We had an amazing ride through the mountains on very windy roads from Luang Prabong to Vang Vieng. It is 115 miles, but took around 5 to 6 hours. One blogger wrote, "The broken road twists, winds and climbs through the mountains, churning the stomach and rattling the bone." Even Kakada, our CEO, said that he often got nauseous on the trip. I could not read without getting queasy and after a while I had to close my eyes and take deep breaths. But it was fascinating to see the road and what was on the side of the roads. Below are pictures taken through the front windshield.
One note: Laotians cook with charcoal made from burning wood. It causes the air to have a strong burnt smell in many places, especially in the morning and evenings. I noticed it a lot in Luang Pragong and Van Vieng. It caused my eyes to burn and I had general allergy symptoms.
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| Curvy, downhill road |
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| Houses on side of road |
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| Woman walking on side of road |
Driving through a town
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| Road was bumpy, needed fixing |
Our guide said that one could recognize the group that the people were from by the style of the houses and roofs.
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| Road work/widening |
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Curve on narrow road. Houses on left at edge of cliff. Speed limit is 18 mph.
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| Small banana plot at edge of road |
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| Mountains in the distance as we drive down the road |
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| Swindle rice farming--fields burned before replanting |
Can you imagine the people farming on those steep hills. Often they grow corn, sometimes special rice, and other items. They have to be as nimble as monkeys to farm there. I might have mentioned before that very pregnant women do not work such fields.
I think that the thatched angled roofs were typical of the homes of Hmong in the Lao highlands.
We stopped in a small town in a high altitude to go to the bathroom and also get a snack. Below you can see the van we were in. It was typical of the vans we were in for most of the trip.
Snacks were being sold along the side of the road and we were changed 1000 kip (12 cents) to use the squat toilets in the bathrooms of the store.
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| Fresh watermelon, pineapple, and mango |
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| Extra wide load, going slowly and blocking the road |
Another bathroom stop--this one with quite a view with each stall.
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| Squat toilet raised with sign telling users not to stand on it! |
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| quite a view while washing hands! |
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| Total view of services--even a handle! Very very nice public bathrooms |
Then up the hill from the rest rooms was a restaurant and some stores:
Above: Note the "caution" sign at the drop off and the valley below--I also was impressed by the waste "basket." The Laos really have very nice rest stops!
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| Windy road where we were heading |
Views along the way:
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| Motorcycle rider--no helmet--nice truck on right |
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| dried rice fields |
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| Fields with mountains in the background |
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| Woman with parasol |
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| Cattle in road--a common scene that day |
As the road got less steep, we were getting closer to Van Vieng. My nausea had subsided, thank goodness. While I definitely enjoyed the scenery and could see where and how people lived, I had had enough of the winding and dipping roads!
We stopped at the Phoudindaeng Organic Mulberry Farm for lunch. It was just a few miles from the town. Its website is:
http://www.laofarm.org/
The signs tell it all.
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| Very tasty! |
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| Public Flush toilet, modified squat--note footprints of someone who stood on it |
We had a nice lunch in the open air eating area. A younger man came up to me, noticed my special Sony camera and told me it was a great camera and that he had almost bought one too!
I decided to find the animals and goats so wandered a bit through the farm until I found them. (Marcy meanwhile decided to tube with a few others to Vang Vieng, so we were to meet later.
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| Workers enlarging the deck/eating area |
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| Unusual flower |
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| Wood stacked for building material |
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| Stunning flower |
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| Plant over six feet tall with pretty red flower pictured above |
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| Mulberry (?) bushes for tea production |
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| Potted items to be planted |
I almost stumbled upon the pineapple below. Several were planted wherever there was room.
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| A pretty bridge in the middle of an overgrown area |
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| Baby goats on staircase |
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I got a bit lost, but eventually found the animals and loved watching the kids. There were several different kinds of goats, but I tended to photograph the white ones.
Those that had not gone rafting went back in the van and arrived in Vang Vieng less than ten minutes later. BTW, the river was fairly low, so it took a lot of paddling for the tubers to go from the organic farm to the town and Marcy had very sore arms and shoulders the next few days. Along the way, they saw a fair # of people partying. We found out later most were Australian or European, not from the US.
Van Vieng is about 4 hours north of the capital of Laos, Vientiane. It has been a tourist rest stop between Luang Probang and Vientiane for centuries.
From Wikipedia: " Vang Vieng has become a backpacker-oriented town, with the main street
featuring guest houses, bars, restaurants, internet cafes, tour agencies
and western tourists
.. Attractions of the town include inner tubing and kayaking on the Nam Song River, which, until the third quarter of 2012, was lined with bars selling Beer Lao and Lao-Lao, and equipped with rope swings, zip lines, and large decks for socializing"
The Lao people are more conservative than the foreign backpackers and have gotten much stricter about people dressing and acting more appropriately. So the noise level and party atmosphere has been greatly reduced (tho it still exists to a lesser degree on the river).
We stayed at a pleasant hotel with a huge room, about two blocks from the river.
Below are the rules of behavior in the hotel room.
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| Breakfast area at our hotel |
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| Canoes to cross the river to the island |
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| Mountains in the distance |
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| Close up of house on the island |
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| Toll bridge to cross the river, not always open in rainy season |
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| Toll bridge entry |
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| Crossing bridge |
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| Washing a truck in the river |
That night we had dinner with others and then chose not to wait as Kakada talked to friends and helped them find an outdoor hamburger stand. Since there was just one main street, we thought we would have no trouble finding our hotel. Oye, we were wrong! It was really dark and we walked past our hotel. Eventually, thank goodness, we found it!
On the main street while walking, I found a simple Israel-Lao restaurant called Sababa:
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| Note the Hebrew in the lower left corner |
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| Flowers near Sababa |
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| Girls biking to school on the main road |
We had planned to eat there (it looked backpackery) but in the end went to a lovely restaurant at Villa Nam Song hotel on the river.
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| The gardens of the restaurant with close up of flowers below |
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| Morning Glory--the kind they eat?--on the approach to the bridge on a wall |
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| A "Buddhist House Shrine" to protect the business or house |
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| TV dishes are quite common in Laos |
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| Final view of the river and mountains behind |
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