Vientiane

More than 2,000 or 10,000 buddhas?

We opted for the mini-bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane, even though all the min-bus drivers think they are Michael Schumacher!  Fortunately this was only a short drive of about 3 – 4 hours and included time for us to blow a tyre and get it fixed.  For some reason the tyre blew right next to a tyre repair place – how convenient!  While we waited for the tyre to be fixed we used their toilet and I took pictures of their excellent darts board.

Vientiane is the capital of Laos, even though you don’t feel like you are in a big capital city when you are there.  It’s quite small and easy to get around and after visiting the market and a few temples, there isn’t much to do except eat yummy food and drink Beer Lao – so that’s pretty much what we did!

 

 

We went to Wat Si Saket, which is the oldest temple in Vientiane and the cloister walls are full of little niches containing pair of buddhas.  We heard one guide tell a group there are more than 10,000 (Wikipedia says more than 2,000) which I can totally believe.  We also found a fascinating pile of broken buddhas.

We also went to Pha That Luang, which is the most important religious monument in Laos.  It is also giant and golden!  A small group of Laos tourists asked us to have our photo taken with them at the monument and we tried to add to our collection of ‘monk with a…’ photos.  This time we captured monks with a mobile phone (taking photos) and monks with umbrellas.  The star prize of our collection would be monk with an iPhone 4 (seen but not yet photographed).  Rebecca adopted a stunning building next door as her new house and I took photos of its beautifully painted ceiling.  On our way back into town we found n old London taxi.  Unfortunately our budget only stretched to a ride in a tuk tuk.

As if we hadn’t had enough of temples and buddhas by this time, we headed out the next day to the Buddha Park, which is a bizarre outdoor collection of huge concrete sculptures of Buddhist and Hindu gods with a particularly large reclining buddha.  As it’s not a temple, you can have a lot of fun taking silly pictures with all the statues.  Once again Rebecca got her photo taken with some local tourists.

Me and Rebecca at the temple of bling

Becky's new pad and the painted ceiling that I loved

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bus ride to the park was particularly memorable.  We took a local bus and we were packed in like sardines, even being told where to stand to even out the weight on the bus!  The bus also had a sophisticated door system, which consisted of a folding door rigged up to a piece of string.  As the bus driver put his fut on the accelerator (he also thought he was Michael Schumacher) the string would pull the door shut by the force of the bus moving.  To open the door the driver simply braked heard enough for the door to slide open again on the string – genius!

COPE Visitor Center

Two of the most memorable things about visiting Vientiane (apart from the giant breakfasts I ate each morning) were visiting the MAG information stand at the night market and visiting the COPE Visitor Centre.

MAG (Mines Advisory Group) is a is a not-for-profit organisation clearing landmines, unexploded ordnance ( UXO) and other remnants of conflict for the benefit of communities worldwide.  More than 2 million tonnes of ordnance was dropped over Laos during the Second Indo-China War and Laos is the most bombed country in the world per capita.  An estimated 30% of the ordnance did not explode on impact and UXO still affects more that 25% of villages in Laos and remains a key cause of poverty.  As in other South East Asia countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam, collecting scrap metal is a major cause of UXO accidents.  Forced into the trade by poverty, people risk their lives using primitive detectors to hunt for scrap: normally what they find is harmless, but there’s always the risk it could be a deadly bomb.  Organisations like MAG are working to help clear the UXO but people are still killed and injured – since 1964  more than 50,000 people have been killed or injured as a result of UXO accidents.

COPE Visitor Center (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise) is an organisation in Laos that works with the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) run by the Laos Ministry of Health.  COPE has five rehabilitation centres across the country to provide access to orthotic/prosthetic devices and physiotherapy and occupational therapy.  People affected by UXO, traffic accidents, polio, leprosy, club foot and children with disabilities are just some of the reasons why people might need access to COPE’s services.

The COPE Visitor Center has a series of really excellent and engaging displays about the UXO problem in Laos and how people are still affected today.  There were some particularly moving displays about children that had been injured or killed when playing with UXO they had discovered in their villages, or how a woman was killed when the heat from her fire stove heated the ground too much and a UXO under her house exploded.  We also watched an interesting and moving documentary about COPE’s work in Laos and they had a whole list of films and documentaries to watch (but we got there late and didn’t have time to watch more than one).  There was also a shop where you could buy gifts or make a donation to support their work.

Visiting the MAG stall and COPE Visitor Center made me realise how little information we get about Laos in the UK press, whether good or bad, and I was glad we were able to find out more about the history of the country and support the work of these two excellent organisations in even a small way.

Buddha Park

Of course, we found time to eat more yummy food and drink a few Beer Lao.  We also bought our flight tickets to Siem Reap (Cambodia) as we were running out of time and didn’t have 34 hours to spend on the bus to get there as we planned to celebrate Becky’s birthday at Angkor Wat!

Taking silly photos at the Buddha Park (one of too many)

Monks with mobiles

Monks with colour coordinated umbrellas

Catching a black cab in Vientiane

How far from Vientiane to......?

Vang Vieng

Amazing view on the bus ride from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng

Our next stop in Laos was a famous little riverside town called Vang Vieng.  Ok so maybe it’s only famous on the travellers/backpackers trail but I’d heard enough about it in advance to wonder if I actually wanted to go there.  The town is known for travellers arriving en mass, getting drunk and stoned and then floating down the river on tyre inner tubes (and sometimes dying because they are so drunk and/or stoned).  You can read a Guardian article about Vang Vieng here, which pretty much sums up what has happened and continues to happen in this once beautiful riverside town.

We had been promised an air-con bus for the supposedly 4-5 hour bus ride from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng.  Our complimentary transfer tuk tuk picked us up at the ungodly hour of 6am and took us to the bus station for our 7am bus.  We quickly realised that we were taking the local bus rather than the tourist bus (we’d decided not to take the VIP bus so it was probably our own fault…) and the air con turned out to be windows that opened!  As all good local buses do, the bus stopped at every opportunity to pick up people and their luggage/goods.  I was actually quite glad that we caught the local bus because it felt like the first time we got a closer look at how people in Laos live.  The road was winding, of course, and with spectacular views (especially as we narrowly avoided oncoming traffic or skirted too close to the edge of a bend with a sheer drop) as we travelled through rural Laos.  About 7.5 hours later we were dropped at the side of the road with our dusty luggage as the only other tourists on the bus (three older women who seemed well-travelled) declared loudly “who would want to get off here?!”.

Vang Vieng (it looks very different during the day compared with at night)

We found ourselves a nice little guest house but quickly decided that going tubing after that bus ride was too much, especially as Anoushca wasn’t feeling well.  Becky and I wandered about town that night marvelling at the bars which were ALL showing episodes of Friends or Family Guy (though we did see one showing South Park).  Vang Vieng is full of bars and restaurants catering for western backpackers (that’s if you like watching old TV series while stoned/hung over or getting super wasted every night on cheap alcohol).  It’s totally bizarre, not very nice (or maybe just not my cup of tea) and I found it actually quite sad that this beautiful little town had been ruined just so western tourists could have some fun.

Reading for tubing at 8.30am!

So we went against the grain and decided to go tubing at 8.30am the next morning.  This was partly because we had no choice (the bus to Vientiane left at 1.30pm and we didn’t want to stay any longer than necessary in Vang Vieng) and partly because we thought it might be a bit quieter.

Well, we were the first and only people on the river that morning as all the bars were pretty much shut.  We stopped at the Big Slide Bar about 10am (as they seemed to be open) and had a go on their big slide (obviously) and their zip-line.  I can’t imagine doing either of these things drunk but we had a lot of fun as it was only us and a couple of tourists from Vietnam who were travelling down the river in a canoe.

 

 

Kids playing on the river

As it was dry season the river was very low with hardly any current at all.  This meant that in order to catch our bus we pretty much had to paddle with our hands ALL the way down the river and at times even get out and walk on the river bed.  It took us about 3.5 hours to get down the river and at the end me and Becky had chafed inner arms from rubbing our arms on the inner tube as we paddled!  We were all creamy crackered at the end.

Having the river to ourselves though was amazing!  It was so peaceful and the scenery was beautiful (once past the bars) with lush green mountains rising up alongside the river.  We saw lots of children playing and families going about their business at the side of the river, something which we wouldn’t have seen if we gone when the bars were open.  We also saw lots of water buffalo casually hanging out at the side of the river.

We bought one of those disposable waterproof cameras to capture our adventure.  It was lots of fun taking photos but actually quite hard to work out what would appear in the photos when looking through the view finder – we’re all so used to digital cameras these days!  We got the photos developed and put onto a CD when we got to Vientiane.  They all look like they have been Instagramed!

My view as a floated down the river

Taking a short break from paddling

River view

Me dropping (not very elegantly) off the Big Slide - it hurt a lot when I hit the water!

