Laos - Vang Vieng

Although not far from Vientiane, the trip to Vang Vieng took about 6 hours. The roads are not good and when you get into the mountains the narrow roads and the occasional large truck make for a slow trip.

Mini vans are the preferred mode of transport here and can be easily booked at the hotel or in one of dozens of places in each town we stayed in in Laos.

Vang Vieng is on the banks of the Nam Song river and is a popular destination for tubing and kayaking. The government has had a massive cleanup here as the town used to be a mecca where cheap drugs and alcohol were available. (BeerLao costs only 15,000 kip but the drugs are gone.) We found no sign of the wild drunken parties that had occured in the the past.

Vang Vieng - this street is one block away from the river

The river Nam Song from the balcony of our villa.

Nam Song

The restaurant and bar here are pleasant places to enjoy sun downers after a busy day.

Local traffic on the main highway.

Safe swimming in the Nam Song River

Unloading ready for a relaxing return to Vang Vieng, 8 km downstream.

Rest spot

One of the musts for nearly all is a very relaxing paddle down the river and a stop off to enjoy the odd refreshment and food at one of several conveniently located cafes. Before heading off back to Vang Vieng in the late afternoon sun.

Having had a great day on the river tubing 1 km into a cave and kayaking 8 km back to Vang Vieng, I was surprised to hear voices just outside and slightly above.

20 m from the front of our villa - late afternoon

Drifting up stream

Early next morning

A relaxing way to see the countryside in the morning.

Our next stop was Phonsavan and the Plain of Jars. This involved another 6 hour trip and around 150 km over the mountains and narrow rough roads.

My next blog has photos and an account of this rather unique archaeological area where elephants played an important role.

Laos -Vientiane

Flying in to Vientiane from Kunming was like flying into another world. The airport is small, there were not many planes and the contrast between the temperatures and the colour of the sky couldn't have been more different. (Blue skies are something we take for granted but many expats I've talked to here in China say that that is one thing they miss.)

Patuxai Monument

Unfortunately we went to monument in the afternoon when the sun was in the wrong part of the sky. The sun is just to left above the monument. The morning would have been much better with the sun behind and shining on this side of Patuxai

Patuxai means Victory Gate and was built along the style of the Arc de Triomphe. It was built in 1964 to commemorate the victims of the Lao Civil War which began in 1953. Rumour has it that was built using money donated by the US to be used to rebuild the airport.

Patuxai Monument

With the sun over my right shoulder one can appreciate the clear blue sunny skies we were to enjoy all through Lao for our 17 day holiday there.

Corner tower on the top of the Patuxai Monument

Ceiling at Patuxai

Being a devoutly Buddhist society, there are many beautiful temples or wats throughout Lao. I hope you don't get wat'ted out but the unique architecture and colour schemes make these structures part of the attractions of this country.

Wat Si Saket

 Today was the only day when there had been some rain whilst were were in Lao.

Wat Si Saket

Buddhas and drum towers are essential features in all wats.

The covered cloister is filled with over 2,000 Buddha images.

Haw Pha Kaew

The original structure of this temple was destroyed by the Siamese in 1827. It has been rebuilt and is now a museum. It was reconstructed under the direction of a French trained engineer and later Prime Minister, the prince Souvanna Phouma. The original temple was home to the Emerald Buddha which was seized by the Siamese in 1779. This precious piece of religious art is made of jade and still remains in Bangkok.

Haw Pha Kaew



Gate to Inpeng Temple

Inpeng Temple

Inpeng Temple

We were to see many restoration projects in Lao. The above being recently completed. In a country with poor infra-structure (poor roads and open drains with all sorts of floating objects!) it seems strange that money is diverted to restoration projects. As I don't understand the religion and the fact that the beautifully restored temples bring in the tourists, who am I to say that the money should have been spent elsewhere?

After flying back from Luang Prabang, the main attraction in Vientiane is Pha That Luang.

The Great Stupa of the Lao National monument, Pha That Luang

Excavations around this site indicate the existence of a Khmer civilisation here from around the 12th century long before Pha That was erected in its present form. After the Siamese sacked the city in 1827, the site was abandoned and bandits took gold and jewels and later destroyed the buildings.

