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Published: February 21st 2010
Exec summary: What a great country! The improved cleanliness levels made travelling around far more pleasant, the people were slightly more resevred than Cambodia but once their guard was down just as friendly and the country as a whole, contrary to popular belief, seemed to be more developed than Cambodia. The contrasts were also quite varied between the chilled out and rustic 4000 islands, the well established Vientienne and the tourist mecca of Luang Prabang. All in all a good trip and well worth the visit and 2 weeks is about as long as you need here.
And now for the longer version...we nervously approached Laos on foot from Cambodia as our bus only took us as far as the Cambodian border. We approached the wooden hut, no larger than the tool shed at the bottom of the garden, where we were presented with (only) 3 sets of forms to complete before proceeding. It appeared that so long as you said you felt ok you passed your medical check and got your "all clear" slip. And then on to the next hut where the window was so low that I had to kneel, maybe to beg to be let in, to hand over my passport and...$1. Stamp stamp and off we went. We were in, which, apart from the $4 we coughed up to the different border guards, was without any hassle. And if $4 was the cost for a hassle free entry then it is $4 very well spent!
We noticed almost immediately that it was cleaner than the filth that surrounded us 24/7 in Cambodia and what a relief it was! No smells, and beautiful and clean countryside. We'd left Nigel Mansell, the suicide bus driver behind at the boder and had a far more laid back and reasonable fellow at the wheel, as well as a lot more space with only one person per seat and even some empty seats - the stress levels were returning to their normal we-haven't-worked-in-a-long-time levels. It wasn't long before we arrived at Ban Nakasang in the 4000 islands where we were to catch our boat across to Don Deth for what we hoped would be a relaxing few days. Getting off the bus was a low key affair and we weren't surrounded by 25 kids trying to sell us the same stuff as if theirs was the only one left in the world.
The wooden boat was not much wider than the fat lady at the opera but we managed to pile in 10 passengers and just as many backpacks before pushing off into the Mekong. It was only a 10 minute ride before we were offloaded and although the boat was going on to Don Khone with some of the other bus people our tickets only took us that far and so off we hopped. We were trying to travel to Don Khone with some of the other people we'd met on the bus who seemed like good fun. Anyway, some of the other guys (Colin and Fiona) we'd travelled up with from Kratie and ourselves went in search of the path to Don Khone. Needless to say it turned out that it was a 40 minute walk which, with backpacks, was not going to sit well with with the troops so we requisitioned a boat to take us across to Don Khone. The trip there was pleasant enough although this boat was no wider than my butt cheeks (they're still the same size as when I left on our travels in December, in case you're wondering!) but managed to stay upright and water tight. We landed at Don Khone 20 minutes later and disembarked like drunk seaman before scrambling up the banks of the river as elegantly as a hairy legged and overweight ballerina.
And so the hunt for rooms to rent commenced with Colin and I heading off on foot whilst Pam and Fiona, both of the O.T. profession, and desperate for female company and someone with the ability to hold 2 conversations simultaneously and get through 7000 words plus per day, kicked off a mammoth round of jibber jabber. Collin and I soon realised that accommodation on Don Khone was in short supply and hence there was not much to choose from. It seemed to either be $3 per night or $20 per night with nothing inbetween and neither option really viable on our respective budgets. We did try to pass under a bridge on this expedition at which point 4 guards in a tool shed hut tried to charge 10,000 kip each (about $1.25). Fair enough but as the charge was to go over the bridge across the river we refused to pay and marched on leaving them to ponder the situation in the booze fumed hut. I could only imagine that the fee split was 1 kip to bridge maintenance and restoration and the other 9,999 kip went to the 4 man team's after, or is that during, work drinks fund.
