The following is an interview with Stray Asia Tour leader “Spits” aka Sarah by power blogger Cindy Fan.
Meet the Stray Crew
Meet Sarah, one of our tour leaders there to help you have the time of your life in South East Asia.
Tour Leader – Sarah
Home, before Straying: England
Past life: Working in Luang Prabang at a restaurant and cooking school.
Future life: A Muay Thai fighter?
Stray nickname: “Spits”
Ha! Can you explain that one?
A combination of me not being able to handle my lao-lao whiskey and me being the only female tour leader at the time with all the male tour leaders deciding on the nickname.
What do you love about Laos?
The people, the culture, it’s very friendly, that it’s relatively untouched compared to other countries. You really can feel immersed in the culture rather than being just an observer.
What’s your favorite place on the tour?
Luang Prabang. I love going there every single time and it feels like coming home. It’s just such a beautiful place.
The homestay at Ban Lad Khammune is incredibly special. No one there speaks any English, they’re so resourceful – they live 70 km away from the road, they make their own electricity, they’re so self-sufficient. Always a big smile on their face every time we come there. It’s just a very, very special place.
What’s the coolest thing you’ve done with your Stray group?
Muay Thai training in Chiang Mai with a Lao Mr. Miyagi as ladyboys hung around watching while polishing their pet python.
(See our new Stray Adventure The Muay Thai Adventure Pass) – Ed.
Tips for Khao San Road?
The Irish bar in the middle has a fantastic crowd and is pretty much open until 7 or 8 in the morning. The highlight, if you get a big group together, is to play the 7-Eleven drinking game. Have a drink at every 7-Eleven and the idea is that you go from one 7-Eleven to another as a group, but you cannot have anyone try to sell you anything – massage, ladies, roses, the frog – you can’t be frogged! That’s the major one. If you hear that frog noise, that’s it, everyone back to the start.
The chance of getting from one end to the other though…I haven’t seen it happen yet.
What do you hope your Stray travellers will take away from the trip?
That they have a helluvalotof fun in a very, very special place that not many people get to go to. The destinations that we go to you won’t see the average backpacker there. And to see somewhere so beautiful, so remote, so off the beaten track and with a nice big group of people that hopefully are their friends in the future.
More Pics…
All photographs by Cindy Fan.
