2013 April 1st - April 14th: Vientiane - Vang Vieng - Vientiane Laos 👍

Dateline: April 19th 2013 Vientiane, Laos

Laos, the lower reaches: aka, Paradise

Vang Vieng. Just after various party going types died due to excessive amounts (like by the bucket) of vodka cocktails. 
The authorities had banned these drinking binges, and we were some of the few left

Its great! No one even speaks English here, no one honks, everyone smiles
Even the dogs don't bark
Food is really fun, delicious and of course ridiculously cheap

Our hotel in Luang Prabang
Every morning we would have our breakfast looking out
on the monks with their begging bowls as they filtered past

VIENTIANE

We have given up with Luang Prabang because of the
rice straw burning, and subsequent choking and eye watering
Unfortunately, it was exactly the same here in Vientiane

Vientiane after a 30 minute, 250KM flight. We leveled off at 16,000 feet, just above the smog line (YES!!). There is less here, but only just. Hotel Segtewan. "#3 of the top ten restaurant views in the word" it said. You decide

I was impressed by the idea of a rooftop restaurant
in Vientiane. The Hotel Sengtawan
Overlooking the Mekong, up here, its just as
obnoxiously obnoxious

Remember: This place is #3 of the 10 best views from a restaurant in the world...... Can you see that far?Remember: #3 of the 10 best views from a restaurant in the world...... Can you see that far?

As every, "Free Bicycles" draws me here.
Fat chance, not one working, all made for midgets
I cobble and partially fix 2 and we are off

April 2nd, Day 14: We'll keep the red flag flying here. They are still at it!

Vientiane. Quite a cute place actually, but hot!

Bikes come with the hotel, so it's a cheap
effective and dangerous pastime

I've heard that C.O.P.E. is worth a visit
It is, but take your blood pressure pills first

The hotel advertised "free bicycles". They forgot to mention pretty well none of them were capable of being ridden, and those that were were specifically designed for dwarfs. Chinese Dwarfs at that...

Anyone going to Vientiane, head off to "COPE" centre. Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world.  Lonely Planet: "An estimated 260 million sub munitions "bombies" were dropped on Laos between 1964 and 1973. Sadly, 78 million of them failed to explode". Here's what some of the unlucky recipients of these munitions have lived with. April 6th is International XO day.

These are just a small fraction of prosthetics
Just a horror story of death and dismemberment
More ordinance was dropped on Cambodia and
Laos during the Vietnam war than was dropped
during the 2nd world war. Hence, piles of UXO
You come out of here wanting to burn down
the US Embassy

View from Putuxay Monument

At the top of the local "Arc de Triomphe", Lao style. It's hideous, its concrete, its hardly worth the walk up, especially if you have been up the real one (we have)

1st Floor, tacky tourist crap, buddha replicas, bits of old rags, cheap jewellery.

A war (another war?) monument

Honestly, just walk across, as long as they can see you, you will be fine

Traffic in Laos is quite a strange concept to a Westerner. The only time you hear a hoot, is when you are in danger, so throughout the city, and most places we've been, there is no honking (anyone been to Cairo?)

Personally, I think it reflects on the Lao outlook. peaceful, accepting, happy and laid back, in a really poverty stricken environment. 

If you want to get across the road, just walk, no one has such an ego (compare to say New York), where they are more important than you are, or you have made them feel less significant. Walk across even a four lane highway in the city, an everyone will drive around you without a word, honk or nasty look. Treasure this thought on your way into work you salary slaves :)

Heading home up the river bank
King Anouvoung on the river front
He was some kind of revolutionary in the 18th Century

Apart from a sign about Korean friendship, there is nothing to say who this dude may be. Ah! My research indicates "King Anouvoung". Had a nice chat with a Buddhist monk here. Just wanted to use his English which he learnt in the Monastery.

We are biking all over today
That Dam Stupa,
as the evening advances

That Dan, or somesuch. It's more than a relic. It looks like its used for grazing goats half the time. Truly, an ancient monument. I think the government is not so keen on much before 1965. Note "trusty" the bicycle

After a few days, you take this kind of thing for granted.

