Blogs from Laos, Asia - page 516

We loved Luang Prabang and were reluctant to leave after a few relaxing days. It comes a close runner up to Chiang Mai on our list of favourites. Laos is so beautiful with its stunning hills with limestone peaks. Gorgeous and much of it untouched. We've tried to spend as much time as possible doing things in the outdoors, and the weather is flawless. Cool mornings and evenings, but hot days. Our last 2 days in Luang Prabang we spent at a gorgeous waterfall 30km's from town called Kuang Si Falls. We took a taxi there- the ones i've mentioned earlier with the benches down either side in the back of a converted pick up truck- with erin, evelyn, andrew and tess (a couple). Most of the roads arn't paved here and are dusty and full ... read more

You'll have to bear with me. Just one moment while I rant about the front page of this website. It lists many different entries from various points around the globe. Some are really interesting and others rather mundane. But today there is an old posting from New Zealand. You may remember our trip to NZ which was marked by frequent and troubling rain. There was also a paucity of marine life as we missed seeing both penguins and whales. So today there is a posting with pictures of the penguins which we did not see. These are exceedingly rare so we may never see them without a return to NZ at some time. So I have to yell out loud. Both in jealousy and frustration. We aren't on the front page and we didn't see ... read more

Since we left you, we’ve found our favourite city so far - and had some amazing, humbling experiences in the process. With Lonely Planet describing Luang Prabang (LP) as a ‘jewel...preening herself’ and as a ‘gem’ we new it had to be pretty good. It was great. Not (yet) as touristy or developed Laos moves at a much slower, more relaxed pace than its neighbours. You are hassled less by people trying to sell you things you don’t want, there is less traffic, noise, smells, and more time to relax and enjoy yourselves. There is so much to tell you about Luang Prabang - so I’ll try & cut it down to just a few things. . This entry is solely about the monks - the others will follow shortly. h2The monks. /h2 First, what you ... read more

Laos, one of the most magical and beautiful lands I have ever visited. I had the pleasure of spending one month, coming in on the two day slow boat (okay, it was not really a pleasure, the view of the Mekong was specatacular, but being crammed onto wooden benches with 110 people and a motorbike when there was only room for 45 was tough...fortunately the fumes in the baggage/engine room knocked me out and I was able to sleep through part of it) to Luang Prabang, the most beautiful town I have ever visited. palm trees, french colonial villas, baguettes....our guesthouse was managed by Kong, with a huge smile, who invited his friends over for beer lao parties when they sat in a circle and passed around one cup and invited us to join. Sunsets were ... read more

The ride to Si Phan Don is the longest I've been on so far, it seemed to go forever. The annoying part was that the stupid bus stopped so often...everytime I wake up from a nap, we'd be at a stop for loo or food. I dont think I get memba myself on the bus when it was moving. We also had our CNY reunion dinner on the bus...banana chips for entree, main n dessert. Shared snacks with the locals as well, they didnt stop eating !! Si Phan Don is very village-like. And it kinda reminded myself of the Pulau Ketam trip I did when I was really young. I rented a dodgy n crooked bicycle and went around the islands. There is no traffic on the islands at all as there is only one ... read more

We left you in Thailand, in Chiang Mai. Since then we’ve had some amazing adventures. Lets start with our last few days in bustling Chiang Mai. Originally we’d decided to give the hill tribes a miss as we’d be seeing much more authentic (read way less touristy / westernised) tribes in both Laos & Vietnam. But after chatting to a number of new friends on the way, including many who had done Nam tribes as well as those in Thailand and said that the experiences were different enough to warrant doing both, thought we should do it in any case - and we’re really glad we did. We were very lucky as our tour guide (western name Charlie) was from the Hmong tribe & had also been a Buddhist monk - so much gentler than ... read more

Tho Vientiane is the capital of Laos, it's almost comparable to Klang by the looks of it. It is another boring city to me...didnt feel like spending a lot of time here. So, we did all the sightseeings during the day and decided to leave the next morning. But the night in Vientiane was fun. I met 2 Czechs on the bus and hung out together that night drinking on the (side of) street. There were so many weirdos in the wee hours in Vientiane. A deaf n mute dude was walking pass n decided to join our company. So there we were trying to communicate with him in sign language even tho we've never been trained. It occurred to me that sign language isnt that difficult and I actually understood what he was trying to ... read more