Trip to Vang Vieng

I left Luang Prabang with regret - and I made a little tour through Phonsavan - the city which has nothing interesting except that it is close to the Plain of Jars. The Jars in question are mysterious: It is not known when they were made or what they were for, or who made them. The site is enchanting and magical as the fields of menhirs in Brittany or Stonehedge.

There were thousands of unexploded bombs that the Americans left all around Laos after the Vietnam War. That was because the U.S. wanted to resolve the problem of communism in Laos, and bombed the north of the country in an illegal war (what a strange concept). When you walked in the Plain of Jars, there are signs everywhere that indicate the areas that have been cleared - and those which are not. Each year, farmers and children still get hurt with these things.

For Christmas, I find myself in Vang Vieng which is the world capital of Friends videos. This is amazing! The TV bars show all episodes of the series, and all visitor under 30 glued to screens. But apart from that, the city is located in an enchanting place and I was offered a beautiful room in Christmas

Today, I rented a bike and I cycled around the city. I visited an organic farm whose owners are interested in developing the community. In particular, they organized English classes and cared for a school bus, library and a community center. They always accept volunteers. I had to leave tomorrow but I decided to spend a week at the farm to teach English. This is just my way of celebrating Christmas ... or to accumulate good karma points. In fact, I was charmed by the concept and the place. These are structured courses - but presented in an informal way for children and adults. The feeling of being helpful was so great ! I soon was loved by local people and somehow part of their community.

Impressions of Luang Prabang

After two weeks in rooms, bungalows, hotel which had rats, we came back to the civilisation, comfort and Internet. The Laos is definitely much more remarkable than Thailand, especially if they make effort to improve the off the beaten track. But now, here is the account of our impression of Luang Prabang.

It is the World Heritage City of Laos. The city is dotted with ancient temples and French colonial houses( which reminds of the architecture of the south of France). It lies on the Mekong river where you can see thousands of coconut trees and palms. This tranquil city of the largely unspoiled country. Laos is great and there are not many tourists so quickly go before it become completly touristy.

We came at the Christmas. We strolled along the bank of the Mekong river which is filled with ornamental street stand and decious food especially nem . It is agreeable to go for a walk for some hours. There are some stand selling good like wooden lively temple, a way of raising money for the Red Cross.

The tourist industry in a third word country brought us a lot of stupidity and negative feelings. For example, the driver of tuk-tuk tried to overcharge us ten time as much as the average Laotian. So our strategy is going up in the vehicle, waiting for the other to pay and giving the common sum of money and pretending not to understand what they wanted.


The driver of tuk-tuk are under the influence of the people in tourism industry. They pay so that tuk tuk only travel to tourist attractions or touritsty service. The only solution to tour the city and the interesting surrounding is to take an exceedingly expensive tuk-tuks, which agree to go only to places filled with tourists. Finally, they will make a fast drive in the city centre.

The bars and restaurants had so many tourists. Fortunately most of the luxiourious bar are in the main streets. We found it more pleasant to go to the neibouring village. The children there welcomed us by shouting" Hello, candy?" Perhaps a nice passenger had given them some candies out of compassion for their poverty. An American we met on the way told us that he had encountered 3 or 4 year old children who wanted to have fountain pens. Learning that he had immediately come back to the city to buy load of fountian pens to give the kids . His only regret was that there were not enough fountian pen for every body.