Laos

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Ahhh Laos.... beautiful green spaces, friendly people, stunning temples and unspoiled oasis's of tranquillity!

Arriving in Vientiane was a strange experience as my general impression of capital cities is that they are busy, noisy, and dirty, but Vientiane was none of these things- it was the most relaxed, peaceful city which seemed to have more temples than cars!

And to my delight Laos only got better from there, I think that Luang Prabang is one of the most beautiful cities Ive ever seen- so good in fact they have made the whole city a world heritage site! Strolling round the charming cobbled streets lined with gracefully understated colonial French architecture to the sound of prayer bells and chanting monks was a blissfully therapeutic experience. After four days of gently ambling about town stopping every now and then to admire the delicate adornment of a temple or to have a chat with some young novice monks whilst they wash their robes in the river I felt myself fully recharged and ready to move again. From here I went further north to Nong Khiaw a delightful little village nestled in the mountains.

Although my visit here didnt start well- predictably as soon as I got out of the truck in the torrential downpour I ended up in a very muddy heap on the floor after a very spectacular if not very graceful (much to the amusement of the local villagers!) attempt at walking across the muddy sludge that was passing as the road. But after a well needed (although somewhat arctic) shower, a clean set of clothes and a warm bowl of noodle soup I slowly began to see the beauty of the landscape around me and so everything was quickly forgiven. The following day it didnt appear as though it was going to stop raining any time soon so I decided that the best idea was just to embrace the wetness and go for a paddle down the river in a traditional canoe. So off I went with my neighbour from the guesthouse for a day of fun on the river. The initial plan was to go upriver first and then have a nice easy afternoon floating back down but unfortunately our canoe manoeuvring skills where not quite as good as we hoped and after going round in circles for about 15 mins we gave in to the river and went downriver instead. It was a lovely journey with just the sounds of birds and the occasional laughter of children playing in the river to compliment the stunning scenery all around. After a couple of hours paddling we stopped at a small village for some lunch (and some very curios staring from the locals) and then contemplated our return journey. The paddle back actually started a lot better than we had feared and we were making quite steady progress until we hit a set of rapids where with every ounce of engery and strength we had we paddled as hard as we could for 15 mins but didnt move an inch! By this point I was to too tired from paddling and laughing so much that I was no longer much help and we started floating back down stream this was repeated a good few times until much to our embarrassment we were rescued by a local fisherman who waded out into the river and dragged us through the rapids!

After exploring the north of Laos I made ,my way down to Si Phan Don (4,000 Islands) which isn an archipelago of sandbars and rocky islets amid the Mekong river. A couple of the larger Islands have basic hut accommodation where you can chill in a hammock with a book and watch the local fishermen at work. So I ended my Laos adventure in a very relaxed state sipping BeerLao by candle light and watching the sun set over the Mekong.

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