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The journey from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang was terrifying and beautiful in equal measures. The road that links the two is like something from an action film and winds through the steep, mountainous countryside of northern Laos. The road is narrow, poorly maintained and full of lethal bends that hang out over sheer drops, kicking up stones and dust that then seem to fall for miles over the hills as you skid around the corners. Despite the trecharous conditions, our driver seemed intent on sliding the bus around the bumpy roads at the highest speed the poor vehicle could possibly manage with little or no regard for the stomachs of the nervous falang behind him. To be fair, on the way up each slope the highest speed possible in the ancient old bus was probably no more than about 10mph but on the way down it felt like we often got close to the speed of light. As the road was barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass the driver had his hand almost constantly on the horn to warn oncoming traffic, which was usually unseen and around a blind corner, that there was a runaway bus hurtling towards
them. On the thankfully rare occasions that we did have to pass another car, truck or stray pig in the road we usually did so with only milimetres to spare. Despite all this, the view was incredible and was the only thing that was able to pull our eyes away from the terrors of the road. Looking out over the hillside you could see for miles and miles over luscious green hills and mist topped mountains with hill tribe villages dotted across the landscape. Stupidly, we were too frightened/awestruck to get any good pictures of the journey but if you put "Route 13 Laos" into google images you'll be able to get some idea of the scenery.
One highlight of the nine hour journey was watching a rainstorm close in from across the countryside towards us. First it enveloped a distant mountain top, obscuring it completely from view before creeping slowly over the hills until it covered us and soaked the bus for half an hour before moving on. Shortly before the storm reached us and the huge cloud was hovering threateningly a few miles away on one side of the mountain while the sun shone on the other
Amy remarked that it felt like we were in the middle of an epic battlefield from The Lord Of The Rings. She spend the next ten minutes hiding behind her cushion, nervously expecting to see goblins in the road.
When we finally arrived in Luang Prabang we were dropped at the bus station on the edge of town and got a songthaew into the centre. Helped by the yellow bible we decided on a lovely guesthouse on the banks of the Mekong River called Silichit Guesthouse and dumped our bags before enjoying the dust removing shower that is required after every journey in Laos. We then ventured out to explore the town.
Luang Prabang is a small city (only 100,000 people) situated on a peninsular between the point where the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers meet and was once the capital of Laos. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is definitely one of the most attractive cities we have been to. We walked along the river road before turning towards the main street, Thanon Sisavangvong (not a name to be attempted after a few beers) and wandered up the road checking out all of the
souvenir shops and restaurants in the gorgeous old French buildings. We finally settled on a place called Da Fao Bistro and had a fantastic dinner and glass of wine.
The next morning we got up early and paid over the odds to get a private songthaew to Tad Kuang Si instead of sharing the 6 or so seats with locals or other backpackers, as is the usual way to travel in songthaews. Amy did suggest we could wait until we found some other people heading to the waterfall to share the cost but I had my reasons for wanting to get there early and before the crowds turned up.
The journey was fun, bouncing through rural roads and over tiny ramshackle bridges on the way and taking in yet more gorgeous scenery. We passed through quite a few local villages and had to slow down to a crawl in one as we wound our way through a crowd of school kids on their way to class. Some of them waved and called "sai ba dee" to us as we went past which is "hello" in Lao and looked pleased when we were able to say it back. Other
kids shouted the few English words that they knew and one rather bizarrely said "merry christmas!" as we passed. After about an hour we arrived at the entrance to the waterfalls and the driver said he would wait for us to return before driving us back to town. We walked along the deserted path to the waterfalls through clouds of brightly coloured butterflies which seem to be everywhere in Laos.
Tad Kuang Si consists of one main 180 foot fall and several smaller falls that transfer water from one beautiful turquoise pool to another. As many of you know, I had been planning for a long time to propose to Amy somewhere on our trip and Tad Kuang Si had sounded just perfect. I had brought the ring out with me on several occasions so far but, for various reasons, none of the places had seemed quite right. However, when we arrived at the bottom of the falls I knew that I had found the spot. As we had got there early we had the whole place to ourselves so after taking a few snaps and just watching the water cascade down to the pools below I got down
on one knee and asked Amy to marry me. In case you had expected anything less, the reaction was suitably amusing. Amy was so shocked she stumbled over a nearby rock, squeaked "Mmmhmmm!" and then had to sit down on a nearby railing to take in the news. Needless to say, she was delighted and, after composing herself, did actually give me a "yes".
We sat watching the falls for ages, enjoying the moment before people started turning up. We noticed a few couples look at us and think we might have started a few arguements along the lines of "why couldn't you have proposed somewhere this nice instead of half time at the football?" so thought we should probably move on. We walked through the woods, following the flow of the water downstream through various gorgeous pools and smaller falls before finding our songthaew driver and heading back into town. The rest of the day we spent wandering town in a happy daze and then going for a nice romantic dinner.
The next day we had a nice relaxed morning before embarking on a trip up the side of the Phu Si, the large hill that dominates
the skyline of Luang Prabang. There are various wats and buddha images dotted along the walk to the top and we took our time climbing to the summit before sitting down and taking in the view of the town and then climbing back down.
I'm sure many of you are wondering about the ring but unfortunately I wasn't able to afford a diamond ring while saving for the trip so bought a nice but cheaper temporary one for the moment. This means we now have the enviable task of choosing a real one together when we get home!
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becca
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Congratulations!!
So happy for you guys - what a gorgeous spot to pop the questions!!!!!