Laosing around

Asia » Laos
July 24th 2006

Published: July 24th 2006

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Emmet

Slow Boat

View along the Mekong - the photos just don't do it justice

Crossing into Laos it is immediately obvious how different things are to Thailand! This place is excellent, I have really come to love it and will probably spend more time here than in any other part of Southeast Asia.

Houy Xai was the border crossing town in the north. After spending a quiet night there and missing the world cup final (didn't really care!) we got the 2 day slow boat to Louang Phrabang, This was an overcrowded extravaganza of different nationalities and personalities, and I met about 20 different travellers who I would continue to bump into for weeks. Pak Beng was a nuts gangster town which served as a stopover on night one, then on to Louang Phrabang the next day.

Louang Phrabang was amazing, totally laid back and different in every way to all that I saw of Thailand. Such a lush green town, great people and scenery, and it was hard to leave.

We moved on to Phonsavan, a small town in the east where we visited the Plain of Jars and saw a lot of the damage done by secret and Illegal (surely not, I hear you protest!) American bombing of a country

Beer Vendor, Slowboat

A nasty alcohol pusher...

not even at war with them in the late 60s and early 70s. The impact of unexploded ordinance in the region is still severe as the amount of bombs dropped in Laos was higher than that in Vietnam itself! A bit of a strange night out there, and then off the next day. The bus journey was many things - very scenic (up over wee mountain passes looking down into misty valleys and little jungle huts) very scary (lots of people with AK 47s and other guns, not all in uniform or even adults!) and just plain strange (Laos traditional music full blast in the darkness to keep the bus driver from snoozing and the bus from plunging 100s of meters into the jungle below the pass)

Vang Vieng sucked us in for much longer than expected. This is a town set in the most idylic surround - karst cliffs and amazing river. All of the cafes have special menus "happy and funny for you", and you can go rock climbing, river tubing, kyaking or simply sit on a balcony and take it all in. Loads of suckers spent their time there watching back to back episodes of friends

Up the falls on the 12th of July

I absolutely had to steal that caption as it was far too good. I am going to be shot for that photo no doubt, but it was funny. We tried to find some monks marching in orange but alas!

but there was more fun to be had touring the little river islands and swimming in caves. There was a lot of rain over the period we were there so some of the flooding was pretty spectacular.

Vientaine hadn't got the best reviews from people travelling the other direction, but I have been really plesantly surprised - enough to stay here 4 days and counting! Phil and Gareth are away on South now and I'll probably begin to meander in that direction tomorrow, enjoy the photos, and please look at Gareth's blogs as they're usually more comprehensive than mine. He has about 6 now, go back and have a look through them!

G's past blogs are linked below:

Plain of Jars

Slow boats, gangsters and randomness

Jungle Trekking

Last Day in BK - On to Chang Mai

Getting out of Scam City

Still haven't left BK.

These are copyright of ASBO holidays. I'm a bity lazy with mine, but at least it's a good way to send pictures.

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