I’ve had a great few days here in Laos, it really is a beautiful country and the people are so friendly. Since leaving Chiang Mai, I have visited the strange but beautiful white temple, crossed the border into Laos, taken a 2-day slow boat voyage down the Mekong River, visited and stayed in Ban Thanoune, a traditional Lao village, we were greeted by the village elders, who performed a welcoming ceremony with chants and songs, all of the elders then tied a cotton cord around our wrists and gave us gifts and a couple of shots of their homemade spirit, typical firewater to say the least! We then spent the night sleeping in a villagers rather spartan home, which was very interesting and something to remember.
We then continued South to Luang Prabang where we stayed for 2 days, which gave me the chance to visit an organic farm where they taught us how to cultivate and use traditional ‘sticky rice’, it was great fun messing around in the paddy fields. We then visited the spectacular Kuang Si waterfall to have a swim in the beautiful blue lakes and to visit the bear rescue sanctuary in the park.
I am currently in Vang Vieng, supposedly the Lao party town, I’m using my time here to rest a bit and recharge my batteries for the next stage of the trip.
Jim's travels 