Blogs from Vieng Xai, East, Laos, Asia - page 2

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Asia » Laos » East » Vieng Xai February 1st 2009

Polly: After a few days in the beautiful, but slightly expensive city of Luang Prubang, we decided to venture out east. Our destination was the town of Sam Neua (known locally as Xam Neua), close to the Vietnam border, allowing easy access to the nearby town of Vieng Xai. Before we left the UK, we were perusing one of our many copies of 'Wanderlust' magazine, and had both been fascinated when we read about Vieng Xai. Vieng Xai is a small town, dwarfed by huge, limestone karsts, which incorporate extensive cave networks. During the Secret War, 23000 people lived inside these caves for nine years, whilst the Americans bombed the hell out of them. In the early 1960s US military chiefs reportedly threatened to bomb Laos and Vietnamese communist strongholds along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, ... read more
One of the villages  that we passed on the way
Sam Neau centre
Bamboo bridge

Asia » Laos » East » Vieng Xai September 9th 2008

After boat race day, which was exceedingly hot, we left the next day to head to Nong Khiaw. There were no buses running that day because there was another day of boat races, so we ended up on a Sawangtaew, which is basically a cross between an oversized tuk tuk and a mini pick up van. Along both sides of the van run two pieces of wood, covered with the minimal of padding, which are your seats. There is limited room on top for bags and boxes and what is left is deposited along with quite a few extra bodies for good measure in the centre of the two wooden planks!! This all equates to no room to move at all (and I mean that!) because everthing and everyone is packed in as tight as possible. ... read more

Asia » Laos » East » Vieng Xai June 10th 2008

Ich verbrachte den heutigen Tag in der herrliche Landschaft von Vieng Xay, in dessen Idylle sich während des Vietnamkrieges (oder besser gesagt Indochinakrieges) sich so bemerkenswerte Dinge abspielten. Von 1964 bis 1973 war diese Gegend das Ziel täglicher Bombenangriffe der Amerikaner, und gut 20.000 Menschen, darunter die gesamte Führungsriege der Pathet Lao, all die späteren Führer des Landes, lebten hier für viele Jahre in den Karsthöhlen. Seit wenigen Jahren sind die eindrucksvollsten dieser Höhlen für Touristen zugänglich, und Vieng Xay verfügt über ein mit westlichem Know How fast schon professionell geführtes Touristeninformationbüro mit Book Exchange, Trainingslehrgängen für Guides und Fahrradverleih. Für 30.000k bekommt man einen Guide für die Höhlenbesichtigungen. Ich hatte Glück und war bei der Morgentour um 9 Uhr der einzige Teilnehmer, so dass ich zusammen mit meinem Guid... read more

Asia » Laos » East » Vieng Xai June 9th 2008

65 km Ich benötigte eine gute halbe Stunde für die Grenzformalitäten, was nicht daran lag, dass hektische Betriebsamkeit geherrscht hätte, sondern vielmehr daran, dass diese Grenze so ruhig und abgelegen ist, dass die Grenzbeamten froh waren etwas zu tun zu haben, und die vielen Stempel in meinem Pass schienen sehr faszinierend zu sein. Der Hwy 6 auf laotischer Seite war überraschend ordentlich, größtenteils geteert, und den meisten Schlaglöchern konnte man mit dem Fahrrad ausweichen. Es herrschte kaum Verkehr und auf dem Weg lagen nur einige kleine Dörfer bestehend aus Holzhütten, aber es scheint in dieser Gegend bereits 24h Elektrizität zu geben, und sogar kühle Getränke waren erhältlich. Die Straße führte größtenteils hügelig an den Seitenhängen von Flusstälern entlang, es gab allerdings auch zwei recht harte Anstiege zu bewältigen, jeweils zwar nur wenige Kilometer lang, aber tei ... read more

Asia » Laos » East » Vieng Xai January 21st 2008

Asia » Laos » East » Vieng Xai December 28th 2007

Our whirlwind adventure departing Laos really began after Nong Kiaw, a small town built on the edges of the Pak Ou River, to which Chris and I sailed up to via longboat on Christmas day. The ride took about 8 hours from Luang Prabang, and the scenery was spectacular-- on each side of us were huge mountains covered in teak forests and limestone rock facing. As we glided against the (sometime very shallow) current, we were greeted by dozens of naked Lao children bathing and playing in the water, often accompanied by their mothers tilling the garden plots along the water's edge... We spent a quiet Christmas night in a bungalow overlooking the river, which provided a beautiful view of the sunset and a very festive Loa staff of youngsters, dressed up in santa hats and ... read more
view of karsts
from our bungalow, Nong Kiaw
overlooking Pak Ou

Asia » Laos » East » Vieng Xai September 24th 2007

We left you having arrived on 10 September in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. I'm writing this blog sat in an Internet cafe in Phonsavan, northern Laos, and we've certainly been travelling hard over the last couple of weeks. Chiang Mai is very much geared up for tourists, and we spent a few days cramming in as much as possible. A day of visiting temples and the night market was followed by a cooking course (we both do a mean green curry, although my hot & spicy soup was rather too firey, having followed our Thai chef's lead and added 10 chillis) and then a trip up Thailand's highest mountain, Doi Inthanon - in reality, a minibus trip to within 50 feet of the summit, and then a short stroll to the top. The next day Sarah ... read more
Thailand's highest point
Thai cooking school
Chiang Mai temple

Asia » Laos » East » Vieng Xai August 9th 2007

bus over here from plain of jars... small town near border of laos on east...really intersting as is whjere the patet laos made their underground city in the caves. visited where they used to live/ have meetings, etc...quite impressive. the town itself is also gorgeous & so nice to just wander around & speak to the locals. loved it. then got bus over to the border to head into vietnam. end of laos for now, was sorry to leave, but will return again soon to visit the south in a couple of months... ... read more

Asia » Laos » East » Vieng Xai October 9th 2006

Hello folks, apologies for not writing for sometime as internet availability has been sparse (read non-existant). Since our last update, we crossed the Laos border at Na Maew - Nam Xoi. We decided to cross here to avoid the 24 bus ride from hell at Lao Bao. Our attempts to arrange this journey proved more difficult than we imagined. Every travel agency quoted us extortionate prices and many were unaware the border existed. So dejected, we returned to our hostel. We were in luck. We agreed a price of $115 with the manager to take us by taxi. Next, hassle with ANZ and changing Dong into Thai Baht and USD (no ATMs in Laos!). We had to make three journeys to the bank, bringing with us more documentation each time. The dozy cashier failed to mention ... read more
Cheery at 5AM (prior to the 9 hour journey)
Squelch
Where did that taxi go again?

Asia » Laos » East » Vieng Xai August 13th 2006

I went out to visit the caves but no one was home...the access is really badly marked so I sort of wandered around and finally found one cave but there was no guide or anything and I hadn't brought a flashlight so I couldn't really visit. It was a beautiful ride out there in any case, the countryside is just magnificent. Je suis allee de Sam Neua a Vieng Xai en songtheaw pour visiter les grottes mais il n'y avait personne et je n'avais pas penser a apporter un torche. Le chemin est assez mal indique - j'ai fini par trouver une grotte mais il n'y avait pas de guide. Tant pis pour la visite, en tout cas le paysage est magnifique et j'etais la seule touriste dans les parages...... read more
Vieng Xai
Vieng Xai
Vieng Xai




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