Laos-Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng, until recently known as party and drug heaven, has luckily turned back to its original calm. The surrounding landscape with its beautiful limestone hills and cliffs can be nicely discovered while kayaking or tubing. We did both and had a great deal of fun!

Laos-COPE - buy a leg

What is unknown to many is that Laos is the most heavily bombed country of the 20th century and is still dealing with its consequences. In fact some regions are not safe to explore on your own and you should stick to the marked ways for safety. Many ONG's -mostly financed by foreign aids- try to help as much as the can by locating and clearing unexploded ordnance (i.e. MAG) or by attending victims of an ordnance. Latter is for example COPE, a foundation providing ( making and distributing) artificial legs, arms or hands. We were quite moved by the exhibition of COPE and the movies they showed.

Have a look and/ or make a donation:

http://www.copelaos.org/

http://www.maginternational.org/where-mag-works/laos/

Laos-Vientiane

After an overnight train from Bankok, passing the border and a short ride with a Tuk-Tuk, we arrived in Vientiane, capital of Laos. A surprisingly small city, located next to Mekong river which at this time of the year is quite dryed out. Sightseeing included some temples, the lao version of "arc du triomphe" and the palace of the former king.

Chilling and having a beer next to the river is a relaxing activity. But we also enjoyed visiting the national museum, where they proudly showed some pictures of the people's democratic republic's heros FIDANKASATO and KAKMAK, aka FIDEL CASTRO and KARL MARX. 

Thailand - Back to Bangkok

As Ron's passport was almost full, we had to find an embassy of Luxembourg to get a new one. The best (and more or less the only) option was to go back to our beloved Bangkok. An easy decision... ;-) 

Even if we did not meet anyone in the embassy that spoke Luxembourgish, it took us only one morning to order a new passport. Waiting time: 2 to 3 weeks. Nice, we expected much more.

We fell, again, for our secret addiction: Thai food! (No comment!!! :-D)

We took the opportunity to go to the hospital and have Ron's ear checked as he had had an infection during the divemaster course. No worries, everything is fine! The hospital was amazing though. It looked more like a classy hotel, there was almost no waiting time at all!!! And there was even a Mc Donald's!!! 

After shopping some diving gear and an evening at the cinema, it was time to continue travelling. We took the night train to Laos!