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Published: June 17th 2007
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Monk
At Dawn in Luang Prabang hello campers!
Hope everybody is OK, well i would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the very late update therefore this will be a very long entry.........and the third time we have tried to do it, the first time we had finished it and then we had a power cut then i pressed the wrong button last night!!!!!
Last time we wrote we were in Vientiane, we left there the next morning and took a 3hr bus ride to Vang Vieng it was a very scenic route alough a little hair raising at times! At first glance this town looks beautiful, between mountains and right next to a river.....at second glance you realise that it is a backpacker central with bar after bar of westerners watching friends and the Simpson's that are played all day! Now yes it is nice to have home comforts but you can watch all that at home. Anyway we hired mountain bikes the first day and went caving. You just cycle 10mins out of the town and you are in the pretty Lao countryside. We cycled for about 7km to find a cave that we thought had a blue lagoon inside.......once
Night Market
Night market in Luang Prabang lots of bargains!!! at the entrance we had to climb a 100m steep very rocky hill path (well not really a path) then we were at the opening to the cave, we were the only 2 people in there! We started off by climbing through...this cave was huge with a big buddha statue inside, there were lots of openings around that you had to climb too so we set about to find this lagoon......after an hr or so of this we were standing in a very dark cavern covered in cave water and mud we decided that maybe there was no lagoon in this cave after all so made the steep decent back to our bikes!
The next day we went tubing, tubing is basically you in a large rubber tube floating down the river! We went and collected our tubes then set sail with the help of some local kids......as you cruise along there are many platforms built from bamboo that have ropes and rip slides that you can through yourself off so that's what Ste did! also along the way are many bars that sell 'Beer Lao', Beer Lao is the nicest beer ever! they all shout it at you
Baby Boy
Young Asian Elephant and pull you in with a bamboo stick it was fab! The rest of our time in Vang Vieng was spent rescuing cats, more caving and trekking through the mountains. Yes for those of you that told me not to touch any animals whilst we were away well i am sorry........we were walking past one of the many pancake stands late at night when we heard a 'miaow' we looked down to a tiny black kitten that had lost its mum, a local lady told us that he had been left there for 3hrs so he obviously came home with mummy bex and daddy stevo for the night! Probably for the best night of his life.....we fed him lots of milk and he slept with us under the mozzie net, as he got in some how! He would not have made it through the night the cockroaches were bigger than him. We took him back were we found him the next morning and the local lady told us she would look after him and sure enough we went past later on and he was sleeping on a massage bed ha ha ha!
Keeping with the animal tales.......we went to
Road Sellers
Beautiful Flowers for Sale visit a cave that was over lots of farmers rice fields! After Ste having a slight fall in the mud and breaking his flip flop we carried on balancing along the banks of the fields! All of a sudden Ste shouted out to me 'MOVE' as i looked down a snake was coming at some speed in my direction....oh my god! I just turned around and started to run then realised that i had to move out of its way so hurled myself into a field of rice! If anybody could of seen us oh my life we must have looked so funny......we did find out later on that the snake we saw was actually poisonous so we had a lucky escape!
You should take this opportunity to go and get a brew and a biscuit ready for the next installment........
We headed out of Vang Vieng on yet another scenic bus ride but for 8hrs this time, to Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang is the old Capital of Laos, not that you would think it as it is so laid back with small little cozy streets and cute night markets! It does help that the people are so
Elephants
Our new pet laid back too. We booked our elephant lodge trip as soon as we arrived with tiger trail...we had heard alot of good reports about it! Tiger trail is owned by a German guy who has turned a run down abandoned village into an elephant lodge using all local materials and people. All the profits are split between local villages, and more importantly all the elephants they have are rescued! Mr Conner decided it would be a great idea to cycle to the lodge, i agreed! We were not prepared for the bike ride from hell! It was 35 degrees and the roads were not roads they were uphill rocky and dusty it took us nearly 3hr to get there, calling in at a Wat temple and a weaving village along the way! A well deserved shower and it was straight to see the elephants.......these animals are huge close up and our mahouts had lined them up against a platform and expected us to just hop on there necks...easier said than done! once we were on we rode them into the jungle where we left them for the night to eat.......then back to the lodge for us to eat!
We
blacky
'Blacky' the rescue kitten went to get them from the jungle at 6am and took them in the river for a wash! you are on them whilst you wash them! They take you into the river and just submerge themselves and you into the water, an unbelievable feeling! They give you a brush to wash them with....we were so gentle at first then you realise that these beautiful animals have skin like leather! so you have to scrub them with a bit of force, they love it they blow bubbles in the water! It was one of the best things that we have done so far. After that we went to see the new baby boy elephant, he was so small compared to the others bless him he was so naughty......he was using his trunk like a vacuum to sniff you! After breakfast we went trekking into the hill tribe villages, it is like going back in time they all live in wooden huts with animals running round ya feet it was fab!
We went to visit a huge waterfall which was gorgeous you could swim right through it! The pools of water were clear aqua blue. we also got up at 5am
Laos
Beautiful view from the top of the cave in vang vieng to watch the buddhist monks........every morning they go into the town with a posh bowl to collect there breakfast, all the local people line the streets giving them sticky rice, fruit and candy! we joined in it was very strange! From Luang prabang we flew with Lao airlines (paper plane airlines) to Chiang Mai. It was either fly or take a bad bus that would take maybe 3days...........
Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand, it is a walled city just like Chester! It is less busy than Bangkok and has a real chilled feel to it. So far we have not really done alot, we went to watch shrek 3 at a Thai cinema for a quid! It was very bizarre you have to stand up whilst they play the national anthem and show a home made movie of the king (who they take very seriously here) before the film starts! we did not know wht was going on it was so funny! think they might start doing that at home maybe????? hmmmmmm We have been to lots of markets and eaten lots of yummy street food for pence its great! you can just go along
Monks
Monks collecting breakfast in Luang Prabang at 5am!! and try everything they even have grass hoppers and crickets to eat!!
We are going to watch Thai boxing tonight and eat more street food! Then we fly to Krabi which is south Thailand, early in the morning! we can not wait for some beaches........best go been here ages!
Hope you all have enjoyed this story and your brew and biscuit, which i am craving right now! Speak to you soon
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PS we have both visited the dentist today too!
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Cath
non-member comment
The laos picture at the end
ste looks like BORAT in that vest, it makes me giggle everytime i see it!