Laos, October 2006 - Kim


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After the bus ride from hell from Vietnam to Laos, the 8 survivors of the trip went to get a beer. I had arrived in the capital of Laos, Vientiane. The Beer Lao is one of the best Beers in Asia. I found the atmosphere clearly different than in Vietnam. When you get a smile in Vietnam it means, give me your money. In Laos it means hi.

Vientiane is not what you would think of a capital. Its kind of peaceful, again with a lot of temples and Buddha’s. I felt home straight away. Even more when I arrived in Vang Vieng, a hippy laid back town with not much more to do than relax and enjoy. In the bars and restaurants you can half lay/sit down and watch TV. Order a meal or drink from a happy menu, which means, a opium tea, mushroom pizza, a marijuana shake etc etc. You can go tubing, float on a inner tube and enjoy the scenery, stop along the way for a beer and swing back in the water by a flying fox. Great time I had here. One of the survivors of the bus ride came along with me and he introduced me to a couple from England, who I later spent Christmas with in Australia. We explored the surroundings and found a cave. We were not the first ones because there was a Buddha statue in there. Later that day we took a bus to a lagoon. Clear blue water with a waterfall. Lovely. In Luang prabang (the old capital) we celebrated a full moon party.

Two days later there was another party, - the end of the rainy season, which was celebrated with boat races on the Mekong river and at evening with water lights. From here I made a trip up to Pak pé, three hours by bus and four hours by boat. Here were no tourists, no electricity and no problems. I stayed for three nights and it was one of the most remote places I have ever been to. Loved every minute of it. The first night the owner of my room woke me up to make sure I packed my stuff in case of emergency. It was raining very hard and the river was rising fast. My room/bed was about 3 meter from the water edge and it was going to be washed away if it did not stop raining soon. It did so I did not have to move. The next day I made a walk up to a waterfall. After a refreshing shower under the waterfall I noticed a few leaches on my legs, so I went back to get salt to remove them. After these three days I went back to Luang Prabang to take a flight to Chang Mai (Thailand). I was quite done with buses and boats at that time. Even the fast boat crossed my mind to do. 

Before I left Laos I had a massage and some good food and beer to say goodbye. This was for me the best place in south east Asia. Nice people, good, cheap food and beautiful nature.

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