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Published: October 1st 2006
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Well, so says the old Lao proverb anyway, and let that be a lesson to ye!
Laos is a very green country. That's something we did not expect coming from a country which boasts 40 different shades of green on its landscape. Days of heavy rains had brought new growth and the paddy fields were gleaming in the sunshine, trees were sprouting new leaves and the grasses were long and bursting onto the roadsides. Many different types of butterflies danced in the breeze and peoples smiles were warm and welcoming.
After a slightly disappointing visit to Vietnam, Laos really lived up to our expectations. As mentioned, the scenery was wonderful and the people were fantastic. There was also one huge difference to the rest of SE Asia. No-one was bothered selling us anything. On arrival into Savannaket, a lovely sleepy town in south western Laos, we hopped off the bus expecting a swarm of tuk-tuk drivers pushing special offers for hotels into our hands. Nope. Just silence. As the last two passengers on the bus it was actually quite eerie. For 10 minutes nobody approached us as we stretched our legs in the sunshine. Finally, a friendly guy from
That Luang, Vientiane
Beautiful stupas and golden spires, this is the most important Laos monument. the hotel where we were stopped asked us did we need any help with anything. We said we might be looking for somewhere to stay the night. He suggested staying at his hotel and offered us a chance to sit down and relax first. No pleading for a deal, intense bargaining, pretending to leave to get them to lower the price etc. No need to bother with any of that in Laos. This was also the case in Vientiane and in Luang Prabang where we also stayed. No problems finding somewhere nice to say and no problem getting a good deal either. September is low season and there were not too many tourists around. Plenty of opportunity for cut price hotel deals.
Anyhow, we spent our first night and the following day in Savannaket. It was a really nice town, not much to do, but then, sometimes you don't really want to do anything. We spent a whole day doing nothing, just pottering about and reading books in the shade and bumping into the same two or three tourists in town over and over again! That night we climbed aboard our first overnight bus to the capital, Vientiane. We
Little Lao girl
Mekong village. didn't get much sleep as the bus stopped every hour or so, so we were pretty tired and confused when we arrived at a bus station on the outskirts of Vientiane at about 5am the next morning.
Vientiane is a really nice city. Some people we met thought it was a bit ugly but we found it to be really peaceful and compact. The Mekong river gave it a romantic and charming backdrop and we watched the boats unloading goods on the riverside and some lovely sunsets from the roof of our hotel overlooking it. We spent three days in Vientiane and there was plenty to see and do. We visited some nice sights including some lovely temples dotted about the city, a bustling market (Morning Market), That Luang Temple and Pagoda, and the Victory Monument. All were within easy reach of the city by foot or tuk-tuk. Vientiane had some wonderful Lao restaurants and we sampled some local food such as curries with sticky rice, noodle and rice dishes, Lao sausage and Mekong seaweed. All very nice except for the Larb which is a minced beef salad. Cold mince, mixed with piles of coriander, some mint leaves and
Laid back Buddha
Even the Buddha reclines here. a few pieces of cucumber. Pretty awful actually.
After Vientiane we caught a bus up the infamous Route 13 to Luang Prabang. Route 13 is the main road connecting Vientiane with Luang Prabang in the North, and has been the scene of some shootings in the past. Bandit gangs have hijacked government buses along the route but we were assured that this was a thing of the past. We opted to get a non-government bus to be on the safe side but to be honest, the bandits weren't the problem on this bus journey, it was the winding roads that made it probably the longest 10 hour bus journey I've ever experienced. The bus crept up steep inclines and spun us around tight bends and our stomachs lurched as we climbed up the mountain passes to over 2000m and crawled back down the other side. The scenery made the journey worthwhile though, and we concentrated on the stunning mountain landscapes, waterfalls and tiny villages perched on the edges of the steep drops to take our minds off the people on the bus barfing into plastic bags! We finally arrived in Luang Prabang and wandered around for about an hour
Victory Monument, Vientiane
Known locally as Patouxay (pah-too-sai) trying to find a hotel within our budget for the next 6 nights. We found a lovely spot on the Mekong for $10 a night with A/C, fridge, hot shower, clean comfortable beds and friendly staff. We settled into our room only to leave it again ten minutes later when I noticed an army of ants heading across Patrick's bed. His bedclothes were covered in ants so we checked the next room thoroughly before collapsing down for some much needed rest.
Luang Prabang is a beautiful town and was the highlight of our trip to Laos, although it seemed more like Laois than Laos some of the time, there were so many Irish people around. Even though it was low season, there were still plenty of tourists in town so there was a lively atmosphere and the restaurants and markets were thronged with people. The night market was amazing! Every stall boasted locally made crafts such as bed linen, home furnishings, lamps, jewellery and trinkets. Bargaining was easy and many good deals were struck by us! The temptation to buy too much loot was strong and I had to be dragged away by Patrick on more than one occasion
Ah the sticky rice ... mmm
Red curry with sticky rice in a bamboo pot and a BeerLao. What more could you want! You eat the rice by balling it up in your hand and dipping into the curry. (OK, most nights actually). In the end, I started walking a different way back home so as not to tempt myself with all the goodies on display.
Luang Prabang seemed to be the home of cake too. Desserts don't appear too often on SE Asain menus (except for those yuk banana pancakes) and it was a treat to sample so many home cooked cakes from the markets here. Food and shopping aside, there was plenty to see here and we took some day trips to the Kunag Si Waterfall and the Pak Ou caves along with checking out many of the temples. Many young men spend some time as a monk in Laos and they are really friendly and chatty. They enjoy talking to tourists as it's a good chance for them to practice their English. Overall Luang Prabang was a gorgeous town and well worth a visit. It was the perfect place to spend a relaxing week and finish off our South East Asian adventure.
We spent the last few days in Thailand (not much happening in the coup here) and are heading off to India today to begin a new chapter of our trip. Goodbye South
East Asia, stay tuned for the next installment and some better photos as we are now the proud owners of a brand new camera. Hopefully, we'll manage some night shots now.
Sawadee-ka!
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Neil&Anna
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Laos is brill
We loved Laos. Our top SE Asian country. Now its just a photo on our wall now. Bugger. We were more scared of the troops on the mountain road to Luang Prabang than the risk of bandits, young kids with rocket launchers!