Livin' it up in Laos! (Luang Prabang - Vang Vieng - Vientiane)

---

Okay, okay. So it's not really August 8th, but I'm pretty sure that was around the time I was leaving Laos. I am REALLY far behind in this thing, and I do apologize to all of my faithful readers who send me hilarious comments and feedback. I will try to make it up to you and catch you up on the last few weeks. If it's any consolation, I'm just as far behind in my journal... 😞

SO...I last left off in LPB...a little town we all LOVED. We spent two days there, walking around soaking up the charm and beauty. And pigging out on the French cuisine...oh the glorious food! We are getting so sick of noodles and rice that anything "western" done properly is a dream. We also spent a lot of time browsing around and shopping at the little handicraft stores and the fabulous night market. Meliss and I both picked up some gorgeous duvet covers and pillow cases - handmade with really funky patterns. Love it! The weather was pretty grey and rainy here, so sadly we missed out on going to the "famous" waterfall in the area. And we didn't really explore the backpacker nightlife either, not that there really is a big scene or anything. We were in mega need of some chill time - so we acted like the old people we are becoming and enjoyed our "posh" little hotel room to the fullest while we could! HBO has become our new friend...

We parted ways with Yannick, and Melissa and I hopped on a hot, smelly, cramped bus for the windy (as in winding roads) trip to Vang Vieng, further south in Laos. (A mother and her adorable blind son sitting in the seats beside us were throwing up for the first hour of the trip!) I'm actually reading a book called "Tiger Balm" at the moment, about a British woman's travels in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia in 1990. My how things have changed! When she was travelling, she couldn't even go to LPB, let alone Vang Vieng. Apparently this was an extremely dangerous area to be in - lots of theft and banditry - not to mention violence. The infamous highway that connects LPB to Vang Vieng (and then down to Vientiane) is called Route 13. This whole area was simply closed to tourists back in the day - and I'm not sure when that changed. The last bit of violence there was in 2003 - where a bus was attacked and several people (both local and tourists) were robbed and killed! Terrible...and so scary. But we were assured it's all good now and went for it. And of course it was fine - and it's crazy to hear things like that because I can't imagine anyone in Laos being anything but friendly!? The people here are amazing...so warm and welcoming. Even though they have very little, and have been through soo much, they seem so HAPPY. (Could be the amount of opium in the country, but I think there's more to it than that.)

So we arrived in Vang Vieng to find that it is not the dangerous place of the past, but rather it is the backpacker haven of SE Asia! It's a mini-mini Kohsan Road...only the main thing to do here is drink delicious Beer Lao and float down the river on an inner-tube. We chilled for two days and loved it here. We stayed in a beautiful new hotel right on the river - overlooking the limestone mountains. We blame the view for our lack of adventurous activity. We did not kayak, whitewater raft, or tube down the river. We sat on our balcony, sipped Beer Lao and watched the sun set - pondering life, our trip, and the future. It was lovely! One meal worth mentioning was a veggie pizza we ordered for dinner one night. Turned out the "veggies" involved were apple, pineapple, and french fries! Sounds crazy, but we highly recommend the toppings. Or maybe we were just too hungry to care...

Next came Vientiane. Another few hours on a bus down Route 13 and we were there! This is the capital city, and not very large, really. We spent two or three nights there, and came to love an awesome little cafe/bar run by Aussie expats, called "Sticky Fingers." We went there for a few Beer Lao's and happened to meet Cort, a fellow Canadian from Vancouver. We adopted Cort right away (and vice-versa!). Around 11:00 pm (as they were shutting the place down) the three of us decided to join the bartenders for a night out Laos-style! We went to a club called "D-teq" and partied the night away with a few hundred others. This place was great - and we were three of maybe five or six westerners. And really, it was just like being in any other club anywhere in the world - except there was no English to be heard! The girls' bathroom was just like any girls' bathroom anywhere else. There were girls fighting, crying, and fixing there hair. I loved it - such great people watching!

The next day we managed to drag ourselves up for a walk around the city. We saw the sights, namely their version of the Arc de Triumph. Apparently they built this (concrete block, really) with money the USA had given them towards building their airport!? Haha. There was a great view from the top, at least. After that it was fresh seafood for dinner at sunset, at a food vendor right on the Mekong. The Mekong is quite beautiful here - not so brown as when we first experienced it!

We left Laos with love in our hearts. We loved the people, the food (it helped that the western food is done right in this country!), and the general laid-back attitute. Some of our fav sayings also came from Laos. One being the word for hello, pronounced "sa-ba-dee" (so friendly!) and the other being a phrase which translates to: "Maybe today. Or someday." Haha. As the trip reaches past the halfway point, I wonder how I'm ever going to get used to the rat race again!

---