Mekong Memories

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The first thing that comes to mind about our travels in Laos is how extremely laid back and relaxed it is. It has been a breath of fresh air coming here, especially after leaving Thailand, where life is constantly hectic. Certain streets resembles a ghost town and everything closes between 10.30pm and 11pm. Laos has made the decision not to cash in too much on tourism, but preserves what their country has been and is like for their guests who come to visit. From the minute we arrived I could see what the real Laos was like, and I love it. However, this seems to clash with the fact that the country has been made famous by being the most bombed piece of land in history.

Where we entered Laos at Huay Xai, one side of the Mekong river was Thailand and the other Laos. We crossed the border on a small wooden boat and arrived in Laos excited. Upon our arrival we were greeted by a friendly young man who was to ensure that we made it onto the slow boat okay, presumably hired by the ticket operator in Thailand. The slow boat was scheduled to take two days, an eight hour boat to Pak Beng on the first day, then ten further hours to Luang Prabang the next day. The guy blurted out his pitch and managed to persuade us to pay a little bit extra and take the fast boat, due to arrive in Luang Prabang after six hours. He was very persuasive, and the fast boat seemed like the much better option. We payed for the upgrade and jumped in the tuk tuk to take us to the jetty. It was at that point that one of the girls whom also agreed to it exclaimed that she read in her Bible, the Lonely Planet, that these boats were dangerous, accidents occurring weekly She wanted to back out, but her boyfriend refused. Then we saw the boat. Literally a small wooden long boat with a car engine on the back. We had the smallest gap to sit in for the entire journey, and had to wear life jackets and motorbike helmets. Normal people would have backed away then, but for some reason we were too impatient for the slow boat. We bypassed a slow boat at one point in the journey, and it was slower than a snail slithering backwards. The journey was a bit bumpy at times, particularly when we went over tiny whirlpools in the river, but we survived it. It would have been easy to hit some debris or a rock sticking out of the water, which would have immediately caused the boat to flip and capsize. Luckily, it being the end of the monsoon season, the water level is high enough to prevent this, but in the dry season it could have been fatal. Anyway, we survived, we got there, although I was fearing for my life most of the journey, and I don't scare that easily. For those debating which course to take, weigh up the pros and cons, speed or safety. For us, one less day on the boat meant one less day of Couch moaning, it was worth it!! (Only joking Couch!!). Our option allowed us to stop outside the Pak Ou caves along the river, where a massive limestone cave has become the graveyard for unwanted Buddha images and statues. We were expected to pay for the pleasure though, and the buggers dropped us off at a jetty that was not far enough along the river, in order for their friends the tuk tuk drivers to rob us of more money before we arrived in town. One big money making scam really, but at least we got there quickly.

The first night in Luang Prabang we splashed out for a rather swish four bed room, which came with a large coffee table and cushions, and even had a chandelier in it. It was massive. We fully appreciated this room for the one night that it was available.
I instantly took a liking to this town. It is incredibly neat and tidy, beautiful in every respect, and so chilled out, amazing and refreshing. We spent a lovely sunny day walking around the town and absorbing all the sights. Luang Prabang is full of French Colonial architecture, making it a pleasure to look at, thus making it one of the most pleasant towns that I have ventured in since being away. Tall palm trees line the streets, and the buildings are painted in an array of multi colours. We climbed the 400 stairs leading up to a Buddhist temple called Phi Si, where it was possible to see a 360 degree view of the whole town, the river Mekong and the surrounding mountains, incredible scenery. There was also a working Buddhist monastery behind the temple where trainee monks were hanging out their orange fabric to dry. Such a beautiful and relaxed city.

It was not long before we moved on. The next place on route was Vang Vieng, the town of TV bars! I have to admit that we did restaurant/bar hop, since one evening it was raining, to watch the random films or episodes of some sort of series. However, we did have to leave the area after six bars in a row were playing Friends, the same episodes we watched in a hungover state back in Bangkok. I can't get enough of it myself, but the others weren't keen. The main reason we stopped here was to go tubing down the Nam Song river. It was an incredibly fun day. We floated down the river quite quickly and came across the first makeshift bar along the river side and were pulled in by men holding big sticks. We had heard about the swings, but did not expect them to be in the style of trapeze swings and really huge. They seemed to get bigger the more we floated down the river, and consequently, the more pissed we got. We headed off at about 12.30 in the afternoon, and were probably pissed an hour later. It was so much fun swinging, but the alcohol didn't give me more confidence, it made me worry a bit more about being able to swim against the flow of the river and back into shore. It was needless worry. One time that Lucy swung out, she landed sideways into the river and managed to cleanly split her shorts as if there was a seam there to begin with, leaving her with a massive bruise. She got a cheer from the crowd though. We spent the whole day playing on the rope swings, even through the rain, then carried on in town when we floated in.

