Vang Vieng to Vientiane

Backpacking, Laos, Travel, , ,

4/7 – Time to brush the Vang Vieng dust off our sandals and get back on the bus. We had a nice conversation with our hotel host this morning, a businessman from Singapore who saw potential in this town and decided to build a hotel and spa for his own retirement here. He was glad when the partying was shut down, as the kids trashed up the town and didn’t spend money except for drinks. He said that a lot of the hotel/hostels that went out of business were very low end, and now real hotels are being built. The China to Thailand train line (no more Bus From Hell) has been promised to be completed within the next five years, and will bring a huge influx of affluent Chinese tourists here. He is sitting on an acorn and biding his time…

This morning we tuk-tukked (can I use that as a verb?) back to the bus station. We had to wait for a group of six very-hungover young adults (?) to make their way onto the cab. They looked extremely green around the gills – evidently doing their part to keep the party spirit alive. We boarded the VIP bus to Vientiane. The bus has air conditioning! We can sit anywhere we want! It’s going to be a good day.image

The scenery was lush green, with little towns and real houses with yards and little fences. We’ve left the very poor country shacks behind, at least what we can see from the main road. After two hours we stopped for a break – ice cream and sinks with soap!image

At 2pm we arrived in the capital city of Vientiane, and 10 minutes later were at our hotel. It’s 100 degrees again. The AC in our room didn’t work, and we asked for a different room. We moved from a room with no AC to a room with poor Wifi. In this climate, AC wins every time!

We ate a noodle soup supper at the hotel restaurant, and watched an old Eddie Murphy movie – in English with Lao subtitles – on TV. They have CNN, MSNBC and BBC here!

4/8 – We set off while it was still relatively cool in the morning to see the That Dam, or Black Stupa, which is just down the road. I asked Jim if the Dam was a Wat? No, it’s a Dam! Sounded like a weird Asian version of Who’s on First. Legend says that this stupa was once covered in gold, which was stripped off by the Siamese when they invaded in the 1800s, and that a seven-headed naga dragon used to guard the stupa. Although it is weedy and looks neglected, it is the symbol of the city. Here is the front view:image
Here is the back view:image

We saw signs for the Patuxai, Vientiane’s version of Paris’ Arc du Triomphe, built to commemorate the ousting of the French in 1949, so we kept walking several kilometers down a wide boulevard until we spotted it. image

The Americans gave Laos money to build an airport in 1960 (preparing for the Vietnam War, no doubt) and they built this monument instead, so it is also called “the Vertical Runway” (probably only by Americans). image

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Formal gardens surround the monument, and you can climb to the top to see an overview of the city.image

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Now it’s past one, and very hot as we walked back toward our end of town. Even though we stopped to buy cold water, I felt a little woozy, and Jim started looking for a place to sit me down in the shade. We turned a corner, and, like a mirage, what did I see? An air conditioned Swenson’s Ice Cream shop, like the answer to a prayer! Half an hour and one scoop of green tea ice cream later, I was restored.image

Despite how the climate feels to us Westerners, Laotians maintain conservative dress standards with knees and shoulders always covered. In Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng there were signs reminding tourists to cover up, but we haven’t seen the signs here. I wear my long pants anyway.image

For dinner we went to a Vietnamese pho restaurant and I had cool summer rolls. Perfect!

Vang Vieng, Laos – Hike to Lusi Cave

Hiking, Laos, Travel, , ,

4/6 – Happy Easter to those celebrating far away – no sign of bunnies or jelly beans in this town! Today we are hiking to Lusi Cave, which, according to the sign, is just a kilometer out of town. It promised to be another 100 degree day, so we left right after breakfast before it got too hot. The mornings here are very pleasant – in the 70s.

