Moving On

Today is our last day in Laos, and to be honest, we aren't that sad to be leaving.  It is a beautiful country, don't get me wrong, but a little sleepy and expensive.  We found little to do in Luang Prabang, and planned to be leaving yesterday (Sunday) for Vietnam.  Unfortunately we lost our connection while booking our flights online and when we were able to access the airline again, it was sold out.  So we had no choice but to fly to Vientiane, Laos, spend another day and then on to Hanoi in the evening (today).

Luang Prabang did; however, redeem itself with amazing waterfalls on Friday...and if it wasn't for that, this post would have been a little less sunny!  We planned to spend our last day in Laos at the Tad Sae Waterfalls.  We opted to join a guided van tour up to the falls for a few hours in the afternoon.  So, we stood out by the driveway and waited, and waited, and growing less patient, waited some more.  No show!  So, we took a tuk tuk into the town center and visited the company that sold us said seats.  The apologized profusely that they tried to contact our hotel but since the room was in Andre's name and the tour in mine, they didn't think we were staying there.  Lame excuse... I think Andre's exact words were "I f!*#ing hate this place!"

By this time it was about 3:30pm and we were prepared to go to the falls and had nothing else planned.  So, we hired a little tuk tuk truck to take us up on our own.  Redemption!!  The falls were really beautiful and it was a very scenic (although chilly) 37km drive through the mountains (keep in mind, our method of transportation...)

Our Car and Driver

The rickety wooden bridges we crossed along the way (view from our "seats")

Rice Fields along our scenic drive to the Falls

Tad Sae Waterfalls

At the top of the falls

We arrived here in Vientiane yesterday afternoon.  It is a really nice little city...still very quiet.  Perhaps there aren't many tourists here right now, or it had something to do with the time of day we were out.  The main road we came in on was dotted with a temple on each block (7 or 8), but the city looked promising.  As we walked around, we found more bakeries and coffee shops, but also a number of restaurants and lounges with patios overlooking the river.  But we're still not sure what one does in Vientiane, other than visit temples.  So today may be a very relaxed day before heading to the airport (Andre is currently taking in the Pro Bowl -- did I mention we had NO tv in Luang Prabang??)







That's all for now from Laos -- we will have more from Vietnam soon!