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Published: September 12th 2006
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There are so few sealed roads in Laos that all travellers seem to follow a similar route up or down the country, so after being in Vang Vieng for so long I met a whole bunch of people that were planning on going on to Luang Prabang as well. While I had originally planned to travel with an Australian guy from Melbourne, I ended up staying in Vang Vieng for an extra day, which ended up working out very much for the best! The day I left for Luang Prabang 7 other people from May Lyn Guesthouse were also wanting to go there - so we hired a minivan all together and had a fantastic roadtrip! Travelling with two dairy farmers from New Zealand, a British couple, a Dutch couple and a guy from Northern Ireland was a lot of fun, and being with such a large group was great for bargaining power. When we arrived in Luang Prabang we spent quite a bit of time looking for a guest house to accomodate all of us, which in the end was impossible - but we still managed to get really great deals staying at two separate guest houses.
Luang Prabang
is a former capital of Laos and a Unesco world heritage site. The town is on the Mekong river and it is full of French colonial architecture and beautiful temples, but it is a great place to just relax in cafes. The next day we all met up for breakfast at the Scandinavian Bakery and discussed what we wanted to do. There were waterfalls and caves in the surrounding areas and we thought about going to Kwang Si waterfall the next day so that we could go swimming. I had read it was 32km away and was really wanting to cycle there, but I didn't think the whole group was as crazy as me! To my great surprise once I suggested it everyone seemed up for the adventure, so we planned to meet the next day at 8.00am to get an early start and try and beat the heat. If we had known how hot is was going to be I doubt we would have gotten there at all. Our 8.00 am start turned into some time more like 9.30 once we had found some good quality mountain bikes with gears that worked, and wasted half an hour bargaining the
price down from $5 to $4.40... But I was really happy to be cycling with such a great group of people - especially after my last cycling trip on my own in Vietnam didn't turn out to be so much fun!
But this cycling trip was just fantastic... despite the heat and the hills and the dirt roads. We did run out of water, but we stopped at a house and there were some lovely people who gave us a couple of cool bottles of water for free - which we just heaven! None of us realised how far uphill he had ridden until on the way back we realised how much easier the cycling was. We were really worried we wouldn't make it back to Luang Prabang before dark, as it had taken us almost 3 hours to cover the 32km on the way there, but on the way back it was just wonderful ridding mostly downhill, with the temperature having dropped and being able to better appreciate the scenery with the evening light. It really was a great day! Swimming in the waterfall was wonderful, and besides the falls there were also bears and and a tiger
to see (in enclosures of course!), supposedly they had been rescued from poachers...
Luang Prabang is full of health spas,and that evening after meeting up for dinner we all went off to get a foot massage at the Kamu Spa and then finished the day with icecream - it really was a wonderful day!
One thing you notice about Luang Prabang are all of the monks around the place. There really are so many monks here. I guess there are a lot of monks here in Laos anyway, but it really seems like there are monks just everywhere here. There are so many temples here in Luang Prabang, and also Lao people still seem to be quite religious. I have heard how all families are somewhat expected to have at least one family member who is a monk, and many young men go off to live as a monk for a period of a couple of months. So not all of the monks here are that dedicated... I couldn't believe it, a couple of days ago we saw a monk smoking a joint outside a temple - and the group he was with was asking us if we
wanted a smoke! At night here everywhere you go, people are trying to sell you marijuana - but I wasn't expecting it from a group sitting outside a temple that included a monk!
Luang Prabang also has a great night market full of handicrafts - textiles such as scarves, wall hangings and quilt covers, as well as many other things you probably couldn't take back to Australia. I went a bit crazy buying things, as I had already decided before I arrived in Luang Prabang that I was going to send a package home. My pack was getting quite full and I had been lugging around thermals, gloves and a beanie from my fansipan climb, which I was sure I was not going to need again. So knowing that I was not going to have to carry on my back for the rest of my trip, I bought all kinds of textiles that I am planning on redecorating my bedroom with when I get home.
Other than the market, I have also been spending lots of time here in Luang Prabang at L'Etranger Bookshop and tea rooms. It's this great place where you can hire books by the
hour, and they also have 60 different kinds of tea - I am going to have to try and find somewhere that sells rose petal and green tea when I get home - its sublime! The weather here is Luang Prabang either seems to be incredibly hot and unbearable or pelting with rain - so its a great place to read.
But it was quite sad to say good bye to the Dutch couple and the Kiwi Farmers after almost a week of travelling together. I ended up travelling a bit longer with the British couple Sarah and Russell - who I hope will come and visit me in Australia!
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nina
non-member comment
sounds great
just letting you know i'm still alive in south africa. your trip sounds amazing, can't wait to hear from you when you get back!!