Our Round-the-World adventure

[sg1]

On our recent trips through South East Asia we liked Laos the most. It is still very relaxed, friendly and has excellent food and cultural attractions. A little like Thailand used to be in the 80s and early 90s when I spent a lot of time there. Thailand has changed and not for the better.

 

[ghostdancer]

Laos - Part 1

Spending a night in the tallest tree house in the world in Nam Kan National Park

Border crossing from China to Laos, Chinese gate

Our initial entry into Laos did not feel much different from China, we entered at Boten which is a Chinese built modern town right over the border in Laos. The architecture, the economy and the food were all still very Chinese. The town was alive at night with large scale gambling casinos and nightclubs. We heard rumors of an active red light district but chose not to explore it.

Our two week, 2 ,140km route through Laos. Also shown, an unplanned route through Cambodia (more on that later)

As with many countries in South East Asia, Laos has a complicated relationship with China. It shares a communist values-based government, and accepts infrastructure investment, but that investment often comes with strings attached. China is now the largest investor in Laos and funds are focused on mining, electrical and transportation projects which benefit and are largely controlled by the Chinese. The people of Laos welcome new economic opportunity but also fear losing their national identity and freedom to their powerful neighbor.

But as soon as we left Boten and hit the road the next day everything changed. As we left the border with China, the roads deteriorated and the scenery became more interesting. We welcomed the cultural shift from the modern cities of Yunnan to the small mountain villages of Laos.

We did not know much about Laos before we arrived. It is shadowed as a tourism destination by its more well known neighbors - Vietnam and Thailand - but has a growing tourism sector. We had spent some time in Cambodia a few years ago so had some familiarity with the South East Asian culture, but Laos had a rhythm all its own. The poorest country in the region, Laos’s economy is largely based in agriculture but in a familiar story worldwide, young people are vacating the rural villages seeking job opportunities in the bigger cities or abroad. It was a common site to see fields filled with older people working hard in the heat of the day, growing rice, coffee, bananas and casava. One young man we spoke with explained that the overriding goal of most families is to have enough rice fields to be able to plant them for food for the family for the year. Typically young people return to help with the annual planting.

The people were welcoming but generally more reserved and introverted - we were not surrounded by curious people as we had been in India which was a bit of a welcome relief. It also meant that when we wild camped people left us to ourselves, maybe slowing down as they passed by to see what we were but never stopping. Courtesy is deeply embedded in South East Asian culture, we quickly learned the local greeting in Laotian (sabaidi) always spoken with hands in prayer position and a quick nod or bow. All over the world we have noticed that if you greet people in their local language you quickly earn a huge smile and a return greeting - sometimes accompanied with a little laugh if your pronunciation is a off. But we always try.

Typical mountain village architecture - houses and food storage on stilts to protect from flooding and rodents.

Our first planned adventure was an investment but was well worth it. As full time travelers we choose carefully what we pay tourist dollars for but the Gibbon Experience felt like a lifetime opportunity and supporting a good cause. Located in Nam Kan National Park, the organization has built a series of tree houses in the jungle accessible by zip line. Proceeds from the $200 per person two day, one night experience go to preservation efforts in the park and to support the local villages in developing alternatives to burning the jungle to create room for grazing and agricultural lands.

The sun goes down on the Mekong River in sleepy Ban Houayxay

We made our way to the village of Houayxay where the Gibbon Experience is located, arranged to leave our truck at their office, and met up with our guides, Enjoy and Kiew to set off hiking in the jungle.

Gearing up for the first zip line of the day - 12km of zip lines in all

Visiting the largest tree in the area - a sacred site for local villages

We arrived at our beautiful shelter for the night

That view . . .

Next morning we paid a visit to the kitchen where the women cooked for us

Zip line into tree house

Hiking back out through the bamboo forest

Then we are back on the road - we are just skirting the beginning of the monsoon season so things are starting to get muddy but not bad yet

Tucked into the jungle for the night, we loved the wild camping but struggled with the night long heat and humidity. We were putting our little USB fans to use (we have two SkyGenius clip on mini fans we attach to the camper right by our heads at night - a live saver)

We appreciated the rare bits of pavement - usually through the villages

A common site that hurt Andy’s forester heart. Large swaths of jungle were being burned to convert the land to agricultural use. We understand that people need to eat so it is a complicated issue, but it still made Andy sad.

