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When we arrived in Laos, we first had a two day trip down the Mekong River. A friend had recommended we do this and I was looking forward to it a lot. I wasn't disappointed. We got to the slow boat dock at nine as internet said get there early. However boat wasn't due to leave till 11. We got tickets and sat on boat (with good seats). 11am came and the boat was still there (and half empty). 12am came and it was the same. Eventually at 12.30 a bus load of 30 people arrived and got on the boat filling it up and being very noisy. And then we left on our first 6 hour journey. It was such beautiful scenery along the river with many hill tribes dotted about and water buffalo grazing. We managed to take some excellent pictures. We arrived in a tiny town called Bak Peng and stayed the night.
In the morning we again got there early and got good seats but this time it left at 9.30 and took a further six relaxing hours along the beautiful Mekong river. We arrived in Luang Prabang around 3.30pm, checked into our guesthouse for one night, and then went to the night market to have a look around.
Luang prabang is the old capital of Laos and claims to be the spiritual capital now. It is based on the banks of the Mekong river and has over 30 temples in the small town. It is heavily influenced by the French who ruled it as a colony at one point, as can be witnessed by the French architecture throughout the town and the masses of stalls selling crepes and baguettes everywhere. It is very relaxed.
The next day we had to move to a different hostel because our first one had been booked up. The new hostel wasn't as nice and poor Ross had to stay in a dorm room. We went to buy some Sim cards and we looked around at a few temples. On Sunday we decided to go and see the Royal Palace which had been turned into a museum. We were able to see some of the grounds and a temple but didn't want to pay to enter the Museum. We then went to the Traditional Arts and Ethnology centre to learn about the various hill tribes in Laos. In the afternoon we were taken to Kuang Si waterfall which is in the rainforest. It is on many levels and contains beautiful turquoise coloured pools of water at each level that we were able to swim in. It was a very relaxing afternoon. There was also a bear rescue centre there and one bear was sleeping in a hammock! In the evening we went to the night market again because we had discovered a cheap buffet option where we were able to fill up easily on a massive bowl of buffet food.
That's when things started to go downhill. We got ill - very very ill. We thought it was food poisoning but it appears to be side effects from our anti-malaria tablets. On Monday we went to Wat Xieng Thong temple (supposed to be the most beautiful in Luang Prabang) but I didn't think that much of it. Then we went to a bamboo bridge that is rebuilt every year after the rainy season washes it away. As we were walking back I began to feel very ill and went to sleep when I got back. That night we all had stomach problems and diarhoea, and I threw up. The next day we were still feeling bad so we decided to have a rest day. While I felt better after a few days, Ross and David were ill the entire time we were in Laos.
On our final day in Luang Prabang, despite still feeling a bit ill, we decided to get up at 5.30 to watch the monks do their daily alms round. This involves walking along the street as local people put sticky rice into their bowls which are their meal for the day. Later, we went on another trip down the Mekong to Pak Ou caves. The caves contain thousands of old Buddha statues which are no longer used but rather than destroy them (which is believed to bring bad luck), local people have just stored them here. To be honest it wasn't worth the money we paid for it, however we did also get a 15 minute stop at a "whisky village" (Ban Xang Hai) which made the trip more worthwhile and allowed us to learn about how local rice wine is made, as well as to purchase some.
Finally, on the 12th it was time to head to Vang Vieng...and thus began the worst journey we have had so far. The day before we had purchased VIP bus tickets through a tour operator in town. He charged us 30,000 kip each more than we should have paid and we knew that but I didn't know what times the buses were going to leave or whether there would be tickets if we just turned up in the morning so we decided to pay it. In return he promised us the VIP bus which was an air conditioned bus with good leg room, our bags locked away safely, a toilet (we were still suffering from diarrhoea), lunch and a bottle of water. We had used this in Thailand so we were looking forward to it. However, when we turned up at 9am in the morning the bus was just a minibus. There was no air conditioning for a 7 hour journey. There was little leg room. There was no toilet. There was no bottle of water. I had to remind the driver at 2pm that we still hadn't had lunch. We could have booked a minibus for 25,000 cheaper in Luang Prabang and it would have got us there using a much faster road (so half the time). I was so angry. In fact, the most angry I have been in 18 months of travel!
After a day from hell, we arrived in Vang Vieng, checked into the hostel and decided to have a rest day. We ended up having multiple rest days because we were ill. In fact we only did one thing in 5 days - we went tubing down the river. Basically they take us and a rubber ring 4 km up a river and we float back. There were bars but it was 9am so we didn't drink. The tubing was fun although the water was shallow so we kept hitting rocks in some places...and we were chased by a thunderstorm. We didn't succeed in escaping it and got soaked but it was an interesting, if little nerve-racking experience. Eventually we left Vang Vieng and got a nice bus down to Vientiane. We stayed there for three days and saw some interesting historical buildings including the Laos version of the Arc D'Triumphe, which celebrates victory over the French, as well as some more beautiful temples. Vientiane's temples are much more beautiful than Luang Prabang. I also went to the COPE centre which has an exhibition about the "secret war" when the Americans bombed Laos during the Vietnam War. Many of their cluster bombs didn't explode and now people are regularly maimed or killed by them all over Laos. COPE is doing good work to try and help those people. Today is Saturday so we will soon take an hour flight to Hanoi for the next leg of the trip - Vietnam!
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