The Lao People's Democratic Republic

... to use its full name. (Although you have to worry about any government that feels the need to use the word 'People's')

Before I start, let me apologise for taking a while to update you all. The slow internet connections and generally slow pace of life in Laos has rubbed off on us, and so it has been too tempting to procrastinate.

Let me continue from Luang Prabang... when we arrived after our long border crossing and with several days bus ride recently behind us, our bodies caught up with us and we fell sick for 5 days. Fortunately, we were staying in one of the nicest guesthouses in one of the nicest places in the world.

Cold River Guesthouse is a family run business, and the people are so nice there you do actually feel like a guest in a family house. They even cook everyone dinner once a week. Sometimes the mum gives you an orange if you are looking a little unwell. We watched the opening of the SEA games (like a South East Asia olympics, which incidentally was held in Vientiane) with the dad. I even had to ask the teenage daughter to 'turn the damn music down' once, which is a good thing as it only added to the atmosphere. Many of the other guests staying there were young people on gap years, doing volunteer teaching to the locals and the novice monks.

Luang Prabang itself is as chilled out a city as you can hope to get. This is helped in a large part due to its status as a UNESCO World Heritage City. All large traffic, like lorries, gets diverted around the city, making it pretty quiet. Also, the famous Wats are all also well preserved, and they are what makes this certainly the most aesthetic city I've seen, and perhaps one of the most spiritual. Even the main tourist strip (there is always one) is, to be fair, quite convenient with some decent restaurants. Plus there is are some good markets, bookshops, galleries... it was an excellent place to spend what turned out to be 10 days.

We had the chance to meet and get to know one or two of the novice monks, including one called Phay who became good friends with us. It was fascinating to learn more about their way of life. Hopefully we will stay in contact. No photos I'm afraid, we can't take photos of monks (or novices)...

Me with kitten, being sick (me not the kitten)


Black and gold temple entrance


Temple detail


Buddhas


From inside the temple


Big buddhas


Inside a wat


Happy stray cat


Temple entrance (Phay's place)


... and by sunset


The local school


Another statue


Statues in Phousy, centre of Luang Prabang


From the summit of Phousy hill, Emmie with monk


The family, preparing for a wedding


Another temple


Road towards the H'mong market


Some evening shots...











From Luang Prabang, we did a day trip to somewhere called 'Elephant Village'. This is basically a tourist attraction which recruits retired elephants from the logging industry. We got to ride the elephants bareback, as well as taking them into a river to wash them. The elephant in front of me kept trying to throw the loud american guy in front of me into the river, and mine decided that, since it looked like fun, she'd do the same. Fortunately she didn't, but it was a half-hearted attempt at best... I'm pretty sure that if an elephant really wanted to throw you, she would.

Forest near the elephant village


Giant leaf


Scenery around the elephant village


Emmie rides elephant


Sri rides elephant


Sri feeds elephant sugarcane


River where we would soon wash the elephants


Emmie hangs on tight while washing her elephant


Trying to wash my elephant. She kept trying to wash me back. Thats why i'm soaked.


Eye of an elephant


Elephant feet


The trunk


We took a trip up to Laung Nam Tha, where there is a ecological reserve and preserved jungle. Tough roads. The 10 hour bus ride up, we ended up with a seat at the bumpy back of the bus. The roads were so bumpy I had to stop to throw up. The driver was nice about it though. He put some tiger balm under my nose and sat me in the front, and proceeded to offer me an assortment of exotic nausea cures I didn't know. Some of these I accepted. Half of them even made me feel better. Some of them I graciously refused after careful consideration.

From Luang Nam Tha we went to Muang Sing, right on the edge of the reserve. Here we found that the price had doubled since the 2008 edition of Lonely Planet, so we decided to do only a day trip (this tourist price inflation is a common feature in Laos incidentally). Our tour guide was Pho, who left home when she was five to study at a Japanese funded boarding school in Vientiane... some people get their education the hard way.

Me and waterfall, Luang Nam Tha


Lunch in the Jungle. On a banana leaf.


Valley, Luang Nam Tha


Jungle


Having a break





The village at the end of the walk


More cats


The local bus. Maximum people (and chickens), minimum legroom.


We took the bus back to Luang Prabang (taking care this time to stop off one or two times more), where we stayed over Christmas, and we said goodbye to the family, to Phay, and our volunteer friends (who weren't expecting us to come back, one of the younger volunteers said we were like her aunt and uncle coming back for christmas...).

We took a bus down to Vang Vieng, where we spent 2 nights. I have mixed emotions about that place. Its a bit of a tuber's paradise (for those who don't know, thats when you sit on a tyre and float down a river). For some reason tubing has become associated with 18-20 year old English guys, loud music, beer. Its almost got its own culture. Because of that all the bars and restaurants serve the same crap, and its noisy for almost all of the day. However, there are some spots of real natural beauty to see. We managed to stay at an organic farm for one night, which was perfect apart from the background noise from the nearby tuber bar. We met an interesting couple (though not technically a couple), Celine a French girl and Andrew, an Aussie. Celine is a photographer and Andrew is a documentary film maker. He was on his way to South America to shoot something. We had dinner with them. Nice evening.

Van Vieng, organic farm.


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Celine and Emmie, sitting by the river


Dinner with Celine and Andrew


The countryside near the farm


From Vang Vieng, we spent a cheeky two days in Vientiane. First impressions were that, having been offered drugs twice and given the abundance of ladies of the night (sometimes 'ladies' in the loosest sense), that we are clearly near Thailand now. Still it was a good two days, and a nice easy crossing into Nong Khai, Thailand.

Which is where we are now, just started our yoga course. Stay tuned for tales of acoustic jam sessions, 'The Duke', mosquitos and the Mekhong...

Sri

P.S. In case anyone was wondering, we haven't seen any of the H'mong being kicked out of Thailand coming the other way across the border, which is odd since I think we crossed around the same time. However, I doubt the Laos government would let them loose in the centre of Vientiane...