Lovin' Laos!

So far, Laos has been my favourite country. Yeah, it may be a bit more expensive and it may be totally influenced by my elephant experience, but I'm loving the mellow, friendly vibes here. I didn't take many pictures as I was pretty pictured out after the elephants, so hopefully my words do it justice....

Luang Prabang is the second biggest city here and it feels more similar to Hoi An than Hanoi. Infrastructure isn't great and it's more like a cottage town than a city. Our hostel had amazing showers and good breakfasts so it made up for my prison like, bare bones dorm room.

We visited the night market more times than Simon wanted but I loved all the handicrafts available. I shouldn't have bought things anywhere else but here! No one harassed you or made you feel bad for saying no. There wasn't as much bartering as in Cambodia, but sometimes they'd go down a bit. I bought cute new slippers to wear back home in freezing Canada amongst a few other souvenirs. 

The food was a refreshing change from everywhere else. They have a strong French influence leftover from the colonial days, so baguettes and croissants were popular. I think I had about four baguettes there in my time ?one with tofu, so good!) Perfect amount as now I'm ready to go back to rice and noodle dishes.

The bar scene was pretty European/tourist influenced but I enjoyed them. We went to one called Icon Klub, which could easily pass for a bohemian styled bar on queen west. I splurged and got an expensive but amazing mojito. They also had the BEST WASHROOM in all of SE Asia. After squatters and no toilet paper, it was pretty epic.

The next night, we went to the famed Utopia, a backpacker oasis.  We ordered dinner, split some Beerlaos and enjoyed people watching. There are cushions and low seated tables with candlelight scattered everywhere under a big straw coned roof. There are Palm trees and lush gardens surrounding outdoor tables. There was some big long tables for rowdy patrons and a volleyball court and foosball table. It's up there on my all time favourite bars list.

Simon lounging in "Utopia"

On our way home, we stumbled upon some local guys playing what we thought was house-league volleyball. But after a second glance, it was something totally different. There were three guys on each side of the net and they would kick (like yoga gymnastics high kicks) a ball back and forth only using their heads or feet. We were fascinated for about 20 minutes. I later found out this sport is called sepak takraw and it's very popular in SE Asia (thanks Wikipedia!). We then kept walking in this area and there was a mini carnival and for 2,000 kip we played the "throw the darts at the balloon" game. Simon was able to get three in a row and won a Pepsi. There were monk milling around, Kids playing and adults lounging with Beerlao and BBQ. Pretty cool local Saturday night.

After our time in Luang Prabang, we packed up early and boarded the slowboat to take us to Huay Xai where we will join the Gibbons Experience for three days. The slowboat takes two days with a night stopover in the one-street town of Pak Beng. It's more advisable to do this than the bus (12 hrs) or fast boat (6 hrs but people have died on it).

It's called a Slowboat for a reason....

We did not prepare well on our first day. Opting to wear shorts and no socks, the cold Laos morning was brutal. Luckily, Karen had extra socks at least! We made a new friend, Claudia from Germany, and sat with her. It was nice because now her and I could share a room and cut down our costs as dorms were not an option in Pak Beng. 

Inside our Boat on Day 2

Cards (rummy and crazy 8s), boat bought noodles, reading, and naps took up the 8 and a half hours to Pak Beng. Our accommodations were decent and dinner at an Indian restaurant was delicious. The next morning we boarded for another 10 hours, albeit a bit more prepared with hoodies and sandwiches. We spent the night in Huay Xai, packing and eating. Next stop, our three day trek into the Namkam national park to do the Gibbons Experience where we trek for 2-3 hrs a day, Zipline in the canopy, sleep in treehouses, and hopefully spot some monkeys.

Halong Bay: One of the Natural Wonders of the World

Our one day and one night in Hanoi was not very eventful. Other than the campy but enjoyable water puppets show and wandering through the mass rush hour, motorbike confusion trying find a currency exchange, it wasn't too much fun. It's very busy and people aren't as open to tourists as other places we've been. Also, I failed horribly at food in Hanoi. I tried to get steamed rice wraps with vegetables and pointed to them and said "no meat?", they nodded and ended up bringing Simon and I steamed rice wraps with nothing inside (which is, I guess, what I asked for). Then at a street vendor, I assumed that I pointed at spring rolls and when I said "no meat?" They nodded. It was a deep fried pork stick. Ah well.... The hustle, bustle and tiresome city life of Hanoi gave easy way to one of the prettiest locations on our trip, Halong Bay.

Halong Bay consists of thousands of limestone rocks and mini-islands jutting around the Vietnamese coastline. It is definitely worthy of its placement in the seven natural wonders of the world. It's gorgeous.

A View of Halong Bay

We took a two day, one night cruise to explore the Bay. Our company, the Majestic has some flaws (on-board activities lacking direction, expensive drinks at $2/beer when we're used to 0.75) but it was pretty good otherwise.

The Majestic was... mostly majestic.

Our rooms and meals were amazing. We anchored in the bay at nighttime so it wasn't wavy at all. We had a triple and I'm pretty sure it was the nicest place we stayed all trip. The meals were gigantic portions and they really accommodated my vegetarianism more than anywhere else on this trip. I had just as many dishes as everyone else. Almost too many!

.....What a tourist.

We cruised to Sung Sot cave to explore the caverns there. I actually really like caves (fav episode of Planet Earth) so I revelled in it. It was the biggest one I've ever been in (not that I've been really in many caves in my lifetime) and although it was touristy (lights, well worn paths and ropes keeping you off the rocks), it was still impressive. Unfortunately, the pictures I took didn't do it justice because they can't show the depth of it.

Where's Alfred?

After the cave, our boat took us to a beach to go swimming. It's winter here so the locals think it's freezing but after the initial cold, the ocean was beautiful. It was like July cottage lake temperature. We swam for a bit before relaxing on the beach. It wasn't too sunny but after the mad heat in the south, it was a nice, breezy 24 degrees. 

By the sea, by the sea, by the marvellous sea!

There were these hilarious monkeys on the beach too and after being warned not to get too close, we enjoyed their antics from afar. One lady (a Darwin Award Applicant for sure) tried to climb a rock for a photo op and a monkey grabbed at her, she then tried again and it attempted to bite her! It was pretty funny (I am a horrible person).

I don't do it nearly enough at my cottage and never think to do it, but stargazing is one of my favourite activities. On our boat, I took some time to sit on the sun deck and watch the stars. Listening to music on my iPod in the background and getting lost up there. Unfortunately, I only got about 10 mins of good viewing before it clouded over. But there's something about sitting on a boat, slight breeze, listening to the national and looking up at the stars. I got a bit emotional. I know, I know... cut out the cheese, suze, yeesh! ;)

In the morning, we kayaked around a small fishing village (in the rain at points) and then cruised back. We didn't head back to Hanoi and instead switched off the bus to another car and went to the airport to catch our flight to Laos. Vietnam has been an interesting country to visit, with its mix of metropolitan and chilled out areas. I am looking forward to exploring some of Laos but I will miss my Vietnamese coffee in the morning!

Goodnight, Vietnam!