Our next main stop was the charming city of Luang Prabang on the Mekong River. Its location meant it had been a center of Laos civilization for millennia. The city was literally covered in ancient Buddhist temples - or wats. Although it was a bit of culture shock to see all the fellow tourists roaming the streets, we did take advantage of the restaurant scene to have our first real french bread and pizza for a month -which we did not even realize how much we had been missing.

Ancient Buddhist wat in Luang Prabang

Driving along the Mekong with motorcycles and monks. Monks are revered people in Laos and it is common to see them walking in their orange robes. People consider it an honor to provide assistance or feed them as they go by.

Typical Buddhist wat with the guardians out front

100’s of Buddha statues

We were in that same Buddha cave last year. We hired a boat for the full day $50 USD. Can’t wait to get back to Laos. We’re in Kathmandu now and the rains have hit delaying our trip to Pokhara, landslides and washed out roads. We canceled the bus journey and are flying.

 

[tacototheworld]

Laos - Part 2

Visited a village of silk weavers - had to buy one from this artist

More beautiful wats!

The artistry was amazing

Back on the road - heading up to the mountains to escape the heat

Our only “official” campground in Laos - and one of our favorite places, view for miles, cool breeze and lovely garden. We paid the family who owns it $5 to camp for the night.

Plain of Jars - areas in a field and woods covered in 1000’s of pre historic carved out rocks - thought to be used as burial chambers

Andy standing in a bomb crater from the war in Viet Nam

And more jars, listed as a highlight for Laos, the site was impressive but little is known about the real history. It reminded us of visiting the ancient stone circles hidden throughout Ireland and Scotland. You have a sense of historical significance but are not sure exactly what it is.

More camping along the way

The jungle really was spectacular

Popped up at a guest house - we needed a night of air conditioning but still cooked in the truck

Our last big Laos adventure - heading in to Kong Lor Cave

Still some daylight at the entrance. Made our way to the boat where we will ride 7 km and two hours through a dark cave

Beautiful formations - some lighting provided in places where we got off the boat and walked boardwalks, but we also had headlamps

Out from the cave through the jungle - it was an extraordinary excursion and definitely a highlight for us

More monks and motorcycles!

Camped at an awesome river side spot - continuing to use and value iOverlander as a resource to find wild camping

Looking out over the river, it was one of those moments of really appreciating the way we travel

And a final Laotian Buddhist wat

Laos treated us well and we enjoyed our time in this small country with its mountainous jungle and courteous hard working people.

But we were beginning to realize that we were facing possibly our largest overlanding challenge yet. Our plan was to enter Thailand from Laos and continue on to Malaysia where we would ship the truck to South America to embark on the last leg of our journey. However, Thailand was tightening regulations related to foreign camper trucks and vans. They had for a few years a law forbidding their entry, but many overlanders had successfully talked their way through, especially at more remote borders. We tried our luck from Laos, and were denied. Laotian officers cheerfully checked us out of Laos but we were denied by Thai customs officials. They were all very kind and tried to be helpful but explained the law, that we were not allowed entry. One officer even called the Department of Transportation for us to try to find a way.

There is another level of confusion in that Thailand requires what they call a Foreign Vehicle Permit, or FVP for any foreign registered vehicle to enter. You have to apply through a registered travel agency and fees run about $250-$400 for a car or pickup truck. Overlanders had also successfully talked their way out of this costly step in the past, but as we were approaching, exemptions to this rule were becoming rarer. The Thai law also states that an FVP cannot be issued for a camper truck or camper van. We reached out to a few reputable agencies with a picture of our truck and were told they could not issue us an FVP as we looked like a camper and it is illegal. However, some agencies are promising FVPs for campers for a cost of $1800-$2000 and a 45 day lead time. We do not know the success rate for this, but with the huge cost, time delay and uncertainty we were not willing to take the risk.

We had heard of people recently being able to enter Thailand with a camper from Cambodia, skirting the FVP process so we decided to drive south through Cambodia to a remote border and try our luck. The saga will continue! (Spoiler alert we were also denied at the Cambodia-Thailand border) If anyone out there is looking for more specific information about entering Thailand with a camper don’t hesitate to reach out, we did a few weeks of solid research and are happy to share what we found and our final solution. Thanks for reading and safe travels out there!

 

[ghostdancer]

Did you consider removing the camper and shipping it separately? I know a PTIA, but.

