Blogs from Laos, Asia - page 522

It's been rainy and overcast since Friday so the photos are just ok. I'm going to stay until Wednesday so maybe I will have some luck tomorrow and get some good light. Il pleut depuis Vendredi alors pour les photos ce n'est pas l'ideal. Peut etre demain... And also if anyone out there is planning a trip to Laos I cannot speak highly enough of the Footprint guide I've been using. The people with the Lonely Planets are all complaining and asking to borrow my Footprint - it's been really reliable and accurate and I'm happy I chose it, you can get one here: http://www.footprintbooks.com/SECTIONS/guides/book.asp?productid=274 sorry I can't do a link because there are no square brackets on this keypad...... read more

Given our short time left we weren't able to travel overland. We flew into Laos from Siem Reap, Cambodia. Our flight on Laos Airways (the only airline that flies from Siem Reap into Laos) was quite the experience. We'd read a lot about how the airline doesn't publish safety records and that it's rumoured the pilots land by sight. However, we read an equal amout of literature saying the major routes into cities are perfectly safe and it's just the rural flights you have to be wary of. The flight itself was absolutely perfect, although Nathan and I completely freaked ourselves out by reading, just before takeoff, that "Laos Airlines has yet to pass any international standards for safety." Nathan literally broke into a sweat and we were laughing so hard from the sheer absurdity of ... read more

Okay so now that we've left Laos I can tell you something scary! We got on our first local bus....and I spotted a man with an AK47 gun....pretty big gun..poking out the bottom of his shirt!! Looked a little seedy and wouldn't sit down and was standing next to us.....nobody told us that they were working for our protection and not out to kill us!! We were a little stunned by all of it and not knowing any better about the situation calmly went to the back of the bus to sit with these two boys also travelling and alerted them of the gunman...stuffed our money down our bras and had a couple of plans worked out in case of anything! But it turns out they are bus officers because a few years back driving through ... read more

Why catch a bus when you can kayak? Why indeed? At least that was our way of thinking that lead us to decide to take the water route rather than the road. We started the day bright and early, jumping into a bart bus we head off for an hour till we reach the small village of Ban Lok. It is here we disembark and are given the safety talk which was all well and good till he mentions - "If you capsize, make sure you stay hold of the boat, and avoid the whirlies, because they will suck you under the water. If you are in one, just wait till you hit the bottom, then use your legs like springs to push your way to the top of the water and swim out." "Ok.... so ... read more

Tout va tres bien a Luang Prabang. Je viens d'arriver apres 8 heures de bus alors je suis un peu fatiguee. Depuis ma derniere poste je suis allee a Sam Neua (un autre monde - c'etait genial - pendant les deux premiers jours il n'y avait pas d'electricite de tout dans toute la ville, alors pour l'internet...) et ensuite Phonsavan (ou l'electricite ne marchait que de 19 heures du soir au 7 heures du matin). Ici a Luang Prabang il parait que l'electicite marche 24 sur 24 alors demain je vais profiter pour mettre des photos de mes recents aventures... Arrived safely in Luang Prabang. 8 hours in the bus and I'm tired so perhaps I will rest tonight and then tomorrow I will update with my Sam Neua and Phonsavan photos. I've had lots of ... read more