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Published: June 28th 2006
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You will all be delighted to hear we arrived safely in Luang Prabang courtesy of Lao Airlines, despite the questionable safety record.
Lao PDR (Peoples Democratic Republic) is best known as the most heavily bombed country per capita in the history of warfare - the US dropped on average one planeload of bombs every eight minutes around the clock for nine years.
As our guidebook correctly describes it, Luang Prabang conjures up the classic image of Laos: streets of ochre colonial houses and swaying palms, lines of saffron-robed monks in the morning mist; so much so that the whole town has been designated a UNESCO heritage site.
We got a great feel for the relaxed atmosphere of the country, with people lounging by the Mekong River, men playing boules at various street corners, women gossiping at the local boulangerie while getting their baguettes.
Apart from a trip to the Kouang Si waterfall for a quick dip in the aquamarine pools, and a jaunt up Phousi Hill, you can't help just lounging around, enjoying the atmosphere and the fruit shakes.
With over 30 temples in this tiny town, we had heard about the daily alms-giving to the
monks at 6am where locals will give food (usually sticky rice) to the monks as they file by. With the best of intentions the alarm clock was set, and after 2 failed attempts at rising at 5.30am, the last day bore fruit as I hauled my ass out of bed. Thomas was not to be persuaded, however, and I made my way to the street to observe. A couple of local ladies insisted on giving me rice and other food to donate and so I obliged. It was a very sombre experience, as you must keep silent, kneeling on the footpath while putting fingerfuls of sticky rice into each monk's bowl as he went by, but great fun all the same.
After a horrendous 6hour bus journey along the meandering (read: neverending hairpin bends that made the journey feel like 6 hours on waltzers at a funfair!) hillside roads, we arrived in Vang Vieng. There are a few token rafting and caving trips offered in the town, but the real reason people stop in Vang Vieng is to head tubing - that is, floating down the Nam Xong river on huge tractor inner tubes. Great way to spend a
Butterfly
Luang Prabang day, with plenty of bars along the river where the locals will haul you in by hooking the tube with a bamboo stick. Each of the bars has either a diving board of sorts, or a zip line, or a rope jump to keep you occupied.
Of course we had to stop at the biggest jump, anything less wouldn't do. There was one incident of cold feet, but after another Beer Lao for Dutch Courage, up I scaled the bamboo ladder. Now it was very high up there...but once you grab the handle there's no 2nd thoughts as it pulls you straight out! By the time you fall off, you're about 25-30ft above the water, and it's very hard to judge when you are going to hit the water... which would explain why Thomas bellyflopped onto the river (to a chorus of "Ooouuuuuuuccchhhhh" from the onlookers at the bar!) and concussed himself, having no recollection of what happened for a full hour after the jump!Of course, it was only later that we read about 2 people who had drowned recently after doing the rope jump, one as recently as April gone!
The following morning, Thomas was covered in
Waiting for food...
..recovering from Jackie-Stallone-lips inflicted by coldsores! bruises all over his chest, while I was suffering from minor whiplash after I had whacked my head against the water on my 2nd jump (yes I know, I was asking for trouble going a 2nd time!). Thankfully, we had discovered the wonder that is Tiger Balm, a vaporub type thing that claims to cure everything from insect bites and muscle ache to leeches and flatulence (that's what it says on the tin!!), so we walked around for a few days smelling like a Vicks inhaler.
Having slummed it in hostels for last 3 months, decided to live it up a little and booked into a nice hotel with views across the river and a very nice paddling pool that kept us cool during the afternoons. The local ladies working in the hotel had a good laugh at me at my futile efforts at the sisyphean task of getting a tan (Sisyphus being the guy from Greek legend condemned to roll a rock uphill for eternity only to have it fall to the bottom once it reached the top).
Evenings were spent hanging around the couple of restaurants in the town, all showing old reruns of either Friends,
Simpsons or Family Guy while being offered a variety of foods from the standard Western and Loatian fare, to the "Happy" selection which ranged from Marijuana ice-cream and Magic Mushroom pizza, to Opium lasagne.
Had a quick stop-off in the capital of Vientiane before our flight to Hanoi (again, taking the easy option of a 40min flight, rather than a horror 30 hour bus journey).
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Daithi
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Fantastic pictures, although ye're nuts jumping into that muddy river, with your earlier reports on Asians' lax attitude to locations of defecation! Keep up the good work...