We followed handwritten signs with arrows pointing down a trail through some farmers’ fields and unplanted rice paddies. We met a herd of young cows, grazing free, and a couple of young bulls butting horns to show off for the ladies.image image

Soon the fields turned to a shady wooded path, with signs that continued to say that the cave was 1 km away. Must be the longest kilometer ever! We got to a hill with a flag on top, with a shack and a sign that promised that we could climb the hill for a great view for only 10,000 kip. There was no attendant here, and the gate to the first ladder was locked, so we hiked on.image

Jim is never quite as happy as when he is hiking a trail through the woods.image

45 minutes later, we arrived at another shack and another sign. The cave was straight up from here, but again there was no attendant. We saw a steep ascent and a ladder, which my arm was not ready for, so I told Jim to go up, and I waited in the shade below. In a minute, he called down that there is a locked gate here too, but he was going to try to climb over it.image

Just then, we heard a motorbike, and a young man pulled up! He was the attendant, and he grabbed a flashlight and motioned for me to follow him up. I declined, but called out to Jim, and when he heard Jim’s voice above, he understood that his customer was up at the gate.

I passed the time swatting flies and admiring the little altar erected at the base of the climb up to the cave, with offerings of food and flowers. Those are little 3 inch bananas, to give you an idea of how small the Buddhas are.image

Half an hour later, Jim returned, triumphant, having climbed up to the cave and experienced the dark and the cool, the stalactites and stalagmites. Unfortunately, it was too dark in the cave for pix, but it sure sounded like fun.image

Walking back in the heat of noon was not so much fun, and reminded me of the old song that only “mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun”.

Here’s an interesting note about Vang Vieng: did you know that they have bars/cafes here that play episodes of Friends 24/7? Now that is something you can’t get everywhere… Book your tickets for Vang Vieng today!image

And in case you were wondering, here’s what Coke and Pepsi look like in Laotian!image

Sheesh – slow news day. Must be time to move on!

Vang Vieng – Tubing on the Nam Song

Laos, Travel, , ,

4/4 – Our original purpose for spending time in Vang Vieng was to split up the long bus ride between Luang Prabang and our next stop, the Laotian capital of Ventiene. We were not aware until we got here that Vang Vieng was, until recently, the wildest party town in all of Southeast Asia, known for its alcohol and drug fueled tubing trips down the Nam Song River. Here is one of the many bar “menus” you can see online if you Google this town.image

Over 400 young travelers a day used to tube down the river, starting off at noon with free shots, Beer Lao and “bucket” drinks, and stopping at riverside bars every hundred yards enroute to re-lubricate themselves with both alcohol and drugs ordered off a menu, while zip-lining, swinging, sliding, jumping off bridges and doing other foolhardy things that was getting them injured and killed in such large numbers that, in 2012, the Communist government came in and ripped all the bars and party equipment down. Once the bars and drugs were gone, the kids stopped coming, and now Vang Vieng is the sleepy little town we see today.

The river is still here, and the mountain scenery is still beautiful, so we decided to have a go at tubing, without the intoxicants. My arm is still healing, and I can’t yet handle a kayak paddle or a hiking stick, but how strenuous could sitting in a tube be?

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We walked down to the tube rental place and payed 55,000 kip each ($6.80) plus a 60,000 kip deposit to assure that each tube is returned by 6pm. We signed release of liability forms, and had numbers written on our hands in blue magic marker, presumably so that our bodies could be identified when they washed ashore. I had a waterproof bag for our shirts and sandals, and Jim carried his iPad in another dry bag so he could capture our journey on video. We piled into a tuk-tuk with eight like-minded youngsters, and were driven four km upstream and let off at a bar blaring Pharrell’s “Happy” to begin our journey. I thought all the bars were gone?image

The young folks jumped right into the water while we oldsters applied sunscreen and secured our clothing in the dry bag. There wasn’t much current, so we waded in to knee-deep water, and set off. A little ways downstream was another bar blaring techno music, with a man on shore holding a long rope to throw to anyone who wanted to be reeled in for a drink. The young folks all went ashore, and we had the river to ourselves. There were several more bars with loud music, then blissful silence and the serenity of the river.image

Even though we were just floating along, some paddling was required, and I soon realized that my right arm was not up to the job. Luckily, Jim snagged a long piece of bamboo as it drifted by, so we attached our tubes together and Jim steered for both of us.

