Unwrapped travel

Regular Travelfish readers will be aware that we have, for a long time recommended the Australian-based World Nomads for travellers travel insurance needs. We think they’re a great company who are very focused on what independent travellers need.

That said, their rates have been inching up, and over on the Travelfish forum there has been a long-running Q&A session about travel insurance rates at World Nomads. In order to get some perspective from the World Nomads side of things I got in touch with Katrina Greeves who is the Product Marketing Manager there, and ran some questions by her about what was the reasoning behind these changes in price. My questions in bold.

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for the chance to answer some of these tricky questions posed the Travelfish community. We really appreciate the feedback – your community’s suggestions will help make our travel insurance better.

What has changed with how World Nomad’s organises its country brackets?
The price for travel insurance always changes depending on your country of residence and where you are going. We’ve recently made some changes just for residents of the UK and Ireland, which has affected the price of our policies if you’re going to S.E. Asia. For residents of the other 140+ countries we cover, our country brackets remain the same.

What brought about that change?
When lots of people from the UK and Ireland run into trouble in SE Asia and make a claim on their insurance, eventually, the pricing for everyone else is affected. Unfortunately, this is what has happened over the past 6 months with WorldNomads.com travel insurance, and that’s why S.E and Eastern Asia has been bundled into the same region as the USA, Canada, The Caribbean and Japan for the time being.

So, what you’re saying is, the rates are going up because a lot of Brits claim on their travel insurance – but isn’t that the whole point of having travel insurance?

Actually the main reason people should consider travel insurance is to provide help if they get sick or injured when travelling. Not everyone needs to make a claim, but the costs involved in helping those that do can be substantial. When you consider that it can cost up to $200 000+ for emergency medical expenses if you’re seriously injured, the cost you’ve paid for your insurance is probably the last thing on your mind.

Let’s be straight: In this case, our insurance underwriters for UK and Irish residents have been required to pay out claims in excess of premiums earned and so need to increase our pricing to cover those losses.

To explain, we work with multiple underwriters around the world who price risk (a.k.a travel insurance) differently. Our prices can change depending on a number of different factors:

a) the number of claims made from travellers in a particular region;

b) the amount that is paid out to help people when they get sick, injured or have their belongings stolen; and

c) the number of travellers going to a particular region, their age and how long they’re travelling.

Roughly what kind of increase in price for a traveller heading to SEA for three months does this equate to?
This is a tricky question to answer as there a lot of factors which change a travel insurance quote including: if you’ve bought a policy with World Nomads before, your country of residence, what adventure activities you’ll do and if you need extra cover for your laptop or other high value items. For a single, UK traveller, going to S.E Asia for 3 months and who’s not a World Nomads member, the base premium price increased by £32.65.

Other rates, especially for French travellers, seem unusually high – is this for the same reason?
The short answer is yes, over the past 12 months we’ve had to increase our prices for European residents.

Some people in the Travelfish community have noticed that our product for European residents is similar to other insurance providers. While we can not comment on why their prices are different, how they service their customers or pay their claims, we aim to provide the best value product, 24/7 travel assistance when things go wrong, and useful travel advice to keep our customers travelling safely.

World Nomads have a great brand, closely associated with backpackers and independent travel and they’re the first insurer many backpackers think of when they look for travel insurance. But the new rates make WorldNomads significantly more expensive than other insurance providers. What advice can you give to travellers who are trying to decide between WorldNomads and one of the other cheaper providers?

Yes, World Nomads travel insurance was built for independent and adventurous travellers. We don’t promise to be the cheapest, yet we’ll always add value where we can – like the flexibility to buy travel insurance and claim online (even while travelling), up-to-date travel safety advice, free language guides or offering travellers the chance to donate to community development projects through our Footprints program.

At WorldNomads.com, we’ll continue to choose insurers and emergency assistance partners that can support our customers globally, when they need it most. By all means, choose a travel insurance provider to suite your personal requirements. Whether it’s the price or the knowledge that you’re buying from a reputable company who’ll help you when things go wrong, just remember that insurance policies do differ and can change, and you should read the fine print to make sure you know what’s covered (and not). Our team is always ready to help answer your questions too – askus@worldnomads.com

Thanks Katrina for taking the time to answer the above.

They say that a picture says a thousand words so I won’t waffle on about the about chart (bigger version here), other than to say it represents the rather precipitous fall in daily hotel reservations through Travelfish via one of our affiliate partners.

