Blogs from East, Laos, Asia

We are up early to catch our bus to Sam Neua. The restaurants are closed so we grab a scrambled egg roll at the bakery and buy another two plus some cake for the journey. A tuk tuk arrives to take us through the cold morning air to the out-of-town bus station. Here, a weird man decides to rush up to hug Ian. It’s a bit of a shock but even worse when he tries kissing and licking him! He is surprisingly strong as we both try to pull him off. At first we thought he was attempting to pick his pocket, but actually it turns out to be an over friendly gesture by an unstable person. Our bags are stashed on a minibus roof and then we are handed a carrier bag and told to ... read more

We arrive at the bus station on the outskirts of Phonsavan an hour early - that’s a bit of a buggar really as it’s only 5am, it’s freezing cold, our guest house is bound to be locked up and we now have to vacate our nice warm beds on the bus! The journey was reasonably comfortable although the winding mountain roads did throw us around a bit. Outside, a tuk tuk driver is right on hand to assist us - of course he is - he wants 80,000 kip to take us the couple of km into town. That’s outrageous, more than a taxi in the UK would cost! And it’s a share tuk tuk at that. I remain firm that we are not interested in paying tourist prices...and since it’s only 5am, we may as ... read more

Before coming to Laos over one month ago, I was naively unaware of the many historical treasures that this country holds. In Vientiane, the current capital of Laos, one will find the Patuxai, an "Arc de Triomphe"-like structure built between 1957 and 1968 to commemorate the independence of Laos from France in 1949. Similarly, in Luang Prabang, one will find numerous Buddhist temples and monasteries in a city that was once the royal capital of the Kingdom of Laos until the Pathet Lao (a communist political movement and organization) took it over in 1975. But this past weekend, I traveled to Xieng Khouang, a province of Laos that is far less frequented than either Vientiane or Luang Prabang. Yet, despite its relative lack of attention from tourists, Xieng Khouang is home to a dizzying array of ... read more

The Plain of Jars is quite a curiosity. Hundreds of neolithic jars are scattered around the landscape and archaeologists' opinions about them are at odds with local legends. Staying in Phonsavan gives you a great base from where to explore the area, but getting there is something of an adventure in itself! We had booked our bus tickets with an agent in Luang Prabang. That meant we were collected from our hotel and taken to the bus station, quite some way out of town. Our driver seemed to be on some kind of errand run on the way as he stopped several times to pick up and deliver packages and, more surprisingly, sandwiches! Most travellers have experienced what came next. You get to the bus station and see a decrepit bus at the stand you expect ... read more