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Published: February 6th 2007
We arrived safely, thanks to a rickety propeller plane that looked as if it hadn't undergone a maintenance check for decades, in Vietiane, Laos.
We spent the first couple of days in the capital, Asia's biggest village, taking in all that the city had to offer its visitors. I was very surprised as to how clean and peaceful it was. A far cry from the Saigon and Hanoi of Vietnam. We strolled along the very elegant Lane Xang Avenue past Patuxai, the Victory Monument, the Arc de Triomphe of the East. We took in the Morning Market before heading to the Presidental Palace for another photo stop! We strolled along the banks of the Mekong River before jumping in a jumbo tuk-tuk to That Luang (the Royal Stupa) ... or the big gold statue in my photos! It was pretty impressive! We then returned to the centre for a wander round the city's streets before taking in the sunset over the Mekong River from a rooftop bar, washed down by a glass of wine!
It was then on to Vang Vieng, a mecca for backpackers in Laos. The village itself is made up of a single strip of guesthouses,
restaurants and TV bars playing episodes of Friends, Family Guy and the Simpsons one after the other! So as you can imagine, we weren't too impressed with Vang Vieng itself. But backpackers come here to make the most of the surrounding countryside and to partake in tubing, a right of passage for any backpackers in South East Asia....both of which we did!
We hired bikes one day and took ourselves off down some dirt tracks and eventually made it to a lagoon where we sat and chilled out for a couple of hours, watching the local children playing volleyball, football and throwing themselves into the lagoon. The girls took themselves back to the guesthouse and I enjoyed a couple more hours riding around the local fields, taking in the stunning scenery.
The following day saw ourselves floating slowly down the Nam Song River in inflatable tyres stopping occasionally to be pulled in by a bamboo stick to one of the many bars which litter the river bank for a refreshment, usually Beer Lao. That is tubing for you...but unfortunately given the nature of the acitivity, I have no photos to show you, I didn't want my camera falling
into the river!
The rest of our time in Vang Vieng was spent wandering around the local streets, trying to escape the sound of Homer Simpson going "D'oh" or Monica or Rachel saying something similarly ridiculous! The TV Bars have to go!
Next stop was Luang Prabang, the ancient royal city and a World Heritage Site. The 6 hour journey up was slow, bumpy, not without it's mishaps (we got a flat tyre) but the scenery was stunning and it was great to observe village life along the way.
Our time in Luang Prabang has been great! It really is a place where time stands still! We spent the first day touring the town, taking in the many temples which litter it's streets, stopping to chat to the litterly hundreds of novice buddhist monks which live in the city's monastries. We also took in the Night Markets and enjoyed some great food (something sadly lacking in Vang Vieng).
We also went elephant trekking and spent a pleasant afternoon visiting a local Hmong village. Here we had lunch, and played around with the village children who were delighted to see us and so very happy considering how
little they have. The rickety bamboo bridge we had to cross to get to the village was something else!
And that almost brings me to the end of my time in Laos. We plan to spend the rest of the day strolling around the city, stopping off perhaps for a Lao Massage. We head to the beaches of Southern Thailand tomorrow...
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Auntie
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Brotherly Love
They are SO cute!!! Looks amazing...... xx