This is all reservation enquiries, so doesn’t take into account cancellations — meaning the fall is actually considerably worse than what the above illustrates. I should also note the airport shutdowns instigated by the yellow shirts had an equally destructive effect on reservations — I just don’t have time right now to make two charts!

Given that matters are sizing up for another meltdown around October/November this year (ie just in time for the peak tourist season) it is difficult to understate just how damaging all this is to the Thai economy. While it is clear Thailand has very serious societal issues that do need to be addressed, crucifying the travel and tourism industries seems hardly to be the way forward.

Who would have thought six years ago (when we started Travelfish.org) that today Indonesia would be seeing relatively progressive economic development accompanied by encouraging signs on the tourism side of things, while Thailand would be actively working to reinvent itself into the region’s new basketcase.

I’ll start this entry with a confession.

Late last week I stole my wife’s dinner.

Balangan from the clifftop

She’d cooked up a beef casserole in the slow-cooker and had a bowl of it before heading across to Kuta for some shopping. I ate later, and, assuming she had had her fill, after putting aside some for the kids’ lunch the next day, I ate the rest of it.

I won’t repeat the exchange of text messages as Sam drove home from Kuta, though let’s just say her first message noted she’d bought some bread for soaking up the beef sauce… and it was all kinda downhill from there.

As it turned out, I did Sam a huge favour. The beef was bad and it gave me a bout of food poisoning worse than anything I have experienced since India. It laid me out, emptied me out and nothing, not even water, stayed down.

Beach umbrellas, late afternoon

So what’s one to do in a situation like that? Head to the beach for a night I say. So Saturday morning off we headed to one of Bali’s best strips of sand, Balangan Beach.

Balangan is one of Bali’s lesser known beaches, but it is all the better for it. It’s basically the next beach of any size between what used to be known as Dreamland (now fittingly referred to as “New Kuta”) and the Ayana Resort (and Jimbaran after it). The beach is down a steep staircase (easy to climb when not carrying two wet children) and an assortment of warungs and cheap homestay/shacks are set up along the eastern end of the beach. Slightly to the west of centre is a temple and after that there is nothing — just sand.

People walking along Balangan Beach

At hightide there is some good swimming to be had — though bear in mind, as a surf beach, you’ll need to keep a close eye on any rugrats. At low tide a rocky base breaks the surface, making much of it crummy for swimming but ideal for pond watching, shell collecting and of course, as the tide drops, dam-building — my favourite.

And let me state unequivocally: The biggest threat to the Three Gorges Dam is not silt build-up but rather the arrival of a 50-metre tall two-year-old boy who just “wants to help”.

The western headland, note fishermen at top

If you start building lots of dams — or sand castles — you’ll note another of Balangan’s special features. The grains of sand are, by and large, perfectly spherical. They immediately brought couscous to mind, and I’ve never ever seen sand quite like it.

The sun sets more or less directly offshore and the vista is spectacular.

Looking east from the headland

So down on the beach, the basic procedure is surf, swim, sand castle- or dam-build and eat and drink to your heart’s content, then take in the sunset and get ready to repeat the procedure the next day.

Accommodation basically falls into two categories — cheap and basic backpacker digs down on the beach and more flashpacker-midrange stuff up above the beach on the cliff.

As for us it was just a one nighter and as I had a stolen dodgy beef to make up for, we decided to splurge and opted for the decidedly salubrious La Joya (The Jewel).

The nautilus shell motif that welcomes all to La Joya

Set on an undulating plot, the bulk of the accommodation is spacious freestanding bungalows (some with outdoor bathroom), each with their own little fenced-in garden (great for containing kids!) and lawn. A larger two-storey building has more hotel-style rooms along with a very large private villa with its own pool. Two infinity swimming pools and a spacious restaurant fill out the property.

Gardens are simply gorgeous. Lovingly tended and with a glorious mix of colours, you find your way though them via a network of lawn pathways with the occassional subtle signage helping to point you in the right direction. Lots of shade.

Garden pathways

Our room, a Deluxe Bungalow (Room #14 1,501,830 rp inc tax, service but before KITAS discount), certainly wasn’t cheap. The bungalow was quite spacious, easily fitting a double bed and a daybed (which we used as the kids’ bed) and came with separate toilet and shower rooms. Airy and bright, with a slight Moorish tone and excellent lighting through the evening, it was a room I could comfortably spend a few days in (ed: I could take a few weeks. Just in case you were wondering about a birthday pressie).

Double-width glass doors opened out onto our private yard with terrace seating. It was comfortably, but not totally, private.

It wasn’t all perfect though. One of the soft terrace seats had two nail heads sticking out (a hazard for the kids) so we asked for it to be replaced. We ended up with upright chairs from the restaurant, which were not the most comfortable to lounge around in. The glass doors, once locked, could easily be forced open from outside — both Samantha and myself broke in this way when we forgot our keys, so it’s difficult to say whether this is a plus or a minus. Lastly, while La Joya has some of the best water pressure I’ve experienced anywhere in Asia, the taps were fitted backwards (or the water pipes connected wrong or something) so when I turned on the cold water in the basin, I got scalding hot. Not good. And while it was a bonus for us, the lack of TV may bother some (it should be clear on the web site this is the case, we think).

Our (already messy) room

But overall these were fairly minor things. The room was stylish and comfortable, clean and very well looked after (save the terrace chair), the air-con was cool enough to freeze Walt Disney and the kids loved their little zone.

The restaurant overlooks one of the pools and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Western food is excellent and competitively priced for the standard, while the Indonesian fare isn’t so great and struck us as overpriced. The muzak was just awful. For the first time in my life I got up and asked restaurant staff if they could change the music (we were the only ones in the restaurant at the time — maybe the muzak was why!).

The restaurant pool

My crusted tuna salad (sliced rare tuna with julienne mango, in lime coriander with mixed lettuce finished with orange zest black vinegar) would, at 65,000 rp, certainly break a backpacker budget, but for this standard of resort, the price was more than reasonable. There are cheaper places to eat, both down the road and on the beach itself, so you don’t feel trapped with a lack of other options. Service was prompt, polite and very friendly. We found the mostly female staff to be exceedingly helpful and friendly with our kids — so much so we’d recommend this place for families on that strength alone.

Tuna for lunch

However, a couple of things should be noted by those travelling with children, starting with the very prominent rat poison traps positioned by the two main entrances to the restaurant. With bright red arrows indicating their position and holes just big enough for a childs arm, these are an accident waiting to happen (unless there is no bait there during the day?). They should, at least, be obscured or better positioned, so while still obvious to a rat they are less so to a three-year old. Also around the restaurant we saw plugs hanging out of sockets and a junction box sitting beside a water feature. Neither outright dangerous, and not an issue for adults, but for kids, this kind of thing can really be better done.

Now a word on internet. I think it is outrageous that any property, anywhere in the world, charging over $100 a night charges a surcharge for WiFi access. If you can’t supply WiFi for free, then don’t offer it.

La Joya offers WiFi access, at a surcharge of 100,000 rp for 24 hours. I think it is an unacceptable charge, but we were told of the price upfront over the telephone, and we decided to grin and bear it. When we went in the early afternoon to ask about sorting out our access, we were told that only the manager could connect us, and she was down in Kuta “for a couple of hours”. Throughout the afternoon I wandered back to reception asking after WiFi, but the manager still wasn’t back. In the end it wasn’t till evening, after our dinner, that I returned to reception and managed to get the manager to hook us in.

Stylish coffee for breakie

At no stage was I offered an “Oh, I’m sorry for the inconvenience” by the manager — even though she was sitting across the pathway from me. I didn’t need — nor want — a grovelling apology, but I think it’s a pretty base level of service to apologise to a guest when they’ve been inconvenienced for the last eight hours. And though I was only in the resort for another perhaps 18 hours, half of those sleeping, they still charged me for the full 24 hours internet access.

Two things spring to mind concerning this. Firstly, train your staff to connect a guest to the router. Secondly, if you don’t see the inconveniencing of a guest for eight hours to be worthy of an apology or at least the gesture of a nominal discount, then I think you’re in the wrong trade.

And this brings me to my final thoughts on La Joya, centred on the staff. We found the local staff to be absolutely exceptional. They were terrific with our kids, they arranged a babysitter for us at very short notice, and we left feeling there was nothing we could have asked of them that they wouldn’t have helped us with. On the other hand we found the foreign staff — namely the manager and owner — to be, well, the mirror image of their staff. That on checkout, as they both stood in the office across from reception, neither felt the need to stroll the five metres across and enquire as to whether we enjoyed our stay, really left me scratching my head.

