Laos

Hi there! Another message from Luang Prabang, a small town in the northern part of Laos.

While the government in the Netherlands will be central afterall, the americans retreat from Iraq and Windows Vista hits the market, life in Laos goes on like usual. Workin in the ricefields, building houses, renewing roofs, going to the market. Yes, quite a difference again, even with Vietnam. Laos is apparently one of the least developed countries, but compared to Cambodia it comes across me as a more wealthy nation. But take off your shoes and lay back .. traveling Laos can only be done nice and slow!

So I took off from Ha noi (Vietnam) to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. A 20-hour busride. But it was worth it, only a few 100 kms west of Hanoi the weather turned out to be a world of difference. The people were not wearing wintercoats and shoes anymore, but shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops. The sun was shining again! It felt good :)

The first two days I stayed in Vientiane. Although it is the capital, it is with 200,000 inhabitants quite small. The main sights are the golden stupa, which is a national symbol. And I decided to bridge the 25km to the budha park by bicycle. This both saved me some money and was a good excercise since the bikes here don’t run as smooth as back home! And a great way to travel slowly through the countryside. The first thing you will notice once you are outside the bigger city are the kids waving at you and welcoming you (sabai die!, hello!). This reminded me of Cambodia, but hadn’t really experienced that in Vietnam. The people in Laos are more environment aware than their southern neighbors. Although you can find litter regularly on sides of the streets or in backyards, it is much less.

Because Vientiane does not have that much too offer besides some sights I decided to go to Vang Vieng, a 4-hour busride up north. Surrounded by beautiful mountains this small town (16,000 inhabitants) in the middle of nowhere isn’t what you would expect.. Upon arrival you will see many guesthouses, neonlights, restaurants, internetcafes and bars. Yes, a lot of travelers stop here to relax a bit. This is the closest thing to home you will get in Laos. You can eat western food, play pool till late and buy pancakes. The restaurants here all have televisions on which they play Friends, The simpsons or just several movies. All day long. Lay back on the japanese-style small tables and pillows and enjoy your drink! And not only drinks .. if you’re up for it you can smoke stuff here that isn’t even legal in Holland. And it is printed right on the menu..

The second day in Vang Vieng, I went _tubing. _Tubing is a poor-man’s but fun way of travelling the river downstream. A tuktuk will take you 3km upstream. From there you will go into a big tube and go downstream. Ofcourse this is not all the fun. Across the river there are many bars where you can stop to have a drink or some snacks. NMost of the bars have enormous swings (10m high) where you swing from a big wooden structure across the river. You just have to make sure you let go on the right moment to end up splashing in the water. A crazy swing, but fun to do!!

After 3 days in Vang-Vieng, I traveled further up north to Luang Prabang. Another 9-hour busride. Like I said, traveling here goes slow. Up-hill you’re lucky if the bus hits the 40km/h. To make up for it, the driver makes sure that the down-hill parts go frightenly fast through the corners. In Luang Prabang there are more caves and waterfalls to visit. But as I have seen quite a lot now, I decided not to go. And relax and walk around the town and it’s big night market. I stayed here together with a french girl, Carine. Whom I met on the bus.

Tomorrow I’ll take the boat to Hua Xei, the border town with Thailand. The boattrip will take two days (!) so enough time for me to figure out the meaning of life. In Thailand, I’m planning to go to Chiang Mai and staying there a few days before going to Bangkok. I leave Laos a few days before my Visa expires. But I didn’t really feel like going up more north. First off, it is very hard to travel here. So I will spend a lot of time in buses. Second, I have seen quite a lot of jungle, caves, villages and waterfalls by now so I didn’t had the feeling I would see more new things. If I have the time, maybe I’ll do a cooking course or massage course in Chiang Mai. But I will see how that turns out!

All the best!!

p.s. As usual there are new photo’s ..