Ok, so after several, and I mean several days of travel, we finally made it to Louang Prabang!  And wow, what a difference it is here compared to the rest of the country (well, the portion we've seen thus far!)

Suddenly there are vehicles, motorbikes, restaurants, TOURISTS . . . a big change from what we'd seen up until now!!

Our journey here was not only a long one, but an eye-opening experience, as well.  Unlike some of the other tourists visiting this country, thanks to our few hitchhiking experiences here, we had the chance to actually come in contact with some of the locals living in non-touristy places. 

And yes, though the landscapes are lovely, and the folks are some of the most pleasant we've encountered so far during this trip, it's not all pretty.

I've mentioned feeling like I was back in Bolivia, mainly due to the horrible conditions of the roads and the terrible food, but it's also been due to the incredible poverty that exists all about the country.

As in Bolivia, infrastructure is quite bad, malnutrition is quite common, and well, it's a very sad thing to see.

It's amazing, however, to see how these folks still manage to have a huge smile on their faces as they see us go by.  They're just overjoyed when they can interact with us.  Their warmth and kindness stays in my memories.

I've gone on and on about the drawbacks of Laos, but it truly is an incredible place, despite the extreme poverty.

Arnaud isn't a big fan, but I'd say it's a country not to be missed if ever in Southeast Asia.

Getting back to Louang Prabang, and to civilization . . . it was like being in another world here!!

Finally we could eat something other than soup or sticky rice!!  We'd heard from folks that we would possibly find french bread somewhere in Laos, and indeed we did!!

That very same evening when we got to Louang Prabang, we treated ourselves to a yummy baguette sandwich.  Nothing too fancy, just chicken, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo . . . but it sure was DE-LI-CIOUS!!! It certainly hit the spot!!

The city, itself, is quite charming.  I can see why it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and why so many tourists flock here.

I highly enjoyed strolling around the city center, and had a fun time visiting the Kuangsi Waterfall.

If ever in Laos, do NOT miss this place, but if you can, be sure to visit some of the other non-touristy places, as well!! 

Enjoy the pix!

La traversee du Nord a ete tres eprouvante pour moi, les gens ont ete super acceuillant, genereux mais c est vraiment trop pauvre, je me sentais vraiment mal a l aise, c etait vraiment dur de les voir vivre de cette facon.

C est inacceptable, les gens mangent la meme chose tout les jours, du riz avec pas grand chose de plus, ils vivent dans ces cabanes en bois, les enfants ont rarement de vetement, ils sont mal nourris, il n y a pas trop d ecole, dans les villages recules, je peux bien comprendre a la limite, mais c est malheureusement tout le pays qui est comme cela.

C est certe un peuple qui vit dans les montagnes, les acces sont difficiles, mais tout de meme. Cela me rappelait la Bolivie.

Et tout ces touristes qui sont presents et qui ne voyent rien de tout ca, c est vraiment triste. C est tres impressionnant la difference de monde arrive dans une des 3 ou 4 villes touristiques du pays.

Des qu on est arrive dans Louang Prabang, des touristes partout qui ne voyagent que pendant la nuit et des ces bus modernes, qui ne voyent rien a la realite des choses, c etait vraiment difficile pour moi de rester dans ce climat d aveugle.  Et surtout sans avoir aucun pouvoir de changer les choses.

La nourriture aussi est une chose tres importante a mes yeux, cela permet a mon avis de voir comment est le pays.

Et ici, elle est tres chere et restreinte, tu ne trouve pas ce que tu veux, je ne vous parle pas des restaurants ou c est bien-sur different, je vis et je vous parle de la rue. Il n y a pas grand chose et surtout les portions sont infimes.

Si vous regardez de plus pret, vous pouvez voir les gens de la ville mal-traites les villageois, c est gens qui se croyent superieur, ca me faisait revenir a l age de pierre, a la loi du plus fort, de nos jours les gens devrait comprendre qu est ce que signifi la compensation, le generosite, le savoir, mais non! 

C est pour cela que l education est si importante, et c est la chose qui est le moins presente a mon avis dans ce pays.

On passa quand meme quelques bons moments autour de nombreuses bieres entoures de gens qui essayaient de me comprendre.

This morning I woke at 5am in order to see the monks collect their alms (I have forgotten this term since school ... I was thinking beg for food).  Residents line up by the roadside to give monks food ... typically they roll balls of rice to deposit into the monks pots as they file past. 

Some may offer bananas and biscuits as well.  Overall I wouldn't say it is a balaced diet ... but that's probably not a big concern when you're already eating rice that's been donated-and-rolled by various people around town.

