We arrived in Vientiane after a 4 hour bus ride from Vang Vieng. After the very bumpy and winding roads of our journey from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng we specifically bought a ticket for a VIP bus (a bigger bus, goes a bit slower and a bit more comfortable). When we were picked up from our hotel 30 minutes late we knew something wasn’t right and our gut turned out to be correct. I don’t think we’ll ever know what happened, but I’m assuming that we missed our VIP bus as they failed to collect us on time. We were then put on a small minivan bus again and told that we would be changing to the VIP bus… guess what… that never happened. Regardless, we made it to Vientiane in one piece. The drive was far more comfortable than the last one and we didn’t really mind. We paid the same price for the ticket anyway.

We have heard a lot about Vientiane, mainly bad things. We’ve heard it’s a dump and to only use it as a base to move on to somewhere else. As we drove into Vientiane I was surprised by how much road work and pavement repair was going on. To me, it looked like a city in a eager state of repair and improvement. Not a bad thing at all. We saw quite a lot of quite grand buildings and were quite impressed by the feel of the place. Simon’s phone hasn’t been charging so we went for a wander to try and find a wireless charger to see if that would work. After speaking to 3 very helpful people, we learnt that it wasn’t going to work, but again were surprised by how kind and friendly everyone was being. Not at all like what we’d heard previously.

That night we found the BEST food for dinner. I had a philly cheese steak and Simon had a chorizo burger. WOW! It was sooooo good and super cheap. We were both very happy afterwards.

The next morning we got up and headed out to the Buddha Park. We had seen signs around offering you transport to the Buddha Park for around £7. We decided to be brave and went for the public bus which was comfy and just as fast. We paid £1.20 each. Bargain! We got to the Buddha Park, paid our entrance. It was just what I was expecting.. weird! The park was built by a monk in 1958 who studied both Hinduism and Buddhism. You could definitely see the different styles of statues present in the park. The park has no religious affiliations and no real order to it, but it was interesting and some of the statues were really interesting. We explored the large pumpkin statue to start, climbing all the way to the top, we tried different things out with our camera as it was a photographers paradise and stopped for some lunch overlooking the Mekong river and Thailand. We were so close to Thailand again at this point that my phone switched back to a Thai service provider. 2 cats decided to join us for lunch. As we were outside, I let them. Deciding, I probably wasn’t going to die from allergies. I would say that the park is worth a visit in a capital city that doesn’t have a huge amount of attractions.

Some excellent more ‘modern’ statues at the Buddha Park.

We got back to the city and headed to ‘Cope’. The Cope visitor centre is a charity that provides rehabilitation and prosthetic support to the people of Lao. Many of the people who benefit from the work of Cope have been affected by accidents caused by UXOS (see previous post about Luang Prabang). The centre was interesting. We watched a documentary, saw how prosthetics are made and read stories about how people benefit from them and the rehabilitation program. It was a lovely place to visit and I’m really glad we went. We bought a canvas bag to help support the charity and also the crafts of the local people.

A coffee stop.

Our last stop of the day was to the Patuxai war memorial. It was built as a memorial to the people who died fighting for independence from France. It looks a lot like the Arc de Triomphe, but has very Laotian designs all over it. We sat at the water fountain for a while and enjoyed the colour of the sky as the sun began to set.

We had a late flight from Vientiane to Hanoi in Vietnam the next day so stored our baggage at our hotel and headed out for a little more exploration. We looked around a lot of stores at local Laotian arts and crafts, sat and enjoyed some really good baguettes, visited a temple, Vat Sisaket and went to the National Museum.

Here are some photos from Vat Sisaket. It was a very simple temple, but had an impressive display of Buddha statues.

The National Museum was so unbelievable and not in a good way. I still to this day CAN NOT believe that this was their National Museum. There was plenty of information about the regions of Lao as well as it’s archeological history. There was also information about the many wars that Lao have been involved in, but the place is absolutely falling apart. We spent about an hour reading some of the information, but this place is in serious need of an influx of cash and love.

After our day we headed to the airport not quite ready to leave Laos. The people are so friendly here and the place was far quieter and not as touristy as Northern Thailand which I liked. I would love to come back at some point and explore the 4000 islands in the South, but for now Vietnam is calling.

Good to know that this school in Vientiane is drug free. Are others not?

