Halleluyahahahaha

Have you ever imagined your self walking in a sauna, with your clothes on and carrying a big backpack? Well that was the first impression we had from Vientiane... the oven capital of Laos.

After walking and sweating around looking for a guest house, we found a good place, even though it was a bit above our normal budget, we were more than happy to drop our bags off and have a refreshing shower, but the joy was bigger when we discovered that our room had air co as a standard feature. A fan is usually enough for us, but when we went out and realized that the temperature at 5 pm was 37 degrees we felt blessed, Halleluyah praise the Lord!!!

The next day we rented city bikes, great and cheap way to move around in a city like this, were the traffic is smooth, the avenues are spacious and not crowded and the distances between different monuments are too big to be covered by foot.

Our first stop was the Patuxai monument, a grey concrete giant, built with cement donated by USA that was going to be used to build an airport. It is also known as the local Arc de Triomphe, but that can be an insult to the real one, because in the distance this monument looks nice, but the closer you get to it, and the more you walk into it the less appealing it becomes but anyway we got a couple of nice pictures.

The uglyness fades away as we reach our next monument: Pha That Luang, the "Great Sacred Stupa" national symbol of Laos, representing the country independence and sovereignty. It's shiny and spectacular shape, together with it's beautiful surroundings makes us wander around for long time, while melting under the midday heat.

And here we sing Halleluya once again when a garden hose appears pumping fresh water to the colourful flowers making Angela lose control.

Time for lunch meaning some fresh bagels at the extraordinary scandinavian bakery were we stayed for one hour recovering from the heat, but the worse was yet to come, on the way out we passed a billboard displaying the time and temperature, and we almost wet our pants when we read that it was 2 pm and we were at 49 degrees LIEVE GOD!

But no matter the intense heat we did the homework and visited Wat Si Saket the oldest and nicest temple in the capital, built in the 15 century and rebuilt many times after many wars. This beautiful and peaceful place is famous not only because of its antiquity but because it houses thousands of Buddha images in all shapes and sizes, as well as a cloister, a library, and is still used as a monastery.

The next day we negotiated what we thought was a fair price with a tuk tuk driver and visited Xien Khuan Buddha park located 25 kilometers outside Vientiane. This peaceful garden (we arrived before the crowds did) displays over 200 Hindu and Buddhist concrete sculptures. The most remarkable of them was the huge reclining Buddha surrounded by colorful dragonflies, and the strange concrete pumpkin in which we were able to climb up trough narrow stairs, for a nice overview of the park.

Before finishing the trip in the capital we visited the COPE project were we were confronted with the sad story that most of the world has not heard enough about: The Secret War that the United States waged against the North Vietnamese and communism in the region and under which the Lao border with Vietnam (the Ho Chi Minh trail) was bombed for many years.

Because of these bombardments many parts of the country were devastated, many people were misplaced and thousands were killed. Laos has the questionable honour of being the most heavily bombarded country in history. Of course not all the bombs that were dropped exploded, and the Laotian soil ended up infested with millions of UXO (Unexploded ordenance), responsible for many more deaths and mutilations even now when the war has ended more than 30 years ago. This is also one of the key factors for the slow development and poverty in the country. At the current pace of clearing all areas Laos will only be bomb free in about 100 years...

This visit and the experience of seeing this reality only reinforced our perception of the Lao People, for whom we only feel admiration and respect. We find unbelieveable how welcoming and forgiving they are, no matter their painful past and their difficult present they stole our hearts with thousands of genuine smiles, in a country were there are no filthy rich and terribly poor, a place where everyone is the same.

And like that we were more eager to see more of this magnificent country, the south appeared in our itinerary and on a comfortable nigthbus we travelled for 8 hours to Savannakhet, were we arrived at 4 in the morning. Of course being so early it was not possible to knock on the guesthouse door, so we had to wait in the street until daylight, but during this time we saw the first colors of the day appear in the sky, while some monks were collecting alms and a group of young kids were running excitedly to an early soccer game.

After a well deserved nap and a greasy omelette we wandered around the third largest city of Laos, but there was not much if anything to see. We stumbled upon Wat Sainyaphum, were we sat under the trees for a little rest. Meanwhile a group of locals were having their saturday English lesson, were we were invited to participate by the teacher. It was a very nice experience to teach them how to improve and practice their English, while answering some personal questions, and showing with the Point it book where we came from or how things looked like back home. We took the opportunity to express our nice feelings towards their country and even apologized in the name of the tourist that do not respect their customs.

Next morning, next destination: Pakse, and more than 200 kilometers to conquer on board of a local bus, in which our bags were stacked on the roof next to motorcycles and household goods. Greedly enough we chose the chairs in the middle of the bus because they seemed to have a lot of leg space for Jonny, even when having huge bags of garlic cloves under our seats. In fact all the seats had bags of garlic under them so the bus and its passengers would be vampire proof for at least a week.

The more we drove the less space we had and the more people that were put on the bus. The space in front of us, between us and next to us, as well as every empty centimeter were filled with plastic chairs in which locals sat very uncomfortable sometimes sharing one but without complaining. Just when you thought no one could fit anymore five people got on the bus, one of which was carrying two chickens.

