The Latter Part of Laos

Our French And English Nam Ou Friends

Following our visit to Phongsali we started our journey south. To avoid a few very long bus rides and re-tracing our steps we spent our next few traveling days on the Nam Ou River. I can say now with great confidence that traveling by river boat is immensely more enjoyable than by bus. To get to the river though took a one hour bus ride on a very dusty road where we saw the first glimpses of the massive changes to the landscape of the area due to Chinese construction of dams on the Nam Ou. Eventually, there will be six dams on the Nam Ou, a few of the total of thirty-three dams that the Chinese are constructing in Laos. Indeed all throughout our time in the north the Chinese presence was very obvious. I can't help but wonder how the Lao people are benefiting from this. No doubt the Chinese are building a lot of useful road infrastructure in the country but the people we've met feel that other than a very few soon-to-be-billionaires tied to the Lao government the population in general isn't benefiting from all this development to supply other countries with power.

Huge Chinese Damn On The Nam Ou

So despite the scarring to the landscape we saw near the beginning of our trip the river was great. The long-tail boats we rode had seats for about 15-20 people and were mostly covered to protect you from the sun. Dawn and I were rather un-Canadian in our perhaps pushy approach to securing some prime seats. Well worth the potential harm to the Canadian reputation I figure for the day-long journeys we were taking. The river was mostly calm but we ran some occasional rapids that were just a bit exhilarating/scary considering the old wooden boats we were riding. We motored past dozens of villages and all the river activities associated with each giving us still more exposure to village life in Laos.

Bananagrams On The Nam Ou

Our first night on the river was spent at a forgettable town named Muang Khua. Enough said. Our aggressive seat grabbing really paid off on day two on the river as we, along with a pair of fellows from the UK we were traveling with, got some great seats up front while many of the passengers were crammed in the back on uncomfortable benches. After about six hours on the river Dawn and I jumped off with a handful of other folks at a small village of 600 people only accessible by river where we ended up spending three nights. Muang Ngoi Neua is a sleepy little spot with restaurants and bungalows clung to the riverside. It was a great spot to slow down a bit with no internet and power only between 630PM and 930PM (theoretically). The distance from technology and tiny size of the place gave it charm but it was the beautiful riverside setting with steep karst mountains that made it a beautiful spot to rest the legs.

There Are Beautiful Mountains Behind That Smoke

The only drawback to Muang Ngoi Neua is that as the days past by it got more and more smoky. April is not the best time to be in this part of the world for two reasons. First, it's starting to get pretty hot. Second, the slash and burn agricultural practices mean that the air quality and visibility have been getting increasingly deplorable. For instance, on our last morning we could not even see the mountains on the other side of the river due to the smoke and we really started to notice the impact on our respiratory systems. So off we went by boat and the bumpiest mini-bus ride ever to an equally smoky Luang Prabang. This heavily touristed town was quite a change from the first couple of weeks we had spent in Laos. In parts of the city it seemed like travelers out-numbered locals which required a bit of an adjustment on our parts. Luang Prabang is a nice pedestrian town but given that we were both sick during our time there we didn't get up to much nor did we have the best take on the town.

On Of Many Luang Prabang Temples

 

 

So after resting longer than expected in Luang Prabang we took the seven hour bus journey east to Phonsavan and it's main attraction the Plain of Jars (photos at the end of the post). We joined a day tour to see three of the jar sites (there are over 90). The roughly 2500 jars and jar fragments that remain are made of varying types of stone and just to give you an idea of their size the largest one we saw is 2.5 meters high and weighs six tonnes. They're believed to have been created between 500 B.C. and 200 A.D. but archaeologists can't agree on who made them or why. Two predominant theories are that they were either used to brew and store rice whiskey (that's a lot of rice whiskey) or that they were used in relation to burial practices. Regardless they were pretty interesting. Throughout the tour we also saw much evidence of war including bomb craters and trenches and teams sweeping fields to clear them of unexploded ordinance (UXO). In fact, only a few of the jar sites have been cleared of UXO and even at those that you must stick to the established trails so as not to wander into an area potentially containing armed bombs. Indeed the most profound thing we took from Phongsavan is the incredible UXO problem in Laos. More on that in a post to follow.

Emily And Adam

We made friends with a great English couple (Emily and Adam) on the tour whom we traveled with to Vientiane, the capital of Laos and our final destination in the country. I've felt pretty safe the whole time we were in Laos with the bus ride to Vientiane being the only exception. There were a few stretches of the highway we rode which were very narrow, unsurfaced, and slow going. At times we moved only very slowly or not at all. These same stretches had heavily armed police walking the highway. We've read about bandits on some of the highways but it's been sometime since there were nany recorded incidents. I wasn't worried in the least about banditry being a problem until I saw the first of dozens of police on the road. But we made it without incident - phew!

Buddha Park

 

 

 

 

 

We were once again running up against the time constraints of our visas so we arrived in Vientiane with only a few more days to spare. So with the clock ticking we spent three days in the city seeing the sights. Vientiane has many of the standard things we've come to expect of SE Asian cities: endless temples, a palace, a golden stupa, markets, museums, and lots of great food options. On the unusual list was the Xieng Khuan (Buddha Park) which as you can imagine is full of buddhas. More entertaining though was the bowling. Yup, Vientiane has a bowling alley and along with Emily and Adam we took advantage of it throwing our fair share of gutter balls.

Reflecting now on our time in Laos we both feel much more intrigued by the country than we did with Thailand. I suspect Laos will continue to develop quickly hampered only by its poverty and the mess that war has left in that country.

Stay Between The Markers!

Trenches, Craters, And Jars

Our Guide