Laos is so green and hilly.There are only 6,5 mil people living in this huge country. There are little villages by the road, you can see how poor people there are . The roads are curvy and bad, it takes longer than you would think to get anywhere.
Luang Nam Tha
I found little bungalow with rice patties view. I almost wasn't mad about the cockroach that lived in my bathroom.
The town is small, with few restaurants and night and morning market. There are few tribal village women selling bracelets, hats and belts. They are funny, you can tell they enjoy the interaction with tourists. It is hard to say no, so I ended up buying lot's of cute hand-made bracelets.
I booked a kayaking trip for the second day. It is a dry season and the river are slow, and there weren't many people interested in going, I talked Shira , girl from my minivan, into it.
So we met up in the morning with the guy who sold us our trip ( Woods) to find out, that there are no guides in town ( they all left for trekking trips). So Woods decided to be our guide.
The river was sloooow.... barely moving. We had one inflatable kayak, two paddles and bottle of local Lao -lao whisky ( that Woods brought).
So we took turns paddling, having hard time steering the kayak, going zig-zag most of the time, getting stuck on every rock in the river. To make it more smooth, we would have shots of Lao-lao and sing songs. We visited few villages along the way . The jungle was lush and green and despite the hard work, we enjoyed the floating.
I left early the next morning on the minivan to Luang Prabang. Asap we left the parking lot, I knew we were in a trouble. Our driver was driving like a driver of F1, our wheels squeaking, the van getting dangerously close to flipping over. The drivers girlfriend who was sitting on the front seat got sick... out of the front window... twice. The road was challenging, going up and down the mountain. The final scary moment was when the brakes got overheated and our "Shumacher" started using the hand brake for braking . You can imagine how happy I was we made it alive to Luang Prabang!
Luang Prabang is charming town, set between two rivers. Lot's of colonial buildings, few markets and 11 monasteries put the town on the top of my list.
My hotel was near the river Mekong and it made for a perfect sunset watching spot.
I woke up at 5 am in the morning to go see the monks getting their alms from locals. It was little too touristy, with minivans bringing tourists who would also participate in the ceremony. " give monks a food".. little like feed the animals in the zoo.
I was walking away from it and came to the very end of the road and was lucky to find a spot away from the tourists. I only stayed for little , walking home by the river, enjoying the empty street.
I rented a scooter one day and drove to the Kuang Si waterfall. Lovely ride, I am getting more confident now. The falls were amazing, I got there early enough to avoid the tourist buses arriving in the afternoon. Good swim in the cold, turquoise water.
My visa for Vietnam are ready, so I am heading on to the next destination, Vang Vieng.
Luang Nam Tha
I found little bungalow with rice patties view. I almost wasn't mad about the cockroach that lived in my bathroom.
The town is small, with few restaurants and night and morning market. There are few tribal village women selling bracelets, hats and belts. They are funny, you can tell they enjoy the interaction with tourists. It is hard to say no, so I ended up buying lot's of cute hand-made bracelets.
I booked a kayaking trip for the second day. It is a dry season and the river are slow, and there weren't many people interested in going, I talked Shira , girl from my minivan, into it.
So we met up in the morning with the guy who sold us our trip ( Woods) to find out, that there are no guides in town ( they all left for trekking trips). So Woods decided to be our guide.
The river was sloooow.... barely moving. We had one inflatable kayak, two paddles and bottle of local Lao -lao whisky ( that Woods brought).
So we took turns paddling, having hard time steering the kayak, going zig-zag most of the time, getting stuck on every rock in the river. To make it more smooth, we would have shots of Lao-lao and sing songs. We visited few villages along the way . The jungle was lush and green and despite the hard work, we enjoyed the floating.
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| Making paper out of bamboo paste |
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| Our guide... |
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| Talking business in Laos |
I left early the next morning on the minivan to Luang Prabang. Asap we left the parking lot, I knew we were in a trouble. Our driver was driving like a driver of F1, our wheels squeaking, the van getting dangerously close to flipping over. The drivers girlfriend who was sitting on the front seat got sick... out of the front window... twice. The road was challenging, going up and down the mountain. The final scary moment was when the brakes got overheated and our "Shumacher" started using the hand brake for braking . You can imagine how happy I was we made it alive to Luang Prabang!
Luang Prabang is charming town, set between two rivers. Lot's of colonial buildings, few markets and 11 monasteries put the town on the top of my list.
My hotel was near the river Mekong and it made for a perfect sunset watching spot.
I woke up at 5 am in the morning to go see the monks getting their alms from locals. It was little too touristy, with minivans bringing tourists who would also participate in the ceremony. " give monks a food".. little like feed the animals in the zoo.
I was walking away from it and came to the very end of the road and was lucky to find a spot away from the tourists. I only stayed for little , walking home by the river, enjoying the empty street.
I rented a scooter one day and drove to the Kuang Si waterfall. Lovely ride, I am getting more confident now. The falls were amazing, I got there early enough to avoid the tourist buses arriving in the afternoon. Good swim in the cold, turquoise water.
My visa for Vietnam are ready, so I am heading on to the next destination, Vang Vieng.
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