Leafy gardens

The hotel’s custom is almost all French (the receptionist said 97% French, then Portuguese) and we’re not French, so maybe that was the problem. Or perhaps it was that we brought kids, or that we asked for a KITAS discount. Perhaps they were both just having a really bad couple of days. Who knows?

But overall I left really feeling that they felt they didn’t need our custom — and that is a shame as I would have liked to have said I’d return here, but I probably won’t.

Cliff top fishing

We’ll be returning to Balangan in a couple more weeks to check out a few of the other more backpacker and flashpacker orientated gigs in detail. But if La Joya sounds like your kettle of fish, you can reach them here:

La Joya
http://www.la-joya.com
Jalan Uluwatu Pantai Balangan, Bali
Tel: +62 361 7450501
Mob: +62 818 565 839
informations@La-Joya.com

If you happened to be on Bali this weekend gone and were wondering why there was so much unseasonal rain, I can tell you why — we decided to go away for the weekend.

After our less than successful “around the island” jaunt (return home with screaming kids after two days (and again accompanied by copious rain)) we decided to opt for a far more simple jaunt — head to Sideman, hang out for two nights and return.

Sideman is a valley with (rumoured) views to Gunung Agung (the gobsmacking big volcano you can see from Sanur while quaffing a cheap Bintang or three). I say rumoured because it was shrouded in clouds for most of the time, though we did see a sliver of it at one stage.

Sideman is also famed for its rice terraces — and they really really are stunning. But more on them afterwards.

We took a circuitous route from Sanur as we had to head up to Ubud to pick up some friends who were joining us — if you happen to live in Venice and are wondering where all the tourists are, don’t fret — they haven’t been kidnapped by extra-terrestrials — they’re in Ubud.

And while it will forever escape me why you would fly from Osaka or Frankfurt to buy designer goods in Ubud, others do appear to have figured it out. And while I don’t begrudge them their shopping habits, I do more than begrudge them their big fat tour buses who most certainly should be banned from downtown Ubud (if not Bali).

The upside of all this is if you want to see beautiful Bali without the tour buses, hordes and touts, then head to Sideman — that’s what we did.

We stayed at the Lihat Sawah Guesthouse which, for starters, needs to update the pics on their website — as, like with a lot of the area, they’ve got chillies in the ground rather than rice — and their rooms have, well, aged somewhat. They could also give the bathrooms a serious de-moulding while they’re at it.

Mould and damp aside our room was reasonable, though not cheap. 700,000Rp for a family room (one room with a big double and two kids beds in the main room) with dinner and breakfast included. Dinner was very good,with huge portions of Thai food (courtesy of some Thai chef the kitchen staff worked with long days gone), but breakfast was a cruel joke — so if you’re not partial to Thai food (nor crappy breakfasts) then skip the full board version. There are other eating options around the place. Our friends paid 100-200,000 for a budget room and they rated it pretty well.

One point worth noting about here though are the staff — exceptionally friendly — even if they don’t like to share umbrellas.

The views are terrific — even in the rain — and the guesthouse has quite lovely gardens full of all sorts of critters and insects.

The first afternoon we just sat around mostly, but the next day we grabbed a map (see below) and see off exploring. Like all good maps there was ample opportunity to get lost and, over the next three hours we did exactly that — at least it didn’t rain.

If we’d had more time (and energy), we’d have climbed to the hill top temple opposite the guesthouse and we’d probably take a guided walk (50,000 Rp per hour) to get a bit more info on what we were all tramping through.

It’s a great spot — very low key, there are a few foreign travellers about but a smidgen compared to any of the busier locales. Where we stayed had no pool, but other digs do and we’ll probably check those out as well next time we visit — which will probably be sooner than later.

If you’re looking for a good escape, to see Bali in a really beautiful light, then Sideman might be just what you’re looking for — give it two nights if you can.

Having just submitted the App to Apple, and fingers crossed that it meets the grade, we’re delighted to announce that Travelfish is a launch publisher for the Apple iPad. Please read on for more details — and yes some screenshots — of what the App can do for you.

Map the mayhem
There’s nothing worse than arriving in a foreign country to have the airport cabbie rip you off by taking the longest way possible to your hotel. With the Travelfish iPad App you enter your destination and the App maps out the ideal route for you. Then, using GPS tracking it tracks your taxi’s direction emitting a clanging noise as soon as your driver starts to get shifty.