Zip-line on the river at the Big Slide Bar

Our breakfast view

Luang Prabang

Local market

So Luang Prabang was our first stop in Laos and what a lovely place to stay for a few days. We ended up staying at the guest house that lured us in on the night the boat arrived with promises of a cheap room and free coffee, bananas and wifi (we’re easily pleased) and by this time we also had Ivan (from Argentina) in tow who we’re met on the boat.

First stop was the night market (same, same but slightly different from Thailand and a bit cheaper) where we also found the famous vegetarian street buffet. Here you can fill a bowl with food, have it re-heated in the wok in front of you, add a fresh spring roll if you wish, and then eat it at the side of the market at a low table – all for the princely sum of 80p!

Becky on a bike

The next day we hired some old but functioning bicycles (again for 80p per day) and headed off to the local market (Phousi Market) for a nosey around. This local market (we were the only tourists there that day) sells all sorts of things from food to clothes, shoes and mobile phones. We bought a giant, fresh coconut each which the lady tipped into a plastic bag each (with a straw) and added some fresh coconut flesh to each one – supper yummy but super filling because the coconuts were the biggest I’d ever seen. Between us we also bought some textiles, cooking utensils, some natural cotton thread and some stationery.

We also cycled to Wat Xieng Thong temple, which is one of the most important in Laos. When we visited many monks were working to replace the gold leaf that decorates the exterior of the main temple.

Monk applying gold leaf to the temple

After a coffee and cake stop (the coffee in Loas in amazing) we headed up to Wat Chom Si, which is another important temple that sits upon a hill (Phou Si) in the centre of town so you get an amazing view from the top, especially as the sun starts to set. We also saw something that was supposed to be Buddha’s footprint (it was a big gold blob), more golden Buddha’s and a creepy temple inside a small cave.

Throughout our stay we had lots of yummy local food (mainly noodle soup), lots of Laos iced coffee, lots of fresh fruit shakes (with varying amounts of sugar), I had a peanut butter and nutella shake one night and we also consumed our fair share of the famous Beer Lao (the national beer, which is good and cheap).

On top of the world in Luang Prabang

We also checked out the typical travellers bar called Utopia (which has a lovely riverside setting and chilled atmosphere) and also ended up going to the famous bowling alley, which is the only place to go if you want to drink after 11pm. Basically, everyone piles into overcrowded tuk tuks outside Utopia and then you are driven to an american style bowling alley a few kilometres out of town. This place is completely surreal because it’s only full of travellers and it looks like any bowling alley in the world. Of course the main attraction is that bowling is cheap and you can buy drinks until late. As it was nearly Beck’s birthday (and going bowling on her birthday is a bit of a tradition) it seemed only fair that Becky beat all of us at bowling, including a cocky American guy who was trying to give Maria bowling tips. Go Becky! Getting back from bowling was easy because the tuk tuk drivers wait outside for you and we shared one back with a bunch of British teenagers (the least fun part of the evening).

Supposedly Buddha's footprint...

Scary temple in a cave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our other main trip was to the beautiful Kuang Si waterfalls about 30km out of town. We hired a tuk tuk to take us there and back and the journey took us through some amazing landscape and winding roads. The waterfalls were in a beautiful forest setting where you could swim in several pools. Someone had even set up a rope swing that I think Becky might regret not jumping from for the rest of her life!

Also in the grounds of the forest was a small bear sanctuary where they cared for bears that had been rescued from people who kept them as pets of mistreated them. As it was the middle of the day, the bears were quite sleepy and mainly lounging around.

Anoushca jumping into the waterfall pool

After a lovely few days in Luang Prabang we booked what we thought was an A/C bus to Vang Vieng that turned out to be the local bus… more about that in the next post. As the bus left early, we were up early enough to see the monks walking the streets to collect their alms from the locals. This was a real treat because we saw the monks away from the touristy part of town (it’s a tourist attraction to get up early to see the monks each morning).

Monks collecting alms

Monks collecting alms

Late night bowling

Rebecca was a millionaire for a day

Beer Lao

 

Pai (Thailand) to Luang Prabang (Laos) by road and the slow boat

Putting our luggage on the tuk tuk to go to the boat office

Funny sign in a shop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I thought that travelling in Bolivia by bus was a bit of an adventure but I hadn’t reckoned on the roads in northern Thailand and Laos!  Our adventure to Laos started with the 8pm mini-bus from Pai that basically took us almost back to Chiang Mai (where we’d been before Pai) via the road with a million curves up and down mountains.  Even in an AC min-van it was impossible to sleep as our driver drove Michael Schumacher style around each corner (I was sat behind him and I saw him physically lean into every bend!).  We had a couple of toilet/snack stops at some 7/11 in the middle of nowhere before finally arriving at the guest house in Chiang Khong at 3.30am (instead of 2am).  The thought of having to get up again at 7am was not appealing but we needed to do that to cross the border to Laos and catch the slow boat to Luang Prabang.

