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So we trawled into Luang Prabang in the afternoon and after finding that all the guesthouses charged the same amount (so much more than our cheap place in Muang Khua) we settled for one on the Mekong and after emptying our bags and a quick shower we headed out into the night.
No sooner had we stepped outside and we bumped into one of the people who had left us behind on the boat 2 days before. He quickly avoided any conversation on how we had got here and what had happened to us and started chatting about what he had been up to. Me and Emma tried to glower at him but in all honesty he was nice enough and we were pleasant then headed off to get something to eat.
Luang Prabang seemed to cater to both mine and Emmas preferred food types. For me loads of women were cooking meat on bamboo sticks on BBQ's. These ranged from chicken hearts, wings, legs and breasts to whole chickens. They also had various pig parts and fish. For Emma there were sandwiches made with fresh soft baguettes, tonnes of salad and your choice of filling (chicken straight off
the stick, bacon, tuna and dairylea). These were not only fresh, filling and tasty but also cheap and would become a regular for us no matter what time of the day.
As we had not eaten a decent meal for almost 24 hours we threw in the towel and decided to go to the main street where lots of westerners experiencing Asia via burger & chips with Heinz ketchup. Emma had a cheese burger and I had steak and chips. Lovely, and we can always eat cheap and local tomorrow. We polished this off and started to head home. We remembered that we were meeting our friend Rory in Luang Prabang and after a few moments panic realised it wasn't till the next night so we could at least get a good nights sleep and went back to our room.
Once again this didn't turn out quite as we planned. The pillows in this guesthouse turned out to be stuffed with feathers which meant the next morning Emma woke up unable to breathe through her nose and feeling like I was stood on her chest. Our pritority quickly became finding another room. We wandered around a few until
we found one for the same price run by a bunch of lovely women (most of whom smiled at Emma and glared at me). But they had good pillows and a tv in the room which meant that we could save money by not drinking every night and watching HBO instead.
We spent the rest of that day "exploring" Emma had been here before and so knew her old haunts and wanted to check a few of them out. We also went along the river (the Mekong and the Nam Ou) which meant around the town. That night I think we had a sandwich for tea because they were so damned nice and even had mayonaisse something we had not seen for a long time.
Luang Prabang is a beautiful town that combines safe western tourism with a still rustic and authentic Laos. The monks still come out in the morning and take alms and there are lots of temples that are all centrally located. The people have embraced tourism and there is a definate planned feel to it. You are not harrassed by hawkers and beggars but instead as soon as the sun goes down picturesque stalls
are setup along the main street outside a temple and they sell all sorts of local arts and crafts. Emma did manage to pick up some small hoop earrings that she had been coveting for some time but other than that we tended just to enjoy it for the nice lighting and matching tents that were setup.
Whilst this comes across as sounding really nice and pretty it just didn't ring true with the experiences we had previously had and made the place seem a little sterile and not natural. We did however end up spending almost a week here and so that could have something to do with the jaded attitude we started to adopt. Due to the immense number of temples, wats and other pretty building we had seen everywhere else we did forgo these ones and their costly entrance fees.
We did very few of the typical tourist things here which include a trip to the waterfall and visiting all the temples. Due to the now very easy access due to many more flights direct to Luang Prabang an unfortunate side effect is that some of the bigger temples had started to charge for entry
(a donation apparently) and the taxis to the waterfall were phenomenal unless you had a group of 8 to go with. Because of this we left these and opted for a much more chilled time here.
We met up with Rory and went for a few quite drinks at a place we had found that had cheap beer laos. This somehow turned into us sitting on a wall on the other side of the peninsular drinking beer and standing in the middle of the road whilst trying to take photos without the flash (it was pitch black). We came to the conclusion that before he left to go north for a few days we should have a meal and a proper old drinking session. This is not to reinforce the negative stereotype that all austrailians drink lots but more that we only really become friends with people when drunk (which implies they drink lots regardless of nationality). Plans were put in place and we headed home to have a not so early morning the next day.
In the afternoon we hired bicycles to go around the rivers surrounding this peninsula even crossing a series of rather rickety bridges
and finding a spot where you could see monks bathing and kids playing in the river. The game seemed to consist of swimming against the tide and seeing who could last the longest.
