Dusty and Dry Northern Laos

We are finally in Laos, a country we have heard so many great things about and a place we've been anticipating for a long while. Laos is pretty different from the other countries we've visited so far, being that it is one of the least developed in the world. Travel is long and exhausting and we've had many break downs, pit stops and unforeseen adventures along the road. So far in the north, the largest town we've been to is Luang Prabang, which is home to only 25,000 people (according to Lonely Planet). Even here, it's still easy to go across the river and feel like you're in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by small thatched houses, subsistence farmers, chickens, and dirt roads. Many farmers practice slash and burn farming and since it is the peak of the dry season the air is hazy at best. It's almost hard to see across the rivers at times. Although it isn't as green as we like, the landscape is beautiful and peppered with friendly people everywhere you go. Colin can't eat enough sticky rice here and the sausages are pretty good too. The one thing we haven't tried yet is bush meat, which we were offered on the side of the road, freshly killed and hanging from the hands of small children. We think one was a tanuki (it's an Asian badger). Below are some photos from Laos so far. . .A traditional loom in a craft village near Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang is the biggest city we have seen in Laos thus far, but by going a few kilometers outside of town you are back in the scenic, dusty, and rural countryside again.
On our bus ride down to Luang Prabang we had another brake down. This time the van was totally shot. We finally ended up hopping into the car towing our van after hours of waiting, and a perfectly timed visit by an ice cream man from a nearby town to lift our spirits.
On our hike out from Muang Noi through the countryside and fields we passed caves, many rice fields, pastures, mud-bathing buffalo and kind villagers going about their business.
Idyllic Muang Noi Neua with no roads, cars or motorbikes, electricity only four hours a day and set amongst more karst along the Nam Ou river. We spent three days here relaxing, hiking to caves and other small baan (villages) and swimming in the river. One of the most beautiful, rural places we've been and just flat out amazing. This photo is of the one main street in town with the rest of them being mere footpaths.
We took a river boat up the Nam Ou from Nong Kiew to Muang Noi Neua. The scenery was amazing and the river banks were scattered with some of the cutest kids causing mischief and running around naked. We made several stops to pick up and drop off villagers and one so a woman could go buy two live piglets that were stuffed in a basket and added to the cargo.
A view of the karst behind our bungalow on the river in Nong Kiew. This night it poured down rain and had thunder showers and in the morning the whole area was shrouded in mist.

Amanda on the bridge connecting the two parts of Nong Kiew, which we must have crossed a billion during our two days here. The views of the Nam Ou river surrounded by karst was amazing. There were also caves near by where the Phatet Lao hid out from the CIA during the Secret War bombings during the '60s and '70s.On our way to Nong Kiew south of Luang Nam Tha we had a few problems with the transport. First our bus had to stop and replace a blown tube (an interesting spectacle to watch, they put the tire back on with a sledge hammer) and then our sawngthuew broke down on the side of the road in the dark. Colin and a couple Brits pushed it up the hill we were on and after a vehicle swap we made it!
A man in a mixed Thai Dam, Lolo, and Phu Noi town by the side of the highway pouring us some Lao Lao (Lao moonshine) after our long bike ride. Not so delicious, but when in Laos...and it sure gets you drunk. An Akha village we saw on a cycling trip. As we got closer to the area where Akha people live, many of the women in the fields cutting sugar cane indescreetly offered us opium, which we politely refused, mom.Sneaking a peek under China's skirt we went on another cycling adventure up to the Chinese border through several diverse hilltribe villages. We stopped for directions in a Yao village. This woman ran up to us smiling and had us sit down, where we were swarmed by a lot of people wanting to sell their wares. Being suckers for old women peddling pretty much anything, we bought a really nice Yao hat with embroidery, poms, and bells, that will forever remind us of her.

