I was in Nong Khai last week. Luckily I returned just before it was hit by heavy flooding. It’s a pleasant little town, particularly at this time of year when it has a sleepy low season feel about it.  The town sits in the northern reaches of Issan and you can enjoy lazy evenings dining beside the Mekong River on floating restaurants and, if you wish, cross into neighbouring Laos via the Friendship Bridge. The area is known for great sunsets and the bridge is a good spot to capture them.

The website has been dormant for far too long. Current projects are taking up most of my time, leaving little to spare on these pages. Enlivened by the discovery of Marston’s Pedigree in a Bangkok supermarket, I feel inspired to enjoy a glass of the amber nectar while posting a few shots taken in southern Laos.

During a recent motorcycle trip in the south, I spent a few days in Pakse. Vietnam lies just a few hours east of the bustling town, a fact that is immediately evident if you take a walk around the huge morning market.

A fabulous discovery on the way out of town was the Vietnamese pig market on the banks of the Mekong. Chatting to the delightful traders while they enjoyed their morning bowl of pho noodle soup, prodded, poked, and bartered for pigs was hugely entertaining – for all but the pigs.

The sellers gather in the early hours and it’s all done and dusted by midday. Deals settled, the pigs are dropped into rice sacks, loaded into motorcycle sidecars, and onto trucks. It’s coming across unexpected events like the pig market that make traveling in Laos such a pleasure. It’s as mad as a bag of snakes – or a sidecar full of pigs – with never a dull moment.

This Vietnamese girl in the main market was selling lizards to grill and serve with a mango salad. I wonder if that would go ok with a pint of Pedigree?

Vientiane has more than its fair share of stunning temples and monuments. The most significant is Pha That Luang, one of Laos’ most important cultural sites. Despite having communism thrust upon them, the people have remained deeply religious.

Buddhist ritual and observance remain part of everyday life. Pha That Luang is a glorious golden monument and the location of an annual festival held in November.

It’s worth wandering around outside the confines of That Luang as there are some interesting asides to see such as Buddha images in the shade of large trees.

Offerings are often made by putting small amounts of sticky rice directly onto the Buddha images.

As part of the recent celebrations to mark 450 years since the founding of Vientiane, Haw Thammasapha was constructed next to That Luang.

That Luang is open to the public daily from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. and costs Kip 5,000 to get in.

There’s a definite risk of Buddha image overload in the camera after a visit to Vientiane but it’s worth posting a few from Haw Phra Kaew, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

Built in the 1550s, the temple housed an Emerald Buddha image but when neighbouring Siam sacked Vientiane in 1778 it was stolen and taken to Thonburi, the then capital of Siam. The revered Buddha now resides in Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok. The Haw Phra Kaew was also destroyed during the Siamese invasion and rebuilt by the French in the 1920s when they were the colonial power.

Today, Haw Phra Kaew is a museum and has some very enigmatic bronze Buddha images on display around the outside of the main building.  The temple is opposite Vat Si Saket on Setthathirath Road.

I’ve been a bit lax with posts just lately. Having recently returned from Vientiane I now have dozens of images to sift through and edit for a book project I’m working on.  They’ll be a few posts over the next few days but they are likely to be brief. All images and few words – but that’s not a bad thing.

While in the booming Lao capital I paid a visit to Vat Si Saket, one of the oldest and most atmospheric temples in the city.

The temple was built in 1818 and is one of the few to survive an attack on Vientiane from the Siamese army a decade later.

Vat Si Saket is located on the corner of Lane Xang Avenue and Setthathirat Road, close to the Presidential Palace and across the road from Vientiane other revered temple, Haw Pha Kaew.

Now a museum housing an impressive collection of Buddha images, the temple’s central sim or ordination hall is surrounded by a walled cloister. In addition to the rows of large images, recesses in the cloister walls house 6,840 silver and ceramic Buddhas.

If you are visiting Vientiane, this temple should certainly be on your itinerary.

Vat Si Saket is open to the public daily from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. and costs Kip 5,000 to get in.

Whenever I am travelling in Laos, or any country in Asia for that matter, my morning ritual is a leisurely stroll around a fresh market chatting to the ladies selling produce, grazing on a couple of local snacks, and taking pictures.

