Laos Recap

I am in Cambodia now and before I attempt to do a better job sharing my experiences in Cambodia, I figured I should give a quick Laos recap since the internet and I didn't get along so well in Laos.

First of all, I must say that Laos is an amazing and beautiful country! I truly enjoyed every part of my time there. Here is what I did (in a nutshell)

We took a slowboat from Thailand into Luang Prubang, Laos. The ride took 2 days. I spent my time taking in the beautiful scenery from the boat, listening to music, and losing my money in poker games in the back of the boat.

Luang Prubang- a charming little city that has retained a lot of it's French architecture from when the French occupied Laos. We spent a week relaxing, exploring the markets, the Buddha cave, and the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen!

Vang Vieng- the drive there (4-5 hrs) was the most beautiful drive I have ever seen. The road was basically switchbacks through the mountains the whole way. Jagged limestone peaks and mountains and little villages were the scenery along the way. The mountains were so beautiful I felt like a dragon could have come flying in between them at any time. Or maybe it was a cross between the Lord of the Rings scenery and Falcor, the flying dog-thing from Neverending Story...yeah, that seems right. Anyway, Vang Vieng proved to be quite the backpacker town. Popular activities for most seemed to be tubing down the river while stopping at the various bars along the way, watching Friends at any bar on the main strip while eating from the "happy"menus, and exploring the caves in the area. The scenery was beautiful and worth the stopover, but one gets tired quickly of the shallow backpacker/meatmarket scene there. We were lucky enough to experience the New Year/Water Festival with the locals which was my favorite part of Vang Vieng.

Vientiane- The capitol of Laos. A city I would have liked to explore more of, but only was able to stay for one night. We went bowling...that says it all. In the daytime we went to the history museum and Pha That Luang. It is considered the most impressive monument in Laos. Apparently it was constructed by Indian missionaries to house a piece of Buddha's breastbone. It is beautiful and worth the trip to see.

Pakse- not usually a town people stay in for a long time, but we ended up using the town as a base for our trekking. We went to a local village and stayed at a coffee plantation. We trekked to 5 beautiful waterfalls. We also saw Wat Phu, a really really old temple in the Bolavan Plateau.

4 Thousand Islands- We stayed on the island of Don Khong for a night, a place with virtually no tourists. We rode a few hours in the back of a truck with about 20 other people and bags and bags of stuff to get there. Alexis and I biked around the island (about 20 miles). Then we went to Don Det. We each had a bungalow with a mosquito net and our own hammock. Morgan was pretty sick those few days so we took time to rest and relax in the hammocks. There is no electricity on the island after 9pm. We slept without a fan... and yes, it was hot!

That's the basic rundown of my month in Laos. There are more stories, but they are so hard to retell after a week or so. Also, I'm still working on pictures, but that is something everyone will have to be patient with. It took me about 20 minutes to upload the last 3 on my blog.

Anyway, I'm alive and well (just starting to catch a cold though). I made it to Cambodia. I think I'll have some interesting stories to share...

Be well!