Where can we start? Laos is amazing, sad, shocking and peaceful. It`s a rollercoaster of good and sad but it`s probably the best or most interesting country we have seen.
We arrived after crossing the border from Thailand to Laos in Chiang Kong/Houei Xai, which was fairly easy after a bit of ride. We decided to take a public bus (backpackers always try it the local way...) and after 6 hours and a bumpy ride we arrived at the border. Seemed like in the middle of nowhere but in the end the crossing and visa on arrival was very easy. We needed to cross the border by boat which was quite amazing, as you can literally see both countries. We arrived in Houei Xai and were already greeted by a tour guide who recommended a guesthouse (most probably his mum`s!) and organised the boat ticket to go to Luang Prabang.
So we stayed one night in this little village in Laos and had a nice dinner at the Mekong River at the Riverside Restaurant. Food was great and the beer too! Laos Beer is almost as good as Bavarian beer so I felt like home (almost!). The next day we got picked up by a tuk tuk together with a few other foreigners and loaded with pillows (as we were told the boat has the most uncomfortable wooden seats!) and sandwiches. After a short introduction and advice from our driver ("don`t let anybody carry your bags as they just take them and run away" etc - we felt very safe!) we went on the boat and luckily got VIP seats (well, basically old bus seats that were used for the boat but practically much better than the wooden benches). The journey itself (day 1: 7 hours) was actually not too bad and the view / landscape was absolutely stunning. Let alone the feeling of sitting in a slow boat, cruising along the Mekong River was not too bad!
A few drunken Englishmen with a bottle of whiskey, but apart from this, not too many embarrassing moments (as in: I am embarrassed to be European!) and we arrived and stopped in a small village called Pak Beng, all is made of hostels, guesthouses, restaurants and anybody who has been living in this village owns a shop, hotel or restaurant, so around 20 people awaited us to check their accommodation. In the end we chosen a small guesthouse but probably not the best option, as they managed to rip us off twice - not giving the right change and pretending to have heard the double amount of breakfast we ordered, of course we paid the whole bill. But it was quite nice to stay in this VERY rural place! Day 2: We were told to go on another boat, which seemed smaller and we thought, oh they will split us in groups but no - EVERYBODY went on again, so people were sitting on each other, but again, we managed to get the better seats (well done italian-german punctuality!).
This time it was dragging a bit, as you have already seen it all - people washing themselves in the river, children playing and trying to sell you all kind of stuff, women washing / searching for gold, fishermen, dead cows and a few other things. Some nice, some not. But in the end, we arrived in Luang Prabang, a really nice village, with a french style (great baguette!)and a great night market. We only stayed there for one night, checked out the market, the main streets and the mekong riverside and took the first bus to go to Vang Vieng.
After this nice rest we went to Vang Vieng, the journey was uphill and very curvy so I had troubles in keeping my breakfast where it should be! But the surroundings and small villages were simply stunning. Very green, lots of small villages, some supported by UNESCO and a lot of happy faces (well a few of them threw water at us, which is normal here, so we learned to watch our camera!). We arrived in Vang Vieng after 7 hours drive and we loved it straight away. Although it s mainly famous for tubing and partying (for which we are considered to be too old, but hey!) it s much more than that. A totally cool place, lots of nice restaurants, pancake and sandwich huts and a cosy atmosphere overall. We met a lovely couple from Norway and had a few drinks in a "river bar". Although we felt - again - a little bit misplaced as we already reached the age of 25 (BOTH!), we had a lovely night. The next day we then went tubing. Oh , this is GREAT fun. At first we were unsure if we liked the generally "tubing-and-get-drunk" attitude, BUT we just loved it:) You swing around and jump of ropes, you can have a drink at one of the bars, chill out, playing volleyball and sit in your tube floating down the Mekong River. It`s great - and the nice thing about is that you contribute towards their communities in renting one of those tubes. So all in all, a great thing! But it s still a bit of work to paddle down 4 km and in the end we gave up and walked back:)
After the last night in our beloved guesthouse (we felt like king and queen!, big bed, balcony and bathroom inside....what a wonderful world!)we then went on the EPIC journey in crossing 2 countries in one go. As we wanted to go to Siem Reap/Cambodia as soon as possible we decided to take the challenge and go as fast and far as we can.
CAMBODIA
So then, there we go: various busses and a few tuk tuk s later we finally arrived in Siem Reap, a journey of 36 hours!
1) Bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane (4 hours)
2) Tuk Tuk from Vientiane city to bus station
3) Public Bus from Vientiane bus station to friendship bridge/border to Thailand
4) Bus from Thailand Friendship Bridge to Nong Khai Bus station
5) Bus from bus station to Korat (6 hours)
6) A Long 5 hours wait from midnight to 5am at Korat`s busstation
7) Bus from Korat to Aranya Prathet (border to Cambodia) (4 hours)
8) Border crossing, long queue but we finally reached Cambodia!
9) Bus from border to bus station
10) Bus from bus station in Poipet to Siem Reap (3 hours)
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS and WE NNEEEDD A SHOWEERRR!!
So we arrived in Siem Reap, the main point to explore the temples of Angkor Wat. We checked in at our guesthouse and realised that the climate here is unbearable, over 40 degrees!
Day 1: We rented a tuk tuk for 2 days and Jumro drove us round to see 8 temples in total. Our hightlights were Banteay Srei and Banteay Samre as well as the waterfalls (which were dried up so yo ucould only see trees but amazing carvings where the waterfall is normally during wet season).
Because of the heat and our european immune system, we were sweating like pigs (Raf managed to change the colour of his T-shirts 3 times, naturally!). After 14 bottles of water and 2 ice teas later we arrived back in our guesthouse, exhausted. The temples are amazing though, something we both have never imagined. Well it s not called on of the 7th world wonder for nothing!
However, seeing all those poor children, who smile at you and want to sell you accessories, food, drinks and ask you for money to go to school, makes you think how good you have it actually. And it s very hard to say no thanks, when they look at you with their big eyes and cute voice. On the first day we returned with 2 books, postcards, bracelets and thought - right, maybe we just buy water next time.
Day 2: Absolutely amazing day. Although Raf had a bit of a weak moment (when we lied down at Angkor Thom and spilt a bottle of water over his head), we really enjoyed the second day too.
We had three hightlights: From all the 7 temples we have seen we really liked Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm - where they shot Tomb Raider!, and of course Angkor Wat.
It is simply unbelievable those 1000 year old temples, with hundreds of meters of carvings and stones. We walked through Angkor Wat and tried to understand how they could have built such a thing, but it s truly a world wonder and hard to describe.
Back in our guesthouse, we just fell in our beds...over and out.
Because of our physical exhaustion we decided to "take a day off", where we basically just ly in our bed, with air-con in the room, watching one movie after the other. And it was great! We just smiled all day long...:)
The next day we headed to Pnomh Penh, another 7 hours drive in the bus. By the way- It`s Khmer`s New Year`s celebrations, so all shops are closed (not the best timing for us!) and most people celebrate with their families or public places. Although it is said to be the biggest event in the year, we did not notice anything, other than closed shops - GREAT! We also did not really Pnomh Penh as a city itself, really creepy areas, smelly and lots of traffic. We did not want to stay in the streets later than 6pm when it s getting dark, as we have seen many poor areas and most people don`t let you go unless you buy something. We also went to Choeunk-Ek Killing Fields - a shocking reality story of their past, when Khmer Rouge soldiers wept out 2 million Cambodians for nothing but pure power - and this happend only a few decades ago, in 1976. My eyes were filling with water when we saw the mass graves and the video that described their horrible death. All this made us even more sad about the country and its people and it also did not make us feel more comfortable, as we knew they lost everything. It gives you an awkward feeling when you are walking along the streets with your lonely planet guide "budget travel through southeastasia" in your hand. We also checked out the Silver Pagoda and the Royal Palace (from outside). This area is really beautiful and the seafront is not bad either.
This is it - bye bye Cambodia and hello to Vietnam!
Mel and Raf aka sweat-shirts
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