Luang Prabang, Laos

Monday 1st March

Having explored the chaos of Vang Vieng and spending an extra day so that Elliott could rebook his kayaking trip, we soon became tired of the continuous episodes of Friends and Family Guy that played all day and night in the bars and cafes that line the town! For just a few pounds we booked a bus ticket to the town of Luang Prabang, described in the Lonely Planet as 'enchanting and diverse'.

The journey was even more breath taking and the elevations even higher as we travelled for 8 hours along mostly Tarmac road, with both tourists and locals packed on like sardines! Along the isle of the bus small plastic chairs seated the petit locals, who seemed to be so use to the journey were able to fall asleep, with one girl using my arm as a headrest! :o)

We stopped at a half way point for a toilet and food break, I spent most of my time running around trying to get away from a huge wasp with a local chap looking at me like I was nuts! I think he thought I really needed the toilet, so helped wash down and prepare the toilet for the crazy lady running around outside...yes the wasp followed me in there too. I went to the toilet with my eyes shut holding my breath...as if that was suppose to help! The minute I finished I threw myself out of the toilet and ran off trying to signal some sort of thanks to the guy that helped me! I soon bumped into Elliott that was in the process of trying to chat up a girl so I tried to keep my calm and not look to paranoid that the wasp was following me!

Anyway, after a long, hot and sticky journey we eventually reached the bus station at Luang Prabang, Elliott had been sat next to a German girl on the bus that had been living there for a few months and gave him some good advice about where to stay and how to get into town. With a cigarette hanging out of her mouth she some how seemed like a hardened traveller, I asked her what she was doing for work. She explained that she had been doing some administration work for an Eco Discovery tour operator. It was at this point I new I was getting closer to the Eco Discovery I had been looking for.

After a short journey in a tuk-tuk van we arrived, true to the word of the Lonely Planet, at a charming town nestled in between the Nam Khan and Mekong Rivers. At this point a French/America called Leandra, who had taken a liking to Elliott :o) joined us as we explored a quiet street of B&Bs. After thoroughly searching all the options we went for a guesthouse that was tucked away down an obscure, quiet lane-way, still near all the tourist essentials and the Mekong River, for just £7 per night for a double room!

As we sat down to dinner that evening in a beautiful quaint open-air cafe beside the river, we found out that Leandra was a very bright cookie. At only 23 years old she was a Harvard graduate and a math’s genius, and was in the process of undergoing some sort of research in vaccinations. After trying to explain the chemical and mathematical equations of how vaccinations work, we soon brought her back down to our level as we struggled to work out the bill divided by four! :o) Elliott has a cracking sense of humour for any situation and on queue made everyone laugh; I think that's what she really liked about him, he always puts a smile on everyone's face! (oh and just in case Elliott reads this...'and also because of his pure wit and intellectual conversation' ;o)!'

Luang Prabang was a true delight, a refreshing change from the chaos the ‘Ibiza’ of Laos (Vang Vieng). We spent a few days exploring the area on bikes and also hired a tuk-tuk to visit Tat Kuang Si Park, approximately 30km from the town. In all honesty I don’t think any one of us was truly prepared for just how spectacular this area was!

As I laughed and joked with Jonny, Elliott and Leandra as we haggled with the tuk-tuk driver and paid our entrance fees to the Park, we turned a corner through a wooded path and stumbled upon a true serendipity, I was speechless! I had never seen anything like it, perfect turquoise water pools and cascading waterfalls right in the heart of the jungle! I was mesmerized, thinking perhaps I should pinch myself to make sure it was real not a dream!

We thoroughly explored the area climbing the steep hills to embrace the spectacular views across the Park and waterfalls, stopping off to take a dip in each of the pools of course! Jonny and I left Elliott and Leandra to get to know each other while we went off to explore a bear rescue centre near the entrance of the Park.

