I've finally got round to writing up my trip to Laos if anyone is interested. I'll try and keep it short so as not to send people into a coma.
Laos is a great destination for anyone looking for a holiday to a country as yet unspoiled by mass tourism.
I had booked a tour with a company who specialise in small group tours to both Laos and Cambodia. There were only four of us on the tour and we met up on my first evening in Bangkok. We spent the next day in Bangkok, which is just as hot, sticky and crazy as I remembered from previous visits before catching the overnight sleeper train to Ubon Ratchathani about 30 kms from the Laos border. The journey was mostly uneventful apart from in the early hours when I woke up to find a cockroach motoring across my face on its way to the other side of the carriage. Needless to say I didn't sleep much the rest of the night.
We were picked up by a minibus and taken to the border and after walking across we were met by our Lao tour guide who asked us to call him Tony. We drove to Done Khong Island where we stayed for two nights in a pretty colonial style hotel on the banks of the Mekong river. The next day we travelled by boat down the river to visit villages and waterfalls. We talked to some villagers who told us about their lives. Everyone greeted us with smiles and we had lots of photo ops. I had taken some hair slides as gifts for the little girls and they loved having their pictures taken wearing their new possessions.
The following morning I got up before dawn to watch the sunrise on the Mekong, which was lovely, and I saw lots of monks in their saffron robes walking through the village on their way to receive offerings of food from the local villagers.
We drove to an area called the Bolaven Plateau and stayed for two nights in a forest camp, the cabins and restaurant were on stilts and I sat on my veranda watching the two resident elephants having a bath in the pool at the bottom of nearby waterfalls.
The following day we went for a five/six hour hike following the waterfalls, across streams, then through jungle to some villages where we were able to observe rural life. A village woman told us a bit about her life, she had given birth to eight children but had lost four in infancy. This is quite normal in rural Laos, where medical facilities are almost nonexistent and the people live at subsistence level. We visited a hut where a young mother proudly showed us her baby, born just a couple of hours before. I wondered what the future held for this child.
Everywhere in the village there were piles of chillis drying in the sun making the ground appear bright red. The houses were all built on stilts and under the houses live an assortment of pigs, chickens and dogs. We watched some village men erecting a new hut for a family who were waiting in the shade with all of their possessions piled onto a wheelbarrow.
to be continued.......
Laos
would love to get there some day. It sounds fascinating Judith- a real thought provoking experience.
Looking forward to hearing more.
would love to get there some day. It sounds fascinating Judith- a real thought provoking experience.
Looking forward to hearing more.
Hi Judith... not comatosed yet and far from it 
Your JBR is really interesting and I look forward to reading your next installment.
Cheers Geri
Your JBR is really interesting and I look forward to reading your next installment.
Cheers Geri
Can't wait for the next installment! Already sounds an amazing experience!!
Sounds like you had a really interesting, and eye-opening trip, Judith, looking forward to the next installment.
x lassi
x lassi
We drove to the town of Savannakhet where we stayed overnight, the town was pretty uninteresting, really just a stopover on our way north though we did have an excellent meal in a floating restaurant on the Mekong where we could see the lights of Thailand on the other side of the river. We did a jungle hike in the afternoon and saw lots of large colourful butterflys, we were very hot and sticky when we finally came out of the forest at a temple site and were ready for a cool drink. After the previous couple of days exertions I was having some pain in one of my knees and Tony our tour guide told me he had had some training as a masseur so I was treated to a massage as we travelled along in the minibus. It did the trick and my knee felt as good a new. 
We travelled north loosely following the Mekong until we reached the capital city Vientiane. At first I didn't like the city but it grew on me and despite the 35° temperature I enjoyed wandering around looking at the shops, temples and buildings and drinking a cool Lao beer in the shade. There are some really good restaurants in Vientiane and I had excellent meals during my three night stay there.
We decided to forgo the very long drive to Phonesavahn the next day and took a short Lao Airways flight instead. The flight lasted 35 mins and the temperature when we arrived was about 8° which was a real shock after the 30°+ temp in Vientiane. The thing that struck us as we circled the airport before landing was the huge amount of bomb craters dotting the landscape. Laos was severely bombed by the Americans during the Vietnam War and there are still millions of unexploded bombs in the countryside.
