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The trip to the north of Laos was adventurous in itself. Just look at the following photo and guess how many people fit into this van. Scroll down to find out the answer!

16!

Yup, that’s right. It was not a very comfortable trip as you can imagine.

After 8 hours, I finally arrived in Luang Nam Tha – a very remote part of the country that is famous for its authentic hill tribes. I managed to avoid the official tour treks and went of by myself again. The hilltribes and local villages are easily reached by bike, so I spent a whole day exploring the surroundings. It was beautiful.

Another strenuous trip took me further north to the border village of Muang Sing, which is just 10 km away from China and an important trading town for Chinese and Lao people. Muang Sing felt like the end of the world. I was by far the only tourist and was looked at with curiosity everywhere I went. There are no proper streets and chicken, pigs and cattle didn’t need stables but were happily living on the roads. The locals there still wear traditional clothes as most of them are hilltribe people.
Muang Sing and the hill tribes in the north are very much known for their cultivation of opium. When the Lao government banned its growth a couple of years ago, a lot of hilltribes were forced to move into Muang Sing to work in the rice fields for 10.000 Kip a day (approx. 1 Dollar). A lot of them are addicted to the drug themselves, especially older people take it to reduce their pains. But also a lot of young people seem to be getting more and more into it and it happened to me quite a lot that I got offered the drug on the open street. It was nice escaping the main travel roads and experiencing the very authentic Laos in the north. I read that they are building an airport in Luang Nam Tha right now – I don’t want to imagine where the town is going with 100 more tourists a day – it will definitely not be the Luang Nam Tha that I have experienced.

I spent the last couple of days exploring Luang Prabang and its treasures – waterfalls, numerous temples, night markets, beautiful French mansions… and my absolute highlight – the walking meditation of the Buddhist monks – approximately 200 monks wandering through the streets in complete silence at 5.30 in the morning. The sidewalks are packed with locals who prepared food to give to the monks. A Lao family eventually invited me to sit with them to share a delicious breakfast (sweet rice in banana leaf). Again, a very special experience that I am extremely grateful for. Unfortunately, my camera failed me this time – or more likely my photography skills – it was extremely hard to take pictures in the morning without a flash or tripod as it was still dark. The picture at the top is, I have to sadly admit, not mine but stolen from another website (I know, shame on me…). I hope you enjoy my photos anyways.

Joa Neun is a 14 year old Buddhist monk in Luang Prabang. When he turned 8, he left his home village in the north of Laos to follow his older brother to attend the Buddhist high school at Wat Visounnarath. Together with 28 other monks his age, he follows a strict daily routine, getting up at 3.30 every morning, resuming his morning prayers and meditations. Joa Neun doesn’t enjoy his time at the temple – he especially dislikes the daily sitting meditation (something I can only understand too well after having done that myself at Temple Stay in Korea). In his very good English, Joa Neun tells me that he wants to leave the temple when he is done with high school to move to Vientiane to study IT. Only a small number of young monks decide to actually stay at the temples to devote themselves to Buddhism.

Joa Neun turns out to be very interested in my home country Austria and listens eagerly when I tell him about my life, the mountains, the snow, my friends and family. When I show him a photo of me with my friend Lucas, he smiles at his freckles and curly, ginger hair. He knows only too well that he will probably never get the chance to travel and explore other countries like I do.

As he shows me around the temple, telling me more about his life and Buddhism, he stops in front of his room: „I would like to give you a small gift. You are different than other people who come here. Mostly, they just go by without speaking or even looking at us. I noticed as soon as you entered the temple and smiled that you have an open heart.“

I stand there, puzzled by his kind words.

He comes back from his room with a self-made, yellow/red bracelet that he ties around my wrist. For each knot he makes, he gives me a blessing: „I wish you good luck for your journey, many more interesting encounters and all the best for your life.“ As I leave the temple, he gives me his e-mail address – after all, this is the 21st century – I will to write to him and send him more photos of Austria (and Lucas, of course).

