Sunday, March 29, 2015

A return to Thailand

To fly to Myanmar, the best option was to return to Thailand and take a flight out from either Bangkok or a city in nothern Thailand. We opted to fly out of the city that neither of us had been to, Chiang Rai. It also happened to be the closest to the Laos-Thailand border we were going to cross.
Cute graffiti

Saturday, March 28, 2015

In search of the cloud leopard

Luang Namtha is the town closest to the Nam Ha Protected Area. This is supposed to be about as close as Laos gets to a national park I think. And the Internet has described the area as a decent one for wild life, including guar and a possible cloud leopard. 

On the minivan ride up there I was incredibly happy that I had a seat belt. Not for any unsafe happenings, but because I was in the back of the van on one of the bouncier pot-hole-filled roads I've been on. The seat belt kept me in place and saved my head from hitting the ceiling. Most of the roads in Laos are windy and bumpy. I didn't know buses could bottom out on potholes until I came to Laos. And this one was the bumpiest of them all. 

Buddha Buddha Buddha Rocking Everywhere!

Vientiane doesn't have a lot on paper to pull travelers in to visit except that it is the capitol of Laos. It's relatively small and doesn't have a lot of attractions. But it's packed with pagodas! Like most tourists I only spent a couple days there. I think if I had spent another day there it would have been to visit the Beer Lao Brewery and a water park. 

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Coconuts for days

And I really mean that. Coconuts for three days. I was with two ladies from the yoga retreat I went to in Cambodia. We met up in Vietnam and crosses the border together. At some point we were all talking about the copious amounts of caffeine, baguettes and other Vietnamese goodies we had been consuming like we might never see them again. A couple people at the yoga retreat did coconut fasts. But why do that when you've already paid for delicious vegan food. (Yeah, I did just say that.) So we decided to welcome ourselves to Luang Prabang with a three day coconut water fast.

Snapped a quick pic of these two ladies having a very serious chat at a festival at a pagoda we visited.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Tubin' the river

Vang Vieng went from a quiet little town on the river to an epic backpacker party spot with the creation of a tube float down the river. It escalated quickly with the addition of many bars that floaters could stop at. Combine this with decently shallow water, wide availability of drugs including opiates, and drunk-decision making. It got so crazy that there were multiple tourist deaths each month, and the government stepped in and shut it all down. 

I'm on a boat.

I'd been pretty tired after spending three days trekking (trekking will be its own post soon), but by the time I got to Luang Prabang it was apparent that I was sick. Good thing we were spending a day in Luang Prabang before marching onwards. 


Meh, it's not so bad. I'll push through it. Let's book those boat tickets for tomorrow after a quick nap. 

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

All in my head? Most likely.

So far in my trip I have felt like I've had pretty decent luck with busses. Sure, I seem to regularly be seated next to some wall or vent that gives off far too much heat, but I've always arrived where I want to be with all my stuff in about the predicted amount of time. I haven't been sick on a bus or sat near any chickens. So that's a win in my book.


Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Calm down little pup!

Cheyenne and I  had to pass back through Luang Pabang on our way to our next stop. In the evening we wandered down to the Mekong River to catch sunset. As we walked over to a spot that appear to be the best for sunset pictures, we saw a tiny poodle-like dog barking frantically at the water. He would run up and down and then scratch at the sand and bark frantically. There were enough scratches in the sand to show that he had clearly been at it for a while.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Laos PDR - Please Don't Rush

I was so proud of myself for getting up to date on my Vietnam posts that I forgot I had a whole  other country to be writing about. Laos is a country that seems to get less attention from the typical SE Asia travel crowd.