Vang Vieng to Chiang Mai

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We have got well into the Laos way of life in the past couple of weeks, relaxing and appreciating all the different things around us. You couldn't describe anything we have seen as spectacular but our time here has definitely been some of the best time we have spent in SE Asia. Despite all the tourists, the people are very welcoming and generally the place definitely has a certain charm we haven't found elsewhere.

That said, Vang Vieng wasn't too great. The rainy season arrived, and it rained non stop for a few days, but when it cleared we had beautiful views from our hotel over Kaarst scenery and made our way into the countryside on a long walk. The town itself I think I might almost describe as revolting - we'd been warned it had been completely overtaken by travellers and it was a kind of 18-30's nightmare which could have been anywhere in the world, but unfortunately for the Laotian's, it was in Laos. Outside the town centre was fine though but we weren't too sad to move on...

The journey to Luang Prabang came as a bit of a surprise as I hasn't appreciated how mountainous upland Laos might be. After 7 hours winding up and down narrow roads on a large bus with some steep drops on both sides, we descended into Luang Prabang. We'd both been very much looking forward to our time here and weren't to be disappointed. The town is a beautiful UNESCO listed site, full of colonial buildings and typical Laos teak houses, mixed with some of the finest temples in this bit of Asia. We spent several days here wandering, and eating, as the food wasn't too bad either. We got up at 5 to see the monks collecting alms for the day - quite special to see, but we confess, we went back to bed afterwards.

We also took a trip out to some beautiful waterfalls and took a plunge in what was surprisingly cool water seeing as the air temperature was a rather warm 37 degrees. We saw some Sun Bears who had been rescued from poachers - I wouldn't like their coat in this hot weather but sadly some people would. We'd hoped to see a rescued tiger too but sadly he'd died just a few months earlier. We also succumbed to a trip to an elephant sanctuary and took our first (and probably last!) elephant ride. Andy also had fun feeding him bananas at the end of the ride. They are incredible creatures up close.

But then all good things must start coming to an end.... We decided to take the 2 day slow boat up the Mekong from Luang Prabang to the Thai border town of Chiang Khong. I thought it all sounded quite romantic but hadn't considered 2 days meant 20+ hours (with a stop for a night half way there) on a slow boat with a booming engine (which only broke down once) and pretty hard seats. Nonetheless, it beat flying and the scenery was very pretty (when the sides of the boat weren't covered to protect us from the pouring rain!).

The crossing back into Thailand was painless, and after a day on the bus we have found ourselves back in Chiang Mai. When we were first here it seemed quiet, but compared to Laos it now seems positively booming. The food is still great though! So now it is just a couple of days here, and then we head south to Bangkok... and then to London. Incredible!

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Photos

Vang Vieng
the view from our hotel window

BBQ, Laos Style
Doing this in 30 degrees probably wasn't ideal