Laos 2016

After crossing the Cambodia/Laos border north of StungTreng we continued by minibus to Pakse. The reason for coming here was to see the Bolavand Plateau. This is an area of high elevation (over 1000m) which we knew would be cooler than lowlands. We hired a car and driver and went on up. 

There we saw an ethnic village (Mon and other hill tribes). These people were relocated here to make room for mining. They are among the poorest people in the world. 

Children were naked, pigs roamed about, there were no toilets and one pump for water.

This area is also known for coffee plantations and processing. We took notes about this so we can get a better product from our coffee bushes at home! 

And the waterfalls!

Then it was off the Vientiane by air. We didn't stay long in Vietienne because there was better to come. We hired a minivan again for the trip to Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is known as a party town, with drugs, alcohol and partying amongst the young tourists who go there. But the town has revised its image since 2012 and now concentrates more on adventure travel, with Zip lines, caving, rock climbing. It is now an interesting and pleasant place to go.

The journey northwards starts to become much more mountainous around Vang Vieng, quite different to the flat dry country around Vientienne. 

We really enjoyed Vang Vieng.

Then we were back in the minibus and on the road to Luang Prabang. The scenery became more and more mountainous, and quite spectacular. In Luang Prabang we met up with an old friend from 40 years ago, Gary, who works in forestry in Laos. 

Luang Prabang is a delightful city. We decided it is the nicest city we know of in Asia! It is very scenic, quite cool, green, quite clean (relatively) and has the mighty Mekong. There are lots of resturaunts with great food, including vegan and vegetarian options on most menus. 

With Gary we went out into the country-side to some of his forestry projects, and to visit the village of his staff member Noy. 

Noy's village has elephants, used for tourism, and his mother has a large market garden. 

The highlight of our visit here though was the most photogenic waterfall we have ever seen. 

We noticed that although Laos is considered one of the poorest countries on earh, it seems more prosperous than Cambodia. The houses are of better quality, the streets and markets are cleaner, the resturaunts are more sophisticated. This is in spite of being a communist country. I wonder whether the difference is that there is so much corruption in Cambodia. Undoubtedly that is holding them back. Pity!