How to Behave in Laos

March 1, 2014

We are long gone from Laos, but I thought the "How to Act in Laos 101" for tourists was too good not to post.  These cartoons were in all sorts of brochures around town and I even saw one blown up giant sized on a poster in Luang Prabang.  

Hey dad - this could be you and our house!  Maybe you are actually Lao and not British . . .

O and I forgot this rule and ended up with a crowd of giggling teenagers laughing at us.  And I assure you our kiss was not quite so passionate.

Yeah Wendy - stop touching Monks!!!

The guy who sells you pot in Laos gets shot!  The foreigner just gets a hefty fine.

It is illegal for a Laos women to have sex with a foreigner, unless they are married.

Getting to Bangkok

After crossing the border at Vientiane we cycled towards Bangkok. The roads in Thailand are in great shape for road bikes and the air quality was more suited for any form of highly aerobic transportation.

We made our way from the border to Udon Thani. The city was definitely busier than Laos and was a preview of what was coming.

We found this dinosaur museum in the middle of nowhere. We decided not to pay the entrance fee as it appeared not a single sign was in English.

Now that is a cool sidecar!

We randomly found the Seven Day Resort while cycling in the middle of nowhere. The day was getting really hot so we decided to stay.

We got our own private villa and dinner for less than a dinner deal at Chili’s.

Our next destination was the city, Chaiyapum.  Our restaurant there had such delectables as shown above.

We knew we had arrived at a fancy hotel when the silverware was wrapped. Nevermind the fact that it is wrapped in toilet paper. 

As we got closer to Bangkok the roads got busier and the shoulders narrow. Combined with 93F/34C and high humidity weather we decided it was safer and best to take a luxurious double decker bus. With our second level/front window view we could see we made the right decision.

So this was the last ride we took. It was an insane 10 km from the bus station to the hotel.  We stopped at the Queen’s garden to smell the roses (and for a map check) as it was the craziest biking we had ever done: cars, 100’s of scooters, pedestrians, traffic, tuk tuks, and road construction.  A few hours after we arrived at the hotel we would sell our bikes to eager buyers on Craigslist and our biking adventure came to its end.

We rode a total of 1100 km/684 mi and climbed 9134 m/30,000 ft in Thailand and Laos. That is as much climbing as an average jetliner does for a cross country flight. Best of all we had a great time and a great adventure.

Vientiane Scooter Loop

February 19, 2014

Vientiane, the capital of Laos, was fun to visit for a few days but with prices still high for the Chinese New Year and tourists everywhere - we decided to load up and get out of town for a couple of days with our besties.

Scooters are packed, the gang is together - it’s time for another scooter adventure!

O and I decided to go tandem this time as it was only a short trip.

Patuxai, or the Arc de Triomphe of Vientiane, is a monument in the capital to honor those who died fighting for independence from France.

And our bridge across the road is just not assembled.

What can you expect?  We’re on a scooter adventure in a third world country.

We eventually found our way around the broken bridge and continued on our trip to the damn.  We found a lovely coffee stop along the river.

The damn was as scenic as we hoped and we made it just in time for sunset.

We spent the next day riding back to town and enjoyed a lovely evening together back in Vientiane.

Ahh - true love.  Well, and 6 hours - 12 beers later.

Vientiane, Our Last Stop in Laos

We would cycle our way to Vientiane. It was a mostly uneventful ride.

Our hotel was next to this structure which looks like it is being reclaimed by nature.

We went to visit the COPE Center in Laos. Ali wrote up an excellent post titled “UXO.”  Check it out if you want to know about the “Secret War” and the American legacy in Laos.

After all those sobering statistics me and Jim needed a beerlao, or maybe 12.

In case you missed it on Facebook.

Yes, problem solved! Or maybe we just went for a scooter ride to take a break from riding the bicycles.

Laos traffic jam.

Our scooter ride turned off road quickly. Like our bike ride, it was dusty and hot.

I let Ali have a turn at driving me around on the scooter. This resulted in an ear to ear grin.

After our scooter ride we started cycling again towards Thailand. We passed the source of Laos goodness - Beerlao. I could have taken a tour of the place, but I didn’t find out in time :(

This time they let us cross the Friendship Bridge from Laos to Thailand on our bikes. So here we say good bye to Vientiane and Laos.

Full of Hot Air

Sometimes you see an opportunity and have to jump on it. This time I saw the opportunity to go on a hot air balloon and couldn’t make up my mind. Vang Vieng has the beautiful scenery to do this, but it was definitely a budget buster. Then I realized I could float in the sky for an hour for less money than I used to spend on a tank of gas back home. This was a no brainer!

The adventure starts early in the morning before sunrise. We got to our launch pad just to see the balloons lying flat on the ground.

Using gas powered fans the crew started blowing air into the balloon to fill it up.

Once they are mostly full they fire up the burner. 

Next thing you know you are up in the air floating away.

The pilot controls altitude by applying more or less heat to the ballon. At different altitudes we could go in different directions and he had great control of where to go. The flame is quite mighty and loud. 

The views were amazing and it was a great experience.

Jim joined me for the ride. It was his first time in a hot air balloon although I suspect he has been full of hot air before.

From the air we can see how colorful Vang Vieng really is.

And we got to experience sunrise in our basket as well.

When it was time to land the pilot threw a leash to the chase crew and they placed us exactly where they wanted us to be.

Even at the end of the ride while landing, the scenery was beautiful. 

Eventually they deflate the balloon. Notice how the color fades away once you let the air out.

Finally, the crew packs the balloon away for another ride.

No, they don’t change colors. I just didn’t get to go on the pretty one :p