 

The most I've seen (no pix of course as they just whip by), is mum driving, baby behind, dad holding most recent ba

There's a cultural evening with music, singing & dancing
I quite enjoyed it, surprisingly. Ilge is totally correct again
But it was also really cheap

Ahah! Our cultural evening out. An hour of Lao folk music, song and dance. But that's not all! more than all you could eat Lao food, all for the grand price of $15 each. WOW! this was a real treat, tourist trap or nor.... Read on dear reader
 

I assume that homosexuality isn't illegal here
The blokes look pretty nine bob note jobs

Sounds like a Hammond organ, looks like a lump of wood with bits of bamboo nailed to it. Quite exquisite

You don't quite get the real action here (we think most of the guys were gay)

Next day, another adventure: Wat Sisaket
We have given our passports to a guy who will get
our Cambodian and Vietnamese visa stamped into
our passports for $US5 each. Deal!

 As ever, these temples are everywhere
As ever, Buddha's are everywhere in every temple etc etc

April 3rd, Day 15.  Wat Si Saket. Wat of 5000 Buddhas. Note niches with 2 or 3 each, this, plus behind me, times 4 sides. AND it was BLOODY hot! We spent the morning at the National Museum. Finally I'm getting a bead on the "National Identity". Yep, kinda post communist schitzoid, well maybe this capitalism thing will work if we keep control over the masses" approach. The museum also had in its almost endless exhibits, several ancient books on Lenin (in a Royal Palace?) and a notable gift from Canada of a enameled plate, about 12 cm in diametre, looking like one of the embassy's kids did it in summer camp. Compare this to an exhibit from China of concentric spheres cut from one piece of ivory, maybe 15 deep..... Maybe that's why we have to pay $42 to get in

At least the capital has some better exhibits of wats

I remember how hot it was,
(sit on anything and it burns your arse)
and there were
lots of Buddhas. That's a surprise, right?

My local tour guide helps us understand the local culture

GOD that plinth was really hot!
I'm trying to look fat like the old guy,
but as you can see, I just can't seem to pull it off.

It was an interesting stroll, but not much more

Well, at least this is almost worth looking at: Wat Haw Pha Kaew. Really run down and not worth the effort apart from some very "explicit" doors, probably based on some texts from the Kama Sutra

It looks like these are actually graves.
Most of the pictures have guys with medals on. Geddit?

The Presidents Palace.
Well I guess they've got something right

I have spotted a wonderful review of a
fabulous place up north
We head to the bus station

April 4th" Day 15. We're outa here. Off to, what we hope is Ban Keon, which I'm informed (I have no idea how), is a slightly run down "resort" with a fully functioning pool

Which turns into a taxi

Which turns into a bus

Long story, but it nicely illustrates the Lao. Out Tuk Tuk driver told us that we had to take a mini van to get there. He got across that there's no tuk tuk to get us from the bus station to the resort. HAH! Heard this before. BUT! at 170,000 Kip, about $25, it sounded like an air con taxi for 60Km was in fact, not a bad idea. So, he finds said mini van who takes us about 5 Km out of town, there we change to another mini van (above, right), the slow type, that stops everywhere, and eventually, after 2 hours, yes, we reach said resort, for 170,000 Kip, and true, this is so far off the loop that there are no tuk tuks here.  Everyone makes money, we get exactly where we want to go, and bonus, we have a pool to ourselves, as mentioned, because its so far off the circuit. AND NO internet :) Everyone wins....

Which turns into a smaller bus that drops us

Later that same day: Uptown Ban Keon. Hah! Now I have internet I can see the map, and the resort (Vansana Nam Ngum), is not even shown on it.... I told you it was off the beaten track.

After a few trials and errors, here

April 5th, Day 16. Now this is the kinda place I love. As it happens, we arrived when an entire year of the French school from Vientiane was here. I thought the manager was joking when he said there is only one room left, but he wasn't. How's this for breakfast?
Context of Lao lifestyle for the non Systems Analyst Laos

Deposits us at truly one of the loveliest places I've ever resided at. Note coiff

And, so I can get the picture too

We arrive and the manger tells me there's only one
room available. I thought he was joking
He wasn't. There was an entire class of schoolkids in
residence
But as it's Thursday, they all move out tomorrow. Phew

We dine out on the patio
The entire staff are there totally for us
It's abject magic!

