Laos Part 2: Vientiane

Spending about 3 days in Vang Vien only left me one day in Vientiane before my flight to Luang Prabang (northern Laos). Vientiane is the capitol of Laos, but has been described as very sleep and relaxing. There were not a lot of sights to see or things to do. The main sights I visited were Patuxai (the Lao version of Arc de Triomph), Pha That Luang (which I didn't go into since it was late), and a few Wats surrounding Pha That Luang. I got there a day or two before the 450th year celebration. Preparations were set up for the week long event, and I believe there already had been some pre-partying near Pha That Luang (the national symbol).


Pha That Luang





Patuxai

Since I was traveling alone in Vientiane, I messaged a CouchSurfer (CS), Carole, who was also in town, for a drink. I met her at the Spirit House by the riverside. She is French, but living in Ireland, and was in town with her son to visit her brother. She was a super nice lady, who made me feel at home with her and her family. She had traveled before to a lot of places by herself, which I found inspiring. She joined CS recently, so this was her first CS meeting as well. (This was my first coordinated meet up with an individual, not in an organized group function, like in Bangkok.)

Soon, several of her brother's friends joined us and it turned into a nice gathering. Everyone was speaking French most of the time, but it was fun to be in such a foreign environment. (Even though I am in a foreign country, I interact mostly with English speakers (for obvious reasons).) One of the friends, named Na, was Chinese, studied at a university in France, and is currently working in Vientiane. It was fun talking to her about her upbringing and her experiences. And Carole's son was adorable, especially when he was speaking French. It was definitely a pleasure to hang out with them. After a couple of glasses of wine, I called it a night, and headed home.





A very short, but sweet visit in Vientiane. I didn't give it a fair shot with only one day, but I had a good experience.

Laos in Nutshell - Pt. 1: Vang Vien

I didn't really like Laos at first. I went to the main tourist cities, which did not seem representative of what I thought Laos would be like. I imagined it as pretty "pure", since I have been reading about how it's the last "real" Asia. You don't really see that until you are outside of the city; in the smaller towns and rural areas. I didn't have time to venture out too far, but I liked what I saw, especially on the drives outside of Luang Prabang. So here were my impressions of the 3 cities I visited: Vang Vien, Vientiane, and Luang Prabang.

Vang Vien
Good Lord. This place is a hedonistic party paradise. It was the train wreck you just couldn't stop looking at. But day time, the surrounding areas are gorgeous --lovely jagged mountains, rice fields, river views--with lots of nature-related activities to do. To get there, Simon and I had crossed from Nong Khai, Thailand over the Friendship Bridge to Vientiane, Laos, and caught a 4hr bus ride (which made me feel pretty nauseous towards the end.)The bus dropped us off by an old airplane landing strip, which felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. But we followed some backpackers and found our way in the town center.

After we got in, we walked around a little bit. It only took us about 20 min to walk the whole center. There were bars playing "Friends", "Family Guy, or "South Park". It's like I never left America.






We only had about a day and half really (excluding travel time), so we booked a tour that included caving, trekking, and kayaking. Caving was really fun. We took tubes into these water caves and floated along inside until we reached a spot where we could climb out and wander around.




stacking stones

Trekking...was not really trekking. It was just walking to and from where we had to go :P Nice and scenic at times though.



And kayaking was a lovely way to see the Nam Song River, but it was super tiring. On our way back home, we stopped by one of the tubing bars. It was pretty surreal passing by crowds of people dancing to blasting music, seeing people jump off of tarzan swings into the water, or sliding down a water slide. I just kept thinking, who are these people?! We're in Laos???


Tubing in Vang Vien


Kayaking: Simon doing all the work. hehe.




End of our route

Night time was even more nuts. There's an area called "The Island", where there are about 4 bars that pretty much open one at a time. So when one closes, everyone moves over to the next one. To get to the Island, you have to cross this rickety wayward bridge that really messes with your head if you are tipsy or "happy".

Simon and I met these two nice ladies, Rachel (Ireland) and Marin (Estonia), from our day tour, and we ended up hanging out with them that night. We started off at Bucket Bar, since there were free buckets of drinks before 9:30pm. We met so many random travelers there (even one from San Diego!) who were just buzzing and having a good time. By 12 or so, they shut down the bar and we all moved next door to Limbo Bar. The main attraction here was (you guessed it), a limbo bar lit up with fire. Now combining this with drunk people...recipe for disaster. I tried it, but when the bar was at a decent height. There were several guys who went under the bar at a really low height, but got up too soon and had their hair caught on fire. I think that was the worse that I saw. We stayed up probably until 3am before stumbling back to the guesthouse.


Me, Marin, Rachel, and Simon


Bucket Bar


Limbo Bar - Rachel and I barely made it.

Oh and the nice thing was, once you went back across the bridge, there were Asian pancake/sandwich stalls just waiting for you. The pancakes here were different from the Thai ones. They were crispier and less greasy. Yay for banana nutella crepes after a long night!

Vang Vien was nice...for one time. I don't think I will need to go back there again. The highlight for me really was kayaking along the river, and the pancakes.

Checking In

Internet connection was pretty darn slow in Laos, so I didn't have a chance to blog. Pctures have been uploaded on my Flickr, so I'll get summaries of Vang Vien, Vientiane, and Luang Prabang up soon though.

