-- by PicPac

Italy and Israel - 6th-13th January 2016

We had planned to go to Egypt, and because we are great at finding the best flights, we planned to go via Milan, which would make the whole journey about £40 per person. But, Easyjet cancelled the second leg of our flight, so we were left with a flight to Milan only.

Caroline found a cheap flight to Tel Aviv and I found that there was no one-way fee for hiring a car in Israel, so we decided to check out Israel on the way to Egypt.

Summary of what we did.

Bergamo .. beautiful town, put our bags in lockers at the bus station and went up the funicular to the old town. Ate the best pizza for lunch and watched a crazy street performer who shouted at kids. Took the train to Milan, then another train to Milan Malpensa airport where we stayed in Sheraton so it would be easy to catch out early morning flight to Israel.

In Israel hired a car and drove to Airbnb about 30km from Jerusalem. Nice family. It was very relaxed and about £35 per night, less than half what any hotels would cost.  We saw wailing wall, old jerusalem and jesus resurrection cave. We went to  a very very jewish town with tons of kids and tons of schools. Plain women and traditionally dressed men. We went to Bethlehem, through the wall that separates palestine from Israel. We saw jesus birthplace and had a fantastic palestinian lunch. We went to an amazing stalactite cave. We drove to the dead sea and stayed in 5* hotel and floated in the salty water. Then we drove to Eilat, handed in the car and crossed the border to Egypt.

Easy in Egypt - Jan 13th to Feb 1st 2015

We are staying in the 5-star Movenpick in Taba. It is walking distance to the Israel/Egypt border on the Red Sea.

The hotel is empty due to tourists staying away due to recent terrorist attacks. Seems irrational to me. People are not staying away from Paris, or their cars or their stairs for that matter.

Staff have told me that the hotel is at about 5% capacity. This is usually the quiet time of the year, but this year it is even more so. Part of the problem is that flights to Sharm El Sheikh have been cancelled by many airlines. It happened to us too, but it was a bonus to come here via Israel instead.

It costs $64 per night. This is half board and we get a fantastic buffet for breakfast and dinner. They upgraded us to a nice ground floor room that looks out on the pool and has an extra bed, so there is plenty of room for us all to sleep comfortably.

Compare this to living in UK or Sweden. We would spend $300 per week just on food and cook 80% off it at home. Then utility bills, maintenance and property taxes. I reckon it is cheaper here and we have a load more time in the day. They come and clean our room every day. The only small mundanity we have to do is our own laundry in the bath tub. It would be nice to have on site self service laundry facilities like in the Extended Stay America motel we stayed in Florida.

The snorkelling just off the beach is fantastic. The diving is the cheapest in the world. The day before yesterday, we hired a boat with crew and a dive instructor to take us to 2 dive sites. Lunch was included. The total cost for 2 days on a boat with 2 dives on each day and lunch, and a further 2 dives from the shore.... $180 per person (kids free) ! This is including equipment hire.

There is entertainment on every night. We have only been to one show of glass walking and fire eating, and it felt a bit like being Kim Jong Un because the audience was about 4 people... except that you don't get to shoot the performers if they fail to please!

Yesterday we went to Israel to visit the Egyptian Consulate to extend our visa. The whole day was a great example of governments getting in the way of peaceful people .

Kids in Laos and India

We have seen loads of very competent and confident small children in Laos and India. 7 year olds carrying 2 year olds and looking after them with no parents in sight. 5 year olds swimming confidently is a fast flowing river. Many more examples which I will try to note as we continue our journey.

However something happens as kids in these countries grow up.

Many adults live in houses that are in a terrible state of repair. Many repairs cost money, but a lot of maintenance and general tidiness and hygiene is free.

Guest houses have bed bugs, and loose wires hanging out. Shower water stinks of sewage. In the Maldives, we stayed in someone's house where the shower water stank. They said it had been like that for 3 years. It took 2 hours to connect a pipe and fix the problem permanently.

Most people everywhere do about the minimum necessary to get by. Under qualified people in welfare countries take benefits because its enough to get by and easier than working a crappy job.

This could just be my limited experience, but the general condition of the human environment in both countries also supports the following idea.

This is what I have observed in India, Bali, Maldives and India. This is just my observation and could well be due to the selection of people I have met in these countries. Outside Europe, most people I have met are in the hospitality industry. Hotel staff, drivers, restaurant staff. I have also worked with plenty of Indian, Nepalese, Bangladeshi IT workers. I have also worked with IT workers and other freelancers around Europe.

1. Kids have a lot of freedom and are more capable, confident and independent than kids in Europe. They are more self reliant and display more initiative.

