Today marks 3 weeks since we left Oz! And 2 weeks left in SE Asia before we head to Nepal. The enthusiasm for writing this journal is still high, but we’ll see how that goes over the next few weeks! On Sunday we went tubing down the Nam Son river… the tuk-tuk dropped us off about 3km upstream and suddenly we were in a completely different world. The river was lined with makeshift wooden bars playing thumping tunes and serving cheep Beer Lao, free shots of local whisky (one we got offered was flavoured with real wasps!!!!!), and the occasional “happy” menu. So we spent the afternoon merrily floating down the river, stopping off at bars along the way, playing on the big swings and flying foxes they had, and at one bar we took a dip in the mud pool and played mud tug of war with random strangers. All in all a great day and heaps of fun… and we did remember to look up at the scenery once in a while.
Yesterday we caught the bus north again to Luang Prabang. The drive was about 7 hours of some amazing scenery. The road went up into the mountains to almost 2000m, winding the whole way and passing thru cute local villages that were almost hanging off the side of the mountains… for all you kiwis, it was similar to the Rimutaka Hill road near Wellington, only about 5 times longer! It finally delivered us to Luang Prabang, which is a beautiful heritage listed town on the Mekong River. We found a guest house down by the river with some really friendly hosts that just happened to be doing a free dinner for all guests that evening, and then wandered thru the main part of town and had a look at the night markets.
