Drink Beerlao!

Imagine this: you are preparing to board a rickety canoe to enter a 7 km long cave with a river running through it. Once you enter the cave, you will be in the darkness for the next hour with whatever light your small headlamp can provide.  You come across cave cathedrals 100 m high and twist and turn around bends covered with stalagmites and stalactites.  A few km into the cave you step out of your boat on to the edge for a cave walk where you come across large spiders that you never believed you would see outside of "Planet Earth" documentaries.  It is spooky, it is amazing, and it is called the Kong Lor cave in central Laos.

 

Although it would be a little bit of a detour for us, this cave sounded too interesting to miss.  We made our way by local bus to the village of Kong Lor and set about trying to find a homestay.  During our search, we came across a group of locals playing some form of bocce who called us over and promptly offered us some Beerlao.  As we inquired about a homestay, our new friends poured us glass after glass of the local brew telling us "Drink Beerlao!! Drink more! Finish!!". A couple of games of bocce, multiple cases of Beerlao, and a few hours later, we stumbled off to find a guesthouse that would take us in for the night figuring a homestay would now be inappropriate.  We had a great time though and were pleasantly surprised that despite the questionable ice cubes used in our beers, we escaped the ordeal without harm.  The next day we ran into our new friends having another party right before catching a truck out of town and sadly had to turn down their renewed offer of beers...I think we may have never left Kong Lor otherwise.

 

 

 

 

Before our little detour, we stopped in Vang Vieng and Vientiane. Vang Vieng was a bit of a strange place and if it wasn't for the fact that it is situated in a beautiful spot along the river with a backdrop of limestone mountains, I'm not sure if we would have enjoyed it.  It has become backpacker party central and for such a conservative country like Laos it is a bit sad to see. Backpackers flock to the town to go tubing down the river lined with bars pumping loud music, selling drugs, and encouraging drunk tubers to jump into the river off high swings, flying foxes, etc. A number of deaths have occurred here over the years and we decided we did not need to take the risk.  Instead we opted for a day of caving and kayaking and had a great time on the river.  Another strange thing about Vang Vieng is the fact the most of the restaurants are "TV bars" and play endless reruns of Family Guy and Friends, although this we didn't mind so much...

In the Elephant Cave...

The most interesting thing that we saw in Vientiane was the COPE Visitor's Center that provides information on the unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Laos.  During the "Secret War" in Laos, the U.S. dropped an average of a plane's worth of bombs every 9 minutes for 9 years on the country.  There were more bombs dropped in Laos than during WWII.  The remaining UXO's continue to pose a very dangerous threat to Laotians, especially in rural areas, and COPE provides artificial limbs and rehabilitation services for those affected.

 

 

Cruising to Luang Prabang

After hearing many other travelers stories, we were quite excited to cross over into Laos and we have not been disappointed.  We crossed the border into Huay Xia, a sleepy little border town where you can arrange a slow boat down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang.  We spent one night in the town enjoying the local cuisine and sharing our first Beerlao at sunset over the Mekong on our rooftop patio. We had been hearing rumors of Beerlaos tastiness since we were in Guatemala and at $1.20 for a large bottle, we definitely enjoy it!

Not more than 5 years ago, the slow boats were decked in uncomfortable wooden pew-like seats with perhaps something resembling an outhouse at the back of the boat.  We thought we would try to steer clear of these boats, but to our pleasant surprise, the boats are now upgraded with car seats and a fairly nice Western style toilet to make your two day boat cruise more enjoyable.  

Although the days were long on the boat (7 and 9 hours each), the scenery was incredible.  All along the river there were beautiful limestone rocks jutting out of the water and large sand dunes leading up to small villages with fisherman and children splashing about.  We also learned a valuable lesson on our boat ride - children in Laos seem to like to hit people...as witnessed by a number of passengers on board as the small boy in front of us had a great time wandering the boat and slapping people here and there.  This sort of behavior was seen again at our guesthouse in Luang Prabang as it seemed that the owner's young daughters favorite game is "hit the tourist".  The kids are just so cute though!

