Up the Nam Ou (Not a euphamism)

As the small boat left Luang Prabang complete with four tourists, us, three locals, the driver and a pile of goods, from beer to bicycles, the heavens opened. The first two hours chugging upriver spent clutching tarpaulin sides to stop them flying up and the rain flying in.

Two hours later and the rain cleared. We were then treated to remote and mountainous scenary, for which Northern Laos has become well known. Sure, signs of slash and burn dot the hillsides, but with 75% of Laos still covered in unmanaged vegetation, greenery still abounds. 25% is still original growth forest, would be nice if more, but few counties can boast even that nowadays.

Water buffalo wallowed at waters edge, small villages briefly appeared as we cruised past, and children flung themselves into the muddy brown waters, frantically waving as we past.

The main fishing methods were also on show in abundance: throw net fishing from the shore or slim river boats;
static nets set from thick bamboo poles in fast rapids bending heavily under the flow of the current; the use of huge triangular hand nets, slowly wafted in the current; and ingenious bamboo wicker fish traps with a heavily stone weighted trap door, usually tucked in bushes at riverside.

A delightful and varied seven hours later and we had arrived in Nong Kieuw. At this point a large concrete bridge spans the river however in the presence of beautiful limestone mountains and the winding river the village is still pretty beautifully located. A quick scout around procured some nice chalets with hammocks.

There's not a huge amount to do in the area. Guided trekking probably the most popular activity although we were seeking more self guided pursuits and more hammock time. In the end we opted to hike between two sets of local caves. Their significance in Laos history that the Pathet Laos resistance used them as hideaways during American carpet bombing. The Pathet Laos were the communist group who eventually took control in 1975. Each cave was signposted with, 'telegraph station', 'hospital' etc. to show how these were utilised during the civil war.

The second set of caves were my favourite. Deserted and overgrown, the descent down into the darkness down rickety bamboo handrails silent and creepy. It was hard to imagine such solemn places alive with revolutionary fervour.

We also ventured further upriver to Muang Noi. Even quieter and more rustic, electricty arrived in the last 6 months, a beautiful place to relax. Our single exertion hiring a row boat and attempting to venture upstream. A fun few hours although our puny rowing skills proved no match for the fast flowing river, physically pulling the boat  whilsy wading through the fast stretchs the only answer.

With the Laos visa nearing expiry though it was time to head to Thailand for the last couple of weeks.

Luang Prabang, an expected delight

The bus journey from Vang Vieng gladly over, windy roads with big drops, provided a heightened sense of terror as the bus driver sped through the curves. However spectacular scenery flanked the journey, and former banditry on the route is now a relatively distant event of the past. The usual tussle with the tuk tuk drivers over prices and we had arrived, albeit not quite where we intended in the town.

Old Luang Prabang sits snugly on its peninsular jutting into the Mekong river. A now familiar asian/french architectural style pervades, but with vastly more charm than other population centres encountered. Definately the nicest city we've visited in old French Indochine. Nice when somewhere lives up to the reputation.

Planning a few days here we had time on our side for a relaxed pace of sightseeing. The highlight for us the bear rescue centre and waterfalls. The bear sanctuary providing a home for Asiatic black and sun bears formerly kept for Chinese medical trade, and sideshow purposes. Much happier in their new environment they amble sedately through large enclosures and clamber on their own giant jungle gym.

Alongside the bear sanctuary sit some of the nicest waterfalls we've seen. Though not the biggest, tiered cascades drop into turquoise pools, certainly some of the most beautiful. Swimming is also popular in the pools, one even featuring a rope swing. Comedy here provided by a chinese tourist who decided to pretend to be drowning after splashing down from the rope swing. As he bobbed under repeatedly popping up to glug help, we began to question the length of the routine. Then his friend piped up, 'he really can't swim'. Whilst he was retrieved, fine but spluttering, by some other tourists in the water we couldn't help look incredulous that someone who can't swim would launch themselves from a rope swing into a deep pool.

We also managed to get a days climbing done. Whilst the mornings were a little damp with things drying quickly we hired some slightly aged but functional kit and spent a day at the local crag. Only four routes were bolted up to 6a+ but a fun morning nevertheless.

A key attraction of Luang Prabang is the shopping although I started getting night marketed out. Needless to say I finally succumbed to Em's persistant hunting for bargains and am now carrying a nice hmong wall hanging and some cushion covers, not to mention a range of other nick nacks. Fortunately as travelling time is fast diminishing binning worn out stuff is making way for souvenirs!