I’ll take the Interbank rate please
Right up there with shifty cabbies, dodgy exchange agents are another bane of the traveller’s life. No more. We’ve fully integrated a live updating stream to interbank rates. All you need do is enter the amount into the onboard calculator and the App will tell you exactly how much your dollars are worth. No more need to shop around.

The bed bounty
While you’re in the cab counting your cash, enter how much you want to spend on a bed into our “Bed Bounty”. This then searches through our database of 16,000 rooms and delivers you with a video walkthrough of the exact room you should opt for. If you’re after a dorm room, we suggest you purchase the “liveline” addon that gives you a realtime video feed from the dorm so you can choose one with people that look interesting (or hot).

Master MSG
As frequent travellers to Asia know, the locals lay on the MSG as Australians do cheese. And while you can ask to skip the MSG, that doesn’t always deliver the goods. So in a breakthrough of touchscreen usage, with the Travelfish App just place a dollop of your Tom Kha Gai on the glassy surface of the iPad and it will detect even the smallest amount of MSG. On a positive result the screen turns red, green for ok to eat. An additional add on is also available to test if the water is ok to drink — all you need do is poor some water on the iPad (not too much!) and it will let you know if it is safe.

Eat by pictures
There’s nothing worse than ordering a plate of Fried rice with chicken only to have fried rice with egg brought out. So don’t risk your meal over your crummy tone usage. Instead make use of our 5,000 image photo library illustrating every Asian dish. All you need do is shuffle through and point to the dish you want. Thrillseekers can shake the App to have a random dish selected. Then it’s up to the noodle vendor to whip you up a plate of Seua Rong Hai quicksmart — if they can’t someone else will.

Speak like a local
The Travelfish iPad App has a bevy of live language features, but the best is the “Backpackertron” that has been designed for group parties where everyone speaks different languages. All you need do is enter in something and it will supply the text translated into any question you want. For example:

Starting with “Do you know a good guesthouse in Bangkok?” the backpackertron delivers:
¿Conoces un buen hotel en Bangkok?
Où est la salle de bains?
Myslím, že jste naprosto sexy
Aku punya ruam buruk, itu penting?
Twój brat jest o wiele bardziej atrakcyjne ni? jeste?cie.
Vil du at jeg skal kysse deg nå?

Language barriers are forever gone!

Savour the sights
One of the great hassles of travelling in Asia is the heat and the best way to avoid it is to stay inside in air-con. But what about the sights? No problem. The Travelfish ipad App includes video walkthroughs of all the main sights in Southeast Asia. Yes that’s right — there’s no need to step outside.

Meet other travellers
Through full integration with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Friendfeed and 42 other social networks you’ll have every opportunity to virtually meetup and communicate with other travellers. With a clever, well planned use of this feature, you won’t need to deal with any real live travellers at all!

And much more!
There’s more features packed into this app, but we don’t want to let all the cats out of the bag. So please keep an eye out for further announcements.

Cheers!

So just a quick note that we’ve just released a version of the Travelfish website for mobile phones — or rather for the iPhone in particular (I’ve not been able to test it on Android yet). It is a mobile version of the entire site except for the forum and the member centre (which I’m still working on).

You can see the mobile Asia travel website here.

This was my first attempt at video, so excuse the shaky hand and the out of focus bit when I tried to zoom it.

Those who have been on this river in wet notice may notice just how clear the water is — in the wet it is the colour of coffee with milk.

The music is by a Khmer artist, Ros Sereysothea and the song “Chnam oun dop prammuy” translates as “I’m 16″. Nothing to do with Laos I know — it just happened to be what I was listening to as the time and seemed like a good fit.

It is a beautiful trip and I highly recommend it.

Enjoy!

A short trip, but a good trip. Two weeks motorbiking through far northern Laos. As usual, I tried to do too much, but it was easy to pare my intentions back to something more reasonable — and importantly — enjoyable. Biking through parts of Luang Nam Tha, Udomxai, Luang Prabang and Phongsali provinces, I’d picked a mix of well trafficked and less travelled parts of the country and mostly got just what I was looking for — some feeling for the wilderness Laos offers along with a couple of cruisy days by the river supported by a steady supply of iced BeerLao.

