Sabaidee from Laos. We're typing this latest blog from the capital city, Vientiane. It's been a fun fortnight since we last wrote in Thailand. Laos is a beautiful country with people who joke and smile very easily. However, it has a really troubled past which still affects many who live here. (We watched a thought-provoking documentary called "Bombies" which explains the ongoing impact of the "secret" US bombing campaign. Strangely we watched it sitting with people from all over the world round an old, rusty US bomb casing, which contained the camp fire.)
A camp fire? "Surely such heat generation techniques are unnecessary in the balmy climate of South East Asia" we hear you say. Well, that's what we thought, but as we crossed the border into Laos from the Thai border town of Chiang Khong, the smirry rain and grey clouds suggested otherwise. Northern Laos was a bit "King Billy" and were it not for our matching Beer Laos fleeces purchased at the Luang Prabang night market, we may have perished! Sadly the fleeces entered our back packing wardrobe too late for the two day slow boat trip down the Mekong to Luang Prabang.(See photo of Jeannot wearing all her layers and snuggling up inside a good samaritan's sleeping bag. Thanks Nicki!). People on the boat seemed surprised about how the cold was affecting the two Scots. We've obviously been Southern Softies for too long. (See pic of local whisky tasting - purely for warmth you understand!)
Despite the biting wind in our faces, we really enjoyed the slow boat experience. It was a good chance to meet some new friends (Jeannot's a bit bored of Anthony's chat, so it was a good chance to share around that "Jerry Hall" story to a captive (READ "cold, numb with nowhere to move") audience).It was also a good chance to take in how stunning the scenery is and savour the journey down such a famous river.
Luang Prabang was a beautiful place to spend some time. Still a very Asian feel about the place but with strong French influences. (Tres bon croissants by the way!) We watched the sunset over the Mekong from Wat Doi Thusi: a temple that sits atop a hill right in the middle of town. We also took in a bit of theatre when we went to see the National Ballet doing an epsiode from the Ramayana - an Indian epic. It was great, and the performance was topped and tailed with some local dancers/ hill tribe performances. These were also good, although one of them was so downright strange that we did sort of wet oursleves laughing in the middle of it.(Horrible feeling - like laughing in church or during a school assembly with shuddery shoulders for all the world to see and tut at.) The hill tribe people had the definite air of performers whose performance had been sprung upon them. Perhaps they were drafted in at the last minute after another tribe called off. There were two men and two women who stood sheepishly in a square throwing a little beanbag to each other while one of the women half-heartedly warbled into a microphone. (Even she seemed to find it ridiculous and passed the mic to one of the other men at one point so she could concentrate on peeing herself laughing). Meanwhile in front of this queer quartet were two very earnest men with pseudo-bagpipes playing an entirely unrelated tune while spinning round in a Morris Dance stylee. Then to top it all, the bagpipe man started playing a leaf, which although impressive did nothing to detract from the general tunelessness or weirdness of the situation.
After Luang Prabang came Phonsovan, the site of the historic plain of Jars, and then onto Vang Vieng for some tubing on the river (see pics - Quality day out!). In addition to tubing, our new pal Neil (partner of sleeping bag donater, Nicki) talked us into swinging off a 25 ft platform into the Nam Song river, avoiding the tubers and kayakers as we splashed down! Sadly, Anthony's first attempt was more of a splat as the swing arced away and he slapped off the surface. Jeannot, on the other hand, sailed effortlessly through the air and just to rub salt in the bruise, swung backwards and forwards a few times before holding her nose and splish sploshing delicately down. We were going to post a picture of the bruises but they are genuinely too gruesome to share. (Ant says - I did manage to swing second time round - male pride restored!)
So tomorrow morning we fly to Hanoi to say Good Morning to Vietnam. Very excited! Hope you're all well at home. Lots of love from Laos.xxxx
