The border crossing into Laos on Monday 26th August went fine. We arrived about 10 minutes before the border crossing opened at 8am to find only about 8 people in front of us.
After getting the Thai exit stamp in our passports we had to get in a long tail boat & cross the Mekong River to the other bank which was Laos. Here we filled in visa on arrival forms, paid $35 each & waited for our passports to be returned with a visa sticker& entry stamp. This side was busy with boats & people waiting for exit stamps out of Laos – the usual chaos involving lack of queues or signs. All went well & the whole border crossing took about an hour & a half.
Hope the bags don't fall in the Mekong
Nervous laughs. Hope we don't fall in the Mekong!
We all piled
into a pick-up truck & were taken to a large long tail boat. This was to be our transport for the next 2
days as we floated along the Mekong River into the town of Luang Prabang. This turned out to be a beautiful, peaceful
& relaxing journey. It was very hot
& humid with fantastic jungle scenery = lovely. If you are ever in the Laos border town of
Huay Xai I definitely recommend this form of transport to get further into
Laos.
Don't bring wheeled bags on this journey
Teresa Andy & Julie
On the 1st
day we stopped off at a river village.
On the boat I ate weird looking fruit which turned out to be types of
lychee=lovely. This was the first time I
had seen this type of lychee but it was to become a staple on most market
stalls in SE Asia. The night’s stopover
was in a village called Pakbeng in a guesthouse with a balcony view of the main
street=lovely. On the 2nd day
we stopped off at tourist caves full of Buddha statues. By this time on the 6 month journey most of
us were burnt out with statues of most things.
The 3 cave caverns were not that big.
Fi, Dave, Al, P & Becks
Bananas
No wonder we travelled by boat
Lou & Becks considering a remote holiday home
Look. More cute little animals
Pretty lychee
We arrived
in Luang Prabang at 3pm on Tue 27th Aug. On the 1st night I popped to a
cash machine to withdraw twenty thousand kip = about £20 but ended up with only
2,000Kip = pence. There were too many
zeros in the cash machine options for me.
Still, I thought it was odd a cash machine would let someone withdraw
such a small amount of cash. 5 minutes
later I went back to the cash machine & this time pressed the largest
option available one hundred thousand Kip.
I ended up with a lot of notes (but not a carrier bag full like
Uzbekistan). During dinner Yvonne
realized I had actually withdrawn one million kip! That’s 1,000,000.00 not 100,000.00 I was in a
bit of a panic about my credit card limit & statement for a few days. In the end one million kip turned out to be
£85.25 so this amount of kip lasted into Vietnam where I changed it into Dong
(a currency also consisting of many 000000000000000000000000000000’s). I hate maths.
Inexpensive
fresh lemon & sugar pancakes, mango pancakes, pineapple pancakes, lemon
& mint ice drinks, Lao coffee all from market stalls for breakfast each
morning added to Laos being lovely.
Beer Lao
(also inexpensive) = lovely.
Clean, tidy
& scenic Luang Prabang = lovely.
Luang
Prabang night market was the best tourist market I’ve been to = lovely. I bought some aluminium chopsticks here made
from bomb casing to help a local village.
On Thur 29th
Aug did kayaking along Khan River & swam in Tat Sae waterfall = lovely.
Fri 30th
Aug swam in Kuang Si waterfall = lovely.
Andy & Yvonne being brave
Photo bombed by Teresa & Yvonne
Yvonne, Teresa & Jules - watch out for the snakes!
The local taxi of SE Asia - a pick up truck with benches
Got to
Vientiane, capital of Laos on Sat 31st Aug. It took 11hours due to the narrow twisting
main road. Wish we were in Calypso so I
could sit on the roof seats, admire the lovely scenery & avoid feeling sick
on a coach.
Laos being a
former French colony had its own Arc De Triomphe called Patuxai. I think they were taking the piss out the
French. Clever! (Lovely).
Fi, Al & Dave
The Lonely
Planet Guide South East Asia on a shoestring (which I in fact bought for a bargain
price in Bangkok – it’s a second-hand colour genuine not a rip off black &
white photocopy), recommended a visit to the COPE centre. This is a rehabilitation centre. I only knew the US version of the Vietnam War
by watching Hollywood movies. I never
realized the Vietnam War also included Laos!
That’s because the US operations in Laos were called The Secret
War. Not so secret now.
I did think
that being right next door to Vietnam bombs were going to be dropped on its
neighbour by accident. Turns out it was
no accident. The Ho Chi Min trail used
by the North Viet Com to fight the US in the south was actually a road in Laos! Also, US bombers emptied their unused payloads
in the jungle of Laos before landing. At
the time the poor people of Laos living in the jungle will have been flattened. But the lasting legacy is more horrific.
Many of
those bombs never exploded. Still left
lying just below the surface today millions (not thousands) of bombs are
waiting to blow if you stand on one. The
COPE centre is not about The Secret War.
It is actually a place where the people of Laos get artificial limbs
& physical rehabilitation for a number of reasons – due to traffic
accidents, disease (yes such as leprosy this is a poor country) & a number
of other reasons why you might lose a limb.
But, the
biggest factor why the people of Laos die or loose limbs today is due to
unexploded ordnance from the Vietnam War. It is very sad to hear that in 2005 a 9 year
old boy died after playing with a bomb that exploded. But, the shocking factors are that: A) he had
never been educated not to touch bombs. B)
Actually survived the blast & had to rely on his parents hiring a car to
drive him to the nearest hospital. C) To discover the hospital did not have
enough blood & oxygen that he required.
D) Nor did the next larger hospital.
E) Died back at home as his parents decided to return home with
him! This was just one story. There were plenty. 3 weeks before we arrived someone had died
stepping on a bomb outside the capital.
Laos is one of the most heavily bombed countries in the world & the
bombs have not been cleared. Be careful where you step off the beaten
track. That’s not an exaggeration!
Monday 2nd
Sep was a 7h drive through winding karst scenery. At the end of the day Yvonne & I ended up
in an overpriced wooden shed with a very dodgy electric socket. It was a shed locals lived in (so a proper
experience), but they weren’t paying £15 a night. Next day we were moved to the accommodation
we should have all be staying at but couldn’t due to tree damage. Right in the jungle next to a river which was
fantastic to swim in=lovely. The rest of
the Odyssey Over landers missed out here.
All I can say is sorry guys. But,
I had been eaten alive by mosquitoes back in the shed the previous night whilst
being poached in the humid heat.
Just about to float through a massive cave system Fi. Al, Dave & Mary
The water's not coming in Spike
I'm not rocking the boat-it's doing that itself
Mary, Hayden & Kelly looking a little concerned
Mahala & James with Teresa looking VERY concerned
Swimming time
Better than the shed
Verdict =
lovely Laos. Will have to go back
especially to do tubing in Vang Vieng.
Much to my disappointment we drove straight through this village! According to Teresa, Odyssey Overland was not
going to let any off us do Tubing.
A country walk in the middle of nowhere but we still found Beer Lao
And a bus stop
Lovely
On the way to Vietnam
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