Solo Travel Adventure Number 1!: Laos

Vientiane - capital city of Laos
As the capital of Laos, I was expecting the typical hustle and chaotic bustle of an Asian city. Wrong! This has to be one of the sleepiest capital cities in the world - including Canberra! The average age in Laos is just over 20 and there are less than 7 million people living in the whole country, so I should not have been surprised by the calm, friendly atmosphere here. Even the traffic is well behaved with many of the streets being one-way!

The bus ride here was slightly more scary than the previous one from Luang Prabang, as the driver was definitely more 'assertive', however as it was less than four hours, we survived quite well. We managed to miss all the chickens, cows, pigs, goats, dogs, water buffalo and small children who were intent on sharing the road with us at various points along the way. The landscape gradually flattened out and we left the enormous rocky outcrops behind as we headed towards the city. Unfortunately it rained for half of the trip, but I still couldn't tear my eyes away from the window – colourful villages, elaborate temples (Wats), dusty tracks, orderly paddy fields, wallowing water buffalo and everywhere gangs of children – usually under ten years of age and usually playing with empty plastic bottles, or in muddy streams, or on construction site sand piles, but always without an adult anywhere to be seen and always perfectly happy!

We will be leaving Laos in the next day or so, but I have certainly enjoyed it here - people, culture, history, scenery and frequently glorious weather. Thailand next and as July approaches I will have to start researching flights home - now THAT is going to be an emotional roller-coaster for sure!

Presidential palace - posh!

Siamese (Thai) flattened the city in the early 1800s so this Wat is the oldest
temple left as they spared it

The drum tower

Typical Lao skyline - a stunning place!

Zipling - Zipwiring ... doesn't matter what you call it, it is brilliant fun!

A total of 8 steel wires, slung between tall trees in the jungle and a swinging scissor bridge too, all made for a great 90 minutes! I would never have been brave enough for this a year ago, so I am very proud of myself and give sincere thanks to Dave for taking the pictures! Click on this link if you want a giggle!

Traditional village
An hour up the Mekong by long boat and we arrived at a quiet, traditional village where we were made welcome by everyone and enjoyed interacting with the children especially.

That splash of vivid orange!

Children shriek and jump as we pass

Our long boat - 25m.

A Mhong village

The river provides for transport, washing, playing and food!

Our last night in :Puang Prabang and another glorious sunset.

How to Mount an Elephant When it comes to climbing onto an elephant, protocol usually dicates that a set of steps or even a high platform are made available. Not so when you are about to take your elephant into the MeKong river it would seem! The elephant obligingly puts its truck onto a handy river bank, you place one foot on its forehead and climb aboard, ending up seated on its back. Well that is the theory! Personally i prefer the less well known technique of walking up its truck, standing on its back, doing a sort of twisty maneouver, plonking down unceremoniously on its neck and then attempting to bend your leg at previously unrecognisable angles so that one leg fits behind each ear! Oh yes and it helps if the Mahout assists by alternately either bending the elephant's ear or your leg whilst he tries to cover up his smirking countenance! ! Not easy and not particularly effective ... and I certainly felt that i had to apologise to the elephant ... repeatedly afterwards!!

So you want that leg where exactly?

Put the ear here and your leg there? Maybe?

Tak Bat Ceremony

Luang Prabang is the cultural and spiritual capital of Laos and every day, just after dawn, a very special ritual takes place in its streets. A silent procession of saffron robed monks makes its way in single file (oldest first) along the almost deserted lanes and locals sit in silence, humbly offering them alms. The gifts usually consist of sticky rice which has been cooked that morning and the givers always sit or kneel so that the monks are always above them as a sign of respect. It was a real honour to peek out from behind the curtains and witness this solemn and historic ceremony and there were no other tourists in site!

Luang Prabang
The one-hour long flight from Hanoi was not in a 6-seater aircraft as threatened - there were 29 of us on board and the propellers did not stutter once! At first glance Laos appears to be much more laid back than Vietnam and with temperatures hovering just above the mid 30s a slower pace is definitely required. The town / small city of Luang Prabang is a World Heritage Site and is home to just under 500,000 people making it the second largest city in the country: it is also on the banks of the MeKong River which of course I last saw in Phomn Penh, Cambodia a few months ago.

A very leisurely stroll this morning took us past several of the active monasteries located here - one of which is the home of the Laos leader of Buddhism. For around 80p you can wander around and enjoy the tranquility as well as the architecture. So far I have really liked what I have seen and think an extension to the planned three days here might be in order.