Laos

Laos - there are only two words to describe this country and that is LAID BACK, to the extreme. Not talking about Tobago laid back....this place is on another level! The pace of life is so slow here that my time here left me questioning is it possible to be too laid back? It almost came across as borderline lazy to me, but it certainly is a beautiful and peaceful way to live life.

Laos people LOVE  a nap!

No one likes to work, no one hassles you to buy anything. Everyone just sits around their shops and take naps during the day. You can actually see them all sleeping as you walk past their homes with their doors open or napping in hammocks. It's as if they don't care about making money at all. It's a nice in the sense that you aren't bothered but sometimes can be frustrating if you are trying to do something or get somewhere. Guess you just have to appreciate the laid backness for what it is. We were told before coming how friendly the people are, but we only found this to be true outside of tourist areas. The men seemed to sit around with their friends drinking beer or looking after kids or riding bikes around while women seem to be doing all the work. Labour intense jobs usually done by men seemed to be done by the women here, like chopping coconuts, helping travellers unpack heavy bags and carrying lots of wood on their backs. Talk about gender equality. But this place is stress free - you never come across any bitterness or arguing. Everyone is happy and completely at peace. They probably age so well living this kind of life.

Feeling like a millionnaire at Laos ATM

Putting your feet up on chairs or tables while sitting is a big no-no in Laos and for someone who feels most comfortable sitting like that, I found it difficult to obey this rule. Shoes must always be removed as well before entering restaurants, homes and buildings. In Laos I felt like a millionnaire! The exchange rate is 8,000 kip to USD$1 so it was normal to withdraw 1,000,000 kip. For some reason though, money felt like it disappeared because it went so quickly but it was nice feeling like a millionaire for 2 weeks! The majority of land in Laos is jungle (85%) which is what makes this country's beauty. However, the Chinese are now leasing land in Laos to cut down trees for timber to sustain their population.
At the same time, Laos need the money to increase their standards of living. Tourism is starting to pick up now and we could see the construction going on in many places. Despite how nice the people are in Laos, we still faced many scammers and have come to accept its inevitable. Most of the people don't speak english and when you approach them some either ignore you or just smile.

Monks at the temple studying

We crossed the border from Thailand to Laos over the Mekong and took a slow boat to Luang Prabang down the Mekong for 2 days, overnighting in Pak Bang. The boat was very slow and the views quite repetitive for the 16 hours in all we spent on it. You really
begin to feel a bit bored after a while so a good book, music or someone to chat to helped pass the time. I actually liked the boat ride as I found it very relaxing. There were sights of children swimming on the sides of the river, locals fishing and driving by. The boat is for both locals and tourists so we stopped off in many little villages along the way to collect and drop off others. Despite the water being brown, it was still so beautiful and the colors against the green mountains made it different from all the other places we had been.

View from our window in Pak Bang

Pak Bang
We lucked out and stayed in a beautiful wooden cabana on the Mekong. I don't think I ever woke up feeling so content than that morning with the window open above our bed and the view of the clouds low down in the nearby mountains, the sounds of farm animals and boats going by. The night before when we arrived we were starving and excited to try some Laos food. We ordered a cucumber salad to share as a starter and were as soon as it touched our tongue we almost threw up. It was covered in fish oil and smelt horrible! The next morning we got breakfast served to our room for the first time on our trip which was nice. We took a slow boat again the next day and headed to Luang Prabang. Karen & I ordered tuna baguettes from our guest house to take on the boat to eat and I ended up getting sick from it towards the end of the ride. 

Luang Prabang

We lucked out again in accomodation on Luang Prabang and stayed at the Mekong Charm guest house which was all wooden, spacious and lovely people. As soon as we reached, I threw up my tuna baguette. Since then my appetite hasn't been the same and I havent been able to eat tuna again. I eat alot less now which is good cause I save money. Karen's friend Jason from South Africa met us in Luang Prabang for his two week holiday. We met up with him at a cool bar called Utopia which had mattresses overlooking the river, volleyball and a nicely landscapped setting.

As the Lonely Planet book states 'There are places that linger in the imagination long after you visit them', and this is exactly how I felt about Luang Prabang. There was something about that place that felt magical and timeless. It was extremely laid back and peaceful. Everything shut down by 11pm and in Laos everyone goes to bed early, waking up early so Karen and I enjoyed being grannies for our time here. The only places that serve alcohol after 11pm are the bowling allies but we didn't go to them. Despite all the town being built up with lots of beautiful french villas, there were hardly any cars and the roads were quiet. There were lots of monks in their orange garments around the temples. We rented bicycles for the three days we were there and rode around. The cuisine and shopping seemed to be quite upscale here and you could see this place is slowly becoming a popular spot, I think especially for honeymoons.

Waterfall

Luang Prabang Night market 

The night market and the arts and crafts markets were really cool as well but the waterfalls were definitely my highlight here. The Tat Kuang Si waterfalls which are 32km from the city. No one really spoke about them so I had no expectations, just thought it would be same old waterfalls I'd been seeing. This waterfall was breath taking and by far one of the best that I've ever got to swim in. It was completely surrounded by jungle and the water was menthol green and surrounded by limestone. The water was also cool but not too cold, perfect to dip in on a hot day. There were different levels you could walk up to and if you wanted you could make a trek and walk to the top. I jumped off one of the waterfalls a few times and swong off a big old beautiful tree on a rope into a pool of blue green paradise fresh water. The waterfall also had a bear nature reserve that rescues bears that are killed by chinese for something in their gall bladders that they use as medicine. Wish we stayed in Luang Prabang longer but with us being on a time limit we thought we had to leave and go explore other parts of Laos.

