We hiked straight up a mountain for an hour and a half- View from top
He's on the top of the world
The other side of the mountain
Beautiful Karst mountains
We stayed on the trail everywhere in Laos
Different day, different hike and another beautiful view
Village woman shaving tobacco to dry it out
.JPG)
Village children eating oreos. They split them apart and eat the center first. Some things are the same everywhere.
We went north of Luang Prabang for a few day to the village Nong Khiaw. Beautiful place on the Nam Ou River. It's really quiet there. We were able to take a couple of nice hikes, see some caves and experience some village life. One cave we visited was a command center and hiding place for the Lao people during the heavy bombing of the American War. Nong Khiaw was the heaviest bombed place in Laos.
We learned that the country of Lao was bombed every 8 seconds from 1964-1973. 580,000 bombing missions. Laos still has 80 million UXO (unexploded ordinance.)There is a team working nonstop to rid the countryside of UXO but it will take at least another 20 years to finish the job.
It is still a huge problem with people (many of them children) collecting UXO for scrap metal and then suffering horrible injuries. We went to a place in Vientiane dedicated to helping people with prosthetics and also raising awareness about the situation.
We learned that the country of Lao was bombed every 8 seconds from 1964-1973. 580,000 bombing missions. Laos still has 80 million UXO (unexploded ordinance.)There is a team working nonstop to rid the countryside of UXO but it will take at least another 20 years to finish the job.
It is still a huge problem with people (many of them children) collecting UXO for scrap metal and then suffering horrible injuries. We went to a place in Vientiane dedicated to helping people with prosthetics and also raising awareness about the situation.
We're heading on to Northern Thailand today. Chiang Mai then up into the golden triangle area. We plan to be there until the end of the month then we head off to Bali for the last leg. Home by July.
I guess a hike straight up just seemed like the right thing to do! Down is equally hard, if not harder, huh? Have fun!. I wanted to tell you we went out for Pho over the weekend. One large, on small, one beer- $23.
ReplyDeleteYeah, sometimes we question our choices especially when it's close to 100 degrees but the view was so worth it!! Down was definitely harder!
ReplyDeleteWe had a bowl of noodle soup here in Thailand yesterday (not Pho but just as tasty.) It was 80 Baht for two bowls ($2.50.) I don't know how we'll ever go back to US prices...