Shoeless

Thought we’d give you a quick update on the past few weeks in Laos…

As you know, we did southern Laos on our bikes and we loved it so much that we thought we’d come and see northern Laos too. It’s more developed than the south and consequently gets more tourists so we’ve been more like regular backpackers since the last update.

We crossed the Thai-Loas border at Houay Xay and got a slow boat down the Mekong River to Luang Prubang. We’d heard great things about the 2 day journey and it sounded idyllic, romantic even. However, it was 2 very long days sat on a wobbly wooden bench and we’d have enjoyed it more if our arses weren’t aching.

Luang Prubang was nice though. It’s a mix of colonial French and Laos architecture peppered with many Buddhist temples and is a UNESCO world heritage site. It’s also famous for daily ceremony where people give food (usually rice) to a long procession of monks. This giving of the alms ritual it the biggest and most formal in the whole region with well over 200 monks lining the one street at 6 O’clock every morning. The surrounding area also has some great waterfalls and, after cycling there on hired bikes, we enjoyed cooling off with a dip in the cascading pools.

Next we got the bus to the backpacker hot spot town of Vang Vieng where there is one primary activity…Tubing! It’s nothing to do with Laos culture or customs and instead involves a big tractor inner tube that you use to float between bars on a river. So, when in Rome and all that…. Nick spent all day on the river but only managed to progress 100 yards (4 bars) down stream. He was hammered and lost his shoes. Well, when we say lost we mean he gave them to a girl to put in her bag only she ended up more wasted than him and can’t remember what she did with them!

Finally we went to Vientiane, Laos’ capitol, where we are now. It’s not a very big or old capitol and we’ve seen all the sights, including the ’Buddha Park’, and have chilled out with a relaxing massage.

Northern Laos is completely different to our experience of the south. There are more tourists and so more western comforts compared to the rural south and it‘s hard to get off the beaten track. It’s been different and we’ve really enjoyed it although we’ve missed the bikes at times.

Still, the adventure continues and we fly to Malaysia today. Country No.10 and we can’t believe how quick the time is going.

Hope you’re all well. We’ll let you know if the shoes turn up

Love

N&J
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