2. Adults do the minimum. They do things in inefficient ways. They are inflexible, show little initative and require more direction than adults in Europe.

So my question is, what happens between about 7 years old and adulthood in these countries, and how is that different to what happens in the same age range in Europe.

The state of the countries supports the idea that something negative happens in these years, but it could also be down to governments and general lack of freedom. India has the caste system, Laos is communist and Maldives lacks communications and natural resources. Also all these countries are hot, and it is hard to get stuff done when you have sweat dripping in your eyes.

While thinking about this I found a study comparing IQ by country - full list here http://www.photius.com/rankings/national_iq_scores_country_ranks.html - but the countries relevant to this article are as follows:
UK - 100
Sweden - 99
Maldives - 81

India - 82

Indonesia - 87

Malaysia - 92

Laos - 89

So again, smart kids grow into not so smart adults. But why?

I'm off to Equatorial Guinea to experience Idiocracy first hand.....

Vang Vieng

We paid 380000kip, about £30 for a day tour for the 4 of us. We booked it with our hotel reception. Children were half adult price.

We were collected by a tuktuk. Basically a minivan pickup with bench seats and a roof in the back. They squeezed in about 4 more tourists than was comfortable. The kayaks were on the roof.

We drove about 15km north of Vang Vieng, and parked by the river. We had to change in to our swimwear, so it would have been better to wear it from the start.

The first activity was to kayak accross the river. The guide made us more worried than we needed to be , but we still crashed in to a bush before landing on the other bank.

We walked though a village and some rice fields. It was really muddy everywhere and slow going. Henry slipped and fell into a rice field. After about a 1km walk, we arrived at the cave tubing place.

I sat in an inner tube on the water and Winston  sat on me. Henry sat on Caroline. The kids wore the headlamps. There were loads of groups there, many doing some zip lining between the trees, but it was not possible for Winston and Henry to do that.

Our group of about 12 people pulled thrmselves on a rope in to the cave. The water was high, so we could only just squeeze under a rock and into the cave. We went for about 300m inside the cave against the flow of water. There were other groups in the cave. One group thought it was fun to scream and splash, buy it wasn't fun for Henry to get splashed.  It took a while to get back out of the cave due to the amount of people.

We had lunch. I had a bit of rotten chicken which almost made me puke from the smell. Winston chose vegetarian as is becoming his habit more these days.

We walked back down to the river , stopping briefly at the 'elephant' cave where a stalagmite had formed roughly in to the shape of an elephant.

We followed the guides kayak quite closely on the river. The first rapids were a bit nerve wracking, and one of the other kayaks capsized and someone else crashed in to a tree and capsized. It wasn't that rough. The kids loved it. It's always a balance between making sure they know what to do if we capsize and not making them too worried.

Before the biggest rapids we held 6 kayaks together to make a more stable boat. It worked really well.  The other thing to make it more stable is to hang your legs over the sides. 

We stopped at a pub that was playing things like 'smack you bitch up' and 'gangnam style' very loud.  We had 2 sandwiches a bottle of water and a small beer for 60000kip £5.

There were loads of pubs along the river, many claiming to be the last pub, and many with banging tunes. 

The one we stopped at there was a guy who surfed against the flow of the river and when tubers came past, he would leap off and grab them and swim them to the shore.

We got back on the river. The scenery was stunning. Steep jungle covered mountains shrouded in clouds. The rain gradually got stronger and stronger.

Then we took a tuktuk, again over full, to the blue lagoon .  It wasn't blue and it isn't a lagoon. But it is good if you like rope swings and to jump off a tree in to water. The rain was too much and Henry was asleep, so after a while we just waited in the tuktuk.

£30 was excellent value for this trip.

We stopped at a chemist to get some hair lice treatment, but they didn't sell the comb, just the lotion.

For dinner, Henry wanted to go to the hotel's restaurant, and they only had either fried rice or noodles, so we had that and it was fine.  Dinner cost 90000kip or about £7.

The next morning we hired a private mini van to take us to Luang Prabang. It cost 880,000kip about £70. The aim was so we could stop at any time for toilet or puke. Henry puked, so we stopped and he did most of the puke outside.

The scenery is stunning. It feels very undeveloped and sparsely populated.

When we arrived in Luang Prabang, our driver wanted to drop us at the Vanvisa Guesthouse.  Caroline had arranged the transport to take us all the way to the falls. It was very clear, no room for mistake. She knew of this guesthouse and the possibility for confusion, so she really spelt it out before agreeing the transport.  The driver was a right twat about it, stomping around etc. We refused to leave the van until it was sorted.  Eventually, the commpany sent another van to take us the last 30km. They tried to get an extra 400,000kip (£35) for that, but we were not falling for that.

