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Published: September 28th 2009
“The land of a million elephants” is one of the poorest nations on earth with 80% of its population living in villages and an average life expectancy of just 56 years. Laos is also one of the most beautiful, relaxed and friendly places we have ever been - we love it here already after 48hrs!
Having played our honeymoon card one more time our hotel, just outside of Luang Prabang town, upgraded us to a riverside bungalow (sheer luxury) for our two-day stay. Luang Prabang is a quintessentially Gallic-Asian (if such a thing ever existed) relaxed town in Northern Laos. Not only is the town and scenery beautiful, but the pace is relaxed and the locals have a refreshingly lassies-faire attitude to tourists; the distinct opposite to its neighbours Cambodia and Vietnam.
Arriving without any US dollars to pay for our visas meant an interesting and expensive (exorbitant exchange rates) hour at the miniscule airport. We were also required to pay an extra $1 each for arriving on Saturday and thus making the airport staff work weekends! Before long we were cycling along the peninsula and the Mekong river, and exploring the former Royal Place (the Royal Family was
expelled in 1975) and Wat Xieng Thong (built in 1560 and adorned with beautiful mosaics). In the centre of town is a 100m high hill with Phu Si temple on top. The temple houses a cave with Buddah’s footprint in, but better still has amazing views over the town, especially at sunset. Worth the 350 odd vertiginous steps to the top; just.
About 25k upstream from Luang Prabang are the Tam Ting Caves which have effectively become a graveyard for unwanted Buddha statue sof every shape and size. The two caves are crammed full of four thousand Buddahs with the local village, Ban Pak Ou, acting as caretaker since the 16th century. As part of the New Year rituals each April the village must wash every image in holy water (of which there is conveniently a source in both caves) and re-paint surfaces. Our photos don’t do them justice as the caves are in darkness, but literally every surface, nook and cranny had a Buddah on. We stopped on route at Bang Xang Hai, known to locals as “Whisky Village” on account of the 50% proof rice whisky it produces which Andy willingly sampled (twice). Luckily our shack of
a boat ran out of gas just short of the floating gas station with the river flowing in the right direction (see pic).
Tang Kuang Si waterfalls, about 30km from the town, are a cascade of waterfalls over limestone formations into bright menthol green pools - beautiful to explore and even better to relax in! The locals use them as both a hangout and public baths. After teasing you all with the promise of videos, check out the one of Andy monkey-swinging. The waterfalls are also (bizarrely) home to a Bear Sanctuary for rescued Sun Bears. Apologies for Andy’s joke on the picture below...
On our way back from the waterfalls we were “treated” to a village tour a.k.a. 15mins of hard sell from the locals. More impressive than their ware was the barely one-year old who had mastered “buy for 1,000” but not yet walking and promptly fell over mid-pitch, badly banging her head. Andy and I thought she’d need stitches, but rather than crying she just said “buy for 1,000”. At that point we probably should have bought for 1,000 ,but through fear of been mobbed by several over dozen kids we made a quick exit
back on to our bus.
We set off now for what promises to be a beautiful, but long and semi-dangerous, bus trip to Vang Vieng on steep mountainous roads. Our “VIP” bus manages to look great from the outside, but on closer inspection has a badly cracked windscreen and looks a million years old inside. Should make for an interesting seven hours.
Bex & Andy
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laura
non-member comment
wow!
wow, you guys look like you're having an amazing time! I went to Luang Prabang 5 years ago, those waterfalls are my favourite place on earth, so beautiful! keep up the blog, its nice to dream from the sofa x