Phonesavahn is the site of the mysterious Plain of Jars, lots of large ancient stone jars dotted around the countryside and there is still some argument as to what they were used for. The area is quite mountainous and we stayed in a hotel in the hills, we had our own individual cabins with a very welcome open log fire. We all decided to have a massage in the evening and a one hour intensive full body massage cost about £2 each. The following day we visited the three Jars sites plus a large cave that had been used as a shelter for some of the local population during the war. We chose to walk from site two to three and had a pleasant walk through pretty rolling hills for a couple of hours. We had to be careful to keep to the path marked by white bricks as this had been cleared of bombs. Red bricks meant probably safe but anywhere else could be dangerous. After visiting the site we headed back to our hotel passing through a large village with an interesting Buddha statue. We stopped to view the statue and could hear quite loud music coming from somewhere in the village. We went to investigate and found a party in progress on some open land. We were told the people were from the Hmong ethnic group though we never really found out what they were celebrating. They invited us to join them and they quickly brought out chairs for us to sit down. Within a short while we were given very potent rice wine and beer to drink and after a few minutes large platters of meat and rice were placed in front of us. We were told that they would be insulted if we didn't drink until drunk and eat until we were full to bursting and although I don't normally drink much we obliged them. Some of the guests started to dance and we were asked to join in. What a great evening. We were made to feel really welcome and it will remain one of my lasting memories of my trip to Laos.
to be continued.......
We travelled north loosely following the Mekong until we reached the capital city Vientiane. At first I didn't like the city but it grew on me and despite the 35° temperature I enjoyed wandering around looking at the shops, temples and buildings and drinking a cool Lao beer in the shade. There are some really good restaurants in Vientiane and I had excellent meals during my three night stay there.
We decided to forgo the very long drive to Phonesavahn the next day and took a short Lao Airways flight instead. The flight lasted 35 mins and the temperature when we arrived was about 8° which was a real shock after the 30°+ temp in Vientiane. The thing that struck us as we circled the airport before landing was the huge amount of bomb craters dotting the landscape. Laos was severely bombed by the Americans during the Vietnam War and there are still millions of unexploded bombs in the countryside.
Phonesavahn is the site of the mysterious Plain of Jars, lots of large ancient stone jars dotted around the countryside and there is still some argument as to what they were used for. The area is quite mountainous and we stayed in a hotel in the hills, we had our own individual cabins with a very welcome open log fire. We all decided to have a massage in the evening and a one hour intensive full body massage cost about £2 each. The following day we visited the three Jars sites plus a large cave that had been used as a shelter for some of the local population during the war. We chose to walk from site two to three and had a pleasant walk through pretty rolling hills for a couple of hours. We had to be careful to keep to the path marked by white bricks as this had been cleared of bombs. Red bricks meant probably safe but anywhere else could be dangerous. After visiting the site we headed back to our hotel passing through a large village with an interesting Buddha statue. We stopped to view the statue and could hear quite loud music coming from somewhere in the village. We went to investigate and found a party in progress on some open land. We were told the people were from the Hmong ethnic group though we never really found out what they were celebrating. They invited us to join them and they quickly brought out chairs for us to sit down. Within a short while we were given very potent rice wine and beer to drink and after a few minutes large platters of meat and rice were placed in front of us. We were told that they would be insulted if we didn't drink until drunk and eat until we were full to bursting and although I don't normally drink much we obliged them. Some of the guests started to dance and we were asked to join in. What a great evening. We were made to feel really welcome and it will remain one of my lasting memories of my trip to Laos.
to be continued.......
Sounds magical and just like an episode from my favourite travel programme- Globe Trekker.
We had a very long drive the following day through the mountains to Luang Prabang where we were to stay for three nights. On the way we stopped at some caves reached by a steep climb uphill, the caves had been used as a hospital during the war and there were a lot of old phials and makeshift medical equipment dotted around the huge caves. Later on we stopped at a roadside market where we saw any number of weird and wonderful things to eat, fried grasshoppers, frogs and every part of chickens, some things we didn't recognise and thought it better not to ask. I would hate to drive in rural Laos, lots of people literally live on the side of the road, their homes being just a couple of feet at times from the passing traffic so you have to contend with children playing, pigs, dogs and chickens all racing around.
