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Roldan's hideout

you remember, back in 1995, the news of the arrest of Luis Roldan in a country called Laos? That was the first time (and I think of many) that I heard about the existence of that country. Now that we know, it seems a good place to get lost.

Its capital, Vientiane, is Pequenho compared with any of the other capitals of Southeast Asia. Is manageable and can be covered easily on foot or by bike. Since the arrival we liked the quiet cadence of the country and people supersonriente and nothing heavy with tourists (logically, you try to sell things, but do not insist and all with a big smile).



The city has many places to visit but the most we taste, surprisingly, was the food. Espanha Normally you can find Thai and Vietnamese restaurants but Laotian cuisine is not known and from that claimed here.

start with the "laap", one of the most famous dishes of the country, which is a sort of cold salad with lots of vegetables: lemmongrass, cilantro, scallions, lime juice, ... and some minced meat can be chicken, buffalo, pork or fish or tofu .... deliciosooo! Another dish we loved was called "Paa sam lot" and is nothing more than a fish from the Mekong River and fried batter with a tamarind sauce amazing (to think again I drool.) All this down to Beerlao, national pride and one of the few products exported from Laos. Very close to our untrained palates Mahou beer.



Visiting the temples of the city center we met with monks and school Ninh very outgoing, with four words and a smile made you feel welcome. Perhaps the monument furthest from the center of the city is the Pha That Luang stupa, but it's worth going up there because it is the most important of Laos and has a ceiling covered with gold foil awesome.





From Vientiane we moved north to Vang Vieng, this is a very interesting as it explains what a poorly managed tourism can make an unbeatable natural setting. Pequenho turns out that this village has a beautiful Mountains around and a couple of rivers where rafting can be done. The fact is that it became fashionable to do "tubing in the river (in short, drop sitting on a tire and let the current drag into town.)



Subsequently, some clever watching the steady stream of tourists on the river decided to put some bars "island" where people could do "ethyl supplies." Following this idea, everything was degenerating into a "water park" for guiris wanting to party with bars that have "happy" all (pizzas, smoothies, cakes ...) and infinitely repeated episodes of the sitcom Friends, let the place has become a circus for foreigners, a Ibiza kind of local integration zero price.


Viewing calico we spend only one night, although he had excursions around with very good looking, and we were caught another bus to Luang Prabang. The route passes through stunning landscapes, but we were intimidated by all the comments received on how bad was the road and dizziness that caught everyone ... but I think we are immune to the Galician curves. That if the bus and tuktuk (Photo included) was CONH, we caught one of those VIP buses ... gives me chills just thinking about how they can be local.



Although expectations were high, Luang Prabang we love it. Has a special atmosphere, with local government well aware of the attractiveness of the concept of alternative and sustainable tourism. We have seen, for example, signs asking you not to make pictures of the monks as if they were animals to be fair and show great respect. It is something we fully agree that we have been embarrassed several times when we saw a group of tourists pounce on any Buddhist temple.

As a counterpoint, the village has curfew ... if you heard, if at 0:00 hours the police found you through the streets, escort you home!. We still have not seen it but we have the official government notice pasted on the door of our lives ... so life Cinderella.



Here we have dropped a gear and we walked through the streets, run its night market (perhaps the most tranquil of all asia and of course closed before midnight) and will delight at our return, we signed up for a cooking course.

We had a phenomenal, first visited the local market where you can buy all the fresh ingredients you need for the dishes and of course also locks, panties, umbrellas or hair conditioner. After our chef, Phia Yang, has prepared several dishes and gave us tricks for replacing ingredients not easily found in Europe.



After the lecture, it was our turn, we prepare five different dishes with some success. Laap chicken, fried rice noodles with vegetables and pork, fried eggplant with pork, salad typical of Luang Prabang and a pot of pork.

