I Heart Laos

We arrived in Laos from Hanoi just over a week ago after an action-packed couple of weeks making our way up the coast of Vietnam.  We had heard great things about Laos from friends who had travelled here and from fellow travellers we’d met in Vietnam. The theme was consistently that Laos is one of the most laid back places to visit and as soon as we got here, that was clear to see. Don’t get me wrong, we had an amazing time in Vietnam, and particularly enjoyed immersing ourselves into the hecticness of its capital city, but the peacefulness and laid back nature of Laos was a welcome change of pace and we’ve had no problem embracing this way of living.

Upon our arrival to the Luang Prabang airport (Laos’ second largest city and former royal capital), an unusual thing happened. We were warmly greeted by a smiling immigration officer – this only a few hours after being angrily scolded by the Vietnamese officer at the Hanoi airport who was pissed that we approached his counter together rather than one at a time. After that episode I had asked Dave why all immigration officers are so mean and scary. But this officer was genuinely happy to welcome us into his country.  I knew right then and there that Laos was a special place…

We hopped into a tuk-tuk (Laos’ equivalent to a taxi) with 3 other travelers and watched as the airport virtually shut down behind us. It was only about 7:30pm and we were the last arrival of the night!  Our tuk-tuk driver was so friendly and great – and gave us an introduction to a certain “Lao-ness” that many people here possess. He just couldn’t wait to show us the ins and outs of his city.  In fact, he even stopped several times along the way, pulling the tuk-tuk over to the side of the road, turning off the engine and getting out to walk around to where we could hear him. He was eager to orient us and show us a couple of “must sees” while we are in town.  He didn’t need to say too much, though. As we drove into Luang Prabang, the town’s charm immediately revealed itself.

What is that sound?? Another thing we immediately picked up on was the quiet nature of the streets. We had gotten so used to the sound of motorbikes zooming by and the constant honking of horns. It was such a sharp contrast to the streets of Vietnam, it felt like the soundtrack was missing or something.

We checked into an adorable guest house where the guy working there was so relaxed and smiley. One thing  I have noticed on this trip is that it usually takes me about a day or so to warm up to each new city after we arrive and get my bearings. I actually felt the opposite in Luang Prabang, though, and it was the first time I’d experienced that on the trip so far. The people made you feel so welcome there that it only took a couple of minutes to warm up before I felt at home. This town really makes a good first impression.

We decided to take a stroll into town our first night…so adorable. There is a lot of French influence in this town which is reflected in its architecture, restaurants, and coffee and pastry shops.  I was happy to get a glimpse of the dimly lit restaurants and cute shops and couldn’t wait to explore further during the day. Wait, what is that colorful oasis in the distance?

We approached the Handicraft night market, the best outdoor market I have ever seen and apparently one of the best in all of Asia.  It takes place every night in Luang Prabang from 5pm to 11pm. There are dozens upon dozens of vendors selling everything from beautiful fabric to silk scarves to a large variety of t-shirts to jewelry to bags and a whole lot more. We immediately noticed the different personality of the merchants here as opposed to those in Vietnam.  As with the rest of Laos, the market was really laid back, no aggressive selling and no putting the article on you and then asking you to pay. There was no hassling and no guilt trip at all if you looked and did not buy.  Also the crafts were really interesting and nicely done.  We had fun looking at all of the different crafts for sale and spent a good couple of hours each night walking through it.

 

The glowing night market in Luang Prabang

 

Tons of colorful t-shirts in the night market

Another difference I noticed immediately between Laos and Vietnam was the food. Vietnam certainly has Laos beat on this front. (Please see “I Still Got Love Pho the Streets” for more details on us chowing down in Vietnam.)  Though often adorable from the front, the food in the restaurants was nothing to write home about and we stuck to the $1 chicken sandwiches from the street, freshly made in front of us with just-off-the-grill barbequed chicken, chili sauce and our choice of other toppings all squeezed into a fresh French baguette and wrapped up and handed over with pride, sometimes even with a free banana thrown in. We had these sandwiches at least a couple of times in Luang Prabang and agreed that they were probably the best meal we’d had.

