Ten days In Laos

Ten days in Laos

A small river, crossable in minutes on a longtail boat, distinguished the boarder between Northern Thailand and Laos. Then a lazy, two day boat ride on the Mekong River took us to our first intended destination in north central Lao, Luang Prabang. 

Luang Prabang was a quaint town, with a busy tourist area selling baguettes, fruit shakes and colourful crafts at every turn. I've been getting up in the mornings for a walk/run, and it's usually the best time to see the locals doing their morning activities. In this town in particular, monks dressed in bright orange robes are out in large numbers, quietly collecting gifts of daily food from the local people. It's a nice ritual to see from afar.

We'd seen a lot of markets, so our plan was to get out of town to see the countryside. We signed up for a day of mountain bike riding with a guide to show us some sites. He took us to a gorgeous waterfall called Tad Sae, which tiered down a clear stream and pooled into perfect swimming pools. 

After a crisp dip, Hamish and I took off alone for a walk up the stream. When I say walk, I really mean sweating our way up and down steep, jungle clad hills while trying to avoid snakes, spiders, and whatever else was lurking.

Hamish seemed to be on a bit of mission forging ahead, I thought to find another waterfall.  It turns out he was looking for a pretty spot to propose. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was so lovely, and bit funny seeing him kneel down on the jungle floor with both of us hot and sticky from the walk. I said yes and we could finally turn back with big smiles all the way.

We took a 5 hour bus marathon to Vang Vieng, our second destination. It was a very windy, steep road through lush mountains and small villages that I would happily do again for the stunning scenery. We did some more rock climbing and kayaking, and spent a rainy afternoon watching friends re-runs- a weird theme in the towns' tourist joints.

Our third and final destination in Laos was Vientiane, the country's capital city. We found it pretty modern compared to the rest of the country and light on interesting things to visit. We did however find a very interesting exhibition on the Vietnam/ American war. It was unbelievable to find out that millions (literally) of unexploded bombs remain today in the Laos countryside.

Today we leave Lao after our short but memorable visit. We will fly (to save a 24hour bus ride) straight to Hanoi, Vientam.