Last Days in Laos

Viva Vang Vieng Day 21 to 25

An early departure from Luang Prabang and unfortunately we didn't see the monks receiving their sticky rice from the townspeople. This is how they get their food but they can only eat up to the hour of 12 midday.
The bus journey to Vang Vieng was an adventure in 2 ways. 1) bumpiest road yet 2) winding steep roads up over the mountains. If there had been snow it may have felt like a Sound of Music moment. However it was spectacular and if you were brave enough to look out of the window down the sheer drop with no crash barrier you could see that we were higher than the clouds. Rob, I think my sat nav would have been in its element telling me how high over sea level we were :). We stopped at ' a loo with a view'. It was breath taking, the view not the loo (well maybe it was in its own way thanks to the chickens wandering around).
Vang Vieng is a pretty little town with the river running through the centre and mountains as a back drop. This is the place to come for activities or if you are from South Korea (more later). With my group we did the customary 'tubing' experience. You are driven up river and then with your rubber ring and your wallet in a dry bag (thanks Hannah, it was well used!) you float all the way back to the town stopping off for a beer or cocktail at many of the bars on route (all claiming to be the last one to ensure you stop off at them). It was fun and a stress free way to spend the afternoon. The only watch out was scraping any rocks, it is dry season so the river was pretty low. It was also a good way to meet new people and have a chat. Just make sure you finish before 5pm before the sun disappears and it gets a bit nippy (lesson learnt!).
I said goodbye to my Stray Group, some I have been with since I started back in Bangkok and had a few days here on my own. Joining a tour for a day of caves, kayaking and zip lining I was one Brit in a tuk tuk of 15 South Koreans. Having a little bit of a panic that the day was not going to be a good way of meeting and chatting to people I was soon embraced into the group by 2 girls and we bonded over Benedict Cumberbach, musicals and Beyoncé songs. It was a great day. Tubing in the caves maybe not so great (dark and freezing), but the kayaking was a great was to see the river and the view and the zip lining .... that was just adrenaline driven fun after I had been shoved off the first platform to get going. I was then invited to join everyone at the popular bar in town (free drinks from 8-9, not sure I see the connection). I thought I was always first on to the dance floor, but not here. Koreans love to dance and when Ganglang Style comes on.......stand back!! Asking why Vang Vieng was such a popular destination for them i learnt it was due to a travel programme that had a feature on the town and now that's where everyone wants to go.
The rest of my time in Vang Vieng was spent at the Blue Lagoon (more murky brown really) but had a good cave to go and visit, lying by the river floating on a wooden pallet, riding a vintage bicycle around the town or watching Friends episodes in most of the bars. Anyone who knows me will understand I would be perfectly content laughing at the jokes before they happen.

Very long time in Vientiane Day 26 to 29

Joined by some new 'Strays' I was on route to Vientiane the capital of Laos. It was a pretty place and I was able to see Thailand across the river. It was a shock to see my first traffic light in about 20 days. Unfortunately as everyone else was finishing here except me, my next bus was cancelled and instead of 1 night here I had 4. You are probably thinking, capital city it must be pretty easy to fill your time here...... but not 4 days. In the first day I think I ticked off the top 15 of things to do on trip advisor. The highlights of these were the 'Cope Centre', a very sobering introduction to the devastation that the Vietnam War caused to Laos. Even though it didn't hold any part in it, the USA bombed it either trying to destroy routes in to Vietnam but more so it was used a as a dumping ground for bombs from aborted missions so it was not dangerous for the planes to land. Laos had more bombs dropped on it than totalling all the bombs used from all sides in WW2 and it is the most bombed country per capita there has ever been. There are still hundreds of thousands bombs still sitting in the country side as dangerous now as they have ever been and hundreds of people, mostly farmers and children are killed by them every year. There are charities in place to clear the land but this is going to take decades. As you can imagine the photos and stories we saw were harrowing.

In the city centre there is Patuxai, the city's replica of the Arc de Triomphe. It was a great view from the top and there seemed to be a gift shop on every floor. From here we had a good view of the fountains and the Peace Monument with flags from all over the world.

The rest of my days were spent wondering the streets, which was quite an effort as the pavements are where everyone parks their massive trucks and a trip to the cinema, again so smart and much nicer than home, though no standing for the King in Laos as I had in Thailand. Though I found a cafe that had cinnamon buns as big as your head I was ready to move on when my new group arrived.

