Vang Vieng

After a few days in Vientiane we headed to Vang Vieng. Laos pretty much only one decently paved road going through the country. This road is from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, the ancient capital. We had wanted to go to Luang Prabang as it is supposed to be amazing, but decided it would be too difficult a trip for Gabe. Even though the road is paved it goes through the mountains and is not a terribly pleasant trip. Gabe is a little to young to really appreciate Luang Prabang anyway. Vang Vieng is about halfway to Luang Prabang and many people break their trip in this little town. Even though we took the aircon bus, the trip was still pretty uncomfortable. I was just getting over food poisoning and the air con wasn't really working on the bus so it was hot and the hills were getting the best of my stomach. We didn't arrive in the best of moods, but a couple of days in the quiet but beautiful town did a lot for our spirits. Vang Vieng is surrounded by Karst mountains and they were just gorgeous. My camera could not do justice to their beauty.

We found a nice guesthouse room for $10 a night (the whole trip was ridiculously cheap). The town was so small that we rented bikes were able to use these to get around during our few days there. Vang Vieng is a big hangout for backpackers on their way to Luang Prabang, so the whole town is full of restaurants where European, Australian & American 20-somethings lie around on makeshift beds and watch American TV sipping fruit shakes and Beer Lao. It was a bit weird to be around that scene and we could tell that a farang family was an unusual sight. Everywhere we went we could hear Lao people saying, "Look at the little white boy." It didn't bother me, but I could tell they thought we didn't understand what they were saying. One time I heard this I repeated in Lao, "Yeah, just look at that little white boy." They just stared at me.



Anway, the backpacker scene aside there is a lot to do in Vang Vieng. Of course, just taking in the scenery was enjoyable enough. While in Vang Vieng we finally learned how to ride a motorbike. There were so few cars that we felt safe riding around as beginners.



Most people spent a lot of time on the river that runs through the town. I really wanted to go tubing, but we weren't sure how safe it would be for Gabe so we chose to go kayaking instead. The river was actually pretty calm, but at the same time swift enough that we didn't have to paddle much. It allowed us to take in the scenes along the river. Lots of backpackers enjoy drinking while tubing. There are little bamboo huts along the river advertising beer for sale. As added inducement many have built jumping platforms from which you can swing down into the river. This was my favorite sign. Not only can you jump for free but you also get a free banana!


Vang Vieng also has lovely caves. We didn't have time to go to the famous elephant caves where the cave formations look like various animals, but we went into this cave with a guide. Gabe didn't much like the dark, but it was interesting and the air was cool.

The restaurants in Vang Vieng are humble but they have a million-dollar view. We ate one night at a restaurant along the river and watched the sun set into the mountains. O for a better camera to capture the beauty. All too soon we had to go back to Vientiane, but we hope to go back again some day. In a few years Gabe will better be able to appreciate Luang Prabang and then maybe we can make the trip south to Vieng Vang again.

Girls & Boys

The family we stayed with has three girls aged 10, 7 and 5 and one boy aged 21 months. Gabe used to play a lot with Laura, the five-year-old and I wrote a blog about it a couple of years ago. Apparently, Laura was thinking that she & Gabe had been engaged for the last two years. However, Gabe and the 7-year-old, Allison, really enjoyed each other's company. Allison and Gabe are both very talkative and they really made a connection. They bought each other the Laos caps they are wearing in this picture. A few days into the trip we were sitting at a lovely little French restaurant and Laura reminded Gabe of their engagement. Gabe chose that moment to tell her that it was off. Our attention was drawn to the situation by hearing Laura say "I'm going to be honest and share with you!" in a very loud voice. She scolded Gabe for breaking faith with her and ordered him to sit quietly in his chair and think about what he had done. Gabe obeyed. A few minutes later I asked him what he was thinking about during his "time out". He said, "I was thinking about flying cats." Sounds like a typical relationship.



We did notice quite a difference between boys and girls during the trip. Gabe frequently has other little boys over to play and inevitably there is some fist-fighting or kicking or wrestling. I don't think I witnessed any physical violence even once while we stayed with our friends.

Vientiane

We crossed the friendship bridge across the Mekong into Laos late on Friday evening. It was dusk when we crossed over, but by the time we had done all of the border crossing paperwork it was night when we arrived in Laos. As we drove the 1/2 hour from the border to our friends' house in Vientiane, the capital, we noticed store after store with stacks of yellow crates. We soon found out that these were cases of Beer Lao. Being a communist country, you don't see as much in the way of thriving businesses but all day, every day you see Beer Lao trucks making deliveries to little shops. It seems that even if there are 5 shops per block selling Beer Lao each shop is still able to making a living by selling it. The shops don't even bother to put the beer on the shelves it is sold so quickly.

The next day we went to visit Patuxai (Baht-du-sai) one of the few tourist sites in Vientiane. In the 60's America gave Laos some money to build an airport. They used the money to build Patuxai instead as a memorial to those who had fought in the struggle for Laotian independence against France. It looks very impressive from afar but up close you can see that it's still not finished. This is kind of theme in Laos. We saw many unfinished projects. However, they have finished the park around it in recent years and we enjoyed our time there. On the upper floors of patuxai numerous vendors are selling the usual t-shirts and post-cards.

Thankfully, we found that Lao and Thai are very closely related. I was able to communicate very easily with Lao people who are familiar with Thai from watching Thai TV. They were very friendly and eager to speak with us.

Most of the time in Vientiane we spent hanging out with our friends which Gabe enjoyed very much. They have three girls and one boy and a large yard. Gabe would've been happy to spend the whole vacation playing in their yard. We also spent a lot of time going out to eat. We ate a lot of delicious food there. They have a great variety thanks to influences from France, Vietnam and China.

Funny Money

On my first visit to Italy, I remember being impressed by the value of the lira (the exchange rate was something like 1,200 lira to the dollar). Well, Italy got nothing on Laos, where $1 gets you about 10,000 kip (geep). For the last week, I carried around a pile of 1,000 (10c), 2,000 (20c), 5,000 (50c), 10,000 ($1) and 20,000 kip (2$) bills. Since the 20,000 kip seems to be the largest bill, we got a large stack of bills when we changed money. I can’t imagine trying to pay for anything really expensive (more than $100) in cash. So…when was the last time you spent 100 grand on dinner?

We actually didn't need to take much money as there isn't much reason to spend. We stayed with friends most of the time and even our guesthouse room in Vang Vieng only cost $10 per night. Since it is a communist country private enterprise isn't much encouraged and most products come from Thailand with a mark-up. However, we did find some electronic products unique to Laos. Interesting names, we thought.

Very Sad News

Please pray for Eric's principal as she and her husband lost their 25-year-old daughter to a mystery illness on Friday. Their daughter, Angela, worked with us last year and the year before at Grace. She was a wonderful young woman.

Laos

We have finally done something we have meant to do for many years now (7 years, to be exact) and have made it out of Thailand. Angela has been to Cambodia, but this is our first trip to another country since living in Thailand. We are 5 or 600 miles from home in Vang Vieng as I write this. The reason that got us motivated enough to leave Thailand to visit good friends in Vientiane which we have been doing for the past few days. Since this is vacation as well we thought we'd try to see other parts of the country and decided to head up North. This is a really lovely town on a river in the mountains and I'm sure my camera won't be able to capture the beauty. We plan to take a trip down the river tomorrow and explore some caves. Hope to have some pics when we get back to Thailand.