At one of the multiple stops many street vendors filled the few remaining spaces and offered the travelers all sorts of products: fired (not fried)chicken, boiled eggs, fried crickets, steamed corn, sticky rice, among others.

But even the warmth and the long 5 hours journey, and how horrible this bus ride might sound, we must confess that we really enjoyed it and like the locals we took it easy. Here we also meet a young Laotian that spoke very good English and who saved us from taking an unnecessary tuk tuk when we arrived in the city.

After a short walk downtown we found a good hotel, and met Aisha, a young Korean girl, that became a fun companion during this part of the trip. Pakse welcomed us with some rain, that felt like a refreshing pause to the intense heat we have been experiencing.

We tried to hire a motorbike to visit the nice surroundinngs but our lack of experience gave us an unsafe feeling, so we decided not to rent one and establish our own travel agency.... the goal was to visit Wat Pho Champasak, the only Khmer ruins located outside Cambodia. But without a motorbike the only option to reach the place was by a tour company, or by tuk tuk. The first option was quiet expensive, and the second was good only if we could find 4 more people to go with us.

With Aisha as our secretary and Jonny as the Manager and Publicist we started our visits to the bars and guesthouses in Pakse in search for more victims. We also negotiated prices with Tuk Tuk drivers and ended up having a cheaper deal, but we were only four people. The morning of our trip we talked with a French guy, who ended up joining us with a Swiss lady, and just before we left a German couple that we tried to persuade the day before also showed up... Halleluyah an international group and a great deal for everyone.

The way to the temple complex was lots of fun, nice scenery, warm breeze and a fun group of people. Together we crossed the Mekong by ferry.

The scenery was stunning, the climbing up the hill was rewarding, and nice under the shy shadow of many Frangipani threes.

On top of the hill we were able to appreciate the ruins and the nice details carved in the stones, as well as the great view over the Champasak valley.

To close our visit to Pakse we sat down next to the Mekong and were able to enjoy our very first nice sunset.... filled with energy and nice experiences we went back to the hotel and packed for our last Lao destination: Si Pan Don or the four thousand islands.

This archipelago of small islands is the top destination in Laos, a rewarding trip, for its natural beauty and for being home to the rare and shy Irrawadi dolphins.

From the many islands we chosed Don Khon, were the lack of constant electricity (only available from 6 till 11 pm) keeps the masses away and contributes to the quietness. Pan's guesthouse is our home in paradise, and for only 13 USD we got just what we needed: a spotless river view bungalow with a comfortable bed decorated with a mosquito net which gave it a romantic touch and a lovely hammock veranda, surrounded by palm threes and playful children.

A walk over the dirt pathways brought us to a group of water buffalos chilling out in a puddle whilst their backs were being cleaned by herons. The next day we rented bikes and after being completely shaken by the everything but smooth paths we reached the stunning river beach. There we walked over huge boulders and melted under the midday sun.

Later on we reached the most amazing place, the magnificent and gigantic Tat Somphamit waterfalls... no words can describe this place, it was simply unbelievable. We tough they were going to be a small place to swim, but there we were like little ants next to an elephant, contemplating the magnificence and the power of mother nature.

Later that day we rented a boat, together with a Dutch couple, to test our luck and see if we would be able to spot some dolphins in the distance which we did. We were able to see their backs come out of water and hear them breathing and meanwhile nature also gave us the chance to enjoy our beer Lao whilst seeing the sun going down over the rocks, while a group of birds was decorating the sky for us. Magnificent!

At the other side of the river we found Don Det, a bigger island with a different atmosphere, many backpackers, internet cafes and more movement, but there we found a pearl, the bakkery of an Australian guy serving delicious cakes and lemon juice, with a view over the river, refreshing, rewarding and a perfect way to regain all the calories lost during the walk in the sun

Our last night in Laos (snif) we visited a local festival, were we saw the Laotian way of parting, and a group of kids enjoying a man powered merry go round. Before packing we made a short walk in the darkness to the bridge that connects the islands and we sat there looking at the many stars, while taking our last picture in beautiful Lao.

There we think of our time here, and of the nice people we have come in contact with, Paul the Canadian guy married with a Cambodian woman, the Australian couple that inspired us to come here and to visit Vietnam, our friendly Korean friend and the German ex couple Lut and Mathias with whom we had the trip to Champasak, and the Dutch couple that shared the dolphins sunset experience.

But the locals are also wort to mention, the landlady in Luang Namtha, our trekking guides, the Akha people, and the ones we talked to during the long bus rides, all great people that helped us a lot with our understanding of the Lao culture and our pronunciation on the few words in Lao, for all of them a big Khawp jai.

It is now time to say good bye to the land of Frangipani trees, limestone mountains, emerald green waters, buffalos and wild pigs, farewell to the kingdom of resourceful and forgiving people, good bye to tasty fruits shakes, delicious beer lao and sticky rice.

With nostalgia and gratefulness we can say that Laos fulfilled and even exceeded all our expectations, from the countries in our itinerary this was the one we heard most adjectives about and they were not wrong. It is an absolutely magical place.

On the boat that will bring us to land and to the Cambodian border we can't help to wonder in fear how Laos will look in 10 years time from now. Hopefully development will still let the Laotians be the amazing people they are today.