Laos

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Hello Again!

Since my last post I have now made my way through Laos to Hanoi in Vietnam, where I am now. I would have updated sooner, but internet was very slow and expensive in Laos....plus I was having too much fun!!!

My hill tribe trek from Chiang Mai was amazing! Coincidentally, there were 2 people from Exeter College at Oxford who were on the trek too.... I didn't get on with them that well though, turns out one of them had been given a grant by college to come on this trip through Vietnam, Laos and Thailand and was spending all the money on alcohol and amphetamine laced redbull! I was not impressed! The others were ok though and there was a nice girl called Sylvie that I got along quite well with. On the first day we drove to an elephant camp and I got a ride on their back to the river and fed them bamboo and bananas! One of the baby elephants came down with us and he was swimming in the river - it was very cute! We then did a 3 hour trek to a Lahu tribe village, that was uphill all the way. It was such hard work and it was so, so hot, but the view from the top made it worth it! Our guide and some of the tribe then made us a nice curry and played the guitar and drums by candlelight (no electricity!). It was really nice. On the second day we walked down the mountain (again it was really steep and quite slippy) to a waterfall, where we went for a swim. After that, we went white water rafting, which was so much fun, I definitly want to do that again and bamboo rafting, which was nice and relaxing. It was a really fun trip overall, but very hard work!


I then began my long trip to Louang Phrabang in Laos. I got a minibus to Chiang Khong on the Thai-Lao border and then boarded a slowboat on the other side, which would take 2 days to get to Louang Phrabang. The scenery was absolutely incredible! Tree covered mountains as far as I could see and little villages along the river bank with local children playing in the river. We stayed overnight in Pakbeng, as the slow boats don't travel at night and I had a really nice, but very cheap hotel and a nice meal with 2 people from the boat. Then at 10.30pm the electricity went out - they're only allowed it between 6pm and 10.30pm apparently!

Louang Phrabang was really lovely. A pretty little traditional town with lots of temples and monks in safron robes and a fun night market! I think it was my facorite town in Laos, I could easily have stayed longer! From there I also visited a huge waterfall that was 60m high - it was a really amazing sight!

I then got a mini-bus to Phonsavan and the 2 girls I met in Chiang Mai on the way to Doi Suthep (Cat and Jo) were on the bus too with their friend (Amy) - I thought I might see them again! I've actually ended up travelling with them from Louang Phrabang to Hanoi. There were also 3 Australain guys from Tasmania on the bus, who were really nice too. We all stayed in the same guest house in Phonsavan and went on the same tour the next day to the Plain of Jars. There are many sites on the Plain and we visited 3 of them, and each of them are covered in jars about 2000-3000yrs old and they're a bit of a mystery because nobody knows why they are there! We also learned that Laos is covered in unexploded ordnance from the Vietnam War, where the US illegally dropped bombs on Laos (which was a neutral country), either to destroy the Ho Chi Minh trail that went through it or simply because the bombers were unable to reach Vietnam from Thailand, where they took off, and so just dropped the bombs on Laos because the didn't want to waste fuel and have to land with the bombs! Now, many children die because they play with them, not knowing what they are, as do many farmers when they plough fields. While we were there we actually heard one go off! I just hope that it was a planned explosion by the team getting rid of them and not a child or farmer.

After Phonsavan, I went with Cat, Amy and Jo to Vang Vieng. We got a public bus, which was fine except that the woman next to me kept throwing up out of the window :-( There was also no toilet on the bus and we had to pee by the side of the road! We really didn't want to, but after 4hrs and with 2hrs still to go, we didn't have much choice! It was especially scary after hearing about all the bombs too! But we survived!!

Vang Vieng was so much fun! We each hired an inner tube and got taken about 4km up river and from there had to make our way back to town along the river in the tube! There were loads of bamboo hut bars along the way and I think we went to about 10 of them! They all had fun things to do as well, like huge slides that fling you off at the end into the river and zip wires that did the same thing. You fell quite a height at the end of them, but it was really good fun! There was also one bar that was really muddy and it had tug of war into a mud pit and mud volley ball...I've washed my bikini, but the mud still hasn't come out properly! By the time we got to the end of the bars, it was dark and we had to travel the rest of the river by star light for about 45mins! It was so pretty though, especially the lightning storm in the distance! We spent the next day recovering watching Friends on cushions in the bars in Vang Vieng!

After that we got another bus to Vientiane, the capital, where we spent a day. There wasn't really much in the way of sights there, but we did walk along Lane Xang Avenue, which is based on the Champs E'lyse (sorry if I've spelt that wrong, Lou!) to Patouxai, which is based on the Arche de Triomphe.

We then got an overnight bus (again, without a toilet!) to Hanoi, which was the absolute worst journey I've ever been on! The drivers were so rude - they made all the westerners sit at the back and even kicked a French guy out of his seat to let a Vietnamese man sit there and made him sit on the floor at the back with us, because there were no more seats left! They played the Lao version of Stricly Come Dancing really loud until 2.30am, so we could hardly get any sleep. At the border we had our baguettes taken away from us, but other passengers were allowed to keep their live birds and even these dead lizards in green watery stuff that at one point fell over, spilling it all down the bus and on Cat's feet! Once in Vietnam, the bus drivers took on what looked like lots of bags of rice for a friend of theirs and moved our bags from the luggage compartment to the roof so they could fit them in! After all this and stopping many times to pee by the side of the road, 25hrs later we arrived in Hanoi!

Hanoi is quite nice, although very busy after laid back Laos! I've been to a few museums about the war, but they weren't that informative. I had a bad taxi ride too - he used the meter, but the price went up really quickly, so I think it must have been tampered with and he tried to charge me 470,000 dong (about $20) for a 5min taxi ride! I refused and called him a cheat and a thief and said I'd pay 100,000 dong (about $4, which is more than reasonable here), at which point he threw my money on the floor and locked the doors! After a bit more arguing he unlocked them and let me out. It was quite scary though!

Tomorrow I'm going to Ho Chi Minhs mausoleum and the Water Puppet Theatre! The day after that I've booked myself on a luxury junk boat cruise for 3 days/2 night on Halong Bay! That, I am really looking forward to!

Sarah xxx

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Comments

[becky and becky]

taxi
did u pay the full price in the end? and becky r says u should not be arguing with him!

[sarahm g]

No. I gave him the 100,000 dong, which is probably double what I should have paid, but a fifth of what he originally wanted. And I didn't argue with him, I didn't give him a chance to say anything back! I just had a big rant at him until he gave in! There was no way I was paying $20!!!