A local Loatian highlight is strong sweet Lao coffee early in the morning to kick-start your day.
The white at the bottom is sweetened condensed milk, so the more you stir the sweeter it gets. Delicious!
The white at the bottom is sweetened condensed milk, so the more you stir the sweeter it gets. Delicious!
Views from my balcony in Vang Vien ...
Curious friends along the Vang Vien loop.
There's often a Buddha in the mouth of the bigger caves. This one was especially beautiful.
There were more than twenty chilies in this dish ...
So first I needed to hire a bike, and searched for a place that don't want my passport as deposit! Also finding a place that don't mind tourists taking bikes out of Vientiane city was tricky. Getting around the passport issue was not happening - found a reliable-looking scooter hire that said I can take the bike round Laos, but I have to leave my passport.
I finally settled on a shiny red semi-automatic scooter called Smash (I know!). The man gave me a very good price, assured me the bike is almost new and serviced, and with a huge smile told me to just "drive like the locals!"
I reluctantly handed over my passport, and he said he'd never seen a South African passport before.
"I get good price for Africa passport!" he joked, and I was off...
First vehicle hire in Laos - Smash!
My firs destination - Buddha Park. About 25 km south-east of Vientiane. This mind-boggling garden of eccentricity reminded me of Helen Martins' Owl House in Nieu-Bethesda in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. It's creator and history is fascinating, but read about it on Wikipedia. I just loved the random madness and mixture of Buddhist and Hindu gods and animals and structures. Have a look...
On way to Buddha Park this lady sells buffalo skin jerky/biltong ...
... and heaps of dried chilies.
Dragonfly on god's index finger.
There are also mermaids in Buddha's garden ...
... and two-headed elephants.
This round maze was quite trippy...
You enter through the mouth...
... and then some hard to find stairs and passages lead you up, down and through strange chambers filled with gods and other odd creatures ...
... into the belly of the beast ...
... or up to the top where you can view the whole Buddha Park from above.
First thunder storm just outside Vientiane returning from fascinating Buddha Park. The mouth cover (imported from TW) is for all the dust when it's not raining.
Day 2: First Beer Lao on popular Rue Francois Ngin - near Mekong river bank in Vientiane
Day 3: Delicious noodle soup with plenty fresh herbs at very local restaurant on Highway 13
Day 3: Water buffalo next to Highway 13
Day 4: Day 3: Entrance to Nam Lik Eco-Village - and Smash, my semi-trusty semi-automatic moto-scooter...
Day 3: Found Nam Lik Eco Village - apart from two friendly Taiwanese guys who were leaving as I arrived, I was the only guest (apart from trillions of unique insects).
This little fellow (and a few more crawlies & flyers) were my only dinner companions.
Water buffalo dung makes for an excellent fertiliser...
Nam Lik Eco Village's resident iguana. He loves grasshoppers!
At Kaeng Ngui waterfall in Vang Vien - many tipsy-happy locals enjoying nature & Beer Lao.
This one-gear 'city bike' helped me cover the 7 km of rough and muddy road into the mountains to Kaeng Ngui waterfall...
Kaeng Ngui waterfall bbq menu includes from left, fish, chicken & forest rats.
Cave time...
Locals on buses love to sleep on me...
These chickens spend their days hanging out in a Frangipani tree.
She was not too happy with him picking at her fruit.
No comments:
Post a Comment