Blogs from Laos, Asia - page 555

Chickens! Everywhere! And turkeys and ducks! The chics chase their mothers who are being chased by the cats, that are being chased by the dogs that get chased by the kids and their sticks and rocks and so it continues! They roam the streets, houses, restaurants and bars and the Roosters start their cock-a-doodle-bloody-doing at 4am and just keep on going setting off every dog in the neighbourhood!.....phew! The other first impressions (other than the many birds) was that Laos is far more peaceful that Vietnam. No honking horns and rushing traffic. Lots of very relaxed and friendly people. The electricians leave a lot to be desired in Laos! Wooden boxes hang down the walls with various switches and sockets nailed into it that spit sparks at you when you attempt to plug any thing in! ... read more

That hot shower that I raved about before…I had the equivalent in a meal last night. A huge, juicy filet of beef with a 3-pepper sauce with potatoes and hot bread. A nice bottle of imported red wine…I was in absolute ecstasy. It was the first time the people I am traveling with have seen me finish a meal…and I actually finished first. I swear I could’ve ordered a second steak and ate that one just as fast. The whole meal cost me $9USD. I swear I cannot spend more than $20 a day in Laos…it even makes Thailand seem expensive. The restaurant was called Le Cote D’Azur and I highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Vientiane. There are many French restaurants here and you can see the influence of the French in the streets, ... read more

After spending a really nice last night in Thailand in our wooden riverside guesthouse, we get up early to go through border control to get to our new country, Laos. This entailed a boat crossing over the Mekong into our new town, Huay Xai, where we quickly went through the town on a tuk tuk to board our river boat, which will be our method of transport for the next 2 days. after reading other comments from people saying that we would have to sit on wooden seats or on the floor for 2 days, i was pleasantly surprised to see that the boat was newly kited out with what appeared to be car seats. these were really comfy and we had a 60ft longboat just for our group which was nice. plenty of room to ... read more

Okay, usual disclaimer about how this date is really not the date of entry but is the date of actual occurrence. Date setting helps keep the blog current and the people organized. That said... Our travels in Laos, originally scheduled for only 2 weeks, have now run in excess of three weeks and very nearly frighten a month. After Vang Vieng (which was completely un-Lao), we boarded some inflatable kayaks and headed south. Now this really was a good sell. Sign says, "Going to Vientian? Like Adventure?"or something like that. We thought 'sure' and signed up for what was billed as a kayak from VV to Vientian. In reality (which never seems to match fantasy for those of us not named Mick Jagger or George W Bush) we travelled for 2 hrs by van to the ... read more

Hey everybody!Hope you are all doing good,as usual :) I'm sitting in Vang Vieng,Laos! We arrived here today and are going on to Luang Prabang tomorrow according to plans.. I left Langkawi last Wednesday and flew langkawi-kuala lumpur-bangkok in one day! I met up with Marthe, a girl from Norway! I booked two nights at a guesthouse outside of the city - next time i'll book it in the town lol! We only had two days but I think we saw enough of Bangkok! Bangkok is soooo huge and noisy, you cant escape tuktuks and people wanting your money! The first day we booked tickets up to the laos border before we got lost in some back alleys. It was in the middle of the day but frustrating enough! We was supposed to find the skytrain, ... read more