Aug 15, 2010 - Luang Prabang to Hanoi

A leisurely day today, which is easy to do with the slow pace of life in Laos. Got up, had breakfast then meandered into town, to the market. I wanted to get a vest with the "Tubing" motif on it. Asked at the night market last night and the woman hadn't got one in my size but said she would have it by today, so we are off to get it. Got there found the stall and she didnt have it, could we come back this evening? No we couldnt as our flight is at 4pm, so instead of getting a tubing vest I ended up with Beerlao tee shirt. Suppose I spent...

Aug 14, 2010 - Luang Prabang

We awoke at 5am, quickly got dressed and were out in search of Tak Bat. This is where each morning at around 6am, hundreds of resident monks leave their wat and walk silently down the streets in single-file to collect food offerings from the local people and unfortunately some tourists. The tourists seem to forget that it is a religous ritual not a cultural show for them. We watched and photographed it from a distance, however some tourists were right in the monks faces with their cameras. It is quite a sight to see and seems very fitting...

Aug 13, 2010 - Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang

Well we awoke from a very disturbed night. Neither of us had sleep, due to squawking gekos in our room and then a very heavy storm outside. We can normally put up with the storms as we are getting quite used to them now, however the water was comming through the rough and dripping onto our ceiling tiles then eventually onto our floor. Still we should get a chance to catch up on our sleep during the 7 hour bus trip to Luang Prabang. We were due to be picked up at 9.30am for the 10am bus, we ate breakfast and sat there waiting and waiting. We...

Aug 5, 2010 - luang prabang and epic journey getting here

so, we left chiang mai about 6 days ago and opted to get a bus to the border and then to make our way to laos by slowboat. When we booked the bus we were told it would take 4 hours so we booked the 12 pm bus, theoretically allowing 2 hours to get across the border (border shut at 6pm). as it turns out, this was a scam (sadly very common over here) and we were then told the bus would take at least 6 hours as we boarded it. strangely enough, the driver drove at exactly 50mph the entire way (on roads with speed limit of 70 - 80 mph) and we...

Aug 2, 2010 - Luang Prabang

Ausgestattet mit den obligatorichen Sandwiches ging es zum zweiten Mal auf den Mekong, allerdings hatten wir deutlich mehr Glueck als am Tag zuvor. Vergleichsweise puenktliches Ablegen, viel mehr Platz und keine Motorschaeden (wobei ich mich meine zu erinnern, dass der Motor irgendwann so heiss gelaufen war, dass er zeitweise abgestellt werden musste). Die Landschaft wurde im Laufe des Tages immer schoener und als wir dann am spaeteren Nachmittag in Luang Prabang ankamen hat sich Laos in einem sehr ungewohnten Zustand gezeigt. Wir wussten,...

Jun 4, 2010 - Luang Prabang

Jour 33 Voilà une bonne nuit de sommeil. Là, il ne faut pas que je me loupe, il faut absolument que je sois en forme. Aujourd'hui rien de plus simple, je vais réaliser mon rêve... et oui rien que ca! Nous partons avec notre guide pour l'occasion : "Bonwong" et deux autres touristes irlandais direction le camp. A l'arrivée, nous découvrons ceux avec qui nous passerons les 3 jours à venir, les Mahouts et bien sur les Éléphants!!!! C'est çà mon rêve: pendant 3 jours nous allons apprendre une partie du métier de Mahout, c'est à dire nourrir,...

May 31, 2010 - Luang Prabang

Jour 28 Nous prenons un bus de jour de Phonsavanh à Luang Prabang et nous arrivons en fin d'après midi. Après une recherche intensive de guesthouse avec vue sur le Mékong et de faux espoirs (bah oui 60,00 ca veut dire 60 dollars et non 60 000 kip!!! On comprend tout de suite mieux pourquoi c'était si beau!!), dur le retour à la réalité de notre chambre à 6 dollars!!(réellement 60 000 kips)) Enfin les sacs à dos posés, nous pouvons trinquer sur une terrasse au bord du Mékong... c'est irréel! Le soir, bien motivé nous partons à la recherche...

May 26, 2010 - Luang Prabang

26th May It's WELL my birthday. Was even treated to breakfast in bed in an elaborate bid to stop me from going outside so I didn't find them decorating the crazy party birthday bus in balloons. Balloons on the wing mirrors and a trillion inside, which, imoressively had been inflated and stored in simon and peters room since yestrday. Sophie, Nat and Kat were hungover for the first time and didn't appreciate it's coincidence with a 7hr journey of forever popping balloons. People were playing batting them around they kept being sucked out of...

May 23, 2010 - Luang Prabang - waterfalls, elephants and the most scenic toilet in the world...

Hi All, So we've had a busy few days - we left Chengdu and spent a couple of days in Jinghong and then crossed over the border into Laos where we spent the night in a small village before a 10 hour drive to Luang Prabang. Laos is one of the nicest places I've ever seen, it's such a pretty country and very very warm. The only downside is seeing all the poorer areas of the country where people live in wooden shacks, although the children all smile and wave as you go past which is quite nice. One little girl even blew a kiss as we walked past!...

May 13, 2010 - Luang Prabang (Laos)

The road from the Thai border to Luang Prabang winds through beautiful rugged green peaks and the occasional bamboo hut style village. It's like stepping back in time. There are no built up areas at all and very few brick or stone built buildings. Luang Prabang itself is a small and picturesque French colonial town sat on the banks of two main rivers, the Mekong and the Nam Khan. On every street there are temples and monks in orange robes. Whilst here I went on a boat trip to visit Pak Ou caves in the limestone cliffs on the banks of the...

May 3, 2010 - Luang Prabang

a lovely city...looks very european...and you can easily spend a few days here! met another german girl on the busride to here and we decided to share a room...finally some saving on the moneyfront! days here just fly by...cheap massages, massive day- and night-market, several waterfalls and temples to visit, good restaurants and cool bars. wed: we decided to rent a bicycle to get to the 35km away waterfall (really can't remember who had this stupid idea!)...in the end it seemed a good decision as in a tuk-tuk (which has a roof) you miss...

May 2, 2010 - Sabai Dee from Luang Prabang

Sabai Dee all, (Greetings) We are having a wonderful time in Luang Prabang. It is a very quaint and quite city. Very different from Cambodia or Thailand. Very little hawkers ( or people soliciting your business). As mentioned before, our hotel is so lovely. There are about 18 rooms and I think only about 6 are occupied. The staff really goes out of their way to assist. Somewhat difficult with some as they speak little English. Our trip yesterday on our motorbike was quite adventurous. We headed up into the mountains and explored some of the...