Category: Travel

At the South of Laos, where the Mekhong flows into Cambodia, there are said to be more than 4000 islands, so many that the flow of the river is almost completely blocked. There are narrow passages between the larger islands with strong rapids or even waterfalls, supposed to be spectacular. The channels between the islands are not navigable at all and therefore this creates a total blockage to shipping from the lower to the upper Mekhong.

We are staying on Don Khong, the larger of the islands, which means one more ferry – no not this one which is intended for motorcycles only.

After we settled into the hotel, I went for a walk around the small town of Muang Khong. Facing the ‘central park’ is a beautiful temple with a huge sitting Buddha – the first time I saw one in a temple sitting out in the open. The temple is called Wat Phuang Kaew. The water buffaloes are on their way to take a bath in the river.

I heard a school bell, and soon after that, the street filled with bicycles. I understood that here it actually pays to have a second person in the back of your bike if you are a girl, as that person can hold the umbrella for you, to make sure your skin stays as white as possible.

Not everybody rides their bicycle to school. There are obviously students who live across the river and have to row their canoes back home. The river filled with white dots as they all wear white shirts as school uniforms.

I was up before dawn the next day, around 5AM, and it was still totally dark outside. I was looking for the morning’s farmer’s market that is held here every day from dawn to 8 or 9 AM. It gave me a chance to see the sunrise; actually the colours and the sky were better even before the sun rose.

There is a lone fisherman playing the early bird. He probably already got the early worm, now he is trying to get the best fish. Continue reading “Laos 5 – The 4000 Lakes” →

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After Vientiane we were supposed to fly to Pakse, but since the airport of that town is closed in order to resurface the runway, we flew instead to Savannakhet, about 150 km further North. Not a real problem, but it meant 3 more hours of driving to get to our final destination, the Tat Fan National Protected Area (or NPA) and an Eco Lodge right on the edge of an escarpment, the Tad Fane Lodge. The claim to fame of the lodge is the best view of the Tat Fan Waterfall, one of the best in this area.

It is actually two waterfalls right next to each other, one smaller than the other. Remember, this is the dry season – I wonder what these are like at the end of the rainy season?

I went for a short walk to see if I could get a different viewpoint of the falls. I did not – it seems that the resort is at the only place where there is a reasonably clear view from the opposite side of the escarpment. However, I did discover that spring has other advantages, with beautiful violet flowers everywhere along the path.

As the sun started to go down, the reddish light metamorphosed the falls, gradually.

The effect get better and better with time

One the second day, we went for what was supposed to be an easy walk to view more water falls. It started easy enough as we went to another resort (I cannot remember the name) near another waterfall, for which I also forgot the name – I do have a photo, though!

Continue reading “Laos 4 – The South of Laos” →

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After the North, we flew to Vientiane, the new capital of Laos. We arrived relatively late and so there was no time to do anything, except have a few beers while watching the sunset over the Mekhong river. And not much of a sunset, again because of the smoke and ash in the air. After I took this picture, the sun disappeared behind a black veil, as if behind a mountain, but I know there are no mountains there…

We visited what is thought to be the oldest remaining temple in Vientiane the next morning. The layout Wat Si Saket is not quite the same as what we generally saw further North, which was more similar to Thai temples. Here there is a central hall surrounded by a square ‘cloister-type’ building. In this temple, both the main hall, on the right of the picture, and the “cloisters” on the left of the picture are full of Buddha statues.

The Buddhas here all look identical, but they are not. The face, the hair, the hands and sometimes the clothing are slightly different for each statue. See if you can spot the differences.

There are also Buddha statues in each of the small niches on the wall … thousands of them.  The main hall is beautifully decorated

The shutters on the windows are designed to inspire

Across the street was the presidential palace, not where he sleeps, but where he works. It is mostly bureaucrats who work there, we were told. Next to the palace, is another, newer temple called Haw Pha Keao, and in the more traditional layout, with several buildings in a large open area. It was commissioned by the king specifically to house the Emerald Buddha now housed in the temple of the Royal Palace in Bangkok!

Continue reading “Laos 3 – Vientiane” →

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The whole city of Luang Prabang is listed as a World Heritage cultural site.  It does not take long in the city to understand why.  Out first full day there started very early, even before sunrise.  Yet once we arrived on the main street Th Sisavangvong, there is already a lot of activity.  Before sunrise, monks from the local monasteries parade through town begging for food and it has become a custom for tourists as well as locals to participate in this ritual.

Enterprising shop owner set up  stalls where one can purchase the rice that will be donated to the monks.

This area is set up for a large tour group of Thai tourists.  The tourists arrive at the last minute – I am glad we are here early as the preparations are just as fascinating as the event itself.

Monks from each monastery arrive in single file as the light of day is slowly increasing.

What a better picture that a row of monks in bright orange robes in front of some of the local architecture which are the fame of the city.

After a short stay in the area where a lot of tourists come, we moved to another areawhere  generally only locals come.  The monks loop around and pass through here on their way back to the monasteries.  People have set up their own ‘donation’ area along the other main street inthe center of town, Bat Wat Nong.  The whole family (three generations of it) is involved in this daily event. Continue reading “Laos 2 – Luang Prabang and the Plain of Jars” →

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If you are interested, there is practical information about this trip at the end of this post.

Our first sight of Laos was from across the Mekhong in Chiang Khong after a two hour bus ride from Chiang Rai where we spent the night.

On the Laos side of the river, the town is called Huay Xai.  We immediately discover that the ‘burning’ season is at full swing as the smog is quite thick (Photoshop was not able to recover much, I am afraid).  This is a very busy crossing for people and for goods coming from China. 

The landing spot for the ferries is not very impressive – it has had to be improvised as the river is much lower than usual.

The Ferry Terminal, where we completed the transaction to exit Thailand is a long way up the hill once we get to the river.

The passenger ferries are not very fancy – fortunately, the crossing does not take very long.

I cannot say that our first glimpse of Huay Xai is very impressive – and we would not spend more time there than strictly required to go through emigration and get a little cash – the line to exchange money was actually longer than that to clear emigration as that needed more paperwork.  I should have gone to the ATM up the street – that was a lot quicker.

Continue reading “Laos 1 – On the Mekhong” →

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