Laos, Monday 27th September 2004 07:40
We have moved on lots of times and we have now made it to Luang Prabang in the north of Laos.
We left Vientiane and arrived four hours later in Vang Vieng which is a small and strange town. We had great fun one night when we had a few Lao beers in a bar and then headed to the local night club. Yes, we had too much to drink, so George and I both had hangovers the next day.
We went tubing down the Nam Song river. This meant being driven out of town and dropped at the river with a tractor inner tube, jumping on and floating down the river. This took three and a half hours including beer stops, caves and rope swings for George. Oh, and yes, a big bush full of flies - I was covered with them.
Just off Main Street
Nam Song river
We took a six and a half hour bus ride to the town of Phonsavanh which is so small it only has one main road. People come here for the Plain of Jars. This consists of about 14 sites with massive stone jars on them. There are three main sites you can visit, which we did. The jars mostly weigh between 600 Kg to a tonne each and the biggest weighs six tonnes. The first site is the biggest and has a good cave with a hole in the roof which looks amazing when the sun shines through. The Mine Advisory Group is clearing all the unexploded ordinance from the site. The workers look for mines and UxO by site and get paid $3 a day. The guys with metal detectors get paid $5 a day - bad pay for an amazing job. We gave a donation at their shop in town. Site two is on two hills and site three is a nice walk across paddy fields and up a hill, set in trees. The pots have been there so long the trees have grown in and around the jars. Some of the jars were damaged when the USA dropped lots of bombs on Laos during the secret war, (at the same time as Vietnam).
We only stayed in Phosavanh for two nights as there is nothing to do. We moved on again, getting the local bus at 8.30am. This is the worst bus we have been on so far. The seats are so bad and small I had to crush my knees into the seat in front. We had this for eight hours and only one stop for 15 minutes after six hours on mountain roads. Loads of ups and downs, hairpin turns and overheating brakes.
The Plain of Jars
The site you are about to enter is currently being cleared of UXO (Unexploded Ordinance)
Please do not cross into any roped off areas displaying these signs.
We finally arrived in Luang Prabang where we found a guest house and had a walk round town. It has one main street and a great night market, but that closes early as it has rained at about 9pm most evenings here.
We walked around the royal palace museum yesterday. There was some good information about Laos's royal family. We chatted to a girl called Rebecca about the places she had been and told her about the what we had seen in Laos. We then climbed the hill in the middle of town which had a temple on the top and great view of the town and the Mekong river. I met up with Rebecca and her friend Holly at a chilled-out book shop. They were watching a film and I arrived at the end. After a quick chat we went to the Hive bar next door for a few drinks as we did not want to go back when it was chucking it down with rain. The Hive bar is a cool place with some great music. We left about 11pm and headed back to our guest houses. I got back to mine about ten minutes later and it was all locked up as they close the doors at eleven. I had to bang on the door to get in.
We tried to get a boat trip to the Pak Ou caves today but we were too late so we will go tomorrow. Instead we walked around town looking to hire mountain bikes but only found one so George is in the book shop chilling out and I am here Emailing you lot.
The days are very hot and sunny but it gets dark at 6.30pm and has rained the last two nights. It is still warm at night and you have to have the fan on.
View from the Wat Tham Phu Si temple at the top of the hill
The Mekong river and the entrance to the Pak Ou caves
5000 Buddhas and George with a whisky sour:
Small wat with drum:
Tat Kuang Si waterfall
Water buffalo:
