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Published: April 1st 2009
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Well we have made our first solo border crossing so we feel like we are fully fledged travellers now and are in Laos (solo that is, apart from our bossy van driver pointing the way to make us hurry up)!
We enjoyed our last couple of days in Thailand at the Mut Mee guest house, a very laid back place right on the edge of the Mekong and we could have spent several days just relaxing here and taking in the sights. We met a great family from Quebec at Mut Mee, the Girard’s, who have girls aged ten, seven and five, they are doing the same trip through Laos as us which is lovely. All of the children are happy to have new playmates!
As we had limited time in Nong Khai we didn’t really get to experience much of what there is in the area. Actually the truth is that Nong Khai is hosting a big worldwide triathalon competition there this weekend and we didn’t want to get confused for participants (somehow I don’t think this would have been the case, unless the events are drinking beer, eating and trying not to strangle each other!).
Buddha Naga
You can just see Deb and the kids at the bottom We did take a bike ride to the Sala Kaew Ku Sculpture park which is full of Hindu and Buddist inspired concrete statues. It was the inspiration of a guy called Luang Pu, who obviously had a vivid imagination and a lot of time on his hands. It is one of the ‘must see’ things in the area. The park is a pretty unusual place (apparently his mummified body is kept there) but the most amazing thing for us was the size of some of the sculptures! Our visit was really quick as we had to cross the border so we didn’t get a full understanding of the park, but I think that may well be a good thing! There is also a sculpture park in Vientiane (Laos capital) which was built by the same guy, but while you can never get enough of concrete sculpture parks we thought we would give this one a miss.
Vientiane is lovely and we stayed in a great hotel called the ‘New Lao Paris Hotel’ right in the centre of town, two blocks from the waterfront and one block from the Nam Phu fountain. At first I wasn’t so sure about the
city as we waited by the riverfront (dirty, smelly, with not really any river) for over two hours while the men (Mitchy and Benoit) looked for a hotel. Olivia was convinced (as always) that Mitchy had been run over by a car while I started to think that they had got a taste for beer Laos and were at the pub, luckily they came up with the goods!
There is definitely a real French influence in Vientiane with some beautiful buildings and it doesn’t have the hustle and bustle of other cities with a population of only around 230 000. The local people are friendly and we are starting to learn a couple of basic words which we didn’t really do in Thailand. There are loads of places to eat, from Laos restaurants to French, Indian and Italian as well as lots of bakeries, we tried out the Scandinavian bakery near the fountain which was great and also had great pizza at a lovely French restaurant next door as well as a few tasty Laos meals.
We spent our time generally pottering about, getting to know the city. On one of our walks we came across a fantastic
building, both of us just looked at it and our jaws dropped! It just so happened that it is a weaving studio and showroom (Carol Cassidy Lao Textiles) that is open to the public. We probably wouldn’t have visited except that we wanted to have a sticky beak at the house but it turned out that we had a really good time with a tour of the weaving studio where we could see the women and men at work, all the time panicking that Mac was going to end up tangled up in something. The complexity of the pattern making, dyeing and weaving is unbelievable as is the fact that Mac didn’t end up tangled in anything!
It was really hot in Vientiane and the boys got tired easily so we gave them rests at the hotel while the girls headed out with one of us. Mitchy took the girls out one night to eat at the Ban Anou Market with the Girards. They got four stalls along the market when there was a huge electrical storm. One of the fruit stall ladies gave the kids plastic bags to put on their heads, not that this would have provided
much protection! They all then went running down the street where a family opened their front doors and invited all eight of them, in and who would believe it but the family was the sole importer of Singha beer for Laos so the guys thought they had hit the jackpot! They left after a couple of beers and with a free Singha bottle opener as a momento.
We all went to the market the next night, no storm this time, and had a great time. It is a small market of food stalls with plenty on offer, Finn and Olivia tried the chicken feet on a stick with great enthusiasm and wanted to go back another night to try the ducks feet! They weren’t that excited by the frogs on a stick. The food was delicious, especially the spring rolls, pork sausages and beef kebabs. Unfortunately the moths also thought that the market was the best place to be and drove us out.
The Girards had decided that they would try out the local Lao pastime of ten pin bowling and invited us along which was great fun. The kids had a great time and I think the
girls beat the husbands which is how it should be! Mitchy got off to a slow start but then got a couple of strikes and his name went up in lights but unfortunately it was spelt ‘Karry’.
Vientiane is a great place for bikes and we have done the Monument to Mekong ‘walk’ on our bikes. It starts at the Arc de Triomphe like ‘Patuaxi‘, which from a distance looks like an impressive historical monument but the Lonely Planet tells us that it was built in the 1960’s from cement donated by the US to be used to build a new airport! We did the trip in true Mitchell style, two starts on two separate days due to family disharmony and the second half back to front missing a bit of the end . Anyway it was a great way to see the centre of the city.
We also cycled out to the Laos national landmark ‘Pha That Luang’ on our last afternoon which was lovely. The children released some birds which we believe is a Buddist gesture of cleansing and good luck, although it did not prove so lucky for poor Mac who had escaped being tangled
Vang Vieng
Tough Life in a weaving loom, only to get his foot tangled in a bicycle wheel. Our bike ride ended in a rush to the hospital as well as a close encounter for a tuk tuk driver who tried to take advantage of Mackie’s moment of need wanting an exorbitant amount of money for our emergency dash!
All is well now, Mac earns a bravery award (and Mitchy an anger management one for not rendering the tuk tuk driver unconcious). We have made it to Vang Vieng which is stunning, words can‘t really describe it, and we may not ever leave!! The tubing trip down the Nam Song river that I have dreamt of for the last six months may now need some creative rethinking to ensure one little foot remains dry!!! But we will soldier on here in paradise!
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