And so on to Laos.
This is a country I have been wanting to visit for a long time and I was
so excited. The border crossing started
off easily enough, we got stamped out of Thailand and then got on a boat across
the river to start the proceedings to get into Laos. This was another first, I’ve done land, air
and sea border crossings on this trip so a river crossing was a new one.
Once in the country we got into a motorised long boat for
our two day sail down the mighty Mekong river.
It was great – a brilliant way to relax and travel, much better than 15
hour journeys on Calypso! On the first
day we stopped near a local village to go for a quick visit, although I was
advised to stay on the boat due to my sore ankle. I waved everyone off and enjoyed the peace
and quiet on the boat before a group of young local boys came to the river for
a swim. As soon as they saw me they
started showing off doing handstands and somersaults, it was great to watch.
Louise on the boat
Kids showing off!
As evening started to descend we moored at a town called Pak
Beng for the night. It was lovely and
peaceful looking out over the river.
Next day, just before we got to our destination of Luang Prabang, we
stopped off at some caves. Nicknamed the
1000 Buddha caves we went along for a look.
To be honest we were a bit disappointed as they were nothing
spectacular, but that could have been down to the temple fatigue we were all
feeling. We have seen so many temples
and Buddhas on this journey that they all start to blend in to one another!
Once we got to Luang Prabang we were all very happy. It was lovely and we had 4 nights there. It was such a lovely laid back place and
during our time there we visited waterfalls, I rode elephants, ate some lovely
food and shopped in the amazing night market.
It is so lovely here and I think it’s my favourite place on
the trip so far. The Beer Lao is pretty
awesome too!
Home for the night
Buddha caves
Chilling by the river with Jo
Of to go elephant riding.......
A day out at the waterfalls....
Kid with a big scary knife!
Next stop in Laos was Vientiane the capital. It was a long day’s drive and when we arrived
it was just really time for dinner, a trip round the market then bed. The next day though Jo and I headed out with
2 main things in mind – to see Vientiane’s Arc de Triomphe and to visit a place
called the COPE Centre (more about that in a minute). Here’s the Arc…..
Next off was the COPE Centre. I had heard some snippets of
information about the dangers of the Laos countryside due to unexploded bombs
left from the American-Vietnam war but did not realise the full extent until I
visited this centre. This place helps
the victims of these bombs to rehabilitate after losing limbs etc. It was heartbreaking – these bombs are still
going off, only the week before in Luang Prabang 3 children had been killed
when an unexploded bomb had gone off. Laos
holds the dubious honour of being the most bombed country in the world per
capita. It is reckoned that that there
are over 80 million unexploded bombs still in Laos that were dropped from
American aircraft during the war that did not detonate for whatever
reason. Whilst some of these are in the
open and being dealt with, many are in rice paddies and in fields or under
houses. It makes it very difficult for people who are barely scraping an
existence – do they farm the land and risk being killed or injured by a device
or potential starve as there is no other work or opportunities available. One of the awful things is that children are
finding these bombs and trying to dig them up because they can be sold for
scrap metal, with enough money being raised to feed their family for a
month. The consequences can, and have
been fatal. In my opinion there is not
enough awareness of this issues and not enough is being done to clear up these
unexploded devices – especially by the Americans who dropped them in the first
place!
Next stop was a National Park by the river where we were
going to see some caves. Unfortunately
we had heard that the accommodation we had planned to stay in had been flooded
and was not able to fit us all in now, so we headed to a place nearby. They also did not have enough space for us
all so 8 people were moved to a small guesthouse nearby. I was one of the 8 I’m sad to say. Let’s be polite and say the rooms were not up
to scratch. The ones the couple had been
given were tiny, had mouldy sheets and no running water. The room Jo and I had was definitely better
than their ones –it was basic but clean, however the electric wiring was
seriously dodgy. To switch the light on
you had to wiggle the fuse box and to turn the fan on you had to hang the plug
from the socket where blue flashes and orange sparks frequently flew out
of. Someone pointed out that the voltage
was low so wouldn’t hurt me too much if I got a shock. I pointed out in retort that I was more
worried about dying from the resulting the electircal fire in the wooden hut
that was our room! Simon and Teresa were
called to investigate and to try and come up with a solution. It was agreed that we would spend one night
there and the next day, after our visit to the caves, we would be moved to the
original accommodation which could take the smaller group of 8. With the compromise agreed, we headed to bed
ready for the cave visit.
The caves the next day were good, very big and very dark we
headed through them in boats armed with our head torches – they are not overly
touristy and whilst that can often be a good thing, here I feel they could do
with a bit more investment to have them better lit and have the guides point
some stuff out. Nevertheless a lovely
morning’s trip! Once back we switched
accommodation and it was light night and day compared to the previous one – it was
lovely, with a great balcony overlooking the river. At dinner that night we were able to sit and
watch the boats go by catching fish and frogs, it was so quiet and eerie but
very magical.
Caves....
Onwards to Vietnam!
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