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Published: March 31st 2007
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Many people describe Laos as Thailand 15 years ago, so I was excited to visit a place which I already knew was going to be basic without a doubt. The first night, we hopped across the Mekong river and stayed at Huay Xai which is a crossing town so slightly more advanced and geared up for western tourists than te majority of Laos. A nice little town with an impressive Temple at the top of a hill, steps to the top. A quick your of the town and it was already getting dark. We had dinner with our new Laos guide, Ole and heard what we were doing for the next few days.
The next morning, bright and early (after a strong cup of Lao Coffee, the most expensive per Kg in the world and lovely) we boarded our private boat for an eight hour cruise down the Meekong river to a town called Pakbeng. This was a very basic town with electricity only from 5.30pm to 10pm and all run by generators. The guesthouse was ok, geckos on the walls and cold showers but that is what the trip is all about. The beds were so hard it
might have been more comfortable to sleep on the floor but hey ho. A walk around the town, gave us an appetite for a lovely Lao meal, not the monkey tails we saw for sale at the market, but even more lovely Beer Laos, at only 40 pence for a 600ml bottle (pint-ish), a few were sunk that night till they hit the power button.
Again the following day it was back on the private boat down to Luang prabang. On the way we stopped at the Pak Ou caves, filled with little budda statues which was nice and also a local village where we sampled warm rice whisky...nice, and bought some goodies. I think Luang Prabang is the second biggest town in Laos, it holds the old Royal palace, now a museum which was showing some amazing Laos photography, monks and temples, fascinating. Luang prabang had the first taste of France, seeing as Laos was owned by the french up until maybe a century ago, French architecture and more importantly french bread. A little bored of rice and noodles, I opted for a seaweed and chilli pizza for dinner, straight from the Mekong river. Was very nice knocked
back with a few Beer Laos. We then went to the night market which was really nice, no Gucci purses and DVD's, just plain old crafts etc which was good. Then the heavens opened and we ran for the dryness of our guesthouse.
The next day, a full day in Luang Prabang we were free to explore the town A UNESCO World Heritage listed town and it was pretty impressive. More temples, nice people and of course internet cafes. Massages in town are roughly 3 US dollars for an hour but i resisted waiting for a cheaper place! In the afternoon we drove out of the town and into the mountains to the Kuang Si waterfalls which were very impressive, they had a number of turquoise pools of clean water and rope swings to fall into them. So refreshing after walking maybe 2 km's in the jungle and pushing our dodgy tuk-tuk up the steap hills. At the same sight is a black bear rescue centre, all rescued from poachers who had killed their parents to try and take them into China and also Phet the tiger, who was rescued again with poachers, but he was so young he
A local girl
The kids are very sweet in Laos, parents bit more moody was in the poachers pocket when captured. Back in town, we watched the Arsenal match in a bar and had an amazing french meal which put a smile on everyones faces. Then folowing a tip from the restaurant we hit the 'best bar in town' called the Hive and it was a great outside bar with little stools, candles and as always in Laos, cheap cheap drinks.
The next day it was a 7 hour local bus journey through the winding mountains with huge drops to the side into the valley below. Very scary stuff as we raced around corners in a crappy old bus with brakes which squeaked with every touch. The journey seemed to go on forever but we eventually arrived in Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is a party town. much like the Koh San Road in Bangkok. Surrounded by limestone mountains which are just stunning, it was used as an Airforce base by the Yanks in the Vietnam war. Loads of cool bars many showing looped Friends episodes, Hollywood movies and Simpsons, with really comfy looking chairs, massive pillows etc, of course I spent a few hours sampling true Laos culture, with Ross, Chandler and the
gang! The afternoon we visited a nearby Caves lining the Nam Song river. They even had pools which went right into the caves, very creepy as it got darker and colder in there but a great way to cool off and a nice experience. Back to the town and dinner, more great food and drinks just got cheaper and cheaper. One two pint jug, a pint bottle and 3 games of pool was 22,000 kip or roughly 1 pound 30. The next day we crashed a nearby hotel with the promise of a swimming pool and massages, full body massages only 2 pounds an hour.
It was a shame to leave Vang Vieng after only a few days, a really cool place, great to chillax and some great activities too. Up at 6am for our 8 hour local bus ride (moocho uncomfortable) to the capital city of Vientiane. It's is described as the worlds most sleepy capital city and it really is. Only home to maybe 200,000 people, you can pretty much walk round the city in a few hours. I would have done had it not been 40 degrees and tuk-tuk's only a couple of quid for a
Pakbeng High Street
Very basic but nice town, friendly people long time. We visited the national monuments and temples, the most famous in the whole of Laos which was ok. We also saw the presidential palace and the Laos version of the Champs-Elysees. In the evening it was straight to the Oasis nightclub which was the usual Asian sing-along style karaoke bar with very cheap drinks with more doorstaff than customers.
Vientiane was kinda like every Asian big city, full of smog, tuk-tuks, taxis and temples. It didn't really have culture and beauty of the rest of Laos. Was time to leave the capital and we were off to the border of Vietnam and after a 7 hour drive through the mountains, a few stops for photos, we arrived at our last stop in Laos, Lak Sao. This place obviously only existed as it was close to the border, but a route not too many tourists would take and the town was clearly not set up for travellers. We had dinner in the evening, after searching through the menu of frogs, insects, bear bile etc I chose BBQ beef. I was shitting through the eye of a needle for the next day with stomach cramps, lovely. After a sleepless
Pakbeng Market
I chose against showing the monkey tails, not nice night it was up and out of Lak Sao and on into Vietnam. An hours drive to the border, leaving our Lao guide behind and meeting Huey our new Vietnam guide.
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timothy
non-member comment
bonjour
I'm surprised you're allowed near the kids there, what with yr reputation as Gary Glitter-in-waiting... Glad to see The Gunners' season ending in disappointment. Again. x