http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Laos , West en-us Mon, 20 May 2013 02:33:40 +0000 Mon, 20 May 2013 02:33:40 +0000 Visiting Luang Prabang in Laos wouldn39t be complete without a tour to the countryside.There are waterfalls biking trails and elephant shelters a few hours away from town but if you have no interest in such things I39d recommend paying a visit to some nearby hill tribe villages.lttable classtrcaptioncontainer stylepadding 4px marginbottom 0.5em color 333333 fontfamily ar http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Nong-Khiaw/blog-783872.html Sabaaidii from Laos After the 15 hour slow boat journey down the Mekong and across the border from Chiang Rai to Luang Prabang we have had a hectic few days in this heritage city. Our arrival on the eve of Lao New Year known as Pii Mai was met with yet more fun with water but here the whole town seemed to either have a water gun or a hose no one was escaping a soaking and the streets were fl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-782465.html It was indeed a very long journey from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng as mentioned in the previous blog it was only 240k but with stops it actually took us just under 9 hours. It was not long before the pretty rough mountain road started to twist and turn and this continued hour after hour. We stopped for a happy house break in a small hamlet where we were surprised to find a block of western l http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-782020.html We said goodbye to our Vietnamese guide Kha in Hanoi and transferred to the airport to board our flight to Luang Prabang Laos pronounced Lao.Officially the Lao People39s Democratic Republic it is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia bordered by Burma and China to the northwest Vietnam to the east Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west. The population is around 6.5 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-781286.html Imagine that much to your surprise you find yourself preparing for a first date at a Lao restaurant. This is that story. As all girls know the story of a date does not start with the date itself. There are outfits to choose and make up to apply and oh wait youre backpacking in Laos. Your least stained vest top and some baggy harem pants should do the trick. Make up is a bit of a push at 35 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-780920.html Nevyspaty som vystupl z busu o 515. Hned tuktuk. Tych som odmietolbolo zbytocne skoro ranopri laoskych lemrach pochybujemze by bol volado na recepcii tak som sa vydal 8km pesi do mesta.Dal som si orieskyzjedol jablko a vyrazil na cestu.Este bola tma ale siel som na vychodtakze fajnovy vychod slnka ma sprevadzal celou cestou. Cesta nezazivnarovinkadomcekybudovy. Stretol som aj par psovti http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-780091.html Na ranajky som spravil zasadnu zmenuuz ziadna kuracia bageta ale pre istotu tuniakova. Ta je uplne najlepsia. Tunika je z konzervy. Potom len odchod na izbuzobratie batohu a smer tubing.Pre pozicovnu dusi som dosol 945ziadny iny ludia okrem mna tam neboli. mam pockat abo zacvakat 20kk za vyvezenie hornemu toku rieky. Tak som pockal. O 5 minut prisiel irsky par a hned za nimi sa valilo 5 thajek http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-779366.html Na ranajky opat bageta s kur.masomdostal som gratis banan.Motorka pozicana ale bohuzial inasom si nepamatal cislo mojej.No nistopat pumpadoplnenie paliva15l a smer zapad.Na druhu stranu rieky som sa dostal cez bezplatny most pri Full Moon baru. Je tu este jeden ale ten je plateny ale zas to je pan mosttoto bola len taka lavka. Po prejdeny mosta som zamieril smerom na juh popri rieke. Sled http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-779270.html Rano som si dal bagetu s kur.masom. Tie predavacky su tam tusim nonstop. Na kazdeho mavaju a volaju komon menresp komon lejdis. Ale i tak na bagetu z Pakse sa tato nechyta. Masa bolo minimum ale i tak sem zajtra behnem zasskusim tuniakovu ale hlavne moje telo potrebuje normalne pecivo.Nakoniec sa do bungalovu stahovat nebudemsom pocital prachy a nevyslo by mi to.Kusok od ubytka som si pozical s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-779267.html Cesta do Vientiane trvala 10 hod. V buse sme vyfasovali 02l vodu 018l dzus a mini keksy. Vysadili nas skoro ranoeste bola tmana juznej stanici vzdialenej 10km odmesta. Po vystupeni klasikahned kopa tuktuk a mototaxi. Ceny 2050kk. Od stanice ma chodit vraj mhd za 3kkcislo 232429 smer Tala Sao . Odtial chodia busy do Vang