There were several places where the river was only several inches deep and the current became rapid, followed by long stretches of calm. We watched young boys fishing, and women with nets at work.image

It was 100 degrees on a sunny day, but the water kept us cool enough. Kayakers waved and splashed as they passed us by.image

The dry bags weren’t totally dry, and Jim’s iPad got wet. No more pix today!

After three hours on the water, we saw a sign that said Tubing Ends Here. We stumbled out of our tubes (both my legs has fallen asleep) and onto the rocky beach at a deserted bar. Don’t know why, but I expected some sort of welcoming committee at our destination. A marimba band, perhaps?  We shouldered our tubes and hiked across a rickety bridge back to the main road, and found our way back to the tubing office. Success!  A fun day.

Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng, Laos

Backpacking, Laos, Travel, ,

4/2 – I have not been looking forward to today.  We bought tickets two days ago for the bus up and over the mountains to Vang Vieng, about 7 hours south.  Every blog post we have read calls this the Bus From Hell, and advises against taking it if at all possible.  The roads are so narrow and the turns and switchbacks are so tortuous, that even the strong of stomach are advised to bring barf bags, and those with a tendency toward motion sickness are advised to take the plane.

To make matters worse, Jim and I are both suffering from something we ate yesterday. I’ll spare you the details, but we couldn’t have picked a worse day to be stuck on a bus.
In anticipation, I went to the mini-mart near our guesthouse last night, to see if they carried Dramamine (pills for motion sickness).  “I’m taking the bus to Vang Vieng tomorrow”, I said.  The clerk walked right over to the shelf and gave me the generic Thai equivalent of Dramamine.  I was obviously not the first person with this request!
The tuk-tuk picked us up at 8:30am and took us to the bus station.  We had assigned seats right up front, but the seats were over the wheel well, with no room for our legs.  We moved back a row and hoped that no one would challenge us for our seats.  This would have been unacceptable behavior in China, but here, no one seemed to mind.  30 minutes before departure, we both popped a Dramamine. 

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As I had not gotten much rest the night before, the pill put me right to sleep.  Jim wasn’t so lucky.  Every once in a while, the bus would bounce so jarringly that I would open one eye, observe a hairpin turn, and go back to sleep again. So, sorry to say, no pix out the bus window.  The shocks on the bus were bad, so every bump in the road made the bus bounce twice.  My teeth were rattling in my head. There was no AC, and the temp was in the 90s.
We stopped twice for toilet breaks – best not to describe rural Laotian toilets.  Our promised lunch break didn’t occur until 3:30pm, and I wasn’t hungry in the least.  We arrived in Vang Vieng by 5 in the afternoon, and shared a tuk-tuk into town.
So now we are at the Laos Haven Hotel, showered and rested.  It is a tiny town, compared to Luang Prabang, with only one main street, and not many tourists.  Here is the view out our hotel window, of the main street.image
Traffic on the main street.image

Looks like this will be a nice place to relax!

Luang Prabang – Utopia, a Wat and a Bamboo Bridge

Laos, Travel, , , , , , ,

3/30 – We are thoroughly enjoying our time in this relaxed and friendly Laotian town, and have decided to stay a few days longer. There are lots of touristy things we could do, like visiting a Hmong village, taking a bus to a waterfall, or learning how to train elephants, but we are content to walk around town, investigate the temples, talk to anyone who speaks English, eat good food, and drink the occasional Beer Lao – the Beer of the Wholehearted People. The local folk are friendly, but not pushy, which is very nice.

Today we walked to the other side of town, along the Nam Than River, where we have not spent much time. Here we found the famous Utopia Bar, where the younger set sits on cushions and stares out at the river while drinking beer and listening to old Bob Marley music. Groovy. We had a beer, then moved on. image

We found another wat, which featured the mirrored mosaics that I like. Here is the Tree of Life, and the little Lao people covering the wall behind the Buddha statues. image

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Here are the funerary urns used by the former kings of Laos, now permanently on display, as there are no more kings.image

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The hand positions of the Buddhas are important – palms front is an entreaty to stop arguing, and hands at his sides is an entreaty for rain.image

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We spoke with two orange-clad 17 year old monks, who explained that they were novices until the age of twenty, at which time they would decide whether to stay at the monastery. One was inclined to stay, the other wanted to go abroad to attend university. Jim asked lots of questions about some of the images we’ve seen in the temples, and they were happy to supply the answers. Very personable young men – they appreciated the chance to work on their English, and we appreciated the chat.

