Blogs from East, Laos, Asia - page 4

Rano som vypadol uz o 7/45,dal tuniakovu bagetu a cakal na odvoz. Mal byt o 8/30,dosol klasicky z meskanim,teda o 9/00. Najskor vyzdvihli ludi do Liang Prabang, potom Vientianem a nakonec konecne moja destinacia. Tuk tuk bol napraskany. Cakal tam aj jeden nemec s kupenou dievcinou,hruza teda. Na bus stanici sme presadli do minivanov. Boli tu dva. Ja som vyfasoval minivan s pomalym vodicom a starsou osadkou, laosania,korejec,anglani. Jeden anglan vystupil v 3/4 cesty. Cesta hruza,samy vymol,neskor pribudlo stupanie a same serpentiny. Obed pauza bola uz po 1,5 hod. Som sa konecne mohol poriadne natiahnut,bo som sedel vzadu. Najhorsie na tom sedeni bolo,ze sem dnu prenikali vyfukove plyny. Som bol trochu priotraveny. Dalsia pauza bola na kopci. To som s radostou vyuzil a vyprazdnil mechur. Okolie bolo famozne,neskutocne krasne hory,dedinky popri ceste,policka. Vacsina domov stal... read more

After a relatively *extended* stay in Phonsavan, I continued heading northeastwards into the Laotian highlands, and it was another 8h winding journey to Sam Neua, the capital of the Hua Phanh province. The province is said to be the "birthplace" of Laos PDR, as it was here that the Pathet Lao retreated to hide in its caves in the face of relentless US bombing. The area developed and somewhat flourished following the end of the Secret War. My journey deep into this otherwise rather remote part of the country thus serves two purposes: to visit the Xieng Vai caves of the province, where the Pathet Lao troops hid during the bombing; and thereafter to cross over into Vietnam via the nearby Nam Xoi-Na Meo border crossing, to embark on the next leg of my Southeast Asian ... read more

omg excuse any bad spelling as we are a little bit drunk....weve been tubing all day in laos and have popped in a internet shop for a quick break from the drink. our trip here from bangkok took us over 30 hours on buses, stopping in vienetiene on the way to get our new 30 day visas which we were told to look respectable for.....of course we listend and turned up in a cheap tuk tuk and jack daniels tshirts...fingers crossed we get our visas accepted. we had to get the bus to vang vieng fron vientiene.....we almost got persuaded into a private mini bus of a random guy atthe bus statipn...something told us it wasnt right when he led us 3 blocks away to his taxi which was clearly a skip on wheels and never ... read more

And it doesn't feel especially great. They say you should try everything once, but I can assure you, this is something you don't need to try even once. So, six buses of varying quality, over a period of six days, over dubiously winding roads through the Vietnamese and Laotian highlands. Starting in Sapa and eventually ending in Bangkok, from where I am writing you this blog. Yes, I know it says it was written in Phonsavan, but that is basically a lie. The blog is going to be about Phonsavan, but the actually typing is being done in a little internet cafe in Bangkok. How did it all happen? Well, theoretically I could have gone to Bangkok in a much more direct and relaxed way. It would still have involved 4 bus journeys, but I could ... read more

Xiangkhoang, on the north east of Laos, border to Vietnam. The capital is Phonsavan literally means "Hills of Paradise". Its original name was Muang Phouan. A population of 37,000. Its lush green forest, with pine trees everywhere, rugged kartz formation, valley with plenty of rivers, caves and waterfalls. People are friendly, mostly agricultural and livestock. Peaceful and breathtaking. People have other names for this place. I called this place, The Swiss of The East. About two kilometres from the town, there is a plateau which was named Unesco World Heritage. It is the Plain of Jars. It is about 2500 years old, a megalithic archaelogical landscape, scattered at the low foothills and uphill valley. The archaelogists has discovered prehistorical burial artifacts and human remains. There are about 400 jars discovered this moment. In the morning, we ... read more