Doll me up in my bad luck, i'll meet you there
It seemed like a rather foreign idea to be in a rush in Laos. I was all prepared for a lazy holiday (we brought books!), thinking we’d be slacking half the time. Turned out though, that 10 days was not enough, because we spent nearly 24 hours on bus rides (Vientiane -> Vang Viang, Vang Viang -> Luang Prabang, Luang Prabang -> Vientiane), and not forgetting we had to spend our last night in Udon Thani (quite a waste of time; nothing exciting about the place) so as to catch our morning flight back home.
I don’t think i’d find it too long a time if i could spend a month in Laos. The country is so big, and there're so many different parts to visit. And within a state or a province, there's already so much to explore.
In my time there, i felt like i had been transported to the 60s, and 50s sometimes, depending on which part you’re at. Very nice and nostalgic.
Instead of hanging out at “Friends Cafes” every day, (by the way they have a bigger selection now, some restaurants are showing Family Guy, Simpsons… some of them screen movies), we spent our afternoons in Vang Viang being active under the sun, (hardcore) cycling, exploring caves (Phoukam Cave was very nice) and tubing down the Nam Song river. I am 5 shades darker now.
The nights would be spent eating out, carefully choosing a diner (and what we wanted to watch). I like most of the eateries in Laos. They have very good sense of décor. A café is always cosy, complete with mattresses or hammocks.
On the way back, we’d stop by a pancake stand and have our second banana pancake for the night. The first was always before dinner, on our way out.
We checked out some Muay Lao boxing at the night market. It apparently happened every night. It’s evident how Lao boxing is a big part of their culture, since the place would be filled with local men, even boys as young as two or three. I especially liked how they played traditional Lao music in the background. It seemed to give the boxers momentum and fluidity in their moves.
I didn’t enjoy Luang Prabang as much as Vang Viang, probably because i only spent 2 nights there. Luang Prabang caters to a different group of travelers – the middle-aged holidayers. I like it enough, for its quaint colonial-style shophouses and sleepy town feel, but it just didn’t seem as friendly as Vang Viang. Also, room rates were much higher. Our guesthouse charged much more than the one in Vientiane, for a room with similar amenities.
The best thing about my short time in Luang Prabang was Le Cinema. It was a place with a concept like E-Max at Cineleisure, where you can pick a DVD and watch it in one of their rooms, except Le Cinema was full of arthouse flicks. In total it boasts a collection of 700 (pirated) titles. We saw Dead Men there.
The night market was also quite fun, good for shopping for souvenir shirts, textiles, handicraft, etc. Everything was laid out on mats on the floor, and while there were many, many stalls, most of them sold the same things. It’s quite a consistent thing about Laos. Repetition was everywhere. Same same, but different.
I missed some of the must-do things at Luang Prabang – watching the sunset at Mount Phou Si, and the alms giving ceremony in the morning, opting instead to catch more sleep and go for a half day tour to the famous Pak Ou Caves, more than an hour’s boat ride away. It also included stopovers at 2 villages, where they made Lao whisky, textiles and paper and every one was just trying to sell you something.
In all honesty, the Pak Ou Caves felt nothing more than a tourist trap to me. There wasn’t anything spectacular, just very touristy. And the boat ride was so cold i almost died.
I’d still like to visit Laos again. I may even try to do it alone next time. Before i went i was a little apprehensive about the sanitation, safety and condition of our lodging, but there’s really nothing much to worry about. The people were generally nice and sweet-natured, the food’s very tasty (Lao food, Thai food and Farang Food), the flushes worked fine in the guesthouses. And there’s always a range of guesthouses and hotels to cater to different budgets and different needs.
The picturesque landscape is enough reason for anyone to go. Pity though i didn’t take a lot of photos. Will probably post them next time.
Like Boon said while we were hanging out at a hut at Sunset Bar in Vang Viang, “How do you properly describe this to someone?” I can’t. You gotta experience it for yourself.