Sunday March 11th, 2007 by Brian
Everything we had read called Luang Prabang the jewel of Laos. Indeed, it’s nestled in the north about six hours from Vang Vieng and enjoys certain protections from overdevelopment due to its UNESCO world heritage status making it similar to Hoi An, Vietnam. Luang Prabang was once the capital of the Northern Province. It gets its name from the sacred golden Pha Bang Buddha that belongs to the city.
It was a shitty six hour ride in minivan with seven others from Vang Vieng. Although the minivan sounded better than a big bus for navigating the curvy mountain roads, we wound up with the two crappiest seats offering nothing to hold on to and no back support …
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Friday March 9th, 2007 by Brian
Laos is relatively green, mountainous and forested compared to its neighbors. There is apparently a big business in Vietnamese illegally logging in Laos (where its restricted) and then selling it back to Laotian middlemen who then sell it to Thailand (where logging is forbidden).
Vang Vieng is a mini adventure sport haven about halfway between Vientiane and Luang Prabang in the limestone hills. It’s also this weird backpacker Disneyland of countless restaurants playing reruns of friends or pirated DVDs of recent movies. One night Jennifer and I had some really great pizza and watched M. Night Shamlan’s “The Village” which is normally too scary for either of us but was really engrossing.
The restaurants are filled with lazy …
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