Lovely Laos

Ahhh, Laos. It's like a deep breath of air in chaotic south-east Asia. We flew from Phuket to Luang Prabang on January 30th, via Bangkok. From the moment we arrived in Laos, we were struck by how relaxed it is here. The airport itself at Luang Prabang is a throw back to a simpler time -- the entire building could fit into the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge at Toronto Pearson. We just walked off the small, prop plane and across the tarmack into the arrivals area. No security, no buses, just a nice saunter across the runway. Getting our visa-on-arrival was also painless, although I was a bit miffed that Canadians pay more for their visa ($42 USD) than anyone else, even Americans. (I wonder what our government did to deserve that honour.)

After collecting our baggage, we walked outside. I was mentally prepared for the chaos of an Asian airport, namely a barrage of taxis or touts wanting to take us into town. But no. Complete calm prevailed outside. And there were two smiling employees from Le Bel Air resort waiting to pick us up. It was at that point that I realized that our time in Laos would be starkly different from Thailand.

We spent a week in Luang Prabang, in northern Laos, and loved our time there. There is no other word for it. Luang Prabang is a beautiful, peaceful town, and the entire area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But a big part of the reason we had such an amazing stay was Le Bel Air boutique resort. It's a bit out of the centre of Luang Prabang, but within a reasonable walking distance and a very short bike ride. (It's a small town, really.) We made use of the complimentary bikes offered by the hotel and so sightseeing was a breeze. It was so nice to retreat back to Le Bel Air in the afternoon or in the evening after wandering around the town and seeing the wats (Buddhist temples). The grounds of Le Bel Air were immaculate, a beautiful oasis, and the beautifully decorated rooms (with sumptuous duvets and pillows) in a traditional wooden Lao house were a real treat after 'roughing it' on Tonsai beach while rock climbing. (I know I keep using the word "beautiful", but it really was beautiful ...) The staff at Le Bel Air were also incredibly friendly and helpful; they really made our stay. I was so sad to leave at the end of the week. Upon reflection, Luang Prabang doesn't have too many "sights", (although we did the temple circuit and walked up Phou Si mountain to check out the views over the town) but it is a really mellow, beautiful town that offers great shopping and eating, and pulls you into the s-l-o-w Laotian approach to life. You see a few sights, eat a lot, hang out by one of the two rivers (the Mekong and the Nam Khan) and voila - a week has passed.

From Luang Prabang we travelled by bus over mountainous, windy roads to Vang Vieng. Our amazing luck with buses continued; this time we were delayed during our lunch stop while our driver fixed something under the bus. I'm not sure what was broken or even if it was fixed, but after two hours we were on our way again. I don't really know what to say about Vang Vieng, but it's certainly an "interesting" place ("interesting" being the word I often use when I can't think of anything nice to say ....). It's an extremely popular stop on the south-east Asia circuit for young backpackers, and it shows. There are 20-somethings drunk or high, stumbling around town, often in their bathing suits, at all hours of the day. Most of the very average restaurants show episodes of Friends, Family Guy or the Simpsons all day long, every day. There's an odd 'zombie' like look on the faces of the many backpackers that congregate in these places. And of course, there are lots of businesses set up to cater to these partying young backpackers.

However, the countryside surrounding Vang Vieng is spectacular -- large limestone karst cliffs dominate the skyline. Adventure tourism is incredibly popular, and we ended up here to check out the best rock climbing that Laos has to offer. We were rained out the first day, but spent the next four days climbing at several of the nearby crags -- Sleeping Wall, Pha Daeng, and Pha Tang (20 km north of Vang Vieng). Adam will write a more fullsome post about our rock climbing there, but for now I'll say that I was impressed by the quality of the rock. The crags are new (the routes at the best area, Pha Tang, are only about two years old) and there aren't that many climbers, so it's very different from Tonsai. Sure, it doesn't have the amazing beachfront seating of Tonsai, but the jungle and rice fields are nice to look at. (But watch out for those leaches on the approach!) There's so much potential here, both for new routes on existing crags and for entirely new crags. It will be very interesting to see what climbing in Vang Vieng is like in 10 years time. For the time being, it is easy to meet the relatively small number of other rock climbers who are staying in Vang Vieng, and I found the comraderie among climbers to be even greater here than at Tonsai. Spending our evenings with them made this bizarre little town bearable.