Up north, markets are particularly colourful due to the presence of many different ethnic groups such as the Tai Dam lady above.

Sellers have a particular way of arranging their produce in small sized heaps or freshly cooked food in portion sized  bowls, ready to tip into a bag when you make a purchase.

 The ladies  take great care with their beautiful displays, bunching salad vegetables together and threading them on strips of bamboo, and arranging small river fish nicely. It’s a visual feast.

Next on my morning itinerary is a warming bowl of fur, a hearty noodle soup and the staple dish of Laos. Most markets have an area with several fur stalls, each beautifully laid out with baskets of fresh herbs and condiments to enliven your soup. The stock is cooked on a charcoal brazier and ladled over a handful of noodles and your choice of meat. 

The most common in Laos in beef or buffalo but pork and chicken are also available. Tear in a handful of mint, basil, pea shoots, a squeeze of lime and a dollop of roasted chilli paste and there’s no better start to the day. Add a Lao coffee with sweet condensed milk and kanom jap gluay, a Chinese style doughnut to dip in it and you have the breakfast of champions.

More pictures can be seen in the Laos gallery.

The provincial capital of Oudomxai is overlooked by visitors to Laos. Most stop here for one night or simply pass through on the way from Luang Prabang to Luang Nam Tha. I’ve stayed here on several occasions now and always enjoyed it. Stay well away from the hotels, guesthouses and restaurants in the guide books and you can have some great experiences here.

There are some outstanding and lively local restaurants to be found with menus unsullied by unadventurous ‘travellers’ and a couple of bustling markets to explore. The beautiful rolling hills that surround the town are also populated by hilltribes so it’s a great place to hang out for a few days.

For a good view across Oudomxai, it’s worth taking a stroll up to Phu Tat temple on a hill in the centre of town. The chedi here dates from the 14^th century but the golden Buddha image is a much more recent addition and was erected in early 2010. Arrive shortly after 5 p.m. and wait for the sun to sink behind the 15-metre statue.

I’ve been a regular visitor to Laos for well over a decade. One thing that becomes immediately evident, even to the first time visitor, is that for so many people the Mekong is the lifeblood of the country. For much of its journey from north to south, the mighty river forms a border, first between Myanmar, then with Thailand before spilling into Cambodia and feeding the Tonle Sap with a bountiful supply of fish, the mainstay of the Khmer diet. Land-locked Laos also depends heavily on the river for freshwater fish. This powerful waterway, known locally as the Mae Kong or ‘mother river’, sustains so many rural Lao families with its bounty. The river is also still used in Buddhist ceremonies that follow cremation, carrying the ashes of the deceased to the bottom of its murky waters in a simple earthenware jar and on to the next life.

The fortunes of the Mekong and Laos, however, are now being dramatically shaped by external forces. China, with its insatiable appetite for natural resources, and Thailand with its greed for power are deforesting primary forest and replacing it with regimented line of rubber trees, and more worryingly, planning to dam the Mekong.

China has already done this on its own stretch of the Mekong, greatly affecting river levels in Laos. But now, for the first time, there are plans to dam the lower Mekong just below Xaiyaburi in northern Laos. Mountainous Laos with its population of less than 7 million, the majority of whom are subsistence farmers, has a thirst for cash to boost its economy. For the powers that be, the golden egg is hydroelectric power exported to Thailand to keep the air con and lights on in Bangkok’s palatial shopping malls. Damming the valleys of Kammouane province has already destroyed vast areas of forest and displaced villagers. The irony is that while Laos already exports power to Thailand electricity supplies in rural areas are erratic or non-existent.

More alarmingly the proposed Xaiyaburi dam is said to be one of nine planned on the lower stretches of the Mekong. If carried out fish, wildlife, and all those who depend on the river for sustenance will suffer. Many outside Laos have voiced opposition to the plans but Laos doesn’t appear to be listening. It’s the same old story; a few ignorant government officials stand to benefit massively from financial kickbacks for contracts. Wildlife and the rural poor are too far down the food chain to care about.

