Land of Smiles x 2

Emily and I have now reached the second country on our world journey: Laos. Upon crossing the Thai-Lao friendship bridge connecting the northern Thai town of Nong Khai with the Laos capital of Vientiane we were welcomed into the country with a gigantic billboard claiming that Laos is the ‘land of smiles’…which was remarkably similar to the ‘land of smiles’ billboard that welcomed us into Thailand over a month ago. Which goes hand in hand with the Thai and Lao peoples favorite expression: ‘same same.’

Since our last blog we have traveled from Chiang Mai to Vientiane, Vang Veing and we are now in the UNESCO world heritage city of Luang Prabang. (see map below).

Here are some pictures from the latest leg of our trip:

Wat Doi Suthep overlooks Chaing Mai city from a nearby mountain top. We rode up the windy jungle road on our rented a scooter. The location for the temple was determined when a white elephant carrying holy relics climbed up the mountain, once he reached the location of the temple he died on the spot. Thus it was determined that this was the sacred site for the temple. Turns out the scooter was the better mode of transport as we are still here to write the tale.

Gigantic bells at Wat Doi Suthep

Us enjoying our first coconut!!!!

Emily indulged in her very own pair of fisherman pants…they obligatory purchase of any backpacker in South East Asia. One size fits all! (I got mine in the first week of our travels).

Yummy yummy in em’s tummy: Khao Soy (a traditional northern Thai dish of deep fried egg noodles and curry)

Ronald has converted to Buddhism (as spotted at the Chiang Mai night market mostly geared to tourists):

Buddha from Wat Phra Singh in the heart of Chiang Mai’s old city.

Couldn’t have said it better myself:

Lonely Boy Udone (as per email address). We chatted with Udone for about half an hour about his life as a Buddhist monk. He had a very interesting story about how he decided to become a monk after his mother passed away when he was fourteen and how he’ll continue to be a monk until he finishes his degree in environmental studies at the Chiang Mai Buddhist University.

As we were wandering around the old city of Chiang Mai, we stumbled across this monk ringing this bell at one of Chiang Mai's numerous Wats


Firespinner at the Chiang Mai Sunday night market. A market more geared to the locals than the other night market on the other side of town.


Street Food chiang Mai style: Pad thai, pad thai, pad thai.


Dried mangoes, one of my new vices


Indigenous drum at the night market, it had a great sound the left side has a bigger opening with a deep base tone while the right side has a smaller opening for higher tones. It was kind of like having two drums in one. I really want to get one on our way back through Thailand next month.


We rented bikes and rode out of town to the tribal museum (as seen behind emily) that describes the life of the nearby hill tribes

Water reflecting from an serene park that emily and I relaxed in while waiting to board our night bus to Laos

Nanaimo Bars!!!!!!!! in a vientiane coffee shop....ah the creature comforts

Pha That Luang which is Laos' most important national monument

inside Pha that Luang

You don't always have to be serious when no one is looking
Patuxai: Laos was once under france's colonial sphere of influence and this is their version of the Arc de Triomphe:

view from Patuxai


Emily and I...a little sweaty from climbing the stairs of Patuxai

Emily catching a little respite on the way down from the top

We arrived in the capital vientiane during the Bun Nam..the celebration of the end of the rainy season. We were too tired from the previous nights traveling to enjoy the celebration so here's a picture of the after math along the Mighty Mekong River:


The ever classic Tuk-Tuk (which we eventually dared to ride):


On the move again, shortly after arriving in the Backpacker mecca of Vang Vieng. The scenery was breath taking, and the tourists were drunk


View from our patio in Vang Vieng:

A Vang Vieng Phenomenon: Endless friends episodes shown at all the restaurants...we have yet to receive an explanation of why this exists

Locals house in Vang Vieng:


Emily managed to snap this shot en route to Luang Prabang. The bus ride was 8 hrs long yet we only traveled about 135 kms. We quickly realized why as the roads were mountainous, windy and only half paved. Along the way there were rural villages clinging to the mountain side. The locals used every space between the road and the cliffs below to sustain themselves, hence the strip of land between the house and road being used for drying:
Enjoying our first glass of wine in Luang Prabang after the beautiful but arduous bus ride:

We will be spending the next 4 nights here in Luang Prabang before heading to the southern chinese city of Kunming to visit my parents!!!!

Hope everyone is well in their respetive corners of the globe.

Love, Emily and Chris