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Published: March 6th 2011
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(M) After our utterly idyllic time in the north, we once again took a slow boat (elongated water taxi that takes about 16 people) further down the Nam Ou river for about five hours before it met the mighty Mekong, and an hour later we were in Luang Prabang, which sits on a peninsula between the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. The boat trip - labelled as one of the most beautiful in the country - certainly didn’t disappoint and was definitely one of our highlights. We meandered past towering limestone cliffs, lush forest, green tendered fields, bamboo plantations and stilted bamboo houses, and men and women fishing or sifting green seaweed from the river bed, which they would later dust with sesame seeds and dry in the sun before deep frying them for dinner. Given it was dry season we had to abandon ship a couple of times when we hit heavy rapids or to push the boat through shallow stretches. We were also delayed by 45 minutes as the captain did a hatchet job on the propeller after we hit a rock – but apparently it’s all par for the course on these journeys. Then saving the best for
last, we turned into the Mekong river as the sun was drooping ahead of us above some distant mountains, and our arrival in Luang Prabang seemed perfectly timed as setting off to find somewhere to stay, we watched another gorgeous sunset.
Of course as soon as the sun was down and the lights went out, our timing seemed anything but perfect! Luang Prabang is probably the most popular destination in Laos, so finding anywhere that had vacancy for four people was looking ever less hopeful. But inevitably as we stood on a street corner looking pretty destitute after an hour and a half of fruitless searching, the right tout found us, we checked into a cheap, clean and comfy hotel which turned out to be in the perfect location and soon were tucking into a gorgeous street market barbeque – so all’s well that ends well. Eating was one of the absolute highlights of Luang Prabang – there’s an abundance of cheap & tasty and some strange street food, including everything from chocolate & toffee brownies to barbequed bats. As soon as we arrived we knew that the kilos we’d cleverly managed to shread in the remote north would
soon come piling back on... and we were right! But boy was it worth it.
Besides its excellent food, Luang Prabang was dotted with ancient temples, in some quarters the streets were lined with the most amazing old French architecture, there were numerous quaint and quirky riverside bars and restaurants and there was even a beach! We explored the town and surrounding area on bicycles, visited numerous temples and a couple of impressive caves, spent lazy afternoons next to the river and drank lots of fabulous Beer Lao... On one afternoon, we cut across to a remote riverside beach to try and find a boat to take us back across the river. What we stumbled upon was a small local beach bar where the owner and his friends were engrossed in a highly entertaining game of boules – entertaining for both them and us given the quantity of Beer Lao they were working their way through during each subsequent round! After challenging Ced and me to a game (girls not allowed I’m afraid) with the losers having to sponsor the beer consumed during the round, we were lured into a false sense of security after a resounding 9-0 victory
Beach bar
Luang Prabang in the first game. Then with our confidence riding high, they brought on the big guns in the second and despite their blatant intoxication, steamrollered us into a hilaroius but embarrassing 9-2 defeat. But we were more than happy to cough up the dosh (still not very much) as it was one of those completely unique and special experiences one stumbles upon from time to time when travelling. In SE Asia they are nowadays very few and far between and so difficult to find, and we will remember this one for ages to come. They are also such a beautiful reminder that those who have the least in this world, so often also seem to find the greatest happiness.
After bidding Luang Prabang a sad farewell, we took a bus to Vang Vieng, which years ago would have been one of Laos’s most prized destinations for its exquisitely dramatic riverside cliffs and lush green vegetation, but is today the destination of choice for a far less discerning traveller – the common English and Australian gap year student who’s sole objective is to get smashed while tubing from one loud and elaborate riverside bar to the next. And if that’s
what you came for, you won’t be disappointed! The general idea is that you start drinking at the first bar, get in your tube and float down the river until you’re thirsty again, shout at one of the bar touts who throws a line out to you and pulls you into the next bar etc etc until either the sun goes down or you’re too inebriated to navigate the river home - in which case you hail one of the nearby tuk-tuks to take you back by road. Seems simple enough, but throw in some pretty daring water slides and swings and happy menus selling everything from mushroom milkshakes to methamphetimines, and you’ve got yourself a pretty lethal cocktail of fun in the sun! It’s no surprise therefore, that it won’t take you long before you find a traveller who has a story – no matter how distant – about someone who has died in the experience...
However, as so often with these things, if you can’t beat them, you join them... albeit on a much more sedate scale in our case, naturally. And actually, despite our initial reservations, it was a hell of a lot of fun. In
Looking down Lane Xang Avenue from the Patouxai
The Lao versions of the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe many ways you just can’t beat floating down a river in the sunshine while clutching a cold beer, taking in some breathtaking scenery in between watching people flying through the air and, admittedly, every now and again throwing yourself off a four meter high waterslide or even higher zipline into the river! I’ve had worse days.
Given we made the decision not to go to the far south of Laos (we wanted to meet up in Cambodia with our friends Jamie and Lisa, who we’d hung out with in South America, and therefore had to slightly alter our plans) we headed for Vientiane, the capital of Laos and our last destination in this wonderful country. But in this case, we certainly did not save the best for last. The city lacks anything of any noteworthy beauty despite it being shamelessly modelled on Paris (no doubt the brainchild of a long forgotten French consul during its colonisation) including full-scale Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysee rip-offs. And the newly constructed boulevard flanking the Mekong was so far from the river itself and the first line of bars and restaurants that it resembled and out of place landing strip and with about
Au revoir!
Bidding the Belgians a sad goodbye... as much charm... The place is also rather expensive - after walking the streets for two hours, within our budget the girls could do no better than finding a crumby, less than clean, mosquito-ridden hotel which was evidently also being used for other night-time business - for an extortionate 10 dollars! So, also reeling from the pain of having to part with our new Belgian best friends Ced and Virginie after two amazing weeks, we promptly checked ourselves into an expensive hotel for our last night in Laos. Having justified the expense on a number of grounds (sometimes you just have to do these things!) and excited by the prospect of 24 hours of pampering, we checking in, only to discover that our room – the only remaining room in the hotel – had a rather disturbing odour of... toilet. But, having early on established that complaining was getting us nowhere, after a cursory spray of the room we nevertheless settled into an utterly enjoyable evening of comfort and cable TV. Sometimes there’s just no substitute for that!
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Virg & Ced
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Miss you...
Hi guys, Nice to read you! And to see these pictures again :-) We really enjoyed the moments spent with you. We hope our paths will cross again in a near future! Enjoy travelling mates and keep us posted! See you, Virg & Céd