Having failed to find anything suitable we decided to head back to Don Deth. You guessed it, we had to cross the old railway bridge (part of the 5km of railway which was all the French managed to build in all their time in Laos) and pay the bartenders their fee although at least this time we were actually crossing the bridge. 25 minutes later we had finally found somewhere suitable (River Garden Guest House run by Mr Aek - highly recommended) with 2 rooms that overlooked the river and had all the bits and pieces we wanted. The owner was lovely but as we found out later he did have a tendency to hit on single male travellers. We unpacked the bags and settled in and then charged across the path to the riverside restaurant run by the guesthouse where we had no sooner put our bums on the seats than the diners alongside us drooled us a message about the pumpkin burgers being out of this world. With ordering taken care of and Pam going for the Laos pizza we carried on chatting amongst ourselves taking in the quiet, relaxing, scenic and tranquil surroundings. We had arrived in heaven! And so 40 minutes later (everything is cooked from scratch using fresh goods) the pumpkin burger arrived...just typing this is making me drool all over the place! It was delicious, out of this world! I have since googled several searches in the hope of finding the recipe but alas I have as yet not succeeded. I have plenty of years left in this world I hope and I do plan to get hold of the recipe before I depart!! Life is not complete without trying one of these things and quite frankly the pumpkin burger should be declared one of the food natual wonders of the world! Pam's pizza was also very tasty and disappeared before I could drool nice pizza to her. I also tried a watermelon shake which was delicious and something I also plan to replicate at home. And then we established what life on the island would be like as we peeled our numb bumb cheeks off the chairs and migrated the 3 metres to the comfy mattresses and pillows on the sun deck overlooking the river where we continued to enjoy shakes, cold beers and good company. Before we knew it it was dinner time and so we acquired some menus and ordered dinner. It was 10:30 pm before we moved again and so we had moved less than 10m all afternoon, such was the level of relaxation that had kicked in. And so it was that life on Don Deth at River Garden Guest House came to be. We enjoyed many long breakfasts that ended only just before lunch, many lunches that started just after breakfast, and many dinners that started soon after lunch and ended late at night. Our fellow guests were just as chilled and relaxed as the surroundings and all very different and so the conversations were long and interesting.
It wasn't all about food though and we did go for a bike ride around Don Deth one day after breakfast i.e. just before lunch, finding "Ruth's" Aussie baker that she wrote about 2 1/2 years ago. Our bicycles were rather interesting and seemed to be a cross between a BMX and the old Western Flyers for those in the know. They were also built for people with small bottoms, less than 50 kg's and only about 5 feet tall so needless to say after 10 minutes SBP (sever butt pain) kicked in. The Aussie baker came as a welcome relief as a result and so we plonked ourselves down on some soft cushions whilst enjoying some nice cold shakes. Pam had a chocolate shake as she hadn't had chocolate in quite a while. She looked a bit like a druggy getting a fix after being deprived her drug for too long i.e. she said very little and just stared at the shake whilst drinking it! Unfortunately there were no fresh goods and so we shared a piece of carrot cake from the day before which was still very good, especially as we hadn't had anything like this in some time now. We also learnt that the Aussie baker had been living on the island for nearly 7 years, having been "adopted" by a local family. He baked when he felt like it, which happened to be 4-5 days per week. He hadn't baked that day as he'd had too many beers the night before and so was a bit hung over - that truly is island life where days of the week have no meaning. In fact, that seemed to be the case throughout Laos where it didn't seem to matter what day of the week it was, everything just happened when it wanted or needed to.
He did tell us some interesting things though. Like the island only got electricity 3 weeks ago and so he was going to be able to buy the machines to make croissants and expand his offering. He also told us about ladyboys, a real Asian phenomenon apparently. These guys look so feminine that even the local guys can't spot them, much to the amusement of their friends after discovering their error! They are groomed from an early age to look like ladies if they are so inclined and there are now even schools that are building extra loos - men's, woman's and ladyboys! So with the Aussie baker settling into a DVD in his open air restaurant whilst soothing his hangover, and us assuring him we'd be back for the fresh goodies the next day, we headed off once again towards Don Deth village. The village was nothing more than a greater concentration of huts, shops and tourist offices but it did have a 20m beach which came as a welcome relief. We stripped down and headed for the water, Pam in her watershoes once again keeping the crowds bemused and amused and herself very happy! Pam took her time getting in, too much time for the local kids, and so they descended on her and did as kids did...splashed her until she got in! Kids apparently are the same the world over! The water was lovely and was just what the doctor ordered on a hot and balmy afternoon although one had to be wary of the current, especially as it was impossible to stand, so deep was the water, just 2m from the shore line.
