24122010 - 4000 islands that was Christmas island

While in Luang Prabang i stayed in a dorm and there was an aussie girl beside my bunk and we conversed and i found out that her dad is singaporean as well. Bumped into her again at champasak and it just one of the many times i bumped into people whom i met earlier in thailand or northern laos. It was instances after instances of serendipities. We were heading the same way so we wet out to the main road to hitch the ride down to the south for our boat to the islands. We waited for nearly 2 hrs before it came and we were looking forward to some island relaxation over xmas on hammocks and book in hand.

On the island i bought a book about a lady who cycled across africa on her own.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Esprit-Battuta-Across-Africa-Bicycle/dp/1854106295
Just the kind of read that keeps me going. Si Phan Don is gorgeous during sunsets and i'll leave you with some proof to that.

peppered on the mekong which gives the name 4000 islands

Li Phi falls which locals believe the evil spirits are washed
down to.

 had to climb out for this.

tourists had died here before

During the day i pondered on the impact of tourism on a once peaceful island like Don Det and Don Khon. Before tourism arrived I believe it was just a village which goes about planting rice, crops, rearing poultry and fishing in the Mekong. Now you see bamboo huts peppered around the island. Pizza bars, cafes and even Indian restaurants have all sprung up. Yes these are things that generate money for the locals and boost their once meager incomes. However at what expense?

The loss of a once peaceful and undisturbed way of life in exchange for falang $$. I do believe there are a handful of villagers on the islands that wished tourism hadn’t arrived and life would be as it is during their time when they’ve never seen a bottle of coke before. Though many travelers came with the intention of enjoying the views and hardly interfere with the locals and mostly have genuine and sincere interactions,  I would really like to know what they really think of having us here and how our presence had altered their way of life?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At night we had a mini xmas dinner gathering with all the people living in the guest house and also a family staying else where that came over to the guest house restaurant. It was a cauldron of cultures and we were treated to 'Lao Lao' 50% alcohol rice whiskey by the GH owner. One of the best xmas's in my life and normally i'm not a sucker for festives.

22122010 - Champasak.

Wat phu Champasak was a little disappointing as major parts of the temple had collapsed due to exposure to the elements, especially rainwater which destroys the sandstone in god speed. After all they were hundreds of years old and it is still a worthy place to visit if you’re here to explore and visualize the empire that it once was rather than to snap a picture to bring home. Restoration works are ongoing to rebuilt the south palaces and prevent them from turning from a Unesco site to a pile of crumbled stone blocks.

the crazy market and pickups i took to get to champasak
 that pile goods about 2 metres high

not exactly picture perfect but preservation
needs to be done.

21122010 - Pakse and thoughts so far in Laos.

Another epic 15 hour bus ride on a Lao bus and this time they had folk music blasting from 8pm till the nights and it was a real uphill battle to stay sane for the length of the trip. Had people vomiting on the aisle of the bus and onto boxes of goods. good thing my backpack was the first one in the luggage compartment. There isn't anything much to do in Pakse as it is more of a gateway for travellers heading down to champasak or 4000 islands. Replenished sleep lost on the bus and bought the local coffee.

common sights 

the mekong beside pakse

As i draw to the end of my time in Laos, i've realised that things are not as cheap as i've expected it to be. Many travelers feel the same way too. With a daily budget of about 30sgd, I’ve been averaging 20-25. reason being transport bites a considerable chunk of it as traveling within Laos is not filled with many options. Most of the time the tourists also unknowing pay a bit more than the locals do. To be honest as much as I loved the places I’ve been in this country so far, this practice is really annoying and leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Although it’s not those rip-you-off-till-you’re-almost-broke kind of money, they do add up and it’s not nice to see some of the locals’ lack of integrity.

Sure enough as a traveler we ought to expect ourselves being overcharged from time to time but to have to do it consistently doesn’t sit well for me. That is why I hate it when other travelers give in meekly and overpay despite knowing it. This gives the locals the impression that we are ok with paying more and it just encourages them to do it to the next group of people.

