Cruise on the Mekong River, Laos

[RooFlyer]

Strewth, that's what I call "Dodgy Air". The bird probably ended up with Lao Air!

Sounds like you hit much the same highlights as we did. I might as well continue the TR through to Luang Prabang

 

[amaroo]

Yes; our full itinerary

3 days at Luang Prabang (3 Nagas Hotel )

And I think Luang Prabang was almost the favourite, although the very whole lot was fantastic.

We enjoyed a fantastic meal at LES 3 NEGAS....one of those beautiful nights you have when travelling - right out of the box! The food all over Luang Prabang was brilliant.

We stayed at La Residence Phou Vao - the restaurant was outstanding and far superior to many first world 5* hotels/resorts we have stayed!

 

[RooFlyer]

Within about 5km or so of the border with Cambodia to the south, the Mekong splits and braids into a myriad of channels called the '4,000 islands' area. the water current increases and the waters shallow. We are transferred onto several 'long tail' boats for the final few km through the channels to the 'French Village'.

These pics don't really do the area justice. Its a very pleasant village, very tourist oriented of course but we enjoyed seeing the local schoolkids having a game of soccer, and admired a number of houses. But this one was a 'renovators delight' and then we passed into the heavy tourist 'strip' with tours, bus trips being sold. As you can see, its not exactly frenetic or pushy.




The village is the site of the 'French bridge' which was built, yes, by the French for the railway to traverse the Mekong. Here we are at Khone Island, and the bridge joins to Det Island.




We went on by long-tail to Xieng Di village where we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. In the LH pic you get to see what I mean about some tricky dis-embarkation situations. The food was simple but very nice. No-one was concerned about the quality of the meal, as the tour had proven itself wholly reliable by now.




After lunch we transferred to a coach (large, very comfortable for the 4 hour (I think) ride back to Pakse. Yes, in 3 days cruising we had only travelled 4 hours by road!! You'd never realize it.

We stopped off at Pha Pheng waterfall on the Mekong, described as the 'Niagara of the East'. Hmmm ... not so much. There are markets there of course, with food and T shirts.




So then we got on the coach and drove back to Pakse. A few interesting overtaking maneuvers, but the challengers were mostly bicycles or scooters, so we weren't that concerned .

 

[RooFlyer]

We had a final night at the Pakse hotel; another night on rock-hard beds! Dinner again on the rooftop, which gave some views out over Pakse. The one on the right shows the shopping centre near the hotel - good for 'oh golly we forgot to bring the ...' purchases. It was December, so the Christmas trees were out.




Our flight the next day to Luang Prabang didn't leave until late in the afternoon the next day, so we wandered over the road from the hotel and went to a suggested small tour agency (sorry, too long ago to remember!) and booked on a minibus tour up to the Bolvean Plateau above the town.

Saw a bunch of things in a leisurely way. Coffee plantation:



A (small) tea plantation; then we went for a walk to see some waterfalls (hoping for something better than the "Niagara of the East" that we saw the previous day) . Access to one via this fine construction:



Geologists of course would have admired the fine columnar basalt in that last pic.

More waterfalls:



And yet more waterfalls. And the bus a Thai tour group was using. Pretty swish.




Not a bad day; something a bit different.

Then to the airport for another uneventful Lao Air ATR 72 flight, this time to 'fabled' Luang Prabang, which will now be covered in this TR

 

[RooFlyer]

To be honest, I hadn't heard of Luang Prabang before we started planning this trip. Even at the point of leaving Australia, all I knew that it was the former regional French colonial capital and the guidebooks said it was good for monks, temples and French colonial relics. But it turned out to be so much more

My TA recommended the 3 Nagas Hotel and it turned out to be an excellent choice. The 3 Nagas is about 20 to 30 mins walk out of the centre of LP via a main road and this is one of the place's drawbacks - the noise from motorcycles in particular in the evening and early morning can be intrusive if your room over-looks the street.

The hotel is an interesting set-up, being in buildings on either side of the street, and there are restaurants on both sides. Rooms are in all of the buildings, but the best ones (IMHO) are at the rear of the building which are closest to the river.

