Just had a look and it seems I've had a few views for my journal...not sure if it's a good or bad thing! Great because I think everyone should be here with me to experience this, but also bad... well, because it means people are actually reading the stupid stuff I write about ha ha!!
Day 2 of Luang Prabang
I had set my alarm for 7:30 and when I heard it and glanced at the window I decided it was still too dark to head out for a ride. Yeah I'm pretty easily motivated and uber strong willed. Sooooo I got up an hour later. I rode my bike along the peaceful streets to the river on the other side of the peninsula. Settled into a lovely spot at Saffron Cafe and ordered pancakes (these seem to be consistently good in asia) and coffee. Something inspired me to also order a cinnamon scroll. I hate cinnamon. Maybe it was the price? My cappucino had some weird frothed milk going on but was really good. Coffee is damn strong here! Pancakes were fab and I soaked up the atmosphere of the river under the shade of some trees. I looked on as long boats fought against the strong current of the river to cross to the other side. After I paid I went on to book an elephant ride. It cost $67US and included transport there and back, lunch, and of course a day spent with elephants and a visit to a waterfall thrown in for good measure. After I sorted it out I went to jump on my bike. But it wasn't there. Then I started to wonder what the consequences were for a stolen bike. The lady I hired it off (the first moody and rude Lao I had met) requested my drivers licence or passport for safekeeping. I'd given her my licence so just as I was thinking it may not be so bad to loose that (as I've done before) a guy came over and returned my bike. He looked european and was substantially taller than me so it probably clicked that it wasn't his bike when he realised the seat was as low as it could go. He apologised and I asked him if there was a way to lock it. So he pulled out the chain and lock type thing that was in the front basket. Duh...I thought that was a remnant from the previous rentee. So I inspected it and it was pretty rusted-up. I reminded myself to grab my lock and cable when I went back to the room so I could avoid another mini freak-out. I made it probably 200 metres and stopped to look at a travel agent....these probably outnumber the cafes and restaurants in LP!! I booked a "VIP" bus to Vientiane. It cost $18 and she muttered something about dinner but I checked on the aircon status. Affirmative. Thought it was a decent alternative to catching a flight for 100 bucks. Good save.
Went back to the gusthouse for a cold shower and they told me they were cooking a free dinner for the guests so I should be back at 6pm.
I set off on my ride to the Kuang Si waterfalls, very optimistic that I would make the 35km there...and 35 back!! The lonely planet said it was a reasonable ride through rice fields and lovely scenery. So I thought I'd save a few bucks and work off the pancake and cinnamon scroll I'd pigged-out on for breakfast. The start was pretty good. Small hills but once I got up I cruised down the other side. It was probably the hottest part of the day, awesome planning Melissa, but the breeze on my face was enough to keep me from overheating. Then the sun got a bit more piercing, and the hills got bigger. I refused a couple of offers from tuk-tuk drivers who already had a full load of passengers. I'm too stubborn, right Mum? In the end I made it to a large hill. Had to actually get off my bike to push it up and stopped to guzzle water. There were a group of boys playing and one of them had been racing me...actually keeping up with me as I struggled with the ascent. Butterflies were flying on par with me so that was when I started thinking my enthusiasm for the ride was actually far greater than my resolve to finish. I was about 20km in. A tuk tuk went past and I glanced at the driver with a distressed look. He stopped and I checked with his passengers if it was ok for me to join them. It was a group of English guys and a girl, and they were more than happy for me to join them and helped the driver load my bike onto the roof. As we drove along we got talking, there were 3 english guys and one english girl...and an extra french/irish guy. We exchanged travel stories and it turned out that they had only met each other whilst travelling. They were going on to Thailand so any chance of me taggin along with them was short-lived. As we climbed up hills we all remarked that it would have been a killer ride...and I didn't even have a mountain bike. It probably seemed really stupid but I think they all understood it was one of those moments you have when you're travelling...when you decide to plunge into something and have no idea what you're getting yourself into!
The entrance to the Falls had a bear enclosure. The Asiatic bear is about the same size as the brown grizzly bear. The enclosure didn't really seem big enough for them. We headed into check out the waterfalls and were met with the muddiest, murkiest flowing water I'd ever seen. Nothing like the water of Litchfield or Kakadu. Some guy told us the water is usually pristine but heavy rain in the mountains was the cause of the overly muddy nature of the water. The "swimming area" didn't seem very safe and there weren't any caution signs anywhere! I just kept thinking...if this were in Australia... plus the French guy was telling me stories of travellers drowning in Vang Vieng due to a lethal combination of too much alcohol, mushies and very strong currents (including a guy from Manchester he had befriended). Vang Vieng is synonymous with the phenomenon of tubing for those of you playing at home. Youtube it. So those stories, along with one of the English guys still suffering from pink-eye, put me off tubing which I wasn't keen on doing alone anyway and I had sort of already decided to spend an extra day in LP. I walked up the side of the falls with the French guy but when we came across some steep wooden steps that had water flowing heavily down them I turned back as he pushed on. Didn't fancy the climb in thongs. So I went down and found myself a nice spot in the sun and tested the water. I walked in but pushed it a little bit far and slipped and fell on my ass! I recovered pretty quickly as my bag and bum copped the brunt. It would have been hilarious if anyone else had of seen it. But they didn't! I dried off in the sun and was reading when the others came and said they were pretty keen to head off seeing as there was zero potential for a swim!! I agreed. The driver dropped us in town and I said goodbye to the others and headed to JoMa where I had a slightly funky-tasting roasted veg wrap and mocha. Later on in the arvo I dropped off my bike and was handed back my licence. I made it to the guesthouse for the free dinner which turned out to just be fried rice. I got excited thinking we might be treated to a BBQ, Laos style. I sat myself down with an English couple....very timid people so I was chatting away about Vietnam and they told me a bit about Thailaind, in particular Chiang Mai. I really want to get there one day! After a nice chat I said goodnight, did some boring old handwashing and decided on going to the Night Markets the next night. The evening was spent writing in my journal and bugdeting/planning for the rest of the trip! No chance of getting bored when you are travelling alone. Any time spent alone is spent either planning, reviewing or just reading or sleeping. I love the fact that you are forced to kind of force yourself on others. And they generally don't mind because most backpackers are very like minded and easy to talk to. I believe it's character building. I'm glad I have decided to do this and step out of my comfort zone...too boring there anyway!!!
