Laid Back Laos

Laos is full of cheerful people. As we emerged from our hotel on our first morning in the country, we ventured out onto the streets of the historic town of Luang Prabang to bustling crowds of smiling faces. On the prop plane we had read in an airline magazine that we would be arriving on the eve of a large festival but we were not prepared for the hoards of people roaming the streets. The main streets in town were shutdown as Laos families wandered from stall to stall buying everything from meat on a stick to toy guns and helium filled balloons. Lucky for us, most of those in town for the festival were staying with friends and relatives so the guesthouses and restaurants remained relatively uncrowded.

The mighty Mekong River ran along the edge of town and the highlight of the festival is the boat races taking place on a neighboring tributary. We had our morning run on a backstreet to avoid the crowds, grabbed a Vietnamese style sandwich from a street vendor and headed to the races. It turned out to be a family event with children everywhere (all the boys playing with realistic looking toy guns) interspersed with a handful of tourists. We grabbed a table and a large Beer Lao and took in the atmosphere. Laos people are naturally pleasant and the festival brought it out with kids playing, parents eating and drinking and everyone cheering for their favorite boat. The races themselves consisted of long wooden boats comprising of 50-60 rowers per boat rowing on command. Two boats would race head-to-head down stream over a quarter mile course with the winners returning upstream to race again. Most of the boats were from a particular village and sections of the sidelines would erupt as boats past. The enthusiasm the communities had for their individual boas was something to witness. That evening we wandered the streets of town, browsing the night markets as the winning boats were loaded on trailers and paraded through town. The night markets of Luang Prabang are said to be some of the best in southeast Asia and contained everything from t-shirts to pillow covers, wood carvings, sandals, bowls, jewelry, purses and paintings. The festival and the night market, along with the Buddhist monks and temples that the town is known for (it is a UNESCO world heritage city), made Luang Probing a highlight of our trip. On our final day there, we were able to meet up with an English couple from our Halong Bay boat cruise, Ollie and Kim. We all headed out to a local waterfall and bear sanctuary and it was nice to spend a day we some familiar faces.

A trip to Laos is not complete without a day in an intertube floating down a river. If you have ever talked to a person that visited Laos, this is likely the first thing they will tell you about. The small town of Vang Vieng is the capital of this phenomenon and was the next stop on our 9 day tour of the country. We arrived to an array of overpriced and under-cleaned guest houses. After touring about a dozen places we settled on a cheap option (better to be cheap and dirty than expensive and dirty) and booked 3 nights. Now a slight digression to the second phenomenon of Vang Vieng, reruns of ‘Friends’ episodes in every café and bar. Walking down the street you are constantly barraged with the echoing chorus of the ‘Friends’ theme song and the familiar cast voices. If I was mayor of town I would push for ‘Seinfeld’ or ‘.Cheers’ but ‘Friends’ it was and we got our full of no less than 10 episodes during our three day stay. Day two brought with it clouds and overcast weather so we placed all our chips on day three for our tubing adventure.

Day 3 was blue skies scattered with puffy clouds. We got in a morning run, grabbed a bite to eat and caught a ’Friends’ episode and headed out. First stop was the tube rental shack. The total cost for transport to the river and tube was around $14, $7 of which you were refunded if you brought the tube back by 6PM. From there it was into the back of a small pickup truck with 8 others, tubes and all. A 10 minute ride had us outside town and at the rivers edge. It was noon and we were the first group of the day. All seemed calm and there were 3 bars welcoming us at the start of the float. We headed down to bar #3 and ordered up a bucket to drink. On a previous trip to Thailand I had engaged in the wonderful experience of drinking a bucket but for Colleen it was something knew. We picked our poison (a 375 ml bottle local Laos whiskey) paid a small amount ($4). The whiskey was they dumped into a plastic bucket (the type kids use to build sand castles…I recall ours being pink in color) with ice and topped off with a can of Coke and a can of Redbull. This was essentially our jumpstart to the day, the equivalent to taking a beer bong at the start of an Iowa tailgater.


