Laos

After crossing from Thailand across the Mekong and into Laos, it is also time to switch languages, although apparently you can use Thai money here and it isn't necessary to change you money into Lao Kip, however you probably won't get a good rate of exchange when you buy something. Hello becomes sabidee and thank you becomes kop chai, thank you very much is kop chai lai lai.


These pictures were taken from the bus so many of them are a little blurred, but they should give you an idea of the beautiful scenery.

The road from Huay Xia to Luang Prabang has many sights for the eyes. With stunning rice paddies, unusual modes of transport and life along the road, there is plenty to look at. The road quickly heads into the mountains and climbs and climbs on some very narrow twisting turns. The roads are lined with teak trees, bamboo and banana palms and littered with tiny villages clinging to the mountain sides. There are cows and water buffalo everywhere, sometimes wandering the roads not close to any villages, to say nothing of the chickens, pigs, cats and dogs wandering everywhere else. You see people washing their laundry and bathing in small streams by the edge of the roads and sudden flash floods when it rains. The mountains are quite beautiful but crumbling in places which is only disconcerting when it seems to be right under the edge of the bus where the road is disappearing and becoming very narrow, and you are trying to pass a huge truck! The road is quite old and considering the poverty of the country, hasn't been paved in years and has pot holes the size of Ford Fiestas, also difficult to judge when filled with water.

Houay Xai (also Huay Xai, Houei Sai, etc) is the capital of the Laos province of Bokèo. It lies on the banks of the Mekong river, which forms the border to Thailand. Wat Jahm Khao Manilat in Huay Xai was constructed in 1880 of teak and housed a 1458 relic donated by a Chiang Khong prince.

Novice monks at the temple overlooking Huay Xia in Laos. A very peaceful temple where we spent about an hour looking around and chatting with a couple of young monks who spoke some English.