Northern Laos

After leaving Jasper, we made our way up the steep windy roads to Luang Prabang... which took two days from Vang Vieng.

We took plenty of breaks, for our bums and also to give the bikes a break

Near Luang Prabang we visited these waterfalls... which required a trek through the jungle, then a swim across the river as we had run out of Kip...

Really pretty, but nothing too high to jump off of...

This move I call, "the flail"

Oh, and we ran across this guy along the way.


Luang Prabang is a great place to spend a few days. A World Heritage site, it can be quite touristy, but they are there for a reason. With numerous waterfalls near by as well as an amazing night market. Below are at least 3 good reasons to go...

No smoking city wide!

the monks recieving alms in the morning... Luang Prabang is a famous place to give alms... but you have to wake up early.


In Luang Prabang we picked up Miriam. A Canadian who we met down in Tha Kaek... and kept bumping into along the way... we figured we'd replace Jasper.

And our first lunch stop... mmmm

This is Kimbo's addiction. Red Bull (it's different in Thailand) is a bit too strong for her, so she opts for the M-150... whose motto is "Strength, Courage, Devotion..."

After a 3 hour ride, we made it to Nong Khiaw... a pretty cool place by it self, but also the town to catch the river boat up to Muang Ngoi (check out kev's blog about the place).

Our collection of spirits for the night.

...

Vang Vienging it...

Vang Vieng is a crazy place. Word has it that after the tsunami hit S. Thailand... Ko Phi Phi and other S. Thai party island moved some of the party scene to this small, dramatic place in the middle of Lao.

So if you are looking to party in Vang Vieng, party hard... and do it right. If you are looking for a mellower scene, just avoid the party spots (very easy to do) and stay in a chilled out guesthouse. But don't try to do both... you'll get annoyed at the partyers... or the non-partyers.

Enjoying sunset from our rooftop terrace moments after check in.


The next day, after visiting the rope swings (see last post), we went further north up to a cave with a river running through it.


You spelunk with inner tubes and follow a rope to the end... quite enjoyable...


One (among the many) thing Vang Vieng is known is that it's a very comfortable place to have a hangover (and I'd say most folks here experience a few)... with so many loungy cafes serving fruit juices with the TV playing "Friends: reruns... although our guesthouse refused to play Friends...


This is what Funk looked like 80% of the time...


Awww


The next morning, Funk and I decided to run-off that haziness in our heads with a nice trail run around town... there are many make-shift bridges in Vang Vieng...


And many smaller ones over smaller creeks


...


There's a fee on some of the bridges... like this one... but we didn't have any $$$.. but we were running anyway... so we just ran...


Later that day, we scootered around the area looking for caves, mountains to hike, or swimming holes to discover. This is Jasper's first ever stream crossing on Nice.


And found a cool cave.


With the biggest cave-spider I've ever seen!


The next morning... after a suggestion from Fred, we headed up to this lookout. Which he describes as the "the apotheosis of Zen"... and we fully agree.


Not a bad view egh?


Look Fred! We made it!!! (It's a little better res after you click on it...)




You'll have to ask Funk about this pic... I'll let him tell the story.


More monkeys! This one lives at one of the bars at the rope swing area... kinda sad really... and pretty mangy looking.


After enough caves, tubing, rope swinging, and trail running... we decided to leave town. Here's Kim's potatos and cheese for brekky... woohoo


Our parting shot with Jasper. He took a bus to Vientiane, a flight to Bangkok, a flight to Phuket, then to Seoul, and Seattle, then home... phew. I'm sure he appreciated the shot. The Woodford's was a Funk item. Although he only brought a very small day pack, he made room for the Woodfords... priorities.

In the Tubin' - Vang Vieng

Throughout SE Asia, you'll see the "In the Tubing - Vang Vieng" shirts. And what that means is... we went tubing... got dropped off by a tuk-tuk 4 km N of town... and before we even hit the water we were handed free shots of Lao Lao, going off rope swings, zip lines, having a few more free shots, water slides, mud-wrestling, playing beach volleyball, and after a few more free shots you made it 300 m down river and the sun has already set behind the mountains. Now you're in a bargaining battle with a tuk-tuk driver who is charging 10x the cost of you getting there... but in your inebriated state you think it's a good deal....

Bars on both sides... those are rope swing poles that you see sticking up.


A typical bar... most folks (over 90%) I'd reckon just catch a tuk tuk up, and down... rather than tube down the cold river in the dark.

The first time we went up, we were at the first bar (with the biggest rope swing) and only stayed a short time as we wanted to visit some caves up north of the tubing.

But did it enough to try this before leaving...


The second time we went... we stayed most of the afternoon, and had a blast.

Here's a simple back...


Then the front...


Here's Funk


...trust me he wasn't trying to do this...


And Jasper


What a guy....


Kimbo's getting crazy wit it..

"Scoot-ouring" Around Laos.... with Funk.

After doin' the LOOP. Jasper, Kimbo, and I were on the road making our way up to the capital, Vientiene where Funk decided to meet us for his first tour outside the US of A.

BTW... Scoo-touring around Laos is the way to go. The roads are nice, not much traffic, and for better or worse you don't need a licence. We saw tons of kids riding scooters around town.. how old could this kid be? And to all the folks disappointed in us for not getting a push bike... well here's some of the reasons we opted for the scooter:

• Scooters come in one size (easy to sell and buy)
• We had a lot of distance to cover
• We didn't have any bike gear... you only need Helmet (5$), and gloves (1$ for cheaper ones, 2$ for leather) to ride.
• You can throw 2 people on it or ride it solo.
  

We wanted to visit Lao Vegas, but alas... Funk was calling our name.


We did make a few stops on our way up to break up the 150+ km days.


That is a nest of red ants...


Lao is not only blessed with kids that love to say "Sabaidee" to every farang (foreigner)... but it's share of amazing waterfalls and caves. There are so many waterfalls in this country that we were the only ones at this one during our 3 hour break.


The road out from Tad (Waterfall in Lao) Xae


Near the waterfalls, we stopped to eat some noodle soup... and the locals invited us over for a few drinks of the Lo Lao (Homemade whiskey)... it was past noon... so we figured we weren't braking any rules.


Farm animals run amok everywhere in the Laos countryside.


You can tell buy Jasper's enthusiastic face that he's stoked to be peer pressured into eating a lettuce wrapped.... rat tail (as best as I could tell)... they kept calling it "squirrel"... but regardless it was pretty gross... so I encouraged Jasper to try it too, and our Laotian hosts helped me pressure him into it....


Unlike Central America, the dogs here are friendly (for the most part) and the puppies are much cuter.


And Finally! After a flight from LA, an overnight train from Bangkok, and a tuk tuk across the border... here's the one and only... Funkster...


Here Jasper is showing him all the problems of "Nice." We actually had a shop in Vientiane put a new seal around the engine and add a new clutch. A 4 hour, 2 person job... for 1o$. Another reason scoot-ouring in Lao is fun. Scooters will break down, but there is always someone that can fix the problem near by... for very cheap... and you can practice your Lao.


In Vientiene we had an amazing pork, noodle, lettuce dish... don't know what it's called, but probably the best thing we ate in Lao... then we went bowling for the first time in 2009.


The broom seller?


Funk's Helmet Cam...


A quick break dancing break on our way up to Vang Vieng...


Vang Vieng!!!