http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Laos , West en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:49:09 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:49:09 BST So I had a 6 am wake up call I've been up in the wee hours a lot this trip. I made it to my bus 630 am930 am so I could meet the girls in Krabi and catch a 12 oclock flight.After 10 mins on the road the bus stoppped and we had to unload to get a new bus. The new bus arrived and it was full. A few Thai ppl jumped on and he told me I had to wait for the 8 am. I insisted and forced my way on http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-304577.html After we the Gibbon Experience we headed for Luang Prabang by slow boat. We managed to get ourselves a nice semiprivate slowboat for the two day trip. We shared with an American family a Swiss family and some random laos people. The scenery along the trip was fantastic and the boat trip was comfortable.We stopped for a night in Pak Beng. It was our worsed night of the trip as the power is only o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-304376.html PrologueHaving spent 6 weeks touring through Cambodia and up through Laos it was high time we split up and headed on our ways. Sophie had a mother to meet in Hanoi and I had to find civilisation breach the outer walls of Asia and stamp my mark on Australia. I really didnrsquot think it was going to be this hard........Day 1 The Beginning Of The End.So here begins the tale of the longest w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-303977.html Ich schreibe diese Zeilen in meinem ersten klimatisierten Zimmer seit ich Vietnam verlassen habe im sehr netten familiren BK Guesthouse in Paksan nach einem langen 150 km Ritt von Vientiane. Dies ist der erste Tag nach ber zwei Wochen an dem mein Fahrrad wieder fit genug fr eine lange Etappe war nach grndlicher Reparatur in einem expatgemanagten Fahrradladen in Vientiane. Anstatt Rad zu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/blog-303952.html Hello all. There's quite a lot thats happened since my last post so I'll try to keep this light so as to not go on forever. I left Hoi An at about two in the afternoon a few days ago on a coach to get up to Hanoi. It's a seventeen hour ride to get to there which means out of the last three days two full days would be spent on buses. Make no mistake about it Vietnam is really really long. After http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-303951.html How can I describe the beauty of Muang Ngoi Neua. To reach this beautiful village in the western region of Laos you have to take a bus from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw and from there the journey is completed by longtail boat. In fine contrast to the road trip to Nong Khiaw which was completely uninspiring the boat journey on the other hand was remarkable. Not even my lethargy or the fear of rats http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Muang-Ngoi-Neua/blog-303832.html Ein Pass lag noch zwischen Vieng Kham und ein paar wohlverdienten Ruhetagen in der Hngematte am Nam Ou.Nach sieben hgeligen Kilometern den Nam Xeng hinauf machte der Hwy 1 heute wieder in etwas besserem Zustand eine Biegung nach Westen und es folgte ein gut 15 km langer kontinuierlicher Anstieg. Von der Passhhe ging es dann gut 10 km bergab und nach weiteren knapp 15 hgeligen Kilometern d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Nong-Khiaw/blog-303605.html So we did arrive eventually. Whenever you encounter another traveler who's just come from Laos they always go on at length about Vang Vieng. The legacy of Vang Vieng chased me everywhere even when I was in Australia And yet somehow I couldn't figure out what was so great about it. By all accounts it was a place to get drunk high and watch Friends or Family Guy. In the daytime you went down http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-303563.html There are a couple of things I neglected to mention in yesterday's motorbike blog We road 677km in 5 days 130km on dirt Patrick now considers himself a dirtbike champion Our top speed was 105km which we only reached on the last day after filling up with Shell fuel The only time we came close to hitting anything was when a little pig ran out in front of us and only veered at the very last m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-303491.html So here's the story of how a twenty hour bus journey turned into something much more.We set off on our twenty hour bus journey and despite our bags being moved from the compartment to the roof the unexplained hourlong stops and consistent breakdowns it was a very successful bus ride. We left Hanoi and 630 pm and arrived twelve hours later at the border of Laos.Getting the Visa on arrival ende http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-303443.html Got back from 2 days of Trekking and Kayaking yesterday which was really fun...The first day we trekked for about 5 or 6 hours in blistering heat and mud ankle deep got very sweaty and very dirty a few people fell down including me but no one got hurt. We got to the village where we would spend the night which was awesome the people were all so friendly and it felt very authentic. It was wha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-303415.html Not to be too cheesy but I will never forget flying into Lao the rugged green mountains were a sharp contrast to the mostly flat Cambodia in which I had just departed. I also found out why Lao was so green our plain landed safely thankfully in middle of the daily monsoons of the rainy season. I splurged in Lao and rented a nice quiet bungalow on the river but it was in the town of Luang Pra http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-303392.html OK I have just spent half an hour writing this blog out TWICE only for it to dissapear on me TWICE. So third time lucky.We arrived in Vientiene yesterday no tubing in Vang Vieng torrential rain every day. Vientiene is the capital and much more obviously a relic to French colonisation than the other places we've been in Laos. All street signs and most shop signs are in both Laos and French http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-303166.html Sabedi allIf someone from Laos tells you a bus will take 8 hours then smiles and says probably less expect a 17 hour trip. That's my advice.We left the capital Vientiane for our short journey up north.. only to be faced with flooded roads mud slides and endless problems with something on the bus called the radiator.. By about 12 way there Ari and I were having the time of our live http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-303093.html Interessanterweise gibt es in Houay Xay kein einziges gutes Restaurant. Das Deen hatte die wohl schlechteste indische Kche die ich je gegessen habe und ansonsten gibt es