Laos Recap 3/21/13 - 4/5/13

Recap of Laos:

Time in country: 15 days
Money spent: approximately $480 USD each
Currency:  Kip
Conversion Rate: 8000 Kip to 1 USD

Food:
The food wasn't that great and actually a mere imitation of Thai food.

There was a lot of French influences with Frech bistros and cafes.  Also, lots of baguette sandwiches all over for very cheap ($1 or less).  In Vang Vieng especially, there were food stalls up and down the road all selling the same thing: sandwiches, fruit shakes, burgers, and pancakes.  They all wanted us to buy something whenever we walked by, it was hard to choose where to stop.

One thing we noticed is what many of the locals ate: in one hand the ate dried chicken and in the other they would roll up a ball of sticky rice and eat it together. 

Lao BBQ, we saw a lot of signs, but only really had it in Luang Prabang.  And the meat was delicious!

Places Visited (in order):  Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Thakhek (Konglor Cave), 4000 Islands (Don Det)

Random Thoughts:
The people were very nice and welcoming.  

Maybe it was because we were in Laos during the dry season, still, we were surprised at how dry and dusty it was, unlike the lush greenery of other places in Asia.

The northern part of Laos, ie- Luang Prabang, was better than we expected.  The French influence helped create a good atmosphere with a unique charm.

4000 Islands (Don Det) 4/2/13 - 4/4/13

We thought we would be able to get a "VIP" bus which came with A/C the next morning when we arrived to the bus station; however, as it happens in Laos, that bus didn't seem to actually exist like the schedule said it did.  Another local (non- a/c) bus showed up to take us south, was fine while moving and the windows open, yet deathly hot when idle.  Did we mention the weather is like Houston in July (very hot and humid)?

Given we feel like old people and Kristin couldn't take another four hours on a non-a/c bus, we had a stop over in Pakse for the night before continuing on to the islands in the morning.  It turned out to be a good choice.  We took a four hour mini-van the next morning to the pier where we took a 15 minute boat ride over to Don Det island.  The 4000 Islands is a group of islands in Southern Laos amidst the Mekong River delta.  The number of islands can vary from 2,000 to 4,000 depending on the water level between the wet and dry season. 

Taking the boat from the mainland over to Don Det island

View of Don Det from the river

We stayed in a very basic bungalow right on the riverfront for about $4 each.  There was just a bed, fan, window, and porch with two hammocks (view of the Mekong river included).  It was a very peaceful environment though. Good thing too because it was over 100 degrees and without air conditioning anywhere on the island we didn't want to move very much.  Only from restaurant to restaurant looking for "cold" beer.  Most of the places gave us room temperature beer and ice to add to the mug.  Yum ?

Our bungalow porch over the river

Cooling off and enjoying the view from the hammock

One of the "ferries" 

View of sunset on the Mekong from our porch

Don Det was hotter than hell, yet, we managed to take care of a few logistics that afternoon.  We booked a kayak trip for the next day and a bus to Cambodia the day after.

The kayak trip was a full day, with about 16 other people, of kayaking, walking through villages, visiting waterfalls and swimming, lunch, seeing the highly endangered freshwater irrawaddy dolphins, and more waterfalls.  It was a great way to casually enjoy the Mekong river and the region around it.

Group kayaking down the river

Local fishermen

First waterfalls and swim stop of the day

The "tractor and cart" used to moved our kayaks from one point to another (very common throughout Laos)

Break time

Our lazy guide enjoying his partner doing all the work ;-)

View from the river

Another break time

The last stop of the day was at the largest waterfalls, by volume, in Southeast Asia, Khone Phapheng Falls.  These Falls are the reason why the Mekong is not fully navigable into China.  Some Canadians in the group described it as a mini version of Niagra Falls because of the similar shape.  Obviously it wasn't the same as seeing Iguazu Falls, but it was still very powerful, loud, and amazing to see.

Hard to capture the size of the falls

Standard pic with the falls

The next morning it was time to head out of Laos and into Cambodia!

Thakhek (Konglor cave) 3/29/13 - 4/1/13

We arrived to Thakhek and made our migration to one of the main guest houses in town that plenty of travelers frequent.  There was one reason we wanted to go to Thakhek and that was to see a cave.  It took some time once we were there to figure out how to get to Konglor cave the most efficiently (time wise and cost wise).  After plenty of reading up on information and asking questions to the tour agency and front desk, we still weren't exactly sure, but decided to wake up early the next morning and try to do it all on our own by local transport.  The local transport option was definitely not the most comfortable option; however, it got the job done.

It was the type of day where we had to go with the flow and have faith that the locals would guide us to where we needed to go, despite them capitalizing on making a few extra dollars in the process (it is what it is).  We walked to the market area at 6:30 am and were promptly greeted by a Song Theow truck driver who wanted to take us 2 hours to connect to another truck.  Certainly, sounded logical (and cheap- less than $3 each) enough for us.  After the first 2 hours, we transferred to a new truck that was crammed with people past "maximum" capacity, and 1 hour later made it to Ban Na Him, a small village about 1 hour away from the cave.  We found a guest house where we could leave our bags and stay for the night, found some lunch, and then boarded a bus for the last hour of the journey.

We hopped on the local min-bus that went to the cave.  The lady, who we think was part owner of the operation, was having her birthday celebration and had about 8 or 9 of her friends on the bus to help celebrate.  It was quite the "party" ride there and back.  They brought cases of beer and stereo speakers for the party.  They shared their beer with everyone on the bus and were hilarious to watch and listen to.  Made the ride quite entertaining!