We travelled on the local bus down to Vientiane. The most memorable thing I remember about this journey was that one local hopped on the bus with two chickens that were bound by their feet. They clucked for the duration of their journey.

It was strange to look at Vientiane as a capital city, since it is actually smaller and less populated than Portsmouth. Strange. We hired bikes to explore the city. We cycled along the river front towards the city's oldest temple, Si Sacket, then inland towards the Patuxai monument. It was a bit of a dive, and not well kept together for a national monument, but the view at the top, after avoiding all the conveniently placed market stalls on the way up, was worth the entrance fee and the effort. We visited the markets and main shopping area, and was actually shocked at how small it was, and how incredible it was to be in a place that wasn't controlled by commercialism. There is no MacDonald's, Burger King, KFC, I like that fact. It was not an amazing city, and there was not a great deal to do, but that didn't really matter, although it spurred us to move on quickly.

We once again travelled by the local bus down south to Savanakhet. It took about eight and a half hours, and the only stop the diver made in the first six hours was by the side of the road in the bushes. I didn't even realise that we were stopping for a piss brake until all the locals ran off the bus into the bushes, even the women. Before I knew it they were back on the bus and we had headed off again. I just waited until we got the next bus station. When the buses pull into a small town they always seem to stop to pick up women selling food on sticks. They walk up and down the bus trying to sell whatever crispy meat or doughnut that's on the end of it, before being dropped off a little further up the street. If they didn't get on they would thrust it through the open windows to try and get your attention. I never bought any of it, it always looked a little wrong. Our bus was also transporting a motor bike on the roof, usually rice and other crops fill the gang ways inside, cheaper transportation for them I guess. Always an interesting journey on the local bus.

We stayed in Savanakhet for one night only. It was the most non touristy place I think I have seen in Asia, a pleasure to see, however, it meant that there was not much to actually do.
Loads of the houses had open fronts, the living room leaded straight out onto the the main road. I'm sure they must close/lock up some how, but I don't think crime is much of a problem, there was a really relaxed atmosphere and the streets were full of children playing and adults talking. The houses are a lot more run down here, some look as if they may actually fall down, contrasting to the previous towns/cities we have seen.
Whilst walking around the town we saw a Handicap International car, the company Lucy's dad worked for when he lived in Savanakhet, working to remove the landmines that have been left from the presence of many wars.
In the morning we had time to visit the Dinosaur museum, or rather room. Inside lay the fossils and bones that have been found in several archaeological dig sites around Laos, particularly Savanakhet and Luang Prabang. All the text was in Lao and French, so although it was possible to understand a few sentences it was not the most interesting of information that was written there, so unfortunately most of it was lost on us. A tuk tuk then took us to the bus station to head onto Pakse.

We awoke with slight disappointment on our first morning here. We had planned a motorbike trip into the Bolaven Plateau to visit some notable waterfalls and the coffee plantation. It was raining. That put an end to that idea, but we did decide to hire a tuk tuk and driver to take us instead, loads of fun. Chauffeured around for the day. We were taken higher up into the mountains and through small villages of wooden huts that lined the sides of the roads. The younger kids took delight in waving to us as we passed, where some of the older kids gave a one fingered salute!
The first waterfall was called Tad Fane and was 120 meters in height, one of the most spectacular falls in Laos, it was incredible. It appeared to be inside a massive hole in the middle of the jungle. Absolutely crazy to look at, couldn't even see the bottom of it from where we were looking, so powerful. a massive noise in the middle of a silent forest and chilled out country, another complete contradiction.
To get to the second waterfall we passed through a coffee plantation, it may sound stupid but I didn't realise that coffee grew on trees. Tad Niang was smaller in height, but the sheer width and volume of water that cascaded down it rendered it just as powerful as the fall before. I got soaked from the splash back.
It was in Pakse that we seemed to get stalked by a local tuk tuk driver, really desperate to take us somewhere, well, erm, take our money. Whilst sitting at a table in a restaurant the driver drove past slowly and shouted to us to get our custom, erm, I don't think I need a ride anywhere when I am eating my dinner, thanks.

