3rd – Wet, wet, wet

We started at a reasonable time around 0830 where we got picked up by a taxi that took us to three different sights in the city; Patuxay Monument, The Golden Temple and CARE. CARE is the local museum about cluster bombs, the consequences of the usage of these during the secret war, and what they do to help the locals living with them in their presence. So pretty much like the smaller UXO in Luang Prabang. 

The Patuxay Monument is from the 60s and built by the French and looks like a smaller version of their Arc de Triomphe, but built in a local style. It was possible to go up onto a viewing platform, and the two internal floors were basically just two mini-markets with anything souvenir-related. It felt a bit ingenuine but the view from the top was nice. Vientiane doesn’t have much in tall buildings so there wasn’t much to look at as such but you could get a good impression of the size of the city.

The Patuxay Monument.

The view from the top. The presidential palace can be seen in the distance.

The ceiling between the four pillars.

The Golden Temple was huge and very golden – I assume that’s why it got its name. Other than that, though, it was quite a bit like the others we have seen throughout the trip.

The CARE museum was as expected; informative and harrowing. They showed the consequences of the left over UXOs and focused on the work they do with building prosthetics from simple means, not only for victims from the bombs (though that is their priority), but also for people who have lost limbs through accidents, deceases and so on.

 We were back at the hotel at 1130 and left an hour later to pick up our ordered lunches and go to the airport to catch our flight to Hanoi. Despite the flight only being an hour long they still managed to serve sandwiches and drinks.

We arrived at our new hotel in bustling Hanoi around 1730 and 1800 10 of us went on a night market food tour. We ended up at 7 different places where we got to taste various things and when we finally returned to our hotel around 2200 we were truly full. We ended up tasting steam hot rice cakes, fruit candy, Vietnamese bread, BBQ pork with noodle soup, fruits, egg coffee (and -chocolate) and a local beer.

During the tour we got hit by rain. Lots of it. At first you walk down the street keeping to one side as the other side is forming a new major river, then you make a turn down another street and suddenly you are in water to above your ankles. And yet only shortly after it stopped raining most of the water had gone and everything was back to normal. That was quite an experience.

Notice the disappearance of feet.

2nd – Haggling but not haggling

We left the guesthouse at 0800 and departed on a fairly unremarkable drive to the Lao capital, Vientiane. Here we stopped at a small restaurant for lunch before checking in at a very nice hotel.

The elevator here is weird; the elevator has buttons 1-12, but the screen says G-11. So when you press for 9^th floor you have to get off when it says 8^th. The doors are weird, too; as a key you get a small wireless dongle to scan but only one on the floor managed to get in when they tried – the rest of us just saw a number pad materialize where you scanned your dongle. After returning to the reception for assistance we were shown that you scan, pull the door making sure it’s shut and then it unlocks. Good to know! On a Lao scale the beds are odd, too. They are actually really soft and comfortable!

The rest of the afternoon we were free to do what we wanted. On needed a new pair of shoes so two of us joined him into the city centre at a mall. He found a pair he wanted and the vendor told him they cost 240.000 kip. He was a bit skeptical so she quickly dropped her price to 200.000. He said he had to find an ATM first; 180.000! He checked his wallet to see how much he had right there and when she saw he had 160.000 that was the new price. He reiterated several times he had to get to an ATM first and every time she decided just to drop the price. Without even haggling (in our minds, at least) or commenting on the price he ended up getting the price dropped to 100.000 and at that point we convinced him to just pay her for the shoes on principle. Walking around afterwards and seeing other shoe shops, these with price tags, we concluded both parties could let themselves be happy with the final price.

We walked past the presidential palace and saw the nearby Sisaket temple before returning to the hotel. Despite the temple being alongside a nearby main road the walls and vegetation almost completely blocked off the traffic noise. And because it was just an “ordinary” temple it wasn’t crowded as many of the other more high-profile ones we have visited. It was overall quite a nice break.

