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Published: June 28th 2010
Despite the horror stories we had heard about the journey from Hanoi to Vientiane our bus journey was surprisingly easy. I got a good 8 hours sleep (thanks to some lovely Valium) and the border was a breeze as long as you came prepared with the necessary fee and standard Asian $1 bribe/fee for the border official. In the end we arrived in the Laos capital in 18 hours a whole 7 hours earlier than expected. We instally liked the city which in stark contrast to Hanoi is very quiet and relaxed. It felt strange to wonder the streets without the constant noise of the bike horn which had been our daily companion in Vietnam. The city is very clean and has a strong french influence with bakeries and french restaurants dotting the street. After a delicious baguette we headed back to the hotel with plans to investigate the city night life however we both passed out on our beds and slept for 13 hours clearly we had run our bodies down!
The next day we went to meet Jen another friend of ours from home who was coming out to join us for the final leg of our Asian
travels. After a night enjoying the local food and beer we headed out the next day on a bus to Vang Vieng.
Vang Vieng is a small town by the river which has become famous for 'tubing' which is where you rent a a big rubber ring and then float down the river stopping off at bars dotting the banks. We headed down at 11am not really sure what to expect so headed to bar one to enjoy a couple of beers and the sun. Eventually Spike was the first with the courage to head up to try a large rope swing that was part of the bar. It looked amazing fun but is not without dangers as parts of the river did have rocks sticking out. After Spike had done his Jen and I headed up to have a go. I went first but got it completely wrong as I did not extend my arms properly so I literally fell straight away landing on my front to the growns of all watching - it hurt a lot which unfortunately would be a pattern for me on all the swings/slides over the next 2 days. It is a truly
unique experience and loads of fun as you move from bar to bar steadily getting more drunk whilst every now and then flinging yourself into the river either by jumping from the bar or using whatever crazy rope/slide or swing they offer. At one bar called slide bar you fling yourself down a huge slide and are then shot out into the river however as I could not open my eyes going down the slide because of my contact lenses I would always land in some ridiculous position which generally would involve me winding myself or just battering my back or chest - the crowds of people watching always loved it though! We spent 2 days there and it was definitely one of the best things I have done on my trip so far.
From Vang Vieng we took a 10 hour bus north to Luang Prabang. The drive up was the most spectacular bus ride I have had so far which is saying a lot considering what I had seen before. We seemed to be endlessly heading up into the mountains which just made the experience more incredible as the higher we got the more amazing the views
became and the greater the drops off the edge of the road were! Luang Prabang is world apart from Vang Vieng with a peaceful mountain town atmosphere to the place. The area is renowned for its natural beauty with opportunities to enjoy some adventure sports. We booked to head the next day on a 3 day trip where we would do one day of cycling, one day of trekking and finally a day of white water kayaking and all this for only $80.
The next day we met our local guide called Sakon who like all the guides I had met in Asia was full of energy and had a incredibly open and friendly personality. We picked up our bikes and headed out of the town. At first I found it hard to get back into the swing of being on a bike again and found it quite tough but after the first hour the time I had spent on the bike the previous year paid off as I got a second wind and shot away from the group. This ended up being a great idea as I caught up with loads of school kids riding home who all
decided it would be fun to race me the whole way and I was definitely game! This led to a fun hour where the kids would fly uphill and then I would shoot past them on the downhill - they were all very happy and friendly children who brought out the competitive child in me!
We reached an Elephant sanctuary by the end of the morning and then were able to ride these amazing animals. It was a fun experience especially for Jen who was able to sit on the Elephants neck. Our Elephant was a 38 year old female who was pretty naughty as she would rarely listen to her keeper and would stop to eat whenever she felt like it - this would lead to us getting dragged into the bushes with her but the few scratches we received were worth it for the ride.
After the elephant ride we headed down to the river to go for a swim and do some fishing. The fishing ended up being a massive net which we dragged along a small tributary but this yieldeda catch of 50 small fish. By the time we left the river it was
nearly three but it was by far the hottest day of my trip so far our guide telling us it was around 45 degrees. At this point we decided to pass on the next 25k of the bike ride and stay overnight in the elephant sanctuary. Our guide then cooked us an incredible dinner of the fish we had caught grilled and salted served with chili and sticky rice as a starter and then an array of local vegetable dishes served with rice. We then played cards in our open air hut but our one light seemed to attract every bug in Asia so we decided to have an early night all a bit freaked out by the amount of bugs nearby but our trusty friend Valium came to our rescue again!
