Laos: Pronounced “Lao”
Over the past few months, an estimated 100 people have told us how incredible Laos is. And after spending a few weeks here, the ‘Land of a Million Elephants’ lives up to the hype.
We started out in Vientiane, the capital. Planned to spend 3 days…stayed for 6. Monks, baguettes, cool old cars and BeerLao: these are the images conjured up by mention of this city on the Mekong. Influence from the French colonial days is still strong, as many of the locals speak English with a French accent. It’s a town where none of the buildings are over 4 stories, and malls and cinemas don’t exist. Free time in this city is spent lounging around in cafes or drinking BeerLao by the Mekong.
A few hours from Vientiane is a touristy mountain town on a river, Vang Vieng. The place is full of hippy backpackers, and a few non-hippies. Vang Vieng’s main draw is the river, which cuts through limestone cliffs and ushers along kayakers and tubers from one riverside bar to the next. All of the bars have 30 foot high rope swings hanging over the water–with yelping sunburned tourists hanging off and belly-smacking into the water. I could have probably spent the entire day on the swing, the benefit of being in a country absent of safety regulations and lawsuits.
Our bus from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang transported people, as well as chickens and ducks stuffed into baskets. It was the “VIP” bus, and looked as if someone had washed the inside with mud. JR almost barfed during the 7-hour tortuous journey, a side effect of the winding narrow mountain road. While he was nauseous, I enjoyed the scenery. It was as if a Kelly green blanket had been draped across the earth–rice fields surrounded by jungle. It was absolutely beautiful.
Luang Prabang is a town much more acclimated to tourists than Vientiane. The Mekong (and another river) converge, the town occupying the river valley between mountains. Like Vientiane, monks are everywhere. (And frankly some of them are pretty attractive.)
One day we visited a nearby waterfall. Normally I think tourist-destination waterfalls are kind of boring, probably a scar from my childhood when my parents took us to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to see the Taquamenon Falls. (Everyone “says” their beautiful, but really their rusty brown and boring, and you stare at them thinking ‘I drove how long for this?’) The Tad Sae waterfall flowed through the forest, creating brilliant aqua pools of ice cold water between the trees. An skinny old man wearing tighty whities pulled up to his chest swam with us, which was, um, kind of weird.
Since we have no photos to share from Laos, (See Victim of a Snatch for details) I’ve attempted to paint a descriptive picture with words. Laos was an extremely easy country to travel in, and the people were friendly and warm and uncorrupt. (One afternoon JR photographed a few old ladies drinking BeerLao, and we ended up hanging out with them all day.) I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t love this place–and it’s super-cheap. So go ahead…take a few weeks off and go to Laos. You might not come back.
Tags: Laos, Luang Prabang, Travel, Vang Vieng, Vientiane
brooke.pearson8
Ok….here we go AGAIN…dogging your home country. How dare you dis the Taquamenon….it is “rusty brown” due to the amazing quantity of iron ore located in Michigan’s beautiful Upper Pensinsula….which, btw, attracted wealthy entreprenuers from all over….that is, until most of it was gone…with the remains in the falls….among other beautiful sites of the U.P.
Furthermore….you should be expressing gratitude for those long drives on the “family vacations”….there are kids in China that NEVER get to go on vacation!!!!! BTW…..I bet you STILL remember the “Mystery Spot”!!! ( just west from the Mackinac Bridge on HWY 2, for those of you who are interested in a “wholesome family vacation experience”!!! )
All kidding aside….I love you and MISS you terribly….Are you with me, Readers of the Blog??? XOXOXO Marm
p.s. you have nearly convinced all of your younger brothers “college poor” friends to travel in East….keep it up kiddo…at least someone out there will realize that most American’s are not imperialist.
Hey you know what they say ‘Yes! Michigan’. What beats the Great Lakes? Besides it is a right of passage for children to travel long distances driving their parents nuts with “are we there yet”, “he started it”, “she’s touching me”, “I’m hungry”, “need to pee” etc. It’s a tradition dating back to the model T.Thanks for letting us live vicariously thru you and JR. Love ya, Aunt Jill