March 2, 2010 – Day 432 – Vientiane, Laos

With some early morning negotiation powers we arranged a visa pick up, a stop at the concrete monster called Victory Gate, and then back to where we started for 30,000 Kip/pp. Of course we had to insist that we would only take 5 minutes at the embassy and 10 minutes at Victory Gate, which we did at both places. We scurried up the 7 stories of Victory Gate and back down in record time, much to our tuk tuk driver’s pleasure. Easy money for him, power sightseeing for us.

Victory gate

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March 1, 2010 – Day 431 – Vientiane, Laos

In the back of a tuk tuk we bounced and sped out of Vientiane to Buddha Park. About 26 km outside the city is a small park by the Mekong filled with numerous different styles of Buddha statues.

Budda feeling a bit grey

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February 25-28, 2010 – Day 427-430 – Vientiane, Laos

Very little to tell of these last several days. Funny, this whole traveling around the world thing requires lots of moving around. We took another awful all day bus from Luang Prabang to Vientiane and spent the next couple of days hanging out, walking around the city, and just generally waiting on our Vietnamese visa coming in another couple days.

Warning!

Travel Tip: – Vietnamese Visa in Vientiane, Laos

In case you are heading Vietnam from Laos, you can easily apply for your visa at the Vietnam Embassy, nearby Victory Gate. The application process took maybe 10 minutes to fill out the paper, turn it in, and leave again. From the riverside we caught a tuk tuk to the embassy for 10,000 Kip/pp. The visa (for Americans) cost $45 or 405,000 Kip (about $46-47 depending on the current exchange rate).

February 24, 2010 – Day 426 – Luang Prabang, Laos

At the last minute we decided to jump on a minibus heading for the Khuangsi Waterfall, about 30km outside Luang Prabang. The waterfall is actually a series of different size pools with ice cold, aqua blue water in the middle of the woods.

Backflip into the pool

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February 23, 2010 – Day 425 – Luang Prabang, Laos

We walked to the top of Phousi Hill, the site of a very old wat that looks over the city. It was a nice breezy view—we could even see the puny airport from the top! It’s been pretty hot in Luang Prabang and it was a welcome chance to get out of the heat for a bit. We were so winded for climbing a few stairs that we had to go repair to our room to watch HBO. (What’s that you say? Burned out? Nooooo, of course not!)

Vew over the city

Stupa at the top

February 22, 2010 – Day 424 – Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang is a whirling haven of tourists. All kinds come here and plague this unremarkable town. But regardless, there is a pretty awesome night market here because of them. Right around sunset, you can buy all manner of Lao souvenirs.

Fabric in the night market

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February 20-21, 2010 – Day 422-423 – Luang Nam Tha to Luang Prabang, Laos

Two travel days right in a row. Yuck! We just can’t seem to sit still! On the way from Muang Sing to Luang Nam Tha, we were stuffed into an 11 passenger van that was actually transporting 16 passengers. Saben’s seat was a fold down metal bar and Lin’s was some random part of the van behind the front reclined-passenger seat, facing the other 15 passengers.

Girl waiting at the bus stop

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February 19, 2010 – Day 421 – Muang Sing, Laos

After a soggy breakfast of foul-tasting eggs, we walked to the market. This time of year there isn’t much to it—a few clothing and household good vendors, a few fruit sellers, and a couple of random-pieces-of-meat salesmen.

Not much in the market

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February 18, 2010 – Day 420 – Muang Sing, Laos

Travel within Laos is an interesting experience. From the border town, we took a speedy but surprisingly cautious mini bus to Luang Nam Tha, about 4 hours north into the mountains. The road started off surprisingly good. It was paved and almost entirely free of pot holes or random missing sections. The farther we drove the worse the road became.

Down town Nam tha, Laos

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February 17, 2010 – Day 419 – Huaxy Xai, Laos

Up at 6:45AM. No breakfast. Tuk tuk to bus station, bus to Chiang Khong. No lunch. Crossed border on foot and boat ferried us across the gentle shallow river. Two minutes later, we bought our Laos visas for US$35 each and were zipping out of immigration. Uphill 20 seconds walking and we are officially “in town.” Welcome to Huaxy Xai, Laos side of the border with Chiang Khong (Thailand).

Crossing the Mekong into Laos