Thought we would catch the local bus again heading down to Si Pan Don, or 4000 islands, then it turned out to be a larger version of the tuk tuks that we have been hailing for short journeys. The seats were hard, and there were loads of us crammed into a small space, but I still enjoyed the ride. One of the locals fell asleep on Couch's shoulder, aahh, looked so sweet!! It was great being in a vehicle with no windows, much better than air con!
Si Pan Don is a collection of 4 thousand islands in a wide section of the Mekong river, at the end of the rainy season the river can be as wide as 8-12 kms. Not all islands were habitable, some you could only just stand on. We stayed on Don Det, where it is notoriously cheap for accommodation, only one pound twenty five pence per night, with private bathroom, and massive communal balcony with hammocks and dinning table, all overlooking the Mekong. Found paradise again. We spent a few days down here, but had to return to Pakse earlier than planned, run out of money and the closest ATM was a two hour drive away, bummer!!
The neighbouring island of Don Khon was joined by the remains of an old railway bridge built during the French occupation, and the only railway ever built in Laos. It's purpose was to transport the imports and exports going to and from Cambodia. We crossed the bridge and explored the other island. We spent a day walking around, visiting the Tat Somphamit waterfall, which translates to dolphin waterfall, as is the home of a rare breed of fresh water dolphin. It was wider than any other fall I have seen before, looked fun to white water raft down, albeit dangerous. Nearby was also a beach, yes we managed to find a beach in a river, what are the chances. The sandy beach was in a massive eddy in the river, which protected the area from the strong passing current, as well as having some help from the shrubbery sticking out of the water. I tried to have a swim, but it didn't seem to get any deeper than knee height. It looked as if the glitter fairy had payed the beach a visit and left millions of shinny gold flakes in the sand, a beautiful sight to be seen.
On a separate day we hired bikes and tried to cycle the length of the old railway across the island. We almost got to the end when Lucy got a puncture in her back wheel. It had to happen to someone, it was barely a path and covered with chunky bits of broken rock. I was certain that it would be me, going by my track record with punctures before I came away. Needless to say, we walked back. It was hot that day too, thankful for my cold shower.
The islands are an incredibly relaxing place, just when I thought that Laos couldn't get anymore chilled out. Not just for tourists either, many people live there too, including the president of Laos on one of the bigger islands. Families get some income from opening bungalows or a restaurant, but most grow and cultivate fields of rice. As we walked around I saw many people separating the rice from the sheaths, and plenty more attending to the fields. Animals also lined our paths. They get tethered up to something, often a tree, and roam around where they can. We encountered cows, donkeys, buffaloes, pigs and the chickens just roamed around as they wished.
We drank a lot of the local tipple, Lao Lao. It is a home brew of whiskey made from rice. It was served neat in a glass with chunks of chopped up fruit, the longer it was left, the more syrupy the liquid. I became quite fond of it.

It has been a bit of a headache paying with two currencies, the Lao kip and the US dollar, calculating everything between three currencies, and carrying around a lot of money. We have learnt not to trust the guide books, whoever said that there was only one international cashpoint in the whole country must have been travelling with their eyes shut. There was at least one everywhere except the islands.

We then found ourselves back in Pakse with nothing to do as we waited for our flight to Cambodia the following day. Only two flights a day, one entering and one leaving, very basic. The staff did look bored out of their minds. I have really enjoyed travelling around Laos, possible the only place in the world that hasn't been ruined by western ideals and practices, where life is still as simple as it should be.

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Photos

Tuk Tuk Mate?
Vientiane transportation.

French Colonial Architecture
The streets of Luange Prabang.

Luang Prabang
View from the top of the Phi Si Temple.

Streets of Vang Vieng
Colourful front to a stunning backdrop.

Sunset Over The Nam Song River.
In Vang Vieng.

All The Fun Of Tubing.
Adam and Lucy playing on the rope swing.

Rope Swinging
Me and Lucy about to take the plunge.

Swinging Adam
One of the many times.

Swinging Couch
Also one of many times.

What You Looking Worried For?
Tubing down the river, after a few drinks and swings.

Patuxai Monument
Vientiane.

Tad Fane
The massuve hole in the middle of the forest.

Tad Niang
Taking this picture I got soaked from the spray of the falls, then my camera steamed up preventing me from taking any more for 20 minutes!

Comments

[Eoghan]

Wow that sunset picture is beautiful. I'm definitley tempted to go to Laos. Eoghan

[christine]

Laos sounds very relaxing and those beautiful waterfalls ... how lovely .... poor Lucy .... split shorts .. big bruise and a puncture ....glad you all look so healthy despite all the booze... love you .. mum xxxx