Postcard from Laos
We arrived in Northern Thailand right across from the border with Laos after a suprisingly fast 18 hours of taxis and busses from Angkor Wat. We spent the night with some friends of some friends and had some really great discussions with them. The work they are doing is very exciting and it is amazing to see God working in this part of the world.
The next morning we headed into Laos. First off I'd like to say, if you have the chance, GO TO LAOS NOW!!! Laos is truely awesome. We have enjoyed some of the best food we have ever had for around $1 per meal. The people are also very friendly, not pushy like Cambodia and Thailand. The infrastructure is also developed just enough to make things comfortable but not feel like you aren't experiencing the real culture. In another 5-10 years though, Laos will probably be ruined similar to how Thailand now is. It takes a lot of work to find a part of Thailand that is comfortable. Not so in Laos, it is amazing. Truely the jewel of the Mekong.
We stayed with some more friends there and were pleasently suprised by Laos. The big excitement of the trip happened the next day when Ryanna and Katie arrived from the US to join us for part of the trip.
The friends we were staying with have a new baby boy that is one of the most happy babies I've ever seen. Our stay in Laos was awesome. In Vientiane, we ate at a Vientamese place that Stephen raved about for days. We also ate at an Indian place that was phenominal and they had the best breakfasts at a place called Joma. Our whole experience in Laos with eating could be summed up with "gastronomical bliss."
But there was much more going on that that. For one thing, we were both very happy to have Ryanna and Katie there. We have done tons of stuff and had a blast.
First off, in Vientiane, we went to the "Arc D' Triumph" as I call it. It is modeled after the french thingies and represents the communist victory over the king of Laos in 1975.
I also have a picture of Ryanna from a distance looking like she is holding it up but I don't think she would be very happy if I posted it. We also saw the big stupa and water fountain around town. Mostly we just enjoyed catching up.
The next day we took an overnight bus to Luang Phrabang.
Luckily it wasn't this bus with candles for headlights. The bus we did take wasn't much more comfortable though. We did make it safely.
Luang Phrabang had an amazing night market although we haven't bought anything there yet.
We had a great time walking around, looking at the World Heritage city and gazing off over the river.
The next day we rented a boat to go see the Pak Ou caves.
Along the way we had to fill up at the local area gas station. You can actually see gas pumps like out of a regular gas station on the boat.
The caves themselves were mildly disappointing seeing as they were just shallow caves along the river filled with thousands of budda statues. I guess that would have been more exciting if I worshipped budda.
It did have some amazing shots of the Mekong river though. Speaking of which, the Mekong is a really huge river that flows really fast.
Once back in town, we climbed to the top of the hill where there is yet another stupa to watch the sun go down. Unfortunately, it was a very foggy day so it wasn't so impressive.
After that we went down to the river and had yet another amazing Lao meal.
The next day we took an elephant tour to a waterfall. I think the pictures probably speak for themselves. It included a Land Rover to get to a rickety little boat and then a two hour elephant treck right to the waterfall. The water was suprisingly cold but very refreshing.
Hopefully tonight we will catch the sleeper bus to Kunming. It will take 38 hours and leaves in the evening so we should arrive around noon on the second day.
The next morning we headed into Laos. First off I'd like to say, if you have the chance, GO TO LAOS NOW!!! Laos is truely awesome. We have enjoyed some of the best food we have ever had for around $1 per meal. The people are also very friendly, not pushy like Cambodia and Thailand. The infrastructure is also developed just enough to make things comfortable but not feel like you aren't experiencing the real culture. In another 5-10 years though, Laos will probably be ruined similar to how Thailand now is. It takes a lot of work to find a part of Thailand that is comfortable. Not so in Laos, it is amazing. Truely the jewel of the Mekong.
We stayed with some more friends there and were pleasently suprised by Laos. The big excitement of the trip happened the next day when Ryanna and Katie arrived from the US to join us for part of the trip.
The friends we were staying with have a new baby boy that is one of the most happy babies I've ever seen. Our stay in Laos was awesome. In Vientiane, we ate at a Vientamese place that Stephen raved about for days. We also ate at an Indian place that was phenominal and they had the best breakfasts at a place called Joma. Our whole experience in Laos with eating could be summed up with "gastronomical bliss."
But there was much more going on that that. For one thing, we were both very happy to have Ryanna and Katie there. We have done tons of stuff and had a blast.
First off, in Vientiane, we went to the "Arc D' Triumph" as I call it. It is modeled after the french thingies and represents the communist victory over the king of Laos in 1975.
I also have a picture of Ryanna from a distance looking like she is holding it up but I don't think she would be very happy if I posted it. We also saw the big stupa and water fountain around town. Mostly we just enjoyed catching up.
The next day we took an overnight bus to Luang Phrabang.
Luckily it wasn't this bus with candles for headlights. The bus we did take wasn't much more comfortable though. We did make it safely.
Luang Phrabang had an amazing night market although we haven't bought anything there yet.
We had a great time walking around, looking at the World Heritage city and gazing off over the river.
The next day we rented a boat to go see the Pak Ou caves.
Along the way we had to fill up at the local area gas station. You can actually see gas pumps like out of a regular gas station on the boat.
The caves themselves were mildly disappointing seeing as they were just shallow caves along the river filled with thousands of budda statues. I guess that would have been more exciting if I worshipped budda.
It did have some amazing shots of the Mekong river though. Speaking of which, the Mekong is a really huge river that flows really fast.
Once back in town, we climbed to the top of the hill where there is yet another stupa to watch the sun go down. Unfortunately, it was a very foggy day so it wasn't so impressive.
After that we went down to the river and had yet another amazing Lao meal.
The next day we took an elephant tour to a waterfall. I think the pictures probably speak for themselves. It included a Land Rover to get to a rickety little boat and then a two hour elephant treck right to the waterfall. The water was suprisingly cold but very refreshing.
Hopefully tonight we will catch the sleeper bus to Kunming. It will take 38 hours and leaves in the evening so we should arrive around noon on the second day.
posted by Randall Knutson at
3:05 PM
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