21st November 2007: - Today we left China for Laos, I am extremely sad to be leaving China although we feel that we should move on due to the time scale. We have experienced a totally different culture & had a glimpse of such a magnificent history. The Chinese people in general have been very friendly, kind & always happy to help if they can. We have definitely not been disappointed with the food & have been overwhelmed by the different dishes. We hope to return to visit the east coast of China in the near future! My only grudge I have is to do with the load hocking & spitting, it is very difficult to get use to.
Well Laos so far has been an adventure, we got onto a jumbo rickshaw that we though would take us all the way to Udomxau, but took us to the next town where we had to catch a bus. We were a bit upset as the guy had said he was taking us all the way. We end up in Udomxai slightly before dark, so we were able to find our guesthouse quite easily. It was ok, room dirty & no shower. We however dump our stuff & head out to have something to eat. This is where we bump into our German friend Bert, who we met @ the border crossing this morning. He helps us out with paying the bill as we do not have enough Kip. This is purely because the lonely planet tells you, you can use US $ as well. However this is not true @ this location.
22nd November 2007: - We leave Udomaxi @ 8.30 on a local bus to Luang Probang. It is a very bumpy windy road, but we reach our destination @ about 13.00 @ with 3 other travelers we head into the town centre. Both Drew & I are completely amazed & stunned to find ourselves dropped off in a tourist haven. So much for the untouched country, we feel like we are in a Spanish resort, a bit gutted. We find a hotel that is cheap & cheerful & does the job & then head out to change up some money. To our amazement they have an ATM @ BCEL Bank, so like idiots we use it & as you can guess we have a few problems. 1) The money is not dispensed 2) We try again, still no money is dispensed 3) we ask the clerk to help us & he says try it again with him watching, still no money 4)he can now not help us & informs us he can not check the ATM to see if the money has been taken out 5) we have to walk to the main bank the other side of town to sort out the problem 6) When we get there we find everything is ok & that the clerk could have phoned up to check this for us in the first place. So it now 16.00 & we are now starving as all we have eaten today are a couple of tangerines. We head to a very western eatery & take comfort in a couple of burgers & beer. After this everything does not seem so bad & we stroll the streets to capture the temples in the dusk light & listen to the monks praying in the cooling day’s heat.
23rd November 2007: - We wake @ 5.30am so that we can experience the Laos tradition of which I have forgotten the name of @ the mo. Anyway this is what they do: local people line up along the road & the monks from all the temples walk past & as they do the people give the monks food to eat for the day. I think traditionally it is sticky rice & fruit, but we did see a lady handing out muffins, I’m sure the monks appreciated that. I asked a few local people if I could take pictures of them & I think they really appreciated a tourist asking permission rather than just snapping away in front of them, it did earn me a muffin, which I must say was delicious. The ceremony was calming & I could think of no better way to bring in the start of a new day. Our second stop of the day was @ the Palace Museum, which was interesting but small. We only spent a couple of hours looking around. The grounds are pretty impressive with a massive Lotus pond, you should have seen the flowers in stunning dark pinks & whites & all the colours in between, gorgeous. Our afternoon was spent looking around a temple called Wat Xieng Thong; this is home fro about 35 Monks, nearly all novices. The grounds are very well kept & the back of the temple runs to the edge of the Mekong River. Whilst we were sitting down a young monk came over to talk to us. He wanted to practice his English with us. He was only 15 & he has been a monk for 3 years so & will carry on for another 3 years until he finishes his schooling. It was a really special moment & we came away promising Novice Phouthone that we would try to find him an English book for him.
24th November 2007: - Today we spent the whole day on a bus going from Luang Probang to Vang Vieng. Our 1st mistake was not getting on the VIP bus as soon as we arrived @ the station. We decided to go on the 10.30 public bus which did not leave until 12.00. We also found out that the public bus could only go @ a very slow speed & stopped for many people along the way. It took us 7.5 hrs to reach our destination of Vang Vieng. What a waste of a day. Although not all was bad, Drew & I had a really nice experience with a local lady, we said Sabai-dii to her as we got on the bus & instead of just returning the greeting she took both our hands as we went passed & smiled, making us feel really welcome. Once we ended up in Vang Vieng we went to find a place to stay. Did not realize that the guesthouse we were staying in was full of drunken English lads until it was too late! Ear plugs went in & it kind of worked!
25th November 2007: - Well we wake today & have breakfast early so that we are able to meet up with the tour we had booked for 9.30. Our tour included a tour into a cave, which was interesting; it is where a lot of Lao people hid during the war. The caves also have statues of Buddha sitting or lying down, as monks also used the caves, Flash lights include a big battery you carry & then a head torch wired roughly, with leaking battery acid, lovely (forgot to bring our own). 2nd part of the trip & we head into a water filled cave on rubber rings along with our exceptionally good flash lights, not too sure this is that safe but we go ahead anyway. Water was v cold but it was well worth a look, something we have never done before. We pull ourselves along on a guide rope looking up @ the stalagmites above glowing in the light of our head torches. 3rd part & the best was the tubing, it’s basically a giant lazy river with bars dotted along the river banks. The only downside to the tubing was that we were out just as the sun was going down so it was a tad bit cold. However our guide was able to nab a Kayak off of someone & we ended up holding onto the back of the Kayak whilst our guide paddled us the last 30mins. Whilst you relax on the river you see amazing scenery, high casts in the background with jungle & small village’s in-between.
26th November 2007: - Today we leave Vang Vieng & head back to Luang Probang & this time we take a mini bus which is much faster & we do not stop to pick up people along the way. This means we arrive @ our destination for about 15.00. The only down side is you do not get to sit with the local people. However arriving somewhere in the daylight is fantastic. We head back to the hotel we stayed @ before & get a better room; I still think we are going to have to wear our earplugs! Tonight we had a meal from the street stall, this has been recommended by a few people we have met. & I must say it was not a disappointment & we will be going back tomorrow night. Foe\r 32000 Kip which is about 1.77 GBP we have a massive plate of veg noodles with 2 cold beers, can not go wrong, it was very satisfying.