 

[tacototheworld]

Did you consider removing the camper and shipping it separately? I know a PTIA, but.

Yes we did. It would have solved the problem with the Tacoma but ensuring that the camper was transported safely weighed heavily in our minds.

 

[tacototheworld]

Malaysia

Our driving route through Malaysia

Malaysia was another country we had visited in the past - although it was almost thirty years aga. At that time we were focused on getting out to the islands for jungle hikes, scuba diving and beach time with our then 3 and 5 year old sons. This time we decided to spend some time on the mainland learning the history and culture. We jumped in the truck, bought groceries, filled up with gas and water and headed to Georgetown.

A fascinating city, you can see the influences of its colonization and diversification on every street corner. Founded as a port by the British in the late 1700’s, it became an economic center with immigrant populations from India and China moving in over the centuries, seeking wealth and opportunity. Colonial buildings sit side by side with elaborate Chinese temples and houses. It is also a city which embraces and supports art in all of its form - with vibrant street art, murals and galleries everywhere you look. Dawn was in heaven.

Murals in old town George Town

Wealthy Chinese merchant homes are scattered throughout the old town

Temple with statues of Chinese deities

Dawn joined in the mural

Stunning architecture everywhere

In the fabric district we managed to capture this mural with its subject who worked at a sewing machine nearby

Next, feeling that we had been city focused for too long we headed for the cool mountain climate of the Cameron Highlands and some hiking. Unfortunately we accidentally hit a weekend during high season and encountered a two hour traffic jam of cars snaking up a two lane narrow windy road. Once we made it, the cool breezes were a relief but the hiking almost took us out - wow, some surprisingly rough trails for an area known for its beautiful walks.

Heading out on the trail for valley views of the tea plantations

Dawn taking a breath before tackling the next rooty cliff

Some places even had ladders

Arriving at the vast expanse of tea plantations

Despite the tough traffic and hike, we were glad to have experienced the Cameron Highlands as a break before we drove into Kuala Lumpur.

Our first view of the famous towers

Amazingly we found safe, secure parking in downtown Kuala Lumpur in sight of the towers- $4 a day. This parking lot became a home base as we did some side excursions to nearby countries and islands.

Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur. The tallest buildings in the world until Dubai beat them out with the Burj Khalifa.

Our last place to visit in Malaysia was Malacca. Another old seaport with tons of history it reminded us a lot of George Town with British colonial buildings side by side with Chinese temples. But for us Malacca did not have quite the same charm as George Town. Despite the interesting architecture, overall it felt more touristy. (Ok we know we are tourists but that doesn’t mean we like being surrounded by other tourists)

We booked into a beautiful bed and breakfast downtown to make it easier to explore (and free on our credit card points, thank you Chase Sapphire, no we do not get points for the endorsement but the card had served us well - we rarely pay for a big city hotel).

Beautiful old Chinese temple

Definitely a colorful city

The tuk tuks were decorated beyond anything we had ever seen before

Historic tourist walking street

That was it for Malaysia this time around for us - our truck was there longer than we were since we found safe long term parking and took the opportunity to fly out of Kuala Lumpur to nearby Thailand and Indonesia. The country felt more developed than it was during our previous visit but we did not get out to remote islands this time. It was an easy place to be but we were missing our standard travel format of living in the truck. The combination of the heat and focusing on big cities and islands made this largely impractical.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

" Malaysia was another country we had visited in the past",

If you don't mind me asking a silly question, and it may be hard to answer. But, do you feel that you still enjoy the places you have been before?
Or, appreciate them with " new eyes" ?

 

[tacototheworld]

" Malaysia was another country we had visited in the past",

If you don't mind me asking a silly question, and it may be hard to answer. But, do you feel that you still enjoy the places you have been before?
Or, appreciate them with " new eyes" ?

Good question! Yes definitely we enjoy going back. However in Malaysia's case it's been 30 years since we've been there. So it's almost like visiting it for the first time as things have changed so much.

In general though we seem to always want to push our boundaries and go to new places.

 

[tacototheworld]

Thailand

Since we were unable to bring our camper into Thailand but were so close, we decided to fly into Bangkok from Malaysia to hit a few highlights. We had never been to Thailand and had heard only positive things about visiting. It felt odd to be donning backpacks and getting on a plane without our home on wheels but it was the only way for us to see any of the country.