Remember these pictures were taken around 6am ... it wasn't bright enough to capture moving monks clearly.

Luang Prabang is one place many people rave about ... it is a riverine town on the side of the Mekong and home to an eclectic mix of Lao shophouses, royal palace, temples and colonial mansions.  By day one explores these sights but by night ... the street gets converted into a handicraft megamart, the restaurants and bars come alive ... but close at 23:30 sharp to maintain some semblence of Lao village life.

I feel sorry for the locals ... there are endless guesthouses, restaurants and craft stalls but few tourists to be seen.  I hope for their sake it is the low season.  Or perhaps the margins are high enough to support just the odd sale.

Due to the UNESCO World Heritage protection, development has been tasteful and there is considerable effort to maintain the traditional look. 

One street off the main drag, there are numerous restaurants beautifully set on the banks of the Mekong.  Shared a bottle of French white with an Aussie headmistress named Louise whom I had met on the Air Asia flight up ... she feels her children aren't experiencing the world enough (you know, doing the career and family thing ... ie. normal) ... my Mum would wish I'd do that instead of tripping around  :-)

Come soon.

I flew from Xieng Khouang to Luang Prabang today ... what was meant to be a half-hour flight turned out to be two flights and a two hour transit in Vientiane (totalling over 3 hours) ... because I had booked about 6 months in advance, the airlines' schedules had changed and the flight no longer operated.  It still beats 10h on a bus!

I took a tuktuk to the guesthouse in town ... but it broke down in the darkest possible road ... so the driver rang for a scooter to pick me and my baggage up (me as pillion and the baggage between his legs). 

Lao Airlines has flights around Laos and to the neighbouring countres. A half-hour flight is equivalent to about 10h in a bus so it is a big time saver ... the bus journey may cost about USD10 but the airfare USD50-60. Even on the half-hour flights, they provide a snack-box of cake, fruit and water. Most flights seem to be delayed by about half hour. Also, they operate a mix of Chinese and European aircraft. Even when the schedules show a European aircraft, you may find yourself flying on a newer Chinese aircraft (seems roomier and not any noisier). There was a complication with my booking as it was done online some six months prior. My non-stop direct flight no longer operated so they routed me through the capital Vientiane. The airport staff not very clued up and tried to collect an additional fare as I was doing three flights and only had two flight coupons (electronic equivalent). But having worked in the airline industry I managed to explain what had happened in industry-speak so they were fine. In fact, I found their handling of all these matters to be superior, kinder and more professional than some five-star-rated airlines.

A clean place, away from the main stretch but close enough to walk. We chanced upon this place after refusing the offers of the touts and walking off in search of one from our guidebook. 70,000 kip per night for a very clean double room with A/C (no TV) and a clean bathroom (wet room) with hot water. They did laundry for 10,000 kip per kilo and even cleaned our muddy walking boots at the same rate. We felt very comfortable here. No restaurant, but it's on a quiet side street, and you can get a decent, cheap breakfast at the Laos Coffee House, on the corner with Sisavangvong Road. They offer to book tickets and tours for you and it seems to be the same stuff offered by other guesthouses and tour agents in town. The Pak Ou caves trip is not worth it if you have done the boat trip on the Mekong already (as it's a wasted boat trip for you guys!), and you can probably negotiate a tuk-tuk driver to take you to the KWang Si Falls (great place) for cheaper.

A bus, a break down, a flat bed truck (hitched by Dimi) ride, a crammed minibus, several landslide stoppages*, a flooded engine and a jumbo tuk tuk ride later, we arrived in Luang Prabang. The nine of us chose various guest houses for the night and decided to meet up for breakfast the next day. Hiro decided to sleep in but the rest of us made an appearance; it was a nice way to say "see you!" to a group of people who had together been through a bizarre, tiring, and at times, highly amusing travel experience that seemed to last a whole lot longer than four days. Basically it helped me to wash Vietnam right out of my hair.
    
I spent the next few days recuperating in what is a small, touristy but breezily pleasant city with loads of temples, loads of monks, loads of market stalls and some really tasty baguettes. My hostel room was large but cursed with the grubbiest bathroom I've experienced in some time. This came complete with cracked plastic bath tub stained with the bodily residue of countless dossy backpackers, collected and congealed over generations. I still used it though - I'm just not that fussy - it was a kind of antique; lots of biological history involved.

