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Cycling
Luang Prabang Huay Xai
Stepping off the Long Boat from across the Mekong, we anticipated a more relaxed (and cheaper!) world in Laos... And didn't find one. If anything the prices here were more expensive, not less, than in Thailand, as the savvy locals on the tourist trail jacked prices up to equal what you would pay back home. Also confusing was everyone's insistance on quoting prices in either US dollars or Thai Baht, when we had just converted all our money to Laos Kip on the belief that it would be commonly used in Laos!
At night we stumbled across a cool little bar that that a couple of europeans were looking after while the Laos owner was away for a month. After a few rounds we called it a night, and the next day left for Luang Prabang via slow boat, with tickets we had bought from a very
shifty salesman. Fortunately these turned out to be legitimate... unlike the hotel reservation our soon-to-be Canadian friends had bought off the same man.
Slow Boat on the Mekong
Now this is an adventure! 100 tourists crammed in like sardines on a boat with one (very slippery)
Monk child
Luang Prabang toilet, for two days. On board we met a great bunch of people who made the trip bearable - Nick + Eloise from England and JP + Tracey from Canadia - who we ended up travelling with all the way down to Vientiane... Actually the booze we bought on the boat, while overpriced, helped a little to sate the boredom as well 😉
At night we stopped off at overpriced Pak Beng for a little R & R, all the while being bombarded by locals offering to sell us anything and everything! Fortunately, the Mekong River truly is beautiful (and wide!!), and made the two day trip well worth it, despite feeling well over it on the second day. One thing I learned though, is that environmental consciousness seems less pronounced in South-East Asia than in developed nations. Perhaps it is because people of the developing nations can not easily see the effects of pollution, or more likely because it is a luxury they cannot afford, but whatever the reason I was shocked when I witnessed the deckhands on the boat tossing empty cartons and plastics over the side of the boat, to be taken by the strong Mekong
Night Bowling
Luang Prabang current. We would later discover in Vientiane one of the various destinations of this carelessness: a plateau off the side of the Mekong covered in unwanted garbage.
Luang Prabang
... is a beautiful, peaceful town filled with French colonial architecture. Fortunately for us, the French left not only their buildings but also
baguettes, because by this point we were certainly craving a little comfort food from home. Rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner gets quite tiring! We spent the first day cycling around town, checking out the leafy streats and various temples. The next day we headed out to Kouang Si, undoubtedly the most beautiful waterfall I have ever witnessed, and this in the dry season! Honestly, the whole place seemed to the eye like it had been photoshopped - green-blue water cascading in many terraces over limestone rocks, the late afternoon sun giving an ethereal glow to the foilage. It was like a dream! We climbed up the trail, and after a quick exploration of a small cave behind one of the waterfalls, spent our time jumping off rocks into one of the higher swimming pools.
At night, Luang Prabang has a
Kouang Si Waterfall
This waterfall over limestone rocks is undoubtedly the most beautiful I have ever seen curfew in force requiring bars to close at 11 and everyone to be indoors by midnight, but we had heard about a cool 'underground bowling bar' out of town where you could continue drinking into the morning. Instead, we found a dingy, neon lit bowling alley, very much above ground, and packed full of loud and drunken tourists. I have a sneaking suspicion that instead of being an infamous and highly illegal hang out, the bowling alley is actually just a very clever way of getting all the annoying tourists away from the residential areas at night, as well as earning some extortionist fares for the Tuk-Tuk drivers on their way back into town.
Vang Vieng... the tubing capital of Laos
Picture this: A scenic river in Laos, hemmed on one side by glorious cliffs, 100 metres high. Now dot that river with bars on either side, pumping out a variety of music from cheesy techno to classic rock. Now give countless tourists rubber tyre tubes and set them off to float down the river, stopping off at the bars to drink booze, shakes and jump off giant swings
Tubing
One of many bars dotting the beautifully backdropped river into the river.
That is the recipe for tubing in Vang Vieng, and makes for the maddest, most random, and most enjoyable experience of our entire holiday. So much so that we tubed for 3 days out of the 4 we were there 😊 Other than that, there isn't much to do in Vang Vieng other than sip mushroom tea and watch Friends. You see, a couple years ago the 'Friends sensation' swept through VV, prompting a multitude of bars and restaurants to show Friends episodes back to back, all day, every day. It's like hell and a meal in one. Fortunately, we also found a Family Guy bar, which I could happily watch for eternity.
After we had our fill of messy drunken tubing, we set off down the river on a kayaking adventure to Vientienne. Unfortunately Trudi was horribly sick that morning and the menacing clouds were sapping both our spirits. The sky cleared, however, and made for a beautiful 4 hour paddle, complete with Grade 1 (pussy level) rapid... Which was more than enough to capsize us! For lunch we stopped off at a 10 metre high cliff, and after jumping off it twice into
Tubing
Mid-swing, about to plunge into the river the water below (well,
some of us did, anyway :P) we enjoyed a tasty chicken and buffalo BBQ cooked by our guide.
Vientiane
Not much to talk about really. The day after we arrived we went to the Buddha Park, which is a park filled with... giant Buddhas. We sadly farewelled our slowboat friends, who had partied with us all the way down to Vientiane, and flew out to Hanoi, Vietnam.
FOR PLENTY MORE PHOTOS, CHECK OUT MY FACEBOOK ALBUM
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25787&l=3f9f5&id=514572825
OR TRUDI'S PICASAWEB
http://www.picasaweb.com/trudesta
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