Beer Lao - the beer of the wholehearted people

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It feels like it's been eons since Pai..we left Pai (quite unwillingly but excited nonetheless). To where we are now (Vang Vieng, Laos) we took:

A 7 hour mini van

A tuk tuk

A 2 day slow boat

A 3 hour mini van

A 4 hour ride in the back of a truck with 23 people in it

A tuk tuk

A 9 hour (was supposed to be only 6!) bus ride through the mountains

We'll go back to the 2 day slow boat This was a really cool experience, the trip was divided over 2 days, 9 hours on the boat each day. We had a stop over at a small village for the night as well. The slow boat is an open aired boat, seats about 70 people on old bus seats that are bolted to its wooden frame. By this point we made friends and had a group of about 10 of us which made it really fun (the cheap Beer Lao helped as well 😊 ) and the time went by very quickly.

We arrived in Luang Prabang and quickly found a cheapie room for $9 a night with hot water and wifi; Woo hoo!! We stayed 4 days in LPB and loved every minute of it, although the 2 day slow boat leading up to was beautiful and sunny..as soon as we stepped foot in LPB it was chilly, grey, and raining! We still made the best of it and even visited this fantastic waterfall where we swam in the rain. Great fun. The entrance to the waterfalls also has a bear conservation area with about 10 Lao black bears running around. They have a big area with lots of "toys" and even hammocks to sleep in! In Northern Lao the bears get poaches and so they opened this conservation to rescue the bears.

Luang Prabang was a French Colony and so the main street consists of shops with shutters and lots of bakeries. Definitely not what you would expect in Northern Laos. We also decided on a "cultural" day and went to visit the King's palace with a museum inside. On the same morning we walked up about 200 steps to a Wat on a hilltop, with fantastic views of the whole city. The history surrounding this whole area is quite interesting.

There are over 30 Wats around the LPB area and each morning the gongs go off at 4am to awake the monks in their temples. They get up and start the day by meditating and chanting in their respective Wats. At around dawn they head out to the streets of LPB to receive alms from the people. Locals set up their 'station' consisting of small stools for sitting and baskets of sticky rice and fruit. As they monks walk in silence in a single file starting from oldest to youngest (generally), they stop at each 'station' and receive a small amount of food from each person. This is done in silence. What a sight, to see the rows of orange clad monks walking barefoot and in silence to receive the food that will last them for the day. Apparently people come from all over the surrounding area to give alms as is it considered good Karma. We sat there quietly on this foggy damp morming and had the most humbling experience yet. There are vendors who will tried to sell us packets of sticky rice and fruit but we were told under any cicrumstance not to buy anything to give to the monks. You are supposed to make the food yourself and not purchase it. It was a great way to start the morning!

We then made our way up to Nong Khiaw a few hours North of LPB. Nong Khiaw is a magical place although the recent tourist boom added a few more people, guesthouses and restaurants that boast that oh so familiar WiFi symbol to the area. It is still two beautiful villages seperated by a chinese built bridge overlooking the massive mountains surrounding it all. We had a riverview room with a small veranda where we all hung out in the evenings. While in NK we did a waterfall trek which was really nice. Our guide taught us about the history of the Secret War and the devastating damage caused by all the bombings of this beautiful area.

Our trek also took us to two small villages. We were a bit hesitant going into the villages as we felt like the people that lived there were on some sort of display for us farang to see. As we strolled through the sandy laneways of this village, we felt uncomfortable at first. Some members of our group were taking pictures of people's houses and regardless of how cool their bamboo hut looked, it was still someone's home we were gawking at. To put it to rest Dave asked our guide about the overall feelings of the villagers having their privacy "invaded", he explained that they were just as curious about us as we were of them. We got the feeling that our guide was a respected member and contributor to the growth and well being of the community and as a result felt satisfied and a little less uncomfortable. The younger members of the village were quite excited to see us but some of the older folk...not so much.

Our guide explained that some of the elders went through the war and lost many loved ones and they associated any Caucasian persons with the Americans that bombed their villages many years ago. We probably wouldn't be half as friendly if we traded places. We also brought some crayons and paper for the children and our guide insisted that he gave it to them so as not to encourage begging from tourists. The children absolutely loved our gifts and all bowed to us one by one and said "Kop Chai" (thank you in Lao). Besides our slight uncomfortable feeling we did enjoy learning about the simpler way of life. We got to see how tobacco is cut and dried, how the blacksmith worked away on making a new hatchet, and how they distill Lao Lao, their version of Lao moonshine. Both villages are nestled on the riverbanks and so our private longtail boat was how we maneuvered. Fantastic views of the mountains all around us. We saw groups of water buffalo hanging by the river, and children trying to fish. The trek was really nice as well. All through the rice paddies, again surrounded by amazing mountains.

The waterfall we hiked to wasn't all that impressive (due to the dry season) but we enjoyed the frigid waters to cool us down as well as the tastey lunch provided by our guide which was a combination of local dishes.

On our third day in Nong Khiaw we decided that we wanted to check out one of the caves used to hide hundreds of people during the Secret War. There were many tours and treks offered by the growing amount of travel agencies in town, but we decided to do this one on our own! We rented bicycles with 3 of our British travel buddies and peddled away. At first the road was nice and straight, overlooking the river beneath us. Then it turned insanely hilly! I had to switch bikes with Dave as mine basically had zero to no breaks..lol. We got to the entrance of the cave (or so we thought) sweaty and hot, but feeling accomplished! We paid our 60 cent entrance fee and started hiking. We hiked for about an hour to get to the cave but it was soooo worth it! We truly felt like we were on some jungle expedition and the fact that we were alone, without a guide made it that much more authentic (insert Indiana Jones theme music here). We walked through rice paddies with chickens and buffalo grazing around. Then through a river and some lush jungle, then uphill on some man made bamboo steps. We got to the cave and it was deep, dark and HUGE inside. We went all the way to the bottom area which was labeled "Meeting Room" and was equipped with a chair and lantern from when they used to live in these caves during the bombings of the war.

We got back exhausted from cycling and the heat but really enjoyed going off on our own and finding this cool cave!

From Nong Khiaw we booked a bus back to Luang Prabang as this way the only way to get to our next destination of Vang Vieng. This time we went with the local bus. It left earlier and was cheaper (50000 Kip or 6$) than a minivan. This was quite the experience. The bus wasn't a bus at all but a songthaew (truck with two bench seats in the back with a roof over it) At first we had 12 people in it. Mostly locals. Then we kept stopping and stopping and adding more and more peeps. We ended up with a total of 23 people!

3 in the front seat and a whopping 20 in the back of this truck. Oh and not just people...people carrying stuff. Huge bags of rice, packages of fruit, bags of all sizes. We sat hunched over for 4 hours getting the occasional whif of exhaust fumes. Atleast it was open aired and a nice drive. Definitely one for the books!

We timed this bus so that we'd get to Luang Prabang for noon and the bus to Vang Vieng was to leave at 2. Nope, not happening. The 2pm bus was cancelled and so instead we waited around until the "Express" 4pm bus. The drive was the bumpiest but most gorgeous EVER! We literaly drove through and over giant mountains as far as the eye could see. Awe inspiring. Then the sun started setting and the whole scenery turned to pastel purples and pinks. We were all just staring at it in silence for a while, unable to comprehend how we got to that exact moment. Then it got dark...and going up and down mountains in the dark got a whole lot slower. We were due in Vang Vieng at 10:30. We got there at 1am! Tired after a 15 hour travel day we set out to find any sort of bed in this town.

As per usual we arrived on yet another holiday, this time International Women's Day which is apparently highly celebrated here. We were told everywhere was full as many locals from the capital of Vientiane came up for the weekend. We walked and walked and finally came across a small guesthouse close to the river and scored 2 nice rooms for us and our friends for 12$/night.

What a day.

Vang Vieng is mostly known as the town set amongst a big river where backpackers flock to rent tubes and tube down the bar cladded river to stop for free shots of Lao Lao. In recent years this fad has grown to a full blown spring break type environment. Needless to say, combime booze, water, more booze, throw in some opium pizza and a rope swing and you got youself a molotov cocktail of biligerent backpackers getting in all sorts of trouble. Last year the board of tourism in Lao decided NO MORE.

They have since broken down the huge concrete slide, shut down most of the bars and basically put an end to the Lao Spring Break. You can still rent tubes and kayaks and have a cold Beer Lao by the river side, but the insane party is no more. That's why we even bothered with VV. The scenery is magnificent and tubing (the calm kind) sounds fun. The small town is also filled with chilled out bars (that all seem to have this obsession with replaying old episodes of Friends, Family Guy and South Park) and good cheap food.

We will go tubing in the next few days and really see for ourselves if it's as nice (and a more subdued scene) than people say it is. There is also this blue lagoon 7km from town that we may or may not go to today. As for now we plan on hanging out at a riverside restaurant filled with small cabanas with lots of pillows and mattresses on the floor overlooking...you guessed it MOUNTAINS and having several more BEER LAO!

After a few chilled out days here we will head South to the capital of Lao, Vientiene and try to work out our visa for Vietnam.

Love,

D&A

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