The presidential palace.

Sisaket temple.

At 1830 we left the hotel, ordered lunch for pickup tomorrow at a café, had dinner, had a short walk in the night market before returning to the hotel around 2200, ending a fairly quiet and relaxing day.

1st of August – Watering and zipping

Wake up, breakfast and leaving the village at 0730 went all according to plan. Lao people seem to prefer hard beds – my theory is that airy soft mattresses (i.e. normal comfortable mattresses) suck up the moisture from the humid air making them… moist… therefore requiring something less inclined to take in water. I give you: The Lao Rock Mattress. While I wouldn’t say they are completely like rocks (rather like very thin mattresses on rocks), there were people not getting much sleep due to the concrete as they called them.

We arrived at our guest house in Vang Vieng an hour later with barely any issues when leaving the town (the lack of rain during the night helped a lot) and soon after arrival we paid for the day’s activities; kayaking, ziplining, tubing and vising the Blue Lagoon nearby.

View from our hotel room.

We got into 2-man kayaks not far from the guest house and with a guide in front we went down the Mekong River. I was in the rear and had never done this before, but the girl in front knew exactly what to do when to do it so she yelled commands, I did them as well as I could, she commented how (almost) useless I was, I agreed, and so we went down the river in a fun and relaxing manner. We at least didn’t tip over on the way – a few others did and one lost his glasses, and considering how firm she was about not wanting to tip over I have my doubts I would have survived if we did.

Halfway down the river we stopped and went up on land. Here we got put into our tubes and went through a cave after been given head torches. We got into the water in the tubes and then used mounted ropes to pull ourselves along. Due to the rainy season some parts of the cave were inaccessible so the tour ended up being relatively short lived.

Coming back out we had lunch before doing the zipline course. Having never done it before I was a bit nervous (wouldn’t be the first time I’d get hit by my fear of heights) but being tied up in a harness and clicked into the wire it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had feared. The last two lines on the course, one being the longest of them, was done superman-style; instead of just being hooked up and sitting (-ish) while zooming across the mount got moved to your back putting you in an almost horizontal position. That was fun – after the first few seconds, that is.

View of the river from the tubing/ziplining place.

Coming down we returned to our kayaks and went back out on the river. We were moored in a sharp turn in the river and to leave we had to navigate the obvious stream that you came into almost immediately. We started with a quick 360° turn when leaving land which left my co-kayaker very unimpressed, but we were soon after heading in the right direction without further issues and shortly after we arrived back at our hotel around 1500.

From there a ½-hour drive took us to the Blue Lagoon, but to be honest it wasn’t as impressive as they had made it sound. It was a natural pool of water being blue-ish with a few towers you could jump from, a couple of inflatable boats and the like, but that was pretty much it. It was nice and relaxing, though.

Everybody were just enjoying some relaxing time.

A reddish dragonfly at the pool.

Back at the hotel – again – a well needed shower was had and at 1900 we went out for dinner. We ended up in an Irish bar which people were happy about as it guaranteed the possibility of food without rice (our guide is Cambodian and even he admits that he and his stomach isn’t too happy about having sticky rice multiple days in a row). Afterwards some people went out for a few drinks while half of us went back to catch up on some much-needed sleep.

Sunset.

This guy was spotted returning from the restaurant. Estimated length 20-30cm.

31st – Muddy road

This morning we had the option to give alms to the monks at the local monastery. You show up, the monks come passing by and you give a little to each one into their buckets until you run out. We were told that there would be vendors on location so we wouldn’t have to plan ahead with buying snacks or other things we would want to hand out. 

So at 0515 6 of us showed up in the reception and we were brought down to the main street. It turned out that this morning the vendors only sold sticky rice. Oh, well. We took our seats and soon the monks came walking by in a long procession. You had to be quick on your hands to hand every monk a bit of rice, and it seemed some of them weren’t too happy with the selection as they seemed to sometimes sneakily cover their buckets or slightly tip it away from us when they saw what we had to offer.

