Tuesday was spent walking around
Luang Prabang, visiting the temples on Phu Si (the hill in the middle of town),
having lunch along the Mekong (we tried fish and chicken laap and sticky rice,
all traditional local food), and watching the world go by. Luang Prabang is a very pretty and
peaceful town, with French-style architecture and Buddhist monks everywhere.
On Wednesday we hired mountain
bikes and rode 32km out to the Kuang Si waterfall. It was a nice ride through local villages (with kids yelling
out “Sabai Dee!” which means hello) and rice paddies that look really dry as it
is the end of the dry season. The
waterfall was very pretty and we went swimming in the beautiful blue but cold
water pools. The ride back was a
bit of a struggle in the heat but we made it without having to hitch a ride in
a tuk-tuk!
Today
we jumped on a bus and headed further north towards the Chinese border, to
Luang Nam Tha. The bus was a
rattly old thing with seats that were way too small for two Western people, and
the road was hilly with many twists and turns and in worse condition than other
roads we have travelled on in Laos so far. Nevertheless the 9 hour journey actually passed fairly
quickly, and the mountainous scenery was really nice. We have realised that the only problem with travelling at
this time of year is that the smoke from the fires (the local tribes clear the
land for farming) create a constant haze and visibility isn’t that great. On the plus side, there seem to be a
lot less people travelling right now, guesthouses and restaurants are only 1/4
to 1/2 full and treks in Luang Nam Tha are nowhere near fully booked. So far we are liking it up here in the
far north, not just because of fewer people but also because everything is much
cheaper!