In another example of the Lao niceness, during our second day we rented bikes and were riding around exploring the city and visiting temples.  These bikes they rent to you are so old and crusty and falling apart. Nevertheless, it costs you about 15,000 kip which is only about $2 and it lets you make your way around town and cover more ground so you hop on and hope the thing gets you to your destination. Low and behold, Dave’s crappy bike kept losing its chain and at one point got stuck in the frame such that we couldn’t get it loose. When it first happened, a little boy came running over to help. The next thing you know a woman riding her own bike pulled over to the side of the street to see how she could be of assistance. After a couple of minutes of Dave, the young boy and the woman working on the bike, they had fixed it. They were genuinely happy to have helped and went on their merry way.  I was struck by how nice they were to volunteer their help without asking for anything at all in return.

 

A little teamwork gets the job done

 

Riding bikes through the streets of Luang Prabang

Throughout the rest of our stay in Luang Prabang, we had a great time visiting temples and the waterfalls, two of the area’s main attractions, But we also took the time to absorb the different culture of Laos and soak up the laid back nature of it all.  This included watching some of the locals place Petang for hours (petanque in French and similar to bocce), getting hour-long massages two days in a row, viewing the beautifully colored flowers sprinkled throughout the town, walking through the local food markets and sitting outside recapping the day over some cold Beer Lao. Some of you reading might wonder what might happen to Dave if he gets any more laid back.  Well, let’s just say that this country is a good match for his personality!  Before getting too mellowed out in Luang Prabang, we decided to explore the country a bit further.

 

In the pretty garden of a temple

 

Enjoying a cold Beer Lao

Our stay in Vang Vieng pleasantly surprised me. Although admittedly, I was initially “anti” the place, it grew on me in the few days we were there (much more on that in ‘What Happens in Vang Vieng stays in Vang Vieng”). From Vang Vieng, we headed to the capital city of Vientiane.

The city features a street with an arch at the end that is somewhat reminiscent of the Champs-Elysees and L’Arc de Triomphe in Paris.  The beer gardens that line the Mekong River made for a great place to watch the sun set and there are also some really good restaurants, the best yet we’d experienced in Laos.  We also hung out with a few nice Aussies at the beer garden who praised our home city and gave us a good recommendation for dinner for authentic Laos Cuisine. The place was called Makphet, (www.friends-international.org) a restaurant with a lovely atmosphere which trains homeless Laos youths to cook and wait tables. The hospitality was second to none. We had a great meal there and were happy to contribute to the betterment of the Vientiane community.  Though our stay in Vientiane was brief, we felt as though we got a good feel for the city and we were ready to move down south.

Yesterday we arrived in Si Phan Don (the Four Thousand Islands) in the south of Laos. The Four Thousand Islands are located in the widest part of the Mekong river (stretching to almost 14km during the rainy season).  We are staying on the island of Don Khon which is pretty close to the Cambodian border. Our guidebook had told us that the further south you go in Laos, the more laid back it gets. I’d say that this has been consistent with the experience so far. We have enjoyed riding bikes around the island through bumpy trails and farmland, cruising past dozens of friendly cows and buffalo and the occasional sleeping pigs.  The dogs are pretty friendly too and they sometimes follow you, as if to escort you to your next destination. We’ve enjoyed passing through the local villages and observing what life is like for the locals and have done a lot of exploring, crossing into the neighboring islands.  The kids here run around with endless energy and everyone here gives you an enthusiastic “Sabqai-dii!” (hello) as you pass by.  We happen to be staying in one of the three nicest rooms on Don Khon island which is located in a converted French-era hospital.  And it only costs us $23 per night (breakfast included)!  The lizards and spiders have paid us an occasional visit, but overall I’d say we have a pretty sweet suite and, no surprise, the staff is really nice and accomodating too. Other than that, there’s not much else to do, as the island basically closes down around 9:30 so we are forced to chill out and chill out some more…Not bad!

Its been a great run in Laos and my initial impression of the country – the charm, the relaxed nature, the nice people – held true throughout our visit. 

A few more days here in Si Phan Don and then off to our next adventure, Cambodia. It might take us a few days to get there as we’ll be travelling by bus, but we will write soon enough!

xoxo, LWA

What Happens in Vang Vieng Stays in Vang Vieng

Wow. 