The locals giving alms.

We returned to the hotel and near by a smaller procession came by a small group of locals who also received a blessing from the monks. Returning to our rooms I managed to get an extra hour of sleep before getting up and ready to leave at 0830 for Vang Vieng.

The plan was to arrive at around 1500 at our homestay in Naduang village, but due to the rains there was a risk of mudslides covering the roads which ultimately would be slowing our pace. On our way we did pass a few slides but most of them were being tidied up so actual waiting time ended up being quite limited. Much of the road was a narrow 2-way street winding itself through some beautiful mountain landscapes, so due to the conditions it unfortunately wasn’t possible to stop and take some photos along the way.

View from our lunch spot.

When we turned off the main road and onto the small dirt road towards the village we were staying the road conditions dropped significantly. The closer we got the muddier it got. The minibus had no special drive system and we got stuck a few times on the way. Out driver was absolutely fantastic, though, and got us out of the deepening mud every single time to thundering applause (as thundering as it gets when you are 15 people). At 1700 we finally arrived at our destination and soon we were split up in groups of two into separate houses spread out in the village. Nice private houses, no AC, but fans which ended up being enough everything considered. An hour later we were shown around in the village for a short walk (short mainly due to the wet and muddy conditions) followed by dinner and the children of the village showing us a few local dances, in the end dragging us up and teaching us. Let’s just say it was done with varying success.

Slightly muddy.

Dancing.

A few of us stayed behind after the dance for a bit to drink and a chat, but soon after around 2300 everything had gone quiet.

30th – Climbing Pho Si

5 hours of sleep later we met for breakfast at 0830 with rain pouring down. Today was a free day, i.e. nothing planned as part of the tour so we could make our own schedule. After having a quick talk with our guide, we decided to hold off on much until after midday.

Around 1100 I started getting bored and restless so I got dressed and headed out for a walk. Almost the moment I stepped outside the rain stopped so the timing could barely have been better. I walked around Pho Si mountain and ended up going to the top despite the overcast grey weather. But arriving at the top it turned out the visibility was good enough to get a nice overview of most of Luang Prabang, with the surrounding hills and mountains only being partly covered by clouds.

View from the top of Pho Si mountain.

Coming down again I returned to the hotel where I teamed up with 3 others and together we visited the Royal Palace (which had been turned into a national museum). When trying to get in I got turned away as you could not bring any photographic equipment or bags with you inside, so I had to backtrack to the lock boxes (which, to my surprise, were free) before I was allowed inside and tour the museum. The receiving hall was beautiful and all blinged up, the rest was basically ordinary living quarters (albeit in a fairly fancy building). A lot of ceremonial equipment and gifts from other nations were also on display throughout the palace.

Haw Pha Bang at the Royal Palace.

From there we split up; the others wanted to see one of the oldest temples (from 1300-ish) in town while I wanted to see the UXO Luang Prabang Centre. It’s the local division of the Lao National Unexploded Ordnance programme, a programme that locates and dismantles unexploded ordnance from the secret war. The museum itself was located in the buildings of the centre itself and consisted of a few small rooms with information posters describing the – often dangerous – work of the crews and a small film room where a few short documentaries were looping. They were quite upfront with what the bombs do to villages and others that unintentionally bump into these in their daily life. They estimate that during 1964-1973 more than 2 million tons of bombs were dropped, many of these cluster bombs. They estimate a 30% rate of unexploded bombs which means that there is app. 80 million unexploded undetonated bombs located across the entire country. A very informative, but harrowing, experience.

I returned to the hotel and around 1800 I returned to the mountain in an attempt to see the sunset like many others having the same idea. To my disappointment the sunset was not nearly as colourful as I had hoped, but as the clouds to the west had cleared a bit there was an ok view of the setting sun.

Sunset.

