Amazing Laos or Last Stop in South East Asia

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Laos is a truly amazing place. We have had the pleasure of spending the last 2 weeks in this beautiful albeit rapidly developing country. At the moment we could be better (2 days ago I spent a 9 hour bus ride holding my stomach, only to purge all contents at the stops, since late last night Andrew has decided to copy me and has been ridding his body of internal contents for the last 12+ hours), but at least the scenery is beautiful and the people are extremely friendly.

So we have pretty much (unintentionally) followed basically the same route that I took through Laos 4 years ago. It is amazing to watch a developing country in the midst of development. So much has changed in 4 years - there is now a supermarket and a shopping mall in Laos! Really weird...

So we crossed the border from Thailand at the Friendship Bridge which is approximately 20 km South of Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Vientiane is not the most exciting capital city in the world, but still a place that warranted a few days of exploration. We arrived early in the morning and I was able to orient myself in the city pretty quickly and after finding a cheap, dinghy room and napping a bit, we set out to explore. We covered the city on foot as best as we could and I acted the tour guide, showing Andrew all of the tourist sites in walking distance. We explored monuments, temples, parks and markets at each place taking in the rich culture and pride of the Laotian people. The following day we rented bicycles and headed to a park known as Buddha Park for it's huge statues of Buddha. The park was quit lovely, literally filled with huge sculptures representing both Buddhist and Hindu figures. Best of all is that you could climb some of the items - I loved that. Although extremely exhausted, we biked our sore butts over to see Pha That Luang as well. Pha That Luang is somewhat of a national monument and extremely is an extremely important symbol to Laos people, not to mention it is a beautiful golden stupa surrounded by well manicured gardens and temples. After that we gorged on delicious local food.

Next stop in our northern progression - Vang Vieng. I was a bit unsure of this stop. See Vang Vieng has some of the most amazing natural scenery - walking through the villages surrounded by limestone peaks, caves and rivers you truly feel like you are set back in time, perhaps on a movie set, but for some reason despite all of this natural beauty, Vang Vieng has attracted a large amount of tourists that I would rather not be associated with. I won't go into too much detail but I really hope that in the future years the rock climbers and nature enthusiasts really discover and embrace Vang Vieng and that the under-aged, overly intoxicated types disappear. Sadly the latter type has become much more prevalent and much more obnoxious in the 4 years since I visited last.

So back to the good ... We stopped in Vang Vieng and on arrival walked into town, then out and across the Nam Song river to a small village where we stayed in a guest house surrounded by lush tropical garden and in close proximity to the surrounding nature. We spent a few days exploring the jungles, caves and swimming holes. I tried, very pathetically to count to 10 in Lao with some local children, frankly I think I scared them and as Lao is a tonal language I am afraid of what I may have actually said in misusing the tones. Oh well. After we got tired of waking up in paradise to the crow of a rooster and Lao coffee on our bungalow porch overlooking the wild growing orchids and hibiscus, we got on yet another bus North.

After 7 hours we arrived in Luang Prabang. A town with old colonial charm and teeming with tourists in the center of town. We spent more days than we anticipated here as we "worked" the last 2 days in order to earn a free bus ticket. Who knew I would go to Laos to compete with the locals as a tout?

Top 2 things in Luang Prabang; Tat Kuang Si and the night food market. Tat Kuang Si is a set a waterfalls about 30km outside of town. We biked and I convinced Andrew it was feasible on the cheaper single speed bikes. Well all I can say is that I am glad the falls were beautiful, because the ride was a little tough and Andrew was not the happiest guy in the world. We swam at a couple of different tiers and Andrew shocked me when he agreed to jump of the top of one of the falls with me into the pool below - see he likes to swim but has never really proven to be the kind of guy that likes to jump off of high things into water. It was great. Now the second, the night market, all you can eat vegetarian buffet for 10,000 kip (about $1.25). Throw on a piece of grilled chicken for another 10,000 kip. Oh and the fresh spring rolls, stuffed with mint and rice noodles and cilantro - 5 for 5,000 kip served with a sweet chili and peanut sauce. Mouth watering. I guess considering the amount of food I ate there it is no wonder I got food poisoning on my final meal in Luang Prabang night market.

As we headed north to Luang Namtha I held my stomach, finally purging the contents at our lunch stop. Aside from that we stopped at a lovely little Hmong village on the way north. We had earned free tickets on a tourist bus that stopped for 30 minutes for us to explore the beautiful mountain top village. One of my favorite experiences in Laos. There were so many children and they were so shy, hiding behind one another and smiling at us. It was really a lovely experience. If I come back to Laos again, I am skipping the big towns and spending all of my time in a village, among the children, pigs, chickens and mud.

Since our arrival in Luang Namtha we have both been sick. I finally feel back to normal today and I think Andrew still has another day before he is back on track. I am going to go out and explore the surrounding villages on bicycle today while Andrew spends one more day recovering with the BBC news. Kind of a nice surprise when you are stuck in a room with food poisoning - first room in 2 months with a tv and 2 channels in English.

Entering China tomorrow...

Alyssa

Happy Birthday to - Al.

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Photos

Steep Climb...
...right after I literally walked straight into a huge tree branch - immediately knocking me to the ground, producing a huge bump on my head and cracking my neck about 30 times

With our bikes
I named them Ketchup and Mustard

Comments

[Frances Kozumplik]

It is so much fun to read of your travels. What an incredible journey except for the food poisoning of course.

[Audrey]

Hey guys. I just caught up on your most recent posts. I love hearing about it all and being able to see the pictures. It makes me wonder though, after nearly a year of travel & adventure, how on earth will you guys be able to come home to the boring old USA and do your normal day-to-day? ;) Miss ya!