The car ride from Vangvieng to Luang Prabang was probably the most strenuous, yet most beautiful trip I have done in my life so far. The route of 231 km leads through the mountainous backcountry of Laos and is supposed to take four hours. All in all, it took us eight – because of a major breakdown in the middle of nowhere. Two hours spent sharing water and food supplies with your fellow travelers (including a Korean girl!), waiting for someone to pass by to help us. A man eventually stopped and drove back to the nearest village to get us the replacement part. After what seemed like an eternity, we were on the road again.

I cannot describe how incredibly beautiful this country is. It is so remote and driving through it just gives you this amazing „end of the world“ feeling. Goosebumps included.

My first impression of Vangvieng was not a good one – I had read that it is the tourism mecca of Laos, so I kind of knew what to expect, but definitely not this. Vangvieng, a small town located along the Nam Song river, packed with guesthouses and possibilities to spend money. The numerous bars and restaurants are well equipped with TV sets that air the show Friends literally from dusk till dawn. I tried to ask some locals how this phenomenon was born, but no one could give me an answer. Why the hell Friends? I will do more research on this. However, Vangvieng’s main tourist attraction is tubing down the Nam Song river. Along the shore, countless bars have difficulty finding space next to each other to serve the many backpackers that come here to get drunk along the way. Vangvieng offers all western comforts – and everyone seems to really get into it. I wonder why so many people need to come here to drink beer and watch Friends on TV. You can do that at home as well. But I guess travelers have built this place for themselves – after all, no offer without demand.

BUT there is also this other, entirely charming side to Vangvieng that a lot of travelers seem to not even bother to discover, too busy drowning themselves with Beer Lao while trying to stay on their tubes. I hired a bike and made my way to the countryside, gushing over the beautiful landscape, exploring the surrounding villages, climbing around one of the numerous caves and diving into blue lagoons. I met 2 Westerners on my way – thank God everyone went tubing.

As I made my way back into town, I stopped to get some water when a man came up to me to ask me where I was from. He turned out to be a retired artist and Thai monk, who spent 20 years working in Switzerland. After returning from Europe, he started a new life in the jungles of Thailand to become a monk. He spent his days meditating and appreciating nature and what it has to give to us. He is now staying in Laos, doing exactly the same thing. We ended up talking for two hours. What a great, wise man this Bosit, and how true and clear his opinion on various matters is. He said goodbye to me with the following words: „Continue traveling this way. Look around you and take everything with you, soak it all up. Next time you come here, there will be a cable car going up the mountain that you just climbed.“ I hope he is wrong this time.

First of all, I would like to say thank you to my travel buddy Stefan for doing this ridiculous trip with me (emphasis not on this ridiculous trip, but on with me). Thank you for being there, making this work and bearing the various moods I am in from time to time. I hope you took with you many memorable moments – I certainly did!

As a traveler and frequent flyer, one doesn’t like hearing the announcement „We have a technical problem, we thank you for your patience“ while waiting for take-off. It becomes increasingly worrying when, five minutes later, the captain announces that they have problems starting the engine („No need to worry, a technician is currently checking it and we should be able to take off in 20 minutes“). But what has never happened to me before is this: „We are sorry to inform you that we are unable to start the engine of this aircraft. We kindly ask you to get off the plane and take all your belongings with you while we are looking for another plane for you.“ Thank God they discovered this while we were still on the ground… my I-Pod, my books and two guys from Ireland turned out to be my best friends while I was waiting in the freezing cold, air conditioned gate T18 at KL airport. Six hours later I finally made it to Laos.

They say Laos is what Thailand used to be 15 years ago. If that is true – poor Thailand and what it has become. I sincerely hope that Laos will not catch up on the tourist boom in the same way. I feel this country doesn’t have the same approach to tourism (yet) – people are far more relaxed towards foreigners, no one runs after you trying to sell you stuff at all costs and you get a smile from the lovely, beautiful Lao people wherever you go.
Vientiane, the capital of Laos, is a small and charming city at the border to Thailand. There is not much to see or do in general – but that’s exactly the point. Renting a bike and exploring the numerous Wat temples spread around the city, trying some street food here and there, sitting down to have a coffee and just soaking in the city life around you – that’s basically what I do here. And I love it.
As always, a small selection of photographs for you to enjoy… the first two are my pathetic attempts to produce a memorable jumping picture. Stefan didn’t want to jump with me, unfortunately, so here you go, me jumping in our hostel room in Kuala Lumpur: