Temple

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In Ubud

4 years ago, I chose Ubud as my base for staying in Bali. I figured it was quieter and away from the main tourist drag around Kuta.

It ended up being quite a nice stay and while it was touristy, it wasn't too busy and not too crowded.

Times have changed though and now Ubud is pretty crowded with even more tourist restaurants and souvenir shops around.

It's still reasonably nice thanks to the surrounding area and the traffic, while bad, is not as bad as in Depnasar.

Statue

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View of Da Nang

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Hoi An Motorbike Touring

The last tour preparations got me all around Monkey Mountain, over the Hai Van Pass, to Lang Co and back.

Today, I went south to Marble Mountain and Hoi An with the surrounding area.

While Hoi An is quite touristy, its still worth a visit and as soon as you get out of the town, you'll be riding across rice fields and through small villages.

Hoi An is mostly pedestrianized these days so you have to park your bike and walk but it also makes walking around the old town a bit nicer.

Outside of Hoi An, you can find small villages specializing in pottery and other handicrafts.

There are nice temples everywhere and it's worth a stop to see some of them up close.

The most interesting part is however being out in the countryside and watching the locals work in the fields.

Chiang Rai to Doi Angkhang

Another day of following the walking directions, this time we started to drive along the river Kok and wanted to make it all the way to Pai.

The first part of the road was nice and scenic but after passing by an Elephant riding attraction, the road starts to get worse and worse.

It remains very scenic but the paved road turns into dirt roads and the potholes become bigger. Tom got stuck twice and had to be rescued and we had to cross two smaller streams.

It was a challenging road, reminding me of some roads I've been on in Vietnam and Thailand before so I had a lot of fun but missed my Wave on some sections where the Click doesn't work as well.

Still, the Click did a great job and we made it through without anyone falling off or other incidents. It took just quite a bit longer as expected so we had to revise out destination from Pai to Doi Angkhang.

After making it back on a paved road it was quick to get to Thaton. I've been here 3 yeas ago and it's a great place for a quick stopover to visit Wat Thaton Chedi and enjoy some spectacular views from there.

After leaving Fang, we found out another problem with the walking directions, they lead us too close to the border and although a road exists we were not allowed to take it.

It's a road for Thai people only since it crosses briefly into Myanmar so we had to take a bigger detour to get to Doi Angkhang.

On the Road Again

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Thanks to Vietnam Airlines screwing up and the incompetent ground staff at BKK airport not being capable to string one clear sentence together, much less an English sentence, the day didn't turn out as expected.

Still, thanks to the much more competent and friendly staff at Jetstar Pacific and thanks to modern technology, tings didn't end up that bad and the day ended up well despite initial problems.

Lesson from today is to never, EVER, fly from BKK to Vietnam with Vietnam Airlines (or at all with them for that matter) and not expect competent and English speaking staff at airports during Songkran.

Temple on the Hill

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Wat Chedi Luang

After a night in the comfortable but freezing train, I arrived in Chiang Mai in the morning and tok it easy for most of the day, only went for a walk in the afternoon.

Having seen most places already 3 years ago, I just went to the Chedi Luang temple and took some photos on the way there.

Leaves

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Praying

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Views from Phu Salao Temple

Since I had enough time and nothing much to do, I spent the day chilling and took a short drive to the Phu Salao temple in Pakse.

The temple is on the hill overlooking Pakse and the surrounding area so next to the nice temple you get some great views. Definitely worth a drive up here if you're in Pakse.

It was very hot as always in Laos but the incoming rain helped cool it down a bit and made it more pleasant.

Taxi

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Leaf

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Entrance

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In Da Nang

Having some time in Da Nang, I went to see some of the sights and take some photos.

Da Nang is a nice city, it is modern but still feels like you're in Vietnam, it has the sea, a river, mountains, temples, shopping malls, old and new buildings and enough events to keep people entertained.

I am no too much of a beach person but I do like walking along the river in the evening. The views are very nice in the evening with all the buildings and bridges lit up.

Too many tourists skip Da Nang to go straight to Hoi An but they miss out in my opinion, it is definitely worth to spend at least a night in Da Nang.