laos
Will Faught
April 2012
February 2012
Woke up at 4:30 AM. Flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Jake, from my hostel, picked me up at the airport. Checked in, showered, and ate lunch. Arranged a private tuk tuk for seeing the ruins the next day with Jake as my driver. Spent the rest of the day napping and relaxing. Ate dinner with another guy from my dorm named Robin (from Germany). Went to bed early to get up early the next day.
cambodia laos siem reap travel vientiane
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Saturday & Sunday, February 18–19, 2012
Didn’t do much. Again, I felt tired, and mostly remained inside and ate at nearby restaurants. One evening I walked to the Mekong River’s edge to see the night market there and watch the local people. Ran into a few more people from the group I was with at the river near Vang Vieng. Met a girl in my hostel that I’d met before at my hostel in Luang Prabang. Feeling the bandaid on my face was a constant reminder of the river, and I think it put me in a bad mood.
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Rode a bus to Vientiane at 10 AM. Walked around with a couple looking for a guesthouse or hostel. Checked into a hostel called Asian World. Ate a croissant for a late lunch and drank a couple Cokes to cool down. Read my guidebook about the city. Ate dinner at a pizza place and ran into a couple from the group I had hung out with at the river at Vang Vieng.
laos travel vang vieng vientiane
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Ate lunch at a Friends restaurant. Went to the inner tube shop, then rode a tuk tuk with a group of others, including two girls I’d met at my hostel in Chiang Mai, to the river. Hung out with that group there for an hour or so, drinking a beer. I’d heard stories about how dangerous it was inner tubing there, how people had died falling on rocks while riding zip lines over the river, or how inner tube riders had been hit by bottles attached to ropes that locals working at riverside bars throw at them to reel them in.
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Still felt tired, so I stayed inside mostly and kept to myself. Ate lunch and dinner at restaurants that played Friends. I’d forgotten how funny Friends is.
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Moved my things to a private room at the Chilllaos hostel about a block away. Ate lunch at one of the restaurants playing the TV show Friends. Felt very tired, so I stayed in my room all day by myself. Ate dinner at the same place.
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The tour started at 11 AM. All four of us rode a private minibus to the three Plain of Jars sites. “Plain” is an exaggeration; “fields” is perhaps more fitting. The first site (called Site 3) was a five minute hike from a parking lot through some dry rice fields and rolling hills. Fortunately, the area had been cleared of land mines. I’d seen all I wanted to see after about five minutes.
laos phonsavan travel vang vieng
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Rode a minibus to Phonsavan for six hours. Stopped at a small town on the way for lunch and ate with another guy from the minibus named Vincent. Shared a tuk tuk with Vincent and two girls from the Phonsavan bus terminal to the center of town where all the guesthouses are. Vincent and I shared a room with two twin beds. It was cheap, but the wifi sucked. We looked around at a couple of tourist agencies and all four of us finally booked a tour of the three Plain of Jars sites for the next day.
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Woke up earlier than I expected, at about 8:30 AM. Read my Laos guidebook about the northern area to plan where to go next. Decided to go to the Plain of Jars next, and then to the wild debauchery of Vang Vieng. Walked around town with my guidebook and saw all the temples that I had missed the day before. Met a couple novice monks, Joy and Sing, and talked with them for about an hour.
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My birthday! Let myself sleep in. Tried to call my parents, but the wifi wasn’t working. Walked into downtown and rented a bicycle for 10,000 kip. Rode around town looking at some temples. Stopped at a cafe for a Coke to cool off and use their wifi to call my parents and Tess. Continued riding around town and saw a a couple more temples. Returned the bicycle and ran into Matteo.
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Rode a minibus with Aimee, Glenn, Nic, Sara, Dan, Sylvia, Michelle, and Ingo to the gorgeous Kuang Si waterfalls. Took lots of pictures, swam, swung on a rope and jumped off a small cliff into the icy blue water. Hiked up to all the different pools and falls. Got lost coming down the other side of the falls and ended up taking the long way back to the bottom of the falls.
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Ate another American breakfast and got a sandwich to go for lunch on the slow boat. Boarded at 8:30 AM and sat and waited for the stragglers to arrive. Departed around 9:30 AM. Sat with Aimee (from Austin, Texas) and we chatted for a while. I also read and listened to a couple podcasts and some music. The scenery was again very beautiful. This time my seat was much more cramped, but still the time passed quickly enough.
laos luang prabang pakbeng travel
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No hot water for my shower, and there was a breeze from a fan when I turned on the shower light, so I skipped the shower except for a light rinse. Ate an American breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant. Shared a tuk tuk to the river boat pier at 9:30 AM. Boarded around 10 AM and sat waiting to depart for an hour or two as others trickled on board. Listened to podcasts the whole time and watched the beautiful landscape roll by.
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Awoke still sick with a bad back. Ate a cheap lunch at a local restaurant. Rode the bus to Chiang Khong at the Thailand–Laos border. Shared a tuk tuk with a guy to the Mekong river shore and exited Thailand. Bought passage across the river and landed on the Laos shore. Paid the fee and entered the town of Huay Xai in Laos. Walked up the hill and looked at a few places and chose to stay at a nice hotel with wifi and air con.
chiang rai huay xai laos thailand travel
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