All major decisions start with a random conversation. It was in one such conversation that Avinash suddenly popped on a question asking me if I am game for Angkor Wat. I was in a state of depression after going through my MBA application process and decided that I needed a break very badly. So I decided to grab the oppurtunity.
After hectic planning for about 2 months and the destination varying from Hampi., Petra , Jerusalem, Mandalay , Hanoi based on visa requirements we decided to go to Thailand , Laos and Cambodia.
About a month before we started Naveen confirmed his availability for the trip. This made sure that the trip will never be short of fun. Despite all the plannings we were sure about only visiting the Kong Lor caves and Angkor Wat. we still were not sure about what we going to do in the middle.
We started on the 15th of December from Chennai. We got a taste of how the trip was going to be. At the airport we were held up by the Thai immigration demanding that we show either $400 or 10,000 Bhat in hard cash for the visa. Avinas and I talked our way out while Naveen was held up. Naveen made it a point to mention that we 2 got through and got his visa. His idea was that either all 3 get kicked out or all 3 get in to Thailand :P.
We picked our luggage from the carousel only to discover that Avinash's backpack has been damaged. The solution given by the Air Asia back pack handler was inadequate we still took what replacement he gave and moved on. We caught a rickety train to the Hua Lampong ( i heard it as qua lampong the first time and Naveen never managed to get this right until the end of the trip) from the airport. After seeing that train i decided that Indian trains deserve a special reward for speed. The train took little over an hour to travel about 30 kms. Sometimes i felt the hosues were too close to the train tracks.
On reaching Hua Lampongh a helpful Thai Railway employee helped us to book tickets to Nong Khai (route 69 train) We dumped our bags in the cloak room and decided to go to the Grand Palace , Wat Phoo and Wat Arun. With the help of the tourist information center we managed to get a bus (no 53) to the Grand Palace. At the Palace we discovered that we were not allowed to wear full length trousers to get in. Thankflly Avinash and I had our pants with us. We found a nice quite spot and changed. We had a very hot humid day. The guide at the palace (I think his name was Ken).
Bangkok made us feel that Chennai is like Kodaikanal. In a winter day it was horridly humid and hot. On our way back from the grand palace we boarded the bus no 53 which was going away from the Grand palace (much like how we would do in Chennai) All 3 of us were really tired and we slept off. After an hour or so we discovered that we were heading straight back to the Grand Palace. With just 2 hours left to board our train we found the right bus to tae us to the railway station ( all thanks to Avinash's insistence on using public transport through the trip) We reached the station with a lot of time left for a spartan dinner of donuts and cakes.
Our expereince with the Bangkok suburban trains made us to expect the worst when it comes to Thai trains but thankfully the train from Bangkok to Nong Khai was in fact very very good. We had a good night's sleep. The next morning i woke up Avinash and Naveen much before the train reached Nong Khai much to their irritation (a prelude to what I would be doing all through the trip ie. wake them up at unearthly hours)
To our surprise the temperature at Nong Khai was around 7-10 degrees. None of us had any warm clothing with us. We had a uneventful immigration and visa stamping. We reached Vientiane from the border post and using the map which we took from the border post we managed to find our way to the hotel. (Hotel Sinnakhone) The hotel was really good and quite cheap too.
We spent the day on a loaned cycle roaming around Vientiane, a small , clean and beautiful city. We got up the next day to get our bus to Ban Nahin from where we intended to go to Kong Lor. We missed the direct bus to Nahin. The clerk at the bus station helped us by booking a bus on another route. She was kind enough to write in Loatian the route we need to take (so that we can show it to the locals and get their help).
The first bus took about 6 hours to travel a distance which cannot be more than 200 km. We missed the last bus from our transit point to Ban Nahin. We were stranded in the middle of nowhere (the place had 4 thatched houses and one guest on a highway) and it was quite dark.
Then came to our rescue the Songtheaw , the Laotian equivalent of Meen Body vandi which had provision to seat about 8 people. We haggled over the price and managed to convince him to take the 3 of us for a distance of 40 kms for 100,000 Kip (about $12.5)
We reached Ban Nahin which was freezing cold. We located the Inthapanya guest house. We dumped our bags and went for dinner. We met a Malaysian Tamilian who was working as a site supervisor for a hydel power project near Ban Nahin. He helped to translate to the cook that we were vegetarian and helped us get food without meat.
