that we've ridden all over northern Laos. Paige and I started the tour on April 10th in Bangkok and hopped off in Chiang Mai for Songkran (see previous posts for more info on the awesomeness of Thai New Year.) After Chiang Mai we went to Chiang Khong to cross to Laos.
Border crossing went far more smoothly than we thought. We were one of the first groups in line on the Thai side so as soon as it opened at 8 a.m. we were through. We took a long tail boat to the Laos side and filled out way too much paper work, surrendered our photos, US dollars and passports, and waited for them to call our name. No organization...three lines for three different things, all intersecting in a small, 15' x 15' area. Moderately painless, and we were done with immigration and changing money by 9:15 a.m. Fun fact: Lao money is the kip, and $1 = 8,000 kip. It's so strange to get a bill for dinner that's 30,000 kip...feels like so much money even though it's hella cheap here.
We started our first travel day on the big orange Stray bus, meandering through the hair pin turns in the mountains. Perfect time for a 24 hour bout of food poisoning to begin...rule #4 of the Stray bus is "Do not vomit on the bus." Luckily I had plenty of plastic bags with me for the duration. Also luckily, it was not motion sickness, as I originally thought. The rest of the bus rides were perfectly enjoyable.
The second day we stayed at bungalows on the bank of a tributary of the Mekong River. They were definitely rustic, but each one had a balcony with a hammock overlooking the river. We watched the sun set while swimming, and then had fantastic Indian food for dinner. That night there was a huge storm; rain falling on a tin roof is just an amazing sound. The next morning we saw the sun rise behind the mountains, which were cloaked in mists leftover from the storm. I swear this country is the most beautiful place I've ever seen.
We also explored a cave where communists hid from American bombs during the Vietnam war. The US-Laos conflict was called the Secret War because it was kept out of the media. Embarrassingly, I didn't even know about it until this trip. In 9 years the US dropped millions of bombs here, making it the most heavily bombed country in history. Currently, there are still approximately 20 million small bombs in the ground, and one person (or cow) is killed each day by stepping on one. I really need to read more about it; I'm aware I have a completely skewed image of the US-Laos conflict, because everything I've learned about it, I've learned in Laos. Still though, it's pretty disheartening to hear about.
After the beautiful riverside bungalows, we took a river boat to Luang Prabong. It's a terribly cute little city that reminds me very much of Chiang Mai. It has a lot of the same trekking and elephant riding that's available there, and a big backpacker population. Our first stop was the most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen - the water is an unreal shade of blue that just shouldn't exist in nature. There's a lagoon with a rope swing (at which I was utterly unsuccessful) and you can also jump from the top, about 10 meters high. The continuous shoot function of Meri's camera was awesome for capturing my follies. Here's some shots of the landscape:
That night we had dinner at a cute cafe and checked out the Luang Prabong night market. After that we headed to one of the coolest bars I've been to, called Utopia. It was all outdoors, overlooking the river. Really neat vibe, even though it closed at 11 p.m. because of the curfew.
The next day we headed to Vang Vieng for tubing. Basically, you don't even need an inner-tube; tubing is just going from riverside bar to riverside bar, swimming and drinking copious amounts of alcohol out of buckets. Photo evidence:
It was extremely fun, and because we started so early in the day, we were done and asleep by 9 p.m. Perfect timing for Paige and I to get up at 5:30 a.m. to go hot air ballooning over the mountains! We were just in time to see the sunrise as we went up in the air.
Laos, and the Stray tour, has been awesome and I'll be sad to leave. Tomorrow we'll explore the city of Vientiane a little, including a museum documenting the Secret War, and get on an overnight train to Bangkok. The last overnight train I took was in Germany, so we'll see how Thailand's train system compares. We have a sleeper, so I think we'll be fine.
On Saturday, Cambodia!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Chao Anou Rd,Vientiane,Laos
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