Advertisement
Published: November 14th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Gemma, James and I have just left Laos. We all had a great time and Gem and I are going to really miss James as he has now jetted back to the UK. Laos has been fantastic. It is such a special country, suprisingly so, especially when considering we hardly knew anything about it before we got there, apart from it being involved in the Vietnam war. Laos now seems a long way from the country that was so involved in the fighting, supporting the Ho Chi Minh trail and subjected to massive bombing in the 'CIA's secret war'. I have been reading history books! It is so peaceful now; my lasting memory will be of orange robed Buddihist monks walking down the street in Louang Parbang, with umbrellas to keep the sun off them in the middle of the day.
Last Tuesday we set off to Chiang Khong that sits on the Thai-side bank of the Mekong river. We had tea that night whilst gazing across to Laos wondering what it was going to be like. We had heard, unhelpfully, that there were no cash machines in the whole country. It turned out there was fortunately!
The next
day we caught a two day slow boat down the Mekong. The scenery was stunning and it was nice to sit in the warmth and read my book. The seats were just wood so we bought cushions to make the journey a bit more comfy! Pathetic I know. That night we stayed in Pakbeng. It was a really small place full of guesthouses for back packers. There is no mains electric in Pakbeng and the place buzzed with the sound of generators until about 10:30 when eveything was turned off! If you weren't in bed by then, then tough, no more electric. Oh and the bathrooms were awful; let's just say you had to hold your breath.
The next day we were back on the boat. It rolled a lot and obviously people thought it was going to roll over. Then it broke down so we had to drift down the river until another boat could be found for us. All very entertaining as Laos people run on 'Laos time' which means there is no rush or schedules to keep. The boats and buses just arrive when they arrive. That was fine with us. We were enjoying floating down
the Mekong, we played cards and I had a good book about how scientists, genetic engineering and monkey embryos are going to destroy the entire human race.
Eventually we got to Luang Prabang just as it was getting dark. After a bit of wandering around we found somewhere to stay. We had to take our shoes off before going into any buildings which I thought was quite nice as it reminded me of being at home! Luang Prabang was beautiful. It is everything you expect from a small Laos city and is UNESCO world heritage listed. Clean and quiet with gorgeous Wats (temples) and countryside. We visited a local waterfall and messed around in the blue water pools below. Paradise? It looked like it. I think we may go back one day.
Moving on a couple of days later we caught a night bus to Vang Vieng. The local Laos people obviously aren't used to travelling by night bus as about 5 of them spent the whole night being ill. Gem and James both had i-pods to drown out the noise. I just tried to sleep. We were going to Vang Vieng to do what all back packers
do there: Tubing!
You hire a tube for about 5 dollars and then float your way down the Nam Song river, stopping off at bars for a beer along the way. You an play on the swings, zip wires and slides which all result in a big splash in the river. Health and safety was non-existent but it was fantastic fun. James, after a little beer Lao and a huge glass of free Lao whisky was ill in the river- ha ha! Gemma has now got a huge bruise on her back after hitting a rock whilst floating down the river - ouch.
The next day James and I explored a cave that was near Vang Vieng and then we caught the bus later to Vientiane, the capital of Laos.
We said goodbye to James today who is flying back to the UK. Gem and I are catching a flight to Hanoi in Vietnam tomorrow.
Gem is very excited about going to the seaside!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.131s; Tpl: 0.03s; cc: 12; qc: 55; dbt: 0.0827s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Deronda
Deronda
Beds
I found the mattress in my room in Pakbeng to be as hard as a rock.