Laos - Country on the Mekong - Liebe zur Erde... - Liebe zur Erde

Laos - Country on the Mekong

That I would once bathe with an elephant in the Mekong , I had never even dreamed of - but yes, here we go: it is part of the adventure travel ...

Meanwhile, I 'm almost 3 weeks in this very remote Laos, I have experienced a lot and came pretty much around, tha´s why the website couldn´t say anything new. However, to whom who the updates take too long, you can accompany me on Facebook:  I try to post, there regularly short contributions from the mobile phone. But now to the adventures here:

Laos - is a fascinating country dying?
So you could describe the irritation when you travel here with open eyes. From the magnificent temples to the culture and the excesses of the modern gold rushs which are visible here, is among other things the introductory page:
http://www.liebe-zur-erde.eu/laos.html

Luang Prabang - City of 1000 temples! Absolutely inspiring is the festival of lights of the boats , Lhai Heua FAI , which I can experience here. There is a separate page on the website about that event:
http://www.liebe-zur-erde.eu/das-lichtbootfest.html

The temples not only in Luang Prabang are aesthetic and artistic treasures, as I have not yet seen it . And they make me marvel at this people, which seem so be so completely down to earth in daily life - and yet can produce such beauty! What is missing here up to now, are meditating Westerners. However, what also lacks is the ability to establish contact and substantive conversation to the monks: These worlds seem strictly separated. Below is the link then as soon as the page is ready:
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Poachers , dealers and child mortality: Originally lives of people along the rivers :
After my arrival in Luang Prabang, I have left again to explore the north by boat: from the 11 days I was 6 days in boats - some where tourist boats with roof and proper seats, some were native longboats with no roof and I was between the locals squeezed in. The regions are sometimes really very remote, many do not have road access. For this amazing round trip , there will be a separate page on the website :
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Handicraft, People, Villages:
Rarely I found it so hard to get in contact with the indigenous people: the Laotians are indeed absolutely friendly but very shy and they live quite introverted or reclusive. Only the help of a local guide helped to melt the ice: in result I got out some of the most beautiful shots of people I have ever made. And surprising insights into village life, where children can not go to school , life expectancy reached only 56 years old and only 30 % of women over 15 can read and write.
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The Nam Tha National Park - jungle without animals?
A few days I was traveling around the Nam Tha National Park . One of them in alleged primary rainforest / monsoon forest. Ok -  but now: where are the animals? No birds , nothing else living - only leeches .... Relatively quickly it becomes clear that poaching is still practiced here - China and its greed for all particular is near. And what there is more: Laos was once forested over and over, and that's not so long ago. Today is like a chessboard with huge parts just made tabula raza: the tropical wood is sold and rubber tree plantations take its place .
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Who wants to experience this country as it once was, should really come soon. Still traveling is tedious, but nature shows unspoiled places that make it an experience to explore it! The way the locals see the adventures involved in traveling this sign shows, which is hanging over the ticket counter in Oudomxai :

The bus company wishes good luck to all travelers: