Travelling Light

This photo shows you the amount of baggage that Katie and I travelled with for the majority of our six week long Southeast Asia trip.  We each carried a small backpack.  Katie also carried a small purse and I carried my fairly large camera bag.  Early in the planning process we decided that our trip could be simplified if we avoided the dreaded “checked luggage”.  Not only is there the risk of your luggage not arriving with you at your destination but discount airlines such as AirAsia.com actually charge you for checked luggage.  So we packed light and had our laundry done on an “as needed” basis.  It turns out that we needed our laundry done five times.

Here is a list of the bigger items that I packed:

1 sleep sheet (which we didn’t even use because luckily the places we slept were clean enough)

1 sarong (used as a blanket or towel as required)

1 long sleeve dry wick shirt (used twice in cold airports)

1 baseball cap (not really packed because I wore it all the time)

5 pairs of socks (not really needed since I wore flip flops for the entire trip)

1 pair of running socks (definitely necessary)

1 pair of running shoes (I think we ran about 140 km during the trip)

1 pair of flip flops (cheap Thai ones that completely wore out during the trip)

2 pairs of camping pants (one would have been enough)

1 golf shirt (which I wore on our three year wedding anniversary in Vietnam)

5 dry wick T-Shirts

1 dry wick running shirt

2 pairs of cargo shorts (which undertook massive amounts of abuse)

1 bathing suit

1 pair of running shorts

6 pairs of boxers

I’m sure that Katie’s stuff was similar enough to mine with the exception of the sun dresses (I don’t find them flattering on me).  In the end, we are very happy with the amount of “stuff” that we dragged around with us.  Sure we would make some small changes if we were to do it again but overall it worked very well especially when you put three people and all their baggage on a motorcycle in Vietnam (which happened more than once).  For now we’ll have to wait and see where these small bags will take us in the future.

Last Leg: Loas

Katie:  Tom, did she just say that we can't ride to the waterfall on the bikes we just rented?

Tom:  Yup.

Katie:  We are going to ride to the waterfall on the bikes we rented, right?

Tom:  Yup.

Challenge accepted!  I wish the woman who rented us the bikes would have said "you shouldn't ride to the waterfall on these bikes" or "you'd be crazy to ride to the waterfalls on these bikes."  Nope, she said can't, and we don't respond well to can't statements.  It took us 2 hours of biking and occasional walking in the pouring rain, across a Loas mountain range to reach the waterfall... almost.  After parking our bikes we followed an incorrect trail up the muckiest slope to ever lack a "trail closed" sign.  Then when we reached the bottom of the waterfall, we followed a sign saying "To the top", although the word "top" should have been replaced by "leeches".  It took another 15 minutes of scrambling over and under fallen trees on muddy terrain to get to... well... leeches, and no flowing water.  You wouldn't believe how creative leaches can be in moving through the breathing holes of our running shoes.   We went back down, and debated sliding back down the now muckier trail we'd taken up, or walking along the ledge of a small cascade to the correct path, which all the other tourists seemed to have followed just fine.  We chose the latter option, and forced smiles for this photo.  It really was a pretty waterfall.

Sadly, the story I just told was the most successful cycling story during our time in Laos.  Our next bicycle rental, in stunning Vang Vieng, was short-lived.  We came across a few parked bikes next to some rice fields, with signs for caves.  We decided to explore.  About ten minutes into the walk came some more famous last words.

Tom:   Katie, I'm sinking in mud over my ankles.  Do you think we should turn around?

Katie:  Nah.  We've come this far.

Tom:  We may only be a tenth of the way to the caves.

Katie:  Only 9 tenths to go then.

At least an hour and one broken flip flop later, we made it to the unexciting cave.  Our friend Andrew (who met us in Turkey) got me into the weird habit of taking pictures of my feet at cool places.  I swear these are really my feet.


We decided to rent bicycles for a third time in Loas to make up for the short distance we'd made it the day before.  This time when we were maybe a km past the spot we'd stopped the previous day, I got a flat.  Great.  We locked up the bikes and continued on foot, reaching a sign for not 1, 2, or 3, but 4 caves!  This walk was slightly less muddy, and the caves were slightly more interesting.  Finger painting my name on the cave wall in mud was fun.  Walking my flat-tire bike back to the town in the pouring rain for nearly an hour, not so fun. 

Let me also mention that this extra time made us 4 minutes late for renting innertubes to tube down the Mekong (the most famous activity in Vang Vieng), so instead we wound up at the tubing take-off spot with no tube, and about 200 very drunk high school age students (I would know) in their bathing suits.  We ran into a Dutch couple we'd met at the waterfalls a few days earlier, and showed them that yes, Canadians can party, even old ones like us.  I don't think I've ever felt as old as when Bjorn said "I hope we're like you guys when we're your age."  Funny, because we hope we never act that age again.  We`ve officially added tubing parties to our Murtaugh List.  We`re too old for that sh!t.

Our last city stop was in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.  Our first night there we went out with some Americans working there, but had to take it easy (read last paragraph).  They taught us to enjoy ice cubes in our beer as the Loa people do.  I wouldn't do it at home, but it's pretty hot there, so it kinda hits the spot.  The following day, we did not use our past experience for learning, and we rented bikes.  On our way to see this big gold temple that is "the icon of Laos", I got a flat tire.  Yes, that was the 2nd time in 3 days.  Thankfully it wasn't too far, and it didn't pour rain that day.  I did get the bike replaced and rode it the entire next morning without getting a flat.  Woohoo! We spent our last night in Southeast Asia sitting on the banks of the Mekong River enjoying Beerlao.  Cheers to an unforgettable trip.

Next stop:  Ottawa, Canada.  I can barely believe it!