From there I once again descended and met up with most of the rest of the group at a restaurant at 2000 and from there afterwards we returned to the hotel around 2½ hours later, ending the day early-ish.

29th – Silky smooth not so blue waterfall

The hotel’s restaurant is located further down the street so after that quick walk back and forth we met up at the reception at 0900, being picked up to start the day’s planned schedule.

A few minutes’ drive from the hotel took us to the etymology museum where we got to see and read a bit about the various local indigenous people groups and subgroups. I felt that it was very small considering the numerous groups but yet quite informative – had it been bigger it would probably have gotten a bit too dry.

From there we drove to the Ock Pop Tok Living Crafts Centre (a local place where they showed the process from caterpillar to silk and the products made from this). They had a show and tell about the dies they use to colour the different types of silk, and also a handful of people weaving some very intricately patterned cloths and wall carpets. Being told it could take up to three weeks to make just 1 meter didn’t sound very impressive until you saw how long a process was necessary just to make a single line. But the results were stunning. And some of the prices likewise, until you realized the time and energy required and the fact that you knew in this case that the products were genuine and not made from child labour.

Colours used and what they sue to dye the silk.

Intricate patterns.

View of the river.

Continuing to our last stop of the day we drove an hour out of the city to go to the Kuang Si Waterfall, a waterfall known for its blue colour. Except, it’s blue in the dry season, in the wet season it’s like the Mekong River – brown/grey from all the sediment the increased waterflow takes with it. And the extra volume is significant, so much so that swimming was prohibited, something that is otherwise popular to do in the normally blue waters. Also, some of the benched areas had been flooded. Walking down a different path than when coming up (which was a paved road) we quickly realized that the river was overflowing the path, making the descent more interesting. Halfway down you had to go barefooted as the path had gotten completely flooded, and half of us decided to turn around and go back up to take the paved road down while the rest soldiered on. Meeting at the bottom again we found out there had been a casualty on the flooded route; a show had been lost to the stream of the river. There was a bit of disagreement whether it had been sacrificed to a one-legged river spirit or that the spirits could settle with the one shoe as many more shoes had been similarly previously sacrificed.

They had a small moon bear sanctuary near the waterfall.

The Kuang Si Waterfall. Not particularly blue.

Slightly flooded.

A new passenger joined us on the way back to the hotel.

We returned to the hotel around 1600 where we relaxed a bit (some around or in the pool) until 1900 when we went out for dinner. The buffalo steak was good, the wine a nice match.

A couple of hours later we ended up in Utopia, a place where we had a few drinks. Considering certain previous nights it was probably good that they were not allowed to serve alcohol after 2300 (the city is UNESCO protected which limits how late you are allowed to serve alcohol) so walking back to the hotel a few beers were bought on the way which were enjoyed in one of our rooms. A potentially (relatively) early end to the day ended up not happening, instead we kept the company going until around 0230.

28th – I'm still on a boat!

Having left (relatively) early and (almost) sober last night getting up this morning wasn’t much of an issue. My room mate even thanked me as he admitted he wasn’t sure he would have gotten up in reasonable time if it hadn’t been for me and my alarm (yay – I am useful!). Breakfast was had across the road, a couple of elephants were spotted on the other side of the river being walked by their care takers, and the last person was woken up a few minutes before departure time.

The view from our room.

Elephants with their care takers.

We got back on to the boat and a few minutes delayed around 0800 we continued down the river towards Luang Prabang. We stopped at the Pak Ou caves to see the numerous buddha statues and figurines placed throughout the caves. It wasn’t just a place where people have put thousands of statues, it has become a holy place on level with a “normal” temple. Apart from this stop we just gently cruised down the river.

Pak Ou caves.

The first couple of hours on the boat were pretty quiet as people were still recovering from last night but they slowly livened up during the day. There isn’t much traffic on the river these days so apart from muddy water and constant forests on both shores there isn’t much to look at, so time was mainly spent on playing cards and reading.