Speaking of history - have I mentioned the historic delights of Luang Prabang? No? Well bless my soul - there's some really good historical stuff in Luang Prabang, like... well... The royal palace museum which is the old home of the royals before they were carted off to a sticky end somewhere over in the east of the country back in the 60s (but we don't like to talk about that). S'quite a nice museum. Oh and temples - lots of temples. Do you like temples? Do you? Yes? Well you should definitely go to Luang Prabang 'cause there are loads of 'em there. I didn't go to any of them 'cause it's not really my bag but you should go so I don't feel so bad about not going. If you know what I mean.

I drank a lot of Beer Lao instead - it's dead nice. And spoke to some nice Lao people - there are a lot of those about in Lao. So even if you don't like temples you can still relax and enjoy yourself in Luang Prabang. Which is what I did. yes. So erm, see you next time then for more incisive travel blogging with cultural facts and other valuable stuff!


*At my favourite stoppage we arrived just after a bulldozer had cleared a passage through a wide swathe of soil that had slid down over the road. One truck got through, but a second got firmly stuck, wheels spinning wildly but only succeeding in digging the vehicle further into the soft shifted soil. Clearly there was some disagreement between the drivers of the bulldozer and the truck. Morph knows what they argued about, but the result was that the bulldozer took 20 minutes digging a whole new passage for all the other traffic to use, leaving the truck as a lonely stick in the mud. Basically it was a great illustration of the universal law of size that goes: "Sod you pal - I'm the one in the high-powered yellow JCB, get cheeky with me and you'll stay right where you are." 

ANDREI - We're rid of the boat trip, and finally in Luang Prabang, a rather likeable Laos town.

Like most of Laos, this is a relatively quiet place in the low season.  Quite touristy but very laid back.  However, once we stepped off the boat, we were accosted by the usual phalanx of fellas touting for various guesthouses.  3 of our Gibbon Experience brethren (Luca, Christian and Dan) went off to another place from their guidebook whilst Kerry and I set off on foot and found a nice place on called "Suan Keo Guesthouse", on a quiet soi just outside the central district.

A good choice since there was a local coffee shop around the corner called "Laos Coffee Shop" (!) which was our cheap breakfast destination.  Also close to a doughnut stall which set up shop at 4:30pm everyday - I got my daily fix for 2,000 kip (12 pence) for a fresh one.  Magic!  Thanks to the French colonialists, the Lao have great bakeries!

Since it is a former capital "city", there is a profusion of Wats (Buddhist temples) in Luang Prabang so we were spoiled for choice.  You also get to witness the daily almsgiving procession of the monks at dawn.  We stationed ourselves opposite Wat Phra Maha That at 5:30am and toyed with the idea of buying a gift of rice.  We decided against this just in case we boufght some dodgy rice and poisoned a monk!  So we just watched and were a little disappointed by the turn out of the locals.  I was expecting a throng of at least 50 or so locals, but the 10 r so we saw were matched by the number of tourists!  Maybe they have a rota for each day?

We spent the rest of our time walking around town in the blistering sun, mad dogs and all that!  We visited a number of other Wats (including the rather run down "Wat Sop"!), climbed up the steps to Mount Phousi (the "h" is silent, apparently!) for sunset, perused the night market every day for touristy stuff, took a boat to the Pak Ou caves, and visited the Kwang Si Falls.

Our only disappointment here was the Pak Ou caves.  I guess we had had enough of river boat trips, so the 2 hour trip upstream on the Mekong was a chore for us.  However, the 2 caves we visited were not very deep, the various Buddha statues left by worshippers long ago were far from memorable, and we were accosted by kids selling us stuff.  The main problem with the latter was that they had small bamboo leaf cages with small birds in whuch they wanted money for to set them free (so they could catch them again....!).  One line they used was "Please oay us so the bird can fly and eat!".  70,000 kip each plus 20,000 kip each entry fee for 5 poor quality hours!

The Kwang Si Falls, on the other hand, were excellent.  Kerry, Dan and I bargained a tuk-tuk driver to take us the 25km there and back for 140,000 kip.  It started raining when we got there but we pressed on, paid our 20,000 kip each and walked from the car park in to the well developed park.  It had 2 levels: the lower level made up of small falls and a 15m by 15m pool-like area for swimming in the river; and a higher level where the main falls are.  Dan and I stripped to our swimming shorts and wandered closer to the higher falls to hear the roar and add to the rain water soaking us!  Then we enjoyed the lower level for 45 minutes whilst Kerry chickened out and took photos of us.  The water wasn't too cold but felt warmer than the rain so we were happy.  Recommended!

