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Published: July 10th 2012
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We are now coming to the end of our two weeks in Laos, and about to fly to Cambodia for a week. I realised I haven't posted an itinerary, despite promises, so here's a rough outline of our final 8 weeks:
12/7-20/7 Cambodia
20/7-4/8 Malaysian Borneo
4/8-27/8 Indonesia
27/8-10/9 Taiwan
10/9-11/9 Hong Kong
Since arriving in Laos, we have stayed in 4 places. We landed in Vientiane, the capital, and stayed for 2 nights, exploring the city for a day. Considering it is a capital city, it is quite small and felt easy to explore. It has it's own version of the Arc du Triomphe and even a Champs D'Elyses - without the posh gravel paths and designer shops! They aren't really copies, just something similar. The "Arc" is actually a monument which you can climb inside and is decorated with intricate carvings and paintwork. It is on a roundabout though, just a less busy one than Paris'.
From Vientiane, we travelled a mere 4 hours to Vang Vieng, a place apparently infamous among backpackers for its tubing experience. We weren't really familiar with the reputation it has, but went for the tubing and
kayaking all the same. On the afternoon we arrived we went straight to collect a rubber (tractor inner-) tube, threw it on the roof of a tuk-tuk and set off with another 3 Brits 4km upstream to the start point. One of our road companions didn't have a tube, and another said she'd heard it was better to go without one - we didn't understand why anyone would go tubing 4km down a river without a tube! When we arrived, we realised this is because some people go "tubing" to actually go partying. For the first short 1km stretch (maybe less) of river, the banks are littered with wooden shacks playing loud music and serving drinks. It was a lively atmosphere, full of young people, all Westerners, mostly British or Australian! We could understand why some people avoided the river, but we actually had a good laugh at a couple of the bars, tubing in between, and then sailed on down the river to the more peaceful 3km stretch, admiring the karst landscape, waving at children fishing on the banks, and chatting to a rather chilled Vietnamese brother and sister who decided to tag onto our tubes.
The combination
of the loud and the quiet made it more relaxing and we enjoyed both sides, but I'm sure our families are glad we're not quite the partying backpackers that a lot of the others are, as we saw a lot of people falling into the mud and unable to get up, and we heard of accidents on the river (we had to sign our lives away when we arrived) which are mostly due to drunk-tubing. We didn't spend more than 2 nights in the town as the bars and restaurants are mostly Western and there is unfortunately little real Lao influence left - the bars show Friends and Family Guy all day and serve very generic Lao food, if at all.
We spent the following day on a kayaking trip. Due to the heavy rain on the previous day (and possible days before that), we couldn't do the tubing part of this trip, which sounded great. But we did kayak for most of the day, downstream which was nice and easy! We stopped for lunch at a local house, which we reached by walking through paddie fields. We sat inside sheltering from the rain, watching a nature program on
TV with the family around us! We had barbecue kebabs, which I'd been craving as I could smell it on all the stalls around local villages, and fried rice. We felt a lot more like we were in real Laos then.
After Vang Vieng, we got a 7hour bus to Phonsavanh to see the Plain of Jars. This site was originally famous for its large stone jars scattered around the plains in small collections, dating from around 2000-2500 years ago. It is now also well known as the most bombed site in the most bombed country in the world. So we went there for both reasons.
The jars themselves are something akin to stonehenge I suppose. They could easily fit a person inside - someone my size definitely - in all of them. They are also clearly man-made (carved) rather than a freak of nature, as they have clear jar shaped rims, and are very consistent in their width and depth. It apparently remains a mystery as to what they are, what they were used for, and how they got there. The stone itself is not from the areas that the jars are found. Bones were found inside
some jars, so it was suggested they are funeral sites. The Lao people apparently think they are whiskey jars and that an ancient king had a big party, some people drank too much, died, and were heaped into the jars and left there!
The Plains were interesting places to visit and the jars were very strange. The surrounding countryside is beautiful, but unfortunately it is dangerous to explore outside of guided trails due to huge amounts of unexploded ordnance (UXO). In town, we watched 2 documentaries about the secret war in Laos in the 1960s/1970s and the continued impact is has on the population today. One was shown in a bar, the other in the MAG museum - Mines Advisory Group - who work to clear the ordnance discovered by locals as soon as they can, and educate villagers and school children to identify it, report it and avoid it. We heard them clearing some with explosives while we were at one of the jars sites.
We took a bus from Phonsavanh to Luang Pra Bang, where we are now. We return to Vientiane tomorrow before flying to Cambodia.
We stayed in Luang Pra Bang for 6
days, and were very glad we had so long - we actually had time to chill out, although it has been difficult to break the habit of doing something all day every day! The surrounding area is beautiful, the town is quiet and protected so no large trucks or buses are allowed in, and there are lots of restaurants and fruit shake (smoothie) stands - one day I had 4! The people are enormously friendly and helpful. Even the night market is quiet and calm, even though it is still built on bartering and negotiating for everything. It all feels very relaxed and easy - such a contrast to China!! And it has been very easy to travel around, book tours, sightsee, etc.
Since arriving in Luang Pra Bang, we have spent two days cycling around the area - attempting to find the local weaving villages, and failing - twice! We also visited the nearby (35km) waterfall twice as it was the closest thing we had to a swimming pool, and it has been over 30C every day. The water is crystal blue and runs down into several flat pools, so there was plenty of swimming and sitting space
to choose from. And of course a rope swing from one of the trees!
This morning, we went elephant trekking. The second time for both of us, but a real first was bathing the elephants. We didn't really trek much, about 500m down the road and back again - me on its neck, Eoin looking regal in the wooden seat. Our elephant was funny and kept walking the wrong way, eating whenever it got chance, and then walking fast when it was told off - not unlike a horse! Then we both rode bareback (without a seat) into the river, where the elephant lay down and we spent a lot of time climbing on, falling off, being sprayed with water, scrubbing the elephant, and generally messing about. It was great fun, and we were both very glad we did it.
We've eaten some of the local specialities since we arrived. Aw Laam is a tasty but spicy traditional soup/stew. They eat Laap (like served in Thai Edge!) which I think is more Lao than Thai, but a lot of the food is very similar to Thai. We also tried the Mekong fish steamed in a banana leaf (too
small a portion for Eoin though!) and bamboo shoot stuffed with pork and fried. That was delicious!!
I have loved my time in Laos so will be sad to leave, but perhaps will return one day. Compared to Thailand, the only thing it is missing is coast, so I can see it getting more popular.
Next stop Cambodia.
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Devon branch of the family
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Laos Blog
Reading this and looking at the beautiful scenary, whilst listening to torrential rain outside in lovely Devon. Am I jealous????? You bet.!!