So for any out of the ordinary transport instructions, I would suggest write it down and get someone at booking place to sign it for proof. 

Laos border to Vientiane and to Vang Vieng

We had a few taxi drivers and tuktuk drivers offering the ride to Vientienne for 200-400baht. We chose a tuktuk for 200baht. Winston and Henry prefer tuktuks. They enjoyed swinging on the bar in the roof and laughing at how the shiny roof reflected their faces. They can also easily see out of the tuktuk which is not the case in a car or taxi.

It took about 20minutes, and the driver dropped us at our hotel. Champa hotel. Check in was unreasonably slow which is always annoying after a long journey. The room was nice and out door was about 3m from the pool. It cost about £31.50 per night.

The bed wasn't quite big enough, so we inflated the lilo and bulked it up with towels and Winston slept fine on it. The lilo could work out quite economical as most hotels charge about £5 per night for extra bed.

We went to the market by the river, had lunch and then went back to the hotel and had fun swimming.

The next morning, we went swimming again, and left the hotel around lunch time. We took a tuktuk to the COPE centre for 40000kip to look at an exhibition about all the unexploded ordinance left by the US as part of the Vietnam war. Winston and Henry were very interested in the bombs and afterwards they kept pointing out things on the ground that could be UXO.  We bought a T-shirt and donated a little.

It annoyed me that in the films, even the Americans who did the most to highlight the problem said 'we' as if they were somehow responsible. It was a secret Nixon CIA operation, so even voters were not really responsible. It wouldn't have been possible without fiat currency, so I wrote on the guest book 'Google Bitcoin and war'.

We went to the main temple. OK, but the most interesting thing got me was the communist style parade going on next to it with DPRK style music and MA ching civilians.

Laos, like China has followed DengShaoPings realisation that the free market makes people rich, and so the economy is growing at 7% a year. The government keeps a tight hold on media and speech so they can keep power and enjoy the increasing wealth from that position.

We bought 3 bus tickets to Vang Vieng for 45000kip each. We would be collected from our hotel at 9:30 and arrive after 3.5hours. Out hotel offered the same bus tickets for 55000kip, so for walking 20m and buying them from a hostel instead we saved 45000kip.

The tuktuk came at 9:30, and they squeezed everyone from a few different accommodations on, and took us all to the bus.  The bus was roasting, and it sat still for about 45 minutes before setting off.

We had a lunch stop ( obviously if a lunch stop was planned , then the journey was never going to take 3.5 hours), we had a stick with mashed roasted rice on it. Back on the bus, Caroline started to feel sick. She was getting a bag ready when Henry started to throw up.  We put his clothes in the bin, and Caroline managed to hold on for the rest of the journey.  It was probably mainly due to the bumby ride with not much view or fresh air.

We arived in VangVieng around 3pm, so it was a 5.5 hour journey and we took a minibus, then a tuktuk to our hotel.

The Champao Villa had nice comfy beds and an amazing view . it cost $50 per night, which is pricey for a room without a kettle or a fridge and no shower cubicle, just a wet floor. But the view is worth it.

Winston and Henry liked wearing capes and jumping from one bed to another.

The next morning after breakfast Winston was sick in the toilet. He handles it very well, with the minimum of drama.

Thailand

We spent 3 weeks in Thailand. We few from Johor to KL to Surat Thani. We stayed in a new hotel which charged £10 for the room and £3 for the extra mattress per night. We had dinner in Lucky Restaurant where the staff uniform was a strange school girl type outfit. The food was good and the atmosphere was good. It was busy with locals which is always a good sign.

The next morning we bought bus and ferry tickets to Koh Samui for about £6 per person. We had breakfast in a local cafe while we waited for the bus. They had a strange fish in a fish tank that Winston and Henry liked.

The bus took an hour and a half and then boat took about 2 hours. When we got to Koh Samui, Caroline discovered that she hadn't actually booked the accommodation that she thought she had booked, so we went to a bar to have lunch and book something new.   On a table next to us were 7 20 year old Brits, all on their smart phones, almost no conversation.  Henry and me went to get a simcard. It was quite a long walk.

When we got back, Caroline had found new accommodation and we went to stay at Anna resort in Bang Por . It cost about £110 for a week. It was about 30 minutes and £10 by taxi to get there. The room was quite small, but it was enough. They had a round pool with a shallow level round the edge. More like a big jacuzzi. It was ideal for Winston and Henry.