It was also a pleasure to share a few beers and meals with young Dan.  A great guy from Sheffield.  He's been a doorman since he left school but has worked at an orphanage in Nepal for a few months, and had just finished some English teaching in SW China before most foreigners' visas were revoked for the Olympics!  He'll be working his way back on the train from Beijing to St PEtersburg then down the Baltic states, Germany and home before doing a teaching degree.  Those kids are going to have one great teacher.  He's got some great experiences to share.

This is really a very friendly little town. It provides in lots of things to enjoy. And in an overload of beauty. Walk along the riverside as far as you can get, visit the big temple just before the road bends to the right, have a snack and a beer Lao in one of the many bars and look at all the french influences that have remained, not only in architecture and language but also in food ("mayonaise on your baguette sir?").

Laotians seem to me more introvert than he Thai. They are hospitabile and friendly, no doubt about that, but as far as I can judge they are not really used to tourism yet and possibly still suffering from the same kind of 'communist apathy' I used to encouter in China 20 years ago. I'm not sure about that ofcourse, but there is a resemblance.

We stay in an old colonial style guesthouse. It's not cheap (most things are a little bit more expensive compared to Thailand) but it has a great atmosphere and a very romantic decorated bathroom. Pitty I brought my son and not my wife.... We decide to stay here for three days, enjoy the beauty and serenity and then follow the hippy trail to Vang Vieng.

    We were still pretty tired from the kayaking trip from the previous day when we woke up. We had decided already that we were going  to spend the day looking around Louang Prabang. It had been raining since yesterday night and it was going to be impossible  to see the sights in the rain. So we sat around and decided to wait until the rain passed. We had a Thai meal for lunch - MC likes the green curry whereas I prefere the red variety. We found a place to book our tickets to Vang Vieng and staggered through the rain back to our hostel. After the rain had passed we bought some chocolate (SE Asian style) milkshakes and walked the many hundred steps to the wat (temple) on the highest hill in Louang Prabang. The view was lovely and we were even lucky enough to see a Lao Airlines aircraft land at the local airstrip. We stayed at the top for a while enjoying the views and waited for the sunset. We found a fantastic restaurant called Lao Lao garden with outdoor candlelit tables set among the palm trees. Best meal in Laos so far!

I woke up early to gorgeous blue skies and packed to catch the bus up to Luang Prabang. After saying goodbye to Livia, I rushed over to the travel agency to wait around. Still have a fever, this sucks. The bus was supposed to leave around 10am and arrive around 4pm.

No suck luck.

The road from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang is only about 60-70 miles, but the bus ride took about 7 or 8 hours. While the road was one of the most scenic I'd ever been on, I felt like shit and just wanted to get there. Luang Prabang is way, way up in the mountains, or at least I think it is based on the bus ride. Either way, I think everyone on the bus would have liked the trip to finish a few hours sooner.

After getting into town I checked into a guesthouse and immediately took a tuk-tuk to the hospital. My fever didn't feel as bad as the night before, but I still felt horrible. I don't want to know what it was the night before, because when the nurse took my temperature the thermometer said 104 degrees. Shit.

I ended up spending about four hours in the hospital. They gave me some pills for the headache, hooked up an IV, gave me a shot of something for the fever, and did a blood test. The good news is I don't have malaria or dengue fever (I was really, really, really worried). The better news is that whatever they gave me worked, because my fever dropped to around 99 in the four hours I was there. When I woke up the next day I felt fine. Oh man, am I glad - I was completely ready to be on the next flight to Bangkok.

Total cost for hospitalization, handfulls of pills, IV, shot, and blood test? About $38.

Lonely Planet has this to say about healthcare in Laos: "There are no good facilities in Laos; the nearest acceptable facilities are in northern Thailand."

I feel pretty much better now, save for a weak appetite. Phew.

After Thailand some R&R was needed and Laos provides that perfectly.  I visited many places in Laos, but the most memorable were Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng (home of the infamous river tubing).  It was probably the most memorable time overall of my trip, but as I write this months later, I wont waste too much time waxing lyrical in text about it.  Suffice to say, the weather was amazing, the scenery was beautiful and the people are some of the most friendly around.  Oh and Beer Laos rocks! (and its really cheap lol).  If you aint been to Laos and are heading SE Asia way then I really recommend it!! 