Sampan at Nong Kiaow

Where I went
The trip took me through Huay Xai, north to Luang Nam Tha (where I did a two-day trek) then east to Udomxai, before heading north again via Muang La, Boun Tai and Boun Neua to Phongsali. From there east again to Hat Sa, where I threw the bike on a large sampan and boated south to Muang Khua — the northern most gateway to Vietnam. From Muang Khua, south to Muang La and Udomxai before taking a sharp left and east to Nong Kiaow, where I wound down for a couple of days before riding back via Udomxai to Luang Nam Tha, where I returned my trusty bike and back to Huay Xai and out. All up around 960km by motorbike and even now, a week or so later I can still feel every pothole.

Of all the above, Luang Nam Tha and Nong Kiaow — Muang Khua at a stretch — are the only places that could be described as having any kind of a traveller’s scene. The others are traditional Lao villages and towns where foreign travellers remain more of an oddity then a stable means of income. Public transport remains basic, unreliable and time-consuming — expect early starts and late arrivals — timetables should be treated a bit like a palm reading (I see in your future a bus leaving … sometime). Arterial roads are potholed and rutted, while secondary sealed roads are often excellent. Large stretches of really awful unsealed hardbase road remain — especially in Phongsali province.

Scenery between Luang Nam Tha and Udomxai

Beds and stuff
Accommodation varied considerably. Promised hot water was only hot on two occasions — who makes these forever broken hot water heaters to stick on walls? Mosquito nets were the exception to the rule — only two places had them. An average room cost around 50,000 kip, with the cheapies coming in at 30,000 kip and a pricey one 100,000 kip. Often not a stick of English was spoken, but if you speak at least rudimentary Thai you’ll get by — though Lao would be better!

My room at the Boun Tai Hilton

Feeding frenzy
I ate a lot of pho. Every day in fact. Sometimes twice a day. I ate a lot of larp — something I’d happily eat thrice daily. Lots of fresh vegetables matched only by the copious amounts of MSG. There is no need to seek refuge in western food in Laos — the local food is great — but I’d pass on the bowl of fresh duck blood.

Staying hydrated
I drank a lot of water. A LOT of water. At least four litres a day. All day in the sun, on a bike, makes Stuart a thirsty boy.

I drank a lot of beer. BeerLao. Not four litres a day though — ok maybe once — and I found it doesn’t work as a water substitute.

I was offered laolao (local ricewine) all too regularly, at all times of the day. I don’t recommend it before breakfast, nor in the evening if you expect to be able to function (ie ride motorbike) before lunchtime the next day. I do recommend trying it — there’s more to laolao than getting pasted — it can also be a handy in with the locals.

More mountain scenery

Like anywhere, I met a typical mosaic of travellers — some great people — some less so. The good thing about travelling is when you finally escape the political lecture from a French nutbag in Phongsali, you can just travel in the opposite direction.

Special note of thanks to Harma, the British traveller who offered me her jacket.

Most travellers knew very little about Laos. “We came for the tubing but stayed” was a typical refrain. Most were having a ball and everyone said it was “like Thailand 30 years ago” — even those who hadn’t hit 30 yet.

Misty morning start out of Boun Tai

On guides and gospels
Every single English speaking traveller I met was using either the Lonely Planet Laos, or the Lonely Planet SE Asia Shoestring book. On the dead-tree book front, LP own Laos as far as English speaking travellers are concerned.

Travellers complained bitterly about both — in my opinion, fairly regarding the SEA book, unfairly re the dedicated Laos book.

Most people I met had never heard of Travelfish — they all have now

Chinese house, Phongsali

Lingo
I was amazed how little of the Lao language travellers tried to learn. Few ventured past “Sabaydee”. Counting, thankyou and basic Q&A are not difficult in Lao — don’t worry about the tones — just try it — you’ll certainly be the exception to the rule.

Hat Sa boat landing - yes, it was cold!

Words over pho: Muang Ngoi
Everyone I met who had been to Muang Ngoi had either been robbed there themselves or knew someone who had been. If you go to Muang Ngoi, don’t leave anything of any kind of value in your room.

Words over pho: Vang Vieng
Reports on Vang Vieng were mixed. People tended to start out scathing but came round to admitting they had a fun time there. Most were happy Vang Vieng was the only place in Laos that is, well, like Vang Vieng.

A lot of reports of assaults, robbery and fights alongwith some quite distressing stories of stupidly smashed people doing incredibly stupid things. Also most who had been tubing had the scars to prove it (cuts and abrasions).

