Mahout Eco Lodge Luang Prabang

Leaving Vang Vieng, we had the worst journey for 7 hours driving up and down mountains, round and round with the large drops either side of the road. Our driver was pretty good, but did get a bit scary when lorrys are driving the on the otherside of the road and there isnt much room!!<br><br>The twisted road made me incredibly sick so tried to either sleep or stick my head out the window for most of the journey to avoid puking on anyonw (how ...

... reasons) and as our guide informed us it was free to try wich of course we couldnt turn down, i think the strongest we tried was 70% and after consuming much of this we were eventually persuaded to purchase 3 bottles for the evening needless to say we had a headache this morning. Tomorrow we get up very early to see the monks who apparently come out in force at 6am, then its of to vang vieng and more fun on the river.

... it was a site of mass pilgrimage. We travelled back and stopped off at a village which distilled rice whiskey made from sticky rice, that stuff is lethal! <br>We grabbed a baguette from "Mamma's" stand and caught the bus to the waterfall. The waterfall was amazing it was huge and so picturesque. We climbed right to the top and walked across the top. At the bottom you can jump off a rope swing but unfortunately we didn't have time but Mei managed it really quickly. Didn't ...

... 1504;&#14 93;. &#1506;&#1510;&#1512;&#1504;&#1493; &#1493;&#1511;&#1513;&#1512;&#1504;&#14 93; &#1488;&#1514; &#1492;&#1505;&#1497;&#1512;&#1492;. <br>&#1490;&#1491;&#1514; &#1492;&#1504;&#1492;&#1512; &#1492;&#1497;&#1514;&#1492; &#1502;&#1500;&#1488;&#1492; &#1497;&#1514;&#1493;&#1513;&#1497;&#15 01; &#1493;&#1500;&#1499;&#1503; &#1492;&#1495;&#1500;&#1496;&#1504;&#14 93; &#1500;&#1497;&#1513;&#1493;&#1503; &#1489;&#1514;&#1493;&#1498; &#1492;&#1505;&#1497;&#1512;&#1492;. &#1489;&#1499;&#1491 ...

... 1504;&#1505;&#1497;&#1506;&#14 92; &#1489;&#1488;&#1493;&#1496;&#1493;&#14 89;&#1493;&#1505; &#1488;&#1494; &#1504;&#1505;&#1490;&#1512; &#1492;&#1511;&#1493;. &#1493;&#1499;&#1500; &#1488;&#1495;&#1491; &#1504;&#1497;&#1505;&#1492; &#1500;&#1514;&#1512;&#1493;&#1501; &#1488;&#1514; &#1506;&#1510;&#1493;&#1514;&#1497;&#14 93; &#1493;&#1490;&#1497;&#1500;&#1492; &#1512;&#1510;&#1493;&#1504;&#1493; &#1500;&#1492;&#1510;&#1496;&#1512;&#15 07; &#1512;&#1511; &#1488;&#1501; &#1492;&#1497;&#1492 ...

... One day I got to cut a woman's hair. She was a free spirited backpacker from Sacramento who's never lost the wanderlust of travel. She kept her hair short and one day talked about needing it cut. I offered to cut it, she offered two beers, I wouldn't allow it until the 4th time she offered. So I cut her hair and I have two beers on credit here at the hostel. Well, one now, with my name on it. Sometimes I go with a group out on a day trip. Yesterday we went out to Kuangsi ...

... an hour.<br>In Luang Prabang, a tuk tuk touter ferried me into the town centre. After a few unsuccessful tries, found a nice place complete with coffee lounge perched on a hill just off the main road. Guy inside charged 60,000 Kip for a room without bathroom. took it. Nice room, nevertheless.<br>'Can't charge you anything less. There's a financial crisis.'<br>If it gets any worse, overcharging - I'm not saying he did - might have a negative or counter effect.

... say, what do i want? I hated to state the obvious to the monumentally cretinous individual!! I tell you what... When the border officials are asleep, what does that say for the country as a whole! I LOVE IT! <br> I checked into a nearby hotel and explored the very small and dusty town of Huay Xai, albeit in about 3 minutes. I couldn't leave until the next morning as all transport onwards had ceased for the day. Maybe it was nap time for the ...

... Volunteers create hiding places for the bears food so that they have to work a bit to get at it. <br>It was so fun to watch them rooting and digging through barrels, tires and bamboo tubes looking for food. The volunteers had built a new structure out of bamboo that day and it was amazing how quickly the bears figured out how to get at the food...finally just tearing the bamboo apart!<br>

... birds with beautiful plumages, squirrels, lizards and even a few rats on sale (it is not uncommon for rat meat to feature in noodle soup, although the locals are wise enough not to feed this to falangs). Sometimes these animals were dead but quite often they were still in various states of liveliness. An Englishman that we met had purchased a live baby owl that was destined for the pot and released it in a nearby wood. It cost him about forty pence. He had also tried to buy a blue ...