Andy is really happy that we are finally hitting mango season

We landed in Bangkok and set ourselves up for some day trips to points of interest. Our first outing was the “Death Railway” site. We visited the informative museum and learned about how the 415 km railway was built under Japanese direction during WWII. They used forced labor from Allied prisoners of war and local Asian workers under such brutal conditions over 100,000 worked died in little over a year.

We walked through “Hell Fire Canyon” where the railway was being built. The name came from the fact that prisoners were forced to work by torchlight at night. Maybe we were overthinking it but the canyon felt sad and unsettling

After visiting Hell Fire Pass, we boarded the train and road it over the bridge over the river Kwai which was also built by the prisoners. (We had prepared ourself by watching the 1957 movie the day before, definitely old school movie but it still provided interesting context).

Nighttime in Bangkok - a lively city that never sleeps

Although not typically big city people, Bangkok grew on us. It had a liveliness and grit that made it interesting. Although a highly modern city, it still had fascinating historical sites. The food was some of our favorite in the world and public transportation was safe, easy and inexpensive to use. We were not there long but we enjoyed our time in the city center.

Visit to the Grand Palace complex in Bangkok. Built in 1782 by King Rama I

In additional to royal and administrative buildings, the complex included the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

The Emerald Buddha has a long history, first appearing in the 15th century in Chiang Rai and moved to this site in Bangkok in 1784 when King Rama built the temple for it.

The detail with the stonework, carving and tile was exquisite. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed inside the Temple of the Emerald Buddha but it was beautiful to see.

150 feet long reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, largest in Thailand, representing Buddha at the final moment before he enters nirvana

Makes our truck load with our camper seem small

Our final excursion from Bangkok was to take a tour out to the famous floating and train markets. We have mixed feelings about the outing. Although we were fascinated by the idea of the markets and got a sense of how they worked historically, they no longer felt authentic to us. We came away feeling like the original concept had been re-packaged and re-worked for a tourist experience.

Floating market stalls built along canals with historic homes. Stalls now mostly sell souvenirs for tourists.

Some of the vendors are still selling everyday needs like produc

But most of the boats on the canal are filled with tourists

It was a very similar experience at the site of the traditional train market. Famous images and video (which we could not capture ourselves) show the market before and after the train coming through, with umbrellas protecting the vendors quickly folded off of the tracks when the train pulls through then popped back up afterwards. It was fascinating to see, but once again the vendors were mostly selling souvenirs for tourists and all the potential customers of the market we saw were fellow tourists.

Vendors set up right along the train tracks

Everyone tucks in as the train comes through

Our last stop in Thailand was a quick roundtrip flight to Chiang Mai to see the ancient Buddhist wats or temples. It was on this trip that we started to realize that we were too travel weary to really appreciate what we were seeing. When after a day of touring extraordinary temples we could not muster up enough energy to enter the last one we knew it was really time to stop and go home. But this is not to detract from what we were seeing which was so beautiful. It is more a comment on our state of mind.

We were also reminded of how comparatively easy it is to travel in our truck compared to using public transportation and hotels. We always have our stuff with us, we always have clean drinking water, food, snacks and a place to sleep. The few times we miscalculated traveling with our backpacks by train, pulling into a rural station at night and having to walk country roads in the dark to get to our destination really brought this home.

Buddhist temples in Chiang Mai

School children sorting through mangos to be given away at a temple. They gave us a bag and we tried to pay but they refused.

Adding gold leaf to the Buddha representing the day of your birth. Dawn is was born on a Monday so this is the “stop the fighting” Buddha - very appropriate. Andy was born on the day of the reclining Buddha - no comment but he does love a power nap.

So much unique and interesting architecture

Hike in the hills above Chiang Mai - temple being taken over by the jungle

In the end we were glad to have gotten a taste of Thailand. The tourism infrastructure is more developed than other Southeast Asian countries - which means it is also more expensive. But the people are welcoming, the food some of the best on the planet and the culture is varied and interesting. In the end, we got over being annoyed that we could not get in with our truck and relaxed into some memorable experiences.

 

[ITTOG]

Wow, I really liked the colors in the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The blue, green, and gold looked great together. That tile work must have taken forever.

Looks like it was worth ditching the truck.

Thanks for taking the time to post your travels.

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

"We came away feeling like the original concept had been re-packaged and re-worked for a tourist experience"

I felt this way about Lake Titicaca, and the floating islands.

Thanks for posting, and always being willing to answer our questions.