nur einfache Lokale mit Standard Lao Kost wie Laab mit Sticky Rice mal besser mal weniger gut zubereitet.Dennoch blieb ich noch ein paar Tage hier las entspannte und fuhr ein wenig Fahrrad. Mehr gibt es hier auch nicht zu t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Ban-Houayxay/blog-302665.html Hello hello Tout d'abord desole pour le silence d'une semaine mais il semble que le serveur soit allergique a nos blagues a 2 balles. Apres avoir ecrit 4X le meme blog on devenait fou mais il semble que les choses soient rentres dans l'ordre. Bref. On a passe les derniers jours dans une petite ville vietnamienne Nin Binh au milieu d'un site comparable a la baie d'Along mais sur terre bai http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-302254.html Headed over to Chaing Kong so we could get in to Laos. It took five hours and it was absolutely pissing it down not that it mattered as we were in a bus. Got to the border about 730 the next morning and crossed over in to huay xai its pretty much 'how say'. Pretty much spent the next day and half on a boat stopping at a few villages and the cave of a 1000 Buddhas. Stopped over night in Pak Ben http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-302182.html Still no word....But on to happier subjects...I'm in Luang Prabang which is supposed to be one of the nicest cities in South East Asia. The city has dozens of temples I'm not going to see all of them.... but I'll try and get my fair share in. The city has a very cool market if I had deeper pockets or more importantly a bigger bag I could go crazy here. They have quite a few street food vendor http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-301815.html hello all we arrived in vang vieng 2 days ago but haven't got to do any tubing yet. it rained very heavily from wednesday afternoon until friday morning the water level of the river rose by a metre so they're not letting anyone do it at the moment. it's sunny at the moment so hopefully if there's no rain for a while we'll get to it before we leave. there were a few mudslides on the journey from http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-301808.html Hi everyone Thanks for all the comments and notes. Not sure how to get them to show for anyone else but we do get to read them and love everything you have to say Even you sarcastic buggers are appreciated..you know who you areWe're now in lovely Laos after a few hectic days in Vietnam. Since last writing we had our boat adventure around Halong Bay and our special treat on Cat Ba island. The http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-301353.html Die ersten zwei Stunden der neunstuendigen Busfahrt von Luang Prabang nach Vientiane der Hauptstadt von Laos erschienen mir ewig. Doch danach gings dann. Ab Vang Vieng die TouriFalle welche ich vermieden habe war der Bus fast leer.Und wieder einmal hat mit das Glueck in die Haende gespielt. Nachdem ich ne halbe Stunde Guesthouse suchen und die meisten voll waren bin ich ueber Daniela d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-301328.html What an exciting few weeks. As some of you may be aware we had a little problem with money for a short while but despite this i assure you we kept perfectly healthy and didn't run into any serious trouble. It did however significantly affect where we went in Laos and in close to a month we have visited only 3 places putting us severely behind schedule.Our first stop Vientiane the capital of Laos http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-300883.html So I'm in Vang Vieng now... we met a Canadian girl and Irish guy on the bus up here so have been hanging out with them Vang Vieng is very touristy people come here to get drunk and tube down the river.So all 4 of us went tubing one day had a blast and decided to go again yesterday...Donal The Irish guy isn't the best swimmer so he was wearing a life jacket he took it off to swing and jump in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-300434.html Once more folks we forgot the USB cable for the camera so cannot upload photos no matter how many times you ask us to. We are working on a way of getting them up and believe me we are as frustrated as youYesterday we went kayaking on the Mekong hard work I can tell you the water was very still so as soon as you stopped paddling you stopped completely our wee arms had to keep going. I was http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-300425.html Liput Luang Nam Thahan oli varmasti koko matkan paras ostos ja suunnitelman muutos paras paatos Muuten meilta olisi oikea Laos jaanyt taysin nakematta ja kaikki upea kokematta. Ollaan melottu kajakilla Mekongin sivujoessa ja koskissa vierailtu eri etnisten ryhmien kylissa mopoiltu riisipeltojen keskella ja sademetsavuorilla ja seurattu tavallisten laoslaisten elamaa. Kaiken taman jalkeen kaikki http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-300029.html Schon vor zwei Jahren war ich in Luang Prabang und bin nun zum zweiten mal hier erster Eintrag . Da Luang Prabang seit 1995 unter dem UNESCO Weltkulturerbe steht hat sich auf den ersten Blick in der Altstadt nicht viel geaendert. Luang Prabang bleibt wohl auch weiterhin von grossen Hotelanlagen verschont. Doch sehr bemerkenswert ist der Zuwachs an Touristen. Inzwischen ist Luang Prabang wohl k http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-299934.html Well it was a bit of a trial to make it to Luang Prabang a 2 day boat journey that was both fun and punishing particularly on our poor spines The second day of boating was by far the hardest as we didn't even have a seat which put our comfort level down to zero but all of us that were relegated to the floor made the most of it putting paid to the old phrase we're all in the same boat. Made http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-299932.html Text to Follow http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/blog-299907.html After leaving Luang Prabang we continued south to Vang Vieng. We met a great group of Brits in Luang Prabang and we all decided to travel together until we parted ways a week or so later. Vang Vieng is an interesting little town... There's not much to it but it seems to double in size due to all the backpackers. The restaurants cater to this by doubling their food prices and showing the TV http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-299903.html We had two options to get to our next destination luang prabang a slow boat which takes two days with an over night stop over or a quick boat which takes 6 hours no brainer we thought and bought two tickets fort he next day. some fellow travelers warned us that they had heard some horror stories and we were the only people we met that we taking the fast boat. we consulted my lonely planet sou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-299471.html