Journey through mountains

The journey to Vinh started six a.m. In Phonsavanh and the weather was the coldest so far on the whole trip. We had not enough clothes to make the tuk tuk ride to the bus station comfortable. Also, yesterda

y night had been a little long because we ended up drinking with the local teenagers in a local night club. When we got to the bus it was even colder and for the whole way to the border it didn't get any better. We were a little unsure about our border crossing because we had no visa and had read that the particular crossing point had a reputation of numerous rip-offs and even abandoning people into the mountains with no possibility to negotiate. Only two foreigners were on the bus with us, a Chinese boy and a German girl. With the boy, we ended up traveling all the way to Hoi An.

The scenery was amazing! The most beautiful and outragous mountains I have ever seen were everywhere and the 6 hour drive felt like 15 min. I couldn't manage to capture anything nice on camera and decided not to worry about photographing. It was surely amazing! On the way was also numerous mountain villages and the local tribes who lived in total silence in the middle of nowhere.

On the border of Laos and Vietnam the trouble was already waiting for us. Having no visa to Vietnam the Lao officer refused to give us an exit stamp. When we were asking about the demanded actions he said with an absolute blank face: ”You need to go ask Vietnam if it's ok to enter”. Being a little confused we marched to the Vietnam side of the border, which was some 200 meters from Laos side, and asked the officers if it was ok for us to enter the country. They said it was ok and started going through our passports for further bureucracy. In a while, all the others came also to the border and gave their passports to the officers. When noticing there wasn't the Lao exit stamp they said we should get it first. Then, we ran back to the Lao side and needed to wake up the leading officer. Then, after going back to Vietnam side we finally made it to the country. Others in the bus were a little anxious because they had to wait a long time.

We made it to Vinh about seven o'clock and started inquiring possible places to sleep. We soon found out it would be wisest to head directly to Hoi An with a night bus. The next morning, having traveled twenty four hours non-stop, we arrived to Danang where it was still an hour to Hoi An. In the night, sleeping was welcome and also the Vietnamese cuisine which is amazing!

Dodging UXOs in Phonsavanh

Vientiane was great and so much traveling has been on the way to here in Saigon that it's hard to remember all the places we've been. For the past few days, staying still and concentrating on the writing has been difficult as here's so much to do and so much places to visit. The actual story goes as back as Vientiane where we took a bus, a sleeper night bus that was for the first time an actual sleeper bus with horizontal beds, to Phonsavanh.

Phonsavanh was a place not so well known in the travel books since there's nothing to do in there. For me, the main inspiration to go there was the history of war which was still present, maybe most in the whole Laos. Phonsavanh was among the most heavily bombed areas by the Americans during the war and it's said that a planeload of bombs was dropped there every eight minutes for the total of nine years between 1964-1973. There's still a huge amount of UXO in the area and while the most of them was targeted in flat areas suiting best for agriculture and farming the local people are the most poor in the whole country and unable to develop or expand their fields. Most live in self sustainable economies and have food for only eight months in a year without even talking about selling some and getting income.

The local vibe was very peaceful and quiet and the urban area consisted only of one main road with some shops and restaurants on the side. A big market located a little off from the main road and the rest was pretty rural. The first day we arrived in the morning and grabbed some coffee and breakfast. It shook us by a surprise that the temperature was freezing at six a.m. because of the altitude of the place and wearing only shorts and t-shirts we were not well prepared for that. Some locals wearing two jackets gave us weird looks. After getting a cheap room we freshed up and decided to blend in to the local people. That was actually easier done than said!

After finding a proper shop to buy some Asian style breathing masks with images of teddy bears we were ready to go. We rented a dirt bike and headed to the Plain of jars. We actually never found the place but still had an amazing adventure. Driving was so much fun for a long time and with a proper bike! We ended up in this local family's house where they also had a kiosk and saw this old man looking some weird sport from the tv. The game is called katò or something like that and it's a combination of soccer and badminton. Very fascinating and typical in Southeast Asia.

Then, driving a little farther and getting lost on the deserted dirt roads in the middle of nowhere we finally headed back to the city. I went to drive a little more in the more interesting nature after the lunch but didn't had the courage to exit the known paths because of the numerus UXO warnings.

The next day we booked the tickets to Vinh in Vietnam and enjoyed some French wine in a park in the middle of an intersection, the custom well known in Finland also. Then, after visiting the MAG and other information centers about UXO and donating some money to the victims the city was pretty much seen. It was time to head to the fascinating Vietnam!

Vientiane love

Vientiane, the capital of the Lao people's democratic republic, was about to be left out of our trip completely but with the rest of our company traveling there we decided to spend a night there also. We were a little worried about our border crossing to Vietnam, particularly whether or not we would need a visa there. Everybody said that Finnish citizens can stay there for 15 days without a visa but none of the Lao people we asked haven't ever heard about this. After asking from the Vietnamese embassy in Vientiane we were sure that it was ok to enter the country without a visa.

I was very interested about the city so I was compelled to wake up at six a.m. In reality I got up at eight but the morning was still very beautiful and fresh maybe because of the geographical location of the place. Also, I was eager to see the architecture which is said to be the most well preserved from the colonial era in the whole Indochina. Everything was so true!

On the morning I was thinking to rent a bike but after a little wandering I forgot the whole thing. There was some very unique book shops as well as parisian styled cafés. First I was just going to check out some handicraft shops but then I got carried away and found myself sipping french roast coffee in a small café inside some local family's living room. Everything was so beautiful! I was totally hysterical and just took pictures mouth open. My kind of place where I could move in any day!