A foodie highlight was a Laos barbeque. Local food Em could eat as she can see what goes in, thus avoiding the deathly prawn. The Laos BBQ is a bucket of hot coals on which a fondue/bbq tray is placed, cleverly allowing cooking of noodles and veges in the pork stock filled rim whilst utilising the top for meat or fish, bbq juices flowing into the stock. Yum.

One tourist attraction we missed was the morning alms giving to the Monks. Reduced to a predominantly tourist side show we weren't too sad to miss it. Rumour has it that the monks getting finally fed up of tourists disrespectfully shoving cameras in their faces and inadvertantly giving bad food, sold by touts, were keen for action. The authorities response, to threaten cladding actors in saffron robes to maintain the tourist spectacle. So the monks soldier on.

Assessing options it was time to head for more remote parts so a boat journey was booked and off to Nong Kieuw. 7 hours up the Nam Ou river.

Vang Vieng - Neutered party town

Vang Vieng has been a staple of the Asian backpacker circuit for a number of years and as with so many other places we have visited it bears the scars of overdevelopment. A friend who had visited first over 10 years ago lamenting the decline, from tranquil haven, the misty river gently rippled by drinking water buffalo, to noisy party town. That said the town may be busy with drunken 18 year olds showing scant regard for Laos sensibilities, bare chests and bikinis abound, yet still sits in a stunning spot.

Famous mostly for its 'tubing', floating down the river, in a tractor inner tube, beer in hand, there have been significant changes to this activity over the last year. With a death toll reaching relative epidemic proportions, 20 plus backpacker deaths a year recently, change was required. Most deaths resulting from drunken dives into all too shallow waters. The authorities have acted, pulling down all but three bars on the tubing stretch making this a more sedate pursuit.

We gave it a go and time spent floating down the river in the sun with a cool drink will always be fantastic. As its less of drinking pursuit than it was though you have to wonder if Vang Viengs star will wane. There are nicer places to go tubing in Laos. A sleepy town returning albeit hosting a glut of empty concrete hotels. Or maybe its location as convenient stop off point between Luang Prabang and Vientianne will keep it ticking over for the foreseable.

We did try a days rock climbing however rain stopped play so instead we decided to head on to Luang Prabang.

Legless in Vientienne

For a capital city Vientienne is more akin to sleepy French town. Colonial era architecture keeps the city low rise and the Laos people's relaxed attitude permeates all walks of life. Even the tuk tuk drivers manage just a single "tuk tuk" as you pass, if that, in contrast to Cambodia and Thailand's endless string of questions. "You want tuk tuk", "Where you go?", "What you do tomorrow?".

Whilst Kaylie and myself enjoyed a coffee Em and Nat went in search of a hotel and succeeded in finding a good price on an air conned room for a treat. Discussing things to do in the city the others opted to hire a bike and tour around whilst me and Em opted for shanks pony.

One of the most interesting experiences was a visit to the Cope Centre. In a country with considerably shaky health care provision the Cope Centre provides support for the disabled, a significant proportion of these by UXOs. Laos is the heaviest bombed country per capita in the world. The culprit, American carpet bombing during the 60s and 70s. Many of these bombs were cluster bombs and with a high failure rate, unexploded "bombies", litter significant parts of the country. Over 60 million of them to be more precise. No suprise that 100 or so people are still killed every year by UXOs, many children.

The most frequently found bombies are tennis ball sized spheres packed with ball bearings. These are still unstable and get set off by all manner of things from cooking fires which heat the ground, to ploughs, curious children and scrap metal collectors. Pretty disturbing to think every time you send the kids out to play they could be blown up or lose a limb.

Cope provides funding for a huge range of support, from prosthetics to rehabilitation, surgery to education. After exploring the center exhibitions and reading a few testimonies to the work you certainly feel humbled by our relative healthcare facilities. One story of a 9 year old lad who died in 2006 at home as the closest hospitals did not have the blood or equipment to save his life was pretty hard hitting. His parents having had to hire a Sangthaew (pick up style taxi) on the futile journey to take him to two hospitals, find these couldn't help and doctors suggest better he die at home.

Anyway to not go on too much of a charity rant more info at http://www.copelaos.org/

Also interesting was the national museum. Although crumbling and old fashioned the museum follows a gallery format of prehistoric Laos to the present (well 90s).

