Laos - Part 2

Loughborough Lads Loose In Laos Part 2

(If you haven't already, read Part 1 below)

So..
That night we drunk more beers, met some Finnish and some Germans, hung out with the sound Dutch guys and then parted company.

After having fully dominated the social scene in Vang Vieng for the entire length of our stay, ruling the small hamlet like a group of bandits we decided to move on to greener pastures. Our Destination, the UNESCO World Heritage site of:

Luang Prabang

The Lowdown:

Up until the Communist takeover of the country in 1975 this city was the capital and seat of the Government., before this Laos was a French protectorate for 60 years which has had the delicious result of great baguettes and sandwiches being readily available.

View A year in South East Asia in a larger map

I'm no expert on the region, but to cut a long story short during the Vietnam War the USA dropped 260 million bombs on the country. This is more than the total amount dropped during the 2nd World War. I'm not sure whether the bombardment was against Pathet Lao resistance, to stop the country from helping the Viet Cong or if the bombers would simply drop their loads when returning to base to avoid difficult landing procedures. (I've seen all of the above and more as the excuse)

That is frankly a disgusting simplification of what is quite a convoluted tale, if you're interested look us Operation Menu and beyond. A nice little side note: as we drove around the country we would often see unexploded bombs that had since been disarmed (i hope) and were being used as posts, decoration or various structural elements.

For example: a Bridge we crossed back in Vang Vieng:

Yeeeaahhhh........ They use this stuff for decoration

Excluding the busy regions like the city itself (i've read) that unexploded ordnance like mines, missiles and mortar shells litter the entire country. Apparently America has done very little to help in the clean up operation and as a result locals who are just trying to go about their lives are still getting killed today. The "bomblets" that were dropped are designed to wound not kill. It's all extremely tragic. 

Obviously this is all based on what I've read from guide books/ the internet/ some locals and other travellers, however if anyone disagrees drops a comment.

So... On to LP

Before we arrived however, we needed to get there. Travel however is no easy thing in this country with it's extremely limited infrastructure. We decided to hire some mini buses and i passed out in the back as we wound our way through countless miles of mountain ranges, the view only getting better as i awoke every so often when my head was slammed against the window. 

We tried to get the driver to stop for lunch a few times but he thankfully ignored our requests and kept us moving until we hit what I can only describe as one of the most astounding views of my life.

LOOK AT THIS

Beer Lao.

With such a perfect spot we got some beers, sat and basked in the view. It really was astounding and frankly difficult to describe, made all the better by what was a real contender for the nicest curry i've ever tasted.

Sedap Lunch

Obligatory Group Shot (Stolen From Ket)

We continued on the winding road through dusk and into the night, finally arriving after a 7 hour journey a couple of hours before midnight. We did all the boring shit, got a hostel as cheap and as fast as possible, dumped our bags then went out for drinks.

Drying out the Kip Post-Tubing after I was too
inebriated to secure my waterproof bag correctly.

This is where the money troubles of my holiday began. Due to being a bit free with the Steak and Ale Pie intake back in VV i shortly realised i had burnt through something close to 2 Million Kip. That's right, Million. I was down to my last 500k, and at this point i decided to stop eating and enjoy liquid Lunches / Dinners instead. I told myself that the drinking pat of the holiday was over, the next few days i would take it east, kick back a bit and save my cash.

Wrong.

Half an hour later Me, Niall and Doran were standing at the bar with a freshly opened Beer Lao, Tequila shot and a Mojito Each.

I was Drunk.

Now this raised an issue, as the the national curfew for bars and clubs etc. in the country is 11pm. We had only been in there about half an hour, legs dangling over the extremely suspect bamboo floor with a 20 foot drop down to the river bank below. We weren't really ready to go home yet, thankfully Luang Prabang offered us a solution

Terrorizing Staff in a Bowling Alley.

The entire contents of the bar bailed out into the street and into a fleet of Tuk Tuks ready and waiting. Soon we were all swept up in the mass of people: apparently we were going bowling. "Fuck that. Oh it has a bar? Lets do it."

Jack Doran - On the Table
(Stolen from Byers)

A suspect Tuk Tuk journey through the wilderness followed, standard Uni chanting ensued and soon we found ourselves in a bowling alley swollen with drunken westerners. By this point i was straight outta cash, which made Byers buying of 2 bottles of Whisky all the more perfect. Drinking continued: Jack Doran on the table found himself on a table, only to be struck down to the ground by his inebriated body and we made some guy in dreadlocks down his drunk as a punishment for trying to play Wonderwall on an acoustic guitar.

It was getting out of hand, we were getting rowdy. However, we were supplying the bar with endless amounts of KIP which gave us free reign to blindfold people, spin them around and make them bowl. We were knocking over pins 3 lanes away, and no one cared. It was just a shit storm and genuinely hilarious

This Guy.

At this point the management stepped in. For some reason i was pinpointed as the ring leader and soon some  bastard was threatening to call the police on us unless we left immediately. It probably sounds like we were being dicks but actually our behaviour wasn't so bad, and we didn't damage anything at all. All the while we were threatened with immediate imprisonment they continued serving us whisky by the bucket load, which frankly made their demands somewhat hypocritical.

This guy was getting seriously pissed and starting to get somewhat abusive  Action was needed. He had foolishly positioned himself in the middle of our group and it was at this point that some absolute hero had the fantastic idea to bring out the Hokie Pokie.

They say the best way to utterly destroy something is to humiliate it via comedy. Well the best way to annihilate someone's authority is by 16 guys surrounding them, linking arms then bringing out the Hokie Pokie whilst laughing like crazy. After about 5 minutes he managed to squeeze to freedom by hitting the floor and  crawling out, all the while we were trying to hug the guy and pat him on the back as we ran backwards and forwards as a single, undulating mass. We overwhelmed him with our hospitality, and he fled.

Hostel Ting

After this i thought it was time to leave, frankly our charm offensive hadn't worked and he was more pissed than ever. We headed back to the Tuk Tuk who had been waiting for hours and set off back to the river front where out hostel was. I collapsed into bed, and descended into a deep slumber.

Day Whatever - Luang Prabang, Tad Sae Waterfalls

We woke up, Jack Doran on the table was on the floor and after a group breakfast by the river i arranged a ride with a Tuk Tuk guy who may have worked at my hostel or may have just been robbing it.

Breaking the Fast by the Mekong - (Courtesy of Byers)

 Anyway, soon we were  cruising along the rural mountain roads once more heading to the Tad Sae Falls.

The Drive Up

Boat Ride

After a jaunt on a boat that felt like it was about to capsize and drown us all at any moment we reached the sanctuary. The day consisted of an Elephant ride which we were all pretty stoked about, and a swim in the beautiful falls. The Elephants were awesome but i came away conflicted by their treatment.

To War! (Stolen from Rory)

They were fed constantly while we were there, but their load seemed very heavy compared to their seemingly small size and we saw one of the riders hit one with a metal spike when it was acting out. Anyway, if anyone reading this is thinking about going i would probably give the elephants a miss for this reason, but i did really enjoy it no doubt.

"look Mr.Frodo, its an Oliphant!"

See above (Stolen from Ket)

The falls themselves were pretty magnificent, crystal clear and at first painfully cold. We spent most of the day here killing time and relaxing and I ended up bumping into a couple of 60+ women for the fourth time the holiday. Nice Girls.

Tad Sae Falls

It was an awesome day, but it was time to leave and journey home. Upon reaching LP myself and a few others went round the night market which was full of the usual assortment or random tacky crap. But fortunately for them  I'm a  pretty tacky person and i was in my element.

Calculator Haggle

Night Market

 At one point a liquor salesman tried to get me pissed in the hopes of dulling my bargaining power and I ended up taking 3 shots of the local moonshine. This consists of some kind of extremely strong rice vodka, distilled in a bottle with a cobra or some kind of snake coiled up in it. The whole thing looked very illegal and tasted foul. By then however I was no stranger to this bottle of poison, having sampled it back at Gary's bar in preparation for what might lie ahead.

Thus, dignity was maintained.

I took this night easy, me, Brett-Lee Jack Doran on the table had a peaceful BeerLao by the side of the infamous Mekong River, took it slow and retired to bed.

Oh, and I found the Horn of Gondor. 

Day something (7) - Luang Prabang - Kuang Si Falls and Going Home

For me, this was by far my favourite day of the holiday. The Kuang Si falls are located around 30km from Luang Prabang themselves, and feature a truly beautiful 200ft drop down the mountainside. On the run up to the falls we walked through an unexpected bear sanctuary which was a real treat. All the bears were rescued  from abusive owners or bad circumstances so it was great to know they were being well cared of. They looked especially lazy chilling in the hammocks.

Bears n Ting (Ket Head Creation)

On to the falls, beginning with the lower pool which we jumped and swung in to via a rope swing, and generally fucked about.

Exhibits A and B:

Jump GoPro Style

Onward

And then onto the main falls, which were truly awe inspiring, I'm talking crazy breathtaking:

Freaking Awesome

I'm going to unapologetically spew out quite a few photos here:

Eventually I managed to put down the camera for a few minutes after being so trigger happy and actually make it to the thing. Coutesy to Ket Heat for the 2nd shot after doing a Stirling job with my camera.

Joe, Me, then Jack. This was fucking Exhilarating

After larking about at the bottom, we trekked up the near vertical, dirt climb 200ft to the top. This wasn't a path, just a slightly less dense portion of jungle that led steadily upwards. Frequently you were going up on all fours in areas where a slip could send you tumbling down to the bottom.

By the time i got to the top i was a puffed out ball of sweat, and quickly covered in mud from stacking it but some how saving my camera. Regardless, we rewarded with some truly awesome views over the land, and another group shot was needed.

Group shot at the top (Stolen from Twist)

Topping it off with a jump into the base of the waterfall, the day had been incredible. I, along with probably most of us were absolutely knackered and we headed for home. The holiday was coming to a close and that night we had a 15 hour journey through the night back to Vientiane. Skipping over that treacherous journey as I don't particularly want to relive it I made it back through my front door of my apartment after about 20 hours of constantly travelling. I collapsed, and began the lengthy process of editing photos.

Base of the falls, Sublime! (Stolen from Twist)

Laos is a truly stunning country with an undeniable rural charm which was such a contrast to my everyday life in KL or the recently visited Singapore. South East Asia has such polar extremes in relatively short distances and i feel lucky to have seen both sides of the scale. 

To anyone thinking about going, what in gods name are you waiting for? At Dinner today Ket put his head in his hands and proposed flying back their tonight. He had a point.

And here's the detailed evaluation of Beer Lao i promised : It's delicious.

Adios!

P.S.

Check out my Flickr for the polished photos at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/glenncook/sets/72157632067033774/