In the afternoon, we came upon a long bamboo bridge, that we had to pay 75 cents to cross. I thought someone should be paying us to cross this bridge! On the other side was nothing at all, just bulldozed land. I’m glad they didn’t charge us to walk back. image

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It was a beautiful place to be at sunset.image

Luang Prabang – Whiskey Village and the Pak Ou Caves

Laos, Travel, , , ,

3/28 – This morning we had an early breakfast so we would be ready for our tuk-tuk at 8am. We are taking a two hour tourist slow boat up the Mekong River to visit Whiskey Village, and see the Pak Ou Buddha caves. There are seven of us (two young women from Hanoi, a Spanish man from Barcelona, and a couple in the back that we never got to speak to) in the long boat, which is motor driven, so is not really that slow. The morning is overcast and it is actually a little chilly on the water.

We see fishermen and children along the riverside, and deer and water buffalo on the far shore. imageimage
We stop for gas at a floating gas dock. image

An hour and a half into our ride, the driver stops at a set of rickety steps, and we disembark and climb up to a tin-roofed shack containing a metal drum distillery heated by an open fire.image
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Whiskey Village produces 100 proof rice whiskey, as well as red and white rice wine. The proprietor offers samples to anyone who wishes to partake. Jim tries some of each, and is drawn to the small bottles containing whiskey-preserved snakes or scorpions – powerful medicine. I remind him that we already have several of these bottle at home, from his previous Asian adventures!image

It’s 10 in the morning, too early for me to drink whiskey, so I walk further to see what else the village has to offer. Women sit at their looms, producing bolts of cloth and scarves in either cotton or silk. They each entreat as I pass, in low voices with eyes downcast, “Beautiful for you madam, lucky scarf, cotton for you, silk for you, discount for you.”

As backpackers, we normally have a “no buy” policy, but the morning is chilly and the thought of a shawl around my shoulders leads me to engage with one of the women. She allows me to take her picture, and we negotiate for a light cotton turquoise shawl, which ends up costing about $2.50.image

“Lucky for you, madam”, she says, and brushes the money over her other wares, transferring the luck in hope of future sales.

In 20 minutes, we are all back on the boat. I see that my fellow female travelers have each bought a scarf. The men are smiling, so they must have enjoyed the whiskey and wine.

Now we continue our journey north to the Pak Ou caves, where a bamboo bridge and a set of steps brings us to the mouth of a cave filled with small Buddha statues, mostly made of wood, that people have been bringing here for over two hundred years.

The lower cave area is illuminated by natural light from the mouth of the cave.image

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We emerge and walk up another set of steps to find the upper caves. These are not illuminated, and you need a flashlight to enter. Jim, as always, is prepared, and I am able to capture some pix with my camera’s flash.image

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Jim would have been happy spending several hours here, but our boat driver has only allotted us 40 minutes, (one of the reasons we try not to take group tours), so we pull ourselves away and hurry back down the steps.  Sure enough, he is waiting for us – everyone else is already on the boat.

Our return trip is heading south with the current, so it only takes an hour to get back.  The sun is now fully out and the day is hot – don’t need my shawl any more, but am glad that I got to meet the woman who made it. A beautiful day.image imageimage

 

Luang Prabang – Tak Bat and Mount Phou si

Laos, Travel, , , , ,

3/27 – This morning we rose at 5am to view the daily ritual of Tak Bat – giving alms to the monks at daybreak.  Every day, the townspeople line the streets near the 33 temples where monks reside, and prepare to feed them sticky rice, crackers and little packets of food.    

