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Published: January 31st 2007
Beer Lao
The local beer...A belated Happy New Year and Happy Oz Day!
Its been ages since my last entry so I'm really behind and need to update you on my travels from about mid December...
After Halong Bay we decided to make a side trip into Luang Prabang in Laos. I'd heard some great reports about the place from friends and flights were pretty cheap from Hanoi so off we went.
Unfortunately just before boarding the flight in Hanoi I was struck down with a massive stomach ache and was extremely ill for the first couple of days. Ha - a friend in Sydney, Rachel, told me to expect to get sick at least once whilst in SE Asia and this was certainly going to be that time!
Determined not to let it get me down - and so excited about this beautiful place - we spent the first day walking around and getting acquinted with this little town situated right on the Mekong River. Originally colonised by the French, Luang Prabang town centre is essentially comprised of beatiful Lao wooden architecture, quaint French style bakeries, and fantastic art galleries.
On Christmas Eve we decided to book in for
an elephant ride. I was initially concerned about the conditions and treatment of the elephants used in touristy ways such as this but they appeared to be healthy and happy, so it put my mind at ease.
Our beautiful 49 year old elephant was called Mr Egg. Not sure what the relevance to an egg was but it kind of suited the old boy.
Mr Egg was quite slow compared to his younger counterpart (whose name I cant remember) but appearances can be deceiving because he effortlessly navigated down steep slopes and through rough terrain/jungle as if he was just a wee young thing. Go Mr Egg!
After the ride we headed up river to a gorgeous waterfall from a swim and some lunch. Don't let the photo fool you - the water really was that amazing hue of torquoise! Nest we went further upriver for to visit the local Hmong people during their 12 day New Year festival. That's a lot of partying...we arrived on day 9 and they were still going strong with lots of dancing, eating, singing, and painting. Phew! Puts our social stamina to shame!
Christmas Day was spent at another -
monk
there are a lot of young monks in luang prabang who come to study possibly even more beautiful - waterfall called Kuang Si. We ran into a few of Santas elves (from Australia), which helped us feel like it actually was Christmas Day. Lunch consisted of a baguette, some red wine (yippeee) and some crackers. Admittedly it dd feel very different not to be at home in Australia with the family, but as we were in such a beautiful location and it felt special all the same.
A couple of days later we jumped on a flight back to Vietnam to continue our trip down the coast. More on that soon...
Lots of love,
Pip
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oprah winfrey
non-member comment
you go girl!