To all those who thought in Espanha ate lots of garlic .... you can not even imagine how much they use them here, do not use a pair of teeth, here are a half dozen half a dozen. The success or failure of the dishes and what shall judge for yourself when you prepare them in Espanha. The tricky part will be finding tamarind (have to buy a price "English Court") but here the tree comes up under rocks.





Besides eating well, we visited some of the more than 30 temples that exist in Luang Prabang, there are for everyone and many of them are really spectacular, colorful and with these roofs so characteristic of this part of Asia.



A manhana We hit a good early start for a very special tradition of Buddhist monks. It turns out that Buddhism does not allow its monks grow their own food, so rely on the solidarity of the inhabitants of the area.



Among the five (rather half past five, that at five we were at the foot of canhon and there there was not blas), and six of the monks manhana through the town with a basket under his arm, and people kneeling along the streets will fill the baskets with rice. It is a moment worth seeing despite the yawning. It is also true that when a force has long tradition, the players see this as a routine but a nice gesture, and that's a little sad. Viewing

good vibes that brought us to the city, we decided to stay a little more for the area and make a 3-day trekking to visit the northern towns inhabited by the Hmong minority (the same as they were, if you remember, Sapa in northern Vietnam) and Khmu.



Satith, our guide, took us around pretty good pace montanha landscapes through villages to the village where we would spend the first night, everything was perfect, the road and enjoying a chat lively until ... basicamenteee ... we fell of the OCTOPUS!. Fascinating, I had not seen rain like this in my life, made you Danho drops shoulders even with all their clothes off.

However, this setback Pequenho became the rest of the first day of trekking in a hell of mud through which we glided for about four hours to reach eternal destiny. We arrived soaked from the toes to the head and legs to collapse the tension continually go looking for a strong point in the middle of this quagmire. To make matters worse, is that backpacks like watches endure water but to a point, so all our clothes clean was almost as wet pa .... lie to mourn.

had few options but to resign and try to enjoy what was left. We got up early the next day and we did another shorter walk to the second village where we were going to sleep. This time it rained (at least on the way, if you did then) and everything went smoothly except for the humidity of the clothes. From our hut we had a spectacular view of the river that borders the village, where I took a well deserved after the effort banho.



In all these villages we visited, we felt a bit extranhos, everyone feels a great curiosity for you but you really can not connect much with them except for "hello" and "thank you" to learn in their language. From our point of view the tour I miss some integration with the local people, were in town but within Your cabanha, we would have liked more sleep with a family as we did in Vietnam. So you can help them cook and give a touch more of normalcy to your presence.

To finish our particular triathlon, did some kayaking down the Nam Khan River back to Luang Prabang. The day dawned rainy, which makes us think that perhaps the rainy season has advanced a bit this anho (usually begins in June). It was good to get some rest and let your legs do the work to the arms. We went through a rapid Pequenho who made the most entertaining way and finally arrived at our hostel tired, wanting a shower and a lot of clothes to wash.

Perhaps the most beautiful of our tour were the meetings with the boy of the people, timid at first but gaining confidence by leaps and labor. They love to be in the display of the camera and can not stop laughing. We made thousands of photos and enjoyed genuine curiosity and self-confidence. Here are a few.







Now we have talked to finish dinner so we are going to show, as is "coconut" on Sesame Street the difference between a local style noodle soup and the same style "Falange" (foreigner). We were astonished at the amount sauces (most spicy of course) who had to throw his plate Satith to get that red color ... mine obviously was a little softer.



And that's all for now, manhana we embarked to cross the border back into Thailand upstream, but that's another story.

A kiss. Juan and Marta

Chest Pains After Taking Protein

Wild Thailand Khmer Civilization

As you know we are back in Thailand. We returned to spend a few days in Bangkok and once again, let's impressed by how modern and developed than is this city that, despite everything, is loath to lose its charm ... and that whiff of food cooked in positions street.

