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Published: February 4th 2006
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You'll have to bear with me. Just one moment while I rant about the front page of this website. It lists many different entries from various points around the globe. Some are really interesting and others rather mundane. But today there is an old posting from New Zealand. You may remember our trip to NZ which was marked by frequent and troubling rain. There was also a paucity of marine life as we missed seeing both penguins and whales. So today there is a posting with pictures of the penguins which we did not see. These are exceedingly rare so we may never see them without a return to NZ at some time. So I have to yell out loud. Both in jealousy and frustration. We aren't on the front page and we didn't see the penguins. There I am done.
Welcome to Laos. The land of a million elephants, though we have seen only one. After leaving Burma, we traveled overland to Thailand, through Chang Rai and to the border at Chang Kong. From there we passed into Laos. Hint for those who may come this way again, you do NOT need to buy the visa at the
Speed Boat Riders
Yeah, helmets would probably be wearing us for protection if the boat flipped but it made us feel better. Thai side of the border as it is 10 USD more than if you just go to the Laos side. Funny enough they don't tell you that at Thai immigration leading many to suspect corruption and even some kickback situation with the helpful visa lady on the Thai side. Well, all but one of the people on our boat were taken. Ooops. Then after meeting a nice Belgian couple, Dirk and Katherine, we spent the night on the Laos side of the border (error - wasted visa day) and the next morning headed north. Now this part must be shortened b/c it is much too involved, but suffice it to say we took 4 converted pickup trucks and a 2 hr speed boat (which more resembles a canoe with a jet engine on it than a speed boat). The ride was scary. While on the boat images of those formula one boats which flip and break up on the water in Monaco (you know the agony of defeat) kept running through my mind. BUT the scenery was great. Straight up the river where we arrived to find no ride to the next town. Some haggling and cajoling got us 1
Afternoon at the waterfall
Maybe you'd have liked to see the picturesof us crawling up here looking petrified. hr down the road and after a 1 hr wait and a 2 hr ride on another pickup with seats (see Burma transport photo) we arrived in Muang Sing (sp?). Again, 10 hrs not bad.
Now the next 3 days were spent in the nondescript nothern areas of Laos which saw serious and near complete destruction during the Second IndoChina war (Vietnam). So there isn't much to see and since smuggling opium wasn't on the agenda we left rather quickly. Oh yeah, and the weather was New Zealand suck-y. We did stop for 2 nights in another nothing town called Luang Nam Tha. The bad weather continued and since all hot water in the town is solar (well you get the point). A day trek and mediocre food later landed us in Luang Prabang, where this entry is finally taking place. On the way we took public busses which resemble the type of ride which Disney closed for fear of lawsuits with dirtied seats to boot. (Picture taxi ride in Sinai with 45 people, sardine can style, in a retired Chinese bus). Tired yet? We were. So tired that we comnpletely ignored the most beautiful part of the country
Back of the songtaw
The back of the converted trucks is very dusty, especially since the roads are not sealed. in favor of getting to an actual city. Parting ways with our new friends ( who were focused enough to keep their eye on the ball) we headed south.
Luang Prabang was the former royal capital of this region for hundreds of years (I think). It is a UNESCO world heritage site and has many fantastic natural and manmade sites to see. It also has the most white people we have seen in a month barring the Thai islands, SO the name of the entry. In Thailand and Laos a foreigner is called farang or falang if you cannot pronounce "R's". This came from the IndoChina pronouncing "French" get it... So hence Luang Farang. Pretty witty I might add. Not mine, this was all Aneta. That being said the town is a nice break with fast and affordable internet and cheap CD burning for pictures. Travel agents and all the handicrafts you can shake a bowl of noodle soup at. Basically a traveler town and a welcomed one at that. We spent our days going to waterfalls and seeing Wats (temples). We spent some time with a cool French couple who live in China and even met a novice
Aneta and Novice Monk
Email. He's got email. Monk, who after agreeing to pose with us in a picture also agreed to receive a copy of said picture. Funny enough when he wrote his address for us it was for his hotmail acct. Go figure. We also checked out the local weaver village and local university (same trip wrong turn). The Belgians did manage to arrive a few days later and reported on the area we missed with rave reviews. Nice weather, great scenery, excellent food. But we hate that stuff anyways so who cares. Back in LP we spent our days frantically backing up our pcitures from the finicky hard drive and shopping for the least expensive western breakfast and best cup of coffee Lao. We also scored what we consider the best room in town, and at 12 bucks a nite NO BARGAIN. But hot water and the cleanest room in 2 months (not including Sirie's house). The place was so clean we considered not wearing flip flops in the bathroom. Whooa, I said considered. The sheets smelled so clean we had the guest house do our laundry, TWICE. But all good things come to a end or at least a detour and four nites was
Aneta, Dirk, and Katriene
Tired soldiers after a tough nite of shoppping the Luang Prabang nite market. enough in LP. A concerted hunt and internet search as well as guide book, local input, and tour guide interrogation led us to schedule departure for Phonsavan in the East. This is the spot to see the mysterious and creepy (cue the music and barotone voice) "Plain of Jars". But that is for another entry.
Finally (seriously) we did manage to solve one of the most vexing issues of the trip. The wedding band saga. While in LP we went to a silversmith (well actually his brother who was visiting from Belgium - weird) and purchased new matching wedding bands. We are now very happy and openly married, again.
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Steph
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YEAH STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so glad you two are FINALLY legit again. No really, it was great hearing from you. Keep up the blogging. Anything sounds better then raining, cold Atlanta or as the mayor advertises ATL. I am not suppose to covet so I will not tell you again how jealous I am of the trip. I will just remind you of it during one of your weeks of overnights :) Oh and just to say it one more time YEAH STEELERS, y'eens take care.