 

We arrived in Vang Vieng after a very interesting bus journey. We knew the road was going to be bumpy as the road quality in Laos is very poor, but we didn’t expect the journey we had. This trip would have laughed in the face of the journey from Chiang Mai to Pai. We were told it would be about 4 hours… it was 6.5 hours and every 10 seconds or so we were thrown the opposite way as we winded through mountains. Don’t get me wrong, the views were breathtaking, but Simon was still weak from his illness and wasn’t really ready for that journey. We stopped twice, once for the toilet and again for lunch. We had never been given an official ticket for our journey so therefore weren’t entitled to the included noodle soup, even though we obviously had just got off the bus. I got one away as Simon wasn’t hungry anyway. The whole journey was an experience, but I would definitely look into getting a smaller more modern car for the trip next time, despite the added cost.

We made it to Vang Vieng relatively late, settled into our accommodation and watched the sunset from a lovely little bar called Earth. We later learnt that the bar was owned by Geordie guy which would probably explain the most Western tasting burgers we have had since getting to South East Asia.

The next day we decided to go tubing. Vang Vieng is known for tubing. Tourists coming here to ‘tube’ down the Nam Song river put this small town on the map. The problem is… is that in the past it didn’t always end very well. Back in the 1990s and early 2000s it was common for backpackers to come to Vang Vieng, walk through town in barely there bikinis, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and being generally offensive to the Laos culture. Tubing used to be a drunken affair with people hiring a tube, floating down the river and then stopping at the bars along the way to drink and party. This resulted in way to many deaths and in 2012 foreign ambassadors told the Laotian authorities that it had to stop! Now, tubing is very different. There is a limit to the number of bars open on every day (we only saw 3) and the whole experience seems very relaxing and calm.

We hired our tubes were taken to the start of the tubing run in a Tuk Tuk. We would be floating down a 4km stretch of river. With it being dry season we were told this would take 3 hours if we didn’t stop. Just to put it in perspective, in the wet season, you can make it down the river in an hour, obviously very very dangerous if you are intoxicated. We have always aimed to be respectful to the local culture and read that it is NOT acceptable to go in the tube in your swimwear and bikinis. We both wore swimwear underneath and a tshirt and shorts over top to ensure modesty. However, when we stopped at one of the bars for a BeerLao we weren’t surprised to see that most people were walking around in their barely there bikinis and topless for the men. They didn’t thrown clothes back on over top when they returned to their tubes either.

We had a lovely relaxing time travelling down the river. We had started relatively late in the day, about 1pm, so had the first 1km pretty much to ourselves. After stopping at the bar we were joined by about 20 other tubers as they started to head back to town before sunset. The bar was as you would have expected, playing pretty typical music of any nightclub in the UK. Watching pretty drunk people do the macarana and the YMCA was pretty funny though. One thing I didn’t like was watching 2 young children, probably about 10 and 8 encourage the tourists to play beer bong. They should have been at school and definitely not exposed to this at such a young age.

We left the bar and slowly made our way back down to town. Unfortunately from about 4.30pm the sun was being blocked by the cliffs which meant it got a little chilly. We had a great time though and felt like we had a really relaxing day.

That evening we went to have some local Lao food. Simon is struggling with the food, which is kind of frustrating haha. I love most of the local food, but he would rather have Western food all day long. We went to a very highly ranked restaurant, but I have to admit it wasn’t that good, which was frustrating because it put me back to square one a little with my mission to get him eating more local food. I’ve decided that in Hanoi, Vietnam we are going to do a walking food tour on our first full day so Simon can try lots of different foods early on and learn what he likes and doesn’t. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

The next day we had a full day tour which took us to 2 different caves, for a lovely lunch, kayaking and a visit to the Blue Lagoon. We were picked up early and drove straight to our first cave, Water cave. Luckily with it being dry season we were able to tube for around 40 minutes through the cave by sitting on rubber rings and pulling ourselves along on a rope. It was really brilliant fun. Way better than we both expected.

Our next stop was to Elephant cave which sounds way better than it was. The cave had a rock which looked a bit like an elephant and had been turned into a bit of a shrine with some Buddha statues. Pretty to see, but we only had to stay about 10 minutes to see everything in a lot of detail.

Next, we headed for lunch at the point of the river where we would be starting our 8km of kayaking. We had a beautiful lunch of chicken kebabs, fried rice and crunchy baguettes, whilst sat in a little wooden hut right on the river. I didn’t take a photo, which I’m a little annoyed about, but the water was the most stunning blue colour. I lovely spot.

We kayaked down the river for about an hour taking in the very quiet stretch that we hadn’t seen the day before. The water level is VERY low at the moment so at times we were scraping the bottom, but we all managed to get through in the end.

We stopped for a Somersby cider at a more local bar and took some very beautiful photos of the area. By this point we had rejoined the 4km stretch that we completed the day before and were zooming past the tubers. We didn’t feel bad.. that was us the day before.

