Christmas time trip to four countries

[Bamboo Grove]

Luang Prabang, day 3

On the Christmas day I had decided to go to a museum, which was different from the museums, I have visited. You know, once you’ve seen enough temples, churches, mosques, waterfalls etc. they stop being interesting. This museum was something, I had not visited before, it was called UXO Luang Prabang (Unexploded Ordnance museum). As most of you will know, Laos was the most bombed country during the Indochina war and there is still a lot of unexploded bombs in some areas. These bombs still kill and maim many people and these museums are to help to aid to clear the areas as well as to help those who have been injured or the families of the persons killed in explosions of these bombs. It was a hot day and when I reached the museum, they had a lunch break so I sat down in a nearby park with a statue of a former president of Laos and waited till the museum opened. They had all kinds of bombs and weapons from the Indochina war era on show plus a video about the survivals of recent bomb explosions. These usually happen when people tend their rice fields.

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After the museum I walked back to my hotel, had phat kraphao on the way and rested in my hotel room. When evening came, I walked again to the riverside and had my dinner there. As next morning was another early wake up, I returned to my room fairly early.

[pharvey]

Blooming heck, I thought Christmas Day with my eldest brother in attendance was bad.... Visiting a "Museum of Bombs" must be another level BG! Whilst I have a great interest in the subject, probably not somewhere I would choose to visit over the festive season!

The 2nd photo is interesting though! What is that, "Multiple Munitions" it seems? Hate to think what that and the "Mines" shown in other photo's could have done.

Very interesting none-the-less....

[pharvey]

A great photo (copied below) BG, but just a question - is the larger "vessel" something of a restaurant or a "Touring Boat" with rooms/overnight stays etc? Is that something that is available?
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[PeteC]

......The 2nd photo is interesting though! What is that, "Multiple Munitions" it seems? .....

That is a cluster bomb. Many more photos/examples on Google.

[Bamboo Grove]

is the larger "vessel" something of a restaurant or a "Touring Boat" with rooms/overnight stays etc?

Most of the vessels were restaurants that cruised on the river with dance shows, like in Bangkok but I remember reading that it was possible to travel between LP and Chiang Rai on a boat so maybe that could be this kind of a vessel.

[pharvey]

......The 2nd photo is interesting though! What is that, "Multiple Munitions" it seems? .....

That is a cluster bomb.

Thought as much...

is the larger "vessel" something of a restaurant or a "Touring Boat" with rooms/overnight stays etc?

Most of the vessels were restaurants that cruised on the river with dance shows, like in Bangkok but I remember reading that it was possible to travel between LP and Chiang Rai on a boat so maybe that could be this kind of a vessel.

Would certainly be an interesting trip!! I'll have to do a spot of research.

[Big Boy]

is the larger "vessel" something of a restaurant or a "Touring Boat" with rooms/overnight stays etc?

Most of the vessels were restaurants that cruised on the river with dance shows, like in Bangkok but I remember reading that it was possible to travel between LP and Chiang Rai on a boat so maybe that could be this kind of a vessel.

Would certainly be an interesting trip!! I'll have to do a spot of research.

Certainly the single deck vessels look like the boats used on the slow boat cruises that I was going to do from Houy Xai to Luang Prabang last December. My wife's replacement knee operation meant I had to postpone the trip until December this year. I'm really looking forward to it.

To help your research, this is one of the cheaper cruises that I was considering https://nagiofmekong.com/ .

[buksida]

Amazing that Laos (China) can get a bullet train up and running in a few years and it still takes 4 hours to get from Hua Hin to Bangkok in 2025.

[pharvey]

Certainly the single deck vessels look like the boats used on the slow boat cruises that I was going to do from Houy Xai to Luang Prabang last December. My wife's replacement knee operation meant I had to postpone the trip until December this year. I'm really looking forward to it.

To help your research, this is one of the cheaper cruises that I was considering https://nagiofmekong.com/ .

Many thanks BB With the current state of my body, a cruise would be good.... The LHG unfortunately will be expecting me to leap off at every opportunity - more than likely before we've even moored!

Amazing that Laos (China) can get a bullet train up and running in a few years and it still takes 4 hours to get from Hua Hin to Bangkok in 2025.

Ahh, but there's the Japanese/German technology that China copied. Thailand will have it when China sees fit I guess....

[caller]

The whole river frontage of the Mekong at Luang Prabang is lined with such boats, I was amazed at how many there were. We hired 'one man and a boat' for a couple of hours, just to have a relaxing break from going here, there and everywhere. It was time well spent. The owner / pilot lived at the back of the boat and showered by jumping in the river!

Getting on and off these boats was interesting, as you were literally walking the plank!

Once BG has finished his report, I'll start a little thread on my trip.

[Bamboo Grove]

Luang Prabang to Malacca

My flight was scheduled to leave Luang Prabang at 10.00 a.m. so I arrived at the airport before 8.00. It was a small airport and at the immigration queue there was only one person besides me. I could have arrived later. The airport only had 2-3 flights scheduled for the morning, one going to Hanoi, one to Bangkok and one to Vientiane.

This was my second flight of the trip and the second one that was late. It left around 50 minutes late for Don Muang airport, just a bit more than hour away. A pleasant flight anyway and as I had around 3,5 hours wait at Don Muang, it didn’t really matter.

I can’t remember when my previous visit to Don Muang was. In my early days in Thailand that was the only airport in Bangkok and the worst experience was one Songkran festival time, when it took me around three hours from downtown BKK to the airport. This time the transfer went smoothly and despite the delay, I still had plenty of time to spend at the airport. But there were some shocking things for me. I saw one of my favourite Thai dishes, khao na pet (duck breast with rice) sold for 350 Baht, I couldn’t believe that. I had had not breakfast and I was hungry but not that hungry that I would have paid this much. My second flight of the day was also delayed. I just grabbed some overprized sandwiches and waited for my connecting flight.

I arrived at Kuala Lumpur airport about one hour late. I had booked a transfer to take me to Malacca, some 130 km away. Luckily the driver was waiting for me and so after the lengthy immigration control, I was finally on my way to my next destination. We arrived there at 23.00 and to my delight, I was upgraded to a premium suite. I took my luggage there and went to look for an evening meal before going to bed at just past midnight.

[Bamboo Grove]

Malacca day 1

I was going to meet an old friend of mine from my Thailand days in Malacca. An Englishman who moved to Australia 18 years ago. So we hadn’t met for 18 years. He had taken a night flight from Perth and arrived at KL around 8 a.m. I estimated that he would arrive at the hotel at around 11.00. So I had my breakfast and went to my room to wait for him.

Just before 11.00 I got a message from him saying that he was down at the lobby. He wouldn’t get his room before 14.00 so we took his things to my room. Had a short chat to cover 18 years and then decided to go and have a look at the city.

We ordered a Grab -taxi and it arrived fairly quickly. However the streets to downtown were very jammed and it took a while to get to where we wanted to go. We finally got to the main tourist area of Malacca. We walked around the area and then into the Jonker street, which is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Malacca. Unfortunately, it had really nothing for us. Just shops full of tourist souvenirs and crowded pavements. We did have our lunch there as my friend hadn’t had his breakfast. Nothing special in my opinion.

After looking at the map, we decided to walk back to our hotel as the distance didn’t seem to be too much. It was indeed much quicker as the Jonker street area wasn’t far away from our hotel. So we decided to walk back to the riverside area after resting the afternoon.

As the evening approached we set out again. Had some nice rotis with dipping sauces on our way and then walked the riverside area of the Malacca river. We found a couple of nice bars to sit and as they had nice collections of single malts, we order them together with some good porter. We did this in two bars and enjoyed the evening view with river cruise ships cruising along the river. Then walk back to the hotel and couple of drinks in my room before going to sleep.

[pharvey]

I've travelled to Malaysia on several occasions, but Malacca was never really on the Radar. Thanks for sharing BG

[Bamboo Grove]

Malacca day 2

For this day we had a clear program. We first went to see a submarine, which has been made into a museum. It was a bit further away but again Grab came to our help and this time there was no traffic jam.

It was possible to go inside the sub and it was truly an interesting experience as I have never been inside one. Have to say, life in those things wouldn’t be for me so cramped and without any privacy. I wonder how people can do it. Interesting anyway.

There were also two fighter planes near the sub.

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As it was a bit outside of the city we had some difficulties getting a Grab to take us back but finally we succeeded as we put our destination to be one of the luxury hotels near the tourist area. A very young female driver took us back to the down town area.
Our next destination was the replica of the Portuguese ship Flor de la Mar by the Malacca river. Another very interesting visit to an this replica of a ship that had led the attack on Malacca in 1511. Inside of it there were a lot of interesting information of the area of those days.

It was a very hot day and in the afternoon after the visit to the ship we felt we should go for lunch and then return to the hotel for rest. This we did after having a pleasant lunch by the river we walked back to the hotel. We both had a nap in our rooms and then when the sun had set we went for some more rotis and sauces before returning to the riverside for some more porters and single malts. We then finished a pleasant evening with some beers in the hotel.

[Bamboo Grove]

Malacca to Medan

We had a taxi booked for 11.00 to take us to KL airport and after breakfast we set out for the journey. The taxi drive was good, and we arrived at the airport with good time in our hands. After checking in and immigration we noticed that our flight was (surprisingly) delayed by about an hour. Anyway, we were not in a hurry as we had an airport transfer organized at Medan by the hotel.

The flight was only one hour long and when we arrived, the car with the driver was waiting for us. The first part of the trip to the hotel went smoothly but once we entered the city, there was a lot of traffic and it moved very slowly. So, it took about an hour to get to the hotel, and it was evening when we finally had our bags in our rooms.

As it was quite late already, we just walked a bit around the area of our hotel and went to a Chinese restaurant nearby to have something to eat and a couple of beers. They also sold beers to take away, so we bought some and had those in the hotel room before going to sleep.

Medan
Next morning after breakfast and a lazy start to the day, we called another Grab. We didn’t have much in the program, just wanted to see the old palace of the local sultan and one big mosque. The grab took us to the palace, which had only two rooms open for the public, so it was a short visit. The mosque was nearby, and we could walk there. After seeing these, another grab ride to a shopping mall just to see a bit of local life. From there we walked to a supermarket to buy some wine and beers for our last evening.

As the evening came, we went to have dinner in the hotel’s restaurant and then drank the drinks in my room chatting till past midnight. We could have kept it going on as we used to do in our Thailand days, sometimes till 4-5 a.m. in Hua Hin. My friend said that he remembered that it was time to go to sleep in Hua Hin when we could hear the sweeper outside my Bamboo Grove restaurant. I had a flight in the morning and my friend would stay for another night in Medan before heading to Manila for six days.

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