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Published: July 16th 2008
After exploring the markets, temples and massage parlors of Chiang Mai in Thailand we made our way to Laos.
Our route into Laos was over a bridge called the 'Friendship Bridge' spanning the Mekong river between Nong Khai in Thailand and Vientianne, the Capital of Laos. We were issued our visas on arrival, which was a painless process and got a taxi into the main city. The taxi was a classic old American car - god knows how it got here. On first impressions Vientianne was really not much of a city at all. It felt like a quiet town, on a Sunday. However this is one of Laos main draws - peaceful, cheap, relaxing and very slow paced. Oh, and Beer Laos.
Vientianne is a quaint, but pleasant place. It has lots of cafes and restaurants, fake designer shopping, scattered temples, monuments and classic French colonial architecture. We spent a few days soaking up the atmosphere in the city and used it as an opportunity to obtain our Vietnamese Visas from their Embassy.
Vientianne is a relatively small city and navigating it on foot was very easy to do. The French influence was very evident on one
Mike at Patuxi
Arc de Triomph of the East? No.of the first sights that we saw - Patuxi. This monument can be best described as a mini unfinished Arc de Triomph, with an oriental flavour. From a distance it looks quite impressive but as we got closer we could see that it is really just a concrete monster. The plaque on the wall even describes it as this. The site was never finished as the government ran out of money at around the time the French were being evicted, so they just left it. The top of the site affords great views of the city and of the surrounding streets. The main street that leads up to the Patuxi has been dubbed the 'Champs Elysee of the East' - which is quite a generous statement as there aren't many shops at all.
The most important sight in Laos is situated north of the city and is called Wat That Lang. It is a brilliant gold monument that is sometimes described as looking like a missile silo. At this sight we also found some adorable little kittens which kept us just as entertained as the temple itself. The main monument could do with another paint but it was still
a very interesting visit. It is said to encase part of Buddha's hip bone, which is why it is so important. Excavations however, have never unearthed it. It is also made up of various levels, each of which is supposed to have an encoded message embedded into its design. One for Robert Langdon then.
We enjoyed our evenings in Vientianne, dining by the Mekong. At night a lot of the Laos side of the river is lit up and mobile kitchens serve dinners of seafood with Beer Laos. The value of the meal doesn't really compare to the quality and price of the restaurants but it was still nice to embrace the sunset on the Mekong and watch Thailand slowly disappear into night on the southern shores.
Each restaurant area on the river front is propped up in the reeds on what looks like an entanglement of branches, which looked like it could collapse at any moment. Below we could see flashes of light as men on small boats caught frogs to serve to tomorrow nights diners. We ate on the river front one evening, but the following we decided to sample the fantastic traditional Laos and French
Paddy Straddling
En route to the caves. cuisine in some of the restaurants and actually have some wine. We hadn't had much recently as the import tax in places like India, Nepal and Thailand makes it too expensive.
Beer Laos is the usual alcoholic drink of choice and is something that the Laos people are fiercely proud of. It is the only form of international recognition that they get. It's plaudits are very well deserved as we discovered on numerous occasions.
We left Vientianne by bus, travelling north to a small town called Vang Vieng. This small town is incredibly popular on the backpacking circuit for one main reason - Tubing.
We organised a trip to do some caving and tubing in one day. We visited two caves. One of which was called the Elephant Cave, because it had a rock in it looking like an elephant. The area is very religious and littered with colourful statues of various incarnations of Buddha and of course - elephants.
The other cave we had to enter with our tubes (inflated tractor tyre inner tube). This was incredibly difficult because it was monsoon season. With lights attached to our heads we splashed ourselves into a
blue lagoon and eased ourselves through a small gap in the cave. We had to lie flat on our tubes to get through, our faces almost scraping the rock above. Once in the cave we continued to pull ourselves along a rope further underground. The cave was very eerie. It was very quiet with only the sound of the water lapping the insides and dripping off the stalagmites sending an echo in all directions. We were not able to go very far as the monsoon had caused a lot of the cave to be unaccessible.
After this, we introduced ourselves to Tubing. Tubing is amazing fun and well worth just going to Vang Vieng to experience alone. A tuk tuk drove us a few km's outside of Vang Vieng with our tubes and dropped us off by the river. We then simply jumped into them and floated back down river, which was moving at quite a pace as it is due to the aforementioned monsoon season.