On the river an hour south of Hat Sa

Trekking
Trekking in Luang Nam Tha is more expensive than in Thailand. Trekking in Udomxai is more expensive than Luang Nam Tha. Trekking in Phongsali is more expensive than trekking in Udomxai. The main challenge you will find is finding enough people to do the trek you want to do without it costing the earth — this is an acute problem in Phongsali where there are very few foreign travellers — despite there being what looks like some fabulous trekking.

There are now treks operating from Phongsali into Phou Den Din Protected Area — looked very very interesting, but a bit expensive (four-day trip starting at 1.6 million kip for two people). Your main challenge will be rustling up enough people to get costs down.

Akha village near Boun Tai

If you want to see Akha villages and Akha people doing their thing, but don’t want to go trekking, then get a motorbike and go riding — by the time I got to Boun Tai from Udomxai I’d been through a half-dozen or so villages and observed far more of the “Akha day to day living” than I saw on the trek out of Luang Nam Tha. Still, unless you’ve got an A-level in Akha don’t expect too much on the conversation front.

There are a growing number of travellers doing “apres trekking” where they just show up in an area and go for a walk in the woods to see what they find. This sort of thing is well established in Luang Nam Tha, Muang Sing and Muang Long but less so elsewhere. I would give a note of caution in this regard — especially in the remoter border areas near Boun Tai and Boun Neua in Phongsali.

I met two Europeans in Boun Neua who, having arrived by bus from Phongsali planned to ditch there bags at a guesthouse and go trekking off into the hinterland, with no guide and no language skills — I narrowly escaped being murdered by bandits an hour later. This is cowboy country — get a guide — and be wary of putting yourself in a situation (as I did) where you can easily be taken advantage of — not all locals are happy smiley people who want you to have a great and fabulous time in Laos.

Kids at Samphanh

Boats and stuff that floats
Boat travel remains one of the best ways to really take in Laos’ beauty in a comfortable manner. Travel downriver when possible — it is faster and more comfortable. The boat from Hat Sa to Muang Khua is more scenic than that from Muang Khua to Nong Kiaow. It takes the same time to get the later boat as it does to motorbike between the two via Udomxai (we had a race!).

South of Samphanh entoute to Muang Khua

There were two foreigners (including me) on the boat from Hat Sa to Muang Khua and five from Muang Khua to Hat Sa — it is still very much a “local experience” — and a striking contrast to the floating cattle trucks that used to ply the Huay Xai to Luang Prabang route.

I’d go as far as to say it is worth getting the bus to Phongsali just so that you can take the boat from Hat Sa to Muang Khua. Be sure to allow a day or two in Phongsali once you’re there.

Sunset boating

Pretty stuff
The scenery (from a motorbike) is spectacular. Despite my mishap, the Boun Neua to Phongsali road offers tremendous mountain scenery, closely followed by Sin Xai to Boun Tai and, in particular, Boun Tai to Boun Neua. Much of the Udomxai to Sin Xai road follows a river and so is quite pretty.

Udomxai to Nam Bak less so and I don’t recommend leaving Udomxai at midday guaranteeing you four hours under a scorching sun. Luang Nam Tha to Udomxai is pretty rough and ready. Some good viewpoints, but heavy roadwork making for a lot of dust and distractions.

It gets cold. Very cold. No need to pack a jacket — just buy a cheap Chinese one in Udomxai or Luang Nam Tha. Try and get one with a cool phrase like “People say Cats green now please!” emblazoned on the back.

My trusty steed - 960km and not a single flat tire!

When planning your time in the north, bear in mind two things. Public transport is infrequent and it takes a long time to get from A to B. Trip times vary considerably. From Udomxai to Phongsali by bus I heard from travellers who saw the trip take 8, 10 and 12 hours — on consecutive days. Dien Bien Phu to Muang Khua was taking 12 hours (due to massive roadworks on the Lao side of the border).

Travellers reported Luang Prabang to Luang Nam Tha taking 7 hours, yet another saw Udomxai to Luang Nam Tha (roughly half the distance) taking 8 hours due to multiple breakdowns and a truck in front of them blocking the road when it dropped a load of rubble. Travel in Laos, especially in the north, is not a strictly timetabled affair.

If you’re looking for a more unadulterated Laos, this slice of north could be what you’re after. In the scheme of things there are few other foreigners (never more than about a dozen in Phongsali) but all the basic infrastructure is there — guesthouses, restaurants, even internet — to make it relatively easy travel.