The same with children I met while cycling through the villages of Nong Khiaw where they run up to us and asked for pens, sweets and one dollar. Giving in to their doe eyed faces means you have a kind heart but at the same time is encourages the children to cultivate it into a bad habit and they become dependent and start to develop ‘begging’ tendencies. The best thing I believe you can give to the kids is your time. Be playful with them, entertain them in any way you can and at the end of the day you can still put a smile on their faces without a giveaway of candies and pens. Leave that chore to Santa Claus .

19122010 - Vientianne the smallest capital in the world.

Vientianne is a very relaxed capital and nothing like the craze of its neighbour countries. Went around and visited the tourist sites before taking the 15hour night bus to Pakse. On top of that the highlight was getting to purchase a jar of god-sent nutella from the mart. Bless the souls of the guys who founded nutella!

Pha That Luang the nation's most important
temple and building

Patuxai, Laos' very own Arc De Triomphe

It's very own  Avenue des Champs-Élysées

17122010 - Vang Vieng, the krabi of Laos, the springbreak venue for drunk morons and also the river of death for tubers. Until you decide to put your bum on a bike seat.

For many people who come to Laos, Vang Vieng is like the must see place. Cheap booze, mushrooms, girls who will take of their bikini tops after downing 1 too many and floating down the river with a beer in one hand and a joint in another. Yes this is the idea of fun for many people who flock over to Vang Vieng in summer spring break mode. Fun until someone gets hurt. I met a Israeli guy in my guest house and his friend died 6 months ago after he was on the rope swing and crashed head first into the rocks below the water and destroyed his skull. For me this is not what i wanted fill my travels with so i didn't even go the the tubing river altogether instead the Belgian and German guys and I did a mountain biking loop around the limestone hills into caves and villages. Highly recommended experience and you have memories of Vang Vieng being a beautiful landscape rather than it being a drugs and booze abusing place. Get off the beaten track and you will be rewarded with great views.The villagers are also very friendly and shouts of "Sabaidee" can be heard from the kids as you approach and cycle pass their homes. These people are more interested in interactions rather than transactions from the businesses in town which are jaded by the shit they see all the time from the tourists.Pictures!

1st day was overcasted by clouds

Korean BBQ with the guys. of course i played the role of
teaching them how to do it the asian way.

Round the loop

One of the caves. this was HUGE and was used by the locals
as a hiding spot during the war.

One of the many villages along the way

sunset at the end of the loop

met this guy the next day and he just caught
this snake from the river and was preparing
it for lunch. I told him to save some for me which
he did after i came back an hour later to allow for
it to be cooked. It was really good. tasted like bitter chicken

15122010 - Phonsavan should be called the Plain of Bombs

Arrived in Phonsavan after an 8.5hr bus ride from Luang Prabang. It was about halfway when a military guy boarded the bus with his rifle! I looked and saw that the magazine was still attached and the process of guessing whether it was empty or not was not exactly very enjoyable. A similar deed back home in Singapore would mean a 7 year sentence. Guess it’s just another day in a Laotian local bus.

Visited the MAG gallery in town and witnessed the atrocities that happened during the Vietnam war years. The US rained bombs on the Lao side in an attempt to wipe out the supply routes of the viet congs. 1 in 3 of these bombs failed to detonate and right now people are getting blasted everyday by UXOs(unexploded ordances) For many of us we only knew about the war in Vietnam but was clueless about what happened to Laos.

Visit : http://www.maginternational.org/laopdr

In the MAG gallery

Had my first case of food poisoning and I vomited and had diarrhea 4 times. Never had food poisoning till the extent of vomiting and it was the worse feeling ever. Went over to the Plain of Jars : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_of_Jars and i only visited 1 site before I had to retreat back to the guesthouse to recuperate after barfing another load beside one of those stone jars haha!

People have said that if these  jars had no
holes in them they would just be regular
stone blocks which no one will be curious
about. 

It was also the Hmong new year and during this time of the year, members of the opposite sex gather and toss balls back and forth with one another and during this process they talk and if they like each other they get married. It was an interesting spectacle and unlike the modern countries where usual process is to wine and dine before people get acquainted This time of the year the crops and rice are all harvested and people have nothing to do. So other than it being the dry season, it is also the wedding season I guess.  

decked in their colourful ethnic costumes 

15122010 - 4 celsius in Phonsavan?!