Laos

We arrived in Loas (Luang Prabang) and I had my first real visa issue... I had unfortunately been swapping between my two passports while changing countries as my British passport is running out of pages. This was the first country to notice that I had no leaving stamp from Vietnam and I was told I may not enter. Explaining to a third world country, who I doubt have citizens with toe passports, was not the easiest task and I did build up a slight sweat - but eventually convinced them it was not illegal and came up with an agreeable solution! I just had to join the back of the looooong queue and swap the visa from one passport to the other (and yes I mean swap, literally pull it out and glue into the other!) My passport then went missing for a good 10-15 minutes until we were reunited with a $5 refund (different passports were charged different amounts) and a, conveniently, $5 admin fee! I didn't argue and shuffled along... Shew!

The Taxi to the hostel was very easy and a fixed fee and we arrived just as all the restaurants and bars were closing around 11pm. Unfortunately for us Hostel bookers had failed us and we had no room booking - but luckily (thank our lucky stars!) they swapped us with some other girls who hadnt arrived and we were settled in our room comfortably when a couple of mins later the other girls arrived... Oops!

The next morning we had the all inclusive breakfast (yum!) and organised a taxi/ tuk tuk to the waterfalls. We wound through the villages and forests in the misty cold ( we later discovered this wasn't mist but actually smoke from the fire burning) past the buffalo and little children, bouncing in massive potholes!  The Kuang si waterfalls we amazing - they are a bright luminescent blue accentuated by the white clay at the bottom and we managed to set off in the early morning so there was not another tourist in site! 

We climbed to the top of the falls and then walked down the other side to get the most spectacular views. In the summer a lot of tourists swim in the pools but unfortunately we weren't brave enouught to fully submerge ourselves in this freezing water!!!!

On the way out you pass a bear sanctuary which protects the local Asiatic Black Moon bears from being caged and tortured in order to extract their gall bladders. Tourists can get involved by hiding fruit and vegetables around the enclosures so that the bears have to forage for their food, like in a natural habitat. They are so cute climbing into tyres, hammocks and other platforms! We sat for ages enjoying their playful nature!

Further down the road we popped into the brand new Butterfly farm and enjoyed a natural pedicure while relaxing in the enclosure!

After a day full of activities we headed back to town and decided to climb Mount Phousi... Without much planning we took a longer than normal route but it did mean we walked past some of the cutest little children! I really do have a soft spot for the loas children ;)

Eventually we made it up the mountain just in time for sunset and we freed some little birds (well Nyon did) for good Karma too! There are so many beautiful Buddha statues on the hill and you get a gorgeous view of the river... Which was unfortunately blurry from the smoke again!

That eve we settled in at Utopia for a a few drinks on the banks of the river and watched be sunset... It was so peaceful, until in the late evening it turns into the most popular bar in town ;) during the day it is filled with people reading books and doing yoga, then at night it is the party hot spot!

Early the next morning we left for the village trek, while nix headed to the tubing. The trek went through three villages and we walked through the limestone mountains, beautiful forests and up some super steep mountains. 

As I decided to pack light (not really) I had to do the hike in fashion pumps, which wasn't the greatest idea! The man who sold us the trip had guaranteed me there were no massive hill... But he lied!!  We walked for over 7 hours and stopped for lunch in a local village, with all the kids, pigs and other live stock playing around us. 

After lunch we proceeded to the last village but unfortunately got trapped by a fire which set out guide into a panic as he ran around, sweating and trying to find us a safe escape route. It looked like the most beautiful vibrant sunset but could have changed direction and burnt us in seconds!

By the time we got to the last village we were exhausted! It was a long hot day and after a good few months of travel our bodies werent at optimal fitness ;) we got shown to our rooms and apparently it was ladies day, so we got introduced to our very drunk hosts who had been partying all day! Next door was a group of Dutch boys who came and had dinner by candle light with us ;) we spent the evening drinking wine whiskey ans rum with a French couple a few doors away.  After that we headed to bed on the floor in the pitch black! 