We took a gentle cycle back around the rest of the island which as it turned out was not very big at all, especially when one had wheels. Collin and Fiona headed back to the huts whilst Pam and I decided to cycle through the middle of the island along the old railway line. The tracks are now long gone, all used to make the various bridges in the surrounding islands, but the route is still used by the tour trucks. Nonetheless it was very bumpy which was brutal on the now near raw bum. The scenery was pretty nice though as was the sunset and so worth the extra hammering.
We saw some interesting sights on our ride. Everybody seems to have raised vegetable gardens. They're about the size of a big dining room table and built off the ground. Not sure why this is, possibly to avoid a mole problem, maybe just to make weed control or picking easier or possibly just to stop them flooding in the wet season, I don't know. What I do know though is that I want one! We also saw several Laos petrol stations. They can be on land (for motorbikes - no cars) or floating in the river (for the boats) but seem to consist of 2 bottles, one reddish and one greenish, about the size of a 2l coke, turned upside down with a pipe coming out of the bottom. They can't hold much, but then neither do the petrol tanks I guess. Seemed very odd but they did the trick (we saw these all over Laos so they were very much the norm and in the majority). You could also just buy petrol in a 1 or 2 litre bottle - gas to go!
At breakfast we got to try the Laos coffee. This was as thick as crude oil and as black as the night sky, with a good centimeter of white fluid (was condensed milk) sitting on the bottom of the glass. Mix it all up and you're ready to go - this was good stuff! No sugar was needed (refer to quantity of condensed milk above) except maybe for you Rod. It was strong and tasted different to a normal coffee but was very good nonetheless and was to become a staple breakfast drink over the next 2 weeks.
For our exercise we hopped on the bikes once again. Pam and I headed off to book our bus tickets for our onward journey, have another swim at the beach, and find the Aussie baker to see what goodies he had on offer. The swim was uneventful until, on our way out of the water, I spotted something that looked like a reed, only it wasn't. It was the head of a water snake sticking up swimming around. If there is one thing in this world I really dislike, it is snakes! Poisonous or not, I can't stand them and am pretty petrified of them. Needless to say, we didn't swim again, although as we were heading off soon it didn't really matter anyway. In need of some comfort food after that little ordeal the baker, thankfully, did not let us down. I can highly recommend the cinnamon bun which, much to my food envy, Pam had chosen whilst I went for the chocolate brownie, which was not quite as good as I had hoped. All this was washed down by some rather tasty shakes which by now were starting to feature regularly on our menus.
All fed, we returned to the bikes only to find that Pam had a flat. So we started to walk but soon found a nice lady who helped us pump her tyre which lasted long enough to make it home in 10 minutes where we could swap the bike for one with hard tyres. All pretty easy although the replacement bike was more hazardous than nuclear waste with a broken bicycle basket and cog mechanism that probably should have been condemned to the smelting pot many years ago. Anyway, with Collin and Fiona in tow we headed off to Don Khone via the bridge where we paid our 10,000 kip each to the 4 men in their tool shed stinking of booze, and then proceeded to circumnavigate the island. Very quickly we were through the town and into the country side and one really got the feeling that we were now very much in the locals' part of the island as opposed to the touristy bit around the bridge and on Don Deth. There were plenty of picturesque fields, lovely vegetation and nice little villages. The path was pretty bumpy though and having bashed the butt around on the bike the previous day it was not particularly happy with the situation.
