Laos - what a gem!

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Hey there - this relaxing bug is getting too much - I have finally forced myself to come down to the internet and let you know that we are still alive and well!!

We are currently in Luang Prabang in Laos. What a fantastic place this is. We left Nongkhai over the not so Friendship Bridge (for once the Thai people were grumpy) and promplty found ourselves driving on the right hand side of the road heading towards Vientiane. Obtaining a visa for Laos was very simple. It goes along the lines of :-

walk up to left hand side of immigration booth, hand over passports and money
wait five minutes or so
and
out of right handside of booth a hand appears waving your passport at you, visa all sorted!!

Vientiane is the capital of Laos and is nothing more than a semi busy little town. Wide open main roads lead onto smaller roads travelling down to the mighty mekong. Along the banks are dotted little bars and restaraunts, with rather nice food and a very reasonable price.

We explored the sights including the Patouxai which is a cross between the Arc de Triomphe and the Gateway to India. It sits at the top of a very wide boulevard and on the opposite side are dancing fountains. We climbed the 124 steps to the top and admired the views and the general quietness of the place. We would have explored the museum but it was shut due to refurbishment - oh well!! We also took a local bus out to the Buddha park which was completely different to the one we saw in Nongkhai. Due to the flooding the statues should have been set in nice green grass surroundings. However, it was all muddy and burnt and we had to hop over sandbags and strategically placed slippy rocks! The park is a little tired and various statues look like they yet again should be on the set of an Indianna Jones movie.

We then took a ten hour bus trip upto our current destination of Luang Prabang. What a journey! We had an excellent bus on not so excellent landslipped affected roads. Well it is the rainy season!! We bumped, we rolled and bumped and rolled all the way here. My back still hurts!! But the scenery is stunning. Real jungle clinging onto limestone karsts (hills). Huge palms and even bigger trees. Tiny little villages with rattan and palm clad houses based on wooden struts dotted the roads. Amazingly lots of them have satellite dishes!! Women selling fruit and children playing set off the whole scene. The western world has only just started making inroads here and it is a joy to see life without the full hustle and bustle. Oh and I musn't forget the most beautiful butterflies everywhere!

Whilst in Luang Prabang we have explored the local wateralls, which are in full flow. David and some of the guys in our hotel went in for a swim - I wasn't feeling so brave. We walked onwards and upwards and found the path under copious amounts of water and us wading thigh deep upwards - all good and cool refreshing fun! The waterfalls are spectacular and well worth the grumpy taxi drivers attitude to take us there! We also had a boat trip up the mekong to the local caves, which quite frankly weren't worth it. The boat trip was good as we saw life from a different angle but that was about it!

Today there is a regatta and all the local villages have entered long boats with various sizes of teams. They have been practising for the last few days and as our hotel overlooks the river we have really good views. The town has become pedestrianised and very full of many local villagers come to support their teams. The action kicks off at 1.00pm until 5.00pm so we are going to try and find a good viewing point and watch the action. I fear having walked down here at 10.00am and seen the crowds we might not get much luck!

We haven't decided if we are leaving tomorrow or the next day to head further north and then onto Vietnam, it's just so relaxing we can't even come to a decision between the two of us!

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