A good example of a Thai Lu temple in Muang Sing, a small town under 10km from the Chinese border. They are distinguished by their hand embroidered prayer flags hanging from the ceilings and red timbered columns with silver decorative motifs. The Thai Lu are one of many smaller cultures that we got the chance to visit and learn about in Northern Laos.
When we were back in Luang Nam Tha and looking for a cultural museum, we ran into a large empty performance hall. The locals told us that there would be some sort of performance that night at 6, so we bought tickets not knowing what we were getting into. Turns out it was a local show with folk dancing, singing, and these two amazing contortionists. The woman in the photo is holding herself up by her teeth! We were the only whities at the whole show, which was packed with the rest of the townsfolk, so it was sort of cool to see what people there did for fun.
Chaleusek, a Khamu village. We biked 20KM to reach this village, told there was a homestay program all set up and to just show up. We did, and got some confused looks but helpful villagers that led us to the homestay house. We basically walked through the town watching the villagers go about their nightly routine of crushing and winnowing rice, feeding their animals (they had water buffalo, pigs, chickens, ducks, and goats running practically wild through the town), bathing in the river, and preparing dinner. The host family was very nice and cooked us a traditional Khamu dinner and breakfast, but spoke almost no English. It was a very interesting and rewarding experience, although a little bit awkward.
Dry, dusty and arid, these rice paddies are much of what you see in the dry season in Laos.
There are many reasons why travel through Laos is painstakingly slow. The roads are one, breakdowns another, but in this case it is a cow crossing. We rented bikes in Luang Nam Tha to reach Chaleusek, a small Khamu village. We rode through several other small villages, called Baan in Lao, on the way there. Aside from provincial capitals, the average Laos village is small, made of thatched bamboo houses and consists of a few dirt footpaths connecting the village with the fields. In a nutshell, this is rural SE Asia.

Our first day in Luang Nam Tha, Laos, we had some Vietnamese coffee (fitting, right?). Luang Nam Tha is in the Northwest of Laos and offers many trekking and hill tribe visits to the surrounding areas. Usually lush, the North is very dry and hazy right now due to a drought, slash and burn agriculture (seriously everywhere!) and the peak of the dry season.
Oh how perfect, our own little bug ferry just for us. Amanda flits right across the Mekong to enter Laos from Chaing Khong (she actually buzzed her wings to hover over the ferry).
Votive candles burn in front of a Buddhist shrine on top of a hill in front of Chaing Sean. We rented bicycles to reach the hill but were unable to make it up the last slope due to the crappy rental bikes. There were a bunch of monks camping out along the road along our ascent.

Chaing Sean is in the Golden Triangle area, once a hotbed for opium production. We spent a couple days here where we gazed across the Mekong at Laos, explored several ruins of a once large independent Kingdom and ate tons of noodle soup.Just a little taste to get you all jealous and anxious to invite us over to cook some deliciousness for you when we get home. We took this cooking course in Chaing Mai and it was taught by the daughter of a former King's chef. It was a great course and we took home 70 recipes as well!
Colin seriously contemplating his cashew chicken dish at our cooking course. It's all about timing.

