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I've now been in Laos for a week and am convinced that it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. The noise and chaos you usually associate with South East Asia are gone; here all is calm, a tourist can walk down the street without being pounced on to buy things even in the capital, Vientiane.
We spent a day there, renting bikes and cycling around the city. We were vaguely following a route in my dad's guidebook which promised finishing the day by watching "a burnt peach sunset over the Mekong river", a phrase which I spent most of the day mocking. I was proved wrong however when we saw just that from the long row of steps where you can sit and look over the water to Thailand on the other side.
The next day we did the ten hour bus journey up to Luang Prabang in the north. The trip was long and on badly damaged, winding roads but was absolutely worth it for the scenery. Everywhere you look in Laos you see lush green mountains and wide rivers.
Luang Prabang itself is a small city sandwiched between two rivers. We spent one day just exploring the city, then on our second day ventured out to one of the nearby waterfalls. The water was a striking shade of blue and at the bottom were several pools where you could swim. We climbed all the way to the top and did the 3km walk to the spring, having a quick swim there before heading back down.
My favourite day was one we hadn't actually planned at all. On Friday one of my family members was ill so we canceled our boat trip and instead spent the morning wandering around the city. In the afternoon we decided to go see a temple just slightly out of the city, so some of us borrowed bikes from our hotel and cyled out to it. After a quick visit to the temple we decided to keep going and found ourselves in a small village. We followed the river a long way until we came to the grave of the explorer who discovered Angkor Wat. It was a beautiful spot and clearly a hang out for locals as there were a couple of groups sitting by the river and singing. We then started to head back to the city trying to go in a wide circle, but without a map we could have been cycling into the countryside. Luckily our sense of direction was right and we got back just before dark.
Martin and I raced up the hill next to our hotel to watch the sunset, but were stopped by a guy wanting us to buy tickets. We didn't have any money on us so turned back, jumped into some bushes and began to scramble around the side of the hill looking for a way past ticket man. After about 20 minutes of this we finally broke through onto the path and ran to the top, only to find we'd missed the sunset by about two minutes. Although possibly one of the most ridiculous things I've done in my life, it was still a fun adventure and the view from the top was spectacular.
The next day we took a bus to a village called Nong Khiaw, further up the river and far more remote. Here we did my favourite trip so far - getting up at five in the morning to climb one of the nearby massifs. When we started it was pitch black and we only had our torches to light the way. It was an intense hour-long climb which quickly left us panting for breath. Since we hadn't done the walk before we had no idea how far from the top we were or if we'd even be able to see anything through the morning mist.
When we did break through the dense jungle to the peak we suddenly realised it was light. The valley opened out beneath us and the clouds were far below. I can honestly say I've never seen anything quite so beautiful in my life. We spent about an hour up there and this time did see the sun appear from behind another mountain before heading down to catch our bus back to Luang Prabang.
Where Cambodia left me marvelling at the ancient temples, Laos is all about the landscapes and scenery. It's hard not to find yourself in awe of this endlessly beautiful country and it's turned me into the sort of person who would willingly climb a mountain at five in the morning. I have four more days here, then on Sunday I fly to Phnom Penh to meet Martha!
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