Blogs from Laos, Asia - page 504

(We told you it was a doozer!) Ahhhhh Laos............... As soon as we crossed the border (where of course the Vietnamese 'officials' charged us a $1USD 'stamp charge') we knew we would love Laos, especially after getting so Hanoi'd. The roads are wide (promoting a brief dose of agoraphobia after claustrophobic Vietnamese cities) and quiet (we both have permanent tinitus from the constant horns of Hanoi traffic), the people are so laid back and friendly and the scenery was stunningly unique. It is a little known fact that Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the history of the world. This is slightly ironic as it is also the most beautiful either of us has seen yet. We have a theory on this fact; as we know the US Air Force is not the most ... read more

alright, so let's see if I can remember everything that's happened up until now... I had to part with Maya cuz she's off to New Zealand to work on a farm, it was a mixed blessing, I was sad to see her go but it's also kinda nice to be on my own again. i didn't cry though. thank goodness! took an overnight train to the boarder of Thailand and Laos, go to sleep accross my 2 seats and then I get shaken awake because the person whose seat I'm slumped accross has finally gotten on, man it was hard to get back to sleep after that, what a bitch. So I get to the boarder and on the other side I get swarmed by guys trying to get me to take their taxi or tuk ... read more

SCENE 6:14am Halloween morning. A deserted street in Vientiane, Laos: “You go wrong way!” “What? Huh?” “You go wrong way!!! “How do you know where I’m going?” “You go to bus station, yeah?” there’s a sly smile on my stranger’s face while he takes another drag from his rolled smoke. I can tell he loves spotting a foreigner. “Umm. Yeah, okay then, bye!” I continue on my way, seriously lacking the caffeine to deal with touts at this early in the morning. “You go wrong way! Come. I drive you. Only tee dollas” “No thank you, I know where I’m going, goodbye!” I sauntered away on my knowing heels. Or rather, my knowing flip flops. “You want northern bus station? It that way 5 kilometers.” He is pointing in the direction I just came from, ... read more

Laos...the land of a million elephants or 1 ATM..... So after the long boat journey we stopped of in Luang Prabang for 4 nights. It was probably a bit longer than we should have but this little town was very relaxing and the days passed by without us really noticing how long we actually stayed there. The highlight was the trip to the waterfall. The waterfall was about 50 meters high i reckon although it was probably higher than that. The pools were lime green and the water nice and cool. Diving into one of the pools from a 3 or 4 meter high waterfall was great craic. The day after that i went on a bike ride out the road where the waterfall was. We had passed many villages on a bumpy stoney dusty road ... read more

Well, despite the scaremongering in guidebooks and on the web, Lao Airlines flight 522 was a faultless ride with descent onboard service and even arrived 20 minutes early! Gleely motioning through immigration we shared a clapped out 70's toyota with two fellow travellers and stopped at 3 different guest houses before settling on Joes on the banks of the Mekong. After a bite to eat and a phone call to the folks we jumped aboard a Jumbo "Lao's enlarged tuk tuks" to Pha That Luang a radiant gold temple where a festival of the same name was taking place. It was in fact the full moon finale of a week long festival where it seemed the entire populus of the Lao Capital began to congregate and walk through fairground attractions toward the temple itself. Before entering ... read more