I found that I didn't take any pics of the hotel, so the following pair and the first of the next pair are taken from their web site. The LH pic shows the 'main' building with the reception area in the middle, one of the restaurants along the front and rooms on the upper level. The RH pic shows the other side of the street with restaurant to the right and another accommodation building on the left. I started with a suite in the main building, but it was very noisy, so I then joined my friends at the back of the building in the RH pic, and it was most serene.

On arriving, we were met by the manager (a French chap) and given cool drinks, a cold towel each and some biscuits while sitting in the reception lounge, as check in formalities were completed. The manager was always in attendance at some stage of the day throughout our stay, usually at breakfast and he was a great source of tips and suggestions for eating and sight seeing.



The LH pic below shows the bar and glimpses of the restaurant. The RH pic shows a 'sister' hotel, the 'Hotel de la paix' (Roughly Hotel Peace) and it was certainly that. You can go to this place and use their pool, but a long-ish walk or a medium taxi ride. But great for cooling off after a day's sight seeing.



The rooms are very nicely fitted out. This is a standard room:



And this is the suite I was originally allocated, but it was on a corner of the main building and the noise of traffic for me was too much. After the first night I was moved to a standard room, which opened onto the back, shown in the RH pic of the second image below. The LH pic shows the street where the 3 Nagas lies. Very colorful, busy and full of shops and restaurants.

 

[RooFlyer]

There is a daily procession of Buddhist monks from a monastery just up the road from the 3 Nagas hotel, and they go right past the hotel. Traditionally, people offer alms for the monks as they go past, including sticky rice. Tourist may participate, as long as they show proper respect and observe customs. The 3 Nagas will prepare the rice etc and tell you what to do and not to do.

As a spectacle its very interesting. I observed, rather than offered.



As an aside, anyone who has travelled in Asia will recognize the following fine example of the electrician's art!



Not far down the street is the 'Royal Place', with a museum. I don't have any pics of the palace, so I assume no pics allowed, but the museum is in an adjacent, highly ornamental building.





Of course Nagas get a good look-in:

 

[RooFlyer]

From the Royal Place one looks up to a bush/jungle covered hill Phou Si upon which the Buddhist Wat Chom Si sits (gold spire). The prospect of a nice view over the town was strong, but when you see the stairs going up, switching back and forth, ... you could see why many turned back. Remember its very hot and humid!



But the views were worth it. LP (population about 30,000) sits at the confluence of the Mekong (left) and Nam Khan (left) rivers, and is a UNESCO World Heritage town



Then we found that most of the crest of the hill - quite a large area - was a series of sealed paths and a sort of 'Buddha and Naga statue park'. Now that's sounds a bit disrespectful but it was really nice just to wonder about and try to understand the symbolism and meaning of the various statues, of which there must have been well over a hundred.





Then down the other side and you are quickly back into the bustle of downtown LP. Although it is busy, and the scooters zoom past, its no-where near as intimidating as many other Asian cities. The streets are quite narrow and there are a lot of pedestrians, so it quite OK. Everything in LP is fairly relaxed!

 

[burmans]

Nice pictures, having been to Vietnam and Combodia in recent years Laos now on my bucket list and these pictures have certainly helped fuel that.

Loved the comment about hard beds, that to me is one of the (few) downsides to Asian travel but you do seems to get used to it eventually.

 

[james1]

Terrific report. Thanks so much for your efforts posting, esp the photos.

 

[RooFlyer]

The Wat Xieng Thong temple was just up the road from the 3 Nagas and was recommended highly by the hotel for a visit. Its almost at the end of the long point defined by the junction of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers.

It was built by a Lao king in the mid 1500s. To the left below is the 'main' temple; to the right is a funeral chapel.



Inside is richly decorated, as you would expect. Prominent is a funeral chariot and urns for the remains of members of the royal family. Good to see some serious restoration under way.








Not quite sure what's going on in this ancillary building. maybe a modernization attempt?

 

[amaroo]

From the Royal Place one looks up to a bush/jungle covered hill Phou Si upon which the Buddhist Wat Chom Si sits (gold spire). The prospect of a nice view over the town was strong, but when you see the stairs going up, switching back and forth, ... you could see why many turned back. Remember its very hot and humid!

