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Published: April 8th 2008
Happy New Year!
The kids preparing their weapons, getting ready to soak people!Hi everyone!
Happy New Year from Laos, where it's the year 2551! They celebrate New Year in a different manner...a very fun one involving lots of water and buckets. Since we've been in Luang Prabang we've pretty much been soaked through the whole time as the Lao kids love to aim their water pistols at unsuspecting toursits whilst shouting "Happy New Year!" You can see their little faces light up when they spot you walking down the street in their direction, it's hilarious! They all line the streets and splash anyone cycling or walking past. This type of celebration will now continue until 18th April when they've have the big parties and the King will visit.
So as you've probably guessed, we're now in our second country, Laos, and currently residing in a lovely town called Luang Prabang in the North. Even though so far we've had an on/off relationship with Laos (I will explain later!) Luang Prabang itself is really nice. It is an UNESCO Hertiage Listed town, which hopefully means it won't be able to get too developed in the future. There is a lot of French influence meaning lots of freshly baked bagettes and bakeries...yum! A
Slow boats
The slow boats docked...thankfully! much appreciated break from all the rice!
So from Chiang Rai in Thailand (where we left the last blog), we got a bus upto Chiang Khong, right on the border of Thailand/Laos. We only stayed there one night as we were eager to cross the "border" the next day. I use the tern border lightly because the border is actually the Mekong River. It was great being able to relax in Chiang Khong whilst looking over to Laos on the other side. We got a boat across the river, got our visas stamped into our passports and we were officially in Laos, a very smooth process. We stayed in Huay Xai, Laos for a night at a great guesthouse called B.A.P guesthous, run by an eccentric but traditional old lady (who we nicknamed Mrs Bap), who treated is like her grandchildren...made us yummy food and sorted out our travel to our next destination. From Huay Xai we wanted to reach Luang Prabang and only had two options to get there...an high speed boat which would take one day or a slow boat which would take two bum-numbing days. However, after doing our research we found out that the speed
Slow boat
Views from the slow boat baots are very dangerous so we opted for the two day slow boat...we soon realised that we'd made the wrong decision as we were sat on a deserted beach, watching our slow boat sink infront of us, as numerous speed boats sped past us untouched! Now we're back on dry land, the slow boat "experience" seems funny but didn't seem so at the time as the boat nearly capsized twice and the engine set on fire. Convinced we weren't destined to reach Luang Prabang (or a least stay dry!) we were relieved when our rescue boat finally docked. Don't get me wrong, the slow boat wasn't all bad, the scenery was gorgeous and we made friends with 4 American girls who have been living in Thailand for the past 2 years. It was all fun and games!!
On Sunday 6th, Michelle treated herself to a relexology foots massage, neck, back and shoulder massage...but for 1pound and 60pence for the hour Stu couldn't really begrudge me it! I will certainly be having more of these whilst I'm here, in fact I'm amazed that I went a full month before having one!
We have been staying in a guesthouse called
Slow boat
The worried locals watch on after our first boat crash Xang Keo which was good value but we also had our share of problems...mainly bugs! We shared our room with a guy called Larry, a little lizard who came to say hello on numerous occasions. We grew quite fond of him! Anyway, whilst eating our tea on Sunday, the restaurant suddenly became filled with flying ants...I'm not talking one or two but millions. We quickly paid the bill and left but once outside we realised they were absolutely everywhere. We made out way back to the guesthouse where the light outside our room was covered in huge flying ants (Larry and his lizard friends were there fighting our corner and trying to eat as many of the ants as possible), we cautiously opened the door, only to see them crawling all over the walls and floor, covering the beds, our bags and all of the contents (Gareth, we would have loved it!!) We were unable to remove the flying ants as they were everywhere and unfortunately the guesthouse owners couldn't understand why we didn't want to share our beds with 20 flying and biting insects and forced us to pay the full amount for the room we were leaving (slighty
Slow boat
Our slow boat sinking with millions of peanuts on the roof...taken as we sat on the shore waiting for the rescue boat harsh we felt but they insisted these insects were harmless and were going to turn into butterflies!!!) Anyway, after finding a better room which was bug free we had a peaceful nights sleep.
After all the drama of Laos so far, Monday 7th was by far our best day here. We hired our tuk-tuk for the day to take us to Kuang Si, about an hours drive from Luang Prabang. Here there are some gorgeous waterfalls in a forrest area. At the entrance to the waterfalls there is also an enclosure housing rescued Asian bears, they were very entertaining to watch...play fighting with each other, splashing around in the water and jumping about on their climbing frames. There was also a rescued tiger called Phet but he wasn't out on the day we visited. Reading about how both the tigers and bears are treated when they're in the wild is awful and sometimes you can't help but feel that they're better off being in enclosures, at least they are safe from poachers there. There is little we can do whilst here to help these animals but we gave a small donation to the people who are trying their best
The Americans
The American girls we made friends with on the slow boat...they kept us entertained with their made up games to save them.
Anyway, after watching the bears for a while we set off walking through the forrest. It wasn't long before we came across a beautiful turquoise pool with a small waterfall. There was no-one else around so we decided to go for a swim. It was lovely and we couldn't believe how quiet it was. After ous swim we set off walking again, the paths through the forrest were pretty tough going in some places but it was worth it everytime we stumbled upon another beautiful waterfall. After about an hour we found the main waterfall, it was quite stunning. Whilst taking pictures we noticed that there were people stood on top of the large waterfall, it was really high up. Intrigues, Michelle set off, hoping she was going the right way. The path (well it wasn't really a path) was really steep with big jumps up...as you all know I only have short legs and regularly found myself having to get up on my knees in order to get up. Just when I thought the terrain couldn't get worse, the "path" turned into a river surrounded by slippery rocks. For anyone who saw me scrambling around
Kuang Si falls
The bears play fighting (I promise you that these aren't men in bear costumes!) and trying not to fall over, it must have been a funny sight! Needless to say I was very relieved when I realised I was at the top of the waterfall (after passing many "Danger - do not pass" signs!) It was totally worth the climb as the views were spectacular! After taking a few photos it was time to set off on the descent back down. It was a great day at the waterfalls and a very beautiful spot to spend some time.
Today (Tuesday 9th) we had more energy packed activities planned. In the centre of Luang Prabang there is a large hill with a temple on the top called Phu Si. It was without doubt our hottest day in Laos and the 640 steep steps upwards in the humid heat did not seem appealing when stood at the bottom. We set off anyway and after a lot of blood, sweat and guts (okay, maybe just sweat!) we made it to the top in one piece. We were both slighty disappointed with the temple as it was tiny, but the views, again, were great. It was a misty day so the photos don't really do it justice. After all the steps back down, it was very nice to have a cold shower once we got back to our room!
With today being our last day in Luang Prabang, we treated ourselves to a nice meal, it was delicious. We have now bought our bus tickets to our next town in Laos, Vang Vieng. We are hoping to get up at around 5.30am tomorrow morning to watch the monks collect the alms on the street (will explain in next blog!) at 6.00am and then we are catching the bus at 7.00am.
So what's the news in England? I hope that everyone is okay. We think of everyone regularly and miss you all loads. Thanks for all your messages and comments, keep them coming as they really make us smile!
Lots of love, Michelle & Stu xxxx
P.S The Internet connection here is painfully slow, so we can only put these photos on at the moment.
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Rachel Shuttleworth
non-member comment
You sure know how to make us jealous. im glad your both ok after your eventfull boat trips, your mum told us stu had hurt his back! (hope its better soon ) your not missing much hear!!!! take care Rach xxxxxxx