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Hey,
die letzten drei Wochen haben wir in Laos verbracht, wo es etwas entspannter zugeht als in anderen suedostasiatischen Laendern. Man wird hier deutlich weniger bedraengt Sachen zu kaufen und die Staedte haben weniger Verkehr und sind nicht so hektisch.
Unsere erste Station in Laos war die Hauptstadt Vientiane. Auf dem ersten Foto koennt ihr den Triumphbogen sehen, der 1969 zu Ehren gefallener Lao Soldaten gebaut wurde. Der Zement fuer dieses Bauwerk wurde von den USA gespendet und war eigentlich fuer einen neuen Flughafen gedacht. Eine weitere Attraktion in Vientiane ist der sogenannte Buddha Park, wo eine Reihe von Buddha, Hindu und Fabelwesen Statuen stehen. Das zweite und dritte Foto wurden dort aufgenommen. Das wichtigste Momument in Laos ist Pha That Luang (viertes Foto). Der Legende nach soll ein Stueck von dem Brustknochen von Buddha dort eingeschlossen sein.
Von Vientiane sind wir nach Vang Vieng gefahren, bekannt bei fast allen Rucksackreisenden fuer das Tubing. Tubing ist mit einem aufgeblasenem Traktor Schlauch den Fluss hinunter zu gleiten. Man wird mit einem tuk-tuk circa 5 km flussaufwaerts abegesetzt und kann dann zurueck zur Stadt schwimmen. Auf dem Weg gibt es zahllose Bars, wo man sich mit Bier und Schnapps fuer
den Rueckweg staerken kann :-) (fuenftes Foto). Fuer weitere Unterhaltung hat fast jede Bar eine Art Turm von dem man sich mit einem Seil ins Wasser schwingen kann (siehe sechtes Foto).
Luang Prabang war unsere naechste Station. Im Zentrum der Stadt gibt es einen Huegel, von dem man einen guten Ueberblick ueber die Stadt hat (siebtes Foto). Neben einigen Buddha Tempeln haben wir einen kleinen Park mit Wasserfaellen besucht (siehe achtes Foto).
Circa 350 km noerdlich von Luang Prabang liegt Luang Nam Tha. Wegen den schlechten Strassenbedingungen (viele Schlagloecher, teilweise nicht asphaltiert) dauerte die Fahrt mit einem Minivan 9 Stunden! Die lange Fahrt lohnt sich allerdings da es in Luang Nam Tha tolle Treks gibt. Wir waren dort mit einem Guide zwei Tage unterwegs. Auf dem neunten Foto koennt ihr das Dorf sehen wo wir uebernachtet haben. Das zehnte Foto zeigt unsere "Toilette".
Von Luang Nam Tha im Norden von Laos ging es dann ganz nach Sueden zur Insel Don Khon. Der riesige Mekong Fluss breitet sich in diesem Gebiet aus und es gibt zahlreiche idyllische Inseln. Das elfte Foto wurde von der Terrasse unserer Huette aufgenommen.
Der letzte Ort, den wir in Laos besucht haben,
war Pakse. Wir haben uns dort fuer einen Tag einen Roller gemietet (siehe letztes Foto) und haben uns Kaffee- und Teeplantagen in der Umgebung angeschaut.
Momentan sind wir in Bangkok und fiebern dem Deutschland Spiel gegen Spanien entgegen. Es wird eine lange Nacht, da das Spiel nachts um 1:30 uebertragen wird. Hoffentlich wird sich das anfeuern auszahlen :-)
Viele Gruesse,
Patrick
Finally.....another post. Some technical difficulties regarding computer viruses and memory cards delayed our posting progress, but thankfully Patrick has come through with a working solution so now we can get back to speed. I'll try and summarize our three weeks in Laos in hopefully not too long of a post.
Laos is by far the most relaxing south-east Asian country we've visited so far. With only 6 million people in the whole country (just over the population found in Bangkok alone), stress is virtually non-existent. There are of course still tuk-tuks and street vendors around, but a simple "no thank you" will get them on their way and you on yours.
