Last Updated on May 20, 2020 by PowersToTravel
When we travel, each night I download our photos to our tiny laptop. We select the best of the day and create a photo collage, and email it off to family and friends, and post it on Facebook – kind of like a newfangled postcard.
This means that I have an entire folder of our trip in a nutshell with pictures and text. All that is missing is the sounds and smells – and I often keep a log of those in addition! So, our gift to you is our 9-day Lao adventure and itinerary, in a nutshell, complete with the text we sent home, describing our days.
Perhaps 9 days is an exaggeration, you know how tours say “10 day tour” when Day 1 is “arrival” and Day 10 is “departure”. Well, I’ve done the same, except that we actually did things on the departure date.
Day 1 – Arrival in Luang Prabang from Siem Reap by air
Hi,
We flew to Luang Prabang in Laos, and arrived safely, and rather expeditiously through immigration.
We learned that while Americans and Europeans call it Laos (that’s the S at the end), the people here call their country Lao (without the S), themselves Lao and their language Lao. (But their currency is Kip).
We are staying in a really nice hotel set in a jungle garden atmosphere, with lily ponds all around. Since it was evening when we arrived, we decided to eat at the restaurant. It was so very atmospheric, with the tables on boardwalks right near the lily ponds, which were lit with twinkling lights. The maitre d’ was French and we were offered an “amuse-bouche” (teeny appetizer). I had a short sleeved shirt on, and it is chilly here in the mountains, and they provided us with little cashmere blankets. I think I could get used to this!
It’s late and we’re tired…..
Hotel: Maison Dalabua, superb
Tour: Backyard Travel, their website and my review
Day 2 – Around Luang Prabang
Pak Ou Caves, National Museum, Wat Mai, Wat Sensoukarahm
Hi,
We came up with a marketing slogan for “Lao”: “Lao is Wow”.
We had a really interesting day today. We took a 4 hr boat ride up and back to Pak Ou Caves, where pilgrims have placed thousands of Buddha statues. We went in a boat similar to the ones in the center picture. The ride on the Mekong was dramatically different than in Vietnam or Cambodia – mountains and one cliff at Pak Ou, skerries and small whirlpools. There was less local traffic than in Vietnam, but interesting traffic on the river nonetheless.
Then it was back to Luang Prabang to visit a couple temples. The pic in the lower left is of the late king’s funerary procession. There are wheels under the apparent boat, and it drove down the road. The large urn you can partially see is the king, standing upright in his urn, after having been embalmed. (You can’t actually see the king of course!)
Then we participated in a “Baci” ceremony, which is a special ceremony done by the “Wishing Man,” part Buddhist, part Animist, part Hindu, in which the wishing man chanted a long time, then tied a white rope around each of our wrists. Then about 6 women who attended and also chanted, tied white ropes around our wrists. As one by one they tied each rope, we had to hold the other hand up to the side of our face. It made for some very interesting pictures. Then we had to eat some of each of the little “treats” they gave us – a banana, a rice cake, a piece of a tapioca cake, and two other cakes. We thanked them and went on our way. We are supposed to keep the ropes on our wrists for one day, then remove all ropes except one from each wrist, and wear that one for 7 days. As everything in Buddhism, it seems to be about good luck (karma). I’m certainly not up for wearing the ropes, so we have removed all the ropes, and I’ve tied one to my camera. I’ll tell the guide that I put the rope on something I value. Hopefully he won’t be insulted.
Then we went out to dinner and a wander around the night market. The night market here is very colorful and the vendors are not pushy, so it was a very nice time.
Greg is already asleep and I am envying him, so I’m going to say “Good Night.”
Day 3 – More Luang Prabang area
Wat Visoun, Kuangsi Waterfalls and Bear Sanctuary, Dance Show at the Royal Theater
Hi,
It’s now late, and it’s been a cold rainy day and we want to go to sleep!
Today it rained all day and we got wet and cold, but not as cold as most of you on this email!
A beautiful waterfall, a crafts village where Greg learned to make paper from Mulberry bark, two more temples, the national museum (no pics allowed), and a Laotian dance show.
It was actually a very nice day full of colorful and interesting things.
Day 4 – Drive to Phonsavon
Hi!
We haven’t yet seen the Plain of Jars, which is a Plain which has a bunch of Jars on it. The Jars are huge stone jars, made, hmm, I don’t know when because we haven’t had our tour yet, but thousands and thousands of years ago. No one knows the meaning of the Jars.
However, to get here was not pleasant. I say that with restraint. And I dread the return as we have to go back on the same road for 7-8 hours. Why do I say this? The road, when it did not go up and down went right to left and when not right to left, went left to right. Day before, going to the waterfall we were on a similar road and I got terribly car sick. We kicked the tour guide into the back seat, I took some prescription drugs and managed to get back to that hotel will all parts intact. However….. our guide told us that yesterday we would be going on a similar road for 6.5 to 7 hours!
