Category: Laos

Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang is beautiful and almost magical. There are ancient temples, French colonial architecture, no buses or traffic, located at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan tributary and surrounded by jungled clad hills and mountains. UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site in 1995 so thankfully it has been spared from the overdevelopment that has tainted many other cities in Indochina. It hasn’t been too hot since we started the trip but now I know what everyone is talking about-its hot here. It’s very similar to inland Florida in August, hot and humid. We are located inland between Thailand and Vietnam but on the Mekong River so we get some nice breezes from that but nothing like an ocean breeze. So everything we do requires a break and a cool drink, we are moving in slow motion. Except for the nice hotels, nowhere has air conditioning. We are averaging 2-3 showers a day and little siestas in our cold villa! We just slowly explored the city during the days, sat in cafes and ate amazing food. I now need to find a great Laotian cookbook. The French food is also amazing since they colonized here for 60 years, you can see it in the architecture and food. What a beautiful place. Everything here seems to move in slow motion and it’s a nice change. It’s like an old French outpost that time has forgotten…except that everyone has a phone! The Night Market is amazing yet stifling at the same time. With all the tents lined up against each other, there is no open area for air movement so you just sweat as you stand there! During the cooler winter months they don’t use the tents, but we are not in luck now. Besides the many locally made items, the food is the best! There are stalls with everything imaginable and at each stall you get a plate and fill it up as high as you can for anywhere between $1.20-$1.80!! That was plenty of food for me and the boys, a man might have two plates but all the different choices and flavors were mind blowing!! One afternoon we all got traditional Lao massages. They aren’t as good as Thai massages but pretty good, especially when it costs $20 total for all of us to get an hour long full body massage! It was great having our friends we met in the slow boat here. We met up each night and had a great time at the market or dinner. The boys really enjoyed having kids their age to play with. We will miss them on the rest of our journey.

Pakbeng, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

I slept surprisingly well for the heat last night. The mosquito netting really kept us comfortable and bite free. The pouring rain while we slept was very nice to listen to. I didn’t want to leave the lodge this morning, it was so peaceful and beautiful. Ban Baw was our first stop today. It is another little village on the river bank. It’s very small, about 50 families. Here they make a traditional rice alcohol called lao-lao, it wasn’t very tasty. Local women weave beautiful scarves out of silk and silk and cotton right there in the village on looms in front of their homes. So of course I had to buy one of each. The kids were adorable there, they were very interested in our kids the same way ours were interested in them. After that my boys just spend the rest of the time trying to pet the baby pigs, chicks, goats, ducks or whatever other animals that are running around the village. Pak Ou Caves was our second stop after lunch. It is located on the Mekong and opposite the mouth of the Nam Ou River. There are two caves and thousands of Buddha statues inside. This is where they bring the damaged or worn out ones. It’s set up a lot of steps and into the cave, a lot of different areas to explore. I just opened the August issue of National Geographic and saw an article on Laos. It was a very interesting read and perfect timing for me. We arrived is beautiful Luang Prabang around 4pm after another beautiful day on the river. I read a lot and even napped today. I think the two days on the river was perfect, one would definitely not be enough and three too much. We were really lucky with the weather which was sunny and hot, but on the river with the breeze it was absolutely perfect. The boys had another fun day with their friends playing Yahtzee and all reading their Harry Potter books. Everyone is excited to explore Luang Prabang!

Huay Xai, Laos
We crossed the border from Thailand into Laos early this morning to board a slow boat down the mighty Mekong River to Luang Prabang. Over 70% of Laos is inaccessible mountain terrain so the Mekong is a major mode of transportation. It is a Communist country since 1975 after the Vietnam war but they are more tolerant than the Communism we know. They are allowed to practice religion, mostly Buddhism but Christianity is very scarce because they frown upon it. It was bombed by American forces every 8 minutes for 9 years during the Vietnam War because they border Vietnam and we were trying to suppress the spread of Communism. But the people are very friendly to Americans and just want to move forward in peace. Fifty percent of those bombs are still undetonated here in the country which causes a lot of problems so they still live with the war everyday In some areas. We took the slow boat because the trip along the Mekong is very scenic and such an experience. We are on the luxury boat because there are many that ply these waters and we don’t want to be stuck with a bunch of back packers! The boat holds 40 comfortably but there are only 17 on our journey. Luckily there are two boys from the UK almost the same age as Grant and Rowan! We couldn’t have asked for any better. They are happy and we are happy. We are spending the day reading, watching the scenery, eating….the food is amazing, they keep feeding us. Snacks to start, then a full Laotian lunch, then fruit plates, oh and there’s a bar! Nice bathrooms and outside decks, it’s perfect! I love the fact that we have nothing to do or no where to go, it’s such a great vibe. We stopped at a Lao village on the banks of the river. What an eye opening experience for the boys. They are a fortunate village because they moved from the mountains to the river bank and now they have electricity, running water and better huts. There still is no plumbing or modern conveniences but it is much better than before. Tourism is helping them sustain their village by building a school and giving them more opportunities. The boys saw that they don’t have TV……or Wii and Playstation!! Around 4pm we arrived in Pakbeng, a tiny village on the river bank half way to Luang Prabang. It isn’t really a village, just a few lodges for overnight stops. You don’t have to leave the lodge, we had cocktails on the deck overlooking the river, then a great dinner after. Since there are so few of us, we got to know each other pretty well and had a lot of fun. Everything is open air and natural. Each room is an individual hut on stilts overlooking the river. All the windows open up to the jungle and have no screens so there is mosquito netting on the beds. All the huts are situated along a beautiful raised walkway that meanders through lush landscaping with orchids and haleconia hanging off the branches. This is a place to really unplug, no phones, televisions, air conditioning, etc. There is wifi in the lobby but in the huts just time to read and sleep to the sounds of the jungle. I won’t need a sound machine, I have the real rainforest sound!