After about another 45 minutes of kayaking, with pretty sore arms we finally made it to the end where a tuk tuk took us all to the Blue Lagoon for 90 minutes of swimming and relaxing. We crossed over some pretty hairy bridges on our way there (we’ll show you the videos when we get home) and weren’t surprised by what we saw when we got there. A lot of people. No-one can deny that the Blue Lagoon is a beautiful spot. The waters are a gorgeous blue colour and nice and deep so people can jump in and mess around on the swings that are there.

If there weren’t endless amount of tourists the Blue Lagoon could be pretty enjoyable. We both went for a swim in cold water, had an icecream and that was enough for us. We didn’t jump in and we didn’t play on any of the other bits. Why? It was too busy and not massively safe. There were people jumping in and not paying attention to people jumping from the higher level. People were swinging into the water just after others had jumped it. Something didn’t sit right with us. We might be getting old and boring, but at least we’re not hurt.

The next morning couldn’t come soon enough for us. We were going for a hot air balloon ride!! It has been on both our bucket lists for a long time, so were very excited to tick that one off. We were up at 5am ready for our ride to the launch site. On arrival we saw the massive balloons laid out on the ground and were lucky enough to be able to watch them be inflated. Magical!

We made it onto the first ride, but unfortunately were separated to different sides of the basket. It turned out ok though as we were still close enough to get some photos together (ish). Watching the sun rise over the mountains was just.. WOW. There are no words to describe it. The ride was smooth and not once did I feel unsafe at all. Watching the pilot steer the balloon and change altitude with the fire was magical. I honestly can’t recommend the experience enough. Vang Vieng has been described as the cheapest place in the World to take a hot air balloon ride and if you are passing through.. you HAVE to do it!

Vang Vieng is the kind of place where you could while-a-way a week or two and not even realise it. It’s a common spot for rock climbing and abseiling and if we had have stayed longer we definitely would have had a go at that too.

Cute Laos teddy bear dog

After our slow boat we needed a break. Luckily, we had booked 5 nights in Luang Prabang to rest and recuperate. Turns out Simon’s body hates him though as this is when he got sick. He ended up spending quite a bit of time in bed feeling unwell, but I’m glad to say as of now we are both feeling well again.

On our first full day in Luang Prabang we met up with 2 couples that we met on the slow boat and had a lovely, productive, but chilled out day. On our way to meeting them at the UXO museum, Simon and I found a brilliant place to try Lao noodle soup. The cafe was no more than a space outside of a ladies home, but she was welcoming and brought us a huge bowl to enjoy. I went for the beef, Simon for the pork. As well as our big bowl of brothy noodly goodness they bring you a plate of fresh veg, chillis, pickled carrot and the most amazing dip (Peanut and tomato). With all of this food in front of us, we were a little confused what to do, so the lovely owner and another man taught us what to do with the soup by pointing and many hand gestures. I have had quite a few Lao noodle soups since and this one still sticks out to me as my favourite.

(Bad photo)

We made it to the UXO (Unexploded ordnances) museum and spent a good 45 minutes walking around. What many people don’t know is that Laos is the most heavily bombed country in history per capita. During the Second Indochina war Laos was heavily bombed with 2 million metric tonnes, or 270 million individual submunitions being dropped. 80 million of these failed to detonate meaning 40 years after the end of the war, approximately 1 person a day is killed in Laos by these UXOs. During our time at the museum we were able to see examples of all of the warfare used, learn about how people are affected by the presence of these UXOs in their daily lives and about how they are being removed. We watched 2 documentaries about the work that is going on and some case studies about children that had been injured. They were both heartbreaking. The whole museum was really interesting and informative though and we’re very glad we are now more informed.

After the UXO museum we headed to a cafe called Utopia that sits on the Nam Khan river. We enjoyed a few drinks and had a good chat before our last stop of the day, Mont Phousi. Standing at around 100m above the town, Mont Phousi is an excellent place to watch the sunset. We had read that it can be quite busy around sunset and we weren’t wrong. I will post a photo below which shows you the beautiful sunset shot and then the reality of the crowds there. The walk up to the top was beautiful though with some really interesting Buddha statues and we were blessed with an amazingly colourful sunset as well. It was enough to forget the crowds really.

For dinner that night we enjoyed a traditional Lao BBQ. You get given meats, noodles, broth, veg and eggs and you cook it all on a BBQ in the middle of your table. The BBQ has a cooking area for the meat in the middle and then a broth ring around the edge where you can cook your eggs, veg and noodles. It was so good and worked out at only £2 each. Our night finished with a glass of wine (German Riesling. Yummy) in a wine bar with Ed and Leonie. A really perfect day.

