The Plan B Adventure

Wow….what a great time we had learning and experiencing Laos. Starting in the far North, venturing into the untravelled East, and finishing up in the unassuming capital of Vientiane. We will have to save the South and it’s island mystique for another “round-the-world” trip. It looks like an entirely different experience altogether.

Well, of course, by now you’ve had time to follow our Mekong slow boat trip that took us to Luang Prabang as well as the time to read and view our great experiences in the Lao provinical capital. After L.P. we booked a public (meaning: cheap $8) Lao bus from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan, which are only 273 kms apart yet the trip is a good 10 hours. Oh yea…..we were prepared for this one. We got to the station early, strategically sat across from each other (monopolizing a double seat each), and buckled in for the adventure. By this time we were beginning to understand every trip on Lao transportation of any kind was an all-inclusive adventure of people, personalities, smells, sounds and, inevitably, livestock. At least on this bus they put the rooster in a cage on the top of the bus!!!

In all seriousness, if we can recommend to fellow travellers a way to get to Phonsavan this is it. All you need is a sack lunch, quite a bit of bottled water and kneepads. The only slightly uncomfortable part of this trip is if you happen to be taller than the average Laotian, which is gotta be 5’5″ so we both qualify. Unless you want to spend the $50 for a 30 minute flight, pony up the $8 each and jump onto this bus for Mr Toad’s Wild Ride. After quite a few fun and, not so, comfortable (Thanks China!!) bus adventures this is tame and gorgeous.

Over the 273 km trip we think we counted 1025 lane changes, 2371 hair-pin turns, and countless occasions when we could have easily envisioned ourselves plunging off a 3000 foot ravine. Now if you are weathered for this type of travel (As we are!!) then this is a gorgeous ride. The Lao mountain ranges differ tremendously. Each consist of their own lush vegetation, unique hill-top and road-side villages, multiple well-placed primary schools, and the ever-present, risky local animal that thinks he’s faster than the bus. We swear they don’t kill their own chickens and cows for food in Laos they just wait for the buses (No, we didn’t hit any) to hit them. The local bus offers a great experience. The drivers stop often (albeit roadside) for potty breaks, locals jump off and on during the whole trip, plenty of space as your luggage is chained to the roof, and the seat cushions are surprisingly comfy…even if you DO have to sit on them for 10 hours.

Entering Phonsavan in the Xieng Khouang province is very interesting. This area borders Vietnam and contains multiple networks of tunnels used by Vietnamese and Lao alike in the war against the French and American imperialists. So as you descend from the mountains you encounter the sights of multiple pock-marked hills from the intense American military attack across an expansive, rolling landscape. The area is also more positively-known for it’s Plain of Jars (the reason we are here) discovery in the early 1900’s. These Jars are billed as being fairly mysterious yet as we come to find not so much when you put your mind to formulating (something the guidebook writers don’t do) an explanation. We couldn’t wait to see for ourselves and after settling into our $4 guesthouse in the sleepy, yet construction-filled town of Phonsavan we booked a tour and took a day to explore the mystery (??) of the Jars.

As we come to find from our fun guide, Vi Jang (not so much English but he’s gettin’ there) the Jars represent different, ancient burial sites. Unlike some of his colleagues (whom believe they were used to ferment rice whiskey) Vi Jang knows what he is talking about as we confirmed later on the Lao National History Museum in Vientiane. This area was a midpoint (albeit a remote point) on the southern trade route that linked the east coast of Southeast Asia with the East Indian trade routes. Due to this link many people accumulated in the area and took up residence. When they died the Jars were used either as a grave or crematorium. This theory was put together as archeologists found burial artefacts (gems, ironwork, etc) inside the jars along side fossilized bones. The more important people were buried on higher hills in larger Jars and the lesser lower lands. OK….so we hope that history interests some of you as much as us…there are also some pretty cool pictures if you are more visual.

