Around the world

When I first began my trip I wasn't sure if I was going to visit Lao but after talking with other travelers, Lao quickly became a mandatory place to visit. Lao had a beautiful landscape, really good beer - Beer Lao, and friendly people which added up to a great experience. I traveled in Lao for 12 days and I visited three cities in the northern part of Lao - Vientiane, Van Vieng and Luang Prabang.

Vientiane is the capital of Lao and it lies around 25 km from Thailand. My friends and I crossed Friendship Bridge from Thailand and made our way to Vientiane. Although Vientiane is the capital of Lao it is not a large city. You can easily navigate it on a motorbike in one day. My stay was short, I was only there for one day and night. While I was there, I rented a motorbike and toodled around the city, I visited Laos' most famous wat, Pha That Luang, a golden wat and visited a local bar called Riverside Bar where I had hung out with a group of 8 other backpackers whom I had met after I arrived Lao.

My second stop in Lao was Van Vieng. There is one main street in Vang Vieng and not a paved street in sight. (Although the streets will probably be paved in the next six months) The "bus" station in Van Vieng is a large dirt tarmac that was an old landing strip. When we first arrived at the dirt lot I asked my friend why we had stopped and he replied, "Umm, we're here." After 6 days in Vang Vieng, I barely noticed the dirt streets and I had a great time. Van Vieng sits along the Nam Xong river and offers a variety of activities like rock climbing, kayaking, hiking and of course, tubing. During the day, you choose your desired activity and at night you grab dinner at the numerous food places which are constantly showing movies and reruns of Friends. The most popular daytime activity is tubing. You rent a car tire tube for $3.50 a day and your are dropped off about 3 km north of the "city" and you drift down the river. Along the river, locals sell Beer Lao and they have built elaborate bamboo swings and platforms that you can use to jump into the river with. Good times, good times.

My final stop in Lao was to Luang Prabang. While Luang Prabang was only around 160 km or 100 miles north of Vang Vieng, it took us around 6 hours to drive through the windy mountainous roads. Luang Prabang is a charming city located on the Mekong River. Every night there is a local market which sells local arts and crafts and offers a variety of delicious and cheap food. For a 18000 Kip or $1.80 you could get a dish of food and a large beer, not too bad. While I was in Luang Prabang I took at boat trip to Pak Ou which is comprised of two cave temples and Bang Xang Hai or "Whiskey" village which produces a local whiskey which will put hair on your chest. I also visited Kuang Si Falls which is just outside the city and took a swim in the waterfall.

After 12 days in Lao, it was time to move on to Thailand. There are two main ways by boat to get to Thailand, the slow boat or the fast boat. The slow boat takes two days and you have to stay overnight in a border town. The fast boat takes 6 hours and goes directly to the Thailand border. My friends and I choose the fast boat for obvious reasons but the ride was quite a journey. The fast boat was no more than 12 feet long and 5 feet wide with a big engine mounted on the back. The tip of the boat was used to store our bags and 8 people were seated two-by-two on 4 rows. My sitting space was about 2 ft by 2 ft. I now know what a sardine feels like. For 6 plus hours I sat in the tiny space while the driver sped up the Mekong River. Of course, we later heard that a couple months earlier a fast boat had crashed and killed a couple of foreignors. Riding the fast boat was quite an interesting experience but if you ever have the option, take the slow boat from Luang Prabang to Thailand.