It's time
Once a year (unless I'm consulting)
whether I need it or not

Here we go! Are you ready for this? Not at breakfast. Viewers of a delicate disposition, please skip the next few frames

Believe it or not, this was one of my top 3 haircuts, ever. Yes really

Now that's some cool dude

And, at least for now, we are the only ones here (until the schoolkids return)

Well, we came for a pool off the tourist circuit, and as far as I'm concerned, this is the jackpot

I took in the market last night (long trip), and got a pile of fruit. Its something special here folks

More Horror than you can shake a mango at......

I'm still consulting for clients back in Canada
I have a screaming fit when I understand that one of the juniors
is going to reconfigure my system. I freak out as I have practically
no internet here, hence no way of doing any viable support
I upset several people, but my client remains running

April 6th, Day 17: OK, bloggers licence, but this ones more grey than golden

Well, this is one of the local ferries
We never did venture too far from our 
paradisian base

And the best part of drinking a coconut is that it's only half finished. I'm sure its really good for us too

We have extended our stay by another week Life settles into pure bliss after we move into a room with direct access to the pool

Paradise by any other name folks.
Our view from our hotel room
Oh yes, lots of midnight skinny dipping
under the  stars of course

Suited us, the food was also magnificent

Man's inhumanity to man brought to earth. 

Can you see the river, centre right?

Sometimes, we just order too much. 

This time it was because there were two options on one item, 

and looks like I asked for both. Neither were particularly good...

It's quite a non descript town, not much more than a fish farm
This suited us too

I've been down to the local market
All the exotics you can imagine on sale there
Dragon fruit & Mango. What more can you want out of life?

There's an almost unused bar next door to us
We would occasionally pass on the chilled fresh
coconuts for a gin and tonic. what bliss!

April 7th. Day 18. Nothing can possibly say it better than this. We extend our visit to 6 days

And happily we just pass the days with fruit, the pool, reading and this pixablog

April 8th, Day 19. Well, yes, the pollution is a bit better here, not so much soot, but we do occasionally get an ash storm descending into the pool

Most people drink fresh water from bottles, not trusting the
local tap water, consequently, there are mountains
of plastic bottles in various back yards

When you think of recycling at home, just remember how out of touch with the reality of the rest of the world you are

But! After a week, it's time to move on. We (maybe I?)
head north to Vang Vieng, which I've heard is pretty cool
A European of some sort married to a Lao lady takes us North
and we bus it to Vang Vieng

April 10th, day 21. As ever with travelling, we met someone, Roland, a retired Austrian guy who now lives in Thailand, but occasionally comes up to Laos for golf, and our resort (Vansana Nam Ngum) for R & R. After talking to the manager at this place, he told me there was no transport going north from there to Vang Vieng, and we would need to go back to Vientiane to bus up to VV. Thankfully, he offered to drive us to pick up the bus heading North. Thanks dude! He took this of us in front of the NamNgum Hydro dam.

Spot the VIP bus?
Its the one without the motor bike on top...

We waited for the "VIP" bus. There were actually free seats on it, but it did cost a lot more than these: about $4.00 for the 60Kms to VV. These ladies are selling kabobs, eggs on a stick, and un identifiable (to me) meat stuffs

VANG VIENG

Again, it's a fabulous place, fabulously deserted and
also fabulously hot.
This is the only place in the world I have ever
got heat rash, at 44C I guess it's not a surprise

We have found a really great hotel (not this one), clean and cool
We come here for the views and booze

This tourist schtick take a some beating

The local news is that some tourists died due to excessive
alcohol intake during challenges on booze cruises
The authorities shut all of it down

April 11th, Day 22. Breakfast, Vang Vieng style. (Note designer, as in systems designer) stubble. As long as I continue the hormone treatment, the specialist tells me it will grow back

This is what most tourists do here. Its not as exciting as watching them...

