Luang Prabang, Laos – 28 February to 6 March, 2007
Fortunately the bus wasn’t leaving from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang until 10:00 AM so we didn’t have to get up too early after trying to recover from our tubing outing. We were both a bit sluggish, but J more so as a result of after effects of the Beerlao combined with the remnants of his cold and the spicy squid he had for dinner the previous night. We reluctantly said goodbye to our bungalow, checked out, and boarded a minibus destined for the main bus stop only a couple kilometers away.
The big bus was another VIP bus, but from our previous experience we knew the only difference between the VIP and local services was that the VIP bus didn’t stop at every corner on the way. This trip was scheduled to last six hours. The distance wasn’t great, but it would be through some of the most mountainous and scenic areas on small and curving roads so the going would be slow. Or so we thought!
The bus left about 45 minutes late with no air conditioning as we expected. Within 30 minutes J was looking a bit pale and feeling a bit green. He persevered, but the best part soon came when we hit the mountains. While the uphill climbs were slow, the curves on the level and downhill stretches would have challenged a Formula 1 champion, and the driver thought he was a champion entered in a Grand Prix! Everyone was being bounced from one armrest to the next and it looked like a bus load of bobble heads. Even though he started with a disadvantage, J managed to hold on to his breakfast but not everyone did. The bus stopped once after only an hour on the road before we hit the hills, but it now made a much appreciated pit stop with two hours to go. That gave everyone time to recover a bit and prepare for the last hour of crooked road before hitting the flats and the run to Luang Prabang.
Finally, we arrived in LP about an hour later than scheduled. As usual we had no hotel reservations, so we drew a straw and found a sawngthaew (small pickup truck with benches in the back and a roof overhead) to take us to the guesthouse of choice. They had a room in their courtyard area, so we had a look and decided to stay. By the time we got checked in and settled it was getting close to sunset, so we ventured out towards the center of town (walkabout come to mind?) to find a bite to eat and a Beerlao to settle our stomachs. We arrived at the Mekong River just a few minutes before sunset so we waited at the rivers edge to get a few pictures of the sunset. After that we had a quick dinner and found that there was a large night market on the main street in town. We had a quick look, but didn’t do any shopping as it was a long day and we planned to be in town for a couple of days.
The next morning we were awakened at dawn by a horrendous noise in the courtyard outside our room. When we headed out, we found a large parrot in a cage straight across the courtyard from our front door. After a few comments about a stir fried parrot, we headed towards town to find breakfast. We had found a Scandinavian Bakery and Coffee shop in Vientiane that had excellent coffee and pastries and we had read there was one in LP as well so we went looking for that. We found it down the main street where the night market was set up the night before, and as we sat enjoying a good cup of coffee and a bagel, we heard a commotion down the road. It turned out it was the grooms party for a wedding, and they came out of one restaurant and paraded past the coffee shop to another restaurant a few doors down. It was quite a procession with an assistant carrying an umbrella to keep the sun off the groom, people cheering and banging drums. When it passed we wondered what the brides procession would be like.
We spent the rest of the day wandering the streets and alleys of LP and taking pictures of the town and scenery around it. We visited the night market again, and found there were a couple of small alleys off the main market street that had a number of food stalls. We decided to have dinner there, and D enjoyed a noodle soup, and J had his first “fish on a stick” which was fresh from the Mekong River. J probably had his mercury limit for the year from that one fish!
The next morning we missed our wake up call from the parrot. When we left the hotel we noticed the cage was gone so we asked the manager what happened to it. She asked if we had heard it the previous day, and said she moved it to the other end of the courtyard because of the noise. Maybe no one was staying in the rooms at that end, but we suspect she may have heard our stir fry comments and wanted to protect her bird. We then continued our walking tour of some of the town we had missed or bypassed the previous day. The highlights included a climb up about 400 steps to the top of the sacred hill (Phou Si) which is in the center of the city and provides an excellent view in all directions.
After the climb, it was time for lunch and a rest from the heat. We found an up market restaurant on the back side of town that had been recommended, and J was able to add a new food experience to his list. He had home made Water Buffalo sausages. From there it was back to the guesthouse for a siesta in the AC before heading out later for dinner in the night market. At the market we found a different food vendor who operated a vegetarian buffet. You could fill you plate with assorted veggies, noodles, rice, etc. all for only 5,000 kip (50 cents). D opted for the vegetarian buffet, while J found another fish on a stick.
