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Published: October 8th 2006
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Why did the monk cross the road?
A Buddhist Abbey Road in Luang Prabang during early morning Alms So here we are 1 whole month into our journey! Our Lonely Planet is looking suitably travel worn, I have more hair on my face than my head and we keep seeing the same people everywhere we go. "There's that Ginger guy we saw in Bangkok!!" etc......, we have officially become part of the Lonely Planet set (spot us all standing on street corners reading LP South East asia on a show string, looking confused and being hassled by Tuk-Tuk drivers), Monks keep flirting with Carla (we think they may have heard rumours about 'touching' from Monk-chat) and we have met some great people all with the same desire to see as much of the 'real' Thailand, Laos etc as possible.
Our next stop was Luang Prabang, a town so unspoilt that it has been granted a world heritage site award by Unesco to ensure it stays more of a living museum than an American Theme park. The place is amazing and nothing like what we expected which proves how hard it is to describe but I will do my best: Imagine a 1950's french rural town being dropped into the Asian Mountains surrounded by lush Forests and a mighty
Gangsta pedalling
keepin it real on the mean streets of Luang Prabang (brown) river and inhabited by a population who are 10% Buddhist monks and you may have some idea of how this place feels.
The French influence on Laos is huge (we were told they added the 's' on the end) but it is especially obvious in LPB where the only bread you get is Baguette, the Tuk Tuk drivers play petanque by the side of the road and every other building looks like a Parisian cafe - its bizzare but gives the place more character than any where we have been up to now and we both love it.
After finding a suitable guesthouse we headed to the night market, which beats all the previous Thai efforts hands down: no loud music, bright lights, fake watches and lady boys here! just simply a quiet street with vendors spread out on rugs on the floor and allowed one 40watt light bulb each selling only hand made goods, jewellery and bottles of Lao Lao whiskey containing scorpions and snakes - the atmosphere was amazing so we decided to eat at an all you can eat veggie street buffet for 25p each, although i popped to the stall next door to
Kuang si falls
Breath taking and worth every pothole along the 30km of so called road from Luang Prabang grab some bbq meat (I later discovered I had eaten Buffalo Liver, nice though!)
The following day we hired push bikes and this really is the best way to see this sleepy town, although the only bikes on offer ain't the coolest machines I have seen - but later discoverd that the locals ride them ganster style which ups the street cred massively (see photo)
That evening we met the whole boat trip gang in a local bar and drank the night away to more crazy stories from Frans (dutch) and Ben (surrey) who has travelled these parts before although can't remember because of the mushrooms!!
Day 3 we headed to what proved to be one of the best sights of the trip so far - Kuang Si waterfall, about 30km outside of LPB. The size, setting and pure blue waters are breath taking and the site is huge and after meeting up again with most of the slow boat we headed off in search of a swimming hole and spent an hour diving off trees into the bright blue water - it was fantastic !!!
The following day the boat gang headed for Vang Vieng, our
The Kids are Alright
3 Laos kids waiting for a lift (they dont need to get much older than this to be able drive here!!) next stop, but as we were enjoying LPB so much and would fear for our livers if we stayed with them much longer, we decided to hang on for a couple more days to sort out our Vietnam Visas and do a cookery course. The cookery course started at 8.30am to allow us to get to the locals food market so we took the early start as an opportunity to rise at 6am and head into the streets to see the local monks receiving Alms.
There are 1200 monks in LPB (at 10% of population they are far more common than travellers) and so strong is the regard for them from the locals that every morning they kneel on the street with food which the monks line up for before returning to the Wats (temples) to eat for their breakfast. The monks can only eat between 6am-12pm after which they can only drink water, so this is a very important part of their day and hundreds of them line the streets in their orange robes - a bizzare sight especially when you are half awake and have a hang over!!
The cookery course was superb and we cooked
Roadside Petanque
Just one of the many Frenchisms in Luang Prabang ourselves up a feast of Luang Prabang Beef stew, stuffed bamboo and Lemon Grass, Tofu yellow curry, Catfish steamed in Banana leaves and freshly rolled spring rolls. As it was placed in front of us for lunch we couldn't even get close to finishing it all so our success at local cuisine was proven when the staff at the restuarant tucked in to our left overs whilst we staggered back to our guest house for a lie down.
The people, especially the children are so friendly in Laos and it is easy to forget that it is still a third world country when you see the smiles on the little kids faces. On our last day we found a small charity set up by an American and some better educated locals which produces childrens books (a rarity in this communist country) which you can buy and give as gifts to local children. We bought a book for 4-5 year olds and another for 5-10 and headed off in search of a local family in the residential areas on the edge of town. The looks on the kids faces (especially the 4 year old girl) were fantastic and left us
The tranquility of solitude
not a bad view high above Luang Prabang feeling we had given something back (however small) to this beautiful country - and as we rode past later the sight of 10 local kids gathered round a 75p book was pretty moving (stick with me I don't get emotional often).
As I write we are about to head up a large hill in the middle of town to catch the sunset and then head back to pack our things (including a bright red childs size guitar I now call my own) and catch a VIP (?) bus to Vang Vieng in the morning, along the notorious route 13.
We also learnt our passports have been held up somewhere in Laos whilst our Vietnam visa was being sorted and won't be back in time for when we leave so need to arrange a pick up somewhere else, a problem which would have caused us much more stress had it happened 4 weeks ago !! So maybe we are Chilled to The Core after all !!!!
Peace MandC
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Trev
non-member comment
Krazee Gangsta Bike
I wondered what happened to Lynnes old shopper bike.How did it get to Laos?Thats a great fashion shoot with Carla in the helmet.Helmets always have a place in our family.ie.Bretts police helmet and legoman.keep on having a brill time you two.love Ya Trev