The centre was small but well maintained, allowing you to see some of Laos’s most endangered species and learn about the threats to their precious habitats. The centre is run by an English couple; Jude and Jane who were very passionate about their work, providing excellent enrichment for the animals and jobs for the local people. They work every hour God sends on the project and clearly hold it very close to their hearts, truly inspiring! The conservation work is better known as the “Free The Bears” campaign, a charitable trust that needs all the help it can get, please see http://www.freethebears.org.au/web/Help-Us .

Having explored the serenity of Kuang Si Park we made our way back to Luang Prabang for a quick bite to eat and mooch around the night market. Every night the main road closes to the traffic and the town is transformed into Aladdin’s Cave. Streets of traders gather to sell souvenirs to the tourists, not the usual rubbish, a market full of cultural delights; beautiful pashmere scarfs, handcrafted jewellery, chessboards, ornaments etc a true testament of their incredible talent.

The next day I decided to continue my quest to find the Eco Discovery adventure I was looking for, to my delight, lined along the street of Luang Prabang a handful of shops advertised their ‘green tour credentials’. However, upon further research and contrary to my initial impression, Luang Prabang was not the perfect location! Although culturally diverse, the villages involved in the eco tours have heavily deforested their immediate surroundings. The travel adviser in the Green Discovery Office advised a trip up to Luang Namtha, further North of the country, to embrace both culture and pristine forest. So after a good persuasive chat to Jonny and Elliott we all agreed the next adventure was Luang Namtha :o)

Vang Vieng

Friday 26th Feb

It's not until you travel through Laos that you realise how rugged the terrain actual is! The roads are partially built, narrow and pass through some huge elevations. Building these roads is clearly not an easy feat and not surprising that Laos has very little infrastructure. The journey to Vang Vieng was both breath taking and hair raising!

As we drove in to Vang Vieng the tall limestone cliffs stood proudly
next to the Nam Song River dominating the landscape.

There were a string of tourist accommodation, which lined both sides of the river, so we were spoilt for choice. After walking a few hundred meters in the searing heat we opted for Je Jardin Organique, which was clean, spacious and en suite, for just £7 per night for two people.

After we had settled in to the guesthouse we decided to explore the line of shops / town of Vang Vieng. There were plenty of tour operators offering treks, bike riding, caving, kayaking, rock climbing and tubing, the choice was endless!

Upon arriving we were warned by a B&B tout not to stay too close to the town as it could get very noisy. However, shrugging him off, believing that he was trying to get our customer for his own B&B, we decided to chance it.

Knowing very little about this place before arriving, we assumed it to be a peaceful village/town beside the river where you could do some great Kayaking! With that in mind for just £5 each we booked a day caving and kayaking with one of the main tour operators in the town.

Later that night we went a little further into town to eat dinner in one of the restaurants overlooking the river to watch a beautiful sunset over the limestone cliffs. As the sun was setting a sea of lights from the other side of the river lit up advertising Vang Vieng's
nightlife. One of the bars lit up to read 'Bucket Bar', needless to say the idea was to fill a bucket with alcohol and drink it! As we were all looking over at the bar a Dutch guy plonked himself down and said 'cool ah, fancy checking it out later'? I immediately tried to think of an excuse not to go...'ur,ur..maybe not tonight we've booked a kayaking trip for tomorrow morning'. Then Elliott piped up with, 'yeah but one isn't going to hurt, why not I'll join you'. Thank God I
thought Elliott will entertain him :o)! After several attempts of trying to persuade us, Jonny and I both decided to go back to the B&B for an early night. Surprisingly enough Elliott came back an hour later slightly tipsy and very chatty, full of confidence about checking out a wedding reception that was going on right outside our B&B. Although it was really noisy (as predicted by the other B&B tout), Jonny and I felt a little uncomfortable about gate crashing a wedding, so declined the offer and went back to bed.

