Southern Laos

After Gary left, I met up with some English girls and went out in Luang Prabang for one more night, went bowling, all the works. But I missed you babe!

I was supposed to catch a 6:30 bus to Vientienne, but I overslept and had to take the 9:00 one, it was a long day on a bus but I made it pretty late at night, and just walked around and went to bed. I flew the next morning to Pakse, which is southern Laos. I got there really early in the morning, put my bags in a hotel lobby, walked around and decided there wasn't much there so I went to the bus station to head to Tad Lo, which is this small town outside Pakse with a lot of trails and waterfalls, etc. I met a guy on the bus from Colorado, so we explored together. We walked to a waterfall and just around the area. There isn't much to the town, but it is very peaceful there, I enjoyed it.

The next day we woke up and went for a walk. We just walked for about an hour and enjoyed the scenery. We found a waterfall, went for a swim, took a nap by the water, and then walked around some more. We saw this restaurant on the water and decided to pop in, and what luck! It happened to be a gathering of all the local police officers from the surrounding "counties" all eating and getting absolutley wasted. They invited us to sit with them and have some beers, so we ate and drank and they gave me their cell phone numbers and said if I get in trouble in Laos, call them... hah. Thanks I guess!

Waterfall

TadLo

More Tad Lo

Head of Police

The pigs in Laos are HUGE

Andy playing the local game of volleyball/hackey sack. I tried too, but then fell on my ass while trying to kick the ball over the net and quit out of embarrassment

I left the next morning to head even more south to an area known as the 4,000 Islands (becuase there are 4,000 little islands all strewn through this area of the Mekong). When I got there, I ran into a couple I had met in Luang Prabang, so we found some bungalows on the water, which were like $2 a night! The island we stayed on, Don Det, is more of the backpacker island, but since we went in the off season, there was hardly anyone there. It was soooo nice and such a beautiful place. I absolutely loved it. We rented bikes and cruised around to the different islands, saw a cool waterfall, found a swimming beach, walked around the island, drank on our porches, read in our hammocks, it was so nice. I had planned on only staying a couple of nights but stayed 4. Since the electricity stopped at 10pm, there wasn't a lot going on at night, so it was a very relaxing few days... not like I have anything to relax from.

Bike riding

Riding over to Don Khon

A surprisingly large waterfall in the Mekong

Fishing Boats

One of the things the islands are known for are these freshwater dolphins, that are endagered because during the war, they were all bombed because the army thought they carried the spirits of the enemies or something weird like that. Anyway, we rented a boat and had a guy take us out at sunset to see the dolphins. We saw 6! We were lucky!

Brad, Me, Sicilia and Ben, technically in Cambodia waiting to see dolphins.

We stopped to check the fishing traps. Our driver was absolutely hilarious.

Local lady selling snacks

Ben and Sicilia on the Island

Local kid taking a nap, haha, I just thought he looked so funny since this was part of a kitchen at a food stand.

After I lef the islands, I took yet another long bus ride up to mid Laos to Savanakhet to cross the border to Vietnam. I stayed one night and actually really enjoyed this town. There are so many old french buildings that are just falling apart becuase they can't afford to fix them up, nor do I think they really care. But it felt like a ghost town almost because all the buildins were just these beautiful but crumbling structures.

Old radio tower I think

Buildings

Lady making one of my favorite snacks, papaya salad!

Another building

I ran into an English guy, Tom, who I had met in Thailand who was also crossing the border to Vietnam. We decided to take the local bus and what an adventure! We were the only two white people on the bus. We got to the border around 2am and had to sleep on the floor of this woman's house while we waiting for the border to open. We crossed over, made it to Hue and even though I had initially planned to skip the north and just spend three weeks in the south, I decided since I am nearing the end of my trip, I want to see and do as much as possible, sooooooooo, I hopped on another overnight bus up to Hanoi which is where I am now. Hanging out up north for a bit then heading south.

Our local border crossing bus

Laos

A lot has happened these past two weeks, I will try and recap.

I got to Bangkok at about 6am and took a cab to the hotel where I was supposed to meet Gary. He wasn't coming in until about midnight that night, so I had a whole day to kill. I just walked around the shopping mall, getting ideas for future shopping at the end of the trip.

Durian, aka the stinky fruit. Its not good. I tried it. It really does smell.

Gary arrived at midnight, he dropped his stuff and we headed out. We just walked around, went to a club, but left pretty early, we didn't want the next day to be wasted. We woke up and decided to head to Chinatown since I haven't explored that part yet. We ate some delicious street food, some chili crab and some other dishes. We went to the flower market afterwards, then took the boat back to our area. Went to a night market, went out for a few drinks and then headed home.

You can buy anything in chinatown. From brass knuckles to a vibrator...

Gary at the night market

We took an early flight to Vientiane, which is the capital of Laos. Compared to Bangkok, Vientiane is a dump, but it has its charm and I actually quite liked it. Our hotel was right on the Mekong and just a few minutes walk from town. There are a bunch of food stalls right on the water where you can just hang out, have a beer and a snake and watch the river flow by. Its really nice. We got some lunch, papaya salad, which was right up there with one of the spiciest things I have had on this trip. So good though. We walked around Vientiane, talked to some monks that wanted to practice their english which was fun. The next day we rented bicycles and cruised around some more. It was so hot outside, you can drink all the water you can handle and still not pee cause you just sweat it all out.