vien.Siel som k teda k mhd zastavkeco je po vyjdeni na hlavnu cestu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-779209.html Every travel guide says that Luang Prabang is a must see in Laos and everybody we met said it39s an absolutely beautiful place. So not stopping in Luang Prabang for a few days wasn39t an option. It has this similar colonial style feeling of a town lying on the Mekong river as Kratie or Savannakhet but in all possible ways it is much more enjoyable city than the two of them. You do get immidi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-779187.html Parental payup time Jonathan caught a gecko whilst climbing up the side of Kuang Si Falls. The agreed rate for completing this task successfully was 2.50 GBP. The tooth fairy is still to visit for the missing tooth I have been carrying around for over 2weeks too. Not sure how much Dong Vietnam currency she will leave. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-777627.html A nightmare minibus trip ticket 130000 kip each 8000 kip to Aussie dollar from Luang Namtha meant we were particularly pleased to arrive in Luang Prabang. We didn39t enjoy any of the seven hour trip. The minivan driver was really irresponsible the road is full of twists and bends and he went around most of them on two wheels only... Plus Jerry and I were last on the bus and had the tiny http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-777597.html 1319th Mar o.k. so we haven39t quite left Laos the blog meister was waiting for Sophie and Jonathan39s input on earlier activities.It was like a tourist brochure. Kuang Si waterfall was as high as a skyscraper. At the beginning we saw a turquoise pool that was surrounded by trees and boulders. I wanted to just jump in but I knew there would be more. Then we went on and there was another po http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-777189.html 1319th Mar Today we are going to Vietnam but we decided to go on some elephants before. It was really scary because we went down a steep hill. Mum and I were on one elephant on this seat and I felt like I was going to fall out. When we got to the bottom of the hill there was a river. We got into the river and the man said come and sit on the elephant39s neck. I was really freaked out because http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-777123.html Ausing staying an extra day in Hoi An and another extra day in Luang Prabanit and a deadline to get back to Bangkok on the 21st I had little time in Vientiane. And when I say little I mean LITTLE. How little you ask Just 8 hours.The town seems small and adorable and had no doubt that I could accomplish what I had wanted to see while there. Okay to be fair I didn39t really no exactly what I wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-777062.html 1319th Mar We got up at 5am to go and see monks. Anybody can go here and they can put food in the monks pots. The monks come in lines from different temples. Everybody has to be lower than the monks. They can39t beg for their food the food they get is for the day. Everybody who feeds the monks gets a blessing they feed them sticky rice. These three men were eating more of the rice than givi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-776769.html 1319th Mar Today we went to a Stupa after we went up some steps where we saw the Naga a snake. We walked down and there was a humungus river next to us. We went over the Mekong river on a car boat. When we got over there was a little village. At a little road stall there was some sugar cane. I tried some and it was really sweet. Jonathan ... we went back on a canoe it was fast because it had a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-776752.html It is my last morning here in Luang Prabang. I39ve decided to splurge a little and picked a place right on the Mekong River to get breakfast. The weather is beautiful and the scenery fantastic. There are hardly any people out but the silence is broken with some ThaiLaos music and I must say I like that. I got to Luang Prabang the morning of St. Patty39s Day. And by morning I mean 1 am and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-776711.html Vang Vieng was kind of hard to leave. We had such a chilled out time there.On our 3rd day we we hit the tubing place got our tubes and our hands marked with a number each in permanent marker. We were group 913. Everyone in VV wear these florescent tshirtsshortstankshatsbags that say in the tubing..we don39t quite understand this grammatically incorrect phrase but it works for the fara http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-776517.html