The next day we woke bright and early for our kayaking trip, after several attempts of knocking on Elliott's door, we decided to go on and get some breakfast hoping that he would catch up. After a quick bite to eat we waited at the tour operators office for 10/15 minutes, with still no sign of Elliott. As he had already paid, the team had prepared his lunch and put a kayak on the van for him they we keen to wake him up. With a van full of people, we stopped off at the
guesthouse to try Elliott again...no luck so we went on without him!

After about 30 minutes we reached our destination, we walked a little before reaching a village and then on to 'Water Cave'. There we waited for a few minutes before being given a make shift, rusty head lamp connected by two old copper wires to a motor bike battery, which each of us had to hang off our shoulders. We we also given a large inflatable ring to float our way through the cave using ropes to pull ourselves along inside the cave.

As the rope ended our guide order us to link together by hooking our feet under each others inner tubes. Jonny's voice a little shaky kindly whispered 'you alright'? 'Yes', I said with a beaming smile, having just shone my touch around to realise there were no stray routes to get lost! The cave was eerie, a few jokes were made about watching out for snakes, and other creepy crawlies, but I was confident that with amount of noise being made by our guide singing at the top of his out of tune voice that we were pretty much guaranteed not to see any wildlife!

After about 45 minutes were emerged from the cave, the same way we came in, to say a quick hello to the next tour group waiting for the inner tubes and their turn to explore the cave. Our guide led us up to a small wooden structure beside the cave, we he laid out our prepared lunch of rice, vegetables and bread. Still feeling full from breakfast I realised it was only 11am, 'strange', I thought, but didn't question it as things are often done obscurely in SE Asia!

After we had finished eating we went on to explore 'Elephant Cave', a small cave (not submerged in water), which was next to the village we passed earlier on the trek. Weirdly enough some of the rock formations did actually look like elephants and so appropriately named! Once we had finished exploring and trying to look respectful of the strange Buddhist statues they often put in caves along with way too many incense sticks that make you smell like a full blown hippy by the time you come out!

We made our way back to the van and travelled a short distance before being dropped off with the kayaks next the Nam Song River, ready to make our way down stream back to Vang Vieng.

Jonny and I shared a kayak, Jonny at the back with the important job of steering! Three other couples were also paired up, a young Korean couple, a Swedish couple in their 50s and a English guy with his French speaking Belgian girlfriend, and finally three guides on two kayaks for our safety. Once we were given a brief lesson on kayaking, such as; 'here's a life jacket, there's your paddle', and a pat on the back with; 'you'll be fine it's not the rainy season', we were apparently ready to go! Fortunately for me Jonny had plenty of experience, having grown up canoeing and wind surfing in the Hampshire area. I thought I was a little wobbly until I looked up and saw the
young Korean couple capsize their boat in a calm, knee deep ripple of a rapid! It was incredibly hard not to laugh, but being in a Buddhist country I didn't want to take my chance with Karma!

After a mile of gentle rapids and calm relaxing water, with the occasional stop to turn the Koreans back in the right direction, or pluck them out of a bush or mud bank they had managed to wedge themselves onto. We were thoroughly enjoying the serenity and beauty of this magical place, stopping to wave at young Laos children artfully spear fishing on the way down the river. Just as I was enjoy the peaceful bliss of what I almost considered paradise, we turned a corner to a scene that can only be described as a take from Apocalypse Now! Violently loud music blared out of huge base speakers, that drowned out any noise of the natural environment! There lining the river towards Vang Vieng was bar after bar, with signs reading 'Get your Free French fries here'. Bar owners/ staff were all touting for our business, attempting to entice you in by the promotion of cheap alcohol, makeshift swings, ropes and slides that dropped you back in the river!

