Laos
Ok im gonna put some more pictures on this post but if you wanna see this post and its pictures in isolation then just click in the name of the post (i.e. Laos) on the right hand side of this screen under ‘Recent Entries’. That way it will just load up these pics and not all of them which will take ages.
Ok, cool, so now iv been in Laos for about 8-9 days. I started out in the capital Vientiene and stayed there for a day, then made my way north towards Vang Vieng and im now in Laung Prabang.
Time for shock horror comment of the day…………Laos is ten times better than Thailand!
All the locals are super friendly and place itself is largely untouched and just naturally beautiful. I think now is a good time to be here because theres enough backpackers around to make it easy to travel and meet people, but not overdeveloped (Bangkok) enough to make it the same as every tourist backpacker destination.
They have a beer here called Beer Lao which is the best beer in the world. Asian beers are generally superb but this beer is friggin superlative. Thailand have banned it because they know it’ll kill off Singha and Tiger beer over there. That says it all really doesnt it? It costs 60p for 1.5 pints of it too! the best bit is that because its just pure beer and not filed with loads of crap, you properly dont get hangovers off of it!
Getting into Vientiene was such an odd experience. Its like life has literally been slowed down by about 50%. Its laid back to the extreme, and the resultant of that is that everyone is calm, relaxed and enjoying life for what it is, rather than everyone just trying to make a quick dollar.
Its a shame because some parts are properly going down the Bangkok route but thats just natural progression right. Im starting to get pissed off with people who say, ‘yeah i think its tragic and unnecesarry that theyre ripping up the gravel roads and laying down tarmac for better transport……blah blah blah.’ Cummon, are you having some of big fat hairy laugh? If you were living on a pittance and you had the chance of tourism increasing cashflow into the area would you be complaining then? Just sit down, shut up, and drink a Beer Lao you idiot.
In Vang Vieng we went tubing for 3km down the Mekong river. Tubing is when you sit in a huge donut ring and float down a river/slope etc. There are bars every couple hundred meters playing some banging choons! So we stopped off quite often for a Beer Lao and to swing ump into the river. I ended up chatting to this Finnish lass for aaagggeeesss and before we knew it it had got dark and we were lost! These little local kids helped us back on track and then we just found the nearest peer and walked back!
Yesterdayday me and some british girls went to a multi-tiered Waterfall about 30km out of th city. It was stunning, and the best bit was we could jump into it and have a swim around! Il put a few pics of that up.
As im sure your all aware, im officialy hooked on rock climbing. Its been great climbing in Laos because the scenery is fantastic and the routes are relatively new and it feels like your one of a select few who are climbing them. Climbing is in its infancy stage in Laos. I pulled off a 5a, 5b, 5c+ and a 6a+ in Vang Vieng. The 6a+ was my first overhang climb! (Overhang being when your climbing away from wall so your head behind your feet rather than infront, so basically gravity plays a bigger part.) Yday i climbed here in Laung Prabang and did a 4, 5a, 2*5c’s, and a 6a. There was a 6b that beat me, you had to hold your body onto the wall using your nails and somehow strafe a metre across the wall! Im gonna go back and nail that one at some point. My hands are not in good way so im going to give it a rest for a few days. I met a cool german bloke called Robert whilst climbing and he’s put me in contact with his good friend whos gonna be climbing in Chang Mai (Thailand) soon so im considering heading over there soon. My visa’s expring soon anyway.
Ok here are some pics,
Enjoy people.
Tags: backpacking, Climbing, Laos, Travel
thebigcheese69
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