The kayaking started at 9am so after a quick but delicious brekkie at JoMa we went down to the Green Discovery offices. There we met up with our group and guides and we were driven to the river. Alex had opted for a single kayak while MC went for the double option.
Our first outing on the river was short only lasting about 45 minutes and it was lovely.  This brought us to the waterfall where we saw elephants (not wild - the ones used for elephant trekking).  They were very cute and they stretched out their trunks to eat bananas from our hands.  Next we went to the waterfall which was great, we made our way across the strong current and climbed up 2 levels so that we could jump back down into the plunge pool, it was so cool!
After a traditional Lao picnic lunch served beside the waterfall and elephants it was back on the water for a 3 hour trip that was fun, exciting, a little dangerous and totally exhausting.  The scenery of lush forests and spectacular mountains were gorgeous and everything was pretty uneventful until we hit the rapids - they were only Level 1 rapids but the huge rainfall recently (highest in living memory) made them a little more rapid!  The first casualty was the guide who capsized very early on....not a good sign!  Alex in his single managed to escape capsizing and even helped with the rescue operation of an overboard....flip flop!  MC however, was not so lucky.  As soon as we hit the rapids her kayak hit something and started to wobble, then her kayak partner got a fright and accidentally smacked her on the back of the head and they both ended up in the water hanging onto the Kayak as it was dragged downstream through bushes and trees....ouch! Anyway all's well that ends well and everybody....eventually....made it safely back to dry land - minus only a few flip flops.  After freshening up we headed out for dinner with Seto and Jeroen to a lovely little riverside restaurant which had spectacular views of the Mekong river.  An early night finished off a great but exhausing day.

We had a lie in until 9 which was well deserved after the hellish bus journey we had. Having heard all about it we headed straight to the Joma cafe conveniently located at the end of our street for a delicious breakfast. The French occupation definitely left a positive impact on cafe culture in Laos - something we really miss in Beijing.
We went for a wander and took in the sights and sounds of this lovely, sweet and quiet small town. Everywhere you go you see the bright orange clothes of the young monks strolling along the streets in small groups. The colour of their robes are so striking which is good as it serves as a warning for Marie Claire to jump out of the way (Monks are forbidden from having any contact with women. Even the touching of their robes is not allowed). We had a delicious and simple Thai/Lao lunch. We then went to Green Discovery (an eco-tourism company, which guarantees a certain percentage to local communities and sustainable development). We booked a kayaking trip for the following day.
We came back to our guesthouse, which having booked later at night tired and hungry, we were very proud of finding. It's a lovely, tradtional, family run Laos home with sandlewood floors and clean spacious rooms with air conditioning, TV and private bathrooms.

We decided that we were going to press on through Laos and try to get to Louang Prabang, a UNESCO world heritage site and town. We were told that there would be many beautiful sights and temples there. It was going to be another long and tiring bus journey but what we (or I for that instance) encountered was like something out of a nightmare. The bus was an old 1970's Hyundai and to say that it was overladen was an understatement. There were a good a good 60+ people (at least 15 people had nop seats and sat on stools in the aisles) crammed on board with all the luggage being carried on top of the bus. This was not the worst of it. The road for the first 200km was a combination of dirt track, bad tarmac, collapsed roads and muddly wet slop. There was a good number of occassions where the bus could have slipped down a ravine or cliff and I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best. Poor Alex really wanted to just get out and was not a happy camper. By the time we got to Oudomxai (3 hours) where the bus stopped for an 1/2 hour break, we all spilled out dying for (the scarily rough and ready) bathroom. The food on offer was the two extremes on one hand gorgeous sweet churros style pastries and baguettes being sold by a lovely French speaking lady and her child to BBQ's of intenstines, lungs and skin covered with hair....mmmm!
Then it was back on the bus for another 5 hours.
The scenery in Laos was beautiful and inspiring - we were thinking about Christian Bale in Rescue Dawn and how he survived in this beautiful  but totally inhospitable terrain (75% of the country is wild and uncultivated). Scattered along the way were numerous villages of bamboo huts on stilts (still loads of vicious landslides). The poverty is hard to describe -  so many people living very simple and subsistance lives -  so far from civilization as we know it, yet all smiling and going about their daily chores - even the littlest kids had work to do. The children, many totally naked except for a little medallion were ridiculously cute and adorable playinng and running around.
We pulled into Louang Prabang 7 hours later, squabbled over a tuk tuk price - finally agreed at 10,000 Kip per person to take us 6 kms into town and eventually found a nice guesthouse for 80,000 Kip per room. We went through the night market like zombies to the nearest restaurant with local Laos food (loads just had burgers and pizza). Turns out we picked a great place. Not only did they have great food but after dinner we all indulged in a wonderful traditional Laos body massage (45K Kip). We then floated back to our guesthouse and off to dreamland.