Partier with his concoction of home-brew rice liquor and beer.

Birthday girl singing (very loudly) and dancing 

Konglor cave was incredible!  For sure a highlight of Laos, and even the trip as a whole.  We took a boat/canoe that held three people and two guides who took us down the 7km long under ground river into the cave, starting on one side and going through the mountain to a lush village on the other side.  There were parts of the cave as high as 300 ft!  It was such a surreal feeling being in a cave that was pitch dark except for our head lamps.  It was so quiet and calm.  The cave hadn't been explored with a motorized boat until 2008.  It was still a very natural, peaceful place.  About a quarter of the way into the cave there was an area with some of the most amazing stalagmites and stalactites.  The area recently underwent an illumination project, funded by the French, to string power into the cave and add lights to this area.  We walked around the area in awe of what nature can do.  

Emerald pool outside the entrance to the cave

Walking into the cave

Getting into the boats to go into the river and cave

Big stalagmite, small life vest

More stalagmites and stalactites

More again...

Guide pushing our boat through the rapids and rocks

Another boat passing us by with their headlamps on (notice the monks in orange)

View from the other side of the mountain

Going back through the cave

We stayed in the small town that night and the next morning made the return trip on the trucks back to Thakhek.  After reviewing our options, we decided to stick around for the rest of the day and relax before taking a bus south to the 4000 Islands the next morning.

Vang Vieng 3/27/13 - 3/28/13

We didn't want to force ourselves to go through another overnight gauntlet ride from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, so we decided to break up the trip and stay in Vang Vieng.  This was only about a 6 hour ride on a "VIP" bus during the day (VIP is just a little better than local, rough transport).  What was once a small river village along the Nam Song has turned into a much more busy and bustling town for travelers over the years.  The town used to be full of backpackers there for one thing: tubing down the river.  We've heard  the town used to be a crazy scene with bars all along the river, free shots, rope swings, people jumping from rocks, etc, etc.  However, after some serious injuries and deaths, the craziness was removed and it's now more of a relaxing float down the river amongst the incredible scenery.  

The town is quite small, and only took us about 10 minutes to walk through and see it the first evening.  Although it was a for sure "touristy" thing to do, we really enjoyed stopping in one of the many restaurants/bars that had Friends episodes playing on their TVs non-stop.  We went in for dinner the first night and stayed for the next 2-3 hours.  We both love Friends!

We wanted to be active the next day so we went on a hike across the river to a few limestone cliffs (aka karsts) and climbed to the top where we could see rice paddies, cattle, forest, and a panoramic view of the town.  It was a great activity for the morning and got us sweating quite a bit.

We carried on to the Lus Cave and lagoon, but we had to go with a guide and we didn't want to take that much time, so we headed back to town to get tubes and float the river.  Surprisingly, the water was clean, clear, and cool.  There were a few bars along the way (nothing like it used to be).  We were with three other guys that just so happened to be going at the same time as us.  Kees and Bjorn from Holland, and Manu from Italy.  We had a good time and the surrounding views of karst limestone mountains and Laos countryside made it totally worth it.

After a quick stopover in Vang Vieng, it was time to keep heading south.

Luang Prabang 3/25/13 - 3/26/13

We made it to Luang Prabang by 6 in the morning which gave us plenty of time to go out and see a bit of the town.  Matt walked around for a couple hours in the morning while Kristin took a nap and then joined him after breakfast.  It was a quaint town at the junction of two rivers, the Mekong and Nam Khan.  Many of the buildings were what you would imagine from a small village somewhere in the French countryside.  The French actually controlled Laos from 1887- 1945.  The French provincial style houses had charm, and were fused with Asian characteristics, such as wood carvings along railings and other detailings.  Luang Prabang has been referred to as the most beautiful city in southeast Asia and it was easy to see why.

We also made it to the "most impressive" Wat in town, Xien Thong, which was currently under a bit of renovation, yet, we could still appreciate its beauty.

We also meandered to the junction of the two rivers, a key point as to why the city was placed here.  After a lot of walking, it was the perfect place to stop, have a beer, and soak in the surroundings.

At night, a section of the main road in town was shut down and hundreds of merchants set up canopies and goods for the night market.  There were wood carvings, Laos silk scarves, paintings, clothes, purses, jewelry, etc.  One of our favorite spots of the market was an alley way of small food vendors, in particular the meat from the Laos BBQ.  The meat on a stick and sausages ($1.00 for a huge chicken breast or sausage stick) were delicious and super cheap.  There was also a stall where you could get a plate for $1.00 and fill it up with everything you could imagine.  Cheapest buffet ever.  We also really enjoyed the wontons and spring rolls.

We felt like we had seen a lot of Luang Prabang on our first day, but we also knew there was a lot of talk about waterfalls just outside of town.  So the next day we loaded in a Song Theow (tuk-tuk truck) and headed out for the hour long ride to Kuang Si Falls.

Along the path to the falls, there was a Malaysian Black Bear sanctuary.  Many Asian bears are currently threatened by de-forestion and poaching for their body parts.  In particular, the bears are caught and their bile used for ancient Chinese traditional medicine practices.  This sanctuary helps provide a peaceful home for them.

Kuang Si Falls is made up of multiple levels of waterfalls and serene teal pools with the highest fall towering roughly 200 feet.  It was a beautiful setting to spend the afternoon.

After a couple days in Luang Prabang we headed south, back the way we came from ;-).