Wonderful Laos

"Sabaai-dii" - hello in lao, was the first happy little word that greeted us on our arrival into the country. We were taken off the plane by the smiling ground crew and immediately I thought 'I am going to like this place'. This was in marked contrast to our journey into the country. We flew with Lao Airlines. In the Lonely Planet they have some candid words to say about this outfit

" It is uncertain whether the repackaging of the old Lao aviation into Lao Airlines will have any effect on the airlines efficiency or safety. Safety records for Lao Airlines aren't made public, but many international organizations and western embassies advise staff not to use the airline".

Great - just what I needed to read before we boarded our flight from Chaing Mai. So with that in mind we sat down in our seats and prepared for take-off. The seat covers were individually embroidered, a nice touch, but it just made me feel that this was not a corporate company. The take off was thankfully without incident but once we were up I couldn't help worrying about the landing. It is only a short flight from Thailand. The weather is very changeable in this area and we had quite a bit of turbulance and often the clouds and mist mean you can only see land just before you hit the runway. The pilots use visual techniques to land the plane as they are not equipt with autopilot, so they look for a space in the cloud and then go for it. So I held on for dear life and prayed like mad for a safe landing. It must have worked because we touched down safely much to my and the other passangers relief. There was even a small round of applause.

As I said, once we landed all the trauma was forgotten as we took a cab into Luang Prabang and saw the city for the first time. It is a magical place. There is a strong french influence in the architecture with many large buildings and shuttered windows overlooking the Mekong river and the pace of life is very relaxed, so consequently it doesn't take long before you feel very at home.

We checked into a small guesthouse overlooking the river, which was clean (a first), light and airy. We found our way to a local cafe and sat drinking great coffee and eating real french baguettes - which was a real treat and watched the local kids were practicing for Pi Mai.

This buddhist festival honours the Lao New Year and celebrates the legend of Pi Mai. The legend tells of an angel who is set a riddle to solve. The angel takes this riddle to a scholar and bets him that he cannot solve the riddle within 3 days. The scholar accepts the challenge, and discovers the answer to the riddle on the 3rd day. To fulfit the bet the angel has to surrender his head to the scholar, and each year his daughters used to go to the grave to sprinkle water on the head as a sign of respect. Now people celebrate each year over 3 days by cleaning houses and temples, making sweets and treats to honour their anscestors, and meeting as a family to discuss any arguments they have had throughout the year and to promise forgiveness. This then ensures they have luck in the following year.

A major part of the festival is the huge waterfights that take place in every town and village in Laos. We sat and watched the kids dowsing passersby for hours. There was lots of screaming and laughing as people tried not to fall off their mopeds.

In the evening we went to the market, where each stall is lit by an electric bulb dangling from a bamboo cane. They were selling clothes, trinkets and really good Lao food.

The following morning we went on a tour with Tiger Trail, a local company that sponsors an elephant project in the hills. We trekked for 3 hours in the jungle and through some farming land. They were just firing parts of it before the rains arrive. Then we walked on to a small village where we sat for a break. The village was incredibly clean, really unlike anything we had seen in Thailand, or in S. America and there was a local school where kids were educated until they were 10 years old. Most children married before the age of 13 here, and then farm go to work on their parents farm.

In the afternoon we went on to the project where we saw the four elephants that were being cared for. 2 elephants had recently died after contracting an illness, so they had their work cut out to protect the remaining animals. The elephant carers spoke a tiny bit of English, so we managed to find out that the elephant we were with was a girl, who was called Eni.

She was beautiful, with very long eyelashes and a small head. After the elephants have eaten you are taken for a ride as they go and bath in the Mekong. The carers sit on top of the elephants head and tickle their ears to make them go left or right. We waded into the Mekong and the elephants had a great time throwing water all over us with their trunks.

We also went on a biking and kyacking day down the Mekong, which was great fun, apart from when Ben was trying his best to capsize the kyack.

We stayed in Luang Prabang for a week, ditching on initial plans to travel around. The temples around the city are really worth seeing and the longer we stayed the less I wanted to move on. But of course, time can wait for no man (or woman) so eventually we had to head down to Vientiene, the capital to catch a flight to Siem Reap in Cambodia.

The journey to the captial was one of the most memorable we have done. We were sold tickets number 49 and 50 on a 'VIP' bus which only had 46 seats. I started to smell a rat when I noticed that in the isle there were some tiny fold down seats, and it turned out these were meant for us and the other westies on the bus. The girl in front of me only a plastic stool. So we set off on our overnight journey with 5 per isle, and no aircon or toilet and the heat from the engine blowing under our seats. Magic.

The journey was interrupted several times as we got a puncture that was repaired three times. So we got off to stretch our legs. But it really was the pitts. We arrived after 12 hrs 30 mins in VT, looking like a couple of sweaty tramps, but at least we made it on the plane. We were warned about bus travel by a couple of people in Luang Prabang, but we both said 'it can't be that bad'. Well that is a lesson learned. But it didn't spoil what was a really fantastic time in Laos. I just wish we had been able to explore the south of the country. Maybe next time..

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