Ban Sabai Riverside Bungalow Vientiane

The same bloke who did the sculptures for the Buddha Park in Thailand (Sala Kaew Ku) I described in the last entry of this blog, originally started with a similar Buddha Park just 25 km southeast of Vientiane (called Xieng Khuan), but fled across the Mekong River following the revolution in 1975. Grandiose as it may be, with a huge 40 m reclining Buddha, the Thai park still takes the cake, but then again, it's all horribly photogenic stuff, so I came away with another 150 pictures or so. But ...

Hi All, Yet again, I know its been ages since my last entry.. am starting to get a wee bit lazy now! Think the sun has been gradually dragging any energy I have out of me, rendering me pretty much useless! Anyway, so much has happened since we left Chiang Mai in Thailand on the 22nd Oct. Have covered so much ground since then. We wake in the mornings now & spend about 10mins trying to decide what day of the week it is. Well, we left Chiang Mai, headed for Chiang Khong.. Wasnt much to see ...

Laos continues to be a beautiful and amazing country. We spent a few days in Vang Vieng which is a small town surrounded by Limestone mountains along a river. Many young people and many outdoor activities like rock climbing, kayaking and tubing. We stayed at a simple riverside bungalow just outside of town which was peaceful. We went tubing along the river which was a hoot. There are bars every stones throw that people stop off at for drinks and ropes to swing off into the river. Very dangero...

The overnight bus to Paske was a hoot. Tiny small beds take up the whole bus and am lucky I like Jeremy because it is close quarters and you wouldn't want to be stuck sleeping next to someone you didn't know in a bed the size of a twin but half as short. We made our way to Pakse which is really just a hub to getting to the 4,000 islands at the very bottom of Laos. We stayed on an island called Don Det in a small, simple river bungalow. The island only has power by generator from 6-10 p.m. eac...

I only spent two days in Laos. I started getting a fever and the chills the night before I left China. I was hoping it was just a 24 hour thing. Unfortunately it was not. A 5 hour bus to the Lao border then another two to Nuang Namtha. I just wanted to find a relaxing hotel and recharge. I took a tuk tuk out to the riverside bungalow. Unfortunately a big bus was just arriving and took all the rooms. I return to town and find a clean hotel room next to a nice looking restaurant and get a few h...

When we got dropped off in the center of the small town of Vang Vieng, we were a little worried. We had read that the town was great for water sports on the calm Nam Song (River) and was framed by huge jetting limestone cliffs, but all we saw standing in the middle of town was a dusty road and some mostly deserted restaurants. We decided to take the advice of the Lonely Planet and walk a couple kilometer or so to Riverside Bungalows at the edge of town, and it was definately a good recommenda...

After the internet, we started talking to the owner of the place and he said that he would stay at Don Khone of all the islands, as it was touristic like the others but less, and still you had lots to see. So we bought the bus ticket to Nakasang from him. This place is where you take the long tail boat to the islands. In our bus we met a couple from London and New Zealand, the John and Jo, an italian - london girl, cause she has been living in London for the last 17 years, and other people bu...

We took a crowded public bus to Vang Vieng and were dropped off at an old airstrip. From there it was an easy walk to our guesthouse. We had splashed out and booked a bungalow at Ban Sabai, an ecotourism styled place associated with Green Discovery. We were right on the Nam Som River and had a great view of the karst mountains across the river. One of the most popular activities at Vang Vieng is to cruise down the river in an inner tube. The trip can take all day as the river flows slowly thi...