[Travel] Part 3 of 6, Laos – The Forgotten Land

A morning from Laos, overlooking the Mekong river.

Though it is only the third day of the trip, we didn’t waste any much time but to visit as many places pin-pointed on the map. We woke up around 5 in the morning and left the guesthouse approximately around 6 in the morning (local time).

In this series, which is the third day of our trip, we traveled to :

  • Buddha Park (Vat Xieng Khuan)
  • Talat Sao (Morning market)
  • The black stupa
  • National Lao museum
  • A 12-hour bus trip to Luang Prabang *gulp*

The morning alms

A well known tradition in Laos that lives up to this date, although it might appear obscure to the tourists, it’s one of the miraculous practice you can see while being here. As you can see from the pictures, the locals would wake up early in the morning prepare offerings for the monk, for good cause and blessing. Though this is taken in Vientiane, which is a much developed city, it is being told that this is a really big matter in Luang Prabang, the old capital for Laos. However the locals would often stress that to respect this tradition and the monks, it is best to not get too close, even for photography. Actually, they would get really offended if you are standing higher than the monks while they are having the morning alms ritual (i.e. inside a car/motorcycle).

(Very early) Morning in Vientiane

Since the first destination is to the much talked about Buddha Park, and it is approximately 40 kilometers from the town center, we knew it is wise to wake up early, avoiding extreme sunburn during the trip. But as you can see, there is really little activity on the road in the morning, guess everyone’s still asleep.

The main reason why it is much safer and convenient to fly here? It is because Vientiane previously hosted the SEA Games, hence many of the transportation and facilities are upgraded for that event. This is a good development for the country.

Looks familiar to Malaysia’s petrol station? But they do not operate all round the clock, and used cute little fences to block intruders.

So to avoid being stucked in the middle of the journey without petrol, it is best to fill up before the actual day of the trip.

Randomness

Cows practicing for World Cup.

Some really weird things we saw along the way.

And surprisingly, the main official beverage in this country are Pepsi, mainly because they do have a huge factory here, and though not shown in the picture, you will pass by both their Lao Brewery and Tobacco company. What does it smells like? Beer, and cigarettes.

The Buddha Park

Click on the map above for directions to the Buddha Park

Though there are nothing exceptionally hard about going to this place from the town, but you have to make sure you on going at the right direction, look at the signage above, go towards Tha Deua, which is also the same direction towards the Friendship bridge. You will not go wrong.

So after few bumpy rides from a big highway to small country roads, you will reach this place, the main entrance.


Oh maybe I had too much of the expectation.

This is how it looks like from behind the entrance.

Apparently you need to pay a small amount of fee for possessing a camera or video recording equipment. Ehem.

Enjoy the pictures taken from the Buddha park below, and will let all of the pictures do the talking. The place itself is not as huge as what I had imagined, but it does have this mysterious vibe to it, wondering how does it look like back then.

The friendship bridge

You can literally kill two birds with one stone over this trip. This is because you can drop by the Friendship bridge while on your way back to Vientiane, or you can even go to Thailand straight away, provided you have the necessary documents.

Talat Sao (morning market)

Though that we planned to visit the morning market after the trip back from the Buddha Park, but it looks like below…

Mostly are spices for cooking and there is nothing much you can do here except to stroll around for a while.

While I may not be impressed at all, it seems the morning market are not exactly opened at morning though.

But there are still smaller stalls or vendors selling the rice baskets as above. It’s to keep the rice warm.

Or you can talk a little walk into their modernized shopping complex nearby.

For a cup of coffee.


20, 000 kip.

Seems like there is no one in here as well.

But surprisingly, most probably due to the weather outside, you can see it’s really jam packed inside this limited-sized shopping complex.

Does this movie even exist?

It is always a good idea to send a postcard back home, or to your friend when you are visiting other country.

The Lao National Museum

The national museum. It takes a lot of patience for you go through the exhibits inside as it is really sad to see most of the items are not properly kept or exhibited.

This? It’s opposite the national museum, known as the national cultural hall, had no idea what it is since it’s closed on Sunday. Definitely a big difference in comparison to the National Museum.

The black stupa

You might be really curious how does the black stupa looks like in real life compared to what they shown on the map. (yes, they drew a big black patch on the map)

Morning breakfast in Vientiane

There are other cuisines that you can get a taste of in Laos except noodles and rice. Probably due to the colonisation of French in the past, it might be surprising for you to see the locals are selling Baguette as sandwiches (french bread).

How do they cook/toast it? Yes, you guessed it correctly, using the above char-coaled tray.

Wow, I do really wonder what kind of marks they would get for passing the “health” test.

Silly me, I think I might hurt my tongue for not knowing a Baguette is “tough” to chew. I thought they were like white breads. Fluffy?

The Lao coffee.

Sunny Rice

What’s for lunch? Try this, if you must. It’s from a shop known as Vista WIFI Cafe in Vientiane. It seems that the owner of shop is doing pretty well, having 3 branches all over Laos, 2 in Vientiane, and 1 in Luang Prabang.

It’s really good!

French cuisine

What does the sign above mean? Do not walk on both of the lane?

Vehicle registration license?

Besides from cuisines that is prepared by the locals, you can probably give a try at those fine-dining restaurants along the Mixay guesthouse.

What do they have? Old television.

And this is Ratatouille.

And if you are interested to buy souvenirs from Laos, you can head to this shop near to Mixay temple. Not sure if they allow you to go upstair to see the silk-weaving demonstration.

Burning afternoon in Vientiane

There are several things that you can do besides from drinking and eating the evening away, by joining some of the outdoor activities like hiking or water rafting.

Half day bus trip to Luang Prabang, from Vientiane

This would definitely be the longest journey inside a bus that I had ever ridden in my entire life. I swear that my ass was about to break into two. There are several transport modes that you can choose to travel up north to Luang Prabang, by plane or boat.

Plane -Daily trip, costs around 80usd one-way, you can reach in around 1 hour.
Boat – Along the Mekong river, which you will need to take 2 days for normal/VIP boat, or the illegal speed boat, under 6 hour, but not without danger to your life (you need to know how to swim, really)

So it would be obvious for us to take the bus.

As you can see, we chose to take the 7PM bus instead so we can save on 1-night of accommodation inside the bus. But I’m not really sure if that is a good choice.

At the bus terminal, these are the price list.

The bus.

Yes, look at the expression.

Of course I might have expected something nothing less than Aeroline (in Malaysia) as we paid for about the same price back then per person.

A really friendly vendor selling Roti Canai/Prata on the wheel.

Inside the bus, no, there’s no toilet here.

So how do the people inside the bus solve their “toilet” problem? The bus driver would stop at any place along the way, where it is dark enough for you to solve the problem. Girls? They have to do the same or the driver would probably give you the GTFO face.

Ah nice, a complimentary rice-box. For dinner.

After 6 hours of journey of ass-whopping pain inside the bus, we reached a checkpoint somewhere around 2 – 3 AM in the morning at this place. You can solve all your toilet problem or hunger here.

But…

There’s nothing much to choose from except the noodles that is priced around 13, 000 kip.

Well apparently, this place is the famous checkpoints for buses that goes along the Vientiane/Luang Prabang route. Kind of like Malaysia’s Yong Peng (KL – Singapore route).

Oh the toilet.

And some chickens.

That rounds up the third day of the trip, with the night inside the bus. Thanks a lot for reading up to now and hope you enjoy it. Well, despite this shocking experience inside a bus, on the next time, we’ll most probably choose the slower boat route…

In case you missed it :