Blogs from Luang Prabang, West, Laos, Asia - page 5

24 hours consuming nothing but bread and water seemed to cure whatever ailed me so I stopped in at a nice place on the main street for scrambled eggs, a baguette and a pot of English breakfast tea. Gave the pho a miss this morning just in case. The weather had even rained itself out over night. I was supposed to head off to see the elephants at 8.30 but apparently everyone sleeps late around here as I was the only one booked so they asked could I move it to 10.30. Given they had agreed to the delay yesterday I figured another couple of hours wouldn't hurt and took the opportunity to do my regular lap of the main street and back along the Mekong river bank with a stop for a coconut milkshake at ... read more

At 7.00am I was picked up by a slightly larger version of a tuktuk, but smaller than a songteau, the trucks that double as taxis. The rain that had promised for the last two days had arrived in the night. Not the thunderous, heavy downpours you get in the southern parts, more like the gentle rain that droppeth from heaven that we are used to, with apologies to Billy Shakespeare. The tuktuk picked up a number of passengers for the Luang Prabang bus and deposited us all at the Northern bus terminal about 7km out of town. The bus was a bright yellow double decker with the driver and luggage on the ground floor and passengers on the upper deck. We departed precisely at 8.00am for what was billed as an 8 hour trip. We weren't ... read more

We spent the day on a rice farm called Living Land, a hands-on go at all fourteen stages of rice production. From ploughing a paddy field with a water buffalo (Hat initially thought it was a big pink pig because it was pink and had piggy ears), to planting the young shoots, to harvesting with a sickle to threshing, carrying and dehusking and winnowing. It was a proper practical farming experience and it was amazing to hear that 20% of the rice in Laos is still made in this traditional labour intensive way. We all wore paddy hats and were given a bamboo pole to help our balance as we walked along the thin and very slippery mud banks that enclosed each paddy field. As you can imagine, we all got very muddy and this was ... read more

We got up early, as we wanted to go for a day out, and headed for breakfast. The monsoon rains were in full flow and we were very grateful for the umbrellas someone had left by our door. As Hat and I helped ourselves to cereal there was the most almighty thunder strike on the other side of the river, it really made us all jump. It really put meaning to the phrase 'thunder crack', an unbelievably loud tearing sound and a sonic pressure wave that gave everything a bit of a shake. Cas said that the flash was so bright that she was momentarily blinded. We opted for a tuk tuk to take us the 40 minutes to the start of a waterfall walk at Tat Kuang Si. The path was polished earth and very ... read more

Back in town we jumped out of the tuk tuk at a restaurant which had been recommended. The food was well prepared, but the taste was lacking. Not sure if this is a Laotian or a restaurant thing. Ed didn't eat, so we headed to a French cafe that served freshly warmed baguettes, oh, and a chocolate eclair for the ladies to share... There is still a French community in Luang Prabang and we spotted a French Bakery that who's display of pastries would have done a Boulangerie in Provence proud. On the way back to our hotel we spotted a Buddhist temple that had huge, and I'm really talking huge, drums hung on chains, and a gold statue of Buddha that towered over Ed and Hat.... read more