After the Jars there isn’t much to see Phonsavan (bit of a one-trick pony) unless you want to see some of the U.S. landing strips for drug-running, numerous bomb craters, or other remnants of the war we love to hate. But we thought we’d save that history for Vietnam itself as we will be there in a few weeks time. We had a few great bowls of noodle soup and fried rice, checked out a local market, attempted the slowest internet access yet, then caught a VIP bus to Vientiane, a short 10 hours jaunt to the southwest.

Wow….what a city. We love Luang Prabang. Smiling locals, great colonial architecture, beautiful Mekong sunsets, an unexpectedly quiet atmosphere, and, of course, better than expected food.

We are finally getting the hang of it….constantly-changing travel, that is!!! As we arrived in L.P., per our last email we wandered up to the town from the slow boat drop-off and knew we’d love this place. We found our guesthouse in record time and, even, already had a reservation. Now we aren’t bragging, it’s just that we are proud of our learning curve!!
We knew that after a two-day boat ride some spoils were in order. First on the agenda was making up for a boring Valentine’s Day. That meant splurging on our most expensive dinner yet, $70!!! Yikes. We split a great bottle of French wine and Jeff had to treat himself (He’s not gettin’ any skinnier, folks!!!) to a seven-course set menu at Villa Santi. We had a great time making up for Valo Day with the restaurant all to ourselves, a balcony table overlooking the main street, and a local Lao acoustical music group to play for us. Although we were accompanied by 30 of our closest “Gecko” friends overhead, the night was enjoyable and we have to recommend Villa Santi (thanks Russ!!) for any future visits to Luang Prabang. The next two days were filled with bike-riding on Beach Cruisers, exploring the city and local temples, as well as a full pamper, spa day for Becca and a day at the beach with the locals for Jeff. The city itself has quite a rich history and some amazing sites, including The Royal Palace, local night market, and a mountain-top temple with amazing Mekong-sunset views.

A few things we have to mention….One, how cute the monks are. In Lao, especially Luang Prabang, the number of monks is astounding and they all seem to travel together while sharing an umbrella-shade for the group. It’s quite funny. Two….we have noticed in Laos is the prevalence of primary schools. We have had a blast sitting by as the kids played “one-foot tag”, walked home hand-in-hand, or just hung around the schoolyard after class. After talking with a few locals the primary kids go to state-sponsored school while if you want to continue onto secondary that’s when the parents have to start paying. We were quite shocked that the nationalist Lao government supports no foreign language classes and English classes cost upwards of $20-40 a month per child. Can you imagine paying that when you only make $50-100 per month? And we thought our college tuition was a drag? UGHH!!! Luckily (as we ran into later), there are many of the middle and upper class kids learning English and, hopefully, this will eventually trickle down to the kids that can’t afford such education. We anticipate our own adventure and education will inspire us in the future to contribute something as small as language-learning materials for this country that strives to pull itself out of the “Least Developed Country” category by 2020.

Ok..back to our adventures. We decided on our last day in L.P. to venture away from the city to the waterfalls of Kuang Si. Great Choice!!! After a bumpy 45 minute mini-bus (Jeff got shotgun the whole way!!!!) we arrived at the falls and knew we were in for a good time. It is a bit touristy but well worth it!!! The hike to the falls is fairly short but, of course, Jeff needed a little extra calorie burn (to work off the seven courses) and put in another 30 minutes to the tippy-top. So peaceful and quiet watching the falls drop hundreds of feet below to where Becca was relaxing. After a sweaty hike, Jeff had to hop in and cool off under the falls although the Princess thought getting completely wet was too much so she just took a wade!! Well, it was still a great time and the journey in the minibus and seeing the outerlying areas of Luang Prabang was quite an experience in itself.

Our last night in Luang Prabang sealed the deal on a great experience. As we were securing our ticket to head to Phonsavan, the next day, we ran into Jeanette and Allyson (our friends from Chiang Dao)!!! They were just arriving from Northern Laos and we spent all night trading funny stories and enjoying a fabulously, unique Laotian BBQ dinner. Eat your heart out Russ!!! This was one for the ages.

Well…..off to Phonsavan, a small city on the Lao-Vietnamese border to take in a little sightseeing and small-town culture. We regret the blogs are getting shorter but the internet access is getting more expensive and a lot slower…HAHA!!

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