Tag South East Asia
I’ve been on the road for two days now. My goal was Thakhek which is just a little bit too far to do in one day.
Just a short distance outside Vientiane is a park called Xieng Khuan Buddha park. It is meadow full of Buddhist and Hindu statues. Though many of them look ancient they were made using concrete starting in 1958 by a priest-shaman called Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat. The statues depict all manner of gods and creatures out of Buddhist and Hindu mythology; it’s a mix between weird and scary. The most prominent statue is a large … Read the rest
It felt good to leave Vang Vieng, I liked the activities you can do there, including the partying, but I didn’t like the town itself. It’s so full of tour operators and backpacker oriented bars and restaurants that serve sub par western food. It almost feels like the place has been tainted by tourism.
I visited Vientiane back in 2009 so I didn’t really have to go there again but I’m hoping I can get the luggage racks properly fixed. Also, I don’t mind seeing some of the sights again since it’s been seven years since then.
The road from … Read the rest
When the riverside bars closed down in 2012 the action sports companies moved in. Nowadays Vang Vieng is crawling with tour operators selling day tours of kayaking, ziplineing, terrain buggy driving and parasailing. One of my favorite sports is rock climbing so for me that was the natural choice. I booked a one day tour and as it turned out it was just me and the guide which was good for me. Since I’ve climbed before he gave me a few minutes reminder of how to belay then off we went. I belayed while he climbed lead and set the … Read the rest
Many of the people I’ve met on this trip seem to be masters of the ancient mystical art of hanging out as they get stuck in places for days. I am but an amateur of the art, and after staying a few days in one city I start to feel restless. So, eye healed and the major sights of Luang Prabang ticked off from the list, I set out towards Vang Vieng. I was there back in 2009 so didn’t have to come back but I wanted to see how much has changed since then. You see, back then Vang … Read the rest
When I awoke this morning my eye was much better, well enough, I decided, to go sightseeing. A short distance from Luang Prabang lies the Kuang Si waterfall. Right next to it is a center for rescued bears. I’m not an animal lover so I didn’t find it that interesting, but if you are, you will like it.
When you approach the waterfall from below you will see a number of smaller subfalls and pools, each more beautiful than the previous ones. You can go swimming in some of them and normally I would … Read the rest
Today I’ve had a relaxed day walking around central Luang Prabang, checking out the various temples and museums.
I started with Luang Prabang national museum which contains the royal palace as well as the Prabang temple. The palace is suitably luxurious and besides showing off the various rooms has a number of royal gifts on display. You aren’t allowed to take photos inside but it’s interesting. The Prabang temple is newly built but very elaborately decorated, it’s really impressive. It houses the Prabang Buddha a statue that was given to the king of Lan Xang kingdom (historic kingdom in Laos) … Read the rest
My next goal was Luang Prabang, northwest of Phonsavan. It’s a fair distance between the two and I had heard that the roads were bad so I was expecting a long and arduous journey. Turns out that the road was one of the best I’ve been on in Laos so far and I was able to go relatively fast. It still took me the whole day to get there, but I could stop as often as I wanted and didn’t need to stress.
Just a few shots along the way
After checking in I went for a short walk before … Read the rest
Phonsavan is in the middle of an area know as the Plain of Jars. There are thousands of giant stone jars spread out at a number of sites in the countryside around the city. The area was a base for the Pathet Lao and was heavily bombed by the Americans during the war. As records go, Laos holds one of the saddest ones, of being the most heavily bombed country in the world by capita. Around 30 percent of those bombs failed to explode and a lot of the jar sites are dangerous to visit. There are however three sites … Read the rest
I’ve been doing a lot of riding the last few days and I didn’t really want to spend yet another day on the bike but I had to reach my next goal, Phonsavan. The road was better than the one from the border but still not up to Vietnamese standards; it shows that Laos is a much less developed country.
Well, I’m kind of getting tired of riding and, strangely enough, bored with the scenery, even if it is very beautiful. I guess I just want a bit more variation. Because of this, and the incessant drizzle, I didn’t take … Read the rest
I didn’t want to overstay my visa so the first step for getting the bike into Laos was extending it. I know people from some countries, among them Sweden, can enter Vietnam on a visa exemption for fifteen days. I called to make sure that this would be possible for me and they confirmed that this applies at all border crossings and I can get it as long as it was more than 30 days since my last visa exempt entry. So, the day after getting rejected at the border I got on the bus headed for the nearest town … Read the rest