Hey everyone, I hope you’re all doing well. I’m in Laos! I’m currently sat on the bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane feeling like a shell of a human. We just spent two nights in a hostel called Nana’s backpackers and I feel like I’ve just been to a festival. What a place. I’ll write another blog post about that soon... but all I can say now is that the bars and clubs have free alcohol. This bumpy bus journey definitely isn’t helping the hangover situation.
After crossing the border from northern Thailand into northern Laos, we spent one night in a tiny town called Houay Xai just next to the Mekong river. The next morning, we boarded a slow boat run by a local family. We were on this boat for 2 days and it took us all the way down the Mekong river and ended near Luang Probeng. The family cooked us delicious local Laos food for breakfast, lunch and dinner (I think I had about 5 plates full at each meal). Some people said I would lose weight travelling through South East Asia... so far I have definitely definitely not been losing weight. The food is just too good. To break up the journey, we spent the night in a riverside village called Ban Tha Noun which is about half way down the Mekong. The village home stay is included in the tour I’m doing, so the people there are used to having tourists visit. They’re all so welcoming and the children are just so adorable and happy all the time. It was great to see them all playing outside together and helping the adults with daily chores. When we first arrived, I saw one of the teachers from the small primary school in the village. 3 little boys surrounded him and watched curiously as he showed them how to sharpen their pencils so that they could do their homework. They were all eager to learn and none of them were sat inside glued to a screen. It was great to see. The highlight of this experience was attending a traditional Baci ceremony where we were blessed and welcomed. This blessing is a tradition that the villagers carry out whenever new people come to stay. Villagers of all ages sit in a big circle and we sat around a round table in the middle of the circle. The chief of the village sat with us and lit a candle whilst chanting. We then had to do two shots of local rice whisky. Nope not just one... two was the minimum. Bearing in mind this rice whisky is 60%. It burned, but it also felt cleansing. We also had sticky coconut rice and banana to ease the burning.
We then turned around to face the outer circle. The older members of the village then came forward and gradually made their way around us, each tying a piece of white string around our wrists. As they tied each string, they said a short prayer. These strings represented each blessing that we were given. The blessing is said to bring you good luck and good health and keep you safe throughout your journey. It was incredible, very moving.
I’m not really that into spiritual stuff, but I feel like these strings had a special power. Our tour leader said we could take them off after 3 days... so we did. But a few days after we took them off my friend Nina’s phone was stolen and my friend Kam got some bruises after a woman on a motorbike ran into him by accident. On second thoughts, this happened in a town where people are a little bit crazy and bars serve free alcohol. Vang Vieng is definitely the place where bad luck would maybe happen. Everyone’s completely fine and we’re safe... but let’s hope we only have good luck from now on!
After the ceremony, we slept on the floor in one of the families homes. It was just a thin mattress on the floor with a mosquito net over the top. I surprisingly slept extremely well, although I think the whisky might have helped. The roosters started going at 3am. These Laos roosters are incredibly gifted with vocal cords... it was so loud I felt like they were in the bed with us. They also kept chickens in the house, so I kept hearing things move around the whole night. It was a fascinating experience, but I think one night was enough for me! Over all, it was amazing to get a taste of traditional Laos life and try the local whisky and food... very memorable.
We left early the next morning and boarded on the slow boat again to take us down to Luang Prabang. It was great to just relax, read and chill out. We arrived in Luang Prabang in the afternoon and checked into a great hostel called Sunrise.
More to come soon! Also, please let me know if you have any questions about my travels so far. Either shoot me an email, or comment something below:)
Big love,
Belle x
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