Our big trip
A few thoughts and photos from our travels
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Day 136 – Sunset on the Mekong
9th January: Luang Prabang, Laos After breakfast, I went wandering for coffee and decided to try the local Lao speciality. This is made by straining locally grown ripe coffee beans through a cloth and produces the thickest and strongest coffee that I’ve ever tried! Way thicker than Turkish coffee. Luckily, I needed a caffeine boost…
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Day 135 – Tropical paradise
8th January: Luang Prabang, Laos After breakfast and a little snack hunt around the morning market, we jumped into a shared minivan for the very bumpy ride out to Kuang Si. I was a little apprehensive about heading out into the rainforest, but we couldn’t come to Luang Prabang and not take this trip. The…
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Day 134 – Alms giving
7th January: Luang Prabang, Laos Feeling rejuvenated by the relaxed vibe of Luang Prabang, we decided to get up pre-dawn for the daily alms giving. This is where monks collect rice from people on the streets in their bowls. We saw a few small groups of monks and respectfully kept our distance across the street…
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Day 133 – Eating our way through Luang Prabang
6th January: Luang Prabang, Laos We fittingly began our first full day on the banana pancake trail by eating banana pancakes! We’d heard they were often made with bananas in the mix to create a dough but unfortunately those in our hotel were very much thick egg-based pancakes with a few slices of banana on…
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Day 132 – Reverse culture shock
5th January: Xishuangbanna, China to Luang Prabang, Laos We sped out of eastern Jinghong listening to our DiDi driver’s selection of pre-dawn club music. This whole area appears to have been designed in a hurry with the development on two distinct height levels connected by random absurdly steep off-kilter concrete ramps. In the darkness, breakfast…
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Day 131 – Goodbye and good luck
4th January: Xishuangbanna, China After almost 12 weeks, today is our final full day in China. Breakfast was chilling on the balcony with jasmine green tea, tiny oranges, and red bananas in beautiful temperatures. As with yesterday, there was just enough cloud cover to keep it very comfortable until the afternoon. We decided to walk…
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Day 130 – Temples and night markets
3rd January: Xishuangbanna, China I woke up assuming it was early only to realise it was already gone 10! Coffee on the balcony woke me up as we did some more planning. It seems sensible now to take it a bit easier and not try to squeeze in Malaysia (one day!). So, our new plan…
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Day 129 – From the plateau to the tropics
2nd January: Dali, China to Xishuangbanna, China Another early start today, watching the sky turn red across Lake Erhai. We said goodbye to Shan and to the hotel owner, who was busy watering his amazing green walls, and got ourselves a DiDi to the train station. There is no direct train from Dali to Xishuangbanna,…
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Day 128 – Happy New Year!
1st January: Dali, China The midnight fireworks last night were amazing! We did not expect this at all but after building up all evening, it went crazy at 12. From the hotel roof, there were rockets in all directions near and far. We could see people on balconies and roofs lighting more and down in…
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Day 127 – New lunar month
31st December: Dali, China There were fireworks in the night at around 2am but nobody seems entirely sure why! It could perhaps have been something to do with the new lunar month beginning today. The marking of this occasion was visible when I went for a walk to find coffee in the morning. Some buildings,…