Luang Prabang is a charming city situated on the banks of the Mekong, it was at one time the capital of Laos, though it's becoming a bit of a backpackers oasis. On our first full day there we had a walking tour of the city, visiting temples and the former King's Palace and in the afternoon we visited a bear sanctuary and the Kwang Xi Waterfalls, extremely high falls with pools for swimming on two of the levels.
On my last full day in Laos I got up before dawn to watch the procession of the monks through the town to receive offerings of food from the townspeople though I was somewhat upset by the behaviour of some other tourists who treated the occasion as a party. Later on during the morning we took a boat ride down the Mekong where we visited some caves and Buddha statues and we then crossed the river and had an excellent lunch in a local restaurant. We took the boat back to Luang Prabang stopping off at a few villages on the way.
The following morning we had an early flight back to Bangkok. I had booked an extra couple of nights at my hotel in BKK and intended to shop and relax after what had been a quite active holiday. I had arranged to take a cookery class at the BaiPai Thai Cookery School, which was excellent, and I am hoping to practice what I learned on friends and family. Unfortunately my stay in BKK was extended due to the protests and although I like Bangkok I didn't really want to stay any longer in the city, and I spent my time shopping, swimming and eating some good Thai food. I was one of the lucky stranded passengers and only had to stay an extra couple of nights before taking a seemingly endless twelve hour bus journey to Phuket for a flight back to Germany.
I really liked Laos, I think it is probably my favourite of all the Indo China countries. It feels much more laid back than any where else that I have visited in S.E.Asia. We were made to feel very welcome everywhere and I felt very safe. I really enjoy travelling on the Mekong and seeing life in the villages at it's banks. At the moment it's still very cheap country to travel through, this will probably change as more tourists visit, though because the country is landlocked and without the beaches of its neighbours, it probably won't attract mass tourism.
Judith
Luang Prabang is a charming city situated on the banks of the Mekong, it was at one time the capital of Laos, though it's becoming a bit of a backpackers oasis. On our first full day there we had a walking tour of the city, visiting temples and the former King's Palace and in the afternoon we visited a bear sanctuary and the Kwang Xi Waterfalls, extremely high falls with pools for swimming on two of the levels.
On my last full day in Laos I got up before dawn to watch the procession of the monks through the town to receive offerings of food from the townspeople though I was somewhat upset by the behaviour of some other tourists who treated the occasion as a party. Later on during the morning we took a boat ride down the Mekong where we visited some caves and Buddha statues and we then crossed the river and had an excellent lunch in a local restaurant. We took the boat back to Luang Prabang stopping off at a few villages on the way.
The following morning we had an early flight back to Bangkok. I had booked an extra couple of nights at my hotel in BKK and intended to shop and relax after what had been a quite active holiday. I had arranged to take a cookery class at the BaiPai Thai Cookery School, which was excellent, and I am hoping to practice what I learned on friends and family. Unfortunately my stay in BKK was extended due to the protests and although I like Bangkok I didn't really want to stay any longer in the city, and I spent my time shopping, swimming and eating some good Thai food. I was one of the lucky stranded passengers and only had to stay an extra couple of nights before taking a seemingly endless twelve hour bus journey to Phuket for a flight back to Germany.
I really liked Laos, I think it is probably my favourite of all the Indo China countries. It feels much more laid back than any where else that I have visited in S.E.Asia. We were made to feel very welcome everywhere and I felt very safe. I really enjoy travelling on the Mekong and seeing life in the villages at it's banks. At the moment it's still very cheap country to travel through, this will probably change as more tourists visit, though because the country is landlocked and without the beaches of its neighbours, it probably won't attract mass tourism.
Judith
Thank you Judith for your fabulous reports, you certainly sounded like you enjoyed your experience.
Cheers Geri
Cheers Geri
Many thanks Judith - excellent 
Can we have the next episode please, Judith!!! I've been waiting very patiently 
It sounds amazing!!!
It sounds amazing!!!
Sue
I did post a report, maybe one of the mods can post a link or you can find it in the Far East forum under
the title My Trip To Laos..final report.
Thanks for you post, yes it was a great trip.
Judith
I did post a report, maybe one of the mods can post a link or you can find it in the Far East forum under
the title My Trip To Laos..final report.
Thanks for you post, yes it was a great trip.
Judith
Thanks Judith!!! Found it now, and have read the final episode....makes me want to go there right now!!!!
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