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Published: March 9th 2010
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Pha That LuangSo finally we could feel the same lovely temperature that we left behind in Goa many, many weeks ago (Vietnam was a huge disappointment when there was only something around +10 degrees in Hanoi). When the airplane landed at Vientiane airport I could feel that humid breeze of air which blew straight against my face at once. At the same time I noticed how passive and quiet was Vientiane's international airport: no rush, no people from the other flights, no pushing to take a tuk-tuk at the airport... So, welcome to Lao!
Firstly we stayed a few days in Vientiane, probably the most laidback capital of the World (as far as I am concerned)! On the first day we already met a bunch of Finnish people (Emppu, Emily, Juuso and Kasperi), who were familiar with my friend. So like all the Finnish always do, we decided to start drinking since they had also just arrived in Laos. It was a very nice night out, resulting in a club on the top floor of probably the most expensive hotel of Laos (they had even an entrance fee, which is quite unheard of here). After surviving the hangover (which is very easy
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In Vientiane to get in the tropical climate) we headed to Vang Vieng, the official party place of Laos, which is especially famous for floating down the river inside a tractor tyre - also known as Tubing. Vang Vieng is not what it was years ago (at least I believe it has lost a lot of its old charm), but it's a great place to party however. There was a party island in Vang Vieng too that becomes alive after the sun sets - lots of bars where they sell buckets and sometimes they stop the music in one bar and ask people to move to another bar where the party continues - I think you have to experience it by yourself, my words are not enough to describe that island. So even though Vang Vieng and tubing aren't so unique anymore, it's still worth visiting if you want to be a party animal amongst the others.
After tubing and partying (don't mix these too much!) we were sure about to have something more peaceful so we decided to book bus tickets to South Lao. Since we weren't certain at that time yet what to do there our destination was Pakse.
So Pakse is the unofficial capital of Laos - and here's the funniest part - because it's so busy and there's so much traffic. The truth is quite opposite, I haven't seen so sleepy city since I was.. maybe in some very steady town in the Finnish countryside! But Pakse is still relatively big compared to Champansak - a town, nothing but one street and that's it. Nearby the town there's one of the UNESCO World heritage sights called Wat Phou - an ancient Khmer temple which is actually a bit older than the famous Angkor Wat, but much smaller and not so spectacular. But we could feel the spirit of Indiana Jones there however. On the other day we visited one nice island near Champansak, where the biggest beaches I've seen yet are located. Totally spotless, undiscovered by tourist masses and nice sand. We met some local children there who were very interested in us (and what we carried with us). I must recommend that island for everyone to go there, if you are in the neighborhood ever.
Many people stay in a place like Champansak for only one or two nights, but we were there four -
I guess the laidbackness and slow motion of Lao is hitting us big time. The last destination where most of travelers are used to end their Lao journey is Si Phan Don or 4000 islands. We were no exception. We decided to cherry-pick only three of these many islands, Don Khong and Don Det & Don Khone (actually those are the most popular, and the others are either uninhabited or hard to get in. The first one seems to be for older people (and especially for the French, oui oui) and the latter are for backpackers and younger people. We rented bicycles for a day and cycled the biggest island around. The little children are very enthusiastic to say hello to westerners and we didn't want to disappoint them so I guess I said 'sabaydee' (salute in Lao language) at least a hundred times. And now we have also seen a Lao countryside and the way how they are living in this country. And I have to say that I envy their easy going life a little.
When Laos is left behind we'll eventually find ourselves next in Cambodia - the land of four Gs. I'm looking forward to
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Just arrived in Vang Vieng it: Most likely it's more hectic than this sleepy country, but that you'll find out in the next episode... Stay tuned!
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Pekka
non-member comment
Hienolta näyttää
Kiva että saadaan uusia kuvia matkan varrelta. Ei ole pojat päässeet laihtumaan. vaikka aluksi näyttikin vähän honolta. Laitapa joskus tarinaa myös ruokapuolesta, ainakin niistä erikoisemmista aterioista. Juomat näyttävät olevan samaa laatua mitä Suomestakin saa hankittua. Mukavaa loppumatkaa. Terveisiä kaikilta kotipiiristä. Iskä