The cruises took place on the local river
Now we just lie on the pillows waiting
for the temperature to drop, occasionally
ordering fabulous drinks

Amazingly, just across the road from our hotel
is Gary's Irish Bar, aka "the Aussie bar".
Not just incredible food
but incredibly cheap, plus cold beer thrown in
for free in the afternoons

The "Aussie" bar just across the street from our latest hotel $15.00 per night: really good place. Here, its but two drinks get one free (G & T's all round), and you get a free beer each, even if you don't buy anything and then just leave. We shared a fantastic Green Curry & rice, $3.25. Fantastic food here. I think they are feeling the pinch this year as it was a free for all booze and drug entrepot last year, and the local cops stepped in  to sort it out. Now there's lots of hotels, bars, restaurants bike rental shops etc, but only so many tourist. And Cheap!!

Rice Noodle soup (really very tasty) and a Lemon 

Mint shake chaser with mountain. Less than $3.00

Lao style bridges. It works, but a bit swingy for me.
The locals ride their motor bikes over these

Otherwise, we lounge in total comfort, but incredible
heat at the previously booze cruise
centre. Now very quiet

Lao style dining, backpacker style. 

As its still not busy, we always

 have choice of seating/ view of the (haze challenged) mountains

The scenery is mind boggling
Spot the pollution... I can still feel it in my nostrils

Probably hotter than anything I can remember
And I can remember a lot of hot places

One evening, we head out for a local bike ride
Not much of an escape or of interest

Making use of the odd bomb here and there to 

stop drivers from demolishing the bridge

Vang Vieng at sunset. Stunning mountains to the north and west. Hell of a great place to hang out.

There's "lots" of stuff here, like going on a long tail boat, looking at caves, seeing waterfalls. Or, of course, none of the above. That's us.

 Somewhere in here, it says
"Laundry. 5,000Kip/ Kg". 

I like this style. But the heat is just too much

We only venture out on the patio after 4pm

Actually, the river front is a strip of hotels, 

guest houses and Lao style restaurants.

April 12th, Day 23.

About $2, will sort out a big bag of laundry, but here, you need to change twice a day.....

Life revolves around eating, drinking, lying down and
waiting for the heat to subside
I develop a heat rash, maybe my first ever

The local chef prepares my banquet snacks

Finally! This is how you make Papaya salad.
Really spicy and marvellous tastes.
Looks like its a vegetable before its a fruit

But eventually, we are off, back to Vientiane, and thence,
if we are lucky, Bangkok
These ladies enjoying Songkran, a local fun event soaking
everyone with water as a prelude to the monsoons
Photo? only if we soak you after (they did)

We have bussed down to Vientiane and got a taxi across town
heading for the railway station. The taxi is not waterproof
and we do get a cooling soaking occasionally 

Wet revelling in Vientiane. It was everywhere, whole streets blocked off for revellers just getting everyone wet

We made it to the Loa side of the train station (suitably soaked). No first class tickets left, and I think we got the last 2 decent sleepers. SCORE!

And on this day, with us in it

The Thai's extended their rail line to
Vientiane ages ago. It's never been
extended into Laos, so the  Bangkok
train comes 1Km into Laos,
then returns

Ah! We have won again!
Air con, a real (railway) bed, actually very
clean and comfortable, and we are assured of
waking up in Bangkok. So far, with nowhere to go
Oh well.....

 We made it to the Loa side of the train station (suitably soaked). 

No first class tickets left, and I think we got the last 2 decent sleepers. SCORE

Some of my over view emails to my followers

You would love it here
Imagine a failed south east Asian state, still dabbling with communism, a long ago French influence, sad levels of poverty, ignorance and 3rd world backwardness, and you have a county that gives you croissant au margarine, and cafe au Carnation.
Perfect for an aging Gallic palette methinks

From Jim

Enjoy, ignore, etc.

Sorry if I've included you more than once, (or not at all), the new google email contact selecting is crap

I'll update as and when I can be bothered, and get some decent bandwidth.

There's also video, but can figure out how to get them loaded yet.

leaving Vang Vieng, and are off to Bangkok (hopefully) today.

Chat back or not.

Happy times.

From Your Correspondent