Today's writer: Shannon
Laos. We're still not sure how to pronounce this country's name considering the locals say it two different ways. In one they pronounce the "S" and in the other they don't. So we decided to do the same and call it by both. Probably the best solution. We arrived in Laos after a 12 hour bus ride from Thailand, followed by another 1 hour long bus ride, a tuk-tuk ride, a shuttle to cross the border and go through immigration, and finally a taxi into the city. The trip took about 17 hours, but totally worth it.
We arrived in Vientiene, which is the capital and found out right away that Laos is SUCH a laid-back country. Which = I'm in love. For being the capital, everything is still pretty slow moving and happens in "Lao Time." Tuk-tuk drivers lay in their hammocks on the back of their tuk-tuks, people on old school bicylcles everywhere, and of course monks galore ( yes, i still stalk monks.) While inVientiene we went to a center called COPE, which helps make prosthetics for many people still affected by unexploded bombs dropped by the U.S. I won't give anyone a history lesson or anything here, but it was definitely a day to remember and a pretty humbling experience for both of us. While at the national monument we also stumbled upon a festival that they only have once per year which was PRETTY awesome and super local.
After a couple of days, we headed off to Vang Vieng! For those of you who don't know, the only two things to do in Vang Vieng, are either to go tubing down the river, or to hang out at any of the restaraunts that are playing re-runs of "Friends" episodes. We definitely did both (bcuz friends is awesome) but the tubing was Amazing! Basically, you rent a tube and take it down the river that is surrounded by bars on both sides. The locals toss out ropes to you to try and lure you in. Let's just say it's pretty hard to say no to them when they're giving free shots, blasting music and have the biggest river swings and slides we've ever seen. The locals were awesome, except for the one part where they tried to steal our tube in hopes they would get money out of us. It didn't work. Unfortunately,we don't have any pictures because our cameras would have gotten ruined in the river. So, if you want to know what it's like, come to Laos! :)
From Vang Vieng we took a 7 hour bus ride further north to Luang Prabang. This ride was a nice lil reminder to us that we were still on "Lao time," considering our bus driver stopped an extra 3 times besides for bathroom breaks...once to buy some lemons, once to pick flowers from the side of the road, and of course lastly, a cigarette break (although i guess we would prefer this over having the bus driver smoke on the bus while driving...yes this did happen on one of our other bus rides...awesome). But the drive up to Luang was soooooooooo beautiful and the scenery was unreal. Definitely worth the ride.
We hung out in Luang for a couple of days because this city is sooo relaxing and just an awesome place to chill out. We went to the waterfall that is close by which was amazing, did the night markets and woke up at 5:30am to see the monks receiving alms. Pretty sure this was the best thing of my life. On our last day in Luang, we decided to get a $3 pedicure along the river to try and relax us before our long as* bus ride we had ahead of us to Vietnam. Definitely more to come on this bus ride as it was the CRAZIEST bus ride we've had in Asia.....
p.s. I love monks
Laos. We're still not sure how to pronounce this country's name considering the locals say it two different ways. In one they pronounce the "S" and in the other they don't. So we decided to do the same and call it by both. Probably the best solution. We arrived in Laos after a 12 hour bus ride from Thailand, followed by another 1 hour long bus ride, a tuk-tuk ride, a shuttle to cross the border and go through immigration, and finally a taxi into the city. The trip took about 17 hours, but totally worth it.
We arrived in Vientiene, which is the capital and found out right away that Laos is SUCH a laid-back country. Which = I'm in love. For being the capital, everything is still pretty slow moving and happens in "Lao Time." Tuk-tuk drivers lay in their hammocks on the back of their tuk-tuks, people on old school bicylcles everywhere, and of course monks galore ( yes, i still stalk monks.) While inVientiene we went to a center called COPE, which helps make prosthetics for many people still affected by unexploded bombs dropped by the U.S. I won't give anyone a history lesson or anything here, but it was definitely a day to remember and a pretty humbling experience for both of us. While at the national monument we also stumbled upon a festival that they only have once per year which was PRETTY awesome and super local.
After a couple of days, we headed off to Vang Vieng! For those of you who don't know, the only two things to do in Vang Vieng, are either to go tubing down the river, or to hang out at any of the restaraunts that are playing re-runs of "Friends" episodes. We definitely did both (bcuz friends is awesome) but the tubing was Amazing! Basically, you rent a tube and take it down the river that is surrounded by bars on both sides. The locals toss out ropes to you to try and lure you in. Let's just say it's pretty hard to say no to them when they're giving free shots, blasting music and have the biggest river swings and slides we've ever seen. The locals were awesome, except for the one part where they tried to steal our tube in hopes they would get money out of us. It didn't work. Unfortunately,we don't have any pictures because our cameras would have gotten ruined in the river. So, if you want to know what it's like, come to Laos! :)
From Vang Vieng we took a 7 hour bus ride further north to Luang Prabang. This ride was a nice lil reminder to us that we were still on "Lao time," considering our bus driver stopped an extra 3 times besides for bathroom breaks...once to buy some lemons, once to pick flowers from the side of the road, and of course lastly, a cigarette break (although i guess we would prefer this over having the bus driver smoke on the bus while driving...yes this did happen on one of our other bus rides...awesome). But the drive up to Luang was soooooooooo beautiful and the scenery was unreal. Definitely worth the ride.
We hung out in Luang for a couple of days because this city is sooo relaxing and just an awesome place to chill out. We went to the waterfall that is close by which was amazing, did the night markets and woke up at 5:30am to see the monks receiving alms. Pretty sure this was the best thing of my life. On our last day in Luang, we decided to get a $3 pedicure along the river to try and relax us before our long as* bus ride we had ahead of us to Vietnam. Definitely more to come on this bus ride as it was the CRAZIEST bus ride we've had in Asia.....
p.s. I love monks
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