Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Laos the land of never ending bus journeys
On Boxing Day we decided to get the bus from Siem Reap to Pakse in Southern Laos. With minimal problems on the border (we were the only two on the bus who didn't hand our passport and $6 extra dollars each over to the bus boy and did the Visas ourselves) we arrived in Pakse after about 15 hours, so not to bad considering the distance we had covered. Shortly after arriving in Pakse came the frustrating realization that Robbie had still had not conquered this bug from India and was once again passing liquid!So instead of ignoring it like last time and gorging himself (on a buffet at the Novotel in Bangkok) he decided he would not eat and only drink to see if this helped.Our time in Pakse was short lived as we decided to travel up to Tha Kheak in Central Laos to complete a 3/4 day motorbike loop.We took the local bus and it took 12 hours (bearing in mind the distance is just under 400 kilometres!!) the bus stopped every 15 minutes picking up letting off and sometimes just sitting with nothing happening!! The bus also stopped to transport goods and at one point we had to crawl over noodle sacks stacked 2 high to get to our seats!!
The next day our planned early start of the motorbike loop did not occur.Mostly due to Robbie's faffing!We managed to secure some motorbikes (Sarah wanted her own one) and rode off about 12pm. The scenery was beautiful just driving on winding roads through limestone scenery.However knowing we wanted to make a certain guesthouse by midnight, Sarah's pace or lack thereof was frustratingly slow (rarely breaking about the 20kph barrier). Fair enough it was here first time and she was just learning.So we did not make our target by nightfall and had to stop in a place called Naghai before the dirt road.As per usual with our travels we were the only ones in the guesthouse in the middle of nowhere which dampened our spirits slightly.Especially Sarah as she was worried about the road ahead and we had no one to talk to.We went to only restaurant in town which a Belgian guy happened to own (he was working on the hydro-electric project to sell electricity to Thailand and China) he elevated Sarah's morale telling us the road ahead was not downhill which was Sarah's main concern.The next day we set off very early at 7am as we had to cover nearly 200 km on dirt roads.The next two days of the loop made us really pleased we had decided to do the loop. Sarah managed the dirt roads fine and picked up the pace on the sealed roads!!
Next Stop Vientiane. With Robbie still ill he sought much needed medical advice from his on call doctor over skype (Auntie Shona).She concluded it was fallout from his India bug and antibiotics would be the next step.Antibiotics were acquired at the Doctor's orders. Being ill is very frustrating for the ill and just as much for the well travelling with the ill; New Year was spent lying in bed waiting for 2012 unfortunately!! Being better could not come soon enough!!
Luang Prabang was our next port of call.Somehow we had managed to come by the worst seats on the night bus, ones that did not recline!How we envied fellow travellers settling into the sleeping bus next to us. So a very uncomfortable night was spent bolt upright, knees crushed with little sleep (nothing we are not used to by know).The bus seemed to stop every 15 minutes and even stopped at 2:30am for people to eat!!
Luang Prabang is in Northern Laos and is very different form much of Laos in terms of there is quite a lot of money there (it is an ex French colony, many French and French Canadians have invested there).There is not so much to do in Luang Prabang but its surroundings are choka-block with activities.Plus there is an 11:30pm curfew which is adhered to by everyone (most places) without a late licence of which only the bowling alley holds.One night we ended up with a group of fellow travellers. One couple were very nice and we shared a lot in common with them having travelled to Nepal, India and Thailand as they had.Another couple (newlyweds) were nice enough but there was something about them we could not put our fingers on.As the night developed Robbie established through powers of deduction and some discussion with the recent groom that they were swingers!!After the bowling alley we all shared a tuk tuk back and Sarah and I got a clear invite back to the hotel room which we politely declined!!
We also met Auntie Lila's friends in Luang Prabang Yuli and Alpha who were very good to us inviting us for breakfast to their 5* hotel one day and taking us out for some traditional Laos dinner the next which included Mekong river weed and buffalo.
Our time in Luang Prabang also took us white water kayaking down the Nam Xeng River. Our trip also included a homestay and more for Sarah's benefit an elephant ride. The homestay we spent the night at (no westerner/falang had ever stayed there before) was an eye-opener. We happened to be there on a very special day where the village were celebrating the life and death of a previous chief and his wife. A buffalo was killed; we somehow ended up sitting at a table with about 15-20 Laos men (none of which spoke English) they just pointed at the sharing platters of green leafs, buffalo laap (cold buffalo salad) and sticky rice instructing us how to tuck in.Not really what Robbie really wanted to be doing considering his current digestive predicament especially as the salad seemed to contain everything that a buffalo contained. This is one of those situations where looking like you're eating by shifting some food around was not an option as all eyes are on you!After the everything in a buffalo salad we witnessed a pig being killed and butchered just in time for our guide to call us for dinner.We drunk some Beer Lao with the locals after tea and proceeded to bed however very little sleep was managed as the festivities carried on into the morning with entertainment shifting between the chanting of Buddhist monks and karaoke, a strange combination but one that is clearly common in Laos!With little sleep we were up early the next day to start kayaking and conquered some good rapids.As much as we enjoyed our kayaking experience we only kayaked for one hour on the second day having been promised 4-5hours on the water each day (this is what we had paid for!).We thought we would make some sort of complaint - little did we know our complaint would end up with us choosing between leaving the office without anything or complaining more and our guide would lose his job!!This was a shame as we had really tried to go with a local company with good eco-tourism values (everything eaten on trips is bought from locals in the villages you eat at), they pay their workers more money and all guides are from Laos and know the terrain and much about the parts you travel through. The boss could not come and sort out as serious problem because he was too busy drinking and everyone else in the office spoke little English (nto good enough to reason with). Iit has really made us more cautious about going with companies local companies as with this case they clearly did not understand how to run a business properly and the customer ends up out of pocket.
As much as we enjoyed Laos, prior to going we had heard lots of hype about the country and the people.For us it did not live up to this hype and certainly we enjoyed Cambodia, Thailand and Nepal more.In Laos people were very immovable on bargaining (quoting ridiculous prices), general arrangements (e.g. about hiring bikes) and were nowhere near as friendly as in Cambodia (which really makes a difference to your experience), maybe this is because it is fresher to tourism than other countries we have visited so far.The scenery in Laos was however spectacular with its many mountains and limestone formations certainly it will be an adventure capital of the world the more develops.Next Stop Bangkok then on to Bali.
- comments
Alistair Mavor Any update it due bro!
Yashwant Hi, Sam,We're sorry for your misunderstanding, in fact only a smpale of the book is on Facebook and on our website flipping book feature. The hard copy colour cookbook has 200 pages, more than 88 Lao dishes, extensive illustrated ingredient, preparation and cooking technique sections and a full Lao script, Lao phonetics and English index. You can check out the book on through their look inside feature, but Amazon limits that to 10% of the total book, so use the search feature to find out if it really suits you. We hope this news will bring a smile to your eyes and good food to your tummy! Kees and Dorothy