After sitting by the Mekong and eating yet another sandwich we eventually took the bikes back to start to check for options on how to leave Luang Prabang. We found that whilst the water in the Mekong was low there were still boats going directly to Thailand. This was our original plan but it turned out that because so few people were doing this getting a boat would prove costly and they didn't run every day. We found instead that we could get a bus south instead and visit the countrys capital - Vientiane. We booked these tickets with a few days advance and went to meet Rory that night for a meal.
We opted for a place that advertised a traditional Laos BBQ and relatively cheap Beer Laos (of course). Whilst me and Rory went for the unknown BBQ option Emma opted for chips and salad. She was soon left to regret this as me and Rory were brought a selection of raw ingredients,
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Emma got some earringsa bucket of hot coals and a metal bowl that could be used to simultaneously heat a tasty broth and also grill/fry our various meats. This proved to be not only really tasty but also filling as we just didn't seem to run out of ingredients. Emma commented that we were actually getting ripped off as we had come to a restaurant and had to cook our own meal - possibly a very good point.
The night soon took a downwards turn (in terms of sense and sobriety) and a shift towards greater amounts of alcohol as me and Rory discovered three beers worked out cheaper and we started getting free shots of Lao Lao (basically rice wine - or maybe whiskey - with a fruity juice) from the bar over the street and proceeded to drink until 11 when all the places officially closed in the town centre.
Now with Rory getting a bus early the next morning to take him to a boat ride up the Nam Ou and us looking to do something productive with one of our last days in Luang Prabang the sensible thing would have been to call it a night and
meet next in either Vientiane or Bangkok as our schedules matched pretty much to the day. This is what we had planned, until the helpful barman mentioned that there was a Laotian night club on the outskirts of the city that everyone went to just past the bowling alley (which also stayed open late serving beer).
Well, how could we resist. A Laotian rave always sounds good after plenty of beer and Lao Lao. We jumped in a large tuk-tuk with lots of other westerners and soon began to doubt how Laotian this rave would be. There was even a bloke from St Helens riding with us. We were therefore shocked to turn up at what was essentially a well converted warehouse surrounded by motorbikes and locals outside for a breath of fresh air. The inside was rammed and loud dance music, disorientating light effects and hundreds of locals gave it a really good atmosphere even if we didn't have a clue what was going on.
The beers were relatively cheap and entrance had been free so we proceeded to shout our conversations over the music and have a little boogy. After an uncountable number of beers (about
3 but we were struggling to do anything by this point) me and Emma decided we had had enough and without telling anyone went outside to find our way back. One tuk-tuk was going to the bowling alley with a bunch of westerners so with our beer in hand we ran and jumped on the back. We got to the bowlong alley and also somehow managed to dodge paying for it.
After one look inside we decided that slippy shoes and slippier floor were not a good idea but decided that walking back would be. Luckily a tuk tuk passed us and offered a good deal to get us back to our hotel. As we pulled up we saw Rory being dropped off with many of our original group. A few drunker "where were you's?" were exchanged and we parted agreeing to email and meet up in Vientiane and Bangkok.
The next day as you might expect was not very active although it did involve another sandwich and we spent our last day doing the one thing I had wanted to do but been quite unsure about since seeing it on our bike ride. We headed to where
the Mekong and Nam Ou met and found a Frenchman and Spanish couple already diving into the water. I headed a bit further up river so as not to embarrass myself and went into the water.
Now I had seen the others had kept there shoes on and so I did the same and was glad of it. The bottom wasn't sandy and the pebbles proved to be quite hard and sharp even through flip-flops. I managed to make it to a stone in the middle of the river and sat on it proudly - if not a little out of breath.
Now some of you may have noticed what was going to happen next. On my return trip I felt a flip flop get caught on the rocks beneath and as I jerked my foot up it came off and went flying down the river. Emma rightly pointed out that I could have just floated after it but as we never found out where it went I can only assume this was a plan to lose me and claim on the insurance for it.
I went back out and tried a few dives off the rock
with the Frenchman and as I rightly presumed embarrassed myself by getting into a position where I was too tired to swim against the current and get back to the bank. Eventually I managed this much to the amusement of Emma. So having proven I was not a water baby we returned back (me now shoeless) and endeavoured I would buy some more flip flops in Vientiane if they were cheap or make do with my hiking boots until Bangkok if they were not.
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kate
non-member comment
SOUNDS LIKE UR HAVING FUN!
Great to hear from u. Once again its great to see the photo's and hear what u have been up 2. Hope 2 spk on skype soon!! Take care and look after each other!!!!!!!! Love&Hugs Mum, Dad & Kate xxxx