Lost In Translation @ LAOS..finale

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Day 4

We have to get ready by 7am today,continue our journey to Xieng Khuong (plain of Jars). Approximately will take about 5-6 hours by minivan, 7-8 hours by VIP bus. We woke up early just to get breakfast from our fav café Jumo but its not yet ready to serve. So, I just had simple biscuit and hot chocs.
After 2 hours driving, the driver stop at one place,looks so cowboy town and just pointing to Hong Nam. We bought tuna sandwich for each of us which cost us 15,000kip per sandwich (expensive..yess but we don’t care cos hungry and the sandwich is big).. I bought orange not even 1 KG..cost me 10,000 kip. Just pay, don’t really care. Need something sour for the road trip.
We arrive XK (another dead city) about 12.30 noon, looking for GH..we have not book in advance becos the plan has goes offline from previous itinerary, we got a very nice place to overnite..USD7 per nite/person including breakfast. The room is Seri Malaysia standard..really.. the best GH so far I’ve been in Laos and cheap. Name Dou Khoung..
At 2.30pm, we go for lunch and 3.30pm we heading to Plain of Jars ( A must see site if you are in Laos). Entrance Fee only 10,000 Kip. I bet it will be more expensive after being declare as UNESCO World Heritage…..they are working towards that.
The place has its own mystery. No one really knows what is the exact story behind all this stone jars. Its like StoneHenge in Asia.
Few theories….the jars to keep dead body…the jars to hide ppl and food from giant….its really big and many…so photo session begins….
Night at Xieng Khuoang is really nothing. Its absolutely a dead rural area. We went out and have dinner at NIsha reataurant…its an Indian restaurant, not sure Halal or not, so we just order vegetarian food. My fren bought banana prata on the way to the restaurant. Its banana n chocolate prata. Looks so ugly but the taste is acceptable. A Philippines couple coming into the restaurant and ask us..”what is that”..heheheheh.. and he say “good Luck’ to try that food… This old couple is lovely and like to chat … we talked about our travel experience, the places we’ve been and some issues…they surprise when we said we are a group of women engineers and the wife said..’you are engineer and love travel,that’s y its hard for you to find husband’..hahahahhhahhaha…..we took photo with them using their camera and forgot to use our camera…they declare we are their daughters…heheheheheh…lovely couple and now we have GodParents from Philippine…

Day 5 & 6

Today will be a long day … its our journey back to Vientiane from Xieng Khuang and take 8 hours of zigzag road….can you take it?? Well , we have to.
Have our free breakfast, baguette with butter and jam plus tea…at 8.00am..off we go.
Stop a while at one place, we don’t know the name of it…to have lunch. I had noodle soup wt vege only and orange juice…we enjoy the scenery of school student just came back from school …. All of them ride a bicycle with black n white uniform….white shirt and black trousers (for boy) and black Laos skirt (for girl)…sleep all the way till arrive VT at about 4pm…rest for 3 hours, our for last dinner in VT.
Had foot+head+shoulder massage before dinner. Only 46,000 kip.We had seafood by Mekong River bank (there are under construction and u cant really see the river….)..the most expensive dinner at Laos…USD30 for 3 …another 2 frens, they prefer Indian food instead of Laos local seafood.
Stroll along pasar mlm along the riverbank, but nothing to buy this time…we had good choice in Luang Prabang…Laos is not so much for shopping..its more of sightseeing.

The last day….we went to Sabaidee café to start our day before heading back to KL. The coffee is extremely strong (based on my fren comment), I had hot lime tea, not so much coffee drinker myself…good croissant…some had French toast with cinnamon…take tuktuk to go to the airport after had some argument with tuk tuk driver on the price…he wants 150,000kip per tuktuk….finally got 80,000kip per tuktuk for 5…its higher USD2 than minivan but we don’t care much that time…just pay USD10 to him for all of us…
The line in the airport so long…system crashed they said…ready for airport tax USD10 but its no need…we don’t know why…flight slightly delayed due to some passenger have problem in immigration… We finally arrive LCCT at 2pm…

We back to Urban Life….Back to fast paced…Back to humidity…Back to Malaysian Food I miss so much …Everytime I Touch down Malaysia regardless of from where….I feel so glad and blessed…..
HOME SWEET HOME….. next vacation???hmmm Myanmar perhaps..

Lost In Translation @ LAOS..part 2

Lets continue my journey...

Day 3
We begin our day cheerfully by having a good breakfast from near coffee house name Jomo…I had bagel wt cream cheese…some got Croissant spinach…local tuna sandwich..and its all good…only cost us about RM12 each with hot chocs and coffee and tea..Before bfast, I took the opportunity to witness the monk getting something from local. Its something I haven’t see in Malaysia so, why not..In the morning, its so cold..I bet around 18-20C..

Today the journey will get into boat and heading to Pak Ou cave. The boat fare is 250,000 kip per boat but its every hour. We don’t want to wait another 45 min for 9am boat , so we pay 300,000 kip per boat..only cost us 60,000kip each..

