Laos, the green and rainy country
Here we go, next adventure, new country, new stories to tell, new people to meet! Just entering the bus it was only me and 5 more tourists going to Laos, thank god I met them there, because it was going to be a very lonely and long journey. After 15 hours in 2 buses, changing buses in Vietnam, crossing the border, paying like in 6 windows the different fees for the visa, we even paid 1 dolar for fever fee, who knows what was that, and the last crazy road, we arrived to the ghost town of Muang Khua, there was absolutely nothing over there, so we just ate, slept, ate again, play uno and leave the next day.
We took a nice 4 hours boat ride down the river to the next small town of Muang Ngoi. It was a very tiny town, with just a couple of restaurants, few houses and not so many people. So far Laos people are not very friendly and they don't smile at all, I will not loose hope and will keep smiling to see if I get a smile back. We did a great hike to a nice view point, and it was a very nice way up and better way down as it was already dark and very slippery. We saw a few fireflies and pumpkin the dog was all the way with us, yes we baptized him as pumpkin because we had the best pumpkin curry in this little town. Of course as it was dark we didn't see the leeches attacking us, we only saw the blood once back to the hostel.
Next morning we took again a small boat to our next stop Nong Khiaw, also very small town, but with very nice nature. We did some walking to a cave and guess what, the attack of the leeches number 2 happened again, I think I didn't laugh so hard for so long time, I was even crying of laughter, of course after the attack the rain caught us and we got a bit wet. Walking back we saw a massage place and we decided to try the Laos style massage, it was really good. We decided to go for a drink to the only bar in town, it was like 1 km away in a very dark road, so frogs were jumping on our legs, we saw many people with flashlights looking for what we think was insects and frogs to sell, I guess we will never know what they were looking for because they didn't speak English at all. We arrived to the supposed bar, that was very closed. Next morning we woke up early to do our 1st hike to the view point it took us 1 hour 10 mins to get to the top, it was very challenging as it was very muddy and slippery. The view was really great, the only bad thing was that it was full of people. After 1 hour down hill we went for some well deserved lunch. It seems that Laos is very expensive in comparison with Vietnam, but still cheap. After our huge lunch we decided to do another hike, this one was more complex, mud and slippery, we heard some weird noises from the trees, but we finally saw it was a few monkeys. The view from this view point was better than the previous one, no one was there. It took us 3 hours to go up and down, ended our day full of mud and super tired.
Off to Luang Prabang, our next stop.
Definitely a trip is not only made of the places you are visiting, but also of the people you meet on it. When you meet nice people everything is better, funnier and nicer. Taking a bike ride around the city is a great idea to get a view of everything. Luang Prabang is a small village, also UNESCO heritage and very french style. Yeah french are everywhere here in Asia. After our nice ride around the city we headed to 2 bars and the famous bowling alley, yeah everything closes at 11:30 and after you jump on a tuk tuk with everyone and end up playing bowling drunk in a far away alley. Very funny experience. Next morning we woke up to non stop raining, afraid we would not be able to go to the famous Kuang Si falls, we made it and actually even with the rain was very nice walk up to the top and around the place, the water was supposed to be turquoise but with so much rain it was actually brown, I guess we will have to come again. With so much rain actually you cannot do much, just food and try to walk around as fast as you can without getting so wet. Our 3rd day was a bit more productive, we managed to go to the Uxo museum, the bomb museum. Laos is the country that was more bombarded in the whole world, and there are still a lot of bombs around that kill at least 1 person per day. Watching that video, with those kids without hands, or without an eye really touched me, I must confess that one tear drop escaped while watching that video. Non stop rain for 3 days, but I leave Luang Prabang with nice memories and new people I met in this little nice town.
Our way to Vang Vieng will be very interesting, rain and more rain. Few landslides and more rain will make this a very interesting ride. You can see the road broken, the mud falling from the side of the mountain, houses flooded, I only hope that everyone will be alright.
Let's see what Vang Vieng has prepared for us.
Appart from a lot of rain the 1st day, some party the 1st night we didn't do much. But we were very lucky because the next 2 days we had full of sun almost the whole day. We did some tubbing in the river, which was super funny and crazy. Because it has been raining so much the water is very high and it goes faster. This means its very difficult to stop and get out of the river. Of course I had to get rescued as I couldn't stop or get to the shore. On our 2nd stop I was able to get out by myself. Was a funny and sunny day for us, ending it again playing for the first time beer pong with the gang and having few drinks, which were mostly free because of the happy hour. Luckily our 2nd day was also super sunny, so we rented bicycles and went to visit the lagoon 5, which was 20 km away, so we biked for 40 km in muddy and rocky streets. I was so sore and tired that couldn't even move. It was an amazing day, we got to help some farmers in the rice fields and try to talk to them. Finally I can say I got a couple of smiles from people of Laos, after all they are not so serious as I thought they were. We ended our day having a great italian dinner, and finally I got some good glass of wine to drink, oh boy I miss wine and cheese!