The River Kwai, Pai, and trekking in Chiang Mai

Both of us were pretty exhausted by the end of the trip, relaxing on one of the bamboo rafts that we pushed down the river with long bamboo poles.
Rafting down the river on the final day. The life-jackets and helmets were a little excessive, considering the river was so low that we could barely fit the raft between the river rocks. We livened things up by racing the boat ahead of us and getting in a pretty massive water fight.
The children of the village came out to sing us, as well as the other 10 tour groups, some songs. We were hoping to get to learn a little bit about the culture of the people, but the only real interactions that we had were with some women trying to sell handicrafts and massages. When we went on a walk through the very small town we did see people preparing a huge pig for slaughter, which is not a sight we see everyday.
The spectacular view of sunset from the Lahu village where we spent the first night. Our bamboo hut was perched on the top of a mountain where we could see the mountains stretching off in every direction.
Our trekking companions NW of Chiang Mai. We did a three day trek up into the mountains. It included riding elephants (yay!), visiting some hill tribe villages, and rafting. We also got to meet a bunch of cool Europeans our parents age. We stayed up late around the fire and played drinking games with them the first night. Jonas, the guy in the colorful hat, could never figure out the rules, which is always good for a laugh.
Amanda's dreams come true as she finally gets to ride an elephant. It's harder to stay balanced on their heads than the mahuts (the Thai elephant trainers) make it look. It was a hot day and the elephants would periodically blow water and or snot out of their trunks all over us. The Swedish guy we were with got some in his mouth.
One night after a few beers we decided to float a banana leaf that we had gotten with some take away food that looked like a boat. We ceremoniously lighted a candle and stuck it in the middle of the boat. We went down to the riverbank and Colin shoved it off, getting a bit muddy in the process and almost loosing his flip flop. Amanda was pretty frightened when she saw the Monster of the Black Lagoon follow her back to the bungalow.
bAmanda tries to hide from the blazing sun by Pai Canyon outside of town. It's the wintertime here now, so all of the deciduous trees have dropped their leaves and the landscape looked like a cowboy on a skinny horse should have trotted past us as we walked around.
Amanda on a hike we did one day when we rented a motorbike. We hopped from rock to rock across a small river about one billion times and eventually had to give up before we reached the waterfall that was supposedly up there. We did find some really big leaves though.
The guesthouse we stayed in at Pai, a "hippie" village to the NE of Chiang Mai. Now there are a bunch of tourists dressed up in their finest flowing duds drinking shots of wheatgrass. We got to our bungalow by crossing a rickety bamboo bridge from town.
One of the hundreds of Buddha statues at Sukothai, this one with gold-leaf on his fingernails. The Golden Age of Thai sculpture occurred during the Sukothai Period, so we got to see many beautiful statues of the Buddha.
Three Khmer style Praangs in Sukothai, another former capital of the Thai Kingdom. They were originally built by the Hindu Kmers for Bhrama, Shiva, and Vishnu, but like everything else in Thailand, are now filled with Buddhas. We rented bikes and rode around the archeological park in the heat of the day like usual.
When we were in Lopburi we stumbled upon a big festival celebrating the times of King Narai (1600s). There was tons of good food, music, parades, and lights strung up on the old palace and in the trees. People were dressed up in period appropriate attire and we also saw some of the finest examples of puffy pants to date.
In Lopburi, another town with ruins...and tons of monkeys! Loads of tourists come here mainly so the monkeys can jump on their heads. We of course wisely use our hard earned knowledge from being in Asia for six months and stay away from the filthy buggers and just imitate them.
All around SE Asia people wrap spiritually significant trees with ribbons. There were a lot of them at Erawan.
One of the seven tiers of Erawan Falls near Kanchanaburi. We spent the day hiking to them all and swimming at the topmost one, which is supposed to look like a three-headed elephant. We couldn't quite see it... At one of them there was a huge rock that the water had carved a slide into. We saw an old European man sliding down it, so of course we had to try it out too.
The infamous Bridge over the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi, West of Bangkok. If you do't know the story, the Japanese forced British and Australian POWs (as well as many many more Burmese, Malay, and South Indian forced laborers) to build this railway in order to get supplies to their troops. Many of them died from starvation and disease in the process. It's still in use today as a railway bridge, so when you're walking across it you have to jump onto these platforms spaced every 10 meters to get out of the way if a train comes by.
Chinese New Year, Bangkok. Chinese New Year and Valentines Day happened to fall on the same day this year. We chose to celebrate Chinese New Year thinking that there should be a pretty big blow out in Bangkok. The main street in China Town was closed to cars and the streets were flooded with people and vendors. We wandered around the street waiting for something to happen as there were rumors of a parade. Around 3 the streets sectioned off and the road cleared and we waited in the front row for hours, and hours, and hours. By 7PM we were sandwiched between people shoving and pushing, now in the back row and were finally pushed out of the crowd and onto the street. We called it a day and headed back to Ed's place for a romantic dinner of noodle soup and 7-Eleven beer drank out of a tin cup.