LAOS

LAOS

Vang Viene Tubing

I arrived in Ventiene the Capital and headed for the infamous tubing at Vang Viene. I arrived quite late at night to my guest house but met up with some travellers the next day who were up for going tubing. You see, its not so much the tubing itself, the river flows quite slowly. Its the big swings and slides, the music, the bars the ambiance that makes tubing in Vang Viene an unmissable and special experience. And it also helped me once again to get over my fear of heights. The swings seemed like they were some 30m in the air. I added a couple of videos of the swing and the parties. All just some good fun Mum, don't worry! (see the videos below).

Laung Prabang

From the madness of Vang Viene i visited the Unesco World Heritage town of Laung Prabang. A small town with its temples, markets and the mighty Mekong running beside it. Personally i am not sure why its Unesco rated, i read the french put together a team and wrote a massive file to the UN to get the town registered. Ego i suspect. Whatever, it was a nice town. I stayed a couple of days visiting the temples, museums, watched a Laos ballet performance and strolled through the night market and visited the local Kang Si waterfall. Thereafter i took a river boat up north through Laos for one day, heading towards the river towns of Nong Koi and Mong Ngoi. Again a complete change of pace.

The pics below are of the sunset upon the Mekong at Laung Prabang, the national Museum and Buddha.


Nong Koi and Mong Ngoi

Nong Koi is a quiet river town with some trekking and kayaking activities. I stayed here two nights, for me it was a stop before going onto Mong Ngoi, however i did meet some very nice travellers here and we all went one hour further north to Mong Ngoi. Mong Ngoi has no roads, only forest and river access. There is one street that is the centre of life of the village. The river is the life and source of the people, so on that note any planned UN Development bank Dam projects might not be that welcome.


I did some trekking to local tribe villages and local waterfalls through rice padi fields. I went kayaking with the boys one morning and spent a couple of sunny afternoons by the river. Just relaxed and recharged really. Apart from one night when we stumbled across a local girls leaving party so of course we had to join in. Otherwise quite a chilled time amongst nature.

Lang Nam Tha

I was sorry to leave Mong Ngoi but i guess it was time to move on. I finally decided to visit Lang Nam Tha, apparently famous for its hill tribes and trekking in the national park. I met a very cool guy on the bus, Aidan and we travelled together for a week around Long Nam Tha. One day we hired motorbikes and were just exploring when we came across this local Laos birthday party. We we had a look and they invited us in. Lets just say we were lucky to enjoy such a local authentic gathering as you will see from the video below although the birthday boy was gay and fancied Aidan, asking him to kiss him on the dance floor! (sorry mate:-). We had such a laugh! Priceless.

Aidan and i also went for a another bike ride with some fellow travellers to explore what trekking opportunities there were. At one point of the day i went into China, illegally of course. We were right by the border on the bikes in Northern Laos and i just thought i would have a look. Needless to say the guards weren't impressed and when they started blowing their whistles, I decided to drive back out of China into Laos.

Anyway we did finally find a trek to do in the mountains. The trek was fine but i guess we all had other expectations, like meeting local tribal people, learning some local crafts etc. As i said we had a nice trek anyway and a good group of people.

I loved my time in Laos very much. I was sad to leave but you know, onwards and upwards. So far it has been my favourite country in South East Asia. I found the people to be genuine, open and warm and not all about getting the money. The pace of life is slow, simple and contented. Just calm and happy. Lets hope it may stay that way for a long time into the future.