Loas and Southern Thailand

The river kyaking day ended up to be kyaking in rapids. Tonnes of fun however quite the adventure was getting there and back in itself. The kyaking trip in Loas, was stated to be a hour public bus ride out of the city of Vientiane. Now typically when one thinks of bus, they think, well a bus. Even in Africa my bus expereinces, while always interesting (and fillled with the blasted red dirt) were always in some form of bus transportation. This was my first non-bus bus. Instead the public transporation comes in the form of a pick up truck, with two bench seats along the back, and a open canopy to store all the luggage on the top. No goats on the top of this bus, but a cooler full of chicks twittering away was stored up on the canopy. And of course after 5 - 6 people are crammed on each bench seat the drives stop and pick up people to stand on the back of the truck and hold on to handles off the canopy.
So this was a bit of a surprise, and the next surprise came when after 1 hour, and multiple stops at each town the we drove through to ensure that there were no other people in the village who could be crammed into the "bus", we were nowhere near the city we were headed to. After 2 hours dad and I became certain the we were off to the wrong city, and as the bus driver, or anyone on the bus did not speak english, scared and frustrated glances were passed back and forth between dad and i in each passing town. Finally after 2.5 hours, we were dropped off at the side of the road and pointed to a bridge.
We found the kyak place, and although our guide was mostly there to ensure we made it through the class 3 rapids, (only instruction was if you fall out, don't swim, you'll get stuck in the whirlpools... just wait until your out of the rapids and get back in the boat.) The journey was uquite nice and serene. Dad and I enjoyed the scenery, and made it through the rapids without falling out of the boat, or losing control!! (same cannot be said for our guide, HA!) It was a really fun time on the water.
The next adventure came on our return to the city. After some lunch we were informed that we would be taken via tractor (..... really tractor??) back to the city, and then driven again by bus that isnt a bus, back to Vientiane. However instead of said tractor, our guide walked us out into the center of a small local village, and left us at a shop. He said the bus would come, to just wait, as he left for home on his scooter. Dad and i were glared down by the local men who were crowded around a table infront of the shop. It was at this point that Dad adopted my word of "sketchy"!! We were in the middle of no where and were feeling quite vunerable. I was about 2 more minutes away from hoofing it back through the jungle to get back to the eco-house where we had lunch, and insisting on a real bus with air conditioning, when the non-bus bus came. It was another 2.5 hours home, but it was an adventure!

The next morning we were off to Phuket to enjoy some beach time and a bit of relaxation. As both Jamie and Cindy were sounding a little stressed at home, we decided it would be a great idea to get everyone to Phuket for a last minute family vacation. Dad and i were informed of a fantastic website called wotif, (www.wotif.com) which gives great deals on hotels all over the world. We got a 4 star hotel for about $50/night!! The place was lovely with golden sand in a small bay. Lapiz blue waters, and beautiful tropical gardens surrounded the area. We each had small little bungalows which faced out towards the ocean. My favourite part though, beyond the crashing of the waves rolling up on shore, was the pool. Now usually when there is an beach and the ocean to be had, i could care less about pools. But unfortuantly the golden sand beach quickly gave way to a old rocky coral bed. The pool more than made up for the not so fun ocean swimming. It was huge and rolled around the hotel gardens with lots of waterfalls, and flowers dipping into the water. It felt as though you had wandered into a small oasis. In a shallow section of the kiddie pool there were big elpehant statues in the water which when turned on spurted water out of the elephant trunks to make a shallow water park. A swim up bar enticed you to drink pina coladas out of coconuts, or my favourite the banana daquiris! It was a great place for some R&R. I was really excited to have Jamie and Cindy come down as well. We stayed off Patong Beach for a few days, mostly just relaxing and doing some shopping at the markets in town. Dad and Cindy always could manage to find a Irish pub somewhere in the towns that we went to do grab a Guiness, and Jamie fell in love with the local beer Singha.
After Patong we headed north to Kohlak. Kohlak was the big hub-bub where many of the really swank hotels and resorts were before the tsunami, however as it was farther north without any protection from other land, it was hit quite hard, and the everthing the layed on the beach was completely destroyed. The town is doing quite well in its rebuilding process, but it is smaller now, and i actually hope it stays the same, and it is quite and beautiful in comparison to Patong.
We stayed again at a wonderful hotel thanks to that website for a great deal. This hotel was even better in the sense that although didn't have all the amenitites the other hotel had, (they are still rebuilding) the rooms were glorious, everything was brand new, and the beach rocked my world. Golden sand beach that stretches out a couple miles on each side, rolling blue ocean, and we could wander past the surf stil not past our chests into the water and not a rock to be found! It was great. I love the ocean, but dad kept having to go back and jump in the pool to cool off as the ocean was not cold enough! The ocean was probably a good 80 degrees F or 25 degrees C!! It was fantastic!
We managed to also do another elephant ride, bamboo raft trip, with cindy and Jamie as well as visiting a turtle conservation farm, seeing wild snakes sleeping in trees, more shopping and massages and pedicures, fishing and snorkeling, visited the police boat tsunami memorial, and watched 3 fanstastic sunsets!
After a what seemed like a very brief stay in Southern Thailand, we headed back to Bangkok to each go our seperate ways.
I had such a fantastic time traveling with my dad, and was very happy that Cindy and Jamie came to join us for the last bit. This trip has been a great experience and i am so glad that i have had the chance to see my family and expereince so many things with them!