My last stop in Laos will be Vientiane, the capital city, I hope it will not be raining so much and that we will be able to enjoy the day and half I have there.
Not much to do on this city, but walking around the city, visiting a few temples, eating and ending the day with a nice Laos massage was enough to have a good taste of this nice and small city.
Finally I must say that I got a few smiles from the people here, so I can leave Laos with a big smile and my heart full. Khop Chai Laos and hope to see you soon!
We took a nice 4 hours boat ride down the river to the next small town of Muang Ngoi. It was a very tiny town, with just a couple of restaurants, few houses and not so many people. So far Laos people are not very friendly and they don't smile at all, I will not loose hope and will keep smiling to see if I get a smile back. We did a great hike to a nice view point, and it was a very nice way up and better way down as it was already dark and very slippery. We saw a few fireflies and pumpkin the dog was all the way with us, yes we baptized him as pumpkin because we had the best pumpkin curry in this little town. Of course as it was dark we didn't see the leeches attacking us, we only saw the blood once back to the hostel.
Off to Luang Prabang, our next stop.
Definitely a trip is not only made of the places you are visiting, but also of the people you meet on it. When you meet nice people everything is better, funnier and nicer. Taking a bike ride around the city is a great idea to get a view of everything. Luang Prabang is a small village, also UNESCO heritage and very french style. Yeah french are everywhere here in Asia. After our nice ride around the city we headed to 2 bars and the famous bowling alley, yeah everything closes at 11:30 and after you jump on a tuk tuk with everyone and end up playing bowling drunk in a far away alley. Very funny experience. Next morning we woke up to non stop raining, afraid we would not be able to go to the famous Kuang Si falls, we made it and actually even with the rain was very nice walk up to the top and around the place, the water was supposed to be turquoise but with so much rain it was actually brown, I guess we will have to come again. With so much rain actually you cannot do much, just food and try to walk around as fast as you can without getting so wet. Our 3rd day was a bit more productive, we managed to go to the Uxo museum, the bomb museum. Laos is the country that was more bombarded in the whole world, and there are still a lot of bombs around that kill at least 1 person per day. Watching that video, with those kids without hands, or without an eye really touched me, I must confess that one tear drop escaped while watching that video. Non stop rain for 3 days, but I leave Luang Prabang with nice memories and new people I met in this little nice town.
Our way to Vang Vieng will be very interesting, rain and more rain. Few landslides and more rain will make this a very interesting ride. You can see the road broken, the mud falling from the side of the mountain, houses flooded, I only hope that everyone will be alright.
Let's see what Vang Vieng has prepared for us.
Appart from a lot of rain the 1st day, some party the 1st night we didn't do much. But we were very lucky because the next 2 days we had full of sun almost the whole day. We did some tubbing in the river, which was super funny and crazy. Because it has been raining so much the water is very high and it goes faster. This means its very difficult to stop and get out of the river. Of course I had to get rescued as I couldn't stop or get to the shore. On our 2nd stop I was able to get out by myself. Was a funny and sunny day for us, ending it again playing for the first time beer pong with the gang and having few drinks, which were mostly free because of the happy hour. Luckily our 2nd day was also super sunny, so we rented bicycles and went to visit the lagoon 5, which was 20 km away, so we biked for 40 km in muddy and rocky streets. I was so sore and tired that couldn't even move. It was an amazing day, we got to help some farmers in the rice fields and try to talk to them. Finally I can say I got a couple of smiles from people of Laos, after all they are not so serious as I thought they were. We ended our day having a great italian dinner, and finally I got some good glass of wine to drink, oh boy I miss wine and cheese!
My last stop in Laos will be Vientiane, the capital city, I hope it will not be raining so much and that we will be able to enjoy the day and half I have there.
Not much to do on this city, but walking around the city, visiting a few temples, eating and ending the day with a nice Laos massage was enough to have a good taste of this nice and small city.
Finally I must say that I got a few smiles from the people here, so I can leave Laos with a big smile and my heart full. Khop Chai Laos and hope to see you soon!
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