It was not long before I was eyeing the rope swing hanging out the front of the bar. With some caution from Colleen I climbed the 20 foot ladder to the launching pad, grabbed ahold of the bar attached to the end of the rope, and launched myself some 30 ft up and out and into the river. Amazing. I came to slightly dazed with a local boy throwing a rope to me to pull me back into shore. Colleen had a good laugh and we grabbed our tubes and entered the water. We only made it about 50 meters downstream and we were out of the water at bar #4. This time we passed on the bucket and opted for a large Beer Laos and then it was Colleen’s turn. This bar favored the zip line over the rope swing and after some initial hesitation, Colleen was speeding down the line and flinging herself into the river. This trend continued the rest of the day. Any time we wanted a break from floating, a local would launch a rope into the river and pull us over to their makeshift bar. We would float a little, drink a little, and then take our risk on the rope/zipline/waterslide that each given bar had constructed. Most of these contraptions looked like they were the creation of some ill advised freshman engineering class but this added to our excitement. We met another American couple from NYC, vacationing and in between jobs, and the four of us spent the rest of the afternoon comparing stories of home and travels and enjoying ourselves immensely. As night fell and we rounded a bend in the river, Vang Vieng came into site and we exited the river, returned our tubes just in time to collect our deposit, ordered a bucket and a pizza and called it a night.

The Laos capital of Vientiane was our final stop. We dubbed it the sleepiest capital city yet of our trip. All around a very pleasant place but very quiet and uneventful. We had a look at a couple points of interest, visited the expat supermarket that seems to accompany every capitol city abroad, and headed out on an overnight bus to Bangkok.

If At First You Don't Succeed, Try a Prop Plane

When we last wrote we were heading to a little used border on the Vietnam/Laos border. The trip was going to take 3 days and it would include a couple of bus rides and an all day boat journey. We thought it would be a good way to see Northern Laos, and avoid a $150 one way flight from Hanoi to Luang Prabang, our destination of choice in Laos. Hmmm....it seemed like a good idea at the time. The journey started off well. We took an 8 hour mini bus from Sapa, Vietnam to Dien Bien Phu (DBP), Vietnam, technically the border town with Laos. The ride was pretty uneventful except for a lunch stop at the dog meat restaurant, complete with sad little dogs in cages in the back. While the other Vietnamese on our bus happily ate, Chad and I fumed. Needless to say, we did not buy one thing from them. When we arrived in Dien Bien Phu we were met with a somewhat chaotic bus terminal. We grabbed our bags and fought our way to the ticket window. I believe the conversation with the ticket counter went something like this:

Chad: We need to buy tickets on the 5:30AM bus to Laos for tomorrow.
Ticket Women: No bus tomorrow.
Chad: What?? Why no bus tomorrow?
TW: Road closed, border closed.
Chad: What about the day after tomorrow?
TW: Road closed, border closed.
Chad: So when will the next bus be?
The ticket women shrugged, and that was the end of that conversation. So apparently little used=closes easily. We were not happy and Chad was battling the tail end of a 3 day bout with the flu. We went through other options, including hiring someone to drive us to Laos (not possible with the roads) to looking up possible flights. No luck. Our only option was to take an overnight bus back east to Hanoi and try to catch the next flight out to Laos. We were only off the bus for an hour in DBP before we got on another 14 hour bus to Hanoi. Sometimes you just have to role with the punches. Did I mention that the Vietnamese have a small problem with motion sickness? And by small problem I mean massive. It is discussed by other travelers constantly around here because no one wants to end up with a puking person next to them on a 14 hour ride. The buses all hand out little black bags on every trip. We had gone about 5 feet outside the bus terminal when it started and it continued for the entire bus ride. The best part is when there is a stop for dinner and all the sick passengers get off, stuff themselves with food, then get back on to get sick again. Someone needs to start importing Dramamine to this country, they would make millions.

