Two months going through the southeastern Asia... 2nd part: Laos, Vientiane

Start from here what I consider the real trip.
Me and Michael departing ...
... Departure and as always passing through Bangkok. 13 hours by train with berths to 236 degrees Celsius to reach Nong Khai, where, skipped by a tuk-tuk to another, we join with her ass to pieces on the border with Laos, first real stage of the journey.
Fill sheets, pay in dollars with the rest in Bath and tips in Kips. Smile to one and sends the other to hell, contracted at all, and thanks god, here we are ... in Vientiane

 

VIENTIANE

Is added to gitarella Christina, nice Austrian girl who practice extreme sports around 134. Affittimo 3 bikes (after that I wanted a trim without brakes ...) and begin to turn and sweat, sweat, and sweat ...
Vientiane and 'small town' at cha like Michael so much and where to seek expert guidance from us, but poor him, we lose every corner ... and I think there are more mosquitoes here than in a pond along the river of Amazons ...
Pero 'here you breathe the air of true quest'Asia where, every time I leave a piece of heart ...
The hours go slow and pleasant smiles from the local people, baguettes and croissants are still symbols of the French colonial past and cultural visits to the little that the capital offers.
Saturday morning passed and in what 'view of the national monument in Laos. The Pha That Luang.
Wat where gold is said to be comprised of a bone of the hand of Buddha. Now I wonder what that even those who follow the religion crisitiana must have already thought, but if every city ', country or place of worship that has a "piece" of a holy person or important, these poor reduced them into mush?

VANG VIENG

Dopo l'allegra scampagnata, ci scoppiamo 4 orette di bus. Sostenibile ma fondamentalmente una poco entusiasmante.
Arriviamo cosi a Vang Vieng, paesino sperduto tra le colline laotiane. La strada per arrivarci e' comunque interessante perche' passa tra decine di piccoli villaggi tutti rigorosamente composti da capanne di bamboo. Bambini che corrono e galline pure ( viva l'aviaria!) li rendono ancora piu affascinanti....
Arrivati nel paesino troviamo una doppia per 1.50 dollari a testa. Incredibile, ma essendo senza bagno optiamo per il lusso e ne paghiamo ben 3 di dollari.
La sera ci buttiamo su di un isolotto formatosi lungo il fiume, famoso per essere ritrovo di sti backpackers, che se non fossero tutti americani, inglesi o australiani li sopporterei pure, ma, dio mio, proprio non ci riesco, gli yankees poi...
Pero' ci piace, un po commerciale-sovversivo, ma i prodotti OTTIMI...
Primo vero giorno a Vang Vieng:
Le colazioni ed i diversi pranzi e cene da 2 dollari sono degni di nota...e dopo 2 ore per contrattare un tuk-tuk passiamo la giornata tra la selva a fare il bagno in una piccola laguna. Relax a non finire...
La notte ci prendiamo il tanto famoso "happy shake" e......
....e come per magia e' il secondo giorno.
Si parte per un tour tutto il giorno:
- kayak / tubing / bagno ed esplorazione grotte
Bello e divertente.
La natura qui la fa da padrona. Montagne ricoperte da rigogliosa vegetazione tropicale con forme che sfidano la legge di gravità accompagnate da spettacolari tramonti....

LUANG PRABANG

... and Laos continues.
Leave the American Viang Vieng, we are focusing even more 'north towards China.
The nearly six hours to leave the minivan we butt-shaped seat, but the mind full of memories. The road and 'one of the most beautiful I have ever had the fortune to go. Up and down mountains and completely covered with green, passing through small villages consisting of no more than 6 or 7 huts where, I wonder, what has to their lives. The weather here does not exist.
Luang Prapang and 'small town' of just over 25,000 inhabitants, but given its past of the capital, and 'since 1995 inscribed as world heritage of humankind'. And its more than 30 temples will clearly explain why.
The usual rent a bike and turn the people of the place that always has a smile for us. Unbelievable really.
Dine on the banks of the Mekong at sunset and 'something that mere words can not explain. Here life flows like 150 years ago ...
We visit temples, there addentrimo in the jungle to give us account with our eyes of the hidden wonders of what is rightly called the hidden jewel of the south-east Asia.
Children who welcomed the women smiling. Every day this world, and 'most beautiful.
Now I go to eat for $ 2. And then to dream with open eyes to this wonderful country ...

MEKONG RIVER - FROM LUANG PRABANG TO HUAY XAI

After leaving, in addition to the heart, Luang Prabang and its people and after spending the last days by bathing in the waterfalls that are located in dense forest around the small town ', we are going to walk I do not know how many miles along the river Mekong, along which we reach the border between Laos and Thailand, in the far north of the two countries, just behind the golden triangle.
We do not know precisely how many miles, but we know the duration of the trip: 9 hours a day for two consecutive days.
Boat Description:
- Wooden Boat eaten by Tarli and never put back in place.
- Seats and those in wood, where the space on which two apoggiare ass has the same area of a tennis racket.
- More than 324 people crammed in there load a fifty bags containing mysterious ...
Spends the day reading books and godendomi the landscape of my now beloved, Mekong.
"ADMIRE THE RIVER THAT Mekong Impetuous cut its international letter WITHOUT STOP ITS cloudy WATERS AND 'AN EMOTION THAT ONLY THE MOST CAREFUL EYE AND MORE ANIMO SINCERO MAY CAPTURING"
... but where I read it is what ?!?...
We must also say that the more we go into the forest and more go up north more cold. But cold as it could not wait (ascugamani him for repair and return of breathing ...).
At 6 pm at the touch of earth Pak Beng. ?.
The void in the middle of nothing. Sleep in a bed shop for $ 1 a head between animals and children that we offer to opium tutt'andare and eat badly.
And the day after you depart at 8.30am. At the 16th hour of boat also my "beloved" Mekong begins to starmi somewhat "closely." I began to speak alone with Michael and a group of indigenous (and that 'practically the same thing) ...
So we come to Huay Xay, with just one half hour delay which means that the border is closed. And I know that all this' and 'beautiful preparation, so we spend more dollars in Laos.
But at least the satisfaction of paying $ 4 for 3 in sleep and lively discussion with a couple of laotini me I hide ... and in return we will have dinner after the worst of the trip: chicken at least 7 years ago, which ultimately accounts and 'well better, at least 7 years ago there was not even the bird flu ...

So we leave Laos. Beautiful indeed beautiful, as some have called, rightly, the true hidden jewel of Southeast Asia ...