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Today I’ve had a relaxed day walking around central Luang Prabang, checking out the various temples and museums.
I started with Luang Prabang national museum which contains the royal palace as well as the Prabang temple. The palace is suitably luxurious and besides showing off the various rooms has a number of royal gifts on display. You aren’t allowed to take photos inside but it’s interesting. The Prabang temple is newly built but very elaborately decorated, it’s really impressive. It houses the Prabang Buddha a statue that was given to the king of Lan Xang kingdom (historic kingdom in Laos) … Read the rest
The sign says “No photograph” but they can’t stop me from taking one without a camera. In front of me is a kind of gilded bas-relief depicting two griffins facing each other and on top of them two fantastical snakes facing away from each other, their tales entwined in the middle. Behind it a stepped dias done in red and gold, at the top of which is a kind of pavilion, two pillars on each side supporting a stepped roof. Under the roof is a small gilded Buddha statue, standing erect with palms facing outwards. At the foot of the … Read the rest
My next goal was Luang Prabang, northwest of Phonsavan. It’s a fair distance between the two and I had heard that the roads were bad so I was expecting a long and arduous journey. Turns out that the road was one of the best I’ve been on in Laos so far and I was able to go relatively fast. It still took me the whole day to get there, but I could stop as often as I wanted and didn’t need to stress.
Just a few shots along the way
After checking in I went for a short walk before … Read the rest
Phonsavan is in the middle of an area know as the Plain of Jars. There are thousands of giant stone jars spread out at a number of sites in the countryside around the city. The area was a base for the Pathet Lao and was heavily bombed by the Americans during the war. As records go, Laos holds one of the saddest ones, of being the most heavily bombed country in the world by capita. Around 30 percent of those bombs failed to explode and a lot of the jar sites are dangerous to visit. There are however three sites … Read the rest
I’m on a low forested hill. Scattered all around me are large stone jars, roughly cylindrical in shape, differing in size but generally a bit bigger than a person. Most are standing straight but some are canted over and few lying flat on the ground. They were carved by some ancient people, supposedly for burying their dead, and have been left here for thousands of years. The jars show their age, they are covered by moss and lichen and many of them have been cracked or broken. I get an Indiana Jones kind of feeling about this place, but then … Read the rest
I’ve been doing a lot of riding the last few days and I didn’t really want to spend yet another day on the bike but I had to reach my next goal, Phonsavan. The road was better than the one from the border but still not up to Vietnamese standards; it shows that Laos is a much less developed country.
Well, I’m kind of getting tired of riding and, strangely enough, bored with the scenery, even if it is very beautiful. I guess I just want a bit more variation. Because of this, and the incessant drizzle, I didn’t take … Read the rest
I’ve made it! It took me three border crossings, four days and several hundred kilometers on the bike but im finally in Laos and I managed to get my motorbike across too. Sure the weather is bad, sure the road is bumpy, but I don’t care, all that matters is that I made it.… Read the rest
I didn’t want to overstay my visa so the first step for getting the bike into Laos was extending it. I know people from some countries, among them Sweden, can enter Vietnam on a visa exemption for fifteen days. I called to make sure that this would be possible for me and they confirmed that this applies at all border crossings and I can get it as long as it was more than 30 days since my last visa exempt entry. So, the day after getting rejected at the border I got on the bus headed for the nearest town … Read the rest
I’m on a small road running along a ledge above the river, jungle clad mountains sloping down towards the greenish brown water. The road curves it’s way forward, following the flow of the water. Normally it wouldn’t be possible to ride at significant speed on this kind of road, but it’s just straight enough and I’m pushing 75 kilometers an hour. This kind of speed on this kind of road is exhilarating, I let out a shriek of joy.… Read the rest
I have parked on a small patch of open ground just at the side of the road and turned off the engine. I am surrounded by the dark silhouettes of the mountains, only a few scattered lights here and there down in the valley. Further down the road, the lights from trucks and cars play through the light evening mist. Here where I’m standing everything is dark and quiet, no houses, no cars, no people, just me and the sound of the crickets. I stand contemplating the darkness for a moment then I look up.
Up above, the sky is … Read the rest