The next day we decided to take an excursion about 35 kilometers out of town to a scenic area where there was a park with a number of waterfalls. A couple of the falls had pools at the bottom where you can swim, and along the drive through the country side there were a number of hill tribe villages. We negotiated a price with a tuk-tuk driver to take us to the falls and wait for us there for two to three hours to bring us back. On the way to the park, we would stop at one Hmong tribal village for a short time. As we were already prepared to go, we jumped in the tuk-tuk and headed out. The drive was scenic through some of the back country roads, but everywhere was dry and brown which also meant we would be very dusty from the dirt sections of the roads. We stopped at the Hmong village and were immediately swarmed by children wanting to sell homemade bracelets and other items. After a short walk around the village and negotiating for a couple of bracelets we moved on towards the park.
When we arrived at the park there were many tuk-tuks and mini-busses already there. The falls were only a ten minute walk from the parking area, but between the parking and the falls was an area where an animal rescue agency had a number of rescued Asiatic Black Bears and one tiger. We stopped by that for a few minutes and watched the bear’s antics. We didn’t think we were going to see the tiger, but just as we were about to move on she strolled out from her hiding place and walked along the fence for a couple of minutes. They are quite a fantastic site to see, even in captivity. Fortunately this was no zoo, and she had plenty of room to roam and avoid the people if she wanted.
We then moved to the falls were D had a quick swim. J stayed dry as his previous water experience rafting in Vang Vieng had made his cold worse, and he didn’t want to aggravate it any more. After D’s swim we sat by the pool for a while to watch the others jumping off the top fall and dropping off a rope swing, then headed upstream for the tallest of the falls. It was quite high and cascaded down in a couple of steps. After a few of pictures we walked back to the parking area and boarded the tuk-tuk for town. On the way back we passed many busses headed for the park. This is a popular half day trip with tourists, and the organized tours leave between 1:00 and 2:00 PM. Fortunately we did our own thing and went there in the morning so we missed most of the crowd.
After a rest and shower at the guesthouse we again headed for the night market and dinner. Along the way into town every day we had passed a school with a sign advertising a performance of Lao cultural music, dance, and puppetry which we thought might be interesting. The performance was about to begin as we passed, so we bought tickets and sat down in their theater. The performance was entertaining and the kids were really into it. The show lasted for one hour, so afterward we headed to the market and dinner. It was the vegetarian buffet for D and another Mekong “fish stick” for J who was now beginning to glow in the dark.
Luang Prabang is said to be the best preserved colonial era city in Asia and is now a World Heritage site. It also has a very large number of Buddhist Wats, and the attendant population of Monks. We hadn’t planned to stay as long as we did, but it was so peaceful and beautiful we hung around. The next two days were spent mostly walking and resting, but one thing D wanted to do was see the morning procession of monks collecting their daily alms from the local population. She fulfilled this objective on our last day there and was out the door at 5:15 AM as we had been told they start at 5:30 AM. J told her not to wake him on her way out.
In reality the procession didn’t begin until about 7:00 AM, so D walked into town for her favorite latte before it began. The pictures didn’t turn out as well as hoped as the light was still somewhat dim and flashes were not supposed to be used, and other tourists (who ignored the no flash rule) kept getting in D’s way. In the end, she was glad she was up early to see hundreds of saffron robed monks line up for their daily food offerings.
We originally planned to leave LP via slow boat up the Mekong River, but had heard that it could be a difficult trip as it took two days. We decided to fly instead, but when we checked out the flights at the Air Laos office across the road from our guesthouse, the next available flight wasn’t until ten days later. Back to plan A and the boat. We read that most travelers take the boat southbound from Thailand, and it was very crowded. The story went that if you went northbound there were only about half the number of people on the boat and it was much more comfortable. We also read you should take your own cushions as some of the boats only had wooden bench seats. Fortunately we found a travel agent that had a special deal with the boat company and could guarantee us “soft” seats as well as a ticket for the full length of the trip. Other agents could only sell a ticket for the first day, and then you had to buy one for the second leg at the overnight stop. That settled, we were scheduled to hop on a “slow boat towards China”.
Next stop Chiang Khong, Thailand