P/s : If you have more than 5 ppl in ur group, its worth it to book a whole boat. The boat can occupy up to 10 ppl..no need to book upfront, just go to the boat stand and buy ticket.

The boat journey took about 1 ½ hours, total 3 hours return. We stop at Wisky Village (well that’s what I heard he said) to actually look around..we end up buy stuff as well..heheheheh..not wisky of course. The place is something else…different village experience. Stop there to take picture.
Arrive cave few minutes later…climbing up the stairs….take photo along the way…go into the cave..(the cave is small….penat jugak naik tangga tu)..thats all activity at the cave. Entrance fee 20,000 kip.We spend about ½ n hour or maybe less…On the way back to LP town, all of us slept peacefully…Lunch, we choose the restaurant along the river, nice set up and good seafood n vege. As usual, everything finish…we tried the sweet n sour fish, fish soup (this is good),mix vege and squid..
After lunch, get some rest …continue to Kuangsi waterfall. They have bear Sanctuary there and the bear is cute….waterfall close at 5pm, we arrive there at 4pm…very nice scenery and swim about ½ n hour…facility to change is available. Around 4.45pm..we left from waterfall….arrive LP town, we have just enough time to climb Mount Phousi. It suppose to be up there to enjoy sunset but by the time we reach the summit..the sun all ready set..ppl starting come down but we keep climb up….by 6.30pm,already dark…we manage to get down before its totally dark….

Tonight we had dinner at local restaurant and had seafood noodle soup, seafood fries rice,Mekong fish fried noodle (its good) …. After dinner, continue shopping whatever we haven’t buy a day before. Oppsss..almost forgot, DO TRY FRUIT JUICE at the market. 5,000 kip per cup, you can mix and match your own fruit….its soooooo delicious..I had it every day..(unfortunately,only 2 days there) …

to be continue...

Lost In Translation @ LAOS..

My 2nd vacation of 2010...6 days LAOS

Day 1
My day starts as early as 4 am. Flight took off at 8.05am…..We arrive Vientiane 2 hours after that. The different between Laos and KL is 1 hour..(Laos is 1 hour behind). We had our itinerary earlier as usual but on the flight we did discuss on how to finish 4 places in 6 days considering all four places is far from each other.
Our early plan is taking bus to Luang Prabang (LP) on the day we arrive (evening bus) so we didn’t book any room ahead but by doing that we might not have enough time to complete all 4 places we are dying wanna go. So, here starts our adventure. By the way, minivan from airport to VT town is USD8 per minivan (up to 7 ppl).

We just landed our bag for a while in one of the guesthouse(GH), walk around to find the travel agency and room to rent..(surprisingly GH in Vientiane is full). Found travel agency, negotiate with them (it’s a skill we already acquire after several backpacking trip)…we finally got a minivan for 7 ppl (we are only 5), for 4 days trip..
Vientiane (VT) – Vang Vieng (VV) – Luang Prabang (LP) – Xieng Khuong (XK) – VT include gas and driver cum guide for USD440..only USD88 per person. Its actually consider cheap bcos bus VIP fare to LP only already USD30/pax. Ok..done with travel agency…now we need to find place to stay a night before start our 4 days journey. Look around, we finally found Samsethai GH, just in front of the travel agency..cost us USD7/pax/night with attach bathroom and AC also TV and fridge…the condition of the room .NOT BAD at all..

After done all that..its already 2.30pm. We went to Buddha Park (which is close at 5pm) and we have to rush to Talat Sao (it’s a must go market) which also close at 5pm. From VT to Buddha Park, we took minivan (oh gosh ..I forgot how much we pay but its cheap), entrance fee only USD1. (Buddha Park is a place to go if you go to VT. Vientiane is not so much to see unless you appreciate those Wat which we don’t really do.) From there, we go straight to Talat Sao…Arrive there, we got confuse…its not a market, the place like Ocean supermarket or The Store..still , we look around, the stuff in there is expensive, we walk n walk n walk n finally we found the market behind the store…there u go..the market is behind the store…so we started looking for what we want such as silk (I didn’t buy bcos its expensive),silver stuff (its good bargain) and I suddenly realize…OMG!!! Where is my camera??!!...not in the bag,not around my neck like I usually do….YES..I left my camera inside the minivan. I pray to Allah to help me to get my camera back…Pray hard I should say…we didn’t go straight away to the place we got the minivan but we continue do some shopping..I keep calm at that time and believing that if the camera is meant for me..its meant for me…Insyaallah..

At 5pm, we go back to the place we took our minivan….there were guys lepaking under the tree…we approach them and just told them that I left my camera in the minivan and if possible to contact the driver. Without wasting any second, one of them straight away called the driver and ask us to wait …. We wait and praying for the best…after about 10-15 min, the driver arrived, smiled at me and handed me the Camera…Alhamdullilah…I was so impress by their trustworthy, very helpful. Have no intention to condemn my own citizen but if it happen in KL, its very unlikely to get my camera back. It was Lost and Found…in Here most probably Lost Never Found…Again..Alhamdullilah..

