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Part 1: Vientiane, Phonsavan (Plane of
Jars)
24.12.2005-04.01.2006
Overview and
overall impression
Vientiane has changed a lot since my last visit in March 2000. There
are more
cars in the streets (but still very few for a capital city), but
mostly you can feel that the economy is speeding up. There is more
dynamism in the streets, more activity, especially in the tourist
sector. Mobile phones are now relatively widespread.
Actually the whole of Laos has changed over the past five years. The
country is much more developed now and is developing very rapidly. But
this also means that those idyllic villages with wooden houses with
tree leaves roofs are being replaced by concrete houses or houses with
corrugated metal roofs. Some villages are now heavily commercialised
and totally geared towards tourists.
Pre-departure
plan
Leaving Munich on December 23rd in the evening, we'll be in Bangkok on
December 24th. Shirley will continue with the baby to Malaysia, while
on December 25th I'm joining Timothy Tye with his AsiaExplorers group
for a pre-arranged trip to northern Laos. The advantage of the
pre-arranged trip is that
everything is already booked and I don't have to organise anything by
myself.
Will then leave the AsiaExplorers trip a couple of days early on the
evening of December 30th, flying to Vientiane and the next day in the
morning to Pakse. The idea is to spend 4-5 days exploring the south of
Laos (Pakse, Bolaven plateau, 4000 islands region), before joining
Shirley in Malaysia for the second part of the holiday (a few days in
Malaysia, then some beach holiday in Koh Samui, Thailand).
Costs
Laos is still a very cheap country to travel. You can have a meal for
less than 10000 Kip (1 USD), although for our meals we spent on average
between 10000 and 20000 Kip. It is possible to find decent guest houses
for less than 10 USD (personally I stayed in places in the 6-20
USD range).
I spent a total of USD 1432 on this trip, inclusive of the flights to
and from Bangkok and one overnight stay in
Bangkok. Of these 1432 USD the bulk consisted of transportation costs
(total: 805
USD):
- USD 305 (100+15+60+130) for car+driver hiring in
Southern Laos,
- USD 239 for the flights BKK-VTE and UBP-BKK
(Thailand-Laos),
- USD 161 for
the flights LPQ-VTE and VTE-PKZ (within Laos) and
- USD 100 as the (estimated) transportation component
of the Laos AsiaExplorers package (USD 310).
That leaves 627 USD for accomodation (12 nights in hotels/guest
houses),
food (12 days of meals), entry tickets in Southern Laos and other
expenses.
The transportation expense of 805 USD is indeed a bit high, but flying
and renting a car+driver was the only way to see so many
places in such a short time. Buses are a much cheaper way of
travelling, but you lose a lot of time and can't see all places you
want to see.
The 4 1/2 days trip to
Southern Laos (not covered by the AsiaExplorers Laos package) cost 574
USD, most of which were transportation expenses
(flights, car).
Money
/ Exchange rate (December 2005)
1 Euro = 12500 Kip
1 USD = 10700 Kip (was 7500 Kip in the year 2000)
For current
exchange rates
check
the Universal Currency Converter.
Mobile
phones / Prepaid GSM
The two Tango prepaid cards I tried in the morning market in Vientiane
were both defective, so I opted for a Lao GSM prepaid card (50000 Kip
for the card, which includes 25000 Kip of calls; I also
bought five recharges for 10000 Kip each. With the Lao GSM card calls
to Malaysia and Europe are
a very cheap 2000 Kip per minute. Lao GSM has coverage in all places
I've been (including the remote Si Pa Don area).
Internet
access
Internet cafes are everywhere, for prices mostly in the 100-200
Kip/minute range. The only Internet cafe I found on Don Khong island
charged a relatively pricey 1000 Kip/minute.
Weather
Initially we had not so good weather in the north of Laos. It was cool
and mostly overcast in Vientiane, cold and overcast in the Plain of
Jars and fresh in Luang Prabang. The weather then improved and in
southern Laos it was mostly hot, but still many clouds in the sky.
December and January are the dry season in Laos and it actually should
be dry with blue skies.
Health /
Vaccinations
I had the usual set of vaccinations for tropical countries (tetanus,
diphtheria, polio, Hep A+B), but no typhoid protection because the risk
was not so high.
Concerning malaria, since I was only staying a few days in a risk area
(southern Laos) I relied on plenty of mosquito repellent. I used Autan
and it worked very well, because I can only remember one mosquito
bite on the right hand, on a spot where I actually had washed away the
mosquito repellent when washing my hands. To be on the safe side
I applied Autan on arms and legs twice a day (in the morning and in the
evening).