This time we enjoyed the river at dusk, when the temples of the edges begin to turn the night lighting. In contrast, also visit some of the most cosmopolitan neighborhoods, as in any other world capital, are a jumble of concrete and glass towers, offices, McDonalds and executives running. To get here is better to take what is called Skytrain (one meter high) because the traffic is quite unbearable. I already had talked about fuchsias taxis but not if you had ensenhado.

In a few theaters last generation saw the last great American production time (the second movie in 10 months, we're not quite a day). That day we checked in situ is true that before each screening people get up to hear the national anthem while out on-screen pretty pictures of the monarch in different aspects of his life and ending with a message that says: Long live the king. And here is authentic devotion to the royal family that is present in large posters in the street and in every home.

That night we had an outstanding dinner with Fernando and his wife Nina, who just started a "tourne" by Asia. The school is companhero Teleco, many recognize him, that the world is not so great?

We moved to the west of the country, near the border with Myanmar, formerly Burma (sadly home these days by the terrible cyclone that has taken the lives of more than 20000 people). Kantchanaburi visited a village Pequenho would not be in the tourist circuits not to be because, during World War II, thousands of Allied prisoners of war worked here under the orders of the Japanese Army. The ambitious mission was to build a railway line through the jungle, to unite Thailand and Burma. Some 13,000 prisoners died in the attempt (mostly Dutch and English) victims of malnutrition, tropical diseases, exhaustion, etc. A more chilling figure of around 100,000 Asian workers "volunteers" also left his life in the construction of 415km of railway, of which the most famous stretch (Thanks to Hollywood) is the bridge over the River Kwai, on the outskirts of Kantchanaburi.

Today, all this is a railway siding and various museums and cemeteries where they moved the graves of soldiers who were scattered throughout the jungle. And of course, the famous bridge, which despite several bombings still stands, in fact the square beam sections are those that are rebuilt but the old round. Personally disappointed us a little visit to the site, around has produced a tourist complex of restaurants and shops, and countless visitors who walk across the bridge (risking a bit of skin) have to dodge a tourist train that goes and comes from one to another river side. Anyway ... is like a carnival.



Nevertheless, the town is a pleasant and fairly quiet in which to spend a few days. Especially when you can get you a room next to the river (or even over the river on floating houses) and enjoy the sunsets over the Mountains separating Thailand and Myanmar, as well as lotus fields that are born on the banks.



With both relax over, were looking for some action ... and found. We visited the Khao Yai National Park, a huge nature reserve jungle monsoons about 175km northeast of Bangkok. The attraction here is not only the lush vegetation, but also the varied animal life consisting of elephants, tigers, bears, deer, gaur (a kind of buffalo), several species and macaque monkeys and hundreds of species of birds.

Upon arrival we were shocked by this snake resting in the backyard of the hostel where we were. It is assumed that day are not very active but this was not at all happy that I approached the camera. I assure you that cost me some sleep tonight with all the noise countryside around us.

The next day, accompaniment, a guide, we made a trek through the jungle in search of animals. I have to say it was quite an experience for a while we walked around how fast we could follow the guide, which in turn followed a group of monkeys gibbons. The floor was embarrizado since the rainy season is about to begin and that day we had enough rain. We jumped over fallen trees and streams, trying not to fall down, not to step on any snake, and above all, keep out the leeches.



These "sympathetic" critters appear in the wet season and although we were given special socks that were above the pants, the feeling of having them crawling up your clothes is quite unpleasant (especially if your pants have a hole) and we tried to detach his foul shots suckers. No is easy, the more effective is a slap, but stick to your fingers with ease. So cash seems a little hell, it was for a while, but we saw many monkeys, as well as traces of elephants and bears. It is when one asks, and what the hell do I do if you see a bear?. In short, the best thing was when we went into a clearing of tall grass and dry soil, and the leeches away, see that we are happy there. The group was formed by the guide who called himself "Puma" John, Charlotte (an English girl) and me.



is curious to know that animals are creatures of habit and usually move in the same places. When we went we spent driving signs saying beware! passageway of elephants, tigers, cobras up!. Anyway, that day we saw none of these animals, it was Sunday and the park was full of visitors, both hard drive is an animal show himself.

What if we saw was a black scorpion quite surprised Asian forest, planted in the middle of the road until our guide it back to the field, and a piton not very comfortable with the flashes of a group of guiris that he threw up . Too many monkeys and sambar deer, one of them appeared so of chilling out chewing with one of the shelters.





also saw many birds, especially spectacular Hornbills, which are like toucans but with a kind of double bill and a lot bigger. We watched with binoculars and no picture is recoverable so I put a picture from the Internet so that you see an idea. This is the Great Hornbill , one of the prettiest we saw, when deploying the wings are wonderful.

The other great attraction of the park are spectacular waterfalls, one of them also famous for Hollywood. The first picture is Haew Suwat Nam Tok, or Leonardo Dicaprio waterfall jump in the movie "The Beach", as you see there is an island but inland. It was the undisputed star for the visitors who delighted in Banhan lower lake. The second waterfall, Nam Tok Haew Narok is not so popular but from our point of view is much more beautiful. Although it does not seem in the photo is almost four times higher than the first, and is enclosed in a steep valley that is filled with very green steam produced by water hammer. Here, about anhos, 8 elephants were killed by the cataract despenharse dragged by the force of water.



After this exhausting tour we headed north to try to cross the border of Laos on the same day. When we reached the bus station, were all least one regional bus full of those who are stopping to people's house to pick it up. When we got checked in horror that there were no free places and people and would stand despite an usher is responsible for apinharlos when I thought that would fit three rows. We seemed excessive ir 6 hours that way. As they knew they were going to ask for money back and wait for the next bus is worried about finding a place for farang , or us, so here is what they call foreigners, and use it a lot.

Pequenho We sat in two seats beside the driver, not only did not fit seated and we had no room for the legs but that it touched the side driver (since we occupy the two shifts) that he had no driver to resign that he nailed the shifter when got sixth. Interestingly it was concerned more with Juan than me, because a pair of pink painted UNHAS lucia the rude driver. So, sweating and apinhados, we consider whether three hours to get off and wait for another bus at the next stop. Finally the bus was empty in a big city and we could move to a normal seat, which seemed a real throne in comparison.

time we got to the border with Laos, Nong Khai, and we seemed a little late to cross and get to Vientiane, but was very close, and prefer to stay at rest that we needed to. The fact is that we have found un hostal muy majete con un jardin-restaurante junto al rio, con mucho encanto, y hemos decidido postponer un poco mas el cruce de frontera. Aqui teneis al rio Mekong con Laos al fondo, y el jardin donde hemos disfrutado un poquito, otra vez, del dolce fare niente .



Ya que nos hemos quedado por aqui, nos acercamos a visitar el parque de esculturas gigantes Sala Kaew Ku . Fue construido por iniciativa de un extranho chaman, originario de Laos, que durante 20 anhos se dedico a representar en cemento toda la imagineria Hindu-Budista que pasaba por su cabeza. Algunas estatuas miden 25 metros!. Es un lugar muy extranho, donde los Followers of this shaman kept his mummified body and numerous relics. We must recognize that the place is amazing.

Finally, in the culinary section, we make a special mention to the tropical fruit that we're facing, and we have not spoken yet. Markets in Southeast Asia are all packed with a variety of fruits extranhas had not seen in our lives. We just tried some, but we would like to discuss two in particular which we found curious and quite tasty: the mangosteen and rambutan (left and right), I find no translation to spanish, but it seems that the latter called Chinese castor in Central America. Be that as it looks amazing both inside and out. An experience for the taste and sight.



And here we at the moment in Thailand. We plan manhana cross the border, which is here at hand, and reach Vientiane. But that is another story.
A kiss to all.