Delicious Iced Coffee

By the time that we reached Luang Prabang, we wanted to relax for a while and it is a beautiful city to take a little extra time in.  As part of our relaxation, we decided to visit a herbal sauna.  We waited for a rainy somewhat cooler day and made our way to the Red Cross sauna for some mingling with the locals.  Once you get there, you are given a sarong and small towel to cover yourself and directed to separate (and very tiny) men and women's sauna rooms.  The sauna is usually scented with lemongrass and smells very fragrant.  After spending a few minutes (or however long you can bear..) in the sauna, you can come out and watch some tv while drinking some tea, shower, and repeat the whole process.  

Vegetarian buffet offerings at the Night Market

One day we decided to hire a tuk tuk to take us out to the Elephant Village Sanctuary for an elephant ride. It was a great company and we had a wonderful experience.  Unlike many other elephant camps, the mahouts (trainers) don't use bullhooks to move the elephant along but rather verbal commands and their feet.  

We were in very high spirits after our ride and were just getting ready to leave when we found that our tuk tuk had broken down.  A four hour wait later with many jokes at our expense, and a surprising amount of hammering on the engine (I'm no mechanic, but really?) and there was still no hope in sight of a magical tuk tuk fix. Luckily some sympathetic tour guides let us hop into their van heading back into town.  I definitely recommend going to this elephant camp if you are looking for an elephant ride but perhaps it is best to arrange transport with a tour and forgo the tuk tuk...

Another highlight was our trip to the Kuang Si waterfalls.  These falls looked like something out of the garden of Eden with numerous layered turquoise pools that you could swim in.  And not only were the falls impressive but there is also a black bear conservation area nearby where you can get up-close with rescued black bears lazing around in hammocks all day.  

Nightlife is a bit unusual in Luang Prabang as there is an 11:30 pm curfew set all over the city.  If you want to stay out any later, you are offered two venues: the disco (where despite the name, apparently no dancing occurs) and the bowling alley. It must be one of the only places in the world where the bowling alley is THE place for after hour partying.  Although perhaps it is not the safest activity to do while barefoot and drinking beerlaos, it is definitely a good laugh with some fellow travelers.

Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and a piece of Pai

We made our third entry back into Thailand in Chiang Mai. It is incredibly hot here but we are unlikely to get much relief from the 40 degree weather for the next month or so. We've chosen to keep our days easy in the meantime and drink lots of streetside smoothies.

Our first day here was spent wandering around some of the temples inside the walled city until the afternoon heat sent us back to relax at the guesthouse. 

Off to the market!

Our second day was far more productive and we practiced our culinary skills with a full day Thai cooking class.  Our teacher picked us up at our guesthouse and took us to the nearby market to buy fresh ingredients for the day ahead. Once we arrived at the school we started to cook up some of our favorite Thai dishes.  We chose to make the following:

Hot and Sour Prawn Soup

Chicken with Coconut Milk Soup

Stirfry Chicken with Holy Basil
Stirfry Chicken with Cashew Nut

Spring Rolls
Papaya Salad

Panang Curry Paste & Curry
Kao Soi Paste and Curry

Mango and Sticky Rice
Deep Fried Banana

After completing our course, we were incredibly full and even more in love with Thai food than before.  However, something quite disconcerting happened as we were leaving the school: a young Thai woman wished us goodbye with the following sentiment and a chuckle for Paula - "Good luck with the baby!"  Perhaps its time to cut back on the mango sticky rice...

Hand-powered ferris wheel

After Chiang Mai, we made our way to the hippie town of Pai.  We stayed at a great little bungalow with probably the cutest Thai owner around who loved learning about Canadian geography.  He suggested that we rent some motorbikes and visit some nearby waterfalls among a few other attractions.  We took his advice and enjoyed cooling off in the pools while watching some local daredevils jump and waterslide into the water around us.

Wheatgrass at our favorite hippie cafe

Our last stop in Thailand was Chiang Rai.  I can't say that we did too much here other than enjoy the night market.  After checking out the locals, we decided it was a safe bet to get the Thai hot pot.  It was an excellent idea.  The soup was delicious and it was fun to have it cooking on our little table in front of us.