The next morning I woke early (as usual) and went for a walk in the freezing cold. I got panicked by the fact that there was no motorbike rental oulet in Ban Nahin. I thought that our plans to bike to Kong Lor was screwed. I went and transmitted my panic to Naveen. We both once again took a walk around to find a bike outlet!!!
We drove to Kong Lor , the caves was a truly amazing expereince. It was eerie and dark but the whole experience was absolutely fabulous. The light at the end of the cave was a sight to behold.
It was near the end of the cave that Avinash and I were so engrossed with taking pictures that we were unable to help the boatman and Naveen from controlling the boat (despite their cals for help :P ) in the process of trying to pull the boat Naveen cut his fingers and lost his foaters :D
Our way back to ban Nahin was uneventful except for Avinash's puncture which scared us all. We reached Nahin and rushed to catch our bus for the onward journey. This was the part of the trip we had no plans for. We made a ad-hoc decision to go to Pakse.
We once got down at the middle of nowhere T-junction from where we boarded the songtheaw to Nahin. We caught a bus to Nahin. We were asked to change to another bus somewhere in the middle of the trip. it was in this bus that Navin's love story started. he met Kathy ,a Laotian girl. This was just like in Anniyan except for that Naveen did everything that Vivek wanted Vikram to do in that movie. 4 hours of continous kadalai (not to mention the fact that even this Laotian girl found me to be scary, i guess all this happens in a rowdy's life)
We got down at Pakse at around 2 in the morning. We roamed about in the street for a room. In the process we woke up a few hotel clerks. Finally we got a room at Hotel Pakse. One incident which is worth remembering is my "conversation" with the owner of Nazim's. Nazims is a Indian food chain in Laos. The owner happened to be a Tamil gentleman.My explanation to him on why we did not complete dinner that night vexed him and drove Navin and Avinash to splits. We spent time around Pakse and we decided to move to Siem Reap on the next day.
Our bus started at 7 when we boarded the bus. We had a uneventful border crossing and finally we reached Siem Reap at 5 the next morning. Siem Reap was a nice place which was built for tourists. The Siem Reap hostel where we stayed was an amazing place which arranged tuks tuks and tours for us at reasonable prices. On the first day we hired bicycles to the War Museum. A place managed by mine victims. We talked to one person who was telling us about how Khmer Rogue killed his whole family.
The sun set view on the plains of Angkor was a real dampener. It was a pretty ordinary site which most of us have seen everywhere. The enthusiasm shown by the other tourist (mostly a massive Chinese Contingent) confused us.
The next morning we woke up at 5 to catch the sun rise over Angkor Wat. Sadly it was a cloudy morning. We spent the whole day jumping between temples. It was truly a sight to behold, the scale of the temples and the intricacies of the scupltures made the trip worth while. After being overwhelmed by visiting temples for about 7 hours we decided to call it a day.
The next day we spent the time at the floating village which was close to Siem Reap. The evenings we spent around the night market of Siem Reap (avoiding people who were incessantly offering us "boom boom" messages). We were scheduled to leave Siem on Christmas day. The previous night being Christmas eve the whole town was on a party mode. Avinash and Naveen spent time hopping between bars (and running from matter girls and bombing photos and .............)
On Christmas day we boarded the flight from Sieam Reap to Bangkok and from Bangkok to Chennai (only entertainment being a couple of pretty Ukrainian girls )
On the whole it was an amazing trip. Avinash's ability to not wake up int he mornings , Naveen's (and sometime Avinash's and my) snoring , Naveen's paranoia to visit rest rooms when ever he sees one and my epic and near incessant blabbering added to the comic elements of the trip apart from the wonderful people we met (the Laotian guy whom we met on the Songtheaw to Ban nahin who had an insanely good ability to learn english, an Australaian who spent 3 years roaming around India, a Dutch gentleman who working illegally in Malaysia and a Frenchman who kept bumping on us where ever we went were some of the interesting ppl we met) , the amazing places we saw andthe crazy adventures made the trip a truly once in a lifetime event.
