Two Splendid Weeks in Laos

15 February 2009

We spent almost two weeks in Laos. We cruised through Vientiane, which was nice, it had some big buildings but felt more like a provincial town (we had amazing pizza at a swedish bakery, it was a nice treat!).

We wanted to head straight to Vian Vieng, which we thought would be a good spot to spend a couple of days. We got there at noon and met some nice Canadians who taught us the ropes. Anyway, it seemed fun! We didn’t rent tubes because it was a hassle but we had fun in the river and at the bars. We met a nice guy from Québec, Raphael, and shared some laughs. He was doing what seems to be the popular thing: he got a job at one of the bars! So he spent the day hopping form bar to bar promoting his bar (it is not on the river, it opens at night), and giving out free shots. The bar paid him, fed him and housed him! Good deal! We spent the whole day and the next morning, Jonny was ready to go. We experienced the whole ordeal (without the tubes) but it was time to move on.

We went to Luang Prabang, in the north. There, we met many nice people. We spent our first evening there with a guy from Québec, two guys from Oshawa (who knew one of my classmates from highschool!), a quiet French guy, and a Polish guy who has lived all over but now resides in Thailand and works for the only elephant conservatory that does not use hooks to command the elephants! Anyway, it made for interesting conversation!

In Luang Prabang, we saw a 79 series Landcruiser all decked out for camping. The interesting part was that it had licence plates from Austria! I left a note on their dashboard about wanting to meet them! The next day, before we left for the waterfall, they came to say hello and we set up a meeting to talk about routes and things. Jonny, Antonin (the guy from Quebec), two other guys and I were meant to go camping at the waterfall. The two other guys dropped out because they had to catch early buses the next day. (One of the two was from Luxembourg and you should have seen the expression on his face when Jonny began talking to him in Luxembourgish: confusion, fascination and joy all at once!) Anyway, we went to the falls, but I was stomach sick so I napped in the car... It was not a natural place where we could camp...It was very touristic, with gift shops in the parking lot. I told Jonny I wanted to go back to town to sleep. Antonin asked if we could share a hotel room. So we did.

The next day, we met a retired French couple, Alain and Michelle, who own a camping car in France. They take it to Africa, and were interested to hear our story! Alain was a retired stuntman from films, where his job was mostly to blow cars up, so we were interested to hear his! We went swimming in the river and had a chat. Alain even took a minute to come and check our battery problem. We take any advice we can get!

In the evening we met up with Irene and Heinz, the Austrian couple. They had many great tips to give us! They had been around the world so many times, and had so many great stories. They were so inspiring to me. Irene event spent time in Africa working with elephants (she is a fanatic, like me!) In Africa she had the chance to meet Jane Goodall at the chimpanzee conservatory! Anyway, they’re going to give us many suggestions and tips by email. We look forward to it. We met them for breakfast the next day, and they gave us a tour of their camper, “spinifex”. It makes the wombat look like a go cart! They have 4 batteries, 2 tanks of water with a total storage of 240L, 320L of diesel, Goretex pop-top, 2.6m height, sun roof, diesel stove top/heater, sound system, coffee machine, 220V outlets in the back, solar panels, etc. etc.....It’s the dream camper!

We said Goodbye to our new friends and headed north. We took Antonin with us, he hates public buses and appreciated the ride. Camping was wonderful! We found a little spot next to a power station (a water powered turbine) and a little river. We played lawn bowls with a station worker! We met tons of fantastic children and had a blast. After two nights of camping with Antonin, we said our goodbyes. We got to Nam Tha, the biggest town in the North (where he could easily continue his travels). Once in Nam Tha, we saw Irene and Heinz again! They beat us here!!! It was funny to see them again! Heinz told me about an English man he met that drove from the UK to here. He drove across Pakistan and Iran and could give us good advice. I hoped he would find us!

Later, we went to the store. On the way out, Jonny asked a man for a lighter and I noticed he had an English accent. I took a risk and asked him if he was the guy on the motorbike. He was! Yay! So we set up a meeting with him, Andy, and another motorbike traveller, Dave, to chat about Pakistan. It turns out he spent 2 months there and adored it! He drove through Baluchistan in 2 days, but the rest of the country was wonderful. He said that many tourists venture off to forbidden areas and that’s when they get into trouble, but if you listen to your police escorts, you’ll have a ball. He said many reassuring things, so it’s made us look forward to the area. Pakistan is the favourite place he’s visited! We will still do research and keep up with the news, but it’s good to get input from someone who’s been there.

So we enjoyed Nam Tha. We went to a waterfall yesterday. The water was too cold to swim (mostly because the sun was gone), but we had a fun time frolicking on the rocks. Now we’re ready to move on!

The road to the Thai border has recently been paved, so we will easily get there today. We will take a ferry across the Mekong and then drive to Chang Rai. We plan to spend a few days in the North, to Chang Mai, and around Pai. Then we have to go south (with a possible stop in Ko Lanta to say hello to Kasim), and get into Malaysia to ship the car to India! Right now, we plan to ship the car by the 5th of March!

We’re happy, healthy and motivated!

MC