The next day we had a well deserved lie in and Simon started feeling a bit dodgy. All we managed to do this day was visit Utopia again and catch up on research and photo organising. Oh dear…

On our third full day, Simon still wasn’t feeling any better so I decided it was time to go out alone. There were quite a few places I wanted to visit around the main town so I put on my walking shoes and started my adventure. My first stop was to the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre. I wandered around here for about 45 minutes and learnt about the ethnic diversity of Laos, the main tribes and also about how many of their traditional clothes are made. Very interesting.

Next I walked along the Mekong river and stopped for a lovely Bacon and Salad sandwich and some Lao ice tea. The view was stunning. I continued walking along the river until I made it to the Golden Temple (Wat Xieng Thong). On first impressions I was really impressed with the mosaic work that was all over the buildings. The mosaics showed day to day life in Laos. I have found the temples in Laos to be a little more understated than the ones in Thailand. Personally, I’ve preferred them. They are truly beautiful despite being very architecturally simple.

After a good wander around I carried on to place where the Mekong river meets the Nam Khan. Here there is a sign saying the Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage site. I can see why. The whole town is so quaint and European from it’s time as a French colony. I carried on along the Nam Khan river from here, watching Monks bathing in the river and taking in the beautiful scenery. I loved our time in Luang Prabang, Simon not so much. I think if he had have been able to join me on this day, he would have felt a little differently about Luang Prabang as this is the day I truly appreciated how beautiful the area is.

My last stop of the day was to the Royal Palace Museum. I didn’t know much about the Royal family of Laos and to be honest, I still don’t! There wasn’t a huge amount of information around the museum. Having just completed some quick research it seems as though the Royal family was exiled in 1975 to re-education camps after the communist revolution. Many of the Royal family died in these re-education camps and other members are now living in exile in France. This museum was the official residence of the King from 1904 to 1975 and is now owned by the government. I couldn’t take any pictures during my time in the museum, but the palace itself was quite underwhelming. The rooms were large, but relatively basic. The only room that was very grand was the Throne Room. In this room all of the walls were covered in mosaics just like the ones at Wat Xiang Thong. It was very impressive. In the grounds you could go and see the King’s collection of cars. He seemed to like American cars having primarily large American Fords. Here are a few photos from the grounds.

With Simon feeling better, on our last full day we decided to head to Kuang Si falls. Many people say that these waterfalls are the highlight of their time in South-East Asia so we were glad we were going to be able to make it. We were taken in a minibus from our hotel and made it to the falls in about 40 minutes. To get to the waterfall you walk through the Free the Bears Rescue Centre. I had heard about this, but wasn’t expecting what we saw when we get there. There were Moon and Sun bears everywhere. Many of which had been rescued from the bear dancing industry or rescued from facilities that used them to harvest bile, which is believed to have unlimited health benefits. The exhibit showed us the horribly small cages that these bears live and just like the elephants, our hearts broke again. On a more positive note, these bears looked super happy and healthy. They were playing in their large enclosures and were a delight to see. Learn more about these bears here http://www.freethebears.org/index.php/help-the-bears/sponsorship/category/21-moon-bears

We walked towards the waterfalls and were so impressed. The Kuang Si waterfall/s are multi tiered and the colour of the water is just unbelievable. Just like in New Zealand, rock flour in the water gives it this gorgeous blue colour. We walked through the tiers in awe of how beautiful it all was. We stopped for some lunch before visiting the main waterfall and attempted to find the ‘secret pool’ to swim in. Lets just say after a lot of climbing up and back down again (we made it to the very top of the waterfall), we didn’t find the secret pool that everyone talks about. We know where we went wrong now, so if anyone goes in the near future please ask and I will give you some directions. Despite this, we made it back to the bottom of the waterfalls after the crowds so were able to swim in the other pools completely alone anyway. Our gopro decided to be a bit useless at this point though!

On our last evening in Luang Prabang we went to have a look around the Night Market and had some food in buffet street. For £1.50 you get a bowl and fill it with buffet style street food. They heat it up for you and away you go. They even came over and gave us some free bananas for dessert. We had our meal with 2 very interesting people and then headed back to our hotel to get ready for our journey to Vang Vieng the next day. I loved our time in Luang Prabang and was happy we chose it as a location to relax for a longer period of time. I could have easily stayed longer, relaxing at all the lovely cafes and taking in the beautiful scenery. Definitely visit if you can!