The Pearl of the Mekong
Vientiene is the capital of Laos and is not written highly of in my Lonely Planet. After spending a day and a half there I had to disagree. It's a quiet little capital with some nice things to see and a wonderful outdoor public pool that was absolutely empty! From Vientiene I busted down to Pakse overnight and then onto Tadlo in the Bolivian Plateau which boasts a very nice waterfall and a pretty chill atmosphere. I attempted to go hiking to find the two other waterfalls but ended up in the middle of rice fields in my unsuccessful mission. From Tadlo, it was down to my last stop in Laos and one of my highlights for the country - Si Phan Don. On the trip dowm I managed to meet three others and we all headed across to the island Don Khon which is quietly nestled in the Mekong right above the Cambodian border. We stayed in riverfront bungalows for $1.50/night complete with a shady porch and hammocks. There is not all that much to do down there but chill out, bicycle around the island, wander down to the beach or read in hammock. The second day we hired a boat to take us out to see the Irrawaddy dolphins. We managed to spot them from quite a distance (we were not allowed to go to the Cambodian side which they were on) which was lucky as it's not quite the right season to catch them. All in all Laos has been lovely but I'm very excited to head to Vietnam tomorrow even though it will be an epic journey by bus. All the photos are from Si Phan Don - the pearl of the Mekong.
Vang Vieng
Vang Vieng is a backpacker hole....meaning you don't see local food, local people and can easily forget you are in Laos. That being said, it is beautiful and I did have a pretty wicked time there on a kayaking/caving trip down the Nam Xong river. We piled into a truck and were driven 20 km north of the town, popped into the river and paddled down to two caves. The second one involved getting into inner tubes, donning headlamps and navigating through a water cave for about 30 minutes. It was really cool and rather small in spots! Then we continued down stream to town after BBQ lunch where the local cows came over and begged, complete with some drool. All along the river there are little bars to stop at for drinks and shenanigans like giant rope swings and diving boards (most people opt to simply drift down river in inner tubes for the day instead of doing a daytrip....but I was short on time and though it was then best way to cram all my activities in). At our first stop I went on a pretty high cable pully but didn't have the guts to do the rope swing after watching each girl who attempted it eat it and smash into the river. Safety first! There was a giant swing at our second stop which was pretty fun too! Anyways, it was a wicked day and to end it off we all enjoyed an English roast dinner as it was Sunday of course.
Phonsavan
I suppose I was silly to think I may be able to slip through Asia, eat a lot of local food and not get sick. Well, Asia fought back and foiled some of my plans as I was completely out of commision for a day. It did, however, allow me to see the end of the 3 day festival signifying the end of Buddhist lent. The festival involves boat making and then races on the Mekong at night with candles in them (there's a photo of the lanterns at night and of some monks preparing their boat). From here I headed east to Phonsavan to the mysterious Plain of Jars. This is a region that is covered in massive limestone jars randomly decorating the hillside and plain. The origin, purpose and history of the jars is unknown. The best explaination our guide offered was that thwy were used in burials ~2000 years ago since some have found bones and jewellery beneath them. All in all it was really neat to see, and one of the reasons so little is known about them is due to the massive amounts of UXO (unexploded ordinance) which remain from the US bombings. It takes a very long time to attempt to clear the remains of the millions of cluster bombs and people are still dying every year. The photos are of the largest jar weighing in at 6 tonnes and a scenic shot. One of the coolest things was that Phonsavan is at 1200 meters so it actually got cold at night - a first for me in Asia!
