Images of Laos - August 2007

Here are some of my favorite images of Laos, a country whose desolate and rugged beauty has firmly grabbed me by the heart.

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On an incredibly twisty eight hour drive from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. My eyes were glued to the window the entire time watching the mountains whizz by.


On a kayaking trip in Luang Prabang, we stopped at this meadow for lunch. A group of young girls were busy catching fish, washing clothes and generally horsing around, but this little girl paused to pose for this photo.


Kwang Si Waterfalls near Luang Prabang - and yes, the water really is this turquoise!


In Viengxai, I spent the afternoon in one of these little bungalows with some fellow backpackers from Austria, England and Spain, playing Uno and drinking BeerLao.


The morning view from my veranda in Nong Kiaw. By afternoon, the sun usually burned away the mist.


A view onto the rice fields from inside a cave near Nong Kiaw. Because it's the rainy season, the fields all over Lao were this brilliant green colour.

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But now, it's time to leave Laos so tomorrow (August 15), I fly to Kuala Lumpur to continue my adventure in Malaysia. I'm excited about the "new-ness" of it all - the mix of Malay, Indian and Chinese culture, the predominance of a different religion (Islam), and the footprints left behind by the once mighty English colonial empire. But most of all, Kuala Lumpur (or KL as the locals call it) has always been the city of my childhood dreams - back then, it seemed so utterly exotic, as far from my little hometown of Courtenay as you could possibly get. And now, in a little more than 24 hours, I will finally be there! Woohoo!