Laos Archives • Page 2 of 4 • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

August 26, 2023August 26, 2023

the new fast train from Vientiane, Laos goes to Kunming in China. It is incredibly difficult to get tickets (Lao inefficiency with China’s communist paranoid super control mentalities mixed). The result is long lines in the city to buy tickets and the only pay methods accepted are Lao resident bank account payments (no tourists can get a bank account in Laos) and a Chinese credit card. Any tourists/non-residents have to hope there is a fellow standing by the window to accept cash and then use his local Lao bank account to transfer the money to the train company. All of this is done while people stand in a long line waiting to buy tickets. Some people are taking 15 to 20 minutes to buy tickets for various reasons. Then when you get to the train station you have to show your ticket and your ID to get inside the building to wait for the train. Then when they call the train you have to stand in a line to wait to get onto the platform. Once you’re on the platform you have to stand in line at the correct train car to wait for the doors to open to board the train. It seems to me like control freak obsessive compulsive disorder – China Communist Party! This is what Lao gets for letting China pay for the train.

a stack of coffee filters sell for US$1 for quantity 10 to wholesalers

a very cold waterfall pool swim and very refreshing

kids in the neighborhood seeing their first white man in person

Didn’t know they have Korean style cheese dogs

River weed with local sausage and spicy salad

March 30, 2023March 30, 2023

Laos in February

A lunch in a countryside restaurant is a very relaxing and enjoyable experience

A beautiful sunset in Vientiane, partly due to the smog

Vientian has very few attractions, but they do have quite a few restaurants out in the suburbs made of individual huts where you can sit and relax for hours, having a lunch, drinks and enjoy with friends some local music or possibly some modern pops.

Pakse is at the corner of two Rivers, the Mekong, and another river, and has a very beautiful views

pakse is in the south and it’s famous for the entrance to the mountains to the east which are famous worldwide for coffee beans, mostly arabic, as well as beautiful scenery and some fantastic waterfalls, some with swimmable pools. Rent a motorcycle and go around this area.

This Monk from a temple near Pakse was, over 100 years ago, said to have magical powers, and thwarted some efforts by the French to subjugate him and his followers

A very simple chicken soup lunch on the farm

When you’re in Paksong you have some really beautiful views. This is coffee country

A very cold but swimmable pool below a waterfall in Paksong

Luang Prabang is a world heritage site well worth visiting

Luang Prabang is a world heritage site and it’s a very walkable town with some more distant attractions as well. It is now very accessible by train as well as plane and is probably the most sought after vacation destination in Laos.

This is not really beef. It is actually spicy red ant eggs. A very bad translation.

anyone can get a license to drive a motorcycle

March 13, 2023March 13, 2023

Luang Prabang Day 2

Luang Prabang Obama restaurant — Having a lunch where President Obama visited 7 years ago.

train ticket booth warnings — Warnings at the train ticket booth not to let your animals on the tracks and not to steal parts from the railroad

hotel bathroom provisions — After checking into our new hotel room we find they have provided plenty of toothbrushes from Vietnam

Luang Prabang improved air — The air has somewhat improved overnight due to strong winds. It’s too bad we didn’t have rain to get rid of the rest of the smog

a good dinner in Luang Prabang — Century eggs, which anti-or called horse piss eggs, with a nice spicy sauce and some vegetables

beautiful sun — Very pretty sun but because it is through the smog it just reminds me of LA in the ’60’s

March 12, 2023March 12, 2023

Laos – Vientiane and Luang Prabang

A poor farmhouse next to an extensive China funded development in Vientiane.

smog in Vang Vien — We tried to escape smog in Vientiane so went to the countryside. Even Vang Vieng was covered in smog.

Salad restaurant SOMTAM — RIGHT – Luang Prabang SOMTAM (papaya salad), Left – sticky rice, Luang Prabang sausage. Middle – grilled chicken and upper left – fried fish. Very delicious

Food Market crowds — Crowds are back at the food market – inexpensive food and drink.

fire on river bank — putting out a breakfast fire on the riverbank opposite the hotel. this adds to the smog.

smoggy luang prabang — very smoggy even in luang prabang, the UNESCO city in Laos

wedding party — guests lined up to greet the wedding couple

putting out the fire — now 4 people are watching the fire being put out

February 28, 2023February 28, 2023

There is such thing as a free haircut

in Vientiane we saw a sign reading “free haircut” so we stopped since I needed to get a very serious trim.

These guys most likely have finished some training and are doing free haircuts to get experience with different types of customers’ hair. They set up a little space on the side of the road where people can stop and get their free haircut. Their next step will be to get a job in a barbershop or hair salon. But of course we bought them each a nice cool drink.