Month: October 2017

We flew from Hanoi to Luang Prabang (1.25 hr flight, $140). Luang Prabang is a small (pop 56K) ‘world heritage town’. It reminds me a lot of a hotter and more humid version of Antigua, Guatemala. Lots of tourists, a few expats, good international food, but not too overpriced and resort-like (yet). It makes me want to go back to Antigua..

The main thing that everyone does here go to Kuang Si falls, and ride some elephants. The other “must do” activity is to give alms to the monks. See the links to photos below.

We decided to settle in for 9 days and relax. Christine did some volunteer teaching and meditation. We did a couple boat and kayak trips on the Mekong River, which reminds me off growing up on the Mississippi in Davenport IA. Very muddy, polluted, and strong current.

Overall I like Laos better than Vietnam in some ways so far. Its much cleaner and and quieter. Way less trash everywhere, and people don’t drive with their horns they way they do in Vietnam. Of course there are way less people too. I love that you have to take off your shoes outside the front door of all the guest houses.

We got to ride our first electric Tuk Tuk, which I hope catches on quickly, as its much nicer than a regular Tuk Tuk in every way.

Everyone I talked to is worried about what will happen to the town after the new high-speed train from China is completed (scheduled for 2020). There are several huge Chinese hotels already under construction on the edge of town. Go now, before the train starts running.

Some locals I talked to expect China to just invade and take over someday. There are serious challenges for this town to maintain its world heritage status in the face of so much growth.

Next, off to the ‘plain of jars’, which will be completely different.

Photos:

• In town
• Around town

We stayed at the IQ Inn. We loved the location. Close to the main tourist zone, but not in it. We had the upstairs room, which was great. I would not recommend staying in any of the downstairs rooms.

We spent 4 nights each at 2 different “Homestays” in Northern Vietnam. One was near the town of Vu Linh, a ‘Dzao’ (aka Dao or Yao) tribe village, and Ta Van, a Hmong village. Both were very interesting, and I recommend the experience if you don’t mind ‘roughing it’ a bit. Both were fairly expensive relative to staying at a hotel in town considering the comfort level, but comfort is not really the point.

The total cost for lodging, food, and a few beers, and a couple guided walks worked out to $130/day in Vu Linh, and about $50/day in Ta Van, Sapa. Food was surprisingly similar in each, tho the coffee was much better in Vu Linh. The homestay family was much friendlier and more informative in Sapa. We even got to see a pig get slaughtered at our homestay in Sapa. Quiet a different technique used than I saw at Oscar Mayer when I worked there in 1980.

Here are the links to the places we stayed:

http://www.lavievulinh.com/en/home-1/

https://www.facebook.com/joyhousevietnam

Some Photos of each are here:

• Vu Linh area
• Sapa area

Of course one should not over generalize based on just these 2 experiences. I think the lesson is to do quite a bit of research before you go. The place we stayed in Vu Linh was definitely not worth the cost. Both areas did have cheaper options, but you do end up paying more for places with good English.

More on Sapa

I recommend avoiding the town of Sapa completely at the moment. Its a huge construction site, and fairly expensive. If you do stay there, stay near the lake, which is quieter.

I would stay in the small village of Ta Van, about 8km outside of Sapa. Somewhere near Luckydaisy’s Bamboo Bar would be good. We stayed in the next Village over, which was a bit too quiet for my taste. If you play an instrument, and don’t might walking up a steep hill, definitely stay at the Musician House.

Note that everything is more expensive in Sapa compared to Hanoi. For example, the standard price for a beer was 30K VND ($1.50) in the Sapa area instead of 20K in Hanoi. Still cheap, I know….

Overall, you might want to just skip the Sapa area completely. It’s too crowded with tourists, including on the trails, and too many women following you around trying to sell you handicrafts. But it is really beautiful, and we met some great people (both travelers and locals), so its a tough call.