From Vang Vieng we took a mini-bus to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. It's probably the world's smallest and quietest capital city. I think it gets a bad rap from travellers, who say that there's nothing to do here. It's quite new (largely planned and built by the French in the early 20th century) and very different from Luang Prabang, but it has a charm that grows on you. Life is slow and relaxed here. There are lots of temples to see, albeit fairly new, modern ones lacking the kind of history of those in Luang Prabang. And there's a great food scene. The Lonely Planet Laos states that dollar-for-dollar, Vientiane might have some of the best food to offer in the world. And while I haven't been here long enough to confirm that view, I certainly haven't seen anything to refute it.

You will probably not be surprised to hear that food has formed a integral part of our travel experience. We are travelling to see and do things, but also to eat and experience the local food. Personally, I find that a local eating experience is often also a cultural one. Nowhere has this been more true than in Laos. I think that Adam and I have both mentioned food in our previous posts about Thailand, and as Thai food is quite popular in Canada, most of you can likely imagine some of the wonderful dishes that we feasted on during our time there. There is also cheap, plentiful, and safe street food such as fried noodles, fried rice, noodle soup, fried pancakes (more akin to crepes), fruit shakes and Som Tam (green papaya salad), which is one of my favourite things about Thailand. Lao food is often confused with or lumped in with Thai food (and indeed, many Laos restaurants in Laos also serve Thai food, which only adds to the confusion) but its actually quite different. Lao food is fresher, uses less coconut milk (you won't see creamy curries in a Lao kitchen), and relies on sticky rice rather than the steamed rice favoured in Thailand. Generally, the dishes are drier, relying on fresh herbs and spices for flavour rather than thick gravies or sauces. It's quite healthy and very, very tasty. I've learned that I love Lao food. [For more information, try: http://www.tamarindlaos.com/lao-cuisine.html]

In Luang Prabang, we ate at Tamarind, a great little daytime cafe/restaurant run by an Australian and her Laotian husband, which seeks to offer tourists an affordable and authentic Lao food experience. It was one of the first places we ate in Laos and it was very educational, as well as fun. It was here that we were taught how to properly eat sticky rice (roll it into a ball with your fingers before dipping/scooping food; its very bad form to drop rice into the food). We enjoyed traditional Lao BBQ at a no-name place by the Nam Kham (river), which is kind of a cross of Korean BBQ and Malaysian meat fondue, and involves lots of fresh herbs and vegetables. Terribly tasty and satisfying. We splurged on dinner at L'Elephant, the best restaurant in Luang Prabang and perhaps Laos, where very fine French food was enjoyed at a reasonable price (along with a 1/2 bottle of Tattinger and 1/2 bottle of red wine ...) And of course, large quantities of thick, dark Laos coffee were enjoyed every morning at Le Bel Air with breakfast. There are lots of other great dining options in Luang Prabang, but I got food poisoning from a very bland and not at all authentic dish of gai phad kaphrao (chicken stir-fried with basil and hot chillis) that I ate at a very touristy pizza restaurant. I blame Adam and his pizza craving for that, but in any event, it put me "out" of fine eating form for several days.

Vang Vieng was a bit of a culinary wasteland, but we've made up for lost time in Vientiane. Our first night we ate at Makphet, a restaurant run by the NGO Friends International, which trains formerly homeless youths to cook and/or wait tables. A good cause and excellent food; highly recommended. The next day for lunch we had the best bo bun (Vietnamese noodle salad with beef) that I've ever eaten. It was so good we had to go back today and have more. And for dinner last night we had a truly Laos experience at Vieng Sawan in Chinatown eating yaw (fried spring rolls) and siin joom (thin slices of beef that we 'fondue-d' at the table in a cauldron of coconut juice and herbs) wrapped in various combinations of khao pun (fresh lettuce, herbs, sauces, sliced fruit, lemongrass, ginger, etc.) Super tasty, I ate so much that I practically had to waddle back to the hotel after dinner. We have two more nights in Vientiane and I'm salivating thinking about what and where I'm going to eat. There are so many options and so little time ...

We're almost done our time in Laos. We'll be flying from Vientiane to Siem Reap, Cambodia (home of the amazing Angkor Wat) very early in the morning on February 15th. From that date, we only have 5 weeks until our return to Canada!!! Where does the time go? I need a pause button for my life ... But in all seriousness, while Adam and I are very much looking forward to 5 weeks in Cambodia and Vietnam, it will be nice to come home, eventually. Just please make sure that you arrange to have some warmer weather by March 29th, okay? ;)

Robin (and Adam)