We were in Laos from the 7th May to 6th June 2004. Laos is a lightly populated country with a lot of intact forest. We saw huge numbers of butterflies, lots of dead snakes on the road and several striking birds, as well as the creatures pictured here.
During our first evening in the country we met this scary female spider in our room. The white part is her egg sac.
Laos had a wonderful variety and number of butterflies. The only problem was that they didn't sit still for long, and usually did so with their wings closed!
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Cruiser, Vindula dejone erotella  |
Millipede as fat as a finger:
A snail devours a leaf by the Pak Ou caves:
Weird looking grasshopper:
Dragon and Damoiselle flies:
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Lizards:
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We saw many dead snakes on the road, and a few live ones:
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Glow worm (maybe silk worm?) we found in our room on the Mulberry Farm near Vang Vieng:
And a pretty hopper seen nearby:
Massive beetle we saw on our guesthouse veranda. The guesthouse owner saw it too and picked it up to demonstrate how it hissed and chopped up grasses with its mandibles. Tragically she then took it into the kitchen, roasted it over glowing charcoal for a minute, tore off the legs and head and offered us the abdomen to eat. It was full of eggs but didn't taste of much!
Striking orange fungi we saw on a tree:
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