Trekking take 2..... Luang Prabang styleee....

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We woke up to the sound of the alarm at 7.45, early, aargh! But we've arranged a day trekking so just about manage to be ready by 8.30 despite a couple of tuk tuk drivers trying to rip us off claiming we were 10 min late for our pick up and that we would need them to take us there instead, but wising up to this Karen called our tour company and they were just running late, well we could have had another 20 mins lie in,but oh well,the bus arrived and the trek turned out to be well worth it! It turned out to be just us 2 participating in the jungle trek, everyone else was dropped off for an elephant trek, but after my day at the elephant sanctuary the previous week i was just hoping the poor elephants were treated better and more humanely than the ones we'd seen in the documentary.
Well after about an hour's drive we're dropped off for the start of our trek, we trek for about 2 hours through amazing scenery then stop at a hill tribe village for lunch. This village is so much more true to life than the ones we'd stopped off at in Chiang Mai, where basically there it was all about the locals selling their wares and not really seeing them in a complete home environment, whereas this was. The houses were all made of bamboo and the children all looked so happy playing, it was as if time hadn't changed from a 100 or so years ago..... Albeit we did notice satelite dishes and in the next village along amongst the bamboo houses they were building newer ones made out of breeze blocks. This was quite sad to see as it shows that after all these years Laos is beginning to come into the 21st century, but it also makes me glad to see life 'pre' this to some extent as i can imagine in another 10 years or so things will have moved on a lot.
We were given lunch at one of the villages but I didnt really fancy my chicken concoction so handed it to one of the local villagers as figured they'd appreciate it a lot more than i would! However life did seem good, even tho blatently poor here, we passed quite a few dogs who looked well fed, and stopped and cooed for ages over a mummy doggy with her litter of pups - adorable!! I noticed some westerners at the village were staying overnight and wished i'd had more of an opportunity like this rather than the freezing cold 'prison' scene of our camp in Chiang Mai, ha! Oh well, i'm so glad i've had the opportunity to do another trek to have more positive memories, there is also a lot more walking on this one and of a harder ability compared to Chiang Mai and all the constant stopping and starting I'd experienced before! I guess it helped being just Karen and me as we're both of the same ability when it comes to hiking etc.... guess it also shows how bikram yoga for us both back home really does pay off for stamina, ha!!!!
We then carried on after lunch taking in more breath taking scenery, climbing mountains, walking through paddy fields etc, we then passed the elephants before heading back and i noticed one with a chain on it's foot and a hole in it's ear which reminded me of the horror stories from the sanctuary, this was so sad to see, but then another was flapping it's ears which is a sign of happiness in elephants so hopefully the resort they are at now they are treated better even if they still have people riding them.... Well I hope so anyway......
We then crossed the river in a canoe which was fun where we were picked up in our van and driven to the grave of the original person Mr Mahout (I believe he was Dutch or French) who started the invention of elephant riding back in the 1800's, again i didnt see why this guy deserved a grave but hey ho, whatever floats some people's boats i guess! There was a statue of him and i notice he only lived to be 37 - maybe dying young was karma for what he'd put the poor elephants thro, ha!
We then went on our way and were dropped off to look around a local school, it was a Laos day off so no kids around but interesting none the less having a look around.....We then carried on and were dropped back off at our guest house. Karen decides to chill for a bit at the hotel after the long trek, but guess as i've had more practice of the treks im still running on fully charged batteries so knowing we only have a few days here i rent out a bike and have a cycle around, i visit a temple and watched the monks chanting, i was tempted to sit at the back and take it in as we had the day before but wanted to catch the beautiful Mekong sunset again and have a cycle along there so carried on my bike ride. I then caught up in a net cafe for a bit but it's so slow here in Luang Prabang that i'm having to give up for a bit and wait until i find somewhere with a faster connection..... Reason so long a gap between writing this and the last one! It's all being done on laptop and saved until we eventually find wifi or have time for a net cafe,ha!
I then met Karen in what had become our fave Indian restaurant where we had a lush meal, and i then bought up a few of my favourite cakes for the journey to Vang Vien the next day not knowing when i'd next get a good meal at least there'd be those really tasty cakes, ha! I must admit the cakes will be the main thing i miss about Luang Prabang, they really are almost as breath taking as the scenery here!!!!! And at least all the treks and yoga should help work them off, ha ;-)
We then decide as it's our last night to check out a bar called Utopia, well this is all really pretty and cool, although still feeling really stuffed from the Indian and cakes we weren't really in the mood for drinking! Especially as there's an 11.30 curfew here,we arrived pretty late so at least we'd checked it out, was very pretty and picturesque with mini waterfalls, lots of flowers etc and very chilled vibe, think we'll have to wait til we get to Vang Vien for anything really wild, ha! Well an early night suits us anyway as have the dreaded packing to do plus want to be up early to take one last bike ride as i'm still sure we've missed parts of the city........ So yet again alarm is set for the morning, think the lie ins will wait for 4000 islands at this rate as far to much to see so far......

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