Laos - Apocalypse Now Revisited

4 hours ago

7 min read

We set off on another slow 180km drive on lousy roads towards Vang Vieng. We thought when we left route 13 to go on a newer route 4 over the mountains it might improve - it didn't.

We stopped at a cafe at the top of the pass for a quick cup of coffee and a misty view of what should have been a 9km view. Our brakes were smoking on the way down.

As we reached the outskirts of Vang Vieng the road was still a dusty potholed mess when we thought it might improve as we approached the large tourist centre.

We’d booked a hotel with parking on the edge of the centre - it became clear we wouldn’t fit in yet again after giving them our dimensions. Colin said it was a lucky escape as the place looked pretty grotty.

We drove into the centre as the light was fading and eventually spotted a hotel with a big parking area. I had a look at the rooms - they were pretty tired (like us) but for £13 a night we thought ‘what the heck’.

We had a walk to the centre - it definitely lacks charm here after Luang Prabang. We had a drink in Gary’s Irish Bar and had a flash of Deja-vu. We’d been in here on NYE 2009. Our other lasting memory was of all the young backpackers drinking buckets of cocktails with straws, then during the day they were all to be seen sat staring at big screens watching reruns of Friends. There were no signs of this crowd now - we guess the methanol poisoning incidents in the last few years put tourists off drinking unknown spirits.

We had dinner at a popular Thai restaurant across the road from the Irish bar where the food was tasty, then back to the hotel where we had an uncomfortable night with mattress springs digging in our backsides.

We weren’t feeling the love for this place but, while the town is a bit of a hole, the limestone karst scenery around it is pretty stunning and we had two days to explore it. The view from our hotel room of a building site was delightful.

The first day we booked a kayak trip down the river. We wanted to do an afternoon trip when the light should be nice. We were driven a few kms upstream and were thrown life jackets that were too big and given our paddles then were pointed to a kayak - so much for the H&S briefing. With the current we didn’t have to paddle too much - there were even some fast sections with white water. We were reminded of the tubing trip we did here 17 years ago which we described as feeling like we were in Apocalypse Now with music blaring out and people on the bank throwing beers out to us on string with a bag to put the money in. It wasn’t quite as gaudy as we remember, but it wasn’t serene either. We hadn’t been told where to get out so we ended up going past it and had a hard time paddling back up stream to get back there.

After getting dried off and changed we enjoyed a very-tasty Indian curry that evening.

The second day we got ourselves up early to cycle around the karst scenery and paddy fields before it got too hot. We did a 24 mile route which was lovely - the first time out on our gravel bikes since Kazakhstan. There are at least 9 Blue Lagoon pools on the route - they all looked man made and tacky so we gave them a miss.

On the way back into town we stopped for brunch at a great little cafe - I had my first bacon butty of the trip - perfectly crispy proper bacon - heaven! Maybe Vang Vieng isn’t so bad after all….

We had our laundry done for the princely sum of £2.50 in the afternoon, then we had our last evening out in the town. We went for a drink in a restaurant that said it had good sunset views - it was a bit of a stretch, but we did see 4 hot air balloons and some microlight in the distance.

After dinner at a basic Laos restaurant we ended up back in Gary's Irish bar. The owner was there and was going round chatting to everyone, as the Irish do so well. He said he was originally from Kerry and had been here 18 years - he got very excited when we told him we’d been in this bar 17 years ago.

The following day we set off south towards the capital Vientiane, but decided it was time to have some quality time with Lolly even if it meant hot sweaty nights with no air-con.

We got on the only toll express road in the country - it was obviously built by the Chinese as suddenly we were on a smooth road with familiar looking signs. The road only currently runs between Vang Vieng and Vientiane. Colin relished every one of the 40kms we were on it.

We peeled off to head to the Nam Ngum Reservoir which is the largest lake in Laos and has been made into a recreational area. The reservoir was created in 1971 by damming the Nam Ngum River and is an important source of hydroelectric power for Laos. We called in at the recreation area to see what was there - a few restaurants with large boats for tour groups which all seemed to have music blaring out of them. There was a parade of largely empty shop units, although we spotted a coffee shop in the middle.