News from the North
I headed up from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw in Northern Laos, which is a peaceful little town spread on the banks of the river. I met up with a Canadian girl, Mia, who I've been travelling with since, and an amazing woman from Ireland named Helen (she actually has inspired me to put trekking in Anapurna in Nepal on my travel list). We walked out to visit a really cool cave where the villagers hid during the second Indo-China war. Then it was up the river on a boat to the more remote Muang Ngoi Nuea, where we all stayed in bungalows with hammocks overlooking the river. We hiked to some more caves (there are caves EVERYWHERE in Laos) and then through rice paddies to a local village. From Munag Ngoi Neua it was further north to Luang Nam Tha where we did a two day trek into the Protected Area. It was beautiful and we had super knowledgeable guides. The only tough thing is that near the river you had to be on leech alert as there were lots of very hungry little creatures. Luckily I was not a victim! Our trekking group was awesome and we took our guides out for dinner when we got back to town. Heading back south to Luang Prabang was a bit of an adventure with a flat tire on our bus and 12 hours required to travel 400 km! They also seem to have no problem putting motor bikes on top of the bus and making the extra passengers sit on the floor/rice bags/lawn chairs in the aisle. The photos are of a sunset on the river at Nong Khiaw, the cave we visited, river boats, and walking through the rice paddies.
An Introduction to Laos
The though occured to me that most you you must not know much about Laos, so I though a brief introduction would be appropriate. Laos is a land locked country bordered by Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and China. The entire population of 5.8 million is smaller than Bangkok who clocks in at 6 million. In addition to having few people, 85% of Laos is unmanaged vegetation and the entire country is vibrant green. Poor Laos was also misnamed by the French who accidentally added an 's' to Lao, and within the country the 's' is usually dropped when written. This small country does boast to have the finest beer in southeast Asia - Beer Lao, which so far is true. Another important thing to know is that between 1964-1973 the US "carpet bombed" the country dropping 2 million tonnes of bombs each day ($2.2 million/day US) in efforts to combat and contain Northern Vietnam. This was one of the largest aerial sustained bombings in history, yet 30% of the bombs dropped failed to detonate. All in all a beautiful, and relaxing country which will be a wonderful break between Thailand and Vietnam. The photos are of the Kuang Si falls in Luang Prabang, a Indo-Chinese tiger they found abandoned and are raising, and the "green" of the countryside.
Luang Prabang, Laos
I have been told that Laos is 40 years behind Thailand, and I definitely believe it since it took two days to get into Luang Prabang from Chiang Khong in Thailand. There is a kamikaze option of a speedboat which would most likely explode upon the smallest impact with any object in the river, but that makes it quite dangerous when the river is high (the passengers actually wear helmets). The safest way to get here is to take a two day slow boat cruising down the Mekong, which is beautiful....but two days feels like a long time. We overnighted in a little village in the middle of nowhere, but we had a pretty sizeable crew that all stayed at the same guesthouse with a beautiful view over the river. The view however, was the only beautiful thing about it! Then it was back on the boat for another seven hours today. Luang Prabang is a beautiful riverside town small enough that whenever we go out we run in a dozen people we met on the trip. The most frustrating thing about Laos so far is that they use three currencies: the Thai Baht, the Laos Kip, and the US Dollar. What is worst though is the kip's largest denomination works out to $2 US so after changing $100 CDN I am not longer able to close my wallet. So now I find myself in Laos for 3-4 weeks and need to figure out what to do...
Chiang Mai
As most of you must know a typhoon hit the northern coast of Vietnam recently and the system has worked it's way across Laos to Thailand, namely Chiang Mai - where I am. This means that the city has been flooded for the third time this year, and marks the worst weather in the last 40 years for this region. Have no fear though because in Asia you simply snap your fingers and the weather changes. I decided to wait out the rain by busying myself with a Thai cooking course out in the country. It was very fun, and very filling. The picture is from when we did adventure cooking (no my head is not on fire - it just looks that way!). Now after gorging myself with Thai food it was time to go on a three day trek into the Pai area near the Burmese border. The most remarkable thing was that we had absolutely no rain! The trekking itself was not hard, but we did get to spend the evenings in bamboo huts with the hill tribes, go for elephant rides and raft back down the river! There were only three other French guys who came on the trip, two of which work for Airbus so know I have the inner knowledge of the massive A380. My favourite part was in the middle of the elephant ride when we stopped at the "tree store" to buy them bananas as a snack.
