Luang Prabang

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Saturday was our first day in Luang Prabang. With no real plans we decided to take a walk around the town and see what we could see. The place is absolutely stunning and I would recommend it to anyone!

As we were walking down the street we got accosted by a tuk tuk driver- funny how that always seems to happen. For once however we actually decided to take him up on his offer, this turned out to be a good decision. He took us to one of the local waterfalls Kuang Si. By far the most incredible waterfall I have ever seen. A geographers heaven!!! Driving to the waterfall was equally spectacular with lush rice paddies surrounding us.

In the evening we decided to climb up to the highest point in Luang Prabang, Pui Si. A Temple set on top of a hill with views across the city and surrounding countryside. The plan was to stay there for sunset but the sweltering heat forced us to head back down and watch from a cooler point by the Mekong river. No matter how many sunsets I watch they never fail to be beautiful - just wish I was better at capturing them on my camera, although I don't think anything beats the magic of the real thing.

So far on this trip I have been relatively adventurous with my food choices and have tried to eat the local cuisine, including eating a cricket in Chiang Mai - surprisingly tasty. However, last night my adventures taste buds let me down. During the course of the trip we have taken to eating at the market food stalls, usually a cheap and effective way of trying lots of different things. However last night what I thought to be a sausage I fear was in fact intestines, lets just say I will be sticking to my Cumberland sausage from now on!

Monk Watch

On Sunday we decided get up early in time for sunrise and to watch the local monks receiving their alms from the locals. An incredible experience!!! Locals lined the side of the streets with baskets of sticky rice and bananas while more than 400monks humbly received their gifts. We had never imagined there were so many monks in one place.

It is astonishing that this practice still happens every single day out here. Although, I am not really religious this trip has made me see how little we have abandoned our traditional ways. Religion is not pushed on people out here as that is not the buddist way but there seems to be a greater respect and acceptance of the traditional views and traditions than there is back in England. I just hope that there embracing of tourism doesn't ruin it!

On sunday we also enjoyed our first Lao massage. Enjoyable but quite painfull at times, they really work your muscles and I ached a little bit the next day. The massage was with the Lao Red Cross which seems to be big out here. A great way to be selfish but selfless at the same time.

Later in the day we met up with one of Fenellas friends from her gap year and a few other people they knew who were out in South East Asia. Its funny to think tht you can be on the other side of the world yet you can bump into people you have ties with. The meeting was useful for me though as two of them had been to Edinburgh Uni so I have a few tips on where to live now! Mum I will email you them.

A Day on the Road

Yesterday we decided that it was time to leave Luang Prabang and head south along Route 13 to Vang Vieng. Before we left however we were fortunate enough to come across a group of kids we ha been talking too the other day. Unfortunatley, in Laos there appears to be no regulations on how old you have to be to work and we have come across many a child trying to sell us bracelets on the streets or running coffee shops. We had read about a scheme called big brother mouse, where you can buy books in Lao and English for the local kids. We decided to check this out and as a result had a great morning reading a drawing with the kids that usually are out selling on the street. I am not sure what good we will have done in the long term but in the short term it was nice to see children just being children!!

As the title suggests in the afternoon we headed south for Vang Vieng. Not our simplest of bus journeys, but then again they never are. The first obstacle we had to overcome was a mini landslide on the road that we had to wait 40mins to clear, adding to our initial 5hr journey. Then our driver decided to stop and fuel his Pinnapple fettish - no joke the man bought over 50 pinnapples. To quote one of the guys on our bus " this is a people bus not a pinnapple bus". The worst hair pin bends to date, runaway pigs and a driver who stopped at random intervals were other treats on routes! 8hrs later we eventually arrived in Vang Vieng, tired and battered but still in one piece. We plan to stay here for the next few days and experience the legendary tubbing!!!

Speak soon!!!

Lots of Love
Becky
xxxx

p.s. Daddy I hope you are feeling better xxx

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Photos

Lower section of Kuang Si Waterfall
Me jumping off the rope swing.

Pui Si
Me and Fenella looking over Luang Prabang

Sunrise on the Mekong
This is what it looks like at 5am in the morning - who knew!

Comments

[TravelDani]

:)
great story! x