Today is Nov 27, 2005. We are in Luang Prubang. On Nov 22, we took a bus from Mengla, Yunnan, China to Luang Namtha, Laos. The trip took a total of 6 hours, including the two immigration processes. The road north of the Chinese border is OK, but the road in Laos is terrible. Luang Namtha is a very small town, with one major street of about 500 meters. It is very quiet, very clean, and people are generally polite and soft spoken. We stayed at a guesthouse (for two nights) run by a Chinese family. The showers are powered by [View Full Entry]

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Took a coach from Vang Vienne on our way through the mountains to the World Heritage site Luang Prabang. It was supposed to be a VIP coach that included nice seats and air con but we got stuffed with the seats and the air con didnt even come on till 5 mins before we arrived!! Fran and i were a bit nervous on this trip as it was the exact route that tourists had taken a few years ago that resulted in hijacks by anti govt millitants and the deaths of all the people on board. Although we spent a bit [View Full Entry]

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There must be a word to describe the desire we feel for a place we have never been and only realize once we arrive. For our purposes this word is Laos. Laos was, if you’ll excuse a bit of shameless gushing reflection, love at first sight. Our journey into the country began with a two day (300 km) boat ride down the mighty Mekong, a slow moving cappuccino colored river that winds it way through Laos. The scenery made the long ride pass quickly; we were surrounded on all sides by luscious fertile forests interrupted only by rocky peaks and small [View Full Entry]

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I have not been writing much so I thought I would expand a bit...hope it is not to much... We ventured from Chaing Mai via minivan to the border town of Chaing Khong. There we stayed the night at a riverside guesthouse and handed in our passports so we would have Laos Visas in the morning for the ferry ride across the Mekong. There was not much to Chaing Khong save a few restaurants and guesthouses catering to the travelers coming and going to Laos. The next morning we, along with about 90 other travelers, took the small boats across the [View Full Entry]

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After a 12 hour overnight bus ride we arrived in the most laid-back capital city ever - Ventiane. We did the walking tour suggested in the guidebook which covered most of the city and it took us just over half a day! The number of westerners here was also a bit of a shock to us after our trip down south. Several temples later we moved onto Vang Vieng - stunning scenery and outdoor sports galore! So beautiful we found it hard to leave. We are now in the UNESCO world-heritage listed town of Luang Prabrang, known as the 'jewel of [View Full Entry]

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Thai - Laos Border The next morning at Chiang Kong we took a Longtail boat to the Laos town across the Mekong River. We were met by our very friendly local guide "Fun". That was not exactly his name but as near as! Steve and I volunteered to change the foreign currency Bhat and Dollar to Laos Kip. The highest value bank note is $1 equivalent, and the f/x 10,000 Kip to $1, so I was left with 4.4 million Kip to hand out to the group! Doesn't exactly fit in your wallet nicely! We met up with our Slow Boat [View Full Entry]

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Another bus trip awaits us. We have caught more buses on this holiday than I care to count. A foggy morning provides a beautiful sight as it crawls gently over the tips of the Vang Vieng mountains. It becomes obvious very quickly that the following 7 hours on the bus may well be very enjoyable. The mist engulfs the tall, staggering mountains. The sight off the long fall cliff is formidable. The constant slowing down to carefully plot a course over the fallen rock and debris is a reminder how dangerous driving on these wet mountains can be. We stop at [View Full Entry]

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Evening everyone, Well we are on day 23 and on the homeward stretch. But to keep you up to date since the last blog (Vang Vieng), we have traveled only a few hundred KM's, but it took us over 7 hours on a bus. Reason : Huge mountians pass to cross, it was amazing countryside, and the view just kept on getting better. See piccys The bus was much nicer than the previous bus we had caught to Vang Vieng, room to move on this one... it always nice when u can streach out on a bus, especially for an 7 [View Full Entry]

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We were soooo glad to finally arrive in Luang Prabang after the worst ten hours of our lives. The bus journey was pretty bumpy and I spent 9 of the ten hours with my head stuck in a bag, and Andrew, unusually, was quite ill as well. So with that experience behind us we decided to spend a couple of days lazing around in Luang Prabang before starting to see the sights. We had also decided to fly back to Vientiane before flying to Hanoi instead of the bus again, phew! This small town has become quite touristy, although still has [View Full Entry]

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- FOOD: Hotel restaurant breakfasts and squid with ginger dinner - gooood; expensive but oh so nice salad; posher restaurant food; cocktails; Mekong fish. - AREA: Best preserved town in S E Asia: Winding mountain roads, rivers with terraced banks, palms, peaceful roads; Buddhist and French architecture; Wat Xieng Thong temple - mosaic everywhere; chained up monkeys; long stretch of fantastic night market; Phu Si hill with temples, cave shrine and Buddha footprint; giving blood and having massage at Red Cross; plinkety-plonkety music; midnight curfew; Tat Kuang Si waterfalls on Singh, the el [View Full Entry]

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