We cycled through one very remte village where we stopped to take some pictures. Just as we were heading off an old woman, looked about 80 but might have only been 50, came towards us on the path and then promptly collapsed right at Collin's front wheel. As we couldn't say anything more than hello and thank you in Laos we summoned one of the villagers nearby who thought we were asking for directions to the waterfall so gesticulated for us to keep going. We eventually persuaded him to come across at which point he saw the old woman. He shook her,now virtually face down in the path, hard enough to have measured on the Richter scale and then stood up laughing and indicating that she rather enjoyed her booze and was merely drunk! So, knowing that no harm had come to her we headed off for the last little push to see an old port, a lovely little beach/fishing spot and then on to the waterfall. All were rather interesting but nothing particularly sensational. We eventually called it a day, having had supper in Don Khone village, before making our way back to our guesthouse by moonlight across the bridge and down the path as we hadn't thought to bring a torch when we set off many hours earlier.
The rest of our time on Don Deth was spent relaxing and enjoying the surroundings. We could have spent weeks on the island but knew we had to drag ourselves away from it so that we could still see other new places. So eventually the time came for us to leave and so we hopped in our little boat and headed off to the bus depot.
It had rained the night before and so everything was muddy. Wearing only flip flops made walking tricky and as Pam's were already coming to the end of their life the slight uphill to the bus depot resulted in them finally giving up the ghost. With both big backpacks I was trying to keep up with our driver as he marched up the road, oblivious to Pam's slipping and sliding and toy tossing going on behind me. Covered in mud and none too happy she eventually got to me and we continued on to the bus depot which turned out to be quite a walk away. It turned out to be what they term a local bus. It was a bit like a 1 ton truck (roughly), with benches down either side and one down the middle and then a tarp thrown over the top. The sides had one metal bar to stop you falling out and that was about it. Looked like it would seat about 16 people. Anyway, we chucked our bags on top and then proceeded to find a new pair of flops for Pam. We eventually lucked out and $3 later I had a much happier wife!
So, all loaded up with a full passenger load we headed off up the road towards Pakse. Although we thought the truck was full it turned out that it wasn't because we seemed to pick up more people, and all their bags, every few hundred metres. And just as we hit the tar road we got a puncture. So we all climbed out whilst they changed the tyre before we all climbed back in to our sardine tin. And still we kept taking on more passengers! Pam counted 26 at one point with people hanging off the back and a lot of very uncomfortable bodies. It was fun and quite an experience and eventually we got to Pakse where everyone except Pam and I hopped off. We were going on to Tad Lo and so had a connecting bus to catch which, as we later worked out had already left. No probs though. We hopped back in and our driver took off to chase down the bus like a dog chasing a cat. It wasn't 1km later when we caught it, crawling up the hill so slowly it was hard to know if it was actually moving (this bus would be one dead cat!). So with a smile and a thank you we piled on and said goodbye. This bus was another local bus but more like a school bus from 1960. It also had a rather low ceiling with fans hanging down and so wasn't long before I walked in to one of them. The ride itself was uneventful - very slow uphill, pretty fast down hill. We passed plenty of coffee plantations as well as tapioca farms. We eventually made it to Tad Lo where we were dropped off. There wasn't mch there, a market and a few shops and a pub. We spotted the sign to the waterfall where we wanted to stay and shortly thereafter were approached by someone offering us a lift for 10,000 kip each. We got it down to 5,000 and with the price agreed all hopped on the back of a flatbed truck which then cruised along the 1.8km to the waterfall. If Tad Lo was small this was even smaller and really just was a 2 elephant town.
