All things Laos

We are in Laos now and loving it!! I'm pretty sure I speak for both Liza and I when I say this is our favorite. Laos seems to be everything we thought travel would be. Walking down streets lined with temples, exchanging smiles and greetings with the very friendly locals. The art and people make for picture perfect sights at every turn.

I will start with our departure from Vietnam. On our second last night we went to the Red Bridge Cooking School. It was one of the better cooking courses we have done so far. It included a tour of the market, and a boat ride up the Mekong river. The market tour was awesome. Our guide Su Su was hilarious. She showed us all the right produce to make amazing meals and help our libido's. Woo - Hoo. We then took a boat ride up the Mekong to the cooking school. We saw lots of rural Vietnamese life, and of course rice patties. The meals we prepared tasted wonderful, and the chef that led the class had a great dry sense of humour, that made me laugh lots. The next day we took a bus to a town called Hue. From here we were supposed to get a bus the next day to Savannakhet, Laos. All the buses seemed to be full. We thought we were going to be stuck in this fairly boring town.

We found a lady across from our hotel that sold us two tickets. Now we have read horror stories about this bus ride and we were very nervous. Tourists have been stuck sitting on the floor and then left at the border waiting for another bus. Sometimes they will put you on a nice bus to the border, and then put you on a overcrowded local bus. Well someone was watching over us. We were on a local bus but we had seats the whole way, and it wasn't over crowded. Upon arriving in Savannakhet it was like having a weight lifted off our chests. There was an immediate change in the feel in Laos. The people of Vietnam all seem to want to knock you ever to get to the front of the line all the while helping themselves to your money with their ridiculous overcharging of tourists. In Laos we were offered local prices for just about everything and treated with smiles and honesty.

Our first night in Savannakhet we went for a walk and drink with two Japanese men (Hiroki, and Masami) we had met on the bus. They were really cool, and we enjoyed having them be a part of our travels. The following day we went to a dinosaur museum. It was very small, but we were given the tour by the curator and the local paleontologist. He even showed us a french documentary that he was in. Two days later we took a bus to Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

In Vientiane we eventually (our Tuk Tuk driver got lost) got to our hotel which was a bit of a splurge (swanky). I woke up the following morning feeling a little ill. I went and toured all the sites, and then when I got back to the hotel I was bed ridden. It must have been some kind of flu. I was up the next day, but still not 100% (I couldn't eat). The next day I was back to normal, and hungry. We took a bus on this day to Vang Vieng.

Vang Vieng was like the young tourist mecca. I don't know if I'm getting old but the town was full of young twenty year olds. They all thought that they were "The complete traveller." The truth is all they wanted to do was get drunk and get laid. The Laotian people are very modest, and all the hotels have posters, indicating rules for respectable behaviour. These rules are posted, and written everywhere. So what makes these kids think it's okay to walk down the street in a bikini, and no shirt for the guys. Couldn't they feel the glares of the locals as they passed them? These kids were literally spitting in the face of their hosts. I went for a walk down the main back packer area one night and was amazed to see a bunch of kids in open air bars watching re-runs of Friends. It was at this point that I realized that all the joys of "the backpacker" life that I was looking forward to was just a trend. They all read the Lonely Planet and follow it like a bible, while learning nothing of the countries they are visiting. I could go on a big rant here but I will curb it. Actually I will finish it with the tale of this last character I met. I am walking out of the woods (Liza is back at the hotel, we got a lot of sun this day) and come upon this guy exiting another trail. I ask him where he is coming from and he tells me he was at this temple all day, reading Siddhartha. He then asked me where I was staying. I told him I was staying in a bigger hotel as it was time to spoil ourselves. He then went on to tell me how he has stopped consuming so much. He says consumerism is ruining the earth. He then goes on to tell me that he travels for six months every year, to avoid Sweden's winters. I guess you don't need to consume so much if you are well off enough to travel like that every year. I just found this to be pompous bullshit. This guy was so pleased with himself, it's as though he didn't realize the hypocrisy he was living.

Anyways Vang Vieng was awesome other than that. Tubing down the Nam song river was the highlight. You sit in tubes and float down the river, stopping at bars that are set up along the way. We stopped at one where we were offered free shots of Lao Lao (local homemade rice whisky). A great and scenic journey. We both got too much sun, but oh well. Liza spent one day in the hotel dealing with the same illness I had just gotten over (sorry honey). Another highlight was the Chocolate, Banana, Coconut pancakes we had for dessert every night.

We are now in Luang Prabang. This is the artsy town of Laos. Silk and textiles everywhere, as well as beautiful temples, and boutique hotels. We will enjoy this for a while and then I believe we will go back to Vientiane, and then to Bangkok. We'll see, there are so many options that it changes all the time. We are both getting a bit of travellers fatigue but we are still enjoying every day. Thanks for following and we look forward to seeing you all.

Mark