Blogs from East, Laos, Asia - page 11

Time to leave Vietnam! After the hectic and sometimes stressful time we had, we don't think it is too soon either. We therefore board an early morning bus from Hue to cross the border at Lao Bao - the easiest border crossing from Vietnam to Laos. We have heard many horror stories regarding land crossing between those two countries but this one goes without a glitch. Sure, the bus is old, not AC-ed and a little dear but the sight of the conductor seating in a plastic garden chair carefully balanced in the bus corridor alongside the driver makes up for this inconvenience - precarious but funny. Arriving to Lao Bao border, and after much confusion regarding the cost of of a 30-day Laos visa, the immigration officer produces a price sheet that appears "official" and ... read more

Phonsavan, Laos is a town in eastern Laos that is in one of the most heavily bombed areas in the world. During the "Secret War" in Laos (1964-1973) the United States dropped over a million metric tons of explosives on this poor country. An estimated 30% of the bombs failed to detonate leaving unexploded ordinances littering the land. These bombs are still responsible for many deaths every year including children who tend to gravitate toward the ball shaped cluster bombs. Many farmers here have to risk their lives when clearing land to farm, because the other option is starving. The stories of what the people of this region have been through is deeply disturbing. Despite the fact that my government is resposible for creating this situation, I couldn't have been treated nicer by the beautiful Lao ... read more

Day 79/80/81 - Phonsavan The three of once again dragged ourselves out of bed at a ridiculous hour to catch the bus south to Phonsavan - "Plain of Jars". The bus was quite empty so we each got to spread out and have our own row which was a first for us. It ended up being a complete blessing since it was by far the worst bus journey we've had in the last three months. Even worse then Myanmar. It wasn't the roads that was issue - they were even paved. It was the winding up and down, across and around the mountains at top speed. The constant swerving gave us all severe motion sickness and half way through the ride, they handed out black plastic bags that we assume we in case any of us ... read more

We woke up early the next morning to head for our complimentary breakfast before lugging our bags back to reception and our awaiting tuk-tuk. It was probably the coldest morning that we had experienced since being in New Zealand with the frosty car so with multiple layers donned we arrived at the bus station. There were a few other westerners waiting to catch the same bus and we got chatting to a few of them as we waited, it was good to be meeting lots of people again! The local bus pulled up a little later than expected and we climbed aboard to take up the back seat with all of the bags (not just ours, all the western backpacks) and took up a seat next to the large wicker basket in the aisle. The bus ... read more

Ross: On Sunday 1st February we awoke early, checked out and marched up the hill with our backpacks towards Sam Neua bus station to catch the early bus to Phonsavan. The 8-hour journey again took us through endless Blue Hmong villages and up and down numerous hillsides, with a brief lunch stop at a small town on the way. We finally rolled into Phonsavan bus station at around 4pm, grabbing a tuk-tuk to take us down the road to a Lonely Planet-listed guesthouse called Kong Keo's, located at one end of a disused airstrip and run by tour agent extraordinaire, Mr Kong. The guesthouse is actually a collection of small wooden bungalows in a little oasis littered with all sorts of war paraphenalia, from bombshells and hand grenades to ammunition belts and rusty kalashnikovs. After checking ... read more