Vang Vieng is such a weird and whacky town.  I’m reminded of Bosch’s triptic named El Jardin de las Delicias (The Garden of Earthly Delights) which was in the early 1500s.  The first panel represents beauty and purity, the second represents the excesses of mankind, and the third represents the downfall of civilization. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garden of Earthly Delights

 

 

 

 

 

Vang Vieng embodies all three of these elements in such a way that that we left this town totally bewildered and somewhat uncertain as to our feelings towards this  place.  The  setting is really majestic as  the town sits along the Nam Song River with lush limestone mountains that shoot straight up across the river.  Then there is the hedonistic infrastructure that lines the river which is one of the most awesome parties we’ve ever been to.  The town itself is a real hell-hole, and you feel like you’ve gone to a bizarro world as thse dumpy bar/restaurants line the streets, most of them serving crap food and blaring rerun episodes of the TV show Friends as patrons/zombies/backpackers lie down on cushions and veg out for hours.  I’ll focus this entry on the second panel of the triptic above, its like nothing you’ve seen before.

Lauren and I had heard about Vang Vieng from friends and fellow travellers, and most strongly urged us to  swing by (others advised to avoid the town at all costs).  Vang Vieng is on a major tourist corridor between Luang Prabang and Vientiane, Laos’ two most famous cities.  Originally known for its beautiful scenery, tough treks, kayaking and caving, Vang Vieng developed into a stopover town for backpackers looking to break up their trip between these two cities. Now the major pleasure sport is tubing down the Nam Song river.  Lauren and I heard about the tubing, and thought it might be amusing to float down the river, but we really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. 

First you rent your tube in town and hop into an oversized tuk-tuk (essentially a covered pick-up truck with benches) with 10 other people (mostly Irish and English lads) with 10  tubes strapped to the roof. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tubing Tuk-Tuk

We take a 4km drive up the road to where the tubing begins.  But the tubing doesn’t begin just yet.  We step out of the tuk-tuk, we hear the thumping of techno music, and we are immediately greeted by a guy pouring free shots of this  rice whiskey called Lao Lao.  Down the hatch! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two outdoor bars that are sitting 10-20 feet above the banks of the river. The floors are made of mud, bamboo, and some wooden planks, and the river rushes below you.  It’s only noon, but people are dancing, and partying very hard, covered in body paint.  Uhhh… did we come to the right place?  I thought this was going to be like the Lazy River at Atlantis in the Bahamas.  Maybe not. Even though it seemed like we might be a little old for this crowd (most people seemed to be in their early 20s), what the hell, let’s have some fun.  “Beer Lao please!”

This bar also happens to have a zip line, which begins after you climb up a bamboo ladder at the bar, and ends with you falling into the river, and washing ashore after having been dragged downstream a bit.  I watched several people go first, and learned the necessary manuevers, and after a little “liquid courage” I was a regular Tarzan. That was fun.  I was beginning to think this would be a pretty fun day. 

Let’s go tubing!  After splashing around a bit and flipping over a couple of times, we were gently floating downstream, away from the craziness of the previous two bars.  But, after only tubing for 100 meters or so, we see another bar, and someone throws us a makeshift life-saver, we grab it, and he tows us into the bar.  Round 2.  This bar was more relaxed I initially thought because we were leading the pack down the river, and the crazy partiers hadn’t caught up to us yet.  But this place had a volleyball net and bunch of hammocks by the river, so Lauren and I chilled out a bit.  We saw a bunch of locals swimming across the river to the bar we were at, and they immediately started playing volleyball.  I joined in, and played a few great 4-on 4 games with 7 other locals.  It was pretty cool.  They only knew a couple of words in English, and I spoke no Lao, but hand signals did the trick.  The court was dirt/mud floor, and our side was particularly muddy.  Not the kind of mud you get stuck in, but the kind that makes you slip around, like stepping on a banana peel.  So everyone on our team was slipping and sliding around and falling in the mud.  By the end of the games I was covered head-to-toe in mud, but the sun was so strong that it had already caked on to me.  Sweeeeet.  Once the games were over, we shook hands, and the locals left as quickly as they had come, swimming back across the river. 

