The 3 Nagas Luang Prabang

09 Feb 09 Chiang Mai, Thailand Last morning in Chiang Mai. Said good byes to the cooking tour folks and strolled Tha Phae Road to a cooling iced coffee at a little shop at the end Soi by Jeff and Naomi Alford's apartment. "Tue" drove me to the airport. No ticket for the flight reservation. ATM for the 5,560 Baht to buy a ticket. Back to the ticket counter. AH, here is a ticket - YEA! On the flight to Luang Prabang, Laos, I sat next to a woman from Wales who had been volunteering at a refuge f...

After arriving in Luang Prabang the night before and doing a quick dinner and tour of the night market, we met our guide Wed morning for a tour of the "city". Luang Prabang is a very old, quaint French style town in Laos. The whole country seems to be laid back, with Luang Prabang especially so...most of the action was along one main road with a couple local markets split off onto others. We spent the day biking around the town seeing some of the local spots (markets, coffee houses, and bowli...

We are well into the rainy season in Laos, but today, we got up early to go on a pretty long trek to a waterfall that is supposed to be really cool. I guess we should have anticipated the day when our driver got our car stuck in the mud on the way to the trekking spot - enough so that we had to take a different route. During the first hour, we spent our time dodging puddle after puddles of mud trying to keep ourselves somewhat clean. By the second hour, we were literally 18-inches deep in mud...

Woke up a tad hungover from the prior night, just in time for our kayaking nightmare to begin. (Editor's note: sometimes when we complain, it is just for effective depiction of the actual activity or day and does not seem as bad in retrospect, although it always did at the time). Kristina and Nicole had recently been on this kayak trip and told us to "definitely get the red kayak, because it is the only one that won't flip when we go through the rapids." Easy enough, we insist on the red kaya...

Had a wonderful eclectic breakfast ranging from pineapple juice, omelette to snow buns and chilli. I leave it your imagination to work out which of us was the sensible traveler and who was the Asia junkie. Then caught a Bangkok Airways flight to Luang Prabang. It's an hour and forty minutes in a 80 seat prop plane that usually flies to Koh Samui. So it is decked out in tropical livery and looks a bit mad landing in airport in Central Laos, We got our visas (now $35 for UK folks not $30). The ...

We came back to Luang Prabang for two reasons. The first was to experience New Year, the second to finish a cinnamon bun we started just over a year ago at JoMa's. The Lao and Thai New Year is from 13th-15th April and from what I can gather involves a lot of drinking and throwing water around. We had a leisurely breakfast and were on the road before 10am determined to find a charity called Big Brother Mouse who translate children's' books into Lao and give the books to Lao kids. Thus providin...

Started by walking towards the New Year's market that stretches from the Museum south to the stadium. Rather like the night market but ten times the size so we decided to take a break and climb the junior slopes of Mount Phosi for a break and to watch the action. On the way got drowned for the first time which was cooling at least. Every 50 yards or so on the main street gangs of children and adults set up water stations ranging from water pistols to hoses and vast cauldrons ready to soak any...

As today was one of the main festival days we decided to camp out at the Scandinavian Bakery half way up the main street As it turned out a wise move on two fronts, it was elevated and it offered some protection from the water carnage that was to follow. By about 2pm the water fights had turned into an mass soaking with thousands of people both Lao and foreigners completely drenched. Water stations were set up outside bars and shops to refuel those who needed a water pistol refill. Today boug...

Yesterday was a Groundhog Day. We did exactly the same thing as yesterday except the parade came from Wat Xieng Thong not to it. Same seat at the Scandinavian Bakery (pizza not sandwich). Weird but just as enjoyable. Felt just as moved for the happy, wet, smiling Lao as we did the day before. You know you're chilled when the days pass in a warm, gentle pace and you see no reason to change anything. Blissful. Today hired a mini-van to go to the waterfalls at Kuang-Si. About 40 minute from Luan...

After a three day journey from Chiang Mai, Thailand, down the Mekong River we are in Luang Prabang, Laos. It is the Lao New Year--Pi Mai and it's a giant water fight here. We're loving it and completely soaked. All the local kids have super soakers and buckets of water they throw on people as they walk by. The kids love to target Chris...tall and white is a great target. We don't have time to upload photos now, but we'll post a couple from today to show you what's going on. Luang Prabang has ...