Nong Kiaow

There’s no boisterous party scene, but there’s always a wedding or streetside laolao session beckoning and you’ll struggle to come across locals that are particularly jaded and sick of stooopid falang antics. It’s not Luang Prabang when it comes to sights, but the hilltop stupa in Phongsali offers tremendous views and there is a great herbal steam in Udomxai — you know — it’s the little things that can make a trip so memorable.

Boats to ferry me back to Chiang Khong

The far north is a low key antidote to the better travelled central and southern regions of Laos. It’s difficult to put one’s finger on just what the appeal is, but most of the travellers I met were really having a good time. As an Israeli traveller I met said, “Laos lacks character but has a magic”. While I wouldn’t say it lacks character, it most certainly has a magic — go check it out for yourself.

In mid February, on the road from Boun Neua to Phongsali I was the target of a violent theft attempt, which, luckily for me, didn’t work out well for the thieves.

Let me preface the following by saying that having reported the attempt to the hotel owner, the Phongsali Tourist Office and the Tourist Police here in Phongsali all three have said categorically that this is the first time they have ever — EVER — heard of something like this happening. So I want to make clear that the following is intended not to scare people off coming to Phongsali — it’s great — but more as a warning — especially to travellers on bikes or motorbikes that are travelling solo.

I left Boun Tai in the morning at around 06:30, arriving in Boun Neau some two hours later. Once there I stopped for breakfast (pho and a diabolical Nescafe and sweetmilk concoction) and unfroze my arms for about 30 minutes. I was at the cafe opposite the bus station and sat in the sun (in an attempt to dry my wet/frozen feet). I believe the thieves spotted me here and ascertained I was travelling alone.

I tend to ride slowish and a few kilometres out of Boun Neau I noticed a bike that was hovering a distance behind me — odd because locals tend to overtake me as I stop to take pics etc, but this bike came and went, but never passed me. I noticed it, but didn’t give it much thought. When I reached the viewpoint I stopped and climbed the stairs up to the sala thing and back down. This is when they must have passed me (though I didn’t see them).

I got going again, and a few kilometres onwards rounded a corner to see a black bike stopped and positioned partially across the road with a single male on the far side of the bike. I slowed a little and he waved, yelling “stop stop” (that he was yelling in English should have tipped me off, but it didn’t), so I pulled up right beside his bike, but (very luckily) didn’t turn off the engine. As I turned and took off my helmet to ask what the problem was I spied the other guy (no idea where he was hiding) running at me with both hands firmly gripped around the barrel of one of those stockless AK-47s that you see all over Laos.

It was very very clear to me at the time that he was intended to bash me on the back/head with the stock of the gun. I swung with my left arm, which held the helmet and knocked the gun out of his hands. I then turned, and kicked their bike as hard as I could, knocking it over (and almost myself in the opposite direction) and forcing the other guy to jump back, I then gunned my humble Suzuki, tossing the helmet in the basket and sped around the crashed bike and escaped. The entire event was over in about five seconds — though it took about five minutes for my hands to stop shaking.

I rode as fast as I could, almost dropping the bike a couple of times till I reached the next village where I slowed right down, and coasted through — if they were chasing me, I preferred they did so in a village. I never saw them again.

It is my firm belief that these loons, whoever they were, were not out to politely relieve me of some cash, they were out to disable me in a very remote area, clear me out and take my bike — leaving me for dead.

Those that know me know I’m tall but certainly not the fittest dude on the block — Fight Club material I am not! The whole thing happened so fast I can’t really explain how I did what I did. I think, crucially, I didn’t turn my bike engine off, and equally I took my helmet off — if I hadn’t there is no way I would have seen this other guy coming at me.

So what to take out of this. I’d say if you’re a single traveller on bike or bicycle, treat any kind of “broken bike” scenario you happen to come across with extreme caution. Don’t turn your bike off. Phongsali is a beautiful province to ride in — very challenging, but beautiful and I’d definitely do it again — BUT I wouldn’t ride it alone. Motorcycles can now be rented in Phongsali, so there is no real need to ride here — unless you want to. Oh, and make sure you have travel insurance

I’d also like to note that the Tourist Police and Tourist Office here have been outstanding in their assistance — and their apologies certainly were not needed. These things happen — even in Laos unfortunately.

So that’s my story. To the family and friends that read this blog, rest assured I’m fine save a nervous tick in my right eye and a small hole in my right leg — just flesh wounds as they say!

Title says it all. This tiny little restaurant in Udomxai has, quite simply, the best Lao food I have ever eaten. Ever.