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Published: January 30th 2008
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LPQ 2008-012
Aon with own and Gift's breakfast on the bank of the Mekong
Day 2 - Friday 11 January 2008
The first morning in Luangprabang did not begin too early, as we agreed that this kind of trip is actually meant for relaxation from hard work we have had through all the past year - and that is why we should be able to enjoy a little more time in bed. As consultants, there are times (several for most of us) to stay up too late in the night, or even to stay over night with no sleep, in order to finish the work as deadline is knocking at our door.
However, after I got dressed and opened the door, I felt the immediate coldness outside. I put on a scarf and hurried down to have breakfast. The place where we had breakfast is at a building located next to the Mekong River, but as it was on the ground floor of the building there was no wall to hide us from the wind and the fog. Over the Mekong we could hardly see anything. Everywhere there was a lot of fog, and very cold - judging from our Thai standard! :D …. The breakfast was OK but the fruit
LPQ 2008-013
Aon and Tuly (our guide) in the Ban Xanghai village was not that good, and every day it appeared to be the same.
After we finished breakfast we started off on our bus heading to town. This morning we would go to “Ban Xanghai” and “Ting Cave” and going there was scheduled by boat. A trip from Luangprabang to Ting Cave takes about one and a half hour. The trip was fun, considering the sound of laughter, and huge amount of photo taking!!!! …… Personally I don’t like to go on a boat trip, as I cannot swim and am afraid of being on all kinds of boat, but this morning it was more fun than fear. Another reason I think it was because the boat trip itself wasn’t too reckless and the river was calm as well.
We stopped first after about one hour by boat at “Ban Xanghai”. It is a village where local people make and sell woven cloths, silver bracelets, and local Laotian whisky. And well, it’s on the way to “Ting Cave” so tourists are mostly scheduled to stop here. Luckily when we were there no other tourists was in sight (maybe we started off from the hotel later than normal ones do!).
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Our Indigo gang at a Lao Coffee Shop @ Ban Xanghai We had a good time wandering around, bargaining on the woven cloth. I bought a piece of purple scarf (THB 180) and two pieces of silver bracelet and small heart-shaped container (THB 250 for 3 pieces). The rest of the team was busy with tasting the Laotian whisky.
We went further but changed the program a bit, by having lunch first then going to the cave. The lunch was at one of the restaurants on the opposite side of the Mekong - again another Laotian meal.
A visit to the Ting Cave was all right, though I could not say a 100% worth the trip. I think it is a matter of having a chance to see what we cannot see in our normal life - and that’s what it means for visiting places. There are thousands of Buddha’s images left in the cave after years after years of New Year merit making tradition. We took lots of photos but we didn’t bother to go up to the Upper cave - we just visited the Lower one.
On the way back we were so tired, and all of us fell asleep. Finally we decided to skip the
LPQ 2008-015
Lao whisky making stuff at work :p temple tours planned earlier for the rest of the afternoon. Somebody asked for coffee, so when we arrived back in town Lee led us to a small western coffee shop called “Jona”. I had a big piece of mushroom quiche, which was enough to stop my hunger until tonight’s dinner.
We went out again around 7:00 p.m. - changing the plan again to have a French dinner instead of Laotian one (which we had every meal!). The restaurant is in the town center and it is called “L’Elephant”. The food was nice, as I ordered snapper, but Kob didn’t like her grilled Lamb that much.
That night we went back to our rooms with an appointment to make it 6:00 a.m. at the lobby for the famous Sticky Rice merit making in town.
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