Blogs from Laos, Asia - page 550

THAILAND Our second month in Asia started with a return trip to our least favourite place so far: Bangkok! We survived 3 more days, successfully saw the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, the Snake Farm, markets and Lumphini Park, (which is mental we arrived at 6pm where the whole park stands still for the national anthem! Then everyone runs or joins a free Tài C'hi, Yoga or Aerobics class.) After Bangkok we headed north to Chiang Mai an Awesome place made more special by Noland and Berm who own and run Santitham Guesthouse, the best accomodation we've had would recommend it a lot! In Chiang Mai I completed my level one Thai Massage Course, and Ben learnt to Moped like a Thai man! Additionally we saw the magnificent floral floats from the flower festival, got in ... read more

Arriving in Vientiane, the heat hit us like a blanket. We spent our first afternoon relaxing and planning the next step. That evening we were treated to a show like no other - a ful on fork lightning supreme with thunder like a million drummers and raindrops as big as houses (well Laos houses). We stood on the waterfront sheltering from the raining, mouths open in awe. It was wicked. Our second day we were off early to beat the heat, checking out the sights f the city including several uber busy and crazy morning markets, and the Patuxai, a replica of the Arc de Triomphe. Climbing to the top we could see out across the city, and could feel a slight breeze which was great. We then visited Laos' most important Golden Temple and several ... read more

Breakfast at Café Indochine, cheap and good. Lao coffee is so good! Looked for a nice hotel or guesthouse for our last night in LP. Best ones were booked so we decided to stay where we were at the Mekong. Booked an all day tour for the next day. Walked through the Hmong day market on Xiong Thong and then onto Wat That. On to Wat Aham and Wat Visoun (the “Watermelon Stupa”). Had lunch at Lao Lao Garden. Toured the Royal Palace Museum. Maxed out camera’s compact flash disc, so had to download pics onto CD. Nervous we might lose all of our pictures, but we didn’t. Bought a Lao men’s sarong for Todd, which is all he wears at home now! Looked for Navaingkham Market, but never found it. It started to rain, so ... read more

The Bus from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng was great. Well the bus itself was kinda average but the scenery was fantastic - huge limestone karsts rising out of the mist and into the clouds above. We wove our way high into the hills, the villages of the lowlands slipping away into the distance, before we sped down the other side only to begin the climb again. It was absolutely mind-blowing. The soundtrack? A compilation of Corb's Led Zep faves including Misty Mountain Hop, and Kashmir. Perfect. Arriving in Vang Vieng we grabbed a super cheap but nonetheless comfy room just off the main room. The town itself is pretty small - mainly packed with guesthouses, bars, restaurants and travel agents - and jam packed with tourists. We spent a great few days here and wouldn't ... read more

So to get from Hanoi to Vientiane, Laos, we had to take the bus. An interesting ride, it was... sure lived up to it's name of the "Hell Bus from Hanoi". Gah! The first few hours were fine... our friend Tanya was on the bus... cool. Then, we switched... in the middle of the night... to this crummy smelly bus, half packed with giant boxes and sealed bodybags of goodness knows what (the border-cross busses here have a bit of a reputation, so we hear, for smuggling illicit goods. excellent). We had to wake up a few Vietnamese folk in order to get a seat... random bags of vegetables and other things were evvverywhere. We (luckily) found seats together... it was a packkked ship! And then our journey began... very rickety bus, but it was, however, ... read more