Laos and Thailand
The scenery of northern Laos
Dave swimming in one of the cave springs in Vang Vieng
So to give a quick update, from Vientiane we headed to Vang Vieng which is an outdoor adventure haven for some. We enjoyed tubing down the river and motorbiked around to a few caves. It was kind of weird to see that in most of the restaurants, they continuously showed episodes of friends and travellers were glued to the tv in most of the places...it looked very cultish. We veered away from those places.
Luang Prabang (apparently the most beautiful city in Southeast Asia) was a very nice town. Full of Wats, quiet streets, and a neat night market. We took a Mekong tour of a rice whisky distillery (small operation), textile/paper making, and saw the Pak Ou caves where a bunch of buddhist statues lay. Instead of heading to Thailand next, we took a detour to the northern province of Namtha, where we enjoyed a two day ecotrek through the Nam Ha protected forest and stayed overnight in a Khmu village. We got to eat dinner with the headman and he said the most interesting/shocking aspect of tourists is there abundance of facial/body hair and big noses...we all had a good laugh over that. The kids were also very cute and were very enamoured with a digital camera.
From there we travelled by bus to Pak Beng, then spent a day on the Mekong river to the Thai border. We eventually made our way to Chiang Mai, where we've been spending the last couple of days. Thailand's definitely the most touristy place we've been, but Chiang Mai has some cool things to offer. We're off to a day cooking class tomorrow out in the country to learn the secrets of making the best pad thai, red curry, and tom yam. Then we'll be taking a trek to see the long neck Karen tribe.
Dave swimming in one of the cave springs in Vang Vieng
So to give a quick update, from Vientiane we headed to Vang Vieng which is an outdoor adventure haven for some. We enjoyed tubing down the river and motorbiked around to a few caves. It was kind of weird to see that in most of the restaurants, they continuously showed episodes of friends and travellers were glued to the tv in most of the places...it looked very cultish. We veered away from those places.
Luang Prabang (apparently the most beautiful city in Southeast Asia) was a very nice town. Full of Wats, quiet streets, and a neat night market. We took a Mekong tour of a rice whisky distillery (small operation), textile/paper making, and saw the Pak Ou caves where a bunch of buddhist statues lay. Instead of heading to Thailand next, we took a detour to the northern province of Namtha, where we enjoyed a two day ecotrek through the Nam Ha protected forest and stayed overnight in a Khmu village. We got to eat dinner with the headman and he said the most interesting/shocking aspect of tourists is there abundance of facial/body hair and big noses...we all had a good laugh over that. The kids were also very cute and were very enamoured with a digital camera.
From there we travelled by bus to Pak Beng, then spent a day on the Mekong river to the Thai border. We eventually made our way to Chiang Mai, where we've been spending the last couple of days. Thailand's definitely the most touristy place we've been, but Chiang Mai has some cool things to offer. We're off to a day cooking class tomorrow out in the country to learn the secrets of making the best pad thai, red curry, and tom yam. Then we'll be taking a trek to see the long neck Karen tribe.
posted by Sara and Dave at 8/02/2006 07:41:00 a.m.
3 Comments:
Hey Yonny and Dave,
I'm very intrigued by the impending visit to the long-ned Karens.
Also, doesn't Dave worry about leeches in the water over there?
Wow! A long neck Karen tribe! I had no idea such a thing existed! Take plenty-o-pictures!
Bye for now...
normal length Karen
We were worried about leeches during the treks, especially the areas where they don't allow the cows to go because then we're the only thing to eat, but they only grow in stagnant water, so the springs are a-ok. We are big jellyfish wusses though. Like the locals are wading around happy happy in the water, and we see one tiny jelly fish and start running towards the shore.
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