Kracking Kong Lor Day 30 and 31

From Vientiane we headed out into the sticks again to Kong Lor, with a scenic stop at the top of the mountains to look across at Duck Mountain (proper rubber duck shape) and Boobie Mountain (if you used your imagination). Arriving in Kong Lor late in the afternoon we played a game of football with the local kids and on the way home invited to a wedding party where we were all given a chilled Beer Laos and did bit of shuffling on the dance floor. No one there could speak a word of English but we were made to feel very welcome and included. This is definitely the most friendly place we have been to in Laos. We were told that this area had been one of the first to be cleared of unexplored bombs and shrapnel so the land could be farmed.
It was one of my favourite stops to enjoy the view. From my £5.50 per night room I could see mountains and fields and fields of tobacco plants with 3 generations working in the fields. In the dry season they grow tobacco and in the wet season Grow sticky rice as it is too wet for tobacco which is a shame as it is x10 more lucrative.
The reason for the stop was to visit the Kong Lor cave which is 7 km long and you can take a boat all the way through. It was an experience, especially on the way back as I was given the job of bailing the water out with a broken plastic box. I definitely preferred the outside of the cave where we swam, jumped off rocks and fed the fish sticky rice.

Thaket Day 32

On route to Thaket we stopped at Khoun Kong Leng Lagoon, or the Blue Lagoon. After the disappointment with the one at vang Vieng I had low expectations but this one definitely delivered. Getting to it we had to ditch the mini bus and swap to tuk tuk as we went over rocks, bumps and craters. At one point we all got out and walked or we would have tipped up. Getting there I was definitely ready for a swim and the water was fantastic and the view very pretty. We made friends with some local teenagers, again more beer Laos offered, but I was not brave enough to climb the tree to the swing rope, maybe next time.
At Thaket we overlooked the Mekong and Thailand and were in time to enjoy a fantastic sunset. Lucy, I see what you mean about the bath tubs though I haven't seen one in a while getting a bit tired of wet rooms and soaking the floor! Also made the most of having a pizza, you don't really see many on the menus out here!

Xe Champone Day 33

Today was a very long journey day but some great stops to break it up. First was a turtle sanctuary where we called for them to appear out of the murky water and then fed them sticky rice on a stick. Some were enormous. They all had sharp teeth so glad I had my stick. I soon had 2 fighting over my offerings. We also stopped at a temple set over a picturesque lake where we were given tradition dress to wear. I may have missed some of the history lesson as I was side tracked by 2 cute puppies. The final stop was Monkey Forest where chaos ensued as I gave out my bursting plastic bag of bananas. It was quite frightening at first as they were very jumpy but my method of throwing them at them at running away seemed to work. At one point I had goats and monkey s fighting for my bananas!
We stayed again in the middle of no where and ate at the only place which was a restaurant/bar/supermarket/clothes and toy shop. At 9.30 the karaoke bar had already closed but we convinced them to open for us and we rocked some backstreet boys and westlife or screeched it. The Lao Whisky consumed helped me take my mind off the lizard I'd seen on my bed earlier.

Pakse Day 34

Today's highlight was the Tad Ngeuang waterfall. Though the hike to it was a work out it made the water feel all that much cooler. Standing near it you got wet anyway! It was tough swimming against the current but we all enjoyed a beautiful rainbow in the spray. Pretty good way to spend a Monday, no sales reports for me today. The busy town of Pakse was a bit of a shock after our remote guest house last night but I did have a hot shower for the first time in quite a while. We watched sunset from a roof top bar and I was charged 5,000 kip for ice for my drink, only 42p but still! I taught the group to play stop the bus but kept losing!!

Don Det Day 35

We had one more temple to visit in Laos, Wat Phou which was the former Khmer capital before Angkor Wat. I was keen to get to our final destination but it was a beautiful place, set high up on a hill and we got to ride in golf buggies to the start of the climb. This was most exciting as it protected us from the torrential down pour, first rain I have see since home. The Wat was well hidden from the bottom but the top gave fantastic views across the countryside and we got to admire 'elephant rock' and 'crocodile rock' so you can guess what song I was humming on the way back down. We then had to cross the river in our mini van. This was an experience as we were basically balancing on a pallet that was loosely held together with rope, only in Asia!
It was then on to Don Det or 4,000 islands our last destination in Laos. It was a beautiful final stop and I enjoyed it more after we got off our rocky little fishing boat. It wasn't perhaps the mostly wheelie luggage friendly place as the streets were mostly sand. It was almost like a Venice with bridges connecting the main islands. It had a great atmosphere, wish I had spent a couple more days there. We hired bikes for the afternoon to explore. I'm not sure which made me more nervous, my vintage bike or the roads and rickety bridges that had a 3 inch incline between the connecting surfaces. We made it to another spectacular waterfall (I don't think they will ever get boring) but I couldn't swim but held onto the rocks for dear life or I would have been swept to Cambodia. My rum and Coke tasted the best yet when we got back, maybe as it was still 30 degrees and I had exercised for the first time in a while! It was sad to say goodbye to the group. We'd only been together less than a week but felt so much longer as we had seen so much and played a lot of cards!