Blogs from Vang Vieng, West, Laos, Asia - page 81

Claudette was so enthused by her experience yesterday of giving food to the monks that we planned to get up early to do it again. Alsa, we overslept and were not able to give them anythin. All the same, a procession went past our hotel where a couple of old ladies hand out rice every day to the monks. We watched from our balcony as we finished breakfast. We then headed out to the morning market where the locals go to do their daily grocery shopping. Fresh fruit, vegitables, fish and fowl lined both sides of the street. There was even some live game. Some creature that looked like a guinea pig. I got to see some fresh tamerind. It looks nothing like the packaged mush I can get at home. Our next stop was the ... read more

The VIP bus regurgitates the passengers for Vang Vieng onto the gravelly disused airstrip that separates the town from the highway. Disembarking, approached by tuk-tuks and leaflets for guesthouses - I choose the first, $3 a night with the hottest shower I've experienced in south-east asia I decide to stay at the Thavisouk. It's the 26th of December 2005, I plan to stay a few days and head to Pak Say and the four thousand islands fairly quickly. The town of Vang Vieng is small, a couple of streets lined with backpacker bars, low slung tables with comfortable recliner cushions popular in Thailand. Canned laughter spills out on to the dusty streets, the sounds of endless episodes of “Friends” being played on DVDs from restaurants I vow never to attend. Despite a heavy cold I decide ... read more

Seeing a little of the countryside from road travel has been ... interesting! Took a bus from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng ... for the valleys and dips and curves through thickly rainforested areas. Alas, the cloudcover was low and I saw not a lot of the desired terrain. However, there are many other things to see in Vang Vieng ... !?!?! Known for its rapids and the tubing experience, many a tourist seemed to be enjoying this activity. This meant hiring tractor tubes and floating on them down the river. The "tubers" seemed very happy ... perhaps it was the sun? might have been the fun? or the many beer lao or "happy" food they had ... to be in the state they were in? After that they probably joined the many others that gathered ... read more

The journey from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang passes through some beautiful scenery. It winds up & down hills, passed mist covered & jagged karst peaks. There are lots of Hmong people in their traditional brightly-coloured attire with zillions of babies strapped to backs. Their stilt houses built right by the road & hanging over the cliff edges. On arrival, we discovered that Luang Prabang, being easily accessible by plane, is full of tourists. This meant a trek around the hostels to find a decent room. Luckily we found Chittana up a little lane & bagged ourselves a decent double for $4 a night (we had seen some grotty ones for $7). Our guesthouse was promptly filled & we heard several people enquire, including one trying to negotiate the cost of the one available room at ... read more

A viagem de "slow-boat" deu-nos a oportunidade de pernoitar numa vila (no maximo) em pleno Mekong, num quarto algo longe do aceitavel. Mas o cansaco nao se incomoda com essas coisas; o problema e' o jet-lag... acordar as 5h, e passear pelo amanhecer debaixo de uma neblina aconchegante com pequeno-almoco sobre o rio. Nada mau. As 8 horas de barco que faltavam foram aceleradas por curtas sestas ao som do rugir do motor. Enfim, Luang Prabang. Capital imperial do Laos, e com a influencia francesa a sentir-se no Centro Historico e nas Baguettes omnipresentes, e' uma pequena cidade nas margens do Mekong em que os Mosteiros (Wat's) sobressaem, mas os restaurantes de "Luxo" (se assim se pode chamar pagar 5 dolares por pessoa com servico de grande qualidade) e pequenos passeios de "tuk-tuk" ou bicicleta dao ... read more