Huay Xai North Laos to South Laos!

We stayed in Huay Xai for a couple of nights.  Tiny place, and the main reason for a tourist stop is the 3 day jungle trip to see Gibbons.  It is done along the treetops (you are kind of on a flying fox) and you sleep in tree huts, but really a bit expensive so decided instead to head south to down to Vientiane so we could get Vietnam visa’s for August.  The bus trip was a beauty, scheduled for 24  hours (900 km) depending on road conditions/breakdowns!

         

This is the major bus station we left from!  Followed by a picture of what you get given upon showing your bus ticket.  Yes there are 2 motion sickness pills each, lying with breathe mints, on top of the sick bags! 

Andre got a good photo of the back of the bus, we drove with the bonnet open the whole time.  We were maybe 1/2 hour into the trip before the locals started throwing up.  Every 2 hours was a stop by the side of the road for locals to get off, have a smoke or throw up or go the toilet or all three right in front of the bus! Then there were the stops to pick stereo speakers, give candles in some roadside shrine, buy veges, get diesel, pick up more people and lastly we had the occasional stop for crisis management engineering on the way. We were the only tourists on the bus (local bus) so we stayed on!

         

We stopped at an occasional shop, I am standing next to peeled grapefruits, the unpeeled ones are the green ones bottom left of photo, huge aye.  Finally after 27.5 hours, we arrived in Vientiane, and got straight on a tuk-tuk to take us into town.  We went straight back to the last place we stayed in Vientiane when we arrived in Laos.  Welcome home for us as we like it here.

    

Vientiane

We went to the Laos National Museum.  Wow, what an eye opener.  (no photos allowed) We started off looking at prehistoric history, and kind of jumped from there to Colonialist French and Imperialistic America part of history.  Loads of photos with incredibly emotive language, very anti-French and anti-American.  Then you hit 1975 and independence and celebrations of their achievements since then. It seems like the past is forgiven (note, women featured heavily in the army of independence and setting up new Government etc)  However, there is little history about the Laos monarchy or any thing of that era.  The tree outside the museum was amazing.  It is one piece of Tiar Kha wood (hard wood and highly valued) 2.8m diameter and 4m high.  The carved pictures describe Lao culture, history and nature, including scenes like rice cleaning by hand, traditional Lao dancing and famous places, like Valley of the jars.  Last photo in Vientiane is me (in new shorts) standing on the street outside the place we are staying.  Goodbye again Vientiane!!!!

         

Tha Khaek

So once again it was on a local bus to go to Tha Khaek, only 6 – 8 hours this time.  This bus was a luxury though!  Air conditioners, comfortable seats etc.  They said it was the local bus (price was local bus) but there were a lot of tourists on it!  Tha Kheak was a lovely little place.  We stayed in a really nice place but had to walk 40 mins to get to town!  We only spent 2 days here, but on the last day we spent the afternoon on Skype to my Mum, with her pointing the camera at the TV for the Crusaders vs Chiefs (thanks again Mum) it didn’t work too bad!

    

This is Andre on skype to Mum watching rugby, followed by 2 photos of the view if you weren’t watching a computer screen.

         

So its back on a local bus heading further south (but only 1-2 hours, so probably 3 hours) to Savannakhet!

Mekong River day 2

We stayed the night in a TINY place called Pak Beng which is the stopping off point for all slow boats (took us 9 hours to get there!) it was poring with rain, but luckily already had our accommodation sorted!  Had one small main street but very friendly locals.  Literally ate dinner then went to bed.  Woke up next day to pouring rain again and it did not let up, at all!  Afraid this post is more of the same photos, as everyone here says….’same same, but different’ (bit like NZ ‘yes yes yes yes yes…..no’

         

The Mekong is the world's 12th-longest river at 2,600 miles. It is the largest river in Southeast Asia.  The Mekong River Basin is almost the size of France and Germany put together.  It would take 48 hours of driving at roughly 62 MPH to drive the same distance as the length of the Mekong River.

Please note Andre’s packed lunch!

         

         

      

Much of the Mekong remains undeveloped and even unexplored. It is closely tied to the daily lives and culture of over 60 million people—people who depend on it for transportation as well as for water for cooking, irrigation, cleaning, and sanitation. For these 60 million—many of whom live in poverty—the fish and other resources in the river account for most of the protein in their diets and for their survival. However, life along the river is changing, as China has already constructed large dams on the river with plans for many more.

        

    

Finally after another 9 hours we arrive in Huay Xai, North East of Laos.

Mekong River trip

The earliest settlements along the river date to 2100 BC with the first recorded civilization—the Indianised-Khmer culture of Funan—dating to the 1st century. Excavations have uncovered coins from as far away as the Roman Empire.

In 2009, 145 new species were described from the Mekong Region, including two new bird species, five mammals, 96 plants, six new amphibians, and 29 fish species previously unknown to science.

The Mekong has more large fish—including the Mekong giant catfish, which can weigh up to 660 lbs. and grow to be almost 10 ft.—than any other river.

This is us off on our day 1 of our 2 day trip down the Mekong on the ‘slow boat’

         

        

Slow sailing bright paint
drifts on cadbury coloured water
past sand sliding slashed earth
past jungle hidden tribes
riding the life of the Mekong