A guy kept offering to take us out in his boat, but the price was way off what we’d want to pay. We had a seafood salad in one of the restaurants that was so spicy we couldn’t feel our tongues when we left. We drove up the road to an iOverlander spot overlooking the reservoir where we didn’t get too savaged by mossies and had a peaceful, if hot night in Lolly - we definitley need better quieter fans.

The next day we set off on another 24 mile bike ride. It was already in the 30’s and very humid as we set off. Within a couple of kms we had an unwelcome 12% climb that went on and on. The route was pleasant but the scenery didn't wow us. We called in at a Science and Botany Park, but we couldn’t work out what it was meant to be - maybe an educational centre or place for star-gazing. The girl in the cafe was unable to serve us coffee, but gave us free iced water which was welcome. We had a bizarre section where we cycled on a perfectly smooth dual carriageway with no cars/trucks on it for several kilometres, with just the odd motorcycle. Colin would have given his right arm to drive Lolly on such a good road in Laos. To cycle on it was just a bit boring.

We called in at the recreation area to see if we could get a better deal on the boat trip. He claimed he couldn’t better it, but in the end we got a 2 hour trip for around the cost he’d said he’d do a one hour trip.

We went back late afternoon and had a wonderful 2 hours chugging slowly around the islands in the reservoir. We stopped for a swim in the warm water and the light was perfect.

We woke to a nice sunrise the following morning.

Now on to the capital Vientiane. We could have taken the easy route back to the toll road, but decided ‘we’re not in a rush, we’ll go the scenic route’. Not a bad decision, but it was slow. The highlight was taking Lolly on a ferry across a river - we were relieved she fitted and didn’t sink it.

We had our usual issue finding a hotel in Vientiane that had parking where Lolly would fit. After several failed attempts we parked her outside a very nice boutique hotel - a bit pricier than we hoped, but very comfortable with a pool and walking distance to the Mekong, the night market and the food night market.

For a capital city there isn't a lot to visit in Vientiane, but we enjoyed two days there visiting the main sites. We had ended the cycling part of our holiday in Laos in 2009 here, when we caught an overnight sleeper train to Bangkok, but we couldn't remember much about it other than there are buildings that show the city's French colonial past, from the late 19th century until its independence in 1953.

We visited the Cope Visitor Centre where they explain the continuing impact of unexploded bombs from the Vietnam War era and their work helping survivors. COPE stands for the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise and is a not for profit organisation working to ensure that people with disabilities and UXO survivors can access rehabilition services. Laos is the most heavily bombed country per capital in the world and the statistics for adults and children who have been killed or maimed when farming or playing is shocking. Between 1964 and 1973 the US dropped over two million tons of bombs on Laos in 580 bombing missions. About 270 million cluster bomblets were dropped, with an estimated 10-30% that failed to detonate. This equates to an estimated 27 to 81 million unexpolded cluster bombs scattered across the country. Every day throughout Laos over 5,000 people are involved in survey and clearance work to try and clear these unexploded bombs. The figures are staggering. On our trip to Laos in 2009 we remember coming across work that MAG (the Mine Advisory Group) were doing to make areas safe.

Went to the Pha What Luang in the late afternoon for the lovely light on the golden Buddhist stupa and the reclining Buddha. The 45m high golden stupa is the country's national symbol.

We had a walk along the Mekong at sunset where we were looking straight across at Thailand. The two countries are connected by the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge. Sadly we can't take Lolly across into Thailand as they do not allow motorhomes over 3.5 tons into the country.

While we were in Vientiane Colin went to a football match at the National Stadium of two of the top sides in there 1st Division which wasn’t quite the epic match he’d hoped for - he was one of around 100 spectators and complained the concrete steps he had to sit on were so hot he literally burnt his bottom. 😳

We had some good food in the food night market (although the menu we were given at once place didn't have us salavating). We also had a wander around the large night market near the Mekong where I went mad and splashed out on a new watch for £2.50 - amazingly several weeks later it is still working !