Our introduction to Laos began with a 15 hour bus journey from Hue in central Vietnam, to Pakse in south Laos. The journey itself was supposed to take 12 hours but the company appeared to be more of a cargo transportation organisation than a normal passenger bus one, and at least an hour and a half was spent loading the bus up with cargo about 10km from where we started, while we sat inside and willed them to hurry up. The level of inefficiency in this part of the world drives me mad; why not load up the bus before picking up your few passengers, instead of telling them to wake up at 5am to then sit and wait until 8am before the journey really begins?! The staff were incredibly rude, clearly very scornful of tourists (yet willing to take our money). There were three westerners on our bus including myself and Kim, and when the staff stopped to buy food for all the passengers, we were left out because the meal was 'not for foreigners'. They didn't allow us to stop to buy our own food so it wasn't until 4.30pm that we ate, having been up since 5am. We were shouted at by the driver to hurry up at the border, yet he feigned deafness when I pointed out that we could only go as fast as the immigration process would allow and that we were in a queue. All in all, it was a very unpleasant end to our time in Vietnam/start to our journey in Laos.
However, Laos improved from then onwards. We began in the very south at a place called Si Phan Don or 'the four thousand islands'; we stayed on the island of Don Det for a few days, soaking up the sun after our chilly time in central Vietnam and doing very little except taking in the view. We rented bikes one day and cycled around Don Det and across a bridge to Don Khon, the neighbouring island. We found some incredible waterfalls on the latter island and took in the amazing view for a while.
The sunsets in Don Det were beautiful, and many bars and restaurants were built on the river side so we could watch the sun go down over Cambodia, which was just on the other side of the river.
After reluctantly leaving the islands behind, we headed north to ths capital, Vientiane. We had heard mixed things about the city - mostly negative, that it was 'just another busy Asian city' - but we wanted to make our own minds up about it and personally, I'm glad we went. There's not a huge amount to do as a tourist, with some temples to visit and a mini, concrete version of Paris' Arc de Triomphe to climb, but the atmosphere is great: this city may not be visit able so much as liveable. It's very French, with cafes along every street, their chairs and tables spilling out onto the pavement and the smell of freshly baked croissants filling your nostrils: needless to say, we sampled a few!
After a day or so in Vientiane, we headed to Vang Vieng, a tourist haven that's famous for its outdoor activities. Sadly it rained on our first day but then it brightened up and we went on a jungle hike, guided by a Lao man named La. Getting to where the hiking began involved wading across three stretches of river, which came up to our lower thigh and was quite fast flowing. Battling a current (the exit point was upstream from where we entered the water) in barefeet on a stony surface, while holding your trainers was an off-putting start to the day but it did get miles better. Once back on dry land, we walked along the base of some huge hills, trekking through tropical scenery. We reached a cave mouth and La told us this was a short-cut through the mountain; he broke up a piece of dried bamboo, lit it and led us down into the cave, holding the bamboo aloft to light our way. For ten-fifteen minutes we walked under/through the mountain, in complete darkness save for our bamboo torch: we heard bats flying above us, water dripped down onto our faces unexpectedly and I couldn't bear to think about the number of cobwebs I could see shimmering in the torch light. We emerged at the other end and set off through some more beautiful scenery, until we reached a hut on stilts with two elderly Lao men sitting underneath. Here we had lunch, sharing rice and barbecued meat with the men, who live in - and off - the jungle. One told us (through La's translation) that he planned to shoot a monkey the next morning and that monkey meat was very tasty. They also shared their grilled squirrel with us which had almost no meat on the bone but was marinaded in chilli and herbs so still tasted nice.
We left the men behind a walked up a hill too steep to be climbing with a belly full of rice. La cut off the path suddenly and led up through the trees to a waterfall, clambering over rocks to reach the bottom. There was a rock about two or three metres above the waterfall pool which we worked up the courage to jump off, into the water. The water was so cold that I could hardly breathe when I surfaced, I felt like I was being crushed. La climbed to the top of the waterfall and jumped from there, probably 15 metres up! Not only that, he held his lit cigarette inside his mouth and pulled it out, still lit, when he came up for air!
Until a few years ago, Vang Vieng was synonymous with 'tubing' in the backpacker world, and 'tubing' really meant 'begin drinking at 11am while floating down a river in an inner tyre, stopping at multiple bars along the riverbank and getting blind drunk'. The number of tourist deaths rose and rose, unsurprisingly, and the police were reluctantly forced to get involved. You can still go tubing in Vang Vieng now, but it's much safer: only two bars are allowed to open along the river so there's less opportunity for people to drink themselves into a stupor before floating off down a river for 3km. They also no longer give out free drinks. There are little boys who work at the bars, waiting on the river side with ropes tied to plastic water bottles: they chuck the bottle beside you, you grab on and they drag you to the river bank. You then float downstream for a few kilometres, although the water level was quite low when we went so you had to paddle a bit to speed up. Kim hitched a ride on a passing kayak for a stretch! It was a fun day, although as soon as the went behind the mountains that line the river, it grew very cold and we just wanted to be out of the water but you have to get out at a certain place because that's where the trucks back to town wait.
After Vang Vieng, we went north to Luang Prabang, a pretty city famous for its night market and some beautiful waterfalls outside town. We took advantage of both, spending an afternoon exploring and swimming at the waterfalls, and most evenings bartering at the market. Asians love to barter, I've become quite good at it, and try my luck with everything from taxi rides to street food!
Our two weeks in Laos went too quickly and I wish we'd had more time. We were restricted by a flight booked from northern Thailand to Myanmar however, so it was time to go. I think I feel this way about most places I've been to: Laos, I'll be back.
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