So, with the guide in the backseat, and my wristlets on, I hoped for the best yesterday. It was grueling and the weather was bad – drizzling and very low clouds through the mountain – meaning we were driving in the fog on superwidy roads which were half-paved at times. The good news is that Greg did not have to do the driving, Wendy did not throw up, we visited some very “rustic” villages, and we got here safely. Here = the town of Phonsavon.
Our guide took us on a walk up a hill into a village and was that a disaster. Greg’s shoe got stuck in the mud, and he accidentally traipsed in the red clumpy mud in his sock! We were happy that we didn’t actually go face first at any point. That’s why the key pic is of a mud hill!
Did I mention it is cold? It was in the low 50’s overnight, and there’s no heat in the hotel. And our hotel is built as a series of little duplexes…. so brrrrrr. They gave us a space heater which basically warmed the space that the heater occupied – but not the space we were occupying!
We did get a very nice suite, with a living room which has a unique (in a good way) fireplace, and someone came to light a fire for us. It didn’t give us warmth, but we cuddled on the couch (last pic).
We’ll see what the next day brings.
Hotel: Hotel Vansana Plain of Jars, cold rooms, hard beds, non-existent Internet, large unit, good menu choices – a mixed bag.
Day 5 – The Plain of Jars
Well, isn’t this strange – I went to paste in the email message from the day, and found that we hadn’t written one. I just realized why – the internet is so slow out here in Phonsavon that we never did even write a note.
So I’ll write it now.
The day almost made up for the dreadful drive here. We went to a local market, once again saw how locals make rice spring-roll coverings. We went to three very different locations with Jars. One was a hilltop and had the most tourists. You could see the MAG markers on the ground showing the area the land-mine removal crews had authorized as safe. It was so disheartening to hear about this secret war that America had waged on Laos, and the amount of munitions we dropped and how much damage we had done and life we had taken, and how many people are still being injured and killed by the unexploded ordnance in the fields.
We went to another field in which we had to cross a large farm field and rice paddy to reach a beautiful glade filled with Jars. A third field was once again atop a hill.
The entire visit was tranquil and a little eerie – why had they created those Jars, and why so many of them?
Phonsavon is an up-and-coming town. You can see a lot of road construction – rotaries and access roads, as if they expect to grow. And they will, since it has now been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Day 6 – Road trip back, and south to Vang Vieng
Hi!
We’re in a new hotel, new town and Internet speed is back to normal!
Today we saw, and Greg climbed on, a former Russian tank left over from the “Vietnamese War.” It has been left to rot in a field as it would be too hard to move it, and they have no war museum.
Then we were toodling along the road and suddenly saw two children in colorful costume running along the side of the road. Our guide and driver stopped the car quickly because there was a Mong New Year celebration underway. The Mong are one of the three major minority groups in Laos. The children, from aged perhaps 2 to perhaps 17 were beautifully dressed. They were playing games in an empty yard – the older girls and a couple boys were lined up in rows throwing tennis balls back and forth and laughing a lot. They made space for me, and I stood there in my western tropicwear playing catch with the girls. Greg has a picture of it, but we had so many other pictures of the event, it didn’t make the cut for the collage. Clearly I really liked this one girl’s hat. (I must have 5 pictures of her!)
Then we stopped for lunch at a restaurant perched at the top of the mountains. The picture does not do the view justice. I hope when we get home Photoshop can do something with my other pictures of the view.
Then it was on down the road to Vang Vieng, which is home to beautiful limestone mountains just popping up out of no-where. The picture in the lower left is the view from our hotel room.
About 15 minutes after that picture from our hotel room, it began bucketing rain. It was amusing to see the kayakers coming home, with their kayaks almost as full of rain as the river. It hasn’t stopped raining yet (9pm). But the weather is supposed to be good tomorrow.
Hotel: Inthira Vang Vieng, very modern, comfortable, good view of river, great breakfast buffet, poor reception staff.
Day 7 – Drive to Vientiane
Hi!
We are tucked in and done partying, and it is 8:35pm on New Years Eve. We walked down to the Mekong River park in Vientiane and the party has started there. It was a nice walk along the promenade.
Today started with it still raining in Vang Vieng (pic). We got on the road anyway, and by the time we made our first stop at a Fish Market (pic) it had stopped raining. Each stall at the market was identical. Identical products, identical presentation. It was the same the day before yesterday when we passed (and did not stop at) the orange stands. We can’t figure out how an individual owner can make any money and attract customers.
We had arrived in Vientiane just after noon, and the sun was brightly shining and the temps were in the low 80s (aren’t you just drooling?) We ate lunch, delivered our 7 kilograms of laundry to the shop and took a nap. Wendy was so intent on going for a swim that we went to the pool. However by then we had almost complete cloud cover and it was not quite hot, and the water was cold. So, Wendy swam just a bit and then kept warm on the chaise. With that get-up it was very comfortable.
