4 April 2021

Early

Crossing The Mekong into Laos

Okay....I have woken up early today so I am going to crack out a new blogpost before going back to bed. I need more than the four hours sleep that I have under my belt so far. 

When I got up, I came downstairs in the grey pre-dawn light,  opened  our back door and a symphony of avian music greeted me. Birds singing joyfully in the suburbs. The dawn chorus. How lovely. I have no idea what they were saying to the sky or to each other though ornithologists would authoritatively suggest that the music is to do with territory and breeding. Survival of the fittest and all that. I could hear them all the clearer because there were no traffic sounds.

Again, I am back on the desktop so the photographs that accompany this post  are once again quite wistful. In April 2011 I took a trip to the north of Thailand, visiting Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and The Golden Triangle before crossing the mighty River Mekong into Laos.

It is more or less certain that I will never go back to those places ever again. It was a real privilege to have been there. I heard a different kind of dawn chorus when I woke up in northern  Laos with tropical birds doing their thing in that otherwise quiet country. 

Now back to bed.

Karen woman in northern Thailand

Landscape painter in Laos

Temple on the outskirts of Chiang Mai

Tuk tuk driver outside The Prince Hotel in Chiang Mai

18 comments:

  1. Travels stay with us whether we return or not - I hope to be as rich as Croesus in memory if not in money!

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    1. You are right to suggest that the memory of travel experiences is a kind of wealth.

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  2. Anonymous9:39 am

    We've see a little of Thailand and of Vietnam but missed Laos. Was a new road and train bridge built between Thailand and Laos about a decade ago, whereby cars and trains had cross to the other side of the road as Laos drove on the same side as us and Thailand did not.

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    1. They drive on the left in Thailand - just like Australia. In Laos they drive on the right as it was once part of The French Empire.

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  3. Thank you for sharing those photos YP. I was particularly struck by the colours which seem to leap out of them. Gorgeous (the photos not you).
    I hope you have managed to catch up on your sleep now.

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    1. Three more hours of sleep replenished me. The declaration "Gorgeous" lifted my spirits which were then immediately dashed by the qualification inside the brackets.

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  4. Never mind that you may not return to places you have visited. The important thing is you have been there once and enjoyed the experience.
    Beautiful photograph of the Karen woman.
    Alphie

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    1. As I recall, that woman was after money. The Karen people of Thailand and Burma have long been oppressed.

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  5. Lovely photos. I don't know if I would travel to Thailand. As I get older I am becoming more risk averse, a normal part of aging I think. But it's sad because I'm cutting out potential experiences. The big guy doesn't like airplanes, not enough room for him and his legs and he used to travel for a living. But there are still places I want to see. We shall have to work out a compromise.

    Hope you got to finish your sleep.

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    1. I got another three hours before visiting Chatsworth House.

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  6. Such beautiful pictures. I hope the memories are beautiful as well.

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    1. Poignant memories. Poignant. That's the word Mary.

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  7. What are you doing up at Four in the morning? Can't you just roll over and go back to sleep. Oh I know you had to listen to the birds. Anyway, interesting post of your trip.

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    1. Are you a policeman Red? Checking out my times. Guilty, officer!

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  8. I particularly noticed the bird song early this morning when I took Rick out for his walk, it was enchanting. Great photos again from your travels.

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    1. Thanks Sue. The cold blast is going to give our birds a bit of a shock.

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  9. I have always wanted to see Laos. I'm intrigued by its status as the least touristy of the Southeast Asian countries.

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    1. I was only in the northern region of Laos for three days. I would have liked to see more. Never got to the capital - Vientiane. It was very peaceful up in the north - so little traffic.

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