We booked our tickets to go to Laos, then the next day they had a special and the tickets were half the price. But never mind we were happy to go. Just before leaving I decided to check the tickets and found that I had unintentionally booked express boarding and hot seats as well as hold luggage for coming home. All extra costs! OOOPss. Was good though as we were the first ones onto the plane and had plenty of legroom. The seats were also in the first row so it allowed us also to be one of the first off. We had plenty of reading material to keep us busy during the flight.
Approaching Vientiane, we could watch the Mekong wend its way along. It was rather lovely to see. The river is so brown and murky looking, but you could see how people use it for the everyday business. Whether that be
fishing, washing clothes, bathing or playing in the mud.
Going through customs at Vientiane was a breeze. We had to do a visa on arrival which was actually the fast way through. Then it was off outside to get a taxi to take us to our hotel. We had booked one that was in between the river and the main town area. It was very convenient. The room was lovely except for the view out was of the neighbouring building which appeared to be flats of some sort.
We flew up to Luang Prabang and had booked a guest house there with a bungalow overlooking the Nam Khan River. We had a little balcony where we could sit out and watch the river life...boats going up and down, people fishing, children playing in the mud, having their daily baths as well as bird and insect life.
This place was a little oasis to stay at. We had 4 nights booked here and it was so lovely and relaxing and worthwhile. It was a 15 minute walk into town but they had a shuttle service into town and you then had to negotiate a tuk tuk to bring you back. Luckily the people had told us how much we should expect to pay as the drivers started asking twice the price. A tuk tuk is a motorbike with a trailer attached to carry passengers. Some of them are quite elaborate and decorated. Out trip cost 20000 kip, which sounds a lot but in NZ dollars is it is about $3.00. The ride back was about 10 minutes.
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| The view from our balcony where we ate breakfast each morning. |
Each morning we had breakfast on our balcony. I ate mango pancakes and Wayne had a cheese omelette and we finished it off with Lao Coffee. We enjoyed the coffee so much we had to buy some to bring back into Malaysia. We bought this from the local morning market.
Wandering through the local markets is always a treat. We see some unexpected things. This time we saw wasp larvae, we thought it was bees at first until we read in a little locally produced book that they were wasps and that they are a much treasured delicacy. I am not sure that I want to eat them at all.
One of the days we went for an elephant trek, a jungle walk and a swim (well Wayne swam) in some waterfalls.
The jungle trek was great but very hot. Our guide took lots of photos for us which was good. We had lunch at the end of the elephant trek which consisted of fried rice with pork. We had been trekking for an hour and a half and the meal was still hot. They wrap it in banana leaves and I guess this works to keep it hot. We had to cross many bridges over the fast flowing river.
Wayne enjoyed the swim in the waterfalls; he even dropped off the tyre swing into the water, much to the amusement of the locals.
Laos has so many temples that we only visited a few.
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| Haw Kam which is situated int he grounds of the former Royal Palace but is now a museum. |
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| Van Xieng Toung, the oldest monastery in Luang Prabang |
We got talking to some monks that wanted to practice their English. A lot of them are there because the family can’t afford to feed them. They still have to be educated and this only happens when the family has enough money to pay for it. Such a different lifestyle to what we are used to. Their saffron coloured clothing is so bright compared to all their surroundings.
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| A house boat....the only way was up some steps and we were curious on how they would get their motor bikes up the steep steps. |
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| We climbed up to the top of Phou Si passing many buddas while we climbed over 300 steps. the view from the top was worth as was watching the sun go down, |
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| A typical scene on our walk to and from town. |
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| Colourful flags hanging from an umbrella. |
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| Snakae wine for sale along the riverfront. |
We had plenty of time to take photos as we wandered around the town. Luang Prabang is so laid back and beautiful. It seems that nothing is too much trouble. I enjoyed our meals as they don’t use chilli in them very often...so it was relatively easy for me to get a meal that I could eat. we ate at many different restaurants but our favourite in Luang Prabag would have to be Lao Lao BBQ Gardens. This is where you have a small bbq at your table and you cook the thinly sliced meat on a small raised plate and cook the vegetables in a stock surrounding the small bbq. It was yummy as and cheap as too. We were going to walk back to our bungalow but it was raining so we took the tuk tuk.
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| Not only do tuk tuks carry passengers they also care heavy loads. |
We had fun at the night market just looking and buying a couple of little mementos for us. It is hard to bargain with them as to us the prices are already cheap. Some of the things that they sell in the markets are beautifully made by these clever people. We did buy a handmade book with recycled paper pages to put our photos into. They bring their stuff down and set up the market each night.
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| As we cae down the hill we saw the night market setting up with the wat in the background. |
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| As the night went on it got busier and busier. |
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| We had to have a Lao coffee before returning back to our bungalow. |
After our interesting and relaxing holiday it was back to work on Wednesday. And now it is time to start saving your our next holiday.
Below are some candid shots of insects, butterflies and flowers.
Wandering through the local markets is always a treat. We see some unexpected things. This time we saw wasp larvae, we thought it was bees at first until we read in a little locally produced book that they were wasps and that they are a much treasured delicacy. I am not sure that I want to eat them at all.