In recent years, China has become the largest investor in Laos, dramatically outpacing neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam. The Laos government has signed dozens of contracts with China including concessions for agribusiness industries, particularly rubber, timber, mining and telecoms. Tens of thousands of Chinese migrants have also established themselves in northern Laos and Vientiane. It’s not hard to come to the conclusion that Laos is essentially becoming a satellite province of China.  Laos, its natural beauty, and the Mekong are facing challenging times.

In northern Laos, Luang Nam Tha and Oudomxai provinces are home to one of the country’s smaller minority groups, the Lanten. One Lanten lady told me there were 21 villages in the valleys of the north.   

I have a special affection for Lanten. They are a friendly group of people, although understandably a little camera shy. In every village I visited I was made to feel extremely welcome. Lanten are animist and I was fortunate to witness the third and final day of a spirit ceremony held for several men in the village who were sick with a fever – malaria, I assumed. This was followed by a feast to which I was invited to attend.

Closely related to the Mien, the Lanten came to Laos from southern China and Vietnam over one hundred years ago. Their language is similar to the Mien and their writing uses Chinese characters.

These days, most hilltribes wear very little traditional clothing on a day to day basis. Generally it is reserved for special occasions. The Lanten, however, are an exception. The women always wear dark indigo clothing decorated with white or pink tassels. They also wear white leggings wrapped from their knees to their ankle. When girls reach puberty they pluck their eyebrows and wear their hair up in a distinctive fashion.

Lanten are also one of the most skilled and productive of the hilltribes in Laos. The grow cotton, spin it, weave and dye it to make their own clothing. They also make saa paper from mulberry bark and are skilled silversmiths.

Houses are generally wooden with a thatch roof. Often many families will live in the same building.  Last year I was fortunate enough to watch a community rethatch one of the houses in a village in Luang Nam Tha, a process which takes place every three years or so.

The Lanten cultivate rice and vegetables, and although the men are skilled hunters their diet is predominantly one of rice and vegetables.

 You can see more images in the Laos gallery.

For adventurous travelers, one of the best ways to explore Laos is by motorcycle. For the past four years I’ve been taking a trip in November when the cool season arrives, and in February before it starts heating up again.

The country is home to deserted sealed roads winding through dramatic terrain and dense forests. It’s also covered with a network of red-dirt tracks leading to hill tribe villages in the mountains, and, thankfully, far off the backpacker trail.

Two of the main hill tribe areas are Luang Nam Tha and Muang Sing. Although there are dozens of different ethnic groups in Laos the most concentrated in this particular region are the Akha.  Subsistence farmers living in the highlands, the Akha are thought to have originated in Tibet, moving down through China, into Laos, Myanmar and Thailand a hundred or so years ago.

The Akha are a feisty and hardy bunch, far from shy and retiring like many hill tribes in Laos. There currently thought to be are 60,000 Akha in Laos, and unlike in neighbouring Thailand their culture and rich traditions have not been assaulted by rabid American Baptist missionaries. And long may it remain so. In more remote areas of Laos they are not particularly welcoming of outsiders and in fact are not that well liked by other ethnic groups.

Akha women wear distinctive head gear decorated with silver coins and hand woven tunics – although these days it tends to be a mixed of traditional clothing and western attire. Generally the Akha men wear western clothing. As subsistence farmers they plant mountain rice, grow vegetables to eat and sell in the markets, and hunt a variety of wildlife, again to eat and sell. Raised on low stilts, their houses are made from bamboo and timber and have a steeply pitched thatch roof.

The Akha in Laos are animist who believe in spirits. Entrances to villages are protected by totems and often a skinned dog with its mouth open to scare away evil spirits.

You can see more images in the Laos gallery.

If you are interested in motorcycling in Laos or Thailand, check out www.gt-rider.com, a super website managed by Australian expat, David Unkovich. Resident in Thailand for the last two decades, David is a motorcycle enthusiast who has mapped many trails in northern Thailand and Laos. The website is packed with information covering the ins and outs of motorcycle touring in both countries. Visitors to the site can find out where to hire bikes, check out itineraries for day rides or longer tours, look at a gallery of pictures, and contribute to the forum.