8. Luang Prabang

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8th entry...
Caught another little Laos Airlines flight to Luang Prabang from Vientiane, only a 40minute jobbie, very convenient indeed. A wonderful little town, as everyone who has been here can attest to...world heritage listed (whole town), ancient capital of this wonderful country, lovely people, nice surrounds, temple, Buddhist monks cruisin around, funky cafes, $US4 full body massages, $US1 large beer-lao etc, etc, etc what more could you want.....maybe a 6 foot perfect surf break but otherwise it's paradise.

We stayed in a guesthouse a few hundred metres out of the town first night but moved into a lovely little guesthouse in the centre of the village the next day. We got a big upstairs room with a balcony overlooking the village street (basic but very comfy)...wonderful. Spent the first day exploring the town, climbed the hill to the temple, wandered around just getting the vibe...nice. Next day booked on to the boat ride up the river to the cave of the 4000 Buddhas (statues not real ones). Pleasant day without being absolutely amazing... Aly and I take things as they come, not too many expectations, so not too many disappointments. After all, things are as they are at the end of the day and that is just fine we reckon. Next day we were off to the waterfall (as you do), which was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

My 2 full body massages experiences were very different. The first one at the Red Cross centre was by a guy who didn't have a clue how to massage, was mostly interested in the cracks on my heels and the scar from my hernia operation and wanted me to teach him English during the massage...not that relaxing funnily enough. My next one was the opposite, it was done by a hill-tribe girl, small lass but solidly built. Massage was on a wide table and she jumped up on the table to do the massage, balancing on the edge of the table and using her body weight to add to the pressure ( I asked for a firm one). This massage was the best one that I have had since leaving Fiona Gordon at Alice Springs Traeger Park physio-therapy centre, honestly it was truly amazing. Aly was doing photo uploads on this blog site whilst I was having my therapy...a reasonable distribution of tasks I thought for our last morning in Laos. We also grabbed some bags, bed spreads etc (as you do) from the market before jumping on another Laos Airlines flight to Hanoi.

Another monstrous 40 minute flight ahead of us, we think we will cope. We are getting used to this short flight thing...a great option when one needs to move around a fair bit in these countries with only a month to do it. Easy to organise, book on line, e-tickets, very friendly and efficient staff etc. Again we have mixed feelings about leaving another one of these wonderful little countries, wanting to just stay for years but at the same time looking forward to new adventures.

Hoping all of the readers of this blog are working hard and behaving themselves, I am sure they are. If anyone wants to put a comment on the blog site it is easy, just click into comments and away you go. Yes other people will read the comment but hey...don't be shy. There is a silly comment filter system, the site mob just save the comment for us to review and accept or delete, very civilised and easy, when we accept the comment it goes straight to the comments section...so go on, type a few words, I dare ya.

Laters
luv 4ever
Aly and Trev xxx

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Photos

Bring me good luck little bird
Locals catch birds and offer them in little cages to the tourists when we're visiting Buddhist temples. It costs of course, and the idea is that to take the bird up to the temple and to release it will bring good karma, or good luck. The birds (and the kids like this one) are very appealing but we didn't see it as a good practice to support, so we didn't.

Fish on a Stick
So many yummy things to eat, so few days to eat them!

Love being tourists.
The trip up the Mekong to visit the Caves.

A swim, shower and a back massage all in one!
An idyllic swimming spot, several layers of pools beneath the waterfalls

DONT YOU LOVE OUR SLIPPERS?
Some truly fine fashion can be found at Luang Prabang markets.

Sweet and colourful handicraft trinkets at the Market
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Comments

[Chris Hollis]

The simple life
Hi Trev and Aly Great to see you Trev in your Beer Lao T-shirt. Getting into the tourist spirit. It is a great beer so why not celebrate. You can buy it here? Not quite as cheap as in Lao. Did you try the Lao-Lao (rice spirit - similar to saki)? Don't smell it before you drink it. Lao is a country of simple pleasures - Beer Lao, Cafe Lao (coffee) and Lao Lao. Taking away the choice seems to take away the stress, especially when what is on offer is good quality. Keep the messages coming. It is great to re-live the wonders of S.E. Asia. Chris