Laos

We started our journey from the bottom of Laos, known as the 4000 Islands, or Si Phan Don which are scattered throughout the Meekong river. Staying on one of the smaller islands, Don Det is mostly tour agencies, hostels and bar/restaurants. 

Don Det has a small and big waterfall. I decided to go check out the smaller first, and I think I would have been okay to miss out. It's not what I would describe as a waterfall, but the hour walk through rice fields, smaller villages and meeting locals was nice. 

Kate and Damon (who met back up with kate) had friends in Pakse, so we stayed with them for a few nights. We wanted to walk up to the giant buddahs, however the last day, it started pouring with rain- so we only made it halfway up before realising we probably weren't wearing the right shoes in order to continue.

Taking a night bus is always an experience, I honestly prefer them because then I'm unable to see the driving. 

Vang Vieng, is mostly known as a party town along the Meekong. You can tube and raft down, go on hikes in the mountains, bike rides to lagoons and caves. It's a beautiful city with the mountainous surrounds and plenty of pancake vendors, which quickly became my go to snack. It's also full of friends bars- which plays seasons of friends on repeat. The best novelty? The Australian bar to make sure you have your chicken Parma fix.  

So Damon and Kate decided they'd go down to Bangkok from Vang Vieng, but as I wasn't done with my Laos visa, and I wanted to see more than just 2 weeks - I continued by myself. 

I went to a smaller town in the north called Phonsavan. Laos is actually the most bombed country in the world (per capita) and this is due to the USA and Vietnam war where 270 million cluster bombs were dropped. The region around Phonsavan is the most heavily impacted, with people afraid to farm their land, build roads and houses. The issue with cluster types, is that some fail to detonate - 30% to be an estimate if we're talking about Laos and 80% of people still use the affected land because they have no other options. 

UXO is the Unexploded Ordinance and have a few free museums (donations appreciated) around e country which gives you an overview of how much it costs them to remove and destroy bombs. 

Another reason people travel to this small town is the field of jars. Nobody actually knows why they're here..

The story told is that Cambodian giants came over to throw a party, and this is what the drank the whiskey from. It sounded reasonable to me so that's what I'll go with. 

Below is where Lao Lao whiskey (if that's what it can be called) is made. It's incredibly strong and doesn't have a label or bottle - mostly just in old water bottles. 

(Sign showing that this area of Laos has been cleared of bombs) 

Example of bombs found and destroyed. 

I'll be uploading a few posts in the next few days because I'm off to Myanmar/Burma and will not be able to post/upload due to the lack of internet. 

Until next time.