Laos has a very different feel from Vietnam. It’s supposed to be a “late developer” and “like Thailand was 30 years ago”. That’s not what we’ve found so far. There are more cars and less scooters than Vietnam. It’s more similar to Thailand though in the food and culture.
Our first stop is Luang Prabang. It’s a very pleasant small city at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. It has a lot of French influence from when it was invaded colonised, and has a nice atmosphere. Actually it should be “Luang Phabang”, not “Prabang”, and that’s how the locals pronounce it. This was due to a dumb mis-translation of a silent “r” from the early Laos script, and that has stuck in English. [Still, it could be worse. People from the Netherlands have to put up with being called “Dutch” as some dumb Brits thought that they were German (Deutsch)].
Proper backpackers
Our next house
We explored on our first day and visited the impressive “Wat Long Khoun” temple site. That was so strenuous (not) that we had to go for a very relaxing 60 minute massage.
The next day, we took a day trip to see some of the local sites. It started with a boat trip on the Mekong. The first stop was the Pak Ou Temple Caves. Michelle wasn’t happy about more caves. Inside the caves are thousands of Buddha statues. We had lunch at an Elephant park, and visited the beautiful Kuang Si waterfalls on the way back to Luang Prhabang.
Boating on the Mekong
There’s something in the cliff there
Yep, definitely something there
There are Buddhas inside
Michelle not happy in the cave
These guys seem happy
Another cave higher up – Michelle passed on this one
Wandering around the waterfalls
Watermill
Waves
Photobombed. Can’t imagine why I took that picture.
That’s better
Beautiful cascade
Bath time
Lunch time (bananas)
Bear-knuckle fighting
Local village weavers
Back in Luang Prhabang, we visited some more temples and “climbed” Mount Phousi (only 100m high) to the temples, with great views, at the top.
They have dragons in Laos too
Dragon boat
Ornate
Must be a princess
Portrait
Peaking from the top
This little piggy went to market
We met up with Scott from Tasmania who we met on our trip to Namibia. Coincidentally he is in Laos at the same time as us. He will be the fourth meeting we have had with people since that trip. We met Jacob and Bodil from Denmark in South Africa, Iris from Hong Kong in Hong Kong, and Di from New Zealand in Edinburgh. Scott is a bit of a beer monster, and was Ronnie’s drinking buddy on the Namibia trip. There were a few Beer Lao’s drunk!
I got Scott a present of a bottle opener made from bomb cases. During the Vietnam war, Laos became the most bombed country in history. The US dropped 260 million bombs! An estimated 30% of those didn’t detonate. So there is still a horrific legacy of unexploded bombs in the countryside.
