Blogs from Laos, Asia - page 577

Luang Prabang This used to be the capital of Laos and you can tell as it still has a lot of the charm. It is coming close to the end of our adventure in Laos, so we are chillin with the Loas people and saying SAWAIDEE, millions of times a day. This means, hello, good morning, good afternoon....etc and every other greeting you could mange. The Vat Xieng Thong is located here which is a beautiful temple in which the royals used to live in. ...more later.... internet down again. I will concentrate on the photos as they tell a thousand words. ... read more

From Vietiane we rode the "VIP" bus (more about that later) to Vang Vieng. This is a the city between Luang Prabang and Vietinene and a must stop, as the distance and roads are much too long to drive in one go. We stayed at a guesthouse right on the Nam Seung river, which turned out to be stunning. we had mountain views and of course the river turned out to be the car wash so of course we got some good kicks out how people wash their car in this country. We went to check out some caves, saw a Mong village tribe, walked some sketchy bridges, saw the elephant cave temple. I have included some photos, more about them later (my internet is running out) ... read more

Down the Mekong to Champassak and Wat Phou After an early breakfast we drove through Pakse town down to the confluence of the Mekong and Xe Don rivers to board a covered longtail with old rattan chairs and cushions for seating (a lovely touch, we thought) for an hour and a half downriver journey to Champassak township. Shortly, we passed under the 1.3 km-long bridge spanning the Mekong, paid for by the Japanese, and completed in 2000. It has added to the prosperity of Pakse, however, since it is the only bridge for hundreds of kilometers, and now provides this part of southern Laos with a direct road link to Thailand, 25 km beyond the Mekong. It was another enjoyable, breezy river trip, meandering back and forth between the left and right banks to fin... read more

Vientiane A large breakfast induced a half-hour walk around Luang Prabang's peninsula between the Nam Khan and Mekong. The current focus of renovation work in the World Heritage site , largely funded by French foundations, appears to be reconstruction of les venelles (pathways) linking the main streets; the signs detailing these projects show that they cost in the region of US$3,000 - 5,000 each. One has to assume that 80% of this is being spent on foreign oversight given the low cost of Lao labour and the simple local materials being used. We took one of only two Lao Airlines planes to Vientiane , arriving at 12.15 pm. Our new guide (Nou) took us to the L... read more

Khouang Xi Falls and Luang Prabang We left Luang Prabang on tarmac, but hit dirt as soon as we passed the last house, to visit the Khouang Xi waterfalls 30 km away. On the way, we stopped at a tribal village inhabited by Hmong (the main group of Lao Soung, or highland Lao). The houses here were unlike those of the Lao Loum, the lowland Lao, who always build their houses on stilts, with largish windows to dissipate the summer heat. The village is part of a resettlement experiment to assimilate tribal people into the dominant lowland Lao economy and culture. Judging by the relative poverty of this village, the experiment has not yet met with much success. Near Khouang Xi we began to walk through a very clean and affluent-looking (satellite dishes!) lowl... read more