Advertisement
We heard enough horror stories about the bus journey from Hanoi to Vientiane to convince us to shell out the extra dollars for a flight. When we arrived the first thing that struck us was how quiet it was- no horns were beeping! Vientiane seemed like a nice city- pretty small, with a population of about 200,000. In fact Laos is pretty sparsely populated compared to Vietnam. There are ~86 million in Vietnam and only ~7 million in Laos. I know Vietnam is bigger but not by that much.
The French influence is really obvious in Vientiane with lots and lots of French style restaurants and cafes around and of course the replica Arc de Triomphe- a gift from the French. The city was really pleasant to stroll around- a welcome relief after Hanoi. Pollution didn't seem to be as big a problem either- we could actually see the sky and none of the locals felt the need to wear dust masks which was nice. Apart from temples and a huge Buddha park there wasn't a whole lot to see in Vientiane and so we moved on fairly quickly.
The next stop was Vang Vieng, known to backpackers for
Vang Vieng
Chillin out tubing. Apparently you can't go to Vang Vieng without trying this so off we went one morning with our huge tubes to float down the Nam Song river and visit the shack-like bars which were set up on the riverside. The first casualty of the day was my shorts- Eddie was supposed to be looking after them but they managed to float away... Aw well the rucksack has been kinda heavy since Vietnam anyway. We visited a few of the bars as we floated downstream or to be more precise we were dragged in by the locals. We also had a go on the rope swings- great craic as long as you don't spend too much time worrying about how safe they are. Definitely no safety standards to be met around here! The second casualty of the day was my tube- slightly more serious than the first. I got caught on a branch and punctured it so I had to hitch a lift with Eddie. We managed to catch up with a few British girls that were in our group- they made a raft and carried me downstream. Just a little embarrassing! While we were in Vang Vieng we stayed
in a really nice place by the river- the scenery was absolutely amazing but unfortunately we don't really have any pictures that do it justice. The rest of our time here was spent relaxing and watching "Friends". If you've been here you'll know what I mean! All of the bars and restaurants show re-runs all day long. Nice for a while but could get pretty annoying if you were sticking around for a while.
Our final stop in Laos was Luang Probang. We spent a couple of days in this "city" and really enjoyed it. This place has lots of charm -a great spot to relax and enjoy the atmosphere. You could sit and people watch or monk watch here all day long and nobody would offer to sell you anything. Actually we weren't asked to buy anything since arriving in Laos and only very occasionally did a tuk-tuk driver offer his services. In Luang Probang we did a bit of elephant trekking which was okay- they move fairly slowly so its not exactly hugely exciting and they are kinda smelly. We also did a trek up to two hill tribe villages which was pretty cool. The villages we
Luang Probang
Night market - food stalls visited were fairly basic but I thought they were nice. The people living in them obviously took huge pride in their homes and surroundings- everywhere was spotless. The trek wasn't a touristy trail at all which was good as we just strolled around the villages at our ease. The locals didn't pay too much attention to us. I was surprised to learn that there are three different cultural groups in Laos, each of which speak a different language. Our guide couldn't even communicate with most of the people in the villages. In the second village there was one English speaking guy and I had an interesting chat with him. There are definitely some strange customs among these communities!
On our last day in Luang Probang I decided it was time for some R&R so I went for a massage and a facial - Eddie went for a beer! The traditional Lao massage was pretty severe and though I relaxed after a while I will be in no rush to get another one. I believe the Thai ones are even worse!
The food in Laos was pretty good- the French influence meant we had more variety than in Vietnam
anyway. Laos is my favourite country in SE Asia so far, but Eddie is undecided- he thinks South Vietnam may have been better.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.273s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 12; qc: 28; dbt: 0.056s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb