It was a quick flight from Hanoi, Vietnam to Vientiane, Laos. our hotel was in the tourist district and it had an excellent roof top pool – that we ended up using daily! The temperature for the next 8 days in Laos was hovering at 36 C. We rented a scooter of course so we could tour on our own agenda; the scooter rental girl said to us “are you going to the art gallery?” I said yes of course! Not knowing anything about the gallery other than I assumed they had AC which would be our main reason to go see it. When you scooter in that heat, it feels like your constantly driving in a hair dryer! 18 km and 30 mins later we pulled into the parking lot of this 80 acre facility that ultimately blew our minds! There were over 30,000 sculptures made of rare wood (like rosewood) and other materials such as bronze, stone, pewter. Check out the video here: Vientiane-art-gallery.html We learned that there we a few large slabs of rosewood that was harvested illegally and saved by the gallery. It. Was. Amazing. Todd had officially declared this is his favourite gallery of his entire life! The remainder of our 4 days we toured on the scooter, ate food, swam in the pool and saw some sights. Vientiane-pics.html
We departed the capital city mid day on the the high speed Chinese electric train to Luang Prabang. Overall this train was the nicest of all the trains we had been on in Vietnam. ( Hi-speed-train-tour.html ) We climbed mountains, went through a few tunnels and noticed the pollution. This was by no means a bullet train, but it did reach speeds of 162 km/ hr. We arrived around 3 pm where the pre-booked taxi was holding a sign with my name! I love this service. A 25 min drive to the hotel and we both concurred that this is how we thought Laos would be; a little more rough around the edges…actually we thought Cambodia would also be like this. ( On-the-mekong.html ) We took the tuktuk to town for dinner, had a short walk and ate sweet coconut rice pancake at the market before we headed back home.
The scooter rental prices went up in price here …but we also got a full tank of fuel with this one. Here is a good example of a day in our life: A-day-in-the-life.html On our first full day here, the plan was to scoot to the famous waterfall….but unbeknownst to me…there are many waterfalls and apparently i picked the wrong one. So it was a 2 1/2 hour round trip, on mostly gravel, in 36 c heat, to no destination – google maps couldn’t even get us to the other waterfall….Luckily the next day we made it to the Kuang Si Waterfall and it did not disappoint; you know how we love a waterfall. We got to swim in the pools and it was a welcome relief to 37 C! On the way back to the hotel, Todd saw some guys at the side of the road looking down in this cement ring. He knew right away it was a cock fight. Apparently they attach spurs to their feet but these ones didn’t… Maybe they were cocks in training…Waterfalls-and-cocks.html
Dinner was a recommended restaurant that was inside a UNESCO lilypond. We shared bone marrow soup and crispy rice salad…we were then too full for a main dish so went straight to mango sticky rice for dessert. We loved this place so much that Todd said lets go back the next night! I though he was crazy but when you have been on the road for over 90 days and find a restaurant you like, you might as well go back again. Luang Prabang pics
Our third day in Luang Prabang was the first day of the official New Year; its common to head to the top of the mountain to release birds for good luck and freedom, apparently. Release-the-birds.html
Our final days came so quickly in Laos and next thing we knew we were on the plane to Chiang Mai – were warned that if we went to Chiang Mai during new years, 2 things would happen:
- The worst pollution we would ever see
- Songkran (official Thai New year) is famous for its 3 day water battles, lasting from 11 am to sunset so be prepared to get wet
Well both were true. The day we landed, Chiang Mai was the most polluted city in the world….so lucky us! And then basically we got soaked in water when we arrived at the hotel. This was a city wide water fight… And they are serious. There are massive water totes everywhere with blocks of ice, people with hoses, people walking with water guns, people driving around with totes and buckets in the back of trucks with huge speakers throwing water on anyone and everyone! It’s crazy! We got a scooter on day 3 to witness and I couldn’t take a video cause my phone would get soaked but it. was. madness! The reason they do this: water represents purity and the washing away of negativity. It is believed to bring good luck, prosperity, and blessings for the year ahead. Here is a video on that: Water-fight.html
Aside from water fights….i managed to head out for a walk on the actual new years day to see what was happening and I found a parade – there were processions of Buddhist monks, along with sacred Buddha images, traditional dancers, and decorated floats – check that out here: Monk-parade.html
Daytime temps of 39 made it a challenge to do outdoor activities although we managed to scoot around alot to see more waterfalls, giant buddha’s, the coconut market, Sunday night walking street, climbed a mountain for a hike. Always so thankful that the pool at the hotel was refreshing! Chiang Mai pics
After our week in Chiang Mai, we had an overnight in Bangkok before our 6 am departure back to Canada – 101 days total…stay tuned for our stats post on all the things about our trip.