What we see here today is thanks to the rebuilding efforts of the French in the 1930s and continued restoration since. French explorers first visited the destroyed site in 1867. The restoration used plans drawn in 1867.

Pha That Luang

Main entrance, Pha That Luang

Ceiling inside

Buddha at Pha That Luang

Across the road is one of the most magnificent statues I've seen.

The Sleeping Buddha

After three days in Vientiane we moved onto Vang Vieng by road and returned by plane from Luang Prabang for another three days before heading back home to Nanjing.

Kunming, China

With the Chinese New Year holiday of 23 days for us, we decided to visit Laos (Lao PDR). Our travel agent recommended we fly to Vientiane via Kunming. This is the most direct way from Nanjing. As there is only one flight per day from Kunming to Vientiane and with lots of delays to flights here, the best option was to stay a few days in Kunming and see another part of China we hadn't heard of before.

This decision turned out to be an inspiring one as there was plenty to see there before heading on to Laos. The choice of hotel our agent recommended was top class too.

(We had a 2.5 hour delay on Saturday 26 January before we left on the direct flight to Kunming.)

The following photos are a selection of many taken in and around Kunming.

New gateway near our hotel looks far more interesting at night.

The Memorial Archways to the Golden Horse and the Jade rooster

As it was winter when were there, a lot of the trees were covered to keep out any frost damage. They looked like a citrus variety.


In many Chinese cities, the old parts are being demolished and replaced. This old building in Kunming Old Street has been retained.



Typical old building in Kunming- not many like this left now.

Sweet potato seller in Old Kunming

Typical street scene

Not far from our hotel are twin pagodas with a typical food market for the Chinese New Year running between them.


Xisi Ta Pagoda

Notice the rather bland sky again.

Dongsi Ta Pagoda

Pork for sale - no refrigeration here

Colourful stall selling necessary items for the Chinese New Year celebrations

One of the local girls selling food products that I had no idea of what they were nor any inclination to try. She is from the Yi minority judging by her colourful dress.

Kunming ducks for sale!

A short taxi ride took us to one of the more colourful Buddhist temples in Kunming.

Entrance to Yuantong Si temple

Inside the main temple.

Not far away is Cui Hu Gongyuan or Green Lake. There were many people there on the Tuesday. Good for a walk around although good photos in the winter were few and far between.

You can just see blue sky. The day we were here, was the day the pollution levels in Beijing went off the scale (500 being the max and over 1,000 being recorded at the US Embassy).

Green Lake

One of the most visited areas in Yunnan Province is the Stone Forest, about 2 hours by car from Kunming. The limestone karst area is spread out over around 12 square kilometers. It was formed during the Permian Period, around 270 -230 million years ago.

Looking out from one of the caves

The eroded limestone pinnacles are quite spectacular and show bedding planes where there has been a break in the deposition of limestone. Blue skies were a pleasure to see too after the dull dreary pollution in Nanjing.

Elephant rock

Wangfeng Ting - the Peak Viewing Pavilion.

 Some of the tops of the pinnacles have fallen over
during past earthquakes.

On the way back to Kunming we stopped at the old village of Qixing or Seven Stars.

First view of Qixing village

This village has not had any new structures added to it for a long time. It is much as it was in its original state. We did notice one building being restored back to its original condition rather than being pulled down.

A typical side alley in Qixing

Qixing village

It was very hot when we arrived here and in the afternoon. There were very few people around and many in Chinese seem to a sleep after lunch.

This young boy was out with his grandmother. Grandparents in China are very important and play a big role in looking after the younger generation. (I notice lots of 5 - 6 year olds being taken to school on the metro at 0630hrs by at least one of their Grandparents.)

Corn or maize out to dry. It is used to feed animals and the
dried cobs used as fuel.

A new version of "eating out".

  

Carrying water on a bamboo pole.

 After a few days in Kunming it was time to move on into Laos where Vientiane was our first stop.

Blogs covering this country to follow where the sky is blue and it was warm to almost too hot in the middle of the afternoon. (We arrived back in Nanjing and awoke to 15 -20 cm of fresh snow the second morning back. Following the snow, we had 2 days of clear skies before the pollaze {pollution and haze} returned.)