Vientiane,Laos

Our final stop in Laos was the capital city Vientiane. We spent quite alot of time pottering about, walking around and drinking coffee.  The city was awash with scooters and pretty busy.




One day I went to visit a women's centre which teaches sewing and weaving to local women to provide them with a skill. This allows women to earn money and keeps the traditional methods of weaving alive. The cewntre also offers the opportunity to tourists to take part in a craft workshop. I decided to dye a pattern on a silk scarf.


The dyes are all made from natural materials including jack fruit, insects and bamboo and we could see them being made. It was a very relaxing morning to be able to dye a scarf and chat.



 
I was pretty pleased with the final result!!Adam meanwhile had been toughing it by having an hour long massage!!!

Our other expedition was to the Cope centre. We hired a couple of bikes and headed over there. Laos is the most bombed country in the world (per capita) and around a third of those bombs didn't detonate on impact. Therefore much of the country is covered in UXO (Unexploded ordinance devices) As Laos is so poor, many people collect the scrap metal from the bombs in order to sell them, many people have parts of bombs in their homes (as lamps, boats, tables etc) and as a result many people die and are maimed from these devices. Others are killed whilst ploughing and farming the land and some have houses built over the buried devices so when they light a fire the bomb is triggered blowing up them and their homes.






Due to the lack of help from the US (who dropped the bombs in the first place) and the fact that Laos is one of the poorest countries in the world at the rate that it is going it will take over 100 years to clear.

Cope offers limb replacements to those affected by the bombs as well as other people in need of them, from being born without limbs, disabled due to a disease etc. It was a fascinating centre and the displays were really interesting. We tried on some prosthetic limbs and can't imagine how people are able to walk in them!!Before heading off we treated ourselves to some icecream and good karma (the money went to the centre) It was delicious!!



 
 
On our cycle back we stopped off at the Arc de Triomphe (built obviously by the French) and spied the world peace gong!!

 
Our next stop....Nam.....

Luang Prabang, Phonsavan and Vang Vieng

We had been told by many people on our travels that we would love Luang Prabang, that we would splurge on food and be very spoilt! They were so right! We knew we were going to have a nice time when we upgraded to a suite in our guesthouse!

The food was so lush, we had delicious buffalo steak and fries, it was loads better than any food I've had in France and a quarter of the price!!




As well as stuffing our faces we also managed to fit in a visit to the living land farm. We had seen it on TripAdvisor as the top rated activity and thought we'd give it a whirl. The living land farm was set up as co operative by several families in a village to grow rice to feed themselves. They also grow fruit and vegetables to sell to local restaurants. They open their doors to tourists and teach you about how rice is grown and all the stages of production. We were joined by 2 Aussies who were farmers, we definitely felt inexperienced!!


We had an amazing day and got to pick, plant and plough. We also met Susan the buffalo and fed her salt, which she loved to lick from your hand! After being shown all the steps of rice production we were also shown the garden, in it they also grow tobacco so we picked, dried and smoked some!!!





We ended the day with a feast of rice for lunch, with sugar cane juice and rice wine! We also stopped at a local's house so Adam and the Aussie guy could buy some traditional Laos garb.




Whilst in Luang Prabang we participated a couple of times with a charity called Big Brother mouse. This charity was set up to help local children learn to read and write and as they get older to learn to read, write and speak English. We attended their centre to talk to those students learning English to help them with their pronunciation. They could question us about our lives and we could do the same. It was absolutely fascinating to hear about their lives and their views on the world! It was also great to help them understand English words and pronunciation.

Our night time adventures included drinking yummy wine at one of the very French influenced wine cellars and visiting the night market. I loved this night market as there was loads of  really. Interesting bits to buy such as bomb jewellery as well as the usual traveller bits.