Much to the Swedish couples horror our guide was heading to one of the bars, ushering us all to alight for some 'fun'. I climbed onto the platform to be greeted by many other young European tourists, lounging around mid-day drinking beer and doing double back flips off the bars makeshift 16ft trapeze! A little dumbfounded I sat silently watching people climb the 25ft structure to swing from the trapeze into the water! After assessing many guinnipigs I decided to have a go, but decided feet first would be a safer option. By the time I climbed the wobbly 25ft structured I realised how incredibly high it suddenly felt, without the Dutch courage of alcohol I nervously swung myself off the platform. A rush of adrenaline soared through me as I suddenly realised that at some point I would have to let go and drop into the river...needless to say I swung backwards and forwards clinging onto the trapeze for several minutes before plucking up the courage to fall in! As I swam back to shore Jonny greeted me with my towel and said, 'there's no way in hell I'm doing that'! Shortly after that our guide gave us the signal to get back on our kayaks, 'thank god I thought', as my ears began to ring with tinnitus from the incredibly loud noise of the music!

A few moments later, again to Swedish couples horror, we were heading for another bar, with a 150ft length slide made of a rough concrete construction that had a 10ft drop. By this point the shy Belgian girl, who had suddenly grown a huge amount for beer confidence was convincing Jonny to try the slide. Again after watching quite a few people going first I thought I'd go for. This seemed to give Jonny a bit more faith and with further persuasion from the Belgian, he plunged his way down the huge slide and into the river below with a look of absolute horror on his face the whole time! :o)

After about 30 minutes we left the chaos behind us and continued on to eventually reach Vang Vieng, with a very drunk Belgian singing Bohemian Rhapsody at the top of her voice all the way to the end. The trip conveniently finished right next to our guesthouse!

We later found out that Elliott had indeed joined the wedding reception and was welcomed in, however he did say it became a bit of a game for them to see how drunk they could get the foreigner. Needless to say poor Elliott spent most the day in the bathroom!

Vang Vieng was certainly not the Eco Discovery I was looking for, it really did make me feel so sad to see them ruin their cultural identity to panda to the western binge drinking mentality. Attracting these types of tourists is never going to be beneficial in the long term sustainability of the town. Drugs are already a problem and it is only going to get worse, almost every menu in every bar is offering opium, mushrooms or cannabis.

Vientiane, Laos

Wed 24th – Fri 26th Feb

Vientiane, according to the Lonely Planet 2008 has a population of 200,000. The city is friendly and peaceful, studded with crumbling French mansions and streets of noodle stalls, it is somewhere between a big town and a city.

"Vientiane’s peaceful demeanor belies a turbulent history. Over the thousand or so years of its history, it’s been variously abused by successive Vietnamese, Burmese, Siamese, Khmer, and French conquerors. The French cemented Vientiane’s status as a capital city when the took over the protectorship of Laos in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries: it was further inhabited by CIA ‘spooks’ and the charismatic Ravens (the screw-loose CIA-funded pilots of Air America) in the 60’s and early 70’s. After their victory in 1973 the Pathet Laos briefly considered moving the capital to Vieng Xai but them relented and stuck with Vientiane, and the city began a rapid transformation from notorious den of vice to austere socialist outpost. Since opening up to international investment, Vientiane has slowly been broadening its potential." (Lonely Planet, 2008)

After our taxi driver had kindly taken us to several guesthouses, many of which were full we decided to go for the Lonely Planet’s recommendation of Syri 1 guesthouse, which had some old style décor but plenty of character! We opted for the dorm room which cost 150,000 Kip (12 pounds) for the 3 bed dorm room with ensuite.

We spent a couple of days exploring the city by bike before stopping off at a travel information office to get some advice on what to see in Laos. I was surprised to find out that Laos actually has a small population and 236,800 sq Km of rugged geography, and is the least altered environment in SE Asia. That most of Lao still live at or just above subsistence level, consuming far fewer of their own natural resources than the people of any developed country. Not only that the people and government of Laos have fully embraced ‘Sustainable Tourism’. Laos has 18 eco parks set up in 1993 by the government to protect its wildlife and forests from slash-and-burn farming, hunting and logging.