We woke early that morning to the sun rise shining through the gaps in the wood and to the chickens clucking outside. After breakfast we started in the trek again and thanks goodness we didn't have far to go until we reached the elephants! Our elephant farted the whole way through the Tad Sae falls! Unfortunately it was the dry season so the falls weren't as beautiful as they could have been, but it was still a great experience. Elephants are huge (even though they are much smaller than the African elephant) and feel like sandpaper. They aren't the most comfortable animal to ride and they are very stubborn ;)

After the elephants we headed to the river and jumped in our kayaks. Em has hurts her wrist so she couldn't paddle... Which left her with our guide and me in the Kayak alone!!! Luckily it wasn't anywhere near as wild as white water rafting in Africa and managed quite comfortably floating down the river with minimal effort. We even stopped for fried rice on the river as we floated ;) 

After two very relaxing days we got stepped with reality to join with Nix and hear that she as robbed while left alone at the tubing. As I know from when we were robbed in Guatamala, it is very stressful and poor Nix had a lot to organise and sort out with insurance.  We treated ourselves to the BEST massage I have ever had at the Khmu massage parlour and a banana cream and choc pie! 

Luang Prabang has one of the most festive markets we have been to in Asia. The main streets shut down at 5pm and hundreds of stalls are set up selling traditional and local made trinkets. It is so entertaining to walk through the stalls and interact with friendly locals and bargain to fill your bags... Even more!

The next day we decided to do something educational and learn some of the history of Loas and headed to the UXO museum as recommended on trip advisor. . We learned so much about Loas and come of the stats were mind blowing. During the Vietnam was the US bombed Laos to stop the north and south Vietnam passage way. It was kept a secret and the US continued to tell the world Loas would not be bombed and was as considered 'neutral.'  

Some unknown facts -

- Loas is the most heavily bombed country (per capita) in the world! 

- it is the most bombie (cluster bomb) contaminated country in the world.

- it is estimated that 80 million unexploded bombies remain in Laos and with existing resources it will take 100 years to clear bombies. 

- from 1996 to 2007 (11 years!!) 395,00 bombies were cleared due to relief efforts... Which is 0.47% of all the bombies in the country. 11 years for 0.47%. 

- there were 2 million tonnes of ordnance dropped in Laos and they were also heavily affected by agent organge (see my post on Vietnam).

- 1 person a day is STILL killed or injured almost every day by UXO (unexploded ordinance) in Laos. 

- each UXO found and sold in Loas is  2/3 annual income ($200) of the inhabitants. Therefore, most injuries are caused from scrap metal collection as a metal detector van be bought for just $12. 

There are charities and other organisations that awareness training to identify UXO as they are alluring in colour to kids and look like a ball. In village one child found an UXO, threw it to his friend and it exploded killing multiple people in the village. Another involved a school playground that was searched after they identified UXO. It was inspected and they found 341 unexploded in 185m2 that was used every day by the school kids. 

The next morning we were awake at 5 am in order to watch the Tak Bat, or morning alms. The local monks leave the monasteries early in the morning and walk in single file (oldest first) through the main streets of town carrying their alms bowls in front of them. The monks are supposed to be in a meditative state and thus the whole ritual is done in complete silence. Lay people are waiting on the streets, kneeling on blankets and will give them sticky rice and flowers. 

The streets were extremely busy when we arrived and the silence was not respected or observed by the tourists, which unfortunately ruins the holy ceremony , especially when bus loads of tourists arrive one after another. We crept down a few of the side streets where we saw the ceremony in its true form with true alms givers looking for redemption. 

After this beautiful ceremony we went to view the reminding wat temples in Luang Prabang including the royal wat Xieng Thong. 

Then it was time to make our way to the airport to continue our journey in Northern Vietnam. ;)