 

The townspeople remove their shoes, and sit so their heads are  lower than the monks’ heads, out of respect.  They dip the food with their hand, and do not make eye contact with the monks, who are meditating as they walk.  The ritual is performed in silence. This is the only food the monks will eat today. Monks eat morning and noon, and then fast until the next morning. image

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When the youngest monk at the end of the line has been fed, the ritual is over until tomorrow.IMG_8424

 

As we were near another wat (temple), we peeked in. Prayer candles are lit in the shrines, and young monks are tending the grounds. A monk is having his photo taken – very unusual.

We spend the day relaxing in town, eating good food and taking in the sights.

In the late afternoon, we walked to Mount Phou si, the highest point in Luang Prabang. There are two set of steps, on opposite sides of the hill. We go up the steps facing the main street – up, up, and up some more!image

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You may purchase little birds in reed cages, and set them free at the top of the hill. This will give you merit for your next life. I don’t know what happens to the people who imprisoned the birds in the first place…image

There is a wat at the top of the hill, and a view of both the Mekong River and the Nam Khan River. imageimage

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The steps down the back of the hill were rich with Buddha statues.

A peaceful ending to our day.image

Luang Prabang – the Palace and the Library

Laos, Travel, , , , , ,

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3/26 – It’s still cool and overcast, with a drizzle of rain, so we decided that today would be a good day to visit the palace; home to the Kings of Laos until the last was overthrown by the Communists in 1975.  Like other places, we are required to remove our shoes before entering, and store our cameras and phones in a locker. IMG_8340

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Outside there are gardens and a pond filled with hungry fish that rise to meet anyone that approaches.  image image
We see the gold-covered conveyances that once carried the king on ceremonial occasions.image
There was a large garage filled with Mercedes Benz and other cars given to 20th century kings as gifts, including a white Ford Edsel in mint condition.  Sorry, no pix allowed there either.  Inside the palace, we see bedrooms, dining rooms, and a very impressive golden throne room, with walls covered with mirror mosaics of tiny Laotian people.  Photo courtesy of Trip Advisor.image
Several rooms are dedicated to gifts given to the king by foreign governments- France, Britain, China, Japan…  I’m starting to feel embarrassed to be an American – no gift from us?  Then I spot it – two pens on a stand given by Richard Nixon, and a moon rock.  Thank goodness!  I can hold my head high once again.
Walking back from the palace, we see the Luang Prabang Library, where tourists are encouraged to donate to buy a book for one of the two Library Boats that cruise the river to bring literacy to village children. image
At lunchtime we investigate the street stands, and Jim finds a lady grilling chicken and fish.  It smells so good, he just has to have one!

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One more wat, and we’re done for the day – we plan to get up very early tomorrow morning!

Luang Prabang, Laos – a Wat and the Night Market

Backpacking, Laos, Travel, , ,

3/25 – We awoke to the sound of birds outside our window.  The ceiling fan circled overhead.  What a peaceful, easy feeling – we’re not in China anymore!  Yay!  We were too tired to attempt supper last night, so we got dressed and set out this morning to explore Luang Prabang.  The day is overcast and in the 80s – perfect tropical weather.  Flowers abound.  Our guesthouse is quiet, with tables outside.  There are signs reminding us to remove our shoes before climbing the stairs or entering a room.  image

Our quiet little street ends at the Mekong River, a flashback name for those who remember the Vietnam war.  We walk to the main street, where a row of food stand vendors vie for our business.  Sabaidi!  the women call – hello!  They offer all kinds of baguette sandwiches, crepes and coffee – the former French colonial influence is evident.  There are lots of young European backpackers and Chinese tourists here.   We see our Chinese friends from the bus, and sit down to have a chicken avocado baguette and a fresh fruit smoothie.  It’s been a month since I’ve had bread – it tastes so good!  The currency here is the kip, and 10,000 kip equal about $1.25.  To make it easy on my brain, I start removing four zeros to calculate prices.  Food and fruit are very reasonable here – $3.00 total for the smoothie and the sandwich. Fortified, we cross the street to check out the nearest Buddhist temple.  Luang Prabang is home to 33 temples or wats, and support of the monks is very important to the people here. IMG_8305