I had no intestinal upsets, probably because I'm used to the local
bacteria, but I heard that some AsiaExplorers group members got
diarrhea from a pumpkin soup they had in Luang Prabang.
VISA / Entry
requirements
Visa upon arrival is
available in Laos at most international entry point (photo required +
30 USD fee). Nationals of ASEAN countries do not need a visa for Laos.
Security
I'd rate Laos as a safe country with a low crime level. The Hmong
insurgency in the north of Laos has lost a lot of momentum, especially
because of the surrender of 700 Hmong fighters in 2004. The only
problem is that the Plain of Jars site is littered with mines and
unexploded ordnance (UXO) dating back to the Vietnam war period, so you
have to be careful not to walk outside of marked areas.
Getting
around
In the north of Laos we had our own bus and used one flight from
Vientiane to Phonsavan to save time. Due to limited time I used flights
to get quickly into the south of Laos, and once there I hired a car +
driver to get around. This increased considerably the cost of
travelling (see above), but was the only way to see all the places I
wanted
to see in a short time. Most other travellers I met in the south used
buses to get around, but lost a lot of time in the process and didn't
manage to see even half of the places I visited.
By the way, Laos has no train network. In the north of Laos road
travelling takes a lot of time, due to the mountainous terrain and all
those narrow winding roads. In the south of Laos the slopes are more
gentle and the roads straighter, so that road travel speeds of up to
110 km/h are possible.
23.12-24.12:
Munich ->
Bangkok
Asia Airport Hotel Bangkok, 99/2 Moo 8
Phaholyothin Road, Lamlukka Pathumthanee, Bangkok 12130. 190 RM (booked
through a Malaysian travel agency) for a room. The hotel is old and not
as elegant as the Rama Gardens, although the rooms are ok (nothing is
missing, the rooms have TV, fridge, phone, decent furniture,
bath+shower, controllable A/C). The hotel is in a huge shopping
complex, where they sell exclusively computer stuff, including notebook
computers for 10000 Baht (= 210 Euro). This place is ideal, if you want
to shop for computer stuff.
Weather: Still snowing when we leave
Munich, although with increasing temperatures (+3°C in the
evening). In Bangkok the sky is overcast and it is surprisingly fresh.
No rain.
We manage to reach the check-in counter at terminal 2 of the Munich
airport at 7:43pm, a bit
later than what I was planning to. This time check-in is really speedy
and we just have to wait 12 minutes in the queue. Initially they put us
(Shirley, baby and me) on non-contiguous seats in different rows, but
after Shirley complains at the gate (she can be very persuasive "...
pleeease please, see my baby, very difficult to take care, I NEED my
hubby...") we are put into contiguous seats. There is not too much time
left and we just have a small thing in a cafe in the international gate
area. Very unfriendly, even rude guy in this cafe.
The TG 925 flight MUC-BKK leaves on time for Bangkok. The flight is
completely full, with not a single empty seat
available anymore. They even upgrade people from the economy class to
the business class, because the economy class is overbooked.
I was planning to do some computer work on the plane, but with the baby
this turns out to be almost impossible. It's a very active baby, which
constantly has to be taken care of. She doesn't want to sit down, so
you have to company her while she walks around the plane. Alissia
sleeps for a few hours between 1am and 4am. Approximately during the
same time I also sleep 2-3 hours, while Alissia is sleeping in
Shirley's arms. Shirley doesn't get any sleep.
At about 4:30am I wake up and the day starts for me. Alissia is also
awake and active again. But she is too tired to do the walking herself,
so she insists that I carry her around the plane. But she still manages
to climb up herself the staircase to the first class (plane is a Boeing
747-400 double decker).
Around 6am (CET) the whole plane wakes up and breakfast is served. The
plane then lands in Bangkok on time at 2pm Thai time. By the time I
get through immigration, retrieve the luggage, withdraw cash from an
ATM, check with the Thai airlines ticket office if my electronic
tickets to/from Laos are ok, it is almost 3:30pm (Thai time). I then
head to the
information counter and ask for the shuttle service to the Asia Airport
Bangkok hotel. They tell me to wait and I wait, wait and wait. Finally
at 4pm the shuttle leaves for the hotel. It takes longer than expected
to get to the hotel, at least 25 minutes. I guess the hotel is further
away than 3km from the airport.
After checking in I don't do much. I basically explore the shopping
complex and have some food.