We arrived at our destination around 1530 and form there a half hour drive to the hotel. It’s very nice; large rooms, AC, good beds and a no-shoe rule when entering the building where your room is located.

At 1740 we left for a walk to see where the night market was, locate ATMs and exchange booths, and then we were taken to a food stall with a vegetarian buffet with a set price per bowl. Despite it being vegetarian it was surprisingly delicious.

We had a walk around the market before returning to the hotel before 2100, effectively concluding the day.

27th – I'm on a boat!

We left the hotel around 0730 to drive 10-ish minutes to the Thai border where we all went through without issues and got onto a bus, drove a few minutes through no man’s land until we reached the Lao border and immigration. As I was the only one in the group not needing a visa I could skip the visa papers, fill out my arrival form, exchange all by baht to kip, use the ATM and go through the short immigration queue without worry.

When we were all once again gathered, now in Laos, a new pair of minibuses picked us up and took us to the Mekong River and a longboat, our mode of transport the next 2 days.

We took off at around 1000 and the following 6 hours we made our way down the Mekong River. Lunch was served but apart from that we tried doing as little as possible; relaxing, playing cards and just seeing the world pass slowly by.

We arrived at Pak Beng where we checked in at a simple but cosy hotel; no AC but with a view of the river from the rooms. Also – on arrival there was no power. When we later started our small walk in town we were told that a log or branch had dropped onto some powerlines interrupting power to the entire area. During our walk where we got to see the market (in the late afternoon, shortly before they closed, we were probably in a lot of people’s way) we did luckily see power coming back on around us so the damage was limited.

"But why do you bring all that camera equipment with you? Isn't it heavy?"

This is why.

At the market. Notice the dried squirrel just above the spring onions - apparently it's used to keep flies away(?).

Well, if you can't find anything else to use as a stable pillar you might as well utilize a bomb casing from the war.

We had dinner and afterwards we ended up in a bar next to our hotel, so when I a couple of drinks later went home, among the first, it was quick and easy getting back. Going into our bathroom I did meet a bigger than average spider sitting on the wall; a tile wide so 15-20 cm would be a good guess. That did wake me up to be honest.

Going east!

My interest for travelling to Asia has been on a low if it didn't involve some kind of trekking or climbing. This view has started to shift a bit in recent years as this part of the world is probably soon the only part I haven't visited yet and it being very different than what I am used to, I am starting to feel if I am missing something.

Because of this I have been thinking whether to do something about it. 

And it helps when finding out that Laos has removed visa requirements for Scandinavians this year. So...

22^nd – 23^rd of July

Flight from Copenhagen to Bangkok, Thailand. Arriving early in the morning which will give me time to roam the streets and do some sightseeing. And when I mean sightseeing I mean eating.

24^th – 25^th of July

Going on a tour of Bangkok before getting on an overnight train to Chiang Mai. When arriving the next day we will be getting a guided tour of the Doi Suthep temple before having the rest of the day off for relaxation or other activities.

26^th of July

Today we will leave Chiang Mai and head towards Chiang Khong via Wat Rong Khun where we will get a view of the Mekong river.

27^th – 28^th of July

Crossing the border into Laos and then getting into traditional boats on the Mekong and travelling to Luang Prabang. On the way we will get a guided tour of the Pak Ou caves.

29^th – 30^th of July

Spend time in Luang Prabang where it will be possible to go on tour in some of the local museums and see the Kuang Si waterfalls. Apart from that it’s free time open for relaxation or whatever activities that might be located and catch your interest.

31^st of July – 1^st of August

Travel to Vang Veng where we will have free time and spend one of the nights in a local village where we will get to see how to eat and live like a local.

2^nd of August

Travel to Vientiane, the capitol of Laos.

3^rd of August

Fly out to Hanoi, Vietnam.

4^th – 6^th of August

Spend a day in Hanoi of sightseeing before leaving late the 5^th and coming home the following day.