Vientiane

     

     Having toured the culturally significant Luang Prabang and the natural wonders of Vang Vieng first, we were starting to wonder if we had saved too many days for the reportedly boring Vientiane.  Most travellers just use it for its airport and have implied the Lao Capital doesn't have much to offer.  By the time we got there, it had EXACTLY what we wanted: SUNNY weather and a bit more metropolitan-ity that we surprisingly craved.  

     As our major thought of the day revolves around our next meal, we were relieved to be back in the land of many options!  The night market fired up down our street every night and a variety of street food could be had a reasonable prices.  

     We also indulged in some non-local fare as a refreshing diversion from noodle soup. One night we had Italian pasta and pizza.  Another night we hit up Trip Advisor for Indian and found this highly recommended spot (pictured below).  Our meal at Jamil Zahid was good and so inexpensive! Old Jamil, himself, attentively serves all guests and asked the kids to pick "American" music from his ipod (although we preferred a Punjabi soundtrack rather than subject the entire dining room to more Despacito re-mixes). However, in the end it seems that his attentiveness borders on phishing for reviews and social media participation. Before we were even back to the hotel, he had posted 3 pics and a video of our family on his FB and Youtube. His YT channel is filled with hundreds of awkward clips of guests wondering why he is taking a video of them eating while he says "I love (insert your country name here)." It's a little creepy.

We rented bikes for $1.20 each and toured the major landmarks of the city.  It is actually quite handsome with loads of temples intermixed with colonial architecture.  

Rolling on the River.... Mekong

One top tourist attraction is the "Buddha Park" outside town.  It is filled with religious and fantastical sculptures and appears to be a work in progress.  The photo above shows one of its weird climbable monuments viewed from ground level, entrance, and from the top.

Another sketchy climbable monument at the Buddha Park.  

Little Buddha

The highlight of Vientiane (for the girls) was the public swimming pool.  Maya was so impressed with its size and diving platforms.  It was about $2 each and fairly quiet before 4pm.  In the late afternoon it was filled with locals and swim classes.  

Vang Vieng

     Our next stop was Vang Vieng.  Due to recent flooding, landslides, and the major news event of week being a deadly dam break in southern Laos, there was a buzz about which road was passable from Luang Prabang.  There is an Old Road and a New Road.  The new one is faster but was rumored to be washed out or currently not in use.  So we booked our mini-van transport and figured we were in for a long ride.  

     Surprise!  The driver did take the New Road.  The route begins at about 1000ft and tops off at a pass near 6200ft. In America you rarely see road incline warnings of more than 6%, however here we saw 9, 10, and 12% grade steepness.  As we ascended, the clouds took visibility down to a semi-truck length ahead.  Some areas of the road were indeed washed out, but our tenacious driver pressed on with little hesitation as to how to delicately encounter each detour or obstacle.  Once Genna was alarmed to discover that the road had become the river (pictured above) and Jeff noticed pavement buckling and sections eroded into the abyss.  Map geeks can check out a segment of the route on GoogleEarth at 19º23'07"N 102º08'46"E.  I later noted that our Embassy regular advises travellers NOT use this road.  Thank goodness we snagged the front seats, this is not a trip for weak stomachs!

     Once we were safely on flat ground in the valley into Vang Vieng we passed a presumably fatal motorbike accident.  2 fallen bikes on the shoulder and 2 bodies in the road... the responding ambulance was headed out as we entered town.

Vang Vieng is known as an adventure hub in the region.  You can kayak, river tube (booze optional), and go climbing, caving, and ORVing.  However, due to the aforementioned incessant rain and the heavy river volume we were not feeling water sports this week.  The girls amused themselves with umbrellas, banana pancakes, and a rental pool at a nearby hotel.

We did some walking throughout town and explored Tham Chang Cave and its blue spring.  Had some fishy papaya salad, terrible BBQ/hotpot, and many fruit shakes.  Did some shopping on the night walking streets and witnessed a sky lantern launch.  

Laos = "Land of a Million Elephants"

