I have realised that I am getting further behind with my updates so am just gonna have to give you a quick rundown of my time in Laos.
The 15 hour bus journey was uncomfortable and sweaty and I didn't manage to get to sleep. It was pouring with rain and the roads were full of potholes. However the people I met kept me amused. I arrived in Vientiene about 7am after passing through endless border controls. I was a bit dazed and confused when I arrived so I just took the advice of someone I met in Chang Mai and checked into the Youth Inn. The outside looked a bit shabby and the room basic, but I thought it would suffice for one night. On closer inspection though I realised that my sheets were dirty, there was a hole punched into my mdf walls, the fan for the room was nowhere to be seen and when I walked on the floor barefoot the varnish stuck to the soles of my feet. The shared bathroom left a lot to be desired so I decided to venture out and spent as little as possible there.
I walked into town and had a look round the national museum. It was really interesting, covering everything prehistoric and ancient times to modern day politcal struggles experienced around Laos and the Mekong. After almost two hours wondering round, I grabbed the number 14 to the Buddha Park. It is about an hour away from Vientiane but well worth a visit. It was the idea of an eccentric shamen/yogi who wanted to merge the dieties of Muslim and Buddhist faiths in a hommage to their sanctity. They are extremely impresses and the size of some of the stone statues is overwhelming. You can explore the park in about 30mins but I stayed longer so that I could sit by the Mekong and write in my Journal. As I was writing, a monk began to sing as he was swaying in his hammock right next to me. It was so relaxing and I felt a kind of inner-peace.
I spent the evening in a bar opposite my hostel. I met a few people and had some rather controversial conversations before I called it a day and headed to bed. I caught the bus to Vang Vieng at 10am with a couple who had been staying at my hostel. Gavin and Sinead, both from Ireland, had been travelling for a few months now and had plans to work in NZ for a year once they had finished SEA.
The following day we went tubing and met up with Gordon and Katrina. In 5 hours we had only managedto make it to 5 bars and I managed to cut my foot in the process. For those unaware, tubing involves hiring rubber ring an floating down 6km of the Mekong. The region is set in the river basin so it makes for a beautiful landscape of scarred mountains enlaced with tropical forests. The weather is humid and it rained, without fail, every day at 4pm. However, tubing isn't so straightforward. As it has become popular with backpackers, it has been made into an adult water park, with zip wires, slides and swings dotted along the river. Accompaning these are an inumerable amount of bars, all luring you in with some kind of drinks promotion. All constructed, very poorly, from timber, the bars and attractions are all fairly unsafe. Combined with alcohol, 4 people have died in VangVieng in the last month or so, often as the result of drowning. The idea of being able to meander down the river in a tube while drinking cocktails is alluring, but the result is often somewhat different.
My first night involved me getting hideously drunk and throwing up before dinner. My tablets also effect my drinking so this may have been part of the cause. The next day we decided to ditch the rings and instead swim and float. We made it a lot further down and it allowed us to walk through forest and paddy fields. We met a really good group of guys at one bar and we played drinking games with them for a few hours and went on the slide a few times. After dinner we all headed to Q bar and then called it a night. On my penultimate day, we all tried to make it down the entirety of the river so set of a 10am. By 5pm we still hadn't completed our mission so had to flog down a tuktuk for the last leg. VangVieng was great fun but unfortunately there is nothing to do in the day other than watched friends or family guy in one of the many restaurants.
7 hours after leaving Vang Vieng, I arrived in Luag Prubang. I was lucky to coinscide my arrival so that I would be able to meet up with some old uni friends. We swapped stories of our travels whilst drinking wine and playing cards.. just like the uni days. After a tip of from th girls, I went to visit the Kouangsi falls. Coincidentally, a few guys I had met in Vang Vieng were on my tour. We had a great day swiming beneath the waterfall and the scenery was something else. The water was crystal clear and a pale shade of turqoise. The setting was a nature reserve set about an hour outside Luang Prubang, A UNESCO world heritage site. In the evening I suggested we all head to Utopia, a bar that I had been to the night before. Set down an alley overlooking the Nham Khan river, it is a beautiful setting where everyone lounges on the floor, smokes shisha and drinks cocktails. There is a full size beach volleyball court and fairy lights and candles provide the lighting. After a meal and a lot of beer, we all played Jenga and then called it a night. It is true what they say about the simple things in life. Good company makes all the difference and up until this point, this was the best night of my trip so far.
xx
What is 'shisha'? Dad might want some!
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