Blogs from Vang Vieng, West, Laos, Asia - page 14

Stilletjes aan vertrekken we naar het zuiden, en dan bedoel ik echt wel stilletjes aan. Als je wilt weten hoe je meer dan 7 uur kunt doen over een kleine 200 km, probeer dan de weg van Luang Prabang naar Vang Vieng. Haarspeldbochtjes door de bergen, letterlijk 'van voor naar acter, van links naar recht, van boven naar onder'. Maar zeker de moeite:) Vang vieng aan de andere kant viel voor mij wat tegen. Nujah, het is ook maar wat je zoekt als je reist. Als je dronken wilt raken en samen met alle andere toeristen de commerciële attracties aan veel te hoge prijs wilt doen, dan is het het paradijs ja... Maar ondertussen verkies ik de kleinere en rustigere dorpjes, waar je effectief de kans hebt om de locals te leren kennen. Twee nachtjes hier, ... read more

Again, we suggest you check out Matt's video in conjunction with the blog as it captures things that words cannot. Just cut and paste! Take note how different the water is in his "borrowed" clips. http://www.youtube.com/user/MattSeanConnor#p/a/u/0/z-li1Fbi_eA Leaving the incredible town of Luang Prabang (after 12 days there) and the phenomenal hotel of Luang Say Residence will not be easy. The family is however ready to hit the road in search of new adventures. What they were NOT ready for was the mode of transport to our next destination. We ended up taking a 7 hour bus (called a VIP bus that is simply a great way to lure in tourists) ride down to Vang Vieng. When we got on, they handed each one of us a “baby wipe” type of package for cleaning your hands and ... read more

So today we decided we are just going to get a tuk tuk to the Blue Lagoon, the boys were sick of tubing by now so they are came with us. Got the tuk tuk up the mountain, and we were really glad we turned back when we did because the mountain got a whole lot steeper! Got to the lagoon and it was beautiful the water was really warm and very deep, the boy were climbing up a tree over the lagoon and jumping from about 10ft in. Spent an hour there and then went up the side of a cliff which kind had steps cut out of the mud to a cave that has a Buddha in it. Not much to see in the cave when you have seen one Buddha you have seen ... read more

And now for another round of my cathartic text babble. All around the world, the white man is a special beast that has its own special name. Some polite, some less so, but whatever they are it’s evidence of the obvious divide that is felt between the two half populations of the world. A handful I can think of are Gringo(Mexico), Mzungu(East Africa), Waiguoren(China) and here in Laos it’s Falang. It directly translates as French, due to its colonial past, and it stuck for all of us non-Asian rich types. You see the reality is that instead of choosing to classify us all together, we are simply the same to them! We come, we spend, we leave, sometimes we smile and other times we shout, but at the end of the day we are gone and ... read more

Right, where to begin, so last time I blogged we were leaving for the overnight bus for Chiang Mai. Now, I have nothing against buses HOWEVER this was not a good experience, we chose really bad seats, couldn't get comfy, went from being hot to cold blegh just wasn't fun and didn't get a wink of sleep!!! you know when you just keep looking at the time, willing it to change, 2am, 3am, 3.02am MEH so arrived in Chiang Mai at 6am ish and started to fun times of the old Accommadation Hunt, always a bundle of fun with a heavy rucksack and no sleep being had! WOW sorry for the moaning here!!! anyhoo eventually decided to follow the nice German couple we met on the tuk-tuk who seemed a bit more clued up, we ended ... read more