   After an afternoon nap, we head back out to find some supper.  There are all types of eateries here – Thai, Lao, French, Chinese, and even a Spanish tapas place – from white tablecloth restaurants to street stands.  We find a little cafe and order chicken with basil and rice, and the local beer, Beerlao.  We are given forks – it feels strange to not have chopsticks… Every evening at 5pm, the main street is closed to traffic, and the night market sets up – hundreds of vendors selling everything from clothing, toys, silks, jewelry, artwork of all sorts, to pastry, fresh fruit and spring rolls. Very laid back, no pressure.  Bargaining mandatory.  Here are Buddhas painted on turtle shells.

A relaxing first day – we like it here!

Boten, Laos to Luang Prabang, Laos

Backpacking, Laos, Travel, ,

3/24 – the story continues from previous post, 15 hours into our bus ride:

We walked into the golden stupa at Boten, which welcomed us to Laos.  We had to fill out forms and purchase visas here, which was no trouble.  Bring a passport photo, and the equivalent of $35.00.  Other blogs indicated that we would have to pay in US dollars, but we had no trouble paying in yuan.  We then had to stand in line to get through Customs.

When we emerged, I couldn’t see anyone else from our bus, but we could still see the big blue bus on the line of vehicles going through the border crossing.  There were plenty of people standing around, so we stood too.  After a while, the bus to Ventiane that had been behind us pulled up, and most of the people started getting on.  A taxi driver approached us and tried to usher us into his taxi.  No, no, we said, we don’t need a taxi.  We’re waiting for our bus.  With little English, he indicated we should get in his taxi to get to our bus.  Now I was worried.  Where were the other people from our bus?  We walked back across the border, and the big blue thing we mistook for our bus was actually a big blue truck.  Oh no!  The bus left without us!

We went back to where the people were boarding the other bus.  One man had a phone, and called someone, and handed me the phone.  A female, in stilted English, said our bus was 8 kilometers down the road, and we had to take a taxi to catch up.  That explains the insistence of the taxi driver – our bus driver must have sent him when he realized we were not on board.  But where was he now?  When we refused to get in his taxi, he had gone.  We were stranded!  We looked up and down the street, but there were no other taxis to be found.  Then the Ventiane bus pulled up and opened its doors.  The driver indicated that we could hop on.  He would take us to our bus!  We sat on the front step for a 10 minute ride down the road, and breathed a sigh of relief when we spotted Big Blue in front of a thatch covered eatery.  We thanked the driver and ran back to our bus, where our driver was looking a little worried.  We agreed not to let the bus out of our sight again!image

 

We got something to eat, although my stomach was in a knot, and got back on the bus.  Now that it was daytime, I wished I could sit up, but lying in my bunk was really the only option.  Tried to take some pix out the window, with limited success.image image

 

We are definitely not in China anymore.  We pass little villages with thatched roof shacks, and children playing in the dirt. Note that the huts are equipped with satellite dishes.image image

We see wild pigs, a water buffalo, goats and chickens in the street.  When the bus stops for a break, the men pee over the cliff on one side, while we women squat behind a big rock on the other.  The road is so narrow that only one vehicle can pass at a time, so we stop whenever there is oncoming traffic.  It’s slow going, and very bumpy where the road is not paved. We read that during the wet season, buses cannot complete this journey. It’s a gray day, and I hope it’s not going to rain!

By mid afternoon, we are stopped more than we are moving. The road is being paved, and we get to watch whole families working at the roadside.image

Somehow, the afternoon passes, and now it is dark. As we approach our destination, the driver stops whenever we get near where someone lives, and he has to get out to retrieve their baggage from the storage area. Then we pass some restaurants, and the bus stops to deliver boxes of supplies. At 9:30pm, 27 hours after we boarded, we finally pull into Luang Prabang. I’m so tired I can hardly see. A Chinese couple from the bus ask if they can share a tuk-tuk with us, and we all pile in. The night air is warm, and there are flowers everywhere. Our guest house is right in the middle of town, and we register and tumble gratefully into a hot shower and a soft bed. We’re here!