Slow boat - day 1

We’d booked the bus and boat separately, rather than booking a bus and boat package from Pai.  Turned out this didn’t actually save us any money as planned and worked out exactly the same cost, oh well.  After exiting Thai immigration we crossed the river (which I guess is the Mekong?) to Laos immigration.  We filled in a couple of forms, attached a passport photo, paid our US$35 and had our Laos visas within 15 minutes (a proper full-page sticker visa, not just a stamp).  Then there was lots of hanging around for the boat to leave.  This gave us time to buy sandwiches (for some reason they sell baguette style sandwiches everywhere in Laos – probably for tourists but also a lasting influence from French colonial times) and marvel at the snake whisky on sale – yes, bottle os whisky with a snake and some herbs inside which is supposed to make men strong (whatever??!!).

Of course the boat didn’t actually leave at 10.30 and I think we actually got on our way about 12.30 but not before the boat was overloaded with tourists and local people.  We were all supposed to have allocated seats but this turned out to be a bit of a joke as people who paid the same as us for a seat ended up in the back engine room with one small window, sat on top of their bags and whatever else.  As you might imagine, these were the people who got off the boat after two days saying it was the worst two days of their lives.  We were lucky enough to bag a car seat each (yes, they literally had pairs of car seat placed in rows down each side of the boat that were not even fixed in) and our big bags were stowed in the hull of the boat.

Village by the river

The trip down the Mekong River was pretty amazing, even with all the smog you could make out the hills and mountains as we passed by.  We also passed by lots of small villages and picked up people and their luggage (including their motorbikes) and saw people going about their daily lives in and along the river – washing, fishing, sifting stuff (still don’t know what) and zipping up and down in little motorized boats.  It was obvious that people lived a subsistence life and the villages we passed looked pretty basic in terms of housing and facilities.

 

 

 

 

So how did we pass two days on the boat?  Well it was a combination of sleeping, watching the scenery, eating snacks, drinking beer, chatting with fellow passengers, braiding each others hair (apart from mine), making hemp bracelets and hair wraps (yes, I’ve become a handicraft hippie), taking silly photos, reading, listening to music and generally watching the world go by.

Beautiful sunset - day 1

The boat stopped for the night in Pakbeng where we were enthusiastically greeted by the guest house touts.  We accepted a lift on the back of a truck to one guest house and after a quick look around, agreed to take two twin rooms for 100 baht pp/pn, after all we were only here for one night.  After a delicious Indian meal (although Rebecca was a bit taken aback by the fact her curry had banana in it) we crashed early after not getting much sleep the night before.

Everyone learnt their lesson from the first day and got to the boat much earlier than the 9am departure time to grab a decent seat.  I felt sorry for the guy who’s girlfriend had slept in because they got their late and had to sit in the engine room again for the whole day (the second day is longer with a journey time of about 9 hours).  We got the last seats at the back of the open part of the boat, next to the toilets, engine and snack bar (selling crisps and beer).  I was very glad to have my ear plugs!

We passed another day much the same as the last and with more stunning scenery.  It was made slightly more eventful though when the boat started to leak (or something) and the boat lady (she seemed to be in charge) ran up to the boat driver and we had to turn of the engine and float to the shore and wait a bit.  With the water levels so low at this time of year it was easy to see how the boat could get damaged scraping on the rocks of the river.  Becky said they fixed the problem with a rag and a couple of knives and we were soon on our way again.

Enjoying the best things in life - Beer Laos and seaweed flavoured crisps

We were very grateful to eventually get off the boat in Luang Prabang.  Again we were greeted by a bunch of guest house touts and by luck more than anything we ended up in a nice little guest house about 15 minutes walk to the night market in a nice and quiet part of town.  Obviously we were lucky with our experience because we heard so many bad stories about the boat and the people who paid the same as us and had to sit in the engine room obviously got a bad deal.  That said, it was a great adventure and a wonderful way to reach a new country where the local beer (Beer Laos) is better and cheaper than Chang beer in Thailand.

Anoushka braiding Rebecca's hair

Snake whisky

Maria (with new hair braid), Ivan (from Argentine who we met at Laos immigration) and Anoushka

Beautiful sunset - day 2