The real beauty of the city, I think, is the French charm without the traffic, pollution, tourists and all of the side products of the things mentioned. The houses are in a pretty bad condition but look good because of that. The people have no rush anywhere and they are genuinely interested of you. In my opinion, this makes a perfect city. You would think it's not even a city but a little village where everything works as easily as in cities. Great place! And one huge thing of course, the whole city don't have a shopping mall at all! Everything can be found in little private-owned shops locally made!

What more can I say! With some lovely mental images of the world's most beautiful urban place we left on the same night by a sleeping bus to Phonsavanh but that's a completely other story...

 

Caving in Laos

From Don det we booked boat tickets to the mainland and bus tickets as far as to Savannakhet. Meeting some wonderful people and maybe even falling in love on the way there the trip was spectacular.

We met a very nice couple from Israel who were also going to the same direction as us. While talking with them how this was one more twelve-hour bus ride to us they inquired us why we were going to Savannakhet. With nothing to answer we changed our minds, and tickets also, on the way and headed to Tha Khaek with them. 

When arriving late to some new and a strange city it's always nice to start searching accommodation and food, the basic essentials for staying alive. Arriving to Tha Khaek we got the accomodation but not food as the whole town, our guesthouse's receptionist included, was already sleeping. Then, not being eaten in twelve hours, there was nothing else to do than to join other people who were spending the night on the guesthouse's lobby bar. Good thing we did because we got in this pre-organized trip to Kong Lo -cave with three more Israeli girls and a Russian couple. We also made the price a little lower for them and also negotiated a ride to Vientiane after the cave visit.

The next morning when we left the guesthouse very early we didn't have any Lao money left so we went to exchange some more. During this, I somehow lost my cell phone and didn't find it even thought we searched it for over an hour. I even checked the security cameras in the money exchange place and the guesthouse c.s.i.-style but still no phone anywhere! Being a little sad about all the photos and especially videos we continued the journey to the caves because we still had a long day ahead of us.

The scenery in the cave was out of this world and it was impossible to capture that on the photos, you have to go to see it yourself! The cave was not enterable without a guide and our guide was very energetic and even without the same language we get along perfectly! There was also a driver with a little riverbaot what somebody, who have been to Mekong region, recognices for sure. First of all it was a little scary because I had been reading there would be fist-sized spiders and other wild things. The cave was 7,5km long and it took about an hour to go through it. We also got to walk some little shores of sand inside it while in other parts it was totally dark and we could only hear the bats in the ceiling, some parts 100 meters tall.

Coming back we headed to Vientiane and found a very cheap youth guesthouse to stay the night. More about Vientiane and other love connections on the next episode!

Border crossings and islands

From Phnom Penh we booked bus tickets as far as we could because staying still had taken over for the last week and we were aching to get somewhere far finally. With our lovely guesthouse host Ma we got the tickets to Stung Treng, sleepy little city 64 kilometers south from the border of Laos on the Cambordian side. On the way we met a Finnish guy who had been traveling

several months in Southeast Asia.

Having been told that the bus trip was about to take only five hours we were shocked when finding out that the actual duration was twelve hours. I knew that the bus companies exagerrate the duration a little but that was something else. Because the bus left seven o'clock we had no time to eat anything before the departure. Also, Olli still suffered with some diarrhea symptoms on the bus terminal and also threw up just on the beginning of the journey. It was bound to be legendary for sure. Luckily the bus had no a/c so it wasn't cold in there like usually in asian, especially v.i.p., buses. The journey went fast while reading and listening to music and also watching the awesome scenery.

It was already night when we arrived to Stung Treng and we were very hungry. Trying to find any restaurant or more clearly, anything, in this very small city we accidentally walked straight into a local wedding after party. With our backpacks on and food buzzing in our eyes we soon managed to exit and find a relatively cheap accomodation. Price was seven USD for a double room with hotel standards and being the only place to sleep in the city we took it. Then, after a huge meal sleeping was more than welcome.

The next morning our bus to the border was about to leave eight a.m. It came 9.30. While drinking beer for breakfast time went by surprisingly fast. In bus we were charged some extra, which is quite common in these countries' land borders, but this time with style. The driver told us straight away that the visa would cost 5 USD more than it says in the official info and we also had to pay an extra fee for two stamps in our passports, exiting Cambodia and entering Laos, othervise he wouldn't let us inside the bus. After a little negotiation, we were the only ones who knew anything about the actual prices on the bus, and being a little pissed off we finally agreed to co-operate even though knowing into who's pockets the money will finally go. Rest of the trip went very smoothly and we arrived in Laos maybe three hours after leaving Stung Treng.

Very close to the border on Laos' side locates an area of the Mekong river where the depth decreases drastically. On the dry season there's a formation called Four thousand islands which in the dryest years consists of, surprise, four thousand islands. We headed to the main island, Don det, where the atmosphere couldn't been more chilled out. Even though many Westerners had their businesses on the island it was far from a typical traveller hell. Everybody were very relaxed and the weather was nice. We managed to bargain a good deal in a form of a two-people bungalow for 7 EUR per night. Not that bad with an own veranda and a hammock ready to use! There was also many good restaurants where we got to know to Laos' awesome food culture as well as Beerlao.

We spent a couple of days there just relaxing. On the last night we also made a huge effort on our wine bottle that we had carried all the way from Bangkok. We had planned to consume it on the new year's eve but, unfortunately, we were not feeling so wine-minded then. Now, with our new lovely wine expert friends from Chile, we finished our travel companion with this beautiful bottle of Kaiken malbec, my favorite wine. After that it was once again a good feeling to leave because staying still, at least for me, is very hard by nature.