Tomorrow the wake up call is at 5:30am and the shuttle bus leaves at
6:30am to the airport. I go sleeping at 9:30pm.
25.12: Bangkok -> Vientiane
Mali Namphu guest house, Vientiane, 114
Pangkham road, Tel. 215093. USD 15 for a relatively simple but adequate
room with
two
beds, A/C, fan, own bath with shower, TV, some furniture, but no phone.
Breakfast included. Actually the guest house is not too bad and in fact
I stayed again there.
Weather: still a bit overcast in
Bangkok, but the sun shines through. In Vientiane it's a mix of
overcast and blue sky, with the cloud cover opening up considerably
every now and then, just to close again after 20-30 minutes. Not that
hot, actually not hot at all. A/C might not be necessary, except for
the bus, when the sun comes out. A few drops of rain in the evening
around 8pm.
I wake up around 3am and since I can't fall asleep again, I just get
up, take a shower and pack my things. Then I do some editing on my
website (am currently redesigning the user interface of the site) until
about 5:30am, when the phone rings and I get the wake up call. Shortly
after that I go down to the reception and have breakfast. Breakfast is
a buffet with many choices (not too bad, actually quite decent). Still
no trace of Tim and his
group, with whom I'll do the Laos trip.
After breakfast, around 6:10am I check out and wait in the lobby for
the group. Around 6:25am I meet the first member, Wong, a Malaysian
Chinese who arrived
from Australia to join the trip. Then after that in short succession
the other members of the "AsiaExplorers Laos team" show up and we
introduce
ourselves to each other. They are all Malaysian Chinese, except for
Mani, a
Malaysian Indian lady. We are a total of 14 people.
A bit after 6:30am we leave the hotel with the minibus and drive
towards the airport. This time the drive is much shorter. After
checking in at the airport, I briefly check my emails.
The plane leaves on time at 8:15am and lands also on time at 9:20am. At
the airport I manage to be one of the first in the visa-on-arrival
queue (USD 30 + one passport photo required), so the visa process is
relatively speedy. But then I end up choosing the wrong immigration
queue, where a sleepy immigration officer sits, who carefully reads
every single page of each passport.
It takes for ever to get through immigration and in the end I only
manage to get through and retrieve my luggage after 10am.
Outside Tim & Co. are already anxiously waiting for me (they got
all through the speedy ASEAN queue, where no visa is required). We have
a relatively big bus, which will drive us around in Vientiane.
Vientiane has changed since my last visit in March 2000. There are more
cars in the streets (but still very few for a capital city), but
mostly you can feel that the economy is speeding up. There is more
dynamism in the streets, more activity, especially in the tourist
sector. Mobile phones are now relatively widespread.
The bus drives us first to a place where we can change some money. One
Euro is 12000 Kip and the biggest bill is only 20000 Kip, so for $100 I
get a big bundle of bills. Then the bus brings us to the Mali Namphu
guest house, where we will spend the night. After checking in and
depositing the things into the room, we start our sightseeing with the
Wat Sisaket at 11:15am. This wat is actually quite nice (the inner
corridor contains lots of Buddha statues). We spend half an hour in
this wat, then proceed to the next wat, Wat Ho Phrakeo. This wat is
nice, but less interesting, as it appears that it was rebuilt quite
recently.
We spend another 20-30 minutes in this wat, then at 12:15pm drive by
bus to the restaurant. There Tim or the tour guide have arranged for us
a meal with several courses. Since it is too spicy for me, I order some
fried rice for myself. The bill (for me) is 43000 Kip and it includes a
freshly squeezed pineapple juice.
After lunch we drive to the Pha That Luang, which we reach at 1:55pm.
We end up staying almost one hour there. It's a very nice complex. but
unfortunately initially the sky is overcast. After some time the sky
opens up and I get some good shots.
At 3pm we drive to the Patuxai, which today is full of people and
activity. Five years ago it was a relatively peaceful place. At 3:40pm
we drive to the Morning Market, which despite the name is still open.
There I buy a SIM card for my GSM phone. I initially ask for a Tango
card, but the first two I try are defective, so I opt for a Lao GSM
card (50000 Kip for the card, which includes 25000 Kip of calls; I also
buy five recharges for 10000 Kip each; calls to Malaysia and Europe are
a very cheap 2000 Kip per minute).
At 4:35pm we are back in the hotel, where we relax for a while. At
5:30pm we drive to the Mekong river for sunset and dinner (why do we
always drive - it's a very short distance from the hotel to the
Mekong), but there is no sunset due to the clouds cover. It gets dark
pretty fast after 6pm. Dinner is not bad and very cheap - 18000 Kip for
a rice with mushrooms and chicken.