We'd only just been dropped off when we bumped in to Collin and Fiona who were on a day trip up from Pakse - small world. Anyway, after checking in at our chosen lodge we had a delicious lunch at a little local eatery whereafter we went for a walk to see what there was to see. We came across 2 elephants walking around the gardens of one of the lodges and Pam was very quickly up there stroking its trunk, feeding it, smiling at it, and generally just loving the fact that she could be so cose to such a big animal. One of the elephants then found a big bunch of bananas which apparently they like a lot. It started munching away soon after when the cows got wind of the tasty feast and tried to also get a share. It turned into Elephant vs Cow but it was no contest. The cows eventually accepted that it was scraps only and left the elephant be. Anyway, we realised that there wasn't much else around here and our idea of spending 2 nights here was soon chopped to just 1. We signed up for a 4 hour trek the next morning which got us back in time to catch our bus back to Pakse from where we could catch an overnight bus to Vientienne.
Our walk the next day was actually very interesting, despite the limited English-speaking ability of our guide. We visited three minority tribes, 2 waterfalls, and walked through plenty of forest, coffee plantations, banana plantations, cotton fields, and rice paddies. The local tribes were very interesting with one of them making their coffins before they die. They get buried in them for 3 years when they die after which they are exhumed and the coffins reused. Each of the villages was full of dogs, puppies, cows, chickens, roosters and pigs. They all just roam as freely as their human villagers. The female dogs also seem to have the biggest teets I have ever seen and we can only surmise that it is because they are almost constantly breast feeding! Guess that's the result of not having a vet around who can sterlise some of them!
With our walk all done and some lunch in our tum we hopped on to a flat bed truck for the trip back to the main road. We waited there for about an hour with a bunch of other travellers. We did manage to wonder around the market where we saw all the usual stuff but slightly less normal were the live snakes! They were kept in bags, along with a couple of mice which I can only imagine were their food! Not my scene thank you very much - mum, I'll go buy you bread and milk any day but please never ask me to go and "just pick up a few snakes".
Our local bus eventually turned up - there is no timetable really, the bus just comes when it comes - and we made our way back slowly to Pakse. We managed to get on the sleeper bus buy unfortunately the flatbed bus was full which left us with the upright seated bus. Not great but it was transport nonetheless. With seats booked we left our bags and went to explore the town. We hit the market very soon and spent quite some time checking all the goodies out. They had the usual stuff, but then we hit the meat section! Here we came across pigs heads, ears, legs, trotters, the works. We also came across dead snakes!! The camera was working overtime. All marketed out and with a few safe goodies for our bus ride we headed off to explore some more. There wasn't much else in town and so we decided to wander back. Pam picked a side road to explore (one of the things we like to do) and 300m along and well off the main road we came across a little roadside cafe and so decided to enjoy a cold Pepsi and watch the locals. This we did as it was quite the spot to hang out apparently, a bit like Central Perk in friends. They seemed to have some sort of a local speciality (can now confirm it was papaya salad) which everyone tucked in to. After much debating we decided to share one as dinner was not too far off anyway. The previous dishes that were made had had fistfuls of green and red chillies added. Anyone who has travelled South East Asia will know that the chillies here are a LOT hotter than in the western countries. Maybe it's because they're fresh or just a different type but either way there is a massive difference. Anyway, we asked for just 2 chillies in our salad, much to the amusement of everyone, and a few minutes later had our salad and soup, part of the package apparently, served to us. Well blow me down and remove my internal organs - the salad was the hottest thing 2nd only to the sun. Pam was red and her nose running profusely whilst my head felt like it was going to explode as beads of sweat soaked my hair in just a few seconds. We soldiered on, in great pain and feeling worthy of a medal for bravery, until we had eaten enough to be polite. The salad contained many innocent things, the chillies and snails being the exception. We think our salad must have been flavoured from previous salads as the same wooden mixing bowl was used to crush and mix the bits and pieces together!
Mouths on fire we moved onto the soup. There was a big round lump of brown stuff in the middle which I was clueless about and so enquired. I guessed pigs heart, but through pointing and going through the noises of the farm animals figured it was cows heart (2 weeks later, I can now confirm that it was in fact congealed cows blood - glad I found this out 2 weeks later!). We tried it but it had very little taste and a very weird texture as it almost just fell apart as soon as you chewed it. The soup itself was delicious and not too spicy so we got through it with relative ease although didn't manage to make the biggest dent into the congealed blood. Apparently the blood gives the soup a very good taste which I can easily believe having tried it. Anyway, we settled our $0.87 bill, said goodbye to our new friends, and headed back to the bus stop.
