Luang Prabang

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Luang Prabang, 9th - 12th May 2010

The journey although uncomfortable took us through some beautiful scenery passing little villages which consisted merely of pieces of woven reed and built on stilts on the mountain’s edge, where you could see children playing with wooden toy like whipping sticks and miles upon miles of lush growing forest vegetation. Again there was evidence of large areas of deforestation due to the market for coal and wood that was sent to China, but there were still large expanses of stunning terrain.

We arrived into Luang Prabang tired but relieved and caught a tuk tuk into the town centre with Daniel and Sally and began the search for hostels. Having turned down an early offer from the hostel rep on the hope of finding something cheaper we were soon to realise after having checked a couple of other places, that in fact his offer was very reasonable. So began the process of finding him and his accommodation. Forty minutes later and a couple of walks up and down the town, we found the place only to find that he was now fully booked, bloomin marvellous! So back we all trudged once more finally finding a pretty reasonable place in the centre. Starving, we dumped bags and went and ate at a local restaurant then after a brief walk to let our food go down we headed to sleep with an air conditioning unit that dripped water on our head every few seconds whilst in bed, still, it was refreshing!

Bowks writing now...

Luang Prabang was a nice little town with a French colonial feel to it, the streets were lined with old classic cars and it made a nice change from touristy Van Vieng. In the morning we had a wander round the town centre, seeking shade wherever possible as it was so hot and humid. For lunch we stopped at one of the many sandwich hawker stalls. French bread/baguettes are another speciality in Laos and people sell them everywhere. We chatted for a little while with the people who owned the store and Doddy enjoyed his first cup of Laotian coffee. We also made friends with their young grandson and took a couple of cute photos of him.
We then booked our elephant trekking for the next day. We both really wanted to have a go at elephant riding so decided to treat ourselves to a half day elephant trek. After lunch we walked to the other end of town following the Mekong River. The Mekong is a pretty wide river and it was good to see it used for lots of different purposes as we walked along; people were fishing in it, washing clothes and themselves and children were swimming and playing. Our walk took us to Wat Xieng Thong Temple, built in 1560. It was a lovely temple filled with impressive mosaics and richly decorated wooden columns. It was a really nice peaceful place to stop and reflect (and escape the heat!)

Walking some more we found Big Brother Mouse, a charity organisation that has been set up to improve local literacy. We were hoping to be able to read to some of the children that use the centre but unfortunately it only happens in the morning so we had missed it for that day. We then spotted a bar on the other side of the Nam Khan River and after crossing a rickety bamboo bridge we were soon enjoying a cold beer in a lovely little bar, built into the hillside and lit with fairy lights and paper lanterns. There were loads of kids playing in the water and jumping off the bridge and it looked like they were having a great time. Just as it was going dark we crossed back over the bridge and headed back into town as we were starting to get hungry.

We walked through the night market, looking at all the handmade crafts and other goods for sale. We then went to the night food market, it was a great place, a lively street with food hawkers lining each side. There was a massive range of food on offer including pigs’ trotters and chicken heads. We passed on those and instead enjoyed some fresh and fried spring rolls as a starter and then got a buffet meal and spicy barbecued sausage all for the bargain price of £1.60. We then walked back, stopping off to buy a couple of cakes for breakfast and typing up a bit of blog before heading to bed.

We were up early the next morning ready for the elephant trekking which we were both very excited about. We were picked up and driven about half an hour out of town to where the elephants were kept in a kind of nature reserve place. No more than 15 minutes later we were sat aboard Nam Cong, our 40 year old elephant. She was lovely and gave us a very nice ride although she did like to take the alternative path from time to time! About half way through our elephant keeper asked if Doddy would like to have a go at riding in the Mahout (an official name for elephant keeper) position on her neck instead of on the bench on her back. He jumped at the chance and was soon acting like a true Mahout and learning the essential commands such as stop and go so he could control her. It was then my turn to take the helm and as I moved forward onto her neck I realised the true strength and power of an elephant. The way they move so effortlessly through the different types of terrain, stepping up and down large ledges with ease. Her skin too was fascinating, really rough and hard in some places yet smoother in others but all covered in wiry, short black hairs.

Once we had finished riding we each then got on a separate elephant and took them down to the river to bathe them. It was brilliant, as we took them down into the water they made their elephant trunk blowing noise and splashed their trunks down into the water. They then sat down in the water till we were submerged. We were then able to use our hands and give them a good bath all over. They seemed to really enjoy it and it was a nice way to thank them for our ride. Doddy enjoyed the experience so much that he now wants to become a Mahout and is making enquiries into bringing an elephant back home with us!

Back in the town centre we enjoyed another baguette from the place we’d been the day before. We had also been and printed off the photo of their grandson we had taken the day before to give them. They were really happy with it and showed the photo to all their friends and the boy’s parents who incidentally owned the coffee stall a few metres and they gave us a free fruit shake as a token of their appreciation.

At 1 o’clock we met up with Dan and Sally and got a tuk tuk to the Kuang Si Falls. The first tuk tuk driver drove us round the town looking for 2 more passengers to fill the tuk tuk thus giving him more money. After 15 minutes of driving round he had still not found anyone and we were getting impatient. We asked if we were off soon and he said we were leaving immediately yet proceeded to carry on looking around the town for two more people. We got sick of waiting so asked him to stop and got out and found another tuk tuk driver on the other side of the street that was willing to take us straight away for the right amount.

The waterfalls were beautiful. There were about 6 levels of falls with half of those having pools you could swim in which of course we did and it was so refreshing. After a few hours of relaxing by the falls we made our way back stopping to look at the bear reserve by the entrance which was a huge area with bears that had been rescued from poachers. Another observation we made was how many western men were there with their Thai brides. There were loads and it was all a bit strange as none of them really seemed comfortable in each other’s company.

Doddy writing now...

Back into our awaiting tuk tuk and we were soon bouncing our way back into town. We picked up a CD we had burnt some photos on and began to wander back to the hotel where in doing so we got side tracked twice, firstly by a couple who we had met in Phi Phi and had just arrived in on a bus and wanted a bit of local info and then again five minutes later when Bowks got swimmer’s hunger following her so called swimming time (light bathing I call it) so we stopped off at the night market that had already set up and got some more of the tasty spring rolls. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that we also bought some tasty cakes from a stall too!

We finally made it back to the hotel where we quickly showered and changed and headed out once more to go and enjoy a farewell drink with Dan and Sally as the following morning we would both be heading our separate ways. We decided to go to the little restaurant/bar that Bowks and I had been to the day before on the other side of the river, where we sat and enjoyed a farewell beer in what we all decided was a very beautiful picturesque town. Having said our goodbyes Bowks and I then set off to get some dinner and promptly headed back to our firm favourite food market and ate another fantastically cheap buffet style dinner with noodles, chicken, sautéed veg and once more than completely full we waddled back to the hotel where we picked up our laundry and began the great joy of packing our bags again (you would think that by now re-packing our bags would be a formality but it’s not and it takes twice as long to get it in as it does to get it all out!)

Next morning we were up bright and breezy to catch a tuk tuk to take us to the bus station. We got to the bus station, purchased our tickets at a fraction of the price the hostels and agencies in town were charging and climbed aboard another small local bus that this time would take us to a little town 3 hours north called Nong Khiaw. With the bus pretty much full we pulled out of the bus station and began our onwards travel after spending a very nice couple of days in what was a very nice town.

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Photos

Meat products
including chicken heads!