The next day we were joined by a Swiss girl named Andrea and set off for the trekking part of our trip. We walked for about 3 hours over a range of hills which had either been stripped for wood or were being used for farming - Sakon was very knowledgeable as he explained to us the crops they were growing and how they were grown. We
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The good lifeeventually reached a stream which we walked up until we reach a small waterfall were we able to sit under and swim in the pool at the bottom which was amazing after the long walk. After lunch we had to climb up the waterfall using the vines to pull ourselves up despite our initial trepidation it proved pretty easier. We set off on the second part of a trek with our final destination being a local minority village where we would spend the night. Our route throughout the day had seemed strange but after the waterfall it became like a private route with Sakon admitting that no one else knew this way which made me feel a little lucky but also a bit scared in case anything went wrong!
After about another hour of trekking we reached a cave which Sakon wanted us to go into, however to add to the randomness of our route he could not remember where the entrance was so he disappeared for 5 minutes to find it. The cave entrance was very narrow and covered in vegetation and as I forced my way in I managed to disturb a load of fire ants who thought
it would be fun to go down my shirt. I then endured a 'fun' few minutes whilst Spike tried to find all the ants using only a torch. We worked our way through the cave experiencing a deep part where it becomes very hard to breath something I did not enjoy as I had images of me collapsing and having the other four trying to carry me back out (pretty comical I'm sure in hindsight.) As we reached the end of the cave Sakon wanted us to use a rope to climb up onto a ledge something none of us felt we could do other than Spike. This led me to have to squeeze myself through a tiny hole (much worse than the chu chi tunnels) where I was generally worried about getting stuck but with some serious twisting and sliding I was able to get through.
After the cave we headed towards the village not knowing that the hardest part of the walk was to come with the last two hours being mostly uphill as we had to go over 7 hills to reach the village by the end of the trek I was on my last legs
and ready to collapse! The village was very rustic with pigs, chickens and ducks everywhere and very basic huts for the locals to live in. We were staying in what seemed to be the largest hut with two floors, a shop and a large kitchen. There was no electricity so we all rushed down to the stream to wash ourselves before the light faded. The lack of light made us even more impressed with our guide as he manged to kill, pluck, prepare our amazing chicken dinner whilst only using a head torch. After dinner we were invited to try some local whiskey which was served out of a giant paint tin - it was actually pretty sweet and not that bad. The locals yet again found my weight hilarious as I was almost 3 times the size of the guy who asked naturally after I told him they demanded that someone so big should drink a lot more whiskey so I drank as much I could not wanting to disappoint them it was pretty strong stuff!
We slept on the top floor of the hut and as we were all so shattered fell asleep straight away only to
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Broken after smashing into the water chest first be woken at 4am by a tropical storm which as we were sleeping under a corrugated iron roof sounded like bullets being fired everywhere. The noise from the storm not only kept us awake for a few hours but turned the whole area into a mud pit. This Sakon said would make it impossible to walk in shoes so we would have to go barefoot to the start of the kayaking but he assured us that it would only take 20 minutes to get there so we were not worried. We soon discovered that Sakon had lied and we had a long walk ahead of us but we didn't mind as we enjoyed the walk and the crazy goat path that was ridiculously slippery leading to several comedy slips before Sakon provided us with branches to use as walking sticks. It ended up taking us two and half hours to get to the river but it was a great experience as I doubt many travelers can say they have walked bare foot through an Asian rain forest.
The Kayaking was loads of fun despite the fact that me and Andrea capsized at least 5 times but it was a
real challenge fighting the rapids and a great feeling on the few times we manage to successfully negotiate them. One of the best parts of the day was when we stopped for lunch on some rocks and Sakon pulled out an entire grilled fish and ribs that he had obviously prepared somehow while we were asleep. We all agreed considering the setting and the past few days it was one of our best lunches we had ever had.
We headed back to Luang Prubang that evening absolutely shattered but all very happy after experiencing so much in the past 3 days. We relaxed over the next two days enjoying the local markets especially the night food market where you could eat amazing local food at an incredibly low price. It was a nice relaxing end to our time in Laos, a county I thoroughly loved for its friendly people and its beautiful scenery. Laos lacks the energy and craziness of Vietnam but is charming in its own way beacuse of its peacefulness and relaxed attitude to everything - 10 days was not enough time to see the whole country and as a result I definitely plan on going back
some da.
I had planned to go back to Thailand to see the north of the country but because of the political problems we decided it was not a good idea so we instead headed to Bali for a week but that's for the next blog.
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Taylor
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I cant wait!!
I will be in Lao in just a couple more months! I have heard its quite the amazing place. I have been planning on renting a motorbike in Vientiane, and riding up to Luang Prabang... Having seen the roads - does that sound possible? keep rolling! Taylor whereistaylor.com