Next, we continue our visit. Went to famous Wat around the town, and end up at Patuxai (Champ de Lysse look a like). Its already dark by then. Had our dinner at Fatima restaurant (one of Halal restaurant in town,in front of Mekong River)..I had noodle soup, my frens had fried rice..all together cost us USD20. After dinner, we stroll along Mekong River, checking out the Pasar Malam, bought some souvenirs but not so much choices…so we decided to continue shopping in LP the next day….

And that’s the End of day 1. Get a good rest for tomorrow adventure.

p/s : their currency is KIP. They accept KIP, Thai Bath and USD. 1 USD ~ 8500 KIP. Its advisable to have in hand KIP. Use it especially for tuk tuk and shopping. You can change your USD in any money changer around town.

Day 2
Today will be a long day. 2 hrs to Vang Vieng followed by 5 hours to LP. We don’t want to expect anything but we know something new waiting for us ahead. Wake up at 6.00am, the van will pick us up at 7.00am. The GH doesn’t come with bfast so we eat our own food. I started my day with hot chocs and instant noodle (I only do this during my backpacker trip). While having my breakfast outside the GH..we actually sit by the road side….a group of Monk walking in line…they looked confused…hahahahhahaha..

Our van and driver arrived…another nightmares…the driver cum guide doesn’t know English .. not even a WORD !!!. What else to do…body language then and many funny things comes along when we try to explain things to him. Along the way, we learned toilet is Hong Nam (well, how do u want to do body gesture for toilet..hmmm..) … thanks is Kop Chai…hello is Sabaidee..and that’s all..hahahahahahah…other than that, just write down and do some body gesture. Another funny things is, his boss can speak English but can only translate via phone. So everytime Yai (our driver’s name) want to ask us on where we wanna go or where is our GH and what time need to pick us up…he will call his boss and pass the handphone to me…. J..(do not expect good English but at least the communication is there)

The road to VV not so good but the journey not soo bad either. 2 hrs on snaking road still can take it. Arrive VV at about 9am, straight to the cave…the driver just drop us there, tell us where Hong Nam is, then just pointing to one direction and off we go….(pandai2 korang lah nak pergi mana and buat apa)..something like that…hehehheheheh…

P/S : Do Not Worry about the Condition of the toilet in LAOS, its extremely clean with water and tissue regardless of how rural the place is…I am Not exaggerated here…iTS TRUE..
In fact, I have been to most of Asean Country and it’s a shame to us becos Malaysia toilet is the worst…

Not so much thing to do in VV unless you wanna do kayaking, tubing or rock climbing. We didn’t opt for that activity, so we just go to the river, take photo and having lunch on the floating hut…food as usual fish and vege…our lunch in VV was GOOD. The grill fish is different and they kept the fish alive in the river before grill it..So u get very fresh fish grill….there is entrance fee to the cave and crossing the river but very cheap….5,000 kip per entrance (about RM2).. After lunch, at about 12 noon , we continue our journey to LP…Again the road is zigzag but this time it took 5 hours….its horrible and yet different…. We try to sleep all the way becos everytime we open our eyes, its feels dizzy, woozy…all sort of that category…another option is…keep eating junk food…Along the way , we stop for Hong Nam once…

P/S : I would recommend to those want to go to LP and have extra budget, flight is the best option (USD80 for 45 min journey)…minivan is 2nd option…third option is VIP bus (took 10 hours on winding road)..(we met A Romanian couple who took VIP bus, they said its absolutely terrible..They went back to VT by flight)

However, when arrived at LP at about 5.00pm, all pening2 and loya2 is worth it. The place is a beautiful pekan koboi. Its different, its authentic…..and its UNESCO World Heritage…Upon arrival, go to the GH we book …. Vilay GH and Tanoy GH (we book at Vilay via website but the room at Tanoy..it opposite to each other and same owner who got an adorable little girl name Suria).. cost us USD14 for 2 nights per person. No AC needed….fan just enough. Attach bathroom, no TV, got fridge..hot water (important as weather in LP is weird…32 C at day time…can drop to 13-20 C at night and early morning..) get some rest and a cup of instant noodle while waiting for dinner time. 1st night at LP, dinner at Nazim restaurant (an Indian Halal restaurant). The food in big portion…we had briani,squid fried rice and kind of bread, forgot the name..go shopping at night market (bigger than VT) so much choices…and Rambang mata..hehehhehehe…the souvenir like magnet or short glass not in the list of choices. No short glass at all and few magnet..I consider it expensive for magnet…RM4 for a piece of magnet and I bought 6…J..some of my frens bought silk scarf,good price for that, some handicraft also good bargain and I got my mum cushion cover and tissue box cover.. there were 2 rows…I finish 1 row, will check out 2nd row tomorrow..At about 11pm….ZZZzzzzzzZZZZ…. will continue day 3 onwards...