We started our adventures in the capital, Vientiane. In my opinion, this small capital doesn't offer much to do and
see. We spent a few days seeing the major sights, such as the Patuxai (picture 1), which is a miniature Arc de Triomphe. The monument is made entirely of concrete donated from the US, which was suppose to be used to build a runway - oops! We also visited the very impressive Buddha Park which contains a mismatch of Hindu and Buddhist images (picture 2 and 3). The fourth picture is of Pha That Luang, apparently the most important monument in Laos.
After Vientiane, we couldn't help ourselves. We simply had to visit Vang Vieng. For those of you unfamiliar with the name, it is a town completely void of all Laos culture, but jammed packed full of Western fun and comforts. The main activity is tubing down this muddy river which is lined with bars, giant slides, Tarzan ropes, ziplines, mud volleyball, etc... The fifth picture gives you an overall view of the tubing set-up with me at the top of a Tarzan swing. Heavy drinking is highly encouraged and people take it seriously. As Patrick and I picked up our tubes at 11am, empty beers and finished whiskey bottles were already being discarded by most tubers. It
is a totally ridiculous experience, but one that's also tons of fun. In addition to tubing, you can also visit numerous caves in the area and relax in the couch bars dotted all over the village that play 24 hours of either Family Guy, The Simpsons, or Friends. It simply too easy to waste a few days in Vang Vieng.
After tubing, we went straight to Luang Prabang, a Unesco protected World Heritage City, to soak up some Laos culture. A very beautiful city nestled in the mountains (picture 7), which allows for easy day trips into the surrounding forests. Picture 8 was taken in a nearby public park which offered a beautiful waterfall, swimming holes, and a quiet atmosphere in which to spend a day. For me, Luang Prabang will always best be remembered for its amazing outdoor night market which featured a delicious vegetarian buffet for only 1.25 US. I absolutely insisted that we eat there all 4 nights we spent in Luang Prabang.
Onwards north to the national protected area of Luang Nam Tha where we went for a two-day hike. Our night stay in one of the villages was definitely rustic (picture 8 is
the village and picture 9 is the closed and open-air toilets available), but also extremely interesting. We were very lucky to stay in the village during a time of celebration, which resulted in Patrick and I drinking lao lao (rice whiskey) with the villagers for hours on end. We didn't understand a single word spoken, but the atmosphere was nothing but friendliness and good-humour.
38 busing hours later, we had left Luang Nam Tha and arrived in the 4000 islands of Laos at the southern-most tip. During our three days there, we did nothing but ride bicycles around the islands and relax. The second last picture is of the view from our bungalow (note the water buffalo taking a swim). Finally, we left the islands and headed towards the boarder town of Pakse to prepare to cross back into Thailand. Feeling fairly adventurous, we rented a motorbike and cruised around the many coffee and tea plantations in the Bolaven Plateau. We were a little nervous at first as the motorbike was manual drive, but the rental store provided us with a piece of paper with steps 1-7 on "how to ride a bike". One read-through of the instructions later,
followed by a 15 second visual demonstration, and we were deemed ready to ride. The last picture is of Patrick posing as the bad-boy motorcycle rebel we all know him to be.
And now, we're back in Thailand enjoying some pad thai and planning our trip south in such a way to ensure that we are in big cities for the final few world cup games.
Sorry for the lengthy post. We'll try and keep them shorter and more regular in the future.
Cheers,
Elaine
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AMANDA
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yay Laos
Wow sounds like the trip is still going amazing! glad to hear that. We are having abit of a heat wave here in ottawa with temps around 34* which is pretty hot considering our standard. Sounds like Germany is the place to be right now, its too bad you are not there for all of the soccer world cup chaos!! I have a girlfriend visiting there right now and it looks wild. I on the other hand am writing to tell you my news...Dan and I have bought a condo! yup pretty cool were still figuring all the last details out, but if all goes to plan we will be moved in by the end of the month....Which by the way will make me a Quebec resident, lol .. yes, we bought over in gatineau right across the bridge! Anyways its all very exciting and I wanted to share. Say hi to your "bad boy on a bike" Patrick for me ...miss you Amanda