Arrived in Laos in safety, and if we had thought that it would be reminiscent of Cambodia we were so wrong.. Laos with a population of only 5.6 million, so as a people they are incredibly laid back.. really friendly, and there is no push to buy as there seems to be in the other countries. We've been really lucky in that our local guide (it's illegal for any other nationality to run tours in Laos) and also our intrepid guide were both former monks... Lovely men... Our local guide told us that he was in a monastery for 10 years and each day he would spend 45mins teaching himself english... 6 years ago he left the monastery worked for 3 years on a construction site, got himself a certificate for english and then moved into being a tour guide.. Interestingly enough, he is married with a 6 year old son and another child.. hmmm... they say timing is everything.. our intrepid guide has his affectation of humming after each sentence, oh and while I'm at it, our local (pronounced twooey) has decided that in the absence of a karaoke on board the bus he was going to sing and get the group to join in... I so love the theme from Titanic, yeah right... but it was that or westlife... These asian men love their romantic pop songs..I'm hoping that as English is their second (possibly 4th language) I may give them some 2Pac to learn (thanks Son!!) see how that goes down in a bus...
In any event our orientation day took us to the Presidential palace, the Arc de Triumph, a temple and gruelling heat.. it was at least 34degrees in Vientiane..
Laos looks so much like NZ, and after the flat plains of Vietnam, to see mountains, blue sky (I don't think the photos show how overcast Vietnam and Cambodia has been...) It took us a few minutes to realise that the problem with the picture was the "sun".. It did exist verdant hills, winding rivers just beautiful, but it is (at least where we are) landlocked, so it was incredibly hot..
Lots of bugs, but I seem to be overcoming my aversion for fluttery things... which usually has me running for lockable rooms.. (I'm sure there are many out there who would suggest I should've been in a lockable room for a long time now)... An incredibly long time of travelling by buses... Although there is not as much traffic here is Laos, there is also not as much funds spent on public roading... Had a bit of an issue arriving in the evening... Our bus, missed the turn off, so we were heading into oncoming traffic. That was interesting.. Oh and on traffic adventures, I missed taking a picture, but imagine if you can, a truck carrying a fully felled tree, with roots in tact.. Therefore it was very high on the back of the truck, and sitting on a high branch of the tree was a man with a stick.. Started to laugh out loud, but then I saw the man with the stick sitting on the branch lifting the electricity cables whenever the truck passed overhead live wires... Ingenious... (no point in cutting the tree into short lengths when you can have a man sitting on the top moving the wires out of the way!!)
Yummy restaurants in Vientiane... Oh we had on our map given to us by our tour leader a big mark stating the best coffee in Vientiane... So we went for a wander... and of course managed to get lost, so we stopped to ask 4 policemen (they sit on major intersections looking for motorcyclists who don't wear helmets - Surprised us too!!) where we were and how do we find the right street for good coffee... Too funny, in tandem each of them looked at the map, and then pointed in completely different directions... so one of them was ultimately going to be correct..
Went to three different internet cafes to try to update the blog.... That was a bit like the policemen... All my camera photos ended up somewhere but on their computers... one even offered, to email them to me... (Huh????)
Tutu and Dudu :o)
In any event our orientation day took us to the Presidential palace, the Arc de Triumph, a temple and gruelling heat.. it was at least 34degrees in Vientiane..
Laos looks so much like NZ, and after the flat plains of Vietnam, to see mountains, blue sky (I don't think the photos show how overcast Vietnam and Cambodia has been...) It took us a few minutes to realise that the problem with the picture was the "sun".. It did exist verdant hills, winding rivers just beautiful, but it is (at least where we are) landlocked, so it was incredibly hot..
Lots of bugs, but I seem to be overcoming my aversion for fluttery things... which usually has me running for lockable rooms.. (I'm sure there are many out there who would suggest I should've been in a lockable room for a long time now)... An incredibly long time of travelling by buses... Although there is not as much traffic here is Laos, there is also not as much funds spent on public roading... Had a bit of an issue arriving in the evening... Our bus, missed the turn off, so we were heading into oncoming traffic. That was interesting.. Oh and on traffic adventures, I missed taking a picture, but imagine if you can, a truck carrying a fully felled tree, with roots in tact.. Therefore it was very high on the back of the truck, and sitting on a high branch of the tree was a man with a stick.. Started to laugh out loud, but then I saw the man with the stick sitting on the branch lifting the electricity cables whenever the truck passed overhead live wires... Ingenious... (no point in cutting the tree into short lengths when you can have a man sitting on the top moving the wires out of the way!!)
Yummy restaurants in Vientiane... Oh we had on our map given to us by our tour leader a big mark stating the best coffee in Vientiane... So we went for a wander... and of course managed to get lost, so we stopped to ask 4 policemen (they sit on major intersections looking for motorcyclists who don't wear helmets - Surprised us too!!) where we were and how do we find the right street for good coffee... Too funny, in tandem each of them looked at the map, and then pointed in completely different directions... so one of them was ultimately going to be correct..
Went to three different internet cafes to try to update the blog.... That was a bit like the policemen... All my camera photos ended up somewhere but on their computers... one even offered, to email them to me... (Huh????)
Tutu and Dudu :o)
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