Across the river there was yet another bar, except this one had a much larger bamboo ladder leading up to a type of trapeze apparatus.  People were swing back and forth, and then would drop 20 feet into the river.  Some  people were hanging by their legs, or going two at a time, asking for trouble, as the rocks were smiling below them closer to the edge of the river.  No-one we saw got hurt, and everyone was having a good time.  Lauren and I decided to join the party across the river, so we did as the local did, and swam across.  We made sure we started far enough upstream so that we drifted down towards the bar. No problem.

There was a bridge at this bar connecting to yet another bar, and another.  Most drinks at these bars are of the normal variety, except that they are served in buckets, instead of cups or glasses. So one drink really equals 3 drinks.  They also serve some fruit shakes, which are commonly served throughout Laos.  Yet at these bars they are called “Happy Shakes” on their menu.  The happiness that these drinks provide are of the herbal, funghal, or poppy variety.  They seem to be a crowd pleaser, as people are looking more and more faded as we progress down river.

The next bar was more sophisticated, as it abandoned the bamboo construction in favor of a concrete structure that formed a water slide, except  the mouth of the slide ended 20 feet above the river, and instead of the mouth opening into the river, it actually curved upwards at the end, for maximum propelsion.  Again, I watched as person after person was shot out like a cannon ball from this slide, flying through the air before crashing into the river.  Guys, girls, and this one 60 year old man were doing it.  My turn!  I made sure to lay all the way back to pick up speed , and really went flying.  I must say the landing did hurt a bit… 

Then,  it started to pour.  We took cover under a little hut with another couple.  They were Irish, and were on the tail end of a 6-month trip that resembled our plans closely. We chatted about the different places they had been to until the rain let up.  Time to move on. 

We walked back across the bridge to where our tubes were and saw the group of 19 year old Irish and English lads we had taken the tuk-tuk with, and they were totally smashed. One guy asked us if we voted for Obama, and then gave us huge hugs when receiving the answer.  Then he slipped in the mud and fell on his arse.  Ok, we really need to go now.  We hopped back into our tubes and began to cruise down the river again, Beer Lao in hand.

We rejected the offers to come to the next few bars that we floated by, and then there were no more bars.  The mood just mellowed out, and now we finally had some welcome peace and quiet, looking up at the mountains as we floated by a couple of houses sitting next to the river.  We thought we were close to the end of our journey downstream, but we did not see any of the landmarks we thought we would see.  45 minutes later, we started to worry that maybe we had missed the town completely, and had broken off on to another part of the river.  In fact, we almost did. 

The riiver was much wider(about 100m)  at this point, and we were on the west side, and I spotted a small sign on the east side that said “End of Tubing”.  There was no way we were going to make it by using our arms as oars. We saw a couple of local kids, who looked to be around 6 years old, playing on some rocks in the middle of the river.  They must have sensed our concern, or known we were in trouble, because they dove into the water and swam towards us.  One kid grabbed Lauren’s tube and the other grabbed mine, and they swam us across the channel as we were being pushed downstream.  As luck would have it, these kids saved the day, and got us right to the point where we needed to go.  After getting out of the water with our tubes, and after a round of high fives, the kids chanted “Money! Money!” We gave them whatever small amount of wet bills we had on us.  It reminded me of when I was younger, and me and my buddy Mike would wait for an awful snow storm, then show up to his neighbors homes  and “rescue” them by shoveling their driveways and walkways, for a hefty fee, of course. 

Aside from one of us having a cut on the foot, and the other with a scraped and bruised butt, we made it back to Vang Vieng town intact.  Like we mentioned above, this town is so strange with these TV bars that play Friends all day long.  You can hear “I’ll be there for youuuu” all through the streets.  It’s awful. At least some bars have changed it up a bit with non stop reruns of “Family Guy” or “The Simpsons”.  This I can handle somewhat more, but it’s still so weird.

We were offered free “buckets” of whiskey at a couple of these outdoor bars, but stayed only for a short time because we were wiped from the day.  We woke up the next morning and like bats out of hell, we took the first bus out of town onwards to Vientiane. Great memories, but good riddens Vang Vieng!