Ah, the memories! The kids wanted to pull out about half way........but I pushed them right up to the top.

the views were worth it. LP (population about 30,000) sits at the confluence of the Mekong (left) and Nam Khan (left) rivers, and is a UNESCO World Heritage town

RooFlyer we must have stood on the same spot when taking this photo

 

[RooFlyer]

Much nicer pic!

 

[RooFlyer]

We took a half day trip to an Elephant Camp upstream. We did a bit of research via our friendly hotel manager and was assured that this camp was well run and humane (and nothing we saw suggested otherwise).

The Mekong at Luang Prabang is very busy with water boats, and there are the usual vege gardens between the low water and flood levels.



So we fronted at the appointed time and place, to be met with a bit of confusion as to who would be our transport for the day. Anyway, with that sorted, we had a great boat all to ourselves



We motored pretty quickly upstream, and the scenery was very pleasant .. lots of regular river life. The RH pic below shows where the 'elephant camp' was.



But first we visited the Pak Ou cave, directly opposite from the camp, and this is the view across the river.



The Pak ou cave is sort of a retirement home for Buddahs. Not a complex cave system, but every niche and level filled with Buddahs. the RH pic below doesn't do the place justice. The LH pic is the inevitable elephant shot. It was about an hour walk, mainly through jungle, 2 or 3 to a beast. I had the bizarre experience of taking a business call on my mobile and discussing the financial details of a project in Canada, while lurching from side to side atop an elephant in the jungle in Laos The world is definitely too small!

 

[RooFlyer]

A final post to round things off. From Luang Prabang we went onto Ho Chi Minh city for a few days - planned mainly as a 'wind down' but of course it was anything but! Stayed at the Sofitel, chosen mainly for its roof-top pool! Laos was preceded by Singapore and Siem Reap (Angkor Wat and district), but that's another story!

The boat trip up to the cave and elephants turned into a bit of a race in three ... but then we turned the corner and all of a sudden a race didn't seem like a good idea!




The entrance to the Pak Ou cave .. and like I said, its 'just' full of Buddhas (with due respect to those who obviously revere Buddha and his images)




We picked up a bit of necessary Lao at the Elephant Camp .. and these were our steeds for the morning:




Finally, there were the markets back in Luang Prabang. I'm never a fan of markets. At the ones here, at least they weren't as pushy as in many other places. More laid back, although when they saw you (not me) were actually buying, the adjacent stallholders got a bit more interested.

The night markets were good for a stroll - one of the main streets is closed off and totally covered with awnings and marquees, and there was much more variety on offer than the static day market.




As I said at the beginning, do check out the Mekong cruise on the Vat Phou. A really, really good time, a compact experience that you can do in 5 days including travel from Australia and a very different experience.

 

[drron]

Thanks RooFlyer this TR brought back many happy memories.Thoroughly enjoyed Cambodia and Laos when we went a few years ago.Reccomended for anybody's bucket list.now that you are finished I hope you excuse me with a little hijack of the thread.
Anyone going to Laos I recommend you look up Big Brother Mouse.Set up by an American they translate books into Lao and distribute them to schools.We donated a school library but if you are short of cash still look them up because you could help in English conversation classes.
Donating a library meant going to the school.Guaranteed to tug at your heartstrings.They have so little but very happy.it was one of the most memorable days of my life.

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As well as a selection of books thye kids were each given a pencil and 4 sheets of A4 paper.Unfortunately on one of those sheets they had to draw drron,with variable results-

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You watched them play games.This one they thought was fun-

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I also brought along a few copies of a book they had on sale.appeared to go down well-

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This was all the thanks you need-

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Big Brother Mouse - Books in Laos

You can now donate through an Australian organisation and get a tax deduction as well.Again thoroughly recommended.

 

[amaroo]

Great TR Rooflyer really enjoyed seeing the sights thru your eyes.

 

[RooFlyer]

Great TR Rooflyer really enjoyed seeing the sights thru your eyes.

Cheers; I'm sure we have shared an attraction or tour queue sometime!

drron - I'd heard of Big Brother Mouse; am greatly attracted to making a donation, but have (historical) reservations about the Australian donation portal. Will have to investigate some more but I think I'll get over those reservations