The bus trip to Vientienne was pretty rough. The seats were not the greatest for sleeping in and the TV played very loud and bad Karaoke until quite late in the night. So it was with great relief when we arrived in Vientienne. We ushered in to our local taxi by a husband and wife team (wife does money matters, husband just drove according to her commands!)who took us to the next bus stop from where we could catch our bus to Vang Vieng (local taxis make great money ferrying people between sufficiently distant bus stops and also inner city hotels, especially as the price is fixed at something that would be exorbitant for any of the locals - bus prices are at least double for tourists).
So we hopped on our next bus which was filled with more mosquitos than the Okavango swamps and had all sorts of packages and boxes filling seats and aisles as the locals brought along their wares and kitchen sinks (often also their motorbikes!) to take to their destination. It was another very slow trip on a very old bus but eventually we made it to Vang Vieng. Annoyingly, the tourists are required to get off the bus outside town and take a taxi in at a rather ludicrous price to their guest house whilst the locals are able to stay on the bus and get dropped at their front door. At one point we actually reversed 300m up the road because the driver missed a persons house. A little annoying that the practice is quite so blatant but unless one can speak the language and knows the way of the world there is very little choice.
We found a lovely little guest house in town run by an Aussie bloke where we settled in for our stay. He turned out to be an excellent source of information and made our stay in Vang Vieng much better than either of us had imagined. Having crusied the town in the afternoon we climbed a mound of rocks at his recommendation in the evening from where we had a great view of the town and river. The climb itself was fairly easy although very steep and I'm glad it wasn't much higher. We then went and enjoyed a beer in a hammock next to the river watching the tubers, in various degrees of drunkenness, returning home from their day on the river - it would be our turn tomorrow.
Filled with a hearty breakfast we headed off on our day's adventure. We had decided to do a multiple adventure rather than just tube and so started the morning by tubing inside a big cave. It was great fun and a nice workout with the cool relief from the heat outside very welcome. We switched our lights off deep inside the cave and it was a case of not being able to see your hand 1mm from your eye - pitch black! We visited the Elephant cave afterwards, so named because it has a stalagmite shaped like an elephant overlooking the entrance. Like most caves in Laos it was now a buddhist temple so had a sleeping and sitting buddha inside, amongst other things. With a good lunch inside us we headed off to the kayaks which were going to take us down the river and back to town. It wasn't long before we reached tubing mecca, a stretch of river about 500m long lined with bars on either side, each with their own swings, jumps and water slides. This place was crazy, like school break on drugs. Everyone was boozed near senseless with the crowds roaring each time someone swung and jumped into the river, the more spectacular and daring the better. No wonder Vang Vieng seemed to have the best hospital in all of Laos! It had a regular stream of people coming in for everything from cuts and bruises to broken limbs - town itself looked like one where wounded soldiers went to during the wars to recover as many were on crutches, bandaged up or hobbling around. Our guides took us past all the packed bars and onto a slightly quieter bar that the crowds had yet to reach. Here we enjoyed some beers whilst watching some mud volleyball and before making use of their swing. The swing amused all the guys for a good 45 minutes as we repeatedly swung and dropped into the river. By my 10th or 11th swing my hands and arms were so tired I could barely hold on, never mind do silly "moves". This was a way of my body telling me that I was going to hurt like never before for 3 days after this little adventure! And boy did I hurt - I am clearly getting too old for this sort of stuff, certainly in such large quantities! Pam had a go on the swing and enjoyed it but once was enough for her, this was more of a boys playground. Swinging all done and bodies exhausted we cruised down the remainder of the river and back in to town, arriving a little before sunset. It had been a great day out!