"Unlike Thailand which seems to have learnt too late, Laos is flourishing as an eco-conscious nation – if you forget about the destructive HE power dams and logging licenses granted to the Chinese, who are munching their way through ancient teak and rosewood (in return for aiding with road-building and a stadium in Vientiane for the Asean Games in 2009). To be fair, Laos is still one of the poorest nations on earth, trying desperately to become self-sufficient; the fact the government has welcomed international eco-advice is encouraging. The environmental blueprint, designed to benefit both travelers and ethnic peoples in a sustainable controlled way, has improved hygiene, education and commerce. A number of villages receiving organised visits from trekkers have seen a reduction in opium addition and a renewed zeal to preserve their natural heritage." (Lonely Planet, 2008).

With this in mind I was determined to do a ‘Eco Trek’ and contribute to this positive economic development. However, as most of these treks are in the North we had quite a way to travel before we could see any protected areas. The tour operator in Vientiane advised us to stop off at Vang Vieng which was just a 4 hour bus ride, to break the journey up. Traveling in Laos is very cheap, costing just a few pounds on a local bus.

Nong Khai, Thailand to Laos

Wednesday 24th Feb

Having caught the bus from Namsom to Nong Khai, we were greeted with the usual line of tuk-tuk drivers. We explained that we wanted to be taken to the Friendship Bridge and after a huge smile he was please to take us! Having seen this sort of smile before I immediately knew not to trust him ;o)!

He took us to an office along with a French guy that looked like he had had a life time on Tiger Beer, with the hum of stale cigarette smoke and booze, sitting next to him on a squashed tuk-tuk was not a pleasant experience. The office we were taken to was a tour operator offering us Visa’s for Laos and transportation all the way to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The catch was they wanted 400 baht (8 pounds each), to travel just a few miles! I smiled politely looked at Jonny and Elliott, took out the Lonely Planet and explained that if we went our own way it would be a lot cheaper. After a short discussion we all agreed, I was a little concerned that the tuk-tuk driver would refuse to take us as he would not be making a commission, just a few baht for the tuk-tuk ride. However, fortunately for us the French guy was so out of it he was happily paying the extortionate office fees, which meant we were off the hook without a struggle.

The bus over the Friendship Bridge was 15 baht each and the taxi journey from the Laos border to Vientiane was 150 baht between three of us. The visa (30 days) cost $30.

The border crossing was amazingly smooth and hassle free!

Laos is so different from Thailand and Cambodia, the people are so laid back you have to hassle them….not the other way around! Our ‘go it alone’ theory paid off as we managed to save 1000 baht (20 pounds) which on a traveling budget is money well saved!

Namsom Continued…

Monday 22nd February

Having explored the little town of Namsom Joy and David decided to take us to Phu Phrabat Historical Park, which was only a one hour drive from Namsom (still on the boundary of the Udon Thani Province).

Thought to have been affected by the ice age by moving icebergs, thought to have crashed to the ground, Phu Phrabat has some very interesting stone formations. This strange but beautiful forest was inhabited around2,500-3,00 years ago by prehistoric man. Paintings of animals, men, geometric shapes and the palms of hands can still be seen in the sheltered rock formations today!

On the 3 hour walk around the tranquil park the mosquitoes decided to try some falang blood and happily feasted on me all the way round. After about 30 minutes I became dizzy and nauseous, for some reason I began having a reaction to these particular black and white striped mosquitoes.

The next day was spent in bed with a fever, I had some relief in the fact that I was taking malaria tablets, but still this doesn’t make you full proof! Fortunately it only lasted a few days, but it took weeks for the bites to go down! After realizing I was particularly allergic to the mosquitoes in Namsom we decided to make a move as soon as I was feeling well enough.

