Showing posts with label Laos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Laos. Show all posts

25 Jul - 27 Jul 2010 Vientiane

Southeast Asia
Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos)
Vientiane
Soukchaleun Guest House +85621218723
Adequate double room with private balcony for LAK 90,000.- or US$ 11.- per night.


Click below for an interactive road map of the Soukchaleun Guest House in Vientiane and for directions:
N 17° 57.92' E 102° 36.34'










Rushing through Vientiane’s compact city centre with its baffling pretensions to Frenchness (spongy baguettes, slimy cheeses and sour red wines), wat-hopping the main temples along Setthathilat Road (our favourites: Wat Mixay, Wat Sisaket and Wat Simuang where hundreds of Buddhist devotees bring their offerings to make merit on the first day of the Buddhist Lent, learning that the accumulation of merit is paramount to every Theravada Buddhist’s spiritual strategy and a way to dilute the destructive effects of any sin that may have been accrued by bad deeds) and spotting some typically Southeast Asian styles of riding a motorbike: (i) if it rains you drive with an open umbrella in your left hand in order to protect your face from becoming wet, (ii) if the bike breaks down you can easily find another biker who will push you and your bike, with his right foot connected to your bike’s left foot peg, to the nearest workshop, and (iii) if you can't afford a car you can neatly fit your three children behind one another into the gap between your pillion-riding wife and yourself and look forward to the next addition to your family which will find his or her place right in front of you...
“There is a delicate ridge one must ride between fear and reason on a motorcycle - lean too far in either direction and there will be consequences.”


Saying our goodbyes to rather messy French Indochina, flying uneventfully with Air Asia (“Now Everyone Can Fly”) in an Airbus A 320-200 from Vientiane's Wattay International Airport back into the rather orderly British Commonwealth, to Kuala Lumpur’s modern KLIA-LCCT Sepang, for US$ 15.- per person, one way and all inclusive, and being issued with another 90-day-visit pass for a “social visit” to Malaysia on arrival, free of any charge; once again: "Selamat pagi, Malaysia!", a fascinating mix of the modern world and a developing nation.
Click below for more blog posts about Asia's fascinating capital cities
01 Apr - 09 Apr 2015 Delhi
21 Oct - 28 Oct 2014 Kathmandu

Visit the Konni & Matt Online Albums and order high-res travel photos
Konni & Matt Travel Photos


Recommended travel books - click below for your Amazon order from Germany:


For Amazon books from the United States, please click here
For Amazon books from Canada, please click here
For Amazon books from the United Kingdom, please click here
Destination:

15 Jul - 25 Jul 2010 Louangphabang


Southeast Asia
Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos)
Louangphabang
Philaylack Villa +85671253025 philaylackvilla@yahoo.com
Spacious and clean double room (no. 201) with large private balcony for only LAK 80,000.- or US$ 9.75 per night. Friendly and helpful staff.


Click below for an interactive road map of the Philaylack Villa in Louangphabang, which we would highly recommend, and for directions:
N 19° 53.33' E 102° 07.89'









Exploring the well-oiled tourist heaven and UNESCO World Heritage City of Louang Phabang where the prices for goods and services are generally two to three times higher and the female populace is two to three times fatter than anywhere else in this lovely country, a town which conjures up nostalgic daydreams of a bewildering and exotic Laos: the wonderful patchwork of restored traditional Lao houses, many subtle hints of European architecture (the reminders of when Laos was part of the French colony of Indochina), plenty of golden-roofed temples aka wats, decorated with mosaics and murals about the Buddha's life, and well-behaved lines of saffron-robed boy-monks trudging under swaying palms through the morning mist (...any undesirable thoughts about paedophilia and multi-level marketing are swept under the carpet; after all, this is the noble philosophy of Buddhism, one of the most revered para-religious value systems among neurotic Westerners).



Climbing up the Sacred Hill aka Phou Si (entrance: LAK 20,000.- per foreigner), the geographical and spiritual centre of Louang Phabang, and enjoying stunning views of the bustling city and the shimmering rivers (Mekong River and Nam Khan River), against the backdrop of jungle-clad mysterious mountains.



Ticking off one temple after the other (our favourites: Wat Pha Mahatthat, Wat That Louang, Wat Manolom, Wat Xiang Thong, Wat Visoun) during our morning/afternoon strolls through Louang Phabang and noticing interesting details: (i) a stairway flanked by some impressive and undulating seven-headed naga spewing from the mouths of snaggle-toothed makara at Wat Pha Mahatthat, (ii) comic-like interior murals with Chinese, Persian and European characters at Wat Pa Houak and (iii) an ornate boat shed housing the monastery’s two longboats, used in the annual boat race festival at Wat Saen.



Getting our muscles kneaded and our joints flexed during a Lao full-body massage (60 min for LAK 40,000.- or US$ 5.- per person) which owes more to Chinese than to Thai schools and applies medicated balms which are rubbed into the skin, and realising (Matt only) that a Lao foot massage (60 min for LAK 40,000.- or US$ 5.- per person) is a strictly below-the-knees affair (as opposed to a happily ending Thai foot massage).

“Happy endings are best achieved by keeping the right doors locked.”

Laundering our dirty linen for LAK 8,000.- or US$ 1.- per kg, washed and dried, in our friendly Philaylack Villa guest house.
Taking an adventurous government express bus and roller-coastering for grueling 15 long hours through some of Laos’ most stunning scenery (including a few road-blocking landslides, caused by the onset of heavy monsoonal rains, which have to be removed by work gangs of villagers before our bus can move on) along the mountainous old Royal Road aka Route 13 from Luang Phabang to Vientiane's Khoua Din Bus Station (c. 390 km, 15 hours, LAK 120,000.- or US$ 14.70 per person, including the pick-up from our guest house), giving Vang Vieng a wide berth, thus arriving slightly jarred at Vientiane which looked more like a rambling collection of numerous villages, dotted with a few grandiose monuments, than the capital city of Laos.


Click below for more blog posts about interesting Buddhist temples 
08 Feb 2014 Kaohsiung (Taiwan): Fo Guang Shan
22 May - 04 Jun 2013 Seoul (Korea): Bong-eun-sa Temple
18 Jun - 23 Jun 2013 Kyoto (Japan): Chion-in Temple
26 Apr - 29 Apr 2013 Prachuap Khiri Khan (Thailand): Wat Thammikaram
25 Oct - 09 Nov 2010 Unawatuna (Sri Lanka): Peace Pagoda

 Click below for a summary of this year's travels
2010 Map Konni & Matt

 Visit the Konni & Matt Online Albums and order high-res travel photos
Konni & Matt Travel Photos


Recommended books - click below for your Amazon order from Germany:


For Amazon bargains from the United States, please click here
For Amazon bargains from Canada, please click here
For Amazon bargains from the United Kingdom, please click here
Destination:
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