Renting bikes

I loved Luang Prabang, the only thing that was a downfall there was my boyfriend and I breaking up unexpectedly. I allowed it to put a damper on my travels for a few weeks. I wouldn't go into details on why we broke up but it's probably for the best. Not sure if we would get back together but we agreed to leave it for now and see how it is when I am in Trinidad. My heart felt sore and the last thing I wanted to do was spend the next 40 hours travelling to south Laos as we were heading to 4,000 islands near the Cambodia border. At that point I would have much rather been working busy all day than be travelling as I didnt want too much time on my hands to over think.
We took 2 overnight buses, one stopping in Vietienne and the other in Pakse. Yes we skipped the famous tubing party place Vang Vieng along the way. We didn't feel for that kind of scene although having just broken up I probably could have done with a good party to take my mind off things. I could count on one hand how many drinks I have had in the last 3 months since I started the trip and it feels good! The first bus we took was a nightmare - Karen and I had a tiny bed to share which was right next to the toilet in which the door for the didn't close properly so we spent our entire night being disturbed by people going to the toliet and us getting up to close the door ALL night. I don't know how this bus expects people to share that tiny bed especially if you were traveling alone and sharing with a stranger.

Vientiane

Laos national momument

For the day in Vientiane we got a room to keep our bags and shower. We went to see the most important national monument in Laos called the Pha That Luang. It was big and golden and a symbol of Buddhism religion. After this we went for a traditional Laos massage in a beautiful old wooden house outdoors. Since we have learnt Thai massage in Thailand, it was interesting to see the differences between a Laos and Thai massage. Many similarities between then but some strange differences but in the end the Thai massage I found much better.
We headed to Pakse on another overnight bus. Didn't sleep again for another night so when we finally arrived I felt exhausted, frustrated, hungry and time of the month. I was miserable also from the break up and I ended up in a petty argument with Karen. In my irrational state of mind, I walked off and went on my own. At that point I just wanted to be alone or to be home. It was the first time on my trip that I felt tired of moving around and wanted to quit. I knew once I got some food, sleep and time alone I would feel fine again. I got a boat to Don Khong island myself and Karen and Jason came and met me there later. Luckily, Karen was very understanding of my situation and was really mature in dealing with everything.
Don Kong

Rice farmer in Don Kong

Don Khong was very quiet, so quiet that we felt like we didn't belong here. When I say nothing happens here, I mean NOTHING! The biggest excitement for us would be a bike riding by or a boat passing by every few hours! Karen, Jason, myself and a lovely Austrian couple rented bikes and went driving around the island which ended up being one of my favourite days in Laos. We rode for 40km and took 5 hours as we stopped off many times to play with the children. I don't think I ever saw so many children in one day. There is obviously nothing better to do here than make babies. Again these children and people were the happiest I've seen and have nothing. Just more examples of why we don't need the things we have to be happy. As we rode past the villages, the kids spotted us from far and came running out to the road to wave and say 'saba dee' which means hello in Laos. Some of the kids were so excited they couldnt stop jumping up and down flapping their hands. Felt like a queen riding by and waving constantly, so much my hands got tired but I loved every minute of that day. We saw lots of workers in the rice plantations, pigs, cows, chickens, cats, dogs, ducks, wooden carts, farmers and cute little houses. Even saw men using buffalo to plough the rice plantaitions. No machines, just buffalo! Again, another place where these people have nothing but are so incredibly happy. The parents seem to spend so much time with their children and it just seems like the perfect place for a child to grow up. We stopped to drink some Beerlao (local beer) along the ride and in the end we saw the most amazing sunset I've seen on my trip. The sky was orange and set behind the water and houses and mountains.

With the kids in Don Khong

My least favourite thing about Laos would be the food. Maybe I wasn't adventurous enough but the local dishes I tried didn't go down so well. Karen and I tried the cucumber salad as our first local dish and we wanted to vomit! The shredded cucumber was soaked in fish oil! We did try some Mekong river fish which was also nice. Out of all the places I'd been, I found myself eating more western food than any other place. Maybe after three months the craving for my normal food is kicking in. I've mostly been craving cheese which south east asian people don't eat because most are lactose intolerant. Porridge is also a big craving as I used to eat that every morning.

Don Kon

Swimming in the Mekong - Don Kon

After two days on Don Khong, we took a boat to another island Don Kon which is much smaller and even quieter. Here we rented bicycles and rode to the Mekong waterfalls and the beach where we swam in the lovely brown coloured Mekong river water! Not as nice as the aqua water we same in Luang Prabang waterfall, but I still enjoyed it. Here we met Jonathan from Canada and Jake from Boston and five of us ended up having dinner on Don Det at a restaurant called Eden Garden which on a beautiful sunset point. Beautiful view and amazing food. The boys are both teachers in China so they shared lots of stories with us about life there which was very interesting. There is a big old bridge which connects Don Kon Don Det and eventually moved there as accomodation and food seemed much better. There are also the almost extinct irradaway river dolphins found here but we never ended up going to see them.

Don Det

The crew at Little Eden for sunset 

Here we did nothing but relax on hammocks, read, eat, lime and listen to music. I bumped into an american girl Anna who I met in Thailand and she joined us for our last day. We rented tubes and went down the Mekong River in the rain! I loved Don Khong because of the ride where we saw all the village children but Don Det was also really nice. Little Eden became our home - breakfasts, lunch and dinner. A bit pricey but the view, the food and the service was excellent. After a week in all on the islands, we said goodbye and got on a bus to Cambodia.

Almost every traveler I have asked about their favorite country in South East Asia - Laos has almost always been the response. You need to go there to see why. It's just so laid back, unlike anywhere else that I've been. Not even tobagonians can be as laid back! It's starting to really pick up with tourism so I am sure in 5-10 years it may be a very different place but I doubt anything could ever change its culture and slow pace (I hope).