Laos
There are [0] photos and [23] stories about Laos
Sunday, 24 Jun 2007 | Views [1571]
There's not a huge travel or tourism infrastructure running from southern Laos through Cambodia. The border crossing at Voen Kham to Cambodia, from what we've been told, has been an unofficial crossing up until just recently, and there's very little ... Read more >
Tags: On the Road
Saturday, 23 Jun 2007 | Views [993]
Being the low, rainy season here, we couldn't find enough people to get out in the rafts to tackle the Mekong's class 3 section of river here in Si Phan Don, and tubing wasn't so appealing in the thick, brown, muddy river, so we decided to hire a couple ... Read more >
Tags: The Great Outdoors
Friday, 22 Jun 2007 | Views [1084]
Don Det is one of over 4000 little islands spread throughout the Southern Mekong region of Laos, the area where the Mekong spreads to it's widest section, just along the border of Cambodia. Island is a relative term, some island are merely small clumps ... Read more >
Tags: The Great Outdoors
Thursday, 21 Jun 2007 | Views [1702]
It was a mammoth, double decker pink beast on wheels, decorated to the max with frilly pink curtains, and colored disco lights lining the walkways. It even had a bathroom onboard. We were seated on the top level, and the seats were posh, and comfy, ... Read more >
Tags: On the Road
Wednesday, 20 Jun 2007 | Views [1059]
Good answers, and in fact, reliable information has been difficult to come by in Laos. One of the most challenging part of traveling in this part of the world has been our ability to effectively communicate with locals, when we don't know the language, ... Read more >
Tags: On the Road
Tuesday, 19 Jun 2007 | Views [1310]
We took the early morning mini-van out of Vang Viene, to continue down Route 13 to Vientiane. True to form - transportation in Laos - it took them an hour to move through the small town to pick up passengers, and then once we were 10 minutes out of ... Read more >
Tags: Sightseeing
Monday, 18 Jun 2007 | Views [1127]
Vang Viene is known for it's tubing industry. Specifically, tourists come from all over the world to sit in a large black tire inner-tube, and float down the swiftly moving Nam Sung River. There's over 10 different companies that rent out the tubes ... Read more >
Tags: Adrenaline
Sunday, 17 Jun 2007 | Views [1026]
We arrived in the very scenic, beautiful town of Vang Viene, south of Luang Prabang by bus, about 4-5 hours. We traveled Route 13, the road where there's been recent attacks by insurgents. The Department of State, and US Embassy here in Laos has sent ... Read more >
Tags: The Great Outdoors
Saturday, 16 Jun 2007 | Views [1032]
Today we went to visit the Pak Ou Caves (just on the outskirts of Luang Prabang), where hundreds of Buddha relics sit, stand and lurk from all sorts of holes and shelves inside the caves. It was a little over an hours drive by sawngthaew. Clearly one ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
Friday, 15 Jun 2007 | Views [917]
The way the consumer market works here in Laos is unlike any place we've been to yet. Over the past months, we've honed our negotiating skills and technique in India, Nepal, Thailand and Myanmar, and expected to continue to use our developing skills ... Read more >
Tags: Budgets & money
Thursday, 14 Jun 2007 | Views [1176]
After days of living in more remote areas of Laos, and living off sticky rice and fried rice with vegetables, we were craving some beef. After a 4 hour ride in monsoon rains, the back of a tarp covered pick up truck, we enter a town of endless tourists ... Read more >
Tags: Food & eating
Wednesday, 13 Jun 2007 | Views [1823]
Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys... line up here for the ride of your lives. Our journey is about to begin. We situate ourselves on our wooden plank seats at the back of the small long-tail boat. A man enters the boat with his 4 bamboo purses full ... Read more >
Tags: Adventures
Tuesday, 12 Jun 2007 | Views [3099]
Every Survivor show has a super-human physical challenge of standing and balancing for a long period of time in a very awkward and physically demanding/uncomfortable position. Today's one hour public bus ride from Phongsali to Hat Sa (our dock of entry ... Read more >
Tags: Adventures
Tuesday, 12 Jun 2007 | Views [2517]
Arriving in Muang Khua, we disembarked our boat, and slugged across the sewage flowing from the shanties and stilted homes & restaurants on the hill directly into the river. Our chosen guest house teetered on wooden stilts, and had a prime river ... Read more >
Tags: Misadventures
Monday, 11 Jun 2007 | Views [2854]
The Akha tribes, and specifically this tribe, seem a little more well off - relatively speaking as far as hilltribe living goes. Most of the houses in this village have satellite dishes, TV's and many have DVD players with all the latest children's ... Read more >
Tags: Adventures
Sunday, 10 Jun 2007 | Views [2742]
Our guide has been a bit of a challenge for us. It's not his fault... the government tourism manager we contracted with for this trek put him in this situation, so it's truly an issue for the manager. So we're trying to be patient and supportive with ... Read more >
Tags: Adventures
Saturday, 9 Jun 2007 | Views [2611]
We awoke to the sounds of animals below the cracked floor boards upon which we slept. First the crowing of the roosters woke up the cows, the buffalo groan and the pigs let out squeals of hunger. I got up and asked our guide where we were supposed ... Read more >
Tags: Adventures
Saturday, 9 Jun 2007 | Views [3351]
It was 5:30 am, and we've woken up to the noise of roosters, cows, chickens and other animals... the sounds blending into a real rhythm, and I honestly thought I was hearing school children chanting and singing in the distance. We stowed our big packs ... Read more >
Tags: Adventures
Friday, 8 Jun 2007 | Views [2804]
The Government in Laos is very keen to educate visitors to this country on how to behave while visiting. It's actually quite helpful, and they do it in a way that's quite entertaining- through cartoon strips. These "etiquette or rules" cartoons ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
Friday, 8 Jun 2007 | Views [1117]
In Northern Laos, there is very limited tourist infrastructure. There were five of us together, wanting to do a trek (Darrin, I, an Argentinean, Italian, and Spaniard) We wandered the streets trying to communicate with people, in search of a trekking ... Read more >
Tags: Adventures
Thursday, 7 Jun 2007 | Views [3040]
..."good luck to everybody" reads the sign at the bus station, above the ticket window. That sign says it all, so clearly. It means, we hope our bus gets you to your destination; it will require much luck, as our non-serviced, overly packed ... Read more >
Tags: Misadventures
Wednesday, 6 Jun 2007 | Views [1441]
Our experience getting our Laos visas and crossing the border through immigration went so smoothly, it was a bit scary. Our agent had our visas and passport departure stamp from Thailand already organized. We soared through the Thai border and were ... Read more >
Tags: On the Road
Tuesday, 5 Jun 2007 | Views [1126]
Our bus from Pai to Chiang Kong took all day. We had to backtrack to Chiang Mai, and then proceed north to the border town of Chiang Kong. We stopped off at a cashew and sesame factory enroute, and stocked up on some yummy treats for the ride. We were ... Read more >
Tags: On the Road