Groggy and exhausted with arrived once again back in the city of Hanoi at 6:00AM. We hightailed it back to the cafe where we had booked our cruise to see if they could buy tickets for us on the next Laos airlines flight. $300 poorer we landed in the city of Luang Prabang at 8:00pm that night after a entertaining flight aboard a prop plane, the jury is still out on whether it was Russian or Chinese built? It was a relief to finally be in Laos.
Laos is completely different than the other SE Asia countries we have visited. It is laid back and calm. The people are friendly and the countryside is beautiful. No one honks at us during our daily runs and we even had a local tell us 'sorry for bothering' the other day after we declined his tour services while eating at a cafe. Laos is definitely a breath of fresh air.

Playing Frogger In The Streets of Vietnam

North Vietnam is a dangerous place. The second we stepped off our overnight train from Hoi An, we were almost hit by people on motorbikes, and that continued over our 4 day stay in Hanoi. We walked everywhere in Hanoi. Literally mile after mile, sightseeing, searching for a supermarket, hitting up microbreweries, etc. All that time crossing the streets gave the Vietnamese plenty of opportunity to take a go at us on their bikes. I think our final count of how many times we have been hit by some part of a motorbike is 8. You are a moving target and they will go out of their way to run you over. Chad is the leader, and I follow behind, clutching his hand with my eyes closed. Besides that, we found Hanoi to be a pleasant place. We had originally planned to stay for 2 days, then take a cruise out on Halong Bay before heading north to Sapa. Two days turned into four as the company we chose to cruise with did not have an opening until then. We were able to catch a few sights during the 4 days. Besides our unsuccessful visit to see Ho Chi Minh we took in the museum that holds what remains of the "Hanoi Hilton", the infamous prison where American pilots that were captured during the war were held (John McCain’s flight suit is on display there). The Vietnamese put a good face on it all, showing the prisoners in happy situations including feeding chickens, playing volleyball and basketball, cooking Christmas dinner, painting, sending and receiving packages, etc. It sure looked like the POW's enjoyed their time there!


One funny bit about Vietnamese currency. They quote everything in US dollar then require you to pay in Dong (local currency) while giving you a horrible exchange rate in order to make a few extra bucks in the sale. We tried to dodge the system by changing dong for dollar at the bank, but the multiple banks we went to told us the government does not allow them to sell US dollars. Odd given that they list the rate you could buy it at IF they sold it. After hours of looking for a place to buy US dollars we ended up in a shady gold and silver jewelry shop that you would find in the backstreets of any major US city. They gave us a crap exchange rate as well, but we needed dollars for border crossings so you have to take what you can get.

We then headed out to Halong Bay for a 3 day, 2 night cruise aboard a junk boat with 12 other people. After our reasonably priced Indian adventure on our own ship, Halong seemed pretty expensive but we had heard from multiple people that you get what you pay for so we went a little over budget to go with a trusted company. Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and we spent the 3 days cruising around the multiple islands with 2 stops to view massive caves and a few stops on islands. The other travelers on our boat were great, and we enjoyed hanging out with others for a few days. Unfortunately the weather didn't really cooperate and we never saw sun but that did not take away from the beauty of the area. The area prides itself on seafood, and the cook felt it was necessary to include me, attempting to feed me "fake" meat and seafood for all meals, an interesting idea but I never tried any of it.

Our days on the boat ended just in time to catch an overnight train to the mountain town of Sapa in Northern Vietnam. This area of the country is where many different hill tribes live and is famous for trekking. The town is completely different than any other we have experienced in Vietnam, and reminds us of towns in Nepal. The local women come down from the villages everyday in traditional outfits carrying their babies on their backs while selling hand woven handicrafts to the tourists. It is a sight to see. We arrived here planning to spend 3 nights with most of the time spent trekking but the weather has not cooperated and we have been rained on constantly. We were able to take a small trek today in the rain to a local village and waterfall which resulted in one of my most spectacular falls of the trip(trust me, there have been many). That cut the trek a bit short and after all of this rain we decided it was time to head to Laos. Tomorrow we leave on a early bus to begin the trek to a little used Laos border crossing that opened in 2007. We thought it was time to get off the beaten track again, we hope we are up to the challenge.