Vang Vieng is quite the party town at night and anyone within about 5km of the town will be subjected to the thumping music of the numerous bars all trying to out do eachother on the river island. It went on to 12:30 most nights and although we thought we'd struggle to sleep we were so exhausted it barely affected us. It would definitely be a place to bring the earplugs though!
Our last full day in Vang Vieng we spent on the bicycles doing a 35km loop around the area. These were proper mountain bikes and so much easier on the bums! The ride was excellent, suggested ahead of the motorbike by our host, as we got to see and experience a whole lot more. On entering each little village the kids would run down to the road waving and shouting Saibaidee (hello) to us with us waving and shouting the same back. It was a lovely and very warming experience to see kids so happy and friendly, something I have become unaccustomed to in the locked up western cities. The scenery was stunning along the route and we often just stopped to take it all in. We did come across one stream where the lady wanted to charge us 10,000 kip (locals free) to cross the bridge (6 planks across the stream) whereupon I looked at the 2cm of water and suggested I might just ride through it. At this point the price dropped to 2,000 kip which seemed a little more reaosnable and so off we went with all parties happy. I did wonder at the start of the ride why the map said "free bridge" at some of the bridges! The highlight of the ride was probably the cave and lagoon we came across. The water was a beautiful turquoise blue and extremely fresh. In keeping with the Vang Vieng way there were also jumps and swings into the lagoon which were good fun. The cave itself was a little bit of a hike after 29km on the bike with not much to see other than a big hole and a buddha statue. It was cool though which came as quite a relief after a day in the sun. So after looking around the cave we returned to swim in the lagoon for a while, bringing our body temperatures down to a more healthy level and recharging for the last 6km back in to town. It was a wonderful day out and comes as a highly recommended way of seeing some of the quieter surrounding areas of Vang Vieng.
And so on we headed to Luang Prabang, our final stop in Laos before heading on to Vietnam. The mini bus ride there was slow and very windy. It was only 150km but took us over 6 hours. I don't recall a straight piece of road after the first 60km that was longer than 25m nor a flat piece of road either. The abdominals got a workout from hell that day and we both arrived in Luang Prabang pretty exhausted. The guest house we went to was excellent and extremely comfortable compared to some of our other lodgings. Once settled in we headed off to explore and climbed the Phoussi (pronounced correctly it would sound quite rude to English speakers!) Mountain to watch the sunset from the temple. It was a bit of a circus at the top but nice to see the sunset and gave us an excellent view of the layout of the town.
Luang Prabang itself felt like it was removed from the rest of Laos. It was quaint and charming and felt very European and was very clean, none of which were different from other parts of Laos, but it was far and away the most developed from a tourist perspective. It had more fancy hotels than we had seen in all of Laos and had more restaurants, and very fancy ones at that, too. Many of the restaurants had huge wine displays and menus which had almost been unheard of up until then in our travels. As scroungy backpackers we felt a little intimidated by some of these places, especially walking around in our shorts and flip flops. Not to worry though, there were enough backpackers around to make us feel better but this was certainly a city where no budget traveller met small budget traveller.
The following day we headed off on a trip that took us to Pak Ou cave (a highlight in the area but a waste of time in my eyes - it's a dent in the mountain with a buddha statue inside), elephant riding (good fun) and then to the Wuksi waterfalls and bear sanctuary (quite impressive and a nice place to swim). The elephant riding was fun but I am always a little sceptical about some of these animal adventure activities. The elephants looked well enough but I personally am far happier seeing them roaming free in the wild. We each got to ride the elephant in the "saddle" and then also bare back behind it's head. They're a tough animal with very prickly hair so a good idea to wear thick trousers before embarking on such a trip. The walk itself was fairly slow going but a good morning out. There was one very funny incident where the guide leading the elephant behind us was only a foot behind the bum of our elephant when our elephant let off the biggest and loudest fart I have EVER heard!! Maybe that's because I don't have any 1 ton friends with gas problems!! I could have sworn the guide's hair parted and the rest of us laughed our heads off. Maybe not surprisingly the guide called a kid over a few minutes later to take over the reins after which he disappeared, maybe to wash his hair and wipe his face! Guess that is what a bad day in the office is like for the locals - at least I have never had a boss who did that to me!