I'm in Siem Reap, Cambodia right now, working on plans to extend my trip until end of February/beginning March 2011...it sounds like a long time, but I don't think it really is. There are still so many places I want to go. I do miss the comforts of home, but it's been interesting being on the go and living out of my backpack (which is carry-on size). There definitely have been moments when I just stop, smile, and think life is pretty f***ing good.

Vang Vien, Laos!

I got up bright and early this morning at 6:15am to go to the Thailand-Laos border, with my fellow volunteer, Simon. In order to get to Laos, you have to cross over the Friendship Bridge on a bus (20 baht*). It was a pretty easy process to get the Lao visa. I filled out an application, my departure/arrival card, and submitted those forms with my US passport, $35USD fee, and passport photo, and was ready to go in 15 minutes.

After we passed immigration, we caught a local bus to Vientiane (5,000 kip), where we had to catch another bus to Vang Vien (30,000 kip). Thank goodness Simon had been to Vientiane before, because I was pretty confused about where to go and how much things were. I have to get used to using another currency (that hurts my brain in the beginning :P). But after walking around the bus station and grabbing some last minute snacks, we were off for a 4-hour bus ride.

I love being able to see the rural areas via bus, but this ride was a little bit tough. We had to get through some curvy and bumpy roads. I purposely didn't eat the whole ride, because I felt a little car sick during part of the ride. 4 hours later, we were dropped off on the side of the road, next to an old airplane landing strip, and the Vang Vien town center on the other side of it.

Simon and I checked out a couple of guest houses and then settled on Phouna Guesthouse, one that was a little hidden (there are still loud, obnoxious backpapers here. Darn.) Vang Vien is a very small town, but tons of backpackers come here to go tubing, kayaking, caving, rock climbing, and/or water rafting (I'm sure there are other sports that I am not aware of). Other than that, there's restaurants with "happy" items on the menu. We'll probably try something at one point. There's a row of bars/restuarants where (I swear) every other one was playing "Friends" or "Family Guy". I don't think I saw any other shows on besides those.

We'll be here for only 2 nights, but that will be plenty of time in this town. We're going on a tour tomorrow for hiking, kayaking, caving, and tubing. Let's hope we survive the whole day!

*I thought I would add some more details, if anyone is searching for more info.

Last Day in Nong Khai, Thailand

Time flies by so fast! I can't believe it has already been four weeks. Today is my last day in the lovely city of Nong Khai. My Thailand 30-day visa expires on Friday, so I'm crossing over to Laos tomorrow.

I was getting pretty comfortable here in Nong Khai. I had a place to stay, knew my way around (to the food stalls-very important), had a routine schedule, recognized people I'd see around town, and I felt like I was part of the community through Isara. Since I didn't really have expectations for this town, I was really surprised how well it turned out. Who knew a sleepy town like Nong Khai could feel like home, even without looking for it. I am definitely going to miss everyone here and my life here.

But of course, right when you get comfortable, means it's time for a change. I'm going back into travel mode and will be hopping around in Laos (Vang Vien, Vientiane, and Luang Prabang), Cambodia (Siem Reap and Pnohm Penh), back to Bangkok, Thailand, and then back to Hong Kong, all in about 2 weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing new things, trying new foods, and collecting a few more passport stamps :)

I'll update again when I get to Laos...

Sarnelli House

Today, a group of us went to the Sarnelli House, an orphanage for children with AIDS/HIV, for a couple of hours to play with the kids. They were so fun to be around; just non stop energy. Right when we got out of the truck, this little boy ran straight to Andi, and jumped right into her arms as if he hadn't seen her in a very long time. Some boys followed suite and latched on to a few volunteers, while others (more so the girls) were a little more shy and waited til we started to play a game of Bang. I spent some time spinning one of the boys around in a circle, and got pretty dizzy after a few rounds and had to sit down! And while I was sitting, one of the teenagers braided my hair, and then one of the younger girls borrowed my camera and walked around the grounds, taking pictures of her friends. She had some really good shots! (Unfortunately, I couldn't remember her name :(


pic by Andrew L.








pic by little girl


pic by little girl


here's the little girl herself!

You couldn't tell at all that these kids were any different from any other kids. They were so full of life, so sweet, and eager to play; their energy was totally infectious. It was a little sad when we left, because you can tell how much some of them wanted to go with us. It was one of those drawn out goodbyes, where you both parties really didn't want the other to go. We were only there for a couple hours, but it was such a nice way to spend a time on a Saturday. We were all pretty wiped out by the time we got back home.

Isara - Mekong River Clean-up Campaign: Boat Project

Over the past week, Isara volunteers have been working on a boat built with recycled materials for the Mekong River Clean-up Campaign. The plan is to raise awareness about the Mekong River garbage problem to riverside communities, from areas in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. To get that message across, Kirk will be sailing down the Mekong on a boat built with recycled plastic bottles, recycled wood, solar panels, and electric engine. (I'm sure there are more parts, but I don't know what they are.) I'm pretty sure this is going to surprise a lot of the communities the project will reach out too.

I wish I could be there to see the boat set sail, but I will be in Laos or Cambodia by then. Unless, the days coincide with my dates in whichever area it will be. Either way, I'm cheering this project on from wherever I am. I feel fortunate to have worked on such a project with heart and impact (I'm sure of it).

Here are a few photos of the volunteers sanding and painting the wood. It's progressed a lot more since these photos, so for more photos and information on this project, go here at the Isara website. Please visit! Not only will you find out more about the boat, you will be instantly donating by viewing the webpage.