Laos

Hello, or Sabaidee as they say in Laos (Lao).

Arrived in Vientiane, on the evening of January 19th, with a fairly easy ‘on arrival’ visa process.  Our hotel was very central to everything in this smallest of SE Asian capitals.  A very low-key city and quite refreshing in the sense that it was easy to walk around (the sidewalks were in pretty good shape for SE Asian standards), mellow people, great night market with the most small artisan stalls we’ve seen so far.  Most markets have sold mainly mass produced and knock-off stuff.  We haven’t been buying anything except for a few minor things we needed (flip flops, t-shirts), due to luggage space and having to cart it around, but we just loved the wood cuts here done by a particular local artist and so couldn’t resist; luckily they roll up very nicely and we bought a protective tube for them – easy to carry.  We would have bought more but when we returned to the market on our third night there, she wasn’t there .  It was great that we got to meet her on our second visit to the market.  She teaches at the art college in Vientiane.

On our first day in the city first off was a trip to the Myanmar (Burma) Embassy to apply for our entry visa.  An easy process; they really help you out – one of the required bits of information on the form was the address of where we will be staying when we get to Myanmar.  Hell, we didn’t even know which city we were flying into.  We didn’t want to book anything in the case of a problem getting a visa, and weren’t sure how long we would be spending in Laos.  So when we told the person this she went over to a brochure and told us to write down one of the hotels listed.  Okay!

The taxi driver that took us to the Myanmar Embassy also included in the price stopping to get some more passport photos and waiting for us at the Embassy.  And he also had a “great” idea to take us around for the morning to various sights, one of them being the Buddha Park about 26 kms outside of Vientiane.  It was a very strange sculpture park where statues look old but were put there in the last 40 years or so by an artist that wasn’t very popular with the government at the time.  At least we didn’t take a tuk tuk there this time.  Then we went to a temple (I’m almost done with temples – this reminds me of folks we know in Toronto, who went to Ireland last year and had a term they used – ABC (Another Bloody Castle).  Ours would be ABT).  Then off to a monument of sorts in the city called Patuxai Arch (resembling the Arc de Triomphe).  Our driver also had another “great” idea to take us to another city heading towards Luang Prabang where we were heading next.  But we decided that we’re almost done with private drivers as well.  We decided to take a mini-van to Luang Prabang, via the backpacker, party city of Vang Viang, which took about 3 1/2 hours plus a stop.  We stayed overnight at the nicest hotel in town which for the money wasn’t really that nice, but you couldn’t beat the view, and we just wanted a relaxing place (no temples, no drivers).

The next day we got on another mini van and headed to Luang Prabang, a UNESCO designated city.  We had read on various blogs and sites that it could take 6-8 hours to get there, and after our bad start (departing 1 1/2 hours late), we expected the 8 hours.  Fortunately, even with at least 5 stops along the way including one where the driver stopped to show his “girl” the piece of land he’d bought for them (this is all assumption since we couldn’t understand a word), we made it in 6 1/2 hours – hurrah!  But let me tell you about the journey……..the road was pot-holed to the point where even when the driver drove in the centre or opposite side of the road still couldn’t avoid the holes; when it started to rain the road became red muck (don’t forget the potholes); then we got fog (still raining); then each toilet stop we made I held it in due to the standard of the toilets – I made sure I didn’t drink any water on that trip (I have to say that I just couldn’t master the ‘squat’ toilet without mishap – I won’t go into details); I had the hard middle seat right beside the driver; and the temperature kept lowering and the driver drove with the windows open.  AND even with all these factors the scenery, when we could see it, was spectacular and we got to see lots of village life (you’ll see the photos below).

We arrived in Luang Prabang in the pouring rain.  LP was the capital of Laos until Vientiene took over the title in 1946.  It’s such a beautiful town – the nicest we’ve been in in Asia.  Unfortunately it rained and was cold at 8℃ – yes 8℃ for most of the 4 days we were there!  And there’s no central heating in any of the buildings we were in, and most of the dining is done outdoors, but we did love the improvisation in the restaurants – a little clay/cement pot with hot coals by your feet.  It certainly helped but it was still damp and cold.  Mulled wine, in Laos believe it or not, also helped.  And when we didn’t feel like walking around any more in the cold and damp we went back to our cold room and huddled under our bed covers, fully clothed, reading or watching a movie on our computer just to warm up.   I had 4 layers of clothing on.  On day 4 the rain stopped and we finally got around to see the sights in the town.  It was beautiful, and the food – ooh, so French.  The city has a great mix of local Laos and French colonial architecture.  And there’s still a lot of local life in the town.

We flew into Myanmar (Burma) on January 28 and will post our journey there in a week or two.  Until then, enjoy the photos of Laos.