Laos - Luang Prabang - Vang Vieng - Ventiane
What can you say about Laos?
Despite being one of SE Asia's poorest countries (by far), it has a peaceful quality to it.
It's chilled.
Relaxed.
So much that SE Asia is not anymore.
I flew from Hanoi to the northern city of Luang Prabang (LP for short). LP is located on the Mekong River and used to be the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Laos until the communist took over in 1975.
Rather surprisingly, LP boast small streets, fashionable coffee houses (no Starbucks, but who needs it here! The coffee is ace!), Buddhist temples, a night market, the Mekong River and most importantly French Baguette and Vache Qui Rit (for less that 1 USD!).
I stayed in an awesome hostel called SpicyLao. The vibe was amazing. As I arrived, people were playing badmington, everyone smiled, said hello ... made me feel welcome straight away.
The mood was already chilled but things were about to get better. After sharing a feast from the local market (12 pple hungrily tucking their fingers into sticky rice, fresh fish, chicken, sweet chilli sauce, nems...) it was decided that we would use the remnants of someone's St Patrick's Day face paint on each other before heading out to the bowling alley (the only place open after 11 pm as LP has a curfew).
The rest of the evening is blurry at best. It might look a little like this...
Food - Face Paint - Tuk Tuk - Bowling - BeerLao (the BEST) - Spicy Noodles - BeerLao - Home.
I had initially planned to stay 2 nights in LP, but in the end stayed 4. That is the nature of the place. Had a redcross massage, bought some souvenirs at the night market, sipped coffee, chilled on the veranda, went to a waterfall, chilled some more... and most of all enjoyed spending time with a great group of people. Jimmy, Kelly, Jan, the Dutch, the Irish, the Canadian...raaah...a great group.
The rest of my Lao trip was cut short due to monsoon amounts of rain. It rained...rained...and rained again from LP to Vang Vieng (the home of tubbing but I wouldn't know as i spent the day hiding from the rain watching friends) and finally to the capital Ventiane.
The rain eased off a little but I was only spending one afternoon in the capital as I had already booked my onward journey back into Vietnam. Ventiane was surprisingly manageable. A small city for a capital, benefiting from the Mekong River, ample green spaces and most notably a still strong french influence (with their own version of l'Arc du Triomphe!). Buildings have remained low, the post office still has it's french name and build ... and the food...well let's say it made a french gal happy.
Despite being one of SE Asia's poorest countries (by far), it has a peaceful quality to it.
It's chilled.
Relaxed.
So much that SE Asia is not anymore.
I flew from Hanoi to the northern city of Luang Prabang (LP for short). LP is located on the Mekong River and used to be the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Laos until the communist took over in 1975.
Rather surprisingly, LP boast small streets, fashionable coffee houses (no Starbucks, but who needs it here! The coffee is ace!), Buddhist temples, a night market, the Mekong River and most importantly French Baguette and Vache Qui Rit (for less that 1 USD!).
I stayed in an awesome hostel called SpicyLao. The vibe was amazing. As I arrived, people were playing badmington, everyone smiled, said hello ... made me feel welcome straight away.
The mood was already chilled but things were about to get better. After sharing a feast from the local market (12 pple hungrily tucking their fingers into sticky rice, fresh fish, chicken, sweet chilli sauce, nems...) it was decided that we would use the remnants of someone's St Patrick's Day face paint on each other before heading out to the bowling alley (the only place open after 11 pm as LP has a curfew).
The rest of the evening is blurry at best. It might look a little like this...
Food - Face Paint - Tuk Tuk - Bowling - BeerLao (the BEST) - Spicy Noodles - BeerLao - Home.
I had initially planned to stay 2 nights in LP, but in the end stayed 4. That is the nature of the place. Had a redcross massage, bought some souvenirs at the night market, sipped coffee, chilled on the veranda, went to a waterfall, chilled some more... and most of all enjoyed spending time with a great group of people. Jimmy, Kelly, Jan, the Dutch, the Irish, the Canadian...raaah...a great group.
The rest of my Lao trip was cut short due to monsoon amounts of rain. It rained...rained...and rained again from LP to Vang Vieng (the home of tubbing but I wouldn't know as i spent the day hiding from the rain watching friends) and finally to the capital Ventiane.
The rain eased off a little but I was only spending one afternoon in the capital as I had already booked my onward journey back into Vietnam. Ventiane was surprisingly manageable. A small city for a capital, benefiting from the Mekong River, ample green spaces and most notably a still strong french influence (with their own version of l'Arc du Triomphe!). Buildings have remained low, the post office still has it's french name and build ... and the food...well let's say it made a french gal happy.
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