Laos is such an amazing country.
First of all, on almost every street corner, they sell sandwiches and pancakes for about $1. It doesn't make sense. They also sell fruit smoothies on every corner for about 55 cents. I truly loved Laos.
On our last day in Luang Pra Bang, we visited the oldest temple in Laos. It was not very big but it is said to have been around the longest time. It was right along the Mekong river.
Once again it was really awesome to see the Mekong River and just relax with some mango shakes.
We spent most of the time in Luang Pra Bang just going through the night markets and seeing local sites.
The next day, we jumped on another bus to Vang Vieng. The bus ride was as usual, very gorgeous. It only took about 6 hours. They are becoming easy now.
Our lunch stop was very nice as well.
Vang Vieng, Laos is known as the tubing spot of Southeast Asia. They basically found a river and set up dozens of bars and restaurants along this river. As well as rope swings and water slides. It is just a big place for all foreigners from across the world to gather and have fun. If you have been, or heard about it, you know what goes on in the city.
We were glad to have met up with our buddies from Vietnam, Matt and Dave. We also made friends with another guy named Alex from Edmonton.
Vang Vieng was indescribable. The surrounding areas were beautiful.
I normally have a great amount of photos, but not many for this city. Especially since we stayed 7 nights, I wish I had more photos. We ended up getting a bungalow along the river for about $3 a night. It was amazing.
The first day we spent on the infamous river, taking 40 feet ropes swings into the air. There are no photos to prove it, but I actually did some of them. To be launched 45 feet in the air is scary to say the least. I am sure YouTube has some videos of it. We also played a pretty crazy game of mud volleyball. The river was 3 km and we barely made it 200 m the first day, for whatever reasons.
The next day,we rented motorbikes and drove outside of town. The four of us and Dave and Matt joined us along for the ride.
We found a water filled cave and sat on a tube and just floated through it. It was absolutely remarkable, to be in a tube floating in a cave.
After that we rode our bikes to another nearby cave.
This cave was very long and narrow.
Within the cave, there was a really large Buddha statue. It was amazing to see something built so deep into a cave.
After that, we made our way back to the town. Driving on motorbikes throughout the trip, was probably the activity I enjoyed the most.
The next day we went back to the river and Jacob, Curtis and I tubed the whole thing. It was pretty fun to sit for 4 hours and float down a river.That night, we somehow found a bar which was showing the Canada - US Gold Medal game. We made our way there around 3 am and celebrated with cheers around 6:30 am when Canada took it. There was a huge Canadian community in the city who came to watch it, so it was great. I have had such an amazing time during my whole trip, but that was surely a moment I wished I was in Canada. Crosby scoring in Overtime couldn't be scripted any better.
The next day, the other boys went rock climbing while I just stayed behind and sat in a hammock all day. It was quite enjoyable.
Everyday we went to the same breakfast place. The service was good, the people were great and the view was... really nice.
The next day, we once again went to the river. The river is very addictive and so much fun. I ended up taking this water slide which basically flings you 20 feet into the air. Flying was pretty awesome.
Every night while there we
heard some great tunes. One of my favourites which always played was What is Love; it is a great song, which reminded me of a great Szyjka at home.On our last day, we took a trip to a nearby lagoon and did a little bit of caving. This is Jacob jumping into the Lagoon.
We went to the caves with Julie from Switzerland and Vanessa from Vancouver.
There was once again another Buddha statue within the cave, really well done.
Overall Vang Vieng was a place we all thoroughly enjoyed and will never forget.
The day after (somehow we spent 8 days there) we decided the city had abused us enough and we had to leave. We made our way to the capital city of Laos, called Vientiane by bus. It took about 5 hours. At which point, we were to stop for one hour and then take another 12 hour over night bus.
While eating in an Indian restaurant (great reminder of home) our friend Jacob could not find his passport. The bus was leaving in 30 mins and he didn't know what to do. Long story short, I boarded the bus with Sebastien to Don Det, Laos (4000 Islands) and Jacob and Curtis remained behind. Update on that is, they had to miss Cambodia and we will meet them in Thailand. Medium.
The bus ride to Don Det was pretty ridiculous. At first I was excited it was a sleeper bus. When I saw my bed, I thought wow, I only have to share with one person. Of course, nothing is what is seems. Imagine a double bed, that is only 5 feet long, with myself, 3 Laotian men and a German man. It was uncomfortable on so many levels. 10 hours later, I was still alive.
We finally made it to Don Det the next morning and just relaxed.
Don Det is known for having 4000 Islands and the beach was gorgeous.
This was the bungalow I stayed in for $3. It looked really good, especially with that towel they offered me. But it was too hot and just another miserable sleep.
We spent the day just swimming and relaxing. This was the background of our breakfast table, it was awesome.
Right The next day we embarked on another 13 hour journey to Cambodia (where I currently I am). Right before the bus ride, in this super town that was clearly lacking infrastructure, we discovered one of the most beautiful rice fields.
Most Valuable buds
The Most Valuable Buds for this leg of the trip has to be Dave Bene from Kelowna, Canada and Matt Matheson from London, England.
We met these boys in Vietnam and ended up meeting them in Vang Vieng. We spent all 7 days with them. They are some good guys and hopefully we meet up with them again sometime soon.
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