With no sign of the rain abating we decided it was time to push on to Vientiane, no matter what. We get a few kilometers from town, bike stalls out, starts right back up and a few kilometers more stalls again. Time to find another mechanic…. We go into town and are basically turned away from several different shops because we don’t speak Loation. You’d think they’d be happy to take some money from us westerners as they always charge us a bit more than the locals, but not in Vang Vieng. I finally find a guy willing to check it out. Again with the full disassembly and four hours later no more stalling but now the bike has half the power. By this time it’s six o’clock and I decide to call it a day and bring it back in the morning. He spends 20 minutes tweaking a few things and gets just a bit more power and just sends me on my way. He of course spoke no English.
Taking a break from the rain.
A local riding with an umbrella
We decide it’s time to make the trip to Vientiane anyways, it’s the capital and a much larger town so I figure we’ll have better luck there. So we limp to Vientiane for four hours in the pouring rain. Thank God that portion of road isn’t as mountainous as the rest of the country or I’m not sure we’d have made it. We were literally doing 10km an hour up some of the hills, lol.
Eating some delicious western food!
So we finally make it to Vientiane and Victoria had previously found some people interested in the bike. One guy was particularly excited about it and he was there within the hour to look at it. We figure were going to have to discount the bike or just agree to get it fully fixed before we sell it. Luckily this guy knew more about motorbikes than us and was enthusiastic and honest. He declared that it was a minor issue and he should have no trouble getting it fixed cheaply. He then proceeded to pay us what we bought the bike for. He drove off delighted as he’d wanted a motorbike like this one for a while and we were delighted to sell the bike at no loss and within an hour of arriving 🙂 I then bought our tickets to fly into Siem Reap that night, it was cheaper to wait a day so we spent an extra night in Vientiane.
Night market
The new owner of our motorbike
For a capital of an Asian country it’s tiny, 200k vs 10+million for Hanoi and Bangkok. Despite there not being a whole lot to do or see it was a nice atmospheric town and there was good western and street food easily located. There was also a night market each night which was huge and frequented by locals and tourists alike. We also enjoyed the break after all the rain(we later found out the road between Luang Prabang and Vientiane was closed due to landslides caused by the nonstop rain.)
Next up Siem Reap and the amazing temples of angkor, one of the wonders of the world.
It is a long way from Viang Xai to Luang Prabang (the biggest city in the north of Laos), especially when you are two people with two backpacks on one scooter. Our butts can take approximately 5 hours before uncontrollable, irritable mood swings begin. Therefore we had to make two stops before getting to Luang Prabang. The first stop was a very small town called Xieng Thong (some people and the signage leading to it still call it Muang Hiam). The second leg of the journey was a stop in Nong Khiaw, another really small town but with a waterfall you can pay $30 to go see…no thanks. Not trying to sound snobbish but we have seen many awesome waterfalls and therefore couldn’t justify forking over $60 to see this one. We stayed at the Phouisak Guesthouse for 60,000 kip/night ($7.50). It is the low season so that is why the rooms are so cheap and there are hardly any travelers around. We tried Laos’ version of Hot Pot, is was much more delicious than the Vietnamese version (sorry Vietnam). Despite its deliciousness, I would not order it again. First of all, it’s hot, I mean like working in a coal factory hot. Second of all it’s a lot of work, I mean like working in a coal factory.
Riding the country side
The beautiful, lush, scenery.
Laotian hot pot
Both legs of the ride on the motorbike were worth it. I don’t think the experience would have been as good on a bus. The landscape is so beautiful it’s like looking into a National Geographic magazine. Finally after 420 kilometers we made it to Luang Prabang, the largest city in the north known it’s charm and historical character. Luang Prabang is like the Hoi An of Laos. It is quaint, colonial, inviting, charming, and…Frenchy (like from France). We stayed at the Hoxieng Guesthouse for 120,000 kip/night ($15/night). It was a very clean guesthouse and in the perfect location – walking distance to the Mekong River, night market, and other interests in the old town.
One of many quaint alleys in town.
Oldest temple in Luang Prabang
Original art work…Can you explain this?
We hiked to the top of Mount Phousi which provided us great views of the city and many interesting Buddhist statues. There is a large hole in the rock which the people claim to be Buddha’s footprint. Personally, I think it could be evidence for a Laotian Sasquatch, but I’m not scientist. It costs 20,000 kip/person ($2.50) to go to the top and see all these wonderful things.
View from the top of Mt. Phousi
One of the many temples in town.
Me and reclining Buddha. Zzzzz
We walked around the old town and saw many temples where monks reside. Every morning at dawn the monks come out in a precession for alms. My closest experience of this was one morning from my guesthouse I heard low-pitched chanting and the slow beat of a drum, then I rolled over in bed. The night market is great but don’t expect to get any great bargains. Laotians are hard sellers and most refuse to haggle. The street food is pretty good which we ate every night. Luang Prabang is known for these little sausages you can buy on the street. I believe they’re made with pork belly and they are so, so devilishly delicious but they will kill you if you eat them every day.
Street food, say “yassss” to the sausage.
Night market
YEP! We got fruit dranks.
My favorite thing we did was going to the amazing Kuang Si waterfall. It took us about 45 min to get there from Luang Prabang by motorbike. It costs 20,000 kip/person ($2.50) to enter and included a sun bear exhibition. This is a sanctuary where they have saved sun bears from the evil Chinese people who think it is good for your health to drink their bile. Poachers will capture these sweet animals, keep them in small cages and put drains in them to extract the bile.
Happy sun bear
Lower falls
Kuang Si Waterfall
The falls begin after the sun bear exhibit and start out small. The water is usually aqua blue in color. Due to the heavy rains the water was more green than blue, yet still beautiful. The smaller falls almost seem man-made because of how they go on and on until you get to the BIG waterfall. Gawp for a moment but it isn’t over. Everyone rushes to the bridge to play in the spray from the falls. If you look to the left of the falls there is a secret staircase. It will take you to the top of the falls where there are far fewer people. At the top, there’s a nice, and cold, natural swimming pool and places where you can walk all the way to the edge of the falls. It sounds dangerous and it was definitely exhilarating but it was totally safe because there was this totally safe wooden rail made by the locals to protect you from falling in. Lets just say that in the good ol’ U.S. of A. we would never be allowed to go that close to the waterfall.
Stairs to upper falls
Swimming pool at upper falls
Standing near the edge of the falls. See the wooden fence? Totally safe.
So far Laos has been pretty amazing. I love the green and lushness of the land. However, the road less traveled isn’t for everyone. Since crossing the border the road has been VERY rural. Google maps isn’t up to date in Laos. Often times we would see the name of a city but nothing else. There is no plan. I don’t know if there is a gas station coming up or if there is a guesthouse or hotel when we stop. If I started to worry I always told myself, we have money so we will be ok…
