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Published: August 20th 2010
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Elephant Rockstar
She has great balance Luang Prabang is certainly that. The main area of the town is where two large rivers combine, the Mekong and the Nam Khan. As the rivers get closer to each other, the town gets slimmer and slimmer until it ends in a small peninsula.
Our welcome was unfriendly as we were pulled over at the very edge of town, about 12km outside the city. We were asked for our titles to the bikes, which we happily complied with. Then they gestured to our handlebars and then back at theirs to show we had no mirrors on our bikes. They were giving us a ticket. Basically they just saw some $$$$ signs where our heads were as we drove by and they were intent on getting some money. There is not even spot for a mirror on the minsk, the handlebars were never designed with the insert for them They tried to fine us 200,000 Kip, about $25 US. We played like all we had on us was a little bit and wound up settling for 125,000Kip, about $16 US.
The town itself is beautiful. It is actually a world heritage site, mostly I think because of the fact that
they have 34 or so temples in the town. It also has beautiful French colonial architecture and monks are constantly walking everywhere. One might be mistaken into thinking it is a town of just tourists, backpackers, and monks. Our first day there we just wandered through some temples and in the evening we wandered into the night handicraft market. It is a really neat little market that gets set up on the main street in town and they close it to vehicular traffic every night. It has a cool atmosphere and there is great street food side road that sells a variety of grilled meats, poultry, and fish, as well as vegetarian food. In my years of wandering. I will admit that I have become a rather jaded traveler, but even I found Luang Prabang to be just a great place to waste a week.
We spent our second day hanging out with a german minsk mechanic and had him give our bikes a thorough once over. We have been having only minor problems for a while, but Chuck was still having some trouble with his clutch. We have replaced the problem part, basically just a metal little stick
Little Army Girl
On my bike with Chuck's helmet that depresses the clutch plates so you can shift gears. The nice thing about a minsk is that they just grind into gear no problem with no clutch, but it makes for tricky city driving as there is no stopping in first gear, just slowing down until the bike dies and needs to be restarted.
On Friday we went o pick up Charya at the airport and then just spent another evening wandering the market and eating dinner by the Mekong River. It has been a peaceful interlude here between all of the days of riding.
Saturday we got up early and decided to get motivated. Chuck went kayaking and Charya and I took a cooking class. We learned how to cook 5 Laotian dishes and were given a recipe book for 12 in total. After we cooked the first two dishes we ate them for lunch, and after the other three we ate them as an early dinner. In the evening we all got together and had a drink.
Sunday was the real day of fun. We went elephant riding and checked out another buddah cave, this one with over 4000 small figurines and a beautiful
white stairwell that led down to the river. When I say elephant riding I don't mean elephant riding like "oh we just hung out in a basket on the top of an elephant", sure we did that too, but I am talking elephant rodeo riding. Talk about crazy. We sat on the elephants neck right behind the ears and walked them down to the water. Basically a 20 foot muddy slide down to the water as you are right behind its head looking down a vertical drop into the brush waiting for the elephant to pick her path down. Apparently, Chuck told me, our elephant just decided to slide down on her back knees. Once the elephant wades out into the water, the trainers give them a command to dive down into the water. It is cute they are like big dogs. They dive under the water while you ride them and stick their snout up out of the water to breath. The one Charya and I were on was tame and would just dive down and then stand up again after a little while. Chuck had a wild one. His would dive down and thrash around like a buffalo
Almost There
On the way to Luangprabang trying to throw you off of her. After Chuck was thrown from the elephant into the water like 5 times or so we decided to give him a break and let him ride ours as we tried his. It was great. Talk about a wild ride. With Charya holding onto my back we couldn't stay on past one or two shakes. By myself I could hold on for five maybe six at most thrashes, but when an elephant wants you off its back I think there is no stopping it, you are going off.
After spending the day with the elephants we stopped by a whiskey village where they make Lao Lao, the famous Laotian rice whiskey. It is a 100 proof and you can feel the burn. We tried four different varieties. The first was the strong one, the last three were just 30 proof, more like wine. We bought a small bottle of the sweet rice wine that we plan on having with dinner tonight.
Then tomorrow we ride. It will be Charya's first riding day with us and it will be a long one. As neither Chuck nor I have a desire to stay at
Turtle Run
Roadside find the same truck stop again we will try and get on the road by 7am. We need to get 7 good hours of riding in before it rains in order to make Vang Vien, if not we are stuck at a truck stop again. Only time will tell.
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