Tubing is so popular that multiple bars have sprung up along the river route. The party atmosphere that is created is in stark contrast to the sleepiness of the town. Each bar
Tubing
Floating between bars. is packed, pumping out music and serving Beer Laos to dozens of backpackers either sun bathing or watching people rope swing into the river.
The rope swings were excellent! After an essential Beer Laos, I (Mike) climbed a tree to launch myself off. It looked easy as a spectator. When I suddenly became a participant I began to realise quite how high these swings were. It slowly dawned on me as I climbed the rickety bamboo and wood ladder up the tree towards the swing, which rocked violently under the weight of the queue. At the top, and with an audience, I launched myself - Tarzan like - over the river and let go. At one point I was sailing through the air until after letting go I felt the slap of the water and rush of the current engulf me. It was brilliant - incredibly exhilarating. Other participants developed the traditional swing. Some would swing upside down and there was even a streaker.
When we finished at one bar, we simply remounted our tubes and set off for the next, which was only really about 50 metres away. Each bar pulled us in frantically, desperate for us
to spend our money with them. They threw ropes out to us to pull us in which we had to grab whilst sailing past. On the end of the ropes were often just small boys who must have incredible biceps! Sometimes however, the current was just too strong and we just flew by towards the next one.
The last bar we went to had a zip-line and a swing, a football court and a very muddy dance floor. We left there looking like Arnie at the end of Predator - covered head to toe in mud which ensured we drew a few curious looks from the locals. We finished up our time here enjoying the noodle soups and bars that have episodes of Friends on 24/7.
After a couple of days in Vang Vieng, it was time to make our way to our final stop in Laos - Luang Prabang. This is Laos most popular tourist attraction and has been awarded 'World Heritage Site' status. The journey there by mini-bus was not easy. We felt like we were on a roller coaster as our driver threw the mini bus into each corner as if he were at Silverstone.
Muddy Pose
Tubing + Beer Laos = Mud Fight! There were corners aplenty too as the road to Luang Prabang wound up many hills. We don't think we were going in a straight line for more than a minute before we were thrown into another corner. This would be OK for ten minutes, but 3 hours of it left us feeling a little travel sick! Veering close to the edge of a hill side at speed probably didn't help matters.
Luang Prabang was a very typical Laos town. It was very quiet but was blessed with awesome coffee and excellent bakeries. The town has a large collection of ancient Buddhist temples, and as a result lots of monks in the town.
Our first day in town was spent out of town at a famous waterfall. This was a short drive from Luang Prabang which thankfully did not consist of many corners. The waterfall itself, called Kuang Si, was very impressive. A perfect example of natural beauty. We walked all the way to the foot of it, feeling the cool spray hit our faces. The power of the thunderous
water is immense and creates an intricate set of capillary waterfalls all the way down the hill. The site
really is beautiful and we spent a few hours here just watching it.
After a few days of catching the odd monk in a temple and admiring the many wonderfully built Wats we decided to get up at 5am and witness the monks receive their alms. Monks only eat once a day and wake up at about 4am to begin their daily rituals. We took sometime actually trying to think of what they actually fill the rest of their days with - I'm sure it's probably something like prayer and meditation. Nice work if you can get it.
The alms giving happens every day. People from the town line the streets with large bowls of rice as the monks form an orderly queue. It is fascinating to watch as around 200 monks, each wearing their traditional orange garments wander the streets in orderly lines before retreating to their monasteries. It was a very civilised process considering how starving they must be.
Luang Prabang is also very well known for its night market, which we attended on various occasions. People from the town and surrounding villages line the streets and sell an assortment of local handicrafts. Some of
their creations were really impressive from acrylic paintings and ornaments to wooden umbrellas and clothing. We decided on a bag and skirts (for Victoria obviously) and a fantastic painting.
The food here has been exquisite and a real bargain. We were hardly spending £5 for the whole day on food for us both! The noodle soups from the back-alley kitchens were tasty, the dried beef succulent and addictive and the chicken baguettes (bless the French) were incredible. Special mention should go to the Scandinavian Bakery for their delicious breakfast pastries and coffee. It also provided a great viewpoint to relax and people watch.
Laos has been a really relaxing place too stay. Laos Airlines (gulp!) is taking us to Vietnam next which we are sure will be quite a shock to our relaxed systems...
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mum
non-member comment
O guys i really like the sounds of Laos. That tubing sounds just like the sort of thing me and Gary would love doing. Sorry haven't sent many messages lately but been so busy organising Toms 18th. Tell you more on facebook. Love you both. Mum xxxxx