Breakfast was not included so we bought a kettle and a toaster from Tesco Lotus for a few pounds each. I liked the change of having our own breakfast. Buffets and restaurants get dull after a while and its never as fresh as your own.

We went to a few Café s on the beach. Winston did really like the sand. It was a bit too hot, so we spent more time in our ac room than we would have otherwise.

We hired a car for a day for £20 and drove to see a big Buddha. That was quite boring, but in the Café where we had a snack, she had a pet flying squirrel. It was the first time any of us had seen that.  We drove to another beach which was beautiful and full of tourists. The sea was warm, and there were feet jet flying going on nearby.

We went to a Café on the beach near Anna resort and Winston and Henry played with a fat fizzy drink guzzling local kid. They played on the Tablet together. Winston was patient and good at explaining what to do. Henry liked the idea of a new friend.

For the next week, we moved along the beach a bit and across the road to Bangpo village. It was a 2 bedroom house right on the beach with a nice veranda. It cost about £43 per night... So quite a lot more than our lovely villa in Ubud. Winston still didn't like the sand. Breakfast was included and was nice. The internet was crappy.

Caroline made contact with a Norwegian family due to her blog, and we went to meet them. Hanne and Thor and their 4 kids. Aaron 5, Phillipa 3, Amy 8, and I forgot the 9 year old girls name. Lovely family. We spent the afternoon swimming in the sea with them and eating fruit. Friendly and sociable kids. They sold their house in Germany and are travelling for at least a year. They are living off of Thor's translation work and child benefits and are on quite a tight budget.

Winston and Henry took a while to start playing, and as usual Winston gravitated towards the oldest child.

It was my h better to swim in the sea off Mae Nam beach than Bang Por beach.

We found a great Indian restaurant ran by Nepalese on the way home and also rented scooters from the same restaurant.  The next day we had delivery food from that restaurant. The best Indian food since England... And we spent about a month in India!

We went to Cha Weang on our scooters and to a shopping centre there. We ended up having a family hair cut session. Winston and Caroline had their hair dyed, and Henry and me just had simple cuts. It came to about £70 all together.  In other shops people were having massages and steam treatments.

We asked go stay a couple more days at Bang Po Village , but they were full, so we took the boat back to the mainland. It was easy , just got a taxi to the port and bought tickets their that included the bus part of the journey. So we were glad we didn't get ripped off by asking our hotel go arrange it.

Back in Suratthani we again stayed in Papangkorn House. It really good value. Our stupid berghaus bag had broken wheels and the guy helped me try to attach some wheels I bought from a hardware store.

In Suratthani went to the Central Plaza mall. It was nice and cool, and had a decent playland for kids. There was also a Lego table in the department store that Winston and Henry enjoyed. We had lunch at a hot pot restaurant with a really long conveyor belt we later £7.50 each and the kids were free. We had a bowl of soup on a induction hob each and we could cook as much as we liked. Great fun...I wonder how long until this style of restaurant spreads to Europe. Maybe there are too many rules so it can't.

From Surat Thani we took the overnight train. It should have departed at 9:32, but ended up departing at around 11:30. Sleeping wasn't very comfortable. Next time we should get 3 beds rather than 2.  We arrived in Bangkok the next day at around midday. After checking in to our hotel, we went to MBK centre to get Caroline's phone screen replaced. Winston and Henry were quite grumpy due to the lack of sleep.

We spent the whole of the next day in the hotel. Caroline and Winston went out to 7-11 and street stalls to get food only. Sometimes the kids need a day off to recover, especially after not enough sleep. The hotel and the room were good and they had a pool. We will stay there again when we go back to Bangkok, and we left our biggest luggage there while we travel to Laos

The next day we went to MBK centre again to try to get the camera fixed. We had lunch in a big Thai restaurant with a strange ordering system. We met an Egyptian pilot there and had interesting conversations about planes.

In the area of our hotel were lots of bars where 60yr+ white men can meet younger Thai women. Some prostitutes and some Thai wives. It was a bit depressing for some reason.

We flew to Udon Thani for about £12 each, and went to stay at STC Homestay, a little place outside of the town. The Belgian host was very friendly and helpful and they deserve their 9.4 rating on booking.com . Caroline was I'll, so me and Winston and Henry went for a walk. We caught a random tuk tuk and then got him to take us to Tesco Lotus. They had a great play zone and we had a really nice time. We stayed there for 2 nights for £13 per night.

Christine drove us to get the bus to Laos. It was all easy and straight forward to get the bus, cross the border and head for Vientiane. No queues or complications.

The visa cost $35 for UK passports and $31 for Swedish. We had to fill in a form and attach 1 photo of 35x45mm. It was quick and easy.