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Published: June 15th 2008
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Wat Si Saket
Buddhas of all shapes and sizes Our route into Laos was a potential recipe for disaster. We took an early afternoon flight from Chiang Mai to Udon Thani in Thailand, then a bus to Nong Khai on the Thai/Laos border, then another bus across the Friendship Bridge to the Laos border, and then a third bus to Vientiane. But all went surprisingly smoothly and we had checked into our guesthouse and were drinking our first Beerlao beside the Mekong River in time to watch the sunset, accompanied by a very dramatic lightening show in the distant mountains (virtually a nightly event here as it's rainy season).
Vientaine certaily deserves its reputation as the most laid back capital city in the world. There's not a huge amount to do or see here which is a great excuse to simply potter about, maybe mooch around the silk shops or go for a massage and later enjoy a nice meal in one of the high quality but inexpensive Laos or French cafes and restaurants. The lack of activities on offer is probably just as well because it was so unbelievably hot it was hard to do much, but the daily rain storm was a welcome relief and helped to
Pha That Luang
Laos national symbol cool the air a bit. One day we hired bikes and went to see the golden Pha That Luang, but it got so hot that we soon returned the bikes and took shelter in an air conditioned cafe for a couple of hours.
After a few days we decided to move on and caught the 'VIP' bus to Vang Vieng. VIP my arse! The seats were uncomfortable, the a/c wasn't working and the 3 hours seemed to last an eternity. At least the passing scenes of rural Laos, with its paddy fields and wood and wicker houses gave us something nice to look at.
Vang Vieng is the party capital of Laos. It's not much more than an overgrown travellers village but it's set beside the fast flowing Nam Song (Song River) on which most activity is based and overlooks some stunning karst scenery. Most people there were in their early 20's and at first we were feeling our age but we just said "if you can't beat them join them" and had a great day kayaking and caving with a fun and friendly group of fellow travellers. One of the strange things about Vang Vieng is the
Patuxai
Vientiane's Arc de Triomphe 'Friends' phenomonem with bar after bar playing old episodes of the cult series to a reclined audience, knackered after a day messing about on the river. Again, if you can't beat them... The next day was the 'main event' - tubing down the Nam Song, something of a right of passage for travellers in SE Asia. We had done tubing in Ecuador, but this was altogether different. Tubing in Vang Vieng involved being taken about 4 miles up-river by tuktuk van with a tractor inner tube in which to sit and be carried back to town. The big difference here though was that it's really just an excuse for a river pub crawl as we were literally fished out of the water every 50 metres or so and into another makeshift bar with music pumping , Beerlao flowing, cocktails being served by the bucket and usually some kind of death defying swing or trapeze back into the river. It was all very good natured and good fun and we floated back into town after dark in time to catch the 'latest' episode of Friends!
Next stop was Luang Prabang, a gruelling 7 hour 'VIP' bus ride away with a
varied bunch of other travellers, some of whom seemed determined to blank out the whole experience with the help of LaoLao (local firewater).
It's hard to find the right words about Luang Prabang to do it justice. Hundreds of miles from anywhere, surrounded by mountains and dense forest and located on a pensinsular of land formed by the Mekong and Khan Rivers lies this truly magical little city. Formerly the royal capital before the communist revolution (after which the royals were never heard from again), Luang Prabang is a sophisticated mix of French colonial and Laos influences, where saffron robed monks mingle with locals and tourists. If we were being hyper critical we could say that Luang Prabang is in danger of becoming a bit too 'boutique', and the tuktuk drivers can get a bit annoying at times, but otherwise this place is about as close the perfect as you can get. Again, there's not a huge number of must see things to do, but by day four we were so relaxed we felt like we were floating around the place and the most stressful part of our day was deciding which of the restaurants to eat in that
night.
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