Whilst some of the ancient artifacts were fascinating, reading about the 'American Imperialists and they puppets' on every sign that accompanied modern exhibits was a giggle. Even though the likes of America could do more to assist mitigate the ongoing destruction caused by their previous trigger happy approach to cluster bombs etc. the communist way of dealing with history is fairly silly. "This is the spoon used by comrade [insert suitable comrade] to eat his rice in his brave struggle against the American Imperialists and their puppets".

Our next stop was at Vientiennes 'Arc d'Triomphe', the victory arch, which also has an interesting story. Built with concrete, donated funnily enough by the Americans years back to build a bridge, this fairly spectacular arch reveals its inner concrete ugliness when you get closer. Although the interior floors, now used by souvenir sellers, have ceiling plasterwork which would look more in place in a French chateau.

After two nights however, and with time before our flight home starting to tick by more quickly we opted to take the bus up to our next destination, Vang Vieng.

The Loop and Kong Lor cave

The bus ride from Pakse to Tha khek provided a slice of Laos life we were happy to experience but keen not to repeat. A 6 hour journey by local bus transforming to a 10 hour epic replete with many stops to jam in more passengers and rice. Lots of rice. In fact luggage was displaced to the roof to allow safe passage of said rice which was piled under seats and down the aisle to the point where movement on the bus required 4 limbs.

We arrived in Tha Khek a little later than expected however as Nat and Kaylie had arrived the day previously plans for the next few days were nicely in place. The big draw for the area being 'The Loop'. A 3-4 day circular route by scooter through stunning limestone kharst scenery, the highlight a boat trip through the 7.5km Kong Lor cave.

Now I'm not a motorcyclist and Em has no pretensions of two wheeled expertise, however bikes offer the only sensible option of exploring the area properly. Bikes are more scooters really, the ubiquitous 125s as loved by Asia and simple to operate, being semi automatic. Our practise run around Tad Lo perfectly sufficient to gain basic proficiency. The other key factor assuaging concerns being the relatively quietness of Laos roads.

With Em perched on the back with a small rucksack off we popped the next morning at a steady 30mph in convoy with Nat and Kaylie. We were soon confronted with the raved about scenery. Jungle clad mountains thrusting vertically skywards, speckled with untouched limestone faces. We stopped briefly at our first cave, a spectacular cavern with calm blue pool however knew better was still to come.

Onwards we trundled pausing here or there to stretch legs and soothe numb bums. We paused for an hour or so at a hydroelectric plant visitor centre. The centre certainly made a strong case for the project completed in 2010,  covering in depth, funds and projects to help the environment, local people and unexploded ordnance clearance (UXO). Laos was carpet bombed with cluster bombs by the Americans during the Vietnam war era to disrupt supply lines ( More on that later).

Whilst one always has to take a one sided argument with a pinch of salt, it is certainly true that the electricity produced by the plant generates big money for Laos, 95% is sold straight to Thailand. The project has also seen living standards and healthcare in the area rise, villagers being rehoused to spanking new dwellings and having their earnings rise due to the substantial fishing industry growing out of the 400km square lake.

Our stop for the night was at a small guesthouse overlooking the reservoir, where we were treated to a huge thunderstorm which cut power for the night and raged overhead for a number of hours.

The next day we met our first sign of last nights excitement, a smoking tree stood amidst an arm of water. The second was more disruptive. A landslide had blocked a large chunk of road, a huge boulder sat plum in the middle. Diggers and bulldozers, already present for road finishing were hard at work clearing the debris. With a small column of vans, bikes, locals and tourists we sat for a couple of hours watching them work before enough was cleared to allow passage. A rather bumpy slither through muddy ruts at walking pace until road proper was reached again.

Slowly we dropped from the plateau, enjoying spectacular views and changing scenery before entering the mountain flanked limestone river valley home to Kong Lor cave. Retreating to our bamboo huts by the river and flanked by spectacular limestone cliffs we slept soundly and looked forward to next days exploits through Kong Lor cave.

Likened to a descent into Hades the cave is a must for a any Laos trip. A winding river snakes 7.5km through the darkness and is journeyed by a small boat with two or three passengers, driver and front man, who helps steer the boat from the bow.

The cavern is cathedral like and as atmospheric. As you putter downriver torches strain to light walls and ceiling high above. A brief walk through a stalactite forest allows the boatmen to drag the boat over shallower water. Occasionally another boat appears briefly with blinking torches before passing swiftly into the darkness.

