We hadn’t appreciated the Thai road conditions properly, the idea of bigger cities always being interconnected with decent highways is too internalised in our European minds. Countless things that we have taken for granted subliminally have to be reconsidered by us. While sitting in a minivan from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang we repeatedly get catapulted out of our seats. Located in the back row of the crowded van we don’t see the potholes coming that send us flying. At first we laughed about it a lot, but after a few hours our backs hurt like we aged drastically on this ride. Our backpacks are stacked in the gangway, a young man has rested his head on top of them and is fast asleep, completely unaffected by the bumpy ride. The driver was quite naive to believe that one free seat on the van would be enough to store the luggage of the nine passengers aboard. On all of our other rides in Laos our heavy backpacks always got stored on the rooftop of the vehicles, not that it contributed much to the elbow-room inside, but the distances in Laos weren’t that long to bridge than they had been in Thailand anyways.
Even tough we’ve read that the deforestation of Laotian forests for the production of firewood was progressing and damaging the local ecosystem noticeably, the sights we had on the rides through the country were almost never disappointing. The flow of natural and cultural landscapes that we were eagerly absorbing was only occasionally impaired by small passing villages, little houses and huts surrounded by nothing but nature. From time to time you could see dying embers in slash-and-burned fields and without question there were also trenches filled with plastic wastes of all kind, after all the modern life with its fast-paced consumption had also reached Laos. Besides the endless fields on which countless vegetable varieties were cultured underneath the open sky we saw continuous rice fields which mostly lie idle at this time of the year. Inbetween, rough karst sceneries covered in dense bushes stretched out their peaks and over and over thick forests consisting of banana trees and other exotic plants. Even Bob Ross couldn’t have painted it in a more pompous manner. At the side of the road local farmers advertised their small, private attractions like viewpoints, waterfalls and caves on huge billboards.
Neither Vientiane, nor Luang Prabang could cast a spell over us, the call of nature in the smaller cities which would merely pass for hamlets down home was too strong a temptation to resist. In Vientiane we mainly enjoyed the sunsets above the border towards Thailand which the river Mekong naturally formed. The range of colours was simply inexhaustible. Luang Prabang was better by far considering the architectural style of the city and all sorts of possible activities to get through the day. In this city we especially spent a few memorable days with a dear friend of ours. The best days in this beautiful country, however, were always the ones we could spend outdoors. And there were endless possibilities to discover Laos: by foot, by bike, by boat and in a kayak. If you don’t have to count every penny like we did, riding a motorbike, driving a buggy, hot air ballooning or even trail riding on horseback were amongst the possibilities. Our preferred way of locomotion are and were always our very own two feet, this is the ultimate freedom for a hiker. At about 30 degrees Celsius in the daytime we climbed endless steps and mountain ledges upwards the sharp-edged karst mountains, conquering one viewpoint after another. The effort of the ascent was always short-lived. Whoever loves the mountains just like we do knows this feeling just too well and whoever loves mountains is going to love Laos.
Considering the temperatures, we had to face huge contrasts in Laos. In the north the temperature dropped to only 10 degrees Celsius in the nighttime and for the first time we had to unpack our winter clothing. The sky always opened up as the day progressed. When we treated ourselves to a day tour in Nong Khiaw needless to say the sun put us on hold. We were freezing to the bone when we were ascending the Nam Ou river towards Muang Ngoi, our wish to go to Muang Kuah by boat and go towards the Vietnamese border this way was blown out of our minds by the icy morning winds. But as usual, the view of the nature did not let us down. Slight wafts of mist still lingered above the water when the first local residents already washed their clothes or themselves or even tried to catch some fish for breakfast in the bone-chilling cold bright and early. Not all of them could spare a smile for the group of tourists that invaded their peaceful morning routines, but the children always waved at us from the riversides and chanted a joyful “Sabaidee!” towards the foreign invaders. Pigs and water buffaloes were everywhere at the riversides and seemed to be looking for their breakfast and we were happy enough to spot a kingfisher hunting for fish. We spent almost one and a half week both in Nong Khiaw and Vang Vieng and we will for sure be able to eat into the peace and quite that we found in this wonderful country.