Jan 24, 2012 - Leaving Laos

Laos is a step back in time from India so let's step back in time to Sunday AM and dawn with the Monks. Very serious tradition for Buddhists and so every day the faithful rise at dawn and present alms for the hundred of Monks that live in the various Temples around the City. Streets are full of locals and tourists alike who line the streets kneeling and ready to offer food (mostly sticky rice which one makes into little snowballs), sweets and money. The Monks rely on these alms to eat. So, on bended knee Sylvia and I kneeled ( a lot of...

Jan 23, 2012 - Laos - Luang Prabang

23 January I have been neglecting my blogging! We have been in Laos for 3 days now staying in the centre of tourism-Luang Probang. It's a really lovely place fairly unique in the fact that it missed being bombed by the Americans so all the old French Colonial buildings are intact and have been protected by Unesco recognition. It sits in a beautiful position at the convergence between the Mekong and Nan Khan rivers and nestles into jungle glad mountains. There are lots of bars, cafes, restaurants and street food available some of which are...

Jan 22, 2012 - And the Beat Goes Slower

It takes a bit of adjustment to move from one of the world's biggest and fast-paced cities to Luang Prabang Laos in 12 hours. Drive to Mumbai Airport was in same vein as gravity defying trip from Sikkim mountains. Great 4 hour flight brought us to Bangkok. Glenn remembers the International Airport from the 70's when there were water buffalo grazing between the 2 runways. It is now an unbelievable cross-shaped 4 floor high building bustling with travellers 24 hours per day. The shops are never ending and the activity is simply amazing....

Jan 21, 2012 - Deuxième journée à Luang Prabang

Allo tout le monde Ce matin Dan s'est levé de bonne heure pour voir les moines se présenter au village afin de recevoir de la nourriture et des offrandes de toutes sortes des croyants bouddhistes et parfois des touristes. Il a aimé l'expérience et il vous en reparlera dans les prochains textes car de mon côté, j'y vais demain. Au fait, il faut être debout vers 6h00 pour les voir. Après le petit déjeuner, nous avons décidé de louer un scooter encore une fois afin de visiter les alentours de la ville qui offrent un grand éventail de temples...

Jan 20, 2012 - Luang Prabang, un site de patrimoine mondial nommé par l'UNESCO en 1995

Allo tout le monde Nous sommes à Luang Prabang depuis hier en fin de journée. La ville est définitivement une surprise pour nous avec son architecture de style français assez récent et plus agé et ses services abondants. Le centre-ville est plein de restos, guess-houses et magasins de toutes sortes pour plaire aux touristes qui sont très nombreux dans cette ville. Peu peuplée, environ 70 000 habitants, elle s'est ouverte au tourisme depuis les années 1990 et est inscrite à l'inventaire des sites du patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO depuis...

Jan 19, 2012 - Le Mekong - fleuve majestueux

Nous venons de terminer une superbe croisière de 2 jours sur le fleuve Mékong de Huay Xai à Luang Pragbang. Ce parcours est renommé et très couru par les visiteurs du Laos. À la dernière minute (mardi soir), on a trouvé sur internet, un forfait qui nous semblait très intéressant. Donc à 22h00, on envoyait un courriel à la personne contact en espérant partir le lendemain matin à 9h00. La chance était avec nous, la personne nous a répondu et le lendemain matin à 7h30, on règlait la paperasse et on avait l'info pour un départ à 9h30. Nous...

Jan 17, 2012 - Weaving through Luang Prabang

There are numerous trips one can take from tourist stays like Luang Prabang. Go off to see the waterfalls, go off to see the cave, go off to see the blank. Why do that when at home one doesn't go off to see Takakawa Falls out by Field, B.C. or the caves at Moose Mountain by Bragg Creek. Why go see something here that is for free back home? Ah the tourist trap. One of the things we like to do is to just walk around and look at the city where we are at. There are so many visitors running around with Lonely Planet Guides in their hands...

Jan 16, 2012 - Luang Prabang

This was not a good day for me. The previous day we had started taking our antimalarial pills. Today it felt that maybe the prevention was worse than the disease. I was noxious, I was dizzy, I had the runs. I was in a funk. Before we left Calgary we had checked with the Travel Clinic for various toxins and tonics we would need for the places we were going. Two of the places had warnings as areas of malaria. We cancelled one in Cambodia but kept Luang Prabang in our sites. In hindsite the advice to take the medicine was cost effective for...

Jan 15, 2012 - turning to Luang Prabang

There was night class in rooster crowing going on next door to our hotel. The class started just after midnight. Not sure when they teach to crow at the crack of dawn, maybe just before they are released into the wild. The teaching rooster, in a feint cackle would go 'cockel doodle doo' and the three apprentices would immediately chime in 'cockel doodle spoon, cockel diddle mirth, and cockamanny' a couple of times. Then all was silent while the students pondered their mistakes. At the end of the hour the teacher would feintly call out the...

Jan 3, 2012 - Loas - Udomxai and Luang Prabang

Our first stop in Loas was Udomxai not really much to say about there apart from don’t bother going! There isn’t much to see apart from the museum which was mainly photographs. Next we left to go to Luang Prabang which was lovely we did a boat ride on the Mekong river and watched sunset, visited a small craft village nearby where they were making paper and scarves. We went to the waterfall which was really fun as you could swim there but the water was freezing cold. People were jumping in off the waterfall and off trees into the pool. The...

Dec 27, 2011 - Pak Ou Cave & Boat Ride Up the Mekong River

It was worth getting up early in the morning for, even though the air was crisp to say the least! As we walked to the boat dock we got to see monks dressed in their orange robes every where in town collecting alms from locals as offerings. This happens every morning in Laos. It was quite foggy as it is every morning & the walk was quiet & relaxing, only the odd tuk-tuk driving by. We stopped at a fresh bakery to get muffins, ham & cheese croissants & fresh Laos coffee for breakfast. The boat left at 8:30 with 6 people aboard. I think the...

Dec 25, 2011 - December 25 in Laos!

We still can't believe it's December 25th today, even though they have tried to make it seem so here in Luang Prabang! We forget what time of the year it is & then we see a weird shaped candy cane outside a restaurant or little kids spraying each other with cans of fake snow! Truth be told though, it is rather chilly here. We are in jeans & jackets, so are most of the other tourists. The locals are in puffy down winter coats, gloves & toques. I'll finish our week in Chiang Mai off first. In the last entry we were headed to to meeting that...