| Vientiane |
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November 20, 2006
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Set on the bend in the Mekong river, Vientiane is the actual capital of Laos: a small sleepy city, full of governative offices.
A city which give you a feeling of peaceness and quiteness: do not rush! Vientiane is the ideal place where to relax after Thailand.
And if you like to visit temples and arts, Vientiane will amaze you: the 6400 Buddhas at Wat Si Saket, the religious art of Haw Pha Kaew, and the lotus-inspired lines of Laos's gilded national symbol, Pha That Luang.
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| Vang Vieng - Jang Cave |
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November 22, 2006
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Small town on the road between Vientiane and Luang Prabang, Vang vieng is today an awful small backpackers' ghetto.
It does not exist a real local village; Vang Vieng is guesthouses, restaurants, pubs, tour agencies,... The restaurants have all the tables and chairs toward the TV, where you can watch "Friends" all the day.
While the village itself has got nothing special, the surroundings ara worth a visit: small villages, mountains, and some tunnel, caverns and wonderful caves.
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| Vang Vieng - Phu Kham Cave and Blue Lagoon |
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November 23, 2006
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A path of about 7km leads you from Vang Vieng to Phu Kham Cave.
The cavernous hall contains a Thai bronze reclining Buddha; more and deeper galleries go from the main chamber inside the cave, but it is hard to folow them because there is no light.
Outside the cave there is a wonderful clear stream, called "Blue Lagoon" by the locals and tourists.
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| Luang Prabang |
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November 25, 2006
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Encircled by mountains, along the Mekong river,Luang Prabang is the Lao city with the highest number of temples. Since 1995, Luang Prabang is an Unesco's World Heritage site.
It takes more than 7 hours by bus to reach Luang Prabang from Vang Vieng... and all the way is up/down from mountains..
In spite of the tremendous number of tourists, Luang Prabang is still a peaceful and relaxing place. "Do not rush!"
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| Luang Prabang - Across the Mekong River |
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November 26, 2006
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Across from central Luang Prabang, on the other side of the Mekong River, there are several old temples.
After crossing the Mekong with a small boat, you can have a nice walk to a few small temples, much less cared than the ones in Luang Prabang.
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| Luang Prabang - Pak Ou Caves |
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November 27, 2006
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About 25km by boat from Luang Prabang, along the Mekong River, are the Pak Ou Caves.
You enter the cave from the river, by some steps. Inside the caves there are hundreds of small statues of Budhha.
On the way to the Caves, the boat stops to some villages on the bank of the Mekong.
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| Luang Prabang - Tat Kuang Si Waterfall |
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November 27, 2006
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32km from the center of Luang Prabang, Tat Kuang Si has a wide waterfall, with a series of pools, over limestone formations.
On the way to the waterfall, you will pass a nice Khamu village.
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| Nong Khiaw |
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November 28, 2006
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Market Village in the north province of Luang Prabang. Nong Khiaw has electricity from 6pm to 10pm.
A 40-minutes walk from the village brings to a limestone cave (Tham Pha Thok) where villagers lived during the Indochina War.
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| Muang Ngoi |
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November 29, 2006
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Reached only by boat via river, it takes about 1 hour from Nong Khiaw to reach Muang Ngoi. The village natural isolation means there are no cars, no motorbikes, no paved roads, no electricity, no internet... what you will find here is a sleepy village, dirty small footpaths, coconut palms, the river, people cooking with wood-fire, chicken running around the village, rice fields, water buffalos,... quiteness... but unfortunately too many tourists are coming to this place...
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| Vieng Kham |
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December 01, 2006
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Vieng Kham is a small small small village, in the middle of nowhere, in the north of Laos. We got stucked here, caused by some wrong information we got... well... too long a story to tell it here.. read it in the blog...
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| Vieng Xai |
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December 03, 2006
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Vieng Xai is the town of Pathet Lao revolutionary headquarters, in a valley of limestone mountains and caves, most of which where used by Pathet Lao officers during the Indochina War.
There are 102 caves, about 12 with a war history and opened to the public as a revolutionary memorial.
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| Phonsavan - Food Market |
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December 07, 2006
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Food market in Phonsavan. They sell every kind of staff you may need: from ready products (biscuits, rice, jams, noodles,...) to fresh products (fruits, vegetables, meat,...). What let surpriced is the high quantity of strange wild animals they sell in the meat area... we have seen some stands selling also big rats
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| Phonsavan - American Bombs |
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December 07, 2006
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Unexploded munitions, land mines and cluster bombs, left behind by nearly 100 years of war, cause every years a huge number of accidental injury and death.
In 1969, during the Secret War in Laos by the US Air Force and the CIA, thousands of bombs were bombed in Laos, erasing many small villages and forcing the population to live in caves.
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| Phonsavan - Hmong Village |
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December 07, 2006
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Laos is a mix of differen tribes and villages; the most numerous is the Hmong tribe.
The guide of our tour was a Hmong, and lucky, he met a friend of his and he invited us to his village and to meet his family.
What it will always reman in our minds about that village will be the children's smiling faces, and the big number of children palying aroun the village, poor but happy.
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| Phonsavan - Plain of Jars |
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December 07, 2006
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The Plain of Jars is a large area around Phonsavan, where huge jars of unknown origins have been found.
The jars, of various sizes, are done with solid stone, and a few from granite. Apparently the jars were carved from solid boulders.
Many of the smaller jars have been taken away by collectors, but on the fields there are still several hundreds to see.
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| Pakse - Tea and coffe plantations |
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December 10, 2006
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The flat ground of the Bolaven Plateau, near Pakse in the soith of Laos, is ideal for growing coffee and tea. Both Arabica and Robust is grown.
During this tour we have visited some coffee and tea plantations, ad some nice waterfalls.
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| Pakse - Katu Village |
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December 10, 2006
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Highlight of our tour as been the visit to a Katu Village. Our guide was a teacher at the primary school, of English language, before changing his job ad become a tour guide.
Unique Katu custom is the carving of wooden caskets for each member of the house, well in advance of an expected death; the caskets are stored beneath the houses.
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| Champasak - Wat Phu Champasak |
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December 11, 2006
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Following the Mekong River from Pakse, you reach Champasak, a peaceful Lao town, which would have remained peaceful if they had not discovered the Wat Phu Champasak. An italian team is working on the restauration of this archeological site.
Reading the Lonely Planet we were expecting something better... anyway it has been a nice visit...
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| Four Thousand Islands - Si Phan Don |
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December 13, 2006
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In the South of Laos, near the border with Cambodia, the Mekong River widens and creates an archipelago of four thousand islands (Si Phan Don).
Some of these islands are really large, and you can find rice fields, waterfalls, temples,...
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| Four Thousand Islands - Don Det & River Garden Guesthouse |
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December 16, 2006
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We decided to stop for a few days in Don Det Island; the north area of this island is like Khao San Road in Bangkok; but we have found a nice area of the island not yet destroyed by tourism, near the French bridge between Don Det and Don Khon.
The River Garden Guesthouse were we stayed is managed by a gay, who has created a nice environment: three bunglows with a lovely garden with palms shadows... and he also cooks great food!
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