After dinner we go to the Patuxai for some night shots, arriving there
at
8pm. In the evening I don't do much - it has been a pretty long day
today.
26.12: Vientiane ->
Phonsavan
Kongkeo guest house, Phonsavan. Very
spartan conditions, as the rooms are quite basic and there is no hot
water
(how to take a shower?). Not recommended.
Weather: essentially overcast the
whole day in Vientiane, not a single spot of blue sky, just every now
and then the sun pokes through a bit. Overcast and surprisingly cold in
Xieng Khouang (17°C when we arrive, less at night). It rains a bit.
I wake up at 4am and can't sleep anymore. At 5am I start processing
yesterday's photos until about 7am. Then I take a shower, get shaved
and finally Kuan, my room fellow, wakes up and has a shower. At 7:50am
I have breakfast, then at 8:20am I walk to the nearby Internet cafe
(200 Kip/minute, where I check my emails and browse the web until
8:50am.
At 9:10am we leave by bus for the Xiengkuane Buddha park, sort of a
park set up in 1958 with many Buddha statues. On the way we briefly
stop for some photos at a rice paddy. We reach the park at about 10am.
The park itself is nothing special. It contains a number of statues of
Buddha and of the Rama epic, all built in 1958 in cement. Not really a
"must see" destination, only go there if you have nothing better to do.
We stay at the park until about 11am.
After the park we drive back towards Vientiane. On the way, at 11:15am
we stop at the Friendship bridge for some photo shooting. There is a
Chinese-Vietnamese-Lao crew, which is building a pumping station for an
irrigation channel.
At 11:40am we drive to a roadside restaurant, where we have lunch (I
take two dishes for a total of 16000 kip). Around 1pm we drive back to
the guest house. Tim tells us that we are late, so we all rush to get
the bags.
We reach the airport a bit before 2pm, too early for the flight which
only leaves at 3:30pm (counter is still closed). The flight is
boarded from Vientiane international airport (Vientiane only has one
airport), from the domestic terminal.
The flight leaves on time at 3:30pm from Vientiane and arrives 40
minutes later in Phonsavan (Xieng Khouang province). It is quite cold
and it even
starts
raining a bit. There we meet the new guide and get into the bus. By the
time
we arrive in the town it is almost 5pm and getting dark. We spend
half an hour visiting the market, which is kind of interesting.
Around 5:30pm we are transferred to the guest house. In the evening we
have a dinner in a local
restaurant, which our guide Sai has arranged. Very overpriced at 50000
Kip and not so good food. Perhaps Sai, our guide, has a deal with
the restaurant.
27.12:
Phonsavan -> Luang
Prabang
Khun Savan guest house, Luang Prabang.
Double room with just one bed for two people (imagine two grown up guys
fighting for the blanket). Simple room with A/C, some furniture,
private bath. No TV, no phone. Not enough hot water - if somebody in
the guest house took a shower before you, there is no hot water
anymore.
Not recommended, but central location.
Weather: essentially overcast the
whole day, at night the cloud cover opens up (the stars are visible).
Every now and then some blue sky, but it also rains briefly. Quite
fresh, actuallly cold
I get the frst night of decent sleep and wake up at 6am. A bit before
7am I have breakfast, and at 7:20am we leave the guest house and drive
to the Plain of Jars. It turns out that the guide told us nonsense
yesterday, because all three jar sites are easily reachable.
Until 11:20am we visit all three jar sites (the first one being the
most
interesting), then at 11:30am we have a lunch at a smalll restaurant at
the jar site Nr. 3.
At 12:15pm we start our drive to Luang Prabang. What happens is that
essentially every few minutes we stop for about 10 minutes of photo
shooting (scenery etc.). I'm a photo fanatic myself, but these guys are
even more obsessed with photography than I am. This is essentially a
bus full of obsessed photographers. We don't care about money, we don't
care about sex - just give us our good photos.
We are in the stop-and-go mode until after sunset at 6pm.
Then the photography stops, as there is no light anymore. I end up
shooting over 300 photos. By the way, many of them are really nice -
Laos is a very scenic country.
At 8:30pm we stop for an hour in a small town, where we have dinner. We
finally reach the guest house in Luang Prabang at 11:45pm - quite late.
The next morning we are supposed to leave the guest house at 9am. By
the
way, the weather probably is improving. Over large stretches of the
road you could see the stars.
Copyright 2006
Alfred
Molon
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