Sabedi all, If someone from Laos tells you a bus will take 8 hours (then smiles and says "probably less") expect a 17 hour trip. That's my advice. We left the capital Vientiane for our short journey up north.. only to be faced with flooded roads, mud slides and endless problems with something on the bus called "the &^#$%& radiator".. By about 1/2 way there, Ari and I were having the time of our lives.. We'd met everyone from the bus, knew their family history and blood types and were now taking bets on which following vehicle would make it pass [View Full Entry]

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May 20, 2008 - May 31, 2008 After the Gibbon Experience, we planned to head south to Luang Prabang (LP), then Vang Viang (VV) and finally Vientiane before moving on to Vietnam. In first leg of the journey, we had three choices about how we were going to get to LP and none of them sounded all that good: 1) The slow boat - a two day journey down river in a very basic and uncomfortable boat; 2) A 15 hour bus trip through the mountains and this is if all goes well ... it often doesn't; and 3) The Fast [View Full Entry]

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Headed over to Chaing Kong so we could get in to Laos. It took five hours and it was absolutely pissing it down (not that it mattered as we were in a bus). Got to the border about 730 the next morning and crossed over in to huay xai (its pretty much 'how say'). Crossed over the mekong the was no quay's just had to climb up the muddy banks(it was still pissing down by the way). Pretty much spent the next day and half on a boat. On the first day we got a bit at the back to our [View Full Entry]

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We made our way to Chang Khong, which is the town across from Laos(border town), we just had to make our way across the Mighty Mekong. The heavens opened all day and all night, we got up pretty early to make the crossing and exit Thailand, stamp in the passport, there getting pretty full now, we had a man from our booked tour waiting for us, we got onto a small boat, everyone apart from Lisa had walking shoes on, Lisa had her flip flops and with all the rain, we had to walk down the bank to the Mekong and [View Full Entry]

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Still no word.... But on to happier subjects... I'm in Luang Prabang, which is supposed to be one of the nicest cities in South East Asia. The city has dozens of temples, I'm not going to see all of them.... but I'll try and get my fair share in. The city has a very cool market, if I had deeper pockets, or more importantly a bigger bag I could go crazy here. They have quite a few street food vendors also, I'm very cautious now, after being sick in Peru last year but I have sampled a few things and may [View Full Entry]

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What an exciting few weeks. As some of you may be aware we had a little problem with money for a short while but despite this i assure you we kept perfectly healthy and didn't run into any serious trouble. It did however significantly affect where we went in Laos and in close to a month we have visited only 3 places putting us severely behind schedule. Our first stop Vientiane, the capital of Laos proved to be rather dull with nothing particularly exciting to see bar something very similar to the arc de triomphe in Paris and Laos' most important [View Full Entry]

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Once more folks - we forgot the USB cable for the camera so cannot upload photos no matter how many times you ask us to. We are working on a way of getting them up and believe me, we are as frustrated as you! Yesterday we went kayaking on the Mekong - hard work I can tell you - the water was very still so as soon as you stopped paddling you stopped completely - our wee arms had to keep going. I was in a double kayak with a girl from Tipp (Sarah) and Paul and her boyfriend (Ted) were [View Full Entry]

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Schon vor zwei Jahren war ich in Luang Prabang und bin nun zum zweiten mal hier (erster Eintrag: ). Da Luang Prabang seit 1995 unter dem UNESCO Weltkulturerbe steht, hat sich auf den ersten Blick in der Altstadt nicht viel geaendert. Luang Prabang bleibt wohl auch weiterhin von grossen Hotelanlagen verschont. Doch sehr bemerkenswert ist der Zuwachs an Touristen. Inzwischen ist Luang Prabang wohl kein aussergewoehnliches Ziel mehr. Sehr viele "Flashpacker" am Start. Die Maedels total aufgetakelt, mit Handtasche, die Jungs im Mallorca-Look, mit Billabong-Badehose. Viele Rentnerehepa [View Full Entry]

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Liput Luang Nam Thahan oli varmasti koko matkan paras ostos ja suunnitelman muutos paras paatos! Muuten meilta olisi oikea Laos jaanyt taysin nakematta ja kaikki upea kokematta. Ollaan melottu kajakilla Mekongin sivujoessa ja koskissa, vierailtu eri etnisten ryhmien kylissa, mopoiltu riisipeltojen keskella ja sademetsavuorilla ja seurattu tavallisten laoslaisten elamaa. Kaiken taman jalkeen kaikkien kehuma Luang Prabang tuntuu vain teennaiselta backpackereiden Disneylandilta. J: joka paikka on "piip" taynna lankkaribaareja, jossa kuuluu jotain "piipin" Shakiraa ja joista saa jotain "piip" piz [View Full Entry]

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hello! oh my god i am in laos and it is very beautiful. it took awhile to get adjusted to being in a new country, more so because when you are in the laos border town of huay xai, thailand can be seen from across the river! As Huay Xai is so small and i was so tired i wiled the day away with a new found friend, marion (french) who i met in Pai. we drank beer in the afternoon, conversed with the locals, shared their food and had a delicious massage. bliss :)) About marion, i am so glad [View Full Entry]

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