Our street in Vientiane

Since it was a French colony, there are freshly baked baguettes everywhere!

Local bus

Riverside eating

Monks

We left the next morning for Vang Vieng, which is known for tubing. I was skeptical at first, thinking it was going to be a shitshow like southern Thailand, but I can't deny it, it was fun. Its like tubing in Texas on steroids. You float down there river and there are these shanty little bars, blaring western music that pour you a shot of Lao Lao whiskey right when you arrive. You have a few drinks and then you get back in the water by these giant rope swings. It is SO dangerous because people are hammered and these rope swings are like 30 feet high. But its more a swim at your own risk. Thankfully, Gary and I went through unharmed. The second day we rented motorbikes and cruised around the surrounding area. It is beautiful there, with giant limestone cliffs jutting into the sky. Apparently, its great rock climbing. We went to a cave, which I decided I am over caves. They are dark, and stuffy and slippery. No more for me. Then we went tubing again until 9pm at night. Floating down the river at night with a lightning storm was actually really cool.

View from our room in Vang Vieng

Motorbikes

Cave, where we got totally ripped off by our "guide". He saw us walking through the village, started walking with us, which is pretty normal. Took us to the cave and afterwards tried to charge us like $12! A full day tour of all the caves is like $6, but we didn't have much of a choice cause we didn't know how to get back so we agreed on $7. Jerk. It was still cool though.

We left the next morning for Luang Prabang, which is a world national heritage site. It is such a cute little town. All the buildings are very colonial looking, and its very laid back and has a European feel. Not what you would expect from Laos! We went out that night and met a few people and made plans to go to the waterfall the next day. We met up at around noon and took a tuk tuk the 32 kilometers out to the waterfall which was amazing. You can hike up to the top, which is pretty high, and swim in a little pool that overlooks the waterfall down below and the hilly countryside. It was so nice. We left there and walked around town some more. The next day we rented bikes and rode around the town. We stopped to eat by the water and met a really nice local family so we drank some BeerLao with them and continued our ride. That night we got on an overnight bus to Luang Nam Tha, which is way up north. The bus left at 5pm and was supposed to arrive really early, like 4am or something ridiculous, but we broke down at around 3 and didn't get the new part for the bus until 7am, so it was a little delayed, but just slept on the bus so it wasn't a big deal. All part of the experience. haha.

Waterfall

Luang Prabang

Snake wine... yes we tried it. I am still gagging

Laos was the most heavily bombed country during WWII. There are many groups that work to find the bombs that have still not exploded. Here are a few bombs set up in a yard for decorations.

Riverside Luang Prabang

Luang Nam Tha is sort of a crossroads of culture. There are many native tribes, Lao people, and Chinese and Burmese. A lot of Chinese have moved into northern Laos to do cheap trade and rubber plantations. They do not have a good reputation amongst the educated Lao people but for the poor farmers, they pay the best so for right now, its great. But there is expected conflict down the line. It was an interesting dynamic in the north, I really enjoyed our time up there. We decided to do a two day trek through the mountains to visit some local tribes. We got to spend the night in a Lenten village and just hang out with all the kids, which were the cutest things I have ever seen. Our guide was really cool, very informative. We ate dinner, bathed in the river with the village, and just hung out. There was a TV in the village so at around 8, the whole village gathered into this one house to watch this silly Thai movie. Gary participated but I was feeling a little ill so I had to miss on the fun. Its just funny how you can be miles from nowhere and still have a TV. Every village has satellite dishes, its so funny.

11:30 curfew in Laos

Rice farming

Gary taking pictures. They loved to see the pictures after you took them. They scream and jump around and laugh, its hilarious.

So Cute

More cute

Leeches!!! So many of them!

End of trek with our guide Phonsak

The next day we headed even farther north to Muang Sing, which is about 6 miles from the border with China and like 40 miles from Burma, ahem, sorry, Myanmar. We rented motorbikes and cruised to the Chinese border, then we attempted to go to Burma but it was a dirt road and really far. We stopped at a village to get a drink and a snack and all the kids from the village came out and screamed and ran around us, again. So cute. It never gets old. Everyone on the road was very friendly. We would be riding and a local would come up next to us and just say a few things in English that he knew, just to say hi. One guy pulled up and was like, "hello!! Where are you from? Sometimes when I am drunk I like to practice my English!" We were like, um, are you drunk right now as he is almost swerving into us. He said "haha, yes, very! I like to practice English! Nice to meet you!" We were dying, were like, ok, nice to meet you, be safe!! And he sped off.

Walking the water buffalo

Countryside

Kids at the village

The next day we did a one day hike through the mountains to see more villages, but my camera died so I dont' have any pictures.

We headed back to Lunag Prabang, another 8 hour bus ride. Spent the night walking around the market and just enjoying our last night together. The next morning, we woke up early to watch the monks gather their offerings, walked around the rest of the day and then Gary left around 4pm. It was great to have him here, we had a blast! I was supposed to go to Vietnam now but I like Laos so I am staying here a little while longer and just skipping northern Vietnam. Can't see everything.

Lots of Monks