Originally the plan was to spend our last day with David and Joy in Nong Khai (the border town to Laos) and check out the markets at friendship bridge before we said our goodbyes and continued on with our travels. However, the night before we were going to leave my uncle told us that we had to ‘get bus’. Unfortunately many years of being married to his Thai wife has digressed his level of English and ability to communicate! After asking several questions and receiving very limited answers he told us that he would cook us breakfast and take us to the bus station in Namsom in the morning, from there we could catch a mini bus to a dual carriage way, then wait for a bus that is signed for Nong Khai. Eventually I found out that the reason why they could not spend the day with us was because they had to take some veg from their farm to the market.

Well, we managed to follow all the instructions and after a nerve-racking 1 hour wait by the side of a busy main road, sure enough we managed to flag down a bus going to Nong Khai.
I was a little disappointed having made such an effort to travel to North Thailand to see my uncle, that he was unable to spend our last day together. But as fate would have it Laos turned out to be a happy accident, as flying from Thailand to Hanoi in Vietnam, cost wise, was not an option, so we decided to travel through Laos overland.

Namsom, Thailand

20th -23rd February 2010

Namsom is a small town, I guess probably the same size/population as Perranporth in Cornwall. There are market stalls with fresh fruit and veg as well as other little shops selling all sorts; electronics, dog grooming supplies, cleaning products, as well as the normal hair salons, massage parlors, it almost has everything except major supermarkets or shopping malls, giving the town a wonderful sense of community.

Joy spent the second day introducing me to her sisters and brother that all live on the same quite rural road, which is just a short 5 minute drive from the town. One of Joy’s sisters has set up a noodle stall just next door to David and Joy’s which has proved very popular, in the short time that I was there it was very busy! On the other side of David and Joy’s, her brother has a steel fabrication business. It really was amazing to watch on this particular day an ornate metal gate presumably for someone’s drive way come out of a tiny, quite humble work station! Just a little further on is another of Joy’s sisters, who is a dress maker and teacher. I was welcomed in and Joy’s sister fixed one of my tops that was too big for me.

After Joy had finished introducing me to her family we jumped onto her moped and she took me just a short distance away, behind the row of houses and down a further dirt track where Joy and David have just established their farm. Although they have only just set the farm up in the last 10 months, I was very impressed with what they had achieved. At a guess I would say it was about 5 acres. Half the space is dedicated to dragon fruit, which apparently will be the most profitable once established. The rest of the farm has many vegetables and herbs, including spring onions and coriander…my favourite!

The town is small and friendly, with only a few falang (foreigners) that have also married Thai women, no white women though I was the only one, which turned a few heads to say the least! It was great to be in such a ‘off the beaten track’ setting, especially after being in Bangkok.

Bangkok to Udon Thani, Thailand

19th February 2010

For just 10 pounds each (500 baht) we got a train from Bangkok to Udon Thani that took 10 hours. Although the train wasn’t ‘state of the art’, it was clean, spacious and comfortable. Probably our best overland journey taken so far!

From Udon Thani my uncle David, his wife Joy and their son Andrew (7hrs old), met us at the train station. We were all quite relieved when they suggested we stay one night in udon Thani and travel to Namsom the next day.

(Udon Thani boomed on the back of the Vietnam War, with US air bases opening up nearby. Although they are all closed today the city is still thriving with shops and markets, however, having said that I can’t think of any reason why tourists would visit this city!)

We managed to stay up until midnight to see in mine and my uncles birthday with a celebratory drink ( I was born on his 18th birthday), and to celebrate the immense journey we had undertaken in such a short period of time!

After a reasonably early start and an English breakfast in an Irish pub! We hit the shops in Udon Thani. Jonny finally decided to give up on his sandals and buy some new ones, after several attempts to try and get them repaired along our travels…the funniest memory being Sihanouk Ville in Cambodia when he paid a guy $10 to basically burn his shoes in an attempt to fix them :o)!

After we had finished shoe shopping we stopped off at Tesco Lotus…yep they are everywhere, so that David and Joy could stock up on a few supplies. After that we hit the road to make the 1.5 hour journey to Namsom.