The bear sanctuary was great fun and we spent some time watching the bears play around in their big fenced off area. They seemed very happy, having being rescued from animal traffickers who weren't going to do anything nice with them. The waterfalls were also pretty good and well worth the trip. The turquoise coloured waters were stunning and lovely and refreshing. In keeping with Laos "tradition" I made use of the swing and dumped myself in rather than walking slowly in which can be quite tough when the water is that fresh! That night we bumped in to Collin and Fiona again and so headed off to see an Ethnic fashion show and enjoy a Lao food platter and beer. Unfortunately the misselling was quite bad and the Lao food platter was not available. Instead we ordered an extremely over priced pizza to share along with a beer. The fashion show itself was excellent but had a very definite western feel (organised by a lady who ran a local shop selling all the ethnic and other clothes) as the models pranced around in a very un-Laos kind of way. The music was also very odd. Rather than play the local tribes' music whose clothes were being modelled we instead had some loud heavy metal/pop music - it was a bit like having tomato ketchup splodged all over avocado - it just doesn't go. The clothes really were stunning though and we did feel enriched by the experience.
We also spent a day doing a cooking course here which was great fun although not quite as good as I thought it might be as the instructor seemed quite rushed and offered very little in the way of actual tuition. They also seemed to be relying on their Lonely Planet reputation as they made an absolute mess of half the people's bookings and actaully had to turn booked people away, even with increasing the class beyond its normal size. The guided walk around the local market was excellent though and our guide (unfortuantely only for the market tour) was very knowledgeable and happy to answer all questions and point things out to us. It was hear that we learnt that our "cows heart" was in fact congealed cows blood. The setting for the cooking school was wonderful and looked a lot like a TV cooking show with a nice fish filled pond and fountain behind us and lush veggie and herb gardens all around us. We learnt to cook some wonderful dishes, all of which were very tasty, although I think we'll probably only try one or two of them at home as the rest were nice but maybe not quite us. We're both really looking forward to cooking sticky rice however as it is a delicious and a fun way to enjoy eating a meal. With all the dishes cooked we sat down together to try them all out. The fish and chicken in lemon grass disappeared in a flash whilst the buffalo soup was not quite as tasty. Dessert, as always, disappeared like a home sick mole but could probably have been slightly nicer with a few changes to the ingredients and accompanying fruits. All in all it was a good day out and worth the trip even if we wouldn't describe it as brilliant.
The rest of our time in Luang Prabang we spent exploring the town, checking out some of the Wat's and doing some shopping. We even took a few hours just to chill out and watch a movie, something we felt like we hadn't done in quite a while. We've found it quite easy to get into the mode of needing to do something every second of every day and sometimes actually need to remind ourselves that we need to take a rest every now and again.
So with some new clothes and bits and pieces for our non-existent home all bought and posted we purchased our last iced Laos coffee from our favourite coffee stand in the market, along with 2 baguettes for lunch from our favourite baguette lady who had befriended us, and we headed off to the airport along with Collin and Fiona. We had bumped in to them at regular intervals throughout Laos and eneded up sharing the same taxi to the airport and the same flight to Hanoi! And so it was tat we took off, 30 minutes early, and headed for what we thought was the much dreaded Vietnam!
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Fern
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Pam and Keith, I just love your updates, thank you for sending them to me. I can picture you on your adventures, including the elephant fart..which makes me giggle thinking of it....lol For someone that is scared of snakes, what the heck are you swinging into foreign waters for, no thank you, I am sure I have a much more fear of snakes than you cause no way in hell would I swim there!!!!!!!! I can't wait to see your pictures. Take care an see you soon, luv you