From the North to the South……(The North)

Had a two week break from 1/7 - 14/7, travelled from Northern Laos to Southern Laos. I have heard much about Northern Laos, and didnt expect the Southern Laos is so different from the North.... an interesting trip...a few unforgettable experiences...

 

1) Udon Thani - Vientiane

Hmm...taking things for granted, we thought the mini van we took at Nong Kai will wait for us to clear Laos custom and bring us right into VT ... So we happily left our luggage on the van. Soon we realised, NO! The van will leave once its filled! Argghh, dont tell me I am going to lose my luggage even before my actual journey begin?

Phew, luckily we didnt take long to clear custom and manage to get on the same van... Ha ha...

 

Note: if you take the UTN - VT direct bus (80B) at Udon Thani bus station 1, you can leave the luggage on the bus, safe! And you will arrive at VT's bus station situated near the morning market. But if you are taking the van (15B) at Nong Kai bus staion, it only cross the border, so you have to bring your luggage with you, after which, you have to pay 250B to VT town centre, or 300B to the bus station.

 

2) Luang Prabang - Gate crashers

We didnt know that we need to pay entrance fees at Phu Si Hill. So when a woman asked us to pay 20k kips, we were stone for awhile. Happened that a Chinese lady came along with her boyfriend, she told us dont have to pay, as she paid last time but no receipt was given. So, we walked up to the hill with her.. without paying a cent...

However, JM found out later that there is actually entrance fees to Phu Si Hill, but the guide book stated 10k kip only...must be due to inflation.

But, we pay $0..

The next day, we walked along Mekong River to where Wat Xieng Thong is. The entrance fees is 20k kip. We thought, without a guide, we wont get to know much about this Wat, so we intend to just shoot from outside. Just when we were walking back to town, there is this gate with cute little kids, while we were taking their pictures, we realised that its another gate to Wat Xieng Thong and its not guarded. Hmm... maybe we dont have to pay at all...Those men at the other gates are conman. We stepped in, took a few shots, the man from the other gate walked up to us, we turned back and left. Ok, now we confirmed, everywhere has to pay...

Sorry, we really didnt mean to be gate crashers...

 

3) Luang Prabang - Monks collecting alms

In Luang Prabang, Monks collecting alms in the morning has become a tourist attraction. Yes, I am a tourist so how can I miss that?

We only manage to witness the event the morning we left LP. The air was cool, the colors were vibrant, and what attracted me most was a Scottish couple who took part in the offering. Their sincere looks touched my heart, and of course became the subject of my frames...

 

4) Vang Vien – Tubing

I cant swim but would like to give tubing a try.. it looks fun! I had my life jacket on and kept asking JM: “will I die? Wat do I do if I fell into the river?” Being very helpful, JM reassured me: “ With such strong current, swimmer will also die.” Very kind of him hor?

And JM was carrying the dry bag with our cameras, I kept telling him, you can fall into the water but make sure our cameras are dry, haha…Me not evil either ya? 

Ok, I was on the tube liao, but how come my tube not moving? Hmm… when I tried to paddle… it went in all funny directions…And the water was cold! Ha ha.. the guide and JM had to come to my rescue as and when….

Sound like a stressful trip? No lah, it was fun..

During the break, JM tried the jump into the river… Looked fun too.. but nope nope… too challenging for me…