South East Asia Madness

I did it in Luang Prabang, Laos and it wasn't as good as I was expecting. Next time I will try the Mahout course (Mahout is the name given to the Lao elephant whisperer) to learn how to ride the elephant on my own. Sound much cooler! This is a picture of my Mahout, he was a really nice chap.

I did it at the Wat Sok Pa Luang, a temple in the suburb of Vientiane. Every Saturday afternoon, a monk is teaching the basics of meditation in English. Really enjoyed it, very relaxing...

I have tried a lot of different massage, the traditional Lao, the Traditional Thai, the Thermotherapy, the Herbal and the foot massages. I never had an oil massage though, I need to try this one (but I heard it takes a while before the oil comes off your body). EDIT: I had my first oil massage, 3$ for an hour, bargain!!

I have been proposed to spend next Saturday night at one of my Lao friend, Noy. She is leaving in a village 30km outside Vientiane and told me that half of the village are composed by her family. I can't wait to rent my motorbike and get there!

When I spent the night in one of my Lao friend family, they took us into a rice paddy field and we gave it a try. It was quite funny for 15 minutes, but it was so hot! I can't believe they were doing it all day long, they are so brave.

Floating downstream the river on inner tubes (big trucks tyres). I heard it's not too fast, but some tourists have done it while drunk at night and have died!

Luang Prabang is probably the nicest city in Laos. Under the umbrella of the Unesco since 1995 (World Heritage site), the city hasn't change that much despite the growing interest of Westerners for this beautiful and quiet city.

You can find in a lot of places across South East Asia. I tried some small fried crickets, it was good, you might find some legs stuck in your teeth though ^^

I don't know why I said yes, but I enrolled for this boat race taking place on the 27th of October for celebrating the end of the raining season (Ok Phansa) and that was a crazy idea. Now I can't quit anyway ^^ Basically, there is 50 people on a boat paddling in rythm to go as fast as possible, to make it more serious, you have to shout in Laos at the same time. Few weeks before I did it, the boat sank in the Mekong, scary!!

EDIT: I had such a fantastic day, we've done two races and two just for fun. We didn't manage to win (I think we were the worst team by far ^^), but we won the entertaining price!

EDIT: The race is next Saturday, I'm not allowed to drink alcohol or have sex on Friday night and I have to go to bed at 9 ^^

Chatuchak is the biggest market in Bangkok. Every weekend, 17000 stalls are installed and you can find pretty much everything for nothing in this crazy market. While walking, I came across the cock place and saw a couple of cock fights. They were not fighting to death, the first one turning his back is losing.

Went to Buddha Park outside Vientiane, Laos. My first time on a motorbike, so a 60 km round trip was quite a challenge, and I was carrying a friend of mine, but we made it! I paid 10$ for renting the motorbike 2 days including gas, so cheap and so worth it...

Tuk-Tuk drivers might be the laziest people in Asia (always sleeping in their Tuk-Tuk and reluctant to give you a ride), but they know how to rip you off when it comes to negociating. I start being experience with it now, but gosh, it' s not easy!

I learned how to cut the Papaya and make a good salad. I couldn't really eat Papaya salad before, because it's too spicy, but since I did my own salad, I didn't put too much Chilli and it was good...