     Our most positive experience in Laos was visiting the Vang Vieng Elephant Sanctuary.  It is about an hour drive south of town near the vast Nam Ngum Reservoir.  The Sanctuary pays the wages of work elephants so they and their mahouts can live here.  This is presently their best financial strategy, as opposed to buying the animals outright.  They currently have 12 and hope to increase the population via rescue and local-wild-mix-breeeding. The experience begins with hiking a kilometer through the stream, lakeshore, and jungle until you encounter a pair or so of pachyderms.  I admit some apprehension as 2 large girls trundled towards our family. Since they know you are each carrying a bucket of bananas, they promptly join your party and delicately extract their snack from your paws.  It didn't take Maya long to get with the program and tackled the task of treat-time. Genna was a little unsure and hung back a bit.
     When our baskets were empty our leader announce that "We go swim with them now", as if it was up to the elephants to decide their daily schedule.  They do advertise that visitors are here more as volunteers rather than guests to be entertained. We learned that elephant's spines are not meant to carry loads and other excursions that offer rides are inhumane (not hard to guess).  Also, while elephants can live to 100 years, those that experience an existence of hard labor have greatly shortened lifespans.  There is some spoiling involved in these tour visits, but they attempt to rotate animals so none of them become accustomed to daily sweet fruit treats or too much human contact.  I wonder how that notion, combined with their hope for wild interbreeding will effect the program.  If it becomes unsafe for tourists to visit an increasingly wild stock of elephants, they may stop coming and thus decrease the sanctuary's revenue.

"We Swim Now!"  But don't dilly dally (Maya and Genna!!!). These elephants decide when they are done and are not made to entertain you.  Maya got a short chance to splash in their bath before these ladies decided it was time to move on to the next mud-hole to reapply their sunblock and bug repellant. 

After the mud bath we all go back to base camp for BBQ lunch for us and chopped pineapple for them.
Genna finally warmed up to her new friends.

     Nam Ngum Reservoir is the largest lake in the country and is dotted with islands and surrounded by jungle, mountains, and villages.  After the joyful afternoon we had with the elephants the icing on the cake was that a bit of blue sky was peeking through and our return trip up the mountain offered some fabulous views.  The rainy season couldn't beat us down today!

Luang Prabang

An ominous introduction to Laos.

     While this photo was taken in the daylight a few days later, this represents our initiation to Laos.  From Hanoi, we opted to fly to Luang Prabang in lieu of the 24-hour cramped bus ride through the mountains.  We arrived in a storm severe enough that the pilot opted to delay our landing a bit.  A few days back in Hanoi, we were getting suspicious of our hotel booking as we had not had any confirmation.  When we arrived, in the dark, at 9:00pm, in the rain, we encountered the contents of the hotel unpacked onto the sidewalk and no one around to communicate with.  Smartly we booked a back-up guesthouse (in a less ideal, farther location) and was able to find someone to explain to the cab driver to take us there instead.  That turned out to be the worst accommodation of the trip.  The "Family Room" turned out to be a jabbingly springy twin bed and a slightly less uncomfortable king.  At the hour we arrived, we had no choice but to accept and crash for the night.  As awkward as it was to fit 3 to the king, I think the short stick was the person who had the evil, pokey, twin bed - so we ended up rotating through that it for our 4 nights here.  For the price, we could have given in and gotten an extra room, but somehow we just got resolved to the situation.  

This photo summarizes the comfort level of the room.  WHY IS THERE A LAMP PAINTED ON THE WALL AND NO REAL LAMP!!!!!!!

     Poor Luang Prabang, and Laos in general, is going down as "hard to recommend" in our book.  I am sure it is exquisite in the dry season, but we were so tired of going out in the rain, mist or at least 100% cloud cover EVERYDAY that we couldn't give it a fair shake.  We never woke up early to observe the Monk's alms collecting ritual.  We didn't walk up Mt Phousi or tour the Royal Palace.  We discovered that the food was almost double the cost as Vietnam.  The people were not unfriendly, but were just more reserved.  The night market stall sellers don't even call out to you.  Sounds positive, but it was weird.  After 6 weeks on the road we were admitting that the trip was probably 2 weeks too long.  

The highlight for the girls was playing with this baby while Papa booked a tour with her mother in their storefront tour office/living room/smoothie stall.

The night before a 2-part day trip I fell ill, so I sat the morning out while Jeff soldiered on with the girls to Pak Ou cave up the Mekong River.  I was able to meet them after lunch to finish the day's outing to Kuang Si Falls.  These are picturesque blue springs and delightfully terraced waterfalls... in the dry season.  In late July they are flowing torrentially and muddy.  

Despite the color, the falls were impressive.
The park grounds also house an interesting exhibit of protected Asiatic Black bears.  

Another day Jeff and Maya made an excursion across the Mekong by boat ferry and explored a Buddha cave, escorted by this young guide (below).

     While they were there, Genna and I visited a village school run by Big Brother Mouse.  Genna was the youngest volunteer that day amongst a large group of British Highschoolers, some German backpackers, and a single Aussie retiree.  Genna enjoyed practicing flashcards with the youngest students and playing board games with the young adults.  The program was great (for us) but a regular parade of volun-tourists has to be rather disruptive to the classroom routine.  The school has another component where you can meet older students in town to just chat and practice English.