Luang Prabang - the jewel of Laos

I had high expectation from Luang Prabang. Abosolutely everyone likes it except a handful of haters but it is a french civilised beauty - with a mix crowd of tourists. Older people enjoy the cuisine and the younger enjoy the adventure (elephants/waterfalls/caves). As I'm in between I enjoy it most. 

The best thing about Asia though is the feeling one can enjoy most luxuries one is prevented in general life because of the high cost with so little money. Taxis (tuk tuk) cost nothing e.i a taxi for the whole day u$s 20. Elephant ride u$s 15. High quality dining u$15. Cocktails U$s 4. Divide that by 2 given we've got pounds and we are bloody millionaires. 

I am highly enjoying this. 

Specially liked the Waterfalls at Tad Sei and the boat to get there plus the trekking across the other waterfalls. Did not enjoy loosing one flip flop but well... Shit happens.

Bars and hangouts: Opera was open till late (ehmmm 11:30ish) on the main road. Utopia was the backpacker hangout and really chilled - so good for writing, reading during the day and they even had Yoga

Dinner: Rosella and Tamarin - oh my God! The best food ever and cheap. Don't go to a place called Kitchen on the main road as it's expensive and shit food.

Tourist traps: Why the f#%^ do they keep on talking about the morning ritual with the buddist monks? It's such a tourist trap it's unbelievable. So you wake up at 5 am to go see the procession thinking there might be something really spiritual going on but then you see all the tourist sitting in rows - and I'm talking about ALL chinese and european - who have cautiously prepared themselves for the ultimate religious experience... But I did not feel anything of the sort. I felt they were being absolutely conned. I like Buddists - don't get me wrong - but not too sure if this tradition has now become a bit ridiculous. Some monks were holding 5 bags with food, toiletries and stuff and they had almost seven more blocks to walk. It all felt a bit pathetic.

Sunset: Yes. You can climb up the hill to the Temple up there ( can't remember the name) - but so will all the rest of the tourists, so be prepared for a crowded sunset. And please don't spoiling by taking dozens of pictures. You can use the one below. 

Vang Vieng - the town that got stuck in time

From Vientiane we took a mini bus to Vang Vieng - 8 hours or so - where we met another Argentinean girl travelling by herself. She'd been travelling for ten months and had had all her valuables stolen the first month - so she had continued her travels almost penniless and with help of fellow travelers. It was a sad story in a way. She'd put all her saved money (in cash) and both passports, phone, camera in her bag before boarding a train, and suddenly it was gone. Just like that, all her hopes, security, savings, anything important she needed was taken away. Her home away from home. The man who stole all her money ( aprox u$s 6000 in cash) is probably now counting he's good fortune, without knowing the harm he's caused. Yep, we might want to write the script, as we thought it could become a great film.

We invited her to stay on our bungalows for free given that we were 'millionaires' (joke but a bit true considering we earned in English sterling) plus we'd rented already, by coincidence, a three bed bungalow. The Champa Lao bungalows, such a chilled place to stay in such a touristy town. A bit on the far side of town ( 10 mins walk instead of 5mins) but perfect in it's own way, as it was stuck across a bridge of the Mekong in the jungle.

Eating: We tried one of the restaurants showing 'Friends' which we thought was chilling - by that time, as we'd just arrived, we had no realised absolutely every bar has been showing 'Friends' episodes for the last 10 years - and we had the worst experience as a cooked cockroach appeared in Chema's half eaten curry. We had good food in a place called Oh LaLa but nothing special.

Activities

Tubing: If you are under thirty and in the mood for drinking your ass of while you bump over the rocks of the mekong then this is the right activity for you. Always after 3 pm as the uncontrollable drinking begins then. There is a place that rents the tubes. Ask around. And you get the tuk tuk to the drop off place with all the other drinking gringos. However start coming down the river 30 minutes before sunset if not, I've heard terrifying reports of people not realising they would be coming down the river at night with no lights and no one to show them the way back. Beware.

Kayaking: Exciting... Specially as the scenery is quite beautiful.

Blue Lagoon: Overrated. If you are looking for a place to take a dip with no Chinese crowding the waters with life-vests go the the fake blue lagoon on the right turn before. It was empty - no people - so it was just us on our own swimming in it. And it was blue as well....

Zipline: did not go down the line but it seemed pretty exciting as some of them are quite longish.

Caves: We did some tubing inside of a cave. I felt a bit scared as to be honest, the whole ass in the water inside of a cave where you can barely see what's around or beneath you is not very tempting. "Pirañas" my friend kept on joking. I honestly was so afraid something would end up poking up my butt that did not enjoy it. But nothing happened of course.  Cave was huge and interesting to see, but well - it was a cave. I'm loosing interest in those things nowadays. You see one, you've seem them all.

Drugs: Was quite surprised that on bars they would offer you an alternative menu with their drug list. Check below. Insane.

Vientane - first stop Laos

I can't say much about Vientane as I only arrived there to spend the night.

My flight arrived at 2 pm so I was in the hotel - nothing special - by 3 pm. And I had the afternoon by myself since Chema would be arriving at night. So I did a bit of walking, eat something, and met a random guy who looked and sounded australian but ended up being Pakistani (Chema still thinks he is probably some kind of royalty there because his FB was so unreveiling).

We went to some random bar at night called the Wild West or something of the sort and it was Halloween night so we really had a laugh - laotians were going wild.

What drove me insane was that Laotians don't speak a wird of english - not on hotels, not on tourist agencies. No where. It's mental. So be prepared! I thinks Laos is a bit intimidating to do alone given this. So was really happy I was travelling with Chema. And then afterwards joined by another Argy - Andrea. 

Tips: pre-book hotel and stay in town. Met some people that had stayed out of town and as they were unable to communicate with their hostess could not find a way to explain drivers how to pick them up.