe of the town is the most charming aspect of it. It feels as if you were transported to the French colonial Indochina you see in films. The town itself is pretty small and you can see most sights within town in a day if you wanted to, that is if you have enough stamina to walk or cycle in about 35 degree heat all day! We allocated 6 nights for it so we had a lot of time to spread out the sightseeing a little.

We started off by climbing Mount Phoussi which is directly in town. It’s best to go really early when the heat is not too oppressive. It’s not a big hill and won’t take longer than half an hour to reach the peak. There is a pagoda on top but the best part is the 360 degree view of Luang Prabang and the surrounding areas. I believe we had to pay a small amount to enter but it’s definitely worth it (less than £2 pp).

View of Luang Prabang from Mount Phoussi

We also visited the Wat Xieng Thong, the most famous gilded temple and the Royal Palace, where Laos’ monarchy resided until it was abolished in 1975. The Palace is now a museum and you can have a look through the actual rooms where the kings lived. The temple had a small entrance fee and so did the museum. If you wish to visit the museum you need to take notice of opening hours – they are closed at lunchtime.

One of the biggest attractions lies outside of town – it’s the Kuang Si Falls. There are lots of shared vans that run that route and you can easily arrange a ticket through one of the numerous tour agencies in town. We chose to go early to avoid the worst heat. The van cost approx. £3.50 pp return. It takes about 45 minutes to get there and they give you 2.5 hours before returning to Luang Prabang. You also need to pay the entrance fee to the falls which is fairly small, less than £2 I believe. By the way, the reason I keep saying “less than” is because of the awkward conversion rate: £1 = 11,500 kip. Most entrance fees, tickets etc. are 20,000 kip or 30,000 and it’s too time consuming to say exactly what this means in £ 😉

As you go in to the falls, you first have to go through a sort of a mini zoo I guess where they keep bears. The bears have been rescued (apparently the Chinese capture them to extract their bile for medicinal purposes, so awful) but I couldn’t help thinking that the space they have been given here is very small so the word rescued seems a bit ironic to me but hey, everyone can have their own opinion on this. Anyway, you can see the falls at different levels and if you feel adventurous you can even climb up to the top however you can’t see the drop from there so it’s worth it but from an exercise perspective only :-). It is a very beautiful place and you are allowed to swim there too if you want. Overall, a great half day out of the city and very worth it.

Another attraction out of town is the Pak Ou cave. It is right on the Mekong river and we visited it as a part of the cruise but you can catch a ride their from town too. You can reach the cave by climbing up steep steps and once inside you can see lots of buddha statues. You can also climb further and see another cave. It was a nice stop but having seen the Sadan Cave in Myanmar which was enormous and really cool this one failed to make an impression on me to be honest.

Our activities in Luang Prabang also included cycling. Our hotel had some available free of charge so we took them out one morning and did a bit of cycling around villages on the other side of the Mekong. You can get a car ferry over there which departs every 20-30 minutes and costs less than £1 pp with a bike. There are cycle friendly paths there which are really easy if you have some basic gears on your bike and a comfy seat. Sadly, our bikes turned out to be too basic so we gave up after a while but nevertheless it was good to get out of town and see some surrounding areas.

One final activity we did here which I definitely recommend is the sunset boat cruise on the Mekong. SaSa bar runs these daily and the cost is £8pp which includes a Lao mojito. You can also get some other drinks on board if you like. The cruise takes 2 hours and we really enjoyed it. There are some great photo opportunities as the boat goes quite slowly. We liked the vibe so much that we returned to the bar itself the next day. The bar is located on the Mekong side and has comfy sun lounges from where you can watch the sunset.

The rest of our time in Luang Prabang was spent on eating our way through various restaurants and enjoying the nice vibes. Lao food really surprised us actually. It is heavily influenced by the neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam but they seemed to have taken the best bits of both to create something new and very tasty. The best part for me is the sticky rice. It is served with pretty much anything in cute little bamboo baskets and is slightly chewy. Great texture! The curries are flavoured with a lot of coconut and lemongrass and are less watery than the Thai ones. The stir fries are more saucy and thicker than their counterparts from Thailand too. The Vietnam influences come from the heavy use of herbs and more of a clean composition of dishes. A great example is lab or larb which is minced chicken or pork mixed with herbs and spices served as a sort of a salad. Sounds weird but it is delightful served with some crunchy shredded cabbage for example. The beer is better too and reminded me more of Central European beers than the usual weak Asian varieties. If you fancy something European, Yuni restaurant had a great European menu and the mezze platter was particularly delicious.

There are a lot of hotels and hostels to choose from in Luang Prabang including some fancy options like Sofitel or Avani. We went for a more budget-friendly option and stayed in Villa Ban Phanluang. It is a little out of town but we had the benefit of visiting in the dry season so could make a shortcut to town by a bamboo bridge which doesn’t exist in the rainy season. We had to pay a little to cross but it didn’t bother us at all, was a fun adventure each time as the bridge is a little bouncy and rickety. The best part of our guesthouse was having your breakfast delivered to your balcony each morning, a delightful start to the day!