A brief sojourn for drinks in the village at the other side, provisioned through the cave, the journey a part of everyday life, was enjoyed before the return journey. This time i provided some comedy with a plunge down a waist deep hole as I hopped out to assist the boatmen with a small rocky step. Fortunately I had placed my wallet and phone in my waterproof bag prior to this excursion.

After emerging with went for lunch at the excellent Chanta guesthouse. Our party had now expanded by a few people, having met Aimee and Chris from North Wales and Sabine and Erna from Switzerland. With rain now looming, another thunderstorm crackling in the distance, we all decided to stay here for the night. An evening of cards and beer Laos.

The next day our enlarged convoy set out for the lengthy journey back to Tha Khek. With our enlarged convoy and frequent stops, including a string of punctures for Aimee and Chris and a lot of need for bum un numbing it was slow going but we finally said good bye to the spectacular scenery and prepared ourselves for the lengthy bus ride to the capital Vientienne.

Tad Lo and the Bolaven plateau

Laos primary coffee growing region the Bolaven plateau is becoming a popular detour on the backpacker trail. With spectacular waterfalls and trekking opportunties we opted to zap up there for a couple of days. Accessible with a two hour bus ride from Pakse we headed straight on with a connecting bus from 4000 islands.

Arriving at Tad Lo the sleepy charm of the place is immediately apparent. 3 or 4 mostly empty guesthouses and a couple of restaurants set by the river and waterfall and that's about it.

Having decided to save elephant trekking for later on the four of us decided to hire a couple of rattly scooters to explore the area. Partly as practise for the more demanding 'loop' due later in the trip. A fairly undemanding day followed gently schlepping around the 3 local waterfalls, enjoying a cooling dip at one.

We also whisked up a dirt track to a local village where many small children were entertained by our mere presence. Fortunately the cash demanding hasn't corrupted the young ones yet although some older kids on the outskirts of the village chanced their arm. The tourist office specifically recommends not giving kids money or things as it encourages begging.

The next day, Nat and Kaylie opted to head straight to Tah Khek to scout out the loop and we took the shorter trip to Pakse for a night before joining them the next. Pakse having no features of much note, although we did enjoy a nice curry there, a nice break for Em from western food and her need to avoid south east asian fare.

Into Laos - 4000 Islands

Sprawling across the wide Mekong river just across the Lao Cambodia border sits the tranquil 4000 islands. Our bus dropped us at the village where the boat runs to Don Det, the most popular destination for backpackers. Dodging a few water pistols and a mild hosepipe soaking, Lao new year still in full swing, we loaded into a longtail and struck out into the current under torch light.

We were greated the other side by a group of 18 something naked british backpackers who had gone for a swim loading their clothes onto a boat which had subsequently departed. Having been in the water for a while we donated one a sarong to go and find some more clothes and we went in search of a hostel.

Along with Nat and Kay, who we had met on the bus we eventually managed to source some rooms from the drunken celebrating backpacker staff, a crazy french lady just about managing to show us a room and agree a price.

We awoke the next morning and decided to move to the quieter Don Khon, me starting to succumb to a throat infection. I assume due to my immune system taking a blasting from the stomach bug. Poor Em was also now well stricken with the stomach thing so our time on the islands was slightly marred by this however it proved a reasonable place to recuperate. Em managing to source me some antibiotics from the 8 year old pharmacists manning a wooden cabinet acting as the village pharmacy which put me right after an unpleasant couple of days.

On a more positive note the islands, aside from the Don Det backpacker area are a relaxed delight. Laid back and friendly people with absolutely no hassles. With various maladies in full swing we didn't manage to make the most of them, kayaking, tubing and mekong dolphin spotting key attractions. We did rent bikes and take a pleasant, and gentle, cycle to the nearby waterfalls. Impressive cascades even in the dry season. Some hefty thunderstorms heralding the upcoming change to wet.

With new year still ongoing we were also treated to a slightly peculiar and popular pastime. Each individual village homestead seemed to take it in turns to fire up a huge and crackly PA system to blast iffy pop and random shouting across the peaceful river setting.

Accommodation was reasonably priced riverside bungalows, with obligatory hammocks in situ, coming in at 60,000 kip per night ($7.5 US).

Difficulties aside however Lao had already revealed a key part of it's attraction, a laid  back and friendly people, amidst a beautiful countryside.