Then it was another nap (getting the picture?) and off for a nice dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant, and then the New Year’s walk on the promenade. There is a live band, and we could see where they have set up fireworks. Altogether a satisfying day.
Tomorrow we are back to golden temples and the historic buildings of Vientiane, the capital of Laos. After mountains, mud and jungle villages, it will be a cosmopolitan break. I actually took a picture of the road into Vientiane, but did not include it, in which there are curbs, white traffic lines and traffic lights. Our walk tonight was exciting in that the sidewalks are intact, there are curbs, no scooters driving or parked on the sidewalks! A real promenade along city streets and then the riverfront.
Hotel: Ansara Hotel, lovely hotel, pool, breakfast and staff
Day 8 – Vientiane
Wat Sisaket, Presidential Palace, Patuxai, Buddha Park, Pha That Luang
Hi!
Today was a picture perfect day. Temps in the high seventies-low eighties with bright blue skies. We met our new guide San for our one-day tour of Vientiane. It started at Wat Sisaket, which is the oldest temple in Vientiane, restored by the French after the town was burned down by Thailand in the eighteen hundreds. The murals inside were beautiful and just restored last year, but no photos allowed! So sad.
Then we took a peak through the fence at the former Presidential Palace (pics but didn’t make the cut for the collages), and a view down the avenue towards the Lao Arc De Triomphe, called Patuxai (pic included of that).
Then we drove 50 minutes from the city to see the “Buddha Park”. Part of the drive was on unpaved road – straight and fast but oh so dusty! The Buddha Park is the sometimes nightmarish creation of a very strange mind. Very strange Buddhas and Hindu gods vying for our attention. Many of them I didn’t actually even notice until we were just now reviewing the pictures. One of the key creations was a giant pumpkin-like structure (Greg shown in its mouth). We climbed in the mouth, climbed down a steep stone staircase of very high narrow steps into “Hell”. Then climbed up to “Earth” and finally achieved “Heaven”. To get out from Heaven to the roof of the structure we had to climb out on all fours through another mouth-like structure (there’s an interesting pic of Wendy which thankfully did not make the cut either.)
We did include a picture of the two of us in front of an indescribable creature.
Then on the way back the guide so kindly stopped the car at Wendy’s request at a land-decor / spirit house store. We’ve seen so many of these stores throughout Southeast Asia, and Wendy so badly wanted a good picture. So there it is.
Next we visited a large temple complex, Pha That Luang, which contained a huge gold-painted stupa (pic of Wendy, obviously). The interesting feature of this temple was that it was the home of our guide San for seven years. He was the stereotypical Lao (or Cambodian) poor child – parents had 14 children and could not educate them, sent the boys to the temple as novices. San spent one year in the temple in his local province, then transferred somehow to this temple. He remained in the temple as a monk for 8 years. Then he went to university and found that being a monk was too confining to allow him to excel at all his studies (that’s what he said, Greg wonders if it was the girls 🙂 ) Anyway, he left the temple and got his university degree and met his now wife. He told us stories of sneaking to the Golden Stupa at night with his novice buddies and eating the food offerings!
We stopped at the Pataxai Arc De Triomphe, where we climbed the seven stories to the top.
A late lunch and we were delivered back to our hotel for our “afternoon at leisure”. For Greg that meant a full afternoon nap.
Interesting dinner – we ate at a highly recommended Tripadvisor American food restaurant to find the owner is a Canadian-Lao person, who spent his entire life in Canada, and has returned to Vientiane to open a restaurant. After a bad burger he was so apologetic that he gave us a free apple pie! Wendy was in heaven with her portion, and Greg has just now finished his final pieces. It was a small pizza pie crust with apples, cinnamon and maple syrup, with ice-cream on the side. (We ate the ice cream at the time!)
Wendy is rather chatty tonight. Must have been having an afternoon at leisure.
Day 9 – Last morning in Vientiane
Hi,
We spent some time wandering our Vientiane neighborhood near our Ansara Hotel, taking pictures of the many local temples. We probably will see only one more temple on our vacation, so Wendy wanted to make sure she made the most of things in Vientiane. Then we walked to a park to see the statue of the former great King, who was killed by the Thai when the Thai invaded and burned Vientiane in the 19th century. The bottom of the statue was decorated with hundreds of small elephants and horses, and it was so pretty Wendy couldn’t resist several photographs. She’s only forcing you to have to look at one of the pics (in the collage!).
We learned on the first day that “Europeans and Americans” call the country Laos, the people Laotians and the language Laotian, however the Lao people themselves, call their people Lao, their country Lao and their language Lao.
So, for that reason we say “Good by to Lao.”
On to the airport, and our flight to Surat Thani, Thailand.
Click here for all my posts about Lao
If you want to follow our itinerary through our entire 65-day Southeast Asia Odyssey click here for the next country, Thailand’s southern mountains and beaches