We were very sad to leave Luang Prabang but for the sake of the weight loss plan felt it was for the best. Our next stop was to the infamous Vang Vieng but we got there via a very long, bumpy diversion to Phosovan and the Plain of Jars.The roads there and back were horrendous, a mixture of bad roads and the fact that we were driving over massive mountains. Sunrise up in the mountains whilst munching on breakfast was pretty special though!
Phonsovan was heavily bombed during the Vietnam war and has unexploded bombs everywhere. There are hundreds of plain of jars sights but only 3 have been cleared of these horrendous devices.Whilst walking to the sights and around we had to stay within markers as outside of these the land had not been properly cleared.As well as the jars the plains were marked by many craters, scars of the bombs dropped by the US.
Nobody is entirely sure why the jars are there but experts think they are ancient funeral urns. The jarsvreminered us of stone henge and probably come from a similar period. They were pretty impressive and it was lovely to be off the beaten track a bit.





We eventually made it to Vang  Vieng about 11pm and just crashed. Our days there were pretty uneventful as we didn't fancy tubing or drinking ourselves silly. The food was also pretty grim compared to Luang Prabang. Our next stop was the capital city Vientiane

Chiang Mai

We got an overnight train to Chiang Mai from Bangkok. This was an adventure in itself, holding on for dear life as trying to wee in a squat toilet on a clackety train is something I'll put down as a "necessary" travel experience.

 After an OK night sleep we reached Chiang mai around lunchtime and went to our very friendly yet slightly crazy hostel with its owner, Stella.

The next day we had chosen to go on a 2 night 3 day trek so we took it easy. Chiang Mai is a bit of a hippy retreat and there are tonnes of yoga classes etc offering to help you find yourself. As adam had some prayer beads and I had some hippy trousers we felt we didn't need any further enlightenment and settled to enjoy the yummy vegetarian food instead.

In the evening we headed to the local boxing ring to watch and bet on the Must Thai boxers. With our Singha beers in hand and our free that whiskey and cokes we settled down to an enjoyable evening.

There was a variety of fights ranging from 13 year old boys, lady fighters, adults, 5 in a ring and an international contender. Our favourite 2 had to be the 5 in a ring and the international. The 5 in a ring was hilarious as they were blindfolded and had no idea where each other was to box, this was accompanied to the beautiful tune of gangnam style! At one point one of the guys kept trying to box the referee, after trying to defend himself and simply block the referee completely floored him! The international fight was between a massive French man and a not so massive Thai guy.Before they came on we had already bet on the Thai guy and were very pleasantly surprised when we won! It made a great end to a really fun evening.





The next day we were picked up early so we could head out for our trek. It was about an hour's drive from Chiang Mai in a bumpy truck. We started the trip with a bamboo raft trip,This involved floating down the river on a few sticks of bamboo lashed together and was definitely not my favourite way to travel! We then embarked on a 4 hour trek up a mountain which was pretty painful! The heat wasn't too bad but this was simply because it was constantly raining ! The highlights were a pretty impressive waterfall and being able to pick fresh mangoes from the tree. They were delicious! We arrived at the hill tribe at around 5,extremely soggy and not in the best of moods! After a nice dinner and a couple of beers we were feeling quite mellow, our mood further improved with a bonfire! We slept in a traditional hill tribe shack on bamboo mats. Although this sounds cool it is bloody uncomfortable especially when Adam developed a fever and was absolutely boiling.





Due to the development of this fever we decided to opt for the 2 day trek instead. The trek back was a lot more enjoyable as it wasn't as wet and the scenery was fantastic. Apart from a fever and my infected toe, we were raring to go! We walked for about 4 hours with only one stop so were pretty pleased to reach the bottom. Then we had the highlight of our Chiang Mai trip, we met, fed and rode the elephants! My favourite part was when the baby elephant tried to eat my shorts! On the way back home we knew we had made the right decision to cut the trek as Adam started to throw up and his fever to rage! Needless to say our remaining time in Chiang mai was mainly spent in our hotel room!



Before we left we did manage to visit the night market and a lovely teak house which contained a yummy cafe. Due to Adam's illness and our delay in Chiang Mai we opted to be cheeky and take an hour flight to Laos rather than the 3 day boat trip!!