Laos: Luang Prabang to Vientiane

We left Thailand and made our 50 cent crossing into Laos. Our Lao guide was helpful and made sure our Visa matters were squared away giving us zero issue for our long and painstaking 2 day journey to Luang Prabang. We chose to take the slow boat, a 100 ft. x 10 ft., flat bottom boat that carries you along the Mekong River at about 15-20 MPH. It takes a while. After our first six hours on the boat, we landed in a town called Pakbeng. A very small, one road town, lined with nothing but restaurants and guest houses. We managed to get a decent night's sleep, and woke up to a harmonious dog/rooster duet, and arose with plenty of time for our next seven hours on our beloved slow boat.

 

It felt like forever, but after a few BeerLao's and a couple card games, we finally landed in Luang Prabang, one of the more relieving feelings we've felt thus far.

The city of Luang Prabang is considered a UNESCO "World Heritage" site, which basically means it is an awesome, protected part of the world, that will continue to maintain it's character and charm for years to come. Imagine walking through a town built by the French in the 1800's, that has managed to maintain it's vintage purity, and has now transformed into a hip, modern/3rd world town, while still holding on to it's Buddhist traditions and ideals. Weird concept, but that's the best way I can describe it. After one night, Brooke and I both decided it was our favorite place we'd been to on our trip, originally having planned on staying 2 nights and staying 4 in the end. It was like nothing I had ever seen, and just thinking about it makes me wish I was back.

A few memorable moments from Luang Prabang.....

-There are plenty of really cool bars and restaurants in LP, but everything closes at 11pm. You wanna stay out later, you have one option..... you go bowling. We had made friends with a Chilean couple and a dude from Holland, and after wandering the two popular streets with nothing to show for it (at 10:30pm), we caught a tuk tuk, and headed for our late night refuge. Our driver took us about 10 minutes outside town, and we ended up at a rogue building in the middle of nowhere. We walked through the puddle filled dirt parking lot, opened the doors, and there we were, a Lao bowling alley, the last place i EVER imagined myself to be during my travels. BeerLao was flowing, cigarette smoke burning, bowling pins crashing, and in a few fleeting moments, I actually felt at home for a bit.

                                                   

-There are a lot of store fronts in LP, one of them selling really cool hand made linen pants and shirts. It looked like there were some sweet and really comfy pajama pants, so I went in to try some on. After searching around a bit, I found a pair that I wanted to try, then found the owner napping in a hammock in the back of the store. He showed me to the "dressing room" ( a corner in the back of the store), and motioned for me to take off my board shorts. Since I've been in SE Asia, commando has basically been my middle name, so I motioned back to him that I should probably keep my shorts on in order to try the pants on. Apparently they do things a bit different in Laos, and to my surprise, the dude looked back at me and says, "ees ok, same same", and with one hand pulls down the front of his pants, exposing his whole deal, thus showing me that it's all good I have no chones on, and should proceed without worry. Inside, all could think was, "Holy S***! this dude just showed me his d*@%!", but knew I had to proceed with business as usual. In a bit of shock, and trying not to laugh my ass off, I said to myself, "well, I guess this is happening", dropped trow, and proceeded to have the most interesting clothing- trying-on experience to date. I ended up buying a pair, and as soon as we left, told Brooke what had happened. We laughed for quite a while, and every time we passed the store we'd say to each other, "same same", and laugh our asses off. Sorry, no pics for this one.

The rest of our time in Luang Prabang consisted of checking out waterfalls, visiting night markets, volunteering to teach English to Lao kids, riding bikes, and enjoying good food and cheap beer. Lao people are very friendly and hospitable, even the kids are nice and always seem to have a smile on their face. While we were riding bikes, Brooke's chain fell off and got stuck in the back wheel. I flipped the bike over and got to work on it, and before I knew it, we were surrounded by kids trying to help us get it fixed. After unsuccessfully trying to get the chain unstuck, I finally stepped back and let the kids get their hands dirtier than they already were. It took them a bit, but they finally got it all fixed up and we were on our way. A very cool experience and a good glimpse into Lao culture.

                                       

After Luang Prabang, we took a van down to Vang Vieng to see what tubing the Nam Song river was all about. The scenery while driving through Laos is incredible, but the roads make for a very uncomfortable and long ride. Pot hole after pot hole, the highway turning into bumpy dirt roads for 200 yard stretches, huge sections of the highway after a while it actually becomes funny how shitty the roads really are. The scenery is the drive's only saving grace.

The town of Vang Vieng, is really not much to write about. The streets are pretty dirty, all the buildings are weathered, I didn't have one good meal, and every other bar and restaurant have TV's playing non stop "Friends" episodes. It's really weird, but 100% true, non stop Friends everywhere, painful. But, you don't go to Vang Vieng to see great architecture or to find delicious cuisine, you go to tube the river and party your ass off while doing so.

It was like I was back in college again, floating the Sacramento River through Chico, only this time, the riverside was lined with bars that threw out life preservers to pull you into the bar. When you decide to grab a hold and get reeled in, the bar welcomes you by shoving a bottle of local whiskey into your hand and letting you take a slug. Helluva a greeting if you ask me. Each bar also has it's own little gimmick to lure tubers in. A rope swing, trapeze, mud volleyball court, huge ceramic water slide, all things perfect for drunk people looking to get flung into the river. Not to mention the scenery is amazing, limestone rocks shooting up hundreds of feet high and covered in greenery, at times it's hard to believe where you are. We met two Irish dudes and ended up hanging out with them the whole time, and by the time we did the last leg of the river, it was dark, had started to rain, and a thunder and lightning storm had managed to roll in. It sounds miserable, but I thought it was awesome. It was warm and you were wet anyways, so the rain was no issue, and when the lighting flashed, it would light up the river, the cliff sides and the entire gulch you were floating down. It was one of the cooler experience I've had. Brooke didn't seem to think it was all that enjoyable, haha.

The next day we took another roller coaster of a bus ride down to the country's capital, Vientiane.  Unfortunately we showed up the day after the city had it's annual boat racing festival, and the city was completely destroyed.  The sidewalks were covered in trash, and all the dirt brought up from the river made for a consistent dust haze on busy streets. Unfortunately we had booked our flight prior to arriving in Vientiane, so we had to make the best of the 3 nights we stayed there.  We ended up having a good time though.  When you have that long to stay in one city, it forces you to find things that you would normally pass up and makes you appreciate the city more.  The restaurants in Vientiane were actually really good, and I ended up having some of the best Indian food I've ever had.  In the end, however, we were VERY ready to get out of Vientiane.

Looking back, Luang Prabang was absolutely worth the trip and I would highly recommend it to anybody traveling through SE Asia.  Tubing the Nam Song was also worth it and I'd recommend it to those still looking for a young, college party type atmosphere.  If your not looking for the party scene though, go to Luang Prabang and fly out, Vientiane just isn't cool enough to make the effort to get there.  All in all, we loved Laos and had a blast, a beautiful country with fantastic people.

Pics from Laos: https://picasaweb.google.com/109084938812843609271/LuangPrabang